Claimed by Panthers: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Panther Shifters of the Amazon Book 3)

by Laura Wylde

  “What did you say that for?” Tony snapped. “Now you have upset her.”

  “Me?” I practically yelled. “You’re the one who decided to run your mouth off. I just thought that it might be a good idea to talk about the way we mate to make her feel better. I’m not the one bragging about kissing her when you knew that it would make everyone uncomfortable.”

  Finally, Tony looked towards Seth and he started to realize what he’d done. Guilt crossed his face, and he nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be an asshole.”

  A thick uncomfortable silence filled the room. Even Tony didn’t know what to say now, which was a first. He had pushed Tara away, upset Seth, and pissed me off. I couldn’t tell how Ramon felt about the whole thing. He had a stoic face on.

  “So, we need to decide how we’re going to tackle all of this,” I said, to break the silence. “What do you think? Ramon, what did Javier and Jakar say to you about it?”

  “They want us out here still, defending the city. They don’t want us to back down. Jakar said that he would bring his pack out here if we need them to help us with this.”

  “I don’t want to do that.” I shook my head. “Not when he has a new family.”

  Ramon smiled. “I told him you would say that. But you know what he’s like. If he’s worried, he will come out here. Basically, what we need to do is dampen the threat before they come out of Panthera. If they all come out here, then it’s going to become problematic in another way.”

  I could see what Ramon was talking about. If all the panthers flooded the city then it was going to become even harder to hide our identity. People would suspect, especially in a place where there was already a lot of mythology and lore. No, we needed to try and avoid that idea.

  “Okay, so we need to calm things down before Jakar does something crazy. He is known for his temper, isn’t he? And the last thing we need is that on our side.”

  The other guys nodded, agreeing with me. Now, we just needed to figure out how to go about it. But since it didn’t seem like anything was coming our way right now, I guess it was time to focus on the right now. And right now, we had all upset Tara.

  “Well, I’m going to head out to the store to get something for Tara to eat. We need to make it up to her. So, Ramon, since you’re the only one who hasn’t upset Tara, why don’t you go and talk to her while the rest of us sort something out?”

  Everyone nodded, which was a relief. Finally, we were on the same page about something. We all knew that helping Tara was the only thing that we had control over right now and it was necessary. Not because we were afraid of what she had with the pictures, but because we all liked her, and we wanted to make her stay here comfortable.

  Again, the thought of a possible future with this woman filled my mind, but I quickly pushed it away. I couldn’t get carried away with something that might not happen.

  Tara

  “What the fuck am I going to do?” I muttered to myself as I stared at my laptop, sitting on the bed, filled with secrets that it seemed people were willing to kill me for. “What a mess.”

  I didn’t want to give up my photos, and not because I wanted to sell them anymore, I wouldn’t do anything to risk the secrecy that the panthers needed to exist under, but because I wanted to keep them for myself. I didn’t ever want to forget this wonderful time. It had been the best of my life. I wanted these memories to stay with me forever… but was I willing to die for these images? Jabari might be okay with me keeping them, but the jaguars wanted me dead. They jumped Ramon and beat the shit out of him just because of me. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.

  I needed to speak to the panthers again. I appreciated them giving me space, but I needed to be an adult about this. Not a sulky teenager who stomped up to her room in a mood.

  I rose to my feet and sucked in a couple of deep breaths before I stepped towards the door. I rolled my shoulders back and stood tall, being strong and powerful as I tackled the next terrifying conversation. I was going to have to discuss the photos, the jaguars, and what to do for the best. I was also going to have to discuss the kiss with Seth, with Tony, and my feelings for the other two.

  Fucking hell, that was going to be incredibly humiliating. How had I even ended up like this?

  That instant attraction, the bolt of lust that I felt right away when I saw these four men, hadn’t dissipated at all. It had only continued to grow and progress into something else. Something deeper. More. I couldn’t stop myself from falling head over heels.

