rubbing her body along his, mimicking her leopard but barely noticing she was doing so. She pulled away with a muttered apology, her face going red.
He smiled down at her. “Don’t be embarrassed. The leopards can get us worked up. The chemistry between us without them is bad enough. With them, it’s off the charts. Matherson would have forced your female to accept his male.”
The color leached out of her face. “How could he do that?”
“If you were mine to claim, I would push the back of your shirt up so my leopard could coax your female to the surface. He would hold you still and they would touch if she agrees to his claiming. Once that happens, Matherson’s leopard would not be able to mate with her. He knows that. That’s why he’s tried so hard to keep you away from every other shifter. He doesn’t want your female to run across any other she might accept.”
Flambé turned her body toward his, her front to his side, rubbing her body against his like the little cat she was, amorous, so naturally sensuous and provocative he thought his control might actually shatter. One leg wound around his thigh while her hand caught at his shirt, fingers clutching.
Her little leopard was very close to the surface, calling continually for Shturm. The scent was so potent, filling Sevastyan’s lungs, it was all he could do not to throw Flambé up against the wall and take what she was offering. Her hands burrowed under his shirt, hot, stroking caresses over his skin while her hips rocked against his thigh, pressing her sex against him.
“He scares the hell out of me,” she admitted in a low voice. “I don’t want his leopard anywhere near mine.”
“Your leopard is in heat, and her heat will affect you,” he said, keeping his voice low and soothing. “It may sound terrible and might be after, depending on how he treats you, but at the time, it might not be the end of the world. Although, once he claimed you, you would have to stay with him.”
A little shudder went through her body. “Don’t even say that. Don’t even think it.” Her gaze jumped to meet his. Daring him. Challenging him. “You said your leopard was willing to mate with mine.” There was pure seduction in her voice.
“A claim isn’t for just a heat, Flambé. You have to understand that. The shifter world has rules. We live by those rules.”
“I’m aware of that. My father told me. I don’t know about claiming, but I do know we are not human and we live by a different set of rules.” She was becoming frantic, her body moving against his, hot, shaking with need.
“I wouldn’t let you go. I’m not an easy man to live with. I’m dominant in and out of bed. I like sex and I need it often. Leopard sex can be rough.” Even as he explained this to her, he kept his voice gentle, his fingers on the nape of her neck massaging the tension from her. One finger traced the lobe of her ear. He leaned down and nipped that same lobe with his teeth, watching goose bumps rise as endorphins rushed through her body.
Flambé’s gaze continued to stray to the man walking with such confidence up the walkway. Franco couldn’t fail to see Sevastyan and Flambé framed in the window watching him.
She moaned low, the sound somewhere between sensual and desperate. “Do you want me?”
“Yes.” He took her hand and blatantly, right there in front of the glass, curved her palm over his denim-covered cock. “You know I do.”
“I mean me.”
“Yes.”
“Does your leopard want my leopard?”
He turned her to face the window, pressed her against the glass so Matherson couldn’t fail to see her small figure facing him with Sevastyan towering above her. Sevastyan’s eyes met Franco’s through the glass as he slowly began to push up the back of Flambé’s top. Inch by inch he gathered the material in his hands, pulling it up to the nape of her neck, leaving her front fully covered, but exposing her back and shoulders to Sevastyan.
For the first time, Matherson’s absolute confidence was shaken. It was a small stumble only. A brief strain on his face as he gave a barely imperceptible shake of his head. Sevastyan bent his head, his eyes going cat, banding with heat. He brushed kisses along the nape of Flambé’s neck and then on the soft skin of her shoulder before he