“He distracted Iseult.” Betrys stared at her fingers as if ascertaining they were back to normal. “Is she really dead?”
“She’ll never hurt anyone again,” Saber said and opened the door to let the chubby blue bird walk inside. “I thought Iseult was gonna lose it when Bluebird gobbled down her offspring. I hope Bluebird doesn’t suffer any ill effects.”
“Ugh! Bluebird ate those things?” Eva pulled a face. “How? Last I saw they were in a jar.”
Saber explained, then said, “I’m not sure what we’ll do with her men. Two survived the zylon attacks.”
Betrys wrinkled her nose, risked a glance at Leo then focused on her hands again. “Zylons?”
“Cute fluffy creatures with a poisonous bite,” Leo said, his scrutiny intense. She hadn’t mentioned her unexpected shift yet “It’s the reason we have the fence around the resort, to keep our guests safe.”
“What do you think we should do with the two guards, Betrys?” Saber asked the question, and they all stared at her, waiting for her reply.
“Ricci is safe now?” Betrys studied their faces in a search for reassurance. “Your brothers are bringing him here to the resort?”
“He’s on his way,” Saber confirmed.
“I need to find a new home,” Betrys said. “A job.”
“You—” Leo broke off as Eva’s fingers squeezed his forearm, her nails digging into his flesh like sharp talons.
“I hoped you’d stay and take a job here,” Eva said. “I need administrative help with menu planning and purchases, and I know that Scarlett is stretched thin in reception. She needs more time to do the special tasks that Saber sets her. The poor girl hasn’t had a day off for ages. There are other children here and we have the beginnings of a school. It would be good for your son to play with others his own age. What do you say? Will you stay?”
Leo held his breath and waited for Betrys to speak. He refused to let her leave. She just didn’t understand that yet. Saber and Eva knew, but they thought Betrys deserved a choice. There was no choice for him. If she insisted on leaving, he would go with her.
A crease formed on Betrys’s forehead, and she focused on him. “Why did I turn into a cat? Will it happen again?”
“I—we—don’t know for sure, but I suspect it is because I bit you. I didn’t know this would happen, but I’m not sorry.” Even he heard the note of defiance, backed by determination, in his voice. “I’ve come to like and admire you, Betrys.”
“Even after what I did?” she whispered.
“Yes. I want you and Ricci to stay.” Fuck, he loved her. Now that Iseult was gone, he needed to woo her around to his way of thinking. The addition of a child thrilled him, filling him with a wave of joy. “Ma would enjoy having another child around the resort.”
Betrys nodded—finally—and his breath eased out in an audible hiss. “We can stay for a while, see how things work out. Maybe reading my cards will help.”
A knock came at the door, and Felix and Casey entered.
“Your room is clear,” Felix said. “We’ve taken away the broken furniture.”
“Iseult?” Saber asked.
“It was the weirdest thing.” Felix shook his head. “All the Spiderus bodies faded away until there was nothing but piles of black dust.”
“Several races do this on death,” Betrys commented. “They believe they go back to nature and await another rebirth.”
“God forbid,” Leo muttered. “The idea of Iseult returning is gonna give me nightmares. Felix, Casey, thanks for the cleanup. I’m knackered.” He caught Betrys in a yawn. “You look tired too, sweetheart. Come on.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and urged her toward the door, but she balked.
“I want to see Ricci.”
“I’ll contact Joe and Sly and ask them to escort Ricci to Leo’s rooms as soon as they land,” Saber said.
“Promise?” Her tone was fierce, and something squeezed in Leo’s chest. His little warrior.
“You have my word. They won’t arrive until morning,” Saber added. “You can meet them yourself.”
Betrys gave a curt nod and let Leo guide her outside.
“Your siblings are fun,” she said. “I wish I had a family like yours.”
She did, Leo thought. She just didn’t understand it yet.
Chapter Fifteen
They were free.
