The golden fire of him suddenly burned a deep russet, almost the color of her hair. In some elemental way, she recognized that he was blushing. Feeling her compliment to his very core.

Kelsey. He sighed, but said nothing more. Lovely, lovely. Human beautiful. Strange.

As with the first night, she realized that to keep his true form, he had to sacrifice his facility with human language. So she chose to stand before him, as quiet as she felt him to be, and gaze upon him, watching the reddish hue morph back to the recognizable blaze of fire. Reaching out one hand, she wanted to touch him, but again like the first night, he admonished her: No touch!

Why was he always so adamant that she not touch him? Maybe he was, in some way, like that stone that he wore, capable of blistering her with a single touch.

She held her palms out to him, opening them. "Then touch me, Jared. You touch me... like that other time.

When we... well, when we made the bond, like you said. I want to feel that bonding again."

Her eyes were closed against his wildness, but she sensed him whispering within her soul at that moment. Some sort of promise, or a.s.surance, or pledge. She didn't think to question it, because at that precise moment, the low burn began-just as it had that first night between them- winding its way up her legs, parting her thighs, searing her until her lips opened with a quiet oh sound of pleasure. The closer he pressed within her, the more she could feel his memories. She saw unearthly sunsets and flashes of people in his life-dark-haired men and women and his beautiful cousin. Then she saw, oddly enough, an image of herself.

Now he's in my heart, she realized, feeling him burrow in, his soul pushing upon hers. Her nipples grew erect within her bra, pressing against the thin silk. He eased farther apart from her, careening toward the far side of the room, but she understood somehow that he wished her to lie down on the large throw pillows. A single alien word whispered through her consciousness. Instinctively she knew its meaning: Open.

"Open?" she repeated. "Open what?

Then she felt him tease her, coaxing her open. Her soul, her body. She arched beneath the seduction, lifting her hips, her eyes drifting closed again. One by one, she un-snapped the b.u.t.tons of her sweater until it fell open for him, revealing her human body. She stripped out of her bra, and he sighed across her skin-all the while keeping his distance on the other side of the room.

Sitting up, she managed to open her eyes and stare at him, and without ever allowing her gaze to waver, she slipped out of her jeans until she stood before her lover in nothing more than her panties.

He whispered a few words within her spirit, then her name, which sounded a bit like "Kelsha."

Down! he urged. Pillows.

So she obeyed, spreading across the silken throw pillows, flat on her back. At that precise moment he moved, now hovering directly over her against the ceiling. His fire overtook her in the s.p.a.ce of a single heartbeat, snaking across her abdomen, coiling about her loins and tightening. She bucked her hips upward, crying out loudly. His fiery fingers reached between her legs, inside, touching, caressing, working their way to the very center of her being.

She couldn't breathe; couldn't think. There was just so much of him, all inside of her, and she couldn't stop shaking, her entire body shuddering. "More!" she cried, bunching silk within her hands, her back arching. "Jared, more!"

And he obviously sensed her longing, moving quickly apart from her-no longer hovering over her body. From across the room, even with her eyes closed, she knew he was shifting again, closing the distance that separated them with one quick stride. "Kelsey," he moaned, falling upon her. "Kelsey, Kelsey."

His body was hot to the touch, burning her fingertips as she ran them over his strong, muscled shoulders, his dark forearms.

For a moment, he tugged at her underwear, scowling in deep and obvious consternation. A low growl rumbled from his chest, something primitive that she welcomed from him. Taking one fingertip, he used his power to separate her from the silken material.

"This... patch," he observed, stroking the silken red hair that graced the area between her legs. "It is red. But blond some, too."

"You've never been with a redhead, I take it." She gasped. His eyes lifted to hers, mischievous with desire, and he teased his fingers through the thatch of auburn curls that had caught his fancy, dipping his fingers into her wet warmth.

With a satisfied, slow smile, he told her, "I like red. Everyone knows this." In response, she shimmied back against the pillows. "Yes," he said, pressing a burning kiss against her abdomen. "I definitely like red."

"And I like you out of those jeans," she shot back.

Glancing down with sudden self-consciousness, he seemed almost surprised to discover himself still dressed. With a flick of his wrist, he unsnapped the Levi's and snaked right out of them until he stood before her in all of his glorious naked form. Wow, so the alien warrior goes commando? Good to know.

"You are quite naughty, human."

"How could you hear that?"

Pressing his long, sinewy body on top of her smaller one, he nuzzled her, slipping right between her legs. Because I could, he answered with a heady little sound inside her soul.

