Cat and Mouse (Claimed by an Alpha Paranormal Romance Book 1)

by Lilith T. Bell

  Both of my nipples were teased under his tongue and sucked to taut peaks before he moved lower. I tensed as he kissed over my soft, round stomach, my least favorite body part. Feeling that tension, he moved slower and rolled his eyes up to watch my face, but he showed my belly all the same reverence he’d shown my lips and throat and breasts. His hands rubbed over my thighs, massaging the muscles under my skin until they felt the consistency of warm butter.

  A soft kiss was placed on my mound of curls and then I felt the warm brush of his breath chilling my wet folds. He kissed just my outer lips at first, making a series of kisses from just over my clit to my entrance. His fingers carefully parted my outer lips to reveal more of me and this time he blew against my skin purposefully. I shivered and gasped, my body automatically jerking.

  “Do you like that?” he asked, then placed another careful kiss above my clit.

  “I think so.”

  “Don’t you know what you like?”

  “It’s a little confused for me.” I sounded almost as embarrassed as I felt admitting that. “I was only ever with my husband and he was very...controlling.”

  His tongue traced against my inner petals. It was a slow, gentle touch, starting at my entrance and moving up until the tip of his tongue brushed over my small arousal. Once he reached there he moved down to follow the same path again. It wasn’t the sort of touch to instantly make me scream and thrash. Just slow, just careful.

  “Do you like this?”

  “Yes.”

  He did it again, but this time when he reached my arousal he worked his tongue in circles around it. My eyes fluttered shut, head tipping back against the pillows, and I moaned softly.

  “And this?” His voice rumbled softly with hunger.

  “Yes.” The word was nearly a hiss. “Don’t stop that.”

  His tongue continued its circles, occasionally flicking against the tip of my clit. Every time he did I’d make a quiet sound and raise up a little to him. He’d never do it twice in a row, though. He teased and tantalized, only giving me a moment of that more direct contact before he moved on again. One of my hands moved down to comb through his hair, holding him close to me. When the teasing was finally too much, I pulled on his hair gently and rolled my hips to guide him to where I wanted. He groaned his approval as he covered my clit with his lips.

  His lips lightly grasped like he’d done to my nipples and then I felt the touch of his tongue and gentle suction. My body arched up off the bed with no real thought to it and I cried out before I bit my bottom lip to attempt muffling any further sounds. Looking down my body at him, I could see wry amusement in his eyes as he watched me. The pressure of his mouth eased off for a moment as he began to draw away again. I could guess why.

  “That. I like that,” I told him forcefully, my fingers curling in his hair tighter. “Please?”

  He grinned and then flicked his tongue against me again. “Gladly.”

  When his lips pressed to me once again I couldn’t watch him any longer. With a moan my eyes slipped closed and I gave myself up to the feelings. He continued to suck at me and rub his tongue in slow, rhythmic strokes. There was pressure of his fingers at my entrance and I made another soft sound of pleasure, nodding.

  “Yes. I like that, too,” I breathed.

  Two of his fingers slid inside of me and then curled to press up into my inner walls, rubbing in slow beckoning motions. When I moved to try to guide his touch he adjusted instantly, following the hints of my body as if he were putting together some grand puzzle. Soon the rhythm of his mouth and his hand matched, just slow and steady at first but then building up together. Instead of rushing his way through it he let the tension build, seeming to enjoy it as much as I did.

  When I could open my eyes again, I looked down my body to watch him. His own eyes were closed, with a look of intense concentration and ecstasy. Seeing him lose himself in doing nothing more than pleasuring me was almost better than his touch. He wanted me, but not just as a body to use as he saw fit. He wanted me as a mutual partner and I couldn’t remember if I had ever been treated that way before.

  I wanted it to last forever, yet even with as slowly as he was pulling me along the edge still came and I went tumbling over it. My eyes closed again, light flashing behind them, as I moaned out his name. My awareness narrowed down only to where he touched me, as if nothing else was real except for his fingers and his sweet lips pressed to my body. The orgasm came over me in waves, washing over me and sweeping me away from the rest of the world. I could feel my body gripping and tightening around his fingers rhythmically, every muscular squeeze sending a fresh shudder through me.

  Against me, he groaned and the gentle vibrations of his voice made me hiss through my teeth as overly sensitive skin was teased.

  “Do you want me to keep going?” he asked, pressing a kiss to the inside of my thigh.

  The thought of this—just this—for hours as he made me come over and over again brought a whimper to my throat and I bit my bottom lip to stifle it. There was so much I wanted with him now that I had given in and it left me with a vague background panic, like a child in a candy store told he could only have one treat. Come Monday, life would have to go back to normal. I couldn’t expect this to be more than just an aberration at a conference, could I?

  “I want a lot of things,” I finally said. My fingers combed through his hair and I smiled down at him, admiring how beautiful he looked between my legs. “Tell me something you want now.”

  “I want inside you again.” There was something rough and raw in his voice, his eyes watching me hungrily. They made me shiver, my breath catching in my throat.

