Neal (Golden Streak Series) (9 page)

She didn’t play music when she worked,
and when the speaker came to life, playing some classical music in her little
room, she noticed that it was just nine o’clock. Her mom, she figured, had
opened the store up and knew if she needed her, she knew where to find her. Smiling,
she thought of being found by Neal the other night.

Christ, when she’d taken off for the
woods, she’d been excited. Not afraid, though now that she had time to think
about it, she probably should have been. But he’d made it sound fun and erotic.
When she hid behind the first tree and tried to calm her breaths, he’d walked
right by her and rubbed his furred body against her. She’d nearly screamed when
he turned to look at her and growled.

“You’re making this too easy.”
His voice
echoed in her mind, and she felt his need.
“I want you to hide from me. Run
if you have to but make me chase you. And the next time I can find you, you’ll
take off a piece of your clothing.”

“I can’t do that. What if someone sees me?”
He told her that he’d know if someone came within a mile of her. “And what do I
get in return if you never find me?”

He moved toward her and licked her arm
from wrist to elbow. Her entire body felt it all the way from the tip of her
toes, which curled under to the top of her head. Even her pussy felt him. His
sharp command to run had her taking off again and this time running hard.

He’d found her twice more. Once she’d
been hiding in a dead log and he’d licked her bare foot. When she’d crawled
out, dirty and feeling like she wanted to quit, he told her to take off her
shirt. Tossing it to the ground, he’d licked her belly and she moaned. Without being
told, she took off again.

She wasn’t sure if she was getting
better at hiding or if he was teasing her. She figured it had taken him at
least double the time to find her that time. But when he’d told her to take off
her pants, she nearly told him no. Then she watched him stare at her as she
backed against the tree she’d been hiding in.

He was hungry and not for anything from
the restaurant this time. He wanted her, and the longer he stared at her, the
more she wanted him to take her. Moving slowly, she unsnapped her pants and
pulled them off, leaving her panties where they were. This time when he came
toward her, all she could think about was his wet, rough tongue.

She cried out as he buried his nose
against her wet thighs. “Neal, I don’t want to play anymore. I need you.”

“Take them off. I want to drink from you.”
She shook her
head, not caring how he drank from her but wanting him to strip her.
“Rayne,
my cat will have his taste whether you give it freely or not.”

“No. You want me, you have to take me.” She
watched as he licked her knee. Then he moved closer to her. His tongue licked a
path to her hip and he took the small bit of lace into his mouth and, with a
growl, tore them from her. She was breathing so hard she was sure he could hear
her.

Opening her legs for him, she felt him
taste her. Even as he lapped at her, devoured her, she wanted more. She
whimpered when he stood up as she begged him to take her. His paws were soon at
her shoulders and holding her against the tree.

Neal was taller than her as a human, and
his cat was bigger as well. He was so close to her that she could see how sharp
his teeth were, how long and vicious they were. When he licked her shoulder,
she moaned again, and when he sank his teeth into her, she screamed loudly.

“I love you,”
he said to her
even as he lifted his head.
“I love you so very much.”

He dropped to his feet and put his paws
on her hips. She watched him, still dizzy from his bite as his paws changed;
fingers grew from the ends as his hand emerged. His skin seemed to absorb his
cat, fur smoothed out, and his muscles seemed to emerge stronger, thicker.

He never stopped looking at her as his
body went from beast to man. Though he’d been no less beast than he’d been
before, he was hers. Looking into his eyes, she could see the color there. His
cat still stared back at her.

Biting her gently, she moaned each time.
He bit her on her hip, then her thigh, her waist. Then he moved up her body to
her breasts and nipples. Her fingers were suckled into his mouth only to be
bitten as well. Each time he drew blood and every time he licked the tiny wound
closed.

“Do you know what I’m doing to you?” She
started to nod and tell him he was marking her, but she was sure that wasn’t
it. “I’m changing you.”

Her heart leapt in her throat. “Why?” When
he bit into her calf, she felt him tear into muscle, but as soon as the pain
registered, it was gone.

