“I don’t know. I don’t know where you can go, I just know you have to get away from here. Away from me.”
Rone paced restlessly around the circle, marking off the dimensions of the invisible force-field they found themselves in. Sure enough, none of the trees were reachable. They were trapped—or Kate was. Trapped in an unbreakable cage with a male who was about to become a ravening Beast. Her heart skittered nervously in her chest—what was she going to do?
“What in the Seven Hells are we going to do?” Kate heard Rone mutter to himself, repeating her internal question. “What can we…” Suddenly his nearly pure silver eyes drifted down to the bunch of purple gloved staybacks she still clutched in one hand. “Those!” He motioned excitedly. “You have staybacks!”
“I do. I grabbed them as I left your aunt’s garden.” Kate looked down at the bunch of flowers which were now looking much worse for the wear—their stems crushed and their petals limp and drooping.
“Use them on me—when I turn,” Rone directed. “Just keep pushing them into my face again and again.”
“But…won’t that make you—make your Beast—angry?” Kate objected.
“Yes, almost certainly,” Rone said grimly. “But it should also keep it—me— from getting to you. Please Kate, promise me you’ll do it. I feel…” He looked overhead, his deep voice strangled. “I feel the moons’ convergence. In another moment they’ll completely overlap and I…I won’t be able to hold it…hold it back any longer.”
“I…” Kate didn’t know what to say.
“Promise!” Rone insisted and his voice was little more than a growl now, his eyes almost pure silver. “Please, Kate—it’s coming forward. Taking over. I can’t…can’t…”
The sentence ended in a long, liquid howl that set the short hairs at the nape of Kate’s neck on end. Overhead, the full moons of G’neral finally completely overlapped and in their pure silver light she saw the man who was her husband—the man who she had forgotten but was beginning to love all over again—changing.
Rone had already taken off his shirt and now his muscular chest, which had always been so smooth, began to sprout hair.
Kate watched in horrified fascination, wondering if he would become as hairy as the other Beast-man who had chased her through the forest. But no, to her relief, Rone’s chest hair mostly confined itself to his well-defined pecs with a small trail leading down the front of his washboard abs and into the black flight trousers he still wore. The whiskers on his face seemed to get thicker too until he was wearing a short, scruffy beard that made him look dangerous—like seven miles of bad road, her mama would have said.
Well at least he didn’t grow a freaking fur coat like that other guy, Kate thought. In fact, Rone’s new look was kind of sexy in an animalistic way—if you liked guys with hairy chests. And Kate had never been opposed to them.
Of course, what she was opposed to, she reminded herself, as Rone turned pure silver eyes filled with lust on her, was being held down and taken against her will.
He made a low, questioning growl in the back of his throat and took a step towards her.
Kate took a step of her own, away from him, as her heart leaped up into her throat.
“Stay back,” he told the Beast, trying to keep her voice level and even. “Just stay back, okay? You and I weren’t ever supposed to meet so just leave me alone.”
The Beast made another inquiring noise and came towards her again. This time Kate held her ground. With a hand that trembled only a little, she raised her wilting bouquet of staybacks and thrust them directly into his face.
Rone’s Beast snarled and staggered back, pawing angrily at his face as the other Beast-man had done. Then he looked at Kate with an expression of distrust in his silver eyes.
“That’s right,” Kate told him in a shaking voice. “Just…just stay back or you’ll get more of the same. Don’t try to get up to anything and we’ll get along just fine.”
He growled softly and came towards her again.
Again Kate thrust the wilted bouquet in his face and again he stepped back…but not as far as before. And it only took a moment before he came for her again.
This time, Kate saw a kind of determination on his face. Rone might not be at home mentally right now but his Beast was clearly determined to get to know her…intimately.
And would that really be such a bad thing? whispered a little voice in the back of her head. Was it the voice of the Knowing?
What—letting Rone’s Beast rape me? Hell yes, it would, Kate told it sternly.
