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  His fingertips teased along my sides, and he cupped my breast. Gently rolled the nipple through my shirt. Arching myself up to give him full access, I gasped.

  “Wait,” I said.

  He lifted his head. Fuck, his eyes smoldered.

  “Wait?” he asked.

  “Let me up. I want to take you somewhere.”

  He settled back on his heels and then straightened, his hand extended to help me stand.

  Rising, I grinned as I took in all of him. His cock nudged his belly, and a tiny bead of liquid tipped it, just begging me to lick it off. I could get used to seeing him naked.

  There was something incredibly sexy about a liger who could shift into a naked man at whim. But he was enormous. Janie hadn’t been making that part up. Would he fit?

  Damn, I’d make sure he did.

  I took his hand and led him through the cave network. Once, I’d had a room here, but we could visit that later. Right now, I wanted to take him somewhere special.

  We stepped out into a large chamber. Ahead, small pools dotted the room. In varying temperatures, we’d used them for bathing. There were cooler, less sulfurous pools deeper in the cave system that we kept purely for drinking.

  Turning to Herc, who stared at the cave oasis in amazement, I unbuttoned my shirt and shrugged it off. Tossed my bra down on top of it. And then I shimmied out of my pants and undies.

  I stood before him without a speck of shyness inside me. He wanted me. I wanted him. And there was nothing in that to be embarrassed about.

  “Maya,” he said in a hushed voice. “You’re gorgeous. Perfect.” His fingers slid along the underside of my breasts, and he lifted them as if measuring their weight. Leaning forward, he took one nipple in his mouth and sucked, while his other hand stroked. Pinched. Lightning shot through me.

  I tipped my head back and thrust my chest forward, begging for his touch. His mouth…it drove me out of my mind.

  He kissed his way down my belly, making me quiver. With callused hands, he eased apart my thighs.

  I sighed when his fingers—his magical tongue—found my wet folds.

  While he rubbed my clit, he laved my slit with his mouth, his tongue diving deep. I collapsed against a wall, my legs barely able to hold me upright. Fire flashed through me, and I moaned.

  I was reaching for my peak, but it wasn’t enough. I had to have all of him.

  “Wait,” I said again, then pushed out a laugh at the scowl appearing on his face. My skin tingled with heat and anticipation, and my limbs were limp from humming pleasure. “Not for long. Well, not too long, that is.” Taking his hand, I led him to the first pool.

  We stepped down inside. Since my skin was feverish, I’d chosen one that contrasted nicely with the dry, hot air. The warm liquid flowed along my body, heightening my excitement. There was something special about this pool, and I couldn’t wait to show it to Herc.

  He sighed as he settled on one of the natural stone seats. “This is fantastic.” He drew me down onto his lap. When I straddled his legs and nestled myself against him, he groaned. “And this is even better.”

  The water had natural properties that made it slippery. In the past, I’d only enjoyed how smooth it made my skin feel after bathing, but I could now see new potential.

  Tugging Herc closer, I kissed him.

  He stroked my breasts, his fingers sliding along my skin. There was something else I wanted sliding along my skin. Sliding inside me.

  I rose up slightly, and then placed the head of his cock at my slit. “I want this. I want you,” I said, as if I needed to reinforce my desire for the third bond all over again.

  “Then take me. You’re in complete control.” He nudged his hips up, the tip of his dick parting me but barely entering.

  More. I had to have more.

  I sunk down, taking all of him inside me in one sharp thrust. We both groaned. It stretched and burned, but it was utterly satisfying. Perfect. He filled me all the way to my core.

  My eyes locked on his, I rose up and sank back down. I rocked forward, rubbing my clit against him, gasping as heat rose inside me all over again.

  “I need…” I keened against his neck. “I want…”

  “Tell me,” he growled, his hips thrusting up to meet me as I sank down.

  “I need it fast. And deeper.” Easing off him, I sat on the edge of the pool, where the rocks had been worn smoother than silk by moving water.

  I leaned back and beckoned to Herc.