"Is this because we are bound?" she managed to pant into his ear. "Because we're tied together, like you said?"

"No, Kelsey," he whispered, pulling her back into the pillows, spread like an offering to the king. "It is not because we are bound," he managed to groan, desire and heat reaching a mad crescendo inside his body. He would do anything to take this human, anything to mate with her, anything to satisfy this pulsing intensity that the. bond had created in his Refarian bloodstream. It is far more than the bond, he told himself. It is Kelsey-you have fallen for the human. You feel love.

With that inner admission came another. He could no longer hold back: He would bed' her tonight, no matter the cost. Even if such a joining would mean they could not go back, could not reverse the bond that had been formed.

"Then why, Jared?" She gasped as he pushed between her legs. "Why can we not stop these feelings? This fire?"

"Because, sweet Kelsey." He sighed, knowing that his next words would be true, once they had completed what they'd already begun a week ago. "We are more than bond-mates," he said. "A bond is beautiful, powerful. Special. Sacred. But this is more."

"What more is it?" she asked, breathless.

"I believe we are destined," he whispered in her ear. "I wish you for my lifemate."

Oh, my goodness. Kelsey drew in a breath as he pushed against her opening like sculpted stone sheathed in silk.

For long seconds he hesitated, hovered there, pushed a bit, pulled back. "Jared!" she cried aloud, clutching at his broad, shoulders.

Drawing in ragged breaths, he stared down into her eyes. "We'll never have this moment again," he told her huskily. "Never can we go back."

"I don't think I want to," she said, stroking his hair, his shoulders, needing all of him.

Sucking in gulps of air, he worked to steady himself, then, cupping her face, whispered, "Until we seal our bond, it can be broken, sweet Kelsey. Do you understand? After, we are bound forever. If we cross this boundary, if we take this step-"

She pressed her fingertips against his lips, silencing him. "Then we become lifemates. Don't we?"

He nodded, closing his eyes. "You speak truth," he whispered, swallowing. "And perhaps we should wait. Too fast, too soon."

"I won't wait," she insisted, clasping his hips and urging him onward, feeling something strange boil in her blood. Something that she understood was the very alien compulsion to mate.

"Yes, love." He sighed, and then did something unexpected. He whispered a line of poetry into her ear, something about changing states with kings. Shakespeare! she realized with a giddy laugh. "Yes again, my love," he purred, and then, without another word, plunged deep inside of her.

At first they rocked quietly together; then they intensified their motions, crying out, pushing, chasing each other's need to the very brink of ecstasy; later, as they neared the end, they couldn't stop cradling each other's faces, showering each other with sweet kisses. But neither spoke a word; neither wanted to communicate that way. Jared began to feel Kelsey's soul; imperceptible at first, the softest brushing of hers against his-but then the sensations intensified until he lost himself in it, seeing the beautiful purples and crimsons of her energy. Drinking in her scent, drawing it deep into his lungs with every thrust he made into her human body.

At last, he could no longer hold back-and judging by the way she moaned beneath him, she didn't want him to. He allowed the bond between them to finally roar to life- allowed it to solidify hard within his chest as it took root forever. Alien bound to human. He belonged to Kelsey Wells. For the first time in his adult life, the solemn, lone warrior no longer stood on his own.

Afterward, they stepped silently into his bath and he drew warm water for them in his large, claw-foot bathtub. Sliding in after him, she slipped backward against him, sated and drowsy in his strong arms. Neither seemed to want to speak at first, seemed only to require the quiet. She nestled back against him, and he took the large sea sponge and began using it along her arms, stroking her with it.

"Jared, I have a question," she asked after a time, startling him.

"Yes, love."

"How is it that you're two people at once?" she asked, and his throat constricted. Did she still wonder about him? It was too late for fear or doubt, he wanted to tell her, but he had said that before they made love. Very carefully, he framed his answer.

"I am Refarian. I am also of the House of D'Aravni. That is my royal line, and I am the last," he explained hoa.r.s.ely. "The being you saw at the lake-in this bedroom tonight? That is one self. The man who holds you now is the other. There is a duality, you see."

"So... let me get this straight," she said, leaning back against him with what sounded like-could it possibly be?-a happy and satisfied sigh. His heart began to thunder until it seemed to leap into his throat. "You are partly of this royal house, but then you're also a Refarian. Is that right?"

"A Refarian changeling," he clarified, swallowing. "That's how I shape-shift."

