Hard Case

by J. Hali Steele

  “Please, give it to me, please,” she begged on a moan.

  Case rubbed his broad head through the folds at the entrance to her pussy and perfectly timed, he rammed his cock into her with one hard push. “Oh yeah.” He groaned as he entered Tres at the same time the man entered his woman. “So wet and tight. Mi— It’s so good.” He couldn’t say “mine”. She would know him for sure if he said that word. But she was his. Every luscious inch of her. Mine!

  And they could all look forever, but no one would touch what belonged to Hard Case.

  He drove in and out of her pussy, and she rode him like a stallion. Up and down. She clenched her muscles and pulled him in further. She convulsed around his cock when he pulled out and pushed back in. He was so far in her, he was lost.

  “He’s going to come, baby. He’s so close. She took all of him. She’s squeezing his cock. She’s milking him now. Squeeze mine. Oh, yeah. I can feel it. Yes.”

  Tres came again and when she crested, it flowed from her like molten lava, a hot volcanic eruption.

  “Tres!” Case bellowed as he felt his balls tighten, every muscle in his body tensed in anticipation. Cum spurted from his cock and filled her up. It poured into her hot pussy. He bucked inside her until he was empty and weak.

  “Oh baby. You are so good,” he whispered to her. Silently, he slipped in her mind.

  It’s only a dream, she thought, and he wouldn’t let her know any different. Tres wanted the dream to last forever so she could stay wrapped in his arms and that’s where Case planned to keep her.

  She liked to perform—at least in her dreams with him.

  Case looked at his lifemate. He’d spend eternity trying to satisfy her as he’d done tonight. She didn’t know it was real. How in the hell would he explain everything, make her understand? Because now he knew it was true.

  “Best dream,” she murmured in his arms.

  He laid her back in her own bed and stroked the green, sweat-dampened hair from her face. God, she was so wonderful and sweet.

  She is mine.

  “Sleep well, draga moja, my own flame,” Case spoke softly in her ear.

  He woke in his bed, his shaft placid and sticky against his leg. He smiled and drifted back to sleep.

  And slept the sleep of the dead.

  Chapter Seven

  It was early afternoon and Case needed sustenance. He was hungry.

  He often visited the ski resorts in Big Bear to feed. There was usually one asshole daring enough to leave the marked runs. They provided nourishment to those like him. Humans were never in danger of death from his people, unless a transgressor came across their path. The Reign kept them pretty well in line around these parts.

  Skiers came out of the vampyre enthrallment placed on them and thought they’d taken a tumble in the snow. They always felt lucky they hadn’t broken anything, so the bruise, and the slight pain in the neck, never registered as dangerous.

  It wasn’t long before he found the perfect target to satiate his hunger.

  Case took his fill of the unsuspecting stranger and closed the pinprick wound with his healing saliva. Another thing about skiers—their blood was sweeter than the sweetest wine. They were healthier than most humans and they supplied much needed strength to the vamp part of the cat’s nature.

  While he waited to make sure the guy got up okay, his sharp hearing picked up the mewing sound of a cat in the trees behind him. He smelled leopard. Snow leopard. My snow leopard. Why was she up here?

  He continued to cloak his body and went to investigate.

  It was the first time seeing her as a cat. What he saw blew him away.

  As he watched the feline frolic, Case was filled with joy. He couldn’t take his eyes from her. She wasn’t as small as he imagined she would be. His lion, which ripped at him for release, was still twice her size.

  He knew of other Kind who mated outside of their species. But he never thought he would be one of them. Often he wondered how they could be with anything other than their own. As he watched this agile, wiry cat, he understood.

  She looked as hot to him in her cat’s body as she was in her human form.

  She was simply beautiful.

  He continued to watch her bound effortlessly across the rocky terrain. Then he smelled it.

  Goddammit! Case watched her sniff at the air and knew she’d scented the same thing he did—transgressor, a tiger. The foul stench of death was unmistakable. Before he had time to be rational, his beast was loosed, intending to protect its mate.

