Authors: Shelley Munro
Tomasine blinked. One minute he was human and the next, a huge black leopard stalking toward her. He rubbed against her flanks then her head, purring loudly the whole time. Just a big ole kitty cat. She swatted him with one of her front paws and gave a low cough to remind him they were under time constraints. With one final purr, he padded past the woolshed and broke into a lope. Tomasine followed, reveling in the breeze ruffling her fur and the crisp scent of mountains and greenery, the uneven surface digging into the pads of her paws. Everything seemed brighter and smelled more pungent while in cat form. She’d forgotten how much the small things such as taste, sight and scent took on a much larger meaning. Felix headed up into the hills, gradually increasing his speed until the trees, rocky outcrops and tussock started to blur. Tomasine slowed, unused to mad gallops through the countryside. Her sides heaved with exertion and she knew she’d probably suffer from sore muscles the next day. The exhilaration and freedom made the run worthwhile. Finally, Felix stopped near an outcrop of rocks shaped like a bird’s head. He padded around the schist until he reached the sheltered side and stopped near a soft grassy area. He shifted smoothly, standing to tower above her. Proudly naked, his erection jutted in an obvious manner.
“Shift,” he barked.
Tomasine obeyed the order and rose to her feet in front of him, her sides still heaving with exertion.
“God, I need you so badly,” he muttered, seconds before his mouth slammed down on hers. His urgency was contagious. Tomasine pressed her breasts against his naked chest, dragging her nipples across the smooth expanse of skin. He lifted her off her feet 92
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and strode across the grass without lifting his lips from hers. Their tongues tangled while her heart pumped with adrenaline, with urgency. Felix set her on her feet in front of the outcrop, breaking their kiss, the mating of their mouths. The schist soared above their heads—a rough and formidable cliff. Felix lifted his head to look intently into her eyes. His face looked feral. Harsh, without an ounce of tenderness but she felt no fear. “Turn around,” he ordered. “Hands on the rock.”
Tomasine stared deeply into his green eyes. They held a storm of passion, the same tempest that thrummed through her veins. Ever so slowly she turned, maintaining eye contact until it became impossible and she stared at gray rock instead. Excitement pulsed, marching across her breasts and matching a lower ache in her pussy. The breeze blew across the top of the cliff, creating a strange whistle while the rock was rough and cool beneath her palms.
She heard Felix step up behind her and knew by the prickling of her skin that he was watching, studying her closely. Tomasine shifted her weight from foot to foot and flinched when he cupped one buttock with his calloused hand.
“Widen your stance.”
Tomasine obeyed, anticipation making her pant. Her pussy clenched with longing and one hand lifted from the rock to soothe an aching nipple.
“Stop that,” Felix barked.
Resentful, she followed his order but slowly enough that he knew of her irritation. Felix chuckled, but it was a hard sound that bore little humor. The knowledge eased her frustration and her fingers curled into the rock while she waited for his next move. Felix teetered on the edge of control. The need to change, to mate and mark her held him in its grip. His hand curled around his erection. So swollen and tight it was painful, he pumped slowly trying to gain a little relief. It didn’t happen. Instead the ache intensified. His skin prickled insistently. He had to have her. 93
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Now.
Panting softly, he traced the crack between her buttocks and pressed a soft kiss to the muscles between her neck and shoulder. Her clean, spicy scent with its hint of shifter seeped into his lungs.
His.
Always his.
He spread her legs a little wider. His fingers intensified the pressure, pushing down on her perineum and eased his finger toward her pussy. Liquid moisture greeted his touch along with relief. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. Felix removed his finger and repositioned her hands so she bent at a better angle. Then he guided his cock and pushed deep into her pussy. The prickling became worse as did the urgent need to mark her. Felix withdrew and slammed back into her, one hand snaking around to cup a breast. He tugged at the nipple, making her groan. She pushed against him, her womb clenching his cock so tightly, so perfectly, he thought he would burst.
“Felix, more,” she murmured.
Her throaty voice enticed, her body seduced.
Man, he was a goner.
