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  “Did you tell the doctor what happened?”

  “That the animal that mauled me was a shapeshifter? He would have thought I was delusional. Or possessed or Lord knows what else. I already looked like a monster, swollen, bruised, and broken, and my chances of survival seemed slim. I think the doctor was hoping for my sake that I didn’t make it. My body was viciously scarred, and my face was horribly disfigured. I was unrecognizable, even to myself.”

  She studied him in the silence. Was she picturing him that way?

  He carried on. “I finally got well enough to leave. I still looked like something that came out of the depths of a nightmare, but I was alive and able to function on my own.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I went into the hills and lived like a leper. But little by little, I started to change. My scars began to heal and my face turned smooth again, and I sensed that I was becoming immortal. Then other things began happening, too. Catlike things.”

  Jenny tugged her robe closed, where it gapped, exposing one of her breasts. “You started shifting?”

  He nodded. “But I never shifted all the way, not like the woman who mauled me. I could feel my body wanting to go there, to become a full-blown lion, but I fought it. I think I was able to stave it off because of my Tiger Clan affiliation. Or ‘mountain lion medicine,’ as it were. That protected me.”

  “Do you still get the urge to shift all the way? Do you still have that internal battle?”

  “No.” He finished his drink. “That only happened in the beginning.”

  She cocked her head, obviously still wanting to know more about him. “Where are you from, originally?”

  “Indian Territory. Oklahoma,” he clarified. “But it wasn’t a state then.”

  “How does Mexico fit into your life?”

  “It’s part of my upbringing, too. My family migrated to Mexico from Indian Territory when I was a wee thing. We’d gone there with a band of other Seminoles, and we lived there for about ten years. Eventually the entire band returned to Indian Territory. But as an adult, I would make trips back to Mexico.”

  “And it was on one of those trips that you were attacked?”

  He nodded. “After I became a shapeshifter, I never saw my family again. I didn’t see how I could resume my life in Indian Territory and remain young while everyone else grew old around me. So I stayed in Mexico. Of course not in the town where I’d been attacked. I couldn’t just show up looking right as rain after I’d drifted off with a disfigurement.”

  “Do you ever miss being mortal?”

  He didn’t like the question. But the answer was worse. “I did at first, especially when I thought about my family. But then I started to forget what they looked like, the sounds of their voices, everything that humans hold dear about their loved ones. It just faded away.”

  “I’m sorry, Noah.”

  Her sympathy hit him like another mauling, only without the teeth and claws. “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

  “I didn’t mean to—”

  “Just never mind. It’s time to sleep. Take off your robe, and I’ll turn out the lamp.”

  She removed the garment and draped it over a post on the headboard. “I don’t normally sleep naked.”

  “And I rarely allow my lovers to stay in my room.”

  “You have sex with them, then send them to the guest room?”

  “Or send them home.” Which was what he should have done with her.

  She turned onto her side, facing him in the dark. Or the near darkness. He could see her hazy outline, where a smidgen of light spilled in from the balcony. If he craved a clearer view, all he had to do was morph into lion form and use his nocturnal vision. But he remained human.

  Then her voice drifted over him. “Noah?”

  “What?”

  “What did the woman in Mexico look like?”

  “I already told you that she was beautiful.”

  “And mysterious, I know. But what does that mean in terms of how she looked?”

  He didn’t figure where any of this mattered. “It means she was hot, bold, and fuckable.”

  “You don’t have to be so evasive.”

  Screw it. He shifted into a lion so he could see her the way he wanted to see her. “What part of hot, bold, and fuckable is evasive?”

  “All of it.”

  He stared at her. She looked sweet and tender, a predator’s dream.

  Her voice quavered. “Did you just shift?”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Your eyes are glowing.”

  He grinned. “You don’t say.”

  As if to counteract his smugness, she went scientific. “Mountain lions have large pupils with rods for gathering light, and behind each retina is a reflective membrane.”

  “So that’s why they’re glowing? From catching the light from outside?”

  “Yes.”

  “Her eyes were glowing when she attacked me.”

  She clutched the sheet closer to herself. “Are you trying to scare me?”

  “You asked me what she looked like.”

  “I meant when she was human.”

  “And I told you to go to sleep.”

  She didn’t respond, and Noah stayed awake until she got the guts to crash out beside him. He was tempted to touch her, maybe even tie her to the bedposts while she slept, but he kept his hands to himself.

  Making the dawn of the next day that much more exciting.

  Seven

  Jenny awakened with a sunlit creature hovering over her. She blinked and got her bearings. Noah, surrounded by daylight, naked as the day he’d been turned into a shapeshifter and staring right at her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, realizing that the top sheet was gone, and she was as exposed as he was.

  His gold eyes locked onto hers. He’d been a lion when she’d fallen asleep last night and he remained a lion this morning. “I’m watching you.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m trying to decide whether to kiss you roughly on the lips or sweetly on the cunt.”

