JaguarintheSun (8 page)

“I’ve never…”

The words faded to silence, and she sighed again. When she
didn’t continue, he prompted.

“Never…?”

Through the cloak of magic he felt her heart jerk and begin
to race again, and she stiffened slightly. After a long pause she answered, her
voice determinedly amused.

“I’ve never been so passive a lover before.”

He knew it wasn’t what she’d started to say before but let
it pass, replying in the same vein and letting humor color his words too. “Was
it that bad?”

Her head came up and he saw the truth in her glistening,
desire-blown eyes, even if she wouldn’t say it aloud, still intent on keeping
her secrets.

“I just think it’s time I gave as good as I’ve gotten.”

The tip of her tongue touched the center of her top lip and
then the corresponding spot on the lower. When she pushed him to lie back, her
head dipping toward his straining erection, Xbal didn’t object. Only drew what
control he still had around himself and tried to hold on to it as long as he
could under the glorious onslaught of her mouth.

Cassie tried to take Xbal over the edge with her blowjob,
but almost took herself over instead. There was something so erotic about the
feel of his silken hardness against her palate, his taste at the back of her
throat and his deep, appreciative sounds. And even when she was trying to
pleasure him, he couldn’t seem to resist touching her in return, both
physically and with soft brushes of magic. Reaching down he caressed the top of
her head, let his fingers slip down to cradle her cheek. While loving him she
could feel his love coming back at her at the same time.

She was long past the stage of trying to deny how she felt
about him. Maybe she’d known all along, since that first fateful meeting so
many years ago. How else to explain why she’d done everything in her power not
to give in to the attraction she’d felt, or why when she’d known her time was almost
up she’d turned to him?

In a way she now understood why her mother had tried so hard
to get her to settle down as soon as she was old enough for it to be viable.
How sad it would have been never to have experienced this kind of closeness
with another being. How saddening it was to know she could have had more, if
she’d been brave enough to risk it.

Pushing the thought away, blinking to stem the stupid tears
trying to escape, she took his cock as deeply into her mouth as she could,
feeling the pulse at its base, the way his balls were drawn tight to his body.

“Cassandra…” Xbal growled, his hips rising. “If you don’t
want me to come in your mouth, you better let go. The way you’re sucking me
should be illegal.”

Damn, when he spoke dirty it just made her crazy-hot.
Moaning around his rigid flesh, she felt it pulse again. Looking up along his
body, she found him staring down at her, his face tight, ferocious. Slowly she
lifted away, letting the length of his cock slide slowly from between her lips,
until only the head remained in her mouth. Holding his gaze, she swirled her
tongue under the glans and across the delicate tendon where the ridge curled up
to the tip before pulling all the way back, releasing him with a wet
pop
.

“I want you to come in my mouth.” She touched the tip of her
tongue to the slit at the end of his cock, saw the muscle along his jaw tighten
as he clenched his teeth. “I want all of you.”

“You have it.” He spoke as though the words hurt and her
heart ached too, but she wouldn’t let anything but their mutual pleasure hold
sway just now. Not even when she could see his heart in his eyes as he said,
“All of me is yours.”

Instead she took him deep again, felt his muscles ratchet
tighter and tighter, his hips jerking as he let go. Her name burst from his
throat as he shot spurt after hot, sweet spurt into her mouth and she shuddered
with him, the echoes of his orgasm spiking along the magical connection and
into her aroused flesh.

She should have known that wouldn’t be the end, but she’d
thought he’d take a couple of minutes to recover. Ha. Apparently being a god
gave Xbal limitless sexual energy, because almost before she’d caught her
breath she was on her back and his head was between her thighs.

“Damn.” His breath rushed across her pussy, making her gasp.
“Your pussy’s so wet and gorgeous.” He thumbed her outer lips open and she
quivered, remembering the way he’d taken her to orgasm with his mouth
before—from roughness to delicacy, near pain to excruciating pleasure. His
eyelids lifted, and she saw the intent in his gleaming, jaguar eyes. “Don’t
think because you brought me off I’m finished with you, Cassandra. We still
have a way to go…a long way.”

Before she could answer his thumbs were at the top of her
cleft, pulling back on the flesh over her clit, and she knew the orgasm to end
all orgasms loomed in her very near future.

