Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Marna wasn’t prepared for the lick of fire that seemed to ignite within her body when Tanner kissed her. Part of her knew that she should shove him away, but her hands weren’t listening to that part. Instead, her hands were wrapping around his broad shoulders and pulling him closer.
She’d never kissed a man…until him. Death angels didn’t kiss. They didn’t caress. They only touched to kill.
For her kind, what was the point of touching? Angels didn’t yearn. They didn’t need. They didn’t lust.
At least, they didn’t until they fell. Then all of the human emotions and needs slammed into them.
Lust. She was sure lusting right then.
Tanner had been the first man to kiss her, and when she’d felt that initial touch of his lips against hers, she’d wanted more.
“Don’t be afraid of me,” he rasped against her mouth.
She wasn’t. Her nipples were so tight they ached, and her body was rubbing against him because she felt so…restless.
Need him.
“Kiss me back.” Tanner’s rough order.
Her tongue moved against his. Her lips opened wider, and she tasted the shifter.
Her legs were parted, and she could feel the heavy press of his erection against her. Tanner wanted her. Maybe that should have scared her. It didn’t. It made her feel powerful . Sexy. She’d never felt sexy before. But Tanner wanted her, so she had to be sexy to him.
His hand flattened over her stomach. The ache between her legs grew sharper, and Marna lifted her hips up against him. His fingers—a little rough, so strong—rose and covered her bra.
She didn’t want him touching the bra. Marna wanted his hands on her breasts.
His mouth. What would it feel like if he licked her nipple? Sucked the aching tip?
Her heart was racing, her body quivering, and she knew this was wrong. She should stop but humans enjoyed sex so much. They lied, stole, even killed for their fleeting pleasure.
She’d never tasted pleasure. She knew too much about pain.
I want my taste.
Growing bolder, Marna sucked against his lower lip. Tanner growled. She liked it when he growled. The sound was wild, and that was just the way he made her feel.
Her nails dug into his shoulders.
Then his hand was sliding beneath her bra, and his fingers stroked her tight nipple. The first touch of his hand had her hissing out a breath.
Tanner stilled.
The drumming of Marna’s heartbeat echoed in her ears. Tanner lifted his head. She could see the power of his beast reflected in his eyes. His face was harder, sharper, and there was no missing his lust.
For me.
“I want…” Were those words really hers? That husky, hungry voice—hers? Yes. “I want your mouth on me.”
His pupils expanded. “Baby, all you had to do was ask.” Then his dark head lowered. His breath rasped over one eager breast and then she felt?—
His tongue. Sliding over the nipple. Easing over the peak. Her heels dug into the mattress even as a ragged moan escaped from her. A hot current seemed to streak from her breast to her sex. She was aching, empty, and her hips tilted up so she could better rub her sex against his cock.
The friction just intensified the ache. Pleasure waited, tempting her, just out of reach.
He sucked her nipple. Scored her flesh with his teeth.
The ache built. Her eyes squeezed shut. She couldn’t seem to draw in a deep breath.
Then he began to stroke her other breast. The sensual touch had her jerking beneath him, and she realized that her panties were wet.
“So damn beautiful.”
His growled words made her eyes open. She’d never thought about beauty much before. Yet he made her feel beautiful.
Feeling beautiful—that just wasn’t enough. Her body seemed too hot, her heart raced too fast, and she wanted the pleasure that was so close.
Her hands slid over his chest. Her touch was slower than his had been. Far less certain. But as she touched him, his body stiffened against her, the muscles clenching.
“You should…be careful.” His voice barely sounded human as he gritted out, “Shifters…aren’t known for their control.”
She was already losing her own control. What did it matter? “I want to know…” Marna stopped. She wasn’t sure what to say. Pleasure? Sex? Was that what she wanted? Did she just want to know what it felt like?
He wasn’t a safe test for her. She should find someone else. Someone who was not a shifter. Someone who wasn’t the brother of the bastard who’d hurt her so badly before.
Tanner isn’t like him.
Tanner’s hand eased down her body. She expected him to rip away her panties. Weren’t shifters supposed to be savage and uncontrolled like that?
But he didn’t rip them away. He slowly eased down the silk. Silk he’d bought. His mouth kissed its way from her belly button on down to?—
Her breath caught in her throat. His fingers were between her legs, parting her to him, and his mouth— Tanner’s mouth —was on her sensitive core. His tongue swiped over her, and her hips jerked as if an electric shock had jolted her.
Again.
She’d whispered the word. But she realized she didn’t have to tell him. Tanner was licking her. Kissing her. Tasting her with his tongue even as his finger slid into her body. The pleasure might have been out of her reach before, but right then it was so close.
