A Cougar's Kiss (Shadow Shifters Rebellion Book 2)

by A. C. Arthur

  “I came into that room to tell you that I wanted you. Not to overhear Cole Linden giving you a message. But now that both those things have occurred, my follow-up question is what happens next?”

  This was not happening. This cat was not daring him to take her. She was not telling him that she wouldn’t back down from asking questions about the comatose shifter. And he was not getting ready to do what the cougar inside was insisting he do.

  “Permission.”

  The word tumbled free from his clenched teeth as his cat’s urges strained against his human’s rules. Every inch of his body was hard with lust and power brimming at the surface. His teeth sharpened, mouth watered as the heady scent of her arousal permeated his senses.

  “Yes,” she whispered and as if he needed further inspiration, raised her hands to press against his chest before slowly sliding up and around his neck.

  “Fuck!”

  His hands were on her waist, lifting her and sitting her on the conference table. She spread her legs as he leaned her back.

  “Yes.”

  His lips peeled back, a guttural growl ripping free just before they found hers in a savage kiss. There was no preamble here, no slow and romantic start to the first kiss, just teeth and tongues, dueling, tussling, and moving at a pace that matched the beat of their hearts and the lust of their cats. Her short nails scraped the bare skin of his neck as she held the back of his head and lifted her legs to wrap around his waist. He leaned over the table until her back was flat, tilting his head to take the kiss deeper. There was a loud thumping sound in his head, either her heartbeat or his, it was so loud and so alluring he could only focus on the sound, not who it belonged to. The scent of her arousal wafted up between them and he inhaled deeply as she sucked his tongue into her mouth.

  He moved his hands up, yanking at the shirt she wore, pushing it up until he needed to break their kiss and her hold on him to get it off. She obliged his efforts by pulling away and lifting her arms over her head. The shirt was off in seconds and he saw that she wore no bra. Another growl escaped, and then one taut nipple was between his sharp teeth.

  “Oh yes!”

  Was she startled or just excited? Was it good or nah?

  Her hand slapped against the back of his head again, holding him tight in that position. That definitely meant good.

  She was feeding him and he was taking, sucking her breast like a starving child. He touched her other breast, kneading it as he sucked its twin deep into his mouth. Fireworks exploded inside of him, sparks of heated desire pelting his skin until he was certain he would simply melt with the fierce heat of this growing passion.

  “This is what I wanted.” She gasped between words, pressing her breast further into his mouth, if that were even possible. “It’s exactly what I came for.”

  He tore his mouth away from her. “Then it’s exactly what you’re going to get.”

  His hands were on the button of her pants, ripping the zipper so that he could push them down her legs. When she lifted from the table to help rid herself of the pants and her underwear, Keller stepped back and undid his pants so the pounding erection could spring free. Her gaze dropped to his length and he gripped it in his hands, stroking from the base to the tip while she watched.

  “You sure this is what you want?” His throat felt scratchy, blood pulsing quick and hot through his veins. “There’s no going back.”

  The words sounded ominous but that’s what he wanted. He needed her to be skeptical, unsure, possibly even afraid, that way she would say no and he could step back and go on about his business.

  She lifted her gaze to meet his and slowly leaned back onto the table, propping herself up on her elbows before spreading her legs. “I’m sure you’re what I want.”

  Fuck! This time the word ricocheted in his mind because he knew in the second she’d said those words that this was going to go downhill fast.

  He stepped between her legs once more, lifting them up until her feet were flat on the table.

  “Then it’s what you’re gonna get,” he growled the words out and pressed the thick tip of his dick to the waiting haven of her pussy.

  She let her head fall back and moaned. “Just do it, Keller. Please, just do it!”

  He did. Letting those words float in the air, he closed his eyes and pushed inside of her. The cat stretched and roared as the man grit his teeth and cursed. He felt strangled, warm and cocooned. She was so tight, so damn tight as her coated walls stretched to accommodate him. His eyes popped open and he glared down to see her mouth was gaped open, eyes closed, nails scraping the lacquer-top table.

  “This is your first time!” It was a statement, not a question because he knew and he hated that he hadn’t realized before.

  “Just do it, Keller. Please, just don’t stop. Don’t.”

  She opened her eyes and looked at him, undulating her hips to force him to move. “This is what I want. And it feels so good, doesn’t it? Don’t we feel good together?”

  Again, no lies detected.

  But he didn’t have to verbally co-sign what he knew was madness. Instead he pulled back slowly, watching her eyes widen, her mouth prepared to ask him to keep going again, and then he sank back inside the hottest, tightest, cove he’d ever been inside before. Thrusting quickly, in and out of her, Keller closed his eyes and let the lust take over. He grasped her ankles, lifting her legs into the air and spreading them into a wide V.

  She moaned with his movements, called his name, said some other words, he didn’t know, didn’t care. He just wasn’t going to stop, not until the end. She was so slick and hot, pleasure rippling through his veins like a chain reaction. Her breasts bobbed with his motions, perfect mounds with deliciously dark nipples that were a deep contrast to the light tawny tone of her skin. A gorgeous contrast that matched the darkness of her hair and the luminescence of her eyes. The body he’d noted before as slim and tight was so much more as he pushed her legs back until her ass lifted from the table and he could stare down to see himself sinking deep inside of her.