He took her, whimpering, to the edge of erotic agony with
the roughness of his tongue and left her there as he slipped off the altar and
turned her so her ass was on the edge of the stone.

“Roll over.”

The rough demand made her belly clench, even as she was
doing what he commanded. Curling her fingers around the other side of the
altar, she held on, her feet only just finding purchase on the ground. Prone
before him, a sacrifice to his lovemaking.

“I want to take your ass, it’s so beautiful.” He palmed her
buttocks and she whimpered again, unashamed of the weak, pleading sound. “Next
time.” He slicked his tongue around her puckered hole, drawing a cry of
surprise and delight from her throat. He straightened and said, “Definitely
next time, from that reaction.”

By Sol
, she hoped there was a next time. Then thought
fled as he wrapped her in his magic and thrust his cock into her pussy, filling
her completely with his length, his balls slapping against her distended,
aching clit.

She screamed, already coming, pushing up with her toes to
get more as he fucked her with short, hard strokes, each stinging impact of his
testicles against her clitoris prolonging the orgasm. And there were other
sensations battering her, coming at her through the magic, so she felt as
though she were not only having the orgasm but somehow also complicit in giving
it as well. Bracing her palms on the stone, she arched her back, wanting more,
even when it felt as though one more instant would make her fly to pieces.

“You feel so good around my cock, baby.” Xbal leaned into
her, pressing his chest to her back, reaching around to cover her breasts with
his hands. “And I can feel you coming through our bond. Can you feel me,
cariño
?”

“Yes…” There was no holding back the answer. She was too
shattered to hide the truth of that from him, almost sobbing from the dual
stimulation. “
Oh Sol
, I feel it.”

“Can you feel how much I want you? How you make me almost
crazy with love and passion?”

“Yes…” Tears flooded her eyes, dripped down her cheeks, and
there was nothing she could do to stop them. “I don’t want to feel it, but I
do.”

And it suddenly struck her that if she could feel his
emotions so acutely, he could feel hers too, and that was more than she could
bear.

“It’s okay, baby.” He was rocking slowly in and out of her,
almost withdrawing completely before sliding back in. “It’s okay to be afraid.
But I have you.” One hand slipped down her belly, easing her up enough so his
fingers could brush her clit. “I have you. You can let go, completely.”

She shouldn’t. Everything inside said not to but she did
anyway, giving up, feeling the barriers crumble beneath his tenderness and the
intensity of his loving.

They flowed together, emotion and pleasure rippling back and
forth between them so each wave took them further into erotic bliss. Cassie
knew when Xbal was nearing orgasm and the knowledge only enhanced her own
building release.

“Yes,” he growled, maintaining his slow, long thrusts, even
as she felt his need to speed up, get rough and wild. “That’s it, baby. Just
like this.”

The finger on her clit found a new rhythm and she gasped
through her still-falling tears, want rushing through her, making her rock her
hips with new urgency.

“Now, Xbal.” She was begging, and didn’t care. “Fuck me hard
now, darling.
Please.
”

He was already complying even before the words were fully
formed, slamming home, driving them both to the edge and then, as they cried
out each other’s names, over into soul-shaking ecstasy.

Xbal slumped against her, his arms braced on either side of
her body, taking most of his weight.

“Mine,” he whispered into her ear. “Whether you will admit
it or not. Whether this is the only time we have together or not. No matter
what may come, you will always be mine.”

“I’m afraid not, Xbal.” The deep, slightly mocking voice
came out of nowhere, was accompanied by a flash of light so intense Cassie had
to scrunch her eyes closed against it. “You might be buried balls-deep in my
acolyte at the moment but, irrespective of that, she’s actually promised to
me.”

Xbal jerked upright, pulling her with him but turning and
holding her behind him, shielding her with his body. Shocked, mortified and
frightened all at once, Cassie could only look at the tall blond man standing
at the center point of the temple and whisper, “Oh Sol.”

The man’s firm lips quirked as he replied, “In the flesh.”

Xbal held on to his temper by a thread, desperate to take
jaguar form and go for Sol’s throat. Not that it would make any difference. It
was doubtful he could damage the sun god, and the last thing he needed was to
start a war.

Although he would if this asshole tried to come between him
and Cassie.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘promised’?” He snarled the
question, shaking off Cassie’s restraining hand to take a step forward.
“Promised how? By whom?”

