Micah (12 page)

“
Well, tell him to eat
this.” Then it occurred to her what she’d meant. “I’m not having
sex with him.”

His mom walked into the kitchen just
as she said that. To say she was embarrassed would have been a
gross understatement. Instead of telling her she was sorry,
however, Reggie lifted her chin and waited. Surely she’d agree how
wrong that was.

“
He’s a good man. And
he’ll make a good mate for you. But sex is going to happen.” Reggie
was still sitting there when Mrs. Gracie sat down. “I have been
meaning to have a talk with you. And since Micah is out on a case,
now would be a good time, don’t you think?”

“
Are you pimping me out to
your son?” It was said much louder than she’d meant, and again
someone walked in just as she said it. Reggie stood up. “I’m
leaving.”

“
Please sit down.” The
older woman, Mrs. Bentley, patted the table as she sat down as
well. Miss May poured tea for the other two women and then left
them alone. “You’re still standing. I would have thought that I
could have made you sit, but you’re very strong.”

“
Really? Because I feel
like I’m that rabbit that fell down the hole.” Reggie sat and
picked up her fork. “I’m not sure what you think is going on here,
but I’m only here because I have literally nowhere else to go. As
far as having sex with Micah or any other of your sons, not going
to happen. Tempting, but I’m not going to have sex with a
stranger.”

“
But he’s marked you.” She
put her hand over the small bite mark she’d seen this morning.
After dealing with the red tape of having her brother moved
yesterday, she’d been asleep on her feet by the time they got back
here. If a bomb had gone off, she might not have ever heard
it.

“
I…he bit me.” Gracie
nodded and sipped her tea again. “I’m not very good at slow
stories. I read the last chapter of a book because I hate waiting
until the end to find out who did it. So if you have something to
say to me, just say it. That way we can move on to more important
things.” Gracie looked at the elder Mrs. Bentley and they both
looked at her. Gracie smiled as she spoke to her.

“
What do you know about
shifters? Like humans that can change into animals?” Reggie sat
there for several seconds, then got up to go to the cabinet above
the sink. She had no idea how she knew there was bourbon there, but
she got the bottle down and poured a large bit of it in her juice.
She took a long drink before she set it down carefully.

“
If this is some sort of
joke, I’m not laughing.” Both women assured her that it was no
joke. “Then who told you about the men at my house? There was
nothing in the police report, and I know it was never brought up at
the trial.”

“
I don’t understand.” She
could see by the look in their faces that they didn’t know. “Those
men were shifters?”

Reggie nodded and took another drink
of her juice. She sipped it this time and set it away from her. “I
don’t drink. I’m not even sure why…how did I know that was there?
Not that it matters, but—”

“
What were they? Did any
of them bite you?” Reggie got up to pace. She needed to move, not
feel as if she were tied up again. “Reggie, we’re panthers. All of
us. Micah was going to tell you when he got home, but there’s a
case he has to finish and he asked me to do it. He’s worried
someone will startle you if they were out on the
property.”

“
I never told them.
Anyone. But one of the men…I’m insane for even saying this to you,
but one of the men was a large wolf. I thought it was a dog, but he
shifted in my….” She sat down. “Maybe I should start from the
beginning. And if you have me committed after this…I would ask that
you take care of my brother.”

“
We’ll not have you
committed. And we will believe you.” Gracie looked at Katie, then
took Reggie’s hand in hers. “Tell us, honey, and you’ll see that
we’re very understanding. Especially about this.” Reggie had no
idea why, but she trusted these people. Even the boys, as Gracie
was so fond of calling her sons.

“
I was hidden away when
the thing started. I was—when they came in—I was sick. I’d been in
bed, under it really, for a few days. I felt better when I was in
the dark. But it was a day or two before I saw the first of them.
My mother was…everyone thinks they killed her slowly, but they
didn’t. By the time I found her she was already dead, and I had to
just leave her there in her own blood.”

