Morigan stepped down from the dais. ''Bring forward the first femina," he commanded, indicating Liane. Agna gave Liane a quick, reassuring smile and led her over to stand before the Lord of the Cat People. Placing the younger woman's hand in his, the old healer stepped back to her place with the other feminas. Liane unwaveringly gazed up at Morigan.
"Have you made your decision?" he asked, his deep voice carrying to the furthest reaches of the gathering.
She nodded.
"Then I wish you well and hope your choice brings you happiness," Morigan solemnly replied. "Name the male who will be your mate, for this nocte and all the noctes of the coming three cycles."
Every muscle in Karic's body tightened. Blood pounded through his skull, and a fierce trembling wracked his tautly strung frame. Now, Karic thought, in bitter, shattering agony, she will choose another and have her final revenge.
Deep blue eyes slowly scanned the assemblage until they met Karic's. A soft smile played upon Liane's lips. "I choose your son, my lord. I choose Karic for my mate."
As a collective gasp swelled through the crowd, Karic thought his heart would burst from joy. He wildly searched her eyes for confirmation. The gentle acquiesance smoldering there nearly brought Karic to his knees. She wanted him! She had chosen him!
The murmuring of the people rose in volume and, from the group of feminas, Kalina stridently cried, "No, it cannot be! She is not one of us. She is not worthy of him. Make her choose another!"
Morigan sharply eyed the flame-haired Cat Woman, then quickly silenced the crowd. "The femina has made her choice, and it will stand. She has abided by our laws. We will do the same. She has chosen Karic, and so shall it be."
He motioned to his son. "Come. Your mate awaits you."
Karic strode around the fire to halt before him. Taking his hand, Morigan placed it in Liane's. "He is yours," he Said, smiling down at her. "Be a good and faithful mate. Be fruitful. Be happy."
The drums pounded wildly as Karic tugged at her hand. She glanced up at him.
"Come," he said, his voice all but drowned out by the drums. "The ceremony is over for us."
Her chin lifted. "Yes, let us go. What is still between us is best dealt with in private."
Karic's eyes darkened, but he said no more. He led her across the enclosure. Behind them, Morigan's voice once more rose to fill the summer nocte's air.
"Bring the next femina forward."
They were barely inside the cave before Karic turned to Liane. "Why did you choose me?"
She steadily returned his gaze. "It's quite simple, really. I've decided to hold you to your promise."
His eyes narrowed. "You toy with me, Liane," he softly warned, "and I am near my breaking point in this."
"As am I," she calmly replied. "But it was your choice, not mine. Will you once more foreswear your vow to me?"
Karic strode to the hearth, where he stood with head bowed and shoulders taut. Then he cast an agonized glance back at her. "I told you before. I won't force my attentions upon you. I swear it!"
Her mouth trembled into a smile. "Thank you for that. I'll not ask such a sacrifice of you, though. I'll be your mate and bear your children, for as long as they'll let us stay together."
Fierce joy flared in Karic. He closed the distance between them. His hands moved to take her into his arms, but Liane halted him.
"What, Liane?" he asked. "What else lies between us? Tell me now, and let it be done with forever."
She inhaled a steadying breath. "Foolish though it may seem, some tiny part of me fears you stillyour animal side, the extent of your control. I still need to get past that, or we can never be happy together."
"What do you want from me? Name it, and it's yours."
A blush slowly stained her cheeks. "You put your life at my disposal once, when you forced that dagger into my hand. This nocte, I ask not for your life but your body. Can you not trust me in this?"
He frowned. "I trust you, Liane, but I would know what you mean to do."
Liane's courage nearly fled in the hot embarrassment that flooded her. How, in all the heavens, could she tell him, much less see this through? Agna had taught her all she could in the span of a few horas of the art of pleasuring a male, of bringing him to the very edge of controland beyond. But now, faced with the reality of Karic's powerfully intimidating presence and her total lack of experience in such things, would she have the necessary determination to see it through?
