Pulling back, he gasped for air before claiming her in a kiss once more. This time his lips parted to delve within her willing mouth. Panting breaths and greedy moans were the soundtrack to their tangling of tongues.
Chapter Three
This had to be heaven.
Juniper wasn’t dreaming, stuck in a crate somewhere. Nope, not her. As far as she was concerned, she was in heaven.
Unable to stop from moaning into K’hor’s mouth, Juniper let out her inner hussy. A flood of moisture wet her panties as he used his grip on her neck to move her where he wanted her to be. He made her feel fragile and dominated, but also needed and cared for.
Juniper knew, even with her limited experiences with relationships, this thing between the two of them was different. It was special.
She didn’t feel the normal awkwardness that swamped her. It…she... simply felt natural.
As she fell deeper and deeper into what she could only describe as the most perfect kiss in existence, Juniper realized something that almost knocked her on her ass.
She trusted him.
She had no idea why, but she trusted him. With him, Juniper was running on instinct. Not only that but she felt comforted and safe. She’d barely been around him long enough to blink but she was already invested. Logically, she knew she had every excuse to be wary of K’hor, but for some weird reason, his presence felt as natural as breathing.
His touch. His kiss. Everything was simply right. Her previous relationships fell into the trash pile in her memory bank. She didn’t need those vague recollections of what she thought attraction was supposed to feel like because she’d obviously had no clue before now. This was what her ex had been talking about when he dumped her. The chemistry between them had been nonexistent compared to what she was feeling now with K’hor.
And all they’d done so far was kiss!
The feelings he evoked had come on quick and strong. The thrill making her feel as if she were on a high-speed rollercoaster. It was fast and a little bit scary but she trusted him to keep her safe.
Juniper whined when he dragged his lips away from hers to trail them across her cheek. Turning her head to peck at him, she let out a happy sigh when he gave her another deep kiss. Within seconds her happy sighs turned to sex kitten moans, the sounds coming out of her mouth enough to make her blush. Cupping his cheeks in her hands, Juniper let her fingertips tease the scruff along his jaw as she stemmed off the contact. She couldn’t help but imagine how the bristles would feel running over other parts of her body.
K’hor pulled away the tiniest bit to breathe heavily. His chest heaved to catch up. “I wish I could claim you now but as Warlord I must follow protocol,” he whispered against her lips. “And, I still have to explain why you’re here.”
Juniper jerked back hazily from the kiss he had laid on her. “Huh?” With all the kisses fogging her brain, it was taking her longer than normal to figure out what he was babbling about.
K’hor gripped her chin in his big hand leaving her with no choice but to meet his eyes. “You cannot argue that there is something here.” Gesturing between them, he gave her a heated look. “Every instinct in my body is screaming that you belong to me even now.”
The possessiveness in his voice made her feel all tingly inside—a far cry from her normal reaction to pushy men. Men had tried in the past. Each taking her shyness as an invitation to be pushed around both in and out of the bedroom, and she had cut them down without batting an eye. K’hor does it and she was ready to climb him like a ladder.
What the hell was up with that?
When K’hor bent to kiss her again, Juniper placed her hand over his mouth to stop him. With the momentary break in the action, she was afforded the time for her head to clear enough to realize how dangerous his delectable mouth was. If she had any desire to form a coherent sentence, she’d be smart to keep those tricky lips as far away as possible.
Keeping one hand firmly over his mouth, she rolled her eyes. “I’m not arguing about this.” Juniper wiggled her free hand between them to mimic what he had done earlier “I’m not saying I’m ready to talk about what exactly this is right now either though, okay?”
“Well…all right then,” K’hor answered when she removed her hand.
Juniper nodded once before wrinkling her brow. “What did you mean about why we’re here? How exactly did you manage to rescue all of us?”
“It’s a bit of a long story so I’ll need you to be patient.” K’hor reached up to smooth the wrinkle with a callused finger. “We were heading to Euphoria after delivering a shipment of ore to the outer regions. It’s one out of a string of planets that traders use as a hub. Since we’re rarely in that sector, I decided to reward my men with a visit to the brothels for their work well done.”
“Gross,” Juniper muttered before she could help herself.
Her stomach twisted at the thought of him in a brothel. She knew it was silly but even the idea of K’hor with other women made her both furious and nauseated.
“On Djaromir, the men outnumber the women more than five hundred to one. Although some Djaromir prefer the company of the same sex, it would be disastrous if the ones who did not were denied their basic needs.” K’hor chucked her under the chin, his tone slightly amused.
“I can understand that,” Juniper agreed even as she silently acknowledged she was acting irrationally territorial over K’hor’s previous dalliances with space prostitutes. It was odd but she couldn’t stop the sense of wrongness that enveloped her at the idea of him with someone else.
Luckily, K’hor distracted her from her strange thoughts when he cleared his throat.
“It didn’t matter because we never made it to the brothels that day.” He began stroking her back up and down. His palm offered warmth through the fabric of her dress.
“Why not?” Juniper asked with a sigh as the heat from his hand seemed to ease the muscles in her back.
