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  He moved toward her. She scooted to the edge of the bed and stood to face him.

  “I thought we needed some time alone. Without Sidonia. Without Eve.”

  “Eve will be concerned that we haven’t come home.”

  “I let her know that you’re all right and we’re together. She’s asleep now.”

  “I’m not staying here.” Mercy took several weak, tentative steps, then faltered.

  Judah reached out and caught her before she fell, keeping her on her feet as he wrapped his arms around her. “Why should we fight the inevitable? I want you, and you want me.”

  When she tried to free herself from his tenacious embrace, he held fast.

  Tilting her head so that she could look him right in the eyes, Mercy said, “You are Ansara. I am Raintree. We hate each other. When you have killed your brother, then you and I will fight for Eve, and I will kill you.”

  He lowered his head, his lips hovering over hers. She tried again to break free, but without success.

  “And it will bother you to have sex with me and then try to kill me. How deliciously naive you still are, sweet Mercy.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  “Why? Because that’s what I called you the night you conceived Eve, the night we couldn’t get enough of each other?”

  “Let me go. Don’t do this. Don’t make me fight you tonight.”

  “I don’t want to fight.”

  She struggled against his superior physical strength but couldn’t overpower him. “Do you intend to try to rape me?”

  He loosened his hold on her, and she pulled free, managing to make it to the door before her knees weakened. As she stumbled, she reached out and broke her fall, managing to stay upright only by leaning against the door. Judah came up behind her and gently pressed himself against her, trapping her between his muscular body and the wood. When she felt his warm breath on her neck, she trembled.

  “I haven’t even touched you, and you’re falling apart,” he told her, his voice a sensual rasp.

  “I hate you.”

  “Hate me all you want.”

  Judah eased his hand across and down her shoulder, over her waist, and then he cupped her butt. Even through the cotton of her summer dress and panties, she felt the heat of his touch. And, God help her, she wanted him. All of him.

  When he reached down, grasped the edge of her skirt and slowly bunched it in his hand, she closed her eyes and whimpered. His fingertips moved upward beneath the dress and over her panties.

  She managed to say one word. “Don’t.”

  “Shh…” he hissed into her ear as his fingers found the small of her back, that ultrasensitive spot just above her buttocks. “Relax, sweet Mercy. Let me pleasure you.”

  Judah, please…please…

  He rubbed his index finger over her sacrum, faster and faster, harder and harder. Mercy held her breath as sensation built inside her. Suddenly a zap of electrical energy shot from Judah’s fingers directly into the vertebrae in the small of her back.

  Jerking uncontrollably, Mercy cried out as she climaxed.

  Chapter 14

  How could she have let this happen? She could have escaped. She could have stopped him. Why hadn’t she?

  Because you wanted this. Because you want him.

  Judah eased his hand out from under her dress, letting the skirt fall back down over her legs, the hem brushing against her calves. But he kept her pinned against the cabin door, her back to his chest, his erection throbbing against her buttocks.

  As the aftershocks of her orgasm faded away, Mercy fought an inner battle, her heart versus her mind. Her heart whispered soft, passionate yearnings, but every logical thought commanded her to flee.

  Fight your desires.

  Fight Judah. Don’t let him do this to you.

  “Let me go,” she pleaded. “You don’t want me this way, taking me against my will.”

  “I’ll take you any way I can.” He murmured the words against her neck. “And make no mistake, sweet Mercy, I intend to have you. Tonight.” He shoved himself against her, grinding his erect penis against the cheeks of her ass.

  Calling forth what strength the recent hours of sleep had regenerated within her, Mercy focused on overpowering Judah and gaining her release. She needed only a moment of forceful energy to take him off guard and free herself. As he ran his hands over her, his breath hot against her neck, she shot a jolt of electrical pressure from her body into his. He bellowed in pain as the shock waves hit his nerve endings.

  She broke away from him, grasped the doorknob and yanked open the door.

  Run. Fast. Get away while you can.

  If only she possessed the ability to levitate, she could fly away from danger.

  With her energy once again greatly depleted, Mercy made it only ten feet from the cabin before Judah caught her and whirled her around to face him. Hardened with rage over what she’d done, he focused his frigid glare on her body, raking over her from neck to toes. She felt the intensity of his gaze, a sensation of hot and then cold sliding downward, between her breasts, across her belly, between her thighs. Her dress split apart where his gaze moved over it, as did her bra and panties beneath.

  Judah released her, then stepped back to view his handiwork.

  Calling on what energy she had left to form a countermove, she sent a mental blast straight toward him, but he caught it mid-flight and crushed it as it were nothing more than spun glass. Her only hope was conjuring a spell. But did she have enough strength? And should it be a defensive or an offensive spell?

  When Judah smiled, thinking himself the victor in their battle, she remained perfectly still, as if she were unable to move. But all the while she worked frantically, mentally reciting the ancient words in the tongue of her ancestors, casting a powerfully dangerous spell that would instantly infuse her with enough strength to defend herself.

  Judah stopped abruptly, his big body rigid. Do you know what you’re doing? In your weakened condition, such a spell could kill you once its effects wear off.

  How did he know what she was trying to do?

  He was inside her head, listening!

  How do you know the language of my ancestors? Mercy demanded.

  Because they were my ancestors, too, and just as your elders taught you the language, my elders taught me.

  “Doesn’t knowing to what lengths I’m willing to go to escape from you tell you anything?” she shouted.

  Judah didn’t reply.

  Suddenly she felt him probing her mind. No! He was trying to erase the mystical connections she had been creating. One by one, the words disappeared. She struggled to replace them, but he worked faster than she did, removing more than she recreated, until the magic of the words exploded inside her, shattering the last of her energy and leaving her completely vulnerable.

  He came toward her again, determination in every step.

  “You’re an animal! A brute!” She inched backward, intending to turn and run, but he was on her before she realized it, swooping down over her like a giant bird of prey capturing his quarry.

  She struggled, beating her fists against his face and chest, flailing like a fish on a hook. While physically fighting him, she delved deeply inside herself, seeking the core of her strength. She might be weak and exhausted, but the essence of her powers remained. Always.

  When Judah manacled her wrists in one hand and twisted her arms behind her back with the other, she kicked at him, hitting his ankles and calves. He thrust his left knee between her thighs and slid his leg around and behind hers, causing her to lose her balance. They fell together onto the ground, Mercy on her back, the wind knocked out of her, and Judah sprawled on top of her.

  She gasped for breath, her chest aching as her lungs struggled for air.

  He rose up just enough so that she could catch her breath, but before she had a chance to renew their sparring match, Judah plunged his hand between her thighs and ripped the torn fragments of her panties from her body. M