Freakn' Cougar (14 page)

“I didn’t say I was perfect. But, to answer your question, chivalry is allowed. In both those cases, I was coming to someone’s defense.” He winked.

She shook her head, sending her short blonde bob swinging. “You know, for a guy who looks like he belongs in a biker gang, you’ve got surprising depth.”

“Shh. Don’t tell anyone. I’d hate for word to get back to the juvies I work with. My badass rep is what helps keep them in line and listening to what I have to say.” He grinned, and his heart skipped a beat when an answering one stretched her lips.

It occurred to him the oddity of their situation in that moment. Here he crouched, naked in front of the woman he wanted as mate, and he’d managed for several minutes to not only control his lust but also have a real conversation. Of course, as soon as he realized that, his cock swelled, he became aware of their seclusion, and being a man not to look opportunity in the eye, he leaned in for a kiss.

Full moons always heralded some kind of strangeness. Crime rates increased. Women went into labor early. Folks did crazy stuff.

And cougars with strong work ethics, on a life or death mission, succumbed to passion in a jail cell of all places.

In her defense, he started it!

First by opening up and speaking to her so frankly. Giving her the mental support she so needed as frustration and fear of failure threatened to drag her down. He showed her a side of him she could respect, admire, and desire. When he kissed her, it just lit the match to the tinder already waiting to catch fire.

Blame it on the lunar madness or her emotional turmoil or even the damned mating bond she’d fought since meeting. All valid excuses. All bullshit. The simple truth was she wanted him to kiss her. To touch her. To lay her upon the simple cot and cover her body with his.

This is so wrong,
whispered one part of her.
This is so right,
whispered her other half.

“Relax,” Ricky whispered in her ear before tugging at the lobe with his teeth.

“How will we hear if we’re making out?” she muttered as his hands busied themselves tugging her button down shirt from her pants.

“Don’t worry. My panther is keeping watch for us. He won’t let anyone sneak up.”

Her cougar purred, approving of his plan. Horny pussy. It occurred to her to protest. How dare Ricky once again think to dictate what they do? She opened her mouth to argue, but her body betrayed her, arching at his touch and sizzling with heat.

“I won’t let you claim me,” she said, then gasped as Ricky hiked her shirt high enough to cup her breasts, his thumbs brushing over the lace-clad peaks. The thin material enhanced the sensation, and the heat in her sex turned into a pulse. He rolled her erect nipples, and the pulse beat faster and wiped all reason from her mind.

Further argument seemed pointless, not with her body begging for more. Ricky’s mouth plastered to hers. As he embraced her with a fierce passion, she forgot everything except the building pleasure in her body. When he dragged his lips from hers, she mewled in loss, but he wasn’t done. He trailed blazing kisses along her jawline to her ear. A swirl of his tongue inside the delicate shell sent shivers running down her spine as he located her sensitive spots and took full advantage of them.

His mouth wasn’t the only busy thing. His hands roamed her body and teased her skin. Locating the clasp to her bra, he undid it, freeing her breasts for his touch. Oh, and touch them he did, cupping them, teasing the nipples with light circling strokes of his thumb until they pointed into aching peaks. She almost begged at that point for him to do something. Thankfully, she didn’t have to, as his mouth closed first over one erect nub then the other, sucking and tongue swirling, each stroke, each sensation, sending a jolt of pure desire to her wet pussy.

When she cried out, he shushed her, placing his mouth upon hers, his tongue performing a sensuous dance along hers. His lower body pressed against her thighs, and she spread them as wide as she could on the slender cot to accommodate him. The naked heat of his body burned her still-clothed bottom half. The hardness of his cock pulsed against her. She ached to feel his firm flesh within her. Fucking her.

He rubbed against her, and despite the fact his mouth clung to hers, he purred, a rumbling vibration that caused her to shudder. She couldn’t help but purr back in response. The moment was too perfect, too erotic for her not to express enjoyment.

Cream pooled in her sex as her arousal coiled, ready to spring. She struggled not to make a sound but couldn’t help the panting as she clung to his broad shoulders, digging her fingers into the hard muscle.

