The Barbarian's Captive (Warlords 0f Farian Book 4)

by Bailey Dark

  He had been withholding from me, too. I didn’t really know why he was on Vailstor. All he said was that he was going to some nebulous place in the north, which made me nervous, because the further north we got, the closer we would get to the base where I suspected Blatson actually was at this time. But, hopefully we would meet with Cartari’s contact soon and then veer off to Astrida.

  And then he could leave me behind. Forever.

  My heart sank, just at the thought… I looked at him again, where he was inspecting his craftsmanship, and felt such overwhelming yearning and desire…

  Just let me have this little bubble of happiness a little while longer…

  As I thought that, Cartari stood up and reached for my hand. I stood up and he twirled me around, dropping into me a swooping bow, so my head almost hit the floor. Then he leaned down and kissed me through my laughter.

  “I need to ask you a serious question, my lady,” he said, holding me suspended, my heels barely gripping the floor. I laughed, part nerves, part merriment. He leaned in and whispered in my ear.

  “Yes, fearsome, charzbos?”

  “Can I take you again before we leave this cabin, tenderly, sweetly, and hopefully blow your mind?”

  I grinned and pulled him down to kiss me. He kissed me deep and long, laying me down on the floor carefully, his hands roving my body as he straddled me. He kissed me sweetly on the lips, the cheeks, traced my jawline with his lips, down my throat, to my collarbone, and kissed my cleavage. Then his fingertips found their way under the line of my pants and dresslet, tugging at it teasingly. He pulled down on my pants, shimmying them down my thighs, all the way down, slipping off my boots.

  Then he turned and slid himself between my bare legs, smiling at me as his tongue darted out and licked my clit. I moaned and giggled, wrapping my legs around his head, as his one hand reached up to play with my breasts. The other hand played with my pussy and it wasn’t long before I was very, very wet…

  He tasted me fully, playing with his tongue in between my labia and sucking hard on my clit until I rose up, nearly sitting up all the way, pulling hard on his hair, and he released it so I eased back down, my mind blown, my heart beating heavily, my body floating to the ceiling.

  I spiraled into ecstasy at his touch as he inserted two fingers into my pussy, thrusting them in and out, curling them around, his eyes smiling at me, and I was clinging to his hair with one hand and gripping at the bare cabin floor boards with the other.

  My breath was coming in short, euphoric gasps as he flicked his tongue back quicker and quicker across my clit and plunged his fingers in and out and then lights exploded as he opened himself up to me mentally and I could feel how much he enjoyed thrilling me and it was the most satisfying sexual emotion I had ever felt, knowing he pleasured at my pleasure, that pleasing me made him hard, and then my entire body was quivering and I was cumming into his mouth, an overflow of my pussy juices that he tasted and sucked into him and then the orgasm hit like a rocket ship and I was gasping his name and my vision blurred, the world whirring, my fingers clawing at his shoulders demanding his tongue to stop, to stop, to stop… because it was too much… too much… too much…

  I gasped for breath and he shimmied up my body to kiss me, soothing back my hair, looking at me with such love in his eyes, as sparks banked off the angles of the cabin and exploded in the corners.

  The Destin connection was intense. It had to be enough for him to trust me, for him to forgive me, right? If I told him?

  I nuzzled into him and he brushed my hair. I would wait. I would wait a little while longer, I decided, breathing in and out the absolute pleasure of our connection.

  I think I am in love with him.

  He looked into my eyes and I could tell, he knew… He knew what I was thinking without even needing to read my mind.

  I nuzzled into him again, blushing furiously. I would protect him. I would protect us. And that meant keeping the truth from him, just a little while longer.

  He would forgive me. Because he was mine. And I was his. I really was his captive.

  We are Destins.

