Miners of Djaromir: K'hor

by Leora Gonzales

  “Djaromir females that are claimed wear cuffs on their upper arms.” K’hor moved his hands up and down her arms, the chafing creating a warmth where his palms ran over her. After a moment, his hands paused at her upper biceps, an area only protected by the heavy floor length coat he had prompted her to put on earlier. “They’re engraved with the couple’s names and the date of their mating.”

  “So, it’s the miner version of rings.” Juniper shrugged. That wasn’t too far off from tradition, she guessed.

  “Somewhat.” K’hor rubbed his hand over his jaw, the sound of his palm moving over the scruff there audible in the quiet tunnel space. “Djaromir males are more…primal than some of the other races in the galaxy.”

  “Primal?” Juniper raised an eyebrow in question.

  “We mark the necks and shoulders of our mates.”

  “Mark? What do you mean by mark?” Juniper stepped back, not quite sure where he was going with this thread. She focused on his mouth with laser focus as her brain started running through fantastical scenarios. As an avid reader of shifter romance, she couldn’t help but let her imagination run wild.

  Was he hiding a set of fangs behind the lips she found herself staring at? Were they actually alien vampires who lived in tunnels to stay out of whatever type of sun this planet had? Was he going to bite her and turn her into one of them?

  One of us. One of us.

  Juniper took another step back as her panic began to build.

  “Using our mouths—"

  “Biting?” she asked, keeping her eyes on him in case he made any sudden movements. Rings and nifty bands were fine, but Juniper wasn’t prepared to be the human equivalent of a juice box.

  “Not biting,” K’hor answered, giving her a look that could only be interpreted as ‘really?’. “More along the lines of sucking.”

  “Wait—sucking?” Juniper couldn’t hold back a giggle at the image his explanation created. He couldn’t be serious, could he?

  “Are you telling me your race gives their women hickeys to show they aren’t single?”

  “What’s a hickey?” K’hor asked with a frown.

  Pointing to her neck, Juniper stretched out a bit to bare the skin to the chilly air. “It’s when someone sucks until it bruises, usually along the neck but when you’re trying to hide a boyfriend from your parents—well then, let’s just say it can be anywhere.”

  “Have you ever been hickeyed?” K’hor frowned down at her, his gaze possessive as it fell upon her neck and shoulders.

  “Not really.” Although she’d never been a recipient, she remembered a few of the girls had paraded their bruised necks up and down the school hallways during her high school years.

  “Would you let me mark you?” K’hor asked, his words coming out low and husky. “I’ll only give you three or four, just enough to show the others that you are claimed.”

  Juniper pretended to mull it over for a bit before nodding. She didn’t want to think too hard on it, but there was a part of her that wanted the others to know who she belonged to. Just the idea made her shiver and her nipples tighten.

  “Okay.” Juniper tilted her head, more than ready to get the show on the road. “Is this okay?” she asked, her voice shaking a bit with the arousal she was unable to beat back.

  The smile he gave her was one of the sexiest she had ever had the privilege to witness outside of a Marvel movie. With the scruff, the violet eyes, and the perfect teeth, K’hor looked as if he was smiling for the camera instead of grinning at someone like her. As he bent low to adjust for their height difference, Juniper breathed in deeply through her nose as he nuzzled close.

  Why did he smell so good?

  The scent he wore was familiar…yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it specifically reminded her of. It filled her insides with breathable warmth as she basked in the depth of the separate fragrances her nose sniffed out. Every breath she took that carried his essence had a different aroma than the one before. One whiff brought back memories of the woods in the spring. While the next inhale captured the crisp air of the forest, fresh green grass, and somehow…earth.

  Not like dirt, but the clean smell you would associate with nature.

  Angling her head to the side, Juniper could barely suppress a shiver when K’hor cupped the back of her head to tilt her in the direction he preferred.