  Sleek, cream-colored fur rippled up his muscular forearms, down his legs, and across his broad chest. Unlike shifters, there was no pain. His bones didn’t pop or crack. This was his natural form. His face elongated, his canines dropped and, in mid-stride, his body folded over to accommodate his lion. Large paws smashed to the ground and sent a spray of snow into the frigid air.

  His only thought—protect his draga.

  * * * * *

  Tres had awakened with wetness between her legs. Unable to get the wonderful dream out of her mind, she played it over and over in her head. I’ll have to add a cinematic score if I don’t stop this!

  To get rid of the pent-up frustrations of her body, she decided to visit the snowy mountain peaks of Big Bear. Her snow leopard cried for release. It wanted to run through the soft, powdery coldness.

  The colorful, thick fur slowly crept up her arms and legs, covering her torso. The bones expanded and popped into place. There was only a little discomfort. Her deadly claws curved out and her nostrils flared at the end of her snout. She was a predator. Her long tail swished agitatedly back and forth.

  Snow leopards were smaller cats that usually weighed around one-hundred-thirty pounds. But like all shifters, she became larger in her natural form. No one understood this phenomenon. Tres was no longer the petite, pretty woman. She was close to two hundred pounds of solid muscle. In her natural habitat she could kill prey three times her size.

  She was in her element. The dense, rosette-spotted fur blanketed her body with warmth as she rolled in the snow. She had found an isolated area with rocky ledges and she cavorted up and down the steep inclines. Her cat enjoyed the rugged activity.

  The snow leopard reached the highest ledge and stopped abruptly. Tres’ extraordinary olfactory senses picked up a scent. Vampyre. There was something familiar about it. But her eyes couldn’t find him as she lifted her snout high in the air, nostrils flared, breathing deeply. Before she had time to think, another smell mingled with it. Transgressor. Shit.

  She didn’t want to deal with one of those nasty bastards. They ran in packs lately, and some with rogue vamps. She knew this blood-addicted cat was alone. The vamp didn’t have the putrid scent of rogue. But she hadn’t been prepared to meet either one of them this morning.

  Tres, caught off guard, saw the tiger jump toward her when she suddenly smelled…Case! She looked left in time to see the lion fly through the air and slam into the tiger. Both cat’s bodies crashed together in a horrendous sound of bone meeting bone, and rolled over and over down the steep embankment of snow.

  She watched stunned as Case’s lion came to his feet first and swiped a huge claw across the tiger’s face. The tiger, his face bloodied, roared in pain as he reared up to strike back. The lion went up on his hind legs, bellowed a challenge and met the striped cat head on.

  Case used his claws to seize the tiger by his throat. Both cats fell to the ground and grappled with each other like wrestlers. They tumbled through the snow. The lion maneuvered the tiger onto its back and ignored the claws dug in his side. He bit into the tiger’s throat.

  The tiger’s mournful shriek of pain said the short-lived battle was over.

  But Tres saw Case didn’t release the cat. He shook his strong jaws viciously back and forth. He raised his head and roared. A sound that erupted into the air like thunder. He leaned back down to his opponent who struggled to breathe through his mangled air passage. He dug a claw mercilessly into the tiger�
��s stomach and held him pinned to the ground. The lion’s jaws opened wide and bit into the striped beast’s belly. He pulled back with unbelievable force and disemboweled the cat. Blood sprayed from the gaping wounds and flooded the pristine snow brilliant red.

  Tres continued to watch as the lion stood to his full height, and with his large head held skyward, he roared the shattering sound of victory. The king of beasts. To anyone else he would look monstrous, his cream-colored fur covered in blood, his canines dripping with it.

  To Tres’ cat, and to her, he was magnificent. He’d protected her life. His green eyes focused on her, blasted her with a heated gaze.

  The beast had killed for her and he’d won the snow leopard’s heart.

  The cat turned away, white fur began to recede and he unfolded his body upright. A bare back loomed before her.