No longer would Iseult’s threats hover over their lives. The heady sense of freedom filled Betrys from the moment she opened her eyes. She edged out of the sleep-bed, away from Leo’s warmth and looked for her robe. When she couldn’t find it, she grabbed one of Leo’s shirts and tugged it over her head. It smelled of him—of musk and sunshine and some sort of cleanser with a perfume she couldn’t identify—and the scent soothed her, made her feel happy.
“Why are you awake?” Leo’s husky voice sent an enjoyable frisson soaring to her sex.
“Couldn’t sleep any longer. I thought I’d be sore today with lots of cuts and bruises. There are none—well, nothing that’s too bad.” Betrys watched Leo. She hadn’t dreamed about turning into a black cat. A blip in her feel-good mood since she couldn’t decide if this was a good or a bad thing. On the negative side, the change hurt. A lot. She stretched, lifting onto the balls of her feet, tested her physique. A new strength rippled in her muscles, her body. Not a bad thing, since she had Ricci to protect.
“Looking good in my T-shirt, sweetheart.” Leo climbed out of the sleep-bed and strode toward her. His arms went around her and he tugged her against his chest.
Home, she thought, his scent filling her senses.
“You’ve seen me in my feline form, Betrys.”
She tugged and freed herself so she could watch his face. “Yes.”
“I like you. A lot,” he said, and a strange expression slid across his face.
Something in her, some sixth sense that hadn’t been present before, told her he wasn’t telling her the truth. There was more, so she waited.
“When I bit you here, on the neck.” His fingers traced across the spot that bore the tiny cat tattoo. “I marked you, claimed you.”
“Claimed me?” Warmth spread across her skin, and Betrys realized she liked—loved—the idea. She didn’t feel coerced or threatened. It was more a sense of him accepting everything she was—both good and bad. And there had been a lot of bad.
“I want you, Betrys. I want to raise Ricci as my son. I want to live with you, love you, and maybe have more children. I want to build a life with you.”
“Even after everything I’ve done?”
“You were trying to survive and keep your son safe. Betrys, I would have done the same thing. So would my brothers. I admit that at first I wanted revenge, but once I met Ricci and understood you were just doing your best to keep him safe, everything changed for me. We can take things as slow as you want, but I warn you now. I’m determined. I’m stubborn, and I will get my way. We will be together. A family.”
He sounded sure of himself. Confident, and she liked that about him. Yet she’d seen the way he and his brothers valued women too. They listened to them, sought their opinions and let them take an active part in the running of the resort. While she’d loved Corrin, he’d never, ever asked her advice.
“We can start by making love,” he said when she didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything because emotion backed up her throat.
“But Ricci will be here soon.”
“My brothers will let us know.” Leo flashed a grin that made her heart stutter. “Besides, with a kid around I figure we should get used to bedroom interruptions.”
Betrys laughed and Leo swung her into his arms and carried her back to the sleep-bed.
“Will I change into a cat again?” Goddess, it had hurt so much. It had felt as if her body was turning itself inside out.
“If you will it,” Leo said. “Think of the fun we could have together, playing in the surf, running along the beach at night.”
“It hurt.”
“The change never feels comfortable, but it does become easier and faster with practice. Your first transformation was driven by fear and rage, and you didn’t have the training, the knowledge that my brothers and sister and I were brought up with. Now that we know you’re capable of shifting, we can help and offer advice, but don’t worry. You can shift when you’re ready.” Leo paused. “You will always be a feline now, Betrys. The ability to shift and the things that come with being a feline will never go away.”
Once again she compared Leo to Corrin. If Corrin had known she could do this, he would have insisted on her changing so he could record the phenomenon. He wouldn’t have considered her feelings, her objections, her doubts. She thought about the fun she’d had playing with Leo at the beach. “I’ll consider your words.”
“Good. Let’s seal our bargain with a kiss.”
“What bargain?”
“Your promise to think about trying another shift. Your promise to stay at Middlemarch Resort with me.”
