“Oh, Rex, I want you so much ...”

The words were like music to his ears, made even sweeter as the heat from Alice’s soft, feminine body soaked into his. He could feel the swells of those lush breasts pressing against his hard chest, feel her smooth thighs straddling his hips. Nothing, however, could compare to the feel of her taking his rock-hard cock into her tight, wet heat. He clenched his teeth, made his entire body taut, afraid that he would blow before he got fully inside.

He had known it would be like this with her. Hot. Wet. So fucking tight she had to work her way onto his dick in tiny increments.

His big paws gripped her around those full hips, hips meant to entice a man to sink deeply and do wicked, wicked things. Like make her come over and over again until she was completely spent.

He guided her as she lifted up, then down, taking him a little farther each time. Fuck, he wanted in her so bad he had to fight the urge not to yank her down and go balls-deep. But he wouldn’t do that. He had waited far too long for this. He was going to savor every torturous, agonizing, excruciatingly incredible moment.

Mine.

The word ripped from the deepest recesses of his soul, but he held them inside, along with the burning need to fill her with his seed. To claim and mark her so there would never be any doubt, so that no male would ever, ever think she was anyone else’s.

“Oh, Rex. Yeah, baby.”

His fingers tightened on Alice’s hips. Her voice didn’t sound quite right. Maybe the incredible sex was messing with his brain, or maybe she was having trouble getting the words out with his dick so far up her pussy. He hoped not. He loved her low, dulcet tones, the ones that struck a perfect harmony with the notes that were always playing in his head, in his soul.

“Yeah! You fucking stud!”

His brows pinched together, interrupting his fantasy of fucking Alice bare. That hadn’t sounded right, either. Alice never sounded ... screechy.

Rex pried his eyes open, horror turning the blood in his veins to ice. It wasn’t Alice riding him like a goddammed prize stallion, but some fucking groupie. He pulled her off his cock and tossed her onto the mattress beside him. Then he leapt out of bed, his head pounding like a motherfucker as he tried to focus.

The groupie was no kid. That didn’t mean anything. Women of all ages, shapes, and sizes lusted after him. Some were cleverer than others. Some were more persistent, too. This one was already crawling across the bed on all fours, her eyes glowing fanatically as she eyed his cock and licked her lips.

His unsheathed cock.

Fuck. Not again.

The heavy weight in his balls told him he hadn’t come, and that provided some measure of relief. He sure as hell didn’t need another crazy bitch wanting to have his baby so she could grab a free and easy ride.

“How the fuck did you get in here?”

She blinked at him stupidly, as if she didn’t understand the question. “I snuck in.”

“Well, sneak the fuck out.”

Rex didn’t wait to see that she did. Instead, he went into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, locking it in case the woman had any crazy ideas about joining him.

His head pounded, and his stomach roiled as he stepped into the shower. Turning his back to the spray, he hissed as the scalding hot water trailed down his ass and burned his oversensitive balls.

This shit had to stop.

It had been months since he had last seen Alice, but instead of it getting easier, it was getting harder. Replacing her hadn’t been as easy as he had originally thought. Even with three people trying to do all the stuff Alice had done, shit was still fucked up. There was dissension in the ranks, and many of his regular staff had quit, which would explain how Greta Groupie had gotten into his bed.

Worse, dreams like the one he’d had last night were occurring more frequently, practically every night now. It was seriously screwing with his head. Even the music that was always there, providing the background harmony to his life, had grown increasingly silent.

He had tried everything, including booze and drugs, even though he hated the stuff. If anything, they only made things worse. Because of his shifter metabolism, he had to ingest a lot of any substance for it to take effect, and those chemicals were wreaking havoc with his creativity.

Things were so bad, he had even considered taking up one of the many offers and engaging in protected sex, or at least a fucking blow job. However, he hadn’t been able to follow through. It seemed the only way he could get off was by closing his eyes and thinking of Alice.

That was messed up.

He was a male lion in his prime. Getting off with as many willing females as he could was wired into his DNA, yet there was only one woman he wanted: Alice.

That didn’t make any sense. The only reason a lion male should obsess over a single female was if she was his mate, and there was no chance in hell Alice was his mate. She was human, and while lions could, and often did, fuck humans, they sure as hell didn’t mate with them. True matings were extremely rare and went way beyond physical joining.

Which meant he wanted Alice for a different reason. Maybe because she was the forbidden fruit? It wasn’t so much that he wanted her, per se, but the fact that he couldn’t have her that made her so damn attractive.

Yeah, he slipped that on for size and liked the feel of it. He was the king of cats, used to having whatever he wanted, when he wanted it. The alpha male in him didn’t like being denied, and that was the root of the problem.

Fortunately, there was a solution. He just needed to fuck Alice and get her out of his system once and for all.

That wasn’t going to be easy, not when Alice was so determined to avoid him. There had been that one time a couple weeks earlier at Animals when he had been certain she would come to him, but she hadn’t, and he had gone full rager.

Their paths hadn’t crossed since. He knew, because he was checking the lineup at every single one. Maybe it had proven too much of a temptation for her, and she vowed not to let it happen again.

Well, this wasn’t just about her. He had a say, too, and he wanted to see her. More importantly, he needed to see her. To see her and taste her and fuck her until he got himself out of this rut. And he knew just how to find her. Carly would know exactly where Alice was.

Rex finished washing, letting the soothing scents of his shampoo and body wash calm his inner beast. Both were custom blends created just for him, gifts from ... Alice. She always seemed to know just how to soothe the savage beast within.

He frowned, letting his hand linger on his dick a little longer as another image of Alice popped up. Just like that, he was as hard as iron, and his balls were aching again. He tightened his grip and stroked, closing his eyes until he could imagine her kneeling in the shower right there with him. Cocked and loaded, it took only the thought of her sassy pink lips closing around him to have him painting the walls.

Yeah, he needed to do something and soon.

Rex finished up and toweled off. Then he applied some leave-in conditioner to his mane before returning to the bedroom. Thankfully, the woman he had woken up to was no longer there, though her foul perfume continued to linger and made his nose itch.

He pulled on a pair of well-worn jeans then went looking for Carly. About halfway across the shared living space, Valerie, the latest in a series of PAs, intercepted him with a frown.

“You didn’t like my wake-up gift?”

His mind flashed to the woman who had been so anxious to impale herself on his morning wood. Wood he had been sporting because he had been dreaming about Alice. Again. At least now he understood how the woman had gotten into his room.

“No,” he growled. “If I want a female in my bed, I’ll put her there myself.”

Her eyes flashed, and then she softened her features into a feline smile. “Just trying to help,” she purred as she stroked his bare chest. “You seem so tense lately.”

He was tense. And her pointed, long-nailed claws weren’t helping.

Wrapping his hands around her wrists to remove them from his chest, he didn’t miss the way her eyes flashed again. Fuck. She was probably into all kinds of kinky, bondage-type shit. So, why the hell was his dick shrinking instead of pounding her into the wall?

“I have to speak with Carly.”

Valerie remained stubbornly in his path, irritating him further. “Later. The buses are ready and waiting. We need to get going if we’re going to make it to Sioux Falls in time for the show.”

He looked at the clock and scowled. Then he turned around and stalked back to his room for a shirt and shoes. Apparently, his convo with Carly was going to have to wait.