Excerpt:
No one hurt unicorns. Not on her watch. She
was the Guardian of the Forest, and she had never let any magical creature
come to harm--not since she'd reached her full powers.
But someone had harmed. Someone hunted a creature in her care. Ivy burst
into the clearing where the Chacchoben pyramid stood, following the odor
of blood--unicorn blood.
Then the wind shifted, bringing the scent of something more sinister.
Needing to concentrate, Ivy slid to a stop, her hooves skidding in the
sand. She sniffed, inhaling deeply, and she knew--the hunter was still
here, a vague odor of...something...swirling around him.
She madly galloped up the steep narrow steps, her hooves clattering. The
power pulsing from Chacchoben had a dark, brooding taste, different from
the cool clear flavor exuding from the Heart of the World. Did the unicorn
blood cause this, or the hunter?
But the answer lay at her feet.
For a heartbeat, horror paralyzed Ivy.
In unicorn shape, Ivy's cousin lay at her feet, tortured and dying. She'd
been skinned alive, her snow-colored coat stripped from her to reveal the
muscle and flesh beneath. Her dark eyes looked at her, not through her
white face but through a crimson one. Blood puddled in her dilated
nostrils and along the line of her lips. Blood puddled in her ears.
"You...can't...help me," Tchili said. "My horn...it's gone."
"I can help." But Ivy knew she didn't have much time. Tchili's lifeforce
was draining away with the trickling blood.
Ivy stepped toward her cousin, preparing to heal her, but a figure caught
her eye. It raced in the shadow of the pyramid, hugging the stone sides.
She caught an impression of a masculine shoulders, dark hair, but the
figure moved so quickly, Ivy barely saw it, barely smelled its odd scent.
Still she knew--he was her foe.
The need to hunt down the hunter warred with the need to heal her
cousin--but only for a heartbeat. Hunting could wait. Her cousin could
not.
Standing as still as the massive structure beneath them, Ivy concentrated
on her root chakra, imagining its sexual power. When she was open to the
flow of energy swirling around her, she focused, drawing from the distant
Heart of the World. The nerves in her horn and chakras were so attuned to
the Heart she could feel the energy leave Pennsylvania and flow toward the
Yucatan.
The first taste of the power made her weak with desire, filling her root
chakra, then spreading throughout her being. Her thighs ached; her nipples
hardened. The length of her neck craved a lover's hot kisses. Her knees
actually shook with the lust rushing her veins. If a man--any man--had
been standing there, she'd have wanted to curl around him, fill herself
with him.
But she wouldn't have. She was the Guardian. She protected and healed. She
put the need to chase the hunter firmly from her mind, and she took the
overwhelming sexual energy, neatly twisting it into healing energy. The
moment she began working the power, the lust subsided, freeing her mind
and allowing her to work.
Finally, her horn radiated healing power.
Glinting with healing green highlights, golden loops spun around the base
of her sharp-edged horn, slowly gathering speed and texture as they
swirled wider and wider.
She dipped her head toward her cousin, letting the radiant rings drip
down.
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