Aristide growled low in his throat and sank another ball with only a quick glance in the side pocket’s direction. He was utterly captivated. As in, his eyes just refused to remain on anything but her for longer than a second. With her shoulder length, night-black hair and pale skin, she was truly stunning. But it was her large blue eyes that really drew him in. They seemed both highly intelligent, and unmistakably vigilant. An unlikely pairing for a Saturday night in The Cougar’s Den.
Though a Nurturer, Aristide didn’t work in the emotional or mental sciences, but he could always sense panic, confusion, anxiety and fear within others. Sometimes it was so close to a being’s skin, it seeped out into the air around them. And this human woman, who he couldn’t seem to turn away from, had all four infusing her delicious scent. He wondered why.
She started walking in his direction then, her gaze jumping from a table of older guys, to her cellphone, to some bikers, then to the small Pantera crowd around the pool table. If he wasn’t mistaken, Aristide saw her jaw tremble slightly when she eyed the latter. When she eyed him. He purposely missed his next shot so that when she reached them, he could speak to her first. Human women were always a curiosity to Pantera males, but the Suits he was with tonight were notorious in their preference. Normally Aristide wouldn’t give a shit. Normally, he’d back the hell off and let Roch and Damien make their not-so-subtle moves—moves human women seemed to enjoy and seek out whenever a Pantera male was in The Cougar’s Den. But tonight wasn’t a normal night, and for some reason Aristide couldn’t understand or quell, this human female wasn’t getting near his friends, much less landing on their to-be-fucked list. Hell, if Roch or Damien even tried to touch—
Aristide’s feral thoughts came to an abrupt halt as those fever-inducing hips he’d noticed a second ago swayed tantalizingly toward him as she rounded the table of bikers. Thank Opela by the time she reached him, his basic ability to communicate had returned.
“How are you tonight?” she asked in a smooth, feminine voice as her gaze flickered nervously from his eyes to his chin to his mouth.
“Thirsty,” he said stupidly, his tone lower, harsher, hungrier than he’d intended. What the hell is wrong with me?
“Sounds about right,” she said with a small smile and a bite to her lower lip.
Aristide’s groin tightened with the action.
“What can I get you?” she asked.
He was about to tell her nothing, to go away and don’t come back. And definitely don’t ask his friends the same question or he might have an aneurism right on top of the goddamn pool table. But then her eyes slid upward, over his collarbone, chin, mouth. And those baby blues met his black stare, and he felt a pull on his guts and his heart and his dick unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
Attraction? Hell, yes. But this was unlike any swipe of attraction he’d ever felt. This was attraction times ten. No. Times a thousand. And without thought, the fingers on his right hand closed around the hem of his jacket as his gut, heart and dick instructed him to order the woman to drop her tray and slip inside his shelter of leather. Inside, against his chest, where it was warm. Where Aristide could keep her close and scent her. Where he could protect her—from the males in the bar, both human and Pantera.
But who’s going to protect her from you, asshole, a voice inside of him whispered viciously. From what you want to do to her this very second? This stranger. This HUMAN.
“We have a few beers on tap,” she began, her words a little breathless as she dropped her gaze and quickly checked her cellphone. “Or maybe you’d like something stronger?”
Something stronger…yes, and maybe hotter, too…something that involved her, naked, laid out on the top of the bar, him poised over her with a bottle of tequila in his hand and a lime wedge in his mouth.
Once again, Aristide made a growling sound deep in his throat, but he didn’t turn away as he should. Didn’t tell her to leave him be, as he should. He couldn’t. Like it or not, comprehend it or not, this woman held him, and the puma residing inside of him, captive. His gaze traveled over her. Her exquisite face and her smooth, night-black hair…oh, and that mouth. He’d never seen her before, but she reminded him of someone. Who was it? Her dark hair, those shockingly blue eyes and that unpainted mouth that seemed as though it had been stained a deep, berry red.
His lips twitched as an image popped into his mind. Ah, yes…Snow White. A movie he’d seen as a child. She was Snow White in a tight black miniskirt and three-inch heels. Heels he would make her keep on after he stripped her bare and placed her gently on the bar.
