Suddenly, the pride froze. All eyes turned, staring into the distance. August followed their gaze. The morning light revealed a broad-shouldered man. She shivered—not from the dawn chill, but from the realization she was the subject of his stare.
The man’s golden-brown hair was tied back with a strip of leather, his face tan, with high cheekbones. She could feel the tension in the air, her nipples tightening beneath her thin khaki shirt. Sweet Jesus, the man was more stunning than in his photo. The mysterious Arlan Leonard.
For a moment more, he continued to stare at her like a beast watching its prey, but his gaze left hers when he noticed the lioness. The mother rose to meet him and pressed her face against his chest in a typical feline cheek-rub greeting. The cubs tumbled around his feet.
In all her time working with the big cats, she’d never seen a person interact with them so effortlessly. It was almost as if Arlan were one of the pride. He obviously had an amazing knack with them.
Arlan turned and headed back to his vehicle to get something.
Runo’s calm voice interrupted the riot of erotic and inappropriate thoughts her brain tossed up. “This is Chido. She’s one of only two remaining lionesses in this area. The electronic collar she wears lets us monitor her whereabouts.”
Her breath caught when she realized Arlan was heading back toward them. Stubble peppered his jaw. She imagined touching it, finding it as rough as sandpaper. He wore what once might have been a khaki shirt but was now sun bleached to near white. The short sleeves were rolled up to reveal powerful biceps. The muscles in his arms were roped and seemed to ripple with power as he dragged a large animal carcass across the grass.
Kruger placed a hand on her shoulder. “That’s a dead impala.”
“Where did that come from?”
“A cheetah killed it and left most of the carcass when a car scared him off. We sometimes feed the cubs, because not all those cubs are Chido’s. She can’t be expected to feed them all. The mother of some of those cubs is dead.”
“Because of poachers?”
“Yes. Almost all the lions that used to be in this area have been killed by poachers. That’s why you’re needed here. We need to find ways to encourage the remaining lions and lionesses to breed so they don’t become extinct in this region.”
August sighed inwardly. She hadn’t realized poaching was a problem to this extent.
Arlan approached the Land Cruiser. Runo and Professor Kruger climbed out of the vehicle. She stayed nervously where she was.
“Come out, August. Arlan won’t let the female hurt you,” Runo coaxed.
But it wasn’t the lions that frightened her. It was their tamer and her reaction to him. And there was something so familiar about his face…
Professor Kruger took her hand to help her out of the Land Cruiser. To calm her nerves, she reached back in the car for her cup of tea. Even as she turned from Arlan to get the drink, she could feel his gaze on her back, and a shot of liquid heat sizzled between her legs.
Good God. A handsome face and a good body didn’t usually fry her connection to the rational part of her brain. He was all muscle, from his pecs to the washboard abs she could see beneath the thin material of his shirt. Good Lord, but he made her mouth water.
Obviously, she needed a good session with her vibrator to straighten herself out. Pity she forgot to pack it.
It’s been five years since you last got laid, loser. Fuck off, I was studying.
She leaned against the Land Cruiser, sipping the cooling tea. An image of her high school lover, Ryan, came into her head.
Nothing could be worse than losing her virginity to Ryan and the public humiliation he’d put her through. Not to mention she didn’t need any man commenting on her scars, which was bound to happen.
“August, this is zoologist Arlan Leonard.” Kruger nearly stuttered with excitement as he managed to introduce her. The thought crossed her mind that Kruger was sexually attracted to Arlan too.
August managed a weak smile.
“Arlan, this is the woman I’ve been so eager for you to meet. August.” Arlan looked her over. “Hey there, August.”
His accent was to die for. Was he British? No, Australian? She passed her cup of tea to Runo when Arlan extended his hand so she could take it. Arlan’s grip was strong and firm. Maybe her panties were just wet from the heat of the day?
“August. That’s an unusual name. Were you born that month?”
“Um, yes. Yes, I was.”
