by Anne Marsh
Amun Ra had himself an army.
Behind her, the door opened. Closed. The cinnamon-rich smell of bread filled the air. Good. Apparently, kitty wasn’t planning on starving her. When her stomach rumbled, he laughed.
“Catch.”
A cloth-wrapped bundle flew toward her and she plucked it unerringly out of the air. Breakfast. Unwrapping a flaky pastry and sinking her teeth into its sugary glaze, she perched on the windowsill and stared out.
“I’m curious,” he said, watching her lick sugar off her lips. “How’d you get involved?”
“With what?” She rooted around in the basket for a fresh pastry; there was no point in letting perfectly good food go to waste.
“With Lierr.”
“You’ve been to Shympolsk?”
“Once or twice.” When she raised an eyebrow, he smiled. “We don’t have to remain in the Valley, love. We have been known to travel a bit.”
“Well, there weren’t that many options in Shympolsk for my sort of girl. I was the mixed sort,” she explained, watching his face. Some people found her daemon blood offensive. She’d assumed a shifter would be all right with that sort of a birthright, but you never knew. “Human mother. Daemon father. Most of the city residents dislike the daemonkind.” And that was an understatement. She’d seen daemons plucked limb from limb when a crowd got angry. “So I was fortunate to get a job at the tea gardens.” When she was small, she’d fetched and carried, made herself useful in a dozen small ways. When she’d started developing, the garden’s proprietor had been less sure what to do with her. Most of his girls danced and poured tea, some of them doing a lucrative sideline in whoring, but she was a hands-off kind of girl.
“It’s a long step from tea-garden girl to thief,” he pointed out calmly. “Maybe you’d care to explain how you made that leap.”
“Leverage.”
He raised an eyebrow, but she shook her head. “He came to the gardens one day.”
“Lierr?”
“Yes. Of course, none of us knew who he was. He was just getting his start then; his first apprentices were only beginning to make names for themselves. The thefts had got some notice, but he hadn’t pulled off anything spectacular. Not yet.”
“He was recruiting?” Jafar’s hands tightened.
Why should he care? It happened every day in Shympolsk.
“I don’t think he ever stops.” It was one of the reasons why she was so desperate to get her sister out of his grasp. Eventually, he’d figure out another use for Lore besides leverage. “He watched us for quite some time, ordering tea, sampling the gardens’ pleasures.” He’d had a dancer on each knee, but even as a six year-old, she’d known he wasn’t paying those girls any attention. No, his real focus had been fixed elsewhere. He’d sat there, still and watchful, the dark folds of his robe pooling around him in a graceful circle that had fascinated her younger self.
“He recruits children?”
“Children learn better. Faster. And neither of us had any sort of future to look forward to. I would have ended up dancing in the gardens, entertaining customers on the side. What Lierr had to offer was better.”
“Why you?”
“I was quick. Observant.” And very, very vulnerable. He’d seen her for what she was. One of the many orphans who struggled to survive on the streets, but with one critical difference: she had a sister. He’d recognized the potential at once. He’d bought the two girls from the tea garden, used Lore to coerce Miu into joining his thieves.
“And he’s the one who told you to come for the necklace.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m desperate,” she admitted. Was that her voice that sounded so tired? “He has my sister, Jafar, and since he’s not overly endowed in the scruples department, he’ll hurt her or worse if I don’t return, necklace in hand. When I signed on with him, I agreed to perform one hundred thefts. I’ve successfully completed ninety-nine. I only owed him one more. This was the last one, if I succeeded. After that, I’m a free agent.
“Yesterday, you said that if I led you to Lierr, you’d bring him back here to face justice. I don’t know if you meant that, but with you or without you, I’ve got to get the necklace and take it to Shympolsk. And I’ve got less than a week to do it.”
Lierr was capable of anything. In the twenty years she’d learned from him and worked for him, she’d never found anything remotely resembling a scrap of conscience in the thief master. He was cold to the bone. If it took hurting Lore to make Miu come back, Lierr would do it in a heartbeat. And he wouldn’t care what obstacles Miu faced on her return journey—Lierr simply didn’t accept excuses. Ever. That trait had guaranteed him success as a thief master.
“Right.” Jafar eyed her. “So you need to get out of the Valley. With the necklace. Fast.”
She nodded her head. “Will you help me?”
“I will. That was part of our bargain last night. There’s just one problem.”
She didn’t like the direction in which this conversation was headed. “Are you telling me you’re changing the terms of our deal?” Over her dead body.
He shook his head. “Not me. Amun Ra. He will allow you to leave this temple, to return to Lierr. But—”
“Here it comes,” she added bitterly.
“But he will not permit you to take the necklace with you. The necklace stays here because it is too dangerous to be allowed out into the world.”
“And you agree with him? You made me a promise!”
“I do agree with him that the necklace is dangerous and taking it out of the temple is fraught with danger. But,” he shrugged, “I see no other way to coax your Lierr out of his hidey-hole so quickly. You said yourself that he will give you no more time to bring the necklace to him, that he may even now be hurting your sister. No,” he pressed a finger against her lips, “I don’t think he will kill her. Not yet. Not until he sees for himself whether or not you can bring him the necklace.”
