After a deliciously long moment he turned his attention to her other breast. Her hips moved in an involuntary rhythm, and she clenched the muscles of her vagina, trapping his probing fingers.
He made a sound of pleasure in his throat and leaned away from her. “Set me free.”
He pulled his fingers from her and she felt suddenly empty. She had to have him inside her again. She fumbled with his belt and with the zipper of his pants. His erection was huge, bulging against the seams, making it hard to pull down the fabric. She yanked at it in frustration. At last it came apart and she reached for his cock.
It was all she’d imagined. Long and hard, throbbing as if with a life of its own. She cradled it between her hands, then moved her hands to cup his balls, bent her head to kiss away the pearly drops at the tip of the shaft.
Jack’s hands had moved to his shirt pocket and he pulled out a small packet, ripping the foil with his teeth.
In a flash he’d sheathed himself.
“Ready?” She saw the flash of his teeth as he smiled, the glitter of his eyes.
Oh, was she ready! “Do it!”
Lifting her again, he clasped her buttocks once more and spread her even wider with his knees. His cock probed at her opening, gently at first, teasing her burning flesh with the promise of more to come, then thrust into her hard, deeper, deeper until she felt it butt against a spot that sent even more quivers through her, if that were possible.
She wrapped her legs tight around his thighs and felt his fingers in the cleft of her ass. She tensed against him. “Relax,” he whispered. “Let me—”
As her muscles loosened, he slipped a finger into the puckered opening between her cheeks. The jolt sizzled down her nerves to meet the heat where his cock pushed against her internal walls.
She couldn’t hold on any longer. The orgasm forced a hoarse cry from the depth of her throat and she clung to him while the storm waves shook her whole body.
His cock seemed to swell even more inside her, prolonging her climax until she thought she’d break apart. He twined his fingers in her hair, holding her tight to him, then kissed her long and hard while the convulsions shook him.
He remained still for a long moment until he released her without a word and cradled her head on his shoulder. With gentle hands he lifted her down from the stone wall and smoothed her skirt about her legs. He folded the torn pieces of her blouse to cover her breasts and tucked a tendril of hair back behind her ear.
An animal cry came from the distance and they heard the roar of a lone male lion.
Jack looked up toward the direction of the sound. He appeared to be listening, waiting for some kind of answering cry.
It came faintly on the air from a farther distance.
“A young male looking for a hunting partner,” she said.
“I know.”
She felt him arrange his own clothing, then glanced up at a sudden sound to her left. One of the askaris slid like a shadow from the darkness, only his long red robe and the whites of his eyes visible against the blackness. He raised a hand in silent greeting and averted his eyes, before melting into the gloom of some bushes, clutching his wooden staff.
She let out her breath.
“Although Malindi men have a very healthy attitude toward sex, I’m kind of glad he didn’t appear ten minutes ago.”
“Mmm.” Jack slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her in tight to his side. “We need somewhere more private for the rest of the night.”
“Night?” she said, her heart leaping.
“Most definitely. I hope you’re well-rested. I have plans for you tonight that don’t include sleep.”
Although the night was inky black, it was still early evening because darkness fell so soon on the equator. There was plenty of time to think about tracking the poachers after midnight.
Hips and thighs moving in unison, they traversed the walkways until they came to his tent. He guided her up the shallow wooden steps to the porch and unzipped the central flap.
Lifting the heavy canvas with one hand, he steered her inside with a touch on her elbow.
Once the entrance was again secured, he lit two candles and poured two glasses of water.
“I don’t have any food here except a couple of chocolate bars,” he said with a grin. “I hope you’re not starved.”
She took the glass of water and sipped at it, watching him over the rim. Was she hungry?
Not for food.
Ignoring his own glass, he unhooked his belt and let his pants drop to the floor. He shot her a glance, as if to make sure she was watching. Knowing her eyes were on him, he unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it from his shoulders. It joined his pants on the floor. His feet were bare in thong sandals. He kicked them off and stood buck-naked before her.
Instead of drinking her water, she drank in every inch of him. The candlelight flickered over the sculpted muscles of his thighs and chest. He was beautiful. Like a lean, sleek animal in the prime of his adulthood. A mist of dark hair shaded between his nipples and led her eye down over hard stomach muscles.
And his cock! It was thick and hard again, standing proud from a nest of curls at its base. He followed her eyes as she looked at it, then he stroked the length of it from base to tip.
“I’m ready for you. Let me see you naked.”
Her heart skittered in a crazy rhythm and the small muscles of her vagina clenched spontaneously as if already grasping that hard rod inside her. She shrugged off her torn blouse and bra and untied her skirt. Her thong was gone, probably to be swept up tomorrow by a crew of cleaners if it wasn’t scavenged by a daring hyena in the night.
In a few moments she stood bare-assed.
Jack loved the way she held herself, proud and unflinching while he looked at every inch of her. He continued to finger his cock gently, delighting in the way she kept glancing at it as if unable to tear her eyes away for long.
A tress of tawny hair had fallen over one shoulder, screening one of her beautiful breasts. He moved it to hang behind her back and felt the tremor in her as his fingers brushed her skin.
