JaguarintheSun Read online

  He already had her quivering, climbing toward orgasm, his words as potent and exciting as the sensations overtaking her body. Strong hands cupped the undersides of her breasts, lifting and kneading, adding a new layer of sensation to the hard clasp of the atraspa on her nipples. His tongue traced the edge of her ear and he used his magic to echo the movement on the other side, so it was as though she were sandwiched between two men, both intent on nothing but her pleasure.

  “You’d come to my office and I’d imagine bending you over my desk, lifting that beautiful ass to lick and suck your pussy, rim your ass, make you come over and over until you were begging me to fuck you.”

  He lifted his thighs slightly, opening her wider, tilting her pelvis up, as the magic put his words into actions. There were tongues and lips tormenting her pussy and ass, circling and flicking, pressing for entrance, forcing her to open for them. Undone by a whirling rush of bliss, she jerked and cried out, unable to stop the sudden, overwhelming orgasm building within.

  “Come for me, baby.” Lost in the maddening grip of his caresses she could hardly hear the words but her body reacted, tightening to the breaking point. “Let me feel you lose control.”

  His fingers tightened on her breasts. There was the sharp nip of teeth on her neck, which was echoed with thrilling effect on her nipples. The mouths between her legs became more insistent, sucking at her clit, a tongue sliding in and out of her ass, another circling the entrance to her pussy. Unable to withstand even a second more, Cassie cried out again, ecstasy firing through her veins like a solar flare, scorching her from the inside out, burning away everything but Xbal and the erotic havoc he was creating.

  “Yes,” he growled, not letting up, keeping the torment of pleasure going so just as she thought she’d found the crest he flung her up a higher wave. “More.”

  It was too much, but she never wanted it to end. Her body no longer belonged to her but was one with Xbal and his magic, taken beyond the borders of purely physical release to a place she’d never been before. It was as though she felt not only her pleasure but his too. And something more. Something as strong and sure as the man holding her, and just as thrilling. An emotion that only served to heighten her explosion of ecstasy, making it sublime.

  Little by little he brought her down, gentling her with soft kisses and equally soft words, letting the magic slowly subside, until she lay boneless in his arms.

  “A good start, querida.” He stroked her arms, drawing a little wake of goose bumps behind his fingers and making her still oversensitive body tremble. “I love how you react to me. But now I want to watch you when you come, not just feel it.”

  She wanted to tell him she couldn’t take any more but, even sated and still quivering from her orgasm, she knew it would be a lie. It would take more than a lifetime to get enough of Xbal, and she only had today. There was no way she’d refuse him.

  Taking her legs off his, he eased out from behind her then lowered her to lie back on the altar. Bending, he dropped a hard kiss on her lips.

  “Hold on, cariño.” There was a brief flash of teeth, white against his bronze skin. “Now it really begins.”

  And immediately, with that promise, she was aroused and hot for him again.

  Xbal knew her now, knew what she liked, what took her to the heights. A little pain to put a keener edge on her need and a lot of tenderness to counterbalance it. Enough magic to put her body into hyperawareness and some dirty talk to keep it there.

  Exactly the things he liked to do.

  Cassandra was perfect for him in every way, and if he could just get her to admit that or explain why she hesitated to do so, allowing him to blast through whatever her objections might be, his joy would be complete.

  It wasn’t as though he’d been looking for someone to love. On the contrary, he’d been avoiding just that scenario for a long time. His existence seemed eternal. Hell, he’d been alive for more than three thousand years and showed no signs of aging, much less dying. Twice before he’d loved. His first love had been a human woman whose life, although long by the standards of her kind, had seemed to pass in the blink of his eyes, leaving him grief-stricken for centuries. The second woman had been Fey, and they’d lived happily together for five hundred years. But eventually she too had died, and he’d known he didn’t have the strength to go through that pain again.

  Then he’d met Cassandra, and something in her had called to him on the most primal level. Oh, he’d ignored it as best he could but it had been there, shimmering in his chest, boiling in his blood. Every conversation, every touch, no matter how casual or fleeting, had pulled him deeper under her spell. There was a part of him that had been glad she’d showed no particular interest in getting closer. Deep inside he’d known she had heartbreak written all over her, and he hadn’t wanted any more of that. But by coming to him today she’d loosed the jaguar, and there was no putting it back under wraps.

  So now he held her sprawled on his altar, letting the untamed power of the magic that had brought him into being run amok through his body, using it to take her from plateau to plateau of desire. Laving her nipples with his roughened tongue had her squirming and panting, those sweet little gasps and moans breaking from her lips. When he added a little atraspa, insinuating it into her pulsing cunt, she’d gripped his hair so hard he thought she might pull it out.

  But he hadn’t cared. The end result was worth the pain. Cassandra was arching up to meet each lick, her hips undulating in time to the slow fucking motion of his magic. And he wanted her so badly right then Xbal thought he might lose his mind.

  Lifting his head, he looked at her flushed, damp face, her swollen, parted lips, and knew he’d never seen anything so beautiful.