You can’t keep this up all night, the voice said reasonably and this time she knew it was the voice of the Knowing. It isn’t safe—you’re just going to make him angrier and angrier. And you know what happens if the Beast can’t breed…
“He’ll want to feed. Oh God,” Kate whispered to herself. “But what should I do?”
She didn’t often communicate so directly with the inner sense inside her. Most often it only surfaced to give her the occasional warning or allowed her to read people when she needed to. But this time it spoke directly to her.
Submit, Kate. Give yourself willingly.
“Like the girl in the book—the Volume of Submission?” Kate muttered. “I can’t…I couldn’t. I don’t…don’t know Rone well enough for this, let alone his Beast. I’m not ready—not yet.”
You may never be completely ready for something like this, The Knowing told her calmly. But the only way to get through this situation is to submit.
“But what about what Tante Corii said? That the Beast would be able to smell if I wasn’t madly in love with him? With Rone? I mean, I’m starting to care for him but I’m not in love with him—not yet.”
Yes, you are, whispered the Knowing. You just don’t remember it right now. But the Beast will scent your true emotions—the ones that are buried. Trust him, Kate…and trust yourself. You can do this. You have to. It’s the only way.
“The only way. The only way,” Kate muttered to herself. The Knowing had never steered her wrong and usually she listened to it without a second thought. But this…what it was telling her to do now was hard…harder than anything she’d ever had to do before.
A little distance away, the Beast Rone had become made a soft, inquiring growl and stepped towards her again. Kate raised the wilted bunch of stayback flowers once more and saw his pure silver eyes track her movements. A rumbling sound started deep in his chest and one corner of his sensuous mouth lifted in a snarl.
Kate had a choice to make here and she knew it. Either she could continue to try and keep the very determined Beast away from her all night using the wilting stayback flowers…or she could listen to the Knowing and give in to the inevitable. What should she do?
She lifted the flowers higher and Rone’s Beast growled again, its silver eyes filled with anger and mistrust. Kate made up her mind. Later she thought it was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life, but she took a deep breath…and tossed the flowers away.
“It’s all right,” she said, kneeling down to rub her open palm against the grass to get rid of the scent of the staybacks. “Look…see? I don’t have them anymore.”
Standing slowly, she held out her open hands, palm up, just like the girl in the Volume of Submission had.
Rone’s Beast made a soft, uncertain growl in the back of his throat and eyed her suspiciously.
“Really, I don’t,” Kate told it earnestly. “They’re all gone. You…you can come over and see…see for yourself if you want to.”
Remembering another illustration from the book, she tugged at the neckline of the petal dress. It lowered easily and suddenly she felt the cool breeze on her bare breasts. Her nipples tightened immediately and she felt her heart beating like a jackhammer in her chest. But there was no backing down now.
“See?” she told Rone’s Beast. “Here I am…come see for yourself.”
He made another inquiring sound and came towards her again. Remembering that she shouldn�
�t stare him in the eyes, Kate looked away submissively as he towered over her, his broad, hairy chest level with her face.
This close to him, she could smell the rich, pheromone-laden aroma Rone had said was his Bonding Scent. In fact, Kate had never smelled it so strongly before—the dark, spicy, masculine fragrance seemed to overwhelm her senses and make her almost dizzy.
To her surprise, the scent seemed to calm her. It spoke to a part of her that her cognitive brain had forgotten—to the memories that were buried somewhere deep in her subconscious waiting, hopefully, to someday come out again.
Home…safety…need…love…lust…desire…pleasure…
Rone’s scent promised her all these things and more and Kate found herself responding to that promise, even though she wasn’t completely sure she wanted to.
Having ascertained that the stinging stayback flowers were nowhere to be found, Rone’s Beast leaned over her and sniffed her hair.
Only I guess I shouldn’t keep thinking of him as the Beast or Rone’s Beast, Kate told herself. He really is Rone…just in another form. A slightly hairier and wilder form but it’s still him…still the male I’m coming to care for. The one who loves me so much he’s willing to kill or die for me. He’s mine…and soon I’ll be his.