Sol shrugged, but although the gesture was casual, Xbal
could see the watchfulness in his eyes. “Promised by the Children of Sol to be
a sacrifice to me, so the world will continue on its appointed course around
the sun.” The bastard shrugged again, as though what he was saying wasn’t one
of the most monstrous things he could come out with. “It’s tradition. Used to
be yearly, back in the early days. Now it’s once every five-hundred years. And
if I’m not mistaken, and I rarely am when it comes to time, Cassandra is due at
the temple in about an hour.”

“That’s illegal. And atrocious.” Xbal swallowed against the
rage-fueled bile rising in his throat. “What the fuck is wrong with you,
letting that go on in your name?”

“Xbal, no…” Cassandra whispered it, her distress evident.
“Please don’t.”

He couldn’t look at her, knowing if he did he’d lose it.
Instead he kept his gaze on the sun god, letting him see his hatred and
contempt. “I know how it was in the old days. There was no stopping the humans
from their damn sacrifices, no matter what we did. As soon as things got hard
they were back at it, but then they grew up—
we
grew up—and left that
crap behind. What gives you the right to let it continue in your name?”

“Because it really is necessary.” Now there was a hint of
regret in Sol’s voice, even though his expression didn’t change. “There are
some things time can’t alter, Xbal, no matter how we wish them to be different.
It’s codified into my existence. I need a sacrifice of flame to keep everything
in its true order. Without it I die and, with me, so goes the rest of our
galaxy.”

“Bullshit!” He shouted it, heard the word echo through the
barren temple. “I don’t believe you.”

“Doesn’t matter if you do or not.” Sol looked past him to
Cassandra and Xbal heard her sharp intake of breath. “Cassandra’s free to
refuse, if she’s willing to take the chance that you’re right and I’m just
bullshitting for my own enjoyment.”

“I can’t take that chance.” Xbal turned then, hearing the
pain and sadness in her voice, and the sight of her tearstained face almost
undid him. “Don’t ask me to do that, Xbal. Please.”

“Cassandra…” Words stuck in his throat, held there by the
immensity of his love and anguish.

She touched his cheek and shook her head. “I don’t want to
leave you, but I’m the appointed one, born on the solstice of the rising year,
at the very moment winter gave way to spring. It’s been my fate from the minute
I was conceived.” She tried to smile but her lips quivered, making it an
expression of such sadness his already lacerated heart was flayed anew. “I’m
just sorry I waited so long to be with you. I would have liked more than just
this one day.”

He reached for her, pulled her close, held her as tightly as
he could, wishing there was some way to stop her, knowing there wasn’t. Sol was
right. Not even a love this strong was important enough to gamble with the
lives of the billions of beings on either side of the Veil.

“It’s okay, Xbal.” Strange to have her comforting him,
instead of it being the other way around. She drew back, and her amethyst eyes
held all the love he could have ever wanted to see. All the love he’d ever
craved. “I love you so much. All I could think about was having one chance to
be with you. Even if you said no I couldn’t not try. I think deep inside I’ve
always loved you, but I knew what my future held and I didn’t want anyone else
to suffer because of my fate.” She shook her head. “Guess I fucked that up royally,
huh?”

“No.” He couldn’t let her leave thinking that. “Our time
together was too short, but I’m so grateful to have had it.” He cupped her
cheeks, used his thumbs to rub at her tears. “I’ll always love you. Always long
for you, hold you as the center of my heart. If there’s some kind of life
beyond this one, look for me, for I’ll join you there one day.”

She smiled then, just slightly, and it was redolent with
sadness and determination. “And if there’s any way to come back to you, to rise
from my ashes, I will.”

Xbal bent and took her lips, savoring their softness once
more, losing himself in her for the last time.

“What did you say?” Sol’s voice, sharp and vibrating with
suppressed excitement, jolted them apart and they turned to stare at him. “Holy
crap, why didn’t I think of that before?” The sun god strode away for a few
paces, then came back toward them, snapping his fingers in a weird, off-kilter
beat. “It could work… It might just fucking work.” His gaze whipped to
Cassandra, and the gleam in his eyes made them almost blinding. “Come. Walk
with me for a minute. I want to run something past you.”