Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker Page A

on his lean face.
    Lowering his head, he breathed into her ear, “You know one of the most amazing things about being a receiver? I can hear and feel every thought that passes through you, since you don’t seem to understand how to guard against such. And when I touch you—I can feel just exactly how much you like it.”
    Forcing a breath into her tight lungs, she said weakly, “That’s not exactly fair, is it?”
    Kalen laughed, reaching up and closing his hand over hers. “Well, now, I don’t know that it isn’t fair. After all, you can imagine how touching you affects me just by . . .”
    Her eyes met his as he drew her hand to his erection, closing it over the hard length covered by the thick material of his dark pants. Swallowing, Lee trailed her fingers slowly up his length, feeling the slight pulse even through the layers of clothing. “See?” he whispered as his cock jerked under her touch. “I think this makes us even.”
    Lee was pretty certain there was something faulty with that reasoning, but the way her brain was functioning, or rather, wasn’t functioning, she’d be damned if she could figure out what the problem was. With a slight smile, she dragged her hand back up his length. She’d figure out logistics and thought and everything else later . . . much later . . .
    The rumble of the ground distracted her for a minute, but only a brief minute. As she arched up into his touch, Lee slowly massaged his cock, dazed pleasure suffusing her entire mind.
    Damn it, his body was so hot. His mouth closed around her nipple, sucking on it with hard, rough pulls of his mouth. Lee fisted one hand in the thick black hair at his nape, holding him tight against her, whimpering as the very earth seemed to shift beneath her.
    Kalen arched her back over his arm, one hand going to her waist, to the tie of her harem-style pajama pants, and she let go of his neck, reaching to tug at the knot even as he was trying to tug them down her hips. One second later she was all but naked and he was fumbling to complete the task.
    The next second, he was gone, turned away from her, slinging the gun from the harness at his back as he rasped out furiously, “Son of a fucking bitch!”
    Lee whimpered, her brain still buzzing and trying to catch up. “Kalen?” she whispered.
    He cut her a disbelieving glance and shook his head. “Bloody hell, what have we gotten into? Climb a tree, pet. We’ve got company coming.”
    She stared at the trees surrounding her with vague eyes, even as the rumbling beneath the ground intensified. “Sweet heaven,” she whispered. “What is that . . .”
    But even as she whispered it, part of her knew. “Raviners . . . what in the hell are they doing coming out in the daylight?” she asked. She felt like there was a curtain within her mind, dividing her into two separate parts. Every once in a while, it would part and allow some of the knowledge the women from this world had to slip through, letting Lee absorb it.
    “You, pet. They felt you.” He glared at her, pointing to the tree. “Climb, damn it. The higher, the better. They don’t like daylight. If you are too high to be worth their while, too far out of reach, they may just go back to their hole for a while.”
    The ground in front of Kalen split apart, and Lee screamed as black-robed creatures came spilling out. Blue light pulsed from Kalen’s gun, but he was only one man and there were nearly two dozen of them.
    That odd curtain parted again, letting more knowledge slip through. Psychic energy . . . magick . . . they love it. It’s a feast to them.
    I sent out a damned invitation, she realized in self-disgust, backing up to the tree. Lee turned and scrabbled up to the nearest sturdy branch before glancing back down. “If you fall, no chocolate for a month.” Images of every B-movie heroine leaped to mind, the cute teenaged coed, scantily clad as always, falling to her doom just as freedom appeared within her reach.
    The tree she had