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RAPHAEL
BY ALEXANDRA IVY
Legend of the Pantera
To most people the Pantera, a mystical race of puma shifters who live in the depths of the Louisiana swaend
It was ruic, had created a sacred land and claimed it as their own From that land came creatures ere neither human or anier than normal humans Their senses were hyper-acute And when surrounded by theinto puifts Telepathy, witchcraft, immortality and the ability to produce agirls never to roam alone near the swamps, convinced that they would be snatched by the Pantera, while younganywhere near the protected Wildlands
Not that the warnings were always successful
What girl didn&039;t dreaer? And what young ainst the htings of the Pantera became so rare that the rumors faded to myths
Most believed the species had become extinct
Sadly, they weren&039;t entirely mistaken
CHAPTER 1
SLUT Whore
Worthless piece of white trash
The words were still ringing in Ashe Pascal&039;s ears as the door to the trailer slaathered her clothes that littered the front porch and headed for her piece-of-shit clunker that was parked near the curb
For once the drunken insults flung by her ed to hit a nerve
Not that she was a whore It wasn&039;t like she&039;d gotten paid for spreading her legs, was it?
Hell no, she&039;d spread them for free
Or at least she assunant? Iood book, but in the bayous of southern Louisiana woood old-fashioned way
A damned shame she couldn&039;t remember what happened
If she had to pay the piper she should at least have enjoyed the dance
With a shake of her head, she yanked open the door of her car and tossed her clothes on the cracked leather seat before cli her key into the ignition, she breathed out a sigh of relief as the engine rattled to weary life The way her pissy luck was running she&039;d expected the battery to be dead Again
She supposed there was an irony in the fact that she&039;d pro for a new car just as soon as she&039;d paid off her mother&039;s latest bar tab She&039;d even driven to the bar to tell the owner that she was done being her mother&039;s personal banker
And that&039;s when the trouble had started
Barely aware that she&039;d shoved her car in gear, Ashe absently drove through the s to a halt across the street fro with a tin roof had at one time been painted a cheery yellow, but over the years it&039;d faded to a reen shutters that could offer protection during hurricane season The entire structure was built on heavy stilts to keep the round A necessary precaution in this area The danger of flooding was a hundred percent, which no doubt explained why less than a few hundred people lived in the town
She gave a hu glooar&039;s Den&039;
It sounded like a hang-out for the local football team, or maybe a taxidermist&039;s shop
Instead it was filled with a motley creho she assumed came in from the oil fields, the shrimp boats and the dark shadows of the swamps And of course, locals like herto ignore the thick air of aggression that filled the entire building
The rest of the town avoided the place like the plague
Including the pack of stray dogs that terrorized the rest of the town
The Cougar&039;s Den was a cesspit of danger
Her gri breeze swept through her open , tugging at her long, black curls and caressing her skin that reot Her eyes, as dark as ain the breeze
So beyond the hint of azaleas, and newly blooarden, and even the etation that wafted frone, but h her brain
She was in the cralares froathered around the pool tables at the back of the darkly paneled room
One in particular had separated hi at her as if she were a creature fro Six foot two at least And powerful, with sleek, chiseled ht white tee and black jeans
In the dith hair was thick and shiht His features were lean, stunningly beautiful And his eyes
Words couldn&039;t capture their beauty
They were the saold as his hair, but flecked with hints of jade and in the darkness they gloith an inner light
Abruptly her er in the public roo on a bed in a room upstairs
It was dark and that aromatic male musk saturated the air
A low, male voice whispered in her ear
"You&039;re so wet, roaned, her legs parting as she felt soft kisses blaze a trail down her quivering belly
"Raphael, please"
"Tell me what you want" A command "Say the words"
"You" She clutched the soft quilt beneath her, her body on fire with need It&039;d never been this way Not this raw, frantic hunger that clawed through her with an addictive force "I want you"
There was a low chuckle and she gasped at the feel of his hot breath against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh
"Where do you want h her wet slit
Sucking a sharp breath, Ashe shattered the strange vision
Was the arcoat the hideous truth?
With a low cry, she shoved the car back into gear and stomped her foot down on the accelerator
There were no answers here
What she needed was a hot ht
To to take care of a baby when she could barely take care of herself
Standing in the shadows beneath the bar, Raphael strained against the largeafter the sorry excuse for a car currently speeding away
"Release old in the darkness
"Goddaood looks although his hair was a shade paler and his eyes held reen He was also built on bulkier lines "Leash your dah the pri to do with hu to do with raw, animal desire
Holy hell
Of all the Pantera, he was the one who&039;d had the best control over his primitive nature
It was the reason he&039;d been chosen by the elders to beco away from the Wildlands to meet in secret with various world leaders At least that was his public persona In truth, his pri up his peoples&039; vast network of spies who infiltrated the various governments and scientific communities
He could travel for weeks away fro debilitated by his need to shift And more importantly, he&039;d developed the ability to mimic the humans so he could function in their world
He was still a feral feline at heart, but a feline with e need that thundered through his body with the force of a tsunarowled "Let o"
Bayon leaned in until they were nose to nose The bastard was one of the feho had the cojones to get in Raphael&039;s grill
"This has to be a trick," the younger warrior snapped "We&039;ve tried for the past fifty years to discover human women who can carry our seed-"
"You don&039;t have to remind me of our history"
And he didn&039;t Raphael knew better than anyone the struggles of the Pantera
It&039;d started slow