Born Cheetah (4 page)

“I have always been yours. It just took us a while to get here.” He kissed her fingers again and their food arrived.

She smiled. “So, when did you first notice me?”

“The track tryouts. You ran with such grace, I just knew you were a gazelle. Imagine my surprise when I caught your scent and it was all predator.”

“Puberty is always rough on the scent glands.” She blushed. “I remember watching you do the hurdles and not being able to take my eyes off you.”

“So, love at first run. It was meant to be. I have dreamed of running with you.”

She stabbed the salad with her fork. “Oh, yes. Me too. Running.”

He laughed, “And sex, of course, but as you know, someone to really run with is much rarer.”

“True. You can find sex anywhere, but a serious runner is far more desirable.”

He blinked as if something just struck him. “That reminds me. Leyline said something about you not being monogamous.”

“It isn’t that cheetahs in the wild aren’t monogamous, they just boot the guy out after they have what they need for the next generation. Shifters are different. We still have human minds, and if our beast wants a mate, she will keep him. Trust me.”

“I do. Trusting you has never been an issue. Trusting my own judgement was another matter.”

She ate a bit more of her lunch before she asked, “So, did your mother like Leyline?”

“She tolerated her. As long as I didn’t get serious, she was fine with it. Do you visit your family a lot?”

Rayna chuckled. “Every birthday, family event, holiday and Sunday supper I was invited to, I attended. Family is important to me, even if their blood isn’t in my veins.”

He munched his burger and asked, “How was it being raised by otters?”

She chuckled. “My first shift was a bit of a shock to Augusta and the others. Mom and Dad knew, but no one had told my sisters what I was. When I fluffed out at the swimming hole, everyone ran for the water while I turned and ran for the house, making this weird chirping yowl the whole way. Mom caught me up and cuddled me, heedless of claw and tooth. She calmed me down, and I gradually changed back into my human form.”

He looked at her with wide eyes. “What happened then?”

“She wrapped me in a towel, grabbed a new swimsuit for me and walked with me down to the swimming hole. She called everyone out and explained that I was different but that I was still me. This was my other form, and while my colouring was different, my shape was different too. I was assigned Augusta as a shift buddy, and when I shifted, she would shift too.”

“Did it work?”

“From that day on, when I accidentally shifted, she shifted too. The only exception was at school. I went to the quiet room at school, but since I didn’t have to fear a shift at home, the spontaneous transformations didn’t happen that often. How were your early shifts?”

“I was lucky enough to have it happen when I was twelve during summer break. I had the farm, the fields and my family were around me and kept me on my hooves while I learned the business of being a horse.”

“You do it well.”

He finished his burger and nibbled at his fries. “You know, I have dreamed of doing that trick with the naked woman and the gallop ever since my brother Tom told me about it.”

“Has he tried it?”

Gregory snorted, “Not likely. His wife does not even like to eat on paper plates. It is more of a horse-shifter myth than anything else. I had no idea it would work.”

“I am glad to have been of assistance myth-busting.” She twisted her lips in a wry smile, her blush highlighting her cheeks.

“Your participation was deeply appreciated. It is a memory I shall treasure every time I close my eyes.” He waggled his eyebrows and closed both eyes for a moment, a blissful expression crossing his features.

She did what any woman would do. She kicked him under the table, right in the shins.

“Ouch!” He jumped and his knees hit the table.

She finished her salad and sipped at her cola. “Serves you right.”

“Fine. You have helped me live out a teenage fantasy under false pretences; now, what can I do for you?” He rubbed his leg and gave her an earnest look.

“Let me think...”

Rayna slammed him against the door to her room, unlocking it and pinning him in place at the same time. He stumbled backward as the door opened, and she followed him into her room with her predatory nature showing in every line of her body.

She locked it behind her and pressed her hand to his chest. “Now, do I undress you or do you undress me?”

“I don’t care as long as we are both naked in under a minute.”

