by Jackie Ivie
But she might have already guessed that.
CHAPTER FIVE
Okay, Kat.
This was going beyond scary.
And it just kept getting worse.
The fear wasn’t because she was in a strange man’s control, essentially being kidnapped. It wasn’t due to how they moved, as if jetting forward by some unseen propellant. She wasn’t even worried by his power, demonstrated when he’d crushed a phone as if it was an eggshell. If her fright was attached to any of that, it would have made sense.
Kat had a pragmatic disposition. That was her base. Her modus operandi. How she viewed the world and reacted to it. She rarely smiled. Hardly ever cried. Her last boyfriend had called her a cyborg. The moniker hadn’t bothered her. She’d secretly been pleased with it. But even her parents had worried. They’d taken her to specialists when she’d been young to see if she had autism or some other spectrum of the disorder. Negative. She was just firmly rooted in the physical world. She wasn’t fond of fantasy. Everyone had just gotten used to it. To her, anything that could be encompassed beneath the umbrella of paranormal was fictitious. She didn’t go to movies. She didn’t read fiction books. If something occurred that wasn’t explainable, she disregarded it. She didn’t even care to waste the time to figure out what. Or why. Or how. Someone else could have that responsibility.
Most of this morning’s events weren’t remotely explainable, which meant they could be disregarded.
Fair enough.
If only that was the issue.
Something really strange was happening to her in the physical realm. She was experiencing something truly unbelievable. It felt as basic as breathing. As vital as air. Smashed against his side, her crossed knife-holder-straps biting into her chest, her feet sodden and uncomfortable in wet boots and socks, while her hair streamed loose from the bun...well. She should be planning her next move. She needed to think through strategies. Craft arguments to use. Decide potential methods of attack.
But was any of that happening?
No.
All she could do was experience a continual wave of shivers. Tremble with a tingling that brought a sensation of heat with it. Find each breath difficult to gain due to the pressure within her chest. Was this passion? Could this be what writers meant when they spoke of that thing called lust?
Oh, shit.
That was terrifying.
Katherine Clark had never experienced anything like this. It felt like every cell on her body had just come into existence. It hadn’t been a slow awakening, either. It had been raw. Heated. Massive. Like she’d been flung from slumber and given a massive dose of Turkish coffee via intravenous injection, but nobody had given her any time to assimilate her surroundings and circumstances first. The feeling enlarged with every thump of her heart. Every breath. Her pulse joined in. She could hear how rapid it was if she listened hard enough. Even the strands of hair that skimmed her cheeks whenever his speed altered felt like a caress.
She’d never felt so alert. Ready. Desirous. Available.
And Katherine Clark wasn’t any of those things. She wasn’t easy. She could prove it. She was armed. She should have stuck one of her blades in him.
Wait a minute here...
He’d been riddled with darts. Even if they hadn’t been poisonous, they should have left marks. Puncture wounds. Red spots. That was odd. She hadn’t noticed anything about Tane’s torso except a lot of tanned skin.
Some really ripped abs.
Hard pecs...
Argh.
Kat gritted her teeth. This continual listing of masculine attributes was almost insidious. Utter nonsense. And it was stopping. She may be plastered to his side, her legs wrapped about one of his, her chin against his shoulder, her arms linked about his waist as though she wanted this contact, but that didn’t mean anything other than she was afraid of falling. And she was going to prove it. Kat moved her chin. Looked over at his chest. And actually sighed aloud before she could stop it.
Shit.
He grunted. She looked up and caught a flash of neon blue from his eyes as he looked away quickly before their gazes connected. Her ability to breathe got suspended. Her belly flipped. Her heart dropped. And none of that was physically possible.
Was it?
He put his free hand against her head. Kat would have fought it if trees hadn’t instantly surrounded them. He tipped forward and swooped through the mass of foliage. The world went dark. Cavernous. Sounds of dripping water and something that hummed echoed around her, giving her some idea of space. His speed increased, adding a windy sound to the mix. None of this was possible.