  “I want that, too.”

  His lips curled into a grin, revealing teeth that seemed more dangerous than they should have been. “Good,” he said.

  He kissed his way back up my body and I sighed and stretched luxuriously under him. When he reached my face he caught me in a deep kiss and I could taste myself on him, which sent a shock of arousal through my body. That reminder of where his mouth had been and how shamelessly he reveled in it made my body tighten and throb. My arms pulled him closer and one leg hooked around his as I raised up beneath him, eager to feel his cock again.

  But he broke the kiss. I made a soft sound of protest that he silenced with a little nip to my bottom lip.

  “Let me fuck you on your stomach,” he said as he slid a hand under my ass.

  I hesitated, as that position felt vaguely vulnerable. I couldn’t see what he was doing or his face. I couldn’t kiss him. Not without straining my neck and doing my best contortionist impression, anyway. There was also something very primal about it. Animalistic. Maybe feeling vulnerable wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

  “All right,” I said.

  I started to move under him and he drew back to give me space. I rolled over onto my stomach, then drew my knees under my body to raise my ass up and tilt my hips toward him. If I dwelt on the position too much, I felt exposed and embarrassed. Luckily, he made it hard to dwell on things like that.

  His hands slid over my ass and I felt him press a kiss over my spine. Then he moved closer and I could feel the head of his cock brush against me. My breath quickened. I leaned back into him.

  The thick head of his cock slid between my lips, but he didn’t push to enter me. Instead he teased us both as he let his cock glide against my inner lips, growing slick with my arousal. There was none of the rush and force from the elevator, not yet. Just as he had been while going down on me, he was masterfully in control as he slowly let the anticipation build.

  I whimpered impatiently and started to press back to him insistently, but his hand on my hip stopped me. It felt like pushing against an iron bar and I marveled at the strength he had hidden in his body. Even with as nicely as he was built under his clothes, I never could have guessed at the sort of power he held.

  I shifted my weight onto one elbow so I could turn and look at him over my shoulder, tossing my hair out of my wa
y as I did. His eyes met mine and I swore the gold around his pupils had expanded to drown out the brown. Some people’s eyes did change to some degree, yet this went to a whole new level. I shivered and cast my eyes down, feeling overwhelmed by the weight of his gaze.

  “How long are you going to make me wait?” I murmured.

  “I just wanted to savor this. I didn’t take my time before.”

  His cock pressed to my entrance again and this time he pushed forward into me with a fluid roll of his hips. My eyes closed and I sucked breath inward through my teeth, my head dropping to rest my forehead against the bed again. The hand he had on my hip holding me immobile finally moved so I could lean back to him, accepting the hot thickness of him.

  He groaned my name, leaning over me to kiss at the back of my neck. “I’ve waited far too long for this,” he purred into my ear.

  “I never would have guessed.”

  As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I doubted them. He had always been attentive toward me and not in that condescending way some men would hover over female engineers. I never would have gone up to the hotel room of any of my other co-workers. Luke was different; he was flirtatious and friendly without being a creep about it. He had been as interested as he could be while still respecting my marriage, or how much of a marriage he thought I had. That realization eased some of shame I had felt.

  The fact that he was fucking me probably helped, too.

  “No?” He brushed a kiss just below my earlobe and thrust into me again, making me shiver and whimper. “Then I guess I didn’t make as much of a fool of myself over you as I worried. Good.”

  Like this he felt completely different inside of me, pressing so deep it stole the breath out of me. Every stroke had me rolling to meet him and murmuring soft encouragements. One of his hands was braced beside my shoulder to support him while the other roamed over my body, his fingers working over me as if they might memorize every inch of my skin. His sensual touches finally focused on my breasts, cradling and kneading first one and then the other. The delight he took in my body seemed endless.

  Soon his thrusts had lost that steady control. The force behind them was growing as I could feel the muscles in his body against mine bunching with tension, his breath by my ear more ragged. Little steadiness remained in the face of his need. I couldn’t anticipate the speed or strength of his next thrust, because he’d give in and take me hard and fast for a few moments before reining himself in again. The uncertainty of it left my nerves confused and on edge. Over and over again I’d think I was nearly there and then he’d go slow again, making me moan in frustrated ecstasy.

  His hand abandoned my breasts to slide down, smoothing over my belly before it took hold of my hip. Instead of holding me still he began encouraging my movements back to him, tugging me to his body each time we came together. The next groan from him had a trace of a growl in it, deep and rumbling in a way no human throat should have been able to mimic.

  “Can I bite you?” His whispered question teased at my ear.

  I remembered the unexpected pain in the elevator, my body growing tighter at the thought until I nearly came from just thinking of it. “Yes,” I choked out.

  Once the word was past my lips his own lips were pressed to the back of my neck. They parted and I felt the scrape of his teeth drawing back from one another to take my flesh between them. The sting of his teeth digging in made me cry out and this time I wasn’t nearly as worried about being overheard. I let myself surrender to the sensations, almost instantly coming. He was there with me at the same time, pressing deeply inside of my body to flood me with the heat of his orgasm. We rocked together in that timeless bliss, lost and found at once.

