SnaredbySaber
Page 19
While they’d been talking, the medical man had cut away Saber’s clothing, baring the wound on his chest. He rifled through his medical bag and pulled out a sterilizing pad. He applied it to the wound and cleared away the blood.
Saber started to struggle.
“Hold him down,” the medical man snapped.
“Saber.” Her grip tightened. “You need to keep still, love.”
“Need to shift,” he gritted out. “Will help…”
“Release him,” the king ordered instantly. “Step back.”
The medical man’s head jerked up in protest. “Your majesty, I need to treat this man to stop infection.”
“Step back,” the king barked again.
The medical man huffed, his thin face full of disapproval, but he obeyed the king and moved away from Saber.
“Help me to my feet. Off with my clothes,” Saber said.
His wound started to bleed again and Eva bit her lip, worry and concern pressing against her chest. This couldn’t be a good idea. “Saber, maybe you should let the medical man treat you.”
“Need to shift. Help,” Saber muttered.
Despite her misgivings, she and the king helped Saber to stand, then Eva used the medical man’s scalpel to cut off Saber’s clothes.
“Can you stand by yourself?” the king asked.
“Yes.” Saber wobbled the second they released him, giving lie to his assertion.
“This is very irregular,” the medical man said in a pompous tone.
Eva and the king ignored him, both focused on Saber as he lurched from side to side, his eyes tightly closed as he focusing on remaining upright. A faint shimmer glowed around his body. But nothing happened. Saber’s face was pale and blood continued to drip down his chest and onto the tiles. Eva ached to go to him, but instead she remained in place, shivering and biting her lip to hold back her anguish.
Then finally, finally the glow around Saber’s body intensified.
Eva was used to him transforming quickly, but this time took long minutes. The clock in the corner of the room counted off the seconds until Eva wanted to scream. Saber’s features began to twist, and the medical man jumped closer to examine his charge.
“Hold,” the king ordered in a stern tone.
“But your majesty—”
Fur started to sprout on Saber’s body, and he fell on all fours, a pained sound forging up his throat and emerging as a guttural groan. Saber cried out, but the shift continued and eventually a black leopard stood before them.
“Amazing!” the medical man said, awe shimmering on his face now. He edged nearer, his hand reaching out to touch Saber.
The king glared. “Move back. Don’t touch him.”
Eva crouched beside Saber, brushed her hand over his shoulder. “Saber?”
Saber gave a tired sigh and leaned against her.
“How is his chest?” the king asked.
Eva ran a gentle hand over Saber’s body. “It’s stopped bleeding.”
“Amazing,” the medical man said. “I didn’t know such a thing was possible.”
“He needs to rest,” Eva said. “Saber will require meat. He needs to rebuild his strength.”
“You can stay here at the palace,” the king said. “Turlow, organize two rooms for our guests. Adjoining rooms, please. Arrange for a meal and clothing. Take some from my wardrobe.”
“Yes, your majesty,” Turlow said and hurried off to carry out the king’s bidding.
Soon Eva and Saber were ensconced in luxurious rooms in the palace. Saber curled up on a soft sleep-bed, his eyes closed. Eva wasn’t sure what to do to help him, but she figured sleep couldn’t hurt.
A soft knock came at the door, and Eva hurried to answer the summons before the visitor woke Saber.
One servant waited with food and another with a selection of clothes. Eva opened the door wider and let them inside.
“Thank you,” she said. “We’ll serve ourselves.”
The servants gawked at the black leopard curled up on the bed and hurriedly withdrew.
A grunt came from the sleep-bed, and Eva rushed over to see Saber was awake. She ran her hands over his fur. “Are you all right?”
He grunted again and slipped off the bed. There was a brief shimmer and Saber transformed.
Eva rushed to his side and slipped an arm around his waist. The wound on his chest was a raw red color, but the edges of the wound had melded back together.
“You called me love.” His voice was raw with emotion, the sentiment echoed in his green eyes.
“I…I…you saved my life. She intended to kill me. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve died.”
Saber lifted her chin with his fingertips, forced her to look at him. “I love you, Eva. I want to share my life with you, sleep with you, keep you safe. I want to spend my life making you happy.”
A spark of warmth ignited in her, the seeds of which she’d kept hidden away in a locked box, safe and concealed, so she wouldn’t get hurt. The yearning for love, for acceptance…Saber gave her that, she realized. He’d offered her a restaurant at the resort, the freedom to do what she did best. Cook and feed people. Make her customers happy.
This relationship was different from the one with Pryce. It excited her, made her feel giddy when she thought of the possibilities.
“Face it, Eva.” His eyes pierced her with an emotional intensity. “I’ve captured you, and I don’t intend to let you go.”
Eva felt a slow smile spreading across her face. It became a grin of joy and spread so wide it hurt her lips. “And now that you’ve captured me, my love, what do you intend to do with me?”
“Love you,” he said without hesitation. “Live with you. Have children. Be happy.”
“Ch-children?”
“Yes.” He had his bossy face on, and she found it rather endearing. “You can still work, do whatever you want, as long as it is at the resort with me. There are plenty of family members who’d love to babysit whenever necessary.”