  Her heart bumped dreamily against her chest, belying the hot, thudding pulse between her legs. “You can do either one.”

  “Maybe I should restrain you first.” He reached into the nightstand drawer and produced two silk bondage ties. “I considered tying you up while you were asleep, but that wouldn’t have been very consensual of me.”

  She could only imagine the crazy dream she would’ve had. Then again, crazy dreams were part of the experience. She wouldn’t have known that he was immortal if his dream hadn’t intervened.

  He didn’t tie her to the bedpost. He just kept looking at her, drilling her with his primal gaze.

  “What are you waiting for?” she asked.

  “To see if you panic.”

  “Just do it.” Before her heart beat its way out of her chest and into his devious arms. If anything was making her panic, it was the way she was starting to feel about him. The emotional attachment that was sure to get her into trouble.

  “I’d rather keep you waiting.” Teasing her, he put the restraints away. “We’ll play bondage another time.”

  Frustrated, she moaned beneath her breath. “Are you still going to kiss me?”

  “I might.”

  “Are you trying to make me beg?”

  “I’m just enjoying the moment.” He stretched like the cat he was and shifted back to human form.

  “You make me dizzy when you do that.”

  “I can’t help what I am.”

  Recalling their conversation from last night, she thought about the woman who’d turned him into a lion. “I still want to know what she looked like.”

  “So, we’re back to discussing her?”

  “You can’t fault me for being curious. Women always wonder about other women, even under normal circumstances.”

  “She was a brunette, curvy, with ample tits and a big, lush ass.” He leaned on his elbow. “Is that descriptive enoug
h?”

  Coming from him, the details didn’t sound all that different from “hot, bold, and fuckable.”

  “Are there more out there like her?”

  “More what?”

  “Mountain lion shifters who maul people?”

  “If there are, I’m not aware of them. In fact, the only lion shifters I’ve ever heard of are called ‘Sky Dwellers,’ but they live in the sky with an Inca god and are forbidden to interact with humans.”

  “How did they become shifters?”

  “They were created that way.”

  “Is that how the rumors at the club got started that you descend from an Inca deity?”

  He nodded. “Mountain lions were revered in that culture. The city of Cusco is said to be shaped like one, and if you look at a map of that region, it certainly seems so.”

  Jenny didn’t know much about Cusco, except that it was in Peru. “If a Sky Dweller came to earth, could it turn someone into what you are?”

  “Not according to their legend. The reason they’re forbidden to interact with humans is that a Sky Dweller and a human could never mate. Their bodies are poisonous to each other and the union would kill both of them. But some of the groupies at the club think that the legend is inaccurate and that I’m the offspring of a mortal woman and a Sky Dweller.”

  Now Jenny was even more curious about the shifter who’d mauled him. “If the woman who attacked you wasn’t a Sky Dweller, then what was she?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Have you ever tried to research her origins or find out more about her?”

  “At the time I assumed she was from Mexico, but I didn’t look for her after I recovered. I’m not like the vampires are with their makers. I don’t feel a connection to her, and what’s done is done. I can’t change it.”

  “Did she at least tell you her name?”

  “I asked who she was, but she didn’t say. And by the time I followed her outside, I didn’t care if her name was Diablo. All I wanted was to be inside her.”

  “She tore you up like a devil.”

  “Yeah, but before she mauled me, it was the best fuck of my life.” He roamed his gaze over her nakedness. “Until last night when I fucked you.”

  She wanted to believe him. She wanted to be the best lay of his hundred and sixty-something years, but she had no way of knowing if he was being honest. “You’re good at seducing me.”

  “And you’re good at being seduced.”

  Her skin tingled. “Kiss me, Noah.”

  He didn’t do it.

  Her voice went raspy. “Please.”

  “What a contradiction you’ve become. In the beginning you insisted that you weren’t going to be with me, and now you’ve resorted to begging.”

  Jenny didn’t respond. But what could she say? He was right. Everything was turning on its ear, and God help her if she made the mistake of getting more and more attached to him.

  He finally kissed her, slanting his mouth across hers, the flavor of his hunger overwhelming her. She wrapped her arms around him and held tight. They rolled over the bed and landed in the exact same position, with him on top of her.

  He worked his way to her breasts and licked one of her nipples. It peaked under his touch. He blew on the spot, intensifying the sensation. He did the same thing to her other nipple. She put her hands in his hair, and he moved lower and tongued her navel.

  Hot agony. She wanted him to eat her so badly, she arched her hips. Noah continued to lave her belly button, taking his sweet time.

  Should she resort to begging again?

  “Do it,” she said.

  He glanced up at her. “Do what?”

  “Kiss me there.”

  “Where’s there?”

  Damn him for teasing her. She opened her legs, desperate to feel the heat of his tongue on her clit. She put her finger on the oh-so-sensitive spot. “Here.”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because I need it.” She thought about how it would feel to go down on him, too. To have him thrust hotly into her mouth, the way Vince had done to Allison.