It wasn’t easily disregarded, either.
They entered a chamber with a lot of light. And warmth. Tane slowed, then swiveled her to his front. All so he could set her atop a structure. He released his grip about her waist, and stepped back, his hands held high. He took another step back. Kat sat up. Looked around. The entire time, he was breathing just as hard as she was. It wasn’t possible to disregard it. His chest was rising and falling with the force of the motion.
“Um. Where...um...are we?” Kat’s attempt at pragmatism failed. The words trembled.
“My home.”
He only said two words, but in this place it was amazing! The words had a growl to them. It was really deep. It sought out the corners of the room and bounced back. It lifted goose bumps. Kat twisted. Looked about. She was atop a really large surface. It had a bit of spongy feel to it.
“Um...what is this?” She put a hand to what felt like velvet beneath her. No. It was more the texture of suede. The structure had stone pillars at all four sides, and...
She narrowed her eyes.
Were those pillows?
“An altar.”
Altar?
Kat folded her arms. The structure shimmied beneath her. “It looks like a bed,” she informed him.
He grinned.
Crap.
The guy had a killer smile. Her heart did the down-elevator thing again. He sobered instantly as if he felt it, too. That was just more ridiculousness she needed to disregard. And she would, if that element of her personality was available and working. She didn’t know what had happened. She’d been jettisoned into a realm of physical sensation outside her experience and Tane wasn’t remotely helping. Any amusement he might have projected disappeared. He looked directly across at her, and the vivid blue of his eyes altered. They looked more yellow. Then orange. Then red. And they glowed. Humming filled her ears. Flashes of light lit the area about him. His lips were full. Almost feminine. Totally kissable. And she’d never had that thought of any man in her entire lifetime.
Kat licked her lower lip. Tane rocked backward. She pulled in a breath and yanked her gaze away.
This was the strangest day of her life.
And Tane was at the center of it.
She didn’t dare look toward him again. She scanned the chamber instead. The longer she kept from glancing toward him, the easier it became. The humming sound slowly faded to the barest whisper of sound while the flashes turned out to be torches. It looked like he had hundreds of them. All lit. Flickering. Occasionally hissing. They sent illumination throughout the rock-hewn area, but surprisingly little smoke.
“Do you value your clothing, Kat?”
Her clothing?
“Um...maybe you should call me Katherine.” She spoke to one of the torches. She needed to make this impersonal. Focus on something inanimate. And fast.
“Katherine. I like that.”
Oh my!
She’d never heard her name in such a tone! It brought images of dark chocolate pouring out of a fountain onto a bed of ripe strawberries...or maybe it was closer to a trail of warm candle-wax strewn with red rose petals...or something equally as decadent. And she’d never seen or imagined either one of those things until right now. A sliver of heat went through her, melting through all kinds of things. Sanity. Normalcy.
Resistance.
“Do you valu
e your clothing, Katherine?” he repeated.
“W-Why?”
“I am wondering how much care to take while removing it.”
“Doing what?”
“Removing it.”
She swallowed. Hard. “Why...um...would you want that?” Erotic images filled her head. Naked flesh matched to the same. Her breasts pressed to those hard pecs. His thighs between hers, ankles linked behind him, locking him to her...
“You are on my altar, Katherine.”
The way he said her name should be illegal. The rest of his sentence just added reaction she didn’t need and had no idea how to deal with. The words alone should have alarmed, but his tone cancelled out everything except want. Enticement. Thrill.
“You don’t...um...practice sacrifice, do you?”
“Not with you.”
“With me?”
“You are on my altar, Katherine...so I can worship.”
“Worship?”
Focusing on the cavern wasn’t working. His words and tone were impossible to disregard. They invoked all kinds of erotic images that came in flashes. Learning the muscles beneath his skin as her fingers grazed his skin. The touch of his lips to her throat. His strength pressing against her softness. She barely stopped a writhing motion before she came to her senses.
