There is no doubt that you heard me. Why have you not chosen a mate? She seemed fixed on that one matter. He had a moment of déjà vu, from when the females had him trapped in the kitchen, demanding that he choose. Much like Bastet.
“It’s only been a day. Getting laid wasn’t exactly on the top of the list of things that need to be done.” His body had other opinions on that matter.
The goddess wasn’t appeased. Consider it priority.
Darkness closed over Matthew. He threw out his arms. Cursing, he called out the goddess’s name, when they thumped against a solid surface. He just knew she was laughing at him. A soft weight dropped on him and he jumped, tugging fabric from his face, tangling his arms in a bendable noose. He jerked his arm out, thumping and bumping until he found a knob. Well, he grunted when his bare butt found the knob.
Feeling down the smooth surface, he twisted and threw the door open and stumbled from the tiny closet into the shocked and staring mixed company of lionesses and tigresses. Matthew jerked one of the still clinging fabrics to cover his groin. Apparently, he was interrupting a card game in one of the larger RVs.
“That scarf isn’t your color, Leo.” One of the lionesses, an older woman he hadn’t met before, set down her cards. She lifted a pair of bifocals hanging from a chain to her nose to stare pointedly at the sheer lime green and yellow flowery thing he clutched to his still aroused nether region. Her hands and joints were swollen with arthritis.
“You’re more than welcome to try this one.” Quipped another lioness as she held up a small blue cloth napkin. “The color would suit.”
“Ahhh. No thanks. I’m good.” He looked both ways in an attempt to find the door and felt himself flushing red at the murmurs appreciation that followed his statement.
“Yep, we can see that.”
“Not just good, but prime.”
“I just bet you are.” If this was Bastet’s idea of a joke, he was doomed. Worse, he was beginning to feel pimped out by the goddess. He wanted to crawl into a hole and pull the ground in over him.
“Matthew.” Naomi’s voice brought a rush of relief to his embarrassment. Followed by a fresh wave of sheer lust. He choked and clutched the damned flowery fabric closer as his body turned toward her without any direction from him. She frowned, holding a tray of sandwiches in her delicate hands. God, she was beautiful. He could stare at her forever. Then he remembered the dream he’d woken with and clenched his jaws against the next punch in the gut of lust. She frowned, her eyes fixed on him. Her voice lowered and he could smell the rise of her own ardor. “Matthew. Why are you in the closet?” he ignored the juvenile giggles from the table. He only had eyes for the beautiful brave woman in front of him.
“I’m not anymore. I came out a moment ago.” More juvenile laughter. This time someone beat the table with her palm. He needed to get a grip. “I should go.” But his feet stayed right where they were.
Naomi set the tray of sandwiches down. He liked the concerned look in her eyes. She was worried about him! That sent a thrill of happiness right where he didn’t need any more thrills at the moment. She raised a hand toward him. “Are you ill again? Do you need to lie down.” Yes! He needed to lie down with her. “Seriously, Matthew. Why are you here?” She peered around him, her frown and worry deepening. He closed his eyes to savor the fragrance of her natural scent. The hard nubs of her nipples brushing against his bare chest made him clench his fists to keep from grabbing her. “How did you get in the closet? Just how long were you in there?”
“Don’t ask.” Definitely don’t tell her. Gee, sweetheart. The goddess, Bastet, chewed me out and said to get laid right before she tossed me into the closet. Naked. She looked him in the eyes. The mirroring desire nearly undid him.
“Naomi, for heaven’s sake, take the man back to the house and put him out of his misery.” The older woman began taking up the individual hands of cards laying on the table. “We need to start a new game anyway. I’m sure no one remembers the score.” When neither of them moved, she peered over the edge of her glasses. “Stop being such a human gentleman, Leo. We can all smell how much she wants you.”
Matthew felt himself flush. He never realized until this moment how embarrassed he could be. He swallowed, looking down at Naomi, whose face was also pink. “I—uh, meant to lead up to this.” His neck crawled with the other women’s stares until the gold of Naomi’s eyes drowned out everything but his awareness of her and his need to do this right. “Everyone keeps saying for me to pick a mate, but that’s not right. You are the one that chooses. I keep hearing how the cats are nomadic, that because of the wandering, they don’t stay with one mate. That’s not right either.”
