A Lost Kitten (21 page)

“I’m sorry,” he spoke over her moving lips. “I’m so sorry.” His voice cracked.

Jasira paused in her kiss.

“I learned when the attack occurred.” His heartfelt emotions sounded in his voice. “I wish I had been older. Had I been of age, had I known what was happening to you, I swear I would have left everything and rushed to your side. I would have faced the Terrorshans and kept you safe.”

John tried to grip Jasira’s shoulders. His fingers curved and opened. He desperately wanted to hold her and never let go. Alas, there was nothing to grasp but warm air.

“I never would have let them hurt you.” He made two fists and placed them at his sides. Annoying tears blurred his vision. “I never would have let them take you from me.”

Jasira framed his face and brought him to her. She rubbed her face around his. John felt every curve and angle of her features. His resolve to be strong broke.

He returned the gesture, revealing what was in his heart. “I scent you mine. You belong to me.”

The pressure on his shoulders made him aware of the mattress behind his legs. Jasira wanted him to sit down. He did. Her fingers traced the tears that fell from his eyes.

“I have always been yours. You knew that, didn’t you? That’s why you came to me, why you kissed me at the castle that evening. You knew we were meant to be together.”

She tapped his shoulder once.

John’s eyes closed on a sob. “I need you.” They reopened, glowing bright. “I need you more than I need to breathe. I can’t live without you. I can’t—”

Jasira closed her mouth over his. Her heart could not bear any more of John’s sorrow. It was in his eyes, in his voice, in the taste of his tears. She had to ease it, or it would kill her.

.

Chapter 11

Jasira climbed above John, nudging him to scoot further back on the mattress. She began to unbutton his shirt.

John’s crying slowed. He stared up at Jasira and allowed her to remove his shirt. Jasira’s heart constricted at seeing John’s tear-covered face. She tossed the shirt to the side and reached for his pants. As she unbuttoned them, she licked his cheeks and eyelashes, erasing his tears. She parted the material and slipped her hand underneath.

John growled and pushed his fullness into her palm. He grabbed the pants’ waistline and tugged. Freed, he sprung into her waiting hands. Jasira smiled. She loved it when John showed he wanted her.

Jasira’s roaming hands and pursuing kisses pushed out the anguish that filled John’s soul. In its place grew the love and affection he felt for her. The fates may have denied him the ability to create a child with Jasira, but he refused to allow them to keep him from sharing his life with her. Jasira belonged to him. She was his soulmate. Ghost or not, her place was by his side. If others labeled him insane, then so be it. It was his life, and he intended to share it with his soulmate.

John dropped his hands onto the bed in frustration. “I hunger for your touch, but what I want more is to touch you—to know you like you know me.”

John’s eyes beseeched Jasira for a solution. Jasira wished she could tell him. Unfortunately, if she did, she would weaken the Medlothian spell, destroying the lives of those who are still mist. Instead, she decided to appease her own growing desires for John. She was unsure if her idea would work since John could not touch her, but she had to try something. Her longings were driving her insane. She rose from his lap.

“No!” John bolted into a sitting position, startling her. “Don’t leave me! I’m sorry!”

Jasira read the raw fear in his eyes, on his face. Her heart bled for him.

“Stay with me!” he begged.

Jasira squeezed his shoulder, reassuring him that she was not going anywhere. The relief on his face made her smile. She waved her hand over her body and dissolved her clothes. She nudged John back down and straddled him.

At the initial touch of her bare breasts on his chest, John audibly groaned and clutched the bedsheet at his sides. Jasira rubbed her naked body along John’s chiseled form. He felt powerful, masculine in every sense of the word.

His glowing eyes intensified, causing Jasira’s passions to increase. He squirmed, arched his back, and tilted his hips off the bed. He touched each of Jasira’s curves with his body. Her mind imprinted his form into memory. Jasira reveled in the experience. She lost all sense of time and place. All that mattered to her was John. Her core overflowed with love and happiness and more.

