by P. Jameson
But he had her reeling when he yanked his hand free of her pants. A determined look on his face, he had them unbuttoned and around her ankles before she took her next breath. She kicked them off, and Magic didn’t waste a moment getting her where he wanted her. His big hands looped around her thighs, lifting her to straddle his hips. She was eager to thrust against him until she could find relief, but that wasn’t what he had in mind.
Bracing one forearm behind her ass, he used the other hand to push her back against the wall. He took a step backward and lifted so her pussy was on display and the wall supported her upper half.
She watched him, wondering what he would do to her. All attention was on the spot between her legs that ached for another touch. But when he gave her just that, she could barely keep from crying out.
Looking down at her, spread wide for him, Magic slid the thumb of his free hand from her throbbing entrance upward until he reached that tender pearl at the top. Circling it, he murmured, “Look at this pussy. So perfect. So ready for me. But not yet. First I’m going to make it sing.”
With the ending of his words, he pressed hard at her clit, massaging the nub, helpless to look away. He was enthralled, and that gave her such a deep satisfaction that she exploded on the movement of his thumb, her vision cutting to black while pleasure wracked her body.
She moaned and it came out a sexy purr that she needed him to hear.
“Aw yes, baby. Look at that. Beautiful.” He didn’t stop his rapid movements until her breath was sawing her lungs.
Moving both hands to her ass, he stepped with her away from the wall. Josie leaned forward, taking his face in her hands and kissed her feelings into him.
He pulled back to look in her eyes, his voice sandpaper rough. “I want to mate you and I’m going to. Do you want that, Josie? Tell me you still want that.”
She wanted this life with him, and she wanted it forever. She’d never been more sure of anything in her life. But…
“But I thought you said you can’t.” What made him change his mind?
“Fuck what I said, woman. Will you be my mate or not?” He was all alpha male in the moment, clearly thrown by what went down in the kitchen, but Josie could see the vulnerability in his question. The crease of worry between his brows. The flicker of doubt in his cat eyes.
“Yes,” she whispered, caressing his cheek. “I need you, Magic. But more than that. I want you, this. All the hard work that comes with it. I want everything.”
He swallowed, and she could see the relief sweep over him, painting him in a new light.
“You sure?” he rasped. “Because after this, there’s no going back. We can never take this back. Be sure, my female.”
She kissed him hard on the lips, sealing her promise to be his forever.
“Finish this,” she said.
With a determined growl, he stalked with her to the bed.
Chapter Twelve
Magic slid Josie down his body until her feet touched the floor. Her bared to him from the waist down was the most erotic sight he’d seen. He considered taking her like that, but no. He wanted access to all of her. Including those delicious nipples he’d wanted to lick for so long.
He lifted her shirt over her head. There was no going slow. He couldn’t. Not now. He needed this finished so he could breathe normal. The idea of her carrying another male’s young still raked him raw on the inside. His panther wouldn’t be happy until he’d filled her. With his seed, with his young, it didn’t matter as long as she was fully and undoubtedly his.
She stood before him in only her bra, and his gaze ate her up for the split second before his fingers managed to work the latch open. Her breasts sprung free, giving him the most perfect view of tight, rosy nipples and soft supple flesh.
“Josie,” he husked. “Goddamn it, you’re beautiful.”
She moaned loud as he palmed one and put his mouth on the other, sucking and nuzzling and drawing her scent as deep as was possible. He sucked her nipple between his lips, playing and teasing at the hard bud until her hands gripped his hair in desperation.
“Someday I’ll make you come from just sucking these beautiful nipples,” he murmured, forcing himself away. “In fact, we’ll see just how many different ways I can make you come. I’ll know your body like it’s my own. Better even.”
Her eyes flashed gold and he could sense how strong her cat had become. She had the same cougar Mandi had, but this cat wasn’t weak and shriveled. It was strong, like its human, and growing stronger.
The idea that his mate was tough shit made his cock even harder.
Ripping his shirt over his head, he tossed it away, and then unbuckled his belt. His gaze never left his mate, her flashing cat eyes. Sliding his pants down, his erection bobbed free, and he had a moment of pause.
Not doubt. Not the fear that had crippled him for so long. Just… a moment, where everything came to a pinpoint clarity.
Choose her, or don’t. But if you do, make it forever.
This was it. He was choosing to be faithful to one woman for the rest of his life. He was choosing to collar his animal with hers in a way that meant something. In a way that would ensure the two of them thrived, the clan thrived, and anyone who came after them thrived. By choosing her, he was changing his generation. Breaking the traditions they’d thought were laws of nature.
This was how he saved his people from his past mistakes. By showing them a better way, not by forcing them to remain alone all their years.
But there was something he had to know first.
“What would you do, Josie, if I cheated on you? Huh? What if I couldn’t stop my cat and I took another female to bed? What if I did to her what I’m doing to you now? What would you do?”
She looked mortified. Angry even, her mouth opening and closing without words.
“Answer me,” he demanded.
Her face glinted steel.
“I’d wait til you were sleeping and cut your fucking balls off. Then I’d hang them on the door of the bitch you fucked.” She smirked, ruefully. “It wouldn’t happen twice, I guarantee you that.”
