His Darkest Embrace (Jaguar Warriors 2)

He moved so quickly then, the blur registered after he was on top of her body.

“You want me as much as I want you. Why do you insist on denying your need?”

The warmth of his breath caressed her cheek and Skye could not look away from the intensity of his gaze.

“I do … want you,” she whispered, “very much so. I just don’t know if we should …” Her voice trailed off as a wave of heat ran across her skin.

She couldn’t finish her sentence and forced herself to look away, closing her eyes when she felt his fingers encircle her head, plunging deep into the thick hair at her nape.

Her insides liquefied into a molten fire as he slowly turned her toward him, and when his lips stopped, a whisper away from hers, she felt the ache deep within her break, its painful longing fingering out in a well of need that was nearly overwhelming. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him, and lose herself forever.

“We can, little bird,” he whispered, “and we will.”

Skye stilled at the raw power in his voice. She was aware of the breaths being pulled from her body, the sound painfully weak as it echoed into the dark and silent cave.

When his lips swept across hers the moan that lay at the back of her throat escaped and with it a sob. Everything that she’d ever wanted was in front of her.

Jagger Castille was a man worthy of not only her respect, her allegiance, but of her heart.

How incredibly unfair to find him, the man who could complete her, at a time when the only way she could save him and the rest of the world was by giving up her own life.

She felt the tears as they slowly seeped from the corners of her eyes and when she would have looked aside, he held her still, his mouth slowly kissing them away.

And when Jagger claimed her mouth finally, she was done. There was no way she could fight him any longer.

She opened herself fully to him, her mouth relaxing as she welcomed him into her soft warmth.

He tasted incredibly rich and her lips quivered beneath his as a plethora of sensations rushed along her nerve endings. His tongue invaded her body, each pass along the inside of her mouth pulling heat from deep within.

She was flush with the intensity of it. Dizzy and weightless.

Her hands slowly crept up his shoulders, her fingers trailing a line across the powerful muscles that bunched there. The sensations were incredible and Skye would have loved nothing more than to drown in them, to forget everything except the touch, and taste.

When he pulled away and the heat was replaced with a rush of cool air, she looked up at him, her mouth opened slightly as she panted her disapproval.

Jagger looked down at her for several long seconds and she slowly calmed her body as the remnants of his kiss wove their way throughout her system.

His mouth was no longer tender, but tense, and his eyes narrowed.

“I won’t have you"—he gestured with his hands—"here on the floor of some fucking cave out in the middle of the jungle.”

He was angry. It was in his tone and the way that the green of his eyes seemed to glow with a reddish light.

He bared his teeth and the animal that lay beneath his skin shifted, and for a second, Skye felt as if she were staring straight into the heart of the jaguar. It was both magnificent and terrifying.

“We’ll do this right. When all this madness is done.”

Skye swallowed thickly and began to speak, but the growl that escaped his lips effectively quieted her retort.

He bent over her. “And once I claim you as mine

, Skye Knightly, I will never let you go.”

His words shocked her and Skye could do nothing but stare stupidly at his back as he turned from her and disappeared out of the mouth of the cave.

Even though the air was hot and heavy with humidity a feeling of cold washed over her. Skye wrapped her arms around her body in an effort to give herself what comfort she could, pulling the wool blanket up around her limbs. Her teeth chattered and her body shook, all of it accompanied by such a heavy weight of sadness that she felt as if she were drowning.

All sorts of memories washed over her then. Images of her father and mother, Finn and herself, played like silent movies behind her eyelids. Happy times that would be no more.