Savage Hunger

Chapter 14

Sometime in the middle of the night, Kat grew restless. The first thought that came to Connor’s mind was that she was shifting into a jaguar. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, spooning her, while recognizing that he might be holding a big cat in his embrace at any moment instead of a soft, silky-skinned, naked woman.

She still smelled heavenly, like the fragrance of oranges and tangerines. He’d scoffed at Maya for buying the citrus-scented soap to wash in, wanting something less… feminine. Not now. He couldn’t stop breathing in Kat’s unique scent mixed with the sweet citrus fruits. He’d never eat another orange without thinking of washing every sweet part of her body in the waterfall.

For some time, she lay still, quiet in his arms, as if he had chased away any urge to shift. But then she tried to get free from him, kicking with her feet though her legs were twisted in the light cover, and he again tightened his hold on her.

His heroics earned him a hard-on, and he cursed his inability to keep his rampant craving for her at bay. He tried to think of anything but the way her warm, supple body felt pressed against him. He tried to avoid breathing in her sexy feline scent, mixed with the fragrance of the shampoo and soaps he’d used to wash every delectable inch of her body. He tried not to listen to her soft murmurs like those that he envisioned she would make as he brought her to climax at some later date. But he was drawn to her, needy, desiring her to the core.

At first, he thought she might be trying to get away to shift, but when she didn’t, he believed she might be having a nightmare. “Shhh, Kat, it’s just me.”

With her back to him still, she swung her clenched fist around and struck him in the hip. Night terrors. She was having a night terror, and she was trying to beat on him like she said she had done to that worthless scumbag, Roger, her ex-fiancé.

As far as Connor was concerned, Roger had deserved whatever she dished out. But Connor was determined to chase away her night terrors. Just as he had stated, she would not beat on him when they lay down together.

He took her hand and unclenched her fist, kissing the tender skin at her wrist and then the palm of her hand, though she squirmed to get loose.

“It’s just me,” he said again, whispering against her ear, kissing and nuzzling his face against hers. She quit moving, quit struggling, quit trying to fight him.

He took a deep breath, glad he could chase away her fear and encourage her to sleep again. But then she turned her head to stare over her shoulder at him, her eyes wide, luminous, and comprehending.

She licked her lips, making them glisten, and he watched with fascination as her tongue slipped back into her mouth.

She twisted around to face him.

“Did I hurt you?” she whispered, her eyes still wide, her expression glum.

He cast her an elusive smile, amused she would think striking him had made any impact, and shook his head. “No. You gave me a love pat.”

His comment earned him a sexy smile. He thought they’d both just sleep, although he couldn’t deny he wished to kiss her and push any hint of a reoccurring nightmare from her mind, but only if Kat was willing. Then the telltale sound of Maya pouncing on the ground below them changed his mind. Having shifted into her jaguar form, Maya was leaving them alone. As soon as Maya left, Kat seemed to be of the same mind as Connor. She began to kiss his mouth lightly as if she needed his touch, his affection, some acknowledgment that everything was all right between them.

He kissed her back, keeping the same measured pressure, not wanting to take this further than she wished.

But then her hands stroked his bare chest, her movements more desperate.

She seemed starved with need, and if she was willing, he wasn’t holding back, either. Their tongues intertwined, thrust, caressed, their breath minty fresh. Lips melded, brushed, kissed.

Her fingers yanked at the waistband of his boxers, trying to pull them down over his hips. He jerked them off and threw them on the floor.

She glanced down at him and took in his nakedness, his full-blown erection, his hard nipples.

He was already hot just from cuddling with her, trying to get his thoughts off the waterfall kisses they’d shared. He remembered the way she’d felt as his hands washed every inch of her, her rigid nipples and clit swelling beneath his touch, and how he had known she wanted him physically. And emotionally, he was certain. But now…

Hell, now that she was feeling stronger, he wanted to take this all the way. He wouldn’t wait, not when she was so eager. He cupped a breast, kneading a nipple and soliciting a soft mew from her mouth. The sweet, sexy sound she made was his undoing.

He kissed her mouth again, but this time with a pressing urgency that revealed just how much he wanted her. He craved claiming her for his own, wanting to put his scent on her, to prove she was his to anyone who had any other notion.

She pulled her mouth from his and kissed his throat and his chest, whispering, “Love me.”

Not make love to me, but love me.

That made him pause. He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes, saw them awash in tears, and he hugged her tight. “I will.” He kissed the top of her head and added, “I do.”

With all his heart, he meant it. He couldn’t envision returning to the jungle without Kat. Or returning home without her, either. Nothing would ever be the same.

The kissing renewed. Their lips and tongues touched and tasted, wet and soft and eager. The fervent need to bond, to connect in only the way a man and woman could, to become one in body and soul, shook him to the core. His hands cupped her face and their tongues mated, while her body arched against his, pleading for completion.

