A Cougar's Claim (Charmed in Vegas Book 7) (15 page)

The cougar started to spill through his skin in a way he’d never experienced. This wasn’t the savagery of a shift to fight or kill. This was something he’d only ever share with Rhiannon. His fangs narrowed, not meant to rip or tear, but to puncture her skin with minimal damage. Claw replaced his human fingernails, but the edges were blunted.

He moved her hand across her belly and guided her fingers to her clit. “Come for me.” Lowering his gaze to watch the way she teased herself, he fucked her hard against the wall, waiting for the right moment to bury his teeth in her shoulder.

Movements becoming erratic, her breath labored, she thrashed in his hold, the muscle spasms almost wrenching his own orgasm from him. Pure, heated bliss coalesced in his balls. Kit took her fingers in his mouth and sucked them clean.

“I can’t wait to taste you.” He canted his hips forward and back, the last thrust taking his heels off the floor, and bit down where her shoulder and neck met. The sweet, coppery taste of her blood flooded his mouth as he found his release deep inside her.

The tingling energy that bound them together jolted into a lightning strike, first binding them together in magical bonds, then arrowing straight into Rhiannon. Kit observed the shock and surprise on her face as she was forced into awareness from a pleasure induced stupor.

Her eyes flashed cougar gold and they both screamed as they came apart again, her body clenching and releasing around his cock as cum expelled from the tip over and over.

“Mate.” He kissed her forehead, nose, and both cheeks before giving her a sweet, lingering kiss on the mouth.

She snuggled in close to him, her eyes half closed. “That’s me.”

Kit turned the water off and sauntered back to the bed, still deep inside her. Letting her down gently on the bed, he crawled onto the mattress and tucked her into his torso. The wounds from his fangs had healed over, four silver scars on her creamy complexion. Unable to resist, he licked the two nearest his lips, smiling at how she arched her back and scooted closer.

His cock swelled anew, and he teased her by sliding in and out between her thighs.

“Mmm....” Rhiannon raised her upper leg.

He’d have to be stupid to turn down that invitation, and Kit was done being stupid when it came to Rhiannon. Guiding his cock to the entrance to her body, he put his upper thigh between hers to open her more fully, and slid his cock in until she’d taken every inch.

K
it started out slow, rocking his hips in increments.

The gentle movements weren’t enough, not coming close to taking the edge off the fierce, almost bloodthirsty desire clawing her from the inside out. She clamped her hand down on his thigh and dug her fingers in to the muscle.

Burrowing her face into the pillow, Kit’s scent surrounded her. That smell drove her crazy. He was everywhere—his heavy arm over her waist, his chest cradling her back, his breath stirring across her face.

But she could get away from him any time she wished. Was she stronger than him? Could he protect her? The cold, calculating, wild force swirled inside her, the entity little more than a seed, a fragment, she glimpsed in her mind’s eye as flashes of teeth, claws, and hunger. Power trickled over her, a frisson of heat and fur.

Kit growled behind her, his chest vibrating. His scent changed. A new tendril of scent braided in with the smells she typically associated with him. Musk and crushed pine needles. She squirmed, a sudden urge to extricate herself from the bed, from him, taking root. Twisting to her belly, she fisted the sheets, tensed to roll the rest of the way off the bed.

If he couldn’t hold her here, he couldn’t fuck her. He had to prove his strength. A new, feral part of her demanded her mate prove his worthiness through a show of dominance and strength.

Kit covered her, his larger frame securing her flat to the mattress between one breath and the next. Sharp teeth nipped her shoulder, and he captured her wrists, stretched her arms above her head.

He secured both of her wrists with one hand. Wetness slicked her even as she twisted and fought his hold, kicking at his shins and bucking her hips.

She would not be easily tamed. The new entity inside her roared, a sound she wanted to release but couldn’t. Not yet.

Kit’s grip was almost bruising, his rough, calloused palm on her thigh exciting her as he shoved her knee to the side and up toward her belly. Opening her to take the long, thick length of his cock.

Rhiannon pressed up with her hips, snapped them back down again when the beast inside snarled at her. Tears pricked her eyes. She was so turned on and so confused.

