by Lori King
“I don’t know if I said it earlier,” she said in a husky voice, “but you’re gorgeous.”
He chuckled as he wrapped his fingers around her ankles and rubbed her soft skin, skimming up her calves. Her skin goosebumped under his touch, her nipples hardening further.
“You’re the gorgeous one. You’re my dream come true.”
Her eyes darkened and her lips parted, wetted by her tongue. “Careful. Compliments like that will only get you pleasure.”
Things had changed so swiftly between them. Just a short time ago, she’d been terrified and determined to leave, but their mystical connection as soulmates had changed her mind. She was a gift, and he was a lucky male to have her in his life. Their life started now, with pleasure and happiness.
Pushing her thighs apart, he climbed onto the bed and settled between her legs. She reached for him, sliding a hand through his hair and fisting it lightly. Wrapping his arms around her thighs, he brushed his fingers through the soft curls covering her pussy and then spread her open slowly. He gazed at her, the dark pink of her center, glistening, beckoning him to explore and taste.
Casting his gaze up the length of her body, he flicked his tongue out and grazed her clit. Valerie moaned softly and panted, her breath gusting past her parted lips. With a purr, he lowered his head and laid his tongue on her clit. Her hips tilted, and he smiled inwardly, moving his head to the side so he could lick the length of her pussy. With one hand, he exposed her clit, spreading her open as he rubbed her with one finger; with the other, he cupped her bottom and lifted her. He licked her entrance and then slid his tongue into her slowly. She tasted exquisite – the sweet heat of her was intoxicating. He rubbed her clit swiftly, wanting his tongue buried to the hilt as she came. She began to moan loudly, her legs trembling as her grip in his hair tightened. He purred, and she mewled, her desire flooding his tongue as she drew closer to the edge.
Lifting her slightly higher, he pushed his tongue deeper into her and quickened his finger on her clit. She cried out, her legs tensing against his shoulders as she came, her climax like molten candy as she writhed against him. He held her close, feasting on her until he’d wrung every last drop out of her orgasm. She slumped to the bed. He rose between her thighs, prowling up her body which was flushed from pleasure, her eyes dilated and her chest heaving.
He wanted to say something romantic or sexy: How he’d never tasted anyone as sweet as her. How he hungered for her pleasure. How much he already cared for her even though they’d been virtual strangers just a day earlier.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and gripped his biceps, lifting her head to kiss his throat. “Fuck, Charisma.”
His dick kissed her pussy, the fat head pushing through her slick folds, the feeling so intense that his eyes rolled back. Her fingernails dug into his arms as she tilted her hips, their bodies pressing together as their soulmate bond strengthened. He could faintly feel her emotions – the pleasure that hummed through her, the passion that flared deeply – and he knew that she would be able to feel his emotions too.
Pulling out of her pussy, he purred as she settled back on the bed, urging him forward with a tug of her legs. He slid home slowly, loving how they fit together. He pulled out of her and plunged in again, letting himself go into the pleasure of their joining. She urged him on, her hands moving on his body as she traced his muscles, her nails scoring his skin as he drove her forward to another climax.
He captured her hands and pressed them into the bed, driving into her hard and fast. Her legs fell to the side, her feet pressing into the bed as she lifted herself to meet him. Their bodies sang together as he fucked her hard, desperate to hold off until she came one more time. She arched under him with a gasp and lifted one leg high against his side. He released her hand and grabbed her knee, pulling it up higher and spreading her apart.
“Yes, right there, yes,” she groaned.
“Come for me, wanna feel you,” he said with a growl.
Her pussy began to clutch him, and he knew she was close. Pushing her knee a little higher, he drove into her as fast as he could, the bed slamming against the wall. He snarled, his cat riding close to his skin. With a wail, she came, her pussy gripping him like a fist and dragging him into a wave of pleasure that swept over him like the tide. His dick throbbed as he came with her, his spine tingling and his fingertips aching as his claws pushed free.
Panting for breath, he released his hold on her and kissed her, nipping her lips with a purr. He pushed her gently to her stomach, and she rose onto her knees as he helped her upright, running his hand down the center of her sweat-slicked belly. Her skin was flushed dark pink, and her nipples were tight.
“Are you ready, sweet soulmate?” he murmured into her ear.
“Yes,” she said, hissing the word.
Pushing back her hair, he wrapped his arm around her upper body and let loose his hold on his cat. His fangs lengthened and he lifted his other wrist to his mouth and scored it deeply. Setting it against her mouth, he waited until she placed her lips over the wound and sucked gently on it before he pressed his fangs into the place where her neck and shoulder met and bit down. She jerked at the pain, but didn’t release her hold on his wrist. Her blood crested his tongue, and his cat roared in bliss as their bond became permanent.
He pulled his fangs from her as slowly as he could to minimize the pain, and tugged his wrist free from her mouth. She sighed deeply and leaned against him. She joined him in stretching out on the bed, laying her head over his heart. He loved the feel of her against him. His bed had been empty for such a long time, and now it was filled with his beautiful soulmate, the one woman on earth meant to be his.
