Free Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight by L.J. Smith Page A

blood meant you were weaker, it meant you were willingly making yourself prey. Everything inside Jez protested at just relaxing and letting Morgead do this.
    And maybe that was the answer, she thought suddenly. A wall of turmoil to cover her thoughts. Pretend to be too agitated to let him make contact….
    But his lips were surprisingly soft on her throat, and the pain was gone, and he was holding her more like a lover than like a predator. She could feel his mind all around her, strong, demanding.
    He wasn’t trying to hurt her. He was trying to make it not-terrible for her.
    But I want it to be terrible. I don’t want to feel like this….
    It didn’t matter. She felt as if she were being pulled by a swift current, dragged and tumbled into some place she had never been before. Sparkling lights danced behind her closed eyelids. Electricity crackled through her body.
    And then she felt his mouth moving gently on her throat, and the world fell away….

CHAPTER 9
    N o. This can’t be happening.
    Jez had never felt anything like this before, but she knew instinctively that it was dangerous. She was being pulled into Morgead’s mind. She could feel it surrounding her, enfolding her, a touch that was light but almost irresistible, that was trying to draw out the most secret part of herself.
    And the most frightening thing was that Morgead wasn’t doing it.
    It was something outside both of them, something that was trying to mix them together like two pools of water being stirred. Jez could feel that Morgead was as startled and astonished as she was. The only difference was that he didn’t seem to be resisting the force. He didn’t seem terrified and unhappy about it, as Jez was. He seemed…exhilarated and wondering, like somebody skydiving for the first time.
    That’s because he’s crazy, Jez thought dizzily. He loves danger and he enjoys courting death—
    I enjoy you, a voice said in her mind.
    Morgead’s voice. Soft as a whisper, a feather-touch that shook Jez to her soul.
    It had been so long since she’d heard that voice.
    And he had heard her. Sharing blood made even humans telepathic. Jez hadn’t been able to talk mentally since—
    She managed to cut the thought off as panic surged through her. While one part of her mind gabbled desperately, “He’s here, he’s here, he’s inside, what are we going to do now?” another part threw up a smoke screen, flooding her thoughts with visions of mist and clouds.
    There was something like a swift gasp from Morgead.
    Jez, don’t. Don’t hide from me—
    You’re not allowed here, she snapped back, this time directing the thought straight at him. Go away!
    I can’t. For just a moment his mental voice sounded confused and scared. She hadn’t realized Morgead could be confused and scared. I’m not doing this. It’s just—happening.
    But it shouldn’t be happening, Jez thought, and she didn’t know whether she was talking to him or just to herself. She was beginning to shake. She couldn’t resist the pull that was trying to bring her soul to the surface and intermingle it with Morgead’s—she couldn’t. It was stronger than anything she’d ever experienced. But she knew that if she gave in, she was dead.
    Don’t be afraid. Don’t, Morgead said in a voice she had never heard from him before. A voice of desperate gentleness. His mind was trying to wrap around hers protectively, like dark wings shielding her, touching her softly.
    Jez felt her insides turn to water.
    No. No…
    Yes, Morgead’s voice whispered.
    She had to stop this—now. She had to break the contact. But although Jez could still feel her physical body, she seemed powerless to control it. She could sense Morgead’s arms supporting her and his lips on her throat and she knew that he was still drinking. But she couldn’t so much as move a finger to push him away. The muscles that she’d trained so ruthlessly to obey her under any circumstances were betraying her now.
    She had to try