by Harte, Marie
He appreciated her sincerity, but he didn’t like that she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him of her troubles earlier. They’d have to work on that. He had a few ideas about how to teach the woman to believe in him.
After Monty left, Dean transformed back into his animal spirit. He stretched and dug his claws into the ground, releasing scent. They left the cabin and he raced to a few spots to mark territory, unable to ignore the instinct.
“What are you doing?” Stacey watched with curiosity.
“Staking a claim.” On this land, and on you. He didn’t intend to let her know yet. He had to get past her emotional walls holding him out. Sex was all well and good, but he wanted more from the cocky cat. How much more he didn’t yet know and was afraid to think about, but he’d never let uncertainty stop him before. He’d get her trust, at least, one way or another. One kiss at a time.
Stacey wanted badly to argue with him—about anything—but she feared any animosity would transition into lust on her part. Who knew having sex with Dean Chastell would get her so keyed up? It was as if by giving him access to her body, she’d opened up a locked gate on her emotions. She couldn’t help looking at that charming feline face and feeling all warm and gooey inside. Gooey! Stacey Bermin, a woman who’d denied sultans and movie stars, smitten with a country boy who gave tours to hikers and fishermen for a living.
She glanced at his cat, loving his predatory stillness, the watchful gaze he kept on everything. He had muscle and stamina and a glorious coat covering said strength. Such a beautiful pelt. It just figured he’d be as handsome a cat as he was when a man.
Too bad he had the fashion sense of a lumberjack. Fortunately, the clothes he’d stripped out of at the cave were beyond salvaging—jeans and T-shirts, with the requisite flannel overshirt he’d left at the campsite with their gear. She could have wept. She was dying to put him in an Armani suit. He clearly had the looks and build to carry it off. Hell, she could have paraded him down any runway and watched the dollar signs go up as women bought the clothes, hoping to make their men look half as good as Dean.
“Like what you see?” He winked at her as they walked into the woods once more.
“I’d like it better if you just looked pretty and shut your mouth. Oh wait, where have we heard that before?”
She liked that he laughed. For all that Dean constantly annoyed her, he had a great sense of humor. How many other cats would take her constant bitchiness without either slapping at her or just finally leaving? She’d tried her damnedest, but Dean wouldn’t shake. And now she didn’t know what to do about these weird feelings for him she’d thought she’d buried years ago.
What a stupid time for a crush to grow back.
“Don’t worry, honey. I’ll take care of that sweet need you’ve got for me after we run for a while. Let’s settle in and make sure we’re dealing with nothing more than human campers before we get busy again. What do you say?”
She swiped at him and growled. He narrowly avoided her claws and gnashed his teeth at her.
“Please. Like I’m scared.” She huffed. “It’ll take a tougher cat than you to throw me.”
“I’ll throw you all right.” He mumbled something else she couldn’t make out, and they spent the next few hours giving each other a hard time as they navigated through the woods.
In the form of her animal spirit, Stacey thrived. She liked challenging Dean. They moved in concert, avoiding anything loud while keeping to the shadows of the trees. Birds chirped overhead, warning of their movements, and the rodents and small animals they encountered gave them a wide berth.
They skirted a few families and couples camping, as well as the occasional hiker, but no actual Hunters, that they could tell. They passed the scent of familiar wolves—members of the order, she imagined. But no cats, which she thought strange, especially if Quince had been honest about keeping an eye on her to tag Lex.
“Come on. Let’s take a break.” Dean bounded away from her, and she followed him into the trees. They continued for a ways until they came to a stream. The early evening sunlight filtered through the pines and danced on the rocky ground. She took a long drink of crisp, cold water and lay down.
“I’m hungry.”
