"Yeah, I know," I said, leaning even closer to him.

"But it's a nice, witchy kind of odd, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes," he replied. "Sitting here by the fire that you started with a mere glance of your bewitching eyes, eating soup which you cooked without fire, and with a flock of vultures, two horses, and a garrulous squirrel for company, I would say that it was."

"But no people," I reminded him. "We're finally alone again!"

Leo smiled and regarded me through eyes glowing brighter with desire. "Yes, we are alone, my lovely witch-wife, a fact which I have not forgotten. And here in the moonlight by the fire, I will show you how just much I enjoy being alone with you."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Most men would say they were too tired, or afraid the enemy would catch them with their pants down or something like that, but you, you're always ready and always willing."

"It is because of you that I am," said Leo, pulling me down beside him beneath our makeshift tent. "My desire is only for you."

Then his lips melted into mine again, and I was lost.

"You say the nicest things," I mumbled. "And I do love the way you kiss."

Leo responded with a loud, rumbling purr and delved beneath my cloak to begin seeking my skin to touch.

I pushed his clothing aside as well, and soon, he was teasing my clitoris with his slick cockhead. Remembering what had happened the last time he'd done that, I simply lay back and let him send me into orbit.

*265 *49*.

266.

Cheryl Brooks Oh, yes, this was the way I wanted to die: in Leo's arms with his magic enveloping me like a soft, warm cloud. How could anything possibly feel this good? The pain from my wound was completely obliterated, for this was ecstasy beyond belief. He was both love and loving personified, and I knew I could never get enough of him, could never tire of him, even if I should live out my own natural life and beyond. I could never have hated him- never have even been angry with him-not knowing how he could bring me into such a state of bliss.

As hard cock penetrated wet heat, he groaned softly.

"Here is where I wish to be, always," he said, "for this is where love lives."

I didn't know if he meant our child or something else, but it was a nice thought, anyway. He thrust in hard and deep, as though trying to touch the child I carried. It felt sublime. I cried out his name and wanted to tell him that whenever we made love, it was as though it were the first time, the last time, the best time, but calling out his name was all I seemed to be able to do. He had to know how good it was, he had to!

I gasped as he pulled his cock out and stroked my clitoris again. I missed him immediately from where he belonged, but the sensation made me delirious-unable to decide which was better. Just when I thought that outside was best, he drove in again, reminding me that I was wrong about that-so very wrong, indeed!

I tried calling out his name again, but couldn't seem to remember what it was. I'd gone mad-would continue to grow madder still, because, unbelievably, each time with him did seem better than the last. But how could that be?

How could total perfection ever be improved upon?

*266 *49*.

warrior 267.

He pulled out again and went for my clitoris. He was slowing himself down, I realized, putting off his own inevitable climax to prolong my pleasure, driving it to a fever pitch. My orgasms became constant, one blurring into the next-almost to the point where I didn't think I could take it anymore. Then, at last, I remembered his name.

"Leo, please!" I cried out in desperation.

"You wish for more?" he asked.

"No," I groaned. "I've already got it all...everything...don't need anything more."

With a satisfied purr, he whispered, "Then I will finish," as he thrust into me again, but this time harder, faster. Pounding into me more deeply than I would have thought possible, the sensations seemed to alter, and what I had thought was ecstasy before now seemed pale in comparison.

"How do you do that?" I moaned helplessly.

His purr changed to more of a growl as he slammed into me as deeply as our joined bodies would allow.

Gripping him tightly with my slick inner muscles, the rumbling in his chest deepened, and I felt the vibrations throughout my entire body-in fact, I'm surprised the ground itself didn't shake.

With his climax, Leo arched his neck, his head snapping backward while his hair cascaded down his chest.

I could see his eyes glowing brightly, and his fangs gleamed in the dim moonlight. His balls contracted in uncontrollable spasms, pouring his snard into me in long, forceful jets. Clenching him as tightly as I could with every muscle I had control of, I waited anxiously for the euphoria his snard would give me. I had to think *267 *49*.

268.

