A man -- a dead man -- pressed Violet’s neck against the wall with one beefy hand. “What the fuck was that?” he demanded.
She pulled on his fingers, her face red, her bare feet dangling inches above the floor. Blood streamed down her right arm.
Mate
! Nikhil screeched with fury and sprang. He barreled into the human, knocking him to the side, and Violet dropped to the floor, slumping into a heap.
“A tiger?” The man pulled a gun and backed away, his eyes wide, his skin turning ashen. “What the fuck is a tiger doing in a hotel?”
Nikhil paced before his prey, his gaze on the weapon. He watched and waited, his muscles coiled and ready, knowing the traits of the foolish humans, aware of the species’ impatience.
An ear-splitting bellow sounded behind him. The man’s gaze lifted over Nikhil’s shoulder blades. “Oh, shit.” The man ran down the stairs, and Nikhil gave chase, gaining on him.
“Nik-hil!” Violet screamed, her voice breaking.
Mate
! Nikhil skidded to a stop, turned, and rushed back to her side, his first priority to protect her.
“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.” She sat on the floor and stared up at Bruce, her palms facing the big bear as though she was trying to stop him with her bare hands.
Nikhil twitched his head toward the fleeing man. Bruce barked and lumbered past him.
“Nikhil, is that you?” Violet rasped, resting her skull against the wall.
He bobbed his head and padded over to her side, prepared to protect her if the man returned. Her blood dripped on the floor and bruises circled her pale throat.
The man will die for daring to touch my mate
. Nikhil licked her arm, and she trembled.
“Don’t eat me, okay?” she whispered, her eyelids closing, her long dark eyelashes fluttering on her white cheeks.
My mate
. Nikhil nudged her with his nose, reassuring himself that she was safe and alive. His female was strong, yet fragile, brave yet defenseless, and he couldn’t live without her. His heart pounded from the scare she’d given him.
“His boss wanted my passwords to your systems.” Violet sighed, her chest rising and falling. “You should change them, in case they get to me again.”
He huffed. They wouldn’t get to her again, and he wouldn’t change the passwords. Changing them would eliminate any bargaining power she’d have. They’d hurt her, kill her. Nikhil pushed away his desire to pursue their enemy and carefully cleaned her wound with his tongue, healing her with his shifter saliva, tightening the bond between them.
Violet ran the fingers of her left hand over his fur, following his black stripes, fearlessly embracing his animal, and he purred, rubbing his sideburns against her, covering her smaller form with his scent. Her wound partially closed, the bleeding stemming, and her heartbeat slowed to a normal rate, color tinting her cheeks.
Nikhil searched for more injuries, beating her legs with his tail, his nose bumping along her breasts, and she petted him, stroking his back and shoulders, loosening the tightness in his muscles. His chest rumbled, the sound amplified in the narrow stairwell.
“You’re beautiful, Nikhil,” she murmured, brushing her face against his fur. “You should never hide this side of yourself from me. I know you won’t hurt me.”
“He might hurt me.” Bruce trudged up the stairs, his broad face red, his skin smeared with dirt. He wore only the emergency pants he kept in his car, his chest bare, his clenched fists gripping a long coat. “I lost the bastard.”
Bloody hell
. Nikhil shifted, his fur and claws retracting, his arms shortening, his tail sucked back into his human form. “I want you to find out who he is.”
So I can kill him
. He knelt before his mate, the floor unyielding under his bare knees.
“I know who he’s working for.” Violet held him to her, her grip surprisingly strong. “The hacker’s name is Gaur. He’s been tracking you for almost a year, trying to access your systems.”
Gaur, his enemy. The bovine shifter had been tracking him for decades, wishing to punish him for escaping his caste. Nikhil stared at his female, a deep freeze spreading over his chest. “And you’ve been blocking him.” Violet’s cheeks flushed pink, confirming his speculation. “You risked your life for me.” He roared with outrage. If Gaur’s man had gotten to her a day earlier, she’d be dead. “You’re never to do that again.” He grabbed her arms, needing to touch her, to feel her warmth. She winced.
“I brought you a coat, boss.” Bruce tossed him the garment, and Nikhil released Violet to catch it. “Guess she’s one of the good guys.”
“Yep, I’m wearing a white hat… for once.” Violet grinned at Nikhil as though she hadn’t faced death mere minutes ago.
