A Warrior s Desire - By Pamela Palmer Page 0,36

hot need flooding his tired body.

As he thrust his tongue into her mouth, she shuddered, moaning with pleasure, and he deepened the kiss as her tongue slid over his in a sinuous dance of welcome.

His senses exploded.

Colors swirled behind his eyelids.

She tasted like heaven.

The rush of blood to his groin hardened him, whipping him loose of his moorings.

With frantic need, he pulled her onto his lap and dug his fingers into her hair, slanting his head to deepen the kiss.

She wrenched away and was off his lap so quickly, he barely had time to grab the end of the rope.

"He's calling me!" The pull of the rope stung his palms as he gripped it hard and hauled her back onto his lap, struggling to contain her flailing limbs before he took a fist to the jaw.

The ceiling was too low to fling her over his shoulder and carry her, so he stayed where he was, determined to hold her tight until the compulsion waned.

The blue glow disappeared, plunging them into darkness, but Tarrys's struggles and groans continued.

She wasn't big, but she was strong and it took more effort than he would have thought to contain her constant struggles.

He watched that black chasm for sign of their pursuers, but saw no flicker of light.

Tarrys's thrashing didn't abate.

He could hear her breaths coming in labored gasps.

She was wearing herself out, but it didn't matter.

While her Esri master called, she was compelled to answer.

When exhaustion began to stalk him, Charlie knew he was in trouble.

He'd never felt anything like it in his life.

One moment he was fine, the next moment his limbs felt like they each weighed an extra fifty pounds.

"Tarrys..." Exhaustion sucker punched him, making his head reel.

"The poison.

Can't fight it."

"I can't go back to him! You need me.

Lie on me."

He didn't think twice, just rolled her under him as he collapsed, unable to fight the overpowering weakness.

"Too heavy."

He'd crush her.

"No, this is good.

You can't hurt me.

And I can't get away."

But as the exhaustion pulled him low, he felt her reaching under his tunic.

"Charlie."

His name rose an octave from beginning to end.

"Charlie, I have your knife.

I think he wants me to stab you.

Charlie, I'm going to kill you if you don't stop me!" Her words came to him as if from a distance.

Knife.

She would kill him.

Must.

Stop.

Her.

His brain knew the urgency, but his body wouldn't react.

Couldn't react.

Drowning in the poison's sludge, he felt her arm slide out from under him, felt the sting of a knife cut on his hand, and knew she'd pulled the knife free.

No.

The cry wrenched from his mind, resonating in his deepest heart.

I refuse to die.

But he no longer had any more control over his body than Tarrys did hers.

As the sludge closed over his head, dragging him into oblivion, he felt the sting of the knifepoint at his throat.

And knew he would never wake up again.
Chapter 13
"Charlie, stop me! " Tears ran into Tarrys's hair and sweat soaked her gown as she fought against the Esri's control.

As she fought not to kill the man she loved.

But Charlie had collapsed on top of her and his weight now crushed her, the hard crystal floor digging into her back.

Her new master must wish her to take Charlie's own weapon and kill him with it because, despite the deadweight pinning her, she'd managed to steal Charlie's knife from beneath his tunic and now held it, the tip of the blade nicking his throat.

Her muscles strained, bunching, as her mind desperately fought against the Esri's control of her body.

"No," she cried into the empty mine tunnel, her voice echoing off the crystal, ringing back at her with terror.

"I won't.Kill.Him."

The horror of the thought, of ending the life of this beautiful man, thudded in her ears.

Make me do anything but this.

Not this.

Her tears ran faster, her teeth grinding to chalk in her mouth as she struggled not to press the blade through his throat.

Pain lanced her skull, tracing across the surface like fire.

Tremors racked her body.

I won't kill him.

I won't kill him.

I won't! The fire along her scalp burst, arcing through her in a torrent of heat, a pain that suddenly and profoundly changed to strength and power, rushing through her body, flowing down her arms.

Gritting her teeth in a savage grin, she fought the compulsion to press the knife into his tender, mortal flesh.

I will not kill him! As the thought roared through her head, something shattered, tearing through her mind.

Her hand flung backward, over her head, the knife clattering on the