by A. C. Arthur
These walls were dark, like the interior of the house seemed to be. He had lots of books, everything from Shakespeare to Carl Weber. There were law manuals and research guides. She smiled as her fingers traced the spine of the Idiot’s Guide to Meditation. She could certainly see the reserved and brooding Rome meditating in here.
The feeling was that of a sanctuary, a solitary place where he could be exactly what he wanted to be. A huge bed on a platform sat in the center of the room. She remembered that bed and what had happened between them in it. Walking past she stayed on the lower level of the room and passed his desk on her way to the patio doors. There was heavy brocade drapery that when closed she suspected kept all sunlight out. It was late afternoon and the drapes were partially open. She pushed them open all the way and sucked in her breath at the view.
It felt like she should be in a country house with all the lush greenery and the tips of full-grown trees she could see. It was open space then woods, a place where a big cat would like to run.
She turned and wasn’t surprised to see him standing a few feet behind her, his stance casual, hands slipped into the pockets of his slacks, chest moving evenly with every breath he took. He looked like some kind of god with his chiseled mocha-toned face and probing eyes. Lust slid through her as if she’d had that drink Baxter promised her and it was something of the alcohol family. Only she didn’t want anything about this moment impaired. She wanted the entire truth from him, because maybe, just maybe she hadn’t been crazy for the last two years. Maybe there really was a big cat protecting her. And if so, her next question would be why.
“Why are you here? Or should I say, always there when I need help?” She’d almost said need you but didn’t feel entirely comfortable admitting that just yet.
“Our kind come from the Gungi rain forest in Brazil. We’re born and most often raised there.”
“In the jungle?” she asked incredulously even though she knew there were human tribes living around the rain forests.
“We are a species that has been around for a couple of hundred years, a complex blend of human and animal. As you can understand, I’m sure, this is not common knowledge.”
“Who else knows about your kind?”
“Nobody, or at least no humans. And we’d like to keep it that way.”
“I want to see,” she said without hesitation. “I want to see what you are. Right here, right now.”
He frowned, and she knew he was preparing to say no. Taking a deep breath, she licked her lips and continued, “I’ve dreamed of you. Ever since that night two years ago, I’ve seen you in my dreams. Your eyes, your body. The muscled body of a cat. I’ve carried you with me all this time and I…” Her voice wavered for just an instant. “I’d like to see right here in the light of day while I’m fully awake that I’m not cr … crazy.”
A tiny smile tilted his lips and Kalina wanted to groan with the instant punch of arousal that speared through her. This had to be insanity as well, the way she continuously wanted him as if the two times before hadn’t been enough. Knowing what she now thought she knew about him, it was even stranger.
“You’re not crazy,” he said, taking steps to close the distance between them.
She laughed nervously. “I can’t tell. I mean really, first I’m in an alley being attacked, then here comes this … I don’t know. I hear roaring. Can you imagine that? Roaring like I’m in the jungle or something. Then I see—no I don’t really see it—” She felt like she was back in the therapist’s office, sitting on that fake-suede coach trying to dig deep enough into herself to tell the old bearded man what really happened. But she couldn’t. Yet now, she could.
“I saw you over me, grabbing him by his neck.” Rome was standing right in front of her now, his height towering inches over her own. Another time she might have felt like he was crowding her, but today she didn’t. His presence, this close, felt just right.
“Huge teeth and jaws and the man’s face went from shock to stark fear. When I saw your eyes, I closed mine.” Her voice was getting lower as the words came faster, her heart thumping. “I could hear the sounds and I felt the rain, splattering my face and my arms. My blouse was ripped so I felt cold all over. I wanted to get up, to run as fast as I could, but my body wasn’t working at first. There were these other sounds, like little growls, and I opened my eyes again.” Telling the story again after all this time had her trembling. Rome took her in his arms, rubbing his hands up and down her back. Tilting her head just slightly, she looked right into Rome’s face. “It was you. You were there, pacing, making those noises. Almost like you wanted to run, too, to leave that alley and just run.”
“I frightened you,” he whispered, lifting one of her hands to his lips and kissing her fingers.
“No,” she replied. “I don’t think I was afraid of you. Of a feeling, I think.” A feeling that had started from someplace deep inside her the moment she looked into the eyes of the cat.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She was shaking her head. “No. It wasn’t your fault. I mean, you saved my life.”
He still held her hand and with his other his fingers feathered over her jaw. “I will always protect you, Kalina. Always.”
Kalina felt dizzy, like everything around her was spinning. Inside her body was on fire with need. But her mind craved more. She needed this confrontation, needed to end the speculation once and for all. “Please,” she whispered, turning her face slightly so that her lips brushed along his fingers.
He didn’t speak, just moved from her, showing her his back as he walked away. When he was close to the platform of the bed he stopped. She held her breath in anticipation. His shirt fell from his shoulders first, and she watched the muscles of his back bunch and contract as he bent over to remove his shoes and socks. Her nipples tightented when his slacks drifted past his hips, down his thighs, along with his underwear. If she thought he was a gorgeous specimen in clothes, out of them he was beyond words. Even a full back view was enticing enough to have her nipples puckering. Tight buttocks dimpled as strong thighs moved to kick the clothes farther away from him.
