Wednesday, August 10, 2005From a talented author.....Michele ChambersHouse of Moons: The Seduction House of Moons: The Seduction Ten women stood, shaking and numb, as their world disappeared in a column of blue fire and sparkling smoke. Magic. "What will we do now?" Therez did not know who uttered the question they all needed an answer to, but the words released the thrall holding them still as stone. Chaos erupted. Therez, Second Daughter’s line of the House of Law, planted her feet in the solid ground and ignored the angry shouts and tears of those around her. Trembling fingertips explored the cut and weight of the metal collar she held in her hands. A slave collar. An hour ago it had hung around her neck. Now it was nothing more than scrap metal and six orbits of bad memories. A strange calm settled over her as she watched her mother, their commander here at Factory Four, raise her arms for silence. Once order was restored, her mother uttered words Therez never thought to hear, "We go home." Silence settled over them, broken only by the crackling fire that burned their factory, their prison to the ground behind her. In her long white robes, Therez thought her mother looked like a cloud floating before the unnaturally blue blaze. Heat lifted the robes, whipped around them all, a tornado of rebirth. Home had no meaning for her now. For any of them. They were all prisoners here, most because they'd discovered the truth about their elders and their magic. She could not go back to the cities, to the lies. Not when what she so desperately wanted beckoned from behind her in the dense woods. Her right foot stepped back and she fell out of line. Overhead, the roar of Heir Charla's ship rumbled through her ribcage until her very teeth rattled with the force of its flight. Everything was different now. Charla had a mate. A pirate and Cross-Worlder! The future queen would not stop until every Anthean factory was destroyed. Magic would return to the Moon Warriors. Soon all the rules would change. Freedom beckoned with a siren's voice, and Therez was all too eager to answer the call. Using every ounce of strength, Therez flung the offensive collar into the flames. Smile spreading on her face, she took a step back from everything she'd ever known. Therez watched as one by one, the women melted away into the forest as if they'd never been. None would go back to the old life. When only her mother remained, Therez strode to her and wrapped the older woman in her arms. "And what of you mother?" "I am old. I survived because I wanted to see my grandchildren." Laughter sparkling in her blue eyes, she looked up at Therez and smiled. "Now that the shroud has been lifted, now that we are free, I'd like to meet this man you've been hunting." *** Therez slid further out onto the wide tree limb, her short green dress gathered around her hips and slid off one shoulder. Three small, glittering pools of deep blue water spread out before her. Twilight sparkled atop the water in a thin layer of gold. Two hundred year old trees stood guard over the secluded clearing. Her trees. Her friends. She was an empath, capable of communicating with them, of understanding their plights. And they protected her. Many evenings she had lain in wait for him. Her mate. Gabriel always answered her telepathic call. Therez summoned him, and he would come to her, lie in the grass below or bath in the pools and listen. Therez would talk to him telepathically, tease him, make love to him with her mind and wish she were free to do more. The trees had kept her safe, hidden, invisible. Not tonight. This time she wanted to be seen, wanted to be touched. Gabriel. I need you. Therez sent the call out into the night and settled down to wait. Gabriel’s village was only a few miles away, across the border into the Cross-Worlder’s lands. Technically, Gabriel was her enemy. Before, the elders would’ve killed him for speaking to her. Now, all the rules had changed. I am here. Therez gasped and nearly lost her perch in the old tree. Gabriel appeared in the clearing just as he had the first night she’d seen him. He simply appeared, as if he came from the forest itself, dark and powerful. He too, wore green, and his pants stretched across powerful hips and thighs, molded to every muscle as if painted onto his flesh. Heat rushed to her face as her eyes traveled up over the expanse of his naked chest. Arms thick as oaks made his blast rifle look ridiculous, like a twig to be snapped. Are you going to shoot me? Gabriel stilled in the act of setting down his blast rifle. Long black hair flowed over his shoulders to pool over the rifle he held halfway to the ground. You are here. Come, let me see you. Touch you. The rest he left unsaid, but heat and desire brushed the insides of her mind and made her whole body clench. Only this man affected her this way, made her think of nothing but running her palms over every inch of him, of tasting… Gabriel raised his arms and spoke to the sky, to her, “I was on my way to investigate the