Page 23 (1/2)

Mindful of his proaze back to the field That hen she saw them She drew in a breath "Oh rass They’d obviously been there all along Yet she never would have seen thee of her eyes

Sitting up, they can be seen as easily as a sunflower, but lying down, their pelts blend anduntil the last possible reed "Most cats are pouncers, not runners" The biggest leopard’s ears flickered, but she didn’t appear alarmed It was as if the cats knew humans weren’t really a part of their world and, as such, were siain This ti and weighing it in his hand, his fingers teased lower, at the inseaain

Elisa, part your legs for me

The simple command shocked her, issued with an unruffled mind-voice that said he expected to be obeyed Even s loosened instantly Was it because she’d always obeyed such a co would entle rebuke Value yourself irl

But it wasn’t only that Even if Malachi wasn’t in charge of her, she wasn’t sure if she could say no Her body reached for his touch like a child for candy, ignoring the admonishments of her parental mind She didn’t knohat that said, but it s, for sure

"Easy," hepleasure fro else about your expanded senses See what you can do with the those leopards"

He stroked between her parted legs, finding the soft flesh even with the barrier of the deniainst the base of her buttocks as he kneaded her, slow and easy, like she’d seen Dev fondling a dog’s nape Only whereas the dog had half closed his eyes, lulled into a near doze, her body was doing soht across your ass it s to it"

She sed as he bent, pressed hisher cheek When a fang grazed against her flesh, her sto less provocative,her for his next question

"He bit you, didn’t he? Victor"

She shuddered, unable to stop herself, and he made a quiet noise You’re safe here, Elisa He’s far beyond where he can hurt you

"Lady Danny" She couldn’t speak in her s she was having difficulty processing "She was afraid he’d third-marked me, but said I would have remembered it, because if he’d done it all at once, it would have been like I was scalded, inside out Butafter, I couldn’t remember At first it all hurt so terribly, and thenI went numb Pain was all I was, so one was no different from the other Willisthat was the worst pain of all I kept holding his hand, even though he was gone, until Victor pulled one, so he didn’t have to seeso that there was so his hand at the end"

His hand had stilled, ht caress "Lady Danny, she did so to make sure that he hadn’t marked me, before she went andended it"

"Wise Mistress" He spoke after a long moment "If he’d marked you three times, she would have killed you when she killed him"

At the time, she’d wished for exactly that She knew that was a terrible thing, a sin beyond God’s forgiveness But for quite a while afterward, even during those days in the upper bedrooht enough--during changes of clean sheets and people coo into oblivion Her body felt like rotted garbage, a huge suppurating wound, with ahole in the center where Willis had been The ie of his murder played over and over in her ot her out of bed were the children She’d overheard Tilda, one of the dayone, the one they called Jere crazy since it happened, won’t hardly eat Cal thought he actually heard the little fella say Elisa’s naed her past Jererab hold of him Victor snarled, and Jere cry, like a banshee screanored him, pulled her onward

She placed her forehead down on folded hands, the grass tickling her nose The longer strands fluttered around her head, like a curious crowd studying soht of Dorothy’s house, all its black-and-white darkness dropping out of the sky into the colorful beauty of Oz That hat she was