“I know.” He stands, pulling me against him. Both cocks press against my stomach now, hot and hard and leaking fluid that makes my skin tingle where it touches. “But female must choose final step. Must ask specifically.”
“I need you inside me.” The words tumble out, pride dissolved completely. “Need your cock. Your knot. Need you to finish what you started yesterday.”
“Which cock?” His upper hands tangle in my hair while his lower hands cup my ass, lifting me slightly. “Female must be specific.”
“Both.” The admission makes my pussy clench. “I need both. The way you're designed. The way I've been changed to receive.”
He makes a sound I haven't heard before. Lower than his usual growl, more primal. His tail lashes behind him, disturbing the careful arrangements in his den. Without warning, he lifts me completely, all four arms supporting my weight as he carries me to the nest he's prepared.
The softness beneath me is almost shocking after seven days of rough moss and bark. My body sinks into it, muscles finally able to relax slightly even as the arousal continues to build. Hefollows me down, covering me but keeping his weight on his arms, caging me without crushing.
“Female sure?” He asks even as his breeding cock extends fully, the ridges flaring. “Once started, cannot stop. Body won't let me.”
“I'm sure.” I spread my legs wider, tilting my hips up. The position makes my pussy gape slightly, so swollen and ready that it's partially open even without touch. “Please. Need you. Need this.”
He positions himself, the head of his breeding cock touching my entrance. The contact alone makes me come, a sharp, sudden orgasm that provides no relief, just makes the need worse. He groans as my pussy clenched, a desperate invitation.
“So eager.” He pushes forward slightly, just the tip entering. The stretch is immediate, overwhelming, perfect. “Taking me so?—”
A scream cuts through the air. Not mine. Not his.
We both freeze.
Another scream, closer. The hunting cry of a shadow cat. Then an answering call from a different direction.
“Multiple,” he says, pulling out despite my sob of protest. His entire demeanor shifts from lover to warrior in an instant. “Pack hunting. Unusual unless?—”
A third scream, this one from directly above the den.
“Cubs,” we say simultaneously.
Shadow cats only pack hunt when protecting young. And we're between them and something they want. Or something threatens their cubs and they're eliminating all large predators in the area.
He moves to the entrance, all four arms flexing, claws extending to their full length. I force myself to standing despite legs that want to collapse, military training overriding biologicalneed. The empty ache is agony but adrenaline provides temporary focus.
“How many?” I ask, moving beside him.
“Three adults. Maybe four.” His tail lashes as he scans the entrance. “Female should stay?—”
The attack comes from two directions at once. One cat drops through the smoke hole in the ceiling while another bursts through the vine-covered entrance. Six-legged death moving with speed that defies mass.
The den that was about to be our claiming space becomes a battleground. And we're both naked, aroused, and fighting for our lives against creatures that hunt in perfect synchronization.
The first cat reaches me before I can fully process the attack, jaws spreading into those twin sections, aiming for my throat.
ZKARI
The female cat reaches my mate before thought completes.
My body moves without conscious command, all four arms extending, claws at full length as I intercept the male's leap toward my exposed back. We collide mid-air, six hundred pounds of shadow cat against my larger frame. His momentum drives us into the den wall, cracking the living wood, sending carefully arranged supplies scattering.
His jaws split into those dual sections, upper jaw going for my throat while lower aims for my chest. I get my upper left arm between us, feel teeth puncture scales, pierce muscle. Pain registers as information: deep but not arterial. My lower arms grip his middle legs, claws sinking through fur into flesh, while my upper right goes for his eyes.
Behind me, Zia screams. Not fear. Rage.
I can't turn. Can't help. The male cat's other four legs rake my sides, finding the gaps between my largest scales. Hot blood runs down my ribs. His tail, thick as my arm and covered in barbed fur, whips toward my head. I duck, feeling it tear through the space where my skull was.
The female makes a sound I've never heard from shadow cats. Pain mixed with fury. Good. My mate fights.
