"Then why are you telling me?"

*15 *08*.

16.

Cheryl Brooks I had no reply to that. "I really don't know," I said, a bit surprised that I had somehow managed to reveal one of my most closely guarded secrets to a complete stranger. "I suppose I shouldn't be. Desdemona could probably come up with a reason for you, though. She's very wise."

Which got another snicker out of her.

"She truly does understand you?"

"All too well," I replied with a wry smile. "It's impossible to keep secrets from her."

"You must be very lonely to talk to a cat," he observed.

"I suppose I am," I agreed. "But, unlike other people who talk to their cats, mine can talk back to me."

"Is that why you would buy a slave?" he asked curiously. "Because you are lonely?"

The notion that I would purchase a slave, even for so innocuous a reason, hit me like a slap in the face. "I didn't buy you," I said shortly. "Someone else did. I'm just supposed to get you well enough to be able to work."

"Doing what?" he inquired.

"I have no idea," I replied, "though I got the impression you were a trophy of sorts. I have no way of knowing what your duties will be." I could just imagine him as Carnita's personal slave. She would have plenty for him to do...

"And how will you keep me from escaping?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Fear," I said, smiling right back at him. He was going to give me trouble, I could tell.

"Of what you can do that I do not know about?"

I nodded. "It keeps most people in line when they deal with me. They don't really know what I'm capable *16 *08*.

warrior

17.

of-and most of them don't want to find out. It's not wise to anger a witch, you know."

"A witch," he mused. I saw his eyes flash, and the golden light from his pupils grew brighter. "I believe I would like to please a witch, not anger her," he purred.

"Especially such a beautiful witch."

"Oh, is that right?" I commented witheringly. "I suppose you think that if you sweet-talk me enough, I'll smuggle you out of here, and you won't have to be a slave anymore."

His purr stopped abruptly. "I believe I have lost all hope there," he said quietly.

"But wouldn't you like to go home?"

"I have no home."

He said it with such an air of finality that I left it at that, not wanting to upset him by questioning him further. The fact that he had no home to go back to made me wonder if his family had sold him into slavery to settle a debt-perhaps even when he was a child. If that were the case, he might have been bitter enough to want to go almost anywhere but home.

He went back to purring again after that. I wondered at his change of mood, but the fact that I was still absently washing his ass-massaging it, in fact-might have had something to do with it. I suppose I should have stopped, but found that I didn't want to. He felt quite delightful beneath my hands, and it made me want to massage his entire body-not simply wash and dry it. He was making me hot in a way I hadn't experienced for quite a while. For a man who'd appeared to be close to death not long before, he seemed to have made a miraculous, if not instantaneous, recovery.

*17 *08*.

18.

Cheryl Brooks "So, tell me, how is it that you were near death when Rafe brought you here, and already seem so much better?"

"The touch of a female hand is very healing to me," he replied. "It is something that I have not felt for many years."

Must have been owned only by men, I decided, because I couldn't imagine any woman owning him and not looking for excuses to touch him all the time!

I mean, he'd only been there with me for a short while, and I was already regretting having to give him back to Rafe. Perhaps I would simply tell Rafe that he had died.

I somehow doubted that he would ever demand to see the body-or even offer to help me bury him...

I stopped short with those thoughts before Desdemona had a chance to comment. She would have been right if she had, of course, because I knew I shouldn't get attached to him. He was my patient, he was a slave, and on top of that, he belonged to Rafe, of all people.

"What do they call you?" he asked.

"Tisana," I replied absently. "And you?"

"I am called Leccarian."

"That's quite a mouthful," I commented. "Have you another name?"

"Banadnsk."

"Well, now, that's certainly an improvement!" I said with a sardonic smile. I tried again. "What do they call you for short?"

"You may call me anything you like," he replied with a purr. "I will always answer."

"Ooo, that is one smooth-talking cat!" Desdemona said. "You'd better watch your step with him."

As I gazed at him, taking in the vision of his raw, *18 *08*.

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19.

leonine power, I was reminded that while leonine was an ancient word and there were few now who could recall the animal from which it was derived, it was still an apt description of him. I had heard tales of them from old Earth: big, powerful, tawny cats with thick manes, sharp teeth, and rippling muscles, similar to those that this man possessed. Lions, they were called.

"What if I were to just call you Leo?" I inquired carefully. "Would that bother you?"

