Dark Possession Read online

Chapter Five

 

  MaryAnn circled Manolito's neck with her arms and buried her face in his shoulder. The wind whipped viciously at her face and neck, tugged maliciously at her hair and managed to slip under the leather jacket to wrap icy fingers around her skin. If she thought the rain forest was bad, flying in the canopy was a thousand times worse. She felt dizzy and sick, and her stomach did rolling flips. She'd face the million ants and the tree frogs before she'd do this again. As a child you must have wanted to fly.

  She was certain he was reading her mind easily, and she could feel his superior male amusement, reminding her why she didn't care all that much for men. And since she wasn't in the least bit psychic or telepathic, she answered out loud, pressing her lips against his throat. "Never. Not once. I like my feet firmly on the ground. " But his skin smelled so good. It was hard to not sniff and drag him into her lungs. Manolito settled them down in a relatively protected area, which she was grateful for because it instantly began to rain. Not a soft drizzle, or even a steady one, but a hard, pounding downpour, as if the heavens simply opened up and dumped an ocean on them.

  MaryAnn stepped away from him the moment she had her legs working. Her stomach was still rolling and pitching, and she swore her nose twitched wanting another good sniff, but she refrained and sent him a long scowl. The problem was, he was looking at her. Not just looking. Staring. Her heart did a slow roll and her stomach did the butterfly thing, but with a lot more wing. And her womb clenched and her nipples. . .

  She jerked her jacket tight around her and summoned a glare to go with the scowl. Who looked like that? Honestly. Men didn't really stand there looking gorgeous and hot in the rain forest. Not just hot. Smoking hot. He was the sexiest thing she'd ever laid eyes on, and he was looking at her like he might devour her in one utterly delicious bite. His eyes smoldered with a dark sensuality, making her forget all about leeches and ants, and making her wholly aware she was a woman. She hadn't felt that way in so long-if ever-that she was flustered.

  "So," Manolito said, his black eyes burning with such pure sin she nearly melted on the spot. "You came at last. "

  Oh, God. Her stomach did another roll right along with her heart, and she tasted sex in her mouth. He dripped with it. "I came to rescue you. " She blurted the words out before she could think. She couldn't actually think with him staring and her brain short-circuiting, so really, as stupid as the remark might have been, it wasn't half-bad under the circumstances.

  He smiled, a slow, sensual smile that sizzled and dazzled and tightened the spirals in her already curly hair. Maybe he was the Carpathian secret weapon against women, because it was working on her. The man was a menace. Truly. She had to get ahold of herself. She snapped her fingers. "Consider yourself saved and let's get out of here. " Because wanting to jump him was most likely the effect of the rain forest, all sultry and sweaty. She'd read a lot of Tarzan books in her youth. She was just programmed for sex in the jungle, and the sooner she got out of there, the faster she'd return to normal.

  He crooked his finger at her. "Come here. "

  Her mouth went dry. "I'm perfectly fine right here, thank you. "

  With her favorite boots sinking into the muck. She couldn't move if she'd wanted to. Her heart pounded and fear crept in, not of him, of herself. For herself.

  His gaze slid over her, and there was dark possession glittering in the black depths. Not love. Possession. Ownership. Raw sensuality. Her body responded, but her brain screamed a warning. She wasn't dealing with a human male who lived under the rules of her society. She was alone with a Carpathian who believed he had every right to her. Who knew he could control her mind and persuade her to do his bidding. This man would demand total submission and surrender from his partner. And she was a no-submission, no-surrender kind of woman. How the hell had she gotten herself into such trouble?

  "I said come here to me. " His tone didn't rise, or even harden; rather he pitched the command lower so that his voice felt like the velvet rasp of a tongue sliding over her skin. His black eyes compelled her obedience.

