Authors: Jade Allen
Thomas laughed against her soft lips, pulling back
from the kiss when she finally tugged his belt strap free. “Whoa, buy a guy
dinner first!”
“I’ll make your favorite,” Susanna said throatily.
She bent over and slipped off her shorts, revealing that she was naked under
the black cotton fabric. Thomas felt blood rush to his cock as his eyes took in
the firm curve of her ass and the shock of curly black hair covering her mound.
“Or you can just eat
me
,” she said coyly, and slipped her t-shirt over
her head. Her small, round breasts were also uncovered by underwear, and he
couldn’t stop himself from taking a step forward and cupping one of them into
his palm. His lioness shoved his pants and boxers down in one smooth motion,
and his erect shaft sprang upward after being freed from its confines.
Susanna moaned softly as Thomas’ thumb and
forefinger twisted and pulled the gentle flesh of her nipple. He watched her
eyes close as he tugged on her skin, and she let out a sharp cry when his other
hand slipped between her legs to probe her wetness, leaning back against the
glass table as pleasure started to roll through her body. He pushed first one
long finger into her dripping opening, then two, slowly pulling his hand back
and relishing the eager motion of her hips in response to his fingering. Her
breath was coming fast already, and he kissed her passionately as he plunged
his fingers deep into her pussy.
Thomas’ eyes glided up and down her lithe frame,
marveling at the even tone of her warm skin, the gentle motion of her stomach
as her muscles trembled in response to his strokes. Her right hand shot out and
closed around his shaft, and a current of pleasure slammed against his senses,
tearing a gasp from his lips. She started to move her hand slowly up and down
his cock, using his precum to lubricate her strokes. He kissed her again, and
she nipped his lip with her teeth. When she pulled back, it was as though her
gaze was fire itself.
“Fuck me,” Susanna begged as his thumb pressed
against her swollen clit and she arched her back. “Please, Thomas! Please.”
He didn’t need to be asked twice. Thomas held
Susanna by her waist as she laid flat on the table, spreading her legs wide for
him as he moved in front of her.
“
Oh,”
she moaned as he pushed himself
against her and started to stretch and fill her tight walls. Susanna’s hands
gripped his as he pushed his hips against hers, breathing as heavily as he
buried his length inside her. He watched his shaft glide inside her, mesmerized
by the way his glistening member sank inside her again and again. “Yes! Yes!”
Her hands went to her breasts to squeeze and knead
the bouncing flesh, and Thomas grunted as wave after wave of ecstasy passed
through him, intensified by the sight of his long cock slipping between his
mate’s legs. He was thrusting himself inside her to his hilt, filling her
completely. He angled his hips so he could press against her G-spot, and her
noises grew desperate. She was looking up at him as though he held the moon for
her, her features breathtaking in her wild desire.
Too soon, he felt the first shudders of orgasm on
the horizon, and Susanna’s moans became shrieks as he thrust between her thighs
faster and harder. He hoped no one was outside, because his cries were getting
louder and more passionate as well. The lioness wrapped her legs around his
hips as he slammed against her, leaning forward to wrap his arms around her
body as he pounded her pussy. Her juices were coating his pelvic area, and more
covered her thighs; she was literally soaking wet; he thought, h
ow did she
get so wet?
“I’m coming,” Thomas gasped, and he felt the walls
of her pussy clench around him as he rocketed in and out of her body. “Baby,
I’m coming!”
Susanna let him know she was coming by raking her
fingernails down his back as she screamed her orgasm to the sky. She was so
beautiful that Thomas nearly stopped stroking, but the next second he exploded
inside her, and his strokes became wild and untamed as they both bucked their
hips against one another, trying to sap the last of the pleasure from their
compulsive romp. Susanna pulled gently on his wild curls as his strokes slowed
and finally stopped.
When they were both finished, Thomas pulled out
and watched Susanna dress, and she seemed noticeably calmer.
“Did that really do the trick?” he asked as he
pulled on his boxers and pants, even though he knew the answer. She smiled
lazily at him.
“Yup. That did the trick alright.”
****
The next morning, they met in the basement of the
community center that served as their unofficial meeting hall. There were
thirty of them present, nearly the whole pride; Susanna, Thomas, and Natalie
were on a long couch in the middle of the room, but the rest of the pride had
to stand. Thomas and Evan presented their findings first, and then immediately
gave the floor to Susanna, who promptly told them about her recurring vision.
“And you still don’t know where the building is?”
Natalie asked after she finished speaking.
Susanna shook her head. “No. I just see the single
building’s wall, then the fire climbing the face of it. Then I hear us
screaming—all of us. I can separate the voices as I hear them; they’re so loud
and sharp.”
Natalie shivered, her eyes wide and troubled. “So
on top of everything else, you keep seeing your own death? And the demise of
our pride?”
“In a vision,” Susanna said, sounding nervous.
Thomas took one of her hands from his spot on the couch beside her and gave it
a squeeze, sending her a little of his metaphysical energy to help her stay
steady. “It has the same feel as all the others, the same perspective, the
same…tint.”
