Savage Need (Temple of Luna, #2) by Moira Rogers Page B

you're also used to being in control of your own domain."
    She'd never aspired to the silver robes, had always known her first and greatest value to Luna was as a healer. "I don't plan on making a habit of this, but it's a special case, Celine. I've known Jarek for years. If I have any hope at all of helping him, I have to try."
    The high priestess nodded. "All right. But you'll do it with a guard standing outside your door with a tranq gun or not at all. Your modesty is less important to me than your life, and I will have to answer to your cousin for the care I've taken with his blood relatives."
    Zahra wasted no time in rising. "Agreed. Thank you, Celine."
    "Don't thank me. I'm doing this against my better judgment, Zahra. You promise me you'll take care, and that you'll call for help if you need it."
    "Of course." So many promises for one day. She only hoped she could keep them all.

    The interior of her room was dim compared to the sunlit main hall, and Zahra shut the door behind her and blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. "Jarek?"
    He sat perched on the edge of her bed, his shoulders tense and his gaze fixed on the wall ahead of him. "You came back."
    "I told you I would." She hesitated by the door and unfastened her outer robe. It dropped away, leaving her clad in only the sheer white robe she wore next to her skin and the jeweled leather cuffs around her wrists and ankles. "I wanted to come back."
    "I tried to remember you." His voice sounded rusty with disuse, but he seemed more willing to speak now that they were alone. "I tried to remember why you feel like you're mine. I can't."
    Zahra knelt at his feet, her hands clenched to hide their shaking. "You kissed me once. At a party, the last time I saw you."
    The memory was vivid, clearer than it should have been. A classmate of theirs had thrown a graduation party, and she'd sought refuge from the noisy festivities in a deserted room. Only instead of solitude, she'd found Jarek. A conversation and too much wine had led to a single long kiss. Zahra remembered their tongues mingling, heat and pleasure and need.
    The only other thing she remembered was that it had ended too soon.
    His gaze dropped from the wall to her face, then lower. A look of possessive need filled his face as he lifted both hands to cup her cheeks, heartbreakingly gentle in spite of the violence raging just beneath the surface. "Are you scared of me?"
    She was scared of what had happened to age him, to harden the intense blue eyes she remembered so well. She was scared that she might not be strong enough to drag him back from the edge. "I'm scared of a lot of things, Jarek, but not of you."
    "Zahra." He whispered her name as his fingers tunneled into the long strands of her hair. "I want to taste you. Your mouth."
    Yes. She rose on her knees and eased between his legs. Her hands slid up his thighs, and she marveled at the heat and hardness of his muscles through the thin ceremonial pants he wore. "Taste me."
    Long fingers curved around the vulnerable back of her neck, the grip just tight enough to show strength. To show dominance. His heartbeat thundered in her ears as he licked her lower lip and growled softly. "Open."
    Zahra opened her mouth on a gasp, surprised by the way the simple brush of his tongue stoked the fire inside her. His kiss was slow and demanding, claiming her mouth with every hard thrust of his tongue, every rough scrape of his teeth.
    He didn't stop, not until her head was spinning and her hands were clenched on his legs. "Jarek." It was too soon for her skin to feel too tight, for her to shiver at the slightest touch.
    Too soon for her to be so ready.
    He bit her lip hard and growled into her mouth, his fingers fisting in her hair. "Do you want me to stop?"
    The thought almost hurt. "No, don't stop. Please."
    His hand urged her head back until her throat was bared to him. He nuzzled the edge of her chin and inhaled. "I'm in Luna's Temple. I remember that. But you don't