Merrily Mated (Ouachita Mountain Shifters 3) Read online

  She glanced at his pillow and her eyes caught on a slip of paper. Picking it up, she squinted to read the scrawled words.

  My love. You looked so sweet this morning I could hardly leave you. But I have a special surprise for you and I didn’t want to spoil it. Meet me in Gash’s office as soon as you can. I love you, Ryan.

  Layna grinned, crushing the note to her chest like a giddy schoolgirl. If any of her clan saw her now she’d be the laughingstock of the lodge. She’d turned into a lovesick lump of goo because of her new mating. Good thing Ryan was good at keeping her mushy side a secret.

  In public, she was still a snarky badass that cursed like a sailor.

  Quickly, she dressed and loaded up on the four-wheeler, taking the fastest way to the lodge. It was still early. Eagan and Bailey might be in the kitchen, but everyone else would be asleep. Except Ryan. And Gash, since he was a nightowl. She couldn’t imagine what those two were up to.

  In the lobby, she started the Christmas carols playing softly to help put their early morning risers in the Christmas spirit, and then made her way down the corridor to the security office.

  She knocked on the door and waited until she heard a sharp, “Yeah.”

  Peeking in, she found Ryan grinning from ear to ear while Gash bent over his hand where it rested on the desk. A buzzing filled the room and irritated her feline ears. Reaching up, she scratched her earlobe.

  “Hey,” she said, unsure.

  Gash looked up. “Well, shut the door, would ya.”

  She flipped him the bird and stepped in the room, closing it behind her.

  “I’m almost done,” he murmured, and then the buzzing started back up.

  In the cramped quarters, she couldn’t see what he was doing. Especially since his big body covered so much space.

  “What is this,” she asked Ryan.

  “Well. I’ve been thinking. I’m not a cat so I can’t really mark you as mine. And the human way, well, we do rings. But a ring won’t work for you because the first time you shifted, it’d be lost. Or you’d have to take it off all the time and put it back on when you changed back to human. Kind of inconvenient. But I want people to know you’re taken.” He clenched his jaw, giving her an idea of his frustration. “It’s been rubbing me raw for weeks now. The idea that the males coming in and out of here don’t know you’re mine…”

  She rubbed her hand through his hair. “Aww.” She gave him a fake pout. “I’ll tell them if they ask, okay?”

  He growled low in his throat and nipped playfully at her hand.

  “Be still.” Gash snapped.

  Ryan rolled his eyes and sat perfectly still for another few seconds until Gash sat back, and reached for a tube of cream.

  “Done,” he said.

  Ryan grinned and handed her a small picture of a male lion’s head. “So, here’s what I came up with.”

  She stared at it. “I… I don’t get it.”

  He pulled his hand away from the desk and held it out to show her. There, on the ring finger of his left hand, Gash had tattooed the face of a female mountain lion. A cougar. One that looked suspiciously like her.

  Her eyes went wide. “It’s beautiful.”

  “We took it from a picture of you in your cat form.”

  She narrowed her gaze at him. “How’d you get a picture of me as a cat?”

  “Oh, I’m very sneaky with a camera phone.” He winked. “And now, you’re here in my skin forever. On the finger that means commitment for my kind.”

  She chewed her lip, trying like hell not to tear up in front of Gash. “I love it,” she whispered, taking his hand for a closer look. The skin was red and angry, but the art was exquisite. Gash had talent. “Did it hurt?”

  Ryan smirked. “No. And even if it did, I wouldn’t admit it. But comparing it to the claws in my arm… let’s just say, no.”

  “Pussy,” Gash muttered, but Layna saw the teasing glint in his eye.

  “I got some, and you don’t.” Ryan quipped back without missing a beat.

  Gash shook his head and started cleaning things with alcohol. “You’re turn, woman.”

  “This one’s yours,” Ryan said, gesturing to the male lion picture. “Obviously, it’s not me. Gash drew it freehand. It’s more… symbolic, I guess.”

  She bent, kissing him hard on the lips, and pulling back with a smile. “It’s fucking perfect.”

  Switching places with him in the chair, Gash readied her hand for the mark. Instinctively, Ryan let his hand fall on her shoulder and slide up to grip the back of her neck in a possessive move. She could have purred, she loved it so much, this dominant side of him.

  “Alright, alright, human. I get the vibe you’re throwing off.” Gash shook his head, exasperated. “Must be tough shit watching another male mark your female.”

