“I was hers,” Thorn said harshly. “Look—look at what she did to me.” Pulling off his shirt, he turned to show his bare back where the angry red lines of Neh’sa’s brand stood out between his shoulder blades.
“This little female did that to you?” The Krine growled, sounding angry. “Branded you as her own—put her mark upon you?”
“She did.” Thorn turned to face him again. “Among…other things.”
Oh Goddess…Neh’sa felt cold all over. Could it be the only reason Thorn had come after her was to get vengeance for the way she had dominated him? But surely not—Thorn must just be playing a part. She hoped.
The Krine nodded.
“Very well, I see now that your claim to punish this female is at least as great as my own. However, my vengeance has been delayed long enough. It must be fulfilled today for this is the twentieth cycle marker since my son was taken from me.”
Neh’sa felt her heart sink. So the stories about the crown prince—the Krineling—and what had happened to him on Yonnie Six, were true. And now his father wanted vengeance.
And I’ll be the one to pay somehow, she thought dismally. Goddess help me!
But Thorn clearly wasn’t ready to give up.
“If you will not give her up then I challenge for her,” he said, glaring up at the Krine.
The big male looked surprised.
“You think to challenge a Berroff?” he demanded. “You may be large among your people but you are nothing to us.”
“Nevertheless, I challenge,” Thorn said strongly, lifting his chin. “Bring your strongest warrior and I will best him and claim Neh’sanna for my own.”
The Krine nodded thoughtfully.
“I respect your spirit. I will allow you to challenge for the right to vengeance.” He raised his voice. “Let Judoth step forward.”
Out of the ranks of the guards, which encircled the massive stone throne room, stepped possibly the biggest male Neh’sa had ever seen. He was even bigger than the Krine and bulging muscles stood out like boulders from his arms and chest. He wore only a kilt-like garment made of many leather strips. Between the strips she could see a shaft longer than her arm swinging down between his knees.
Gods, he’s huge everywhere! The thought made her sick with fear though she tried not to show it on her face.
“I am here, my Krine.” The gigantic male’s voice was like thunder, echoing in the vast room.
“Judoth—finest of my warriors—you were the chosen instrument of my vengeance. Now another challenges you for that place. Will you risk your life and your honor to retain your position or do you yield?”
“Yield?” The immense warrior laughed so loudly the echoes rang in the vast stone room. Neh’sa was forced to cover her ears. It was deafening. “No, my Lord Krine—I will not yield,” he said at last.
“Then you must fight this Kindred.” The Krine indicated Thorn, whose face was absolutely impassive.
“As the Supreme Krine wishes,” the warrior rumbled.
“Very well—then let the challenge commence.” The Krine clapped his massive hands together, making a painfully loud echo in the vaulted room.
“Wait,” Thorn said quickly. “Let me move my female back to safety before we exchange blows.”
“As you wish.” The Krine inclined his head.
Thorn gripped Neh’sa by the arm and walked her swiftly back to the edge of the circle of guards surrounding the huge room. Behind them, the huge Berroff warrior loosed another deafening laugh.
“That’s right, little male,” he called to Thorn. “Take the female away to where she cannot see you being bested and torn limb from limb.”
Thorn ignored him.
“Listen to me,” he muttered in Neh’sa’s ear. “I’ll try not to but I might have to flame-up. You need to stay well back in case that happens.”
“What?” She looked at him uncertainly. “But…but can you control it?”
“I don’t know.” Thorn sounded grim. “But this entire room appears to be made of stone. So it’s not like that damn club where I was afraid I’d burn it to the ground with everyone inside it. Just stay well back and hopefully everything will be all right.”
“Fine. I’ll try.” Neh’sa looked at the huge Berroff guards towering around them like tall gray, muscular trees.
Thorn must have seen her discomfort because he steered her towards the captain of the space pirates who had brought her here in the first place.
“You—” He poked a finger in the pirate captain’s chest. “You brought my female here—now keep her safe while I fight for her.”
