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wasn't stopping her fantasy at touching his
body or kissing him. She was doing delicious things with her lips, working her
way deliberately down his body to engulf him in the heated silk of her mouth. He
groaned aloud, the small cat shuddering. It was becoming an effort to hold the
form while hunger beat at him and desire swamped him. He had not taken the time
to fully heal himself and if he were to regain his strength he would need
sustenance.
    More than anything he wanted to find Juliette, to bury his body deep in the
haven of hers, relieve the terrible pressure building with unrelenting madness
in his body. He could almost feel her mouth gliding over him. He could taste her
heat and spice, feel her soft skin beneath his fingers.
    A sound shook him out of his reverie and the small cat went instantly still,
crouching low high in the forest canopy. He heard a soft sound in the distance,
muted by the natural sounds of the night. Insects hummed. The sap ran in trees.
Bats dipped and wheeled in the air. Bushes rustled as small rodents dashed
around looking for safety. Larger predators hunted. But the sound was human—and
feminine.
    Riordan remained still, allowing his senses to flair out into the night,
scanning the area for intruders, for traps, for the identity of the human hidden
a few miles from him.
    Juliette. His heart accelerated. He shifted to his natural form as his
incisors lengthened in anticipation. She was close, just ahead near the stream.
He could hear the water bubbling over rocks and emptying into a pool of sorts.
She had to be there, cooling her body from the heat of the jungle, from the fire
raging out of control between them. When he was absolutely certain they were
alone, with no one near them for miles, he began to make his way toward her,
using the foliage for cover.
    I want you
. He breathed the words into her mind. Meaning them.
Needing her.
    There was the smallest of hesitations.
Well, maybe I want you too, but I
have things that I have to do, obligations to fulfill. I can't just change my
life to suit you
.
    Her voice was breathless, sensual. She was feeling the same heat, the same
needs. Riordan was beginning to understand what lifemates were all about. He had
been away from his people too long and he had forgotten the close bonds. He had
forgotten whatever one lifemate was feeling, so did the other. Relationships
were highly sexual and always intense.
    He found his way to the small grotto where she rested. He sat above her, high
in the trees, pleasure blossoming deep and wild just looking at her. She was so
beautiful she robbed him of speech, of breath. He could look at her for eternity
and never tire of it.

----
Chapter 5
    Â« ^ »
    JULIETTE lifted her hair from the nape of her neck and wiped the sweat
gleaming on her body. It was very hot and her clothes were sticking to her skin.
The moon's reflection in the deep pool shimmered with cool invitation. She
slowly unbuttoned her blouse and allowed it to fall to her elbows.
    Riordan's breath caught in his lungs. She shrugged the top off and tossed it
to land on a large fern growing out of the boulders. Juliette dipped her hand in
the cool pool and poured the water down the valley between her breasts. Her head
was thrown back and her breasts jutted forward, high and firm and enticing in
the moonlight. Her body was no girl's, but that of a woman, with generous curves
a man could lose himself in. She looked a night temptress, a woods fairy, nearly
insubstantial as the water ran down her soft alluring skin to her belly and
lower still, disappearing beneath the darker material of her jeans.
    His body tightened into a hard, painful ache just looking at her. Her hands
were graceful as she pulled the pins from her hair and the thick braid tumbled
down well below her waist. There was something terribly sensual about a woman
unbraiding her hair, Riordan decided. His chest hurt it was so tight, his lungs