by Judy Mays
Karrak stared at the small girl. “I was too late to save her parents. If only I had…”
Sanika’s voice was sharp. “Do not try to second-guess yourself. For whatever reason, her parents ended their time on this earth. She is my daughter now, mine and Balam’s. She’ll be happy here.”
Sighing, Karrak continued to watch the children play. If he’d managed to save her parents, he wouldn’t have brought the girl here. Obviously, she was meant to be here.
“Karrak has found a priestess.” Balam’s tone was teasing.
“Oh?” Sanika’s was interested. “So soon? You’ve only been an avatar for ten seasons.”
“Pumas!” Balam snorted. “They’re too high-strung to be good avatars.”
Karrak glared at Balam. “And jaguars are so stubborn, they don’t know when they’ve been avatars too long.”
“Stop it, both of you!” Sanika said with a mixture of frustration and amusement. “I’m tired of listening to your bickering. How much longer will you be here, Karrak?”
Karrak looked north. “I leave tomorrow.”
Balam grinned at his wife. “His priestess…”
“… is waiting,” Karrak finished.
* * *
“Enough of this. We can finish the dye for the alpaca wool tomorrow.”
Yawning, Ninari nodded. “Good idea. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night, my friend.” Turning, Mireya slipped past the door curtain and into the dim corridor. She rolled her neck and shoulders then yawned. It had been a long day. She’d been roused in the middle of the night to help birth a baby. The woman had come to the sanctuary to give birth, believing the child would have a better life if it were born here. Then, another woman in town had gone into labor, and she’d spent most of the day there. Now, she was going to bed.
A few minutes later, she pushed aside the reed curtain hanging in her doorway and stepped inside.
“I was wondering if I would have to wait much longer.”
After starting -- the last thing she’d expected was to see Karrak stretched out on the mats that made her bed -- she quickly pulled the door mat into place. “How did you get in here?”
He grinned at her. “I walked. It wasn’t hard.”
“But there’s always someone…”
He held out his hand. “No one saw me.”
She clasped her hands in front of her. “You can’t be here,” she hissed. “No men are permitted in our private quarters. I’ll be whipped.”
His grin never wavered. “No one will see me here. Please, come to me. I’ve missed you. Haven’t you missed me?”
“No.”
His chuckle was low and compelling. “Your lips say no, but your eyes say yes. Come to me, Mireya. Let me love you.”
She swallowed, her gaze drinking in his form. He lay on his side, propped on one arm. He still held his hand out to her.
His cock was fully erect.
As she stared at it, Mireya could feel moisture beginning to seep between her legs. Her nipples pebbled against her shift. Warmth settled into the pit of her stomach.
“I want you, Mireya. I need you.”
Her feet seemed to move of their own volition. In less than a moment, she was kneeling at his side.
He pulled her shift over her head. “I’ve missed you.”
“Where…” She gasped as he suckled her nipple. “Where did you go?”
He released her nipple. “Hunting.” He sucked her other nipple into his mouth.
Mireya moaned and arched her back. She buried her fingers in his silky hair.
“Love me, Karrak. Love me.”
Chapter Twelve
“I thought of you every night I was gone,” Karrick said as he pulled her down to his side.
Mireya shuddered. He’d been gone over three weeks. He was exaggerating. “Impossible.”
He stopped nuzzling her breast and looked into her eyes. His gaze was sincere. “Every night, Mireya, you haunted my dreams. Loving, living, laughing. Without you, I’m incomplete.”
She shook her head. “No, Karrak. What you’re thinking cannot be.”
“I want you. I will have you. You are mine.”
After a hard, possessive kiss, he dipped his head to her breasts. After a quick lick on each one, his mouth continued its journey down her body, stopping at the ball of jade in her naval.
A delicate stab of desire sparked in her loins.
He flicked it.
Desire stabbed her loins.
He flicked it again. “Whenever your body moves against mine, this jade ball rubs against my stomach, teasing and caressing me, driving me to love you harder.”
