by Bianca D’Arc
“What happened to her?” The question was quiet, testing, as if she was afraid to ask. It was also respectful, which Bob appreciated. He hadn’t talked much about his mother since her death. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to put his pain into words.
“She was murdered in her own garden by two mages with Venifucus ties. They partially skinned her.” He let that statement stand and he could feel the horror of Serena’s reaction. That sort of defilement was one of the worst things that could happen to a shifter. Taking a part of a shifter’s pelt, it was believed, prevented the spirit from passing easily from this world to the next.
“But you caught them, right? You brought them to justice?”
“There was a male and a female. The male was captured first and his magic drained. He’s not much more than a shell now and remains under guard. My cougar still wants to taste his blood, but he’s been useful for the information he can provide about the enemy. He’s told us a lot about the Venifucus, though not easily. Some of our best interrogators have been working on him for a while now. He’s just smart enough to hold some information in reserve because when he’s told us everything he knows, there’s little reason to keep him alive—and a lot of reasons to tear him to shreds.”
He watched Serena’s face carefully and knew she understood the savage need of the cat to claw and rend its enemy. She seemed to accept his bloodthirsty statement without passing judgment.
“Were you able to make her spirit whole?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah. We finally cornered the female magic user who had possession of my mother’s fur and retrieved it. The sorceress was killed in the chase. She either jumped, or perhaps fell, down an open elevator shaft. We’re still not sure which. Maybe she didn’t know it was there. Or maybe she didn’t want to be taken alive. I guess we’ll never know.” Bob thought about that for a moment. Either way, he was glad the evil woman was dead. “Our priestess found my mother’s pelt in a bag the woman was carrying and reunited it with my mother’s body. We were able to hold a ceremony for her and see her off to the next realm. I think that was probably the saddest day of my life.”
Serena surprised him by moving closer until she was right next to him. She put her arms around his waist and snuggled into him, resting her head on his shoulder and hugging him. She felt so good there, nestled against him. He put his arms around her and hugged her back, liking the way she offered comfort.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, her words muffled against his shirt. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent. The pain never quite goes away, does it?”
Bob rubbed her back with one hand, offering what comfort he could in return. “No, it doesn’t. I had my brothers, of course, and little Belinda was so traumatized. We all tried to help her but eventually Grif just packed her up and went to a cabin he owns in Wyoming. He thought the change of scene would be good for her, and it was. Though we never thought he’d meet his mate up there. Lindsey has been better for him—and for Belinda—than I ever would have guessed. Finding his mate has brought him a measure of peace. I see it in him and I’m both happy, and a bit envious. Lindsey is his true mate and she is Goddess-touched.”
“Sounds like quite a woman.”
“She is. She’s becoming a true matriarch to the Clan. Not exactly the way my mother was, but Lindsey is forging her own path. I’m glad Grif found her. For his sake and for Belinda’s. My little sister is slowly coming out of her grief and blossoming into the girl she once was.”
“I like the way you speak about your family,” Serena observed, still clinging to him. “I can tell you care deeply for them.”
“That’s the way it should be for our people. What happened to you, Serena, is not normal. Most Clans care for orphans. They foster them with loving families. Your adoptive parents should be shot.”
She reached up and placed one finger over his lips, meeting his gaze. Time froze for a moment.
“It’s over now,” she said finally, her simple words belying the fire that started in the depths of her eyes as she looked at her finger, resting over his lips.
Her little tongue peeked out and licked her lips and a moment later, they were both moving toward each other, their mouths meeting in the middle. It was a kiss of little finesse but a whole lot of fire. It was unexpected and powerful, and Bob had to catch his breath as his heart went from zero to sixty in no time flat.
Whether he kissed her or she kissed him, he didn’t really know. He just knew they were joined at the mouth, their bodies pressing closer and need blossoming between them in an eruption of fire he never could have predicted. Serena was a wildcat in his arms, taking as much as she gave, driving him into a near-frenzy of need.
Passion drove him, making his skin hot, his blood coursing through his veins at rapid speed. He tried to read her responses, unsure if she was on the same page as him. He wanted to take this all the way, but he didn’t want to rush her.
“Kitten,” he gasped, moving his mouth away from hers, although she tried to follow. “Are you sure about this? Do you want this?”
“I want you.” Her gaze met his and the molten fire in her eyes told him what he needed to know, even as her words confirmed it. “I need to feel whole. I need you, Bob.” She reached up to nibble on his jaw. “I want to know what it’s like in human form and I choose you to show me. Is that clear enough?”
She backed up to lift her shirt up over her shoulders and off, tossing it on the rock behind her. She was bare beneath, the little vixen. It looked like she’d been planning seduction all along when she invited him on this little picnic. Bob grinned.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Her voice shook even as it challenged him. He prowled closer to her, a growl of pure joy sounding in his throat as she bent backward, reclining on the flat stone under him. Yielding. Waiting for him to claim her.
Oh, yeah.