  But what sort of woman fell in love with four men? That couldn’t be normal, surely? I guess I was going to have to suck it up and find out. Then if I had to face a shitty rejection, perhaps I would find it so much easier to delete the pictures and head back home. Staying in Brazil with guys who I had one-sided feelings for while my life was on the line, wasn’t appealing.

  I grabbed the door knob and swung the door open, stepping through it with my eyes on the floor. I halted only as I slammed into the thick muscular body filling up my door frame.

  “Oh, sorry.” A heat tore through my system, but I wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment or something else as I dragged my eyes upwards and I found my eyes locked with Ramon’s. Those beautiful red eyes that were completely unique to him alone. I really adored everything about his look, particularly his shock of white hair. “Sorry, Ramon. I didn’t see you there. I wasn’t looking.”

  “No, it’s okay. I was the one in the way. I was just coming to talk to you…”

  “You were?” I stepped backwards and invited him inside. “Okay, sure.”

  He walked into my room bringing a bit of a weird tension with him. When Tony showed me this room, we were talking and laughing, having fun. But this was very different. As Ramon closed the door behind him, I sensed an aloofness about him. I didn’t like that. I stepped over to the window and folded my arms across my chest, giving him a look.

  “I thought you came up to talk to me?” Still, he said nothing. “What about? Or did Jabari send you to try and calm me down after my little outburst down there?”

  He shrugged. “Something like that. He wants me to get you downstairs to eat.”

  My stomach interrupted my growling angrily at the thought of food. I didn’t want to be seen as weak, especially when it seemed like Ramon was giving me attitude for some reason.

  “Are you angry at me?” I decided to tackle it head on. “For the attack? Because I am sorry. If I’d have known that this was all going to happen, then I never would have taken the pictures. I can leave Brazil if it’s that much of an issue for you.”

  “No.” He shook his head, rapidly. “It isn’t that at all.”

  “It isn’t? Okay, so what is it? Because you seem really mad right now.”

  “I’m not mad. I just find this all very strange…”

  “Strange? Have I done something to make you feel that way?”

  This was starting to wind me up now. I didn’t know what I could do to make Ramon not feel this way about me. I was being myself, trying to be open and connect with him…

  “You only show me interest about my genetic anomaly,” he stunned me by blurting out.

  “What?” I exclaimed in shock. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I just think you only show me any interest because I am albino. I don’t look like the others. I don’t know if you have the same attraction to me like you do Tony, and Seth too… it seems like you had a thing with him as well?” I nodded. “Right, and we only talk about my strangeness.”

  “I just cannot believe you said that,” I gasped out in complete shock. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I had been that way. I just… I don’t know, I haven’t had the chance to talk to you.”

  “Hmm, yeah, I suppose so.” He nodded. “I guess it wasn’t totally fair for me to come at you like that when it’s only been a short time that we have known you. It just feels like forever.”

  “That’s… good, isn’t it? That we have a connection…”
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  “You’re attracted to Jabari as well, aren’t you?” He asked, ignoring my question completely.

  “I am,” I admitted. “But I’m also attracted to you. Very much so. In fact, you’re the first person that I noticed.” I laughed, awkwardly. “You were the first one I felt anything for.”

  “Because I’m weird,” he muttered. “Because I don’t look like anyone else.”

  “Not at all.” I shook my head, defiantly. “Not at all. I am not like that. I’m not the sort of person who judges by looks. Of course the initial attraction was looks based, but it was also more for me. I instantly knew that it was not like anything I had ever felt before. It was deeper. And every moment that I have spent with all of you has only made that grow. It’s confusing for me, really. To be so attracted, to have so many feelings for four guys at once. It has my head in a spin,” I sighed, loudly. “I’m sorry that I haven’t spoken more to you. I feel bad about that. But I guess it’s partly because I haven’t had time and partly because I’m scared of those feelings getting worse.”

  “What do you mean?” He asked me, quietly. “Worse, how?”

  “Well, if I get stronger feelings for you, it’s going to be even harder, isn’t it? For the future. You know, when… if…” I couldn’t even say the words ‘I leave’ because it just felt impossible.

