Kjarn, suffice to say, had a reputation.
“Kjarn,” I simply repeated.
Kai handed me a belt with an innumerable number of long trap tubes dangling from it.
I buckled the belt over my armor. Despite being hundreds of years old, the belt had been well-preserved and cared for. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it would work for now.
The corner of Kai’s mouth quirked up in a smile. “Your shot missed the eye by about 20 klicks.”
It was a good shot considering the circumstances, and he knew it. “The ladies must always tell you that you are so funny.”
His voice was warm with innuendo. “Usually ladies are too busy concentrating on other things.”
I was not going to take that bait.
“Saurians?” He pressed again. It gratified me, for some reason, that he was so interested in my past.
“Yes.” I had hunted them. Kjarn was known for their massive armored reptiles, most with teeth as long as I was tall. They were famed for their ferocity and difficulty to kill. I had no memories of anything else before Kjarn, but I was among the first load of war refugees dumped on the remote colony. Occasional supplies and shipments were often useless, being the dredges of civilized planets. Though we had armored trucks and smart weapons, the trucks broke down when you so much as looked at them, and the weapons were as likely to fail as fire. I hadn’t been back there in years, but I had heard that it was developing a reputation as a vacation spot for rich shifters looking for a new beast to hunt.
Exactly like the shifter crouched next to me.
“What do they taste like?” he asked.
I gave him a side-eye. “What do you think they taste like?”
“Like a First Earth chicken.” A rare and expensive delicacy that had been one of the first exports of First Earth. Yes, of course his lordship would know what a chicken tastes like.
“Sorry, I haven’t had that pleasure.”
“You should. I’ll order some for you when we return to the manor. You can tell me which tastes better.” He said it as if obtaining a meal that cost as much as a passage to First Earth was nothing to him. And it probably was.
As for me, I had nothing to my name except for what I had earned with blood and tears, and he had grown up with everything.
Bitterness filled my throat. I had dreamed the impossible. And now it was time to go back to reality.
I looked at the sun setting in the sky. “We should get going.”
“Seria,” he said. “You don’t have to do this.”
I started making my way back into the clearing. “I know,” I said, with a confidence I didn’t feel. “But I will.”
The trap we planned was simple enough. As we talked and drew diagrams in the dirt, we spoke as strangers, polite and solicitous as if we were talking about some mundane task like fixing a water reclamation unit.
And yet, we were going to be married by the action we were about to take.
The ground was hard and rocky and so jamming the tubes into the ground took some digging but eventually, I was able to set up the circle.
I looked back at my work.
I heard Kai roar close by. That was the signal. I ran into position.
The gorani stag burst into the clearing.
I drew out a massive piece of red fabric. “Hey, you stupid cow! Over here!”
The gorani caught sight of the rippling fabric and grunted. It began running towards me.
This time I held my ground. I dropped the fabric to the ground, drew back, and threw with every bit of my strength. A red ball flew forth. In moments, it ballooned into a massive piece of fabric. As the gorani charged, its antlers hooked into the fabric. Some points pierced through but most were covered.
The gorani skidded to a stop, trying to shake the fabric off, but it only succeeded in tangling itself more.
I realized that there was blood on its antlers, slowly staining the fabric.
Holedark, where was Kai?
“Hey! Hey!” I drew my sword and waved it around me, making sure the light flashed.
The gorani looked at me, madness in its eyes.
Kai leaped into the clearing and roared.
It whirled to meet Kai as I fired the bolas. It spun, stretching as it flew.
And the gorani bucked, leaping over it, its hindlegs kicking and sharp hooves just barely missing Tiger Kai’s head.
I fired another round of netting and another. The gorani dodged the second shot, but the third tangled in the forehooves. It went down.
Kai leaped in for the kill.
The gorani rolled, the fabric on its antlers slowly starting to shred and give way. It wrested itself upward and stood on its hind legs.
The thing was fucking walking on its hind legs.
I had a flash back to a children’s picture book I once saw, of a gorani standing upright against a tree, its forehooves on the top.
The gorani danced on its hind legs, as agile on two feet as it had been on four, maybe even faster.
It jumped toward Kai. Kai was doing his best to avoid the gorani’s sharp kicking hooves, lashing tail even as he was slowly trying to lead it towards the circle I had set.
I aimed my crossbow, waiting for a clear shot to the spotted underbelly.
The monster danced, neither here nor there.
The world blurred and my target went sharp.
I exhaled.
My arrow sped to it, its flight sure. It hit the gorani in the heart.
It screeched and staggered.
I re-armed my crossbow with another broadhead.
The gorani fell, still struggling.
In moments, Tiger Kai charged in and bit down on the throat of the beast and ended its torment.
Tiger Kai climbed on top of the dead gorani and roared. It wasn’t just a normal tiger shifter roar, which was already several degrees scarier than most large non-shifter cats. This was a roar of a paramount predator, demanding acknowledgment of his power.
Warmth clenched my abdomen. Oh, stars, I was in trouble.
Even from this distance, I could see that Kai was covered with a mix of red blood and the gorani’s golden blood. By the time I ran to him, he had already shifted back to human form.