Cheryl Brooks of it as snard, because semen was something completely different, just as he was completely different from other men himself. He was rare, he was precious, and, now, above all, he was mine. I had been of the opinion that I'd never possessed anything of value before, but now, I was the richest woman in the world-possibly the entire galaxy. If Rafe had only known what he'd given up to keep me silent, he'd never have done it. He could have sold Leo for millions of credits on the open market-and I'd gotten him for virtually nothing.

As sleep began to carry me away, I thanked the gods for giving me this great gift and prayed that they would keep him safe, for I wouldn't have wanted to live long if he were not there to share that life with me-whether he was "the one" or not. For his love alone, I would gladly have gone to my grave childless. No, Leo didn't have to be the one. I would have loved him anyway.

The next morning, I awoke amid a huddle of purple feathers. "What the devil?" I grumbled. It seemed that a few of Royillis's clan of vultures had gotten chilly during the night and had opted to share our tent. I started to argue that they were supposed to be out keeping watch, but kept quiet when I realized there were only four of them out of possibly a hundred.

Royillis poked his beak beneath the blanket that covered us all and spoke to me. "My brood has kept you warm?" he asked.

I realized then that I was warm-warmer, in fact, than I'd been on any night of our journey thus far. I'd never considered feathers to be particularly good as insulation, but I suppose I should have.

"Yes," I replied. "Thank you for your kindness." I *268 *49*.

warrior 269.

remembered Craynolt then, and asked Royillis if he'd seen him.

"He has not yet returned," Royillis reported. "But I have sent others in search of the humans."

"I probably should have sent someone other than Craynolt to begin with," I grumbled. "Who knows what he'll tell us if he ever does come back."

Royillis made an odd, cackling sound that had to be laughter. "Have you not discovered the way to under- stand him?"

"Well, sort of," I admitted. "Leo seems to get it pretty well, and sometimes I can, but he does take some getting used to."

Royillis didn't argue with me on that point. "I have sent watchers out, but no one seems to be following us."

"That's not too surprising," I commented. "You guys scared the pants off those men."

"We are quite...formidable...when we fly together,"

Royillis agreed.

"You are, indeed," I said. "Leo," I said aloud. "Royillis says nobody is following us-not yet, anyway. If you were Brandon, what would you do at this point?"

He thought carefully for a moment. "Having come this far, I would not give up easily," he said. "Therefore, I would either follow as closely as I dared, or ride hard on a different route to arrive at Rafe's village ahead of us."

I nodded. "And Brandon knows where we're going, which gives him an advantage we didn't have." One that we could have had, if Rafe had only admitted it.

I was still convinced that he'd known exactly where we were headed all along. He had to have known! He knew Brandon, and while it might have been painful *269 *49*.

270.

Cheryl Brooks to admit-to himself, if no one else-he had to see the resemblance between Brandon and his sons. He might have tried to convince himself otherwise, but the evidence was right there in front of his face-and everyone else's, too! It was stupid of him not to admit it to us, but it got Leo freed, so at that point, I thought it was a fine idea for him to have kept mum about it.

I thought for a moment, trying to think of how they might get to Rafe's ahead of us, and unless they sprouted wings, I didn't see how it was possible. The kidnapping party had to have taken the most direct route, which we were now following, so there was simply no way they could do it any faster-unless...

"You know," I mused, "they could easily have kept on going all through the night. Royillis didn't say whether his watchers had checked parallel routes through the forest. They might have missed them if they didn't fan out enough."

"So, we should try to journey through the night- again?" Leo sounded unhappy about this plan, and I couldn't blame him. I was already reaching the limits of my endurance, and though he was undoubtedly tougher than me, without adequate sleep we would be no match for Brandon's men should it come to another fight.

"Sounds terrible, doesn't it?" I agreed. "But it might at least enable us to catch up with Rafe. He's probably riding as hard he can, because unless Darley and Max have managed to catch them, they have no way of knowing we won that last fight."

"They would know it if the enemy did not pursue them," Leo pointed out.

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warrior 271.

"True." I sighed wearily. "Well, about all we can do is keep going as fast as we can, but it got pretty cold last night, so it's going to be icy. Wonder how those boys are holding up."

