Ellora's Cavemen: Tales from the Temple II (20 page)

With both females back aboard, wet but thankfully no worse off, Cedric gave each a big hug and kiss. Much to his surprise and Kat’s, Zalorna returned the kiss. Grabbing the rope, he began hauling in the section of tree.
If this doesn’t work in splicing the mast…I
have to think positive, this will work.

With their prize on board and secured, both cat-women collapsed under a makeshift canopy of pine branches. Cedric turned his eyes back to the island in time to see the top of the tree they had cut disappear beneath the waves.

Going below, he checked out the radio and GPS locator. Both were dead. Taking note of the direction they were drifting and their speed, he went back on deck, crawled in between Kat and Zalorna, and fell asleep.

118

Tail of the Tiger

“I’m scared Kat. I am really frightened.”

“Me too. After all we have been through, I do not think we will survive. If it were not for Cedric and his boat…”

“I know, and I take back everything I said about him. Cedric is not like other humans.”

Cedric lay listening to the females as they sat nearby. They thought that he was still asleep. Their soft voices echoed his thoughts. He knew how much water and food remained on board. Even if by chance he managed to catch any fish, they needed fresh water.

There was one answer, but it saddened him to even have to contemplate it.

“Zalorna, I want you to mate with Cedric.”

Kat’s words startled him. He had dismissed their earlier conversation as idle ramblings. Was she testing her half-sister, or…was she serious?

“Why?”

Yeah, I’d like to know the reason too.

“Because,” Kat whispered, “you are my sister and I don’t want you to feel lonely anymore, or feeling like you don’t belong here.”

She’s serious. I damn well don’t believe it.

“Besides, it is time you mated. Why do you think we were kept separated from humans? You have seen the fear in their eyes. We may never find another mate willing to accept us.”

“I will think about it,” Zalorna promised.

“Aahhmmm,” he feigned a yawn. “What are you two doing?”

“Talking,” Kat answered, “watching the stars…”

“And wondering if there is anything out there that survived.” Zalorna voiced the thoughts he had been purposefully shutting out.

Climbing out from under the branches, he stood and stretched. “It’s cooler now.

Let’s get this mast fixed and find out.”

The sun was up and blaring down on them by the time he finished tying the last line holding the splice in place. With fingers crossed, Cedric hoisted the main sail and watched with trepidation as the canvas caught the wind and billowed out. Wood creaked, moaned, and bent under the strain.

“Whoow!” Cedric breathed a loud sigh of relief. “I thought for a minute it wasn’t going to hold.” Changing course, he locked the rudder and turned to hug the females.

119

R. Casteel

Kat gave him a passionate, open-mouthed, tongue-probing kiss, which left him wanting more. She broke the embrace, stepped back, and gave her sister a nod of encouragement.

Zalorna touched her lips to his. “I am not very good at this,” she whispered. “Will you teach me?”

Stepping away from her, he took Kat’s hand and half–dragged her to the bow. “I overheard you two talking. Is that the only reason you are pushing this?”

“I think you know the other reason,” she snapped. “It is the three of us out here on this little boat and if we don’t have fresh food and water real soon, we will not survive.”

Kat placed her hands on her hips. “If we are to die, I want her to know the pleasure of your love the way I do.”

Running his fingers through his windblown hair, he turned to stare out at the empty ocean.

Kat grabbed his arm. Her sharp talon-like nails dug into his skin. “Well?”

His shoulders sank and his heart broke. “Neither of you shall die.”
You swore you
would never create another like yourself. How can you even contemplate such a thing?

“Please, Cedric,” Kat begged.

No!

Strangely enough, he could see the logic in what she was asking. Living like they had, growing up on an island where the beast ruled every aspect of their lives, sharing a mate would only be natural.

“Very well.” Turning away, he walked to the stern where Zalorna waited.
Fuck her if
you want to, but don’t turn her into what you are!

Lifting a hand to her face, Cedric brushed a tendril of hair behind her ear, lowered his lips to hers, and set out on a course of seduction to change her life forever. Leaving the soft contour of her lips, he places light tender kisses along her jaw. “Don’t be nervous,” he whispered.

