A Lion's Heart

by A. C. Arthur

  She’d immediately hopped off the bed and cleaned up the meal she’d had the kitchen staff prepare for them.

  “I was also told that massages after a strenuous day at work are a good idea,” she said when she was standing on the opposite side of the bed from him.

  For the first time in her life Nisa felt nervous. She hadn’t been at all sure of the things Shya had told her because she’d never done them before. And, unlike Shya, she hadn’t spent her spare time reading stories of romance and love and finding one’s perfect mate. That’s where she and her best friend differed. Shya was a dreamer while Nisa had passed her time in Oasis by learning. Now, it appeared, Nisa had neglected one very important subject.

  “I’ve got an even better idea after a strenuous day at work,” he told her seconds after a low growl echoed throughout the room.

  His eyes changed before she could respond. The blue took on that crystalline look she’d seen last night just before he ripped that guy’s throat out and she gasped. But not in fear. No, she’d never been afraid of Decan and she wondered why. She’d also felt completely comfortable with him, right from the very start. That was strange as well. But if Nisa was standing there thinking about all the anomalies where this thing between her and Decan was concerned, there was one she could admit and accept without question—her cat was inexplicably drawn to his. From the very start, and even now.

  She blinked and knew her eyes were different when she opened them. Her skin even felt different, more sensitive. And the room had definitely gotten warmer, just in the last few moments.

  “What’s your plan?” she asked.

  The soldier and inventor in her questioned why it was so easy for her to submit to this shifter and his salacious looks. The jaguar inside easily pushed past those queries opening the door to the completely sensual side of her that craved his words, his stares, his touch.

  “Take off your clothes,” he said slowly so that there was no mistaking what he wanted her to do.

  Nisa hesitated. Why, she had no idea.

  He’d already seen her naked, more than once. His mouth had found the most intimate part of her, twice. And she’d enjoyed every moment of it. So what was the deal?

  Tonight had been a date and they were standing in the middle of a brightly lit bedroom. Not a dark creek or an almost darker room in an old cabin, even though shifters could see in the dark. She was being silly and that wasn’t like her.

  “Is sex how everyone relieves stress?” she asked even as her fingers went to the hem of her shirt in preparation to lift it up and over her head.

  His hands went to the waistband of the black shorts he wore.

  “I can’t speak for what anybody else does,” he told her. “But this is not going to be just sex.”

  No, it wasn’t, Nisa thought.

  Not for her at least.

  She knew what sex was and how it played out between a man and a woman. But Decan wasn’t just a man, and luckily for her, she wasn’t just a woman. Nothing about this mission was turning out the way she’d expected. Not the things she’d been uncovering or the people who were now key players. Her father was worried about her. He’d expressed that throughout their lunch and then again when she’d gone to the main dining hall for dinner. He’d wanted her beside him and had repeatedly told her how much she meant to him and her mother. So much so that Nisa began to worry.

  As for her mother, she’d watched Nisa quietly. Or what she thought was quietly but Nisa had felt Kalina’s gaze lingering on her more than once. She hadn’t been able to explain it, but then she hadn’t really tried. Her mind had been someplace else.

  On someone else.

  She removed her shorts and the flat shoes she’d slipped on before coming to Decan’s room. He pulled off his shirt, revealing ripped abs, sculpted pectorals and biceps so perfect she wanted to leap over the bed and grab hold of them at this second. The army of healed slashes over his chest horrified and held her still. They were a dark pink color in a violent pattern that wrapped around his sides. Her fingertips warmed as she recalled the feel of the raised and bumpy skin on his back.

  She’d asked about that last night and he’d brushed her off. Nisa wasn’t going to take that route again. This time she walked slowly around to the other side of the bed as he’d sat on its edge to remove his boots. She waited while he also removed his shorts and boxers. Then she was touching him.