Bloody female
. Nikhil tugged the coat on and wrinkled his nose in distaste, the fabric smelling of bear. “You won’t be wearing any hat. Until we find Gaur, you’re staying locked up in my house in the country.” He scooped her into his arms, savoring her weight, her curves.
“What about the hotel?” She linked her fingers behind his neck, clinging to him, a male more beast than man.
Has she no sense of self-preservation
?
He growled. “The hotel is clearly not secure.” Nikhil carried her down the stairs, the steps cool against his bare feet. Bruce gathered his things, his shredded clothes and discarded phone, wallet, keys. “You’re living with me, where I can guard you, protect you.”
Forever
.
“Cool.” She smiled up at him. “Being wonder boy, you must have fast broadband and the latest gear. It shouldn’t take me long to track Gaur down.”
“You’re not tracking anyone down.” Nikhil scowled, his female clearly not listening to a word he said. “You agreed to obey my rules from now on.”
“I agreed to obey your rules
today
.” Violet pushed an unruly strand of hair back from his forehead, the tender gesture causing Nikhil’s pulse to race. “Tomorrow remains open to negotiation.”
She drives me mad
. Nikhil gripped her tightly to him, never planning on letting her go. “What do you want?”
I’d give everything I have to keep you safe
. He met her gaze, all his calm blown to bits by her violet eyes.
“Chaos and anarchy.” Violet laughed, her unbridled joy forcing a smile to Nikhil’s lips.
“
This
is a lair.” Violet cast an admiring gaze around the large room, the walls covered with screens, multiple computers buzzing. Cables looped along the ceiling’s high beams, black, leafless vines against the electronic foliage. She sank into the nearest leather captain’s chair.
“If I had a room like this, I’d never leave.” She spun the chair around, lifting her military-style boots off the tiled floor.
“Not even to eat?” Nikhil watched her, amusement in his catlike eyes; his lips curled upward.
“I could eat here.” She laid her head back, spinning faster and faster, images swirling into a stream of color. “And sleep here.”
Nikhil grabbed the armrests, stopping the chair, and her body was thrown against his right arm. “I’d rather you slept with me, goddess.” He leaned over, seductive heat rolling off his firm form.
“I’d rather we didn’t sleep.” Violet brushed her lips against his, tasting tea and spice. “But we both have to work. I must strengthen your firewalls and track Gaur.” She drifted one of her fingertips along Nikhil’s thin blade of a nose. “I’ll protect you.”
“And I’ll protect you.” He nipped at her finger, revealing a playful side she’d always suspected he had. “It doesn’t matter how many mercenaries Gaur sends after you.” Nikhil lifted her easily, his strength impressive, and he slid into the seat, settling her on his lap. “I’ll defeat them,” he vowed, his passion moistening Violet’s pussy.
“It’s challenging to hire mercenaries with a deleted bank account.” She wiggled into Nikhil’s hardening cock. “And with his name on the authorities’ hit list.”
“You can do that?” Nikhil handed her a tablet, his fingers wandering over her knuckles, sending tremors of sensation up her arm.
“With help.” She relayed her activities through a chain of hacked servers, disguising her virtual trail. “The hackers will want something in return, a sacrifice to the computer gods.” She held her breath, waiting for his response, wondering if the price of safety was too high.
“A sacrifice to the goddess of chaos.” Nikhil rested his chin on her shoulder. “To protect you, I’d make the operating system for mobile open-source. Will that suffice?”
Violet exhaled, her jaw dropping. “You’d release all that beautiful code upon the world?”
“For you,” he rumbled, his voice lowering even more.
For me
. Her toes curled. “That’s the sexiest thing anyone has ever done for me.” She blinked back tears. “And it would rally the entire community behind you. They’d erase him in mere minutes.”
“Then consider it done.” Nikhil picked up another tablet, his arms wrapped around her waist. “I give them my word.”
“They have my word.” Violet leaned back into his hard body, comforted by his warmth. “They don’t trust the establishment, but they do trust me. They know I’ll keep you honest.”
“My honorable rebel,” he murmured.
They worked separately yet together. Violet sent messages to the hacking community and fortified firewalls. Nikhil gave the command to prepare for a future of open-source in mobile, that decision rippling across his computer empire.
