Carpathian 18 - Dark Possesion

need." Her lips whispered over his.
    Temptation . Oh, lord, the temptation she was inadvertently offering him. His tongue was a velvet rasp over her pulse. She was warm, living silk in his arms. No one had softer skin. His emotions had long been frozen in a place deep inside him, buried so deep he thought it impossible to taste or feel or know the pleasure a woman's shape could bring to a man's body. Her touch, the sound of her voice, her very breath had awakened him. She had given him life again. He wanted her with him for all time. He wanted to ensure she was always by his side.
    Temptation . He now knew what it felt and tasted like. He knew temptation was a woman and that he would have to use every ounce of control to keep from whisking her away to a place where they could be alone.
    His teeth sank deep, and the taste and essence of her flowed from her to him, completing him body and soul.
    A sultry, smoky flavor and so MaryAnn. His arms tightened, and he closed his eyes to better savor her. At the same time, he allowed one hand to wander down the curves of her body to her leg. She was curled up in his arms, her legs in his lap, and he could easily find the tears in her flesh.
    No one, woman or man, should have been able to push aside the pain and function, not only sitting, as she was doing now, but running as she had earlier in the rain forest. The pain should have dulled her thinking and affected her ability to manipulate energy. The pain was there in her mind. She felt it. But she pushed it into a center of her brain he was unfamiliar with. He'd never seen the pattern before. He was ancient. He had used mage, jaguar and human for sustenance at one time or another, and as the species mixed, the patterns became less distinct over the ages. He ran his hands over her thigh, an intimate exploration. She shivered in his arms, her body moving restlessly against his.
    She is yours.
    Yes. She was his. Made for him. Shaped for him. The other half of him.
    She was made for you.
    Of course she had been, her body curved just so, soft and pliant hot silk moving in his arms so that he would know what it would be to bury his body deep within her, drive them both over the edge into ecstasy.
    It is your right.
    He had every right to her body. He owned her, body and soul, just as she did him. He could take pleasure when and where he wanted. His hand slid along her thigh, moved toward heat—his heat—she belonged to him. He knew exactly the things that would please her, would bring her to a fevered frenzy of sexual need.
    Why bring the jaguar-man across? He will only turn vampire and you will have to hunt and kill him as you have so many others.
    It was madness to consider bringing another male into their world when there were so few lifemates. He might try to steal MaryAnn.
    He was alone with her. Naked. Showing her his body in order to lure her away from you. He wants her. He'll do anything to take her from you.
    The jaguar-men had all proven to be deceivers. They did lure women and hold them captive, treat them brutally.
    He touched her. He touched your woman. He saw your mark, smelled your scent all over her, yet he touched.
    You saw him standing over her. He was stork naked. What do you think he was trying to force her to do?
    She defended him. Said he'd saved her life.
    She wants him. Make her yours. Take her now. Take what belongs to you. Bring her to your side for all eternity.
    He couldn't stop. He needed this. He was starving. Starving . The hunger drove him mad. Nothing could sate him but his lifemate. The rich, hot blood burst through his system with the rush of the most powerful drug.
    He needed her body submitting to his, all heat and fire, sating the desire that had him so hard and hot and beyond caring of anything but sinking deep into her. He wanted to hear his name called out in a storm of need. He wanted to see her eyes glaze over with passion; he wanted to hear her beg for him to join them. He had waited an eternity through darkness and hell, and now she was there, in his arms, her body ripe and ready for his, her blood mingling with his.
    Take her. It Is your right. She cannot deny you. Anything you want she must provide. Yours. Take her now before the jaguar claims her. You cannot stop now when you are so close. Take enough to convert her and she cannot leave you. Taste her . The whispers grew. Voices joined in.

    For one moment, his arms tightened possessively and his body urged hers backward so that he