  She stepped closer before she could stop herself, and strong arms whipped around her, crushing her body against his. She fit like a glove. He was hard and muscular, and she was all soft curves and aware of every one of them. He whispered something in his own language, something soft and utterly sensual. Te avio palafertulam. He repeated the words as his tongue swirled against the pulse beating so frantically in her neck. "You are my lifemate. "

  It couldn't be true because she knew one had to be psychic, but right then, in that precise moment, she wanted it to be true. She wanted the feeling of belonging to this man. She had never had such a physical reaction to another being in her life. Entolam kuulua, avio palafertulam. His lips whispered over her pulse, teeth nipping gently as his tongue stroked another caress. She thought her body might go up in flames. "I claim you as my lifemate. "

  She lifted her head, opened her mouth to protest, but his mouth fastened on hers, taking her breath, exchanging it with his. Her legs turned to rubber, and to anchor herself she wound one leg around his thighs while her tongue tangled with his in a long, slow dance of pure erotic pleasure. The feeling burst through her so that her blood pounded and her heart thundered in her ears. She almost missed the soft words brushing along the walls of her mind and embedding there.

  Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed. Elidamet andam. Pesamet andam. Uskolfertulamet andam. Sivamet andam. Sielamet andam. Ainamet andam. Sivamet kuuluak kaik etta a ted. "I belong to you. I offer my life for you. I give you my protection. I give you my allegiance. I give you my heart. I give you my soul. I give you my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. "

  The kiss deepened, and she was falling, burning, wrapping herself inside Manolito De La Cruz. She felt her heart and soul reaching for his. Merging. Her breasts ached and grew heavy. She felt the damp eagerness in her deepest feminine core, and her mind blurred even more with the hot passion rising.

  Some small, sane part tried to save her, some little untouched portion of her brain raising a red flag, but his mouth was unlike anything she'd ever experienced and she wanted more, his taste addicting. His hand slipped inside her jacket, pushed up the edge of her shirt and closed over her breast so that she gasped and drew his head down to her, wanting him. Wanting. No, needing.

  His lips wandered down her throat as one hand settled into her hair, bunching the thick braid in his fist, anchoring her to him while he explored the satiny soft skin. He found the swell of her breast, the mark he had placed there branding her his.

  Ainaak olenszal sivambin. "Your life will be cherished by me for all time. " The words vibrated through her, so that she pressed closer, pushing against his thigh, easing the terrible aching emptiness, wanting to fill it with him.

  She cried out when his mouth settled over her breast, drawing her sensitive nipple into his mouth right through the sheer lace of her gold peekaboo bra. He suckled strongly, his tongue flicking, teeth scraping. All the while she heard his voice murmuring in her head.

  Te elidet ainaak pide minan. "Your life will be placed above my own for all time. "

  His tongue danced and laved. He lifted his head, his gaze holding a mesmerizing dark possession. "And your pleasure. " Once more he captured her mouth, stealing her breath, taking her will, lighting a fire in her veins.

  His mouth burned a trail of flames from her throat to her breast, his teeth teasing and nipping with tiny little bites, each one sending a rush of hot, welcoming liquid sizzling through her feminine channel. She was weak with wanting him. She nearly whimpered when his mouth found her other breast, pulling strongly, until she could no longer think clearly. She arched into him, wrapping her leg more firmly around him, aligning their bodies so she could press tightly into him.

  Te avio palafertulam. Ainaak sivamet jutta oleny. Ainaak terad vigyazak. "You are my lifemate. You are bound to me for all eternity. You are always in my care. "

>   He lifted his head and once more found the spot where he had marked her. His teeth sank deep. Fire burned, pain flashed through her like a storm, then pleasure so sweet, so erotic, she moved with restless abandon against him, cradling his head, holding him to her while his long, inky hair spilled over her arms and she buried her face in the silky strands. She felt herself slipping further and further from the woman she knew into another realm entirely.

  He murmured something else in his language, his voice so sensual, she pushed aside the small warning going off in her head and kept her face buried in the silk of his hair because nothing in her life had ever felt so right. She belonged. She'd found what she'd always been looking for. Content with her life, she had always assumed she would grow old and die with the comfort she'd achieved, but now this was a gift. Passion. Excitement. Belonging. It was all hers.

