"Do you like strawberry ice cream?" She shrugged and one strap slid down, exposing the upper curve of her breast.

He dug his hands into the bed, cursing the freckles that laid a teasing path across her creamy flesh. "Oh, yeah. I like to lap it straight up." His mouth watered.

"Nuh-uh." She waved a finger in warning. "I get to do the lapping - and licking - today." The other strap went down, lace catching on the peak of her nipple.

"Jesus, Tally." His gaze was fixated in the shadowed valley between her breasts. "When did you get this mean?"

She ran her finger down that valley, teasing him. "You ain't seen nothing yet." Talin was...having fun. It was the oddest thing for her. Sex wasn't about fun. With Clay, it was wonderful and hot and pleasurable beyond her understanding, but she'd never expected this. It made her want to laugh and pepper his face with kisses.

"Drop the slip," he said, voice raw. "Please."

She fisted him instead, delighting in his bitten-off curse, in the way he lay there and let her play. Loving this man was so easy, it almost terrified her. Almost. "What do I get in return?"

"My damn cock thrusting you into orgasm."

Her hand tightened. He hissed out a breath but seemed to like it. So she kept it that way. "Well, that is very tempting." She stroked up, then down. "But I have a feeling I'll get that anyway."

His eyes became slits, cat-bright in the muted light of the room. And that was another thing - Clay never forced her into the dark, never belittled her for her childish fear. He just fixed the lights so no room was ever wholly without illumination. How could she possibly not be crazy for him?

"You want something," he accused.

She smiled and bent down to flick her tongue across the head of his erection. He almost came off the bed and the swear word he used this time was considerably bluer. "Nice," she murmured, licking her lips, hovering inches from his aroused length.

"What do you want?" He was breathing hard. She thought she heard something rip, wondered if he'd torn into the bed-sheets with his claws. She waited for the spike of fear. What came was another rush of damp need. Her body had learned that for her, his strength meant only pleasure. She loved the way he could pick her up and do all sorts of wicked things...when she wasn't in control, that is.

"I want you," she said. "Naked."

His nostrils flared as if he was soaking in the scent of her arousal. "Tally, honey, I can't get any more naked. That's my cock you're playing with."

She grazed him lightly, very lightly, with her teeth for that remark. He swore again but didn't make any attempt to take control. "I want you," she said, "naked and on your front."

"Why?" A suspicious growl.

"So I can stroke you. Pet you. Love you." She ran her nails along the inside of one thigh, felt him shudder. "At least half an hour." Bending again, she closed her mouth over the top of his erection without warning.

Something definitely tore this time. "Fuck!"

She released him. "Yes?"

"Yes! Damn it, yes! Now suck me or I'm going to have you on your back so fast, you'll - " His threat ended in a roar as she took as much of him in her mouth as she could fit.

Clay, she decided, tasted good. Very good. She liked giving him this pleasure. But more, she liked that he allowed her to see the extremity of his reaction, no holds barred. So she loved him, learned him, tasted him. And when he tugged at her hair to pull her off him, she resisted. But Clay had reached the end of his patience.

Reaching down, he pulled her up by her shoulders and flipped her onto her back. His hand was tearing away her panties a second later and then he thrust into her in one solid stroke. It made her scream.

He froze. "Tally?"

She gripped his shoulders. "Move!" And that was all she had breath to say because he did exactly that. Wrapping her legs around him, she urged him on, vaguely aware that he'd snapped the straps of her flimsy little slip and that the material lay crushed between them, an erotic sensation. But nothing was as erotic as his hand on her breast, his hardness moving inside of her.

Then he licked a line across the freckles decorating her breasts. "I want to eat you up." His teeth closed over her nipple.

Her mind went blank.

"So this stroking thing," Clay asked some time later, his chest against her back. "When were you thinking of doing it?"

She snuggled into his embrace. "Whenever I want. So be ready to drop 'em and spread 'em."

He stroked his hand into the curls at the apex of her thighs, tugged. "Brat."

"Bully." With that familiar exchange, she suddenly knew the answer to the question she hadn't yet asked. "We're mated, aren't we?"

His hand rose up to lie flat on her abdomen. "Yes."

"How long?"

"Always."

