Heart's Lair (29 page)

"Liane . . ." he groaned, the sound long, low and so very male in its need.

She knew what he was asking, what he wanted and craved with every fiber of his being, but for this one, final moment in her life, she hardened herself to him.

"No." The word was gritted out with the last bit of strength left in her. "No, Karic, I'm not finished with you yet."

Agony burned in his eyes as he fell back against the bed. "Then finish it, Liane," he whispered, his voice raw. "Finish it now, before I go mad." Tears stung Liane's eyes as she forced her hand to move again, her mouth to sweetly seduce his. Karic writhed beneath her, futilely biting back the gutteral sounds that rose to his lips. His face darkened, contorting with the increasingly brutal effort it took to hold himself in check, but never once, in all that time, did he stop her. He accepted every torturous touch Liane bestowedaccepted, trusted and waited.

Finally, it was Liane's control that broke. On a broken sob, her head lowered to his chest. "Karic," she cried, her voice a mix of remorse and desire, "it's enough! II believe you. Oh, Karic, please, I can't bear anymore!"

With a low, animal growl his arms encircled her, pulling her to him. He rolled over, pinning Liane beneath him in a sudden movement.

"Tell me you want me," Karic hoarsely demanded. "I want to hear you say it, for after that there's no turning back. I really
will
be out of control!"

"I want you," Liane achingly whispered. "I love you, Karic. And I don't care if you lose control, as long as you always take me with you!"

An exquisitely tender look flared in his eyes. "Truly? You truly love me, femina?"

"Yes. I've loved you for a long while, buried beneath all my pain and anger. Can you ever forgive me?"

He slowly nodded. "As you forgive me."

She smiled, a sweetly tremulous movement of her lips. "Then it's done, over, behind us forever. Now love me, Karic. Join with me and let us bury all the anguish between us." Liane tenderly stroked his face. "Come to me, my love." His head lowered. "In time, sweet femina," he thickly growled, turning her own words against her. "I'm not finished with
you
yet."

He took a soft, rosy nipple into his mouth and gently suckled it, his tongue gradually flicking the hardening tip with increasing force. Liane gasped and arched against him. His mouth moved then to nip and lick her breasts until she was moaning, moving wildly against him in frantic, panting desire.

Karic watched her, relishing his power, the same power she'd held over him, a power she still had, he wryly realized, his organ throbbing hotly against her. It was rock-hard and straining, ready to explode. His fingers moved, caressing a languid path down her body to the tangle of dense curls that guarded her femininity.

Liane tensed when he touched her there, pressing back against the furs as his hand possessively cupped her woman's mound.

"You are mine, femina," Karic whispered. "All of you. Don't be afraid. There'll be no pain this time. Only pleasure. I swear it."

On a shuddering sigh, Liane moved back to him. His hand slipped down, one finger parting the wet folds to slide slickly into her deep cleft. She trembled violently when he found that sweet, secret flesh and began to gently massage it. Of their own accord, Liane's thighs parted, instinctively granting Karic even greater access.

His mouth moved once again to hers as he continued the rhythmic caress between her legs. His kiss was fierce, hard and utterly uncompromising, but Liane's response was just as ardent. He felt the heat of her against his stiffness, felt it flame hotter and hotter. Suddenly, all Karic knew was a wild urgency to join with her, to thrust himself deeply, endlessly into her.

He grasped himself, pushing up with his other hand. For one last, delicious instant, he rubbed his swollen tip against her flesh, seeking out her velvety pink sheath. Then he thrust up, swiftly and surely.

Liane cried out as he filled her, but the sound was one of intense pleasure, not pain. She grasped at Karic, clutching his hips to her, digging her nails into his taut flesh. Her cry faded to a low moan as Karic plunged against her. Her hands were crazed, sliding over him, grabbing at his broad, straining shoulders, stroking his sweat-drenched back. She was on fire, trembling with wet heat, aching unbearably.

