Alaskan Fury (39 page)

‘Aqrab shrugged.  “You were
hungry.”  He rolled back to face the wall.  The last time he’d gotten into the
habit of granting boons with his bargains, the woman had filled his bed with
the musk of another man.  It was disturbing, at the very least. 
He
was
supposed to tame
her
.  Not the other way around.

He stiffened when he felt the
magus kneel behind him, her knees brushing his back as they touched the floor. 
“You ready for this, djinni?”

He glanced over his shoulder at
her, puzzled.  “You don’t need any more food.”

And his heart skipped a beat when
he saw her smile.  “No.  But it will be fun to make you beg.”  And then she
pounced, like a lion upon an elephant.

‘Aqrab screamed and flailed when
the first thing she went for was his sides. 
Damn
the woman for using
her strength against him.  He tried to roll away from the wall, to get better
purchase, but her heavy body blocked his path, pinning him in place against the
stone as inescapably as a mountain.  Gasping, he thrashed underneath her, then
breathlessly managed to scoot away on his back, out of range of her hands,
using his longer arms to keep her at bay.

Which was, he discovered, a mistake. 
As soon as he gave her easy access to his arms, her vicelike grip tightened on his
wrists and lifted them out of the way, giving her full access to his stomach.

“Nooo,” ‘Aqrab cried, when she simply
sat on him, pushed his torso to the ground, and held his arms out of the way,
exposing his ribs and armpits.  He twisted in vain, trying to free himself, but
she was using the wolf, her eyes glowing a soft yellow, the very slightest hint
of ebony fur slipping from her skin as she held him there, pinned.  Though she had
lost weight during her weeks of obstinance, she still had to weigh at least
three hundred pounds, over two-thirds of which was wolf, and all of which was
pressed solidly into his abdomen as she reclined forward over him, a leg on
either side, keeping him from rolling away from her.

“So,” she asked, as she traced
her fingers under the muscle of his chest, down the side of his torso, “are you
going to beg?”  She grinned down at him, her face filled with predatory glee as
he squirmed.

“You’ll have…” he panted,
writhing under her as she tickled, feather-light, his lower ribs, “to do better
than that.”

The Fury raised an ebony brow. 
“Oh?”  She dragged her tiny fingers upwards, towards his underarms.

‘Aqrab, unable to withstand what
he knew was to come, twisted to the half-realm.

Kaashifah thudded through him to
the floor where he had been with a startled grunt.  At the same time, ‘Aqrab
lunged to his feet, twisted back into the First Realm, and threw himself atop
her.

“Not
fair
!” she screamed,
as his weight slapped her bodily to the floor.  Though he knew his advantage
wouldn’t last long, he started tickling her from above. 

To his surprise, she laughed—
laughed
—and
rolled out from under him.  Before she could press her advantage, ‘Aqrab
quickly scrambled away from the wall.

Panting, eyes bright with
excitement, his magus grinned at him from a crouched position.  “I think I’ll
go for your feet…”  She brushed her disarrayed black locks out of her eyes and
leapt at him again.

There was something…unnerving…in
having a woman the size of a malnourished child pin him down with all the
effortless ease of a void-titan, despite his best efforts to squirm free.  ‘Aqrab
had to cheat to keep her from getting him to beg.

But, ‘Aqrab decided, drinking in
the happy glow of the Fury’s face, if cheating was what it took to prolong the
experience, he was perfectly willing to do so.  Repeatedly.

“You,” the magus panted, after he
had evaded her yet again, “are beginning to piss me off, djinni.”

“Oh?” he chuckled, dancing around
her from the crystalline sanctuary of the half-realm, “what are you going to do
about it?”  He popped in behind her and tickled her ribs, then twisted away
again before she could spin around and grab him.

He saw her pause, a devilish look
of intent on her face, and he felt the cord between them flutter slightly, like
someone had strummed the string of a harp.  He frowned at that, having been
caught off-guard, his defenses down in the face of their fun.  Before he could
slam up a wall to stop it, he felt the white-hot fire of a Fury’s magic
suddenly snake up the soul-link and into his body.  There was a tingling at his
wrists and, when he looked, he saw brilliant white light of Fury energy
settling around his forearms, solidifying into golden bands.  ‘Aqrab froze when
he recognized the spell that untold millennia of First-Lander magi had used to
imprison djinni in the First Realm.

