Hunted by a Jaguar

by Felicity Heaton

  She gave herself over to it, riding him harder, driven by Kyter’s grunts and growls as he plunged into her on every downwards thrust and suckled her nipples, alternating between them.

  Each deep plunge onto him had her pert nub brushing against his hard body, sending thrills chasing through her that only made her move faster as she sought her release.

  She lost awareness of the raw and primal sounds of their lovemaking as she raised her head and looked down at Kyter, watching his pleasure as he suckled her breasts, his handsome face etched with a frown.

  She lost awareness of their wild and untamed movements as her eyes slowly glided over his damp sandy tousled hair to the strong line of his throat.

  She was only aware of one thing as she stared at his pulse hammering beneath his skin.

  Kyter was her fated male.

  “Iolanthe?” He lifted his head from her breasts, his eyes coming up to meet hers.

  Kyter would be her mate.

  She struck hard, sinking her fangs into the strong curve of the right side of his throat. His roar deafened her as he threw his head back, echoing around the room, and he jerked against her, his claws slicing into her skin where he clutched her back and bottom.

  Iolanthe closed her eyes and moaned as she made her first pull on his vein. His strong hot blood flowed into her, sliding down her throat, and she wanted to scream out her pleasure as that heat spread through her and Kyter thrust into her at the same time. Not only her pleasure.

  His too.

  It swirled through her, growing in strength as his blood in her body forged a powerful connection between them, the beginning of a bond that she felt sure would last forever.

  He pumped into her, hard and fast, grunting into her ear as she drank from his vein, unwilling to surrender it. The intoxicating taste of him was too divine, too addictive, and the connection blossoming between them with each drop more she drank was too beautiful. Their feelings collided in a mind-numbing rush that had her heart thundering in time with his, their bodies and souls becoming as one for a glorious moment.

  He growled and then roared again as she took a final pull on his vein, stealing another mouthful of his rich blood.

  He turned with her, sending water spilling across the floor, and pressed one knee onto the seat of the pool and her back into the wall as he took her. Each wild deep thrust of his body into hers tore a cry from her as she released his throat and held on to him, unable to do anything other than cling to him as he brought them both to the brink.

  He snarled, flashing his upper and lower fangs, his eyes bright gold as he frowned down at her, driving her into submission, every inch of him tensed and straining.

  Her eyes dropped to the right side of his throat and the twin trails of blood running down it towards his chest.

  He growled, grunted and roared as the fire that had been building within her finally exploded through her veins and she cried out as she quivered from head to toe, her body throbbing around his. He clutched her in place on him and breathed hard as he spilled inside her, his heart beating in time with hers and his feelings flowing through her. Pleasure gave way to shock and his eyes slowly opened and found hers.

  A touch of colour rose onto his cheeks as he looked down at her and the position he held her in, pinned against the hard edge of the pool, one leg dangling into the water and the other wrapped around his back.

  He didn’t need to apologise for the way he had taken her. She had been the one to awaken that primal side of him, the wild part of him that felt a demanding need to mate with her too.

  He gently lowered her into the water, turned with her and settled with his back against the wall of the pool and her astride his thighs, their bodies still intimately entwined.

  Iolanthe dipped her head and stroked her tongue over the twin trails of blood on his chest, following them up to the puncture wounds on his throat. She laved them, savouring his rich blood and how he trembled and moaned in response to each sweep of her tongue.

  “Iolanthe?” he husked and she felt sure her voice would sound just as hoarse if she could find it to answer him.

  She had screamed at the top of her lungs when she had climaxed.

  A blush stained her cheeks now, awareness of where they were sinking in and making her want to bury her face in Kyter’s shoulder. She didn’t want to think about how many people in the castle had heard her, or Kyter.

  “Mmm?” she murmured, halfway to hiding against his neck.

  He caught her arms and peeled her off him. She tried to stifle her blush and managed to lift her eyes to his. There was only one question in them, and it looked to her as if the answer meant the world to him.

  She stroked his chest, feeling his heart beating hard against it.

  A heart that beat in time with hers and would do until they had completed the bond she had just triggered. It was faster than she was used to, a rapid tempo that would take her some time to grow comfortable with, but one she wouldn’t change for anything in the world.

  She took hold of his hand and pressed it against her chest, holding it there while she touched his.

  His eyes widened, his shock rippling through her. It was a strange sensation, and one she would have to become accustomed to since that part of their bond was permanent. She would always be able to sense his feelings, and he would be able to sense hers. They were linked now, and forever.

  “Iolanthe?” he whispered again, his eyes searching hers now, desperate for the answer to his unspoken question.

  She smiled to show him that his suspicions were correct and finally found her voice as she leaned in to kiss him.

  “Yes, Ki’aro?”

  He growled and swooped on her mouth, his kiss tender yet filled with the raw passion she had come to love about him.

  Would always love about him.

  Nothing would change that or her feelings for him.

  She relaxed into him and let him kiss her, chasing away the fear that began to rise at the back of her mind again, unwilling to allow it into her heart to spoil this moment with him. Tonight she would celebrate their love and the beginning of their bond.