  There was nothing shy about MaryAnn. She had chosen to abstain from sex simply because she would not share her body with a man she didn't trust, didn't love, a man she wasn't going to spend the rest of her life with, but at that moment, she knew Manolito De La Cruz was her other half. She would share everything with him, was eager to do so.

  His tongue swept across her breast, making her shiver with need, His voice whispered again, and the strangest thing happened. She found herself standing off to the side observing as she ran her hands beneath his shirt and pushed it up his chest, revealing the defined muscles flowing beneath his skin and the shredded rips in his belly where the jaguar had raked him. Her hand slid up over the terrible claw marks, her palm covering them, infusing them with warmth. She saw herself press kisses up his belly and chest to a point just above his heart.

  Her tongue found the pulse she was looking for, that steady, strong beat. Her body clenched in anticipation, throbbing and weeping with need. Her hand slid over the spot, and she stared at her fingernail, the one she'd broken earlier. It lengthened into a sharp talon. To her shock, she opened his skin and pressed her mouth willingly to his chest. He groaned and threw back his head, ecstasy mixing with passion. His hand came up to hold her to him, urging her to take more. And she did. There appeared to be no revulsion, no hesitation. Her body writhed against his, a sensuous slide of curves, an invitation for much, much more.

  And he took her up on it, his hands rough, intimate, possessive. He yanked at her clothes, wanting bare skin against his. When she rubbed her body along the thick, hard bulge straining his jeans, he shuddered and murmured his approval; he cupped her bottom and half lifted her to align their bodies so that he was pressed against her most intimate spot.

  As if she knew exactly what to do, how much she could take of the hot, addicting exchange, she swept her tongue across the wound and lifted her head to look into his mesmerizing eyes. She looked different, her eyes dark and sultry, her lips curved and voluptuous, so sexy she couldn't believe it was her, so ready to do anything and everything Manolito would ask of her. She wanted to please him, pleasure him, and have him do the same for her.

  He smiled down at her and her heart went crazy, reacting every bit as strongly as her body.

  Palafertul. "Wife. " He kissed the tip of her nose, the corner of her mouth, hovered there, a breath away, looking into her eyes. Tell me your name that your koje, your husband, will be better able to address you.

  MaryAnn gasped as the words sunk in. He couldn't have done worse if he'd thrown a bucket of ice water over her. MaryAnn blinked and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. What in the world was she doing wrapped around a man who didn't even know her name, but professed to be her husband? And what in the world had gotten into her that she let someone mesmerize her to the point of doing things totally against everything she believed in? Manolito made her weak. He'd taken complete control of her, and she'd just gone along with it as if he could rule her life with sex.

  Fury burst through her, a fury she'd felt only one other time before, when a man had burst into her home and threatened to kill her. He dragged her out of her bed, punching her viciously before she could defend herself, throwing her to the floor and kicking her. He had leaned down and stabbed her with a knife, and when the blade had gone into her flesh, something wild and ugly and out of control had lifted its head and raged. She'd felt her muscles bunch and knot, and strength had poured into her. At that moment Destiny had arrived, and she'd killed the man, saving MaryAnn's life and maybe her soul, Because whatever had been inside of her frightened her more than her attacker.

  MaryAnn was a woman who absolutely abhorred violence and could never condone it, yet now she had an indescribable desire to slap that handsome face as hard as she could. Instead she leapt away, at the same time screaming in her mind. She put every bit of fear and loathing at herself and her own actions into her cry because no one could hear her, and no one would know the terror she lived with trying to contain that slumbering beast dwelling deep within her.

  Get away from me. For one terrible moment she didn't know if she was yelling at Manolito-or at whatever lived inside of her.

  Manolito staggered, fell back into the broad trunk of a tree and stood shocked and staring. No one had ever delivered him a psychic slap before, but that was what his lifemate had done to him. Not just any slap, but one hard enough to knock him off his feet. No one had dared treat him in such a manner, not in all the centuries of his existence.

  Dark anger crawled through his belly. She had no right to deny him-or defy him. He had a right to the solace of her body whenever he wanted it. She was his. Her body was his. Blood pounded and surged through his veins. His cock was filled to bursting. He'd waited a thousand years-more even-faithful to this one woman and she was denying him.