She couldn't argue with that, because the truth was, she had been born for Clay. "I'm sick - "

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters," she whispered. "Leopards only bond once."

"Would you leave me if I was sick?"

"That's not fair."

"Hell it isn't." He enclosed her in the circle of his arms. "We're stuck, me and you. It was never going to be anyone else for either of us." Clay waited for her to argue but she didn't. The leopard inside him stopped pacing, hackles smoothing down. Satisfied that she'd accepted the truth, he pulled at the material still bunched around her waist. "Want me to tear this off?"

She slapped at his hand. "Don't you dare. I'll have to sew the straps back on as it is."

"Sorry." He nuzzled at her neck.

"No, you're not."

No, he wasn't. Hiding his smile against her, he bit back a groan as she wiggled and did little female movements that succeeded in getting the slip to the bottom of her legs, where she kicked it off. Now she was fully naked, all glorious golden skin and pretty freckles for him to stroke. "Skin privileges," he murmured, his hand on her hip.

Talin smiled. Part of her - the part that had never quite believed Clay wouldn't one day leave her again - was now at peace. Mating was forever. But a far bigger part of her was distraught. What would happen to him if she died? She had to make sure he didn't fall back into the darkness. "Promise me something."

"No." His tone said he knew what she was going to ask. "Don't you dare ask that of me, Tally."

She ignored the growled order. "I need to know you'll be there for Noor and Jon." It was manipulative to bring up the children, but she'd do anything to keep Clay safe, give up her pride, her soul.

"No."

"Promise me."

He released her, rolled off the bed, and stood. "You aren't going to die, so this conversation doesn't need to happen."

She sat up, tears in her throat. "Ignoring the truth won't make it any less true, you damn arrogant leopard!"

He shifted in a shower of brilliant multicolored sparks.

She was so startled, she couldn't speak. And then the most beautiful leopard was in the room with her, a glorious creature with defiance in its eyes. "Not fair," she whispered, throwing off the sheet to crawl over the side of the bed and slide onto the floor.

He came to her, laying his head on her thigh. She should have berated him for choosing to end the argument this way but what she did was stroke him. "Beautiful," she whispered, sinking her hand into the black and gold fir. "Magnificent." Petting words, because while he was big and tough, he was also hers to love, hers to adore.

Green eyes caught hers, a gleam of smug pride in their depths.

"Vain," she added.

He growled, bared his teeth. And still she stroked him. Her mate. Her everything.

Chapter 45

Talin was still drowning in a confusion of happiness and fear late the next morning as she sat on Tammy and Nate's back steps. The only reason she hadn't come earlier was that she'd spent the morning catching up with Rangi. The other Guardian had returned at last. He hadn't blinked an eye when she'd informed him that Iain's murderer was dead.

"Good," had been his response. "Thanks for looking after my kids."

She'd passed on the details he needed, then headed back, clear of all Shine responsibilities. Her resignation was already typed up, ready to be e-mailed. She no longer dared take responsibility for the welfare of innocents, not when her mind could go haywire at any second. Her eyes fell on Noor and Jon.

They were playing in the yard with the twins, with Dorian riding herd. Thank God she had Clay to make sure she didn't cause any harm to these precious children. He was on the phone inside the house right now, organizing a construction team for the lair.

"Morning."

She looked up. "Sascha? What are you doing here?"

"I came to check up on Jon and Noor." The empath's eyes were without stars, but her face wore a smile. "Can I join you? I have coffee."

Thankfully accepting the cup Sascha held out, she shifted over so the other woman could sit beside her. "Where's Lucas?"

"Talking with Nate about changes to the protective grid we run on our territory. We've had some problems with Psy incursions so we're increasing security. But from the sound of things, the Council's going to be too busy with internal problems to bother us for the next little while."

Talin slipped at the coffee. "Things are changing, aren't they?"

"Yes." Sascha held her cup with both hands, forearms braced on her thighs. "Far faster than I would've believed. Judd thinks my defection acted as a catalyst."

Talin heard the skeptical note in the cardinal's voice. "You don't think that?"

"I was considered a weak Psy, a useless appendage to Councilor Nikita Duncan." There was pain in that statement but there was also anger. "I hardly think my defection capable of causing that big a ripple."