Mate Claimed

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Damn, I’m still hungry.”

Eric wanted to laugh as he stroked Iona’s hair. They’d fallen together onto the sofa’s seat—nearly onto the floor before Eric had stopped their wild roll. Eric lay on his back now on the leather, Iona stretched on top of him.

There was nowhere in the world Eric wanted to be but right here, with her.

“Still as bad?” Eric asked.

“No.” Iona drew a long breath. “Eric, I’ve been eating so much food. How can I do that without getting sick? I’m not a teenager anymore. I won’t burn it off.”

She looked annoyed with herself. Eric cuddled her closer and kissed the bridge of her nose. “Shifter metabolism is much faster than a human’s. You can take it.”

“But why? I didn’t even want this much food when I did the Transition thing.”

“Mating instinct,” Eric said lazily. “Hunger so you’ll eat for strength, mating frenzy so you’ll drag down a male and have him land a cub on you.”

“That sounds so…”

“Animal-like? Would be, wouldn’t it?” Eric slid his hands along her warm sides, her skin silk under his fingertips. “The Fae weren’t wrong when they called us little better than animals.” He smiled a little. “Fucking Fae bastards.”

Iona moved against him, restless. “I still want to run around too.”

“Mmm, I must be getting old. I want nothing more than to lie here, with you, the sexiest woman in the world, on top of me.”

Iona smiled. “I’m not sexy.”

“Sexy, hot, erotic, cute, beautiful as hell, and I want to make love to you all day and all night.”

“I see.” She sounded pleased. “We wouldn’t get much else done.”

“Who gives a flying fuck? What’s more important?”

Iona rested her crossed arms on Eric’s chest, her chin on her forearms, which put her a breath from his face. He liked her there. “Running Shiftertown?” she suggested.

“Let Cassidy do it. And Jace. I’m busy.”

“And Graham will keep fussing about the houses.”

“He can kiss my ass.” Eric growled. “I’m with my mate.”

“And those poor Shifters who were abducted.”

Eric’s humor evaporated. “Yeah, we’ll have to deal with that.”

Iona pressed a kiss to the hollow of his throat, a feather touch. “Kellerman was lying when he said he didn’t know anything about it.”

“I know. I’ll get the truth out of him.”

“At least the cubs are all right,” Iona said. “Aren’t they?”

“They are. Thank the Goddess.”

Iona touched his Collar. “I’ll have to wear one of these eventually, won’t I?”

Eric gently lifted her hand from his Collar, then he brushed his fingertips across her bare neck. “Maybe not.”

“You’ll have me keep passing as human? The other Shifters know now, and you said they might say something…”

Eric stilled her words. “A different solution. Collars that look like Collars but aren’t.”

“Fake Collars? How can that work? Won’t that be obvious?”

“I don’t know how they work, but they do. Some of the Shifters already have them, but that’s not common knowledge. The Shifters in Austin, the Morrisseys, they’ve figured out how to make these Collars, and they’ve offered to share.”

Iona frowned. “Let me see if I understand. You’ll have me wear a Collar that doesn’t work, and you’ll have the databases or whatever changed to make it look like I’ve lived in your Shiftertown all my life.”

“That’s it.”

“Won’t my friends and family notice? And the people I’ve worked with for years?”

“I guess you’ll have to learn who you can trust. The records will show the humans that you’ve always been Shifter, no matter what anyone says.”

“No blowback on my sister or mother?”

Eric covered her hands with his. “I’ll do my damnedest to prevent that. You have my word.”

“It’s my whole life, Eric.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” He looked into her eyes, which were blue and anguished. “Spend that life with me.”

“Do I have a choice?”

Eric swallowed, his throat tight. “You do. You don’t have to pick me. You don’t have to pick anyone. Live in Shiftertown, and I’ll keep you safe, like I do the rest of my Shifters. It’ll be tough for me to keep all those males off you, but I’ll do it. You’ll be under my protection. It’s your choice, Iona.”

She watched him with a stunned look. She’d expected him, he knew, to throw her over his shoulder and drag her home, to sex her until she admitted she was his true mate.

Which sounded very appealing, but Shifters weren’t feral anymore. As much as it killed him, Eric had to let Iona choose.

Iona let out her breath. “I still want a run. A nice long one.”

Eric’s excitement kicked in again. A chase. Yes. “You and your mom have a cabin up in the mountains, right? Is it off the beaten track?”

Iona nodded. “Nice and isolated. We love it.”

The excitement escalated. Eric rose with it, lifting Iona and setting her on her feet at the same time he came to his. “Then let’s go.”