“My past…I don’t know if I’d make a good parent.” But she let herself imagine a small boy with Saber’s beautiful green eyes.
“You will make a good parent, Eva. You would never abandon your child. You look after Robbie, your other employees. Bluebird. Me. Kitten, you have so much love in that heart of yours. You just haven’t realized it yet. What do you say? Come home with me. Make Middlemarch your home.”
Her breath caught, emotion swelling inside her until she didn’t think she could contain the wealth of happiness.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes.” She smiled, and it was a little misty. “I might need to travel back and forth until the restaurants are sold, and I’d want to offer Robbie a job if he would like one at the resort.”
“No problem.” He eased back onto the sleep-bed, wincing at the pull on his wound where the skin remained tender.
“Are you all right?” Concern filled her at his pained expression.
“Need to eat,” he said. “Refuel then sleep.”
Eva scrambled off the sleep-bed and grabbed his meal for him. “Eat,” she instructed, before returning to eat her own meal on the small table.
“What happened to the Dearbhorgaills?”
“Lady Almeda is dead. Lord Loeiz is now languishing in the palace prison. I’m sorry on Pryce’s behalf. Knowing his parents behaved in this way would have caused him great pain. He was a good man,” Eva said.
Saber growled around a mouthful of rare steak, and she grinned.
“They won’t bother us again,” she said.
“Good. Now I can get back to the normal headaches back at the resort,” Saber said.
“Like what?”
“Someone keeps sabotaging the zylon fence and letting the wee beasties inside the resort compound. I have to manage the staff, and stop the males from squabbling when they don’t get a capture. I have to—”
“A capture?” Eva’s eyes narrowed on Saber. She set her cutlery down to glare at him. “You arranged my kidn
apping from the resort, didn’t you?”
“Eva, that’s not important now.”
“It is to me,” Eva said. “Tell me the truth. Now.”
Saber’s glance was cautious. “Just remember you’re my mate. My feline claimed you when I bit your neck. You wear his mark. He wants you, loves you. We both love you. Remember that.”
“Now, Saber.”
Saber scowled, then started talking. “I told you about the virus on Earth. It killed most of our females. We needed to find a way to attract women to find mates for our people.”
“Go on.”
“We decided to offer capture fantasies at the resort. Most take place—will take place—within the resort, part of the vacation experiences we offer. But for some specially chosen women, my brothers and I intend to make the experience more…permanent.”
“Permanent!” Eva sprang to her feet and advanced on him. “You had no intention of letting me return to Dalcon.”
“No,” Saber said baldly. “I wanted you, and I acted. You’re our first official capture.”
“I…you…but…” Eva took a deep breath, her mind spinning with his revelations. He’d wooed her, made such tender love to her, spanked her.
He’d saved her life.
That sloughed the abrasive edge off her thoughts. “You can’t go around stealing women for your own nefarious purposes.” She poked him in the chest three times before she noticed his flinch of pain. “Frying fungus!” she muttered and backed up to glare at him. “What the hell am I meant to do with that information?”
“Love me,” he said simply. “You know you want to.”
The urge to laugh sneaked up on her, her merriment exploding into the room before she could control the inappropriate reaction. “I don’t know whether to strangle you or kiss you in praise of your cheek.”
“I vote for kissing.”
Eva stared at him, her emotions in turmoil, but underneath it all the truth kicked her in the gut.
He’d chosen her. He’d wanted her, and he’d set out to prove his desire and need of her. And with that truth, she melted. “Saber,” she whispered.
“Come here, kitten.”
Eva recognized the glint in his eye. “You’re still injured. You need rest.”
“I’ll let you do most of the work.”
Eva rolled her eyes but sank onto the edge of the sleep-bed and kissed him. The kiss started easy but morphed into hard and urgent. Her heartbeat soared at his taste, his desperate need for her and the feel of his hands gripping her body, holding her close.
“Take off your clothes,” he urged. “Please. I need you, kitten.”
Seconds later, she slipped naked into his welcoming embrace.
“I love you,” he whispered against her mouth.
“I love you too, you impossible man.”
Their mouths slid together again and their kiss was full of love, and so sweet that tears formed in her eyes. The heat of arousal crept over her skin and she writhed against him. His tongue stroked lazily into her mouth while his fingers skimmed across the tiny cat tattoo at her neck. Pleasure, hot and sweet, pulsed through her body, moistening her pussy and driving up the sensual tension.
“Saber,” she moaned.
“I’m here, kitten. On top,” he ordered in his next breath.
She laughed and kissed the tip of his nose. “Soon,” she said, and slid down the sleep-bed to straddle his legs. His cock thrust out, the head ruddy with arousal, and she ran her hands up and down his length, savoring the strength, the heat of his erection. Her fingers gently scored his balls, feeling the hardness of him, the quick way the tension ramped up in his body.
“You want me,” she whispered.
“Always.” His instant reply heated her as much as the arousal coalescing between her thighs. Her gaze went to his, connected and held.
“I want you too.” Eyes still on him, she lowered her head, watched the widening of his gaze when her tongue lapped over his slit, cleared away the pre-cum that had gathered.
