by R. E. Butler
“She never contacted you, though,” Jair said.
He shook his head. “Not until last year, when she let me know that you were on your way here. She apologized for keeping me in the dark, but she had been terrified of losing you. I would have taken good care of her, and you. Maybe you wouldn’t have hated me so much if you’d known that I wanted you both in my life.”
Genesis stroked her palms up Jair’s arms in a soothing motion, purring gently as she rested against him. Her touch and presence were enough to soothe his frayed nerves.
“I believed I was the product of a one-night stand with a tiger from another pride. My mom thought I was enough of a tiger to shift into one, so she opted not to tell me the truth. When I shifted into a wolf with fucked-up fur, it was clear that I was barely a tiger at all. It took me a long time to trust my mom after that, but what had been made clear to me from the start was that you weren’t around because you chose not to be. She didn’t tell me that she’d taken that choice from you.”
“I would have chosen you both if she’d allowed me to. We could have been a pack by ourselves, carved out a comfortable life somewhere, maybe even here in the neutral zone.”
“She’ll never leave the pride.”
“I know. I’d hoped the years would soften her resolve, but she’s very pro-pride.” Veron gestured to Genesis. “You’ve got a pureblood princess on your hands, and she doesn’t seem to mind that you’re a hybrid, so it would probably be a good idea to stop referring to the wolf part of yourself as a fuck-up.”
Genesis glanced at Jair. “I don’t mind.”
The wolf in him agreed. He nodded. “I’m not ready to be friends with you.”
Veron stood. “I understand. It’s a lot to absorb. I wish you could talk to your mom for confirmation, but I hope that what I’m saying makes sense to you. I would have walked over hot coals to take care of you when you were a pup. I’ve been alone for a long time, and I was probably a little too eager when you came to town. Of course it didn’t help that your mom had vilified me.” He moved to them slowly, as if he was afraid that Jair would spook. “I’m here when you’re ready, Jair, for whatever you want. I just want the opportunity for you to get to know me, and for me to get to know you. We’re related by blood, and that’s worth something.”
He smiled at Genesis and patted Jair on the shoulder as he walked by. When he headed for the front door, Genesis said, “Aren’t you staying for dinner?”
“Maybe some other time. This was your night to get to know your aunt’s friends. I just wanted to be heard.”
“I heard you,” Jair said.
Veron nodded and left, closing the door quietly on his way out. Jair turned Genesis in his arms and kissed her. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he said against her lips.
“Anytime. Now, I’m starving, and we have a date with a bed later.”
He glanced at the door, wondering if he could get her out of the house before Mona and Dillon realized they were gone, but Dillon called from the kitchen, “Don’t even think about it. Dinner’s waiting.”
They both groaned quietly at the same time and then laughed together. “You heard the man,” she said.
“Eat fast.”
* * *
The night, although it had started off unexpectedly, turned out to be a good one. Once they joined Mona, Dillon, and their kids for dinner, the conversation stayed very light. Jair was still absorbing all that Veron had shared with him. Although the tiger in him didn’t want to believe that his mother had purposely withheld important details, he could tell that Veron was being honest. Jair wished he could talk to his mom and find out why she’d made the choices she had, but he couldn’t contact her without risking her harm within the pride. Even though his half-brother was the leader, it didn’t mean that their mother was allowed to bend the rules. Exile from the pride meant being cut off entirely.
Genesis leaned on his shoulder as he drove them home. “Thank you for standing by me tonight,” he said.
“What you said earlier was right. You and I are starting a family, and I want our family to always stand together, no matter how difficult things become. If you’d wanted to leave, I wouldn’t have given you any grief about it.”
“Hearing him out was the right thing to do.”
“Yes, but it wasn’t easy. If your mom had told you about him all along, would you have wanted to meet him, get to know him?”
“I don’t know. I wanted a dad so badly when I was a kid. Jenner had it easy in a way, because his dad died. But mom never told me who my dad was until I shifted into a wolf. She’d always said that she had an affair with a male from another pride, and that they had parted ways amicably. The kids would tease me about being a bastard. I hated it. I hated Veron before I even knew that he was a wolf. And then once I found out what he was, I was devastated. It was one thing to be a slightly strange-smelling tiger, but to be a wolf in the pride… I’m lucky the pride was progressive enough that they didn’t kill me on the spot.”
“Could they have?” Her hands tightened on his arm, and the tangy scent of her worry filled the truck.
He slipped one arm around her and drew her close. “Fifty years ago they probably would have. Oddities aren’t welcome with the purebloods. My mom might have even been killed too, for having sex with a wolf.”
Shivering, she rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. “I’m glad we don’t live fifty years ago.”
He was, too.
Jair carried Genesis’s bags into the house and set them on the floor. She leaned over to pick them up, but he stopped her, pressing her upright and against the door. Cupping her face, he stared into her eyes and watched the passion that flared to life as they touched. Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against hers, growling as she parted her lips. He kissed her, dancing his tongue against hers slowly. She gripped his wrists and purred as he tilted her head and deepened the kiss. She chased his tongue with her own, moaning in her throat as he pushed her coat and his plaid shirt off her shoulders. The material caught at her elbows, and she released her hold on him to shake herself out of it, letting it fall to the floor. Easing one hand down her side, he slipped his fingers under the hem of the tank and touched her soft skin, skimming his fingertips over her stomach as he swept them up toward her breasts.
