Pietr saw the side road leading toward home and took it as quickly as he could. About a mile up the great gates loomed. Cirro must has been watching the security screen because the gates slid open before he even reached them and he drove right through. Massive weeping willow trees surrounded the road as he went another two miles up the drive. From the middle of the forest Katafygio arose. It was a compound housing a subdivision of nearly one hundred houses surrounding a large mansion in the center. The mansion was valued at a little over ten million dollars. This was where the majority of the leap lived. Within the main home the Vasilias and Vasiliassa lived, along with the inner core of the security team, including Cirro and Pietr, when he was home. There was room for many others to stay, but that was reserved for the future mates of the unmated leopards in the home. Karen, the Vasiliassa, was currently the only female living in the home outside of the servants.
When he pulled up Cirro was already rushing out of the house with four women behind him. His black cargo pants and black T-shirt were his signature. Pietr recognized Lauren, Drea, Beth, and Adelis, four of the few unmated females of the leap. They had so far proven not to be mates for the local leap. Now, as they would be his mate’s kouarteto until she chose her own, they would not be traveling to find their mates. Beth, the elder of the group, got to the car first.
“Where is she?” she asked and then shot to the other side of the car before Pietr could even answer. She opened the door and lifted an unconscious Selene into her arms. The other three of her kouarteto crowded around, making sure that each of them were touching Selene’s body as they carried her inside.
“I’ve cleared your room for her. The bed has been switched to a mate’s bed so that her quartet will fit there. Do you want your kouarteto too?”
“I won’t need it. I’ll let them warm her. I’ll take over from there. Ladies, just stay on hand.”
“Yes, Pietr,” Beth answered for them. He ignored the majesty of his family home as they bounded up the left side of the dual staircase.
They bypassed the first ten doors in the west wing of the house and walked into the next door on the left side. This started Pietr’s suite of rooms. As they entered Pietr saw that his mate’s kouarteto had been busy. The room was surrounded in lit white candles, his black silk sheets looked inviting and warm in the firelight. The mattress was now double the size it had been before. The mate’s bed was designed from a time that a woman took her mate and his brothers on as a group. The multiple partners hadn’t been done in a while in their leap but the traditions were still observed. Beth put Selene down on top of the comforter and then slid in beside her. She scooted in with Selene until they were near the center of the bed. Lauren climbed on the other side of them and lay on Selene’s side. Adelis crawled over the other women’s heads and curled around the top of them. Drea curled around the bottom of them, draping herself over their legs.
“Keep her warm,” Pietr said. The women nodded in unison and wrapped their arms around whatever body part they could reach on Selene. He could feel the prickle of aura over his skin and knew the women not only used their body heat but the heat of their aura right before the change took over. Cirro waited for him at the door and, with one lingering look at his mate, Pietr followed him out of the room.
“She’s safe now, Pietr, you know she is.”
“Cirro, she almost slipped away. If I had been just a minute late getting to her, if I had been a few minutes late getting here…”
“But you did, you made it. Now she is okay. You will have enough to face when she wakes up. From your account and my clean-up crew he was a wereleopard. They didn’t recognize his scent so he isn’t local. He was encroaching on territory. He deserved his death for that alone. She’s okay.”
“I have never been more terrified in my life, Cirro. As strong as a mate makes us, there is weakness too.”
“Do you regret it, Pietr? Do you regret finding her?”
“Of course not. I regret what she is going to go through. I regret that she didn’t have a choice, and I regret that she will fear what we are because of how she was initiated.”
“You will find a way, my friend. You are mates. There is no other choice. She may be afraid, but you saved her, she will remember that. Just give her time.”
“She will have all the time in the world now,” Pietr said, sighing.
He strolled back into the room, watching the sleeping women on his bed. He would stand vigil, make sure that his mate was healing the way she should. The healing agents in his saliva had stopped her wounds from bleeding. His saliva had also worked to start healing her broken flesh. It was the best he could do until the change could take over. He sat and watched over her, the delicate rise and fall of her chest, the curve of her hip. He realized that she was still in the tattered remains of her dress. Her blood had stained the ruined fabric of her dress. She wouldn’t want to be reminded of that when she woke up, it would be hard enough.
