He knew that sign. He knew it well. “Nate…”
“I know.”
They both watched in silence as she shifted for the first time. Her limbs lengthened. Her nails grew out. Her body slowly became covered with a golden fur. The bed creaked under her weight as a lioness emerged.
“God, she’s beautiful.” His brother echoed his own thoughts.
Jay stared at the woman he’d mated with. He could have left her there and walked away at some point over the past few days. He hadn’t thought once about the fact she was a mixie, hadn’t cared either. But she wasn’t. She was a pure…and she was magnificent.
He smiled. “Hello, Alexa.”
The lioness’ tail swished in welcome.
He forced his lion back, deep inside him, not wanting to risk frightening her so soon. Instead, he held out his hand and waited for her to come to him. She stepped down from the bed, grace in all of her movements as she completely ignored his brother and walked toward him. That made him smile, that faint twitch of his lips the first sign things were improving. “You’re so beautiful, darlin’,” he crooned as she head-butted his open palm.
He knelt down in front of her and caressed her soft fur, rejoicing in the feel of her, in how amazingly perfect she felt. She turned her face to the side, but he grabbed her by the ears and forced her to look at him. “Mine,” he growled, using the voice he knew she wouldn’t be able to ignore. He wasn’t his brother, as gifted as he was. He was the Alpha’s first-born. Their Pride’s future Alpha. “You are mine, Alexa. Human, lioness, you’re both mine. Forever.” And with that, he leaned down and dropped a kiss on her snout.
The lioness shook her head but didn’t move. She looked at him as if weighing his words carefully. Seconds later, she leaned her weight against his legs. She’d accepted him. Relief flooded him, and it was only when his brother clasped his shoulder and said, “Well done, bro,” that he finally believed everything would be all right.
He stood up and watched as she pranced around the room, her too-big body bumping into every piece of furniture. She seemed content enough, though, as she got used to her new form, sniffing every corner, looking at him every so often just to check he was still there. He smiled, but it didn’t last long. Trust his brother to ruin his good mood.
“You’re gonna have your hands full. She’s clearly a dominant.” Nathan’s voice was huskier than usual, his lion more apparent in his gaze too.
“I know. I’ll be fine. What’s wrong with you?”
“She’s still in heat. You might have mated, but she’s still sending out pheromones like crazy. You need to get her to shift so I can examine her. Once that’s done and I’m convinced she’s all right, you can take her to bed. Oh, and Jay? Keep her there for the next few days, all right? She needs to get all those years out of her system before you can even think of bringing her back home. ”
Jay nodded. “Thanks, Nate.”
His brother grinned. “I wouldn’t have missed that for the world. Our dear Alpha-to-be, shackled! The Pride women are gonna be so upset you won’t be there to help them the next time they’re in heat.”
“They’ll have you.”
Nathan laughed out loud this time. “Oh yeah. I hadn’t thought about that.” He rubbed his hands in glee. “More for me!”
Shaking his head, Jay took a few steps toward the lioness and grabbed the skin at the back of her neck. She hissed, but one growl from him and she stopped. “You need to shift now, Alexa.” She stared back at him and showed him her fangs. “Don’t make me force you, darlin’. We both know who’s the strongest. Come on, baby, shift. I’ll be here to catch you.”
He worried she wouldn’t take heed, but he shouldn’t have. He had to stop forgetting she was already his mate. The mating call might still be upon them, but to their animals, they were now irrevocably linked. He inched away from her and watched her transition, his body tense until she appeared. The woman who’d captured his interest from the get-go, her lush curves bare, tempting, teasing…
“Shit,” his brother muttered under his breath.
And yet, he heard him. “Leave this room.”
He could feel Nathan fight the instinctive response to obey his Alpha. “I can’t. I need to examine her.”
His lion roared inside him at the thought of another male touching his mate. “I don’t know if I can let you do that.”
“Jay?”
He heard the question in his brother’s voice and realized he had to get it together. If he was to succeed his father, he would have to learn to control his lion so that nothing and no one could get him to shift. “I’ll stay. You do it. Quick.” His eyes never left his brother’s hands as they parted Alexa’s thighs, spreading her open, exposing her lovely pussy to the both of them. His nails lengthened, and yet it wasn’t the first time Nathan was touching her. He’d taken out the implant, had slipped his fingers inside her, had… “Hurry, damn it!”
“I’m doing what I can, okay?” Nate snapped back.
Fingers traced her slit before they slid deep inside, the movement too much like a caress in his burning mind. He growled, the sound loud and provoking.
His brother hissed back. “This is my job, Jay! You need to learn to deal with it. What if she gets pregnant? I’ll have to do this again. Control yourself!”
“She’s my mate!”
“I’m your brother!”
That shut him up. But not for long…
Chapter Seven
Alexa came back to herself slowly. Very slowly. She could hear voices somewhere in the room, but she felt too tired, too lethargic, to pay attention to them. Soon she’d listen but not right now. Not now when she was feeling so good, so perfectly in tune with the world. She’d never felt like this before. Oh, she’d fantasized about it as only mixies do. She’d had so many dreams over the years of running as a lion, feeling the wind brush along her fur. Becoming one with her lioness. God, she must have had a very good night if she could feel like this now.
She moaned, a long “Mmm...” that echoed inside the room as she moved to lie on her side.
“Alexa?”
She blinked. Did she know that voice? Her eyes opened. Two men were standing at the foot of her bed. Two tall and muscular men, their golden gazes showing their lion selves. And here she was, naked and already aroused. Wasn’t that the best dream ever? She stretched her oddly cramped legs and made a point of keeping them wide open. One man choked as if she’d shocked him. She frowned. If this was her fantasy, they should already be jumping on her!
