HeartMate

by Robin D. Owens

  One side of his mouth quirked upward. "Not at night. You don't want to see my MasterSuite? My bedroom is large and pleasant. I have a GreatLord-size bedsponge, nice windows. My view of the HardRock Mountains is good."

  The view was probably fabulous. The man, and everything about him, had brought riches into her life. Nothing was in a scale she understood anymore. Not small houses as a living space, not a mediocre accounting job, not Common status.

  She crossed her arms.

  His eyes glinted at her from half-lowered lids, his lips curved a bit more. He dipped a hand in his trous pocket. "You might want to look at these."

  When he unfolded his fingers, two exquisite redgold earrings sat glowing fire on his palm. They were made from layers of fine wire, intricately twisted and knotted. She'd never seen anything so complex and beautiful so small. They pulsed with a dark, intense power that pulled at her marrow, stirring her deepest urges.

  "Another gift?" She couldn't seem to manage more than a whisper. She couldn't tear her gaze from them. Somehow she tried to follow the twists and turns of the wires and even as she traced them, hidden pathways within her opened.

  "You may have whatever I can give you," he replied, as softly as she, but with a husky note. He seemed to be holding his breath.

  Her hand hovered over the earrings glittering on his palm.

  The tips of her fingers dropped.

  A shattering scream plunged knifelike into her head.

  Rage. And pain.

  T'Ash's head jerked back. His hand fisted. "Zanth!"

  Chapter Fourteen

  « ^ »

  T'Ash shoved the earrings in his pocket and grabbed her. Cold and blackness shocked her as they teleported away. When she opened her eyes they stood at the fountain of the Dark Goddess on the Blackthorn estate.

  T'Ash climbed up to the fourth basin of the towering fountain and balanced on the rounded rim, looking into the top bowl. Danith scrambled after him. Inside Zanth lay crumpled, a black and white heap dark against the shimmering white marble of the fountain. Beside him lay the great purple lambenthyst. The hole where it had been freed from the marble by his claws gaped black as death.

  The odor of singed cat-hair hung in the air.

  T'Ash reached for his Fam.

  "Don't touch him!" Danith cried.

  He looked at her, torment in his eyes. Then his expression relaxed a bit. "You're Animal Healer. Heal." His gaze swept to the stone. "I'm Stonemaster. The Stone is mine."

  His hands shaped the air around the stone. He sucked in a sharp breath. He closed his eyes and the stone rose slowly.

  A low keening hurt her head. Danith tore her stare from the stone and T'Ash, and she reached for Zanth.

  She hesitated, her hands a few centimeters from him. His fur lifted to touch her fingers. Shock. Shock. Shock.

  Electricity pulsed to her from him. Somehow Danith pushed it through her and into the marble, felt it rippling down the fountain instead of water, then grounding in the earth.

  After a minute she laid her hands on Zanth. His heart beat rapidly and irregularly. She knew the rhythm of a cat's heart from Princess. His delicate nervous system, as developed as a human's, had frazzled, and needed mending. Danith recalled the lesson T'Ash had taught her. Welding wasn't what was needed here, but perhaps she could do some binding and then interweaving, like making a flower chain.

  She tried a simple chant she used while her fingers worked stems and flowers in the spring ritual, adapting some of the words to Healing phrases. She felt her heart pick up beat to match Zanth's, then her own even rate steadied the cat's.

  She transformed the electricity still crackling in him and between them into the power, the Flair to Heal. She closed her eyes. And in her mind, she saw frayed nerves bind and meld into a solid system once more.

  ME HURT! BAD STONE HURT ME. TOO STRONG. Zanth's eyes opened.

  Danith shuddered. His eyes had once been the color of light green jade. Now they matched his emerald collar.

  Very slowly she withdrew mentally from his body, like cautiously pulling invisible hands from him until the energy fit once more into her own fingers and palms.

  She toppled sideways, off the fountain.

  A hard, strong arm caught her before she fell.

  She looked up to T'Ash. The lambenthyst floated over the open palm of his other hand. His body felt sturdy and safe against hers. He smelled of great Flair and man. A glimmer of sweat touched his brow.

