A Matter of Pride

Chapter Six

“Fun?”

“Yes. It’s a word we country folk use around these parts.”

“Dean…”

“My people call F-U-N something that gives you pleasure. You got that down in Miami?”

“I know what fun is, jackass.”

The teasing left his tone as he asked softly, “But do you know how to have any?”

He didn’t sound like he was mocking her, and she didn’t know how to respond.

“Me?” Dean continued. “I love having fun. Pulling pranks, watching stupid movies with the pride, having a pizza downtown. Poker night and hunting down deer. Fun.”

“Don’t forget fucking,” she said bluntly, wishing she could shut up. She sounded jealous even to herself, but she couldn’t stop. “After all, you’ve fucked half the female population of Cougar Falls.” Including myself. How embarrassing to be so common.

He didn’t say anything for a moment. “What about you? How many men have you fucked down in Miami?” He tried to keep it light, but she detected something deeper behind his words. That he didn’t call her on being one of his harem eased some of her indignity.

“I’ve had a few dates. Nothing serious in the last year, though. I’ve been too focused on business.”

She couldn’t swear it, but he seemed to relax. “Doesn’t that get lonely?”

She wanted to say something snarky, not liking the gravity of the conversation after having such lively banter earlier. Taking Dean seriously meant seeing another side to him, accepting that he was more than a playboy or a good time in bed.

“I guess. I’m too busy to think about it, actually.”

“I get lonely.”

“Really?” She sat straighter. “How’s that?”

“Contrary to what everyone thinks, I’m not a man-whore.” He huffed. “I’ve dated my share of women, sure. I like to have a good time, but my dates always knew I wasn’t after anything serious. You know how hard it is to want forever and know you can’t have it?”

She frowned. “Why can’t you have forever?”

He fidgeted and glanced at the river. “My parents had it. Burke and Rachel have it. Hell, even Grady has it with Gabby. But it’s just not for me.”

She didn’t get it. “Why? Is there something hidden under that fur I haven’t seen yet?”

“Must be. Within seconds of being with a woman, I just know it’s not meant to be. My cat hasn’t jived with anyone in twenty-six years. I used to think it was a feline thing, like maybe I just needed the right cat. But Joy and your sisters are perfect.”

She wanted to ask why he didn’t include her in that list but kept silent for once.

“And I can’t think of forever with any of them without getting the sweats.”

“Nice image.”

He shrugged and walked next to her. “I still can’t believe you and I connected.” He sniffed her, moving around her in a very provocative way. “But there’s something about you.”

“I’m beautiful.” A fact.

“Nope. You are, but that’s not it.” He nuzzled her neck, and she felt nervous when he breathed her in. His teeth grazed her throat but didn’t close before he let her go. He circled behind her, feeling so much bigger and more threatening since she couldn’t see him.

“Then what? I have a brain? Something you’re not used to dealing with when it comes to women?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. “You do realize you just insulted not only the whole town, but your sisters as well?”

“You know what I mean. You just want me because you can’t have me.” A simple explanation for his desire. But what about hers? Why the hell did he seem so attractive and irresistible lately? Why did she have the urge to have sex with him in whatever form she occupied? Cat, human, it didn’t matter so long as she had Dean.

“I hate to break it to you, but I’ve already had you. Twice. And you’re ready for me even now.”

She didn’t like hearing the truth. But when she tried to get up and move, he settled over her. Instead of mounting her as a cat, he shifted into a man.

“Change back,” he ordered in a gritty voice.

“You can’t have me, and I’m leaving this town just as soon as I can.” Or so she kept telling herself. She had to force herself not to make plans for the empty shop in the quaint but backwards town.

“Change back.” He gripped her throat, caressing but not hurting her. The pressure he applied turned her from intrigued to downright lusty. Her body liquefied as he toyed with her vulnerability.

Without thinking about it, she shifted back to human, belly down on the matted grass beneath her. Dean nudged her legs apart and in the next breath slid his cock deep inside her, his body blanketing hers and forcing her to remain down.

“Fuck, that’s it. That’s the spot.” He kissed her shoulders and nipped playfully at the back of her neck. “All that pretty blond hair is so fucking gorgeous over your back.” He shifted his hips and surged deeper toward her womb.

“Dean.” She meant to sound stern but came across as breathy, needy. Wet.

“Yeah. So ready for me.” He rose up on his hands for better leverage and began to move inside her.

In this position, she couldn’t get enough of him. And he couldn’t reach her clit or breasts. She could only accept what he gave her, when he gave it.

“That’s good. Let me fuck you.”

