by V. K. Ludwig
The only reasonable one, but I couldn’t take Kamenji with me or he would sneak out of Noja at the first opportunity and get himself killed. “Could you stay here? Watch Kamenji for me?”
“I could.” Of course, she waited until I returned to the holoscreens once more and rummaged through those with interstellar import dates before she added, “But I will not.”
My fangs clenched until my ears ached, and I bridled the anger in my voice as I let my pleading eyes lock with hers. “If I remember correctly, you told me twenty seconds ago how you long to meet her, so why not stay here?”
But Mother shook her head. “People my age do not take well to changes. It flares up my arthritis, so I prefer to stay at my own quarters.”
“You are not moving across Solgad, ami. Your quarters are only forty steps away.”
“Then let Kam stay with me.”
Where he would run wild for two suns and likely sneak out at night while she slept, roaming the plains during a time when ushtis hunted. “Are you denying your warlord’s wish?”
“I am denying to play into my son’s stubborn foolishness.”
My palms ached from how I dug my nails into them. I was the warlord ruling over the largest tribe on Solgad, wielding a number of warriors that could wipe all other tribes from the surface of this planet. But every warlord was also someone’s son, raised to respect his parents no matter how much they pissed him off.
“You’re doing this on purpose,” I snarled. “If you believe I’ll claim this woman, then you’re mistaken, and might as well help me.”
If that grin she tried to subdue told me anything, it was that arguing would be a waste of time and energy. Energy I needed to fight the rut, because I was trapped with a woman in heat, her sweetness the most alluring thing in… it seemed forever.
When my eyes wandered to Sevja, her shoulders slumped but she nodded, loyal as she was. “I will stay with him.”
I shook my head. “Your mate only just returned injured from scouting out the northern group of freeraiders, and Feoni still suckles from your breast.”
That concluded the list of people I trusted to care for my son, leaving me no other choice but to remain. Three deep breaths bought me composure. I had witnessed many heats without falling into a rut. Why would this one be different? All I needed were two days of tight control, and Jessica would certainly do her part to assist. It wasn’t like she wanted to be stabbed by a tailclaw.
Mother turned and disappeared through the archway, her voice a mumble under the incessant blast of the air handler. “I will see you next sun.”
“I’ll return to my quarters as well,” Sevja said and rose, but she only made it halfway toward the door when it swooshed open, and she glanced back at me. “The guards are bringing her things.”
“Guards? As in more than one?” I crossed the room. “How many did it take to bring... her...” My steps slowed more with each additional piece of luggage stacked in my entryway. “One might get the impression she intends to make Solgad her permanent home.”
“She might.” Sevja’s words sent a rush of liquid unease into my veins, but it thickened with raw aggression when she added, “If she remains the entire duration of this assignment, an unmated male might decide to court her.”
A possibility that shouldn’t tense my muscles the way it did; certainly not to a point that my tail lifted high for a strike. Nothing but instincts. Yes, the woman might entice a male—one that wasn’t me—to claim her, but this amount of luggage almost made it seem like she counted on it. And hadn’t she mentioned something before the incident?
Once a male claims me.
You should let a male claim me.
The memory of her words sucked all warmth from my face, numbing it to a degree I barely felt that palm I pressed onto my mouth and nose. A terrible mistake, given how the scent of those curls I’d gripped earlier still clung to my fingers.
An inexcusable display of dominance, along with how I’d angled her neck to expose where she was vulnerable, demanding submission. And how prettily she’d given it, surrendering to me with those careful nods and whispered assurances, almost as if… as if she wanted to be claimed.
Instead of cooling at the realization, my blood warmed my nether regions, pooling there until flesh once more hardened. A heated woman in my quarters was a disaster. A heated woman that was, for whatever reason, in search of a mate?
A terrible temptation.
One I would resist.
Four
Jessica
I woke not remembering where I was, but the brief sense of unease had nothing on that twist in my chest when I spotted a stranger in my bed.
