By the Tail

Chapter Five

Quince ran like hell into the woods, skirting a flock of egrets and an unhappy alligator. He’d finally had Joy again, and like before, she took him to heaven and back. Not an exaggeration that she’d lit up like a firecracker while he rode her hard. Fuck, but the woman fit him like a glove. He wanted her all over again. In any and every way.

How the hell could the idiotic cat not sense how much he wanted her? He’d been infatuated in his youth and lost, head-over-heels in love, for years. He hadn’t had the time to pursue her seriously while helping stabilize the pride for Michael. And when he’d wanted to date her, she’d been with some other douche bags. First Colin, then Riley. The relationships never lasted, thankfully, or he’d have killed some cats despite the rules not to.

Then she’d gone out with human guys, and he figured he’d let her sow her oats. But this nonsense about him wanting her sisters? How could she be so glaringly oblivious to the truth? Hell, he’d just fucked her silly against the wall in like two seconds. He obviously desired her. Stubborn female.

He startled a bear and made a wide detour around him. He needed to slow down and think. But he couldn’t get over the woman’s pique. Was she really mad that he hadn’t declared himself years ago? That question about where he’d been thirteen years ago… Hell, she’d been all of sixteen and his best friend’s little sister. Of course he’d ignored her.

But she wasn’t too young now. Not at all. Twenty-nine to his thirty-three. He purred, wanting inside her again. Twice now he’d filled her up. But he hadn’t smelled a change in her body chemistry since the first time. Not pregnant yet. His cat might be disappointed, but Quince was relieved. Honestly, he wanted to mate her without the complication of young. Hell yeah he wanted cubs with her. But he needed her to be comfortable with him before welcoming children into their lives.

He heard a screech not far off and grinned as he raced across a bed of sawgrass and back into the woods. The full moon didn’t help him go incognito, but being black definitely helped blend into the shadows.

After losing his mind earlier, unable to keep himself from touching the hot, spitting-mad woman, he’d known she’d be upset about the unprotected sex. Hell, he wasn’t that happy about it either. He didn’t want to see her withdraw again, but truly his cat was to blame about the desire to impregnate his mate. Especially since the hard-headed female kept rejecting the mate scent.

So he’d decided to use her weakness against her. The woman couldn’t resist a challenge. Daring to call her a lightweight—as if she could ever be less than Quince—had nailed it. She would want payback. Now how to turn that into another roll in the hay?

He crisscrossed his tracks, listening and watching. Panthers had amazing eyesight. He could track anything that moved, though he did his best work during dawn and dusk. He wasn’t a normal cougar shifter, though. Mountain lions couldn’t roar, but he could. And he had better stamina. While cougars could sprint with those powerful hind legs, great distances drained them.

Not Quince. Not usually one to boast, he agreed with his animal spirit that they were no doubt genetically superior to the typical feline Ac-taw. Hell, his sister was one of the best hunters he knew. But like their mother, her cat was golden, not black.

He stopped for a breather under a large tree providing a nice shadow over soft grass, rejecting the moonlight. As his cat reminded him of their supremacy again, he thought of his sister and wondered when she planned to come back. Would their mother be far behind—

He hissed as a solid weight hit him hard in the side, shoving him down. “Shit.”

He would have struggled when he caught her scent, ripe with rage, lust and challenge. Giving a feigned fight, he let her clamp her sharp teeth over his throat, then stilled. Actually she’d moved a lot quicker than he’d thought she might, nearly overwhelming him on her own.

“Don’t move, asshole, you got that?” To emphasize her point, she dug a sharp-clawed foot perilously near his precious family jewels.

He didn’t breathe. She’d scored the perfect threat. “I’m still as a stone.”

“A blockhead, more like,” she muttered. “Now shift back, slowly.”

He did and soon found himself lying under an irritated feline. She had to be close to a hundred and forty pounds, a large female, but all muscle.

She squeezed her jaw and he choked.

He heard her laugh. Then she shifted to human and flipped him onto his belly. Before he knew it, she’d tied his wrists together, then shoved him onto his bound hands on his back.

“Ow. Shit.” Fortunately, the uncomfortable position did nothing to stem his arousal.

She knelt by his side, sneering at him. “How does it feel now, lightweight?”

“Fine, you caught me. So what?” He tried to act like he didn’t care, but his dick gave him away. She’d caught him and tied him up. A personal fantasy that involved her tongue, breasts and definite oral action.

The temptress didn’t miss a beat. Seeing his arousal, she wrapped her hand around him, and he hissed out a breath.

“Oh my. Big bad pride leader has a problem.” She snickered and gripped him tighter.

