The Panther's Rival

by Emilia Hartley

  “Then take me,” she whispered and released the magical binding on his wrists.

  He didn’t pounce on her like she thought he would. Gray-green swirled through his eyes, a sign that he and his beast were together as they moved. Slowly, so slowly, he approached her. His hands slithered over her hips before gripping her, hard. He spun her around and pressed the length of his body tight against her. She could feel the hard length of his cock pressing against her buttocks.

  Warmth pooled between her legs. She heard the dragon man scent the air behind her, taking in the desire that she could not hide, either. Then, before she could react, his arms slipped behind her knees and he swept her off her feet.

  Chapter Seven

  “I will not fuck you on a hard surface,” he growled with her in his arms. “Direct me to your bed.”

  All Gwen could do was point toward the closed door. He kicked it open, breaking the lock. She didn’t have time to mind. She would be leaving soon, anyway. Beyond the broken door lay what felt like an indoor garden. Plants in pots of all sizes filled the sunny room. Amidst pots of lavender and peppermint sat her wide, white covered bed.

  Cameron and his beast set her gently down onto the white duvet before abruptly gripping her hips and flipping her over. His hands ran up the back of her legs, earning a small moan out of her mouth. How long had it been since anyone touched her at all? Even the small gesture had her closing her eyes to savor in the feeling.

  There were things a man could do that the battery-operated boyfriends could not, such as gripping the waistband of her long skirt and yanking it down over her legs. She laid there, bare assed for his viewing pleasure.

  He growled, his hand moving toward the soft flesh of her buttocks. Long fingers kneaded her flesh. How long had it been for him, she wondered? Had it been just as long? Was he aching for her the same way she ached for him?

  She squealed when his teeth descended upon her skin. He bit the tender flesh of her buttocks, interspersing kisses between small nips and nibbles. She writhed beneath his grip. He laughed, deep and resonating through her. She felt it rumble through her core and she knew what she wanted.

  “Take me,” she breathed.

  His tongue slipped between the gentle folds of her. She let the bed swallow her moan of pleasure. She had not expected the quick flick of his tongue there. She had not expected this gentle patience.

  “Take me,” she growled.

  His finger slipped inside of her and she called her pleasure into her bed sheets. “You’re not ready,” he whispered.

  She rocked her hips back and forth, enjoying the feel of even a finger inside of her as it touched places that had been lonely for far too long. The silkiness of his skin was nothing compared to the feeling of the tip of him as he pressed it against her opening. She moaned with surprised delight.

  She had been with a dragon before. She knew what it meant to lay with one and what they hid in their pants. Her battery-operated boyfriends should have ensured that she was ready for the smooth shaft to slide into her, but as he guided himself in, inch by inch, it felt like nothing she’d known.

  Once he was hilt deep, his hips began to work. He thrust, hitting deep each time, while his hands explored every inch of her body. They shoved her shirt up so that he could cup her aching breasts. His soft thumb flicked and pinched her nipple, sending a jolt of pleasure through her core. The other hand moved further south, the tips of his fingers sliding between her folds to touch her most sensitive place.

  His hand worked in unison with his cock, pushing her closer and closer to the precipice. Waves of pleasure coursed through her core with each thrust of his cock. It seemed to fill every available inch inside of her, stroking her pleasure into a slow burning fire.

  She could spend a lifetime in this moment, she thought. She tightened herself around his cock in rhythm with his thrusts. Behind her, Cameron moaned. His grip on her tightened possessively. His thrusts came faster as he lost a bit of control.

  He leaned forward and teeth scraped her shoulder. She cried out from the sheer pleasure it sent through her. His teeth pressed into her skin, pleasure mingling with pain while her orgasm rocketed through her. She cried out, unable to keep it inside.

  It was her cry that sent him over the edge. He spasmed inside of her. His roar of pleasure mingled with her soft cry. Their magic whipped around them, a whirlwind that left the room in disarray. Neither of them care. They fell forward in a heap, breathing heavily.

  Gwen wriggled into the soft sheets, sated after their long bout of lovemaking for the first time in… maybe her life. It was an experience like none other she’d ever had before. He lasted for as long as she needed to climax, which turned out to be quite a while. She turned her head to the side, eyes studying the face of the man lying beside her.

  He looked back at her with half lidded eyes and a soft, content smile on his lips. She leaned forward and claimed them in a slow kiss. He returned the favor, his hand reaching up to cup the side of her face. Affection. The realization sent a sharp jolt through her.

  He was showing her affection.

  Then, suddenly, he scrambled out of the bed and bolted for the door. Her mouth hung agape. That had been unexpected. What should she have foreseen? A long night of cuddling? A happy future. She cursed herself for being ever hopeful when reality seemed all too happy to squash her into the ground. She fell onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, fighting back hot tears.

  “You have to be starving,” Cameron’s voice drifted back to her.

  Her head fell to the side and she nearly choked on her laugh of relief. Completely naked, the dragon man stood in her bedroom doorway, board of meats and cheeses held between his hands. She pressed her lips together, warning herself not to become attached, and nodded. She was, indeed, starving.