“I wish I’d met you years ago,” he murmured, stroking her back.
“Me, too. I feel like I’ve known you forever, but we haven’t even been together for an entire day.”
“It’s our bond as soulmates. We’re meant to recognize each other immediately.”
She lifted her head and propped it on her hand. “So if we’d met in some random place, we would have been drawn to each other?”
“Yes.”
“I never asked where we are.”
“We’re in a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania called Littlewood.”
She glanced around the room. “How did you come to be here? Shouldn’t you be living in a jungle somewhere so your cat is happy?” She gave him a soft smile, and it made everything inside him tingle in happiness.
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and said, “Funny. This was my parents’ home. I was raised here. I considered moving out and making my own way, but my cat likes to be with a pride, and my pride was my parents. My dad helped me build a small house at the back of their property so I could have privacy. When they died, I turned that house into a workshop and moved back into this one.”
“I’m sorry your parents died. What happened to them?”
“My mom was gravely injured by a buck while they were hunting. She succumbed to her injuries, and my dad died a few days later.”
“He was hurt too?”
Charisma shook his head. “Soulmates can’t exist apart. Once we’ve mated with our soulmate, our lives are twined together forever.”
“That’s so sweet and sad at the same time.”
Resting her head back on his chest, she nuzzled him with a soft rumbling sound and then giggled. “I purred!”
He joined in her laughter. “You’re already becoming like me, sweetheart. Soon we’ll be hunting together and raising our children.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Just so you know, I lost a bet with my best friend, so I have to name our first girl Bethany.”
He chuckled. “What was the bet?”
“Who would get married first. I had just come back from her wedding when I found your necklace.”
“I hope you’re not disappointed that you lost.”
“It turns out that waiting for you was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I
didn’t know I needed you, and I sure as heck didn’t believe in magic, but here we are.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
6
“So there are pureblood shifters, like me, and changed shifters, which is what you’ll be when your transformation is complete,” Charisma said as he laid steaks in a sizzling hot cast-iron skillet. Valerie was wearing one of his t-shirts that was long enough to cover her bits, and sipping on a glass of ice-cold lemonade. He’d made a sandwich for her while she was passed out, but by the time they got around to eating it the bread was dried out. He’d offered to cook for her, and she’d been happy to put his skills to the test.
“Do purebloods dislike changed shifters?”
“Why would they not like them?” He glanced at her over his shoulder with a frown. “A shifter is a shifter.”
She shrugged. “I read a book–”
“Fiction, sweetheart,” he said with a sigh.
“I know they’re fiction, but my brain is filled with useless trivia about fictional shifters, so I’m trying to figure out what’s real and what’s not.”
He sprinkled seasoned salt over the steaks and then turned around to face her. He was wearing worn jeans that were frayed at the cuffs, and no shirt. It gave her a lovely view of his happy trail, which she adored. “Tell me about the book.”
She set her glass down. “It had born shifters and made shifters. Born shifters were considered high-class, and made ones were like the trailer trash of the supernatural world. The first book was about a born shifter female and a made shifter male and how her family hated him and disowned her. It was pretty neat.”
“Being disowned by your family is neat?”
“No, I mean fighting for love. She walked away from her family for him, and his so-called lowlife family members welcomed them with open arms.”
His brow rose and he shook his head. “The only way that a human can be changed is if they’re the soulmate of a pureblood. It’s not like I can go around biting humans and changing them whenever I please. It’s meant to be special.”
“I like that you don’t go around biting random people.”
He winked. “Just you.”
“Okay, so no ‘pure versus changed’ angst. What other kinds of shifters are there?”
“Pretty much all your predator animals: lions, pumas, wolves, bears, and birds like owls and falcons.”
She rubbed her finger around the lip of the glass in thought. “Do all shifters live apart from humans? You live in a town, but you’re at the edge of it in a very private area.”
He turned around long enough to flip the steaks and then faced her again. “Some of the groups are larger, like wolves. They’ll live in close proximity to each other. The larger the group, the more private they have to be so that they don’t draw unwanted attention to themselves. There’s a wolf pack on the other side of town. The alpha is a good male, with a loyal pack.”
“How many pack members are there?”
“Twelve.”
She looked past him to the kitchen window and the woods that stretched beyond. “Do you ever see them when you go out hunting?”
“This is my side of town, and they have their own woods to hunt in.”
He turned back to the stove, and she took another drink of lemonade. It surprised her how comfortable she was with him. Just days earlier she’d been semi-jealous of her bestie getting married, and now she was technically married to a tiger shifter.
Charisma set a plate in front of her with a thick, steaming steak. Her stomach growled, and she picked up the knife and fork and cut a piece. As her teeth sank into the tender steak, she could hardly contain her moan of appreciation. She was certain she’d never tasted anything so good.
“This is like heaven on a plate!”
