he lifted her palm, kissed her forehead, then resettled her palm over the kiss. "you're therian. the radiant. the shaman's heading out to feral house this morning to find the dark charm and destroy it."

"and that's it?"

"hopefully, yes. you should be fine."

"good. that's good." and it was. but she didn't feel as relieved as maybe she should have. something was bothering her. something she couldn't remember. "so, what happens now? are we back to trying to ascend me?"

lyon nodded as he looked down at her. "once the shaman's through and i'm certain you're okay, we'll go home." his brows drew down in a way that worried her.

"what's the matter?" she asked softly.

"the pairing. you're the true therian radiant, so it may have worked after all. but the magic may still have thrown it off. we can't ascend you unless we're one hundred percent sure we've got the right feral as your mate. we're going to have to do another pairing."

"yes." kara grinned and sat up, swinging around to face him on her knees. "i know it was off. it's you who's my mate, lyon. you." but as she caught his grim expression her delight evaporated. "you don't want it to be you."

he sat up until he faced her and slid his palms over her cheeks, cradling her face in his hands. his eyes spoke of fervent need. and sadness.

"i want to be chosen to be your mate more than anything i've ever wanted in my life. anything."

tears sprang up in her eyes. "really?"

"don't kara. don't be happy about that, because it doesn't matter. it's not my choice to make any more than it's yours. the pairing will decide. only that. and i fear the results will be no different than they were the first time. perhaps not vhyper. but someone. someone who isn't me."

he leaned in and laid a gentle kiss on her brow. "that may not be a bad thing."

"how can you say that?"

"you deserve someone who can make you happy, sweetheart. someone like tighe, who will make you laugh and smile. i'm not that man. i don't have that laughter inside me."

"you're wrong, lyon. so wrong. you're the only one i need."

his thumbs feathered across her cheekbones. "what happens, happens, kara. the pairing will decide, and we'll both live with that decision. the goddess always chooses the best feral for her radiant. the one absolute is that once you accept her choice, you'll be happy. and you'll ascend safely. that's all that matters."

"what about you?"

he pulled her onto his lap and tucked her head beneath his chin. "knowing you're happy will be enough."

kara pulled away to look at him. "it's not enough for me. knowing you're unhappy will destroy me." she leaned in and kissed him on the mouth. "but, we're getting ahead of ourselves, don't you think? the pairing may still choose you. and right this minute, i'm free to choose my lovers."

she looped her arms around his neck locking her fingers as she looked into his eyes. "i want you. even if you can't promise me forever, you can give me now. please, lyon. please let me love you as i want to. if only this last time."

her body tensed, knowing him well enough to know his honor would probably send him stalking from the room. but to her amazement, he kissed her with all the passion of a lover, intending to see the act through to the end.

he pulled back, his mouth damp, his eyes glowing with a fierce, carnal light. "yes," he growled.

"really?"

his mouth gave a self-deprecating twist. "i've been ordered to bring you to release to cleanse you of the magic. a full-penetration release."

she shivered at his words. "the shaman's orders?"

"yes."

kara grinned. "i think i love that shaman." he glowered at her with mock severity. "i don't know what the future holds, but for this moment, i don't want you thinking of anyone but me. you're mine, kara macallister. mine." his hand slid beneath her shirt to cover her breast, staking his claim.

lyon covered kara's sweet mouth in a deep, drugging kiss while his fingers sank into the softness of her breast. she shifted on his lap, swinging her leg around until she straddled him, exploding his senses.

goddess, he wanted this. wanted her. today, tomorrow, every day for the rest of his life.

passion erupted as he shoved his tongue into her warm, welcoming mouth, desperate to get inside her. as their tongues slid against one another, creating a sensuous friction, kara moaned and ground her hips against his growing erection, her passion rising. with one hand, he cradled her head, with the other he cupped her buttocks, pressing her hard against him. when she shattered on a low cry and clung to him, he held her, keeping her pressed tight as his beast gave a rumble of hot satisfaction.

what would he do if the pairing gave her to another yet again?

kara pulled back to look at him with eyes alight with a sexy, slumberous fire. his gaze dropped to her lips, full and damp from his kisses. his chest ached with an overwhelming tenderness.

"you're so beautiful," he murmured. "i need you, kara." he kissed the corner of her mouth, her jaw, her neck, while his hand cupped and kneaded her breast. "i have to be inside you, sweetheart."

her eyes melted with heat and tenderness as she laid her palm against his cheek. "i want you inside me. always."

his conscience rose from the fires of his passion, reminding him what happened last time he'd touched her prior to a pairing. did he really want to foul a second one?

his beast growled. the shaman had ordered kara penetrated, and he'd kill anyone else who tried to touch her. this was the only way.

praise the goddess.

kara kissed his mouth, a gentle peck. "you're waffling. i can see it in your eyes. tell me you're going to make love to me, lyon. i want to hear you say it."

her hand slid down his chest to his abdomen and lower to stroke his growing erection. the need in her eyes shimmered. "say it, lyon."

his body shuddered, and he kissed her hard. "i'm going to make love to you, kara."

"say it again."

