Cougar Needs [Cougarlicious 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (6 page)

His mood shifted to anger, though she could tell it was not directed at her.

“Do you want me to hunt them down and kill them? I can, you know. I know where and how to hide the bodies so no one will ever question that their deaths weren’t accidental, if they even find the bodies at all,” he offered. As she watched, his teeth begin to elongate and his eyes change shape and color until they appeared more like cat’s eyes than human’s and glowed almost as bright green as his shorts.

Those changes shocked her almost as much as his offer to kill people for her. “Who are you? What are you?” she asked in a small, frightened voice.

Her tone of fear seemed to touch something in him and help him settle. In one deep breath released on a sigh, he was back in control and human-looking.

“My name is Kristoph James Katz. I am a shape-shifting cougar, and you are the one the Fates have chosen to be my life mate. That’s why everything clicks between us so perfectly. You felt the bond between us that first day, or you never would have kissed me. I’m just surprised it took us this long to find one another.”

Not sure what to believe, Stacy decided to err on the side of skepticism. “I don’t believe you.”

“You know, you really need to put your past behind you and trust me. You are my life mate, and I would never do anything to hurt you.” With that, he crawled onto the bed. In the next second the man disappeared and, in his place in the middle of her bed, sat a big brawny cougar whose coat was more red than gold, the color just like KJ’s hair.

“Oh, my God,” Stacy murmured.

The big cat slowly stretched out until his paws were at the edge of the bed, just inches from her thigh. His bright green cat’s eyes never looked away from hers. Then he wiggled, moving until his paws touched her leg.

At the contact, Stacy jumped back, slamming into the wall, and cracking herself a good one on the back of the head. When she cried out with pain, the big cat jumped off the bed and sat watching without blinking as she reached up and rubbed the abused area.

Once that pain was assuaged, she reached down and hesitantly stroked her hand over the cougar’s head. Instantly a loud purring sound filled the room. Wondering if she had completely lost her mind, Stacy moved to sit on the bed. KJ stayed by her side, rubbing his head and neck back and forth against her lower leg.

As she stroked the animal, she could feel a connection with it. But the fact that shape-shifters were real and KJ was one still boggled her mind. And this was one topic of conversation she could not put off until later.

KJ pushed his way to sit between her legs. The cat licked the inside of one thigh and then the other before sitting back and licking his lips. The hungry look in his eyes made Stacy anxious. “Please, shift back,” she said.

In the next heartbeat, the man with his crew-cut reddish-gold hair knelt between her legs. He nuzzled her thighs just as the cat had done a moment then looked up at her, his eyes once again deep blue but still glowing with hunger.

“You smell so damn sweet,” he said softly before kissing his way closer and closer to the apex of her thighs.

“Uh,” was all that she could say in response.

At the same time his tongue traced up her centerline, he placed one hand in the center of her chest and pushed her until she lay back. He then lifted her legs and bent then up and out of his way before he began to lap at the juices that filled her.

“Oh, God,” she breathed.

His tongue circled her clit before stroking directly over it. Then he worked his way farther down between her thighs and licked their combined juices from her pussy. Her hips began to shift and lift in response to his touch as her need grew.

As the peak of her orgasm drew closer but not close enough to throw herself over, KJ pulled away. “Noooooo,” she whimpered.

Thankfully he did not leave her for long.

In a move too fast for Stacy’s senses to follow, KJ stood up, moved her farther onto the bed, flipped her on her belly and arranged her so her weight rested on her knees, chest, and shoulders.

“Arms over your head,” he ordered in a low, powerful voice that had Stacy instantly doing his bidding. Before she could question his motives, he was behind her sliding his long, thick cock into her pussy full length in a single stroke.

She sighed at the feel of perfect fullness his cock deep inside her gave her. When his hand slapped her left ass cheek hard, she squealed with surprise. Though she had never been a fan of pain with her sex in the past, her pussy gushed and clenched around his shaft in rippling waves as her need skyrocketed even higher as KJ’s hand came down on her opposite hip. She had to smile at the deep-throated purring sound he made before he began alternating strokes between right and left ass cheeks at the same time he started moving in and out of her.

Never before had she felt such a fire as her orgasm grew closer and closer. Never before had she had more than one good orgasm in a day, and those were usually brought on by her toy collection. No man had ever brought her to a thoroughly satisfying orgasm before, much less several the way KJ had.

She found that all she could do was spread her arms, toss herself into the vortex of arousal, and allow it to carry her away. The hot, sharp slaps shot jolts of erotic fire and need through her, combining with the long, thick cock that filled her with long, powerful strokes. She was so lost to the experience, she barely heard his lecture, though on a subconscious level she absorbed every word.

He assured her once again that he would never lie to her and never hurt her. He demanded the next time something like the graffiti happened, big or small, he was the first person she called.

When he demanded her promise on several points, she hesitated, but agreed when he pressed his full length inside her and then stopped moving. She could almost taste another orgasm and was willing to promise anything to have it wash through her. Never before had she felt the depth and intensity of sexual hunger she was feeling now.

With a whimper, she agreed to everything he asked. She would have to have him remind her about the conversation later, once she could think beyond the need of her body to come. After her last agreement, KJ reached around her hip and slid one finger between her puffy pussy lips. He stroked her clit firmly before taking it between thumb and finger and rolling it none too gently.

At that firm touch, Stacy flew into a powerful orgasm that was just as strong as her first one. He pumped his hips against her ass several times before coming with a snarling roar that reminded Stacy of a tiger or panther or some other wild cat.

