Lake, Ciara - Xihirah [Xihiran Shifters 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Ciara Lake

  “Move onto your knees,” Kael ordered, his voice coarse and different. Saleeya did as directed. She knew when arguing wasn't the thing to do with Kael. He plowed into her as soon as she was in position. He grunted and growled as he fucked her. His movements were so physically powerful. She had never heard such forceful sounds from him before. He didn’t sound like Kael. His whole body framed hers. She felt so small and fragile under him. The environment of the transport was dark. It enhanced her other senses. She could feel the intense vibrations of his growls and groans. His behavior increasingly roughened. He pounded into her and pushed her head down onto the blanketed floor. His body fell more onto hers as a full cover. Large hands found and tightly gripped hers. Saleeya could feel Kael’s hot breath on her neck, his breathing was rapid, and she thought of their first experience in the shower when she had watched in the mirror as his face transformed and his voice became increasingly nonhuman. At that time, she had briefly worried about being alone, far from civilization with this feral male animal. It had struck her that this glorious and tempting male was something much more than a mere human. This time she had boldly seduced him to fuck her, and he claimed she had challenged him.

  For mere seconds, those worries surfaced as he pounded into her pussy. She was afraid yet excited. Kael pounded into Saleeya. His roar indicated that his body had exploded with gratification. He roared out again with another climax that was so completely satisfying. Hot seed flowed out with such force. It gushed freely from Saleeya’s drenched pussy. Kael continued his pounding. He roared again then bit down on her right shoulder. He held her with his teeth as his penis swelled even more inside her. He held her that way for what seemed like forever as more and more semen erupted from him. She could feel its sticky warmth running down her thighs. As suddenly as this frenzied sex had begun, it ended. Kael pulled from her, gathering her into his arms, opened the transport’s doors, and carried her into the house. He sat her on their bed. He stood before her in his glorious nakedness. The juices of their sex clung to his still-erect penis and glistened on his thighs. He paced in front of her like a caged beast. Saleeya sat and watched with amazement and the wisdom to be silent as he ran his hand through his hair and eyed her with his gleaming, amber, fully Wolfton eyes.

  He truly reminded her of the animals that watched her from behind the trees in the Zicox Jungle. After several minutes, Kael sat next to her on the bed and embraced her. “Saleeya, now you’ve seen me for what I can be. I didn’t mean to lose so much control and show you that part of me yet, but my restraint is waning. I hope I only scared you and didn’t hurt you. For a moment, I could feel your fear,” Kael said in his different voice. Saleeya sat in silence and rested her head on his comforting shoulder. They sat in silence, and eventually Saleeya fell asleep.

  Again, Saleeya woke to the morning sun. She could hardly believe it was morning already. She felt guilty for sleeping their joining night away. The memories of Kael’s aggressive behavior slowly flowed back into her sleep-hindered mind and she recalled it all in great detail. Saleeya got out of bed, located her luggage that Kael had already brought in from the transport, and dressed. Saleeya looked all over the house. She couldn’t find Kael. He was nowhere. She called for him. There was no answer. Panic welled inside of her. She nearly burst into tears. She ran from room to room, and then it occurred to her to look to see if the transport was still outside. She spotted it out the window, parked in its designated spot. Saleeya rushed back to her room to put on her shoes to go look for him outside the house.

  The jungle was hot and oppressive. Moisture rose from the jungle floor like steam. This was Xihirah at its worse, humid, hot condition. Saleeya’s clothes instantly clung to her, wet against her body in only moments. Her hair curled frantically around her flushed face. Saleeya tried to stay close to the house so she wouldn’t get lost in the unforgiving jungle.

  “Kael, Kael, where are you, Kael?” Saleeya repeatedly yelled out into the dense green jungle that surrounded the house. The jungle fell silent from her shouts. “Kael, where are you? I’m worried, please don’t leave me,” Saleeya begged, beginning to feel irrational and overly emotional. “I’m pregnant and don’t feel like playing games, Kael. Please come back. Don’t leave me alone here. I need you,” Saleeya cried. Saleeya turned to walk around the house in the other direction. The sweltering heat was slowing her movements, and she felt slightly faint. As she turned to head back the way she came, her eyes caught movement in the trees. An enormous black, amber-eyed wolftar crouched in the distance beyond a row of trees. It watched her closely.