  Standing in front of him she rested her palms on his shoulders and gently pushed him so that he was once again sitting on the edge of the bed. His head came up and those intense blue eyes held her gaze. Strength, loyalty, power, were all the things she could see in his eyes and feel from being this close to him. There was no doubt that Decan Canter was a powerful Shadow Shifter. The muscled body and deadly quick maneuvers she’d witnessed last night cemented that fact in her mind. So how had he obtained these scars?

  Shifters did not contract human ailments, and they had the ability to heal from most wounds. Additionally, there were now—thanks to Ary Delgado, the Lead Curandero—Shadows that had been previously trained as human doctors, with the added training to specifically treat shifters. So these scars should not be here.

  Yet they were, and hurt suffused her when she touched them.

  She gasped and Decan reached up to grab her wrists.

  But Nisa was not to be deterred, not this time.

  She continued to move her fingers over his chest. Some parts of the scar were still puffy, other parts had thinned. There were so many that when she went lower to just above his navel she could no longer remain silent.

  “I don’t understand,” she said her voice so quiet she wondered if he’d even heard her.

  He released her wrists and used his hands to cup her face, bringing her gaze back up to meet his.

  “You don’t have to,” he said. “It’s over.”

  But it wasn’t. At least not for her.

  Her chest heaved with the heaviness of the pain that pressed upon her as she looked down at his blemished skin once more. She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned over to look at his back. Tears immediately sprang to her eyes and then the anger ripped free.

  “Who did this?” she asked him. “And why?”

  He moved his hands to her waist, lifting her from the floor and standing to turn them around. Decan lay her back on the bed and came over her.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said.

  When she opened her mouth to tell him he was wrong, that it definitely did matter because whoever had done that to him needed to pay—possibly with their life, she hadn’t quite decided between that and torture just yet—he lowered his face closer to hers.

  “All that matters is this.”

  His words whispered over her lips just before his tongue touched them. Nisa parted her lips, but she did not close her eyes. He was staring down at her and she wanted to see him. All of him.

  “I want you,” he said and brushed his lips over hers.

  “I want you,” she replied.

  “Do you?” he asked. “Do you know everything that goes with wanting me? Can you handle it, Nisa?”

  She didn’t know that, wouldn’t know until she’d tried. What she did know without any doubt, was that this was happening. Again. And she had no intention of stopping it.

  In answer to his question—or was it a challenge, she didn’t know—but she tilted her head and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. She adored the feel of his tongue against hers. He tasted wild and defiant and the more she arched into him, stroking her tongue over his, the more aroused she became.

  His hands went beneath her then, grasping her ass and squeezing tightly. So tight for a moment she wanted to scream out. Then the pain lessened and his palms smoothed over the agitated skin. She sighed in response because the two sensations were so different, yet so tantalizing. She felt his fingers moving lower, down the back of her thighs as his mouth continued to work over hers. When he lifted her legs, pulling them up so she c
ould wrap them around his waist Nisa thrust her hips upward. Anxious did not quite describe the need clawing through her at this moment.

  Nothing mattered. No sound. No event. No scent…wait a minute. He pulled his mouth from hers and she realized in that moment that the scent was thick and wafted through the air as if it were coming in through the vents. It was a sultry aroma that reminded her of the incense Baxter had brought back from The Gungi. A rich and woodsy smell settled over them and stroked against Nisa’s cat until she could do nothing but let loose the growl that rumbled deep in her chest. Decan’s head shot up, his eyes widened.

  “Get ready,” he mumbled, as if in reply, and lowered his head to her neck.

  He kissed her there, softly at first, dragging his tongue over her skin while she arched her back to give him better access. This was exactly what she needed. She’d tried to take Shya’s advice to have a date with him, to get to know him better to see if they were a good fit. But that question seemed as if it had already been answered. They fit just fine, which was why he knew exactly where to touch and what to kiss to keep her wanting more.