  “I see.” Ramon hung his head low. He understood what I was saying, regardless.

  “But I have a different attraction to all of you.” I felt the need to continue explaining my feelings and I wasn’t really sure why. “I like Tony’s Italian look. I presume he is Italian, really?”

  Ramon smiled and nodded. “Sure, he is. But he’s ashamed of it for some reason. I think it’s because he’s the only panther from there so he’s a reminder of an affair.”

  I cocked an eyebrow in shock. It was weird to hear him talk of something that would seem more of a human issue than a shape shifter one. A baby being an issue because he was the product of an affair. A man escaping his life because he felt left out by his family.

  “That’s why he tries to hide his accent all the time. Bless him.”

  “Well, that just makes me like him even more.” I shrugged. “Because there’s something so real and raw about him. He’s full of depth, but he has a fun loving persona that makes me instantly feel comfortable. Sure, I can tell by his flirting that he’s a ladies’ man, but that doesn’t bother me.”

  Ramon chuckled lightly to himself, causing dimples to pop in his cheeks. When he grinned, he lit up the damn room. He was so much more attractive when he beamed like that.

  “And Seth… well, he’s quiet, isn’t he? He’s very closed off, but there’s a sweetness to that broody side of him. He’s gorgeous too, of course, but he’s deep and I want to get to know him. Then there’s the leader… Jabari. Wow. He is… well, he’s crazy hot, isn’t he? All bold and commanding, but thoughtful as well. I like how you can see how much he cares…”

  “And… me?” Ramon asked shyly, his eyes unable to meet mine.

  I instinctively took a step closer to him and brushed my hand against his arm. “You are wonderful, Ramon. You are sparklingly beautiful; you light up a room like glitter. The way you look is phenomenal, I love your hair, your eyes, your cheek bones, your dimples… but I also love the protector in you. I can spot it a mile off. You really care for your race and you will do anything to stand up for them. You don’t even mind about being attacked because of me. Not as much as you should anyway. You care more about the effect it has on me…”

  All of a sudden, the words fell away from my lips. They didn’t seem quite so important anymore. Instead, I lost myself in the beauty of his eyes, the desire in his gaze as he stared at me. He literally stole the breath from my body. It didn’t matter how frantically I panted, how much I tried to get air into my lungs, I couldn’t breathe. I was dizzy with lust, desire screaming through me. I rolled my hips against Ramon to let him know just how much I truly wanted him.

  “What are you doing to me?” He moaned, leaning his head against mine. “You’re driving me wild. You don’t even need to try and you’re sending me over the edge.”

  I trailing my fingers down him with a playful smirk on my lips. I slipped my fingers along the V shape leading from his abs down to where I wanted to feel him most. Just as I was about to get a cheeky cup of his bulge, he stunned me by slipping his hand around the back of my trousers, brushing against my ass before he grazed my soaking wet clit.

  “Oh my!” I gasped, my body bucking wildly. “Ramon, you really are a surprise.”

  As he plunged his fingers inside and began to massage me, touching me in an incredibly expert way since he hadn’t ever explored my body, I grabbed him and kissed him hard. I allowed the incredible passion to flow through my lips as he worked my body like crazy.

  “Oh, Ramon,” I gushed, desperately. “That feels so fucking good.”

  He lifted me from the ground as if I weighed nothing, his muscles flexing like crazy as he did, and he dropped me on the bed behind me. The bed that was to be mine even though I hadn’t slept in it yet. I giggled and allowed my hands to fly above my head as his fingers gripped tightly on to my thighs. He was staking his claim on me, and I liked it a whole lot. In the heat of the moment, I barely even remembered the other three guys. It was only me and him.

  “I want to taste you,” he whispered as he dragged my leggings down. “I need you, Tara.”