Jasira paused in her movements. She encircled John’s member and shifted her hips, placing him at her aching entrance. John’s hips tilted upward, seeking her opening. Her breath snagged in her chest. She quickly prayed her idea would work and lowered onto him.

A tight casing sheathed his length. John cried out in ecstasy. His claws burst forth, long and sharp. His soul trembled with excitement. He could not believe it. His dream had come true. He was inside his soulmate.

John opened his eyes and gazed up at Jasira. He wished he could see her. His sights lowered to his hips. He saw his erection, nothing else. Yet he felt Jasira’s tight, smoldering shaft surrounding him. How was she able to do this? Words could not express what she made him feel.

Fear gripped John’s heart when he felt his arousal being released. He was about to protest, when the tightness returned. John’s preternatural senses homed in on her movements. He stopped breathing, thinking, and focused on feeling.

“Harder, Jasira. Show me how much you want me.” He growled as Jasira responded, landing harder on his hips.

Jasira squeezed and molded John’s chest, stomach, and arms while her bottom slapped his thighs in a steady rhythm. It was not enough. She yearned for more, longed for John to go deeper. Through the burning haze of hunger, she heard John cry out in frustration. He bent his legs and lifted his hips off the bed. His claws dug into the mattress as he met her movements with urgent thrusts of his own.

Jasira lowered onto John’s body. She rubbed her breasts against his torso as she rotated her hips. Her hands slipped underneath his body. She squeezed John’s bottom and pulled him upward to her. Her need made John growl, moan, and growl even more.

It was how the male felines had said it was between soulmates. John had always known why his prior mates could never satisfy him physically and spiritually—only one woman had that power. He reached out to caress Jasira. He viciously snarled and grabbed the bed. It angered him that he could not touch her.

Jasira nibbled on his ear. John’s eyes closed. Her lips lowered to his neck and stayed. He felt her bite him. It stung, but it made him feel alive. Jasira sucked on and caressed the spot with her tongue. John lifted his hips high off the bed. He was going up in flames.

“Jasira,” he nuzzled the side of her head, “you are my soulmate.” John lost himself in the wispy feel of Jasira’s hair on his face. He inhaled her arousal and sighed. “You belong to me. You belong with me.” Jasira raised her head. “Stay with me. Don’t leave me.” John felt Jasira squeeze his shoulder once before she kissed him with a passion that matched his own for her.

She said yes!
John poured his happiness into his kiss. He could not restrain his need any longer. Jasira’s hips increased their speed. A frightening energy built in John’s core. His senses flooded with Jasira’s scent, her touch. Jasira claimed him as her lover, and he lost himself in her possession.

John’s claws pressed into the mattress. His hips thrust higher, faster. A roar developed in his throat. His glowing eyes sought Jasira’s but were met by the ceiling. John’s core exploded. He released a mighty roar, his claws shredding the mattress and sheets. His seed sailed upward, along with his soul.

As he rode the throes of completion, John sensed Jasira no longer joined to him. Her warmth was gone. Alarmed, he tried to sit up. It was difficult. The world was spinning out of control. John tried to fight it. “Jasira!” he called out to her as his eyes rolled shut. He lost consciousness.

Jasira lay face down on the floor, groaning. Perhaps being solid was not such a good idea. She carefully lifted herself into a sitting position. Rubbing the back of her head, she considered what had happened. That blast was the most powerful. It flung her backward against the wall. It seemed mating with John was going to be hazardous to her health.

She wondered if all aliens gave off a blast of energy in the end. If she became John’s permanent mate, would she survive mating with him? After all, each time the blast increased in power. Her body could only take so much. Jasira examined the ends of her hair. Was it possible to singe a mist’s hair?

She gingerly stood. Jasira swayed to one side and had to brace herself against the wall. She glanced at the man who had stolen her heart, and smiled. He slept peacefully.

