by Laura Wright
Scowling at the tangled emotions he hadn’t felt in twenty-five years, Bayon entered the Wildlands from the deepest part of the swamp and headed directly for the caves. Once at the entrance he paused to make certain that no one else had been in the area before crouching low enough to enter without banging his head. Then, with a feral smile, he followed the intoxicating scent of Keira to the back cavern.
She was seated near the waterfall, her fingers playing in the pool of water as the sunlight crept through the opening in the ceiling, bathing her in a golden glow.
The breath was wrenched from his lungs as he took in the dark satin of her hair that tumbled down her slender back and the delicate profile that was so painfully familiar. How often had he studied her striking beauty from a distance? How often had those female features haunted his dreams?
His gaze swept downward. She’d found her clothes that Parish had kept boxed in one of the caves, and was wearing a pair of low-riding jeans and a cropped top that offered a tantalizing glimpse of her slender waist.
His cat snarled in approval, the hunger that he’d kept tightly suppressed blasting through his defenses as he prowled forward.
Keira was home. Physically, at least, she was healing.
And she was his.
That was all his cat needed to know.
The man part of him would continue to worry about the bastards who’d stolen her. And why her memories refused to return. And why she feared revealing her presence to the others. But the cat…
Yes, he was satisfied.
Or he intended to be satisfied. Once he had Keira beneath him, screaming his name in pleasure.
Very, very soon.
Keira was lost in her thoughts, but her head jerked up as he crossed the smooth stone floor, her hand automatically lifting to catch the paper bag he threw in her direction.
“I thought you might be hungry.”
“Starving,” she admitted, peeking inside the bag before lifting her head to study him with a guarded expression. “You remembered?”
With one pounce he was on the ledge of the pool, not bothering to hide his arousal as the scent of her warm musk wrapped around him.
“Everything,” he admitted, no longer willing to pretend she was just an old friend who’d come home.
Her once-bold gaze was skittish as she pulled out one of the greasy burgers and consumed it in two bites.
“You said something about Parish being mated?” she asked.
Bayon smiled. He didn’t doubt her interest in her brother. Or his new mate. But he also recognized a distraction when it was thrown in his face.
“It’s recent.” He allowed his fingers to trail over her lower back. “Very recent.”
She demolished another burger, but she couldn’t disguise her shiver of pleasure. “Who’s the lucky female?” she choked out.
He traced the hem of her shirt. “Julia. A human doctor.”
Finished with her food, she tossed aside her bag and sent him a startled glance over his shoulder.
“Human?”
“Trust me, no one was more shocked than your hard-ass brother,” he admitted. “After…you disappeared, he blamed the entire human race.” His fingers teased the sensitive dip at her lower back. “For a while I thought I was going to have to cage him to keep him from going on a bloody rampage.”
The emerald starburst in the center of her eyes smoldered with a hunger that matched his own.
Not that she was about to admit the truth. Stubborn feline.
“Do you approve of this Julia?” she asked.
He shrugged. “We don’t know much about her, but she saved Ashe’s baby, so she’s got my vote of approval.”
“Ashe?” Keira frowned in confusion. “Baby?”
As concisely as possible, Bayon revealed the stunning news that Raphael had not only mated, but that Ashe was expecting the first Pantera babe in over fifty years. As well as the fact that they’d recently been attacked.
“A baby.” Her smile was filled with genuine joy. “Oh my god.”
“This child might be the savior of the Pantera, but only if we can protect the babe from our enemies.” His own expression was grim. “I was tracking the bastards who attacked Ashe when I found you.”
She turned so she was facing him. “Have they been captured?”
“Not yet.” He grimaced. “They torched the place and took off.”
Without warning, she surged upright, her cat eager to be on the hunt. “I’ll find them.”
Bayon reacted without thought. One minute he was perched beside the pool, and the next he had knocked Keira flat on her back and was lying on top of her rigid body.
“Like hell, you will,” he snapped.
A dangerous gold flared in her eyes as her cat reacted to his display of dominance. “Maybe you’ve forgotten that I’m the one who gives the orders,” she snarled.
He pressed a finger to her lips, halting her furious words. “Oh no, honey. There’s a new sheriff in town.”
She shook off his hand, her eyes narrowing. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t take orders from you. In fact, for the next few hours I intend to give them.”
She snorted, unimpressed. “And you expect me to obey?”
His slow smile was filled with wicked intent. “I not only expect you to obey, I expect you to plead for more,” he explained.
If looks could kill he’d be dead on the spot.
“Don’t make the mistake of treating me like one of your bimbos,” she managed to warn between gritted teeth.
She was beautiful when she was jealous.
Eyes glowing with emerald and gold fire. Her hands pressed against his chest, her breasts heaving as her cat struggled to be released.
He held his upper weight on his elbows, allowing his hands to slide beneath the too-revealing shirt.
“What would you know about my bimbos?”
