Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(29)

Queen Ariana!While no true telepathy took place in his man form, this call wasn't a communication as much as a demand.Heed me!

But he felt no change in the breeze, saw no shimmer and sparkle of refracted crystals in the air.

Ariana!Over and over, he made the demand, pounding at that invisible door until his mind felt beaten with exhaustion. But just as it became clear his attempt to contact the Ilinas would be in vain, a strong, telltale scent of pine teased his nose, telling him his call had been answered.

But when he turned, he found not the queen standing before him but two of her minions. His mind flickered annoyance, but his emotions remained unengaged, as always. The pair of petite warriors stood side by side, two of the queen's elite private guard, each dressed in the usual uniform - a brown tunic and flesh-colored breeches, soft leather boots, and a knife strapped at her waist.

"Melisande. Brielle. I sought Ariana, but you'll do."

"What do you want, Kougar?" Melisande asked, her thick blond braid draped across one slender shoulder. Though her features had a delicate cast, her bright blue eyes were hard as flint.

Kougar lifted a cold eyebrow. "You forbid me entrance to the Crystal Realm?"

"You are not welcome. Queen Ariana grants you no audience. You're lucky she lets you live at all, Feral, knowing what you know."

A fact of which he was all too aware. He'd often pondered why she hadn't made an attempt on his life.

His gaze focused on Melisande. "Are you aware the Mage have freed three wraith Daemons from the blade?"

The woman's only reaction was a tiny jerk backward, but the move told him enough.

She hadn't known.

"The traps won't work without Ilina blood and magic. I've tried. I need your help. Join with me to catch them."

Melisande's face hardened. "The Daemons are not our concern. We're no longer of your world."

"That's a lie, and we both know it." Kougar took a step forward, but the pair held their ground. "If Satanan's freed, it's only a matter of time before he discovers your secret.

You're fooling yourselves to believe otherwise."

"Involving ourselves in your battle could compromise our safety. I'll not allow it, Feral." Melisande's eyes flashed with threat. "The safety of my race is a responsibility I take very, very seriously."

"Thousands, perhaps millions will die if Satanan rises again."

"That's not my concern."

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"Your queen would have cared once."

"Many things that once were are no more."

Kougar's hand flexed with the need to grab her, to steal her blood and force her compliance, but the act would be useless. The moment he reached for her, she would simply turn to mist.

As if reading his mind, or his wish, the pair lost form, turning transparent, floating before him like spirits. "Go, Kougar. And don't come back. The next time, your summons will not be answered." As one they disappeared.

Kougar went feral, clawing the air where the women had stood moments before in a move that reeked of emotion.

Seeking the help of the Ilinas had been a waste of time. The Daemons were going to remain on the rampage, the traps useless.

They were going to have to find another way.

From beneath the trees, Jag watched Olivia finish dressing, the moonlight glinting in her hair. When she was done, he pulled on the power of his animal and shifted into his jaguar, the exquisite pleasure of the magic that raced through him a pale shadow of the rich enjoyment he'd experienced inside Olivia's hot little body.

The pleasure that had continued to pulse through his man's body dissipated with the shift but continued to resonate through his mind. Touching her, entering her, feeling her release break over him again and again had been an extraordinary experience, as different from his usual sexual encounters as fine whiskey to flat beer. Being inside her had felt...right. That was the only word he could think of. As if all this time he'd been looking for the lock that fit his key, and he'd finally found her.

Never had he been this hot for a woman. Never had his release been so complete. He loved the feel of her skin beneath his fingertips and against his lips, almost as much as he loved the way she fought him. She'd refused to give them what they'd both wanted right up until she couldn't fight it a second more. Then he'd buried himself inside her and released again and again and again. Never had it been like that for him, his body so f**king wound up he couldn't stop coming.

And all he could think of was doing it all again. Which was precisely the reason he'd pulled out and ordered her to get a move on.

As he watched her dress, her soft hair swinging against her cheek, drawing his gaze to her mouth, he felt a weakness inside his man's mind, a wish to take her into his arms.

To kiss her.

But, although he loved sex, there was something about kissing he'd never embraced.

Something too...intimate...about it. Mouth to mouth, eye to eye. Kissing took a level of closeness, of tenderness, he gave no woman.

So it disturbed him that he wanted to give it to Olivia.

He pushed the uncomfortable thoughts away as he watched her pull on the leather jacket with the Daemon-claw-size holes in the back and arm.

Just what had that thing done to her? Daemon venom. Who knew that Daemons had venom in their claws? It had been so long since any had terrorized the Earth, they had nothing to go on but legend and superstition, which left them in total guessing territory when it came to what Daemons could really do.