“Picnic, my ass,” he teased in a low, rumbling tone that he couldn’t quite control. She brought out the playful side of his beast. “You brought me up here to seduce me, didn’t you, kitten?”
“Is it working?” She smiled up at him and he could only shake his head in wonder at this new side of her. Far from a shrinking violet, he began to learn that when Serena knew what she wanted, she went after it with both hands.
He lowered his body over her, allowing her to feel the hard length of him against her softness. There was fabric separating them, but he knew she could feel the evidence of his desire when she gasped and her eyes widened.
“Feels like it’s working to me,” he answered back in the same spirit of playfulness. “How does that feel to you?”
Her head tilted coquettishly. “It feels…intriguing,” she answered. “But I think I need to know a bit more before I can make a final decision.”
Bob growled as he bent down to lick her neck, nipping, then laving the small hurt with his tongue. The cat inside him liked to bite, but she didn’t seem to mind, and the biting wasn’t about pain, but about shared pleasure. He didn’t want to hurt her. He never wanted to hurt her. Far from it.
“That can be arranged,” he whispered against her skin, as he moved one hand to the button on his trousers, releasing it. Her little hands were pushing at his shirt, moving it up so her fingers could glide over the muscles of his abdomen. He wasn’t ticklish, but his response to her touch made him growl again as the cat inside him enjoyed her petting.
He lifted up so she could push the bunched up shirt over his shoulders and off completely. Then he set to work on the floaty, gypsy-type skirt she was wearing. He soon discovered it had an elastic waist. He pushed it down over her hips and was pleasantly shocked to learn that she wasn’t wearing any panties.
Sweet Mother of All.
She’d definitely come prepared to seduce. She’d gone commando and he hadn’t even realized it. He had thought it would take a lot longer and a lot more effort to get her to this point, but he hadn’t counted on her taking the lead. Damn. The more he got to know her, the more he
liked her.
She’d surprised him. And challenged him. He found he really enjoyed that. Bob couldn’t really remember a time when another woman had so completely captured his full attention so effortlessly. That she had planned to seduce him tickled his sense of adventure.
All along, Rocky had been warning Bob how fragile she was, but here Serena was, proving him and everyone else wrong. She might still have sore spots—and who wouldn’t with her background and recent history? But she was more than her past. She was more than the experiences that had led her here.
She was overcoming the problems of her past and grabbing hold of her future—shaping it in the image she wanted. It seemed that being with Bob was part of that and who was he to argue? It’s what he wanted too.
That she was confident enough to reach out for him meant a lot. It meant that she had thought this all through and deliberately set out to be with him tonight. He would have to wait and see if it led to more private time with the woman who was fast becoming an obsession, but he would do everything in his power to have her in his arms as often as she allowed it.
Now it was his job to convince her. Knowing she had no experience with sex in her human form didn’t help. He felt both honored and anxious that she had given him the task of introducing her to fucking as a human.
One thing he didn’t have to worry about was hurting her with his entry. She had told him she’d had sex in her fur during her frenzy. So that part was taken care of. You could only lose your virginity once, thank the Goddess.
But there was still quite a burden on his shoulders—a delightful burden, but a burden nonetheless. He had to make this so good for her that she would want to do it again. And again. And again. With him, and only with him.
He was feeling really possessive of her already and he hadn’t done much more than kiss her. He liked kissing her, so he did it again. He climbed up over her body, having removed all trace of fabric between them and just held himself over her, their bodies separated by no more than an inch while he took her mouth in a gentle seduction of the sense. He wanted everything to be perfect for their first time together.
His warmth surrounded her. His strength impressed her. And his technique totally collapsed her every defense. She didn’t have the will to deny him anything when he treated her so gently, with so much intense care. But why would she? She had planned this.
Okay, maybe the plan had been hastily formed, but it was her choice. She had set out to seduce him and test her newly rediscovered strength. Bettina’s gentle words had helped Serena find her courage and the strength to reach out for what she wanted.
And what she wanted most right now was Bob. She wanted to know what it would feel like to be with him. She had been curious about human sex for a long time and Bob felt like the right man—the only man—to try it with. She trusted him, odd as it may seem. Even on such short acquaintance, she knew in her heart that he was special.
Even now, he treated her like a treasure. He kept his full weight from her, letting her feel only his warmth and the strength in the rock-solid arms that kept his muscled chest and torso just a few inches from her. He dipped, allowing his chest to meet hers, rub and then retreat as his mouth continued to tantalize her with drugging kisses. He repeated the maneuver a few times until her nipples were pebbled points of sensation, a jolt of sexy lightning zipping through her body from those little points of contact every time he dipped to touch her there.
Sweet Mother of All, Bob was something else when it came to pleasing a woman. She didn’t want to examine too closely how he’d gained his skills. Her inner bobcat was a jealous bitch and didn’t want to think about her Bob being with anyone else. Ever.
Whoa.
The unexpectedly serious nature of this encounter was just dawning on her when Bob retreated from her mouth, only to take his lips lower, kissing a slow, sexy path down her neck and over the upper slopes of her breasts. She actually moaned, wanting him to move lower, to the little points that needed relief so desperately.