“They weren’t a secret.” Her voice became a low rasp as his fingers found the swell of her breasts. “There used to be bets placed in the dining hall about how long the latest would last and who would be next to crawl into your bed.”
“And it never occurred to you that maybe all those stories were more myth than truth?”
“Yeah, right.”
She tried to sound skeptical, but he didn’t miss her tiny groan of pleasure as his fingers grasped the nipples already beaded in anticipation. He tugged them with enough force to make her hiss with a growing hunger.
“I may not be a virgin, but—”
“Understatement of the century.”
With an impatient motion, he yanked off the tiny top, cupping her swollen breasts with a gentle reverence.
“But my reputation has been highly exaggerated.”
She groaned, her claws extending to prick the skin of his chest. “I doubt that.”
“Why?” he muttered, distracted by the spectacular sight of her rosy nipples that begged for his kiss.
“Because you flirted with every female in the Wildlands.”
“Did you sleep with every male you flirted with?”
“Fine.” She cleared her throat. “What about the females you kept in New Orleans?”
Bayon lifted himself until he could shuck off his boots and jeans before kneeling between her legs as he wrenched his T-shirt over his head.
“There were no females.”
Chapter 4
Keira shuddered, lifting herself on her elbows to regard the man kneeling between her legs like an ancient conqueror.
She should be pissed.
She was an alpha. Men didn’t toss her on her back and have their way with her.
Not unless they wanted their throats ripped out.
So why was she lying there like she was some helpless kitten?
Perhaps it was because she was so damned consumed by her hunger for this male she couldn’t think of anything but getting that hard, bronzed body on top of her.
Or perhaps it was because she was strugg
ling to accept that he wasn’t the testosterone-driven playboy she’d believed for so long.
“Then why did you let people think you had an apartment in New Orleans where you kept your latest lover?” she husked.
A golden glow spread through his pale green eyes as his cat studied her with a restless need.
“Because I didn’t want a bunch of curious cats pushing their noses into my business.”
She frowned, struck by an intense need to know what Bayon had been hiding. “Is it some secret?”
He hesitated, as if debating whether or not to confess the truth. Then he gave a small shrug.
“My mother was a born Nurturer,” he at last said.
Keira nodded. Bayon’s mother was beloved by all Pantera. “I remember her being in charge of the nursery,” she said in fond tones. “I don’t know how many times she kissed my boo-boos or slipped me a chocolate chip cookie when the other girls teased me for not playing with dolls like the rest of them. Your mother will always have a special place in my heart.”
His blunt features softened with love. “In all our hearts.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with New Orleans.”
“When the Pantera stopped having children, the nursery was closed.” He grimaced. “My mother was…devastated.”
“Of course she would be,” Keira breathed, wishing she’d made the effort to realize how difficult the past years had been on the Nurturers.
“I feared that she was losing her will to live, so I found a project that would keep her occupied.”
“What project?”
“I opened an orphanage in New Orleans.” His lips twisted as her eyes widened with shock. “It seemed like the perfect solution. My mother has endless love to share with the human children.”
“Oh.” Her heart melted. She’d always known Bayon was special. This only proved just how special. “Why the hell did you keep it such a mystery?”
“I did it for my mother,” he said. “There was no need for anyone else to know. Besides—”
“Besides what?”
His gaze strayed toward her naked breasts. “Besides, I wanted you to believe that I had a harem in New Orleans.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
She did. It was the same reason she’d pretended that Sean was her lover.
Stupid games designed to keep barriers between them.
But now the truth had torn down those walls, and left them both unable to deny the raw, savage need that pulsed between them.
Slowly her gaze lowered to take in his massive erection that seemed to grow even larger as she studied it with an undisguised desire.
“You’re playing with fire, honey,” he breathed, lowering himself to sprawl beside her, the heat of his naked body like a furnace.
“This is crazy.”
“Not as crazy as denying what we both want.” His cat glowed in his eyes as he reached for her hand, pressing it against his dick. “Feel what you do to me.”
“Bayon.”
Unable to resist temptation, she wrapped her fingers around his erection, exploring down to the heavy testicles before slowly skimming back up to find the broad tip that was already damp with his seed.
He shuddered, exposing his claws to slice her jeans and then her tiny lace thong into tatters. She parted her lips to protest the destruction of her clothing, only to have a groan escape as he cupped her bare ass, his fingers squeezing her flesh in a promise of pleasure to come.
“I let you keep me at a distance for too long.” He peered deep into her eyes. “I’m not letting you do it again.”
She forced herself not to look away. There would be no more hiding. “Do you know why I was afraid to let you near?”
“Because I wasn’t going to let you neuter me like you did your other lovers.”
She deliberately gave his cock a slow pump, taking full pleasure in the fine layer of sweat that suddenly glistened on his bronzed skin.
“It was because I feared you would undermine my authority as the leader of the Hunters,” she bluntly confessed. “I had a hard enough time being taken seriously as an alpha without you distracting me.”
