by Aria Bell
Gamesh roared and began to circle me at a distance. He swung his arms around and made much noise. I watched him, keeping still, my concentration as finely focused as a laser. I listened to the sounds. To the thud of his footsteps. To the cheering crowd. My eyes took in all there was to see. Gamesh menaced me with his spear but did not close in to strike. The crowd watched in eager silence. Chief Moppo observed the battle with shrewd eyes. He was clearly hoping I would remove this rival for power from him—pull this yredo thorn from his foot.
I was not fooled. But this was necessary.
Gamesh finally finished showing off for the crowd and started toward me at a lumbering run, screaming with bloodlust.
I waited until the last possible moment. Then I sidestepped, spun, and sliced with my blade.
Gamesh ran several more steps before he discovered he was dead when his head fell off his shoulders. It thudded on the arena dirt. Then his body collapsed. His blood was green. My strike had been so fast and sure that my blade was not even stained with it. I lifted my blade and repeated my war cry, this time in victory.
The arena was eerily quiet. Chief Moppo looked as if he wanted to dance with joy. I would have to keep an eye on the devious Voltuni. He could prove dangerous.
I walked to stand before the dais. My gaze was now only for the fierce d’mura osefei I had saved.
She stared back at me, her skin pale and her eyes wide. I could not tell what she was thinking. It was difficult for me to care in that moment, because the battle lust was still in my veins, in my thoughts. I was charged with my victory. Every fiber of my being wanted her and wanted her now.
Chief Moppo addressed me. “As a member of the Andgronn, you will be given lodging of your own.” He gestured toward Nena. “Go then, warrior, and take what you have earned.”
She did not move. We stared at one another.
I sheathed my blade and held her gaze, wondering if she would force me to carry her off. I would do so, but only if she gave me no other choice. She was a warrior too, in her way. I did not wish her to appear weak in front of these others. She could always feel free to appear weak in front of me, for I would never hold it against her. I would keep her safe, keep her secrets, keep her trust. But I would not let my mate, my shodo’zan, be shown as weak or undisciplined before these strangers. So I appealed to all the legendary gods that she would do as I had done when I had surrendered my blade—that she be humble for me and submit, because in this moment, it was needed.
She seemed to understand. I felt a surge of joy and tenderness for her as she slowly walked down the dais steps and came to me. I held out my hand to her and she took it. She did not say a word. I could feel her tiny hand shaking in mine, but she stood beside me with her head high, her chin raised.
Like a warrior.
Chief Moppo stood in front of us and handed me a large metal chalice filled with a dark liquid. “This is urieok, a drink made from the sap of the holy trees of the Shining Grove. It is eternal, unspoiled, nourishing, sacred. This blessed drink is only tasted twice in a Voltuni’s life. Once at birth, once at the mating of two souls.”
I took the chalice and drank of it. The liquid warmed me from my center. It made me feel bursting with life and strength. I handed it to Nena. She took it carefully, then finished all that remained in the chalice.
The Voltuni were cheering and singing. They were throwing bright red flower petals and had devices that shot off sparks into the darkening canyon as the sun sank toward the horizon.
“May the gods look with favor upon you!” Chief Moppo shouted. “She is bound to you. You are bound to her. May you find peace.” He laughed wildly. “Now go and fuck and be happy!”
I would not find peace until I avenged Terx Ko’dal, but there was no reason to state that here. I was only glad the Voltuni mating ceremony did not include a kiss, as so many alien ceremonies did. It was not as though I did not want to kiss my mate. I ached for her lips. I yearned for her. But I did not want the first kiss we shared to be on display in front of these strange Voltuni.
A kiss was far more sacred to the Jardan, far more important and meaningful than sex. When I truly claimed her, it would not be with a blade or with a shared drink.
It would be with our first kiss.
CHAPTER SIX
Nena Brax
My mind was reeling. I had just been won as a prize in a fight to the death and was now to be bride to an alien Jardan. The very male I had pursued to Kyel Yost Station to arrest for murder. This was utter madness, but I had no way to stop it. I’d had no way to stop the duel because I was on a world that did not heed galactic law. I was wise enough to know when to make my stand, and saving Gamesh hadn’t been the time. I was caught up in the tidal wave. What I wanted did not come into this. I had no choice in the matter.
Night had settled across the landscape. The stars had come out. I felt as if they were mocking me, taunting me about how trapped I was. How few options I had.
We did not talk as Ryrke Zo’dan led me to the cliffside house the Voltuni had given us. The dwelling was mostly seated deep in the side of the cliff, with windows facing the open canyon.
I was afraid. I could admit it to myself. I had lost all power and control. My badge and position in the galactic force held no sway on this low-tech world so far from the galactic core. Blood had been shed and someone had died, fighting over me. As much as that horrified me, I was shocked to discover that part of me felt gratitude to Ryrke for saving me from Gamesh. Because I firmly believed I would’ve had to kill Gamesh myself if Ryrke hadn’t stepped forward to claim me as a mate. I might not have been able to defeat the repulsive Gamesh in an arena as Ryrke had, but I would’ve been forced to do something else—stab him with his own spear or smash a rock over his head while he prepared to take what he’d “won.” Then I would have betrayed the oaths I took as a galactic officer, and the Voltuni would’ve probably executed me for killing one of the tribe. Even banishment would be death on this world.
