Donahue: Foster’s Pride – Lion Shapeshifter Romance (Foster's Pride Book 2)

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I love this.” He nodded when Parker ran her hand down the length of the table. “There needs to be more room in here. We’ll need to have a bit of space for corner cabinets for dishes and linens. This room couldn’t hold all your family, especially if the others find their mates too.”

  Corner cabinets appeared, then disappeared in the corners. Even as he was wondering what he’d done wrong, another set, this one much larger, was set in the spaces along with the room getting exponentially bigger. Don looked at Parker when she laughed again.

  “These were at my house. I don’t remember where they came from. They might well have been a part of the house. But I think they’re a perfect match to this room. I love how you put in windows too. It will make the room look larger, though it is pretty big now.” Don went to the window that looked out over the back yard. As he stood there, the window lengthened until it touched the floor. Then it changed into a patio door that would slide open to the decking that was currently being built. “This is about as freaky as I’ve ever witnessed. Usually, I would think of something while I was away from the house or whatever I wanted to change. It would be done without me seeing it. But this, this is amazing. You have excellent taste in the way things should be. I’m betting it has something to do with you being a teacher. You’d have to be pretty organized for that sort of job.”

  “I am that way in my classroom. I want to be able to just pick things up at a moment’s notice without fumbling around for it. However, you’ll see that my closet and my room are a disaster. Like a tornado went through there and left behind a mess.” She told him from now on he could easily have it cleaned as soon as he left the room. “I’ll have to think on that one. It would really give me the willies if I came into the room while it was cleaning up after me.”

  “I think you might be right on that. You can, if you wish, have things just the way they are until you leave the house. I think I might have that in any of the rooms I’m in. I don’t mind the changes. I just don’t think I want to be in the way if one of the things happens where I’m standing.” Don laughed with her. It was the most fun he’d had in a long while—even more than he’d had at school. “I’ve been thinking about my mother since Jasper told us she was here. I think I’d like to speak to her about some things. I wonder if that would be possible to have a conversation with her.”

  “You do whatever you think you need to do. However, I would only request that you take me with you. I don’t know what sort of help I could be for you, but I’d feel better if you didn’t go to see her alone.” She nodded and entered the living room ahead of him. “What is it, Parker? You seem upset now. We were having so much fun before.”

  “I’m still having fun. I was just thinking about her, and I wonder what happened that would have made her go off the edge like she did. Something is bothering her. I want to find out what it is.” Don didn’t know anything about her parents, so he didn’t have any answers for her. “I would like to change this room around completely if you don’t mind. I love the way the fireplace is there between the bookshelves, but I don’t care for the way the other windows are so small. I’m a person who loves to have the outdoors around me as much as I possibly can.”

  He agreed with her, but he was still sorry that her mom had intruded on their fun. Looking around the room, Don thought of the most outrageous things he could think of as their furniture. They both burst out laughing as the room moved around at dizzying speeds.

  “I do hope you’re having fun with me.” He was laughing so hard all he could do was hang onto the green and pink couch and laugh harder. “Christ, would you look at those bookshelves? Is that concrete bricks on display there? What is up with that rug? Don, it’s moving. And the artwork on the walls looks like someone puked on a canvas.”

  Everything she pointed out to him made him laugh all the harder. It was hurting him to stand up like he was, so he laid down. As soon as his back touched the couch, he nearly pissed himself when a large piece of burlap wrapped around his body. This was too much. Even when he closed his eyes, the room was still burnt into his memory. Redecorating had never been this fun before.

  When he opened his eyes, he could see that she’d taken his fun away and replaced it with much more muted colors. The couch was now a soft brown. The curtains, black and some kind of yellowy pus color, were just gone. The room was just the way he might have picked out if he’d seen it in a shop. Getting up, he even liked the coffee table/footstool.

  The earth tone colors made his entire body relax. His mind slowed down. The picture over the fireplace was one that he was sure his brother had taken, of a lioness and her cubs. Walking to it, he could see Loman’s signature in the corner, a small paw print that was on all his photos.

  “I saw it in your mind. I hope you don’t mind.” He said he had always loved this picture Loman had taken. “I do, as well. He must have been close to her and her cubs for him to get a shot like this. There are others I’d love to have in this room. Do you think he’d mind?”

  “No. He’s forever showing us his pictures. This is, I must admit, the first one I’ve seen blown up like this. It shows a great deal of the detail I’m sure he’s famous for.” Parker said Loman was incredibly famous. “He is. I know he is. However, to hear him talking about himself, you’d think he has to work hard to have people want to put his photos in a magazine. This one has always been my favorite of all his pictures.”

  It took them the rest of the day to get the house in order. Parker decided to sell her home—she’d not lived in it for a long time anyway. Also, she had a cook and mentioned that they could bring Mrs. Franklin here if she wished. Parker assured him that Mrs. Franklin was a fantastic cook.