  Sixteen

  llisa

  It had been easy to discover what had happened to Cartari, or, at least part of the story. We had landed where his spaceship was docked, still with two weeks on the lease, and discovered that a Curan had broken out of jail by mind-controlling another prisoner and a guard. That guard had finally come back to himself in the last couple of days. The talk of the town now was the military contingent that had disappeared, only their steeds found, riderless. That military unit had been tasked to find the prisoner that the Curan had escaped with, because she was General Blatson’s new-bride-to-be, bought and paid for.

  “Oh, Cartari…” I sighed as we settled down into the meadow just west of the military compound. We had decided, after hearing that, to buzz along the passes, in hopes that we would scout Cartari on his way to the military base, wayward bride in tow, as a goodwill offering, hopefully, but we hadn’t seen them. Our goal was to find Cartari, but we were also to complete his mission. If our route estimate was right, he would be arriving any time to the military base. Assuming he followed along with the mission, and I had no reason to suspect he wouldn’t, no matter the girl he had freed from the prison. It’s not like he would have any loyalty to her. He was always fairly cavalier with his heart, but he wouldn’t fall for a local. Not a Valistoran. They were beneath us. They weren’t even telepathic! How would they be able to connect about anything?

  Of course, both King Kajo and Alpha Jase had discovered an even more intense connection with their Destins from non-telepathic planets… but I just couldn’t believe that would ever be worth it.

  I beckoned to my crewmen. We were six total Farians, but with our telekinetic power and supreme fighting skills, we were surely worth at least forty.

  “Let’s reach out telepathically. See if anyone picks up. Cartari will be nearby soon. I’m sure of it. At the same time, Modifi and Kala, I want you to go down to the military base and see what you can pick up from reading minds around there. See if there’re any reports of Cartari being seen, or if they have him already.”

  “Yes, Bravo.”

  I turned to the scanner. There were plenty of infrared signatures coming in, but they all looked animal-shaped, nothing Curan, so far. Hopefully, Cartari would be open telepathically, for some reason, and we could get in touch with him before he entered the military base. From what we could discover in the southern city, he would most definitely not be welcomed by Blatson. We had cornered a guard that had spoken with the military unit that had left in search for him, and it seemed Blatson had identified Cartari as the Curan emissary sent by Farian, which made him very contrary to any negotiating with us.

  That meant our mission was likely to be adjusted, as well. We would still make the offer to Blatson, but we were prepared to depose him and insert Truloy.

  One thing had been clear from Commander Axis and King Kajo: we weren’t to leave Vailstor without a trade deal and we weren’t to leave without Cartari’s body.

  Hopefully both of those things would be alive and well when we took off. And hopefully that take off date would be soon.

  I shivered as I looked out the spaceship window. It was cold here. I missed the sunny Bristola shores…

  Seventeen

  Cartari

  We were almost to the military base. We could hear the muffled sound of its speaker blaring orders to troops and we had skittered numerous broken down military vehicles and guard towers for the expanded base, if they needed it, when under attack.

  We crested a rise and I pulled Zaya down quickly beside me. The rise gave way to a snow-covered foothill that led directly to the compound entrance gates. It had a medieval wall surrounding it, stables, buildings, and barracks on the inside. We could see within the compound walls from this vantage point. There was a small toolshed to the left on this rise, hidden from the compound by the tall redwoods.

  I watc
hed the pattern of guards before the gate and was surprised by their relaxed demeanor. They seemed to feel under no pressure or threat. From what I understood, relations between Truloy and Blatson were tense, but Truloy had not officially challenged Blatson for rule, yet. However, it still seemed strange that “on alert” meant leaning back against the walls with crossbows looped over your chest, chatting to your comrades, hardly glancing at the surrounding territory.

  I had been hoping to go in as a friend, but they would make it easy to go in under power and demand entrance, too.

  I didn’t really have a plan, yet. I just knew it was time. It was officially time to ask my Destin the question I had been dreading.

  I managed to get the stuck, hardly used door, of the relatively empty toolshed open and walked inside with Zaya. We were both sweaty, yet frigid from traipsing for so many miles in the snow. It had taken us a couple days, but we had made it.

