Carroll: Morgan’s Leap – Leopards Shapeshifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Shit.” Hanna laughed. “We had plans to take her out last night but got sidetracked with all this other stuff going on. Do you want to go too? I hope so.”

  “Yes. I’d love that. Now, show me your home. Your mom seems to think I’m going to love it. I hope so. I really love being this close to your family. Whoever had this idea about living here all together gets my vote for a nice gift.” He opened the door to his home, and she stood looking inside. “I don’t know what I expected, but this—Carroll, this is what I have been dreaming about in a home all my life. And I’ve only seen the entrance.”

  ~*~

  Carroll had been living in his part of the house since he’d been an adult. He was seeing things he’d not noticed before, like how there were cobwebs in the corners of his living room. Dust in the corners. His windows were less than pristine.

  “I’m so sorry about this.” She asked him what he was talking about. “I should have thought you’d be coming here and had someone go over it with a dust mop or something. I didn’t see the dirt until just now.”

  “It’s not dirty, Carroll, but a little mussy. It’s fine.” She sat down on one of the two couches that were in the living area. When she stood up, he looked to see what had made her hop up so quickly. “Okay, that has to go. That spring or whatever it is will hurt someone.”

  He showed her around the rest of the main floor. The kitchen wasn’t in much better shape than the living room, but at least he’d done his dishes this morning. There were, however, a couple of things he should have done, and one of those was to water his herbs. The other was he should have taken out the trash. When she told him how much she loved to cook, he felt even worse by how badly the place needed updating.

  “Will you please just chill out? I’m sure that had you known you were going to have trouble that would have required the FDA to come in and inspect things when a woman tried to kill off your mom, you would have been able to update things. You didn’t, so we’ll work on it when we do. I’m not at all unhappy with the way this looks. Yes, it’s outdated, but in a way that makes me think of past times when you were growing up.” Running her hand over the wide countertops, she smiled at him. “My grandma had counters like these. I think they were the same color too. She would make the best cookies in the world when I came over.”

  “My mom is famous for her cookies. I’m not sure which ones—the others have their favorites that she bakes when she knows they’re coming over. How did you talk her into staying?” She told him she didn’t. “She seemed a lot less stressed. I noticed that as soon as I came up on the two of you. And I’ve not heard her whistle in ages. You must be good for both of us.”

  “Did someone notice something different about you?” He said Marley had remarked on how he was forever thinking. “You didn’t think before? That doesn’t sound like you.”

  “I’ve been getting lost in thought, I guess you could say. I’m thinking too hard on what-ifs. I’ve always been the one that would see things through the eyes of a criminal or something like that.” She asked him if he’d been a cop in one of his jobs. “No. An attorney. I think we’ve all tried our hat at that particular job. The only one that stuck with it is Leslie.”

  “He is the family attorney, I’m to understand.” Carroll nodded and followed her to the pantry and decided he needed to hire one of the brownies to come and fix up his kitchen with staples and such. “Do you guys all get together to have a meal together? I mean, like a night a week that you don’t plan anything else but having dinner with your family?”

  “Wednesdays. Mom usually does the cooking, but here lately, she’s been having one of the faeries do it. I think that has a lot to do with her being stressed too. Not getting to cook. Not that she couldn’t, but she’s been really pushing herself to the limit lately.” She said she noticed that. When he moved into the dining room, the next room by the kitchen, he realized he was alone. Going back through the little open place, he found her standing in front of the window where the sink was. “Anything wrong?”

  “No. I don’t think so. I do, however, believe I’ve seen my first troll.” He came up behind Hanna and put his hands on her shoulders. Pointing to the left of the monstrous troll, he showed her that there were smaller ones out as well. “They’re not really what I’d consider cute and cuddly looking, are they?”

  “Not particularly, no. Mom told us that it’s a face only a mother could love. I believe her. The trolls have only been around here for the last decade or so. They have their children deep in caves where no one will bother them. Their gestation period is about a year long. And when they’re born, the offspring are helpless to the point of nearly dying before they can get to feed from their mother. It’s not a nursing thing, but gross. She regurgitates whatever she ate last and feeds it to them.” She looked at him, horrified. “I know. The first time I saw it, I couldn’t eat for a week. I’m not going to tell you what she had eaten, but it took me a long time to get back to having it for a meal. I still get the willies sometimes.”

  “I wouldn’t eat ever again.” The two of them stood at the window for another few minutes. It was twilight now, and some of the creatures that didn’t care for the daylight would start coming out. She also got to see some of the wild pigs that roamed the lands, as well as some moose. They were here simply because his mom had such a joy in seeing them. “Their babies look just like the adult version, except for the horns.”

  “Again, a face only a mother could love.” They did make it to the dining room. He’d never gotten around to putting anything in here except a few boxes that were filled with dishes and such. “I rarely eat here unless I’m in the kitchen. Then it’s usually standing up at the counter. I don’t think any of us have a dining room set up but Mom.”

  “I have a few things that were my parents’ and grandparents’. Would you mind if I brought them here?” He told her he’d be happy with anything she wanted to bring here. “Your mom thinks I should be staying here. Not paying the hotel bill. Would you be here with me, Carroll?”

