Saving the Beast (Interracial Shifter Romance) (Awakening Pride, Book Four) by Lacey Thorn

by Lacey Thorn

  She heard a deep purr and jolted, taking a step back and snapping her head down, eyes flaring wide. A huge black panther sat at the edge of the clearing, watching her.

  “Zane?” She croaked the question out. It had to be him. Right? There wouldn’t be another panther out here. If by some strange circumstance there was another panther shifter in the area, Kenzie would have sensed it and warned her.

  The panther tilted its head and the golden eyes looked so familiar, so comforting.

  “I’m here, Zane,” she whispered. “I want to help you, to save you if I can.”

  The panther was up off its haunches and prowling closer. He was circling her, and she turned with him, feeling her breath catch as each loop veered him closer to her.

  “Zane, you’re making me nervous,” she ventured to say, and the panther stopped in its tracks, blinking its eyes at her.

  “Zane,” she whispered with awe. “It’s really you, isn’t it? You’re so beautiful. I knew you would be. I mean, you take my breath away. Why would your beast be any different?”

  The head cocked and a rumble sounded in its chest. She swore she saw the panther’s chest expand as he inhaled deeply. Those big eyes seemed to glow brighter, and it was back on its feet. No more circling. It was heading right toward her.

  “Oh, God,” she moaned and braced herself. She wanted to squeeze her eyes shut tight, but fear kept them locked wide open, watching as the panther stalked closer.

  His head was even with her belly, and this close, she had no trouble visualizing just how lethal he could be if needed. He inhaled again, hissed and buried his nose in her crotch.

  “Shit!” she exclaimed and jerked back.

  He followed and buried his nose again.

  “Stop that!” she scolded.

  She reached down to push away his nose and got her first glimpse of sharp teeth when he peeled his lips back and growled at her. She dropped her hands to her side and clenched them into fists.

  The nose pressed against the crotch of her jeans again and rubbed over it. She held still. The man she could deal with. At least she hoped. But the panther. She had no idea what to do. She gasped as a long pink tongue flicked out and licked over the seam of her pants.

  “Zane!” she cried out and moved back with the panther stalking her. The tongue flicked out again, licking over her the ridge of denim hiding her zipper. “Stop that!” she scolded.

  The panther rumbled again and flashed its teeth.

  “That’s not going to work this time. I don’t care if you’re a panther or not. You can’t just go around licking people’s crotches. It’s not right.”

  The panther pushed her with his nose, and she flailed before falling back to land in the opening of the tent on her ass.

  “Damn it, Zane!” she yelled. “That wasn’t nice!”

  The panther loomed over her, and she squealed as his big head dipped toward her. She fell back flat on her back and did squeeze shut her eyes this time. The nose brushed between her thighs again then moved up along her belly to her chest. His tongue ran over both breasts and she gasped, holding still. Then she felt the rough texture against the bare skin of her neck, just below her ear.

  “Zane, please,” she begged. “I need you.”

  The panther rumbled and shook its head as if trying to tell her something. She’d never felt so unsure around cats. Hell, this was her life. Working with large cats was what she’d trained so hard for. This was where she was confident, where she allowed no room for doubt. So why was this any different? Because this was Zane, and wisdom flew out the window when he was near, leaving her lost in a sea of sensations she’d never experienced before. What was he waiting for?

  The tongue flicked out again, and she flinched and shook with a stab of fear as she felt the scrape of his teeth. One wrong move and he could kill her. The nose nudged her again, and she blinked open her eyes to glance up at him.

  “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “I need you, Zane. The real you. I can’t understand you like this.”

  The panther hissed again and let out a growl that echoed around them. Fuck! Had she pissed off the beast? What was it waiting for? Was Zane already lost to her? Had she waited too long?

  The panther dipped its big head and nudged her once more, burying his nose in her neck this time and nuzzling her there. A thought suddenly occurred to her. What if the panther was demanding she accept him before he’d release control to his human counterpart?

