by Tonya Brooks
Her canines began to tingle, and some primitive instinct had her lifting up on tiptoe to sink her teeth into his shoulder. His growl of pleasure brought a tired smile to her lips. "Mine," Aylese sighed in utter contentment and laid her head against his bare chest.
"You bit me," he said in surprise.
"Mmm, and I'll do it again," she purred and placed a kiss over his heart. "You were right. That was phenomenal."
Jerrett swung her up into his arms effortlessly, his eyes smoldering with renewed hunger. "That was foreplay," he said with the most wicked smile she'd ever seen. "We haven't even gotten started yet, love."
God help her, she was going to die of pleasure.
***
The sound of tiny paws padding across the carpet woke Jett and alerted him that his cub was on the prowl. Since it was still the middle of the night, he slid out of bed to intercept him before he woke Aylese. Justis met him in the doorway with a sleepy, "Meow."
"Hey, buddy," he whispered quietly and scooped the cub into his arms. His son greeted him by rubbing his face all over his neck. "Did you wake up alone?"
"Meow."
"Bring him to bed," his mate's sleep tinged voice requested. Jett handed the cub over to her, laid down and pulled his mate into his arms. Aylese hugged the cub to her chest and cooed, "Mommy missed you, too." She snuggled deeper into his embrace and sighed contentedly, "Thank you, Jerrett."
"For what?" He queried.
"For making me a mate and a mother," she replied with a smile as their cub curled up on her chest, yawned and closed his eyes.
"Thank you for giving us a chance," he responded and placed a tender kiss on her temple. "Now go to sleep, love. Justis will be demanding his breakfast soon."
"Umm," she purred contentedly and drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A chuffing sound woke Jett, and he opened his eyes to a sight that had him freezing in place. Because a black jaguar was stretched out beside him on the bed, grooming their cub by licking him from head to toe. He blinked his eyes and stared in open mouth shock at the realization that his mate had shifted.
Admittedly his cat was convinced that she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen, but how the hell was it possible? Aylese wasn't a werecat and the mating bite sure as hell wouldn't turn her into a full-fledged shifter. So what the fuck was going on? "Aylese, is it possible that one of your parents were shifters?" He queried hopefully.
His mate turned her head and blinked familiar cobalt blue eyes at him. She chuffed out a laugh and smiled at him revealing large white canines. Through their mental bond, he heard her reply. 'Of course not, you silly man.'
Oh. Fuck. "Then we may have a bit of a problem," he informed her and tried like hell to control his rising panic. "Because you're a jaguar, love."
His mate chuffed again and batted a paw at his chest. Her eyes widened as she stared at her paw before she lifted her head and looked down the length of her sleekly muscled body. He grabbed the cub and deposited him safely in his lap a split second before his mate let loose an ear-splitting yowl and surged to her feet.
He watched as Aylese turned around in a semi-circle until she could see her image in the mirror. 'Jerrett! What the hell have you done to me?' She screamed through their bond.
"I swear I didn't do this," he fervently denied. "I don't know how it happened."
'Don't just sit there, do something,' she demanded and whirled back to face him.
Easier said than done when he didn't have a clue what the hell to do. Wait. What the hell was he thinking? He was a werecat for fuck's sake. Of course, he knew what to do. "All right, love. You need to imagine yourself in human form," he said as calmly as possible. "Now take control of your cat and tell her to shift back."
'You tell her to shift,' she snarled. 'Cause she's not listening to me.'
Under normal circumstances, an alpha had the ability to force a shift on a member of its pride. However, not knowing how or why his mate had managed to shift into a cat, to begin with concerned him enough that he was afraid to try. Because the last thing he wanted was for her to get stuck mid-shift.
That would be very, very bad.
'Just talk to her love,' he said through their bond with a calmness that he did not feel. 'You can hear her voice just like you can mine.'
'The only voice inside my head is yours,' she countered anxiously. 'There is no cat.'
What. The. Fuck?
