All three predators slammed into Rafe’s chest in an effort to be set free. They wanted Josh’s blood spilling over their tongue, a brutal response, but one Rafe was accustomed to. The laws of the animal world didn’t always mesh with the human one. He was left as the liaison, ensuring both were met when possible. Tonight he couldn’t give his animals what they wanted.
Josh had done nothing to deserve death. Stubbornness didn’t count. Neither did crudeness. Although Rafe hadn’t come right out and told him the truth, he’d hinted at the fact that Megan wasn’t quite normal. Josh had gone on to deliver a string of curses involving his foot and Rafe’s ass. Amusing, but not the most productive conversation he’d ever had.
Josh had agreed to meet him later, though. That was the best Rafe would get unless he was willing to swoop in and take Megan by force. For Megan’s sake, that was a last resort. Rafe didn’t want to make her reintroduction to shifter life any more traumatic than it would already be. For the time being, Josh had to stay in the picture.
Rafe’s lion growled, not approving of Rafe’s thoughts. It had labeled Josh as competition for Jasmine, the female his cats had taken an interest in. They wouldn’t share her with another male.
It didn’t seem to matter to the big cat that Jasmine was the feline scent-marked female Rafe had detected at the scene of the fire. His lion liked how she smelled. It wanted to get closer to her. Rafe ignored the animal, and its primitive response. He didn’t know the woman. He wasn’t about to fight over her.
Another snarl echoed within him—his jaguar expressing its disagreement—and a swipe of his tiger’s claws raked along his insides. He swallowed a groan. Although he was immortal, being torn apart from the inside wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
He snapped his teeth together and pushed against their forceful wills. One by one the animals abated, but he got the impression it wouldn’t take much to stir them.
Ensured of his cats’ obedience, he slipped an arm around Jasmine’s waist, locking her to him. She leaned into his embrace, head tipped back to rest against his chest, as if she’d done so for a lifetime.
The easy way she accepted him pushed Rafe to take more. With a palm on her hip, he tugged her closer, letting her feel how she affected him. She stiffened, then spun, her blonde hair whipping with the move.
Beautiful. She was absolutely gorgeous. Gray eyes, a few freckles on the tip of a slightly crooked nose, and a mouth made for kissing. Her rounded face with its finely sloped forehead lent her an angelic quality. The desire stamped on her expression ensured she’d be the wicked kind of angel, given the proper encouragement.
He had every confidence in his ability to bring out the vixen hidden behind her sweet exterior. A grin spread over Rafe’s face. Unveiling her inner temptress would be fun. He shouldn’t even be considering doing so. Not only wasn’t she his to touch, Jasmine might very well be a threat to Megan. The reminder dimmed his enthusiasm, but didn’t kill it. It only made him feel guilty for the lust.
Jasmine shoved at his chest. He loosened his grip but didn’t release her. He couldn’t bring himself to do so. “Let go, buddy. We’re done.”
“But you didn’t answer me.”
“What did you ask?”
“Am I hot enough for you?”
Her jaw dropped, but the evidence of her desire hung heavy in the air around them. Her scent drew him. Tempted him.
“Good.” He grinned. “I’m glad I fit your needs.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” He took her hand, linking their fingers, and led her away from her friend and the other humans’ appreciative glances. He wanted to talk to her alone. The sooner he learned her story, the better. She felt good in his arms. Right. He wanted to uncover the reason why.
She hesitated at the entrance to the employee hallway. “What a sec, buddy. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“The name’s Rafe. Rafe Alexander. Not buddy.”
She licked her lips. “Rafe.”
His name sounded good in her breathless voice.
“Jasmine.” He tried hers out. It rolled nicely on his tongue. “Walk with me.”
She shook her head but didn’t tear her gaze from his. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He leaned closer and brushed his lips against her cheek. “I think it’s a very good idea. You taste of heaven, Jasmine. I find it’s a flavor I crave. I want more.” And he hoped her answers to his other questions satisfied him. He wanted to enjoy her.
Her exhaled breath wafted over his neck. “Jazz, not Jasmine. I’m not a flower.”
“You’re pretty enough to be one.” A breathless laugh met his declaration, no denial. “Tell me, Jazz, am I too late?”
She slid her hands up his chest and started to inch them around his neck but abruptly dropped them. “Too late for what?”
