Between Light and Dark (4 page)

The kidnapper turned to face her. He still carried that
same tenseness in his bearing, as though he held something
within him barely in check.

His irises turned a deep gray, almost black, swallowing
his pupils until they disappeared like pebbles dropped into
a lake. A shot of silver shone through them, almost opaline. She stared into his eyes, heart raging in her chest.

"Who are you?" she whispered past the lump in her
throat, both hopeful and fearful he would answer the question this time.

"Axiom," he said. "My name is Axiom. And I am a god
made flesh."

Laurell swallowed hard. The man had clearly lost his mind.

His driver saw them inside, provided a tour of the steel,
one-story building that had been converted to a large studio apartment, and left.

The girl had remained silent after his departure. Axiom
slanted a sideways glance at her. She is beautiful in the flesh.
When he had observed her from the Light Realm in preparation for the mission, he had noted her attractiveness, but
now he saw her true beauty.

Not that appearance really mattered. The yearning
would see to it he desired her regardless of what she looked
like. Still, he acknowledged Laurell's particular brand of
beauty.

Her wide, dark eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips rivaled any goddess's fine features. He was not terribly fond of
the short hair, but when he had touched it briefly while carrying her inert form to the car, the strands had been soft
against his fingers. He also found the slight red sheen pleasing. And when she had pressed her body against him, it had
been more than just a pleasant experience. Her breasts were
large and round, her hips full and voluptuous. Axiom's pants
tightened around his crotch. Careful, he thought. You'll unleash the yearning again.

He noticed that Laurell had moved as far from him as
possible. She sat on the far side of the opulently decorated
room, on a four-poster bed that dominated the space.

She was sipping from a glass of water that Wayne, the
driver, had handed her as soon as they'd entered the safe
house. Or rather, she pretended to sip it. She still thinks I
drugged her. She will learn to trust me. At least he hoped she
would. He did not wish to attempt a mating without having
developed at least a cursory friendship with the woman.

Laurell shivered, and Axiom focused on the stone hearth,
where firewood had been laid out in preparation for their arrival. Within moments a flame burst to life and heat engulfed him, accompanied by the pleasant aroma of burning
logs. He stood and removed his coat. He glanced at Laurell,
who shrugged out of her own coat and set it atop the backpack she had retrieved from the limousine.

"Laurell?"

Intent on arranging and rearranging her coat next to her
on the bed, she jumped when he spoke.

Laurell cleared her throat and raised her chin defiantly,
but he could read anxiety in her every movement. Her vulnerability made Axiom want to touch her, to stroke her
cheek soothingly. He frowned and brushed the urge aside.

Clearly, he had overestimated the ability of his human
form to control human emotion.

"Would you like some food?" he asked. She did not answer, just gave him a wary glance.

He crossed the room to the kitchen. He removed his suit
jacket and unbuttoned the top of his white dress shirt, rolling
up his sleeves before reaching into the refrigerator. Having
been on Earth for several days now, he found he rather enjoyed the little things about being human. Like eating. And
preparing food. It was easier than he had expected. He
ducked inside the refrigerator and emerged with a handful of
food supplies. Two slices of bread, some ham and cheese. In
moments the meal was ready. Tomorrow he would prepare
eggs the way Wayne had shown him. He brought Laurell the sandwich and some potato chips and held them out
to her.

"Eat this. You will feel better."

"I don't want food. I want to know how you did that
trick," she said, the word trick edged with disdain.

Axiom lifted an eyebrow. "Trick?"

"You know, the thing with your eyes. Making them
change like you did in the car."

Axiom shrugged. "There was no trick. It occurs when I
utilize certain powers."

Laurell frowned. A moment later, her face lost its color
and she hugged her arms around her middle, clearly in
pain.

"Eat," Axiom urged.

"How am I supposed to eat at a time like this?" she
snapped.

"If you do not eat now, you will experience more pain.
Your body is depleted from the yearning. Eat." She stared at
the plate of food he still held in front of her, no doubt willing herself to ignore the hunger pains, which now were almost unbearable. Her face contorted, and she moaned.

"Eat," he said again. Her face had gone white and her
body shook. Still, she refused to pick up the sandwich he
had brought her. Stubborn human. "What must I do to convince you it is folly to refuse this food? You must eat immediately, or your body will fail to function. At the very least,
you will find yourself unconscious."

Axiom feared he would have to force-feed her, but
clearly the idea of being unconscious again in his presence
seemed to her a worse fate than being drugged with food.

"Fine." She yanked the plate from his hands and took a
ravenous bite of the sandwich.

"In addition to your hunger, are you tired?" he asked.

She nodded between bites.

"Until you learn to ward the yearning, its energy will deplete yours."

"What exactly is the yearning?" Laurell's words came out
garbled between mouthfuls of food.

"The sensations you have been experiencing since we
met."

Laurell arched one eyebrow. "'Met' is an interesting way
to put it." She swallowed another bite of sandwich. "So
you're saying this yearning thing makes me want to jump
you against my will."

"In essence, yes."

Her look was dubious. He pulled a chair to the end of
the bed and sat, studying her as she chewed and swallowed.
His own stomach rumbled.

