Brooke, Leah - Panthers' Prey [Black Panthers 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “I’m sorry, baby. God, it hurts me when you’re hurt.”

  The pain somehow disappeared almost immediately under his hand.

  Assuming she’d become so aroused she didn’t even feel it anymore, she rubbed her clit against his flat belly, her hands in his hair as she struggled to get closer.

  The wall of large windows in the family room overlooked another part of the deck, the sight of the railing reminding her of the way he’d taken earlier, spiking her need even higher.

  Pulling his head back, she nipped his bottom lip, her breath catching at the flare of heat in his eyes. “If you stop now, I’ll hit you.”

  His hands tightened on her bottom and in her hair, his eyes narrowing as he loomed over her. Around her.

  “I couldn’t stop now if the house was on fire.”

  With a growl, he positioned her facedown over the back of the sofa, holding her down when she would have risen.

  “Damn it, Marc. I—oh, holy hell!”

  He held her in place with a hand at her back and tossed the ends of the robe out of the way, kneeling between her thighs and keeping them spread with his wide shoulders.

  The first swipe of his tongue through her slit startled a sharp cry from her as she collapsed onto the cushion, unable to hold herself up any longer. With her cheek pressed against the sofa, she fought to push the robe off of her face in an effort to get more air as the strokes from his tongue got more intense. Finally managing to push it aside, she drew several ragged breaths, her pleasure-filled moans filling the room as Marc growled and ate at her with a hunger that kept her underlying fear humming just beneath the surface.

  When the sofa dipped next to her, she turned her head, grabbing onto James’s muscular thigh like a lifeline, delighted to find him naked and in the process of donning a condom.

  His eyes stayed on hers as he rolled it on, his large, thick cock jumping each time she glanced at it.

  Her pussy clenched with the need to feel that steely heat inside her, which released more of her juices, much to Marc’s apparent enjoyment. She cried out again when he slid his tongue deep, his growl of appreciation vibrating against her clit.

  “Oh, God. I’m going to come already.”

  Running his hand over her hair, James chuckled, a raw sound, tight with tension.

  “I see Marc’s discovered how sweet you are. You’re going to have a hard time keeping either one of us from getting our mouths on that pussy every chance we get.”

  With his fingers digging into her bottom cheeks, Marc held her steady. His tongue stabbed into her repeatedly, the occasional flicks of his devious tongue over her clit keeping her squirming in frustration.

  Kicking her feet, she cried out over as the heat of his mouth burned her, the fingers on her bottom tightening and making her bottom hole sting.

  She had a healthy sexual appetite, but the amazing awareness at her puckered opening had her body going stiff and her toes curling in guarded yearning. Still, she arched her back, pumping her hips in time to the quick flicks of his tongue over her clit, unable to resist the lure of his decadent assault.

  Each stroke of his hot tongue took her closer to the orgasm her body craved, and she knew she would go over at any moment.

  With a growl, Marc nipped the sensitive place between her buttock and thigh, chuckling when she clenched, which made the sting around the tight opening even stronger. When she whimpered and struggled to scramble away, he nipped her again, seeming to anticipate her every reaction.

  “You’re not going anywhere. Does it sting, baby? Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?”

  Bailey shrieked at the first swipe of his tongue over her puckered opening, the raw, too-sexual sensation overwhelming her. It also shook her, his attention there leaving her clit bereft.

  “Damn it, oh fuck, oh fuck, I was going to come!”

  Marc came to his feet, covering her body with his from behind, surrounding her with hard masculine heat. With a groan, he slid his cock deep into her pussy with one forceful thrust.

  Holding himself still, with his body shaking against hers, he groaned again.

  With a hand at her jaw, he lifted her to him, running his teeth over her shoulder. “Before we let you leave here, you’re going to come and come and come. You’re going to come so much you won’t have the energy to defy me. You’re going to be fucked so much, you won’t be able to walk. Maybe then I’ll be able to get you out of my system.”

  James lifted a brow and ran his hand under her to caress a breast, his gaze holding hers.

  “That’s a fine way to talk to a woman when you’re balls deep inside her.”

  Although she appreciated that James came to her defense, she shook her head as a series of tingles went through her, each wave building the pressure inside her.

  “It’s true. It’s too much. This can’t last. Oh, God. Fuck me hard. This can’t last. Take me good, damn you!”

  Marc’s cock felt like hot steel stretching her pussy walls, filling her completely, but it wasn’t enough.

  She was starting to wonder if it would ever be enough.

  She couldn’t get mad or insulted when the desperation in Marc’s tone matched her own. She couldn’t get enough of him. As soon as he touched her, she wanted him.

  Want was too mild for what she felt with them.

  Arching back, she cried out again and again with each of Marc’s deep thrusts.

  If Marc felt anything like she did, she could understand his need to rebel against it. She did, too, not caring for the fact that she could be so mad at him and still want him with a hunger that she couldn’t fight.

  It seemed almost as though her anger spiked her arousal, making it impossible to resist him as she’d been unable to resist James in her office.

  Her pussy sizzled all around his cock. The friction of each stroke over her inner walls made her quiver all around him, the sensation so intense she couldn’t catch her breath.

