STORY EXCERPT

The raw vulnerability in his lover’s voice and his face gripped him tight and shook him hard. Travis exhaled roughly. “That’s why you didn’t want Daisy in our relationship? You’re afraid I’ll leave you for her?” That was why he didn’t push him too hard to come out. Keyos was afraid he’d let shame drive him from the town he loved. And he was right. He’d vowed he’d never subject himself to the pain he’d gone through in college.

“I was, but I’m falling in love with her too,” Keyos told him.

Travis smiled. “I knew this would be so right.” He frowned. “Did it sound like she was making a cute little purring noise to you?”

Keyos laughed, but before he could answer, his phone rang. Keyos wiggled and pulled his cell from his pocket. It amazed Travis just how strong his man was. Sometimes, he didn’t even seem human.

Keyos sat up. “Yeah, Zan.”

Travis watched the look on his lover’s face and knew something was wrong, but the sudden tension in his body confirmed it. He got to his feet tensely, waiting impatiently for the call to end. “What is it?” he demanded as soon as Keyos disconnected.

“Daisy’s in trouble,” he said. “The federal agents in town investigating the deaths of the private detective have taken her in and are out at her family’s searching their home.” Looking for proof she was an alien, he thought. “I’m going to the station to see what’s going on.”

“I’m coming with you. I’ll call Cade.”

“Her family might have a lawyer, but I don’t know if they know she’s been taken in yet,” Keyos answered. “Call him on the way.”

* * * *

When they arrived at the police station they found Zan waiting in the spacious waiting room, pacing the cement floor. Behind the desk, a dark-skinned woman worked on the computer, ignoring him.

“Zan.” Keyos rushed to his brother with Travis on his heels.

“Dade and the feds took Daisy and Alice to the back for questioning. Cade just went in,” Zan explained.

“What in the hell happened?” Keyos demanded.

Zan threw a look over Keyos’s shoulder to Travis before taking his brother’s arm and urging him a few steps away from his lover.

“Travis, give us a minute,” Keyos said before turning back to Zan. “How did they go from a picture to guessing it was Daisy?”

“I don’t know that they made a leap,” Zan said quietly. “I think they had more than they let on. We’re going to have to do something fast.”

“What did Dade say?” Keyos demanded.

“They had evidence that suggested she had been in the detectives’ room the night of the murder,” he said. “He said he found a bit of dirt and a string of hair that belongs to Daisy.”

“Dirt? How can he say that dirt came from her?” Keyos demanded angrily. He’d known they’d had something more than they were letting on. This witch hunt had been exactly what he’d been worried about.

“Forensics,” Zan answered. “Smyth said they had the boarding house independently searched and the hair and dirt results came back this morning. I don’t believe that shit, but obviously there’s nothing Dade can or will do about it. They issued a search warrant for the Chapin house.”

“Those bastards will want to make her change next,” Keyos said. “And her family. They’ve got to get out of dodge.”

Zan nodded tightly. “Yeah, but how?”

“If they suspect they’re shifters, have any more proof, they’ll just them away,” Keyos said. “They’ll have to call for transport, and we can waylay that and then get them to the orchard. We can hide them in the underground shelter there. There are parts of the orchard they can’t see even with cameras, so we can let them stretch in cat form there.”

“They have a picture of her turning into a saber-tooth, so maybe we can find a way to get some friend involved and make it look like a Hollywood FX show.”

Keyos nodded. “We’d have to find a way to explain why they were doing it.”

“We can come up with something,” Zan said.

Cade emerged from the back of the police station with Daisy and Alice in front of him and the feds and Dade on their heels. “You get something more than a few pictures that could have been a trick of the sun or even some other kind of light before you start making wild accusations,” Cade said. “And you get some proof Daisy actually killed someone.”

“We’ll have her back in here by Monday,” Smyth snarled at Cade’s back. “Don’t leave town!”

“Dade.” Keyos rushed over and Daisy threw herself into his arms. She trembled slightly against him as he hugged her. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered, caressing her hair. “Go to Travis.” She did and he met the others in front of the reception desk. “What the hell is going on, Dade?”

“We found some dirt that matched the lake cabin where Daisy hangs out, and we found a string of her hair in the room where Kimble was killed,” Dade explained tightly.

“I thought your boys went to that place after the murder,” Keyos snapped.

“Police incompetence,” Lowell interjected. “We’re going to be handling the case from now on. Not only will your girlfriend be under investigation, so will you and your brothers as accessories after the fact.”

Keyos snorted. “I take it you didn’t find what you were looking for at the Orchard.”

“That body was moved from someplace, and if not your place, then her family’s, so they’ll be under investigation as well,” Lowell snapped. “Don’t any of you—” He pointed to Zan, Travis, Daisy and Keyos. “Don’t any of the four of you leave town.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“Turn her around, Travis,” Keyos ordered roughly, and Travis turned her and his lips claimed hers. His tongue penetrated her mouth, sending the flavor of Keyos whipping through her senses.

