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  remember ever making love to a woman who was so responsive, so eager for everything he could give her. It was damn addicting.

  With reluctance, he pulled away from the sweetness of her lips and slowly moved down her body again. She trembled, and he smiled because he knew she knew what he would do next.

  He lay there at her side, stroking the golden curls between her legs with gentle fingers. Light and teasing, he petted, gradually growing bolder, going deeper.

  The plump flesh there enticed him, made him want to explore further. He wanted to taste her, feed from her. With two fingers, he parted the layers and sent a third finger seeking within.

  Whisper soft, he touched, stroked and touched again, enjoying how her clit grew erect and taut, how she shook every time he rubbed her just right.

  With his free hand, he reached down and circled his cock with his fingers. As he continued to stroke her, he stroked himself, enjoying the pleasure and imagining how it would feel when her pussy was doing the stroking.

  He glanced up at her to see her watching him through half-lidded, passion-glazed eyes.

  “Do you see what you do to me?” he asked huskily.

  She licked her lips, and he damn near came in his hand. He yanked his hand away, but his cock remained painfully erect, bobbing away from his body.

  “I want to taste you,” she said.

  He groaned. “Honey, there isn’t much I’d like better, but if you’re going to wrap that sweet mouth of yours around my dick, I want to be in a state where I can enjoy it. If you go anywhere near me with that tongue, I’ll be done for.”

  She pouted, sticking that luscious bottom lip out. Damn if he didn’t want to go nibble on it again. But there were other parts of her body he wanted to feast on first.

  Ignoring the ache between his legs and the fact that he was so damn hard he feared splitting his cock at the seams, he rotated over her hips so that his face was just inches above the wispy blonde curls at the apex of her thighs.

  “Spread those legs for me, beautiful. Careful, and don’t hurt your wound.”

  Slowly she shifted, lifting her uninjured leg so that her glistening pink flesh was bared to his view. He lowered his head, pressed his tongue to her opening and licked upward in one motion, sliding over her clit, then pausing there.

  She cried out and fisted her hands in his hair. He chuckled between her legs. “Let up on the hair, sweetheart. You’re going to yank me bald.”

  She eased her grip, and he ran his tongue in tight circles around the straining little nub of flesh. It had always amazed him how much of a woman’s passion was wrapped up in one tiny bundle of nerves.

  You could bring a woman to orgasm in thirty seconds flat with just the right amount of stimulation.

  Or you could take it nice and slow, just like he planned to, and build and back off, build and back off until she was begging. There wasn’t much to be said about getting off in thirty seconds, anyway.

  He sucked gently at her clit until she whimpered and squirmed beneath him. Then he wandered down to the tight little opening and rimmed it with his tongue. He spread her wider with his fingers and slid his tongue inside, tasting her warm honey.

  “Duncan! Oh please,” she gasped.

  He smiled.

  He eased one finger inside her pussy while his tongue lapped upward again. Like velvet, her pussy clung to his finger, cradled it as he worked deeper. Then he found the area he was seeking, slightly rougher and different in texture than the slick walls of her vagina.

  He crooked his finger upward, and she cried out, her head coming up.

  “Duncan!”

  He sucked at her quivering button and worked his finger in a slow back and forth motion until she writhed beneath him. He knew she was close to coming when every single part of her pussy convulsed and tightened around his finger.

  Only the knowledge that he wanted her to come with him, wanted her exploding around his cock, had him pulling away.

  She whimpered her disappointment, but he grinned and worked his way back up her body with tender kisses.

  When he got to her mouth, she fastened greedily on him then paused for a slight second as she tasted herself on his tongue. He deepened the kiss, the idea that they were sharing her essence between them sending spasms of desire coursing through his body.

  “I want you.”

  Those were beautiful words coming from deliciously swollen lips.

  He glanced down their bodies and grimaced. There just wasn’t an easy way to do this. He sure as hell didn’t want her screaming in agony when he bumped her leg. He wanted her screaming for a completely different reason.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked with a frown. “You don’t want me?”

  He laughed. God, what else could he do? Not want her? He was going to fucking implode if he didn’t have her, and soon.

  “I don’t know how we’re going to pull this off, sweetheart. That leg is going to hurt no matter how I go about it.”

  She put a hand on his chest and pushed at him. With a frown, he let her move him away as she slowly worked her body until she was lying on her stomach.

