Free JaguarintheSun by Anya Richards Page B

most at home, where my power
is strongest.” The smile faded, and Cassie saw his eyes begin to glow. “Don’t
you feel it, Cassandra?”
    When she paid attention she did, recognizing the magic
potent in the air, pulsing and twirling, making her scalp prickle and goose
bumps flare across her arms and torso. What she’d taken at first to be just the
heat and dampness of the jungle was actually a manifestation of natural power
rising from the earth. Reaching out to it with her own abilities brought no
increase in her magic, and she realized she was, for want of a better
description, on the wrong frequency. This magic was for Xbal alone and she
shivered again, wondering what he planned to do with it. What he planned for
her.
    It seemed she was about to find out, as he held out one hand
to her, fingers crooked in command. “Come to me.”
    Before she could get up from the stone ledge she was on
Cassie felt it drop away and she was floating upright through the air toward
the altar. Toward Xbal’s open arms. He caught her, holding her so tightly she
found it hard to take a breath.
    Yet breathing wasn’t high on the list of her priorities
anyway. There was something about being in the seat of his power, having his
rigid, aroused body pressed so tightly to hers and knowing herself to be truly
at his mercy that made her shake with passion.
    “I’ve never brought anyone here.” His breath was hot against
her skin and ruffled the hair near her ear. “Never done atraspa within
the confines of the temple once sacred to me.” He pulled back, cupping her
cheek so their eyes met, the glow of need in his making her want to moan with
pleasure. “Be warned, querida . I won’t stop until I’ve wrung the last
orgasm I can from your body.”
    She thought he might say more, but instead he kissed her,
his mouth firm and demanding, pressing her head back as their tongues dueled
and danced together. Drinking him in, reveling in the sensations of his cock
hard against her belly, one hand kneading her ass and the other tangled in her
hair, Cassie knew she’d give him whatever he desired, let him do whatever he
wanted. And although it went against every instinct she had, there was nothing
she’d do to change it.
    These were the memories she’d take with her into the
unknown, the only ones that would completely break her heart and the only ones
she’d be glad to have.
    Xbal ended the kiss, and she was glad to see she wasn’t the
only one finding it hard to catch a full breath. The air rasped in and out of
his throat, and his ribcage heaved beneath her questing hands.
    “You destroy me, Cassandra.” The growled words went through
her like a flash-fire, and she leaned back in his arms, blatantly offering
herself to him. “I want you more than I want food, air or even my magic.”
    “Then take me.” She’d never offered herself this way, meaning
it completely, utterly. “Take me, Xbal.”
    “I will.” With one more hard kiss he turned her so her back
nestled against his chest, then guided her to sit, so she was between his
thighs, their legs hanging over the edge of the altar. “Repeatedly.”
    Leaning her head back on his shoulder, Cassie let go of all
misgivings, all control, and surrendered. As though feeling her capitulation,
Xbal growled low in his chest and swept her hair aside so as to bite the tender
flesh at the start of her shoulder. The sweet sting jolted her and she gasped,
making Xbal growl again.
    “When I watched you come in the restaurant, when I felt and
smelled and tasted you through the atraspa I almost lost control.”
Reaching down he grasped her thighs, lifted them so they lay over his. Then he
moved his legs farther apart, opening her to the first soft twist of magic as
it glided over her breasts and down to lightly brush her labia. “I cursed
myself for starting something I couldn’t finish the way I wanted to, but here
there’s nothing to stop me.” The magic grew stronger, pinching at her nipples
so