A Cougar's Claim (Charmed in Vegas Book 7)

by Jennifer James

  Deep, overwhelming grief hummed along the energy connecting her to Kit.

  Sorrow. Rage. Desire. Guilt. But most of all, most surprising of all, was the deep well of love.

  “Stop it,” she whispered against his chest. The words came out garbled, her voice cracking. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.”

  “Stop what? Holding you? Loving you? I’ve loved you since we met all those years ago. Don’t see how I can go and stop that at this point.” Brushing his lips across the crown of her head, he hauled her in even tighter. Sopping wet denim abraded her bare skin. “I’m going to help you whether you like it or not. I’m going to love you, love on you so hard...and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

  The admission plucked at the string of energy binding them, but Rhiannon only felt worse for it. Her daddy always said he loved her, right after he verbally destroyed her with the heinous venom in his heart. “For some reason, having a knight in shining armor offer isn’t really making me feel any better. You do realize that I’m—”

  “I don’t care.” He finger combed her knotted hair. “And it isn’t an offer. It’s the truth. It’s my truth. You don’t have to love me back.” The calloused pads of his thumbs tucked up under her jaw and she yielded to the pressure, let her head fall back until their eyes met. “I’m going to help you make this right, no matter what. I’m not going to leave you, even if you tell me to.”

  Oh, she wanted to believe him. So, so bad. She wanted an ally, a friend and lover to stand beside her. And maybe in front of her sometimes to be her shield, and now and then behind her too, when she needed to fight her own battles.

  Letting the idea of a seed of trust form, she eased closer to him. “Do you think Jase will be a good alpha?” Goosebumps rose in an undulation down her body, starting with her scalp as Kit massaged shampoo into her hair. “Be real with me, no hinky half-truths.”

  He tipped her back into the water. “No. But he was raised to take the position. His father Colt wants him to come home and take over.”

  “You’re next in line after him.”

  Wary eyes glanced down at her. “Yes.”

  “You’d be a better alpha than Jase. They’ll want a strong leader who’ll marry someone who can give them lots of little pure-blood cougars who could be alphas.” She’d never be able to do that. She hadn’t been born a shifter, and there were people out there who regarded changed humans as tainted. If she and Kit were mated, his clan might try to kill her. “I’ve been around a lot of shifters and that was always a thing.”

  A low growl rumbled past his lips despite the way he’d clamped his mouth shut so tight white lines bracketed the outer edges. “Quit worrying about my clan. They’d never hurt you. You’re my mate. And stop with the talk about other shifters. Please.”

  Damn he was growly. “Why does it matter?”

  “It bothers me to think of you with other men.”

  She glared at him, soap bubbles gliding down one side of her face. “Oh, I’m supposed to believe you’ve been celibate all this time? Get real. I was ready to....”

  The predator within him flashed across his eyes and the tendons in his neck stood out. “I asked you nicely. If you’ve been around so many shifters, sweetheart, then you know flaunting other males in front of your mate isn’t a good fucking idea. It shouldn’t matter, should it? That we’ve been with other people. But it’s bothering me, it’s really a fucking issue for me.” Kit advanced, and she had no choice but to back pedal or find herself flat on her back on the floor. “Not because of what you’ve done, but because of what I did. I didn’t claim you right away. I let my human side scare me out of marking you with my bite and now I have to live with the consequences. I’ve been fighting my cat for control since I smelled you on Jase’s clothes and I’m really damn tired. But my beast isn’t. So the next time you feel the need to remind me that my mate and I were with other people instead of each other, how it was my own fucking fault I lost years because I was an idiot, just don’t unless you want my fangs buried in your neck and my cock in your pussy.”

  Her eyes had to be about to bug out of her head. He’d just called her his mate and threatened to bite her...while he was.... Oh God, hell yes.