She liked his crudity but hadn’t expected she’d be turned on by the fact that anyone could see them if they stopped by the river. “Dean, we’re exposed…”

“Yeah, you are. Helpless under me.” He ground harder and groaned. “And you love it. Princess Stacey likes to be roughed up, don’t you?” He dragged her up on her hands and knees and began fucking her in earnest. Punishing strokes that grew more powerful. And then his hands closed around her neck once more, squeezing tighter, but not hard enough to hurt.

Her airflow constricted and her excitement spiraled. She felt like one giant nerve, sensation exploding through and in her. Knowing he took her, that he wouldn’t bow to her demands or give in to her, that she’d found a male strong enough to handle her, set her off.

She met him thrust for thrust, loving the weakness invading her limbs.

“Fuck. Here I come. All in you, baby. Oh, Christ.” He let go of her neck to grip her hips, and he tightened his hands hard enough to bruise as he came.

The jolt of his hips pushed him deeper and hit a magic spot inside her. She gasped as exquisite joy flooded her body, the scent and feel of Dean all around and inside her. Without knowing how, she took all of him as she came. His essence, the animal spirit of his feline and the man, the soul of Dean Chastell, became hers to hold, hers to keep.

Dean called her name again and again as he poured inside her. A waterfall of lust and affection and life.

Stacey quaked as she realized just what she’d done, and with whom. But she couldn’t stop herself as her cat took from Dean what she needed. His scent infused hers, this man who didn’t have it in him to find forever with a woman. And then his semen slid down her leg.

“Oh God.” Talk about a bad decision.

“Fuck, Stace.” He moaned and withdrew, and she felt him wipe himself on her back. His seed seeped into her skin, more scent marking. She wondered if he knew what he did, or if he’d been dragged into this by her.

Dean had flat-out said he had no intention of ever taking a mate. And she’d just claimed him.

“You messed me again,” she said, distracted, elated and terrified at what she’d done.

“Yeah.” His satisfaction was hard to miss. He moved to lie next to her and pulled her down on top of him. “Come closer, princess. I want to look at all this earth-shattering beauty while I recover the energy to get hard again.”

His wry tone warmed her from the inside out. Like her, he didn’t take her looks seriously. As silly as it was, she loved that about him, that he didn’t fall prey to the obvious.

She could only hope she wasn’t fertile, because Stacey couldn’t seem to keep her legs closed and her mind functioning around Dean. It was the third time they hadn’t used protection, and she couldn’t find the worry that should have been there. None of this felt real. It was more like a dream. To add to her dilemma, her cat wanted more of Dean. The slutty feline craved him.

He stroked her back and she purred. But it was as much woman as cat that wanted him, and she knew she’d find trouble if she kept looking long enough.

“Yeah, that’s it. Purr for me, sweetness.”

“Sweetness?” She snorted with laughter. “I’m nobody’s idea of peaches and cream.”

“More like prickly pear and a shot of tequila.” He sighed. “But I’ll be damned if I can keep my hands off you. It’s that mouth that never quits. Hard to keep myself away from your obnoxious comments. You’re so cute when you’re being bitchy.”

She wanted to take offense but couldn’t. “Yeah? Well you’re cute when you’re being stupid.”

“Hell, that’s all the time. I knew you liked me.”

They shared a laugh.

Dean toyed with her hair, and sated and tired, she let him.

“Stacey?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you act so high and mighty?”

“Who said it was an act?” She yawned and surrendered to exhaustion.

“You’re not so tough. Not so mean, princess. Not to me,” he murmured.

“You’re just saying that.”

“I admit you’re usually a real pain in the ass. But it feels staged. Not like you are now.”

“Naked and sleepy?”

She felt his grin against her hair. “There is that.”

She sighed. “Dean, this is me. I’m beautiful, and I live with it. What can I say? The constant praise went to my head, and now I’m too old to deal with being like one of you peasants.”

He chuckled and hugged her tighter. “You really know how to put me in my place.”

“Too bad you never stay there.”

He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “You’ve always looked down your nose at me. It’s annoying, but there’s something there that nags at me. It’s like you’re playing the ultimate prank, because all that attitude isn’t real.”

She didn’t like his insight. “Or course it is. I’m gorgeous and I’m wealthy. I’m better than you Chastells. I’m a Bermin.”

“So why don’t I believe you?”

“I never said you were the sharpest tool in the shed.”

He laughed again and stroked her skin, his callused hands surprisingly soothing. Warm and male, he radiated comfort. The arousal buzzed between them, but now she felt a welcome belonging. That bonding of animal souls and human dreams.

I am such an idiot for claiming him.

“No, you’re different now.”

It had to be the mating. Had she accidentally brainwashed him with her pheromones? She didn’t know all that much about bonding, only that those in the Cougar Falls pride who’d connected seemed to truly love one another. A puzzle, because most Shifters she knew were more animal than man. They concentrated on lust, possession and a wary kind of affection that facilitated rank in the pride. Nothing so basic as love.

