by Kit Tunstall
Annette looked mollified. “Well, that’s better, and I forgive you, baby. It’s hard to accept one of those freaks could have found their way into our city. Detective, you will be keeping this speculation under wraps, I assume?”
Okay, so maybe she would disrespect the mayor and start that war after all.
Liddy had grown up listening to her mama persecute others for being different. She should have been prepared to hear her call shifters freaks. It wasn’t even the first time. She wasn’t prepared, and it riled her temper to the breaking point.
“I wasn’t apologizing to you,” she bit through her teeth. “I was saying I’m sorry that the bulk of this city is so damned narrow-minded.” She started toward the large coolers that held ground meat and small animal carcasses. “Thanks for stopping by, Detective, Mama,” she said without turning back. “Now I need to work. Of course, you’re welcome to stay and help me feed the lions.”
The idea of feeding the detective to them held too much appeal to not smile over. As for Mama…well, she was family. Maybe she’d just let the cats nibble on her a bit.
*
Liddy stood up for him.
Not for him alone, Kevin acknowledged as Annette Freeman swept out of the first heated building followed by the cop who’d been giving Liddy trouble the past few months, but for shifters as a whole. Did that mean they could have a chance?
Hell, he shouldn’t even be considering it after last night.
He’d wanted Sierra to know how beautiful she was, how special, how she appealed to him on a level no other female did. He’d been doing a good job of it, up until the moment he’d come into her while growling Liddy’s name.
The lioness had taken off nearly the moment he’d pulled out of her. She’d claimed it was late and she had to work early, but he’d known the truth of the matter. He’d hurt her. He felt guilty over it and yet not nearly as guilty as he should.
Not half as guilty as what he felt when he stepped into the building and spotted Liddy stalking to one of the lions’ enclosures, a container of meat in her hands. Even as culpability weighed on his shoulders his body responded to her, his cock hardening and his blood thundering between his ears. Having Sierra last night did nothing to curb his hunger for Liddy, if anything it made it that much more acute.
Damn it.
“Morning,” Kevin said.
She stopped filling the lions’ feed bin and swiveled around. Loathing flashed over her features and then was quickly replaced by another emotion, one just short of happiness. As a matter of trust, he never ventured into Liddy’s thoughts. But now he was tempted. He had heard much of her conversation with the cop and her mother, but not enough to understand the extent of her fury.
“I take it the detective wasn’t just making a social call?” he asked.
She finished filling the bin, then stepped out of the enclosure and ensured the electricity that ran through the fencing was turned back on before responding. “He just confirmed what I’d already guessed. I shouldn’t be so upset over it.”
“But?”
She sighed loudly. “Mama.”
She looked beyond upset, moving into severely hurt terrain. He crossed to her, but knew better than to reach out and offer his shoulder. Instead, he gave her a reassuring smile. Annoyance aimed at her mother knotted his gut when she didn’t return the smile. What had Annette said to her that he’d missed?
Kevin broke his own rule and searched Liddy’s mind for the answer. Only Liddy’s mind wasn’t open to him.
He frowned. It wasn’t unheard of for a human to be able to block their thoughts from a shifter, but it was rare. That Liddy was strong enough to do so built his appreciation of her all that much more. “I’m sorry. As you know my father died several years ago and I rarely see my own mother, so I can’t imagine how you must feel.”
Her smile came now, weak and still able to snag the breath in his throat, while making his fingers itch to touch her. Hell, not just touch. To take her into his arms and make her his. “Thank you,” she said softly.
“For what?”
“Not trying to pretend you know what it feels like. You’re a wonderful friend.”
The claim was like a physical blow. His gut knotted further. Hatred for his own desires swamped him. It was no wonder Liddy had backed away from his kiss yesterday. She wanted nothing from him but friendship. The chemistry he always sensed between them had to be one-sided.
