"I have something to show you," Marcus said the next day.
Jessica was back on solid ground again, and for all the travails of the day before and the hunger that was gnawing viciously at her belly, felt oddly fit and ready.
"All right," she said, and she wondered what he could possibly have been reluctant to divulge about after revealing that he was a werepanther.
He stood in front of her, and he made a strange motion reaching up over one shoulder to tug at something that wasn't there. He wasn't even wearing his pack yet, and for a moment, Jessica wondered what she was meant to see.
Then, his arm came down and somehow his hand wasn't empty. Jessica was aware that she was gaping like a fool, but there was nowhere the jeweled sword in his hand could have been, nowhere it could have been hidden that she would not have seen.
It was a gorgeous blade; the morning sun twinkled off its length, and even from where she stood, she could see that it was wickedly sharp. The cross-guard was made of cold sullen iron, but there were golden gems expertly set there. They made her think of cats' eyes, glinting in the dark. The hilt was wrapped tight in black leather, and it looked as if it had been made to fit Marcus's large hand.
"What is that?" she whispered, and Marcus smiled at her grimly.
"A weapon," he said, "and perhaps the finest of its dwindling kind. You never saw it because I didn't want you to, and that's just one of the powers that possesses. There are others, perhaps many others. I don't know all of them. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to know them."
Jessica tore her eyes from the blade, wondering for a moment if there was something supernaturally compelling about it. Once he had drawn it, she had wanted, almost needed to look at it, and suddenly Jessica could imagine standing, eyes wide, as that gleaming length swept down on her.
"Why do you have it?"
He hesitated, and then he shrugged.
"Because it is an ancient shifter weapon that cannot fall into the wrong hands," he said. "It'll be invisible for me when I want it to be, which allows me to continue on my mission of transporting it across Tanzania to a sanctuary where it can be properly protected."
"That's why you didn't want any company on this trip," she said, and Marcus surprised her with a smile.
"I would have changed my mind if I had known you," he promised.
He sheathed the sword on his back again, and to her fascination, it disappeared. She couldn't see any weight rumpling his clothes or altering his stride. It wasn't just invisible, it was as if it was gone.
She reached for the place where it should have been, but Marcus grabbed her hand, stopping her. He soothed the suddenness of his motion with a kiss to her palm, shaking his head.
"Better not. I don't understand the damned thing. No one really does. It's better that we get it to a place where it can do the least harm and the most good."
She nodded, and as she fell into step behind Marcus again, she wondered at how dark and mysterious the world was revealing itself to be, how very much was out there that could never be explained.
*
Around midday, Jessica realized that they were in a dry gully, the stone on either side of them high and carved from the torrential waters of the centuries. It was beautiful, the red stone gorgeous in the clear air, but Jessica was too tired to absorb it.
"We need to keep marching, but this gully is good," Marcus said. "Clear path, no underbrush to fight through, and I can't scent any enemies at all. You keep marching along it. I am going to go scout the forest for a while to see if there's anything to be seen yet."
Jessica, who had been dying for a break, took a deep breath and nodded. Her entire body felt as if it had been beaten with a baseball bat, and though some of it was the anaconda attack from the day before, she knew a great deal of it was simply exhaustion. Marcus seemed to sense her weariness, because he paused and pulled her into his arms.
"This isn't forever," he murmured, kissing her on the forehead. "I promise. Soon enough, you'll be in a place with soft beds and plenty of food where you can rest for a while, all right?"
"All right," she said, and she smiled up at him. It wasn't a pretense she was putting up for him, she realized. She believed him. When he spoke, his voice rang with simple truth, and something in Jessica knew, beyond a doubt, that she could trust this man.
Marcus smiled at her briefly, and he shed his clothes, stuffing them into her pack. She would have thought that she was too tired by far to be at all interested in a naked man, no matter how drop-dead gorgeous, but her breath still caught at the broadness of his chest and the elegant curve of his hip bones.
Marcus tilted his head to shoot her a smile that was utterly rife with male satisfaction, and then he transformed into a black panther again. This time, instead of bounding off, he came closer to her, butting his head under her hand like a house cat seeking caresses.
