Rescued By The Warrior Lord

by Roxie Ray

  “Yes.” I didn’t have space in my head for hesitation either. Only desire. Only want.

  “Say it!” he snarled.

  “Yes!” I cried out. “I’m yours! I’m yours!”

  Our orgasms peaked simultaneously. They rushed upward, twining around each other until they were so completely tangled, it was impossible to separate my pleasure from his. One of us moaned. The other growled. A kiss sealed it completely, our lips searing against each other so passionately that it was hard to tell who was claiming who. In the end, it didn’t matter, though.

  We were claiming each other. He was mine, and I was his.

  Haelian left his cock inside me once he was spent. His arms wrapped around me tight. He cradled the back of my head in one hand and buried his face against my neck, panting between kisses all up and down the thin, delicate skin there.

  He wasn’t the only one breathing hard, though. My chest felt like it had exploded outward, like the entire universe was trying to shove itself into the space inside my ribcage. And my pussy…

  “Wow.” I closed my eyes and focused on the way it was still clenching around Haelian’s shaft. I’d never felt so full before. So warm. So perfectly exhausted. “Wow.”

  Haelian chuckled against my neck. “Did you get what you wanted, precious one?”

  “Mm, I did.” I brushed my fingertips against the side of his head where his hair was shaved short. Just like some kind of Viking raider in a war movie. It was a little prickly, but still incredibly soft to the touch. If he got me pregnant, I wondered…would our baby have red hair like that? Would it have Haelian’s changing purple eyes, his orange skin? “Did you?” I asked instead.

  “Yes. Except for, maybe…” Haelian pushed himself up on his elbows as his smile faded into a more serious look.

  “What?” I raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t the answer I’d been expecting at all. Unless…maybe he wanted to go again? “Wait. Don’t tell me you want anal now.”

  Haelian gave me a look like I was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever seen. “Why would I? You have such a perfect cunt to use already, Sawyer. Using your other holes, enticing as they may be, will not give me a cub.”

  “Mm. Okay. Then tell me, big guy. How have I left you wanting?”

  Haelian opened his mouth like he was going to say something…then closed his lips again like he’d just thought better of it. “No. No, my love. I want for nothing. Only, perhaps, for this night to last longer.”

  I glanced over at the candles around us. They’d all burned out while we’d been making love on the blanket, but the moons were still high and bright overhead.

  Grinning, I wrapped my arms around Haelian’s neck and tugged his lips down toward mine. “Then let’s stay here for a while. You’re still inside me, after all…” I nipped his lower lip as I stole a kiss. “And the night’s not over yet.”

  “Again?” Haelian’s cock flexed inside me. “Already, my love?”

  “Why not?” I arched my back, enjoying the way I could feel his cum between us, making me slicker than ever. “Unless you don’t think you’re ready…”

  Haelian smiled against my lips. “For you, Sawyer, I am always ready.”

  I giggled against his neck as he eased his hips into motion all over again.

  At this rate, this night would never have to end.

  18

  Haelian

  “Sawyer has a chance to go home and you did not tell her?” Leonix leveled a glare at me so fierce, it could have shot a ship down from the sky.

  Kloran merely groaned and rubbed his temples. “This will not end well, Haelian. If you knew what was good for you, you would leave us immediately. Tell her now, before it is too late.”

  I frowned. Generally speaking, I was the voice of reason within our little group—not the subject of judgment. Once upon a time, that had been Kloran’s position. But apparently, in my cowardice to tell Sawyer of the possibility that she could return to earth, I had taken up Kloran’s place within our ranks in more than just title.

  “If I tell her and she chooses to leave, then what?” I posed the question at the two of them in my most rational, level-headed tone. I knew well how I needed to sound to them. If this were any other situation, rational and level-headed would have been my specialty. “Lunaria needs human females to increase our population, and she fits in here so well already.”

