Jungle Rapture

by M. A. Jewell

  Kelsi couldn't let Jaime lose his freedom. One dart hadn't affected him before. "Run! He won't let me go, even if you give yourself up!"

  With Jaime out cold, Erico wouldn't honor any agreement. Black Beauty didn't react to the two darts in his side but kept his gaze locked to hers.

  "Sleep, Salazar…" Kelsi couldn't understand the rest of what Erico said to Jaime, but was certain he lied.

  Chapter Ten

  Erico's running commentary didn't impress Jaime. "Salazar, you'll be my biggest payday ever. We’ll make some videos for my personal collection."

  If only Kelsi could know his plan. She had to think him a lunatic. One more minute.

  The bastard twisted her arm until her shoulder popped. She screamed and delivered a solid kick to his kneecap with an audible crunch. Don't fight!

  "Bitch!" Erico howled with his weight on one leg. He grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. "Too much trouble."

  Jaime had gambled on Erico's greed to keep Kelsi alive. He should've known she'd fight to the death. He collapsed to the ground with his front legs akimbo. If Erico would only step a meter from her…

  In one quick move, Guterre drew his blade across her throat. Kelsi landed on her side, dark blood seeping into the leaves.

  Wild with grief, Jaime launched three meters to land on Erico. The stunned crime lord screamed but didn't have a chance. Canines severed his spinal cord and his body stilled. A few feet away, Cinnamon dropped onto Andre from above. A crunch of bone told Jaime of her success.

  Vengeance was hollow. Kelsi's gurgling breaths were the only sound in his ears. He shifted to grab the dropped knife then rushed to his mate. Freeing her wrists, he lay next to her and placed a flat hand across her wound. Bubbles of air mixed with the blood from her throat.

  Horror filled her eyes. Helpless tears filled his. Unable to speak, she took in only enough air to prolong her suffering.

  "Anjo, believe in your jaguar. For us. Let her erupt. You're so strong, allow your cat—her energy—to consume you."

  ****

  Death had come for Kelsi. Jaime spoke to her, but pounding in her ears blocked all other sound. Grief tortured his features. Regrets floated through her sluggish thoughts. I should've loved him in the treehouse. Now, she couldn't even tell him she loved him.

  She reached a dusky hand to his face in a farewell caress, but lack of oxygen stole her reason. Her ever-present companion, panic, reared up to consume her in the end. Heavy hands held her wrists in an iron grip. The edges of her vision glowed. The tunnel of light. In a haze of fading consciousness, heat traveled her body. Static shocks pulsed through twitching muscles. Nothingness.

  ****

  Jaime's scent found her. Air entered her lungs, each breath easier than the last.

  "Meu anjo, so beautiful." Jaime's words tickled her ear, so she flicked it back and forth.

  Her sense of self was awkward. Body parts had new locations. And everything smelled loud. Not bad, but loud and strong. Blood, different kinds, filled her nose. Beside the copper tang, rose Mother Earth. She focused on Jaime's smell. Her urge to roll in his scent grew stronger than ever before. Musk told her Cinnamon was near and that she was old.

  "Kelsi?"

  She opened her eyes to Jaime's gaze. In some kind of miracle, he must have gotten her to a hospital. "Jaime."

  Though she'd said his name, a low snarl came out. She blinked, and a high-pitched howl erupted from her. Jaime rubbed his nose to hers. "Don't be frightened. Your jaguar's made her first appearance. You’re stunning!"

  She looked down to be certain the four legs she sensed were real. White fur with sable rosettes greeted her. Kelsi mewled a pathetic sound. Jaime's reassurances didn't help. A sensation like gooseflesh traveled her back and forced a low growl.

  “Stay still. We'll chase the fear from your green eyes together."

  The dark glow engulfed him. As soon as his black muzzle touched hers, tingles traveled her cheeks. An urge to rub against him pushed her to her feet. Prickles escalated to throbbing at, what she supposed, were the base of her whiskers. Make him mine.

  Kelsi headbutted Jaime’s shoulder then stretched up to nuzzle his face. He lowered to meet her with whiskers twitching. Driven by instinct, but with every conscious intent, she pressed as hard as she could to one side of his muzzle, then the other. Their eyes met. Jaime returned her affection with scent-markings of his own, then licked her.

  Standing placidly at the base of an echo tree, Cinnamon coughed a roar in Kelsi's direction. Surprised, Kelsi understood her jaguar message: Truce, no harm.

  Jaime nudged her, and they trotted toward the forest. Within a few steps, she coordinated her four legs. A trail of her shredded clothing lay near Erico's corpse. His death-tainted scent invaded her nostrils, and she snorted to rid herself of the pollutant.

  The jungle teemed with life. Jaime showed patience with her numerous stops to sate her curiosity. His earthy fragrance embedded all but the newest growth. Monkeys screeched above, suddenly racing away. No wonder he'd said his scent would protect her. Now if he'd only chase off the snakes. They were everywhere.

