MEILING was Gedeon’s, and she deserved to know she was loved for herself. Not for her leopard. Not because she was elite. Not to give their species female children. But for herself. He intended to show her that he truly loved her for who she was.
To say he was shocked at his emotional response to Meiling was an understatement. He hadn’t believed himself capable of the kind of depth of feeling he had developed for her. Every trait she brought out in him—although most were good, some were dark and ugly—had developed at an early age and was now brought roaring back. Those dark traits were compounded by his leopard’s vicious nature. Still, he found he had a gentle side with her. He found genuine humor with her. She’d given him so much. He wanted to give her as much, if not more.
Slayer had informed him Whisper was going to rise soon. The leopard would do so fast and Gedeon knew the heat would be intense. Sexual passion would be incredible between the two humans, but it wouldn’t show Meiling that he wanted her for who she was. Whisper seemed unpredictable, and he needed to ensure his woman knew she was loved.
He didn’t know how to say the words to her. He didn’t want to say them. The words stuck in his throat. Choked him. Each time he thought to tell her how he felt, something dark and ugly would grow in his gut, stopping him. He resolved to find a way to show her.
They walked through the house together, not turning on lights. They didn’t need them. Their night vision was superb. Gedeon held Meiling’s hand, feeling the tension in her. She hadn’t been near the master bedroom since the night she’d walked in and found him with a woman. He’d despised himself for the out-of-control, frenzied sexual behavior that night. Even now, when he knew the explanation—that her female was rising, causing Slayer to become so inflamed, both man and leopard had been so desperate for sexual release neither could think straight—he was still ashamed.
“I hope you like the changes I made, but if you don’t, you tell me what you want different, and I’ll have it done.” He’d taken everything he knew of her and tried to make the perfect space for the two of them.
Gedeon opened the double doors to the master suite and stepped back to allow her to enter first. The master bedroom had been transformed completely. He hadn’t wanted it to look the same at all. The wall facing the swamp was no longer a panel of windows. He had had the craftsmen construct a wall of glass that could be opened to include the wide, screened-in patio. The screen was dark so they could see out, but it would be difficult to see in unless lights were on.
The bed faced the bluish-gray stone fireplace. He’d had all the furniture changed. She seemed to prefer the colors purple and blue, so he’d woven those colors into the duvet on the bed as well as the chairs surrounding the fireplace. The designer he’d worked with brought in potted plants that nearly reached the high ceilings, the green leaves climbing along the walls of one side of the room, creating the look of a rain forest. There was even a water feature, albeit a small one. There were stairs and landings provided for the leopards along the same wall. The room was spacious. Two very large circular stairs down to the sitting area in front of the fireplace created the only division of space in the room. Two giant fans with paddles provided airflow overhead, or they could use the cool air pumped in when preferred.
Gedeon wanted the master bedroom to be all about Gedeon and Meiling, the humans. Her upstairs room could be transformed to be all about Whisper and Slayer, when they came together in a rush of wild passion—not to say it wouldn’t happen in both bedrooms. He knew it would.
Meiling stared around the room in shock. Light came in from all directions. There were privacy screens, but he wanted her to have as much open space and as much light as he could give her, as well as different views.
“It’s beautiful, Gedeon.”
Her reaction was everything he could have asked for. The shock on her face. The little hitch in her voice, as if she couldn’t believe he would go to all the trouble and expense for her. He wanted her to know he’d do anything for her.
Gedeon caught her hand again and guided her to the master bathroom. She might as well see that he’d incorporated changes there as well. The double sinks and the huge walk-in shower with the multitude of nozzles, choices of sprays and handheld devices along the racks were meant for two people. He wanted that clear. The side-by-side soaking tubs. The huge Jacuzzi meant for two. This was a masterpiece designed for them.
She turned her face up to his. “You want us to sleep down here together.”