“Because the next time we do this, I’m
going to run after my mate and not your human.” He nipped at her wrist and let
the blood fall from the wound into his mouth before sealing the wound. “Because
my cat is hungry for yours, he wants to bend you down over the ground and take
you hard and fast. Fill you with his cum and bite you hard enough to have you
scream through it.”

“What if I didn’t want this?” He grinned
up at her. “I’m serious, what if I didn’t want to be your cat?”

His hands ran up her thighs and he slid
his finger into her sheath. She rode his finger as he pressed a second then a
third into her. When he suckled her clit into his mouth, she came, screaming
his name and he lifted his head. She was so close again that she begged him to
take her.

“Do you know how much I hold back when I
fuck you? How gentle I have to be not to hurt you when we make love?” She shook
her head. “When my cat takes yours, he won’t be gentle. He won’t care if you come
or not. He’ll only want to run you down, fuck you from behind and bite you. I
want to plow into you as well, Rayne. I want to take you hard and watch you as
my cock almost hurts you I’m so deep. I want to bite you while my cock fills
you, and when I roll you to your belly and ram my cock deep into your ass,
you’ll come then too, screaming at me more than you’ve ever imagined. And
you’ll be able to take me.”

She was so ready and wet her body hurt.
Even as she pulled his head to her pussy, she felt his tongue enter her. Riding
him, she begged him to fuck her. Begged him to finish her. When she was
suddenly on her back, he entered her. His cock felt as if he were at her womb
and she knew that he was going to hurt her.

“Come. Come now and I’ll fill you.” His
command had her soaring over the top, but before she could land, he was
bringing her again and again. When he lifted her ass, tilted it upward, he went
deeper still and she cried out.

“Say it, Rayne. Tell me you want this
and I’ll finish you.” She could barely breathe around the pounding of her heart.
And when he slammed deeper still, she screamed out her consent and felt his
teeth take her throat.

“Rayne?” She looked up from the planter
she was holding and tried to wrap her mind around the person standing in front
of her. She said her name twice more before she could see that it was Ally, and
she was smiling at her.

“I was…I was thinking about something.” When
Ally laughed, she flushed. “Is it always like this with them?”

“Yes.” She handed her a sandwich. “I
came in here around lunchtime, but you grunted at me, so I left you alone. I
can see now that when you get in a zone, you really go there.”

Rayne looked around the room. She’d been
busy. But she didn’t see all that much that would make her think she’d been in
a zone. When one of the helpers that Ally had introduced her to this morning
came in, he had a cart filled with flowers and rolled it next to the one filled
with dirt. She looked at Ally when she laughed.

“Come with me.” She walked from her work
area to just outside and nearly fell back. “This is the fifth time he’s brought
you stuff. The last time he brought you double what you have now, so I’m
figuring by the time I let you go back to wherever you were, he’ll have brought
you more than that. You’ve been very busy.”

There were crocks and planters
everywhere. Not just on the shelves and tables but under them and around them. She
walked around and saw that she’d done hanging baskets as well. Flowers and
vines overflowed them until they hung a foot from their pots. Large blossoms of
pansies dripped from bowls, cactus sat in small containers with small rocks and
paper flowers. She watched as a fig tree moved by her on someone’s cart with
jade planted at its base and small feathered birds in its branches. She looked
at Ally as she stood beside her.

“I won’t be able to sell all this.” Ally
laughed. “I mean it. I don’t know what I was thinking but…that’s not true. I
know just what I was thinking, but this, this is too much.”

“You’ve sold nearly a quarter of what
you’ve completed. And there are orders for some of the customers that have left
and will return by the weekend. I started taking pictures of them in the event
you wanted to put things on line. You’re not going to believe how much Mr. Gable
spent when he came to get his order for his office. And he wants you to
decorate his home as well as his firm.” Ally handed her a bottle of water. “You’re
going to need to keep up your strength if this keeps up.”

