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It was an impressive ly She leaped away again But with each jues were beco her head because she&039;d denied herself thought She hadn&039;t wanted to think anyby reaction and defense froet close enough to see him, not just feel him, she&039;d sat in the trees and yearned A handsome man as a mortal, that handsomeness was now en- hanced by his otherworldly quality, the comfortable power of a s he was, all the energy that was his to command When he spoke out loud as he often had these past few days, sensing her near, his voice had been smooth, melodious Words caressed her body as if they were kisses froue It perhaps had been a sin beyond measure to turn hi to female senses as a mortal In the end, she didn&039;t know if she was really trying to escape him, or make him prove himself to her She led him on the chase for sev- eral miles, and he wasn&039;t even winded Frorades As she evaded and he followed, thein her heart expanded through her body, kindling hot and steady in her loins until it alhs too much of a distraction because of the way they compressed swollen tissue

When she came face-to-face with hie He studied her froully He could close the distance at any ti her knoas chasing only as an indul- gence, knowing he would have her in the end He soht sink in slowly and sinuously, like a lover&039;s tongue teasing her folds, would affect her this way But he apparently realized she was ready for a change in the gaardless Opening the shirt without care for the buttons, he yanked off the hiking shoes and stripped off his jeans to face her gloriously naked, one of the ainst her She couldn&039;t take her eyes fro cock stretching up toward his belly, the firm sac of his testicles While she missed the thatch of hair that had been on his chest, the ability to touch the hard, shs treoing through herit across the wide gully without a running leap Just as his foot landed on the opposite side, she took flight again When she landed in the crotch of a live oak, she shrieked to find he&039;d used the ht above her He dropped and seized her fro his wrist with a closed fist across her breasts, an effective lock She could struggle but not gain a purchase with her taloned elbows His vaht as well have been a child struggling against a parent Or a huainst a vampireThe sly whisper inserted itself in her mind You must have hated me, the way I reminded you of this, all the time

"No,in her throat, or perhaps she was just sobbing, weeping at the way it felt to have his arms around her His warainst her but- tocks, fitting aggressively into the channel, th Brushing his knuckles along the firray skin of her cheek, he traced the outline of her prominent brow, the bone of the eye socket and curve of the pointed ear She twisted her head "I kno much you love my touch, my lady Need it Don&039;t deny yourself the pleasure I can give you " "You&039;re not my servant anymore " "I am always your servant Your lover Your mate I want no other " Trust me, my lady Please don&039;t run I&039;ve wanted to touch you for so long as well God, you don&039;t kno ive you anything Don&039;t you know that? She wanted to clutch at his wrists, but she would hurt him Do it I&039;ve missed the way you like to draw my blood The way you like to watch me react to the pain you inflict Feel how hard I aainst her back, lowering his hand to her abdoot wetter, her body slippery, begging for hihts, any iven him the second mark Every desire was his to tease and pluck, like the petals of a flower His fingers descended, finding her She arched up against hi she made when aroused or dis- tressed in this form "How I&039;ve dreamed of your cunt I&039;ve had dreayou do this" His voice was rich music in her ears as her body bucked He held her so easily Al thes around hi into her eyes, he thrust into her, hard and deep, no foreplay, nothing but a rough, pleasur- able clai fro, capturing her Her pussy spass, the barbed tip digging into his thigh She had her ar him with her hooked talons She felt the raised abrasion of his third o away "No, my lady, " he said hoarsely "The powers that put it there know I am always yours, noto tattoo on the outside of a body is what&039;s branded on the soul This is branded on e I am marked as yours forever "Mark me some more " She hadn&039;t talked in over six , but she wanted so from his lips "PleaseCall htened his ar this tith Her warrior, her knight Her lover Her servant The man she loved In her Fey form, a climax could take minutes to be over, a pleas- urable torment beyond description that took all control beyond the reach of the senses As it swept over her with just the first few strokes of his cock inside her, she arched back, screa his flesh,him in this for hi even harder inside her, thrusting, his ar the cli her nipple He bit, drawing her blood froly sensitive area as she&039;d once bitten hiht as well as the sensation pushed her even higher No ht him in the throes of ecstasy, he held her easily, his face fierce with his own desire, his cock spurting inside her, claiain

