"It's my fault you were out there alone," Brandt said. He allowed his gaze to drift over her, a slow, lazy inspection of her lush curves. "I'm not blaming you for being afraid. I blame myself for leaving you alone when I knew you were close to the change." He moved to stand beside her while she sat at the water's edge. His fingers tangled in her hair, rubbing in the silky strands. "I didn't mean to snap at you, Maggie. The Han Vol Dan is a frightening experience even for those of us who know what to expect. I'm proud of you that you went through it alone and still had the courage to come back to me." It humbled him as nothing else could have.
Brandt knew he looked stiff and grim and aloof, but fear for her was still an ugly presence in his heart, and he couldn't seem to calm the demons raging in him. He had wanted to break James's neck, and the thought of the man roaming freely, presenting a threat to Maggie, made him resent his decision to allow James to escape the jungle justice.
His hand trembled as he reached down and simply pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it on top of his own. "We can change easily and naturally, fast and on the run if there is need. It's only another form, not a change of character." Her skin gleamed at him, as smooth as silk. She was utterly beautiful to him, as exotic as any of the creatures in his care. "I'm going to show you, Maggie."
His hands were on the waistband of his jeans and her heart pounded as she heard the rasp of the zipper. She tilted her head to get a better view as he pushed the jeans away from his body without a semblance of modesty. He was ferociously aroused, thick and hard and tempting beyond her ability to resist. She instantly forgot she was tired.
"I love looking at you." The words slipped out of their own accord. Honest. Simple. Life in the rain forest.
For the first time he seemed to relax, some of the tension seeping out of him. "It's a good thing, honey, because I'm very partial to looking at you." He stepped away from her. "I think about the leopard in my mind first, Maggie, before I actually start the change. It takes practice, but you'll be able to do it."
She was sweating. Just looking at him and hearing the sensual note in his voice was making her ache in the most wonderful places. He robbed her of air even in wide-open spaces.
Brandt reached down, locked his fingers around her wrist, and effortlessly pulled her to her feet. "Watch, Maggie." He held his arm away from her while the fur raced over his skin.
Maggie had eyes for other things. She allowed her palm to slide up his thigh, to cup his heavy sac, to linger playfully along his erection.
"I'm showing you something important here," he said, trying to sound stern.
"And I'm looking," she answered truthfully.
"You're doing more than looking." His breath caught in his lungs as her fingers danced, closed tightly around him, slid, and caressed.
She arched an eyebrow at him, her smile teasing. "Poor baby. And you were feeling all mean and bad, too. I'm soothing you. You should thank me."
"Mean and bad?" he echoed, every muscle in his body taut with need.
"Snarly. You were snarling. You know, curling your lip and exposing your teeth." She went up on her toes, pressed her breasts against his chest to nibble at his lip. "You have wonderful teeth, by the way." Her tongue slid tantalizingly over his lips. She pushed away from him when he reached for her.
Laughing, Maggie wiggled out of her jeans. Instead of turning back to him, she jumped straight into the water.
9
The water was cool, bringing instant relief to Maggie's body. It was a perfect temperature in the sultry heat of the morning. She ducked beneath the surface, wanting to feel clean, wanting the thick mass of her hair wet and cool for a change. Most of all, she wanted Brandt to play with her. The hard edge to his mouth, the glittering menace in his eyes were intimidating. She had made a monumental decision, her entire life changing in the blink of an eye, and she needed comfort. They both did.
Brandt watched Maggie's body move through the water, cutting cleanly, a flash of her smooth, inviting buttocks, a kick of her feet. Her head came up out of the water, long hair shaking off droplets of water in every direction. She looked like a water nymph, ethereal, desirable. A mermaid with blazing hair and inviting skin.
She was life itself, family--she was worth all the long hours, all the danger and tedium of his job. She was why he did it, why he wanted the environment saved, why wildlife was so important. One woman with more courage than good sense, willing to take him on instinct. Willing to forgive the trap he set for her, to look beyond it to a life with him.
Brandt sighed and slipped into the water to rinse the sweat from his skin. She had another life. One in a city, one she had lived for years before he had come along. He swam swiftly, furiously across the pool to the other side, coming up behind the waterfall and off to the side of it. He heaved his weight onto the small shelf he knew was there, fitting his hips onto the smooth rock, his legs dangling down. Water lapped at his thighs and groin, soothing waves when his mind was roaring a protest.
