The Pearl Heartstone (8 page)

Its growl got louder as it took a step out of the corner. Could she get the door open before it struck? Her instincts told her no. So the only thing to do would be to kill the beast. There was an immense silver sword above the bed. If she could get to it, her chances of survival went up significantly.

She lowered her gaze to the animal and stared at it while she took a step toward the bed. The beast took another step in her direction. She was at least four steps away from the bed. Another step. The animal took another step to her and started a continuous growl. Ally could’ve sworn the sound vibrated the entire room, but that wasn’t possible. She was 54

The Pearl Heartstone by Leila Brown

letting her fear get the best of her. Another step. One more to go.

She saw the slight shift in the animal’s weight. Time was up. The big rat jumped, and Ally jumped too. She scrambled to the head of the bed and grabbed the sword. It was so heavy that it took both hands to keep that thing steady.

The animal tried to claw up the sheets, but it couldn’t get a good foothold. The combination of the animal’s sharp claws and weight shredded the bed sheets every time it tried to pull up.

She swung the sword above her head and slashed down at her attacker just missing its neck. His claws slid into her flesh and yanked her down to the soft mattress. Ally pulled herself up and slashed at the creature’s shoulder, hoping to free herself from its nasty grip. The beast jumped back as the metal sliced through its rank flesh. A spurt of green liquid covered the once pristine bed.

It snarled at her then sprang again. Ally had just enough time to get on her knees and brace herself for impact. She wrestled it until they both fell off the bed. The impact was a shock to her system and caused her to drop her weapon. It lay just a few inches from her, but she wasn’t sure if she would be able to grab it and raise it in time to save her life.

As she watched, the animal tensed its hind legs just as she heard the creak of the door opening. She watched in horror as Jorel opened the door and the beast jumped at him. All the soreness in her muscles disappeared, and she grabbed the blade and jumped. She didn’t know if she would be able to help, but she couldn’t just sit there and watch him die.

* * * * *

Jorel opened the door only to be knocked back out into the hallway.

For a second, he thought his mate had slammed the door in his face. Then he smelled the twang of animal blood, rancid animal blood. The beast in him roared to the front and crashed through the door. He was poised to attack. But he didn’t need to. His mate plunged the family crested sword into a devilmite. Those beasts were notorious for killing errant warriors.

55

The Pearl Heartstone by Leila Brown

Yet, his pint‐sized mate had taken one down. And a rabid one from the rank stench from the green blood.

“Thanks for all your help.” Ally smiled up at him before she fell to a heap on the floor.

He raced over to her as he transformed back into his humanoid form. He grabbed a clean blanket from the chest at the end of the bed and wrapped her in it, then strode through the hallways until he got to the royal bath. Luckily, it was empty. He slowly lowered her into the water.

The longer the green blood stayed on her skin, the more poison seeped into her system. And there was no telling how her body would react to the poison.

Jorel propped her up against the side of the bath then quickly grabbed the towel and soap. He stripped out of his clothes and got in the tub with her. It only took minutes to wash the blood off, but he could tell by her moaning that he was a few seconds too late. Enough poison had seeped into her system to start the fever. Fuck.

Jorel grabbed her up and raced her down to the royal doctor’s private quarters. He saw the curious looks on the servant’s faces as he passed, but they didn’t try to stop him. The doctor opened the door only an inch. Jorel pushed it open the rest of the way. A young, naked lioness sat in his bed, growling with what could only be frustration.

“Doctor, I suggest you get your young visitor to shut up.” Jorel chose his words carefully. He couldn’t afford to piss off the doctor. Not when he needed the doctor’s full attention.

The doctor turned to the young woman and growled a warning.

The woman purred then twirled away from them. The doctor turned back to Jorel with irritation coloring on his face. “Well, show me what has you interrupting my playtime.”

“A rabid devilmite. She killed it, but I think she’s been poisoned by its blood. The fever has already started.” Jorel slowly set Ally down on the empty side of the bed. “What can we do?”

The doctor began to examine her. He looked into her eyes and checked her reflexes. Jorel tried not to show his irritation at having the doctor push in between him and Ally. “It looks like the poison is attacking 56

The Pearl Heartstone by Leila Brown

her system the same as it would one of us. So it follows that the same treatment should work.”

“But she’s out cold. There is no way she can battle until she drops.”

The thought of waking her up to make her fight again went against even Jorel’s sense of fairness. She’d been though enough today.

“The battle isn’t the cure. It’s the adrenaline. The endorphins that her body releases will combat the poison. So there’s another cure for her.”

Jorel looked at the doctor. He couldn’t be thinking that Jorel was about to screw his semi‐comatose mate. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. Just think of it this way. Before you found her, you were dying. What will happen if the fever ravages her and you are left alone?

From what you told me about her absorbing your heartstone, I think you will go with her.” The doctor turned to Jorel. “You either do what you need to in order to keep her alive, or let her go. I can give her something to ease the pain as she dies.”

For a second, Jorel thought he’d misheard the doctor. Speed her journey into death? Jorel didn’t even think about what would happen to him. He couldn’t sentence her to death. This puny woman who tested him in every instance. She treated him as if he was normal, not a royal man.

He didn’t think he could give that up so easily. That alone was something to fight for.

Jorel scooped her up and walked out of the doctor’s room without

another word. He didn’t run through the halls to get to his rooms. No. He needed to come to terms with the fact that he needed to fuck his mate while she lay powerless. Actually, the doctor hadn’t said anything about fucking her. He just said she needed an adrenaline rush. She needed to come again and again. Flood her body with endorphins to fight the poison
.

