Sebastian/Aristide (Bayou Heat) Read online

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right,” Hiss said, wanting to run as Rosalie came toward him, but knowing he wouldn’t make it out alive. And goddammit, he had to stay alive. “Ask them! Any of you. Ask the elders. Shit, ask Raphael.”

  But they weren’t listening now. They had a job to do. Hiss knew how their minds worked, because once upon a time he was a loyal Hunter, too.

  CHAPTER 8

  Kat was going crazy. Dawn had broken a good thirty minutes ago and there was no sign of Aristide. She and Xavier were both feeling the stress of not knowing what was going on. Inside the house one moment, pacing the gardens the next. No one had come by to tell them anything. No one seemed to be around. Kat was ready to beg Xavier to go and find out some news and come back. But she knew he wouldn’t go. There was a sort of silent code between the males here, especially best friends like Xavier and Aristide. They looked out for each other, and Kat couldn’t help but be moved by it.

  “Coffee?”

  Shivering in the gray morning light, she glanced over her shoulder to see Xavier walking down the porch steps, two cups in his hand. “No, thanks.”

  “Come on now,” he said, holding one steaming mug out to her. “It gives you something to do. Something to sip and hold while you’re slowly going mad.”

  He grinned at her on that last bit, and she laughed softly and took the cup. “Thank you, Xavier. For the coffee, and for the company.”

  “Anytime,” he said. He came to stand beside her at the gate. “He’ll succeed, Katherine. I know him like no one else. His word is everything to him.”

  Her heart squeezed inside her chest. Yes, she believed that. “How long have you two been best friends?”

  “Seems like forever,” Xavier said with a sniff. “Since we were cubs. I did think we might be headed for a breakup a short time ago when I fell in love with his sister.”

  Kat turned to look at him. “Really? I’d think he’d find that comforting. His best friend, who he trusts, and his sister.”

  “Well, it turns out he did end up feeling that way.” His dark brows lifted over his extraordinary eyes. “But I was worried. That male is family to me, and I did not want to lose him. Nothing’s more important than family.” He smiled a very wicked smile. “You’ll see.”

  Heat surged into her cheeks and she nearly choked out, “What?”

  Xavier laughed, but the sound died away nearly as quickly as it came. He glanced past her, craned his neck and narrowed his eyes. “Katherine, come.”

  “What?” Kat followed him out the gate and onto the dirt road. For a second, she couldn’t see anything. Dawn had broken, but there were some low hanging clouds about. But after a moment, she caught sight of something in the distance. Her heart lurched, then started slamming against her ribs. No…it can’t be. Without another thought, she started toward it. Walking slowly at first. She thought she heard Xavier call to her, but she didn’t look back. She swore she saw the cat she wished to see. But what of the boy?

  She slowed, stared, not believing what she was seeing. Because truly, how could it be possible? Then she gave a muffled cry and took off. Running toward the puma, and its small, blond, five-year-old rider.

  “Noah!” she cried, and barely gave Aristide’s puma time to stop before snatching the boy up in her arms and squeezing him tight. “Oh, my baby. Oh, my boy. I missed you so much.”

  She pulled back and inspected him, every inch she could see, and when she found him perfect, unharmed, she squeezed him again.

  Aristide was shifting, returning to his tall, strong, capable, honorable, wonderful self. And when he caught Kat’s eye, he winked at her and gave her a grin.

  “Someone’s happy,” he said.

  “You have no idea,” Kat cried, touching her boy’s hair and his face. Was he real? Was she truly this lucky?

  “Mommy can we stay here?” Noah asked near her ear. “For a little while at least? I don’t like it out there. I’m scared. But here…” He giggled. “I’ve got my own puma protector.” He lifted his head. “Right, Ari?”

  “You know it, Cub,” Aristide said with a playful growl, reaching over to tousle the boy’s hair.

  “We’ll talk about that later, honey,” Kat said, feeling slightly embarrassed. Aristide had been so kind, so amazing to her, the last thing in the world she wanted to do was put him on the spot. “Right now, I want you to come inside and get some sleep.”