“Me too.” Dean sat a few feet from her, his paws out front, his feet tucked in, looking like the Sphinx. “So, Stacey…”
“Yeah?” She waited for another smart-assed comment. From Dean she’d come to expect and even relish them. He didn’t placate her with flattery or try to coerce her into anything. He flat-out insulted her, teased her or said what he thought. Other than family—she didn’t have close friends—she’d never had anyone treat her like a regular person. Even the other Ac-taw in Cougar Falls fell all over themselves trying to please her. The men at least. The women had left her well enough alone, unlike the cats and socialites in Miami, trying to suck up for fashion advice, to grab one of the many men fluttering around her or hoping to borrow money.
“What do you do for fun?”
Chapter Six
“Fun?”
“Yes. It’s a word we country folk use around these parts.”
“Dean…”
“My people call F-U-N something that gives you pleasure. You got that down in Miami?”
“I know what fun is, jackass.”
The teasing left his tone as he asked softly, “But do you know how to have any?”
He didn’t sound like he was mocking her, and she didn’t know how to respond.
“Me?” Dean continued. “I love having fun. Pulling pranks, watching stupid movies with the pride, having a pizza downtown. Poker night and hunting down deer. Fun.”
“Don’t forget fucking,” she said bluntly, wishing she could shut up. She sounded jealous even to herself, but she couldn’t stop. “After all, you’ve fucked half the female population of Cougar Falls.” Including myself. How embarrassing to be so common.
He didn’t say anything for a moment. “What about you? How many men have you fucked down in Miami?” He tried to keep it light, but she detected something deeper behind his words. That he didn’t call her on being one of his harem eased some of her indignity.
“I’ve had a few dates. Nothing serious in the last year, though. I’ve been too focused on business.”
She couldn’t swear it, but he seemed to relax. “Doesn’t that get lonely?”
She wanted to say something snarky, not liking the gravity of the conversation after having such lively banter earlier. Taking Dean seriously meant seeing another side to him, accepting that he was more than a playboy or a good time in bed.
“I guess. I’m too busy to think about it, actually.”
“I get lonely.”
“Really?” She sat straighter. “How’s that?”
“Contrary to what everyone thinks, I’m not a man-whore.” He huffed. “I’ve dated my share of women, sure. I like to have a good time, but my dates always knew I wasn’t after anything serious. You know how hard it is to want forever and know you can’t have it?”
She frowned. “Why can’t you have forever?”
He fidgeted and glanced at the river. “My parents had it. Burke and Rachel have it. Hell, even Grady has it with Gabby. But it’s just not for me.”
She didn’t get it. “Why? Is there something hidden under that fur I haven’t seen yet?”
“Must be. Within seconds of being with a woman, I just know it’s not meant to be. My cat hasn’t jived with anyone in twenty-six years. I used to think it was a feline thing, like maybe I just needed the right cat. But Joy and your sisters are perfect.”
She wanted to ask why he didn’t include her in that list but kept silent for once.
“And I can’t think of forever with any of them without getting the sweats.”
“Nice image.”
He shrugged and walked next to her. “I still can’t believe you and I connected.” He sniffed her, moving around her in a very provocative way. “But there’s something about you.”
/> “I’m beautiful.” A fact.
“Nope. You are, but that’s not it.” He nuzzled her neck, and she felt nervous when he breathed her in. His teeth grazed her throat but didn’t close before he let her go. He circled behind her, feeling so much bigger and more threatening since she couldn’t see him.
“Then what? I have a brain? Something you’re not used to dealing with when it comes to women?”
He didn’t answer for a moment. “You do realize you just insulted not only the whole town, but your sisters as well?”
“You know what I mean. You just want me because you can’t have me.” A simple explanation for his desire. But what about hers? Why the hell did he seem so attractive and irresistible lately? Why did she have the urge to have sex with him in whatever form she occupied? Cat, human, it didn’t matter so long as she had Dean.
“I hate to break it to you, but I’ve already had you. Twice. And you’re ready for me even now.”
She didn’t like hearing the truth. But when she tried to get up and move, he settled over her. Instead of mounting her as a cat, he shifted into a man.