He stalked to the side of the bed, realizing his own barefoot and dirty state. He still smelled of his enemy, had his blood, and Selene’s, on him. He wanted to be free of it before he touched her. He changed direction, grabbed some sweats and a T-shirt and walked to his shower. He stripped his dirty clothes off and turned the shower on as hot as he could stand it. He got in and scrubbed from head to toe. He wanted every trace of that godforsaken man off his skin. He wanted to wash the vision of his mate wounded, dying, and lying cold on the pavement. The water sloughed off him, turning the white suds an odd pink color. He washed his skin until there was nothing but clear water. He climbed out of the shower. In the mirror he caught sight of his chest. There were four scars across the broad expanse. He hadn’t even felt the attack. By morning the one hit scored by his enemy would be gone. He may have more claw marks but they would be from Selene.
He went back into the room, grabbed an extra shirt from his drawer, and went to the bed. He tapped Beth’s shoulder. She woke quickly, arm clenching around Selene protectively and canines bared before she scented the air and quieted. She looked at him questioningly. He reached across her and pulled at Selene’s dress. She took the hint and shifted just one hand so that claws extended from her fingers. She cut the fabric away from Selene’s body as softly as she could. When she couldn’t reach the other side she woke Lauren. She showed her what she was doing and together the women got the messy pieces of fabric off Selene. Pietr handed them the fresh shirt he’d grabbed and they put the shirt on Selene before settling her back into sleep. That job done he went back to sit at his appointed seat. He stayed up, knowing that when the heat hit her, and her change was nearly complete, she would need him.
When a shifter who’d be turned awoke for the first time they needed two things: to eat, and to satisfy baser urges. He would be there for both. Now that the danger was over he couldn’t say he wasn’t looking forward to it. He wouldn’t have to be careful. He wouldn’t have to worry. And when they were bound irrevocably they would face whatever else came, even if that was teaching his mate that he was the right choice and she never should have run from him in the first place.
Chapter Five
She was on fire. She could barely catch her breath. Selene tried to move to find some cool air but she couldn’t. Something was weighing her down. The night before filled her memory. The cat man, the attack, the feel of her breast splitting, and the feeling of absolute cold. She remembered it all. She cried out, struggling against what was holding her down, trying to break free, trying to breath. She heard drums pounding in her head, something scratching behind her ear, and could see nothing but a blur of pinks in front of her face. She struggled harder and heard an exhalation of air and froze. The blur of color focused and she saw arms. She was under people.
“I’m moving, Selene. Give me a second.” The arms shifted at the honeyed voice. Blessed cool air touched Selene’s face and she took a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she exhaled, she opened her eyes again. The first thing that she saw was a brunette watching her
with a serene expression in her dark eyes. Her nose was upturned, mouth a perfect moue. She wore a black nightgown that clung to her small but high breasts.
“I’m Beth.”
Another woman sat up, her blond hair curling around her cheeks prettily. Her blue eyes were kind in her heart-shaped face. Her lips were thinner but were pretty and pink. She wore a blue nightgown. Selene was starting to see a trend.
“I’m Lauren. Nice to meet you!” She waved.
At their feet a third woman rested her black head on her hand. Her hair hung to the bed so Selene wasn’t sure how long it was. Her brown eyes were shrewd. She looked like she was examining Selene for any injuries. Once she finished her perusal she smiled softly, her darker skin making her teeth whiter.
“I’m Drea. Happy you’re awake.” She lay back down and another woman crawled from behind Selene to sit next to Lauren. She looked almost like some old pictures she’d seen of the singer Selena. Her black hair curled around her shoulders in cascading waves. She was the only one who looked to be wearing make-up but Selene figured it wouldn’t be that perfect. Her lips just had a touch of red to them, her eyebrows perfectly arched, and her face smooth of any imperfections.
“My name is Adelis,” she said, voice smoky. Selene could hear the accent when she said her name.
