She’d thought she was going insane. She lost time and had vague memories like dreams of foraging for food in fields that spread out as far as her eyes could see. She woke too many times in those fields, naked and scrambling to hide before the farmers began their daily work.
An old witch finally clued her in on what was happening. The backcountry still believed in their myths of vampires and shapeshifters. She couldn’t say how the witch found her, but she woke in the ancient hut to find the wrinkled old woman leaning over her. There, she learned what she imagined to be horror stories were true.
The old witch tried to undo the curse on her, but Cenek’s magic was too powerful. So Jessa tried to find Cenek once she gained some control over her shifting. He vanished from the hostel, with no one knowing where he was heading next.
It’d done some serious damage to her. The betrayal of her first college love made her hesitant to date again. Even if she could overcome the fear of a post-relationship hex, she still had to contend with the chimera that lurked below her skin. How would it react to someone stroking her in her most private of places? She’d managed some relationships over the years, but only with other shifters. Most of them came with the caveat that once they scented their own very special match, Jessa would be out of the picture. There wasn’t a bigger ladyboner killer than knowing she was just a placeholder.
She tried to put a lid on that line of thinking, but the beast rebelled. It knew their mate was out there, and close by. It had no trouble admitting that all six feet, however many inches of Sam Levesque was meant for them.
The certainty was what scared Jessa. She’d been reliant on her own, purely human, instincts for her entire life. What use did she have for primal urges? She didn’t need some voice in her head telling her who to bump uglies with; she could figure that out herself. The way she saw it, being mated didn’t equal the true love she saw when she looked at Lena and Ethan. Until she had that type of love, her furry beastie could just shut it with the whole mates thing.
Still, he was exactly the type of guy she went for. Tall, dark, and a little bit of bite to his bark. Or growl. A shudder ran through her form and rippled over her skin. She wanted to feel his lips curl into a smile against her skin, see his long lashes frame heavy lidded eyes as he slid home inside her, feel the prick of his teeth marking the juncture of her neck and shoulder for all the world to see…
Jessa snorted and twisted the lid tighter on that thought. They were escaping with greater frequency the longer she spent around Sam. Her estate stroll was meant to clear her head, not push her animal desires to the forefront.
The wind shifted, and brought her the light scent of chocolate and fire. She raised her head again and saw an enormous lion step out of the shadows. She froze, eyes wide and heart thudding in her chest. Balls. She knew she had tempted fate by shifting at freaking Pride Rock. Maybe if she shifted back to her human form, she’d get away without any injuries. Running as a doe would just incite the lion into a hunt.
Almost as if the lion knew her thoughts, he stepped forward cautiously. The next step filled the air with the tingle of magic. A third step, and his face and limbs started to shimmer with the transformation. Jessa watched as the beast slowly turned back to a man, his eyes never leaving her face.
Her flight or fight instincts really needed honing. She knew she should turn and flee right then, while he was in the vulnerable state of a half shift. But his eyes kept her glued where she stood.
She had control over herself as a human. She’d managed to keep Sam at a distance instead of throwing herself at him. But now that her beastie had control…
Sam rose from his crouched position on the ground. He held his hands out. “Jessa.” He whispered.
He was utterly, gloriously naked after his shift. The moonlight bathed him in a soft glow. His broad shoulders narrowed to a tight waist, and he was wrapped in muscle from head to toe. His dark hair was cropped short, but his eyes shone amber with his lion so near. She knew they were a dark brown when he had full control, but the amber sent a wave of heat through her. His lion form spoke of primal power, but she truly saw it on his naked human body.
Her eyes dipped lower, over the tight skin of his stomach. She followed the thin dusting of hair that arrowed straight to the juncture of his thighs. He was rock hard. Long, thick, and ready for action.
Stay, her chimera urged. Mate.
She yanked back control and fled.
Dashing between trees, she ran deep into the estate. It sprawled over so many acres, perfect for lions to run in peace. And perfect for one lion in particular to hunt.