Despite the dire nature of their situation and her own exhaustion, Jessica couldn't help but laugh as she scratched her lover behind his dark velvety ears.
"Oh, so beautiful," she murmured, and Marcus rumbled in smug agreement.
Then he was gone, leaping up the wall of the gully, his paws finding purchase on what looked like utterly flat stone. He paused at the top to look down at her before disappearing into the brush.
Jessica looked after him for a moment, but then she shook her head.
All right, time to keep walking. Just one foot in front of the other, one step closer to the village, one step closer...
*
Jessica lost all track of time. At some point in the last few hours, she had pulled back from her body, and she felt as if she were piloting it from a great distance.
I’ll make it, she thought with detachment, feeling the ache in her legs and chest, the hunger that made it hard to think. I’ll make it.
Her mantra, one foot in front of the other, dulled to a monotonous chant in her head, droning over and over. The anaconda from the night before could have appeared in the wash in front of her, and Jessica would have walked straight into the thing.
Her steps were slower but they were still steady, and she did her best to walk as steadily as she could. Just one foot in front of the other.
She wasn't sure when she started to smell roasting meat, but her head shot up, and her mouth started to water. She was so hungry that a wave of dizziness washed over her, and then before she could think of being cautious, she was around the bend in gully. The sight that met her eyes made her want to cry with relief.
The gully had opened into a small flat area, surrounded and protected by deep walls. At one end was an achingly clear pool, and at the other end, Marcus had set up a small camp. There was a fire crackling away with meat spitted neatly over it, and the man himself was tending the fire. He was still naked but from the water that weighed down his hair, he had just come from the pool.
"Oh good, there you are," he said with a smile. "Another moment and I would have started back looking for you."
Jessica was so tired and so hungry that she couldn't speak. Marcus seemed to sense that, and he guided her to the smooth log near the fire, where he handed her one of the skewers of roasting meat.
Jessica knew that in another time and place, she would have pulled away from it. It was dripping with grease and charred along one edge. It was so hot that she burned her tongue on it. There was a gamy taste that was like nothing she had ever tried before.
However, right there and then, it was delicious, and to her surprise, it was all for her.
"I ate my fill earlier," Marcus said when she had the wit to ask him about it. "The panther makes more out of the food I eat than my human body does. This is all for you, but take your time with it. You don't want to make yourself sick."
She took his advice and slowed down, taking small sips of water from the canteen to chase every few bites. She had only been in the bush for a few days, but she was still astonished by how immediate and loud her body had become. Her responsibility on the trail was to tend to its needs as soon as she could, because otherwise, she would not be able to do anything else.
She couldn't finish all the meat that Marcus had hunted for her, and he bundled it up into small packets of leaves and twine.
The heat of midday had come upon them, and when Marcus said they should rest for a few more hours, Jessica decided that she needed to be in the water. She started to pull off her clothes, but the meal had restored some of her natural modesty, because she hesitated.
"What's the matter?" asked Marcus with a grin. He had put on his old jeans again, but otherwise, he was still naked. "Feeling a little shy?"
She tilted her chin up at the implied challenge in his voice, and defiantly, she stood up and stripped her clothes off. She walked to the pool, aware that his hot gaze was still on her, and then she forgot all about it in the merciful coolness of the water. It was cold, clear, and she sighed as what felt like a year's worth of grime sluiced off her.
Sooner than she would have thought, however, the cold got to her, and shivering, she returned to the fire. Marcus had laid out a blanket of leaves for them, and she came to lie down next to him. There was precious little padding between them and the ground, but clean and with her belly full of meat, she hardly cared.
As she was drifting off, however, a thought occurred to her.
"I don't think I've ever tasted meat like that before," Jessica said thoughtfully, and Marcus chuckled.
"No, you wouldn't have," he said, and something about his tone made her sit up and take notice.
"I've tried a lot of different meat," she said, leaning up on her elbow. "I mean, I've worked in Tanzania and Nairobi..."
