Mikki studied the wide patch of grass. It ran along the base of the cliff, just like a path. She smiled and followed where her instincts led. Turning the corner, the cliff wall abruptly opened into a smoothed out entrance to a cave.
“Or better yet, a lair,” she whispered.
She held her breath, stepped inside and was instantly surprised. The entrance had only been a little larger than an average-size door, but inside magickally smokeless torches lent a warm, yellow light to the area, making it look very un-cave-like and welcoming. The cream-colored walls were high and smoothed like the baths of the hot spring. They were also covered with lush paintings. Awed by the talent of the artist, Mikki gazed at the walls. The scenes showed a rocky island surrounded by white sand beaches and water that was a brilliant turquoise. The only person in the landscape was the faint outline of a tall, golden-haired woman.
Creteâthese have to be images he remembers from the island of his birth. And the woman? Is it his mother, or the Empousa who rejected him?
Not sure if she really wanted to know, she turned away from the beautifully decorated walls. There was a large wooden table in the middle of the room. On it was a bowl filled with cold meat and cheese and a pitcher of wine. There were also several rolls of parchment and glass bottles filled with a thick, dark liquid. Intrigued, Mikki came closer and realized the liquid was ink. One of the parchments was unrolled and held into place with smooth stones. An almost-finished ink drawing was on it. She walked around the table to see what he had been sketchingâand gasped. It was her in the ritual dress she had worn her first night in the realm. She was standing in Hecate's Temple, in front of the Spirit flame. He'd somehow captured the aura of power she felt within the sacred circle, as he depicted her hair flying around her and the look of rapture on her face. It was a beautiful sketch, obviously drawn with loving attention to detail as well as a master's talent.
A beast didn't do this. A man did this, and one who might be very much in love.
“You should not be here!” he snarled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
T
HE power in his voice caused the torches to flicker madly, but Mikki didn't cringe or start in surprise. Slowly, she raised her eyes from the sketch. And then her stomach lurched. He was standing in a rounded doorway that led to another room deeper within the cave, and he was almost naked. The leather cuirasse was gone, as was the tunic. All he had on was something that looked like a short linen towel slung low and tied around his hips. She licked her lips and reminded herself that if she didn't speak he would assume fear had paralyzed her.
“You wouldn't come to me, so here I am.”
She could see his angry facade falter, and when she smiled, he seemed at a total loss as to what to say. She tried to ignore his almost nakedness, and instead nodded at the walls of the cave. “The paintings are beautiful. Is that Crete?”
“Yes.”
“You're very talented. Just looking at these makes me want to go on a long Mediterranean vacation.” Before he could formulate a response, she pointed to the sketch of herself. “And this is flattering. I didn't even know you were there that night.”
“It wasn't meant to flatter.”
“I didn't mean that in a bad way. I meant you made me look pretty and powerful, and that's flattering.”
“That is how I see you,” he said.
“Really?”
“I will never lie to you.”
“Some people would say evasion and omission are lies,” she said bluntly.
“Mikado, if the goddess has commanded me to do or not do somethingâor to say or not say somethingâI must obey her. I have given her my oath.”
“Okay, I understand that. I'm sorry. It's just extremely frustrating for me to be in a situation where I don't know all the facts.”
“If I could answer all your questions, I swear to you that I would,” he said.
“Well, that's something I guess.” She sighed and looked back at the walls of the cave. “How about you show me around? This place is incredible.”
He didn't move from the doorframe. “Is that why you came here, Mikado, to have me show you my lair?”
“No. I came because I wanted to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because you didn't come to me today. I missed you, especially after I cast the spell that would allow men into the realm.”
“I am notâ” he began.
“Jeesh, enough! Didn't we go over this yesterday? I know you're not a man, but man or not, when I was casting the spell, you were who I thought of,” she said.
He looked away from her, and she could see the tension in his jaw and the way his hands kept clenching into fists.
“I know.” His voice sounded strained. “I felt the spell, and I felt you thinking of me. I wish you would not.”
“Why?” It was her turn to ask.
“Because I cannot bear it!”
Mikki thought it sounded like he had to grind the words between his teeth to get them out.
“I wasn't afraid of you last night,” she said abruptly.
“I saw the fear and loathing in your eyes, but I do not blame you. I wanted only to hold you in my arms and kiss you, and I couldn't do even that small, ordinary thing without becoming a beast.”
“You didn't want to do any more than to just kiss me?” she asked, smiling seductively at him.
His eyes narrowed. “If I show you my lair, will you leave me in peace, Empousa?”
“Probably not.”
“I thought you were not mean-spirited; I see that I was mistaken,” he said woodenly.
“I'm not being mean-spirited! I'm just doing a really awful job of trying to explain myself. I'm nervous, and I don't know how to put what I'm feeling into words.” She wanted to fidget or pace, but she forced herself to be still and look him in the eye. “You didn't hurt me last night, and I wasn't afraid of you. I wanted you, even more so when it got a little rough between us. I liked it, Asterius. Your powerâthe strength in your body that you barely hold in checkâis more passion than I've ever known in my life. Until I met you, men were inconsequential to me. And now I think I know why. They always seemed weak, especially when I compared them to the women who had raised me. You see, Asterius, I need someone who is more than a man. Last night when I realized that, the truth of my passion did frighten me. My fear had been formed by the voices I'd heard all my lifeâthe voices of a mundane world that would be shocked by what I feel for you.”
Asterius didn't speak for a long time; he just stared at her as if trying to comprehend something she had said that was very important to him, but spoken in a language he barely understood. Finally, he said, “Would you still like to see the rest of my lair?”
“I would.”
He stepped from the doorway. “This is my bedchamber.” He gestured for her to precede him into the room.
