John Hunter, her remaining littermate, always had a watchful eye on her. Not that Rafe blamed the male. A lot of the single males sniffed in her direction whenever she came around. John could snarl all he wanted. Rafe hadn’t heard Anna tell him to leave her alone.
Anna was the hottest, most sensual creature he’d ever met. She made every other female in Guarida dim in comparison. Even when agreeing to cover the shift today, most available males and females having agreed to take turns guarding Guarida to increase security around their laws and traditions, Rafe had known he would run to the Hunter den first. He’d seen Anna’s littermate when he’d walked through center ground less than an hour ago. Anna would be here alone. It was his duty to sniff her out and make sure she was safe.
At least that was what he’d told himself when he headed straight to her den the moment his shift started. As he continued to scowl at the flattened earth near his shoes, Rafe had to accept the truth.
“You want her,” he muttered. And quite possibly worse than he’d wanted any other female in a long time.
His body was stiff when he straightened and stared up the stairs. She’d seen him and it would be rude to leave without at least wishing her good hunting.
Rafe picked up her scent once again and a predatory growl crept up his throat before he could stop it. His body was too tight and hard, making him acutely aware of every movement he made. He forced one foot in front of the other and climbed the stairs. Her scent wrapped around him before he reached the top, and when he did, he knocked firmly on her door instead of forcing it open and following her ripe smell the way his body demanded he do.
It barely took a moment before Anna opened the door wide enough to show off her slim, firm body. She wore a tank top and shorts and was barefoot. Obviously she knew he was there and had hurried to dress. If only he could have moved a bit faster. Her long hair was tousled and wild-looking, and she smelled like the trees and earth, and hints of desire.
Rafe didn’t smell another male on her or anywhere nearby. Crap! Had she been masturbating? He almost teetered and fought the urge to reach out for something to brace himself with. It was harder than it should have been for him to open his mouth and speak.
“Been on a run?” he asked, tilting his head and using more effort than ever to keep his attention on her face and not the swell of cleavage visible above the low cut of her shirt.
“I think our changing room might be better if it had a door that entered into the den,” Anna offered. With his next breath the smell of her lust wasn’t as strong.
“I don’t know,” he drawled, missing the erotic aroma already. “I rather liked the view.”
Anna stiffened, and in spite of her nipples hardening against her tank top, her lips pressed into a disapproving scowl. Female jaguars were known for their quick tempers, but Anna didn’t look ready to attack. He’d love it if she tried though.
“Is that what you do? Do you sniff out each female, compare them then decide which to chase? Let me make it easy for you, Rafe. Go chase after some other female,” she snapped then straightened, holding her head high as she glared at him.
She’d never tried chasing him off before. He didn’t smell lust on her anymore, but he knew she’d been heavy with the intoxicating aroma a few minutes before. He wondered what male she’d been fantasizing about but didn’t have time to ponder it when Anna turned and tried to slam the door in his face. He acted quickly, putting up his hand and prevented the door from closing.
“Anna,” he said softly, curious when he almost apologized. Rafe said the next thing that came to mind. “Honestly, there isn’t any comparison.”
“Why are you here?”
She looked over her shoulder, her hand still on the door as if she contemplated using force to shut it in his face. She didn’t seem pissed. If anything, he swore she smelled worried.
“I’m on patrol this afternoon. I wouldn’t keep guard without checking on you,” he finished, lowering his voice with his last words as he wondered what might have her worried. “Are you here alone?” he demanded, the question slipping out.
“My littermate will be here any minute,” she said hastily.
Anna hadn’t ever struck him as a traditional female. Most jaguars his age had learned how to dodge around the rules implemented upon them by older jaguars who insisted everyone was supposed to smell virginal in order to retain their honor prior to mating. Nonetheless, howling that a female might have a male stashed somewhere, and especially an unmated female, was definitely asking for a fight.
Rafe pushed his luck. “I didn’t mean your littermate,” he growled.
Anna took the bait. “How dare you,” she snarled, her lip curling and she almost lunged at him.
Almost.
As quickly as she leapt forward, it was as if some invisible force pushed her back and she teetered. Rafe grabbed her hand when she almost shoved him. She tried pulling free from him, but he held her, enjoying her soft, warm flesh and her smaller fingers when they wrapped around his. He wouldn’t point out that in spite of her show of resistance she was holding his hand too.
“You were on a run.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Alone,” he added.
“I went to the creek.” She nodded her head in the direction to the west of her den.
“Who did you meet?”
“No one.”
“Who were you lusting after?”
Her eyes opened wide. Color washed over her face and her spicy anger was strong enough to make his eyes water.
“If you’re alone, there must be a male you wished were here,” he coaxed. “What were you thinking about him doing to you to get you so incredibly wet, Anna?”
She leapt at him, roaring as she did her best to use her human nails to filet his skin. Fortunately for him, they wouldn’t cut through his clothing, and he was a hell of a lot stronger than Anna. He pulled her to him then shifted, pushing her against the wall outside her den. Rafe pressed his leg between hers and his body against hers, pinning her so she couldn’t move.
“Get your paws off me,” Anna snapped, wriggling against him.