“Ah, mon Dhi’b…”

Then the bands hardened upon his
arms and yanked him back into the First Realm with all the authority of a
titan’s sledge.

“
There
you are,” she said,
grinning and turning to face him as he appeared to her side, slack-jawed in
horror.  “Now.  About that begging for mercy…”

‘Aqrab backed up at the ravenous
look in her eyes, his heart hammering with a fiery combination of dread and
exhilaration.  Kaashifah padded after him, slow and easy, the walk of a hunting
lioness.  Stumbling away from her, ‘Aqrab felt his back back hit the cold side
of a cavern wall and he gasped, realizing he had nowhere to run.  Overwhelmed
by that exquisite tide of risk, he heard himself babble, “Ah, mon Dhi’b,
perhaps we can make some sort of bargain—”

But her eyes flashed yellow and
she gave him a slow, lazy grin around fangs.  “Why would you want to do that,
djinni?  I’m only giving you what you
asked
for.”  She continued to
saunter unhurriedly after him, allowing him plenty of time to run.

Because, really, what chance did
a
djinni
have of outrunning a Third Lander?

Oh Goddess…
  He’d never
been so thoroughly spooked—and turned on—in his life.  This woman was
stalking
him.  ‘Aqrab swallowed and, the golden dimensional-anchors around his wrists sizzling
electrically against the stone behind him, he started inching sideways down the
wall, away from her.  “Um, mon Dhi’b, please be reasonable.”  He hated the way
it sounded like begging already.

Kaashifah cocked her head up at
him, her devilish grin striking another thrill of excitement through his core. 
“
Reasonable
?”  She licked her lips.  Much too innocently, she said, “But
I haven’t completed my side of the bargain, and you asked me to make you
beg
.”

Never had the cool, easy
confidence of a woman driven him so completely over the edge.  “Um,” he
babbled.  “We can renegotiate.”  It was the first time she had ever
trapped
him in her Realm, and it was setting his chest, lungs, and loins afire. 

Her grin becoming wolfish, she
said, “Not on your life, djinni.”

Seeing the predatory gleam in her
eyes, it took every ounce of self-control ‘Aqrab had to prevent himself from
bolting like a startled gazelle.  The heat in his groin was intensifying under
her gaze, solidifying into the strongest, most pounding pressure his flesh had
ever endured, and ‘Aqrab knew that being wrestled to the floor, at this point,
was probably going to result in a displeased wolf.

To his surprise, she smiled. 
“You smell of fear, djinni.”

“Ah,” ‘Aqrab managed, never
having felt so utterly
cornered
as right now, facing this Fury who was
about to have her way with him.  His heart hammering at the idea, it left him
so hard it hurt.

She cocked her head and sniffed
the air.  “Fear and…”  Her eyes flickered down to his groin and she hesitated. 
To his shock—and increasing panic—a slow, evil smile began to trace upon her
lips.  “It swells when a man is…interested…isn’t that what you told me?”

Oh Goddess,
he thought,
his panic rising as he inched sideways toward the cave entrance. 
I am so
buggered
.  “Um.  There are many different types of ‘interest,’ mon Dhi’b,
and before you overreact—”

“Strip.  I would see it before I
make you beg.”

‘Aqrab, who had been carefully
peering out the cave entrance, trying to judge how far he could get before she
tackled him, froze.  Turning back to face her slowly, he swallowed at the
seductive appraisal she was giving his body.  “Ah, um…”  Curse the woman for
taking away his defenses.  Trapped in this realm, he felt naked, exposed,
unable to
hide
.  His confidence, so strongly tied to his ability to
simply twist to another realm when it pleased him, was draining out through his
feet, leaving his heart hammering against his ribs like an anvil of the gods.

The Fury raised an eyebrow as she
watched him over crossed arms, tapping her fingers on her biceps as she
waited.  “You want me to do it for you, then?”

“Ahhhh, ummmm,” ‘Aqrab swallowed,
hard.  The thought of her having access to the tender parts of him,
without
having
the option of twisting away, should she become unpleasant, was leaving him with
an odd dual-rush of excitement and adrenaline.  Once again, he was experiencing
that uncanny feeling that his wildest dreams were quickly shaping into his
worst nightmares.