He didn’t give her a chance to ask another question, to refute his words or even turn them over in her mind. His mouth settled over hers and she sighed at the wash of pure pleasure that swept her at his touch. Since her shift, her senses seemed to work overtime—another thing to ask Leo.
For now, she followed gut instinct and kissed Leo in return, ran her hands over his hard muscles.
“T-shirt off,” he muttered.
The removal took longer than it should have, since Leo explored a faint bruise on her stomach, kissed it tenderly, then his calloused hands shaped her breasts. He ran his tongue around her nipples, teasing them to hard points before he whipped the T-shirt over her head.
“Everything smells more,” Betrys said. “I feel as if my senses are exploding. I can hear better too.” Her gaze connected with his. “I will always be like this now.”
“Is that a bad thing? If you stay here, you’ll be amongst others of your kind. We—I—can help you since this stuff is second nature to me.”
“I’ll think about everything you’ve said and discuss the matter with Ricci. My son should have a say.”
“Good, enough talking now,” Leo said, and he made sure by sealing his mouth over hers and kissing her until she was breathless.
She ran her hands down his back and let them settle on his muscled backside. “Turn over,” she demanded, urgency thrumming her now. “I want to be on top of you.”
“Well. I’m enjoying this new bossy side.”
Betrys laughed and pushed at his shoulder. Then she was straddling his hips, exploring his flat nipples with her fingers and mouth. Laughter tickled her as she teased him by rubbing against his cock while pretending her interest lay elsewhere.
This, the passion that simmered between them, was so much more than she’d imagined, more than she’d deserved or ever hoped to secure.
“I want to be inside you, Betrys. You can take me. I can smell your arousal.”
She sucked in a deep breath, part of her still surprised by the layers of scents she could identify now. Among them were his musky scent and the slightly sweeter one belonging to her. She lifted her hips and took him inside her, going much slower than her mind wanted to prolong the pleasure of his cock stretching her sheath. When he filled her, she paused and studied his features. His teeth were gritted, his expression one of pain.
“Oh, am I hurting you?”
“If you don’t start moving, I might get inspired to spank you.” His hand slid up her upper thigh to pinch her butt.
The nip of his fingers made her chuckle, but she did start moving, riding him in an easy pace and experimenting with the angles that produced the best friction.
“Such a pretty sight.”
“Looks good from this end too. Oh, oh!” Betrys began to move faster, straining to follow the shards of pleasure bursting through her quim. Two more quick rise-and-fall movements and she came in a fast climax. Almost before the spasms tailed off, Leo had rolled them and loomed over her, his green eyes full of humor.
He thrust into her, stealing a kiss before laying a trail of kisses down her neck and heading inexorably toward the tiny cat tattoo. Her heart gave three extra hard beats while her breath hitched in expectation of the pleasure she knew would soar through her at his touch.
Her arms went around him and she nuzzled his neck. A strange sensation froze her for an instant until she realized it was the start of a shift. Something weird was going on with her eyes while her teeth were much sharper. When Leo continued to kiss her and strum his tongue over the tattoo, she relaxed. With his good senses he’d know what was happening to her. Nothing to worry about. Obviously.
She kissed the spot where his neck met his shoulder then licked the same spot. Leo groaned, and she felt the pulse of his cock deep in her quim.
Betrys nipped him and Leo cried out, shuddering and trembling as if he couldn’t control his limbs. Instinct guided her, and before she knew it, she was biting him, the taste of his coppery blood filling her mouth.
Leo’s hips moved, the base of his cock hitting her clit as he withdrew and invaded her body again. She licked away the blood, the taste of him strangely comforting, strangely sweet.
Leo thrust into her once more and she exploded into pleasure. She was aware of a scream, a masculine shout as the ecstasy took her under into a place ruled by sensations.
When her mind settled, the first thing she saw was the happiness wreathing Leo’s face, his broad smile and glittering eyes.
“What?”
“You claimed me.”
She stared at him before understanding forged into her orgasm-buzzed brain. “I bit you.”
“Your feline claimed me as your mate.”