"What does it mean to be part of this royal house? Are you your own, unique kind of race?"

"I am two men." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Both at once."

"You're a changeling, and then you're this other..." Her voice trailed off, and within her spirit he sensed a constriction: truth realized. "Well, you're their king."

"I am their leader, Kelsey," he whispered, brushing a wet, curling tendril back from her cheek. "That is all that matters now. I lead this rebellion and I fight to save my people. And yours."

"But these people here fighting with you," she continued, "every last one of them considers you their king."

"Yes, Kelsey, what you say is the truth," he answered finally, his voice thick. Please don't flee me; please don't fear, his heart begged of her. "Even in exile, I remain their king."

"And it's, like, a unique race-if I understand right? You're not quite Refarian?" she asked, leaning back, close against him. "Or, no, that's not it. It's that you're Refarian, but something else too."

"Refarian and something else," he repeated. "This is correct." Arganate D'Aravni. But he would not try to explain the complexities of his unique and strange genetic heritage tonight.

"So you are both men at once," she repeated, her voice thoughtful. "You have two bodies, not just one, like I do."

He reached for the sponge and slowly worked it across her shoulder. "Yes, sweet human," he said. "You are right again."

He held her closer than an ion's meter, felt her ribs beneath his splayed palm, the measure of her breathing. Did it increase? Did it strangle with terror at loving one of his bloodline? Somehow, if he could only draw her inside of himself, closer, up within his chest or into his blood or even his cells...

And then he waited. One heartbeat lay down upon another, upon another, forming a frantic, uncertain rhythm. Expecting betrayal. Awaiting abandonment. Lahrae had stared at him, mouth agape, unable to conceive that Jared could be two men simultaneously, that one self could peacefully coexist with the other, belly-up to each other, yet both equally real. And she had feared his fire, the same fire that he felt banking in his loins even now, here in this very tub. The same fire that had not terrified Kelsey when they'd made love for the first time.

Yes, another heartbeat thundered down upon another, upon yet another, until... Kelsey leaned back against him with a sigh-a full, pleased sound of safety-and threaded her smaller fingers together with his strong dark ones.

Until Jared Bennett knew, at last, that he loved well. That he loved a woman who did not fear him.

Chapter Nine.

Stepping into the bathroom doorway, aroused and naked, Jared stared at Kelsey. Her thick curls cascaded over the porcelain edge of the tub, and even in the candlelit semi-darkness, he could see a slow, tempting smile form on her lips. He had slept with many women in his time-many beautiful Refarian women and even a few Antousian hybrids back in his wilder days-but he was certain of one thing: No woman, not of any species, had ever appeared so worthy of the t.i.tle queen as did his sweet human at this moment.

He'd intended to check with Scott about a few things, but had been derailed by the sight of her reclining in the tub. Extending one pale, lightly freckled hand, she beckoned him, and soap bubbles dripped from her fingers onto the thick bath mat. Smiling up at him, covered in shimmering foam, she appeared to be one of the legendary lalastra from the myths of his home planet. Like Earth's mermaids, the lalastra lived in the sea and were considered by Refarians to be mystical, erotic creatures, capable of luring unsuspecting men into the very depths of obsession- to their deaths, even, in pursuit of the creatures' sensual thrall.

As if by unseen force, he moved toward the bathtub, feeling his groin tighten with a spasm of desire. " Mlashk lalastra," he breathed huskily.

"What does that mean?" she asked, running her tongue along her bottom lip as he took another step closer. Her gaze dropped low, her eyes widening slightly at his undisguised arousal.

"Mermaid," he explained, staring down at her possessively. "I called you my tempting, seducing mermaid. In Refarian, of course."

She held the sponge close, almost protectively against her chest. "You think I'm tempting?"

He dropped to his knees behind her, at the head of the tub, and leaned over her so that his mouth grazed just behind her ear. "Human, you are quite a temptress," he whispered, nibbling at her lobe. "I have discovered this about you already." She shivered at his words, or perhaps at the feeling of his warm breath against the nape of her neck. "I have discovered that you are not nearly so innocent as you seemed upon first notice," he added, pulling her strong human scent into his lungs, drinking her in until he felt dizzy with it.

Reaching back over her shoulder, she touched his jaw. "Well, I like to tempt you," she acknowledged in a low voice.

He gathered handfuls of her thick, twined curls. The dampness had caused her auburn hair to tangle into an erotic display of beauty. "You tempt very well, fiery one," he groaned with pleasure, pressing his lips against her shoulder, sucking and licking at the wet skin there.