The captain nodded gravely.
“As you say, Brother. And I would not have brought her if the Krine hadn’t compelled me. Kidnapping females isn’t to my taste.”
“Fine. Just stay well back and put Neh’sa behind you if things get rough,” Thorn instructed.
He turned back to face the huge Berroff warrior who was watching with a look of apparent amusement on his lumpish face. He dwarfed Thorn, towering at least four feet taller than the big Kindred and his shoulders were fully twice as broad as Thorn’s.
“Well,” the pirate captain murmured in Neh’sa’s ear, “Your male’s got balls—I’ll give him that. I wouldn’t want to go up against that brute barehanded. Or even with a handcannon blaster for that matter.”
“Thorn will be fine,” Neh’sa said through numb lips, hoping it was true. “You’ll see. He’ll be just fine.”
But would he?
* * * * *
Thorn faced the huge Berroff warrior and tried to get a sense of the other male’s weaknesses. Well, he was big—his size might make him slow. Other than that, Thorn had an idea that the third eye all Berroffs seemed to have might be vulnerable. Although this warrior’s eye wasn’t open as the Krine’s was. In fact, none of the other warriors had third eyes which were open more than a slit. Thorn wondered what the significance of that was. Was it—
And then an immense gray fist was coming at his head, effectively cutting off his train of thought.
Thorn dodged quickly out of the way of the first blow and then the second one. He’d been right—the giant was slow—though not nearly as slow as he’d hoped. Also, there was only so much dodging he could do. Eventually he would have to get close enough to strike a blow of his own and the other male had a much longer reach than he did. Still, he had to chance it.
Thorn danced around behind, forcing the Berroff to follow him, turning clumsily. He needed to finish this quickly and get out of here with Neh’sa before the Krine changed his mind about releasing her.
He turned again, then dodged to the left. When the other male took the bait, he rushed him, head down, and plowed into the Berroff’s midsection.
He’d been hoping to knock the giant off his feet—to bring him down to size so he could reach him. But though the huge male let out an “Oof!” and doubled over, he didn’t fall as Thorn had hoped. Worse, he shot out an arm and got it locked around Thorn’s throat.
“Now, little warrior,” he growled in Thorn’s ear, as he straightened up, his grip growing tighter, cutting off Thorn’s air supply. “Now we shall see who gets the female.”
“Get…off me!” Thorn growled, aiming a kick behind him. It connected with the Berroff’s rock-hard thigh but the other male didn’t even stumble.
“Oh yes, she’s a pretty little one,” he rumbled, squeezing even harder until Thorn felt like his fucking head was going to pop off. “So pretty and so tiny. I can’t decide whether I want to fuck her or make her suck my cock first. Of course…” He thundered laughter again. “She’s so little once I get my cock up in her, it’s likely to fill her from cunt to mouth so she can do both at once!”
The thought of Neh’sa in the arms of another male—the idea of this big brute taking her—forcing himself on her, inside her—was more than Thorn could stand. He could feel the sparks in his eyes turning to flames as the fire inside him started to rise.
“You’ll…n
ever…touch her,” he choked out, grabbing at the huge arm locked around his neck. “Never!” Gods, he was going to die! He couldn’t breathe.
“Oh yes I will, little warrior,” the Berroff laughed again—that deafening trollish chuckle Thorn was beginning to hate. “I’ll fuck her inside out while you watch—if there’s anything left of you to watch, that is!”
It was too much.
“The hell you will!” Thorn choked as the fire rose inside him. “I’ll see you in the lowest level of the Seven Hells before you touch her!”
And then the flames were spreading from his burning eyes, licking down his neck and shoulders to coat the rest of his body.
This time Thorn had no fear of burning down the structure he was in so he let the fire go. Let it go as he hadn’t done since that fateful night so long ago when he’d come back to the cabin in the woods and found his mate being assaulted. He allowed the flames to engulf him completely from the top of his head to the tips of his toes and Gods, it felt good, so good to finally ease the never-ending pressure inside him and let the fire burst free.
