Page 51 of Scars of the Sun

But most of all, I stalked forward, I sensed her. Honey eyes.

She stayed where I’d put her and watched while I shifted. I took another draw of the air to taste and exhaled my purr. She didn’t stink of fear, anymore.

The closer I got, the easier it was to see her, staring with an arm out. My purr shook my chest as she pet between my ears. My tail swished on the ground, and I went further. I still couldn’t see her clearly, even this close, but I didn’t need my eyesight. The working of her hands through my fur was more than enough of a guide. Her cold grapefruit scent, I would never lose.

“Río.” Her whisper filled my ears and took over my mind. A little scratchy from her crying. I didn’t want her to cry.

I snuffled into her arm while she moved her hands down the back of my neck. The skin was bumpy but soft because it was her.

She was mine, sweet and sour, and my purr turned to a new sound. One I’d never made before that felt more than right. A raspy bark that wasn’t loud to call out. It was quiet, just for her. Even still, she jumped, and the signal I was giving her traded for a wheezy hiss.

“Are you…laughingat me?” The hiss got louder, and I bobbed my head like I would in human form.

My honey eyes liked to bite when I laughed at her like this, but tonight, she crouched and pressed her lips just above my nose. Even when I snuffled, she didn’t pull back, just kissed me again. “You’re magnificent, Río.”

I craned my face into hers, swished my tail along the forest floor. Compliments were nice, especially from her. My human and jaguar forms had received so much to the contrary.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” She whispered right in my ear, and a shiver traveled down my spine in pleasure. I liked having her close to me.

She stood but kept a hand against the back of my neck. Even though the wood was a dark blur, the symphony of scents and sounds made up for it. Honey eyes, my Ramona, and I walked quietly over the forest floor. Neither of us led, just let our bodies drift where they wanted. Together.

After a little while, she began to talk in hushed tones. A number, a list that she recited of random things. Coffee, nicknames. The last two, she mumbled as if she didn’t want me to hear. But I did.

“Number Eleven. Princess. Number Twelve. Jaguar.”

I chuffed, pleased that whatever the list was, those last two were about me. Showed that I mattered to her.

We continued on, walking a makeshift loop that followed no defined trail. We hopped over fallen trees, progressing in the heated night that delighted my animal half. To have my female with me, touching me.

And when we ended up back where we started, we both stopped without having to communicate it to each other.

Ramona bent before me, not quite fully crouching due to my height, but close. And I almost knocked her over with how hard I pressed into her. Like always, I licked up the side of her face, letting the barbs on my tongue taste her.

Desire curled in my belly, deepening my purr, and in complete accord, my human form pushed forth, taking some of the reins. Half-shifting from jaguar to human was weirder than the other way around. But it felt good in a different way to feel the air on my skin with no fur present. My claws still dug into the earth, but my long, human fingers replaced the stubbier, tougher paws.

My contacts were lying somewhere around here, so Ramona was still a blur of browns and black, but even then, I knew her smile.

“Your ears are so cute,” she barely held back her giggle, and I answered it with a teasing snarl that was still all animal.

Instead of scaring her though, it just made her gasp and clutch my shoulders, now smooth and broader than before. I knew the smell of lust, and hers was as clear as day, twining and merging with mine. I’d never before felt this high and peace with someone else.

“You get turned on watching me shift, Princess?” My voice was a harsh grumble, still adjusting to the change, and my dick was heavy between my legs and pointing towards her as if we were in full agreement on what we wanted.

I ran my tongue up her cheek again, loving the way she trembled and held back the moan that begged to slip out. She caressed my shoulders, down to my biceps where there were still patches of fur-covered skin. “I almost didn’t notice your spots before,” she whispered. Technically, they were called rosettes, but she was right. From a distance, my fur appeared a wash ofblack, but up close, the large spots were actually black while the rest of me was slightly lighter.

“That wasn’t the question I asked you.” I took her earlobe between my teeth, careful not to sink in too far. And my efforts paid off in the form of a full body shiver that skated down her body. She was mine. Mine, mine, mine.

I brought us both to our feet while keeping her close. “Yes.”

I slammed my mouth onto hers, felt her sigh on my face. She tangled her fingers in my wild hair, and I relished in scraping my claws down her bare back. Well—I sliced through the fabric of her bra—now it was bare. And she didn’t even bat an eye. Just shrugged out of the straps and returned her hands to me, where they fucking belonged.

Mine trailed to her front, where my hard cock was already pressing against her and painting her skin with lines of precum. I helped it along with the tips of my claws, causing streaks of wet goosebumps as I made tiny thrusts with my hips.

And when she gasped at my pinching of her nipples, I had to hold myself back from digging the razor points of my claws into her flesh. Like hell would I add to her scars, physically or emotionally. I wanted to be the one to help her heal.

She arched her head back, letting her whimper out and into the perfect night. I wanted every living thing remotely near us to witness this, and she was so good to give me what I craved.

Her breasts were smaller and round, and I tore my lips away from hers to close them around the perfect little handful on the left. She keened, straining on her tiptoes and clamping the back of my head to keep me from escaping.

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