Serengeti Heat Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Bite those bed bugs back.”
    Ava laughed softly and slipped out into the darkness outside. There were no floodlights in the compound and the moon had long since set, but Ava could easily pick out the shadowy shapes of the bungalows from the dim, distant light of the stars.
    She set off across the ranch toward her own little one room house, stepping silently so as not to alert the sensitive ears of her pride members. The midsummer heat was still stifling, even so long after sunset, but Ava didn’t mind the weight of it on her skin. Lions were often nocturnal hunters, active in the coolest part of the night, but the itch along Ava’s spine was not the urge to shift and run after game. She had prey of a different sort on her mind.
    Landon’s jeep had disappeared, presumably back to his own bungalow, but for all she knew he was off sating himself with some “suitable” female. Ava clenched her teeth against the flood of angry jealous that welled up at the thought.
    Who he slept with was none of her business. He didn’t belong to her. He never would. In fact, in days, weeks at most, he would select his mate and then he would belong heart, body, and soul to someone else. Someone big and strong who Ava would be afraid to go up against. If she even stared at him too long, his mate would be within her rights to take her down a peg.
    She sighed. Even her fantasies had an expiration date.
    Ava stalked through the night, her skin slick from the heat, both external and internal. She’d been in heat before, but it had never felt quite like this. Landon’s presence, in the jeep, in the bar, over the last few weeks around the ranch, had amplified everything.
    Her skin felt two sizes too tight. She walked fast because if she slowed, even for a moment, the slow, writhing pressure would take over her limbs. Her breasts were heavy and tender, the flesh between her legs swollen and wet. She’d had precious little satisfaction in the jeep. Just enough to drive her even further into this madness without providing any relief.
    Ava rubbed at the tension in her neck, the touch transforming into a caress sliding down the throat, the softness of her own skin teasing her fingers. She flung her hands out, fighting the temptation to touch herself, and stopped on the darkened path in front of a bungalow, breathing too quickly after her walk.
    She looked up, confused to find that her feet had not carried her home. That instinct had been overridden by the clamoring of her body. The shadow of a figure within stalked past the lit window.
    Landon.
    Ava shuddered at the sight of him. She could never be his mate, that much was clear, but Zoe’s challenge to go after what she wanted still rang in her mind. She might not be able to have him forever, but she could have him tonight. This may very well be her one chance to be with Landon before he irrevocably belonged to another.
    Her skin was about to crawl away without her and only Landon would do to scratch her itch. No other male, man or lion, had ever made her feel this spiraling insanity of lust.
    Any male would lose control if she went to him, in heat, and waved her tail in his face. He would lose control. And if he didn’t…did it even matter? She’d already embarrassed herself—ripping his clothing off him, begging for more. Why not go for full-fledged humiliation?
    She shook away the thought. She wouldn’t be humiliated. Tonight she wasn’t weak, passive Ava. Tonight she was a feline goddess, hopped up on hormones and irresistible to men.
    Ava tipped back her chin, feeling purpose blazing through her. Tomorrow, she would be invisible Ava again, but tonight, she was his .

Chapter Six
    Landon prowled across his room, the spacious bungalow feeling like a cage, as thoughts of Ava chased him. The memory of her fleeing from him, sprinting into the safety of Zoe’s bungalow, burned in his mind.
    He didn’t blame her for her fear. He’d been a beast, feral and uncontrolled, attacking her like