  Tomorrow she would face her fears again and she would overcome them, because with Kyter at her side she could do anything.

  Even outwit a master assassin and kill a legendary demon.

  CHAPTER 23

  Kyter lay on his front on the enormous bed in the huge stone room, his bare legs tangled in the silky blue covers and his head turned to his right, towards the open arched doors that led to the balcony. It wasn’t the pale blue curtains dancing in the warm breeze that had his attention though.

  It was the picture on the dark wooden side table.

  The silver frame was elegant, fitting of the beauty in the photograph. She wore a sky blue dress made of sheer layers, held in place over her torso by thick swirls of silver metal that he guessed was a sort of corset in this land. Her violet eyes were bright, shimmering with her wide smile as she held aloft a huge blue tear-drop-shaped sapphire attached to a chain.

  His heart pounded at the sight of her.

  The corners of his lips curved as he sensed Iolanthe’s arrival in the room. She had gone back to Pompeii to retrieve his pack. He had insisted on going with her but she had been far more persistent in insisting that he stay in bed, because teleporting him that far would apparently drain her powers. Something about the more powerful the being an elf transported with them, the bigger the drain on their powers. Iolanthe didn’t want to risk weakening herself, and he didn’t want that either.

  “Why are you smiling?” She rounded the bed and set the pack down beside him.

  He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and then back at the photograph. “Do you have a sister? Because there’s a picture of a very beautiful woman who looks like you… but who couldn’t possibly be you because she’s wearing feminine clothing and is sporting a big goofy smile.”

  Iolanthe huffed, snatched the photo from the side table, and looked as if she was
considering hitting him with it.

  “Bleu took it years ago. I spent centuries on and off trying to find that stone. I took it to show him and my parents. They always make me wear dresses when I am with them.” She slid him a hard look. “Do not expect to see me in such attire very often. It is most impractical.”

  He rolled onto his back, caught her wrist at the same time, and pulled her towards him. She landed at an angle on the bed, her top half draped across his bare chest, the photograph ending up on her lap.

  “I don’t mind. I prefer you practical. I’ll take you surviving something due to wearing practical clothing over you ending up hurt or worse because you were wearing a dress.” He ran his left hand down her thigh, over the black scales of her armour, and took the picture from her, bringing it up between them so he could see it again. “However… I think you should smile more. You’re even more beautiful when you smile.”

  She blushed, swiped the picture from him, and tried to escape him. He wrapped his arms around her, twisted with her, and hauled her over the top of him, so she landed on her back on the bed and his chest pressed against hers.

  Her armour was cold against his bare flesh.

  “Do that mental command thing,” he murmured before dropping his head to kiss her.

  The photograph flopped onto the bed beside her and she wrapped her arms around him, sighing into his mouth. She kissed him back, each sweep of her lips across his stirring his hunger, and then doused it by pulling away and saying something he really hadn’t wanted to hear and he had been trying not to think about all night.

  “Bleu will be back soon and I do not think he would like to catch us naked in his bed.”

  Bleu’s bed.

  Kyter shuddered.

  The thought that he had slept with her, among other things, in her brother’s bed, his friend’s bed, sent ice through his veins and he released her.

  “Spoil sport.” He rolled off her, landing with his legs over the edge of the bed, and grabbed his black backpack. He unzipped it, pulled out his black combats, and held them up. They were dirty.

  Iolanthe shimmied on her knees to the edge of the bed beside him and looked at them too. “I am sure Bleu has some trousers he could lend you.”

  Kyter shuddered again. In a toss up between wearing dusty combat trousers or wearing Bleu’s trousers, his own dirty clothing won. He had zero doubts that Bleu was like him and preferred to be nude beneath his trousers. For Bleu, it meant one less thing to teleport away from him when he called his armour. For Kyter, it was much easier to shift and escape his clothing.

  The thought of his junk being where Bleu’s junk had been disturbed him.

  “You do not want them?” She canted her head and he shook his.

  “These’ll do.” He slipped them over his feet, tugged them up his legs and then stood and pulled them up the rest of the way. He buttoned them as Iolanthe moved off the bed and padded across the room to the bathroom.

  She retrieved his boots for him and the clothing he had removed last night. She set them down on the bed near his pack and then looked at him, her eyes straying to his throat and the marks on the right side of it.

  She had triggered the bond between them and it had been mind-blowing. If only triggering the bond had sent him nearly shooting into the stratosphere, he couldn’t imagine how good it would feel when they completed it, sharing blood in a mating.

  He growled at the thought, his fangs emerging, eager to press into the back of her neck as he claimed her as his mate.

  She stared hard at the marks and then her armour began to race up her legs, revealing their shapely forms.

  “Iolanthe?” Kyter said, unsure whether she had changed her mind and he was going to get a morning encore after all. She cried out in pain and heat and ice swept in a wave of prickles across his skin. “Iolanthe!”