"Meow," the cub said and pounced out of his lap to rub himself against his mother's leg. In spite of her inner turmoil, Aylese lowered her head and rubbed her face against their son to soothe him. In either form she was an amazing mother, always putting the cub's needs before her own. Then she lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at him.
Oh. Shit.
He was so screwed.
'Jerrett, what the hell is going on,' his mate demanded. 'Why am I am jaguar?'
"I've never heard of anything like this happening before, love," he hastily admitted as he slid out of bed. "But we'll find a way to reverse it. I'll call Pier. He'll know what to do." He hoped. Otherwise, his mate just might kill him. Before he could make the call his phone rang so he answered with, "I've got a bit of a situation, Ryker."
"Yeah, well, so do I," the lion shifter growled. "I found an intruder on the grounds."
His cat went on the alert, and he demanded, "Did you get him?"
"Oh, I got her," his brother assured him grimly. "The woman claims she's Harper Stone and as damned aggravating as she is, I believe her."
"What the hell? I thought Wilds had her," he responded in confusion.
"He's got someone he thinks is her," the other man agreed. "And he's gone dark, so I can't reach him."
"Jesus fucking Christ," he growled.
His mate gave a sharp warning growl and said through the bond, 'Watch your language in front of Justis.'
"Yes, love. I'm sorry," he replied apologetically as she resumed grooming their cub.
"Harper is having a fit to talk to her sister so put your mate on the phone," Ryker insisted.
"That's not possible," he denied as he walked into the living room."She shifted."
"Shifted what?"
"Into a fucking jaguar," he bit out in a panicked tone and pressed his pounding forehead against the cool pane of glass. His reflection in the tinted window revealed a jaguar mating mark on his shoulder where Aylese had bitten him. Yes, the bite had felt sharp, but he'd been too preoccupied to pay it much attention at the time.
Obviously, she'd been able to do a partial shift last night if her canines had lengthened enough to mark him. The question was, how had she done it? If Aylese was right and she didn't have a cat, why the hell had she shifted? And more importantly, what the hell was his mate that she could shift at all?
"Are you serious?" Ryker demanded, dragging him back to the situation at hand.
"Do I sound like I'm joking?" Jett bit out. "The mating bite couldn't have caused this kind of reaction, could it?"
"No. She had to have the shifter gene for something like this to happen," he confirmed. "Or fae blood."
Jett groaned and banged his head against the glass. "I need to get her back to the Palace so Pier can look her over. Send the containment van to pick us up."
'Jerrett Black, you are not putting me in a cage,' his mate snarled, and he turned to see her entering the living area with their cub held securely by his nape between her teeth.
"Send the limo instead," he corrected. "And make it fast. I've got a pissed off mama jaguar on my hands."
"Yeah? Well, I've got a pissed off activist demanding that I produce her sister or she's going to sic the ASPCA on the foundation," Ryker bit out grimly. "And to make matters worse, my cat is convinced that she's our mate. You might as well just shoot me now."
"Jesus fucking Christ."
'Language!'
***
The trio entered the Palace and walked into bedlam. Jett did a double take because Harper Stone and a woman w
ho looked exactly like her were having a shouting match loud enough to wake the dead. Ryker looked like he was barely hanging onto control of his cat and Wilder was silently glowering at them all.
'Jesus Christ. Look what the cat dragged in, Harper and Hayden, the twins from hell,' his mate said in exasperation.
"Enough!" Jett roared as he led his mate and cub into the room, the rest of his brothers following them.
Both women turned on him to demand simultaneously, "What the hell have you done with my sister?"
"As you can see, Aylese is fine," he replied and gestured to his mate as she carried their cub over to the couch and stretched out with him held securely between her front paws. "She's just having difficulty communicating in this form."
One of the women screamed bloody murder and climbed atop his desk, the stapler held threateningly as she stared wide-eyed at the big cat. The other one paled to ash at the sight of the blue-eyed jaguar. "Oh my God," she exclaimed, a horrified expression on her face. "You turned her into a jaguar!"