“
Where was your father?”
Reggie looked out the window and not at the woman. She had no idea,
but she had a feeling that unlike the others she’d shared this
with, these people would not ask her why she’d not killed the men,
saved her family, and gotten them all out.

“
He had been killed. I
tried to get into the kitchen, where I found out later he was, but
there was always someone in there. I guess they were having their
fun with him.” She knew that she’d sounded crass, but she had no
idea what to tell them. “I couldn’t call anyone. The phones didn’t
work, and I didn’t have a cell phone. My brother had one, but the
one time I tried to go into his room, they were beating him with
his own bat. He wasn’t moving, so I thought he was dead too. I was
hiding in my room. Under the bed again. I don’t know why they never
found me, unless they assumed that I wasn’t home.”

She moved around the big room and
paused in front of the back door. She saw him then…the big black
panther moving around the trees slowly as if he were stalking
something. But when a group of deer moved out of the tree line, he
didn’t run them down as she expected him to, but he lay down and
watched them settle again.

“
I was hiding better by
the second day. Starved for the most part, but too afraid to go
find something much to eat. I could hear them. Their laughter and
screams of joy were echoing all over the house by then. I was in my
room when the big man came in. He took off his clothes, and his
body seemed to stretch. I was too afraid to say anything, but when
he was a wolf, this huge fucking animal, he seemed to know just
where I was and dragged me out by my leg. He tore into my skin like
he was going to take my leg off.”

“
He could smell you better
because of his wolf. He more than likely knew that you were there
all the time.” Reggie nodded at Gracie. “Are you afraid of Micah
now that you know?”

“
I don’t have an opinion
about him one way or the other.” She turned when neither of them
said anything. “You don’t think that I’m going to stay with him, do
you? I don’t like him most of the time.”

“
He’s your mate, Reggie.
I’m afraid that in addition to marking you, Micah has claimed you.
If you leave him now, he’s going to be very upset. And so will his
panther.”

She wanted to say fuck his panther and
marking, but she was afraid that was the point. Instead of saying
anything, she opened the door and walked out of the house and
toward the woods. No one tried to stop her, for which she was
grateful.

Chapter 7

Micah moved toward her. He didn’t want
to upset her any more than she already was, but his entire family,
him included, was worried about her. She’d left the house over two
hours ago and had not been seen since. He let his foot drop heavily
on a branch and waited for her to turn. Instead she just spoke to
him.

“
I want to see him. This
panther of yours. I’d like for you to change into him, please.” He
started to ask her if she wanted to see him shift, but she
continued before he could. “I’m not ready to watch you do it, but
I’d like to see him. I have no idea why, but there you
go.”

“
Don’t run.” Micah pulled
his shirt up and over his head, letting it drop wherever it wanted.
“If you do, I’ll chase you. And as much as I’d like to do that, I’m
pretty sure you’re not ready for him to catch you.”

“
Why?” He hated talking to
her back, but knew from his mom that she’d been upset when she’d
left the house, and the fact that she hadn’t told him to leave her
alone was encouraging. “I mean, he’s domesticated,
right?”

“
Sort of.” He unbuckled
his belt and utility belt and laid his gun and holster on the
ground gently. “He’s tame to a point. But he is an animal. To
answer your question, if he runs you down, he’s going to want to
mark you again and taste you.”

“
You mean eat me.” He had
to pause in pulling his pants off to think about eating her.
Tasting her. “You can’t mean that he wants to have sex with
me.”

“
No, not sex. But he does
want to drink from your pussy. So do I.” She turned to look at him
then, and he stood still. His pants were still around his ankles,
but she looked him up and down like he was nude. “You’re making it
very difficult for me to think right now.”

“
I don’t care for sex.” He
nodded and doubted very much that was true. “You want me, or is
that a normal reaction you have before changing or whatever it
is?”

Micah looked down at his erection and
then back up at her. “I want you. Very badly, as a matter of fact.”
He wrapped his hand around his cock, and she licked her lips.
“Reggie, if I come to you, will you let me make love to you? Will
you let my cat taste you?”

