Talon/Xavier

CHAPTER ONE

Sweet freedom.

Pool cue in one hand, margarita in the other, Amalie strode across the dusty floor of The Cougar’s Den.

Hot damn, she was emancipated.

Granted, it was only for three days and nights, but she planned to make the most out of every second. Clad in her tightest jeans, black high-heeled boots, and a white tank that showed off her young, Hunter’s body and plenty of cleavage up top, she felt every male eye move over her as she passed.

Well, every male but one.

Stopping in front of the pool table, she dropped her cue on the playing surface and lifted her glass to her lips. Salty sweet goodness rolled over her tongue and down her throat. She wasn’t a big drinker. Shoot, she wasn’t a big anything. In fact, this was her first time in The Cougar’s Den. For years, she’d heard all about it from the other Hunters. Listened as they regaled her with stories about drunken nights, hard-won pool games, hook-ups with hot males or females. While she went home.

Not tonight, she mused, draining her glass, then eyeing the bartender. Tonight she was cutting loose. Tonight she was going to know what it felt like to play hard, drink hard and just be a ready and willing single female.

“What do you say, darlin’?”

Mal glanced over her shoulder, spied the male who’d just spoken to her. He was tall, blond and human, and his mouth curved into a wicked smile. “Dance?”

She turned around and faced him. “I didn’t know this place had a dance floor.”

“They don’t,” he said. “Not yet anyway.”

The male whistled to one of his buddies and the pair grabbed a few tables and pushed them aside.

He turned back to Mal and shrugged. “Nothing fancy, but it’ll do. What do you say? I like this song and you’re smoking hot.”

Mal’s heart fluttered in her chest. Sure, she was a kickass Hunter who was capable of bringing down several full-grown males with one hand tied behind her back—part of her training—but in the Wildlands no one ever talked to her like this. Looked at her like this. Like she was desirable and available. It felt so good.

Alcohol snaking through her blood, making her warm and bold, she followed him out onto the makeshift dance floor. The bartender had cranked up the music and a few other couples had already taken advantage of the space.

“Name’s Beau,” the male said over the music as he started to move.

Mal grinned as she sidled up close to him and started to sway her hips. “Nice to meet you, Beau.”

“You too, darlin’.” His eyes traveled down her body. “Never seen anything as sexy as you come in here.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” she said on a husky laugh, her head feeling deliciously fuzzy. “But I appreciate it anyway.”

He laughed with her, his dark eyes glittering with interest. They were a handsome set of eyes, deep and soulful, and she could probably get lost in them if it wasn’t for the breath-stealing, knee-weakening crystal blue orbs of a certain Pantera male in the room. Eyes she’d been lusting after forever.

Seeing those piercing, highly sexual eyes in her mind, and fueled by inhibition-killing margaritas, she turned her head.

Such a big mistake.

He’d only been in The Cougar’s Den for maybe a half hour, but it was enough for him to cause a stir. Not like he could help it. Females just couldn’t seem to catch their breath around him, and males were understandably intimated by his size.

Still swaying, Mal ran her hands up the sides of her body as she watched him at the bar. Eating up the metal bar stool he inhabited, Xavier was by far the hottest male specimen that had ever walked the earth. Over six foot four, and all powerful shoulders and broad chest, the gorgeous male looked more like a professional athlete than the head of the Geeks. His skin was the color of wet bark, and his features were sharp and fierce. His dark hair had just been recently cut, buzzed close to his scalp, making his amazing, crystal blue eyes pop. And every time Mal saw him, she had an irrepressible urge to rush at him, leap into his massive arms and attack his perfect mouth.

It’d been like that for the past seven years.

Oh, who was she kidding? More like ten.

As the male she danced with moved around her, Mal’s gaze slid to the female who sat beside Xavier at the bar. Blond, petite and quietly appealing. Why does Xavier have to go for the exact opposite of me? she screamed silently, wondering if it was psycho to actually plot the woman’s death while dancing with some random guy.

Then Xavier reached across the top of the bar and covered the woman’s hand.

A shock of pain brought Mal’s head around. Her gaze connected with Beau and his dark eyes and dreamy smile. “I need another drink.”

He grinned. “I’ll get it for you, darlin’. Just stay here and keep those hips swayin’ and those hands runnin’ up and down yourself. I’ll be right back.”

Why couldn’t Xavier say things like that? Well, maybe not exactly like that. Maybe not so creepy and proprietary, but something that indicated that he saw her as a female and not his best friend’s little sister?

She closed her eyes and moved seductively to the music. She felt someone come up behind her, definitely male, maybe Beau, maybe not, but she didn’t stop to look. Tonight and for the next three nights, she just wanted to let go, give in, feel, be felt…

She needed a spanking.

Maybe more than one.

Xavier narrowed his eyes on the Hunter female who was gyrating on the makeshift dance floor, sandwiched between two greasy human males, while another ordered drinks a few feet down the bar. Did he blame them for going after her? Leering at her? Drooling like dogs? No, he did not. With her perfect body clad in way-too-tight clothes, hungry green eyes, and thick ebony hair flowing down her back, she looked like a goddamn sex kitten tonight, and he was going to pummel the bastard who’d let her out of her cage.

Where the fuck was Aristide?

Her brother—and Xavier’s closest friend—never let his sister out of his sight, except when she worked as a Hunter. And even then, Xavier could count on the rest of the Pantera to watch her. They all knew how special she was. Important. The kind of female you put up on a pedestal and stared at.

Not fucking leered at.

His eyes narrowed into pinprick slits as he watched her rock the dance floor. How the hell had she learned to move like that? Her hips. Her ass. Her hands threading in her hair and running down her body.

Another jolt moved through him, but he forced it away. He always forced away those kinds of flashes when it came to her. Amalie was not just the last Pantera born, which made her untouchable in and of itself, but she was also his best friend’s little sister. And the code of honor between males killed even the most desperate of attractions.

He stood, slipped the flash drive the woman beside him had brought with her into his jeans pocket. “You didn’t have to disable the camera to get these shots, did you?”

The blond PI he’d hired to help in his search for Ashe and Isi’s father, Chayton, shook her head. “No. But it was a bitch and a half to get up there, and stay up there while I located the serial number. Thank god some asshole got a tattoo last night. Gave me a solid hour.”

The human female had found a hidden camera in Isi’s voodoo shop, and had spent the past three days trying to get a few minutes alone with it. “Did you run the number?”

“It’s some exclusive, expensive shit. There’s a list of the high-end stores that sell cameras like that on your drive, but I couldn’t get sales records. You’re going to need a top notch hacker.”

Good thing he was one, Xavier thought, his gaze sliding over to the dance floor again. A growl sounded in his throat. Amalie was grinding her hips against some human male like she wanted sex.

“My payment?” the PI said.

“Already in your account.”

She laughed softly, almost seductively. “Gotta love a man who anticipates a woman’s needs. Can I buy you a drink?”

“Not tonight,” he said, his eyes still pinned to the Hunter female and the human drooling machines bracketing her. “But I’ll be in touch.”

He pushed away from the bar and headed through the small crowd to the dance floor. He should be gone by now, heading back to Geek headquarters, checking out the drive the PI had just handed him. After all, it was vital the Pantera find Chayton before their enemies did.

A good fifteen patrons were working it to the killer baseline of some rapper, and a few females tried to catch Xavier’s eye and draw him into their circle. But he only had eyes for one female, and she was going back to the Wildlands immediately. To her home, and to her brother’s care.

Eyes closed, full pink lips parted, long hair mussed, the female before him looked like she’d just come from her bed. Xavier drew close and wrapped his large hand around her slim wrist. Instantly, her eyes opened. At first, she seemed confused as she stared up at him. Then, as she registered not only his presence but his hold on her, she smiled.

“Hi, Xavier,” she said. “Want to join the party?”

Shit. How many drinks had she had? Her speech wasn’t slurred, but it was pretty damn close. “You’re making a scene, Amalie.”

“My name is Mal,” she corrected him, her luscious jade-green eyes flashing momentary fire. “And I’m not making a scene, I’m having fun.”

Three or four drinks of fun. He didn’t say a word, just lowered his hand to close around hers and led her off the dance floor. Xavier knew she could fight him if she wanted to. The female was tough as hell. Smart, too. But she didn’t. In fact, she squeezed his hand and moved with him through the crowd and toward the door. Maybe it was the alcohol in her blood? Could do funny things to the Pantera system.

Night was just settling in, but the warm bayou air of the day still remained, rushing over Xavier’s skin as he stepped outside. As he turned Amalie to face him, his hands on her shoulders, he tried not to stare at how that same breeze affected her hair, sending it swirling about her face.

Her fucking perfect face.

Releasing her and sliding his gaze away, Xavier growled low in his throat. Thoughts like these were becoming too commonplace lately. He needed to find a way to get rid of them. Permanently. Or he’d have to get rid of himself being around this female, permanently.

Amalie cocked her head. “Are you growling at me, Xavier?” Her tone was all flirtation, warmth, intimacy. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“How much have you had to drink?” he said tightly.

“Not nearly enough.”

“Your Pantera scent is being strangled by tequila.”

She shrugged. “Shit happens.”

“Yes, it does,” he said, moving closer to her. “Like you being here of all places. Does Aristide know you’re here?”

Her eyes clouded over, and for a moment she just stared at him. Then she laughed and shook her head. “No, my jailer of a brother doesn’t know I’m here. He’s stuck in quarantine with that human woman, Ashe’s sister.”

Isi? The one whose blood had both damaged the Wildlands and had caused it to bring forth life?

And Aristide didn’t tell me?

What the hell? Xavier mused darkly. Someone needed to be watching out for Amalie.

The door to The Cougar’s Den burst open and one of Amalie’s dance partners nearly stumbled out. When the greasy male spotted her, he grinned like a fucking wolf with prey in sight.

“You coming back in, darlin’?” he drawled.

“No,” Xavier answered.

Amalie turned to give him a dirty look, then glanced back up at the human male. “In a minute, Beau.”

Xavier growled at her. “I’m taking you home, Amalie.”

Her gaze slid his way once again, and no longer was there even a hint of flirtation glittering there. “No, you’re not. I’m here to have some fun. Just because you don’t know the meaning of that word.”

“I’ll show you some fun,” Beau said, loping down the steps toward them.

“I suggest you go back inside, Male,” Xavier said darkly, though his gaze remained pinned to Mal. “We’re leaving, Amalie. Say goodbye to your little friend here. Perhaps you can schedule a playdate for another day.”

“Do you hear yourself?” she growled back at him.

“I do.”

She stuck a finger in his face. “I’m not the young cub you and Aristide get to tell what to do anymore. I’m a grown female.”

Xavier sighed, his nostrils flaring with irritation. Yes, unfortunately, she was. A female with curves designed to make a male anxious to breed. A face angels would be envious of. A husky voice that belonged near a hungry male’s ear.

All attributes that shouldn’t be allowed near this oily, drunken human.

“Say goodbye, Amalie,” he said evenly.

“She doesn’t want to say goodbye,” Beau said with a grunt. “Do you, Amalie?”

“My name’s Mal,” she corrected.

Beau chuckled, his eyes pinned to her chest. “Hey, I’ll call you whatever you want, Sexy.”

“Oh, I like that.” Amalie’s gaze flickered Xavier’s way, and she said something under her breath that sounded an awful lot like, “Why can’t you ever call me that?”

Xavier pretended not to hear her. Just as he pretended to not be affected by the way she chewed her lower lip. He shook his head slowly. “You know I can’t let this happen, Amalie.”

Her hands went to her hips. “The funny part is that you actually believe that. Or is the funny part that you’re still doing Aristide’s job? I’m not sure. Wait. Maybe they’re both funny.”

The human moved closer to her, his eyes now trained on her ass. “I know some funny stories, Mal. I’ll buy you a drink and share a few.”

Xavier felt his insides flood with aggression. This male was about two seconds away from unconsciousness. Which would be a bad idea, as they were on human land. The last thing Pantera wanted to do was draw attention to themselves. But this idiot was really begging for it.

“I’m going to say this once more, mon ami.” Xavier’s eyes narrowed on the human male. He wasn’t particularly tall, but what he lacked in height, he made up for with muscle. Not Pantera kind of muscle, but impressive for a human. Something to consider if things went bruised and bloody. “Go inside and find yourself another female. This one is not available.”

“I’ll decide if I’m available or not,” Amalie said tightly. “You got some nerve, Xavier. Go home.”

The human grinned, then slid his arm around Amalie’s waist, yanked her close and licked the curve of her ear. “You tell him, Sexy.”

The haze that had only a second ago glimmered in Amalie’s smoky green eyes receded, and a flare of golden heat took its place. It was the sign her cat hovered at the surface of her skin. Her control was lost, courtesy of too much tequila. In under five seconds, she removed the male’s arm from her waist, took his hand in hers and slammed it back into his face. Making a sound like air escaping a balloon, Beau slithered to the ground and remained.

Xavier’s eyes flipped up to meet hers. “Was that necessary?”

She stumbled backwards a step. “He licked me.”

“Grow up, Amalie.”

“You won’t let me.” Her eyes locked to him. “You and Aristide.”

Xavier’s gut clenched. She had no idea how he saw her, how his skin ached every time she touched him – how he stood taller, prouder, every time her eyes were on him. And hell, she never would, if he could manage it.

“Then perhaps we should concentrate on sobering up.” He reached for her hand. “We’re leaving. Now.”

She didn’t try to pull away. “Careful, Puma. Or I’ll drop you like I dropped Tongue-Boy there.”

Xavier refused to reply to such absurdity. As he moved past her, he scooped her up in his arms and continued down the path toward the parking lot.

“Neanderthal,” she spat out.

“Pantera,” he corrected, trying not to think about how good she felt in his arms. How right. How natural.

“You don’t have to carry me,” she grumbled. “I know how to use my legs.”

