Nine Lives of an Urban Panther

by Amanda Arista

  “And I’ll keep giving those inspirational speeches.” Tucker smiled.

  “I dunno.” I shrugged as I rolled my shoulders. The pull was undeniable now. The panther wriggled in my chest to get out, to run free with her pack. “I thought I did pretty well at this one.”

  Tucker’s eyes twinkled with self-righteousness. “I knew it.”

  “You don’t know squat.” I punched him on the arm. “You’re it.”

  Three strides toward the tree line, and I was on all fours running like a dark streak against the moon-filled night with my pack behind me and the open night before me.

  Chapter Sixteen

  KHALIDA HADN’T SLEPT in three days. Just knowing the Jovan was coming terrified her. She knew her operations were airtight and there was no way in the Neveranth that he could trace any of the rebel activities back to her region.

  But still, she feared his motives behind this trip to his Southwest Territory. Did he doubt his power here? Didn’t he trust her hold over her region?

  The steam of her hot coffee swirled in the breeze that curled around her, playing with her satin robes. She stood on her balcony overlooking the gardens to the east of the estate, or what would have been the gardens before the fire-breathers destroyed it in the last uprising.

  She usually didn’t watch the sunrise. But she had seen the sunset so it seemed fitting. From here, she could see what was left of the skyline against the purple morning. She remembered when it had glowed with neon lights and life. Now one of the most stunning southern skylines was nothing more than the skeletons of a great Metroplex.

  That damn cat. If she’d only gotten her act together.

  As she watched, Baine led a group of soldiers in formation through their morning jog around the property. She wasn’t one for exercise but she was one for the appreciation of sweaty bodies glistening in the morning light.

  Baine looked up to her balcony and nodded to his Queen. Khalida raised her cup to the group of men with a small smile.

  Bringing up the rear of the group was Clay. His brick-colored hair was plastered to his forehead and provided one of the few colors in this misty morning.

  Even from this distance, she felt him. Felt the way his blood surged when he saw her. But he simply nodded and ran on with the rest of the men.

  Khalida shook her head. She was getting slightly attached to that one and it had nothing to do with their night together. He reminded her of what she used to be. Stronger. Tougher. And so incredibly obstinate her clan sacrificed her to the demon that resided in her chest.

  Maybe it wasn’t such a good thing to dwell on the past, especially when the current Prince of Darkness was going to be on your doorstep in less than an hour.

  I WOKE UP in bed to my ringing cell phone. I reached across Chaz’s bare chest and smacked my lips. They tasted like ash. Better to dream about demons and tasting ash than dream about Spencer and getting a mouthful of brimstone. I slowly pulled the phone to my ear.

  “Violet?” Waylon asked.

  “Yep?”

  “Did you happen to dream about . . .”

  “Succubus named Khalida?”

  Chaz finally woke up at that little happy thought.

  “I pegged it at six years,” Waylon said quickly.

  “Huh?” I sat up and scratched behind my ear. Apparently I’d made it to bed in a tank top and undies. Bet Chaz loved that.

  Waylon went on. “My visions, the clarity, the length can sometimes tell me when something is going to happen. I peg that in six years.”

  “So help me with the story here, kid. I die, she takes over Dallas? I really wish people would stop prophesying my doom. It’s a crap way to start the morning.”

  “Huh?” Waylon said.

  “What part of the damn cat didn’t you catch?”

  “Oh, right. Still getting that part down.”

  “What? Don’t believe your little cousin can rule the world?”

  “I’m getting closer to believing that every day.” Waylon sighed. “I’m going to go through my journal and double-check all the Khalida dreams I’ve had.”

  “You’ve dreamt about her before?”

  “Almost every day since I’ve moved here.”

  My skin prickled and I rubbed my bare upper arms. “So she’s evil? One of Jovan’s henchmen?” She didn’t feel evil. It felt natural to be in her point of view, but then again, my evil meter was pretty much in the middle.

