Luring the Vagrant's Heart [Leopards of Leopold 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  The sight of the crying woman stopped him cold. Slumped against her chair, Casey Hart looked nothing like the graceful dancer on stage that exuded confidence. Silent tears left a trail down her sculpted cheekbones. Her hands were balled so tightly against the glass edge of the vanity table, Lars was afraid the glass would break.

  “What the fuck?” Lars muttered under his breath.

  The woman didn’t seem to hear him, or Des approaching her. If it was one thing Lars couldn’t stand, it was crying women. His mother cried herself dry from the moment she birthed Lars. She cried herself to death years later after birthing his younger sister Lexie and realizing she bring not just one, but two black leopard cubs into the world.

  Black leopards were not just considered unlucky in their mother’s pard, they were considered cursed. Lars and his sister had endured the taunts, abuse, and lived on scraps before finally leaving the pard when they hit adulthood and took to the road.

  “Hey baby, if you don’t stop crying, you’ll scare Lars away,” Des said calmly, placing his hands on the woman’s shoulders.

  She quickly rubbed the tears away. Casey Hart, Lars decided, was the kind of woman who didn’t cry ugly. When she stood and met his gaze, the vulnerability lingering in her eyes earlier seamlessly melted away.

  Her entire face lit up when she saw him. The change wasn’t lost on Lars. Beneath her deceivingly soft exterior was cold steel, Lars was sure of it. Casey Hart wasn’t a weak woman, by all accounts. That knowledge made the bulge in his pants only more prominent.

  “I’m Casey. Most people call me Cas, though.” Her dimpled smile was warm, but reserved.

  Lars wasn’t aware of holding out his hand.

  “Lars Marsden. Your husband here says you have a proposition for me.”

  “Des isn’t my husband. Perhaps this would explain things much quicker. I believe in being upfront and honest, you see.”

  Cas’s soft and small fingers entwined themselves into his large, tanned and rough ones. The brief touch was enough to send an electric pulse past his skin, his tangle of veins, and deep down his core where his black leopard coiled. It writhed to life, making him let out an aggressive growl as it recognized its own kind.

  Bloody hell. Casey Hart wasn’t just any normal leopard. She was more than that. Through her, Lars sensed other the metaphysical bonds connecting her to other cats all around Leopold City. Lars tried to control his breathing. She was a queen, and queens were absurdly rare.

  He followed one bright bond leading to Des, and he understood. Des was her consort. The best pards were ruled by a triumvirate, and Lars knew both Cas and Des genuinely cared about their people, so where was their king?

  At that moment, he didn’t care. Lars wasn’t just angry. He was damn pissed.

  “Hell no,” Lars snarled, withdrawing his hand.

  Warmth fled from his fingers. His leopard growled softly inside him, angered at the feeling of disconnection. Sour memories of being a novelty, of being taken to bed simply because he didn’t have spots like other cats, made him furious.

  “Is this why you two fucking lured me here? You’re just like the rest of the fucking pards in the country, curious about how a black leopard would be like in bed.”

  “You agreed to hear us out,” Cas said softly when he was by the door.

  “Give me a fucking good reason why I should stay and listen to you two. Where the fuck’s your king, huh? Is he going to get off watching the two of you with me?” Lars demanded.

  His skin itched and all his nerves were fried. The black leopard wanted to tear out of his skin, but despite the bad reputation he’d earned, Lars didn’t resort to violence unless it was necessary.

  He’d seen his fair share of shitty pards, but while Cas and Des might be fucked up in the head in some ways, their strong metaphysical connection to their cats told Lars they cared for their people.

  “He’s dead,” Des said quietly.

  He absentmindedly reached for Cas, who sagged slightly against his lean frame.

  “So what does this have to do with me? You offering me the position?” Lars taunted.

  He met stony faces. Either the pair didn’t get his joke or weren’t amused.

  “Lars.” Casey pulled herself away from her consort, and walked up to him. The scent of her was maddening, and it was made worse but the knowledge she was mateless and practically offering herself to him. She placed a slender hand on his arm.