His tongue swiped over her aching core again. Then his mouth was working feverishly on her clit and he sucked?—
Marna screamed when the climax hit her. An explosion of pleasure shook her whole body. It went on and on, and the room actually seemed to dim around her.
Nothing, nothing had ever been like this. So good. So consuming.
So much… pleasure.
Marna realized her hands were fisted in Tanner’s dark hair. Her thighs were trembling, and her breath heaved out. She forced her fingers to unclench. Forced herself to suck in more air for her starving lungs.
Tanner’s head lifted. His eyes were shining as he stared at her—and he licked his lips.
Her sex clenched.
“I love the way you taste.” His voice was so deep and dark.
She couldn’t speak. Had she shouted before? Screamed in pleasure?
Maybe.
“I could eat you up.”
Her heart lurched.
His gaze dropped to her sex once more. He swallowed. “Want…”
She still wanted him. She’d come, erupted, but Marna wanted Tanner inside of her.
And he was—he was pulling away? Why? This wasn’t the way things worked, at least not for humans. “Tanner?”
He rose beside the bed and stood with his back to her. She saw the heavy marks on his skin. Marks she hadn’t even noticed before. Long, twisting scars that cut deep into his flesh. Scars that curled out from his back, wrapped around his sides and?—
He turned to glance back at her.
Her gaze locked on the scars that cut across his stomach. Sunlight shot through the window, so there was no hiding the scars. But then, Tanner wasn’t trying to hide the marks.
She was the one who hid her scars.
“That was…” His hands were clenched. “You haven’t been with a man before, have you?”
Why lie? Oh, right, she couldn’t. “You’re my first.”
A shudder worked over him, and his fists whitened. “I could tell. Your response…the way you came for me.” His breath heaved out. “Beautiful.”
Her thighs were still shaking. And her shifter—he was turning and walking away. “Why? Why are you leaving me?”
His hand lifted and his fingers curled around the door frame. She could see the edge of his claws breaking through the skin of his fingertips. He dug those claws into the wood, and Marna swallowed.
“You aren’t ready for what I’ll do to you.”
Were his words supposed to be a threat? Or a promise?
“First times aren’t meant for shifters.” He wasn’t looking at her. His claws dug deeper into the doorframe. “We’re too rough. Too wild.” His laugh was bitter. “Especially for an angel.”
Marna grabbed for the covers and pulled them around her body. She hadn’t known a need for modesty, until she fell. “So what was…that?” Him, kissing her, touching her, tasting her?
“It was me being fucking starving for you.” His claws had carved deep grooves into the wood. “And realizing how dangerous I can be to you.”
She rose from the bed. Marna wrapped the sheet around her and headed toward him. “I don’t think you are.” When had things changed for her? She could see his claws. His scars.
Doesn’t matter.
He was a shifter, and he was the man who’d given her a taste of paradise on earth. Not wild. Not dangerous.
Perfect pleasure.
She leaned forward and brushed her lips over a scar that twisted the skin of his back.
Her lips had barely skimmed over his scar when he whirled to face her. “Don’t.”
“I want to.” She wanted to kiss and touch more of him. He’d had his chance. Wasn’t it her turn now?
“You don’t understand.” He gently pushed her back. Took a step away from her as if he needed extra distance. His nostrils flared. “If I take you, there’ll be no going back for you. For me.”
Marna shook her head. “What does it matter? Humans have sex all the time.”
“I’m not human.”
She stared at him.
“Neither are you.”
His full cock pressed against the front of his jeans. He was that aroused, and still telling her no?
“Panthers,” he spoke slowly, “we’re territorial. When something is ours, it’s ours. Nothing, no one, takes what belongs to us.” He retreated another step away from her. “We’re vicious, deadly, and the worst nightmares that most folks have ever seen.”
Marna didn’t know what to say. It was true that the only nightmares she’d had since being on earth had been about panthers. Their claws and bloodlust. But now…
“For your first time, you don’t want that.”
She wanted him.
“If I have much more of you…” His eyes burned. His fangs elongated. His face—he was changing. Shifting. “I won’t ever let you go.”
He rushed away from her. Marna chased after him. He was shifting before her eyes. His bones snapped, his body contorted, and he hit the landing below with a thud.
“Tanner!”
His head turned, and he stared back up at her. “Don’t…watch.” Gravel-rough.
But she couldn’t look away. Fur burst along his skin—perfect, black fur that lined his body. His eyes glowed, growing brighter, brighter, and the man that he’d been vanished as the beast took his place.
The panther was huge. Muscled and lethal. She’d never seen a more powerful killing machine. When he opened his mouth and roared, his razor-sharp teeth glinted. His claws, sharp enough to rip a man to shreds, flashed as he threw up his front legs.
