Livy pushed her empty plate away and sipped more of her wine.
“Oh,” Vic said, “I should warn you . . . Toni found out that Blayne asked you to photograph her wedding.”
Livy winced a little. “Did Blayne duck in time?”
“No, but thankfully I was standing there, so I managed to get hold of Toni before her claws made contact.”
“You’re fast.”
“Speed’s important for my line of work.”
Livy watched Vic roll to his back, his hands behind his head, his gaze on the ceiling. She reached back and grabbed her camera off the couch. She adjusted the shutter for the low light in the room and raised the camera so she could look through the viewfinder.
Without moving his position, Vic asked, “Are you taking my picture?”
“Yes. But you’ll have to hold your position. It’s dark in here.”
Livy lifted one knee and balanced her camera on it. She checked the composition. Adjusted her body so that the camera moved the tiniest bit. Happy with that, she pushed the release, her heart racing a bit when she heard the slow-because-of-the-low-light click of the shutter.
“That better not end up on the Net,” Vic teasingly warned.
Livy took a few more before crawling over to Vic’s side, the camera held in her hand. She straddled his chest and looked through the viewfinder. “I wish the fireplace worked,” she murmured. “The firelight would look great on your face.”
“My cheekbones again?”
“They are fabulous.” Livy reached down and tipped Vic’s head slightly to the side. “Thanks for bringing me here,” she said. “I really needed this.”
“Toni said to get you away from Melly. This seemed like the best option. Not sure what you’ll do, though, when we head back.”
“My cousin Jocelyn is going to take Melly to one of our New York safe houses, which I appreciate.”
“One of your New York safe houses? You mean your family’s safe houses?”
Livy snapped Vic’s picture. “You can find Kowalski or Yang safe houses all over the world. In some cities, we have several.”
“Have you ever used them?”
“No. You never know when a relative is going to be there. Sometimes several, if there was a very big recent job and they’re lying low. And then you must deal with family, which I try to avoid. Besides,” she reminded him, placing her camera aside, “I have your house if I need to crash somewhere.”
“Anytime you want . . . just no more holes. It’s costing me a fortune to get those fixed.”
“What if I fix them?”
“No holes.”
“Fine.”
Livy stretched down, her arms sliding around his neck. She nibbled his jaw, then bit hard into his neck. Vic’s body jerked beneath her and he snarled a little.
“You play rough,” he grumbled, his arms still behind his head.
“I can stop if you want me to.”
“No need to be hasty. Just pointing things out.”
Livy licked her way back to his mouth, teasing his lips with her tongue. She twisted his hair around her fingers and massaged his scalp with her knuckles.
It was funny, Livy didn’t usually “play” with men. She was kind of a get-in-get-out girl. But this was Vic, and she actually enjoyed his company in and out of bed.
Vic finally pulled his hands out from behind his head and stroked them up Livy’s sides and around to her back, smiling as soon as he unleashed his claws, the tips dragging along her spine.
Sighing, Livy kissed Vic, burying her hands deep into his hair, and holding his head tight while she took his mouth.
But then he suddenly pushed her away. “Here,” he growled, pushing a condom packet into her hand.
“The cat awake again?” she asked, moving down his body until she straddled his knees and had easy access to his cock.
“What do you think?”
Livy removed the condom from the packaging, but she held on to it while she took Vic’s cock into her mouth. She deep-throated him, sucked, deep-throated him again. She pulled back, ran her tongue around the tip, then sucked him deep again.
That’s when Vic snarled, “Unless you want a mouth full of—”
She pulled his cock out of her mouth before he could finish that lovely description and put the condom on it. Livy took her time lowering her pussy onto it, but Vic suddenly gripped her waist and yanked her down.
Vic gasped but Livy laughed. “So impatient.”
“You take too long.” He ground his hips up and Livy wondered if he was trying to reach the back of her throat that way. And wondered if he possibly could.
Livy pressed her hand against his chest. “Are you going to let me do this, or are you going to try and rule from below?”
Vic studied her for a long moment, gold eyes squinting at her.
“No,” he finally stated. “You can take control later.”
Vic lifted Livy off his cock and before she knew it, she was on her knees in front of the couch, her head and arms resting on the cushions. Vic settled in right behind her, a knee pushing her legs apart. Then he was inside her, buried deep. Big, long arms stretched past Livy, his hands taking hold of the couch back. It was like being mounted by a giant, which she found shockingly arousing.
“What’s so funny?” he panted against her ear.
“As a matter of fact . . . nothing.” Livy turned her head and rested her cheek against the couch cushion. She allowed her whole body to relax. “I’m just sitting here, waiting for you to fuck the hell out of me.”
What was this woman doing? Vic had known that taking a honey badger into his bed was a dangerous proposition. How could it not be? But he just figured that would mean he’d end up covered in lacerations and feeling used. Something most shifter males learned to get over very quickly.
But this was worse. Because every time Livy let him know how much she was enjoying his rude and demanding bedroom antics, he knew he was becoming more attached to her. Attached to a woman who had an apartment she never lived in because she kept ending up in other people’s cabinets instead. Or under their beds.