A hum moved through his body, down below his waist where the evidence of his attraction was straining against the zipper of his jeans. Clearly, he’d been stuck in quarantine with Ashe’s sister, Isi, for far too long. There was no other excuse for this impossible reaction. He’d been desperate for a female before, but nothing like this. And never for a human woman. He needed to get his shit together or get the fuck out of here before he did or said something unforgivably stupid.
“I’ll take a beer,” he said, forcing his gaze away and back to the pool table. “Any beer. But cold.”
“Coming right up,” she said.
Aristide knew that humans had a place in the lives of some of his Pantera brothers and sisters, but that would never be his reality. No matter how hot they were. Or how their skin or their voice or their scent called to him.
Teeth grinding against each other at the back of his mouth, Aristide grabbed the chalk from the edge of the table and worked the end of his cue. He was one of the males in his species who seriously wanted a mate, and—Opela be blessed—a family to go with it. And his mate would be a Pantera female. Looking, panting or drooling over a human woman was a waste of his goddamn time.
As he stretched over the table, he heard her taking drink orders from Roch and Damien. Doing her job. Her human job that had nothing to do with him. As his hand tightened around the stick, he tried to block the conversation out and focus on his shot. But it was impossible. His friends were being irritating pricks.
“I’ll have a beer, beautiful,” Damien said, his tone oozing sexual charm. “And your phone number.”
“Smooth,” Roch said, chuckling. “Forgive my friend here, darlin’. He’s under the unfortunate impression that women find him attractive.”
“And my friend here is under the impression that he’s going to have a beating heart after tonight,” Damien said on a playful growl.
Aristide lined his cue up with the ball. Don’t look over there. Because if one of those idiots is touching her…
“Forget the phone number, gorgeous,” Damien continued. “Let me take you out tonight. Somewhere real nice. What time do you get off work?”
“Sorry,” she began tightly. “I’m busy.”
“Busy for him, right?” Roch said with a smile in his voice. “But not for me.”
“Not interested, but thanks,” she said. “I’ll get those drinks.”
“Ah. You have a male,” Damien said quickly.
“Something like that.”
Crack.
The sound echoed throughout the bar, and Aristide instantly felt all eyes swing his way. Ah, shit. He was hoping everyone would think it was the satisfying sound of his last solid ball dropping into the right corner pocket. But he wasn’t that lucky.
“What the fuck, Ari?” Roch said, all sexual heat gone from his voice. “You broke the cue.”
Yes, the cue, and your attempt to hit on the woman.
My woman.
Fuck.
Aristide groaned at the asinine thoughts inside his head. What was wrong with him? Why was he having such predatory, possessive feelings about a complete stranger? One who didn’t have an ounce of shifter blood? And one who had basically said she was taken? He needed to get out of here. Forget the beer, forget the game.
His eyes came up, narrowed on the Suits. Both Roch and Damien were staring at him like he was crazy. The woman, however, was a few feet away, her gaze completely focused on the screen of her cellphone. She looked pale as shit, and that foursome of emotions was coming off of her in waves now. Panic, confusion, anxiety and fear—all drifting into Aristide’s nostrils.
Aristide dug into his pocket for some cash. After weeks of being locked up with Ashe’s sister, testing blood sample after blood sample, hypothesizing until his brain felt close to exploding, all he’d wanted to do was have a night off, a few drinks and a game of pool with some knuckleheads. Not cause a scene, driven by his overwhelming desire for a woman who shouldn’t even be on his radar.
“I’m out of here,” he mumbled, placing the broken cue down on the table and tossing a few more bills than necessary to cover the damage. “Sorry about that.”
Aristide heard both males call after him as he headed for the door, but he didn’t so much as slow his pace. Heat and desire and confusion and ire were barreling through him at top speed, and he needed some cold air on his skin. Then maybe he needed to get laid. Bury himself inside a willing and warm Pantera female for a few hours and get his sanity back again. Shit, he had a few doors he could knock on. And an empty house he could use.