  “I will place one here.” Dropping a kiss on the spot just below her ear, K’hor chuckled when Juniper sucked in a quick breath. “And, another here.”

  As he was calmly plotting the placement of her marks, Juniper was barely holding herself back from climbing him like a ladder. She hadn’t paid much attention to it in the past, but apparently her neck was a major shiver zone. Unable to hold back, her eyes rolled back into her head at the feel of his lips applying gentle wet suction to the area he had designated as mark number one. The feel of his hot wet mouth against her skin was enough to make her forget her own name.

  “Dear lord,” she moaned, tipping her head as far as possible to give him the space as he wanted. There was no way she was going to resist him if this was a taste of the temptation he offered.

  “That one is done…now onto the next.” K’hor growled slightly against her skin, prompting a snort of laughter at his unexpected playfulness.

  Juniper breathed deep and became putty in his hands. His lips trailed up and down her neck while he rubbed relaxing circles on her shoulder with his strong fingers. The combination of his touch and smell surrounding her effectively turned her into a puddle. “That feels so nice.”

  “Your skin is addictive,” K’hor mumbled against her collarbone as he dropped kisses around the place he had marked. “You smell sweet and clean all at the same time.”

  “You smell good too. So good,” Juniper hissed when she felt his tongue caress the area he had just released from his mouth. With her arms around the back of his neck, she rubbed herself against him like a cat. “I want to roll in your smell. I can’t seem to get close enough,” she complained, plastering herself as close as physically possible.

  “Wait,” K’hor pulled back and looked down at her with lust filled eyes. “What did you say?”

  “You need to come closer,” Juniper whimpered, cursing the difference in height that limited her reach when it came to his body.

  K’hor’s brow furrowed as he stared down at her where she tried to wiggle closer regardless of his hands holding her back. Relaxing his arms, he dropped his hands. Juniper immediately nestled as close as possible once again, her nose burrowing into the front of his tunic. She could feel the stiffness in his embrace but didn’t care at that particular moment as contentment washed over her.

  “Can you describe what I smell like to you?” K’hor bent his knees and offered her the length of his bared neck instead of the center of his chest where she’d had her face planted.

  Feeling weird but unable to resist the lure of his naked skin, Juniper only had a second of hesitation before she gave in. With her nose against the skin just under his jaw line, she breathed deeply. “I dunno,” she slurred, her body tingling all the way down to the tips of her toes. “I just know you smell sooooo nice.”

  “Juniper,” holding her gently by the shoulders, K’hor ushered her back a few paces, “does my smell trigger anything?”

  “What d’ya mean?” Juniper shook her head to clear the lust-filled fog she had fallen into. The air around them seemed so…dense. Even as she tried to gather her thoughts, her mind kept returning to the cloying scent coming off him in waves. Every time she caught a little bit of it, her nose tried to follow it back to the source, bringing her right back to where she started.

  It was as if she were drugged.

  Fighting the pull, Juniper took a step back and fanned herself with both hands. Within moments, she had stirred the air around them enough to come somewhat out of the fog she had fallen into. A few moments longer and she was able to smell traces of the musty tunnels around them, the odor getting stronger
with every flick of her wrists.

  “What’s happening to me?” Juniper breathed deep as her head became clearer, flapping her hands as if her life depended on it. For some reason, she wasn’t angry over whatever the hell had happened. Weirdly, she just wanted— No, needed to understand it.

  K’hor answered her with a smile so electrified he practically vibrated in front of her. “Djaromir males exude particular pheromones to help attract their mates when they meet them. From what I have heard, it is a smell that is comforting yet otherwise hard to describe to those who haven’t experienced it. Do you think that could be what you are smelling? Does it make you feel anything?” he asked excitedly as he stroked one of the marks he had brought to color on her neck.

  “I don’t know,” she murmured despite the fact her body was screaming its answer. Somebody might as well light her pants on fire because she was totally a liar liar. Even as she was drawing fresh air into her lungs, her senses still reeled with the effects his scent had over her. “Maybe.”