If this kept up she was going to be out
of business. Sitting down to eat her sandwich, Rayne tried to wrap her head around
the inventory she’d just put together. Smiling, she thought she could actually
take a day off from this and go to…she had no idea, but she had some free time,
and she was damned well going to take it. Now all she had to do was figure out
what free time was. Laughing, she called her mom.

“Wanna go shopping for clothes
tomorrow?”

Chapter 9

Bronwyn picked up her little girl and
just smelled her. There was something so pure about her scent that made her
want to bottle it up and keep it with her all day. She heard Sandra come into
the nursery and put little Gabriella back in her crib. She turned and smiled at
her.

“I love that she smells so good.” Sandra
nodded. “And I can’t thank you enough for watching her this morning. I can’t
believe that Rayne invited me to go with her and Ally to shop with her today.
I’ve never even thought she liked me all that much.”

Sandra snorted. “And why wouldn’t she? My
goodness, that girl is wonderful, isn’t she? And the three of you get along so
well that it’s almost as if you’ve known each other since birth.”

“I know. I said the same thing to Ryland
last night. It’s too bad her mom can’t go with us, but Ally and I will make
sure she comes home with something more than jeans and tee-shirts. Do you
suppose she has a single skirt or dress?”

“Doubtful. She strikes me as the buy-what-I-need-only
sort of girl. And she’s been struggling so much to make a name for herself that
I’m thrilled she’s taking this time. Ally said she got so much done yesterday
that people have to move gently through the shop to get around. I wonder what
happened to give her all that energy.” Bronwyn only smiled.

She knew that she’d been changed. Ryland
had felt it the moment that the conversion was complete. She’d felt it as well
but hadn’t known what it had meant until he told her. Rayne was now a cat like
her mate was. But they had decided to wait until they were told. Ally had
called her yesterday morning to let her know that it had happened as well and
that Rayne had so much energy right then that she’d not been able to break her
concentration. Ally had smelled it on her. And now she was going to see her
too.

When Ally came in the kitchen door, she
had Rayne with her. Bronwyn could see the difference in her immediately, and so
did Sandra. When she asked to hug her, Bronwyn knew a moment of panic, afraid
that she’d hurt her. But Sandra wrapped her arms around her and hugged her
tightly without any problems.

“I guess you know, huh?” They all
nodded. “I wasn’t sure how this worked until I asked Neal this morning. He said
that you’d be able to smell it. I think this is really weird, just so you know.
Having people smell different things about me. But I guess I’m supposed to let
you know that we did it willingly. But I’m also sure you know that he wouldn’t
have been able to force me into anything either.”

Rayne flushed and took the glass of tea
that Sandra handed her as she explained. “You’re going to be fine, and so you
know, not everyone can smell you like we can. You’ll be able to do it as well
when you want. And you’re going to remember the scents once you find them.”

They left a few minutes later, all three
of them loading in the limo that Ryland had sent back for them. He’d told her
that they should ride in style today and have fun. He’d also told her to make
sure that she spent a great deal of money on the sexy lingerie that he loved to
take off her.

“I just thought we’d go to Wally World
and maybe grab a burger for lunch.” Bronwyn almost felt sorry for Rayne as she
sat on the leather seats. “This is way more than is necessary to pick up a few
pair of underwear and some jeans.”

“Yes it is,” Ally told her. “That’s why
we’re not going there. We’re going to go to the shops in the Howard District
and shop there. And I’ve made us reservations at the Charleston. We’re going to
be decadent today.”

Rayne started to speak, but Bronwyn cut
her off. “Don’t you dare say you can’t afford this. I know for a fact that you
have a nice bank account and also credit cards that Neal gave you yesterday. He
called me to ask me if he should put Morrow or Golden, and I suggested Golden. Now,
we’re going to have fun, spend a shit ton of money, and go try on each purchase
for our mates. Deal?”

She didn’t look as if she was going to
agree, but in the end, Ally bullied her into it. When the limo pulled up in
front of the first line of shops, they all poured out and walked into the first
one they came to. This also happened to be the one she needed to go to.