  He rose from the water like a god from the sea, and stood over me, his cock made of forged sirdar. Leaning forward, he placed his palms on either side of my head. He nuzzled my neck, my jaw, then moved down to my chest, where his tongue laved. He kissed lower, then lower still.

  Parting my thighs, he dropped down between them. He stroked my slippery skin, moving his hands higher. His finger slid along my slit. He rubbed my clit as his thumb tucked inside me.

  I gasped and lifted my hips. “Fuck. Yes. Like that.”

  His mouth took over, sucking, tugging. Biting down gently. While I writhed, begged, and my brain spun all the way to the clouds.

  I bucked. “Herc!”

  He rubbed our bodies together, and my nipples peaked, straining toward him. With his eyes locked on mine, he thrust forward, only stopping when his cock slipped into my pussy.

  I dripped for him alone, and he knew it. Savored it. Just as I thrilled at the possession in his touch.

  His hips shifted forward again, and my body stretched to accommodate him. I moaned at the heady sensation, a mix of burn and ecstasy.

  “Herc.”

  “Yeah, sweetheart.” Beads of sweat rose on his forehead as he held himself in check. He pumped his hips slowly, teasing my body but never giving me what I truly needed.

  If I didn’t have all of him inside me now, I was going to explode. And it would be infinitely more satisfying to explode when he filled me.

  On one of his much-too-careful thrusts, I rose up to meet him.

  He sunk partway inside, stretching, filling. It stung, but it felt so good.

  Those ridges.

  They rubbed, rippled, stroked me inside. One seemed to be placed in the perfect location, because it caressed my g-spot.

  I whimpered and thrashed my head back and forth on the stone. “Please. I need all of you.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m going to scream if you don’t.”

  He chuckled. “How about I make you scream when I do?”

  “Gods, yes.”

  His hands gripped my hips, as if he worried his thrusts would drive me across the smooth granite. I could only hope they did.

  While watching my face, my eyes, he pushed forward slowly.

  More burning, but complete bliss. I locked my legs around his waist and a moan shot from my mouth.

  He eased out and drove himself back inside me again. All the way to the hilt.

  Yes.

  My body welcomed him with a gush of moisture. The ridges on his cock stroked me deep inside. I pitched forward with each thrust, and when his thumb rubbed my clit, my brain turned to mush.

  “Faster,” I demanded. I wanted…I needed…everything. Frantic to feel it all, I ground myself against him.

  Groaning, he pulled out and plunged back inside me, and our bodies slapped together. Over and over, until the fever built inside me to an intense pitch.

  We came in a rush of hot flesh, need, and lust.

  The world washed over me, and I screamed out his name.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Herc

  M aya—my woman, my lover, my bondmate—was so much more than even my most fully-fleshed fantasies could’ve imagined. It’s not like I was inexperienced or naïve, but she was…wild. Passionate. Inventive. Hells, she was even exhausting, her lust almost a match for my own.

  Except it wasn’t only lust I felt. Whether it was despite or because of the bond, I loved her with everything I had. I’d kill for this woman. And I’d die for her
.

  Fact was, if Jag hadn’t been invisibly stocking our cave with food, I probably would’ve died of starvation.

  God’s alone knew when he was coming and going, though; my focus for the last full day had been entirely on when Maya was coming.

  Spooned against me, Maya flipped a leg over mine. My hand moved between her thighs, burrowing into the sweet warmth. Hells, I knew for a fact it was sweet, and I was ready to taste it again.

  She giggled as I bit at her neck, my cock already nudging her backside. “When you said twenty-four hours, Herc, I didn’t realize you meant non-stop.”

  “I wish,” I said.

  We had taken a few catnaps in between.

  She sighed, but it sounded more like contentment than melancholy. “We’ll have to leave soon. Once it’s dark.”

  “How are you going to manage?” My questing fingers found her clit, and she whimpered.

  “Manage?” She edged her butt forward so she could part her legs further, her hand covering mine as she encouraged my fingers deeper.

  “Uh huh. Because I won’t count myself much of a lover if you can still walk after twenty-four hours of bonding.”

