Black Surrender

by Lorie O'Clare

  Soon he would make the effort to contact his litter, even if it meant heading down the mountain until they found a highway and following it to the nearest town. There would be computers accessible to the public in any town. Ran would spot an email from Rafe within the hour of it being sent, Rafe would bet on that. He would explain everything they’d been through and warn his litter to increase protection around the laws and traditions. Rafe was fairly certain Naria didn’t have a clue when the laws and traditions would ever come to them. But if there were more jaguars intent on stealing them, his litter needed to know.

  Rafe slapped his tail at a bug that tried to crawl onto his cliff. Glancing over his shoulder, he was immediately mesmerized by Anna’s erotic beauty. She had quit cleaning herself and sat, not moving, with her head held high and her chest puffed out. She was partially shadowed by nearby trees, but sunrays still found her. Her black coat shone, almost glowing, adding to her radiance. Rafe had never laid eyes on a prettier female.

  As if aware of him adoring her, Anna turned her head slowly, the action almost a lazy movement. Her eyes were heavy, her lids low over light green eyes. There wasn’t any hiding the tangy smell of his admiration, but Anna’s expression didn’t change.

  He loved how unspoiled she was. Too many beautiful females knew how sexy they were and flaunted it, using it as a tool against males to get what they wanted or simply to toy them along. Anna didn’t move. She didn’t come to him. Instead she continued to watch him as her smell slowly wrapped around him.

  Rafe considered moving down the mountain. Anna compelled him toward her with her scent, howling for him without so much as moving a muscle. He could make her come to him, which was exactly what she was trying to do to him.

  As long as he could remember, males howled about females being the boss. They complained about it then jumped and ran to their mate as soon as she demanded his attention. Anna ran with her littermates, both males, after her sire and mother died. Rafe doubted either of her littermates encouraged her to try to make a male submit. Therefore, it had to be something genetic inside a female that encouraged her to try to make her male do as she said. Rafe felt duty bound to show Anna she should trust his lead.

  Rafe had no problem doing his share of domestic work in caring for their den, even if at the moment they didn’t have one. Standing, he stretched, all too aware of Anna watching him. Taking his time as he strutted over to her, he watched her eyes widen with excitement. She raised her head, opened her mouth and looked as if she grinned at him as she began panting. Her scent noticeably ripened.

  For a moment, Rafe almost reconsidered his plan.

  No. His female would follow where he led. Rafe took his clothes off the branches where Anna had hung them, grabbed hers in his mouth as well, being careful not to harm them, then growled and took off running.

  As much as he wanted to, Rafe didn’t look over his shoulder as he trotted down the mountain. He kept an alert eye on his surroundings, aware of smaller predators scrambling away to avoid his path. Their hidden sanctuary was perfect, but so were their surroundings as he continued running. He heard the crackling behind him and still didn’t look over his shoulder. Rafe wasn’t running as fast as he could, and Anna caught up with him easily. She gave him a curious look when she fell in alongside him.

  Rafe’s insides filled with pride. Suddenly he wanted Anna even more than he had lying and watching her clean herself. He started to look for another equally quiet spot to stop so he could make love to his beautiful female.

  He smelled fresh water before he saw it. Rafe grew even more excited when Anna bounced alongside him as they came to a quiet clearing where a calm pond was surrounded by walls of rugged stone. There was soft moss on the ground and tress helped shroud the clearing. They began circling the pond, but Rafe paused, dropping their clothes in a pile on the soft moss, then raised his head and gave Anna the best toothy grin he could manage in his fur.

  Anna looked at him and straightened. She then narrowed her gaze and lowered her head as if she’d just figured him out and was trying to decide what punishment he’d earned. Rafe was positive the look he gave her in return said one thing. You are so going to put out.

  Anna let out a low growl. Think you can capture me twice?

  I’ll capture you any time you run. He was more than up for the challenge and leapt into the air, letting out a shrill howl as he announced the game was about to begin.

  Anna damn near leapt off all fours, but then plowed into the soft moss with her claws extended as she tore around the pond.

  Rafe focused on her perfectly shaped ass as it swayed and her long tail when it shot to the side to help her maintain balance. The tall walls of mountain loomed up around them, preventing much sunlight from brightening their newfound hideaway, but streams of it managed their way through some of the trees. When Anna ran through the rays of light, her black coat shone magnificently.

  When he’d chased Anna down in Guarida, the hunt had been half the fun. This time the pursuit would be short. Rafe planned on spending his time doing other enjoyable things, like ravishing Anna’s hot little body.

  She was fast for a female and put effort into running from him. Rafe was almost twice her size though and caught up with her easily. Anna raced once around the oval-shaped pond and started in on the second round. As much as he enjoyed watching her slim, incredibly hot body in motion, his brain was slowly boiling with the growing need to sink inside her hot, wet pussy.

  The chase was turning Anna on. Rafe followed her as much as he followed her growing, aromatic scent, which pulled him closer, forced him to run faster and fed the fever that ate him alive.

  They rounded the far end of the pond and Rafe leapt. He howled, breathing in Anna’s scent and knowing it matched his own.