As minutes stretched into hours, Violet squirmed more and more, grinding her ass into Nikhil’s groin. He groaned in her ear, his grip on her body tightening.
“It is almost time for anarchy, but first let’s set the atmosphere.” She brought up lines of his code, displaying them on the screens around them, surrounding herself with bits of him. “Very sexy.” She set her tablet on the desk before them and turned, then tugged the hem of her purple sundress upward to straddle him.
“Only you would think my work is sexy.” Nikhil laid his tablet over hers and cupped her ass, pressing her against him. “My beautiful rule breaker.” He kneaded her, his clasp on her rear ratcheting her passions higher.
“My savage billionaire.” She pulled his head lower and covered his lips with hers, claiming his opening mouth. He flicked her tongue playfully, causing her to laugh, his lips muffling the sound.
He’s as crazy as I am
. Violet undulated against him, teasing his constrained cock and exploring his mouth, tasting the tea he’d sipped over breakfast. A flavor she’d forever associate with him, with desire, with this feeling she couldn’t identify.
Nikhil slid his palms up her thighs and underneath her dress, his touch causing her to quiver in anticipation. With one vicious twist of his fingers, he snapped her panties, leaving her ass completely bare to him.
“Pull down your dress,” he instructed, his eyes glittering yellow and green, the contrast vivid against his black eyelashes and tanned skin.
Violet swallowed hard, controlling her impulse to contest his command. She tugged on her bodice, liberating her large breasts, her nipples tight and aching, needing his touch, needing him. A rumble rolled up his chest, his appreciation gratifying, stimulating.
“Beautiful,” Nikhil murmured in Violet’s ear, and her toes curled in her sturdy boots. He dragged his lips down her neck, his teeth grazing her skin, an arousing reminder that his beast prowled inside him, waiting for any provocation to spring free.
She gripped his suit-clad shoulders, holding onto him as he circled her right breast, teasing her without mercy, driving her wild with anticipation. “Nikhil, please.” Violet arched her back, offering her nipples to his hot mouth.
He chuckled, gazing upward, his cat eyes holding her captive, and he nipped her nipple. “Nikhil,” she cried out, jerking backward.
His palm on her back didn’t allow her to escape. He growled and fastened his mouth over her sensitive flesh, sucking hard.
“Yes.” Violet shook, her pussy, her entire body pulsing with ecstasy.
He sucked and released, sucked and released, the tug of his lips drawing more moisture from her empty core. Violet rocked, frustrated by the layers of fabric separating them, his cock rigid yet concealed.
Unacceptable
. She needed him, needed him inside her.
Violet blindly grappled, found his zipper and unfastened his pants. Her fingertips touched hot, hard shaft, and he inhaled sharply, pulling on her nipple, the pain pushing her closer to fulfillment.
Nikhil released her abused flesh. “Take me inside you.”
Another command
. She narrowed her eyes. “Are you training me to follow orders?” Her fingers twitched. The urge to obey him, to find her own pleasure, competed with the desire to rebel, to be her own person, answering only to herself.
“Only my orders, goddess.” Nikhil swept her hair back from her face. “I don’t want to change you.” He twirled a purple lock of hair around his index finger. “I want to earn your trust and your loyalty.”
“You already have that.” Violet lifted her hips, positioned herself over him, and guided his shaft into her pussy, his girth stretching her, filling her. She lowered her eyelids, the sensation euphoric, right, perfect. “I rebel because it’s in my nature.” She cupped his face. Tiger stripes shimmered across his skin. “As the wildness is in yours.” She rocked, savoring the shallow slide of cock in pussy.
“Then I’ll embrace your rebellion, Violet.” He squeezed her ass cheeks, his hold possessive.
“And your wildness?” She labored over him, panting with effort, unable to take him deep enough, hard enough. “Will you accept your animal?”
“I have no --” He thrust upward, grunting, and she moaned with pleasure. “-- choice.” Nikhil slammed her down on him as he drove upward, the impact jarring, exhilarating, the lack of control spiraling her fervor upward.
He forced her to ride him hard, moving her up and down his cock over and over, aiding in his ravishment. Her juices splattered over his dress pants, the fabric adding delicious friction, warming her thighs.
“More.” She clutched his shoulders, feeling his muscles move under the layers of clothing. “More.”