Leopard's Fury

by Christine Feehan

  His mouth was on her other breast, pulling strongly. Her back arched, pressing her soft flesh deeper into his mouth. He loved the taste of her. Her skin was like satin. Her silky hair was everywhere, across the pillow, all over the mattress, so sexy he could barely stand it. Her breath came in a ragged gasp.

  "Your skirt, malyutka. Why didn't you ever wear it again?"

  She swallowed hard as he lifted his head. He waited for an answer, demanding one silently. He wanted her to know that when he asked a question, he wanted an answer.

  "I felt you. Looking at me. It was intense."

  He kept his gaze on hers as he leaned down to lap at her nipples with his tongue, rewarding her for her bravery. "How was it intense?"

  Her skin was flushed, but he could still see the blush stealing up her neck into her face. Her eyes slid from his. He bit down and pulled her nipple toward him with his teeth. Still gentle, but she definitely could feel the bite. She cried out, her gaze jumping back to his.

  "It was the first time I ever had a reaction."

  "What kind of reaction?" His finger stroked her clit, drew circles around it and then stroked again.

  "It's embarrassin'."

  "Nothing is embarrassing with me. Do you know how many times I went home and jerked off thinking about you? Fantasizing about you? Wishing your mouth was on me? Or I was in you? I'm not ashamed of wanting you. Are you really ashamed of wanting me?"

  She shook her head. "No. It's just that I never talked like this with anyone."

  "I'm not anyone. I'm your man. I was born for you. I belong to you. Your body is mine. You are mine. Tell me." He stroked her clit again, feeling her shudder. Feeling the wave of slick cream coating his finger. It was hot. So hot his cock jerked and pulsed, wept with need, but all that mattered to him was Evangeline and her pleasure.

  He chose a spot on the curve of her breast to leave another strawberry. Right in the center of it, he used his teeth, biting down. At the same time he pushed into her with one finger. She nearly came apart, so scorching hot and so tight he felt she was strangling his finger. He couldn't imagine what she would feel like surrounding his cock with all that silken heat. "Tell me, Evangeline."

  "My panties got damp and my breasts ached. It wasn't my female, it was all me," she confessed in a little rush. "I couldn't get you out of my head or the way your gaze felt on me and that night I stopped by a store and bought a toy."

  His cock jerked hard at the thought of her being so brave as to walk into an adult store and purchase a toy and then use it on herself. "I fucking love that, malyutka, I want to watch. Better yet, I want to use it on you. Something else to look forward to."

  His mouth traveled down her body, tongue sliding along every rib. He dipped into her belly button. "I'm going to drink vodka off you. Pour it over your breasts, let it run down your body and lap it off of you." His tongue showed her how and then his teeth teased her abdomen. He shifted his weight, sliding down her body so he could grasp her thighs and pull them apart.

  "So beautiful, Evangeline." He stared at her, that beautiful flower waiting for him. All his. Not once had his leopard protested. He was quiet. Calm. Giving Alonzo his freedom to enjoy his woman, to indulge himself like he'd never been able to. This time was all about accustoming her to him. Initiating her. Loving her. Exploring her body. Seeing her reactions to everything he did to her. Bringing her the most pleasure possible for her first time.

  "I love to hear you make noise, malyutka, so don't hold back. I need to know what you're feeling." That was important to him. It never had been. He got off to get release, and he did his best in the limited time he had to make it work for a woman, but he never kissed her, was never intimate with her. Intimacy was for her. Evangeline.

  She was spread out for him like a feast, the cool air whispering over all that heat. She moved restlessly, and then attempted to bring her thighs closer together. His fingers clamped down tighter, holding her thighs apart, spreading her even more for him. "Stay still. I want to look at what's mine." He bent his head and nuzzled between her legs, allowing the rough shadow on his jaw to rub along her inner thighs like sandpaper.

  "What if I can't do the things you want me to do? What if I'm too afraid?"