  When his teeth scraped over her, Nisa sighed. The Lion, she thought as her eyes finally drifted shut. He’d been fierce in that room as he’d pulled that man away from her. So strong and ferocious. And she’d loved it. Every second of seeing him in action had drawn her closer to him. Sure, she would have handled the man if she’d had to, but she hadn’t. He’d come in like a savior, and while Nisa knew she didn’t need saving, she’d loved watching it unfold regardless. His eyes had pierced through her, just as they had only seconds ago. Her fingers dug into the skin of his back just before he pulled away from her all together.

  “I want to taste you again,” he growled. “I can’t get your taste out of my mouth.”

  He was between her legs now, pushing them farther back. Nisa hadn’t removed her panties or her bra but that hadn’t mattered. With one tug the swatch of cotton had been removed and she was bared before him. Decan dipped his head down so fast, his tongue moving so wildly over the damp folds of her pussy she had to catch her breath. And when she did, Nisa planted her feet on the bed and pumped into him with every needy thread in her body. Her teeth clenched, head thrashed on the bed as he licked and sucked, thrust his tongue inside, toyed with her clit and started all over again just in case she’d forgotten what he’d done. She never would forget. As long as she lived, Nisa was certain she would never forget how good this felt.

  When his fingers joined in, slipping through the rapidly flowing juices at her center to ease slowly into her rear, she gasped. This was a different sensation. A devilishly different one that had her pumping wilder.

  “I want you here,” he grumbled. “Right here. I want to be buried so deep in you I can’t remember the time or the place.”

  As he spoke he pressed two fingers into her, spreading them slowly, stretching her. Nisa gripped the sheets, her jaguar’s claws cutting through the material. He used his other hand to touch the tight bud of her clit. Rubbing there and thrusting in the rear drove her absolutely insane. Her teeth extended, pressing into her lips as she struggled to keep from screaming.

  “If you want me, this is what you get,” he said then. “This is everything you get.”

  The finger slid down from her clit to sink deep inside once again. Nisa didn’t know which felt better. Either way she was completely full of him and she wasn’t sure she could stand it.

  “Tell me to stop,” he said and the icy tone of his voice stilled her.

  “Tell me to stop and leave this room. Don’t come back. Don’t look at me. Don’t want me.”

  Despite his words Decan never stopped touching her. He never stopped either of his fingers from working her, stretching her, pleasing her.

  So while her body hummed with pleasure, her mind tripped over his words. What was he saying? What did he mean?

  The sharp prick against her inner thigh had her eyes jolting open. Raising up on her elbows she heard him growl just as she looked down to see the eyes of his lion staring back at her. His teeth were bared, his lips pulling back from them in a motion that would have been frightening to some. To Nisa, however, they only made her want more.

  “I don’t want you to stop,” she told him as her legs trembled and juices dripped from her pussy.

  He blinked and for a moment she thought he seemed confused. But he moved again, this time biting the inside of the opposite thigh. It stung and the pain shot through her so quickly and so intensely that her arms shook with the force of it. Just as fast as he’d bitten her, Decan’s tongue came out to lick over the spot, soothing the pain and sending heat soaring through her instead. She let her head fall back and moaned. His fingers were still inside of her and they began to move again. Nisa trembled, her release coming in a powerful spasm that lifted her lower body off the bed.

  His growl was low but rumbled through her reaching every corner until she felt like he was actually a part of her.

  “You have to leave me,” he told her. “I’m no good for you.”

  Her mind was still hazy after that fast and furious orgasm, but she heard him and she ached for him. It was the sadness in his voice that opened her eyes once more. Decan was a fierce lion and a soldier. He wasn’t sad or weak, or needy in any way. Except that there was this overwhelming sensation in the pit of her chest that said differently.

  He was pulling his fingers from her, moving as if he were going to leave her. Nisa sat up and wrapped her arms around his waist pulling him back onto the bed. When he was on top of her, looking at her with confusion she flipped him over, straddling him.

  “Now, you can get ready,” she told him.

