Van, Becca - Alpha Panthers [Terra-form 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

Terra-form 1

BECCA VAN

Copyright © 2011

Chapter One

April Waterson waved good-bye to her friend and work colleague, Olivia Hammond, after a night out for dinner and a few drinks at the end of a long, tiring week at work. April had always had trust issues from as far back as early childhood, and the fact that she and Olivia were so close was often a pleasant surprise to her. April had learned to cover up her insecurities with her tongue and hostility because of her parents. She was too wary to let her guard down and accept people and situations at face value.

April headed down the small, dimly lit, enclosed walkway toward the cab stand behind the club. She glanced around nervously. The quiet on the street was unnatural, and she realized she was quite alone, late at night. The unreality of the quiet seeped into her body and mind, making her heartbeat pick up and her breathing escalate. She couldn’t even hear any traffic noises. Something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t work out what.

April was no more than twenty yards from the cab stand when a strange, light-headed sensation assailed her. She felt as if she was walking through quicksand, her body moving in slow motion, her limbs feeling very heavy, as she kept her eyes on the end of the walkway. Dizziness began to make her feel woozy, and black spots formed before her eyes. April berated herself for the third glass of wine she had before she left the club. She never really did have a head for alcohol. One glass was enough to get her tipsy even with a belly full of food.

The dizziness increased with every step she took. Her body felt as if it were detached from her brain, but she knew she was still moving. The dark spots before her eyes increased until she felt totally blind. Her lips were open, and air was panting in and out of her lungs rapidly, as if she had been running for a long time. Blood was roaring through her ears until she could hear nothing else. April knew she was in trouble and tried to call out, but her body would not cooperate. She felt disconnected from her physical self, as if she were floating outside of herself. Her body was a total dead weight, out of her control. Just as she thought she was going to pass out, her eyes began to adjust, the darkness slowly receding. Her breathing slowed, and the roaring in her ears diminished. She blinked a few times and slowly turned in a circle.

What the fuck? Where the hell am I?

April was surrounded by trees. All around her were giant trees, their green foliage-covered limbs reaching to the sky. It was still night time, and April wondered if someone had somehow slipped something into her drink. She had to be hallucinating. That would explain the dizziness she had experienced and also the fact she had somehow landed in a forest.

April gave a whimper of fear, still not sure what was going on but too scared to move in case she was hallucinating. The last thing she wanted to do was end up in the middle of a busy road without realizing it. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, leaning against the massive trunk of a tree. The bark on her bare shoulders felt real enough. Maybe she was leaning on a tree on the side of the road. Too scared to move, she stayed where she was, hoping someone would find her and help her or that the drug she had hypothetically been given would wear off. She thanked God she’d had the foresight to change into jeans before leaving the office. They were a lot warmer than the skirt she’d had on. She pulled a black cardigan she’d also placed in her large purse out and slid her arms through the sleeves to cover the red halter top she was wearing. She hated being cold and always made sure to carry some sort of extra covering in case she needed it.

April got a little more comfortable on the soft bed of leaves then laid her head back against the trunk of the tree. She could hear animals rustling around in the undergrowth of the forest and hoped like hell that, wherever she was, she wouldn’t end up being a wild animal’s dinner. She was so tired she was having trouble keeping her eyelids from sliding closed. She caught herself drifting into sleep then jerked awake as her head nodded forward. She needed to keep alert and not let the drugs affect her by sending her to sleep. She was afraid she wouldn’t wake up again. That was her last thought as her eyes slid closed for the last time, her breathing even and deep as she lost her fight against exhaustion.

* * * *

Gage smelled the human female and knew she was miles away from their present location. He nudged his brother, another large black panther, in the shoulder and tilted his head as he sniffed the air. He saw his brother sniff the air and heard his low growl. He copied his brother, growling low in his throat as the delectable scent of the female wafted on the breeze. Gage looked at his brother and, with silent communication, abandoned the prey they had been stalking and took off. The feel of his muscles rippling as he sped through the forest to get to their quarry was exhilarating. He loved the feel of the wind running through his fur, like the tips of fingers caressing and massaging his body lightly. He felt so free and alive, but he was also determined. He wanted, needed, to get to the female before any of the other shifter kind knew of her presence in the forest. He and his brother had been searching for a female for so long they had just about given up hope of finding a mate of their own. He knew as soon as he had smelled her scent, she was their mate. Nothing and no one was going to get in their way of claiming their woman. Not even their mate, herself.

Gage and Saxon Kian stood yards away from the sleeping human female. Gage studied her body as he inhaled her delectable scent. The musky aroma of her pussy pulled at his heart and cock, making his cock throb with unrequited desire and his heart fill as the emptiness within receded. Their mate was small compared to him and Saxon. He could tell by the length of her shapely legs, encased in some sort of heavy black material. She had long blonde hair and a sleek but curvy body. He wanted to change forms, pick up his mate, and take her back to their lair, but he knew they were going to have to mark her, claim her, before any of the other shape-shifters living in their vicinity could scent their woman.

Gage was the elder of the two by no more than five minutes, but they were both Alpha males and generally made any decisions together. This time, however, Gage silently communicated his demand to claim the female to his brother, not willing to back down an inch. The two brothers were able to communicate telepathically, and he was thankful for that ability right now. The last thing he wanted to do was scare their mate away.