Iona ran. Her panther stretched and flowed, paws pounding through the soft pine needles, the sharp chill drying her sweat.

Eric came behind her, his leopard’s breath loud in the still air. They ran under soaring trees, leaping over frozen streams and snowbanks that cut through the woods.

Iona always marveled how different the world was up here. They were only short miles from the desert floor, but the mountain climate was alpine—cool summers, snowbound winters, vast pine forests that opened into surprising meadows of flowers in the springtime.

Iona’s family’s cabin was a little way from the clusters of cabins that filled Mount Charleston and the surrounding area. She loved it up here, where she could shift and run, run, run.

Now she was being chased. Eric sprinted behind her, running flat out, and Iona stretched to keep ahead of him.

He would catch her. She sensed his determination, felt the earth trembling under his stride.

Eric would catch her, and then…Iona shivered and increased her speed.

The air was thin at this altitude, Mount Charleston reaching about twelve thousand feet at its peak. But Iona had more or less grown up here, spending her summers at the cabin to escape the heat, part of her winters up here skiing. She knew every nuance of this mountain, every cranny and place to hide.

But she couldn’t ditch Eric. He’d driven them up here in her pickup, Iona still too frenzied to get behind the wheel. She’d cuddled next to him in the front seat, and he’d held her with his arm around her as he drove, like they were in love.

Once inside the cabin, while Eric laid a fire in the big stone fireplace, Iona had given him an impish grin, thrown off her clothes, and dashed outside. The minute or so it had taken her to shift lost her the advantage though, and she’d had to run fast to get ahead of Eric.

Now he closed in on her. She heard his growls, felt his paws swat at her back feet. His breath touched her tail, and she flicked it out of his reach.

Iona doubled her speed. Her long panther legs should have been able to outdistance Eric’s compact leopard body, but Eric was fast, and he was strong.

Eric leapt, pushing off with his powerful hind legs, and landed on Iona’s back.

Iona went down with a snarl and an explosion of pine needles in the dark. Eric’s leopard was on her, his Collar shining in the moonlight, his big paws pinning her down.

Iona writhed and struggled, but Eric fastened his teeth around her throat, not enough to penetrate the skin, but enough to make her still. Growling, he rolled her panther over onto her belly and covered her body with his.

The panther went still with shock when the leopard entered her. Eric rumbled softly, teeth gentle in her furry neck. Then Iona’s wildcat brain took over, and Iona the human ceased to think.

The panther in her both fought Eric’s domination and reveled in it. This is what Shifters were for—to fight, to mate, to breed. The leopard was strong, the best of his clan, perfect for cubs. The panther had made him chase her and catch her, exactly as planned. She made a little yowling sound and turned her head to lick his paw.

The leopard held her down, his wildness crazy as he loved her. At last he backed away, flipped the panther over onto her back again, and shifted into his human form.

The panther held Eric against her furry body for a moment, then Iona slowly shifted to human.

She lay, panting, on her back, Eric pinning her hands and smiling into her face.

“How do you shift so fast?” she asked, still trying to catch her breath. “It’s not fair.”

“Keep it simple. Think of the form you want to be, then be it.”

Sure. Simple. “I want to be this one, right now.”

“I want you to be this one too.”

Eric kissed her lips, his mouth hot, his eyes still Shifter white. He licked her neck, pausing to give her a love bite.

“Mmm,” Iona said, arching her head back. “I know why you like it when I do that to you.”

“You don’t have a Collar,” Eric said, licking where the band would go. “I rejoiced in that the first time I saw you. I still do.”

Iona touched the Celtic knot gleaming against his throat. “I wish this could be off you.”

“Someday. We’re working on it.”

Her caresses on his chest became firm presses. “Damn you, Eric. I still want you.”

He laughed softly. “Mating frenzy.”

He locked his legs around hers and rolled over. She rolled with him, landing on top of him.

“What are you doing?” she asked, half laughing.

“You want leaves and pine needles poking you in the back?”

Iona hadn’t noticed them, not with Eric’s heavy warmth on her. Eric took her hands and raised her to a sitting position, her knees on either side of his torso.

“Wait,” she gasped. “We’re in the woods.”

“In the dark, a long way from anywhere, love. You want to walk back to the cabin first?”

She didn’t. Iona’s excitement was still high, her blood hot. She held Eric’s strong hands while she rose over him and, as she had on the couch, slid herself down onto him.

This second time was easier than the first, but no less incredible. Iona moaned as his cock entered her, his hardness penetrating and opening her. Eric sucked in a breath as she settled on him, pressing his hips upward as she came down.