With a roar of pain, the giant Berroff at last released him.
“What in the name of the Father Gods?” he gasped as Thorn turned to face him, still blazing.
“Come on!” Thorn shouted, his rage rising to meet the fire that engulfed him.
A jet of flame shot straight up in a pillar above his head and all the Berroff guards in a circle around the throne room muttered uneasily and drew back.
“Are you afraid to come after me now that the fight is more even?” Thorn demanded.
“Never!” The giant warrior narrowed his eyes, his lumpish features twisting in rage. With a low roar, he rushed at Thorn, both arms outstretched as though to knock him to the floor.
Thorn ducked and spun away, jabbing two burning fingers into the other male’s slitted third eye as he did so.
“Arrrgg! My eye—my sacred eye! He’s burned it—burned it!” the giant screamed, sinking to his knees.
“Get up!” Thorn shouted at him, consumed with fire and rage. “Get up and fight me like a true male. You said you’d fuck my female—now you know the truth. You’re the one who’s going to get fucked, you bastard. Fucked with my flame. Get up!”
His taunting got the giant Berroff to his feet. With a deep-throated cry of rage, he rushed at Thorn again, arms swinging wildly.
This time Thorn ducked low and met him with a bear-hug. His flame burned hot enough to scorch to the bone—they would see how long the other male could stand his deadly embrace.
It didn’t take the Berroff warrior long to find out he’d taken on more than he could handle. When the long, leather strips of his kilt caught fire and the flesh of his arms and chest began smoking, he screamed and backed away.
With an effort, Thorn let him go. There was part of him that wanted to hold on—wanted to burn the other male to a crisp. But if he did that, the fire would have not just control of his body, but of his soul as well. He had to control it—had to reign in the destructive force that lived inside him.
And so he let the Berroff back away without following, watching as the other male howled and beat at himself, smothering the flames that licked at his flesh.
At last the giant had completely extinguished himself. He looked up at the Krine, who had all three eyes wide open in surprise.
“My Krine, I thought you said he was a Kindred.”
“So I am,” Thorn answered him in a low, dangerous voice. “But I am also half Pyro. And I swear by all the Gods that ever were I’ll burn you to dust and ashes if you touch my female or even speak of touching her again.”
The Berroff warrior looked at him uncertainly and then back to his ruler.
“My Krine…” he muttered. “I cannot fight such an opponent without the use of weapons. My flesh is burned and my sacred eye may never be the same.”
The Krine looked extremely displeased but nodded his head.
“Very well, Judoth—go and nurse your wounds. You have disgraced yourself before me and the other warriors assembled here today.”
Head down, the defeated warrior left the circular stone throne-room with one hand still clapped over his third eye.
Thorn let out a breath of relief. Now, at last, he could hopefully take Neh’sa home.
He let one last blast of fire loose—allowing a gout of flame fifteen feet tall to shoot from his head. And then the unstable element inside him seemed sated and he knew it was time to pull it back in.
Slowly, slowly…like reeling in a line with something huge hooked on the end, Thorn pulled the fire back inside himself. Little by little the blaze began to extinguish itself until at last, the only flames on him were the ones dancing in his eyes. He brushed off his clothing, which was unharmed, due to the personal shield exuded around his body during a flame-up, and approached the throne.
He came to a stop in front of the Krine who was still watching him with a frown on his face.
“I claim the female, Neh’sanna,’ he said in a low, carrying voice. “She is mine to do with as I please.”
“Your claim is heard and acknowledged,” the Krine rumbled, still frowning. “But you will not do with her as you please, Warrior—you have not won the right to take her yet.”
“What are you talking about?” Thorn demanded. “I won the challenge which means I won my female.”
But the Krine was shaking his stone-gray head.
“No. You have only won the right to vengeance—my vengeance. Which means before you take her, you will do to her as I please.”
“What does that mean I’ll do with her as you please?” Thorn felt frustration building inside him. “What are you talking about?”