“It’s nice to meet you all, I guess. Don’t take this the wrong way, really, but what the hell is going on?” Selene asked. Beth chuckled.
“That’s our cue to leave. We will be here if you need us again. We hope to be great friends.”
The women rose as one, graceful with an eerie quality that wasn’t quite human. They left the room on silent feet and Selene realized that she wasn’t alone. When she looked back at the foot of the bed Pietr was in a chair. That was as far as she got. Something flared in her, hot and aching. Her skin felt suddenly too tight for her bones, her chest too constricted for her to get a full breath. Just looking at him made her weepy with want. She moaned, shifting on the bed, and then cursing the movement when it sent a zing through her clit. She stayed as still as possible as she watched Pietr.
His dark hair looked like it was wet from a shower. She could see his shape in the plain T-shirt he wore better than she could when he’d had the suit on. She could see the tint of his skin, the muscles of his biceps, and the thickness of his chest. His shoulders were broader somehow, as if they were no longer contained. He watched her with his silver gaze, saying nothing as she stared at him. She rose to her hands and knees on the bed, drawn to him. She crawled toward him, scenting his cocoa smell in the air. He never moved, not all of him at least. If the tent in his sweats was anything to go by, he was definitely not unaffected. She crawled closer to him, each step sharpening his smell in her nostrils.
“I don’t understand,” she said with a shake of her head, but she couldn’t stop her body from crawling toward him.
“I know,” he said, his voice rolling over her. Pleasure swelled within her. She needed. Oh how she needed.
“Why do I feel like this?”
“You didn’t want me before, you mean?” he asked and then smiled, and the effect was devastating. She stopped on the bed, staring at him. Everything stilled until all she could feel was the pounding of her own heart in the silence.
“Yes, but not like this.”
“I know.”
“What’s happening to me?”
“It’s already happened. I’m here to help you through it. I’ll always be here.” She frowned at that, her body stopping. That sounded permanent. But they couldn’t be permanent. They’d just met the night before. She’d turned his advance down. She remembered that. Or had more days passed? She touched her chest and felt the skin was smooth. The wounds had been so deep. How had she survived? How had she healed with no scars?
“Come to me,” he whispered and her body started moving again. It was as if his voice chased away her thoughts. She didn’t care about the attack. She didn’t want to think about what had happened.
“Pietr,” she moaned.
“You’ll scream it later. Let me give you what you need, mate. The rest can wait. Are you wet for me? Does you pussy want what I can give you? Do you want me to fill you up?”
Selene stumbled trying to get to him. When she nearly tripped over the T-shirt she wore, way too big to be one of her own, she pulled it over her head in one motion, her breasts hanging heavily when she went back to her hands and knees. Pietr looked down at her breasts, his pink tongue snaking out to lick his lips. If the tent of his sweats could grow bigger it did. He stood slowly, never looking away from her breasts. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side. His abs were a ripple of muscles as he stood before her. He hooked his thumbs into the edge of his pants and pushed them off his hips and down his legs. He stepped out of them and stood before her, proud, fiercely hard, and so sexy she just had to take a taste.
The head of his cock looked as thick as a juicy plum, and nearly as purple he was so full of blood. The helmet was smooth and flowed into a slightly pink section of his cock. Down his shaft he grew thicker to the base. He was long, thick, and rock hard. She knew she wouldn’t be able to take much in her mouth but she had to try. Panting, she crawled up to him, pushing her chest toward the bed. She turned her head and licked her way from the inside of one thigh, up over his balls, and down the other thigh. His thighs tightened. Gripping his thighs for balance she nipped her way back up his thigh to the base of his cock. She tasted his tangy, salty flavor on her tongue as she licked his cock from root to tip and back again.
“Yes!” he hissed. She swirled her tongue around the head of his cock and then sucked it into her mouth. She worked her tongue on the bottom of his helmet as she sucked. The base of his cock pulsed in her hand as she gripped the base of his dick. He felt like velvet-covered steel in her palm as she pumped him. He tasted so good.
