King of Prey: (A Bird Shifter Novel)

by Roth, Mandy M.

  “Kabril.” Sachin took a step closer to her, still holding the dish she’d made at an odd angle, as if it were an explosive rather than dinner. “Kabril,” he said, this time more forceful than before.

  The man closest to her with the golden gaze didn’t seem to hear the other as he stared at her. She gulped, her gaze sliding over him more. The lightweight, white shirt he wore was unbuttoned a bit, revealing his tawny, hairless chest—a chest that made her think of her dream and the man in it.

  Moisture pooled at the apex of her thighs. She’d never been this turned on by nothing more than the sight of a man. This man was something indeed.

  “Kabril!” Sachin shouted.

  Kabril nodded, his gaze matching hers, moving over hers as she was doing to him. His sleeves were cuffed to mid-arm, showing off just how muscular he was. If she didn’t pull herself together and fast, she’d likely melt into a puddle of desire. She licked her lower lip, desperately trying to push thoughts of tasting his skin from her mind. For a split second, Rayna could have sworn she heard Sachin address Kabril as my lord, but she was too swept up in the man’s presence to pay much heed to how he was being addressed.

  He shook his head, seemingly as caught up with meeting her as she was him. “W-what?” he snapped.

  Sachin let out a low chuckle. “Kabril, this is our neighbor Rayna.”

  “Rayna.” Kabril’s accent matched Sachin’s, neither of which Rayna could place. They seemed European, yet she could not put her finger on where, exactly. He clenched his hands, causing the muscles in his arms to flex.

  She moaned and instantly wanted it back.

  Kabril’s golden gaze flashed to Sachin and his brow lifted inquisitively. “Tell me she is the one.”

  The one?

  Sachin shifted awkwardly and smiled. “The one who brought us dinner? Why, yes. She is. I shall take this inside now. Thank you.”

  Rayna reached for the dish. “No. I mean, it’s okay. You don’t have to pretend to want it. I get you’re not a fan of chicken. Sorry about that. I just wanted to welcome you and your—” She glanced at Kabril. “—friend to the neighborhood. And, well, I sort of wanted to meet the people who now live in what used to be my grandmother’s home.”

  Sachin held firm to the dish. “There are quite a few personal items still here. Photographs and the like. Kabril and I have put them all in the downstairs extra room. We thought someone might wish to keep them, as they are no doubt of value.”

  Rayna teared up. She’d thought she could sell the house as it was and not look back. She was wrong. She nodded, thankful they’d been so considerate. Most wouldn’t have been. “Yes. Thank you.”

  Kabril moved closer to her, his hand finding her forearm. Heat raced between them and she swayed. He pulled her closer to his powerful frame. “You are sad.”

  She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to get emotional today. I wanted today to be perfect. I thought I could bring you a dish, welcome you, and in the process close this chapter of my life.”

  “You are who is with the older woman in the photographs within?” he asked. “You have grown. This is good. Very good.”

  She nearly laughed at his phrasing of things. “Uh, thanks?”

  Sachin shook his head. “I truly cannot take him anywhere.”

  She smiled through her tears. “Oh, I don’t know. He managed to lighten the mood.”

  Kabril tightened his grip on her arm. “You will remain here?”

  “Kabril, let the nice young woman go and we can get back to what we were doing.”

  “Jobs those beneath us do,” he said.

  Sachin used his free hand to rub the bridge of his nose. “I see we should have arrived sooner so you would have had more time to be less like yourself.”

  Kabril cast a look over his shoulder.

  Chapter Six

  Rayna eased closer to the newcomer. “Welcome.” A pregnant pause followed and Rayna found herself wanting to fill it. “What brings the two of you to Mississippi?”

  She really hoped they weren’t a couple. The best ones always seemed to be gay.

  Sachin grinned. “We are here to open a new practice for Dr. Kabril Kingston. He’s a vet who specializes in wildlife—avian variety to be exact. I’m just his assistant.”

  Did he know that she’d been wondering if they were a couple?

  He winked.

  She jumped closer to Kabril, making Sachin laugh. She thought more upon what Sachin had said. Kabril was a vet?

  Her eyes lit as the knowledge of what the men did washed over her. “You work with birds? I photograph wildlife for a living. Birds are my favorite. I love them. They’re so majestic and beautiful.” She put distance between she and Kabril, realizing just how close she’d gotten to him.

  “I am aware of what you do,” Sachin said so softly she almost missed it.

  Strange.

  Kabril closed the distance between them, his walk that of a refined gentleman but with a tinge of roughness. “I choose this one. She is most pleasing to the eye and…” His gaze slid lower. “…will birth fine sons. She will make a perfect queen.”

  “Huh?” While it wasn’t the most intelligent response she’d ever had, it seemed fitting at the moment. Never in her life had a man said something like that to her and she’d heard some crazy come-ons. The more she thought about his statement the funnier it became. Laughter bubbled up from her as she put her hand out to greet him. “Ah, a jokester. Anyway, nice to meet you, Dr. Kingston. I’m sure you get this a lot, but if you have a chance, I’d love for you to stop by my place and have a look at Henry.”

