Prologue

The scent of roses filled the summer night air, but Kagome Higurashi barely noticed the sweet fragrance as she waited anxiously for her lover to arrive. What could be keeping him? Her nerves on edge, she began pacing the hut floor. Her disquietude increasing with each passing moment. Today Sesshoumaru had intended to inform his father of their mating, and she feared the elderly lords objections had been fierce.

Finally hearing footsteps Kagome went to open the window and looked out the diminutive hut where they held their lovers trysts lay nestled

in a cherry orchard, hidden from direct view of the lane. When she smelled the scent of ice and an on coming storm she momentarily forgot her anxiety. Sesshoumaru. Her heart thrilled at the sight of him, while her thighs clenched in anticipation. She could almost feel him moving inside her.

Flushing, Kagome tried to quell her shameful hunger. She was a wanton where Sesshoumaru was concerned. She had surrendered her innocence to his seductive charm with a scandalous eagerness. But what demon woman could possibly have resisted him

She watched as he strode slowly and purposefully along the path through the overgrown rose garden. He moved with a combination of polished elegance, grace, and raw power that stirred all her feminine instincts, while his sleek handsomeness stole her breath away. Possessing lean demonic features and fair hair that glimmered white and silver in the moonlight. He was endowed with a physical beauty that startled her at first glance.

But it was his over confidence and penetrating golden eyes that hypnotized her rather than his striking look or exalted power that had ensnared her hanyou heart. His magnetism too, was exhilarating. There was a hint of wildness about him, an unpredictability that made him dangerously exciting. Even his name, it had a power over her that sent shivers and tingles down her spine whenever she heard or spoke it. He had worn her down with just one look. Despite all her scruples and misgivings, she had risked her heart and found love in the arms of a full-fledged taiyouki demon. The door swung open and Sesshoumaru Taisho prince of the Western Lands stood there, his sparkling golden eyes searching the small hut impatiently. When his gaze fixed intently on her the flare of heat in the golden depths was unmistakable.

"Did you miss me," he demanded, his voice was low stroking her like velvet.

"Dreadfully."

"Good.".

In three strides he was across the room, reaching for her. Only then did Kagome recognize the tension smoldering in him. She could see the fire of anger in his eyes, felt it in his touch.

"Sesshoumaru, what is it" she began, but he cut her off.

"I don't wish to talk."

She was in his arms instantly, gathered hard against him. His hands twisted in her hair as his lips crushed down on hers.

His fierceness caught her off guard. Ordinarily he was an

amazingly tender lover who made her feel cherished and adored. Yet his urgent

hunger now aroused a matching response in her. Her senses reeling Kagome

forgot her questions and then surrendered to his ardent embrace.

Moments later his scalding kiss ended and his attention shifted to her

body. She wore her traditional kimono and her under garments, and he easily

freed her of all of it. His mouth sucked on her nipples forcefully as he backed her

against the door. Kagome purred at the delicious sensations that flooded her.

With no other preliminaries, he pulled her closer to him and thrust his seeking

fingers between her thighs. She was already wet for him. She heard his

growl of approval, then his harsh whisper: "Kami I want you." He yanked at

the crotch of his hakkamas as if he was desperate to have her. His penetration

was hard and deep; her body body trembled under the impact of it. He had

never acted with such primal urgency, yet she made no protest. Instead Kagome

moaned with incredible satisfaction as he filled her. Excited beyond bearing he

took her against the door thrusting heavily into her with the sheer overpowering

need to mate. His sexual hunger was almost frantic, his rough fervor over

whelming. She wrapped her legs around him attempting to ease the violence of

his desire. The raw intensity of his need- but then she to was caught up in the

rush of heat, the burning fever. She clung to him gasping, her hips writhing as

she strained to take him even deeper into her body.

His release came swiftly. She heard the growls that rocketed through him before the same frenzied explosion swept her. A hoarse purr burst from her as she succumbed to him with abandonment.

When the searing aftershocks faded, she realized Sesshoumaru had sagged against her, pinning her to the door with his lean hardness. He was still panting for breath as he buried his face in the curve of her throat.

"My lovely miko," he growled finally. "Did i hurt you?"

"No," she lied ignoring the protest of twinging feminine tissues, content to savor the aftermath of his very exquisite ravishment.

Eventually, however, he drew away. lifting her in his arms, he bore her soft and willing to the mat in the adjacent room where he undressed.

When he was completely naked he lay beside her and gathered her against him, then closed his eyes.

Silence reigned for a time, Kagome yearned to know what had brought out his inner demon, yet she was afraid to ask if he had spoken with his father. Finally though, she could bear the uncertainty no longer.

"What did he say?"

At Sesshoumaru's continued silence her heart sank. The Lord of the Western Lands would not want his only full blooded demon son and heir to mate a half blood who happened to be a miko, even if her father was once Lord of the Eastern Lands. She was still considered an outsider by many demons. Kagome raised herself on one elbow so that she might search Sesshoumaru's face. The frown between his eyes told her more than any words ever could.

"Your father refuses to except me as your mate, is that so?"

"He has no say in the matter," Sesshoumaru answered grimly. She tried to steel herself against the hollowness in her chest. She was of noble birth, the daughter of the late great Lord to the Eastern Lands who had been killed protecting his family from an evil beyond evil demon. But she was also a human miko at that, tainting any claim to aristocracy she might have made. Yet she never regretted her lost birthright as much as at this very moment.

"He will not sanction our mating," she said , to her dismay.

Sesshoumaru's lean jaw clenched. "My father's wishes mean nothing to me." Reaching up he clasped her face gently while his searing golden gaze searched her face. "I want us to mate tomorrow night, Kagome."

" Tomorrow?" she repeated doubtfully.

"Yes tomorrow...at sunset...our time, my father would never have to know."

"Sesshoumaru..."

"If you love me you'll do it. Do you love me, my beautiful miko?"

She loved him so much, it was an ache inside her. Yet it distressed her to think she would come between Sesshoumaru and his father, who was practically his only family since his mother was murdered by her servant, his step brother murdered by a purifying miko which is probably why his father hates her, and his step mother died from old age.

"Of course i love you. My heart is yours. But tomorrow...its to soon. Your father will be even more enraged by such rashness, wont he?"

"I trust he will be," Sesshoumaru replied darkly.

"Perhaps we would do better to let him grow accustomed to the prospect of our mating."

His Complete silence told her how improbable her suggestion was, but then he shook his head.

"Stop worrying about my damned father."

"Its not your father who worries me," Kagome said, carefully choosing her words. "It is you Sesshoumaru. If we rush into mating, you might someday regret it. You might even come to despise me as you despised your brother."

His gaze speared hers, holding her riveted. "That could never happen."

Rolling over her, he pinned her naked body beneath his own.

"I know what I want, Kagome, and it'd you as my mate. Forever, nothing could change what i feel for you my angel."

Despite the heat in his passionate declaration, a sudden chill swept kagome with enough force to make her shudder. She couldn't shake the fear that their happiness

would never truly last. Yet she shut her eyes and gave herself up to Sesshoumaru's embrace, hoping with all her heart that he would never have cause to rescind his fervent vow.