Savage Kingdom

by Deanna Ashford

  Chala pulled against his grip and kicked out with her foot, but before it could connect with his shin, Kyo had spun her around and pulled her back against him. Now he held her tight in the circle of his arm, against his body. She struggled, but couldn’t break the iron band of his arm around her middle.

  “No! Man is big. You are small. Must use cleverness to escape.”

  She panted, breathless even though she hadn’t really exerted herself yet. “What do you suggest?”

  Abruptly he whirled her away till she faced him and let go of her.

  “Man expect you to pull away. You step in close and stab like so… Reach for my arm.”

  Chala acted the part of the attacker, grabbing his forearm. Kyo lunged toward her so quickly she shrieked. His hand shot toward her eyes, two fingers extended to gouge them. He stopped inches short of doing so.

  Her heart pounded. “Karachi!”

  Kyo pulled back. “Or, try this.” He drew her swiftly back into his arms, twirling her around and close to his body again. “Maybe you can’t break free.” His breath puffed warm against the side of her face. “But you can hit with back of head. Try.”

  Chala was confused. He was moving quickly, giving her no time to think, only to react. But she obeyed his command and snapped her head back. Pain bloomed in her skull as it cracked against his jaw.

  Kyo grunted and cursed. His grip on her body loosened and she almost wiggled free before he caught her again.

  “Good.”

  “You’re crazy! Let me go.” She stomped on his foot, but he didn’t flinch, probably because her feet were bare while he wore boots. “Take me back where I belong and I won’t need to learn how to defend myself.”

  “Patience. I make deal, then we see.”

  “I don’t believe you. I don’t think you have any intention of letting me go,” she blurted, tired of pretending she believed his lies. She bent her head and bit his forearm.

  He yelped and relaxed his grip. This time she pushed her body back into his, knocking them both off kilter. As Kyo stumbled, trying to catch his balance, she shot forward, out of his arms. She scooped up the small axe they used to chop kindling and spun around to face him.

  Kyo was back on his feet. Eyes glittering, he moved toward her, lithe and graceful as a cat. She swung the ax toward him, not in a spinning arc as if to cut off his head, but a little jab intended to threaten and force him back.

  He ducked down and lunged up in front of her. His arm swept out, hitting hers with a stunning blow that sent the ax flying and clattering on the ground. It felt like her arm had been hit by a hammer. Stinging pain shot from the point of contact. Before she could even cry out, Kyo had her in his arms again, pulled up tight against him.

  He gazed into her eyes, less than a hand span away. “Very good, sachense. You learn fast.”

  “You hurt me!” She smacked her hands against his chest, her arm throbbing.

  “You’ll live.” He lowered his face, closer yet, only inches away. His lips were parted, the lower one moist and gleaming. She focused on a tiny brown mole to the left of his nose to keep from staring at his mouth.

  They stood together, bodies swaying slightly, and all she could hear was his breath, the blood rushing in her ears and the trickling of water from the back of the cave. Would he kiss her? What was he waiting for?

  Suddenly, she couldn’t bear it any longer. She rose up on her toes and leaned toward him. Her mouth settled over his and she tasted him, warm and spicy. She sucked his lower lip into her mouth and he groaned. Then she took it between her teeth, tugging and making him groan louder. Chala bit down—not a playful nip, a hard bite, her teeth tearing through his flesh.

  Kyo yelled and pushed her away. His hands flew to his mouth. Below his cupped hands, blood trickled down his chin. “Lagro! Lagro, mochran!”

  Chala licked her lips and tasted copper. She glanced past him, gauging the distance to the cave entrance and her chances of reaching it before he grabbed her again. Lunging to the left, she darted past him.

  Kyo tackled her to the ground. She hit the rocky floor hard enough to drive the air from her lungs, and he landed with his body half covering hers. Gasping for air, she tried to crawl from beneath him. He rolled to the side, flipping her over so she lay face up. He straddled her body, pinning her down.

  She glared into his bloodied, grinning face. He was panting and his eyes were as bright as the midday sun. “Kloa, yes? Hot!”

