Moon Sworn (The Bound Series Book 1)

by JF Holland

  He kissed down her throat and then between those breasts that were presently rising and falling in her agitation. Her nipples once again beading and pushing against their confines. He nuzzled against them before sucking one straight through her t-shirt and bra, biting the turgid flesh with the tips of his teeth. She hissed and tried to pull away but he held her fast, bending her further and used his spare hand to push up her t-shirt and pull the cup of her bra below. He then latched back onto that unfettered nipple and suckled strongly. He alternated his sucks with laves of his tongue around her areola before sucking that tempting nipple back into the warm cavern of his mouth.

  What the hell was wrong with her? She'd pulled a knife on him. She'd never threatened anyone in her life, and he arrives and she's suddenly pulling a weapon on him and threatening him with violence like a gang member. She didn't have a clue how to defend herself, so why was she antagonising the mad man that had been talking inside her head for nearly 5-years? Come to think of it, who was the mad one here? She was the one who'd heard him, and how the hell was that possible?

  Jaden listened to block out the conversation going on inside her confused mind, but it was drilling inside his head. He really didn't want to listen to her ruminations while he was trying to pleasure her body. Surely she should be applauding his good manners for trying to prepare her virginal body for what was to come, hopefully them both if she'd stop thinking long enough to enjoy herself. He bit her nipple again, with enough force to make her gasp and go quiet, then he flicked it with his tongue before pulling back and replacing his mouth with his fingers. He continued to tug and knead the flesh while he watched her through brooding, hooded eyes.

  "I need you to know I'm not going to hurt you, but I need your compliance here Maya. I promise you'll enjoy it." He purred, smiling down into her slightly glazed but still rather angry eyes as he gave her nipple another tweak. His nostrils flaring again as her arousal made itself known.

  "Arrgh, you like a little pain with your pleasure?" His brow rose, and he grinned wickedly down at her as he bent his head and nipped at the flesh before swirling his tongue over it. Her legs seemed to give out making him chuckle, and he released her hands and slowly lifted her onto the work surface behind her. He then stepped between her spread thighs, making himself at home and moved the knife further up the counter.

  "I promise we'll try with a little pain next time. For your first time though I think I should be a little gentler with you," he said just before his mouth took hers in a toe curling, panty wetting kiss. She couldn't think, didn't know whether she was on her head or her arse.

  Her heard dropped back, and he went on a journey over her neck and back to her breasts. He tugged its twin from its confinement and pushed her t-shirt over her head, throwing it over his shoulder to join his own on the floor. Then reaching around her, he undid her bra and sent that the same way. Now he had free access to the bounty before him. She wasn't big, but they did fit rather snugly into his palms. He played with one as he went back to sucking and nibbling on the other.

  What the hell was she doing? He may have been talking to her for a couple of years but she didn't know him from Adam. Why was she letting him touch her like this? No one had ever touched her like this, she should be kicking and screaming not purring.

  Jaden let the nipple he'd been enjoying slip from between his lips with a sigh. He stepped back, his head dropping backwards on his shoulders, groaning as stared at the ceiling. Really it was nice that she hadn't been touched before. I mean it was fucking fantastic that his mate had never before slept with someone, but for fuck sake.

  "Seriously, Maya, you need to stop thinking. I can't concentrate and I've gone without for nearly 5-years, and all you can do is think of ways to try to kick my arse? Why can't you think of something more pleasurable, like how to ride me into next week?"

  She blinked at him a couple of times, he thought she was going to put out, really? Growling low in her throat she pushed against him, her palm landing on the warm smooth skin of his chest and he hissed. His amber eyes now glowing as they met her startled ones, her mouth open in shock.

  Jaden could hear her thoughts as if they were being shouted, she thought they weren't doing this? Really, after going so long without, not a cat in hell's chance. Holding her hand against his naked chest he watched her mouth snap shut as her eyes drop down to watch what he was up to. He heard her heart rate kick up a notch and her breath catch. Suppressing a grin and remember to blank his thoughts, he decided to use her own curiosity against her.