  He heard the first real fearful note in her voice. Not at the things he had told her so blatantly he intended to do, more to test her reaction. Leopard sex was brutal at times. Raw and violent. Passionate beyond imagining. His leopard was so ready, so crazy for his mate. Alonzo never wanted Evangeline to be afraid. Not the reality of real fear. He wanted her trust, that no matter what he asked, or what their leopards drove them to do, she knew without a doubt that he would take care of her. A shiver of trepidation could add to the pleasure, but not if she didn't trust him to watch over her.

  He lifted his head just enough to meet her eyes. He could see that same fear building there. She was worried about being good enough for him. That humbled him as nothing else could have. His woman. She was amazing. Perfect.

  "Solnyshko moyo, that would be impossible. You are the most fearless woman I've ever met. You stand when you shouldn't, even in the face of bullets. You had an opportunity to run, but you didn't take it, even knowing I might be angry. You have more passion in your little finger than most people do in their entire bodies. Everything I've said or done so far has shown me you're exactly who I need most. The last thing you're going to do is run from pleasure, and I'll always, always bring you pleasure."

  She kept her eyes steady on his. "What if I don' want to do something?"

  "Then it isn't done." He bent his head and kissed the inside of her left thigh and then proceeded to suckle there to leave his own personal brand. When the strawberry was satisfactory, he pressed his finger to her slick entrance, bit down in the center of the mark and pushed his finger deep into her.

  Her hips bucked and she arched her back, crying out. A flood of scorching liquid heat gripped him like a velvet fist. His cock raged at him. He brought his head up so he could survey his handiwork. "Did you feel your response? You can't fake that, solnyshko moyo. You like what I do to you."

  "What if it's something you really, really want and I can't do it?" she pressed.

  He had to clamp his arm tightly on her hips to keep her still. "Then we talk about it, find out what you fear, and it is up to me to alleviate those fears. I would never do anything without your consent. Even tonight, telling you I would find you. I would, Evangeline." He kissed his way up her other thigh, his heart contracting. "But I would persuade you to come back with me. Leaving me after my leopard claimed yours is tantamount to putting a gun to my head and pulling the trigger. After you gave yourself to me. You know that. That's why you stayed."

  "It's not. I stayed for you. Because I need to be with you."

  His heart nearly exploded at her whispered admission. "If I haven't told you enough, or you don't get this, Ya tebya lyublyu. I've never said that to another soul, man or woman, and I know it is the stark, naked truth." His voice wasn't his own. His body wasn't his own. He belonged to her. Every part of him. The bad could protect her, the good, what little there was, he would use to make her as happy as possible.

  Ducking his head so he wouldn't have to meet her eyes, he rubbed his jaw along her inner thigh, kissed her again and then suckled. Her leg was satin soft. Warm. He loved running his hands over her perfectly shaped ass. He'd looked at it enough. Now it was his. He bit down on the center of the strawberry, felt the surge of heat. Her moan was low and sexy. In her throat. He felt that sound right through his cock.

  "Fyodor. Honey, I need you to . . ." She broke off, her face flushed and her lips parting on a gasp as he curled his long thick finger into her, finding that perfect little spot. His thumb brushed her clit.

  "I know what you need, Evangeline. I'm going to give you everything. I'm big, though, and you have to be ready for me." She was nowhere near ready, but she thought she was. He wanted her out of her mind. Begging. All fear gone, because this experience was all about lovi
ng her, and she had to feel it. She had to know and always be confident that he loved her.

  His hands gripped her thighs and he lowered his head slowly. Feeling his leopard. Feeling his heart pound. His woman. All his. For him. For the first time he allowed himself to taste her. It was a miracle he had this moment when he never thought it possible. It hadn't been possible until . . . her. Evangeline. She changed his world. Gave him everything. He knew he would never forget that moment or his first taste.

  Cinnamon and spice. Honey and cream. He took his time, holding her hips still while her head thrashed on the sheets. Her gasping cries played like a symphony, accompanying the thunderous roar in his ears and the sound of his heartbeat drumming hard. His cock reacted, so full and hard he thought he might burst. The ache was primal and satisfying. He took his time worshiping her, telling her without words what he felt, wanting her to see that yes, he was all those things she feared, but he was also this, paradise, and he would always be this for her. Only her.

