CHAPTER 4
Maya turned the moment she sensed someone enter the room, ready to snap and snarl and drive them away, because this was her room.
Her territory.
Her toys.
She wasn’t going to share them with anyone, had already driven Grey away when he had been the one to suggest she shift and work off some energy.
She stilled when she spotted the scarlet-haired male standing in the doorway.
Heat flared, rushing through her, and she dropped the barrel and growled through her fangs at him.
Hers.
He was hers.
His silvery eyes brightened, pupils dilating to swallow that precious colour as he stared at her in silence, not moving a muscle.
His heartbeat drummed steadily in her ears, not a trace of a tremble in his powerful athletic body.
He was fearless as he faced her.
As he growled.
Maya was too fired up to heed that order he issued, too far gone to withdraw.
This was her territory.
Hers.
And so was he.
She sprang at him and he didn’t have a chance to move. Before he could even twitch, she had landed on his chest, her front paws on his shoulders, and he was going down. He grunted as they landed, her weight slamming into his gut, and she felt an echo of his pain.
Mine.
She growled in his face, flashing her fangs.
He would submit to her.
In a lightning fast move, he had flipped her onto her back and was off her, back on his feet and a metre away. She rolled onto her paws, a growl rumbling through her chest, the need to force him into submission pounding through her together with anger that he had dared to disobey her.
She slowly circled him and he kept pace with her, maintaining the distance between them, those pure silver eyes not leaving hers, tracking her every move so she couldn’t get the jump on him again.
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” he husked, voice like honey, a smooth purr that had her shivering with delight.
She knew that.
But he didn’t know just how dangerous this game was.
For both of them.
Part of her was dimly aware that she needed to stop, that she needed to shift and leave, before the hungers he ignited in her became too strong for her to fight and she surrendered to them.
Fight.
She wanted to fight.
She hunkered down on her front paws and growled again, a need to battle the male growing within her, spreading tendrils through her until it had total control over her and all she could do was watch.
He smiled slowly. “If you want to do things this way, I’m game.”
He reached over his head, grabbed the back of his dark red t-shirt and pulled it over his head.
Maya swayed a little as the glorious sight of him hit her, stunned her and left her reeling, her mouth watering and that hunger flaring hotter, filling her with a need to run her tongue over all that flesh.
Scars littered his chest, faded and silvery, but it was the one on his right shoulder that arrested her eyes. It was thick, cutting across his muscle, and dark pink. Still healing. He had been in a battle recently. She shivered inside at that, her need growing as she imagined him fighting, as she realised he was a warrior.
A strong male.
“You look as if you need a good workout.” There was a flash of something wicked in his silver eyes as he said that, something that told her he wasn’t talking about fighting.
He was talking about the other thing.
Her heart quickened, blood thundering at just the thought.
He fingered the button of his black jeans and her eyes fell there, that heat growing fiercer as he slowly popped each one, teasing her. It burst into wildfire in her veins when he reached the last one and casually, shamelessly, shoved his jeans down his legs.
Gods.
She growled at the sight of him, unable to contain her reaction.
That smile widened, grew a little cocky.
She had seen countless males naked at the pride before and after they had shifted, more than just her brothers, but none of them had been like him.
He was glorious.
He would be hers.
She leaped at him.
Before she could reach him, he had shifted, stealing her breath away.
Beautiful lush pale silver fur with black broken rings covered his sleek form, his tail thick and bushy, and almost the length of his body, and his eyes gained a gold shimmer.
A snow leopard.
The sight of him caught her off guard.
Left her wide open.
He collided hard with her and tackled her, knocking the air from her as they landed with him on top. She growled and twisted, slapped him hard with her front left paw and then her right, battering his face. He snarled back at her and made a lunge for her throat, and she swiftly bucked up, pushing her paws against his neck and his shoulder. The right one.
He hissed and distanced himself, but only for a heartbeat.
He sprang at her again, and she was ready this time, rose onto her back feet and reached with both paws, managed to get them around his neck as his landed around her ribs. He snarled as she brought her head down, whisker close to sinking her fangs into his throat, and twisted downwards, breaking her hold.
Maya growled and followed it with a hiss as she swiped at him, her ears flattening against her head.
He leaped backwards, only a few feet, and eyed her, studying her closely.
She bared fangs at him.
He would submit to her.
Those golden-silver eyes shimmered with heat and amusement, an answer to her question. He would not.
She was damned if she was going to submit to him. He was male, but she was stronger, her heritage giving her an advantage over him.
The male leaped at her again, springing high into the air, and Maya hunkered down and kicked hard, propelling herself towards him with all the speed and strength she could muster. He grunted as they collided, but kept his wits, his fangs snapping close to her face as he tried to claim her neck.
Never.
She twisted in the air, using her weight against him, pushing him down into a vulnerable position, and growled as she landed on him. He hissed, flashing fangs, and kicked at her, catching her flank with his claws. She snarled and snapped her fangs at him, because if he wanted to play rough, she could do that, and he would regret it.
She brought her paw down hard, smashing it into his right shoulder.
He growled through clenched fangs, ploughed his back paws into her stomach and kicked hard, shoving her off him to land awkwardly on the floor. She was on her paws a second later, rising up onto her back ones to meet him as he rose onto his and tried to grab her.
She tried to stand taller, instinct driving her, awareness that he would win if she didn’t maintain the upper hand when they grappled. Her balance faltered, and she stumbled back a step and her front dropped. The male’s left paw landed on her shoulder and drove her down, and he landed on top of her back.
No.
On a feral growl, she kicked up, driving into him, forcing him off her. She ignored his warning growl, the one that demanded she submitted to him, and brought her right paw around and her claws out.
He hissed as they cut across his shoulder.
Red marred his beautiful silver and black fur.
She thought he would back down now that one of them had drawn blood.
It only made him fight harder.
He snarled and launched at her, and she rolled, letting him hit her front rather than her back. He pinned her down, his gold-silver gaze bright as he stared into her eyes, and then he snapped his fangs at her and pushed his weight down on her. She brought her back legs up, tried to kick him but he was at an angle to her, his lower half too far away from her for her to hit.
His head came down.
Maya hooked her right paw around his head and rolled left, pulling more of his weight on top of her.
In range of her back legs.
He broke her hold and leaped off her, and she kept rolling, hit all four paws and came into a crouch, breathing hard as she kept an eye on him. He circled her, breathing hard too, the cut on his shoulder dripping crimson down his leg.
The part of her that was still aware of the world, that one existed beyond this room, beyond him, whispered that this was dangerous, that she couldn’t do this, that she was promised to another.
She didn’t want to be promised to another.
She wanted the male who had been made for her.
She leaped at him, and he rose onto his back paws to meet her, welcomed her into his paws and grappled with her. She managed to get her fangs into his neck and satisfaction poured through her, the instinct to fight him and force him into submission fading as she held him in her teeth, not breaking the skin.
Her guard dropped again.
The world whirled past her and suddenly he was behind her, had her pinned to the floor in a hold.
His teeth against the scruff of her neck.
Maya stilled, went lax in his grip, fear rushing through her to douse the fire, leaving her cold.
But he was gentle as he held her in his fangs, didn’t make a move to bite her or hurt her.
The door in front of her opened.
Talon walked in. “Grey said you wanted to speak with me about something.”
He lifted his head and stopped dead.
Stared at her.
And then his face darkened, a tempest raging in his glowing gold eyes.
And he roared.