  “I can’t believe it!” K’hor paced a few steps away before spinning back around. “I’d hoped the pheromones would—”

  “Wait,” Juniper interrupted, stopping her fanning for a moment to point a finger at him. “Are you saying you’d hoped we would be drugged?” she sputtered, unable to find a better word to describe the intense reaction she was still trying to process.

  K’hor stopped in his tracks at her tone, the smile that was previously on his face now replaced with a confused frown. “No— errr, yes.”

  Juniper tugged her hair, the pull clearing her head a little bit.

  She wasn’t necessarily angry, but she just didn’t like flying blind. He had no control over her reactions or even his own for that matter.

  His body was simply doing what was natural and he was along for the ride. In this scenario, Juniper was a hitchhiker trying to decide if she wanted to climb on or not. Who was she kidding? She was sure she wanted a ride; she just wanted to glance at the instruction manual while she was at it.

  “I don’t know.” K’hor moved close enough that he was only a step away. “This—us—has never happened before. I don’t know how this mating will play out. I admit that I’d hoped that you would share at least a small amount of this experience with me, but this—” his voice shook with emotion. “The fact that you can smell the pheromones means your body is recognizing the call of mine on its most basic level. Don’t be angry that your body is showing you that this is where you belong.”

  “I’m not mad,” Juniper told him.

  It was true, too. All her instincts were screaming full speed ahead when it came to K’hor regardless of the risks. What bothered her about it all was that she wasn’t sure what to expect next. She had even less control over the situation than before and she didn’t like it one fucking bit. “I just wish I’d had some warning.”

  He nodded. “I know it’s overwhelming, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that you respond to my pheromones. Everything is exactly as it should be. We’re exactly as we should be.”

  Juniper hesitated only slightly when K’hor reached for her hands. The last thing she wanted to do was fall into a drooling stupor like she had before. The man was potent enough without his pheromones taking control of her olfactory senses. “Am I going to want to roll in your scent all the time now, or will I just become a horny idiot?”

  K’hor chuckled, tugging her closer yet leaving a small space between them. “I wouldn’t have a problem with either one of those options, Tiny. The pheromones are part of the Djaromir natural mating instinct and only emphasize the attraction that is already there. Although every mate has a different degree of reaction to them, the pheromones are naturally produced to make sure our mates find us as attractive as we do them. Your body is the one that decides how it will respond to mine. Djaromir males crave the touch and feel of our mates while the females search for our scents. It helps ensure we won’t want to be apart for long.” Looking down at their linked hands, he raised their tangle of fingers to kiss the back of her knuckles. “Even holding hands, I feel the need for more. Don’t you feel the same?”

  Juniper had no argument to give. She did feel the same. Her life was in chaos, but her body was screaming at her that K’hor would help her find some order. She knew it sounded crazy but there was a little part of her that was happy her body was recognizing him as her mate. It was literally a sign that they were in this together. It made sense why she felt so comfortable around him; content in general. The longer they were near each other, the more certain she was that this is where she was supposed to be.

  The realization made her breath catch in her chest. It wasn’t simply just a feeling, or even her gut instinct telling her that either. It was her very biology showing her proof that this was where she belonged. She belonged to K’hor just as much as he belonged to her.

  “I still have one more mark to place,” K’hor’s eyes dropped to her exposed neck before his bright violet gaze met her own once again. “With your permission, of course.”

  “Yeah. Of course. Go big or go home, right?” she rambled.

  Juniper looped her arms around his shoulders as high as she could reach before he got a clue and leaned down a bit. The height difference was going to make things interesting. Challenging, but interesting.

  “I don’t know what that means,” K’hor said as he opened her borrowed coat to uncover an area lower on her chest. “But I’m taking it as a yes.”

