King of Prey: (A Bird Shifter Novel) (6 page)

Her boot slid on the loose gravel and Rayna lost her footing. Her heart felt as if it leapt to her throat and blocked the scream wanting to come. A strong hand caught hold of her, plucking her from the air with an ease and strength normal men didn’t seem to possess. As she stared into a set of unnaturally golden eyes, she couldn’t help but smile. A nervous giggle sounded from her and her cheeks heated out of embarrassment. Why was she always such a klutz around the man?
 

He brought out the worst in her as far as being able to walk without falling on her face. Maybe if she spent less time staring at his body and more time paying attention to what she was doing, she wouldn’t appear to have two left feet.

“Careful, I would very much like you to remain in one piece,” Kabril said, his voice so deep and so sexy that Rayna had to bite back a sigh. She still had yet to place his accent. It wasn’t thick but it did tinge his voice ever so. She’d often tried to get exactly where he was from out of him, but Kabril liked his secrets and she didn’t mind letting him have them.

He set her on her feet and visually inspected her. “Are you hurt?”

“Just my pride.” She tipped a bit, losing her balance, and seized hold of his forearm. The man didn’t seem to have an ounce of fat on him. She squeezed and visions of having Kabril’s powerful body above her, sliding in and out of her, filled Rayna’s head. Sex with him was pretty much all she thought about. What woman wouldn’t?

She couldn’t tear her gaze from his square face and piercing eyes.
 

He glanced over the edge. “I am dangerously close to making you wear a safety harness, Rayna. You, unfortunately,” he puffed out a long breath, “do not have wings.”

“There is a better than average chance I’d wring my neck with the harness so it’s best you not.” It was true. She seemed to be all thumbs around him. She’d even managed to set her toaster on fire with him in her kitchen. The man was probably questioning her ability to cook, let alone teach him.

Laughing, he held her close to him. “I have no doubt you would. You are so very different from most women I know.”

“Hey, is that a knock on how clumsy I am?” She grinned, enjoying his teasing more than she should. His warm hands seemed to push heat through her body as he held her close. Rayna shifted awkwardly in an attempt to stop the moisture Kabril was more than capable of producing between her legs. One glance from him and Rayna’s body reacted.

“No. Not clumsy. More like absentminded,” he whispered, the bass in his voice moving over her, causing her to sigh. “But I would change nothing about you. Though, you having wings could be something indeed.”
 

“Mmm, wings. That would be weird but cool.” She drew a deep breath in, savoring a mix of lavender, sage and cedar—the scent of Kabril. She stroked his chest, his shirt in the way of her getting to paradise.
 

He dipped his head. “Be mindful of your footing. I beg of you,” he said, his lips close to hers. “I want you safe.”
 

“Thank you for bringing me on this trip,” she said, still caressing his chest.
 

He remained in place. “I would never dream of leaving you behind.”
 

“Kabril?” she asked, her voice shaky.
 

“Yes?”
 

There was so much she wanted to ask. None of that came out. Instead, she boldly went to her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. The last time they’d had anything close to a kiss she’d slapped him. She wasn’t sure if he’d push her away or not.

Growling, he lifted her off her feet, his mouth claiming her in a hot, possessive manner. His tongue darted into her mouth and she moaned, her mind a jumbled mess of desire.
 

There were far too many articles of clothing between them. She wanted this man naked and ready, but she’d take him anyway she could get him. She bunched his shirt, theirs lips still locked, her heart pounding madly in her chest.

The man could kiss unbelievably well. And she’d had the nerve to hit him when he’d first tried it. Had she known it would be this good, she would have insisted they do this much sooner.

 
“Rayna, you dropped this,” Sachin said, coming up from behind, causing her to jerk away from Kabril.

Kabril released her and she touched her swollen lower lip, her pulse still racing and her hormones raging. Fierce desire shone in Kabril’s eyes and she feared he might actually yank her back to him and finish what he’d started. While she wanted that desperately, she did not want an audience.
 

Sachin held a lens cap to her camera in one hand and had a rather large smile upon his handsome face. He looked between the two of them and paused. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Yes,” said Kabril. “Go away.”

