Lion's Heat

by Lora Leigh

  It swelled with each caress, throbbing in demand as his fingers found the snug, clenched opening to her pussy.

  She was tight, silky. A groan rumbled in his throat as the sleek heat of the tender muscles gripped his fingers and they pressed inside.

  He knew the grip of that sweet flesh on his dick. It was fist-tight, rippling, flexing. Each tiny spasm of the sleek flesh sent heat driving straight to his balls.

  Each small thrust of his fingers into the gripping muscles sent a wave of pure hunger tearing through his senses.

  He had the taste of her on his lips, her clit against his tongue, the incredibly tight heat of her pussy gripping his fingers. Fuck, this was good. So damned good.

  He sucked fiercely at the little bud, flicked his tongue over it as he let his fingers fuck her with hard demand.

  The more he gave her, the wetter she got, the stronger the grip on his hair became, the more her pussy heated, the sweet moisture washing over his fingers, tempting his tongue.

  Releasing the tiny bud he'd been suckling, Jonas found himself moving lower, licking, tasting the soft folds as his tongue unerringly found the clenching entrance to her pussy.

  It was like burying his tongue in living sensual abandon. Thrusting it deep inside, Jonas moaned at the incredible pleasure, the sweet-spicy taste of her.

  He could take her like this forever. He could fill his senses with her and still not have enough. She was addictive. She was lush and sweet and so fucking hot he was going to come before he ever managed to get his dick inside her.

  His cock was thick, hard. Throbbing with vicious hunger, the demand that he take her almost painful now.

  "So good," she moaned above him, her legs trembling now as sensual weakness rippled through her. "It's so good, Jonas. Oh God. I love your tongue."

  He speared his tongue harder inside her, felt the hormone easing from the glands beneath it as the scent of her arousal became deeper, stronger.

  Her nails were biting into his scalp now, tremors washing through her. She was close, so very close. He could feel her orgasm building, smell it rushing through her system.

  She was becoming immersed in the pleasure, in his touch. Her hips were twisting, pressing her pussy closer.

  He was drunk on her. He was dying for more. He wanted more and more of her.

  Jonas caught her as her legs gave out and she began to sink to the floor.

  She couldn't hold herself up any longer. It felt as though the high heels were suddenly melting rubber, throwing her off balance and pitching her into Jonas's arms.

  He caught her, lowered her to the floor, his lips moving up her stomach, licking, stroking, the rasp of his tongue striking incredible sensations against her bare flesh.

  He licked, stroked. The tip of his tongue grazed, his lips kissed, as he lifted himself over her, and pushed between her thighs.

  There was no true body hair, only the sparse, silky, almost fur-like hairs that were practically invisible on his body. It stroked against her inner thighs as his hips pressed them apart, sent racing sensations of ticklish pleasure radiating through her.

  Her hips arched. Rachel felt a heat stronger than that of the fire burning beside them as his fingers pulled the cups of her bra beneath her breasts, lifted them free, then began to devour them.

  His thighs were between hers. The hard length of his cock pressed against her sex, rubbed against the swollen bud of her clit and nearly sent her into orgasm.

  Her hands stroked over his shoulders. The feel of his flesh, tougher, harder than hers, was a sensation against her palms that had her moaning in pure bliss. The feel of his tongue stroking over her nipples was ecstasy. Pinpoints of sensation, tiny, striking little shocks of pleasure that raced from her nipples to her clit, to her pussy.

  She couldn't believe, each time they were together, how good it felt, how incredible the sensations could get.

  "Sweet Rachel." His head lifted from her breasts, his silver eyes glowing with hunger. "I could live on the touch and the taste of you."

  Her hips jerked, her fingers flexed against his shoulders as her head twisted against the incredibly soft fur of the rug.

  As she lifted against his hips she felt him pushing her skirt from her body. It came free slowly and was then tossed aside as he came back to her.

  Heat, incredible, blistering heat seared the tender flesh of her pussy as his cock pressed against it, the heavy shaft rubbing against her clit. The engorged head was a heated brand against her lower stomach as his lips burned hers in a kiss that tasted of pure cinnamon and cloves.

  It was incredible. His lips twisted against hers; his tongue twined with hers. His hands coasted over her body, lifted her hips, eased her thigh against his as he shifted again.

  Rachel froze. Her eyes flew open as she stared back at him, watching as he raised himself above her. The thick crest parted the dew-laden folds, then pressed against the clenched entrance of her sex.

  "I'm going to burn alive," she gasped as she felt the snug entrance part, stretch, for the slow, heavy invasion of his cock.

  "I'll burn with you," he groaned. "We'll go into flames together."

  Staring up at him as he took her with slow, controlled thrusts, Rachel was caught anew by the savage contours of his face, the glow of his silvery eyes, the bead of sweat that eased down the side of his face.

