Mating Instinct (The COMPLETE Ridgeville Series)

by Kyle, Celia

  Carly—stupid, innocent, foolish girl—blinked back her tears.

  Darlin’…

  * * *

  April

  What Carly wouldn’t give to be pregnant with her mate’s cubs.

  Hell, even one little kit would do.

  If her mate was a male worth having, that was.

  Maya sat before her, lamenting her pregnancy, whining about the suddenness of it all, and her BFF didn’t have a clue that Carly had found her mate.

  Because she hadn’t told anyone.

  Nope, not a soul.

  Ever since meeting Neal three months ago, she’d done her damnedest to avoid the male. He belonged to someone else and she refused to claim—or be claimed by—a man who wouldn’t look at her, or treat her, like she was the center of his universe.

  Yeah, she knew her hopes were more Disney fantasy than real world.

  She just didn’t give a fuck.

  Lost in her thoughts, she wrenched her attention from her situation and rejoined her conversation with Maya.

  “By the way, don’t answer your phone if it happens to ring, please. I don’t want to talk to Alex…or any of his lions right now.”

  “O…kay…” So her friend didn’t want to chat with her mate. Lovely.

  “I’m serious, Carly.”

  Maya had ditched her guards, her quintet, the very second she’d been surprised by the news of her pregnancy and to say she wasn’t taking it well was an understatement.

  Carly glanced at her freezer, now sans door, and then stared at the dents in her wall, courtesy of Maya kicking her shoes off the moment she sat at the kitchen table. “Fine. But you’re totally paying to get that fixed. You know that, right? Oh, and let’s not forget about my freezer door, you rageaholic.”

  The lioness waved a spoon at Carly. “Yeah, yeah. Alex, if I let him live, will have someone come over and patch that shit right up for you. But my visit is about making me feel all better, so let’s hop to it.”

  “Bitch,” Carly fired back, glaring at her BFF.

  “Actually, pregnant cats are called queens. So Queen Bitch would be more appropriate, I think.” She tilted her head to the side. “Yeah. I think I kinda dig that.”

  Carly rolled her eyes. “Whatever. So we’re pregnant, huh?”

  “By we, you mean me, right?” Maya scooped out another hunk of ice cream and downed it, then pointed the empty spoon at her. “’Cause last I knew, you were on a dick boycott. Right?”

  Carly stuck out her tongue, then blew raspberries at her. Yeah, she was totally a child. And yeah, since she’d found her mate—but hadn’t claimed him—she was on a boycott for the foreseeable future. “Yes. Anyway…You’re pregnant, freaked about it, and now you’re here, and surprisingly, without the company of the quintet.” Carly grabbed a spoon for herself before inching close enough to steal a scoop of the gooey goodness that Maya selfishly hoarded. “Speaking of which, I’m thinking about ending the weenie boycott, and I’m totally down with taking one of the fab five off of your hands. I’m thinking Wyatt…or maybe Deuce. Which do you think is better in bed?”

  Not really. She just needed someone else to take her mind off the ‘tall drink of water’ dominating her thoughts. She wouldn’t have sex with the guy, she’d just…hell, she didn’t know what she needed. She was a great big ball of furry, confused beyotch.

  A deep snort, followed quickly by a male grunt, interrupted their fun, their OMG-I’m-pregnant-fest, and without looking, Carly immediately knew who that sound belonged to. Neal had finally found Maya.

  Her Neal.

  No. He wasn’t ‘her’ anything. He belonged to that blonde…

  “I’d say neither will give ya what you need, Ms. Lucky.” Neal poked his head around the corner. “I’m the man to rock your world.” The werelion’s eyes were a deeper blue than Carly had ever seen. Soon, the unmistakable scent of arousal and desire filled the small space.

  Good for him. He could go to the human woman for satisfaction. The ‘Carly Store’ was permanently closed.

  Maya pointed at the slick-talking cowboy intruder. “Hey…no, Neal. Bad kitty. That was not a very good rabbit’s foot joke. And…no cat of mine is allowed to chase my BFF’s fluffy tail…unless they’ve got mating and little kitties on their mind.”

