By the Tail

future for everyone else. Sue me.”

Silence reigned, until Dana whispered, “Oh, that was just beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Willow agreed.

“Dumbass,” Jace disagreed.

Joy knew she’d been handed her future on a platter. Quince wanted her, and he refused to use her to become pride leader. Proof, if she hadn’t known already, that he would never sink to such despicable levels as rape and bullying to achieve his own ends, even to help the pride.

“I don’t get it.” Jace shook his head. “He loves her. She loves him. But they can’t mate to save the pride? Fucking emotions give me a headache.”

“I think I want to throw up,” Ellis added. “Hell, Quince. You’re meeting with him tonight. Why don’t you just hand him the pride and be done with it?” Ellis sounded disgusted. “Quit being such a pussy and just ask her to mate you.”

“Shut up.” Rain shocked them all. “Everyone, out. Let’s give them time to talk.”

While the others scurried out the door, Joy watched Quince, unable to look away from the man she’d come to love against all odds. He glared at her in anger, though why he should be mad at her she couldn’t fathom. She heard the door shut, giving her and Quince the privacy they needed.

“Quince—”

“No.”

“No?” He was so cute when angry. That frown line bisected his smooth forehead, and he had a hank of tangled hair obscuring one bruised eye from view.

She pushed the hair aside and heard his breath catch. A subtle glance at his body showed his nipples hard and his jeans stretched tight across his groin. She had to love a man she could turn on despite him being in abject pain. Joy felt powerful, loved and strong enough to do the right thing. Not the Bermin sister lost in the shuffle, but a woman of independence and fortitude who would claim her mate not if—but when—she was ready. Which was right now.

“No, I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself for the pride. You either mate me because you love me, or we don’t mate, period.” He tried to sit up, but she shoved a hand on his chest and held him down.

“I don’t think that’s your call to make,” Joy said quietly, keeping her face expressionless. Her cat rolled and hummed with pleasure. The woman she wanted to be was in full control. She’d found a man to love, a cat to mate, and she decided she wanted what he had to offer. Truth be told, she loved the big guy and always had.

Wondering about his involvement with Lex had put her off men for months. Even her forays with other relationships, years before, had been a litmus test, to see how her feelings fared for them against what she tried desperately to stifle for Quince.

With gentle fingers, she trailed her hands over his shoulders and chest to toy with his nipples.

He sucked in a breath. “Joy, don’t—”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she said, infusing her voice with anger. Then she slid her hands lower, down his tightly corded abs to the snap of his jeans. She unbuttoned him and pulled the denim apart. Then she slid her hands inside his boxer briefs and tugged them down, showcasing his thick, hard cock. “Don’t tell me what to feel.”

“Joy,” he choked. “I, oh, baby, fuck. Don’t—”

She lowered her head slowly, teasing him, and then sucked his cockhead with a tight grip. She slowly eased the rest of him into her mouth and to the back of her throat, conscious to breathe through her nose as she took him in.

“Joy,” he moaned and palmed her head.

She bobbed over him, wanting him to lose control.

“Fuck, baby. I love you so much,” he moaned as she cupped his balls and put more pressure on his dick, running her teeth against the underside of his crown. “Shit. Oh man. I’m going to come.”

She sucked harder, moved faster and ran a hand up his chest to pinch his nipple.

He bucked up and cried out, coming down her throat.

She dimly heard the door open then close in a rush while she was swallowing her mate’s seed, laying her scent marker over the male with a surety she felt to her bones. That he returned the affection, his animal spirit completely in tune with hers, told her without a doubt she hadn’t made a mistake.

He moaned her name repeatedly and stroked her hair while she finished swallowing him and licking him clean. Then she raised her head to smile down at him with tears in her eyes that she saw reflected in his own.

“I’ve been dreaming about this for years,” he admitted. Then he laughed. “But I never would have imagined I’d be the one on the bottom while my mate stole my sense with a killer blowjob. I thought I’d be the one proving my worth.”

She grinned. “There’s plenty of time for that, Quince.”

“God, I hope so.” He drew her down on top of him and kissed her. “I know it’s probably weird to hear, but tasting myself on your lips is a huge turn on.”

“Yeah, like after you go down on me then kiss me. I like it too.”

He and she stared at each other. “We’re gross,” they said at the same time and laughed.

Quince sobered. “You heard me admit I love you.”

“I did.” She said nothing more until he glared up at her. “Oh fine. I love you too. Happy now?”

He smiled, and the pleasure in his entire body, animal and man, took her breath away. “Yeah, I am. I’ve been waiting for you forever.” He sighed. “I’d prove it to you, but I had to give it to Miles.”

She blinked. “Huh? You gave what to Miles?”

“Remember that ugly little bracelet you gave me years ago? When you went through that jewelry phase?”

She frowned then stared at him in amazement. “Oh my gosh. You kept that?”

“I did. You gave it to me. Honey, I loved you back then. But you were my best friend’s younger sister. If I’d looked at you the way I wanted to, your brother would have kicked my ass. Besides, you were too young for me then. I was twenty and you were still a teenager.”

“But I’m not now.”

He grinned and ran a hand down her front to snake under her shorts and panties.

“No, you aren’t.” He found her wet and swollen and played with her, stroking her to the edge of a killer climax in no time. “You’re so fucking pretty,” he said on a sigh. “Nothing I like better than to watch you while you come. Come for me, baby. All over my hand.”

His animal spirit stroked her as well, settling into her bones and rubbing all over her feline. The dual pleasure rushed her past enjoyment into cathartic rapture, the physical and emotional needs so long denied now satisfied. Together.

Loving her mate made all the difference in the world, and it made her strong and proud and delighted at the same time.

When she came down off her high, Quince pulled his hand away and cuddled her into his side.

“Easy,” she whispered, not wanting to hurt him any more than he’d been.

“Nothing easy about you. Just the way I like you,” he teased. “I love you so much. I don’t want anything but you.”

“You really don’t want to be pride leader.”

He hugged her tighter and groaned. “No. But no one else worthy wants the job, and I refuse to leave it to someone as bad as Lex. There’s really only one guy I can think of that would do a stellar job, and he hates my guts.”

“Miles.” She dragged her hand over his side, petting him, and heard him purr. “He thinks you raped and killed Belinda Roberto.”

His purring ceased and he rolled over her, staring down with shock. “What?”

She repeated what Miles had told her, about how Alissa and Belinda had painted Quince as the villain.

“That’s not how it happened at all.”

“I know.”