Page 12 of A Lion's Heart
“He’s no renegade,” Decan answered. “He’s a friend, doing me a favor.”
“Yes, I am,” Keller replied with a deep chuckle.
Three loud chimes sounded at that moment and their host, who seemed to be enjoying this moment way more than they were, went silent.
“I have to go,” he said seconds later. “You two enjoy your meal. One of the staff will be along when you’re done to take you to your rooms.”
“Our rooms?” Nisa said. “So this is like a shifter hotel?”
Keller was now standing and he looked down at her, giving only a half grin this time. The look had Decan fisting his fingers and Nisa raising a brow in what…was that flirtation? Decan stood then, clapping a hand on Keller’s shoulder.
“I’ll find our rooms,” he told the host who was definitely doing the most with Nisa right now. “You go and take care of your business.”
Keller nodded, his grin disappearing as he stared back at Decan. “Yeah, and you should be careful with yours.”
Their gazes locked for a moment, until Decan turned away and listened to the cougar as he exited the room.
“Tense,” Nisa stated and lifted a finger to her lips to lick away some sauce.
The growl was like an earthquake moving through Decan’s body in a trek from the pit of his stomach until his lips peeled back from his teeth, letting the sound break free. Her head jerked up instantly, her eyes shifting from human to cat.
“Very,” he replied and stepped closer.
She pulled her finger slowly from her mouth as if her ultimate goal in life was to tease him to the point of distraction. Well, Decan admitted, even if momentarily, she’d done a damn good job of that. Her hand continued to move slowly down until now it rested in her lap. Decan gripped the back of her chair and pulled it out from the table far enough so that he could move to stand in front of her.
Beneath the zipper of his pants Decan’s cock twitched as her mouth was only a couple of feet away. In his mind, he could already feel her there, licking his length, sucking him deep, drawing everything from him in the blink of an eye.
“Look at me,” he demanded.
The man was surprised to see her immediately do as he’d requested. The lion inside was not.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a last ditch effort to figure out what the hell was happening at this moment.
She shook her head, her tongue skirting out to touch her lips before replying, “I’m not doing anything.”
His palms tingled with the thought of feeling her soft hair as he grasped the back of her head and pulled her closer. It would take only seconds to free his now raging erection and put her mouth to its tip. Just a taste. He’d give her only a little and then he’d pull back. He’d forget this ridiculous urging. Even as he thought it, the lion dismissed the notion. Just a taste would not be enough, not for either of them.
“Liar,” he whispered through clenched teeth. “Sexy, sneaking, liar.”
“No,” she snapped quickly, her eyes shifting back to human as she abruptly stood to face him. “I’m not the one lying here, Decan. You are. I can smell it. And I don’t like it.”
Nisa was stuck.
In this gorgeous suite, closed in her private bathroom, standing beneath the hot spray of water from the massaging showerhead. Her cat was stuck in her human body, because of a world that rejected it. Her desire to be more, to do more, with her life was stuck in the hands of a lion shifter with secrets that carried a distinct stench which should not have permeated her senses the way it had. Yet, it did.
From the moment he’d approached her, Nisa had scented it. Now, she tried her best to rid her mind, her senses and her cat of its effects. That, however, wasn’t going to be easy. More pertinent and shocking to recently admit was her desire to be sexually satisfied. It was stronger now, had been in the last few months at Assembly Headquarters. She hadn’t understood the overwhelming urge then and she definitely didn’t now.
Sitting on the bench which lined one of the shower walls, she lifted a leg, propping her foot on its end and let her hand fall to the bare skin of her juncture. It was smooth and warm as she separated her thick folds, moaning at the slickness that awaited her.
Her awakening had come when she was fourteen years old, much earlier than her mother’s, and a year earlier than was normal for female shifters. As she’d already known what she was, Nisa had been waiting anxiously to meet the cat that would share her body for the rest of her life. She’d had no idea that the cat would bring with it an urging that would threaten every sane part of her being. That’s how it felt, the arousal of a shifter. It quickly took over any and all thoughts. Nisa had been lucky that there had been very few shifters living in her part of Oasis that turned her on. But the few that had, the feeling that had warmed her to the point of her entire body trembling whenever she’d been around them was intense and pushed her to a point where she’d known something had to give.
But her father was Roman Reynolds.
In addition to being the Assembly Leader, he was a black jaguar with as much predatory power as any king of a jungle. Oasis was Rome’s jungle and Nisa was the second untouchable under his reign. Every shifter across the world knew this. They were not to speak a disrespectful word to Kalina, or give Nisa a second look. It was that simple and that serious at the same time.
The warning hadn’t bothered Nisa since all she’d ever wanted to do was work toward building a better future for the shifters. Yet, she’d still had to figure out a way to deal with the urgings without risking another shifter’s life by asking him to be with her. The answer had been fairly simple. She would slake her own need. It worked, she enjoyed the independence and that was it. She moved on to the next thing. At least that was how she normally handled the situation.
Tonight was different. She was not only trembling, but her cat was pacing and making a rumbling sound that echoed in Nisa’s mind. The cat needed and Nisa wanted, unlike either had before.