"Have you worked in South America?" he asked reasonably, and she froze.
"I... South America?"
"Where anacondas come from," Marcus was clearly suppressing a grin, and Jessica's head started to spin.
Oh god, did he chase that snake woman down? Did he butcher her, am I eating... am I eating...?
She gagged, staggering up and away from Marcus, but before she could even get off the blanket, he had risen and caught her in his arms.
"Oh god, that’s disgusting!" she cried out wildly. "What the… no, oh my god..."
"Calm down, calm down," Marcus said, wrapping his arms around her. Panicked, she fought him, raining blows on his arms even as she was aware that it was nothing to him.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" she yelled. "Why didn't you tell me, why the hell didn't you..."
"It's wild pig," Marcus said between laughs, "I swear, it's just wild pig!"
She stilled, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"Wild... pig?"
"Yeah. There's a stream not far from here. It stopped to drink, killed it, and ate my fill. I tore off a few chunks of meat to drag back here and cook for you. It's wild pig. It's definitely not anaconda."
She searched his face for truth, and when she found it there, she could feel the panic and disgust drain out of her brain.
"Are you all right?" he asked. "I swear to you, I wouldn't have fed you snake, let alone a person. Well, not without telling you..."
She was silent, and tentatively, he released her. The humor had drained out of his face now, and he was looking a little worried.
"Jessica... say something. Are you all right? I was just making a joke, I didn't think it would get to you so much.. I'm sorry, I should have thought..."
He reached a tentative hand to brush her hair back, and stepping forward into his space, Jessica gave him a hard shove. The look of surprise on Marcus's face was almost enough to make up for her panic, and she started to laugh.
"Oh my god, you're an ass!" she shouted, wailing on him and beating her fists against his chest. "You are such and asshole! You made me think I was eating a person!"
After a moment of shock, Marcus joined in her laughter. He suffered her blows for a moment, and then as easily as someone grabbing hold of a kitten, he caught both of her wrists in one large hand.
"I can't help it. You make it too easy," he protested with a grin. "If you were in my place..."
"I wouldn't be an ass and tell someone they were eating a person," she retorted. "Even if that person was some nasty skank who had tried to kill you..."
She tried to attack him again, but with a soft grunt, he took her to the ground, pinning her with her hands over her head. Jessica realized that she was entirely naked underneath a man who was also almost naked, stretched out, perfectly vulnerable and open.
"No, you don't have a cruel bone in your body, do you?" he said softly, and his eyes roved her form up and down. Jessica licked her lips.
"I try not to be cruel," she said, her voice soft. "I mean... I can be snide and petty sometimes, I guess... but I never want to be cruel. I want to help. I want to serve."
"And that makes you so special," he whispered.
He leaned down to kiss her. There was plenty of time for Jessica to turn her head, to shrug him off. She knew that if she did so, he would let her up. It would have been wiser to do so. She was here in Tanzania on an important mission. She couldn't let herself be distracted by a man, by romance.
Jessica tilted her head up to kiss him, and when their lips met, she felt that same electric thrill run through her. There was something in her that was drawn to this man, and she whimpered as her body reached for him. The heat pooled in her lower belly, and when he tenderly ran a rough hand from her throat, down her sternum to her thighs, she arched against him.
"We... we should get back on the trail," she whispered, and he shook his head.
"Too hot. If we walk in midday, we'll be slow. The whole forest is slowed down for the heat. We can spare an hour or two..."
"An hour or two," Jessica murmured, trying to sound casual. The effect was rather ruined by the gasp as Marcus tweaked her erect nipple gently. "What... ah... will we do for an hour or two?"
"Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something," Marcus said. He might have wanted to sound casual, but there was a tremor to his voice and a darkness in his eyes that told her how very much he wanted her. He was crouched half over her like a panther devouring its prey, and through the thin fabric of his jeans, she could feel his arousal clearly. Deliberately, she pressed her thigh up against his erection, and he groaned.