  “Henry?” he asked, a jealous note evident. “Who is Henry?”

  “Well, maybe Henrietta. I’m not sure if the red-tailed hawk is a boy or a girl. I just know he hurt his wing. He won’t let me near him to check how badly, but he seems okay with the idea of me putting food close by.” A knot formed in her stomach as she thought about the bird. “Please don’t ask me to go into detail on how I feed him. I called a friend of mine who owns a pet store. He drops off mice for me to put out.”

  Sachin snickered, seeming entirely too amused with the situation. “You care for an injured hawk?”

  She nodded.

  Sachin looked to Kabril. “I believe you can stand down. ‘Tis merely a hawk.”

  “Those are the worst kind,” Kabril said, a teasing note to his voice. Kabril pulled her closer. It was past the point of invading one another’s personal space, yet Rayna welcomed it. “I shall see to your Henry and then we will leave this gods-forsaken—”

  “Kabril,” Sachin said with a warning.

  “I have selected,” Kabril said, as if it summed up everything. “Remaining is foolish when I have picked what I want. Her.”

  Sachin tapped his fingers on the dish. “Yes, but the choice is not yours to make, Kabril.”

  A defeated look passed over Kabril’s handsome face. “You mean she is not the one.”

  “Not the one what?” Rayna glanced back and forth between the men. Whatever inside information they were sharing with nothing more than odd looks wasn’t something they were letting her in on. “Where are you two from? I’m only asking because I have a sneaky suspicion something might not be translating well. As it stands, it sounds like this one—” She pointed to Kabril. “—wants to snatch me up and take me away.”

  She should have been opposed to the idea. Anyone in their right mind would be. She was anything but.

  Kabril nodded. “Good plan. Come, we shall leave at once.”

  Rayna laughed harder. These two were too much and she’d been seriously in need of humor in her life. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled and meant it.

  “No. It is a terrible plan,” said Sachin, shaking his head and pointing a finger at Kabril, much like a mother would when scolding a child. “The worst you have ever had and I am old enough to remember when you thought it wise for us to sneak across the river when we were but children to try to see the youn
g maids from the village as they bathed in the cool water. That ended with the two of us having to select which switch we most wanted to be scolded with. Your father took great pleasure in our pain on that day. My arse still recalls as much.” Sachin shook his head before going into the house, taking the chicken dish with him, though he held it out far from his body the entire way. He yelled something about wooing but Rayna didn’t catch it all.

  Kabril grunted and then put his arm out to her, smiling. There was a warmth in his eyes, one that told her there was more to the man than he presented. “Rayna, I would very much like to see to Henry’s condition. I can do so now if it pleases you.”

  She grinned. “Not until you tell me about this village of yours and you wanting to see bathing ladies.”

  Kabril blushed. “That was a long, long time ago.”

  “Not that long ago. You’re what? Thirty at best?”

  He flashed a white, wide smile. “Where is this Henry of yours?”

  A man who didn’t want to talk about his age or himself much, for that matter, was oddly refreshing. Though, she wasn’t sure why he seemed reluctant to speak about his age. He looked incredibly fit and young.

  She touched his arm. “He’s on the other side of the property, near my home.”

  “You live close?” he asked.

  “I do,” she said. “My property line butts up against yours. I’d wanted to be close to my grandmother.”

  “You were close in terms of family, yes?” he asked.

  “Very. She was the only family I had left.” She didn’t want to dwell on the bad. “What about you? Do you have a big or small family?”

  “Large,” he said. “Very large.” He motioned with his arm, clearly unwilling to take no for an answer. “Lead me to your Henry.”

  She slid her arm into his. The action was very unlike her but she couldn’t deny how good touching him felt. There was certainly something about the man that made her trust him. Her instincts were good, having never led her astray before, so Rayna didn’t hesitate to go with them. “Thank you.”

  “The pleasure is all mine, I assure you.” The confident smile Kabril cast in her direction warmed her through to her toes. The man had to be aware of just how good looking he was. “Tell me more of your Henry.”

  “My Henry?” she mused. “I like the sound of that. Although, I don’t own him. He’s a free spirit. A wild, beautiful creature I want nothing more than to see back in good health.”

  “I sense the truth in your words,” he said. “You are not like many here. They seek to try to tame all that is wild by nature and they wish to posses it for themselves.”

  The comment was odd, but from the small bit she knew of him, so was he. “You mean people who have pets?”

  He said nothing.

  “I had a dog once. It was a rescue. Someone had shot out his eye and he only had three legs. I found him on the side of the road and my grandmother and I took him and cared for him until he passed some ten years later.”

  “This dog was born to be cared for by humans. Some creatures are not.”

  She thought more about what he was saying. She’d always hated the collectors who kept exotic animals. “I agree. I bet you see a lot of that in your profession.”

  “I see more of it here than I wish,” he said, his jaw tightening.

  “You mean the US?”

  He took a moment before speaking, seeming to thinking hard upon his words. “It is a problem that plagues this world. Very few of your kind take to heart that they are merely visitors upon this earth, that they should care for it and leave it clean and well cared for, along with its animals.”

