Page 13 of Fated to the Panther

Ten

KARA

As soon as I woke, and before I could clear my mind of its typical haziness, I knew I wasn’t in my bedroll at base camp. It was the understatement of my life that yesterday had not gone as planned.

No, the events had really happened, as surely as I was lying on the most incredible mattress I’d ever slept on. And the second reason was because there was a blazing furnace in the form of a man behind me, along with the sounds of soft snoring. Which could really be better described as purring. Did his panther sleep too?

I let my mind wander to the man who’d saved me yesterday. The man who wasn’t a man. A shifter with, in his words, a complicated family origin. Exhaustion had won out before he returned last night, but I hadn’t expected to wake up with him in bed, since he’d told me he wanted to give me more time. So much had happened in less than a day, it left me wondering how I could avoid what seemed all but inevitable.

Subconsciously, I must have known he was next to me because my dreams had been filled with Roane and the kiss we’dshared. And so many other things I wanted him to do, that even replaying them now heated my face. But was he really my fated one? Was I his? Did my intense reaction to him, the full body ache I felt when he left to prowl the jungle until sleep finally took over me, did I have the strength to call a halt to everything and try to make it back to camp. Back to my life, and make him date me?

Even now, it was all I could do not to turn over and wrap myself around him. Then he’d know there would be no stopping this time, even if his parents decided to return.Oh,please don’t let his parents come back.Did I just make a decision?

“Female, your need, your scent is driving me insane. Please tell me you’ve come to believe we’re fated. But, if you need more time, I will give it. However, I will need to take the longest, coldest shower of my life before I can be around you any longer.”

His voice hypnotized me with its smokey rasp and melodic tone as it spoke directly to my heart. Did this mean that my destiny was not only as Roane’s mate, but to assist in some way with the prophecy he and his brothers had waited their entire lives to fulfill? And to also become a mother and that my son, our son, would also play a part? So, yeah, no pressure.

But those were details to be figured out later. It was crazy, but the simple knowing I felt in every cell of my body that he was mine, and the intense craving of my body for him, should be all the proof I needed. Plus, I was never more tapped into my magic then I had been with him. As if I had never buried it all those years ago.

Apparently, I had made my decision. Rolling over to face him, I trailed my hands up his muscled torso. I couldn’t keep myself from touching him any longer. “More time is overrated. I need you. Now.”

With newfound confidence, I snaked a hand behind his neck, then cupped the back of his head and guided him down to myeager mouth. I weaved my tongue between his lips, exploring, learning his taste, stoking our desire.

Breaking our kiss, when air became an issue, Roane gently pushed me onto my back, then lifted the t-shirt he’d given me up and over my head. He cradled my breasts reverently with his warm, large hands and instinctively, I arched closer, needing more contact. He plucked, then rubbed his thumbs in slow circles over each of my aching nipples. He dipped his head and captured one in his hot mouth, his tongue taking over where his fingers had been. Taking his time, he worshipped each puckered point. Heat continued to build in my abdomen, the sensations he ignited deep inside had me writhing below him, seeking his touch between my folds which were now drenched for him.

Roane’s panther purred so loudly, I felt the vibration deep in my chest.

He ran a hand slowly down my side, squeezing and caressing my hip, then dipped to the apex of my thighs. “I need to taste you,” he pressed the heel of his hand against my sensitive bud, “here. Please tell me yes, Kara.”

His whispered plea tickled my ear, driving my need higher as I reflexively lifted my hips.

“Yes!” There wasn’t anything I’d refuse him. I needed to experience all my firsts with him.

Roane rolled to his knees, grabbed my hips, then delved his tongue inside me. He suckled my clit and I screamed.Oh my god, how could I not have known such pleasure existed?When he switched to flicking his tongue over my swollen folds, I nearly lifted of the bed from his soul-shattering strokes.

Pinpricks of energy pulsed within my core from the wicked back and forth over my engorged flesh."Roane don't stop, yes—oh gods, that feels….” My breath hitched as my orgasm slammed into me and for a brief second, it was as if my body levitated. Wave after wave of a divine, tingling current flowed through me,building until I finally released the breath I’d been holding and sobbed out his name.

Roane moved to his side, then stretched out next to me on the mattress.

Bereft at the separation, I asked, “What are you doing. Why’d you stop?”

Cupping my chin in his large hand with tender care, his hot gaze told me how very close he was to his own release. “I need a moment and… I’m afraid of being too rough with you until I get myself under better control. You deserve your first time to be special, gentle even.”

“I don’t want gentle, Roane. All I want is you inside me. Now.”Wow, where had this Kara been hiding?

A grin appeared on his handsome face. “So demanding. Ah, love. I’m unable to deny you anything.” Taking swift possession of my mouth, he kissed me until I couldn’t breathe. He had a habit of doing that but I didn’t care. I knew with this kiss, Roane had marked me as his. With the flavor of my release on his tongue, he reached between us and tunneled one, then two, fingers inside me.

He drove them into me, over and over, building yet another release. His fingers danced between my folds, swirled around my clit, teasing me fast and hard, then a slow and a barely there touch that sent me into the depths of another orgasm.

Wetter than I’d ever been, he rode out the last of my orgasm on his fingers. Roane nuzzled my neck. “I hope you enjoyed that, love.”

He expected me to speak after that?All I could do was nod, wearing a goofy grin, I’m sure.

“Now I want you to do something for me. Watch me, love.”

I loved that he called me love. He’d had no hesitation using the endearment from the beginning. And now, as he wrapped a hand at the base of his cock and placed himself at my drippingentrance, I opened my legs wider and did as he asked. I watched as he pushed himself inside me.

The stretch was a pleasure pain combo like no other as my body accommodated him. In and out, with each slide of his penis, he drove my need higher.

---