  "I could make you crawl to me and beg forgiveness for that," he snapped, his black eyes smoldering with dark, telling smoke. He could feel the pull of her, so powerful he couldn't stop the frenzy his bock-had gone into. Hard and hot and crawling with such a need-the feeling was far worse than any hunger for sustenance. He drank in the sight of her, shocked at her beauty. Her skin was so soft-looking he ached to run his fingers over it, to slide his body over hers, into hers. She had full, luscious curves and a mouth he couldn't stop staring at, sinful and wicked and so tempting his body hardened into one long, painful ache. He imagined her fingers on him, her mouth, her body surrounding his, tight and hot and killing him with pleasure.

  He needed to bury his face in her wealth of blue black curls, inhale her scent and keep it for all time in his lungs. He needed the warmth of her arms and the sound of her laughter. But his body needing sating first. He couldn't look at her and not want to be inside her, not want to ravage her, bring her to fulfillment, to have her cry out his name. He wanted her on her knees in front of him, wanted her to admit she belonged to him and no one else, admit that she wanted-even needed-to give him the ultimate pleasure of her body.

  MaryAnn wasn't certain exactly what had happened. He'd fallen back, but she'd only yelled at him, the arrogant ass. In any case, crawling didn't figure into her plans. And begging forgiveness wasn't exactly her style. He looked furious, and dangerous, and altogether far too handsome for his own good. A spoiled, arrogant man whom everyone had obviously catered to all of his life. Women must have done whatever he said, when he commanded it. And he must have done a lot of commanding.

  She bit down hard on her lip to keep from telling him to go to hell, because. . . MaryAnn spread her hands out. "Look, I'm as much to blame as you are. I had choices here. " She wasn't going to blame just him. She was a grown woman and believed in responsibility, although nothing that had happened to her since entering the rain forest had been normal. "I bought into the entire lifemate thing because you're. . . well. . . you're gorgeous. What woman wouldn't want you?" And she'd reached the point she'd been darned sure she was never going to experience soul-searing, hot-as-hell, unforgettable sex. Manolito looked like a man who could ¨Cand would-deliver it. So yeah, she was guilty, but he could forget all about her crawling to him for forgiv
eness.

  Manolito studied his lifemate's face, gently probing her brain at the same time for some clue as to what their relationship had been like. Stormy obviously. And her name was MaryAnn. MaryAnn Delaney. He was hazy about details, such as when and where they'd been first together, but he knew the addicting taste of her. He felt a driving need to dominate, to hear her breathless pleas and see ecstasy cloud her eyes.

  He had reconfirmed the sealing of their souls in the age-old ritual because his mind had insisted he do so. But she was a woman who needed a firm hand. Stripping her naked, yanking her across his knees and delivering it to her unbelievably beautiful bottom was something he'd take pleasure in doing. And then he'd lay her out and taste her, eat her, lap up every drop of that feminine cream, memorize every luscious curve, learn what drove her mad until she did beg him for forgiveness. And then he would bring her over and over to the brink of fulfillment, until she knew just who her lifemate really was.

  He took a step toward her and something crossed her face, fear maybe. He didn't want her afraid of him, not really, although a little healthy fear might win him some cooperation. Confusion for certain. He stopped

  when she backed away from him and looked around as if she might run.

  "I could never harm my lifemate, you should know that. At most I would find a pleasurable punishment, one I could be certain you would ultimately enjoy. "

  MaryAnn frowned at him. "Whatever you're talking about you can forget. I'm too old to be punished. Look, we've made a mistake. Both of us. I came out here with the intention of counseling Juliette's sister, and Riordan told me you were in trouble. I've never actually been introduced to you before. We've never met. I saw you in the Carpathian Mountains at the Christmas party, right before you were attacked, and a few times in the distance, but we were never introduced. I have no psychic ability. I'm a normal human being who counsels women in need. "

  Manolito shook his head. Could this be the truth? "Impossible. You are no stranger to me. You are the other half of me. My soul recognizes yours. We are sealed as one. You belong to me and me to you. " He pushed an impatient hand through his long, silky hair, then reached back to tie it with a leather thong he drew from his pocket.