  “Yes. In whatever capacity you’d like for me to be. I’m sure you’ve come to realize it’s a large home. I have plenty of space if you’d rather take the master bedroom as your own.” She asked him how it worked with him not sleeping. “You won’t have to either, but we do need to rest at least once a day. Also, I don’t know if Mr. Weeds told you this or not, but you do need to eat a great deal of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. More when you’re using magic.”

  She took a step towards him. Then another. “I’ve been thinking about a lot of things since I figured out who you are to me. One of them is that I really like you. I don’t know that I love you yet, but you’re beginning to grow on me.” He thanked her. “You’re very welcome. I want to work on this place with you. Not alongside you all the time, but I’d like to be here to help. I’d also like to help your mom with some of her projects. Take some of the load off her. Can we have children?”

  He had to think how to make his mouth work for a few moments to answer her, but she seemed to understand. There wasn’t much space between the two of them now, and he was finding it difficult to think much less function.

  “I don’t know.” He said he’d check on that for her. “I think we can. I’m almost sure of it, but I’m finding it difficult to think at the moment. Are you going to kiss me, Hanna? It’s something I’ve thought of all day.” She smiled at him. “You’re very beautiful, but when you smile, you light up a part of me that I didn’t know was inside of my heart.”

  “That was the perfect thing to say to me.” He leaned toward her, taking his time in the event she wasn’t ready for him as yet. “I want to get to know you sexually, Carroll. I want to feel you touching me too.”

  “You’re saying the right things to me too, Hanna. Before I get too far gone and don’t remember my name, will you marry me? As soon as possible? I’d like to be able to tell the world that I’m the luckies
t man on the planet.” She told him she could do that. “Good. The sooner, the better. Do you have a family to invite?”

  “Nope. Just me.” He nodded his mouth just a hair’s breadth from her lips. “Kiss me, Carroll, then take me to bed, please. I want to get to know you in all senses of the word.”

  Picking her up in his arms, he realized he should have kissed her first. But then he also knew that had he done that, they’d never have made it up the stairs. As it was, he was really working hard at not laying her down on the carpeted steps and having his way with her.

  The room was just the way he’d left it. Messy. Not bothering with telling her he needed to straighten it up, he used his magic and made the room look like something he’d seen in her head. That made him realize if nothing else did, that they were alike in their ways of having a home look. Old versus new won out with her every time. He couldn’t wait to show her the other rooms in the house, but that would have to wait. Today he was going to mate and bond with her, and that was all he could think about.

  “You’re much too slow at this.” He made them both naked. “Oh, much better. If you can do this all the time, there is hope for us yet. Take me, Carroll, before I explode right here and now.”

  “I aim to please, my dear.” Dropping her on the bed, he laughed when she bounced twice. “I have fallen in love with you, Hanna, and cannot wait to make you mine.”

  Chapter 4

  Hanna looked at the man poised over her. He was tall, handsome, and fit. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, she’d bet. And it would have nothing to do with how many times he’d been to the gym or how much weight he could lift on the barbells. No, it was simply that he was fit because he worked hard on the things he enjoyed. One of them would not be what he saw when he looked in a mirror either.

  Sitting up, so she was sitting on the side of the bed, she looked up at him. “I’ve never been with someone like you. I don’t mean a shifter, but a man who cares. You do care about me, don’t you?” Carroll told her how much he loved her. “I believe, despite what I said before, that I love you. I think I have for a very long time. Though it sounds stupid, I think I’ve been in love with someone like you all my life. I’m so glad you found me.”

  She touched her fingers to his chest where his heart was. It was beating strong, and she stood to put her ear to it. Smiling, she told him it was beating a little faster than before. Looking at him when he pulled her chin up so she could, Hanna knew that there would never be another person in her life that she loved more than this man.

  “You’re naked.” She looked down at herself and acted shocked. “This is how you’re going to be, aren’t you? Silly at the most intimate times? Not that I care. I don’t think there is enough laughter in the world as it is now.”

  “I agree.” She got down on her knees and kissed the leaky tip of his cock. “There should be much more of this too.”

  Taking him into her mouth, she moaned when the taste of him slid across her tongue. When he told her to do that again, confused at first, she looked up at him and nearly swallowed him whole. His face was a mask of need, his mouth pulled tightly over his teeth like he was straining hard to keep from screaming. Reaching up with her right hand, Hanna cupped his heavy balls in her palm and was rewarded with him coming hard enough to make her glad she was able to catch each drop of his release.

  “Christ, again.” She didn’t give him room to change his mind but swallowed him past the thick muscles in her throat. It was like having a hard rod there, but she’d not pull away for all the money in the world. Then he started fucking her mouth.

  It was wonderful to have him there. The sounds he made had her sliding her fingers down her body to have her own release. As soon as her fingers fluttered over her clit, she screamed out around his cock so hard that she was dizzy from it.