  “Or you fit in her so well,” Leonix snarled. “Do not think you can play the selfless diplomat in this matter, Haelian. Remember, I have seen the way you two look at each other—and the way you look at any other man if they so much acknowledge her existence. Nion is convinced that you hate him now, and many other men here feel the same.”

  “Nion should not have been attempting to woo her to begin with,” I spat back at her. “She was vulnerable on the ship. It was wrong of him to take advantage of the situation like that.”

  “Nion was not trying to woo her.” Leonix crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. “No more than he has ever tried to woo me. He may play the part of a fierce warrior, but he is soft at heart. She was alone and he was trying to give her friendship—unlike yourself, I should add. Do you really grudge either of them that?”

  I scowled, but ultimately, I knew Leonix was likely right. Nion was but a handsome young soldier with a promising career before him despite his lack of title or house. There were rumors enough that his friendship with Leonix was more than platonic, though I knew for a fact that was not the case. It had been simple for me to misconstrue his relationship to Sawyer in the same way—but my reservations about Nion’s loyalty went beyond the way he had been friendly with the female I was increasingly coming to see as my mate.

  “Even if they are only friends, I have other reasons to be frustrated with Nion,” I said, grateful for a chance to change the subject. “Apex believes there to be a traitor in our midst—a man who is responsible for the Rutharian boarding during that ambush we had with them. They knew exactly where to find Sawyer—exactly where Nion had left her.”

  Kloran groaned again. “Then level charges against him. If you truly think Nion is this traitor that you speak of, see to it that he is tried for it.”

  “Kloran! You cannot be serious,” Leonix gasped. “Nion is, and has always been, a brave loyal fighter for us. Even after his own brother was tortured by Rutharians when Nion was just coming of age, he still chose to enlist. He was part of Haelian’s own boarding party when they rescued Sawyer and the others. What reason would he have to assist the Rutharians in recapturing Sawyer after she had only just been saved?”

  “I do not know.” Kloran sighed, then leaned forward onto his desk and placed his head in his hands. “But between Haelian’s failure to inform Sawyer of her options, all this traitor business and my other troubles, I do not have enough time or energy in the day to attend to everything. If Haelian believes Nion is our traitor, he should prove it in court and be done with it.”

  “Other troubles?” I asked.

  Kloran waved the question away. “Not your concerns, my friend. Forgive me for my frustration—I am merely tired. There have been issues beyond our worst projections over the last few days. I do not wish to worry you with them. It sounds as though you have enough to deal with right now.”

  “I think we deserve to hear about these issues, cousin,” Leonix said, her voice icy and commanding. She shot me another glare. “There are too many secrets going around already. Perhaps we can help.”

  “Ugh. If you insist.” Kloran straightened and rubbed his eyes as he fought back a yawn. “I was up late last night taking audience with the king, if you must know.”

  “King Volta came to you?” The surprise in Leonix’s voice was understandable. Once, Volta had been a great warrior of our people, but since he had ascended to the kingship, his interest in dealing with anything beyond drink and his pretty young bride had been limited at best. He rarely even took audience with the high council anymore. The fact that he had spoken to Kloran directly
was unusual at best—at worst, it was an ill omen of the highest degree.

  “Haelian’s courtship of Sawyer is vexing the lords and ladies of the High Houses,” Kloran revealed. “And when the High Houses are annoyed, of course, it takes Volta away from his wine and his wife.”

  “It shocks me that he can pull himself out of his bed and his cups for long enough to even bend an ear to the voices of the High Houses anymore.” Leonix gave a sharp, humorless laugh. “What grievances could they possibly have?”

  “The ladies are furious that Haelian is courting Sawyer after he has spent so many years rebuking their advances—and those of their daughters, for that matter.” Kloran shot me a look of pity. He had seen the way my parents behaved toward each other. He must have realized by now why I had been so tentative about marriage—and why Sawyer, who had no interest in political alliances, was different from the other noble females. “And the lords are furious that there is only one human female available for courting—and that before she was even off the ship, Haelian had already claimed her for his own.”