He smiled at her as he cut a piece of his own steak. “I’m glad you like it. In case you couldn’t tell, it’s pretty much the only thing I can cook. I eat a lot of meat.”
She’d seen inside his refrigerator. Aside from a gallon of lemonade and bottled water, the shelves were stocked with containers of meat.
“Is it because you’re a shifter? Are you just inclined to like only meat?”
“It’s easier for me. I often eat while I’m hunting, but I don’t go hunting every day, so I keep a variety of meat in the refrigerator and the chest freezer. There’s a butcher in town, and also a grocery. What kinds of things do you like?”
“I’m pretty sure I could live on these steaks forever and be perfectly happy.”
“You’re giving me quite an ego boost, sweetheart.”
“I like a man who can cook, in and out of the kitchen,” she said, winking. “But I do like fruit and vegetables, and I have a sweet tooth, too.”
“You can have whatever you want.”
She finished her steak and carried both of their dishes to the sink. “I can do the dishes,” he said, joining her.
“It’s okay. You cooked, I can clean.” It only took a few minutes to clean the dishes. After he insisted on drying and putting them away, they moved to the couch and he stoked the fire until the room was toasty warm.
“I’m worried about my mom and my best friend,” she said as he settled next to her and slipped his arm around her shoulders. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “When can you take me home?”
“No,” he snarled as his eyes flashed.
She pressed her palm to his cheek to soothe him and murmured, “I have to tie up loose ends. I need to quit my job, close my accounts, pack up my apartment, and oh yeah – figure out what I’m going to tell my mom and best friend so they don’t think I’ve been brainwashed by a cult!”
He chuffed softly and kissed the center of her palm. “I’m sorry I reacted like that. Your question caught me off-guard.”
“It’s okay. I should have phrased it better. I don’t want to leave you. I just have a lot to do.” She leaned against his shoulder with a sigh and closed her eyes.
“I’ll take you to your apartment Tuesday morning, and we’ll figure everything else out together.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re my soulmate. I’d do anything for you.”
* * *
Charisma could have sat on the couch and held his mate forever and been as content as a kitten with a bowl of cream. But her worries for her family, friends, and life back home wouldn’t allow him to relax. He wanted her to be happy. Being a good mate meant he needed to put her needs first. While she dozed against him, his mind spun with the desire to help her in every way.
When she woke an hour later, stretching and smiling at him in an entirely too sexy way, she said, “Did you rest or was it just me?”
“I was too busy thinking to really rest.”
“About what?”
“What we can tell your mom and your friend so they don’t worry.”
She hummed. Turning to face him, she leaned across his legs and said, “I don’t want to lie, but I don’t know how we’ll be able to tell them anything without them thinking something is terribly wrong. But, I was considering telling them that I’ve decided to take a vacation for a few weeks and figure my life out. I can quit my job and pack up my place, and in the meantime, I can tell my mom and Bethany that I’ve met you. In a few weeks, they won’t be surprised that I want to be with you.”
He rubbed his thumb along her jaw. Her skin was so soft and a perfect ivory that contrasted with the rich golden-brown shade of her hair. He was the luckiest male on the planet, and he knew that for a fact. She wanted to stay with him, was willing to come up with a ruse so her family wasn’t hurt by her leaving. They meant a great deal to her, and as a result they meant a great deal to him too.
“Whatever you think is best.” He paused and stared at her, drinking in her lovely features. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For giving up everything to stay with me.”
She rubbed her fingers over her heart. “I don’t think I could bear to be apart
from you. If things were different and you needed to stay with me so we could be together, would you give up everything?”
“In a heartbeat.”
She leaned forward and kissed him, pressing her mouth to his gently. He parted his lips as he drew her closer, their matching purrs filling the air. Their first night together had ended beautifully, with her acceptance as his mate and her lush curves against his. He couldn’t ask for anything more.
* * *
Valerie touched the medallion as she stared up at the ceiling of the cabin. The rough woodwork was interesting, and gave a homey touch to the interior. The décor was very masculine, but Charisma had already offered to let her decorate it any way she pleased. She envisioned her grandma’s blue afghan over the couch, and her mom’s rocking chair in the corner.
“Are you hungry, sweetheart?”
She wiggled around to face him and kissed his chin and then his lips. He purred, wrapping his arms around her. “Not at the moment. Do I get to keep my medallion?”
“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t you?”
“I couldn’t take it off before. I thought maybe it would disappear after the moon rises tonight.”
“It will become unlocked after moonrise, so you can take it off if you want to, but it’s yours to keep. It belonged to my mom.”
“I’m glad I get to keep it. I really like it.”
“You can pass it on to our children to use someday.”
Whenever he mentioned having kids, her insides turned warm. She’d always wanted to have kids, and now she was going to have them with her soulmate. She’d never have to worry that she’d chosen the wrong guy for herself. Charisma would never cheat on her or lie to her. Their bond was for the length of their lives. And one day, weeks from now, she’d wake up and be able to turn into a tiger.