by Cynthia Sax
His lips covered hers. She opened to her barbarian, tugging on his tongue, sucking on his flesh, needing that connection with him. His taste filled her. The hard press of his mouth fed her arousal.
She undulated, moving under him, caressing her male with her entire form. The brush of skin over skin was decadent. Her nipples dragged over his chest, his muscles stimulating that sensitive part of her, tightening them to taut peaks.
He took control of their kiss, stroking into her mouth. She wrapped her legs around his waist. Her pussy lips engulfed the length of his shaft, and they both moaned. The sound was muted by their throats, felt through her body.
Lying under him, their forms fully touching, she couldn’t deny the impact he had on her heart, her soul. She would hurt when he left. There was nothing more she could do about that. Fighting him, fighting them, wouldn’t stop that agony.
But she could influence the pleasure she experienced before they parted. She rippled her slight curves over his unrelenting muscle, seeking to coax the most bliss from their encounter, spiraling their need upward, toward the dark sky.
The cool breeze licked the sweat beading on their skin, tousled his long black hair. They fucked without entry, teasing themselves into a frenzy. She panted into his mouth, straining against him.
“I need to be inside you.” His voice was deeper than a canyon, reverberated in the pit of her stomach. He pulled back, aligned himself with her.
Their gazes locked. In his eyes, she saw passion, caring, forever. She pressed her fingertips into his shoulders, holding onto him instead of running as she was tempted to do.
This was the duration for bravery, for grasping what she wanted, for living in the moment.
“We’re more than fated mates, Xareni. Much more.” His declaration thrilled her. “You’re mine. Completely.” He thrust, filling her with hard cock, claiming every part of her.
“Ariq.” She cried out, lifting into him, taking her barbarian as he took her.
His base smacked against her pussy lips. She was stuffed with him. Her inner walls hugged his shaft. Her breasts were flattened by his chest. Her hips were pinned to the portable sleeping support.
His gaze never left hers. She saw his ecstasy, his wonder, his satisfaction. When he drew back, that effort, the strain of leaving her heat, was written on his savage countenance, expressed in the clenching of his jaw.
That was how she impacted him, how he viewed their fucking, their relationship. He surged back into her and she met him halfway, their forms crashing together. Her fingernails dug into his skin as they flowed together and fell apart, flowed together and fell apart.
He grunted, that beast-like noise calling to her wild heart. She ravished him with everything she had, not holding anything back, not hiding any of her need, her caring. He wouldn’t use that information against her, not her barbarian. She trusted him. He was honorable and protective and hers.
And she loved him. She paused, stunned by that revelation.
That was why she couldn’t say no to him, why she had allowed him to follow her, touch her, have her. It was the only rational reason for her strange behavior, but she had been denying it as she denied all her uncomfortable emotions.
Until now. She couldn’t reject her feelings with him inside her. They were too strong, too—
Her male collided with her. He hadn’t paused his fucking, wasn’t struggling to absorb a world-tilting truth. The long hard length of him slammed against her chest, hips, pussy lips, clit.
Xareni hadn’t been prepared, hadn’t braced for the contact. She screamed, ripped out of her shock, torn from her musings by the most extreme pleasure. Her inner walls constricted around her Chamele warrior’s cock. He swelled, the band encircling the root of his shaft expanding.
“Xareni.” Ariq bellowed her name and drove into her. Capturing the spot at the base of her neck between his teeth, he bit down. Pain pierced her bliss, those two emotions meshing. Hot cum jetted from his tip, blitzing her inner flesh.
It was too much, too good. She shrieked louder, yelling her satisfaction into the sky, and she gyrated under him, raking his arms with her fingernails, fighting to escape—him, the ecstasy, her impending heartbreak.
He lowered his form more and more, containing her movements, securing her to the sleeping support, to him, and he came again, still. His essence pulsed into her, heating her, pulverizing her with rapture, making her giddy with delight.
