Page 10 of The Mating Frenzy
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Once,he’d enjoyed visiting the Skin World. But during his 1400 years of life in the Fae Winter Kingdom, Kieran of Thrace learned to hateSkins.
The last time he’d ventured to Earth, more than 200 years ago, it ended in tragedy. His beautiful younger sister died, searching for a mate. Butchered, her soft fur skinned from her body to fashion a coat for wealthySkins.
Despite his best efforts, Kiera had gasped her last breath, an arrow piercing her heart, her huge gaze beseeching him. Pleading with him to saveher.
He couldnot.
From that moment, he’d vowed to never visit Earthagain.
The Winter Kingdom had its intrigues and thick brambles of nasty politics, but he could handle Fae games. Humans, or Skins as OtherWorlders called them, were unpredictable, greedy and dangerous. They were ruthless, viciouskillers.
And now he was here, among them. Not bychoice.
Flexing his fingers, he stared at them, wondering if he should shift into his cat form. He felt safer in his jaguar skin, but here amongst the humans, it made him vulnerable to those who enjoyed killing magnificent big cats and skinningthem.
He would not end his days by becoming a rug to decorate some wealthy Skin’shome.
He did not understand that woman who wandered about, searching for her cat. Alone, unprotected. And those poor, defenseless kittens, left without a mother because some Skin broke herneck.
Did not that Skin called Ella understand what dangers she faced? She had no male to protect her. Ella was as naïve as his beloved sister,Kiera.
Kiera thought she could handle threats in the Skin world. She waswrong.
He felt a strange affinity for the woman named Ella. From the moment he spied her, his body reacted and his cock grew hard asstone.
He felt as if he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, and everything in his once-ordinary world had turned upside down. It made no sense. He enjoyed women, had bedded many over the course of his lifetime, but never had he felt sosmitten.
She was not a conventional beauty, with the ethereal loveliness of Fae women, but striking and attractive, with moss green eyes that reminded him of his beloved forest. Her dark brown hair looked long and curly, but he could not tell with it tetheredback.
With those lush curves, the full hips and breasts, a male would have plenty to caress. Thinking about holding her in his arms, kissing her soft, warm lips, made his bloodheat.
Her bold manner intrigued him. Made him want to study her closer. Very much closer. Preferably without clothing, in a bed, where he could lick her from head totoe.
But she lived in the human world. And he did not belonghere.
Kieran walked back to the river and sniffed the air. Staler, less pure than the Winter Kingdom. Still, it wasn’t as bad as some Skin cities he’dvisited.
And now he was on unfamiliar and dangerous ground. He, who had lived more than a millennium, was uncertain for the first time in hislife.
One minute he’d been reclining on a thick tree limb outside his home in the Winter Kingdom, contemplating which Fae would enjoy the pleasures of hisbed.
The next he found himself kneeling before the goddess Danu, who suddenly had appeared tohim.
She’d told him she was sending him on an assignment. Then,pow!
There he was, naked in the SkinWorld.
He raised his eyes skyward. “A little guidance would be nice here. What do you want me todo?”
Silence.
It wouldn’t be that easy. He’d heard the goddess who created the race of Others liked riddles and complexity. Just for once, it would be nice to have everything laid out, nice and neat and planned. Step 1, do this. Step 2, dothat.
His hand automatically went to his hip. No dagger. He gazed hopefully upward. “What about aweapon?”
Nothing, only a deep silence, but for the rushing river and the hum of wildlife in the nearbyforest.
