She kicked at him. She cursed him with every foul name she could think of, but Bishop fought her down into her seat. All of a sudden, the pain stopped as suddenly as it started. The gel cooled against her skin, and her ankle glowed white and perfect with no sign of burn.
Bishop sank back on the floor. “I know it’s bad.”
Raleigh stared down at her ankle. It didn’t hurt anymore, either from the gel or from the break inside. Her leg spasmed of its own accord, and her ankle moved with no discomfort whatever.
Bishop picked up the gourd and threw it in a tub next to the fireplace. He passed his wrist across his forehead and let out a shaky breath. “I remember the first time Niui did that to me. I cursed him the same way you did me. I threatened to kill him and his whole family if I ever laid eyes on him again. He forgave me afterwards, but it took a long time before I could forgive him.”
Raleigh sank back in the chimney corner. “I’m sorry, Bishop. I shouldn’t have said those things about you. I know you were just trying to help me.”
He glanced over. “I understand if you don’t forgive me.”
“I do forgive you. There’s nothing to forgive. You did it for me. I should be thanking you instead of hurling insults at you.”
He shook his head. “Don’t thank me. That’s nothing to thank me for. I know that better than anybody.”
Raleigh studied his hunched shoulders where he stood with his back to her. “Bishop.”
He didn’t turn around.
“Come here, Bishop.”
He walked toward her and stood above her. He regarded her from his lofty distance. She took his hand and pressed his knuckles to her cheek. She kissed his palm and caressed his fingers against her mouth.
When she dared look up into his eyes, he stared down at her with a fixed, glassy expression. The blood flushed across his cheeks, and his nostrils flared to suck the air into his lungs. His voice cracked with emotion. “Don’t. Don’t do it here.”
She gave his hand one last kiss and whispered up at him. “Thank you. Thank you for everything you do.”
He swallowed hard, but he didn’t say anything. He drew his hand away from her. “We have to go. We can’t do this here.”
Raleigh pulled herself together. They couldn’t let themselves go. They couldn’t feel all the depth of emotion burning between them until they got back to the safety of their own house.
She climbed to her feet. She put all her weight on her injured ankle. It still hurt, but Bishop was right. It worked. It supported her weight. She could stand the ache in exchange for the use of her leg. “Let’s go.”
Bishop opened Niui’s door by a trick Raleigh didn’t see. He ushered her out into the tunnels, but when they exited into the main corridor leading to Bishop’s house, they found the tunnel caved in. Boulders and debris piled to the ceiling.
Bishop kicked the nearest rock. “Well, this is just great. We can’t get out that way.”
“Is there another way out?”
He stole a glance at her. “I know another way we can get out to the market.”
Raleigh waited. “So what’s wrong? Why don’t you want to go that way?”
He shrugged. “You know….”
“No, I don’t. If we can get out of here through the market, why don’t you want to go? Why are we standing around here, thinking about it?”
He faced her. “Because, Raleigh. Going through the market will spit us out at the lake, and that means going out through the tunnel that leads to the wolves’ territory. If we take that route, we might have to fight them, and we don’t have any weapons. The guards at the mussel farm took everything, unless you’ve got a secret stash I don’t know about.”
Raleigh blinked at him. She hadn’t thought of that. If anyone faced danger from another encounter with the wolves, it was her. She felt truly naked without her blade, her bow and bolts, and her pistols. She had nothing to fight anybody but her bare hands.
“Maybe they won’t attack us,” she offered. “Maybe we’ll get lucky like we did last time.”
Bishop raised his eyes to her face. A curious gleam twinkled in his eye. “There is only one way we could face them.”
Raleigh cocked her head. “What’s that?”
He stuck two fingers into his watch pocket. Instead of pulling out his watch, he pulled out a glass ampule no bigger than a nickel coin. He held it up in front of her eyes. “This.”
Raleigh opened her mouth, but she couldn’t say anything. She knew what that was. That was the potion Bishop used to transform himself into a raving hybrid just like the wolves. That’s how he fought them.
He held it out to her. “You take it.”
Raleigh backed away. “I’m not taking it. I could never use that.”
He waved it in her face. “You better take it. If one of the Alpha wannabes comes after you, you’ll need it. You won’t fight them the way you are unless you want to become their next meal.
She eyed the ampule. Did she really think she could take that? Could she turn herself into a lunatic wolf like the one she saw him turn into? What was she becoming, that she would even consider this?
He thrust the vial into her hand. “You don’t have to decide right now. If they don’t come after us, you won’t need it anyway. Just take it, just in case.”
Somehow, her hand moved of its own free will. She tucked the ampule in the chest pocket of her shirt. She probably wouldn’t need it, but at least she wouldn’t face the wolves with anything but the clothes on her back.
Bishop headed up the tunnel, back the way they came. He called back over his shoulder, and his voice startled her out of her reverie. “I know a back way we can get to the market. It’s kind of nice for this part of Hinterland.”
Chapter 17
Another long hike, up sloping tunnels and down into drains, brought them out on a high plateau overlooking another enormous cavern.