The store was simply called “
Mine.
”
A werewolf owned the stop and had gotten the name of her shop from her mate,
who was forever telling her she was his. And Ryland had become a big fan of the
word too. Smiling, she looked at Ally and Rayne’s face and could see that neither
of them had ever been in here before.

“She’s really creative, isn’t she?” Then
Bronwyn laughed. “I guess that’s an understatement. But I love this place and
the way the things I buy here make me feel. And the way Ryland looks at me when
I wear them for him.”

It took some talking but they finally
got Rayne to try on one of the little outfits.
Mine
catered to the fun
and sexy rather than just the sexy. She had a whole collection of naughty
costumes as well as a selection of things for the more advanced sexual partners.
Bronwyn had been toying with the idea of getting a few things from this area
for a few weeks now and was looking at them when Ally walked up beside her.

“Do you use this stuff?” Bronwyn shook
her head. “Me either. I bet it would be fun, but…I’m not sure my body can take
much more fun from Alistair. He’s an animal.”

They both turned when Rayne came out of
the dressing room dressed as the Indian that they could see that she was. The
little dress fit her like it had been molded to her body, and the boots, very
high heeled, made her legs look incredibly long and sleek. Bronwyn knew that if
she didn’t buy this for Neal, she was going to and give it to him. Christ, she
looked phenomenal.

“It’s…I feel pretty.” Rayne smiled at
her as she turned to the mirrors behind her. “I dressed up once as an Indian princess
when I was a child, but this…. This is going to make Neal beg.”

They all laughed, and as she changed
back into her street clothes, they started to gather up the things they had
come for. When Bronwyn wandered back over to the toy section, Rayne came with
her this time.

“Do you and Ryland play?” She shook her
head, suddenly embarrassed. “Neal and I are starting to figure this out. We’re
not what’s called hardcore or anything, but it’s kind of fun to explore. You
should get this.”

She handed her the feather and looked at
her. “I’m pretty sure that dusting isn’t what I had in mind when I thought
about this.”

“No, but it’s very erotic when used in
the right places. On either of you. And it doesn’t tickle after a while. It’s
almost painful when he or you get into it.” She also handed her a pair of silk
ties. “Use these while you use the feather on him. I swear to you he’ll thank
you. And you’ll thank me.”

She did it. She purchased both the
feather and the silk scarves, as well as a maid outfit for her. Who knew, she
might enjoy dusting after all. They moved to the next stop after unloading all
their purchases in the back of the limo. Bronwyn was just entering the large
dressing room when she felt the man enter the shop.

“He’s in the middle of the store.”
Rayne’s voice
seemed to drift over her.
“He is here for you but not to hurt. Well, not
really to hurt you, but he needs to see you. He thinks he knows you.”

“How do you know that?”
She pulled her
clothes on, ready to leap from the room if he hurt anyone in there. Once was
quite enough, and she couldn’t protect her family if she was half naked behind
a closed door.

“Plants are not the only thing I can do,
Bronwyn. I’m pretty adept of taking care of myself as well as those I’ve come
to be friends with.”
She smiled at the sarcasm in Rayne’s voice.
“He has a gun, though I don’t
think he thinks of it as a weapon so much as something to intimidate people
with. I doubt very much if he’s ever fired it other than to qualify with it.”

She started to step out of the room when
Rayne told her to stop. She waited for several seconds for her to tell her why
when she heard her talking to the man. She was arguing with him more than
conversing.

“You did too take my wallet. I felt you
touch me and you have it.” Bronwyn peeked out of the crack in the door jam. “I
want you to give it back to me right now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I never touched you or anything on you.” The manager made his way over to them
when Rayne turned on him.

“I want you to search him. He’s taken my
wallet, and I want it back. What sort of store is this that women are preyed
upon like this? I want him arrested.” Rayne looked back at her and winked. She
was enjoying this entirely too much. And, for that matter, so was Bronwyn.