  Maya couldn't believe she was allowing him to use her own hand to stroke over his chest. Really, she should put a stop to this and show him the door. Well, maybe in a minute. He did feel kind of nice, smooth, yet hard and soft all at the same time. He was also warm, really warm to the touch. She enjoyed the texture of his skin and how it felt beneath her fingertips. She was so lost in the feel of him that she'd forgotten she was sat on the breakfast bar topless. She bit he lip when she got to the little brown disc of his nipple and grazed her nail over it, back and forth. She mimicked the movement he'd done to her earlier and heard his breath catch. Looking up she caught his slumberous gaze, he looked like a lazy contented cat. Where the hell had that thought come from? Then it was gone as quickly as it had surfaced as he made her hand repeat the move with her nail on him again as he did the same to her. They groaned in unison and Maya was once again lost in the texture of his skin. Tracing all the grooves and indentations in his stomach, he had really good stomach muscles. She also ran her nails through the light trail of black hair that ran from his naval through the centre of that slab of muscles and then stopped again. As she got to the top of his jeans, she bit her lip in indecision on whether to continue. Jaden made the decision for her as he undid the button and zip on his jeans, hissing in relief as the tight material opened. Maya wasn't sure what to do now, and went to pull her hand back but he took possession of it again and lightly ran it along his length, practically purring at the sensation.

  She tentatively began to explore on her own, not having a clue what she was doing but too curious to worry over it. His eyes watched her eye move, she could feel them, unblinking and intense. He watched her like a predator with prey and she expected him to become aggressive but he didn't, he just held himself still and allowed her to explore his body. Well, not completely still, his hands had begun to do a little exploring of their own.

  Maya was just running her fingers up his length again when he grasped her hand and made it into a fist, so he'd fit snuggly inside. A little too snuggly, she couldn't get her fingers to meet. He began to guide her movements, showing her how to stroke him. The sound of his groan helped by showing her exactly what he liked. In the next instant she nearly jumped out of her skin and let go because he'd put his hands down her shorts. His long fingers pressing against her sex through her panties and he leaned forward and kissed her. She soon forgot to worry as he pressed and retreated at the same time as stole her breath with the carnality of his kiss. He devoured her mouth as he once again took her hand and put it back around his hard flesh. He did something with his thumb and she broke the kiss to gasp but he followed her and thrust his tongue into her mouth, giving her no quarter. Her hips were now moving of their own volition as his touch, helpless to do anything else as her own hand mimicked his movements on his flesh. They groaned in unison as he began to edge her further towards him on the counter, tugging at her shorts and lifting her in turns as he tried to remove them. She didn't complain because his tongue was still in her mouth, until he broke the kiss to move to one side, and she also lost her grip on him. She tried to catch his mouth again her hands reaching to tangle in his hair as he finally tugged them off and over his shoulder to land with the rest of their clothes. He took her mouth again as he made himself back at home between her thighs and pushed her panties to one side. Then he held himself at her entrance ready to sink into her when he heard a noise outside. Jaden froze, breaking their kiss as his forehead dropped to rest a
gainst Maya's. Her eyes now open and glazed, pupils blown and mouth swollen from his kisses. He groaned again as she wiggled closer and the tip dipped into her entrance, the feeling making him shudder after so long without another. He was just about to thrust home when he heard the same noise again and he swore as he pulled back. His head turning towards the back door, listening intently as he held up a hand for Maya to be quiet as he tried to figure out what was going on. Then he heard it again, a scuffle and the soft pad of a foot, or was it a claw on the paving outside her back door. He growled low in his throat, the sound rumbling up from his chest and he felt Maya recoil, hearing her gasp. There was no time to soothe her as he turned, leaving her teetering on the edge of the unit. He had the door open and was halfway through before she'd jumped down and was behind him. He didn't think he just changed on-the-fly bones cracking in mid-flight of the step and skin turning to midnight black fur. He was fully transformed as he landed in the garden, one large pad taking his weight as the other black jaguar took off down her garden and over the fence. It jumped into the canopy of trees, and he swung his head back in time to see Maya stood with her mouth open. She had one foot off the step and the other inside the doorway and he swung back as he flew down the garden in pursuit and went straight up and over the fence.