  Suddenly she found herself on the bed, Carroll at the bottom. Saying not a single word, he buried his face in her pussy and bit down gently on her clit. Coming again, harder than the first time, she gripped the spread on the bed hard enough that her fingers ached with it.

  Over and over, he’d bring her to the edge and drop her. She was sure that every last one of them was going to kill her. If not, she’d be nothing but a puddle of her body that could no longer move. When he started up her body, kissing and nipping at her skin as he made his way to her breasts, she got a renewed strength that she’d never have dreamed of.

  “You’re mine.” She nodded. “No. Say it. Tell me you belong to me and no one else. Say it to me, Hanna.”

  “I’m yours, and you’re mine. I will never belong to anyone but you. You have my heart, my soul, and my everything. Take me, Carroll. Please? I need you.”

  She screamed when he entered her. It didn’t hurt so much as it filled her. When she moved, her body adjusting to his, she cried out again, coming over and over as her body accepted his.

  Breathing hard, she kissed his cheek and tasted his sweat. Looking at Carroll, she pulled him to her and kissed him again. She could taste herself on his lips. The creaminess of her was there for her to see as well.

  He made love to her slowly then, his body in time with her as he filled her. Hanna had never been so conscious of a man before. Never felt the grooves and lines of a man’s cock. His fingers, touching her, seemed to leave her with the feeling of being shocked, like in some way he was filling her with magic. When he threw back his head, roaring as only a large cat could, she watched as the two of them, him and his other self, came hard enough to have her blinking out several times as stars, rainbows, and unicorns danced behind her eyelids.

  She woke to him lying atop her. Hanna wrapped her arms around Carroll, feeling so much love for him that she ached to show him. When his soft snore touched off a giggle in her, she was glad he rolled to his back, taking her with him. She laid there for several more minutes before she slid off his warm body to the side of the bed. Looking at the great grandfather clock in the room, she was amazed that not only had several hours passed, but it was now nine in the evening.

  Her protesting body told her she needed to take a long bath. However, a few things buzzing in her mind had her taking a quick shower then dressing in some light clothing. Pausing outside their bedroom, she wondered if Carroll realized he did sleep and left him to it. A rested, well-sated man was a wonderful man.

  She left the bedroom and ended up in the kitchen. Making herself a light snack, she took her sandwich out to the back deck and froze when she saw what was out there. Hanna wasn’t sure if she should run or stay still, so she opted for sitting down on her butt and calling to Leo.

  “She won’t hurt you, my lady.” She asked him if he was sure. “I am as sure as it’s going to rain tomorrow. She’s a unicorn. Not very many of them left around anymore. The only pair are the ones here. They’re to have themselves a little one if I don’t miss my bet. Goodness, the queen will be so happy to know that, she will.”

  “Why is she here? I mean, it would seem sort of dangerous for her to be out in the open like this. Don’t you think?” He said she was the safest she could be by being here. “I have to admit to you, Leo. I’ve always wanted to see one. They’re much more beautiful than they’re portrayed in the cartoons, aren’t they?”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. But all unicorns are pure white. It’s so they can blend into their surroundings so well.” She didn’t understand that until Leo whistled and the unicorn simply disappeared. “See. Being no color at all, she can take on the ones around her easily. The only true color on her is the horn she has. It’s pure gold and diamonds. That way, if she needs to protect her or her young, she knows it won’t be broken while doing so. The male, he’s over there, see him?”

  She did, and he was so white her eyes watered from the purity of the color. The hair, she supposed it would be called that, around his hooves was as long as hers was, flowing gently around his feet like a carpet he was stepping on. But i
t was his mane that had her wanting to touch it. It was woven in interlocking braids that lined along his back as if he’d only just come from a hairdresser. When he came toward her, she held her breath.

  “If you sit still, he’ll allow you to touch him. He knows you’re my mate.” She reached up and interlocked her fingers with Carroll’s as he spoke behind her. “Once he’s close enough to us for you to reach out, make sure you bow before him, for he is the king of all unicorns. Even though they’re the last of their kind, he will forever be the king.”

  “She’s going to have a babe, Leo said.” Carroll looked at the female as she came towards them. “She’s so beautiful. I would very much like to touch her belly. I don’t know why, but I have a need to do so.”

  “Then you must, my lady.” She went to her knees when the male was close enough. Reaching up her hand, she bowed her head and waited for him to touch her. When the sharp point of his horn stuck her, she didn’t jerk away but left her hand just where it was. “He’s asking his lordship if he might taste your blood. He is telling him it was his intention to cut you, but he knows now he should have asked.”

  Apparently, Carroll gave the male permission because, in seconds, his wet tongue licked away the blood. She was nudged once. Leo asked her to stand up and look at her treat. There before her was not only the male but his beautiful mate as well.

  “May I touch her?” The male nodded, his hair blowing in the slight breeze as he did so. “I’ll never harm her, sir. I will lay down my life to protect you both.”

  Putting her hand on the female’s back, she ran it down along her spine to her swollen belly. There she felt the babe move under her fingers. Flattening her hand over the movements, Hanna knew something that perhaps none of the others knew. Looking at only the male, she smiled at him.