Rodney: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “He sent me his resume through email. I’ll forward it on to you.” She said she would use it, but it wasn’t necessary. Not for her. “Be that as it may, I’m going to follow the rules as well. Did you have a chance to see if Rebel has her privileges reinstated?”

  “Yes. And yes, she can work there as well. I’m to understand, Rebel, that you’ve allowed students to follow you for college credits?” Rebel said she’d done it, but not in the United States. “I’ll look into that as well if you would continue to do that. I know Rodney does it a little as well. There is a huge tax break for allowing students to understudy, or whatever it’s called, for the hospital. They’re going to need everything they can get at this point.”

  Taking his phone out of the holder, he entered the house. Grandda gave him a knowing look and said he was going to turn in early. Rebel went to the kitchen, and Rodney went to his office. The sooner he was able to get off the call to Harris, the quicker he could get upstairs and ravage his mate. When Harris told him she had the email, he asked her if there was anything else he could do for her.

  “Nothing. But I would like you to consider a couple of things. One of them is for either you or Rebel to take over the school system for their medical needs. Or both. I think the two of you would be a hell of a lot better at it than having several doctors that each go to one specific school. The second thing is, I’d like you to consider being on the school board. That would again be between you and Rebel, but as I said before, you’d be better than the group they have now.” He said he’d talk it over with Rebel. “Thanks. I’m headed out of town for a couple of days. Nothing bad, but will you keep an eye on Shep for me? He gets bored too easily, and that gets him into trouble.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  She thanked him again then hung up. No goodbye. No see you later. When Harris was finished talking to you, bam, she was finished. He sort of liked the way she did it.

  Putting his cell on his desk, he went to the staircase. There standing at the top of the stairs, was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. And when she smiled at him, she brightened the world around her. Rodney knew he’d never love anyone as much as he did Rebel. And to know she was his, forever, made him feel like he could easily cherish her for the rest of their days.

  ~*~

  Rebel didn’t have anything sexy to wear with Rodney. Not that it mattered, she supposed. They’d been having a lot of foreplay fun since a few days ago. Thinking she’d burst if she didn’t get him soon, Rebel even gave up on wearing anything at all. Being naked was the best way to go and save on her clothing. She was thrilled that she remembered to send grandda on his way. Otherwise, this would be very awkward.

  “I was just thinking about how absolutely lucky I am to have you as a mate.” She asked him if it was because she was easy. “I doubt anyone would ever equate being easy to you, love. I was thinking how much you make me feel like a renewed man with every look you give me.”

  “That was the most perfect thing to say to me.” Wrapping her arms around his shoulders when he was on the same level as she was, she kissed him quickly on the mouth. “I took a shower for you. I didn’t think you were all that serious about rubbing your body against mine with that crap all over it.”

  “I’ll take you any way I can have you.” Lifting her up by cupping her ass, he wrapped her legs around him. “I could take you right here. I mean literally, right here on the landing.”

  “Go for it. I’m so wet right now I think I could bathe us both in my wetness.”

  His growl made her pussy even wetter. When he told her to hold onto him, she watched as he tore his clothing off himself. First his shirt, then the sound of his zipper breaking apart had her throwing back her head in anticipation of him taking her.

  The wall pressing against her back was cold. However, it was only a fleeting thought as Rodney kissed her, warming her entire body inside and out. Lifting his head from hers, she could see that he had a spot of blood on his mouth. Licking it off, she cried out when whatever power was in that tiny drop raced over her entire body in seconds.

  “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted you? Forever, it seems like.” He moved his cock to her pussy and touched off a mini, heart-stopping climax. “You’re so responsive. It makes me want to make you come a thousand times before I take you.”

  “Please, Rodney. Make me come. I ache with the need to release.”

  He moved over her once again, making her pussy wetter than she’d ever been. When he slid into her, his cock filling parts of her that she knew were only for him to touch, she cried out loudly, not just his name but every declaration of love that she could think of.

  “Again. I need more.”

  He fucked her hard. This, she knew, wasn’t making love but giving relief. How he hung on until she was able to come four more times was something she loved about this man. Then when he stiffened, his entire body seeming to bow into hers, she cried out when he bit down on her shoulder and filled her with his own release.

  “More.” Nodding at him, she kissed his face, ears, and whatever else she could touch of his with her mouth. They were moving again, his steps faltering each time he came to another place he could fuck her against. “You’re going to kill me. I’m barely hanging on as it is.”

  “We’ll both die very sated people then.” The bed was just there when he pressed her against the door he’d entered and closed with his foot. “Please, Rodney, take me to bed.”

  “Not yet.” He took her again, over and over, until she begged him to stop. Her body felt turned inside out. Her fingers hurt from holding onto him so tightly. When he staggered to the bed, holding her up against his body still, she didn’t know if she could take much more. But as soon as he rolled to his back, giving her his body beneath her, she rode him slowly, watching his face for anything she could get from him.

  While she’d had sex before, men didn’t usually let her have the lead. They were selfish, she only just realized, when Rodney didn’t move her around, position her in a way that would be good for him. He let her touch him. Massage tight muscles. Even his nipples, as hard as hers were, seemed to be hers to do with as she wanted.