"Maggie." He waited until she stood up in the shallows, the water lovingly ringing her hips, droplets running off her breasts and down her beautiful belly to her navel. "This isn't right. What I've done isn't right. It's been all about me, what I need, what I want, not about you and what you want or need."
Her green gaze slid over him speculatively, heightening his awareness. Maggie had a sensual, sultry quality that left him hard and hungry and so edgy he sometimes wanted to leap upon her and devour her on the spot. She tilted her head to one side, twisted the length of her hair as she looked at him. "Is that what you think, Brandt?"
Where had she gotten such confidence, this self-assured woman who was looking at him with amusement when he was trying to be noble? She was in the middle of the rain forest, had just gone through the Han Vol Dan alone. She had committed her life to her mate, accepted her heritage, embraced it even. Where did she get such courage? Brandt could only stare at her, the beautiful, sensual picture she made standing hip deep in the clear pool.
"I think you haven't heard everything, Maggie," he said quietly. "Our people don't always choose to live here. We're a small band, very small, older couples mainly and Drake, Conner, Joshua, and James. One female, young Shilo, not quite old enough and without a mate. No others. Most of our kind are long gone or living and working in the cities. They rarely, if ever, shift shape, and some do not have their mates."
She flung her hair back over her shoulder and slowly lowered her body beneath the surface of the water until her breasts floated, a temptation of lush, creamy flesh. She swam closer to him. "I had the impression there weren't many of you left."
He blinked, tore his fascinated gaze away from the perfection of her feminine body. "Us. Many of us left," he corrected. "The point is, you had a life somewhere else. You can still have that life."
Maggie stopped swimming, stilled there in the pool with the water cascading behind her and mist falling softly across the surface. "What are you saying?" Her voice was tight, the joy fading from her face, from her eyes.
"I'm saying, if you prefer to live in the city, we can go there. I expected you to give up your life for me and that was wrong. I love the rain forest and everything in it. But I watched what you did for the bear. You worked so fast, with no hesitation. You're so skilled, Maggie. You have no idea, you take it for granted, but you were amazing."
The tension drained from her body and she swam through deeper water to him, nudging his thighs open so she could hook her arms over his legs to stay afloat. Her hair fanned out around her head like silk on the surface of the water. She rested her chin up high on his thigh, deliberately close to the junction of his legs so that her hair teased at the insides of his legs. So that her mouth was tantalizingly close. So that when she breathed, he held his breath.
"So much the better for my work here," she answered, and nuzzled his leg. Her teeth teased his skin while her gaze grew hot watching the effect on his body. He thickened, hardened, reaching for her with male ardor. "I love
it here, Brandt. And I trained with the idea of working in the wilds." Her tongue collected drops of water from the crease of his legs. She smiled when he shivered, when his hands came down to fist in her hair. Her tongue went on a little foray, exploring, teasing, testing her power over him.
"I mean it, Maggie. I'll try living in the city if you want me to. I want you to be happy." His entire body seemed to be suspended. Waiting. Every nerve ending was alive. Screaming. Centered in one place.
Her arms slid to his waist, her body wedging closer as she shifted slightly. "I'm happy right here, Brandt. Incredibly happy."
Her mouth closed around him as tight as a fist. Hot. Moist. Sucking hard, her tongue doing some kind of dance to drive him mad. His head fell back and his world narrowed. Time stood still while the mist came down and the prisms of color floated in the air behind his eyes, in his blood. His fists tightened, bunching in her hair, and he held her to him. A growl of pleasure escaped from the back of his throat. Leaves wavered in the breeze. The waterfall thundered into the pool.
Life gave gifts sometimes. He had been given one to treasure. Brandt tugged on her, not wanting to lose control, wanting to be inside of her, sharing the same skin. "Come here, baby." He reached for her, hooking beneath her arms and pulling her straight up out of the water with his enormous strength.
Maggie was shocked by how casually he revealed his hidden strength. He lifted her as if she weighed no more than a feather. She stood with a foot on either side of his hips while he pressed his hand to her, his fingers testing her desire.