  Cameron climbed back atop the bed to sit with her and stationed the board so that it sat before them, not between them. He adjusted himself so that his knee touched her bare thigh and reached forward to claim rolled meat and slivers of sharp cheese. He, too, it seemed, was starving. Their love making had been nearly frenzied.

  “Can I…” Cameron seemed to trip over his words. “Can I feed you?”

  She let herself fall back into her plush pillows, feeling, for a moment, like a goddess. “Feed me,” she commanded.

  Cameron laughed, that bright sound that reminded her of sunshine. His fingers claimed a cluster of grapes from the board and hung them over her lips so that she had to reach for them. She caught the glint of mischief in his eyes before he snatched them away and popped a grape into his own mouth.

  Gwen turned a pout toward him and he broke down, feeding her several grapes by hand before insisting she also eat some protein. The night went on like this, happily teasing one another. It was her last night in this apartment, her last night in this town before she became someone new again.

  What name would she choose this time? This time her name was too close to the truth. Next time, she would have to decide upon something wholly new and different. She could become Rose or Delilah. Or, she could become something fresh and new like Teagan. That was a name that she admired. It would make her seem young.

  Teagan sounded like a great name.

  Chapter Eight

  Cameron wondered what his luck was. He had found his mate and secured his mission all at once. It was beyond believable as he looked down at the slim, naked body of his mate. He wanted nothing more than to bury his face in the scent of her and refuse to come up for air.

  Her screams of pleasure had driven him into a mad frenzy, a feeling that he’d never known before. Both, he and his beast, swarmed to the forefront while they were inside of her. His scent would soon mingle with hers, warning others that she was mated and claimed.

  Somehow, she had allowed him to stay with her for the past week. Their days were spent playing music or basking in the sunlight. Their nights, as soon as the sun even hinted at diving toward the horizon, they retreated to her bedroom. Each morni
ng, he would wake to her staring down at him as if she might bolt at any second. But, she would slowly make her way toward him and their day would start all over again.

  The only thing he wished he’d considered sooner was the chance of conceiving a child while in this new stage. It was something his brother and Rhiannon were learning to deal with, but was not one that Cameron wished to risk in this uncertain time.

  Feeling his stomach churn with fear and shame at his own stupidity, he pulled open the bathroom mirror. His fingers hovered over the bottles and tubes of cosmetic solutions, wondering why Gwen needed any of them. He wasn’t sure what it looked like, but he wanted to make sure. He needed to know if she was on modern birth control.

  He’d left his phone in the bedroom, or else he would use the internet, a wonderful source of information brought about by recent technology. After a long moment of fruitless searching, he closed the bathroom mirror. He couldn’t do what Gareth was doing. Gwen already stirred a bevy of protective emotions that would most likely spin out of control if she became with child too soon.

  They couldn’t risk that.

  ***

  When she woke, part of her was alarmed to find the other side of the bed empty. Her hand ran across the still warm sheets and her heart calmed. Frowning, Gwen told herself she cannot get attached to this man. This dragon man that she let stay in her home for nearly a week. Each morning she told herself to run and never look back. Each morning her feet pulled her back toward the bed.

  A handful of nights of great sex was not going to change anything. He was still a dangerous dragon and she was still the Witch of Caernarfon, betrayer to some and belonging of others. She swallowed hard as the memories struck her, as the emotions stirring inside of her warred with one another. Cameron had not seemed like the other dragons at all. The only time he seemed in any way vicious was when he expressed anger over what happened to her, over her pain.

  That was not like any dragon she knew. Gwen ran her hands down her face.

  A muffled vibrating sound came from within her room. Curious, she sought the sound and found it in the pocket of Cameron’s pants. It always amazed her that even while seemingly incarcerated in the Territories, dragons had access to technologies such as cell phones. She dug the vibrating cell phone out of his pants pocket, glancing toward the closed door as her heart rate picked up.

  A message flashed across the screen, readable even though she could not unlock his phone.

  Have you found the witch? Complete the mission and bring her here soon.

  She chucked the phone back toward his pants as though it burned her. In many ways, it had. Her heart was ever so slowly attempting to open up to this dragon man that wandered into her life. She wanted to believe that he was different, that he would be gentle and patient with her.

  Truth was, she was nothing more than a mission to him.

  Anger roiled through her. It gripped her magic, the kind that she shoved dark and deep, and lashed out in every direction. Her magic was a thorned vine that cracked in the air and dragged across her skin. Cameron’s forgotten clothing disintegrated into nothing more than fiber remnants. His phone screen cracked in several places, spider webbing as though something were crushing it.

  The door to her room cracked open to reveal a smiling façade. She threw a dark glare in his direction. A ceramic mug on his tray shattered. Hot tea ran down his arms. His face fell and confusion tumbled through his eyes.

  “You didn’t come here on a rutting night,” Gwen hissed. She pulled her sheet up to her bare chest, feeling more vulnerable than she had in years. But, she would not be the victim. Her magic wrapped around her.

  “You need to listen to me,” Cameron pleaded. His eyes found the cracked phone.

  “I do not have to listen to anything.” Gwen flicked her hand in his direction. He fumbled backward. Her magic slammed into his chest, bearing all of her rage and the weight of her betrayal.

