Southern Shifters: Purred Promises (Kindle Worlds Novella) (6 page)

His body flexed against hers as she bucked her hips, releasing her hold on his neck and groaning.
She let go of his waist and pressed her feet against the bed,
opening her hips as her pussy clutched him rhythmically
. She gripped his shoulders and gazed up at him, her fangs glistening
, her panting breaths fanning his skin.

Her nails pierced his skin a heartbeat before she threw back her head and shouted, her pussy locking down on his dick like a fist. He let go of his tight hold on his climax and roared as he came. He wrapped his arms around her as his dick spasmed and emptied into her. They were both slick with sweat and shivering
. T
he scent of their combined pleasure was a drug he knew he’d never get enough of.

He rolled them to their sides, keeping as close to her as he could. She rested her cheek on his bicep and exhaled deeply.

“You rocked my world, kitten,” he said, his voice hoarse from the roar that had come from somewhere deep inside him.

“Me too,” she said. Her eyes w
ere back to their normal chocolate brown, lovely and bright with happiness.

She yawned and rubbed her cheek on his bicep.

He reached for the covers and drew them up, then
kissed her forehead. “Sleepy
, sweetheart?”

She murmured in agreement.

He wanted to ask her a million questions, until he knew her better than anyone in the world, but the desire to see to her needs was more powerful. “Sweet dreams, mate,” he whispered, closing his eyes and relaxing in the knowledge that his mate would be there when he woke.

Chapter 7

Genesis slipped out of
her mate’s arms and hurried from the room. She found the bathroom across from the bedroom and used the toilet. After washing her hands, she peeked into the bedroom and saw that Jair was still sleeping. Tiptoeing to the
pile of
clothes on the floor, she lifted her panties and stifled a groan to see that they were torn.
She picked up his t-shirt and tugged it on instead of her own clothes, since
the shirt was long enough to cover her butt. She didn’t plan to be gone from bed too long, anyway.

Hurrying to the kitchen, she found it entirely lacking of anything except a microwave and fridge. No coffee pot or toaster sat on the yellow
counter
. Guessing that he didn’t do much cooking, she opened the fridge and found it to be very typically male: stocked with mostly beer and meat.

Digging through a drawer, she found a package of steaks and pulled it
out, along with some bottled water. A well-used cast iron pan sat on the stove, and she turned the burner on underneath it and waited for it to heat up. When the steaks were sizzling and the scent of roasting meat filled the air, she twisted the top off a bottle of water and drank half
without stopping.

Poking at the steaks
, she turned them and then walked through the kitchen into the family room. She lifted the blinds from the large front window and saw that the sun was rising. She couldn’t believe how her life had changed in just a single moment.

Going to the bar with Mona and Dillon had started off straightforwardly
enough. She met
Bhric, keenly aware that he studied her closely, his gaze flitting down to her wrist and then up to her eyes.

“It’s pretty simple here. Stay in our territory. If you go into the wolf or
cougar
territories, you could be hurt or killed, so don’t do it. Mona said you’ll be staying with them for a while. I’m arranging for you to have a place of your own, but at the moment we’re short on available homes. Don’t cause trouble, and if you need anything or if anyone gives you a hard time, come to me
or Greer, my right hand.”

She nodded at the big male. He looked scary
– he was huge and muscular, with a scowl that looked like it could melt paint off the walls – but her cat was glad that someone so fierce had her back.

Mona and Dillon led her to a table
and they all sat down. She could feel
everyone’s
eyes on her. Her cat was curious and wary of
being near all these
different types of shifters. Her normal had been all lynxes
,
all the time. The bar had so many
varieties, though she hadn’t scented any other lynxes.

“Do you want to dance?” Mona asked, patting her hand.

“Not
really. But you should.”

Dillon stood
and held his hand out to Mona. He glanced at Genesis and said, “Don’t let anyone hassle you. Just because you’re new and a purebred doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you.”

“Why would people care that I’m a purebred?”

His brow arched. “This is the land of misfit creatures. Being one sin
gle type of animal is unusual. But don’t worry. They can see you’re with us
.
I just want you to be aware that you’re new, and new people are a curiosity.”

Trying to smile but grimacing instead, she waved Mona and Dillon away. A waitress, scenting of both wolf and
cougar, came up and dropped off three beers.

“I didn’t order anything,” Genesis said.

The waitress winked. “On the house
, from the boss.”

She wasn’t much of a drinker, but she took a sip anyway, the cold brew making her shiver. It was warm outside, but it was cool in the b
ar. She shimmied from the table
and walked toward the door.
The moment she stepped outside, she’d met Jair and the world changed for her yet again
. She’d had less than nothing before she wal
ked out the door – no family, few friends, no money, no job – but in Jair’s arms she felt like she had everything she could ever want.

Turning her attention back to the kitchen, she checked on the steaks and removed them from the heat.
She placed them on a plate, grabbed utensils from a drawer,
and tucked the water bottles under her arm, carrying everything into the bedroom. Jair was still sleeping, and she thought he looked even sexier
that way, with his tousled hair and stubble on his cheeks.

She set the items down on the nightstand and cut a piece of steak. Then she climbed into bed next to Jair and waved the meat under his nose. He came awake with a purring growl, his eyes flashing with heat as he snagged the meat between his teeth.

He chewed and swallowed, then
kissed her. “You made breakfast? How did I sleep through that?”

“I guess I wore you out,” she teased.

She sat up and cut more of the meat, and he joined her, curling around her and stealing bites, feeding her more than he took for himself. He rubbed a bit of meat down her neck, licking the juice from her skin.