“Hey.” Orange eyes blinked down at me only inches away from my face. “I’m Kam. What’s your name?”
I jolted upright, hit my head on the overhead control panel of the sleeping pod, and scrambled away from… from what?
Spurred into a sprint, my pulse thud-thud-thudded inside my ears as I blinked the Jal’zar boy into focus. He sat on the edge of the pod wearing blue shorts with black yuleshis printed on them, grinning at me as if he hadn’t just given me half a heart attack.
“Jessica,” I wheezed out with the little air he hadn’t scared out of my lungs. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here.”
He narrowed his eyes at me as if that was obvious which, taking a closer look, was probably the case. Orange eyes aside, that kiddo looked like the warlord’s mini-me with his black horns, raven hair, and slim nose.
Stunned as my brain was, my mind fogged with a million questions about the warlord’s personal life. “You’re warlord Katedo’s son.”
Jal’zar only conceived together with a soulbond in place, and that realization clenched my heart, because it meant this kid’s mom was dead. The warlord wouldn’t have such a struggle with my scent otherwise.
“When I am older, I’ll be warlord, just like adi.” His grin stretched wider, showing off a gap in the front where he must have lost a fang not too long ago. “I made you breakfast.”
“Okayyy.” I peeled myself out from underneath the furs, rose, and walked over to my suitcase, which the warlord had graciously shoved into my room last night. With his tail. “Where’s your adi? Your… dad?”
“Still sleeping,” he said with a shrug. “He was up all night. I heard him walk around. And curse. Bad words I’m not allowed to say.”
Probably cursing me.
I slipped into my yellow bathrobe and tied the belt, followed by a few rakes of my fingers to detangle my hair. “Mind if I brush my teeth really quick?”
“I’ll wait.”
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I disappeared into the bathroom to wash. Warlord Katedo had called his quarters generous, and the word reflected itself in the sheer size of the room and that sunken tub he’d demanded I use. Twice.
The moment I stepped back into my room, my nose caught a whiff of bitterness. “Is something burning?”
“Oh no!” Kam combat-rolled off the pod and thrust himself into a sprint.
I followed behind, hurrying along the couches in the living area and toward those tendrils of smoke at the far end of the cave-like room. Kam pushed a flat rock from a metal wire that rested atop a small flame contained by a square basin, yelped, and pulled his hand against his chest.
“Did you burn yourself?” I asked and reached for it.
His head sunk as if I’d scolded him, but only until he hissed at me and sidestepped. “It doesn’t even hurt.”
I backed up and gave him some space, watching how his features morphed from shame to anger and back again. As little experience as I had with kids, this one seemed way too worked up over an accident. Shouldn’t he be looking for comfort?
“Well, I read that Jal’zar have a much higher pain tolerance than people from Earth, so I’m sure you can handle it just fine. But…” A flick with my finger toward those four marked suitcases of mine that stood against the near wall. “I brought a gel with me that’
ll heal it a lot faster and make sure it won’t leave scars.”
He stared down at the inflamed patch of pinkish skin that spread across three fingers, then mumbled, “A warrior carries his scars with pride.”
Maybe, but I couldn’t just stand here and watch him act like it didn’t hurt. “The gel’s black like a yuleshi with silver swirls in it.”
“Yuleshis are only black.” And yet his orange eyes wandered to my suitcases, and a slow nod shifted those long black strands of his. “Will it heal before adi wakes up?”
There was an undertone of concern in his voice that clenched my stomach. “Let’s give it a try and find out.”
It took some poking around since I’d brought a bunch of stuff. I was a virologist, yes, but my basic training had been that of a healer.
Tube clasped in hand, I returned to what resembled a kitchen closely enough, and gestured for Kam’s hand. He hesitated for another second, then placed it into my palm, observing the silver particles of the anti-inflammatory from all angles.
“Soon, I’ll tame my first yuleshi.” A new grin stretched across his face, and all of his previous anger paled against that sudden energy radiating from him. “If it’s a male, I’ll call him Hajiko. A female, Dinale.”