  The animal crouched down with its head down and its tail up. The animal’s stance was reminiscent of a large feline preparing to pounce or play. A massive tail swayed back and forth almost playfully as it watched her. “Hello there, big wolftar. Kael, my mate, said you won’t eat me. I hope he’s right,” Saleeya soothingly spoke to the wolftar. “Have you seen my big, bad mate anywhere? He has left me alone. I’m upset with him for leaving me. If you can communicate in some sort of wolftar way, tell him to get back here,” Saleeya continued to tell the wolftar as nerves ate at her insides. This wolftar, even though it made no aggressive moves, frightened her more than the one in the Zicox Jungle. It was at least two times bigger than the other wolftars. It studied her with an intelligent difference that concerned her. Saleeya moved cautiously toward the house’s door. The wolftar swiftly moved out of its crouching position and appeared between her and the path that led to the house’s doorway. “Oh, damn, I don’t feel like getting eaten by you. So move your big, black, furry self out of my way,” Saleeya ordered the huge predator and waved her hand, motioning him to move.

  “How about if I’m not black and furry all over, and don’t have plans to eat you, do I have to still get out of your way? I have other plans,” Kael teased Saleeya after he finished shifting back into his more familiar humanoid form. Saleeya gawked with awe as he transformed in front of her.

  “Oh my Deity, you actually do turn into a full Wolfton.” Saleeya put her hand to her mouth.

  “Yes, evidently you didn’t see me, my father, and brothers shift when you were shot at the blessing ceremony?” Kael cocked his head and looked at her.

  “No, I only heard what happened. My eyes were closed. Then I was unconscious. You’re absolutely amazing. You’re so big. It’s truly magical.” Saleeya blinked her eyes repeatedly. She wanted to make sure she was awake and seeing what she just witnessed.

  “Thank you. I love it when you say things like that,” Kael teased again. “Let’s go inside before you faint from the heat and humidity and talk about last night and my transformation and yours.” Kael scooped Saleeya up against his bare body and carried her inside the cool house. The house felt incredibly cool and comfortable. Saleeya happily sank back onto the sofa where he placed her. “Why don’t you take off your clothes? They’re drenched with perspiration.” Kael tried to help remove her dress. “I want you to be comfortable.”

  “Kael, why did you leave me?” Saleeya was slightly irritated.

  “I didn’t leave you. You were sleeping hard. I decided to work off some of my energy with a run through the jungle. My newly joined mate slept our joining night away. When I heard you call me I came back to find you walking around the outside of the house. I enjoyed watching you look for me,” Kael smugly admitted.

  “Do you love me? Do you accept what I am? Do you accept that one day you’ll become like me and shift? I prayed to Xian that you’d accept all that I am. I worried all night that you might reject us and return to Kriton with your parents and my child.” Kael looked down into his hands.

  “Kael Braeden.” Saleeya jumped up and shouted his name while pointing her finger at him.

  “Oh no, I’m really in trouble.” He smiled. “You look like your mother when she told me what to do in the Med Clinic. I know when I’m in trouble you use my full name.” Kael put his head in his hands.

  “I’m not leaving you. Do you want me to leave? You’re acting l
ike it. You’ve completely switched this conversation to me leaving you. I knew from the beginning that you were a shifter, I just didn’t really realize it fully or how big you actually are until today. In addition, I never have thought about my shifting, but it sounds interesting to me. It’s something I’m willing to experience. I’m not mad at you for last night. Last night it surprised me at how forceful and driven you can become. Actually, it was great sex, and you didn’t hurt me. I still feel the wonderful sensation of our frantic loving. Your bite kind of tingles in a pleasant way, and it surprised me. But, I’m mad at your attitude last night and this morning,” Saleeya lectured Kael. She tapped her foot as if truly impatient with him.

  “What attitude?” Kael hollered back. His heated response surprised Saleeya and her eyes got bigger.

  “You get all solemn and moody. I hate it when you sulk. You sulk and you’re too bossy. And you did leave me. You should have told me you were leaving the house. I was worried. It was inconsiderate. I thought you abandoned me here. Your moodiness can sometimes be hard to understand.” Saleeya crossed her arms.

