Bad Kitty (19 page)

Her head rested on his shoulder in silence
as their heart beats slowed and their breathing returned to normal.
He liked this a lot. Companionable silence where neither of them
needed to talk so much as they simply wanted to be held. He didn't
have to hear the words to know that she still had her doubts. He
was okay with that for now. Very soon she would realize that he had
enough power and confidence for them both.

~

"You owe me five hundred bucks." Bhric
filled the bathroom doorway and glared down at them.

Neither Kitty nor Rafe moved. Shifters
weren't exactly shy about sex and they'd nearly killed themselves
with pleasure in a bout in the shower. Whatever Bhric wanted he'd
have to face them as they were. Naked and exhausted.

"And why would I owe you any money at
all?"

"Because you sent my entire bar into a
frenzy. The walls are paper thin in this old building and her
screams made it impossible for them to think about playing pool or
drinking my liquor. They couldn't get out of here fast enough to go
find someone to fuck."

"Oh no! Your pool tournament." Kitty buried
her face in Rafe's shoulder and giggled. Obviously she knew more
than he did about Bhric's ramblings.

"Right. It's our best night of the week, so
you owe me five hundred bucks for lost business."

Rafe thought about their
predicament for a minute and shrugged. He didn't really care much
about Bhric's business
,
but with Kitty by his side he had no reason to
argue. She's made him a very happy man. "Whatever. It was worth
every penny."

"Hey!" Kitty shoved at his arm and he
tightened his protective hold around her waist.

Bhric or no
Bhric
,
her
feistiness was beginning to stir him again. Once had only
temporarily satisfied him and soon he'd be ready for more. In fact,
if he had his way they'd be at this all night.

"You two are bad for
business. Either take it to her house or yours
.
I don't care. Just not in my bar
again. Got it?"

Rafe smiled and a deeper respect for the
leader Bhric had become settled in his mind. He'd meant what he'd
said about Kitty making her own choices. He had a feeling that in
the days and weeks to come he might find a powerful friend in the
leader of the neutral zone.

"Sure. No problem." He stood and lifted
Kitty into his arms. "It's time I take Kitty home where she
belongs.

Chapter Eleven

"So what now?" Rafe had explained to Kitty
for the twentieth time in a week that he wasn't letting her go and
so far she'd resisted the idea. Kind of. They'd been together day
and night and she'd grown rather attached. However, their
differences still worried her, especially in relation to his
becoming the Alpha.

"Well, first we talk to
Burke. The ceremony of transfer was supposed to take place tomorrow
night
,
but after
that stunt the bastard pulled in the barn, I don't know what he's
thinking."

"That
bastard
was thinking his nephew
needed to stand up to the pack and prove his worthiness. If I'd
just handed her over to you with absolutely no regard for pack law,
we'd be canceling that ceremony tomorrow and every wolf with an
ounce of alpha would be calling you out for a
challenge."

Both Rafe and Simon jumped
to their feet at the sound of Burke's voice and Kitty almost burst
out laughing. It amazed her that Burke had been able to sneak up on
all three of them without them being the wiser
,
but she respected the man for his
power and cunning this far. Even if he did sic Tanner on her that
night.

All three men stared at
each other and she got the feeling they were all waiting for
someone to say something. She rolled her eyes. Enlightened or not,
times like these where they struggled needlessly for someone to
back down
,
killed
her.

"Burke, please have a seat. We were just
talking about you." She smiled sweetly.

"So I heard." He took a seat across from
both men and crossed his ankle over his knee. "I thought you two
were mates?" He swept a glance over both of them.

Kitty rolled her eyes again. "Is everyone
going to ask us that every time we meet them?"

Rafe touched Kitty's hand and turned to
Burke. "We are. It's just Kitty is being a tad stubborn about
making it official and I promised Bhric it would be her
choice."

"What's the problem?" Burke addressed the
question to her.