I&039;m here, my lady You&039;re et it My Mistress My slave My lover My mate My lady Mine With a sudden fierceness, he lifted her off hiain, only this tiing her back against hi her suffer the ecstatic tor as it needed, his hand coers into her pussy as her heels hooked the outside of his knees, keeping herself open, wanting to take him deep And e&039;re done with this, I will come in your mouth, my lady You will take me in every orifice, so I feel I&039;ve come home to youMarked you in every possible way And I will eat your cunt until you coain,until you know you can never leave ht, her saabond But noas also vampire The natural dominance, combined with the alpha nature he&039;d always carried, had blended in a way that made her feel helpless to resist himAnd she didn&039;t want to resist She wanted to trust, to not worry, to believe she could love hiive him upThat he could be hers, and she could be hisEverything she&039;d wanted froive her Jacob could now give her all of it Believe it, my lady You are a queen, but for once, believe that you can have soain, the sensation al his grip to hold her breasts in his palainst his touch He went for a while, thrusting even past the point when she was lying against hientle lover&039;s touch It should have seemed at odds with the fierceness of the past few moments, but it was all part of the sa of the past fewand didn&039;t allow herself to want anything, proved itself a lie She&039;d just nu without hi

Jacob Jacob He turned her face slowly, inexorably, away fro her cheekbone into the firm muscle of his shoulder She went com- pletely still as his thuht his lips down to her throat, the whirl of thoughts she was having were not intelligible, but her e in force Loneliness, wonder, need, all keeping her still as if she knew he had in his touch the answer to all of those things Her thoughts s into her bared throat, holding her When he released the seruive her all three marks, it was heaven Heaven to feel her shudder with the knowledge of his clai andof the woman he con- sidered his heart, his life, hisAnd at the sahts, knowing they were interwoven with her own reaction as she allowed herself sirets, no worries Jacob was here She knew so him away to protect him, but here in this minute it felt as if she were the protected oneAnd she didn&039;t have the strength to let that feeling go Jacob had placed the false fang back behind his real one as Brian had instructed He&039;d done it on one of the last juht her Now as he pressed down, it sent the elixir Brian had crafted from the re seruainst her throat, so he felt her stiffen, convulse in his ar Brian was as brilliant as Lyssa had believed him to be The sharp bite of talons receded and abruptly there was the press of a wo his cheek Reht with her when she&039;d curtained him with her hair NoNo

He had just a second to realize he should have warned her, pre- pared her for the transformation The wildness that had been with her so ht reaction shutting down rational thought The jues, which he had no tiest as she shoved away fro to her feet to run naked across the forest floor, a pri to hi up froed to bury theof all The revelation stunned hied to ht her He held her when she struggled, but he didn&039;t knohat to say as he bore her to the forest floor and lay upon her His body between her thighs, arms hard around her, face buried in her neck His heart was fair choking hi hier, she broke into tears AfraidMissed youNeeded youLove you The words were ic, a chant in her mind Her tears wouldn&039;t stop even as he tried to catch every one of them with his lips Iany defenses against him I died insideI wanted to die, to just fade away But you wouldn&039;t let ed to ht round of her belly Her eyes closed, and he felt the searing sweetness of her reac- tion reverberate through him "You wouldn&039;t let me " Not only had she had to protect herself alone, she&039;d had to pro- tect their child He should have told Mason and Gideon to go to Hell and go after her What was the world with a few less Girl Scouts, anyway? "Oh, my lady My sweet lady " He pressed his lips to her temple, held it there as it all washed over hi " "You orth everything "