  “She is not the only human,” I was quick to point out. “We secured two others along with her. Adskow should have passed them off to the other healers by now. They were meant to be brought out of stasis so they could begin recovery as soon as we landed.”

  There was a long, awkward silence. I could see on Kloran’s face that there was something else he didn’t want to reveal to us—and Leonix could see it, too.

  “Get on with it, then,” she told him. “If we are to plan for the future, we are better off knowing the truth.”

  “They were brought out of stasis. But there was…an incident.” Kloran’s eyes faded to a colorless white-gray. “Adskow’s recommendations that they be restrained until a full psychiatric evaluation could be performed were ignored. The older female went on a rampage as soon as she had the strength. She killed herself—but not before she took the life of the other female, as well as two healers.”

  Leonix made a small sound of pity and my heart dropped in my chest. We had fought so hard to recover Sawyer and the other females. It did not seem fair, that after all they had been through, only Sawyer had made it out of the Rutharian dreadnought safe and alive.

  “That would explain why the lords are furious, at least,” Leonix grumbled. “The greedy snakes want a pet human of their own.”

  “They were happy enough when you wed Bria, though,” I pointed out to Kloran. “Why is Sawyer any different?”

  Kloran shook his head. “Bria gave them hope. When we briefed the high council of the other abducted humans, we spoke of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pretty, helpless females with the capabilities to bear multiple cubs each for our kind. Apparently, the lords took this as a promise that we would soon be bringing in mates for them by the shipload. Not a murderer, a victim, and a female already laid claim to.”

  “We promised them nothing,” I snapped. “And Sawyer has chosen me just as much as I chose her.”

  “Because as the man who rescued her, you had the first chance to bond with her,” Leonix reminded me. “Just as Kloran was the first to bond with Bria. It is no surprise to me that they are all foaming at the mouths, wondering when it will be their turn.”

  “If they have a turn at all,” Kloran said. “The squabbling amongst the lords would be no great problem for Volta—after all, when are they not fighting over one thing or another? But that, coupled with the concerns of the ladies—namely, Queen Talina’s friends, many of whom were overlooked by Haelian before Sawyer’s arrival…”

  My lip pulled back in a sneer as I understood what Kloran was getting at. “That would explain intelligence’s sudden interest in returning Sawyer home, then. The lords are angry, and the ladies are angry—which means Volta’s wife is angry, and so we all must suffer for it.”

  “It appears to be so,” Kloran agreed. “If everyone cannot have their very own human to mate with, then he thinks perhaps no one should. Bria, of course, is already married to me—and with another cub well on the way, moons willing.” Kloran closed his eyes and pressed his thumb to his lips in prayer. “But it is his hope that Sawyer will return home so he can wash his hands of this human business.”

  “And what of our population problems?” Leonix asked.

  Simultaneously, I blurted out, “And what if she does not wish to go?”

  Kloran gave us both tired glances. “He believes there will surely be a viable species of breeding slave somewhere out in the galaxies that we could utilize instead. If Sawyer does not wish to leave, no one will force her to return home—but she must be made aware of the option. And soon, Haelian.”

  I glowered. Kloran knew good and well why I did not want to tell her of this. It was for the same reason that he had done everything in his power to keep Bria with him before they were wed, even when it meant ignoring my own advice and keeping secrets from her.

  This was what happened when a Lunarian man fell in love. He had experienced it himself. He knew exactly what I was going through—and still, he urged me to do what he himself, when he had been in my position, was not able to do.

  “Are we to just abandon the other humans who have been captured, then?” Leonix, always the most level-headed of us, of course only thought of others. “We have verified that there are hundreds of them scattered throughout the galaxies, many in Rutharian hands. Can we truly, in good conscience, leave them to suffer?”

