Chapter 14
Ross took Colin aside a little later and said, "Look. I don't know what's up between you and Ariane, but you might want to think about acting fast. The sevmelle is not all pretty and benign. It will get hotter; it will burn. And your sea dragon will get all demanding and rapey if you don't make her yours and— Well, you know what I'm saying."
"Rapey?" Colin repeated with a grin.
Ross growled, "Don't say I didn't warn you, cub."
Colin was feeling protective, not rapey. But when he discovered that Ariane had vanished into Kate's quarters with her and showed no sign of emerging, he began to wonder if Ross might be right. Ariane had spent the rest of the day with Kate, who reported at supper that night that their guest's command of English was increasing at speed. The two of them seemed to be getting along famously. Several times that evening, Colin heard the women's laughter ringing through the hall.
But she didn't ask to see Colin. If the sevmelle imprinting was having any effect on her, she had given no hint of it.
He felt a stronger urge than he'd felt in a long time to hunt. He decided to shift to his wolf form and go cull the deer population in the nearby moors.
Deer turned out to be scarce. Either that or he wasn't really interested in them. He killed a couple of rats on a farm he passed, but that was just because they were raiding the grain stores. No way he was going to eat a rat. Nasty critters.
He wasn't hungry for food, anyway.
Colin returned to the keep, weary and unsatisfied, sometime in the middle of the night. He fought down the temptation to enter Ariane's bedchamber via the secret passageway, climb onto her bed, hold her down, part her thighs and shove himself into her, whether she wanted it or not.
Rapey? Damn. Looked as though Ross had been right.
When he knocked on the door to her room later the next morning, Ariane turned sharply. But when she saw that it was him, she smiled. "Colin." His name came more easily on her lips now. He loved the sound of her voice as she said the word.
"How are you feeling, lass?"
"Much better now that I see it is you and not your demon brother."
"I've warned Cam to stay away from you. He still wants to question you, though. I am trying to persuade Ross to do it instead. He's nowhere near the prick that Cam is."
Ross had a different temperament from his twin, and he wasn't the type to be pushed around by Cam. He would handle things in a much more civilized fashion. But Cam hadn't agreed to a change in interrogator. If it weren't for some emergency that had taken him away from the keep for a day or two, Colin knew he would have been demanding that Ariane submit to another session today.
He moved toward her, but she stepped away from him, walking to the barred window and gazing out. Her spine was straight and her shoulders were stiff. Damn. He had been afraid of something like this. Was she lumping him in with his brother? Fucking Cam.
She turned to face him. "I need to know what you and your brothers are planning to do with me."
Oh aye, she regarded him now as an adversary. Shit.
He wanted to reassure her, but the truth was, he didn't know what was going to happen next.
"I understand that I am seen as suspicious. I'm an alien. A stranger in your world. I might have some sort of evil agenda. I don't, but I can see why someone might think it possible."
He floundered a bit. "It's just that...stuff has been happening lately. Cam's a little tense. I guess he has a lot to think about. To worry about. To try to prevent."
"Is there some kind of warfare going on in this world?"
"Well, yeah, there's always somebody fighting somebody else among the human population. And there are times when it's even worse among the shifters. It's just that the vampires have been causing conflict. The darklings, as you call them. Shifters and vampires don't get along at the best of times, but lately it's been even worse. I'm not good with the political stuff, honestly. I try to keep out of it. I'm fond of learning and exploring. I'm something of a traveler myself, you see, in the sense that I love seeing new places, meeting new people and learning whatever they have to teach me."
She smiled. "Me too. There's a diplomatic arm of my Guild, and positions within it are greatly desired. But it's the exploration that I love. The things I can see from the air, the wonder and majesty of the seas, working with my bonded companion."
She looked down at her clasped hands, and he knew she must be thinking about her lost pet. She had been through so much in the space of such a short time. He knew how strange it felt to be in an alien world, but he had planned and intended his own trips to Dunya. He had not fallen through the Rift unawares.
"This can't have been easy for you, Ariane. I admire the way you're coping with it all."
She smiled and stepped away from the window, coming to his side. "I'm not actually coping well, but thanks. I'm sure your brother was just doing his job, and I appreciate the way you stood up for me. But you probably shouldn't have done so. I don't want to cause trouble for you with your family."
Her nearness was charging his body like the crack of a bolt of lightning. And it got worse. She touched his arm, running her fingers down from his elbow to his hand and giving his wrist a squeeze. She must have felt his surprise at her touch, because she quickly moved her hand away, saying, "I am sorry. That is how we greet one another in my world. Is it against your customs to do such a thing?"
He seized her hand, loathe to allow her to stop touching him. The sevmelle had begun glowing again. "No, I like it. It is a different greeting than we use, though." He showed her how to shake hands. "This is something we do. It is said that it originated as a way to prove to another person that you were not holding a weapon in your fist."