  She tasted like heaven and he indulged his craving for her. His woman. So perfect. Her ragged breathing punctuated by his name--his name; Fyodor, not Alonzo--added to the surreal perfection of the moment for him. He wanted it to last forever, but his painful cock was making demands and she was so close to shattering. He wanted that. To make her come apart.

  He kept his eyes on her face, watching that dazed expression come into her eyes. The thread of fear of the unknown. Her hands went to his hair, anchored there, using him, trusting him. She gave that gift to him, heightening his pleasure, his love for her.

  "All the way, malen'kaya lyublyu moyo, come to me all the way. Give yourself to me." He stabbed deep, his tongue lashing, driving her up higher, he suckled and drew out more of her citrus spice, all the while watching her eyes. He knew the moment she gave herself into his keeping. He saw it on her face. That sweet surrender to him.

  Her gaze clung to his face, eyes wide and shocked. Her mouth formed a perfect little O and she cried out, a strangled sound somewhere between a moan and keening his name. He watched her come apart. Felt the ripples deep inside her with his mouth, his finger. Saw it in her belly muscles, the sway of her breasts. So beautiful. That was his. That was all for him. He'd given that to her, but it was his.

  He rose above her on his knees, keeping her thighs wide apart, dragging her legs tight against him. His cock was thick and hot in his hand as he positioned himself, pushing into that slick heat just enough to get the broad head into scorching heaven. She was tight. So tight. A scalding tunnel surrounding him with fiery silk. His breath hissed out of his lungs and he wanted desperately to plunge into her, drive himself deep to feel that sensation along his shaft. His balls actually ached, boiled in urgent need.

  He made himself go slow, watching her face for any signs of discomfort. The walls of her sheath still pulsed and rippled from her first orgasm, and every inch he slid in her body gripped and squeezed his cock like a tight fist. He hit that barrier and he knew she was his as well. Evangeline. Such an unexpected gift.

  He slowly leaned over her, blanketing her body, all the while holding her gaze with his. "A bite of pain, Evangeline. A small one. You understand. And then I give you pleasure. Only that."

  Her gaze clung to his, and he loved that even more. The way she looked at him as if he were the only man in her world. Her white knight when he was anything but. She'd looked at him that way before and a small part of that frozen block inside of him had melted a little.

  He flexed his fingers on her hips and took a deep breath to keep from slamming home. "You're so hot, solnyshko moyo, so tight. I could get lost in you." Not remember his childhood for a few moments. The deaths on his soul. She did that, took it all away. Brought him solace. Peace when he didn't deserve it.

  He nuzzled her neck, keeping her pinned when she thrashed and tried to force him to go deeper. Still in that heightened state, needing him urgently. Exactly where he needed her to be. Every time she moved and he slid just a little deeper, her channel tight and scorching, he lost his breath and almost his resolve. He bumped that thin barrier over and over, but he refused to give in to her bucking hips or her gasping pleas.

  He took her mouth. Demanding her response, centering her attention there. Kissing her over and over and then leaving a trail of kisses down her neck to her shoulder. He bit her, catching her soft skin in his teeth and biting down as he surged forward, pushing through, feeling that barrier give way and his cock slide deep, deep into her channel until he was surrounded by a fist of pure fire. So good. So beautiful.

  She cried out, the sound strangled in her throat. He kissed the bite and then suckled gently, wanting to leave his signature mark on her. His woman. His. He licked over the spot and gently eased back, his cock still buried balls deep in her. Not moving when his body screamed at him. He waited for her body to adjust. To find pleasure even in pain.

  "Open your eyes for me, Evangeline." It was a command, delivered in his low tone, but a command nevertheless.

  Her lashes fluttered. Her small white teeth tugged at her bottom lip, but she did as he'd asked. All that emerald green looked melted and liquid. Need was there. A little bit of fear. Trust.

  "I need to know you're good."

  "You have to move."

  "Say it for me. I need to know you're good," he reiterated, easing back more so he was once again on his knees, her legs tight against him and her bottom off the bed. He was in complete control of her body that way.

