Angel/Hiss (Bayou Heat Box Set Book 7) by Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright

he’d felt her climax gripping his cock, but the overpowering instinct had simply taken over before he could rationally consider the consequences.
    “My claim as your mate.”
    “Yeesh,” she muttered. “Couldn’t you have just bought me a diamond ring?”
    Relief jolted through him at her teasing tone. She had every right to be annoyed. He was a Pantera, which meant he’d known without a doubt they were meant to be together. His cat had chosen her as his mate. End of story.
    But she was human.
    Which meant her emotions could be far more murky.
    But there was no mistaking the warm, profound contentment that settled on her pale face.
    “I would buy you a hundred rings if I thought they would make you happy, but I have a feeling you would prefer a new dagger,” he told her, glancing toward the chair near the door where he’d left her leather jacket.
    He’d found two daggers and a dart gun filled with malachite in various pockets.
    Her fingers drew aimless patterns over his chest, the light caress sending a raging inferno through him. He shuddered. He’d heard males say that nothing could compare to being intimate with a true mate, but he’d assumed they were exaggerating.
    Now he realized their words hadn’t even begun to capture the extraordinary sensations of feeling Indy’s hands stroking over his skin.
    “A girl has to protect herself,” she teased.
    His possessive urge to guard and care for the female he had claimed as his own roared through him.
    “No more,” he growled. “Now that’s my job.”
    Instantly she stiffened, her hands pressing against his chest.”
    “Hold on.”
    Realizing his mistake, Angel dipped his head down to press a swift kiss to her lips.
    “I know, you’re a warrior,” he assured her. Indy would be miserable if he tried to wrap her in a protective bubble. She’d already been held hostage by Locke. He wasn’t going to use their mating to cage her. “I will never try to make you less, Indy, but from now on we work as a team.”
    He felt her tension ease, her fingers resuming their distracting exploration over his chest and down to his stomach.
    “You said you never expected to mate,” she abruptly said. “It can’t just be because of your dedication to duty.”
    He swallowed a groan. How the hell was he supposed to think when her hand was just an inch from his straining cock?
    “My father died in an accident when I was just a cub,” he managed to mutter, his hand cupping her ass to press her against the hard thrust of his erection. “I was raised by my mother.”
    He scented the sweet honey of her arousal, but she studied him with blatant curiosity.
    “You were close to your mother?”
    A familiar pain clenched his heart, but this time it was tempered by the newfound emotions the female in his arms had stirred to life.
    He would always mourn the loss of his parents, but Indy had helped to fill the hole in his heart.
    “Yes.” He brushed his lips over the top of her head, deeply regretting that Indy’s mother had been a worthless bitch. Thankfully Indy now had a family who would love her without question. “Then the Wildlands started to fade and she was infected with a rare Pantera disease.”
    She frowned in confusion. “I thought you were immune?”
    “To human diseases, but there have been a few Pantera that were vulnerable to the evil that the disciples of Shakpi used to infect our homelands.”
    “Oh.” Clearly aware of the goddess who’d done her best to destroy the Pantera, Indy leaned forward to press a soft kiss just below his ear. “I’m sorry. It must have been very painful.”
    “It was. That’s when I swore I would devote my life to my responsibility as a Healer.”
    “And now?”
    His lips skimmed over her brow and down the length of her nose. “Now I realize that I need more than duty. I need you.” Placing a lingering kiss on her lips, he pulled back to regard her with a gaze of pure longing. “Will you stay with me and be my mate,