  Mine! My perfect mate, he roared, and landed on top of her then tumbled them both to the ground.

  Anna managed her way out from underneath him but didn’t take off running. Instead, she went down on her front paws and stuck her sexy rear end in the air. Anna slashed her tail from side to side, growling at him as lust simmered deeply in her eyes.

  Maybe foreplay wasn’t as important in their fur, but playing, a good frolic could be just as hot as a heated fight or high-paced run. Rafe’s heart swelled in his chest as a rush of pride mixed with the sensation to protect and cherish the beautiful female staring playfully down at him.

  He remained on the ground, rolling to his back, then reached for her with his paws. Rafe dragged his claws through her silky coat and wrapped his paws around her neck.

  Anna snarled and rolled over him, her body soft and warm. His cock was instantly hard and ready. He caught her shifting her gaze, focusing on his throbbing dick then looking at him. Her gaze was hot with need.

  Rafe leapt, feeling the strain from so much blood having flooded to his groin area. He wasn’t too aggressive. Anna didn’t fight him. She rolled to her stomach, swishing her tail to the side as she looked over her shoulder at him. When he pressed his cock against her moist pussy, Anna closed her eyes and began purring.

  It didn’t take much effort to enter her. Rafe filled Anna, stretching her sleek, wet entrance as he moved deeper into her heat. He matched her purr with a deeper, baritone version of his own. She moved underneath him, arching her back and encouraging him deeper inside her. Rafe sank his cock into her, feeling her heat scald his cock and create an urgent pressure that demanded attention.

  He began a hard, heated rhythm, drowning as he impaled his hot little cat. Anna welcomed him, taking all he offered. She tightened around him, fighting to keep him deep inside her with each plunge. There wasn’t any desire to hold back or prevent either of them from what they craved the most.

  Rafe didn’t focus on how long he made love to Anna. The pressure grew, taking over, and when he exploded, Anna roared, coming with him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Their second paradise, with its quiet little mountain pond and soft moss to lie on and enjoy each other, matched
the serenity of their first. Rafe could remain in his fur, hunting with Anna, sleeping, playing and fucking forever. They were honor bound to protect their kind as much as they were bound to each other. When they left the pond, it was side by side, moving at a slow pace as the mountain grew rocky and the ground uneven.

  By midafternoon both of them paused on a flat cliff, a human community spread out below. Rafe guessed it was Ouray by its layout. He and his littermates had driven into the small town buried deep in the Rockies a couple times over the years for one reason or another. They had covered quite a few miles.

  It was a several-hours’ drive to Ouray from Colony and it had taken half a day to run here. Anna sniffed the air then focused on the town below as he did. They had the issue of only the clothes they’d had on before running in their fur, which by now were filthy and twisted around both their torsos. They would have to change before entering the town, dress then walk until they found public computers.

  Rafe growled, glancing at Anna then leading the way down the mountain. The sooner he put his plan into action, the more they would know about what was going on hopefully. The first buildings to the town weren’t more than a block’s distance from the base of the mountain. Rafe stopped behind a grove of evergreens, stared into Anna’s beautiful eyes and let the change embrace him.

  He remained focused on Anna as his surroundings grew vague. Bones shifted inside him and his spine zapped with energy, fueling the change forward. The cold mountain air attacked his human skin the moment he straightened and stood on two feet.

  Anna shook from the cold, her flesh wet with perspiration and nipples hard little beacons when she struggled to untie her clothes from around her waist.

  “Let me.” Rafe endured the cold and the rough ground against his bare feet when he stepped to her and made quick work of untying her clothes for her.

  “It’s freezing out here.” Anna’s teeth were chattering. “We need to find coffee,” she added then managed to untie his clothes as he undid hers.

  Once they were dressed and they’d used their fingers to comb Anna’s hair and straighten his, they held hands and headed to the main road then walked along it into town. No one gave them a second look. Camping and hiking were common pastimes in the mountains, and the humans living here were accustomed to seeing their kind come down from the mountains.

  A bookstore offered free coffee and there were public computers at the library. Anna sat in a chair next to Rafe, facing him with her legs stretched underneath his. She still smelled of the outside and the flush in her cheeks from the cold added to her incredible beauty. He wasn’t the only one who noticed. More than one human male glanced her way, looking away quickly when he gave them an assessing cold stare. Not that he was jealous, not of humans. Anna gave him no reason to be worried anyway. With the warm looks she continually gave him, it was all he could do at times not to grin like an idiot at anyone who looked at them, nodding and saying, Yep, she’s mine!

  He covered her hand with his and clicked the mouse with his other hand. “Hopefully once I send Ran this email, we won’t have to wait long for his response.” He pulled his hand from hers when he opened a new mail page and began typing.

  Anna leaned against his shoulder, watching the monitor on the computer housed in the small cubicle. They only had an hour before the library closed and Rafe wanted time for Ran to see and read the email. He sent the email, explaining what had happened to him and Anna, summarizing the events in Colony, then in the cave outside Colony and ended by telling him they were in Ouray. As he leaned back in the chair, he wrapped an arm around Anna. A low, possessive growl escaped him before he could stop it.

  “Rafe,” she breathed.