  Her lungs burned as she inhaled. Before she could say a word or spit in his face, Kyo descended on her like a diving eagle and kissed her. If it hurt when he ground his torn lip against hers, he didn’t flinch. He held her arms to the ground on either side of her head and kissed her with such ardor that she was breathless again.

  She wiggled beneath him, testing to see if she could shift his body weight off of her. It was like being trapped under a pile of rocks, and his erection prodding into her belly was definitely rock hard. He dared to plunge his tongue into her mouth, heedless of the damage she could do with her teeth even though she’d just given him a lesson.

  The tang of his blood and the new awareness of violence she’d never known she possessed combined into a heady aphrodisiac. Chala surrendered to his stroking tongue. Of its own accord, her tongue curled around his and her lips molded to his hard pressure. Her body felt like softened tallow, refusing to respond to her commands to fight him.

  After a few moments, he released her mouth to kiss her jaw and neck, tickling her with his lips until she squirmed once more. He murmured something in Shinje against her neck and rocked his hips, rubbing his cock against her.

  Her pulse fluttered as erratically as a trapped moth, and her already sweating body grew hotter. His grip on her wrists loosened as his mouth ranged over her chest and the swell of her breasts. “Lagro, ti claisse. Mi tyokianna ti.” The vibration of the words against her flesh, the puffs of air that accompanied them, melted her into a puddle of desire. Her ability to struggle drifted away on a current of pleasure.

  All her light—and all his love—may not be enough to hold the nightmares at bay…

  Dust of Dreams

  © 2010 Renee Wildes

  Guardians of Light, Book 4

  Mingling with other races is strictly forbidden, but dream faerie Pryseis has no choice. An innocent goblin child suffers dangerous nightmares, and it should be a simple task to cure him and return to her anxious sisters before the council knows she’s gone.

  Yet there’s a reason a creature of air and sunlight has no business underground. Now in chains, prisoner of an ungrateful goblin sorcerer, Pryseis despairs that anyone will save her. Her only comfort—the memory of a man she can only touch in her dreams.

  Benilo ta Myran, with the reluctant blessing of his elven king and queen, takes up a quest some would call mad, driven by the certain knowledge that the beautiful faerie who invades his dreams is in danger. He carries a terrible secret—war has broken his healing powers—yet he cannot leave her to face the darkness alone.

  The first touch of their flesh surpasses their most erotic dreams, but the nightmare has just begun. There’s the suffering child, and a sorcerer who won’t go down without a fight. And the clock is ticking down for Pryseis, who must return home—or fade away.

  Warning: Beware of wounded bunnies, hungry trolls, low ceilings, glowing mold and goblins bearing gifts. Most of all, beware beautiful faeries and hot elves appearing in your dreams. They may lead you astray…and steal your heart.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Dust of Dreams:

  Pryseis watched the goblins leave the encampment and gave up trying to discern their intended target. Benilo was right. She curled up next to him. They both needed rest. At least she wasn’t alone. He pulled her into his arms, and she ended up half-sprawled across his chest. She stiffened and pulled away. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Does not hurt in the slightest,” he said.

  She felt no deception in his thoughts. And she felt better, su
rrounded by his warmth, his strength. His heart beat under her ear, slow and steady. She went boneless by slow degrees, matching him breath for breath. His scent curled around her, through her. That’s what had been absent afore, in her dream. He’d not felt real, for all they’d shared. Now there was solid warmth, hot male skin scented with sunlit ferns. She toyed with a lock of his hair—unexpected softness, a cascade of light. His calloused fingers caressed her back, and she shivered at the goose bumps that rose in their wake. Unbidden, her mind drifted back to the dream. Her breasts swelled and she flushed, embarrassed as her nipples tightened against him.

  His fingers trailed over the curve of her backside. She tried to squirm away, but Benilo held her still. “Shh, easy, beauty,” he soothed, the brush of his mind in hers seduction itself. “Do not fear me. I would never hurt you.”

  “It wasn’t real,” she denied.

  “But it was, and this is. Look at me.”

