Savage Possession (Temple of Luna #1) (7 page)

He smiled faintly and brushed a stray curl
from her cheek. “That’s unfortunate for me, since my heart is long
since dead. These days, it’s merely waiting for the rest of me to
catch up.”

His pain pulled at her, perhaps because
she’d been trained to use the magic inside her to ease a man’s
agony. She touched his arm, and there was no hiding her sympathy.
“Perhaps you need a priestess who was good at her job instead of
one who failed in every way.”

“
And perhaps you
are
a bit naive.” Karim
lifted her hand and kissed it with a gallant flourish. “How do you
think I wound up dead inside?”

“
I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I didn’t--”

“
Cousin.” Rais’ deep voice
interrupted her words. “Do you do anything these days besides charm
the ladies?”

She jerked her hand back as if she’d been
caught doing something illicit, which was absurd. But heat still
flooded her cheeks as she leaned back against the wall and stared
at Rais. Tall, powerful, a man with violence lurking close to the
surface. Not as handsome as Karim, perhaps, but harder and stronger
in ways that still warmed her body.

Karim’s laughter was edged with warning.
“Charming the ladies is a full-time occupation, I assure you.”

Avani found her voice. “You’re back from the
front so soon. It’s good to see you. I hope you’re well?” It
sounded polite and distant, but at least her voice didn’t tremble
as much as her hands.

“
Depends on who you ask.”
He stared pointedly at Karim, who finally sighed and scooted half a
foot away. “How have you been, Avani?”

“
I’m adjusting to life at
the court. Your mother was kind to invite me in time for the full
moon celebration tonight. I hear it’s quite an
experience.”

“
It is.” Rais lifted the
glass of wine from Karim’s hand and finished it without taking his
eyes from Avani’s face.

“
Thieving bastard.” But
Karim dropped a kiss to Avani’s cheek, then leaned in close to
Rais. “Make her cry, and I’ll show you a few painful old warrior’s
tricks, pup.”

Avani watched Karim’s retreat before turning
her gaze back to Rais with a frown, unsettled by his rudeness.
“Perhaps I’m not going to enjoy court after all.”

“
Why is that?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Because you’re a
king here. Not the man I--” She caught the word before it escaped
only by digging her teeth into her lip. “Not the man I know.”

Uncertainty flashed in his eyes, and he
fidgeted uncomfortably. “You say that as if I can’t possibly be
both.”

“
Why were you so unpleasant
to your cousin?”

“
I--” He snapped his mouth
shut and stared at her. Slowly, his expression hardened into a
cool, impassive mask. “Excuse me. I have duties to attend. I
implore you to enjoy the celebration.”

He turned on his heel and stalked off
through the crowd, leaving Avani alone with a dozen gazes fixed on
her.

She wasn’t
that
sheltered. Rais had
challenged his cousin. Over her. What she couldn’t fathom was why.
It could be nothing more meaningful than a long-standing rivalry,
or the remnants of possessiveness in a man who had so recently
claimed her body.

Or he could want
more.
A dangerous, giddy thought. And maybe
a second chance.

Rais ran through the forest which grew thick
on the royal grounds. All around him, he heard rising howls as his
fellow wolves sounded the call of the hunt.

Only they were soon to be his subjects, a
fact he reminded himself of sternly. He had responsibilities, a
calling that ran through his royal blood and demanded his service.
Tonight, he ran for the last time as a servant of the king. The
next time his mother held a celebration...

“
You’re a king here. Not
the man I know.”

Avani’s words had cut. He supposed there
would never be a time when he didn’t feel entitled to most of the
things he wanted; he hadn’t been raised to embrace the virtue of
self-denial, and it was difficult not to feel as if the world was
yours when it was true at least of everything you surveyed.

But he was a good man, and he cared about
his people. His recent foul temper was entirely to blame for his
confrontation with Karim, not a generally poor disposition. His
cousin understood that, but Avani--

Perhaps Avani just didn’t care.

“
You’re a king here. Not
the man I know.”

But if he weren’t the king?

His smooth stride faltered, and he skidded
to a halt, all four paws digging into the loamy earth of the forest
floor. Was that what she wanted, for him to be another warrior,
finished with his service and ready to start a family?

Avani bounded past him, a small pale wolf
who ran with an excited joy impossible to hide. But she slowed as
the rest of the court thundered past, her paws slipping as she
checked her run and turned to watch him.

He sat and watched her. If she stayed, maybe
they could talk. Maybe they could figure things out.

She lunged, fast and surprisingly graceful,
and nipped at his shoulder. Then she took off running back the way
they’d come, angling into the deepest part of the woods.

He followed her, helpless to do anything
else. The call of the moon sang in his blood, demanding he answer
her challenge. Demanding he cement his claim.

His long strides overtook hers on the bank
of a small creek running through the grounds. He nipped at her
flank and jumped, twisting to land in front of her. Panting, he
waited.

The full moon still shone bright over head,
but they’d run for hours already. Avani collapsed to the forest
floor as magic swelled, and began to shift. With power thick in the
air already the change flowed over her, leaving her naked and
panting softly on the forest floor, her cheek pillowed on her arm
as she watched him.

His own change stole over him in a maddening
rush of magic and lust. “Stand up, Avani.”

He could smell her arousal, knew the rush of
the change and the call of the moon would touch her, too. She
smiled and came slowly to her knees. “I don’t know if my legs will
hold me.”

Rais dragged her up and held her against
him. “Do you hate the man I’ve become?”