“Same here. Both Leos, huh?”
She nodded. “I’ve always been told I’m nothing like a Leo, since I have Virgo rising and a lot of planets in Virgo.” Oh God, she was babbling.
He stared at her without responding.
She managed a smile. “I can’t place your accent, Arlan. Where are you from?”
He took a step back. “I’m from here.”
Kruger smirked and gave Arlan a slap on the shoulder. “Arlan’s parents were Kiwis, New Zealanders. His mother’s a half-fae. They came here for business reasons when he was a toddler, but Arlan went to boarding school and college in New Zealand, hence the accent. It’s the standard thing, Europeans sending their kids away from Africa during their school years.”
“Oh, how interesting. Yes, I remember now.” She gestured to Kruger. “You mentioned that before didn’t you, Professor?” More silence stretched between them that she felt compelled to fill. “How old were you when you went to boarding school? Were they strict there?”
Arlan’s sexy lips set in a line, and his eyes went cold. “I was seven, and yes.”
August swallowed and shoved her hands in the pockets of her cotton shorts. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. But how horrible to be a little child and be sent away from your parents to a boarding school in another country. Getting away from her own mother would have been a blessing, sure, but she would have missed her dad like crazy. She couldn’t imagine being as young as seven and not having anyone to hug.
She glanced back up at Arlan to find him glaring at her like she was something he’d scraped off the bottom of his shoe.
Talk about awkward.
She felt the color rise in her cheeks and tried to change the subject. “What kind of business do your parents run, Arlan?”
His lip curled, and he seemed to grit his teeth.
Kruger laughed. “That’s kind of a sensitive subject with Arlan. He hates his parents ‘business’. You seem to have a talent for finding his sore spots.”
Arlan slapped Kruger’s shoulder. “Nonsense. Nothing’s a drama, mate, but why don’t you take August back into town, find her somewhere to sleep? I’ve told you before I only want people at camp who have a real commitment to the lions. It messes up their routine to have random people around. It’s disturbing for them.”
For a second, she was too stunned by his rudeness to react. Then she steeled herself to glance up into the intensity of his gaze, determined not to let him know how intimidating she found him. Before she could even answer, Kruger spoke. “We’ll discuss that later. Listen, Arlan, Runo and I have to leave now. I have a class to teach. Show August around a bit, will you?”
“Um, I’m a zoologist same as you,” she said. “I have a lot of training working with lions. It’s what I’m here for. Didn’t Kruger tell you that?”
Arlan ignored her completely, turning from her and directing his comments to Kruger. “If the dark fae is staying out here, I don’t know where she’ll sleep.”
Kruger smirked. “She’s staying here. Don’t flake out on me. We need this woman.” Outrage made August light-headed and at a loss for words.
Kruger lifted his hand in a good-bye gesture and headed toward the Land Cruiser. Runo glanced at August uncertainly and gave an apologetic smile before following Kruger.
She should call out to them, run to catch up, but the combination of her attraction to Arlan and her fury at the rudeness of the two men had made her thoughts freeze. Plumes of dust flew up as the Land Cruiser hit
the dirt road. Anger built in August like a white heat. Finally, she found her tongue and turned to Arlan. “Is this how you always treat women here? I’m not putting up with this.”
There was an air of casual dominance about Arlan that made her shiver. His gaze raked over her body, taking in every curve. He made her self-conscious, but his blatant appraisal had her nipples stiffening beneath her shirt. “I’m sorry. I have every respect for women and other zoologists. It’s just the dark-fae I have a problem with. Especially ones that are sexy as hell.”
Blood pooled in her cheeks. As much as she wanted to slide her glance away, she refused to submit to his intimidation tactics. The words hung heavy in the air between them. August swore and kicked herself for not running to catch up with Kruger. “Listen, I’m staying in an apartment Kruger owns in Hwange. You don’t need to show me around or anything else. Just drive me back to his place. We don’t need to speak to each other again.”
“Why are you here, little dark-fae? What’s your plan?”
