Devil Hills: #2 Luna & Lydia

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “Is there…like a book…something…” she liked the laugh he let free, low and warm. She rubbed her face against his shirt, his palm stroking gently over her head.

  “So far as I know, doctors are still trying to figure out how people make it past the early teens and not shift. Gaudarville has a daughter, Luna St. Germaine. She’s living in Devil Hills now, mated to the sheriff. Her father kept her sedated and we believe, on the same drugs you’ve been given,” he hoped talking was the answer. Talking and holding her close.

  She was shivering, the slender form letting loose with an occasional shudder that made him think she’d shake apart if he wasn’t holding her together, wrapped in the blanket and close to him.

  “She’s free now, right? She’s free of them and their poison.” Lydia worked to keep her teeth from clanking against one another. Her head was aching, a dull pain right behind her eyes.

  “She’s free and Sage isn’t about to lose her,” he said, knowing exactly how the sheriff was feeling. “If you hang around you need to meet her.” He took a breath, hoping he knew what he was doing. “I think she’s your sister, Lydia. They can do the DNA testing, but I’d damn well bet my paycheck, you’re related.”

  Jude swore he felt her stop breathing.

  “A sister?” The words came out so low he almost missed them.

  “Remember the crazy way I acted when I first ran into you? Remember the pictures I showed you on my laptop?” He winced at the memory. But she didn’t speak so he continued. “I went in undercover for the Institute as a bodyguard for her father. Someone met her a couple months ago and knew immediately something was wrong. I was working on a way to get her away from Montreal when she managed on her own during a trip to Seattle.”

  “Why…why do you think she’s my sister?”

  “I showed you her picture, Lydia. You look just like her,” he said gently.

  “They made me in a dish.”

  “Baby, it doesn’t matter how the hell you got here, I’m just glad you are,” he kissed her forehead, his arms tightening when another round of shivers took over. “Maybe we should try something…some way to help this…”

  “Anything…I’m so cold, Jude,” she whispered desperately.

  He prayed he knew what he was doing and lifted her hand. He laid it on the blanket and put his beside it. He called his claws free, his gaze shifting between the claws and her face. He watched her eyes widen, so big for her face and filled with a fear he’d never seen there.

  “I want to show you some photos,” he wrapped the blankets around her and slipped from the bed, going to his case and bringing the laptop out. It took a few minutes to power up and load, then he opened the file on the secure server for Luna. He watched as he cycled through the slide show, pictures of her mother, her grandmother and her. Pictures of the uniquely colored cougar with champagne and gold colored fur, black tips on her ears and paws and muzzle. The end of her tail curled slightly and was tipped in black and gold.

  Lydia lifted her hand from beneath the blankets, fingers shaking slightly as she touched the screen. She didn’t want to be afraid. It was a proud, powerful looking animal. With a pack of these, you could easily sneak into the facilities and free people.

  “Why don’t they use this…we could sneak in and…”

  “We have laws, too, Lydia,” he didn’t know why it surprised him that thoughts of herself were immediately shoved aside. Instead, she was thinking about how to use her animal to free others who’d been used as she was. “If we disobey them, we’re no better than they are.”

  “Will you show me?” She swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Show you…” Jude stood up, his eyes closed and a long, slow breath pushed between his lips. Dark amber lashes rose to find her studying him, innocently watching and waiting. “Alright. I’ll go in the bathroom and change.”

  “Cats don’t wear clothes…” She whispered, a little smile on her lips when he nodded. “Kind of you to save my delicate sensibilities.”

  “Maybe I’m a shy kind of guy,” he tossed back, wondering how far Seth was going to kick his ass for tonight.

  Lydia felt her heart thumping. Hard. Her chest almost hurt from it. She looked at her hands again, the sight of his claws in her mind. She looked back at the computer screen, the cougar. The colors. The strength and pride in the wild animal. Her eyes went to the huge paws and then to her own hands.