He’d never felt that way before when he’d had sex with a woman. Because that’s all it had been. A quick release and it was done.

But this… this was so much more.

He’d found his mate in Kat, and he wasn’t losing her now. The cover was already tossed on the floor, the light curtains draping out the world. The sounds of the birds and frogs and bugs disappeared as all he could focus on was the blood pounding in his ears and Kat’s soft murmurs of pleasure. He swept his hand down her hips, enjoying the satiny feel of her skin, the shapely curve of her flesh, the firmness of her thigh.

“Hurry,” she pleaded quietly, and he wondered if she was worried that Maya was in the jungle all alone or that she might return soon.

He slipped his hand between Kat’s legs and felt the silky wetness, the dark curls wet with need. She arched toward his questing fingers. His cock jerked in response as if following her lead of its own accord. Fighting the urge to plunge deep inside her, he began stroking her swollen flesh, and she looked as though she was ready to bolt from the bed.

“Uh,” she said in a moan of half pleasure, half disbelief.

He tongued a nipple and her eyes closed. Her tongue swept over her lips, and her hands slid down his back, her nails tracing his skin and his muscles in a gentle caress. His fingers kneaded her swollen nub until she opened for him like a flower unfurling before the sun.

The invitation given, he pressed a finger deep inside her. She startled a little at the intrusion, then pushed her body toward him, forcing him to go deeper, wanting more.

He smiled at her aggressiveness, loving it, loving her.

His thumb continued to stroke her, and his name slipped from her lips in a whimper as she reached around to cup him. Already engorged to the spilling point, he quickly clasped her hand in his.

“Not this time,” he whispered.

Her eyes opened and flashed dark green with flecks of burning gold. They were beautiful eyes, luminescent in the dark. Her mouth pursed and she looked ready to protest, but he pressed the tip of his cock against her hot flesh, and she pushed against him before he was ready to end the foreplay.

Again he smiled at her and was rewarded with the most devilish smile back.

Unable to hold himself in check, he pushed into her slowly, filling her, and felt the heavenly tightness of her sheath expanding to allow him in, deeper and deeper.

Her hot, wet flesh clenched against his invasion but then eased and caressed him, holding him tight and forcing him to take it easy. Kat had stilled, her hands on his hips, her eyes wide, her moistened lips parted, her breathing nonexistent.

For an instant, he took in the beauty of their joined bodies, her dark curls splayed against the pillows, her even darker short curls wet and encircling his shaft, her skin glistening with perspiration. He wanted to memorize every detail of the sounds and smells and sights in that instant to take with him wherever he went.

Then he thrust once, twice, her body responding eagerly to his penetration, her hips angling to get the most of him. He loved the way she wanted more of him. Now. Not at his slower pace, but at her quicker one. Heels dug into the bed, she welcomed his thrusts as her hands skimmed his back and ass.

He began to stroke her again, watching her expression and enjoying the way her eyes darkened to midnight, the way her mouth parted to take in small gulps of air, the way she flowered under his touch.

“Harder,” she rasped out. “More.” She groaned. “Faster.”

He wanted to laugh, to shout with joy at the way she was ordering him about. He knew the moment the climax hit her by the ripples of spasms clenching his cock, the way her fingers dug into his flesh, the harsh exhale of breath and the words, “Omigod, Connor,” slipping out of her mouth in a breathy, sexy way.

She was a sultry siren and wickedly all his.

Kat didn’t have a chance to marvel at the ecstasy Connor had made her feel with the first bona fide climax she’d ever experienced because he thrust his broad cock deeper inside her with renewed vigor as if her coming had spurred him on to finish before he exploded.

Some primal urge buried deep inside her took over, and as his chest brushed against her aroused and oh-so-sensitive nipples, she bit his shoulder.

Not hard. A love bite, but it made him pause and stare at her for a moment in surprise. She thought she’d done something wrong, although it had felt so right, so natural and instinctive, but then he smiled down at her as if she was the dearest person in his life. His eyes were clouded with lust, and his blood was beating like the drums the natives had been thumping when she’d been so sick.

He pushed inside her again, long and hard and deeper, then thrust quickly as if he couldn’t hold back any longer.

She raked her nails down his skin, careful not to draw blood, just like she hadn’t when she bit him. But the urge to claw and bite and claim him—to breathe in his masculine, musky cat scent and to wear it on her as he wore hers on him—overwhelmed her.

His hands were on her hips, keeping her locked in place, not allowing her to thrust against him in a frantic need to finish this, and he felt the pleasure rising, intensifying. She was again ready to be set free, like molten lava seeking release.

His hot seed filled her just as she felt the new climax that sent her careening to the sun. She cried out as his mouth sought hers, his tongue pressing inside, their bodies still joined.

“We’re not done,” he promised, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, ready for more.