“Part of the time.” He was honest. “The leopards can use the stairs going up the wall if need be, or they can escape out the window or off the patio into the swamp. It will be much more convenient from the suite upstairs by the time we finish renovating it.”
“You’re going to change my suite?”
He cupped the side of her face, his thumb brushing along her full bottom lip. “I’ve got the plans rolled up right there beside the fireplace.” He indicated the long tube resting against the stone fireplace.
Her eyes lit up. “I’d love to see the plans.”
“I have a few little rules for you to follow before we unroll the plans.”
Her eyebrow shot up. “Rules? You have rules?”
“I like to boss you around. That’s what you’re always saying. I’m bossy and arrogant. So, rules. You want to see the plans for the upstairs suite, you have to follow my rules.”
He came up behind her, crowding her body with his, sweeping her dark hair from her nape, pressing kisses along her neck and watching her shiver. Satisfaction shot through him. She couldn’t hide her reaction to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Do you want to see those plans?” He brushed her hair from the side of her neck and kissed the tender skin there, right over her pulse. Then scattered more kisses up to her ear, where he bit gently on her earlobe.
“Yes.” Her voice came out a whisper. “Tell me your rules, Leopard Boy.”
He laughed, just as she knew he would. He moved around her to face her. Meiling was very slight, but most of the time he didn’t notice unless they were working a case and her diminutive stature was to their advantage, or like now, when he towered over her. His shoulders were wide, and his body seemed to make two of hers. He looked straight into her dark eyes as his hands dropped to the little buttons on her very feminine blouse.
“I get the pleasure of removing your clothes first, before anything else.” Very slowly he slipped the first button from the loop, the pads of his fingers brushing bare skin.
She didn’t pull away. Her long lashes fluttered. She had those beautiful black sweeping lashes that were feminine beyond description and called attention to her dark, hypnotic eyes. He kept his fingers moving down that line of pretty little square buttons until her blouse was open, revealing her mint-green bra and the appealing bare strip of skin on her belly. Gedeon pushed the material from her shoulders and let it flutter to the floor. He paid no attention to her sudden shyness when he reached behind her, unhooked her bra with one hand and tossed that little scrap of lace aside as well.
He let his breath out. “You’re so damn beautiful, Meiling.” Catching her hips, he drew her closer to him and took her mouth. He’d resisted for what seemed an entire day. The moment his lips touched hers, she caught fire—or he did. They ignited. The chemistry between them was explosive. He wanted to give her tenderness. Leopards were hot as Hades when they came together. He wanted a slow burn for her, not this crazy wildfire that roared through his veins and poured steel into his cock.
“Lotus.” He breathed her name, trying to slow things down, pressing his forehead to hers. He could still feel her on his skin, in his mouth, down his throat. Most importantly, he could feel her moving in his soul.
“Without you, I’ve got nothing at all. You know that, don’t you?”
She gave a little shake of her head, her eyes alive with too much emotion, just as he knew his were. They both felt it. It was impossible not to be shaken when neither of them had been loved, Meiling even less than him. Now, knowing what they had together, Gedeon felt vulnerable, wide open. It didn’t matter. She was worth it. If he lost, he would always have had this time with her.
His hands dropped to the waistband of her jeans even as he kept his forehead pressed against hers. All the while he forced air through his lungs. Breathing with need of her. With love for her. “I don’t want you to ever think I want you for Slayer and Whisper. I’m a very selfish man. You found your way inside me, and I don’t want to give you up. Not for any reason. Not for our leopards and not for misunderstandings.”
He pushed her jeans and panties over the curve of her hips, crouching down in front of her as he did so until he could pick up her foot and slide the material free and then the other foot. Her hands went to his shoulders to steady herself. His name was a whisper between them. An entreaty. He didn’t know whether she intended to pull him close or push him away when her fists knotted on his hair, but he wedged his wide shoulders between her legs, the scent of her calling to him.
