Kat
I wasn’t sure what woke me. One moment I was falling asleep on the couch, the TV flickering in front of me, warm and comfortable and content, and the next I was jolted awake, my heartbeat ramming my ribs with the force of a freight train. No light, no flickering TV, and the lair was no longer empty; I knew that somehow.
The pillow below me didn’t feel like the slippery leather of the couch, either. The cushions weren’t stiff. I lay on a bed, not the living room sofa where I’d fallen asleep.
How did I get to my bedroom? Was I even in my bedroom?
Easing the blanket down from where it rested on the side of my face, I shifted to my back, then carefully to my opposite side—and latched on to the sight of glowing amber eyes shining in the darkness.
It took a moment for my dry throat to croak out a single word. “Arik?”
“Shhh…” His voice whispered into my mind even as those beautiful eyes closed. I could’ve sworn I heard pain in the soft sound.
“What—”
A growl rent the air, shutting my mouth abruptly. Amber light shot across the room like fire.
Okay, he wanted me to shut up. Got it.
Only the harsh panting of my breath broke the silence. I squeezed my own eyes shut, fighting my body, fighting to still the sound, but my heart pounded too fast to stop my breathing. Now that I was coming fully awake, I could feel the menace vibrating in the air between us, and I wasn’t certain if what I felt was fear or something else, something even more primal. Even the flutter of my eyelids threatened to spark whatever bomb was waiting to go off, but much as I wanted to block it out, I had to know, had to see the threat coming.
My eyes opened to pure black. Darkness. Then the blink of golden light. I startled, a small squeak escaping despite my locked lips. “Arik…”
The amber glow winked out. White specks dotted the black field of my vision as my oxygen-deprived brain strained to function, to detect the slightest movement. My ears struggled to pick up the least little sound—the rustle of clothing, the faintest breath, the scuff of a foot against concrete.
Nothing.
Had he left? Cautious, so very, very cautious, I eased my body to a sitting position. Arik had been in the chair right beside the bed; how could he have—
A heavy weight plowed into me from out of nowhere. “Shit—”
Sharp teeth nipped my earlobe, a reminder to be quiet.
“Arik, what’s going on?” My voice shook even in my head. “Talk to me, please.” This wasn’t the guy that had coaxed me into eating fruit. This wasn’t even the tough trainer. This was something I hadn’t encountered before, and though I wasn’t afraid of him physically hurting me, I was definitely afraid.
Almost as if that last thought had reached him, the solid-steel muscles pressing down hard on mine relaxed the tiniest bit. Arik’s tongue stroked my lobe again, licked a hot strip of pleasure along the outer edge of my ear. Another low warning entered my mind. “Shhh, Kitty Kat…”
Long minutes passed, and gradually, as if the quiet seeped into his bones, the feeling of danger diminished and Arik’s hard body eased to my side, still melded against mine. I opened my mouth to speak.
Arik shook his head as if it was a shaggy mane. “It’s all right. I’m… My griffin is…close.” A sound I could only describe as a growly purr rumbled from his chest. “He…we won’t hurt you. Just…let me lie here.”
Yeah, not such a good idea. I was weak when it came to him, to his body, susceptible to his proximity in a way I’d never been with anyone else, maybe because there’d never been anyone else. Letting him stay in the bed caused other, much more intimate activities to blossom in my imagination—and wasn’t that a disaster waiting to happen.
The problem was, I didn’t know how to avoid that disaster, or if I even wanted to.
“Your griffin, huh?”
“Yes.”
Wiggling down into the covers to make myself more comfortable, I jerked to a stop when I realized the hard ridge rubbing against my hip wasn’t a shin or forearm.
Think of something else. Think of something else. Think of something—
“Can I see it?”
His…erection—I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at the virgin way I fumbled around the word—jerked against my hip, almost as if I’d asked to see that. But I hadn’t; I’d asked… Crap. “Your animal,” I added hastily, aloud. Too loud. I cleared a suddenly clogged throat, then, “Can I see your animal, Arik?” I whispered this time, soft as a breath.
“There are a lot of things I’d like to show you,” he said with a low, sexy chuckle that vibrated through my body. “You sure that’s the option you want to pick?”