He fit into her tightly, every long inch of him. Iona knew she’d been made for this joining, to feel Eric pushing high inside her. He opened her wide, her female places so wet that he thrust up and in without any barrier.

She started riding him, knees and toes burrowing into the wet earth. Eric slid his hands beneath her breasts, his hands so warm, his thumbs teasing her nipples. The tingle of his touch spiraled down to join the tight, hard need where she rocked his cock deep inside her.

The scent of their lovemaking, sweet, heavy, and exciting, blended with the scent of pine and old leaves. The night air brushed frigid fingers over them, but Iona was toasty warm with Eric inside her.

She wanted this to go on and on, she forever locked with him in the splendid silence of the night woods. Moonlight filtered through the trees to touch them like a gentle embrace.

But their bodies wanted mating, the basic need to procreate driving them on. A wave of black pleasure washed over Iona, beginning where Eric joined with her and rippling through every inch of her body.

Eric! I love you!

Iona cried out as the thought tore through her, and she nearly fell, but Eric held her upright, his hands rock steady. He groaned low in his throat, and she felt his seed scalding her, filling her up, heady heat and pleasure.

The sensation sent her over the top. Iona’s cries rang out into the night, blending with Eric’s as they sealed themselves together. Mating.

Iona collapsed on top of him, laughing again, so happy to be gathered into his arms. She was warm, safe, well.

I love you, Eric, the voice whispered inside her, and Iona shook.

They shifted to run back to the cabin, this time side by side. Eric’s leopard’s shoulder bumped Iona’s as they negotiated narrow parts of the trails.

Their breaths steamed, the November night cold and clear. The rivulets of snow that ran through the woods were hard packed, their paws making no indentations in it.

Eric flowed back to his human form when they reached the cabin porch, and he turned, watching her expectantly.

Think of the form you want to be, then be it.

Iona pictured herself as her human, tallish and bare, with thick dark hair and eyes of icy blue. She took a step forward, visualizing herself easing into human form as quickly as Eric had.

Her limbs distorted and changed as slowly as ever, her muscles protesting as they moved from long-legged panther to a woman with hips more curved than she wanted them to be.

“Ow,” she said, when her mouth became human.

Eric shook his head. “You’ll get it.”

“What are you laughing at, hot-ass?”

“Not laughing. Enjoying.”

Eric shoved open the door and let himself into the cabin first. This let Iona stand back to observe his oh-so-nice butt. Tight and smooth, it was fine indeed.

Iona followed Eric into the high-ceilinged front room, enjoying watching him bend down to touch a long-handled lighter to start the fire he’d laid.

“You don’t have to bother with that,” she said. “I’m not cold.”

“Me either.” Eric set the lighter back on its shelf. “The mating frenzy makes you forget about hot and cold, and sleep, food, and safety. You can die from not paying attention.”

With warmth and need wrapping around her, Iona couldn’t quite grasp that. “You’ve been in the mating frenzy before.”

Eric looked up at her, his eyes quiet. “Yes.”

“With Kirsten.”

“Yes.”

Iona touched her hands together. “You must have loved her very much.”

Eric nodded. “Yes. Very much.”

“Then why do you want another mate?”

Eric pushed himself from the fireplace and came to her, the first flickers of fire shadowing his tall, naked body. He skimmed warm hands down her arms.

“Because I saw you.”

Words stuck in Iona’s throat. The heat of his hands made her realize that she truly was cold, and she shivered.

Eric’s eyes darkened. He cupped Iona’s face in his hands and drew her up to kiss her.

His mouth was as warm as his skin. Eric kissed her with slow seduction, the frenzy slightly abated from all their lovemaking, but not by much. His lips sought, touched, warmed. Iona slid her arms around him as he kissed her, and pulled him close.

The surging fire began to grow, the only light, filling the room with a rosy glow. In it, Eric lifted Iona and carried her to the thick rug in front of the hearth.

On this rug, where Iona had played as a child, cuddled with her mother as a preteen, and daydreamed with her little sister as a teenager, Eric laid her down and made slow, sweet love to her. With his warm weight on her, his jade green eyes watching her, Iona knew she wanted to be no other place.

“Iona,” he said, his voice rasping. “Say you’ll be my mate. Sun and moon. Please.”

The please had so much emptiness in it, so many years of loneliness, that it wrenched Iona’s heart. “All right,” she whispered.

They spent the rest of the night making love, first on the hearth rug, then in the large bedroom on the first floor. Eric said very little after her acceptance, but he kept looking at her with such triumph in his eyes that he made her nervous.

Iona’s nerves wound up even more in the morning when they banked the fires, locked up the cabin, and headed back to Shiftertown.