I wiped my fingers on my robe and tossed the tube onto the polished stone counter. “Both lovely names.”
Now he just… gleamed. “I made a jalat. You wanna see?”
“A what?”
His naked soles squeaked as he turned on the tiles and took off to rummage behind the couch pillows, only to return with a braided kind of… something. “A jalat! When I choose my yuleshi, I sneak up and push that into its muzzle. Then I swing myself onto its back—” Which he demonstrated with a jump that sent dishes clattering somewhere behind me. “No matter how the beast bucks, I will ride it until it tires and submits.”
I laughed. “Sounds exciting.”
Bright and warm, his joy almost drove out the bitter smoke lingering the quarters.
Almost.
“Where’s that smoke coming from?” Warlord Katedo hurried down the short set of stairs, but his steps faltered to a halt the moment his eyes locked on me.
And mine locked on him because, while he wore his uniform pants, his torso was bare. Bare and as scarred as his face, with the most dominant one starting beside his navel. Black and rubbery looking, it disappeared behind the waistband at an angle and width that left little doubt it reached much, much lower.
When my eyes rose to meet his, he flinched, turned, and disappeared. Less than thirty seconds later, he crossed the living area with long strides, his fingers buttoning another high-collared black shirt.
“What happened here?” His gaze traveled from cutting board, to crackling flame, to that charred thing on the rock that must have been my breakfast… then it snapped to Kam. “You know full well you’re not allowed to light the flame while I’m not around. It’s—”
“Dangerous.” Beside me, Kam shifted from one leg to the other as if it would distract from how he not-so-subtly hid wound and jalat behind his back. “I just… I wanted to make breakfast for Jessica.”
Katedo nodded in understanding, but also pointed at Kam’s side. “Did you cut yourself?” Kam shook his head. “Burn yourself?”
The boy’s nose wrinkled. “It didn’t even hurt.”
With a sigh, Katedo kneeled before his son. “Show me.”
“Adiiii,” Kam fussed, but eventually reached his burnt hand out. “Jessica put swirly gel on it.”
When Katedo looked over his shoulder back at me, I said, “For minor burns. We use it all the time and it’s safe for children.”
“Thank you,” he said, and returned his attention to Kam. “Now show me the other hand.” The moment Kam tried to pull the injured one away, his father shook his head. “Uh-uh. Both hands at once.”
Whatever tension gripped the boys muscles seeped into the very air surrounding us. The kitchen cooled by several degrees, which stood in stark contrast to that anger flaring back to life at the depth of Kam’s orange eyes. He straightened, lifted his chin, then produced the jalat from behind his back.
The warlord smacked his tongue, took the braided and looped rope, and regarded it carefully. “Solid material. Strong weave. Perfect loop.” However much those words of praise lifted Kam’s shoulders, they slumped when his father added, “This is fine work, and it will serve you well. Once you are ready.”
Kam hissed. “Ada tahim!”
“Speaking Jalut in the woman’s presence is rude, and no, you’re not ready.” The warlord returned the jalat to his son’s shaky hand. “Put this away and get dressed. Sevja will accompany you to school and amimi will return you here after. Dare to sneak out of Noja during times of study, and I’ll search the plains for you myself.”
Kam’s little fist gave a pound against his chest. “But I am ready.”
“Please…” The warlord’s gaze sunk to the ground. “I have no energy for this right now. Leave through the side door—”
The warlord pulled back and barely dodged Kam’s tail when the boy spun and ran off, letting his little gray feet stomp extra hard on the tiles. Saying they had a strained relationship would be putting it gently. As someone who’d grown up with no parents, seeing it stung.
The warlord rose and brushed a palm over that black hair braided between his onyx horns. “I would appreciate if you remained in your room, like I ordered.”
“I would have, but I woke to Kam sitting on my bed and smoke drifting through your quarters,” I said, and his nose scrunched up for a second. “You didn’t tell me last night that you have a son.”
