Authors: Zenina Masters
Tags: #Adult, #Erotic Romance, #Paranormal, #Shapeshifter
Samuel looked around. “What is this place?”
“It is a recreational space for those who work and live here. I found it after my first week.” She smiled and ran to the swings.
She hopped up and started to swing.
Samuel laughed and leaned against one of the other structures. “This is not how I imagined our first time together.”
She sighed and slowed her swinging. “Well, you have me at a disadvantage. I was the only person changing to and from my beast at the collector’s home, so you could have been one of fifty creatures.”
“Would it help you to know that you rode me to the exit?”
She blinked. “Oh. Cougar. Hello. Thanks for the lift.”
He laughed. “You are most welcome. Why did you ride me?”
“If I was on the ground with that many predators in their beast form, I might not have made it to the door. Even with me on you, several of the shifters around you were eyeing me as a small snack.” She shrugged. “It happens a lot.”
He shook his head. “I can’t imagine being that vulnerable.”
“It has its uses. I can get into places where no one will see me as a possible infiltrator. Now, my second cousin, Jenner, is on duty, and I hope that he does half as well as I did.”
She swung to a halt and cocked her head. “I suppose that if I show you mine, you will show me yours.”
Misty hopped off the swing, and with a quick series of motions, she peeled off her shirt, shucked out of her bra, kicked off her shoes and slithered free of her jeans and panties.
Samuel was staring in surprise as she embraced her beast and set about climbing her mate.
He didn’t move as she clambered up his calf and thigh, his belly muscles flinched when she climbed up his shirt and he chuckled when she settled on his shoulder.
Her nose touched his cheek and he laughed again. She took in his human scent and licked at the small freckle she could see from her vantage point.
When he lifted her from his shoulder and cuddled her in his hands, she looked up at his frank examination.
Misty remained relaxed in his grip and curled her tail up with her nose twitching. When he was going to put her down, she barked.
He jumped.
Snickering to herself, Misty crawled to the edge of his hands and jumped to the ground, transforming on the way and landing on one knee.
Naked, she turned to him and he was still staring.
“You bark.”
She laughed. “Yes, I do. It’s a sugar glider thing.”
Misty walked up to him and slid her hands under his shirt. “Your turn.”
His heart pounded under her hands as she moved the tight fabric of his shirt as high as she could reach.
He pulled his shirt off and moved his hands to his jeans, unsnapping the closure before lowering the zipper.
Misty stepped back and watched as all his lean, tanned skin came to light. She bit her lip to keep from sighing happily when his upward-curving erection beckoned her.
A moment later, all that golden skin was gone and fur was in its place.
The cougar lifted his head and sniffed her.
She remained in place as he walked up to her and rubbed his head against her hand. She giggled and stroked his head, kneeling to meet him eye to eye. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against the gold fur that she had clung to before. Petting him was irresistible, and she dug her fingers into his hide, stroking and memorizing the touch of the smooth strands of fur.
His tail tickled her waist and she sighed and leaned back.
“You are a very pretty cat, Samuel.”
He made a deep chuffing noise in his throat, and his tongue scraped along her shoulder.
She shivered and stroked his ears. His dark amber eyes were heavy lidded and he licked at her skin again.
When Misty moved to stand up, he growled and lifted a paw to place it on her thigh. He licked her again, working down her breasts, and she waited while he took in her flavours. Some species identified by smell, some by taste. She guessed that he was one of the latter, or she had spilled honey on herself at breakfast.
Her skin felt sensitive after a few more strokes, and he was nearing her navel. This wasn’t the way she wanted to start things off, so she shrank to her beast, climbed his arm to his shoulder and barked in his ear.
Expressing her displeasure was freeing, and she used her tiny hands to pull on his ear while she yapped at him.
When he shifted to human, she barked in his ear one more time before he grabbed her and held her up in front of him. In a moment, he had a hand full of irritated female.
She scowled at him.