  “You’re an environmentalist. I have a lot of respect for those who dedicate their lives to trying to make a difference. I photographed the extreme effects the depletion of the rainforests is having on wildlife there. It’s gut-wrenching.”

  He nodded, his other hand moving to hers as they walked arm in arm as if they had known one another for a lifetime. He didn’t feel like a stranger. There was a connection with him she couldn’t quite understand, but it was there.

  She kicked a loose stone on the side of the one-lane road as they walked towards the place she now called home.

  “So, you make photographs,” he said, making her laugh softly.

  “I take them, yes.”

  He seemed confused by her statement and again she wondered where he was from. “And you do this with animals?”

  “I do. I love them.”

  “Have you a man?” he asked bluntly.

  She missed a step but was thankfully still arm in arm with him so she didn’t fall. “Um, no. No man.”

  “Good. I would have challenged him for your hand.”

  Challenged him?

  She gulped and would have commented but Kabril tugged gently on her arm and used his free hand to point towards the sky. “Look there. Do you see it?”

  She looked up and spotted a large bird in the air. The late spring breeze tickled her skin but she ignored the cold as she realized what she was staring up at. “Is that another red-tail hawk?”

  “Yes.” He drew her closer to him. Heat seemed to radiate from his powerful body and she sank against him, warming herself and enjoying the feel of his firm body. “I believe your Henry is truly a Henry.”

  Shocked, she shook her head and continued keeping her gaze skyward. “No. That can’t be him. He was hurt. I saw him trying to fly but failing.”

  Kabril chuckled. “That is a female flying above. She’s calling for the male. It involves a courtship of sorts.”

  “So,” she grinned, “Henry has a chick?”

  “A chick? As in a fledgling?” The serious tone of his voice made her laugh.

  “I mean as in a hot woman. A girl. A sexy significant other. A wife. A ball and chain. A…”

  As Kabril slid his hand over hers, she stopped spouting off and enjoyed his touch. His golden gaze fixed on her. “A ball and chain? Is that really a description one uses for their mate here?”

  “Uh, mate?” Rayna steered him to the side of her house. “Funny, I think your term is stranger than mine.”

  Chapter Seven

  Kabril drew in the human female’s sweet scent. She smelled of roses and sandalwood. Two scents he was familiar with from his visits to Earth and two scents he enjoyed greatly. His loins burned with the need to find solace in her divine body. Her dark hair was pulled into some sort of a twist, leaving long strands of it free and cascading over her slender shoulders. She stared up at him through eyes so blue they nearly stole his breath. When Sachin had told him of the beautiful women to be found on Earth, he’d dismissed him. As he pulled Rayna closer to him, he knew he owed his old friend an apology. Not only was she beautiful, she sparked a primal urge in Kabril that no wench had prior.

  Do not call your woman a wench.

  Sachin’s voice filled his head as if he were part of Kabril’s thought process. Perhaps he was, for Kabril could not think clearly on his own around Rayna. She was unlike any creature he had ever met before and he fully planned on whisking her away to his realm the moment she showed any sign of being of a like mind. He was not one for patience or this wooing Sachin spoke of. He much preferred to simply take what he wanted and he wanted Rayna.

  The trews, or jeans as Sachin had referred to them, dug at his erection painfully. Kabril believed they should be taken back to his realm and used to torture prisoners. Surely any man wearing them would tell all to simply be free from them. They were too restricting. Or perhaps human males were not as well endowed as his kind. He did not know nor did he care.

  He wanted to be home, in his realm, in his clothing—discarded of course—bedding Rayna until she cried his name out in ecstasy. And he wanted to sire sons upon her. Countless sons. They would be brave as he was and perhaps have her smile, for they were not permitted to have her kind heart. One day they must lead and leaders had to rule with their heads, not their hearts.

  He smiled as the thought of taking h
er, pleasing her every way imaginable, left his blood pumping. Sachin’s words of wisdom beat in his head. He couldn’t steal her away to his realm. Well, he could, but according to Sachin doing such a thing would leave a human female clipping his wings while he slept or unmanning him.

  Neither was an option.

  Perhaps I could chain her until she submits?

  The idea had merit. He could kiss his way down her womanly form to her sex while her hands were bound above her head. She would squirm and he would grant no mercy until he licked his fill of her.

  “Do you see him?” Rayna asked, jerking Kabril from his erotic thoughts momentarily.

  It was hard to keep from glancing at her wrists, imagining them bound above her head as he licked his way down her body. He had little doubt he could have her moaning in delight before the sun went down. His prowess with women was legendary and she would fall easily into his bed, as all women did.

  Her long legs would effortlessly wrap about his body, holding him to her as he pumped in and out. He could almost feel her wet entrance wrapped around his shaft. Kabril swallowed hard, his eyelids fluttering and his breathing erratic.

  “Hello, Dr. Kingston?”

  He jerked, his gaze darting to her lush breasts. “What? Oh, yes. Please call me Kabril.”

  She pointed to an oversized tree and winked. “Henry’s up there. He’s not currently perched on my chest, so if you wouldn’t mind, please stop staring at it.”