She walked through the arched doorway and entered the room. She could feel him follow her. Her whole body was attuned to his presence, as if he was a cobra and she was attempting to charm him. Then the beauty of the room registered. It was smaller than the main room, and it, too, had torches that gave off no smoke. Only here there were fewer of them so the room was dimly lit. The floor was covered with thick animal pelts, in the middle of which sat a huge pallet covered with more pelts.
This is where he sleeps.
The thought sent a wave of wet heat through Mikki's body. She looked quickly from the bed to the walls and was amazed all over again. The walls were filled with scenes from a garden covered with tier after tier of magnificently blooming roses. Each level of the garden held a water element, and in the central tier sat a large statue ofâ
“It's Tulsa's Rose Gardens!” Mikki gasped. “How could you have had time to paint this since you've been back?” She approached the smooth wall and touched it cautiously. It was completely dry. “There's so much here; this should have taken you months, or even years to paint.”
“It did,” he said.
She looked over her shoulder at him, not sure she had heard him correctly. “How can that be?”
“I painted this from images I saw in my dreams.”
Caressingly, she skimmed her hand over the wall. “It's perfect. You got all the details right.”
“Does it make you long for your home?”
She could feel him getting closer to her, but she didn't turn around, afraid that if she moved, he'd shy away. “No. The Realm of the Rose is my home now. I don't want to be anywhere except here, with you.”
“I ached to come to you today,” he said.
“And I couldn't stop thinking about you.” Mikki's hand was trembling, so she dropped it quickly to her side.
He was so close to her she could feel the heat of his body against her back. Then his hands were on her shoulders and his mouth was against her ear. “When you cast the spell opening the realm to men, I felt you calling to me . . . beckoning . . . asking . . .” He growled low in his throat, and Mikki could feel the vibration through the depths of her soul. “I thought it would drive me mad to stay away from you.”
“Then don't stay away from me. I don't want you to stay away from me,” she said breathlessly and she pressed back into him, feeling his erection push against the swell of her ass. His hot lips were on the side of her throat, and she could feel his sharp teeth barely graze her skin with his kisses. When his hands left her shoulders to cup her breasts, she arched to meet him. Her arms went up to pull his head down to her, and, just like in her long-ago dream, she felt his horns through the thick mane of his hair at the same time his teeth found the hollow between her neck and shoulder and teased her with a stinging bite. She moaned and pressed herself more firmly against him.
Suddenly he froze.
“No, don't stop,” she pleaded.
“Itâit's gone!”
With the words his breath came out in a rush, and she could feel his body begin to tremble violently. Worried, she turned in his arms. He was staring at her with an expression of mixed joy and shock.
“What's wrong? What's gone?”
He took her face between his hands. “You love me.” His voice broke on the words, and tears dripped silently down his cheeks.
She smiled. “Yes. I love you, but what's gone?”
He closed his eyes, trying to contain the raw joy of his emotions. “The last of the spell, my Mikado, and the last barrier between us. No matter what the Fates may bring, I will love you until the end of time.”
He bent and kissed her gently. Fisting her hand in his hair, she pulled his mouth more firmly against her. His growl moved through her already-aroused senses like a knowing caress. He lifted his head and opened his eyes. They were dark and fierce with desire. His bronze skin was already slick with sweat. She ran her hands down his body, from his shoulders over his chest, to the cords of his abdominal muscles, which quivered under her touch. When she'd begun touching him, he'd taken his hands from her face, and now they were braced against the wall on either side of her so she stood in a cage of his arms.
“Don't move. Just let me touch you,” she said huskily.
“I do not know how long I can keep my hands from you.” His chest rumbled, passion straining his voice.
“It won't be long.” She touched the side of his face and then traced his lips with her thumb. “First I want to see youâall of you.”
She saw the automatic doubt that shadowed his eyes, but he nodded slowly, acquiescing to her need. Her hands slipped down his body again, this time not stopping until her fingers hooked in the linen wrap tied low around his waist. She pulled at the fabric, and it came free easily. Mikki stared at his naked body.
“Your father's wife meant to curse you, but she had actually created a creature of incredible beauty,” she whispered the words into life. “You're not an abomination; you're a miracle.”
He was raw male power so perfectly blended with beast that it was difficult to tell where exactly the man ended and the beast began. His waist tapered to flanks and thighs covered with dark fur. From his waist down he was less thickly muscled than he had appeared to be when his body was clothed. Naked, his lean, powerful lines were visible. Mesmerized, Mikki stroked the place where the skin of the man gave way to the body of the beast. Asterius bowed his head and growled. She looked into his face. His eyes were tightly closed, and he was breathing heavily in an effort to control the creature within. Mikki felt a hot rush of desire as she watched the beast stir. Her eyes moved back down his body. He was fully erect and formed like a man. The skin that covered his shaft was the same bronze of his chest. Mikki took its heavy length in her hands, stroking with one, squeezing with the other. When she touched him, his eyes opened to find her watching him.
“You don't always have to keep the beast chained, Asterius,” she whispered. Still stroking him, she leaned forward, circling his nipple with her tongue. “Let him loose, my love. I'm not afraid of him.” She took the hard nub of his nipple between her teeth and bit sharply down.
His snarl was a wave of thunderous sound. He lifted her into his arms. His hooves thudded heavily against the pelt-covered floor as he strode to his pallet. He laid her there, but before he could cover her with his body, she stood, causing him, once again, to pull back. In his pained expression she read too easily what he was thinking.
“You've got to stop believing that I'm afraid of you. I'm not. I didn't stand up to get away from you. I just thought you would like this off . . .” Mikki began to unpin the silver rose brooch that held her chiton together over her right shoulder, but her hands were trembling and she could not unclasp it. Frustrated, she looked up at him and then her expression changed to a seductive smile. “Would you do something for me?”