Page 7 (2/2)

think we should talk about the ritual"

"IGreta let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding

She’d expected condeically emblazoned across her body

Fortunately, Dayne wasn’t the Puritan she see aet back to the business at hand She straightened in her chair

She hadn’t asked for details about the ritual Dayne could be planning to destroy the world and she’d probably let him use her blood if it would save her hide Maybe she was a coward, but she wanted to live She preferred not to know the gory details in case it presented her with a h the re honey er His eyes darkened with lust and she put her hands in her lap

What rong with her? She’d just taken a pill Could she not do anything withoutit look like an invitation? She bit her lip, as her eyes roved over his body Dayne was fully clothed, wearing jeans and a T-shirt featuring an obscure grunge band fro, she couldn’t stop seeing the sharply defined muscles she kneere hidden underneath The h herclearer each time she replayed it And she’d replayed it about fifteen times now Her cheeks flushed, and she looked away

"Why do you think they want you? Why does it have to be you and not someone else?"

"Oh, that ritual It’s because I was born a kitten But I didn’t know it until the other day when I overheard plans for the sacrifice

I mean, hoould I know? Not like I’d remember"

"Explain"

"Therians are born in huot that backward, or at least about the dying part We don’t go back to hu to survive It’s the e heal

"It’s rare to be able to shift before age five or six Even then, it’s ht For centuries, ods So when the gods bless so they allow them to be born in their fur, they hth year when their power is strongest But I always thought it was a myth"

"I see"

Greta tried to keep the hurt off her face that he wasn’t outraged on her behalf, or sweeping her up into his ar with her emotions "Is that all you needed to know?"

"For now"

Greta got up and rinsed her plate in the sink "I’ It was the stupid heat She couldn’t expect him to be in love with her, and it wasn’t like she was in love with hiht and Dayne was propped against the headboard of his bednotations for the ritual It raphs had been in huht a full reversal of the natural order It was poetic in its way, if not morbid in its poetry If she’d been born in cat form, her blood was more potent than most

The kind of power released fronificant dateHe could see why therians believed it caused the gods to bless theht ritual, her essence was bound to be absorbed Whether they were aware of it or not, they weren’t so ods as they were stealing her power If he’d wanted to live up to his reputation, he should be bottling her blood and selling it on the black market

From a practical standpoint, it meant he’d need less blood than he would from a normal therian on just any full ical boo-boo of pyrotechnic proportions

His personal gri in the amount of blood he’d need, when he heard an unearthly howl Moments later, a bundle of black fur shot across his floor and into the bed She’d burrowed halfway under the covers before he could get to her

"Greta, cal her claws into his 800 thread count sheets, digging clear into thethat wasn’t there Then a pitiful crying htened, and a rush of cohtened aniht here" The part of her that could understand human speech had obviously receded, drawn back into the cat-shaped shell Dayne gently stroked down her back, speaking soothing nonsense

Gradually, the tiny talons receded back into her paws and her fur laid flat His fingers s purr started and this time he watched as she transformed back to her human form

Their eyes met as he continued his ministrations over her silken skin She rolled over onto her back, stretching her arers played over her breasts He watched her reaction, half expecting her to pull away or recover her earlier lazed over He replaced his hand with hisover the nipple of one breast as his hand moved farther south to pet her sex

"Dayne," she panted

He released her breast to give her his full attention "Yes?"

"I don’t knoe should"

A finger dipped inside her, and she bucked off the bed A purr eainst his hand, urging his finger deeper He withdrew it

"Well, if you don’t think we should"