"He did not leave them behind, and he is still ahead of us," Leo reminded me.

"Lighter weight for the horses, too," I mused. Pushing one of the vultures out of the way, I sat up, combing the hair back from my face. "Guess we'd better get up and get moving then. I'd much rather sleep in, but that's not going to happen until we get home."

It occurred to me, then, that I'd never been away from home for so long before-in fact, I'd never been away from home at all! Of course, a pleasant journey in the springtime without armed men attacking us at regular intervals might have been preferable. It went without saying that having Leo with me made it more tolerable, but home and hearth were sounding better all the time.

We fed the horses and then ate a quick breakfast.

Gerald found a squirrel nearby who had seen Rafe and the boys pass through, but he couldn't say how far ahead they were. Royillis had some of his clan spread out, but no one saw anything remarkable. I tried not to become too complacent, because Brandon's troops still might have been following us and, knowing that the vultures were on our side, had simply hidden whenever they saw the birds flying overhead.

As we rode, I tried to think of some other way to spy, and, try as I might, I couldn't come up with one, and Leo was at a loss, as well. Gerald seemed to think the squirrels could help, but they weren't nearly as swift as the birds, nor could they see as far ahead. I was worried *271 *49*.

272.

Cheryl Brooks about Max, too, and Morgana picked up on it, telling me more than once to quit my fretting and sit still.

The day was a bright, sunny one, as the day before had been, but late in the afternoon clouds rolled in and the sky went from clear blue to quilted gray, which meant that the moon wouldn't be lighting our way that night. Still, snow on the ground has a way of improving visibility, whether there's a decent moon or not. Unfortunately, the trail was now quite slick, and we found much better footing by staying just off the path.

Craynolt flew in about the same time the clouds did, and I thought he was reporting that all was well ahead of us, but it was hard to tell, for what he said was, "The paths of time grow short, all souls are moving."

"Well, thanks, Craynolt," I replied, though I wasn't completely sure if thanks were in order. "You want to go see if Brandon is following us? Royillis's gang say it doesn't look like they are."

"All souls are moving," he repeated.

"So, Brandon is following us?"

"Truth is like the cool wind, which blows on a sultry day."

"Ah, ha!" I yelled to Leo excitedly. "He actually repeated himself! I know what that means now! It means, yes! I should just ask him yes or no questions from now on." My excitement was short-lived, however, because I quickly realized I had no idea what the phrase was for "no." Experimentally, I asked him, "Is the sky purple?"

To which he replied, "No."

"No?" I echoed in disbelief. "That's it? Nothing lofty and obscure? Just, no?"

*272 *50*.

warrior 273.

"Truth is like the cool wind which blows on a sultry day."

Obviously, he didn't consider negative responses to be worth philosophizing over. I tried to remember if I'd ever asked him anything that straightforward before, and if I had, I couldn't remember what it was. I was pretty sure he'd never given me a one-word reply, though-to anything.

"Do you think they'll be able to catch up with us before we catch up with Rafe?"

"Truth is-"

"Yeah, I got it," I said hastily, interrupting him. "I don't mean to be rude, but if that's the case, we'd better get a move on!"

Reporting this to Leo and urging Morgana to a faster pace, it occurred to me to ask, "Hey, how come you could see Brandon and Royillis and his gang couldn't?"

I was pretty sure I'd get a strange reply with that question, and I wasn't disappointed.

"That which is given is taken."

"And by that, I suppose you mean don't look a gift horse in the mouth?"

"Truth is-"

"That's it, Craynolt!" I said, cutting him off again.

"Truth. That's all you have to say when you mean yes. Okay?"

"Okay."

While I found it extremely difficult to believe that a flying reptile on a planet this far from Earth would have known what "okay" meant, I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised. It's the sort of word that manages to catch on anywhere it's used, and I hadn't imagined it-it *273 *50*.

274.

Cheryl Brooks had popped into my mind the same way that Craynolt's other thoughts did. "You understand the word 'okay?'"

I asked incredulously.

"Truth is like-"