A roar sounded behind her and urged her faster. Sam crashed after her, tearing through the shrubs she nimbly jumped to escape. She dashed between trees, and leapt over shrubs to try tying him up in his own paws, but he was quick for his size. He switched back on her almost as soon as she changed direction, and slowly gained on her.
She entered another clearing, only to find herself caged in by a stone wall. She skirted to the side, but Sam was already there to block her effort to run around the building.
He flung himself into her, and they tumbled over each other. Paws stroked down her hind legs. She was surprised when they didn’t hamstring her completely. She bleated a call of desperation and death and prepared herself for the final bite into her neck that would end her life.
Then the air tingled again. The paws around her body turned to hands and feet. The huge feline maw pulled back into a man’s face. His scent stroked over her senses and surrounded her.
“Come on, Atkins. Shift for me. We need to talk.”
She closed her eyes tight. She’d managed to avoid most conversations with him, knowing they’d all lead back to his claim that they were fated for each other. She faked sleep on car rides, or plain ignored him and changed the subject. There was no way she was going to shift and have a naked discussion on the state of their relationship. No way, no how.
Even if she desperately wanted to take another long look at him.
Her beastie struggled for control. It certainly wanted to throw naked Sam and naked Jessa together and see what happened.
Jessa cautiously opened one eye, and nearly shut it again. He was so near, and so beautiful. The moonlight highlighted the muscles in his arms that strained to hold him over her. His eyes still shone amber, but the color had mixed with his natural color. His large hand stroked down her side, and she let go of a large breath when the stroke ended.
“It’s not safe out here for a beautiful little doe. A big bad cat might attack. Shift for me. I won’t bite you.” He pressed his nose into her neck. “Much.”
She screwed her eyes tightly closed again. It was her only motion. She held her breath, not wanting to inhale his sweet scent and betray herself.
“Okay, okay. Just talk. That’s all we’ll do.”
Talk. She could do that, couldn’t she? As long as he avoided such things as mates, fate, and the future. She wanted to growl. He wouldn’t be able to agree to any of that until she shifted.
And shifting would put the thick length of his cock right where she didn’t need him. Or maybe needed him all too much.
“Come on, Atkins. You have to be hurting just as much as I am. I promise I’ll leave you alone if you’ll just talk to me. I don’t know what to do if you won’t talk.”
She didn’t want to admit that he was right. From his perspective, she was doing her damndest to avoid him for no reason at all. She was a shifter, and while not all shifters knew or believed in fated mates, they certainly knew a connection when they scented it. She had only just confessed her true nature to Lena, how would Sam have any inkling of her reluctance to follow her foreign instincts.
She could give him a chance—yes, yes, yes, her beast chanted—and see how the conversation progressed. If he started out all he-man, you-my-woman, she could shift back and make a break for the house. Surely Lena would protect her.
If she didn’t shift into a flopping fish.
She snorted, and Sam took that as a sign of her cooperation. He lifted himself over her body, still caging her but giving her room to let the shifty magic work.
Her limbs tingled with the magic that coursed through her. Her muscles stretched and broke, growing back into the shapes needed for human limbs. Bones shifted and moved, creaking and cracking as they realigned. The coarse fur covering her deer hide disappeared into the creamy soft skin of her Jessa shape.
Panting, she lay on her side for a moment to get her bearings. There was always a moment of confusion after a shift. She thought it entirely unfair that her human side got it worse than her animal half.
She rolled to her back, still caged between Sam’s arms and legs. If he wanted to claim her right then and there, she wouldn’t have the strength to object. But no, he kept his teeth to himself. He wanted her to want him, not bind them together by force.
“So. Talk.” She tried to find a comfortable spot. Her arms crossing over her chest only pushed her breasts together, which Sam definitely noticed if she judged his hitched breath correctly. She wrapped her hands around his biceps, but that only sent a zing of electricity through her body. He was as solid as she expected, all hard lines and fierce muscle.
She was not going to be distracted.
He needed to understand that she needed love more than she needed fated destiny.