  “But it’s morning,” Noah whined. “I’m not tired.”

  “Who’s hungry?” Xavier called, loping up to meet them. He enveloped Aristide in a hug, and slapped his back a few times. “Damn. It’s good to see you, brother.”

  “You, too,” Aristide said.

  “I’m hungry,” Noah called out. “I’m pretty sure I could eat a whale.”

  “A whale?” Xavier repeated, his blue eyes going wide. “That’s some serious fish food, little cub.”

  “Whales aren’t fish, they’re mammals.”

  Both Aristide and Xavier laughed, and the former ruffled Noah’s hair again. Kat wished the moment could go on for hours, days… The jokes, the love, the family. How could she have ever written such things about such a wonderful place? She would fix it. Even if she had to deal with Marco. She owed everyone here, Aristide most of all, a good story. A true love letter to the Wildlands.

  “Come on, ya’ll,” Xavier said, dropping an arm over Aristide’s shoulders. “Let’s go to my place and see if Mal’s back. Find out what’s happened and where we stand while we stuff our faces.”

  “Yippee!” Noah screamed, making everyone laugh again.

  Aristide turned to Kat and gave her look so intense, so hot, it sent shivers of desire through her. But his voice remained as cool as the air around them. “No one’s going to be able to sleep anytime soon. There’s much to talk about, and much to celebrate.” His eyes burned into her. “Right?”

  She nodded. “Right.” She wasn’t sure what he meant. If he was just talking about their small party. Or her. And him. Either way, she had to find out.

  “Did I say how much I missed you?” Kat said in between kisses as she and Noah walked down the street next to the two grown Pantera males.

  Noah giggled. “Yes. But I already knew.”

  “You did?”

  “Ari told me.”

  Kat glanced over at the man, the male—the guy she was so desperately falling for. He was walking side by side with Xavier, but his eyes were pinned on her.

  “When he came and found me in that mean man’s house,” Noah continued. “He told me how much you love me and that you missed me and that if I just trusted him, he’d bring me to you.”

  Tears pricked Kat’s eyes. “I’m so glad we both trusted him, baby.”

  As she hugged her boy closer, she felt Aristide’s hand at her back, guiding her, protecting her, treating her with such care as they all walked together through town.

  ***

  A few hours later, Aristide led Kat into the house. His house. His family’s house. A house that craved, and deserved, to have happiness again. For so long, it had been just him and Amalie. But now, Aristide was hoping for a fresh start with two humans he knew in his guts he didn’t want to live without.

  He closed the door and eased Katherine into his arms. She melted into him at once. Noah had been having so much fun at Mal and Xavier’s place, he’d refused to leave. After eating more than a boy twice his size—maybe he had a touch of the Pantera in him?—Xavier had pulled him into a game he was creating on the computer. Noah had begged to stay for another hour. Which was a perfect amount of time for what Aristide had planned for his mother.

  “Ashe’s cub is well and safe,” he said, gazing down at her, his puma purring inside his chest. The feel of her against him was making his body roar to life. “And your boy is well and safe, and will never have to fear that monster again.” He raised a brow. “But what about you, Katherine? Do you feel safe? Here, with me?”

  Her eyes sparkled with undeniable happiness as she gazed up at h
im. “I feel so much more than that, Ari.”

  A low, hungry growl escaped his throat. “Oh, I love when you call me that.”

  She grinned. “Then I’ll always call you that.”

  Always. Yes, he liked that.

  “Do you think the Pantera would allow Noah and I to stay for a little while?” she asked, a touch of her contentment, her happiness, stolen by a momentary thread of concern.

  Aristide lifted one eyebrow. “Only mated humans can live in the Wildlands, darlin’.”

  It was as if her entire world came tumbling down in that moment, in that stupid comment, and Aristide felt like a giant asshole for chiding her. “Katherine, I’m sorry.”

  “No. No.” She shook her head and tried to ease herself away from him. “That’s okay. I understand. We can go this afternoon.”