She backed away and her clothing flew off and to the side while he flicked off his shirt and peeled his jeans away from his body, shoving them down his thighs before he sat back and kicked off his shoes. A little wriggling and he was soon enjoying the caress of the air in her room and the silken coverlet on her bed.

She was purring at the expanse of all that tanned skin and hard muscle.

“Come here, Rayna. I am done with waiting.”

She stalked closer to him, going up on her toes as she picked up speed in the few steps that parted them. Rayna’s gaze didn’t know where to look. His chest was lovely, his thighs were fascinating, but it was his cock that was hypnotic. It was long, heavy and she curled her right hand around it. She closed her eyes, and the purr that rarely made its way from her throat kicked up in volume.

She moved between his thighs and leaned down, lapping at him and purring as the precum slid into her mouth and she swallowed the salty taste of him.

He groaned, and she felt him thud back to the bedding as she worked her mouth up and down his length. She could only get half of him into her mouth, so she continued to stroke him with her tongue while one hand gripped his shaft and the other gently cupped his balls.

She looked up through her lashes, and he was contorted in an arch, his hands fisted in the bedding. Her smile precluded her continuing, so she pulled her mouth from him with a pop, and she crawled up his body, rubbing her wet sex against the slick shaft she had just been working.

She reached between them and lodged him inside her, slowly lowering herself onto him in tiny increments. Rayna placed her hands on his flat belly and threw her head back as she worked herself onto him.

Gregory gripped her hips and held tight to pull her against him before he slid his hands up and cupped her breasts. He stroked and pulled her nipples, sending darts of pleasure through her.

Rayna started to ride him, slowly lifting and dropping on him, almost letting him slip free before she tightened on him for the downward surge.

He was groaning, his hands clenching and he put his hands on her waist again, encouraging her to pick up speed.

She laughed and started to move harder as well as faster. Speed was her wheelhouse, and the heat and friction added to the pleasure she was experiencing.

She was nearing release; Gregory was tense and covered with sweat, so he wasn’t too far behind her. Rayna leaned forward slightly to put pressure on her clit, and to her surprise, he reached behind her, placed his fingertips on her back and he pulled down sharply, mimicking claws.

Her inner beast screamed and her body bucked and clenched around him as her climax hit her with all the subtly of a freight train. She shuddered, and he arched into her, jerking his hips into her as his cock flexed inside the grip of her sex.

She slumped across his chest and listened to the pounding of her heart and the heavy thudding of his. It was several minutes before she could ask him, “Where did you learn how to do that?”

He stroked his hands up and down her spine, soothing the welts he had made in her skin. “I have been researching cheetah shifters since I first met you. There are whole tomes of feline shifter lore out there if you know where to look.”

“Why were you looking?”

“I never gave up on you. I always hoped for a day I would see you again, I was just to chicken shit to start looking.” He ran his hands through her hair, wrapping her locks around his fingers.

“I probably wouldn’t have been too receptive until now. While I have self-control around my family, the hunting instinct has been riding me strong as I have marked out my new territory.”

“What have you been doing since you left?” He continued to caress her head, stroking her hair and rubbing her scalp.

“I finished high school and opened a small shop.
Creature’s Feature
.”

He lifted her head by tugging her hair. “The one on the outside of the city limits?”

“Right on the edge. Yes. Why?”

He flopped back on the bed. “My sister shops there.”

“Oh, yeah. Gianne. She’s a regular. When is she due?”

“Two months yet. Her husband is deliriously happy.”

“He’s a large dog, right? A Labrador or something.”

“You are right. He is definitely a Labrador. My parents have adjusted fine to having him in the family.”

“How do they feel about the cross-species marriage?”

“Well, Gianne came here, so they are honour bound to uphold the mating.”

That got her out of her warm and fuzzy state. “Gianne came to the Crossroads?”

He gave her an amused look. “She had to, she’s allergic to crayfish.”

Surprised by his comment, she leaned up on his chest until her mind translated his sentence. She burst out laughing. “That would do it.”

