But the love hadn’t softened the lust. If anything, the bite of it was sharper than ever. His hands were everywhere, molding her damp shirt to her body, but it wasn’t enough.
“Clothes…” She panted, tearing at his with eager claws.
“Fuck the clothes. Shift.”
They both snapped to feline form and back a heartbeat later. They would be exhausted later from all the energy they’d expended jumping from form to form tonight, but in the moment neither of them cared. All that mattered was naked, rain-slicked skin to skin.
They tumbled to the muddy ground and Mara’s animal side, so often restrained by logic, roared satisfaction at the primal, natural feel of the earth hard beneath her. Michael rolled onto his back, pulling Mara on top of him. She threw a leg over him and shoved herself up with her hands flat on his shoulders until she was straddling his stomach.
The rain drilled into her skin, chilling and cleansing, wild and fresh. Mara felt like a priestess in an ancient ritual. She’d never felt more powerful than she did in this moment, with her love’s impossibly warm hands burning a path across her body, stroking away the rain.
She slid down, impaling herself on him then giving a sinuous roll of her hips. Michael groaned and his hands gripped her waist. She flexed her fingers against his pectoral muscles and executed another slow roll. It was sensual and delicious, but tonight she needed more. She needed what only Michael could give her. He was the love of her life. The only man she’d ever trusted to take her to the edge of control and beyond. She needed him to set her free.
Mara released her claws and lightly scored his chest. Michael growled, his own claws unsheathing in response. When she felt their bite against her skin, Mara smiled. When he tried to push up and roll her beneath him, Mara shoved back, pressing his shoulders down. This time it was her turn to pin him down and drive him wild. She was a priestess tonight and Aphrodite’s handmaidens got to be on top.
Mara picked up her pace, taking her cue from the driving force of the rain. Her eyes locked on Michael’s. His expression was naked and hungry, and completely open to her. She watched for the signs that he liked that swivel and she ought to repeat that grind just so.
Lightning flashed on the plain, illuminating the stark lines of Michael’s face, straining and urgent. Thunder boomed, too close for caution, but Mara didn’t care. Lightning couldn’t hurt them. They were electricity. Pure, wild heat.
Michael thrust up into her as Mara drove down. Lightning cracked, near enough for Mara to feel the static in the air, its bright striations flashing across the sky. Michael arched beneath her, his muscles straining as he came. Mara watched him in the strobes of light, captivated by the primal beauty of her lover’s pleasure, needing nothing more in that moment than his satisfaction.
Then he reached between them and flicked her clit. That was all it took to send her into an explosion of her own.
Michael groaned and made a halfhearted move to get up, but Mara’s body draped over his torso kept him down. “We’d better go tell Landon about the shitstorm I’ve brought down on our heads.”
“The humans?” Mara licked the rain off Michael’s neck with a slow sweep of her tongue. The storm had passed, leaving only a lingering dampness in the air. “Do you think they know what they saw?”
“Whether they did or not, we have to be ready.”
Michael rubbed his hand in a circle against the small of her back, and she closed her eyes to live in the touch. Even the sobering thought of exposure to the human world couldn’t completely dampen Mara’s spirits. “Will they come after us, do you think?”
Her head was pillowed on his shoulder and she felt him shrug. “I doubt it. It was a bar. People were drinking. By tomorrow they’ll all be rationalizing away what they thought they saw.”
Mara sat up so she could look into his eyes. The impossibly blue eyes. “How can you be sure?”
His lips curved in a familiar lazy grin, melting her from the inside out. “The Fates must love me,” he said. “I’ve got you.”
Epilogue
Dawn was breaking by the time the Three Rocks’ Alpha and his mate crawled into bed, after the emergency meeting to discuss the night’s developments.
Landon curled around his wife, breathing in her scent. “As glad as I am that your brother has landed his dream girl, it would have been nice if he could have managed it without the public display,” he muttered against her skin.
Ava shifted restlessly in his arms. “You don’t seem worried.”
“No sense borrowing trouble. The humans will come or they won’t. Only time will tell.” Landon soothed his mate, stroking her hair. “We’ll deal with the next crisis as it comes.”
For several moments, only soft rustling sounds disturbed the quiet of the Alpha’s bungalow. Then, “Do you think they’ll be happy, Landon? Michael is so much younger than she is.”
A soft growl rumbled in the Alpha’s throat. “Is your brother older than you?”
“A year.”
“Are you unhappy with your old mate?”
“You aren’t old. And you know I couldn’t be happier.”
“Is your brother fickle?”
“Michael? God, no.”
“Then stop worrying about him. If you want to worry about someone, try my sister.”
“Zoe?” A soft laugh. “She can take care of herself.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” the Alpha grumbled.
Silence fell again, broken only by Ava’s soft sigh, as both the Alpha of the Three Rocks pride and his mate took a moment to forget their worries. Until the next crisis arose.
About the Author
Vivi Andrews lives in Alaska when she isn’t indulging her travel addiction. She’s currently hard at work on her next paranormal romance. For more about her books or the exploits of a nomadic author, please visit her website at www.viviandrews.com or stop by her blog at viviandrews.blogspot.com. Vivi also loves to hear from readers and invites you to email her at vivi@viviandrews.com.