Her nipples were large and dark against the pale globes of her breasts. Her waist was slim, flaring to beautifully rounded hips, just the way he liked his women. Heavy breasts, firm thighs, a supple back. He brushed one nipple with the back of his hand and grinned as it peaked and hardened.
“Are you ready for dessert?”
“Dessert?” She frowned, uncomprehending.
“Two chocolate bars,” he said, holding them up. “One for you, one for me.” He tore off the wrapping and handed her one. “Nice and soft. But you don’t get to eat them yet.”
She took the half-melted chocolate and licked a flick of brown from one finger.
“Exactly right,” he murmured. “Just think where you would like me to find it. I’ll do anything for chocolate.” He gave her a wicked grin.
She understood and flashed him a smile. “Only if you give them both to me.”
He raised an eyebrow and his cock moved in response. She saw the quiver and licked her lips. She was like a beautiful cat contemplating a bowl of cream.
He groaned in mock frustration. “No way, my love. I wouldn’t give up my chocolate for anything.”
“Then I go first.”
Very deliberately he set his bar to one side, placing it carefully on the discarded wrapper.
“I’m ready.”
She picked up her chocolate bar and knelt before him. First she traced a smear up his thigh and licked it off with the tip of her tongue. Her mouth came close to his throbbing cock and he shuddered in anticipation.
She gave him a quick smile. “Sit.”
Obediently he sat on the edge of the bed and she took a moment to arrange him to her liking. Buttocks close to the edge, legs apart, cock and balls hanging. Except his cock wasn’t hanging, it was standing up at full attention.
She sank back on her heels and contemplated him. He knew exactly what she was planning to do, an
d the suspense was killing him. His dangling balls were swollen and aching, begging for release. He put his hands behind his hips, supporting his weight.
Slowly and carefully she took a piece of her chocolate bar, cupped his sac in one hand and painted it brown with her free fingers.
“Hmm, maybe I am famished after all.”
She dipped her head and began to clean him with long, slow strokes of her tongue, lifting and turning him to reach every fold of skin, every flake of chocolate.
“Delicious,” she said. “But I’m still a bit hungry. Do you have anything else I could eat?”
“You know I do.”
“Do I?”
She touched a chocolaty finger to his nipple and sucked it clean. The tingle traveled down his abdomen and made his cock jump.
“Not a big enough mouthful,” she said. “I need more than that.”
She kissed her way down his chest and stomach, her hands holding his hips. “Ah, here’s something more to my taste.”
She touched the tip of his cock with a butterfly kiss and smiled in delight as he moaned and twitched.
“I’ll take an order of oversize cock with chocolate sauce,” she said. “Don’t bother with a plate or a spoon.”
He damn near exploded in her hand as she coated him with the remaining chocolate, smoothing it and patting it into place.
He held his breath, willing himself to hold on, although his cock was quivering and jumping under her fingers. At last, she ran her tongue up the length of him, taking a curl of chocolate between her lips. Then she began to lick and suck, taking him deep into her mouth, letting him free only to tease him with tiny slurps of her tongue. He leaned forward and cradled her breasts in his hands as she nuzzled between his thighs.
The pressure built inside him until he grasped her head in his two hands.
“Have pity. I want to be inside you.”
She let him slide out of her mouth and held out her hand. “If you clean my hand.”
He took her fingers and licked them one by one, sucking them deep into his mouth, running his tongue between them.
He watched her as he worked and saw her arch away ever so slightly, her eyes half-closed, a dreamy look of pleasure on her face.
She ran her clean hand through his hair and over his jaw, tracing the outline of his mouth with her fingertip. The touch on his sensitive lips made him start.
Apparently satisfied with his state of arousal she rose to her feet in a fluid movement that set her breasts quivering. She took two steps to his discarded shirt. The muscles of her buttocks moved like liquid silk as she stooped to fish another package from his pocket and handed it to him. “I like a man who’s well-prepared.”
In a heartbeat he’d torn the wrapping and was ready for her.
She straddled his hips and he eased his cock inside her. She was hot and wet and tight and his thrust took him in deep.
He pulled her close, relishing the softness of her breasts as he flattened them against his chest. Her eager mouth sought his and she made tiny moaning sounds in her throat as he rammed inside her. At last she let out a hoarse cry and he felt her clench him even tighter. It was the signal for his own release at last.
Sara lay in Jack’s arms, suffused with a warm contentment. Her hand played with the small hairs around his nipple and she felt it pebble under her palm.
He really was extraordinary. The stamina of a lion.
She turned her head and caught sight of the other chocolate bar, rapidly losing its shape. Jack had said to think about where she would like him to put it…
She raised herself on her elbow to glance at her watch on the small shelf above her head. Ten. Still time.
Jack lay with his eyes closed, one leg draped over her thigh, firmly anchoring her to him. He wasn’t asleep. She’d tried moving a few minutes before, and he’d held her tighter with a murmur of protest.
Fine beads of sweat beaded his chest, giving a silky sheen to his skin. Some of her perspiration was on him, and she’d taken some of his essence into her mouth.