  Layna felt the tick of jealousy through their bond, and pushed her love back at Ryan in return. When his gaze found hers, she winked, reminding him of all the dirty sexy things they’d done last night. Making love in front of the Christmas tree was now on her yearly Christmas to-do list.

  She snickered to herself as she recalled how he’d pretty near fucked her clear across the living room. They’d finished up in front of the woodstove instead of the tree.

  As the buzzing of the tattoo gun started up, Layna heard Silver Bells playing over Gash’s speakers.

  “Huh. I never figured you for the type that liked Christmas music.”

  He shrugged one broad shoulder. “Bailey likes it—” He stopped short, pulling the gun back, every muscle in his body tensing as his eyes focused on Layna’s hand. So many seconds ticked by with him frozen like that, she almost asked him if he needed Doc. But then his jaw ticked and he went back to work on her hand. “It’s not really my thing,” he said, gruffly.

  Layna looked at Ryan, who shrugged. Gash’s demons weren’t something they could fix on a Christmas morning. But she had a feeling they were coming for them soon.

  Time passed while the needle poked Ryan’s mark into her finger. Her skin was raw by the time Gash pulled the gun away, but in its place was the strong face of a lion etched into her ring finger. A representation of her lion-hearted human and her commitment to him. Beautiful and everlasting.

  She grinned up at him as he took her hand in his to examine the mark. “Perfect,” he murmured, pulling her from the chair and winding his arms around her. He kissed her finger on the knuckle below the mark, bringing his teeth down gently for a moment before releasing it.

  “Merry Christmas, my Layna.”

  “Merry Christmas, my Ryan.”

  “Merry Christmas, Gash,” came a high-pitched mocking tone. And then a deeper one. “Merry Christmas, you merrily mated assholes. Now get out of my office before they give me a pipe and call me Scrooge and I have to fuck three Christmas ghosts, or however that story goes. I can’t remember.”

  Layna laughed. She laughed so hard, she couldn’t catch her breath. “What did you do, watch the porno version?”

  He scrunched his brow. “Maybe? Probably. But seriously. Get out of my office with that shit. I feel my Christmas cookies coming back up.”

  Layna laughed some more and Ryan pulled her toward the door. “Thank you, Gash,” she said, sobering.

  He gave her a nod, looking uncomfortable with her thanks.

  “Thanks, brother,” Ryan added, and Gash’s hard eyes eased a touch.

  “Yeah. No problem.” He turned to finish cleaning up. “And… merry fucking Christmas and shit.”

  Layna smirked and followed Ryan out the door. She’d follow him anywhere. But hopefully, he was taking her for Eagan’s Christmas morning cinnamon rolls.

  “Best Christmas present ever,” she whispered in his ear.

  “Oh, no. I haven’t given you your present yet. That’ll be tonight. And it’ll be right here.” His hand crept between her legs, rubbing.

  She sighed. “My sentiment stands. Best fucking Christmas present ever.”

  One corner of his mouth s
lid up. “You and your filthy mouth.”

  “You want to lick it clean?”

  Ryan growled in appreciation.

  “Like a candy cane, baby.”

  ***********

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  Next up in the Ouachita Mountain Shifters series…

  Read on for an exclusive sneak peek of Secretly Mated…

  Doc gasped as a hard male body pushed up behind her, pressing her against the hard ridge of the exam table. Barely gentle hands ghosted over her hips and around to rub her belly, one snaking up to knead her breasts.

  “Need. You.” His tone was rough and his breath hot as he rasped against her ear.

  “Owyn,” she breathed, surprise and relief mixing into one exhale.

  “I missed you so. Fucking. Much,” he breathed against the back of her neck. She heard his deep inhale as he scented her and it made her stomach flutter knowing he needed her scent in his lungs.

  “Me too.”

  They hardly talked beyond clan duties and randomly in the hall. And when they met for sex. But she knew what he meant. Just the fact that his presence was lacking among the lodge made her miss him fiercely. The idea that there was no chance she’d run into him turning a corner or see him across the room at dinner left her cat feeling lost.

  In a quick move, he spun her to face him. His eyes burned with the nearness of his cat as he took in every feature. Then he grabbed her bun, quickly unfurling it to release her hair. His fingers tangled in the strands, pulling her head back until her neck was exposed. His rough, hot tongue licked a trail up the column of her throat, returning to the base and following it up with soft wet kisses. She moaned when he nipped her jaw.