“Shh...it’s okay baby. I know what you need.” Kit reached down and grabbed his cock by the base, aligning himself with her. The fingers encircling her wrists tightened an increment when she tried to break free of his hold. He kissed the nape of her neck, once, twice, even as she thrashed her lower body, sweating and cursing.

Her heart beat raced and a coughing snarl worked it’s way out of her throat. The lips on the back of her neck curved into a smile.

“So fierce. So strong already. Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

Pain lit up the back of her neck, an iridescent flare of shocking sensation. Kit purred with his teeth buried in the back of her neck and thrust forward hard. Her back bowed, every muscle in her body taut from the shock of adjusting to him.

This. This was what she’d needed.

A warning growl trickled from his throat, slipped along her nerve endings. She lifted her hips up into his as far as he’d allow. He released her neck, but kept his hold tight on her wrists and thigh. Every thrust crashed into her, forced the air from her lungs. The room filled with the slap of his hips hitting her ass with bruising force.

“That’s right sweetheart. Take my cock.” Kit burned her ears with a continuous stream of muttered dirty talk, the cage of his body, the slide of their skin and the burn in her aching muscles driving her crazy. He circled her clit, framed the swollen nub with two fingers, and pinched. “I want to feel you come around me.”

Pleasure coiled, sprung, and shattered her apart. She screamed his name as he pushed his cock deeper inside her than anyone had ever been.

The muscles in her arms and legs went loose. She couldn’t even lift her head. Kit dragged her hips up, secured her with one arm under her waist, and slammed into her four more times, finally shuddering as he came.

They stayed like that, plastered together in a useless heap. She felt safe, loved, and deliciously owned by him.

Her mate.

***

R
hiannon stretched, tired and achy in all the best places, but so relaxed. The discomfort from her multiple bruises, abrasions, and swollen muscles had disappeared. No, this aching had nothing to do with getting her butt kicked and everything to do with having had sex. Loads and loads of sex. A satisfied grin teased her lips.

She’d fallen asleep after Kit made love to her three more times, unable to keep her eyes open. He’d cradled her in his arms, still inside her.

The sweet smell of syrup and pancakes, the warm greasiness of bacon, and the lightly sulfurous odor of eggs wafted in the room. God, she was hungry. Rolling onto her back, she felt the rumpled sheets next to her. Room temperature bedding under her palm. She could smell Kit on the pillow and even on her own skin, but he wasn’t in the bed with her.

Sitting up, she noted the room service cart parked near the door, the trail of her ruined clothing leading to the bathroom. She poked at the scars he’d left in her shoulder, front and back, and reached around to another set he’d left in the nape of her neck.

He wasn’t here. He’d left her. Again. For the space of a few precious hours, she’d felt special. Beloved.

Mated.

That made the abandonment so much worse. She was a fool. A love-sick idiot.

A presence inside her, that unknown entity, surfaced, like a submarine bursting through the surface of the ocean in a wild, turbulent geyser.

Power flowed from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes in a skin-rippling wave. Wild, ferocious, and instinct driven, Rhiannon gasped at the contact with the new part of her soul. The cougar stared back at her in her mind’s eye, purring but also flashing long, sharp teeth.

Wow. Kit’s mating bond had changed her. She had a cougar inside her now. Part of her had thought it all a figment of her imagination or a temporary thing from the mating.

The cougar flicked the tip of her tail.
Mate is not here.

Startled by the voice reverberating in her head, Rhiannon choked, sat up in the bed, and hugged a pillow. So he really hadn’t been lying when he’d said she was his mate. The connection she’d felt with him, that electrical charge that even now crackled with life, wasn’t some sad, imaginary thing she’d made up to comfort herself. The bite scars he’d left behind warmed.

But he’d still left her without a word. He’d snuck out while she slept.

Mouth turning down with a bitter frown, she swiped the back of her hand under her eyes. Guess he realized he made a mistake after she’d passed out and took off. The cart of food didn’t mean crap. Maybe he’d stashed cab fare next to a plate too.

She warred with giving in to the urge to throw the entire apparatus at the wall and eating everything on it.

The cougar won that argument with simple imagery of hunting down bunnies and chomping on their warm, furry bodies with blood spurting everywhere.