How much of the man still remained inside of the beast? Marna crept slowly down the stairs as the end of the sheet trailed behind her like a bride’s wedding dress. Her hand slid down the wooden banister.
He roared again.
Her panther was very, very angry.
But he wasn’t attacking her. Wasn’t even trying to come close. Instead, as she neared the bottom of the steps, he spun away and lunged toward the back of the house.
“Tanner, wait!” She rushed after him, but the panther leapt through a picture window. Glass shattered, raining down, and the panther hurtled toward the woods that waited just behind the old house.
He didn’t look back.
She didn’t call out to him again.
He was an idiot. Tanner ran through the woods until his beast had settled down. Until the wild hunger for Marna eased. Until he could breathe without tasting her.
Fucking. Idiot.
He shifted back into the form of a man and his hands dug into the earth. He’d had her beneath him. Been ready to thrust deep into her silken core, and he’d stopped.
Pulling back hadn’t been the panther’s plan. The beast had snarled and fought him, desperate for more of Marna. He’d never had a shift come on him so suddenly.
The panther didn’t like being denied what was his.
And the beast definitely thought of Marna that way.
Mine.
He’d tried to warn her. Once he’d realized— her first, her only— he’d tried to let her know the danger that faced her. Tanner wasn’t the sharing sort, and if he had that silken body, no one else would get near her.
Was she ready for the full force of his lust? The dark needs that he had? Could an angel even begin to understand what he’d want from her?
Tanner rose to his feet and began to stalk back through the woods. He owned over fifteen acres here. Plenty of room for the panther to run without worrying about prying eyes.
He’d been gentle before. Did she realize the battle he’d fought? He’d shown her only the softest of touches. Given her only a glimpse of what could be.
All the while, the panther had clawed and fought inside of him. Take. Take.
The beast recognized Marna for what she was. Oh, it wasn’t some predestined, our-souls-are-meant-as-one bullshit. He didn’t believe in that crap.
It was chemical. Physical. The panther scenting a female that could be a genetic match for him. A female strong enough to carry his offspring.
An angel and a shifter? Insane. The last blend like that had ended up producing his fucked-up brother Brandt.
But…
He wanted Marna. He ached for her. He dreamed of her at night.
He hungered for her.
Mate.
If he took her, the panther would claim her as a mate. Then there’d be no turning back, not for either of them.
He reached the shed he’d built in the middle of his property and found the backup clothes he kept when he needed to run. He yanked up the jeans and jerked on the shirt, covering his scars.
She’d actually kissed a scar on his back. He’d carried the wounds for so long. He didn’t think about them much anymore.
His father had been a sadistic bastard.
I won’t be like him.
Tanner left the shed. He’d taken just a few steps when the scent hit him. Then he realized just what a fatal mistake he’d made.
No, no . He broke into a run as he raced back for the main house.
There was no mistaking the scent in the air—male, human, familiar. This was the last thing he needed. With Marna alone there…
Fucking disastrous.
His legs burned as he raced faster, faster?—
He could see the house.
And he could see the human who was climbing into his broken window.
What. The. Hell?
“Jonathan!” Tanner’s voice rang out and sent birds scattering from the nearby trees.
His partner froze, then glanced slowly back over his shoulder. Jonathan’s eyes were narrowed, and he had his gun in his hand.
Tanner hoped the human didn’t get trigger happy again this time. Tanner lifted his hands to show that he was unarmed. “Easy there, partner.”
Jonathan lowered his weapon. “You’ve had a break-in.”
No. A breakout. The cop should have noticed that the glass had fallen the wrong way. Shoddy investigative work. “No.” Tanner offered him a slightly embarrassed grin. “Just a little accident.” He hoped the man hadn’t called for backup. Talk about having to deal with a pain in his ass.
“Your front door looked damaged, too.” Jonathan had lowered the gun, but he hadn’t holstered the weapon. Interesting. “That’s why I came around back.”
Tanner shrugged. “I’m doing some home repairs.” He put his hands on his hips. “Sometimes, they don’t go as well as I’d like.” He couldn’t hear anything from inside the house. Good. As long as Marna stayed quiet, they were golden.
But if his angel decided to come out…
I don’t want to hurt him.
Too bad he’d spent his life doing things that he didn’t really want to do.
Jonathan gave a low laugh. “Yeah, man, I guess they don’t.” Finally, finally, the human holstered his weapon. “Look, I came by because we need to talk.” His partner folded his arms over his chest. “I know you think I overreacted?—”
Overreacted? Jonathan needed to try the hell again. “You shot her.” That fact still pissed him off. Tanner kept his hands down. The better not to punch the jerk again. Breaking in a new partner sucked. Especially when the partner was human, and Tanner had to constantly watch his step with the fellow.
