A Jaguar's Mate Ch. 03 Page 02

By Luna she was beautiful! Her eyes blazed with the threat of thunderstorms, crackling as if lightning flashed through their depth with a force to incinerate anything in its path. He was in her path. She wanted to kill him, that was obvious and he really couldn't blame her. He could admit that he had put her through hell in the last couple of hours. Having been unable to help himself was no excuse but it was the truth. A truth she now knew in ways that made him cringe. Why had she taken all his memories?

He had never meant to let her know the hell he had been through. A man didn't need to have his most embarrassing experiences laid bare. He felt raw, exposed and vulnerable. Powerful as he was he had never felt like this, even when he was held captive, and he hated it. There was no way to erase his memories from her mind, he didn't have that ability but she should, if she could take them then she could release them. Would she use them against him? Manipulate him like so many had tried to do. She would have more ammunition than anyone had ever had. She had all his memories.

She had all his memories! And she was pissed to a degree he had never seen in anyone. That was something to be scared of in any being, but in a woman it was worse. Hell had no fury like a woman scorned, and she definitely felt scorned. All he could do was wait to see what she would do and try to mitigate it. The Aage he had known would not have used his memories against him but this Aage was an unknown. One who had a powerful right hook.

She was going in the direction he wanted, his memories guiding her. Did she know they would be alone in a cabin that was in the middle of nowhere? He wanted her, needed her with a passion that threatened his returned sanity. And he was now sane, she had taken the brunt of his rage, reduced it to manageable levels. To a point where he didn't want to kill every living thing he encountered. He still burned with a need for revenge, would not stop until his enemies were no more but he no longer felt at the verge of losing control.

For now he concentrated on the seductive sight before him. He could have summoned up some clothes for her but the view before him was too tempting to give up. The blouse reached down to just above the bottom of her butt so that with every step he caught the enticing curve of it. Smooth, firm rounded with a sexy bounce to it that had him focusing on nothing else. She had not been this rounded when he had last seen her. He wanted to cup that perfect ass, sink his aching cock into it and ride her for the rest of the night.

He knew the likelihood of that was next to nil. She wanted to forget he existed, had decked him when he had dared to touch her, even gone so far as to almost geld him. He found himself admiring her courage and wanting to spank her at the same time. She would look so beautiful with her reddened ass on display. He had never been a dominant lover, drawn to sadomasochistic sexual acts but he found himself aching to tie her down and take a paddle to her behind.

He almost bumped into her, having been lost in the picture his mind had conjured that he hadn't noticed she had stopped. Arms crossed beneath her ample breasts she was glaring at him. He met her fuming eyes with a steady look, he knew it maddened her even more but what else could he do.

"Keep your eyes to yourself." She gritted. He kept his face straight, refusing to let his amusement show. How could she expect him not to look at her when she looked so hot, so sexy? The swing of her hips alone was poetry in motion, bringing so many erotic thoughts to his mind. "Where are we going?" she demanded.

"Ye're the one leading." He replied.

"Don't..." she gestured angrily with her hands. "Don't play with me; you know exactly what I mean. Somehow you are leading me somewhere and I'm too strung up to put up with anything more. So where are you taking me."

"I was taking ye tae a cabin in these mountains; it's nae that far from here. Ye must have picked up on me intention."

"And what is wrong with going back to my apartment, my life?"

He saw her start when he shifted his weight, as if she was afraid he was going to attack her again. She had to know he would never hurt her. With his memories she had to know that no matter how violent or screwed up he got she was the one person he would never intentionally hurt, not physically. "Ye're intelligent enough tae know that is nae a safe option for ye." He stated.

With a belligerent look to her she notched her chin a bit higher. "Why?

If she wanted him to spell it out he would, he had never believed in mincing the truth no matter how painful it might be. "They have been monitoring ye for decades, keeping track of yea movements. They managed tae collect blood from ye and ye dinna know about it. They knew what ye're when ye dinna even know it and the only reason they dinna have ye in a two by four cell was because they had me and ye're tae young tae give them any of the information they're seeking."