"You are a dangerous thing," he said, and she might have responded, but then he slid a hand between her legs. She gasped a little at the intimacy of it, but when he started to trace her soft and vulnerable cleft there, she whimpered instead, opening her legs a little farther to allow him more access.
She wanted to reach for him, but he still held her hands over her head. Jessica felt pinioned, like prey he had hunted and was now enjoying as much as he liked. There was something delicious about that thought, and something deep inside her relaxed. He was going to do what he liked to her. All she could do was enjoy the pleasure.
It was as if Marcus could sense her surrender. His free hand roved her body, squeezing and petting her by turns as his mouth swooped down over hers. The kiss he gave her was claiming—dominant and wild.
He let her hands go, but before she could reach for him, he reached for his belt. He looped the belt around her arms twice before tugging it tight, and now she was tied even more securely.
"This is mine," he growled, running his hands down her body. "I am going to enjoy you..."
She should have protested, but instead the word that rose to her lips was a whispered yes, so full of longing that it made both of them shiver.
She lay on the blanket in the shade of the gully, her eyes open but unseeing as he started to touch her. All she could do was shiver as he stroked her, kissing her body and nuzzling it.
There was something primal about the way he touched her, less like a man touching her for pleasure, more like a wild animal exploring her, feeling her and learning about her responses and her needs. Thinking was not something that Jessica could handle right now. Her body was set on fire with his touch, and all she could do was respond to him.
"So beautiful," he nearly groaned, as if he could not bear it. "You're what I have wanted for so long..."
He leaned down to kiss her with a kind of reverence that made her shiver. There was nothing playful in his touch now, nothing casual. Instead, it felt as if they were enacting some sacred ritual, some age-old dance that their kind had danced for millennium.
"I want you," she murmured, and Jessica knew that she had never spoken more sincere words. He swore briefly at her words, standing up to strip off his jeans, all that was left of his clothing. When she could see him in the light of day, she caught her breath. Jessica was certain that she had never seen a man that was more perfect, never seen someone who was more profoundly good-looking. This was not a body that was a product of a gym or pointless repeated movement. Marcus was a weapon, one honed for use and intent on survival. It plucked a chord deep inside her, and she knew that she would never respond to any other quite this way again.
Naked now, with nothing between them, Marcus came to cover her body with his. She could feel his clean skin slide over hers, and as he dropped fervent kisses over her upturned face, her vulnerable throat and her breasts, she could also feel his erect member pressed hard against her thigh. Instinctively, she knew that he was ready to take her, but at the same time, he wouldn't, not yet.
He thrust his hand between her legs, his clever fingers gliding along her slit, circling, making her gasp.
In less time than she would believe, Jessica was bucking up against him, mewling frantically as she tried to gain her satisfaction from his fingers. Maddeningly, he would rub her soft flesh for several minutes with a steady pressure that made her whimper, but just as she thought she would reach her climax, he pulled back, leaving her shaking and longing.
"Please!" she finally cried. "Marcus, please, I don't know how much longer I can wait...!"
For a moment, she wondered if Marcus would be so cruel as to deny her, but then with a muffled growl, he grabbed her by the hips and turned her over, pulling her up so that she was kneeling on the blanket, her belted wrists and elbow flat against the ground.
In the heat of her mind, Jessica realized that in this position, presenting herself to the man that she wanted more than she wanted anything else, they were mating like animals in the jungle, a primal and wild dance that was older than cities, older than humans even.
"I'm going to take you," Marcus growled, and she felt her belly turn to liquid at the force in his voice. "I'm going to ride you, and Jessica, I am going to make you feel so good..."
She stuttered out an answer, or at least, she tried to. All thought of words vacated her mind, however, when he rose over her, taking her hips in his hands. For just a single moment, she could feel his cock press up against her warm entrance, the blunt head sliding against her slick flesh.
Then he pressed deep into her, touching the very core of her being with one single thrust.
"Oh, Marcus!" she cried out, unable to help herself, and his response with a growled sound that might have been her name. For a moment, they simply froze like that, perfect and joined deeply. Then he started to move, setting a pace that was nearly punishing, and she cried out frantically.