“You’re beautiful. I can’t look at you without wanting to fuck you. Even when I’m angry at you, pissed at you for running away and ending up in a cooking pot, I still want you beneath me, my cock shoved as deep as it can go.”
Eva sighed, ran her tongue over the tip of his cock and thought about him filling her as he described. His shaft bucked in her hand, pushed a little deeper into her mouth. His musky flavor danced over her taste buds. A twist of sensation converged in her pussy, and when she sucked on him, he made a purring sound of approval. The twist tightened, and she rubbed herself against his thigh, leaving traces of her juices.
“Enough,” Saber growled. “Put me inside now.”
Eva lifted her head, pulling off him with a popping sound. “Bossy,” she muttered.
“Eva.”
Eva let her hair fall around her face to hide her grin and clambered into the position they both wanted. She guided his cock to her entrance and impaled herself. “Ooh. Feels so good when you fill me.”
“Move,” Saber ordered through gritted teeth. “Finger your clit and make yourself come.”
“I hate to think what you’ll be like when you’re fit again.” But she started rising and falling on his cock because it was what she wanted too. She rode him and rubbed her clit, gasping as pleasure spiraled out of control. Her sheath flexed around his cock and squeezed rhythmically when she started to come. She cried out, her eyes squeezing shut to savor the thrilling ride.
Saber gripped her hips and ground their bodies together, his harsh moan of animalistic pleasure setting off another series of ripples in her pussy.
Finally they stilled, heartbeats slowing. Eva lifted off him and arranged herself at his side.
He pressed a kiss to her chin. “Love you, kitten.”
She smiled at the burst of pleasure inside and wondered if the sense of awe would ever wear off. He’d picked her for his mate, wanted her.
Eva’s smile grew as she pictured her life—their life. “You know, I’m not going to put up with you bossing me around.”
Saber ran his hand over her head, his fingers coming to rest on her back. “So we fight, but we’ll make love too, kitten. A lot. We’ll laugh and maybe cry, face the odd crisis, but we’ll be together. That’s what life is all about.”
Together.
Eva liked that a lot. And Saber was right. That’s what life should be about. Two people together sharing everything. “I can’t wait,” she whispered.
“Me either, kitten. Me either.”
Then they smiled at each other, in perfect accord, and sealed their love with another perfect kiss.
About Shelley Munro
Shelley lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband and a small, bossy dog named Scotty.
Typical New Zealanders, Shelley and her husband left home for their big OE soon after they married (translation of New Zealand-speak: big overseas experience), a year-long adventure lengthened to six years of roaming the world. Enduring memories include being almost sat on by a mountain gorilla in Rwanda, lazing on white sandy beaches in India, whale watching in Alaska, searching for leprechauns in Ireland and dealing with ghosts in an English pub.
While travel is still a big attraction, these days Shelley is most likely found in front of her computer following another love—that of writing stories of romance and adventure. Other interests include watching rugby and rugby league (strictly for research purposes *grin*), being walked by the dog and curling up with a good book.
Shelley welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Shelley Munro
Currents Run Deep
Curse of Brandon Lupinus
Ellora’s Cavemen: Dreams of the Oasis III anthology
Fallen Idol
Fancy Free 1: Fancy Free
Fancy Free 2: Christmas is Coming
Fancy Free 3: Feeling the Buzz
Fancy Free 4: Biding His Thyme
Fringe Benefits
Last Wish
Lovers at Last
Lynx to the Pharaoh
Make That Man Mine
Middlemarch Mates: Lightning Strikes Twice
Middlemarch Mates 1: Stray Cat Strut
Middlemarch Mates 2: Peeping Tom
Middlemarch Mates 3: Scarlet Woman
Middlemarch Mates 4: Assassin
Middlemarch Mates 5: Cat and Mouse
Middlemarch Mates 6: Cat Burglar
Middlemarch Mates 7: Leticia’s Lover
Middlemarch Mates 8: CatNap
Middlemarch Mates 9: Tiger by the Tail
Middlemarch Mates 10: Blue Lady
Middlemarch Mates 11: Twin Trouble
Playing to Win
Price of Love
Resisting Tamaki
Sex Idol
Sex, Spies and Sapphires
Soldier of Fortune
Stoned
Summer in the City of Sails
Talking Dog 1: Talking Dogs, Aliens and Purple People Eaters
Talking Dog 2: Never Send a Dog to Do a Woman’s Job
Talking Dog 3: Romantic Interlude
Unforgettable
Wanderlust
Print books by Shelley Munro
Ellora’s Cavemen: Dreams of the Oasis III anthology
Fancy Free 1: Fancy Free
Fancy Free 2: Christmas is Coming
Fancy Free 3: Feeling The Buzz
Fallen Idol
Middlemarch Mates: Feline Lovers
Middlemarch Mates 1 & 7: Lion’s Share
Middlemarch Mates 2: Peeping Tom
Middlemarch Mates 4: Assassin
Middlemarch Mates 5: Cat and Mouse
Middlemarch Mates 6: Cat Burglar
Middlemarch Mates 8: CatNap
Middlemarch Mates 9: Tiger By The Tail
Playing To Win