"you doubt my word, woman?" he found himself smiling at her and felt a strange and wonderful lightness he couldn't explain. and had no desire to. all he wanted to do was fulfill the promise he'd just made to the woman in his arms.

she grinned at him. "just making sure." her lips landed at the corner of his mouth, teasing him with infinite gentleness. "i'm going to make love to you, too."

when she would have mirrored the kiss on the other side of his mouth, he flipped her onto her back on the bed, startling a laugh out of her. the sweet sound filled him with such happiness he grinned at her and followed her down. she rewarded him well by flinging her arm around his neck and raining kisses on his cheek and eye and nose. never had anyone kissed his nose. or his cheek, for that matter. not even as a child. hell, as a child, he hadn't even known what a kiss was.

his grin grew into laughter as the tiny kisses tickled. "what are you doing?"

she stopped kissing him and met his gaze, her eyes glistening with a fine sheen of tears. "i'm loving you," she said softly, the depth of emotion in her eyes almost more than he could bear.

but then she smiled at him, her eyes turning mischievous, easing the sudden aching tension her words had formed deep inside him. "would you prefer i kiss you somewhere else?" her grin turned positively wicked. the thought of where he wanted those lips, nearly sent him over the edge.

"everywhere," he growled. he licked and nibbled his way from the hollow below her ear to the pulse pounding at the base of her throat. "i want your mouth on me, kara. but first i'm going to lick every single inch of you."

the look she gave him was pure fire. "i dare you."

the lightness inside him erupted like tiny fizzing bubbles, and he laughed. never had he felt so good. goddess, but this must be love.

he set about proving he was up for her dare, starting with her face, then her neck, until she was moaning and rocking beneath him. but he stopped short of bringing her to release.

when he pulled back, kara groaned. "no fair."

"patience, sweet radiant. you have too many clothes on." but when he pulled up her pajama top, his gut clenched at the fading dashes of scars circling her waist, his body pained by the sight of them. he traced each one with his lips, then his tongue, giving her pleasure where last night she'd only known pain.

but not too much pleasure. at each place his lips touched, he kissed her with tender thoroughness until he felt her passion on the brink, then he moved on without giving her release.

"lyon..."

"patience, little one."

"payback is going to be hell, i hope you know." her promise was half laughter, half groan.

he pulled the shirt from her, and laid kisses and small licks on her torso and her arms, then removed her pajama pants and indulged himself on every inch of her slender, shapely legs.

she lay on the bed in nothing but skin damp from his kisses and flushed with heat, her hips rocking with unfulfilled need, her blue eyes flashing with fire and desperation. and promise.

without a doubt, she was the most glorious creature ever made.

she licked her lips, the movement unstudied and intensely erotic. "i want you, lyon."

the blood pounded through his veins in answer. he was hot and throbbing and loving every minute of this sweet torment.

"take off your clothes for me," she said. "i want to see you. all of you."

he complied, stripping off his clothes and tossing them to the floor as her hungry gaze fed on his body, hardening him almost to the point of pain.

lyon joined her. at the first lick of his tongue on her nipple, she cried out.

"lyon, i can't take any more. touch me. please."

he grinned. as his mouth moved to cover one perfect breast, his hand slid down the plane of her stomach, then farther, dipping between her thighs. his fingers found the drenched center of her need.

at the first stroke of his fingers, she moaned.

he lifted his head and met her heated, frantic gaze. "come for me."

"lyon."

dipping his head again, he slid one finger deep inside her, then a second as he took her breast in his mouth. with his tongue, he stroked her tight, sweet nipple. with his fingers, he pushed in and out of her until he felt her passion rise and finally break as he brought her to a crashing, violent release.

when her shudders subsided, she ran her fingers through his hair. "oh, that was good. now it's my turn to have my way with you."

he pulled his fingers out of her and tasted the nectar, far sweeter than any he'd ever known. "not yet," he told her. he moved down her body until he was kneeling between her legs, then he lifted her hips, opening her to his hungry mouth. the first stroke of his tongue on her most sensitive flesh sent her over the edge, crying out. he kissed her, drank of her, and drove her to orgasm after orgasm, one starting long before the one before had ended, until she was gasping for mercy.

"that was..." she struggled as he released her and came to lie beside her, pulling her against him. "that was... the most amazing... the most..."

he kissed her shoulder, smiling. "want me to do it again?"

"no. not... yet. i'm going to have a heart attack if you start again."

he chuckled. "therians don't have heart attacks. but i'll give you a short break."

"not... no." she struggled out of his hold to sit up, then looked down at him, meeting his gaze with an expression he couldn't name.

slowly, her eyes filled with tenderness, her lips lifting in a sweet, sexy smile. "how could you ever think you couldn't make me happy?"

he stared into her eyes. "what i did made you happy?" her answer suddenly mattered more than he would have thought possible.

she laughed, the sound music to his soul. "oh, yeah." her eyes sparkled. "but not just that. everything you do makes me happy. every touch, every look, every kiss. every word. you make me happy, lyon. you."

he didn't understand how anything she said could be true, and yet he couldn't deny the joy he saw in her face and felt shimmering out of her. deep inside, he felt the splintering and shattering of a belief he hadn't realized existed inside him until kara shone the brilliance of her light into the crevices of his heart. the brittle belief that love and smiles were alien to his soul. the belief that love, which he'd never really known, had never been meant for him.

he stared into the glistening gems of her eyes, then pulled her down, kissing her thoroughly, telling her silently how much her words healed the ache of loneliness so long hidden even from himself.

as his hand slid to her breast, she broke off the kiss and rose to her knees, a mischievous smile lurking on her mouth. "it's my turn."

he watched her, smiling, feeling the weight of centuries lifted from his heart even as he banished his doubts that after the next pairing this woman would be his.

he didn't want to think about that. for once, he wished to live only in this moment. with kara.

"your turn for what?" he asked.

"to have my way with you."

holding his gaze, she bent to kiss his chest, flicking her tongue across his nipple as he had hers. he forced himself to lay unmoving beneath the tender torture of her kisses and her tongue, his chest filling, expanding until he thought maybe therians could have heart attacks after all.

kara lifted her head, her blond hair falling in soft waves around her face, her eyes glowing. "you don't respond to me as crazily as i do you."