“Change back,” he ordered in a gritty voice.
“You can’t have me, and I’m leaving this town just as soon as I can.” Or so she kept telling herself. She had to force herself not to make plans for the empty shop in the quaint but backwards town.
“Change back.” He gripped her throat, caressing but not hurting her. The pressure he applied turned her from intrigued to downright lusty. Her body liquefied as he toyed with her vulnerability.
Without thinking about it, she shifted back to human, belly down on the matted grass beneath her. Dean nudged her legs apart and in the next breath slid his cock deep inside her, his body blanketing hers and forcing her to remain down.
“Fuck, that’s it. That’s the spot.” He kissed her shoulders and nipped playfully at the back of her neck. “All that pretty blond hair is so fucking gorgeous over your back.” He shifted his hips and surged deeper toward her womb.
“Dean.” She meant to sound stern but came across as breathy, needy. Wet.
“Yeah. So ready for me.” He rose up on his hands for better leverage and began to move inside her.
In this position, she couldn’t get enough of him. And he couldn’t reach her clit or breasts. She could only accept what he gave her, when he gave it.
“That’s good. Let me fuck you.”
She liked his crudity but hadn’t expected she’d be turned on by the fact that anyone could see them if they stopped by the river. “Dean, we’re exposed…”
“Yeah, you are. Helpless under me.” He ground harder and groaned. “And you love it. Princess Stacey likes to be roughed up, don’t you?” He dragged her up on her hands and knees and began fucking her in earnest. Punishing strokes that grew more powerful. And then his hands closed around her neck once more, squeezing tighter, but not hard enough to hurt.
Her airflow constricted and her excitement spiraled. She felt like one giant nerve, sensation exploding through and in her. Knowing he took her, that he wouldn’t bow to her demands or give in to her, that she’d found a male strong enough to handle her, set her off.
She met him thrust for thrust, loving the weakness invading her limbs.
“Fuck. Here I come. All in you, baby. Oh, Christ.” He let go of her neck to grip her hips, and he tightened his hands hard enough to bruise as he came.
The jolt of his hips pushed him deeper and hit a magic spot inside her. She gasped as exquisite joy flooded her body, the scent and feel of Dean all around and inside her. Without knowing how, she took all of him as she came. His essence, the animal spirit of his feline and the man, the soul of Dean Chastell, became hers to hold, hers to keep.
Dean called her name again and again as he poured inside her. A waterfall of lust and affection and life.
Stacey quaked as she realized just what she’d done, and with whom. But she couldn’t stop herself as her cat took from Dean what she needed. His scent infused hers, this man who didn’t have it in him to find forever with a woman. And then his semen slid down her leg.
“Oh God.” Talk about a bad decision.
“Fuck, Stace.” He moaned and withdrew, and she felt him wipe himself on her back. His seed seeped into her skin, more scent marking. She wondered if he knew what he did, or if he’d been dragged into this by her.
Dean had flat-out said he had no intention of ever taking a mate. And she’d just claimed him.
“You messed me again,” she said, distracted, elated and terrified at what she’d done.
“Yeah.” His satisfaction was hard to miss. He moved to lie next to her and pulled her down on top of him. “Come closer, princess. I want to look at all this earth-shattering beauty while I recover the energy to get hard again.”
His wry tone warmed her from the inside out. Like her, he didn’t take her looks seriously. As silly as it was, she loved that about him, that he didn’t fall prey to the obvious.
She could only hope she wasn’t fertile, because Stacey couldn’t seem to keep her legs closed and her mind functioning around Dean. It was the third time they hadn’t used protection, and she couldn’t find the worry that should have been there. None of this felt real. It was more like a dream. To add to her dilemma, her cat wanted more of Dean. The slutty feline craved him.
He stroked her back and she purred. But it was as much woman as cat that wanted him, and she knew she’d find trouble if she kept looking long enough.
“Yeah, that’s it. Purr for me, sweetness.”