“Do you really want me to leave you alone?”
Anna pushed against him, fisting her hands and pressing into his shoulders. Rafe wasn’t using half his strength. It took nothing to keep her against the outside wall of her den. Anna might be close to half his weight, but she was a grown female, with every inch of her toned into that of a deadly hunter.
“Anna,” he whispered, and breathed in her ripening scent. Immediately his body responded.
Anna shot her attention to his face.
“Tell me you want me to leave.”
Spicy anger mixed with her rich, sweet-smelling desire and she narrowed her eyes on him. “I want you to leave.”
She hadn’t said she wanted him to leave her alone but only that she wanted him to leave. And even at that, Rafe immediately noticed a new smell. It was that of a lie.
“Fucking tail!” Anna roared, this time using all her strength as she shoved against Rafe.
He stepped back willingly, knowing he’d never do anything against her will. Something told him Anna had known this too. They didn’t know each other real well yet. But he hadn’t smelled fear when he’d trapped her against her wall.
Anna fell forward and Rafe grabbed her, pulling her into his arms. “I’ll leave,” he whispered gruffly into her hair. He fought the urge to run his hands down her back, cup her ass and press her soft, enticing body hard against him. Already his cock throbbed as pressure swelled inside him and his balls tightened.
He’d humiliated her by cornering her into a lie though, and he hadn’t meant to upset her. Reluctantly he released her and forced himself to remain where he was when she bounded toward her den door.
“You knew I’d be alone here,” she accused. Then, instead of hurrying inside, Anna spun around and rushed past him, down the stairs.
“I saw your littermate outside the gathering den a
s I left center ground.” He took his time following her, coming around the stairs when he reached the ground but pausing and giving her space when she turned and faced him underneath the stairs.
“So the howling about you is true?” Anna hissed, and pressed her fists into her hips as she squared off and glared at him. “You really don’t care about the honor of any female? Do you often use any means, forcing a lie, brutalizing to get a female?” she asked, tilting her head and looking ready to slam even more insults at him if he would stand there and take it.
The heat rushing through his veins cooled and a harsh chill attacked his senses. He forced himself not to rise to the assault she lashed out at him. As much as he’d love to scrap with her until they finally ended up on the ground fucking, Anna wasn’t attacking to turn him on. He’d injured her pride.
“Are you sniffing out the howlings of Guarida, little cat?” His voice was cooler and lower than he’d planned for it to be. “Do you wish to hear what is said about me?”
“What a pompous—” she snarled, throwing her hands in the air as she spun around and marched away from him.
This time Rafe followed her spicy anger. “Do you smell cockiness on me?” he demanded, balling his hands into fists at his sides so he wouldn’t grab her and force her to face him. He hadn’t come out here hoping for a piece of tail. He accepted that he wanted Anna, but not as a wild fling, the two of them stripping naked and barely able to maintain their human shape over their fur as they fucked. There were females more than willing to do just that, but already he knew once with Anna wouldn’t be enough. As devastated as she was with her lie, she would never partake in indifferent, rough and greedy casual sex. Which suited him just fine. Rafe wanted a hell of a lot more than just casual with this female.
“Do you believe everything you hear howled?”
She snorted, the sound almost laughter but definitely not filled with happiness. “You ask me questions, your tone demanding, and ignore mine.” She faced him and the spicy smell of her anger faded. “You’re a world of contradictions, Rafe. We don’t even know each other, yet you make a show as if we were life-long running buddies or something. And we aren’t.” She lowered her gaze and dragged her fingers through her long black hair, pulling it away from her face. “No, I’m not sniffing out all the howlings in Guarida, and I don’t need to know what is howled about you.” She looked ready to continue but instead closed her mouth and exhaled. After a breath, she added, “And yes, I smell cockiness on you. As well as brazen determination. Do you think bullying me and forcing me where you want me will have me begging for you to fuck me?” she finished, her voice dropping to an incredibly sultry whisper, although he doubted it was her intention.
“I doubt you’d ever beg me to fuck you, little cat,” he informed her, and doubted he’d like it if she did. “I care about your honor or I wouldn’t be here.”
She had a strange look on her face when she studied him, and he couldn’t read her scent. “Your being here dishonors me. The very first law on mating states you dishonor me by running to my den when I’m here alone. The only way to return my honor is to publicly humiliate you.”
Rafe almost grinned but fought the urge when he detected her challenge. “And you really believe I’m here to dishonor you? Doesn’t that same law state my actions are noble if I intend on mating with you?”
Anna stared at him, not saying a word. When he sensed her reaction, a slight change in her scent, her expression went blank. Rafe was sure she’d practiced keeping her emotions hidden. Immediately, he wanted to know why. But even more so, he wanted to know what her reaction to his question was. Anna hadn’t given him a hint of a clue before masking off and sealing her emotions deep under her shroud of privacy.
“If that were your intention, you would have approached my littermate first,” she said, curling her lip. Her words were gravelly when she darted toward the stairs. “Good hunting, Rafe VicMoran.”
