- •Independence, intelligence, and unique beauty of modern women. My heroes all have one thing in common:
- •375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, usa
- •I would like to thank Mark Stelljes, the rosarian I consulted as I researched this book. Mark, your information
- •Incredibly erotic dream of my life. I really didn’t give a damn what his face looked like.”
- •Instead of answering her, Mikki twirled an errant strand of thick, copper-colored hair and bought time by
- •It was a solid friendship, founded in trust and mutual respect. And Mikki had no idea why she was so hesitant
- •Intended to turn his face to hers—to open her eyes and to finally, finally see him. Then she had touched them.
- •I was crossing the street, and I heard something weird behind me.”
- •Incredibly articulate like ‘Whoo-hoo! You are one hot mamma, Red.’ That effectively killed the fantasy.”
- •I’m more horny than horrified.” She bit her bottom lip. “Is that awful?”
- •Vibrant, deep blue. If hope had a color, it would be the blue of the old woman’s eyes, and Mikki was struck
- •Very hardy. It makes a great hedge, and it blooms for almost four straight months.”
- •Is your name, my dear?”
- •Its light. Slate blended with mauve and coral in the fading day. Mikki knew the colors would wane quickly,
- •I aothing cd hide within it for long. Mikki opened the knife. The little blade was honed to a razorlike edge,
- •Volunteers at the Rose Gardens noticed it, Mikki would simply smile her way through their admonishments
- •In the psychic? I don’t remember Nelly saying anything about that.”
- •Insightful and well educated. They create worlds filled with strong, passionate women and honorable, heroic
- •It was exhilarating!
- •Intrigued, she searched her memory for details of Medea’s story. She vaguely remembered that the play was
- •I will love my sons and daughters, and adore the gods.”
- •Into her throat, so that when she continued the invocation, her voice strengthened and magnified. Had she
- •It took several minutes for Mikki’s cheeks to cool down. She could easily imagine the blazing red of her
- •Imposingly between the archway she had just walked beneath and the second stone archway, which framed
- •It only took a second for her to work the Band-Aid free from her left palm. The cut was already scabbing
- •It was so silent that Mikki imagined a soundless bubble had been formed around her made of roses and cool
- •It’s just a delusion, she reminded herself firmly. Nothing more than a symptom of my overactive imagination.
- •Inviting suddenly beat against them in a frenzy of scent and sound. They were caught in a vortex of
- •Impossible. Home was a nice little apartment in a great location, not a room fit for a princess. Mikki’s
- •Intermingled with ornate trees, hedges, fountains and statuary. In the heart of the gardens she thought she saw
- •If that were true, then it didn’t matter whether she chose to stay or return. Either way she was screwed
- •It smelled like home.
- •If you understood who we were when Nera and I welcomed you, but surely you know who we are now that
- •I had no idea I was a Priestess of Hecate until the goddess told me so herself. So it’s not just that I don’t
- •Voluptuous. Her body was lush; the blue silk lapped around her like translucent waves. Petite Aeras wore
- •In the center of the circle near the heart of the goddess’s flame.”
- •I think of movement and invisible power. It is a contradiction—a paradox. It cannot be contained, but it can
- •Inspired by the element’s personification, Mikki continued, “Fire is passion and heat. It consumes, but it also
- •In warmth and security, as if her mother’s arms were once again around her. With a catch in her voice, Mikki
- •Impulse or hesitate until she could second guess herself. Mikki danced. Within the circle she twirled and
- •In the midst of the sacred circle.
- •In his arms as the power of the goddess transported them to Hecate’s realm. He closed his eyes and leaned
- •In response to the flexing of his muscles, pain shot through his arms and chest. He welcomed it. The pain
- •Vigilant. He had been tireless in his devotion. And he had been alone, even during the brief moments when he
- •In the casting of a circle. She would not know that she must ground herself and use food and drink to
- •It was only when she stopped dancing that Mikki felt the return of her sick dizziness. So many women . . .
- •Illuminate. Its light danced off a crystal goblet filled with dark red wine. She lifted it, admiring the elaborate
- •In the darkest shadows, washing around her and causing the hair on her body to prickle. “It is a belief to
- •It was totally fucking Loony Tunes.
- •Is not appropriate. What I did for you is out of duty. It is why Hecate called me into her service. Do you
- •Instantly, he halted. “Have care where you step. The glass can cut through the soles of your slippers.” The
- •Impossible that I was aware again. At first I sensed you, but I could not see you. I only knew your presence.”
