He sat bolt upright and groaned. Everything hurt. Scars pulled across his chest as Atticus moved, and he patted himself down. The wolfsbane had faded, since everything scarred over, but the deep bruises across his torso remained. Atticus looked around the dim room before his attention settled on Sophia, curled tight to his side. She stirred, palm stroking across his stomach. "What's wrong?"
Atticus grimaced as he lay back. "Everything hurts."
Sophia blinked, looking all kinds of sleepy with her hair sticking up in odd chunks as she yawned and patted his arm. "Roll over."
He complied. He wouldn't admit it to her, but the pain didn't wake him. The nightmare of being unable to shift woke him. Feeling his lion's presence but unable to change his form to free the beast sent shivers through him that even Sophia's warmth couldn't dismiss.
Of course, her ass balanced on his as she straddled him and pressed the heels of her hands into his shoulders went a long way to distracting him. Her knees dug in near his hips and he groaned again as his cock hardened. Her hips rocked on his ass and he reached back to squeeze her thigh. He didn't give a shit about the massage.
The whisper of fabric almost distracted him from the heat radiating from her center, but then her magic fingers returned to working his neck and shoulders and he exhaled. A purr rattled to life in his chest. She laughed and leaned low over his back, the warm, giving flesh of her bare breasts pressing against him. "You like that?"
He grunted, unable to form a coherent thought with her scent tangling around his brain and the soft skin of her thighs trapping his. Sophia ran her fingers into his hair, apparently content to sprawl across his back, and tested her teeth against his shoulder. "I'm sure a man in your condition should save his strength. Since you haven't rested enough to teach me a lesson, hm?"
Atticus rolled her under him, grabbing her hips. She lay back, a hint of a smile teasing him as she braced her hands on his chest. He grumbled and dipped his head to tease her nipples with his tongue. She moaned, thighs falling open, and he settled closer into the cradle of her hips. To think he'd almost lost her.
He slid down her body, kissing and nipping down to her stomach. Sophia sighed and moved her hips in a sensual roll, inviting him in, and Atticus dipped his finger into her slick folds. He eased the moisture up to circle the hard pearl at the top of her slit, and she went rigid. Atticus breathed against her skin and she jumped, thrashing on the sheets as he continued his slow torment. She tasted amazing, like life itself, and her scent intoxicated him.
His fingers gripped her butt and lifted her so he could lick the full length of her sex. Sophia panted and arched her back, and called out his name.
Atticus smiled and rubbed his stubbled jaw against her thigh until she twitched, legs closing around him. She gripped his hair to draw him closer but he only tasted her again, taking her clit in his teeth to bite very gently before he drew it between his lips. She came off the bed with a howl, spasms rippling through her, and Atticus held her hips to the bed with one hand as he plunged two fingers into her wet warmth. Her body convulsed as he continued sucking on her raised nub, curving his fingers to tap against the magic spot until she cried out and thrashed again.
He backed off as she came down from the climax, panting with her arms and legs akimbo — open and available for his plundering. Atticus smiled as he crawled up her body, dragging himself against her skin until he smelled like her and she smelled like him and sweat coated them both. He nuzzled behind her ear. "Ready?"
She nodded. Wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted herself to meet him. Atticus sank into her with a groan, the tight grip of her body so intense he nearly exploded after a single stroke. Sophia arched and her breasts crushed against his chest. He held her close, his arm sliding around her back to keep her right where he wanted as he moved faster.
Sophia moaned and linked her arms around his neck, fingers desperate and tugging at his hair. "Atticus."
He loved the way she said his name, all breathy and needy and wanton. He grumbled and tightened his grip on her shoulder as he pushed up to get better leverage. He grabbed her knee to draw her leg up and out, letting him shove deeper into her body until she gasped and froze and her muscles contracted around him. Atticus gritted his teeth and pushed through, kept up a driving rhythm until the slap of their flesh and his rough panting filled the room. Sophia's head tossed on the pillow and her nails left long rents in his back as she begged him, cursed him, said she loved him. He found a better angle and drove into her over and over again, merciless until she went rigid and her pussy clamped down on him. Atticus kissed her quickly, panted, "Look at me," and stared into her beautiful, amazing, blue-gold eyes as she convulsed and pushed him over the edge.
He cursed, seizing on top of her as his hips jerked and he poured himself into her. Sophia trembled as he slowed, still thrusting and grinding down at her, and she set her teeth against his shoulder. Atticus slammed his hips to hers as she bit, and every last ounce of his climax poured out of him. He cursed and bit her shoulder, right near the neck, and was rewarded with a howl of lust. Atticus chuckled, licking the bite, then fell to his side as the pain of the past day caught up with him.
Sophia lay boneless next to him, an arm across her eyes, and Atticus watched her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. He could watch her for hours. The soft rise and fall of her breasts was almost enough to stir him, but at least one of the cuts on his back tested the scar too much. He leaned to kiss her deeply, until their tongues tangled and her fingers twined in his hair, but retreated too soon. "I'll teach you a lesson in another hour, babe. I need to rest."
She smiled, already dozing, and patted his stomach. "Sure you will."
He laughed and drew her into the curve of his body. The urge to sleep nearly overwhelmed him as he inhaled from her hair. "I have all the time in the world to put you in your place, sadistic leopard."
"Storm over mountains," she murmured, not even bothering to open her eyes.
"What?"
"Storm over mountains," she said. "That was what the first shifu called me. Said I fought like a storm coming over the mountains — one minute the sky was clear, and the next minute, you're dead." She yawned. "Silly lion, chasing a storm."
"Bet your ass." He pulled her closer and half-under him so he could sprawl across her and know she was safe. He lay on his stomach and slapped her hip just to make sure she took him seriously. "Which I will get to in an hour or less. So brace yourself."
Sophia opened her eyes and for a moment the leopard stared at him, then the gold faded back to pale hazel and she chuckled. A purr started in her chest and vibrated through her, electrifying as his lion noticed and matched the rumble. Sophia bit her lower lip as she looked up at him. "Promise?"
He groaned as his cock immediately hardened and pressed against her hip, and Sophia laughed. Atticus sighed and pinned her down, nudging her thighs apart with his knee so he could move over her once more. "All right, girl. I told you not to tease the lion."
She caught his face in her hands and kissed him hungrily. She took his earlobe in her teeth and drew on it until Atticus growled, his grip rougher as he flipped her on her stomach. Sophia sighed and murmured, arching her back to push her ass back at him, and said, "Like I said, we need to work on your stamina."
"Ding ding," was all he could manage in answer, and she laughed.
As much as he loved the musical sound of her laugh, he loved the moans and sighs she made more. Atticus set about discovering every last breathy little pleased noise she could make. They had a lot of catching up to do.