Cat's Lair (35 page)

The absolute worst was the terrible heat burning through her like a firestorm. She couldn’t breathe with wanting Eli. Her mind was in chaos, the need so terrible she thought she might go insane. She couldn’t stop the undulations of her body, or the need to press over his thigh and grind down hard. Her hands were everywhere, touching him, fingers spread wide to take in as much of him as possible. Her mouth moved over his chest, his belly, along his rib cage. She couldn’t get enough of touching him.

The beat of her heart was insane. She felt the throb between her legs, pounding urgently, a feral, primal drumbeat of relentless hunger. She couldn’t stop herself, licking at his skin, reaching for him with desperation.

“Do something, Eli,” she pleaded, so insane for him even her voice wasn’t her own. “I need you touching me. Your mouth. Your fingers. I need you filling me. Take it away. You have to make it stop.”

“I’ve got you, Kitten,” Eli assured her, jerking her chin up so he could take her mouth again.

He was addicted to the taste of her, the way all that honey poured down his throat and invaded every organ of his body. The mixture of honeysuckle and pheromones spread through his system like wildfire until she was branded on his tongue, down his lungs and in his very bones.

She sobbed his name, over and over, a desperate keening mewl, and he couldn’t stand it another minute. He whirled her around and bent her over the bed, pressing her head down with one hand hard in the middle of her back until her head touched the mattress, the action pushing the firm globes of her buttocks into the air.

When her hand went between her legs, he caught it firmly and stretched both arms out, so that her hands were forced to grip the opposite sides of the bed. He didn’t wait. He couldn’t. Not with her frantic cries and the way she pushed back against him, rubbing her buttocks along his aching shaft.

He caught her around the hips with one strong arm and slammed into her. She screamed and instantly clamped down on him, gripping with tight, spasming muscles. Her orgasm was long and wild and he pistoned into her over and over right through it.

“Harder. Eli, harder,” she sobbed, gasping for breath.

His thrusts were brutal and hard. He took her roughly, savagely, while the fire tore through them both until neither could breathe through the pleasure. The tension wound tighter and tighter, the frenzied thrall driving them almost past sanity, as each fed on the other’s lust.

His hands were brutal, digging into her hips as he powered into her over and over, sending lightning crashing through her body. Twice more she came apart, but he didn’t stop or even slow his ferocious pace. Each savage thrust rocked her body, driving her head into the mattress as he forced her hips higher so he could go deeper.

He was relentless, ruthless, taking her higher and higher, her cries and pleas urging him for more. Always more. Her mind didn’t think she could take it. She thought she might go insane with the frenzy of lust growing between them, but her body refused to be sated no matter how many times he sent her crashing over the edge. He was so thick and hard, a battering ram that forced its way through her tight channel so that the friction increased to the point she feared they’d both burn from the fiery contact.

He slammed into her over and over, jerking her body to meet the hard thrust of his hips. His face was a mask of sensual fury, of utter resolve. He wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. A sob escaped and fear skittered down her spine, but she kept pleading for more, she needed more. She didn’t want him to stop even if it killed her, because if he didn’t make the terrible burning between her legs stop, she would die anyway.

The fire built into a raging inferno, spreading through her body like a firestorm, picking up speed until it felt like hurricane winds had swept the flames through every part of her. The tension coiled tighter and tighter. She felt him swell, filling her beyond her capacity to take him, stretching her, burning and stinging until even that was swept away in a vortex of intense passion.

His cock swelled more. Pulsed. Imprinted itself on her inner muscles, branded her there with – him. With Eli. She went rigid as her body clamped down viciously, strangling his cock, forcing the fire into the friction as his body continued to invade hers with hard, driving strokes. His muscles bunched. He drove deep again, once, twice and then jet after jet of hot liquid hit the tender walls of her sheath and filled her with his burning seed, marking her internally once again as his.

Her body still wouldn’t let him go, milking him greedily for every pearly drop, squeezing as she clamped down around him hard. He couldn’t leave her. He just couldn’t. He had to stay inside her and burn with her because it wasn’t stopping. Ripple after ripple, quake after quake and still her body demanded more.

Catarina slumped over the mattress, her hands clenching the sheets hard. She tasted blood on her lip where she’d sunk her teeth deep. If it wasn’t for Eli’s iron arm holding her hips up, she would have just collapsed. All she wanted to do was cry. The fire between her legs wasn’t gone. Even after all that. Worse, her skin was hot, and far too tight. Her hair was too heavy, pulling at her scalp. Everything hurt. Every joint. Her jaw. Her fingers, even her toes.

Eli didn’t pull out of her, nor did his cock soften. He remained in her, stretching her, and as he bent forward over her, the heavy length of him rubbed along her clit and her body exploded again. He licked at the tiny beads of sweat on her back, his tongue stroking caresses along her spine. Her heart pounded and she pushed back into him, tight, a small sob escaping.

“It’s all right, baby, I’ve got you,” he whispered against her shoulder. “I’m right here with you. Don’t be afraid of this. Let it take you. Let it happen.”

She felt her then, her leopard, rising toward the heat and fire. Rising toward the wildness she sensed in Eli. A wave rose just beneath her skin, a terrible itch, pushing from underneath, determined this time, grounded in the fire that burned between her thighs.

“She wants out. I don’t know how to bring her out,” Catarina whispered into the mattress, on the very edge of despair. If the leopard didn’t get out of her, she was going to burst into flames and turn to ash. She couldn’t stand the heat or the terrible burning that refused to stop between her legs. She didn’t even know anymore if she was the one burning or her leopard was, only that she had to find a way to help the other get free.