  Maniacal laughter slid into his head, so that he whipped around, scanning in every direction, his body language changing to protective. He leapt the distance separating them and placed her behind him.

  "What is it?"

  "You did not hear anything?" He knew what was out there. The vampires emerging slowly out of the shadows to stare with pitiless eyes and gaping maws for mouths, to point bony fingers in accusation at him.

  MaryAnn listened but only heard the annoying call of cicadas and other insects. Who knew they'd be so loud. She shook her head, feeling her heart break for him. "Tell me, Manolito. You look so sad. You should never be sad. " She willed him to be happy. To go back to being furious and smoldering instead of lost and lonely.

  He turned then, catching her upper arms and dragging her close, staring down into her guileless face and meeting her eyes for one long, endless minute. He raised one hand to her face. The pad of his thumb slid along her high cheekbone, regret etching deep lines around his eyes and mouth. "I just found you, MaryAnn, but if you do not hear the voices, it means I am not quite sane. I do not remember things. I have no idea whom I can trust. I thought you. . . " He trailed off, groaned softly and covered his face with his hands. "It is true then. I am losing my mind. "

  "I'm human, Manolito, not Carpathian. I don't see and hear the things you are able to see. "

  Manolito wished that were true, but the ground was rippling beneath their feet and she didn't see the face in the leaves or the disturbed soil forming a mocking mouth. He stood very still for a time before lifting his head, while the rain poured steadily down.

  "You must leave me. Go back to where you feel most safe. Stay away from me. I do not know why I believe you belong to me, but I fear for my sanity-and for your safety. Go now, quickly, before I lose my resolve. "

  Because he couldn't bear the thought of her being out of his sight. Until that moment he hadn't realized how much he needed her. His needs no longer mattered. She had to be safe-even from him-especially from him.

  There it was-her freedom. She looked around her. The rain forest was dark and somber but for the water. It was everywhere, forming both small and large waterfalls, finding new paths and converging into wide, rushing streams. The water poured down, relentless and steady, adding to the falls pouring out of the rocks

  and dirt. She was so out of her element here, so completely without a clue what to do.

  Manolito appeared just the opposite, even if it was true that he was losing his mind. He was at ease in the world, confident and powerful, his eyes once more searching the area around them, trying to assess the danger to them-no-that was wrong-he was trying to assess the danger to her.

  She took a deep breath and slipped her hand into his. "We can figure this out together. Are you hearing voices now?"

  "Yes, mocking laughter. And I see vampires in the ground, in the trees, in the shrubbery. They are surrounding us. "

  MaryAnn closed her eyes briefly. Just great. And she'd been worried about jaguars. Vampires were much worse. Reaching with her free hand, she settled her fingers around the canister of pepper spray. "Okay. Show me what you see. You can do that, right? Open your mind to mine. "

  He felt her moving inside his mind, already merging and stretching to meet him. She seemed unaware of it, but the integration was initiated by her. Her mind slid easily and seamlessly into his. Her fingers tightened around his. A tremor went through her body.

  You see them.

  MaryAnn stared around her at the hideous faces. No wonder he didn't know reality from illusion. The vampires were all too real there in his mind. At least she thought they were there in his mind. "Do you trust me?" she asked.

  "With my soul," he answered promptly. He believed she was his lifemate and there could be no betrayal, no lies between them. And if he was wrong, so be it. He would die protecting her.

  "Let go of my mind and I'll get us out of here. " She tried to step in front of him, gripping the canister of pepper spray hard, prepared to de battle with whatever came their way, so she could get him to safety.

  He caught her chin and forced her to look at him. "I am not the one holding the merger. You are. I cannot release you; only you can do that. "

  She moved closer to him as if for protection. "I can't be the one holding the merge. I'm not psychic. "

  "It is going to be all right, ainaak enyem. Forever mine," he translated. "I will not allow harm to come to you while we dwell in lamti bol juti, kinta, ja szelem. "

  "I don't speak your language. " And whatever he'd said couldn't have been very good. It sounded demonic. She braced herself for the translation.