She paled, but kept her face set refusing to be cowered. He nodded his approval; she had some fight in her. "Ye're a fighter, I remember that, ye're going tae need it for we're going tae be in a fight for our lives." He added.

"I don't want to have to fight."

"Ye donna have a choice; ye were born to it, either tae be the predator or the cull, no other choice. Having the bloodline ye have means ye're expected tae be the alpha predator, or ye will be killed by those who want yea place, yea power. Others with lesser bloodlines can afford to sit back and nae fight but ye and I canna."

Tears filled her eyes, he hurt for her but he had to tell her the truth, rip the bandage once and have it done with.

"I hate you." She ground out.

"No, ye donna" he breathed at her moving towards her until he was a breath away from her looking deep into her injured and confused gaze. "I'm naked before ye, ye canna think about anything else besides that. Yea body is burning with a need ye can just about keep at bay but it's taking everything ye have tae do so. This anger ye're showing, it has nothing tae do with wanting tae know where we're going or nae wanting tae fight. It has everything tae do with the fact that ye canna control the desire boiling through yea blood, the torrid yearning ye canna hide from."

He saw the hand coming, had time to reason out the pros and cons of evading it and decided against it. The crack resounded in the silent night and his cheek stung where her hand had connected but he kept his hold on her eyes. The fire was back in her eyes something he knew he was going to love about her. She hadn't had it when she was younger, he couldn't wait to see what other differences were in her.

"I might be stuck with you for now but trust me, if there is any way for me to be rid of you I will find it."

"Only way is tae kill me. Are ye ready for that?" he challenged.

Without another word she turned away from him then resumed walking. He went instantly hard as her hips swung with her furious walk, those delicious curves meant for a man to hold on to. And those legs! Long, shapely, sexy legs that went on forever and could send a man to hell and back. He remembered them wrapped around him, their muscles drawing him closer as he took them both towards heaven.

Damn he loved the sight of them, pure perfection. There was nothing about Aage that wasn't flawless and he wanted to show her just how divine every bit of her was.

It was hard to walk with a hard on, the bounce in every step highlighting his need and the feel of the air reminding him of so much. Her breath on him, a feathered touch barely there. Damn he was losing his mind in his need for her he almost wished to be back in his cell and madness. At least then he didn't have the excruciating temptation platter he couldn't feast on.

She walked on faster and he knew she was as attuned to him as he was to her. It was the way of mates. She would be able to smell his desire, almost taste it and it would enhance hers and he knew she felt desire for him. What remained to be seen was whether she would give into it or continue to deny it. As he had taken so much from her he wanted her to come to him, to seduce him. Maybe his ego also wanted the validation that he was as irresistible to her as she was to him, that even as she wanted nothing to do with him she still had an overwhelming desire for him.

She was almost running, keeping her speed at the threshold where it was less than running perhaps knowing that if she ran all bets were off. He would not be able to control himself if she initiated another mating run. His panther was already at the ready, waiting with that brutal patience, stalking his prey and just waiting for her to run. She was playing with fire, baiting the primitive part of him that could not, at present, reason beyound the raging fire that demanded they mate. Re-establish the bond forty years apart had weakened.

The cabin was just ahead of them, a compact glass and brick two storey structure covering 1,440 square foot. The lights were off but that was expected as no one should be there. Still he stretched his senses to feel for any unusual energy, he found none but still he kept his guard up. Without a word he took the lead unconsciously pushing Aage enough to stop her from taking another step.

"Don't manhandle me." She bit out but he ignored her. She had to know from his action that he was only trying to protect her. He knew she was intelligent enough to realize it without having it spelled out. Wanting to assert her displeasure was no excuse for carelessness. Turning he glared his warning to her.