  Carly forced her heart to still. She hadn’t gotten around to revealing her connection to Neal and wasn’t about to tell the she-cat now.

  Please don’t say anything, Neal…Please…Let me joke my way through this.

  She glared at her friend. “You take all the fun out of being your friend, you know that?” She snatched the Chunky Monkey from Maya’s hands. “Cock blockers don’t deserve to eat my ice cream. None for you!” It didn’t matter if mating was on her brain—or Neal’s—it wasn’t happening. Not when he had a chickie on the line, and, based on the handful of times she’d seen him since January, the woman still lingered.

  And was still darlin’.

  Who knew how many others he had in the wings.

  Maya tilted her head. “Because of the kind of boycott you’ve got going on, wouldn’t I be a pussy blocker?”

  Carly fired back, “That makes absolutely no sense, Maya. Besides, I told you I was thinking about ending it, didn’t I?”

  Maya raised a brow and opened her mouth, but Neal overrode whatever her friend was about to say. “Why don’t we chat about boycotts a little later?” He looked right at Carly and she couldn’t fight the blush heating her cheeks. There was possession, want, and need in that single look. Damn it. Neal turned his attention to Maya. “Prima, Alex is looking for ya.”

  Well, that ended their fun, and none too soon. The last thing she wanted to do was explore the reason behind the warmth of her cheeks in front of her friend. The friend to whom she hadn’t gotten around to revealing the fact that Neal was her mate.

  She’d get there…eventually.

  Maybe after their first litter…or four. If they ever got there. Yeah.

  Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Carly was totally prepared to brush past her mate, walk her friend to the door, and ignore Neal’s presence entirely. Unfortunately, she ended up embroiled in whatever the hell was going on in Prima’s life.

  Apparently, the big, bad she-cat couldn’t admit her pregnancy to her mate without her BFF on hand so Carly got hauled along for the ride. Joy.

  Hours later at the pride house—after Maya had glared at the visiting council and then carved up the tiger delegate (who happened to be a tigress hitting on Maya’s mate)—her BFF still hadn’t dropped the P-bomb.

  Lovely.

  “Okay, y’all can leave.” Maya made a shooing motion, her blood crusted hands waving Carly and Neal toward the door. “Nothing to see here. Move along little doggies. Okay, rabbit and lion, but get gone.”

  Nervous tension thrummed through her veins. She’d ridden to the house with Neal and Maya and now Maya could sure as shit drive her home. She totally wasn’t riding back with Ne—

  “Neal will take you home.”

  Oh, god. Kill me now.

  A strong, warm arm wrapped around her shoulders, and her mate’s scent enveloped her in a soothing fragrance. Carly’s rabbit didn’t want to turn tail and run. No, she wanted to snuggle in and rub all over him.

  Traitorous bitch.

  “Come along, darlin’.”

  Darlin’…

  Unable to fight the inevitable, she let the male lead her from the house and to the waiting SUV. He helped her into the passenger seat and then jogged around to the driver’s side.

  Damn, he was hotness on two legs. He moved like the predator that lived beneath his skin, all smooth steps and barely contained strength. His black locks were stirred by the breeze, and she imagined how soft the strands would be against her fingers. Those blue eyes were bright and glinting as he slid behind the wheel.

  He flashed a quick smile and then got them moving, driving over the gravel driveway and onto the street with ease. Thankfully, Carly didn’t live fa
r from the pride house, and the trip wouldn’t take long.

  “So, you gonna tell me why you’ve avoided me—avoided us—for the last three months?” His drawl was deep and filled with the promise of more pleasure than she could ever imagine; however, a hint of steel edged his words. “It hasn’t been easy, Lucky. Why are you doing this to us?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut. Her bunny wanted to pounce on him, straddle his hips, and take what she desired while her human half—the bit of her that had grown up on sweet romance novels and happily-ever-after—needed more.

  Carly opened her eyes and kept them on the road as the car drew closer to her home. Two more streets, and then she’d be there.

  “Darlin’?”

  She hated that endearment more than life itself.