The furrow between her brows told him that he was screwing this up, all right. He forgot the reason he was clutching his hands near his waist and let go to touch the pretty curve of her cheek. “I can be a selfish asshole. If you knew everything about me, you’d probably slap me and tell me to hit the road.” He leaned forward and down until his forehead touched hers, revealing in the grip of her fingers on his wrists. “But I’d like you to give me a chance. Not because of everything else going on.
“When, I woke up strapped to that damned gurney, I saw an angel and it changed something inside me.” The words came easier with the sensation of her on his cheek. “Naomi, with you I want to be a better person. Someone an angel can be proud of. I want to try for that one mate forever thing.”
Silence reigned. Matthew didn’t dare open his eyes to look at her. He was having a hard enough time keeping his body under control. Tremors shook him as he held tight, imposing his will over the urges that demanded he take her. Claws of lust and desire raked at him from the inside out.
* * * *
Naomi fought the tears that threatened to overwhelm her as Matthew spilled his heart. Behind her, the door to the RV shut with a soft click that didn’t even register on the Leo’s radar, so consumed was he with controlling the internal drive to mate, or the rut as it was commonly called. She brushed a hand down his shoulder in wonder, reveling in the shudder that was for her alone. He’d never even noticed Katra, the other potential mate, sitting at the table.
The cat clans were different than the other Weres in the way that they mated. It was the males who went into season, forced to stop their wandering long enough to find a female willing to bear his offspring. Since the feline females had a fertile cycle similar to humans, getting pregnant wasn’t the issue; they were usually the more levelheaded of the pair.
No, the male’s real problem was convincing a female to do the deed, knowing full well that he was on the road again as soon as the scent of her pregnancy hormones switched him from the procreative mood back to the wandering, leaving her alone to raise the kits. More responsible males sent money and made trips to see the young they left behind, but many disappeared, never to be heard from again.
Now that the moment was upon her, she waffled. What if all this Leo business wasn’t real? Or if it was real and he still left, leaving her alone and responsible for not just his kits, but disappointed clans from all over? She was already more than half in love with him. If she allowed herself become completely attached, she’d be devastated when he did go.
Or this could be the defining moment that changes everything, for everyone.
The idea had a voice all its own. Naomi frowned at the thought that by rejecting Matthew for her own self-protection, she may throw away the clans’ chance at unity. Or her own shot at love and a mate who would break the love’em-and-leave’em cycle.
“Naomi?” Matthew’s hoarse voice made her meet his eyes. Thickly lashed and set under strong manly eyebrows, his irises bled from the hazel to the gold of his lion form. She waited a moment more, watching as the gold tarnished, sliding to green. Then she reached up and pulled his head down as she rose on her tiptoes. How could she say no?
Their lips met in a crash of passion. Her head swam as his mouth devoured hers. His tongue delved deep, exploring the recesses of
her mouth. Each stroke of tongue against tongue was a carnal caress that made her shiver. A rush of desire flowed from the heated palm of his hand as it found her breast. The heat flowed down, knotting deep in her belly and making the muscles in female core contract.
Matthew pulled back, throwing back his head to gulp in a breath of air. “Wait.” He sucked in another as his rigid penis prodded her belly. He focused on her with a hunter’s stare. His voice was gravelly, layered with desire, reminding her of a wild creature. “Say yes. Say you want me.” He closed his eyes and rumbled deep in his chest. Sweat slicked his skin and his body shook with tremors of holding back the volatile urges of a male cat in the throes of the rut. “Choose, Naomi, while I can walk away.”
She had a wild desire to taunt, to push him beyond his endurance. She sidled up to him, knowing she’d made her choice. Had there been any other? Matthew was Change for their people. He was the only male she’d ever had the urge to say yes to. She slid a hand over the crisp hairs on his bare chest, still amazed at the flinch of his skin. How his heart thundered in his chest. The involuntary male rumble. “Do you think you could walk away from me?” Naomi’s eyes slid to half mast as she inhaled deeply of the male musk.
