A Kitty in the Lion's Den (8 page)

Chapter Nine

Kettah knew she should be scared as hell, knew she should have run so fast and so far that Maverick wouldn’t have been able to find her, but even that thought was ludicrous, because she knew there was no place on this planet that she could hide from her mate. A low warning growl left him, and she instinctively took a step back. The massive lion that stood just a few feet from her, with only a small table separating them, eyed her like it was starving and she was the last steak on earth. He wanted her to run, had told her to do just that in that distorted, rough timbre of his right before he shifted in front of her. Yes, that was what she should be doing, not standing here admiring the beauty of his animal. But it was hard not to, because Maverick in human form was gorgeous, but seeing him in his wild and untamed glory was ethereal. He was three times larger than a lion found out in the wilderness, but even for a shifter that wasn’t normal. Maverick was clearly a breed all his own. The glow of his golden eyes, one that were trained on her every movement, and the thick, dark brown colored mane that wrapped around his massive head, made him beautiful but ominous all in the same breath. He could easily snap her neck with little force, pounce on her from the other side of the room before she even made one step, yet he seemed to be waiting for her to make a move.
Yes, he is, Kettah, because he is a predator, and you are his prey.
He growled again, and a gush of wetness spilled from her. Her Pallas’s cat rose up, grew excited over the purely alpha male that was only feet from her, and wanted whatever he had to give. This was dangerous on so many levels, yet she was transfixed. Another rumble, but this time he started pacing back and forth, keeping his sight trained right on her. She could practically hear the words he was thinking: “Run for me, little cat. Make me chase you.”

The scent that came from him was one of desire, extreme need, and possession. This lion wanted her, needed to claim her, mark her, and do that all right now. When he lowered his upper body to the ground and his tail started swishing back and forth, a sign that he meant to attack, she snapped into action. She might want this on some primal level, but that didn’t mean she could handle whatever these beast wanted to give to her. She ran as fast and as hard as she could down the short hallway, but she didn’t hear him behind her. Right when she reached the door she saw him spring into action. This was a game to him, a sexual game, and he was coming right for her. She pushed the door open and sprinted toward the closet. He had shown her how to work the latch on it and how to lock and secure it safely from the inside. But just as she gripped onto the handle of the closet the bedroom door slammed against the wall. The scent of him came to her like a warm, arousing blanket, and she spun around. He watched her from the entryway. She could see a large hole where the handle had crashed into the wall when he slammed the door open. He was too close, and he wanted her to try to get to the safety of the secret door, because that meant the game wasn’t quite over yet. As if she had spoken those words aloud he stalked forward. This was no longer a run to get away from him, but a game that he had started, and one she was more than willing to go along with until it finished with him on top of her. Right now her cat was taking control, putting everything else on the backburner and only focusing on right here, right now.

She edged toward the bed, not knowing exactly how this would end, but certainly having some very explicit images coming to mind. The sexual tension that had been brewing between them since their first encounter had reached its breaking point. He stalked forward, his eyes trained right on her, and his tail moving back and forth at an astounding rate. Both of them breathed heavily, and when he growled again, the sound spearing right to her clit, she moved swiftly. Trying to move away from him, she felt like a gazelle in the wild, and Maverick was chasing her. The blood rushed through her veins, as well as a good dose of endorphins and adrenaline. This little “dance” they were doing seemed so primitive, but God was it making her
feel
like she’d explode with eroticism. He tackled her from behind, but before she slammed into the floor he flipped them so he was the one taking the brunt of the force and she was now sprawled in top of him. But that act of submission was short-lived, because seconds later he moved so that she was the one underneath him now. He was so big, so muscular, that she couldn’t move, couldn’t even breathe as he pressed more of his weight into her, making her very aware that he was the one in control. His nose was so close to her face, and a few of his whiskers tickled her face, but all that accomplished was to make her wetter. She should tell him to stop, knew he would if she did, but Kettah wasn’t about to stop anything. In fact, she said the complete opposite of what was smart.

“Maverick, I need more. I need you.” She lifted her hands slowly, saw the way his whole body tensed, and speared her fingers into the thick mane around his massive head. After a few seconds of her running her hands through the thick fur a low, powerful purr left him, and suddenly he shifted back into his human form. Maverick pressed his hard, very nude body against her, and she wished she was just as naked as he was. She wanted to feel the thick, steel rod between his legs pressed intimately against the folds of her very slick pussy. His lips parted as he stared at her mouth and ground himself against her, and a deep groan left him at the same time she gasped. Even with her clothing still on, she could feel how hard he was for her as he thrust his hips back and forth between her thighs. He might be a human now, but she could tell by the canines he still sported, the golden eyes he still had, and the feel of his claws gently pressing into her arms, that his lion was still very much in control. And that was cemented when he spoke, and the animalistic rumble was present.

 
“I told myself I’d keep my distance, that being with you would only be a big mistake in the long run, because there was no way I could control myself when I finally had you.” He was still staring at her mouth, and the glow from his eyes was frightening in its intensity. He lowered his face even closer until his lips brushed along hers. They shared the same air, exchanged the same deep rooted need. But he didn’t apply pressure to her mouth with his, and instead moved his head to the crook of her neck, ran the tip of his nose up the length of her throat, and inhaled deeply. Kettah couldn’t keep her eyes open, especially not when he replaced the tip of his nose with his roughened tongue. “I am so much worse than you could even imagine, Kettah.” A small gasp left her when he followed the scorching trail his tongue had made with his lengthened incisors. “I’m evil, a monster, and am afraid I’ll ruin and break you.” He was trying to frighten her, that much she was certain, but for the life of her she couldn’t find that fear inside of her.