  One more street.

  Then a quick left turn, and her house appeared one block up on the right.

  With more bravery than sense, she answered him with a question as they pulled in front of her house. “Tell me, are you still involved with the blonde?”

  She placed her hand on the door handle, tugged on it, let the door open a handful of inches, and then returned her gaze to him. She waited to see if he’d lie, if he’d speak the truth, or if he’d give her something in between. And yeah, she admitted to herself, she wanted to look for signs of guilt or remorse, as well.

  He frowned at first, as if he had no idea about what she was talking about, and then a dusting of red appeared high on his cheeks. “Well, you see—“

  God, life was so fucking hard. “And is she still your darlin’?”

  Please say no. Please.

  “You don’t understand.”

  Damn those pretty blues. Damn her heart for wanting him and damn her traitorous rabbit for craving him like a drug.

  “You’re right. I don’t.” She took a deep breath and forced her body to obey her mind. She pushed the door open and slid from the vehicle. “I’m not going to do this, Neal. Maybe a mating between rabbits and lions isn’t the same as if we’d stuck with our own species. I do know that what you’re doing with your life—what you’re doing with her even after we’ve found each other—isn’t what I want for my kits. So have a good one.”

  Carly didn’t give him a chance to reply. No, she stepped back and pushed the door closed.

  “Carly, wa—“

  No. She was done waiting. On shaky legs, she raced up the path to her door, let herself in, and then slammed it shut behind her. With trembling fingers, she engaged the locks, and even managed to get the chain in place before the first tear fell.

  Damn him.

  Damn her rabbit.

  Damn her idealistic heart.

  Chapter 2

  July

  Little bunny foo foo…hopping through the forest…

  Carly wished there were some field mice around…or any kind of rodent, for that matter. They’d at least give her someone to play with and chase around while she hopped the night away.

  She wove through the trees, dashing from bush to bush. She paused near her favored tree, tilted her little furry head back, poked up the tiny pink lump that passed for her bunny nose, and scented the air. No other shifters around, thank goodness.

  On the night of the semi-annual Gaian Moon, she couldn’t ever be too careful. Furballs all over the place were driven to fuck like, er, bunnies, in order produce offspring, and she didn’t want to get caught in that trap.

  No siree, Bob.

  Carly hopped a few lengths closer to her favorite clearing and peeked over a fallen log, eyes straining against the darkness to see if predators lurked. Her ears weren’t picking up anything, but a wererabbit couldn’t ever forget that they looked tasty to just about every inhabitant of the forest, were or not.

  Sensing no one near, she let the fur fly and raced into the clearing, dancing through the high grasses and dodging rocks. As a human, the area wasn’t all that large, but to her rabbit, it might as well have been an ocean.

  An ocean that held the tastiest, freshest, bestest dandelions ever. Seriously. It was bunny crack.

  Carly ran, soft dew clinging to her fur while she sprinted across the glade and toward her destination. She was the only one of a few in her warren who knew of this place, and she’d worked hard to keep it that way. With so many other wererabbits in the warren, the clearing would have been decimated in no time.

  Within moments, the patch of dandelions was in sight and she could feel the saliva gather in her mouth. She couldn’t wait to munch on the green stalks and fluffy heads. Two last hops and she pounced like a cat, opened her mouth, and chomped on the nearest weed, sharp teeth sinking through the shoot with ease.

  Nom, nom, nom.

  First one disappeared, and then another, and another… Four down and she flopped onto her back, belly full and blood singing with the warm and fuzzies that came with eating the greenery.

  Bunny crack. Really.

  The full moon hung over her, pale light casting shadows around the small meadow. Her ears remained alert, her rabbit constantly on watch for those that would see her as easy prey. The forest remained quiet, the soft song of crickets and the rustle of leaves producing a lulling song.

  She sighed.

  Her bunny was horny.

  Hardcore.

  Carly had managed to sate one hunger, but the other was happily rearing its ugly ‘let’s bang’ head.