  The vibration of a purr was a steady rhythm that stroked over her senses, amazed her and pushed her arousal impossibly further.

  Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around his hips, strained upward and fought to take more of him, all of him. The feel of his cock stretching her, stroking her with short, hard inward strokes as he forged steadily deeper, was almost more than she could bear.

  She was flying in his arms. Staring in his eyes, she felt the flames enveloping her, washing over her, through her. She was lost in a wonderland of pleasure she didn't want to lose.

  "This." He swallowed tightly, grimaced. "It's the most pleasure I've known."

  Her legs tightened around his hips as he drove deeper, harder, inside her. Pleasure-pain erupted inside her as he fucked deeper, his cock pressing, stretching the tender recesses of her pussy as she lifted closer, fought to meld into his flesh.

  With a final, heavy stroke, he was buried to the hilt inside her, stretching her, burning her, filling her in ways that Rachel knew no other could ever fill her.

  Iron hard, iron hot, he stretched the tender tissue, revealing naked nerve endings that flared in response to the stroke and throb of his cock. Pleasure surrounded her as heat filled her. The incredible mix of emotional and physical pleasure wove together, sending her senses spinning into a neverland of absolute bliss.

  Her fingers clenched on his shoulders, stroked down his arms. His back was slick beneath her palms as perspiration beaded on his bare skin.

  His knees bent, his hands pulled her closer, lifting her hips as he rose to his knees, staring down at her, his expression savage, tight with lust and amazingly . . . love.

  Love filled every stroke inside her body. It filled his gaze, his expression. The bogeyman of the Breeds was the lover she had always dreamed he could be.

  Wild. He growled. He purred.

  His hands clenched on her hips as he fucked her deep and hard, shafting inside her with a desperate pleasure that rocked her soul and filled her with a wild savagery of her own.

  Her nails dug into his arms, her hips writhed beneath his, thrusting against him, taking him as deeply as possible. Her legs fell back from his hips, dug into the rug and lifted higher, taking more of him.

  Each stroke dug into violently sensitive flesh. It stretched and caressed and filled her with a power, a bliss she couldn't control. She didn't want to control.

  She could hear his growls. She heard his purrs. She felt her body tightening, her pussy spasming. She convulsed, rapture exploding through her. She tightened, on him, with him. She felt ecstasy racing through her body, tearing through his as he gave a muted roar.

  Hi
s cock slammed inside her, buried deep. The feel of his release spurting inside her triggered another orgasm, this one more intense than the last.

  When the barb emerged, locked into the most sensitive area of her pussy and stroked with subtle, destructive pleasure, Rachel swore she lost her soul to him.

  Her eyes opened, almost unseeing. Her gaze locked with the living silver of his. She felt him, she swore she did, clear to her spirit she felt him locking inside her as surely as he was locked inside her body.

  He was a part of her. The other half of her.

  "I love you." The words were torn from her, ripped from her heart, locked inside her soul. "Oh God, Jonas, I love you."

  She loved him.

  Jonas came over her, cradling her in his arms now, his cock still buried deep inside her, throbbing, filling her with his release as he gave every part of himself to his mate.

  Hell, he'd already given it to her, he was simply renewing it.

  He'd feared mating would weaken him. Instead, it had strengthened him, it had softened him, it had made him see some things clearer, and now he was more determined than ever to secure a measure of peace for the Breeds. Because nothing mattered but the safety of his mate and his child.

  Nothing mattered but this.

  Holding her.

  Loving her.

  Being loved.

  Jonas Wyatt, the bogeyman of the Breeds, was loved.

  CHAPTER 22

  The next morning Jonas and Rachel walked into the main computer and security control room for the estate house. Set in the far wing with direct access to the labs below, the room was outfitted with monitors, servers and external terminals that housed and stored the guts of Sanctuary's security operations for the house.

  All internet, telephone and wireless communications went through the comm center before being routed to the communications bunker outside the house.

  Stepping into the small anteroom that held three control computers, Jonas moved past the lioness working them, aware of Rachel following close behind, into the tech room where the technicians took their breaks or the occasional shift nap, then through another door to the heart of the room.

  Here, servers maintained the various links to the comm bunker, drove the internet and wireless radios, monitored satellite phones and in-house satellite communications and held a backup security system that notified the comm bunker, the Wolf and Coyote communities of Haven as well as the Vanderale security system in Africa, in case of emergency. It was a self-contained emergency backup system as well as a last-response notification system.

  The main house was powered independently from the bunker, but all systems from the house were monitored by the more advanced network set up in the bunker.

  Still, this room was indispensable.

  Jonas moved to the back of the room where the brains of the operation worked with a frown on her delicate face, her white-blond hair pulled haphazardly to the top of her head, the long strands falling messily around her face and shoulders.