  “Will you hear our offer?”

  Lars instinctively gripped her small hands and pulled her to him, making her gasp in surprise. Unlike the female cats he’d fucked in the past, she boldly looked him in the eye, despite her short height. No smell of fear rolled off her, only the smell of curiosity.

  No. Not just curiosity.

  Lars inhaled the lovely scent of her, closing his eyes. She was pressed so close to his body that he could feel the contrast of her tiny glittery top and her bare skin against his leather jacket.

  Holy fuck. She could probably feel the bulge in his jeans pressed against her.

  This queen was no skittish kitten, and his cat liked that a whole lot. She daringly leaned closer to him, her tiny nose running up the length of his chest until it nudged bare flesh. He groaned, feeling her inhale the side of her neck.

  Cas could smell his arousal and he could smell hers. Her small tongue darted out from her mouth, licking his flesh. She made a little purring sound against him, making him clutch at her body tighter. It made him badly want to fuck her there and then.

  “Please,” she murmured.

  “What the fuck are you begging me for?” he managed.

  He could see her leopard reflected in her eyes, eager and wanting, badly restrained by the logical thoughts of her human half. Cas didn’t seem to let her cat affect her, though, and her level of control astounded him.

  “To listen,” another voice added.

  Lars had nearly forgotten about the other man. He expected a growl, a shove, some show of power reflecting his jealousy, but Des showed none of these things. He slid close behind Cas until the woman was trapped between the two of them. Des rested his arms just below Lars’s hands and further down Cas’s waist.

  “Don’t you want to find out what’s it like, being a king?” Des pressed his face against Cas’s neck.

  She sighed against him. When Des smiled, he was looking directly into Lars’s watching face.

  The damn smug bastard.

  Desire, twice as bad, drove into Lars.

  Fuck. He didn’t just want to hammer his cock into the fine pussy of the woman in front of him. He also wanted to know how it’d feel like to have Des’s smirking lips wrapped around his cock.

  Was it possible to want not just one, but two people at the same time?

  “You’re shitting me. A black leopard’s no king. I’m no king. You got the damn wrong cat,” Lars said harshly.

  He was hardly able to think when Cas grinded herself against him, her beautiful eyes closed with need.

  “I’m just a fucking road rat.”

  “We’re not asking you to make a decision now, Lars. Come home with us, come live with us and see what we’re like. Come know the Leopold City Pard. If you decide it’s not for you, you’re free to leave. No strings attached.”

  No strings attached.

  The words rippled off Des, but Lars was only aware of Cas’s lovely, soft body against him. He’d forgotten what it was like to simply hold a woman, and it was damn sweet.

  “My future king, don’t you want to share her with me? Can’t you see how wet she is for us?” Des murmured. “Touch her. See for yourself.”

  “I’m not your fucking king,” Lars grunted, one hand reaching past the band of Cas’s short skirt.

  “Open your legs wider, baby. Let him feel how badly you want him, how you’re so wet for him,” Des commanded, and the woman between them complied.

  She moaned, leaning against his wandering fingers as he touched her smooth mound and, finally, her wet cunt
. Her need only amplified his own. He and his leopard needed to have her now or he’d come all over his jeans.

  “You’re so fucking wet,” Lars muttered, surprised when another hand, Des’s hand, crept above his and brushed against Cas’s wet pussy.

  The woman between them shuddered, arching her back.

  Damn, that was hot.

  “Fuck her with your fingers, Lars. Give her taste of what you’re like. Here, I’ll open her up for you.” Lars could feel Des’s fingers pushing open Cas’s dripping lips. “Fuck her, Lars. Fuck her hard.”

  Lars drove one, two, and three fingers inside Cas’s tight, wet cunt.

  “Gods, she’s unbelievably tight.” Lars began to pump his fingers furiously into her.

  “That’s it. Doesn’t she feel good, Lars? Won’t it feel better if your cock is inside her while she’s sucking my cock?”

