“You like this?” he muttered against her skin as his lips and tongue retraced the paths his finger had charted back up her body to her cheek.

  “Ahh, sweet, blessed Gaia … yes.” She turned her head and nipped his chin. “More, please.”

  He sought her mouth and kissed her sweetly, reverently. “I think,” he whispered against her lips before taking a little nip of his own, “you’ll like what’s coming even better.”

  Taking her mouth with deep kisses, Carr stroked his hand down her torso to her toned abdomen. There he rested his palm briefly over where she’d carry their child. When he reached her silky, wet folds, he gently parted them and inserted one finger inside her and began gently widening her opening for his cock. She was so tight, and she was nervous.

  Between deep, tonguing kisses, he praised her. “You are so sweet. So hot. So, mine.” And was happy to feel her relax a bit, but still—

  Breaking off the kiss, he touched his forehead to hers. “I’ll be gentle as I can, but this first time might not be comfortable.”

  There was no way to avoid causing her pain, and he hated that. He only wanted to give her pleasure.

  “Carr?”

  “Yes, love?” He continued to massage her opening with his finger, gently stretching it. At the same time, he swept his thumb over clit. She moaned, a breathy, guttural sound that had him jerking in reaction.

  Lily cupped his jaw. “Don’t worry so much, just love me.”

  “I do love you,” he breathed the words against her mouth. “But this first time, I’m going to be patient for both of us.” Even if it kills me. “I want to give you pleasure before I take you fully.”

  She groaned as he stroked a finger over the aroused bundle of nerves now peeking out from her dark curls. “My darling Protector, I’m more ready than you think.”

  “You need to be more than ready, Lily-mine. I want you to burn.” He added a second finger to the first and played his thumb over her.

  Lily arched into his petting. “For the love of Gaia, Carr. Don’t tease.”

  He sought her mind and found only pleasure and joy coloring her essence. Her early nervousness had fled with her increased arousal. Blessedly, there was no sign of fear, and no memories of her previous trauma.

  Carr smiled. A deep sense of satisfaction swept over him. She was so receptive—just for him—only for him.

  And thank Gaia, she was as ready as she said she was.

  Growling, he dropped the reins on his libido and took the foreplay up a couple more notches by adding another finger to her channel. Her response was a breathy groan and her arching into his touch. He sought and found the spongy textured membrane that would bring her closer to her peak. A couple of curled strokes of his finger and a circling pressure with his thumb on her clit, Lily teethed her lower lip and grunted with each motion of his fingers and thumb. Soon she began thrusting her hips as she sought completion.

  “Carr,” she cried, “oh, damn. I want … no, I need, I need …” Her inner muscles squeezed his fingers even as she clutched at his arms, holding him to her as if she feared he would leave her.

  Leave her? Hell, no. He desperately wanted to bury himself inside her, but she wasn’t totally consumed by passion yet. He had to hold on for just a bit longer.

  “Need what, love? Tell me.” He licked and nibbled her ear lobe as he increased the firm rotation of his thumb on her clit. The result was a high, squealing gasp.

  “Oh, sweet Gaia! I want—” She reached for and circled his erection in a firm, not-going-to-let-go grip. “—this … in me … now!”

  Lily’s hand felt so damn good. Carr forced himself to concentrate so as not to explode all over her hand.

  “Trust me, sweetheart.” He scissored the fingers inside her channel and found it still too tight to handle his thickness. “You need me to stretch you first.”

  “Carr!” She wailed and arched off the bed. “What’s happening to me? I need more… I need …” Then she screamed.

  Lily’s face was beautiful as she moaned, uttered breathy cries, and invoked the gods through a powerful orgasm. Her inner muscles clamped onto his fingers and practically strangled them.

  Using his fingers and kisses, he helped her ride her peak and then eased her down until she lay panting against the sheets. Yet, she hadn’t fully relaxed her hold onto his fingers. Her body, even now, sought to climb the peak once more.

  Carr had never had an inexperienced sex partner before, but he was fairly certain Lily’s reaction wasn’t normal. He’d expected some hesitation this first time, yet she seemed … driven, as driven as he was, to complete the full joining. It had to be the Talisman-Consort connection.

