I moved deeper into the strange forest, guided by my luminous companions, painfully aware of my bare feet and lack of supplies. The vines seemed to sense paths I couldn’t see, pulling me around obstacles hidden in the undergrowth, steering me toward what I hoped was safety rather than something worse.
Behind me, the growling came again. Closer. Whatever it was, it was following me.
And judging by how frantically the vines were now pulsing, it wasn’t something I wanted to meet.
2 /LOR
She appearedat the edge of the clearing, barefoot and wild, as if the jungle itself had birthed her into my dream. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, casting dappled patterns across her bronze skin that mimicked my own markings. The Unity dream had never felt this real before—I could smell her, taste her in the humid air. My kassari. My fated one. The one the universe had carved from stardust just for me. The primal part of me recognized her before my mind could form her name.
She stood there, defiant yet vulnerable, her wild curls tangled with small jungle vines as if the planet itself was already claiming her. But it couldn’t have her. She was mine.
I stalked toward her, my movements fluid and predatory. My tail lashed behind me, betraying the hunger I fought to control. Her eyes—dark and knowing—tracked me without fear. There was challenge there, curiosity, and beneath it all, a hunger that matched my own.
“You’re real,” she whispered, her voice like water over stone. “I thought I was going crazy.”
The sound hit me like a physical blow. My ears flicked forward, catching every nuance of her tone. I wanted tomemorize it, catalog it, keep it locked within me for the cold nights when I would wake alone.
“As are you,” I managed, my voice rougher than intended. The Unity dream amplified everything—sensation, sound, scent. And her scent…stars above, her scent was devastating. Like sun-warmed fruit and female arousal, with an undercurrent of something uniquely her.
I circled her, unable to stop myself from testing the boundaries of her comfort. Would she run? Would she cower? Many humans did, when confronted with what I was. But she pivoted with me, keeping her eyes locked with mine, her chin lifted in that delicious challenge.
“Do all cats play with their food?” she asked, the corner of her mouth lifting.
A growl rumbled in my chest. “You are not prey.”
“No?” Her eyebrow arched. “Then what am I?”
I closed the distance between us in a single fluid stride. My hand—so large against her delicate form—cupped her face. My claws were retracted, but I let her feel their presence beneath my fingertips, a gentle scrape against her skin.
“Mine,” I said simply.
Heat flared in her eyes. Her pulse jumped beneath my palm, the rhythm of it intoxicating. She didn’t look away, didn’t step back. Instead, she leaned into my touch, her body swaying toward mine like a flower seeking the sun.
The gesture broke something open inside me. I dropped to my knees before her, the humid earth of the jungle floor pressing against my skin. My hands found her hips, steadying her as I pressed my face to her belly, inhaling deeply. Her fingers threaded through my hair, hesitant at first, then bolder as I nuzzled against her.
“I’ve dreamed of you, I think,” she admitted, her voice hushed. “Before this. Before now. But never so clearly.”
I looked up at her, drinking in the sight of her above me. “The closer we are in the waking world, the stronger the Unity dream becomes.” My hands slid down to her thighs, feeling the heat of her skin. “You are near. On my planet. In my jungle.”
A shiver ran through her as my claws extended just enough to scrape along her inner thighs. Her legs parted, an unconscious invitation that made my cock throb painfully. The scent of her arousal intensified, a heady perfume that clouded my senses.
“Tell me who you are,” I rasped, my voice like gravel against her pulse as I leaned in to taste the delicate skin of her thigh.
Her voice trembled as she whispered, “Miri.”
Miri. The name settled into me, becoming part of my heartbeat, my breath. Miri.
I nipped at her inner thigh, just a promise of what was to come, and she gasped, her fingers tightening in my hair. I let my tongue follow, soothing the small sting, tasting the salt of her skin.
“And you?” she asked, breathless now. “Who are you?”
“Lor,” I murmured against her skin. “Lor Pardus.”
Her laugh was soft, almost musical. “Of course it is.”
I didn’t ask what she meant. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but the feel of her, the taste of her, the way her body responded to mine as if we’d been lovers for lifetimes.
My hands slid up her thighs, parting them further as I rose slightly, bringing my mouth level with her sex. I glanced up, seeking permission, though every instinct in me screamed to take, claim, possess.
