But his need called to him. He craved her, needed to fill his mouth with her taste. Eric hooked her knees over his arms, spread her legs, and lowered himself to drink of her.

Iona groaned with pleasure as he licked and drank the honey between her thighs. The scent and heat and taste of her stirred the frenzy higher, and Eric let the madness come.

He filled his himself with her goodness, teasing her tight berry until she was squirming, lifting her hips from the bed. He licked some more, washing the sensitive skin with his tongue, then Eric lifted himself up, slid up the length of her, and entered her in one stroke.

Wildness spiraled through him as he thrust once, twice, and again, and again. Iona’s hot sheath squeezed him, wet and tight, the sensation erotic as hell.

This time, at least, he was loving her in a soft bed, not on the back of a couch, the floor, or a mat of pine needles. The leopard in him remembered the satisfaction of being with her panther in the stark cold of the woods. The clouded memory sent excitement through him, and he thrust that excitement into her.

“Eric.”

The moaned word made him crazy. Eric increased his speed, holding her down, loving how her legs twined his and urged him on.

Forever, my Iona. Forever.

He heard snarls come from his throat and her answering cries. He saw the feral beast in her eyes and felt his in himself. Collars couldn’t tame him, and would never tame her. They’d go wild together.

Iona’s claws were in his back, tearing his skin. He growled at her, and she made a snarling noise in return. She was losing control, and right now, Eric didn’t care.

Being inside her erased every worry he had, every empty space, every fear, every doubt. There was only Iona, and this room, and the heat between them. He would love her until they couldn’t move, and then they’d sleep, then they’d love again.

The afternoon sun had reached its highest point by the time Eric hit his climax, spilling his seed in her while Iona bit and licked his shoulder. His back would be a mess, but so what? Shifters healed quickly.

Eric rolled over, pulling Iona on top of him, and they slept for a short time. They woke when the sun started to sink, and Iona smiled down at Eric before she wriggled herself onto his cock.

He held her there while she rode him, the lovemaking less frenzied this time. Iona’s eyes closed to slits, her smile sexy as hell. Sweat slid between them, and the round of her br**sts moved sweetly against his hands.

Iona lay down on him when they finished and fell asleep with him still inside her.

When they woke again, it was fully dark. The party outside still raged—Shifters loved a good party.

Eric and Iona pulled on a few clothes and crept out to the kitchen, where they raided the refrigerator and carried the food back to the bedroom to satisfy their hunger.

Energy restored, the frenzy returned. Eric shoved the plates and boxes off the bed, flipped Iona facedown on it, and pulled her hips back toward him. The leopard in him liked this—the natural way—as he entered her from behind. Eric the human only felt Iona around him, heard her cries of delight, felt her move on him as she squirmed against the bed.

They ended up with Iona flat on the mattress, Eric on her back, his whole body covering her.

They loved like that until they fell asleep again. When they woke the next time, Eric rolled over with her, and started loving her once more.

The mating frenzy, a cool voice said in the back of his brain. Nature’s way of ensuring the continuance of the species.

Shut up, Eric responded, then heard nothing but Iona’s cries and his own, as their loving went on into the night.

In the first light of morning, Iona peeled open her eyes to find Eric facedown next to her. He lay on top of the covers, his face relaxed in sleep.

Eric was a beautiful man. Liquid bronze skin covered a body of sculpted muscle, his waist tapering to a tight, bare backside. The tattoo that covered his shoulder and trailed down his arm invited her tongue, the scratches on his back testimony to her frenzy last night.

She moved to stretch and stifled a groan. Every muscle was sore, her mouth raw from Eric’s wild kisses.

Life with a Shifter. Exhausting.

And yet, something within Iona had relaxed, a tightness dissolving. She’d spent her life up to this point knowing she was different and would never fit in, no matter what she did. She’d learned to pretend, to act human enough that she made it through school and college, enough so she didn’t concern her mother and sister.

Then Eric had come into her life. He’d told her bluntly that she was denying her Shifter side, and he’d been right.

This man wanted her to explore that forbidden part of her—all of it. Iona had been terrified at first, but she knew that she was perfectly safe learning about her Shifter self, because Eric was with her to guide and protect her.

She could do any Shifter thing she wanted, while Eric watched, ready to catch her if she started to fall.

Iona ran her hand down Eric’s back to his firm bu**ocks, his skin smooth. If learning to be Shifter involved touching his naked body, she’d just have to live with that.

She snuggled down a little closer to him as he went on sleeping. Her fingers drifted over his fine ass and back to his tattoo, lightly tracing the lines. She let her eyes close, as close to contentment as she’d ever been in her life.

Iona jumped awake to someone pounding on the bedroom door. The sun was high now, hours having gone by. Eric was up and on his feet.

“What?” he called irritably.

“Dad, it’s Cass.” Jace’s voice was agitated and breathless. “The cub is coming, and Cass wants Iona.”