Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(62)

But as his mouth covered hers again, hated eyes appeared in her mind. The voice of her enemy rang in her head.

You can fight me all you want, Queen of the Ilinas. But you'll lose.

Chapter Seventeen

Ariana jerked back. "Go away, you bastard."

Kougar's arms dropped from around her as if she'd burned him.

"Hookeye, not you." But those mismatched eyes had definitely killed the mood.

Kougar's mouth tightened. "You saw him."

"Only his eyes, but as if staring at me wasn't enough, now he's taken to taunting me."

Kougar's pale gaze bored into hers. "Tell me what he said." As she told him, his eyes narrowed. "He's up to something. We know that. I just wish to hell I knew what it was. With the poison flowing to me, now, too, you should be having less trouble holding on to it. Yet you're having more."

"It eased off at first. But then grew stronger, yes. He's definitely feeding more poison into the bond. But who knows what it's doing this time." She reached for him. "It's not hurting you more?"

"It's no worse, just a steady stream of acid eating away at my heart. It's easy to guess he wants me to die. But he'll try to control you this time as he failed to do before."

"It may take time, though. It was two years from the time we mated until the attack. Not for a minute do I think he waited that long. I think his poison takes time both for him to create and to grow inside me. I may not know what he's done to me for weeks or months."

Their gazes met, and locked, with a sick jolt.

"I won't be around by then to help," he said quietly, voicing the thought they shared. "That may be part of his plan."

Ariana sighed, the sound hollow. "He doesn't think we can stop him."

His hands curved over her shoulders. "We'll stop him. If starving the poison is the way to free yourself from it, then you'll starve it." One hand slid down to brush the tip of her breast lightly. "While I keep you strong," he added huskily.

"And then what? Even if I free myself from the old poison, do I dare turn to mist when I know he's still threatening us?"

His hands rose to cup her face. Though his touch was gentle, his eyes were fierce. "We'll beat him. You're still remembering things. Tighe and Hawke still have a couple of days. We'll find a way. Together, this time."

He stroked her face, then dipped his head to capture her mouth in another searing, tongue-tangling kiss. His mouth slipped to her cheek, to her jaw, as his hands went to the fastening of her pants.

"Start wearing dresses," he murmured against her neck. "Short dresses. With nothing underneath." With a quick slide of her zipper, his hand was in her pants, his fingers sliding beneath her panties and lower, stroking her. As he pushed two fingers inside her, she melted, her knees giving way.

He grabbed her close and nipped at her throat, his teeth scraping lightly, sending excitement bursting in her blood. She came with a guttural cry, rocking against his driving fingers, gasping with the intensity of the pleasure and the accompanying rush of wonderful strength.

As she tried to catch her breath, Kougar straightened, pulling his hand away and fastening her pants again.

She sighed. "That was nice."

He lifted a brow. "Nice?"

She gave him an impish grin, uncertain where the feeling of playfulness came from when their situation was so precarious. "You can practice later."

Without warning, Kougar lifted her up and tossed her down on the middle of the pillows. She stared up at him, watching as he yanked off his shirt.

"I was teasing," she said quietly, as he unfastened his belt. "But don't let me stop you."

His pale eyes speared her. "You won't." He stripped naked before her, his male body beautiful and powerful, his erection thick and hard. As he knelt on the pillows, it dawned on her she could have been proactive, stripping off her own clothes. Then she thought of nothing at all as the gorgeous male in front of her reached for her.

He had her pants and panties off her in less time than it took her to pull off her shirt. Then his hands were on her thighs, rough and warm, spreading her wide. Leaning over, he licked her, a single long, marvelous slide of tongue over her most sensitive flesh.

"Nice?" he asked, his eyes predatory, his breath warm against her.

She met that gaze and grinned. With a toss of her head, she murmured, "Practice, practice, practice."

He growled low in his throat and went back to work, driving her up with his tongue and lips and teeth until a monstrous orgasm overtook her. She screamed with her pleasure, the sound echoing in her ears as a glitter of Ilina light appeared before her, followed quickly by the flash of steel.

Melisande stood beside them, blade drawn, ready to slay her attacker.

"Go away, Mel," she gasped.

The scowl her second gave her was one for the record books, but she disappeared as quickly as she'd appeared.

"Again, Kougar. Again."

He brought her to screaming orgasm three more times before she dug her fingers in his hair and tugged, gasping too hard to tell him what she wanted. He knew.

He paused for one thick moment, bracing himself over her, staring down into her eyes as she twisted her hips, seeking the relief that pressed against her hipbone.