He moved his palm gently up the inside of her thigh and allowed his tongue to follow the pads of his fingers. Her skin was pure satin. His took his time reaching his goal, that liquid honey that drew him like a magnet. He couldn’t resist tasting her. He was already addicted, having fed hungrily on her when her leopard had driven her beyond her endurance. It wasn’t the same. Now he wanted to spend time worshiping her.
Standing, Gedeon lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. Her eyes were half-dazed, her arms circling his neck, drawing him down with her when he placed her in the middle of the duvet. Using one hand to rid himself of his T-shirt, he stripped the rest of his clothes from his body, unable to take his gaze from hers.
She was so beautiful. His woman. He moved over her. Slow. Blanketing her. Pulling her hands above her head. Threading his fingers through hers. Staring directly into her eyes. He swore the earth moved. Time seemed to tunnel. Kissing her sent flames slow dancing through his veins. Arrowing to his heart.
He felt the heat of her entrance welcoming him with her honey. So hot. Surrounding him. So tight. Too tight. Until that silken haven gripped his steel cock and reluctantly allowed him home. It was a struggle to move through those incredibly constricting petals that were hesitant to give way to his invasion. Then he was all the way in her, sinking deep. For a long moment they were together. Sharing the same skin. The same soul.
Gedeon began to move. Slow at first. The friction was enough to send fiery streaks of lightning arrowing down his spine. Her silken muscles clenched even tighter around him, dragging over him. He felt every one of her heartbeats right through her sheath.
Her feathery lashes swept down and then back up. She made a sound in her throat and her fingers tightened around his. Her hips rose to meet his. She caught his rhythm as he increased his speed. He thrust harder and she gasped.
“White lightning. It’s going to take us with it,” he whispered to her. “Do you feel it, Lotus? Moving through us? We’re going to burn together.”
Her gaze never flinched away from his, not even when he knew raw emotion poured from him to her. Not when his eyes blazed with the absolute inner fire of his kind. With sheer possession. She didn’t fear his strength. Or his brutality. She knew he was different, and yet she didn’t run from him; she stood with him. She was his partner in every sense of the word.
Now, as his body took hers with exquisite care, he worshipped what was his, taking his time, never hurrying, keeping the burn building slow and steady. Making her feel what he couldn’t say. Letting her see into his heart and soul. Looking into hers.
Gedeon expected resistance. She had to know there was no going back from this. Once he took her like this, she would belong to him for all time. There would be no separating them. No getting them apart. His body moved faster in hers. Streaks of fire rushed over both of them. She gasped. He tightened his hold on her.
“That’s it, Lotus. Relax. Come with me,” he encouraged.
She gave that little shake of her head, but her gaze clung to his. He could see fear as they climbed higher and higher. As the flames seem to crackle around them and the white lightning arced and forked, jagged bolts that rocked them from the inside out just as he’d promised, he also saw trust in the brown eyes that never flinched away from his.
Her body followed the lead of his—moved with his in a perfect tango as the slow burn turned into a wildfire that burned hot and fierce. Gedeon held her on the edge for what seemed an eternity, whispering to her in a mix of shifter and Russian before coaxing her to let go for him. To fly with him. To let white lightning burn them together.
To his shock, she did exactly what he said. His woman. Fingers threaded through his. Dark eyes staring straight into his. She let her soul fly with his while they burned in the white-hot lightning together.
He let himself collapse over the top of her, desperate for air, trying to drag air into his lungs for both of them. He wasn’t certain he had lungs. He thought the fire had, for once in his life, burned him clean. He buried his face in her neck, all too aware he couldn’t stay with his full weight on her slight body. He was crushing her. It was just that in this moment, with his cock still jerking in her and the aftershocks rippling through her, he could still share her heart. He still shared her body. Even, like now, her very breath.
Very slowly, reluctantly, he eased his body from hers. He felt bereft. Her arms slid around his neck and clung for a moment. “I’ll be right back, Lotus. Let me get a washcloth.”
