Winter Born

Her hands suddenly free, she reached down and sank her hand into his long, silken hair as he gently rolled her onto her stomach.



He lightly nipped her buttocks.



"What are you doing?" she asked as he placed a pillow underneath her stomach.



"I'm going to show you what it feels like to have a male inside you, Pandora."



She shivered at the erotic image that played through her mind of Dante thrusting against her. "Please don't break my neck."



He brushed her hair aside and placed a gentle kiss on her nape. "I would never hurt you, gataki."



She shivered at his whispered words.



He lifted one of her legs up, then drove himself deep inside her. Pandora cried out as he filled her to capacity. He was long and hard, and so deep that she couldn't draw a breath.



Never had she felt anything like his fullness inside her. Of the intimacy of him touching her in a place no one ever had before.



More than that, she felt something breaking as electrical energy surged through her. Every inch of her body sizzled and hummed.



Dante ground his teeth as pleasure tore through him. He'd never felt anything better than her tight, wet heat around him. It was all he could do not to thrust himself into her hard and furiously until he was fully sated.



But he didn't want to scare or hurt her in any way.



Holding himself up on one arm, he ran his tongue over the sensitive skin of her ear and breathed lightly into it. She shivered under him.



He smiled at that as he trailed his hand over her skin so that he could again sink his fingers down her swollen clit.



Pandora groaned at the sensation of his hand moving in time to his long, gentle strokes. No man, Arcadian or otherwise, could be more tender. She would never have believed this was possible from an animal.



Only this wasn't an animal who was holding her. He was more human than anyone she'd ever known.



And kind. There was no pain and she wondered if he were using his powers to heighten the pleasure his touch delivered. She only wished she knew enough about her new powers to return the favor to him.



He began moving slowly against her, then faster. Faster. And faster still.



Pandora gasped at the speed of his thrusts as they continued to crescendo. Growling from the pleasure of it, she rocked her hips against his, driving him in even deeper until it was all she could do not to scream.



Dante ground his teeth as she moved in sync with him. She was exquisitely demanding. And when she came again, he laughed until the sensation of her body gripping his sent him over the edge and he too climaxed.



He roared out loud as ecstasy tore through him with waves and waves of pleasure.



She collapsed under him an instant before she rolled over onto her back.



Expecting her to attack, Dante almost leaped from the bed. But she reached one tender arm up and wrapped it around his shoulders to hold him close to her.



The smile on her face warmed his heart. "Thank you," she breathed. "It's the first time in days that my body feels like it belongs to me again."



He inclined his head to her, then reached down to take her small hand into his so that he could plant a kiss on her knuckles. No wonder Katagaria males took Arcadian females. It was so nice to lie like this with her.



If she were Katagaria, he'd most likely be bleeding in the aftermath of their encounter. Instead, she toyed with his hair and stroked him.



At least until she groaned.



Dante smiled in anticipation. It was her cycle heating up again.



She purred as her hand tightened in his hair and she eagerly rubbed herself against him.



His body hardened again instantly.



He was as ready for her as she was for him. The animal in him could smell her need and it answered accordingly.



This was going to be a long afternoon and he was going to relish every part of it.



And every part of her…



Pandora lay quietly in bed while Dante showered in her bathroom. She should be horrified by how many hours they had spent in her bed. He had bent her in more positions than she would have thought possible.



And she had loved every one of them.



He was incredible… and extremely limber.



She was sated to a level that defied her imagination. Normally, a pantheress would need days for a male to satiate her.



But Dante had been so thorough, so exhausting, that she felt an incredible sense of peace.



Who would have thought it possible?



She heard the water turn off. A few seconds later, Dante returned to the bed with his hair damp and curling around his shoulders.



He was completely naked and unabashed about it. She stared in awe at that tawny body liberally dusted with short, black hairs.



"Feeling better?" she asked.



He gifted her with a smile that made her stomach flutter. "I would have felt better had you joined me for a bath."



She blushed at that. He'd made the offer and she had declined, though why she couldn't imagine. It wasn't like he hadn't caressed and studied every inch of her in the last few hours. But somehow the thought of showering with him had seemed too personal.



Too strange.



He lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms.



Pandora sighed contentedly. It was so nice to be held by him.



One minute he had a long, masculine arm draped over her waist, and in the next, it was the limb of a panther.



She bolted out of the bed with a shriek.



Dante flashed instantly back into human form. "What's wrong?" he asked.



"Don't do the panther thing around me, okay? It really creeps me."



He frowned at her. "Why?"



"I… I just can't stand the sight of them."



He gave her a harsh, condemning stare that set her ire off. "You're one of us, baby. Get used to it."