  See if she ever lets a dragon into her life again. They were only trouble. His leader wanted her for a weapon against their enemies. He charged Cameron with the task of convincing her to love him so that she would protect them. Nothing they’d done this past week meant anything.

  It hadn’t. That was what she wanted from it. It was a release for the both of them, nothing else.. But, but she hadn’t expected the pain that filled her chest when she learned the truth. She hadn’t expected tears to fill the corners of her eyes.

  “Get out,” she growled. Angry, she threw the cracked phone at him. Deftly, he snatched it out of the air before it could hit him in the face. Gwen let a small sound of frustration slip past her lips.

  “Not until you hear me out!” Cameron calmly stood his ground, even as his voice rose.

  “I do not have to hear anything. You lied. You came here with false intentions. Get out of my home.” She flicked her hand at him again and shoved at him. The door flew open behind him and he stumbled back through it. When it slammed shut in front of him, her heart thudded inside her chest.

  She quickly closed the space between her and the door, her fingers shakily tracing warding sigils across the cheap wood. They glowed in the dim morning light for a second. Then, they sank into the wood. She would have to do it on every wall of the apartment to keep him out.

  But, it locked her inside. She felt tears burn her eyes and a sob shook her chest. She sank to the floor and reached for her cards, willing them to tell her the future. Instead, her fingers flipped the same three cards. Tower. Lovers. Death.

  She let her tears consume her. She was going to die in this apartment. The beast outside was undoubtedly going to burn her home down around her for kicking him out. Dragons did not like to be told no.

  Chapter Nine

  Cameron let himself sink to sit on the stair case. His head fell back and a sigh slipped out from between his lips. He could feel the crawling sensation of wards being wrapped around her apartment. Gwen closed herself up and there was no getting back inside.

  His mate had cast him out. The beast inside of him prowled, angry and dejected. It wanted back inside, wanted Cameron to explain their side of the story, wanted their mate to forgive them so that they could nestle their head between her breasts once more.

  It was almost impossible to think that the Witch of Caernarfon was his mate. She was a legend among not only her own people, but the supernatural community as well. The witch that had leveled towns with her wild magic was his mate. She was wild and beautiful and, also, scared as a rabbit looking in the eyes of a wolf.

  That made him angry. He wished to know who had hurt the Witch of Caernarfon, his mate, so badly that she was terrified of his kind. He’d seen the wreckage that her power could cause. What had been done to her to make her afraid?

  Sucking in a ragged breath, Cameron forced himself up. He glanced back at the now warded apartment. There had to be a way for him to get back inside.

  Better yet, there had to be a way to get her to come out. It had to be on her own terms. She had to approach him with no fear in her heart. Then, she would listen to him. They would come to an understanding. It was his fault for not telling her sooner that they were mated. That truth could have helped her realize he did not bed her for the reasons Drystan asked for.

  It was one thing to venture around the Territory in only his underwear, but Gwen had shoved him into the public with nothing more than his skivvies and a cracked phone. With a sigh, he crept down the stairs to her apartment and went in search of a shop that would allow him to replace his lost clothing. Then, he would take up post at the café across the street and wait for her to run. Surely, she would be on the run again, soon. The Witch of Caernarfon had been running for a long time. Now that a dragon knew where she was, he was sure she was going to try again.

  His thoughts fell upon the cards she drew for him. It occurred to him that, perhaps, the cards she thought she accidentally drew for herself could apply to the both of them. It made sense considering that she was his mate. Anything that applied to her
would, by default, include him, too. He thought back to the images laying before him on that small café table.

  The Tower. Not that he knew what it meant. All he could remember was the image of a woman tumbling from a high tower. It did not bode well, but he wondered if it was only a thrust into the unknown that it forebode. The thrust into a mating bond that she was not prepared for.

  What had been the second card? An image of two, entwined bodies returned to his memory. The Lovers. Indeed, he wished they would become lovers. A single night was not good enough for him. He needed her in his life then here on out.

  People stared at him, women’s eyes drawn downward until their conscience reminded them to look away with red faces. He couldn’t appreciate the glances. Not when he knew his mate had locked herself in her apartment, when she thought he was using her. His stomach rolled. They could barely help themselves the night before, caught in the pull that the new bond had over them. He hoped that she didn’t think the sex was a ploy, too. It had meant something to him, that first touch. He craved more. He needed to be hilt deep in her again.

  After an hour of feigning embarrassment in a small shop and struggling to pull up his credit card information on his phone, a technological advancement that he was grateful for the first time ever, Cameron was outfitted with new jeans, boots, and a t-shirt that advertised tourism for the town. It covered his body and that was all he cared about.

  Upon returning, he scoped out her apartment for signs of her disappearance. A shadow passed over her bedroom window as though Gwen was inside, pacing. His heart thumped hard, but he didn’t move toward her. Instead, he was smart enough to claim a table near the window of the café across the street and order an espresso.

  Behind him, a TV silently displayed a local news station. At first, he paid no attention to it. Things happening in that small town were of little consequence to him at that moment. But, then he caught a glimpse of red scales across the screen and it suddenly had his full attention.