  He lingered at her navel. “They say patience is a virtue.”

  She moaned. “What do ‘they’ know?”

  “I think it depends on who ‘they’ are.”

  She did the pleading thing again. “Noah.”

  “Maybe just one kiss.” He put his lips against her clit, and Jenny bucked on contact.

  It was more than one kiss. It was the warmest, slickest, sexiest feeling in the world. He slid his tongue along her labia, making her juices flow, and if she hadn’t been so turned on, she would’ve been embarrassed about the way she was trying to rub her cream in his face.

  Not that he seemed to mind.

  He lifted her legs onto his shoulders and spread her wider. He was turning her into a maniac, and she thrived on the insanity. She watched his tongue glide in and out of her pussy, mimicking the motion of honey-drizzled sex.

  His ministrations got stronger, and she tugged at the sheet. Everything was centered at her cunt.

  Her heart. Her soul. Her dirty mind.

  Once again, she was thinking about sucking him. She even imagined how powerful his ejaculation would be and how it would fill up her mouth before she swallowed it.

  While he licked ravenously at her clit, Jenny lost it. Her orgasm burst like a geyser, leaving her limp when it was over.

  He released her, and she could barely move. She couldn’t believe the effect he had on her, not just sexually, but emotionally.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine.” She regained the strength of her limbs and curled up against him, wanting to be close.

  He cuddled with her, stroking a hand down her back. Jenny sighed, warm in his embrace. But it ended as quickly as it began. He pulled away, as if he realized what he’d done, as if being affectionate with her were a crime.

  “You should get ready to leave now,” he said.

  She frowned. “Why?”

  “Because you’ve been here all night, and it’s time to go. As soon as you’re dressed, I’ll contact my driver to take you home.”

  “When are we going to get together again?”

  “I’ll call and let you know.”

  Her romantic bubble burst even further. But what did she expect? He was half lion, and that half didn’t want a woman by his side, not even the woman the sapiya had linked to him.

  She didn’t try to persuade him to let her spend the rest of the day with him. She knew it was pointless. Besides, how much begging could she do? Jenny needed to leave with her dignity intact.

  On her next day off, she drove to Santa Barbara to see Matt. She needed to talk to someone, and her cousin was the logical choice.

  So here she was, sitting in Matt’s disgustingly messy apartment, with him waiting to hear what was on her mind. Only thing was, she couldn’t be completely honest. Not that Matt would believe that Noah was a real shapeshifter anyway. But she wouldn’t betray Noah’s secret either way.

  She embarked on the other subject that was consuming her. “Do you think that dreams carry messages?”

  “Why? Did you have a weird dream?”

  “No.” At least that wasn’t a lie. “I was just wondering how potent you think they are.”

  He grinned. “Wet dreams can be pretty potent.”

  “Matt.”

  “Sorry.” He laughed. “But hey, you’re the one who’s messing around with a guy who owns a sex club.”

  She knew exactly whom she was messing around with. “I wasn’t referring to erotic dreams. Just the normal kind.”

  “Like falling and flying and things like that? Yeah, I think they carry messages about our emotions, thoughts, and impulses. Are you sure you didn’t have a dream that’s bugging you?”

  She edged a little closer to the truth. “Someone had one about me.”

  “Someone who?”

  “Noah. But I swear it wasn’t about sex. It involved magic.”
r />   “Geez, is it any wonder? The stuff you told me about his club is freaky. People dressing up like mythical beings. It actually sounds kind of fun, though, and now I totally get why he went after you. A guy who’s into mountain lions with the chick who rescues exotic cats.” He made a thought-provoked expression. “If I was going to pretend to be part animal, what type do you think I’d be?”

  She glanced at the crusty plates on the coffee table, left over from heaven only knew how many meals. “Maybe the pig variety?”

  “Ha-ha. Pigs aren’t even dirty animals. They wallow in the mud to keep cool.”

  “I know. I’m a zoologist, remember? I was just making a stupid joke.”

  He shrugged. “So why are you concerned about the dream Noah had? Did it involve scary magic?”

  “It could have, I suppose. But he protected me from it.”

  “Then that sounds like a good message.” Obviously Matt assumed Noah’s protection had been part of the dream, not something after the fact.

  “It is good.” No matter how it came about. But the mystery of why the sapiya had drawn Jenny into it in the first place was weighing her down. To her, it didn’t make sense if the end result was nothing more than an affair with Noah.

  “You’re really into this guy, aren’t you?” Matt asked.

  She nodded. She wasn’t going to fib about that.

  “Once you stop sleeping with him, you’ll get over him.”

  If only it were that simple.

  A moment later, her cell phone rang and she grabbed it out of her purse, hoping it was Noah, but the number on the screen was unfamiliar. She let the call go to voice mail.

  But a little later, while Matt was in the bathroom, she checked the message and discovered it was Stanley Truxton, aka Noah’s accountant, aka Coyote from the club.