Page 341 of Secret Shifters Next Door

Blayne pulled himself free of my hands and stood to yank his pants all the way down. In his haste, he didn’t even bother to fully remove them. He grabbed the waistbands of my leggings and thong and slid them down my legs. Before I could blink, his mouth was buried in my pussy. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as he worked at my clit, running his tongue across it and sucking it. The world spun and vibrated in my mind as he kept going. I murmured nonsense and dug my fingers into the fabric of the couch. When I came, it would be like a grenade going off in my mind. My orgasm rose, inch by inch, every second, nearing the crescendo.

All I could do was lie back and enjoy. My breath hitched in my chest each time his tongue twisted or turned or flicked across my pussy.

“You better fuck me soon,” I whispered.

Taking it as a challenge, Blayne lifted his face and climbed atop the couch. With a grin, he thrust his pulsing cock into me.

All the breath rushed out of my lungs as he filled me. Gasping for air, I bucked my hips up to meet his strokes.

This was love-making, but more intense—almost animalistic. Our skin made clapping sounds as he slammed into me. I wrapped my legs around him, digging my heels into his ass and pulling him deeper into me with every thrust. My nails dug into the flesh of his back.

Blayne licked and sucked at my neck, his free hand clutching my breast and his fingers pinching my nipple. It sent waves of agonizing pleasure through my body. For a few minutes, it was like the whole world had vanished. All that existed was Blayne, me, and our ecstasy.

Blayne grunted in exertion, sweat beading on his forehead. He looked into my eyes. “Can I claim you? Mmmm, oh fuck. I’m gonna come soon, and I want to claim you.”

I nodded. “Yes. I want it. Do it. Claim me.”

Even in the midst of his own pleasure, Blayne smiled. Then, he lowered his head and bit into the soft spot between my neck and shoulder. His teeth pierced my flesh. It should have been agonizing, but instead, it sent me over the edge. I came so hard that I couldn’t even scream or call out. I groaned and jerked against him, all the heat in my body rushing to my face. I could feel the veins in my neck pulsing as I rode the cresting and falling wave of my climax.

Blayne shuddered in my arms, and I could feel the spasm and twitch of his cock as he came inside me.

The electric tingle in my neck where he’d bit me was already fading as we lay together, trying to catch our breath. I wrapped myself around him and laid my head back on the armrest of the couch. I stroked his back, my fingers slipping through the sweat of his body.

“So…is that all you’ve got?” I asked, grinning.

Blayne’s head jerked up and he raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you wait. Once we go back to finish dinner and I get fueled up, I’ll show you how good round two can be.”

We laughed for a long time, our limbs tangled together.

A few days later,it was looking more and more certain that we’d fully broken the curse. I hadn’t changed, and nothing seemed any different. As far as we could tell, I was never going to be a shifter, and we wouldn’t be having children. After discussing it with Blayne, he was disappointed but seemed to have made peace with it. I made a show of acting the same, but deep inside, I was devastated. Not only would I never experiencewhat it was like to live life as a shifter, like the man I loved, but it meant we would never have kids of our own. That was a realization that hurt more than I thought it would.

Multiple times, I found myself crying over the loss. Blayne never saw—I made sure my mini-breakdowns took place while he was at work or while I was in the bathroom.

Almost a week after he claimed me, I stood at the sink washing dishes from dinner and trying to figure out the best way to talk to him about my feelings. It was not healthy to keep them bottled up. He needed to know how sad I was, but I didn’t want him to think it was his fault. He was the one who’d asked me to break the curse. The last thing I wanted was to saddle him with guilt over something neither of us had any control over.

I was scrubbing a pot when I suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy. Dizzy enough that I dropped the pot back into the sink with a bang and grabbed the counter for balance.

Blayne noticed and rushed to my side. “What’s wrong? Ava, are you okay?”

My eyes were closed as I tried to get my equilibrium back. My skin tingled like it was on fire. I shook my head. “Uh…I don’t feel good. Something isn’t right.”

As quickly as it hit me, the dizziness vanished. I opened my eyes in relief and looked up at Blayne. His eyes went as wide as dinner plates, and then he grinned so wide that I thought his face would crack.

“What?” I asked.

Without a word, he grabbed my hand and walked me over to a mirror that hung above the dining room table. I stared in disbelief at my reflection. My eyes were the pale shimmery yellow of a panther’s eyes. I’d seen Liam and Blayne’s eyes do the same thing before.

I blinked to make sure it was real. It was still there.

Blayne’s face looked deliriously excited. He pulled me toward the back door. “Come on, come on. Outside.”

Following him outside, I breathed a sigh of relief. The coolness of the night air on my skin eased the hot, itchy feeling.

Blayne led me to the edge of the forest. Putting his hands on each of my cheeks, he looked me in the eyes. “You need to open your mind. Reach down deep. Find your panther. She’s there, I know it. Once you find her, open your body to her and ask her to take over. Once you fully trust her and she trusts you, she’ll come out, and you can shift.”

I nodded, but about a million butterflies raged in my stomach.

Blayne took a few steps back, bouncing on his toes. He looked like a little boy who’d woken on Christmas morning and was getting ready to go downstairs and see what Santa had brought.

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