by Mandy Harbin
She came on a sobbing scream, and seconds later, Jack roared behind her, his cock jerking inside her with each spurt of his release. Never had she let a man take her bare before Jack, yet the thought of him allowing a condom between them felt unacceptable to her now.
That sobered her. No! She was not some whiny little tart. She stiffened, and she heard and felt Jack’s sigh against her shoulder.
He eased out and away from her, and Lillian scrambled to her feet. She looked at him and growled.
“Stay the hell away from me.”
She shifted back into the abomination that was her new alter ego and ran.
* * * *
Jack couldn’t explain what had come over him when he’d been in the woods with Lillian. He’d been determined to teach her about hunting and expose her to the new aspect of her life, but the moment she’d come out as a mountain lion, all he could think was mate. It was hard to argue with her at times, but while in his feral form, he just wanted to dominate her.
So he’d kept his mouth shut and just focused on the tasks. He’d run them all over the place in hopes that the need to take her would ease. He wasn’t that lucky. It was always there, taunting him. He’d barely held it at bay up until she’d charged him. His lion had taken control at that point, and he’d been helpless to stop it. He’d just been thankful he’d mustered enough willpower to shift back into his manly form. Taking her as a lion would’ve been too personal. That was reserved for mates, mates who wanted to conceive.
After they’d had sex, Lillian had run. He couldn’t blame her. He felt the same need to flee. But the need to stay and make her understand was slowly taking over that desire to stay away from her. So he’d forced himself not to follow her. She’d headed back toward the direction of the cabins and not her father’s house, so there wasn’t an immediate concern she’d escape the estate. No reason to make her understand he was just as tormented as she was. All the reasons weren’t the same, but the struggles were there.
When he’d gotten back to his cabin, he was pleased to smell her scent was strong there. She was home. She’d run from him, but she’d run back to his cabin. She could’ve sought refuge at the main house or with one of the other ladies, but she hadn’t. Jack had tried not to feel the pride swell up at her choice, but the feelings had bubbled up anyway. When he’d gone inside, he’d found her asleep on the bed. She’d put on one of his T-shirts and was huddled in the corner, but she’d been there.
He’d showered, slipped on some boxers, and slid into bed beside her, trying not to touch her. His body was so large that there wasn’t much space between them, but he didn’t want to disturb her while he slept.
But sleep had eluded him most of the night. He’d have tossed and turned more if he hadn’t been worried about waking her. He did sleep in fits, but by dawn, he’d accepted it as a lost cause.
He gently sat up and pulled open his nightstand drawer to retrieve the photo of his mother. Just a few days ago, this had been the dominating factor of his mind. Now it was just a nagging thought on the sidelines. Granted, his life had changed drastically, but his family history shouldn’t be ignored.
He needed to talk to Josh about what he’d discovered and the theories it raised. If he was right, his father wasn’t the reason for their existence, as they’d all been led to believe. It had been his mother all along.
“What’s that?” Lillian asked, her voice roughened with sleep.
Jack tossed the photo back into the drawer and shut it. He couldn’t share this with her. Not now. Not yet. “Nothing.”
He looked over his shoulder and stopped breathing. She was truly beautiful, her blonde hair mussed, her big blue eyes soft. She held the blanket against her chest and yawned. So innocent-looking.
“I’m surprised you came back here last night. I figured you’d run to one of the women.”
She huffed. “Why would I run to one of the Stepford wives? Sorry, but no, ‘I don’t want to squeeze the goddamn Charmin,’” she said in a singsong voice.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It’s from the movie. Stepford Wives? I don’t want to squeeze—” She sighed. “Never mind. Point is, they seem a little too accepting of this way of life, and I have no intentions of being brainwashed into a mindless zombie homemaker of the cat people.”
He’d really thought her innocent? Maybe in looks, but her spirit was full of spunk. “They are not mindless women. There are here because they want to be.”
