Menagerie

Chapter 19 - Jasper

I jolted and spun in my chair too fast. The dizziness I had been fighting off swirled my vision and had my blood rushing in my ears, though some of that might have also been the shock.

Firstly, the person I had been chasing had found me.

Secondly, it was a man.

Thirdly, now that he was right in front of me, his scent was clearer than before. I had thought the strangeness to it was because of the way it mixed with the diverse crowd, but no. He wasn't a werecoyote or even a werewolf. My eyes darted to his name tag and read "Lyle Crowley, Werecougar."

I was drawn to a male werecat.

I stared at him, too shocked to do much else. At least I wasn't dizzy from breathing in too much anymore. I wasn't sure I was breathing at all. The man took in my shock with twinkling eyes, seeming completely unbothered by anything. In fact, his smirk grew the longer it took me to recover.

After an interminable moment in which I gaped at him and he gazed at me with bright eyes, he said, "Cat got your tongue?"

I was still too struck stupid to perform more than the simplest of tasks, though I knew I was definitely breathing now because his scent was setting me aflame. My nose burned, my canines descended and felt sensitive against my tongue, and my heart was racing. Being near this man was exhilarating in a way I had never experienced before.

His smirk spread from one side of his mouth to the other, creating a full-blown smile. I realized he was still waiting for an answer and shook my head slowly, though a more honest answer would have been yes.

Excitement glittered in the eyes I couldn't seem to look away from and even though I hadn't spent much time with werecats, I could recognize the look of a feline about to pounce. It only made my heart race more. "No? Maybe we should do something about that."

Before I had even processed his words, he gripped my shirt and tugged me closer to him. His lips met my own in a brief, hard kiss. I felt him smile against me before he kissed me again, licking and nibbling at my bottom lip until I gasped at how good it felt to have him touching me. He took the opportunity to slide his tongue into my mouth. There was no question of dominance in our kiss. He controlled everything about it. I'd never been kissed like that before – usually the women I dated were all too happy to let me take the lead. Something about the way he effortlessly made me submit to him was overwhelmingly erotic.

The kiss ended when he pulled away from me. His eyes roved my whole body and it was obvious he liked what he saw. His pupils had blown up so hardly any hint of their bright green color remained and a smirk was back on his face. It looked so natural there, I wondered whether this was his usual expression. He wore it like I wore a frown.

"Pleasure to meet you, Jasper," Lyle said.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but shut it again when it became clear nothing would come out.

"Ah, so the cat really does have your tongue. I'd be happy to claim the rest of you if we find somewhere a little more private."

That only shocked me further, but it broke the dam of words that had been fighting to break free. "What?" I gasped.

Lyle tilted his head and studied me curiously. A brow slowly lifted in a perfect arch before he said, "Privacy, Jasper. Let's find some."

I blinked a few times, trying to clear the fog that had settled over my brain as his scent infected it. "Is mating even the same for werecats?"

Lyle brushed the backs of his fingers over my cheek and it felt so good, my eyes drifted shut and I leaned into them. "I imagine the mechanics are the same," he answered me, sounding amused.