  “I am going to go down there,” I said. “It is important for you to remain here, for you to remain safe. Communicate with me telepathically if anything happens.”

  I picked up an old leather cord from the workbench and twirled it between my hands, shuffling my feet, looking out the small window toward the compound, delaying, delaying, delaying…

  “Who are you here to see, Cartari?” Her eyes were misted with tears as she asked the question, but I immediately loved her more for taking away the pain of me having to open the conversation.

  “I’m here as an emissary from Farian to request a trade deal with General Blatson.”

  Zaya reached behind her and clutched at the wall.

  “The General?”

  “Yes.”

  “Cartari, I… I have to tell you something.” She stood up from the wall and took my hands. “As we got closer to the military base, I worried it was something like this, but I didn’t want it to be true… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t say anything, but…”

  Warning bells sounded in my head. My heart was roaring in my ears, my breath coming quick, as if I were afraid, running from something, running from her words, into the place of safety I knew best: her love, her hands, her tongue.

  So, I kissed her. I kissed her quivering lips. I wrapped my hands in her hair, feeling the smooth skin of her neck, the curve of her shoulders, her breasts, her ribs, her waist, her hips. Her hands were on me, too, eager to get under my cloak, to pull up my shirt, to scratch at my back, and pull me in tighter.

  I lifted her up and spun her around, her legs wrapping around my waist. She tucked her head into mine and ravaged my lips, my chin, my cheeks, my jaw, nibbling at my neck.

  I shoved aside the small tools and ornaments on the workbench and set her down, back pressed into it. She pawed at my pants, dropping them down, just as I did the same to her, stripping one, boot-clad leg out.

  I spun her around and pressed her back low, finding my way under her shirt, memorizing the shape of her spine with my fingertips, and she was soon hugging the workbench. She giggled, lifting one leg a little, as I eased in behind her.

  As I gripped her hips and slid my hard cock into her wet, tight, warm, inviting pussy from behind, she gripped the wooden bench and then smacked her hand to her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

  Her hips were perfect grips in my hands. I flexed my fingertips into their flesh, pulling her back into me with each thrust, mesmerized by how well we fit together.

  Zaya crooked her elbow across her mouth and bit her sleeve as I thrust in and out of her, her moans screams muffled into the clothing.

  I opened my mind to her… She was there, waiting to hear my thoughts and embrace my soul...

  “Come into me harder, harder!”

  “You’re so damn tight, I don’t want to hurt you. I will never hurt you, Zaya… I will do everything I can to protect you… You are mine, and I am yours…” I still pummeled her, her body rocking back into me and then clenching the workbench, but I was wrapped in a warmth of undeniable connection with her that made each movement feel like the flow of a waterfall, cascading, crashing downward, overflowing power and intensity.

  I was starting to see sparks and snowflakes mingle inside, and I couldn’t tell which was inside the shed and which was out. My hands pulsed rippling ribbons of glowing light into her ripe, luscious ass as I touched it. She looked back at me as I gripped her hips harder, I could barely see her face through my climax-blurred eyes, and when I saw she was crying, it tipped me over the edge, a crashing crescendo of orgasm, ricocheting lights and butterfly wings through my entire body, torn asunder by the most painful feeling I had ever experienced: that of her sorrow.

  I gasped, trying to catch my breath, bending over her, weak-kneed, afraid I was going to fall to the ground. She slipped my cock out of her and spun to catch me into her arms, hugging me close to her. I couldn’t believe how good she felt, how beautiful she smelled, how her smile lit up my entire body.

  I steadied myself, and we pulled on our clothes in silence. She couldn’t take her eyes off me, worried and tense, tears still trailing down her cheeks.

  I pulled her close and brushed the tears away. “If you have--”

  “It’s Blatson, Cartari. That’s who I have been running from. I’m his pledged bride. He bought me a year ago. I’ve lived at different compounds since then. I finally escaped when I was going to the southern precinct to do some shopping for our upcoming wedding. But… I slipped up and got caught. That’s why I was in jail… And I can’t… I just don’t know… I mean, Blatson must know you are with me and he will never sign a trade deal with the man who has his soon-to-be wife.”

