Page 16 of Dark Panther's Desperate Beauty

Chapter Nine

Rylee

I don’t understand how I can be completely terrified and completely… what is it? Secure. That’s it. I feel completely secure.

And terrified.

You can’t help but feel a little terror in the presence of this panther. It’s bigger than the championship bull I saw at the State Fair back in high school. I think that bull was thirteen hundred or fourteen hundred pounds. It has to be four or five times as big as a normal panther or even bigger.

Not it.

Erik.

Erik has to be four or five times as big as a normal panther or even bigger. His head is very big. The bottom of his face is at my belly button and I’m staring directly into his eyes. That’s how huge he is. It’s like a movie, you know, where someone rides a great cat but a giant one. Or like that cartoon with the guy who sings yeah, yeah what’s going on in the memes. Who is that again? He Man, I think. That’s it. Erik is like the big saber tooth tiger he rides.

Except bigger.

His coat is jet black and I reach forward to touch it, which is really strange because the moment I’m reaching out, I’m doubly terrified. But I keep doing it. I guess my brain is unable to reconcile the fear a creature like this giant cat can create with the simple reality that inside of the animal is the man I love. Also, I guess, the other reality, that this cat already saved me once. It already…

Stupid, stupid, stupid…

Thinking about how the cat saved me has my mind reeling with images of his massive body moving. I see one of my assailants cut down by a swipe of his massive paw. I see another’s head crushed between his jaws.

The terror is too much and I pull my hand away. The huge cat tilts its head and steps forward, pressing its muzzle against my torso. I gasp and then see the eyes. They’re so huge! So expressive. They’re not the eyes of the creature that ended the lives of those men.

Well, of course they are.

But they’re different now, and the sight of them tells me that this creature isn’t just a killing machine. I put both hands on his head before I really think about what I’m doing. His fur is thick and not as coarse as I expect. It’s not the fluffy fur of a housecat, of course. But it’s not as wild as I expect.

And then something in his eyes really clicks for me.

“It is you,” I breathe out. “You’re the cat. You’re… the cat is a form of you, not the other way around. The panther… you can become the panther but you’re the man I love. The man isn’t something the panther can become.”

And then it’s him again.

He stands there in front of me, naked. “There’s a lot of controversy about that, actually. Are we humans who can become animals or are we animals who can become people? Nobody knows and…”

“That’s not true because I know,” I say. “You’re a man who can become a panther.” I kiss him again, hard, and my hand slides down immediately to take hold of his cock. I stroke softly as we kiss. I can feel him growing hard in my hand. Damn… for days since freaking out about the music and all my prior quest for fame encompassed, I’ve not given myself to these moments. It seems almost… I don’t know how to express it.

I guess I feel almost like a character in some stupid porn movie or an adolescent sex romp (except without the comedy) the way that I’m so fixated on his dick. I mean, stroking a penis isn’t the way to be suddenly okay, right? His cock is in my hand. This hasn’t turned my life into perfection. Why am I… and then I hear the sound of a car horn in the distance.It’s blocks away but, um…

Um, duh.

I’m outside.

We’re outside in the open!

I pull back in shock and fear, looking around in terror. He smiles and whisks me up in his arms. Suddenly we’re walking through the well-lit parking lot! I don’t know what the hell to do or say but I feel like I’m going to die of embarrassment, and I’m not even the one who’s undressed.

We get to my door, thank goodness. Most of the rooms are like mine with outside doors rather than ones that open into hallways. At least I’m spared the embarrassment of going through the lobby. I fumble for the keys. As freaked out as all of this makes me, I don’t want Erik to kick the door in and have to pay extra to fix it. So, I hand him the keys, and he unlocks the door. He does all of this while holding me in his arms.

He walks me over the threshold while kissing me roughly. When we get through and he kicks the door closed, I feel a ton of relief. It makes me giggle a little, and I feel like I’ve just been involved in this deliciously naughty adventure. I mean, I don’t want to head out to the parking lot and screw each other in front of the world. But the fact that all that happened in such a risky way is just… I don’t know. It’s hot.

He kisses me hard, and there’s real hunger between us now. We were always a bit wild, but now, well, I know that I want this man. I want this more than just a man. I want him desperately. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been hungry for him before but I guess I’ve also been holding back a little bit. I’m figuring that out now. I’ve been at least a little recalcitrant. I haven’t given myself over completely. Maybe that’s just because I wasn’t ever really myself. Maybe that’s it.

Hell, I’m done analyzing this. For Pete’s sake, I’m in the middle of something really amazing here, and I don’t need any of this self-reflection over-analyzing BS to detract from the moment.

Erik sets me down on the floor and helps me undress. Our hands and mouths don’t stop exploring, touching, tasting, groping, and grabbing. It’s like we can’t press enough of each other together at once, can’t consume each other completely enough to satisfy.

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