He washed the evidence of her innocence from his cock, reluctant to even do that. Then he returned and very gently cleaned between her legs. A little shiver went through her, but she didn’t flinch away from him.
“Did I hurt you, Meiling?”
“No, it was beautiful.”
He returned from the master bath and lay down on the bed on his belly, as close to her as he could get without crushing her. The moment he did, her fingers found his hair, just as she had done so many times before, only now it felt so much more intimate. Peace settled over him.
“How is it I knew I could have shot the sniper in the trees and gotten into the field before Drake Donovan or Remy could have stopped me when no others would have been able to do it, Gedeon?” Meiling asked suddenly.
She continued to run her fingers through his thick, unruly hair. He loved when she did that. It made him feel cared for. This was what they had always done together at night—lay close and talked.
He knew sooner or later she would ask questions. He wanted just a little more time before she did, afraid she might think he’d chosen her for yet another reason other than because he was in love with her. Still, he refused to give her less than the truth.
The pads of Meiling’s fingers caressed his scalp as her soft voice persisted. “You’re so fast when you want to be. Lightning fast, yet you hide it most of time. I have similar speed. And the strength I have isn’t normal even for a leopard.”
“I’m going to have to go back in the history of the leopard species a little bit to give you answers, Meiling.” He tipped his head up just a little to nuzzle the underside of her breast. “It’s the kind of history our people would like to forget. You’re part of that ugly history and so am I.”
Her fingers didn’t stop moving in his hair, but he felt her gaze on his face. He kissed her bare skin. It was so necessary that she know how much she meant to him. She was his only. There had been no one before her and there would be no one after her if he ever lost her. He hadn’t known he was capable of loving until she came along.
“Why are hesitating to tell me, Gedeon?”
He used his teeth to nip at the very sensitive underside of her breast, then soothed the sting with his tongue when her breath came out in a little rush of reaction. “I always feel as if I’m asking you to accept more and more of me on faith and trust.”
She was silent for some time, her fingers continuing to move in his hair, although slower, as if she was thinking, turning things over in her mind.
“You recognized all the way back in the jungle when I moved the branch off you that I was different. It wasn’t just that Slayer was quiet when I was around. I told you I didn’t have a leopard, but you knew something about me then, didn’t you?”
“I suspected, but I didn’t know. I was blind at the time. I hadn’t seen you, but the more I was around you, the more I had my suspicions that you had superior gifts, just as I do.”
“Are there very many others with them?”
“I don’t think any others still live, Meiling. That’s part of the very shameful history I was about to tell you. I’m going to confess to you that when I tell you everything, I won’t look the best to you. I already gave you a little of it.”
He had told her a little bit, so hopefully she wouldn’t condemn him. She remained silent, so he took a breath and launched into what he knew. “There were three families that seemed to be born with extraordinary gifts. No one knew if it was the combination of genetics, the female and male leopard getting together, but they all emerged around the same time, although in different countries.”
Her hand paused in his hair. “What were the countries, Gedeon?”
“Russia. China. North Korea. Those three countries were rumored to have families with leopards with exceptional gifts. The families were slaughtered.”
Gedeon had carefully researched the information once he was able to leave the lair. Few remembered him—or if they did, they didn’t speak of him. He left Russia and traveled around the world building his strength and then his network. Along the way he picked up as many allies as possible without giving anything of himself away. Once he found Rene Guidry, he had the man ferret out as much information as possible on the families that had been murdered in the three countries.
“It isn’t as if any of the families claimed royalty or lived in castles. My parents worked, but because they could do so many things, they thrived and those working for them did as well. They were very loyal to the pakhan and did everything they could to aid him in every way, making him wealthier. The problem with being different is people become jealous and they fear you. Too many people went to my parents rather than the pakhan, and he feared they were growing powerful. Then there was the problem of their children. My father and mother had gifts, but it became evident that my siblings had even stronger ones than our parents at such young ages. Fear increased and the demand to rid the lair of us swelled in volume.”
