The next item on her agenda was something to eat. She let the towel on her head drop to the floor and finger-combined her dark locks. After quickly brushing her teeth to remove the bad taste of old blood from her mouth, she exited the bath and immediately came to a halt.
“What are you doing here?”
“My Queen.” Jorlan lay sprawled on his side, his bare body on display. Under her watchful gaze, he languidly rolled to his back and stretched before rising to his feet. She couldn’t help but notice the roped muscles that gathered and released as he prowled toward her. She’d never seen Jorlan as a sexual being but suddenly she couldn’t pull her eyes away from him.
“I’m not a queen,” she reminded him for the umpteenth time. Queens were Felini females who’d been through their first estrous and had produced a litter. She’d done neither. Just one of the many ways she’d failed her Pride.
“You’ve been naughty, my queen. You’re not wearing your contacts. I’ve been waiting for hours and never saw you enter. Did you go poof? Bad girl.” He stalked around her in ever tightening circles. “In spite of your dreadfully long shower, you reek of vamp. Crossed over to the dark side, hmm? How wonderfully delightful.”
Not up for his antics, she sighed. “What do you want, Jorlan?”
Coming to a halt behind her, he leaned in close and ran his nose down the side of her neck. “I was concerned when you didn’t return.” It was unlike her to be gone all night and they both knew it. “I was sent to make sure you were okay.”
Reyna knew the truth. Jorlan was both her watcher and her protector. He’d made the suggestion and the others had agreed. “As you can see, I’m fine. You can tell the others, as if they’d care.” She made to walk off.
“Not so quick, my pretty kitty.” He gripped the back of her towel.
The material pulled, gaping dangerously in the front to expose a large amount of skin. Another step and it would unravel in his hand. Reyna halted, holding the front to keep it from sliding off, and fighting off the shiver his touch caused. What was wrong with her?
“What?” She almost snarled it.
In a more serious tone he asked, “Where were you last night?”
“The Gladiator.” If she didn’t tell him what he wanted to know, Jorlan would badger her until he pried it out of her. Reyna simply wasn’t in the mood to go round and round with him, knowing she’d eventually lose. Even at her best, she couldn’t win with Jorlan and she was nowhere near top fighting form.
“Vamp territory.” He leaned in closer and sniffed the other side of her neck. Then lifting a finger, he touched the bruise. “You’ve been marked. Who claimed you?”
“No one.” Her hands rose self-consciously to cover the bite marks as she took a step forward. His heated breath on the sensitive skin caused her nipples to pucker. Deeply disturbed, she had difficulty keeping track of the conversation. All she wanted to do was get away.
Jorlan’s grip tightened and he tugged her back. The message was clear. Stand still or lose the towel. “You’ve been bagged and tagged, sweetie. Denial will get you nothing. Who was it?”
“I don’t know. Some guy I was dancing with.” Like a broken bottle, the tale of last night’s adventures all poured out. “There was this music with a driving, pounding, get under your skin beat. Then he started chanting. I didn’t understand the words, but something happened to me. Then he bit me and…and…the rest is hazy, a big blur.”
Jorlan muttered something she didn’t catch. “I smell blood. Let me see.” He pushed her over to the bed. “Lie down.”
Reyna surrendered to the inevitable and did as he commanded, loosening the towel and allowing him to pull it free as she lay down on her stomach. The first swipe of his tongue caused her to jump.
“Be still! Your back is shredded. He must have raked you with his claws. ”
Jorlan settled against her, his muscular thighs caging her body. She knew the enzymes in his saliva would speed the healing process. As he moved down her body, she felt the weight of his balls and flaccid penis dragging against the tender skin of her inner thigh, and something in her stirred in response.
“What did he look like?” Jorlan was all business now.
“I don’t know.”
A pause. Then a dubious, “How can you not know?”
Reyna tried to explain. “I was trying to leave. You know how I feel about vampyrs. I only gave in because he insisted, and I’d promised the girls I’d stay an hour. It wasn’t quite time for me to escape so I danced with him but refused to look at him.”
“Or get his name,” he stated wryly.
“You didn’t think I’d actually speak to him, did you?” He knew how she felt about the vampyr.
Jorlan sighed but let the topic drop. Continuing with his healing mission, his tongue reached her buttocks. Reyna bit back a moan but couldn’t stop herself from arching into the moist caress. Jorlan hesitated and her heart beat heavily. Please, please, don’t let him say anything, she thought. Finally, he moved on to the other side.
He nudged Reyna until she rolled over onto her back, kneed her legs apart, and settled between her spread thighs. He put his nose right against her sex and sniffed, then rose on his forearms to look at her. “You’re aroused.”
“No, I can’t be.” Everyone knew she hadn’t felt real arousal since her failed Firestorm. It was a constant source of shame.
Jorlan nodded toward her sex. “This says you are.” He shot out his tongue and licked her from anus to clit.
“Jorlan!” Her back arched and she cried out at the surprising maneuver.
He raised slitted eyes to meet her wide, shocked ones. “I taste your cream. Have you shifted?”
“You know I can’t.” The first shift is what brought on a female Felini’s first estrous—her breeding cycle. At the age of almost thirty, she should have at the very least been on her third one by now and she’d never had the first.
“This says you can.” He licked her again, giving her clit an extra swirl.
Her back bowed up off the bed again as fire streaked up her spine. “Jorlan, stop!”
She tried to clamp her legs together and push his head away. Using his greater strength, Jorlan pressed her thighs down to the mattress. He braced his forearms on them to hold her open and used his hands to pin her wrists to the bed. The expression on his face was calculating. “I don’t think so, my queen. Besides, your sex looks raw and painful. It’s my duty as your self-appointed keeper to heal it.”
He lowered his head and she tensed. At the first touch of his tongue she tried to buck him off. He was too strong. The slightly rough texture of his tongue stung as he licked her like a cat cleaning its fur. It felt good, too good.
Reyna heard herself begging and pleading with him to stop, and threatening to castrate him if he did. Claws shot from her fingertips and she felt like lava raced through her veins, heating her from head-to-toe. Her muscles seized and tightened one by one as something moved beneath the surface of her skin. Even her joints ached.
“Jorlan!” she cried out, panicked.
“Let it out,” he commanded. He lapped harder, concentrating on her clit. Her body undulated beneath him without her conscious control. She screamed and it didn’t sound human.
There was a ripping sound and foam and fibers floated in the air beside them as she shredded the mattress and sheets with her claws. Her skin rippled and her stomach knotted as her body jackknifed. Her vision darkened as the thing in her burst free.
Her spine twisted and she kicked out with her feet, landing on all fours. Reyna snarled her fury as her tail whipped around her body. She crouched, preparing to launch herself at him, and Jorlan shifted quickly and landed on the floor beside her before she could attack him.
I burn, she complained.
Your estrous is beginning.
He bumped his head against her flank, and she twirled around and slapped him with her paw. He coughed at her in warning. She snarled and pounced, and they went down in a tangle of fur and paws, not stopping until he pinned her, his teeth locked in the back of her neck, endangering her spine.
Reyna relaxed beneath him and purred her pleasure. Jorlan released her and slowly backed away. He’d dominated her and proved himself worthy. This was a male who’d give her healthy, strong cubs. She crouched, rear high in the air, presenting herself for mounting, tail twitching and body quivering with need.