His jaw went tight at her words. So did everything below his waist. Fucking female. Fucking male brain for taking those innocent words and twisting them into a goddamn fantasy. “It’ll take us all night to walk home,” he said. “And something tells me you can’t run in those come-fuck-me-boots.”

She glanced up at him. “Is that what they’re called?”

He didn’t answer, didn’t look at her either. She’d been too goddamn beautiful in the harsh fluorescent lights of the club. Under the glow of twilight, he was pretty sure she’d send certain parts of his anatomy skyward.

He didn’t need that. Not tonight. Not ever.

Clearing the parking lot, he took off toward the dark protection of the woods. He was fast in his human state, but he ached to shift to his puma and really taste the wind.

“So, I guess you’re my way home tonight,” she said with a soft yawn.

His arms tightened around her. “Who brought you? How did you get to The Den?”

“I caught a ride.”

“If you tell me with a stranger—” he began through gritted teeth.

He felt her shrug. “He was only a stranger for the first five minutes.”

A low growl escaped his throat. Shit, he needed to break out the fur and the canines. “I’m going to take you home and tie you up until Aristide gets out of quarantine.”

She snorted, then yawned again. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Would you?”

He made the mistake of looking down at her. Trying to put the sweet weight of her body out of his mind as he moved was problem enough. Now he saw full lips, drowsy eyes, a strip of tanned stomach where her tank was riding up.

Fuck. Me.

“What about your date?” she said. “Isn’t she waiting back at The Den for you?”

“That was business.”

She snorted softly. “She didn’t look like business. She looked like she wanted to do some licking of her own.”

Xavier growled—not at the idea of the human PI, but with the recent memory of that greasy human male’s hands on Amalie. His tongue on Amalie.

“What?” she asked, concern lacing her tone.

“If I didn’t have to babysit you tonight, I’d go back to The Cougar’s Den, scrape the human male up off the ground and remove his eager tongue from his mouth.”

“I took care of it, Xavier.”

“Yes. And you provoked it. Humans should not be played with. It’s not good for us.”

“Us or me?” she said softly.

Xavier didn’t answer. Doing so would mean he’d have to examine his feelings for his best friend’s sister. And he made it a practice never to do that. Instead, he picked up speed, racing through the bayou lands toward the border. Quiet, except for the sound of the breeze and the buzzing of the insects, reigned. Xavier had actually thought Amalie asleep when she moved in his arms and spoke.

“Xavier?”

Goddamn, her soft, yet husky voice wrapped around him. Squeezed the shit out of him. “Yeah?”

“When we get to the edge of the Wildlands…I don’t think I can shift.”

“The tequila?”

She nodded against his chest. “Sorry.”

With a soft, protective growl, he pulled her closer to his chest. “Not to worry, Amalie. I’ll carry you to the border, and my puma will carry you home.”

CHAPTER TWO

The moon’s filtered light followed them as they traveled the varied terrain of the Wildlands. Night was in full bloom now, bringing with it cool air and rich, earthy scents. Her arms wrapped around the thick neck of Xavier’s cat, Mal reveled in the smooth cadence of his movement. She’d only ridden on the back of a puma once before. When she’d lodged a thorn in her foot after a hard-won race between a few Hunters last year. But it was nothing like this. Xavier’s puma was not only large and powerful, it was quick and sharp and keen. And riding on his back, under the moonlight, seduced by the scents and the wind, made her wonder how it would feel to not only ride him, but to be ridden—

Her sensual thought was ripped from her mind as Xavier came to a halt in front of her small, sage green house. For a second, she just remained on his back, wondering why she hadn’t noticed them entering the boundaries of town. Hadn’t, at the very least, scented it.

She scrambled off of him, and, from the shelter of a rose-trellised archway, watched as he shifted from sleek black cat into devastatingly hot male. Her heart squeezed. Wearing jeans that stretched over heavily muscled thighs and a killer ass, and a black T-shirt that could barely contain his vast chest and bulging arms, Xavier made every female who came within a mile of him sigh. Tall, dark and fierce, he was sex walking. And added to it—Mal’s favorite attribute of all—those incredible, icy blue eyes. Well, she just wanted to get lost in him and not be found for days.

If only he wanted that too.

Damn. Why couldn’t he notice her? See her as the one female on earth who was perfect for him, would make him happy?

“Who’s staying with you while Aristide is quarantined?” Xavier asked, following her up the path to her front door.

“No one.”

He made a sound deep in his throat. It was a cross between a growl and a groan, and it made her insides flare with heat.

“Not acceptable, Amalie.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “You realize I’m a grown female, right?”

His gaze, those shockingly blue eyes, traveled down her body. Then he looked away and hissed.

No. He didn’t see her as grown.

Or wouldn’t.

Irritation moving over and through her, she turned back and opened her front door with a hiss of her own. She was growing into quite the little masochist. Maybe it was time for that to stop.

She called over her shoulder, “Thanks for the ride.”

But before she took a step inside, she felt him at her back, his massive frame pressed against her, his warm breath near her ear. “We’re not done talking about this.”

Without her permission, her skin went tight, and everything below her waist clenched. “I think I am. I’m tired and still a little drunk and I should probably go to bed.”

“You can’t stay here alone.”

“Why not?”

He moved to her side, leaned against the doorframe. “It’s not safe.”

She laughed. “Are you serious? I’m a Hunter. Even you would be hard-pressed to get me on my back.” When his eyes narrowed at her words, her laughter downgraded to an embarrassed chuckle. “You know, unless I wanted to be there.”

His jaw tightened. “I know you can handle yourself physically, Amalie. What concerns me is shit like tonight.”

“I went out and had fun like a bunch of other people do every damn day. What’s the problem?”

“You had too much to drink and it affected your judgment.”

Her judgment? She snorted. Shit, that had been compromised ten years ago when she’d seen Xavier with his shirt off for the first time. Summer on the bayou. Warm water, warmer evenings. Swim party for her birthday, and Xavier—the most perfect birthday present ever—came to hang out with Aristide. Of course, he hadn’t even looked her way. Mal didn’t even think he’d known it was her birthday. But she’d noticed him. Back then and every day since.

“My judgment is fine,” she told him. “I won’t drink as much next time, that’s all.”

He shook his head. “There’s not going to be a next time.”

She glared at him. Crush of a lifetime or not, Xavier was being a pain in the ass, aka a wannabe substitute for her brother. And that she wasn’t going to put up with.

“Okay, we’re done here. I’m going to bed.” She pushed past him into the house, and stalked into the foyer. “Just lock the door before you take off. You know, so I stay safe and all.”

Ten years, she grumbled. Ten freaking years she’d spent internally—and probably externally as well—swooning for this male, and he either couldn’t see her as anything but Aristide’s sister, or just didn’t find her attractive. Ugh, that last bit stung, and she wondered how much longer this feeling, this need, was going to lay claim to her heart. Maybe she should make another trip into town. Not to The Cougar’s Den, this time, but to that Voodoun’s shop. Maybe inquire about a potion to kill her crush.

Feeling a rush of alcohol-infused heat take over her skin, she pulled off her tank and dropped it on the floor of the hall as she headed toward her bedroom. Tomorrow. Tomorrow when she sobered up she was going to stop wanting the ridiculously beautiful Geek.

She got halfway to her bedroom before a shocking smack of dizziness hit her. Stars glittered in front of her eyes, and she cursed and reached out for the wall. When her hands met nothing but air, panic gripped her heart. Then the floor rushed up to meet her, and her vision went utterly black.

Xavier’s heart dropped into his balls as he caught Amalie before she hit the floor.

Christ, this female made him crazy, he growled inwardly, settling her into his arms. Flirting with him one second, pissed off at him the next. He pulled her close as he moved down the hallway. Yes, he knew she liked him. Had this lighthearted crush on him. And he’d be lying his ass off if he didn’t admit to having his own attraction and problematic curiosity about her…how she might taste, how her skin smelled…

Fuck. He was going to hell. Or the Pantera equivalent: down beneath the Wildlands, imprisoned with Shakpi.

He was never going to act on that attraction. She was Aristide’s blood, precious to the Pantera, completely off-limits.

Entering her bedroom, Xavier couldn’t help but glance around as he made a beeline for the bed. Shit, the female acted so tough, but when it came down to it, she was all heart and fluffy white bedspreads and flowered pillows. Hard on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside. His insides curled with desire at the thought.

Why did he find that juxtaposition so damned sexy?

With gentle hands, he placed her on the cool, white blanket, then sat down next to her. His gaze raked over her face. What a fucking vision. Dappled moonlight streamed in through the window to his right, spotlighting her yards of rich, dark hair, beautiful face, pink mouth and long, supple neck. His traitorous gaze moved downward. The tank was gone, now a small, white puddle forgotten in the hallway. All she had on was a bra, and a skimpy one at that. And the creamy slip of lacy fabric barely covered her large breasts.

His mouth watered.

Rein it in, asshole.

The lids of her eyes moved, and she fisted one hand and moaned.

Xavier leaned in and brushed a strand of hair off her pale cheek. Trying not to focus on how soft her skin felt under the rough pads of his fingers, he whispered soothingly, “Everything’s okay, Amalie. You’re home. In your bed.”

Her eyes fluttered open, and for a moment those smoky green orbs displayed extreme confusion. But in seconds, the haze dissipated, and she blinked, her teeth grazing her bottom lip. An action that once again had Xavier’s skin tightening over his muscles.

“Xavier?”

He nodded. “How you feeling?”

She didn’t answer him. Her eyes were pinned to his and her breathing grew labored.

“What?” he asked, concern moving through him. When she’d fallen, had he not caught her in time? Had she hurt herself? “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not a cub.”

Relief moved through him. This wasn’t pain he was seeing in her eyes, but frustration. “I know you’re not,” he said.

“You all treat me like I am.”

“No,” he amended, his voice dark, quiet. “We treat you like you’re special.”

She flinched, then huffed out a breath and looked away, past him. “So I was the last cub born to the Pantera. Who cares? Why does that mean anything different than the second-to-last cub? Or the third? It doesn’t make me special. It just makes me lucky.”

Xavier didn’t want to do this. Have this conversation. Especially not in her moonlit room, sitting on her bed. Granted, he understood the Pantera’s affections and protective ways regarding Amalie, but his actions and reactions were less about her ‘last born’ status and more about his own barely controlled attraction. Truthfully, if she wasn’t Aristide’s sister, he wasn’t all that sure he’d give a good goddamn about the Pantera’s need to keep her sheltered.

“You should sleep now,” he told her.

“I don’t want to sleep.” With a frustrated sigh, she came up on her elbows. “I want to be free. I want to live my own life. I want to be treated like something that can’t be broken with just a simple touch.”

“No touch is simple,” Xavier said quietly. “Trust me.”

“I don’t want to trust you!” she suddenly exploded, sitting all the way up, tears welling in her eyes. “Goddamit!” She threw up her hands. “I want to know it myself! I want to feel it myself!”

“Amalie—”

“I’m a fucking grown female!” she cried, looking down.

“I know.”

Her eyes snapped up to meet his. “Do you?”

His breath caught in his lungs. As much as she was beautiful when she was docile and flirtatious, she was nearly irresistible like this. So impassioned, so vicious, like she wanted to kiss the shit out of him, then knee him in the balls.

His gaze moved over her face, down the smooth column of her neck, then into her spectacular cleavage. Did he know she was a grown female?

Fuck yeah.

“Listen to me, Xavier,” she fairly growled. “If I don’t get broken soon, I’m going to lose my mind.”

“Don’t talk like that,” he growled back, giving her a fierce look, his cock twitching.

“Why not? It’s true. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be touched, wanting to go out and have a good time. Wanting sex.”

Christ, she was killing him. “I’m warning you, Amalie—”

“Just because you don’t see me as a grown female doesn’t mean other males don’t.”

“No males will be getting within ten feet of you,” he declared roughly.

“You can’t say shit like that.”

“I just did.” He stood up. He had to rearrange. He had to get the hell out of this room, out of her airspace before he did something regrettable.

She looked up at him, her eyes deep and dark, her hair wild and falling over her shoulders and between her breasts. “Go home, Xavier.”

He should. He really should.

In fact, he should walk out of this house and never come back. From now on, he and Aristide would meet somewhere else, anywhere else. And when Amalie’s name was brought up, he’d pray for deafness.

Instead, he narrowed his eyes on the half-naked vixen sitting in a pool of white softness before him and said with deadly calm, “I’m not going anywhere.”

One dark eyebrow raised. “Pardonnez-moi?”

“Clearly you can’t be trusted on your own.” He turned and headed for the door, calling over his shoulder, “While Aristide is gone, I’ll be taking care of you.”

CHAPTER THREE

Bastard.

Asshole.

God, she wanted to jump him.

Mal stared, watched Xavier’s exit with hungry, greedy eyes. He looked so good from behind. Even if he was walking away from her.

With a sigh of self-disgust, she dropped back on the pillow and closed her eyes. Truly, it stung that Xavier was staying with her out of obligation—not out of want. Or desire. She’d thought, fantasized, about being alone with him for so long, and now here they were. Not making out as she’d hoped, but residing in two separate rooms, both clothed, both breathing normally, skin not coated in a thin layer of sweat…

She groaned and turned on her side.

And yet, no matter the reason, he was staying.

For three days and three nights.

She wrapped herself around her extra-long pillow and squeezed, a glimmer of something akin to hope and wonder moving through her blood. In her mind, she saw him. Emerging from the bayou, his beautiful brown skin wet, his muscles flexing, his dangerous blue eyes catching hers as he stepped onto the bank.

Naked.

Her skin hummed, and she grinned as old memories and new fantasies collided. She wanted to release this long-held need she had for him, but it just clung so tightly to her. He was perfect. The body of a Hunter, the heart of a Nurturer and the brains of a Geek. He was everything she’d ever wanted.

Well, with one exception.

He refused to see her as grown or sexual or even female.

I’ll be taking care of you.