The wolf sighed and uncrossed her
arms and started towards him.  “I suppose I’ll simply have to rip it off.  It’s
not like you have a limited supply…”

“Wait!” ‘Aqrab cried, holding up
a panicked hand between them, the dimensional anchor flickering like an
ethereal golden vambrace around his forearm.  “Oh Goddess, please, uh…”  He
swallowed, hard, unnerved at how dry his throat was.  Lowering his arm
slowly—because both of them knew he wasn’t going to stop her—he managed, “Ah,
mon Dhi’b, what are you going to do?”

She gave him a lazy, sultry smile. 
“Whatever I feel like.”

The whole situation seemed
naggingly familiar, but before ‘Aqrab had a chance to consider that, she let
out a low, feral growl and closed the distance.  A moment later, she snagged
his sirwal in a fist and tore it from his body with the startling sound of
rending silk, leaving him with the sudden, icy tingle of goosebumps.  He gave a
nervous laugh, his hands and back pressed tight against the rock behind him,
inescapably faced with the horrible fact that he could no more slip realms to
avoid her than he could sink his spine through the stone wall pinning him in
place.

Obviously enjoying herself, the
magus stood back and grinned, perusing him at her leisure.  If anything, her
attention made the pressure in his groin a thousand times more acute, and
‘Aqrab found himself struggling against a mingled tide of panic and
anticipation.  He started inching sideways again, unable to stand still under
her scrutiny. 

The wolf leaned forward, put a
single, slender arm against the wall between him and the door, and looked up
into his eyes, so close that he could feel her cool body against his abdomen. 
“Going somewhere, djinni?”

“No mistress,” he blurted.

She hesitated, looking up at him,
and ‘Aqrab’s heart started to hammer at the slow grin that spread across her
face.  “Mistress, eh?” she said, dropping her eyes to his chest, smiling, her
voice a seductive purr.  “I could get used to that.”  She reached up with the
hand not blocking his passage and traced a finger up his torso, hovering around
a nipple.

‘Aqrab groaned with the shudder
that followed.  “Please,” he whimpered, fisting his hands against the stone
behind him.  The fact that there was no
escape
was driving him utterly
over the edge, leaving his heart racing wildly, his breath coming in ragged
pants.

“Please
what
, djinni?” she
asked, languidly tracing his chest with the pad of her finger.

“I…um…uh…”  He was having trouble
concentrating with the way her finger was looping across his skin in cool,
silken swirls.  “I believe our bargain was to—”  Then she got up on her tiptoes
and put her mouth to his nipple and all the words he had prepared fled in a
scattered wash of sand to the wind, leaving him nothing but air in his throat
as his body shuddered against the rock. 

She
chuckled
at him, deep
and husky, and started her hand in a downward descent, following the sensitive
lines of his stomach.  “You’re going to have to be more specific, ‘Aqrab.  I
can’t understand your mumbling.”

He moaned as she touched his
navel and slid around it, circling.  “Not…” he whimpered, “…fair.”

“Who said,” she purred against
his areola, “anything about playing fair?”

‘Aqrab trembled, riding that
delightful, teetering brink between pleasure and anxious, heart-pounding
risk
,
when he felt her hand slide through the hair of his groin and wrap around his
shaft.  He froze when her feminine fingers touched its length, which, he
realized, was the wrong thing to do.

Betrayed by his body, Kaashifah
gave a slight frown and glanced down.

Oh Goddess,
he thought,
horrified,
please don’t let her—

“So,” she asked, shifting her
attention to the throbbing flesh.  “Is this as big as it gets?”

“Pretty much,” he said in a
strangled sound.

“Is it ticklish?” she asked,
tracing her fingers upon it.

‘Aqrab’s eyes rolled back into
his head at the wave of pleasure.  “Ah, um,” he gasped, his knees trembling,
“it’s very sensitive.”

“Sensitive.”  She grinned and
stroked it again, feather-light, her smile widening at his sudden intake of
breath.  “Is that another word for ticklish, djinni?”  She pulled her other
hand from the wall and slipped it under his balls to cup them against his body,
her cool skin eliciting a frenzy of sensations within him.

“Not,” he gasped under her
ministrations, fighting that rising passion within him before she got a chance
to see what she was doing to him, “exactly.”