Mated to the Jaguars - Paranormal M/F/M Menage (3 page)

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It was dark outside the windows and Maximon still wasn’t back.
 
Michelle found a guest bedroom and stowed her belongings.
 
Then she made use of the shower.
 
Once finished, and feeling somewhat refreshed, she was crestfallen to see he still wasn’t back.

A phone started to ring.
 
It took her half a minute to find it on the wall of the kitchen.

“Hello?”

“Ixchel, it’s Max.”

She twirled the cord.
 
“Oh.
 
Hi.”

“Is that really your name by the way?”

“It’s Michelle Nacan.”

“Max Silver-Light.
 
Hyphenated.
 
Capital L.”

Oh my God, who cares!
 
Why aren’t you here?

“I’m not going to be coming home tonight.”

She craned back her head with an expression of disgust.

“I have to stay at work.
 
Believe me, it’s the last thing I want.”

She cleared her throat.
 
“Sure.
 
I understand.”
 
She forced all the annoyance out of her tone.
 
“I just arrived out of the blue.
 
I don’t expect you to drop everything just to see me.”

“Well, good.
 
I’m glad you understand.
 
In a way this is ideal.
 
We’re already in love and locked together for life.
 
We may as well just get married.
 
That is, once I get a little bit more of your background.”

“Actually, if you have just a minute, there’s something we should talk about.”

“Please don’t take my proposal lightly.
 
I’m one of the most eligible bachelors in
New York
.
 
You can see I’m extremely successful, correct?
 
I’m trying to accept this love voodoo.
 
It’s not as though I can fight it.
 
I can be miserable, or I can embrace it.
 
I’m trying to do the latter, Michelle.”

Michelle waited.
 
Was he done?
 
She gave the self-important man a second to make sure.
 

“Max, I spirit-bonded to both you and Votan this time.
 
Votan knows I’m here and he’s coming for me.”

The line went silent.

Finally Max said, “How can you be bonded to both of us?”

“I don’t know.
 
It’s never happened before.”

“Why.
 
The hell.
 
Is Votan coming?”
 
His voice grew loud.
 
“You picked me.”

“I didn’t pick anyone.
 
You were just the easiest one to find.
 
I’m bonded with both you and Votan, and I’m going to be with both of you.”

“No.
 
I don’t think you are.
 
Votan is a jungle cat.
 
Completely feral.
 
Even his human form is like an animal.”

“You know each other?”

She heard him fume.
 
“How is this going to work?”

“The two of you will share me.”

Now he seethed through what sounded like clenched teeth.
 
“I’m about to lose my temper, so I’m going to hang up, Michelle.
 
Please make yourself at home.
 
There should be some left over veal in my fridge.
 
I eat it raw.
 
Cook it if you want.”
 
He started to yell.
 
“Votan is not allowed in my home!
 
Do not open the door to him!”

“I’ll just go outside to meet him then.
 
Because I need him, just as much as I need you.
 
As much as you need me.”

“Goodbye, Michelle.”

He hung up.

She placed the phone back on the receiver.
 
It felt like a lump of ice was pressing on her middle.

Fuck.

She went to the kitchen with a sigh and placed the raw meat in a bowl.
 
Then she put the bowl on the floor, transformed, and tore into it with her teeth and claws.
 
Going primal, as she called it, was comforting.
 
It removed her by several degrees from the problems of her human form.

The only downside was that she had to remain in jaguar form as the food passed through her stomach, otherwise she risked getting food poisoning.
 
This meant having to perch on a toilet in cat form to pee.

After that she went into the spare bedroom and burrowed into the blankets.
 
Even when she was stressed she always fell asleep fast in her jaguar form.

She was woken near dawn by the sound of a shower going.
 
Michelle padded out on all fours to the master bedroom.
 
Max burst out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel on his hips.
 
He was scrubbing his wet hair with another towel.
 
He wasn’t as thick with muscles as Votan was, but it was clear he worked out.
 
Michelle admired his defined abs.
 

When he caught sight of her he froze.

“I feel like I have a pet.”

Michelle transformed back into a human.
 
She raked her fingers through her mussed hair.

Max looked her up and down while mouthing words she couldn’t hear.
 
He seemed to be arguing with himself.
 
Then he threw down the hair towel and strode for her.
 

Michelle stepped back and lifted a hand to make him halt.
 
He stumbled to catch his stride.
 
The tendons in his neck strained.

“I know,” she said.
 
“I feel it too.
 
But if this is going to happen we need to talk first.
 
If you don’t have time to talk then you don’t have time for
this
.”

He closed his eyes and swallowed audibly.
 
Then he nodded.
 
“Let me get some clothes on.”

“Yeah.”
 
She looked down at her crumpled tunic.
 
“I’ll change too.”