Her breasts tightened at just the memory of his deep, husky promise, and between her thighs, heat radiated. She was a strong female, passionate, and a truly capable Hunter. Rarely did she lose the prey she sought. And damn, she sought Xavier something fierce. She wanted his touch to be her first. Obligation or not, she’d already ‘captured’ him. Now she just had to make her gorgeous prey see what was right in front of him.

Hugging her pillow close, she drifted off to sleep with a confident, hungry smile.

I’m @ clinic. Quarantined w/Ashe’s sister. Her blood being tested. Take care of Mal 4 me. 3-4 days, they think. Thx, mon ami. I owe u.

Seated on the couch in Aristide and Amalie’s living room, two of his laptops open on the coffee table in front of him, Xavier read the text from his best friend again. The text he hadn’t even known he’d gotten until one of his Geeks dropped off his phone, along with his laptops, at the house a few hours ago. The thing screamed at him. Gave him the finger. Threatened him with pitchforks, torches and the sharpened claws of a pissed off puma brother.

Goddammit.

Take care of her? Shit, it was like asking a forest fire to take care of a pile of dry brush. But he’d do it. Hell yes, he’d do it. Aristide was his best friend, true, but he was also family. It was Aristide and Amalie’s parents who had helped Xavier’s mother find her smile again after his father’s death. The two Nurturers had always been there for him. For advice, a meal, a place to crash when he was being a hardheaded cub and his mom couldn’t handle him. And he wouldn’t betray them. Not with their own daughter, for fuck’s sake.

His eyes slid to the screen on his right. Along with photos of Isi’s shop, photos of the camera from several different angles and close-ups on the serial number, there was a list of high-end camera shops within a ninety miles radius that carried the model. For the past few hours, he’d been working the web on his second computer, seeing if any of the images from the camera had been uploaded. Then he could backtrack, searching the serial numbers embedded in the jpegs. But so far he hadn’t had any luck. Looked like he was going to have to go through the records of each camera store.

His phone rang, and for a second he thought it might be Aristide. But one glance at the readout and he saw that the call wasn’t coming from the clinic, but from Geek central.

“Xavier.”

“You get anything?” Robby asked. The male Geek had started off as Hunter, but he’d quickly found his home with the other tech heads. Even took on the screen name “Robin Hood” because he was all about stealing information if it helped someone in trouble.

“Not yet,” Xavier told him. “Going to have to do a little breaking and entering.”

“Mmm, my favorite,” he said. “Send me some, I’ve got a few hours to kill before bed.”

“No. I’m going to bring Captain in on this one. I have another job for you.”

“I’m not bringing you pajamas, so don’t even ask.”

Xavier snorted. “Not necessary. First off, because I don’t wear them and second, because Danny brought me everything I need.”

“Too much info, bro. The first part.”

Chuckling, Xavier explained, “I need you to hack into the computer at Isi’s shop, The Care and Feeding of Voodoo.”

“Nice name.”

“Don’t start hatin’, Robin Hood.”

“Fuck you.”

Xavier laughed.

“So, what do you want me to look for, bro?”

“Anything on the computer about Chayton, anything in her emails. Any correspondence with people who have interest in Chayton, or finding her father. Do the store’s website, too. Any posts, questions, comments, that type of thing.”

“You got it.”

“I’m sure she has some kind of firewall up.”

Robby laughed, said arrogantly, “Please.”

“Take it down in under ten seconds and I’ll let you stay on the Geek squad.”

“Under five and I’m the new leader,” Robby countered.

“Keep dreaming, bro.” Staring at the screen, Xavier sobered. “I’m just afraid this guy’s gone completely off the grid.”

“Everyone’s got a footprint, X. You know that.”

“Well, lets hope so. I’ll talk to you later.”

“It is later, bro,” Hood said with a grin in his voice before he hit the end button and killed the connection.

Tossing his cell onto the couch cushions, Xavier glanced at the time on the top of his screen. Five in the morning. Shit, he hadn’t realized how long he’d been at it. Going hard and heavy for five hours straight. Maybe he needed a break. Maybe he needed a drink. Damn, maybe he needed…

Before the thought cleared his brain, his nostrils flared, scenting her arrival seconds before he heard her.

“What’s all this?” Amalie said, moving toward him.

Xavier’s entire body flared with heat, but he didn’t acknowledge her presence until he closed both computers. “Work.”

“More with the human woman?” she asked, her tone only mildly curious as she walked around the side of the couch.

“No, this cybertracking job was a solo all-nighter—”

The words died in his throat, and he inhaled sharply. What the hell—

His breath came out in a rush, and before he could stop it, his puma broke from his control and blazed to the surface of his skin. His hands balled into fists. His mind screamed at the cat to retreat. Never in his life had he experienced such a reaction. Such a wild, instinctual response. To anything or anyone. He didn’t understand it, and quickly forced it back down, beneath his pounding heart where it belonged.

Panting, his eyes raked over the female standing in front of him. “What the hell are you wearing?”

“A towel.” She looked at him like he was crazy. “And was that your puma I just saw? Flashing in and out of your features?”

He shook his head. No. That wasn’t possible. He didn’t do the uncontrolled cat thing. “I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“Then maybe you should get some sleep.” She gestured down the hall, which meant she released the front of her towel with one hand.

Thank fuck she had two.

“Aristide’s bed is available,” she said, her dark eyes glistening. “And mine too, if you’d be more comfortable in a clean and fresh-smelling environment.”

It had been said with halfhearted humor, but once again, the puma inside him rushed upward, flaring to life. What the hell was going on? He glared at Amalie, praying she and her barely clothed self weren’t the cause. Hoping it was truly lack of sleep and maybe lack of food that was making him so edgy.

“Why are you in that goddamn towel?” he ground out.

She cocked her head. “Shower.”

“In the living room?” he countered blackly. “Are you trying to make me crazy?”

Her brows lifted and a smile played about her lips. “Why? Would it work?”

“I’m male, Amalie. And you’re…” His gaze traveled over her and he growled.

“I’m what?” she encouraged.

His eyes narrowed. “A devious brat.”

She laughed. The sound pierced his skin and went straight to his groin.

“Shower’s outside the house remember?” she said.

“Right.” Goddammit. So, this was going to be a regular thing over the next three days? Showering? The untouchable goddess walking around in skimpy towels, making him drool and growl and hunger for things other than food?

“I’m on patrol in an hour,” she said. “Better get soaped up.”

Stay the hell down, he warned his puma. “Next time wear a robe,” he said as she started past him.

She paused, gave him a lopsided smile. “Why?”

“You know why, Amalie.” His tone was like ice. Ice that wanted to be melted in a hot shower with a hotter female.

“You see me as family, right?” she challenged. “So what’s the problem?”

He turned back to his laptops and opened them. “Go. Take your shower. Get to work.”

She chuckled. “Have a good day, Xavier.”

“Yeah, you too,” he muttered to himself.

But she heard him, and called over her shoulder, “Oh, I will.”

Xavier told himself not to turn, not to look, not to watch her move down the hall in that goddamn scrap of white cotton, but it was impossible. Like iron to a magnet, he ripped his eyes from the screen and glanced over his shoulder. With flared nostrils and a tight chest, he watched as her towel slipped down her back to her hips as she sauntered away, giving him a view of her back and the rise of her ass.

This time when his puma rushed to the surface of his skin, he let it.

CHAPTER FOUR

The sun was high in the sky as Mal sprinted along the west border, every so often opening her mouth to taste the air.

It remained.

Always remained.

The sour stench of human intruders. Problem was she couldn’t find the source. She and her partner had been patrolling for six hours straight—and nothing.

Hiss came to an abrupt halt near the footbridge that curved over the small stream that jutted out from the bayou. With a shake of his auburn pelt, he shifted from cat to human male.

Coming up beside him, Mal shifted too. “What? Did you scent something?”

The rugged male Hunter, who wore his dark hair back in a leather thong, shook his head. “It’s the same everywhere we go. Dying land, sour stench, but no clues. No intruders. I don’t get it.”

“They’ll be back. Both human, and any more traitors we harbor.” She gave him a tight grin. “Damn, I’d love to be the one who catches that prey.”

Hiss’s grey eyes flashed. “You and me both.”

“I wonder if they’re camping far enough outside the border to keep their scent quiet.” Releasing a heavy breath, Mal shaded her eyes and looked out over the quiet bayou water. “Maybe we should go take a look.”

A wide grin split the male’s handsome features. “Go hunting across the border?”

“Maybe.”

“Those aren’t our orders.”

She matched his grin and shrugged. “So?”

He laughed. “I like patrolling with you, Mal. Taking risks is important for a Hunter. Keeps us sharp. Keeps our instincts—”

“Oh my god!” Mal exclaimed, cutting him off, her attention suddenly diverted by something she saw out of the corner of her eye.

“What?” Hiss said, alert now. “What is it? Humans?”

Her eyes nearly bugging out of her head, Mal ran to the edge of bayou and waded a foot into the water. “Look.”

Hiss followed her, shading his eyes as he searched the calm surface for whatever she was indicating. When his breath caught in his throat, Mal knew he’d seen it, too.

“I…I didn’t think…” Hiss stumbled over his words. “Merde…with everything that’s happened. With Ashe’s sister, and her strange effects on the land…I didn’t think we’d see it this year. I didn’t think we’d see it ever again. What a miracle.”

Her face growing warm with happiness and pleasure, Mal waded in deeper until she was forced to swim. Her clothes felt heavy in the water, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t believe it. She had to touch it.

“Mon dieu, do you scent it?” Hiss called from the bank.

Mal didn’t answer. She was upon it now, its heady fragrance slamming into her nostrils. It made her insides vibrate, and her outsides, too. She reached out, palmed the large water lily that had only a moment ago been as white as the clouds overhead. Now, it was pale lavender, the color growing deeper and more vibrant with every moment that passed. She couldn’t speak, she was smiling too hard.

The most perfect Dyesse Lily she had ever seen.

Even though they knew it was the time of year for the Dyesse Fete, they had all been secretly praying the celebration of the birth of the Pantera—and the most important holiday in the Wildlands—would actually come to pass. With the land’s magic deteriorating at such a rapid rate, they’d wondered if any would remain.

Especially something so powerful and rare as the Dyesse.

She released the lily, and as she did, the two bracketing it started to change. By tonight, even the moon would turn a shockingly beautiful shade of violet. Laughing with unabashed happiness, she turned back to Hiss on the shore, and a silent understanding passed between them.

“I’m going right now,” he called. “I’ll tell Parish.”

She swam toward him with fast, powerful strokes, hit the shore just as he shifted into his puma and growled his excitement. She did the same, shaking off the excess water that had transferred from her skin to the fur of her puma.

Hiss spoke inside her head. You want to go with me?

She looked up, growled. To the fete?

His puma nodded, smoky-grey eyes flashing with enthusiasm. Good food, music, sparring matches. We were the first to spot the change. It’s only right we celebrate together.

Hiss was a friend, nothing more, but she liked him, felt comfortable with him, and god, it felt good to be asked. And, she thought with wicked intent, maybe good for Xavier to see. A grown male, a Hunter, wanted to take her to the most important night of the year for the Pantera—the night when unbridled mating was encouraged.

She grinned at the auburn cat. Okay.

Great! I’ll pick you up around seven.

He turned and darted off into the forest, and Mal glanced over her shoulder, crying out into the fragrant air as she saw yards of Dyesse lilies turn purple on the calm surface of the bayou.

“I don’t want to see him, Jax,” Xavier said with an irritated growl. “I just want to talk to him.”

The male guarding the door leading to the quarantine barracks shook his head. “Sorry, mon ami.”

“Look, the male’s a good friend. I’m watching his house, his sister.” A soft snarl accompanied that last word. Xavier ignored it. “I need a word.”

“Can’t help you. There’s no outside communication unless this is an emergency.” The male raised a pale blond brow. “Is this an emergency?”

Fuck. “No. It’s not.” He released a frustrated breath. “Fine. I’ll see him in a couple of days.”

“That’s only an estimate,” Jax said with a thin-lipped smile. “Could be a week. We just don’t know.”

Perfect. The news just got better and better, Xavier thought darkly. And more problematic. Three days under the same roof as that towel-wearing puma temptress was bad enough. How the hell was he going to last a week?

He gave the guard a curt nod, then turned and headed back down the hall. Maybe he could get someone else to watch her? One of the grandmothers… A low chuckle exited his throat. Yeah, that would go over well. She barely tolerated him. She’d make quick work of some sweet, old Pantera female.

“Hey, X.”

Lost in thought, Xavier turned to see Raphael a few feet away. The leader of the Suits looked pretty shredded, like he hadn’t slept in weeks, and was standing outside his mate, Ashe’s, room, with a small group: Hunter leader Parish, Nurturer Jean-Baptiste and his mate, Genevieve, who Xavier knew from her momentary blip with the Geeks. They all turned to acknowledge him.

“Checking in on Aristide?” Jean-Baptiste asked. Being from the same faction, the Nurturer knew that Xavier and Aristide were tight.

“Something like that,” Xavier said. Not keen on giving out details about his problem with Amalie, he quickly turned from the heavily tatted male to Raphael and changed the subject. “How is she? Your mate?”

The Suit’s jaw went tight and he slid his green gaze toward the closed door. “She was better when her sister was around.”

“The quarantine?” Xavier asked.

Raphael nodded.

Yeah, that thing was fucking with everyone’s lives.

“But I’m hoping I can take her out for awhile,” the Suit said. “Take her to the fete tonight.”

“The fete?” Xavier repeated, momentarily stunned. He looked from Raphael to Parish. “Has there been a sighting?”

Parish nodded, his gold eyes flashing, his face splitting into a wide grin. “Two of my Hunters spotted a bayou of purple lilies about thirty minutes ago.”

Amazing, Xavier mused. And wonderful. He’d been wondering if the Dyesse would occur this year. It had been a hope on everyone’s mind.

“Can’t wait to take Julia,” Parish said with a growl. “Celebrate our fertility right.”

