by Marie Harte
“Yes, yes,” she sobbed as he teased her, bringing her close to the edge before he stopped, trembling.
He wanted it to last, but she made him so hot and hard, so ready to burst… “You have no idea what you look like sucking my cock. Taking me in your mouth.” He groaned and ground against her, wanting as far into her as he could get. “And the way you fondled my sac got me so hard. There are things I want to teach you. Ways of feeling such pleasure you want to die from it,” he rasped as he stroked so slowly, torturing himself.
“I want to die from it now.” She gripped his waist and dug her nails into his skin. Her ankles tightened around his back, though he didn’t remember her wrapping her legs around him. “Hinto, take me, please.”
He shivered, withdrew, and thrust again. “Ah, I love it when you beg.”
She was so damned tight. And all his.
Thrusting into her, again and again, robbed his will to do anything but love her. He took Thais with a rush of hunger and love, overjoyed when she cried out his name and came again.
“That’s it. Suck me deeper. Take my seed and hold me there,” he breathed as he reached his crisis and jetted inside her. His entire body clenched as he poured into her warmth, unable to stop the explosions of ecstasy ripping through his body.
Her fingernails left stinging marks, but she tried to soothe them away with her hands.
Hinto tried to catch his breath as he fought for calm.
“By the Goddess,” she whispered. “That was… I have no words.”
“Yeah.” He refused to withdraw from her but eased his weight from her body and onto his arms. “Hell, Thais. You’re deadly, with a knife or that weapon between your legs.”
“Weapon?” she repeated with lazy amusement. Her low laughter cocooned him in a web of satisfaction, until the coolness of the night breezed over his ass. “I think that weapon between your legs is much more powerful.”
Shivering, he finally pulled out and lay beside her. He settled her over his body, uncaring of the mess they made, and yanked a large fur over them both. The moon blanketed them, and he captured the sight of her in his mind, willing himself to never forget this moment.
“I love you, Thais.” He said it freely, not expecting her to return the sentiment.
“I love you too, Hinto.”
The quiet words unmanned him. He drew her head down to his chest and held her against the frantic beating of his heart. He couldn’t dismiss the magic in the night, nor did he want to.
“My Amazon.”
“My treasure.”
They lay in the quiet, content for the moment. But Hinto had to have the last word. “Thais, no matter what happens in the days to come, we’ll always have this. And I’ll always have you, no matter where we are.”
She remained silent a moment, and he wondered if she’d fallen asleep. “Yes, we will,” she said so quietly he might have missed it had he not been paying attention.
He stayed awake long after she fell asleep, cradled in his arms.
Hinto tightened the straps on Beast and double-checked his supplies and ammunition. Mahpee had appropriated—but wouldn’t say how—more than enough for a firefight with the McKenzies. Rudy, Salvatore, Jon and Mick waited impatiently by the barn to say good bye, along with his brothers and father. Tom and Henry, apparently, had gone in search of a few missing goats.
He still had a hard time believing his brothers hadn’t protested his leaving without them, but with their father still shaky, it made sense they’d want to stick by him.
At least Dozie remained unflappable. She spit on the ground, chewing only God-knew-what, since there hadn’t been tobacco in Big Sky in a hundred years. “Take care, and stay close to the gal. She knows what she’s about. Don’t fuck it up, Hinto.”
Mahpee grinned, Wolf laughed, and a few of the others covered their mirth by coughing when he glared at them.
“Crazy old woman,” he muttered, not surprised to see Thais openly grinning.
“Get on, then. Go and clean up that town. Want to really stick it to McKenzie?” she asked with a cackle.
“What?”
“Find a UT you can’t corrupt and stick him down there. If you don’t kill the brothers, having an untouchable UT in the area’ll drive ‘em nuts.”
“I’ll remember that,” Hinto said, remembering the UT in Little Valley, Annie’s friend. Not a bad idea—even if he did kill the McKenzies and their thugs. He hugged his father and slapped his brothers on the shoulders. “Take care of Dad. And watch that hidden stash of slowburn he’s got in his room.”
