Warriors of Poseidon 02.5 - Shifter's Lady Read Free Page B

nerve endings. Before she could summon a properly stinging response, he lifted a hand and touched a curl that had escaped her braids. “And as for individual responsibility, I intend to be completely responsible for seeing this glorious hair unbound and spread all over my bed. So consider that, Lady Marie, and maybe you‟ll be the one who wants to run back to your hothouse.”
     
    Her much-prized serenity completely deserted her. “You…you—”
     
    “Yes,” he said firmly. “Me. Remember it.” Then he bowed to her, flashing another of those mocking smiles, and strode off, sketching a half salute toward Bastien and Alaric over his shoulder. Marie glanced at her brother, wondering if he‟d caught the interplay between her and Ethan, but Bastien was talking intently with Kat. When she looked back toward Ethan, she saw nothing but a tawny blur disappearing through the trees.
    She finally let out the breath she had not realized she was holding and continued toward the cabin on knees gone suddenly weak.
     
    Life with the landwalkers was going to be far more fascinating than she had ever imagined.
     
    Ethan leapt into the trees, shifting as his feet left the ground. In panther form, he ran as far and as fast as he could, determined to outpace the overpowering hunger she‟d awakened in him.
     
    Marie.
     
    The mere thought of her name sent another rush of heat through him, and the cat he‟d become snarled and pushed harder, lengthening his strides, escaping from the subtle scent of sea and flowers that had surrounded her.
     
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    Needed to run. Further and further. Needed to run away from the woman who‟d destroyed his equilibrium in sixty seconds flat.
     
    Strip her bare and lick her skin? What the hell had he been thinking? Not two minutes after swearing his protection in front of her brother and the priest, he‟d insulted and threatened her. He snorted and drew his lips back from his fangs, snarling again as he ran. Not only was he a damned fool, but he‟d probably incited some kind of international incident.
     
    Panting, finally nearing exhaustion, he slowed to a walk, padding on four powerful legs that were trembling faintly from the strain of the run. He looked around and stopped, recognizing the woods behind his house, the big-ass mansion that served as home and headquarters to the alpha of the Big Cypress pride. No wonder he was short of breath and suffering from a little muscle fatigue. He‟d never run ten miles in such a short time.
     
    Maybe lust was good for the metabolism.
     
    He called to the magic that infused both halves of his dual natures and lifted his head to receive the transformation. As always, the shift came to him effortlessly, and he stood fully clothed in his human form afterward. Ease of performing the shape change was one of many indicators of shape-shifter strength, and he was alpha. Strongest of all the shape-shifters in Big Cypress. Rumored to be the strongest in all of Florida; perhaps in all of the southeast region.
     
    “Yeah, big, tough alpha cat, running away from a female,” he muttered in disgust.
     
    But some trick of the wind brought the faint scent of the sea to his panther-enhanced senses and—just like that—it was as though she stood before him again. He clenched his jaw as his cock hardened painfully in his suddenly too-tight jeans, and he realized that he‟d been fooling himself.
     
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    Alpha or not, there was no way he‟d be able to run away from this woman. Every fiber of his being was commanding him to turn around and run right back to her, but he refused to surrender to the impulse. Grimly determined to put the insane attraction behind him and get back to the serious business of discovering who or what was stalking his panthers, he strode toward his house.
     
    So she was like some kind of crazy Atlantean catnip. He could resist