“He’ll see when I show up and can’t flash him the jewels.”
“Yes, he will. And that is why I believe we will need to take matters into our own hands.”
She stared at him. “Into our own hands?”
He answered her question by casually dropping the necklace into her lap in a smooth rush of metal. “While you were sleeping, I went back to the burial chamber and retrieved this little bauble. A lot easier for me to pull off than for you. I will take both you and the necklace out of the temple and to Lierr. We will let him lay his hands on this necklace that he wants so badly.”
“You want me to be bait.”
“It’s what we agreed on last night. I believe I can still take down Lierr for you—and rescue your sister. But we’re going to be up against both the thieves and the Guardians, so you must decide whether you want to take these odds—or not.”
“With you.”
“Yes, with me. I never fail,” he said stiffly. “Guardians do not fail. It is unacceptable.”
“Never?”
“No. Guardians who fail are tossed back into the vortex from which we were called.” His eyes darkened. “It is most unpleasant and quite fatal. No Guardian goes willingly into the vortex, nor do we cross that border unless we are forced to do so.”
“Like being fired.” “No,” he said. “Not precisely like being fired.”
***
Being sent to the vortex was far worse than merely being fired.
The vortex was an endless swirling, empty space. It pulled a Guardian’s essence in so many directions that he was literally shredded. Although those shreds could then be reknit into new beings, the Guardian himself was gone. The agonizing pain of stretching and pulling was unforgettable, even if life before the vortex was no longer recalled. The Amun Ra had discovered the secret of knitting Guardians together out of the vortex and had put their knowledge to work when he required guards for his temple. Invincible, otherworldly guards.
Jafar had no distinct memori
es, of course, of those moments before his body had been pulled together from the darkness swirling in the vortex, but he did remember the sharp pain that cut like a knife. He had no desire to relive it.
Ever.
And yet if he left the temple with the necklace, if he were caught by the Amun Ra, then that was where he would go. But for Miu, he would take the risk. She was his mate now; she wore his bells. He would do whatever was necessary to protect her.
He seated himself on the low bed beside her, and began laying out an arsenal of weapons and leather travel wear for both of them. She looked at the blades and bows as though she half expected his brother Guardians to come bursting through the chamber door at any moment.
“So how do we get the necklace out of here?” she asked.
“This is no ordinary temple, femi.”
“Believe me, I’ve noticed,” she muttered.
“When we take the necklace out of the temple, we will trigger alarms, femi. Wards.”
“I’ve heard stories about snakes. Nasty reptilians aiming for all of my soft, warm spots. Any truth to that?”
He arched an eyebrow. She had warm spots he would like to explore himself; he thought of licking that pink sex and was pleased to see that she squirmed.
“Not just snakes,” he admitted.
She cringed. “There are more traps?”
“The Guardians themselves will be our biggest problem. Once they sense which way we are heading, they will move to cut us off at the exit point I choose.” His eyes held hers calmly. “This time, there will be no trial. This time, my brothers will consider you to have been warned by your previous encounter with our kind.”
“And?” Her voice sounded a little anxious.
He pulled her up against his hard chest. One large hand stroked the curve of her throat.
“We Guardians have strong appetites and spend much of our time alone. And the summer heat drives all of our kind strongly. Since their orders will be to kill you and since their blood will have been heated by the recent Hunt,” he shrugged, “I imagine the unmated pride members would toy with you before they finish you off.”
“Even though I’m your mate?” she shot back. “No paws-off policy with you Cats?”
“But are you really my mate?” he demanded. “Yes, you wear my bells, but I’d be willing to bet that you’ve been lying here all morning, scheming how you can get out of the temple on your own. I saw yesterday just how little you want a partner.”
“You got the necklace for me.” She smiled sweetly at him, but he didn’t trust her sudden docility. “Of course you’re my partner.”
“Convince me,” he said, leaning back. “Convince me that you want to be my mate.”
“What,” she asked, her voice sinking to a low rasp, “would I have to do to convince you?”
***
Miu’s eyes flicked to the enormous bulge in his black loincloth. Jafar wore only the small loincloth, which wrapped snuggly around his hips and left little to the imagination. The heavy crest of his cock strained above the fabric; the dark plum-colored tip with its small drop of clear liquid fascinated her. He wanted her again, she thought, dazed. The heat of his body and his eyes threatened to overwhelm her.
His eyes challenged her. “Everything. You would have to do everything. Would you have sex with a shifter again, my Miu?”
His hand stroked down her arm, massaging the muscles and tugging gently on her fingertips, releasing a small sting of pleasure. Relaxing and arousing her. She wanted him to repeat that same stroke until he buried his fingers in her sex, petting and pinching until she exploded around him.
“You can ask me to take you.” He stared at her, noting her interest. “And I will give you pleasure. You are my chosen mate. It is my duty. My pleasure.”
Yes, he would.
He had.