Dozie growled, “Dan Dakota, you know what I done tol’ you about that the last time I caught you with it! That shit’ll kill ya!”
“Nice, Hinto. Rat out your poor father before you leave.” Dan glared. Anger replaced the worry he’d been showing, much to Hinto’s relief.
“Tattle-tell,” Wolf teased.
“I’ll see y’all soon.” He mounted Beast and tipped his hat at the others. There should have been a sense of finality, because he instinctively knew this trip wouldn’t be one he could walk away from without some bad memories. Yet he couldn’t summon more than a smile, anticipation making him grin like a damned fool.
He was still floating in a cloud of happiness thanks to Thais’s declaration the previous night.
He glanced at her and frowned. She didn’t look pleased to be leaving. Instead she looked… sad?
“Thais?”
She blinked up at him and shrugged. “I like your family. I’ll miss them.”
Dozie and the others walked back into the house, but his father and brothers watched them until Hinto and their group rounded a bend out of sight.
“Yeah, well, I miss them when I leave, too.”
“So Hinto, you plannin’ on comin’ back to the ranch to stay when we’re done with this fight?” Rudy rumbled. The man hadn’t shaved since the last time Hinto had returned and now resembled a bear.
“I think so.” Hinto slanted a look at Thais.
“How about you?” Rudy asked her with characteristic bluntness.
She paused, alerting Hinto that something was off. “I’d like to.”
“You’d like to?” he asked. “What the hell does that mean?”
Jon, Salvatore and Mick quickened their pace to move closer, not wanting to miss a thing, Hinto thought with annoyance.
“It means I’d like to. Just as I said,” Thais emphasized. She’d been quiet since she’d woken, introspective in a way that grated on his nerves. He much preferred her hostility to that damned quiet.
The men’s attention bounced back and forth from Thais to him.
“A bit uppity today, aren’t you?” he asked. Especially after last night.
As if she read his mind, she blushed. “I didn’t get much sleep,” she bit out, and he grinned at her irritation. “And this is no pleasure trip. Some of us might be killed dealing with those animals at McKenzie’s ranch.”
“Hell, no, Thais,” Jon spoke up. A quiet man a few years younger than Hinto’s father, Jon worked hard, spoke only when he had something to say, and kept to himself with nary a complaint. “None of us are gonna die. Dozie done told me we’re set. Insisted on us all going to help you.”
Hinto felt a measure of relief. Dozie was a pain in the ass, but her predictions had saved his family’s skin more times than he could count.
“You sure she wasn’t lyin’ just to git your sorry ass gone?” Mick teased.
“Please.” Salvatore scoffed. “If anything, your boyfriend prob’ly paid her to say that, so he could quit you. I seen how Tom was lookin’ at Henry.”
Everyone laughed. Henry was eighty-four if he was a day, and Tom had eyes only for Mick. They’d been a pair for as long as Hinto had known them. Good men who wanted only to earn enough to live in peace with people they could trust.
As he reflected on the company with which he rode, he couldn’t have asked for a better group. The woman he loved and who loved him, men he’d grown up rely
ing on, men who watched out for one another and held the same principles he did. He only wished he had the rest of his family with him, but he’d never put his father in such danger, and he wouldn’t be able to leave in good faith without knowing that what had happened once to his family would never happen again. Dad was safe with Mahpee and Wolf. They’d see to it.
An hour later, Thais nudged him with her leg as Ainippe crowded Beast, who grunted with pleasure. “You’re quiet.”
“Just thinking.”
She looked over her shoulder at the others riding behind them. “Worried about what’s coming?”
“No. Just realizing something it’s taken me a long time to understand.”
“What’s that?”
He sighed. “I’ve been selfish for a long time, Thais. Wanting my dad healthy is one thing, but I wanted him to live the life I had in mind, regardless of what he wanted.”
“You care for him. There’s no wrong in that,” she said.