  “Carr, help me.” She whimpered as she began to grind down on his fingers.

  “Shh, love. I’ve got you.” Kissing along her jaw, he slowly withdrew his fingers, the process made difficult by the fact her internal muscles refused to go.

  “No-o. I need.” Lily attempted to pull his cock into her. “Take me. Now. I need more. There’s something … beyond … Blessed Gaia, can’t you sense it? It’s there … I can’t reach it.”

  Her cries touched his soul, and then he felt the pressure, too. A preternatural pressure pounded on their essences—hers so fragile and gentle as a healer of Earth and his hardened by combat and his Protector nature. The pressure sought to complete the mind-body-spirit trinity. Nothing would dissuade it; only their joining would satisfy it. Two elemental halves made into one perfect whole.

  Lily trembled so hard now he was afraid she’d hurt herself. She was suffering. And Lily was never to suffer, it was inconceivable.

  “I feel it, love. I’m not leaving you. I’ll never leave you. Understand?”

  She nodded, then moaned as if in extreme pain and bit her lip to cut off her cries. He swore and licked the blood she’d drawn away. Every muscle in her body strained for what was beyond.

  Carr soothed her shuddering body with his hands even as he nudged her legs apart and covered her body with his. Immediately, she arched up into his body, seeking completion.

  Supporting his weight on his elbows, he lined his shaft up with her wet slit. After rubbing the head over the moisture pouring from her, he slowly entered her. When his glans was inside her opening, he stopped. She was still far too tight.

  Carr withdrew and then entered once more, stopping once again when his tip was just inside.

  While the preternatural pressure urged them both on, Carr kept his movements to a gentle thrust and retreat. He wasn’t an animal and refused to take Lily roughly—at least not this first time. There might be times in their future that they would both need and want wall-banging sex. This wasn’t one of those times.

  “Don’t tease.” Lily slapped his butt. “Move it. I won’t break. Just as I’m yours, you’re mine, and I want you in me—now!”

  His Talisman had all the instincts to be a kinky lover. He grinned. Damn, he was a lucky bastard.

  Taking her at her word, he took more of her with each thrust. He groaned at the sheer ecstasy of her clasping muscles around his shaft.

  “More.” She groaned. “More … more … more.” Her fingers gripped his hips so hard; he’d have her marks on him. He nipped her ear lobe. “Little cat.”

  Her response was to tighten her inner muscles and teeth one of his nipples.

  Damn, she was perfect for him.

  Then he couldn’t hold back any longer, especially when she decided to suckle the nipple she’d bit. Whatever primordial need drove Lily had reached the end of its proverbial rope.

  That was his cue to take her. “You’re mine, Talisman. Forever.”

  He took her mouth with a rough, deep, hot, tongue-thrusting kiss as he withdrew slightly, then powered into her tight channel until he touched the deepest part of her. He stopped moving at her gasp of shock.

  Sickened at the thought he’d hurt her, Carr sought her mind. Expecting to find pain and fear, he found instead her sense of wonder at the stretched feeling of fullness.

  No fear, thank the gods.

  Breathing heavily, and with a great amount of control, he continued to hold still while allowing her to adjust now that his cock was fully lodged inside her.

  “I never knew.” Lily’s voice held wonder as tears slipped unheeded down her cheeks. “It’s like you’re a part of me now.”

  “Yes. We were made for each other.” He kissed away her tears. “Are you okay?”

  He hoped she was, because he could feel the preternatural pressure urging him to take her hard and fast and give her his seed.

  Lily cupped his face. “Carr?” Her breath hitched and her body shuddered. “I feel what you’re feeling. I’m fine, darling.” She nipped his chin. “Fuck me hard, so whatever that crazy pressure is will go the heck away.”

  He snorted out a laugh. “It’ll be my pleasure.” As he began a slow, deep, rhythmic motion guaranteed to take them to completion, he gently bit the area between her neck and shoulder and then licked it. Her full body shimmy had him smiling. “Who’d have thought my Talisman had a kinky, bossy side to her.”

