Carpathian 21 - Dark Peril

was unrelenting in its need of hers, and the urgent demands were becoming more difficult to ignore, even with his centuries of discipline. He wanted to wake up to her soft lush curves, even if he couldn’t have her yet. It was necessary to kiss the perfection of her mouth, and if he’d unconsciously used his hypnotic voice—
    which had little effect on her royal . . . bloodline—he couldn’t help it.

    She laughed softly, the sound shimmering through every nerve ending in his body. He felt her mind slide against his. You were thinking “royal pain in the ass,” but changed your mind just in case I was listening in, didn’t you? He rubbed his head against the thick, rich fur of the jaguar’s muzzle.

    He rubbed his head against the thick, rich fur of the jaguar’s muzzle. I was thinking about your beautiful bottom, that much is true. Shift, right now, while I am holding you. It was an extremely difficult maneuver, just as shifting on the run was.

    Are you challenging me? I could do it, you know.

    He felt her glow at his certainty. Her mind turned softer, more intimate, and she opened more to him, as if his approval of her allowed her to relax in his company just a little more.

    I’ll be of more help hunting in this form.

    True, and you can shift back when we go, but right now I would like to hold my woman and tell her good evening. Which was all true, although he wanted to map her body with his hands—and his mouth—and commit every curve and valley to memory for all time.

    He felt the movement in her mind first, that initial breathtaking moment when the woman reached for her form; the quick, intelligent mind; the soft, almost shy beginnings of sensuality; of awareness; the hesitation of finding herself naked in his arms; the quick summoning of courage to do as he asked—because she loved pleasing him. She craved the approval in his eyes, in his mind, and that small smile he always gave her when she did something he asked. That was not only humbling, but a tremendous responsibility.

    He felt the wrench in her bones, heard the popping and cracking of a shifter in transformation. Fur slid along his arms and chest and then receded. The muzzle retracted. The jaguar turned her head away from him, dropping her chin to protect her exposed throat.

    Look at me. Look into my eyes. He could not lose the intensity of the moment. Seeing her come to him. He needed this moment. He had to look into her cat’s eyes and see his woman coming to him. Emerging for him alone. She would never do such a thing near anyone else, let someone witness the total vulnerability of such a moment when she was completely at his mercy, unable to protect herself as jaguar or human.

    Those amazing green eyes glittered at him. All intelligence. Seeing him—inside of him. He locked gazes with her, holding her to him in her most defenseless moment, seeing the wrenching fear, drinking in her fight to trust him with her life, with the very essence of who she really was. He knew she was fighting her own nature, that elusive, wild nature that insisted she remain secretive, hidden from the world. But for him, she fought to expose herself in her weakest position. Her eyes changed subtly, still tilted, still enormous, but far more human. She looked almost terrified, but she didn’t look away, nor did she flinch from him as her much more petite shape slid against his.

    Dominic held her silky soft curves tight against the hardness of his body, watching the expression in her eyes change from fear to joy. Her long lashes fluttered, and that sweet shyness slipped into those brilliant green eyes, a look that sent every protective instinct he had rushing to the surface. Still holding her gaze, he bent his head to hers, taking his time, inch by slow inch, waiting to see her find her natural sensuality. He needed her to want him just as much as he needed the soil that each day rejuvenated him.

    Her eyes went slumberous, sexy. Her lips parted in anticipation. He took her breath as his lips settled over hers. His hands slid down to the curves of her very royal bottom and he lifted her up around his waist, all while his mouth kept possession of hers.

    He was very hard, his erection full and painful, and for a moment he rested her heated entrance right over the throbbing, mushroom head of his cock, the temptation almost more than he could bear. But she had to know for certain he was what she wanted, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it to