“I know what will call her, Kitten. Trust me now. Let me do this for you.”

It always came back to Eli – everything. She needed him. She wanted him and God help her, she loved him. She knew he would see her through this. “Please, Eli, please help me with her.”

At once she felt the slide of fur up by her shoulder. A hot burst of air hit her and then teeth sank deep. She forced herself to breathe, accepting the bite, knowing his leopard called to hers. It was Eli’s hands on her, his body locked with hers, but somehow he had managed to shift his head and allow his leopard to call to the female. She couldn’t believe he had that kind of control.

Catarina breathed away the pain as she felt the female leap toward the male leopard. At once, Eli slipped out of her, and stepped back, still holding her up.

“We’ve got to get outside. Can you walk?” His voice was rough. Growling, already animal.

Her stomach cramped and she slipped to the floor on all fours. Pain was back in every joint, and her skin itched so bad she wanted to scream. Eli didn’t ask again, he swept her up, cradling her against his chest and ran through the house with her.

“Breathe deep and don’t try to hold her back. You won’t disappear, baby, even though the first time is scary and painful. You’ll be with her and you’ll feel a sense of freedom that’s unbelievable.”

“I want this.” She tried to tell him but her voice was different. “For you, to be with you.” She wanted him to know. She was afraid, and yes, it hurt, but she knew Eli’s leopard needed her female the way Eli needed her – and she needed him.

By the time Eli had leapt from the porch with her in his arms, her body had begun to contort. Sweat beaded on her skin and she scented the feral creature. The female leopard was as afraid as she was and that made her all the more determined to make certain she could shift properly.

“Tell me what to do.”

“Breathe and relax. Let it happen. Don’t fight it, baby. I’ll be right here with you. The whole time, I’ll be at your side.”

She believed him. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Eli would stay with her and guard her in any form she was in. She just knew. She breathed deeply, trying to push through the pain to relax her body enough to accept the shift. She even crooned softly to the female leopard, coaxing her out.

Her body contorted again, joints popping. Cracking. Pain burst through her but she ignored it. She forced more air through teeth that were too large for her mouth, through the lengthening jaw and hands that disappeared under fur and claws. Pain radiated through every part of her body as fur rippled over her. Her lungs burned and she looked down at the ground and then at her limbs.

Where there had been a woman, now there was a leopard, a small female with luxurious rosette-covered tawny fur. Elated, she turned her head to look at Eli. In his place was the large black leopard and his eyes were on her as if he might devour her at any moment. The small female turned and with a warning switch of her tail, took off running.

15

E
LI
woke feeling as if he was hungover. His head pounded and his body ached. He moved and instantly was aware of the slight weight on his belly. He was on his back, Catarina’s body curled against him, her head resting just over his belly button. She had one arm flung over him. Her wild hair was everywhere, forming a silken blanket over his cock and thighs.

His body instantly stirred at the intimacy of her position. He breathed slowly and deeply, drawing the scent of her into his lungs. His hand immediately threaded through her hair before he’d even thought of putting it there. He found himself smiling. He loved everything about this woman, especially the way she went wild when he had her body under his.

Catarina Benoit was full of surprises. He knew she was afraid of shifting. Everyone was afraid the first time. It was painful and wrenching to every bone in one’s body. She had looked to him with her wide, blue eyes, trusting him to get her through.
Trusting
him. That was worth everything right there to him. She listened and did just as he said.

He was leopard and his male had risen fast. He could scent her fear, but she didn’t hesitate and she shifted fairly quickly because of her determination.

Eli ran his fingers through Catarina’s thick silky hair. She moved slightly and a soft groan escaped. He pushed back the sheet covering her body and took a good look at her. There were bruises and marks all over her body. Mostly from him, from his hands and mouth during the frenzied thrall of the Han Vol Dan.

He closed his eyes for a moment to block out the sight of her soft skin covered in dark smudges. She definitely was small for a leopard, although she carried the curves and hair, but her body type made her seem far too fragile for the rough sex and rough mating of shifters.

The leopards had been together all night. His male had claimed the female fairly fast, allowing her to run for a short while before taking possession. He was fast and vicious, serious about staking his claim. He was every bit as rough as Eli and just as controlling – even more so.

The two leopards had played hard and rough through the night and most of the next day. The male had been on the female every fifteen minutes or so, using his heavier frame to hold her in place and his teeth in her shoulder to pin her down. The love fest had gone on for hours, as often happened with leopards, all night, all morning and most of the afternoon. When Eli had finally managed to convince the male to bring the female back to the ranch house, it was already nearly sunset.

Eli smoothed his hand over her dark hair. Catarina was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. He’d carried her into the house and she’d fallen asleep in his arms. He’d run a hot bath and actually got into the tub to hold her in the water, hoping that would help to reduce soreness. She’d roused a couple of times to shift position and each time she moved, she moaned softly.

He held her while she brushed her teeth and then he’d slipped her under the sheet and climbed into bed beside her, holding her close to him. Sometime in the night, she had flung one arm around him and laid her head on his belly. He liked waking up with her there. He liked having their legs tangled intimately together and her mouth a breath away from his cock. He liked her warmth and her laughter.

“I’m a goner, baby,” he said softly, aloud.

She moved, stretching just enough to groan again and stop when her body protested. Her arm tightened around him. He felt the brush of her fingers along his ribs and the warmth of her breath on his skin. He even felt the flutter of her long lashes on his belly.

“It isn’t morning, yet, is it?” she murmured.