explosions. Are you unhurt?” “I’m free.” Therez’s eyes burned with unshed tears as she whispered the words. She didn’t believe he would hear her, but he whipped his head around and his gaze pinned her where she hid. The green of his eyes was so intense, she felt like she was drowning. Longing pulled her toward him and she nearly fell. “At last, Therez, you will stop trying to protect me, stop hiding from me.” A thousand unspoken needs hummed through them both, and for once, Therez dropped all her natural shielding and let him in, let the strength of their mutual gifts flow through her, roll over her like a storm. He was angry, and determined that she would never escape him again. “Damn, stubborn woman. Get down here.” She didn’t remember moving, but suddenly she stood before him barefoot in the soft grass, an arms length away. From the trees, he looked imposing, strong. Standing there, staring up at him, he suddenly seemed a giant, a force of nature she could neither resist nor control. “Gabriel.” Therez meant to apologize for all the nights she’d run from him, hidden herself so the elders would have no hint of his existence. She wanted to tell him she was sorry for being too weak to give him up, for endangering his life. All that came out was his name, and even to her it sounded like a sigh of surrender. Gabriel reached for her, cupped her cheeks in his hands and pulled her forward. “Never again, Therez.” A soft breeze stirred, brought the smell of the forest. Long strands of her golden hair fluttered between them, wound around their bodies, mixed with his black. His lips hovered above hers, so close she could feel their heat, could almost taste him. Green fire burned in his gaze, and her skin tingled with the call of his power, his magic. “Mind to mind.” The Binding. Therez hesitated for a heartbeat. The bond would be permanent. Irreversible. Forever. Fear trickled through her, insidious and cold. What if these last moons had been a mistake? What if… His lips crushed hers in an onslaught of lust and pent up need. Gabriel held her body from his so that her entire being was focused on his mouth. Palms still pressed to the sides of her face, he ravaged her mouth, brought lust bubbling up in her blood until her nipples ached and her pussy clenched in pain around the emptiness inside. Frantic to get closer, she tried, in vain to pull him to her. His arms were immobile; his body a solid wall of muscle and will. A frustrated sob of need escaped her and she tore her mouth from his. Six orbits of slavery, of being a prisoner of her own people had taught her one thing, life was too damn short. She’d already wasted six precious orbits. She wasn’t about to let fear claim even one more day. “Mind to mind.” Therez didn’t recognize the husky need in her own voice. She sounded like a stranger, a new being pledging herself to this amazing man. The thought excited her. Gabriel lowered his forehead to hers. Their rapid breathes mingled. Magic rose and swelled between them like a living, pulsing being moving through them both. “Heart to heart.” “Heart to heart.” Therez didn’t hesitate, just pressed her body against his, swirled her tongue over his heart as she said the words. Gabriel shuddered beneath her touch, his cock pressed into her stomach, hard and ready. “Blood to blood.” “Blood to blood, I bind you to me.” Therez sought and found his hard nipple, pulled it into her mouth. “I bind you to me.” Power flowed over them, through them, like hot melted chocolate coated her on the insides. Sweet. Hot. Sticky. Unbreakable. They could never be separated now, never be lost to one another. Gabriel lifted her off the ground, pulled her mouth back up to his. He chastised her between kisses. “Never. Never again.” His familiar voice brushed the insides of her mind like a lover’s caress. You’re mine now. Mine. Forever. Therez caught an echo of other thoughts. He meant to protect her, keep her safe. Anger still churned within him that she’d refused his aid, rejected his pleas to reveal herself before today, that she hadn’t trusted him enough to share more than just her mind. The elders would’ve killed you. Gabriel punished her with his mouth, his tongue delving deeply, seeking her secrets without mercy or patience. No, they would’ve tried. Gabriel’s mouth left hers to trace the line of her jaw, her collarbone. She felt his hands bunch in the fabric of her dress at the small of her back. He ripped the material from her body and threw it without looking to see where it landed. Dropping to one knee, he knelt before her naked body and stared up into her face with eyes the same shade of green as her own. “I could’ve saved you.” Therez wanted to laugh, and scream, and cry. She buried her hands in his long black hair and let the silent tears flow. He’d been her anchor in the dark, her reason for fighting on, for getting up every day and functioning in her prison. Gabriel had been her reason for living. You did, my love. You already did. Gabriel smiled, and it stole her breath, made her