I didn't want to belittle him, or treat him too much like a slave-calling him any name I chose with no regard to his feelings on the subject. As far as I was concerned, during his stay with me, he wasn't a slave, and I certainly didn't intend to treat him like one.

His breath went out in the loudest purr yet. "Not if you keep doing that whenever you speak to me."

For a moment, I didn't catch his meaning, but as soon as I realized that I had unconsciously resumed the butt massage, the reason was perfectly obvious.

"I enjoy listening to the sound of your voice," he went on. "And the touch of your hand is very soothing."

The sound of his voice was lulling me into a daze, and it made me wonder what it would be like to have his hands on me in that fashion. I had a month-even longer if I sent word to Rafe. A month with Leo...until he saw his chance to escape and took it, that is. I reminded myself that while I might not choose to think of him as a slave, he certainly knew the difference and would not simply stay here waiting for his master to return to take possession of him. I couldn't blame him for that, because I knew that if our roles were reversed, I would take advantage of any opportunity to escape. I wished I *19 *08*.

20.

Cheryl Brooks had told Rafe to take care of him himself. Should never have agreed to this-but then, that's what I do...

Leo turned just then, and suddenly my fingers were massaging not his back side, but his front side, instead.

That remarkable cock of his snapped up, bumping into my hand in what seemed to be a random movement- until he began to stroke my arm with it. He had amazing control-never once touching it with his hand-but seemed to be moving it with a set of highly specialized muscles which, normally, only a four-legged animal might have possessed.

I stared at it, suddenly stricken with an astonishing hunger. It was clean-I knew it was, because I'd just washed it myself-and there was no infection there, for the fluid pouring forth from it was as clear as spring water. I could taste him and suffer no ill effects-I was certain of that. Reminding myself that I could take any lover I wished, I was sorely tempted, for I knew that while not one of my lovers would conceive a child in me unless he was the one chosen for me by the gods, for all I knew, this man might have been the one. The gods may have brought him here from a world that only they would know of-and for this sole purpose. There was no way to be sure, but I also knew that there were many things that must simply be taken on faith.

He didn't smell bad anymore-and it wasn't only due to the soap. There was something else about him, an aura that seemed to fill the air about him like a cloud.

Whatever it was, it was intoxicating and pervasive, sending my senses reeling. This time, when I touched his cock, it wasn't to wash it, but to caress it. Thick and hard in my grasp, it felt hot and slick, and I could *20 *09*.

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21.

no more have ignored it than I could ignore the way I wanted to devour it-or the way his purring intensified with my touch. He wanted it every bit as much as I...

When I leaned down and took him in my mouth, he tasted delightful, but it was a flavor with which I was unfamiliar. Warm and creamy. I sucked him for perhaps thirty seconds before an orgasm hit me, flooring me with its intensity.

I let go of him, gasping, "Gods alive! What was that?"

Leo smiled and pushed my head back down. "It will get even better," he promised. "Continue, Tisana, my lovely witch, and I will give you joy unlike any you have ever known."

My head was spinning, but all I could think of was that if this wasn't already joy, then joy would probably be the death of me, for he was certainly more potent than any drug or potion I had ever conjured up. Delirious with need, I went down on him again.

My orgasms were so strong, so continuous, I could barely tell where one ended and another began. It was terrifying to lose control in such a manner-he could have throttled me, and I wouldn't have known the difference, would never have fought back or lifted so much as a finger to save myself.

Then I realized that his goal would not be murder, but escape. He would simply leave me lying there on the floor sleeping it off and disappear into the woods.

I could explain to Rafe that he'd died of his wounds, but I had a sneaking suspicion that I would probably die without him, could almost feel my body becoming addicted to him and whatever drug it was that he was pumping into my system. It had to be that coronal fluid, *21 *09*.

22.

Cheryl Brooks I thought wildly. There was something in it, some chemical whose sole purpose was to drive women insane...

He pumped against me, sliding that big cock in and out of my mouth-I couldn't stop him and didn't want to. Finally, I just lay there with my head on his stomach and let him do as he pleased, since I was helpless to prevent him. His hands were tangled in my hair, and my body was tied up in knots of helpless ecstasy. When at last he groaned and erupted, filling my mouth with his warm, sweet cream, I understood what he'd meant when he said he would give me joy unlike any I had ever known, for there was simply no other way to describe the feeling of unbelievable euphoria-and all I'd done was suck him!

Then, with a satisfied purr, he withdrew himself, and darkness took me.

*22 *09*.

Chapter 2.