“I might have tried,” he admitted, his lips curving into the boyish grin that was lethal to the female heart. “But I have faith you would have sliced off my balls if I’d become too obnoxious.”
Clever, clever cat.
He knew precisely what to say.
And how to touch, she acknowledged, as his fingers moved from her ass to trace the curve of her waist.
“My need for dominance doesn’t bother you?” she pressed, knowing his answer was important.
Her cat would never be happy in a subservient role.
“Let’s say I’m willing to compromise,” he said, the rasp of his breath filling the air. “I don’t always have to be on top.”
Without warning his hands gripped her hips, rolling her until she was lodged on top of him. Tiny jolts of bliss speared through her as her already damp flesh was pressed to his thick cock.
“Oh hell,” she moaned.
“No more denying what’s between us, Keira?”
She met his gaze that blazed a brilliant gold.
She’d fought this moment for so long. Ever since she’d sensed this cat was destined to be more than just another lover.
She couldn’t fight any longer.
“No more,” she whispered.
His hands skimmed to cup her breasts, his cat watching her with a sensual intensity.
“Admit that you want me,” he prodded, his fingers squeezing her nipples with a pressure that was on the right side of pain.
Oh…yes.
“I want you,” she breathed.
“Bayon.” His voice was thick with need. “Say my name.”
“Bayon.”
He smiled with satisfaction. “Now show me what you want.”
She planted her hands on either side of his shoulders, lowering her body and tilting her head to the side in open invitation. With a growl of approval, Bayon sank his teeth into the tender curve of throat where it met her shoulder.
The same spot he’d used to imprint himself.
She shuddered, rubbing against his hard erection as his elongated fangs pressed into her flesh.
“Wait.” He clamped his hands on her hips, holding her still as his lips kissed the tiny wounds on her throat. “You aren’t going to freak out once you’re mine, are you?”
She gave a lift of her brows as she trailed a finger over his chest. Once you’re mine. The words should be terrifying.
Instead they were oddly erotic.
After twenty-five years of brutal isolation, where she’d been cut off from everyone and everything she cared about, she understood exactly the precious gift he was offering her.
Never again would she be afraid to open her heart to love.
“I could ask you the same question.”
He hissed in pleasure as she scraped her claws lightly over his upper chest, dangerously close to breaking his skin.
“This is all I’ve ever wanted, but you’re still recovering.”
“My memories might still be fuzzy, but otherwise I’m recovered. The bastards tortured me by keeping me locked in the damned cage and using that collar to control my cat.” She held his gaze. “But they never touched me.”
“Fuck.” His breath rasped through the air. “I’m going to skin them alive for what they did to you. Hell, I’ve already promised myself I’d chop them into pieces and feed them to the gators. But, I was so afraid—”
She nipped his bottom lip. “I’m fine. And I know what I want.”
“Good.”
A moan was wrenched from her throat as he allowed his lips to travel over the curve of her breast, at last latching onto her aching nipple.
Her eyes squeezed shut as raw, undiluted pleasure raced through her. The heat of his body. The rough stroke of his tongue. The silken brush of his hair against her chin.
S
he’d been starved of touch for so long.
Now she savored each touch, each caress as if it were her first.
“Oh…god, yes.”
He used the edge of his teeth to tease the very tip. “You like that?”
“Harder,” she whispered.
“Like this?”
He clamped down until her back arched in delight. “Perfect.”
“You’re perfect.” His mouth moved to torment her other nipple, lapping and nipping until her fingers dug into his shoulders. “Competent. Smart. Willing to kick ass when necessary.”
She trembled, his soft words as much a turn-on as his skillful touch.
Oh hell, she was being burned alive.
Perhaps a more girly-girl would want the first time with her potential mate to be a slow, romantic seduction, but Keira had never been that sort of female.
She took what she wanted.
And she wanted Bayon with a force that threatened to overwhelm her.
As if sensing she was tumbling out of control, Bayon studied her with a gaze that made her heart skip a beat.
It was a gaze that spoke of need and lust and…sheer male possession.
Framing her face in his hands, he pulled her down to kiss her with an aching sweetness. Keira sighed. When she was younger she’d devoted endless hours to fantasizing about this man and his kisses, but nothing could have prepared her for the reality.
Her hands explored the corded muscles of his chest. His skin was warm, silken. The perfect temptation for her cat, and with a moan of need she gave in to the urge to spread kisses over his face before licking her way down the strong column of his throat.
“I like the taste of you, Bayon,” she whispered as she continued to tease him with tiny nips and nibbles
“I’m supposed to be tasting you,” he growled, his hands clutching her hips as he sought to retain control.
Such an alpha.
“I’m on top this time, remember?” she whispered, moving steadily lower.
“I…oh hell, woman.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“Keira,” he rasped as she reached the rippling muscles of his lower stomach.