Kitty choked down the automatic sarcasm that
leapt to her tongue. If she was going to get a straight answer then
she needed to act like a grown woman and not a petulant child.

"I can't stand the thought of holding him
back."

"Kitty," Rafe warned.

"No, let her speak. I think she needs to get
this out." Burke sat back in his chair and waited for her to
continue.

"I just mean that it's clear Rafe would make
a great Alpha and I can't stand the thought of him having to
sacrifice that because of what I am."

"You think if he is mated to a cougar
instead of a wolf, he'll be any less of a leader?"

Kitty glared at Burke. "Of course not. He
doesn't discriminate against anyone. In fact, I've never met anyone
else who would willing take on his whole pack just to rescue a
stranger." She tried to hold back her anger but it was impossible
to hide. "I've been around bigoted shapeshifters my whole life, and
I know him mating with me will bring his cause a lot of extra
resistance on all of his incredible ideas."

Burke silently stared at her for a few
seconds before he shrugged and turned to his nephew. "She seems
perfect to me. I can already imagine her kicking ass and taking
names. I dare some of our pack to try and resist her."

"My sentiments exactly."

"See you tomorrow then?" Burke stood and
held out his hand to Rafe.

"Yes." They shook hands and Burke
disappeared the same way he arrived.

"What just happened?" Kitty looked between
Rafe and Simon.

Simon grinned. "That's my cue to take my
leave as well. Guess I'll see you two at sunset tommorrow. Try not
to be late."

After Simon left, Kitty didn't know what to
say. All of her valid reasoning for not mating with Rafe had
apparently fallen on deaf ears.

"Are you done saying no yet?" he asked.

Her throat tightened at the simple question.
The need building inside her since she'd met him threatened to
explode. "I'm not sure I can wrap my head around everyone being so
accepting."

"Not everyone will be, but everyone who
matters is. Is there anything more important than that?"

"You're never going to listen to me are
you?"

He lifted her hand to his lips. "Of course,
I am. When you're right." He grinned a slow, wicked smile and
leaned into her. "There's nothing right about not being my mate."
Letting a claw extend, he sliced through one of the thin straps
holding up her dress. "What's even more not right is you sitting
over there while I'm over here."

He grabbed her around the waist and lifted
her onto his lap facing him so she could straddle him. Using the
same claw trick he slipped his hand under her dress and sliced
through the delicate lace of her panties.

"Hey. I really liked those."

"Me too. That's why I'm going to order them
in every color, every month so I can cut them off of you whenever I
want."

Oh hell
.

Rafe reached between them and tore at the
fastener of his jeans and freed his thickening cock. Kitty settled
her thighs on the outside of his legs until her sex rubbed right
over his tip.

"You're so wet," he groaned.

"You're positive this is what you want?" she
asked. Not that either of them could resist for much longer. Every
time he got near her, his body gave off pheromones that made her
want to bite him.

"Never been more sure in my life. From the
moment I met you." He kissed the curve of her partially bared
breast. "What kind of leader am I if I'm not willing to put my
money where my mouth is?"

"Rafe. Stop talking." His teasing touches
were driving her mad. Kitty dug her fingers into his shoulders as
the rest of her sank down on him. Damn she loved how he filled her.
She clenched her muscles around his thickness and watched his eyes
roll back in his head. When he got his bearings again, he leaned
down and sucked her nipple between his teeth and nipped her. She
cried out, her hand grabbing at his hair with all of her strength.
He growled and bared his neck. "Do it, Kitty. Make me yours
forever."

"Only if you move." Her voice was shaky when
she spoke.

"With pleasure." Rolling his hips, he began
moving inside her. The instant friction set them both on fire as
heat rose between them.

Kitty leaned forward and pressed her lips to
Rafe's neck. The heady scent of musk and damp forest suffused her,
growing stronger. He'd barely begun and she was already close.

"Now, Kitty."

