Southern Shifters: Pryde and Precious (Kindle Worlds Novella) (9 page)

Abby entered his office, her disappointment at his retirement palpable, but then so was her joy. He’d recommended her to take over his job, and she was the front runner. A buzz in his pocket interrupted before she could say anything so he pulled out his phone and held up a finger. “One moment.”

“Are you done yet?” Arianna asked by way of greeting, a distracted note neutering her complaint.

“Nearly. I will be on my way to you within the hour.” Knowing she was his mate and claiming her were two different things. He’d kept them both on tenterhooks for days, as he refused to seduce her compliance. Instead, he’d shown her the life he could offer. The first project had been completed two days prior with the construction of a make-shift greenhouse until he could finish a proper one. The second arrived the day before when he’d prepared to leave. Dominic had arrived with her things—surprising them both. His brother hadn’t wanted to stay in the house, not with their mating incomplete, but he’d agreed to roam the area and keep guard while John dealt with the last items of his retirement.

“Excellent. I’m going to repot the seedlings.” Her relief was palpable. “They survived their manhandling.”

“A testament to your work, no doubt.” She’d been livid when she’d seen the state of some of her plants and, fortunately, he’d already dismissed the men who’d brought them or his kitten might have sharpened her claws on them.

Silence, then a soft laugh echoed over the phone line. “Thank you. I appreciate the compliment, however, I am going to let you go so you can finish hurrying home. I miss you.” Though she spoke into the phone, he heard the words whisper into his mind then squeeze his heart. Yes, she wore his mark in her mind and he in his. She was always with him as he was with her. Not even distance, it seemed, could pry them apart. When she’d met with the representative of her clan to announce their mating, he’d been with her the whole time. The man had been unable to see her thoughts and his surprise had shown. John’s mind had hers secure.

Perhaps it was training or instinct or simply that they’d been created for each other. All that mattered was she was his and he was hers. Tonight, when he returned home, they would finalize their mating.

Promise?
The plaintive note reminded him that he’d teased her unmercifully for days.

You wanted to be certain it wasn’t Stockholm Syndrome
, he teased, keeping the conversation private even as he turned away from his assistant.

“True, and now I know its Siberian Syndrome.”

‘That’s not even a thing,” he countered.

“It is when you’re the Siberian.”

He chuckled. “I love you, too. I will see you soon.” The call disconnected but he could still feel her surprise. It took him a moment, then he realized the source of it. It was the first time he’d said the words.
Are they very important?

Not as important as you are, but still very lovely to hear…and I do love you.
She was right, the words were nice to hear. Sliding his phone away, he turned to Abby. She carried the last of his paperwork. Though her disappointment at his leaving remained in the air, Abby shed no tears. Only once he finished did she give him a quick hug and wish him well.

All the way home, he followed the sense of his mate. She knew he was on his way. Leaving clan territory for the last time, he drove up the mountain. His brother appeared like a flash on the trail then disappeared into the brush. Soon, it wouldn’t bother him to have Dominic around Arianna. Soon, they would cement their bond and nothing would be allowed to sever it.

Odd how in the midst of trying to figure out the formula, he’d discovered his mate. Scent markers weren’t everything and the Psi would do well to remember that. Of course, his clan didn’t want to face an enemy that could disguise its scent. Pushing all of those thoughts from his mind, he focused on what was most precious.

Coffee?
The teasing remark made him laugh aloud.

Not if you made it.
She preferred her coffee strong enough to hold a spoon upright. She made a raspberry noise in his mind and he grinned wider.
I will be there in two minutes…
The truck bounced over the last hard rut in the trail and he followed the curve to where the house stood. The greenhouse next to it didn’t look like it belonged…yet. Then again, he wasn’t done.

The woman on the porch, however, had been made for him. She stood there in her shorts and a t-shirt, her long brown hair flowing with the breeze. Shutting off the engine, he tossed the keys onto the seat and slid out of the truck. Everything else could wait. Across the yard in three strides—on the fourth, she was in his embrace.

Twining her arms around his neck, she met his kiss with her own. The scent of her tickled his nostrils. Some part of his mind noted she’d showered, and another part recognized the shirt she wore as one of his. Waiting had been his idea, but the torture of it was soon to be over.

Breaking the kiss gently, he brushed his lips along her cheek then kissed above each of her eyes. “After tonight, we’ll be mated…forever.”

“We’re already mated.” Her grip on his nape tightened. Lifting her easily, he carried her toward the door.

“Yes, you have my mark and I can feel you in mind, but after I claim you…I’ll never walk away and you won’t be able to either.” It would cement them together.

“I don’t care,” she said, then nipped his ear. The bite sent a flood of lust straight to his cock. “I wouldn’t walk away now. What I do want is to feel you and be with you and find out what happens at the end of all the petting.”

He chuckled, his cat rubbed against the inside of his skin. Both were eager to fulfill her demand. They’d learned a great deal about their mate over the last week. The more time they spent together, the greater her ease. Her shyness fled in the wake of her curiosity.

What he’d mistaken for timidity had actually been a deeply held belief she wasn’t as good as anyone else. Her inability to shield and her low level of telepathy had done more than isolate her from her peers—it had left her feeling less than worthy. In his bedroom, he kicked the door closed and carried her over to the bed. He’d insisted she sleep here all week and he’d slept in the room with her—as his tiger. It had let them get to know each other and, to his absolute delight, she loved his cat.