Oh! This was horrid.
And pretty darned wondrous.
No.
Wondrous hadn’t even been a word in her vocabulary. That’s when she decided she’d be better off looking at him. Kat turned her head and immediately got snagged by his gaze. He’d lowered his jaw and narrowed his eyes, and was regarding her through his lashes. The only hint that he possessed blue eyes was the color at the center of a lot of red. It was like staring into the center of a flame. He looked like he’d enlarged, too. Become much more male. And turned extremely predatory.
His stance should have produced instant fear and a lot of it. Perhaps anger. Definitely adrenaline as a fight-or-flight response kicked in. It did neither. Instead, she got a huge dose of feminine-tinged excitement. Her nipples tightened beneath her garments, and then rubbed against material, engendering even more reaction. Her belly got hit with all kinds of flame-tipped tingling. Her loins grew moist. Inflamed. Heated. Everything felt restrictive. This was insane, but it was insanely exciting at the same time.
Her fingers moved without thought. Or attention. She didn’t break the magnetic quality of his gaze. He didn’t blink. She matched it, for as long as she was able. Each blink took a micro-second of time and she didn’t want to spend even that amount of time disconnected to him. She didn’t question why. She was caught up in a fantasy for the first time in her life.
And it was breath-taking.
The knife-holder complete with all her blades came off first. It fell off once she’d unlatched it, making the slightest thudding noise as it landed on the altar behind her. Her fingers flew through the buttons of her shirt. The material was damp. Clingy. Kat opened it and struggled to get it off her shoulders and down her arms. So it could join the knives.
Tane didn’t move. Well. Parts of him didn’t. Every muscle was sculpted with how tightly he must be holding himself but the front of his loincloth was lifted with his size. It was impressive. Even more so as the leather bobbed occasionally. It figured he would be as well-formed there as everywhere else, and that there wouldn’t be any way to avoid noticing. Her peripheral vision was functioning too well. Or something else was at play. Her entire focus was filled with male. Perfectly formed. Intense. And barely held in check.
She didn’t need to ask.
The shoelaces on her boots were stiff with water. They should have required attention. Kat’s fingers unfastened them and then slid the boots off without moving her eyes. The socks were peeled inside-out as she pulled them off next. She pushed them off the edge of the bed. There was a solid thump as they landed somewhere between the bed platform and where Tane stood. Just watching. Twitching once or twice. He resembled a large cat-creature ready to spring...eyeing its prey. Waiting for the perfect moment.
And that was even more exciting.
Kat had to stretch back and suck in her belly to get her belt undone. Her fingers flew through the fastening of her trousers. She didn’t need to check anything. She’d dressed and undressed in the dark often. But never had she been so aware of it! Every inch of skin she revealed instantly responded. The air felt like a touch. The whisper of material sliding across skin resembled a caress. There was something at work here she didn’t comprehend...and worse. She didn’t remotely want to. She was down to her granny-panties and sports bra. Kat stopped. Looked down at herself. Odd. This attire didn’t fit in with the siren she’d been envisioning. She almost frowned. A growling sound started emanating from where Tane stood.
Kat glanced back up and had barely enough time to gasp before he reached her.
CHAPTER SIX
His mate was intently fascinating. Watching her disrobe turned into an unbelievably poignant experience. Fraught with frustration. Alive with ache. Tane pulled every muscle taut as he watched, welcoming the edge of pain. It heightened his desire ten-fold even as it ate away at his control. He’d kept his jaw lowered to hide his fangs, shook in place as he somehow kept from lunging at her. But he hadn’t had any control over his loins. He hadn’t even tried.
And when she’d gotten down to the last lacy bits of material covering her, she’d pulled from eye contact, looked down at herself, and demurred?