"The yearning is what attracts us," Axiom continued.
"Its energy is potent. Its presence also masks other emotions. It is keeping your fear in check right now."

"Bullshit. You drugged me. You're probably still drugging
me with this food, and if the side effects weren't so damn
painful, I wouldn't touch it." Laurell swallowed another
bite of sandwich and glanced down with a look of disappointment. Only a few potato chips remained on the plate.

He noticed her color starting to improve, and her body
no longer shook. A good sign. He sighed and took the plate
from her hands.

"Hey," she protested. "I wasn't finished with that."

"I will return it to you in a moment. First, you must reach
acceptance of certain things. We have no time for disbelief."

Her eyes shot daggers at him. Her lips pursed into a thin
line.

Before she could object, Axiom took her hands in his. A
second later a rush of heat engulfed him, and he sensed it
moving through her as well. His limbs were on fire. He was filled with the pain of desperate, frustrated sexual need. His
groin hardened.

If the agony of the yearning was unbearable for Laurell,
it proved doubly so for Axiom. His immortal side allowed
him to experience Laurell's sensations as well as his own.
He could literally feel the throbbing in her sex and the immediate dampness between her legs.

Laurell slid from the bed and onto Axiom's lap, straddling him. His arms encircled her, pulling her against his
chest. Their lips met in a kiss that was anything but tentative. His tongue pushed into her mouth, and hers pressed
back eagerly. His senses reeled with the sweet fragrance of
her skin and the softness of her hair. He suckled at the
crook of her neck, delighting in the goose bumps his touch
elicited.

Axiom knew the moment when her inhibitions broke
completely under the power of the yearning. He knew
when her thoughts filled with him, with the texture of his
thick hair as she wound her fingers into it at the nape of his
neck, with his earthy scent, and with the taste of his
mouth-salty and hot. The pleasure he brought her magnified his own.

He saw himself through her eyes, experienced her pleasure along with his own. Unbearable. Exquisite. He had imagined this many times. Before he had been sent to Earth,
Mobius had encouraged him to observe Laurell, so befriending her would be easier. Axiom had studied her often, wanting to be certain his mission would be successful. He had
wondered about what it would be like to touch her, hold
her, kiss her, mate with her.

Laurell pressed her pelvis to his and rubbed herself up
and down the length of him. Her nipples hardened as they
brushed against him through the thin layers of her bra and
T-shirt.

He had been trained to deal with the yearning, to control
it as much as possible. When Laurell ovulated, however, not
even his immortal powers would be able to withstand
its pull.

For now, however, control it he would. Axiom thrust one
hand into Laurell's hair, tangled it there, and tugged her
mouth from his. His arms trembled with the effort to hold
her away from him.

He focused all of his will to slam shut the door of desire
just as consciously as he had previously opened it. The sensations stopped. She gasped and scrambled from his lap,
chest heaving. Long moments passed while he waited for
her to recover. When she could speak, she stared at him,
incredulous. Her eyes narrowed, mouth twisted. He would
not have been surprised had she thrown something at him.

"How. Is. This. Possible." Each word emerged between
Laurell's teeth as though she spat out something putrid.

"It is not of this world."

"Why is it happening?" she demanded.

"Because it is necessary for us to come together and fulfill our duty. The yearning makes it impossible for us to
fail."

Laurell bit her lip and pressed shaking hands to her face.
When she removed her hands, she was a bit calmer, though
Axiom sensed that her composure would be short-lived.

"Our duty?"

"Is it not obvious? We must mate."

"I won't be forced to have sex with anyone." The words
burst from Laurell's mouth on a growl, and she darted to
the far side of the room. The fire heated her backside, but it
wasn't half as hot as the heat that scorched her face from
the anger raging inside her.

Axiom was at her side in a heartbeat. He moves too fast to
be human. As soon as the thought rushed into her mind,
she pushed it aside. She couldn't start believing his madness now.

Axiom touched her arm, and she jerked away. She stood
stiffly before the fire, anger as hot as the orange and yellow
flames ripping through her. The man was crazy. And he had
drugged her somehow. That was the only possible explanation for the dulling of her fear, the strange ravenous need
for food at such an odd time, the unrestrained and allconsuming desire to have sex with him.

How else could he control her body this way? How else
could he make her own flesh turn traitor to her will? How
could he make the appropriate emotion of fear turn to lust?

At the moment, his hold on her senses seemed to have
dissipated a little. She could actually feel her heart fluttering
from something other than sexual need. Laurell clenched
her fists and willed herself to calm. She despised being afraid.
Fear meant having no control. I control my own life and my
own destiny, dammit.

A god. Yeah. And I'm a goddess. She'd seen enough horror
movies to know the best tack to take when dealing with a
nut. She had to hide her rage and stamp out any signs of
fear. And not by replacing the fear with lust, either. Somehow, she had to fight the drug he'd given her.

Axiom sighed audibly and interrupted her thoughts.
"Our duty is not just about the mating, though I hope that
will be an enjoyable activity for us both." He paused.

Laurell whirled to face him, glaring. Enjoyable? Right.
Rape was not enjoyable.