He could do that. There were many ways to make a woman come.

He could explore her body, memorize her every reaction. All in the name of saving her life. He refused to question why her life had become so important to him.

When he entered his rooms, he was surprised to see that the bed was now clean and there was no trace of the dead animal. The palace staff 57

The Pearl Heartstone by Leila Brown

had cleaned it up and discarded all the soiled linen.

Jorel set Ally down on the plush lounge chair. Her skin had begun

to take on a slight red hue. The poison was working faster than he anticipated. He pushed her legs open. Starting at her lips, he began an abbreviated seduction. He didn’t have time to go through an inch‐by‐inch perusal of her body. Instead, he needed to excite her erogenous zones and ramp up her anticipation for the coming orgasm.

He continued to kiss her and then reached up and tweaked her nipples. First with simple pinches, then ramping them up and rolling the buds between his fingers once they tightened. She moaned into his mouth as her body arched up to him. He moved down to take her breasts in his mouth. He sucked hard on one and then the other while he traced his hands down to her open sex. With deft fingers, he stroked up over her clit.

The aroma of her anticipation swamped the room. He brought his fingers up to his mouth and tasted the flavor of her.

She was richer than the best Belusian cream, sweeter than anything he’d ever tasted. Something he could easily get addicted too. Although he knew he should prime her more, he couldn’t stop himself from moving down to truly taste her. He wanted her to burst into his mouth.

He slid his tongue down her slit the back up, tracing the spongy flesh covering her clit, stopping to go over the erect flesh of her pleasure center. Each flick of his tongue against her sensitive bud sent a ripple through her. She pushed her body into her mouth. Her hands wove into the hair on his head. Her moans resounded through the room.

Jorel didn’t stop. He continued to lick and suck her. He even lightly bit her. Finally, he knew he couldn’t wait any longer. He traced her cunt, outlining the hole before pressing his tongue inside. He flattened his tongue and pushed it into her. Her gasp was music to his ears. He twisted his tongue around and around until her hands tightened in his hair. She moaned low and long as her cream flooded his tongue. He lapped up the juices while he inhaled the scent of her.

He looked up into her face and noticed when her eyes opened and

closed several times. It looked like she might be coming out of it.

“Jorel? Jorel?” Her voice was slight, almost a whisper. “I’m sorry. I 58

The Pearl Heartstone by Leila Brown

couldn’t let it hurt you. It was meant for me. I couldn’t let it hurt you.”

Her eyes fluttered closed again.

Her words burrowed into him. She was still burning up, but the redness had left her face. The fever was still burning through her. He’d only beaten it back for the moment. She needed more adrenaline. More ecstasy. More sex. And although he wasn’t happy with what he knew he needed to do, he was as determined to keep her alive, as she had been to keep him safe.

He picked her up and moved her to the bed. She didn’t open her eyes again. He lay down on top of her, and the fever in her body felt like a fire burning him. He bent down and kissed her then held her. He placed his hands on her and tweaked her breasts again. The fire in her blood brought her back to a state of waiting. Her body was poised for more.

Arched up to him as if begging for more. He reached down, grabbed her legs, and wrapped them over his elbows.

He needed to make her come, and come more than once if he wanted to break the fever. He slowly entered her, pushing until he was fully lodged inside her. He pulled out inch by inch until on the tip of him was still surrounded by her warmth. He thrust in again, this time more forcefully.

Ally gasped and arched up to meet him. She licked her lips and bit her bottom lip. Although she didn’t wrap her arms around him, she did clench him. The muscles of her cunt squeezed his cock from base to tip.

Jorel sucked in a haggard breath and continued to plow into her.

Each stroke that brought her closer to release brought him closer to his own. But he couldn’t do that. He gritted his teeth and bit the inside of his cheek as he fought against the need that flowed through him.

He pulled in a deep breath as Ally arched beneath him and wetness

flooded her channel. That didn’t stop him. He continued to pound into her. Sweat dropped from his body onto hers. The beast within him roared to the forefront. He felt his body began to change, and he fought against it.

He refused to take her in that form. But as he continued to take her, he started to loose the battle within himself. He was fighting against the need to come and the need to change. He was going to loose one of these 59

The Pearl Heartstone by Leila Brown

battles. Ally arched below him again and screamed as her body convulsed.

He thought the heat emanating from her body had begun to wane,

but he was so hot himself he couldn’t be sure. Just as he thought he was mastering the fight to subdue his beast, Ally reached up, wrapped her arms around him, and pulled his head down to hers. Her lips captured his, and suddenly her tongue was warring with his. And just that quick, he lost his battle. Both of them. His orgasm rocked through his body and his body shuttered as he fought the change.

The pleasure was so intense he thought he might black out from it.

Both man and beast were shivering from the buzz vibrating through him.

His cock expanded with his release, and he pried his eyes open to watch his mate convulse as another orgasm ripped through her.

Jorel purred as her flesh pulsed around his engorged cock. He’d never felt anything like it. The continued sensations meant that once he changed it would be a short interval before he would be able to get a hold of his body enough to change again.

As soon as his cock slipped from her body, he released his hold on his beast. The change was a quick thing. As if the beast had been waiting just below the surface of his skin. He laid there not moving. He didn’t want her to wake up and see him in this changed state. She might become frightened and hurt herself trying to get away from him.

When she opened her eyes, they were still glassy. Would she scream? She smiled a watery smile at him then ran her hands along his hind leg.

It felt wonderful the way her hand softly stroked his coat. Too good. Her eyes flitted closed again, but this time her breathing was even.