  Full lips clamped tightly together. Her breaths coming in quick little puffs through her nose as she lifted her hands from her lap, eyes wide as she stared at the curved sharp claws where her nails used to be.

  Then she saw the cat move from the end of the large hotel room.

  He was majestic, she thought instantly, the claws on her hands forgotten and quietly receding in her distraction. She moved to her knees, her hand reaching for the light beside her and flicking it on high.

  In the right light, she could make out off-shaped rings, his spots, she realized, taking in the six and a half foot length and easily over two hundred and fifty pounds of cat standing before her, watching. Her head tilted to the side, her body rising to her knees. The blankets fell around her. He had a long tail, black and flicking, just like a house cat, she realized with a little smile.

  “Here,” she whispered, patting the bed. “You’re beautiful…”

  Jude couldn’t control the shudder that ran through him when her hands moved to his shoulders, stroking along his length. Fingers stopped, moving to his flanks, delicately touching the markings there. He stretched out on the bed, closing his eyes and purring beneath the gentle stroking, her hands on his head now.

  “So warm,” she breathed, curling up next to him, her arms round his neck and face pressed into his throat. She sat up, resting on her knees.

  Jude opened his eyes, watching her as she lifted her hands, staring.

  He didn’t try and stop the soft growl when her chest started pumping out oxygen just after the claws popped out of the ends of her fingers.

  Fuck! He suddenly realized what she was trying to do.

  He was up and bound off the bed and back to the bathroom, shifting quickly and pulling his jeans up his legs. He came around the open door in time to see her shaking out of the clothing she had been wearing.

  Seth was going to kill him.

  If his mate didn’t do the job for him first.

  She stood regally in the center of the bed, head up and cocked, staring into the mirror opposite the bed.

  This cougar was definitely a bit larger than a jaguar, he realized, standing still and watching her. She tried walking, staring quizzically down at where her feet used to be. She turned to look at him, blinking and staring.

  Lydia looked exactly like her sister, even as a cougar.

  Jude moved cautiously forward. He knew her vision would be sharper as a cat, her senses picking up sounds and scents she hadn’t been privileged to as a human. And she seemed to be analyzing it all. Probably the only thing keeping him alive was the rigid control Lydia had taught herself through her life. She wasn’t about to relinquish that, even as a cougar.

  “Lydia…listen to me…you shouldn’t have been able to do this. Seth said you should still have a high quantity of that suppressant drug in your system. He wanted you to wait until you could be around doctors…to help your body. The hormones that teenagers have help the first couple shifts…they help the body adjust and regulate things like your temperature,” Jude held his palm out to her, breathing steadily and in relief when she took a step forward on the bed and rubbed her head against his palm.

  He wasn’t sure what to expect. He remembered losing consciousness when he shifted. He’d been twelve at the time and thought himself hot stuff. Then he passed out, hyperventilating and making his older brother laugh for a month. Passing out as a jaguar and waking up naked with your mother in a panic didn’t do a lot for his self-esteem at the time.

  Lydia was already holding her
form longer than he had when he was twelve.

  He reached out and touched her head again, his palm sliding over her shoulders. She wasn’t shivering. Jude felt his stomach jump when she suddenly yawned. Fangs always looked so much worse when you were human. Somehow he managed to keep still, watching as she curled up at the top of the bed, her nose tucked into the crook of her front legs and tail curled around her body.

  Jude dropped to his heels, one hand up and rubbing his neck.

  No precedent for this, Seth had told him.

  If he suggested she shift back, he didn’t know what would happen.

  But he also knew it took a lot of practice to be able to sleep fully shifted for very long. Once full unconsciousness took hold and her sleep deepened, her body would relax and shift for her.

  Shit.

  He really didn’t want to call Seth. Again. He crossed the room and stood leaning on the sill, staring into the darkness that was the back of the large hotel.

  His heart thudded in a wild jump against his chest.

  He snapped upright, his eyes down on the two slender palms stroking over his chest. His eyes crossed when the rest of her pressed against his back. She hadn’t bothered putting her clothing back on.

