Page 1 of An Unexpected Claim

Chapter One

Peyton

Ashiver skittered down my spine as I set a few mixed drinks onto the glossy wooden table of the booth in front of me. The patrons nodded their thanks as I turned away and headed to the bar.

My body temperature spiked and an electric current sizzled on my skin, causing my panther to pace restlessly.

In a club filled with shifters, who were highly sexual creatures, I might have assumed it was just the atmosphere. Especially since tomorrow was a full moon. The days leading up to it heightened our base desires and made us…well, horny as hell.

Essentially, our animals went into heat, except it also amplified our human hormones. And since the only time we could get pregnant was during a full moon, it was usually preceded by a couple of days of nonstop fucking. It had also been a couple of months since I’d blown off—pun intended--some steam doing the horizontal mambo.

And yeah, he definitely returned the favor.

But something about my body’s reaction felt different this time, more intense than ever before, though I couldn’t explain why. My eyes swept around the club as I threaded my way through the high-top tables surrounding the dance floor. The patrons at The Spot—where I waitressed at night—were almost all shifters, with the exception of one or two human mates. The owner, Sam, a leopard shifter, had jokingly named it with the double meaning of being “the spot” for shifters to congregate for a good time and also in reference to his spotted fur. No matter how much we all teased him, he still thought it was hilarious.

He’d built it inside one of the smaller, old cathedrals on the Upper West Side, and spared no expense when he repurposed it as a nightclub. He’d taken care to restore a lot of the original wood and stonework, while still creating a modern feel. People entered through a set of enormous, wooden double doors and from the lobby on the luxurious, yet laid-back atmosphere impressed everyone.

Inside the main room, two of the walls were lined with black walnut paneling and high-backed, button-tufted, black leather booths, each illuminated by a single pendant light hanging from above to create a little privacy, while the bar and stage took up the other two walls. Bodies packed the dance floor in the middle of the room, moving sensuously to the heavy beat of the music.

Finally, my gaze landed on a table in the back corner, near the bar. Three large men sat on stools, drinking beer and talking, but only one drew my complete focus. Every single thing about him, from his countenance to his broad stature, radiated power. His imposing presence was heady, and my panther purred in admiration while I squeezed my legs together for a moment, trying to quell the rush of desire that ended there.

He was the cause of the heat flushing my body. His potent stare felt like a caress, everywhere and all at once.Would he surround me as completely if we were naked in bed? Mmmhmm. My guess is yes.As soon as the thought popped into my head, his stare intensified, making me wonder if somehow, he knew what I’d been thinking.Odd. Then again, I hadn’t made an effort to hide my interest in him.

My steps slowed, and my gaze traveled over him from head to toe. Even seated, I could tell he was at least six and a half feet tall and would tower over my five-foot-nine height. He wore a white, short-sleeved T-shirt that showed off huge biceps and strong, veiny forearms—one of which was marred with claw marks. The scars were old, but for them to still be visible despite his rapid healing, they had to have been very deep. All of his sculpted muscles rippled when he moved, and I clenched my thighs, barely restraining myself from licking my lips. From what I could see, the rest of his body fit the same description.

Big, hard, and sexy as hell.

He wore a trimmed, full beard over a firm, square jaw, and had light brown-blond hair that was long enough to be in a man-bun high on the back of his head. I don’t normally like long hair on guys, but on this man…

He was fucking hot.

H.O.T.Hot.

And he’d lit up my body like the Fourth of July. I desperately wanted to know if his facial hair was as silky as it looked and whether it would leave burn marks between my thighs.

Dirty scenarios filled my mind, creating a porn montage.When the hell did I become such a nympho?

I’d experienced overwhelming desire before and had some unbelievably hot, toe-curling sex, but none of that compared to the pull from this man’s gaze. As I passed his table, it felt as if I were on the verge of an orgasm even from a few feet away.

My cat urged me to make a beeline for the cause of our explosive libido. She didn’t understand the complexities of human behavior. As an animal, her comprehension of the situation was simple—feel desire, act on that desire, walk away satisfied.

I wasn’t wholly opposed to her view, but I still had a job to do, so I tried to ignore my rapidly deepening hunger for this man.

“Peyton,” Sam called from the end of the bar.

My eyes snapped away from the sexy stranger to my boss. Startled at his presence, I picked up my step and tried to focus on my job rather than the electricity humming over my skin.

“Hey,” I greeted him with a smile when I arrived. “You’re working the bar tonight?”

The leopard shifter was unusual for his breed. Like black panthers, they rarely mated and settled down, which wasn’t entirely surprising since we were technically of the same species. Although I was in the jaguar family, rather than leopard.

Sam had not only opened a business, he also had a mate—Linette—and they were expecting their first cub in a month. Since cats of our breed had only six-month pregnancies, he’d handed most of the responsibilities of running the business to his manager and taken time off to be with his mate. Which meant I hadn’t seen him at the club much, especially not at night.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Apparently, I hover.”

I stifled a chuckle, having heard a rant from Linette earlier in the day when I’d stopped by to check on my sweet friend.

Unlike my boss, staying in one place wasn’t in my nature. I always felt antsy after a time, needing to breathe new air and see new places, even as a kid. It meant making few friends and forming no deep attachments, but I didn’t mind it. I preferred to be alone, free to do as I pleased, unfettered by the opinion of others. No matter how well-meaning.

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