  “I don’t think so, but she’s the only one powerful enough to rule this area, besides you of course.”

  “It’s too early in the morning for flattery, Waylon.” I stretched. “I need to check on my pack.”

  “Well have fun not getting dead.”

  “You too. Let me know if you see anything else.”

  I hung up the phone.

  “So what is it about you dying again?” Chaz asked as he rubbed his eyes.

  “I’ve been having dreams again. I thought it was just writer Violet getting back on track, but it seems that Waylon is dreaming them too and he thinks they’re about the future.”

  “So what’s the dying part?” he repeated.

  “I had a dream about a demon who takes over Dallas.”

  Chaz sat up, his eyes suddenly golden. “What did he say?”

  “Pegged the doom and gloom at six years, but I’ve had a couple of these dreams now and some have been great. And some have been not so great.”

  “Tell me the not so great ones.”

  I licked my lips and readjusted to look straight at him. “I had one about our wedding.”

  “That was a bad one?”

  “No. I was trying to create the argument that I don’t think they all definitely happen, because I don’t see us ever getting married in a church or in that much tulle. I think they are just possible futures.”

  “Violet?”

  I sighed. “I had one about Inez burning a vampire girl to death.”

  Chaz’s eyebrows jumped. “I thought that things were good with the Akasha?”

  “Which is why I don’t think that all of these come true. I really do believe that they are possible futures.”

  “Psychics don’t dream about possible futures, Violet. They only see the real future.”

  “Well.” I adjusted to sit within his arms. I put my hands on his bare shoulders and looked into those golden eyes. “A psychic from my own family said I would be part of a demon rising, and we managed to avoid that one.” I smiled at him. “Agreed?”

  Chaz licked his lips but eventually nodded.

  “And if my spidey senses are right, no one else is up this early.”

  Chaz listened. “Agreed.”

  I pushed him back down to the bed and leaned over him. “And it has been a very long time since we’ve had any one-on-one time.”

  “Agreed.”

  I leaned forward to kiss his nose. “And you did just choose me above all others.”

  “Agreed.”

  “And I never did get to properly show my appreciation.”

  I threw my leg over his and straddled his hips.

  When Chaz finally got the picture, his eyes widened. “Violet, there are twenty people sleeping in this house.”

  I just smiled. “Panthers are known for their stealth.”

  I leaned down to kiss him, and boy, did he kiss me back. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one in this relationship who had counted the days since one-on-one time went out the window.

  He trailed his hot fingers up under my tank top and ran his thumb over a nipple that seemed more than ready for the attention.

  As I made the move to get rid of my underwear, the antique bed let out a loud squeak of protest. Chaz and I froze, as if one squeak could rouse the entire house.

  “This might not work, Vi,” he whispered.

  “You’re just embarrassed because you grew up here.”

  His golden eyes landed on me and I thought I saw a blush across his cheeks.

  Being mostly evil, I leaned down and caught
his ear lobe between my teeth. It was his weakness. And I knew it. Hence the evil.

  He threw us to a sitting position. The bed and I both protested.

  “Come on.” He moved me off his hips and then off the bed.

  I frowned. “Are you serious?”

  He stood before me and winked. “Trust me.”

  His leg swept mine and I fell backward, but his lightning-fast reflexes caught me before I hit the ground. Slowly, he rested me on the floor and pressed his body against mine. My heart beat wildly in my chest, which only pumped the blood harder to every nerve receptor that was now against his completely perfect body.

  “This isn’t my first silent session.”

  My eyebrows rose but my snark was quickly sated by his lips on mine and his knees slipping between my legs. He nestled in on top of me and his lips trailed down my neck as his hands went for my underwear.

  Something in the shift of his weight ground my shoulder into the thin carpet. I winced at the carpet burn.

  Chaz popped up. “What?”

  “This might not work.”

  The furrow in that man’s eyes was something akin to learning that his precious Dallas Mavericks would never play another day.