“She was a suspected killer,” Jonathan defended himself. “Coming at me with a weapon?—”
“A table leg.” The anger broke through his voice. “She had a table leg, not a gun. We could have taken her down without lethal force.”
“Maybe.” Jonathan’s shoulders straightened. “If she’d been human.”
Oh, the fuck, no. The guy knew? With an effort, Tanner kept his face blank.
“Since she wasn’t human, since I’d dealt with her kind before, I knew we’d both be safer if I took the shot.” Jonathan rubbed his discolored jaw. Tanner had perfect vision in the dark, so it was easy to see the damn vivid purple bruising. “I figured the punch and a mild concussion were worth saving our asses.”
You didn’t save us. Tanner kept his voice mild, yanking back the anger now. “Uh, partner, I think you might have hit your head harder than anyone thought when you fell. Have you, um, been talking to the department shrink about the non-humans out there?”
Jonathan’s lips tightened. “Her body vanished from the morgue. The doctor who was treating her? He’s vanished, too.”
No, Cody had just headed back to his home in the swamp. He’d done his job and gone back to his life.
“They probably just misplaced her.” Tanner strode toward the front of the house. Time to get Jonathan off his property. “Bodies don’t just vanish. They put the wrong toe tag on her. She’ll turn up.” A story he’d used before. And eventually, Marna Smith’s remains would turn up. The ashes they were gonna use for her should be ready pretty soon.
Only, Jonathan didn’t seem to be buying his story. “Why are you pretending? I know about you.” The guy was following him. Good.
Tanner just kept walking. It figured he’d get partnered up with the one human cop who thought he knew the score in New Orleans. Keeping his voice bland, Tanner replied, “You know I’m a cop, big deal. That’s pretty obvious to all the uniforms at the precinct.”
“I know you’re a shifter.”
Tanner laughed and tossed a glance over his shoulder. “A what? Man, you’re crazy.”
“Why do you think I asked to be partnered with you? I. Know.”
They were at the front of the house now. Tanner pointed toward the street and the waiting black truck. “I think you need to go home and have yourself a real, nice long sleep.” He offered a smile, one he knew held a hard edge. “When you wake up, I bet the monsters will be all gone.”
Jonathan didn’t move.
Sighing, Tanner looked at him, and he found the human staring up at the second floor of the house. At the open window.
“Time for you to leave,” Tanner stated flatly. He’d about exhausted his quota of friendliness for the month.
Jonathan continued to look up at that window. Fine. Tanner would give the human some help. Tanner slapped his hand down on Jonathan’s shoulder. “This way.” He pushed him toward the truck.
Jonathan’s lips thinned, but he didn’t fight, not anymore. He climbed into the truck. Cranked the engine, then asked, “Don’t you want me to tell you…how I know about you?”
“Since you’re spouting bullshit, I don’t really?—”
“I saw you shift. Two years ago, way back on the Highland case.”
Tanner remembered that case. Like he’d ever forget it. The husband had flipped out on his wife. Trapped her and the kids inside the house. Set the whole place on fire around them. The flames had been so high that the cops at the scene hadn’t been able to get inside the home. The fire trucks had been too far away, and they’d all been afraid that Thomas Highland would kill his family before help could arrive.
So Tanner hadn’t waited for help. He’d gone behind the house. Shifted, and jumped right over those flames. He’d thought no one had seen him. He’d been so careful.
Not careful enough.
“You did a pretty good job of setting the scene. The wife and kids were hysterical, and with all the smoke, they didn’t really even know what they saw.” Jonathan’s fingers drummed on the steering wheel. “And you sliced the perp’s throat wide open.”
Claws were good for that task.
“Then you put the guy’s knife in his hand, to make sure it looked like he’d offed himself.”
Tanner just shook his head. “That’s a real good imagination you’ve got there.”
“I saw you. I saw it all.” Jonathan’s fingers stopped tapping. “And I’ve kept your secret all this time. So cut the crap, man, and start dealing straight with me.” The engine revved. “We both know the hell that’s hiding in this town. I can help you, but you gotta start trusting me.”
Then Jonathan was gone. Racing away with a flash of his taillights and a roar of his engine.
Tanner waited until he was sure that the human was good and gone, then he headed back for the house. He’d have to deal with his partner later, no getting around that, but for now, he had something more important waiting.
Someone.
Once inside, he strode up the stairs. “Marna!” The house was tomb quiet. Her scent hung lightly in the air.
Too lightly.
Inhaling, Tanner swore and raced up the rest of the stairs. He shouted, “Marna!” once more, but he already knew the truth.
He shouldn’t have worried so much about Jonathan getting in the house and finding Marna. Actually, he shouldn’t have worried about that at all.
His angel was gone.