“So they got a choice, but I didn’t. How’s that fair, Felix?”
He chuckled. “You’ll run out of cat names eventually.” Then he shook his head. “It’s not fair. I never said it was. We got drunk and mated. I’m going through this just as blindly as you are.”
She pushed the blanket off and shuffled to her feet. “Not true. I didn’t turn you into a freak of nature.”
Jack stood, too, his hands fisting at his sides. “I’m getting really sick and tired of you fighting with me at every possibility. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Hell, I didn’t even want to get drinks with you that night anyway. You were the stubborn one who wouldn’t take no for a fucking answer!”
She recoiled as if he’d physically slapped her, and the sudden pang of sadness he felt at causing her any kind of harm almost knocked the breath out of him. “God, I’m sorry.” He moved toward her, but she shook her head, looking away from him, her defenses down. Seeing the wounded look in her eyes was killing him. “Lilly.”
She jerked, fire blazing in her eyes again. “How many times do I have to say it’s Lillian?”
He hadn’t intended to rouse her by using the pet name he had for her. But, yes. He’d rather have her fighting mad than unhappy. Maybe he could keep her distracted with this train of thought, but he’d be lying if he didn’t acknowledge that her resistance to her nickname had raised suspicions that he would like cleared up.
“Why are you so determined to keep me from calling you Lilly?”
“Because that’s not my name,” she gritted out.
He smirked. “Well, my name isn’t Felix or Simba or Garfield or any of the other names you’ve used to call me the last couple of days.”
She smiled. “True, but I like calling you those names.”
“And I like calling you Lilly, Lilly.”
Lillian narrowed her eyes. Her hands poised at her hips. “Fine, you win. Call me whatever you want. It doesn’t matter to me anyway, Heathcliff.”
His cock jerked. God, that feistiness was going to be the death of him. Jack couldn’t seem to ignore it, or his body, as well as he had yesterday.
She turned, and he grabbed her arm and hauled her against him. “What if I call you mine?” he growled in her ear.
She gasped, and he could feel the tremble coursing through her. “I am not going let you seduce me whenever you please, Jack.” But she didn’t sound convincing, and from her stance, he knew she hadn’t believed those words either.
“Tell me to stop.” Part of him hoped she would. Not because he didn’t want her, but because if she resisted, he could blame his growing need for her on his feral side. The lion wouldn’t take her resistance lying down. It’d roar to the surface and show her how much she wanted him.
But if she stayed pliable, he wouldn’t have anyone, anything to blame but himself if he took her.
“I—Jack,” she breathed as she melted against him. “Why is it so hard to push you away when you’re this close?” She’d said it so softly, he couldn’t be sure she was actually talking to him or to herself.
“Our lions recognize the mate in the other,” he rasped as he took her lobe into his mouth and nibbled.
“So you’re not—” she started, but hesitated, and Jack didn’t give her an opportunity to finish. He pushed her up against the nearest wall and pulled down her panties as he squatted behind her.
He spread her cheeks apart, burrowed his face between her legs, and inhaled. “I love the way you smell,” he groaned. Then his tongue peek
ed out and licked the backside of her pussy.
Lillian gasped, lifted up on her toes, and arched her back to provide better access.
He tried savoring her taste, sweet with a unique flavor all her own, but he was starving for her. He nibbled her labia before shoving his tongue inside her. Lillian moaned and rocked against him, so he gripped her tighter to keep her still. He was going to feast on her and make her come so hard that he feared he’d spill inside his boxers.
He groaned when her pussy started contracting around his invasion, her honey leaking onto his tongue. So fucking sweet. He could get drunk off her. When he pulled his tongue out, she whimpered. Oh, he wasn’t stopping. It’d take an act of God for him to quit, and even then, he’d still resist. His tongue circled her clit, and he drew it into his mouth at the same time he pushed two fingers into her.
