Beauty's Beast(35)

Samantha lifted her hands, raked her fingers through the fine silk of his hair and tugged. Alon lifted his lips from her throat and stared into her eyes. His mouth glistened and his eyes glittered, the color changing from blue to green. The flush of his skin and the panting breaths aroused her until she quivered with anticipation. He was hers at last, and they had the entire night. After that, who could tell?

One night, a thousand. She knew it would never be enough.

His hands slid down the backs of her thighs until he had control of her. Then he lifted, spreading her legs to make room for him between them. For a moment she was high above him and his rough cheek was scoring the sensitive flesh of one breast, and then next he was lowering her inch by thrilling inch onto his erection. She stared at his wild green, unnatural, exciting eyes and knew that no moment would ever be so perfect.

He slid inside her gently, her body stretching to take inch after inch. She wanted to throw her head back and cry out in pleasure. She wanted to fall upon him in a hot, needy rush. But she kept her eyes locked on his as he drew her down until her bottom pressed tight to his hips.

Only then did she arch, using her legs to clamp onto him and pull him even deeper. He sucked in a breath and dropped to his knees. The jolt drove him still deeper and the fall brought her upright, clinging to his shoulders.

He chuckled and nestled his face between her breasts as he took her to her back. He withdrew and then paused, arms stiff, hands flanking her head, the veins of his arms and at his neck blue and pulsing beneath his pale skin. He wanted to move. She knew it.

Samantha opened her legs to him.

“Come on, then.”

He drove forward but stopped there to kiss her hard and fast, his tongue darting into her mouth, thrusting against hers and leaving her gasping for breath. She lifted her hips and bucked, but he pressed her down with his weight and took one dark nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking until she tossed her head from side to side and made a kind of mewling sound deep in her throat.

Her orgasm built like a slow fire until it roared through her, burning her to ash. Alon drew back and closed his eyes as the waves of sensation pulsed down every nerve, and she knew he felt it, too.

She expected him to take her hard and fast, but he withdrew and dropped between her legs, holding her twin cheeks in each hand. He kissed and licked.

“So sweet,” he murmured. “I love to taste you.”

Her limbs were weak and trembling. She could not resist this new sensual assault, but she was so tired. Alon used his clever tongue. He flicked and circled the sensitive nub at her cleft until she was lifting her hips and bucking against his mouth. She was so close, so...

Samantha screamed his name as her pleasure broke. She arched and moaned as the waves spun out from her core.

She fell back, panting and quivering, her muscles spent. Her mind reeling. And then she felt him sliding into her again.

Now he would take his pleasure and she would feel it. He’d be fast, he’d be rough, just like she wanted.

Only he wasn’t. He was slow, his hips undulating in a leisurely assault.

“Faster,” she ordered.

His deliberate slide and draw remained unchanged.

She glanced up at him to find a devilish smile on his face, and she knew he would not be hurried.

Samantha groaned her frustration. She wanted...wanted. Oh, the tingling delight that came with each lovely, lingering glide. Her body rolled and surged in counterstroke to each measured thrust. Her body quickened again and she gasped with surprise and delight.

“Yes,” he whispered. “Come for me again.”

She moved faster and this time he relented, matching her frantic pace. She felt his release as a powerful, bursting wave of pleasure. An instant later the rippling contractions coursed through her.

They fell together onto the soft furs in a tangle of damp limbs. For several moments she drifted in the glow of her receding pleasure, breathing heavily, content and replete.

“Oh, Alon. That was perfect,” she whispered, her eyes drifting closed.

“Yes. Perfect.”

She felt his emotions again. Not just the sensations he experienced, but something new. She recognized his longing to keep her safe and the fear that he could not. His dread cut through him, bright and sharp as a knife blade. She stroked his shoulder and arm, offering silent reassurance. Gradually his restless mind calmed and he drifted to sleep.

Slumber then stole over her, and when she roused it was to the feel of Alon’s erection, smooth and hard against her hip. She rolled on top of him, kissed his chest and stroked his pale skin as the dance began again. They would not waste a moment of this night, not when it might be their last.