“I’m the same cat I was before we exchanged body fluids. And you’re the same randy guy out to get laid by any and all comers.”

He tensed. “That bitchy thing you have there is turning me on. Pissing me off too, but that’s okay. I figure you want it a little rough again, eh?”

“No, I don’t.” She really did, but they’d wasted enough time fooling around. “We need to make tracks and see where Lex is hiding.”

“Sure thing, honeybunches.”

“Cut it out, Jethro.”

“We’ll make those tracks just as soon as I satisfy this need.” He pulled her over his erection. “Now hop on and satisfy your man.”

She scowled down at him, not amused when he positioned her right over his cock. “No. First of all, you’re not my man. And secondly, I call the shots.”

He grazed her clit, and she bit her lip on a moan. “Well, maybe just this once…”

He took her hips, lifted her and set her down over him in an instant. In this position, she felt impaled—Dean was a large man. “That’s it. Just ride me, baby. Get me nice and hot.” He arched his head back and she had the urge to bite him hard, to leave a mark for one and all to see.

She couldn’t help herself from rocking over him, especially when his fingers found her clit. He pinched her nipples, said all kinds of dirty things and got rough with her, just the way she liked it. Dean had never treated her like a fragile flower. If anything, he gave her a harder time than he gave most women, or so she’d been told by the matchmakers in the pride.

“Yeah. Grind that hot pussy over me. Fuck. That’s so good.” He groaned and pumped, and the muscles in his chest glistened with a fine sheen of sweat.

“Squeeze me, baby. Let me get this out so we can finish with the cats. So later we’ll have extra fun.”

Her body was ready to snap, the pleasure drugging, especially when he rubbed her taut nub hard, firing her nerves.

“We need a bed, a soft carpet for you to kneel on when you swallow my cock, take my seed down your throat. Then I’ll need to fuck that fine ass,” he growled and bucked on a groan. “And fill it up, all up.”

Stacey jerked when he pushed her over the edge. She clamped tight around him, clutching his shoulders like a lifeline. The magic of their joining grew stronger with each beat of her heart, each race of his pulse.

A chaotic jumble of feeling coursed through her as she watched him. His eyes glinted like gold as he stared up at her, seeing her bask in his touch.

“You are the most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen.”

A compliment he hadn’t meant to make, she was sure, but she took it as such. “Thanks.”

She shifted over him and he hissed out a breath. “No, thank you.” He let her rise off him, then helped her clean up at the creek. The water was ice cold but it did the job. Now wet, cold and clean, she didn’t wait for him to join her but shifted into her cat with a grateful rumble.

Dean just looked at her and shook his head. “Why do I feel like the joke’s on me?” He closed his eyes, and a shimmer of light grew where human flesh had once been. The light grew brighter, then dimmer as it settled over the blur of flesh and bone and fur. In seconds, Dean sat before her, resplendent in a coat of cinnamon and gold.

“Come on, princess. Time to find the trouble out there waiting for us.”

She trotted along with him, side by side. And she couldn’t contain a grin when he muttered under his breath about tricky cats and troublesome women.

She was going to be majorly pissed when she realized he wasn’t letting her go. He still didn’t know how it had happened. For most of his life, when he thought of Stacey Bermin, he got a hard-on and a headache from gritting his teeth. The woman annoyed him like nobody’s business. But he’d never been inside her, never had a chance to see her softer side when she smiled up at him with her heart in those pale blue eyes of hers.

Love. Hell, he’d fallen for her hard. For a woman who intended to leave his home at first chance, and who thought him a bumbling hick with a cock that wouldn’t quit. He’d impressed her with his body, or so he hoped. She’d had her share of orgasms, and she acted as though she liked him at times. Now how to build that parcel of affection into deep, ooey-gooey love?

Dean knew women better than he knew himself. They liked flowers, candy and compliments. He gave them attention and didn’t look at other women when with a special girl. A one-at-a-time man who knew how to have fun. But Stacey was different. To her, flattery was an insult. She had beauty, brains and money. Everything a successful woman might want.

The thought depressed him, until his cat reminded Dean she didn’t have him.

He’d sensed earlier what she hadn’t said, so he’d said it first. But he knew. The woman was lonely. Her family loved her, but they were family. She needed a lover, someone to care for her and her alone. And who better than Dean to give her what she needed?

He cast a glance in her direction. She paced alongside him, haughty, sexy and not as strong as she’d have him think. He never would have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, but Stacey Bermin had doubts. She worried, she loved. But could she love him was the question.

Not sure about how much they’d shared, Dean felt as if he’d missed something important. Their scents mingled—as close as they’d been and as much as he’d come inside her, they’d blended. Physically, and on his part, emotionally. Of all the women he’d made love to—and there had been more than a few—none had left him breathless and eager for so much more.