Magic jerked his head back in surprise. That was not what he’d expected her to say. She wasn’t Mandi. She wasn’t a cat who was taught putting up with straying was necessary. She was a turned human who’d fight back, fight for her man.
His breath raked in and out of his chest. Talk of cutting off balls had done nothing to shrivel his erection. In fact, it was exactly what he’d needed to hear from her. He needed a female strong enough to call him on shit. Tough enough to face the challenge of being his mate.
“I want to fuck you so hard right now.”
She narrowed her eyes, her wet tongue slipping along her bottom lip. “Do it,” she challenged. “But you better understand that there won’t be any others for you. Not while you’re with me.”
There wouldn’t be. Ever. Even if they didn’t make it ‘til death. Even if she grew flighty and left him. He’d never take another female. She’d done him in. Changed him. Done what Doc said, and loved him enough to make him let go. She owned him as good as if he’d been collared and tamed.
Mutual. She was his, but most of all, he was hers.
He pulled Josie against him, burying his face in her neck. He just needed to hold her, feel her. Those slender arms went around his neck and she melted into him. The skin on skin contact was exactly what he needed.
“My mate. My strong and beautiful mate. I finally have you,” he breathed.
Taking her to the bed, he pressed his weight down on her, forcing her to feel his need for her, and caught her moan with his lips.
“Your mark,” she said when he pulled back. She brushed her finger over the slashes. “My cat remembers it.”
Magic nodded.
Carefully, she turned, showing him her back. There, on her shoulder, was the mark his panther had given Mandi so many years ago. It was three faded pink lines across Josie’s shoulder blade, and like everything else in his life
right now, it was a miracle.
Magic swallowed hard.
“All these years I thought it was a shrapnel scar from the wreck. It isn’t like yours.” She shook her head, staring at him over her shoulder, her eyes landing briefly on his ancient mark. “This is how she gave me her cat. When I was dying she clawed me. It’s not a mating mark, you see. It’s… a birth mark. A cat was reborn. A new life, a new chance. This is right, Magic. Do you feel it?”
He nodded, determination making his chest tight. “I feel it.”
Josie lowered her head to the pillow, and he spread her legs wide to make room for him. Gripping his erection, he carefully slid it between her wet folds, bumping the tip against her tender clit.
She gasped, squeezing her eyes closed against this new pleasure.
Over and over he slipped his cock against her, teasing her entrance but never giving her what she wanted. He needed her primed to the point of bursting. Shaking and quivering for release. Because he never wanted her to forget this moment when they came together. The moment they changed history.
“Magic,” her voice was helpless as she shook under his seductive assault.
“I know, baby. I know.”
He was sprung too tight himself. It was almost time.
“Please. My cat wants out,” she groaned. “I don’t know if I can hold it.”
“You can, Josie. You’re strong.” He kissed her neck, whispering in her ear, “So fucking strong. My little firecracker.”
Not waiting another second, he plunged into her, stretching and filling her. She gasped, and he met it with a guttural groan.
“Fuck, woman.” Her body gripped him tight as he gave her time to adjust to his size. Heat flooded his cheeks as sensations he hadn’t felt in ten years assaulted him. She was hot, and soft, and her claws in his shoulder drew blood that inched down his back in warm lines.
It made him feel wild. Rabid for her.
Need. To. Move. Claim. Now.
Magic pulled back, and then plunged forward, earning a satisfied moan from his mate. He needed to hear more. He wanted all her sounds blasting in his ears. He wanted the whole goddamn lodge to hear how well he pleasured his female.
Somehow, he found her eyes and focused on them. They flickered from ice blue to amber with every hard thrust of his hips, and he felt her body tighten and contract around him, preparing for her release.
“My Josie,” he murmured. “My second chance.”
God, he loved her. He fucking loved her, and someday, he hoped he could find the damn courage to tell her.
“Magic,” she whimpered, and he increased his speed, gripping her hips to pound harder. “I’m afraid of losing control. My… my animal…”
He rose up on his knees, holding her hips in both hands, pistoning into her and watching her head whip back and forth against the pillow. Her tits bounced with his rhythm. Her eyes… her fucking eyes had gone full cat. Her pussy gripped him tight before fluttering with release, and she screamed.
The whole damn thing was so beautiful, tears wet his eyes. And he wasn’t even sorry.
On the next push, Magic pumped his scent into her body. The scent she already carried, and now would for eternity. With a roar, he slashed his claws from her ass cheek half way down her thigh, and continued thrusting, filling her with his arousal until it spilled from her body.
But Josie wasn’t done. Her entire body shook and her cries of pleasure didn’t fade. Her eyes peeled wide and he could see she was close to turning.
He pressed his weight down on top of her, holding her arms above her head to force her to look at him.
“Don’t turn, Josie. Not yet, baby. Your mark needs to set.”
She nodded frantically, but her eyes didn’t return to normal.
“Stay with me, baby. Stay right here.”
Magic thrust his spent cock against her, soothing, bringing her back from the edge. He kissed her gently, licking her lips, tasting her now that things between them were permanent. She tasted the same, but better. Sweet. So sexy.
