Page 78 of Wedding the Werepanther

“Jace came to see him yesterday while you were working, and he brought everything Shadow needs.”

“But Shadow also needs to go and bring his people from Alarria. They’ve never been here before. They don’t know the way.”

“Shadow asked Naomi to teleport them for this first visit.”

“Argh!” I throw up my hands. Does she have to have an answer for everything? I stomp my way up the stairs. “Shadow! You talk to her. I give up.”

The bathroom door swings open at my touch, and my eyes almost pop out of my head. Shadow stands on the bathmat in front of the tub wearing nothing but a towel wrapped low around his waist. I might have seen him naked, but seeing him shirtless still gets my pulse racing.

He grins at me, wide and hot and wicked, as the front of his towel tents. His voice drops into a seductive purr, rich as chocolate. “My wife.”

I should be working. That most recent trip to Faerie gave me a whole new plotline idea I need to finish fleshing out. But I’m ahead on my timeline, and Topher can take a flying flip.

We’re also trying to be careful. Now that we’ve had sex, it would be so easy to get swept up and forget and give in to temptation. Being trapped means we can’t use the loophole of taking a side trip to Faerie for sexy fun times, which makes everything much more frustrating. But Victoria locking us in makes me more determined than ever to wait her out. I want my future with Shadow to be something we both freely choose. It feels more important than ever.

Right now, I choose him and this growing attraction between us. I wrap my fingers in Shadow’s towel and tug until it drops free. “We’ll keep it mouth and hands?”

In answer, he bends and tosses me over his shoulder.

I let out a shriek of surprise, then laugh as he carries me to my bedroom and tosses me onto the bed. When I reach for him,he backs away and goes to sit against the headboard of his bed, clearly visible through the connecting door.

“I spent my entire first week living here with a permanent erection.” He strokes his hard dick. “I used to lie here awake and listen to you breathe, imagine you touching yourself while I watched.”

“You did, did you?” I slip a hand under the waistband of my shorts. Thank god for spandex.

“I masturbated in the shower every day, thinking of you.”

I gasp, my whole body tingling as I brush over my sensitive nub.

“Show me,” he growls. “Take off those damned shorts, Kayla.”

I strip those things like I’m trying to win the flipping undressing Olympics. Then I grab my bullet vibrator and flick it to life. I press it over my clit, my hips jumping as pleasure washes through me.

Shadow groans, and I can’t look away from the hand working his dick. He’s the sexiest sight in any world.

It doesn’t take long—we’re both too worked up—and soon he’s yelling my name as I gasp my way through an orgasm.

Weight lands on the bed, startling me, and my eyes snap open to find Shadow lying between my legs.

“Mouth and hands, my wife.” He scrapes his fangs up my inner thigh, making me shiver. “Mouth and hands.”

Then he proves exactly how much pleasure he can give me using only those.

That evening, Naomi teleports into the entryway, her hands buried in Moonlight and Mist’s ruffs. They’re both in their panther forms.

“Hi, guys. Back in a sec with the kittens.” Naomi disappears again.

“Hello, Mother,” Shadow says. “Cousin.”

“Welcome to our home.” I wave toward Victoria.

“Thank you both.” Moonlight’s green eyes assess the house. “I sense magic.” She looks at me. “Your power, only not.”

“Yeah, things are a little complex when it comes to Victoria.” I offer a sheepish smile. “My magic animated her and gave her sentience, but she also has magic of her own.”

“It is a great power you possess.”

I blink a few times, unused to compliments from anyone resembling a parent.