“Damn it,” he snarled under his breath. “Not so fast!” Rafe leapt, grabbing her shoulder and flipping her around and into his arms. His adrenaline was pumping through him, which made for a bad mix when he already fought not to fill the air with his lust for her. “If you don’t want me, say so now,” he growled, but didn’t give her much time to respond.
There were a few things Rafe knew about female jaguars. They were strong in their opinions, didn’t mind using teeth and claws to make their point clear, and most importantly, when one melted against him, she wanted him as badly as he did her. Rafe pounced on Anna’s mouth, instinct having him grab her wrists so she couldn’t do bodily damage, and felt something erupt inside him when she mewed as she relaxed against him.
Well, almost relaxed. Anna greeted his kiss with a ferocity of emotions he hadn’t expected. She tilted her head and opened to him, parting her lips and making a moaning sound that sounded as if she meowed into his mouth. Her sound fed his hunger as much as her warm, moist lips and eager tongue.
Anna pressed against her restraints, pushing with her hands, until Rafe relaxed his grip on her wrists. Immediately her hands dug into his hair, pulling him closer as she deepened their kiss. If he’d been deprived of the smell of her emotions a moment ago, they now bombarded him almost too fast for his lust-filled brain to identify them.
Sexual need hit him the hardest, a rampant rush of her sweet, damn near intoxicating sensuality filling his lungs and fogging over his brain even more than it already was. Anna growled, nipping at his lower lip with her teeth and pulled his hair. Her aggressiveness fed Rafe’s fire and he pressed his hands into her back, a rumble erupting deep inside him. His cock raged to life, hard as steel and throbbing to distraction between them. Anna rubbed her hips against it suggestively, and Rafe damn near picked her up and threw her to the ground.
The animal side of him surfaced and he found flesh. His hands moved under her shirt, feeling the gentle curve of her spine then the slope from her ribs down to her waist. When he moved his hands between them and cupped her soft, full breasts, there was little thought process left in his brain.
“Anna,” he growled, the urge to fuck her right there, in front of her den, too damn strong. Rafe hadn’t managed to stay alive and keep his hide intact by giving in to his animal desires without rational thought kicking in. He broke off the kiss, panting and feeling his teeth pressing against his lips as his heightened senses remained saturated with the smell of her lust.
“Crap,” she hissed, and stepped out of his arms.
Rafe let her go only because he needed a moment not touching her to suppress the animalistic urges inside him. He watched her pace away from him, her head down and her fingers tangled in her hair, through blurred vision. Rafe was positive he probably looked half-mad, the jaguar inside him too close to the surface, drawing the change forward. He took a moment to gulp in a breath of air not saturated with her carnal cravings and forced the beast inside to relax. When she turned and stared at him with tormented eyes, he prayed he appeared more in control of himself than he felt. Otherwise she would run from him.
“You need to leave.”
Rafe nodded. “Your littermate might show up soon.” It wouldn’t surprise him if John guessed Rafe might show up here. The male probably finished up whatever he’d been doing the moment Rafe left and would be on his tail soon.
“There’s that.” She walked toward him but paused, as if she were afraid if she got closer she’d be in his arms again. “John howls a lot about the value of our laws and traditions.”
Rafe saw instantly why she appeared so torn. It wasn’t just because of the need they’d ignited between them. Anna knew what the laws and traditions, ancient writings that were being kept in the gathering den, said and how the jaguars in Guarida were howling loudly how all of them should live their life if prophecy were to be fulfilled.
“I don’t smell anything wrong with running after a female who appeals to me.”
“You’re the prophecy,” she whispered, searching his face as she spoke.
Rafe hated the ancient writings for that one reason. His litter, the VicMorans, along with one other litter, the Kalusians, were mentioned in the writings, suggesting the two litters would bear the ultimate burden for all jaguars. He didn’t appreciate the pressure that inflicted upon him.
“A VicMoran a couple thousand years ago was amazing. Maybe a VicMoran a thousand years from now might be the same. I’m simply a male.” He moved toward her as he spoke. “Does it bother you that my name is mentioned in the writings?”
Anna straightened. “No, you’re right. You’re just a male.”
Rafe nipped at her lower lip, scraping the moist, smooth flesh with his teeth before tasting her slowly with the tip of his tongue. Anna growled, curling her lip. She didn’t pull away or lower her head. He moved his hand to the back of her head, burying his fingers in her thick, soft hair, and tilted her head just enough to allow him to impale her mouth. She was so damn addictive.
Instead of meticulously calculating how long he’d linger over her mouth before getting her out of her clothes the way he had with females before, Rafe lost himself in their kiss. He damn near started purring when she darted her tongue around his, exploring as he did. Rafe grabbed her hair, tugging until she surrendered and let her head fall back farther. He feasted, took all she offered and fought for more. Anna had become, in a matter of seconds, a life source he wouldn’t survive without. It became unknown territory and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. As odd as it was not to know precisely what his next move was, Rafe didn’t mind the experience.
His other hand moved down her arm, gripped her narrow waist then moved to cup her breast. Her nipple was hard, long and pointed. God damn! Rafe loved large nipples. He adored the hell out of them. He saw her naked in his mind, her hot, steamy body stretching and arching into him as he explored every sensual inch of her.
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