  “One more idea.”

  He took my hand and pulled me up and then on top of him. I would never tell him I got a thrill out of being manhandled, out of his strong hands telling me exactly what he wanted me to do.

  I straddled his lap as he sat on the floor by the bed, leaning back.

  His hands ran up my arms, my almost healed shoulder and across my clavicle before he grabbed my chin and pulled me to him. His mouth was hot and honey as he kissed me and grew taught beneath me.

  His golden power trailed down my skin as he opened his borders to embrace me as well.

  I wished that I could have been so pure. My hands went for his boxers, taking their sweet time trailing down his hard chest, tracing the circle of his nipple, and then traveling down the perfect cut of his abdominals to his elastic waistband. He didn’t protest as I rose up and we slipped them down his long muscular legs.

  My underwear didn’t have a chance. The lacey things I’d purchased under the guidance of Jessa’s obsession with panty lines ripped under Chaz’s suddenly needy hand.

  With the pesky underwear out of the way, it was like we were dancing as I shifted easily under the direction of his hands and he guided himself in.

  I gasped louder than I’d meant to and he smiled as he looked up at me. In that moment, I felt complete, relaxed, and only here with him.

  Slowly, his hands rested on my hips and lifted me up and down. The heat below my navel began to rise and spread out as he repeated the motion and we found that exquisite rhythm between us.

  One hand traveled up my back, keeping us close together, keeping our lips no more than a breath apart.

  I took a little initiative, speeding up the downs, but his fingers dug into my hip and slowed me. He obviously wasn’t minding the fact we were in his childhood home.

  I didn’t care anymore. He was with me. He was mine and as I opened up my Legacy to him, I felt his power meet me. And I needed that, I needed him.

  His hand slid between my thighs and his thumb began to circle my raw bud of need.

  And wow, was I ready. I kissed him hard as the waves of pleasure hit, trying to be as quiet as possible. His fingers dug into my back and hips as my nails dug into his arms and neck. He slammed me down on him and I felt his body tighten as he climaxed.

  As the waves subsided, I pulled away and looked at his blown pupils. I leaned forward and kissed his salty skin and rested my head in the curve of his shoulder.

  Chaz kissed me one last time before he lifted me up and set me on the floor next to him. He pulled my legs over his and held me tightly. We stuck together with the slight perspiration that had formed. I rested my head against the side of the bed next to us and enjoyed the feeling of being nothing more than a blob of electrified putty in his arms.

  “I think I might have needed that,” he finally said.

  “Needed to assert some dominance?”

  Chaz just raised an eyebrow. “Needed to make sure that you still need me.”

  “I will always need you, Chaz. I might be the most kick-ass girl you know, but I will always need you. If nothing else, the lawn mower isn’t on remote control yet.”

  He tightened his grip around my waist and rested his head on top of mine. He chuckled. “What am I going to do with you?”

  “Love me, feed me. What do you need?”

  Chaz sighed. “Nothing. I’ve got everything I need right here.”

  I took one more moment to be loved. To be wrapped up in my lover’s warmth. To know that no matter what was going to be thrown at us we could do this together.

  “However, if you get up now, there will still be hot water in the shower.”

  “Probably enough for both of us.”

  Chaz smiled. “Harder to be stealthy in the shower. Go, you need to check on your pack.”

  With an overdramatic sigh, I pulled my Legacy back behind my borders and slowly unfurled myself from his arms.

  I TRUDGED DOWNSTAIRS to start on breakfast after a very hot shower only to find that Iris had beaten me there.

  “You’re up early. Usually sleep in later after a shift.”

  “I don’t really sleep anymore. Anyone else up?”

  “Tyler was up. Went for a jog.”

  Iris stepped aside from her work of rolling out the dough for biscuits and pointed for me to finish the job. I took over, remembering how to powder the juice tumbler before cutting out the doughy circles and putting them on the greased cookie sheet. Everything I knew about the kitchen, I’d learned from Iris.