  She staggered backwards, clutched at her chest as her armour disappeared into her wristbands, and lifted her head and cried out again. Her fangs were longer than normal, and her lower canines were growing too, becoming pointed. She stumbled away from him and his heart thundered, nearly breaking out of his chest as she arched forwards and her limbs contorted.

  She couldn’t be.

  He stood dumbstruck by the sight of her and the single thought pounding in his head.

  Iolanthe collapsed to the ground and writhed, her pained grunts becoming growls as black fur rippled across her bare flesh. A tail sprouted from the base of her spine and her ribcage changed shape. Her legs snapped and transformed, becoming cat-like.

  She was shifting.

  “What the fuck?” Kyter rushed to her as she completed her transformation.

  She rolled to lay on her stomach on the dark stone floor and hissed at him, her round ears pinned backwards and fangs enormous.

  His jaguar heeded the warning and he backed off, giving her space.

  She lumbered onto her feet and stumbled a few steps before gaining balance. Her long tail swished back and forth, speaking of the excitement he could feel in her, pumping through his veins as if it was his own.

  His own body responded with a need to shift, fur sweeping over his shoulders, but he tamped it down. He wanted to surrender to it and be in his jaguar form, to be like her, but he needed to figure out what the hell was going on. To do that, he needed to be in his human form.

  The light streaming in from outside washed over her black fur as she paced around the apartment, her stunning violet eyes taking in everything as she lifted her head, scenting the air. She wasn’t completely black. He could see the typical rosettes of a jaguar in her fur, darker than the rest of it.

  She turned towards him, a beautiful black beast that lured him into surrendering to his desire to shift and be with her in the same form as she wore.

  The door burst open.

  Kyter’s gaze leaped to Bleu.

  He stared at Iolanthe. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing!” Kyter rushed out, sure the elf male was about to pin the blame for what had happened to his sister on him, just as he had tried to blame him for the trouble she was in with the assassins. “She was fine a minute ago and then she was in pain and then she bloody shifted. Does she have mixed blood?”

  Bleu shook his head and shot him an incredulous look. “Of course not. Elves are a dominant species. All children born of them are born fully elf.”

  Kyter stared at him. If he and Iolanthe had children, they would be one hundred percent elf. It was a relief in a way. He had often thought about fathering jaguar offspring, but had feared they would carry his demon genes too. He was glad that any children they might have wouldn’t carry those genes, even if they wouldn’t carry any jaguar ones either.

  Bleu looked at his sister, an unimpressed edge to his violet eyes as she padded around the room, investigating everything, seemingly unconcerned by Kyter’s panic and her brother’s anger.

  “This is a different sort of mixing of blood.” Bleu closed the door behind him.

  Kyter’s stomach turned. Had he tainted her with his blood? The thought that he might have made him ill. If he had known he would taint her, he would have stopped her from biting him.

  Iolanthe prowled across the room to her brother and rubbed her sleek body across his legs, getting fur on his black trousers and the long rectangular tails of his jacket. Bleu sighed and looked as if he might pet her, but folded his arms across his chest and shook his head instead.

  “Elves can temporarily take on the abilities of a blood host if they are fae or demon.” The elf male cast a pointed look at the right side of Kyter’s throat and the marks on it tingled. “In this case, she has stolen your shifting ability.”

  It took a moment for that to sink in and chase away all of his fears. “She can control it?”

  Iolanthe turned and rubbed across Bleu’s legs again.

  “Of course.” Bleu still didn’t pet her. He cast her another unimpressed look.

  Kyter stared at her, amazed by what Bleu was saying and the evidence rig
ht in front of him. “So she chose to shift?”

  Bleu nodded and sighed as he finally gave up and stroked her rounded ears, pushing his fingers through her thick black fur. “She always was adventurous.”

  Kyter couldn’t believe it. His mate was incredible. Not only did she have amazing abilities of her own but she could take on new ones by drinking blood from fae.

  She looked across at him, her bright violet eyes vivid against her velvety black fur.

  A deep need filled him. One he couldn’t deny.

  He stared down into her eyes and chuffed, the low coughing sound echoing in his throat.

  She blinked slowly and he didn’t realise he had been holding his breath until she chuffed back at him.

  Heat swept through him, a rush of tingles that pulled all his emotions to the surface and left him feeling raw inside.

  He kneeled on the stone floor and chuffed again.

  She stalked towards him, lowered her head and answered him, and then rubbed against him, her fur as soft as spun silk against his bare arm and back as she rounded him. She purred.

  Kyter closed his eyes, hiding from her brother how much this affected him but knowing that he couldn’t hide it from her. She could sense it all in him through their bond and she responded by rubbing him and then licking his cheek, her tongue rough against his skin. She purred the whole time.

  She could be like him.

  If he wanted to run in the jungle, she could run with him. They could hunt together. They could play in the trees. They could take in the scents and the sounds. They could share that experience.

  And if he called to her, she could answer him.

  She could give his animal side, the jaguar he was first and foremost, the comfort of knowing he wasn’t alone.

  That part of himself demanded that he shift and be with her in that form.

  Bleu shattered the moment.

  “We need to discuss what we are going to do… but I shall give you two a moment to get dressed.”