Gage and Saxon slowly crept in toward the female, keeping their bodies low to the ground as they stalked their prey. The closer they got to the female, the more his muscles and cock hardened with desire. The scent of her skin was a delicious mix of vanilla, honey, and female musk, which called to his beast’s primitive urges. He knew his brother would want what he wanted, to cover their mate’s body with their own and fuck her into oblivion. When he and Saxon were standing on either side of their mate, they carefully leaned forward, their noses close to the skin on her neck and shoulder. They kept their eyes on their mate as Gage communicated with his brother.

We mark her on the count of three, Sax. Are you ready?
Gage asked his brother telepathically.

Yes. Are you sure we should mark her first? What if she doesn’t like us?
Saxon was always more sensitive than Gage. He was able to place himself in other people’s situations more readily than Gage. Gage had a more dominant personality than his brother. When he made a decision, he acted on that decision, without wavering, and dealt with the consequences as they cropped up. Saxon was also a dominant male, but he thought things through thoroughly before he acted.

We’ll work on that after we claim her. Do you want to give any of the other shifters around here a chance to claim our mate? You know as well as I do, she could be a mate to some of the other kind,
Gage replied.

The last thing either of them wanted was for another species of shifters to find and mark their mate. Saxon acquiesced to his brother.
Okay, I’m ready.

All right, on three, and don’t bite down too hard or too deep. We don’t want to hurt our mate too much. One, two, three.

* * * *

April woke up screaming. She felt something bite into her skin where her shoulders met her neck. She screamed at the top of her lungs and then whimpered in fear as she stared into the golden eyes of two of the largest panthers she had ever seen. She was totally terrified and knew she was a goner. She was going to end up dinner for wild beasts, after all. Her body was shaking so much she could feel her teeth chattering. She was so scared she was in danger of peeing her pants. The heads of the two muscle-packed panthers were nearly as big as her whole torso. She prayed to God she wouldn’t feel too much pain as they killed her. That was her last thought, as fear consumed her, causing her to faint.

* * * *

April woke with a start. She jerked upright and found herself alone in a massive timber bed in a brightly lit room. The room was so large her apartment could have fit into it five times over. The floor was made of marble, and the furnishings scattered around were luxurious. She was in what looked like a palace with lavish furnishings. There were timber chests of drawers, as well as navy-blue velvet material hanging down from the bed posts, creating a deceptive feeling of privacy. The last thing she remembered was staring into the golden, glowing eyes of two massive black panthers. She knew she must have been hallucinating, but she still had no idea where she was.

April stretched and yawned, then gasped with horror as she realized she was totally naked. She hoped whoever had relieved her of her clothes was female. There was nothing she could do about it now. She had no idea where she was or who had rescued her from the massive black panthers intending to eat her for their dinner, but she was too thankful she was alive to worry about where she really was. She flung the covers back, stood, and walked across the cold marble floor to the door on the opposite side of the room.

April gasped with awe as she opened the door to a massively proportioned bathroom. The walls and floor were a light marble color with streaks of gray, pink, and gold running through it. The sunken bathtub was large enough for ten people or more, and was full of steaming water. The shower on the other side of the room was encased in large glass panels, with many gold water spigots jutting out of the walls.

April slid into the fragrant pool of water then swam over to the opposite end beneath the water. She came up, took a deep breath, and, to her delight, found contoured bench seats. She made herself comfortable then picked up one of the many bottles of fragrant bath gel and sniffed. She went through the sniffing process several times, until she found a scent to her liking. It was similar to the vanilla-and-honey gel she used at home. Once she was feeling clean and refreshed, she got out of the pool, dried off, then rummaged around under the cupboards beneath the three marble sinks, looking for a toothbrush and paste. She found what she was looking for and, when done, walked back out of the bathroom, a large, fluffy towel wrapping her body. She froze in her tracks when she saw two of the tallest, sexiest, most masculine men she had ever seen in her life.

They both had to be at least seven feet tall, if not taller. They had shoulder-length black hair, massively wide shoulders, huge biceps and pectoral muscles, which tapered down over ripped abs, slim hips, and long, muscular legs. Neither man had a shirt on, and their legs were covered in what looked like black-leather, formfitting pants. The pants were so tight they left nothing to April’s imagination, and she could see they both had the largest erections she had ever seen. While she knew her experience was limited, she had seen pictures of aroused naked men before, and she knew they were huge. A female instinctively knew this sort of thing. April gave a start, and she felt heat creep up her cheeks with embarrassment when she realized where she was staring. She moved her eyes back up to their faces, and her breath caught in her throat.

The two men were twins. They were Adonises personified. They had firm, square jaws and grooves running adjacent to their full, sensual lips, which she knew would turn into dimples when they smiled. Their cheekbones were sharp, and their eyes were the lightest green she had ever seen. Their eyes had a slight slant to them, reminding her of the eyes of a feline. April was quite tall for a female at five foot nine, but standing near these two giants, she felt small and feminine for the first time in her life. She noticed they were perusing her features and body just as she had done theirs. She began to feel uncomfortable when they continued to look at her without speaking, hunger and heat evident in their eyes. April cleared her throat and hoped she wouldn’t sound like a mouse, squeaking out her first words to the two sexy men.

“Who are you, and where am I?”

“I am Gage Kian, and this is my brother, Saxon. You are in our home. We found you in the forest all alone and thought it would be best to bring you here, where we knew you would be safe.”

“Where is here? Where is your home, and where are my clothes?”

“We are in Terra-form. Where did you think you were? What is your name?” Gage asked.

April tried to cover up the shiver working its way up her spine. Gage’s deep, raspy voice sent goose bumps of pleasure over her body.