  Tentatively, she reached up and rubbed her hand over the fur of his cheek. She slid her fingers along his fur, following his neck to his shoulder and down his front leg. He sat on his haunches and purred his approval. Slowly, she eased up to sit before him. When he didn’t nudge her down with his nose, she cautiously reached out with both hands and stroked over his fur again and again.

  “I know you and Zane are a package. I can’t have him without accepting you.”

  The panther mewled and tilted his head at her.

  “I’ve dreamed of meeting a big guy like you. So inquisitive. So intelligent. So lethal,” she added when he rumbled and stretched up his head, revealing his sharp teeth. “But I don’t need to be afraid of you, do I? Is that what you’re trying to get me to see? That you’re just as much mine as he is? That I’m as safe with you as I am with him?”

  A hum throbbed through his chest, vibrating against her fingers where they stroked over him. He nuzzled her face again, and this time she giggled as his big pink tongue came out and swiped over her cheek. Soon, she was fully reclined with the panther licking her face while she laughed and turned it from side-to-side. All fear was forgotten as she reveled in the playful side of her mate’s beast.

  Zane felt the moment his panther acknowledged Diane as their mate. The more afraid she’d become, the harder the beast had fought against the bond, and Zane had understood. To be his mate meant accepting all of him, and the beast was very much a part of him. Diane seemed to have figured that out. Now, he was awash with the sound of her giggles. He’d let the beast play just a bit longer, just enough to content him, before he pressed to take over and have what they both desired—their mate naked beneath them.

  The smell of her ripe pussy filled his nostrils. She was in heat, so wet and ready for him, it would take every ounce of control he had not to rip off her clothes and fuck her until he was all that filled her—mind, body and soul. Zane wasn’t deluding himself that it would be easy. He could feel the fever virus raging inside him. It would be difficult enough to shift back from beast to man. Even then, the beast would be strong inside him, demanding a primal claiming he prayed Diane was ready for.

  He’d wanted to woo her, to slowly gain her trust with soft kisses and gentle touches. He’d failed. There would be nothing soft or gentle, only a demand for complete submission. He knew without a doubt he was going to fuck her hard and deep, imprinting her with his scent and filling her with his cum over and over again. It would take hours, maybe even days before his animal was sated and he hopefully began building up the antibodies needed to fight the fever.

  He’d heard of the fever from his uncle. He still didn’t understand all of it, but he did know the only shifters who recovered were those with mates. There was something released into the blood when shifters mated that combated the virus. That same hormone was what shifters shared with their mates through their saliva that allowed their mates to develop enhanced senses and the ability to heal faster.

  Diane giggled again, and Zane felt a hot surge of lust. Did she have any idea what she was inviting? Not that she had any chance of denying him, now. How had she figured out she was his mate? He’d thought he’d hid it from her, but here she was, declaring herself to be exactly what she was. His. And her acceptance would enable him to fight what raged inside him. Only through her would he once more become fully integrated with is beast. No more fighting for dominance or control. He would be at peace again. Beast and man united as one.

  He knew Kenzie was the one who’d brought Diane
to him. He’d smelled her when he’d caught the ripe scent of his mate. The animal had chosen to follow Kenzie, to ensure she meant no harm to their mate. Only when the beast was satisfied had they turned back to find Diane. He could still detect Kenzie on the gear that surrounded them. He wanted to punish her for the danger she’d placed his mate in just as much as he wanted to thank her for bringing the one he needed to him. He also knew Kenzie would stay where she’d moved, watching and ensuring Zane and his mate were safe.

  He would owe her for this. He couldn’t imagine Tah had been okay with the two of them heading out and searching for him alone, and he wasn’t picking up on any of the others close by. What had Kenzie done to get Diane here? How was he going to fix it if she’d defied a direct order from Tah?