  “Shh,” he admonished.

  “I know.”

  They had to be quiet. They always had to be quiet. Forever a secret. Even though mating was technically allowed now. She’d been relieved when their leader, Magic, met his one and only. She’d assumed their days of hiding were over, that Owyn would wish to finally mate her.

  But he didn’t. It was the same as always. He wanted her for sex, not for life.

  And she wouldn’t complain because she wanted him too. But she also wanted more.

  After Magic mated, Owyn went to visit Tana and the dogs. He didn’t even tell her he was leaving. The next day, he was just gone.

  He pulled back, frowning. “Your scent’s changed.”

  Doc shook her head.

  “Did you have another while I was gone?”

  Shit. The fact that he’d jumped right to that assumption hurt. And told her he’d probably done exactly what he was accusing her of.

  “No,” she ground out. “I would never. You know that.”

  “Then what is that smell?”

  Sadness. The smell was sadness buried so deep she hardly ever admitted it was there. And he didn’t recognize it because what little time they spent together was all about arousal. Arousal cancelled out sadness. Usually.

  “It’s nothing.”

  His frown deepened to a scowl. “I don’t like it. I want it off of you. I want…” His throat worked around a swallow. “I want you to smell like me.”

  But that wasn’t true. Showering immediately after their union was always a requirement. But if she was honest, it was probably her favorite part. Or maybe bittersweet. She loved the tender way he bathed and cared for her; she hated watching his scent go down the drain.

  “For just a little while,” she said, hoping he was trying to tell her something different this time.

  But he nodded. “For a little while.”

  His mouth swooped in to kiss her lips, but she stopped him. She had to know first.

  “Did you?”

  The question barely made it past her voice box. If he was with another female it would crush her. She’d be dust in the palm of his hand. They’d made a promise in the beginning. They’d never break the clan’s no-mating pact, and always fulfill their sexual needs with each other. There was no way to know for sure if Owyn had kept his part, but she had.

  His eyes narrowed. “If I had, do you think I’d be here right now, needing you so fucking bad I want to kill somebody?”

  That wasn’t an answer.

  “Just tell me,” she snapped. “I’m a big girl. I can handle it.”

  Those words weren’t true. She could never handle something like that. It was why she’d joined Magic’s clan in the first place.

  Owyn fumed. He was strung so tight, he was mentally more animal than man. Whatever was going on with him, he needed a release.

  “I’m going to fuck you now, unless you stop me.”

  She couldn’t stop him. Oh sure, she could say no, and he’d honor that. Owyn was a good man. But her heart, her body, it bent to his will no matter what. She needed this pairing as much as he did. And inside, her cat wailed for him.

  She needed and wanted him just as badly as he did her.

  It was their bond. They were secretly mated. Her secret pleasure, her secret torture.

  She had one final thought as he prepared her for his body.

  What would their secrets do to them before it was all over?

  And then she lost herself in her mate’s attention.

  Secretly Mated

  Coming February 2015

  Other books by P. Jameson

  Ouachita Mountain Shifters

  A Mate’s Wish (Holiday Prequel)

  Deliciously Mated (Book 1)

  Ouachita Mated (Book 2)

  Merrily Mated (Book 3)

  Dirt Track Dogs

  Racing the Alpha (Book 1)

  Racing the Beast (Book 2)

  Racing Home (Book 3)

  Racing Hard (Book 4)

  Racing Destiny (Book 5)

  Ozark Mountain Shifters

  A Mate’s Denial (Book 1)

  A Mate’s Sacrifice (Book 2)

  A Mate’s Revenge (Book 3)

  A Mate’s Submission (Book 4)

  Sci-fi Fantasy Romance

  Starwalker (Amazon)

  About the Author

  P. Jameson likes to spend her time daydreaming, and then rearranging those dreams into heartstring-pulling stories of trial and triumph. Paranormal is her jam, so you’re sure to find said stories full of hot alpha males of the supernatural variety. She lives next door to the great Ozark Mountains with her husband and kids, who provide her with plenty of writing fodder.

  For more information about P. Jameson and future stories, visit www.pjamesonbooks.blogspot.com or find her on Facebook. To sign up for P. Jameson’s newsletter and receive updates on book releases go HEREor copy and paste the following link into your browser:eepurl.com/3s00L