Her Mate and Master: An Alien Warrior Romance (Zandian Masters Book 6)

by Renee Rose

  She sucked harder, bringing her mouth up and down over his stubby, pulsing horn.

  He removed his finger and slapped between her legs, but it seemed his control was limited. “By the Zandian star, Talia. You’re killing me.”

  “You’d better stop spanking me, or I’ll bite,” she warned, skimming her teeth over his sensitive horn.

  Her world flipped as Tomis threw her to the ground, somehow managing to cushion her fall with his arms.

  “Not in charge, starshine,” he growled, picking up her ankles and paddling her ass and pussy with his huge palm.

  It felt wonderful. She wanted more of it. More spanking, more fingering. And stars, yes. She wanted that thick Zandian cock he still hadn’t shown her.

  He dropped her ankles, and she allowed her knees to fall open, exposing her throbbing pussy. Hands on his hips, he loomed over her on his knees, breath raking in and out of his mouth, eyes dark violet embers.

  “Give me orders, then,” she dared him.

  He slapped one of her breasts, surprising her with the intensity of his glittering gaze. “How will I survive this?”

  “Show me,” she whispered again.

  His huge chest lifted and fell, and it thrilled her to know she’d made him short of breath, when she doubted much of anything winded the massive warrior. Slowly, he pushed the front of his pants down and freed his huge cock.

  “You wanted to see this, baby?” He gripped the base of his length, causing it to surge forward.

  It was her turn to groan because the sight of his malehood fanned her flames of desire even hotter.

  Zandian breeding season.

  That was the only reason she wanted this cocky, beautiful warrior. Not because they had a special connection. Or because she trusted him to her rescue. She didn’t. Couldn’t. But there was no harm in getting a little pleasure for once in her life. And she’d escape from him on the next planet rotation.

  Tomis fisted his long, thick dick, pumping up and down its length. “Get on your hands and knees, starshine. Give me your mouth.” His harsh, guttural command produced no outrage, only desire. She crawled into the position he described, parting her lips for his malehood. He guided it into her lips with a thick curse.

  The size stretched her jaw wide as she worked to take him deeper, gagging when it hit the back of her throat.

  Tomis wrapped a fist in her hair controlling her movements.

  She reached for his thighs, sat back on her heels and let him use her mouth as he saw fit.

  “Holy vecking stars, holy vecking—” Tomis snapped his hips forward and back, shoving his cock in and out of her lips. She shifted to take him into the pocket of her cheek, looking up to judge how he liked it.

  “You keep looking at me like that, little female, and I’m going to shove this cock so far down your throat, you’ll choke. There’s a limit to my control, Talia, and you are pushing it.”

  She couldn’t speak because her mouth was stuffed with his throbbing malehood, but she hummed her agreement.

  His fingers tightened in her hair and his movements grew jerky; hard muscled thighs tensed and trembled under her hands.

  With a roar, he came, pulling out and pumping his cock as he decorated her breasts and belly with his rainbow-hued seed.

  He surprised her again by falling over her, pushing her to the ground and stamping his lips over hers. His tongue delved in, twined with hers as his cock slid into the gap between her legs, along her wet slit.

  “Veck.” He shuddered as he pulled away, all the way back to his knees, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’ll be the death of me, starshine. I’m never going to survive being alone with you—not even for another planet rotation—without vecking you in every way invented. And a few other ways, too.”

  She grinned, satisfied with this new power she wielded over the huge warrior. Proud of herself for pleasing him as much as he’d satisfied her.

  She made a show of rubbing his cum into her skin, watching the flare of stark hunger and animal pride in his gaze. “So, what’s stopping you? Do Zandians believe it dishonorable to claim a female without mating her first?”

  He tucked his cock back in his pants and settled beside her, rolling her to face away from him and nesting against her backside. “Something like that,” he muttered.

  “I thought Zandians didn’t lie.”

  He leaned up on an elbow and traced the shell of her ear with his calloused fingertip. A shiver of deep pleasure went through her. Every tiny experience with this male was a first for her. First orgasm. First blow job. First kiss. First cuddle.

  In that order.

  “I will never lie to you, little female. That’s a promise.” He struck such a serious tone, she actually believed him. “You’re important to our species. Before we found out about your existence, there were no females of breeding age left. Prince Zander had to breed with a human, and other warriors have taken human mates as well.

  “So, you see, it’s not for a peasant—a miner’s son who only became a member of the royal guard because he’s one of the few young males alive—to claim you. You are far too important to our entire species. Your body rightfully belongs to the prince, if he wishes to claim you. Or for him to choose how you should be bred. Not for me.”

