Dex’s Claim

Mandy M. Roth

www.spice-books.co.uk

Dex Zoller has wanted lioness Jenni Ulman for years, especially when she teases him with her irresistible body. Yet she’s the daughter of one of the pride’s ruling elders and he’s a nobody. Dex thinks he isn’t good enough to take her as his mate.

But Dex doesn’t realize that Jenni’s body selected him as her mate long ago. His touch made her thrill with passion and need. Being at his mercy is her dream—one that becomes reality once Dex can no longer resist the urge to claim her…

Chapter One

Dex Zoller stared over the top of his beer bottle at the honey with the shapely rear. She’d been shaking that rump nonstop since he’d walked into her place. The lioness cast a sexy look over her shoulder at him and his cock twitched. He groaned, palming it through his jeans. He chugged his beer. The liquid felt good running down his throat, washing away some of the dryness left behind from simply being in close proximity to pure temptation.

“Want another?” she asked, her voice like silk, all smooth and sensual. She, too, carried the traits of a lion in her, though, to his knowledge, Jenni had yet to actually do a full shift. It was different for werelionesses than it was for werelions. The men began shifting at an early age, when they were but cubs. The females often didn’t shift until they reached sexual maturity, which wasn’t exactly the same time a human did. Some female weres never fully shifted until they were well into their thirties. Others, not at all. It just depended on the woman.

“Hello, Dex,” she said. “Do you want another beer?”

He wanted something, another beer wasn’t it. He wanted her but it could never work between them. He was the son of no one important within the pride and she was the daughter of a prominent council member. The two social classes weren’t meant to come together in the way he was thinking. He was good enough to guard her or check in on her for her father but he wasn’t good enough to actually be with her.

“Jenni, I best be heading out. I promised your father I’d look in on you before I go to my cabin for the weekend.” Running as fast as he could was the only smart thing to do. If he stayed another minute in her tiny apartment that lacked a breeze of any kind, he was likely to blow a load in his pants. The damn woman had been teasing his cock for the greater part of five years and if he didn’t figure out a way around it, he’d have her bent over the table taking all she had to offer before the night was over.

She sashayed over to him, her hips tempting him with each sway. She was poured into those blue jeans and he was damn good and ready to pry her out of them. Too many fantasies consisted of letting a claw break free from his fingertip before dragging it up her inner thigh, cutting the material free of her body, revealing that hot little sex to him. Already he could guess the curls on her mound would be nearly as blond as the ones on her head.

Unless she was shaved.

His mouth watered at the idea.

Oh, how he wanted to taste her, even just once. She knew it, too. He was sure of it with the way she seemed to taunt him. She liked to wiggle and waggle everything the gods above had given her and damned if he didn’t fall for it every time. Fuck, the woman was going to be the death of him. He was sure of it.

He clutched his beer for dear life.

A wanton smile crept over her face. “You know, I’m free this weekend. I could come out to the cabin and keep you company.”

He used the cabin as a safe haven to run wild, shift forms and hunt deer. With nearly two hundred acres at his disposal, he could roam freely and not run into any humans. Many males of his kind needed to expel energy in such a manner—especially the unmated ones. He’d never taken a woman to the cabin with him. Hell, he rarely even permitted another male to accompany him. Just the thought of having Jenni there to greet him after a long hunt sent blood straight to his cock. He gulped and it was clear she heard it.

A mischievous smile curved over her lips. “Up for it?” she persisted.

Was he up for it? He adjusted his cock once more, the action hidden under the kitchen table. Hell yeah, he was up for it, problem was, taking his one true weakness with him—her—to the woods, alone, for three days, wasn’t going to end well. With her father being one of the ruling elders of the pride, Dex couldn’t afford to piss him off. The man had his sights set on Jenni being mated off to a member of a sister pride from Arizona. Supposedly, it would “cement” the bonds between the prides.

Bullshit.

It would secure her daddy a spot in an influential pack with pull over the West Coast. It had nothing to do with the pack or Jenni’s well-being but everything to do with that ass’s need for power.

Jenni, while a minx, was too good for what her father had in store for her. She was the kind of woman a man wanted to come home to every night. The kind a guy would never tire of sinking his dick into. Not even a feral werelion like Dex.

Dex wasn’t rich, by any means, but he was comfortable. His position within the pack wasn’t horrible and he was paid decently. He spent his money wisely and since his cabin was paid for, he saved a good amount as well. In the back of his mind he always thought about providing a life for Jenni—giving her what he felt she deserved. If only he could overcome his hang-ups with her father.

Go, before you do something stupid.

He set his beer bottle on the table and stood slowly, his movements as stiff as his dick. Jenni made a move to step toward him and he actually flinched. Hurt flashed in her eyes and he found himself nearly reaching for her, wanting to soothe her. He resisted. With a nod, he left her standing in the kitchen. “Take care, Jenni.”

Jenni Ulman’s fingers found her throat and she rubbed it, a tightness taking hold of her chest as she watched the incredible Dex Zoller walk out of her life, yet again. It seemed he was always going in the opposite direction as her. Always running as if the very idea of staying with her a moment longer sickened him to his very core. She opened her mouth with the intent to call out to him but stopped herself. She wouldn’t be one of those women. Already she hung too many hopes on the man.

Pathetic.

With a small sigh, Jenni turned and stared at Dex’s discarded beer bottle. She lifted it, her lips curling upward as she brought it to her mouth but didn’t actually drink. His scent was all over the object. Musk. Fresh rain. Man. Dex.

Moisture gathered at the V of her thighs as she drew in his scent once more. While she’d never actually given in to the urge to shift forms, she did possess many of the same traits as those in the pride who did. Her heightened senses made her keenly aware of everything around her. Even the fact that Dex’s heart rate had increased rapidly upon his arrival.

There was a time when she assumed he’d wanted her as she did him, but he’d proven her wrong, choosing instead to mock her behind her back while with his band of buddies. Singh, his best friend, had come around over the years, maturing, even mating to a woman. The rest of Dex’s friends had much to be desired with regard to growing up. They were a bunch of rowdy guys who tended to avoid anything remotely close to commitment and lived only for the moment. She’d thought she’d seen glimpses of hope that Dex had left those ways behind. Clearly, she’d been wrong. And if he had managed to, she obviously wasn’t the woman he wanted for his mate. All he seemed to want to do was rush away from her.

Pushing the painful memories aside, Jenni traced the lip of the beer bottle over her chin and let out an exasperated breath. A cold knot formed in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t healthy to want a man as much as she did. She knew as much but she couldn’t stop.

“He’s not for you,” she reminded herself, in hopes that by saying it out loud, she’d finally listen. “He thinks of you as an annoying kid that he’s expected to look out for, nothing more.”

“Well, now,” Dex said, his slight drawl causing her to jerk around, stunned to find he’d returned. His gaze penetrated her. “Seems to me you haven’t been a kid in my eyes for some time now.”

Was that lust she saw reflected from his dark gaze?

“D-Dex?”

Chapter Two

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