Clawed, Pounced, Mauled the Complete Trilogy

by Kym Dillon

  Then she realized that she was not burning up any longer, that she was resting on what felt like an actual bed. For a moment, Jessica simply lay still in awe. Somehow, she had never thought she would lie in a bed again.

  "Ah, you are awake."

  The voice was soft and sweet, but for some reason, there was something foreign about it that confused her. Jessica had dealt with languages all over the world, but there was something about this one that puzzled her even as she turned around. There was a figure silhouetted in the bright daylight coming through the door, and Jessica smiled tentatively. Then she saw the woman in the doorway and her eyes widened.

  The woman wore a plain-woven cloth as a short kilt around her narrow hips, but otherwise, from the soles of her long mobile feet to her small long breasts and the top of her head, she was bare. Her pale skin shone through the long coarse fur that covered her from head to foot, and the hair on her round head was no longer than that on her body. Her ears were round and pierced with a dozen golden rings, and her face was flat across the eyes and the nose and came out to a rounded muzzle in the front.

  That's why it sounded foreign, she realized belatedly. She's speaking English without a human throat.

  "Hello," Jessica managed to croak, and the woman tsked, handing her a small pot full of clean water. It tasted so good that Jessica drained it in a moment.

  The woman did not laugh, but her eyes crinkled with humor, and she patted Jessica with a large hand over her shoulder. Jessica observed that her hand was mostly naked of fur, and even from that soft touch, she could feel how strong the woman was.

  "Excuse me, but... I don't know where I am or how I came here..." Her eyes widened. "Please, there was a... a man with me, Marcus..."

  The woman nodded, covering Jessica's hands with hers to keep her still.

  "It is all fine, I promise. The werepanther summoned us, and we came. We treated your illness, and put you to sleep, letting you heal on your own. That is best for such things."

  "My illness..."

  A faint flicker of unease passed in front of the woman's eyes.

  "It was a cruel thing that was done to you. Your man has some bad enemies, a thing you should understand."

  "He's not my... well."

  There was really no way to say it, and so Jessica kept silent. The woman nodded as if she understood, and offered Jessica a hand.

  “Would you like to come see the village?”

  Though she still felt about as shaky as a newborn fawn, Jessica was deeply curious, and once she stepped outside, she gasped.

  Africa was home to some of the most ancient trees of the Old World, and she could see the truth of that now. She had been sleeping in an enormous tree house, camped far above the forest floor. The tree limbs were easily as wide as sidewalks, and from where she stood, she could see dozens of other tree houses, though she quickly decided that that was far too humble a word for the structures. They were elegant, and at a glance, she could see that they were ancient as well. She felt as if she had happened upon a space that was out of time, inhabited by a people who were only distantly related to the humans she knew.

  She wondered where Marcus was, realizing that she missed him with a ferocity that seemed to tear at her soul.

  Almost as if in response to her thoughts, there was a sudden shrieking that sounded like a cross between the shouts of children and the cries of young chimps. Suddenly the air was full of youngsters, some in their beast shape, and some in the more human but somehow very alien shape that her caregiver wore. Jessica could barely stop to register to the threat when there was a roar to her right, and suddenly, an enormous black panther dropped down to the branch that she stood on.

  There was a moment of shock that drenched Jessica like a bucket of water, but there was no fear at all. She recognized this beast, for he was hers, and she smiled at him.

  “Scaring the children?” she asked, and with a purr, Marcus rose into his man form again. There was a cloth just inside the door that he used to wind around his hips, and he turned to her with a smile.

  “Putting them through their paces,” he said. “Not sure they've ever been chased through the trees before.”

  The woman made a snorting sound at him, shaking her head.

  “You underestimate us,” she said. “The Kingdom of Trees has been protected by the best warriors of the world since the dawn of your own history. We simply believe in allowing children to be children while they are growing.”

  “That's as it should be,” Marcus said, and he turned to Jessica.

  “You look good,” he said, and though his words were simple, even flippant, she could hear the relief and concern in his voice.

  “I feel good,” she said, realizing it was true. “How did we get here?”

  “Through the good will of the People of the Trees,” he said, nodding at the woman who stood slightly apart from them. “I called, and they were generous enough to answer. Kaella here is the one who saved your life with her medicines, but it was their war chief who made the ruling to bring us in rather than leaving us to die in the forest.”

  “Thank you,” Jessica said to Kaella, who nodded with all the regal dignity of a queen. “I can't thank you enough.”

  “Your man's people and mine have quarreled in the past,” she said, “but I noticed your satchel. You are a healer, and those have always had a place among us.”

  Jessica nodded. A part of her wanted nothing more than to stay in these beautiful houses high in the jungle canopy, to get to know the people who had saved her, but she knew that her time there was limited.

  “Then you understand why I need to be on my way,” she said reluctantly. “I think I am well enough to go some distance, Marcus...”

  “Not tonight,” Marcus said immediately. “There's no reason to get started when there's so little day left.”

  She glanced up at the sun in confusion. There were several hours of daylight left; they could make some significant distance in that amount of time. She opened her mouth to protest, but Kaella interjected.