“Are you hurt?”
He licked his lips. His voice was rough, more rumbling beast than human. “According to Tigrantine tradition,” he said slowly, as if struggling to remember how to speak, “you are now mine.”
Chapter Six
Mine.
The word ricocheted in my head.
I stumbled back. He took a step forward.
Something shuddered and broke open within me, as if that word was magic.
He threw something behind me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He moved toward me, his movements all tiger. I backed away, and stepped onto something soft. I looked down to a strange pad, inflating on the ground.
“You can try to run.”
I turned back to him, and suddenly, there he was, so close to me I could smell that particular smokewood musk of his that seized my senses.
Unbidden memories flashed of skin and heat.
I forced myself to hold my ground.
His fingers were at my chin. He tilted my face upwards. “You can try to hide.”
A hot involuntary tremble vibrated through me.
His smile deepened into that of a victorious tiger, his long sought prey, finally caught. His thumb touched my lips. “But you can’t fight fate.”
His mouth was on mine, possessive and implacable. I trembled under his assault, my walls crumbling at his ferocity. His hands fumbled with my armor. He tapped my back three times, and swiped. The Stargazer armor responded to his DNA by unlocking and falling away.
The cool night air caressed my back. I stood before him, with nothing but black workaday bra and briefs. It had been an intentional choice, because I hadn’t thought the hunt would be anything more than that, a hunt.
I hadn’t bargained on a
Tigerlord’s expectations of the aftermath.
And it was clear he expected far more.
He leaned forward, licking his lips.
So much for intentions.
The cool night air caressed my skin, and yet I felt as if a fire raged within me.
I took a step backward, realized how much ground I was ceding to him, the weakness I was showing him and made myself go still.
He pulled me to him. The shock of his hot skin against mine sent flames surging within me. I put my hands up to push back, only to come into contact with his unforgiving muscles.
“You’re mine.”
I was trapped in one arm. With the other, he reached downward and swiped down between my legs, collecting the slickness there. “And your pussy knows it.”
I shivered again. “It…It’s a physical reaction.”
“Yes,” he agreed with a smile.
I tried again, but coherent thoughts were scattering like avians from the presence of a tiger. “The after effects of adrenaline. If –”
He licked my moisture from his finger, savoring it. “Just as good as I remember. Better, even.” Tiger eyes glowed. It was another weapon of the tigershifters, they said, the ability to mesmerize their prey at a glance. “And there has been much remembering.”
Heat seared my cheeks reacting to the memories of us in my apartment, on the floor, on the table, on almost every horizontal and vertical surface.
He knocked me off my balance and I fell backwards, into the cushion behind me. It was impossibly soft, but before I could process what was happening, he was on top of me. “What are you doing?” I asked, stupidly, because I knew.
And stars, help me, I wanted it.
His smile was a vicious savage thing. “Making you remember,” he said, big hands cupping my breasts. He lowered his mouth to my nipple, and sucked hard. Heat surged within me.
I sighed.
He looked at me. “You convey so much in the way you say my name.”
I hadn’t even realized I said his name.
His tongue thrust against mine, stripping me of all my defenses, reducing me to nothing but quivering need. I was tired of fighting myself, tired of fighting him, tired of fighting this…heat between us. I opened my mouth, glorying in the taste of him.
Fingers stroked between my legs, finding their way within me. Too fast, not fast enough, he was inside me. I let out a moan and clenched him, trying to simultaneously close off the pathway, and guide him deeper, but he was unyielding. He laughed, a crazed sound as if he were drunk on the promise of my surrender. “Yes,” he said as he licked the hollow of my throat. “You’re all mine.” His mouth closed on my breast, the nip of teeth sharpening the pleasure, bursting through me in a hot sigh. He sucked hard, his thumb slowly circling, tapping my clit. My breath came in hitches, in bursts as I arched against his hand, begging for more.
“I dreamed of your pussy in the palm of my hand, your tits in my mouth. Did you dream of me, my dear Seria?”
“Yes.”
“What did you dream of?”
“You.”
“You can be more specific than that.”
“You, inside me.”
“We’ll get to that. But first an appetizer.”
He lowered his head to my pussy.
I trembled in anticipation, a reaction he didn’t miss. He laughed again, a cocky masculine sound. “I haven’t even started yet, but you remember, my dear Seria, don’t you?”
How could I ever forget?
“Your place is here,” he said with all the command of a Tigerlord. “On my mouth.”
He licked me once with a tongue too dexterous, too long to belong to any human. I closed my eyes, felt the broad flat of his tongue against my clit. I shuddered at his touch, the slow insane rubbing. He pressed more firmly. I struggled valiantly, remembered how to speak. “Kai –”
He lifted his head and looked at me, his tongue back to its human form. “I could eat you for breakfast, lunch, dinner the rest of my days,” he said. “And it still wouldn’t be enough.”
He lowered his head, his tongue pressing that sweet spot once more. And commenced that sensuous downward pressure once more, erasing any coherent thought beyond the desire for more.
Still I tried. “Too much,” I gasped.
He growled at my attempt to wriggle free, and held me fast.
