The need to kiss her suddenly became critical...

"Oh, not again!" She tried to wriggle out from under him, which only made his erection grow harder. When her lips parted on a breath, he knew she'd felt it pulse against her.

"I'll put you across the cave, MacRieve."

In a flash, he pinned her wrists behind her back. "I doona believe you can, no' with your hands like this." He eased to her side and used his free hand to begin slowly unbuttoning the shirt.

"What do you think you're do - " She broke off with a little moan when he raised his knee and firmly pressed his thigh between hers, languidly moving it against her sex.

With an openmouthed kiss on her collarbone, he pulled the shirt open, one side then the other, but he fumbled at unclasping her transparent bra from the front. This was partly because he had no experience with modern female undergarments, but also because he couldn't stop staring as her ni**les budded right before his eyes, jutting against the gauzy material.

He finally sliced the front clasp with his claw. By the time he brushed the material over the tight peaks, her breathing had grown hectic, making that bared flesh rise and fall so temptingly.

Just when he was about to touch her, she struggled again, and her br**sts quivered. His voice rough, he said, "Ah, beauty, now you're just showin' off."

She stilled, her face and chest flushing hotly.

Leaning down to her nipple, he said, "I've heard rumors about bedding witches, heard that if you can close your lips around one of these, the witch will be slave to your hands."

"I'm not a sla - oooh." She arched her back sharply when he licked and sucked at her.

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He moved to her other breast, flicking the tip with his tongue. When he saw she hadn't closed her eyes but was raptly watching him, he groaned against her.

Though he burned to rip off her panties and plunge between her thighs, he forced himself to slow his touch, gentling her. Her piercing caught his eye, and he brushed the backs of his fingers over it, making her jerk in reaction. "I've thought of this often over the past weeks. Kissing you all around it, flicking it with my tongue." He knew his words were arousing her even more, could scent how wet she was for him.

"I don't want this," she said with a shiver, her eyes heavy-lidded.

He rubbed his hand up her side and she flexed to it. "You're saying these words, but your body's telling me something altogether different."

"You're wrong."

"I have no' had sex in nearly two centuries, nor any kind of release in three weeks. And the last time I handled myself, I was dreaming about your body beneath mine in just this way. This would be enough to madden a male, but then to know you're aroused for me, too?"

"I am so not turned on for you."

"Lie about other things, but no' about this. You forget I'm a Lykae - I can scent you're aroused, and it's making me crazed. If I stroked you between your thighs, I'd find you wet, would I no'? You ache to be sated."

"Maybe. But not by you, MacRieve." She shook her head hard, and her eyes narrowed. "Never by you." She appeared utterly unflinching. "Get off me, or I'll scream."

Apparently, the young witch could deny her desire for her enemy.

At that moment, he wished he had that talent.

21

MacRieve ran his hand over his mouth. At length, he drew away from her, sitting back against the cavern wall, one knee raised.

Pulling the shirt back together, she sat up as well, then waited long moments until he finally said, "I am weary, Mariketa. So damned weary. I've suffered for long enough without this added torment from you."

"Oh, I'm tormenting you because I won't sleep with you?"

"I've got a force inside me - a strong one - screaming that you're mine. Just tell me, are you making me want you like this?"

She bit her lip - she didn't know! "You really think there's a chance I could be your... mate? You only get one."

"There might be ways around that," he said in an impassive tone. "I will no' be angry if you admit to any trickery now." At her expression, he amended, "I'll be ireful, but it will blow over. I doona hold grudges."

When she looked away without answering, he exhaled. "Mariketa, have you ever felt your way was lost? So bewildered you dinna know up from down any longer?"

Right now. She was bewildered by this sudden change in his demeanor, and found herself nodding.

"I have no'. Ever. My path has always been clear to me. Everything in black or white. Now, nothing is as it was."

"Like what?"

"Like how I was dreaming of you every night and fantasizing about you in the days I was out there fighting to get my mate back." Seeming ashamed, he glanced away, and the firelight cast his profile in shadow. "The pain from my injuries was nothing compared to my guilt." He gave a bitter laugh. "Always the bloody guilt. You canna understand what it's like to feel nothing - nothing but that."

He stood and paced. Almost to himself, he said, "Or what it's like to know you're no' whole and never will be." He ran his fingers through his hair, then stopped to meet her eyes. "Then with you, everything looks different - feels different - and I... damn it, Mariketa, I want it. So bloody much."

He crossed to her, clasped her upper arms, and pulled her to her feet. Gazing down at her, his voice breaking low, he said, "Doona bring me back to life only to destroy me once more."

The depth of pain and confusion in his expression shook her. And even after everything, she felt sympathy for him. "Look, what if I tell you everything that I know - only the truth - and you can decide what's going on? I'll lay it all out there for you, because I don't understand it."




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