“Harder,” she moaned.
“Not with my finger,” he said, slipping his finger from her tight channel. “I want to feel you clutching my cock.” Holding her firmly, he placed his erection at her entrance and slid home, stretching her, filling her. He gripped her hips with both hands, his strength evident from the ease in which he lifted her so effortlessly. The spicy tang of arousal surrounded them. Flesh slapped against flesh. Frissons of excitement pounded Charlotte, and her entire body shuddered on the cusp of orgasm.
“Touch your breasts,” he ordered. “Pretend it’s my hand caressing you. Tug your nipples.”
Charlotte hesitated a fraction before following his instructions, gliding her hands across her breasts and plucking at her nipples. Each tug sent a corresponding twinge surging to her clit.
Sethmet thrust harder. Quicker. The simmering pleasure gathered momentum, growing bigger, pushing her higher until it spilled over. Hard, pulsing waves swept through her quim, gripping Sethmet’s cock. Sethmet groaned, thrust again. Once. Twice. Then he stilled, clutching her tight to his chest.
He dipped his head, pressing his forehead against hers. “You’re my mate, Charlotte.”
The possessive tone made her smile. “Maybe.” When she received some answers. His declaration brought pleasure and anticipation while Justin’s avowals disgusted her.
A growl vibrated deep in his chest. “Time to talk.” Sethmet pulled away and let her slide down his body to stand on her own feet. He clasped her hand and started for camp. “My family comes from a long line of shapeshifters. We are guardians. We protect the pharaoh’s tomb from people like your stepbrother.”
“But that doesn’t explain what happened to me tonight. Will it happen again?”
“Would you like it to?” he countered, his expression telling her nothing.
Charlotte thought of the restrictions she faced in her everyday life with the ton.
The freedom she’d experienced since being in Patria Oasis had made her realize what a pointless and aimless existence she led in London. And meeting Sethmet had opened her eyes in regards to the men she met in the ballrooms and private parties. They were like plain copies and imitations of the real thing.
“I…yes.” Charlotte nodded. “Yes, I’d like to run free again.”
“With the secret of the cat comes responsibility.” Sethmet met her gaze and held it, his dark eyes serious and a trifle grim. “There are disadvantages.”
“What disadvantages?”
Sethmet studied Charlotte closely. His heart still pounded from their lovemaking. He had climaxed yet he wanted to repeat the experience. But most of all he wanted to know what Charlotte intended to do. He loved her—she was his mate, but he didn’t wish to hold her like a caged bird, not if she didn’t wish to remain in the oasis. “Do you wish to return to your home in England?” Great. Smooth. Very polished. But he waited anxiously for her reply, admitting the truth to himself even though he didn’t say it. He’d rather cut out his heart than let Charlotte leave.
When she shivered, he said, “My clothes are under the rock to your right. Put my shirt on.”
Charlotte stooped to tug the clothes from underneath the rock. She handed the trousers to Sethmet and watched while he stepped into them.
Sethmet couldn’t restrain his grin. His brows rose. “My turn to watch now.”
A gun blasted through the silence of the night.
Sethmet started to run. “Stay there,” he shouted over his shoulder. Seconds after his order, he heard footsteps behind him.
“I am not staying put,” she muttered.
“Someone’s shooting in the camp. You must keep safe.”
“What about you?” Charlotte demanded.
Sethmet rounded the base of the white outcrop at a sprint. The blood moon peeped from behind black clouds, casting a ghostly crimson glow over the tents. Servants milled around in terror, jabbering at the top of their voices.
“What’s going on?” Sethmet demanded.
“A gun!” One of the servants pointed at the cook.
“He shoot,” another said.
The wind roared and whistled through the campsite. Canvas snapped and galabiyyas flapped wildly. Then the wind stilled. An uncanny silence left the men staring at each other uneasily.
“The ghost cat,” someone whispered.
“I heard gunfire. What the devil is going on?” William’s bed cap sat askew on his head while he glared around the terrified servants.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Sethmet said. He watched Charlotte dart behind William’s tent and head for hers.
Justin limped up to them. “What’s the melee about?”
Sethmet’s eyes narrowed on the pale and drawn Englishman. If he had his way, the man wouldn’t have walked from his tent.
“The ghost cat. He is controlling the wind,” a servant said.
“But not the guns,” William snapped, holding up his lamp and shining it around the circle of faces. “Who fired the gun?”
“What is going on? Why is everyone awake?” Charlotte said.
Sethmet turned in her direction, willing her to step next to him so he could keep her safe. She smiled faintly, as though she could read his mind, and sashayed up to him, stopping at his side. Sethmet exhaled slowly, feeling easier now that she was here and stood beside him.
“I thought I heard a gun,” Charlotte added.
William spun away. “I’m going back to bed.”
Two shots rang out in quick succession. A servant dropped to the ground and a high-pitched scream echoed through the campsite.
