Free Masks of a Tiger by Doris O'Connor

wicked images his growled words had created in her mind, had
her more turned on that she had ever been.
    He was a shifter. He
could crush her in an instant, and no one would be able to stop him. Yet, the
fact that he turned into that beautiful animal had reassured her instead of
frightening her. The control it must take to shift had been a miracle to
witness. His dismissal of it all, and the tender way he'd made sure she wasn't
frightened out of her wits, had made her feel cherished and protected. Even
now, pinned against the door, she knew instinctively that he would never hurt
her. How she knew that she couldn't even begin to explain to herself. From the
first moment she'd met him, he'd kept her on edge, her body responding to him
in a way her rational side just couldn't explain.
    "What did you
say?" The barely concealed emotion behind those simple words took her
breath away. She lost herself in his gaze and gave him a tentative smile.
    "I said , I don't want Trikus … Sir."
    Grisha blinked
once, and said something in Russian that sounded suspiciously like a curse, and Neeve's impish side took over.
    "I would prefer
someone else, a woman perhaps?" She suppressed a grin at his incredulous
look. "Of course, if you're not man enough to handle two women, then maybe
I should find Trikus after all…" She let her
words trail off, and excitement curled low in her belly at Grisha's tiger's answering growl. It vibrated through her, and every female cell in her
body sighed in submission at the possessiveness of that sound.
    He ran his claws slowly
down her sides, digging in just enough to hurt, and her knees buckled when he
reached her soaked thong. She clung to his shoulders for support and spread her
legs automatically to give him better access. He murmured his approval and took
her mouth in a branding kiss of possession that left her breathless and
wanting.
    "Not man enough you
say?"
    She swallowed hard at
the determined expression in his dark eyes. With a wicked grin and the flick of
one clawed finger he ripped the delicate fabric of her underwear. His other
hand settled on her throat pinning her against the wall. He lifted the remnants
of her underwear to his nose and inhaled deeply.
    "Sweet, I can't
wait to eat you."
    Her stomach clenched,
and a renewed gush of moisture coated her pussy at the whispered threat? Promise? His fanged smile was her undoing, and she would have
slid to the floor had he not pushed his thigh between her legs.
    "Oh no, you don't,
and that sassy mouth of yours needs to be occupied." He slid his hand up
to her lips and pushed his fingers inside. She sucked the digits, loving the
feel and taste of him under her tongue. He groaned and withdrew them only to
replace them with her thong. Neeve gagged and tried
to spit the fabric out, but he grabbed her jaw and forced her mouth open with a
growl. She had no choice but to accept the gag, and her mouth full of her own
taste, mixed in with his, she glared at him.
    "Don't even think
about spitting that out, or I'll use a ball gag. Do you understand me,
sub?"
    Damn the man! Why was she
putting up with that? But even as she thought that, her body betrayed her with
another gush of wet liquid between her thighs. He rubbed his hair roughened leg
over her cunt, and she ground her hips to deepen the contact.
    He stopped moving
immediately, and she moaned her frustration.
    "I asked you a
question, sub."
    She nodded and dug her
fingernails into his skin, and Grisha laughed. A deep, dangerous laugh that pitched her arousal sky high. He stepped away and yanked her with him by her hair. The sharp pain zinged
along her nerve endings, and she blinked away tears. Everything focused on him,
and she whimpered when he tied her wrists together with the length of rope
she'd been admiring earlier. It cut into her skin, and with one swift tug her
arms were raised high above her head until she stood on her tiptoes.
    "Eyes on me,
sub."
    She complied immediately
with the harsh command, and