As the night waned, they sat by a creek, and he let her find her voice again Find herself again He ed to coax a s her and their unborn baby in his lap His fa her It was easy to ain until her cries shattered the forest&039;s quiet When they lay twined together, he felt her worries that they would be hunted, that she would face losing hi over her to cup her face, touch her lips "My lady, I swore an oath to protect you Thanks to you, I now find ifted to do just that There are some vam- pires who tried to track you, other than me " Before she could suffer a ht them the penalty for disloyalty to their queen " "You&039;ve"--she wet her lips--"you&039;ve learned quickly to defend a territory " "With great help from Mason Even from Gideon We had some squabbles " He smiled and it took her breath That smile always had, froht&039;s dusty and blood-streaked face "He goadedhis head into a hen I hadn&039;t quiteI&039;d killed hiotten there&039;s little you can do to break a head h with a poison arrow and covered me in boils for three verya nurturing soul " "And is Mr Ingraood news, and the war her before he even voiced the thoughts "Mr Ingram is the majordo his grandson regularly Brian and his father spoke on your behalf before the Council, " he added "As well as Mason and some others As a result, your properties re scientific subject Brian is actively courting my favor "

His voice teased her She couldn&039;t tease back, not yet "Mason spoke quite eloquently on your behalf You are going to tell me what kind of friends you are one day " She closed her eyes, overwhele of it all "So" She didn&039;t dare hope, or believe, but as he coaxed her to look into hisafter us " "No, my lady There is just you and me And there are several ter- ritories in which ill be welcomed We can fi nd a home, and you can be or do whatever you wish " He traced a hand down her throat, ain Her lower abdo in this forh love, she&039;d let her tears wash sothese er vampire, only Fey, her ht However, despite her postcoital exhaustion, an aroused growl rose in her throat again, inciting a lint in his eyes When he passed a hand over her rib cage, the lean flank as she quiv- ered under his touch, his fingers played at her still slippery cunt "You haven&039;t been eating, my lady I think we&039;ll have to punish you for that, ain " She shuddered Abruptly, however, he tightened his grip on her there, ressiveness of the hold "There is nothing you can do to hurt me, my lady, except leave me, " he said, his blue eyes intense, deterain I need you to be with me You&039;re not alone any The words he im- printed on her soul as an eternal proain This was the life that was theirs at last "The day I lostin the water, wrestling We&039;d rolled out of the surf and into the wet sand He wasto pushat him The sun arm, and eren&039;t at school

You don&039;t think of it consciously, but it was all perfect, all good We were starting to get hungry and I was thinking of the sandwiches Mom had packed for us Solad it was then, when they were laughing, treading water, watching us, and we all were together as a faht his lips to hers, grazing her with his fangs to make her part her lips The heat shimmered between the her heart and soul from the deep well in which she&039;d buried it Soon she was responding with just as erous lassitude of the past few months to embrace him fully While she could transforain, Brian had confirh humanoid properties to nourish Jacob as only a fully ain To rebuild strength, their gahtly occurrence As her endurance and agility ie of both and tested his as well, as was her nature As of yet, he hadn&039;t failed to catch her, though she was able to lead hi into briar patches and into a coht her, he took out his revenge in ways that were searingly sweet, ways that sometimes made her wonder if she&039;d died and this was the illusion of Heaven, the real Jacob so in their priht to slide away in the face of erotic firesthe clouds of Heaven When she was in her winged forot to see the pixies who often followed her It a to stay in that war he was offering "If we ever are parted in such a terrible way, " she said soft ly, "we&039;ll ood day we can carry into eternity forever " "We&039;ll carry each other into eternity, my lady I shall never leave you "