And yet, if she didn't, some part of her would fear him for the rest of her life.
Liane stared up with gloriously determined eyes. "I want us to go to your sleeping chamber. I want you to undress and lie down upon your bedand then the rest will follow."
A faintly wry smile touched Karic's lips. "And that is how you hold me to my promise?" He gave a low laugh. "Come, let us begin at once."
Liane hurried past him and down the short hallway to his bedchamber. Once inside she wheeled about to face him. Karic halted before her.
"Well, go ahead," she silkily commanded. "Disrobe."
Karic strode over to the bed and sat down. In a few quick movements, he pulled off his boots and flung them aside. His hands next went to his loincloth. He hesitated there as their eyes met.
"There's no need for false modesty," Liane said. "I'm well aware what you look likemost
graphically
aware."
With a puzzled frown, Karic rose and shed the loincloth. At the sight of him standing there, magnificent and proud in his nakedness, Liane experienced a startling rush of desire. She suddenly felt small and vulnerable, and the almost tangible heat of his presence sent a shudder of fear coursing through her. Even now there was something so elemental, so primal about Karic. The realization stirred an answering, if reluctant, attraction in Liane.
Heart pounding in her chest, she forced herself to walk toward him. "Lie down." Liane choked out the words.
Karic scowled but turned to the bed and lay down. Never taking his eyes off her, he leaned back on his arms. A mocking smile tilted his lips.
"Well, femina? I but await your pleasure."
So, Liane thought, hearing the challenge in his voice, he doubts I can see this through. Anger stirred her resolve. She was a female, he a male. Instinct would surely guide her wherever she found Agna's instructions lacking. She walked over to the bed and lowered herself next to Karic. Propping herself on her side, she unwaveringly gazed over at him.
He stared back.
A faint sheen of moisture gleamed on his muscular torso. His thick pectoral muscles rose and fell with his deep, even breathing. Fascinated, Liane touched the aureum Cat's claw that dangled below the hollow of his throat, then slid her fingers through the tangle of dark gold hair that covered him. The satin smooth feel of his skin beneath the wiry crispness startled her. Her lids fluttered up to meet Karic's gaze.
His eyes were deep jade and smoldering.
Something hot and aching pierced her. Liane trembled. Her fingers skimmed downward to the rippling, hairy ridges of his abdomenthen lower. As she neared his manhood her hand veered away to move across his groin and down his legs. She stroked the slightly parted thighs, her fingers slipping between them to brush the sensitive inner flesh. Karic tensed, and a hiss escaped his clenched teeth.
Liane looked at his dark nest of hair where, even now, his sex was swelling. A grimly satisfied smile curved her lips. Agna had spoken true. A female's power over a male was great, and Karic was so very, very sensitive.
She looked up into his eyes, eyes hot with barely veiled excitement. "You like it, don't you, Karic?" Liane silkily purred, continuing all the while her feather-light stroking, trailing a path up his groin, then back down again.
"My body can sometimes betray me," he said, his mouth tightening in frustration at her easy effect upon him, "but I'm still in full control. You needn't worry."
"Oh, I'm not worried." Liane wound a slender finger back up his body to teasingly circle a flat male nipple. "Not worried at all."
She leaned over him then. Her lips captured Karic's nipple, and she gently laved it with her tongue. All the while, Liane watched him. He stared back at her, his face impassive save for the muscle spasnung in his jaw. He could not contain the tensing of his body, however. Liane smiled and moved to tongue his other nipple to a dark, puckered arousal.
His maleness thrust boldly against her.
Her lips trailed a heated path up his chest to his strong, corded neck. She nuzzled him there, smoothing back his mane to run the tip of her moist tongue up to his ear. Karic shuddered when she delicately outlined its curves. His eyes closed.