Now, at least, she knew she was underground. No one could deny that, even if these caverns did extend farther than the human eye could see. The light from above didn’t come out of a clear blue sky studded with stars and fluffy white clouds. It shone through the roof from who knows where.
Right now, that light faded to the soft pastels of evening. The greenish-golden light vibrated in front of Raleigh’s eyes and softened the tension of the last few days.
Trees and thick undergrowth filled the chamber down below. It carpeted the floor in thick swathes. A gentle breeze ruffled the canopy. Bishop smiled. “I’ve always loved this place.”
He took her hand and steered her forward. He trailed down a twisting path to the chamber floor, where the trees swayed overhead and shaded the light into night. The glowing ceiling deepened to profound indigo, and hidden creatures chirruped in the trees and bushes.
Bishop tightened his hold on Raleigh’s hand. He moved through the trees at an easy pace. He didn’t tense to listen the way he usually did when traveling through dangerous territory.
The darker it became, the louder the night noises grew. They blasted shrill cries through the canopy until Raleigh couldn’t hear her own footfalls on the leafy floor. The last light faded from above when, out of the dark, she caught sight of something shining up ahead.
Bishop quickened his step. Another light popped up to one side. All at once, lights appeared bobbing and shining on all sides. Bishop guided her forward, and when she reached one of the mysterious lights, she found herself staring at a leaf.
It shimmered bright phosphorescent green. The light extended a short distance away from the leaf before the night swallowed it up. One by one, more leaves winked on and stayed lit up. The whole forest glowed bright green.
Raleigh caught her breath. Bishop turned around to smile at her. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”
She couldn’t answer. She could only follow him and stare at this incredible phenomenon. The whole forest lit up brighter than daylight. Leaves, flowers, and stems nodded and beamed at her
on all sides.
Raleigh had no trouble finding her way through the woods now. The foliage illuminated the cavern on all sides. Bishop’s steady pressure on her hand urged her forward to follow him, but some several hundred paces into the luminous forest, he paused to turn around. A lovely smile spread over his face, and he held out a long-stemmed rose to her.
The petals beamed luminescent pink. The leaves and thorns studding its stem glowed bright green. The faint dusky pink sang to Raleigh of countless visions hovering just beyond the reach of consciousness.
She raised her eyes to Bishop’s face beyond the rose. His eyes shone down at her. The rose’s pink luminescence reflected off their dark surface. The two of them were all alone in Hinterland, miles from anyone they knew. He might be standing in her bedroom with the lamplight mellow and golden on his cheeks.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“Not as beautiful as you.”
He moved the rose aside to draw near her. Nothing could stop them coming together now. The hard crust of war and business melted away. They were two soft bodies falling into the vortex of their combined attraction.
He laid one heavy arm around her shoulders. The rose dangled from his fingers, but she had eyes only for his face lit up by a thousand green leaves. They gave his skin a greenish cast, but he never appeared more enthralling, more magnetic than he did right now.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and raised her face to meet his kiss. His one arm held her close while their lips slipped in and out of each other in that delicious melding of warmth and wetness and sensual delight.
Raleigh drank his presence in to satisfy her thirst for him. She lived without him all these lonely days. Now she had him, and she would take as much of him as she could get. She couldn’t stop her body rubbing against him. She rose to a high buzz of excitement and quivering desire on that musical kiss.
Her nipples pricked inside her shirt. She had to itch them across his chest, and the driving hunger lower down wanted to scratch herself against his hardness. His free hand cupped around her back, and his fingers traced across her waistband in search of any vulnerability where he could find her bare skin.
The more he touched her, the more her aching desire mounted to insane ravenous screaming need. She wouldn’t let him pull away this time. She wouldn’t let him escape until she got what she needed from him. She didn’t care if they were in Hinterland. She didn’t care if dangers threatened them here. She had to seize this moment of respite while she could.
She crept her arms up to encircle his neck. She tilted her head to one side to devour his kisses the faster they came. Their tongues licked and slithered all over the place. They spread that hot wetness everywhere. They wouldn’t stop.
The growing sharp point between Bishop’s legs dug into Raleigh’s sensitive tissues. He wanted her, too. All at once, he craned her backward and hooked one meaty hand under her thigh. He lifted her against him with a feral grunt. He yanked her leg against his waist and heaved her in tight.
All her building passion exploded at the same time his burst toward her. Their bodies smashed against each other to seize and rend and destroy in a foaming brew of burning desire. He tugged her leg aside and plowed his hips between her thighs.
Raleigh gasped for breath, but she couldn’t stop kissing him. She gobbled his lips for all she was worth. She bit him until he yelped in pain, but his noises only drove her out of her mind. She crushed her breasts into his chest and ground her delicate pussy against his hard cock.
His fingers inched along her thigh to her ass split open for his touch. He scratched the hard canvas where it met between her legs and squeezed the bubbling juices from her insides. God, she needed this so bad! How did she last so many days without him?
He pawed her all over. His other hand appeared on her breast to tease and maul her through her leather vest. She never thought twice what happened to the rose he gave her. He must have dropped it in his manic rush to get all of her at once.