Felix retreated and surged into her welcoming body, faster and faster. The air wheezed from his lungs, his heart pounded. Her silky hair rippled across her shoulders with each thrust, allowing him peekaboo glimpses of the creamy skin of her neck. He bent his head and licked, the salty flavor of her skin combining with the scent of cat and sex and the outdoors. Unable to bear the lack for a second longer, he licked across her shoulder. Felix thrust faster, but the faster he thrust, the closer he came to orgasm and the more he wanted to mark her skin to claim her. His canines lengthened until they protruded from beneath his lips. A growled emerged from deep in his throat.
“Bite me,” she said seductively.
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Bite, not mate. A subtle difference. Felix shoved aside his disappointment and dragged his tongue across the meaty part of her shoulder. His cock jumped in her womb and he groaned. God, she felt so good, her slender body quivering beneath him, her pussy clasping his cock so tightly. He nibbled, giving her a touch of teeth before soothing the sting with the roughness of his tongue.
“More,” she pleaded.
Her body trembled. Felix was so close he shivered himself. His balls tingled as he thrust into her again. He gripped her shoulders and rocked their bodies together. Urgency grabbed him now. His teeth sank into her shoulder and he held her submissive while he pounded into her pussy. Tomasine groaned. She shuddered.
“Yes!” she screamed, the sound ending on a gulp.
Each breath became difficult, harsh to his ear. He felt the tremors of her pussy, the tiny convulsions that signaled her climax. He pistoned his hips one last time and fire swarmed across his body, blood crowding into his cock. His eyes closed as he concentrated on the sounds, the sensations, the woman who clasped him so sweetly. One more thrust was all it took. With a violent explosion his semen burst from him in a white haze of pleasure. Felix stiffened, his muscles locking while the pleasure continued for long, endless moments.
“Tomasine,” he whispered. Felix withdrew from her body and pulled her away from the rock. He hugged her tightly to his body trying to convey everything he felt by touch. His mouth slammed down on hers and a thought occurred. They hadn’t used a condom.
His head jerked up and he looked down at her with a trace of panic. “We didn’t use a condom.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” he demanded in shock. Tomasine met his gaze for a while before glancing away. “It didn’t seem important in the scheme of things.”
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Not important? Felix opened his mouth to dispute the fact before deciding it would be better to hold his tongue. Tomasine was his mate. If today caused a pregnancy—
well, he wouldn’t exactly feel sorry. With a gentle finger beneath her chin, he tipped her head up for his kiss. He rubbed his mouth over hers before pushing his tongue between her lips. He explored the smoothness of her inner cheeks and the taste of her before lifting his head. Felix tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled.
“We should be going if we want to sneak around a little before the girls finish school. I’ll race you back.”
Felix shifted smoothly, wanting to laugh at her expression of surprise but all that emerged was a deep cough. He spun and galloped off down the hill, back toward the sheep yards, the wind rustling through his fur. The thunder of feet behind brought a feline grin to his face. Tomasine wouldn’t catch him unless he allowed it. She was too unfit and unused to running through the hills of Middlemarch. He slowed abruptly and she crashed into him. They tumbled and he let out a playful growl. Tomasine slapped him across the jaw with one of her paws and leapt out of the way. Then she trotted away with a swish of her tail.
Felix grinned after her. What a woman. His woman. His mate. 96
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Chapter Seven
At exactly three in the afternoon, they pulled up outside the primary school to wait for the final bell of the day. Felix glanced across the cab at her, his eyes liquid with heat and promises for the night to come, for other nights. Tomasine bit back a sob. Leaving was going to hurt even though it was best for all of them. She hated the thought of more innocents killed in the private war between Joseph and her. Not that she wanted to fight. If he’d leave her alone, she’d gladly fade into a quiet life and not go anywhere near Africa. Ever.
The strident clang of the bell blared from a loudspeaker affixed to the corner of a classroom. Not long afterward, children spilled from the open doors. Some lined up inside the gates under the supervision of a female teacher while parents collected other children at the gates. Excited laughter and chatter filled the air along with screeches and bickering between siblings fighting over who would sit in the front seat of the car during the drive home.
