The beast stared out from his eyes. “Don’t tease me, sweetheart. I’m not the kind of guy you can screw around with.”
He was exactly the kind of guy she wanted to screw around with. Erin caught his hands. “I want these on me, everywhere.”
Mine.
Hell, no. Not that sick bastard’s. Her body was her own, and tonight, she’d give it to Jude, and she’d take the pleasure he gave her.
I can’t hurt him. A reassurance that played again. He’s strong.
Not human.
Tiger.
“Come upstairs,” she repeated, her voice soft. She took his right hand and trailed the fingers between her breasts. “Come to bed with me.”
She felt the tension in his hand. The leashed strength. “I can’t…do soft and easy. Not tonight, not after a shift.”
The beast still coursed through him.
Erin smiled. The beast within was exactly what she wanted. “Good.” She turned from him and stalked toward the stairs. Silence thickened the air behind her.
“One minute you’re telling me to keep my hands off, now you—”
She jerked off her camisole and tossed it behind her, not bothering to look back. Can’t. “Now I want them on me.”
The wood of the stairs seemed cold beneath her feet. Clad only in a pair of white bikini panties, Erin climbed the steps. Almost to the top. He hadn’t moved. He wanted her, she’d felt his lust rising against her, but he hadn’t moved.
I need you. Tonight, she needed him more than she’d ever needed another.
Erin glanced down. Her claws were out, sharpened points. She could smell the scent of her own arousal in the air and knew he had to catch the scent, too. For a male shifter, the fragrance of a female shifter’s need was rumored to be nearly impossible to resist. While she wasn’t fully a shifter, she’d still thought—
The stairs shook when Jude raced up them.
A smile curved her lips.
Erin reached the landing. Her bedroom waited. Inside, the lamp on the nightstand poured out soft light. Her curtains were drawn over the windows. The bed sheets were rumpled.
She took one more step forward.
Jude pounced.
His arms caught her, lifting her off her feet, and spinning her around. His eyes, blazing, too brilliant, trapped her. His mouth took hers.
Yes.
Fear wasn’t in her mind, not then. No memories. No nightmares. Just him.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and felt that thick cock push against the crotch of her panties. He had to feel the wet touch of the silk, and she wanted him to know how much she ached.
Four steps, and they fell onto the bed. Kissing, touching, stroking.
She loved his mouth. Her tongue swiped over the sexy scar that drove her crazy.
His fingers curled over her breasts and Erin nearly shot off the bed. Her nipples were so sensitive, desperate for more.
His head lifted and, past those delicious lips, she could see the glinting edge of his teeth.
A faint memory stirred in her mind. Fear whispered to her.
No.
She rolled with him, twisting so that she was on top and in control.
Jude can handle me.
The tip of her nails—claws—raked down his chest. Over the firm, brown nipples. Down those sculpted muscles. He sucked in a sharp breath when she reached his abs.
Erin licked her lips and eased back. Her legs straddled his thighs, such hard and strong thighs, and a quiver stirred in her belly. Her hands shook when she reached for his cock, the length standing up, veins bulging the sides. Thicker than her wrist. Long enough to give her one hell of a ride.
Beautiful.
Her fingers closed around him. Pumped. Stroked. She’d like to taste him. Like to lick from root to tip and see just how long his control would last with her.
His hands locked around her waist and he shot up. His mouth closed over her right breast. Sucking, licking, tasting. Her head fell back on a moan.
“Jude!”
The edge of his teeth pressed against her flesh.
Shouldn’t enjoy that, shouldn’t like it so much.
Her sex trembled.
Empty. Need him inside.
Only the thin fabric of her panties was between them.
She leaned toward him and put her mouth on his throat. She teased him with her lips—and then gave him her own bite.
Every muscle in his body stiffened. Not a growl in his throat this time. Hell, that was more a roar from the tiger.
In half a second, Erin found herself on her back again, looking up at him. Jude’s face was fierce, etched with savagery and lust.
His claws ripped her panties away and in the next breath, he’d shoved open her thighs.
Fury. Strength.
He could handle her. But could she handle him?
“Jude, I…”
She expected the hard thrust of his flesh in her.
But instead he pushed down her body, lifted her hips up and took her with his mouth.
Her heels dug into the mattress. “Jude!” Her claws slashed the sheets.
His tongue swirled over her clit. His lips locked around the center of her need. He sucked. He took.
Tasted.
Then drove that wicked tongue deep inside her.
Her climax erupted, sending spasms through her sex as she came in a fury of pleasure.
“Fucking delicious…nothing like you before…”
She could barely hear his words over her drumming heartbeat.
But she felt him, the wide, round head of his cock, lodging at her straining entrance.
Yes.
The wisps of memory had vanished with those sensual licks. Not like—
“I’m…clean.” The words were deep, guttural. “Can’t catch any…”
She strained against him. Erin wanted that cock in her now. She knew what he was telling her. Shifters couldn’t catch the diseases humans could pass so easily during sex. Yeah, he was clean. “So am I,” she whispered, and dug her heels into his ass as she lifted against him.
