Change of Heart

else to do. If I knew then what I do now, I would have never done it. I know you were just starting to trust me, and I screwed up. I'm so sorry, baby; it will never happen again. I swear on my life."
    I just stared at him.
    "I've never had a mate before. I didn't know that when I found you that I would feel like this." His eyes stayed locked 252
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    on mine. "It's been overwhelming. I didn't know that feeling vulnerable could make me feel strong at the same time."
    I knew what he meant. It was so hard to let someone close to you because that gave them the power to annihilate you if they chose. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time.
    "And I know I hurt you because I didn't trust you to know what you were doing, but I was so scared. I have never been that scared in my life. And maybe if it was just you in the pit, the others would have just given up. Domin told me he would have never hurt you, not a reah, and Markel and Ivan said the same thing, that hurting a reah was not something anyone would ever or could ever do." He smiled suddenly.
    "'Cause, you know, reahs are kinda rare."
    I felt the warmth of his voice slide over me. I had fallen so hard, so fast for this beautiful man with his big heart.
    "So if I had just let it alone, stayed out of your fight, then there probably would have never even been one." He sighed deeply. "But I certainly didn't know that, and neither did you.
    We were both counting on fighting, and you did what you did to protect me, and I did the same. You are my mate, my love. I could never let anyone hurt you."
    I watched him, saw the soft glow of the fire flicker on his golden skin, the flames reflected in the amber chips in his eyes, his hands clenching and unclenching with his need to put them on me. He was a study in restraint.
    "Please, baby, please let me show you how trustworthy I can be."
    And I wanted to, needed to, but I was so scared.
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    "I'm scared too," he said like he was reading my mind.
    "But you gotta just jump in and hope for the best and have faith that the love you feel, the other person feels right back."
    I trembled with my need to go to him.
    "Jin," he said sharply. "Trust me. Have faith in me. I love you. I want you."
    I waited, hesitating, everything I had been thinking for the past week swirling through my head.
    "Jin." He smiled, his eyes sliding over me. "Please come here. Let me put my hands on you. Let me have you."
    I lifted up, then forward, my ass in the air, tail swishing from side to side as I rubbed my chin on my paws, releasing my pheromones into the air.
    "I never saw you in your panther form before that night."
    He groaned. "You're gorgeous."
    I watched as he shifted back into his beast. When he started slowly toward me, I leaped back before he could touch me, but not far enough to escape his long reach. I was batted sideways and hurled down into the furs. Instantly, he was on me, and the heat rolling off his huge body killed my flight reflex. His mouth was on my neck, holding me down, and I felt the shudder of need tear through him.
    A heavy paw replaced his mouth, and then it moved further and further down my back. I didn't move, and when he bit my back leg, I lifted up, my ass again in the air. The long, slow lick over my hole caused a spasm to rip through me. He chuckled, and between that and the hand that wrapped around my cock, I knew he had shifted to his werepanther form. I did the same, and when his long tongue 254
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    licked up between my cheeks, I jerked under him. Claws were thrust into my skin to still me as his long werepanther tongue slid inside my channel, probing, the roughness adding to the pleasure as he swirled deeper and deeper inside. The hand around my shaft pumped in rhythm to the thrusting tongue, and I let my head fall back on my shoulders.
    "Shift for me," he growled, withdrawing suddenly, throwing me down on my back.
    I looked up, and there, again, was my beautiful man.
    "Jin," he said, bending toward me, spreading my legs to take me into his mouth.
    I watched him swallow down my cock, and I couldn't resist touching his hair, watching my dark, clawed hand slide through the blond waves, him so very human and me so very not.
    He lifted his eyes to me. "I wanna touch your skin; I want to taste it. Shift now."
    I did, and he moved fast, pinning me under him, lifting my legs over his shoulders, wiping saliva and the slick