Below all of her self-consciousness, though, had been a determination to excel and she had. Once he got past her defenses, he found the woman they’d sensed. The one who stood up to him and for herself, who demanded more and wouldn’t be treated as less. The woman who’d abandoned him when she believed he thought her worthless and a waste of time.

That woman wanted to be treated for her value.

“You’re the one thinking hard now,” she murmured as she went to work on his shirt buttons.

“Thinking how much I admire you and how proud I am of you.” When she paused mid-button to glance at him, he stroked the hair away from her face. “You were terrified when you met me, but you didn’t cave even when I gave you orders. When you thought I didn’t value you, you didn’t make a scene or throw a fit, you simply left. You walked down the side of a mountain to an uncertain fate, but you didn’t let it stop you. You created a life for yourself, a life you wanted and when I asked you to let me be a part of it, you let me prove myself…not just to you, but to me.”

Her expression gentled and the love shimmering in her eyes warmed him to his soul.

“You, my beautiful kitten, are worth all the stars in the sky. You’re worth this mountain retreat. You’re worth a thousand of me.”

“Oh dear…” Her sudden grin filled him with joy. “Not a thousand of you. I can barely keep up with one.”

The statement added another layer to his pride. “I am your one. Always and forever.”

“Then no more caution. No more waiting. I want to be yours—”
forever and always.
Her mouth closed on his, and he dove willingly into the kiss, as eager as she to lock their bond in place. He swept his tongue over the seam of her lips, and they parted for him. They’d kissed a hundred different ways over the intervening days.

He knew what she liked. The sizzle of her tongue stroking his or how her teeth would scrape over his lower lip. She devoured him as much as he fought to consume her. One thing he’d insisted upon in their play had been her asking for what she wanted, and she’d risen to the challenge.

She fisted his hair and locked her legs around his hips. The slow grind a delicious torment for them both. Everything about her called out to him. Pulling away only long enough to shed his shirt, he stripped her of hers then brought her back so that her bare breasts could rub against his skin.

The sharp stroke of her nails on his back invited him closer. It was almost impossible to contain the need within him. When she groaned against his mouth, he delved deeper. Then her mind was open to him, and her pleasure detonated his own. He’d never come from a kiss before, yet she damn near proved his undoing.

Disentangling himself from her arms, he stripped away the rest of his clothes and enjoyed the sight of her wiggling from the shorts. As he’d seen time and again, she kept herself fit and limber, but it could do nothing to diminish the sweetness of her curves.

Beginning at her feet, he kissed each one tenderly then urged her farther back on the bed. From there, he trailed kisses along her legs until he nudged her thighs apart.

The scent of her desire filled his nostrils and he groaned as he drank in the sweetness. He’d likened her to cinnamon and sugar, but she carried his scent, too—whether from sleeping in his bed or wearing his clothes, he had no idea nor did he care. Nuzzling a kiss along her hipbone, he fought the urge to delve into her sex and to tease her clit.

She rode the knife-edge of pleasure; he could feel the tension coiling tighter and tighter in his mind. They’d teased, explored and played their fill over the intervening days. As eager as he was to sink into her body, she was hungry for him.

I love the way you see me.
The thought trailed a moan. Whether in his mind alone or aloud, he had no idea. She arched her head back, baring her throat for him. The sensual assault left his control frayed. He cupped her breasts as he pressed a kiss to each nipple, pausing only long enough to lave his tongue against the pebbled skin.

At her throat, finally, his beast let out a satisfied roar. She was to be theirs and they hers.
Be mine…
he beckoned.

“Yours.” Her permission released the last jesses as the tiger who shared his soul rose within him.
Two hearts. One mind.
Sliding his hands up to her face, he kissed her. She flowed with him, all soft curves and gentleness to his toughness. The last shell separating them shattered. She was his mate. The growl rumbled in his chest, and he surrendered to the wildness.

Easing into her was only possible as neither he nor his cat wanted to harm her. The silken heat encasing his cock left him with one vibrant need—to be one. The moment he slid inside, she wrapped her legs around him, fisted his hair and fought him for control of the kiss. The pulse of her demand matched him stroke for stroke.

They found their rhythm as though dancers who’d been mated for centuries, and he devoured every shred of pleasure she flung at him. Her orgasm struck with the swiftness of a predator and triggered his own. As he came, he sank his teeth into the juncture of her neck and shoulder. Their pleasure intensified to blinding and then he saw her life unfold before him—all the times she’d succeeded, failed, or brushed herself off to try again.

He tasted her determination to find the right hybrid, longed to comfort her disappointment when a seedling failed to sprout or one of her plants didn’t thrive. Pain speared him at the fragmented thoughts of others bombarded her and the quiet satisfaction she took when she chose her apartment. Then he saw himself breaking in her door, puncturing the safe little cocoon she’d hidden away in and her inescapable tenderness at the memory as pure happiness surged to chase away the fear.

My cat…my hero.
Her whisper carried him to the present where his body was locked with hers. What had she seen as the bond solidified? His mate. His soul.

I saw you…all of you.
Drunk on her words, on the emotion, he sank against her. She stroked her hands along his spine, petting him, and their hearts beat in perfect tandem with each other.
My beautiful tiger…the perfect match for my hybrid soul.

In that, he agreed. She was perfect for him.

Together, they would thrive.

N
ational bestselling author
, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.

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