They reconvened several minutes later at the kitchen table.
 
It was made of polished metal and looked like it belonged in a meat packing facility.
 
Max had put on grey sweatpants with a tie string, but left his sexy chest and torso bare.
 
Michelle knew they were thinking along the same lines.
 
She wore a violet chemise and satin pajama shorts.
 
Only her long shawl kept the pebbled shape of her areolas from showing through the thin fabric.

She never dressed like this around strangers.
 
One serious high school boyfriend and a short college fling filled the entire list of her sexual history.
 
But, then, this was her spirit-bonded.
 
With the ache in her loins, the hunger in her flesh, and the need in her heart, she couldn’t fathom them avoiding sex for long.
 
 

Max poured them both some coffee.
 

“Don’t you need to sleep?” she said.

He sat perpendicular to her.
 
“I take cat naps in the office.
 
Literally.”
 
He sipped.
 
“I actually haven’t been home in two days.”

Michelle blinked at him.
 
“What’s going on at your work?”

He let out a breath that made his shoulders sink.
 
“Good question.”
 
He eyed her.
 
She saw yellow jaguar eyes.
 
She wondered what the rest of the world saw.
 
“Strange.
 
I’ve never told the truth about what I do to anyone before.
 
Now you’re here, and I can’t think of a reason not to tell you.
 
It’s surreal—being around one of my kind.”

“I know.”
 
She sipped.
 
No cream or sugar?
 
Gross!
 
Okay, stop Michelle.
 
You’re a big girl now.
 
Focus.

“I manage a hedge fund.
 
It does so well that I’ve been investigated twice on suspicion of a Ponzi scheme, but it’s actually a legitimate fund.
 
It does well because when I invest in a company I go into the spirit world and destroy any demons causing the company problems.
 
My investments always soar, and it’s made me and my investors a great deal of money.”

Michelle listened without allowing any judgment to register on her face.
 
It struck her as dishonorable to use their connection with the spirit world to make money.
 

“This last week, right when this…”
 
He gave a flippant gesture.
 
“…spirit-bonding started, my companies started getting bombarded with demons.”
 
He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with his hand.
 
“I’ve been genuinely going out of my mind trying to keep up.
 
It doesn’t seem to matter what I buy.
 
Demons are flooding the stream.
 
Not just marmosets.
 
For the first time since the Great Recession I’m seeing howlers, mongrels, and even snout-less crocs.”

Michelle’s eyes bulged.

“When there gets to be so many of them, so many large ones hoarded together, I have to give up.
 
I sell the stock and start over with another.”
 
He leaned back in his chair and sighed.
 
“I don’t comprehend what’s happening.
 
It’s never been this severe before.
 
Even my safe bets are overwhelmed with demons.”

“Is it the economy?”

He shook his head.
 
“I don’t see that.
 
The last time we had a downturn the signs were everywhere.
 
Housing prices, labor market, unemployment rates.
 
Even then I always had something that was doing well.
 
Something I could manipulate to make it do even better.
 
This time—it’s unfathomable.
 
And I honestly don’t even have time to think about it.
 
I’m day-trading on three computer screens at once trying to keep up with everything.”

“I’m sorry.
 
That sounds incredibly stressful.”

He nodded solemnly.

“But it’s Saturday, right?
 
The markets are closed now.”

Max stretched.
 
“My portfolio is teaming with demons.
 
I don’t get time to breathe anymore.
 
I need to clean up my principle stocks before the
Shanghai
market opens tomorrow.”

“Can I help?”

He looked at her.
 
“You mean join me in my stream?”

She nodded.
 
She saw twinkling stars once or twice far above her stream that she had sensed were other B’alam entities.
 
All she had to do was fly to the nearest one, right?

“You don’t have any issues with the…ethics of the matter?”

“Well…”

He gave an acrimonious laugh.
 
“Some of our kind think what I do is disgraceful.”

Oh.

“I don’t really have enough perspective to judge you,” she said.
 
“For now all I know is that it upsets me to see you struggling so much, and I want to help you.”

He placed his hand on hers.
 
Once again the felt a scintillating shock of chemistry.
 
Her hand thrummed where their flesh connected and the rest of her body ached for more.

“You’re already being more understanding than I deserve.
 
You know, I try to be a good person, but my work consumes me at times.
 
Since we have to be mates, it’s good to know you’ll have my back.
 
That’s what I need in my life.”

She smiled.
 
Warm flutters percolated in her belly.

His eyes shimmered.
 
“I’ll fight better once I’m no longer distracted by this need for you.”

Her long eyelashes tipped downward.
 
“Max.
 
I know it’s an upsetting subject, but I’m going belong to both you and Votan.
 
I need to know you can accept this.”

She heard him exhale through his nostrils.
 
“What if I can’t, Michelle?”