“Tint?” asked someone from the edge of the room.
Susanna’s face turned pensive as she tried to find
the right words. “Yeah, like…a filter. Everything just has an edge of malice.
As if there’s a bad spirit causing all of this.”
“You’re saying we’re haunted?” came a woman’s
voice near the back. A woman with short, curly blonde hair elbowed her way to
the front so she could lock her gaze with Susanna’s, and her brown eyes were
teeming with fear. She turned to Natalie. “This land isn’t on an Indian burial
ground or something, is it? Would you be able to tell?”
“Um…no,” Natalie said slowly. “Not all Native
Americans get tingles when we’re standing over the bones of our ancestors,
Leslie. I think you should calm down.” She fixed the lioness with a glare, and
Leslie sank back into the crowd. Natalie’s face was contemplative, and there
was a low murmur coursing around the room as everyone whispered amongst
themselves. Thomas felt his heartbeat speed up, and he couldn’t quite discern
why; then their matriarch took a breath, and the noise dropped away.
“Thank you for bringing this to my attention,”
Natalie said to Susanna. “This is invaluable information. I think for now,
though, since we don’t know where these visions are coming from—or even if this
one will come true—we should just wait to see if more information makes itself
known in your flashes.”
Heads around the room were nodding, but Thomas
noticed the hardness underneath his mate’s tone as she spoke. “
If
it
comes true?”
Natalie gasped, and she looked genuinely
remorseful. “I didn’t mean to imply that it wouldn’t, only that we don’t know
for sure. All of your other visions came true within days or even hours, and
this one has been happening for three weeks now—long after we eliminated our
last threat.”
Thomas felt anger stir in his chest, and he heard
himself speak before he realized he had chosen to voice his question. “So, what
are you saying?” He fought to keep the disappointment from his voice, and
Susanna’s face was impressively stoic, but Natalie hadn’t reacted in the way
either of them had hoped.
She shifted in her seat, looking uncomfortable.
“Susanna, you’ve been through a lot, and you’re still getting a hold on your
powers, just like everyone else. I think your anxiety is a factor in how you’ve
been dealing with this, and I think it’s making you believe we’re in danger,
when the danger has already passed.”
“How do we know it’s passed?” Ariel asked
fretfully, and Evan squeezed her shoulder in a soothing gesture. “How do we
know we’re not going to be targeted again? What’s stopping them?”
Natalie looked annoyed, even angry, but her
features smoothed out so quickly that Thomas wasn’t sure he’d really seen it.
“We know, because the council is coming for a visit, and nobody would dare make
a move with the council on our soil.”
The silence that fell over the room was so thick
that it seemed deafening. Then the room exploded with noise, and Charlie stood
and held up a hand for silence. It took longer than when Natalie called for
order, but this was big news: whenever the council visited to investigate a
matter, all the other shifter communities were informed, and word would make
its way to the underground as well. In simple terms, news of the authority’s
arrival would be flooding all corners of any world having anything remotely in
common with the lion shifters. This meant everyone would be on their best
behavior until they left.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Thomas asked, feeling
dread knot in his stomach. “Council visits always have advanced word.”
We
have no time to prepare a proper welcome,
he thought wildly. Then he saw
Susanna’s expression—confused and cautious—and felt the knot of dread tighten.
“Calm down,” Natalie ordered. “I didn’t tell
anyone because I’m taking care of it. We’re going to be preparing a small
welcome for the single representative that’s coming by. It’s not even an
official investigation; they just heard we might need to be rebuilding human
structures, and wanted to pop in to make sure there were no violations.”
“When did you hear this?” Evan asked, and Thomas
realized he hadn’t been told, either.
Natalie looked embarrassed. “Three weeks ago, a
week after we got rid of our bad guys. But like I said, Charlie and I are
taking care of the fanfare. I really don’t want you guys to worry about this.
We need to be focusing on moving toward unlocking our powers.”
Thomas looked around and saw that most of the
pride had calmed at her words, but Susanna hadn’t. Her lips were pressed
tightly together, but they were pushed upward in a tense smile.
“Does that make sense?” Natalie asked her, and her
voice was as anxious as her expression. “If the visions change or become more
vivid, we’ll talk about it again. But for now, what’s best for you is rest and
relaxation.”
“Right,” Susanna said brightly, but the word was
as empty as a light bulb. Natalie’s smile faltered, but she seemed to realize
she shouldn’t push the issue. She held out one palm toward the other lioness,
and after a tense moment, Susanna pressed her cheek to her matriarch’s skin.
“Thank you, Susanna,” she said as she stood. “It
means a lot to me that you trust me on this.”
As she walked away, Susanna stared daggers at her
back and sat motionless while everyone else filtered out. They were talking and
joking as though nothing out of sorts had just happened. Thomas waited for the
room to clear before turning to speak to her.