Her eyes widened. “Of course not.”

He slid his hand into her hair and urged her
head back. “Then why is my mother trying to find you a mate who
isn’t me?”

She wet her lips, the gesture nervous. “You
told me not to compromise my decision for you. I have decided I
will never take a mate for love unless it is mutual love. A mating
of practicality would be far preferable to loving you while you
tolerate me because you made a vow in haste and find me
lacking.”

“
I don’t find you lacking,”
he told her hoarsely, drawing her hips closer to his. “I nearly
challenged my own cousin over you.”

“
You barely know me,” she
countered even as her body pressed tight to his. “Perhaps it was
unfair to ask you to fall in love with me first. We’re at war, and
there are more important things than my heart at stake.”

Her full lips called to him, and he shook
his head to clear it. “You don’t think I could love you.”

“
I don’t know.” She’d
submitted to him gleefully in the bedroom, but he’d never in his
life seen the brittle vulnerability that filled her eyes as she
stared up at him. “Could you?”

Could he? She was a gentle
soul, kind and thoughtful, and he’d never heard her say a cross
word to anyone but him. “I could, if you let me in. If
I
let
you
in.” He touched her face. “If we
both stop fighting it.”

She closed her eyes. “When you left me, it
wasn’t because I wasn’t...enough?”

“
No, Avani.” Rais kissed
her forehead, her cheeks. Her mouth. “You gave me so much. Almost
everything.”

“
Almost?” It was barely
more than a whisper against his lips.

“
Almost.” He laid his hand
over her heart and caught her mouth again, this time urging it open
to slip his tongue inside. She tasted like wine, and moaned when
his tongue found hers.

She kissed him hard, hard enough that her
teeth scraped his lower lip before she pulled back with a gasp.
“Tell me what you want.”

“
I want you for my mate.”
He lifted her into his arms and laid her out on the cool grass.
“I’ll give it all up if that’s what you want. I’ll just be Rais,
and you won’t have to worry about the court.”

Her eyebrows drew together and she reached
up to brush her fingers lightly over his cheek. “You want me that
much?”

The answer was simple. “I need you.”

She swallowed and shifted her touch to his
lips, and her wide dark eyes turned wondering. “I didn’t imagine
it, did I? The magic... It feels like you’re in my blood. With the
trainers it faded in seconds or minutes, but I felt you days later.
I felt sick from needing you. I thought it was just a broken
heart.”

Instinct had led her close to the truth. “It
was, in a way, and I felt it too. My unit’s healer didn’t want me
anywhere near the front lines in my condition.”

“
Your family has power. Not
like ours. Stronger. I’ve seen Zahra hear people’s
thoughts.”

“
The royal bloodline has
its gifts along with its advantages,” he admitted. “Sometimes I
have visions. Does that bother you?”

“
No.” She lifted her head
and kissed him, a soft brush of warm lips over his chin. “Not
unless you’ve had visions of our doomed love you’re not telling me
about.”

“
Nothing like that.” It had
been ages since he’d had an outright vision. His precognitive
ability mostly manifested itself in hunches these days. “Is it too
late? Will you let me court you like you wanted?”

He felt the sharp sting of her teeth against
his jaw as her arms twined around his neck. “Will you start right
now?”

Need swelled in him again, calmer now that
she’d accepted him, and Rais moved until his hips were nestled
against hers. “I should have started weeks ago.”

Her body was soft and perfect underneath
him, and her breath fell hot against his skin and she nipped along
his jaw until her lips found his ear. “How wicked that would have
been. You all but stole a novice from the Temple, you know. The
gossip is already out of control.”

He scraped his teeth over her chin as his
hand crept up to tease her breast. “The gossips will tire of us
when we prove faithful to one another. There’s nothing more boring
to them.”

“
Mmm.” She arched her neck
in offering. “I hope you intend to seduce me now.”

He bit her gently, teasing, knowing she
wanted more. “Right here?”

“
Under the full moon,” she
agreed, her voice hoarse. Her fingers tangled in his hair, tugging
insistently as if she could force him to claim her. “My first time
outside the Temple.”

Possessive satisfaction rose in him, and he
nudged his burgeoning cock against her cunt. “First times should be
slow.”

Her teeth sank closed on his earlobe without
warning, and she growled. “So put your tongue on me again. I liked
that.”

He moved quickly, drawing her wrists up and
pinning them above her head. “You also liked when I took you,
however I wanted.”

She still did. Her lips parted on a moan and
she squirmed beneath him, grinding up against his cock. The magic
that simmered between them flared, giving him a delicious taste of
her need, her craving for him.

An answering need drove Rais to nudge her
again, then slowly push inside her. She reacted with a low cry and
a lift of her hips, and he steeled himself against the animal
desire that rose and urged him to take her, hard and fast.

“
Rais.” She was wet but so
tight, and her eyes looked dazed as she stared up at him. “You--you
feel--”

“
Like I’m yours.” He
lowered his mouth to hers and stroked her lips with his tongue as
he flexed his hips and rocked inside her.

Her breathless laughter was giddy. Joyful.
“I was going to say huge, but your ego is big enough, I
imagine.”

He grinned and bit her lip. “You can’t
behave, even when I’m fucking you, can you?”

“
Not my job to behave. Not
anymore.” She teased her tongue against his lips. “If you’re
courting me, you should know what you’re getting into.”

“
I
know
what I’m getting into.”
Delighted, he flexed his hips again. “Trust me.”