  Her heart beat in chaotic fits, her lips were dry, but her mouth flooded with saliva. Nipples tingling and hard, clit a throbbing live entity between her legs, and that connection between them? That sucker lit up like an arcing electrical high wire attached to an over loaded transformer. They both sucked air hard, their bare chests mashed together, her fingers hooked in his belt loops, his burrowed into the soft curves of her hips.

  She had to shut this down somehow. Didn’t she?

  She needed to stop lying to herself. Kit might be a Bad Fucking Idea.

  He also might be the best idea she’d ever had. Because she could love him. Hell, she did love him.

  “I can’t scare you away, can I? You just won’t give up.” Kit’s rough, passion fueled words made everything feel heightened, tighter, slick.

  “I want to mark you. Claim you as mine. Brand you with my cock and my mouth. I want to make you come so hard you scream my name until you lose your voice.” He shook his head. “No, I won’t give up or back down. You’re mine, even if you don’t want to admit it.”

  The cocky asshole kept moving closer, stalking her. She was the sole recipient of his intense, obsessive focus.

  “I’ve been waiting for you all this time. There’s never been anyone who got deep inside me like you did, no one who touched me where it mattered,” she gazed up at him, at his primal animal sizing her up from behind his eyes, and rubbed her toes over the top of his foot. His continued assertions of her role in his life as his fated mate hadn’t really sunk in until now. The way he’d stripped himself of all pretense shredded her, left her as exposed as he was.

  Did she want this? Want him? Stupid questions with even more ridiculous answers. But with the noise of the world crowded out, nothing but them encapsulated here in this shower stall surrounded by steam, her embedded hurt and anger melted into lava rather than cold stone and brought forth more of the girl she’d been. A girl with an innocent, wild heart who’d believed in soul mates, magic, and love that could conquer anything.

  He stared at her, his eyes wild and his hands trembling.

  He cupped her breasts in his hands, stroking her nipples with his thumbs. “Baby, tell me to finish you hair and to go away so you can shower alone. I need you to stop me, right now, or I’m going to be inside you. Tell me to get out of here.”

  She arched her back, pressing into his palms, her hands anchored at his hips. She rested her thumbs in the dip between his muscle and hip bone, wanted to follow the concavity with her tongue right down to his groin where she’d suck his cock between her lips and love him with her mouth. Magic rose in a blinding rush around them. Kit made a sound she’d never heard before, a sound she hadn’t known he could make.

  The cougar had risen ascendant. Kit was still there, but his cat had taken most of the control. She didn’t know if she was terrified or aroused or both.

  “Mate.” The tone of his voice was low, hungry, and danced on the edge of razor sharp claws. He took a half-step back and observed her, swept her with his gaze from head to toe.

  Shifters didn’t harm their mates. No matter how wild he was, he was hers.

  With one hand on each shoulder, he coaxed her to turn around. Water cascaded down her head and over her face. She couldn’t move, could barely breathe, the recollection of his irises flashing in the low light and the way his muscles bunched under his skin calling to her fight or flight instincts.

  Heavy, work hardened hands crept across her abdomen and hauled her back with one enormous jerk. They collided in a slap of wet flesh. The press of his hard length against her lower back started an ache inside her, a need so deep it approached agony.

  Trembling, she locked her knees and fought to breathe without gasping.

  To keep her hands clenched
in fists on her thighs.

  To abstain from tilting her head to the side and presenting him with the nape of her neck.

  To hold still and not undulate her hips.

  The last time they’d been together like this, skin to skin, she’d made the first move.

  He’d walked away from her. No way was she showing her cards first. Not this time.

  Kit licked the top of her shoulder, paused, and started over again. He continued up the column of her throat until he’d reached her ear lobe. He tickled her lower abdomen and paused with his hand cupping her sex. Staking a claim.

  “Kit...” All she had to do was tell him she wanted him. All she had to do was say yes. “I can’t,” she whimpered. “I can’t tell you to leave. I love you too damn much.”

  Yes, kiss me.

  Yes, touch me.