“Maybe not, but I have to respect my father enough to allow his own decisions. When this mess with McKenzie is finished, I’m done hunting.” He’d finally said it, and a huge weight lifted off his chest. “I’m taking all that gold I’ve been saving and pouring it into the ranch.”
He paused then decided to take the risk. “I’d like you to stay with me. I know,” he said quickly when she would have spoken. “You have an oath, I get it. You have to find this Bartel.”
In a low voice she added, “And the crown.”
He realized she’d never spoken of the thing that had been stolen. That she did now further cemented the trust between them. “That’s what he stole? The queen’s crown?”
“Yes. It’s rumored to have the power of ultimate victory, triumph over any and all who possess it.”
“But she’s gone,” he reminded her gentleness. “It didn’t save her, did it?”
“She lost her life after she lost the crown; Estefina told us what happened on that day. I never believed in the crown’s magic, only in its importance to my people. Queen Estefina gave me an order to find that crown and return it to her,” she said, regret in her voice.
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
She gave him a strange look. “You would go with me to do this?”
“Honey, I’d walk through hell’s fiery gates for you. Look, you’re supposed to meet up with the others, Yara, Isadora and Luiza, in four more months, right?”
“You remember their names?”
“I remember everything about you. They’re important to you, so they’re important to me.”
She cleared her throat, but he could see the love in her eyes. “You do me great honor.”
“Yeah, well,” he coughed to hide his pleasure at her faith. “I was just gonna say. After we take care of McKenzie, let’s swing through Little Valley and get that info from Kitty. She might have some info we can actually use. Then head home with me, okay? We’ll spend the next few months with my family before we go together to meet your sisters.”
She regarded him in silence as they rode. “You worry your father won’t be alive much longer. I don’t wish to take you from his side, Hinto.”
“I know. But a promise is a promise. You gave your word, and I’ll be damned if I’ll interfere with it. I won’t even follow you through the jungle if you don’t want. But I’ll worry myself sick if I can’t help you get through the Territories to the boundary.”
“My sisters may not want you to come with us. They aren’t all as open to change as I’ve been.”
Her sadness stole his heart.
“Don’t worry about it. Just tell me you’ll be with me, honey.”
“If that’s what you want.”
It’s the only thing I want, save healing my dad. “Deal, partner?” He held out his hand.
Her wistful expression told him to ask more questions, but when she took his hand, he forgot everything but the love in her eyes. “Deal.”
Chapter Nineteen
In the two weeks Pilar had been at the McKenzie ranch, she’d taken only one blow to the stomach before Butch had learned not to attempt to strike the Lady. Ever since, he’d been her willing slave behind closed doors. She’d respected him so much more thinking him a brutal monster who killed with little remorse. She knew how hard it was to hold onto what one deserved. But this… watching him achieve sexual gratification through violence turned her stomach.
Steeling herself to reveal nothing of her inner turmoil, she used her spear to cane him, the bamboo extremely effective at bringing forth stinging welts. He remained silent as he took the pain, his cock ramrod stiff and swollen.
Not liking the offensive thing, she ordered Butch to lay on his back, knowing the burn of bloody cuts would only bring him more pleasure. “Now I’m going to strike it. Don’t interfere. Keep your hands firmly at your sides.”
She wanted to kill the man, plain and simple. But she needed him to give her Thais. By now the ignorant Amazon should have appeared, yet time passed with no word of her. Her absence, however, told Pilar one thing. Aliane was dead. No way the warrior would have waited this long to avenge herself on Pilar if Aliane were still alive and teaming with her daughter.
The small team Butch sent out to find Thais had yet to return. Pilar could only guess where the little bitch hid. The challenge to fight called to her as nothing else could. Her time spent with Deke and Brian, before Brian had also gone missing, kept her sane. But it was thoughts of finally sparring with another guardian that gave Pilar the most pleasure.
“I await you, Lady,” Butch pleaded.
She glared at him. “I did not say you could speak.” Pilar used a bit more force than she’d planned when she tapped the side of his cock.
