In Heat: Mating Call (In Heat Shapeshifter Romance Series #2) Read online

  Their pupils shifted, becoming slanted and like a cats. She swallowed hard and realised that this was it. There was no turning back now, and she didn't want to go back anyway. She wanted this to happen. She wanted to be his and his alone forever.

  She rolled her eyes closed as he held her left leg with one hand and ran the fingers of his other up the length of her pussy. Her breath came out in a sigh as his fingertip circled her clit, sending shivers of arousal through her and making the fire inside her belly into an inferno of desire. Her lips parted and she breathed hard and fast, silently begging him to get inside her. She had to feel him inside her. She had to feel him taking her, claiming her as his.

  “Erik,” she whispered, husky and low.

  He growled and pulled her towards him, until she was balanced on the edge of the seat with him between her legs. He kissed her hard and she felt everything he was feeling in that kiss—the love, the desire and the need. It all combined to make her head spin and her hunger worsen. She shuffled further forwards, encouraging him without words to take her like he wanted to. His left hand slid up her thigh to her backside and she looked down at the same time he did. His hand wrapped around his cock and he slowly eased it into her, joining their bodies and making her hum with relief as he buried himself to the hilt.

  She closed her eyes and kissed him as he began thrusting inside her, the pace fast and intense, rough and only getting rougher as she clung to him. It felt as though she needed more, she needed it to be harder and faster. She clenched his cock, shifting her hips as best she could and begging him with fervent whispers against his lips to keep going.

  He growled and sparks shot through her. Something inside said to growl back but she couldn't. She didn't have a voice to answer that call. She kissed him harder instead, her hands coming down to cup his backside, forcing him to pound her faster. It wasn't enough. She needed more than the frantic thrusting and grunts. She needed more than the growl.

  She moaned when he pulled her right to the edge of the seat and thrust deeper and harder, sending shivers through her each time their hips met. It sated her a little but it still wasn't enough. Her lips left his and she bit his earlobe and his neck, her fingernails digging into his backside as he pumped her. She moaned with each thrust of his cock into her, with each pulse of pleasure and spark of pain.

  But she still needed more.

  An inexplicable craving, a desire like she'd never felt before, was consuming her and she didn't know what to do to sate it. She rode Erik's cock, each thrust into her she made one back, frantically moving against him until he was panting hard into her ear and she was beginning to tire. She felt as though she was never going to get what she needed, that she was never going to reach her orgasm.

  She bit his neck, not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough to make him growl and she knew there'd be a bruise there but she didn't care. She bit him again, and again, until she felt something wash through him, something change, and then she cried out her release when he bit down hard on her throat. His hips jerked forwards and he came, filling her with hot cum as her inner walls milked his cock. She clung to him, holding his head against her neck as tears filled her eyes, both from happiness and pain. It hurt, but nowhere near as much as she'd expected, and in a way she wouldn't have cared had it hurt a thousand times more than it did.

  Because now she was his.

  * * * *

  Kim stood on the balcony of the country house and stared over the garden at the lightening sky. It was a glorious winter morning, crisp and cold, with bright golden rays of sunshine catching the wisps of cloud and lining them with pink.

  Everything looked different and felt different. This wasn't just another sunrise. This was a whole new day for her.

  She looked across at Erik as he came to stand beside her, a broad smile on his face. She returned it, showing him that she was as happy as he was. This was everything she'd been dreaming of these past two years. Now she was finally his and their worlds were finally joined as one.

  There was just one more step to take to make it perfect.

  “It always hurts but you'll get used to it,” he said in a gentle tone. She knew that it hurt, she'd seen him change and every time he did there was pain in his eyes. “Just empty your mind and it will come to you.”

  She did. She stared at the rising sun and let her mind go blank. Something surfaced at the back of it and it seemed strange to feel it there. A primal urge lurking in the depths of her mind wasn't something she'd expected, but it made sense. This new side to her was animal, and animals worked on instinct more than humans. It felt instinctive, different. It felt as though she had two minds in one body now.

  She flinched when the first flicker of pain danced inside of her, right in the very core of her bones. They ached and then a slow throbbing began to pulse through every inch of her. She looked at her hands, watching the fur as it erupted and swept into her hooded top. She unzipped it, tugging it off along with her t-shirt and wondering if she should've done this before changing. All thoughts disappeared when a growl loomed up inside her, the animal side taking over, and her instincts kicked in. Her head snapped up and she felt queasy as the bones of her face shifted and distorted, long canines replacing her teeth and her ears moving up to the top of her head. She told herself not to panic, repeating it until it was a mantra in her head. It felt as though the change was taking forever, but the next thing she knew she had shifted.

  Everything felt sharper and louder. She could see for miles and it was perfectly crisp. She felt as though she could make out even the tiniest details.

  Her eyes dropped to her hands, or at least the paws they had become. She didn't feel steady enough to move, but she managed to shake off her jeans and knickers and step out of them.

  A laugh made her look up at Erik. He was so high above her. He bent over and she wondered if panthers could blush when he removed her bra.

