Page 10 of Fated to the Panther (Mated to the Monster: Season 3)

Chapter

Ten

KARA

A s soon as I woke, and before I could clear my mind of its typical haziness, I knew I wasn’t in my bedroll at base camp. It was the understatement of my life that yesterday had not gone as planned.

No, the events had really happened, as surely as I was lying on the most incredible mattress I’d ever slept on. And the second reason was because there was a blazing furnace in the form of a man behind me, along with the sounds of soft snoring. Which could really be better described as purring. Did his panther sleep too?

I let my mind wander to the man who’d saved me yesterday. The man who wasn’t a man. A shifter with, in his words, a complicated family origin. Exhaustion had won out before he returned last night, but I hadn’t expected to wake up with him in bed, since he’d told me he wanted to give me more time. So much had happened in less than a day, it left me wondering how I could avoid what seemed all but inevitable.

Subconsciously, I must have known he was next to me because my dreams had been filled with Roane and the kiss we’d shared. And so many other things I wanted him to do, that even replaying them now heated my face. But was he really my fated one? Was I his? Did my intense reaction to him, the full body ache I felt when he left to prowl the jungle until sleep finally took over me, did I have the strength to call a halt to everything and try to make it back to camp. Back to my life, and make him date me?

Even now, it was all I could do not to turn over and wrap myself around him. Then he’d know there would be no stopping this time, even if his parents decided to return. Oh, please don’t let his parents come back. Did I just make a decision?

“Female, your need, your scent is driving me insane. Please tell me you’ve come to believe we’re fated. But, if you need more time, I will give it. However, I will need to take the longest, coldest shower of my life before I can be around you any longer.”

His voice hypnotized me with its smokey rasp and melodic tone as it spoke directly to my heart. Did this mean that my destiny was not only as Roane’s mate, but to assist in some way with the prophecy he and his brothers had waited their entire lives to fulfill? And to also become a mother and that my son, our son, would also play a part? So, yeah, no pressure.

But those were details to be figured out later. It was crazy, but the simple knowing I felt in every cell of my body that he was mine, and the intense craving of my body for him, should be all the proof I needed. Plus, I was never more tapped into my magic then I had been with him. As if I had never buried it all those years ago.

Apparently, I had made my decision. Rolling over to face him, I trailed my hands up his muscled torso. I couldn’t keep myself from touching him any longer. “More time is overrated. I need you. Now.”

With newfound confidence, I snaked a hand behind his neck, then cupped the back of his head and guided him down to my eager mouth. I weaved my tongue between his lips, exploring, learning his taste, stoking our desire.

Breaking our kiss, when air became an issue, Roane gently pushed me onto my back, then lifted the t-shirt he’d given me up and over my head. He cradled my breasts reverently with his warm, large hands and instinctively, I arched closer, needing more contact. He plucked, then rubbed his thumbs in slow circles over each of my aching nipples. He dipped his head and captured one in his hot mouth, his tongue taking over where his fingers had been. Taking his time, he worshipped each puckered point. Heat continued to build in my abdomen, the sensations he ignited deep inside had me writhing below him, seeking his touch between my folds which were now drenched for him.

Roane’s panther purred so loudly, I felt the vibration deep in my chest.

He ran a hand slowly down my side, squeezing and caressing my hip, then dipped to the apex of my thighs. “I need to taste you,” he pressed the heel of his hand against my sensitive bud, “here. Please tell me yes, Kara.”

His whispered plea tickled my ear, driving my need higher as I reflexively lifted my hips.

“Yes!” There wasn’t anything I’d refuse him. I needed to experience all my firsts with him.

Roane rolled to his knees, grabbed my hips, then delved his tongue inside me. He suckled my clit and I screamed. Oh my god, how could I not have known such pleasure existed? When he switched to flicking his tongue over my swollen folds, I nearly lifted of the bed from his soul-shattering strokes.

Pinpricks of energy pulsed within my core from the wicked back and forth over my engorged flesh. "Roane don't stop, yes—oh gods, that feels….” My breath hitched as my orgasm slammed into me and for a brief second, it was as if my body levitated. Wave after wave of a divine, tingling current flowed through me, building until I finally released the breath I’d been holding and sobbed out his name.

Roane moved to his side, then stretched out next to me on the mattress.

Bereft at the separation, I asked, “What are you doing. Why’d you stop?”

Cupping my chin in his large hand with tender care, his hot gaze told me how very close he was to his own release. “I need a moment and… I’m afraid of being too rough with you until I get myself under better control. You deserve your first time to be special, gentle even.”