“I’ll go and collect Sylvie.” Tomasine climbed from Felix’s SUV and entered the school grounds to wait for Sylvie. Her daughter loved school and usually dawdled, which worked out fine since they needed to wait for Gina’s school bus to arrive from the high school.
But today, unease jumped about inside her gut like the kangaroos they’d seen at the zoo in Melbourne. The stranger’s appearance had brought back her flight instincts, her survival instincts. Tomasine went in search of Sylvie. She checked the schoolyard. She checked Sylvie’s classroom and the hall leading to her classroom. She checked the toilets.
Tomasine couldn’t find her anywhere.
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Panicked, Tomasine hurried to the nearest teacher. The teacher was speaking with another parent but Tomasine interrupted, grabbing the young woman’s forearm and shaking her vigorously despite the difference in their size. “My daughter Sylvie. Where is she?”
The teacher’s glower faded, replaced by confusion and concern. “I saw her earlier. She must be here somewhere.” The teacher glanced around the busy schoolyard, her height allowing her to see better than Tomasine could. “I don’t see her. I’ll ask the other teachers.” She trotted off, pausing to check with a male teacher before racing into the school.
Meanwhile Tomasine ran to alert Felix. “Felix. I can’t find Sylvie. The teacher said she was there but she’s not now.” Icy fear twisted around her heart at the thought of what the assassins—Joseph’s minions—would do to Sylvie. She swallowed, clammy sweat forming on her hands and the rest of her body. Memories of the massacre flooded her mind. The stench of bright red blood. The pained moans from the dying shifters. The screams. Frightened tears flooded her eyes. Sylvie was only five. She was an innocent and it wasn’t her fault. None of this was Sylvie’s fault. Tomasine grasped Felix’s arm and dug her fingernails into his flesh. “We have to find her. She’s not in her classroom or out here with the other students.” Urgency and panic coated her words. Felix squeezed her quickly, his expression of concern rapidly flickering to impassive and strong. “You go and see if the teachers have seen her and I’ll organize the parents to search the classrooms and school grounds.” Felix spoke calmly and his quiet strength filtered through Tomasine to ease her dread a fraction. Feeling marginally calmer, Tomasine retraced her steps, her gaze flickering back and forth, searching each face. Opening every one of her feline senses, she tested the air for scent and listened for any sound that might help locate her daughter. A sob of strained laughter a trifle hysterical, squeezed past her lips, the calmness of seconds before a mere illusion. There were so many different scent trails—all shifter. The very reason she’d settled in Middlemarch now became a disadvantage. The paths 98
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crisscrossed so much Tomasine couldn’t tell which scent trails were fresh from this afternoon from those that were made earlier this morning. She thought she smelled Sylvie but the track petered out at the edge of a knee-high hedge that bordered one of the gardens.
“Mrs. Brooks.” The teacher she’d approached earlier appeared from inside the main building. Tomasine couldn’t remember her name but knew she wasn’t Sylvie’s teacher. She hurried over to the woman, her heart thudding against her ribs so loudly it was a wonder the other woman couldn’t hear. “Miss Madison said Sylvie left her classroom with the other students. Since she wasn’t on playground duty, Miss Madison has been in her classroom ever since.”
“So, where’s Sylvie?” Tomasine demanded.
“Don’t worry. She must be here somewhere.”
“Where?” Tomasine shrieked. Her hands clenched with the need to wring the woman’s neck. Her daughter was missing, dammit. The school was responsible for Sylvie’s wellbeing while she was in attendance.
The teacher took two steps back as if she thought Tomasine might strike out. Instead Tomasine turned away, intending to start checking the classrooms and every single cupboard one by one.
“Tomasine.”
Tomasine whirled around on hearing Felix’s voice. “Have you found her?”
“No. Gina’s bus has arrived. She’s looking for Sylvie too. I think we should contact the police.”
“The police?” Terror threatened to cut off her breathing.
The police
. God, Sylvie was really gone. Felix slipped his arm around her waist just in time to catch her when her knees buckled. This was her fault. She should have listened to her gut instincts when they told her to run instead of letting Felix talk her round.
Her fault
. The words echoed over and over inside her head until she thought she might go mad. 99