  I lifted my hips to let him drag the material away then cooed with sheer bliss as he grabbed on to the elastic of my panties with his teeth. The material grazed along me, causing me to shudder violently. My fingers curled around the sheets, my knuckles turning white because I couldn’t hold on to them enough. I needed something to connect me to the Earth before I lost my mind.

  I lifted my head up and watched as Ramon seductively stuck a toe in his mouth. He sucked and licked it like it was the most incredible thing he had ever tasted, causing me to see stars. It wasn’t even one of my erogenous zones, as far as I knew, but with Ramon it just felt perfect.

  “Fuck,” I gasped out, desperately unable to form any proper words. “Fuck, Ramon.”

  He continued the journey up my leg, pausing to suck and lick random patches of my skin as he went. My hips bucked, my back arched, need screamed through me. I was shivering constantly, I couldn’t keep myself together. I was a mess already.

  “Wow,” he breathed, his breath tickling along my core. “You smell divine. I want to taste you.”

  I had a feeling that he wanted me to give him permission, but I couldn’t make it happen. I was too on fire for anything. Instead, I moaned loudly and slid my eyes closed, hoping that would help him understand how badly I wanted him.

  As the blackness engulfed me, stark images of the other guys came flooding back to me. Seth, with his massive rock hard bulge between my fingers as we rolled around on the bedroom floor. Tony, with his rough hot tongue invading my mouth, his fingers brushing all over my body. Jabari and the way that he stared at me like he wanted to devour me whole.

  I wanted all of them here, I needed to feel every damn inch of them all. Multiple partners wasn’t something I had ever experienced before, but with Ramon teasing me until I was about to tip over the edge, it was all I wanted and more. All of them here with me.

  “Oh, shit!” I screamed as Ramon finally caved and gave me what I wanted. His mouth went in on me like a mad man. He was desperately trying to coax the orgasm from me, and I could already feel myself sinking under the waters of pleasure. “Fuck, Ramon, that feels so…”

  I tried to push him away before the intensity got too much for me, but before I could finally get him off me, I yanked him right back. I needed him; this feeling was intoxicating. It was like a drug circling heat through my veins, filling me up, swarming like bees through my body.

  “Oh, Ramon, don’t stop.” I rolled against him, pushing into him. “Don’t stop, it feels…”

  I couldn’t speak. As he shoved me right toward
s the knife edge of desire, I lost the ability to do anything but feel. The sensations were incredible. His tongue was unlike anything I had ever felt before. It was phenomenal, fast, flickering, cat like… fucking incredible.

  And then he shoved me over the edge, I fell willingly into the pit of abyss. I tumbled and fell hard, bucking violently against him, shuddering through the tsunami of bliss. The waves rocketed over me again and again. I honestly didn’t think that they were going to stop.

  Nor did I want them to. This was an orgasm unlike anything that had ever come before. Ramon was something else. I wanted to cling to him and never let go. I wanted this man to be mine.

  “Oh my God,” I gasped out as the orgasm rolled to a very beautiful end. “Oh fuck, Ramon.”

  As the post orgasmic bliss deliciously licked me, Ramon hurriedly pushed my clothing back on to allow me some dignity. I simply lay back and allowed him to dress me, enjoying this wonderful moment. I was being treated like a lady and I liked it a lot more than I should.

  “Wow.” Ramon sidled up me and kissed me once more with my cheeks in his hands. “You really are special, Tara. You have no idea how much I like you.”

  We kissed for a little longer, just holding on to one another as if we were the last people on Earth, and that was how we stayed until the click of the bedroom door opening brought us back into the real world.

  “Am I interrupting?” Jabari asked with a smile. “Sorry, I just wanted to let you know that food is on the table.”

  Jabari

  It had to be my turn eventually, surely? Not that I minded my boys enjoying Tara’s company. The more they liked her, the better it meant for us. Chances were, she would stick around. I didn’t want to hope that she was going to stay here but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to hold her in my arms, to feel her against me, to kiss those gorgeous plump lips of hers. I’d been wanting to taste her mouth from the very first time I saw her. It was just getting harder to wait for my time.