“Fuck.” She tilted her head back, near blinded with the fervor of her fulfillment, her arms and legs and all of her shaking. “Oh fuck.”
She loved the damn male. Xareni ran her hands down his arms, smoothing the marks she’d left on him, as she grasped that alarming occurrence.
He was destined to leave. She couldn’t travel with him. They would have to part.
And she loved him.
“Yes, fuck.” Ariq rolled onto his back, taking her with them. Their bodies remained joined, would stay that way for many moments. “Rutting with you slays me, gerel. Every single time.”
His chest heaved under her.
She sprawled over his fit physique, disturbed by more than their extreme fucking. The connection between them had strengthened even more. It wound around them again and again, binding the two of them together.
Severing that link would leave deep wounds. When he left, she would not only hurt. She would lose her heart, her soul, all that was good and kind and loving within her.
And then, she suspected, she truly would become a monster.
Chapter Thirteen
His gerel had issued a cease-fire. It was a temporary peace. Ariq’s warrior female hadn’t the personality for a lengthy capitulation. And he would savor every moment of it.
They rutted three times during the rest cycle. She slept in his arms. They woke, rutted again before dressing, performed their sunrise routines, then joined the others for beverage and nourishment.
Seven-One departed for the clone community. The young warrior’s eyes had glowed, and he had buzzed with excitement, talking about how he would soon learn information that would save his kind.
Yesun and the winged triplets were equally enthusiastic about hunting the cave snake. They chattered, boasting about their prowess in battle, trying to outdo each other with tales of their past conflicts.
Ariq couldn’t remember ever being that young. He met his gerel’s gaze.
She shook her head and smiled.
Frost looked as bemused with the would-be warriors. “I’ll work on the transports while you hunt the cave snake.” The big ice-capped modified humanoid lurched upward. “I’ll ensure the vessels can make the trip back to the Refuge with no incidents.”
Libor, his brother-in-arms, had volunteered to take the watch during the shift.
“You’ll miss the fun, Frost.” Vietor extended his talons.
“I’m certain I’ll hear about it. Multiple times.” Frost lumbered away from them. “Don’t get stuck again.”
“I wasn’t stuck.” Vietor scowled at the male’s back. “I merely couldn’t move.”
His brothers laughed.
Dialo, from his singed appearance, had tried to court Spark’s favor during the rest cycle and had little success with that.
The little drakon eyed him with suspicion as he accepted offers of meat from Jeden’s talons.
Xareni ran her hands over her weapons, verifying they were all in place.
Ariq did the same. “Will being Chameles help or hurt us during the upcoming hunt?”
Yesun leaned toward them, the youth listening for the answer.
“Your ability to fade into the background won’t help you.” His warrior female rose to her booted feet. “Cave snakes track prey mostly by reverberations. It will sense your breathing, any other movements.”
He stood also. The others followed his example.
“Your claws will be useful.” She walked away from them, leading him and the boisterous youths toward the site. “The best way to down a cave sna
ke is to stab it through its eyeball with a dagger…or a claw.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Sorry, Spark. There will be one less eyeball for you.”
The drakon shrieked his response, flew to Ariq, settling on his head. The creature’s talons dug into his skull, imparting a pain he had already become accustomed to experiencing.
“Killing the cave snake will be easy.” Yesun’s shoulders slumped.
“You are very much an off-worlder if you believe that.” Dialo snorted. “Killing a cave snake is not easy. At all.”
“Cave snakes are fast, and they are extremely dangerous.” Xareni utilized what Ariq privately referred to as her voice of authority. It turned him on, hardening his already semi-hard cock. “They can squeeze a warrior so hard his bones crack, can pierce through the toughest body armor with their fangs, can temporarily paralyze beings with their venom.”
Ariq clasped one of her leather-clad hands, needing that contact with his gerel.
She linked her fingers with his. “I’ll instruct you during the hunt.” She leaned toward him. “They can have the glory of downing the cave snake.” That message was only meant for his ears.