  "We'll discuss this later" he sent to her telepathically and heard her snort.

  "Discuss what? That you’re a cat, Jesus. What the fuck Jaden. Did you not think it important to tell me I'd be committing bestiality if I fucked you? Or that just maybe if I tickled your stomach you'd roll over onto your back and do tricks for kibble. Were they not important enough facts for you?" she fumed, slamming the door and he growled low in his throat as he cut off her mental tirade and took off after the other shifter.

  Chapter Five

  Maya was absolutely livid, as she locked and bolted the door on Jaden, the house cat, or whatever the fuck he was. A shifter, she'd nearly fallen for the lines of a shifter of all things. They had the morals of an alley cat, and he'd had the gall to try to feed her bullshit lines about her being his mate. Please, she wasn't stupid, she could still remember her father - very vaguely, but he'd been a shifter too. It was his fault that she'd ended up an orphan, so yeah, fuck Jaden - or not as the case may be, not happening no way no how. She stomped back into the kitchen and tripped, looking down at what she'd caught her foot on. She found the little pile of clothes on the floor and bent down to scoop them up. Pulling her own t-shirt and bra out of the jumble, she hissed at his black t-shirt, turned back around, unbolted the door and threw it in the garden.

  A shifter, he was a bloody shifter, she still couldn't believe it. She only had vague recollections of her father, and not good ones. Most of what she'd been told had come from her great aunt Sophia, who'd brought her up after she'd been orphaned at 4-years old. Not just here either, her cousin Lara had also joined them a couple of years later. Her father's brother had been married to her mother's cousin, and she'd also been killed, leaving Lara on her own too. They'd made their own small, but isolated and very wary family.

  Lara didn’t' really talk about what had happened to her mother, but she herself had very few memories of her parents. She did remember her father shifting once, and once was enough. He'd been fighting with her mother, and she shuddered at the memory. Her mother had hidden her whenever he came around, which wasn't often but when tiny she used to put her in a cupboard with strong smelling products to hide her scent and keep her safe. As she'd gotten a little older, she'd used a different method all together, but still her mother had always hidden her when her father was around. She'd never actually met him, only the glimpses she got of him from her hiding place, but whenever he arrived there was always a fight and raised voices. She really didn't want to remember the sound of skin being hit, she closed her eyes. She didn't want to think of her parents now, especially not her mother, it was too painful to remember. She'd been in awe of her father after seeing him shift into his cat form, a beautiful sleek black cat with mesmerising green eyes. It had been one of the most terrifying sites she'd ever witnessed, well what had come later was. She'd never figured out how something so beautiful to behold could be so scary and ugly on the inside?

  Maya shook away the memories and walked out of the kitchen and upstairs to the bathroom, she needed a shower. She could smell Jaden all over her and she wanted to wash it, and the thoughts of him away.

  Chapter Six

  Jaden growled low in his throat as he took off after the other shifter, pushing thoughts of Maya out of his mind. He had other things to deal with at the moment, he didn’t have time to worry over his mate and her unreasonable behaviour. He would deal with her once he'd caught up with their peeping Tom.