She stared, entranced at the fizzy sparks where their flesh joined. "Colin, what is that?"
"We call it the sevmelle. I think it means—"
"Sevmelle means love light," she interrupted. "In Saric, a language from our world."
That was news to him. "Seriously? I don't know the derivation of the word here, actually. What does it signify in your world?"
She looked awed. "Well, it's a myth. An old one. When two lovers see the sevmelle when they touch, it means they are everlasting mates. But—" she paused "—I never actually believed that."
Me neither, Colin was thinking. He had been hoping for some inventive shagging with Ariane, not a relationship that lasted forever. Although—wasn't that what finding one's mate meant? Among the wolf shifters, it usually meant you stuck with your mate until one of you died.
And he did like her. A lot. Which might have been what made him say, "Let me show you another common greeting. It's used among people who know each other well." He slid his arms around her and hugged her.
She laughed low in her throat and nestled against him. "I like this greeting better."
"Or sometimes, we do this." He dropped a gentle kiss on one of her cheeks. The light spicy scent of her skin just about drove him mad. He felt his cock swell. He kissed the other cheek. "The kiss on both cheeks is a common greeting in many countries I have visited." He looked down into her eyes, trying to decide whether to forge ahead and kiss her on the lips. She was looking up at him, her eyes wide. They were such an unusual color—a misty green, with gold flecks. Her lashes were thick and gold, like her hair, but at some angles, her magnificent hair seemed to glimmer with all the colors of the rainbow.
"When we know someone well, and enjoy being close to them," she said, "we do this." She tipped back her head and brought her face close to his. He thought she was going to venture a mouth kiss, but instead she pressed the tip of her nose against the tip of his. It tickled. He could feel her breath on his lips...so close. Her fragrance was sweet and hot. Irresistible.
Enough. He could wait no longer. Slipping one hand into her lovely hair, he pressed his lips to hers for a good long and sensual kiss.
"Oh," she said, grinning as he pulled away. "Now that I recognize. We do it too. With people we like particularly well." And moving in close to him, she rejoined their lips, this time sliding her tongue against his and rubbing a good deal harder than she had done with the tips of their noses.
It felt amazing. When she drew back, those beautiful eyes of hers sparkling, he said, "I guess there are some things that are the same in every world."
"So it would seem." Her arms went around his neck and she pressed herself against him from breast to thigh. She must be able to feel his erection, but she seemed no more disturbed by it than she had when his sea dragon cock had surged against her during their swim to the keep. "What do you think would happen if someone from your world joined bodies with someone from mine?"
Was she suggesting that they experiment and see? If so, he was all for it. The sooner the better. "I don't know anything about sexual customs in Dunya. I haven't explored that aspect of your culture."
"Well, it's not the same everywhere, of course. But in my country, Zanovar, we believe that the Mother, our goddess, She who Created the Nine Worlds, gave us physical bodies in order to make our way in this world, and that we should respect and give them their due. That includes good food and exercise, and relaxing activities that calm the mind, and sensuality that warms the soul."
Normally he would have been happy to absorb whatever details she might reveal about her world, which he found fascinating, but right now all he cared about was learning whatever she considered warming to the soul.
To his amazement, she dropped to her knees in front of him. She ran the palms of her hands up his legs, sliding over his knees and under his kilt. "I had to ask Kate about the kilts," she admitted, looking up and giving him a mischievous smile. "I didn't have the vocabulary for the question, but she understood what I was curious about. She told me you don't wear any confining undergarments beneath these skirts."
"Hey, they're not skirts!" he teased back, amused that even in another world, women wondered what a Scotsman had under his kilt.
"At least, she said, her husband doesn't," Ariane went on, undeterred, "But I decided I wanted to find out about you personally."
He was laughing, but he was also rampant and feeling as though he might just lose control and spurt. When her hands reached his balls, he groaned.
"Ah," she said. One hand began a delicious caress of his scrotum while the other moved up to grasp his cock. She looked up again, asking a trifle shyly, "This is permitted?"
His natural inclinations could be restrained no longer. "It is. Do it harder." He could hear his own voice turn harsh as the need for relief intensified. "Show me how you do it in your world."
She laughed. Her lips parted enough for him to see the tip of her tongue. Christ. Was she going to...oh aye, she was.
Kneeling up, she gathered the fabric of his kilt and shoved it aside, and then took his cock deep into her lovely mouth and sucked. Lust pooled in his belly, nearly felling him. He grabbed one of her shoulders to steady himself, then plunged the other hand into her hair. He knew he was being rough as he positioned her face to just where he wanted it, but if he was hurting her she clearly didn't mind. His fingers were glowing with the sparkles of the sevmelle, but it didn't appear to be burning her. She moaned—an incredibly sensuous sound, and drew him deep.
