Page 4 of Pleasured By the Panther
Just as he thought this, Miranda Slocum reached him. She walked right up and put her hands on her hips.
“All right—here I am. I hope you’re happy—I’m going to miss my daughter’s wedding because of you,” she snapped.
Korrath widened his eyes innocently as he looked down at her.
“But I would never wish you to miss such an important event.”
“I don’t see how I won’t,” she said angrily. “The wedding is tomorrow afternoon!”
Korrath saw that she needed soothing.
“You will be there, I promise. Please inform your daughter that you will be free to attend her Joining ceremony. I will only ask you to stay for the rest of today and tonight with me on the Monstrum Mother ship and then in the morning you will be free to go—if you wish.”
A day and a night wasn’t an arbitrary amount he’d pulled out of the air. It was the legal amount of time he could call a human woman to stay with him when she didn’t have her name in the Draft. But Korrath had been dreaming of her for months—he was certain he could win Miranda over in that amount of time. Why else had the Goddess allowed them to Dream-Share with each other? Though he still wasn’t sure she had been dreaming of him—there had been no recognition in her lovely gray eyes when she looked at him earlier.
“Just a day and a night?” Her eyes widened. “Really? And I can go tomorrow morning? Then I wouldn’t miss the wedding.”
“Of course you won’t.” Korrath let his voice drop to a rumbling purr. “I would never force you to miss the Joining of your daughter. I only ask that you come with me and give yourself over to me completely during the time we have together.”
“Wait…give myself over completely? What does that mean?” She narrowed her eyes, but he could hear her heart racing. Goddess, he was already so attuned to her!
“I think you know what I mean,” he murmured. “We will be fitting an entire Claiming period into a day and a night—that means we have little time to get to know each other before becoming intimate.”
“Becoming intimate?” she repeated, her eyes wide. “You’re joking, right? I mean, I’m over fifty and you must be…” She frowned up at him. “Well, it’s hard to tell your age but?—”
“I am thirty-five of your Earth years, if that is the unit you wish to measure my age,” he told her.
“See? That means I’m too old for you!” she exclaimed, putting a hand on her ample hip. “Way too old!”
“You are a Mature Elite—one whom the Goddess has blessed with extra full curves and the wisdom of years,” Korrath informed her. He inhaled deeply, taking in her bewitching fragrance. “Also, you are entering your Second Heat.”
“Entering my what?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t…but you will, my lovely Elite,” Korrath purred.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Miranda shook her head, looking mystified.
“I will tell you in time,” Korrath promised. “For now, let us go and tell your daughter there is no need for weeping.”
He took her hands in his, reveling in the feeling of her soft, smooth skin. The human females were all hairless except for the hair on their heads and a little patch on the mound of their sex—or so he had heard. It was both exotic and erotic to him, since he had only ever been with females who had fur all over.
“All right—I’ll go with you and I’ll do…whatever you want.” Miranda swallowed hard. “But after the day and night are over, I’m going home—by myself.”
“As you wish, my lovely one.” Korrath was completely unperturbed by her insistence that she would be going home alone. She would find out soon enough that it was nearly impossible to resist him.
Between her Second Heat and his Mating Scent—which he knew his body was making for her—they would be Bonded before their time together was out.
4
MIRANDA
They found Hanna where Miranda had left her—standing stiff and small in the aisle, twisting her purse strap in both hands like it was the only thing keeping her grounded. The crowd around them had thinned as the next few names had been called—the murmur of voices faded to a hush punctuated by the occasional scrape of chair legs and the priestess’s voice on the mic.
The ballroom lights were too bright and too cold, flattening everyone’s features. Miranda wished she could turn them down and put a warm lamp in the corner and make tea to comfort her daughter. Failing that, she put on her most reassuring smile.
But Hanna was already talking.
“Mom, I don’t want you to do this for me,” she blurted. “I know what you’re going to have to do up there in the Mother Ship—I don’t want that! I can go. I’ll just… it’s only a month, right? Bradley will understand.”