“You have won the right to be the instrument of my vengeance—I thought you understood that.” The Krine was scowling at him. “Vengeance for my son who was taken and used twenty cycles ago, just as you yourself were used.”
Thorn still wasn’t sure what he meant.
“You mean you want me to take vengeance for you because of something that happened to your son?”
“He was taken—taken by a slaving party unawares in his sleep.” The Krine’s voice rose to a rumbling roar as he spoke and his third eye turned a stormy dark purple which was nearly black. “Taken and sold to a Mistress on Yonnie Six.”
“Excuse me, my Lord Krine.” Neh’sa’s voice rose high and clear in the echoing stone chamber as she stepped forward. “Forgive me for speaking in your presence without leave but I have heard the stories of what befell your son, the Krineling and while I am very sorry such a thing happened on my planet, you must know that I am not the Mistress who enslaved him.”
“I don’t care!” the Krine shouted, his voice echoing like rolling thunder from the domed stone ceiling. “Do you know what she did to him? This Mistress, she took a proud warrior who cared for nothing but fighting and fucking and war and she broke him! She made him wear a leash—she penetrated him as though he were the female and she the male. And do you know the worst of it?”
He leaned forward, glaring at Neh’sa so venomously that Thorn felt compelled to put himself between them, even though the Krine was still seated on his throne.
“Do you know?” he demanded. “This Mistress, this harlot somehow made my son love what she did to him. She brainwashed him! When my warriors finally found him to bring him back home, he didn’t want to go. They had to bring him back by force.”
He paused for a moment, rubbing his third eye like a male will rub his temples to rid himself of a headache. Thorn didn’t speak and neither did Neh’sa—what could they say?
“He didn’t want to go,” the Krine repeated at last, wearily. “And when he was finally brought back home, all he wanted was to go back to her—to go back to his Mistress.” He spat the word like a curse. “When I wouldn’t let him, he renounced the throne forever. He lives now as a hermit on the other side of Berroff Prime. He has refused to ever see me again.”
The Krine looked up at T
horn, his eyes hard and dry yet so filled with sorrow they made Thorn ache.
“He gave up his place on the throne and left me without an heir—all for love of a female who used him like dirt,” he said, his voice harsh and cold. “I want vengeance for that—my soul cries out for it. And I will have it before I die. I will have it on this very day.” He pounded the arm of his stone throne for emphasis, all three of his eyes blazing.
Gods, what a mess! Thorn didn’t know what to say. He could understand the other male’s hate and animosity but what happened to his son hadn’t been Neh’sa’s fault. How could he persuade the Krine to let her go?
He could flame-up again but Neh’sa wasn’t bonded to him so his personal shield wouldn’t extend to her—he would burn her if he got too close. Plus, his flame was an effective weapon but the blasters he saw the Berroff guards wearing were also effective and had a longer range. He and Neh’sa would be blasted into so many pieces and shreds before they could get back to the ship where Greed’lik was waiting for them. If only—
“What do you need in order to right this wrong?” Neh’sa’s voice rang out, soft but clear in the stone chamber.
Thorn couldn’t believe her.
“Neh’sa,” he muttered. “Don’t—”
“What manner of vengeance do you seek?” she said, ignoring him and speaking only to the Krine.
“What kind of vengeance? I’ll tell you, Mistress…” The Krine leaned forward on his stone throne, his eyes narrowed with anger. “I want to see done to her—to you—what that Mistress did to him. You shall be tied and flogged—made hurt and helpless. You shall be held down and penetrated until you beg for mercy. For I know the ways of your people—you don’t allow males to penetrate you. So the humiliation you feel and the pain you suffer will be a just punishment—a righteous vengeance.”
Thorn opened his mouth to say he would never do such things to the female he cared for. Taking control and going down on her had been one thing. But he had no wish to tie her down and beat her or to humiliate her or savage her sexually. He didn’t want to hurt her. Didn’t want to—
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