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Goddess, but his form of torture was delicious. Her entire body tingled.

He nibbled her calf muscles and then began his slow ascent upward.

“Spread your legs for me.”

It was strangely arousing, Sara thought, as she obeyed. Her rump was sticking up, her head was down, and she was completely exposed to him.

He kissed the inside of her thigh and she gasped. He nibbled his way upward and her hips began to undulate on their own. “No,” he growled and grasped them firmly.

Sara mewled and then her whole body shuddered as he swept his tongue slowly back and forth along her perineum. Dear Goddess, how much more could she endure?

His tongue circled the opening to her vagina and then he plunged inside, still holding her firmly in place. Sara clawed at the sheets and tried not to scream. He was bringing her so close to the edge and yet, not allowing her to come. She felt like an inferno was blazing between her legs.

“By the gods, you taste good,” he said as he flicked his tongue back and forth and around her folds, but avoided the needy clit that would bring her relief.

“Lucas, please!”

“Please what?”

“I need you inside of me!” Goddess, she was going to incinerate right here on the spot. There would only be a burnt outline of her body and some ashes.

He moved up and she felt the tip of his erection press against her swollen

opening. “Like this?” he asked.

She tried to wiggle, but his clasp was still tight. “More!”

He eased in about an inch, just enough where she could feel herself begin to

stretch. Deep muscles began to contract on emptiness. She clenched her teeth.

“Lucas! Stop teasing me.”

“But I’ve just started,” he said and she could tell he was grinning. He obliged her by slowly sliding his cock in about a third of its length and then withdrawing, only to slide it in a bit farther and then pull his shaft out again.

She whimpered, a sound between a sob and a scream. “You’re driving me crazy.”

“Hmmm. Is this better?” Lucas stroked the head of his penis forward against her hot, taunt nub and then back.

Her body began to spasm as it reached for the orgasm and then he stopped just

short of that final stroke that would have brought her to the Big O. Sara growled.

Deep inside Lucas, the wolf responded. He rammed into her, burying himself to the hilt, plunging into her again and again, grinding his pelvis against her sweet ass as she pushed her hips up, taking more and more of him.

Goddess, he felt good. He stretched her and filled her completely, each

penetration harder as he rode her, his balls striking her hard little nub on his down thrusts.

He lifted her legs suddenly, bring them across his thighs. The angle allowed him to spear deeper and her body convulsed in one huge, shuddering contraction that spiraled into undulating waves of pleasure. As if from a distance, she heard his roar and then felt his hot seed spurt into her and she exploded.

SEARCH FOR THE SPEAR Cynthia Breeding 137

He collapsed beside her and drew her into the circle of his arm. For long

moments, they lay silent, panting to get their breaths back.

“Your turn next” he finally said. “You chose how you want to play.”

Sara gave him a devilish smile. “I’m going to torture you the way you did me.”

“Promise?” Lucas said with a lazy smile.

She leaned down to give him a love-bite. “Oh, yeah.”

* * * *

The damn Templar ought to be asleep by now. He’d spent hours outside waiting

for the lights to go out. No doubt he’d exhausted the bitch too. Balor could smell the musk of sex even through thick walls. Still, he brought up warded shields that would keep him from being scented by the wolf. This was one time he’d outsmart the beast.

To his own amazement, he heard the shower running. The bathroom was

recessed which is why he hadn’t seen its light on. From the sounds emanating from there, it sounded like they were doing much more than taking a shower. So much the better for him.

He glanced quickly around. The spear was leaned upright in a corner near the

bed. To his delight, the ancient shield was braced next to it. The dark gods were with him tonight. The shield would add to his own power for it had old Druid magic in it. He took a step toward his treasures and then stopped, his eye caught by something gleaming on the bedside table.

The Templar cross! The fool must have taken it off while he screwed the bitch.

Baylor almost chuckled as he walked across the soundless carpet and picked it up.

Without the cross, much of Ramsey’s protection was gone. And, while Baylor couldn’t kill him, he could banish him into a world between worlds. A kind of suspended animation, as it were. This was Beltane. The veil would lift at dawn. Even now, the sky was beginning to display a pinkish glow.

He turned as Lucas stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around him, the Kincaid whore right behind him. For a moment, the immortals looked into each other’s eyes. Balor smiled and held up the cross.

“Get behind the shield,” Lucas ordered Sara as he lunged for the spear.

Balor laughed as the two scrambled across the room. “I bind thee, Templar, to the Winds of Time. May you linger there forever.”

“Lucas’ hand closed around the spear. “Fly true!”

Balor threw up another invisible shield, this one so thick that the room was filled with a dense fog that even he couldn’t see through. He dove for the floor.

Silence. His spell had worked. The Templar was gone and, it seemed, so was the bitch. Good riddance. The little witch had too much power for a mortal anyway. They could hang together, not being able to move, for eternity.

The fog dissipated. Cautiously, Balor stuck his head over the edge of the bed.

The room was empty. Pleased with himself, he stood and then, seconds later, he bellowed out his rage.

Both the spear and the shield had disappeared.

* * * *

SEARCH FOR THE SPEAR Cynthia Breeding 138

Sara pulled the terry bathrobe closer and looked around. The room—or whatever it was—was aglow with thousands of candles that reflected off of what appeared to be millions of twinkling diamonds. The air was fragrant with the smell of scented beeswax.

“Where are we?”

Lucas set the spear and shield down next to an oak table. “I think we’re in

Merlin’s cave,” he said, “and he’s not going to be happy.”

Before she could answer, they heard footsteps approach. In a moment a man with long white hair appeared, wearing a midnight-blue robe. A pair of surprising blue eyes glared at them from beneath scowling brows.

