Page 25 (1/2)

Did you call them?

"Not intentionally"

Show-offs He bumped her hip with his head I feel your melancholy

"I’er wet, and sat The panther sat beside her, then lay at her side, resting his sleek black head in her lap There was soht

She stroked his head "You’re in pain"

It’s nothing Just another gift from Ancreta

"Tell me about it Please?"

The panther h When my brothers shift, they experience an incredible rush A joy I’ve heard them talk about it a hundred times Even when they’re not in their animals, they’re able to communicate with their beasts They feel their erowls and roars in their heads They’re one with their animals in a way I’ve never been, thanks to Ancreta All shifting has ever brought me is pain

"Do the others know?"

Only Vhyper If Lyon knew, heduty, and I’d hate that Because even though I feel constant pain when I’ inside me I need to be able to shift and to run It’s part of me now

She stroked his neck, over and over "I have to try to help you, Paenther We have to convince Lyon to unbind ic unbound I refuse to watch you go through another cutting like that Once you’ve done what you can to healVhyper there any longer than I have to He never deserted me, and I won’t desert him

"What do you mean? When didn’t he desert you?"

The cat shifted its head, resting his chin on her thigh As his emerald eyes looked up at her, he told her about Vhyper and Frederick About how badly Vhyper took Frederick’s death at Ancreta’s hand

That night, Vhyper shifted into his snake He shouldn’t have been able to without the radiance and Feral ic, but the vipers have always been different

"They have poison, don’t they?"

They do In the old days, before the rise of the Daee ic, the vipers were the bad boys of the Therian world They were the outcasts The villains Now there is only ever one with the ability to shift, and he’s a Feral Warrior Vhyper is one of the finest I’ve ever known The real Vhyper, anyway

When he shifted that night in Ancreta’s dungeon, he shrank his size until he was barely bigger than a worm and escaped unseen After months of captivity and torture, he was out of there Free But instead of taking off to find Feral House as he should have done, he one to find the Ferals and coht of the shape-shifters behind him, but he didn’t knohere Feral House was and didn’t kno long it would take Travel was slow in those days, especially in winter, which it was He was afraid they’d move me, and he’d lose et me out of there And succeeded Now he’s the one trapped I can’t leave him in there I have to save hi to help you, Paenther I’ to heal you, I swear it Then I’ll do whatever I can to help you free him"

The panther rose onto his haunches and leaned forward to lick her cheek Thank you, Beauty, but I’ain My et hih the warding of that uide you"

We’ll see I’ve promised to keep you safe, little witch That’s a promise I mean to keep

"I know" She buried her face in his fur and loved him

Help me shift

"You’ll be naked"

He chuckled in her head A naked man on the beach will draw a lot less attention than a black panther There’s no one out here to see, either way I need to kiss you, Beauty It won’t wait

His words brought tears to her eyes She did as he asked, and aher onto his lap and into his arainst hiht was clear, theover the waves as the soft roar of surf h him as he slanted his hly, tasting her, inhaling her sweet scent of violets The need to touch her, to be close to her, was becoht Goddess, as she doing to him? The more time he spent with her, theher was beco

As she wrapped her arms around his neck, he reached beneath her sweater and covered her breast, neatly tucked into a lacy bra He growled, low, not liking the feel of anything between the, he pulled off her sweater and tossed it aside, then folloith her bra Her skin glowed in the azeand his mouth He bent his head and closed his lips over her shoulder She tasted of forests and raindrops and sweetness, and she stirred eers went through his hair "Aren’t you worried about draden?" she asked softly

"I’ll shift if I have to," hethe line of her shoulder and slowly up her neck, drawing a gasp and a hard shiver froer froe And he had a fiery need to make love to this woman beneath the stars

His hand closed over one perfect breast, her nipple tight and hard as it grazed his pal one hand beneath her knees and the other at her back, he turned her until he was cradling her in his arhed and slid one araze with his hunger, he was certain, written all over his face "This" Lifting her, he brought her breast straight to his roaned from the sheer sweetness of her flesh as he closed his lips around her and suckled He flicked his tongue across her nipple, over and over again until her fingers dug into his neck where she held on, and into his scalp, where she held hi with pleasure

With a last tug on her breast, he lowered her back to his lap, gazing at the damp, swollen flesh with satisfaction He looked down at her, at her small, sexy sht," he said softly "I didn’t think it was possible"

Her smile widened and turned shy "So are you, my warrior I want you inside me"

"There’s nowhere I’d rather be" He kissed her, sliding his tongue into her mouth as he laid her on the soft sand and stroked her body, his hand sliding down her torso, to buo"

But as he rose to his knees to unfasten her belt, she sat up, her hand sliding over his arm

"Paenther"

His movements stilled at the uncertain tone in her voice She atching hihis erection in her cool palm He sucked in a breath at the exquisite pleasure of her touch

"In the cavernyou wouldn’t let ht me so much pleasure when you kissed me down there Is it different for a aze "It’s no different It can be an incredibly erotic feelingwhen it’s done by the right person, in the right way Ancreta used to force my arousal like that Bad memories, I’m afraid"

Yet even as he said the words, the truth, the thought of Skye’s ht hi her cheek "You are the right person, Beauty If you want to"

Her eyes searched his "I don’t kno to do it in the right way I’ve never done it at all"

"There’s no wrong way Whatever pleases you But first, I want you naked, little witch" He kissed her, then set about unfastening her belt "You’re wearing far too s and pulled off her jeans and panties, tossing therily on the sweet flesh between her legs But she closed her knees and rose, pressing her hands to his shoulders