Once again, his mouth left hers, but this time, she bit her tongue even before he shushed her. Quiet. They needed to be quiet. She couldn’t remember why but knew it was necessary.

Ricky slid down her body, his hands tugging at her pants, which had somehow come undone. Once he’d bared her and tossed her pants to the side, he peered at her, his eyes a smoldering gold inferno.

“So fucking beautiful,” he growled. “And mine.”

His dominant claim almost managed to get her hackles up, but before she could decry his possessive statement, he bent his head and settled it between her thighs. She shuddered instead, anticipation stealing her voice.

She tensed in expectation of his first lick. As if he’d give her what she wanted so easily. Oh no. He just had to show her who was in control. He teased her, rubbing the smooth edge of his jaw along the soft skin of her inner thigh. He blew warmly against her pussy, hot puffs of air that had her arching and clawing at the cot as her sex convulsed in pleasure. His tongue swiped back and forth across her pussy, lapping at her cream and stabbing between her lips. She fought not to cry out but couldn’t hold in her panting breath. Need built in her, a teetering tower of passion, which he built upon; brick by pleasurable brick. When her orgasm hit, her body bowed, a taut arc with every muscle locked. And still he continued to lick. To tease her nub. To torture until she couldn’t help but beg. “Fuck me.”

“Will you accept me as your mate?” was his maddening reply.

She almost said yes. Almost let the needs of her body dictate the course of her future.

Sanity, a thin thread of it, prevailed, and she held back from saying the words that would bind her to this man, this maddening, glorious male, for a lifetime. He might have argued. Might have worn down her resistance and gotten his way were it not for the subtle click of a door tumbler being turned.

Of all the times for a killer to interrupt!

Ricky almost roared his frustration as he tore himself from the velvety sweetness of his woman to crouch by the unlatched cell door, ears pricked and listening. Arousal still coursed through his body. However, the longer he sat poised, trying to discern what happened across the hall, the more his raging hard-on diminished. But he couldn’t escape the decadent aroma of Patricia’s pleasure wafting in the air, flavoring his tongue and lips.

I was so close to making her mine.
She might have said no for the moment, but given a few more minutes, and he would have had her purring another tune. Now the opportunity was lost, and who knew when he’d get another chance?

First, he’d have to capture the killer, probably file a damnable report, then stalk his cougar—because knowing her, she’d fight until the very end—and seduce her. He’d tie her to a bed if she proved too stubborn, and this time, he wouldn’t stop until she screamed yes—preferably while his cock was buried inside her and her nails raked his back.

Despite the clear sound of a door opening, there was no murmur of voices. Peering over his shoulder at Patricia, who hastily righted her clothes and hid her delightful curves, he inclined his head with an unspoken gesture of “Do we go in?”

She nodded as she palmed her baton. He held up one finger, two … On the third, he flung open the door and charged through, heading for the gaping portal across from him. He landed in a crouch, head swinging, searching for the intruder.

Clad in black from head to toe, the shifter menace was already at work. Ricky startled the culprit as they straightened from the cot, the glinting tip of a needle projecting from the hand that had administered a drug to the sleeping shifter. It seemed the bear had gone from singing to sleeping while Ricky made love to his woman.

The killer heard him enter and whirled. Despite the ski mask hiding the majority of the features, there was no denying it.
Patricia and Stu were right.
The murderer was a woman, a petite one too, but the sneer on her delicate pinks lips was anything but gentle. Despite her humanity, she also managed a snarl worthy of a predator.

“Filthy creature,” she screamed. Despite her obvious disadvantage, she lunged at him, and while he avoided the pointy end of the syringe in her hand, he couldn’t miss the jab of the other she pulled from her jumpsuit. It dug into the meat of the arm he threw up to defend himself.

The effects of the potent tranquilizer immediately went to work, slowing his movement, spreading a paralyzing lassitude through his limbs. Unlike the previous shifters whom she’d caught unaware while they slept, he’d entered the cell adrenalized, so he didn’t collapse to the floor in a coma-like sleep.

“You’ll pay for murdering my brother,” he growled as he reached out to grab her. He missed, his movement sluggish and clumsy. It seemed the drugs hit him harder than expected.

