He’d been happy.
Jamison crossed his hands over his chest and closed his eyes. He drew on the stillness he’d learned deep in drug-induced dreams, looking for the center of calm that nothing could breach.
He found the beast right where he’d left it. The beast had terrified Jamison the first time, and he’d been convinced he’d been put under a spell or cursed by a sorcerer. The Changers in Mexico had explained everything to him. Whatever else they’d done, they’d at least let him understand.
Jamison’s mouth always changed first. His flat human teeth enlarged and elongated, becoming sharp canines, top and bottom. His face pushed forward, his jaw and tongue re-forming to fit the new mouth.
The strangest feeling was the whiskers poking out sharp and hard from the sides of his face.
The mouth took the longest, then the rest of his head followed rapidly. Ears pricked, his hearing sharpened, and his eyes became round and wide. His spine narrowed and lengthened, and claws erupted on his now huge feline feet. He fell to all fours, feeling a long tail twitching behind him.
He wanted to roar but stifled it; there was enough of his own consciousness left to realize what would happen if someone heard a wildcat snarl in Naomi’s bedroom. He lifted his gaze to Naomi, his world now black-and-white, the edges rounded and slightly concave. She stared back at him, her red-lipped mouth open, her blue green eyes wide.
His beautiful, brave lady didn’t scream or faint. She simply gaped at him for a moment then said,
“Jamison, what the f**k?”
TWO
This couldn’t be happening. Naomi stared at the mountain lion that gazed back at her from the middle of her bedroom rug. A mountain lion. In her bedroom.
Jamison Kee had turned from a magnificently nude man into a mountain lion.
He looked back at her with the large dark eyes of a hunting cat, his lips parted to show huge, sharp teeth. She’d never seen a mountain lion this close before—never seen one at all, in fact, except in a zoo or through a pair of strong binoculars. She noted every detail—the light tawny color of his pelt; the black around his muzzle and the tip of his tail; the round, pricked ears; the heavy muscles of his shoulders and chest.
He looked bigger than she thought mountain lions were—his head would reach her chest if she were brave enough to go to him. And his eyes held intelligence. Jamison’s intelligence.
“Jamison,” she whispered.
The mountain lion growled softly. Then its face began to flatten as it rose on its hind legs. The transformation she’d witnessed happened in reverse, and in a few seconds, Jamison stood on his flat feet, naked in front of her.
They stared at each other in dead silence for a full minute. Then, as though to make sure she got the point, Jamison morphed back into the mountain lion.
“Jamison, why are you doing this to me?”
The mountain lion padded toward her. Naomi stood frozen, unable to run, unsure she wanted to run.
She was right, his head came up to her chest. He butted against her like a tabby cat, rumbling in his throat as he stroked his forehead across her br**sts.
Naomi didn’t like how her body flushed with heat, how her ni**les tightened. She tentatively pushed him away, and he turned his head into her hand, rubbing his whiskers against it.
She started to laugh. “That tickles.”
The mountain lion reared up and placed his paws gently on her shoulders. The look in his eyes was almost amused as he swiped a rough tongue across her cheek.
“Jamison.”
The cat morphed back into Jamison. Now she had his tall, naked body against her clothed body. He leaned down and licked her neck, his hot breath sending fire through every nerve. He gently bit where he’d licked.
“Please tell me that was a trick,” she said. “You’re playing a trick on me.”
“No, love. It’s what I am.”
Naomi ran her hand through his warm hair, which had come out of the braid when he’d changed. He lifted his head and looked at her, his dark eyes holding the edge of danger she’d sensed before.
“I can smell you,” he whispered. “So ripe and hot. You’re scared, but you want to f**k me.” She nodded, her breath quick. Her blood was so hot she feared it would boil in her veins. She could smell him as well: aroused male, sweat, and dust.
Jamison pressed his thumbs to the corners of her mouth, opening her to take his deep kiss. He scraped his tongue through her mouth, his teeth catching on her lips.
The kiss in the greenhouse had been tame and tentative. This one contained wild animal strength. He snaked his fingers through her hair, pulling her head back, moving to bite her throat. She arched against him, the small pain of his bite arousing her like crazy.
She felt his penis pressing her abdomen as though Jamison wanted to crawl inside her clothes with her.
He shuddered, mouth closing over her neck, sucking.
Naomi’s br**sts hurt where they rubbed his chest, tips swollen and hot as fire. She pried at her shirt, trying to free herself, and Jamison yanked the shirt off over her head. He made short work of her bra, unsnapping it and tossing it aside, before his hand went to her pants.
Naomi helped him unbutton and unzip, shoving her pants down and then her panties. No slow seduction this time—Jamison could spin out lovemaking for hours, but that careful, sinfully lazy man had disappeared.
He growled, a real, rumbling wildcat growl as his hands went to her naked bu**ocks. The space between her legs was wet, hot, needy. He rubbed his tip there but didn’t enter.
“I’ll try to go slow,” he said. “I don’t know if I can.”
“I don’t care.” She touched his face. “I need you.”
Jamison lifted her, and she eagerly locked her legs around him. He took two steps to the bed, holding her firmly, and then he lowered her to the mattress.
That was the only thing he did gently. He grabbed her ankles and spread her legs, and then climbed on top of her.
She’d craved his warm weight for two years, had fought to forget what it felt like. But as he kissed her, she knew she hadn’t forgotten one fraction of him. She knew every touch, every pressure of him, the smell of his sweat, the heat of his body.
His eyes had changed. His look was fierce, possessive, where years before it had been only loving and tender.
“You’re mine,” he said with another animal growl.
She was too far gone to hear him. “Do me, Jamison. Please. I need you to.” He smiled a triumphant smile. The lion shone out of his eyes as he collapsed onto her and entered her with one fast, tight thrust.