  "The literal meaning is the meadow of nights, mists and ghosts. We seem to be partially in our world and in some measure in the netherworld. I am not certain how that occurred or why, but we have to find our way out. "

  "I was afraid it might be something like that. " She so didn't belong in this world. She didn't even watch horror films. "All right, tell me what to do, because that really ugly vampire to our left is moving closer. "

  The world was gray. A dull, veiled gray with shrouds of fog hanging like moss, draping along sticks of blackened tree branches. And there were insects everywhere. Big ones, flying around her face and every

  available inch of exposed skin. She whipped out the bug spray and doused them with a burst from the canister. The mixture came out of the nozzle a weird grayish green vapor, drifting slowly and thickening as it went. The sound was a slow hiss, animal-like, overly loud in the sudden quiet of the world.

  "They don't make any noise," she whispered to Manolito. "The bugs. It's so quiet here. "

  Immediately ghoulish heads turned, and demonic, glowing eyes bored into her. Shock registered. The
vampires looked at one another, then back at her. A murmur of glee rose, and one of the Vampires pushed closer, his hideous mouth gaping open to expose pegs of stained teeth filed to a razor-sharp point.

  "Delighted to have you join us," the vampire hissed, his foul breath not on her skin. "It is long since I dined. "

  Steam rose around them, enveloping them in a thick fog. Manolito dragged her into his arms, wrapping them around her head to keep her from seeing the monsters as they moved closer, the pitiless eyes staring hungrily at her neck.

  "Now would be a good time for flying," MaryAnn urged.

  "I cannot in this world. I am bound to the laws of the land of mist. "

  The ground shifted and more faces stared at them. The vampire jerked closer, each movement labored. MaryAnn tensed as a long, bony finger pointed at her and the creature crooked his fingers, beckoning her. He blew foul-smelling air as cold as ice toward her. Before it could touch her face, Manolito whipped around, so that he took the shot in his back, rather than allow the vampire to strike her in the face with his poisonous breath. Even so, MaryAnn felt the ice shards pierce through Manolito's body, straight into hers.

  "The hell with this," MaryAnn snapped. "You flew before. Get your butt in gear and get us out of here. " She willed him into the air. Commanded it. She even wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face against his chest and crushed her body up against his.

  Manolito might have to follow the dictates of the meadow of nights, but MaryAnn evidently did not. He was locked into the shadow world, a half dweller, but she was mortal, walking in a place she did not belong, drawn in and held by their shared soul. She had only to desire to leave without him and she would be free, but she refused to consider it. He was beginning to know her mind now, and to realize his lifemate had a spine of steel. He found himself in the air with her, moving fast away from the faces staring up at them, the wail and gnashing of thousands of teeth.

  He found a small shelter of boulders and dropped down to place her on the ground, hoping they would be safe, but as he knew nothing of the unnatural realm they partially dwelt in, he feared nowhere was safe. MaryAnn clung to him, her body trembling as her feet touched the rock. She slid down his body as if boneless and sat, her knees drawn up and her body rocking.

  "You can leave this world, MaryAnn," he said gentry. "I know you can. "

  "How?"

  She looked up at him and his heart clenched painfully in his chest. She looked close to tears. His fingertips pushed back strands of her curly hair, lingering against the warm satin of her skin. "You have only to make a conscious decision to leave me here. Condemn me for whatever wrong I have done you. "

  She looked genuinely puzzled. "What wrong did you do to me?"

