Page 12 of Hunting Isla

Archer raised a lip in a mock growl. “I was just about to invite her in, Mr. Personality.” He threw the door wide. “Welcome home, Isla.”

A lump formed in my throat at his words. Stepping inside, I noticed that the lights were soft lamps inset in the walls, though I didn’t need them to see now. My cat’s eyes picked up all the detail my human eyes would have missed. My first thought was that it was utilitarian. A round wooden table sat beneath one of the wall sconces, and fur rugs littered the floor. Real fur. I stepped off to the side of the deerskin rug.

“Don’t worry, we ate what that came from. We’re old school like that,” Wyatt said, seeing my screwed-up nose. I had a feeling that they didn’t mean on the grill out back.

Bohdie came flying through the door, leaping from the rug over the back of a patchy couch, landing on the cushions with a giggle. “I like it here, Lala. Can we stay?”

“Uh, sure, kiddo. For a while, anyway. Why don’t you go check out the backyard? Don’t go past the tree line, though, okay?”

I didn’t need to tell him twice, since he’d been cooped up in the car for hours. He took off toward the door faster than a normal kid, and I wondered how I’d missed that he was something more for so long.

Archer kissed my temple. “I’ll go watch the kid. Make sure he doesn’t get eaten by bears.”

“What?” I whirled, striding toward the door to get Bohdie back inside. I was a city girl. I knew nothing about bears. Muggers, yes. Door-to-door salesmen? I could shut them down with a single sentence. But bears? What the hell did I know about bears?

“Relax, Isla. He was kidding. There are no bears in Nebraska. Well, no wild bears. There’s a den of bear shifters about twenty miles west, but we don’t bother each other,” Axel said calmly. “Come see the rest of the cabin.”

I made a mental note to kick Archer’s ass, before following behind Axel. And looking at his ass. Once, back when I’d only known Axel and Archer a few weeks, I’d walked in on Axel in the shower. The shape of his muscular butt had been burned into my retinas forever, and from what I could see beneath the worn denim of his jeans, not much had changed. I still wanted to sink my teeth into each cheek. Heat pooled low in my belly. I needed to get laid.

“Uh, Isla. I feel like I should warn you about a certain, uh, facet of lion nature. We can…” I turned to look at Wyatt, who was walking behind me, his cheeks flushed bright red.

“We can smell when you’re turned on,” Axel finished, nothing in his tone telling me how he felt about that small, embarrassing fact.

Now it was my turn to blush bright red. I swallowed hard, straightening my shoulders. “Well, you have a really nice ass, and I have eyes. So… yeah.” Real smooth there, I berated myself. I could almost sense my lioness’s amusement.

Axel turned to me, his body pressing close to mine as he trapped me between the wall and his torso. A low rumble was coming from his chest, and it thrummed all the way to my pussy. I didn’t mean my lioness either.

Actually, my lioness didn’t feel so amused anymore. She felt wild. I felt wild.

“You can look, touch and taste any part of me any time you like, Isla. But in return, I’m going to fuck you so hard, you’ll forget your name. The only name you’ll know is mine, and that’s because you’ll be screaming it so loudly that even those damn bears will hear it.” His lips were so close that they brushed mine as he spoke. I couldn’t breathe. I needed his lips on mine more than I needed such a stupid thing as oxygen.

Axel delivered, just like I knew he would. I could depend on Axel. He leaned in and kissed me hard, and it was a branding sort of kiss that I felt right down to my toes. I kissed him back just as hard, wanting to memorize the taste of him. His hands slid around my hips, pulling me closer, against the hard cock straining against his jeans.

I heard a strangled noise over his shoulder, and I looked at Wyatt, embarrassment settling back in. Axel gently grabbed my chin, turning my face back to his. He stared down at me with his whiskey-colored eyes. Lion’s eyes.

“Don’t look at him. Look at me.”

The urge to submit to him washed over me, like I wanted to show him my throat. But I wasn’t the type to roll over so easily. Looking him in the eye, my lips curled into a grin before I bit his lip, hard. “Lucky you’re as sexy as you are bossy.”

A deep rumbling laugh bubbled out of him. “I always liked you, Isla. You’re my match in every way. I can’t wait to meet your lioness.” Still the deep, rumbly voice, but with hints of Axel. Axel and his lion truly were one being.

He stepped back and looked at Wyatt, who was still standing behind us. Wyatt tipped his head to the side, but his eyes danced with some unknown knowledge. He quirked an eyebrow. “Alpha.”

Axel bared his teeth and growled, but it almost sounded… amused. I watched him walk away, appreciating his ass all over again.

Wyatt cleared his throat, but he was holding back a grin. I remembered the expression well. Like he was trying to be serious, but he could never keep the laughter from his eyes. “You keep eye-fucking him like that, and he’ll come back and make good on his promise.”

I sighed. “So tempting,” I whispered to myself.

“I heard that,” Axel shouted from the front porch.

This time, Wyatt didn’t even bother keeping his laughter inside. “Lion shifter hearing. You should get used to that.”

I waved him in front of me. “Let’s get this tour over, shall we?”

I ignored his chuckle as we walked down the hallway.

CHAPTER 7