  The other shifter was ahead of him, but it was lighter than him, jumping from branch to branch like a nimble ballerina before picking up speed again. He'd nearly caught up, a claw clipping the hind end of it drawing blood when the branch he'd landed on gave way under his weight. Both he, the branch, and the other shifter came crashing down. Luckily they had flexible spines and he manged to turn in mid-air, landing on his feet lip pulling back off his fangs as he faced the other cat. He began circling it, hissing and snarling in anger. Lifting a paw and swiping at the air as he growled a warning at the cat who had dared to come after his mate. How dare it try to muscle in on his territory and he chuffed low in his throat a rumbling snarl as the end of his tail twitched from side to side. His whiskers quivering and ears flattening in displeasure, disbelief upmost in his mind that a shifter would dare to go after another's mate. His actions made absolutely no sense especially as the cat was moving backwards, not trying to engage him. The other cat seemed to be trying to lead him further from his mate and his own cat hissed a warning rumble. He crouched ready to pounce but the other cat just backed up further and Jaden froze, as he tried to figure out what was going on. The other cat's behaviour was all wrong but he couldn't process through his cat's angry haze, he was sure he was missing something. He pushed at his cat again and it retreated further inside his mind, not happy but understanding that he needed a clear head to figure out exactly what was going on, prowling in the background. Something wasn't right, but Jaden was struggling to think clearly through his cat's anger and his own confusion over Maya and how he reacted to her. As he watched the other cat stopped backpedalling and just stood staring at him; and not the fixed stare they used when locked on prey. He looked as if he was just waiting for him to make a move, no anger and no fear as it slowly backed further up and then just turned its back on him. That really wasn't normal behaviour for one of their kind when it was challenged, it should be circling, crouching and being vocal but it was doing none of the expected. What was he missing he knew he was missing something but he just couldn't put it all together? He watched it walk a little further away and stopped, turning to stare at him over its shoulder as if waiting for him to catch up and the pieces fell into place. Jaden realised his mistake. Shit, this wasn't a challenge on his territory, it was a decoy, obviously trying to lead him away but why? What did it mean? What… Oh fuck, he'd left his mate unguarded and there was another cat still around.

  Ignoring the decoy he turned and took off at a full run, sticking to the floor instead of using the trees as he wound his way through the woods. Dodging around trees and jumping over fallen logs, panic giving him speed. If anything happened it would be his fault, he'd left her unprotected allowing his temper to make judgements. He knew he'd smelt more than one shifter around her property, this one was obviously just sent to keep him busy leaving the other alone with his unprotected mate.

  'Maya,' he shouted in his head, but all he got back was the mental image of a double salute. He growled again, 'no time for theatrics. There's another shifter back there somewhere, you need to find somewhere safe. I'm on my way back."

  Maya was still cursing under her breath as she stripped off and soaped herself in the shower. She'd just rinsed and turned off the water when she became aware of a noise, lik
e a door handle was being tried. Grabbing a towel she roughly dried herself and then threw on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, forgoing underwear. Quietly she opened the bathroom door when she heard cat boy in her head, rolling her eyes she sent him the double victory salute as she quietly padded along the landing trying to figure out if he was trying to get back in? Then she heard him again and his warning. Bollocks, back peddling she made her way into her bedroom, and quickly opened the compartment that she'd had put into the back of the wardrobe, quietly pulling it closed behind her. She took the spray bottle from the tiny shelf and gave a quick squirt in the air around her as she ran her finger over the writing on her side, mumbling words as she huddled there, trying to slow her breathing.

  This whole scenario threw her back in time to hiding from her father, and she pushed back the memories. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her breathing, slowing it down and trying to stem the panic that was trying to flood her system. She could not afford to panic because if she did she'd hyperventilate and give herself away. Jaden said it was another shifter and if memory served her right they had exceptional hearing as well as eyesight and sense of smell. She began to count backwards in her head, then moved on to visualising herself lay on a beach, the sun beating down on her skin. The sea slashing against the shore, the cool spray flowing over her feet as she enjoyed the warmth and seclusion. Okay maybe not a good idea, the thought of seclusion reminded her that she was on her own and could at this very moment have an unknown shifter wandering around her house. Would she ever again feel safe in her home? Why hadn't she put the damn alarm on like she said she would? Dropping her head onto her pulled up knees she rested her forehead against them as she tried again to slow her breathing, and not give away her location. She just prayed that whoever they were they got fed up when they couldn't find her, the mix for the spray was one of the only real things she had left of her mother. That and the script that was inked into her side, she found comfort in the curly script that had been put there by her mother's own hand. The things her father had done to her before he'd finally burned the place down, with them both inside. She shuddered at the memory then held her breath as a creak sounded on the first step downstairs.