“Yes or no.” Matthew’s demand was a tortured strangle. “Say it. Choose, my Lia.”
“Am I?” Naomi smiled, secure in her femininity. “Am I, your Lia, Matthew?”
“Yes. From…” his words trailed off as the fierce green gaze appraised her bare toes, the expanse of her shorts exposed legs, to her braless state. He swallowed hard when she took his hand and turned him around. “from the beginning.”
She took a step backward, toward the small bedroom in the back of the RV, pulling him in her wake, stalking her, not following. “Swear it.”
“I would swear anything for you.” The words were said absently, but she felt the truth in them nonetheless. “everything.” The back of her legs hit the low full sized bed fixed in a frame to the floor. She felt very small compared to his lean muscled mass crowding her into the small space. Matthew’s nostrils flared, the leopard green of his eyes going to slits as he savored the scent of her readiness. He leaned forward, not pulling his hand free as his breath whispered over her skin, sending more shivers down her body.
“I swear to honor you.” His nose touched the sensitive space behind her ear. “I swear never to speak ill of you.” The tip of his tongue tasted the skin of her neck, trailing the tendon downwards to her collarbone, chasing a moan from her. “I swear to keep you first in my heart, my queen. Because dying is easy, I’d live my life for you. Through the danger, the day-to-day, and the peace.” Her breath sagged out on a whimper as he bent, his breath hot on her breast through the t-shirt. “I’d call you my goddess, but she would take exception.”
“She?” That cleared some of the cobwebs of desire from her brain. She frowned to find the fingers of her free hand threaded through his hair. “Who?”
Matthew rumbled in his chest, the sound turning close to a purr. “Hmmm?” his mouth closed on her pouting nipple. Green and gold eyes looked up at her protest. He pulled back to her disappointed body’s dismay. “Oh. The cat goddess. Bastet.”
“I’m the jealous type, Matthew.” She warned.
“So am I, queen of my heart. You have no idea how many times, I’ve wanted to tear into the others for lusting after you.” Matthew waited, resisting when she tugged at his hair. His mouth quirked, sure of himself. “Well?”
“Well what?” her own heart skipped with excitement. Prodding him with her words.
The feral beast in him rumbled a low warning. “Naomi. Choose.” One hand wrapped around her calf. The tips of his cat’s claws pricked her skin. So dangerous and he’d practically spoken the human’s marriage vows.
She licked her lips, knowing he’d never hurt her. “Do you mean it?”
“I’ve never spoken those words to anyone else.” his lips opened over her finger, sucking the digit into the heated depths of his mouth. Pulling free, she let her fingers roam over the bristly whiskers of his face.
Naomi licked her lips. Her fingers cradled the lean planes of his face. Her heart contracted as she spoke the words out loud. “Then I choose you, Matthew Ridley. For now and in the future.” She pressed small kisses to the sides of his mouth. “I will stand with you, walk with you, sleep with you.” She paused a moment then pressed one more kiss to his mouth “And love with you.”
He rumbled with leonine triumph and tumbled her backward to the bed. Naomi’s breath caught at the sight of his thick thigh’s straddling hers. Muscles roped in great cords over his body. Lean and dangerous, more sexy than anything she’d ever seen before. Reaching out, she grasped the thick stem of his penis, marveling at the smooth, satin over steel texture. Matthew growled, his hand suddenly on her wrist. “Not yet. Too much. I’m not going to last, as it is.” Gently he pried her fingers loose, then took a moment to inhale a deep breath, visibly steadying himself, gaining control. So far, Matthew had been all about control. Suddenly, Naomi didn’t want him in control. She wanted him on fire for her. Wild and unable to resist her. She wanted to feel the pounding animal thrust inside her in tune with their hearts.
Grasping the hem of her shirt he swept it over her head. He made a sound of appreciation as he cupped her breasts in his hands. The rough callous of his skin scraped gently against the sensitive tissue. Bending, he took one in his mouth, touching first with the tip of his tongue. At the deep sound in Naomi’s throat, he opened his mouth, greedily taking as much in as possible. The other he massaged, the rhythm went straight to her apex as Naomi fought to straddle his leg. God, she felt as if there were a line going from her breast to her crotch.