Still, she was finding it hard to need either with the large hunk looming over her. Her palms ran over his shoulders and down his arms, and back up his chest. She liked the smattering of dark hair across his pecs.
Even as she hesitantly explored him, she saw his eyes move from her face. Her skin flushed under his attention. He knew he wanted her, but would he still want the abundant curves that she could usually hide in her clothes? His gaze swept down her long neck, and lingered over the swell of her breasts. He looked over her round belly, and zeroed in on the heated entrance of her body.
Okay, it’d gone too far. They were shifters; they shouldn’t be ogling each other. They needed to have some standards for themselves. She snatched her hands away and did her best to cover herself. “Stop that,” she hissed.
He retraced his path. She swore he could see right through her hands and stared at her naughty bits all over again. He gave her a slow smile when he met her eyes again. “Magnificent, Atkins.”
“If I wanted to be eyeballed like a piece of meat, I’d have become a stripper.” She tried to growl, but her heart just wasn’t in it.
Damn. Why did he have to smell so good? It was hard for her to think of anything else but rolling around with him and tasting every inch of his skin. She wanted to rub her cheek over his chest, and inhale deeply. His usual mouth-wateringly sexy scent was overpowering, but the underlying aroma of male arousal increased its potency.
“You mean your work scrubs don’t come in a skin tight version? Atkins, I’m disappointed.” Sam lowered his nose to just above her skin. Jessa shivered, and felt goose bumps start to rise along her arms. Her eyes slipped closed when Sam trailed the tip of his nose over her collarbone and inhaled her.
“What happened to talking?” Her voice sounded breathy in her own ears.
“Later.” His voice was gruff in her ears, but his lips were smooth on her skin. He pressed a hot trail over her shoulder and across her jaw.
Oh yes, they needed to talk. But her body was responding to a different urge, and her chimera was fully behind it. Need crept through her limbs, and her stomach filled with an ache that echoed in her pussy. Every press of his lips ignited more of the desire rushing through her veins.
Then his lips reached hers. He kissed her softly, testing her for any sign of retreat, but she was already swept away in the moment. She needed him like she needed air. Needed him touching her, filling her, stretching her. Needed him to take the edge off her lust. They could talk after, when she could form a coherent thought.
His mouth slanted over hers, and his lips felt like silk against her. She inhaled deeply and wrapped herself in his scent. It rolled over her, and she opened her mouth for him. In swept his tongue, and he deepened their connection. He stroked her lower lip before delving further into her mouth.
Jessa ran her hands up his arms again. She clung to him and luxuriated in the feel of his body molding to her own. Her hands guided him, pulling him closer to her body. He gently lowered himself over her and pressed them together.
His skin was silk over steel muscles. She traced the bulges of his biceps to the tightness of his neck and shoulders. Restrained power resided there, and it sent a thrill down her spine. He was a predator, through and through, and the hard lines of solid muscle only underscored that fact. How easily he could uncoil and strike in defense of pride and person, but he kissed her with a gentleness she hadn’t expected.
Sam moaned, and flexed his hips. His cock was caught between their bodies, and she could feel the hard, thick length of his shaft sliding along the skin of her stomach. It wasn’t enough for her; she needed him elsewhere.
She shifted under him and opened her knees to make room for him to align with her further. The underside of his cock collided with her clit as he slid lower down her body, and it was Jessa’s turn to moan.
Sam deepened their kiss. His gentle probing turned commanding, and he pulled moan after moan from her chest. His tongue danced and tangled with hers as he tasted every inch of her mouth and lips. He broke apart with heavy, panted breaths and a nip of her lip. His tongue followed, laving the small hurt, and he continued tasting the skin down the column of her neck.
“You don’t think I can smell it? How hot you are right now, for me?” He took a deep breath. The exhale warmed her skin and raised goose bumps along her arms. “You’re intoxicating.”
Her pussy clenched at the truth to his words. Liquid heat slicked her channel, and she was almost ready to beg him to touch her. Jessa fisted her hands in his hair. She needed to cling to him before being blown away like a puff of dandelion.