A wild, wondering cry ripped from Liane's throat. Her whole body was a rioting mass of sensations. She gazed up at Karic in unbelieving wonder, fighting it all the way.

He smiled down at her, holding back his own release. "Yes, my love," he growled, his deep voice thick with passion, "let yourself go. Trust me. Don't fear it. It's good, so very good."

She surrendered then, spiraling up and away from all thought, all awareness, save that of the sensual vibrations shuddering through her. Her slender body tensed, arching against his, spasming in ecstasy as Karic again and again plunged into her in an ever increasing frenzy of his own. She cried out his name, seeking him in her churning maelstrom of desire.

Karic sucked in a breath, then gasped, tensing above her. His face contorted with pleasure as his release shuddered through him. Then he collapsed against Liane, moaning her name into the tangled mass of her hair.

"Well, have I finally convinced you of the extent of my control?" Karic drowsily murmured late the next morning, snuggled tightly to Liane's softly rounded backside.

Harking back to the long nocte filled with heated passionate couplings, Liane smiled. Karic had been a skilled lover. His control, unlike her own, had seemed nearly superhuman.

No, Liane thought with a small, guilty pang. Karic had spoken true. Except for that one nocte every three cycles, he was no animalsave in the most wonderfully sensual interpretation of the word.

The thought and its accompanying memories stirred her. "Well, you've tried mightily, my love," she teased, "but I'm still not quite convinced. Perhaps one more demonstration of your prowess . . . ?"

His hand stroked the softly curved line of her hip and thigh. "You're insatiable, you know," he growled.

Karic's grip tightened, and he jerked her more tightly to him. His groin pressed against her buttocks, hot and full. Liane's smile widened. He was so sensitive, and she found she loved it that way.

She rolled over to face him. His shaft, throbbing and hard, pressed against her belly. Boldly, Liane's hand moved downward to close around his massive length. Karic shuddered beneath her touch and rose to straddle her, one leg kneeing her thighs apart. She spread herself wide, eager for him.

With both hands, he lifted Liane's hips and swiftly thrust into her. Liane cried out. She flung her arms around Karic, wildly stroking his back, urging him on. She whimpered and arched, wrapping her legs around his hips, grabbing his taut buttocks. Her release came quickly.

She threw back her head, nearly sobbing out her pleasure. Karic groaned and drove himself into her. His pace increased now, harsh and deep. Then, with a raw cry, he collapsed atop her.

They lay there for a few secundae, Karic buried deep within, their bodies molded damply to each other. Then he rolled free and lay there, one arm flung across his eyes.

"Well, are you convinced?" he asked, his thickly muscled chest rapidly rising and falling. "If not, I fear I may soon die in the proving."

Liane moved to snuggle against him, "I'll go gently with you from now on. In truth, you convinced me long ago."

Karic uncovered his eyes to arch a dubious brow. Liane shrugged. "Can I help it if you pleasure me so well that I cannot seem to get my fill of it? Is it my fault that you have such a power over me?"

"Why, you devious little she cat!" Karic laughed and grabbed for her, but Liane nimbly eluded him, swinging down off the bed.

"Now, calm yourself," she giggled, backing away, her hands held before her as Karic quickly followed. "You just said a moment ago that you were near death. Have a care for that ill-used, exhausted body of yours."

"Have a care for
your
ill-used body, fernina," he growled, grasping her wrist to pull her to him. "I'm not so exhausted I can't soon rise to the occasion."

Liane glanced down at Karic, past the hard, flat belly and narrow hips, to glimpse the swelling of his organ. Her eyes widened. "You truly
are
an animal."

This time the words, words so fraught with past painful memories, were uttered in delighted wonder. Karic laughed, the sound rich and deep. "Yes, Liane, I suppose I am."

He crooked her chin with a long strong finger, lifting her face to his. "And, in the most wonderful of ways, so are you."

