Best Friends (New Species Book 15) Read online

“I don’t like your tone.”

  “I don’t like you, you crazy bastard!”

  He snarled loudly and leaned close to her face. His eyes caught the light from the waterfall, and they reminded her that they were an inhuman golden shade. He was a dangerous predator, and she felt like a tiny rabbit.

  He grabbed her face, capturing it in his freakishly large hands. His fangs peeked out. It made her realize he could tear her apart if he wanted to, break her bones as if they were twigs, and use those sharp teeth to bite deep into her flesh.

  Terror shot through her, and she whimpered.

  He studied her, and his nostrils flared. “Don’t,” he snarled.

  She got the message. It was bad to insult him and call him names. “I’m sorry,” she got out.

  “No, you aren’t. You meant your words to be harsh. Don’t fear me.” His hand caressed her cheek. “You’re mine, Mary. You could make me killing mad, but I will never draw your blood or cause you pain. Do you understand?”

  She didn’t believe him. He still looked prepared to attack.

  He leaned in closer, until their noses nearly touched, his gaze locked with hers. “You’re my mate. It means you can hit me, bite me, and say cruel things…but I will suffer it because you’re mine. You can’t physically harm me, so I’d never strike you to protect myself. It doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy you using your words and bad attitude to hurt my feelings. I won’t. The only punishment I’ll ever give you is the kind we’ll both enjoy.”

  She wasn’t shocked he’d used the mate word, since he’d already announced he was going to marry her. But his version of punishment was a mystery. “What does that mean?”

  He glanced down her body before meeting her gaze again. “I’ll lick you until you are ready to come, then back off.” He paused. “I will keep doing it until you beg me to mount you. That’s going to be agony for us both, because your taste makes me want to be inside you. I’ll have to resist, but I will, until you stop being cruel to me.” His tone softened. “Don’t fear me, Mary. The only way you’ll ever see me kill or maim someone is if they try to take you away from me.”

  He stroked her cheek, her jawline, and even played with her hair. He settled his body against her side. She couldn’t miss the hard-on he sported, since it was resting against her hip. That didn’t surprise her, but the way he started purring again did. He rubbed up against her, reminding her of a house cat.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Calming your fear. Am I less threatening now? I don’t want you afraid of me, Mary. There’s no reason to be.”

  It was almost sweet. He stopped playing with her hair, and his hand lowered to her stomach. He gently petted her from ribs to hip, stroking her. She half expected him to inch that hand lower to seduce her again, but he didn’t. He just watched her with those golden eyes of his and kept purring, rubbing his body gently against her side and stroking her skin.

  She had to admit, it worked. Her fear of him faded.

  “Animals tend to attack me.”

  He smiled. “I heard. But I am not completely lion.”

  She was right. He was a lion man. “I have a long history of being attacked by normally friendly pets.”

  “I heard that, too. Mel shared your history with Snow, and he told me. I wondered if you hated Species, and why he’d mate a human with a close association to our enemy. I understand why now.”

  “It’s my voice, isn’t it? Does it make you want to hurt me?”

  “No. I like your voice. But you behave like prey.”

  “What?”

  He stopped moving his body against her side but continued petting her stomach. “You can’t hide your fear. It’s in your expression, your body language, and even your scent. Any animal with an instinct to hunt sees you as something to go after. You act like prey with the timid way you move, how you jump at the merest motion or sound. Understand?”

  She was beginning to…and it wasn’t comforting to know. “Did you have that instinct?”

  “At first, but I wanted to catch you to do exactly what I did. Get that dress out of my way and claim you.”

  “I don’t even know your name.”

  “It’s Lash.”

  It was an odd name, but most New Species had them. She wasn’t going to ask why. It seemed they liked to pick names that meant something to them or represented things they liked. It disturbed her why the lion man would choose such a name, unless he liked to hit things.

  She sighed. “You can’t just keep me, Lash.”

  “I can.”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  He smiled. “I will.”

  “I don’t mean to insult you, but you can’t just meet someone and plan to spend the rest of your life with them right away. That’s crazy.”

  “It’s Species. I’m Species. I saw you and wanted you. I like how you smell and taste. Mounting you made me certain.”

  “I don’t believe in that magic-pussy thing.”

  He reared his head back a little and scowled. “Is that an insult to me? I don’t understand.”

  “No. I wasn’t calling you a pussy because you’re a lion. I meant that some people believe they’ll meet that one person and know it’s right because the sex is really good. Magic pussy, get it? Like mine feels better than any other woman’s you’ve ever known or something. I think that’s bullshit, and it’s no reason to mate me.”

  His features smoothed out. “The sex we shared had some things lacking. No magic pussy, as you call it. I just want to keep you.”

  His words hurt her feelings, even though she hated to admit it. She looked away from him. “Maybe you should ask her to be your mate.”

  Lash hid his grin. The little female was jealous. It had to mean she cared.

  She had a mean mouth, and he didn’t enjoy the things she could say, but he’d expected it. No female would allow a male to mate her without putting up a fight. He’d worry if she meekly accepted it and might have to rethink his decision.

  She impressed him because there hadn’t been tears, death threats, or screams for help. He’d expected that, too.

  Mary was the female for him. She’d keep him from growing bored.

  “You could seduce me, and try to be my magic pussy,” he pressed, happy to use her words against her.

  Anger narrowed her eyes when she glared at him. He liked how cute she looked.

  “I don’t believe in that crap. Didn’t I just say that?” She reached up and splayed her hand on the center of his chest. “Get away from me.” She pushed.

  It would probably be polite to back off, to give her the impression she was strong enough to force him away, but he didn’t care about that. He stayed put. “You’re mine. I like staying close to you.”

  She opened her mouth.

  He cut her off before she could respond. “Don’t forget what I said. You saying mean words to me will get you punished.” He licked his lips. “I’ll lick you until you beg.”

  Her face became a bit red, and her breathing increased.

  He upgraded her from cute to adorable when she was mad.

  “I didn’t see you use a condom.” She pushed at him again. “That means you came inside me. You’d taste yourself.”

  He shrugged. “So?”

  “You better not have any diseases. Oh my God! We didn’t use protection…” She eased her hand off his chest but then gave him a rougher shove. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Species don’t carry sexual diseases, and you can’t give me one.”

  “I don’t have an STD. How dare you! I’m more worried about what you gave me.”

  He glanced down at her belly. He hoped he gave her a baby. He envied Valiant for having a son, and now the male’s mate was expecting another. It’s why he and Valiant fought so much. He wanted to play with Noble, but the male was unreasonable. Valiant refused to allow Lash near his son. He didn’t trust most males.

  “There’s always a first time and with my luck, you just gave me something un