“No,” Rayna interjected, reaching for the lens cap. She couldn’t believe she’d dropped it. “You’re fine. Thank you.”

Sachin grinned. “You are most welcome.”

“Go away,” repeated Kabril.

Rayna shot him a hard look. “Stop it.”
 

“No,” he said with a pout. “You permitted me the pleasures of your lips and did not slap my face. He needs to leave. At once. I wish to sample more of you.”

She turned several shades of red.

Sachin grunted. “Kabril.”

Kabril looked to Sachin for what felt like forever to Rayna before he sighed. “Very well. I shall wait and continue to woo her.”

She giggled and both men’s attention moved to her. “Come on. Admit it, he’s funny.”
 

“Oh yes, he is known for witty ways,” Sachin added.

Kabril growled.
 

She touched his hand and looked around the area. “It’s so beautiful here.”
 

“Yes, you are.”
 

“Hmm?”
 

He glanced over the edge of the drop. “Yes. It is lovely.”

“Is it wrong that I don’t ever want to go home?” she asked.

Sachin snorted. “But then how will you finish teaching Kabril to make toast?”

“If I kick him in the shin, would it hurt things between us?” she asked of Kabril. She knew the two were very close, maybe even related, but Kabril tended to avoid talking much about how long they’d known each other or if they were blood.
 

“Should you do such a thing, I would find you even more endearing and more than likely whisk you away from here and keep you all for myself.”

She nearly melted at his words. She eyed Sachin’s leg.

Sachin backed up. “No abusing me. Kabril does it enough for the two of you.”
 

“And you goad him every chance you get,” she reminded.

He shrugged. “It is what I do.”
 

She held her lens cap to her. “I swear, around you, Kabril, I have two left feet and I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached.”
 

He paled. “Your head can detach?”

She laughed and pushed past him, mindful of the steep ledge. “Are we going back to camp or are you two going to start exchanging weird looks when you don’t think I’m watching you?”

No sooner did the words come out her mouth than Kabril and Sachin did exactly that. They glanced at one another. Sachin’s expression was one of amusement. Kabril’s held something else. Something Rayna couldn’t pinpoint. It was too cute not to comment.

“See, that’s exactly what you do to me. You always make me feel like I’m missing out on an inside joke. It makes me crazy.” Lunging forward, she ruffled Kabril’s chin-length black hair. His smile warmed her heart. “There. That’s more like it. I hate it when you look like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. You brought me because you wanted to do a photo journal, documenting your studies. As much as I’m loving this vacation, I like to see you happy more.”

Kabril caught her hand and drew it to his lips, planting a kiss on the back of her hand tenderly. Before Rayna could remark, Kabril had drawn her into his arms. A slow, racy smile moved over his face. She wanted another kiss, but not in front of Sachin. Not with the way Kabril kissed. The man was nearly X-rated.

She swallowed hard. Her pussy responded with a spasm and she had to focus on something, anything other than Kabril or risk begging him to fuck her against the rocky wall. “We should get back to camp. It’ll be getting dark soon and I still want to take a bath.”

Kabril perked up. “A bath?” He exchanged another long look with Sachin and nodded. “By all means, camp it is then.”

“You are so weird,” she said, laughing softly as she fell in line behind him. Rayna’s gaze landed upon his luscious ass and she closed her eyes. If gawking at the waterfalls didn’t get her killed, Kabril’s tight butt just might.

“Be careful of your step,” said Kabril as he slowed his pace, falling behind. She knew he wanted to speak with Sachin without her listening in.

Chapter Eleven

Kabril waited until Rayna was far enough in front of him before turning to Sachin. His heart was at war with his head. He’d seen Rayna nearly fall from the cliff’s edge and all he could think was that his woman was mortal and had nearly suffered a fate he could not bring her back from. All his shifter instincts screamed at him to take her and fly away home to his kingdom with her. That the human realm wasn’t safe enough for her.
 

She belonged with him.

The only problem with his plan was that he’d spent the last month lying to her—keeping his true identity and the fact he was a bird shifter from her. She thought him nothing more than a human male.

“Thinking upon the kiss?” asked Sachin. “It is progress… the ‘her-no-longer-slapping-you’ bit.”

