Chapter 4
Griffin
She stared at me with guileless eyes, her face patient and waiting. My heart squeezed as if she’d reached inside me and clenched it in her fist. Her hair rested around her small face, the same color as her onyx pelt . . . from her animal form.
A panther.
I gritted my teeth, still grappling with what I had seen.
I’d officially lost my mind. Some sick hallucination .
. . but that didn’t explain everything else, which brought me to my other option.
Everything that happened until now wasn’t a deluded manifestation of being poisoned.
If this was real, if she was real, then I’d fallen into a different world.
I scrubbed the back of my neck with my palm.
She stared up at me, her lips puckered as she waited for me to speak, her eyes wide.
After chasing her off, I’d continued to battle with the urge to turn back around where I’d left her. The urge was foreign and insistent. Even now, I wanted nothing more than to grab her.
Something abnormal was happening, and I couldn’t fight it. I didn’t want to.
“What’s your name?”
“Name?” She enunciated the word, drawing out the vowel. “What is name?” Every word she’d had an almost hesitant edge.
Fuck, she was cute.
“I’m Griffin,” I carefully enunciated, motioning toward myself emphatically.
“Grif-fin.” Her lips moved carefully around my name. I motioned to her next. She nodded, her eyes narrowed. “Beast.” She pointed at her chest.
The corners of my lips twitched. “That’s what you are.” I did the same motion. “Human.”
She cocked her head, and the long black hair fell over her shoulders in a waterfall, shimmering like her pelt. Thick eyelashes framed her unique golden eyes. When the moon caught them, they glowed.
“My kin title,” she suddenly blurted, nodding as if finally understanding. “Soleil.”
“Soleil,” I said, the name rolling off my tongue like it was always meant to. She felt right. “The tiger. Is it like you, a Beast?”
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head, her lip curling up disgustedly. “No, my territory.”
She could have killed me multiple times over, and she didn’t. But that wasn’t what had been haunting me.
No, that was because of how I was feeling. Fucking emotions. There weren’t many people I loved—my family, to be specific—so I knew how those softer emotions felt. But the love that she wrought from me was amplified, and with the sexual aspect stacked on top, it left me on edge.
Partially because I was in the middle of nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the Zonu Rainforest. This place was different. I’d been here longer than a day, and the sun hadn’t risen. Then there were the two moons.
“Are there any others of your kind out here?” I stayed still, not breathing, waiting for her response.
“Yes.” She cocked her head.
“Will they come here?” Would they take you away from me?
She shook her head.
“Are you okay?” I asked, giving in to the urge.
She cocked her head in that cute, heart melting way. I flexed my stiffened hands and rubbed my fingertips into her skin. I’d never been the touchy sort. Quite the opposite.
There had to be truth in what she’d been saying. About being ‘mates’. It was such an odd statement, but nothing that had been happening was normal. I gave in and cupped the side of her face, running my thumb along her high cheekbone.
A low thrum accompanied by vibrations started in her chest. She was purring . . . like a fucking cat.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. Why was warmth spawning in my stomach? I smoothed my palm down the back of her head. She nestled closer against me like she was trying to get inside my skin, and fuck if I didn’t want it too.
She climbed onto my lap, her woodsy scent clinging to her.
Wholly hers. I inhaled harshly, turning my head into her hair.
A flutter, a foreign, strange feeling started in my gut.
Holding her in my arms was right. I flexed them around her, as if I could fuse her to me.
That was the best way I could describe being near her.
I would have her crawl inside me if I could.
Goose bumps rose along her arms. She’d been living out here, cold, alone . . . I gritted my teeth, a swell of protectiveness urging me to get her home, to get her comfortable.
“We have to head north.” Determination to get her safe had me by the balls.
“North?” She pulled back and cocked her head.
I swept my gaze around and pointed in the right direction. She wouldn’t have been able to see from here because of the thick, compact foliage. “To that damned tree.”
She growled. She seemed to know exactly what I was talking about.
“You want to leave Jungle,” she spat in accusation.
I grunted my affirmation.
Her upper lip curled. “Fine,” she hissed, suddenly stiffening.
Instinctively, I wrapped my arm around her waist, keeping her pinned against me. She writhed and hissed but didn’t budge. Soleil could kill me as a panther, but like this, she was weaker. She continued to thrash, trying to leave.
Panic set in and tightened around my neck. It was a sudden searing sensation that refused to let go. She can’t leave me.
“Soleil,” I snapped.
She stopped writhing and stared at me, anger clear in her eyes. “Free me.”
The bridge of her nose remained bunched cutely. I didn’t know how or why, but I wouldn’t be parted from her. Once we returned home, we could figure it out.
I grabbed her suddenly, pulling her closer, and kissed her. I plunged into her mouth, claiming it with thrusts while she remained frozen, her body becoming limp. Her tongue curled around mine hesitantly, the rough texture shocking me. It was different. Very fucking different, but somehow better.
Her movements remained brash and unskilled. She hadn’t kissed before. If she’d been out here the entire time, she likely hasn’t fucked before me either.