Betrys scowled. “Yeah. So? Is that bad?”
“I think it’s very, very good, and I’m so happy I could burst. I love you, Betrys.”
His heartfelt words shifted something inside her, and his declaration brought joy. “Leo.”
Seconds later they were kissing, mouths seeking mouths, mating sites and every bit of available flesh.
Only Leo’s com-circle drove them up for air. He picked up. “Yeah?”
“Sly and Joe are almost here. They’ll land in ten minutes,” Saber informed him, and Betrys heard his words without difficulty. “Thought you’d want to know.”
“Thanks.” Leo rolled out of the sleep-bed.
Betrys was out and halfway to the cleansing room. She stopped, her gaze going to the spot where she’d bitten him. Instead of an angry wound, a tiny black cat had formed. “You have a tattoo, the same as mine.”
“I can’t wait to show Ma,” Leo said. “She’ll be so happy.”
As she hurriedly cleaned and dressed, she thought of Leo’s words, of his request for her to stay. She wanted to, she realized. She wanted it very much, but first she needed to consult with Ricci. He’d seemed to like Leo on the dreamscape, but she wanted to make certain he enjoyed the resort first before she committed. Although she hadn’t thought of an alternative, she was certain she would find one or two if she searched.
The shuttle had landed by the time they arrived. Saber and Eva, Felix and Casey, Scarlett and their mother Anna were all there to meet them, despite the fact the solar sun hadn’t risen yet.
One of Leo’s brothers walked off the shuttle and Ricci followed.
“Ricci!” Betrys shouted and she found herself running faster and more freely than she ever had before. She scooped her son into her arms and hugged him hard.
“Mother, you’re hurting me.”
“Sorry.” She released him and studied his face. “Are you all right?”
Ricci smiled. He actually smiled and her heart squeezed with love and relief. “Joe and Sly told me all about the resort. There are children who are the same age as me and I can swim in the sea. Will we live here now?”
Leo came to stand beside her and slipped his arm around her waist. “Would you like that?”
“Yes,” Ricci said.
“I think we s
hould have breakfast.” Anna Mitchell stepped forward. “Pancakes, I think. This seems like a pancake kind of day.”
“What’s a pancake?” Ricci asked.
Betrys smiled. “I don’t know.”
“It’s an Earth food,” Leo said. “You’ll find them delicious. I promise.”
“Betrys?”
She turned to see Sly and another man. This must be Joe—the only Mitchell sibling she hadn’t yet met. His green eyes, shaggy black hair and muscular build told of the blood relationship. They were twins, although their different hairstyles made it easy to tell them apart.
“Thank you.” She gave them both a swift hug and ignored Leo’s low growl of protest. “Thank you for bringing Ricci to me.”
“We got your currency for you,” Sly replied.
“And something else we thought you might like from Ricci’s room,” Joe spoke this time.
“That’s Ricci’s drawing book,” Betrys said.
Leo’s brother smiled. “Look at the pictures inside.”
She sought Ricci and found him walking with Leo’s mother and chattering away, so she accepted the book and opened it. A gasp escaped as she stared at the pictures her son had drawn.
“What is it?” Leo asked.
Betrys showed him Ricci’s picture of two black cats, one larger than the other. They were running on a beach, the jade-green water beyond, and Ricci had drawn himself in the picture, racing alongside the two cats with a big smile on his face.
Leo turned the pages and there were other pictures, drawn in different places around the resort, but all showing the same thing. Two black cats and a small boy. Ricci.
Tears blurred her vision and a tightness sealed her throat, making her swallow several times before she could speak.
“Well,” she said. “It looks as if we’re staying.”
Leo swooped her off her feet and swung her around and around, his joyous laughter loud enough to halt his family and draw their attention. “Betrys and Ricci are staying.” He set her on her feet and kissed her—a hard, possessive kiss that she felt all the way to her toes.
“Of course we’re staying,” Ricci said.
Betrys and Leo turned toward her son and recommenced walking, their arms wrapped around each other.
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