Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella (5 page)

Soon after, she realized that she had
company.

She could hear something running
behind her, and her heartbeat thudded in her chest when she
realized that whatever was with her in the forest was definitely
following her.

Raymond’s men? She wondered fearfully.
They could probably outrun her, even in her panther form, because
they were shifters too. Bigger shifters. Stronger
shifters.

A massive gray form burst through the
woods behind her, and then suddenly she heard shouting.

It was Axel.

“Belle!” he shouted, and she skidded
to a stop, turned around and loped back to him. He stood there
naked and in human form now, long hair streaming over his
shoulders, breathing hard. A leather loincloth hung around his
neck, and he pulled it off and dropped it on the forest
floor.

Quickly, she shifted to human form and
stood naked on a bed of moss before him, pulling the dress from her
neck as she stood there and tossing it aside.

“
What are you doing here?”
she cried out. “How did you find me?”

He reached out and gathered her into
his arms, pulling her up against him, and a wave of liquid fire
rolled over her. His skin was smooth and he was like a solid wall
of muscle, and she’d never felt so right as she did pressing up
against him.

“I’m here because I told you that I
wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” he said. “And I found you by
following your sweet, delicious scent.”

His eyes gleamed with hunger, and his
fingers tangled in her hair as he held her face in place and
plunged his mouth onto hers.

Belle moaned into his mouth as he
kissed her. His tongue thrust deeply into hers and his arm
tightened around her back, crushing her up against him, and she
felt the thick length of his cock pressing against her flat
belly.

“I want you so much,” he groaned.
“Tell me you want me too.”

“Oh, God, yes,” she whimpered. “I’ve
wanted you for years. I want you to take me. I want you to make me
yours.”

With a growl, he swept her up in his
arms as if she were made of feathers, and knelt down, setting her
gently on the soft mossy floor beneath them.

He slid on top of her, the length of
his body pressing her into the moss, and his kisses were hungry and
fierce. He began kissing his way down her neck, nipping at her
tender flesh, and she moaned.

“Am I too rough?” he whispered into
the curve of her neck, running his tongue along the spot he’d just
nipped.

“I want you rough,” she moaned. “I
want you to take me like an animal. When I shift…it heightens all
my senses. I feel like I’m on fire for you right now.”

He began kissing and biting her neck
and shoulder again, his mouth hot on her feverish skin, and then he
reached her breasts, sucking her nipple into his mouth and teasing
it with his teeth.

“Yes,” she gasped. “Oh, my God.
Yes.”

His hand slid down her flat stomach
and as he suckled her tender flesh, his fingers tangled in the
curls of her pubic hair and then slipped in between the wet pink
petals of her pussy.

She let out a groan of pleasure and
her thighs parted as his fingers stroked and probed, his thumb
circling the swollen pink bud of her clitoris.

She grabbed his head, fingers tangling
in his silky hair, and began guiding it down. She couldn’t believe
how bold she was being, but it felt so right, so natural with
him.

Then he was between her legs, and when
his hot, hungry mouth descended on her heated wet sex, she cried
out so loudly that a flock of birds rose from the trees, startled
and cawing.

Belle felt as if lightning bolts of
pure pleasure were shooting through her body. The pleasure was so
intense it was almost painful. She was desperate for
relief.

As if sensing how close she was to
climax, Axel deliberately slowed down. His tongue moved in lazy
circles around her clit, and then he sucked it gently. When she let
out a strangled cry and her fingers tightened in his hair, he moved
back, blowing gently on her sensitive flesh.

“Please,” she whimpered. “You’re
killing me. Please make me come.”

“Are you sure?” he growled, a fierce
grin spreading across his face.

“Yes, please, yes,” she begged, and he
was between her legs again, tongue lashing her and probing her as
his fingers slipped inside her tight channel. He began stroking her
velvety inner wall, and every strum of his fingers sent sparks
shooting throughout her body, until she exploded, her entire body
shaking with the force of the orgasm that rippled through
her.

She lay spent and gasping, soaked with
sweat, as Axel moved back up to lie beside her.

“Oh my God,” she groaned. “That was…oh
lord. I can’t even come up with the words.”

“Incredible? Magical? The best you’ve
ever had?” A grin stretched across his handsome
features.

“Well, the only that I’ve ever had,
but also the best.”

“Really.” His voice rolled out in a
low sensuous growl. “I like that. It means that you’re all mine. I
claim you first, last and forever.”

He pulled her up against him and she
reached down and took his thick phallus in her hands. His sharp
intake of breath made her instantly wet again. She wanted him
inside her, wanted him to impale her and claim her fully as
his.

But first…

“I…I want to try something,” she said,
and she moved down until she his phallus was inches from her mouth.
It was thick, with a long vein running the length of the shaft, and
the head of the shaft was purplish. It glistened with a single
pearly drop at the shaft, and, boldly, she leaned down and ran her
tongue over it, savoring its salty sweetness.

“Mmmm,” she murmered. “Delicious. I
just found my new favorite dessert.”

“Oh, my God,” he gasped. “Belle. Sweet
Jesus. You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

She stared up at him in wonder. He was
a huge, supernaturally strong creature, and yet she’d rendered him
helpless and whimpering with a swipe of her tongue.

She bent down again and ran her tongue
slowly over the head of his cock, then began swirling it in gentle
circles, copying what he’d done to her earlier. Evidently it was
having the desired effect, because he let out a harsh, guttural
groan and clutched at her hair.

Emboldened, she parted her lips and
took the head into her mouth, and sucked at it, still swirling her
tongue.