And then he was there. His mouth covered one nipple while he engulfed her other breast with one large, warm, calloused hand. He had shifted his weight a bit lower and to one side, freeing one hand and allowing him access to the rest of her body. She couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for her next.
Her hands went to his head, tangling in his hair, loving the feel of the soft golden silk under her fingers. Her head lolled back as he sucked on her nipple, that lightning of pleasure streaking through her again and again. She had never felt this way before. Fucking in her fur hadn’t been anything like this. Not at all.
Bob spent a lot of time on her breasts—first one, then the other—making her writhe beneath him. When was he going to get to the fucking part? Did it always take this long when doing it in your skin? She had no basis for comparison, but she thought maybe Bob was making this something special. Just for her. The thought made her feel all warm and gooey inside—in addition to hot and bothered—in the best possible way.
On some level, he had to care for her. He obviously cared enough to make his own pleasure secondary to hers. The boys she had been with in her youth hadn’t been thinking much about her comfort. No, they had been focused on their beast’s need to mate. As had she, if she was being honest.
But Bob was different. She had instinctually known he was a very special man, and she had trusted him enough to want him to be the one to introduce her to human-shaped sex. She wasn’t sure exactly where this was all going to lead, but she was glad she had chosen him.
And then all thought fled as Bob moved downward once more, pressing kisses into her navel, then over the slight curve of her belly and then lower. He settled himself between her legs, his hands urging her thighs to part even wider for him. Making room for him.
She looked down and his gaze flashed up to meet hers. She felt heat flood her cheeks. For a moment, she had been in a place where nothing was awkward and nothing mattered but the pleasure he gave her. Then she had met his gaze and suddenly, she was embarrassed. But he didn’t give her time to dwell on it. Instead, he lowered his lips to her body once more, using his hands to spread her wide. With unerring accuracy, he found the little nubbin at the apex of her thighs and went for it, distracting her back into that place where nothing mattered but the pleasure he gave her.
Serena panted and moaned as a flush stole over her entire body. The lightning buzzed through her again and it was leading her toward…something. Something she had never felt before.
And then it was there. She was there. Yowling a bit as she crossed over some previously unknown precipice and fell into pleasure. Bob growled against her skin, the sound of his dominance sending her even higher.
Damn, that felt good.
While the lightning still gripped her body, Bob moved again, sliding upward and positioning his hard cock at her entrance. He waited until she opened her eyes and met his gaze to slide in. Slowly. Inch by inch, he joined them, holding her gaze, making the moment special. Important.
She couldn’t look away. She thought she saw something in his determined gaze. Something soft and fragile. Something vulnerable. Just the idea of it entranced her. Bob was so strong. He was such an Alpha in every way, but she was quickly discovering he was also a man. A man who had been through traumatic times in his family and had weathered the storm. She liked knowing that they had some common ground—a shared understanding that life wasn’t always perfect and nice. She felt like he was a bit of a kindred spirit…and so much more.
Her cat wanted him forever. The bobcat didn’t care that his cougar could eat her for lunch. It didn’t care that he was more than twice her size when in their fur. It didn’t care that he was a different species of cat. It only knew that he was an honorable being, a protector who wouldn’t hurt her, but instead, would care for her in both her forms.
The cat’s instincts were to curl into his arms and never leave. And the woman wasn’t far behind.
He began to move, still holding her gaze. Sh
e saw the change in his eyes as the lightning began a new round of tremors through her body. Small at first, they built steadily as his pace increased.
“Do you feel it?” he asked, his breath fanning her skin, making her shiver.
If he was talking about the incredible connection forming between them, then she definitely felt something. If he meant the pleasure, there was no way not to feel the riot of sensation he was causing in her body. She nodded and a little whimper escaped her lips.
“Tell me, kitten. Do you feel this thing between us?” he insisted.
She nodded again, though her movements weren’t neat. Her body was too sensitized by his possession. Everything was almost too intense, but she wouldn’t change a thing. She finally realized what she had been missing all this time and she didn’t want to go back. No, she definitely wanted to feel this again—with Bob. And only with Bob.
“Say it,” he whispered, his head dropping close to hers as he pushed deeply into her body.
Her breath hitched as he increased the penetration. She felt totally possessed, totally his in that moment. It wasn’t scary. In fact, her cat craved the feeling like its next meal. Her body guided her as the electric jolts of the lightning that only he seemed able to produce in her tried to send her into orbit again—only this time a lot higher than she had gone before.
She was learning something here. She was learning there were different levels of pleasure and Bob seemed to be the master at showing her just how far he could take her. She wanted to go all the way.
“Say it,” he breathed, the intensity almost overwhelming as he retreated, then pushed deep once more.
“I feel it!” she gasped.
He had slowed to speak, but her response seemed to break the dam that had been holding him back. His possession was deep and total. She almost wept when he pulled back, but whimpered in pleasure when he shoved back home. His key, her lock—somehow they were made for each other.