  I’m not afraid! Her jaguar must have sensed prey all these years.

  Jaime hastened their pace to a jog then a run. Tree trunks whizzed by as they created their own breeze in the thick, stagnant air of the Amazon. Charred caiman scent told her they neared his home.

  She halted at the base of the treehouse, then vaulted to grip the trunk's bark. Climbing was so much easier as a cat. Jaime edged up behind her until she released her hold and twisted as she'd seen him do to gain the wood floor.

  She uttered an anxious cry, uncertain how to get out of her fur. Jaime licked her ear. The familiar white light engulfed him. Naked, he sat on the cot and patted it. His smile reassured her. "Join me. Relax, as if drifting off to sleep."

  Her added weight bowed the supports below as she stepped onto the mattress. Jaime stretched out next to her and stroked her fur. She licked his face—maybe too much.

  He laughed and rubbed his cheeks to hers. "Deep breaths, my heart."

  Kelsi closed her eyes. Heat and electricity flowed over her until she sensed her human body once more. Jaime's warm skin pressed against hers. She opened her eyes, and his adoring gaze greeted her.

  He kissed her so soft and gentle she thought she might weep. "I wear your mark. You understand…"

  She threaded her fingers through his ebony hair and looked into sky blue eyes. She’d love this man forever. "Jag queens have only one, you know."

  His smile lit her heart. He slanted his mouth over hers in a tender taking of her soul. Kisses trailed along her throat to her collarbone. He lifted to an elbow to find her gaze. "I'll make you happy. We'll live in the city, and you can write and protect the world."

  Thrilled and relieved, her smile likely showed her molars. "With lots of camping trips. Kiss me again."

  Jaime fisted her hair and held firm while his mouth ravaged hers. He kissed her with a drowning man's need for air. Cupping one breast, a thumb teased her nipple to a hard pebble then he took the other with his mouth. Sensations shot to her core, forcing her hips to ride his thigh. In a rush of need, dampness coated his skin. Her newly keen sense of smell detected her own essence.

  "Cristo, woman! You've tortured me since I first saw you from the trees."

  He nipped down the flat of her stomach to her feminine mound. With a distinct impatience, he pressed her knees to the sides and slid his hands under her bottom. Lifting her up, he buried his face against her most private flesh. His tongue sought between folds until he found her center, then lapped deep within.

  In reflex, Kelsi knotted her fingers in his black locks and pulled him to her. For an instant, she worried she might rip his hair out by the roots, but his only answer was to settle his tongue on her clit. Lips closed around her in a suckling kiss.

  Kelsi couldn't hold back the tiny thrusts against his face nor the cries she tried to muffle with her forearm. He pulled away from her, his
cheeks glistening with her arousal. "I want to hear your pleasure, anjo. Hide nothing from me."

  Never had a man taken such control in the bedroom. He pulled her arm from her face then secured her hands at her thighs. Returning to the center of her universe, his nips and suckles built a firestorm. Her hips moved frantically, urging him on. When she cried out at her impending climax, he slid a finger inside her. A low growl vibrated against her sensitized flesh. Startled, she looked down at him. Still human.

  Blue eyes, lit with amusement, gazed back over her neatly waxed curls. She whimpered again, and with an almost imperceptible nod, his eyes darkened. His tongue teased and tortured.

  Sensation poured through her, tiny contractions squeezed his fingers, and her legs closed tight around his shoulders. He milked every last quiver from her until she pushed him away in sated bliss.

  "You'll turn me into a nympho." She panted the words.

  He kissed her thighs, lifted and crawled up between her legs in the narrow cot. Seeing him above her reignited her arousal. Pausing, he pressed his thick, broad head against her entry. "I hope so."

  Kelsi pulled him to her to take his mouth once more. Her scent gave a sensual reminder of how he owned her body. "I want you, Jaime, now."

  He lifted to an elbow, fiery need in his gaze. He caressed her cheek, and his expression turned solemn. "We've marked each other. After we share our bodies, we'll belong to each other. Mated for life. Kelsi, meu anjo, tell me you want the same."

  She cupped his face in her hands. "I love you. I didn't know ‘til … almost too late. A thousand times, yes."

  Jaime lowered to her in a kiss she thought must be made of love. With a male growl, in one smooth stroke he filled her and held. She gasped. The delicious stretch bordered on pain. Stock still, he lifted above her with trembling arms.

  He lowered his mouth to her ear. "We're made for each other, anjo. My need for you is a tempest." His face contorted to what looked like agony. "Tell me when, but soon."

  Kelsi returned tentative thrusts. Jaime's groan matched his expression. As her body relaxed and her arousal rose, their gazes locked. Kelsi nodded. "I want all of you, now."

  Jaime pulled his hips back and sheathed himself to the hilt. "You're so tight as to make a man shame himself."

  She couldn't help a small smile. He held nothing back. Kelsi's hands moved up and down his muscular arms, like living granite under her touch. He stroked a rhythm inside her, smooth and easy. Need deep in her core rose and made it difficult to hold his focused gaze. She lifted her hips to his in silent permission to explode.

