Livia awoke with a moan, her heart pounding and her entire body throbbing with uncontrollable sexual pleasure. She sat up and kicked away the bedcovers wrapped around her legs.

"What is it?' she panted, standing and pacing the room. Unconsciously she ran her hand over her breasts. The taut nipples were so sensitive that even the feather touch of her fingertips sent ripples of pleasure-pain through her. The tender flesh between her legs ached and pulsed, as if on the verge of climax, yet even when she lifted her nightgown and stroked herself, fulfillment remained just beyond her reach.

"Oh, no," she groaned, her hips squirming in delicious torment. "I can't stand it. This can't be happening. It's a dream--no a nightmare!"

She was about to dive into a cold shower when a guttural moan from Perrin's room drew her attention.

Struggling to control the sensations rolling through her, she stepped into the living room, walked to his door and knocked. "Perrin?"

She heard movement behind the door.

"Perrin!" she repeated, her voice breaking as a wave of pre-orgasmic pleasure rolled through her. Her fists clenched and legs trembling, she sagged against the door and fell in when he opened it.

Perrin caught her before she hit the floor. The sensation of his warm, bare chest and sinewy arms wrapped around her spurred her passion that was already off the scale. His flesh felt as hot as hers and by the thickness of his erection pressing against her through his silky black shorts, he was suffering from the same agonizing state of arousal that threatened to drive her insane.

"Something's not right," she breathed, clinging to him tightly and resisting the urge to writhe against him to satisfy her raging desire.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say it's a Libidouin attack--one of their carnal manipulations of Lumeris-noire." He gasped, running his hands down her back and caressing her buttocks. He thrust her away. "Forgive me, Livia."

"I don't know what it is, Perrin, but I need--" She leapt at him and clung to his neck like a wanton fool. "I want to make love with you. I need you to take me. Now!"

"Livia, this is wrong." He held her at arm's length, his green eyes wild. Sweat misted his face and chest that rose and fell rapidly with each excited breath. "I don't know how it happened, but this has got to be the work of Libidouins. How did they penetrate--"

"Oh, God, Perrin, I'm sorry," she murmured, struck by a horrid realization. "It's my fault. That man ... Oh, Perrin, I can't stand it! I need release!"

"What man?"

"I can't control it!"

"What man, Livia?" he demanded, grasping her shoulders and shaking her.

"The man I met in the Mingling Hall on my way home from the Philztian domain. Oh!" She panted, squirming, her body aflame. "He stumbled and I ... I caught him. There was pain--like I was on fire. I did a search, P. . Perrin."

"Why didn't you tell me as soon as you returned?" he demanded. "If that was a Libidouin, he must have passed a manipulation to you."

"But I searched--"

"I'll explain later," he said through gritted teeth, the tendons in his neck taut. Muscles in his shoulders, chest, and legs bunched against the strain of unrelenting sexual stimulation.

"How do we stop this? It's unbearable!" she shouted, feeling as if her heart might leap through her chest.

"It's progressed too far to expel. We just have to ride it out, if you'll excuse the term."

"That's not funny!"

"Obviously...." His words trailed off in a desperate groan.

"I can't stand it!" she shouted, tears springing into her eyes.

"We can end it faster by copulating."

"Don't make it sound so romantic," she hissed.

"This isn't romantic. It's manipulation, made worse because even without the fucking Libidouin's intervention I've wanted you so much you haunt my dreams."

Livia stared at him. Somewhere beyond the mind-stealing desire she realized what he had just admitted to, but was it the truth or merely the manipulation talking?

"Please, Perrin!" She clutched his shoulders. "Please. Take me and end this torture for us both."

Battle raged in his eyes for two entire seconds before he took her in his arms and covered her lips in a crushing kiss.

His tongue thrust into her mouth and hers met it with lustful strokes. Moaning, she arched against him.

Perrin traced the roof of her mouth, then sucked on her lower lip. A low growl escaped his throat and he grasped the back of her nightgown. Beneath his forceful tug, the thin material tore.

"Yes, oh, yes," she panted, stepping away just long enough to yank off her ripped nightgown and discard her underpants.

Perrin quickly removed his shorts and strode toward the dresser. He pulled out a contraceptive shield from a middle drawer and rolled it onto his sizeable erection. Heavens, she could scarcely wait to feel it deep inside her!

He's so beautiful, Livia thought, her gaze roaming over his sleek torso and long, steely legs. White scars, signs of his horrible past, marked his pale flesh. Beyond the lustful haze, feelings of tenderness stirred inside Livia.

Perrin's fierce gaze met hers and they stepped toward each other, unable to keep their hands and lips from one another.

Livia whimpered with need and tilted her neck so he could more easily cover it with warm, tender kisses. The sensation of his hair-roughened chest against her supersensitive nipples was almost too wonderful to bear. He bent and ran his tongue across her collarbone then buried his hand in her hair and again claimed her lips with a plundering kiss.

Perrin swept her into his arms, took two long strides toward the bed, and placed her on it.[End Excerpt] He knelt beside her and buried his face between her breasts, his hands massaging the soft globes before he took one of the plump nipples between his lips. Livia gasped, passion coursing through her like a bolt of lightning.