Dark Possession Page 0,64
this much since she was a child. A shower only added to the sensations whispering over her skin. Memories of his fingers tracing every shadow and hollow,
every curve and dimple. His mouth driving her mad with cravings. "This isn't normal," she said to her reflection in the mirror. "It isn't normal to want him like this and be afraid he'll come to me and more afraid he won't."
Could she leave? Was it possible to go back to her life in Seattle? Manolito was still trapped between worlds; could she leave him knowing he might never make it back if she didn't help him?
MaryAnn dressed with care, using clothes as armor, as she often did when she needed confidence and to feel in control. Manolito had told her to wear a dress, so she put on slacks and a silky top. She stood trembling, staring at herself, wanting to wear a dress because it would please him. Because he'd look at her with that look of dark hunger she'd never be able to resist. For a moment her hands went to the small shell buttons on her blouse, but she forced her hands down. She wouldn't give in-not to herself and not to him. If she couldn't leave him, she could at least stand up to him.
Lifting her chin, she walked out into the common room. A young-woman sat curled up on a window seat, her long hair cascading down her back like a waterfall. She looked up with a hesitant smile that was not at all real, her emerald eyes watching carefully.
"You must be Jasmine. I'm MaryAnn Delaney. Did Juliette tell you I was coming?" She approached the girl slowly, her movements gentle and nonthreatening. This was why she had come in the first place, this young woman with the too-old eyes and the sorrow already etched into her face.
Jasmine smiled and held out her hand. "It's such a pleasure to meet you at last. Juliette speaks so highly of you."
"You reek of Carpathian male," another voice said, the tone filled with disdain.
MaryAnn turned to face Solange. It could be no one else. She was beautiful in a wild, untamed way. She had cat's eyes, amber, focused and wary. She prowled instead of walked, her quick restless movements graceful and agile. MaryAnn could see the anger in her, deep and held in tight. She had seen too many horrors to ever go back to innocence.
Solange wore loose-fitting drawstring pants and a belt around her hips. Where MaryAnn relied on pepper spray, Solange wore knives and guns with familiar ease. She had weapons MaryAnn had never seen before, many small and sharp and very efficient-looking. Her hair was shaggy but suited the shape of her face. Where Jasmine was ethereally beautiful, thin and shapely, with gentle curves and flowing hair, Solange was earthy, with full curves, temper in her eyes and passion stamped on her mouth.
"Do I? I took a shower." MaryAnn smiled at the woman, wanting to soothe her, to help her relax.
Solange halted in mid stride, her nose wrinkling. "I'm sorry. That was rude. I have a very acute sense of smell. I shouldn't have said that. We've been roaming in jaguar form and it makes me ultrasensitive."
"No, it's all right. You're entitled to say what you think." MaryAnn sent her a quick, appreciative smile. "Even if you are saying I smell."
"On, no," Jasmine said, rising to her feet. "Solange didn't mean that at all." She sent her cousin a warning look and reached out to take MaryAnn's hand. "Are you hungry? We were about to make dinner. We just got up a few minutes ago. I'm sorry if we woke you."
"You were crying in your sleep," Solange said. "I have exceptional hearing, too. Are you all right?"
MaryAnn kept her smile serene. Jasmine's fingers had tightened around hers, and the young woman was trembling. "I'm a city girl. The rain in forest is a little scary to me. I'd guess neither of you feel that way about it. Although I did use my canister of pepper spray on a jaguar last night when it attacked me."
Solange whirled around, her dark eyebrows drawing down in a frown. "You were attacked by a jaguar? Are you certain?"
MaryAnn nodded. "I was very close to it."
"Did it have a collar on its neck, or a pack of any kind that you could see?" Solange pursued. She was already hurrying from window to window, peering out.
"Now that you say that, maybe he did." MaryAnn