“This happened in each country?”
He nodded. “Yes. Later, when I was older, I found out there was a much larger, widespread conspiracy. A group from each of the countries had started the unrest. They wanted to wipe out all members of each of the families. They’re still in play today. I imagine those are the ones pursuing you, Meiling.”
“You believe I’m a member of one of the families.”
He turned his head up to look at her. “I know you are. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
“Tell me everything that happened to your family before you tell me about mine and the others.”
Gedeon knew Meiling was deliberately postponing what he would tell her because she knew it was going to be crushing information. He pressed a kiss into her rib cage and settled against her. Close. Tight. Wanting her to feel his much larger body wrapped around her so she knew she wasn’t alone and would never be again.
“My father’s best friend knocked on the door late one night. They’d known each other since they were boys. Dad had saved his family from being destitute. The pakhan at one point was furious with Uncle Yury and would have had him put to death, but my father spoke for him and saved him. Still, Yury betrayed him. He struck my father from behind and dragged him outside to the mob. They tortured and killed him. They killed my older brother and sister. My mother and I were taken to the pakhan.”
Meiling’s fingers clenched in his hair. “I spent so much time alone, Gedeon, mostly because I wanted to avoid shifters. When I was around them, I would get very upset because I could feel how depraved some of them were. It was easier to avoid them. Libby wanted to be around them, but when she was, I stayed away.”
“You have no idea how truly depraved they can be. In the lair where I was raised, trafficking was a way of earning money. Women were bought and sold. The pakhan wanted my mother to cooperate with him, to still give him the advice our family had given him that enabled him to excel in his businesses. He also wanted her as his willing mistress. She refused. He sold her over and over to the men in the village, my father’s so-called friends. They raped her. He made me watch. He let those same men rape me in front of her.”
He told her the truth, keeping his voice devoid of all expression. He couldn’t let the rage in him out, not while she was in the room with him. “It became a way of life. Rape and beatings. Whippings. The brutality.”
At his admission, tension crept into her body until she was nearly as tight as a bow.
“I learned to be deceptive. Not to show resistance. Not to allow Slayer out. Not to show my mother a hint of what I felt for her.”
A small sound escaped her throat. Her hands stroked caresses into his hair. I understand so much more now. Thank you for telling me.
She’d said nearly the same thing in the place on the island where she’d been staying when he’d told her part of his past. Her reaction allowed him to continue. “I was also careful never to let anyone see that I was faster or smarter. Eventually, the pakhan thought it would be a great idea to train me as his personal assassin. I thought it would be too.” This might be even more difficult than admitting he’d been raped as a child. That his mother had been, and he’d had to stop telling her he loved her. He had to stop seeking her out or looking at her.
“I began hunting the men who murdered my family. I couldn’t do it all at once. I had to be careful, and I had to make certain I always had an alibi that would hold up. I killed them one by one. I did it when I was a teen. I tried to establish telepathic communication with my mother so I could tell her I was getting justice for what they did, but I never could talk to her that way. I wanted to be able to tell her I loved her just one more time before he killed her.”
“She knew, Gedeon.” Her voice came out of the darkness with absolute confidence.
He loved her even more for that assuredness. “I killed the pakhan, and when I did, I made certain it took him a long time to die. I wasn’t nice about it, Meiling, and I made certain to let him know that they missed one. I told him I had all those gifts and then some. That I was alive and would be for a long, long time.”
He fell silent, waiting for her to condemn him, but he should have known better. It was Meiling. He’d told her part of his story and she hadn’t condemned him then. “It bothered me that I didn’t feel anything. I had no emotions at all. What kind of monster had I let them shape me into? I knew my parents wouldn’t be happy with me, so I left Russia and changed what and who I was to the best of my ability. I developed my own code. I’m not necessarily a good man, but I make it work. I hide my background from other shifters, and my reputation is dangerous and vicious enough that no one tests me.”
