He stilled, his gaze going wide. “Torrance what did you do?”
She breathed through her mouth, eyes squeezed shut, unable to speak.
THADD WIPED AWAY THE tears leaking from Torrance’s eyes. “Upendo, why did you do that? I was going slow. I didn’t want to hurt you.” His balls rested on her ass, feeling like they were ready to blow. Son-of-a-bitch. When she’d come the first time, she’d floated them to the top of the trees, freaking the fuck outta him. He wasn’t sure she was even aware of that little fact.
“I thou...thought if we just got you in it would be better. Obviously, that was a bad idea.”
He lifted up slightly, keeping his finger on her clit, doing slow circles, watching her face the entire time. She had been responding. His little mate was just impatient. A flush stole up her chest, her pussy fluttered slightly. He moved his hips a little, to one side and then the other, gauging her reaction by watching her face and feeling her body responding to his possession.
She gasped but didn’t try to push him away, shock registering as he hit a place inside her that made her feel good, so he did it again, and again. Once he knew he’d found her hot button, he lifted her legs higher, still rubbing her clit, keeping his focus on her. Her eyes widened; her hands clenched the leaves around them.
“You like that?” he asked, knowing she did by the way her body was clenching around him. He watched her claws come out, raking the ground. Another time, he’d relish them marking his flesh.
Her small frame was pulsing around him, her breathing was choppy, her body beginning to shake. And he truly began to fuck her like he wanted. Slamming into her, claiming his mate, making Torrance his...taking his witchy mate for all time.
Torrance screamed. The words tumbling out of her mouth incoherent at first, then a loud litany. “Yes, goddess, my lion, mine, mine, mylionmylionlionlionliiiioonnnmine.”
His mate exploded around him. She screamed he was hers, making his lion roar in triumph as he pumped his dick inside her, coming in a hot splash, unable to hold back the roar.
“My mate,” he said. Looking down, her face awash in such beauty he swore he’d never seen anything more gorgeous than his mate in the throes of orgasm.
“That was—sublime. Can we do it again?” she asked. The flush of happiness highlighted her cheekbones.
A cough from behind had Thadd growling. “Dicksley, I will skin you and roast you over a fire.”
“I just thought you should know it’s been over an hour. I’m also quite sure you set off a couple alarms with that...shall we say, yell of excitement. Alrighty, if you two are done with your dalliance, we should be going.” Mr. Bixley sounded put out.
Thadd laughed at the wide-eyed look on Torrance’s face. “You really did roar quite loudly.”
He bent and kissed her on the nose, the cheeks, her lips. “So did you, upendo. And I hate to admit this, but he’s right. We’ve been here for a while.” He nodded through the trees and the gathering darkness.
She sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Although, you notice I agreed with you not my goat who didn’t talk to me until today.”
Goddess, his mate was adorable even when she was grouchy and stuffed full of his dick.
Her eyes widened, darting down between their bodies before flying back up to his face. “You just twitched. Inside me.”
“Yeah. That’s gonna happen. I believe I said once I had you there was no going back. What I didn’t mention was I’d be on you every chance we had. Morning, noon, before dinner, probably after dinner, before bed, in the middle of the night and again when we wake up.” Talking about all the times he’d have her was making his cock hard, or maybe it had never truly not been hard.
A twig snapped off in the distance in the opposite direction from where her truck was parked. He knew the goat wouldn’t have wandered in that direction. Unease began to settle over him. “Come on. We need to get dressed.” He disengaged their bodies, taking care not to hurt her.
The sight of his come leaking from between her thighs made a primitive urge to mark her in a full claiming rear its head. He pushed it back, wanting to claim her properly in the way of his kind with a soft bed and candlelight. What he’d done on a leaf strewn ground had begun the claiming, scent marking her, letting all other males know she was his by covering every inch of her body with his pheromones. Lions were different than other shifters. Their tongues were rougher for many reasons, one being they scraped at the surface they wanted, imprinting on another if they chose. When he ran his tongue from Torrance’s lips to the very apex of her body, he’d made sure he imprinted on every bit of her flesh he touched. The bite he would give and receive from her would be the final claim, locking their souls together. It was the only thing his mother had never gotten from the bastard who had ordered her death.
Another twig broke, the tell-tale sign of something coming toward them. Oh, whoever it was thought they were being stealthy, and, in many cases, they were. However, Thadd wasn’t like most. His hearing was more, like his lion. The twigs being broken were well over two miles away and were probably smaller than a leaf.
He helped his mate stand, handing her clothes to her before pulling on his own. A shifter could cover the space between them in no time. If it was a pack or Pride, he didn’t want Torrance to be caught between them. “Get in your truck and drive. I’ll catch up to you.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.” She looked around them, twitching her