His breathing quickened. “Babe,
please. Have mercy on me.”

With one hand, she grasped the base of
his thick shaft and began moving it up and down as she sucked
harder, her cheeks hollowing. Holding her head in both hands, he
guided it up and down on his shaft and she took him into her mouth,
deeper and deeper.

He began pumping his hips upward,
fucking her mouth, and his breathing grew faster and faster, the
sound harsh in her ears, until finally he exploded, with a loud
cry. Her mouth was flooded with hot, salty sweetness, and she
sucked it down, letting it run down the back of her throat and
feeling his shudders of pleasure.

With a grin, she flopped down on the
moss next to him, and he grabbed her sweat-dampened hand, squeezing
it.

“And now…” she said.

“And now, I want you more than
anything in the world, but we still need to figure out how to
approach Griselle.”

“There’s only one way to do it that
ends with any possibility of us leaving alive. We’re just going to
walk up and ask her if we can buy or trade anything for the Truth
stone.”

“That’s it? We’re just…going to ask
for it?” Axel rolled on to his side and stared at her, open
mouthed.

Before she could answer, he dropped
her hand and shot to his feet. She leaped up too.

A half dozen giant, lumbering bears
were rushing towards them, hemming them in.

The bears were easily 8 feet tall, and
wore necklaces of shrunken human ears strung on rawhide strips.
Their ears were pierced, with golden hoops. One of them turned to
them and said in a deep, booming human voice “You are trespassing
on the lands of Griselle. You will come with us and discover your
fate.”

Axel and Belle hastily pulled their
clothing on, and let the bears herd them deeper into the
forest.

“I can’t believe I didn’t hear them
coming,” Axel said to Belle as they hustled through the
forest.

“Well, you were a little distracted.
So was I,” she muttered, heart heavy with worry.

Did Griselle hate trespassers as much
as she hated thieves? If so, they were well and truly
screwed.

The two were quickly hustled through
the forest, hemmed in at all times by the bears. After a half hour
walk through the brush, they approached what looked like a solid
wall of vines.

The vines began rustling, and then
parted like a curtain, revealing an entrance. Belle’s heart pounded
as they walked through the vines and through a long dark
hallway.

Suddenly there was dazzling light, and
they were standing in a large living room. The room looked as if it
were part of the forest. Branches and vines twined everywhere.
There was a table made of a marble slab held up by tree roots. The
curtain rods were vines, and heavy purple velvet curtains draped
down to the floor. Dripping wax candles were everywhere, on wall
sconces, on tables, on shelves.

Bookshelves held ancient books covered
in leather, glowing globes, human skulls, small statues, and
sparkling crystal geodes.

Several complete skeletons were posed
gruesomely near one of the bookshelves, in postures of terror. One
was gesturing to the sky, one was sunk down on its knees, one
appeared to be doubled over in agony.

Belle walked over and stared at them
in bewilderment. There were no strings, no wires, no screws. What
was holding them together?

Suddenly, one of the skeletons threw
its head back and let out an agonized scream.

Belle leaped back and screamed as
well, falling into Axel’s arms. Axel let out a startled growl,
quickly stepping forward to put himself between Belle and the
skeletons.

“Those are the last people who tried
to steal from me.” The voice rang out clear as a bell, light and
amused, right behind them.

They spun around in shock. Standing
behind them was the dreaded Griselle, a beautiful woman who looked
to be only in her 20s, with her streaming black hair rippling down
to her waistline in waves, wearing a flowing silk purple
gown.

Belle knew for a fact that Griselle
was at least 100 years old. She shuddered to think of what dark
magic kept her appearance so dewy, young and beautiful.

And where had she come from? It was
like she’d appeared out of thin air.

The bears who’d accompanied them into
the room suddenly morphed into men, towering tall men with thick
hair curling on their chests, arms, and everywhere else. They sank
down on one knee and bowed their heads to Griselle, until she
snapped her fingers and they stood up.

She looped her arm around the waists
of two of them, leaning on the one of the left affectionately.
Belle tried not to look at the shocking size of their thick
erections, which swelled into proud staffs at Griselle’s
touch.

“You have done well, my handsome
beasts,” Griselle purred. “You will be rewarded.”

Then Griselle turned her attention
back to her guests. She fixed Axel and Belle with a piercing
stare.

“I heard what you discussed in the
forest,” she said with a poisonously sweet smile.

“You heard…everything?” Belle squeaked
with dismay.

“Everything.” Griselle’s smiled turned
lascivious. “Ah, young, virginal love.”

Belle felt a blush sweep over her face
and burn down her body.

“So, you wanted to come out here to my
realm and ask me for something. I don’t get many visitors. I’m
intrigued. What do you want?”

“Raymond Charucki sent me out there to
steal the Stone of Truth from you.”

Griselle’s face wrinkled in disgust.
“That repellent toad? This thief right here is the last victim he
sent to try to storm my keep.” She flicked her finger against the
kneeling skeleton, and it let out a lengthy, agonized scream that
tapered off into a wail. Belle cringed against Axel, who wrapped
his arms against her protectively.

“If we don’t bring it back to him, I
either have to marry him and bear his cubs, or he’ll murder Axel
and his whole family,” Belle said, struggling to keep her voice
from shaking.

“Not my problem,” Griselle said in a
bored tone. “What can you offer me in exchange for the
stone?”

“You mean…you’d trade it to us?”
Belle’s jaw dropped.

“Sure, why not?” Griselle shrugged,
with a slow, langourous roll of her ivory shoulders. “At least a
part of it. I can break off a piece and it will work the
same.”