And shifters could only produce children with their mates. She didn’t have to worry about that with Jude. Hell, not with anyone but—
He drove into her. Filled every inch of her in a powerful thrust that had her hips arching and her hands flying to wrap around his shoulders.
“Erin…” Gritted from behind clenched teeth. “Are you…”
“Fantastic.” Her hands released the strips of sheets and curled around his shoulders. “Just don’t stop!”
A strangled laugh. “Don’t…worry. Too…good!”
Then it began. Withdraw. Thrust. Withdraw.
Thrust.
Her fingers dug into him, and her legs clenched around his hips. Her strength flowed, full force, as she held tight and arched up to meet him as he plunged in a fast, desperate rhythm.
He didn’t tell her to stop. Didn’t tell her to loosen her grip.
Jude just drove into her. Again and again and her inner muscles stretched for him, eager for more pleasure.
For more of him.
The thud of flesh hitting flesh filled the air. The scent of sex drifted around them. Her bed was sturdy. It didn’t move with the powerful thrusts, but the bed springs squeaked.
She clenched her sex around him, and her breath panted out. “Harder!” Erin wanted so much more.
He could give it to her.
Jude jerked her up, rising on his knees. She stared into his blazing eyes and wondered if her own glowed as bright.
The coil of release began deep within her.
Her mouth opened on a scream.
Flesh so close. Taste. Take.
The thing inside would have her way.
Mine.
His throat was so close. She bit down on him, muffling her scream and tasting his flesh as pleasure ripped through her.
He stiffened against her, his hold grew even harder, and then he erupted inside her, shaking with his own
release.
A drumbeat echoed in her ears.
Aftershocks rippled over her body.
Slowly, so slowly, her head lifted and she swiped her tongue over her lips.
And she tasted blood.
Horrified, Erin shoved against him. “Oh, hell, Jude, I didn’t mean—”
He kissed her. Kept his cock buried deep inside and kissed her.
When his head rose, she stared up at him, hoping, scared, and so confused. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
That half smile made her melt. “You didn’t. You couldn’t.” His index finger trailed down her chest. “I could fucking eat you alive, sweetheart.”
Not running away. Not freaking out because she’d gotten a little…overzealous there at the end.
Tiger.
His gaze dropped to her chest. “Such sweet breasts with their pretty pink nipples.” He frowned, his head lowering. “What the hell?”
Her scar.
How had she forgotten? Shit, shit! How had she forgotten that?
She should have turned off the light.
Shifters can see in the dark. She knew that!
His fingers rubbed lightly over the raised flesh just below her left breast.
A claw mark.
Jude withdrew from her, a long, slow glide, and Erin had to bite back the plea for him to stay, to thrust deep again.
Again.
The passion was gone, at least for him. He was looking at her now with intense eyes and a hard face.
Looking at her like she was a victim, dammit.
Not a woman.
Before, she’d been a woman with him.
Now—
Erin spun away from him. She ripped what was left of the sheet loose as she moved, using it to cover her body.
How could I have forgotten? I see the thing every day.
“Who marked you?” Fury there, boiling beneath the surface of his voice.
She rose from the bed, careful not to move too fast. Didn’t want it to look like she was running.
Even if she was.
Erin clenched her thighs, feeling a quiver in her sex.
So good. But good things didn’t last long in her life.
At least Jude hadn’t gone running from her, even when she’d used her claws and teeth.
“Who fucking marked you?”
She turned back to face him.
Jude jumped from the bed, naked and damn sexy still, and grabbed her arms.
The sheet slipped to the floor.
“That bastard did it, didn’t he? You said you’d never seen him, you said he hadn’t got close to you!”
Time for some truth. “I lied.”
At first, the wound had bled like a bitch. She’d left a trail of her blood on the street when she’d fled. But, lucky for her, she could heal without shifting. So her skin had mended, well, as close to mending as it could, and though her bleeding had stopped by the time she’d reached safety, she’d been left with his mark on her flesh. The wound had been too deep and long to heal perfectly.
“What happened?”
From wild sex back to business. Not the way she would have liked to spend the afterglow moments. Erin swallowed. “Not tonight, Jude, okay? I don’t want to talk about this now.” Not while her body still vibrated with the pleasure he’d given her. Not while she could still taste him.
Not while she could almost feel him inside.
She didn’t want to go back to that other night right then.
Not now.
He stared down at her, a muscle flexing along his jaw.
“Not tonight,” she repeated.
Silence. Then, when her heart was squeezing because she didn’t want to go back there, he gave a grim nod. “But we will talk about it, Erin. I’m working this case for you. I need to know everything that’s happened.”
She licked her lips. “Tomorrow, okay? Tomorrow.”
His hands dropped. She bent and scooped up the sheet. He’d go back to his room downstairs now, she’d go back to bed and try to sleep, try.
Erin brushed by him. “In the morning, we’ll talk.” A dismissal. Not sexy. Not subtle.
She’d never really been the subtle sort.
She climbed into the bed. Eased onto the mattress and tried not to notice the way his scent surrounded her.
“Scoot over, sweetheart.”