Then it happened. Right in front of her eyes, the six-foot-two-and-a-half-inch man dropped to the floor and shifted to a large cat.
The transition was swift, an elongating of bones she barely heard cracking. Dark fur rippled along the surface that was seconds ago smooth skin. The cat was as long as Rome was tall with a hulking body that gave the impression of being very heavy. But that was just the physical.
Even though her heart beat so loud she was sure Baxter could hear it from wherever he was in this house, Kalina walked toward the cat that now swished its long tail and turned to her.
She kept going until she was standing not even a foot away from it and could do nothing but sigh. Her shoulders sagged as she felt a tremendous weight being lifted. Going to her knees and letting her bottom fall back on the heels of her feet, she simply stared.
He was beautiful. Majestic. Regal. Powerful.
She reached out a hand and touched the huge circumference of his face, her fingers shaking only slightly as the softness of the fur tickled her skin. It was like onyx, this dark, smooth, thick fur that covered him, and yet she could see darker spots here and there. He made a grunting sound and the warmth of his breath from flaring nostrils drifted over her skin.
Kalina had always been afraid of cats. If she’d see a cat walking on her side of the street she’d quickly cross to the other. Mrs. Gilbert’s pudgy feline scared her on a daily basis, and yet here she was, with the head of what she presumed was a black jaguar in the palm of her hand.
Rubbing past his head, her small hands trembled along his back and down his sides. The pattern of rosettes was visible, giving him a distinct exotic look. To say she was amazed would have been an understatement.
Everything about him said strength and control and—she realized with a jolt piercing throughout her body with only a small amount of confusion—lust. Something, somewher
e deep inside her rose, standing at attention. Her gaze found that of the cat once more and held. They were the eyes she’d seen in her dream, the ones she knew so well, and they were staring back at her. He made a chuffing sound, rubbing his head along the palm of her hand, and her heart raced. The flattened nostrils of his nose flared as he sniffed. Then the head moved closer, pushing past her hand and rubbing along the inside of her arm. The fur was so soft it sent shivers up her arm to trickle down her spine.
He sniffed again, this time closer to her breasts, and Kalina swore her own nostrils moved as well, searching for a scent she could recognize. And it was there, not completely to her surprise. A faint scent filtered in the air around them, a sweet sort of musk that once it reached inside her body had everything growing warm. That part of her that seemed to have risen to meet this animal part of him was at full attention now, pushing against the barriers of her human skin with an urgency that Kalina could not contain.
She dropped her arms to her sides as his head continued to move over her chest and down her torso. At her midsection he gave a little push and she instinctively opened her legs. He came closer, that chuffing sound muffled against the inside of her thigh. When his head settled between her legs, his nose at her center, Kalina shivered, her breath catching, nipples tightening. The scent permeating the air melted inside her like some liquid drug and she felt her body going limp against the floor.
She’d stretched out, watching as the big cat stood over her, stalking around her in slow languid movements. His eyes were intense as they raked over her body. When he paused at her feet Kalina wondered what would happen next. She struggled to differentiate between the sound thoughts of a human female and the rising sensations of another.
As quickly as he’d transformed from the man to the cat, the man returned in all his naked splendor. Above her Rome stood with one strong hand cupping his elongated arousal. She licked her lips, her tongue eager to touch the engorged tip, to lick its thick length.
He went to his knees, stretched his body along the length of hers, keeping the bulk of his weight off her by propping up on his elbows. Her arms were flat at her sides but she lifted her head, anticipating his kiss.
“This is what I am,” he whispered, staring down at her as the words tumbled from his lips.
He was the handsome attorney with the sharp suits and keen wit. He was the dominant yet considerate lover who had made her come with just the touch of his hand. He was the beast who’d haunted her dreams. And he was exactly who she wanted.
Shifting to bring a hand up, she touched her fingers over his jaw, let them trail until they feathered over his lips. “This is who I want,” she replied.
His head lowered and their lips collided in a hungry kiss. She gripped the back of his head, pulling him closer, trying to get deeper. She craved his taste, wanted every bit of his tongue in an attempt to quench this persistent thirst.
He gave her everything: lips, tongue, moans, nipping teeth that had her hissing at their contact. Her body trembled, aching to be touched, taken. As if he’d read her mind his hands began to move frantically over her body, severing their kiss while he worked. Her pants and panties were stripped quickly from her bottom; she toed off her shoes during the process. He grabbed the hem of her shirt, pulling it roughly over her head. His teeth found the sensitive skin of her neck and traced a stinging path of heat down to the crevice between her breasts. With her chest heaving, her back arching to meet his assault, she heard a snap and felt her bra slip from her body.
Rome took a bare breast into his mouth, suckling so deeply the turgid nipple burned. Simultaneously he cupped the other breast, squeezing just as tightly. Kalina’s thighs shook, her pussy creaming with expectancy. She gasped and clamped her hands onto his shoulders as he continued his assault.
“Mine,” she thought she heard him mumble as his lips moved from her breast down her torso to where his tongue stroked longingly over her navel.