“That’s where you come in.” K’hor leaned down to kiss her forehead before continuing to rub her shoulder. “We intercepted a transmission from the Verge discussing a shipment waiting to be picked up in the storage fields there.”
“Why’d that matter to you?” Juniper asked, confused. Her alien knowledge limited to the information she’d found on the Phaeton’s, which wasn’t much.
“Not long ago, Djaromir received an invitation to participate in an auction they hosted.”
“An auction?” Juniper had a sinking feeling she knew exactly what they had planned on auctioning.
“They were selling a shipment of human females. Certified breeders is what they referred to you as.” K’hor’s face was furious. “Djaromir may be lacking in women but we’d never enslave them. Even if it was our last resort.” He paused as if to collect himself for a moment before blinking down at her, the dark lashes surrounding his eyes looking impossibly long.
“Certified breeders.” Juniper’s skin crawled as she repeated what she’d heard. “Dear fucking lord, that’s all sorts of fucked up.”
Fuck not cursing, f-bombs were made for situations like these.
“I’m sorry, Tiny. I should have softened my words.”
Juniper waved his words away. “No, don’t soften the truth for me. I need to know what happened. Even if it hurts. I am curious though.” She licked her lips and stalled trying to think of a way to ask what was on her mind without insulting him. “Weren’t you tempted just a little bit? I mean, we were a shipment of certified breeders and all,” she said sarcastically.
“That’s not our way.” K’hor’s lips tightened into a flat line, calling Juniper’s attention to the mouth that was only inches from her own. “Soul’s mates can’t be bought or sold. The stars lead us to each other.”
K’hor’s eyes practically twinkled as they stared down at her where she sat curled in his lap.
Juniper cleared her throat, trying to remember where he’d left off in his story. “Ummm… you said there was an auction?”
H
er voice came out husky as she struggled to think of anything else other than how close they were. Crossing her legs, she tried to regain her focus only to be distracted by the wetness she could feel between them.
K’hor gave her a sexy half grin as she squirmed. Patting her hip, he settled her with his touch.
Dear lord, she’d found the Junie-whisperer.
“At first, we weren’t sure who the buyer was, only that we needed to get to you before they did. Once we located the biocrates on Euphoria, we began planning it out. It made more sense for us to try to intercept the crates before the buyers arrived than to try to steal them back through force. I figured hacking into the security yard would be easier to handle.” Reaching over to the far side of the bed, he leaned and grabbed her opened bottle of water. “Take a few sips, Tiny. Your throat sounds as if it still hurts.”
Juniper nodded her thanks and tipped the bottle back. “Who were the buyers? Do you know?” she asked, wiping a few drops of water off her chin where they escaped the opening.
K’hor’s eyes had darkened to a deeper lavender as he watched her hands move up and down her neck as she checked for stray moisture. The change of color was fascinating.
“What?” He licked his lips, his gaze never rising.
Amused by his reaction to her simply touching her own neck, Juniper push it a bit further and dropped the hand lower to trace the neckline of her sundress. When his eyes snapped up to her own accusingly, she couldn’t help the giggle that escaped. It was strange but she’d never felt this comfortable being comfortable with a man before. Maybe it was because the attraction between them was off the charts, but she had a strange feeling she couldn’t do anything to scare him away.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” Biting back a smile, Juniper sat up straighter so not to offer further temptation.
The power she seemed to have over him was so foreign to her that she was having trouble wrapping her head around it. Never in her life had a man looked at her the way K’hor was watching her now. Don’t get her wrong, men had looked at her like they wanted to fuck her plenty of times. That wasn’t the way she would describe K’hor’s attention. It was more than that, full of desire, need, and possessiveness.
None of which was a problem for her.
K’hor gave her neckline one last long look before blowing out a heavy breath and moving her off his lap. He didn’t let her go far, sitting her immediately next to him. “Unfortunately, I have to admit that if I want to get through the rest of what happened, I can’t have you as close as I want.” Tossing an arm over her shoulders, he pulled her as close into the curve of his side as physically possible without being on his lap. “There. That’s good enough for now.”
Juniper had to hold back laughter at how put-out he sounded even as butterflies filled her stomach at what he’d just admitted. Smashed into his side, the only thing she was feeling was giddy at the idea that K’hor found her irresistible.
“Where was I?”
“The buyers?”
“Oh, yes.” K’hor rubbed his jaw. “The intel we received showed the bios were to be picked up by one of the more ruthless Traccorian generals among their ranks. They don’t have a home planet and tend to get kicked off of others often. We’ve never had them here, but know by reputation that as mercenaries they are deadly and not to be trusted.”
“Well…shit.”
“Extreme shit,” he said as if it made perfect sense. “Luckily, they made a mistake.”
“What do you mean?”
“They must have been worried that they were going to be double crossed because they sent a scouting party ahead of their transport shuttle. It made sense considering the number of enemies they have. Their hesitation ended up giving us the advantage we needed. The scouts didn’t have room to take the crates, and we had an empty ship from our ore delivery.”
“So, you swooped in and grabbed us before the other guys could even land?” Juniper asked.