  Juniper shivered as the cold air rushed over the skin bared by her summer dress. The outfit she’d arrived in was no match for the frigid temperature of the tunnels. Her skin prickled as it broke out into goosebumps and moments later, her nipples tightened.

  When warm fingers delicately traced the skin on the top curve of her breast, Juniper shivered in response.

  “I’ll try to hurry.” The heat from his breath tickled over her skin, warming the area. “Then, I’ll see to your comfort.”

  “O-o-kay,” Juniper stuttered as she tried to control her breathing. She felt his fingers mere inches from her hard nipples, and her cheeks flushed.

  Dear lord, one wrong move and she’d poke his eye out.

  Chapter Ten

  His mate tasted amazing.

  K’hor’s mouth watered against Juniper’s skin, but he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

  There was no greater temptation than his mate. By doing nothing more than breathing, Juniper had fueled the mating instincts he was struggling to control. Her skin smelled sweeter than any fruit he’d tasted, her skin felt softer than any cloth he’d ever traded, and her body rivaled even the most popular brothel workers’ on Euphoria.

  Juniper was utterly perfect.

  Knowing she felt the mating instinct made his lust burn even hotter. As he leaned down to place the last claiming mark upon her pale skin, he wanted nothing more than to tug down the clothing she was wearing and bare the breasts that jiggled with each breath she took. He couldn’t wait to get his hands and lips on the plump flesh that heaved inches away.

  “K’hor,” Juniper whispered his name on a plea as her fingernails gently scraped over the shorn hair at the back of his head.

  He lifted his mouth from her skin, his eyes focused on the glossy curve of her upper breast where he’d sucked a substantial bruise. “Perfect.” K’hor took one last look at her curvy form before he pulled the edges of the leather cloak together. “I could mark you for hours…but this should be more than enough to appease Sparx and Matrix.”

  “Are you sure?” Juniper weaved slightly on her feet, her cheeks pink and her eyes twinkling as she looked up at him with both trust and desire.

  “Yes, Tiny.”

  K’hor checked that she was covered enough to stay warm yet still showing the claiming marks on the upper part of her neck. The other Warlords would be unable to miss the point. She was his.

  “Do you think they’ve arrived yet?” Juniper asked as they began walking once again.

  “I do
n’t know.” K’hor focused on the gate that was just now coming into sight. “Since we haven’t come across them yet, they may still be making the journey above ground.”

  “How far apart are the tunnel cities?” Juniper stumbled a few steps, her foot catching on the uneven tunnel floor.

  “Careful, Tiny.” K’hor made sure she was steady on her feet before they began walking again. “It takes two days with only short breaks to cover the distance between each of the cities. Both Fyeir and Gunninng are equal distances from the main gate of Hamuir. The journey must be done quickly to avoid exposure as well as the predators that live on the surface. The trek itself is a physical conditioning exercise.” When Juniper gave him a confused look, he explained. “Our physical strength helps ensure our survival, so testing and maintaining the ability to handle the elements on Djaromir is essential. Every miner has experienced the harshness our planets have to offer, and they have more respect for their surroundings because of it. Our mining shuttles could be used to make the distance between cities in an emergency, but as a rule, the men march. I’m guessing the other Warlords began the trek as soon as they received our transmission two days ago that detailed what we were bringing back to Hamuir.”

  “Two days?” Juniper gasped. “I thought you said it was too dangerous to be outside for long.”

  K’hor’s heart skipped a beat at the idea of Juniper exposed to the elements for that long. His men could handle such journey, they were Djaromir miners after all, but his Tiny was another story altogether. Stopping in his tracks, he barely managed to keep his tone even as he faced her. “It is dangerous, don’t ever forget that. You’re never to leave the protection of the tunnels unless I’m with you to ensure your safety.”

  He felt immediate regret at the tone he had used when Juniper stepped back with a wary look on her face. “I’m sorry—” his throat closed at the thought of scaring her. “It makes my chest hurt when I imagine what could happen if I am unable to protect you.”