Oh, but she also needed to feel more of him. She trailed her hands down his strong back and felt the curve of his ass. Her nails dug into him and hauled the next jerk of his hips closer. Jessa gasped when the tip of his cock hit her clit.
“Naughty girl,” Sam whispered into her neck. “You’ll pay for that.”
Jessa inhaled sharply. She liked the sound of his wicked promise.
Sam kissed across her shoulder at a slow pace. He reveled in her, tasting her at his leisure. It only set her further afire. Each brush of his lips ignited another spark inside her veins, and each beat of her heart pulsed those sparks straight to her pussy.
She’d always been the girl with a pretty face. Which was code for not keeping it tight like the rest of the rich bimbos her mother wanted to socialize with. Oh, how she’d hated when Jessa and Lena became friends. Two, unrepentant chubby chicks did not please Momma Atkins.
Sam didn’t hold the same beauty standards, either. He consumed her curves and came back for more. He was intoxicated by her scent, and she was drunk off his desire. Each flex of his hips told her how much he controlled himself, instead of plunging straight into her sheath. Each kiss and lick showed her how much he delighted in teasing her.
Further and further south he kissed. Over her collarbone, to the hollow of her throat, over the side of her breast. Jessa arched under him, directing him where to go with her plump breasts and hands in his hair. He tortured her by kissing slow spirals over her chest, winding inward as the pace of molasses. Her nipples were hardened pebbles aching for his touch by the time he reached her center.
He didn’t disappoint. Sam pulled one nipple between his lips with a wet suck. His tongue, so talented in her mouth, flicked over the puckered nub. His teeth, gentle or sharp as he deemed necessary, grazed over the sensitive flesh until she crooned under him.
“Say you’ll be mine, Atkins.”
Oh, tricksy lion. She was ready to give him anything so long as he continued touching her. She’d let him mark her if it meant he’d fill her needy pussy
. Her chimera purred at the thought of proudly wearing their mate’s mark. She was in danger of losing her resolve, and she couldn’t muster the energy to care.
“Sam,” she moaned.
His mouth, his hands, his body… That’s all she cared about. The feel of him pressing along her frame, hips teasingly grinding his cock into her, his hands and mouth on her breasts were what concerned her. She reveled in the feel of him eradicating any objections with great bursts of pleasure.
He sucked again, then followed with another nip at her hardened flesh. Jessa writhed beneath him. She needed to feel the catch of his cock against her. She arched her back to offer more of her breasts to him. She was serving herself on a platter, and he browsed the offering with delighted groans. Each flick of his tongue and pulse of his hips resounded in her pussy and concentrated her need in her center.
“Please, Sam,” Jessa whimpered. She rolled her hips and tried to draw him into her, but he shifted away. She wanted to growl with frustrated disappointment.
Instead, she mewled when he released her nipple with a soft pop. Her eyes snapped open at the cool air raising goose bumps along her skin, but her demand for him to continue died on her tongue. His eyes met hers, and she sank into them. There was more than pure lust there, and something closer to the emotions she needed to see. Warmth, not just heat, lit him from the inside.
His next blink cleared away the expression and his eyes turned back to heated coals. The looked spread arousal through her veins and pooled heat in her core. Sam kissed over her ribs and down to her soft navel. She leaned up on her elbows to watch his progression and didn’t miss the flare of his nostrils as he inhaled her scent.
“Do you think you’re ready?” His voice was thick with desire. He teased her with the question. They both knew she was slick and ready for him already, but he had no intentions of filling her yet.
She still moaned and rolled her hips to tempt him. His responding chuckle was low and dark and blistered her skin with its heat.
He continued kissing down her body, until he reached the juncture of her legs. He nuzzled her thighs further open to make room for his wide shoulders. Jessa panted as she watched him settle between her legs. Her breath caught when he turned dark eyes on her and bent for his first taste of her cream.
Embracing Her Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance (Carver City Shifters Book 2) Page 3
