The Breed Next Door (Breeds 5.5)

He stepped closer.

Lyra was breathing roughly, her hands knotted in the front of her robe as she watched him advance on her.

"Are you sick or something?" She had to force the words from her mouth.

A mocking, bitter smile twisted his lips.

"Or something," he agreed as he towered over her and then stepped slowly behind her.

She was not going to run from him, no matter how weird he acted.

"Would you like to know what's wrong with me, Lyra?" He bent close, his breath whispering over her ear as he spoke. A shiver raced up her spine as her nipples tightened further, rasping against her gown, almost making her moan at the pleasure of the action.

"No. " She had a feeling she was certain she didn't want to know.

"There's this nasty little hormone filling my mouth. " That growl was deeper now, more animalistic. "It's an aphrodisiac, Lyra. Caused only when a male Feline Breed hungers for his mate. Do you know what's going to happen if I kiss you?" Her knees weakened. A hormonal aphrodisiac? Something to make her hornier? She didn't think so.

"What?" She couldn't hold back the gasping whisper.

"If I kiss you, it goes into Mating Heat. Complete sexual abandon until you've passed ovulation. Do you know you're preparing to ovulate? That my body is reacting to it? That my cock is so damned hard, my balls so tight with the need to fuck you that it's like an open wound in my gut? All because you're ovulating. My mate. My woman. "

Her eyes widened in horror at the words he whispered at her ear.

"You're crazy. " She jerked away from him, turning on him furiously. "That's not possible. "

The curve of his lips was bleak.

"You would think, wouldn't you?" He moved to the counter, picking up a small oval disc that he slapped on the kitchen island. "This will stop conception. Nothing can stop the heat. Now, my problem is, I'm ready to rip that gown off your body and throw you to the damn floor where I can fuck you until we're both screaming. Until you're as wild for me, as crazy for me, as I am for you. Or you can run out of that door right now, as fast as you can run, and find someplace, any place, to hide until I can find enough control to keep from hunting you down and taking you like the animal I am. Make your choice now, baby, and make it fast. Because this kitty is all out of patience. "

Chapter Seven

Make a choice? He wanted her to make a choice?

She stared back at him, eyes wide, trying to force her brain past the shock to actually make a decision as to whether or not she was still sleeping. Because this had to be some kind of screwed-up nightmare. That was all there was to it.

"Let me get this straight. " She edged farther back from him, simply because she was becoming so wet her panties felt damp and his eyes were getting darker. "Your tongue has glands. That have a hormonal aphrodisiac in them?"

He nodded as he advanced on her. He didn't say a word, just nodded his head as he inhaled deeply. She trembled at the knowledge that he was actually smelling her.

"If you kiss me, we go into heat?"

"You go into heat. " He smiled, a tight, hard curve of his lips that denoted way more male intent than she was comfortable with.

She cleared her throat. "What do you do?"

"I put out the flames. "

She moved back.

Okay. She was retreating. So fucking what? He was stalking her across the room like the damned Lion he was. And the closer he got, the hotter she got.

"Tarek…" She jerked in surprise as her back came up against the wall, staring up at him in shock as he stopped, only inches from her, his hand lifting.

He touched her. The backs of his fingers brushed against her throat before trailing down to her collarbone, his eyes tracking each movement his hand made as her breasts began to swell and throb.

"You're running out of time. " His guttural whisper had her womb clenching furiously, the breath locking in her chest. This was a side of Tarek she wasn't accustomed to. A side she knew should not be turning her on as it was. He had barely touched her. In nearly six months of confrontations, arguments, and snapping debates, he had never touched her, never kissed her, and she was going up in flames for him.

She could feel it in every cell of her body, every hard pulse of blood through her veins.