  With a deep breath, her fingers curled tightly around the sheets, she heaved her body upward until she was on her knees.

  “Oh honey, no, don’t,” he said, not wanting to cause her any pain.

  She turned to stare at him over her shoulder, her eyes glittering bright gold. “Take me.”

  Those two words sent an edgy need crawling over his skin until it was tight and uncomfortable. She leaned forward, her ass stuck in the air, her legs parted so that her pussy was open to his gaze, his hands, his cock…

  With the wound facing outward, and the need to spread her wide gone, it just might work. His cock was screaming at him to mount up, but he didn’t want to hurt her. So he eased behind her, grasping her hips in his hands. And then he remembered the condom.

  “Give me just a second, honey.” He rolled off the bed and grabbed one of the condoms, ripping the package open with his teeth and fumbling with the wrapper. In another two seconds, he had the condom rolled on, and he repositioned himself behind her.

  As he guided himself toward her opening, he briefly wondered if this would work. She was small. He wasn’t. While he worried he’d hurt her, he also looked forward to how she’d feel all wrapped around his cock like a vise.

  His hands smoothed over her ass, kneading and fondling as he spread her wider. When the tip of his dick touched her wetness, he had to close his eyes and pray for control.

  Inch by inch he moved forward. He clenched his teeth as he worked inside her. She moaned and convulsed around him. She tried to move back, wanting more of him, but he staved her off with his hands.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, sweetheart,” he managed to rasp out.

  Her head came up, and she looked back at him, her bottom lip sucked between her teeth. “Fuck me, Duncan.”

  Oh hell. Her words acted like a whip and spurred him to action. He surged forward, burying himself deep inside her. When he looked down, he saw he still had two inches to go. He’d get there. He just had to coax her into accepting more of him.

  He pulled back and thrust again then looked down to make sure he wasn’t jarring her wound too badly. She didn’t seem to care, though. She moved back to meet his thrust and strained against him.

  “I want you to take all of me,” he gritted out. “Can you do that, Aliyah? Can you take all of my cock?”

  She shuddered at the erotic words and lowered her head so that his angle of penetration was better.

  He withdrew and thrust again. This time harder. She took another inch.

  He closed his eyes and held her there for a moment, simply enjoying the sensation of so much silky, wet flesh surrounding his dick. When she stirred impatiently underneath him, he began thrusting. Lightly at first and then harder with each thrust.

  With a soft cry, she opened more for him. He could feel her pussy gently give way and accept him, and the globes of her
ass met his abdomen. God almighty, there wasn’t another feeling like this in the world.

  His body took over. He began hammering forward, his mind wrapped in a cloud of euphoric pleasure. She tightened around him, her body shook, and he could hear her whimpers and the sweet little sighs escape her mouth.

  He cursed the condom. He wanted to feel her skin on skin. He wanted to erupt inside her, wanted to see his seed trickle out of her pussy when he was done.

  He felt her let go, heard her scream, and then felt a burst of wetness surround him as she orgasmed. It spurred his own. His balls tightened painfully. He swelled as his orgasm rose, raced up his cock. With one more hard lunge and a shout, he buried himself deep in her body and felt himself turn inside out.

  He rested there on his knees, slumped against her ass as his cock jerked and spasmed with the last of his release. He hoped to hell he hadn’t reopened her wound or hurt her.

  He glanced down and ran a gentle hand over the injury to make sure she wasn’t bleeding. Then he carefully eased out of her body.

  Her legs trembling, she turned on her good side and collapsed onto the bed. He yanked the condom off and aimed it at a nearby trash can. Then he crawled up beside her and gathered her in his arms.

  “That was…” She seemed to struggle over just the right words. He could understand her difficulty, because damn if he could put words to what had just happened between them. “Duncan, that was so wonderful,” she whispered.

  She nestled into him, her body limp and warm. She made contented little sounds against his neck, and he thought maybe he had truly died and gone to heaven. This…this was perfection.

  “Rest now, honey,” he murmured against her ear.

  He smoothed back her hair, stroking the strands with his fingers as she closed her eyes and melted against him. When he was certain she was asleep, he carefully reached behind him to turn off the lamp and then wrapped himself back around her.

  This wasn’t exactly how he envisioned the night going, but he damn sure wasn’t going to complain. He still hadn’t figured out what the hell he was going to do with her, but he guessed there would be plenty of time to figure that out tomorrow.