  She clearly struggled over the last word. Her hands had been pulling at my clothes the whole time she spoke and she was hardly able to meet my eyes. When she said the word wife, my heart sank low, squelched in the agony of imagining her with another man, even pledged to another man. It just couldn’t be… She is mine.

  She had told me… Finally… It was Blatson that I needed to fear in this regard. And the best thing I could do for Farian was to hand her over. A goodwill gesture. I could even lie and say that had been my plan all along, to bring her here. I could win back the trade deal, that, she was right, was most likely lost, by giving her up.

  She knew it, too.

  “I know what you should do, Cartari. I can see it on your face without even needing to read your mind. It will be best for Farian, and maybe for Vailstor, too, if you give me to him. And maybe that would work, maybe I would be able to escape again, if he doesn’t kill me…”

  I grabbed her flurrying hands and held them to my lips, kissing them all over, smiling at her with my eyes as she looked at me in surprise.

  “Zaya, you’re my Destin. I’m not using you as a tool in a trade negotiation. That was never a possibility. You have my heart. Giving you to Blatson would be giving myself. And I like myself far too much to do that.”

  I winked at her as she pulled me into a tight hug, ecstatic, her emotions rebounding off our mental connection in a blurry, euphoric, sad, loving, tender, excited, hopeful mess of emotions that I couldn’t imagine having tied up inside me.

  I held her tightly and soothed her hair as the snowflakes started to fall more profoundly outside the window. I knew what I had to do. There was only one solution to this. I had one goal with a nebulous plan… It was without official declaration by Farian, but, hey, I was the only Farian here. It was my decision to make. Besides, if the General knew who I was, and who I was with, the decision might already be made for me.

  Eighteen

  Cartari

  I threaded my way through the forest, heart beating quickly, mind clear. I knew what I had to do, now.

  I needed to enter the compound from a different direction, to give Zaya’s hiding place as much secrecy as possible. She had vowed she would stay hidden, and I was trusting her. I trusted her in ways I had never thought possible.

  A final grove of redwoods stood between me and the road that led down to the compound gates. There were four gua
rds at the front. Would I kill them? Disable them? Could I just drift them some of my Will and make them leave their posts? But, then, they might be willing and able to come to Blatson’s aid in the fight that would surely take place afterwards.

  Man, if only I wasn’t doing this alone… At least I would die for my Destin, with the taste of her lips on mine…

  But, if I die, what will happen to her?

  I can’t die. That is as simple as it is. I can’t die.

  I also couldn’t fail at my mission… If I had more time, or if I wasn’t right here in front of Blatson’s compound, I might try to reach out to Truloy, first.

  A footstep cracked a stick and I spun around, throwing myself behind another tree, into the bushes, my gloved hands catching me in the snow that was just shallow enough to be sludge, seeping between my fingers. I reached out telepathically, seeking out how many people were in the forest beside me, as I twisted to my knees in the bushes, knives at the ready.

  “No need to kill us, Commander. But, keep those knives out. We aren’t the only ones near.”

  I stood up in the bushes, snow and thistle-laden branches clinging to my coat. I grinned at Ilisa where she stood in between the trees. I sensed out. Five more Farians answered my creeping call telepathically.

  I pushed through the bushes and grabbed her forearm. Thanks be to Axis, he had sent aid when he hadn’t heard from me. I wasn’t insulted at all for him being overly cautious. I was supposed to have reported in multiple times by now. And, he had sent one of my best friends. “It is so good to see you, Ilisa.”

  “It’s good to see you, too, Cartari. We were hoping to catch you before you went into the compound.” Her mousy features studied me, eyebrows raising. She noted my many, many throwing knives and daggers lashed about my body. “Presumably to do something stupid?”