His growl had contained his agony and something else - loss of restraint. He flew at her, landed on the bed beside her with a bounce that sent her attire into the air. Tane swatted at it with one hand while the other grabbed for her. Yanked her into contact with him. Somehow kept the joy from sending them both airborne. A purring sound emitted from him as he lowered his mouth to her throat. Lapped at the skin with his tongue. Slid his fangs along her vein...
And stabbed.
Liquid ecstasy filled his mouth, rocketed through his veins, slammed into his groin. His mate pulsed against him, latched her hands about his waist, and sent a cry into the air. It sounded of energy. Power. Rapture. Their hearts beat as one, each thump coming quicker. Stronger. More strident. His pulse turned into a rapacious hum. Intense pleasure sent him soaring. And then his head smacked into the top of the cavern.
The blow unlatched his fangs. The instant flash of anger was immediately replaced with relief. She was panting, her flesh slightly clammy to the touch, her heart pulling his into a slow pace. He’d almost gone too far. Tane licked at the dual puncture wounds, sealing them before lifting his head. Meeting her gaze. She had such perfect eyes. It was especially noticeable with how wide open she had them, while her pupils were enormous. Tane sliced a cut open in his lower lip, waiting for the fluid to well, and then lowered his mouth to hers. And instantly experienced even more euphoria.
The exchange of life fluid was unbelievable. He instinctively knew physical mating would be more so. Intense. Powerful. Massive. Tane rotated, placing her above him, so when they dropped, he took the brunt of the landing. He grunted at the impact. The entire time she lapped at his lips. Sucked at his mouth. Moaned. And writhed against him. Tane shoved his loincloth aside. Gripped the backs of her garments and shredded fabric. He’d glimpsed her breasts already, noted the tiny nubs of her nipples. Now he got to feel and experience them as she shoved them into his pecs. Twin mounds of softness smashed against him, engendering infinite sweetness. Boundless pleasure.
Her moans galvanized. Skin-to-skin contact electrified. Her every move contained a strength that incited. Her hands molded to his pecs. Shoulders. Her touch moved down his arms, skimming flesh as she caressed. His fingers slid down her belly, found her center, moist, tight, and hot. Eternally perfect. She gasped as his fingers learned her body, and she went rigid for a moment as his thumb found her nub, and started vibrating. Each motion quested. Going faster. More strident. And he matched her breath-to-breath as she pulled from the kiss, arched her back, and sent the
sweetest feminine cry into the atmosphere about them.
And that’s when the world went crazed.
Torches flared about the cavern sending acres of light and mountains of heat. The air had a sensation to it. Pressured. Moist. It shoved against everything in its path, melding them even closer. Tane grabbed her to him and spun, putting her beneath him. Her legs gripped tightly about his hips. Her arms enwrapped his chest. Everything stimulated. Roused. Her throat sending a litany of sound into existence, all encompassed with one word.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Tane slammed into her haven. She screamed, and when her breath ran out, she sucked in more air, and used it to scream again. Tane shook throughout the length of her cries, struggling to keep connected while staying still. Unmoving so she could absorb his size. Length. Soft, moist coil-like pressure engulfed him. Massaging. Accommodating his size. Length. Width. The experience was beyond scope. It wasn’t possible to stay still. His shuddering moved them along the bed. And just as he gave up, she started the movements.
Fireworks exploded somewhere. Lightning shot through the chamber. The bed platform was in full accompaniment. Tane lifted. He needed the range. The position. So he could move. Stroke. Dominate. Match the rhythm she’d initiated and then seize it. Her body sucked at him each time he pulled out. She was awaiting his every thrust back in. Again. More.
The room about them became its own entity. A myriad of sighs. A plethora of whispers. Thumps of heartbeats that resembled drums. The tapping of raindrops. Dripping of water. The buzzing of jungle life. It surrounded the platform, adding impetus to his strokes. Power to his motions. He thrust wildly. Pulled back out. Shoved back in. Her breaths increased in stridency, pulling his into cadence. Each one began with the slightest sigh of sound, before turning into a whiff of air. Her legs flexed about him, helping. Guiding. Again. And again.