Page 9 of Magic Hunted
Ashir growled, the deep sound vibrating into my back, turning my blood into liquid arousal. Heat pooled in my stomach at the rasp in his tone. “What I feel can’t be false.”
Because it wasn’t false. It was the hardest thing to push them away because as much as the bond was calling them, it was also calling me.
“You of all people know what Titan is capable of. What his magic can do,” I said. Truth. They knew Titan’s power and the pain he’d caused shifters. They’d lived it all of their lives.
I’d known I was a panther shifter in theory, but I’d never felt the panther who had lain dormant until the touch of my mates. Another layer of protection my mother had spelled me with to keep the grimoire safe. I wasn’t used to feeling my newborn panther as she butted against my internal barriers, fighting to be released. She didn’t want me to lie to them. She wanted to bond.
“Please. You have to believe me.” I made the mistake of glancing at Ashir from the corner of my eye. His summer-blue eyes blazed bright in his tanned face. His locs were a heavy halo around his face, disheveled and only serving to accentuate his cut jawline and mouth pulled into a tight line.
I wanted to burrow into the heat and comfort of their bodies and lose myself in gentleness. Mates were hardwired to comfort. To adore. To cherish. I had to stay strong and not succumb to the pleasure they offered. I was saving all of us future pain.
“Why would you tell us Titan spelled you? Surely he would have wanted you to keep that a secret,” Ashir said.
“I…” I couldn’t think because Ashir brushed his lip against my ear. I shivered and gasped, my body responding immediately. I turned my head, seeking his warmth.
Ashir chuckled. “Titan isn’t the only man who can detect lies. I think you want to get away because you think you can’t trust us. I think something happened to you that makes you think you can only survive on your own. Our greatest secret, and one we will protect with everything we are from this day forward, is now you. The safest you’ll ever be is with us, but because you won’t accept our word, we’ll have to show you instead.”
Ashir flipped me onto my back with huge, warm hands, moving one to cup the back of my head. Dias and Savvas caged me in on either side, their palms flattened on my shoulder, my waist, my thigh. The place between my legs throbbed with warmth. I filled my aching lungs without their pressure on my body. A mistake. Their mingled senses wove around me, through me, urging me to forget everything I’d fought hard for. Everything that would keep them safe.
All thoughts fled my mind when Ashir’s fingers tensed in my hair, sending a tight sting over my scalp. He settled his lips against mine, letting me adjust to the soft firmness before he gently increased pressure. My body relaxed while electric tension built in my lower stomach.
He groaned, a low masculine sound that sank into me. Tendrils of heat licked upwards from my abdomen, licking soft flames of fire throughout my body. My breasts swelled, becoming heavy, and my nipples beaded into puckered points.
I shivered when he slicked his tongue along the seam of my lips. He didn’t command entry. His touch was soft. A bare whisper. I pressed the tip of my tongue to the back of my clenched lips, tasting the essence of Ashir. His flavor burst into my mouth. Masculine spice, alpha male and unfettered determination.
I need more.
I moaned, parting my lips to invite a deeper kiss. A groan wrenched from his throat and his tongue slicked against mine. Insistent heat burned away any self-preservation I’d harbored as though it was never there to begin with.
Ashir lowered over me, his chest crushing my breasts. Exquisite sensation simmered from the press on my nipples against his hot flesh. My legs parted, my body working of its own free will. He settled in the cradle of my thighs, and his rigid cock slid through my slippery cleft. Ashir ground his pelvis against mine. The head of his shaft rubbed against my pounding clit, sending sparks of sensation shooting upwards to be devoured by the sensual fog that clouded my mind.
My panther rose inside me, slinking into the forefront of my mind. Instinct took over. I lifted my hips, inviting that part of him to slide inside me. To join us and complete our bond. The need was irresistible. My body burned with insatiable need. Nothing had felt so right. So overwhelming. Everything I’d sacrificed in my life had been worth it. Worth them.
“Only true mates react to their mate’s touch like this,” Ashir rasped.
I should push them off me. Run to the wastelands where they would never find me, but the grimoire flickered, taking control of my body again, eager to be released from its prison through our bond. Magic and desire pulsed through me, a potent mix I couldn’t deny. Savvas’ scent grew stronger as he leant down and nibbled my ear. His lips pulled at my delicate lobe before he swallowed it into his heated mouth.
Lying beside me, head propped in his hand, Dias massaged my breast. His thumb flicked over the rigid peak. I jerked and Ashir swallowed my moan when my breast was pulled into wet heat. The firm body crushing me, Ashir’s hard cock sliding through my eager slickness, Dias’ clever mouth and Savvas’ tongue laving my sensitive neck was too much.
I acted on pure instinct, canting my hips so that Ashir’s cockhead notched my entrance. The vague thought that I would finally lose my virginity passed through my mind as Ashir’s tip slid inside me before a loud crash and a snarl caused my eyes to snap open.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?”
Tendrils of dread rose and impaled my stomach. I’d recognize the nasally tone of Kalos’ voice anywhere.
Titan’s cadre and a hit-team of magical humans emerged from the depths of the jungle and stared down at us.
Chapter Five
“Change!” Ashir bellowed.
Agony ripped through me as bones shortened, warped and re-shaped and muscles and ligaments tore. For the second time in my life in the space of minutes, my body Changed from human to panther. My legs trembled and sweat slicked my fur. My head hung heavy on my shoulders as I panted in exhaustion. Without thought, my claws dug into the soft earth to keep me steady.
Around me, the alphas Changed with a flash of magic and taint of ozone. Black panthers surrounded me. Their muscles bunched with sleek, sinewy grace as they caged me with their bodies. Their fur slid against my own coat, almost sensuous, but the silken gloss did nothing to hide their powerful, lethal bodies.
As a panther, I was huge. My head and shoulders were nearly as tall as my human form, but the alphas were massive, standing a full head and shoulders above me. Their bodies were similar to each other, but I instinctively knew Ashir, Dias and Savvas’ panther forms. Their eyes shone with the same preternatural color as their human eyes. A pull jerked in my chest, red, orange and yellow soul-lights butting against the bond barrier that would shatter when we fully bonded.
If it hadn’t been for the cadre finding us, I would have let them bond me. The grimoire had sparked from dormancy to life alongside my panther, influencing my need to bond.