She cupped his jaw and reveled in the kiss for all of ten seconds before her ass was slapped lightly. Keyos fisted a hand in her hair and tugged her head back. At the same time Travis pushed both arms behind her back and held them in place at the base of her spine.

“Travis?” she asked huskily.

Her answer was a swat across her ass. “Daisy flower, you never enter a man’s home without knocking,” Keyos said tightly. Another tap landed on her ass and she yelped. She struggled and Travis held her in place. Another tap kissed her cheek and the bite was just enough to send waves of pleasure playing over her clit and moisture gathering in her pussy. “Never do it again, Daisy flower, understand?”

She tried to get free and that earned her a harder thwack, and another.

“Keep your ass still,” Keyos snapped. “You brought this on yourself by just barging in.”

Another tap, thwack, tap. She grimaced, but the pain was a delicious kind of delight that racked her body.

“Bad girls get punished, Daisy flower, just like bad boys, right Travis?”

“Yes, Sir,” Travis said, lips twitching.

“You have such a succulent ass, Daisy, and Travis is going to fill full tonight,” he said, and gave her another tap that drew a lusty moan from her. “Turn around, Travis.”

She was turned and her arms were against tugged behind her back.

Keyos yanked her panties down. “Step out of them,” he ordered.

She did and he delivered a light tap to her pussy. She jumped, and he chuckled, and tapped her again. The pain squeezed her clit, turning her blood to lava in her veins. She panted.

“Do you want to leave while I’ll let you go?” he asked.

Her body was coming alive, throbbing with sensation so intense, so raw that she felt even the air caressing her skin.

She shook her head frantically. “No.”

He slapped her pussy lips again. “No, what?”

“No, Sir,” she said roughly.

“No, Keyos, will be fine,” he told her. “We’ll both fuck you if you stay.”

“Yes, Keyos,” she said breathlessly.

“Show me that you understand,” he ordered.

She leaned forward and licked over the scar. As she did so she dragged in the clean scent of male and—he smelled like passion and fire. “I do.” Daisy kissed his shoulder, biting at the firm muscle. She pulled a moan from him and bit him hard before Travis bit the side of her neck lightly and pinched her nipples.

She moaned and lifted her head. “Travis. I want. I ache.”

“Let me ease you.” Keyos bent to trail kisses over her breast down over the slight rise of her stomach. His dark dick bobbed against his jeans as he shifted to kneel before her. Keyos pulled her panties down and buried his head between her legs.

“You smell like vanilla, Daisy,” he murmured, and licked over her outer lips.

She held her breath, wondering what he thought of her. She was too pale, and there was no hair on her genitals. There was a band of color on her pussy lips which weren’t as plump as a human woman’s, and they were shaped like a cat’s paw split in half.

What had she been thinking? She had never allowed a man to see her completely naked. Her body’s subtle abnormalities only invited questions and sometimes killed the mood.

Travis’s warmth vanished from her back as she kissed a path down her back. His hand stroked over her thigh down to her ankle. He lifted it, placing it on the coffee table before tracing the curve of one buttock.

“Travis,” she said breathlessly. His touch evoked a rabid hunger, a possessive need, while Keyos’s touch made her ache for more, was like a brand.

Keyos used two fingers to open her to him before she had time to stop him. He would see the color that marked her as the half-alien shifter cat she was. His tongue flicked over her clit while a finger tested her pussy for readiness, finding her slit slick with her juices.

He licked down her slit and hummed. “Sweet vanilla cream.” He pushed his fingers inside her as his tongue swirled around her clit.

A drizzle of something cool trailed down the crack of her ass and then Travis delivered a stinging slap to one buttock. She gasped as pain mingled with the pleasure of Keyos’s tongue and sent fire licking through. He slapped her ass again before tracing the tip of his finger around the rosette of her anus.

“Relax,” he murmured. “I’m just going to make you feel even better.”

Keyos pressed the flat of his tongue against her clit, and she relaxed instantly as a wave of bliss slithered through her. The penetration of Travis’s finger followed. She drew in a rough breath. His finger slipped past the tight ring of muscle, and he drew it out and added more lube. Travis penetrated her again and Keyos pushed his fingers into her pussy. He thrust as he sucked her clit.

“Oh, fuck,” she cried. “Oh, God, Travis, Keyos!” She was going to go out of her mind if they kept playing with her body like this.

Fingers shuttled in and out of her. Her fingers curled around Keyos’s head, the short hair soft beneath her fingers. She thrust against his warm tongue, head thrown back as Travis fucked her ass. Her body trembled, her hips pumped faster.

“Oh, yes. Yes!” Her head was spinning, her body an inferno. She was racing down a one-way street about to crash and burn.