  Those words were enough to make the woman between them shudder again. Cas threw her head back, moaning her pleasure as she came, the muscles of her cunt contracting against Lars’s hand.

  “That’s it, baby. That’s just lovely,” Des encouragingly said, kissing the side of Cas’s neck. “That’s my good girl.”

  Watching the beautiful leopard queen’s face relax into bliss, Lars swallowed. Fuck. These two cats had him good. He couldn’t drive away the prospect of plunging his throbbing cock into Cas’s hot and wet cunt, or seeing Des’s eager green eyes fastened on them while Cas worked his cock.

  It wasn’t just the desire of the flesh these two offered that called to Lars. It was the prospect of finally settling down and having a home, of being welcomed in a pard. But were they only offering him a place because they were desperate?

  Even so, it was too late now. The two cats might be desperate enough to take a chance on him, but Lars was also desperate enough to accept their offer just to find out what it was like taking the two of them.

  “Will you come home with us, Lars?” Cas asked, the tint of desire clearing from her dark eyes.

  Quiet strength emanated from her, and it contrasted sharply with how she’d easily lost herself to abandon only moments ago.

  Des pulled his fingers away from Cas’s wet cunt, and they glistened with her juices. Knowing he was watching, Des only lifted his fingers to his tempting, clever lips and sucked at them.

  “Yeah. I am.”

  The last thing Lars expected was Cas leaning forward to give him a quick kiss on his unshaven cheek. How they’d simply offer something like this to complete stranger they’d just met baffled him. Screw this. It was more than fucked up, but if this little seduction was any indication, at least he’d be getting some damn good sex.

  Chapter Three

  Closing his eyes, Des exhaled a lungful of smoke and tapped the cigarette on the ashtray by the bar. After the funeral for their king and their other cats, he’d taken up smoking again, despite quitting a few years back. He knew Cas didn’t like it, but she didn’t push.

  She, too, Des supposed, grieved for Gerald in her own way, but damn. He’d thought she’d be over her little crying episodes.

  In front of the pard, Cas did her duty as their queen. She’d remained strong, and comforted the other cats who’d similarly lost their mates during the mission Gerald and his best enforcers never came back from.

  They’d poked, prodded and used up all their favors and resources to the other members of the supernatural community in the city, yet found nothing. Nothing could explain how signing a peace treaty with another pard living in the nearby city could lead to a large-scale slaughter. It wasn’t just Gerald and their enforcers they’d lost that night. The entire Dark City Pard were had, too.

  Cas had known Gerald for a long time, so Des should’ve known she was still slowly processing his death. As long as she did her duty and appeared strong for their pard, he was satisfied.

  “Having second thoughts there?” Lars’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

  Both of them were at the bar, waiting for Cas to finish dressing up.

  “Of course not,” Des assured the big biker, eyes briefly raking the other man’s solid, muscular frame.

  Lars Marsden was certainly something to look at, and he’d nearly come on the spot himself, seeing the man pull Cas to him. Des assumed he’d been watching the other girls on stage, but the man was more observant than he realized.

  Most people would probably judge and underestimate Lars based on physical appearance alone, but not Des. There was a caution in those dark blue eyes, telling Des the last thing the black leopard was was reckless.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “We’ll try to answer any questions you have, but I’d rather we put off the difficult ones until later.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Lars downed his beer and those dark blue eyes zoned in on him. Des wasn’t the kind of man who was easily daunted, but those damn eyes amazingly had a way of looking right through him.

  “You look like you earn enough, why are you allowing your woman to work in a dump like this?”

  “One important thing you should know about Cas, Lars. No one tells her what to do. Being a leopard queen isn’t a title. She’s a power in her own right, and she does her job well.” Des tapped another cigarette, debating whether or not to light it.

  “Cas isn’t weak, but she can’t always be stronger, either. She belongs to us. In private, she’s submissive to us. No one else touches her, you understand?”

  Lars let out a breath. “Fuck, man. Did you write your own script before hand? How can you even allow a stranger into something as intimate as that?”