Lillian screamed, her pussy fisting around his fingers so tightly that his dick ached even more to be inside her. He pushed his boxers down as he stood up and pulled his fingers out. Within seconds, he had the throbbing head of his cock rubbing against her entrance. He pushed in on a groan, her body milking him, needing him, as she screeched and lifted higher on her toes.
“You’re not going anywhere, Lilly,” he panted as he took her with punishing thrusts. “You’re mine, and I’ll have you whenever and however I want.”
“You’re a pig.” But she rotated her hips to meet his taking.
“I’m a predator.” And he knew in that moment, he would never be able to let her go. He’d hunt her down if she ever tried to leave. That thought didn’t make him happy. At all. He groaned as he shoved into her harder, punishing himself for wanting her as much as he was punishing her for not stopping him.
She screamed, and her juices flooded him as she came. The feel of her coming loose around him threw him over the edge too. He roared as he slammed into her so hard he pushed her completely up against the wall. His hips kept pumping, taking, as if he could do nothing but lose himself to the feel of being inside her, owning her. His mate.
With the final jerk of his cock, Jack slumped against her as he tried taking in a deep breath. The sweat between them chilled his skin, so he gently stood up and eased out of her. He walked to the bathroom without looking at her, worried he’d still see hurt or anger in her eyes. He barely knew how to handle her when she was her normal, feisty self. He wasn’t ready to face any more backlashes for what he’d done to her. Jack washed off at the sink and wetted a cloth so he could now tend to her, a reaction that felt completely natural to him. When he stepped out, however, she was waiting at the door with her arms crossed.
“Took you long enough.” She pushed past him and slammed the door shut.
Jack just stared down at the washcloth and gritted his teeth. His mate really knew how to push his buttons, and Jack wondered if this was Karma’s way of getting back at him for his general attitude toward taking a mate up until he’d found her.
If so, Karma was a bitch.
Chapter Six
Lillian walked to the main house after ditching Jack in the woods yet again. This had been her morning ritual for almost a week now. Ever since he’d taken her against the wall, she knew she wouldn’t be able to deny whatever he wanted. That morning, her defenses had been down. She’d been vocal about wondering why she was drawn to him and he’d been so callous as to say it was because his lion recognized his mate.
As if she could be fat and covered with warts and it wouldn’t matter.
More importantly, that there were no affectionate feelings on his part. When she’d seen him holding some photo and saw the longing in his eyes, she felt her armor crack. Maybe I can grow to love him. But that thought was quickly squashed by his cold treatment of her. She was a warm body to him.
Nothing more.
And she was trapped here, spending her days working in the tree fields and her nights and mornings having sex with Jack.
The sex had been good. He was very methodical and take-charge about it, but what had started out as hot and heavy, just became an itch that needed scratching. If she didn’t get away from here, she feared that she would really lose her heart to him and he’d crush it with his bare paws.
She’d also been avoiding his family. A mistake, she now realized, because if she wanted to break free, she would probably need to form some allies. She could try appealing to Jack’s father’s sense of remorse, but Lillian felt the end result could go either way with him. What if he were to side with his son? No, she needed girl power on her side, which was why this morning she was headed somewhere very specific at the main house.
The office where Mikaela and Krista worked.
She rounded the corner and came up to the cracked door. She lifted her hand to knock, but then hesitated. Girlie chitchat was never her style. What if these were the types of women who’d stab her in the back?
“You gonna stand out there all morning?” Mikaela called out. “We can see you peeking through the door.”
Damn. Lillian took a deep breath and stepped through. “Hi.”
“We were wondering if you were ever going to come talk to us,” Krista said, putting down some wickedly thick book that probably consisted of legal jargon.
Lillian walked over to the ladies and leaned against the desk. “Um, yeah, I’ve been a little angry.”
Mikaela chuckled while rubbing her pregnant belly. “That’s one way to put it. Girl, you have Jack all tied up in knots. It’s actually quite refreshing to see him like this.”