  “Maybe next time we should take this off first?” he said with a warm smile.

  She nodded and watched him as he removed his shirt and transformed himself. When he had changed, she realised that he was bigger than her. It made sense she supposed. He was bigger than her in his human form after all. He rubbed against her, nuzzling her and then licking her nose. She wished she could purr like he was, but she didn't know how.

  He moved forwards a few steps and she tentatively followed him, trying to convince her mind that it was okay to walk on four feet. She got the feeling that this was going to take a while to get used to. She'd not thought about all the things she'd have to relearn and adjust to.

  She looked up as Erik moved away a few more steps, bounding down towards the maze, and then raised her eyes to the sky.

  The sun was breaking the horizon, a bright golden orb that chased the cold from the land and filled her with warmth.

  She purred.

  It wasn't so difficult after all.

  Running on wobbly legs towards Erik, she felt as though she was running to meet the sunrise too.

  It was a new day.

  A new life.

  And she couldn't wait to start it.

  The End

  Read on for a preview of the first story in the highly addictive In Heat romance series

  In Heat - Chapter 1

  “Don't fight it.” A deep, silken male voice echoed around her. The feel of his fingers ghosting over her arms, across her back, tickling her shoulder blades, made her shiver with delight. How did he think she'd have the will to fight him?

  She never did.

  She turned, desperate to catch a glimpse of his face in the low-lit room. She never managed to see it. He was always a mystery to her, always eluding her.

  His nails scraped down her arms as he came up behind her, his breath hot against her neck. It turned her skin sticky, adding to the already stifling heat of the room. Her stomach tightened, clenching with arousal as his hands glided over her torso. His fingers raised the hem of her camisole, bunching the material as he explored her
bare skin at an achingly slow pace.

  She arched into him, rubbing her backside against his groin and feeling his desire. He was hard for her, pressed firmly into the crack of her ass. One hand came down to her hips, pulling her back as he ground into her, showing her just what was to come and making moisture pool in her panties. She groaned, tilted her head to one side and tried to look over her shoulder at him.

  A low rumble reverberated through her. It was a liquid purr that she felt in every inch of her body. She shifted her backside against his length, eliciting a deeper rumble from him, and smiled to herself over the effect she had on him. The hand on her stomach snaked up to her breasts, slipping under the camisole. She closed her eyes as his fingers teased and tortured her right nipple. He ghosted his other hand back up her arm, light enough that goosebumps followed in the wake of his touch. He swept his fingers over her shoulder and slipped the strap of her camisole down over it, caressing her as he went.

  His mouth was warm and satiny against her skin as he kissed her shoulder. He licked and tasted her, teasing her neck with blunt teeth, and turning the tightness in her belly into an inferno. She brought her hand around, holding his hip as he ground against her backside.

  The only sound in her ears was their combined breathing, hot and heavy, panting as they moved against each other.

  Her heart thundered, racing away with her, and she gave herself over to the tempo of it.

  His tongue swept along her earlobe as hers wet her lips. Her brows furrowed and she moaned, rolling her head to one side and bringing her other arm up. She reached over behind her and ran it through his short thick hair. It was like velvet beneath her touch and she buried her fingers into it, feeling the softness and losing herself in the sensations flooding her.

  He purred again.

  She opened her eyes and looked down at his hand as he slid it into the waist of her panties. How had she got so naked?

  The thought fled her mind when his hand edged lower.

  She bit her lip in anticipation of his touch, willing him to move faster before she exploded with need.

  He nipped at her ear and she groaned.

  Her eyes almost shut.

  They flew wide when she saw the black fur erupt on his arm.

  “Don't fight me,” he whispered. “We were meant to be.”

  Kim shot up in bed, the buzzing alarm jarring her senses and the sound of the city streets below telling her that morning had come. She breathed heavily, struggling to level her heartbeat and steady herself. She pressed her hand against her chest. It was sticky with sweat. Her camisole top was soaked.

  Taking deep breaths, she kept one hand pressed against her chest and propped herself up on the bed with the other. The thin summer sheets stuck to her damp skin. She looked at the big sash window, welcoming the cool morning breeze that was coming in through it and silently thankful that she'd opened it last night before dozing off.

  She stared distantly at the red brick building opposite and remembered the dream.

  They were coming more frequently now. She didn't know whether it was some kind of sign or not. If it were a sign, it was probably just her body telling her that she really needed to get a boyfriend.

  Flopping back onto the bed, she turned the alarm off and stretched her arms out by her sides.

  The dreams weren't just getting more frequent; they were getting hotter.

  She sighed out her breath and closed her eyes, letting the lingering pleasure from her dream wash through her. She just wished for once that she'd see his face, or at least find some sort of completion. It was always achingly slow, so slow that nothing really ever happened. He'd touch her like no other man had, stir feelings in her that made her dizzy with desire, and then she'd wake up.

  The man on the radio announced that today was going to be the hottest day of the year. She groaned. London in the heat was horrible.