Blessed torture. “Joy.” He sucked in a breath when she ran her other hand between his legs, cupping his balls. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” His eyes crossed when she stroked him.

“Well now. Seems to me like you don’t have as much control as you thought.” She smiled, the cat that ate the canary. With Joy, probably literally.

“I—oh man. Please. Do that again.” He arched his hips off the ground, his cock like a steel post, as if he hadn’t recently come inside her.

“What’s that?” She let him go, and just as he was about to plead with her not to leave, she straddled his waist on her knees, so that he could feel her wet heat above him but not surrounding him. “Tell me, Quince. Who’s in charge now?”

The little sadist was getting a kick out of this, but because it was his deepest wish that she finally show him what she could do, he fed her ego.

He clamped his lips shut tight, goading her.

And she responded beautifully. God, he loved her. Her green eyes sparkled with…well, with joy. He wanted to laugh at the thought, but he groaned instead and closed his eyes when she lowered herself to rub that sweet cream between her thighs over his erection. He pumped against her. Just a little bit more and he could get the tip of himself in her and thrust—

“No. I don’t think so.” She raised up off him and leaned down, so that her breasts were close to his face.

He felt sweat run down his temple. “Come on, baby. You know you want me,” he forced himself to say, even knowing how he’d pay for it. God would he pay.

Joy smirked at him. He looked to be in serious sexual pain. His dick was rock hard. And his eyes about rolled up in his head when she’d been holding him. The power trip had to be going to her head, because she felt something deep inside her break free.

He could have hurt her earlier. He hadn’t. He’d annoyed her, patronized her, then dared her to come after him. Was he crazy? Did he not think she’d have her revenge?

She saw the sweat trickle down his forehead into his hair. Mine. So warm, her cat purred.

He blinked up at her when he heard her purring. And she smiled.

The raw lust in his gaze—for her—set her off. She had to have him again, but this time, on her terms. How he’d hate that, that she’d taken charge. Even better.

“You know. There are a lot of ways to make a man beg.” She lowered her pussy over him and lightly rubbed over his cock.

He gasped and then clenched his jaw.

“Yeah. Ways to make you feel so good,” she whispered and licked his ear. He jerked under her, and she laughed softly. “And so hungry.”

“Joy,” he growled.

She nipped his earlobe, then pulled back to stare into his eyes. So golden. So pretty. Her cat wanted to rub all over him, so Joy did. Gyrating so that she touched him all over, flesh to flesh, smothering him in her scent. Time she took charge, for once. That he was turning her on like crazy was a bonus. Even helpless, he looked wild, raw.

“Please. Fuck me. Come on. Put me inside you.” His guttural plea overjoyed her cat.

“What will you give me if I do?” She scooted up his body and leaned her breast over his mouth. “How about a treat?”

He latched onto her nipple and sucked and licked, moaning his pleasure. When she started to lose her focus, she pulled away and made him give her other breast the same attention.

She pulled back, both aroused and amused at how hard he was breathing. “Did you like that?”

“Yeah,” he rasped and licked his lips.

She could just imagine what else he wanted to be licking. Soon. But not yet. Not until she had some answers.

“Tell me, Quince. Are you and Alissa engaged?”

“Fuck no.” The outrage in his tone reassured her.

“Why did you really trick me back in that spa in Whitefish? To get to my family?” She leaned down and kissed a trail toward his nipples.

“I wanted you. Hell, I still want you.”

Good answer. She licked his nipple, then bit him.

He jolted off the ground as if struck by lightning. “Jesus. Fucking kiss me.”

“Do you want to mate me?”

When he said nothing, she looked up from his chest to see his intense eyes blazing at her. They glittered like gold in the shadows, and his pupils enlarged as his cat stared out at her before ceding to the man once more. She nibbled her way to his other nipple and sucked hard, lost in the taste of him.

He groaned. “Please. Joy. Put yourself over me. Let me inside.” His ragged breaths warned her he couldn’t take much more.

“Answer me.”

“God, yes. Okay? I want to mate you.” He swore.

“Why?”

“Shit. Why not? You’re fucking sexy as hell. You’re smart. I like you.”

“And you want to rule the pride.”

“Actually, I don’t.”

The blunt words froze her in place. “What?”

He swore again. “Damn it, Joy. I’m going to die if you don’t ease me. My balls are blue, and my dick is so hard it might break. Give me something.” He licked his lips again. “Sit on my face.”

She wanted to, badly. “Tell me the truth first.”

“I want you. Period,” he said through gritted teeth. “Pride be damned. And screw your family. I want you.” He bucked again, but this time she decided to give him a reward before he broke out of those restraints and issued some payback.

She scooted up his body and settled her knees on either side of his head.