Mireya moaned.
Her hips arched.
He slid his hand down over her stomach and cupped her between the legs. “But there’s more of you for me to explore,” he said after he kissed her stomach. “Your scent drives me wild. I must taste you.”
As he slid further down her body, Mireya buried her hands in his hair. So soft, softer than the alpaca wool she had been combing.
He lapped then nipped the inside of her thigh.
Mireya shivered. His tongue. That rough, rasping tongue, there, between her legs. Moaning, she shivered again. “Yes, Karrak. Lick me, please. I’ve wanted your tongue between my legs since the first time you lapped the back of my neck.”
His answer was a chuckle. Then, settling on his forearms between her thighs, he spread her lips with his thumbs and bent his head.
Stiffening in anticipation, Mireya tensed her stomach and sucked in a deep breath.
He kissed her, nibbled her tiny nub delicately, spread her lips farther apart, and lapped her -- long and slow.
Head thrown back, Mireya arched higher into his mouth. Clenching her jaw against the scream rolling in her throat, her nostrils flared as she forced air into and out of her lungs.
“No other man can do this to you. Make you feel like this.” He lapped her again.
And again.
And again.
She thrashed her head from side to side. Never, never had she experienced anything like his tongue.
Finally, a long low moan escaped her. Stiffening, she clenched his head with her thighs.
As he twirled his tongue around her aching clit, he slipped two fingers inside of her and began to pump.
He lifted his head. “Come for me, my love. Come for me.”
Mireya pumped her hips. “Yes,” she hissed. “Yes, yes!”
As moisture seeped around his fingers, he pushed them further inside. She clenched and unclenched her muscles around them.
As she moaned and shuddered, he slid back up her body. “Do you want me, Mireya? Do you want me inside of you?”
Her wits scattered by the arousal surging through her body, Mireya struggled to comprehend what he was saying.
“You’re mine, Mireya. I want you. I need you. Do you want me?”
He slid his cock against her wet slit. “Do you want me?” he hissed into her ear after he lapped her neck.
She slid her hands down his back, reveling in his smooth muscles, concentrating on the hard body that lay on top of hers.
“Do you want me?”
“Goddess, yes! I want you. I need you inside of me now!”
Lowering his mouth to hers, he parted her lips with his and sucked her tongue into his mouth. His cock easily slid past her moist lips.
Flexing his hips, he began to pump.
Mireya wrapped her legs around his waist and matched her thrusts to his.
He was able to thrust more deeply.
His mouth left hers, and he nipped her neck.
“Yes, oh, yes.” She ran her hands up and down his back, then slipped them under his arms to caress the hair that grew there. She suckled one of his nipples.
Tangling his hand in her hair, he pulled her face from his chest and looked into her eyes. “Come more for me, my love, come for me now.”
A deeper thrust.
Another.
/> Mireya closed her eyes against the profound emotions she saw swimming in the blue depths of his.
He tightened his hand in her hair. “Don’t close your eyes. Look at me.”
She didn’t try to fight the command in his voice. She opened her eyes and stared into this.
“You’re mine. Say it. You’re mine.”
Her muscles clenched and clenched again.
A particularly deep thrust sent shivers of ecstasy tingling through her body.
“Say it,” he commanded.
Groaning, fighting to deny what she was beginning to feel, Mireya gasped, “Yours.”
His mouth fell on hers. His kisses were hard, demanding, dominating. His body enveloped hers, filled hers, mastered hers.
And she reveled in it.
He wrenched his mouth from hers. His breathing was harsh, almost as harsh as hers. “I’m coming, Mireya.”
“Yes. Come in me.” She swiveled her hips as he thrust into her. Her muscles quivered.
“Now!” Karrak thrust one last time. His balls clenched and fire exploded through his cock, spurting deep into the woman who stiffened then shuddered beneath him.