  Slipping out of bed, she padded across to the bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror. The white tiles of the bathroom made her look deathly pale. Dream guy was probably way out of her league anyway. With a sexy deep rumble of a voice like he had, and those painfully skilful hands, he was definitely not going to be real. Even if he was, she wasn't pretty enough to catch a guy like him.

  Her whole life she'd been told she was plain.

  She frowned at her reflection, pulling her sweat-soaked long dark brown hair back and tugging a couple of strands free. She smiled. Grinned. Frowned. Widened her eyes a little, until the white showed around her rich chocolate irises.

  Dropping her hair, she wrinkled up her nose and pressed it. Pulled her bottom lip. Pouted.

  Maybe she was plain. Sometimes she thought she was pretty. Her teeth were straight. So was her nose. Her brows were nicely arched and fine. She had an oval face and wasn't super-slim, but not fat either. She prodded her sides and swallowed hard when she remembered dream guy's hands all over her.

  Sighing at herself, she stripped off and looked at the digital clock stuck to the mirror. There wasn't time for a bath this morning. She sighed and looked over at the shower. Her parents had tried to convince her to go with one or the other, but the bathroom was big enough for both, and sometimes she needed a bath. She got into the shower and turned it on. She didn't know why she was worrying so much. Dream guy was just that, a dream. The chances of him existing were about as slim as the chance of her getting a promotion.

  At her company, that would be nothing short of a miracle. She'd been working at the law firm for nearly three years now and they still didn't show any sign of taking her seriously.

  Pushing away her thoughts of work and dream guy, she focused on washing her hair and the excruciating journey to work by the tube. In this heat, it was going to be nothing short of Hell.

  She'd arrive at work as sweaty as she'd woken up this morning. There was a new client coming in today whose case was meant to be very hush hush and damn near impossible. And her sister had dumped her, meaning she was stuck having dinner alone with her parents tonight.

  This day was going to be just perfect.

  * * * *

  Kim shoved her way onto the packed tube train, squeezing in by the door and frowning when someone elbowed her in the back as they got on behind her. She tiptoed to see if there was any space further along and sunk back onto her heels when she saw it was packed tighter than a tin of sardines. She leaned her head against the glass panel beside her and stared at the newspaper the man in the seat on the other side was reading.

  Someone in front of her moved and she wrinkled her nose up when she smelt sweat.

  Just great.

  What a way to start the day.

  It was already up to boiling point outside and it was barely eight in the morning. Global warming. That's what it was. All this pollution and stuff. She sighed again and closed her eyes, trying to whisk herself away from the daily grind by remembering her dream.

  She told herself it wasn't a dream.

  It was more of a fantasy.

  But it was him every time, the same man, that same touch and those same lips against her overheated flesh.

  He always said the same thing to her, close to her ear, sometimes in front of her, to her side or behind. She didn't care. She just wanted to melt into a puddle whenever he spoke. He could say anything, do anything, and she'd be his for the taking.

  The train jerked around a corner, brakes squealing as it went downhill. She frowned at the rude interruption and then realised that her stop was next.

  Getting off, she jostled along with the rest of the commuters and then breathed a sigh of relief when she hit the street. Her sense of calm was short lived when she turned to find her boss, Laura Townsend, walking towards her, her arms full with a box that was overflowing with files.

  “Kay!” Laura shouted.

  Kim cringed. Too late to escape now.

  “It's Kim,” she said flatly, not caring about correcting her boss because she knew that Laura wouldn't even notice she'd spoken.

 
“Can you carry this?” Laura dumped the box into Kim's arms.

  Kim scowled at her as she straightened out her Armani power suit and beamed brightly. She could never understand how Laura had managed to become her boss. They'd gone through university together and had even taken the bar at the same time. How come Laura was head of the department, and she was stuck spending half her time running errands? Laura had also managed to conveniently forget her name, and forget they'd ever known each other. Kim mused that a position of power could do that to someone. No time for the little people when you're busy brown-nosing the big bosses.

  She adjusted the box in her arms and trudged towards the office. It was a cream Georgian building with tall sash windows and black double doors for the entrance. She'd always thought it was pretty. It was half the reason she'd decided to join this company. That and her friend worked here. But recently he'd been changing and she wasn't sure that she liked the butterfly he'd turned into. It was more of a moth.

  The files shifted side to side in the box as she mounted the steps and she tried to get them back into a better position as she followed Laura across the entrance hall. It was cool inside the building, the heavy stone work keeping the heat of the sun out. She looked up at the big twin staircases in front of her, wishing she were up in the offices on that floor with the rest of the partners.

  She paid for her momentary lapse in concentration.

  The box slipped as a file fell off the top and before she could recover herself, all of them had scattered across the floor. She bent immediately, getting down on all fours and scrabbling to pick them up. She could hear the impatient click of Laura's shoes on the floor. Her heart beat sickeningly fast as she panicked.

  Someone touched her shoulder.

  “It's fine, I've got it,” she muttered, dying of embarrassment as more people gathered.

  She scurried across to the rest of the files, dumping them back into the box. Someone touched her again. She jerked her shoulder backwards.