Vic knew that getting attached to Livy Kowalski would only lead to trouble. Yet here she was . . . accepting the multiple sides of his nature.
How dare she?
“You know, you’re making me nuts!” Vic accused.
“I know.” Livy chuckled. “And I’m not even trying!”
Livy looked back at him and leaned up a bit, kissing him on his jaw. It was a sweet, simple kiss. Again, just accepting Vic as he was.
He fought his intense desire to say something really stupid. Something he wouldn’t be able to take back that would have Livy Kowalski running for the nearest exit.
Vic knew he couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t.
So he fucked Livy instead.
Who knew a little kiss would get Livy nailed to the couch? Not that she minded, because again, she didn’t.
She liked the way Vic fucked. That huge cock, reaming her from behind, filling her up. His big body over her. Some might feel overpowered by such a big man, but the position reminded Livy of being in the cabinets in Vic’s kitchen. All that was missing was the honey.
Then again, maybe the “honey” here was the multiple orgasms Vic was pounding out of her. Orgasms so powerful, she had to bury her face in the couch cushion and scream them out.
Livy finally collapsed to the couch, Vic thrusting a few more times until he came seconds later.
His arms wrapped around her, Vic pulled her back and up until he could kiss her.
They stayed like that for a bit, Vic holding her in his arms while they slowly kissed and waited for their hearts to stop racing.
That was when Livy said, “Vic?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m still hungry.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Me, too.”
Together, they looked at what was left of the food across the room.
“It sure is far away,” Livy sighed.
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“We can make it,” he said, back to his kind, sweet, and extremely goofy bear self. “How can we not?” he asked. “You’re a knight of the realm.”
And Livy laughed. Because seriously . . . how could she not?
CHAPTER 17
Vic woke up in a very good mood. But as soon as he turned over and saw that Livy wasn’t lying in bed beside him, his mood quickly soured.
Had she left? Had she already bailed on him? He wouldn’t put it past her.
“Well, I’m not chasing after her,” he muttered, sitting up. “If she wants to go, that’s up to her. It’s not my problem.”
He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I do need coffee, though.” Vic stood. “And I’m not sure where that is.”
Dragging on his boxers, Vic walked barefoot and bare-chested down the stairs and into the living room. He headed into the kitchen and quickly located the coffee beans. He ground them up, put them in the European coffeemaker, and patiently waited with his back against the counter and his arms crossed over his chest.
Vic looked around the kitchen. He knew there was no food in the refrigerator but he wasn’t in the mood to cook anyway. He decided to check the cabinets and, to his surprise, he didn’t find Livy in any of them. But he did find several cans of honey-covered peanuts.
As he walked back toward the coffeepot, he noticed that the shadows outside the French doors leading to the yard abruptly changed. Vic stopped and leaned over so he could look around the large marble counter, and that’s where he found . . . not Livy.
Wondering whom Livy had pissed off now, Vic put the peanuts down on the counter and walked outside.
“Hey, Mike,” Vic greeted, gearing himself for a statement that started off something like, “We put that honey badger friend of yours in jail . . .”
“Barinov.”
“What’s going on?”
“Thought you’d want to know about your girl.”
“What about her?”
“John Leary saw her going through his territory not too long ago—”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it, and if she attacked any of Mr. Leary’s beehives, I’ll replace—”
“Nah. That ain’t it.”
“It’s not?”
“Ya see, she kept walkin’, didn’t she? Right past all those beehives. Seemed strange, especially since she was in her honey badger form and all, so Leary followed her for a bit. See if she was up to anything.”
“And?”
“Well . . . she kept walkin’, didn’t she? Right over county lines.”
Vic stared at the deputy. “What?”
Mike shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and looked down at the ground, but didn’t repeat what he’d just told Vic.
“Are you telling me that Livy went into cat territory? And no one stopped her?”
“Well, Leary’s never been a chatty black bear.”
As if that excused the man somehow. Because it wasn’t just about Livy going into cat territory that was the problem. It was that she was going into cat territory after she’d just kicked their asses at yesterday’s joust.
Vic’s boxers began to rip apart as he shifted to his hybrid form. Mike backed away from him, hands raised. “Now come on, Barinov. We don’t need a whole heap of problems from those cats, now do we? And you . . . going over there looking like . . . like . . . that . . .”
But how this turned out was up to the felines. And what those felines were currently doing to Livy.
Livy had been climbing up a tree, trying to get to the hive of Africanized bees, when she was yanked down by a leopard.
She landed hard on her back, but quickly flipped over. There were about twelve of them. All big cats. Two leopards, a cougar, three She-lions, two cheetahs, a jaguar, a Bengal tiger, and two male lions.
And at least four of these cats were ones that Livy had defeated at yesterday’s joust, which was probably making them pretty cranky about Livy being here.
She’d known exactly when she’d crossed over into cat territory, but she hadn’t cared. She’d spotted some Africanized bees and had followed them back to their hive because African honey was one of her favorite raw honeys.
In retrospect, though, this was probably not one of her better ideas. But here she was. On her own. Facing down a bunch of angry cats.