  Diane’s laughter drew his attention back to her. Her long blonde hair was coming free from her braid. He wanted it long and loose around her shoulders. He wanted to run his fingers through it, inhale the sweet smell that was uniquely Diane. He wanted to feel it draped over his chest and tickling his thighs while he buried his cock in her throat. He growled and it rumbled up out of the mouth of the beast.

  He felt the shift of the beast’s attention from their mate to the thoughts Zane sought to share. No more fighting. Their minds merged, each focused on one thing. Claiming Diane. Zane let his imagination run wild, envisioning Diane naked beneath him, his cock buried deep in the wet grip of her pussy. He wanted to taste her skin, to sink so deep beneath it that she became a part of him, joined permanently with him and the beast. He wanted to see his bite mar the perfection of her neck—a primal claiming that defied anyone to ever touch the woman who belonged to him and only him.

  The beast lifted his head and gave a hiss and growl, calling his intentions out in warning to any animal that dared enter his space. He did it again, this time letting the man know he was on board with the claiming of their mate.

  “Shhh,” Diane crooned, running her hands over the panther with no fear. His mate had found her courage, and it made his chest swell with pride. “I’m right here, Zane,” she whispered, nuzzling her nose into the beast’s fur. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  He felt it the moment his beast found peace and stilled inside him. It was as if a switch flipped and all that had been holding Zane trapped within was gone. The fire in his blood still raged, but the animal was no longer fighting. The growl of the cat was replaced with the groan of the man as Zane shifted into his human skin for the first time since being hit with a needle in the basement storage room by Dillon, the young shifter who’d come with Lydia Blane. The man would pay for what he’d stolen from Zane and Diane—time for gentleness and seduction.

  “Diane,” he grunted. He shuffled as much as his control would allow him. He was sprawled naked across her, his weight pinning her to the ground beneath him.

  She moved, her hands frantically touching him. His face, his shoulders, his chest and down his sides. Soft fingers stroking fire across his skin and igniting lust already at explosive levels. It took every ounce of will he held to keep his hands planted beside her, holding his body mere inches from hers.

  “You’re here,” she sobbed. “I was so worried about you. I thought you were gone. I thought I’d lost you before I even had you.”

  He shoved up, pushing himself farther away from her. He was panting with the effort required. Then she grabbed him, capturing his shoulders and pulling him back down to her.

  “Don’t go,” she begged softly, and her voice was ripe with fear. “Don’t leave me. I want to be your mate. I want everything. I want it all with you.”

  Did she have any idea what she was doing to him? He was trying to give himself time to temper the beast. He wasn’t walking away. He couldn’t. Not with the sweet smell of her need filling his senses. He’d been searching for a gentleness that eluded him.

  “Zane,” she pleaded and lifted up into him.

  He felt the soft stroke of her tongue over his neck and any control he’d deluded himself into believing he might possess disappeared. She moaned against his skin and undulated beneath him. He felt the tight points of her nipples, felt the heat of her sex against his thigh and was lost. Need tore through him. He heard her gasp as their gazes finally collided and held and knew his eyes were glowing with the primal ferocity that roared in his body.

  “Mine,” he growled, lowering his head and skimming his elongated canines over the soft skin of her throat.

  She whimpered, but it wasn’t fear he smelled rolling off her. It was lust and need.

  “Mine,” he told her again.

  “Yes,” she groaned in agreement. “Yours. All yours.”

  And she sealed her fate.

  “I’m going to claim you, Diane. I’m going to strip you naked, spread your legs and fuck you until neither of us can move. I’m going to take you hard and fast. I’m going to take you slow and easy. I’m going to fuck you, make love to you then fuck you again. My cock will feel the slick walls of your pussy and the velvet smoothness of your lips. I’ll mark you in every way I can. God help us if this isn’t what you wanted because I can’t stop. The need for you sets my blood on fire even more than the fever does.”

  “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I want all of you, any way I can have you.”

  “From this moment on, you belong to me and only me. No other man will ever touch you or I will tear him apart with my bare hands. Your joy will become my joy just as your pain will be my pain. Do you understand this?”

