Shield's Lady

The urgency that was controlling Gryph seemed to have gotten a grip on her, too. She could feel the driving force in him and knew an answering force within herself. When his hand went lower still, she cried out softly. Instinctively she pressed her thighs together.
    “Let me touch you, Shield Lady,” Gryph said against her mouth. “Open your legs for me and let me feel your warmth. I want to be sure you’re ready for me so that I can claim my rights as your true mate.”
    She did as he asked and then trembled in excitement as he found the soft skin of her inner thighs.
    “ Gryph.”
    Gryph drank his name from her lips. His body trembled against hers as he slipped his rough fingertips into the delicate, hidden folds between her legs. Sariana knew she was dampening his hand. She hoped he didn’t mind.
    “You’re as hot as I am,” he muttered in husky wonderment. “I can feel your heat. You’re wet and warm and you want me, don’t you?”
    “Yes, oh, yes, Gryph.” She twisted against his hand. She wondered if she should be embarrassed by her body’s ungoverned response, but then she realized Gryph was glorying in it. He was taut with his own reaction to her.
    “Sariana,” he began thickly, “listen to me carefully. I have to ask you something and you must answer truthfully. Do you understand? I’m honor bound to put these questions to you.”
    Sariana moved her head restlessly on the pillow. “I swear I have no diseases and…and I don’t think I’m likely to get pregnant. Earlier this evening I was figuring out the timing of my monthly cycles and I’m sure I’m safe tonight. I’ve discussed such things with other women and I’ve heard that as long as I—”
    “Sariana.”
    She opened her eyes, startled by his impatience. “Yes, Gryph?”
    “One of these days we’re going to have to do something about your unfortunate tendency to talk at the wrong times,” Gryph said explosively. “I’m sure you’re in excellent health. So am I. And as for your getting pregnant—”
    “Don’t worry about it,” she said quickly.
    He groaned, clearly frustrated, and kissed her back into silence. Then he trapped her face between his rough palms and lifted his mouth only a centimeter or two above hers. Sariana thought she would drown in the brilliance of his eyes.
    “Sariana,” he said very carefully, very distinctly, “nothing on this planet would give me as much pleasure as getting you pregnant.”
    “But Gryph “
    “That is not, however, what I want to discuss with you tonight. Now hush up and listen to me and then answer truthfully.”
    “Yes, Gryph—”
    “Do you give yourself willingly to me, Sariana? Do you choose to link with me?”
    She had never heard the expression “linking” before and could only assume it was a Shield term for what they were about to do together, a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
    “Yes,” she whispered.
    “Say the words, Sariana,” he ordered. “I want the words.”
    She could no more have resisted his hoarse, urgent command than she could have stopped the rising sun. Out of nowhere the proper response came to her. She didn’t stop to question the words. They appeared in her head and she used them instinctively. She was in too much of a rush to satisfy Gryph’s request to bother questioning the odd phrases.
    “I willingly give myself to you, Shield Lord. I choose to link myself with you.”
    “There is no going back,” he warned.
    Again, Sariana wasn’t sure what he meant, but she was in no mood to press the issue. Desire was sweeping through her, hotter and sweeter than anything she had ever experienced in her life.
    Gryph moved, shifting slightly, and the bed swayed gently on its ornate chains. Sariana couldn’t see what he was doing, but before she could ask Gryph was back. He loomed over her, his broad shoulders blocking the light from the window.
    “Give me your hand, Sariana.”
    “Another Shield custom, Gryph?” Suddenly she was no longer feeling quite so joyous and lighthearted with the bubbling effects of desire. A new, strangely powerful mood was beginning to grip her, a mood she seemed to be picking up from him. It was odd to realize that somehow she was aware of his emotions through all this. It was disorienting. She remembered that same disorientation had washed over her when he had kissed her the other morning in her office.
    “Yes, Sariana,” he said as he took her hand in his own. “Another Shield custom.”
    He laced his