He smiled sheepishly. “I apologize. I got carried away.”
Misty sighed and made the step toward him that connected their skin. “Carried away is fine, but not on the first day.”
He smiled slowly. “You seem to know what you are doing.”
“I know what want and I want you.”
Samuel’s gaze went serious, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her with rising savagery as he answered her words the only way he could.
Misty slid her arms around him and reached up his back to pull herself up with her grip on his shoulders. He caught her with hands under her ass, and he supported her when she locked her ankles behind his back.
He held her with one hand and pressed his cock against her. She was wet but not ready, and he slid the head against her. Misty felt herself go from damp to slick in a few strokes, and when he settled against her, the tip of his erection slipped into her.
Misty squirmed against him, working herself on him and trying to take him deeper. The teasing sensation of the tip of him inside her opening increased her frantic twisting.
She whimpered against his mouth and bit at his lower lip while she tried to impale herself.
Samuel finally lifted her until she could just barely feel him inside her. With a deliberate push, he pressed deep before lifting her once again. This time, he went deeper and she moaned into his mouth.
Her body lifted and dropped in the rhythm that he set, and it was a slow and deliberate beat.
Misty clutched at him and held tight, moving with him as much as she could with her body weight resting in his palms.
The friction between them rubbed her breasts against his chest, and his cock rubbed the front wall of her channel. With three weeks of longing behind her, she clutched at him and shook in his grip, breaking the kiss to bury her head against his neck.
He bounced her rapidly and moaned low, quivering against and inside her.
Misty didn’t know how she was going to get down. Samuel didn’t seem to be in any shape to help her.
He bent his head and whispered in her ear. “Why did we do that standing up?”
He sounded exhausted and it made her smile.
“Because we were both naked and the blanket is still in the picnic basket. I hate grass burns.”
He ran his hands up and down her back slowly before lifting her off his cock. She flinched at the lack of heat inside her but settled her feet on the ground, locking her knees to keep from landing butt first on the grass.
While she watched, Samuel went over to the basket and flicked out the blanket, kneeling on it and extending his hand to her.
Though she could stand, she wasn’t sure she could walk. She moved slowly and carefully, ignoring the cum slipping down her inner thigh.
Kneeling was a definite relief.
Samuel reached out and cuddled her against his chest. He kissed her forehead and cheeks before lapping at her lips. “Hello, mate.”
She blushed and looked up into his amber eyes. “Hello.”
Misty had her mate and she didn’t know anything about him.
Misty knew one thing, Samuel put out a ton of body heat. When he started to purr, she jumped in his arms.
“I didn’t know you did that.”
He grinned, “One of the mysteries of my species. We don’t roar, we yowl and purr.”
Misty curled against him and enjoyed the feel of his hands slowly caressing her bare skin. “Interesting.”
“I think so. Now, how is it that you haven’t gotten a mate before now?”
She chuckled at the reference to her forward behaviour. “I had to wait until I finished my turn with the Council. It has been hanging over my head since I was fourteen. I knew that I would be called upon at some time, but I had no idea when. It has always been up to the Council which member of my family would be selected, but it would happen before I turned thirty.”
He caressed her hip. “Why your family?”
“Escaped convicts. Seriously. My great, great grandfather married an aboriginal woman in Australia, and they had to flee, with their children, to North America.”
“An actual convict?”
She chuckled. “He was. He was a housebreaker and pickpocket.”
“You sound proud.”
“I am. He survived the deportation and managed to not only find love but to escape his fate and start a new life. He came here and sought asylum from the Council, and they offered it for the price of our family’s participation in the Council operations.”
“And so you were indentured to the Council.”
She nodded and stroked a finger down his chest. “Precisely. It isn’t so bad. They don’t take us if we are married or breeding. To make sure that other members of my family had a chance to start their lives, I stayed single and available for my turn.”
“Thank you. I really mean that. Thank you. If you hadn’t been a member of the Council when you were, I might still be locked up.”