“But then you took me on as a partner. Gedeon, you were off their radar. If those people are looking for me and I’m with you, they’ll be taking a closer look at you.”
“Fuck them, Meiling. They can come after us, but they’ll be out of their league if they do. They orchestrated the murder of my entire family, yours and one other family simply because they feared them. I’ve left them alone until now, but since they’re going after my woman, that’s not going to last.”
“What happened to the other family?”
“Same as mine—and yours. Their friends turned on them and murdered them. Wiped out even the children. Your father had a friend, a woodsman, loyal to him, and while the crowd was killing the other members of the family, the man took you. He was very clever and was able to hide your scent. In all the mob confusion, no one noticed you were gone at first. You were only two, from what I understand. Shifters had sworn you were dead. At first, they thought you were buried with your siblings. Then, when it was discovered you weren’t buried with the others, they thought you had wandered off.”
“I can imagine the uproar.”
“Those scars on your shoulder? Those happened that night when the mob came for your family. From what I understand, one of the shifters clawed you and threw you aside. That was what allowed the woodsman to carry you off. They believed you were dead because the claws were deep and there was so much blood when he cast you aside. The woodsman picked you up and carried you away.”
“Libby’s father was such a good man.”
“Because of the trafficking aspect, the pakhan of the Amurov lair was spoken to on more than one occasion, that’s how I know the details. He had shifters looking. I was always in the room with him when any discussions were held. He often gave me as a gift to foreign travelers, especially the cruel ones. It pleased him to tell my mother. I just stored up information and put my mind elsewhere when things happened to my body. But I heard what they did to your family and eventually how they thought you managed to stay alive. They couldn’t figure out who would dare to save you, though.”
“Libby’s father. That’s why I was never really part of their family and they treated me so strangely. Her mother resented me and wanted me gone. I can totally understand why now. It must have been frightening to have me around. Libby treated me as a sibling. She might have been selfish at times, but she loved me, and I loved her. Her mother knew that, and it was the only reason she didn’t throw me out onto the street.”
“Her father must have moved away as soon as he could without raising suspicion.”
“He was a good man and was always kind to me. I don’t remember my family other than flashes from my nightmares. Terrible nightmares. I would wake up screaming when I was a child. I have those scars on my shoulder and back, those four scars made by a shifter. He was trying to drag me from my mother. There was fire everywhere and we were surrounded by a crowd of people. Their faces were contorted into masks of hatred.”
Gedeon felt the shiver that went through her body. He turned onto his side to gather her closer. Her body felt extremely warm to him. She moved, her body sliding sensuously against his. She seemed completely unaware.
“You don’t need to think about that anymore, Meiling. We’ll find out who they are. They can’t hide from us. They think they have power. The kind of people they are always think they have power because they hide behind walls and guards. When I was that very young boy, naked and stripped of all power, I had plenty of time to observe what was really happening behind the scenes. Those in power were just as afraid as I was. It didn’t take an army to go knocking at their front door. I had plenty of time to discover how to defeat them. A small force of one or two can slip in undetected and be gone before they’re ever discovered. As long as we ensure we have proper alibis, we’ll always be fine.”
He waited a few moments and then sat up. “Let’s go out onto the patio, Lotus. I feel like breathing the night air.”
He didn’t bother with clothes. When she looked around for a robe, he laughed. “No one is going to see us. I had the screen dipped in a reflective dark paint. You can see out, but unless we turn on bright lights to give people a show, no one can see a thing.” He held out his hand.
She put her hand in his. “You tested this theory?”
“Don’t you want to live dangerously?” he teased, running his fingernail gently from her collarbone over the slight swell of her breast, her nipple and down to her navel. At once goose bumps rose all over her bare skin as endorphins rushed through her in response.
He opened the thick wall so that it slid all the way back to incorporate the outside patio with the bedroom. At once the sounds of the swamp became a symphony of music. Varieties of frogs vied for attention, some singing and others croaking loudly. Insects hummed. Wings fluttered in the treetops. Even the branches contributed, leaves fluttering with the slight breeze.