  Her body trembled, and for a moment I thought she was laughing, but then her quickened breathing told me I’d hit her G-spot.

  Again.

  Probably shouldn’t be so damned proud of myself, but there’s nothing like making your woman come. Nothing like watching her face as she gives it all to you.

  Her words were jerky and disconnected as she gyrated against my fingers. “Herc. There is something we haven’t tried.”

  “Armatote-shit.” I snorted disbelievingly. Seriously, I’d been pulling everything out of my repertoire. I’d only ever have one bondmating in my life, and it sure as hells was gonna be memorable.

  This time she did laugh and pushed my hand aside so she could roll over to face me. “Do you remember in the alleyway?”

  “Always. I’ll be telling our children the story forever.”

  She slapped at my chest. “If you’re going to be like that, I won’t tell you what I want.”

  “If you don’t tell me, there’ll be no more of this.” My fingers traced her breast, toying with her nipple, reddened from our lovemaking. “Or this.” I dragged my hand lower, over her skin, damp with sweat and excitement, and traced the pouting lips of her sex.

  She tried to look chastened, but her eyes danced. “In the alley, you almost bit me. You closed your teeth on my jaw. And that was so sexy. I felt vulnerable, like you could rip me apart if you wanted to, but you cared enough for me to force yourself to hold back. That made me feel powerful, wanted, treasured. And I wanted you to fuck me, right then. I wanted to feel you inside me, while you dominated me.”

  I laughed at her choice of word because no way would this woman ever allow me to dominate her. Which didn’t mean that instinct and tradition weren’t kicking in, urging me to try. But I shook my head. “That’s part of the Felidaekin mating ritual.”

  She pretended to sulk. “Are you saying you haven’t mated me properly?” She stood up, little more than five foot of beautiful naked woman, flaunting herself for my pleasure. “You should be ashamed.”

  She made to move away, and, though I knew she was teasing, I was on my feet instantly, pressing her against the wall. “You didn’t listen. It’s Felidaekin style. You’re not Felidaekin.”

  “So you’re holding out on me.” She planted her hands on the swell of her hips.

  Fuck, she was deliberately challenging me, and my blood surged with lust. But she was tiny and, though she was my bondmate and more than my equal, I was terrified of hurting her. “It’s rough. Primal.”

  “I want you to fuck me that way, Herc. I want it all. I don’t want you to ever hold anything back from me.”

  With a low growl, I spun her to face the wall.

  She slammed her hands against the rock, her feet spread like she knew what to expect. Her gorgeous round ass tempted me. My hands wrapped around her waist, I bit at her neck, just below her ear. My cock pushed between her plump buttocks, and for a moment I was jealous of the damned thing, because I wanted my mouth pressed there, drinking her sweet honey. “Are you sure you want this, Maya? You want me to take you like this? You want me to fuck you until you scream?”

  She turned her head so that my mouth brushed along her jaw. “You’ll never understand how much I want you, Herc. We’re running out of time. Fuck me like you’ve never fucked anyone else.”

  “I already have.”

  “All of you, Herc. I want all of you.”

  She shoved her ass hard against me, and I was done for. I took her jaw between my teeth, growling, tugging gently as my thumb found her clit, fingers sliding up and down her slit, making sure she was ready for me.

  The pulse in her throat fluttered erratically, and she moaned.

  My teeth still holding her, I pulled her away from the wall, keeping her locked hard against my pulsing cock. One arm wrapped around her waist, I released her jaw, kissing the tender spot in momentary apology. But the second the tension left her body and she melted against me, I forced her forward, so she was bent at the waist, her hands still on the wall. Her ass, her dripping, swollen sex, all revealed. All there for the taking. All mine.

  Holding my cock, I drew it up and down her slick channel. “Like this, Maya? You want me to fuck you like this?” Though I knew Maya would never leave me, generations of instinct fought to control me. If I fucked her so she couldn’t walk, my mate would never be able to run from me.

  “Like that!” she demanded, pushing back against me. “Fuck me like that, Herc. Give it to me.”

  Gods help me, I did. In one move I plunged my length into her, embedding myself to the balls in her tight velvet tunnel.