He hissed in pain, and she did it again. With a gloved hand, she reached for his balls and squeezed.
“Oh, yes, yes,” Butch panted, nearly there. She gazed with disgust at the clamps on his nipples, linked together by a silver chain. His cock looked bright red from her strikes, his balls an ugly purple caught in her fist.
She released him and stepped back, wanting it to end. Sex with Deke cleansed her, made her feel desired and a part of a family. Brian she tolerated because Deke loved him. Butch made her feel dirty. The depravity in his soul leeched into everything he touched. The open animosity Gregor showed him only added to the dysfunction of the thriving McKenzie estate.
With dispassionate care, she smacked him with lighter, more rapid strokes up and down his shaft until he cried out and climaxed in a sticky, white mess that landed everywhere, on his belly, the sheets, even the floor.
Virile yet pathetic, an odd combination for such a powerful man to have.
“Now clean yourself up while I go out and look for an update on your search parties,” she snapped.
She left the room before he could reply. Before she did anything else, she took her spear into a back room and used the rainwater gathered in a small barrel to clean it. Just the thought of it touching anything of McKenzie annoyed her.
“Gotta wipe that cum off it, hmm?” Gregor appeared from out of nowhere and sneered at her, his gaze lingering over her breasts hidden by Deke’s shirt. “So, you breeding yet?”
She snorted. “Do you really think I’d let Butch put anything inside me?”
Gregor’s face cleared as he considered her, his expression one of calculated interest. “I don’t imagine you would. You’re a lot like the other woman that was here. Thais.”
She knew he said her name so he could watch her reaction. She gave him none, and he gave her a true smile.
“You’re a smart one, Pilar. I wonder how much longer Butch’ll have you before you finally kill him.”
“I wouldn’t take any bets on that. Butch is a savvy hunter. I doubt anyone takes advantage that he doesn’t allow.” She never knew where she stood with Gregor. One minute he seemed as if he wanted to collaborate with her to plot his brother’s downfall, and the next he seemed to be setting her up to fall. So she maintained her silenc
e about Butch’s appetites and gave him her perceived loyalty.
“We’ll see. But Pilar, might want to watch that fine pussy. Hear tell my brother aims to get you with young. You’d make a fine filly to continue the line. Just so’s you know,” Gregor said and sauntered out the back door.
He hadn’t said anything she hadn’t already wondered about, but as Pilar turned to question him further, she heard faint cries from an adjoining room. Not wanting to see what she suspected, she nevertheless entered the dark room.
There on a bed, curled into a ball, lay Celia. The poor girl had been beaten severely. Her back looked like a fleshy canvas of blue and purple.
“Celia, you need to defend yourself.” Pilar couldn’t hold back. The two weeks she’d been at the ranch she’d heard and once witnessed Gregor’s brutal attack on the young woman. The only reason she hadn’t interfered in that last rape was due to Butch’s presence. But enough was enough.
Celia rolled to her back, flinched, and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. Bite marks ran over her chest, belly and between her thighs. A smear of blood lingered between her legs.
Pilar wanted to vomit. The past collided with the present as memories of her beloved Amazon sisters haunted her. And poor Estefina, brutalized like a whore by Bartel himself.
“Just kill me,” Celia whispered. “You’re strong. You can do it.”
“No.” A foreign sense of mercy overwhelmed her. Unable to save so many, through great fault of her own, Pilar could at least stop this one injustice from tainting her memories any more.
She took out her own knife, one that looked much like the one Aliane had given Thais. She’d replicated Thalen’s knife years ago, right after he’d given the blade to Aliane, and before Aliane had in turn altered it to suit her daughter. Pilar placed the knife in Celia’s limp hand and curled her fingers around the hilt.
“Later tonight, call Gregor to you. Tonight there is no moon. Don’t light but one lamp. Keep the room dark. He won’t expect anything, so your attack will have to be swift, committed. Aim for his throat, then use the butt of the handle to smash his nose, disabling his vision with pain and watered eyes.”