He kissed her, playing ever so softly with her lips and gently inserting his tongue. Liane rose to meet him, her own response sweetly tender. Finally, Karic reluctantly raised his head.

"You know as well as I where this will soon lead," he said, stepping back from her. "And as much as I would prefer to spend the rest of the sol in here with you, there are Festival duties to be seen to. We have just enough time for a quick bath in the forest pool, if you'd care to join me."

A slender brow quirked coyly. "And what's there to protect me from your untoward advances in the pool, as naked and helpless as I'll be?"

Karic grinned. "Only my famous control, sweet femina. I suppose you'll just have to trust me in that."

She grinned back. "Oh, I trust you, Cat Man." Her gaze raked his tall, powerfully naked form. "That's not the problem. It's me I don't trust."

The hunting party, gone to bring back game for the Festival feasting that nocte, left early. Though traditionally he went along, Karic knew his father had understood and had purposely not awakened him at sol rise. He felt a fleeting twinge of regret and then turned back to his enjoyment of Liane and the sol.

Ceremonial duties filled the rest of the afternoon, but Karic was content with Liane at his side. His people seemed to accept her presence there, as if choosing him last nocte had sealed her place in their lair. Only Kalina, murderously glaring at Liane from afar, marred the otherwise blissful sol. But Karic shoved the memory of the Cat Woman's anger into some distant corner of his mind, along with the upcoming journey to Primasedes to destroy the Guide.

The Council had unanimously accepted Karic's plan to destroy the Guide. He would take a party of about men and, to avoid detection as they traveled across Agrica, divide them into even smaller groups. Each would take a different route and meet at Liane's forest hut in three sol's time. From there, Karic's plan was a little more desperate.

He gambled that he had been captured previously because of his lack of awareness of the alarm system. Hopefully he and his men's cloaking powers, combined with their ability to manipulate most machines, would this time overcome the alarms. Then, if they could reach the system and disable it . . .

But if not, Karic would sacrifice some of his men so that others could reach the Guide and destroy it. The Bellatorians could not capture all of them at once, alarm system or no alarm system. And the stakes were just that high.

The huge, shimmering sun began to set behind the western mountains, and still Morigan and the hunting party had not returned. Unease settled over Karic. It wasn't like his father to stay away at a hunt so long. The mountains teemed with game. The Festival hunting had never required more than a half sol before. Unless, Karic thought with rising apprehension, unless the Guide was still in the mountains.

Karic angrily shook the horrible consideration aside, but the niggling fear could not so easily be discarded. What if Necator hadn't headed back to Primasedes after testing his weapon on those hapless Agricans? What if he'd remained to systematically sift his way through the mountains, searching for further humanoids to destroysearching for them?

He bit down on a savage curse, enraged at his own stupidity. He'd been so blind, so engrossed in saving Liane's life at the time, that he'd not considered every possibility when it came to Necator and his evil machine. His people had depended on him; he was the only one who knew the Guide's full powers. And now that one slip could cost not only his father's life, but the lives of the entire race of Cat Men as well.

"What is it, Karic? What's wrong?"

Liane's sweet voice, threaded with concern, intruded on his heated musings.

"My father and the hunting party are long overdue," he gruffly explained. "I fear there's trouble."

She nodded. "I feel it, too. There's some danger about. What will you do?"

"Send out a search party. It'll be easy enough to truck our own kind. Our spoors are very distinctive."

A small hand clasped his arm. "Be careful, Karic. I don't know how I know this, but I sense Necator's involvement in this."

He covered her hand with his own large one. "Are you beginning to regain your psychic powers, femina?" he gently teased. "Your perception of the situation is very astute."

"No," she sadly sighed. "Just an educated guess, I fear. The danger from Necator has never been far from us. It's past time he intrude upon our lives again. He'll never give up until he's won or been destroyed. The craving for power consumes him."

"Yes, it does indeed," Karic grimly muttered, "and something has to be done about it before it's too lateif it's not already too late."