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
Susanna was shaking her head. “What
can
we
do?” she asked, her voice miserable. “She shut me down. We’re just going to
have to sit here and wait.”
“While someone comes to burn us?” Thomas’ voice
was more fearful than he meant to show, and Susanna looked up, startled at his
tone. “We have to do something,” he said fiercely. “We have to save our pride.
“
“How?” Susanna asked, her voice taking on a
hysterical edge. “How? And who’s going to help us?”
“I will,” came a voice behind them. They turned to
see Leslie standing in the doorway, wearing a bashful expression. Apparently
she’d come back after everyone cleared out. Thomas was disturbed by how quietly
she’d come back in.
“Remember the accident in front of my house?” she
asked. “Those cars that crashed…one of them was trying to hit me, but I moved
too fast for him, and I could never prove it. But I always felt like something
was off about that day, and about the other incidents.” She paused, and took a
deep breath. “I also noticed the scent of a human around each scene I came
across. The same human.”
Susanna let out a noise of fright. “Why didn’t you
say anything? Why did you wait?”
“The same reason you waited,” Leslie said, as
though it were obvious. “I didn’t think anyone would believe me, but now I have
more reason to believe that something odd is going on.”
She hurried over to the couch and sat in the spot
Natalie had just vacated. “If this is a human doing these things, it has to be
happening for a reason,” she continued.
“Whoa!” Thomas said suddenly. “You really think a
human is doing this? Targeting us, making problems…trying to kill us?”
“What else could explain finding the same scent at
each scene?” Leslie countered.
Thomas fell silent, because he really couldn’t
think of anything else. Their noses were incredibly sensitive, so he had to
trust that she knew an individual scent signature when she smelled one.
“Plus,” Susanna said slowly, “Why would the
council reopen the investigation? I don’t buy that it’s just because they’re
worried about the humans. Have you ever known them to reopen a closed case that
took them less than a day to pass a verdict on? Or less than a week, even?”
Thomas thought over her words, turning them around
in his mind as Susanna started to warm up to her own words.
“Maybe they’re coming because they don’t think the
attacks are over either,” she pressed. “Maybe they see the pattern of attacks
that the crazy lioness left, and they’re finally going to address it.” She
turned her eyes to Thomas, but he was shaking his head, the dread in his
stomach still growing weightier by the second.
“What is it?” she asked tersely.
He paused, unsure if he should voice his thoughts,
but both women were looking at him with such intensity that he couldn’t avoid
speaking any longer. “I don’t think the council is coming at all.”
The women spoke in unison. “
What?”
“Hear me out,” he said, removing his glasses as he
began. “Why else hadn’t we heard about it? We all have shifter friends in other
places, and if there really was a visit, we would have heard about it. Everyone
knows what a big deal a council visit is.” He paused for effect. “
Everyone.”
Susanna’s eyes widened in understanding, but
Leslie looked lost. “What? What are you saying?”
“A council visit is such a big deal that it would
pull our matriarch’s attention away from real emergencies,” Susanna whispered
as settled over her features. “And everyone would know that. Even humans.”
Leslie’s expression slowly morphed into one of
quiet horror. “A human faked a council letter? How? Why? They’d need the seal,
our official mailing address…” she gasped and slapped one hand over her mouth.
“They’ve been trying to scare us, and then kill us when scaring us didn’t work.
Even that tree, it was on the other side of Natalie’s house.”
“It fell the wrong way,” Thomas realized. “And
they tried to hit you when they realized you were catching their scent.” He
turned to Susanna, his heart thundering in his chest. “We need to figure out
where they’re trying to burn us. Does the wall have any markings? Any spots,
cracks, weird paint?”
“No!” Susanna said, her voice almost a shout. “No,
I don’t know anything yet. Just that we’re trapped, and—”
“What?” Leslie and Thomas asked together, leaning
toward her on the couch.
“A field,” she said quietly. “I can see a field in
the vision. Wide and green and flat, with a yellow house way in the distance.”
Then Thomas understood. “Our house.” They were
somewhere beyond the stretch of grass beyond their backyard—somewhere near a
farm, maybe even a barn. He wondered how much time they had before the vision
came true, and a chill passed through him when he realized that this could be
his last day on earth. He took Susanna’s hand in his and smiled.
“What do we do now?” he asked.
“Tell Natalie,” she said immediately. “Then go
find that house.” Her vivid green eyes were resolute, grim with the
determination to see this ordeal through. She was still a soldier, even if she
no longer had a rank.
I hope this doesn’t break you,
he thought, then
felt guilty for seeing her in the same way as the rest of the pride.
I just
can’t stand to see you unheard.
“What if she still doesn’t believe us?” Leslie
asked, voicing Thomas’ concern without realizing it. “What if she still thinks
the council is coming, and that we’re safe?”
Susanna turned to the other lioness, and the look
in her eye was every bit as fierce as it had been during her days of active
duty. “Then we go find the house anyway,” she said. “We still have to stop this
bastard. I’m not letting him hurt my pride.”