But the killer hadn’t counted on his cougar. She wasn’t affected at all, and with a snarled, “Bitch!”, she jumped into the fray. Ricky managed a crooked grin as he slumped to his knees, an avid audience with a clear view—in duplicate—of the catfight. It wasn’t even close to a fair match. Their little murderess might wield a deadly needle, but she was no match for a trained law enforcement officer with shifter strength, agility, and speed on her side. It took only a few well-aimed shots to her face to send the killing bitch reeling then one final one to the temple that made their culprit roll up her eyes and fall to the floor unconscious.

Patricia dropped to her knees in front of him. “Ricky, are you all right?”

“Fi-i-i-ne,” he managed to slur with a thick tongue.

“No you’re not,” she grumbled. “Of all the damnable luck. I need to get this broad out of here and into council custody, but I don’t want to abandon you.”

“I’ll come with you.” He staggered to his feet. Swayed. Hit a wall, which held his weight despite the fact it spun. Actually, the whole room spun. Hmmm. Walking might be a little harder than expected until he managed to burn off some of the effects of the drug.

“You’re not in any shape to help, and I can’t leave you here. There will be too many questions. Nor can I lug both of you,” Patricia grumbled. “I need—”

“Stu to the rescue.” Wearing a grin and nothing else, the wolf appeared at the door. For once, Ricky was kind of glad to see him, even if the damned wolf appeared twice as wide as usual—and had two sets of hanging junk, lucky bastard.

“What the heck are you doing back here?” Patricia asked.

“Funny thing happened during my little chasing game, two guards got accidentally conked on the head, dumped in a storage room, and had all their clothes stolen.” He grinned. “They won’t be returning to their post anytime soon, so I thought I’d see if you needed a hand, or a paw.”

“Your timing is perfect because, as a matter of fact, I do need your help.”

“You caught the killer?”

“In the act. And it was a she. I’ll tell you about it later though. We need to move before someone comes looking. You grab Ricky while I get the girl out of here.”

“What about sleeping beauty over there?” Stu jerked a thumb at the slumbering shifter with the gaping mouth and rumbling snore.

“Leave him. He has no idea he just escaped the reaper. And the fewer people with stories to tell tomorrow, the more likely our operation will go unnoticed.”

“Will you be all right with the girl?”

Patricia let out a snort. “Piece of cake. I bench press more than she weighs. You just worry about getting your naked asses back to your cell before any alarms go off. Who knows when those cameras will come back online?”

Back to the cell? Ricky made a face. “Now that we’ve caught her, can’t we just leave?” Ricky might be fighting the sandman’s lure, but his thought process still worked.

“You can’t leave, not without the humans asking too many questions. Just sit tight in your cell, and as soon as I get her booked, I’ll get the paperwork processed to get you moved and then wiped from the system.”

“Great. Another day of prison food,” Stu grumbled as he looped an arm around Ricky’s upper body. With the wolf’s steadying influence, they staggered their way back in the direction of their cell while Patricia, with the unconscious female slung fireman style over her shoulder, went in the opposite direction, to the outside. How she would get the killer over the wall and out without the human guards noticing, Ricky hadn’t the slightest clue. Could cougars fly? He shook his head trying to clear it of the crazy thoughts. All it served to do was make everything around him distort fun-house-mirror style.

The drug cocktail coursing through his body made his drunken binges seem tame in comparison.

As they weaved the maze back to their cell, Ricky fighting off the drug through blinking eyes—while staving off the pretty floating butterflies and rainbows—Stu decided to talk.

“I see I’m not the only who got lucky today. Did you mark her?”

“No.” Not for lack of wanting. Again, he cursed the timing of the inconsiderate killer.
Would it have killed her to wait five more minutes to murder?
He giggled, fucking giggled, at his unintentional pun.

“I’m surprised you’re taking it so well.”

“Not,” he spat through numb lips, trying to ignore the bunny shadow leaping along the wall beside them.

“I guess with the case over, it’s only a matter of time now before we’re all joined. One big happy family. Damn. I’m never going to live this down. Me in a freakn’ threesome. Do you know how much flack I gave my brothers and sister when they got involved in a three-way? This is so going to come back and bite me.”