“You can’t scare me, Maverick.” He slowly lifted his head and stared down at her. “Maybe I want you to ruin me.” She looked down at his lips, at where his canines pressed against his lower lip, and knew that speaking those words would have any restraint he had leaving.

“Say my real name, just once.” He lowered his gaze down to her lips and waited for her to comply.

Kettah dragged her tongue along her lips, parted her mouth, and said, “Marick.” His name came from her slowly, softly, but the satisfied sound that left him had shivers working throughout her whole body.

“
Mmm
.”
He closed his eyes for a second, as if reveling in the sound. “I haven’t heard that name in six years, but I have to say it sounds really fucking sweet coming from your lips. In fact,” he ground his very hard erection into her again, and a small sound of desire left her, “If I wasn’t already rock-fucking-hard, and able to drill holes in steel with my cock, hearing you say my name would have done the trick.” She arched her neck, not caring that this was fast, intense, or that she knew how this night would end: with his big body over hers and that thick, long shaft of his buried deep between her thighs. “You don’t have to tell me you want me, that you want my lion to fuck the shit out of you, because I can smell how wet your pussy is.” He went back to lapping at the side of her
neck,
like he was making sure his scent covered her. A low purr left her. Did she actually think she could stop this mating from
happening, that
she could just stay with him, accept his protection, but push away how strong the call to him was? They were mates, and ignoring what was happening between them was fruitless.

“Maverick.”
He didn’t stop licking her throat and made a low hum against her damp flesh. She turned her head to the side to allow him better access.

“You’re such a good girl, Kettah. You’re
my
good girl.” He ground himself against her, over and over again until she knew she could come from this alone. He groaned in response, and before she knew what was happening he was moving away from her so his upper body no longer touched hers. She took that moment to really look at him. His golden flesh was hairless, and the large, thick black claw mark tattoos running diagonally along each defined
pec
weren’t just ink, but a badge of his profession. She knew enough about her father’s world that tattoos like that symbolized the lethalness, violence, and aggression that were housed inside of Maverick. It also proved he had taken enough lives that he earned those tattoos. A shiver worked through her at the thought that this male, the one that was moments from claiming her, was lethal in every sense of the word. He could crush her without even blinking, yet he touched her like she was a rare gem, and so very fragile.

 
His abdomen was flat and ribbed with hard, pronounced muscle. Her legs were spread wide, forced to stay open as wide as they could go so his lean waist could fit perfectly between them. And then there was the appendage between his legs that looked like another limb. To say he was well endowed would have been an understatement, and her pussy clenched in desire and apprehension. Surely having something that long and thick inside of her would cause more pain than pleasure? But even thinking that Kettah wanted it, wanted to feel him stretching her to the point that she felt so full there was no more room for him. But then he would give her more, so much more.

“You see what you do to me, Kettah?” She snapped her eyes up to his. He was still very much an animal, and she could sense her own cat wanting out, wanting to rub all over him and take his scent into her lungs, but also rubbing hers on him so all other females knew he was hers.

“Yes.” Her chest rose and fell, and she desperately wanted the tight confines of her clothes gone. Before she could speak again, or even realize what was happening Maverick let out this low, deep sound that she swore vibrated the walls right before he sliced his claws through the side of her jeans and panties, precariously close to her flesh, and pulled the material away from her body. He mouth went dry at the fact she was completely bared from the waist down. Maverick stared at her pussy, which was parted for him like some kind of obscene flower.

“Take off the shirt and bra, Kettah, and make sure you do it nice and slow.” He slowly lifted his eyes from her pussy back to her face. His eyelids were so low that his irises looked like slivers of gold between them. She sat up enough to grip the hem of her shirt and pull it over her head. When he made a deep noise she slowed her actions, and he murmured how good she was, and how well she pleased him. With the shirt tossed to the side she reached behind her for the clasp of her bra. Once that was gone she felt the chill of the air, but his stare was hot enough that it kicked that slight cold right in the ass. He didn’t wait a second longer to look at what she bared for him, and reached out, cupped the mounds in his large hands, and pulled her nipples between his thumb and forefingers like he owned them. But she realized he did, and she was more than willing to have Maverick possess her.

He picked her up, moved swiftly toward the bed, and set her in the center of it. Before she could even shift he had his hands on her knees. She expected him to just thrust her legs open, but instead he held her stare with his own. “You’re mine, Kettah.
You.
Are.
Mine.” Mouth parted, eyes wide, and endorphins pumping through her body like a freight train derailed, she nodded.

“Yes, Maverick, I am.” Those had to be the most dangerous words she had ever uttered. Her life was on the line with her father and leaving, but this moment right now blew everything else out of the water, as bizarre as that was. Her lion was claiming her, and she knew she’d have his mark on her body to prove it, and God, was Kettah ready for that. It wasn’t until this moment that she realized fighting her physical and chemical reaction to her mate was the worst idea she had ever contemplated. There was no going back, and trying to pretend that she had been strong enough to just leave when this was all said and done had been foolish. “I’m yours. I want that, so badly.” Holy hell did she want that.

“I’m going to claim you so fucking hard, kitten.
So fucking hard.”
And with those last words uttered he wrenched her thighs open, leaned in until she felt his warm, moist breath along her cleft, and started eating her pussy out like he owned the damn thing.