  Her eyes locked with his. Something deeper, but just as shocking, passed between them.

  Great Flair that he was, he had deferred to her, trusted her with his most precious friend. She had used a spell he'd taught her, something he'd given her to achieve a feat of Flair of her own.

  They had worked together.

  Nothing would be the same.

  T'Ash looked at Danith. He could look at her forever. Her stunned gaze snared his. His gaze. His heart. His soul. He fell into the depths of her greeny-gold eyes and beyond, into the rich fruitfulness of her generosity—to heal his Fam when she had no training, only instinct to guide her.

  He'd known, with his mind, even with his body, that she was his HeartMate. Now he knew with his heart, to the depths of his being. His heart forever lay in her hands, to do with what she would. He was irrevocably hers.

  His mouth dried. He spoke anyway. "I—" He couldn't say "love," though he thought it was what he felt. He couldn't. He couldn't be so vulnerable. "I want you more than I can say."

  The pupils of her eyes widened until the irises were only a rim of brown-green. The beat of her heart, beneath the sweet breasts, pressed close to him, grew stronger. His own body reacted.

  He pulled her flush against him. He liked the feel of her softness against him, of her pliant belly against his rapidly hardening sex. He closed his eyes at the powerful pleasure bordering on pain.

  Now his heart, his mind, his body were all one in knowledge. She was his HeartMate. Everything in him resonated to her vibrations.

  He drew her hand down, into his trous pocket, where his HeartGift lay, waiting for her touch. And with her acceptance, he could take her. Take her deep. With his mind. With his body.

  HeartBond.

  Her fingers ignored the earrings. She pulled her hand from his pocket to slide sideways, caress his erect flesh.

  He fell.

  They fell.

  He 'ported them a few feet, standing again where they'd originally landed.

  She squeaked. Her heart thundered. "I almost killed us."

  Unimportant.

  The fact she'd withdrawn her hand to clutch his arms was important.

  "My Danith," he whispered, bending his head.

  She stepped away from him. "Where's the lambenthyst?"

  He couldn't care less.

  He took a step to her, but she backed away.

  "You 'ported. You 'ported us—not only yourself, but me, in a life-threatening situation. That's not supposed to be possible. I read newsheets. Even great Flairs aren't supposed to have the concentration to do that. Not instantaneously."

  For the first time since they'd met, she looked at him with fear.

  His heart still pounded, from her touch and from the fall. He let his legs fold under him, till he sat, knees up and open, feet crossed at the ankles. He rested his arms on his knees and dropped his head, taking deep breaths to steady himself.

  "I 'ported us only three meters, to a locale we'd previously teleported to only moments before." His voice sounded husky with irritation, but he couldn't retreat on this, not before her fear. "Unlike your work with Zanth, my spell with the lambenthyst was standard, something I've often done." The lambenthyst and its near sentience had shaken him a bit, but moving stones around, carrying them, was second nature. "The 'port location pattern must have still been in the back of my mind."

  He dropped his head again and his teeth clenched as memory pummeled him. Downwind speech came easier. "My mother—in the fire. She had time to 'port. Barely.
She looked out the window. At me. Then went to Father."

  He leveled his breathing even more, hoping his heartbeat would follow, not race through his chest raggedly. Now he was afraid, letting Danith know this deepest part of him.

  "Mother wasn't large Flair. Didn't teleport often by herself. She could have. If she concentrated. Maybe. But she went to Father. Don't know what happened to Father." And the unknown tormented him.

  In his imagination, in his nightmares, he'd seen his father die many times and many different ways, quickly, before his mother touched him to comfort him. Long and lingering—or as lingering as the quick explosion and collapse allowed, but always eons in his dreams. His mother would race to his father, and his father, already burning with the inextinguishable flames, would ignite his mother, too. They died together.

  "They died together." It came out loud. "I think." T'Ash shrugged, trying not to remember what young Rand felt. "Father wouldn't have left Nuin, Gwidion, me. Fire was too fast. The disintegration of the Residence too total and rapid to survive. The fire—" Now he shuddered in the cool night breeze, his skin clammy with fearful, drying sweat as it had been so many years ago. "Flametree insured once the fire bit you, it ate you up." T'Ash lifted his head, wanting to see his HeartMate instead of the old, awful memories.