  Pryseis was caught in the hypnotic blue power of his gaze. Blue as the mountain sky, hot as the living fires within the earth. Open desire there for her to read, to feel. She gasped, and his eyes darkened. She reached out to trace his lips with her fingers. He captured her hand in his, raising it so he could tease, not her palm, but the sensitive skin of her inner wrist. It caused an unexpected tingle in her breasts, and she whimpered as her nipples tightened further, an almost painful arousal.

  “This is crazy.”

  “The sweetest madness.”

  “Anyone could walk in.”

  “Then we shall have to be quiet.” Benilo rolled over so they lay side by side, raised himself up to nibble along the side of her neck. Her nails tightened on his shoulders when he found a sensitive spot, and he stroked her there with his tongue, suckling on her skin until she whimpered and wriggled closer. He curled a hand around her breast, circling her aching nipple with his thumb, and she gasped in his ear. He shuddered at the sound, and moved to capture her lips with his.

  Pryseis opened to him, taking him deep, savoring the dark, wild taste of him as her tongue tangled with his. Every stroke of his tongue heightened her craving, her need. This was naught like the dream. It was so much more real. She felt herself swelling, softening, kenned he caught the scent of her arousal when he slid his muscled thigh betwixt hers, drew her leg up over his hip. Benilo bent his head to her breast, taking a long pull, teasing her nipple with the rasp of his tongue. She bit her lip to silence the cry that rose. Sweet Mother, how he made her ache!

  “You make me burn, beauty.” He drew her hand down to his erection, pulsing hot and heavy against the fingers she curled around him. His mind was a swirl of hot air, boiling water, pure fire. A chaos of pure need pulled her in until she drowned in sensation. Desire and need. The light of his passion drew her, but instead of burning, she took it in, took him in. It was a magic she’d never kenned, a joining she’d never conceived of. Body and mind. Heart and soul.

  “Dracken rue, beauty, this is as real as it gets.” Benilo sounded desperate as he thrust into Pryseis’ wet, willing body. She held him close, in her heart, in her mind. He surged into her body, again and again, taking them both higher until barriers shattered as the Light swamped them both. “I bind myself to you. Whenever, whatever your need, I shall come to you. To you do I answer with body or blood. My life for yours. My soul to yours, ’til our last breath. Never again shall you be alone. You are mine, in this lifetime and the next. I shall ever be yours, for always. We are one.”

  Pryseis shattered in a splendor of Light, and he took her mouth to silence her cry as she screamed in his mind and pulsed around him. His heart answered her back as he poured himself into her. Solid earth in his muscles, churning water in the trickle of sweat, the blood boiling in the fiery heat of passion, the air in their shared breath, his very life as he succumbed to passion. She took it all in and flew. The cold air of the mountaintops, the Mother’s very breath. The Light settled deep within their souls—sun, moon and stars.

  Her net shone bright. She felt rejuvenated, almost as if she’d drunk from the pool itself. And Benilo…he felt whole. Healed. Balanced.

  He gasped for breath. His eyes widened as he sensed the change in them both. “Lady of Light, what have I done?”

  “Umm…I think you healed us both.” She grinned. “Interesting technique, healer.”

  “It is more than that. Give it a moment.” He looked wild and a little desperate as he took her hand and placed it against his stomach. “What do you feel?”

  “Your skin under my hand.” She stroked her hand across his stomach, and she flinched as she struck a ticklish spot—on her own side. It was as if she felt her own touch. Her heart pounded in her ear—with his trepidation. “Wait…”

  He reached out to run his fingers through her hair, and she shuddered as the silken strands slid across her knuckles. “Stop it! What did you do?” Pryseis hissed, trying to keep her voice at a whisper. “Get out of my mind.”

  “I cannot.” His voice was grim. His face, grimmer still. “I found a way to heal us, aye. But the only way to do so was to open up to the elements—and each other. I found a way for you to take my energy—by binding us together. As life mates.”

  She felt him in her heart, in her blood. In her mind. The words of the vow came back to her, blessed by the Mother. Permanent. Irreversible. “I don’t believe this!”