“I don’t want gentle, Roane. All I want is you inside me. Now.” Wow, where had this Kara been hiding?

A grin appeared on his handsome face. “So demanding. Ah, love. I’m unable to deny you anything.” Taking swift possession of my mouth, he kissed me until I couldn’t breathe. He had a habit of doing that but I didn’t care. I knew with this kiss, Roane had marked me as his. With the flavor of my release on his tongue, he reached between us and tunneled one, then two, fingers inside me.

He drove them into me, over and over, building yet another release. His fingers danced between my folds, swirled around my clit, teasing me fast and hard, then a slow and a barely there touch that sent me into the depths of another orgasm.

Wetter than I’d ever been, he rode out the last of my orgasm on his fingers. Roane nuzzled my neck. “I hope you enjoyed that, love.”

He expected me to speak after that? All I could do was nod, wearing a goofy grin, I’m sure.

“Now I want you to do something for me. Watch me, love.”

I loved that he called me love. He’d had no hesitation using the endearment from the beginning. And now, as he wrapped a hand at the base of his cock and placed himself at my dripping entrance, I opened my legs wider and did as he asked. I watched as he pushed himself inside me.

The stretch was a pleasure pain combo like no other as my body accommodated him. In and out, with each slide of his penis, he drove my need higher.

The rhythmic pace mesmerized me, but it wasn’t enough. I knew there was more wonder to be had once that final barrier was breached. “More, Roane, please, I need more of you,” I pleaded, my voice sounding raw and husky.

“Love, any faster and I’m not going to last much longer. I don’t want to hurt you.”

I squeezed his cock and he released a deep groan. My body innately knowing what to do, I felt pride at pleasing my mate. My inner walls started pulsing again, and I knew I was getting close again, so close. And dammit, now I realized why he wanted to go slow. So we could savor, but I was too far gone now. Slow and gentle wouldn’t do.

“Doesn’t matter.” I panted. “We’ll go slow next time.” I grabbed on to his shoulders to brace myself, then rolled my hips, riding his cock until he took over. My mate wasn’t having it and I could have screamed. So I did as he pulled from me and took back control, changing the tempo.

With each of his thrusts, I met him full force, but he only pulled himself back.

“Please, please, please.” Barely recognizing the passion-filled voice that could only be mine, I made a demand that would have made the Kara of days ago blush. “I’ll gladly take the pain. Just fuck me. I want you deeper!”

“Oh, I will, have no doubt, love. But I want you ready, and very wet, to ease the pain.” His throaty chuckle and chest-rumbling purr merely enflamed me. Instead of giving me what I’d shamelessly begged for, he rolled one of my nipples between his thumb and forefinger. The new pleasure, along with his steady and slow thrusting, triggered a sudden rush of liquid heat and incredibly a second, or was it a third? orgasm rolled through me.

Growling my name, Roane pressed inside me another inch. And another. Suddenly, I understood why he wanted to wait until my body was ready as he pushed past my barrier. I’d worried that he would never fit all the way, yet he did. Thank the goddess he did.

“It will hurt for only a moment, love. I promise.”

The sting lasted barely a moment as I took in a deep breath, but on the second, I began moving my hips, rubbing against his harder-than-steel penis, and pleasure returned.

“That’s it, love, take me in. Take all of me.” Whispering sweet words of praise, he pounded into me.

Our gazes locked, the sound of our flesh slapping together filled the room, and I felt something bloom within me.

“Ah, love, almost there.” He growled.

Lost in this wonderous haze, I welcomed the delicious friction of his cock pounding into me, and when he shifted his angle ever so slightly, oh my . “Yes, yes, yes.” My head fell back as I moaned his name.

“Come with me, Kara.” With one last swipe against my swollen clit, he drove into me harder, faster, the divine pressure building, building, until it burst white hot, igniting bright stars behind my eyelids.

When I thought I’d pass out from the intensity of it all, Roane gave a final thrust, roaring his release. His seed filled me, its heat bathing my womb. Virgins no more, we collapsed tangled up in each other.

His head rested between my breasts with our breaths mingling and syncing, and I swore our heartbeats did as well. Would it always be this way? After this, how could I deny that this shifter was my fated mate?

“No words,” I whispered. Sated and happy, I wiggled my hips against him, then, only half kidding, asked, “So, when can we do that again?”

“You’re playing with fire, Kara.”

“Maybe. But I’m not sure how…never having…how was I able to orgasm so many times.”

“I’d love to take all the credit. But it’s the mating bond, love. And yes, we will be doing that again. But first a short rest. It was your first time, and I wasn’t as gentle as I wanted to be. So, in this I will win.”

And he did.