  Kissing the tip of his right nipple, Rebel filled her hand with her own. The taste of him was amazing. His body seemed to call to her to touch and taste him wherever she could. His ribs were licked. Shoulders were tasted. Even his mouth, which moved beneath hers when she kissed him, was different than anything she’d tasted before. As she moved her body over his, rocking over him, she found that she loved being in charge of the pace. That watching his face for his emotions was something she found both erotic and calming to her.

  “I love the way your breasts move in time with your rocking over me.” He reached up to cup one in his hands and moaned. “They’re beautiful. The paleness of them amazes me. I love too that you have thick nipples for me to taste and suckle on.”

  Lifting the one he’d been teasing up so he could take it into his mouth made her come. When he bit down on her, Rebel cried out. Not with pain, but how much she loved the feeling that came over her when he did it.

  When he rolled her to her back, his body taking full possession of hers, she looked up at him and into his golden eyes. Running her finger over his cheeks to his mouth, she told him how much she loved him. How much she was glad he was in her life.

  “I love you so much, Rebel.” He kissed her then, his body slowly moving in and out of hers. She thought it more devastating to her body, more everything. “I want to see you filled with our child. I want to have as many as you will allow me to have with you.”

  Telling him that was what she wanted as well seemed to be all he needed to take her. He’d fucked her before, she realized the difference. But now, he was making love to her. Her body, heart, and soul.

  Her body was building up for a climax. However, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to survive it. Even her toes were
tightly wound, gearing up for what she knew would be epic. When he held her tighter to his body, hitting her in just the spot she needed, Rebel felt as if every single hair on her body stood up. Then it came.

  For several seconds she was falling. Not a terrible fall, but one she knew would change her forever. Once she hit the pinnacle, or whatever it was, she bowed up off the bed, holding tightly onto Rodney. Rebel cried out. It was all she could do to give herself the ability to not just breathe again but to kickstart her body into sustaining her life once again. For as much as she loved Rodney, she knew that for seconds there, she’d died. It was then that she realized they were correct in naming a climax a little death. Because she was sure she’d just experienced that very thing.

  When she woke up, the room was lit only with the moon shining through the opened curtain. Looking up, she enjoyed seeing the stars through the opening that had been put there and covered in glass. Rodney snuggled against her, and she felt her eyes grow heavy as she listened to his soft snores.

  The second time she woke, she was wrapped around Rodney. He was still asleep, but she really needed to get up and go to the bathroom. Sliding out from under him the best she could, Rebel laughed when he pulled her back to him and snuggled up under her chin.

  “I have to go to the bathroom, my dear.” He groaned but did allow her to get out of the bed. As soon as her feet touched the floor, every muscle she’d stretched out with Rodney made itself known to her. “We need a hot tub if we’re going to make love like that again.”

  “We do have one. But I’ve not filled it yet.” He rolled to his side and looked at her. “I scratched you up a bit too. How about you come back here—?”

  “No more sex right now.” He pouted at her but did ask her if she wanted to go and get breakfast with him. “Yes. So long as you remember I have an appointment at ten with your grandda’s friend. The witch.”

  “I did forget. All right. We’ll do breakfast, then you go to your appointment. After that, we’re supposed to meet with the rest of the family for a late lunch. Harris and Shep have figured out the money she inherited, and she wants to talk to us about it.” She told him she wasn’t family. “Where on earth did you get that idea? You’re as much family as I am. Now get your shower before I come in there and scrub your back. If I do, we’ll never make anything we have to do today.”

  Taking a hot shower did loosen her up a bit. By the time she was getting out, she could move much easier and reach for things she wouldn’t even want to try before she had her shower. Rodney was on the phone when she entered the bedroom, and since he didn’t look upset, she dressed.

  She was going to have to get more clothing, she realized. Most of her things consisted of scrubs and tennis shoes. Rebel did wonder if she needed something dressier. The women of this family didn’t dress up every day, but when they did, it was in nice slacks, as well as heels. She didn’t even remember the last time she’d had on a pair of high heels.

  “That was Howard. He said he got an email from Harris this morning and that he was invited to come to an interview tomorrow. I guess she’s setting us up to do those for the hospital. Have you ever interviewed a doctor before?” Rebel told him she’d not interviewed anyone before. “Me either, for that matter. I’ll have to see if she has some sort of list we can use to go by. You know, questions to ask. Anyway, we’re going to be doing those as well as being helpful for the nursing staff. I guess Whit rehired all the ones that had been fired or quit. At least ones that would come back. He seemed really proud of that.”

  “They should never have been fired in the first place. I hope he knows that.” Rodney smacked her on her bare bottom as he went into the bathroom. Posing her question about clothing to him, he said he’d love to see her in heels and nothing else. “You know, that’s not the least bit helpful, you moron. I can see the look on your grandfather’s face now when I show up in nothing but a pair of red heels.”

