We both lay breathing hard for several seconds as he watched me closely, as I adjusted to and relished the torturingly acute pleasure of having my outer tissues stretched thin almost into pain. I flexed my hips, just barely, and groaned, relaxed, panted, and flexed again, allowing my tissues to slowly soften, relax, expand, until my inner juices dripped down his hand, easing the way. Achingly slow, I impaled myself upon him, my head thrashing as I enveloped him by torturing blissful increments until he was buried inside me up to the halting juncture of his thumb.
"More," I grated harshly, panting, whimpering in agonized pleasure, wanting his whole hand, thumb and all, buried within me.
"Next time," he breathed and licked the swollen nub that he had plumped to such fullness and sensitivity so that I jerked at the hot wash of sensation that was almost too pleasurable, causing his hand to move within me. His mouth surrounded my erect clitoris and sucked hard as he pulled out then pushed in with careful rough force until almost his entire hand was within me.
I screamed and exploded, my entire body convulsing in hot waves of ecstasy that washed over me, overwhelmed me, and cleansed me.
Gryphon's gentle stroking hands slowly brought me back to myself. And I didn't know if I had passed out or fallen asleep or how much time had elapsed.
He peered cautiously into my eyes when my lids fluttered open. "Your eyes are normal," he said with relief.
"What were they before?" I rasped.
"Orange-yellow."
"What happened?" I asked.
"You came into your other form."
"What was it?"
"A Bengal tiger."
I remembered the orange, black, and white striped fur along my legs, remembered that terrible hunger and need to gulp down hot bloody flesh. I buried my face against my knees and rocked myself in fear, in comfort.
"Sweet Jesus," I shuddered. "I didn't know myself. Another mind… that creature was controlling me. I just wanted to sink my teeth in and tear flesh. I was going to eat Sandoor."
My stomach lurched and I struggled wildly to use from the bed. Understanding my urgency, Gryphon swept me into the bathroom where I retched and heaved over the toilet. Then supported me as I shakily rinsed out my mouth.
"I need to shower."
Without a word, Gryphon carried us into the stall and turned on the water. He washed me twice, scrubbing me all over, then propped me weakly against the wall as he quickly washed himself.
He toweled me off and squeezed my hair with another towel until most of the wetness had left it, then carried me back to bed and held me in his arms.
"I hate it," I murmured against his neck.
"It is hardest at first but it becomes better. You shall gradually be able to control your beast, to remain in control if you so choose. It was harder this first time as well because you changed back too soon, before your bloodlust had been satisfied."
"You distracted me, turned my bloodlust…"
"… Into sexual desire, yes." Gryphon stroked my back comfortingly. "I substituted one appetite for another."
"What you did… that's your real power, isn't it? Not just the compulsion or being able to shift form."
Gryphon's hand paused for a split second, then continued its soothing caress. "Yes, that is my greatest power," he admitted quietly.
"Why did you never use it before?"
I felt his lips twist wryly against my forehead. "When you first laid eyes upon me you fairly spat with rage when you thought that I dared try to manipulate the attraction between us."
"Is that why you hid that part of yourself? I did not know you then as I do now."
"It was not my desire to become your whore or to have you see me as such."
I pushed back so I could look into his face. "You are my love, my mate," I declared in a low, passionate voice.
Gryphon drew me back down as if he could not bear my scrutiny after making his painful confession. "You loved me, even when I was too weak to bind you to me in that manner, even had I so wished to. Your love, given freely to me like that, is a most precious gift, Mona Lisa."
"You used your power to help me."
"Anything you need or desire that is mine to give is yours—flesh, blood, or sex. Although I preferred the latter." He smiled. "Which is why I savored you from below."
"You mean I could have eaten you?" I exclaimed in horror.
He shrugged eloquently. "One hunger may turn quickly and easily into the other."
I traced a sharp nail down over his nipple, making him shudder. "I don't want to eat you now," I said, running light kisses down his lovely, smooth chest. "Or maybe I do."
Gryphon rolled over me, locking my hands to my side. "Allow me," he whispered. "Allow me to show you my love."
And I did, lying there in sweet surrender, giving him what he needed as he began to love me with gentle kisses and reverent strokes: my soft sighs, my gentle moans. He kissed down my arms, placed a delicate caress to my surprisingly sensitive inner wrists. I savored the indescribable feeling of his breath wafting across my shivering belly, the silk of his hair falling across my knees, his soft lips pressing against my susceptible instep. I abandoned myself to him, to my senses, let him do with me as he willed.
He mated with me and made love to me with such exquisite tenderness and heart-rending beauty that tears filled my eyes and overflowed when our quiet gasps of release shimmered the room with light and gentle pleasure.
"I didn't know it could be like that," I whispered.
"Neither did I," was Gryphon's soft reply. "Neither did I."
Chapter Twenty Five
Noon light pressed against the drawn curtains and the rest of household still slumbered when I awoke, all but one. I dressed and slipped quietly downstairs. My brother looked up calmly from his breakfast cereal when I entered the kitchen.
"Do you want some?" Thaddeus asked.
Surprisingly, I did. He poured me a bowl of Frosted Flakes and the sugary sweetness satisfied a craving I hadn't known I'd had.
"Tastes grrreat!" I said, imitating Tony the Tiger.
A grin flashed across his face then disappeared. "How are you feeling?"
I set down the spoon down carefully. "I'm okay now. How about you?"
Thaddeus shrugged. "Shocked. Awed. Okay now, too, I guess. I don't know." He fiddled with his spoon. "I did that eye thing with the police."
"Eye thing? You mean compulsion?"
He nodded. "Aquila came with me to talk to the policemen who'd driven up. A neighbor had called in a complaint about the loud noises coming from the woods. They didn't buy my explanation about wild cats mating and wanted to have a look themselves."
I forced myself not to react to that unfortunately accurate comment about wild cats mating; he had uttered it entirely without guile.
"So I tried to do that thing you did to Dr. Smith. Amazingly, it worked, and they went away." He seemed undecided whether to be pleased about it or not.
"It's a gift not all of us have. Among us, only Gryphon, I, and now you possess it."
Thaddeus smiled, deciding to be pleased. "Really? I knocked me out afterward, literally. I think I conked into sleep right after they left."
I sent up a prayer of thanks for that merciful fact and felt much more at ease with him. "You must have questions."
He looked at me with somber eyes. "Basking… when those little bits of light entered me… it was the most incredible feeling. Indescribable."