- •It was so beautiful that it weakened the disbelief and cynicism she had learned from a very young age to carry
- •Intelligent gray eyes looked unnaturally mature and out of place in the goddess’s smooth young face. “I rarely
- •I may be older, but that also means I’ve lived through more experiences, so I suggest they watch their silly
- •Important in either her mother’s or her grandmother’s life. Not that either of them hadn’t been wonderful,
- •Interior? Now she was saying that beauty was everything.
- •Vast forest, a kind of netherworld, which is the crossroads between reality and magick. On one side of the
- •Instincts, Mikado. Allow your spirit and the knowledge held in your blood to guide you, and you will do well .
- •Various other types of mantles.” Taking a wide, soft brush from the vanity dresser, Gii fussed with Mikki’s
- •Voice rumbled intimately between them. If‘Ђfro
- •Inexperienced young girl, had called him back to her without knowing for sure what she wanted to say.
- •It’s your turn to listen and answer.”
- •I can’t do it on my own, so the women are going to have to help me.”
- •Ignored the lingering soreness in her body and the vague nausea she seemed unable to get rid of and looked
- •Ignoring Gii’s sudden surprised intake of breath, Mikki tilted her head in what she liked to think was a
- •I have to finish up here and then take a bath or something because I am definitely a mess and—”
- •It seemed that these roses were greener and healthier than those in the rest of the realm. Beyond the beds of
- •It was true, but she squelched the thought, pulling her mind from the beast to the mystery that surrounded the
- •I’ll definitely need you in the morning. I’m going to have breakfast with the four Elementals. Could you be
- •Instead of being included in one of their groups at lunch . . .
- •In handy in your line of work.”
- •If he was afraid of crushing it.
- •It’s a great resource for me. Now I don’t have to worry about not knowing my way around.” She couldn’t
- •In entering her bed, the very thought of which was abhorrent to her. The sight of me was a constant reminder
- •I should not be here with you.”
- •It was impossible between them because he was making it that way. It was as if there was some kind of
- •If she asked the goddess outright and Hecate commanded her to stay away from him, then what would she
- •In return; she had shivered beneath his lips.
- •If he would be the only one to pay the price, he would gladly do so. He knew it for truth, even though the
- •Imagined that she was preparing to summon the Elementals and begin her day. He, too, must begin his. She
- •Ink, and she’d drawn her own considerably less-attractive lines to quarter the blueprint. “As I said before,
- •In the dirt as she demonstrated exactly how the earth needed to be worked around the roots of the bushes.
- •It had taken Mikado longer to inspect the southern section of the gardens. The roses were more ill there,
- •Its shadows to him and attempt to cloak himself from prying eyes. There he would rest and perhaps drink
- •Intoxicating than wine could ever be. Then he realized what she had said and commanded himself to stop
- •It was the exact green of her eyes. She knew it flattered her, just as she knew Daphne had brought it to her at
- •It was okay for her to touch him. But his only movement was the pounding of his heart and the drawing of his
- •View of the torch-lit gardens. The north side of the hall held door after door, each ornately carved with mystic
- •If they like the wish, they turn it into a dream.”
- •Is a dream you will grant.”
- •In Tulsa when you started coming to me in my dreams—and I didn’t even know the man within you then.
- •It was not enough! The beast within him roared.
- •Into stone. She pulled away, but only by a hand’s width, so she could meet his eyes.
- •Into the marble troughs that stretched from its base outward and all the way to the four corners of the
- •Invoked the spells?” Gii said.
- •Imagine what was going to go on in the women’s wing tonight. I wish the same thing was going on in my
- •Is that Crete?”
- •Into the realm.”
- •In the middle of which sat a huge pallet covered with more pelts. This is where he sleeps. The thought sent a
- •Voluptuous swell of her ass.
- •Imagined knowing the joy of.”
- •It is your love that sustains us.” He closed his eyes and buried his head in her hair, willing himself not to
- •In the mundane world. He would still be without her, but Asterius could live with that. He would miss her for
- •Inhumanly feral grace that the comparison was jarring. She didn’t desire the golden man, but she did feel a
- •In some harmless flirtation. And why not? She felt amazingly pretty and completely loved. But that didn’t
- •It is not. Perhaps he will choose to keep you to himself while we visit the women in the rest of your pathetic
- •Instantly, Asterius checked his attack.