  “We never spoke about money.” He told her he only had this house because of Brook. “She’s a nice person. A little intense, but I like her. I have some. I mean, I have stocks in a lot of companies: some personal property, but nothing in cash. I had to keep switching it around so my relatives wouldn’t pounce on it. My aunt thought I should have lost everything when I supposedly killed my father. At first, there was money in my account, but when I figured out she was simply taking it, I stopped putting money in it. Mary, the guard, is a friend of mine. She helped me invest it when I asked her to.”

  “I’m a teacher and have the low pay that goes with being one. I do love my job, however. The money was good enough for me to put a little aside to send Mom each payday and for me to pay my rent. I also had a few part-time jobs that helped me make my rent and eat in the summer months. Like right now, I have less than twenty bucks in my checking account. I do have the money my grandma gave me, but I haven’t done anything with it as yet.” He laughed. “To be honest, I’ve never looked in the envelope since I got it. I haven’t any idea how much money she gave me.”

  On the search to find the envelope, Don realized how much they’d gotten done today. Not only did the house feel like a home now, but it was filled out in ways he’d never imagined it would have been. Even going into the kitchen didn’t seem like he needed to avoid it anymore. The things they’d chosen to have in their home, he thought, reflected both their tastes. He thought that was the way it should have been from the start.

  There was fifty grand in the envelope, along with a key to a safety deposit box. While he had no idea what was in it, he was satisfied with what had been in his part of his grandma’s estate.

  “She wanted to see us having fun with the money before she died. That’s not going to happen now. So I wonder, should I give it back to her? I mean, it’s a great deal of cash, and she might need it while living forever.” Parker sat down across from him and handed him half her sandwich. While she told him she couldn’t cook at all, her sandwich looked incredibly good. “I don’t want to hurt her feelings by asking her, however.”

  “Your grandma and mom are going to be fine. Both with money as well as living around here with all you guys close by.” Parker took a bite of her
sandwich and moaned. Don nearly dropped his sandwich when she did that. “You’re not eating. What’s wrong?”

  “You. You moaned.” She nodded, then her face turned a bright shade of red. “Yes. I can see you’ve gotten it. I’m trying my best to not leap on you whenever I’m close, but hearing you moan nearly made me come in my brand new shorts.”

  “Well, we can’t have that happen. They are brand new.” She put the rest of her sandwich on the paper plate she’d gotten for them. “I don’t like sex. I mean, I’ve had it before. But it didn’t really do anything for me. I suppose it could have been the person I was with. He did tell me he was good at it.” She laughed.

  “I’m going to enjoy making love with you.” She looked at him, and he felt his cock stretch even more. His body, even his cat, responded to her when she moved on the chair. “We have a bed now. We could if you’d like, go up and break it in.”

  “You’re such a romantic. Has anyone ever told you that before?” He shook his head. “Good answer. I’ll race you to the bed.”