Slowly, their breathing calmed. Karrak rolled off of Mireya and pulled her into his arms. She snuggled against him, resting her head on his chest. When pulled her closer, she sighed. Karrak kissed the top of her head. “What?”
“I… I don’t… You shouldn’t be here.”
Contentment rumbled in his chest. “Shhh. Rest. Don’t worry.”
She tried to push herself up. “But…”
Karrak chuckled again. “Nothing will happen. I promise.”
Mireya laid her head on his chest and sighed with contentment, so satisfied she failed to comprehend that the rumbling coming from Karrak’s throat was purring.
Outside Mireya’s door, Lilliam froze. Was that a man’s voice? She listened more closely. It was. Mireya had a man in her room.
Lilliam smiled a satisfied smile. Mireya, who could do no wrong, Tula’s favorite, had a man in her room. She would not be forgiven for this transgression.
Spinning on her heel, Lilliam hurried back the way she had come. Stopping abruptly, she pushed a door mat aside. “Alla. Get up,” she commanded. “You must stand here and make sure no one slips past your door.”
The sleepy woman pushed herself up. “Who… Lilliam? What do you want?”
“Get up, sloth. Watch the corridor, and I’ll give you that piece of amber you’ve always admired. Mireya has a man in her room, and I’m going to make sure Tula finds out.”
Lilliam turned away and hurried toward Tula’s quarters. Alla would watch the passage, and no one would pass by without her knowing. She was a fool, but a greedy fool. Besides, she didn’t like Mireya either.
Hurrying onward, Lilliam chuckled. First, Mireya would go. Then so would any others who wouldn’t accept that she, Lilliam, would be the next High Priestess.
In the room next to Alla’s, Ninari pushed herself up. A man? In Mireya’s room? Mireya would never take such a risk. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to warn her.
Wrapping her blanket around her shoulders, Ninari moved quickly, slipping around a turn in the corridor just as Alla stepped out of her room. Soon she was before Mireya’s door. Pushing the mat aside, she hustled inside -- and stopped short. No torches burned, but bright moonlight streamed in through the window high in the wall. Mireya lay on her sleeping mat wrapped in the arms of a golden god.
Her gasp woke them.
The man shot to his feet, pulling Mireya up with him, shoving her behind him.
Eyes wide, Mireya gaped at her. “Ninari! What are you doing here?”
“Lilliam. She knows you have a man in your room. She’s going for Tula now.”
Karrak cursed. He couldn’t be found here. He wouldn’t allow Mireya to be punished for his transgression. Ignoring the woman who’d stumbled into the room, he pulled Mireya from behind his back and held her before him. “Do you trust me?”
Looked into his face, she swallowed. “Yes.”
Karrak pulled her into his arms and kissed her -- hard -- before he backed away from her. “I love you, Mireya.”
Golden mist shimmered in the moonlight as Karrak shape shifted. In his puma form, he rubbed his head against Mireya’s thigh, spun about, and leaped for the high window. He reached it easily, pulled himself out, and dropped to the ground. There, he froze.
Silence greeted both his ears and eyes.
With one last glance over his shoulder, he sprang toward the forest and disappeared into the undergrowth.
Ninari was the first to speak. “Is he a god?”
Mireya swallowed and opened her mouth to speak. A squeak came out. She swallowed again. “I… I…”
The door mat was jerked aside. Holding a brightly burning torch, Lilliam led Tula into the room.
“See, she has a man here.”
Both Ninari and Mireya shielded their eyes against the sudden brightness.
“Man? What man?” Tula asked in an aggravated tone.
Lilliam spun around.
The torch she held illuminated every corner of Mireya’s small room.
“There was a man here. I heard him!”
Tula folded her arms in front of her chest. “Then where did he go? Out the window?”
Mireya swallowed, hoping her voice had come back to her. “Lilliam must have heard Ninari talking to me.”
“You lie!” Lilliam snarled. “You had a man in here. I heard him laugh.”
“That’s enough!” Tula commanded. “Ever since you arrived, you’ve caused dissension. Once more, and I will send you back to your family’s house.”