Leaning against Jean-Baptiste’s side, Genevieve laughed. “I’d be careful. Females, even humans ones I imagine, can be overly demanding on the Dyesse Eve.”

Parish grinned wickedly. “I look forward to being chased and caught by my Doc.”

“Are you ready to run, my love?” Genevieve asked her male with a teasing grin.

Growling, pulling the blond female closer to his side, Jean-Baptiste nuzzled her cheek. “I will never run from you, Genny. It’s time wasted when you could be ravishing the shit out of me.”

Everyone laughed, even Raphael. It was good to see, Xavier mused. The ghost of a male letting down his guard. But it didn’t last long. He turned his weary gaze back on Xavier.

“I know you met with the PI. Did she have something of interest? How are things progressing with Chayton? Any leads?”

Though most of the Pantera knew about their search for Ashe and Isi’s father, it was the Suit leader who Xavier was reporting to. The male had become the reluctant go-between for the elders.

“I went through a shitload of sales records today from several different camera shops,” he said with a snarl of frustration. “I want to figure out where this camera came from and who put it there. I don’t think it was our enemies or human tattoo artist, Derek.” He shook his head. “But you know me, whoever it is, I’ll get them.”

Raphael cuffed him on the arm. “I know you will. And hopefully it will lead us to Chayton.”

Just then, the door beside Raphael opened and Parish’s mate, Dr. Julia, poked her head out. “She’s asking for you, Raphael.”

Instantly alert, Raphael gave them a quick nod. “See you later. We should all take the night off and celebrate our birth, and the magic that continues within us despite those who are trying to destroy it.” He eyed Xavier. “Even you, X.”

As Raphael disappeared inside the room of his mate, Xavier and the rest of the group offered quick goodbyes before disbanding. Walking down the hall toward the front doors, Xavier thought about the Suit’s words. A night off to celebrate the birth of his kind. He wanted that. Wanted to be a part of that. But time was ticking away. He had to find out who had placed that camera, and he had to find Chayton before those assholes did. Before they found him and used him to wake Shakpi.

If Xavier did his job right, there would be many more purple moons to celebrate.

CHAPTER FIVE

Butterflies inside her stomach and ants crawling up her spine, Mal put the finishing touches on her makeup, then stood back and took a long, hard look at herself. Not bad. For a first attempt. Lipstick, eyeliner and mascara were definitely not her thing. In fact, she’d felt kind of clueless putting it on and had needed to use one of Xavier’s computers to look up a tutorial on how to apply makeup without looking like a clown.

She grinned at herself.

Normally, she went all natural. The Hunter look: jeans, tank, boots, clean face, easy and ready to shift into her puma. But tonight, she really wanted to make some heads explode. Well, one head. One very gorgeous, very stubborn head.

She was just finishing up washing her hands when she heard the front door open. Her heart stuttered in her chest as she fumbled with the towel. This was it. The great reveal. Not only had she put on makeup, but her dark hair was brushed to a shine and hung down her back in gentle waves, and the ultra-feminine dress she wore didn’t even remotely resemble Hunter gear.

“Honey, I’m home!” Xavier called, the dark humor in his tone obvious. “Where are you? I brought dinner. I’m warming it up.” The mild crash of a pot hitting the stovetop rose above the sudden silence. Then, “Aristide said you don’t cook, or you can’t cook. I can’t remember which.”

With one last look in the mirror, she released the breath she’d been holding and opened the door to her room. She spotted Xavier right away. He was bent over the kitchen counter, staring at the screen of his computer, something heating up in a pot on the stove, a rugged blue flame shooting off sparks beneath it. She swallowed, smoothed the front of her dress and walked toward him.

“Which one is it?” Xavier called, still staring at the screen. “You can’t cook or you don’t?”

“Both,” she said.

Courage, Female. You hunt bad guys and badass animal prey all damn day, and this male’s reaction to your new look is making you sweat?

“But I won’t be eating dinner,” she added, moving toward him, her heart pounding in her chest. “Not here anyway.”

“What are you talking about, Female?” he asked, tearing his gaze from the screen to look up.

When he did, when he saw her, when his eyes traveled from her shiny hair all the way down to her strappy sandals, a strange sound exited his lips. It was like a cross between a wheeze and a growl, and ended with a ferocious lip curl. She waited for him to say something, move. But he didn’t. He just stood there, hands balling into fists, ice blue eyes turning frosty—and his puma vibrating beneath his skin.

Forcing her nerves aside, Mal strode toward him. “Puma got your tongue, Xavier?”

His gaze remained fixed on her as she moved. “What are you wearing?”

“That’s the first thing you’re saying to me? Seriously.”

“Hell yes, seriously,” he growled. “Deadly seriously.”

She stopped directly in front of him and lifted her chin. “It’s a dress, Xavier.”

His nostrils flared and she felt his cat’s heat radiate off his body. “And why are you wearing a dress?”

“I’m going out.”

His lip curled, and he slowly shook his head. “You’re not going anywhere. Not like that.”

“Like what exactly? Dressed up? Looking hot?”

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She grinned, then turned in a slow circle in front of him. “I do look hot, right?”

His jaw was so tight, Mal thought it might shatter into a hundred pieces.

“Doesn’t matter, Amalie,” he said icily. “You’re not going out. Not like that, and not alone.”

She looked up at him through her lashes. Her curled and painted lashes. “I’m not going alone.”

This time, he moved. Closed the distance between them in one stride. He was so tall, so broad. Fearsome and sexy. Why couldn’t he just lift her up and plant a killer kiss on her eager lips? He was so goddamn frustrating. “I have a date.”

“No.” He said the single word without heat.

She cocked her head to the side and chewed her lower lip. “I’m not asking permission.”

“Good, because you’re not getting it.”

Her gaze flickered past him, to the stove—to the raging blue flame. Something caught her eye; something bubbling out of control. “Your sauce, or whatever it is you’re making, is burning.”

Cursing, Xavier whirled around and rushed to the stovetop. Without thinking, he grabbed the handle of the pot, then cursed again when the metal burned his hand. He tossed the pot into the sink and slammed on the water.

Forgetting the irritation-slash-flirtation from a moment ago, Mal hurried to the sink and to his side. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” he growled, fisting his hand.

“Let me see it.”

“It’s nothing.”

She grabbed his hand and forced his fingers open. “Stop being a stubborn ass.” Angry red welts decorated his palm. “Let’s get some cool water on it.”

He didn’t fight when she guided his hand under the faucet, but hissed when the water met his skin.

“You’re mothering me, Amalie,” he said on a growl. “I don’t need it.”

She looked up at him, met those crystal blue eyes that always made her weak. “Welcome to my world, Friend.”

He snarled gently. “Last thing I’m trying to do is mother you.”

“Then what is it? This thing you’re doing with me?”

His nostrils flared as he stared down at her, and once again, she felt heat roll off him. Why couldn’t he say it, she thought angrily. Why couldn’t he admit there was something inside him that wanted to reach out and touch her?

“I could make this cub go away, Amalie,” he said, his eyes on her mouth now.

“He’s not a cub. He’s a grown male, a Hunter.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Matters to me, Xavier. I deserve to celebrate this holiday like all the other Pantera. Maybe even more so, being the final birth.”

That silenced him.

At least until the knock on the door.

His head came up, his eyes narrowed and he growled with unabashed antagonism.

“Okay, no.” Amalie dropped his hand, which was already starting to heal, and pointed a finger at him. “You’re not going to interrogate him or threaten him or whatever.”

His eyes still pinned on the door, Xavier gave her a lazy shrug. “If he’s a true Pantera male he won’t have a problem with that.”

She gave him a warning glare before hurrying to the door. As she opened it, she felt him come up behind her. Damned puma. Damned mother hen.

Standing on the porch in a pair of black jeans and a white dress shirt, looking far handsomer than she’d ever seen him, Hiss grinned at her. “Wow.”

Mal grinned back. “Hey, Hiss.”

His gray eyes moved over her. “You look beautiful, Hunter.”

“Yes, she does,” Xavier said, moving out from behind to stand beside her.

Mal rolled her eyes. “You know Xavier.”

Hiss tore his gaze from Mal and acknowledged Xavier with a nod. “How’s it going, X?”

“Great. You?”

“Fantastic. You going to the festival?”

Mal answered before Xavier had a chance. “No. He has to work.”

Shrugging, grinning, Hiss said, “Too bad,” then turned back to Mal. “Ready? Because that moon is turning violet as we stand here.”

She nodded, then stepped out onto the porch. “Have a nice night, Xavier.”

As they walked down the path, Mal glanced back over her shoulder. She probably shouldn’t have, but as usual she couldn’t stop herself when it came to looking at the gorgeous Geek. Her heart trembled with what she saw. Cast in the dark lavender light of the Pantera moon, Xavier looked severe and sexy. And ominous. And hungry. He was standing in the doorway, his massive frame barely allowing the light inside the house to peek through, his piercing blue eyes trained on her. Vehemence fairly radiated from him. As she turned and headed for town with Hiss, she prayed that envy was the emotion that sparked that look. And if it was, that Xavier might finally do something about it.

He was an idiot.

But it couldn’t be helped.

The air circulating within the Wildlands was ripe and heady with the scent of purple water lily. A strange, yet addictive aroma. The Pantera’s birth lily—the first flower to grow on their new land back when Opela created them—was purported to have a magical property that infused the Pantera in happiness, warmth and, for those who were mated or wished to be, a sensual euphoria.

Fine for most, Xavier mused, heading down the shop-lined street toward the center of town. But not the type of magic he wanted his wild little kitten exposed to.

Not unsupervised at any rate.

After she’d left, side by side with the Hunter, Xavier had gotten a call from Robby. The Geek had found a couple of interesting instant messages on Isi’s store computer. At first, they’d reminded Xavier of poetry. But after several listens, he’d recognized the strange collection of words as protection spells, and had given Robby the go-ahead to follow that IM trail.

I should be working the keyboard too, he thought darkly. Not tracking and spying. Hanging out in the shadows of one of the town’s many produce stands, scanning the Pantera’s merriment for Amalie, making sure she acted sane—and that her Hunter male escort acted like a gentleman.

Deep in the shadows of the empty stand, Xavier let his gaze travel over the square. Given the limited amount of prep time, the Pantera had created quite a spectacle. Purple and lavender flowers and ribbons were everywhere, on tables, strung from tree to tree. In one corner, a Cajun band—five Suits who had played last year—was kicking up some fine, foot-stomping music. And warring with the scent of water lily, some of the species’ best cooks were working over open flames, creating culinary magic and sending it out to the masses who were at tables, both long and intimate, around the wood floor that had been laid out for dancing. As usual, the food was being served family-style, passed around from table to table. Xavier’s belly growled as he scented rich gumbos and crawfish, meat pies, vegetables, bread pudding and fruit. When he spotted his favorite, alligator sausage, he nearly howled.

But it was the sound of laughter—a female’s laughter—over the din that made that sound truly exit his lips.

His eyes scanned the square, the diners, dancers, even a small group of shifted Pantera, who were sport fighting a yard or two away from the band. Where are you, Female? I hear your laughter. He didn’t like that the male Hunter had caused such a reaction in her—had caused that beautiful face to break into the most infectious fucking smile in the world. No one should be making her laugh. No one, but—

Before he could finish with ‘but me’ the music changed. From rocking bluegrass to a slow, Cajun waltz. As if the calming sound brought on another level of clarity to his vision, Xavier turned to see the pair at one of the small tables set apart from the others. They were standing up, their plates cleaned, and were heading for the dance floor. His hand clasping hers, the Hunter male led Amalie into the small crowd of couples and took her in his arms.

Xavier’s body went rigid.

Sure, she deserved this night. And yes, she should have some fun. But why did it have to be with this male? This male who seemed like a decent guy, not like that slobbering dog back at The Cougar’s Den. This male who acted respectful, and looked at her like he genuinely wanted to pursue something after tonight.

Amalie could actually like this male, he thought with a twist to his gut.

Shit, Aristide could like this male.

Without weighing the rights or wrongs of his actions, Xavier abandoned the shadows of the produce stand and headed toward the dance floor. He didn’t want to be a prick. Didn’t want to be a pushy bastard who claimed something he had no right to claim. But the desire to take Amalie from Hiss’s arms was too strong to fight against.

Eyes pinned to them, Xavier moved easily and swiftly through the crowd. The song ended, and Hiss and Amalie were just stopping to clap when Xavier came up beside them.

“Mind if I cut in?” he said in the most forced polite voice in the world.

With a soft gasp, Amalie turned to look at him. Her eyes widened and she shook her head as if to say, ‘Are you crazy?’ He probably was, but he couldn’t stop himself.

Hiss, however, grinned broadly. “Good to see you here, X. No one should be working tonight.” Then he turned to Amalie. “I’ll get us a couple of drinks, okay?”

“Thanks, Hiss,” she said sweetly. But the moment the Hunter was out of earshot, she whirled on Xavier and spat out, “What are you doing here? Spying on me?”

“Yes.”

She looked momentarily stunned by his honesty.

His eyes moved over her face and he closed the distance between them. “You look beautiful tonight.” His arms went around her, and he started to move to the music. “Hot.”

All the tension left her body and her face split into the most incredible smile he’d ever seen. “Thank you.”

One dark eyebrow lifted as he amended, “Too hot.”

Her mouth quirked. “Bastard.”

He smiled and eased her closer. Her warm, soft skin beneath his palms, her gentle weight. She felt like heaven in his arms. And the scent of her mixed with the scent of purple water lily was acting like a drug on his control. Xavier’s skin hummed with awareness, and in that moment there was nothing he wanted more than to pull her away from the crowd, ease her into the shadows where he’d once stood looking for her, and remove her pretty dress with his teeth.

Blood surged into his cock, making him hard.

No. Fuck, no. His mind was playing tricks. He couldn’t have her. Not tonight. Not any night. But then again, neither could Hiss. He couldn’t allow that either. No matter how nice and respectful the male was, no one else was going to touch her. He wouldn’t allow it. Neither would his puma. A growl formed in his throat. The water lily’s scent was capturing him, surely. What else could be the reason for these possessive thoughts?