  His words struck her like a javelin through the chest, coated her mouth with the bitter taste of betrayal. She shouldn’t be surprised. She’d known this was the reason he’d been sent for her. But now that they’d become intimate, some piece of her must have hoped the situation was different. The stupid part was that she couldn’t decide which hurt worse—that he believed she was nothing more than a body for breeding, or that he wasn’t even willing to fight to claim her.

  She bit her lips and forced herself to remain still, although the instinct to elbow him hard in the ribs and take off running nearly overpowered her. She wouldn’t make it two steps, though. She’d have to wait for a better moment to escape Tomis.

  Or somehow prevent him from giving chase.

  Chapter Three

  Tomis slept little, keeping watch over the beautiful female.

  He’d had sexual experiences before—mostly paid with human slaves—but nothing came close to the desire this female provoked. Even after she’d sucked him off, he’d been hard as a rock for her. Sleeping beside her was both an honor and an agony. Her scent had him in knots; her soft skin brought him to the brink of bliss.

  She’d stiffened when he’d explained why he couldn’t claim her but he couldn’t puzzle out what had offended her. He’d assured her of her safety. Surely she understood how honored she would be back at the palatial pod.

  Hell, he fully expected to have their roles reversed, with him groveling at her feet. For now, though, he thoroughly enjoyed mastering her.

  Probably too much. His mind flitted to his mentor, Master Seke. Would the male have his ass over stripping his daughter naked as punishment?

  Possibly.

  But Seke had trained Tomis and his other pupils with discipline and consequences. Had won their undying allegiance and love as master through methods of humiliation and reward. Wasn’t it from Seke he’d learned mastery?

  As the Zandian star peeked over the horizon, lighting the day, he sat up quietly, careful not to disturb his charge. Zandia was still beautiful. He’d studied the planet his whole life, and had memorized every inch of the maps brought back from a recent expedition, but nothing compared to actually being on her again. The Finn had mined the areas heaviest with crystal and, by some stroke of mercy or luck, had left at least half the planet untouched. Though their king resided on Zandia at the moment, he hadn’t claimed the planet to inhabit—they had their own territories. Since they’d hunted down and killed every last Zandian on the planet when they took over, the area now had an eerie feel, as if the planet’s crust bore the memory of the genocide.

  Despite that, it was exquisitely beautiful. Peaceful, even. Plant-based lifeforms had thrived during the Zandian absence. Trees hu
ng heavy with fruit; the ground was covered in soft, thick moss sprinkled with tiny white flowers. Caralee flowers, if he remembered right.

  He leaned over Talia. She appeared to remain asleep, though not peacefully. A furrow marred her perfect brow. Despite his requirement that she remain naked, he’d draped his shirt over her during the night to keep her warm. He twitched it higher and stood to gather food, in case she did, indeed, require alimentation.

  Keeping his tread silent, he explored the area, finding a fue tree with a few ripe fue fruits hanging from it. In the tree, two furry shalpies played together in an adorable mating dance. He stopped to watch. He hadn’t seen animals in the wild since he was a child.

  He heard Talia’s footsteps behind him but didn’t turn, pointing silently up to the branch so she, too, could see the sweet animal play.

  It would bother him, later, that he didn’t register any danger before the pain exploded in the back of his head and everything went black.

  ~.~

  Please don’t let him be dead.

  She’d wanted to knock Tomis out, not kill him. The sound the huge warrior made when crumpling to the ground made her stomach torque almost as much as the crack of marble against his skull had. Considering how little experience she had with physical assault, it was possible she’d killed him.

  She hesitated, peering down at his stunning body, cringing at the way his limbs had fallen at an odd angle.

  He let out a low groan.

  Not dead. Incapacitated. She took off running as fast her bare feet would carry her. She had no idea where to go, but, as far as she was concerned, she could stay on Zandia, live out in the wild on her own. The strength she felt on the planet made her loathe to ever leave it—dangerous enemies or not. And loneliness was nothing new. She may have interacted with a multitude of beings at Thurn’s tavern, but she’d never had a friend. Thun had forbidden her extended contact with any being. Probably because he didn’t want her finding out she wasn’t human, the lout.

  She crashed through the brush, not caring where she went, so long as it was far away from the male who wanted to bring her to his prince for breeding. Asshole.

  Except he wasn’t an asshole. And that made her all the more bitter at not being able to trust him. She’d wanted to trust him.

  She ran until her legs gave out and a twist in her side made her stop and double over, wheezing. She’d run three times as far as she could have back on Stornig. Thank you, Zandian crystals.

  She straightened and gasped. In the curve of the valley below stood the rubble of a bombed village. Metal and stone twisted together in an unnatural heap. Goose bumps prickled over her arms as if the ghosts of all those murdered by the Finn stood up to be counted.

  It was horrible, what had happened on Zandia. How could the Finn kill every inhabitant? Females and young alike?

  An animal skittered by her feet, making her lurch backward. She fell into giant leaves—a bush of some sort—except the leaves snapped closed.