He stilled. “Please, baby. I’ll make you feel so good,” he breathed.

Needing more, she eased over his mouth and moaned when he immediately started licking her. He sucked and played until she found herself riding his lips. But not wanting to go over without him, she rose and turned around before he could protest.

“Oh fuck, yeah,” he rasped when he saw what she intended, then started licking her again.

When she put her mouth around him, tasting the seed at his tip, he jerked and pumped his hips faster. His hands had to hurt like hell behind his back, but he didn’t seem to care. And soon, neither did she.

Joy couldn’t think past the need to swallow him down, to take him into her body and soul. He wanted her. Not the pride, not her sisters. Just her. She believed that much out of him at this moment. Because his struggling desperation for satisfaction couldn’t be feigned.

She eased her hand around the base of his shaft and squeezed while she drew more of him into her mouth. He sucked her clit and licked, and she readied to come. But not before him.

She angled her hand between his legs, and he spread them wider. As she drew him to the back of her throat, licking the thick shaft stretching her lips, she cupped his balls and squeezed.

He drew on her taut nub and shattered her at the same time he jetted into her mouth. She swallowed him down, lost in her own climax. Their animal spirits merged, and the glorious touch of his soul prolonged her pleasure.

He finally ceased spending, and she released him from her mouth and carefully lifted off him. Drenched in sex and blessed peace, she moved to his side and stared down at him, not surprised to see his eyes shuttered, his lips slick with desire.

He sounded like gravel when he garbled, “Jesus. Am I dead?”

She laughed at him and sat on her haunches, still trying to catch her breath.

“Not dead then. Can we do that again?”

She shook her head. “Aren’t you mad that I got the better of you?”

“Honey, you can take me down any time you want. You have the sweetest pussy and tits I’ve ever tasted.”

“Tits?”

He flushed. “I, er, I mean breasts. Melons. Mounds?”

She laughed at him.

“So if you’re done having your wicked way with me, can you remove the ties at my wrists?” He rolled onto his side.

“Hmm. I don’t know… Say, ‘Joy is great’.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Say it.” She just looked at him.

“Joy is great.”

She hummed with happiness as she untied him.

Then he added, because he was Quince, “At fucking. Joy is great. At making me lose my mind. Joy is great. At sucking my—”

She punched him in the belly and took comfort in his oomph.

“Neanderthal.”

He sat up rubbing his wrists, a glint of humor in his eyes. Before she could blink, he tackled her to the ground, their positions now reversed. He leaned over her, caging her wrists together, holding her down with one hand.

“Now, kitty. Maybe we should try this my way. Say, ‘Quince is great’. No, wait. Say, ‘Quince is my master. The great and mightiest man ever to lie between my golden thighs’.”

She laughed out loud, then couldn’t stop when he started tickling her. He released her wrists and put her hands on each of his shoulders.

She clutched him tight, falling for this Quince, the man with the incredible body, happiness in his face and a sense of humor.

“Yeah. That’s my favorite part of you,” he said with satisfaction.

“What?”

He kissed her tenderly, and her cat rolled over and purred like crazy. “That. That sparkle of joy in my Joy.”

Her heart raced. He sounded possessive, and she surprised herself by liking that. “You’re such a comedian.”

“I try. Let me say it again. Joy is great. At being a huge pain in my ass.” He narrowed his gaze. “And speaking of ass, have you ever let anyone take you there?”

She blushed. Stupid, because they lay naked together, and she’d just blown him, but still. “Um, not yet.”

His gleaming pleasure stole her breath away. “Good answer.” Then he stood and pulled her to her feet. “What do you say we hunt for a late night snack, then head back to the House so you can use and abuse me some more?” He ran a hand over her ass. “And maybe I can tempt you into something…different.”

She wanted to say something obnoxious, to dare him to catch her, but when she met his gaze, her mind blanked.

“Joy?” He smiled.

She fell hard. The scent between them intensified, and to her dismay, she couldn’t fault him for it this time. She wanted him for more than sex. For more than a dare. Joy Bermin wanted Quince Castille to mate. Horrified, she pulled back, but she feared he’d caught an inkling of what her cat really wanted.

Quince’s eyes narrowed and he inhaled deeply, then chuckled. “Oh yeah, we’re definitely going to hit different.” He stepped back and shifted into a jet-black panther. “But if you don’t want Alissa to get a crack at this fine body, you’d better catch me first. This time I won’t make it so easy.” He laughed at her before darting away.

She sputtered as she turned and raced after him. “Easy, my ass. Nothing easy about you, you big pussy!”

She followed his laughter all the way back, feeling as if she’d just found something new and beautiful. Something she was determined to keep.