Meiling pressed her hands over her ears for a moment, laughing. “They’re so loud.”
“Turn it down. That’s your leopard’s hearing.”
“I always have excellent hearing. It shouldn’t be this loud.” She lifted her hands away from her ears and walked to the railing, forgetting her nudity, just as he knew she would.
The sultry heat of the night combined with the cloying scent of gardenias, night-blooming jasmine and Angel’s trumpets called to her leopard, drawing her even closer to the surface. Gedeon’s blood sang hotter than ever in his veins, rushing with a feral music now. He couldn’t take his gaze from her glowing skin. He watched her with the eyes of a leopard. Focused. Unblinking. Recording every movement.
She moved across the patio restlessly, her body unconsciously provocative. Just seeing her in the beginnings of her heat threw his body out of control. His cock swelled into a fierce, needy monster. Slayer added his demands, a ferocious, prowling male too long denied a mate.
Meiling suddenly gripped the dark mesh with a sharp cry, notes of fear and desperation mingling together. Her head hung low and she began to take deep breaths, clearly struggling. “Gedeon. I can feel her rising, but she’s in total chaos. I don’t know what to do to help her.”
He could see her body already covered in little beads of sweat. She couldn’t stay still. Her hands moved over her sensitive skin, cupping her breasts, rubbing along her thighs, seeking the junction between her legs. Tears formed in her dark eyes.
“I feel like I’m going to burst into flames. You have to help me.” She half turned toward him and her gaze instantly was riveted on his fully erect cock. Her gaze went hungry. Filled with lust and greed. Her tongue moistened her lips until they gleamed.
Gedeon bit back a groan. Meiling wasn’t the only one on fire. Slayer was creating a monster, rising toward Whisper, just as desperate, his appetite voracious, driving Gedeon as well. Now Meiling’s reactions were testing his discipline. He knew he needed to calm the raging in his mind and stay in some kind of control.
“Meiling. Come here.” Soft. A male leopard’s purring command. Gedeon perched his ass on the railing and widened his legs, pointing to the spot between them.
She turned fully toward him. She lifted her long hair from her shoulders and then dropped it again. Her dark gaze, filled with lust and heavy with need, remained riveted on his heavy cock. He fisted his erection, pumping slowly, mesmerizing her. He pointed to the floor at his feet, and she went to all fours and began to crawl like the sensuous leopard she was.
Gedeon began to do a little sweating of his own. Muscle rippled beneath her glowing skin. Meiling looked sexier than he’d ever seen her, there with the silver streaks of moon bathing her in its light. Soft little moans escaped her throat as she approached him. She rubbed along his inner thigh, licked up his heavy balls, causing his entire body to shudder, and then knelt, looking hungrily up at him.
He buried both hands in her hair, too far gone to be gentle. They were half leopard, the burn on them. He dragged her head back. “Open your mouth. You’re going to take me deep.”
She complied immediately and he thrust his cock into that hot, wet cavern. Her mouth closed around him tight, but he just thrust deeper, using his hips and his hands in her hair, standing above her. He refused to allow her to move her head. He controlled everything because she was giving him paradise. Her liquid gaze jumped to his as he held himself there.
“Suck hard. Harder.”
The leopard hormones were raging. In her. On her skin. In her mouth. Spilling onto his shaft. It felt like flames were burning him alive. It was agony and yet, at the same time, ecstasy. He pumped in and out of her mouth, raging at her to suck harder. The fire kept burning him until he was erupting in a storm of wild thrusting jets, forcing her to swallow before he pulled back, his cock still diamond hard.
He hadn’t realized that his skin, his cock and his seed were coated with the male leopard’s answering testosterone. His need to conquer. To claim and dominate. Now he had spread that fire to Meiling, mixing it with Whisper’s. It was on her skin, in her mouth, inside her sex. Those flames that were burning him alive had to be consuming her.