He pumped his hips faster as she scraped his
skin with her sharp, pointed teeth. She had no idea what real
pleasure meant until she met Rafe. He drove deeper and the time for
thinking ended. With one hand in his hair and her mouth latched to
his neck she lifted and fell in rhythm as her body melted into pure
sensation in his arms. She wanted more and he gave it to her,
surging inside her as her body tightened. She jerked him closer and
drove her teeth into his neck, holding him in place as she
shattered around him.

Underneath her, Rafe was growling, his cock
pulsing inside her as they fell, lost in mind numbing pleasure.
When they collapsed in an exhausted heap, Kitty slid her teeth free
and laved across his mating mark. He was hers now.

"Damn, that feels good.

"Mmmhmm," she purred.

"You can't take it back."

Kitty lifted her head. "Guess you're stuck
with me." A deep rumbling in her chest followed her words.

"Are you purring?"

She nuzzled his neck and trying to get even
closer. "Maybe, why?"

"Because my contented Kitty, it's my turn
and I won't take no for an answer."

She wiggled in his lap and clenched her
muscles around his already growing erection. "Why in the world
would I ever say no?"

"Why indeed," he growled.

Her purring grew louder as Rafe trailed
kisses along the most sensitive part of her neck. She'd found love
in the most unlikely of places and he'd taught her that life held
quite a few more surprises. Sure, they still had a lot to learn
about each other, but plenty of time to start figuring it all
out.

Tomorrow
.

She screamed.

Epilogue

Kitty came awake on a sharp gasp that burned
her throat. She jackknifed into a sitting position, clutching her
chest as she tried to catch her breath.

"What's wrong?" Rafe grabbed her arms and
pulled her close. "Bad dream?"

She rubbed at her throat and shook her head.
"I don't think so. I think something horrible has happened."

Kitty broke from his hold and sprang from
the bed, heading straight for the closet. Rafe followed her. "What
are you doing? What's going on?"

By the time he'd asked the question she'd
already dressed and was currently shoving her feet into a pair of
sneakers.

"It's Nikki. Something's wrong with
her."

His face scrunched in confusion. "Who's
Nikki?"

"The pregnant white cougar I ran into at
Dark Moon." Kitty turned to her new official mate. "She warned me
to stay out of her business but this is really serious, Rafe. I've
got to do something."

"Hold on, babe. You're not making any sense.
You saw a white cougar? At Dark Moon?"

"How am I not making sense when you're
repeating what I said and it's exactly what happened?" She bent
back down and tied the laces of her shoes. "Yes, she was in the
employee area of the building when I went back to use the bathroom.
We spoke only for a minute but I saw she was pregnant. Well, I
didn't see see. She wasn't showing yet. I saw. In my head. Well,
anyway I blurted it out and she told me in no uncertain terms to
mind my own business and that her body was private and all that
jazz. And then she was gone."

Rafe stared at her as if she'd grown a third
head. "Why on earth didn't you tell me that you'd spoken with an
assassin?"

"Get a grip, Rafe. It's not as if I was
hiring her to do a job."

"I still think this is something I should
have heard about before the middle of the night with you waking up
in a panic. What are we going to do at three in the morning,
anyway?"

Kitty paused. "I guess we call Bhric. He
hired her to investigate my attack so he must know her. Do you
think he could be the father of her baby? He would need to know
what has happened."

Rafe grabbed her wrist and held her still.
"That's my point. Through all this babbling about seeing things and
meeting dangerous assassins, I still don't know what you are
talking about. What has happened?"

Her eyes widened as her vision reappeared in
her head a bit like a movie. "She's been taken!"

#####

Thank you so much for
reading!
I hope you enjoyed reading
Bad Kitty
as much as I
enjoyed writing it. I'm hard at work writing my next romance, but
while you are waiting I invite you to check out all the books I
have available to read in the meantime. You can see the full list
with links on the
books
page of my
website
.