Liane took his face into her hands, turning it to her. Karic's eyes slowly opened. Green fire burned there, igniting an answering conflagration within her. Liane felt hot, filled with a need she'd never experienced before. Suddenly, she knew she wasn't prepared to deal with it.
She risked more than Karic's loss of control. She was treading in uncertain territory now, when it came to her own body and responses, and that loss of self-discipline loomed before her as a yawning, fearful thing. Yet the need still grew, exploding into hot, wild lust when her mouth took his.
Karic's response was just as instinctive. With a low groan, his lips parted. His tongue darted out to meet hers. He played with her, his mouth his only weapon, gently inserting then withdrawing each time she responded. And Liane matched him, thrust for thrust, kiss for kiss. But when his head moved lower, to trail his searing lips down her neck, she stiffened.
Slender fingers tightened on Karic's face, and she pulled back from him. "No," Liane huskily forced out the word. "You are not permitted even that. Do you understand?"
Sudden comprehension darkened his eyes. He fell back with a frustrated sigh. "Why are you doing this? You deny yourself as much pleasure as you do me, and by doing so, your torment will be just as great."
Renewed determination flowed through Liane. "And I say you flatter yourself." She backed off the bed to stand before him.
Karic's eyes narrowed. "What? What now, Liane?"
She smiled as she began to unfasten her brightly woven belt. "I am warm, that's all. I think I'll get more comfortable."
Liane freed the belt and let it drop to the floor. Her hand moved to the shoulder of her gown. She slid her fingers beneath the sleeveless strap and pushed it down. It fell and hung loosely on her upper arm, exposing a tantalizing glimpse of ivory-hued breast. Karic scowled.
Languidly, Liane tarried over the other strap, prolonging the moment when its downward slide would free the garment from her body. Finally, as her eyes lifted to boldly meet his, the gown slithered to the ground.
For long secundae Liane stood there in the dim, flickering light. She could almost feel Karic's gaze sweep over her, feel the tips of her breasts tingle at his hungry, searing look. Suddenly, all she wanted were his hands on her, his mouth, the weight of his body pressed against hers. Her heart pounded wildly. She forced herself to move back toward the bed.
She climbed back over and knelt beside Karic. He tensed as her hand moved toward him, and when she touched him, her fingers curling around his thickly swollen shaft, he groaned, arching yet further into her hand.
Liane thought she'd lose all control. She could barely breathe as she began to stroke him and saw him throw back his head, his face becoming taut and strained. She continued to arouse him, kneading, squeezing, sliding up and down his smooth hard length. Karic's fists clenched in the furs, his breath a ragged rasp. Trembling spasms wracked his body, and Liane could feel him struggle to contain a wild, fierce passion. Sweat gleamed on his thickly muscled form, yet all the while he never touched her.
Liane ached for him and felt herself grow hot and wet with her own need. She lowered herself to lie beside him, leaning over to rub her nipples against Karic's rhythmically straining body. The shock of his hair-matted chest against her sensitive flesh made Liane gasp with pleasure.
Karic's lids snapped open. Liane stared into tor- mented green eyes, eyes surely as tormented as her own, she realized from some distant part of her mind. Her mouth lowered to his. He eagerly kissed her with hard, brutal passion, but this time Liane felt no fear. Her need was as great as his. Tongues plunged wildly, savagely, in some primitive imitation of the true coupling to come.
She moved to straddle Karic's tautly straining form, her hand ceaselessly stroking him, her mouth slanting fiercely over his. She lowered herself to meet his powerful body. His shaft, throbbing and hard beneath her fingers, pressed against her belly.
At the touch Karic went rigid, his hot green eyes impaling her. ''Liane," he moaned. "Please . . ."
Fear once again shot through her. Karic was so desperately ready. What would he do if she now denied him? Go mad and take her? The consideration wasn't as horrible as she'd imagined it might be, and a tiny, most irrational part of her almost wished he would.
But reason forced its way to the surface. She must know, once and for all, what Karic's response would be if she denied himand that moment was now upon them.