“Point taken.” She wound the sheet under her armpits and retrieved the cart, dragging it beside the bed.

Hell, she could bite Mancini’s balls off now. She could shift into a cougar and go live in the desert or some shit if she wanted. So Kit had ditched her again. There was a whole new avenue of possibilities open to her now.

She had the impression her cougar was rolling her eyes, but Rhiannon didn’t care. Choices were good.

Rhiannon rolled a pancake into a golden brown cylinder with a hunk of bacon in the middle, dunked the end in syrup, and started eating. Even though Kit had left her, he’d given her a weapon she could use to fight back against the mob boss.

And, now she could hunt down Jase with her nose. After Jase, she’d track down Kit. He couldn’t hide from her now.

“He didn’t even have any tats or a pierced dick. I can’t believe I believed him....” Polishing off a second pancake, she hardened her heart. Everything she knew about soul mates and shifters was a total fallacy. “He wasn’t supposed to be able to leave me. He promised.”

***

K
it rushed back to the room where he’d left Rhiannon. Something was wrong. He couldn’t reach her with the bond they shared—the new connection fizzed and blew feedback at him. What he detected hurt him, like a sucker punch to the center of his chest.

The bag of clothes and toiletries he’d bought bumped into his thigh. He’d been gone for a half hour at best, loathe to leave her while she slept unprotected, even if the Wild Hunt had taken all the surrounding rooms on this floor and his friends in their ranks had sworn to protect her. Rhiannon was his mate, not theirs.

Not bothering to unlock the door to the room, he shoved the slab open, destroying the jamb and burying the knob in the opposite wall.

His mate rested cross-legged on the bed, a plate of eggs on her lap, her fork held in mid-air. The carafe of coffee appeared untouched, but the pancakes, sausage, bacon, toast, and fresh fruit he’d ordered her were consumed.

She’d have to have woken up starving. After everything she’d endured and being a new shifter, her body would have burned through massive amounts of energy healing her injuries.

Kit crossed the room, tossed the bag on a small dinette table, and claimed a deep kiss. He nipped her lips, kissed her nose and forehead. “You taste like syrup.”

Slack jawed, she gazed up at him, her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “You came back.”

“Of course I did. Why wouldn’t—” A trickle of sour guilt crawled into his stomach. Dropping to the mattress, he cupped her cheek. She didn’t trust him yet. “I’m not leaving. You can’t get rid of me.”

“You didn’t.... I thought it was like last time. My cougar thinks I’m an idiot.” She inhaled, all shaky, and cleared her throat. “I thought you left me food kinda like leaving money on the nightstand.”

A low growl escaped before he could control himself. He had no right to be angry. To his surprise—and hers—she growled back, her eyes flashing cougar gold. Fighting back a smile at her fierceness, he leaned over and stole her bite of eggs right off the fork.

Only a mate or a member of a family could get away with that with another shifter. Rhiannon’s shoulders relaxed a fraction. Kit doubted she was aware of it, but joy zinged inside him. Deep inside her, she recognized him as her mate.

He kissed the scars on her shoulder. “I went to get you clothes. I didn’t think you’d wake up before I got back.” Taking her fork and feeding her some eggs, he dipped his head. “It won’t happen again. I’ll leave you a note next time if I have to leave when you’re sleeping.”

“Wake me up,” she rocked around on the bed, adjusting the sheet she wore. “I think I’d like that better.”

“You needed your rest,” he intoned, keeping his voice soft and apologetic. It would take him years to prove to her he wasn’t going to abandon her, to build that trust. “But if that’s what you want, I’ll never leave the house without telling you where I’m going.”

Pink suffused her cheeks and her eyes sparkled. “Maybe I’ll stick a tracking device on that amazing butt of yours.”

“If it makes you feel better you can put five of them there.” Pouring coffee in one of the too small hotel supplied cups, he added cream and sugar, then passed the drink to her. “Or maybe I’ll just stay with you every second of every day until you want to throw me under a bus just to get away from me.”

“I’d never want to do that.” Rhiannon took the coffee and sipped. “Wow, this is perfect. How’d you know how I like my coffee?”

Smug and preening, he gripped the back of her neck, right over the bite marks he’d made. “One of the perks of biting you.”