As he slumped over, her brain rewound his lecture and filtered the words he had said to the few most important. “My mate. Perfect. Love you already. Mate. Love.”

Frowning, she fought to stay awake. She needed to question him about what he had just said. Her well-sated body had other ideas, and she was asleep before KJ could shift them into a more comfortable position.

* * * *

KJ listened as her breathing evened out and knew his mate had fallen asleep. They still had a lot of talking to do, but for now, rest was what they needed. Later, when they were more awake and he could hopefully keep his hands off of her, they would discuss the realities of his life and how being his mate would affect hers.

He would also have to repeat the lecture he had given her. He could tell by the tone of her answers that she had not heard everything he had told her. For now it was enough that she had accepted him as her mate.

Rearranging their bodies on the bed, he pulled the sheet over them and, with Stacy cuddled close to his side, settled in for a power nap himself.

He was almost asleep when his phone rang, blaring the trumpeting tune he had assigned to all the department numbers. Since he was on a three-day break, this could only be bad news. With a growl, he untangled himself from his mate and climbed out of bed. Stacy murmured and shifted before settling again.

“Katz,” he snarled after pushing the appropriate buttons. “What? How is he? Yeah, I’ll be there in thirty.”

Turning off the phone, he grabbed his clothes and pulled them on. The one thing that could pull him away from his mate had happened. A fellow officer had been injured on duty, and he was next up on the list to replace him.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, my beautiful mate,” he whispered before brushing a kiss on Stacy’s forehead.

He was in the driveway when he realized he still had her keys and not his own. Since he would hopefully be returning before she woke up, KJ climbed into her Jeep. As he put the engine in gear and drove, he had to force himself to focus on work and not the regret of leaving his mate behind.

* * * *

The man sitting in the dark gray pickup truck at the end of the block watched as the stranger drove away in Stacy’s Jeep. He gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white even in the shadows of the night. How dare she have another man in her bed overnight? What was she thinking to allow him to drive her vehicle when she refused his every request? Obviously she was out of control and needed his attention sooner rather than later. Taking a deep breath he decided to wait until he calmed down and then go inside and reclaim his woman.

Stacy woke feeling relaxed, completely disoriented, and like a stranger in her own body. Never before had she felt the total boneless relaxation and emotional inner peace that currently filled her. When she remembered the reason she could barely move, she wondered if KJ felt half of what she did. She did not feel any of the fear or stress she had lived with most of her life.

Tension brought on by trying to be someone she was not, trying to live up to other people’s expectations while ignoring her own needs, and the harsh reprisals when she failed to please. Now, with KJ, her only fear was that, once he got to know her better, he would decide he did not want her as his mate and would leave without a backward glance.

Opening her eyes, she was surprised to find herself lying in the bed with her head on a pillow and a sheet loosely draped over her. Looking across the mattress, she found she was alone. The dent in the pillow drew her, and she put her face to it and sniffed. A faint hint of KJ’s scent remained on the pillow. KJ had laid with her, at least for a few minutes. But where was he now?

Sitting up, she ignored the sheet as it dropped to her waist. Looking around, she saw his clothes were gone. “KJ?” she called, hoping he was just in the next room, though the pain that instantly knotted in her gut told her he had left.

She could only guess at what she had, or had not, done to send him racing into the night without a word. If they were mates as he claimed, he would not be gone forever, would he?

Climbing from the bed and heading to the bathroom, she felt much older than her forty years. The pain in her stomach intensified and expanded to encompass her heart and soul. Though she barely knew him, she had thought KJ was different than the men of her past.

Tears blinded her as she stepped into the shower and turned on the water. Crying in the shower had become a ritual after dealing with the few men she had dated. Once again, she allowed her weakness to bubble up to be washed down the drain. Only this time she had a feeling getting over KJ would not be as simple as washing his scent from her body.

Somehow he had taken hold of a piece of her heart that no one else had touched, and removing him would take more than a hot, cleansing shower.

After crying until she used up all the hot water, Stacy dried off and pulled on the oversized dark purple T-shirt with Hello Kitty on the front. This was her comfort shirt, the one she wore when she was feeling sad, depressed, lonely, or just not up to getting dressed.

Crawling back into bed, she curled in the middle of the mattress and hugged the pillow that still carried KJ’s scent on it to her chest. Then, with tears once more filling her eyes, she forced herself back to sleep. Tomorrow was another day, and with it, she would find a way to move forward, only this time she would stay away from men, no matter what Kimber and Gwen would say when she told them.

* * * *

“Wakey, wakey, naughty bitch. Time to pay the piper for cheating on me.”

The voice disturbing her sleep was accompanied a second later by the sound of a slap a millisecond before pain exploded through the left side of her face.

Crying out, Stacy tried to roll away, but found herself unable to move. Something heavy lay across her middle and was trapping her arms. Opening her eyes, she looked up into the angry, twisted expression of Wayne Clyde, the man she had recently broken up with. The man she had discovered was not who he claimed to be.

He looked angry and drunk, what she had found out was a dangerous combination. The last time she had seen him, several weeks before, he had been in this same condition. That time he had slapped her once after she had told him to get out and never return. He had not left until she pulled her phone from her pocket and threatened to call the police.

This time, it looked like she would not be getting away so easily.

He pulled his hand back and slapped her again, chuckling when she screamed a second time.

“What the hell are you doing, Wayne?” she asked through gritted teeth as she fought to keep from crying.