When an
unfamiliar fellow park ranger walks up moments after he prays for help, Jason
sends his gratitude out into the universe for answering his call. The last
thing Jason ever suspected would happen was for the same man to return to
abduct him. But now Hania and his people are insisting that he make good on his
promises to repay his karmic debt to them.
Jason is not
opposed to helping the Chileaans, or their beautiful Shaman, but it’s what they
want him to do that’s the problem.
EXCERPT
Jason
started across the grounds realizing that he had no idea how to get to Shaman
Aiyana’s house on his own. Then he started noticing that when he walked in one
direction, his hands hummed. When he turned a different way, the humming
stopped. Deciding to follow the humming, Jason walked quickly and eventually
recognized Aiyana’s temple.
Now
that he was here, Jason hesitated before climbing the steps slowly. For the
first time he wondered if he was already too late, if Cheveyo was already with
her. This might be embarrassing for all
of us, he thought.
Jason
looked at the door, compelled to go inside no matter what he came across. Being
with Cheveyo wasn’t going to work anyway. Jason didn’t know how he knew that
about the situation, but he just did. Even the thought that Aiyana would try
with Cheveyo upset him now, but being upset was not right either. So Jason
didn’t bother knocking, but he did remove his shoes as Aiyana had asked last
time.
Once
inside, he walked softly through the house looking and listening at every closed
door. Finally, he came to a large open room at the back of the house that faced
a lush courtyard with a cascading fountain. In the center of the room, Aiyana
sat in the middle of a pile of pillows wearing only a very sheer bra top and
equally sheer pajama pants. On her shoulders and down her arms were intricate
designs made of fine black dots. As Jason walked towards her, he saw the dots
on her start to glow.
She
stood and turned to him in one fluid motion.
“Jason.
Why are you here? I’m expecting. . .” Aiyana found she couldn’t say the truth
to him while he was looking at her so fiercely.
Jason
walked up and stopped in front of her, placing his hands on her arms, matching
their designs. He winced at the pleasure-pain sensation it caused both of them.
Aiyana
moaned as the power flowed between them. “Jason…” she began, then caught her
breath.
Jason
sensed the man at the door before he actually saw him. He dropped his hands
from Aiyana to face the man who had just entered.
“Who
are you?” the man at the door demanded. “Why are you touching Shaman Aiyana?”
Jason
looked at him for a few moments. There was no doubt who the man was because he
fit the description. He studied the man that Aiyana had told him was more
handsome than he was, a man who had pleasured her more than once.
“This
is the final time I ask you the question before I take further action,” the man
said quietly.
Jason
heard Cheveyo speaking in the same dispassionate, but I-really-mean-it manner
of speaking that Hania used. Maybe he should be more worried about the fierce
glare he was receiving, but he just wasn’t feeling anything but relief that he
stopped Aiyana from…holy hell. He was jealous.
“Aiyana
won’t need your services after all, Cheveyo. I am the Shaman’s mate,”
Jason
growled the words, shocked at how fiercely he sounded saying them.
Jason
watched the man study him for long moments. He was prepared to fight him if
needed, but hoped it would not come to that. The man was a lot bigger and
looked a lot stronger than Hania, who had managed to take him down easily.
Aiyana’s
heart stopped, and then started beating with a thunderous sound. Jason had told
Cheveyo that he was her mate. How was this possible? He was staring at Cheveyo,
his eyes glowing with the Great Mother’s power. Shocked happiness shook her to
her core and she started to fall.
“Aiyana,
are you okay?” Jason asked, grabbing her arms to hold her upright, accidentally
matching their marks again.
“Jason…”
she called his name, and then collapsed in a heap at his feet, her hands
sliding down his body. She wrapped her arms around his legs because she simply
had to touch some part of him to believe it was real.
Aiyana
looked across the room, pain in her heart for yet another misdeed she had done
to the man at her door. “I’m sorry for this situation, Cheveyo. I truly did not
expect Jason to return to me, but I am glad he has.”
Cheveyo
looked at him with the most hateful look Jason had ever received from another
person.
“There
is no dishonor here, Aiyana,” Cheveyo said softly. “I serve Shaman Aiyana, who
serves the Great Mother. If you have need of me, I too will return to you.” He
bowed his head to her and left, not sparing Jason another glance.