A needy whimper tangled in my throat. “Y-yes.”
Arik seemed to consider that, those glowing eyes blinking with mesmerizing regularity. They shone bright enough that I could see the sneaky grin curving his mouth when he said, “For a kiss.”
Here? In a bed? Hell no! That was asking for trouble with a capital T; I knew it, and he damn well knew it too.
Sneaky was right.
I stared into his eyes a moment longer. If it was the only way to get him out of the bed? He’d warned me we would eventually have sex, but he wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want, right?
Right.
And who says you don’t want it?
One kiss. I really wanted that kiss.
I nodded.
Arik blinked, and between the lowering of his eyelids and the rising, his hands were buried in my hair and his lips were on mine.
His mouth was softer than I’d imagined it would be, harder than I’d thought possible. His lips molded to my every breath but took what he wanted without quarter. I gasped, and he thrust his tongue inside, shocking me, melting me. Arik swallowed my moan of surrender.
Desire burned as bright behind my eyelids as his glowing eyes had moments earlier. Uncertainty nibbled at the edges, but I knew in that moment that I wanted it all, and I wanted it with him. My lips softened in acknowledgment, welcoming him instead of fighting to hold myself separate, and my tongue reached tentatively for his, rubbing along the side as I familiarized myself with his hot taste.
God, it was good.
Arik’s tongue frolicked with mine, then delved deep; he pulled back to nip my swollen lower lip, pushed inside, pulled back, a subtle advance and retreat that left no doubt as to what he was tempting me to do. The knowledge tightened every cell in my body even as my core relaxed, became wet, readying me to yield to his demands. My muscles quivered when Arik’s hungry purr vibrated into my mouth.
He broke away. “Look at me, Kitty Kat. Open your eyes,” he whispered, his breath caressing my eyelids. One hand swept the hair back from my face, leaving me bare, vulnerable, almost naked.
I lifted my eyelids.
Amber heat burned into me. Would I ever get used to that electric gaze?
“Keep them open,” Arik said, his voice as breathless as I felt. “Watch me.” One gentle slide of his mouth over mine, another, a lick of his tongue— Unconsciously my mouth opened, allowing him access. He accepted with obvious relish.
My body arched, out of my control, seeking his heat, his rough muscles against my soft places—and every moment, his eyes locked with mine, seeing every need, every thought, every desire. Not until he resisted did I realize one hand was on his shoulder, pulling, trying to get his weight on top of me. What would it feel like to have him there while he was kissing me? Would it feel as good as I thought it would, as I craved it to be? I didn’t know, and I needed to, desperately.
But instead of giving me what I wanted, he eased back. Rejection. A cold shock wave brought me back to reason. Arik wanted a little kiss, not the closeness I craved. Unable to keep myself bare before him, I allowed my eyes to close. My hands fisted against my chest, and I wondered in some far corner of my brain if I was trying to hold him to me even as I let him go.
And how dangerous was that? Mere days ago I’d been telling him I couldn’t get this close so soon; now I was practically mauling him. What was wrong with me?
But when I would’ve rolled away, Arik was there, his chest against my side, his mouth at the juncture of my neck and shoulder, his erection a hard bar against my leg. “Kat,” he breathed. A soft lick wet my skin. “So you want to see, huh?”
Holding my breath, I let my mind reach for his. “Yes.”
Arik bit down on the muscle along the top of my shoulder, forcing my body to bow once more, and then he was gone. “Then let’s see.”
An instant later the bedside lamp came on.
I cringed, feeling exposed, my mind scoured by the light. But Arik wasn’t looking at me; he was walking toward the chair in the corner of the room. As he walked, he slipped his hands under the muscle shirt he wore and gradually worked it up over his shoulders and head.
Damn. Breathe, girl.
“Arik, what…?”
The look he threw over his shoulder as he laid the shirt on the chair could only be described as wicked. “You didn’t think I’d shift with my clothes on, did you?”
Oh.
My cheeks burned, and I knew they must be fiery red in that moment. Not a good color combination for a redhead, but I couldn’t worry about matching at the moment. Arik’s hands were at the waistband of his jogging pants, and I knew I was about to see my first real, live, naked man.
