Warrior Rising - By Pamela Palmer Page 0,14

knowing gaze of her own.

"Do you want the headphones off?" he asked her.

That gaze turned to him, heat swirling in the depths of her eyes. "For now."

His pulse began to speed even before he reached for her. If only he could assign the task to someone else. Bracing himself, he lifted his hands and took hold of the headphones, that soft-as-silk hair of hers teasing and caressing his sensitive flesh as he pulled them away.

Her gaze never left his, her eyes hot as sin as her tongue slowly licked her lips. "They've gone to find a place to mate in privacy. It's the first chance they've had since we came through the gate."

"You don't know that. They may be looking for food."

One pale eyebrow rose, hot laughter dancing in her eyes. "Are you truly so naive?"

Harrison scowled. "No." He sat back in his seat, his eyes still caught in hers. His gaze turned rueful. "I'm sure they're doing it, too."

Answering humor flickered in eyes that steamed even as they danced with mischief. "I'm attracted to you, human. More than I've been to any male in a long, long time. While your brother mates with the Marceil, let me take you inside my body."

Her words all but blew away his rigid control, a glorious picture erupting in his head of him pulling her gown up to her waist, freeing himself, then pulling her down to straddle him as he pushed deep, deep inside her heat. Blood throbbed in his veins, beating a carnal pulse as he grew harder and harder and harder.

"I'm not having sex with you." His words were little more than a growl, his voice choked with desire.

Her eyes dimmed. Not enough that anyone else would probably have noticed, but he did.

"Because I'm Esri." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

She looked away, stealing the heat of her gaze. "That's too bad, human. You would have found pleasure with me. We both would have."

Begging his body to settle down, he sat back in his seat. "The name is Harrison. Not 'human.'"

She watched him. "You're not like the others, Harrison. You have a power they lack. A power unnatural to humans."

His heart gave an awkward thud. "What do you mean?"

In her expression he saw absolute seriousness for once. When she spoke, the seductive tone was missing. "I don't know. It's unlike anything I've ever felt. Familiar, yet not, and deep within you. Nothing that's ever risen to the surface. Perhaps nothing you'll ever be able to reach."

As badly as he wanted to tune out her words, he couldn't. Because he already knew.

Most of the Sitheen had discovered strange gifts that had apparently been passed down to them from their Esri ancestors. Larsen's premonitions of death, Jack's ability to talk to his ancestors, Myrtle's healing ability. Neither he nor Charlie had appeared to have any Esri gifts. Until he'd touched the draggon stone and felt a strange thrill of recognition, as if the power in the stone had welcomed him. He'd only touched it once, as he had the other six stones. The latter had sent an unpleasant crawling sensation climbing into his head from the base of his skull.

Both times, he'd asked Charlie if he felt anything. Both times Charlie had denied it. Harrison preferred to think whatever he'd felt was just his imagination, but he'd never really believed it. And he'd never stopped wondering what it meant.

The princess's assertion that there was something strange going on inside him just confirmed his own suspicion. And he couldn't decide if that was a good thing or bad. While he wanted nothing to do with Esria, he'd be a fool to ignore anything that might help them win this war.

The question was could he trust a word the princess said? He just didn't know.

Her gaze dropped to his lap, to the erection that still strained painfully against his zipper. "Let me touch you, Harrison," she said, her voice low and husky. "Let me feel your power."

"Yeah, right." He grabbed the headphones and pushed them back over her ears with minimal care. "Watch another movie," he said gruffly, punching the play button. He rose and moved to the other side of the plane and sat down where he could keep an eye on her, but not close enough to be tempted.

His hands curled around the seat arms, clenching until his knuckles turned white at the thought of her touching him. At the thought of her straddling him...

He groaned from the pulsing ache of need and forced