  Yes, fuck me.

  Yes, bite me.

  “Yes.”

  .

  Chapter Eleven

  One word spun his world on its axis. Shock froze him in place for a moment that hung between them, bloated with promise and the weight of memory.

  He’d told her to tell him to leave and she hadn’t. She wanted him, wanted this. The cougar had had enough arguing, negotiating, and tripping over promises. They were meant to be together and if he didn’t get inside her, claim her, he’d lose his damn mind.

  Quivering, she placed her hand on top of his, his chest tight to her back. His cock trapped between them, hot and hard and a constant needy pulse. He parted her with his middle finger, gliding through her soft, slick folds. He couldn’t wait to taste her. Ah, fuck yeah.

  She rose onto her tip toes, hips rocking, chasing his touch. “Kit.”

  He entered her with one finger, light, careful touches, and cupped her breast in his other hand. “This is mine. Isn’t it.”

  She gasped, gripped his forearm in one hand and the nape of his neck with the other. Clinging to him, weak kneed and short of breath.

  Kissing her shoulder, he grazed her with his elongated canines, careful not to draw blood. It wasn’t time yet for that. She had to be ready, soft from orgasm. Looking down the line of her body, over her curves, the dips, hollows, and swells of her sweetly hot form, he wanted to roar his triumph from the rooftops and in the streets.

  This was his mate. This glorious, fertile, strong creature belonged to him. Her hard nipples tempted him to lick and suck, the strength of her pretty thighs filled his head with fantasies of her wrapped around him as he fucked her wildly.

  She rocked her weight back and forth restlessly, clutching at the hand between her legs. “More Kit. I need more.”

  “Whose pussy is this?” He stilled, waited for her answer.

  “Kit, please.” Rhiannon bit her lip.

  “Answer me.” Withdrawing from the tight clasp of her body, he circled her clit and pinched her nipples with his other hand.

  Grumbling, rocking her weight from side to side, she whined. “Yours.”

  “That’s right sweetheart.” Kit penetrated her with a second finger, loving the squeeze of her muscles and the harsh rasp of her breath. Twisting her hair in his fist just tight enough to tug on her scalp with a hint of pain, he kissed her with all the pent up desire and possessive hunger inside him.

  He retracted his fingers and played with her clit. Their tongues caressed, and he captured hers with his teeth, lightly biting then sucking. She twisted in his arms so they faced each other and yanked the button on his jeans.

  Water ran over her curves in tantalizing streams he wanted to lick up with his tongue. Leaning over, he started at the bottom of her left breast where the gorgeous, full curve met her torso and caught the liquid in his mouth as he rose, stopping to suck on her nipple. He moved to the other side, took his time enjoying the taut, light brown flesh and the way his mate arched her back to bring them closer to him.

  He gripped the waistband of his pants and ripped. The button bounced off the tile, the cloth shredded in half right down to his thigh. Rhiannon shoved the remains down to his knees and wrapped one hand around his hard cock. Cupping her face in both hands, he thrust his hips, sliding his length along her palm.

  Not nearly enough, not even close to the way her pussy would feel around him. Kit kicked free of his jeans, picked her up, and pinned her to the wall. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, undulating her hips up and down his length. Tormenting him with how close he was to being deep inside her.

  Angling so the head of his cock dragged over her clit, he dragged himself through her wetness. After the third time, she dug her nails into his shoulders and gave a growl a shifter could be proud of. “Stop teasing.”

  She reached between them and moved him so the head of his cock entered her.

  “Who am I?”

  Need thundered in his blood, the connection between their souls spooling ever tighter. Shuddering with pleasure and fighting for control, he sucked at the column of her neck, giving her an inch at a time, sinking deep inside her. She buried her face in his shoulder, each breath a shallow gasp.

  “Kit please.”

  “Rhiannon.” God, he wanted to move, to pound into her until neither of them could walk.... The connection that bound them together sizzled and sparked. He ground hard against her, using his powerful hips and thighs to pin her to the wall. “Answer me.”