- •It is the goddess you must beseech in the future.” Without another word, the Titan disappeared from the
- •Very much alive. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to meet her lover’s.
- •Victory for them. If they can taint your life, even after they’ve been banished, then they haven’t truly been
- •Idiot! Do you have bandages? Ugh—some of these look like they need stitches. There has to be a doctor in
- •In the barely controlled strength of his thrusts. Mikki didn’t close her eyes. She wanted to see him, to watch
- •Violently. Mikki pulled back to see that his eyes were closed and tears were slowly tracking their way down
- •Violence was left to disturb you.” Gii’s voice shook, and her face was deathly pale. “They’re dying, Empousa.
- •Varieties, with their double blooms and abundant midseason and fall repeat blossoming. But why had these
- •Irrigation for the realm. Is that true?”
- •In the spring they would grow back and be healthier and hardier than before. Roses were survivors—not the
- •Imagine it, and so she refused to think about it. She would do what she had to do when the time came. Until
- •Into the walls of the cave and lighting more torches until the bedroom was alive with warmth and light. He
- •Into the heart of the gardens. Mikki didn’t allow her mind to wander. She hurried up the stairs, barely glancing
- •Into Asterius’s bed . . .
- •I began to hope that perhaps Hecate had allowed me to live for so longt o±ђ† for another reason.” Sevillana’s
- •Is only part of my name. I rarely use my family name—it is too difficult for me to hear it and to know that I
- •Very least, forced me back to face Hecate’s wrath. Instead, he said one small thing and then stepped aside and
- •It all made horrible sense. Asterius’s behavior when they first met and were attracted to each other . . . How
- •Into the meadow, followed by a group of young, beautiful women. Their flowing chitons were draped
- •In the shadows, Hecate smiled and patted one of her great beasts on his dark head.
- •Into eyes that were so big and blue and beautifully dark lashed that she suddenly and moronically forgot her
- •I’m not sure whether to get her another dog, get her some Prozac or take her for a visit to the pet psychic.”
- •Interested in women like me.”
In the middle of which sat a huge pallet covered with more pelts. This is where he sleeps. The thought sent a
wave of wet heat through Mikki’s body. She looked quickly from the bed to the walls and was amazed all
over again. The walls were filled with scenes from a garden covered with tier after tier of magnificently
blooming roses. Each level of the garden held a water element, and in the central tier sat a large statue of—
“It’s Tulsa’s Rose Gardens!” Mikki gasped. “How could you have had time to paint this since you’ve been
back?” She approached the smooth wall and touched it cautiously. It was completely dry. “There’s so much
here; this should have taken you months, or even years to paint.”
“It did,” he said.
She looked over her shoulder at him, not sure she had heard him correctly. “How can that be?”
“I painted this from images I saw in my dreams.”
Caressingly, she skimmed her hand over the wall. “It’s perfect. You got all the details right.”
“Does it make you long for your home?”
She could feel him getting closer to her, but she didn’t turn around, afraid that if she moved, he’d shy away.
“No. The Realm of the Rose is my home now. I don’t want to be anywhere except here, with you.”
“I ached to come to you today,” he said.
“And I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” Mikki’s hand was trembling, so she dropped it quickly tdivСЂ†o
her side.
He was so close to her she could feel the heat of his body against her back. Then his hands were on her
shoulders and his mouth was against her ear. “When you cast the spell opening the realm to men, I felt you
calling to me . . . beckoning . . . asking . . .” He growled low in his throat, and Mikki could feel the vibration
through the depths of her soul. “I thought it would drive me mad to stay away from you.”
“Then don’t stay away from me. I don’t want you to stay away from me,” she said breathlessly and she
pressed back into him, feeling his erection push against the swell of her ass. His hot lips were on the side of
her throat, and she could feel his sharp teeth barely graze her skin with his kisses. When his hands left her
shoulders to cup her breasts, she arched to meet him. Her arms went up to pull his head down to her, and, just
like in her long-ago dream, she felt his horns through the thick mane of his hair at the same time his teeth
found the hollow between her neck and shoulder and teased her with a stinging bite. She moaned and pressed
herself more firmly against him.
Suddenly he froze.
“No, don’t stop,” she pleaded.
“It—it’s gone!”