The manager convinced the man to empty
his pocket to prove he hadn’t taken her wallet. But when it appeared in his
things, Rayne went into overdrive. She was shouting at the top of her lungs
about her things when Ally slipped in the room with her. She handed her the man’s
wallet as well as his identification. Both of them.

“She did this to get me information.”
Ally shrugged. “Does she know that I could have gotten it with a sweep of his
mind?”

“Probably, but she wants you to keep the
ID. She said it might come in handy soon. She said to tell you that you have
your blouse buttoned wrong too.” Bronwyn looked down and saw that she was
indeed buttoned wrong. She glared at the closed door at the woman on the other
side and wondered how she’d known that he had this on him and what it meant.

Over lunch at Charleston, she asked her.
“You smell like it. The identification I mean. You carry the same scent as was
on him. Not as strong as he does, but I can smell it.”

She tried to think what she meant when
she looked down at the badge in her hand. When it occurred her what Rayne had
meant, she paled. It was a lab, one like she’d been to. One where she’d been
enhanced to be what she was today. Her fear of Cunningham was unwarranted as he
was dead, but she was no less afraid.

“He had been in a hospital, I thought,
when I first smelled him. Then when I looked in his mind, I saw a hospital
setting and nothing more, so I didn’t really put anything together with him.
He’s been to a bio lab like the one that Cunningham had created, the one that
changed me into what I am today, right?” Rayne handed her something else after
telling her she had no idea. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know a great deal about maps
really, but I believe those will take you where he might have been.” Bronwyn
looked at them and nodded. But the
address,
so to speak, wasn’t
complete. The last number was smudged so badly that she couldn’t make it out.

“Bronwyn, is it another lab? Like the
one you were telling me about?” She nodded at Ally. “If that’s true then the
government is funding it. It has the CIA’s stamp on the back of the badge. You
don’t think they’re trying to find you, do you?”

“I think so. I don’t…I think that
they’ve found me.” She looked around the room and didn’t feel anyone searching
for her, and when Rayne grabbed her chin and jerked it around to her, she felt
the woman’s strength and was startled by it.

“You listen to me, he’s not going to
find you, and he’s certainly not going to take you. Fuck, woman, you’re like
your own army all by yourself. Buck up or I’ll tell Ryland that you’re a big
wuss.” Anger surged from Rayne to her, and her breath caught. “I told you, I’m
not just able to play with flowers. They just calm me. I can do so much more
that I’m afraid of myself.”

“They’ve hurt you before.” She didn’t
know why that suddenly occurred to her, but Rayne nodded. “That’s why you
bought the shop, so that no one would find you. No one would hurt you.”

“It’s mostly why I didn’t trust you. I
could smell the lab on you the first time you came around. I thought it was
because you worked at one, then I realized you’d been tampered with at one like
I had.” Rayne pulled up her sleeve and showed her a small mark. “There was an
implant there. I took it out when I discovered it. Have you looked at
yourself?”

“No. I never…. How did you find it? And
how did you find it was there?” Rayne pulled her sleeve back down and put her
hand on her wrist. “You have to tell me if you know if I have any on me and how
did you find out where it was?”

“You have several on you, and it was a body
scan from a friend of mine that found them. And don’t fuck around trying to
find yours. As soon as the first anything that resembles some sort of scan
touches it, the thing alerts someone where you are. I’m pretty sure that whoever
put it in you knows not only that you’re having lunch here but also that you’ve
just had a baby.” Bronwyn tried to think if she’d ever felt anything on her
when she looked at Rayne again.

“You never told me. Why? Why after you
figured out that I wasn’t your enemy didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you had already had it
removed. I had no idea that you didn’t know.” Rayne leaned very close to her
and Ally. “I have a friend that can remove it for you after we find it, but you
have to trust me. He certainly won’t hurt you.”

Bronwyn nodded. She had something in her
that was telling them where she was at all times. They would know her every
move, where she was, what she was. She looked up at Ally when she stood up. Rayne
was moving toward the door.