So Livy charged the biggest one. One of the male lions, who was a few pounds heavier than the tiger. And much bigger than a honey badger,
Livy was able to launch herself at the lion’s face, attaching herself to his skull with her claws and fangs.
Roaring, the lion swung his head and tried to use his paw to knock her off. Livy held on, digging in deeper with her fangs while tearing at the cat’s flesh with her front paws.
One of the She-lions grabbed Livy from behind with her mouth and yanked her off. She swung Livy around, shaking her. She tossed Livy in the air and managed to catch her on the way down. But Livy’s body had flipped around in midair so that she was able to clamp her front claws onto the She-lion’s muzzle, lacerating the fur and flesh on both sides. The She-lion began her own attempt to shake Livy off, but she was smarter than the male, waiting until Livy lifted her paws so she could start raking them again through the cat’s muzzle.
A good shake and Livy was again flying. She hit a tree, bounced forward, and landed on her paws. She hissed and moved away from the tree so she didn’t have anything blocking her back. She sized up her opponents, deciding to go for that tiger next. But the cougar charged first, coming right at her. That’s when Livy saw a shadow fall over her. She looked up but all she could see was a mass of shaggy, black-striped brown and orange fur.
A paw the size of two platters swung out, and the cougar went flipping off into the trees. Livy didn’t even see where he landed.
All that fur over her head moved forward, the body so tall, she didn’t even have to scrunch down for it to pass. It just walked right over her like she wasn’t there.
The cats backed up, and Livy scrambled around so she could get a good look at what she now scented was Vic.
She’d never seen him in his shifted form and she understood why. He kind of resembled a woolly mammoth in a way, but that could have been all the fur. There was just so much of it! He didn’t have tusks like a woolly, but his front fangs extended past his lower jaw a bit. Still, that was nothing compared to the size of Vic’s paws. They were just so . . . big. Giant paws attached to giant legs, which were attached to a giant . . . beast.
One of the lion males charged and Vic turned slightly so the cat ran right into his side. Vic didn’t budge from the force, but the lion flew back and landed unconscious a few feet away. It was as if he’d run into a brick building. The other lion male roared and charged; Vic brought the cat down with one blow against the shoulder. Livy heard a crack as Vic and the cat made contact, and screaming, the lion went down. But it wasn’t just his shoulder. It was his shoulder and chest. They appeared . . . concave. He was even having trouble breathing.
Vic looked over the other cats, waiting to see if they would challenge him.
For some unknown reason, the tiger raised his front paw, suggesting he was about to walk toward Vic. In response to the tentative move, Vic took in a breath. When he released it, the breath came out as a roar. A roar that shook the ground beneath Livy’s paws, tossed the smaller cats back, and had the tiger carefully putting his paw back down on the ground.
When the roar finally ended, everything was silent. The birds. The Africanized bees in the hive above Livy’s head. Everything was silent. Except Livy. Who gave out a hissing laugh that her full-human friends often called “Livy’s evil laugh.” And it was even more evil-sounding when she laughed like that in her honey badger form.
Vic chuffed at her and Livy walked around to his back leg. Using her claws, she climbed up onto his back until she realized that her paw was tangled in his mass of fur. She tried to get it free, but she was getting to the point where she was afraid she’
d have to cut her way out.
That was when Vic’s tail swung around. Compared to the rest of him, it was a very unimpressive tail. Barely any fur on it and extremely thin considering his overall size. But long like a tiger’s tail. So, yeah, unimpressive. At least that was how Livy felt until that unimpressive tail dug into the fur around her paw and untangled the mess. That was when she realized that Vic had a prehensile tail.
How cool was that!
She’d always heard that shifter grizzlies, polars, and black bears had prehensile lips just like the full-bloods, but because Vic was a hybrid, it seemed that prehensile addition had landed elsewhere.
When Livy was comfortably secure on Vic’s back, he turned his nearly fifteen-foot-long body around and slowly made his way back into bear territory. He didn’t seem to have much speed at what was nearly two thousand pounds, but then, he didn’t really need it.
They made it back to the rental property without any problems and Livy quickly shifted to human.
“Don’t shift,” she ordered Vic. “Not yet.”
She jumped off his back, shocked at how long it took her feet to touch the ground. She walked around until she faced Barinov. She studied him closely, then walked up to him and pushed a mass of stringy fur off his face. That was when she finally saw his eyes. And they were human eyes staring back at her. The one physical part of him that didn’t change.
Livy grinned and stepped back. She walked all the way around him, and when she was right in front of him again, she finally announced, “You look . . . so . . . cool!”
No. That wasn’t what he’d expected her to say. Not that he minded. It was nice to hear someone say something other than, “Uh . . . oh . . . my . . . um . . .” upon seeing Vic’s shifted form. Or screaming and running away at the sight of him.
Livy didn’t do that or react as anyone else had when he was in this form. Instead, Livy stepped close and ran her hands down the fur on his muzzle. Vic lowered his head and she pressed her face against his snout. He felt the sigh she let out to his very bones.
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