'Jerrett, tell them to calm down, or I'm telling mom about the time they snuck out to meet the Blythe brothers behind the bleachers.' Jett repeated what his mate had said, and her sisters looked horrified.
"How the hell do you know about that?" The stapler wielding twin demanded in a shocked tone.
"You wouldn't dare," Harper gasped. Aylese gave them a big toothy grin and chuffed out a laugh. At that, Harper sank to her knees and wailed miserably, "Oh, Lese. What have they done to you?"
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Harp, what the hell are you smoking?" Her twin snapped. "That animal is not Aylese."
"Shut the hell up, Hades," her twin snapped back before turning pleading eyes on Jett. "I'll tell you anything you want to know, just please, change her back."
Always the nurturer, the jaguar rose and walked across the floor to her sibling, the cub prancing along beside her. She rubbed her head against the other woman's and stood perfectly still when Harper wrapped both arms around her neck and cried all over her fur. 'Jerrett, please tell her this isn't permanent,' his mate pleaded.
He hoped like hell it wasn't and did as she asked. "Harper, your sister is going to be fine. I'm not sure what happened, but I am positive that Dr. Montford can explain it."
Pier chose the worst possible time to admit, "I have no idea how this happened." When Aylese leveled a lethal stare at him, he hastily added, "I'll need to do a complete physical exam to determine precisely what caused the shift, but I do have a theory."
"Spit it out," Jett demanded.
"In layman's terms," Ryker added in a tone of longsuffering.
Since Jett had already discussed the issue with him on the phone during the ride home and the doctor knew all the details, he postulated, "I believe the cub is the crux of the issue. She should shift back to human form if we take him away."
Aylese rounded on the unsuspecting cougar shifter with a roar of fury, "Yowl, yowl!" From the feral look in her eyes and the aggressive stance, that had been the wrong thing to say to a protective mama jaguar.
Jett quickly placed himself between them and said soothingly, "No one is going to take our cub from you, love. Pier is just trying to help so don't eat him." She replied through their bond, and he couldn't prevent a smile when he teased, "Such language in front of the cub."
Satisfied that she'd made her point, his mate picked up their cub and carried him back to the couch. Harper followed suit, and both of them watched the doctor with a narrow-eyed glare. The other sister remained atop the desk and stared at them all as if they were insane."Care to try again?" Jett asked and bared his teeth at his brother for upsetting his mate.
"It has to be related to the cub," Pier insisted. "Without running a battery of tests, I have no way of knowing what they injected him with. He could be releasing some form of toxin that caused Aylese to shift due to prolonged exposure. If that's the case then letting her remain in proximity to him will only exacerbate the issue."
"Or not," Jolene opined from the doorway.
"I suppose you have a theory as well," Jett deduced and hoped hers was more helpful.
"I don't know what made her shift, but I'm pretty sure I know why she won't shift back," the veterinarian replied. "Aylese has a mother's instincts, and she's accepted Justis as her own child. Her cat knows that she's more capable of protecting the cub in jaguar form and as long as there's a threat to him, she'll fight to stay in control."
'She's right,' his mate agreed and nodded at the cub catnapping between her paws. 'I can protect Justis better as a jaguar than a human.'
Which meant that Jett could force her to shift back to human form, he realized in relief. Without looking away from her cobalt eyes, he commanded, "Ryker, Wilds, clear the room."
The tiger shifter tossed the stapler wielding twin unceremoniously across his shoulder, and Ryker scooped Harper into his arms. Both women were shouting dire threats and raising immortal hell as they were carried out. The rest of his brothers and Jolene followed, closing the door behind them.
Once they were alone, Jett let his cat rise to the surface enough to show in his eyes. Holding her gaze, he said sternly, "You are disrespecting your mate and your alpha by implying that I can't protect our cub, Aylese. Shift now."