They all slept late, until something disturbed Kat’s sleep as she realized Connor was holding her loosely in his embrace in bed. She wasn’t sure what it had been. Maybe he had twitched in his sleep and awakened her. Embarrassed that she had struck him with her fist the night before, she couldn’t believe that not only had he not minded, but that he had made love to her, not once, but several times during the night and, most of all, had continued to sleep with her. Roger would have gotten angry, acting as though she had done it on purpose. He had even slapped her back once, saying she had been hysterical. Which she hadn’t been.

He’d used that as an excuse to get her back for hitting him and disturbing his sleep, and that was the living end for her.

What a difference there was between the two men. She hadn’t meant to make love to Connor, but she’d wanted the closeness, the tenderness, the heat and raw passion. And he had been all too happy to oblige her.

She couldn’t believe she’d bitten him—twice. Roger would have had her quarantined and tested for rabies if she’d done that to him.

She sighed. Had she fought Connor again in the middle of the night? As hard as she tried, she couldn’t remember. She hoped she hadn’t. But then she smiled, thinking of the comment he had made. If she had slept with him, she wouldn’t be beating on him. And his comment that her hitting him was only a love pat wasn’t nearly the truth. But she loved him for making light of it.

Luxuriating in the feel of his hard muscles pressed against her backside, she basked in the way he kept her close, unlike the way Roger had kept his distance in bed after they’d made love.

Then she thought about all that she had learned about Connor and Maya and herself—as far as being jaguar-shifters went. Now in the light of the day, she couldn’t believe it was true. At least part of her couldn’t get used to the notion. Another part, that half of her that recalled her moonlight run, knew she wasn’t the same as before. Now she had big, dangerous teeth and a furry body when she least expected it.

Connor stirred, pushed the hair at the nape of her neck away, and tenderly kissed her sensitive skin. She purred. Turning to kiss him back, she hoped Maya was sleeping soundly and that she and Connor wouldn’t disturb her. But then she heard men’s voices intruding among the sounds of the jungle. Before she could react, Connor bolted upright.

“They wouldn’t give us any trouble, would they?” Kat whispered, every muscle stiffening in preparation for action. She had an instant flashback of the firefight between Gonzales’s men, her own, and herself. She needed a rifle.

Connor slipped off the bed and pulled on his trousers. “Most of the time, no. Not unless they’re drug runners. Even then they usually leave us alone, and we stay out of their way. But sometimes they push too far into our territory.”

“Then what?” she asked, her voice still hushed.

He looked out the window. “Then we have to do whatever it takes for self-preservation.” He glanced back at Kat and added, “The natives say that a man travels with a jaguar near here, but sometimes they’ve seen a woman with the jaguar.”

“You and Maya?” Kat asked.

“Yeah. The rumors keep the villagers away from our neck of the woods. We believe they’re fearful that we might do something to them if they don’t leave us to ourselves. But others who are not local tromp through here from time to time. They’re ruthless and we have to be just as ruthless back.”

“You have to kill them?”

“It’s either that or they kill us or attempt to take us hostage. They wouldn’t free us for years until someone paid our ransom. And we don’t have anyone who would pay to have us released. Confinement as a jaguar-shifter out here in the jungle isn’t something that we could live with.”

That she could agree with. “But you come here anyway.”

“Most of the time it’s safe enough.”

Maya slipped in through the screen door, her eyes wide. “Four men. They’re looking for the dark-haired American woman by the name of Kathleen McKnight.”

Connor’s mouth gaped, then he turned to stare at Kat. “What is this all about?”

Kat frowned at him. “Manuel… he must have come back for me.” She began to button her shirt. “He must have gotten some men together to try and find me.”

“And if it’s not him?” Maya asked, her eyes narrowed with worry as she tied her hair back into a ponytail.

“Who else would know my name?” Kat asked incredulously.

Connor shook his head. “Gonzales.”

She glowered at him. “I’m no longer in the Army.”

“All right. But you can’t go with this Manuel, if that’s who is with the men, or anyone else. Not now that you are one of us.”

Kat snapped her mouth shut. Intellectually, she had known that. Connor was right. She just hadn’t wrapped her mind around the fact that she wasn’t exactly normal any longer.

“I need to speak with them to let Manuel know I’m all right and that I’m returning to the States with you. He’ll go away.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows what their agenda truly is.” Connor got his rifle and handed it to Maya. “Take the lookout post. I’ll stay with Kat.” He looked down at Kat as Maya hurried out of the hut. “You can’t speak with them. We don’t know who they really are or what they’re up to.”

She was glad that he took protecting her from any eventuality seriously, but she still couldn’t believe that they would have to kill anyone to stay alive themselves. Then she instantly tossed that reasoning out. If these men were anything like Gonzales’s men, she knew just what they were capable of.

Would Maya and Connor shift to take care of the menace? Or use Connor’s rifle?

Killing as jaguars seemed barbaric, but she shuddered, realizing the jungle was a beast-eat-beast world. Definitely survival of the fittest.

She’d had firsthand experience with that already—one year ago, in this very jungle.