Her breath caught. “You’re not going downstairs?”
Jude shook his head. “Not the way things work. Not for me.”
He eased in beside her and wrapped his arms around her body.
Erin tensed.
“Relax. I’m just going to hold you. Hold you and sleep.”
Sounded good to her.
His right hand curved around her stomach. The fingers drifted lightly over her scar.
“Something you should know.” His voice was soft.
She waited.
“When I find him, I’m gonna kill him.”
If only the bastard out there were easy to kill. If he’d been easy prey, she would have killed him herself, long ago.
It took a while for Erin’s breathing to ease into the slow, natural rhythm of sleep.
Jude held her, keeping his hold nice and easy, and he waited.
And he choked back his rage.
The bastard marked her.
Close enough to mark. Close enough to kill.
Why the hell had Erin kept the truth from him?
She stirred in her sleep, moving lightly, and her nose rubbed against his neck.
In sleep, she was soft and beautiful. Delicate. A woman who needed protection.
In passion, she’d been something else. Oh, still beautiful. With her shining eyes and hungry lips, Erin had been the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
But not delicate. Her hold on him had been too strong, too fierce. And her hunger had been as wild as his own.
The beast in him had been very, very hungry.
For her.
His cock was still erect, still ready—because he wanted more. But when the ghost of fear had appeared in her eyes, he’d known the passion was over. For now.
He’d had her once. He’d have her again. And he’d make sure that fear never showed again.
Jude would stop the asshole out there. No doubt.
The beast inside couldn’t wait to taste the blood.
The rain was falling again. Dripping through the broken glass.
Drip.
Drip.
The scent of gasoline was in the air. Thick, cloying gasoline, and the coppery stench of blood.
Drip.
Drip.
Erin stared at the mound of twisted metal. Her feet
crunched glass on the ground beneath her, but she didn’t feel any pain. “Hello?”
Thunder rumbled.
She wet her lips and inched forward. The broken car looked like hell. The roof had been smashed. The front four feet of the car had been crumbled to pretty much nothing by the tree.
The scent of blood grew stronger.
Shadows filled the interior of the car, but she knew someone was inside.
Living or dead?
Her hand reached out and touched the icy door handle. She yanked, but the thing wouldn’t open.
Someone was inside.
Blood.
Another hard pull, this time, with both hands.
Nothing.
Her palms were wet, from the rain, from her own sweat.
She should get help.
Yeah, yeah, that was a good idea, she’d go, get help.
Erin stepped back, almost falling in the slick mud.
She’d find help, then she’d come back as fast as she could.
Turning, she ran for the—
“D-don’t…l-leave…m-me…”
The voice stopped her cold.
“P-please…”
Erin woke, breath heaving.
“D-don’t…l-leave…m-me…”
The voice echoed in her head, and, dammit, it was a vo
ice she knew.
“Erin?” Jude’s growl. Sleep-roughened and deep. “Sweetheart, you must’ve had a bad dream.”
If only.
Never that simple for her.
Death dreams. The only thing, other than her black hair, that she’d gotten from her father.
She’d had her first one when she was twelve years old. Her mother had told her it was just a nightmare, nothing to worry about.
Then the body had been found.
The damn dreams. Sometimes they came to her right before a death, teasing her and making her believe that there was something she could do. Some way to change fate.
Other times, to torment her, they came too late. Minutes, hours after the death.
Too late to do anything but mourn the dead.
“D-don’t…l-leave…m-me…”
Too late. No, she still had to try.
Erin leapt out of bed. She ran for her closet and snagged the first pair of sweats she saw.
“Uh, Erin?”
Shimmying, she jerked them up. Then shoved her hands through the sleeves of a T-shirt.
“Little early for a jog.”
Erin spun around. “I have to leave.”
He blinked. The man looked sleep tousled. Blond hair mussed, eyes heavy-lidded, faint stubble lining his jaw.
She swallowed. Don’t mind waking up to that.
His gaze sharpened. “Where.” Demand, not question.
How to explain this? The long version? The one with all the twisted shit in her past and the roots of her father’s vision gifts—courtesy of her great-grandfather, a Choctaw shaman.
Screw it. Better to just cut to the chase. “I’m psychic, okay? Just like my dad.” Not exactly. “Look, if I don’t get to Old Dobbin’s Bend soon, a man’s going to die.” Could already be dead.
Old Dobbin’s Bend. When she’d turned away from the wrecked car, she’d known that road. She’d been on that winding track once, just last week. She’d ridden with a uniform out to question a witness. No mistaking that long, curving bend.
Jude stared at her for about five seconds, then gave a nod. “Right, then let’s get the hell to Dobbin’s Bend.”
Her jaw dropped. That was it? No questions, just go? “You believe me?”
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “Woman, you’re talking to a man who can shift into a tiger. Hell, yeah, I believe you.” He jerked on his pants. When had he brought those upstairs? “Now let’s get our asses over to Dobbin’s Bend.”
Hold on, Lee. The whisper slipped through her mind. The voice in her dream had belonged to Lee Givens, the attorney who usually pissed her off. But now, she was just scared for him.