Kent stared at the woman lying in bed. Correction, his bed. His gaze drifted more than once to his bite-mark on her shoulder. His mind was still fuzzy in regards to how he’d gotten into the trap to begin with but he’d since healed.
After this woman had saved him, freed him, only to hot wire a stolen truck and race away from the poachers she’d sassed and challenged, he’d followed. Hell, he couldn’t have let her be anyway, he’d bitten her. She was his.
When she first opened her mouth and spoke, he’d forgotten about the steel trap around his paw. The soft velvet quality to her tone as it wove around him, awakened part of him he’d thought wouldn’t ever come alive. The part that told his kind, this is your mate.
Her accent had sounded familiar and he swore he scented wolf shifter on her, so he called his friend, Aric Wolfe, to see if she was one of his.
Turned out, she wasn’t and his friend hadn’t even heard of her. Kent had gone through her bag to find her personal information to be able to pass it along. His friend was the next Alpha of his pack and while he’d not taken over yet, he and his mate were more than up for the position.
Aric was one of the few wolves he trusted. His brothers were on the to-be-trusted list but then it grew sparse. He’d never felt like himself in the United States, always too crowded and not enough running room. Wolves had large territories but it was different for cheetahs. It was hard for him to get up to speed when he had to slow and dodge a bunch of crap like forests. Here on the savannah, he could run and play without all that.
She moaned and he was at her side, brushing those thick black sexy as fuck curls away from her face. Kent wanted her to open her eyes. Even his cat had responded the first time they’d locked eyes. Those striking pale green eyes that met his had only strengthened the vines holding them together.
Her hair moved like satin through his fingers and he wanted it to slide over his entire body. Fuck, even his cat wanted to come out and roll in it. His jaw ached as his canines lengthened in time with the raw lust and need growing within him.
Kent stepped back. This wasn’t the way to introduce himself to his future mate. Not fucking her, while she lay there. He wasn’t like that. Never had been. Never would be.
It hadn’t been easy for him to follow her after she drove off, not with his injured paw, but he would walk through the fiery pits of hell to get to her side, so a nearly broken paw wasn’t about to stop him. Had he been a normal cheetah, it probably would have snapped his ankle, but shifter bones were stronger.
So, he’d been with her when she slowed the vehicle and hopped out as if she did it all the time. And he was there when she collapsed from the bite he’d given her. That was when he shifted and brought her back to his place.
She looked fucking amazing lying in his bed, the golden sun streaming in the windows and highlighting the warm tones of her skin, turning it to a beautiful caramel mocha hue. Her curves were mouthwatering and he couldn’t wait to strip her naked and lick every inch of smooth skin.
Is she bare or does she have some hair surrounding her pussy? What is she going to taste like as I swipe my tongue up between those lips?
A low growl emerged from his throat and Kent clenched his fists, not willing to let his cat get the upper hand. True, he felt more animal than human a lot of the time, but it wasn’t any way to act. Hell, he should tell her his name first.
Then I’ll tell her I marked her.
Kent was an alpha. Loner, but that didn’t make him a beta at all. He had no coalition anymore. His friends and brothers were dead and he was the last. That he knew of, he’d come back here to see if there were more like him. So far he’d come up with zero. He’d run into some of the local cheetahs and they tended to give him a wide berth. Kent was larger than they were and smelled different.
There were two young males that were trying to survive with a coalition of their own that he watched over, so he would sometimes go run with them, merely for the companionship his cat wanted from time to time. They were both outcasts so to him, he wanted to ensure they had a sporting chance in this world. It was hard anyway but when you were smaller, it only got harder.
His ears twitched as he heard them come up in the area. He’d claimed this area but they had been made aware they were allowed to be there. Other males weren’t. One more look to the woman lying in his bed then he went to the sliding glass door and opened it.
He stepped out and surveyed his domain which was more than a typical male claimed. He watched over the average range for a female, closer to three hundred miles. But it was his.