“They will love you forever for that.” He grinned. “I’ll restrict my efforts to rescuing them.”
He was certain they would require rescuing. There was a peculiar bald spot on Jeden’s right wing that hadn’t been there the previous planet rotation.
Xareni nodded, entered a wide-mouthed cave. The light dimmed. The temperature dropped. The air was heavy with moisture.
His gerel’s body stiffened. Her shoulders edged higher.
She truly didn’t like confined spaces. That would present a challenge. The warship they would utilize to return to Chamele 2 was more restrictive than the cave they presently occupied.
Ariq pushed away his concerns for their future, glanced around them.
A pool of water hugged the far side of the space. Rock walls surrounded them on three sides. Boulders were strewn on the stone floor.
His gerel leaned against the boulder closest to the entrance, glanced over her shoulder as though assuring herself that opening hadn’t inexplicably closed.
Spark screeched with unhappiness, flapped his wings, relocated to the huge piece of stone.
“No one will block the exit.” Ariq positioned himself beside his skittish female. “I’ll protect it.”
And he’d protect her. Always. He’d safeguard her against her enemies, cave snakes, the exuberance of the young warriors around her, her fears.
“The cave snake is in the water.” She relayed that information to the males. “Are you ready to hunt the creature?”
“We’re ready.” The triplets extended their talons.
Yesun spread his claws, lowering into an attack crouch.
“It will strike quickly.” His gerel issued that warning as she tapped her booted feet against the stone.
The water rippled. Light reflected off black scales.
They waited and waited and waited.
The creature didn’t advance. Judging by the movement of the waves, it was swimming back and forth in the pool, not venturing closer yet not retreating.
Ariq pressed against his gerel’s side, savoring that contact with her. Hunting consisted of short bursts of action wedged between long durations of no activity. The less lively stints would be more exciting with his female.
Xareni would like Chamele 4.
“Nothing is happening.” Dialo appeared to have less patience than they did. He sighed. Loudly.
“We need bait.” Yesun was equally eager for battle.
“I’ll supply that bait.” Vietor staggered dramatically closer to the water. “I’m a wounded being.” He clutched his chest. “Look at how easy I am to capture.”
“You are easy to capture.” Jeden teased his brother. “You get stuck in any narrow space.”
“I wasn’t stuck.” Vietor, predictably, responded to the gibe. “I couldn’t move.” He turned to face his siblings, putting his back to the water—to the threat. “That’s not the same thing.”
A swell of water coursed toward the distracted male.
Ariq straightened.
“Look behind you.” His gerel waved her arms.
The other males rushed forward.
The cave snake abruptly changed direction, shooting out of the water. It opened its mouth. Its sharp fangs gleamed.
Zondoo. Ariq tensed. It was a huge creature.
Yesun twisted to the side, barely avoiding the strike. “It missed me.” He sprinted away from the cave snake. His right leg dragged more and more with each stride. “Son of a gechii.” A long crimson line stretched across his thigh. “I can’t move.” He fell with a loud smack to the stone.
“You’re up.” Xareni pushed Ariq toward the youth.
He ran, moving as quickly as he was able, his muscles straining.
The cave snake snapped at the other three males. Its tail coiled around Yesun’s form.
The youth clawed at his adversary, digging through scales and flesh, trying to escape the hold. Blood spurted. The clasp on him loosened.
Ariq grabbed his arms, pulled him out of the cave snake’s grip. “Divert the creature.” He barked that command at the triplets as he dragged the Chamele to safety.
“Fast. It’s fast.” Yesun panted. The skin on his chest was red. His right leg wasn’t functional. Other than those injuries, he appeared healthy. “But I drew first blood.” The fool grinned.
“The goal is to draw last blood.” Ariq plopped the youth next to Xareni. He glanced back at the battle.
All three of the triplets were fighting while in flight. The cave snake struck at them, attempting to snatch them out of the air.