“Alexa, baby… How do you feel?”
That voice. She knew it; she was sure of it. “Who—” Images collided inside her mind. She groaned and sat up, her hands coming up to hide her face. She tried to fight the memories, but they swamped her brain, showing her what’d happened in crystal clear detail. Her lioness!
No, she thought, they were one and the same. She wasn’t a mixie. She’d never been. Her stepfather had lied. That…that thing had been in her, forcing her other self to hide within her, stopping her from ever shifting. It’d nearly killed her. He’d nearly killed her!
Anger sparked inside her, and it burnt so bright so fast, she was already moving before she realized what she was doing.
“Alexa!” A man’s fingers were on her arm. He held her in place, effectively stopping her departure. She whirled toward him and roared her displeasure. “Control yourself!” Jay—yes, that was his name—snapped, his lion watching her within his hooded gaze. “You’re not in the Pride right now.”
“I know.” She licked her lips. “I need to go see that…that…”
“He’s gone.”
She blinked. “What?”
“O’Shea’s gone. My father’s looking for him. He’ll find him, don’t worry.”
“Your father—”
“Your Alpha, yes.”
“You’re that Jay. Of course, you are.”
She’d heard of him, although she’d never actually seen him before. Her family had always kept her hidden, fearful their leader would kill her for being less, for tainting the Pride with her mixie genes. But she wasn’t one. He’d lied. They’d all lied. Even her mother? She bit her lip at the thought.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jay said, his eyebrows snapped together.
She didn’t answer, unsure of what to respond. They stared at each other in silence until the other man cleared his throat and said, “Well, I guess I shall leave you guys to it. I’ll come back tomorrow and have another look at… Huh, right. Bye!”
Alexa watched him leave. She knew he was Jay’s brother, although she couldn’t remember why she was thinking that. She also knew he was a doctor because he’d been the one taking that thing out of her. He’d been gentle, too; she remembered that. God, her mind was spinning! She stumbled a little, but Jay was instantly there, catching her, holding her against him. She closed her eyes and breathed him in…and it made everything worse.
Eyes wide, she pushed on his shoulders until he was no longer touching her. “What did you do?” she shouted. “What did you do?”
His eyes now a tarnished bronze, he held up his hands and said, “You were dying, Alexa.”
“That doesn’t explain why we…why we…”
“Why we’re now mated?”
“Yes!”
“Our lion selves decided that for us.”
She was shaking her head before he’d even finished his sentence. “No, no, no! You could have still said no. You’re an Alpha! You could have stopped your lion. I know you could have.”
“I could. But I didn’t.”
“Why?” She stared at him, begging him with her eyes to explain it to her. “We don’t even know each other.”
His head tilted to the side. “That’s not altogether true.”
“You decided we should mate because we had sex together? Are you crazy?”
“Alexa.” This time, her name was a growl.
She felt all the hairs on her body rise in reaction. Alpha, he was the man who’d become her Alpha. Her mate, too. This was mad. This just wasn’t happening. “I don’t understand.”
He took a step forward and grabbed her hands in his. Pulling her to him, their bodies now only separated by a few inches, he said, “Would you believe me if I said it was love at first sight?”
She harrumphed. “No.”
Weirdly enough, that made him grin. “Lust at first sight then?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. It still doesn’t explain why you thought we should mate. You’re our Alpha-to-be. I’m a nobody. We’re just not supposed to be together!”
“Who says?” He tugged on her hands and made her fall against him, his mouth finding hers a second later. He kissed her, a hard and so completely thorough kiss, she was moaning by the time he pulled back and whispered against her cheek, “You’re mine now, Alexa. Body and soul. Mine to cherish.” A bite on her neck. “And love.” A quick nip of her earlobe. “And fuck.” His lips met hers again for another utterly intoxicating kiss.
By the time she realized he hadn’t fully answered her question, she was on her back and he on her. Her fingernails racking through his hair, she thought about stopping him and forcing him to talk. But when he began playing with her breasts, teasing her nipples into hard little points, she knew it’d have to wait.
Especially when he said they were going to have to do this for a long time, doctor’s orders. After all, she really shouldn’t be in public if the pheromones were acting up. Right? Yes. That was a very good excuse. She tugged on his hair until his face was just above hers, then she kissed him. And again. And again. And… “Yes!”
Chapter Eight
Jay was so pleased with his mate, he was purring. Literally. If he’d known the sex would be like that with his future wife, he’d have stopped the philandering a long time ago. God, she was incredible. Yes, he thought, maybe it wasn’t just any mate. Maybe it was just his…
He smiled as he felt her shiver beside him. He’d been running his fingers up and down her back, tracing her spine and the part of her neck he’d realized was so sensitive. Goose bumps rose on her skin. A smirk now firmly in place on his face, he bent down and nipped the spot where her shoulder met her neck. She groaned and rocked her hips. “Jay! Please, I’m tired.”
“Nope,” he murmured as he slid his hand down. “One more.”
“You’re a machine.”
He laughed out loud this time around. “No, I’m just a newly-mated lion. And I really, really love doing this with you.” He licked a path down her back, stopping only when he reached her ass. She tensed, he could see it, but he didn’t give her time to say no again. He just dove straight in.
Widening her legs so he could kneel between them, he made sure she was open to him as he lowered his head and licked her slit. She keened and grabbed the pillow at her head with two clenched hands.
He chuckled and did it all over again, this time making sure to hit all her hot spots. From her hardened clit to her opening, already wet with her juices, to her little rose, begging at him to play with it. He dropped a quick kiss on it and heard her intake of breath. “Like that?”
“I… Jay, I…”