Kabril’s voice shook as he spoke, “She would have died had she fallen.”
 

“She would have to be able to move more than ten feet from you to be in any real danger,” Sachin chimed in, sarcasm lacing his every word. “You do not let her out of your sight, my lord. Seems unlikely she would be in any real danger.”
 

It was true. Kabril did not let Rayna out of his sight.
 

“Had I not been there…”
 

Sachin touched his shoulder. “You were there, Kabril. She is safe and well.”
 

Kabril looked in Rayna’s direction Rayna. “She makes me feel things I do not recall ever feeling before.”
 

Sachin seemed pleased. “We best catch up with her for fear she fall from the path—again.”
 

Gasping, Kabril shot forward, tapping into his shifter speed as he rushed to Rayna, Sachin’s laughter following him all the way.

Chapter Twelve

Kabril stood quietly, watching from the shadows as Rayna bathed by the river’s edge, silently wishing she were his chosen one—his mate. She was the one he longed for. The one he thought about birthing his sons. Not some nameless, faceless woman the Oracle spoke of. Kabril held no feelings for whoever the prophecy mentioned. His feelings were for Rayna and Rayna alone. He liked that she was what she referred to as clumsy and that she enjoyed cooking, even if she did cook birds. He liked that she loved animals of all sorts, shapes and sizes but that she was especially drawn to birds.

You more than like her
, he reminded himself.
You love her.

He sighed. He did not want whatever woman the Oracle thought best for him. He wanted Rayna. And he would have her. He was king. He would simply make it law that she was to be his queen.

He’d fallen behind in his duties as king but didn’t want to be separated from Rayna just yet. Sachin’s original plan had been to bring Kabril to the human realm for a week or two, introduce him to his chosen mate and then get him back to his duties.
 

That had not happened. Rossi was overseeing things back home and Kabril was confidant in his brother’s ability to rule—even though Rossi was young and tended to enjoy drink and women over actual work. In addition, stirring had started about the
Falco Peregrinus
. They wanted more power and more land. To gain both they would need to go through Kabril’s kingdom and overtake it. He would not allow such a thing to happen. Rossi would handle affairs for now but if war broke out, Kabril would have no choice but to return home.

Kabril had obligations to his people. Already he had planned not to carry out on the prophecy they all held so dearly. The least he could do was be there to rule himself. Not leave his brother to serve in his place.

But going home without Rayna was simply not an option. He ached for her day and night. He thought of her at all hours. And the kiss had only reaffirmed his obsession with her. His cock was hard now as he watched her off in the distance, bathing in the fresh water. It was wrong to watch her without her knowledge.
 

Sachin had pointed out as much but Kabril did not care.
 

Claim her.

He understood his ways were barbaric in comparison to what Rayna was used to, yet he could not stop the overwhelming urge to rush to her, sink his cock into her and say the words that would bind them for all eternity. She would be his then. Prophecy be damned. He was king. He could do as he pleased. He did not need to answer to anyone.

Perhaps if I take her home, the prophecy will assume one human female is as good as the next?

No. It would never work and he knew it. Still, it didn’t hurt to dream.

A pang of guilt swept over him as he continued to watch Rayna bathing without her knowledge, but he had rationalized it out several nights after arriving at the campsite. All of his kind possessed varying degrees of magiks. It was no surprise one of Kabril’s strongest gifts was that of being able to control other animals. After all, he was a leader by birth. The jungle wasn’t exactly safe to wander about alone. Bathing in the river was even less safe. So long as he was near, he could mentally will the other animals away from his mate.

My mate. If only that were true. I would happily accept the human before me.

The words played about in his head. Never had he thought they would sound so perfect. Then again, he hadn’t planned on finding Rayna. He’d expected something else and would no doubt get it whenever he found the mate Sachin swore was close. He’d get something other than the beautiful, loving woman before him. Rayna was divine. Everything he wanted in a wife and so very much more. Within the first week of meeting her, he’d all but forgotten she wasn’t like him. Wasn’t a
Buteos Regalis
. It didn’t matter. Nothing but claiming her and making her his wife did.