  “He is right. You have only just woken up. Rest now. You can make better time with a decent night of sleep and some food in your belly.”

  Jessica wanted to protest, but at last, she had to defer to the wisdom of the healer and Marcus's strange insistence. She thought that there was something going on, but she couldn't imagine what that would be. Kaella offered to show her some of the healing house, where she had been sleeping, and with Marcus pacing by her side, covered only in a swathe of dyed cloth around his waist, she couldn't resist.

  The Kingdom of Trees was by turns archaic and modern. There was running water, using pipes that were cast from ceramic, and there was a system of walkways from tree to tree that any civil engineer would have envied. However, there was no sign of a wheel, and when Jessica thought about it, she laughed in realization. What use did the People of the Trees have for wheels when they spent their lives high above? Anything that needed carrying was slung over a shoulder and simply carried. The People were all extremely strong, and Jessica could see how they had built up their kingdom.

  Jessica was just getting a little weary when Kaella insisted that she return to her rooms for a bath. She conceded that Jessica did not need someone to watch her, something that disappointed Marcus a little, but that she should give up her clothes for washing. Instead, a wrap was left on a stool by her bath, and Jessica gratefully sank into a tub of cool water perfumed with something that smelled a great deal like tea tree oil.

  Her body felt as if it was unwinding from all of the stress that had been building up for the last few days. They had told her that she had been sick and close to death, but as thoroughly as Kaella had healed her, she could barely believe it. Still, there was something perfectly decadent about simply sitting in a tub of water that was meant only for bathing, allowing all of the stress and fear to drain from her.

  The pleasure of the bath was spoiled by the doubts that had been nagging at her. Marcus was hiding some
thing, and that made it difficult to rest. With a sigh, long before she was ready to be done, she rose from the bath, scrubbing her body down with the woven towel that had been left, and returned to her room. She would go find Marcus, she decided, tucking the cloth around her body, and she would get the answers that she needed.

  12

  Jessica got instructions to Marcus's chamber from a half-grown girl with an enormous orange flower tucked behind her ear. She gestured the way to Marcus's chamber with a wrinkling of her eyes that Jessica could only assume was a giggle, and before Jessica could ask any more, she scampered away.

  She knocked on the door lightly, and when Marcus called for her to come in, she entered, shutting the door behind her.

  Marcus stood in front of a wide window of foggy glass, gazing out over the fading light. The sunset streaked the room with orange and red, salmon pink and indigo. He only wore the cloth, slung low over his hips, and as he turned towards her, the flash of light reflected in her eyes reminded her that though he was her lover, he was far from human.

  Jessica had been practicing what she wanted to say ever since she left her room, but now faced with the reality of her lover, the vital presence of his body, his soul, the words were small and paltry. They died on her lips. Instead, he reached for her, and mutely, she went to him.

  “Jessica... There is a great deal to say, and even now I don't know how to say it,” he said roughly. “I... I want you. I need you...”

  The currents of doubt almost made her step back, but the rawness of his tone called to her.

  “Then take me,” she said.

  Jessica reached up to cup her hand around the back of his neck, dragging him down for a deep kiss. He felt almost reluctant at first, but when he felt the edge of her tongue run over his lower lip, something broke his control. Suddenly his arms were around her, so tightly that she gasped. He eased up, but only so that he could drag her to the enormous bed. It was made up with pure white, amazingly crisp sheets, and for a moment, all Jessica could do was revel in how luxurious it was to make love in a bed, a real bed, after all this time. She sunk into the mattress with a sigh, and then he was rising over her, his mouth so hungry at her throat and her shoulders that a deep shiver went through her.

  Twice she felt his teeth at her shoulder, and twice he backed off. Jessica only knew that there was a deep need inside her that welled up for him and everything he was, and she laid her hand on his forearm.

  “Do it,” she whispered achingly. “Mark me, show the world that I'm yours...”

  His groan was almost pained, and then he bit her, not hard enough to break skin but close. She gasped at the sweet pain of it. She dug her nails into his arms, leaving marks of her own. The moment he let her go, she was flooded with an array of sensations that rolled through her like a river of firecrackers, her entire body tingling.

  “Oh yes, I want you, I want you so...”

  Marcus's growl vibrated through both their bodies, and for a moment, she wondered if she saw that his eyes had slit pupils rather than round ones. Then he reached down to tear the cloth from both their bodies, as if it anything that separated them burned.

  Skin to skin, they embraced like the first lovers in the world, discovering, unable to get enough of each other. There was something desperate about his motions, something wild and needy. Jessica tried to calm him, but in a matter of moments, she was carried away by their desire as well. She was not any more patient than he was, and she found herself clawing at him. Her nails raked down his back and his thighs, urging him to kiss her harder, to suck on her nipples and to dip his tongue into the sweet cup of her navel.

  “I’ll never get enough of you,” he groaned, his face pressed against her hip. “Not if I lived a hundred years. Not if I lived a thousand...”

  She could feel the thick weight of his manhood against her thigh. For a moment, she thought he would take her right then, but instead, he rolled over on his back. He was large, but uncommonly quick. His heavy hands came down on her hips, and with nothing more than that to warn her, he heaved her on top of his hips, her legs trailing to either side of him.