  “I don’t feel cold now,” she whispered, trailing hot kisses across his back. “I feel wild and alive,” Lydia lifted one of her legs, her knee rubbing against the jean covered thigh and higher until her foot circled him and curled around his leg.

  “Lydia…” Jude had to seriously focus to get his voice to work. Her hands had stopped exploring his chest and slid down over his ribs and onto his abdomen. Then there were those soft, slender fingers toying with the button on his jeans. “I think you need some sleep.”

  He decided the first mistake was turning to face her.

  She lowered her leg and took a step back, her head tilted in that quizzical way she had, watching him as her tongue came out and swiped across her lower lip. Whatever the genetic blend, she was platinum all over, he noted, clearing his throat several times but losing the trail of thought when she stepped forward and kissed him.

  Slow and simmering. She took a sharp nip at his lip before letting her tongue soothe it. Just as he was ready to sink into her kiss, she trailed her lips over his jaw, down his throat and onto the mark she’d made on his shoulder.

  “Mine,” she whispered hotly, swiping her tongue over the sensitive skin. She continued to lick over his chest, tasting him in long, sensuous strokes before straightening up and sending both hands into the hair at the sides of his head.

  Amber eyes flared to gold, his head bent to make it easier to take the kisses she wanted, the kisses he suddenly needed like air. Most of the air was needed for the raging argument inside him between his various sides.

  The sane part told him to back off, put her in the blankets, wrap her tight and convince her she needed sleep more than anything.

  Sane part, hell. He had no sane parts at the moment.

  The gentleman inside him…the final shreds of the man who should realize Lydia Jones was not the one making this choice for her body.

  He knew often enough how easy it could be to allow the cat to rule. It was freeing, it was like flying with your feet still firmly planted on the ground.

  His palms slid down the heated feminine flesh, her skin soft and enticing. He groaned into the kiss, his hands finishing the glide and cupping her ass tightly. When one of her legs raised and hitched at his waist, he knew he was doomed.

  The sweet scent of her arousal struck him like a wall of flames, pulling him in and refusing to release him anytime soon.

  “Lydia…”

  “I like your hands…they’re warm and strong…” She nipped along his throat, her hips rotating and pressing hotly against the solid line of his cock. “I like when you touch me, Jude. It makes everything bad…everything wrong with the life I had just vanish and there’s nothing but you and me.”

  “Christ, Lydia…”

  “You want me, Jude,” she purred against his throat, licking along the length and nipping his ear. “I want you. I want you inside me…I want to feel you against me.”

  She gulped in a hard breath, his mouth closing over the mark on her shoulder, his tongue stroking around the bite and his hands gripping her ass tightly enough to lift her against him. He turned and carried her to the bed.

  “Baby, listen to me,” Jude ground his teeth, his tongue scraping over the hint of the canines. His cat was so close to the surface it was damned painful to even walk. He held her against him, her leg still wrapped around his hip. He groaned when she slid her palms down his chest, tiny claws scraping over the hot flesh and stopping to run teasingly along the band of his jeans.

  Lydia flattened the backs of her hands against his stomach, green eyes flashing with the thrill of power when he supped in a deep breath, her fingers sliding inside the band of his jeans. Thumbs moved together, popping the brass button open.

  “I’m listening…” she kissed over his chest, unfolding her leg and pushing against his waist until he lowered her. “I can listen and…explore…at the same time,” she whispered hotly against the flat male nipple. She nipped it with her teeth and felt his hands pushed into her hair, gripping fists full and pulling her head back.

  Golden amber eyes flashed with a hint of the jaguar and she smiled up at him, daring him. Ever that challenging gleam there for him that sent a sharp jolt straight to his cock.

  “Lydia…there’s no going back from this,” Jude pushed the words out in a low, husky growl, the man barely containing the cat that wanted to stake his claim with all the contained passion and power he owned. “If you don’t want a mate, then let me walk away. Because I won’t let you walk away from us after this.”