She tilted her hips, brushing her lower body against his erection. He tugged the tank up over her breasts and pulled the cup of her bra down to expose her to his questing fingers. Easing away from their drugging kiss, he plumped her breast with his hand and kissed the nipple, drawing it into his mouth slowly as she arched against him with a groan.
Tugging on the other cup, he freed her breast and pushed the tank out of the way so he could feast on her sweet flesh. He loved the way her nipples hardened against his tongue, darkening as he tugged and rubbed them while she writhed under his attention. Falling to his knees, he grabbed the waistband of her jeans and undid the button, lowering the zipper as he met her gaze.
Her eyes were flecked with the sandy color of her beast, a purr rumbling in her chest. “My Jair,” she whispered, sliding her hand into his hair and fisting it lightly, her voice a low growl of need that matched his own.
Spreading her jeans open, he kissed the space under her navel, nuzzling the sweet-smelling skin just above his very favorite spot. He tugged on the denim, then gathered her panties and pulled them both down to her ankles. He skimmed his fingers up the outside of her legs.
“Wanted to do this all night,” he said gruffly as he cupped her ass with both hands and tilted her toward his mouth. Her pussy was bare, and he nuzzled the soft flesh and inhaled the intoxicating scent of her arousal. He licked her clit gently, probing the bud with his tongue until she gasped and her hand twisted in his hair. The side of her clit was where she was most sensitive, and he focused his attention on that spot, pulling her body closer and closing his lips around the bud. He stroked the side of her clit quickly as he sucked, feeling her body tremble as he dre
w her to climax.
Sliding his fingers between her cheeks, he tugged her even closer, rubbing his tongue faster over her. She wailed as she came, wrenching her hand in his hair as her nails abraded his scalp and her clit tightened under his tongue.
She wiggled out of her jeans completely while he undid his, shoving them down as he stood. He lifted her up and guided her down onto his dick. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he leaned her against the door, protecting her back from the hard surface with one arm.
Her head tipped back against the door as he moved, fucking her deep and hard, unable to stop himself from taking her. She clung to him, and her ankles linked at the small of his back, widening her legs and tightening her pussy. He groaned, almost losing it right then, but he didn’t want to come without her. Loosening his grip where he held her thigh against his side, he settled his thumb on her clit and pressed, letting the friction of their movements push her over the edge again.
“Fucking love how you feel,” he growled, pressing his thumb to the side of her clit and rocking his hips. His climax tingled at the base of his spine, and he was rapidly spinning toward total loss of control. His beasts were twining inside him, roaring for their mate’s pleasure.
Her pussy clutched him, and he knew she was close. Latching his mouth onto her neck, he bit down, enough to bruise but not mark permanently. His tiger rose to the front and a loud purr rumbled from him. She screamed his name as her pussy gripped him so tightly it made his eyes cross. He followed her orgasm with his own, his dick spasming hard within her.
He released his grip on her neck and eased them both away from the door. He had to will himself not to sink to the floor and just lay there to regroup, and he carried her to the couch instead. He dropped onto the cushions, his jeans around his knees and his dick still buried with her. Her head fell to his shoulder as she moaned and went limp.
“You rock my world every time,” she said in a rough voice.
“Me too, sweetheart. If it’s okay with you, I’m going to just sit here until all my bones resolidify. That was so hot I think my insides melted.”
She chuckled and hugged him. “That’s just fine with me.”
Chapter 9
“I should call off work again,” Jair said. He jerked his jeans on with a barely contained growl, stomping into the closet for his boots. She tried to hide her smile, but it was impossible. He looked really pissed, and it was only because he had to leave her home to go to work.
“I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but I do like some creature comforts. Air conditioning. Nice sheets. Food. Jobs help secure that.”
He left the closet and gave her an incredulous look. “Of course I plan to work eventually, but shit, babe, we just met three days ago. It’s too soon for us to be apart.”
He sat heavily next to her, and she scratched her nails lightly down his neck. “I feel like I should have a job, too.”
“No way.”
“I’m not a spoiled princess. Well, not anymore.”
“I have a hard time believing that you were ever spoiled, sweetheart. You’re kind and generous, easy-going and so sweet. Spoiled people don’t act like that.”
Geraldine had kept her grounded. In some chains, the royal family was revered to the point where they were treated like gods and goddesses. Her father had given her whatever she wanted, but Geraldine had filled in where it really counted – teaching Genesis to be a good person.
“I still don’t want you to work, at least not right now. This is new for you, and I want you to take time to settle into our life together,” he added.
The sincerity in his eyes made her heart clench. She’d already fallen head over heels for him, but she hadn’t spoken the words out loud. In her previous life, she’d hoped that she would someday love her arranged mate, but she knew that was a best-case scenario. There were many arranged matings that were amicable and affectionate, but not filled with love.