Jason
looked down at the woman wrapped around his legs and wondered what had
possessed him to stake a claim. What was it to him if the woman bonded with the
whole tribe? But thinking of Cheveyo at her door, he was pleased he’d sent the
man away. God help him—maybe he felt a sense of duty growing for her.
Somehow
he instinctively knew that Shaman Aiyana’s ascension wouldn’t happen with
anyone but him. Walking through Aiyana’s door moments ago, he was following
some inner voice that demanded he help her, regardless of what form that help
took.
As
he pulled Aiyana up into his arms again, the voices he’d heard when he kissed
her started chanting again. This time though the chanting perfectly matched the
heat in his blood as he studied Aiyana’s nearly naked body. This time when
desire for her moved through him, Jason accepted it physically, even though he
still had to work at setting the emotional guilt aside. His body was insisting
that he be with her. There seemed to be no other choice.
“So
where are we doing the deed?” Jason asked Aiyana. “Do you have a bedroom?”
“What?”
Aiyana asked, not quite understanding what Jason meant. She was still
recovering from what had just happened, from the joy that Jason had returned,
and from her shame at having to send Cheveyo away. It wasn’t often that she
experienced emotional turmoil.
“For
this ascension thing to work for you, you have to have sex with me, right?”
Jason demanded. “I don’t know how I know that, lady, but I just do.”
Aiyana
looked hard at Jason, trying to see into his spirit, trying to see if he would
have any regrets. “You told Cheveyo I was your mate. Did you mean those words?”
Jason
tugged her forward by the center of the bra top she wore, until they were nose
to nose because she was so tall.
“God
help me for disrespecting my dead wife, but I do,” Jason admitted, rubbing a
thumb across her left nipple and making her tremble. He watched their dots glow
brighter as he touched her through her clothes. “Kissing you put these glowing
dots on my hands. And I see you have a matching set.”
“Praise
to the Great Mother for all her gifts,” Aiyana said breathlessly, finding it
difficult to have conversation when Jason was touching her so intimately.
“You
might want to save that gratitude for after we’re done,” Jason joked, hoping he
would not back out on her once they started.
Part
of him was hard and aching for her, so he knew he was up for the challenge, so
to speak. Still another part of him was trying to decide if he would be
betraying Emily and her memory by what he planned to do to help a woman he
didn’t really even know.
“What
you bear are the Great Mother’s marks. You are also ascending Jason. I did not
know that would happen when I kissed you. Are you okay with receiving the power
of it?” Aiyana asked, concern evident in her face.
“If
I turn into some really ugly creature after having sex with you, there’s going
to be hell to pay,” Jason warned, still toying with her top.
“When
ascension is complete, you will be what you already are, only more so,” Aiyana
told him with a smile, trying to reassure Jason that he would not be harmed.
“Will
there be more tattoos?” Jason asked, thinking he needed to be prepared for what
would happen.
“Yes.
You’ll get a lot more tattoos,” Aiyana informed him, laughing painfully, not
really finding any humor.
Jason
pulled her closer to him, listening as the chanting grew louder and louder in
his ears.
“Next
question. Why do I hear people talking every time I get near you?” he asked
her.
“It
is the voices of the ancestors. Can you understand what they are saying?” she
asked in return.
“Not
the words, but it seems like they are encouraging me to just…take you hard and
fast,” Jason finally admitted, hoping she did not find it offensive.
Aiyana
stepped away from Jason, untied a string on each side of her hips, letting the
pants fall to the floor. “That’s exactly what they are saying,” she agreed.
“And I am ready for you to do so.”
About Donna:
After 35 years of doing everything
for a living except writing books, I finally published my first romance novel
in March of 2011. Ten novels later, I feel like I'm living my own “happily ever
after” life as a modestly successful author who gives back to the universe by
doing her best to keep several Lexington, Kentucky coffee shops in
business.
I dream of selling my house and taking to the open road once I figure out how
to do so without my children and grandchildren finding out. For the time being,
I continue to live contentedly with my permanent fiancée of many years who
helps me sneak away from real life as often as he can.
I love him dearly for it.
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1 comments:
Thanks for hosting me on Book Monster Reviews, Carla!
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