  Cupping his jaw with one hand, her other now clutching his ass, she angled his head up until he looked her in the eyes. “I like this. It feels good. But, my studly Consort, I need it hard and fast and if you don’t produce and soon, remember the blowjob I said I wanted to give you?”

  “Yeah?”

  “We’ll be experimenting with teeth—lots and lots of teeth.” She lifted her head and bit his lower lip, then sweetly licked away the pain.

  He growled and thrust harder. Their bodies heated. The pressure within and around them soared and sought the balance that only their joint climax would bring.

  “Use the teeth anyway, love,” he gritted out, his jaw clenched in the pleasure-pain of taking her tight, hot channel. “I like a little pain.”

  Lily laughed and twined her legs around his waist. His woman opened to him on both planes, as their astral bodies also joined in the act of making love. The power they created was enormous and settled safely into the part of Carr that proved he was a Consort to the Earth Talisman.

  “Deeper. Harder, Carr.”

  “Fuck, yeah.” Still joined, he held her hips to him as he rose to his knees. “Put your legs over my shoulders.” After she did, he grabbed her ass cheeks, held her steady and pounded her pelvis with rapid, deep thrusts, grinding herself against his pubic bone with each downward motion.

  Lily emitted guttural moans and grasped his forearms in an almost death-like grip. Her neck arched, the taut muscles in stark relief.

  Her responsiveness—her pleasure in their lovemaking—bathed his heart and soul.

  A leakage of the energy they created was reflected in the air around them. A stiff breeze ruffled Lily’s hair as it lay on the pillows and cooled his sweat-drenched skin. Their auras now merged into one, just as they had when they’d first had sex on the astral plane, but the physical joining made it even more powerful.

  The trinity would soon be complete.

  “Love, are you close?” He gritted his teeth and reined in the need to explode and give her his seed.

  “The pressure … it’s so … Carr. I need … something … I can’t … can’t … help me.” Her last words came out on a long, almost painful wail.

  “Let go of my arms.”

  Lily let her arms fall to the bed. With her legs still braced on his shoulders, he held her curvy ass with one hand and used the other hand to firmly massage her mound. As the heel of his hand rubbed the engorged nub in a hard circular motion, Lily inhaled sharply then screamed as her orgasm overtook her and sent her psi essence to join her astral body. Her contractions grasped his shaft in a vice-like grip until he saw stars and went over the edge with her.

  “Oh, shit … so fucking good.” He threw his head back and roared his pleasure. His hips moved ever faster. His psi essence took flight to the astral plane where their astral bodies were joined.

  Their astral selves and their psi essence—their mind and the spirit, the heart, of what made them Carr and Lily—were joined on the highest levels of the astral plane. As they merged, mind, body, and spirit, they became the Talisman-Consort. One unit, never to be divided. Not even in death. No one, not even Gaia, could ever part them.

  For what seemed like an eternity, Carr shot stream after stream of life-giving seed into Lily’s fertile depths. As Lily’s earthly body took him in, their psi began a slow, swirling descent on the languid breezes of the astral plane until they rejoined their mortal bodies.

  Lily was now Lily once more. Carr was Carr. But they were also more, a perfect union forged in love, faith, and power.

  As their breathing slowed, their hearts sought to match the rhythm of the other. Their auras glowed with one color, a unique blend of color and energy.

  Carr lowered Lily’s hips to the bed and helped her lower her legs off his shoulders. Then he followed her down, his body blanketed hers, protecting and cherishing her. Bracing his elbows on each side of her head, he sought her lips and kissed her with all the love in him.

  Lily?

  Yes, Carr.

  You okay, Lily-mine?

  I’m good. Never better. I feel … powerful. Strong. Sexy … loved.

  As they kissed, his body sensed the energy pulsing between them. It flowed easily, naturally, almost softly, in quantum waves, pulse after pulse, a constant exchange wherever their skin touched. And with each pass between them, the power built upon itself like an infinite, frictionless generator. And miraculously, his core handled it all.

  We’re creating a lot of energy, love, he said.

  Not creating, but absorbing it from the Earth, then amping it up and storing it for later use. Now, how are we going to use it to stop the quakes?