She turned so that her radiant eyes locked with his. "No, Jared," she said. "It's not just temptation. I plan to follow through on my promises."

"Ah, indeed." He slipped his hands from behind her, cupping both of her full, round b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his open palms, stroking his thumbs over her puckered nipples with a relentless motion that caused them to bead even harder beneath his fingertips.

In answer she moaned, a loud, almost indelicate sound, and arched back into his grasp. He reached lower with one of his hands, parting her legs, then pressing fingertips upward, into her. "And, human," he asked, fingering her slickness, slow and deliberate, "what do you think of this? Good temptation or no?"

Planting both feet against the porcelain rim of the tub, she raised her hips with a stabbing cry of pleasure.

"Perhaps this is not good," he a.s.sessed, nuzzling her. "Maybe I should stop?" He made a pretense of releasing her, and she reached back over her shoulder, grasping for him with a flailing hand as he leaned low, whispering in her ear. "Tell me, dear Kelsey," he said, feigning seriousness, "shall I cease this action?"

Panting, she managed to grab hold of his hand, crying out, "Jared! What... do... you... think?"

A deep, rumbling moan of pleasure escaped from his chest. "I think you like being with this Refarian," he answered in a gruff voice, laving her earlobe with the tip of his tongue. "I think you like being the king's mistress. Yes, you seem to like this very much."

"Mistress?" She sounded almost alarmed, her whole body stiffening at the word. He cursed his nearly but not quite perfect command of English. "Mistress?" she repeated.

"Lover," he rushed to correct, pressing his eyes shut at his mistake. "Lover. The king's lover," he hastened. "Mistress means... Well, it's not quite right, is it?"

She gave a shrug. "If you plan no true commitment, then yeah, mistress would be accurate, sure." Her voice was quiet, wounded-cool, even-as she stared into her lap. His hand between her legs suddenly seemed that of an invader, not of a welcomed lover. "Kings throughout the ages have kept mistresses," she continued. "So what should stop you?"

"Kelsey, I fear..." He hesitated, trying to think clearly in English amid a muddled rush of Refarian words. He shook his head to clear it, clasping her by the shoulders with a gentle gesture. "I have chosen the wrong word in your language, I am certain. Mistress is not the same as lover, is it?"

She glanced up at him, her face drained of all its usual rosy beauty, and simply shook her head.

"My wording is inaccurate, then," he said, rising to his feet as he shrugged out of his bathrobe. He swung one long leg over the side of the porcelain tub. Sliding down into the warm water, he faced Kelsey, noting the slight hurt in her expression. Never taking his gaze off of her, he made a great show of drawing each of her legs around his hips, tugging her close until his groin made contact with hers. She lazed back in the tub, apart from him, with only her legs wrapped close about his waist.

"We are committed, Kelsey," he a.s.sured her huskily.

"More than committed. It is as I said before: We are mated now, sweet human. You are mine." He felt a possessive growl rise up from within, something primal that he'd never once felt with a lover before, not even with Lahrae. "Mine," he repeated with a wondrous grin, thrilling at the sound of the word, at the sense of belonging-and of belonging to-another. Mine, mine, mine, he wished to cry, but managed to quell that nearly uncontrollable urge. "We are mated; we are lovers; we are bonded," he proclaimed in a rush. "I am yours and you are mine."

"Geez, Jared." She laughed, cutting her eyes at him. "And I thought my ex-boyfriend had possession issues." She gave a little, delicate snort of amus.e.m.e.nt-and yet also seemed pleased by his possessive streak.

He ran his palm over the top of his head. "Jamie Watson wished to own you," he observed, feeling guilty. "I am not like this man."

"How did you know his name?" Her graceful auburn eyebrows shot upward in surprise.

Without meaning to, he had just betrayed his secret. "Love," he whispered, "we are here. We are now."

"Tell me how you knew Jamie's name," she insisted, sitting upright in the tub. "I never told you what his name was."

"Does it matter?" he asked, snaking his arms around her waist, determined to redirect her to more immediate and corporeal pleasures.

"Yes." Her voice had become hushed, her expression equally intense. Her blue eyes fixed on him, seeming to flash golden-green with emotion; he could see it even by the candlelight here in his bath chamber. "It totally matters, Jared. How did you know?" Her long, spiraling curls hung heavy with dampness, but her scorching gaze was anything, but subdued. She pinned him with it, fire flashing from the very depths of her clear eyes. "I met Jamie years after I met you-you couldn't know his name."