“Refreshing, huh? Well, I’m still mad about what Jack did to me, but I figured I shouldn’t punish everybody else because of what he did.” Lillian shrugged. “Besides, I don’t want to stay cooped up here forever.”
Mikaela half smiled at her. “It’s really not like that, Lillian. If you want to go home, you can.”
Lillian frowned. “That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have a big man demanding you not leave this estate.”
“Oh, we had our own men trying to call the shots. They might wear the pants in the family, but we wear the panties.” She smiled brightly. “God, I love being a woman.”
Krista stood and walked around the desk. “I left before Toby and I mated. I was in love with him, but I couldn’t be sure if he was what I wanted.”
Lillian gaped at her. “And he let you leave? Just like that?”
Krista nodded. “Just like that.”
“You weren’t mated, though, Krista. Could you image living away from Toby now?” Mikaela asked.
“Well, no, but I think deep down our men will live a life of misery if they thought it made us happy to be away from here.” She turned to Lillian. “If you really wanted to go, whether for the day or forever, Jack would let you.”
“Of course, you’d have to promise not to tell our little family secret,” Mikaela said.
This was Lillian’s opportunity, her way out. She’d cast the bait and hooked her fish. Now she needed to reel them in. “And you’d help me? Talk to him, I mean?”
“Absolutely,” Mikaela said. “He only needed you here to help show you that you weren’t a freak of nature and make sure you understood this new part of your life. Even if you don’t stay with Jack, you’ll never be the same again. It would have been careless of him to just let you go around not understanding.”
Lillian tried not to roll her eyes. “I think he kept me around to sate his carnal hunger, not show me the ropes.”
Krista’s eyes narrowed. “Did he force himself on you?”
Her cold tone made Lillian shift into defensive mode. “Hell no. I know how to take care of myself.”
“I’m sorry. There was an incident with him and my sister when she was trying to medicate him and Rob.”
Mikaela nodded solemnly. “Yeah, Jack hadn’t been taking his meds and tried to rape her.”
“He hadn’t been taking his shots like he should’ve been, so he was a danger to her. He should’ve known better.”
Lillian’s hackles rose at Krista’s snippy re
mark. She leveled Krista with a flat stare. “He told me he attacked her. And he apologized. She doesn’t seem too scared of him when I’ve seen her around.
Maybe you should let it go.” There went her idea of making friends. But Krista’s snarky attitude just pissed her off. If anybody was going to be mad at Jack, it was going to be Lillian. Period. End of discussion.
She turned to leave, but felt a hand grab her arm. She turned around and saw Mikaela holding on to her. “Krista loves her sister. That was a very hard situation for everyone. But I think you’re good for Jack. You obviously care enough about him to defend him.”
Lillian pulled her arm free. She didn’t need girlfriends to speak her case to Jack about leaving. She was insane for even trying to make friends with them. “I’m going home. It was nice meeting you all. Have a nice life.”
She could not care about Jack. She wouldn’t. And she was damn tired of wearing other people’s clothes and brushing with a cheap toothbrush. She wanted her own clothes, toiletries, and bed. Besides, her father would be back soon, and she needed to clean out the fridge and do some laundry.
She had a life back home, and it was time she got back to living it.
* * * *
Jack came barreling up to the dining room door just before dinner. He hadn’t even showered and changed out of his work clothes, so he was still wearing dirty jeans and boots. Not that it mattered. He had one thing on his mind. He was going to paddle Lilly’s ass! She hadn’t returned to work at all that afternoon.
He’d come to expect her little disappearing act in midmornings and not seeing her again until early afternoon. Hell, he’d silently cheered when she would sneak away because it would give him time cool his growing hunger for her. If she really knew how much he wanted her, he’d be embarrassed.
He’d gone from needing her to wanting her.
He was okay with the idea of needing her. His body needed release, and his lion needed its mate.