Leopard 01 - The Awakening

while before Brandt Talbot had come into it.
    “Maggie, you’re very close to the change. I feel it. I need to be with you when you go through it for the first time,” Brandt protested, clearly torn at having to choose between his duty and his mate. He raked a hand through his dark hair, his gaze dwelling on her serene face.
    Maggie produced a self-assured smile. “Go. I’ll be right here when you get back.” She slipped her arms around his neck and leaned into his hard frame. “I’m not afraid, Brandt. This is important, what you do is important.”
    Brandt hesitated, then locked her to him, his mouth finding hers in a hard, apologetic kiss. “You’re my everything, Maggie,” he whispered fiercely, “you remember that. My everything. For you it’s all happened too fast and you’re unsure. For me, I’ve known for all of my life that you were my other half.
    You hold my heart and my soul. Don’t destroy me. I’m trusting you not to destroy me.”
    Maggie feathered a series of teasing kisses along his shadowed jaw. “You need to have a little more faith. Go now.” She was glowing at his words and she knew it. Secretly she had been afraid of falling for his dark good looks and the highly charged chemistry between them, his poet’s heart and his hunter’s eyes. Afraid after hot sex and coming together with such fire, he would simply walk away like the male leopards they so closely resembled at times.
    Brandt kissed her again. Hard. Possessively. Thoroughly. His molten eyes burned over her. “You be here when I get back. Don’t you leave this house and go exploring or trying to save some creature you’ve heard bleating. I mean it, Maggie. Poachers are dangerous. I don’t want you anywhere near them. And while I’m gone, don’t open the door to anyone, even if you know he’s one of ours.”
    She walked with him to the door, her fingers tangling with his. “I have no intention of allowing anything to happen to me, Brandt.”
    He turned to follow Drake into the night, hesitated, swore softly, and framed her face with both hands.
    “Maggie, be here. I can’t tell you what it’s been like searching the world for you, feeling so alone.
    Afraid for you, alone, without the knowledge of your people to protect you. Don’t leave me.”
    Her vivid green eyes searched his golden ones. “What is it? Tell me.”
    He shook his head. “I have a feeling, a premonition if you want to call it that.”
    She went up on her toes to press a single, lingering kiss to his frown. “Then you be extra careful, Brandt. I’ll be sitting safe in the house while you’re off chasing poachers. Maybe I should be worried about you .”

    “Brandt.” There was urgency in Drake’s voice and this time Brandt responded, hurrying down the steps after his friend.
    Maggie watched from the verandah until they were out of sight; and then she returned to the house, closing and locking the front door. Deliberately she flicked off every light so that there was no telltale glow to lead anyone to the house. Her night vision was extremely acute, much more so than ever before. She wondered at the changes taking place in her body. It seemed as if every hour she discovered something new, her senses enhanced a hundredfold.
    Her body was wondrously sore from their continual lovemaking, and Maggie wanted a long soak in a hot bath. The air, as always was sultry, but the thought of hot water was more than she could resist. In the bathroom she lit a single candle to fill the room with aromatic spice. The flame produced a soft flickering luminosity that danced on the walls. The water lapped soothingly at her sore body like a thousand healing tongues. She could see a dark smudge on the side of her hip where his fingers had dug into her curves in the deep throes of his passion. Her breasts were tender and slightly burned, matching her chin, from the shadow on his jaw. Even the insides of her thighs held the evidence of his possession. Deep inside her she still felt him. Still craved him.
    She fell asleep there in the hot water, dreaming of Brandt and his hard, capable body thrusting deeply into hers. Her body clenched, tightened; she thrashed, bumping her head on the tub. Maggie woke, blinked drowsily, and rubbed at her head. As she patted her skin dry with a towel, she noticed how tender she was. Her skin felt raw and inflamed. It was painful to pull on her clothes but she did, worried Brandt might need her.
    Maggie paced restlessly across the