Kevin could handle that. Was glad for it in fact, at least logically—they were too different for a lasting relationship that went beyond friendship. Then there was the fact not opening himself up to Liddy meant not risking his identity being discovered by anyone else in Hanover. Yes, keeping their relationship on a friendly level was a good thing.
He pushed an easy grin into place, even as his body rebelled at the thought. “Also a great listener, I’ve been told. Care to talk about it?”
She looked uncertain for a moment, then glanced around them. She looked back and nodded. “Just let me finish feeding the animals.”
Ten minutes later, Liddy settled onto a stool on one side of the low counter that held her medicinal supplies. He took a seat opposite her.
She sorted pills as she spoke. “It turns out a shifter is behind the attacks, the way I’ve always believed.”
The calm that had come over Kevin as he watched her work was replaced by dread. He nearly snapped out the need to know more before he could gather his senses. He had to look like he was merely curious, not that the safety of his pride might hinge on her response. “What makes them think that?”
“They were able to get DNA off the last victim.”
Shit. “Were they able to match it to anyone?”
“Not by the sound of things.” Liddy secured another handful of pills. “Detective Riggs said since no one’s coming forward, they’d have to find another way to catch this thing.” Her hand shook as she upended it over a small plastic cup.
She looked up at him. Her eyes had always been soulful in the past, now they held rage. Gathering the cup in her hand, she squeezed until her brown knuckles shone with whiteness. “That’s what he said,” she snarled. “Thing. Like a shifter is a fucking object or something. And my mama, she’s worse. She called them freaks. Shifters are not freaks!”
It wasn’t just her hand shaking now, but her entire body. Her lips were pressed tight and she looked capable of vibrating off the stool with her anger.
No longer fearing what might happen if he touched her, Kevin reached across the counter and covered her fisted hand with his. Heat radiated from her skin, shot up his arm and fired his blood with awareness.
The hardness of his body had retreated since learning she wasn’t attracted to him. The way the temper in her eyes sizzled to passion, the way she blinked at him, the way her tongue slipped out of her mouth to swipe along her lips… It all suggested she wasn’t immune to his touch. It suggested she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. And it had his cock stirring back to life and right into painful hardness.
“You know one?” he asked, wary of the roughness of his voice.
Liddy didn’t break eye contact or attempt to pull her hand back. “I’ve met them before, and they’re just like anyone else with a few extra abilities. They have feelings, hopes. Desires,” she added in a sultry voice. Her lips curved into the inviting smile he adored, and for a moment they sat in silence, staring at each other. Then she continued, “Most of them have jobs and even families. And I hate to be the one to break it to Mama, but they do live in Hanover.”
Kevin nearly let go of her hand with the shock of her words. She knew his kind lived among the residents of this city. How? “I know,” he ventured.
She looked as stunned as he felt. “You do?”
“Yes. I’ve met them before, as well. I know several who live in the city.”
“Why didn’t you say something before?”
“I wasn’t sure how you would respond,” he admitted, still uncertain of how she wou
ld respond if she learned he not only knew shifters, but was one himself.
Would she fear him, or would she embrace the truth?
His heart squeezed with hope for the latter. Maybe it was a foolish thought to even entertain, but if there was a chance… “I could ask the same of you.”
“I guess I kept quiet for the same reason.” Liddy’s fist uncurled beneath his. She turned her hand until her palm connected with his. It wasn’t soft, but the hand of a woman who wasn’t afraid of hard work.
Either that, or one who spent a lot of time on her hands and knees.
Heat splintered through him with the visual that formed in his mind. Liddy naked on the floor before him, her curvy ass in his face, her thighs splayed wide to expose the rear of her pussy and the nest of black curls that covered her mound.
Sliding into her would be a lesson in control. Feeling her wetness, her warmth around him, milking his cock would surely drive him insane. Kevin’s shaft gave an impatient twitch, while his balls drew tightly to his body.
Fuck, he wanted to be there now, buried deeply inside her pussy, listening to her full, sweet mouth crying his name. Hearing her growl as she came.
Women didn’t growl, females did.