  Oh, shit. He was not doing this well. Holding her close, he allowed his puma a moment of possessiveness with a soft snarl. Then he held her gaze. “Listen to me, Katherine Burke. And listen well. Right now I ache for you so badly I can barely contain it. I need to touch you. I need to kiss you. Christ, I need to feel what it’s like to be inside of you. So deep, we both lose our minds and our breath.”

  She stared up at him confused. “I don’t understand.”

  “But first you need to know how I feel,” he continued, his strong jaw tight and his eyes flashing black fire. “I want you. Here. With me. Forever. I want to mate you. I want to wake up every morning to your face, and have you fall asleep in my arms every night.”

  Her mouth dropped open and she stilled. “I want that, too. Oh, Ari, I want that more than anything. But are you sure? I’m not a Pantera female.”

  “You are my female,” he said roughly, bending down and scooping her up in his arms. “And I’m taking you to our room and to our bed to make sure you understand that fact.”

  “Our room,” she repeated. “Our bed?”

  “Fuck, yes, Katherine Burke. Our everything.”

  He felt her shiver in his arms, knew that right then her nipples were getting hard. He licked his lips. “Noah can have the room you’ve been staying in,” he decreed, moving swiftly down the hall. “Unless he hates the flowers. I’m not too into the flowers myself. So maybe we could fix it up together, him and me.”

  “Aristide?”

  He stopped just inside the bedroom and turned to look at her. She was so beautiful. Her cheeks flushed with desire. Her eyes wide with desire, and a need for reassurance from him.

  “You do want this?” he asked savagely. “Say you want this, that you want me. Because I want you and Noah more than anything. I know what you said about him not having a father, but it’s not right. He needs that. And…I need him.”

  Tears welled in her eyes, and she nodded. “Yes, Ari. All of it. A million times, yes.”

  It was all he needed to hear. He stretched her out on the bed, then started undressing her. First her shoes, then her skirt and top, his eyes never leaving hers. But when she was completely naked before him, he drew back and allowed his gaze move over her, explore, covet. Oh, she took his breath away. Pale, long limbs, narrow waist, lightly muscled arms, full breasts with edible nipples that seemed to call to him.

  “Mine,” he growled, feeling his male self collide with his puma.

  “Then take me, Ari,” she said passionately, her arms outstretched. “I need you. I need you inside me. I’ve never wanted anything more.”

  Aristide wanted hours to explore every inch of her, kiss every peak and valley, lick every drop of sweet cream from her nearly shaved pussy. But when she spread her legs wide and showed him just how slick and pink she was, he couldn’t be contained any longer. After all, they had tonight and tomorrow, and forever, to explore.

  Aristide quickly stripped, then growled softly at her as her eyes dropped to his heavy shaft. “See something you like?”

  She smiled wickedly. “Oh, Ari, so many things. But right now, I need you over me, inside me, against me.”

  He was on the bed in seconds, had her thighs spread a few inches wider and his cock sliding home before she said another word. Liquid heat enveloped him, and when she wrapped her legs around his waist and arched her back, he thrust into her so deep, she gasped. He dropped his head and captured her mouth, taking her gasps and her groans into his lungs. It was perfect, like fine wine.

  “My Katherine,” he whispered against her lips, moving inside of her, claiming her, taking her all the way to the brink of climax. “My life, my family, my love.”

  And when she cried out and exploded around him, Aristide went with her. Followed her over the edge and into a new and wonderful life for them both.

  EPILOGUE

  The small cabin on the isolated island in the Wildlands was surrounded by heavy flora, and a perilous swamp that had claimed a few unwary Pantera over the years. It was used to imprison those who had done the Pantera wrong, and those who couldn’t control their cats any longer. Hiss belonged to the former group. The wrongdoers and the traitors.