  “Yes, red ones. They’d be beautiful with your hair. But as for Grandda, he’ll have to get his own woman.” Rebel was glad she loved Rodney, or she might well be tempted to murder him. “By the way, we’re going to have to get both of us some more clothing. Not just dressy, but casual as well. I’ve got a closet full of greens, but nothing much else. The company I rent them from, they wash them and return them, so I never had to do laundry. Now that I would love to go out with you a great deal, I would like something nice. How do you think I’d look in a pair of red heels?”

  Yes, she thought, she was going to murder him anyway. As he washed his hair, all sorts of ways to make him suffer came to mind. Walking to the commode, she flushed the toilet and left the room when he started cursing. Smiling, she thought this might be more fun than she’d imagined. Having someone around that was fun.

  Going to the kitchen, she was happy to see that someone had made juice. Pulling out the tallest glass in the cabinet, she filled it and sat at the table. After drinking it down, she watched as it filled to the rim again. Not touching the glass or the pitcher she’d pulled from the refrigerator, she decided that if this was her doing, she wasn’t sure she was all right with it. But if it was the work of something or someone else, she wasn’t all right with it at all.

  “Are you all right?” She shook her head, not looking away from the glass. Grandda sat down across from her as she told him what had happened. “You do know it’s happened before, correct?”

  “I think I would have noticed when— The bottle I took home with me from the hospital. It refilled, didn’t it?” He nodded at her as he stood up and began pulling things from the fridge. “We’re going out to get breakfast. You’re more than welcome to join us.”

  Putting the things back, Grandda told Rodney what was going on when he entered the room. They both got a little laugh about it, which pissed her off more. But she was afraid right now. Terrified that if she turned her anger on them, she might well hurt one or even both of them. She’d never been so glad for an appointment as she was for the one coming up soon. Perhaps this person would tell her that it was all a joke and that she was as human as the next guy. Somehow, she didn’t think that was going to happen any more than her not being able to watch the juice glass fill again. Christ, she was going over the edge here.

  Chapter 5

  Darin wasn’t sure if he was in on some sort of joke or not. The woman sitting across from him, with her head between her knees, was someone he’d not been looking forward to meeting all day. Now, here she was, begging him to tell her it was a joke. Darin no more got that than he did why the woman didn’t know she was a witch.

  “I didn’t know. I promise you, this isn’t a joke. I had no idea that anything I was doing wasn’t just a fluke.” He assured her it wasn’t. “Yeah, I got that part. What I don’t understand is how you can tell that without touching me hand or something.”

  Her accent was coming out a bit stronger now. When she’d first sat across from him, he thought she was just like every other want to be he’d ever met. But Rebel was the real deal. Not only that, but her obvious strength was also something she’d never used before. When she sat up, he smiled at her.

  “I’d like to just shoot questions at you as they form in my head. Are you all right with that?” Darin said he would do whatever she needed. “Is this because you’re going to be helpful, or because of— What is it you called me?”

  “Grand witch. And it’s a bit of both. While I can see you’re really struggling here, a large part of me wants to beg you to let me live too. I know you said you weren’t in the mood to kill me right now, but I have to admit, that’s not really an answer I wanted to hear.” She told him she was sorry about that. She wouldn’t kill him. “Thank you. I do appreciate that. You are a grand witch. There are a few more around, none of them nearly as powerful as you are. One of them, I’d say, is only a grand because that’s what she calls herself. You, you’re what we call born to the occupation.”

  “But
I know nothing about this.” He said if she’d allow him to do it, he could wake all of the power she had. “Is it dangerous? Not to me, but to you?”

  “Dangerous? No, I wouldn’t think so. Not unless I offend you in some way and you carry through with your threat. However, helping you would give me a great deal of pleasure. We, people with witchcraft in our blood, have been awaiting someone like you to come along for a very long time.” She asked him if he was old. After laughing a little, he realized she was serious again. “Yes. I am. Very old. But because of my magical abilities rather than something like being given immortality. You, however, are immortal. A true one, if I don’t miss my bet. And if you have a mate, which I’m assuming you do, then he will be as well. Also, he’ll have a bit of your magic. By a bit, I’m thinking he’ll be as powerful, if not more so than the leader of the shadow he belongs to. I’m assuming that Grandpa Marshall is related to you in some way.”

  “My mate’s grandfather.” She looked around the room the two of them were in. It wasn’t a real place, only an illusion he’d manufactured, so she’d not know where he lived if this didn’t go well. “We’re in the middle of an open field. I didn’t see that when I first got here. I did think it strange when a cow walked through here a few minutes into this, but not so much anymore.” She looked at him. “Something tells me you’re going to be very helpful to me.”

  “I can. I would love to be your second in this. A person that can lead you, guide you through some of what is going on with you. However, I will tell you again, you only need someone to wake the magic in you, and you’ll know and understand everything. Including things that as only a warlock, I won’t know.” She told him not to do that. “It’s up to you, my lady.”

  “No. I mean saying you’re only a warlock. You’re very powerful in your own right. You also are all white, with an occasional bit of dark when it’s necessary. Such as when it’s tossed at you.” He nodded, telling her that she was right. “I want you to wake this in me. If it happens the way I think it will, I’m sure I’ll have more questions than the million and one that are swimming around in my head right now.”