  "Kelsi. I'm for you. Only you." Jaime murmured in her ear.

  Without the trepidation caused by his earlier commitment, she reveled in his profession of love. Emotion overtook her. Tears puddled her eyes and slipped from the corners. "Us, together, Jaime. Always."

  His gaze filled with triumphant joy. He slid one arm under her hips, lifting her lower body off the bed. He braced himself with the other and drove into her with sheer force. He possessed her with a primal edge, his face lined with feral need.

  His hips slapped against her thighs, and his cock found deeper nerve bundles. The change in angle brought her to another climax. She cried out at the onslaught of her orgasm.

  Waves crashed over her, sending gooseflesh along her arms and tightening her nipples. At her peak, something happened deep inside her. Jaime became impossibly bigger. Pleasured pain tumbled her into a new climax amid the echoes of the first. A throaty howl of release left her, the sound bordering on a jaguar's scream.

  Jaime locked both hands on her buttocks and drove into her. "I'm sorry. This has never happened before."

  Kelsi wasn't sure what he meant, but it didn't matter. "Good, really good. Harder, now."

  He didn't appear to have control before, but with her urging, he renewed his taking with a vengeance. Another orgasm chased the heels of the first. She wrapped her legs around him until he roared his release in her ear. Human male laced with jaguar.

  He lowered her to the bed and collapsed on top of her. Hot breaths hissed against her neck. They lay coupled, neither willing to sever their connection. Finally, Jaime lifted up. Ridges along his cock stroked her insides as he pulled free. Cat spines! All male felines had penile spikes to stimulate the female to ovulate. Good Lord!

  Propping an elbow, Jaime rested on his side next to her. She glanced down as seams of flesh receded back into his manhood. At least they weren't true feline spines. Kelsi shuddered at the thought.

  Jaime grimaced. "They supposedly erupt only with a shifter mate. I'd thought them a myth. Forgive me."

  Kelsi only recalled the overwhelming pleasure he'd given her and his loss of control in the end. Her cheeks warmed. "As you said, we're made for each other."

  Jaime's eyes danced. "You're a hellcat after all, yes?"

  "More than I'd imagined." Kelsi laughed against his neck. Suddenly, life in the jungle looked exciting and adventurous.

  Chapter Eleven

  Even with her newfound love of the rainforest, Kelsi looked forward to cool comfort. After they cuddled, Jaime hid the dead to avoid unwanted attention. Their hired ride had waited as Jaime had promised.

  He led them into a respectable-sized clearing where a helicopter sat atop a deck of cut saplings. The pilot, dressed in casual shorts and polo shirt, leapt from his seat and rushed around the front of the machine.

  Jaime motioned for her to step onto the platform. "Your chariot, m’lady."

  Kelsi looked above to blue sky, a rare sight in the Amazon. She eyed the chopper with thoughts of tourist crash statistics. Not only did the bird appear well-maintained, it may have been a recent model.

  A familiar, stylized jaguar logo on the tail wrenched her attention. "Jaime, are you related to Salazar Holdings?"

  "It's my family's business."

  Her jaw dropped. He only grinned at her. SZH had funded the jaguar rescue facility in Costa Rica where she'd first seen his picture. The logo also had a home at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium as a key jaguar breeding program supporter. Satan, her three-legged favorite, had been an SZH donation.

  The conglomerate company took an almost vigilante stance against poachers. "So this is how you knew Erico!"

  "I knew of him, but was surprised he recognized me."

  "So if you own a helicopter, does this mean your apartment in Manaus might have air conditioning?"

  He laughed. "Yes, my condo is very twenty-first century—no snakes."

  The pilot stood next to Jaime and spoke in his ear. She'd been so shocked by Jaime's reveal, she'd ignored him.

  She extended her hand and used her modest Portuguese. "Hello, I'm Kelsi. Nice to…"

  The six-foot-two man stared at her with awe. He had Jaime's eyes cast in amber, misted with tears and bracketed by the tiniest crow's feet. Distinguished gray traveled the waves over his ears. The two men could've been brothers.

  The pilot accepted her hand with both of his like their minister did on Sundays.

  "Kelsi, you're an unexpected treasure. Welcome to the family. I'm Jaime's father, Cristiano Salazar, but call me Papai, I insist." His English was as crisp as Jaime's, again tinged with a British accent.

  Papai's heartfelt reception tightened her throat. She had so much to learn about Jaime. "You should have told me about your family."

  He appeared apologetic. "Wealth draws many people—and women seeking security. I needed you to want me. Not Salazar Holdings."

  "I want your jaguar. And the rockin’ treehouse. Sans snakes!"

  Papai lifted one corner of his mouth. Kelsi wondered if the two men practiced their expressions in the mirror to make them so succinctly similar.

  "Doesn't she know how tasty they are?"

  The End

  www.majewell.com

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com