  Chapter Four

  It was only after I collapsed against the bed panting and trembling in orgasmic aftershocks that I realized I was bleeding. My fingers brushed the bite on my neck and I looked at the red smears on them. I was aware of the risk I’d taken by having unprotected sex with him, but blood was another level of dangerous entirely. It was intimate in ways I had difficulty putting words to, but I recognized it instinctively.

  “Luke,” I began in an uncertain voice.

  He rolled onto his side next to me, an arm still loosely draped across my waist. Those golden eyes now met mine, looking sleepy and satisfied. “Hm?”

  It wasn’t just a color change, I thought as I stared at him. His eyes were completely different. Not human. There was only one time in my life that I had ever stared into eyes like that and the memory was ice water down my spine. I had gone to the zoo on a particularly cold day when there were few other visitors. It meant I got to stand by the big safety glass window into the tiger enclosure all alone. The tiger had sauntered over to watch me in turn and our eyes had met. I had known down to my bones in that moment what it felt like to be prey. Golden feline eyes had watched me with detached interest, not as a fellow creature but as something that could be amusing to kill.

  There was nothing predatory in Luke’s eyes in that moment, but they weren’t human.

  I didn’t say anything right away, too busy staring at him. The drowsy contentment in his face faded as he realized something had changed and he pushed himself up on one elbow. “What’s wrong?”

  I licked my lips and tried to find my voice. It cracked at first, but I got the words out. “What happened to your eyes?”

  His brows drew together in puzzlement, then straightened again quickly. He sat up entirely and swore under his breath, rubbing one hand over his mouth. I could see just a hint of blood from him biting me rub off on his fingers.

  “I’d been hoping to get into this at a...better time,” he said, struggling for the words.

  “Get into what?” I suddenly felt very naked and cold. My eyes flicked away from him to check how far away my clothes were and I tried to decide whether or not I should get dressed and leave. “You just bit me bloody and your eyes... Your face isn’t normal, Luke.”

  “I figured you wouldn’t know.” He sighed, dragging his hands through his hair, then tipped his head back against the headboard. “It’s been a few generations in your family since anyone was a shifter, hasn’t it? I could smell it on you, but it was so faint. Strong enough to give us a chance, but too distant for you to have known.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” My voice rose in volume and pitch, my heart pounding with a rising panic.

  He turned his head to look at me straight on. His eyes had gone back to normal now; his expression was almost embarrassed. “I’m a shapeshifter. In English you’d call me a weretiger.”

  It was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard in my life. I stared at him hard, as if my eyes could have the force behind them of the slap I itched to give him. Was he making fun of me? Was this all some sick joke?

  “Prove it,” I snapped.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Prove it. If you’re a weretiger, turn into a tiger. Let me see you change. Not just putting in contact lenses or whatever you just did. Show me.”

  He looked nonplussed, but didn’t protest. He climbed off the bed on the opposite side from me so that it remained between us, which I appreciated to some degree. After what he had just done and said, I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted him near me. As I watched, the endearing brown of his eyes bled away. His pupils and irises changed shape, the color spreading out over the white of his eye. At the same time there were other changes going on. His teeth were becoming sharper, longer. His jaws elongated slightly, forming more of a muzzle than any person could have. As fur prickled up through his skin and muscle and bones slid and changed shape beneath his skin, I had to look away. I’d seen enough to convince me that it was either real or I was insane, but there were some things that just didn’t feel right to watch. The beautiful man I’d just been in bed with was obliterated in moments, replaced by a massive animal that could tear me apart accidentally.

  With great reluctance, I looked at him again. The tiger sat on the other side of the bed, very carefu
lly still. That was thoughtful of him, since any movement on his part would probably have had me peeing myself and running for the door at the same time.

  I crossed my arms, hugging myself. “Can you change back?”

  I had never been much of a cat person, so I wasn’t sure if I could read his body language accurately, but he looked reluctant. A few moments passed and then his massive head bobbed up and down once. I made myself watch the entire transformation this time. It was a little easier to watch than before, to see the human come swimming up through the tiger. It was also a much slower change the second time and when he was done he slumped forward on the floor, barely able to keep himself supported on his hands.

  “Do you believe me?” he asked, his voice strained.

  Logic or thought had nothing to do with what I did next. It was pure instinctive empathy. Sliding off of the bed on his side, I wrapped my arms around him to offer some support as he sagged beneath the weight of exhaustion.

  “Changing like that is really hard for you?” I asked.

  “It’s an energy thing. If I shift once and then hours later shift back it’s fine, but if I do it back to back...” He trailed off as I helped him back onto the bed.

  “I guess that makes as much sense as anything. It’s not as if what you just did should be physically possible.” My eyes moved over his body, which was as beautiful and human as ever. I couldn’t say how much an adult male tiger weighed off of the top of my head, but I suspected it was quite a bit more than Luke did. That left me with only two possible options.