She was nearly sobbing, on her hands and knees begging him to do something. Winding around him. Rubbing her body over his thighs, trying to climb onto his cock. Her hips rose and fell frantically. Gedeon thrust two fingers between her legs to test how slick she was. She was so hot he nearly burned his hand. She immediately began to ride his fingers.
“Hurry. Gedeon, hurry.”
His cock was so swollen and hard from the continuous hormones she was spilling, he was afraid he would hurt her, not to mention he was so out of control and rough. Her female had risen much faster than either he or Slayer had predicted. Meiling wept continually.
Gedeon wrapped one arm around her waist. “Shh, baby. We’ve got this. She’s rising too fast and wreaking havoc with us both.” He tried to reassure her. Just touching her skin had to hurt her. He could feel the ripple as the little female pushed at Meiling from inside, creating even more sensitivity.
Meiling’s frantic cries were heartbreaking. He swore under his breath and sank his fingers into her hips, jerking her to him as he drove his cock deep. She was so tight and hot. At once it was as if he were in a tunnel of pure fire. He was a big man, and he stretched her, filling her to capacity. He was rough, brutal even, but he could tell it wasn’t enough. Meiling’s cries filled the night, pleading, desperate, frantic.
He took her up hard and fast, over and over, trying to hold on to his last form of civility when she was stripping it from him. Not just Meiling. It was the perfect storm of the natural swamp, leopards and his woman in desperate heat all rising together. She kept begging him for harder. For more. Her voice was raw. Sexual.
Gedeon had always been borderline on being a rough, brutal sexual partner, but he loved Meiling and he didn’t want to hurt her. She wasn’t experienced enough for violent leopard sex. He tried to hold on to that thought, but it seemed an impossible task. His blood thundered in his ears. The roaring in his head increased as he drove into her, determined to stop the fiery pain that refused to let up for her. His breath sawing in and out of his lungs was every bit as ragged as Meiling’s. Her cries began to crescendo. He kept driving between her thighs. A brutal madman, possessed. Heat and fire burned through him relentlessly. She begged. He was merciless. Pushing her to the absolute limit.
Without warning, she went rigid. Her body gripped his cock in a viselike stranglehold, squeezing and milking with terrible strength, but he could tell it wasn’t enough. She continued to fight to impale herself on him in a frenzied kind of insanity. Her body shuddered and pulsed all around his.
Then she collapsed, going down on her elbows, her cries indistinct. Muffled. My jaw. My skull is too tight. I can’t do this, Gedeon. Something is wrong.
“Don’t fight it, Meiling.” He pulled out of her body reluctantly and fumbled for the remote to open the screen to allow passage for the leopards to leap to the tree branch that formed a bridge over the water to the swamp. “You’ll still be you. Let her have your form. Slayer will watch over her. They deserve their time together.”
I’m too hot. Sick. Itch all over. Meiling panted with fear.
Her skin rippled as the leopard tried to push her way through but kept retreating.
“She doesn’t know what to do, Lotus. Slayer says she’s afraid of hurting you. You have to guide her, Meiling. You have to be in control. Take deep breaths and get her through her first time. I’m here. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” Gedeon used his firmest voice.
Meiling lifted her head; her dark eyes, looking like two bruised flowers, met his. Again, she humbled him with her trust. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. Tell me what to do.
“Reassure her. Tell her to rise. Slayer is waiting for her. You want her to run free. You’ll be with her and she isn’t hurting you. It’s all new for both of you, but she needs to do this. Don’t hesitate, just let it happen.”
Once again, those dark eyes didn’t waver, never stopped looking into his. Not when fur rippled over skin. Not when teeth filled her muzzle and her head fully formed. She was a beautiful Amur female, but very small. Her coat was very thick and pale with wide-spaced black rosettes. Slayer found her gorgeous. He led her out of the house and into the thick trees and brush of the swamp.