“Who dares interrupt my sleep?” he demanded in a deep resonating voice and

then he peered closer at Lucas. “Umph. It’s you. What name are you using this time?”

“Lucas Ramsey,” he answered. “Good to see you again, too, Merlin.”

“Merlin? As in King Arthur and the Round Table Merlin?” Sara looked from

one of the men to the other.

“Who’s this?” the old man demanded. “It sure isn’t Gwenhwyfar again, is it?”

Lucas grimaced. “Don’t you remember she and Arthur took the final Binding

together centuries ago?”

Merlin snorted. “That boy never would listen to me.”

“Would someone please explain to me what is going on?” Sara interrupted. “I

feel like I’m doing time-travel here.”

“In a way you are, love,” Lucas said and put an arm around her shoulder. “Balor tried to suspend us in Time, but I must have reached the spear first and it sent us here.”

Merlin shook his head. “It was the shield, boy. I magicked it when I gave it to Galahad. It found its way home. Apparently,” he said as he sighed, “with two uninvited guests.”

“You never did adopt courtly manners,” Lucas observed dryly.

“Hmph,” Merlin said again. “Didn’t have to. You and Bedwyr and Gawain took

the honors there.”

“Wait,” Sara said and stared at Lucas. “Are you telling me you lived during King Arthur’s time?”

Merlin cackled. “You don’t know who this is, do you?”

“Never mind,” Lucas answered with a stern look at the old magician. “I’m Lucas Ramsey now. But yes,” he replied as he turned back to Sara. “I’ve lived many lives. A knight of the Round Table was one of them. I was also a Templar.”

She reached for the edge of the chair by the table and sank down onto it. “First you’re a werewolf .... ”

“And keep that wolf leashed in here,” Merlin snapped. “You know it always

upsets Sophie.”

Sara wasn’t even going to ask. And then she ducked as silent wings whirred by her and an owl perched on the mage’s shoulder, blinking at her with round eyes.

“The wolf’s been permanently tamed,” Lucas said and grinned at Sara. Then he

looked back at Merlin. “Since you obviously prefer your solitude, perhaps you’d be so kind as to send us back through the portal? I’ve some unfinished business with Balor.”

“The devil’s own spawn. He’s the one that fired up Mordred and got my boy

killed.” Merlin spat. “But I can’t send you back. Not now.”

Sara hoped her voice didn’t tremble too much. “Why not?”

SEARCH FOR THE SPEAR Cynthia Breeding 139

“Because the portal only opens once a year. You’ll have to wait until next

Beltane before I can send you through.”

“A year from now,” Lucas said grimly. “Balor has the means to find the other

Hallows. I can’t let that happen.”

The magician raised a scruffy eyebrow. “Even I can’t manage Time. Any fellow knights still running around that you can press into service?”

“I don’t think so,” Lucas said. “There’s a vampire .... ”

Sara groaned. “Werewolves. Now vampires? Am I going to wake up in

restraints in a psycho ward somewhere?”

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart. You really aren’t losing your mind.”

A crystal ball materialized on the table in front of Merlin and Sara jumped. The old man reached up and plucked a hair from her head. It would have hurt except the incense that just appeared beside the ball took her mind off of it. If she wasn’t already mad—and she wasn’t convinced—she certainly would be in a short time.

The mage drew her hair through the smoke and then laid it on the crystal ball. He peered inside, muttering something that Sara couldn’t understand, and right then she didn’t even want to. “Just as I thought,” he finally said. “There is another immortal in your world.” He swept his hand over the ball. “Look.”

Lucas bent over her shoulder. Sara leaned forward. “Oh, no,” she said.

Michael looked back at her. A white light glowed around him and in his hand

was a fiery sword.

Sara closed her eyes and Lucas gently rubbed her shoulders. “I should have

known,” he said.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked again. She half-expected to see wings

sprout off her friend. “What is he? An archangel?” She could remember a number of times when Michael had definitely not acted angelic. Unless there were serious problems with everyone’s concept of Heaven.

“That’s probably what the Christos people call him,” Merlin said with a sniff.

“He’s an Avenger. For the Cosmos.”

“Of course. For the Cosmos.” Sara didn’t want to know any more. Not now.

“I’ll explain later, Sweetheart,” Lucas said and turned to Merlin. “We need to get a message through to him.” He indicated the vellum wrapped around the spear and bound by a leather thong. “It provides the next clue.”

Merlin glared at him. “Don’t ask me to .... ”

“You know she’s the only one who can move between the worlds, Merlin. You

have to take the curse off Nimue.”

“Nimue?” Sara asked weakly.

Merlin glowered. “I still haven’t forgiven her for locking me in that tree.”

Lucas threw up his hands. “Arthur went over that with both of you!”

“Nimue,” Sara repeated. “The Lady of the Lake?”

Merlin snorted. “She wishes. No, that was Vivian. Nim was always too flighty.”

“Nim,” Sara said and looked at Lucas as understanding dawned. “Not my Nim?”

“Afraid so, Love,” Lucas said with a grin.

“Of course,” she said, “why would that surprise me?”

He brushed back a stray strand of her hair. “Apparently, you have some special powers for Nimue to have chosen to work with you. Or maybe she knew I would come SEARCH FOR THE SPEAR Cynthia Breeding 140

along some day.”

Sara took a deep breath. “About that. Who, exactly, are you anyway?”

“I’m the man who’s going to love you for eternity,” he replied. “The rest is a long story.”

“I think I have Time,” she answered and reached up to put her arms around his

neck. “Start explaining.”

The End