“I’m not dark-fae.”
“When Kruger told me about you, I did some digging around, some research. Your mother’s a VIP in the Half-Fae Network. She has her finger in a lot of pies.”
August felt a nerve twitch in her jaw. “I don’t know about much of any of that. My mother and I are estranged. I can’t stand her.”
He reached out and grabbed her. She managed one short scream as he pulled her close and tossed her onto the dry grass. Strobes of light exploded behind her eyes as she hit the ground, sending shards of pain through her limbs. His solid, muscular body landed on top of her.
“Are you, all right? Are you hurt?” he muttered. “What the hell? Get off me, you insane Neanderthal.”
She pushed again, wriggling to get out from under him, but Arlan pinned her to the ground.
A sudden noise like a car backfiring made her flinch and clutch his biceps with both hands. Arlan gripped her tight and rolled her over twice until they were both behind a tree and he was covering her body again.
Despite the pain, his masculine weight poured lust into her brain. Her nipples poked through her bra and thin shirt against his rock-hard chest. Strong arms encircled her, and she caught a whiff of cedar wood and musky male that made every part of her tingle. Something pressed against her hip, throbbing through the soft material of his shorts. A curl of desire wrapped in her stomach. Liquid arousal seeped from her core.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt, baby?”
“Don’t call me baby. Let me go. I don’t like you.”
Arlan’s nostrils flared. He took a deep sniff. His mouth quirked in an infuriating grin. “Oh, you like me, all right. I can smell your heat on the open-air.”
A shiver ran through her. If her arms hadn’t been trapped by his, she would have slapped his face. But the force with which he held her, the coarseness of his words, the rough edge that had betrayed his own arousal from the minute they met… Damn! He was obnoxious, but still he turned her on.
You’re a pervert, Peak.
Something slammed into an anthill and whip-cracked the air around them. Lead scythed across the grass above their heads.
“Oh my God! Someone’s shooting at us?” She let loose a scream as more bullets ripped through the grass, spraying dirt at her feet.
The back windscreen of the Land Cruiser shattered. “You catch on fast, kid.”
She glanced around frantically and finally saw the three men hiding behind an acacia tree. Arlan clasped her shoulder. “My gun’s in the damn car. Keep down.”
One of the men was reloading his weapon. The other two hurled some kind of black powder with flecks of red into the air and chanted something she couldn’t make out. For a second, she thought the language might be the national language, Shona, but then she knew it wasn’t. “That’s not Shona?”
Arlan raised his eyebrows. “That’s not Shona, or BaTonga or any tribal language. It’s a magic language. And if I know these people. Guns won’t be all they’re using. They’ll use magic as well.”
“What are they throwing? Oh God, that’s not…?”
“Get down!”
A fat pillar of jet-colored powder billowed upward from behind the trees.
As they crouched on the ground, his hand covering her mouth, Arlan whispered in her ear, “Dark dust. The very opposite of your Tinkerbelle fairy dust. The evil stuff.”
Arlan pressed his mouth against her hair and neck. She guessed that was his way of protecting himself as he sheltered her with his body and hands.
A man wearing an elaborate feathered headdress rushed forward and hurled the substance from a glass bottle right in her face. Arlan’s hand stopped the dust from getting in her mouth but not her eyes and nose. August spluttered against his hand. She couldn’t help but inhale. Her nasal passages stung like fire, and the substance got in her mouth despite Arlan’s protection. As it slid down the back of her throat, choking pain grasped her esophagus. She rubbed at her stinging eyes. The world around her vibrated and buzzed. Her vision dimmed, and she drifted into darkness.
Chapter Five
Two sets of warm hands skimmed along her body, making her moan. Arlan Leonard kissed down her stomach, while the tall, handsome part-African man eased her thighs apart.
Who was he, this other beautiful man? Her body refused to let her mind care, as his fingers skimmed over the skimpy lace of her panties.