He popped the bite into his mouth and kissed her throat. “Thank you for breakfast, sweetheart. You didn’t have to cook for me.”

“I wanted to.” She set the utensils on the empty plate and turned to face him. “I want to be a good mate.”

He smiled and kissed her gently. “You already are. And now it’s my turn to be a good mate to you.”

Before she could ask what he meant, he climbed from the bed with her in his arms and carried her into the bathroom.
He set her on the counter and turned the shower on. She parted her legs when he came to stand in front of her, and she grasped his lean hips and drew him close. Tilting her head up, she
asked, “How’d I get so lucky to have such a sexy mate?”

“I’m the lucky one.”

“That sounds like an argument that ends up with both of us being winners.”

He helped her from the counter and purred when she took off the shirt she wore.
Shoving the shower curtain to the side, he
held her hand as she stepped over the edge of the tub and under the hot spray. He joined her, taking up most of the room with his big body. He stared down at her in silence for a long moment.

“Jair?”

“I want to do like ten different things to you, but the hot water won’t last long, so I’m arguing with my beasts about getting clean.”

She laughed. “Clean first, then dirty.”

“I love how you think.”

* * *

She snuggled against Jair on the couch, a blanket wrapped around both of them as they stared into the fire. She loved the sound the fire made as it crackled and spit, sparks blossoming and fading in the fireplace. She was deliciously worn out, and more content than she’d ever been in her entire life. Jair was amazing, from the top of his sexy head to the bottom of his feet.

He lifted her wrist and kissed the space just underneath the symbol. He had a similar one, but she didn’t know his story yet.

“It hurt,” she blurted out. “I know it’s supposed to hurt, but it was more than the physical pain. I
t was like the magic seared everything,
not just my skin. In an instant, my life was different and would never be the same.”

She hadn’t liked the symbol
. Had hated it, in fact. But without it, she never would have met Jair.

“You’re here,” she said.

He snuggled her a little closer and kissed the top of her head. “Where else would I be?”

“No, I mean that without these symbols our paths would never have crossed.”

He stiffened for a moment, and she wr
iggled out of his embrace until she was facing him. She opened her mouth to
ask what was wrong, when he gripped her shoulders lightly.

“It’s not pretty.”

“What isn’t?”

“My past.”

She snorted. “Whos
e is?”

Shaking his head, he lightly massaged her shoulders and said, “Sweetheart, you were put in a shitty situation by your father. I was the result of a shitty situation.”

He wasn’t looking at her,
and her cat murmured in concern. She cupped his chin and lifted his head until she could look into his eyes. She found the place
on his neck
where she’d bit him and rubbed it. He purred,
in what seemed like an almost
involuntary reaction, and she smiled. “We’re mates. Whatever baggage you have, it’s mine to carry now, too.”

“I don’t want you to think differently of me.”

“Not possible. Well, I mean I could fall even harder for you
, I guess.”

His gaze darkened,
and he growled, hauling her close and crushing her against his chest. He was quiet
for a bit,
and she gave him whatever time he needed to get his thoughts together. She was an open book, and she wanted him to be that way with her.

“My mom’s mate died. She was a young tigress with a child. She was lonely. She left
her son with family and went off pride lands. She went to a human city and happened to find a wolf shifter who was living among them. They had an affair
, and she returned to the pride, pregnant.

“When I was born, she said I smelled enough like a pure tiger that she trusted my shift would be normal, but it’s not. It’s so fucking far from normal.
”

She moved slowly, swinging her leg over his and straddling him. She cupped his face, tilting his head up until she could see into his lovely mismatched eyes. “You smell like home to me. It’s tiger and wolf together, and it doesn’t really make sense except that you’re mine. I don’t care what you shift into; I don’t care about the color of your eyes or your fur. You’re mine, Jair. Every inch of you.”

His gaze was intense, but their beasts were connected through their mating and she could tell he was wrestling with demons that had nothing to do with her.

“My aunt told me about Mona. She gave up her life to be with Dillon. When I look at her, I don’t see regret, I see a family. Our situation isn’t the same, of course – I didn’t choose to have an arranged mating, but I was being a good daughter and doing what my father said. Now I’m cut off from that world and I can’t go back unless I want to get dead fast. I wasn’t really thinking much about my future until I was driving here. Then it was
all
could think about.” She played her fingers down his throat, finding comfort in the heat of his skin. “
I wondered what the symbol
would mean for my future. I was told my whole life that exiled shifters are the worst of our kind. I don’t think I’m a bad person, but the
symbol
made me feel that way. Then I see your
symbol, and I feel like it connects us.”

He clasped her wrist gently just underneath the mark
.
“You don’t care about the mixed-up beasts?”

“No. You don’t care that I’m a princess, right? What defined us in our past doesn’t have to define us in the present and future.”

His brows shot up. “Wait, what?”

She groaned, realizing she’d
called herself by her old title. “My father was king of the chain.”

He hummed, his brows drawing down. “Why would your father exile you because your arranged mate was killed? Not that I’m not thrilled that you’re here, but princesses are revered.”

“I was given to my arranged mate’s father. I was told it was mate him or get the hell out of town, so I picked exile. I’ve only been gone for
four
days. It feels weird to think about life going on without me, you know? My father went to bed that night without having a daughter.”

Tears stung her eyes, and Jair wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, his wolfy purr comforting her as the tears fell.

“You’re my family now, Genesis,” he murmured. “The life we’ll build here will be one where no one in our family will ever be kicked out for their genetics or their choice in mates.”