Fuck! It felt amazing. He fucked her face wildly for several seconds, then she evaded him long enough to slow the action. He could feel her tongue swirling up and down his length with each stroke. As he pulled out, she expertly fingered his balls and flicked her tongue in a rapid circle around the helmet of his cock. Then she sucked him again, hard.
Jesus, he was going to come all over her. But she drew back a little and fisted his shaft instead. He was reeling, hardly able to stand. She kissed the head, she hand-fucked him while she nuzzled and licked his balls. She was gripping him firmly, every bit as roughly as he was pulling on her hair.
They both moaned as she sped up, her hand flying up and down, up and down, pumping him furiously. Then she grasped him by the hips, her fingertips digging into his buttocks, and sucked him into her mouth again. Her head bobbed on his dick, her beautiful golden hair cresting in luxurious waves against his belly and thighs.
He lost it completely. Arching his hips in ecstasy, he let her drive him over the edge to sweet release. As his seed shot into her mouth, she dug her nails into the flesh of his ass so hard it hurt, but he didn't care. He kept spasming—hot, wild, and wet, delirious at the thrill of her sweet mouth around him and the dark tight flesh of her mouth and throat.
"Ari," he groaned as the pulses of climax slowly faded. She was still on her knees, her breast and belly pressed to his legs, her face buried in his pelvis. As he withdrew from her, one of her hands came back to hold his dick and her tongue licked and soothed away all the wetness.
"You taste good," she whispered.
"Ari, my god, you're incredible." He gathered her in his arms and lifted her up, embracing her for a long moment before backing up until he felt the edge of her bed behind his knees. He sank down, pulling her with him. "That was...I don't even have words for how wonderful that was."
"I am pleased that you liked it."
"Liked it! Shit. I loved it." He pressed her gently down across the mattress of the bed and dropped down beside her. "I'm going to return the favor." Supporting himself on one arm, he stroked his other hand down her body, marveling as the sevmelle created tiny twinkles of light. Bending over he pulled her top up over her breasts—she was not wearing a bra—and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth. She gasped. "I want to hear you cry out my name. God help me, but I couldn't bear it when my brother was questioning you. When he touched you, I felt like killing the bastard. I can't stand the thought of any other man's hands on you." He held up his hand, gleaming with the light of the sevmelle. "See this? This means you're mine."
He allowed the hand to slide over her flesh, pushing any inconvenient clothing out of the way. She arched to his touch and made tiny gasping sounds when his fingers reached her sex. She was so wet for him. He caressed the soft petals, thinking with delight that women were the same in all worlds. Yet even so, Ariane was special. She seemed smoother, silkier, and more delicious. She was irresistible.
He slipped a finger into her pussy and curled it slightly to stimulate the sensitive inner walls. She cried out and clung to his shoulders, her nails once again biting into him. He added a second finger and moved them in and out. Her hips tilted up as she rode his hand, panting and grinding against him with increasing speed and abandon. His thumb found the hood of her clit and slid it away from the bud. She bucked as he stimulated her directly there, keening now as he took her ever higher. He knew she needed release, and he wanted to give it to her, but he couldn't help delighting in her desperation as she strove to find it.
He wanted to be inside her. Fucking her hard while she squirmed against his cock. She was his, and he needed to claim her. Just thinking about it made him stiff again.
"Say my name," he ordered.
She made a strangled sound that sounded like a combination of a gasp and a laugh. "Colin," she managed.
He finger-fucked her faster, harder. "Say it louder."
"Colin," she screamed. Her buttocks had risen off the mattress as she lifted her hips to drive every inch of his fingers inside her.
He used his other hand to caress and pinch her nipple. The fillip of erotic pain must have sent her over the edge because she stiffened and gave a piercing cry, driving herself against his hand in one final shuddering lunge. Then she fell back, her sex pulsing violently, her features contorting with pleasure before slowly relaxing into a smile.
Colin leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the lips of her pussy. Then he moved up to hold and kiss her face. "You're beautiful," he whispered.
Her fingers trailed down his spine. "So are you, Magical Shifter Man."
She came unresisting into his arms as he rolled his body atop her. God, his erection was as firm as if he hadn't come for days. He wanted to fuck her. Deep. Hard. For the rest of the night. His loins were aching again with the need and passion of it. "Do you want me?" He thrust his hips against the cradle of her pelvis. She felt soft and yielding, drenched with her own hot juices.
"You know I do." Her hands were at his kilt, which was all bunched up around his hips. "Why are you still wearing this skirt?"