  Chapter Six

  Duncan awoke before dawn as was his usual habit, only this morning he wasn’t in any hurry to get out of bed. Aliyah lay in the crook of his arm, her arm thrown across his chest. Strands of her hair tickled his nose, and he reached up to brush them away.

  She was the calmest he’d seen her since discovering her in the mudroom. Her breaths came deep and even, and there was no muscle twitching to signal an impending shift. Apparently sex and good sleep cured all things.

  He lay there enjoying the feel of a woman in his arms. The darkness in the room began to fade as dawn crept through the window. He had to get up soon. There were reports to file, poachers to catch, and there was the matter of Aliyah.

  There was still little he knew about her other than the fact she was only half human. She’d mentioned family and that she’d lived in Alaska. And that she’d been in Africa when she’d been taken by the hunters.

  He frowned when the thought occurred to him that she hadn’t asked to contact her family. If she had been a captive for six months, wouldn’t she want to be reunited with her family? Wouldn’t she want them not to worry any longer?

  The idea that she’d been so reticent bothered him. Not that she owed him anything, but he wanted her to trust him.

  His mood turned thoughtful, and he inched his way out of bed and headed for the shower. As the warm water sluiced over his body, he wracked his brain for a solution to the predicament he and Aliyah faced.

  Aliyah would have to stay here, and that made him nervous. His work would take a few hours at the least, and leaving her alone that long didn’t sit well. But he couldn’t take her with him. He could just see it. Something would set her off, she’d freak out and poof. Cheetah unleashed in the sheriff’s department.

  He finished scrubbing and stepped out, grabbed a towel and walked naked into the bedroom, wiping at his hair. When he pulled the towel away from his head, he glanced over to see Aliyah staring at him with sleepy eyes.

  Neither spoke. He quickly wrapped the towel around his waist then crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

  “I have to go into work,” he said, breaking the silence. “Will you be okay here…alone?”

  She studied him for a moment, her head cocked, her golden eyes lighting over his skin. “You’re really asking if I’ll still be here when you get back.”

  He stared at her for a moment then slowly nodded.

  She stared back, nodding as well.

  He reached for the sheet and pulled it down to bare her leg. The wound didn’t look as angry, but it was far from healed.

  “There’s food in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever you need. The number to the station is by the phone. If anything happens or you need me, just call. I’ll try not to be too long.”

  “Are you going after the poachers?”

  He nodded grimly. “I’m going to try.”

  “I could probably help.”

  “No,” he said, then realized he’d barked at her. “No,” he said in a lower voice. “I won’t put you at risk. I need you to stay here and inside the house. Don’t go out for any reason.”

  “Okay.”

  He leaned down and ran his finger down her cheek. “Take care of yourself while I’m gone.”

  He stood and went to dress. He could feel her gaze as he pulled on his clothing, and the warm hum of arousal heated his veins.

  He turned to her one more time as he prepared to leave the bedroom. “I’ll start a fire and stack some wood on the hearth so all you’ll have to do is add logs throughout the day.”

  She smiled, and he gave her one last stare before he walked out.

  Aliyah watched him go then laid her head back on the pillow with a confused sigh. She was free after six months in captivity. She should be going home as fast as she could, and yet here she was, making promises to stay that she couldn’t keep.

  For the first time in several long months, she felt at peace. Calm. Her reprieve from the stress and edginess was hard fought but welcome.

  During the night she’d twitched and spasmed as she’d fought the urge to shift. Several times he’d come awake, his hands gliding over her body as he murmured comforting words. She’d loved the way his voice glided over her skin, a much-needed balm. She wanted more. She needed this man, and it frightened her.

  She threw back the covers and slid her legs over the side of the bed. She stood, testing the strength of her injured leg. Shaky and a little wobbly, but otherwise she could walk on it. It gave her a twinge as she made her way toward the door, but in another day or two, she should be well enough to travel.

  And that was the excuse she fed herself for staying. She needed to regain her strength before she attempted to return to her family.

  They probably thought she was dead, and that saddened her. In the six long months of her captivity, what had tortured her most wasn’t her fear or the terrible conditions she’d been forced to endure. It was the thought of her mother’s tears and her father’s grief.

  She wasn’t sure they could endure it again after losing one child so long ago.

  As she looked down at her naked body, it occurred to her that she had absolutely nothing to wear. With a frown, she went to Duncan’s closet and thumbed through the hangers until she found a flannel shirt. It would be warm and soft and hopefully wouldn’t irritate her skin. The more time she spent in human form, the more she’d adapt.

