He muttered sadly under his breath, "I not be knowin' whether ta cheer fer ya or not, yer Princeship."

Traed overheard him. "Have no worry, Jackie; you and I will keep a close watch on his 'Princeship.' "

Which was just as well because Rotewick was already making plans to kill him.

Despite his victory over Rotewick, Rejar returned to the townhouse late that evening in a disquieting mood.

He stood in front of the window in his bedroom and gazed out at the moonless night. Lilac was already sleeping. He did not know whether to feel anger at her for blithely going to sleep without knowing his whereabouts, or pleased because she trusted him so. A Familiar wife would have hit him over the head with a zooplah for daring to come in this late.

He rubbed the back of his neck.

A Familiar wife would have been more open to accepting him for who he was. The insidious words wrapped around his brain.

When was Lilac going to accept him? The troublesome issue was followed by another. How could she begin to accept him if she would not even listen to who and what he was? He had a life outside of Ree Gen Cee Ing Land. He had a home and a family...

Yaniff would say he was being too indulgent. The Aviaran way would be to simply conquer.

He supposed the Familiar way was much the same except more subtly done. His Familiar kin, Gian, would tell him, "Snare first, then pounce."

Rejar did not think either of those approaches completely appropriate in this case.

Since the day he was hurled out of the Tunnels, this mating danced to its own tune. It was unique. There were no guidelines for him to follow. No fatherly instructions. No Charl plat.i.tudes. No Familiar ken.

The simple truth was, he was mated to a woman who came from a primitive culture. A culture who had never heard of life on other planets, Tunnel travel, or Familiars. At least, not his kind of Familiar.

He padded over to the bed.

Standing there, he watched Lilac as she slept. She was lying on her back, hand thrown innocently over her head, fingers curled into her palm. Sheltered and not much more than a babe.

He smiled gently. She was so unprepared for him.

Shedding his clothes, he climbed into bed with her. She immediately rolled into the warmth of his arms.

He hugged her to him, running his mouth along her hairline to the tip of her ear. She mumbled something incoherent in her sleep and snuggled into his chest.

The dilemma which most preyed upon his mind came to the fore.

When would she open her heart to him?

Chapter Fifteen.

When he thought back on it, Rejar would remember that the terrible thing he had done was precipitated by a simple comment from Lady Agatha.

"Lilac, I haven't seen your cat about for ages," she had said.

They were seated for the evening meal. Just the four of them.

Rejar had been feeling on edge all day and had thought a quiet evening would settle him. He intended to ask Lilac to read to him after the meal, by the fire in the parlor. Sometimes, her gentle voice had a soothing effect on him. Traed had elected to remain in as well.

"Tis a pity," Agatha said, going on with her fateful topic, "but I must admit I had grown rather fond of him."

"Yes, Auntie. It appears Rejar has left us for good." Lilac took a bite of food without looking up at her husband.

In silent anger, Rejar toyed with the stem of his gla.s.s. "Do not say that." He took a sip of his wine. "He might show himself again."

Lilac glanced up from her plate. This was not an issue she was going to back down from. Nickolai had given her his word. Hadn't he? She glared at him. "No, Nickolai; I am sure he won't."

"Cats are unpredictable. Lilac. You, of all people, should know that."

"I think I understand this one and he is never coming back." Lilac stared at Nickolai pointedly.

Traed looked back and forth between the two of them, concern etching his chiseled features. Something was brewing here. Something powerful and dangerous.

Rejar's golden eye twitched with the raw emotion he was containing. The reality of the situation struck him. She was nowhere near to accepting him! He was not Traed; his patience only went so far. Her blind stubbornness inflamed the feline in him.

"I do not believe you understand him at all."

Lilac blinked back the sudden dampness in her eyes at Nickolai's harsh words. She shouldn't care what he thought. But she did. "Perhaps you are right. If you'll excuse me?" Not waiting for his reply. Lilac stood and left the room.

"My word!" Agatha sputtered. "I knew she was fond of the beast; I should have realized how upset she would be over his disappearance."

Rejar thought Agatha's statement ironic, since his wife's actual upset was over the possibility of the cat's reappearance. "It was not your fault, Lady Agatha."

"I still feel terrible; she seems so distressed. Should I get her another, do you think?"

"I do not believe so, Lady Agatha." Rejar got up to follow the path his wife took. "I am sure one 'beast' is all she can handle."

He closed the dining room door behind him.

The door to the bedroom opened, then shut.

Standing by the bed. Lilac looked up at the sound of the ominous click. The fierce expression on Nickolai's face made her grab the bedpost for support. His sensual dual-colored eyes were leaping with fury. In fact, he seemed rather wild.

What should she do? They had an agreement; he was not the wronged party. She made a conscious choice to meet fire with fire. "What do you have to be angry about?" she flung at him. "I'm the one who is angry!"

It was the wrong tactical decision. He said nothing but that small muscle ticked in his jaw. Resolute, she squared her shoulders.

"We have a bargain, you and I! No more of your hypnotizing foolishness! No more of your silly games! No more of these little mind tricks of yours! If you mean to break your word and go on with this reckless pastime of dabbling in the black arts, then I am afraid I can no longer live with you as your wife!"

That did it.

Something snapped inside of Rejar.

The Aviaran in him was completely cast aside as the untamed Familiar rose up. The female never, never threatened her mate with removal from his presence. To do so invited the wild, spitting, roaring heart of the cat to unleash.

Rejar unleashed.

In two strides he was by her side.

He grabbed the bodice of Lilac's dress and, with one yank of his clenched fist, ripped it in two.