  Inner muscles flexing around him, she bit his throat. “You’re an evil fucking tease.”

  “I’ll give you what you want, just answer the question.” Sucking in a deep breath, he dropped his head to the curve of her neck and nuzzled her. “Who. Am. I?”

  He punctuated his words with three slow, tortuous thrusts.

  “More.” She dug her nails into the nape of his neck.

  “Answer me and I’ll fuck you so hard against this wall you can’t walk straight.”

  A shiver chased across her skin and she glared at him from half-lidded eyes. “You know who you are.” She kissed him, slow, easy, tender and sweet. So sweet. A benediction and a promise lived on her lips, soaked into his skin with every touch.

  A rumbling purr rose from his chest, and he set a slow, easy pace, each thrust driving them both crazy. One arm cradled the back of her head, his fingers tangled in her hair. He rolled his hips and she groaned, scratched his back hard enough to draw blood.

  “Harder.”

  Rising through the haze of pleasure and the ache of bone-deep happiness, he circled his hips again. He could hold her here for hours, drive her mad with orgasms, and he would, if she’d just say what he needed to hear from her.

  “Who am I?” One hard, deep thrust.

  She turned her face to the side. “More.”

  “Who am I?” Kit rocked in and out a fraction of an inch. He held her chin with his thumb and middle finger, forced her to meet his eyes. “I can do this all night.”

  She regarded him with a stare clouded with lust and frustration and fear and need. “I...I.,,,”

  Shallow, slow thrusts, one hard and deep, four more shallow and slow followed by two so fast and hard she would have cracked her skull on the wall if not for his hand cradling her head.

  “Say it.” Licking her lower lip, he plunged his tongue deep into her mouth, showing her with his kiss what he could be doing with his cock. “I want to give you what we both want. Hard, fast, deep. You feel so good around my cock. All you have to do is say what I am to you. I know you feel it. We both do.”

  She groaned and shook her head in denial.

  “Who. Am. I?” Every word punctuated with a roll of his hips. He had to hold still or he’d spill his cum inside her any second.

  His mate clenched her thighs around his waist and raised herself up and down on his shaft. Kit clamped down on her hip with his free hand, the left one still cupping the back of her head so she didn’t harm herself. “Stop. You get what I give you.”

  Lifting the heavy mound of her breast, he dipped down and took her nipple between his teeth. He grazed her with his fangs just hard enough for a ti
ny trickle of blood to well up.

  Not deep enough to mark her as his mate and introduce the magic that’d change her into a shifter. No, not yet. “Who am I, Rhiannon? You’re my air, my water, my soul’s blood. I can exist without you if that’s what you want. But I can’t truly live.”

  Soft, warm hands tilted his face back until her eyes locked on his. Dark hair tangled around her face, clung to her neck and ears. Her eyes were red rimmed, lips swollen from his kiss. She stared at him for so long his pulse slowed, each beat of his heart the ominous thud of a war drum.

  “Mate,” she formed the word on a soundless exhale.

  Emotions whirled around him in an endless vortex. Kit rocked his hips into hers, just hard enough to make them both crazy for more. “Say it again.”

  “Mate,” she whimpered.

  Moving harder, faster, he claimed her mouth in a fierce kiss. She grabbed at his shoulders and back, meeting each of his thrusts half way so the slap of their bodies colliding rose over the rush of water. Every gasp and sigh propelled him to give her more, his cock buried inside her tight, hot pussy all the way to the base. Her nipples rubbed his chest and her nails bit into his skin with erotic pain.

  The cougar started to spill through his skin in a way he’d never experienced. This wasn’t the savagery of a shift to fight or kill. This was something he’d only ever share with Rhiannon. His fangs narrowed, not meant to rip or tear, but to puncture her skin with minimal damage. Claw replaced his human fingernails, but the edges were blunted.