  From behind her, Marc growled, a throaty sound that made her heart race and sent a surge of another kind of satisfaction through her—one of a woman who knew she gave pleasure to her man.

  This primitive need shook her, the need to please him, the need to give herself over to him so overwhelming she didn’t stand a chance of holding it back.

  But with her need to submit to him came hungers of her own.

  She didn’t even recognize herself, crying out and pushing back against Marc, urging him on.

  His deep and animalistic growls excited her as much as they scared her, harsh reminders of the beast living inside him.

  The beast she still didn’t know if she believed in and sure as hell didn’t understand.

  She’d never known lust could be so all encompassing or that it could have such a strong effect on her emotions. She didn’t like it any better than Marc did, but damned if it didn’t feel incredible.

  Too luscious and decadent to deny.

  His thrusts came faster and harder, the friction over her inner walls unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Each accompanying growl sent shivers up her spine, sharpening the pleasure and sending those tingles shooting from her slit outward until they touched every part of her.

  All of a sudden, it burst free, sending sharp explosions of tingling heat through her.

  She came hard, harder than she thought it was possible to come. It left her unable to breathe as her body became impossibly tight, the wave of pleasure holding her in its grip as Marc roared his own release. She held on to James, tears blurring her vision at the sharp emotion that slammed into her, one that grew even stronger when Marc held himself deep inside her and gathered her against him, his teeth sinking into her shoulder.

  “Fuck. Mine. Do you hear me? Damn you for making me want you so much. You’re mine, damn it.”

  He stayed plastered to her back for several long minutes, his cock pulsing against her inner walls.

  With another curse, he moved.

  Bailey sucked in a breath as he withdrew and
straightened, shivering against the sudden chill. Drawing in several ragged breaths, she pushed away from the sofa and stood on shaky legs, fighting the urge to throw herself in his arms. It was something so out of character for her that she didn’t recognize herself. Still shaking, she held on to the back of the sofa for support.

  “Kiss my ass. You’re not going to get the chance to fuck me again.”

  He took a threatening step forward, smiling in satisfaction when she hurriedly stepped back.

  “Watch yourself, baby, or you’re going to end up with my cock up your ass.”

  Furious that she’d allowed him to intimidate her, she lifted her chin.

  “Fuck you.”

  Marc took another step forward, but before she could step back, she found herself in James’s arms and lifted high against his chest.

  “You two can fight all you want later. Right now I want my mate.”

  * * * *

  Staring after them, Marc fisted his hands at his sides, already feeling his loss. His groin tightened again with want for her that never seemed to diminish, but it was the blow to his heart that almost sent him to his knees.

  Leaning back against the sofa, he unclenched his hands and stared down at them, unsurprised that they shook. Straightening, he ran his fingers through his hair, fighting the urge to pick something up and throw it.

  Each time he took her, the invisible bond between them only grew stronger. It had ceased to be just sex. He wanted all of her, her needs, her desires, her thoughts, hell, even her bad moods.

  Hearing her cries of pleasure from the other room, he dropped onto the back of the sofa, breathing in the scent of her arousal like an addict. If any other man even attempted to touch Bailey, he knew, without a doubt, that he could gladly rip his throat out.

  Knowing that James would pleasure and care for her while he got himself together, though, filled him with a sense of relief.

  It didn’t make any sense, but it was something he would have to think about later, when his head cleared.

  He also knew how she felt.

  It floored him when he first realized it, but could no longer be ignored. He and the others had always been able to read people easily, but in Bailey’s case, it went much deeper.

  Her arousal made his even stronger. He felt her anger almost as strongly as he felt his own. It burned in his stomach, and if directed at him, filled him with equal parts fury and the almost overwhelming need to make her happy again.

  He’d actually felt the slice of pain his need to fight his desire for her caused her. Before he could get over the shock of it, she’d made sexual demands of him, demands that sent adrenaline and the need to conquer through his veins.

  He’d also felt something that terrified him, something he didn’t know if she even realized.

  She loved him.

  He sighed, reeling at the knowledge. He could already imagine her living with him and dreaded the time she would leave and go back to her apartment in town.

  He appeased himself with the thought that he couldn’t possibly let her leave here until he made sure she understood the importance of keeping their secret.

  The future of his pack depended on secrecy.

  Another of her cries reached him, followed almost immediately by a deep growl. Breathing in the scent of her, which now permeated his home, and the intoxicating sounds of her surrender, Marc groaned as his cock stirred.

  He needed to shift.

  He needed to run.

  He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

  After he calmed down, he needed to apologize to his mate.

  And come to terms with his own feelings.

  He loved her. Fuck.

  Chapter Eight

  Loving the warm weight of James’s body pressing her into the mattress, Bailey opened her eyes, only to close them again, smiling as the dark, silk curtain of his hair brushed her face.

  “I think I’m blind.”

  James chuckled, a deep sound that made her break out in goose bumps. Rolling with a hand at her back holding her to him, he somehow managed to keep his cock inside her.

  “Honey, your eyes are closed.”