Arik stood at an angle, giving me his profile, and I was thankful I didn’t have to look him in the face as his pants cleared his hips and dropped to reveal him in all his glory. I flicked a glance at the juncture of his thighs. He was erect, shocking a squeak out of me that was thoroughly embarrassing. Arik simply grinned, retrieved his pants, and set them on the chair. When he moved into the middle of the room, I came up on my knees, my breath locked in my throat as I watched the change begin.
It didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Arik closed his eyes, his face reflecting pain as his body bowed under some unknown force. His skull lengthened, limbs shortened, and bones thickened. Fur ran like water across his spine and down his sides, a glorious, full-body coat like the pelt that had covered his wings. And speaking of wings, they unfurled from his back, pulling a soft chirrup from his animal that sounded like aching relief.
The griffin was happy to be released, then.
Amazing.
The shift was complete in a minute. The griffin shook itself as if coming in out of the rain. I realized my hands were white-knuckled balls at my sides and I still couldn’t breathe. My knees ached where I knelt, but the animal beginning a slow stalk around the bed drew my attention away from the pain until every cell focused on the sight. I needed air desperately, but the moment I sucked it in, the griffin turned amber eyes my way. That massive, muscular body followed.
The animal’s face looked like an eagle: a bird’s wickedly sharp beak widening back to round eyes with feline-shaped pupils. The featherlike fur I remembered, all tawny gold, tapered back from his beak to a thick neck and shoulders. The muscles around its nostrils worked, taking in scent, and a deep growl rumbled from its throat. I startled, falling back onto my butt. Sprawled in the middle of the bed, I was dwarfed by the griffin’s form, its head easily as high as mine, its wings extending all the way to the high ceiling. Awe shivered through me when those wings stretched out horizontally, a twelve-foot wingspan or more, and at my soft sound of admiration, I swore the animal preened.
Crouching on massive lion’s legs, the griffin bowed before me like an oversize kitten, head resting on its front paws. Wings fluttered gently, sending a gust of wind forward that blew my hair back from my face and tugged a surprised laugh from me before settling, spread like a feathered hang glider, across the floor. And still the animal’s height easily matched the top of the thick mattress I rested on.
When I could take a breath again, I scooted to the edge of the bed and slid, slow and careful, off the side, making my way inch by inch until I knelt beside the griffin’s massive body. One trembling hand reached out, far more brave than the rest of me, and buried itself in the furry feathers of the animal’s nape. “Oh, Arik,” I whispered. “It’s magnificent.”
A pleasured huff answered me. I clenched my hands in the soft fur and smiled. I moved lower, lower, tracing the heavy muscles of the animal’s shoulder, the steel of each vertebra, and tried to ignore the excited, terrified trembling that had taken up residence in my body. Arik’s animal squirmed under my touch but didn’t move away.
When I reached the front edge of the closest wing, I trailed my fingers along it. The griffin’s body tightened where I’d leaned against him, a low growl filling the air. I snatched my hand back. “I’m sorry.”
That massive head shook, whether to warn or deny me, I wasn’t sure, but then it ran its cheek and jaw along my arm. Reminded of a kitten begging for attention, I complied. The animal tucked the wing opposite me under its body and shifted onto its side, baring its vulnerable belly to my touch. I reached for that softest fur.
I’d no sooner flattened my palm against its stomach when suddenly, the change shot along its body and the animal I’d been petting was no longer beneath my fingers. Instead a very naked Arik sprawled in its place, my open hand still flat against the slight trail of hair leading from his belly button to his highly aroused sex.
“Oh!” Snatching my hand away, I scrambled backward, my gaze fixed on his pelvis.
Arik smirked as he stretched onto his back, allowing me to look my fill. “Like it?” he asked.
“What?” Did he mean his shifted form or his naked, aroused one? “I-I…” I swallowed audibly. “I…um…”
A full-fledged belly laugh shook his frame, head to toe—and everything in between. With a wicked grin that did nothing to ease my arousal or my embarrassment, Arik assured me, “That’s all right, Kitty Kat. I’ve had enough stroking for one night.” He nodded toward the chair. “Can you pass me my clothes?”