So Ryrke Zo’dan had saved me. Twice now at least. That alone had my thoughts and emotions all in tangled knots. My body knew exactly what it wanted, though. It wanted him. Was it simple lust? Gratitude for him having saved me? Both? I did not know, but I could not deny it.
The dwelling was simple and small but clean. Lamps gave a warm orange glow. There was a fire in the fireplace. I found it fascinating, as I had never seen a true decorative fire except on vids. I had been raised on space stations. I quickly decided I loved the warmth and the changing light. The furniture was simple and mostly made of a wood-like substance I didn’t recognize.
Ryrke went to the fire, put another piece of wood on it, and then grunted as if satisfied it was burning well enough. I couldn’t help but admire how he looked in the firelight as the glow from the flames caressed his big, muscular body. It threw some of the hard angles of his face into shadow and illuminated others. He was a breathtaking sight. My heart thudded in my chest. I was breathing faster and my skin felt flushed. My core tightened with lust and need. I didn’t know what to think, but my body seemed in control. My body knew what it wanted. I only wished to forget about all the danger and fighting today. To revel in something simple, primal, pure, and good. There would be no danger to me. He could not get me pregnant, and there was no risk to my health or his. If I wanted this, I need only take what I desired.
The big Jardan warrior rose to his full height again and turned to face me. His voice was deep and…was I mistaken, or was it rough with something else? Anger? Need? I didn’t know.
“Nena Brax. We are mated.”
“You killed that Voltuni.” I wasn’t sure when I opened my mouth what would come out. But that statement seemed as good as any other on a crazy day that had turned my world upside down.
He nodded. He also didn’t apologize, didn’t make excuses, didn’t try to justify himself. I didn’t know what to think of that. Except that it appealed to me on an instinctual level. He believed he’d done what was right…and because
of it, he’d saved me from Gamesh. Or from having to kill Gamesh myself. It was hard to hide my surge of gratitude, but I did my best.
He seemed to misread my expression as fear. “You have nothing to fear from me, d’mura osefei,” he said gently, coming across the room to me. He gently touched my cheek, caressing my skin with a finger.
His touch set off electric bolts of pleasure through my body and made it hard to think. Who was this man who could make my pussy wet and my body respond so strongly by just a look, a few words, the softest of touches? That frightened me far more than seeing him in the arena ever would.
And he kept calling me d’mura osefei. It was time he revealed what that meant.
I stared up into his bright green eyes, no color I’d ever seen on a human man, and asked, “Tell me what those words mean. Why doesn’t the translator work for it?”
“It means little beauty in the ancient language of the Jardan. A term of endearment. It cannot be translated by a machine, because the language and its meaning is not shared with those who are not of Jardan.”
That left me speechless. I was both touched and surprised he had chosen to share the secret with me. It might not be the biggest revelation in the world, but it meant something to me.
But my voice came out breathy and soft as I only replied, “You are still calling me little.”
He smiled. “You are little. To me. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t strong. I do not mean it as an insult Nena Brax. My mate.”
I gave a brittle laugh. “If we are to be mated for the Voltuni, you may feel to call me Nena.”
He drew closer to me. “I am no fool. I realize you do not love me, Nena. But that does not stop me from wanting you. From desiring your perfect body.” He shrugged slightly, even as my body heated and my skin flushed with desire at his words. “I had always expected to be mated to another Jardan, but I have also always believed that surprises are what make life in the universe brighter.”
His words touched me. I knew he was speaking them to make me feel better. I had not expected that level of caring from this huge, fierce warrior. It seemed all my preconceptions of this wanted Jardan were wrong.
I didn’t want to admit I was afraid. I didn’t want to show myself as weak. But at the same time, I felt incredibly protected when I was with him. I had only known him a short time, but in that time he had never harmed me, even when I’d tried to harm him. That amount of restraint spoke plenty about his honor, discipline, and self-control as a warrior. Whatever the reasons why he was wanted for murder, from what I’d seen of him so far, he was no criminal. There was far more to the story. I could ask him now, press for explanations, but I realized that I had no desire to know at the moment.
I had just been won, just been claimed, to be mated as a bride to this impressive male warrior. I could have tried to defy him. Fought him. Tried to escape. Even though I knew all would be pointless. I could not defeat him physically, and there was nowhere to run to.
But although I knew I had the strength and determination to do these things if I wished, I did not wish to do them. Even if we eventually escaped this planet and I had this marriage annulled, what was preventing me from allowing it now? What was stopping me from accepting what it could give me? Nothing. Ryrke said he wanted me, and that sent hot, erotic thrills coursing through my body. I would not deny that my body had been lusting for him since the moment I’d first seen him. There were far worse fates than finding comfort in each other’s arms in this dark time.