  “Abandon you here? Are you out of your pregnant, emotional mind, Saleeya? Don’t you know anything about me after all of our time together? I will never willingly leave you. You’re mine,” Kael growled out.

  “You’re mine, too, and I know that you would never hurt me. I can’t help that I was surprised last night when you demonstrated wilder side. It did surprise me. I enjoyed it. I love my wild beast.” Saleeya kissed him fully on his lips. “In the future, though, if you decide to go burn off energy while I’m sleeping—leave a note or I’ll have your head on a platter. Understand?”

  “Yes, my love,” Kael whispered. “It’s as clear as crystal.”

  Epilogue

  Saleeya and Kael cuddled on the reclining chairs, pillows all around, in the relaxation house. They watched out the windows into the beauty of their jungle. It was the rainy season on Xihirah. Torrents of rain fell down and beat on the windows and roof. It never stopped. The Xihirian sky darkened preparing for the coming moonrise. Kael and Saleeya spent much of their free time at this house. His father instructed Kael to have another house built closer to the Palace where they could primarily live and commute daily.

  Saleeya enjoyed being in a single-family house more than in the huge Palace all of the time. Although she did enjoy the company of their extended family and her parents when they stayed at the Palace, it was nice to be alone with Kael and their son. Saleeya decided to enjoy that certain freedom while it could last. This time Kael and Saleeya had slipped away for a few days leaving Steval, their eight-month-old baby boy, an Alpha Prime male, with grandmother Sandria at the Palace. All the children played all day long in the wonderful nursery that Kliven had renovated. Now there were five children around the Palace keeping the staff on their toes. Mariel was almost ready to pop with twins. Saleeya’s parents had relocated to Xihirah. Her father worked for the Braeden Labs, and her mother taught at the Ferileson University.

  Vitalion had been tried by the elected Council’s Tribunal and found guilty of many crimes, the worst being treason to Kriton and espionage. Vitalion was sentenced and released into the Zicox jungle as his punishment. According to his newly implanted med scan, Vitalion lasted for about three hours after his release. A covert Xihirian security force commanded by Admoncor Braeden had located and arrested Clitax Tomron along with his closest followers. Currently they were being held in a Xihirian prison outside the Zicox Jungle, far from the Palace, awaiting trial by the Council of Planet’s Tribunal. Saleeya believed that there was a political justice in Tomron and his cohorts’ imprisoned fate. To be imprisoned on a world with the ones the Realmist hated and feared the most, a variety of Xihirian shifters, was truly poetic. Tomron would be lucky to live long enough to stand trial. Tomron’s imprisonment, for a time, granted the populated universe peace from the prejudice-driven hate crimes.

  Evil often lurks within the shadows. Within a year of Clitax’s imprisonment, his son Felix Tomron started his rise to power.

  Often, his face twisted with hatred, Felix publicly vowed vengeance against the animals and their lovers for his father’s capture. The Realmist reorganized, declaring war on the races they considered abominations. Each passing month brought more and more vicious hate crimes, their severity increasing. Felix proclaimed the abominations would be wiped from existence no matter the cost. Like a tidal wave, the warning rippled through the universe, causing unrest and fear like never before. A great war, like none had ever known, shadowed every world, every race.

  THE END

  WWW.CIARALAKEROMANCEAUTHOR.COM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Reading and writing is a wonderful diversion from an often difficult world. I love to create my own stories and have control over how things will end. It’s exciting to create brand-new worlds and characters. My imagination can come alive.

  In sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal stories, I can invent wonderful places and people. Anything’s possible in these genres and that’s limitless. I’m able to create an escape into a special world filled with unique and fantastic things, and there’s always a happy ending.

  Author Karen Harper, my high school English teacher, inspired me to write. A tribute to how a good teacher can plant seeds of learning and interest in their students.

  However, instead of initially pursuing my writing career, I became a lawyer. I work in divorce court, so erotic romance is a great escape. There can be true love and happy-endings, at least on my pages.

  Also by Ciara Lake

  Siren Allure: The Triaxen

  Available at

  BOOKSTRAND.COM

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com