"Stop it!" Lilac pounded his chest with her fists to no avail. He did not even seem aware she was doing it. Nickolai tore the clothes right from her body.

So caught up in his outrage was he that he did not accord himself the privilege of removing his own clothes. Not wasting any time, he simply transformed himself back and forth in the blink of an eye; thereby rendering himself completely nude. In an instant, his clothes lay in a puddle on the floor behind him.

Lilac screamed. He did not seem to hear.

She was still trying to get over the shock of seeing that wretched change when he advanced on her. While it was true Lilac was naive, she was not stupid. On the contrary, she was an extremely intelligent woman. She immediately turned and prepared to run toward the door.

Familiar reflexes being what they were, he overtook her before she completed the pivot. His strong arm came around her waist from behind to bodily lift her off the floor.

"Nickolai, put me down!" She kicked, thrashing naked in his arms.

Rejar gave her what she wanted, but, perhaps, not in the manner she expected. He tossed her down on the rug before the fireplace and immediately covered her with himself.

Splaying her hands against his bare shoulders. Lilac pushed at him in vain. The muscles of his powerful chest rippled in the firelight as he clasped her wrists, one in each hand, to bring them down over her head. Effortlessly he pinioned her by interlacing his fingers with her own. It was a s.e.xual stance of Nickolai's that Lilac knew well.

He was inflamed.

Remembering what had happened to her on the previous occasions when her husband had been so inflamed, Lilac ceased her thrashing. She hesitated, thinking quickly. Nickolai was quite something when he was inflamed. ...

Those incredible eyes of his, narrowed with fury, shot blue and gold fire at her. His sable hair hung about his face, tousled and silken. Those velvet lips of his were compressed in anger but it only accentuated their firm, sensual curve. Lilac thought he had never looked more beautiful.

All rational thought flew out of her head. What was she fighting him for? She wanted him. Lord knew he was exciting her!

Unfortunately, blinded by the splendid picture above her, she was missing his very real ferocity.

"What did you say to me?" he hissed, a hint of white teeth showing.

She grabbed a handful of his hair and made the terrible mistake of saying, "I want you."

Women had been saying that to him his entire adult life.

Her unthinking words enraged him anew. He did not want her to just want him; he wanted ...

With a growl, he speared her with a smoldering look. "Do you? Then far be it from me to not give you what you want." His mouth crashed down on hers claiming her mouth in an overpowering abduction.

Rejar was out of control.

He pressed forcefully against her lower lip with his tongue, using the expert technique to gain entry into her waiting mouth. There, he swept inside, demanding all that he touched.

Kissing her over and over, he claimed her mouth as he intended to claim her. Thoroughly. There was no conscious thought to his movements, only a cloud of primitive pa.s.sion.

Employing the Familiar technique of the silken sting-using two teeth on a small portion of her skin-he nipped the corners of her mouth and the center of her lower lip. The bite was designed to kindle selected points of feminine sensitivity.

He continued the technique along her jawline, delivering the silken sting in a devastating line to key spots of her collarbone.

With the carnal onslaught of that merciless mouth, Lilac couldn't help but moan. Nickolai's mouth. A mouth that could deliver untold ecstasy. Her cry of pa.s.sion escaped lips that pressed against his heated brow.

In his haze, Rejar continued his path, not even realizing he was starting to introduce her to a mult.i.tude of methods Familiars had with the loving bite. He moved to her breast, capturing it in his open mouth to administer the waiting haven, a bite particularly suited to his task.

By her choking sounds, Lilac agreed.

After paying equal attention to the other breast, he traveled down the plane of her torso, intermingling several different bites: the kitten's taste, the fluttering wing ... On and on he went, leaving a trail of acutely aroused nerve endings in his wake.

When he reached the joint of her thigh, he ruthlessly delivered the sting of honey, arrowing along the dainty crease. Male lips and teeth came together in an unparalleled combination.

The highly erotic bite brought shivers to his wife.

Tossing back his black hair, he moved up the length of her, only to demand in a low, husky voice the question which would be her downfall. "What is my name, Lilac?"

Pa.s.sion-dilated eyes glazed back at him. "N-Nickolai," she whispered.

He held her within his embrace. "No. It is Rejar. Say it, Lilac."

So, that was his game, she thought, some of the pa.s.sion-fog leaving her. Well, it wouldn't work! He would not bend her to his will with his sensual expertise. "I will not call you by that ridiculous name! It is a cat's name, not yours."

Rejar's eyes glinted, a muscle in his jaw pulsed. "Gifted," he said quietly.

"What?" she bristled.

"Gifted. My name means gifted in the language of my mother's people." It was a name he carried with pride, a name his mother had given him in the time-old Familiar tradition of using the senses to name one's child. It was a name she had given him with great joy when she realized that despite Krue's Charl blood, she had birthed a Familiar babe.

It was a name his wife would not speak.

As if echoing his perception, she said, "I will never call you by that name, Nickolai."

He did not take the news well.

His blue/gold eyes became slits of ice and fire.

In a dreadful decision to lighten his darkening mood, Lilac smiled tremulously. "But you may try to convince me how 'gifted' you are."

"Do not play with me, Lilac, lest you are ready to deal with the consequences."

It came over Lilac then. A heretofore undisclosed mulish streak. She hadn't even known she possessed one this strong. The fact that it was horribly ill-timed escaped her.

She reached up to run her fingers through his luxuriant hair, for she knew he particularly liked it. "If you play with me, then I shall play with you ... Nickolai."