shadow as she slid her arms around his waist.
“Do you think we could do what Dimitri and Jaycee are doing?” Rhianne whispered.
Before Ben could answer that startling question, Rhianne pulled him close and kissed him.
Chapter Nine
Ben jumped slightly under her lips, then he gathered Rhianne to him in powerful arms and sank into the kiss.
His mouth was strong, skilled, opening things inside her she didn’t know existed. His solid hands cupped her hips, pulling her close.
In the park in New Orleans, he’d touched her mouth with his tongue but hadn’t opened to her. Now he parted her lips and tasted her deeply. Rhianne tightened her embrace, her tongue tangling his, this intimacy heady and new.
Hot spice, the taste of strength. Rhianne imbibed Ben as though his power could sustain her. Fire ran through her veins, one she hadn’t experienced before.
Her rescuer was the opposite of every man she’d ever known, of all Tuil Erdannan, in fact. They demanded, with arrogance. Ben gave, with simplicity.
Rhianne didn’t know why she’d nearly begged for him to take her, only that a loneliness and longing had welled up inside her until she’d wanted to break.
Ben touched the corner of her mouth as he eased from the kiss. “Shifter mating frenzy.”
“What?” Rhianne’s voice shook.
“It’s catching. Shifters go into mating frenzy, and everyone around them wants sex. Immediate, hard, satisfying sex.”
“I—” Was that the only explanation? The pheromones flying between Dimitri and Jaycee had touched her and made her needy? Her heart sank even as her body craved Ben. She wanted what was between them in this moment to be more than simple reaction.
Ben drew her close again, cutting off any questions. Rhianne surrendered to him, surrounding herself with his warmth. Whatever the reason, she’d be happy to feast on him and not let go.
She slid her hands across his back, down to his hips, pulling him closer. She felt the rigidness of his cock, had in New Orleans as well. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.
The men she’d kissed in her life had been tall. Cloud-scrapers she’d called them, and they’d mocked her for being undersized for a Tuil Erdannan.
Ben was just the right height. She didn’t have to crane to kiss him, having the joy of the kiss dimmed by a crick in her neck. She could stand before him and kiss, kiss, kiss, all she wanted.
Ben’s hand found her waist, then rose to softly cup her breast, stoking her fires to incandescence. He knew how to touch her, to draw forth every need.
The night was warm, without a chill in the air. They could make love here, surrounded by the fragrance of roses, with the many stars in this place overhead. She could have Ben under new constellations smiling down at her.
A rustling under the roses against the wall almost distracted her, but Rhianne didn’t want to stop kissing Ben. The rustling sounded again and Ben drew his mouth from hers.
His breath was rapid as he came alert, scanning the garden for danger.
“A rabbit?” Rhianne whispered. “Lily promised we’d have no danger tonight.”
Faintly, in the distance, a church bell began to toll. Rhianne counted twelve strokes, then the sound faded into the quiet air. The hour of midnight, which, if Rhianne remembered what Ben had explained about time correctly, technically made this the next day.
The ground erupted even as her thought formed. Bright moonlight and the companion light of bright stars showed Rhianne exactly what was pouring out of the earth. She screamed.
Snakes. Dozens of them. No, more than that. Huge, black, gaping-mawed, unnatural snakes. With teeth.
“Shit.” Ben shoved Rhianne behind him, but they were surrounded. “Safe at the haunted house, sure. But we have to be inside the house.”
“Can we get there?”
A snake touched her. Rhianne kicked out, and the snake wrapped itself around her leg. If it bit her, would the poison kill her instantly? She had no doubt these hellspawn things would be poisonous.
She reached for a place inside herself, drawing up the magic that had been simmering since she’d broken her chains in the dungeon. It bubbled to the surface, still not full strength, but restored enough to help.
“Shantar!” she yelled.
The snake around her leg suddenly glowed white hot and fell away.
“Damn,” Ben said in admiration. “Can you get rid of all of them?”
“No,” she had to tell him regretfully. “Takes a while to recharge.”
“Like a taser. Too bad we don’t have one of those.”
The earth boiled, black loam emitting these creatures from hell. Ben had