Fine then, she could moan or scream. He could live without her growling if doing so meant having the lovely Liddy in his life, his arms. His bed.
He focused on her face, determined to do something about this heat between them. Now that he knew where she stood on the shifter front, it wouldn’t be such a grand wager to ask her out. If she learned the truth about him and couldn’t handle it…well, hell, he’d deal with the consequences if and when it happened.
He didn’t believe she would turn him down, not after seeing the want that burned in her eyes with a simple touch. Still his heart pounded madly as he said, “If I asked you out, what would you say?”
The smile fell from Liddy’s lips. She blinked at him. Several Times. Fast. The blinking stopped and she looked at their joined hands, then back at him. Emotions swam through her eyes. Emotions that like her thoughts, he couldn’t read.
Seconds passed. Nearly a full minute. His heart felt ready to beat from his chest.
Her mouth parted, her tongue slipped out. Licked over her lips, slowly. Sweetly. God, he wanted that tongue on his body. Wanted it up against his own.
Kevin rarely exerted his dominance, on women or lionesses. This time he couldn’t stop himself. This time it seemed action was exactly what was needed. He rose to his feet and tugged Liddy to hers. Watched the emotions play through her eyes as he leaned across the counter. Worry. Anticipation. Fear. Relief.
He could read them all now. And every one of them tuned his body into hers all that much more. He could scent her arousal. See her desire. And then taste her want, as their lips met. Hers were wet from her tongue and soft as a dream. They tasted not of the lip gloss he’d imagined, but rather…familiar. Maybe nothing more than the sensation of coming home. Or maybe, as he’d thought of Sierra’s eyes last night, it was a taste of his future.
Both Liddy and Sierra could not be his future.
Anger surged through him with the thought. He ceased the brushing of his mouth and stabbed his tongue deep. The throaty moan against his mouth wasn’t one of fear, but of urgency. Her tongue moved against his, wet and rough and needful. Her fingers untwined from his, her hands moving to his chest. Pushing his own into her long dark hair, he gripped the thick curly length. Her hands slid beneath the open sides of his jacket, her nails pressing through his dress shirt. He’d never noticed if they were long, but he felt them now, long and sharp and biting into his flesh, bringing pleasure just this side of pain.
She was wild, wanton. His need for her was fierce. He had to have her now.
“I hate to admit it, but it looks like I’m gonna need a jump.”
Liddy broke from his arms with a gasp at the sound of the detective’s voice. Cursing under his breath, Kevin stepped back and stood on the side of the counter opposite her. Passion darkened her eyes to near black, flushed her stunning face, and had the breath leaving her lips in hot little pants. They were sexy as hell and he wanted to swallow them with his mouth. Instead, he turned to the cop.
“I have jumper cables in the back of my truck.” He started toward the door, then glanced back at Liddy and grinned. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to finish the conversation.”
*
Kevin returned inside ten minutes later. Liddy’s heart was still racing, her panties wet, her nipples aching points and the need to feel him inside her wild in her blood.
She’d gone without sex for months at a time. Considering she’d just had it last night with someone far more ideal for her than Kevin, her pussy shouldn’t be tingling with the need for it now. But it was, and she wanted him so badly it bordered on pain.
She should say no to his date offer. There were too many consequences that could come from it, not the least of which was a family feud with Mama. Only she wanted to say yes. No, she wanted to scream yes, preferably when she was fucking his gorgeous body.
Oh boy. How had things reached this point so quickly after months of denying herself the urge to so much as touch him?
The question was forgotten the moment Liddy noticed the streak of red on the side of Kevin’s hand. Her senses attuned to the blood and his possible pain in turn.
Concentrating on the latter, she rushed to him. “Are you hurt?”
“Nothing a Band-Aid or two won’t cure.” He held his hand out for her inspection. A jagged scratch ran the length of his palm. Not deep, just bleeding a good deal. “The detective dropped the hood before I was ready. Luckily I pulled my hand out in time and only managed to cut it on the latch.”