With the words his breath came out in a rush, and she could feel his body begin to tremble violently. Worried,
she turned in his arms. He was staring at her with an expression of mixed joy and shock.
“What’s wrong? What’s gone?”
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He took her face between his hands. “You love me.” His voice broke on the words, and tears dripped silently
down his cheeks.
She smiled. “Yes. I love you, but what’s gone?”
He closed his eyes, trying to contain the raw joy of his emotions. “The last of the spell, my Mikado, and the
last barrier between us. No matter what the Fates may bring, I will love you until the end of time.”
He bent and kissed her gently. Fisting her hand in his hair, she pulled his mouth more firmly against her. His
growl moved through her already-aroused senses like a knowing caress. He lifted his head and opened his
eyes. They were dark and fierce with desire. His bronze skin was already slick with sweat. She ran her hands
down his body, from his shoulders over his chest, to the cords of his abdominal muscles, which quivered
under her touch. When she’d begun touching him, he’d taken his hands from her face, and now they were
braced against the wall on either side of her so she stood in a cage of his arms.
“Don’t move. Just let me touch you,” she said huskily.
“I do not know how long I can keep my hands from you.” His chest rumbled, passion straining his voice.
“It won’t be long.” She touched the side of his face and then traced his lips with her thumb. “First I want to
see you—all of you.”
She saw the automatic doubt that shadowed his eyes, but he nodded slowly, acquiescing to her need. Her
hands slipped down his body again, this time not stopping until her finge sСЂ†ers hooked in the linen wrap
tied low around his waist. She pulled at the fabric, and it came free easily. Mikki stared at his naked body.
“Your father’s wife meant to curse you, but she had actually created a creature of incredible beauty,” she
whispered the words into life. “You’re not an abomination; you’re a miracle.”
He was raw male power so perfectly blended with beast that it was difficult to tell where exactly the man
ended and the beast began. His waist tapered to flanks and thighs covered with dark fur. From his waist down
he was less thickly muscled than he had appeared to be when his body was clothed. Naked, his lean, powerful
lines were visible. Mesmerized, Mikki stroked the place where the skin of the man gave way to the body of
the beast. Asterius bowed his head and growled. She looked into his face. His eyes were tightly closed, and he
was breathing heavily in an effort to control the creature within. Mikki felt a hot rush of desire as she watched
the beast stir. Her eyes moved back down his body. He was fully erect and formed like a man. The skin that
covered his shaft was the same bronze of his chest. Mikki took its heavy length in her hands, stroking with
one, squeezing with the other. When she touched him, his eyes opened to find her watching him.
“You don’t always have to keep the beast chained, Asterius,” she whispered. Still stroking him, she leaned
forward, circling his nipple with her tongue. “Let him loose, my love. I’m not afraid of him.” She took the
hard nub of his nipple between her teeth and bit sharply down.
His snarl was a wave of thunderous sound. He lifted her into his arms. His hooves thudded heavily against the
pelt-covered floor as he strode to his pallet. He laid her there, but before he could cover her with his body,
she stood, causing him, once again, to pull back. In his pained expression she read too easily what he was
thinking.
“You’ve got to stop believing that I’m afraid of you. I’m not. I didn’t stand up to get away from you. I just
thought you would like this off . . .” Mikki began to unpin the silver rose brooch that held her chiton together
over her right shoulder, but her hands were trembling and she could not unclasp it. Frustrated, she looked up
at him and then her expression changed to a seductive smile. “Would you do something for me?”
“Anything,” he rasped.
“Unsheathe your claws and get this thing off me.”
With a movement catlike in its grace, he silently extended the daggers from his fingers. Quickly and easily, he
sliced through the material at her shoulder. She shrugged and the chiton fell from her body. His dark eyes
gazed at her. He lifted a hand to touch her breast and then jerked it back when the still extended claw met her
soft flesh. Mikki caught his wrist.
“Your control is so great that you can create beautiful art with these claws. Use that same control to touch me
with them. Let me feel your power against my skin.” Unflinching, she pressed his hand against her breast.
Hesitantly, he let the sharp points graze the creamy smoothness of her skin as his hand moved from her breast
to her stomach and slid slowly . . . slowly . . . over the wet, hot core of her. Mikki sucked in her breath and
shivered.
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“Don’t stop,” she moaned.
His eyes never left her face as his claws trailed down her thighs and then around to rake softly over the