  “Oh!” Jessica said in surprise, looking down at her lover. Even if he was beneath her, however, Marcus had ceded none of his strength or his domination. Sitting on top of him, she felt as light as a toy, something that he liked to look at and to touch. He ran his hands down her body, cupping her breasts in his palms before squeezing enough to make her groan.

  Underneath her, she could feel his shaft hot against her most intimate flesh. She could feel the way he longed to enter her, but with his hands keeping her still, she could not move things forward. She was on top of him, but she was helpless, and she keened with need.

  “Oh god, please,” she cried out. “Please, please...”

  Marcus didn't seem to hear her. His hands tight on her hips, he rolled his body up to meet hers. It felt like riding in a way, and she could feel her cheeks light up red with need and longing. She knew that he was driving both of them to a frenzy. Surely, he would give in to their desire soon, surely...

  She thought he was going to drive her mad with desire before that point, but then she looked down, catching his gaze with her own. Something passed between them then, some kind of understanding that had no words, no logic.

  Abruptly, Marcus was done teasing. He held her steady with one hand, and with the other, he guided his manhood into her entrance. He let her weight carry her down, and in a few heartbeats, he was lodged fully inside her, their bodies as close as they could get.

  “Oh...” she whispered, and then his hands closed over her hips again.

  He lifted her as if she weighed nothing at all, driving up into her over and over again. She could feel the red heat inside her start to pulse in time with his thrusts, and after that, she was lost to the primal rhythm of their lovemaking. Her body was tensing as if being wrenched tight, and every moment that passed, she thought she would snap. When she didn't, and the tension only rose higher, she started to sob, begging for the release that she knew only Marcus could give her.

  Jessica looked down at this beautiful man, the one that had saved her life again and again, and she knew in her heart that he was the only one who would ever open her like this. The only man who could give her this much pleasure, this much wild delight.

  He growled deep in his throat, thrusting up into her one more time, and then her body toppled over the edge. She felt as if she were coming apart into a shower of silver stars. Everything she was scattered by the pleasure that was rushing over her. She shook, Marcus's name on her lips, and when she felt him spill inside her, she knew that they belonged to one another.

  Her body felt as limp as a rag as she sprawled over his chest. It occurred to her vaguely that he might be suffocating, but his arms came up around her, holding her close.

  “I love you,” she sighed softly, and without a moment of hesitation, he responded.

  “I love you. God, I love you so much.”

  He rolled them to their sides, pulling away from her at last, but he did not let go of her. Instead, Jessica clung close to him, her face buried in his chest, matching him breath for breath.

  “Now will you tell me what's wrong?” she asked, and he sighed, a rumbling sound.

  “Jessica...”

  She sat up, waiting for his response, but there was a knock at the door, brisk and commanding. Marcus looked up, dire murder in his eyes, but then the door swung open. Jessica yelped, grabbing for her discarded cloth, but Marcus rose up naked and furious to face the intruder.

  The woman who entered the room as if she owned it was not one of the People of the Trees. Instead, she was tall and lean, her skin the brown of teak and her long dark hair swinging past her shoulders in a braid. There was a cat-like amusement and indifference in her eyes, and instinctively, Jessica knew that this was another shifter.

  “I gave you long enough,” she said to Marcus. “The longer you stay, the greater the danger.”

  “Marcus..
.what is she talking about?”

  Marcus turned to her, his eyes dark. There was something distant about him now that made her want to cry. A moment ago, they had been as close as two people could be, and now he felt as if he were sailing far away.

  “Jessica, this is Verrine. She's of my people. She's from the sanctuary where I was taking the sword. The message from the fish was received and when I didn't show up at the appointed time, she came looking for me.”

  Verrine turned those vivid green eyes to Jessica. To her surprise, she felt no enmity from the shifter woman, only a warmth, if a feline, feckless warmth.

  “And I see that he has a companion that he has kept at least slightly in the dark. Well, pet, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that the village where the sanctuary is located is close, a five hour march or so. The bad news... is that the hunters are hot on your trail, and it is a war they are after.”

  She paused delicately, and suddenly Jessica knew what a picture she made in Marcus's bed, her hair tousled, a purplish love bite at her shoulder and her lips kissed to bright red.

  “I don't suppose you will consent to be left behind...”

  “No,” Jessica said, even as Marcus winced. It wasn't worth arguing. Where Marcus went, she went.

  “Then we need to move. We have a lead in front of the hunters, but there will be a war, and it is best fought on our terms, on our ground.”

  Jessica turned to Marcus. There was a fire in his eyes she had never seen before.

  “Marcus?”

  “Remember what I said; I love you,” he said. “Always. Remember that.”

  13

  They marched through the night. The moon had risen, and the territory they were traveling through was clear enough that even Jessica could see her way without much accident. When she stumbled, Marcus steadied her with his hand, or she felt Verrine's powerful panther body press against her, keeping her on her feet. Marcus walked as a man, Verrine padded on all fours, and between them, Jessica did her best to keep up.