“
How does that
work?”

His mind went into overdrive. The
things he could have her do, the ways he could take her and her
take him filtered through his mind like a movie.

“
You’re not going to take
me as a cat, right? I know you said you wouldn’t, but you’re very
hard.”

Micah let his cat take him. He knew
that she’d said that she didn’t want to see him shift, but it was
do it now or take her hard and fast. As he moved toward her, she
sat very still and Micah was both disappointed and excited that she
didn’t run. He licked her throat before he nudged her back on the
ground.

She lay down for him, and he put his
teeth gently into her pant leg. When she understood what he wanted,
she sat up and then stood. Her blouse came off first. As he stood
watching her strip for him, Micah felt his cat rumble with
pleasure.

“
He’s purring. I guess I
knew that cats did that, but not…what are you?” He wanted to enter
her mind but was a little afraid of what he might see there and
only watched her. “I’m guessing that you don’t speak as a person
when you’re a cat.”

The bra came off next. He’d only hoped
that she’d take her pants off for him, let his cat have her, but
she was going to be naked before long, and he couldn’t wait. When
her pants were pulled off, it wasn’t until she stood that he
realized she’d taken her panties off as well. As she stood there,
covering her body with her hands, he stood up and moved to
her.

“
Do you want me to lie
down?” He moved his head between her legs and was rewarded with her
spreading them wider for him. As soon as he licked her, tasting her
cream on her thigh, she curled her fingers into his fur and held
him tightly. “Do it again. Please. Make me come, Micah.”

He moved her hard, hoping not to hurt
her but to get her on her back quickly. As soon as she fell back,
her legs widened and Micah moved between them. She screamed when he
licked her again, this time from gate to clit. Then using his
tongue, he brought her twice more. Lying down, Micah buried his
mouth over her, sliding his tongue deep into her sheath again and
again. Her begging him to stop had him lifting his head from
her.

“
Please, no more. I don’t
think I can take it.” Micah pulled his cat in and moved up her
body, tasting and nipping at her dewy skin as he went. When he
suckled her breast into his mouth, bare for him this time, he
lifted her ass up with his hand and moved his painful cock over her
wet heat. “Take me.”

He slammed forward, his cock going to
the root even as he moved to her mouth. His tongue fucked her mouth
as he did her pussy, and she met him stroke for stroke. Christ, his
own release was running down his spine and when she arched up under
him, digging her nails into his shoulder, Micah bit hard into her
shoulder until he tasted blood as he came with her.

He drank her blood greedily. He’d
never been one for biting during sex, but he felt that if he didn’t
take his fill of her, he’d die. Lifting his head, still moving in
and out of her hard, Micah said her name.

“
I want you to bite me.”
She shook her head. “You can do it. Bite me in the throat. Draw
blood and drink from me. I want you to mark me as well.”

“
I can’t hurt you. I
won’t.” Micah growled, his cat demanding that she mark him. Reggie
wrapped her legs around his hips, bringing her pussy hard against
his body. “Please. I need to come again. I need it
badly.”

Micah moved her mouth to his throat.
He could feel her teeth as she scraped them over his skin, knew a
new kind of pleasure when she suckled his flesh into her mouth.
When he pounded her again, taking her as hard as he could without
hurting her, she screamed out her release and sank her teeth into
him.

The world seemed to tip and roll. His
body, ready to fill her again, seemed to rocket out his cum. He bit
into her flesh, anywhere he could find it, and tasted her blood as
she screamed again around his throat. Micah held her to him, his
cock still taking her even as his balls emptied completely. When
she dropped away from him, her arms falling at her side, Micah held
her, fucking her gently now as he watched her eyes close. He didn’t
stop until his own body, spent and satisfied, dropped atop her.
Micah, using the last of his strength, rolled to his back, taking
her with him and wrapping her in his arms. Closing his eyes, he
realized two things almost at once. He had a mate, and he was in
love with her just that fast.