“I am begging you to stop.”

He turned his head away, lifted his chin. “Of this true symbol of all that is good and right in men?”

And that’s when Sissy lost it again, rolling back and forth on the bed, tears streaming down her face.

The bed dipped, and Mitch grabbed hold of Sissy’s ankles, pulling her legs apart before he dragged her down to him. He wrapped her legs around his waist and dropped forward, catching himself with his hands. He hovered above her, his eyes watching her.

“Christ, I love making you laugh.”

And he said it with such feeling that Sissy went warm and dripping, pushing herself up on her elbows and capturing Mitch’s mouth with her own. He groaned and relaxed into her, pressing her into the bed with his weight.

With Mitch’s forearms braced on either side of Sissy’s head, their kiss became deeper, more intense. He slid inside her, and Sissy pulled her knees up, trying to pull him in further. Her hands reached down and gripped his ass, squeezing and digging her fingers into the taut flesh.

Something was different, and Sissy wasn’t sure what. And she couldn’t even focus long enough to figure it out. Mitch’s thrusts were slow, deep, and powerful. Afraid she’d lose control and unleash her claws or—more importantly—her fangs, Sissy wrapped one arm around his neck, holding Mitch to her. Her free hand reached back and grabbed hold of the headboard. She felt like it was the only thing anchoring her to this world, to this moment. Damned if at times like these she wouldn’t follow the man like a puppy after a tennis ball.

With him completely surrounding her, Sissy should have felt trapped. She should have been fighting to get out from under, to be right on top, taking control. She always took control. But she loved what he was doing to her, and she didn’t want to fight it.

So she didn’t. She didn’t fight Mitch or herself. She simply held on to him and her headboard and let him take her wherever he wanted to go.

Something was different. Different…and…and so damn amazing. Mitch didn’t know what to do with himself. Sissy was warm and solid underneath him, her breath a soft pant in his ear.

He held her face between his hands and kissed her jaw, her cheeks, her neck. When he kissed her mouth, her grip on him tightened, and her body began to shake beneath his.

Mitch placed his palms flat against the mattress on either side of Sissy and raised himself over her. He took her slower but harder, watching her face to see what each thrust did to her. Watching to see if she was feeling anything close to what he was feeling.

Her eyes fluttered open, and her gaze caught his. Her arms reached up, and those long fingers speared into his hair, massaging his scalp until he was purring her name. Then Sissy’s eyes clouded, her breath catching in her throat. Mitch held off his release, instead choosing to watch Sissy’s. She came sobeautifully, torso arching, head thrown back. She bit her lip and looked away from him. But he kept fucking her until a sob burst from her and she climaxed again. She didn’t hold anything back this time. Simply pulled him down until she could bury her face against his neck, short, hard breaths racing against his skin.

Mitch came then. Buried deep inside her, holding her to him.

They didn’t have much time together, but the time they were together Mitch knew he’d never forget.

Chapter 25

Paula Jo Barron, head lioness of the Barron Pride, read her newspaper and drank her beer. Some days she was so bored. Like today. It was too hot and muggy outside to do anything but sit around and sweat. And although her bar was nice and cold from the air conditioning, there wasn’t much to do here. She’d already done payroll, and she wasn’t in the mood to beat one of her sisters yet again at pool. And the football game in Smithtown didn’t start until three o’clock tomorrow. Hell, to watch those bears kick the Smith Pack’s collective ass for another year in a row, Paula Jo would risk life and limb crossing territorial lines.

But really, it was days like these where Paula Jo thought about leaving. What would it be like to leave her little town behind and find a new place? To move to a big city like Nashville or a whole other state like Texas? What would it be like to not always be here?

But as soon as the thoughts came in her head, they went right back out again. How could she leave? She didn’t trust either of her sisters to run the Pride. She definitely didn’t trust her crazy aunts. The current pair of males they had probably wouldn’t last much longer, and Paula Jo knew Karen Jane would only choose the replacements by following whatever her crotch told her to do and Lucy would be suckered by the first pretty face and sweet talker who came along.

Besides, if she left, what would she do for money? The Barrons were not wealthy and probably never would be. True, they weren’t dirt poor either, but last month when the roof nearly caved in, they’d had to put in for a loan to fix it. It’s not like they had the money simply sitting around waiting to be used.

Must be nice, she thought with only a little less bitterness than usual.

And that’s when she walked in.

Definitely a lioness. It wasn’t only her scent that gave her away, but also the way she moved. The way her gold eyes sized up the entire room. And even though she’d cut her hair so it was short and up around her ears, it couldn’t be mistaken for anything but the gold mane of hair that it was. True, it would never be like the males’ manes, but in Paula’s estimation, every predator female had a little butch in her.

The problem at the moment, however, was that this was not a lioness of Paula Jo’s Pride. She was an outsider, and Paula Jo ran outsiders off.