"Aren't you the least bit interested?" Romeo asked as they headed for the elevators. "It's not every day we run across a virgin panther."
"Hell, no. I'll stick to humans. The last thing I want is a mate who'll cruise into my life once a year, screw my brains out for two days, then run off until she delivers my litter to me to raise without her. No offense, being you and Dad sucks and I've raised enough siblings to never want to raise my own young without the benefit of a mate."
Romeo laughed. "Yeah, but for the record, it's one helluva two days."
Dante shook his head at him. "You can have it. I'd rather take my pleasure where and when I find it."
He entered the elevator, then paused as he realized Romeo wasn't joining him.
"I'll catch you later," he said.
"You sure?"
Romeo nodded.
"All right." Dante got in and pushed the button for his floor. He stepped back against the glass and did his best to bring his body back under control.
But it was hard.
Every animal instinct he possessed demanded that he stalk this hotel until he located the female.
Since he was a Katagari Were-Hunter, the need to copulate with her was almost overwhelming. Katagaria were animals who could take human form, but at the end of the day, they were animals and not humans. Their animal half ran roughshod over their human sensibilities and it was the animal heart inside them that ruled them and their actions.
What he needed was some time in his room where he could take his animal form and put the female out of his mind.
He was old enough to be able to curtail his nature. To control it. He wasn't about to let any woman have control over him.
Especially not a pantheress.
Pandora fumbled with her key card as she straggled to open her door.
What was she going to do? The man in her elevator wasn't Acheron. And those had been panther males down there. If they caught another whiff of her…
She was doomed. There was no way the animal inside her would refuse a virile male. She was in heat and the need to mate reigned supreme inside her. If any male came near her who her animal self sensed could possibly impregnate her, she would throw herself at him.
Around humans, that impulse was controllable. The chances of a human male being her mate were almost impossible. So the animal inside her might be curious and enticed, but it would stand down to her human rationale.
Around a Were-Panther, that animal need wouldn't listen to reason. It would pounce for a taste of the male.
She would have no control!
A shadow fell over her.
Pandora squeaked and jumped back as she looked up to see one of the men she'd seen downstairs. This close to him, she couldn't mistake his Panthiras attributes.
His scent was undeniable.
He was lean and powerful in human form. Deadly. His handsomeness would guarantee him any female who caught his interest… even her own feminine senses reacted to him, but not so much that she couldn't fight him.
Even more frightening than his innate feral masculinity, his scent was Katagaria—the animal branch of then-species—while she was Arcadian, the human branch.
Letting go of her room card, she crouched to attack and was amazed that the animal inside her wasn't leaping out to mate with him.
"It's okay," he said quickly. "I've got good news and bad news for you."
"And that is?"
He held his hand up so that she could see the geometric mark on his palm. At least that explained why she could resist the urge to copulate with him. "I'm mated so you're completely safe from me."