“Come with me,” he ordered, taking her by the hand and leading her off the dance floor.

“Talk about déjà vu,” she said dryly. “Where are you going, Xavier? Hiss is coming back.”

Ignoring her question, Xavier eased her into the shadows of the produce stand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hiss, drinks in hand, searching the dance floor.

She isn’t yours. Not now. Never ever.

Curling her around him, pressing her back to the faded-white walls of the stand, Xavier coiled over her and inhaled deeply.

Amalie stared up at him, her breathing labored. “What’s wrong with you?”

Wrong? He nearly laughed. Shit, he was out of his mind. Drugged. Had to be. “I want to leave.”

Irritation flashed in her green eyes and she made a move to get past him. “Then go.”

But he placed a hand on either side of her and shook his head. “I want you to come with me.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“You got your touch,” he whispered. “Your flirting. Your date.”

“It’s not enough. It’s nothing. I want more.”

A snarl escaped his throat and he leaned in close to her face, almost until they were nose to nose. “That Hunter touches you again and I’ll hurt him.”

Amalie growled at him and tried to back up, but there was nothing but wall. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I’m protecting you.”

“From what? From Hiss? He’s a good male.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Then from what? Being held? Kissed? Those are normal things, Xavier.”

His puma scratched to break free, and he nuzzled her nose with his own. “Dammit, Amalie.”

“Come on, Xavier. Don’t do this to me,” she uttered, her tone pained. “Don’t hold me, block me. It’s not fair. Especially coming from you. Do you really expect me to go through life alone? Without being kissed? Staying a virgin—”

She never finished her thought. The word—no, the image—drove Xavier and his puma over the fucking edge. With a snarl of possession, he slid his thigh between her legs and covered her mouth with his own, kissing her long and hard and deep.

Oh, fuck, the taste.

Xavier’s mind exploded into tiny fragments of desire. The taste of her was beyond what he’d ever imagined. Sweet and hot and liquid, and hungry. Fuck, so hungry. And he wanted to consume her. Fill his body with hers.

Her arms went around his neck and she moaned into his mouth. The sound went straight to his dick, and he nipped at her, suckled her lower lip, then kissed her passionately once again. Oh Christ, this was it. She was perfect. His perfect. The way she moved, touched him, molded to him—wanted him. He’d never be able to go back from here. He’d felt her and tasted her now. Her heat and her desire belonged to him. How could he ever let another soul get close to her again?

And then her hands moved down to his shoulders and his back, her nails digging into his skin as her teeth bit at his tongue, and he lost all control. All that remained in the darkness, in the shadows, were two desperate, ravenous puma shifters. Groaning her name, Xavier crushed her against him, ravaged her mouth, pressed his thigh up harder against her sex, feeling the wet heat of her pussy. He wanted inside her, belonged inside her. He wanted to take her—lift up her dress, rip off her panties and fuck her right there. He didn’t care who saw them. In fact, in that moment, he wanted spectators. Wanted every last Pantera male to know who Amalie belonged to.

The thought killed him. Stopped him.

As did the look in her drowsy, sex-hazed eyes when he eased back from her.

“Shit,” he whispered so close to her mouth their breath co-mingled.

She swallowed, her eyes trying to focus. “Xavier.”

His name on her lips had Xavier’s cock straining against the zipper of his jeans. His eyes cut left, past her ear. Hiss was still searching, irritation and concern playing about his features. “I’m so sorry, Amalie.”

“Don’t say that,” she warned.

“Oh, fuck, this was a mistake.”

“Or that.”

He wanted to let her go, release her, but he couldn’t make himself do it. Though Hiss hadn’t seen them yet, he was drawing closer to where they hid. A low, terrifying growl erupted from Xavier’s throat, and he knew that if the Hunter male got within a foot of Amalie right now, he might actually attack, maybe even kill him. He was that jacked up—that proprietary. His puma snarled and ripped at his insides, and to save himself, and possibly the Hunter male as well, he allowed it to break free.

He stumbled back, away from Amalie, and shifted into his cat.

“Xavier,” she said, her voice threaded with heat.

He looked at her for one brief moment, saw her anger and hurt, and enduring lust, and let his puma snarl and hiss before turning and stalking away. From the party, the food, the music, the sexually-charged atmosphere.

And from the female he could never taste again—no matter how desperately he wanted her.

CHAPTER SIX

Furious and turned-on so badly she just wanted to go to her room and find comfort in her own hand, Mal burst into the house. Poor Hiss. He deserved an amazing female. Not some dope with a relentless crush. The Hunter male was gorgeous and honorable, and more than a few female eyes had covetously followed him around the fete tonight. He could’ve stayed—should’ve stayed—when she’d told him she wanted to go home. But he’d insisted on escorting her.

While Xavier had left her alone, panting, confused and pissed off.

Xavier.

That goddamn male had ruined her. Truly. First when she had fallen in both lust and love for him on that birthday in the bayou, and now tonight, when he’d given her a moment of that fantasy, then ripped it away. No, not just ripped it away, but ripped it into shreds.

As she slammed the door and started down the hall, the memory of his hands on her, his mouth on her, mingled with his apologies and regrets. Fuck him, she didn’t want it—neither one. Why couldn’t he get that? She wasn’t asking for a future or a promise or a mating. All she wanted was him.

For him to be her first.

The sound of running water curbed her emotional and frustrated thoughts momentarily, and instead of heading for her room, she turned down the hall toward the door that led to the outside shower. She knew who was out there, in there. With every step, every shaky breath, her hand curling around the door handle, she warned herself to stop and walk away. Go into your room, take care of yourself and go to sleep.

But like the cat she was, her hunger for prey—shit, for the prey of a lifetime—could not be quelled. For better or for worse, Xavier was her fantasy, her addiction, and he was in there, nude, wet, steam rising off his thickly muscled body. She had to see it. See him.

Without another thought, she pulled off her dress, panties and bra, and tossed them to the ground.

His hand wrapped around his cock, Xavier leaned against the rock wall, hot water pummeling his shoulders and back. He was such a fuck. Touching her, tasting her. He had no self-control and no honor. And he couldn’t blame it on the fete or the moon or the purple lilies. That stunning need, that irrepressible want, it still ran through him like a vindictive snake in his blood.

Groaning, growling, he pumped himself from root to tip, trying like hell to see a blank screen on the lids of his eyes. But it was no use. She was there now. Imprinted. In that dress and out of it. Smiling at him, laughing, biting his lip as her nails dug into the skin of his back.

Come leaked from the tip of his dick and he ran his fingers over the head. But as he slid his palm back up his shaft, a warm hand suddenly closed around his and squeezed.

“Releasing some tension?” a female voice whispered seductively.

Xavier’s head jacked up, his eyes slammed open and he released his hold on his cock. “What the hell, Amalie—”

She wrapped her hand around his shaft again and uttered, “Don’t move.” Then looked up at him with accusing eyes. “You kissed me tonight.”

Her hand, hot and soft, held him with such possessive skill. He groaned, “Oh, fuck.”

“That’s not an answer, an explanation or an apology.” Wearing nothing but a fierce, highly sexual smile, she tightened her grip on his cock.

Christ, he wanted to move, wanted to thrust into her hot, little palm. “It was a mistake, Amalie,” he ground out, his heart slamming against his ribs.

“Maybe.” She snarled softly. “Probably. But it happened, and I can’t forget it. Can you?”

His cock turned to steel in her hand.

Feeling what she did to him—what just her words did to him—she grinned and started to stroke him. “I didn’t think so.”

Cursing inwardly, Xavier stared at her, his nostrils flaring with each breath he dragged into his lungs. Steam raged around them, but it did nothing to mask her nude body. Her insanely hot nude body. He’d imagined, fantasized about what she’d look like under her clothes, standing before him, stretched out on his bed, her arms above her head. But it was nothing to the reality. She was perfection. Her legs were long and tight with muscle, her small waist flared upward to strong, toned arms and luscious shoulders. But it was her chest, her large, heavy breasts that made his mouth water and his hands fist in anticipation.

“Why did you come home early, Amalie?” he said hoarsely, his gaze flipping up to meet hers.

Beautiful dark green eyes flared with emerald heat. “I got tired of playing games. Pretending. It wasn’t fair to Hiss.”

“Hiss.” His eyes narrowed. “Did the Hunter male touch you?”

Her tongue darted out to swipe at her bottom lip. “The only one who touched me tonight was you, Xavier.” She reached down with her other hand and cupped his heavy sack, rolled his balls between her fingers. “And it wasn’t enough. In fact, it was a goddamn tease.”

The muscles in his abdomen tensed and he groaned. “Fuck…You’re going to make me come.”

“Good.” She drew closer to him, under the hot spray, her strokes to his shaft growing faster, tighter. “Tell me.”

“What?” His body flexed in anticipation of climax, and he had to do everything in his power not to grab her hips and ram her up against the stone wall, fuck her blind—fuck her blissful.

“Tell me why you didn’t want me with him,” she said, her words a whispered demand.

He pinned her with a predatory stare and growled out, “I don’t want you with anyone.”

She leaned even closer, pumping him off as she brushed her pebbled nipples against his chest. “Why? Tell me why.”

“No one’s good enough for you, Amalie,” he rasped, his cock growing harder, thicker.

“Not even you?”

He cursed and thrust himself into her fist. “Especially not me.”

“That’s bullshit,” she said before dipping her head to his chest. “And you know it. Christ, you’d better know it.”

She didn’t say another word. Her mouth closed around his nipple, and as she stroked him, played with him, she sucked and scraped her teeth across his flesh.

Xavier was lost to what he knew to be right and wrong. What he believed she deserved. She had taken him over. She owned him. And there was no going back. He bucked, ground his hips, pistoning his cock into her soft, wicked hand as she stroked him fast. His balls tightened, filled with come, and he growled her name. His hips jerked, and hot seed burst from the head of his dick. As he came all over her hands and belly, she bit down lightly on his nipple, causing him to groan and curse, and utter her name. Over and over.

It took him only seconds to come awake, even with climax still shuddering through him. Hunger and need like he’d never known assaulted his mind and he had to have her or he was going to lose it. Snarling, his puma just millimeters below his skin, Xavier wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her up, set her back against the shower wall, safe from the heavy spray.

“You just unlocked the puma’s cage, Amalie,” he said, his eyes pinned on her, his voice a dangerous, deep purr. “And he’s hungry.”

Mal felt a delicious unease move through her as Xavier lowered to one knee before her. She might be a virgin, but she was no innocent. She was Pantera, and the ways of mating were not hidden behind a curtain of immoral shame. They were offered as a way to connect, to love, to allow the puma a chance to feel human touch, and the human self a way to react with animal-like hunger. More than once, she’d come across couples in the forest, kissing, touching, even fucking, as she’d been on patrol. Normally, she’d left them to it, darted off in the opposite direction. But there had been a few times she’d stopped to watch. Hidden behind a tree, her heart pounding, her sex growing tight and wet as she observed what she’d wanted so badly.

What she’d saved for the male on his knees before her.

Xavier’s ice-blue eyes drifted up her belly, to her ribs and breasts. He watched as her nipples beaded, as her chest rose and fell quickly with her excited breathing. She knew what he intended to do to her, where his mouth would go—his tongue—and as his hands wrapped around her ankles and raked upward, she moaned with anticipation.

Steam continued to rise and coil around them, protecting the moment. Xavier’s eyes connected with hers then and she felt that hungry, fierce stare deep inside her sex. The greedy, eager muscles clenched, and her thighs trembled. She had to fist her hands to keep them from grabbing the back of his head and slamming his face into her pussy.

“So beautiful,” he rumbled, looking at her. “Beautiful, beautiful Amalie.”

Her heart squeezed with his words. He had no idea, no clue how long she’d waited to hear him talk to her that way. With both tenderness and sexual desire. It ripped her open, left her vulnerable, and she whimpered.

“Shh,” he whispered, his hands lightly grazing her inner thighs as he trailed upward to her sex. When he reached her mound, he gently spread her lips wide and released a sensual groan. “Beautiful Amalie has a beautiful cunt.”

It was as if Mal lost all brain function after that. As he dipped his head, ran his tongue from her opening up to her clit, she became one trembling, bundle of nerves. The feeling was too good, too overwhelmingly perfect to contain. Bracing her hands on either side of the shower walls, she watched him, his dark head between her thighs, his tongue lightly flicking over her clit. Groans escaped him, and he eased one finger inside her.

She gasped with instant pleasure. Her body had only ever known the thrust of her own fingers, and while that had felt good, this—Xavier’s thick digit deep inside of her—was a thousand times better.

“Oh, Amalie,” he growled against her swollen bud. “You are so tight. So hot. You wrap around me. Your sweet, honeyed walls tremble around me.”

Mal’s eyes closed and she let her head fall back against the stone, let the steam envelop her.

“That’s right,” Xavier said, easing a second finger inside her and pumping her gently. “Let me make you feel good, Amalie. Let me make you come so hard you scream. God, there’s nothing I want more than to please you.”

His mouth found her sex once again, and as he fingered her, deeper and deeper with each thrust, he suckled her clit, drawing on it, sending her to the purple moon and back. Her fingernails dug into the rock walls, and she whimpered and bucked against his hungry mouth as her arousal made his sexy jaw glisten.

Just when she thought she was going to explode, Xavier drew back and gentled his touch. His tongue swirled around her swollen, sensitive bud, flicking it back and forth until she gulped in air. But it was his purr that did her in, made her still, made her moan into the hot, steamy air. The vibration curled up from the back of his throat and hit his tongue.

The tongue that was pressed lightly against her clit.

With a pained, delicious cry, she fell apart under his mouth, her knees buckling, her thighs shaking. Pulling his fingers from her drenched sex, Xavier grabbed her ass, held her up as he kissed her shaking mound and licked her cream.

