B. Donna - Blood Pool

“Mine,” he muttered.

“All yours,” she answered.

She could feel Bo getting lost in every part of her-her scent, her feel, the taste of her. His eyes began to take on the golden glow of his counterpart. Old habits between them were to die a slow and agonizing death.

A mortal death.

Raven was no match for Bo’s strength, and although she tried to keep her expressions of pain concealed, he soon would see the bruises his body was leaving on hers. She didn’t care, though. She begged him to merge with her, but the magick was gone.

“Love me…” she whispered.

“Always,” he moaned as his body rocked with a powerful orgasm. He rolled off of her. She knew he sensed she was not the same Raven as before and that he was trying to be extra careful.

“No… I want more…I want it to be like it always was…” she begged.

“But…”

Raven gently guided Bo onto his back, taking him inside her. She straddled him, her hands holding his wrists above his head. She felt him grow harder. She wanted to possess him. Fear welled in her heart as she realized that in trying to save him, she may have ended up losing him.

The only thing left that was savage about her was her passion for Bo. Slowly she sensed her aching for him increase in intensity while she moved with him, rising and falling over his prone body. He freed his hands from her grip and began caressing her waist, creeping up her back and around cupping her breasts.

Raven could feel herself cresting to orgasm and she slowed the pace, ebbing and flowing, wanting the feeling to last forever. Her knees dug into his ribs as she ground her hips frantically, taking him deeper inside, riding the waves of pleasure.

Bo’s hands clasped her buttocks as she felt him hurtle toward his own destiny with ecstasy. The world went away, and Raven felt the need to reach out to Bo with her soul. But things were different. A soft moan escaped her lips and grew louder as the full magnitude of her climax hit her. Bo’s body arched up to meet her as he, too, gave into the excruciating pleasure. He pulled her down to him, moaning with a longing that remained unfilled.

Raven pulled open the curtains and let the sunlight into her den. “I feel fine, Ian. I want to go back to work,” she protested the following afternoon.

“Raven, as your friend, and with the complete agreement of Dr. Cole…y-your…” He stuttered before he could get out his complete response.

She was startled when she realized what he was trying to communicate. “My what? New human doctor?”

Ian looked at Raven with an odd expression. It would be quite a while before she would be used to the new way of life she was embarking upon.

It was not an enviable path.

“I’m human now, so I assume I’ll have a doctor who-well-deals with human physiology.”

Ian crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze narrowed. “Yes, you will, and we both-Dr. Cole and I-feel you need time to recover. This is something I’ve never dealt with. I don’t know what side effects you may experience, short-term or long-term.” Dr. Odin explained the reason for Raven’s sabbatical.

Tobias, too, was adamant about her staying away from the hospital. Her father called in quite a few more favors to have Raven watched twenty-four hours a day, and keeping her home was a crucial part of the plan.

Ian plopped himself on a recliner. “I must say, though, you look great.” He changed the subject, but Raven saw right through the tactic.

She continued her questioning, trying a different approach. “What’s going on with the epidemic? How many more people have been infected? Any humans come down with symptoms?”

“You don’t need to concern yourself with that right now. Davis is taking care of the autopsies, along with Nat. We’ve got everything running smoothly.”

Raven occasionally glanced outside at the approaching clouds. “When can I return to work? Davis is still a newbie, and I don’t want him to become overwhelmed. Can you get someone from the mainland to help out?”

He smiled his finest “doctor knows best” smile. “Don’t worry. We’ll take it a day at a time. So far you seem to be coping with this abrupt change rather well, but I want to monitor you. Dr. Sanjay is helping out, too. We have everything under control.” Ian made his way to the front door. “I know it may be upsetting to realize the morgue can manage without you for a week or two, but it can.” He opened the heavy wooden door. Bo had been outside talking to one of Tobias’s guards. Raven saw they were all big, buff Lamai.

Raven stood next to Ian. He took her hand in his thin, weathered one. “I’ve known you for a very long time, and I’ve known your father longer. You have a bright future. I see you doing great things for both the human and the magickal beings of the island. Please, just take the time now to recover. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.”

Raven smirked. “One that’s not as long as I’d once thought it would be,” she admitted dolefully.

Ian’s face hardened. “We all make choices in our lives that we have to live with. Do have any regrets?”

“None.”

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow, Raven. Take it easy for the time being,” Ian cautioned as he exited her home.

Hmm , Raven thought , looks like a storm is brewing . They can’t keep me inside all day . Wearing a pair of velour lounge pants and one of Bo’s sweatshirts, she wrapped a Navaho print blanket around her shoulders and went outside through the rear sliding glass doors.

Raven loved days such as this. The low clouds skittered across the sky in shades of angry bluish grey. Had the temperature been lower, they would experience their first snowfall of the season. Instead, it was unseasonably warm.

The seas were churning like an old witch’s cauldron as Raven made her way closer to the rocky shore. A friend of Bo’s and fellow shifter, Seth, greeted her. His alter ego was a jaguar, fierce and quick on his feet-or paws, as the case may be.

“I’m just taking a walk down to the water. Maybe I’ll sit on the rocks and meditate for a while,” Raven called out over the rising winds.

Seth just nodded.

Raven’s favorite formation of jetty was one that jutted into the sea with perfect steps leading to a large, flat stone. The wind carried Bo’s laughter from the front of the house to the back. A familiar ache settled within her, and she longed to be in his arms again.

She thought about how Bo held back yesterday in bed. He must have been afraid of what their lovemaking might do to her. She was a human, and he could not totally lose himself in her anymore. Not as he had in the past. They had no boundaries in the past. It had been part of the way they made love-uninhibited. But that was then, and things were different. That saddened her.

She stepped on the first stone. It also frightened her that he would somehow stop loving her as a result. She knew it was unreasonable to think that way, but the passion they’d shared was unlike anything either had ever experienced. And, in a way, she felt cheated. She walked farther out on the jetty, like she used to. She felt cheated. She was sure Bo would eventually feel it, too.

These thoughts tormented her as she lifted her leg to step onto the last stone.

Something grabbed at her leg.

A small dinghy hid among the rocks. Hands latched onto her pants and pulled her down. She fell into the boat. A sweet-smelling cloth covered her mouth before she had a chance to scream.

Shit! was Raven’s last thought before she entered pitch blackness.

A humming echoed in the back of Raven’s head as she fought to reach the light of consciousness. Where am I? Is Bo asleep next to me?