“Ghost cat!”
The servants scattered in all directions, fleeing as if they ran for their lives.
The injured servant crawled behind a tent.
The wind picked up again, the mournful wail sounding eerily like a man crying.
“Come back here, dammit!” William roared.
“The shots are coming from over there,” Justin said.
“It’s the cook,” Charlotte whispered in his ear. “Can you see him? He’s still got the gun.”
“I see him,” Sethmet murmured, wrapping his arm around Charlotte’s waist and discreetly placing her behind him. A bullet would have to go through him to get to Charlotte.
The servants came swarming back into camp like frightened children.
“The ghost cat surrounds the camp,” a servant said.
Another servant shuddered, rolling his eyes wildly. “The cat commands the wind. There is nowhere to run.”
“Don’t be silly,” William yelled. “There is no cat. It’s a man with a gun. Take cover.”
Another shot rang out before anyone could move. William clutched his chest, and red bloomed on his white nightshirt. Blood dripped down his hand and arm and he dropped to the sand.
“William!” Charlotte raced to his side and sank to the ground to check his chest.
The cook staggered closer, dropping his gun and waving his hands wildly. His hair stuck up, giving him a crazed look. “Forgive me,” he cried. “My finger did not mean to pull the trigger.”
As he spoke, the wind sent a mournful wail echoing through the campsite. The camels bellowed and snorted from the other side of the outcrop. Several of the servants cried out in terror, backing away and calling to the gods to protect them. A wave of sand rose up from the ground, racing toward the cook.
“Traitor!” The word boomed through the campsite, loud and eerie, echoing for long moments afterward.
“Oh!” Charlotte cried out in terror. The servants repeated her cry of fear, several falling to their knees in frantic prayer.
Sethmet watched, the hairs on his arms and legs prickling even though he suspected the pharaoh was the source of the voice. As he watched, the sand engulfed the man. His frightened shrieks battled with the wail of the wind. Then the cook’s body disintegrated, starting from his feet and rising upward until only his terrified face remained. Gradually, his face faded away, his pained screech reverbe
rating for long moments afterward.
“What…what was that?” Justin’s terror broke the horrified silence.
“Ghost cat,” one of the servants moaned. “The curse.”
Justin’s head snapped from side to side as if he looked for a tangible source. “It won’t come back?”
“I don’t know,” Sethmet said, but even as he said the words, the cry of the wind intensified. The sand rose up, swirling up like a funnel and racing toward Justin.
“No! No,” he shrieked, backing up then turning to flee. “I had nothing to do with him. I am innocent.”
The sand wave raced after him, catching him and engulfing him. His petrified screams faded while his body dissolved in front of their eyes. The sand wave dropped, dispersing on the desert, and the wind disappeared, leaving an uneasy silence behind.
“Sethmet?” Charlotte’s frightened voice drew him.
“It’s all right, sweetheart. How’s William?”
A tear rolled down her pale cheek. Even though William had treated her badly, he was all the family she had left. “He’s dead.”
Chapter Nine
Charlotte was thankful for Sethmet’s calming presence. He spoke to the terrified servants and gave them instructions before leading Charlotte to her tent.
“Come,” he murmured, his arm propelling her forward into the tent. “You need some sleep before we return to Patria in the morning.”
Panic nipped at Charlotte, and she clutched at Sethmet. “Don’t go. Don’t leave me.”
“I will never leave you,” he promised, and Charlotte took comfort, sensing the truth of his words.
She lay down on her pallet and shifted to allow Sethmet to join her. She went into his arms and snuggled against his chest. “What happened? I was there and I still don’t understand.”
Sethmet hesitated. Charlotte saw it clearly. “The truth, if you please.”
“The pharaoh felt threatened. His tomb is nearby. Sometimes his powers are erratic, but tonight they worked. He killed to keep his tomb safe, and if he hadn’t, I would have,” he added in a hard voice.
Charlotte stiffened, pushing away from his chest to study his face. “I thought you said you and your family were guardians.” The tone of his voice told her he spoke the truth about killing. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“That is true. I am the guardian, but the pharaoh sometimes acts on his own and takes vengeance.” Sethmet pressed a kiss to her bare throat. “In this case I am glad. I wouldn’t have wanted you to know I’d killed your stepbrother for attempting to rob the pharaoh’s tomb.”
“But we are safe?” Charlotte hated the uncertainty in her voice, but it wasn’t every day a woman witnessed two men disintegrating before her eyes or changed into a desert lynx. Or learned the man she loved would kill to keep the pharaoh’s secrets intact. The man she loved. Her tense body relaxed when she acknowledged the truth to herself.
She loved him and could forgive him anything. She trusted Sethmet, and always had since the first moment she met him. He treated her far better than her stepbrother ever had.