  “It was not what I intended to do at all,” he defended himself. “I did not even intend to kiss you.”

  “Don’t you blame me for this!”

  “I do not, but I believe there was a higher power involved.” He glared at her. “Without the pool, you would have died, Pryseis. I remember that much of my lessons. Faeries do not survive without a direct infusion of elemental energy. I can give you that. As much as you need, as often as you need.”

  His conviction burned in her chest. His pure intentions. He hadn’t intended to bind them together, but it was the only way to do what they both needed doing. He’d needed healing as much as she had. And with the sharing, they were both stronger. She tried to recall what she kenned of elven life mates. They kenned what each other felt, thought. No secrets. No privacy.

  “No loneliness,” he whispered. “Total support. A passion that just grows hotter with time…and practice…with a partner who kens what you need almost afore you need it.”

  She shivered at his words, at the way his gaze dropped to her breasts. She could almost feel his mouth on her, there…

  He groaned, and she felt her body—his body—tighten in response. “Careful, beauty.”

  “Well, you missed one. ’Tis feeling neglect-ed.” The last part of the word was all but a squeak as he captured her nipple betwixt his lips. She felt the pull of it betwixt her thighs.

  “So sweet…” She caught Benilo’s thought, the wonder of her silken skin sliding against his body. She felt her tightly puckered nipple on her own tongue and panicked at the momentary disorientation.

  “Easy, beauty.” Benilo was right there with her. “Do not focus on you, or me. Just go with the feeling, the sensations. It is us.”

  It was like the dream, but a hundredfold more intense. Wonder and awe, softness and hard strength, drowning in fiery need. She rained kisses down his stomach, no longer hesitating at the trail of flame that flickered across her own skin. He stroked betwixt her wet swollen folds, and she felt the hot cream coating her fingers. She ached to be buried in all that softness, feel all that hot, wet tightness squeezing around her. She took him in her hand, in her mouth, and the exquisite agony of her tongue circling the sensitive head of an organ she didn’t even have almost made her shatter then and there.

  “Do it.” His voice was rough, almost harsh, in her mind. He spun her about so she straddled his face. He buried his head betwixt her thighs, his tongue probing for the sensitive bud hidden in her folds. Embarrassment warred with excruciating arousal. “Do not hold back.” His need for the wet heat of her mouth, the intoxicating taste of her on his tongue, drove her to take him into he
r mouth, tracing the engorged vein that ran along the underside of his shaft. She moved on his mouth, rubbing against his tongue.

  “Mmph!” Pryseis jerked as he suckled that bud into a point of pure fire and she shattered over him. Relaxing her mouth, she took him deeper, down her throat.

  Benilo, too, was beyond words, at the wet heat of her tongue, stroking, pressing. She sucked him down, squeezed around him, and his body erupted. She started, gagged and then swallowed. The second shock of pleasure at that action all but knocked him senseless.

  Savage Kingdom

  Deanna Ashford

  The darkness in his soul could claim her love…or her life.

  Freygard, a world where women rule and men are slaves, would seem to be a female Nirvana. Not for the warrior Nerya. So far her required visits to the coupling chambers have been awkward and embarrassing. Until Jaden. Despite his chains, the defiant slave’s expert pleasuring satisfies her body—and sparks a determination to defend him from her cruel queen.

  Jaden couldn’t be in a worse position. Nerya has not only claimed his prized white stallion, she’s somehow managed to abscond with his ability to resist her sexual appeal. His escape attempt is disastrous, until Nerya intervenes with an unheard-of deal. In exchange for guiding her to an unmapped kingdom to find the sister she never knew she had, she will free both him and his men.

  On the journey, Nerya’s determination to resist her powerful attraction to Jaden melts away in the heat of his desire. Leaving her wondering just who is in control—and what it is about him that bothers her. When they are forced to face a soul-stealing mage, his secret is revealed.

  He is warrior of the feared Dai’Shi-en, legendary for the dark magic that fuels their violence…and their lust.

  Warning: Contains hot, sweaty warrior sex, sex in chains and sex in a tent.

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