It seemed like hours before she came down, before her legs stopped trembling, before he stopped pleasuring her and rested his head on her abdomen.

“Xavier,” she mumbled incoherently. “Take me to bed.”

For several seconds, he remained silent. Then he released her and stood up. The pained and guilty expression on his gorgeous face combined with the wetness around his mouth, made her growl.

She wanted to lick him. Taste herself on him.

And then he cursed and shook his head, and ruined it for the both of them.

“Goddamn you.” Her heart lurched. “You want me. I know you do.”

“That’s not the point,” he ground out.

Her gaze searched his. “Do you think this was a mistake?”

“Oh, Amalie.”

“Do you?” she demanded, feeling suddenly naked and cold and vulnerable.

“It shouldn’t have happened.” He looked away, his jaw as tight as the rest of him. “Fuck me.”

“Yes. Fuck you.”

Enough. This had to be it. This had to kill her goddamn crush once and for all, right?

Wrong, her heart whispered as it clenched miserably.

She pushed past him, stumbled out of the shower and into the fragrant night air. Tears blurred her vision as she rushed into the house and headed down the hall. What an idiot. What a stupid, foolish female. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was still a cub. Because only a cub would harbor a crush for so damned long. Only a cub would react this way: hurt and miserable, yet desperate for more. A grown female would take her orgasm and walk away satisfied.

She slammed the door to her bedroom, and headed for her bed. She was cold and wet beneath her covers, due to the fact that she hadn’t dried off. But she didn’t care. She just wanted to cry in peace.

She didn’t hear the door open, didn’t hear Xavier pad across the floor. She only sensed him, scented him, when the mattress dipped with his weight, and he curled up behind her.

“Don’t ever say fuck you to me,” he whispered into the curve of her ear.

She swallowed a sob. “Why not? You deserve it.”

“Maybe, but it hurts me. Cuts me deep, Beautiful.”

Swiping the tears from her eyes, she growled and rolled around to face him, connect with those killer blue eyes. “How can you say that? When it’s you who’s hurting me. Every time you reject me. Every time you say this is a mistake—that we’re a mistake.”

“I have to say that,” he ground out, his eyes flaring with sudden and passionate heat. “Shit, Amalie.” He reached out and brushed her hair off her cheek, then kept his palm there. “If I take you to bed, if I mate you, I’ll claim you. Do you understand me?”

Her insides tensed. Claimed. She stared at him.

His eyes bore into hers, and he growled. “You’ll be mine, goddamit.”

“I want to be yours,” she said, shaking her head. “Tonight, tomorrow, for the next three days—”

“No, Amalie,” he cut her off, his tone deadly serious. “You’ll be mine for a lifetime.”

His words silenced her, made her chest ache and her mind race with thoughts, memories and wishes. She wasn’t sure how to feel. She didn’t want him to fuck her and stick around out of obligation. And wasn’t that what he was saying? That if he slept with her, he’d feel obligated to claim her?

“Xavier, I’m not asking for anything more than this,” she began. “Three days of this. I’m not asking for a commitment, a mating—”

He cut her off again, but this time with a deep, hungry kiss. It was so intense and toe-curling, Mal couldn’t stop herself from moaning and snuggling in closer and wrapping her arms around his neck.

When he broke the kiss, his breathing labored and his eyes dilated, her body and her puma purred.

“This isn’t about you asking, Amalie,” he said with animal-like ferocity. “This isn’t even about what you want—though fuck, I want to give you everything. It’s about me. My regret in all of this is that because I’ve given in to what I want, what I’m hungry for, I don’t think I can ever let you go. And if I fuck you, if our bodies connect, you will not be able to walk away from me. I won’t allow it. You’ll be mine. Forever. Always. No one will look at you without me growling at them. No one will touch you without getting their paws ripped off.” He reached around her, grabbed her ass and hauled her tight against him. “Even now, with your cream on my tongue, down my throat, inside of me, I don’t know if I can let you go.”

Staring at him, her mouth open, Mal felt as though both her head and her heart might explode. “Xavier…”

“No, no,” he uttered hoarsely, his hands raking up her ass to stroke her lower back. “Not tonight, Beautiful. No more tonight. Just let me hold you while you sleep. Let me feel your warmth, your skin against mine.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Light shocked the backs of Xavier’s eyes as he came awake. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d slept all night—been able to sleep all night. Normally, his mind was so thick with ideas, moving too rapidly as he built codes and cracked codes, that he couldn’t calm himself enough to sleep well.

But last night had been different.

He growled softly, reveling in the heat and sweet scent of the female curled up into him, her back against his chest and groin. Nothing had prepared him for the depth of desire he’d experienced on his knees before her in the shower. The surge of possessiveness. Even as he held her now, even as his cock filled with blood and grew hard against his belly, he felt it.

Mine.

The haze of sleep still within him, Xavier lowered his head and kissed the back of her neck. She had the most beautiful skin, softness over lean muscle. He was about to follow the line of her backbone with his mouth, all the way down to the curve of her sweet ass, and into heaven once again, when his smartphone rang out from the living room. He wanted to ignore it. He even lifted his hand toward the door and flipped it off, but he knew it could be news about the camera’s owner, perhaps even news about Chayton. They were counting on him—Raphael, Ashe, the elders, the Pantera—he’d given his word.

With a quick kiss to her shoulder, promising himself he’d be back beneath the sheets before she even woke up, Xavier left the warmth of her bed and padded out into the hallway.

He swiped the phone from the top of the couch, pressed the answer button and muttered in an irritated voice, “Yeah.”

“Shit, X.” Captain’s laughter rang out on the other end. “Wrong side of the bed?”

Right side. Perfect side. “What’s going on, Cap?”

“I have something for you. Got your computer open?”

Rounding the couch, Xavier had both computers open, and his cell on speaker before he even sat down. “Go.”

“Tracked down the store that sold the camera,” Captain said, his voice booming through the speaker Xavier had attached to one of the computers.

Xavier could hear the male working the keyboard hard and fast. “With the serial number?”

“Yep.”

“Show me.”

Instantly, both the camera shop website and a copy of the receipt popped up on his screen. Xavier enhanced it while Captain explained, “This place stores their records digitally, which is a space saver, but there was a weakness in their backup files I used my genius to exploit.”

Xavier snorted at the male’s smugness. “No address?” he asked, his fingers moving over the keyboard a mile a minute.

“Whoever bought it paid in cash and in person.”

“Fuck me.”

“No, no, bro. Here’s the part you’re going to love.” His puma grin was practically audible. “Maybe it’ll even pull you out of the shit-tastic mood you’re in.”

“Doubt it.” He forced his mind to focus. Not on the bed and the warm, wet naked female within it, but on his work.

“Our camera owner emailed the store,” Captain told him proudly.

“No shit.”

“A service problem. Seems the camera’s battery life wasn’t as long as promised.”

This was good. Damned good. He’d been hoping, but so far the leads had gone dead. Could their target have actually left a digital fingerprint for them? “You trace it?”

“Yeah. No luck yet. The trail keeps bouncing all over the globe. Whoever we’re dealing with has definitely got an encrypted router on his PC—or whatever computer he or she is using.”

Xavier grinned as the email address popped up on his screen. “Could we possibly be dealing with a techie here?”

“I don’t know. But either way, this is your department now. No one cracks code like you, mon ami. It’s fucking art.”

“Thanks, brother. Soon as I get a location I’m going to check it out in person, see if this human can lead us to Chayton. I’ll be on the cell if you guys need me.”

Captain paused, then sniffed. “Tracking offline and on foot? Isn’t that a Hunter’s job?”

“Why, yes, it is,” came a female voice behind him.

Xavier whirled around, growled at the intruder. The very sexy, nearly naked, intruder. She was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, wearing only a tank top that barely covered her shaved mound. Blood surged into his dick, and even though his fellow Geek couldn’t see shit through his phone, Xavier felt possessive ire barrel through him.

“Gotta go, Cap,” he muttered to the male. “I’ll be in touch.”

Xavier didn’t even wait for the male to reply, just hit the off button and stood. “You should’ve stayed in bed.”

“Why? Were you planning on coming back?”

“Hell, yes.”

As her mouth curved into a wicked grin, her gaze drifted down his body, lingering on the thick erection pressing against his lower abdomen. “Too bad we have to go. Get to work.”

The word we wasn’t lost on Xavier, and he shook his head. “Not happening, Beautiful.”

She leaned against the door, the action causing the edges of her tank to lift, giving him an unobstructed view of her glorious pussy.

His mouth watered. God, he wanted to taste her again. Spread her thighs and send his tongue up inside her slick, hot channel until she screamed.

But that spot in hell beside Shakpi was growing closer by the second.

“I’m one of the best trackers in the Wildlands, Xavier,” she said, her eyes searching his now.

“I’m going outside of the Wildlands, Amalie,” he countered.

Her kitty cat grin widened. “Perfect. We could use a break.”

“From the Pantera or from each other?”

“I’ll leave that answer to you.” She crossed her arms, grabbed the edges of her tank and pulled it over her head. Naked, her nipples hardening, her eyes still pinned to him, she tossed the white strip of fabric at him. “You could always leave me here. Alone.” She laughed softly. “Or not.”

Come leaked from the head of his dick, and a growl escaped his throat. “You play dirty.”

“Oh, Xavier,” she purred, “you have no idea.”

She would be the death of him. Or maybe the life. He wasn’t sure which option worried him more. But either way, it wasn’t going to get examined in that moment. He was too worked up, and she was too tempting.

“Fine,” he ground out. “Put on some goddamn clothes before I fuck you against that door.”

“Promises, promises,” she called as she turned around and strode back into her room.

Her arms wrapped around Xavier’s waist, she reveled in the feel of his back against her chest and the motorcycle’s engine between her legs. It wasn’t as hot as riding on his puma, but it was pretty damn close.

Getting dressed and leaving the house, and the Wildlands, had taken supreme effort on both of their parts. But the reminder of why they needed to go on this mission, search out any clues to Chayton’s whereabouts—find the human male before their enemies did—had sobered their desire.

The heat of the day grew thicker as they drew closer to Lafayette. Insects hit the plastic visors of their helmets, and Mal wished she’d worn something lighter than a black leather jacket over her blue tank. Xavier’s friend had tracked the IP address to two possible locations. A coffee shop in Lafayette and a cabin in the swamps. They’d gone to the coffee shop first. The owner had been friendly enough, but hadn’t given them anything major to go on. Seemed folks with laptops were in and out of the shop all day long. The human male explained that he recognized some of them, didn’t know others, but he rarely got intimate enough with anyone to glean personal information.

Now, as the day started to wane into late afternoon, they were headed for the cabin.

“Wrap your arms tighter around me, Amalie,” Xavier called back to her as he took a curve with practiced skill.

“I’m not going to fall off,” she shouted.

“Who said anything about you falling off?” He took one hand off the bars and used it to press her arms closer. “I just like the feel of you.”

She grinned and rubbed her chin against his shoulder. Fantasy or reality. For three days or one. It just didn’t matter. She’d never felt so happy. “I won’t forget you said that,” she called to him.

He growled back, “Good.”

After another stretch of curves, one hill and a bumpy-ass bridge, Xavier finally slowed and pulled onto a road marked, ‘Swamp Estates. Private Property.’ As they kicked up crazy amounts of dust on the dirt pathway, Amalie couldn’t help laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Xavier asked as they entered a small parking lot and slid into one of many empty spots.

“Estates is really pushing things,” she said as he killed the engine and got off the bike. “Rustic cabins is way more like it.”

Xavier glanced over his shoulder at the ten or so cabins dotting the swamp’s lip in the distance. “Never underestimate the subliminal powers of marketing, Beautiful.” He turned back to face her, his eyes flashing. “Sometimes to accept what we’re given in this life, to be content with it, we have to amplify or change its value.”

Good god, was it possible that she loved this male even more for his incredible brain than his knee-weakening body? She studied him. And tried to pretend she hadn’t just used the word ‘love’ in her mental query regarding how she felt about him.

“Have you ever done that?” she asked. “Changed the value of something you had to accept?”

“Sure.”

Her heart stuttered. “When?”

He didn’t answer right away, seemed to be mulling something over in his head. Then he glanced past her to the road they’d just traveled, and scrubbed a hand over his face. “When my father died.”

It was something she’d known about, had heard about, but they hadn’t been close enough to talk about back then. She hoped they were now. Or getting there. She fought the urge to reach for his hand. She didn’t want to do anything to stop him from opening up to her, being vulnerable. “How did you amplify that? Or change its value?”

With a tight exhale, his gaze slid back to meet hers. “I got to have two families.”

It took her all of five seconds to glean his meaning, but it made her gut ache. His family was Aristide, maybe even her. And he’d crossed a line he hadn’t wanted to cross. “I understand.”

“Do you?” he asked, his eyes now piercing in the light of the late afternoon sun. “Because I really need you to.”

Before Mal could answer, the rumbling sounds of a car coming up the dirt path rent the air. It was coming fast toward them, into the parking lot, kicking up a shitload of dust. Her Hunter instincts kicking into high gear, Mal grabbed Xavier’s hand, and took off for the shelter of the trees down near the swamp.

Silently, they watched the car slide into a parking space and stop with a sputter and a groan. When the door opened and a woman got out, Mal turned to Xavier and whispered, “She look familiar? From any of the shop pictures on the drive?”

He shook his head.

She pressed him. “You sure? There had to have been a ton of film.”

He turned and gave her a lopsided grin. “I have a photographic memory, Beautiful.”

Her heart freaking swooned, and she uttered dryly, “Of course you do.”

He laughed softly. “It’s a damn inconvenience. Every inch of your body…” He tapped his temple. “All up here and never going away.”

“Good.” It was her turn to grin now.

He motioned for her to follow. “Come.”

“You have the cabin number, right?”

“I think so,” he said, following the water, keeping to the shadows, the shade. “If I can remember it.”