  Dressed in black mission pants and a sleeveless cami top, she cursed like a sailor under her breath and glared at the monitor.

  "What do we have, Sherra?"

  Jonas moved behind her to stand over her shoulder, his gaze narrowed on the results as he picked out the anomalies of the scan she'd described in her report the hour before.

  "We have a bug," she murmured as her fingers flew furiously over the keys. "It activated perhaps a week ago, from what I can determine. It's a silent one; none of the scans caught it. If I hadn't begun the practice of running a deep-level scan in conjunction with full diagnostics and system routing to save time, I would have never caught it."

  She paused and sat back before pulling the present screen to the monitor next to her. Within seconds, the five monitors around the main one displayed five different levels of diagnostics as well as the six main results.

  "Here and here." She tapped the main screen and the one on the right above it. "The anomalies began here. Once the diagnostics caught the first anomaly, it began trying to hide." She pointed to several other diagnostic results. "At present, it's completely disappeared." Pointing to the screens left and right of the main screen, she hit a command to display the current readers. "Like dust in the wind, my friend. It's gone."

  She turned and stared back at him with savage fury reflecting in her deep blue eyes. "We have a bug, and he's damned smart."

  Jonas narrowed his eyes on the screens before turning to Rachel. "Do we have any intel on anything like this?"

  The Bureau monitored all new viruses, rumors of nanoviruses and deep-level bugs.

  Rachel was watching the screen intently, her green eyes narrowed, her expression thoughtful, before activating the electronic pad she carried. "There's no intel on it, but that doesn't mean anything. For the most part, we only get info on what's been discovered or rumors of what's in the works. There's been nothing like this in the intel we've received of intended attacks against our mainframe or communications network." She frowned at the results of the search she typed in on the pad. "All we have is unsubstantiated intel on one that destroys itself when found and wipes its track to eliminate the chance of identification. Those have to be uploaded manually though." She glanced back to Jonas, concern darkening her gaze as she gave him the information.

  "Whoever put the bug in our system would have had to have worked from this room then." Sherra tapped the tips of her well-manicured nails against the table before initiating another search.

  "It's not as though we haven't had our share of spies," Rachel reminded her. "The medical assistant we caught several months ago had access to the room during the poker games that were played here, as well as the night he murdered the techs working the room. He could have initiated it at any time."

  We. She used a vernacular that placed herself as an indelible part of the community rather than an outsider. It was the first time she had done so, and hearing it sent a surge of satisfaction racing through Jonas.

  "Let's not assume it's destroyed itself though," Rachel continued as she turned back to the screens and stared back at them thoughtfully. "We need someone experienced in subversive technology to go through this."

  "All Breeds are experienced in subversive technology." Sherra snorted. "It's part of our training. We learn that in puberty."

  Rachel was shaking her head as she spoke and typing commands in, one-handed, on the pad she used. Within seconds a list of information began scrolling across the screen.

  "You have four Breeds, all rated A-plus in subversive technology, nanotechnology and communications stealth. Those are the Breeds you need."

  Jonas lifted his brows. Fuck, where the hell had she gotten that information?

  "Since when?" Sherra asked, surprise filling her expression. She looked to Jonas as though wondering why he hadn't known that information. Or, more to the point, why the main Pride wasn't aware of that.

  "The information was hidden among some of the Council's more encrypted files," Rachel informed her. "Encryption isn't something that's easy. A lot of information is misread or overlooked entirely because the codes are so difficult."

  "And you managed this how?" Sherra turned in her chair and watched Rachel suspiciously.

  Jonas bristled at Sherra's tone until he watched Rachel slowly smile. "I like puzzles. I take the encrypted files, the various codes, and when Jonas is away, I play a little bit." She glanced at Jonas. "Sometimes, he's away often."

  He wouldn't be away from her any longer.

  "And who are our master technology Breeds?" Sherra questioned, still obviously not completely satisfied with the explanation.

  "You have a Bengal Tiger Breed of Asian descent, Lee, as the only name listed here." She frowned, her tone becoming quieter, more thoughtful, as she began scanning the file. "There's a Wolf Breed of Scots descent, no name listed, only his file number." She tapped the screen for more information. "He's not registered with the Bureau." But she knew who it was; Jonas could see her express
ion, the shifting pattern of suspicion as she put together the information on the Breed. "I suspect it's Styx." An amused smile crossed her face. "We're in trouble if it is."

  It was.

  "We also have two Breeds, lab numbers only, who I haven't yet been able to track any information on or to unencrypt what the information is in the files I found them in. I'll have to work on that."

  She lifted her head. "We have no known location or information on Lee. Styx is accessible though."

  "Styx is a menace." Sherra rolled her eyes before turning back to the computer. "He'll probably have one of his temper tantrums and destroy every computer we have."

  Jonas almost grinned at the thought.