  Her snout went back into the air, sniffing.

  She couldn’t believe it. The vamp smell belonged to him. Now it began to make sense. The glamour, her attraction to both creatures. She knew the Kind were strong, but she had never met one with his advanced vampyre ability. The bastard had played her all along. Tres’ eyes were murderous when they met his. Her cat growled and hissed angrily, its tail swishing threateningly in the air. She jumped down off the ledge past him and streaked away, leaving only her large footprints in the snow.

  * * * * *

  Hell and damnation, I forgot to cloak my vampyre’s scent.

  Assuming his vampyre’s body, Case had stood naked with his back to her, the blood gone from his body. The sharp wind blew and lifted his loose hair. It wrapped around his face. With his ability to manipulate nature, he created a blanket of snow. Directing it over the dead tiger and all the blood, he covered the area, eliminating all traces of the battle that took place. There was only one problem.

  He hadn’t masked his vampyre’s scent and when he turned to face her, he’d seen recognition dawn in her eyes before she ran away.

  * * * * *

  “What’s up?” Alek asked.

  Case had called him to the bungalow and told him about his disastrous afternoon. He also filled his friend in on the rest of what had gone on between him and Tres. All of it.

  He wished for a moment he was human and could drown his sorry ass in liquor. The Wild Turkey he drank only made him more morose.

  “I got fired. She barred me from my own club. Can you believe it? She won’t even let me explain.”

  “Christ, man, I told you this shit would backfire on you.”

  “I don’t want to use my vampyre powers. I…oh hell, I don’t know what I want.” Case drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “Yes I do. She’s my draga. She must know by now. But I won’t go to her if she doesn’t want me.”

  “Give it some time. If you’re right she’ll have to come around.”

  “I need to get away from this. I think I’ll go home to Malibu.” Case stood and began to pace.

  “You won’t be able to stay away from her long if she’s your mate.”

  “I’m aware of that, dammit, but there’s nothing else I can do.”

  “I don’t know why but I guess I’ll have to help your furry ass out of this.”

  “What can you do?” Case turned to face his friend and saw a smile of anticipation on his lips.

  After Alek explained his plan to bring the two of them together, Case had only one comment.

  “If you touch her, if I smell one bit of desire from your tiger’s ass, I’ll kill you. I mean it. I’ll rip your fucking heart out. You got it.”

  “Tres and I go way back. It’s never been like that with us, man. Now, you want my help or not?”

  “Please. And thank you, Alek, in case I forget to tell you later.”

  “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Case hoped their plan worked. He knew he couldn’t live without her. But he had one more question.

  “When should I tell her I own this club and a bunch of others?”

  “Shit, if I were you, I’d leave any mention of them alone right now.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.”

  * * * * *

  “I don’t want his ass back in this door. If he gets past any one of you, you’re fired.”

  Tres’ staff eyed her like she was a raving maniac. They were all on edge. And afraid. Not a single one of them, hell, not three or four of them together, could stop a master vamp if one wanted to come in. Tres knew that and it was unfair of her to even ask them to try.

  Case was Reign too. What if he brought the Sovereign Nation down on her? Shit, she would have to call the owner. Let him know there might be trouble.

  And Holly had been no help at all.

  “How could you not know? You’re never affected by lions. I suspected…”

  “When, Hol? When did you suspect something and why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

  “Look, you’re a big girl and a smart one. The day you said your office smelled like a mating room, the same day you told me to back off. Don’t you remember? I thought something was strange then. I didn’t know his lion’s ass was the vamp, but I knew a connection existed between the two of you. We don’t go around all willy-nilly secreting the mating scent, Tres.”

  “What the hell am I going to do? He took my blood, dammit. I don’t want a mate. Christ, the vampyre in him is so fucking possessive I can’t breathe when I think about it. And he’s a lion, for hell’s sake. He likes the heat. Let’s not even deal with the fact he’s Kind.” Tres paced to her desk and stopped. “Shit, he’ll probably strangle me in my sleep if I look at another man sideways. How can I work like that, Holly? And it’s a damn good thing I didn’t get fleas.”