He had never been a man to repress women in any way but she needed to know he was in charge. He might indulge her, he would indulge her but ultimately he would decide what was best. At the moment she needed to vent, lash out for what he had put her through but he would not justify her being careless.

Whatever she thought would come of their relationship he was never going to let her go. At least she had acknowledged that what they had was unbreakable. She might not like him now but she wanted him, even as she claimed otherwise. He would use that. He was ruthless in what he wanted and made no apologies for it.

Soon enough they would be back in his kingdom and God help the Humans for he certainly wouldn't. He was going to purge the world of their kind, show them how weak and stupid they were. How dare they think to come after his people, dare to imprison and experiment on them. He was going to show them their worst fear, show them the future they justified their inhumanity on.

He smelled her fear, saw her body freeze in that way people did when they sensed danger and were deciding weather to flee or fight. With effort he schooled his features to the blank mask he had perfected over the centuries. There was no need for her to fear him but still she did. "We have tae move as if someone hunts us. There mightna know about the cabin or they might, we shall see."

Without waiting to see if she would follow he moved forward. His footfalls made no sound as he kept to the shadows. He was a creature of the night, they both were, predators created for stealth with eyes that saw far without trouble even in the depth of the night. Tonight had a full moon and favored anyone who might be watching.

His skin prickled, not because he felt someone watching. It was the exposure, the idea that he might have unwanted watchers observing him, watching for weakness. Studying him for a way to kill him, a way to torture him, wanting the secrets he alone would know of. He would not have mercy on anyone foolish enough to come after him, he was strong, they had made him stronger than fifteen centuries of living had achieved. His powers were on steroids.

He would not let them win, he would not die. He was the last hope of his people and his duty was above all to them. He wanted to howl his challenge to the world, dare any fool to try for him. Power built in him, raw, virulent. He wanted to rage at whoever might be watching him, reducing him to an object. He the most powerful of his people. He would trample them into the ground; leave nothing of them to be found.

"Ah Liam, you're shinning, kinda like a reactor about to go nuclear. If it means anything to you I still wanna live, you know, not done with life." The bite was still in her voice but there was trepidation also.

The sound of her voice brought him up short, grounded him. Taking a deep breath he released it slowly, focusing on the act and nothing else. He needed to stay calm, keep going until he could come up with a plan, take one step at a time and all that. He would get his revenge.

With each breath a cooling wave bathed his insides until he was back to normal. He would be strong, he was strong and losing control was not an option.

With recommendable stealth they reached the door without incident. He knew there would be none; if they had not been attacked when he had nearly lost it they were more likely alone out here. Still he needed to the routine to ground him, keep him in the now.

Aage had taken his rage and trauma but not all of it, he would be having problems for a while but he had the strength to endure it. He was worried about her though. Damn it how would he have known she could siphon people's memories. The trauma she would experience! He cringed at memories he wanted to forget but couldn't. If she kept them, remembered the torture! Right now her mind would be processing his memories, denying them at first then starting from his childhood.

When the torture hit she would be laid low. At the moment she had a vague awareness of them but they would crash in on her soon. He wanted to take them away or at least bury them deep in her before that happened. She looked fragile, even when she impressed him with her defiant courage, and he would not have her suffering any more.

The front door needed his thumb print to be opened and the lights came on. At the time he had been taken, it had been the latest in security but he imagined that was no longer the case. At least no one had changed the security on the cabin or he would have had a time of it. But it presented him with a new problem; if they were attacked the security would be outdated and easy to get past. Those that would come after him would be conversant with the newest of technology.

The entry flowed into the sitting room, the furniture still the roughhewn set he had left in. A glass table graced the middle of the deep cushioned couch set. A white carpet defined the sitting room from the wooden floored entry from which the wooden stairs led to the upper storey. On the other side was the dinning which led to the kitchen at the back. The only other room on the floor was one he had used as an office/study. He wanted to go in there and start calling to his people but knew he had to see to Aage.