The scent of Royal feline—a mix of predators—drifted to him. He brought her wrist to his nose and inhaled. Then frowned. He sniffed again, openmouthed to taste the pheromones laced into the smell. Two distinct scents were rubbed onto her skin—a temporary claim that was nearly gone. The shifters who’d marked her were male. Of that he was certain, but he couldn’t tell anything else except the males weren’t familiar.
And their claim wasn’t permanent.
He dragged his fingers down her neck and across her shoulder, pulling the edge of her collar back. Unmarred skin showed where a bite mark would’ve identified her as a mated female. She wasn’t taken.
Possessiveness gripped him, stronger than he’d ever known. The sentiment of his inner felines added to it. He wanted to keep her. Simple as that.
He rubbed her wrist against his cheek, removing the other males’ scents and replacing it with his. Her fragrance—sweet, rich, and purely Jasmine—seeped into his lungs. His tongue roughened, and the first hint of fangs slipped past his teeth. The physical response to her unique scent was a first for him.
She’d triggered his primal side.
“Too late for what?” She repeated.
He glanced into the face of the female who’d awakened his primitive instincts. The only woman who had. For a Royal, that distinction opened up a world of possibilities. All promised to leave him sated. After five hundred years, he’d be a fool to turn his back on a chance at experiencing heaven on earth, even if it only lasted a night.
He stepped closer to Jasmine and dragged in another lungful of her scent. His body ached with need. Oh yes, she’d satisfy him, and the sight of her naked would be a memory he’d treasure.
He toyed with the neckline of her shirt and fought the urge to caress her shoulder. Normal human males weren’t fascinated with that spot of a woman’s body, and he prided himself as acting as one whenever possible.
“Am I too late to claim you?”
Her brows scrunched at his question. “Are you asking if I have a boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“That’s an odd way to say it. Are you European?”
“Originally.” He skimmed his fingers over her forehead, smoothing her creased skin. “Well? Do you have a lover?” Or did she have two?
“No, no. I’m all alone.” She shook her head. “I mean I have important people in my life, but I’m not involved with anyone.”
What did that make the two males who’d left their scents on her? Friends? Business partners? Whatever they were to her, they were fools to have left her alone.
“That’s good to know.” He took her hand and urged her to follow him. She flicked her gaze to the crowded room but fell in step beside him. He tried the nearest door, found it unlocked and the room empty. An office—Josh’s, going by the scent lingering there. No matter. It was quiet and private. “But I need to know who those important people in your life are before I claim a spot in it.”
“What?” She grabbed the doorjamb. “Wait a minute, buddy—”
“Rafe.”
Jasmine rolled her eyes. “I am not going in there with you, Rafe.”
He crowded her against the door. “Why not?”
“I don’t know you, and I’m not the type of girl to go off with a man. In fact”—she slipped under his arm—“I shouldn’t have followed you out of the bar. I’ve got to get home.”
He pulled her back. “You can’t leave. Not yet.” He breathed the words against her ear. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Which one was that?”
“About what it’ll take to get into your bed.” Why did he ask that?
He inwardly cursed. There were more important things he needed to uncover. Who the males were who’d scent-marked her. Why she was at Tony’s house. Who Josh was to her. But no. He let his instincts rule him.
She turned in his embrace and linked her hands around his neck. “That’s a line I haven’t heard before.”
Well…in for a pound. “Will it work?”
Jasmine pressed her mouth to his ear. “No.” She pushed away from him. “I need to go home.”
Two strides brought him in front of her. “First, a kiss goodbye.”
The small dip of her chin was the confirmation he needed. He settled his hands on her hips, lifted her, and pressed her against the wall. His mouth muffled her gasp. He kissed her, leading her with deep, rolling thrusts of his tongue until she grew pliant in his embrace. He widened his stance to steady his legs and pressed her more firmly into the wall with his hips.
Instincts rose, ones he had no business feeling, but the need to leave his mark on Jasmine grew with each breathy moan he pulled from her. The urge worried him, but he couldn’t deny it, not when his skin tingled with the desire to feel hers rubbing against it, sweat slickened and in the throes of passion. It was lust—plain and simple—but the urgency riding him to lock her to his side wasn’t a normal reaction. It was a scary one. Didn’t stop him, though.