  Tres knew she was ranting, but she couldn’t stop.

  “I like to watch people fuck. It turns me on. How can I get satisfaction with my mate breathing down my back constantly? You know how it is with those guys. You’ve heard the stories.” She’d also heard the Kind would die for their draga. That’s what she was now. A Kind lion’s true mate.

  She paced the floor and struggled to hold her cat at bay. It clawed without mercy at her insides, wanting to be free. The snow leopard needed her mate.

  “And when he tells me I can’t watch anymore, when he gets all jealous and possessive on me, what will I do? I mean it, I’ll be afraid to close my eyes at night next to the crazy son of a bitch.

  “Well, at least you’ve come to the realization he will be lying there beside you.” Her friend’s eyes pierced her. “You had to let the thing with Griffin go someday.”

  “Get the fuck out of my office, Hol. You’re no help at all.”

  Tres continued to pace back and forth. Her friend was right. She knew she couldn’t be without him. Since the first time the vamp touched her, or was it the lion? Oh, whichever the hell one it was, she was lost. It was no wonder she never had a dry moment when the cat was around.

  Draga. She was a shifter but she knew what the word meant. And now she understood her dream.

  It was real.

  She was dying inside already. It hurt like hell to think she wouldn’t see Case again. Her leopard covered the distance inside her with the same ferocity as Tres paced her office floor. If she released her cat right now she’d find him. Wherever he was.

  “Oh shit, this is so fucked up.”

  And she knew unless she wanted to spend the rest of her days talking to herself and pacing the floor, she had to go to him. When she thought about Case, both of them, she dripped. She had no control over her body. I can’t live without watching. At least sometimes.

  She tried to be rational. The vampyre likes to watch. The lion likes to perform. In fact, the lion showed her she liked to perform as well. Which one would I choose to be with? Tres wanted them both.

  There was one thing she was positive of.

  One or the other, preferably both, of those bastards will apologize to me.

  She’d make sure of it.

  * * * * *

  Case had known his friend was h
ot for Holly.

  Alek brought her back to the performer’s room. They talked and Case saw her smile broadly, he knew she agreed to help with their plan. Evidently she liked to perform, and in that arena, Alek was a master. This should be good.

  “I was right,” Alek said as he materialized in front of him. “She likes to watch Holly. Don’t worry, she’ll get Tres back here. You need to be cool though. About me, I mean. Tres has watched me before. There is nothing there, dude, and you’ll see that. I think the leopard only has eyes for you, or the vamp.” Case’s friend was being a wise-ass when he added the last part.

  “I’ve watched people I know before. I’m cool with it if you are.” Case’s voice was hesitant.

  “Yeah, but you’ve never watched with your mate. Tres is really into this scene and I know you are. Now’s the time for you to find out if this is something you both will be able to do together, as draga. From what I’ve seen, especially with the Reign, we tend to be a little more possessive than most.”

  “She performed with me in our dream together. I was okay with it.”

  “The dream with draga feels and smells real but it’s still a dream, bro.”

  “I can’t imagine the rest of my days unable to watch or to perform sometimes, Alek. What will we do if we can’t do this for real?”

  “I can’t help you there, Hard Case, that’s your demon to fight. One thing at a time, let’s get her back here. Wait next door. I’m sure you’ll know when she comes in.”

  Case knew his friend had a demon of his own. He was addicted to the blood of the Kind prince. An addiction he fed with vicious regularity. He often wondered if Alek’s excessive sexual appetite for females was because of the pull he felt for another male.

  He knew the minute Tres entered the private room next door. He could smell her. The desire slammed into him like a baseball bat. His beast roared inside like the wild animal it was. God, what if I can’t do this? How would either of them live?

  What he should think about was how to make her understand why he hadn’t been honest with her.

  * * * * *