  His shoulders bunched under the intense pleasure of watching their bodies join, her essence coating his dick, her core sucking him deep inside again and again. Letting one leg slip down to rest on the table he held the other high and tilted his hips so that he was diving deeper into her from a side angle.

  “You!” It was the only word he could speak as pleasure gripped his throat and threatened to strangle him. She was so open to him, welcoming him, taking everything he was giving even though she was inexperienced. He wanted more, needed so much more.

  He pulled out and rolled her over onto her knees. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he pulled her delectable ass back toward him and let his dick find its way home, slipping through her crease until he was once again easing inside of her.

  “Hold on,” he growled and clasped her hips before thrusting into her again.

  She flattened her palms on the top of the table and dipped her back like the flexible cat she was. Keller pounded into her with all the frustration and pent up desire he’d been storing for the last three months. The sound of their bodies colliding was loud and intoxicating. The low mewl of her cat was melodic and drove him harder, faster.

  “You want it, you got it,” he snapped. “All of it, Ms. Shya! You get all of it!”

  Her head dropped and then lifted as she turned to look at him over her shoulder with full cat eyes. Her body tensed and she purred while her release ripped through her. The sight of her in the throes of pleasure, the feel of her walls strangling his dick left him no choice, he came. In fierce hot and powerful thrusts, his release burst free. When he thought his chest would explode with the intensity of his thrusts and release, Keller stopped moving. He gripped her hips so tight his blunt-tipped nails pressed into her skin. Thoroughly ensconced in her he could barely breathe but he didn’t dare move. It felt too good, too right.

  In response to her question, yes, he did like how they felt together.

 
He shouldn’t have, but he did.

  And when she wiggled her ass back against him, he wanted to spank her, to rest the palm of his hand on the beautifully curved globe again and again. Because she needed to be punished. She needed to know that this was wrong. It was a mistake. And it wasn’t over. Dammit, this wasn’t over, not by a longshot.

  Chapter 3

  She’d done it. Hot damn she’d had sex with Keller Cross, the badass, sexiest cougar she’d ever seen! And it had been deliciously hot and sexy, just like she’d read about in all those books. Her body still hummed with the pleasure even though her thighs and knees were a little sore. Shya didn’t care, she’d had Keller and she wanted him again and again.

  Unfortunately, he felt a little differently.

  “Go to bed, Ms. Shya. Forget this ever happened.”

  His voice was gruff as he dropped her off at the door to her bedroom like he was delivering a package.

  “You don’t tell me what to do, or what to forget.” Of course, that would have held much more weight if she didn’t still sound breathy with desire, but she hadn’t known how good the sex would be so figuring out how to act normally afterward was a little difficult.

  “This is not a game.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not, so you can stop acting like you’re the only one who knows how to play.”

  “You have no idea how to play this game. You’ve been nowhere but here, sheltered and pampered by your parents and everyone else in this forsaken place. So, you can stop the bravado!”

  “And you can stop the martyr act. So, what I was a virgin, big deal! It’s done now and I wanted it. You wanted it. We did it. Let’s move on.”

  “That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all night. Let’s move on.”

  He turned to walk away and Shya decided to let him. She wanted a shower and to lay across her bed and think about everything that had just happened. Keller’s kiss, the sex and the fact that Cole Linden was up and talking.

  She peeled her shirt off and tossed it into the hamper before heading to the bathroom. Her room was slightly larger than the others, but each bedroom had a private bathroom and a mini kitchen. Minutes after being left alone Shya walked into the shower, closed the glass door behind her and turned on the water. Tilting her head back she let the spray of warm water splatter over her face and down her neck. It felt good, but Keller’s hands on her had felt much better.

  There’d been no doubt in her mind that he was strong, she’d watched him workout plenty of times and therefore knew exactly how his body looked. All except for the area she’d just seen tonight. The strong shoulders, sculpted abs and great ass while outfitted in thin basketball shorts were nothing compared to how perfectly appetizing—wait, could she say that? Could she classify a dick as appetizing?

  Grinning, she reached for the bottle of soap and poured it into her hand. Yeah, that was definitely the right word to describe Keller Cross’s most delectable body part. Shya ran the soap over her body and rinsed. In the next few minutes she washed and rinsed her hair and then stepped out grabbing two towels, one she wrapped around her head and the other to dry her body. By the time she left the bathroom and had slipped into a nightgown before sitting on the side of her bed, her shoulders had begun to ache. Then her knees and ankles. The smile that had ghosted her face since she stepped into the room was gone, replaced by the thin set of her lips.

  I can’t even have this. Not one night.

