Part 25 (1/2)

”I've missed you, girl...What has it been in the flesh? Twenty, thirty years? I've lost count of the moons. But this last one, I thought I'd lose my mind.”

”Kamal, please,” she whispered as his body molded against hers. It was such an immediately magnetic sensation that her hands gently landed on his shoulders. ”You know I can't do this. Astral plane is one thing, but this is... No.”

”What I know,” he murmured thickly against her temple, ”is that the only reason we separated was because I wasn't supposed to give you my seed. Now that your season for that is almost pa.s.sed...” He drew inhaled deeply. ”I see no reason.”

”I have a team of newbies,” she said quickly. ”There's a dark force worse than we've ever dealt with infecting the planet, and I have to ready them-just like you have to go back to Bahia and solidify your men.”

”I noticed that you didn't say, because you loved your man so much we couldn't be together. You spoke of duty, respect for your role as Guardian, commitment, but you never even said his name.”

Rendered mute by the charge, she stood there looking at the strong African features of his dark, ebony face. His sculpted, muscular body held her for ransom as his tactical energy sent a sensual current over the surface of her skin. No s.h.i.+rt on, jeans slung low on his narrow hips, his smile a brilliant white flash against a flawless complexion. She had to get her mind right and put an end to this now.

”That's not fair,” she finally whispered, as his third eye engaged hers in a memory dance. ”You know I love Shabazz.”

”I'm not trying to be fair,” he whispered in reply. ”This time I'm trying to win back what was once mine.”

He lowered his mouth to hers, testing for acceptance. Her parted lips, the slow slide of hands to rest on his hips, and deep sigh emboldened him. His second sight captured hers and stroked it with an erotic memory that dampened her valley. With his were- human capacity, he instantly sensed it, spiking his arousal and increasing the kinetic connection between his skin and hers. He deepened the kiss and found the dip in her spine with a burning palm.

”You have to stop,” she gasped, pulling out of the kiss. ”I'm only human.”

”I'm not,” he replied, filling his hands with her fleshy bottom and pulling her against him, moving to the throb that haunted them.

”A man has to use every advantage he's got.”

”He'll feel the charge before I even get back to the house. Don't. He deserves better than that from both of us,” she said on another heavy breath against his shoulder, while fighting to keep her eyes open.

”You telling me or yourself?” Kamal murmured, kissing her neck.

”He deserves-”

”To h.e.l.l with what he deserves, Marlene,” Kamal said through his teeth just behind her ear. ”I'm marking my territory like I should have years ago.”

Before she could answer, his mouth covered hers. His hands emitted a charge that fused with her aura, made her gasp and hold him tighter. Witnessing her intense arousal put tears of want in his eyes as they began to flicker golden-copper.

”Lawd, woman, I've missed you so much,” he whispered hotly against her temple, then nipped her ear, her neck, his nails beginning to shred the light Egyptian cotton dress that sheathed her. ”If not forever, then at least once more before we both die or are too old to enjoy it.”

Her hands trembled as they slid over the dense muscles that surrounded his shoulder blades. She couldn't catch her breath as the memory of his spine imprinted into her palms. When her fingers reached the low, tight valley of his lower back, she shuddered with recall and bit her lip to keep from crying out.

”Baby, stop,” she said in a tight whisper. ”I'm going to have to douse the charge as it is, before I go home. I can't-”

Kamal's mouth halted her words and his tongue fought with them in her mouth. The low purr inside his chest began to block her reason, just as his hands circling her behind sent acute pleasure all through her.

”Don't douse the charge,” he groaned, rhythmically pulling her hips against his pelvis. ”Feed it.”

Friction from cotton against denim added to the harmony of the chirr of the crickets. Heavy inhales and exhales created a barrier to reason. Searing touches united auras as mouths sought sanctuary in fevered kisses then battled for surrender. Quiet power added a blind in the bush.

”Oh, s.h.i.+t, I can't take it, woman,” Kamal finally whispered harshly against her neck. ”I can't wait for the next moon, or a group decision. I can't wait until you talk to him, and then allow time for him to grieve. I can't. Don't ask that of me.”

She understood completely. Kamal's body was soaked in a blue-charged sheen of sweat. Every droplet of perspiration held a tactical sensor's current. His locks had lifted a quarter-inch off his shoulders, and his eyes glowed solid copper. He'd already nicked her tongue with his upper and lower canines that were threatening to rip through his gums. His release was mandatory, just as hers was imminent. Something way beyond conflict tore at her, dividing her between both men.

Love, loyalty, honor, respect, friends.h.i.+p, peace, laughter, trust-all of that hung in a fragile balance between the man panting in her arms and the one she'd left fuming on the back porch. A compromise was the only way. Men saw things in absolutes.