The sensation of that constant pressure, that movement was too intense to bear. Thighs clenched, muscles tightened, my breath coming in choking gasps. The pressure on my clit remained steady even as the tip of that long tongue circled my entrance, dancing, teasing. I kicked against his back, but I might as well have been kicking a titanium wall. With my legs spread, and knees hooked over those wide shoulders, I was completely and utterly in his power.
And then his tongue was inside me, so fast and deep, pleasure seized me and shook me senseless. It was all I could do to cling to him, crying and cursing his name.
“Seria,” he said, “Tell me you missed me.”
“I missed you,” I whispered, unable to summon any energy to pretend otherwise. I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face in his shoulders.
On my forehead, I felt an oddly gentle kiss.
It was that quiet action that threatened to melt me into more of a puddle than I already was. “Please,” I said, both wanting him to stop yet needing him to go on.
He twisted, and I was on my back. He was upright over me, on his knees, veins visible in his massively erect cock.
My eyes widened. I remember him being big, but this was ridiculous.
Eager panic flooded within me, slickening me.
What was worse was that he was a shifter. He could smell how much I wanted him.
Nostrils flared. A ravenous smile. A cat-like purr. Then, “Yes.”
Big hands went between my bare legs, spreading them wide, cupping my bare ass. Superhuman strength bounced me upright with the merest flex of his arms. I fell forward, palms landing flat against his jutting pecs, which bounced at my touch. He pulled me against him, lifting me so that I was just straddling the length of his cock. The sensation of him, his cock between my legs, touching my most intimate places, recharged my desire beyond what I had thought possible. I tried to maneuver him into me, but he was in control.
I leaned forward, clasping my hands around his neck. “Please.” I couldn’t stand this torment anymore. I was going to combust if I didn’t have him in me.
“Your scent has been mocking me.” My ass rested in the palms of his hands and he held me upright. Biceps bulged, arms tensed as he slowly slid his cock between my cleft, back and forth. Surface glides coated his cock with my desire, and tormented me with the promise of completion. I arched, and clawed at him shameless in my need for him.
“Please, Kai.”
His hands tensed on my ass, his eyes darkening, pupils so wide I could barely see the green and gold that rimmed his eyes. He licked his lips. “And now, I have you,” he said, his length slipping so slowly, until I felt him, nestled against my opening, “right where I want you.”
I swiveled my hips, almost taking him within me, but he was too fast. His eyes closed, his body almost trembling at my sudden movement. A sound between a growl and purr rumbled from within his chest. His grip on my ass tightened and he held me in place. His immense muscular body trapped me.
There was no escape now.
“That’s not fair,” my voice an oh-so-convincing squeak.
His voice was shades deeper than his normal voice rippling with a fierce intensity. “When it comes to you,” he said, his cock sliding slowly, stretching me. “I will never be fair.”
I cried out, bucking against him, wanting him now. But I was at his mercy and he was too strong with unforgiving determination. He was so big, hard and hot, beyond my memories, and my secret fantasies. I begged him again, unable to stop myself. “Kai, please.”
“Ask me again,” he demanded, withdrawing his cock, easily holding me up as if I weighed nothing.
<
br /> Desperation seized me without shame. “Please, Kai. Fuck me now.”
“Why? Tell me why.”
Why? Why?!
And as I looked into those green darkened eyes I knew the cost of my pleasure.
And stars help me I had no choice to but to pay his price.
“Yours,” I said softly. “I am yours.”
He thrust himself into me.
Oh. Yes.
His cock pulsed within me, stretching me to a point of near delicious pain. Stars, he was so, so big. I choked out cry of delirious helplessness. He withdrew, and I nearly wept, but then he began slow controlled strokes. He still held me in midair so confident and sure with his shifter strength. My mind was going psychotic from the sheer need for him.
I said his name, again, pleading in my voice, but all he did was grit his teeth, savagely intent on punishing me with pleasure. His control was beyond anything I could have imagined.
“Now, Seria.” he said, his voice barely human.
I knew I would regret it, speaking aloud a truth that I had been hiding from myself, trying to forget.
But he knew.
“Always yours.”
He shuddered. “Seria.”
No amount of history or pain could change this between us, this primal connection between us. A single hard thrust, filled me, stretching me beyond completion. I cried out at the delicious invasion.
And then he was unleashed.
His assault was merciless. Strong hands rolled my hips, creating perfect angles and waves that reverberated through me. He was so big, so overwhelmingly strong, I could barely get a hold of him, and yet I tried, uselessly scratching that corded muscle, fingernails digging into his thick shoulders, his huge biceps as he pumped me on his thick cock. He used me, oh yes he used me, accelerating, intensifying beyond any human ability.
And then he shifted, cradling with one hand and merely touching my clit with the other.
I screamed. Pleasure ripped through, fierce and hot.
I thought I was undone.
But Kai kept going, waves of bliss crashing with each unstoppable thrust of his cock. Suddenly, every muscle in his body went hard. His pleasure splashed hot within me.
Taken By The Tigerlord: a sexy tiger shifter paranormal psychic space opera action romance (Space Shifter Chronicles Book 2) Page 6