Page 23 of Magic Pussy

To say that the animal wasn't receptive to his compulsion, at first, was an understatement. His mate was scratching his fur, laughing and talking to him in a soft baby-talk voice. The cat did not want to let go. With coaxing, begging, orders, and threats, he finally managed to get the cheetah to retreat, slowly.

Rain was smiling and waving his way. The cheetah almost pounced on her again, but Luke managed to convince it to go check out the delightful scents around the bayou.

The animal wasn't exactly enthusiastic, but it gave in, potentially because he realized that they couldn't claim their mate. Shifters' beasts were simple and couldn't catch all the subtleties of a human mind, but they often had one gift: being able to scent, smell, and feel truth. There was a certain taste to manipulation, lies, and deceits.

Luke had told his cheetah that Rain would be happier if they didn't claim her now and the animal knew it to be true. It didn't have to fucking like it, but it was conscious of it, so it backed away from her.

What a mind fuck. Luke ran at full speed, only stopping to pee on trees, or to listen to the swamp where they'd left their mate. He used up as much energy as he could so that his beast would be compliant later.

Forty-eight hours, that was all. They only had to hang on for forty-eight hours. Then, the damn solstice ritual would be out of the way, and they would be on a plane back to Cali. He could tell her then. Or better yet, show her.

Luke knew Rain was interested now; he hadn’t suspected it before, although even if he had, he certainly wouldn’t have been inclined to do anything about it. Fucking someone close to the pride was always a bad idea, in case a mate was introduced later. Their kind was often extremely possessive and hated to be near anyone their partners had touched. After that eye-fucking back at the car, he'd known she wouldn't have been opposed to a romp in the sack. It had almost killed him, but he would have ignored it, though.

Turned out, he didn't need to; not forever. Just for a few days. Then, she'd be all his.

Something hit him. Did witches even have mates? Fuck. Maybe she wouldn't even really know what it meant. Like, she'd certainly heard the terms, and she'd seen the mated couples in the pride, too, but without the mating urges and the natural pull that brought shifters together instinctively, she might not really get it.

When shifters realized they were each other's soul, that was basically it. They paired up. They fucked, and marked each other, and got to know each other later. But witches were regular humans with magic. She didn't have an animal simplifying the equation for her.

Shit. He was going to have to date, and seduce, and maybe even buy flowers, wasn't he?

Luke winced. It wasn't that he was against building a relationship per se, it was just that she was his mate. That was supposed to come after.

So, he had to wait a couple of days, until they were out of this mess, and then, wait some more, until he'd convinced her of what he knew: they belonged to each other.

It was going to suck balls.

When the cat was finally spent, Luke coaxed him into letting him take control of their body and shifted back.

He returned to their spot near the river and watched his mate with his own eyes for the first time.

She was fucking beautiful. Fucking perfection. And all his.

“About time! We need to get going. My appointment with Michelle is in an hour.”

The Deal

Luke had offered to come with her, multiple times, and each time, she'd shot him down.

"I need to do this. Michelle and I do a lot of posturing in front of people, I don't think either of us can help it. If you're there, I'm not sure we'll be able to speak as openly."

"Alright. I'll wait outside and patrol the territory to see if someone's sniffing around you."

Rain smiled as she watched him retreat. She was a lot more comfortable around him now. In a short time, he'd somehow managed to make it from quasi-stranger to friend.

A ridiculously hot friend.

She had to admit that she could also get used to having someone watch her back. The trip would have been a lot more stressful without him.

She turned on her heels to face the door of the white greenhouse. She found it ajar. Getting to it and pushing it open, Rain scanned the room in one glance. There was only one occupant.

For all her bravado, Rain wished she'd let Luke accompany her once the door closed behind her of its own accord.

Her sister's sanctuary had changed since the last time she'd been in there. A lot. It used to be a small, fifty-square-feet cute little haven. While the new building was on the same spot, Michelle had entirely destroyed the old place and turned it into a grand, elegant affair. It had flourished, just like Michelle.

Rain was at a disadvantage here today. In a way, that might have been one of the reasons why she'd thought of this place, to assure Michelle that she came in peace. Even at seventeen, her sister had been adept at spells; she'd protected it well. Now, Rain felt that the garden was nothing short of a fort.

She could feel that her powers would be of no use to her. She hadn't been robbed of them, but they were muted. No one outside these doors could have broken in, or listened in, without the authorization of the mistress of the garden.

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