She had not been sure if her plan would work, but she was glad that it had. Possessing John like she did helped to ease the agonizing discomfort he had placed in her core. It was not gone, but it was more bearable. Plus, John’s sorrow could not be allowed to grow. It would have killed him, and in turn, killed her.

Jasira waved her hand over her body, intending to dress. On the third try, she gave up. Being with John definitely disrupted her connection to the planet’s energy core.

She observed John sleep while she slipped one of his shirts on. She could not leave him exposed. Jasira lifted one end of the bedsheet and covered him. She placed a kiss on his forehead, then exited the room.

She hurried to the nearby elevator that would take her to the third floor. Grateful that she was not seen, Jasira entered her room and closed the door.

Hours later, John’s eyes snapped opened. Something disrupted his peaceful sleep. He glanced around, trying to locate the cause. His senses detected everyone gathering below in the room furthest away from his. John moved his legs and realized he was naked beneath the sheets. The disturbance was temporarily forgotten as he remembered what had happened.

His climax had been more powerful this time. John saw the shredded bedsheets on either side of him and sat up. He slipped his fingers through the tears. A painful twinge pierced his heart. John raised his knees and covered his face.

It was true. The torn mattress and sheets were proof. The chair was not a fluke. His soul had tried to mark Jasira once more. It recognized Jasira’s spirit as its lost mate and hungered to fuse with it. Until he placed his mark on her legs, their mating would intensify. How much more could his soul take? The energy blast was supposed to happen only once.

He now understood why he lost consciousness after climaxing. The surge drained his spirit of its energy, and his spirit was not being replenished by the energy created by the fusing of two souls.

John lowered his hands to his mouth. If he continued to mate with Jasira, would it eventually kill him? He had no answer. No one had mated with a dead soulmate before. John snickered. It figured he would be the first. Only time would give him his answer, for he no longer intended to end their relationship. If it did kill him, then he would continue their relationship in the afterlife. Maybe then he would be able to hold her.

John glanced at the time on his wristguard. It did not surprise him to see it was seven in the morning. He pressed his lips together in annoyance. John flung the sheet to the side and dressed. He hooked his translator around his ear and left his room with the intention of joining the others for breakfast. His brighter mood caused his appetite to return with a vengeance. Afterward, he would prepare his bath. Maybe Jasira would help him. His smile stretched from ear to ear.

He jumped the last three steps and eagerly headed to the dining room. “Merry Christmas, everyone!” he greeted his friends.

“Merry Christmas!” they replied in unison.

The sound of moving chairs filled the room. The men took turns shaking John’s hand and patting him on the shoulders. The women hugged and kissed him. Jasira kissed him passionately in front of the others. John eagerly responded without considering their reactions. It warmed his core to hear Bogdan and his family applauding and cheering him on. John ended the kiss on a laugh.

It turned out to be a wonderful Christmas, after all.

Sunday, the 18th of April, Year 2021

After breakfast, Jasira helped Audra wash the dishes. “I have to leave today,” she said.

“Back to work tomorrow?” asked Audra.

“As usual.” Jasira handed a wet plate to Audra to dry.

“I have been meaning to ask you, does King Yudit know about John?”

“Of course.” Jasira reached for a dirty cup on the counter and dipped it into the sudsy water. “He lied to John to keep him from leaving Surreal. So did your bruhder.”

“Bogdan told me how he lured John to Surreal. But he failed to mention Yudit’s part in the scheme. Those two are very sneaky.”

“Yes, they are.” While scrubbing the cup, Jasira glimpsed a female face in the water. “I’ll return next Fri—” She gasped and dropped the cup into the sink. The image disappeared.

“What’s wrong?” asked Audra.

Jasira rubbed her eyes with the back of her wrist. Was she hallucinating? She stared harder at the water and waited for the ripples to settle. The woman’s image returned. It was no illusion. Who was this woman? Jasira searched around her. There was no one in the kitchen but her and Audra. Her mouth fell open when it dawned on her. The woman was her.