  He loved looking down at her. Her hair spilled on the pillow and all around her, a wild mass of silk. Her breasts were perfect, jutting up at him, swaying with every movement. Her skin flushed a beautiful rose. "Ya tebya lyublyu." He whispered it, more in his mind than aloud. He did love her. If his heart had been frozen, and he was certain it had been, that had been the first thing she'd melted.

  "Please move, Fyodor. I need you to move. I'm good. I really am."

  He didn't wait for more. He pulled back, feeling the delicious bite of her sheath strangling him, the hot friction that built anticipation. He slammed deep into her. Pounded. Used the strength in his hips to take her hard and fast. Every stroke jolted her body and he held her still so she couldn't move, her legs clamped to him, straight up against his shoulders, spread wide. All for him. His.

  He lost himself for a little while, shattering her twice more so that she clamped down on him, trying to take him with her. Each time, before she went over, he commanded her to go. Whispering his demand. Holding her gaze captive, wanting her to respond to his voice. Her pleas grew louder, her breath hitching in her throat, her eyes wide with shock. He kept going. He needed to stay there, buried in her, allowing her to take it all away, every horrible moment of his life, and fill it with her. Streaks of fire rushed from his cock to spread throughout his groin and belly, down to his thighs, up to his chest. Consuming him. Giving him new life. Melting the ice inside of him until there was only Evangeline and their bodies coming together in a wild frenzy.

  Lust was sharp. Love was terrible. Passion was bliss. He lost himself in that paradise, in the knowledge that she belonged to him. That she gave him that gift. Her body. Her trust that he'd take the greatest care of her and give her everything. He poured himself into her--wanted to drive so deep he branded her inside with him--where she'd feel him every moment of the day. Where she'd crave him when he wasn't inside her.

  Her nails bit into his arms, and he let his gaze move over her face. Seeing her. Knowing he'd driven her up as high as she could go right then. Pushed past her comfort zone. He tightened his hold, moving her body so that he hit her most sensitive spot with every stroke, so that his shaft blazed directly over her clit, the friction wild and perfect.

  "Again. Now, Evangeline. Give me you. All of you. Right now."

  She let go. Surrendered to him completely. Her body clamped down on his like a vicious vise. The scorching heat surrounding him. The silken fist gripping and milking him. There was no way to hold on and he growled out her name hoarsely, hi
s seed boiling up and rocketing into her, jet after jet, filling her body with him. His. All his.

  He collapsed over top of her, his body still pumping hard, and then slowing to an easier glide. It felt so good. Him. Her. The mixture of the two of them. He buried his face in her neck, his lips on her skin. Inhaling her. Inhaling them. He'd never thought he could be happy. He didn't know what that was. He hadn't experienced it. Never happiness or joy yet now, he recognized both emotions for what they were. Both were simply Evangeline.

  He knew he was too heavy. Crushing her. But he had to stay there for a few long moments, her body under his. Small. Fragile. All woman. Soft skin and beautiful curves. His. He nuzzled again and was surprised when she didn't tell him to move. Her breathing was shortened, ragged, raspy even, due to his weight crushing her, but she held him, her arms around him, cradling him to her. She gave him that, knowing instinctively he needed it.

  No one held him. When he was a baby, a toddler, his mother didn't dare hold him even if she was so inclined. His father didn't believe in coddling an infant. He knew Evangeline had never been held either. Maybe she needed it as much as he did.

  Eventually he knew he couldn't stay. He was just too heavy. He eased out of her reluctantly, still semi-hard at the knowledge that he could have her again and again whenever he wanted or needed. His. It was still sinking in. He was still trying to absorb the knowledge that she'd really given herself to him.

  Alonzo slipped to her side, keeping her pinned with one leg thrown over her thigh. He lifted his head up to look down at her body. Looking at his marks of possession with satisfaction. She hadn't once protested. She got off on his lovemaking--and he had made love to her with every stroke. Every touch.

  She started to move her legs, to close them. He had her spread fairly wide to accommodate him. His hand stopped her. "I like to look at you. To see what's mine. I especially want to see us together." He reveled in the sight of his seed seeping down her thighs along with evidence of her innocence. The gift she'd given him.