Kent gave a welcoming purr to the young males as they walked up to him, slowly. They didn’t like him much in human form but they knew his scent.
They butted their heads beneath his palms and rubbed along him, twining against him. He walked with them away from the house and shifted. The males immediately relaxed and the three of them played for a while.
When they were tired and had drunk their fill of fresh water, he returned to human while they lay panting beneath a large tree, enjoying the shade. Kent returned to the house and checked on his mate. She still lay sleeping so he went to fix her some food, aware she’d be hungry when she woke.
He’d just finished making the sandwich when her breathing changed and the spike of adrenaline could be scented. Rushing to the bedroom, Kent slowed as he saw the two youngsters walking in the room, sniffing and exploring.
While not an uncommon thing for them to do, he’d never had his mate there before. Protectiveness rushed with the force of a monsoon but he restrained it. These males weren’t of mating age and weren’t a threat in that regard. However, he wasn’t sure how they would respond to her as human.
Kent remained in the doorway, aware the males knew he was there. Resting his shoulder against the doorframe, he waited. She was awake, he knew that, her breathing pattern had changed. There wasn’t any fear in her, and he expected none. For a woman who braved what she had to save him, couldn’t be afraid of two juveniles.
His sharp gaze caught sight of her left hand, the one that was away from the cats. Slight movements as if she were clicking the shutter on her camera. She shifted, a minuscule movement, against the bedding.
They froze. Seconds later, they were gone.
“Damn it,” she swore, pushing up onto her hands and knees.
He ogled her ass as she rose. God, he wanted to smack it and bite it. “They’ll be back.”
She screamed and whirled around, sliding off the bed in the process to land on that very ass he’d been staring at. “Who the fuck are you?”
Her heartbeat thundered in his ears. Now, he also picked up on some fear in her and that bothered him, horribly. While the man and beast both longed to comfort her, Kent merely offered his hand. “I’m the man who found you slumped over out in the savannah. Do you have someone I can contact for you?”
“N…no, thank you.” She ignored his hand and slid back a foot before she got to her feet. Her gaze flashed to where her bag was, along with the rifle she’d stolen off the poacher and back to him. “I-I—I am fine. Thanks for the help.”
This woman wasn’t the same confident one who’d faced down those poachers and had risked her own life to save a cheetah.
“You can’t leave.”
Her eyes widened but she didn’t speak. Her gaze was wary and her need to run stamped all over her face.
“It’s nearly dark. You have to know it’s not safe for you to be out there at that time.” He stepped back before he did something like kissing her. And lord help him, he wanted to feel her full plump lips beneath his. Wanted to see her on her knees before him as he pushed his cock between her waiting lips. “You’re safe here.”
She lowered her gaze briefly then gave a short nod.
Okay, this wasn’t going well.
“I fixed you something to eat. There’s a table out the sliding door behind you. Why don’t you go sit out there and I’ll bring it to you.” He left to grab the plate with her sandwich on it and returned to see a flash of her vanishing back out the door, bag in hand.
Shit.
He rushed to the door, expecting to see her running but instead, she was crouched down where she wouldn’t be in the way of the two adolescents who were hanging around. Apparently, they were as interested in her as she was them.
She was taking pictures of them and she radiated excitement, although on her scent, he picked up something else. There it was again, this hint of wolf.
“Look at you two boys,” she whispered to herself as she snapped images of the males while they trotted up closer to the space she was occupying. “So handsome. Small, but beautiful. I don’t suppose you’ve seen that magnificent king cheetah around here have you? Probably wouldn’t tell me if you had. I know they’re rare.”
She took more pictures.
Kent placed the plate on the table and crouched beside her. “Like cheetahs, I see.”
“Shh, don’t scare them off.”
Absolutely no sign of her earlier stutter.
He remained silent, both him and his cat content to be beside her. He leaned closer, brushing against her slightly. His body came alive as if an electrical pulse had been applied to him, stronger than when he’d carried her back here. If he’d had any doubt about their connection, this wiped it away one hundred per cent.