“Or you can go through that door alone, try to find your own way out of the temple,” he said. His hand shaped her breast, parting the silk clasps of her robe until it fell back around her waist. Teasing the nipple, building the heat in her. “I can pleasure you. Or,” he pinched her nipple gently, creating a sweet sting of pain, “you can take your chances with the other Guardians. You must choose. Make the right choice, my Miu, and I will protect you from their less-than-tender mercies.”
She placed her hands deliberately on his chest, feeling the hot burning muscles leap beneath her touch. “Are you so merciless to your mates? Show me,” she purred. “Why don’t you show me what they will do to me?”
“They will savage these,” he promised. He took her nipple into his hot mouth. She could feel the heat transferring from him. Building.
She pushed the robe off, feeling the teasing trickle of beads of sweat rolling down her exposed flesh. The heat was incredible. “Doesn’t the heat end?”
He shook his head. “Never.”
“How can you stand it?” She wanted to scream from the sensations.
He shook his head. “No more questions. No demands. Show me you wish to be my mate.”
His hand stroked down her back, delving between the curve of her cheeks. The fingers of his other hand rested on her pussy.
“Open yourself for me,” he ordered.
She pulled the lips of her sex apart and shuddered at the agonizing rush of sensation as they parted. The swollen, damp feel of her own flesh met her. She was slippery with her own juices. His fingers did not hesitate, driving deep inside her flesh, probing, finding a hidden sweet spot that made her arch her back and whimper with the pleasure.
“You could take many men this way,” he promised. “One cock.” He shoved and his own slowly slipped inside her. “Maybe two. They would try.”
His fingers pushed inexorably inside. Full. So full. Stretched. Aroused and vulnerable. And yet there was a thread of gentleness beneath the dark promise of his words. His fingers moved in counterpoint to his cock until the pleasure threatened to tear her apart.
“There would be a half dozen at the least,” he continued. “More waiting. One or two to take your mouth. As many again for your pussy. And then,” his other hand stroked down her back, “another for your ass.” Dark pleasure unfolded in her. His finger stroked the smooth, hidden skin between the opening to her pussy and her asshole, tapping lightly so that pleasure strummed through her.
“Have you been taken here, Miu?” he demanded. “Have your lovers stood you up against the wall, made you hold apart your own cheeks while they reamed your pretty pink ass?” Gods, she couldn’t think. Could only feel as he filled her and filled her.
He pulled free from her body with a wet sound. “Tell me,” he demanded. She couldn’t think, couldn’t respond to his erotic authority as dark, forbidden images flooded her mind. A fantasy male parting her cheeks with a darker promise, the blunt fingertip tracing the seam of her ass and then forcing its way into her asshole, twisting until a dark pleasure spiraled through her. Only his finger, moving ruthlessly in and out of the enveloping darkness while she moaned helplessly, trapped by that single digit, connected to him by an unspeakable pleasure that followed the dark pleasure burn of each invasion.
Jafar could do this for her.
Would do it for her. If she could convince him she really wanted to be his mate. But the words of submission would not leave her lips.
“And why shouldn’t I take my chances with them, Jafar?” Pulling free, she twisted slowly away from him. “Why not?”
“Because,” he said fiercely, “for them it will not be a mating game. They will not stop and they will not care if you find pleasure. For them, it will be a death sentence that they carry out, and you will find, my femi, that you do not care for sadism even if you might enjoy it when”—his eyes darkened—“I paddle your ass for you again.”
Truth, she acknowledged. She’d seen sex slaves before, slaves who were expendable and whose owners were both harsh and brutal. “Why else?”
“Because,” he said with a groan, “even if I am one of the temple’s Guardians, I canno
t bear to hand you over to them. I would keep you, my mate.”
He gently pulled her toward him again, and she did not protest as he parted the robe once more and plunged his cock deep inside her. She screamed with the pleasure of it, as he drove into her again and again, seeking and finding their peak together.
He gave her the pleasure he’d promised, and more. Even though she had not spoken the words he’d wanted to hear.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Miu discovered Jafar had not been exaggerating when he’d said the Guardians would sense which way they were heading. They heard the sounds of pursuit almost as soon as they entered the obscure tunnel exit he had chosen for their escape.
“You must listen to me,” he warned. “They’re already after us. I will do what I can to stop them—but you must promise you will do precisely as I ask.” He laid a warning finger across her lips. “There is no time to dispute this. You know what we’re up against now. Are we in this together? You must decide. Trust me. Don’t trust me. If you would prefer to take your own chances, I can send you out the escape shaft. I can stay behind. It will buy you twenty minutes, maybe more, depending on whether Amun Ra sends all his Guardians or merely the best after us.”
She let herself imagine that sort of power unleashed on them and had to wonder: what would happen to Jafar if she left him there to hold the tunnel behind her?
“They will kill me.” He shrugged, answering her unasked question. “But you will have your head start. You will be free of the temple and the rest of it will be in your hands and up to your ingenuity. The Guardians will not stop hunting you just because you step outside the temple.”
Her emotions were a welter of conflicting desires. She’d never worked with a partner before. Did she dare trust Jafar? He radiated strength, both inside and out. She’d known him for such a short while and yet she wanted to know more. He would be as strong emotionally as he was physically—he could truly match her.