The internal throbbing relieved only marginally as one of his knees braced against her, pressing against the wet denim of her shorts. Naomi whimpered, bracing her bare heels on the bed, rubbing like a cat in heat against his knee. Need built inside her, making the walls of her clench, wanting to be filled with the tantalizing rod that brushed against her bare belly. “Matth—pleassse.” Her plea ended on a wail as his teeth scraped deliciously over her nipple before changing the torture to her other breast.
She growled, the sound strangled frustration as she tried to pull him down. Finally, he pulled back, his eyes fixed to the heaving bounce of her breasts. Then he tackled the snap of her shorts, dragging both them and the wet underwear with them. The garment balled in his fist, forgotten as he stared down at her. His other hand brushed at the wet curls of her sex. “Matthew. Now.”
She reached for him, only to be pushed back, without an answer. One large hand spread flat over her belly, while his other grasped her knee and spread her wide to his inspection. When she tried to close her knees against the exposure, he made another sound, holding her knee to the side with one hand, his hip keeping the other spread wide. Two large fingers slid through the slick wetness of her folds, pulling a mewling sound of surrender from Naomi. Her head fell backwards at the sensation.
The world spun, sapping the last of her resistance as his fingers slid over and through her folds again. His thumb stopping on her clitoris, then circled it. Naomi mimicked the motion with her hips, reveling in the circular then up and down motion. The throbbing, needing sensation inside her built, desperate to be filled she rubbed shamelessly, feeling the wetness of her crotch increase with every stroke. Then he stopped. Naomi thought she would go insane. She needed him inside her, dammit.
Growling a feline warning, she bared sharp teeth that had Changed without her realizing it. He bent, thankfully to comply. But instead of giving her what she wanted, his hands slid down, both of them holding her thighs apart as his head bent over her. His breath feathered over her, as her hands clutched in his hair at the shivery feeling that shook her womb. Nuzzling at her thigh made her groan.
Her hands stalled, as her brain went blank, unable to process anything but the jolt of pleasure as his tongue lapped over the crease of her. Heated, he delved deeper, suckling at her cli
t, holding her still when she bucked at the seizure of pleasure that gripped her. Dragging her close he kept up the assault, one finger circling into her folds, then testing, in and out with the rhythm of his tongue and lips on her clitoris. She pushed against the finger, wanting more, getting more when he added a second. Naomi groaned, the blanket gripped tight in her fists. He stroked the inside of her walls with strokes that made her throw her head side to side. Then the bastard stopped. Mouth, fingers, everything. He froze. Naomi kicked at his back in protest trying to pull him deeper.
After what seemed like forever in a standoff, his mouth renewed the assault in rapid strokes over her clit. He found and ran his tongue over the tiny seam, sucking hard, using his chin to press against where she wanted him most. She spiraled higher, then shrieked as she flew off the cliff of her climax, screaming when he chased her further, sucking and lapping at the super sensitive tissues. Finally he let her go, and she flopped boneless against the mattress, flying high on the blissful cloud of her release.
Smiling she looked into the hard amber gaze of his visage. Wet juices from her body shone in the dim light of the room. He looked hard to his core. Naomi trailed her fingers down his face, liking that her scent was all over him. He caught at her hand keeping her from caressing him. His body caged her so that she could feel the tip of him pressed against her thigh. “You didn’t say you were a virgin.”
Still lazy with her climax, her body wanting more, she twisted her hand free, stretching up to rub her face on the closest part of him she could. “So? I’ve never wanted anyone until now. Does it matter?”
His jaw worked as he struggled to work some strange man-thought through his brain. “Yes. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Both of her hands free now, she pulled at his shoulders. “You won’t. Come Matthew.” She breathed the invitation over his skin, encouraged to see his muscles jump and veins swell with the effort of controlling himself. “I want you inside me Matthew. Fuck me. Love me.”
Cat Scratch Fever; Blue-Collar Werewolves V Page 23