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2024-10-29 19:42:56He chuckled. “You’ll improve.” His voice dropped an octave. “I’m a patient teacher.”
A quiver started in her belly and vibrated without ceasing as he levered out of the pool and lay beside her. She couldn’t look.
“Today, I will not touch you.” He waited until she dared a look at his face. “Today is for overcoming your fear of looking.” When she looked back at her hands, he said nothing. Now was not the time to rush her.
It wasn’t easy to face him. Nor could she quite look there, though she was dying of curiosity. For a long moment she simply stared at the muscled planes of his chest as he lay on his side, watching h
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Shocked mute by such a bald-faced declaration of dominance, she narrowed her eyes and looked away, ignoring him.Until the thing on her arms shifted.Alarmed anew, she shuddered and tried to pull it off, frustrated to discover it wouldn’t budge. “Give me your knife.”Obligingly, he unsheathed it and flipped it over, extending it to her hilt-first.The symbiont flowed seamlessly around the sharp blade, not the least perturbed. The only thing she succeeded in doing was nicking herself.Instantly the symbiont flowed over the bright s
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The challenger stabbed the end of his staff at Mathin, attempting to scorch his face.Without looking at his footing, Mathin shifted onto another post, delivering a wicked low swing that came close to cremating the warrior’s hope of future pleasure.If he was shaken, the man didn’t show it, coming back with a deadly rain of blows. So swift was attack and counter attack that Andrea couldn’t follow, could only tense in rising panic. Arcs of fire painted the gray morning, leaving a tracery of lighting over her vision. How could they see?A gasp rose from the crowd as the challenger suddenly flipped backward, coming to rest with perfect control on a pillar.
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What she got was a raging beast.Andrea wanted him, needed him, more than she ever had. The sight of him in danger had broken down the last of her resistance. Now, right now, she needed the comfort of his touch, wanted everything he could give.But something was wrong. Mathin’s eyes had been dark, but now shimmered with golden heat. The tender lover had disappeared in a frightening tide of passion. Gentle kisses became hungry, devouring commands. Hands that had been easy in the past now ripped her nightie in half, feasting on the lush curves beneath with a touch designed to sizzle. Though he inflamed her with his ardor, it was too much, and far too fast. “I can’t!”His mo
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She grimaced and rubbed her head. “Nice way to end a make-out session, wasn’t it?” She sighed. “At least it explains the mood swings.” Her mood brightened. It wasn’t nearly so humiliating if she could blame it all on PMS.Mathin let out his breath in a long, slow stream. “Thank the Deity. It wasn’t the way I’d wished to begin our marriage.” A tug sent her tumbling into his lap where he crushed her close. “I didn’t want to lose you, and I never, never want to hurt you.”Uncomfortable with the reminder of what giving herself to Mathin entailed, she squirmed. She’d been going on instinct, unable to consider the consequences. She’d love to blame it all on hormones, but was uneasily ce
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“That and browse. Come.” With a smile for her disgust, he led her to a stall on the end and opened the heavy wooden door. When she hesitated, he tugged her gently in. “He won’t hurt you after I make the introductions.”Not exactly reassured by his remark, she nevertheless allowed herself to be coaxed through the stall and into the corral beyond. The stag within lifted its head and stared at them, then swished his clubbed tail. It seemed to measure Andrea, then its nostrils flared. It came forward and nudged Mathin’s hand on her shoulder.Mathin nodded.The beast wrinkled its nose, exposing its fangs. It jerked its head, then proceeded to rudely snuffle her, li
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“Yikes! Find a room, guys.”The lovers broke apart with a curse and a gasp.“J-Jasmine?” Andrea panted, her vision still hazed. Keilor stood behind his wife, looking amused.Mathin muttered and jerked his vest back together as Jasmine tsked at them. “Kind of busy around here to indulge in that sort of thing, isn’t it?” Her tone was chiding, but she grinned as she said it.Keilor smiled as he wrapped her in his arms and whispered in her ear.Jasmine colored and darted a mortified glance at the lovers. &ldquo
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Andrea dropped her eyes and stirred the remains of her lunch, no longer hungry. Everyone was looking at her.She’d just gotten somewhat used to this place; could she handle more adventure? “When would we go?”Relief surged through him. “I dislike waiting, and the storm season is close. Six days.”Her soft grunt was her only answer.“Good. I’ll help with the details,” Keilor offered. He stood and offered Jasmine his hand as Mathin did the same for Andrea.They toured the market. At Mathin’s insis
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Andrea’s resolve crumbled at the sight of his sexy smile. Only a few more days and she could do something about the hot buttered rum he made of her insides. “Well...maybe this once.”The smile became dazzling. She felt a little faint. “Just don’t make a habit of it.”He stared at her red, full lips, very tempted to taste them. Had she used cosmetics? They were especially glossy and ripe-looking this evening.“A couple more days,” she warned him, breathless. He had to stop looking at her like that.Her scent curled around him, tried to mesmerize him as it played on his roused