He gave her breast a powerful squeeze and let it go. His hand strapped around her other thigh. The next thing Raleigh knew, he lifted her off the ground and sat her on his upthrusting pelvis. She threw her legs around his waist for purchase, but he had her. He supported her in his arms so she would never fall. He would never, never let her fall—not ever.
His arms held her tight. His lips locked on her mouth. His eyes never left her face, but he didn’t take her then and there the way she dreamed he would. He turned around and set off up the path. When she released his lips just a fraction to question him with her eyes, he only laughed at her.
He marched farther down the path. She didn’t see where he was going. The glowing foliage waved around them. Their passage brushed leaves and twigs aside. The undergrowth sprang back into place behind Bishop’s back, but Raleigh never stopped kissing him. He never stopped fingering her between her legs to milk the sweet nectar from her flower.
All at once, the light changed. The luminescent green forest no longer lighted the night. Bishop’s face fell into shadow, and the reflections shining in his eyes reduced to tiny pinpricks.
She let go of his mouth long enough to say, “Where are we?”
He didn’t have to answer. She saw. They were in a cave. The glowing forest shone outside the entrance, but darkness surrounded them on all sides but for an infinite array of glow worms speckled across the roof.
She gazed up at them in wonder. She could be looking up at the night sky studded with stars. Bishop didn’t look. He watched the magical beauty light up her face until she returned to gazing into his eyes.
He said nothing, but lowered her to the ground. He went down on his knees with her ankles still locked behind his back. He leaned forward to tilt her over, and a soft bed of moss cushioned her from the hard cold ground.
Bishop’s weight lowered on top of her, and she welcomed him with all four limbs. She hugged him between her legs and made her body a pillow on which to lay his frame stretched to the breaking point with muscle and burning energy.
He worked so hard. He fought and struggled every minute against overwhelming forces. He could only let himself go soft in her arms. No one else understood, and only he found the softness in her to cradle his aching soul.
She maintained her hard exterior for the outside world. She made herself into a consummate warrior. Only he saw through that to the gentle welcoming woman inside. Only he could make her melt at his touch and mold her like putty in his hands.
He hung above her face. The faint light from the glow worms showed just enough of his expression for her to see his eyes. She didn’t need to see anything else. He was right there with her. They were together in that eternal space where their eyes met.
Millions of stars surrounded them on all sides. Raleigh and Bishop spun through space for all eternity. Dying and being born as something else made no difference to their love. They loved for all time. They embodied stardust, released it, and came back together again.
He kissed her one time, but their eyes brought them closer than any kiss ever could. Their bodies mingling in blessed union made a crude attempt to reproduce the intensity of their communion in heaven.
Why did she ever worry about him dying and leaving her alone? They would always be together. They always had been. Nothing could tear them apart when they joined like this.
He let his bulk sink into her. Her whole being screamed for him inside her, in her soul and in her mind and in her blood. She would never be satisfied until she erased the barriers holding them apart. She would give anything to have him and keep him and consume him forever.
He grappled his arms underneath her behind her back and heaved her off the floor. He rolled onto his back and tossed her up on top of him. She straddled his waist, and her moist juices gushed out to surround him. Every inch of her longed to touch his perfect skin bare against hers.
She kissed him and pushed herself back. She sat up high on his hard prick a
nd smiled down on him. He relaxed back on the loam, and the air breezed through his nose. Suppressed power seethed and vibrated under her through his body. His whole being tensed to explode against her.
For now, he submitted to her hands exploring under his coat. She traced down his chest to the buttons of his vest. She popped them open and set to work on his shirt. He stroked her arms while she worked, and when she laid his chest bare, he shuddered between his gritted teeth at her touch.
Sparks flew up under her hands when she caressed the curves under his clothes. She eased the shirt aside, but stroking him didn’t satisfy her. She collapsed forward to mouth and bite and tease. She had to taste him. She had to fill her mouth with his flesh until she got enough.
He cupped her neck behind her head. His head lolled sideways, and he groaned out loud. She nibbled his nipples and licked around his navel. His body excited her beyond measure. His skin kindled her desires like nothing else. Her mouth watered for him, and her pussy ached to swallow him whole.
His fingers snaked into her hair and tightened into a fist. He guided her down, down to his pants, but she held off. She rubbed her cheek and chin against the bulge poking out of his crotch, but she made no move to free him.
The longer she delayed, the more insistent came his guiding, hinting hands. He wanted her. He needed her. He couldn’t stand this much longer, but she refused to rush.
She buried her eyes in the soft mound between his navel and his fly where his midsection contracted. He sat up and pushed her upright, too. His smoldering eyes mesmerized her while he unbuttoned her vest and then her shirt. He moved with such mind-bending slowness she couldn’t resist. She couldn’t break away, even knowing what he was doing and what would happen next.
The cool air touched her skin. It sent shivers all over her. She had to find shelter from the outside world, and she could find it only one place. She slipped her arms around his bare chest, and his warmth enveloped her skin. She laid her breasts against his heart, and his kiss encompassed her whole world.
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