“I’m not.”

Cedric chuckled. “Your tail is twitching.”

“It is not.”

He gently blew in her long, black, furry cat’s ear.

“Okay, maybe it is…a little.”

“Zalorna, I won’t hurt you.”
Liar!
His conscious screamed at him even as his left hand worked up her side and his fingers caressed her breast.

She started purring. “I have watched you mate with Kat.”

“Did you think that I was going to hurt her?” Lowering his head, he hovered over the other nipple, licked it with his tongue, and blew his heated breath across her breast.

“At first.” A shudder coursed through her body, and he smiled against her flesh.

“Then I became curious.”

120

Tail of the Tiger

“I can stop, if you want me to.” Cedric playfully bit at her nipple and heard her gasp.

“What will happen if we find land?” Her voice shook and her fingers dug into his shoulders.

Cedric lifted his head.

“Will you leave us?”

Her question caught him off guard. “No, I will not leave the two of you alone.”

A tentative smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “Then I will mate with you.”

Zalorna led him to the shelter of the branches and ducked underneath.

Cedric dropped his shorts and crawled in beside her.

“Let us be honest with each other.” She lay back on the soft bed of needles. “I do not expect you to have the same feelings toward me as you do for Kat. She has always been more human. For me, this is a natural, physical act, and nothing more. Maybe that
something
I see in her eyes when she looks at you…will come later. If it does, fine.”

His fingers played in the short, black fur covering her legs. “I think there is more woman inside you than you realize. It’s a matter of which one you allow to be dominant.”

A steady low rumbling vibrated through her body. Her eyes closed as his hands traveled further up her body. Cedric’s palm brushed the distended flesh of her nipple.

With the sudden flaring of her nose, her breast lifted, seeking more contact.

Leaning closer, he used the tip of his tongue to touch the passion-inflamed flesh.

Kat paced back and forth on the deck, in and out of what little shade the sail provided. Her two instincts clashed, as they had on several occasions since Cedric came to the island, but nothing compared to what she was now going through. No matter how much she wanted this bonding between Zalorna and Cedric, a part of her hated them, and herself.

Both halves of her inner self tried not to watch or listen to the contented purring and shallow moans of her sister.
So what, big deal, they are mating… I wish she was not so
vocal about it or that Cedric did not appear to enjoy it so much… With what we have gone
through, this makes sense… It had to happen sooner or later… If they do not mate, they may kill
each other for food…

Zalorna fought against the growing passion within her. She wanted this over with, without any emotional ties between them. Her human half grew stronger, and began to assert itself.

His mouth came back to hers. Zalorna parted her lips, and his tongue touched hers, darting in and out of her mouth. The sensation overpowered her and she grabbed his hair with both hands, holding him in place as she ravaged his mouth.

121

R. Casteel

Strange new emotions sent the blood racing through her as Cedric nestled between her legs and his hard shaft touched her wet flesh. Instincts long embedded in her genes took over and she rubbed herself against him. With one quick thrust, he entered her.

Shock, surprise, and wanton desire clashed. Desire won out, and she wrapped her legs around his hips. With each plunge of his shaft inside her, she met him with one of her own. The intensity grew, blocking out everything around. Her sharp claw-like nails dug into his flesh.

Zalorna relished the feeling of being a woman for the first time in her life. Standing on the edge of a sensuous cliff, she felt liberated, free, and alive. A soft cry burst from her chest as her body seemed about ready to explode.

She snarled as Cedric pulled out of her.

“Turn over.” His hands gave a gentle tug on her hips and she rolled onto her stomach.

Cedric lifted her tail and sensing what he wanted, she lifted her hips in the air.

His fingers curled into her short black hair covering her body. This new position was more exciting, more natural, and sent her newfound passions soaring even higher.

Zalorna clawed at the blanket beneath her as she ground her hips and womanly flesh against Cedric. Cat-like growls and snarls poured from her throat. Harder and faster he drove deep into her wet flesh.