“Luckily,” Liddy returned, disdain for the detective making her irritable. She’d only been joking about feeding him to the lions, but the idea held some real appeal.
The rich metallic scent of Kevin’s blood took over her thoughts then. Her nostrils flared, her tongue ached. They had to get the wound covered. She took his good hand and warmth shot from their joined fingers directly to her womb. Her pussy pulsed. She was still so wet for him. Wetter with this simple touch.
First things first.
She guided him to the low counter and instructed him to sit down on the stool he’d occupied before kissing her. Memories of that kiss, of how desperate he’d made her feel clouded Liddy’s thought as she pushed vitamin containers aside. She settled his hand on the empty space. Her tongue swelled with the sight of his blood. Her pulse sped. She was back to desperate, this time in a completely different way.
She hurried to grab the first-aid kit that was mounted in each of the large heated buildings for precaution’s sake. With shaking hands, she pulled out antiseptic and a large, square Band-Aid. Kevin’s hand needed to be bathed before she could apply the antiseptic. There was a sink less than four feet away. But her tongue was so close and his blood smelled so good, warm. Enticing.
Unable to take her eyes from the oozing red liquid, she lifted his hand to her mouth. Just a kiss. The kind Mama had given her boo-boos when she’d been a little girl. She brushed her mouth across his palm, telling herself she’d leave it at that. Kevin’s grunt wouldn’t allow it. The guttural sound reached deep down inside her, stoked her hunger, her natural need. The side of her she denied to all but a few.
The first taste of his blood was exquisite, like nothing she’d ever experienced, like nothing she could ever have imagined. With the second lap, raw energy soared through her body, deep into her veins. Her breasts felt heavy, her nipples hard peaks. She licked fervently, urgently, stunned by the way it affected her. It was more than a hunger, it was a want, a lust. Her pussy felt aflame, wetter with each lap.
Was it possible to come from licking someone’s blood? There was so much about herself she didn’t know. So much no one had ever told her. So much she thought she could live without. Only now it seemed she had been wrong.
“Liddy?”
Kevin
spoke her name roughly, and when she lifted her eyes to his, she saw his want for her clear. She also saw his confusion.
She was confused herself, but knew better than to let it show. Lowering his hand, she applied the antiseptic and Band-Aid, explaining in a voice that only trembled slightly, “I, uh, thought it might help. Mama used to kiss my hurts.”
He should have asked more. She would have. Instead, he said, “It did,” and reached to her face with his good hand, stroked her cheek. “Your saying yes about going out with me would help even more.”
His touch was so good, so lulling Liddy could simply purr over it. “Mama will never let me hear the end of it. I mean, not because she doesn’t like you but because…well, I’m me and you’re you. We don’t exactly match.”
Amusement lit Kevin’s blue eyes, turned them dark as night. He chuckled deeply, then quickly sobered. “If it bothers you that much, tell me no. I’ll understand.”
“No.”
Disappointment flashed through his eyes and he pulled his hand back. Liddy mourned the loss even as she realized how he’d taken her answer. “I meant no,” she clarified, “that I don’t want to say no to you. I want to go out with you. Mama’s mama. Very set in her ways. The important thing is that she loves me and respects my decisions. One date isn’t going to change that.”
At least, nothing more than consuming his blood like a feral animal had.
Chapter Three
One date, Liddy had said, but Kevin had every intention to see this first date led to many more. Especially after today. After the way she’d licked his wound.
His cock hardened with the memory of her hot, wet tongue on his hand and the sultry look in her eyes as she lapped at his blood. Hell, he’d been ready to pounce across the counter and claim her as his with the first lick.
He was still ready to claim her as his, lioness or no.
Kevin didn’t want to speculate on Liddy’s behavior meaning she was one of his kind. But cleansing his wound with her mouth wasn’t something a normal woman would do. The ability to keep her thoughts from him was potentially something a normal woman could do, but the odds were slim.