The heat and pleasure that swirled inside her found form now, gathering low in her belly and swelling up higher and higher, hotter and hotter. The pleasure he was giving her was so intense that she could barely think of a climax, but then the edge of it was there, heating up deep inside her and making her cry out with a deep need.
She thought that the tension might last forever, but then he thrust one hand beneath her body, finding her clit with an unerring accuracy. Jessica wailed at the first touch, and then she was trapped between his hard thrusts and the sure strokes of his fingers. The two sensations met and melded together into something that was nearly white hot. She could not have controlled herself if she wanted to.
Instead, she closed her eyes tight, her hands clenched into fists. She didn't want to tip over the edge until he did, until he had fallen over that imperceptible edge as well, but the motion of his body and the skill of his fingers was making that difficult. She tried to pull back, but she might as well have tried to stand against an avalanche.
Jessica could feel her body stretch out as if it were a thread, pulled harder and tighter, and then suddenly, it was too much. The pleasure rolled over her, and her ability to resist was gone. She snapped, and the pleasure rushed in, filling her from head to toe as she groaned with need and fulfilled lust.
She knew that she was calling Marcus's name, and more distantly, she could hear his own voice, calling hers in return. With one final thrust, his liquid heat spilled deep within her, claiming her just as his bite had.
Somehow, his pleasure meshed with her own, twining around it and making it all the more powerful. For a moment, it was even as if she was feeling what he could feel, every muscle tensed as he spilled inside her. It was as if the entire world had lit up with sunlight before going dim again, and by the time Jessica's body dropped down to the blanket of leaves, limp and spent, she was shaking with exhaustion.
She whimpered a little when Marcus pulled away from her, but then she purred with pleasure as he kissed the damp skin at the base of her neck. There was something about being in his arms that could make her forget all about the mess they were in and the danger in the forest around them.
Jessica was almost drifting off when she heard Marcus heave a sigh. He sat up, only chuckling a little at her murmur of discontent.
"Come on, sweetheart, time to get up. We have plenty of daylight yet. Lots of miles to put behind us."
She groaned, but obediently, she staggered to her feet.
"All right, all right..." she grumbled, but she stopped when Marcus swept her hand up into his, kissing the knuckles with a kind of Old World charm.
"Soon," he whispered, "maybe we won’t be so rushed."
Even as she blushed, she could feel her body tightening in anticipation of his words, and she grinned, reaching for her pack. There were, she thought, worse ways to motivate her.
*
That night, after Jessica had faded off into a deep sleep in her hammock, Marcus stayed up. He would return to his feline form soon, but right now, there was something too precious, too real about simply watching her sleep. The moon had risen, casting everything into deep black shadows and silver light. Under the moon, Jessica looked oddly fragile, even though he knew at this point she was tougher than she had any reason to be.
If he had foreseen these circumstances back when he first met her, Marcus knew that he would have dismissed her out of hand. She was too small, too weak, simply too human to survive the trek, let alone thrive. Now, he knew different and from his branch close to her sleeping hammock, he reached over to brush her hair out of her face. In her sleep, she smiled a little, shifting towards his touch and making the hammock sway slightly. Marcus's heart tightened at the look of her, and with a feeling of dread, he knew that it was time to acknowledge how he felt to her.
Marcus was a man who enjoyed women. It was a simple fact, and until now, no more troublesome than an affection for beer or a certain type of meal. This was the first time in his long life that he had looked at a woman and known beyond a shadow of a doubt that the word 'enjoy' was far too pallid a word for her, too weak and pale by far.
The wild, protective and tumultuous feelings that coursed through him could not be corralled by a simple desire for her beautiful body. No, it was a longing for the woman herself, a need to possess her that could drive him insane.
He had not been looking for a mate when he started this journey. Now that Marcus had found her, he didn't know what to do.
"I love you," he whispered to her sleeping form, and though she didn't stir at that, there was something in him that was at peace just for saying it aloud.
Now he simply had to get her back to civilization with a pack of enemies on their trail.
Simple.