Meanwhile, Arlan flicked his tongue into her belly button, causing wild sensations to skitter through her, until she gripped his hair.
The mysterious man, whose darkish skin indicated some African blood, paddled his fingers against the gusset of her panties until they were soaked through. He grinned at the power he had over her. He was a natural Dom. This man would own her. His eyes never left hers as he scraped a fingernail over the lace right at her center, across her clit, through her panties. She whimpered, her legs too weak to hold her up, so he bent to force her legs apart, holding her steady against the wall as he teased the crease of her thigh with his tongue. Her panties were so soaked, they weren’t much of a barrier between his insistent fingers and her snatch. Her desire pulsed hot when his callused fingers strayed near her center again, tormenting her.
“Damn, baby. So slick, so eager.”
Every part of her burned with need. She could hardly breathe from the lust coursing through her veins. He tormented her with his fingers a moment longer, then slid his tongue under the lace to lick her swollen slit.
Arlan’s lips found one nipple, and he flicked his tongue over it while tweaking the other nipple with his thumb and forefinger.
The mystery man forced his rolled tongue under her panties, fucking her with it, making her cream against his face.
“Do you love it, August?” The combination of Arlan’s accent and the dark lust in his voice sent a thrill straight to her already tormented pussy. “Do you love that bastard eating you out?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Oh yes.” She lifted her hips, writhing against the mystery Dom’s face, trying to catch it, trying to reach that peak.
“Sleeping Beauty?” What?
Her mind fought to catch the dream. She hadn’t come, she needed to come, but the dream was like a distant mirage fading and melting. She groaned, desolate at the loss of her almost-orgasm. Slowly, she rose to consciousness.
“I was wondering when you’d stir.”
She opened her eyes. There was a man in the room with her, and he wasn’t Arlan or Professor Kruger. He was a huge, dark-skinned man she didn’t know. She jerked her hand from between her legs, relieved that she was well covered up by a sheet and blanket.
The man moved toward her. Blood pumping, she struggled to sit up, then scooted backward until her back pressed against the headboard.
“Hey. Hey, sweetheart. Come on now, I’m not going to hurt you.” He held out a hand containing an indigo-blue mug. “You really need to drink this. That dark dust is putrid stuff. Fucking dark-fae psychos.”
The memory of the
shooting and the dark dust jumped back to the forefront of her mind, wiping out the pleasant, nebulous remnants of whatever she’d been dreaming. Icy fear tightened in her lungs.
Dark dust.
It could stop pureblood humans’ breathing, cause internal bleeding, make tumors grow or other medical mischief on the wishes and strength of power of the dark fae using it. It could seriously harm half-fae too. Why hadn’t she died? Her eyes widened as a thought struck her.
Jay held a blue mug toward here, along with some pills. “Here, you took a bit of a whack to the head. You might want some Ibuprofen for it.”
Reluctantly, she took the mug and pills from his hands. Her mouth was too dry not to accept a gift of water.
He had an elegant, sculpted face. A truly beautiful face. Mostly European features, despite his coloring. His hair had been shaved down to barely more than stubble, and more of the same shadowed his jaw. He appeared to be younger than she was, with a glow to his caramel skin that those in their late teens and very early twenties have. A glint in his eye instantly warned of his fae heritage. God, he was half-fae for sure.
Can I never get away from them?
Gulping her water down too fast, she choked and started to splutter. A firm whack on the back from a massive hand set her right but pissed her off.
“Aren’t you going to take those?” He gestured to the supposed painkillers she’d left lying on the bed.
“Who are you?” Her voice sounded shrill to her own ears. “Where is Arlan? Where’s Professor Kruger? Do you know Kruger?”
The man ran a hand over his shaved head. “I’m Jay. And, yeah, I know Kruger.” Jay made a face. “I’m staying in an apartment he owns in Hwange for a while. I need to get—”
“Hang on a second, mate, there’s something I really have to do. I’ll be right back.” He walked out of the bedroom, leaving her sitting there alone.
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