He walked over to the soot-covered rock, clasped the burnt remnants of my breakfast, and tossed it into a water basin before he killed the flame. “Because my personal life is none of your concern, and something I’ve fought for solar cycles to keep as private as my position allows. You’re residing at my quarters not because I want you here, but because your carelessness left me no other choice but to tolerate this… intrusion.”
Wow, he sure put some bite into that last word, making it clear just how much he hated this when he wasn’t pulling my hair and sniffing me. “My carelessness? Way to make it sound like I busted that heat suppressant insert on purpose.”
He cocked his head, boring his eyes into me. “Did you?”
My stomach hollowed. “Excuse me?”
“After my guards delivered your household last night, I looked up your name in our centralized information base,” he said, and his uniform seemed to shrink once more with each expansion of his chest. “Will you deny that you applied for the political marriage treaty a few months back?”
I leaned with my ass against the counter and folded my arms in front of my chest. “Why would I deny it? I applied. They turned me down.”
“And yet here you are, inside the warlord’s quarters, at the height of your heat.”
I shrugged. “You carried me here.”
“After your insert accidentally broke and spilled,” he snarled. “And what convenient timing, considering you knew I was on my way to greet you.”
My toes turned so hot and itchy they curled under my soles. “Yeah, this was all part of my master plan. I busted the insert, exposing myself to hundreds of rutting males, all so you would come and save me.”
“Do not patronize me,” he pushed through gritted fangs. “And don’t play me for a fool because we both know you want to be claimed.”
Since he knew that I’d applied for the treaty, there was no point in denying that either. “Yeah, I do, but not by hundreds of rutting males at once. One will do.”
He took a step toward me, and a faint moan resonated the back of his throat before he growled, “It won’t be me.”
“Good, because I can tell that wouldn’t end well even with a soulbond.”
“Exactly my point.”
“Excuse me.” I pushed myself off the counter and stormed toward the stairs, hem of my bathrobe fluttering around
steps as rapid as my heartbeat. “I’ve had enough accusations for one morning, and will go back to my room like you ordered.”
Way to establish myself with this tribe, getting into an argument with its warlord only—
The ground shook.
Fangs chattered behind me.
A growl vibrated the air.
Oh shit.
My soles squeaked to a dead halt as I turned, blood freezing inside my veins at the sight of the warlord’s blown pupils, his irises entirely black. “I’m not runniiii—”
My high-pitched cry cut short when it lodged somewhere between a set of ribs. He wrapped his arm around me and squeezed. Something pressed against my calves and pushed my legs out from underneath me. My arms paddled the air until—
Thud.
My head hit the stiff leather of the couch. One moment, I stared at the stalactites above me. At the very next, the warlord’s horns pushed into my vision, quickly replaced by a set of fangs that trembled with how rapidly he smacked his tongue against his gums.
“So… sweet…” The grunt at the end feathered over the side of my neck just as the weight of his body pressed down on me. “Fight… fight me.”
I would.
I even gripped his horn and pushed, and perhaps I would have shoved harder if he hadn’t dug his fingers into my waist. He gripped me hard, his touch painful in its strength but it held an overwhelming desire that robbed me of breath. Stripped the resistance off me one tantalizing brush of his thumb at a time.
Pinned beneath the muscled body of a seasoned warrior, I moaned at the very first roll of his hips, indulging in its raw desire. Layers of fabric cushioned me from the full force of the motion, but I felt the length of his hard shaft grind along my pussy.
The warlord hissed something in Jalut, then sunk his fangs into my jawline, biting down harder whenever I wiggled as if he tried to keep me from escaping. Which I should have done but… fuck that ferocious hunger in his movements disabled all rational thinking. I lifted my pubic bone against him instead, rubbing my clit in search of friction.
And he offered it, fully dressed, growling against my face at each thrust. His rhythm was unpredictable, wild, and savage. Until, with a deep roar, his entire body stiffened, save for that set of lips that quivered against my jawline as he released me from his bite.