legs too weak to hold her. Effortlessly, he caught her, pulled her willing body forward. His superior height allowed him to simply lean forward and pull one taut peak into his mouth. A jolt of electricity stole her breath, shot straight to her core. The pale blue sky, the grass beneath her feet, and the soft gurgling of streams faded until nothing existed but Gabriel. His body. His hands. His mouth. Magic hung in the air, so thick she felt the weight of it on her skin, a living, breathing entity. Waiting…waiting… Behind her, Gabriel’s left arm tightened, a steel band holding her still for his exploring lips, teeth and tongue. He nibbled and tasted each breast, sucked her sensitive flesh deeply into his mouth. Therez arched her back, leaned into his arm, and thrust her hard nipples into the air in offering. His right hand slid from her spine to trail a line of fire over her hip, her buttock, her inner thigh before his fingertips danced back up to settle over her mons. Therez’s knees buckled, her body’s attempt to settle onto the hand cupping her. Gabriel’s left arm held her steady, kept her from falling as two fingers slipped inside to stretch and explore. In and out, he brushed her inner walls with fire and need. His thumb pushed hard into her clit, danced there until she jolted in his arms. Each stroke sent a shockwave of lust and magic trough her system until she was a whimpering, mindless wanton. An eternity of nights filled with longing, of wanting to touch him, taste him welled up within her. Magic came with it and gave her the added strength she needed to break his hold on her back. She shoved him back and then dropped to her knees, stalked him like a hungry cat scenting prey where he now lay on his back in the dark green grass. Her pulse pounded in her ears. One. Two. Three. And she was over him, outlining the hard planes of his chest with her sensitive breasts. She swirled her tongue over each of his nipples, the curve of muscle and ribs, lower to dip beneath the top of his pants. He tasted like forest, and heat, and man. She found his full thickness beneath his pants and bit lightly, brought one hand to explore the length of his cock where it lay trapped beneath the soft green fabric. Gabriel lifted his hips off the ground, used the moment to remove the last barrier between them. Long and hard, his cock sprang free. The sight roared through her body with a tornado of magic. Their power wanted the ritual to be complete, demanded their bodies join. Therez’s core squeezed around nothing. Emptiness. Pain at being incomplete. The emptiness seemed to swallow her up, stretch her will to the breaking point. Nothing mattered more than riding him, feeling him stretch her wide, pound into her flesh. Magic pulsed in her blood like fire, stole her will and inhibitions. Therez reached for him with her mind even as she crawled up his body. Gabriel! She wasn’t even sure what she was asking for. Help? Relief? Forgiveness? Invasion? Just let go. Gabriel’s hands dug into her hips, lifted her over his hard length and pulled her down. Slowly, she settled over him, took all of him inside, stretched nearly to the point of pain. Her inner muscles squeezed and clutched at his cock, tried to milk him, pull him deeper. Therez moaned his name, shifted slightly forward to force his cock deeper. Her cunt roared to life around him. The maelstrom of magic riding her rushed down, down her body and into his where she held him inside. Gabriel gasped and arched of the ground at the force and heat behind the flow of energy. Magic whipped through them both, minds, hearts, and blood, until there was only one entity, one soul welded together with blood and magic. Therez smiled at him, pulled him forward for another kiss. His tongue in her mouth, his cock filling her, Therez let sensation rule. She tilted her hips so her clit would rub against the hard planes of his stomach, then rode him. Up and down. Lift and slam home. Hard Fast. She let instinct take over and threw her head back, offered Gabriel the long line of her throat. Gabriel bit the sensitive spot at the base of her collarbone and lifted his hips to meet her. Therez’s breasts were crushed to his chest. With every hard thrust, Therez squeezed her inner muscles, increased the tension. Harder. Faster. Deeper until orgasm rippled through her body and tore a scream from her throat. Magic and their link pulled Gabriel over with her. Gabriel lay down on the grass and pulled her down with him. Therez lay sprawled on his chest, her cheek in the hollow of his shoulder. Steady and strong, his heart beat beneath her ear. It beats for you, Therez. Always. Therez smiled and snuggled closer. What now? Gabriel’s arms tightened around her, squeezed to punish her for the question. I finally get to take you home. Peace and happiness settled over her soul, two things she never thought to have. Gabriel was her home now. Anywhere he wanted to go sounded pretty damn good. www.michelechambers.com 
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