I tilted my head up, looking into his eyes. I meant to ask him to kiss me. But my lips betrayed me, and what came out of my mouth was a question. “Why did you claim me?”
“I could do nothing else. Honor demanded it.” His eyes narrowed and blazed with fierce lust. “Honor…and what I desired.”
“You don’t owe me anything…”
“I do not want you to die,” he said slowly. “Your fiery spirit is needed in the universe, and I will not see its light go out if it is in my power to stop it. So I claim you as my mate, as shodo’zan of the Xy’dolma clan. It is an honor for you as well.”
“Not one I asked for.” I glanced at the door, suddenly uncertain as all my desire and heat seemed to vanish at once. “We can play this charade, say we’re ‘mated’ all you wish. But as soon as we’re off-world, I’m putting you in a pair of bindercuffs and hauling you to the galactic core.”
A slight smile turned up his lips. “Be that as it may, that is far in the future. For now, I have a responsibility to you. Besides, bringing me to this ‘justice’ you care so much for will be difficult if the Voltuni kill you because we did not join in body and spirit.”
“What do you care?” I snapped, if only to cover the lightning bolt of purest erotic lust that crashed through me, soaking my pussy, tightening my nipples until I was sure they were poking hard against my flight suit. “You’ll be fine. If they kill me, you can go on your merry way.”
He loomed over me. I stared up at him defiantly.
“I will not let anyone or anything harm you,” he said.
The simple truth I could hear in his words made my heart fill to near bursting. I wanted to cry; I wanted to kiss him. Emotions spun around inside me, making my hands shake and my heart beat faster.
He settled one big hand behind the back of my head and neck, gently cupping me there, looking deep into my eyes. “Among the Jardan, a kiss is far more important than it is among other species. I want to kiss you.”
He waited there, watching me with those eyes far brighter than emeralds. I realized that he was giving me the power then, if I wanted it, to refuse to kiss him. He might still fuck me as the Voltuni had demanded. And I would fuck him right back, taking and reveling in the pleasure without guilt. But this kiss meant something deeper to him…and so it meant something to me.
“I want you to kiss me,” I whispered.
He slipped his powerful arms around me and drew me against his body. I couldn’t help my gasp as I felt the huge, hard length of his cock pressing against me. But I scarcely had time to get weak in the knees before he captured my lips in a kiss that rocked my stars.
It was the best kiss of my life, bar none. There was nothing gentle about it. He poured every part of himself into the press of our lips. So much intensity, so much heady male desire and claiming was in the kiss that my thoughts were soon reeling and then driven out of my brain entirely as I yielded myself to him completely. He claimed me. He owned me with that kiss.
I was ready to give everything to him as he finally ended it. When his lips left mine, I was filled with regret that the incredible pleasure had stopped, and yet at the same time, filled with a barely contained eagerness for what I knew was coming.
More. I wanted more. I had to have more of him. All of him.
I didn’t care about what might come tomorrow. I didn’t care that I’d been sent to take him into custody and was now about to get what I hoped would be the fucking of my life from him. None of that mattered in the slightest.
He caressed my face again, so tenderly. But there was nothing tender about the fire in his eyes. “Mine,” he said. His voice was a possessive growl that vibrated straight through me, along my spine to my pussy and made me quiver.
He kissed me again. This one was slow, deep, intimate. My body responded to him as if he controlled me with mere thoughts, amplifying my desire with his. I was hot and wet and oh so ready for him.
So it was with both impatience and tightening desire that I let him undress me. His hands were big but deft. He drew down the seal and the zipper on my flight suit and pushed it down until it was past my hips and fell to my feet. I stepped out of it, clad only in the bodyglove suit that fit me like a second skin. He skimmed his hands lightly over my body, up my hips, my sides, to cup my breasts. The power in his hands was obvious, although his touch was delicate, almost reverent. I bit my lip on a moan as he caressed my breasts through the ultra thin fabric. Then he quickly stripped it off my body.
I stood th
ere naked before him. I was not cold, but my nipples were tight, hard points, aching for his touch. He gave that touch to me as he again ran his hands over my body. Touching, teasing, owning me.
My desire only climbed higher as he caressed me.
He stopped long enough to strip off his own clothing. His cock was hard, thrusting upward from his body. I wrapped my hand around it, loving the silken warmth as I stroked him.
He lifted me up as easily as if I weighed nothing at all. One of his big hands moved under my ass, holding me up, while his other arm was curled around my waist. I gasped as he lifted me, a pure erotic thrill shooting through my entire body but ending up in the incredible wet heat of my core. His muscles were bigger than the support poles holding up the roof. It gave me butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it.
He lifted me until his lips found my breasts. Gently, he flicked his tongue over first one nipple, then the other, keeping them achingly hard and tight. When he nipped at one, I groaned deep in my throat and arched against him. He chuckled, pleased with himself, but the vibration of his mouth against my sensitive flesh only set me off further.