  She’d never done this before, but she’d thought about it. Ever since that night they were in the dining room at Keller’s place. When he’d been standing just a few feet away and his crotch was eye level with her lips. The urge to reach out and find his length had been so strong it had almost pushed her right off that chair. But she hadn’t been bold enough then, wondering what if he’d pushed her away. Now, she didn’t have that fear. He was hot and long in her hands as she slid down his body and took his length. She’d wondered how they’d managed last night, as she recalled how full she’d felt when he was inside of her. Complete, might have been a better word.

  “Put it in your mouth.”

  It was a command in a voice that brokered no arguments.

  She stared down at the thick head of his cock and felt her mouth water, the folds of her pussy becoming soaked by her creamy essence.

  “Now, Nisa,” he spoke, this time his voice ragged, tortured.

  That spurred her on and Nisa opened wide, covering him with her mouth, taking him deep as his hands flattened on her head to hold her down.

  “Yeah, right there,” he moaned. “Stay. Right. There.”

  She did for another moment, adjusting her lips, her throat, everything to him. Pulling back slightly she moved her hand up his rigid stalk and stroked while licking his tip.

  “More.”

  Did he say that or was she thinking it?

  Nisa didn’t know, but she went down again, taking him in, sucking him hard. Again and again, until she felt as if her cat were clawing against every part of her body. That woodsy scent was everywhere now. On the bed, on his skin, in her mind, in the sound of his voice, on her fingers, the tip of his cock. She couldn’t get away from it, nor could she get enough of it.

  With a motion she hadn’t planned and that took her and Decan completely by surprise, she released him with a popping sound from her lips. Then she was coming over him once more, lowering her hips until she could sink her coated walls down over his thick length. He jerked only once and then he was pumping rhythmically. She moved with him, thrusting her hips and arching her back. When his hands came up to grab her breasts she bared her teeth and growled. And when he came, this time, in contrast to last night, she felt something different.

  Her body trembled, thighs tightening around him. She cou
ld hear him roaring, a different sound than the man had made, this one all lion. The sound reached inside of her until she felt compelled to match it and when she did everything changed.

  “What if we are mates? What if there is truth to this companhiero connection he was talking about?” Nisa asked her best friend as she dropped down into the chair the next day after lunch.

  They were in her room after an eventful few hours and still, her mind circled back to early this morning and waking to find Decan gone. The sting of rejection had threatened to irritate her to the point of seeking him out and demanding a response. But she refrained. He wasn’t far. Somehow she knew that for a fact and as long as she could feel him near it was okay. Right?

  Shya sat on the bed and folded her legs beneath her. Nisa’s best friend was a thin shifter with butter toned skin and a riot of black curls that framed her face. A thin silver hoop pierced the center of her nose and quiet brown eyes stared back at her.

  “I think that’s a good thing if you’ve found your mate,” Shya said. “I mean, he’s definitely hot, so you don’t have to worry about being coupled with someone you’re not attracted to.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, right?” Nisa asked again. Then she snapped her lips shut tight because she was asking too many questions and she’d decided somewhere in the middle of the night as she’d lay in his arms that she didn’t need all the answers, all the time. Of course that was in response to her growing curiosity of what had happened to his back and chest, not this mating thing.

  “My mother says there’s no reasoning to the shifter mating. Once the cat recognizes its mate, nothing else matters. And as for the companhiero connection, I’ve heard of it, but mostly from the elder shifters now staying with us. They say it used to happen a lot in the Gungi. Where the mated couple develop this sort of telepathy.”

  “Wait,” she said trying to wrap her mind around what her friend had just said. “So now I’m a telepath and a shifter?”

  Shya looked at her patiently before replying, “No. This power only exists between the mated couple. You said you thought you heard him say a name. He said he did not say the name aloud. Either he said it in his mind, or was reliving a memory or because of your connection to him, you were able to tap into that memory thereby experiencing it with him.”