Christine Feehan - Dark Possession

shadow world sensed she was connected to him and had Maxim tried to draw her into the world of mists, where he could kill her?

«Let me heal your leg.» He couldn't bear to see those marks on her, and she had been suffering long enough while he helped others. His fingers slid over the tears on her calf, the ripped flesh and the exposed muscle gaping from the wound.

«But Luiz…»

«I am keeping him alive. Allow me to do this.»

MaryAnn pressed her lips together to keep from protesting, sending one quick glance toward Jasmine and Solange, hoping they weren't witnessing her reaction to Manolito's attention. Because quite frankly, it was sexual. In the midst of blood and chaos, her body was doing things and thinking things it shouldn't. Solange lay without moving, eyes closed, holding Jasmine's total concentration.

«Go ahead then, but hurry.» Her voice came out choked. She could hardly think, let alone speak, with his fingers trailing up and down her thigh.

He bent his head toward her calf, his fingers circling her ankle to hold her still. Her breath caught in her throat, as she watched his silky hair cascading like a waterfall around his shoulders. She could see his profile, his long lashes and the outline of his lips. He was just too gorgeous to be real. She lifted a hand to her out-of-control hair. Even braided, it was trying to grow into a wild mass. The action drew her attention to the bloodstains on her silk blouse.

She looked with dismay down at her really chic black dress pants. One trouser leg was ripped and torn, the really cute cuff shredded into strings. Beneath it, her leg had deep rake marks, so deep the muscle poured from the slashes. Pain exploded through her, robbed her of breath, and for a moment she thought she might get sick.

«Manolito.» She gasped his name, shocked at the pain burning through her. Tears swam in her eyes. «It hurts.»

«I know, sivamet, I can take that away as well.» He found it interesting that the moment her mind had become aware of the wound, she had. felt the entire load of stabbing pain. It was no longer compartmentalized in her brain, shut off from her conscious self.

Manolito shouldered the pain and began the task of healing the wounds from the inside out. When the lacerations were sealed and free of all infection, he came back to his body and bent to inspect her leg. She closed her eyes when she felt his tongue rasp over the wound like the stroke of warm velvet.

She knew he had a healing agent in his saliva, and that there should have been an «ick» factor for her, but there wasn't. Instead, a million butterfly wings brushed at her stomach and her muscles clenched. Heat pulsed between her legs. He was doing something with the pads of his fingers, up higher, on the inside of her thigh, something that threatened her sanity, but before she could lose her mind, he lifted his head, eyes heavy-lidded and smoky with desire.

«We need to focus on Luiz.» His husky voice was thick with emotion.

She nodded, unable to speak. «Tell me what to do to help you.»

Carpathian men did not share their women, and Manolito was definitely the jealous type, but his heart went

out to Luiz when he sensed his apprehension as Manolito bent to his throat.

Try to hold him to you, MaryAnn, to make his transition easier. I fear his cat is strong and will not relinquish, him easily. It wasn't easy to make himself ask her, but he was already firmly merging with the jaguar-man, and the taste of fear was bitter for a man who had fought so many battles and worked so hard for his people. Manolito didn't want Luiz moving from one life to the other in a state of anxiety. He allowed himself to merge completely to calm the man, but the cat sensed what was about to happen and raged.

You will still exist. How could you not? You have been a part of Luiz for so many years. You two are the same. This will allow you both life. He has chosen to save you so that you can save your people. MaryAnn stroked the man's hair, her fingers lingering, caressing.

She touches another man.

The same man who was with her earlier.

The voices were hideous demons, designed to undermine his confidence in her. He chose to look at her hand, to feel her intent-to trust her instead of the voices. Her fingers were mesmerizing, and Manolito felt the touch in his own hair-on his own scalp. The three of them were fused tightly together through MaryAnn, but he was certain she had no knowledge of what she did.

He was beginning to figure out how she did it. Her abilities were unlike any he'd encountered. She gathered energy and used it as automatically as breathing. She reached out to those around her, anyone suffering or in need of comfort and «read» them without even knowing she did so. After she gathered and processed the information about the person, and their trouble, she used the energy to give them whatever was needed in the way of hope or comfort.

She gave Luiz her compassion, soothing and calming him, but she gave Manolito something altogether different. Partnership. She wasn't following him as he felt a woman should do; she was standing beside him, working with as much energy to protect and save him from the shadow world he dwelt in as he used to protect her. It was simply a different energy and a different approach.

He drew the life, blood and spirit from Luiz and took them into his keeping. Slashing his wrist, he gave the command to drink, and Luiz, submerged so deeply, didn't fight. The jaguar gave one roar of protest and then allowed MaryAnn to calm it.

MaryAnn bit her lip and continued stroking Luiz's hair, trying to figure out how best to help the situation. She didn't know what to expect, but she didn't want Jasmine to be around if anything bad happened. «Can you help Solange to the bedroom,» she asked, uncertain if the jaguar was unconscious or simply not moving.

The door burst open and Riordan strode in, Juliette a step behind. She was obviously frantic, pushing against him to get to her sister and cousin. There were burn marks down Riordan's arm and left cheek. A slash of blood along his thigh. Juliette appeared unharmed, but shaken. A small cry escaped when she saw the amount of blood spattered on the floor and walls, but Riordan's body blocked hers from any possible danger while he took in the scene.

«Does Solange need further assistance?» he asked Jasmine as he stepped aside to allow his lifemate to rush to her cousin's side.

«We need to put her in a room and allow her to shift back to human form,» Jasmine said. «She's quiet now, but in pain.»

«I'm so sorry.» Juliette was close to tears. «We tried to get here, but our enemies are near. They must have guessed our resting place, and when we tried to rise, they attacked us.»

Manolito flicked a quick, hard glance at his brother, to ensure the man had no wounds that needed immediate attention. Riordan shook his head to assure him.

«Jasmine and I can take Solange to her room,» Juliette said, «while you help Manolito.»

«What are you doing?» Riordan demanded, although he already knew. He just didn't want it to be true. «Have you lost your mind? We cannot bring a jaguar male over.»

«Why?» MaryAnn challenged. «You have no problem converting women. Wasn't Juliette human with a little jaguar blood thrown in?»

Riordan's gaze flicked to her face and then down to her shredded leg.

«Riordan?» Jasmine called his attention back to her.

At once his expression softened. «What is it, little sister?»

«I asked Manolito to save the jaguar. If he hadn't come to Solange's aid, she would have been captured or dead.»

«A mage traveled with them.» Manolito supplied the information, his features set in grim lines as he stopped Luiz from feeding. «He unraveled the safeguards to allow the jaguar into the house and then he came in behind them and grabbed Jasmine.»