  She screamed, but it was in exultation. “Yes. Yes, Herc, yes! Fuck me.”

  I plowed into her, branding her, making sure she knew she was mine. Forever.

  As she orgasmed, her juices flowing hot and wet around my cock, I let my seed pour into her.

  And I tipped back my head and roared until the walls shook.

  As Maya shouldered her pack, she winced, and I felt a wash of a whole new kind of guilt—but it was tempered by pride. Sure, she was walking a little funny, but my woman had taken all I could offer, and still she pressed up against me, whispering about what she planned to do to me once we’d reached the safety of the Resistance’s headquarters.

  I took her pack, shaking my head. “Jag will carry it. And I’ll carry you.”

  She tried to yank the bag from me. “I can carry it just fine. Thanks to those damn Regime soldiers, there’s little enough left in it.”

  That was true. A handful of bandages and a bit of the armatote Jag had caught and smoked over the coals of our small fire. I wrapped her in my arms, gazing down at her. Eager though I was to get her to the safety of her comrades, I’d miss our caves. “I’m going to shift, Maya. It’ll take us all night to reach the headquarters if we walk. You ride me, and we’ll be there in a fraction of the time.”

  She slanted a grin up at me. “I thought you might’ve had enough of me riding you.”

  “Never.” I bent to steal another taste of her lips, drinking like a dying man at an oasis.

  Behind me, Jag cleared his throat. “Uh, you two do realize that it’s supposed to be a twenty-hour honeymoon, not twenty-four days? I’m sure once we get to HQ, you’ll be able to grab some alone time.”

  “Don’t bet on it,” Maya muttered, suddenly scowling. “You’re right, we need to go.”

  I still felt a bit odd shifting in front of her, as though she might view me differently. Dumb, given how intimately we knew one another now. There were no secrets.

  She snuggled up to me, her voice low. “Do it, Herc. I like watching you. I like seeing your power unfold. I love how different you are, and that you’re still mine, no matter what you look like.”

  I kissed the sweet spot at the base of her throat, then took several paces bac
k. Shook my head and initiated the shift, careful to stay silent so she wouldn’t know that it hurt like a bitch each time I did it.

  As soon as I’d shifted, Maya pressed up against me, her arms around my neck, hands buried in my mane. Her breasts were thrust in my face, and I was pretty damn sure she was teasing me. I growled, a low warning. I’d never hurt her, but a liger could only be pushed so far. Or, in truth, the man in me could only be controlled for so long.

  She grinned and pressed a kiss on my broad nose. Which wasn’t really something you did with a liger, but hell, I’d take her loving anyway it came.

  Jag lifted her onto my back. “Just grab a hold of his fur. You’ll need to wind your hands in and hang on damn tight, we’ll be moving.” He stood back and looked at me. “Good to go, Cap?”

  I nodded, and he turned away and stripped quickly, stuffing his clothing and mine into the pack he’d carry. With a flick of his head, he shifted into his sleek black jaguar form, blue eyes glinting in the fading light.

  On my back, Maya pushed down against me, and I gave the feline equivalent of a grin. She weighed nothing, and we covered ground swiftly as the moons rose above us.

  With nightfall, there was no further danger from the vipers, and nothing stupid enough to take on two Felidaekin. Every couple of hours we stopped to drink, and I shifted back into human form. Pulling on the pants from his pack, Jag held out my camos to me, snorting in disgust as I refused them, enjoying Maya’s eyes on my body.

  As she took a swallow from the canteen, I sensed she wasn’t truly seeing me. She seemed far away. Maybe even sad. Probably thinking of her sister.

  “Sweetheart?”

  She gave herself a shake. “Sorry.”

  “Where were you?” If she needed to talk, even though I didn’t want to think about the woman’s body I’d ripped apart, I’d be there for her.

  “When we get to the Headquarters, it’ll be…different. There are things I need to tell you. About me. And about the Resistance.” She stared north, chewing at her bottom lip, lines furrowing between her brows.

  Her expression tightened my gut. What could she have to tell me that would make her suddenly so serious?