She cringed at the thought. She was not in the same category as a Katagari female. They were crude and mean, and had no care whatsoever for anyone other than themselves.



"Oh, no I'm not," she said, growling the words at him. "I'm a human being, not an animal like you."



Dante narrowed his eyes at words that shouldn't hurt him and yet for some unfathomable reason did. He'd gone out of his way to be tender with her.



And what had it accomplished?



Not a damn thing except to have her disdain him over something he couldn't help any more than she could help being human.



There was nothing wrong with being a Katagari. He took a lot of pride in his heritage.



His kind was definitely superior to hers. At least they didn't lie, cheat, and steal for no reason.



Curling his lip, he climbed out of bed and flashed his clothes back on.



"Fine. Have a nice life."



Pandora jumped as he slammed out of her room.



"You too!" she called childishly, knowing he couldn't hear her.



What did she care anyway?



He was an animal. But as she headed for the bathroom, she missed the warm feeling she'd had when he held her. The sweet sound of her name on his lips as he carefully made love to her.



The way his tongue had stroked and soothed her.



Grinding her teeth, she forced the image away and went to shower. And as the water came on, she thought of Dante's brother who had yet to bring Acheron to her. He must have sent Dante to her instead.



How dare he!



She should have known better than to trust an animal. Why would one of them help her anyway?



Angry at both of them, and at herself for being so stupid as to trust them, Pandora regulated the water and started scrubbing with a vengeance.



Suddenly, the bathroom curtain was whisked open.



Pandora gasped as she spun about to find Dante standing there, blue eyes glaring at her.



"You never answered my question."



She sputtered at him. "Excuse me, I'm in the middle of a bath here."



"Yeah, I know, and I'll let you get back to it once you tell me why panthers bother you."



That was none of his business!



Tears burned in her eyes as her ordeal over the last two weeks overwhelmed her. Her unbalanced hormones didn't help matters any and neither did the fact that all she really wanted to do was go home.



Before she could stop herself, the truth came pouring out in wrenching sobs. "Because every time I see one of your people, you steal someone away from me whom I love and I hate all of you for it. Now your kind has taken me away from my home and my family so that I can either be a whore to the entire pack or a slave to one of you."



Dante felt an odd sensation in his chest as she started weeping. Not once in almost three hundred years had he felt such a sense of helplessness.



Such a desire to help someone.



"And what's worse," she said, her voice cracking, "I know I can't really go home because they'll just send me back here to the Katagaria pack that stole me. Panthers have taken everything from me. Even my virginity."



Dante turned the water off with his thoughts and pulled a towel off the rack before wrapping it around her.



"I don't know what I was thinking when I ran away," she sobbed. "Acheron won't help me. Why should he? And even if he wanted to, what could he really do? Dark-Hunters can't interfere in our business. I just wanted some hope. Something other than what is meant for me. I don't want to be a panther whore. I just want to have my own life where no one hurts or uses me. Is that so wrong?"



"No, Pandora," Dante said as he pulled her sodden body into his arms and held her tight. "It's not wrong."



He kissed the top of her head as he pulled another towel down to dry her hair.



Pandora hated herself for falling apart like this. She was normally calm and collected. But it was beyond her ability to cope now.



All she wanted was her life back. One day where she was again in charge of her body and her destiny.



One day of clarity.



What her people had done was wrong and she knew it. She hated all of them, Arcadian and Katagaria, for forcing this on her.



No woman should ever have her choice taken away from her.



She tried to stop crying as Dante rocked her gently in his arms. He was being much kinder than she deserved. Not even her own father would be so understanding of this breakdown. He'd never been the kind of man to tolerate emotional outbursts well and he'd trained all his daughters to suffer in silence.



Yet Dante didn't say anything. He just held her quietly while she cried.



"I don't know what to do," she said, stunned when the words came out of her mouth. It wasn't like her to confide in someone and to admit that she was in over her head…



She couldn't believe what she was doing.



Maybe it was because she didn't know where else to turn.



Or maybe it was just after the time they had shared where he hadn't hurt her that she was willing to almost trust him with the truth of her situation and feelings.



"We'll figure something out for you," Dante said as he rubbed her back. "Don't worry."



"Why would you help me? Your brother said you were a selfish bastard."



He gave half a laugh at that. "I am selfish. I'm cold and vicious. I don't have any friends and I spend all my time looking for Arcadians who bother me so I can pick a fight and hurt them. Hell, I even killed my own brother when he sold my pack out to the Daimons. Truly, I am every bad thing you think of when you hear the term 'Katagaria.'"