'No,' she bluntly refused. 'She was right. As a cat, I'm strong enough to fight off an attacker. My human self can't protect Justis with a shoe, but she can keep him safe.'
The damn stubborn woman was going to give him an aneurysm. "I am your alpha, and it's my responsibility to protect our cub," he growled.
'And I'm his mother!' She shot back angrily as her cat growled at him. 'Justis is my baby, and I'll fight to the death to keep him safe.'
Obviously trying to command his mate to do anything was a complete waste of time. Not to mention that there was no reasoning with a mama jaguar when she felt her cub was threatened. It was time to change tactics, so Jett removed his clothes and shifted into his jaguar form while his mate watched with wary blue eyes.
'I'm bigger, stronger and faster than you are, love,' he pointed out since his cat dwarfed her own smaller frame. 'You know that I was used as a pit fighting animal when I was a cub. I survived because there was nothing I wouldn't do to win. I've never lost a fight, and I'm not about to start now.'
'Jerrett,' his tender-hearted mate whispered brokenly as a lone tear slid from her eye and onto her silken fur.
'Do you trust me, love?'
'Almost as much as I love you,' she admitted and rubbed her head against his. 'You're the other half of my soul.'
The admission made his heart overflow with more love than he could contain. Jett held her damp gaze with his before saying solemnly, 'I love you more than I thought was possible, Aylese. You and Justis have made my life complete. Please trust me to keep you both safe.'
The jaguar lowered her head obediently before she shifted back to human form. His mate breathed a sigh of relief and reached for him after he shifted as well. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her until they were both breathless. "Your cat is as stubborn as you are," he teased long minutes later. "And just as vicious."
"When your mate's so hot he's known as the Prince of Pussy, being vicious is a requirement," Aylese warned and gently bit the mating mark on his shoulder.
"No need to worry about that, love," Jett promised with a wicked wink. "You've got this pussy whipped."
The End
A note from the author…
Thank you for reading Pussy Whipped, book one in the F.E.R.A.L. Shifters series. The fur is gonna fly as the rest of the shifters meet their mates while they track down the evil mofo's experimenting on werecat cubs.
Ryker and Harper's book, Her Pampered Pussy releases April 24th as part of the Howls Romance series and Wilder and Hayden's book, Unf*ckwithable releases in May!
BAD ALPHA DADS
Bestselling and Award Winning Paranormal Romance authors are bringing you the baddest of the bad ALPHA dads. Keyword bad. So sexy, you’ll want to tea
ch them to be good. These shifter dads need all the help they can get, and we want to give it to them. Check out our website www.BadAlphaDads.com for the release schedule and more about our fabulous authors.
Check out our website www.BadAlphaDads.com for the release schedule and more about our fabulous authors.
AVAILABLE BOOKS BY TONYA BROOKS
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
The Bad Baker Boys Series
Once upon a time in the small town of Lakeside lived a family of handsome men better known as the Bad Baker Boys. Former Navy SEAL Jed Baker raised his sons Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to be badass alpha males. Sparks fly and passions ignite hotter than sultry southern nights when they meet the women who tame them.
Welcome To Lakeside Series
Lakeside is not the average small southern town. The residents are unpredictable as hell and romance can be downright deadly. Gossip always runs rampant and is notoriously wrong. Expect plenty of high jinks and ribald humor with unexpected twists and turns. And a goat. On a leash.
REGENCY ROMANCE
The Ashbrook Legacy
You are cordially invited to meet the Ashbrooks, one of the oldest and most revered lineages in England. Despite five hundred years of nobility, the men are notorious rakes, and the women are scandalous at best. Take a delightfully wicked romp through Regency London.
Historical romance will never be the same.
MILITARY ROMANCE
The Invictus Security Series
When the enemy targeted their women, the men of Invictus Security retaliate as only a group of badass former Navy SEALs can. Their mission is the complete annihilation of a secret cabal intent on world domination. They'll rain hell to accomplish it because failure is not an option.