  “You aren’t a stranger, Lars. We didn’t pick you at random,” Des confessed. Lars’s eyes narrowed.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means we’ve done our research. I don’t share easily, and it has to be you or no one else.”

  Des touched his arm so the biker wouldn’t be able to have second thoughts again. He was glad for the worn leather of the jacket Lars wore. If he touched bare skin, their metaphysical beasts would be more than willing to leap and tangle with each, and so would their willing flesh.

  Fuck. Des hadn’t been attracted to anyone like this since he’d met Gerald.

  “I don’t mean to scare you, Lars, but we’ve been waiting for you for a long time. Cas hasn’t danced in ages, but she danced for you.”

  Des’s trailed his fingers down the jacket’s sleeve and rested on Lars’s inked, tanned hand, letting him feel the heated tension between their growling beasts.

  “You guys are so fucked up in the head, you know that?” Lars breathed.

  The other man’s body language and eyes earlier told Des he was ready to bolt, but it wasn’t the case now. Lars was fighting the urge to flee. He was too curious, too eager to experience what they had to offer.

  “Are you both ready? Sorry for the wait.” Cas was dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a plain white shirt. Even so plainly dressed, Des could feel Lars’s heated eyes move from him and to her.

  “Let’s go?” Des suggested.

  He took Lars’s growl as a form of assent. They walked together out of the club, the awkward tension made easier when Cas positioned herself between the two of them. She curled one arm into Lars’s arm and leaned her head against Des’s shoulder.

  “Damn woman, your scent is killing me,” Lars grunted.

  “We’ll have her soon enough,” Des promised.

  Outside the club, they heard abusive shouts and whimpers.

  Two hulking thugs had cornered two teens, barely seventeen or eighteen. The kids, one boy and one girl, were already looked bruised and worse for wear. They were brutally shoved to the ground. The boy used his body to shield the girl, making one of the brutes laugh. He drove a brutal kick, sending the boy crumpling. Another kick made his nose bleed.

  “Useless fucking piece of trash. Are you trying to protect your bitch, runt? That’s only going to make it worse for her.”

  “Oh yeah, I’ve been wanting to fu
ck that tight little cunt.”

  Sniffing the air, Des’s leopard instantly picked up an unmistakable scent of musk amidst smoke, beer and leather.

  These men were wolves. Des tensed, unaware Cas untangled herself from them.

  “Cas, fuck.” Des made a grab for her shirt, but she was already moving away from his grasp.

  Damn. Cas never changed. The last thing the pard needed was to mess with the local wolf pack. The wolf pack had been running some of the seedier establishments in the city for years and things like this happened on a frequent basis.

  Another sniff told Des the girl and boy were wolf pups. If they’d been human, it would’ve easier, but they were wolves and it was none of their business. The shifter groups in Leopold City kept to themselves.

  The local wolf pack was twice as large as their little pard. If it came to hostilities, they’d stand no chance, given they had no king and all of their powerful enforcers were dead.

  Des also never mentioned to Cas how he’d recently been hearing disturbing rumors that Rafael Strum, the depraved pack alpha, was expressing some interest in taking a mateless and kingless leopard queen.

  “Why don’t you two assholes get away from those kids?”

  The werewolves turned. Their angry gazes turned to something else when they beheld Cas. One licked his lips.

  “And what the fuck do you think you’re able to do, bitch?”

  “Beta, doesn’t she look familiar to you? Isn’t she that dead leopard king’s bitch?”

  “I won’t repeat myself,” Cas threw back, crossing her arms.

  Her face was a beautiful, cold mask. It was an expression Des was familiar with, and it meant trouble. Lars was already ahead of Des. It only took him a few strides to reach Cas’s shoulder.

  “You heard the lady, dog.”

  Des caught up, watching the wolves assess them. The lofty expressions on their faces turned to aggression.

  “Fucking cats,” one thug growled, taking a step forward, his eyes turning to a threatening shade of amber. The second one was wiser, and pulled him back.