Turning to her he saw she was still by the door, her posture unwary and showing she was ready for flight. She had to know he was faster than her, more enduring because of his great age but he could see her need to run. He had no idea what would prompt it, assumed it was being under the same roof with him with no one about. But was that worse than being in the forest with him, out in the cold with nowhere to be?

"I willna be harming ye Aage. We're both tired and in need of food and rest so donna turn this into another chase, donna arouse the instinct in me unless yea ready for it."

He saw her eyes widen and dart about, like she was looking for a weapon and finding none she looked back at him with defiance in her eyes. She lifted her chin, pushed her shoulders back and walked towards the stairs as if he she owned the place, which she technically did. The amusement he felt never reached his eyes. Her spirit was admirable, flaring even when she was uncertain as she most certainly was right then.

He watched as she mounted the stairs with the grace of a dancer, his stomach clenching unbearably as she gave him a view of her lower lips once she was a bit higher up. It was a fleeting glimpse, gone before it could truly be registered; it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was stunned to immobility, his hand on the railing with his foot on the first step. His arousal became more painful, especially as his brain knew he wasn't going to be welcomed.

The sway of her hips added to the sensual moment, the perfect rolling motion enhanced by the climbing. Mesmerizing him with their perfect motion, no move more than it should be, no exaggerations. None of that slow sensual strut females had perfected, no, the last thing Aage wanted was to entice him, which made her walk sexier than hell.

She turned at the top of the stairs and he released the breath he had not been aware of holding in a whoosh. He was in for a night of hell; he just hoped it would lean more to the sensual kind.

Aage had seen this movie. A cabin in the wood surrounded by miles of forest, a bad guy who might, might actually be a good guy and the stupid heroine trusting his back story and her life to him. Bad guys way into torture were after them and she had just had the awesome, awesome news that she was an immortal freak. Yay, she was having an awesome day. The icing on the cake would be if there was no cell service and it would turn into a good ol' fashioned B horror movie. Predictable, with an abrupt end that just might be the death of the beautiful if somewhat intellectually challenged heroine, her. Wes Craven would not touch this script with a five foot pole.

She did not want to die but it seemed death was stalking her. She cringed at the memories that raced through her, the torture she knew would haunt her sleep. Why had she taken his memories? Was there some part of her that yearned to know him inside and out? Well that masochistic whatever was going to bite.

She had known which room he was going to give to her, what every damsel needed, a mental link to the psycho who held her. So okay he didn't exactly fit in with all the psycho kidnappers but still the salient points were the same. She was here against her will; she had no means of escape and feared for her life. Maybe he wasn't the one she had to fear but hey the script wrote itself here, a clichéd one true, but still there. Her life was riveting!

Her face in the mirror looked the same as always. Flawless brown skin graced a fine boned oval face, a forehead she had always thought too prominent and a mouth with too full lips. She was, in her opinion, unremarkable. What would attract a gorgeous millennia old king to obsess about her? The mating thing had to be more powerful than anything in the world. It had to be the only reason why he even wanted her.

Aage wished she could deny that they were mates. The pull between them was palpable she felt like she could breathe it. It was like dynamite bathed every molecule around them, ready to explode with the slightest match. No matter how angry she was, how much she wanted to distance herself from him her mind kept coming back to sensual matters. With him as the star of her fantasies.

Never had she been so attracted to a man. In fact many times she had despaired of ever finding a man she desired. If it hadn't been for her highly erotic dreams she would have thought herself frigid. Now she guessed those had been more than dreams, memories of the nights she had spent with Niall. She had never seen the face of the man in her dreams but his body and that of Liam McMorna were too alike for it not to be him.

She was trembling, a reaction to the adrenalin let down, the hours of fear and regrettably the desire coursing through her veins. It wasn't supposed to be like this, she was supposed to find a good man she could love, get married, have 2.5 kids and a house with a white picket fence. She had earned that much.