She was flung off the edge and fell into the blissful void of passion’s release.

Even as her body strained and shook beneath his, Cedric felt his dark side emerging, taking control. With one final thrust into her quivering flesh, he lifted his head, and bared his fangs. As he felt the heated rush of release being pumped into Zalorna, he fell across her quivering back and sank his fangs deep into her neck.

“No!” Kat’s strangled cry reached his ears moments before her body crashed into his. They rolled across the deck, locked in each other’s arms.

Filled with the taste of Zalorna’s blood, Cedric wrestled with Kat. Empowered by his dark-side craving, he turned his bared fangs on Kat.

Kill her, kill them both, and spare them your torment and guilt.
He took enough of her blood to mix with his own, and in a moment of self-loathing, injected it back into his beloved Kat.

She stopped her struggles and as her eyes drifted shut, her lips formed a silent question. “Why?”

“Because, I love you,” he whispered. “Please, don’t hate me for what I have done.”

Cedric picked up her limp body, carried it back under the shade of the tree branches, and gently laid her beside her sister. Beads of sweat already formed on Zalorna’s brow. Filling a bucket with sea water, he bathed her face, neck, and chest.

Within moments, he noticed Kat’s body drenched with sweat too.

122

Tail of the Tiger

Their temperatures soared for the next several hours. In his desire to save their lives, had he instead hastened their deaths? As he kept their flesh cool, a difficult task in itself with the extreme heat, Cedric noticed a gradual healing of their sun-scorched skin.

Their fevers broke.

The setting sun did little to relieve the heat. The whole world it seemed had been turned into a giant greenhouse. A thick haze hung suspended in the sky blotting out all but the brightest of the stars.

Cedric checked on their location using what stars he could recognize and adjusted their direction. They were headed home, back to America. Hopefully, there would be something left to come home to.

The trade winds were holding true. Their mast held against the billowing canvas.

He checked the rigging, went to the bow, and sat with his feet hanging over the edge.

Sometime later, Kat and Zalorna sat one on either side of him and wrapped their arms around him.

He gave Kat a kiss, turned his head, and kissed Zalorna.

The sound of waves breaking on the bow breached the stillness of the night as the wind carried them toward an unknown and uncertain future.

Cedric had always hated what he was—a
daywalker
. But were it not for the altered DNA of a slain vampire fused with his father’s when he was cloned, he and the half-ling creatures beside him wouldn’t stand a chance in this new world.

“Whatever happens, whatever we find out there, we’ll be together and,” Cedric gave them a reassuring hug, “we will survive.”

123

About the author:

Romance author R Casteel retired from the US Navy in 1990. He enjoys the outdoors, loves to Scuba Dive, and is a Search and Rescue Diver. With twenty years of military service, which included experience as flight crewman, search and rescue, and four years as a Military Police Officer, it is of little wonder that his books are filled with suspense and intrigue. As to his ability to write romance, Gloria for Best Reviews writes

"I had thought Leigh Greenwood was the only man who wrote wonderful romance...I was wrong...Rod Casteel is right there too!"

Mr. Casteel lives in his hometown of Lancaster, Missouri and would love to hear from you.

R. Casteel welcomes mail from readers. You can write to him c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at 1337 Commerce Drive, Suite 13, Stow OH 44224.

Also by R. Casteel:

The Crimson Rose

Taneika: Daughter of the Wolf

Texas Thunder

Mistress of Table Rock

The Toymaker

DRAGON’S LAW: MACE

Alicia Sparks

Dragon’s Law: Mace

Near Waydon, a small village near Tyr on the planet Tyr-LaRoche. Modern Day.

The wind howled, forcing the tiny hairs on Eleanora’s neck to stand at attention.

She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and waited. The night birds that had been singing their welcome to the moon only seconds before were quiet now, as if they anticipated the arrival of some menacing force that would rip them from the sky.

The clearing was illuminated by the light moon as the dark one hung, a black circle in the night’s sky, signaling what would soon be coming.