T here were caverns she&039;d been using for refuge At tinant, she hadn&039;t eer and thirst and the cursed desire to live that overrode the pain in her heart had brought her forth She knew hearing that in her mind offended him anew Heduring daylight hours to take her to the pinnacle of ecstasy, arousing not only her body, but shoulders and co, heels tattooing her breasts as they chatted with each other in their odd birdlike language She ignored theh she was always careful not to dislodge them "They&039;re like spectators at the Elephant Man tent, " she scoffed "Gauche creatures " But Jacob sensed her affection for them Since they were the only ones who had accepted her no uests By day Lyssa hunted for herself, though he preferred her to wait She knew at first he&039;d been reluctant to have her more than a few feet from hireed or wanted anything differently But her prey was easier to find during the day As the link between theain, he could always find her once he woke, if she wasn&039;t already back at the cave by then Oddly enough, Lyssa thought she&039;d never been so happy and content in her life A tranquility fi lled her that she&039;d never had before, a sense of completion so absolute there were times she just sat in the sun on a branch outside the caves and did nothing but absorb the treasures of sun and wind, the aro the evening with Jacob "What would you think about staying here for a while? Is it ter- rible for you?" He sat with her on the edge of their favored eainst his side, they watching the ether "Anywhere with you is not terrible, my lady " He bent, brushed his lips over her ear

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived I did not wish to live as not life, living is so dear &039; " "Thoreau, " she murmured, touched " `I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life&039; " "Indeed, " he said quietly, putting his lips to her throat Before she could arch back to give hi a defensive posture in front of her so quickly it amazed Lyssa While she knew he had all of her abilities, it still took her by surprise, how forerous he could be He used his powers as a vaer to acquire But then he&039;d been a warrior in every life, and he adapted any resource he had at his fingertips, particu- larly to protect her and their baby She stiffened when she saas the Fey lord The one she&039;d seen several times before Jacob came, who&039;d discovered her while she ith the pixies She&039;d sensed the threat of him, had been prepared to run as she&039;d had to do before, but he hadWhen she&039;d discerned the disdain in his expression, she&039;d suh of herself to eye him just as scornfully She&039;d dealt with va to be intimidated by him, his ability to drive her out of his territory notwithstanding A grudging smile had pulled at his lips at her reac- tion, and he&039;d surprised her with a nod before he disappeared into the wood Now he gave a slight bow, and extended his hand "I have so for you " It took Lyssa aAware of Jacob&039;s still watchfulness, she took a couple of steps toward the Fey lord It was a rose blooered hand and carefully rolled it into her smaller one The petals were fresh, soft, ith dew

"What you are holding is centuries old, preserved by oldas your love for your father lives, it will never dissolve " She drew in a breath "My father " "It was plucked from the branches of his bush before the desert was allowed to turn him to dust Those who felt the punishment to be too harsh wove the spell, with the intent of one day giving it to the daughter Time passes fast or slow to the Fey folk, Lady Lyssa "

The ift You are welco as you wish " With a nod, he turned and vanished into the wood "Oh, Jacob" She touched the petals with one finger "I think he recognizes a queen when he sees one " Jacob stroked her hair, gazed after the ht, but I think he just stole my thunder " Lyssa turned her attention to him "No, I want to see it I can&039;t have too ifts, are you? Just like a wo just out of reach, letting hiive him the opportunity to kiss, to bury his hands in her hair, to spin with her under a moonlit sky, where there were no Masters or Mistresses, just two souls tooHe caht here,She started as feath- ers brushed against her skin, and then she realized they weren&039;t feathers, but small disks of silken white She looked up in ti down on her with the fra- grant smell of cherry blosso while, you find a volunteer sapling deter- mined to survive the odds, even if it&039;s not in its known environ- round now "It&039;s spring, s " She closed her eyes, leaning into the circle of his arht his lips to her throat, scraped her neck with his fangs, giving her a shiver of desire as the petals flowed down on her As she cupped the rose bloo My lady? "I knew fro you wouldn&039;t be able to accept your place as a human servant " "My lady, I know my place I&039;ve always known it " He drew her chin up so he could aze with an intent one of his own, a look that pulled her in and was like that swirling cloud of petalsA handso with herHeaven "My place is by your side In front of you, behind you, wherever you most need me to be That will always be my place, now and for- ever "

THE END