“We are safe. I promise you.” Sethmet’s arms clasped her tight then he raised her chin with his fingertips and kissed her slowly. Deep, almost as though he wanted to seal his promise. Her lips moved under his, and she opened her mouth to taste him. Instead of seduction, he gentled the kiss and pulled away to look at her.
“I have no family left in England. And no money,” Charlotte blurted. “William spent all my money. I have nothing.”
Sethmet tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled at her, tenderness in his eyes. “You have me, Charlotte. I love you. Stay with me in Patria. Be my mate.”
“You love me?” Wonder bloomed along with hope. Could it be her destiny to stay in Egypt with Sethmet?
“I love you, Charlotte. I don’t want you to go back to England. I’d only have to follow you.”
Charlotte found herself smiling, her decision made in a heartbeat. “I love you too. I would like to stay here with you. I feel more at home here than I ever did in London.”
“Wait.” Sethmet placed his fingers across her mouth. “Let me tell you a little more of the guardianship before you make your decision for there will be no going back.”
“This sounds serious,” Charlotte said gravely.
“It is. As guardians of the pharaoh’s tomb, we receive the power to shift into feline form, but that comes with a price. If any member of our family should ever turn traitor or fail to keep the tomb safe, we lose our ability to shift.”
“Everyone in your family?” Charlotte asked.
“Everyone, no matter what his or her age. No matter if they are innocent or guilty. And worse, the traitor will die and our family will suffer from a curse.” Sethmet sought her gaze and held it. “We will die horribly.”
Charlotte shivered, remembering the expression on Justin’s face before he faded from sight. His face had showed terror and extreme agony. She never wanted to die that way. She inhaled deeply and asked the final question that had been bothering her. “I don’t understand how I was able to shift like you. I am not family.”
Sethmet smiled then, his teeth dazzling white even in the dark tent. Her eyesight and hearing had improved since she’d gained the ability to shift. But she still didn’t understand. It appeared Sethmet did.
“You carry my child. Our child, Charlotte.”
Charlotte gasped. She pulled away from Sethmet, a trembling hand creeping to spread over her abdomen. “A baby?” Wonder, excitement and uncertainty swept through her.
“Are you pleased?” Sethmet asked.
A tremulous smile sprang up on her lips spreading to pure joy. “A baby. I thought…I thought I was barren.” Tears of happiness fell unchecked down her cheeks, and she wiped them away impatiently. “A baby. Oh Sethmet.”
“So, you’ll stay here with me despite the danger of dying because of the curse? Our children dying?”
Charlotte smiled and stroked her hand down Sethmet’s cheek. “We will make sure we serve the pharaoh well. The curse will not trouble us or our children.”
“Charlotte.” Sethmet pressed a tender kiss to her forehead then lowered his head to move his mouth over hers, devouring her softness.
She leaned into him, her lover, her mate. A sense of rightness and wellbeing flooded her. Her smile widened and held confidence. “I love you, Sethmet. And I would be honored to join your family.”
Freedom. A home and family too. Her smile turned misty.
A life with Sethmet was a dream come true. She could think of no better future than one with her desert cat.
About the Author
Shelley lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband and a small, bossy dog named Scotty.
Typical New Zealanders, Shelley and her husband left home for their big OE soon after they married (translation of New Zealand-speak: big overseas experience), a year-long adventure lengthened to six years of roaming the world. Enduring memories include being almost sat on by a mountain gorilla in Rwanda, lazing on white sandy beaches in India, whale watching in Alaska, searching for leprechauns in Ireland and dealing with ghosts in an English pub.
While travel is still a big attraction, these days Shelley is most likely found in front of her computer following another love—that of writing stories of romance and adventure. Other interests include watching rugby and rugby league (strictly for research purposes *grin*), being walked by the dog and curling up with a good book.
Shelley welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and e-mail address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
Tell Us What You Think
We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You can e-mail us at [email protected].
Also by Shelley Munro
Best Man
Currents Run Deep
Curse of Brandon Lupinus
Ellora’s Cavemen: Dreams of the Oasis III anthology
Fallen Idol
Fringe Benefits
Issy’s Infatuation
Last Wish
Lovers at Last
Middlemarch Mates 1: Stray Cat Strut
Middlemarch Mates 2: Peeping Tom
Middlemarch Mates 3: Scarlet Woman
Middlemarch Mates 4: Assassin
Middlemarch Mates 5: Cat and Mouse
Middlemarch Mates 6: Cat Burglar
Middlemarch Mates 7: Leticia’s Lover
Price of Love
Sex Idol
Sex, Spies and Sapphires
Summer in the City of Sails
Talking Dog 1: Talking Dogs, Aliens and Purple People Eaters
Talking Dog 2: Never Send a Dog to Do a Woman’s Job
Talking Dog 3: Romantic Interlude
Unforgettable
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
www.ellorascave.com
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