  Kloran shrugged. “It is not my decision to make, unfortunately. Volta suggests that we hand the issue over to the slave trade commission. It is, in his opinion, what we should have done to begin with.” Sighing, he placed his hands on top of his desk and pushed himself to his feet. “I do not like it any more than either of you do, but the lords are becoming too greedy, and the ladies too petty, for this to continue, as far as the king is concerned. Breeding slaves, in ample supply, the nobles can stomach. But for as long as the lords have want for human wives that they cannot obtain and the ladies complain that these humans should act only as breeders, not wives or mates… My hands, as you can imagine, are tied.”

  He gave us each a nod, which meant our briefing was over. Leonix left his office with her fists curled in fury—though, for different reasons than why I found myself doing the same.

  While Leonix was concerned only for the safety of the other stolen humans, I had an issue much more personal to deal with. One that would break my heart, if it did not go the way I wanted.

  One that would ruin my life forever, if Sawyer did not choose to stay.

  Of course, I had to tell her. It was wrong of me to keep it from her for as long as I already had. But now, with the king and the entire court of nobles doing all they could to destroy what Kloran, Leonix and I had been working toward, I knew that if I did not let Sawyer choose her own fate, someone else would be sure to pose the decision to her instead.

  It would hurt me if she left, but if I did not tell her, it would hurt us both. She would hate me if she knew I had kept this opportunity from her, and I would hate myself for never having the courage to give her the choice.

  As I left in the direction of Sawyer’s rooms in the palace, the thought of my own sister came to mind. How would I have felt if I believed her to be dead only to discover that in fact, she was alive and well without the knowledge that she could return home? Sawyer’s betrothed, I did not give a thought to—from the sounds of things, he had lost her long before I had first swept her up in my arms. But Sawyer’s parents were mourning her. They surely missed her, and she them as well.

  There was another matter as well, one that I had not remembered to warn Kloran and Leonix of. But Apex’s words, cruel as they may have been, were rarely far out of my mind.

  If there was a traitor in our midst, Sawyer was still not safe here on Lunaria. Perhaps, as little as I liked it, sending her home was her best chance at evading the Rutharians for good. Whatever slavers had captured her from Earth would surely struggle to sell or trade her to the same species twice.


  It broke me to do it, but as I came to the doors to her rooms, I forced myself to raise a fist and knock upon it.

  Whatever happened now was in Sawyer’s hands.

  Her safety, though, if she chose to stay…

  That would be in mine. To the death, if need be. I would do anything to keep her if she chose me—and I would give anything, even my life, if it meant keeping her from harm.

  19

  Sawyer

  On that day, like every other one since I had arrived on Lunaria, I spent my time with Bria and Kaliope. We had breakfast on the balcony and lunch in the gardens. When Kaliope napped in the afternoon, Bria and I lay down in bed with her between us to catch a little shut-eye too. Bria, I knew, was extra-tired these days. She’d revealed to Leonix and I that she was pregnant again, even though it was still early and she didn’t want word getting out too far beyond our little circle. As for me…well, I had other reasons for being exhausted. Haelian’s late-night visits were quickly becoming the highlights of my days, but even though he usually left me completely wiped by the time be brought me back to the palace, I could never quite get to sleep.

  Being tired wasn’t the problem. It was just after I saw him, I was always a little too excited to get to bed right away. Being in his arms made me giddy. Kisses made my heart flutter so hard and left my knees so weak, it was a good thing he was always strong enough to hold me up when he finally pulled away.

  There was just no denying it. Every time we were together, I found myself falling for him more and more.

  That was the best part, really. I’d done my best to be a good girlfriend to Aiden—and a good fiancé, after he’d finally proposed. But now that my feelings for Haelian were developing in full force, I knew I’d never actually loved Aiden. Not really. Even when I’d slept in bed next to him, I’d never dreamed of him. And even though Haelian was spending every night in his villa across the capital, inevitably when I finally did fall asleep, he was there with me all over again in my dreams.