She gave him a playful push, laughing softly. At which he growled, and yanked her to his side. But as they drew closer to the cabins, they quieted, moving swiftly, listening, eyes wary as they passed the rustic dwellings, their screened porches overlooking the cypress swamp, now tinted peach in the light of the late-afternoon sun.

“Are we breaking and entering?” she asked, wiping sweat from her brow. “Or just lying in wait to grab the guy?”

He turned his gaze on her. “That’s the Hunters way, isn’t it, Amalie? No talk, all action.”

“Not this Hunter,” she said in a hushed voice as they approached the rear of the cabin. “I like talk. Lots of it. In my ear is good. Against my mouth even better.”

With a soft snarl, he whirled around and caught her up in his arms. His ice blue eyes narrowed with heat. “Don’t make me regret bringing you.”

“Oh, you won’t.” With a crooked smile, she pulled away from him. “I have the nose after all.”

“The nose, the eyes, the mouth, the ass…”

She glanced back and winked at him, then darted away, quick and quiet, to the side door of the cabin. She was there only a few seconds, when Xavier came up behind her, whispered in her ear, “Well?”

She shivered. In the ninety-plus degree weather, she actually shivered. “No one’s in there.”

“No body heat.”

She glanced over her shoulder and grinned. “No body heat and no heartbeat. Should we wait inside?”

He shook his head. “Maybe in another cabin close by. Maybe in the trees.”

She looked up at the massive cypress overhead. “If only I could access my puma,” she whispered. “I hate that we can’t shift outside the Wildlands. It’s so inconvenient.” Then her eyes slid down to meet his and she added, “And that pussy of mine really knows how to dig in her nails and climb.”

Her suggestive tone and words had Xavier’s nostrils flaring, and he took her hand and led her away from the cabin and back toward the swamp. “I think we’ll stay out of the trees for today,” he grumbled. “Come, Female.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Liar!”

“Excuse me?” Xavier didn’t spare her a glance, though he wanted to. Shit, he always wanted to. After all, she looked hot. Jeans, tank, smooth, tanned skin with a light sheen of sweat. His tongue twitched inside his mouth at the image, at the yearning to taste her salty skin. But he had to set his position, make sure he could see if and when someone returned to that cabin.

“You said no trees, and look at this,” she said behind him.

Crouched inside the shelter of a massive fallen cypress, Xavier shrugged. “No climbing was needed.” He narrowed his eyes at the screened porch a couple hundred yards away. “We’re protected here. We can see everything, and no one can see us.”

“We could be protected inside one of those cabins bracketing our camera owner.”

Xavier glanced over his shoulder. Damn, she looked beautiful. Edible. “You looking for some comfort on this mission, Hunter?” he asked.

Her lips twitched. “No,” she returned haughtily, the leaves of the cypress overhead traveling back and forth across her back. “I’m just saying there are options…”

“Like carpet and walls and indoor plumbing?”

She shook her head. “You’re such a guy.”

“Damn right,” he said, then growled softly. “Wait, what does that mean?”

She laughed. “With what you have between your legs, you don’t need indoor plumbing. Us females…well, let’s just say it’s an awkward act without it. Out of our fur, at any rate. ”

He laughed with her. “I can ask if there are any vacancies here. Hell, maybe I’ll just kick out some nice couple celebrating their mating night if it would please you.”

She sobered suddenly, and her expression went soft, sensual. Even her tone was far more tantalizing than teasing. “You want to please me?”

Christ, she made him insane. His hands curled into fists, and a low, husky growl exited his throat. “Don’t act so surprised, Hunter. I may be a closed book when it comes to sharing feelings and all that sappy bullshit, but don’t pretend you don’t know how affected I am by you. How my body twitches and hardens and sweats every fucking moment you’re around. Pleasing you?” He laughed darkly. “It’s on my mind constantly.”

Her breathing quickened, making her cheeks flush and her spectacular chest rise and fall.

“Well, you’re not the only one,” she said, her eyes pinned to his.

“What do you mean?”

A slow, sexy grin played about her lips. “Pleasing me is on my mind constantly, too.”

“You!” With a fierce growl, Xavier forgot everything—where he was, why he was there—and leapt on top of her, forcing her to her back on the soft moss. Snarling down at her, he rasped, “You…Dammit…You…”

She gazed up at him, breathing so hard, she could hardly get the word, “What?” out of her mouth.

“You make me crazy,” he growled.

She raked her hands up his chest. “Good.”

“You make me hungry,” he continued, his eyes narrowed slits as he ground his hips, his hard cock, against her sex.

“Finally,” she uttered, grinning, her hands moving down, over his stomach toward his hips.

He groaned, knowing where she was headed. “You make me…God, Amalie…”

“What, Xavier? Tell me. Please, tell me.”

“You make me so fucking happy.”

The words were out of his mouth before he could take them back. Not that he wanted to. They were true. He’d never felt anything close to this with anyone. He wanted her. Not just a night—or three—of hot, mindless fucking. No. He wanted her.

Amalie’s hands froze near his hipbones and her eyes searched his. Within their incredible green depths, he saw her heart. Saw how she felt about him. How she’d always felt about him. And if he wasn’t mistaken, he saw his own heart reflected there, too.

Suddenly, her face broke with a grin, and she whispered, “By the way, I don’t think anyone would be having their mating night here.”

“Why not?” he asked, his hands cupping her face. Her soft, beautiful face.

“It’s just not very romantic. The swamp, the bugs.”

He ran his thumb across her lower lip. “You sure you’re a Hunter, Amalie?”

Her soft, sexy laughter went straight to his dick. “All I’m saying is that when you mate, or marry as the humans say, you want that first night to be special.”

His expression grew serious and he leaned down and kissed her lower lip. “No bugs?” he whispered.

She nodded, lifting her chin instinctively. “Preferably.”

He kissed her top lip, then swiped it gently with his tongue. “No swamp?”

“If one can help it,” she said breathlessly, her arms wrapping around his waist.

Heat surged up from her skin into his and he stifled a groan. “What if one can’t help it?”

Her eyes cut to his mouth and she licked her lips. “Xavier…”

“Because I don’t think I can help it. I don’t think I want to, Hunter.”

She smiled softly, sweetly. “That’s ‘Beautiful’ to you.”

“Yes, it is.” He kissed her, a kiss that conveyed his hunger and his need, but there was so much more. More he had to say. The one vital thing that would change everything between them. He pulled back and forced her gaze to lock with his. “I want you, Amalie.”

She arched her back and purred, “Then have me.”

His cock felt so hard it was painful. “It’s your first mating.”

“I know,” she thrust her hips up, ground her sex against him brazenly. “I want it to be with you. I’ve always wanted it to be with you.”

Pain and pleasure battled within him. “I want that too. Fuck…”

“Then take it,” she said harshly, desperately.

“Here? Now?”

“Do you care where we are?” she demanded. “Do you care who sees us right now?” She cursed. “Do you care if everything is put on hold for however long we need? However long it takes for this to happen between us?”

“Fuck no. Fuck. No.” His mouth was so dry. He needed her, her heat, her saliva, her cream. He didn’t give a shit about where they were, but he needed her to understand something. He needed her to know what he was asking of her. “Amalie, I won’t take it unless I can keep it.”

Her eyes widened, a flash of confusion moving through them. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.” He rose up, his eyes pinned to hers, but his fingers moving to the waistband of her jeans. “I want you. But not for a night or three.” He flicked the button, eased down the zipper. “I want you always, forever, until the Wildlands are no longer filled with magic and we are dust that a new species calls their home.”

For a moment, all Xavier heard was her rapid breathing and the sounds of the water and the wind through the cypress.

“I love you, Amalie,” he said in a hoarse, desperate voice. “Fuck, Beautiful, I always have. I don’t care about anything or anyone. Not anymore—not ever.”

Tears sprang to her eyes, turning them a shocking leaf green in the light of fading sun.

“I love you, too,” she uttered. “But you know that. You’ve always known.”

He nodded. “Tell me,” he nearly begged. “Tell me before I die of longing. Tell me before I strip you bare and taste you, fuck you, claim you. Tell me I’m yours and you’re mine.”

“Are you sure?” she said as he pulled down her underwear and jeans and tossed them aside. “Forever is—”

“What I want more than anything in the world, Beautiful,” he said, easing her tank over her head and her bra from her shoulders. “There’s nothing, no one, who can stop this, can stop me from claiming you.” His eyes flipped up to lock on hers. “Except you.”

Shock barreled through Xavier as Amalie grasped both sides of his T-shirt and ripped it up the center. The sounded echoed across the bayou, but he barely heard it. Her words next drowned out everything else.

“Mate me, Xavier,” she said, her eyes flashing. “Mate me for life.”

She had the black fabric off his body in seconds and was working his jeans down his hips before he had time to register her movement. Once he did though, he was like a male possessed, growling, taking over, his jeans off and discarded, and his head between her thighs.

The liquid heat that hit his tongue made come leak from his cock. She tasted like heaven, like honey, and he licked her over and over, nothing gentle, nothing sweet. Fuck no. Right now, he just wanted to eat her. And if the way her hips were jacking up, pumping hungrily against his mouth, was any indicator, she liked his slight roughness, his need to consume her.

“Oh god, Xavier,” she said on a moan. “I can’t…it’s too much.”

Damn right. It was all too much. But so what? They both needed this, needed each other. More was good. More made her buck and groan. More made her pussy so wet and warm and soft, he couldn’t wait to get inside her.

Her fingers plunged into his hair, her nails digging into his scalp as he tongued her deep, then pulled out and suckled her clit.

“You’re making me crazy,” she whispered, then gasped as he pressed his tongue against her and jerked his head up and down.

Xavier felt her violent shudder beneath his mouth, coming hard and intense against his tongue. His entire body went up in flames as her juices rushed him. He lapped at her, drank her up, but left enough wet heat to coat her pussy walls and make his thrust easy and pleasurable.

With one last possessive suckle to her swollen clit, he rose over her, catching his weight on his elbows, holding his position so they were face to face. Breathing heavily, her eyes filled with heat and deep desire, Amalie wrapped her legs around his waist, arched her back and brazenly and seductively licked him from chin to nose.

“Mmm,” she uttered, her eyes lifting to his. “I taste good on you.”

Xavier, the male, died.

While the animal within him flared to the surface of his skin and took hold, took control. His cock poised at her entrance, the head hard and wet with pre-come, he growled. “Mine.”

She nodded. “Yours.”

And he pushed inside her.

He was deep.

Breathstealingly deep.

Every thick, hard inch, was deliciously impaled inside her, all the way to her womb, and nothing—nothing—had ever felt so amazing. There was no pain, just a wondrous full feeling. God, they were truly made for each other. She’d known the first time she’d seen him. Too young to understand the bond, the connection, it had surfaced as a lust and a hope for the future.

But now, now as he started moving inside of her, claiming her with his body as he looked down into her eyes, connected with her, she understood the true symmetry of love. Him and Her. Even in their puma forms, they would know this bond, feel this bond.

“I love this,” he rasped, nipping at her lips as he thrust gently inside of her, getting her body ready for the intense, possessive thrusts to come.

After all, he was a Pantera male. They could fuck gently, of course. But it was only a matter of time before they went wild, attacked, demanded, their animal nature ruling their sex drive.

And being a Pantera female, Mal couldn’t wait.

“I love being inside of you,” he continued, dropping his head, taking one hard nipple into his mouth and suckling it deep. To her gasp, the rush of wet heat inside her pussy, he growled. “Kissing you, sucking your sweet, pink tits. Feeling you go tight and hot around my cock whenever I do.”

His words, uttered against her breast, his breath teasing her wet nipple, made Mal feel like she was going to come again. She fought against it. She wanted to come with him this second time.

Then he look up and smiled. “And shit, Beautiful, I just love you.”

Mal didn’t know if it was the words, his voice, or how his ice blue eyes had melted into lazy, erotic pools of emotional blue, but she couldn’t stop herself. Her Hunter strength kicked in, and she pressed her hands to his hips, eased his cock out of her, and flipped to her belly.

“Fuck me now,” she demanded, coming up on her hands and knees. “Fuck me hard and deep until we both come. Outside, under the sky, near the bayou. This is how you should claim me, and how I should be taken. My pussy—both the one who purrs for you, and the one you’re looking at right now—need it.”

Xavier didn’t say a word. Maybe he couldn’t. Maybe his animal was right there, hissing and snapping and snarling near the surface of his skin, just as hers was. But it was no more than a second before she felt him behind her, his thick, stone-hard cock pressed at her entrance.

His thrust wasn’t gentle this time.

Thank. Fucking. Christ.

He knew what she wanted, and he was giving it to her. Gripping her hips, he rode her hard, working her so deep she moaned and keened and circled her hips trying to feel him from every angle. Shock waves of pleasure moved through her. How could something so primal feel so good? So beyond amazing. She wanted to cry and scream and laugh and warn him to never stop. That as mates she would demand he fuck her every day and every night for the rest of her life. But she didn’t have the voice. He’d stripped her bare in too many ways to count.

And then she felt it. The thing—the amazing, magical thing she’d only heard about from her Pantera female friends. The sign of a true mating. She felt his claws against the skin of her hip, and as he pounded into her, and she stretched around him, he marked her. She cried out, from pain, from pleasure, and from the absolute wonder of having a long-realized dream come true.

“I love you, Amalie,” he said on a fierce growl.

He drove up into her, so deep she gasped, then reached around to palm her drenched pussy. With one pinch to her clit, Mal came, spasming around his cock as her body went wild and uncontrolled, and a rush of hot seed filled her sex.

CHAPTER NINE

Coming down from the fuck of the century wasn’t easy or fast.

Xavier was shaking. Christ, shaking. And his dick was still hard. Nothing had or would ever compare to this. Mating Amalie. She was his everything now. His life, his breath, his vision, and his reason for waking up and…god help him, hitting the sheets every night. Looking at her, sitting before her, gloriously nude, her skin sweaty and pink, his mark on her hip, her sex still glistening with their shared climaxes, he wanted her again.