There was only one way to take that. I exhaled, relieved. My cock throbbed at the thought of her being purely mine. It was hypocritical to want her to only be mine when I fucked my share of women, but the thought of her writhing over another man like she did to me made me want to kill things.
I surfaced to breathe, my heart thundering in my ears. “You’re coming with me,” I ordered, breathless.
Her smile bloomed, and my heart skipped a beat. “I will.”
I was fucked because I liked the sound of that.
Swiping my thumb across her lower lip, I lifted her face. Her high cheekbones made her look like a wild princess.
What has she done to me?
The thought of not having her within sight was crippling. Even though I didn’t know how she would fit in, I didn’t care. I’d take care of her. I cupped her face and pecked her damp lips.
“Let’s go.”
“No eat?” She suddenly lifted the dead rabbit. Blood dripped onto the ground. Her hopeful look made me want to take a bite of the freshly killed animal.
“Not right now,” I said and slid my fingers into her hair, rubbing them against her scalp.
A purr started in her chest, and she leaned into my hand. Heat pulsed in my chest. She was a beauty.
The initial urge to run off with her abated. I slid my palm lower on her waist, grazing the side of her ribcage, behind the mass of long hair that reached her ass. My fingertips grazed wet gashes, and I froze.
“You’re hurt.”
It was too dark to see the crimson I could feel on my hand.
Her steady stare would have unnerved a lesser man. I kept one hand on her hip, keeping her perched on my thigh, and reached for the slim backpack I’d leaned against the side of the boulder I’d perched on.
I flipped the top flap and rifled inside.
My excursion was only supposed to take a few hours at most, which was why I hadn’t brought more for my journey.
I’d been rationing my granola bars, but I was down to one, and I pulled it out.
The wrapper crinkled as I made quick work of unwrapping it, binding it around the base of the bar. I held it out to her.
She cocked her head, staring from me to the nutty bar. “Eat,” I ordered gruffly.
My stomach pinched, but I didn’t pay it any mind. I’d survived worse. My eyes snagged on the rabbit, and my stomach cramped again. I was going to have to set up camp to tend to her wound and eat. I couldn’t risk weakening. Her palpable excitement when she brought me the rabbit flashed forward.
Without wasting another second, I lifted her and set her on the boulder. I crouched next to the pack and pulled out the slim material I’d been sleeping on to protect my body, then pulled out a lighter.
Peeking over at her, I found her engrossed. She had the granola bar raised, her eyes squinting at it. She leaned in and sniffed.
I stopped my smile from stretching any further. Focus.
In quick succession, I had a space cleared and stretched out the water-resistant fabric. Collecting surrounding foliage, I gathered it on the dirt ground. When I looked at her again, she had crumbs on her chin, and her eyes were wide and bright.
“More,” she ordered, holding her hand out.
I actively forced myself not to look down at her bouncing breasts. The tight, sexy flesh was a sinful temptation. I ripped my attention away, reached inside the pack, then grabbed the knife and the water left in my canister. It was less than half since I’d been rationing it.
“I don’t have anymore.” I couldn’t bite back the frustration. “But I’ll start the rabbit so you can eat after I dress your wound.” I swept up the rabbit by the limp leg and stepped a bit away to skin it. She kept watching me, her focus so intense it made the hair on the back of my neck stand.
Fleshy, bloody meat was exposed as I stripped away the fur.
I stretched the meat over the boulder and sliced diagonally to chop off the hindquarter.
I slid a stick through the meat and speared it into the ground right where the small flames flickered.
Brushing my hands off on my thighs, I returned to her where she watched me, her legs pressed together, palms stretched behind her on the boulder.
“Lean forward,” I urged, clasping her shoulder, to guide her to expose the injury. The long, limber line of her back stretched, as did the torn flesh on her back. I could have sworn that was larger.
I ran my fingertips close to the edge, keeping a distance away. She rumbled and her back undulated.
“Fuck, I have to wash it out. We need antibiotics,” I muttered to myself. The second part was key, because even if I washed it out, the elements surrounding her could cause an infection.
She didn’t move, letting me eye and prod the wound. I grabbed the water I had left and trickled some on it. She hissed and stiffened. As I watched, holding her shoulder still, blood trickled away. Was it becoming smaller?
I sucked in a breath. It was.
She let out a deep, annoyed growl and slid out from under my touch. “You’re healing?” Shock and amazement seeped into my tone. I carefully placed the bit of water left on the ground.
“Yes,” she frowned, then rubbed her arm.
Before I could yank my coat off, she shifted, her body stretching and morphing so quickly that with my next blink she stood as her panther.
She chittered and rubbed her face against the side of my leg.
Fuck the rabbit thigh is burning. I hurried over and crouched to turn it.
Soleil leaned against my side, sending me onto my ass on the rustling fabric I slept on.
She took advantage and stretched a paw over my leg, her chest vibrating with purring.
“After we eat, we’ll head to the tree.” And get her to safety. To home.