  When the pain only persisted, she gave in and reached over to her nightstand to grab the royal blue pouch that was always there. She had another one that she carried with her and there were two in a vault in the medical center and one in her parents’ suite. No chances were to ever be taken with her health. Yanking the gold strings that held the pouch closed tightly, she removed one of the frosted orbs and placed it over the inside of her wrist. Closing her eyes, she waited while the orb heated with her body temperature. Inside of it, the white swirls which made it look like a marble paperweight or any other normal trinket, began to move like billows of smoke. Shya didn’t look down at the orb now, she’d seen it so many times before, knew that it would continue to heat, those swirls moving around until they resembled a sky darkening with an impending storm. That’s when the medicine would begin to seep into her skin, slipping in medicinal herb-infused tendrils that would travel throughout her bloodstream.

  Her muscles relaxed, the pain still throbbing but now receptive to the treatment it knew was on its way. She inhaled deeply trying not to think of how each time she needed to do this, another part of her died. This little orb had been designed to continue her life, not deplete it and yet Shya knew that was no longer the case. Each time she had to use it she felt a little more of the life that everyone had thanked the heavens had been spared, slip away. It had been like this for the last year. Nobody knew. Not even Nisa.

  Shya hated being sick. And she despised the way everyone she knew treated her like she was sick. Everyone except Keller. He hadn’t handled her delicately and he hadn’t told her that he couldn’t have sex with her because she might scream out in pain or collapse on the floor. No, he’d taken her with all the strength and hunger she’d expected from him. He’d given her a climax unlike any she’d ever brought on herself. And she wanted that again.

  Unfortunately, Shya knew what it felt like to not get what she wanted. With that in mind she leaned over and picked up her phone, dialing Nisa’s number. Houston was an hour behind Washington D.C. where Headquarters was located but Nisa had told her when she moved that whenever Shya called, she would answer.

  “Hey,” Nisa answered on the third ring.

  “I did it.” She sighed after that admission. “We did it. But I think he hates me.”

  There was only a momentary pause and then some noise as if Nisa were moving with the phone. “You told him?”

  “Yeah. That was your advice wasn’t it?”

  “It was, but I wasn’t sure you were really gonna do it.”

  “Of course, I did. You’re not the only one bold enough to go after what you want.”

  “I know that, Shy. Okay, tell me everything.”

  And she did because that’s what Shya and Nisa had done all their lives. Growing up there were plenty of Shadows living in Oasis their age, so much so they had their own school in each zone. Even among the leadership there were other kids, Bas and Priya had a son, Haven, who visited often. Eli and Nivea also had a son named Camryn. The four of them had a special bond since a lot of the other Shadows their age felt differently about them because their parents were Assembly leadership. But Nisa and Shya, the girls, were as close as sisters, or at least they had been.

  “That doesn’t sound like he hates you,” Nisa told her.

  “He said he’s not looking for a joining and that he’s nothing like Decan.”

  “Which is probably a good thing because Decan can be a handful at times. Listen, just go slow you never know how things will turn out.”

  “Well, I’m not looking for a joining anyway. I just needed to for once go for what I wanted and to actually get it.”

  “And now that you have?”

  “I can get on with my life.” Whatever that was. She didn’t tell Nisa that part. There was a limit to how pathetic Shya was willing to seem to Nisa who even though they were close, had always been the strong and smart one of their duo. Shya was the sensitive and compassionate one. The one everybody liked to pet on the head like she was some type of cherished toy. Nisa was the fighter and the inventor, she was taught to be everything her parents were and more. While Shya had been coddled and spoiled, protected and made into the weakest link.

  “You know I never thought a joining should be the only goal for anybody,” Nisa said.

  Shya nodded as if her friend could actually see her. “I know. It’s silly. I can have so much more than just a joining out of life. I mean, if or when that time comes, it’ll be cool. But for right now, I’m not pressed about it. Actually, I’m working on something else.”


  “Oh really, are you writing something?”

  Nisa knew how much Shya loved to write. She could blame that on all the reading she’d done. At some point she’d decided to try her hand at writing stories herself instead of waiting for the shipment of books to arrive from above ground every month.

  “Yeah but I’m not ready to talk about it yet and certainly not at this time of night. I shouldn’t have called, this could have waited until morning.”

  “Nonsense, I told you whenever you wanted to talk you could call and I meant it. And I’m ready to read whatever you’ve written as soon as you’re finished. Just because I’m in another zone doesn’t mean our relationship changes.”

  Nisa had told Shya that often in the three months that she’d been gone. So much so that Shya had begun to feel like an insolent child.

  “I’m good, really. I didn’t mean to disturb you and Decan.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, he’s meeting with the STT teams.”

  “At this time of night? And you’re not in those meetings with him?”

  “No. I saw his notes on what he planned to discuss this morning, plus I had a meeting with a few of my top guards tonight.”

  “Really? What’s going on? Another mission?”

  Nisa paused and Shya frowned. Their friendship might not have changed since Nisa had moved away, but what the new Lead Enforcer was willing to tell her about missions and next moves for the Shadows had certainly diminished. Shya frowned but she didn’t push. If she wanted information she could find it herself. She’d been doing just that for the last few weeks, under the pretense of working on her book, she’d been able to pump a few guards and even her Uncle X for some information. That’s how she’d come across the file with all the security codes for the rooms at Headquarters, which had proved very valuable.