Afterward, in their sanctuary, Alon held her close against his side. She nestled there in calm contentment, one leg thrown across his muscular thighs. She pressed her cheek upon his strong chest and felt the calm assurance of his steady heartbeat. Outside the world rested, still and dark.

From somewhere beyond the curtain of their shelter, the first lark began to sing.

Alon tensed.





Chapter 17



Samantha stood beside Alon in the gray gloom that preceded the dawn. Behind them the Ghost Children awaited Alon’s order to attack.

She glanced at Alon, tall and imposing in his most lethal shape. He looked every inch the leader of his people. His fierce expression and the tension radiating from him sent a shiver down her spine. She was glad she would not face him in battle.

To the right in the wooded area by the river lay the army of Ghost Children who had been coerced into the service of Nagi.

Nagi was immortal. He could not be defeated, yet somehow, they must do just that.

To the east the sky brightened. It would not be long now. Across the open field the army of Skinwalkers assembled beside their new allies. To the left, before the hastily dug earthwork barriers, Blake and his Spirit Children waited. Nagi had the low ground. But he did not seem to care—perhaps because of his superior numbers. Samantha knew she, Blake and her mother could defeat the possessed humans by dispossessing the ghosts. It would be up to the others to keep the Seers alive so they could do their job.

How many of those below hidden in the woods would join their cause if given the chance? How many fought only because their backs were to the wall?

Waiting was torture. The worst that could happen unfolded like scenes in her mind. She did not believe that her brother would order his people to attack Alon. But she was not certain about her dad. He hated the Naginoka and was eager to kill as many as possible.

She felt responsible for them all, because it was she who convinced Alon, and Alon who convinced the others to fight.

The burden of responsibility pressed down on her. If Alon felt uncertain, he did not show it. She mirrored his calm, knowing it was a thin facade.

Behind them the sun broke, gilding the leaves of the cottonwood as it crested the hill behind the Spirit Children. Still the Ghost Children lay in shadow as they had lived their whole life. Today they stepped into the light and into history.

A flash of white light ignited beside Samantha as Bess flashed into her raven form and burst into the sky. She called her farewell, a cry that perfectly relayed the sorrow of the day. Samantha rested both hands high on her chest and drew a deep breath, feeling the energy surge through her body as she changed to her animal form, rising to nine feet. She looked at Alon, now anxious for the signal to fight.

It would have been wiser for their enemy to wait for the Skinwalkers and Spirit Children to advance, forcing them to leave the hillside, rather than trying to take the high ground. But instead, Nagi’s forces spilled from the wooded grove, charging uphill toward Blake and Sebastian’s position. She could see both now, a huge bear standing before her brother, who was still in his human form. Blake stepped out from her dad’s shadow to stand in the light, but did not change to his bear form. Instead he held his medicine wheel loosely at his side, ready to perform his work as a Seer expelling ghosts to the Way of Souls.

There beside them, low to the ground, Samantha saw Nicholas Chien, a wolf shifter and the leader of a pack of Skinwalker wolves. Beside that a pride of mountain lions waited the signal to attack.

His wife, Jessie, had done her work through the night with the other Dream Walkers, visiting the sleeping Ghost Children of Nagi’s army, planting the seeds of descent against Nagi. Hawks, eagles, owls and even swans burst into the air, their beating wings carrying them skyward.

The Spirit Children stood upon the hill. Though their powers were impressive, Samantha considered them of little use in combat. The time for words had passed. Truth Seekers, Peacemakers and Clairvoyants would be needed afterward, if any survived. Still they stood with guns and swords like a ragtag postapocalyptic army of misfits, ready to do whatever they could. Samantha remembered her dad’s words. If Alon fought, he would be treated no differently from the enemy. Would her father really follow through with that threat?

Her stomach twisted as anxiety roiled like acid.

Samantha looked at Alon, knowing that Nagi’s forces would rip the Spirit Children apart like wolves through a litter of newborn kittens if they gained the hilltop.