He laughed, although he was barely capable of laughter at this point. He was raising himself to tear the damn thing off when she suddenly turned stiff in his arms. For a moment, he thought she was having another orgasmic contraction, but he quickly realized it was not pleasure she was experiencing now.
Ariane's expression had completely changed. A look of agony came over her and her body curled up into a fetal position.
Had he done something wrong?
"Ari? What's the matter?" He caressed her hunched-up form as tenderly as he could. The sevmelle, he noted, seemed fainter now. "Are you in pain?" He hoped she couldn't hear the panic in his voice. He wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened to her.
Her eyes had closed, but he could tell she was still conscious. Her heart was racing. Was she having some sort of seizure? "Ari," he whispered, frightened. Should he yell for Ross? He was a vet, but whatever, he had gone to medical school.
She shivered for almost a minute, as if she were experiencing some deep inner turmoil. Then she seemed to gather herself. "I'm fine. I'm sorry. Please don't worry."
Her voice sounded clear. But she was still breathing hard.
"Are you ill? What can I do to help?"
"Not ill. I felt...something. I'm sorry, Colin. I just need a few minutes to think."
"Of course," he agreed, wondering if he ought to leave her alone. Probably. But before he could bring himself to rise and leave her, she said, in a quiet voice, "I would like to negotiate."
"Negotiate?"
"With you and your brothers. About what I am willing to tell you. As a representative of my world and a Traveler of Zanovar."
What the fuck? They had been about to make love, and she wanted to negotiate?
No, he told himself. Negotiation was good. It was certainly better than being tortured by Cameron. He had never expected her to be so strong in standing up to his brother. He'd seen tough guys fall to their knees and wail for mercy when Cam started his intimidation spiel.
You couldn't interrogate a puppy. He hardened himself. If she would actually talk for them, it would make everything so much easier. "I'm listening."
"I just felt something. I think it's Rin. I think he's trying to find me. He's still in this world, Colin. He needs my help. He's injured. Sick. Maybe dying."
So that was why she had gone so stiff and cold. Her pet had contacted her via the mental bond? Okay. That he could understand.
He wanted to comfort her.
He also wanted to kill Rin. It was idiotic, he knew. She loved the animal in the same way he might love a favorite pet.
"If he dies here, in your world, there will be problems," she said. She must have been doing some fast thinking. "I know it's not only your family who patrol your seas and your skies. I've seen the aircraft flying overhead. I've also seen ships out on the horizon. I even saw one of your live reports on that screen-like thing you call the internet. News of events flash around your world in seconds. I admit that I don't understand precisely how that happens...it seems like some kind of magic to me, although Kate assures me it is not."
Kate had been showing her the internet? Damn. Cam was going to freak if he heard that.
"I think that this means there could be many people besides your family and allies who would leap on the news of a dead creature who is not of this world. There would be speculation and maybe an investigation, and—"
"I get the idea," he interrupted. "What do you propose to do about it?" That isn't already being done, he added silently. There was a search on. If she could sense Rin again, he had probably never left this world at all.
"Do you know where Rin is?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Not exactly. Nearby, I think. He tried to obey my order to cross to our own world, but I think he was too badly hurt to manage it." She turned over and pushed herself up to a sitting position beside him. "Colin? I need you to help me find him. Save him. Heal him. Your brother—your other brother—is a physician who heals animals, is that not true? I want him to heal Rin."
Colin had no idea whether it was even possible. But if anybody knew how to minister to a sea dragon, it must surely be Ross.
Negotiate. Be hard-assed. "What are you offering in return?"
"I will talk. Answer your brother's questions to the best of my ability. There are a few things I cannot disclose about the training of a Traveler. But the rest—information about my world and about the countries I have visited, that I am willing to share, as long as you swear a sacred oath that none of my people will come to harm as a result of my sharing."
"Our role is not to cause harm, but to prevent it."
"Well, I'm not so sure about Cameron, but I will accept his word on the matter."
"There can be no guarantee that your pet will be healed. We can try. That's all I can promise."
For the first time he saw the desperation in her eyes. "I know. But please try, Colin. I think it's his only hope."
Ross agreed as soon as he heard the proposal. In fact, he looked intrigued at the possibility of examining a sick zrakon. Cam, who returned to the castle that evening, was harder to convince. He tried to lay his own conditions. He wanted to take Ariane away from Mallochbirn and question her in one of his compounds. Colin refused, insisting that this wasn't part of the deal.
The only reason he finally agreed, Colin suspected, was that Ross put silent pressure on him. Now that he could link his own mind to another person's—something his brothers did not know and were never going to find out—Colin could sense when somebody else was doing it. From the expression on both twins' faces, they were engaging in silent debate while Colin waited. But Ross was the eldest and the laird. And eventually Cam gave a slightly resentful nod.
They had a deal.