Page 13 of The Mating Frenzy
“Sending her flowers to court her,” Xavieradded.
A waste of time, in his opinion. He didn’t get it. In the Winter Kingdom, women understood he would never formally mate with them for life. His heart had been too shattered. They liked the pleasure he offered, and asked for nothing else inreturn.
“Can I sniff her bottom first to see if she smells right?” heasked.
“If you try to sniff a woman’s bottom, the Skins will lock you up. It’s called sexualharassment.”
“What if she sniffs me as well? Is that harassment?” he asked. “I would notmind.”
“Maybe we should call Tristan,” Xavier told him. “Tristan has much experience withshifters.”
Now he was truly worried. “I have never had sex with a Skin woman. How different are they? Do they havevaginas?”
Xavier put his palm to his face again as Gideon swallowed. “Of course theydo.”
The Crimson Wizard, once the prince Kieran had sworn to protect, had a muscle twitch in his cheek. “I never imagined having to explain sex likethis…”
“I need no lesson. I have plenty of practice.” Kieran sat back. “Will this female be accepting of my differences? Sexually, Imean.”
Gideon and Xavier exchangedglances.
“The barb on my cock usually provides enormous pleasure for my partner, although it was originally intended for procreation and fertilization,” he explained helpfully. “It can be overpowering for some females, as they can faint from the intensity of thestimulation.”
Xavier put a palm over his face again and groaned. “I can’t believe I left my beautiful mate to come here and discuss sex with a thousand-year-oldcat.”
“One thousand and four hundred year old jaguar,” hecorrected.
He pointed to his face. “Why do you keep making that gesture? Putting your hand over yourface?”
“It’s called a face palm,” Gideon explained. “It happens when a person is frustrated or can’t believe what he’shearing.”
“You’re a double face palm,” Xaviermuttered.
Intrigued, Kieran tried it. “I can’t believe that the goddess dumped me here like a sack of unwantedkittens.”
“Believe it. Danu does what she must. It’s why we have to aid you, my friend. You have much catching up to do,” Gideon toldhim.
He listened as they told him about Ella, and her destiny as a werewolf of the Wyld. A werewolf! The idea intrigued him. And he’d felt the chemistry between them spark and crackle, so perhaps this assignment would not be as tedious, nor as trying as he’danticipated.
“I’ve found her, and she has met me. What next? We go searching for thiscrystal?”
Jaw tight, Xavier absently traced a rune on the coffee table. “You face a difficult challenge, Kieran. First you must pry Ella away from the grasp of her mother and the men in her life. They have a tight hold on her and control her everymoment.”
Kieran didn’t like the sound of this. He’d anticipated using his usual charm to woo the woman, and then coaxing her into joining him on the quest. Not having to compete for her attention. Jealousy flared. A new emotion, it startled him. Previously, he cared naught what happened with his lovers. They were free to take other partners, and he’d always been explicit in outlining the consequences of becoming his lover. He didn’t likeattachments.
Not until he found his mate, and only another jaguar shifter would suffice. This kind of raging possessiveness felt right, but with the wrong person. Even if Ella was a shifter, she was not histype.
“What other men in her life?” he asked slowly. “They cannot be her lovers, for she is still avirgin.”
Gideon blinked. “How do you… oh. Herscent.”
Xavier sighed. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, Kieran. We’re going to teach you how to act like a man, not a tomcat in heat. You can’t approach a Skin woman by sniffing her to see if she’s inheat!”
“But Ella is nothuman.”
“She talks like a Skin, walks like a Skin, acts like a Skin and thinks she is a Skin and until she comes into her powers and shifts into wolf, she is human. Her world, friend. Her rules.” Gideon gave him a pitying look. “I know how difficult this is for you, and how much you long to find another jaguar as amate.”
Kieran ignored him and turned to the door to look at the bed of verdant grass sweeping down to the riverbank, the crystal clear rushing water. Peaceful. Pretty, even. But not home. Home was a land far away, abandoned by his own kind centuries ago. Now he was in unfamiliar territory, with no hope of finding a true mate for life. No female to lounge with in thick tree branches at night, keeping watch below. No female to rub up against him lovingly and purr her specialsong.