“Sweetness?” She snorted with laughter. “I’m nobody’s idea of peaches and cream.”
“More like prickly pear and a shot of tequila.” He sighed. “But I’ll be damned if I can keep my hands off you. It’s that mouth that never quits. Hard to keep myself away from your obnoxious comments. You’re so cute when you’re being bitchy.”
She wanted to take offense but couldn’t. “Yeah? Well you’re cute when you’re being stupid.”
“Hell, that’s all the time. I knew you liked me.”
They shared a laugh.
Dean toyed with her hair, and sated and tired, she let him.
“Stacey?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you act so high and mighty?”
“Who said it was an act?” She yawned and surrendered to exhaustion.
“You’re not so tough. Not so mean, princess. Not to me,” he murmured.
“You’re just saying that.”
“I admit you’re usually a real pain in the ass. But it feels staged. Not like you are now.”
“Naked and sleepy?”
She felt his grin against her hair. “There is that.”
She sighed. “Dean, this is me. I’m beautiful, and I live with it. What can I say? The constant praise went to my head, and now I’m too old to deal with being like one of you peasants.”
He chuckled and hugged her tighter. “You really know how to put me in my place.”
“Too bad you never stay there.”
He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “You’ve always looked down your nose at me. It’s annoying, but there’s something there that nags at me. It’s like you’re playing the ultimate prank, because all that attitude isn’t real.”
She didn’t like his insight. “Or course it is. I’m gorgeous and I’m wealthy. I’m better than you Chastells. I’m a Bermin.”
“So why don’t I believe you?”
“I never said you were the sharpest tool in the shed.”
He laughed again and stroked her skin, his callused hands surprisingly soothing. Warm and male, he radiated comfort. The arousal buzzed between them, but now she felt a welcome belonging. That bonding of animal souls and human dreams.
I am such an idiot for claiming him.
“No, you’re different now.”
It had to be the mating. Had she accidentally brainwashed him with her pheromones? She didn’t know all that much about bonding, only that those in the
Cougar Falls pride who’d connected seemed to truly love one another. A puzzle, because most Shifters she knew were more animal than man. They concentrated on lust, possession and a wary kind of affection that facilitated rank in the pride. Nothing so basic as love.
“I’m the same cat I was before we exchanged body fluids. And you’re the same randy guy out to get laid by any and all comers.”
He tensed. “That bitchy thing you have there is turning me on. Pissing me off too, but that’s okay. I figure you want it a little rough again, eh?”
“No, I don’t.” She really did, but they’d wasted enough time fooling around. “We need to make tracks and see where Lex is hiding.”
“Sure thing, honeybunches.”
“Cut it out, Jethro.”
“We’ll make those tracks just as soon as I satisfy this need.” He pulled her over his erection. “Now hop on and satisfy your man.”
She scowled down at him, not amused when he positioned her right over his cock. “No. First of all, you’re not my man. And secondly, I call the shots.”
He grazed her clit, and she bit her lip on a moan. “Well, maybe just this once…”
He took her hips, lifted her and set her down over him in an instant. In this position, she felt impaled—Dean was a large man. “That’s it. Just ride me, baby. Get me nice and hot.” He arched his head back and she had the urge to bite him hard, to leave a mark for one and all to see.
She couldn’t help herself from rocking over him, especially when his fingers found her clit. He pinched her nipples, said all kinds of dirty things and got rough with her, just the way she liked it. Dean had never treated her like a fragile flower. If anything, he gave her a harder time than he gave most women, or so she’d been told by the matchmakers in the pride.
“Yeah. Grind that hot pussy over me. Fuck. That’s so good.” He groaned and pumped, and the muscles in his chest glistened with a fine sheen of sweat.
“Squeeze me, baby. Let me get this out so we can finish with the cats. So later we’ll have extra fun.”
Her body was ready to snap, the pleasure drugging, especially when he rubbed her taut nub hard, firing her nerves.