The otters loved to use crayfish in their courting rituals, and if Gianne couldn’t tolerate them, they would be at a complete loss. She would have to seek her life companion elsewhere.

He rolled her to the side and kept one of her thighs draped over his hip. “So, where do you want to live?”

She stroked his cheek. “I am rather well off. I have a house and eighty acres in addition to the shop, all within twenty minutes of Crofton.”

He froze. “You have been twenty minutes away this whole time?”

She smiled brightly, kissed him and whispered, “Yup. You were really lazy.”

He shook his head and rolled her to her back, kissing her savagely. He thrust into her slowly as his erection resumed is earlier dimensions.

Rayna blinked. “Again?”

Against her lips he whispered, “I am making up for lost time.”

Despite the hot start, he made love to her with slow, sweet movements that lifted her on a wave of sensation before she gasped and clung to him again. Her inner cat lapsed into a steady purr in her mind. Whatever happened next, she was content with this mate.

She woke with her thighs sticky and the scent of sex heavy in the air. Her body was completely delighted with how events had unfolded.

Rayna looked down and Gregory was not only pressed against her spine, but his hand was cupping her breast. His face was buried against her neck, her scent coming to him in the mass of hair he was using as a pillow.

She was well and tightly pinned in the arms of her stallion. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She needed to use the bathroom.

With a deep sigh, she eased away from him, lifting his hand and slithering out from under his head. She didn’t look back as she headed for the bathroom, but after she had used the facilities and tidied herself up a bit, she crept back into the bedroom.

He had sprawled over her entire bed, so she returned to the bathroom and took a shower.

Her minor aches and pains washed down the drain and a solid palm of conditioner worked some of the snarls out of her hair. She wrapped a towel around her breasts and brushed her hair before she returned to the bedroom.

Grinning at her damp state, she crept up on him, carefully positioned herself, and then, she lay out on top of him, head for head, arms for arms, legs not quite matching up, but it was as close as she could get. The entire response from her lover was a grunt.

Rayna rolled her eyes and checked the time. They had spent the afternoon re-introducing themselves, so it was now time for dinner.

“If you want to join me for dinner, you had better get up, pony boy.”

That insult got him up with a scowl. “That is a mean way to wake up.”

“I tried lying on your back naked and wet, but you didn’t even flinch.” She shrugged and grabbed another stunning bra and panty set. She knew he didn’t care, but it felt good to be coordinated under her clothing. A small bit of confidence that she could carry with her. A maxi dress and sandals finished her covering.

“I apologize, that was an invitation I should never have ignored.” He turned to one side and smiled winningly, beckoning her to join him.

“Nope. Dinner first. We can’t live with sex alone. We still don’t know where you are willing to live when we bond. That is a conversation to have in public.”

He wrinkled his nose and pulled his clothing on without showering. To her and any scent-sensitive species, he was advertising that he had gotten lucky with the female of his choice.

Rayna thought it was a little heavy handed, but scent marking was really a guy thing.

He offered her his arm, and they left the room that they had just ravaged.

Teebie was so good-natured about housekeeping that the only thing Rayna was sure of was that Teebie didn’t have to touch any of actual sheets, but it was still a tremendous effort when there were four rooms full. It had happened for one night during Rayna’s stay.

Teebie was gradually getting more shifters in who didn’t mind that she was a djinn, and she was rapidly becoming part of the community.

Rayna smiled at her as they passed the reception desk. “Incoming tonight?”

“Yup. Three. We are going to be getting closer to a full house again. Is your companion staying for breakfast?”

Rayna looked at Gregory and smiled. “I think he might be interested after our morning run. Is that okay?”

“Fine. I just need to calibrate my meals.” She inclined her head and waved them on. “Enjoy your evening.”

Smiling, Rayna hauled Gregory out of the Open Heart and down to the restaurant next to the café. It was slightly more formal but a lot more substantial than most of the diner meals.

They were seated immediately, and when they had placed their orders, she looked into her mate’s eyes. Whether they would live together was immaterial. He was her mate and no other would do.