Intent on His claim (Beauty and the Beast #3)

Chapter 1

Apple?" Warren offered, holding one out to me.

I shook my head on a giggle and turned onto my back.

"You no longer wish to share in my meal?" he asked softly, a faint smile in his voice.

"I'm stuffed," I protested with another giggle. "Any more and I'll pass out."

He sighed then moved the food away. His arms wrapped around me more comfortably. I sighed in bliss and lay watching the glow of the fire in the grate.

It was Warren Strandton's second 18th birthday - or his 171st. I never could figure out how to put it, even in my own head... Anyway, he'd chosen not to spend it goofing off at some lavish party he could more than afford, but here in the only functional room of a rundown manor house. Not with his extremely amazing, extremely loving family but with me, a hopelessly average girl from an average family.

We were very different, Warren and I. He was beyond gorgeous, and no matter what he said I didn't think I was more than okay. I was pretty in a plain way, I guess. He was sporty, revered captain of the basketball team two years running, and I had been kinda forced into drama.

He also had a very dark but also very delicious secret... He was a shape shifter, could take on the form of a majestic black panther at will, and was the protector of our little town, Los Gatos. I was a completely human girl just shy of eighteen. And yet for some reason he was in love with me. So in love with me that he'd destroyed a sinfully gorgeous girl shifter a few months back so he could be with me.

I didn't like thinking of that time so I pushed it away, turning to my side in his arms so I could look up at his beloved face. His eerie green eyes drifted to me and the tenderness in them made my heart clench. He raised a brow, smiling curiously.

I traced a pattern on his chest as I asked, "So how does it feel to be 171? Do you feel ancient yet?"

He snorted a laugh and his arms tightened slightly. "All I currently feel is joy." He shifted me in his arms as he sat up and leaned closer, whispering seductively, "And excitement." I shivered in his arms and one hand moved to trail a finger down my arm, leaving goosebumps. We were sharing air as he breathed, "Will you not put me out of my misery, my love?"

I rolled my eyes. "Really? That's what's on your mind?"

His smirk was pure evil, making me blush deeply. "Why, what were you expecting?"

I huffed - he knew exactly what I was expecting - and pulled back, tucking my dark hair back. "Okay, fine. Go get it."

Confusion swirled in his eyes as he stared at me.

I smiled. This had been my best idea yet. "It's hidden somewhere in this room. Think you can find it, Captain?"

His grin was dazzling as excitement shone in his eyes. In the year or so that I'd been with him - a certain few months had been permanently struck from the record - I knew he loved the chase, loved to hunt. This just made getting the gift he'd been begging for all the more fun for him.

He dropped a quick kiss on my forehead and rose to his impressive 6ft something height. I smiled in spite of myself as I watched him close his eyes and take a deep breath. His eyes flew open, staring right at the corner near a desk, and he used his super speed to get there. I laughed when the next thing I saw was him crouching at it, hunting around in the shadows.

The love I felt for this shifter alpha was bubbling at the surface today as I remembered how dreamy the whole day had been. Ever since we got back together he had been super attentive - trying with each touch, each word, each little act, to apologise for ever being away from me. It took a while for him to be able to forgive himself even though he'd had good reason for leaving me, and even now I wasn't entirely sure he was done with his self styled penance.