  She met his eyes, her own gaze soft and lustrous. And she came to him, sat next to him and put her arms around him. She held him. Not sexually, but it felt equally wonderful, and it was the first time since he was a child that anyone had held him to comfort him. Prickles of wetness behind his eyes threatened. He fought them back. He was a man, and tough. Since six he was a man. And since seven, he was tough.

  She cuddled close, something no woman had ever done with him as a man, and he felt some great thing inside him break free. He smelled her scent and his muscles tightened with desire. He draped an arm over her shoulders, then slid it down to her hip.

  ME. ME. ME! YOU LEFT ME UP HERE.

  Danith flinched.

  T'Ash looked up. He should have been able to see a standing or sitting cat of Zanth's bulk over the lip of the top marble fountain bowl. He couldn't.

  Danith rubbed her temples.

  T'Ash cradled her face in his palms. "You hear him. Does it still hurt when he shouts? Don't shout. We're coming up."

  She save me. We Fams. My FamWoman. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. You got My gem for her gift?

  Danith's head jerked up. "I heard that. All those mines." She projected her voice. "I can hear you, Zanth." She touched her head again. "It only hurts a little if you don't shout."

  My FamWoman, Zanth repeated smugly.

  "Mine. Is that all you two think about? Possession?" she muttered.

  "I haven't possessed you, yet." How he needed to. Possession and passion ran like a hot river through him. He stood, curved his hand around her wrist and brought her to her feet. "And Zanth says six 'mines' to confirm that he's serious."

  "I heard him the first time."

  "And you've heard me several times, too. But ignored me." They walked to the fountain and climbed. Though it was easy, he watched her every step, every placement of her fingers.

  They peered into the highest, smallest bowl together. Zanth lay on his side, not even a whisker moving. The bulge of his stomach looked less than it had before he'd killed the celtaroons, T'Ash noted absently.

  Me blown. Can barely talk.

  "Too bad," T'Ash said.

  A hind foot quivered.

  Me want strength. Energy. From big, strong FamMan.

  Zanth only referred to T'Ash's overwhelming size in flattering terms when he wanted something.

  T'Ash stared down on his rough-looking friend and felt the awful prickle in his eyes again. If he left Zanth, the Fam would be dead by morning, and Zanth still didn't ask for help. He demanded.

  T'Ash turned to Danith. "Is it safe for me to funnel him energy?"

  Danith shifted on the rim of the fountain bowl beneath her feet. T'Ash placed his hand on the small of her back, and reviewed the 'port locale, ready to save her again, if necessary. The upper bowl caught her much higher than it did him.

  Her hands went out and felt Zanth, stroking him with not only a Healing touch but in a near caress T'Ash envied.

  Her eyes took on a distant look of concentration. T'Ash sensed she checked Zanth's strength, pulse, heart rate, and other bodily functions. T'Ash kept his stance solid.

  "Yes, slowly and in increments. You'll know when to stop."

  He would. He'd done this before. Not often. The damn cat had saved T'Ash more than he'd returned the favor.

  Foot by foot, Danith crept around the fountain until T'Ash could stand directly over Zanth. T'Ash slid his hand under the Fam's head, hearing the small chink of emeralds against marble. The stone bowl of the fountain was cold on his knuckles, but soothing nonetheless. Except it sapped heat from the cat.

  T'Ash curved his other hand around Zanth's rib cage. The cat's heart beat slowly and hesitated once, and again. Fear caught at T'Ash's throat.

  "Easy," Danith said, crab-walked back to him, and placed her near hand in the crook of his elbow.

  T'Ash drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes to the brilliant stars in the night sky and the two watching moons. He measured his energy, regulated it, sent it in a small stream to Zanth. He started draining himself.

  Done! Zanth leaped to his feet, shaking off T'Ash's hands. Life is good.

  T'Ash wanted to grab Zanth and hold him tightly. "Your hair's sticking out. And you look fat."