  “Xbal…” Her voice was rough, just a thread of sound. “I can’t…”

  “Yes, you can, cariño.” He wasn’t ready to stop, couldn’t bear the thought of the day coming to an end, irrespective of the fact that it would have to eventually. Making love to her would keep her with him a little longer. “You must.”

  But he knew she was at saturation point. Too much more would tip the pain to an unbearable state. He needed to let her breathe for a little while before taking her to the next level.

  Withdrawing his magic from her body caused a lessening in their bond and when he heard her little sob of disappointment his heart leapt. It wasn’t his imagination then. The connection between them had grown to the point where it wasn’t just him getting feedback through the connection. She was feeling it too.

  Gathering her up, he wrapped her in his arms and magic, not stimulating her but just holding her close. With a shuddering sigh she nestled her cheek against his chest, the periodic tremors shivering over her skin lessening incrementally until she was still and her heart rate slowed almost to normal.

  “I’ve never…”

  The words faded to silence, and she sighed again. When she didn’t continue, he prompted.

  “Never…?”

  Through the cloak of magic he felt her heart jerk and begin to race again, and she stiffened slightly. After a long pause she answered, her voice determinedly amused.

  “I’ve never been so passive a lover before.”

  He knew it wasn’t what she’d started to say before but let it pass, replying in the same vein and letting humor color his words too. “Was it that bad?”

  Her head came up and he saw the truth in her glistening, desire-blown eyes, even if she wouldn’t say it aloud, still intent on keeping her secrets.

  “I just think it’s time I gave as good as I’ve gotten.”

  The tip of her tongue touched the center of her top lip and then the corresponding spot on the lower. When she pushed him to lie back, her head dipping toward his straining erection, Xbal didn’t object. Only drew what control he still had around himself and tried to hold on to it as long as he could under the glorious onslaught of her mouth.

  Chapter Eight

  Cassie tried to take Xbal over the edge with her blowj
ob, but almost took herself over instead. There was something so erotic about the feel of his silken hardness against her palate, his taste at the back of her throat and his deep, appreciative sounds. And even when she was trying to pleasure him, he couldn’t seem to resist touching her in return, both physically and with soft brushes of magic. Reaching down he caressed the top of her head, let his fingers slip down to cradle her cheek. While loving him she could feel his love coming back at her at the same time.

  She was long past the stage of trying to deny how she felt about him. Maybe she’d known all along, since that first fateful meeting so many years ago. How else to explain why she’d done everything in her power not to give in to the attraction she’d felt, or why when she’d known her time was almost up she’d turned to him?

  In a way she now understood why her mother had tried so hard to get her to settle down as soon as she was old enough for it to be viable. How sad it would have been never to have experienced this kind of closeness with another being. How saddening it was to know she could have had more, if she’d been brave enough to risk it.

  Pushing the thought away, blinking to stem the stupid tears trying to escape, she took his cock as deeply into her mouth as she could, feeling the pulse at its base, the way his balls were drawn tight to his body.

  “Cassandra…” Xbal growled, his hips rising. “If you don’t want me to come in your mouth, you better let go. The way you’re sucking me should be illegal.”

  Damn, when he spoke dirty it just made her crazy-hot. Moaning around his rigid flesh, she felt it pulse again. Looking up along his body, she found him staring down at her, his face tight, ferocious. Slowly she lifted away, letting the length of his cock slide slowly from between her lips, until only the head remained in her mouth. Holding his gaze, she swirled her tongue under the glans and across the delicate tendon where the ridge curled up to the tip before pulling all the way back, releasing him with a wet pop.

  “I want you to come in my mouth.” She touched the tip of her tongue to the slit at the end of his cock, saw the muscle along his jaw tighten as he clenched his teeth. “I want all of you.”

  “You have it.” He spoke as though the words hurt and her heart ached too, but she wouldn’t let anything but their mutual pleasure hold sway just now. Not even when she could see his heart in his eyes as he said, “All of me is yours.”

  Instead she took him deep again, felt his muscles ratchet tighter and tighter, his hips jerking as he let go. Her name burst from his throat as he shot spurt after hot, sweet spurt into her mouth and she shuddered with him, the echoes of his orgasm spiking along the magical connection and into her aroused flesh.

  She should have known that wouldn’t be the end, but she’d thought he’d take a couple of minutes to recover. Ha. Apparently being a god gave Xbal limitless sexual energy, because almost before she’d caught her breath she was on her back and his head was between her thighs.

  “Damn.” His breath rushed across her pussy, making her gasp. “Your pussy’s so wet and gorgeous.” He thumbed her outer lips open and she quivered, remembering the way he’d taken her to orgasm with his mouth before—from roughness to delicacy, near pain to excruciating pleasure. His eyelids lifted, and she saw the intent in his gleaming, jaguar eyes. “Don’t think because you brought me off I’m finished with you, Cassandra. We still have a way to go…a long way.”

  Before she could answer his thumbs were at the top of her cleft, pulling back on the flesh over her clit, and she knew the orgasm to end all orgasms loomed in her very near future.

  He took her, whimpering, to the edge of erotic agony with the roughness of his tongue and left her there as he slipped off the altar and turned her so her ass was on the edge of the stone.

  “Roll over.”

