Amber Fire (3 page)

“No touching,” he ordered. His balls were tight, his dick throbbing. He would punish her for making him so hot. He kissed her, a hard, brutal kiss, meant to remind her who was in charge. But he knew all too well how on edge he was. How close to fucking her fast and hard, and then starting the seduction all over again. Hell. He'd throw her over his shoulder and take her to his cabin, keep her in bed until he had sated the beast in him, had his fill of her and his answers, too.

“Let go,” she ordered between his kisses. “I've waited too long for you not to be able to touch you.”

Those words spiked a warning in him. “Have you now?” he challenged, his eyes latching onto hers, his mood shifting dark—reminding him of that purpose he'd almost forgotten moments before. How long had she waited, he wondered? The few weeks since they'd met? Or had she come here looking for him? Having hunted him for months or perhaps years? Intending to kill him, as so many of the Yaguara had been killed by the father she seemed to worship?

Anger rose in him, as did a lusty need, more animal than man. He nipped her lip again. She yelped, and he licked it, releasing her hands. Then he claimed her mouth in a hungry, deep kiss that promised both pleasure and punishment.

The primal side of him snapped, wild and hot. His plan had been about control, the control he held precious, control that kept a Sentinel like himself alive. But he wanted her beyond that control. He wanted her as much as he wanted the truth. And that shouldn't be the case. Not when his people depended on him, not when he was a protector, a guardian to the innocent. The truth of how close he was to failing his duty ground through him as surely as did the lust.

Angry at her, at himself, at the damn Hunters she was traveling with who'd killed more of his people than he wanted to count, he slid his arm up her back and pulled her hard against his chest. A second later he had her in the water, turned her to face him. Pressed her against the wall and drove inside her. Buried himself deep.

“Is that what you wanted?” he demanded, his words a half growl. “Or is the pleasure the appetizer, Amber?” He tasted her, slid his tongue past her lips, let her taste his fury, taste his distrust and anger. Then wrapped her neck with his fingers, fixing her in a hard, unforgiving stare, before vehemently asking the question that would define her fate. “What are you willing to do to find the secrets of Yaguara?”

J
areth was buried deep inside her, making her ache with need, thrusting his hips against hers to the point she could barely think straight, let alone digest his sudden shift of mood. Like a raincloud erupting into downpour, dark and dangerous, he stormed over her, in her, around her. Primal. Fierce. Wild. These same qualities had her clinging to him, more aroused than she'd ever been in her life. But the look on his face, the feel of his fingers tight on the back of her neck, sent her heart racing in her chest, thundering in her ears. Shocked by the accusation he cast at her, Amber stared into the damning expression on his harshly defined, ruggedly alluring face, his anger vibrating through her, flavoring her lips from the punishing kiss of moments before.

“Answer the question,” he repeated, thrusting hard into her.

She gasped and pressed her hands on his shoulders, irritated that the man dared to make such demands when he was still inside her. “Stop moving and I will!”

“Not a chance in hell, sweetheart,” he said, thrusting against her and running a deliciously rough hand over her breast. He yanked her hands to her sides, pressed his cheek to hers, the stubble of a newly forming beard scraping along her jaw, his lips brushing her ear. “What are you willing to do to find Yaguara?”

Guilt twisted in her stomach, but it did nothing to destroy the fast-expanding anger inside her. “Not this!” she hissed. “I don't sleep around for research purposes.”

He drew back, studied her. “But yet, here we are,” he replied. “Me buried inside you, getting you off.”

She inhaled sharply. “Not yet you haven't, and for the record, I'm here because I
thought
I wanted you.”

“Oh you want me, sweetheart,” he said. “The question is why? Is it some sick Hunter fantasy? Fuck me and then try to kill me?”

“Hunter? What are you talking about?!” She tried to jerk her hands free. “You're insane. Let go of me.”

He held her easily, his lips twisted sardonically. “We've barely gotten started.” His eyes glistened with unbridled anger. “Are you one of them, Amber? Are you a Hunter?”

The sudden lethality in him stilled her. Kept her from fighting. “I don't know what you're talking about, but I swear to you, Jareth, I don't know what a Hunter is.” Did he think they were here to kill the jaguars? She thought of his tattoos. Of how ready her mind was to call him Yaguara no matter how illogical it was. If he thought they were trying to hurt the animals, hurt him maybe, his anger would be understandable. Her voice softened. “I am just an archaeologist, Jareth. I swear. Nothing more. Nothing less. I'm following my father's dream of discovering Yaguara.”

His lips thinned. “What role does Mike have in this?”