“Exactly,” K’hor answered with a swift nod. “We took a few crates at a time. Every time a biocrate was taken, we replaced it with one of our empty ore containers. They look almost identical except for the color of the panels on the side. We’d hoped the guards wouldn’t notice the difference, and they didn’t.”
“Lucky,” Juniper breathed.
“Very.” K’hor took a moment to give her a squeeze, his actions showing her exactly what he meant by his words. “At least until I overheard the guards mention the buyers were preparing to land. After that they moved faster than I expected. They had a transport in place and started loading the crates I’d not yet had a chance to switch out.”
“What happened?” she asked when she saw him make a strange face.
“I tried to disable the perimeter alarms, but ended up setting them off,” he admitted with a grimace. “The noise drew the Traccorian scouts nearby.”
“Oh no.”
That definitely didn’t sound good.
Juniper’s stomach warmed when K’hor rubbed her back and dropped a kiss on the top of her head as if their closeness was completely natural. “Don’t worry, Tiny. I was prepared for what came next.”
“Did you have to shoot your way out?” she asked. Juniper ran through the fight scenes from her favorite sci-fi films as she tried to picture what it may have looked like.
“Yes, actually I did.”
“Why didn’t you take us to the Phaetons? Wouldn’t that have made more sense instead of bringing us here and having to wait for them to come and get us?”
K’hor rubbed his thumb up and down the back of her hand as they spoke. “The Traccorians had reinforcements and followed me to the landing field. After we started taking fire, Saber warned me we would not be able to take much more damage and still be able to fly. The larger Traccorian shuttle was about to land and bring with it an army of mercenaries. I gave the order to lift off as soon as all of my men were accounted for. Once we reached the safety of orbit without anyone following us, I ran a diagnostic.” K’hor blew out a heavy breath. “The damage was more than I expected and I’m honestly surprised we were able to lift off as quickly as we had. Communications were down and our hull had taken several direct hits. We were flying, but we barely had enough shielding to get through the static storms to come home.”
K’hor reached down and linked their fingers and held her hand tight in his own. Juniper returned the firm grip even as she thought there had to be more to his story.
“Even if our comms had been working, I still wouldn’t have signaled the Phaetons,” he said, his tone empty of regret. Raising their linked hands together, he kissed the back of hers while she tried to figure out what he was telling her. “As Warlord, I’d already made the decision to bring you and the others back to Djaromir the moment I was made aware of your location.”
“Why?” Juniper asked, already knowing the answer.
“Because my men deserve a chance at happiness.”
Juniper noted the way he sidestepped her real question. “You’re not going to let us go, are you?”
“Tiny, by the time we’re finished— you won’t want to leave.”
Chapter Four
K’hor could hear his own heart beat in the silence that followed his words.
The Djaromir did have good intentions when it came to the women they had rescued. He fully planned to let them go to the Phaetons when the static storms cleared in a little over a month. The miners just hoped to convince at least some of the women to stay on Djaromir.
K’hor was imagining what their future could hold when Juniper surprised him by grabbing his hand where it rested on his knee. The fact that she initiated contact thrilled him…until he saw the expression on her face.
She looked horrified.
“We have matches—” Juniper’s voice cracked on the words as she raised a hand to cup her forehead. “Oh lord. We have matches. I’ve signed papers and—” She closed her eyes and breathed deep in and out—then in and out again. “I’m pretty sure
the government just doesn’t forget something like that. Oh my god, I can’t believe I forgot I’m practically engaged!”
K’hor could feel her panic grow as she rambled to herself. Wide-eyed and animated, she gulped in air before blowing it out in huge rushes. Each breath coming quicker than before, reminding him of one of the cartoon characters they had seen on some of the Earth videos they watched.
K’hor pulled her close to rub her back, unable to handle seeing her so upset. “Breathe slower, Tiny. You’re going to faint if you don’t calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Juniper breathed roughly; her eyes wide as she glared at him. “I’m a cheater. I hate people who cheat! Oh my god, I’m a hussy!” She whisper-yelled the last part.
“There were no matches.” K’hor tried to reassure her only to see her shake her head as she continued to rant.
“I’m going to hell.” Juniper continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “I said I’d never be that girl and yet here I am, making out with one alien while I’m almost engaged to another.” Juniper rubbed her temples in a circular motion as she muttered to herself. “—and how crazy did that just sound? Now I’m fucking crazy and a cheater.”
“Juniper—”
“And then there’s you,” she continued, her words becoming faster and faster. She poked his chest. “All pretty and perfect and sweet and just—perfect. Dangled in front of me like a big juicy steak that I can’t have because fuck-me right?!”
“Jun—”
“Oh, and let’s just add cussing back to the pile cuz there’s nooooo way I can keep that up anymore!” she hissed pointing her finger at him. “Why?” She huffed. “Because I’m about to have a fucking stroke!”
“Juniper!” K’hor snapped, hoping the bite of his voice would break through the breakdown she was having.
“What?” she yelled back, finally focusing on him with a disgruntled look on her face.
Miners of Djaromir: K'hor Page 4