Women saw things in shades of gray. One man needed her in far more than just an immediate sense. Soon the other man would, too. She couldn't betray either, for in doing so she would also be betraying herself... betraying the truth that she needed and loved them both for different reasons.

Kamal's suffering had become her own as he continued to bathe her neck in ardent attention. His embrace had become a vise as his pelvis stroked against hers, igniting penetration memory until they could both feel it.

The impact of mental entry arched her back and elicited a unified moan. Instantly his hands scrabbled at the fabric of her dress, raising it over her b.u.t.tocks, then yanked at her underwear, needing sensation of flesh against them.

Heat filled his hands and almost made him sob. His words came out between breaths laced with a low growl. ”Come to me under the moon, baby. Like old times. In the raw, in nature, in the bush. Take me there, girl, before I go crazy.”

She knew it was wrong, but it was the only way to make this work for the three of them. A slight violet current ran through her hands as she splayed them on his back and totally opened her third eye to him. She sent the image full force as her hands captured the rise of his clenching b.u.t.tocks. She increased the intensity as she felt his thick thighs flex, his knees bend, and his arms brace her to hit the ground.

Falling almost in slow motion, she pulled back her hands and he released so hard that his canines ripped through. Panic swept her. If Big Mike was in the house, he would have definitely heard it-and there'd be no keeping it from Shabazz. The low rumble of staggering male were-human completion created a Doppler effect in the bush.

Pleasure waves washed over her before she could think of what to do. It coated her skin, practically entered her pores, as he lay blanketing her heaving, clutching her waist, and accidentally sent her over the edge hard.

Her breathing ragged, she petted his back, knowing he'd be furious once he stopped climaxing. She didn't even flinch or get upset when he raised himself to his hands and knees above her, canines fully distended and eyes blazing copper.

”I wanted you in the flesh, and you know that, woman!” He glowered down at her and then his damp jeans with disgust.

”I'm married,” she said in a soft, calm tone without apology.

”You had no right to mind-f.u.c.k me, Marlene,” he said, hurt glittering in his eyes. His voice dropped to a subdued level.

”Foreplay yes, but...”

He quickly sat back on his haunches and then summarily stood, enraged. She watched him begin to pace as she got up slowly, brushed off her dress, and picked up her satchel from the ground. Although they both knew this was best, she also knew a thing or two about wounded male pride.

Marlene sighed and gave him temporary s.p.a.ce to calm down. She understood where he was; even though the force of his release had been d.a.m.ned spectacular, that wasn't the point. He'd wanted to control the dance, wreck her will, and be physically inside her to layer his imprint over Shabazz's to tactically eclipse it. He wanted any sensory impression from any other competing male erased. Totally primal, but logical, if she looked at it from his perspective. She wasn't angry that his goal had been to make her sweat, weep, scream his name until she became hoa.r.s.e. Then, in his male mind, her decision would have been clear.

”You know that wouldn't have been possible, or right,” she murmured gently as he stalked back and forth, raking his fingers through his dreadlocks.

”And I suppose now I'm to be grateful that you did what you did?”

She swallowed a smile and took out a small cheesecloth pouch filled with herbs and magnetic stones, and began removing his energy charge from her skin. ”I think you enjoyed yourself just a teeny bit, though. Hmmm?” She began walking toward him, amused.

”That's not the point, woman!” he shouted, snapping his arm out and pointing at her hard. ”You know me better than that, Marlene. I have more control than that, and you-”

Her kiss stopped his argument as her hands slid down his chest. ”Of course I do,” she said quietly. ”I've been gone a half hour when I was supposed to be gone ten minutes.” Her eyes held his with a compa.s.sionate plea. ”If I even begin to think back...”

Her voice trailed off, her third eye widened, so he could see how she truly felt. ”As hot as I am for you right now, no good will come of things. I have to go.”She sighed and looked away from him, sending her gaze toward the house. ”If I had let you love me hard and long and in the flesh till I hollered, we'd both get shot.” She pulled away and rolled the bag over his abdomen as he relaxed and closed his eyes.

She knew she'd have to work fast, feeling his body reigniting from her touch as the truth petted his ego.

”You really wanted to that much?” He winced as his fangs slowly retracted and her palm glided over his navel.

”What do you think?” she whispered, increasing her pace as her hands began to tremble against his thighs. ”Don't start,” she ordered. ”Just let me disconnect the charge so we can let this isolated incident simmer down between us. All right?”

”You know this isn't isolated,” he said in a huff, folding his arms over his chest as she worked on his calves. ”You've been meeting me on the astral plane for years, girl.”

”That's different,” she said, standing. ”What we do in our dreams is one thing. What goes down like this is another.”