  "Grrr." Me full of zing. FamMan zing. Feels good. Where My gem for FamWoman gift?

  "What's he talking about?" Danith asked.

  "The lambenthyst. He wants me to make a pendant of a pink diamond, to match your aura, as a gift. The lambenthyst was the price."

  Her eyes rounded. "You charge your Fam for your work?"

  T'Ash snorted. "He charges me for his. He started it. He's a cat, they don't think of service without strings."

  "He's giving me a gift."

  "Because you love him. You've already given him one. And now you saved his life." He smiled. "What are you going to pay her, Zanth?"

  Zanth grinned. Kittens. All My kittens. Forever. The Fam bounded easily and gracefully down the fountain, showing off for the humans.

  Where My gem?

  T'Ash helped Danith down the fountain. He lifted her off the last basin and kept her close. "HeartMate."

  "You say that because you think it in your head, not because you really feel it in your heart."

  "I feel it, all right." He let her slide down his body. His increasingly hard body. He wanted to feel her soft gentleness against him, and more, he wanted her to feel his need for her.

  He looked down at her oval face, her pretty lips, her large eyes. He bent his head.

  WHERE MY GEM?

  Danith whimpered.

  T'Ash glared at Zanth. "You're shouting, you ungrateful cat. You're hurting a woman who just saved your worthless hide."

  Zanth's muzzle dipped, then he turned his head to gaze beyond them, examining the fountain. Sorry.

  T'Ash's mouth fell open. He would have sworn Zanth didn't know that word, maybe not even the feeling. T'Ash had certainly never heard the cat use the word before.

  Zanth stood up and walked to Danith. He looked at her feet. A long, red tongue swiped his whiskers.

  Danith jumped at T'Ash. "Not the toes. I hate the toes.".

  Too late, T'Ash figured out what she meant.

  Zanth licked her toes through her weaves.

  Danith whimpered again. This time it sounded like disgust.

  "Well," T'Ash said. "I'm glad I know you don't like your toes licked."

  Her head whipped up, her eyes wide. Even in the dark T'Ash could see her blush.

  My Gem?

  T'Ash waved a hand. The lambenthyst was suspended, touching another purple stone in the bottom bowl. It glowed, and T'Ash knew it was from pain. The gem had been split when the fountain was buil
t and its other piece had been embedded in the lowest portion of the fountain.

  "What's wrong?" Danith asked.

  "We'll have to take the other out, too. They were from one piece of raw crystal."

  "It looks intelligent," she whispered, seeing both the stones pulse in time.

  "Not quite. But I think what you said the other night, about replacing the stone in its old mine, is good. I'll buy the property." He shrugged again. "I own several mines, buying another won't cause any comment."

  A streaking, incandescent fireball slashed the sky. They all ducked reflexively.

  "Damn. Downwinders rioting, spreading uptown. I was afraid of this. I warned the Council."

  Danith heard wild shrieks of exultation and victory nearing. A gang of youths poured down the path and into the dark grove. They stopped when they saw T'Ash, Danith, and Zanth, almost tumbling over each other.

  Three boys moved forward, spaced like an arrow point. They looked infinitely more threatening than the Downwind gang that had captured her before. Glisten chain bracelets gleamed on the trio's left wrists. When they lifted their lips in sneers, Danith saw that all three had their incisor teeth filed to points and gilded with the same metal. She shuddered in horror. Something about the triad threatened primally. An atmosphere of darkest black seemed to coalesce around the three. They moved in a triangle of seething malevolence.

  They whipped out knives.

  T'Ash pushed Danith behind him.

  The point boy, the oldest and tallest, grinned wider than the other two. "Can't go back. They,"—he gestured with his knife to T'Ash's group—"know we violate Blackthorn estate."

  "They know we steal. Destroy," said the second.

  "They see us. They die," ended the third.

  "It's T'Ash." A boy behind them edged away from the others.

  "They two. We nine," said the leader.

  "We win," the triad said together.

  T'Ash measured the distance between himself and the nearest youth. If the boy was fast, he could nail T'Ash's blaser hand before T'Ash got the weapon free. He slipped his hand down his hip to the smooth handle of his blaser.