Moments passed as he calmed her enough to stop the shift. There would be time for that later, but for now, she needed to rest.
He pulled back to find her blue eyes, filled with wonder. “Better?” he asked.
“Perfect,” she breathed, and then let out a watery laugh.
Magic smiled, and it didn’t feel like a betrayal to his heart. It felt… really fucking perfect.
Falling to his side, he pulled Josie against him. Burying his face against her shoulder—against her birth mark—he drifted off to sleep.
***
The storm swirled and raged. Lightning flashed, making the sky bright for tiny blinks. Wind whipped Magic’s hair into snarls. By all accounts this was a nightmare, but Magic didn’t feel the dread he normally did when the dream stole his sleep.
Mandi spun in the midst of the vortex, but this time, there were no tears. Instead, her lips turned up in a smile. The kind full of so much joy, you almost had to look away. The kind that you feel rather than see.
Magic drew in a trembling breath. It was relief, pure and undiluted, and it pulled tears from his eyes that he couldn’t hope to stem.
So long. It had been so damn long since he’d seen her smile like that. More than the ten years she’d been gone. Maybe she’d never smiled quite like that. But here and now, waiting in the storm to say goodbye, his Mandi was truly happy.
“I’ll never forget you,” he said, his tears falling to the ground with the rain. “What you did for me. For our people. If it weren’t for your death…” A sob slammed him hard in the chest. “We’d never have found another way. You made me want better than what our forefathers had. You made me want more. And then, fuck…” He drew in a breath. He had to finish this. “And then you gave it to me. I don’t know how you did this, I don’t understand, but… thank you. Thank you,” he whispered. “I’ll honor you by honoring her, for all the days I live.”
She closed her eyes, lifting her face to the rain, smile never wavering. The wind picked up, increasing in speed. Magic braced his feet against it, watching as the vortex grew and grew, swallowing his smiling Mandi and finally giving her the redemption she so desperately needed.
In a breath, the storm was gone, the sun blasting through the clouds on a brand new day. The rain, evaporating to form dew. The wind, mellowing to a peaceful breeze. And there was no fear, no guilt, no regret. There was only finality, and the brightest of futures.
Chapter Thirteen
Magic’s panther darted through the trees with one purpose in mind: to catch the cougar that evaded him and lick her to submission.
Two weeks had passed since he’d claimed Josie, and he had zero regrets.
Tonight was their annual Thanksgiving fireside gathering. The one that was for the clan only. The dinner for guests had taken place at the lodge earlier, and just as Magic suspected, Eagan’s offerings were a hit.
Magic was tight on Josie’s heels as they raced toward their cabin. If he could just get her there and keep her naked for a while, maybe he’d calm.
He was nervous as hell. Tonight he was going to tell the clan he’d altered the pact they made, and he wasn’t sure how some of them would take it. But this was a necessary change. They’d never see growth if they didn’t take a little risk. And there were future generations to consider as well. Their young could grow up without the stigma of the past.
That alone strengthened Magic’s resolve.
He caught the cougar just in front of the porch, hooking her around the waist and rolling with her. Gentle though. Not too rough. There was the young in her belly to consider.
She purred as he lay on top of her licking her stomach where their cub grew.
She shifted, her gold fur becoming soft flesh, and a giggle escaped. He followed her, letting his panther fall away, but continuing to kiss her belly.
“Close your ears, little cat,” he murmured. “I have to tell your mommy something.”
Josie laughed. “I
’m sure with our genes, that kitten isn’t very obedient.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “True.” Leaning up to nip her ear, he whispered, “You are so sexy like this. Happy and warm and carrying my child, and…”
He pulled back to see her eyes. Gold and blue.
“I love you.”
She drew a finger along his jaw. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I would ask you to prove it, but we’re going to be late. We should get dressed.”
He kissed her softly, loving the way her lips softened to his.
“I love you too,” she breathed against his mouth, already panting for him. He could probably change her mind about being late, but he was anxious to set things right with his clan.
Magic grinned. “You’ll have to prove it later.” He sighed. “But you’re right. For now, we have business to take care of.”
He stood, taking her hand to pull her up.
In the cabin, they quickly dressed for the cool night. He watched his mate as she pulled on jeans, his eyes settling on her mating mark where it peeked out from the bottom of her panties. It had healed so perfectly and it was huge. It’d be visible this summer when she wore those short shorts she seemed to like.
When she was ready, he took her hand and they made their way to the campsite they’d prepped for the occasion. It was far enough away from the lodge to allow privacy, even though most of their guests had started back for home. More would arrive in the morning and they’d be full until New Years.
They approached to find everyone already there. Magic was relieved to see his people laughing, sipping hot cocoa, and roasting marshmallows. There was no sense of doom in the air. Maybe this was all going to go off without a hitch.
Ryan caught Magic’s attention at the edge of the trees and waved him over.
“I’ll be right there,” he told Josie, and watched as she went over to get some apple cider from Bailey.
Ryan walked a ways away from the camp before turning to give Magic an uneasy look.
“I just wanted to let you know I’m taking off for a while. I already talked to Renner and he thinks he and Owyn can handle things for Christmas.”