Lilliam straightened. “You wouldn’t dare. My brother…”
“… is the king. I know. You’ve mentioned it often enough. One more chance, Lilliam. That’s it. Now come. Let these two get the sleep they need.”
After a final hateful glare for Mireya, Lilliam followed Tula from the room.
Ninari patted her friend’s hand and followed the other women.
With a sigh, Mireya sank onto her sleeping mats.
When Ninari had burst into the room, her heart had clenched in fear. Not for herself, but for Karrak. Any man found in the private quarters was punished publicly. And once the bloodthirsty temple priests saw Karrak, they’d take him for sacrifice. The thought of him dying had shaken her to the bone.
But then, he’d transformed into a giant puma with blue eyes.
A sob escaped her and she wrapped her arms around herself. It couldn’t be. A shape shifter. Here? Why? Why did he keep coming to her?
A tear rolled down her cheek. Another followed, and another. What was she going to do? She’d fallen in love with a shape shifter.
Mireya stiffened. Love? No! It wasn’t possible. She couldn’t fall in love. Her life was dedicated to healing.
Karrak’s smiling face appeared in her mind’s eye. Her heart clenched and she blinked back a tear. The memory of his last, tender love-making returned. How could she live without him?
After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours, Mireya finally fell into a fitful sleep.
The next morning, she woke to the scent of passion flowers. A small vine of them lay next to her head.
Chapter Thirteen
As she lifted the purple flowers to her nose and inhaled, an acolyte burst into the room. “Mireya! That woman pregnant with twins has gone into labor!”
Shoving all thoughts of Karrak into the far corner of her mind, Mireya leaped to her feet, pulling her hair behind her head and tying it there with a thong. After belting her shift with a colorful cotton belt, she slid her sandals onto her feet, grabbed her bag of medicines, and followed the acolyte out of the room.
Twenty minutes later, she was on the other side of the town using all her skills to help a first-time mother bring her babies into the world.
Just after the sun set, Karrak slipped through the door of the temple. The anteroom was empty. Grabbing the torch next t
o the door, he doused it in a pot of sand. Shadows engulfed him as he leaned back against the wall. All he had to do was wait for an acolyte and send her to fetch Mireya.
As he waited, he shifted nervously. He’d spent most of the day pacing along through the jungle. The shocked look on her face when he’d shifted to his puma shape had been weighing on his mind all day. Though humans revered shape shifters, believing them to be especially favored by the gods, most humans also feared them even more, unable or unwilling to understand or accept their unique ability to take an animal’s form. That wouldn’t matter if shape shifters would be able to completely avoid humans. Unfortunately, male shape shifters far outnumbered females. So, if one wanted a mate, he most likely had to court a human, but few human women had the fortitude to mate one.
Was Mireya one of these? Would she recoil in horror next time she saw him?
Karrak shook his head. No. She was a strong woman, the strongest he’d ever seen. She wouldn’t be afraid of him.
“Is someone here?”
The sharp, impatient tone drew him from his musings, and he focused on the woman standing on the other side of the room. She stood stiffly, back straight, her arms crossed over her chest, a frown on her face, eyes straining to see into the shadows surrounding him, obviously angry to be there.
“Well!” Her tone was sharper.
“I’m waiting for Mireya.”
Nostrils flaring, she stiffened even more. “Why do you need the healer? And what happened to the light? Why are you hiding in the dark?”
“I’ll only speak to Mireya.”
Anger flashing from her eyes, she stepped further into the room. “If you want to see her, you will tell me why.”
Arrogant witch, Karrak thought to himself. “I’ll come back later.” But when he turned to go, a slight form ran through the doorway, slammed into him, squeaked with pain, and bounced off his chest.
As he knelt, the woman behind him grabbed a torch and strode across the room. “Who is it? What do you want?”
The young girl in white blinked as Lilliam thrust the torch into her face. “Mireya sent me for more herbs.”