  She hated the damned moon. The whole making babies thing was overrated. She couldn’t even begin to count the number of kits born as a result of the Gaian Moon. Sure, she was all for increasing the numbers in the warren. Woo-hoo, bunny power! She just didn’t want to help their numbers along until she had a man shackled to her forever and ever, amen.

  She sighed. Sorta. Her rabbit wasn’t much of a sigher. Didn’t really know how.

  Anyway. Thoughts of kits always managed to bring her mind—both rabbit and human—back to one man…lion…whatever.

  Neal, her very own Texan, tall, long drink of water. Dayum.

  The man was six and a half feet of blue eyed, black haired, tanned skin, wide smiling hotness. And the dimple… A shudder of desire raced down her furball spine. That damned dimple made her melt inside, and then she’d get a little horny, and then his nostrils would do the flarey thing that meant he could smell her need and then… He’d be all ‘Need me to take care of somethin’, darlin’?’

  In that split second, that single word, she’d feel like a bucket of cold water had flowed over and through her and her arousal would disappear.

  Darlin’.

  Oh, yeah, she’d be all about ‘darlin’’. If only she’d be the only one. But that’d be kinda hard, considering every woman in the world was treated with the same endearment, the same heavy lidded gaze and slow, sensual smile. Including the blonde, Naomi, who was still in his life. Just about every time she’d seen him in the last six months, the other woman had at his side.

  Right. There.

  And, supposedly, Carly was his mate.

  Yeah. She had it bad. As in, ‘mate me now gimme your babies’, bad.

  But not bad enough to share him.

  Sure, mates were supposed to be all ‘forever and no one else’, but Carly wasn’t sure she wanted to test the theory between a rabbit and a lion. Her heart couldn’t take being broken into a bajillion pieces.

  Of course, all of these downer thoughts hadn’t done a thing for her immediate need for a man.

  Argh.

  She half-rolled over and yanked at another dandelion, tugged it from the earth, and settled on her back, the shaft firmly between her paws. With a happy hum, she nibbled and gnawed, took what little pleasure she could.

  The moon, bright and full of promise, teased and taunted her. There was so much she could have… If only…

  Growling, she tossed aside the last of the stalk and hissed at the great big ball in the sky, ignoring the feeling of loneliness in her heart. Her BFF had mated the lion’s alpha—their Prime— six months ago and was happily (and largely
) pregnant with twins. What did she have?

  Nada…

  Okay. Enough.

  She sounded like a pansy-assed pussy and she needed to leave that behavior to the cats. She wasn’t going to feel sorry for herself any longer, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to shy away from the next Gaian Moon.

  She was sure that after a lot of coaxing, her rabbit would let her get down and dirty with another male. Maybe.

  Resolved and determined to do something different, she closed her eyes with a sigh. She could force her rabbit to accept another’s touch…she hoped.

  Carly wouldn’t risk her heart, not on Neal and his wandering eyes, no matter what her bunny wanted. But she would at least have a go at kits. She hadn’t been a fan of not having a Papa Rabbit around as a kid, but maybe it’d be different for her little ones…

  Carly opened herself to the night, embraced the gentle rustle of leaves, the trill of birds—which, thankfully, weren’t shifters since they didn’t have any in Ridgeville—and the soft pad of…

  Wait.

  Pad?

  She laid still, played dead in the night and opened her senses to the forest, scented the wind.

  Fuck.

  The all too familiar scents of musk, spring rain, and daffodils wafted toward her and those smells only clung to…Neal. Her mate. Her lion.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  Did I mention fuck?

  As a human, she had pretty damned good control over her body. Hell, she hadn’t launched herself at him and climbed him like a tree yet, had she?

  But now…

  The soft crunch of leaves beneath his monstrous paws grew closer with every beat of her heart. Nearer and nearer he came, until the snap and muffled steps surrounded her, his scent enveloped her in a protective bubble.

  She’d been well and truly caught.

  Carly scrunched her eyes shut. She could play the ‘You can’t see me!’ game. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed, she’d be invisible.

  Hey, it worked for her nieces and nephews.

  A tingling swirl of magic blanketed her body and the pop and crunch of a shifter’s change echoed through the clearing.