  Lydia ran her tongue around her lips, the wild delight in the feminine power she felt surging inside her taking control.

  “Who do you think you’re talking to, Jude? This is me….I made the mark on your shoulder.”

  “You didn’t realize…”

  “I know what I’m doing, Jude. I’m very aware of what I want…” she carefully kept her hands on his waist as she walked to the side, turning him until he was backed against the bed. With her eyes on his, her hands opened the zipper on his jeans.

  Firm, sure feminine hands pushed the denim over his hips and let them slide down his legs to the floor. There was nothing beneath them now but strong, aroused male.

  Jude held his breath, a shudder tearing through him when she wrapped one soft palm around his cock and squeezed, stroking firmly down holding, savoring his strength.

  “Lydia…fuck…Seth is gonna kill me…I was supposed to get you back to the Institute before you shifted. They needed to…reactions are unpredictable…”

  “That’s what’s worrying you?” She asked softly, fascinated by the thick, hard male in her hand. She had pushed his jeans off his hips, her senses keen with arousal and the need to know him. Her fingers traced the pulsing veins, the throbbing strength beneath her palm. She flattened her palms against his thighs, stroking with tempting ease along the muscles until both palms met in the center, cupping the heaviness of him and learning his shape.

  Lydia breathed in his scent, leaning her cheek against his chest and listening.

  “I’ve spent my whole life being in control, Jude. If you’re not in control, they know and use it against you,” she kissed her way along his chest before giving a little push and climbing over him when he sprawled back on the bed. She sat on his thighs, his feet still firmly on the floor, and stared down at him, her back straight and head tipped to the side. “I’m still cold…and I think I’m a little frightened of letting it loose…afraid I’ll hurt someone…afraid I’ll scare someone…very afraid I’ll hurt you.”

  “I’m not worried about you hurting me, Lydia…unless you count driving me insane watching a sexy as hell woman perched on my thighs with my hands pinned beneath her knees,” he ground out between his teeth.

  “All part of the contr
ol thing, Jude,” she whispered, taunting him and leaning forward, letting her breasts fall around his cock before she slid a little further, her tongue out and sweeping over the broad pulsing head. “Are you going to push me away?”

  His hands were free now that she’d slid to the floor, his elbows shoved behind him and body angled to peer into the wide eyes watching him as she licked and drew one finger down the hard length of him.

  “I should…god, I should…”

  Then she smiled at him and let her tongue flick around the ridge, the groan pulled from deep inside him urging the woman in her on.

  The inexperienced, uncertain caress of her hands; the sweet heat of her mouth was sexier than anything he’d ever imagined. He groaned at the sight of those wide, luminous green eyes peering at him through half lower, teasingly thick pale lashes. Soft, trembling little mewls vibrated her mouth, her lips and into her throat, setting up a ricochet and sending it straight through all the nerve endings in his cock.

  Dark green eyes sparkled in the dim reflective lights of night; her face was flushed; he could smell her arousal. He could imagine the sweet syrup between those plumping lower lips. He watched her mouth, her full lips taking him deeper, her tongue circling, stroking and tasting.

  “Lydia…I can’t…” he should stop her, yet his hands had a possessive hold deep in the thick hair. She knelt on the floor, stroking him with both hands, fondling, caressing the swollen sacks and damned if she didn’t manage to look angelic while giving him pleasure beyond his imagination.

  Jude forced his hands from her head, gripped her shoulders and pulled her over him, tipped her to the side and listened to the soft laughter before his mouth crashed down on hers. The growl rumbling from inside became deeper when her tongue surged forward and met his, stroking and tasting. His mouth moved from hers, raining kisses along her throat. He nipped the mark he’d placed there, her hips arching and hands up to immediately thrust into his hair.

  She thought her body was ready to lurch off the surface of the bed, his weight the only thing holding her down when his mouth moved to one breast. A low, plaintive whimper broke free with the tiny pants searching for air when his hand slid up her ribs and covered the handful. A sharp little nip had her fingers tightening.