  Draped over his chest, she opened her eyes again and lifted her head from his shoulder, her movements clumsy and lethargic. Pushing herself up, she ran her hands over his chest, sinking her fingers into solid muscle.

  His hooded gaze and small smile, both filled with satisfaction, sent her heart racing. His black hair, mussed from her fingers, looked even darker against the stark white of the pillow. Remembering what the silky strands felt like against her nipples, she clenched on his cock and stroked his magnificent chest.

  “You know, you really are sexy as hell.”

  His slow grin sent a rush of heat through her as he lifted a hand and ran it over her shoulder, down to her hip, and back up again, using the ends of her own hair to tease her nipples.

  “I’m glad you think so since I plan to get inside you every chance I get.” Running his hands up to her breasts, he toyed with her nipples. “You are, without a doubt, the most desirable woman I’ve ever met. The perfect woman for me.”

  Bailey stiffened, a cold chill going up her spine.

  “How do you know?”

  Depressed, irritated, and reluctantly afraid, she pushed against him with the intention of getting up, but James moved fast, rolling again and pinning her under him, his eyes flashing with fury.

  “Excuse me?”

  She pushed at him, wondering when the hell her mouth had decided to have a mind of its own. Annoyed that he somehow managed to grab both of her wrists in one hand and hold them over her head, and lamenting the fact that his cock was no longer inside her, she couldn’t help but lift her hips against him. “Get off of me.”

  He tangled his legs with hers in a powerfully smooth move, effectively taking away her leverage. Scowling, he tightened his fingers on hers.

  “No. What the hell do you mean—how do I know? What the hell kind of question is that?”

  After a brief struggle, which probably wouldn’t even be considered as one based on how little she actually could move, she blew out a breath and glared up at him, wishing she’d just kept her damned mouth shut.

  “You know damned well what I mean. According to you and Marc, I’m nothing more than a scent to you. That…damn it, get off of me…animal stuff—”

  A shift in his weight kept her immobile, as his eyes went flat and cold.

  “We’re shape-shifters, Bailey, not animals.”

  Ashamed of herself, she turned away, facing the far wall.

  “Whatever. You growl.”

  After a long silence, James dropped a kiss onto her shoulder.

  “Interesting. Never happened with any other woman. It’s being with my mate that brings that out in me.”

  “Don’t care.” Oh, God. She was going to cry. Taking a deep breath, she shrugged, saying nothing.

  With a sigh, James rolled to the side, allowing her to escape. “You and Marc sure are determined to do this the hard way, aren’t you?”

  Both relieved and disappointed that he released her, she scrambled from the bed, putting several feet of distance between them. Spotting the white terry robe, half on the floor and half tangled in the sheet, Bailey grabbed the end of it and tugged, cursing until she got it loose. Aware of James watching her as he strolled into the adjoining bathroom, she turned her back to him, feeling the warmth of his gaze on her bottom.

  Wrapping the robe around herself, she pushed back her hair and frowned as he disappeared, closing the door behind him, raising her voice to be heard.

  “You have no problem with your life being turned upside down by being attracted to a woman you don’t even know?”

  James stuck his head out. “There are worse things in life than finding a woman I can’t resist. Think of it as chemistry, honey. Haven’t you ever had chemistry with another man?”

  Scowling, he held up a hand a shook his head. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t think I could s
tand to hear it right now.” His tender smile tightened her stomach.

  “There’s no reason to get so bent out of shape. Why not just relax and let nature run its course?”

  Bailey sighed as he disappeared again, closing the door behind him. Plopping onto the bed, she glared at the closed door, muttering under her breath. “I don’t do nature.”

  Dropping back, she stared at the ceiling.

  “Chemistry, he says. I think it’s a little more than chemistry. Shape-shifters. God. They can’t be real. It’s got to be some kind of trick. I’ve gotten involved with nutcases. Sexy as hell nutcases, but nutcases all the same. Shit. Let nature run its course. Right. We can’t talk without arguing and can’t even eat together without jumping each other’s bones. Ah!”

  The feel of a rough, warm tongue touching her ankle startled her so badly, she yelped. She scrambled to sit up, her heart pounding furiously at the sight in front of her.

  “Oh, God! Oh, shit. Don’t do this to me. Fuck.”

  Swallowing heavily, she remained perfectly still, staring into the brilliant blue eyes of the panther that sat at her feet, one that seemed even larger this close.

  “Don’t you dare bite me. Don’t bite me. Nice kitty.” She gulped again, her breathing harsh as she looked toward the closed bathroom door. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

  Holding her gaze, the panther swiped his warm, wet tongue over her knee before dropping his head on her thigh. He stared up at her, apparently waiting for something—or perhaps just enjoying the fact that he’d scared her.

  Instinct told her it had to be Marc, but she still couldn’t quite wrap her head around it.

  She remained perfectly still, her breath coming out in sharp pants. Her mind raced as she struggled to come to grips with the fact that this amazing creature and the sexy and compelling man who’d bent her over the sofa and taken her were one and the same.

  Drawing in a shaky breath, she lifted a hand, hoping like hell she wasn’t making the biggest mistake in her life, slowly extending it outward.

  “I hope like hell you know who I am.”