She hoped, anyway. Would Rone be willing to breed her in his new, mindless Beast form…or would he sense her uncertainty and want to feed on her instead?
Kate held her breath as he sniffed her hair and then pushed it aside to press his face against the side of her neck. This was the moment of truth. If the Beast—no, if Rone—didn’t like what he smelled, he would rip her throat out in a heartbeat.
He could do it, too—she had no doubt. The brilliant, silvery light of the converged moons showed that his teeth had grown longer and sharper. They were nowhere near as sharp as the modified tusks she’d seen in the picture of the wolf/bear beast the Wulven used to turn into before the Kindred had come. But they were still sharp enough and he was plenty strong enough to kill her with no trouble at all.
His breath was hot against the side of her throat. Then, he opened his mouth and she felt sharp, white teeth settle against her flesh, right at the juncture where her neck met her shoulder. Kate felt like her heart was trying to pound its way out of her ribs as the needle-like fangs sank into her flesh, lightly piercing the skin. Oh God, was he going to kill her now? Was he getting set to rip her throat out?
“Rone,” she whispered breathlessly and dared to put a hand to his broad, hairy chest. “Rone, please…that…that hurts.” She wasn’t trying to push him away—the Knowing warned her that would be a mistake—possibly a deadly one. Instead, she curled her fingers in the soft, wiry black hair that had grown between his pecs and stroked him gently. “Please,” she whispered. “Please, Rone, you’re hurting me. I know you don’t really want to hurt me. You…you love me, Rone. You’ve told me so over and over. Please.”
He growled softly and for a moment his teeth bit just a little deeper. Kate felt the warm trickle of blood running down her bare back and shoulder and cried out, unable to help herself. This was it—she was going to die. Rone’s Beast could sense that she didn’t remember him enough to love him and he was going to kill her here and now. He—
But just then the teeth withdrew and a gentle licking began. Kate held still in absolute shock as Rone bathed the bite wound he’d made tenderly with his warm, wet tongue.
When he finally pulled away, she dared to look. It was hard to see her own shoulder but she was able to tell that the wound was gone, as if it had never been. In its place was a prominently placed set of bite marks, already healed to silvery-white scars.
Understanding burst over her suddenly and she looked up at the Beast.
“Marking me—you were marking me, weren’t you?”
Rone made a soft growl that sounded almost like affirmation. His silver eyes blazed with possessiveness and Kate knew as surely as if he’d told her in words that he had had bitten her not to harm or cause pain but to show that she was his—totally and completely his.
“All…all right,” she whispered, still looking up at him. “I’m yours. Now what…what are you going to do with me?”
In answer, Rone lowered his head again but this time he didn’t sniff her neck or hair. Instead, he pressed his scratchy cheeks to the soft, bare slopes of her breasts.
Kate gave a little moan as she felt his hot breath against her sensitive flesh and then Rone was sucking one of her tight peaks, drawing deep and hard to get as much of her breast into his mouth as he could.
“Oh…God, Rone!” she gasped as he sucked hard against her nipple, a sweet, savage kiss that was filled with pure, animalistic lust.
When he released one nipple, he went immediately for the other and sucked it even harder. Kate felt the sharp sting of pain as his big mouth enveloped her, pulling her tight, sensitive peak deep into the hot cavern of his mouth. If the big Kindred had been in his right mind, Kate would have told him to back off a little. But there was no backing off the Beast. There was nothing she could do but try to relax in his tight, possessive hold and let him do as he pleased…let him suck her tender nipples as hard and as long as he wanted to.
She moaned softly in mingled pain and pleasure. Despite her fear and uncertainty, she had to admit this was turning her on. With each hard draw of his mouth on her sensitive peaks, showers of sparks seemed to travel through her, especially down to her pussy which was beginning to feel wet and swollen. The sensation was intense—almost more than Kate could bear. God, would it ever end? Would he ever be through?