His palms still held her breasts, and she lifted her hands to his wrists to keep them there. With each stroke of his tongue over her skin, she felt a new layer of herself being peeled away. Nothing was the same, not the sound of his voice, the feel of his kisses, the sensations rippling through her body. It was all different, new, vibrant in a way she’d never imagined.
When he nipped along the line of her juncture she cried out his name and realized her throat felt hoarse, like she’d been yelling and yelling for hours. She moved her head from side to side, seeming to go in slow motion as flashes of scenes filtered through her mind.
A picturesque jungle. Majestic cats standing together in unity. A colony. A whole new world.
His hands left her breasts to spread the plump folds of her pussy until cool air whispered over the tightened bud at her center. When the flat of his tongue covered that nub everything inside Kalina rushed forward, raging as the sound of a vicious waterfall rumbled in her ears. He licked again and again, using the full length of his tongue. She arched from the floor panting and screaming as each stroke pushed her closer and closer, until she was finally freefalling over the edge. Falling and falling only to land with swift efficiency on her feet.
The landing was like an awakening and Kalina’s body fully responded.
Grasping his head she worked her hips over his mouth, directing his strokes and begging for more.
Chapter 23
Rome felt the shift, felt the exact moment Kalina’s cat had taken charge inside her. It was a silent challenge, a hello-baby-I’m-home. And he was there, completely game for their meeting.
Thrusting two fingers inside her, he continued to work the nub at the hood of her center. She was pumping against him, giving him every angle, taking the pleasure she’d so longed for. With his other hand he found her rear, touching the tight entrance timidly at first, waiting to hear her response, then pressing farther when her breathing hitched.
He slid one finger inside her rear while the other hand worked her core until her essence was dripping. He wanted to lap at the thick honey flowing from her, but wanted to prepare her for his taking even more. So instead he pressed another finger into her rear, scissoring them to stretch her farther.
“I need you now,” a voice deeper than hers whispered. She moaned and it was a guttural sound, a rasping sound that rubbed over his body like a silken cloth.
“Not yet, baby. I’m hungry for you, too, but dammit, not yet,” he said through clenched teeth, wanting to sink his dick deep inside her warmth with an urgency that threatened his sanity.
But there was something else, some part of him that knew this was a defining moment, that what he did to her, what she did to him at this time would take them both to a place foreign to them. He couldn’t stop it but that didn’t mean he knew how to handle it, how Kalina would handle it. They’d known each other officially for about a week now, but unofficially it seemed like forever.
Unknowingly his cat had been in search of hers—the man in search of the perfect female. He’d never had admitted it, not to anyone. Except at this very moment there was no room for denial. He couldn’t—not that he’d ever considered this an option in any facet of his life—run from the inevitable.
She bucked beneath him and his body tensed, his balls drawing so tight he could barely swallow. The tip of his dick dripped with pleasure as his fingers moved through her silken heat. Her scent permeated the air, mixing with his, combining to form the calor. Together it was intoxicating, this scent that sealed their mating.
From this moment on Rome would not be able to keep his hands off her. She was in his blood now, her cat mingling with his, the female joining with the male. No other males could touch her now even though they’d pick up her scent and translate it as her being in heat. They’d want her, crave her, but die a quick death if they dared touch her.
For her, she would ache for him, her body would forever be ready for his touch, his taking, almost to the point of pain whenever they were near. And when they were apart her scent would thicken, send
ing out a message for him to come to her. Another male venturing near her would get an extreme reaction—either her intense arousal or rabid anger. Both would be dangerous to anyone other than her mate.
That was the way of their mating. Shadow Shifters mated for life.
And as Kalina arched up off the floor, her hazel eyes turning golden, touching their heat to him wherever their gaze landed, he knew he’d have it no other way. This was his companheiro and nobody was going to take her away from him. He’d protect her with everything he was, that was a promise.
“Rome, please,” she panted, his name a sweet whisper to Rome’s ears.
“Yes, baby,” he crooned, slipping his fingers from her then lifting her to carry her to his bed.
With the utmost care Rome lay her on the bed, but the she-cat would not have it easy. She rolled over, coming up on her knees, offering her luscious bottom to him. Then looking over her shoulder with eyes glossed with lust and hunger, she said, “Take me, now!”
He wouldn’t deny her, couldn’t even if he wanted to and he definitely did not want to. There was nothing in all this world—Rome was absolutely positive—more beautiful than the sight of his woman’s ass poised and waiting for him.
Inside his beast thrashed, slashing him with stinging lashes of hunger, need. He almost roared but bared his teeth instead, feeling the prick of their sharpness against his bottom lip. Stepping closer to the bed, he grabbed the soft cheeks of her behind, pulling them apart so he could see the slightly stretched rear entrance. His mouth watered with anticipation, his dick straining for admittance.
Rome wanted to go slow, to be easy with her, gentle even, but wasn’t sure he could. Need tore through him, and the second his tip touched the tight entrance his entire body heated. He pushed slowly, holding her hips still while he made the first attempts at entry. Her tightness gripped him, sucking him in the moment she had a small taste.