  She stood next to me and watched, her arms crossed over her apron.

  “What do you think of Tyler?” I asked.

  Iris was silent.

  “I’ll wait. I’m learning patience.”

  “He needs to be Shalar.”

  “Is that the male version of Shala?”

  Iris just ticked her tongue at me, but I felt the chiding more than anything else. She wasn’t shielding anymore. Didn’t need to. And she if was really going for the say-anything-old-lady act, then I’m pretty sure I just got a slap on the keister.

  “He’s good. The Mother has given him the gift.”

  “You keep talking about the Mother, I’m going to start to worry.”

  Iris sighed and she shuffled over to the kitchen table to sit down. Her descent was slow and I didn’t like the way that she relied on the table to lower herself. “I’ve been a little slower lately and thoughts like that keep catching up with me.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like since I met Tyler, I feel that I don’t need to be on top of you every second.”

  “Iris, come on. I’m not doing that bad, am I? I got everyone here and shifted and back again.”

  I shouldn’t have said it. I knew it before I heard the boot steps, before I felt Tyler’s furry energy from outside the kitchen window. He tore through the back door. “Jane’s missing.”

  After the wave of panic subsided, I closed my eyes and went through my curio cabinet of connections to my pack. Jane’s braided satin strand was steady. As I reached out to her, if I didn’t know better, she was sleeping.

  I frowned. “She’s safe, calm.”

  “She’s not in her bed. Doesn’t look like it’s been slept in.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Nonsense. I put everyone to bed last night.”

  “Then where is she?”

  “Maybe she found another bed to sleep in,” Iris suggested.

  Tyler shook his head, and then he grimaced. “No. Everyone else was asleep.”

  “Except you,” I pointed out.

  He dropped his eyes and his voice dropped about three decimals. “I don’t sleep well.”

  Oh, I thought, right. “Let’s not panic. First step first. Try to look for her.”

  “Who are we look
ing for?” Chaz asked as he walked into the kitchen. He came right up behind me and put his arm around my waist.

  “Jane isn’t in her bed,” I said softly.

  “No problem. Let’s go find her.”

  I slipped away to get my shoes and met Kandice in the hallway.

  Her wild energy beat around me exactly like the flap of her wings. “Jane didn’t sleep in her bed.”

  “I know, but she’s okay. We’re going to find her.”

  “How are you so calm?” Kandice said as she followed me through the house.

  “Because we are all here. Because she is calm wherever she is,” I grabbed my shoes from the floor in my room and slipped them on. “And because I had Tyler build us a barrier around the farm so we’d know if anyone got off the property.”

  “What?”

  “Contrary to what it might have seemed at the museum, I’m actually pretty good at this big-picture thing.”

  Kandice gasped and put her hand over her mouth. “No, Prima. I’m not . . . I would never—”

  I smiled up at Kandice. “I know. It’s okay.”

  Kandice let out a deep breath and dropped her hands to her sides. She looked twelve and like she needed a sandwich.

  “Why don’t you come join us as we look for her?”

  Kandice nodded, her short blonde ponytail swinging merrily.

  WE FOLLOWED CHAZ through the knee-high grass to the west of the house.

  “What do you think is crawling around out here?” Kandice asked.

  “Probably nothing willing to take on a panther.”

  “Or a dog,” Tyler said as he followed carefully behind.

  “And I guess I could just fly away.” Kandice dared to join in on the conversation.

  Chaz snorted. “Guess I’m toast.”

  I scratched between his shoulders. “Very handsome toast.”

  We were getting closer to Jane, who was still sleeping. I tugged at our connection to wake her up, or what I thought would wake her up.

  There was a small gasp on the wind and then Jane’s dark hair appeared at the top of the blades of grass. The gentlemen stopped but Kandice and I walked forward.

  “Violet?” Jane’s large brown eyes looked up at me before she looked down at her naked body and she curled up into a little ball.