At last, Rone seemed to be finished sucking her breasts. He pulled away from her and pawed at the petal dress she still wore.
You know what comes next, whispered the Knowing. Yes, she did. Remembering the Volume of Submission, Kate slipped off the lovely petal dress and let it fall in a soft heap at her feet. Then she stepped out of it and lay down on the grass, using the petal fabric as a kind of pillow. She bent her legs at the knee but kept them closed.
“All right,” she whispered to Rone. “Here I am. Do…do what you want.”
Rone gave a soft, lustful growl and suddenly he was on his hands and knees beside her. Kate tried to stay calm and still—it was important to let him know she was submitting to him, that she wasn’t going to try and get away before he took what he wanted from her.
Her knees were still closed though—she couldn’t bear to part them of her own volition. It was too scary…made her feel too vulnerable. The grass tickled her bare back and bottom and the breeze felt cool against her throbbing nipples. She shivered but Rone’s big form beside hers radiated heat like a furnace, drawing a line of fire down her side when he nudged her gently.
“Rone?” she whispered as he pressed his face to her hip and then followed the curve of her thigh until he came to her closed knees. “Rone, please…” But he was already trying to nudge his way between her legs and Kate remembered what he had told her—about how his Beast wanted to taste her so badly because he was addicted to her honey. Well, after the way he’d been sucking her nipples, she certainly felt wet enough. It was just scary to let such a huge male—one who had been reduced down to his most basic animal lusts—into such a delicate area.
Still, Rone was nudging her insistently and she knew she couldn’t hold him off for long.
“O…Okay,” she whispered in a shaky voice, letting her legs drift apart. “Only please…be gentle, okay? I’m really sensitive there…especially after the way you, uh, tasted me so long last night.”
Rone looked up at the soft, pleading sound of her voice. Kate wasn’t sure if he understood her words but he did seem to understand her tone. He gave a soft growl that was almost comforting and then spread her thighs wide and leaned in to taste her.
“Oh…oh!” Kate gasped as she felt his hot mouth connect with her swollen outer pussy. “Oh, Rone.”
She couldn’t tell if he was trying to be gentle or not—maybe he was at first but his need for her
honey seemed to drive him wild. With a hungry rumble deep in his throat, he wrapped muscular arms around her thighs and split her wide.
Kate gasped as his tongue dragged over her slick core, spreading her pussy lips and delving deep to satiate his ruthless desire. He’d been so gentle and patient the night before, when he was showing her that she had nothing to fear from him. But this was a different Rone—this was a male who craved the flavor of her juices the way he craved his next breath of air. There was no stopping him and no appeasing him—no way to help herself.
“Please…please!” Kate moaned as he lashed her tender clit ruthlessly with his tongue, sending sparks of pleasure so intense it was scary throughout her entire body. “Please, Rone! It’s too much—too much!”
She tried to struggle against him but he only growled and held her tighter, his face buried hungrily between her thighs. Kate cried and bucked against him as the first orgasm was torn from her—rushing over her like a freight train you don’t see until it’s too late.
But the more she struggled, the tighter he held her. Kate moaned and scrabbled at the thick grass to either side of her to no avail. Rone only growled as he pressed his mouth hard against her sensitive pussy and lapped away the honey the sharp, hard come had drawn from her. Kate felt his long, hot tongue slide deep into her channel, delving deep to get every last bit of her juices. Then, at last, he lifted his head to look at her.
“Rone,” she whispered. There was nothing of the man she’d come to care for in his face. There was only wild hunger—a desire for her so deep she knew it wouldn’t be easily satiated. His mouth and jaw were shiny with her juices and his silver eyes were half-lidded with animal lust. He licked his lips and then lowered his head for more.
He’s not done yet, Kate realized. Might not be done for hours. The Beast loves my taste…he’ll do anything to get more of it.
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