  Diane nodded, but he sensed something, an uncertainty.

  “What is it?” he demanded.

  “I’m to be yours. What about you? Will you be mine?”

  He smiled, letting her see the full brunt of what he felt on his face. “My dear, sweet mate, I’ve been yours since the moment I first laid eyes on you. I knew the first time I saw you that you were my mate. No other woman will ever hold me as you do.”

  “Oh, Zane,” she sighed and gave a sniffle.

  It hurt him that he couldn’t be gentle, but there was no help for it. Between the feral fever and the delicious scent of heat her body gave off, there was no hope of reining himself in.

  “I want you naked, as quickly as you can strip. Do you understand me?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “But first,” he murmured and ran his finger across her neck to her chin, exposing the spot he wanted. “You are mine,” he proclaimed and lowered his head, biting deep and mixing his salvia with her blood.

  Diane cried out, passion filling her voice as she crested into orgasm beneath him. He’d heard the bite of a mate could do that.

  When the fever eased, the mixture of his saliva in her blood would bring about other changes for them. They’d be linked, sharing emotions with one another, connecting in a way only true mates could. Diane moaned as she trembled from the pleasure she’d found with his marking of her. He released her and inhaled deeply, brushing his nose against her skin. His mate was ready.

  “Naked,” he commanded as he reluctantly lifted his head. “Now.”

  Chapter Six

  Diane could only stare up at Zane, lost once more in his glowing yellow eyes. She’d felt him penetrate her skin with his teeth and should have cried out in pain. Instead, she’d found herself gasping with fierce longing as she’d exploded in an orgasm that hadn’t brought relief. She wanted him, and his bite only made the need stronger. She was hot and wet with it, her nipples aching for his touch.

  “Now!” Zane ordered again but there was no way she could comply.

  Her fingers refused to move from his skin, even to undress herself.

  He pierced her with the intensity of his gaze. One long finger skimmed down her cheek, and she shuddered as desire rippled through her womb. He went back on his knees and pulled her up with him. He pushed at her jacket, shoving it down her arms then off. His breath panted between his lips, which were curled back from his teeth.

  He ripped her shirt over her head and tossed
it aside. Then his hands were on her flesh, smoothing over her shoulders before sliding lower to caress the bare skin of her stomach. Her breath caught and her breasts swelled, pushing against the lace cups of her bra.

  “Clothes.” He grunted the word out. “Did you bring more for yourself?”

  She nodded. “Yes, for both of us.”

  “Good,” he said. He held out one finger, the tip bearing the lethal claw of his panther. He sliced through the front material of her bra, splitting the cups apart. Using both hands, he shoved the fabric aside to expose her pale flesh to his gaze.

  His sharp intake of breath had her glancing down, trying to see herself as he did. Full breasts crowned with dark-pink nipples that strained toward him in tight points. She wanted to feel his mouth there, to have him suck and nip them.

  “Zane!” She cried his name as he held himself still above her, just staring at her naked breasts.

  His gaze held such conflict when he met hers. “I’m going to take you, Diane. Tell me you want me. Tell me you want this.”

  She’d wanted romance—muted lights, silk sheets and whispered words of love. Instead, she was going to get hard, hot need in a tent in the middle of the woods.

  “I want this,” she answered, and she wasn’t lying. Soft words weren’t required after all. Not now. Now was the time for a claiming that would assure her Zane was hers.

  Finally, she could move. She dropped her hands to the button and zipper on her jeans and unfastened them, forcing the material wide. She lifted her hips and shimmied them and her panties over her hips to her thighs. Zane gave her a shove backwards and took over. He jerked her clothes the rest of the way until they caught on her boots.

  “I don’t have spare boots,” she blurted, afraid he might use his claws to shred them instead of taking them off.

  With a growl, he untied them and pulled them from her feet along with her socks. Then he tugged her jeans and panties down her legs and off. He inhaled deeply and a soft rumble began in his chest. He licked his lips as he stared at her.