  We’ll figure it out as we go along. At least now we know we can draw energy from almost anywhere. We might not have to be on top of the quake to control it.

  Lily’s relief at his words swept through their joined minds. He broke off the soul-affirming kiss. “Lily?”

  “What?”

  “I want you again. Can you handle me? I can wait if you need to rest.” He’d never recovered so quickly before. Sex with Lily was unlike any he’d ever experienced. But he was still afraid of hurting her, pushing her too far, too fast.

  Lily smiled. There was love and, yes, amusement, in her expression. She brushed a lock of hair from his forehead. “You can have me, after…”

  “After what, sweetheart?” He figured she wanted a shower or maybe something to eat.

  “After I get to taste you.” She licked her lips, her eyes glittered with sexual need. “I’m hungry—for you.”

  Thank the gods. He was so lucky to have mated with the most perfect woman in the world.

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “Well, okay … as long as I can taste you before…”

  “Before what?” She placed nibbling kisses along his lower lip. Her hand sneaked between their bodies to fondle his hard-on.

  He groaned as she squeezed him firmly. “Before I come in you again. Deal?”

  “Done!” She pulled him to her and sealed their agreement with a tongue-tangling kiss.

  CHAPTER 15

  Tuesday, 5:30 a.m. (PST), Three Sisters Volcanoes, Oregon

  Carr and Lily exited the KOTE corporate jet. Morrissey and a group of Oregon, California, and Washington Earth and Fire Keepers had set up their staging area at a small airfield near Sisters, Oregon. Security was provided by a highly trained group of Protectors.

  With Lily’s arm firmly tucked in his, Carr followed Donovan, Brenna, and Mark as they led the way to a KOTE trailer being used as command HQ.

  A tall, balding man stepped down from the trailer and walked to meet them. His lips tilted slightly to form a half-smile. Of relief, maybe? But his overall demeanor was serious, befitting the dire nature of the potential disaster-in-the-making. Beneath him, Carr could feel the swarming mini quakes.

  “Donovan,” the man who had to be Morrissey called out, “thanks for coming so quickly. Things are really heating up.”

  The man’s statement might’ve been taken as a joke if the situation hadn’t been so serious. The air was sauna-hot and smelled of sulfur. In the distance, steam escaped from large cracks opening on the Three Sisters’ slopes. The rents in the earth were getting bigger with each wave of quakes.

  Morrissey looked over Donovan’s shoulder and singled out Lily. “Is she the Earth Talisman?”

  “Yes,” Donovan replied, “her name is Lily Redfern and the man holding her so tightly is her Protector-Consort, Captain Carr Madoc, Army Recon.”

  Carr kept hold of Lily as they joined the others. She hadn’t been more than an arm’s length away from him since they’d completed the joining. He found he couldn’t stand the idea of her being out of reach for a single second. Whether it was part of the mating instinct or the fact that their love was so new, he didn’t know. He just accepted the need to touch her.

  Thankfully, Lily felt the same way.

  Now, she trembled continuously, some of it was from nerves. A lot of it was from all the energy they’d processed on the plane—energy they’d use quickly if he read the underground tremors accurately. Her anxiety would lessen once they began to put the quake to bed.

  “Yes, you’re right,” Lily said to him, reading him even more easily since their complete joining. “The quake activity is escalating rapidly. Just since we touched down, I’ve sensed an increase of point five magnitude in the swarms.”

  “Amazing,” muttered Morrissey as he reached out to shake Lily’s hand.

  It was all Carr could do not to jerk her away from the man.

  Lily moved her hand out of reach. “Professor, it’s not a good idea to touch me right now. The energy Carr and I are currently sharing might decide to use you as a conduit to the ground. I’m not sure you could handle it.”

  Morrissey jerked his hand back. “Yes, yes. Um, you are quite right. Earth Keepers are conduits for all elemental energy. You as the Talisman have to be a higher conductor than the rest of us. Maybe later, once we’ve done our jobs, I might shake your hand? Remarkable what you did in the Midwest. Quite amazing. I’d like to speak with you about it … for educational purposes, of course.”