  The rough demand made her belly clench, even as she was doing what he commanded. Curling her fingers around the other side of the altar, she held on, her feet only just finding purchase on the ground. Prone before him, a sacrifice to his lovemaking.

  “I want to take your ass, it’s so beautiful.” He palmed her buttocks and she whimpered again, unashamed of the weak, pleading sound. “Next time.” He slicked his tongue around her puckered hole, drawing a cry of surprise and delight from her throat. He straightened and said, “Definitely next time, from that reaction.”

  By Sol, she hoped there was a next time. Then thought fled as he wrapped her in his magic and thrust his cock into her pussy, filling her completely with his length, his balls slapping against her distended, aching clit.

  She screamed, already coming, pushing up with her toes to get more as he fucked her with short, hard strokes, each stinging impact of his testicles against her clitoris prolonging the orgasm. And there were other sensations battering her, coming at her through the magic, so she felt as though she were not only having the orgasm but somehow also complicit in giving it as well. Bracing her palms on the stone, she arched her back, wanting more, even when it felt as though one more instant would make her fly to pieces.

  “You feel so good around my cock, baby.” Xbal leaned into her, pressing his chest to her back, reaching around to cover her breasts with his hands. “And I can feel you coming through our bond. Can you feel me, cariño?”

  “Yes…” There was no holding back the answer. She was too shattered to hide the truth of that from him, almost sobbing from the dual stimulation. “Oh Sol, I feel it.”

  “Can you feel how much I want you? How you make me almost crazy with love and passion?”

  “Yes…” Tears flooded her eyes, dripped down her cheeks, and there was nothing she could do to stop them. “I don’t want to feel it, but I do.”

  And it suddenly struck her that if she could feel his emotions so acutely, he could feel hers too, and that was more than she could bear.

  “It’s okay, baby.” He was rocking slowly in and out of her, almost withdrawing completely before sliding back in. “It’s okay to be afraid. But I have you.” One hand slipped down her belly, easing her up enough so his fingers could brush her clit. “I have you. You can let go, completely.”

  She shouldn’t. Everything inside said not to but she did anyway, giving up, feeling the barriers crumble beneath his tenderness and the intensity of his loving.

  They flowed together, emotion and pleasure rippling back and forth between them so each wave took them further into erotic bliss. Cassie knew when Xbal was nearing orgasm and the knowledge only enhanced her own building release.

  “Yes,” he growled, maintaining his slow, long thrusts, even as she felt his need to speed up, get rough and wild. “That’s it, baby. Just like this.”

  The finger on her clit found a new rhythm and she gasped through her still-falling tears, want rushing through her, making her rock her hips with new urgency.

  “Now, Xbal.” She was begging, and didn’t care. “Fuck me hard now, darling. Please.”

  He was already complying even before the words were fully formed, slamming home, driving them both to the edge and then, as they cried out each other’s names, over into soul-shaking ecstasy.

  Xbal slumped against her, his arms braced on either side of her body, taking most of his weight.

  “Mine,” he whispered into her ear. “Whether you will admit it or not. Whether this is the only time we have together or not. No matter what may come, you will always be mine.”

  “I’m afraid not, Xbal.” The deep, slightly mocking voice came out of nowhere, was accompanied by a flash of light so intense Cassie had to scrunch her eyes closed against it. “You might be buried balls-deep in my acolyte at the moment but, irrespective of that, she’s actually promised to me.”

  Xbal jerked upright, pulling her with him but turning and holding her behind him, shielding her with his body. Shocked, mortified and frightened all at once, Cassie could only look at the tall blond man standing at the center point of the temple and whisper, “Oh Sol.”

  The man’s firm lips quirked as he replied, “In the flesh.”

 
Xbal held on to his temper by a thread, desperate to take jaguar form and go for Sol’s throat. Not that it would make any difference. It was doubtful he could damage the sun god, and the last thing he needed was to start a war.

  Although he would if this asshole tried to come between him and Cassie.

  “What exactly do you mean by ‘promised’?” He snarled the question, shaking off Cassie’s restraining hand to take a step forward. “Promised how? By whom?”

  Sol shrugged, but although the gesture was casual, Xbal could see the watchfulness in his eyes. “Promised by the Children of Sol to be a sacrifice to me, so the world will continue on its appointed course around the sun.” The bastard shrugged again, as though what he was saying wasn’t one of the most monstrous things he could come out with. “It’s tradition. Used to be yearly, back in the early days. Now it’s once every five-hundred years. And if I’m not mistaken, and I rarely am when it comes to time, Cassandra is due at the temple in about an hour.”

  “That’s illegal. And atrocious.” Xbal swallowed against the rage-fueled bile rising in his throat. “What the fuck is wrong with you, letting that go on in your name?”

  “Xbal, no…” Cassandra whispered it, her distress evident. “Please don’t.”

  He couldn’t look at her, knowing if he did he’d lose it. Instead he kept his gaze on the sun god, letting him see his hatred and contempt. “I know how it was in the old days. There was no stopping the humans from their damn sacrifices, no matter what we did. As soon as things got hard they were back at it, but then they grew up—we grew up—and left that crap behind. What gives you the right to let it continue in your name?”