She shook her head. “No, they had a plan; it just wouldn’t have gone as smoothly.”
“How did you hide up in the rafters?”
“I played dead. My species has the ability to slow our biology and appear to be…dead.” She shrugged. “To the elf, I looked like a dead rat.”
“Charming.”
“And invisible. It isn’t a bad thing to be when they are doing a scan to find me.” She met his gaze and waggled her eyebrows.
“Fair enough.” He nuzzled her cheek and she could feel him smile.
“Would you care to join me for a dip? I am a little sticky.”
He laughed. “My fault, so yes.”
He got to his feet and walked toward the pool with her, wading carefully into the cool water until he was chest deep and she floated out of his grip for a quick scrub.
Diving under the water gave her a fascinating point of view. She could see him under the surface, and it was a delightful view. She swam around him, caressing his pert butt and the trunks of his thighs. When she finally surfaced behind him, he was aroused again.
Samuel dove under the water and Misty quickly did as well, so she could see where he was coming from. Nothing. She couldn’t see him from any angle until he lifted her in his arms and rose out of the water.
“Gotcha!” He grinned.
She squealed and tried to slip out of his grip, but he simply walked out of the pond with her is his arms.
Samuel carried her over to the blanket and set her down, combing her hair with his fingers.
The sun warmed her skin and dried her hair as he ran his fingers through it over and over.
When she turned her head, she felt the caress of something hard and realized that he was combing her hair with his claws. She shivered and rested her head on her drawn-up knees.
After her hair was dry and silky smooth, he drew her into his arms and spooned with her under the sun.
With her primary personal setting being nocturnal, she had no objection to a mid-day nap.
Sunburn was not something that happened to her that often, but she flicked from human to beast and back again to heal her skin. Her brother had inherited their ancestor’s darker complexion. He could lay out under the sun all he liked and nothing would happen. It was a fact that he had rubbed in dozens of times over their lifetime. Twins were supposed to be close, but they had always had a rough relationship.
She turned in Samuel’s arms and looked up into his sleepy gaze. “I am hungry, how about you?”
He grinned. “Please. I was trying not to move. I didn’t want to wake you.”
She sat up and went to get the hamper.
Samuel stretched on the blanket and wiggled like a huge, naked kitten.
Laughing, she returned with the gourmet selection that Teebie had provided them. It was impressive for someone who specialized in muffins.
Once he had finished wiggling, he sat up and she set out the food across the fabric, and then, she sat in front of him, on his lap, while they both reached around for food and the glass of wine.
It was a romantic lunch with a lot of fumbling and giggling. When they got to the fruit for dessert, the juice dripped down her chin and he followed the trail across her breasts. She moaned and arched her head back across his arm, surrendering to the hot, wet worship of his lips and tongue.
She lay back as he crushed berries and peach slices in his hand, spreading them over her breasts and belly, rubbing the juice between her thighs.
Once he had coated her in the sticky stuff, he used the rough pad of his feline tongue to scrape the sweetness from her with slow and deliberate strokes.
She wove her fingers into his hair and held on with a light touch as he moved down her body until his lips pressed against her opening and his tongue scraped inside. He was purring madly with his nose pressed to her clit, and she mewled in surrender.
He bent her knees, widening the spread of her thighs, and pulled her in tight as he licked and purred until she was bucking against him, her thighs flexing in short jerks.
Misty shrieked in surprise when the nearly painful release rushed through her from her clit outward in an electric wave that burned her nerves.
She quivered in shock as he moved up her body, slipping inside her with ease. The smug look on his face turned into one of rapt attention as he stroked into her completely, rocking on her and giving her soothing shadow to hide in.
Sex and shadows, my favourite things.
Misty took in the lines of his body, the strength and the care he was taking with it. It was as hot as the luxurious thrusts that she was receiving and enjoying with her frazzled senses.
When he thrust deep and moaned through gritted teeth, she caught him in her arms and pulled him down on top of her.