“You keep looking at me like that and I’m going to stay home,” he said.
“Sorry. I’m crazy about you, Jair. I know it’s only been a few days, but in my heart it feels like I’ve known you forever. Like my cat was missing a vital piece and I wasn’t really functioning until we met. I love you.”
Everything seemed to freeze as he stared at her, his mouth parted and his eyes wide. “You do?”
“Yeah. How could I not? You’re irresistible.”
The shoe he’d been holding thudded to the floor and he hauled her across his lap, devouring her in a kiss that seared her all the way to her soul. He sucked on her bottom lip with a growl and said, “Fucking love you too, Genesis. You’re my heart, my soul, my everything.”
He rolled her onto her back and kissed her. She felt him digging around in front of him and realized he was searching for his phone. He lifted it and pressed his thumb to unlock the screen.
“Who are you calling?”
“The hell I’m going into work today. You said you love me. We’ve gotta celebrate.”
“Oh?” She laughed.
“Yeah. Naked. Lots of naked celebrating.”
Felix answered, and with her enhanced hearing she could hear his exaggerated sigh. “I suppose you’re not coming in today?”
“My mate just told me she loves me.”
“Oh! Well, congrats. I’ll cover you today, but tomorrow, no more excuses. We’d all like to have a tempting mate at home, but the real world beckons.”
“The real world sucks,” she whispered.
Jair said goodbye and turned off the phone, dropping it onto the floor and giving her a rakish grin. “So we’ve only got twenty-four hours to celebrate. Is that enough?”
“It’ll never be enough,” she promised.
* * *
Jair offered Genesis his arm as he escorted her from the tiny Italian bistro he’d taken her to for dinner. He’d never really had anyone teach him how to be a good mate, but he did know about good manners, and he used every bit of knowledge he had to make her feel special. Because she was.
After settling her in the truck, he got behind the wheel and turned the key. “Do you want to see a movie?”
“I’d like to shift, actually. If that would be okay?”
He glanced at her in surprise. “Really?”
Her brows wiggled as she smiled. “I want to see your shifted form, and my cat wants to hunt with you.”
Nerves skated through him as he turned the truck toward home. He knew they would shift together at some point, but he hadn’t thought it would be so soon. She accepted him in the abstract – she knew about his unique coloring, but she hadn’t seen it. A part of him, no matter how small it might be, worried about her reaction.
“I said I love you,” she said.
“I know.”
“I don’t take that lightly. My love is unconditional, okay? No matter what your shift looks like, or how you steal the blankets at night, I still love you. I will always. That’s how truematings work. You’re stuck with me.”
He chuckled, and felt some of the tension leave him. “I only steal blankets in self-defense. Your feet are like icicles.” He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. “You’re stuck with me too.”
“Happily stuck.”
“If my sweetheart wants to shift, then we will. I can’t wait to see your beautiful cat.”
His tiger agreed, purring with interest.
When they arrived home, they headed to the back patio. “Remember to stay with me in the woods. I know where the boundaries are, and it can be easy to get distracted and wind up outside of our territory.”
“I promise,” she said.
While they undressed outside, he wrestled with his conflicting feelings. He’d been brought up to believe that wolves were inferior, that cats were better, and hybrids particularly should be reviled. Even as a kid, he’d sensed that there was something different about him, but he’d never had confirmation until he shifted. In his pride, most
of the tigers were orange-and-black striped or white-and-black striped. His family line, through his mother, had dominant blue fur with black stripes. That his wolf was dominant in the shift but not in the coloring had been confusing, but he’d been told that was what happened with hybrids. He was effectively a wolf shifter with a bit of tiger hidden in his DNA.
“You look so serious,” Genesis said, pressing her fingertips to his cheeks and drawing his attention to her. “There isn’t anything here but love. You’re the sexiest guy I’ve ever met. You smell amazing to me, and my cat wants to shred your clothes every time you get dressed because you look so amazing naked.” She peered up at him, her gaze searching. “Don’t be ashamed of your wolf. Without him, you wouldn’t be you, and that would mean I’m alone. Let go of the past. Your pride isn’t here. We have a new…well, I don’t know what to call us. A prain? Or a chide?”
He laughed at her silliness. “How do you always seem to know what I’m thinking about?”
She pressed her hand over his heart. “Because I love you.”
Her affection could bring him to his knees. He was constantly in awe of the fact he was such a lucky sonofabitch. He kissed her swiftly, tempted to throw her over his shoulder and head back inside. Instead, he took a step away and reached for his shift. When he was younger, he’d fought changing because being a wolf in a tiger pride was difficult as hell. He’d eventually stopped fighting it so much, but he hated the wolf for a long time. Now, as his claws flexed and his tail snapped behind him, he was grateful for both beasts. Without them, together, he wouldn’t have Genesis.
His senses were heightened in his shift, and he could pick up even more of her lovely scent. She knelt naked in front of him, and ran her fingers through his thick fur.