She was confused. “Mike's not hunting anything or anyone,” she said. “He was my father's partner. I needed his experience in the field. Jareth. I swear to you. We are here to discover history. That's all. And . . .” she hesitated. He had not told her he was Yaguara. The tattoos didn't mean he was Yaguara, simply that he loved tattoos. Perhaps loved the animals he lived around. Still, she wanted him to know, that if he
was
. . . “I would never do anything to put anyone in danger. I would never put you in danger.”

He stared down at her, studied her with such intensity that she felt he could see through to her soul. Then, slowly he released the hold on her wrists, his expression changing, the harsh lines softening. His hands slid to her face, cupped it. “You have no idea what you are in the middle of.”

“Tell me,” she pleaded, her hand covering his. “Please. Tell me what is going on.”

But he didn't tell her. He kissed her. A soft brush of his lips across hers, his tongue gliding along hers, the brutal demands of minutes before gone, though there was nothing tentative about the touch. Nothing tentative about this man.

The mood had, indeed, taken another swift turn; the storm had faded into a sensual aftermath she could not begin to deny. She was trembling, and not from anger. The anger was gone, the desire was not. The need for release was not. Amber's arms wrapped around his neck, passion spiraling in her stomach and making her clench her thighs together. She could feel him thicken inside her, feel her body melt around him.

Slowly, they began moving together, a sultry rhythm, his hips pumping with delicious precision—the long, hard length of him stretching her, caressing her. She was clinging to him, panting into his mouth, desire climbing past her reserve, clouding the questions and accusations. He was so powerfully male. So wildly capable of arousing her, as she had never been aroused in her life. She was hot. So hot. If he stopped this time, if he took her to the edge and pulled back, she would scream. She would yell. She dug her fingers into his shoulders. She might yell now.

Amber pressed herself against him, rotating her hips. Trying to get more. He seemed to understand. Palming her backside, he pulled her against him and drove into her. Once and then again. Over and over. Her thighs clenched around his waist, and she buried her face in that broad, spectacular chest. Without warning, the edge of orgasm splintered into a thousand pieces of rainbow-colored pleasures, the sweet bliss of his cock stroking her into yet a thousand more.

A deep, guttural groan slid from Jareth's lips, his head tilting back. Amber looked up in awe at the pure masculine beauty of that moment—the lust and pleasure wrenching across his features. It was arousing in ways that reached beyond her orgasm. And when he tilted his head down, his eyes meeting hers, she sucked in a breath at what she saw—his eyes were yellow, not teal as they had been before, yellow like the jaguars'.

Amber had found Yaguara in Jareth—and it was a secret she could never share with the world. Because, after tonight, she knew why her instincts had made her feel the need to protect Jareth back at her camp. Jareth was hunted, and the hunters were nearby. Somehow, she had to make him see—she and her crew were not those Hunters.

 

The full moon turned the waterfall into a stream of white fire pouring into the pond where Jareth and Amber lingered, blasting over the rocks with an illuminating force. As if nature knew what Jareth did—Amber could no longer be left in the dark. Jareth rubbed his chin across the silky soft veil of Amber's fast-drying hair, again thinking of how easy it would be to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to his cabin—keep her naked and beneath him. Safe.

Regrettably, though it would be pleasurable, doing that would only delay the inevitable. He had to enlighten her about the Hunters that she'd aligned herself with, and the danger that situation could put her in. He inhaled, forcing his body from hers, and pressed his hands to her face.

“We have much to discuss,” he said. “And as long as you are naked, talking is the last thing on my mind.” He scooped her into his arms, his gaze sweeping her puckered nipples, water droplets begging for his mouth. Instantly, his dick throbbed, thickening with desire. “We definitely need clothes.”

Amber clung to his neck. “Something tells me naked in the pond is going to be far more enjoyable than what you have to tell me.” He didn't comment. Any relief Jareth felt at discovering Amber's innocence had quickly faded into the need for action. He stepped out of the pond, settled her on the ground. She was already in question mode. “Who are these Hunters you spoke of?”

He reached down and snagged her clothes, pressing them into her hands. “Dress and then we'll talk.” Thinking of that hot, sweet body tightening around his, he added, “Quickly would be my preference.” He turned and gave her his back, determined to get dressed himself. The more barriers between them, the easier it would be to focus on the business at hand.

“I have a million questions,” she said behind him, thankfully scuffling around enough for him to believe she was actually putting on her clothes. “Ugh. It's really hard to put on wet clothes.”

“Tell me about it,” he grumbled as he endured the snug ride of his blue jeans up his wet thighs. Unable to resist, he glanced over his shoulder in time to see her tugging a T-shirt over a wet, practical-looking, black bra that still managed to be damn sexy. She was damn sexy. He grimaced and turned away, tugging his shirt over his head.