Noise from the bar behind them reminded him how close they were to others, males who would look upon Jasmine with desire. He’d want to hurt them for it. That wasn’t a reaction normal males had. Rafe urged her to wrap her legs around him. She did, hooking her ankles at his lower back. He turned into the office.
In the back of his mind, he knew he was making a mistake. The woman kissing him as if she was starved for his taste was an unknown, somehow involved with Royal felines. She might even be associated with the group who ran the trafficking ring that had decimated their species. The possibilities chilled him. He allowed each scenario to surface before pushing them aside to be dealt with later.
Jasmine was the first female to stir his instincts and awaken his primal side. He wanted to savor her. Besides, if she viewed him as a male she desired, she’d be more likely to share the details of her personal life. That was reason enough to touch her. It was necessary.
The door clicked closed with his kick, blocking out the laughter and music. He carried Jasmine to the leather couch he’d spied earlier and lowered her without breaking the melding of their mouths. Stretched over her, Rafe slipped his hand into the fall of her hair and cradled the back of her head.
On and on, they kissed until she looped her arms around him and hooked a leg over his, allowing him to settle against her. The move assured him she felt safe in his arms. It was exactly the sign he wanted.
Rafe broke the kiss and settled a hand over her hip. The rough cloth of her skirt teased his fingertips. A shiver raced down his spine. He slid his had lower.
“What are you doing?” She tightened her grip on his shirt, balling the material in her fists, but she didn’t push him away. Or tell him to stop.
He propped on his elbow, giving her space. It also allowed him to judge her reaction. He didn’t want to push her into doing something she didn’t want, but he needed to touch her, exactly as he’d claimed. “Touching you. You want that, don’t you?”
Her half-lidded, drowsy gaze met his.
“You do enjoy being touched, don’t you?” He repeated, giving her yet another opportunity to deny him.
She swallowed hard but didn’t respond.
“Answer me.” He couldn’t take her silence as an agreement. He needed a confirmation neither of them could deny.
Jasmine parted her mouth slightly on a slow exhale. “Yes.”
He gripped the edge of her skirt. “Good.”
“But we shouldn’t…” She skimmed a hand over his chest. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“I should say yes.”
Hunger burned in her eyes, but her lip caught between her teeth spoke of her warring desires.
“Look at me.”
She met his gaze.
“We’re not going to have sex, but I want to touch you. Hear you moan my name. No one else’s. Your pleasure is mine tonight.”
“I don’t know you.”
“You will.” Whether she learned the intimate details of his life or simply the basics depended on her connection to Megan.
“We’re in a public place.” Excitement lent her words a breathy quality.
“That’s why we came back here.”
“You planned this?”
“Not exactly. I wanted to talk to you in private.” He kissed her jaw. Her eyelids fluttered. “But you’ve distracted me.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“A mutual friend.”
Her brows pinched. “Are you talking about Jo—”
Rafe drew her lower lip into his mouth and sucked. She made a pleased sound that encouraged him. “Later. We’ll talk later. Okay?”
“Yes. Okay.”
Then he loved her as best he could without joining their bodies. Her kisses enflamed him. Everything about Jasmine appealed to him. Her taste, her soft skin under his fingertips, the way she moved with him, and those little sounds she made. Her low moans nearly killed him, testing his self control.
Finally, he eased back. He had to or else he’d break his promise to keep their clothes on.
Jasmine skimmed her fingertips across his back to settle at the base of his spine and pulled him closer. His breath rushed out with the simple move. More rightness settled over him. He wanted to curl his body around hers and…hold her. Not have sex with her. Just tuck her against his chest so her breath warmed his skin.
He turned his head. A deep breath cleared his mind of the thoughts he couldn’t allow to take root. “Thank you for the kiss, my Jasmine.”
She traced his cheek. “Shouldn’t that be my line?”
Rafe sucked her fingers into his mouth, caressing each tip with his tongue before releasing them. “No line. I feel privileged to be the male gifted with your passion.”
She released a shaky breath. “Wow. You’re a dangerous man, Rafe Alexander.”
In more ways than one. If his instincts failed him, then she would learn exactly how dangerous he was. But wouldn’t allow those thoughts to take hold. Not yet. The cats he’d been born with would never have allowed him to touch Jasmine if they doubted her. He had to trust them.
Whatever secret she held, he’d uncover, and he needed to do so soon. There was a good chance he’d gotten himself addicted to the woman.