Its tail flicked. It connected with Jeden, bashing the modified humanoid youth against the rock wall. That loud smack echoed in the small space.
Ariq winced. That had to hurt.
Jeden plummeted toward the pool. “Shit.” His wings didn’t extend.
Dialo caught him before he hit the water. “Chamele, are you going to sit this one out?”
“I wounded it, modified humanoid.” Yesun rubbed his leg. “You can’t expect me to do everything for you.”
Ariq’s lips twitched. The youth had somehow turned being injured by the creature into making a noble sacrifice for the team.
“I’m distracting it.” Vietor landed on the belly of the cave snake and ran up its form, dragging his talons along it. “Attack the head.”
“Prepare for impact, Jeden.” Dialo dropped the male.
Jeden landed on the cave snake’s head. “Oomph.” He stuck his talons into it.
The creature beat him against the stone wall while winding its writhing body around Vietor. The two youths fought, clawing at the cave snake, hacking into it with their natural weapons.
Ariq glanced at his gerel and lifted one of his eyebrows. He wasn’t certain which one of the warriors to rescue first. They both appeared to be in dire straits.
Xareni tilted her head to one side and then to the other. “Vietor is the one most at risk of—”
“Die, creature.” That young warrior struck the cave snake numerous times with his talons. His face was dark with intent. His hands blurred. That was how quickly, how fiercely, he was attacking his foe. Blood spurted. Hunks of flesh splattered everywhere.
“Dialo, you useless ass.” Jeden shouted at his brother as he dragged himself toward the snake’s snout. “We need some help here.”
“They might have this.” Xareni sounded as surprised as Ariq felt.
Vietor hacked completely through the cave snake. Its tail fell to the stone, wiggled vigorously, then became still. The winged warrior released a battle cry and continued his progress up his adversary’s form, slashing through it as he moved.
“I’ve got this.” Dialo shot forward, his speed impressively fast. He reached out with his talons, targeting the cave snake’s right eye.
“No, I’ve got this.” Jeden reached the creature�
��s left eye, stabbing that part of it at the same moment. Guck erupted, spraying him in the face.
Vietor grunted and jabbed his talons into the cave snake’s lower jaw again and again and again. Crimson coated the warrior’s face, dripped down his form.
The creature whipped its body back and forth, slamming the brothers a few more times against the cave wall and then fell to the stone. It gyrated, ceased moving. Blood pooled around it.
Jeden and Dialo stopped fighting. The young warriors kicked themselves loose of the cave snake and flopped beside their slain prey, breathing heavily.
Vietor continued striking the creature. His eyes were wild. His gaze was unfocused. He ripped through scaled skin and flesh in a rage of killing.
Ariq straightened, recognizing the warrior’s state. “He’s in the grips of the os khonzon. Vietor, pull yourself back.” He shouted that order to the male. “The battle is over. Contain it.”
Dialo looked over his shoulder. “Oh stars. Not this again.” He pushed himself to his feet. “Do as Dad taught us, brother. Draw the darkness back into you.”
Vietor’s movements slowed. His shoulder shook. “Can’t.”
“You can do this. Shape it into a ball.” Jeden offered that very Chamele-like advice. “Pat it down. Roll it. Control it.”
Vietor made a hurting sound and fell to his knees. His fingers were clenched into tight fists. Blood streamed along his talons. His form quaked. His jaw was clenched.
But he had halted his killing. The os khonzon was receding.
Ariq sagged against the boulder. Relief and awareness coursed through him.
Kralj was right. Other beings understood the issues he struggled with.
If the triplets were indicative of the modified humanoids, more warriors within the Refuge endured the os khonzon or, as they called it—the darkness, than experienced it in the entire Chamele Sector.
This changed the situation…for him, for his gerel, for their future. His gaze moved to Xareni.
Her face was pale. Her breathing was ragged. She pressed one of her hands against her chest.