  "I'll pull the files I pulled this intel from," Rachel told her. "I'll see if we can find someone quickly. No doubt, we can't let the system go much longer with a suspected bug in it."

  "I was able to track its parameters by using the computer logs," Sherra told her. "It's not easy though. Even the logs are trifling." She shook her head. "I don't know what we're dealing with but it's damned smart."

  "Isolate the logs and work through them on an independent, unconnected system," Rachel suggested. "That's how they're created."

  Sherra turned to her again. "How the fuck do you know all this? You've worked with Jonas for less than a year and you know more than I do."

  "I rather doubt it." Rachel's smile was conciliatory. "I'm good at trivia though, so I retain large amounts of unconnected information. It's a talent." She flashed a charming grin Sherra's way.

  "A talent, huh?" Sherra glanced at Jonas. "Sounds more like the same coin with a different face. You and Jonas are a better match than I thought."

  "I always knew we'd be a good match." Rachel leveled a look up at him that nearly had him grinning. As though she had manipulated the entire mating.

  "To each his own, I guess." Sherra chuckled before turning back to Jonas. "Before you leave, Callan needs to see you in Sit Comm One." The situation communications room in the estate house. A room completely secured from any outside electronic or satellite interference.

  Jonas nodded. "Could you contact his Enforcer on call and let them know I'm on way?" When Sit Comm One was in use, Callan's personal bodyguard slash assistant was always nearby.

  "Contacted." Sherra hit a key on the console, then flashed a smile back at him. "Also, just to let you know, Lance Jacobs is up and moving around. He, Harmony and their son are planning to leave for home within the week."

  Jonas nodded shortly. He kept his emotions in check where his sister and nephew were concerned. Harmony had demanded that he stay far away from the boy, and it was a request that tore at something inside him.

  He stayed away, though he kept careful tabs on the child. Joseph Leopold Jacobs. They called him Joey. He had just turned twelve months old. He had tawny hair with hints of black and his father's blue eyes. He was a happy child and Harmony was an ecstatically loving mother. She doted on her mated husband and child.

  "Ready?" He turned to Rachel as she made a note on her electronic pad.

  "Ready." She gave him an absent smile, but her gaze, her entire demeanor as she stayed close to him assured him that she was very much aware of him.

  He could sense her awareness, the sensitivity of her body, the arousal that simmered just beneath the surface, ready to burn out of control.

  The sweet, soft scent of her body, the easy breaths she took, even her thoughtful attitude as they made their way to speak to Callan, drew him to her.

  They made their way from the comm room and to the other side of the house to the newly erected Sit Comm One. The room was in the family wing of the ruling Pride, which consisted of six families, though all were rarely there at the same time, other than the Pride leader, Callan Lyons, and the second-in-command of security, Sherra Tyler.

  Callan's personal Enforcer, Fallon, a Lion Breed trained in advanced security and protection, opened the door to the room silently.

  Callan; Kane Tyler, who was head of security and Sherra's mated husband; Santuary's head of enforcement, Taber Williams; and the head of Sanctuary Public Relations, Tanner Reynolds, were sitting at the long conference table as he and Rachel walked in.

  Rachel broke off from Jonas's side, sliding perfectly into her former role of his assistant.

  "Good afternoon, gentlemen." Rachel moved ahead of Jonas, poured him coffee and his water and set them at his chair. Jonas almost grinned. She was the perfect mate for him, able to blend in with his business life, as well as the role of mate.

  She complemented him at every turn, and had managed over the past months to soothe a lot of the feathers he had managed to ruffle, or completely jerk out, over the years.

  "We have files." Callan used the electronic pad to send the file to Rachel as well as Jonas.

  She handed Jonas his and pulled up the information on her electronic pad.

  "The Senate's Breed Appropriations Committee has called a special session to review the funds already voted on and agreed to for next year's expenditures. The information we have is that they've received information that the Bureau, as well as Sanctuary, has broken the agreement we signed in regards to conducting any military or personal acts of war or aggression toward any of the governments supplying the funds."

  Jonas scanned the information before him before turning to Callan. "There have been no acts of aggression or of a military design against any government, period. Their intel is bogus, Callan. As usual."

  The Bureau didn't bite the hand that fed it. At least not directly, and sure as hell not without someone or something else to blame it on.

  "Senator Tyler is on that committee, as you know," Callan stated. "He sent a heads-up on the information he had; he's requesting your immediate presence before the committee, otherwise funds are going to be held up indefinitely until this gets taken care of."

  "We don't need their fucking money," Tanner growled, his Bengal green eyes flashing with ire.

  "They owe the Breeds that money," Rachel pointed out, her tone firm. "What you need to do is make a move to keep the money out of the appropriations committee's hands and directly under Breed control at a certain amount per quarter."

  "They're too scared we're going to turn on them," Callan grunted as he leaned back in his seat and rubbed