  He captured her mouth before she could say anything else. It was all he could do to keep the kiss respectable and not ravish her as a sudden intense need for her ignited deep inside him.

  “My beautiful cat,” he moaned, nipping at her lower lip before raising his head and staring down at her.

  She sobered and continued to watch him. Rafe tensed. Anna’s scent was happy. She didn’t appear ready to dispute his declaration. There was something on her mind though. He rubbed his thumb along her jawbone, taking advantage of their semiprivate surroundings.

  “What is it?” he whispered.

  “We’re mated.”

  He stared at her. They’d howled their desire for each other. Rafe told Anna she was his cat. Hell, referring to her as his was becoming rather easy to do. She’d informed him he was her male. But hearing her state the obvious did something to his insides.

  Yes, they were mated. Both of them would be fools, not to mention incredibly dishonorable suddenly to howl otherwise. But wasn’t there more to mating than this?

  “Rafe.”

  He blinked and realized he hadn’t said anything. “Should we make it more official?”

  Rafe didn’t understand when she laughed. Anna covered her mouth with her hand and leaned against him, her clean, fresh scent so incredibly happy. “No,” she whispered. “No.”

  Her attention toward him was filled with excitement. Her scent, rich and enticing, was also sparked with energy. Rafe wanted her to explain herself. He looked down at the top of her head, at how she’d burrowed her face into his shoulder so he was barely able to see the grin playing at her lips. He hadn’t said a damn thing and somehow his lack of howling had made his adorable little cat incredibly happy.

  The computer in front of him buzzed, the sound his littermate had set up to let Rafe know he had an incoming email. Anna straightened, looked at him for only a second before she stared expectantly at the computer screen. Rafe wanted openly to understand this new mating. For some reason, his brain seemed to be twisted with turmoil and confusion, yet the panicked sensation, the smell of regret and the overwhelming urge to run from Anna as fast as possible never happened.

  Anna had just voiced out loud they were mated. One thing clicked in Rafe’s boggled brain. He should have been the one to howl about being mated. Anna had done so first. After purposely leading the way down the mountain and successfully gaining Anna’s submission during sex, he’d missed a crucial point in the development of this mating. Rafe would go insane, end up continually running in a circle chasing his tail if he ended up as some of the older males he knew who jumped and raced to their mate’s side the moment she growled for him to do so.

  Anna’s scent grew stronger as her anticipation peaked. Rafe looked at her, catching a view of her profile as she stared at the screen before she darted her attention to him. Her eyes were wide and bright. He looked away first, clicking to see if his littermate had answered his email before he drowned in Anna’s beauty. His littermates would never let him live it down if he fell so incredibly hard for his little cat that he willingly trotted after her, mesmerized by her beauty and happily guided by a leash and collar.

  Rafe opened his inbox. The connection took its time loading.

  “Will your littermates tell my littermate?” Anna asked without elaborating.

  “Definitely.” Rafe understood. “You saw what I sent. Your littermate can’t jump to conclusions by the smell of an email.”

  Anna looked at him quickly, opening her mouth and ready to speak. This time Rafe beat her to the howl.

  “There is no dishonor,” he told her, lowering his voice to keep the humans around them from overhearing. “You are my mate.”

  Rafe stared at his inbox and reached to move the mouse to open the response from his littermate. The words he’d just growled under his breath sank in heavily as if he were learning this news for the first time.

  “John will howl the mating was under duress.”

  As much as he was freaking out about discussing this life-changing event with her, part of him apparently had a proper grasp of things. He managed to click the mouse without squeezing it too hard and breaking the plastic, but his spicy scent filled the air around them. Not that he cared who knew he was pissed.

  “Your littermate will approve of yo
ur mating.” If the jaguar couldn’t smell Anna’s happiness and see it in the flush on her face, the glow in her eyes, then he was a self-centered idiot.

  Anna studied him as he read the response from Ran that had finally loaded on the screen.

  In exactly one hour from the time on this email, you’ll receive another email with further instructions. Do we notify the Hunter litter?

  “Receive another email?” Rafe scowled.

  “We don’t have an hour,” Anna reminded him. “The library closes at five.”

  Rafe nodded, already clicking on the response button.

  Instructions about what? he typed.

  “Tell your littermate to let John know I’m fine.” She gave Rafe a pointed nod when he looked at her. “And safe,” she added.

  Anna would be honored if you informed her littermate she is unharmed and safe. He hesitated for only a moment then added, She is with me. He almost elaborated but didn’t. The honorable way to howl about a mating was in the flesh and definitely not through an email. He finished the email with, On a public computer. We don’t have an hour.

  Within seconds of clicking send, the computer made the sound indicating he had a new email. Rafe clicked on his inbox and immediately opened the response with Ran.

  I need time to establish a secure line.

  Rafe suppressed his growl. He never claimed to be an expert with computers but should have thought through that a computer in a library wasn’t the safest place to discuss what was going on with them right now.

  First, confirm your identity and correctly answer these questions. Who kicked your ass on your first hunt? Who brought the first buck to our sire and mother? Why did Olivia slap you?

  Rafe growled under his breath as Anna’s gaze shot from the computer to him then back again.