  She pulled it on and gathered it close, inhaling Duncan’s scent as it surrounded her. Spicy, a little like wood. Warm and masculine. Strong. Like him. It made her feel safe.

  She buttoned the shirt but left her legs bare, not wanting to aggravate her wound. It felt a little odd to be walking bare-assed through Duncan’s house, not because the immodesty bothered her, but because she was in a strange man’s house, bare-assed
naked.

  Then she laughed, because it wasn’t as though she hadn’t stuck that bare ass in the air in a clear invitation for him to ride her hard. Her cheeks warmed, and she closed her eyes against the embarrassment tightening her skin.

  He’d felt so good, though. So incredibly right. She’d never felt that way with a man. They could make her feel good. Any man with a modicum of know-how could make a woman get off, but Duncan…he knew how to love a woman. Knew just how to touch her, to kiss her. Sex with him had been… She shook her head. She couldn’t even come up with a descriptor that did it justice.

  She padded into the living room and stopped at the small French doors leading to the wooden deck at the back of the cabin. A light frost had kissed the earth, and when she touched the glass, it felt cold.

  Winter was coming. Her parents would be safely ensconced in their Alaskan cabin on one of the small islands off the coast of Kodiak. She closed her eyes and imagined herself there, gazing out over the emerald green waters of the inlet where the cabin was nestled.

  Eagles flew regularly overheard, and often her mother would join them. Kodiak bears roamed freely over the island. She’d watched her father amble through the forest then stand to his magnificent twelve-foot height, his brown fur glistening in the sun.

  They had made a great sacrifice in leaving their haven to take Aliyah to Africa. But after Kaya’s discovery and disappearance, they hadn’t wanted to risk the same happening to Aliyah.

  Kaya. Even now, so many years later, sadness gripped Aliyah when she thought of her sister.

  Kaya had also been a great cat. A North American mountain lion. The majestic cougar. Aliyah, though young when Kaya disappeared, could vividly remember staring into the beautiful amber eyes of her sister.

  Chilled from standing so close to the door, she stepped away and moved toward the fireplace. She allowed the heat to warm her front before turning her back to the flames.

  Her gaze flickered as it fell on the telephone sitting on the coffee table. She ached to call her mother, to let her know she was alive. She waged an inner war with herself over the need to talk to her parents and the desire to keep them and herself safe.

  She continued to stare at the phone, her gut churning, her eyes burning. She closed them as her mother’s face shimmered in her mind. Soft, gentle, so warm. There was nothing like a mother’s hugs, and Aliyah had gone so long without them.

  She walked to the couch and sat down, staring at the phone. Should she do it? Call her parents and at least let them know she was alive and that she’d tell them more when she could? She didn’t even know where she was. Colorado. She knew that much. But it was a big state, and she had no idea how to tell her parents her location.

  Duncan could tell them. Her breath caught in her chest as indecision held her in its grip.

  Could she trust Duncan? Was he even now contacting the state or even the federal authorities? Who would you even call if you found a cheetah that happened to turn into a woman? If her secret was discovered, her people would be at a big risk. The government wouldn’t believe she was a freak occurrence. Surely where there was one there were others.

  She covered her eyes with one hand and massaged her temples. She should go. Leave now before he returned. She glanced down at her leg and knew she’d never make it in either human or cheetah form, not that she’d put the cheetah at risk. She had no money, no clothes, no identification. She was at the mercy of Duncan’s hospitality until her parents could come for her.

  When she took that into consideration, she didn’t have much choice but to wait for Duncan, bide her time and heal. A good meal would be a great starting point. She was ravenous and looked forward to human food again instead of the raw scraps thrown to her by her captors.

  Even as she rummaged around the small kitchen, she found herself watching the clock and hoping Duncan would return soon.

  Chapter Seven

  Duncan sat in his office ready to bellow in frustration. It would figure that on a day where he needed to finish and get the hell out of the office, everyone and their mama decided they needed something.

  He hung up the phone and shoved back from his desk, prepared to bolt when Mrs. Humphreys stuck her head in the door.

  “Sheriff?”

  He managed to keep from sighing. Barely.

  “Mrs. Humphreys, come in. What can I do for you?”

  She offered a smile and gripped her purse in front of her as she walked in