  Standing over the cot that only days ago had hosted the evil Shakpi, Hiss wondered at his future. Should he give up? Give in, break with this life and move on to the next? Or should he fight to free himself? Was it important that the ones who imprisoned him now knew why he had turned against them? That it was their own treachery, their callous disregard for his family—and shit, for three of their own—that had brought this about?

  The door was pushed open and one of his fellow Hunters, Rosalie, appeared. She was in her human form and she could barely look him in the eye as she announced that a visitor had come to see him.

  “I don’t want to see anyone,” he growled. Every second he breathed, his shame grew like a cancer.

  “What you want doesn’t matter anymore,” Rosalie said, before motioning to whoever was behind her to come inside.

  Only days ago, Hiss had stood sentry outside that door. In his quest for revenge, he’d fallen so far down it would be impossible to crawl back up. He knew that, knew he was done for, and he didn’t want anyone else in his face telling him so.

  A female with green eyes and dark hair pulled back into a ponytail stepped into the room. She wasn’t remotely tall, but there was a toughness about her, a sharpness that didn’t suffer fools well.

  Hiss turned to the Hunter near the door. “You can go, Rosalie. I’m not about to paw my visitor.”

  “Not a chance, Hiss.” This time her eyes met his, and they were filled with hot, raw disappointment.

  It was a look that scratched at Hiss’s insides, that snaked into the very core of his own Hunter nature and bit at shards of his remaining moral compass. He pulled his gaze from her and settled it on the female in front of him. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  Her green eyes narrowed. Not with malice, but with keen interest. “Do you remember me?”

  “I believe we’ve met before,” Hiss answered caustically. “Sebastian’s mate, right?”

  The female nodded. “But that’s not all I am, it seems.”

  “Why do I care?” He couldn’t imagine why the female was here, what she wanted from him.

  She took a deep breath and let it out. “Before coming here I really didn’t know what I was. I knew I wasn’t like the other humans I worked with, was friends with, but I didn’t really try and go digging for answers.” Her eyes softened. “Until Sebastian.”

  Hiss cursed and dropped down on the cot. “Have you come here to tell me about your perfect little love story, Female? Because that would be a true form of torture for me.”

  “Sebastian wanted to know who I was, where I’d come from, how a Pantera female could grow up among the humans without anyone ever looking for me,” she continued, unfazed by his vicious attitude. “He took a hair sample from me.” She grimaced. “Without me knowing about it—”

  Hiss growled. “Get on with it, Female. I have all day and night, true, but not for this pointless bullshit.”

  Her face fell. “The sample was tested, and DNA—my DNA�
�matched another shifter here in the Wildlands.”

  Something hot and aching rolled through Hiss at her words. Why the hell was she here? What kind of game were the Pantera playing? Or maybe this was the elders—

  “I’m your sister, Hiss.”

  The words popped out of her mouth like bullets from a gun. At first, Hiss wasn’t sure he’d heard it correctly. Then he replayed it. Again. And again in his mind.

  “You’re lying,” he uttered tersely, coming to his feet.

  “No.” She shook her head.

  “That’s impossible. My sister is dead. My parents are dead. I have no family.”

  Tears pricked in her green eyes and she shrugged. “I don’t know how this happened, how we got separated. If our parents are truly gone, or what. But DNA tests don’t lie. I’m your blood, Hiss.” She lifted her chin. “I’m your sister.”

  About The Author

  New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, Laura Wright is passionate about romantic fiction. Though she has spent most of her life immersed in acting, singing and competitive ballroom dancing, when she found the world of writing and books and endless cups of coffee she knew she was home. Laura is the author of the bestselling Mark of the Vampire series and the USA Today bestselling series, Bayou Heat, which she co-authors with Alexandra Ivy.

  Laura lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two young children and three loveable dogs.

  Mark of the Vampire series

  (paranormal)

  ETERNAL HUNGER

  ETERNAL KISS

  ETERNAL BLOOD

  (novella)

  ETERNAL CAPTIVE

  ETERNAL BEAST

  ETERNAL BEAUTY

  (novella)

  ETERNAL DEMON

  ETERNAL SIN

  (coming November 2013)