  Then, just like that, Don fell in love with his mate. He’d have told her that, too, if she’d been there. But the moment she said she’d race him, she disappeared. That was a trick, he thought, he’d better learn first. He’d hate to make her wait too long for him to get to their bedroom.

  ~~~

  The bedroom had been one of the first things they’d played around with. It was nothing like the rest of the house. This room was neither warm nor inviting. There was color if you counted beige and white as colors. They were, she knew, but they just weren’t restful colors in a room she hoped to sleep well in. Something she’d not been able to do in some time, honestly.

  Without changing out the blocky furniture she didn’t care for, Parker made the room warm by adding splashes of color. The bedspread was now a quilt. The colors of the blocks were now all over the room. Even the blinds—no curtains for this room—weren’t white any longer, but a beautiful shade of blue, a color she loved over most anything else.

  The floors were hardwood. While she didn’t mind the wood around the house, the bedroom needed softness. The rugs that she placed by both sides of the bed and a larger version of them in front of the fireplace were shades of the forest. As Don entered the room, Parker put plants in planters all around the space, some of them hanging from the window for the brightness of the sun.

  “This is beautiful.” She smiled at Don. “I love that you didn’t want to add a television or any kind of computer table. This room is only for two things—sleeping and making love to you.”

  “To be honest, it never occurred to me to put either of those in here. I know we more than likely will have a television at some point, but again, it wasn’t a top thing on my list of household things I’d like to have.” Don made his way toward her, and she smiled at him as she waited. “I beat you here, so I get to be first.”

  “First to come? I don’t have a problem with that. The first to be naked? Again, I have no trouble with that either. What would you like to be first at, Parker?” Parker wanted to be first in all things. Touching him. Having him touch her. Her mind was working overtime trying to come up with one thing she’d like to do at this moment. “You’re thinking much too hard for someone who is about to rock my world.”

  “How do you know I will? I mean, I could be really terrible at this.” He touched his fingers to her forehead and then down her cheek. “I could easily come just with your touch, Don. You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you. Since I was a child, I wanted someone to save me.”

  “I’ll love you forever, Parker. Saving you is a pleasure. But I want you to know, you’re going to save me, from a lifetime of being alone. You’ll keep the sadness at bay. The happiness that I’ve discovered already will forever be mine.” Parker said three words, words she never thought to utter to anyone, when she told him she loved him. “And I love you. With all my being. I will cherish you, keep you safe, and love you for all time.”

  Don took her blouse off her. The buttons seemed to just pull open under his touch. The warmth of his lion was keeping her from being cold or nervous while he touched her. And he did. Don touched her skin, every inch of it he exposed. Not just with his fingers, but his mouth and tongue.

  Her skin was on fire for him, her body wet with need. As he dropped to his knees in front of her, Parker held her breath as he stripped her out of her shorts and panties. Holding onto the footboard of their bed, she watched as he licked her flowing cream from her knee to her pussy. She nearly came when he touched her with his tongue. Before she could tell him she’d already had enough, he took her clit into his mouth and suckled at her hard.

  Parker came three times before she was able to catch her breath. If anyone had done that to her before, made her come so hard, she might well have become addicted to sex. She’d never been happier than she was right now with Don giving her such pleasure.

  “You have anything in mind you’d like to be first at?” It took her befuddled mind a good deal longer than she thought it should have to understand the words coming out of his mouth. Nodding, then shaking her head, she told him she was too satisfied to think right now. “Well, I guess I’ll have to do the thinking for the two of us.”

  When he picked her up into his arms, she felt light, cherished even. As soon as he dropped her to the bed and she bounced a couple of times before she settled, all thought of romance went out the window. Then he took off his shirt.

  The fur of his lion was evident on his chest. She’d never cared for hairy men, but Don made it look too good for her to resist. Touching his nipples, making them harden for her, she sat on the edge of the bed and suckled hard on the tips. His fingers in her hair drove her to be more adventurous. Taking a small nip of his flesh there had him pushing her back on the bed and him following her.

  He was naked, gloriously so. His muscles were tight, his flesh warm. Everywhere she touched him, she wanted to explore more of him. There didn’t seem to be an end of places she could touch and massage.

  “You’re beautiful.” She couldn’t speak then. Her mouth was dry, her body so tensed up she felt as if she could have been shoved through the eye of a needle and come out unscathed. “I love you, Parker. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes. Forever.” Her fingers danced over his groin, then she wrapped her hand around his cock. It was too large for her hand; her fingers didn’t touch. “Take me, Don. I want to feel you inside of me. I need to feel you make me yours.”

  He wouldn’t be rushed. Don took his time with her, making her beg for him to give her relief one second, then telling him she’d had enough the very next one. Her body was putty for him. Parker had come so many times she was sure he was going to kill her before they’d even started their life together. When he leaned over her, his body stiff over hers, she watched his eyes as he filled her, his cock making her a part of his body so they could be one.

  Parker saw him then, the lion that he was. The beast rolled over his skin, so she felt his fur under her roaming hands. His mane emerged where his beard would have been. The feel of it touching her breast, even for that second of touch, made her come hard.

  Don took her harder then. His body over hers felt like a lifeline to her. Holding onto him, wrapping her legs around his hips, she threw back her head when she came again and screamed until she was hoarse with it.

  He didn’t join her as she went limp in his arms. Don ordered her to come again, then again, until she was virtually spent with it. But as soon as he threw back his own head, she felt a pause in the magic around them. The room grew to a deadly silence. Then he filled her.

  Nothing could have prepared her for the connection. It snapped into her mind like a rubber band hitting her skin. As he roared, a beautiful lion’s roar, she came again, seeing stars behind her eyelids, rainbows around his head. Holding onto her, Don dropped over her.

  Both of them were breathing harshly. Her b
ody didn’t just go limp, but she was sure she’d lost a few parts of herself somewhere in the big bed. Rolling to his back, he let her lie beside him. She wasn’t sure she could have stood him touching her right now. Her body was on hyperdrive or something. She was sure she’d been electrocuted.

  Closing her eyes, she laid there with Don. Sleep would have been easy to fall into, but something around her moved. Not anything physical, but mentally, Parker felt something move toward her. Getting out of bed when she heard Don snore a little, she dressed herself as she left the bedroom.

  Reaching beyond where she was, Parker realized she could stretch her magic further than ever before. When she touched on the disturbance, she knew it had to be her mother. But, and this frightened her a little bit, her mother was terrified of something. Or someone. Parker couldn’t tell because whatever she was into, it was impossible to touch anything on her mind for more than a second. Things were moving around too fast for her to feel what was making her so upset. When there was a pause, unlike anything she’d ever felt in someone’s head before, Parker waited, not even moving to figure out what was going on now.

  Hello, daughter.

  Parker screamed when the voice spoke to her, loud enough to pull Don’s lion and have him rushing to her. She felt the earth move under her, the trees outside the house shimmer and shake hard enough that branches fell. Stones lifted out of their centuries old resting place. Even water, great falls, paused in flowing over their peak mountains with the magic she released in the scream.