“So Yaguara is real,” she said, her voice filled with wonder.

Jareth tugged on his boots, tied his hair back at his neck, and turned to find Amber fully dressed, hands on her hips, her clothes wet and clinging to her curvy hips and breasts. He gave her a short nod. “Yes. Yaguara is real.”

A look of wonder slid over her face. “As in living today. Not extinct.”

“A small population remains,” he said. He motioned in the direction of two large rocks, and they sat down facing each other.

Amber blinked and repeated the words. “
A small population remains?
What does that mean? It sounds . . . not good. It sounds not good at all.”

He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees. “The Hunters date back to the Spanish Conquistadors; the Yaguara, much further than that. Yaguara had close ties with the Indians. Our women were dying in childbirth, and a Shaman aided our efforts to heal them. In turn, we offered food and protection. But then the Conquistadors came in large numbers, far larger than our own. They tortured the Indians to get to Yaguara. Yaguara were captured, and experiments were run to test their weaknesses.” He was careful to speak as if he were not Yaguara. He'd come as close to admitting what he was as he'd planned to. Amber was still human; their trust was newborn and fragile.

“And those tests led to their methods of hunting,” she said, her face pale with understanding.

“Yes,” he said. “But it was not our physical weakness they latched onto, but our emotional bonds. They attacked our villages. Threatened our women and children. Tried to enslave the men to fight for them.”

Stunned, she whispered, “My God. We've done this throughout time. What humans do not know and understand, we fear. And what we fear, we destroy.”

“The Conquistadors were not afraid,” Jareth said tightly. “They wanted to possess the Yaguara warriors, to use them to fight their wars. But they pushed us too far. Once we would take no more, once the Yaguara stood up and began to fight, they were demonized and have been ever since.” Unbidden, his mind painfully tracked through the hell of discovering that his sister and mother had been locked inside homes and burned alive—only one of the ways to kill an immortal, once ash always ash. Because he'd dared to fight his enemy. “Never again have we lived openly among humans.”

Her hands ran down her wet pants, her spine stiff. “Who are these Hunters? Are they part of the government? Please tell me our government is not this inhumane.”

He laughed but not with humor. “The Hunters are nowhere near being part of the government,” he assured her. “They see themselves as above the law. A private club that reaches across the world.” A club of which her father had been a high-ranking member. Something she wasn't going to accept readily, which was why now was not the time to tell her. No one wanted to hear about how their idol was really a ruthless, murdering bastard. And hers had been. Now was the time to focus on getting her out of this canyon safely.

There were secrets inside that cavern that the Hunters wished to find, like old Yaguara alliances with Indian tribes that existed to this day, and that could endanger innocent lives. Jareth would not allow that to happen. Nor would the leaders of his race. He did not want Amber, nor anyone else who might be oblivious to the Hunters and their agendas, to be caught in the crossfire if this turned nasty.

“There are Indian tribes still aligned with Yaguara,” he said. “This area is rich in that history. We cannot allow anyone to be put in danger. Protecting Yaguara's secrets is protecting innocent lives.”

“I would never do anything to hurt anyone,” she said. “I'll do what needs to be done.”

“You have to walk away from the cavern discoveries and do so now.” He went down on a knee in front of her, rested his palms on her slender thighs. “Listen to me, Amber,” he said urgently. “We are dealing with cold-blooded killers, and they are now working from inside your crew. That is why I had to be sure you were not one of them. My instincts said you were not a Hunter, but they are all around you. It was hard to believe you didn't know any of this.”

Her eyes widened, her hands settling urgently over his. “No. That can't be true. No one on my team would do something like this. No. You're wrong.”

He could see the struggle inside her reflected in her eyes, and the instant rejection. The defensiveness. She did not want him to be right, but on some level, she knew he was. Jareth drew her hands into his. “It's true, Amber. I'm sorry.”

“Who?” she demanded. “I want to know who on my crew is involved in this.”

He braced himself for her reaction. “If they sense you are on to them, or that you, or anyone you care about, might be a problem, they will react, Amber. And you won't like that reaction. These are cold-blooded murderers. Once you are out of here, I promise you, I'll make sure you know what you need to know.”

She pushed to her feet, hands on her hips as she glared at him. “Damn it,” she said, the look on her face incredulous. “I deserve to know who is involved.”

“And every innocent person on your crew deserves to survive this,” he ground out. He'd already said more than he'd intended to. “Get your people out of here.”

“If it's so important that we leave,” she asked suspiciously, “why did you let us stay this long? Why wait until now to come to me?”