His hands palmed her head, his fist tangling in her hair. He guided her head back and forth on his cock. She let go of the base of his dick and braced herself against his thighs again. He fucked slowly in and out her mouth and she sucked down his pre-come with each swallow. She pushed closer to him, wanting more of him down her throat. When she looked up at him his head was thrown back, mouth slack, but his eyes were peering down at her. Knowing he was watching her turned her on even more. She opened her legs wider and trailed one of her hands down her body. When she reached her clit she circled the nub of nerves with sure, easy strokes. Sounds of her moans were muffled against his cock and her eyes slid closed.
“Damn if that’s not the sexiest thing I’ve seen,” he growled. He gripped her head with both hands and pumped into her fast and hard. She could feel him hitting the back of her throat with each push. She sucked him down, wanting him deeper. She swirled her fingers over her wet pussy and then went back to her clit. She circled faster over the flesh, needing release.
“Suck it. That’s right. Take it deeper.” Pietr lifted one leg on the bed and pushed her head back. The angle change allowed for him to slide deeper down her throat. He slid in and out of her mouth, helped by her saliva. He was shiny with each drag out. She sucked harder on him, wanting his climax, wanting to taste him. He groaned, fingers clenching in her hair almost painfully.
“Not like this, not like this,” he said and slid out of her mouth. He grasped her under her arms and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around him. He sat on the seat he’d started in, helping her adjust her feet so they were braced against the back of the chair. He wrapped his arms around her, leaning her back so that he could see her.
“Play with that pussy for me.” She didn’t hesitate. Her hand found her aching flesh and started moving again. His eyes were like liquid smoke as he watched her. He lifted her slightly and angled the head of his cock to her pussy.
“Don’t stop moving that hand,” he commanded and then sank into her. He didn’t give her a chance to get used to him, to adjust. He plowed into her, smacking the flesh of her ass with each of his lifts. She caresse
d her clit, faster and faster as he moved.
“God yes,” she moaned.
She moved her hand faster, her other hand coming to mold her breasts. Pietr smiled crookedly and then leaned forward. His hot mouth latched onto the nipple of the breast she was molding. She held her breast for him, pushing the nipple out so that he could play with it with his tongue. He sucked the nub into his mouth and then rolled it around as his hips moved. His hands gripped her ass, spread the cheeks and he pushed harder. Each thrust had her climbing higher and higher on some precipice that she didn’t quite think she could reach but knew she would die trying. He felt so good. So incredibly good. His cock was thick inside her, stretching her until she felt like she could barely take him. The edge, the slight bite of pain, only sharpened her pleasure.
“Come for me, mikro. Come all over my cock.”
He bit down on her nipple as he moved her hand and slapped her clit with one stinging hit and slammed his hips up to her ass. He hit her womb and she exploded over him, panting, blind, deaf, and dumb to the world. She wasn’t sure where he began and she ended. She couldn’t feel whose pleasure she was experiencing as he bellowed his pleasure. He gripped her to his body fiercely and inside she felt something shift. It rolled under her, pushing toward her skin and something answered under Pietr’s skin. When the rolling touched through their skin her heart soared and another climax, stronger and harder than the first, shattered her into pieces. She screamed, a sound almost like a roar floating to her ears and then Pietr lifted his head and roared with her. They felt…connected, irrevocably, and for a second, she saw the canines of a cat.
When she screamed again, it was all fear.
Chapter Six
She hadn’t been dreaming. Pietr had turned into the leopard who had saved her. She’d thought when she’d been dying that it was okay, that she could deal with it. She’d thought that all she wanted was to tell him thank you and that it didn’t matter that he walked on all fours when he wanted to. Now she wasn’t so sure. All she could think of was the half-man-half-cat that had attacked her. She’d been dying. There was no way she should have survived that accident. She crawled backwards on the bed, her thighs sticky from their fluids. She slid on the silk sheets under her but she didn’t stop until her back met the coolness of the headboard. She didn’t want to admit that she felt empty without him inside her.
Taken By Lust Page 3