Best Friends (New Species #15)(75)

Now she knew why he’d been jumping. He’d been getting her up to his bed. It half horrified, half impressed her. No person should be able to jump those distances, but he was New Species. And he’d done it with her over his shoulder!

“You could have killed us both, you crazy bastard. What if we’d fallen? What if you’d missed when you were jumping around with me to get up here?”

“I wouldn’t have. You will learn to trust me.”

“No, I won’t. You can’t keep me here. My best friend Mel is going to send Snow to look for me. He’ll rescue me.”

“Snow?” He grinned. “You’re Mary. I heard about you.”

She wasn’t sure if she should be insulted or not by the amused look on his features. “What does that mean? What did Snow say? It had to be him, because he’s the only New Species who’s spent any time with me.”

He leaned closer. “He said you feared Species for no good reason, and they had a tough time getting you to agree to come here. I forgot his wedding was today. I wasn’t going regardless. I don’t like to leave my domain during the day unless I feel like napping in the sun.” He suddenly sat back on his heels and growled. “Snow will look for you. This is a problem.”

“He’ll get me out of here.”

The big lion man snorted. “He might try. But he won’t want to fight me. No one does except Valiant. That’s why they asked me to move here.”

“Valiant?”

“He’s like me.”

Shit. There are two of them? That was a scary concept.

“I’ll have to marry you. That’s the problem.” He suddenly leaned forward and glared, bracing his hands at her sides again. “I won’t wear clothes. And no relatives. I hate humans. I’ll tolerate a few Species, and your Mel can be there, since she’s a mate, but that is it.”

Mary’s mouth hung open in shock. It took her seconds to recover from what he said—and when she did, she was enraged. “I’m not marrying you!”

“I don’t like your tone.”

“I don’t like you, you crazy bastard!”

He snarled loudly and leaned close to her face. His eyes caught the light from the waterfall, and they reminded her that they were an inhuman golden shade. He was a dangerous predator, and she felt like a tiny rabbit.

He grabbed her face, capturing it in his freakishly large hands. His fangs peeked out. It made her realize he could tear her apart if he wanted to, break her bones as if they were twigs, and use those sharp teeth to bite deep into her flesh.

Terror shot through her, and she whimpered.

He studied her, and his nostrils flared. “Don’t,” he snarled.

She got the message. It was bad to insult him and call him names. “I’m sorry,” she got out.

“No, you aren’t. You meant your words to be harsh. Don’t fear me.” His hand caressed her cheek. “You’re mine, Mary. You could make me killing mad, but I will never draw your blood or cause you pain. Do you understand?”

She didn’t believe him. He still looked prepared to attack.

He leaned in closer, until their noses nearly touched, his gaze locked with hers. “You’re my mate. It means you can hit me, bite me, and say cruel things…but I will suffer it because you’re mine. You can’t physically harm me, so I’d never strike you to protect myself. It doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy you using your words and bad attitude to hurt my feelings. I won’t. The only punishment I’ll ever give you is the kind we’ll both enjoy.”

She wasn’t shocked he’d used the mate word, since he’d already announced he was going to marry her. But his version of punishment was a mystery. “What does that mean?”

He glanced down her body before meeting her gaze again. “I’ll lick you until you are ready to come, then back off.” He paused. “I will keep doing it until you beg me to mount you. That’s going to be agony for us both, because your taste makes me want to be inside you. I’ll have to resist, but I will, until you stop being cruel to me.” His tone softened. “Don’t fear me, Mary. The only way you’ll ever see me kill or maim someone is if they try to take you away from me.”

He stroked her cheek, her jawline, and even played with her hair. He settled his body against her side. She couldn’t miss the hard-on he sported, since it was resting against her hip. That didn’t surprise her, but the way he started purring again did. He rubbed up against her, reminding her of a house cat.

“What are you doing?”

“Calming your fear. Am I less threatening now? I don’t want you afraid of me, Mary. There’s no reason to be.”

It was almost sweet. He stopped playing with her hair, and his hand lowered to her stomach. He gently petted her from ribs to hip, stroking her. She half expected him to inch that hand lower to seduce her again, but he didn’t. He just watched her with those golden eyes of his and kept purring, rubbing his body gently against her side and stroking her skin.

She had to admit, it worked. Her fear of him faded.

“Animals tend to attack me.”

He smiled. “I heard. But I am not completely lion.”

She was right. He was a lion man. “I have a long history of being attacked by normally friendly pets.”