It was enough to quell the lion genes, but not nearly enough for the human woman. She would never get enough of him. She reminded herself this was not a long-term relationship. She would never be willing to hide half of her essential self from a lover, and what man would want a mate who turned regularly into a feral predator?
Idly her fingers drifted down to his hip, tracing the outline of a birthmark that stained the soft skin near his groin. Strange, her lion mark was in exactly the same place—
Her fingers froze and she pulled her legs under her to kneel over him.
He opened his eyes. “Don’t move—”
Ignoring him, she peered more closely at the mark. “Jack, what is this?” She touched the stain lightly. Like hers, it was in the shape of a splayed paw, claws showing clearly on each toe.
He peered down at her hand. “It’s just a birthmark. My mother had one.”
She looked him in the eyes. “So did mine. Look.”
She turned to one side so he could see the mark, the twin of his. A wave of hope rose in her. She hardly dared think of the possibilities. Ngina had said two Siri Mtu were most powerful. She gathered her courage. If she lost—but in her heart she knew she was right.
“Jack, tell me truth. Have you ever shifted?”
“Shifted? What does that mean?” he shrugged. “I’ve changed jobs, moved my apartment…”
She pressed on impatiently. “No, not that. Have you had strange urges, felt out of control, as if—” She hesitated, afraid to say it. “As if you wanted to burst out of your skin?”
He sat up and propped a pillow behind his head. “Strange you should say that. One of the reasons I took this assignment was because I was so damned restless I was jumping out of my skin. And I couldn’t get thoughts of Africa out of my head. It was driving me nuts.”
“What is it exactly you’re supposed to be doing here? Aren’t you a tourist?” God, she’d fucked this man with wild abandon and she didn’t even know the first thing about him.
He frowned, his face serious. “I was born here and always wanted to come back. Right now I’m working with the project to track elephants with small transmitters. Elephants aren’t really my field, I prefer the big cats but—”
“Lions?”
“Right. What’s the problem?”
“You said you were drawn to Africa. Anything else that seemed unusual?”
“I’ve been under the weather for a few months. Headaches, sore muscles, aching joints. I thought it was a flu that wouldn’t quit. Plus overwork.”
She sank down and kissed him.
“Oh Jack, oh my darling, you are Siri Mtu like me. You are ready to shift.”
“Well, I’m pleased we share something in common besides a great fuck, but what the hell is a Siri Mtu?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now I want to help you to shift. It can be scary the first time.”
She got off the bed and pulled his arms to move him.
He followed her with a laugh. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, my sweet, but if this is another chance to fuck, I’m all for it.”
“Put this on.” She thrust at him one of the terry robes that the lodge supplied and slipped her arms into the other. “It takes a while to shift for the first time and I want you with me at midnight.”
“Too true, darling. I’ll still be with you at dawn.” He tied the sash of the robe. “Lead on.”
Before they left the tent, she turned to face him.
“This is serious, Jack. Within about an hour you will shift. You carry lion and human genes like I do. I have no idea why you are so late in your change, maybe because you’ve always lived out of Africa. Siri Mtu means ‘the secret one’. We keep the animals safe and watch over the people. You must have a lion name, but that’s not important for now. Somehow your parents gave birth to a very unusual child.”
As she spoke she opened the tent and led the way out. “
Once we’ve shifted we’ll be able to communicate telepathically. I have one half-sister who has some of the ability, but the others have no language.”
“A half-sister?”
“She’s a lioness. Her name is Jillo.”
“A lioness. Jillo. I still don’t think I believe this. Shit!”
“What?”
“Stubbed my toe on a rock.”
“Stay quiet. We don’t want to attract attention. I’ll tell you about the poachers as we go.”
In a low voice Sara gave Jack the rest of the details as they made their way to a glade of acacias and answered his questions about the shift.
“You really believe all this, don’t you?” he said, shaking his head. “How many times do you say you’ve turned into a lioness?”
“Pretty well every week since I was eighteen.”
She stopped and laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s true, Jack. Every word of it. Will you trust me?”
“I guess so. I’m here and I’m following you.”
She took his hand and told him about the poachers. He swore when she mentioned Dickie and the pilot. “Bastards. Count me in for any help I can give, but I don’t feel very powerful in a bathrobe and barefoot.”
“Believe me, you will be powerful.”
They reached the shelter of the acacias and she sank to the ground. “Sit beside me.” He took his place next to her. “I shall let you shift first if I can, although watching you may trigger my change. Think of the lions you’ve seen. Empty your mind and recite after me—” She repeated the words of the Siri Mtu charm. Nguvu kwa simba—The power of the lion—
Before she had finished, she saw the change begin in him. He stirred uneasily and she put a hand on his shoulder to calm him.
Gradually the tall man became a magnificent male lion. She took her hand from his haunch when the change was complete.
Her shift had already begun as she had predicted, and within a short while she stood beside him as Serah.
Jack threw his head back and gave a full-throated roar.
“You have human genes so you will work with me and not sleep in the warm sun,” she telegraphed to him in mock reproach.
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