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“Wonder what that was all about,” Mathin muttered at her side.“I don’t know, but I’m beginning to feel like the unappreciated fairy godmother,” Andrea complained.His grin sent firecrackers popping clear to her toes. Mathin took her glass and set it down. One quick tug pulled her into his arms, slightly bent at the perfect angle for a kiss. “I think I can do something to change that.”A superb dancer, Mathin twirled her around the dance floor, his grace as beguiling as his dark good looks. The man danced like he made love, and every burning look was enough to set her blood aflame. Schemes and plans for others were lost in the dreamy whirl of pleas
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The next morning, well before the party was to begin, Leo presented Mathin and Andrea with a copy of her notes and sketches. “A gift,” she said simply.Mathin was more excited than Andrea would have dreamed possible. “Do you know how much I’ve wanted something like this?” he demanded of Leo, his eyes glued to the pages. “It’s almost impossible to get any information on the Beasts in the Dark Lands.”Leo and Andrea exchanged pleased looks.“Wait a minute.” His brows furrowed as he stared at the page. “I’ve seen this picture somewhere else, only…”
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“At least there’s that.” More silence. “I never did thank you for all you’ve done for me and my wife.”“It was nothing.”“It was something,” Mathin returned forcefully. “And I won’t forget it. If there is anything, at any time, that I can do for you, you have only to name it.”Scy searched his face. “Be careful what you offer, brother.” He smiled a little. “I might accept.”“Do that.” Mathin left, satisfied that Scy would turn his words over.
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Mathin stilled. Taking her hand, he placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. “He stayed home with his wife, my love.” His tone became sorrowful. “They lost the baby.”The color drained from her face. Her eyes welled. “No,” she whispered, and slumped to the bed. Jasmine had been so happy!He didn’t try to make it better with platitudes, just held her. “I know.” He rubbed his face against her hair. “I know.”She grieved, but even as she cried for her friend’s loss, in her heart Andrea had to wonder. Had the baby been lost because of some unavoidable defect, caused by the mixing of such alien blood? Might the child have been born
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“Can you help her?” Andrea tried to control her shivering. Scy kept one eye on the swordsmen while his symbiont worked on Leo’s head. Still unconscious, she didn’t move.“I’m trying.” He handed a gun to her. “Fire if you get a clean shot. If anything happens to Mathin, you won’t have time for more than one. Got it?”“I...yes.” Determined to control the contractions that squeezed her lower belly, she tried to keep her eyes on the fighters. It wasn’t easy. Not only were they moving in a virtual blur, but the cramps distracted her. They didn’t feel like the false contractions that had squeezed her whole stomach as the pregnancy advanced. No, these were lower, more intense. They felt like t
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Shivering as much from the spookiness of that as from the damp chill, Andrea glanced toward the dim light coming in from the single exit. A brackish puddle had collected in the sunken depression under the stone tiles, and it reflected a bit of the light and the occasional shifting shadow of a guard. Odd how she’d never felt so wary of her Haunt, but then they’d gone out of their way to put her at ease. There was nothing remotely friendly about these dark warriors.Every now and then Leo would stand up to stretch, but her chains didn’t allow her to lift her arms past her hips. The bolts in the floor were very solid; she’d tugged on the chains enough that she’d bled, trying to loosen them.“I’m sorry.”
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The cycle eased out of the gate, gathering speed as it headed up the road through the village. Naked fields flashed by as the woods edged closer.“Hang on!” the Ronin tossed over his shoulder, and suddenly they were flying.Eyes narrowed against the wind and flying insects, Mathin felt the rope bite into his wrists where he’d looped it. He held on as best he could with the toes of his boots against the edge of the platform as the cycle began a series of fast maneuvers around the trees that blurred past. The slight lip on the edges wouldn’t prevent him from flying off on one of the turns if he weren’t careful.As if to prove his point, the platform took a sharp dip,
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“I wasn’t going to ask her any,” Leo protested. “Scy…” When he continued to ignore her, she placed her body right in front of him. “This is very important to me.”A light like golden foxfire hazed his blue eyes. His body began to tremble. “Don’t,” his voice was hoarse and he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes from Leo’s mouth. “Don’t get so close to me, woman, unless you want to get close to me.” His nostrils flared as her eyes widened. “I’ve long run out of herbs, and you’re provoking far more than my temper.” He brushed past her.“I’m not afraid of you!” she yelled at his back.
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Mathin read his wife’s latest letter, and then sat in silence before the fire in the banquet hall.This might be difficult.He took a long drink of his wine, smiling without humor. His wife had a gift for understatement.Thought you needed to know…Had he? Had he really? He crumpled the edge of the letter in his fist and then tossed it aside. For most of his life, he hadn’t known about these strangers spawned of his father’s madness. No doubt they were content to keep it that way as well. What did his wife think, that the three of them could take up friendly relations as easily a
