He needed to disappear, and fast. But first, he did what he came to do: swiping the damp panties across his chest, marking himself once again with her scent. He hurriedly folded them back up and placed them on the pile of clothes, then bounded down the stairs, disappearing into the shadows once again.
When the pack returned from the hunt, he could smell the blood on them before he could even see it dripping from their fangs. The aroma of rabbits, squirrels, muskrats, birds, gator, and fish, was thick in the night air. But how? Cats hate water, don’t they?
Even so, Ash realized no creature stood a chance all night when the panther pack was together. They feasted on everything that moved.
Ash had thought the wolves were great hunters—and historically, they were—but these days they were city kids, known to fill their bellies with scrap food in the alleyways. The panthers dined like they were at the top of the food chain.
Ash had no taste for wild game while he was in human form, but something stirred inside him while he whiffed the aftermath of their carnage that night. If he and Rosemary could find a way to complement each other as shifters, they could end up as a pretty good hunting team. Only trouble was, they would never be able to match their moon cycles. Very unfortunate. Maybe Lucy could whip up some kind of spell…
His wondering was cut off when he watched panther Rosemary, GiGi, Lionel, and some others he didn’t know, dive straight into the bayou to clean off the scent of blood. He knew nothing of full-blooded panthers other than they were cats, so this surprised him. What surprised him more was watching the four of them frolic together afterward in the bayou, like a bunch of wet kittens. Hell, it looked to him like panther Rosemary got along with her parents much better than human Rosemary. At certain times, since he’d learned the truth about her identity, he’d wondered if there was a way to break the spell. But now, seeing her like this, he wouldn’t dream of it. This was a whole other world opening up to him, and it only made him hungry to know more.
Once clean, Rosemary’s golden body glided effortlessly up the hidden staircase in the cypress tree. Ash once again held his breath as he watched.
When she descended the stairs in human form, she looked around, an expression of severe annoyance on her face. She knew he was near. She knew he had touched her clothes. His scent was all over them. Of course. What was he thinking? Son of a bitch.
Chapter Eleven
Rosemary
“Ash, what the fuck?” She dabbed her wet hair with a towel as she rode home in the back of the town car with Ash on speakerphone. GiGi was so tired from hunting, she’d already passed out on the seat next to her.
“Babe, I’m sorry. What’s up?” he asked innocently.
“You don’t even know what you’re sorry for.”
“And yet I apologize. See, I’m pre-gaming for marriage,” he said, and she could hear the grin in his voice.
“This is why I told you I preferred you not to see the panther until we were married. I didn’t want you changing your mind, and I didn’t want you to put yourself in danger.”
“I haven’t changed my mind. And what makes me being seen less of a danger after we’re married?”
“As you know,” she said, “The DuChamps are old-fashioned. We may be bonded, but once we’re legally married as recognized by the state of Louisiana, nobody can touch you. Not even if they tried, no panther shifters can touch the mate of one of their own, no matter the, er, species.”
Ash laughed. “A piece of paper from the clerk’s office can do that? That’s some bureaucratic magic, I gotta tell ya.”
Rosemary sighed. “I didn’t make the rules, babe. So? What did you think?”
“About what?
“Don’t play dumb, Ashton Boudreaux. What did you think when you peeped at Rosie the panther?”
The pause that followed shook Rosemary more than a little bit. She girded up her courage as she waited to hear the admission. He was frightened. She was too big, too fierce, too bloody, too…something. Maybe everything.
Ash’s reply? “I think you’re too good for me.”
Rosemary let it sink in, and then her chin trembled in sadness. “You’re going to bolt, aren’t you?”
The car came to a stop in front of her flat. Ash was there, standing in a parking space just feet away, staring down the town car like a predator.
Within seconds, Ash opened her car door and dropped his phone, sweeping Rosemary up in his arms and throwing her over his shoulder, caveman-style.
“Ma’am?” interjected the driver.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Take GiGi on home, please.”
“Ash, why didn’t you listen to my warning? How am I supposed to trust you?” The questions came pouring out as he carried her upstairs.
“I’m not going anywhere, do you understand that? But I’m telling you, I’m not the same as you. You’ve got things to consider before you settle for someone like me. I’m a scruffy, scrappy, stray dog who eats other people’s leavins. I took one look at your panther form, and I realized I hardly deserve to be in your presence, let alone mate with you.” He punched in the security code to her flat.
“You said yourself we were meant to be together,” she said once they were inside.
“I said you were my mate. But if you don’t want me, I’ll understand. It’s the wolf code.” He set her down on the sectional sofa and covered her legs with a soft throw.
“Ash, that’s very sweet, but this wolf code thing is asinine, and I will not allow it. And just to get my point across to you, I’m extending your consequences until the wedding night. Forget about Easter.”
“You are one crazy, vindictive little kitty cat. You’re
