“I knew it,” she rasped.
He shook his head. “Ashe, that’s not what happened between us.”
“You just said—”
“I said it’s possible to produce a pheromone, but believe me I had no need to do anything,” he said, his voice thickening as his dick began to throb with an insistent craving. “You walked into the bar and the air combusted between us.”
He could hear her heart miss a beat as her nipples hardened into tiny nubs of temptation.
“So you’re saying I caught sight of you and instantly climbed into the nearest bed?”
She tried for scorn, but there was no missing the dilation of her pupils and the scent of her arousal.
He sucked in a deep breath, savoring her sweet scent. “I don’t have an explanation beyond the fact that we saw one another, the mating heat hit, and not a force on this earth could have kept me from claiming you.”
“Mating heat?”
“When a female Pantera is fertile she—”
“Don’t.” She pressed a hand over his mouth, a complex tangle of emotions rippling over her delicate features. “I’m not Pantera.”
“No,” he swiftly agreed. “And even if you were, I should have been able to control myself. I might have the soul of an animal, but I’m still human.”
She studied his somber expression, searching for the truth. “Did you truly make me forget?”
Raphael forced himself to meet her gaze. He wasn’t proud that he’d used his power to scrub her mind.
But the bald truth was that he’d been as shocked as she was by the intensity of his desire for her. And while he’d had sex with any number of human females, he’d never lost control like he had that night.
He couldn’t be entirely certain that he hadn’t given away the fact he wasn’t a normal lover.
Now he knew that his little stunt was only going to complicate their already fucked-up relationship.
“I have the ability to cloud your memories,” he reluctantly admitted.
She stiffened beneath him. “You can manipulate my mind?”
“No,” he growled. “I can only…urge you not to remember. It’s a small trick that has allowed my people to keep our presence hidden from most of the world.”
He could feel her stiffen beneath him. “That’s what you call it? A small trick?” she snapped, her eyes flashing with midnight fire. “I thought I was going crazy when I went to the doctor and he told me I was pregnant. Then I started getting flashes of memories. It terrified me. I didn’t know if they were real or if they were fragments of a growing insanity.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
And he was. The thought of causing this woman one second of pain was abhorrent. But as he slowly began to accept that the child she carried was no trick, that she was actually pregnant with his babe, he couldn’t regret that he’d given into his primitive urges.
To have this woman as his mate, and a child to call his own…
It filled him with a fierce happiness he never expected.
Her lips flattened. “That’s all you have to say? I’m sorry?”
His gaze lingered on her mouth, his cock twitching as his cat reached the end of its patience.
“It shouldn’t have been possible.”
“The memories?”
“The memories or the pregnancy.”
“You used protection?”
“No.” His gaze returned to meet the challenge in her eyes, once again struck by her courage. Most humans, male or female, would be cowering in fear. But not his beautiful Ashe. His cat preened with pride. “I’m incapable of catching or carrying human diseases so you were in no danger. And there’s never been a human female impregnated by a Pantera.”
“Never?”
“Not one in recent memory.”
Her eyes widened. “Then maybe this baby isn’t yours.”
“Ashe—”
“You said yourself you screwed with my memories. Maybe I left you and had sex with some other man…” She gave a small scream as his teeth sank into her neck. Not hard enough to break the skin, but with enough force to claim his ownership. “Shit, Raphael,” she gasped, her nails digging into his shoulders as she squirmed beneath him.
Not in pain.
But pure excitement.
“No other man has touched you,” he snarled, his nose pressed against her skin as he breathed deep of her scent, seeking to calm his animal.
She shivered, her head pressing into the pillow to arch her neck in unconscious invitation.
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because you’re mine.” He soothed his bite mark with tender kisses before heading downward. “You even taste like you’re mine,” he murmured, trailing his tongue down to the tip of her nipple.
Ashe moaned, her fingers shoving into his hair. “What does that mean?” she demanded.
“You taste of sunshine,” he whispered, his tongue continuing to tease the hard nub, “and rich, fertile earth, and magic. You taste of home.”
Her eyes squeezed shut, a flush staining her cheeks. “What are you doing to me?”
“Nothing you don’t want, ma chère,” he promised, his lips tracing a gentle path of kisses to her stomach. “Mine,” he murmured, his superior senses already able to detect the tiny babe in her womb.
Whispering a soft hello, he shoved himself off the bed, ridding himself of his clothes with a minimum of fuss, relishing the sensation of her avid gaze taking in the hard muscles of his naked body and the tattoo on his upper chest. He paused, taking a heartbeat to simply appreciate the sight of Ashe stretched across the mattress, her slender body painted in silver moonlight and her dark hair spilled across the sheet.
Like an exquisite sacrifice to the gods.
Then, placing a knee on the edge of the bed, he bent down to kiss the sensitive arch of her foot before nibbling each tiny toe.
She gave a choked groan as he slowly explored up her calf, relishing the intoxicating smell of her arousal perfuming the air.
With a low groan she restlessly stirred on the sheets, and Raphael grasped her hips, holding her still.
He intended to feast on her, making her scream with pleasure before he was done.
Giving her a punishing nip, he worked his way upward, spreading her legs as his cat gave a low snarl of anticipation.
“Raphael.” Her fingers clenched in his hair as his tongue discovered her moist heat.
He slid his hands beneath her hips, finding the perfect angle before returning to his single-minded task.
Lapping at her cream, Raphael savored her sweetness, dipping his tongue into her tight little passage.
Holy hell. Her taste was intoxicating. Better than the finest wine.
He stroked back to the top of her clit, finding her tiny bundle of pleasure to suck between his lips.
Her hips bucked upward, her hands tugging at his hair as her moans became shortened pants.
He could taste her nearing climax on his tongue, making his cock twitch in protest.
As tempting as it might be to stroke her to completion, he needed more.
He wanted to look her in the eye as he thrust deep inside her, completing the most intimate connection possible between lovers.
With a last, lingering lap of his tongue, Raphael surged upward, claiming her mouth in a kiss of stark hunger. He would never have his fill of her.
Never.
Her legs wrapped instinctively around his waist in a silent offering and Raphael gave a rough groan. He was quivering with the need to slam his cock into her, pounding them both to a swift, satisfying climax, but he was acutely conscious that she was far more fragile than a Pantera female.
He had to be careful.
Peering deep into her dazed eyes, he pressed the head of his cock at her entrance, halting to appreciate the sensation of her moist flesh wrapped around his crown.