He liked looking at her. Touching her. Seeing through her eyes the world around them. She brushed against him as they moved, and the glide of her fur over his just felt right.

He couldn’t explain it, but he was ready to mate her. He’d paid particular attention to Burke and Grady when they’d talked about claiming a female. Not wanting to bond with any of his former girlfriends, Dean had kept his emotional distance. But with Stacey, he was ready to give over his heart. Almost.

Once he’d tricked her into loving him, then he’d tie them together. No way would she ever believe she’d fallen for a plain, lowly Chastell. He had to find a way to look bigger and better in his eyes.

Saving her sexy ass from Lex would be a good start.

“So what exactly happened between you and Lex, anyway?”

She tripped over a tree root.

“So graceful, princess,” he murmured, amused when she flashed him her teeth.

“Lex is a jerk. He saw me and decided he wanted me. I mean, I understand his reasoning. He wanted the best.”

Dean rolled his eyes.

“But he never asked—he tried to take.”

“So if he’d asked, you’d have said yes?”

“No. But he still should have asked. Instead, he bullied me at every turn. Then he pawed at me and would have done more if Miles hadn’t interrupted.”

Dean flexed his claws, wanting to kill something. “I thought you were tough enough to take care of yourself?”

She huffed. “I know when I’m overpowered. He’s as big as you are.”

A compliment?

“The big oaf outweighs me by a hundred pounds at least, and he’s a brute.”

Dean didn’t like the comparison. “I thought you liked it rough.” Not the nicest thing to say, but he didn’t like her acting as if he and Lex were one and the same.

“I didn’t want to be raped, you nimrod,” she growled at him.

“Are you saying I raped you?”

She stopped in her tracks and frowned at him. “I’m talking about Lex.”

“What about me? What did you think about my technique?”

He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t sensed it, but her embarrassment smelled sweet on the wind.

“You were okay, I guess.”

“Okay? You came like a rocket, baby.”

“Yeah? Well so did you,” she snarled. He imagined smoke coming out of her pointed ears.

“Of course I did. You’re—”

“Beautiful. I know.” She sneered at him. “Come up with something original, why don’t you.”

“I was going so say you’re the best lay I’ve ever had. You have the hottest, sweetest pussy of any cat I know. But beautiful is good too.” He laughed when she swiped at him and dodged when she would have attacked flat-out. “Cut it out, Stace. I’m sorry. You’re ugly and mean and stupid. I promise not to flatter you anymore. There, we good now?”

“Not even close,” she snapped at him and turned in a huff, not seeing the danger until it was almost too late.

But Dean saw. He dove between her and took the bullet aimed for her. The bullet burned through his thigh, but the threat of danger whipped up his fury and adrenaline. He ignored the pain and nudged her to run.

They raced into the woods, away from Big Mountain, and steered clear of the trails.

Had to be Hunters. He couldn’t imagine Lex’s cats not digging in with their claws and teeth. They might be assholes, but they were animal predators. Rifles belonged to humans who loved nothing more than to kill.

“Dean, are you okay?” she asked when he slowed, listening for some sign of their pursuers.

“I’ve been better. But I think we lost them.”

Except they hadn’t. The area suddenly filled with men and mountain lions, a mixture of Hunter and Ac-taw, a travesty of everything their kind stood for.

“Nice one you tagged, Mark.” One of the Hunters spat a stream of tobacco and smiled. The grin didn’t reach his eyes.

The men carrying weapons looked fit, camouflaged and familiar with the hunt. Nearly a dozen men stood with half as many felines, just waiting to engage.

“I take it these aren’t Quince’s cats?” Dean asked on a private pathway designed for Stacey, not a common Ac-taw link. He hadn’t realized he’d forged it, but when she answered, her essence wrapped around him in a way that was more than vocal, but spiritual as well.

None of the others around them so much as twitched.

“No. These are Lex’s guys. I recognize them.” The fear in her voice shook him, giving him the strength to ignore the pain and stand up to their foes.

He let out a scream of warning and closed the remaining distance between himself and Stacey. When the first cat attacked, he was ready. They clawed and ripped until the cat fell dead.

The second and third cats met the same end but had done some damage. Between the bullet and his new wounds, he felt ready to drop. Unfortunately, the enemy’s sense of fair play had ended. The rest of the felines charged him en masse. He saw Stacey try to help, but a bullet impacted the ground ahead of her. Then a cat stole his attention by leaping at him. He swatted the bastard down and warned her to stay back when he could catch his breath.

Two of the cats jumped on his back. He felt teeth at his legs and the nape of his neck. Powerful jaws clamped around his neck, and he realized the third cat hadn’t quite been as injured as he’d hoped.

And then the world turned black.