Page 72 of Wedding the Werepanther

“Hah.” She bats at him. “I befriended one of the first humans in Alarria, and don’t you forget it.”

“Yes, well,I’mthe one who lives on Earth,” he teases. “I’ve surpassed you, so I win.”

She narrows her green eyes, then grins.

When he disappears for another batch of wood, she leans close. “He’s a good one, but make sure you lead him on a good chase. Make him work for it.”

“Chase?”

“It’s a cat sith mating ritual. You run from the male to get him to chase you down and mount you.”

I let out a choked sound of surprise as I imagine Shadow chasing me through the woods. My thighs clench as my girl parts cheer with approval, like I’ve been coated with his aphrodisiac seed.

“You do this as panthers?”

“We can do it in any form, but the instincts are strongest when we’re panthers or werepanthers.”

The knowledge echoes around my brain as Shadow cleans and cooks a couple of drumsticks, his large, claw-tipped, fur-covered hands just as agile as those of the man. What would it feel like to be touched with those? I shiver.

While the others eat at the far end of the clearing, I nibble on my drumstick happily, the pheasant tasting like rich and meaty chicken.

Shadow settles onto the ground, all three of the kittens clinging to him and watching him avidly as he tells them all about living as a man in the human realm. He ends by saying, “I live with Kayla in a big house that can talk.”

“What’s a house?” Wisp asks.

I pull up pictures on my phone to show everyone Victoria.

“It’s the fanciest den I’ve ever seen.”

“What’s that?” A tiny paw taps at the screen.

“It’s a couch,” Shadow says. “It’s very soft, softer than any sleep spot in the den.”

Their little eyes go wide as saucers. “I want a couch!” “Me too!” “And me!”

“You’ve done it now,” Moonlight says, her tone dry.

Shadow grins, completely unrepentant.

“You’ll have to come visit,” I say impulsively, smiling when his mother nods at me in approval.

As the kittens shriek with excitement and run over to their parents to beg permission, the smile Shadow turns on me becomes incandescent, lighting me up inside.

“Thank you, my wife,” he murmurs. “It means a lot to me that you invited them.” Then he turns to catch Wisp right as she leaps toward him with full faith he’ll never let her fall.

I share that exact same faith. He won’t let her fall, not ever.

Being here, seeing how much he loves his huge extended family untangles one of my fears. Shadow’s surface is cocky and self-assured and brazen, a consummate game player determined to win. It’s all I could see for the longest time. But underneath, he’s caring and loyal to those he loves.

I want that, want to be more than a game to him. I want to be someone he loves.

I want to know he’ll catch me if I fall.

Because I’m already falling for him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Shadow