Parallel Seduction by Deidre Knight Page A

something akin to a purring rumble.
    Leaning his head backward, he seemed almost intoxicated. Kelsey couldn't repress a giddy smile; she loved him when he got like this, loved his utter abandon to their joining. She was smiling at the image of him, so lost in the thrall of their mating, when suddenly the water's surface began glowing. And then, without any warning, it was as if the pool began to electrify.
    Jared's dark eyes widened, ringed with panic. "Kelsey!" he cried, his voice thick. "Get out! Hurry!"
    She gaped at him, and he shoved her off his lap—hard. "Out! Now!" he roared, scrambling at the edges of the rocks, panting. A wild snarl exploded from him, his eyes rolling into his head, and she seemed unable to move at first. He finally fixed her with a gaze unlike anything she'd ever seen—in any creature—in her whole life. His muscled chest heaved and pulled at air; he motioned wildly with his hands, flailing first in one direction then another; the water snapped with a kind of electricity again.
    She was suddenly afraid for both their lives, but especially his, given how erratically he was changing. "Jared," she said, attempting to soothe him, "I'm going to help you out of here."
    He unleashed a barrage of Refarian words that she couldn't understand, gesturing again toward the edge. He wanted her out—and now. She scrambled onto the frozen ledge, out of the water, which was growing more and more luminous by the moment—as was Jared's body. He gazed up at her, pain and helplessness in his eyes, and in the space of a heartbeat, he Changed. He Changed completely, until the water lapped over the edges of the rocks, and there was only him. Beautiful, magnetic, mystical Jared in his most natural form. He filled the whole of the pool, glowing and powerful, like some giant sun brought to Earth just for her.
    Even shivering there on the ledge of the pool, she felt his energy fanning toward her. She backed away as the water began to bubble and churn; inside her mind she heard his plaintive whisper. Go away! Now!
    "I'm not leaving you here." She reached for one of the towels she'd stowed here ahead of time. Behind her the candles she'd lit an hour ago all extinguished simultaneously—then, as if catching Jared's energy, illuminated again with a flame ten times higher than they should have possessed. The water roiled faster, swirling with currents of power. The pool itself had become almost a kind of cauldron, containing all of Jared's magnificence, but threatening at any moment to overflow the confining boundaries. Mate … mate … Leave me.
    "I won't go!" she shouted back, gesturing at the glowing ball of power that was her mate in his Change. "I'm staying, Jared." God, he was stubborn beyond reason. She was terrified, no doubt about it, but she would never leave him here alone, trying to find his way through the first true moments of his cycle.
    No. Control! Then smatterings of Refarian, broken by halting English inside her own mind. No hurt. You! Go. More Refarian; then the water suddenly popped with harsh electric currents and he flung himself outward, speeding into the shadowed forest around them, away from her.
    If she wouldn't leave him, he would leave her; that was obviously his plan. "Jared!" she called, his name echoing in the silent woods. "Jared! Please, let's stay together. Jared!"
    The tears came fast and hard. She watched the pines in the distance illuminate. Then, the bright light seemed to fade as he put more and more ground between the two of them—until only shady darkness stared back at her. "Oh, Jared, don't hide," she whimpered, and buried her face in her hands.

Chapter Five

    "L ieutenant Dillon discharged himself an hour ago." Disapproval was evident in the medic's voice.
    Hope glanced toward Anna, who leaned on the counter with what seemed to be a disturbed expression on her face. "Let me get this straight," Anna asked. "Dillon is no longer a patient here?"
    "We