  She waved her hand. "Other than looking gorgeous and driving me a little crazy, you haven't done anything to hurt me. I'm responsible for my own hormones going into overdrive, not you. You can't help the way you look. "

  He sat beside her, his thigh touching hers, and reached for her hand, bringing it to his chest, over his heart. "At least you like the way I look. That is a start. "

  She shot him a small, mischievous grin. "Every woman likes the way you look. You don't have a problem in that department. "

  "So it is my personality you object to. "

  It was hard to think of just what she objected to when his thumb slid over the back of her hand in a mesmerizing caress and his thigh delivered enough heat to warm up half the world. His white teeth were dazzling and his smile so sensual her body hit overdrive before she even knew her engine had been started. It didn't seem to take much around him. It should have embarrassed her, but in the midst of the strange world she found herself in, potent chemistry was the least of her worries.

  "You're still living in the dark ages, my man," she said, patting his knee, trying to feel auntlike and wise. Instead her heart was tripping, her stomach fluttering, and all she could think about was pressing her mouth to his to see if rockets went off again. Because she sure didn't want to think about being alone when the sun came up, and he was going to point that out any minute.

  He brought her hand to his mouth and nibbled on her fingers, his teeth sending little electrical currents zapping through her bloodstream with each nip. "The dark ages? I thought I had adapted to this century quite well. "

  She laughed; she couldn't help it when he sounded so shocked. "I suppose for someone as ancient as you, you have adapted. " And maybe it was the truth. He was born into a species and time when males protected and dominated women. He lived in a country where the same rules of society still often held. Of course he would feel he had a right to her if he believed she was his lifemate.

  Husband. She tasted the word, aware of the very breath moving through his lungs. He was too gorgeous for her, too wild and far, far too dominating, but she could dream and she could fantasize. She couldn't imagine really belonging to the man, not like Destiny belonged to Nicolae. But if he kept looking at her with those black, black eyes filled with such raw hunger, she might just forget all of her misgivings and try for one glorious night with him.

  "I just know what is right for my woman, how to protect her as well as please her, and she should have faith enough in me to trust that I will see to all her needs as well as every pleasure she-or I-could imagine. "

  His teeth nipped at the sensitive pads of her fingers. It shouldn't have been erotic, but it was. He made everything sound that way, even his ridiculous suggestion of punishment. It was the velvet rasp of his voice, the way he could make it slide over her skin like a caress. If' someone else talked the way he did, she would have laughed, if not aloud, at least to herself, but with Manolito, she was tempted to try some of his more outrageous fantasies.

  "I'm reading your mind," he said softly, "and we need to be concentrating on how to get you out of here. "

  "Well, they are just fantasies. " She was not going to blush. Being stripped naked and tormented until she begged was frankly as sexy as could be, although the reality might not be the same as the imagination.

  "I can promise you that you will enjoy every moment with me," he assured her, and bit lightly on her finger before sucking it into the warmth of his mouth.

  His tongue teased and danced until she wanted to scream surrender. And he was just kissing her finger. She fanned her face. Maybe she was up for the reality of it after all. "Would you consider terms? Like not ordering me around? I might concede to working on being adventurous. "

  "To be adventurous, you have to be willing to surrender yourself into my care," he countered.

  There it was again, that slow, sexy smile that burned through her skin and found hidden wild desires she shouldn't be contemplating with a man who was bent on her utter and complete surrender. "Tempting. But no. I'm not a woman who could ever turn over my life to a complete stranger. "

  His chin nuzzled the back of her hand. Her breasts ached, as if his shadowed jaw had brushed her soft skin there. "But surrendering in the bedroom is not the same as surrendering out of it. "

  "Is that an option with you?"

  "There is no option. There is only what is. You are my lifemate. We will find a way because that is the way of lifemates. " The smile faded from his face. He kissed her knuckles and brought her hand once more over his heart. "You cannot stay here with me, MaryAnn; it is much too dangerous. I cannot tell what is real or illusion, and with our bodies in one world and our spirits in another, we are vulnerable in both places. "

  "I don't know how to leave, and I wouldn't if I could. Not without you. How about I forgive you for anything you may have done to me. " She looked around at the dull gray of the world. It appeared to be the rain forest, but without the vibrant color and sounds. Water ran out of the rocks and down the slope, but instead of clear or white, it ran in dark streaks.

  "I do not think it is that simple. First I have to figure out what I did to bring me to this place of ghosts and shadows. "