And again.

Shit, he didn’t even want to take her back to the Wildlands, let other males see her. He knew that was an irrational thought, and he wasn’t about to share it. But it was there. Oh yeah, it was there.

But he’d sensed something, his Pantera instincts overriding his post-orgasmic shakes. A male. Human. Near the bayou.

Xavier’s narrowed gaze searched the green, the trees, the calm surface of the water.

“I scent him, too,” Amalie said, the vigilant Hunter back in her eyes. She grabbed her clothes and yanked them on. “Maybe it’s just another guest, but we need to be ready if it’s not.”

Xavier had his clothes on in under ten seconds, his eyes back on the cabin. “I don’t see him. I don’t see anyone.”

“Bayou,” Amalie whispered.

Xavier turned back toward the swamp. “What the hell?”

A heavy mist now coated the surface of the bayou. A low hanging cloud moving toward them. It swirled, and seemed to have an eye in the center like a tornado. Xavier slipped in front of Amalie, closer to the four foot tall and ten foot wide mass of white haze. He didn’t know what was coming, but it wouldn’t get near his mate.

As it touched down at the shore, and a male emerged from that ‘eye’ Amalie gasped under her breath, “Holy shit.”

Still hidden from view within the massive tree, Xavier stared, riveted, ready to pounce. This was a human walking past them only ten or so feet away, but clearly he was so much more than that. And when the man drew closer to the cabin, and his hand reached for the screen door, Xavier knew in his gut, they not only had their camera owner, but they might very well have The Shaman, Chayton as well.

Clearly thinking the same thing, Amalie pushed past him and ran toward the cabin and the male. Cursing, Xavier burst out of the shelter of the tree and went after her. He reached her just as she cornered the male inside his screened-in porch.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

Xavier drew closer to his mate’s side. “I believe this is the human we seek, Amalie.” He eyed the confused and fearful older male. “Chayton, I presume?”

“Isi is in the Wildlands?” he repeated, shocked and amazed. “Oh, thank the gods.”

Seated across from Chayton, who had only a short time ago emerged from the bayou like a spirit, Mal nodded. “You didn’t know?”

He shook his head, his nearly black eyes softening. “I couldn’t find her. I’ve been so worried—”

“Because she wasn’t in her shop?” Mal finished. “Visible on the camera you hid?”

He looked at her for a moment, his eyes searching hers. Then he nodded, “That’s right. I wanted to know she was safe, even if it wasn’t safe for me to watch over her in person. She is my daughter. I love her.”

“Then come back to the Wildlands and see her,” Mal said quickly.

It was as if an icy wind blasted through the porch. Chayton shook his head. “Impossible.”

“You don’t understand how vital this is,” Xavier began. He was seated beside Mal, and had his hand resting protectively on her lower back. “One of the Pantera’s greatest enemies is growing in power.”

A different kind of heat glinted in those dark eyes. “You speak of Shakpi.”

Mal’s heart stuttered. “You know?”

The male pushed his long, black braid over one tanned shoulder and nodded. “Of course I know. I have come to suspect that I am the one who accidentally opened the portal.”

Mal turned to Xavier, who gave her a worried look before she turned back to Chayton. “How?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does,” Mal insisted harshly. “Isi is being blamed for it. The elders claim that your vision proves—”

“That damned vision,” Chayton said passionately. “It has ruined so much, so many. ‘The blood of The Shaman’s firstborn shall carry the taint of Shakpi, releasing her powers upon the lands of the Pantera.’” He stood and walked over to the screen that faced the bayou. With the sun’s retreat, the sky was giving itself over to twilight. “It doesn’t mean Isi is destined to hurt the land. The Wildlands, after all, were created by the blood of both Shakpi and Opela. The rot of the land began long before Isi’s birth.” He glanced over his shoulder. “If you and your kind want to blame the spread of poison, then you should point the finger at the elders who were too eager to use my powers to walk among the spirits.

Mal understood his passion, his fear. But right now, they needed his help. His daughter needed his help. “You believe it was your connection to the spirits that caused the damage?”

He sighed. “I fear that the connection unknowingly opened the portal that Shakpi is using to touch this world.”

Xavier cursed, stood. “Then you have to come back and close it.”

A flare of anger vibrated through Chayton, and his lean face grew tense. “No. It’s too dangerous. This swamp is protected with deep magic. If I leave, they’ll find me.”

“Who?” both Xavier and Mal said together.

“Shakpi’s followers. They’ll force me to open the portal to Shakpi’s prison completely.”

“We won’t allow them to take you,” Xavier said firmly. “Come back. Let this nightmare end for us all.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

His resignation sent Mal into desperate mode, and she tried another tactic. “Then at least come back and see your daughters.”

His face went blank. “Daughters?”

She walked over to him, put her hand on his bare arm. “Ashe is there, too, Chayton.”

“What?” The word came out so softly it was a mere exhale.

“She’s mated to a Pantera.”

Tears pricked his dark eyes, making them glitter like polished stones. “Ashe,” he uttered. “I haven’t seen her since…” He shook his head, too emotional to continue.

“She’s pregnant.”

His eyes widened. “No.”

“Yes,” Xavier confirmed, moving to stand beside Mal, his hand reaching for hers. “The first cub in so many years. Our miracle.”

Mal squeezed her mate’s large, warm hand, but to the Shaman male, she smiled and said, “They need you, Chayton. We all need you.”

CHAPTER TEN

Night blanketed the Wildlands, and though the scent of the Dyesse Lily still clung to anything with leaves or moss, the brilliant moon overhead had returned to its natural state of white. It glowed down upon them, lighting their way as they raced, in their puma state, side by side over rocks and snaking around trees, toward town. Xavier carried Chayton on his back, while Amalie, after leaving the motorcycle in its garage near the border, had been vigilant about anything or anyone following them.

As they broke through the final barrier of brush and entered town, Xavier felt the male on his back shudder. He didn’t blame Chayton for his fears and concerns. With what awaited Xavier when Aristide left the confines of quarantine and learned of his and Amalie’s mating, he certainly understood them. But unfaced challenges had a way of growing out of control. It was always better to deal than run.

Beside him, Amalie slowed, growling as many Pantera, both in and out of shift, came out of their dwellings to watch the arrival of The Shaman. Clearly, the text he’d sent both Raphael and Parish had gone through. He wouldn’t be surprised if the elders were at the foot of the path leading to the clinic, waiting, hungry for blood and information.

But the only Pantera out in front of the clinic were Raphael, Parish and Isi’s mate, Talon. All three had tight, apprehensive expressions under the stark light of the moon, and when Xavier came to a halt in front of them, he gave a quick growl of warning. Chayton had come to help, to see his daughters. Scaring him or demanding from him before he’d even set his foot on Wildlands soil was not going to happen.

Catching his puma’s eye, Raphael gave Xavier a clipped nod of understanding, then turned to face Chayton. “It’s good to have you here.”

“I wish to see my daughters,” Chayton said, climbing off Xavier’s back.

“Of course,” Raphael said, though his tone had a trace of warning, of protective male. “Ashe is my mate.”

For a moment, Chayton didn’t speak. He glanced back at Xavier, and at Amalie, who remained in her puma form, too. He gave them a tight smile, then turned back to Raphael. “I must give you my congratulations.”

It was what the Suit had obviously needed to hear. His entire body relaxed and a broad grin broke on his features. “And to you,” he said, then gestured toward the clinic. “Come. Both your daughters are here together.”

Both, Xavier mused, watching Chayton move up the steps behind the three Pantera males. If Isi is with Ashe, then she’s out of quarantine. Which would also mean that Aristide—

A growl rent the night air. It was a growl Xavier knew well. He’d heard it beside him a thousand times. His gaze flicked up. Chayton and the three Pantera males were gone. But something else far more problematic sat outside the doors to the clinic; a massive light-brown puma, black eyes flashing fire. Amalie started forward, but Xavier hissed at her to stay back. She was Aristide’s sister, true, but she was also Xavier’s mate, and no matter what—or who—threatened their bond, Xavier would always protect what belonged to him.

In a flash of color, Xavier shifted to male form. True to his style, Aristide shifted mid-step as he moved toward his friend. They stood at about the same height, both broad shouldered, both heavily muscled, but where Xavier was dark with light eyes, Aristide was light with dark eyes.

Beside Xavier, Amalie also shifted. And she didn’t wait for either one of them to speak. “Aristide, you have no right to be pissed,” she began. “You know I’ve been in love with this male forever. No one will make me happier. No one will love me more or protect me more fiercely or—”

“It’s all right, Beautiful.” Xavier stepped in front of her, and faced Aristide. This was his fight, his best friend, his betrayal. “I love her, and I’ve mated her.”

Aristide’s black eyes locked with his, and his pale brows lifted. “You’ve mated her?”

Xavier nodded. “There won’t be an apology or a question, but there will be a promise. I’ll make her happy.”

For several long seconds, the dark-eyed male just stared at him. Then he gave a little shrug, and a broad grin split his features. “I know you will.” His grin widened further. “Brother.” Laughing, he grabbed Xavier and embraced him. “Shit, I’ve waited a long time to call you that for real.”

“You asshole,” Xavier muttered, clapping him on the back. “How long have you known there was something here?”

“For-freaking-ever, bro.”

Xavier laughed. “Then you’ll be expecting your eviction notice. She’s moving out. Or you are.”

“Finally. I’ve been waiting forever.” He pushed back, turned and gave his sister a smile. “Take the house, sis. Start a new family there.”

“Unbelievable,” Amalie said, giving her brother a fierce glare, even when he came in for a hug. “If I’d have know this, I would’ve seduced Xavier a long time ago.”

Aristide stiffened, and Amalie pulled away, her turn to laugh. She gave him a little wave. “Night-night, bro.”

As she walked away, she heard her brother growl at Xavier. “Wait? What did she just say? She seduced you?”

“Damn right. Best thing that ever happened to me,” Xavier said with a grin in his voice. “Later, A.”

Amalie was barely down the path when Xavier came up behind her and scooped her up in his arms. She let out a squeal of delight.

“Where are you taking me, mate of mine?” she asked, grinning up at him.

His smile was wide and hungry, and his eyes glowed blue fire in the moonlight. “Home, Beautiful.”

“Mine or yours?”

He leaned in and kissed her, growled against her lips. “There is no mine or yours anymore. Only ours. So says the mark on your sexy hip.”

Her skin tingled with his words, and her heart squeezed. She’d hoped and wished for this for so long, and now he was finally hers. The love of her life.

“You don’t have to rush, Xavier,” she giggled as he stalked through town toward their house. “We have so much longer than three days. We have forever. We have a lifetime.”

But he didn’t slow. In fact, he quickened his pace. “I need you now, Beautiful,” he rasped. “I need to carry you home and get you in our bed. I need to strip you bare and lick every inch of your skin.” He growled. “That quickie in the swamp only wet my appetite.”

Her entire body flared with heat. “That was a quickie?” she nearly choked out.

He chuckled, low and sexy. “Oh, yeah.”

She sighed and snuggled deeper into his chest as he rushed through the gate of their house, their home. “Oh, I have so much to learn, Xavier.”

“And I can’t wait to teach you, Beautiful.” With a fierce snarl, he kicked down the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll fix that later.”

“Much later,” she teased.

“Tomorrow,” he rasped, stalking down the hall.

She grinned when he entered their bedroom. “Next week.”

He tossed her on the bed and growled. “Next year.”

And then he was moving over her, kissing her, and neither one of them spoke for a very long time.

As a seer, a shaman, a human with extraordinary powers, Chayton knew instinctually what he was capable of and what he was not.

But that didn’t matter.

Not today.

The Pantera had gathered in the square, the square where only a few nights ago, the birth of their kind had been celebrated. Ashe had told him all about it, regaled him with stories of dancing and feasting, then begged him to help her—help the Pantera—preserve their wonderful tradition. And perhaps their very existence. They all wanted him to stop what was happening on their land, and they believed Shakpi’s power was to blame. He didn’t know if this was true or not. But he did know that he played a part, and that if he didn’t attempt to fix what might have been broken by his hand, his daughter would suffer the stigma forever.

He wouldn’t let that happen.

His eyes lifted to look at her. Isi, and beside her, a very pregnant Ashe. So beautiful, their hands clasped as they watched him. They looked so hopeful. A shock of pain went through him, weakening him, his resolve. He had failed them in the past. He wouldn’t fail them now.

He slammed his eyes shut, and called upon the spirits of his ancestors. Dark thoughts and needs and wants snaked through his blood. Yes, she was here, below his feet, wanting to rise, wanting to be released. His hands balled into fists, but he forced himself to relax. Air moved over his skin, and he allowed himself, his soul, to leave his body. Sound ceased to exist, even his heartbeat, and he fell. Down, down, down, below the surface of the Wildlands, down to where she was imprisoned. Instantly, he felt rage and heat and sadness burden his mind, but he once again forced himself to relax, to be like water.

The portal was not visible to the eye, only to the soul, but Chayton knew well where to look for it. Power surging into him, granted by those who shared his blood, by those long dead, he pressed against the gaping hole, the wound, in Shakpi’s prison. As expected, it pushed back.

Remaining at peace, a wave on the water of his subconscious, Chayton pressed once again. But this time, something strange happened. It was as if his soul crackled, as if lightning exploded inside his mind, and he was thrust upward, out of the ground and into the sky.

He felt the magical connection to his body break. But it was too late to do anything to repair it. He could only watch from above as tiny particles of light rose from the earth.

The crowd of Pantera gasped, some drawing back, some inching forward. Then the particles of light let out a shattering scream, surrounded Chayton’s body and entered it.

Staring down at the chaos below, Chayton could only grieve his failure. That is, until he saw the eyes of his physical body open and his mouth curve into a wicked smile.

“I am free,” came an otherworldly voice.

Once again, the crowd gasped. But over the din, Chayton heard the word, the name, he feared above all others, uttered by a single Pantera voice.

“It’s Shakpi.”