  Her scream punctured the air before she could stop herself. Tight bands of giant leaves cinched her, squeezing her very breath. She struggled to free herself but couldn’t even wrench an arm free from the terrorizing flora.

  Excrement, excrement, excrement! Zandia had carnivorous plants? This was not the death she foresaw for herself. Not even close. She screamed again, once more willing to signal her self-appointed rescuer, Tomis, the lesser evil in this situation.

  Like before, he appeared at top speed, a mixture of fear and fury on his face. His eyes widened when he took in her predicament, and the alarm in his expression did nothing to relieve her.

  “Get me out of here,” she whimpered like a complete tool. She’d just bashed his head in with a rock, and now she begged him to save her? But he would. She knew it without a shadow of a doubt. Tomis was hero material, through and through. He identified as an honorable warrior. His duty was to rescue her.

  He tore at the banded leaves, but it was as if they were made of steel. They didn’t budge.

  “Hurry, please! It’s getting tighter.”

  “Stop struggling,” he bit out as he picked up a large, sharp rock and hacked at the base of the giant greenery.

  “Your gun! Use the gun. Please, Tomis—it hurts.”

  “If I use the gun, I risk detection by the Finn,” he grated. But he wasn’t getting anywhere with the rock.

  The plant squeezed her ribs. “I can’t breathe.”

  “Veck.” Tomis pulled the gun from his belt and knelt at the stem, pressing the nozzle right up against the plant’s flesh. He shot into the aggressive vegetation.

  She screamed as electrical surges charged through her limbs, making her teeth buzz and her hair stand on end.

  It did the trick, though. The plant loosened its hold on her.

  “It worked. It worked.” She freed one arm and reached for him. “Pull me out. Please.” She ought to add an “I’m so sorry I tried to concuss you,” but he’d already clasped her hand in his mighty palm. The muscles in his chest and arms, even his neck, bulged as he leaned his weight back and pulled her.

  She moved an inch. Then another. Then she came flying out, landing on top of Tomis and knocking him back to the ground.

  “Thank you,” she breathed. “I—”

  He threw her off him and surged to his feet. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her up. “Come. We have to find water to wash that acid off your skin before it eats you alive.”

  Stars, what was the sound that came from her lips? It resembled no word in any language she’d heard in the galaxy. It was more like a pitiful, animalistic wail.

  Acid off her skin?

  Yes. Yellow-green slime covered her body from the neck down. And it was starting to burn. No, that was just the power of Tomis’ suggestion. Hell, either way, she needed it off before she lost it. She took off running, trying to keep up with Tomis.

  He seemed to know where he was going, his long strides sure. “Watch the hole,” he barked, pointing to the danger as his feet flew along. She did her best to follow but she soon reached her limit again, a cramp twisting in her side like a knife.

  “Wait! Sl-slow down...I can’t go on,” she panted.

  Tomis turned, eyeing the slime on her body with disgust before he swung her up in his arms.

  “No, you shouldn’t—” she protested, but he already had. The massive warrior took off running once more, even faster than before. Unbelievably, he carried her straight to water. Somehow, he’d known where to find a river. He plunged in, lowering her body into the cold water. Reeds choked the banks, tiny colorful waterbeasts swimming in and out of them.

  She gasped at the temperature but used her hands the way Tomis did, rubbing the goo off her skin with a brisk motion. She shucked his shirt and wrung it out in the water. Tomis continued scrubbing her skin, his large palms working her body. The goo washed off, but her skin tingled where it had been.

  “How did you know where to find water?”

  “I’ve studied the geography of our planet.” His large palms coasted over her curves, slowing down, igniting a new sensation along her sensitized flesh. The slippery substance was gone. Tomis was just touching now for sport. One giant palm closed on her breast. He squeezed until she gasped, pain burning a twin flame with pleasure.

  Hunger mingled with anger in his dark-amethyst gaze.

  Oh right. She’d knocked him out with a rock and run away. There would be a reckoning now.

  Their bodies tangled in the water, the stones beneath her feet slick and moving. She clung to him for footing.

  Hooking her arms higher around his neck, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Better to appeal to his hunger than anger. “I’m sorry, warrior,” she murmured.

  He gripped her hair in his fist and yanked her head back with one hand while his other palmed her ass, fingers digging into her soft flesh. “You will be.” The promise in his tone wasn’t angry, only dark and sensual.

  She sucked in her breath, but her pussy cle
nched with excitement. She couldn’t bring herself to fear this male. He’d saved her life three times over already. He wouldn’t do anything that couldn’t be undone.

  He stalked out of the river. Water dripped from their twined bodies. His hulking form was warm and solid against her softer one. He deposited her under a tree, where he ripped a flowering vine down from a branch. He grabbed her wrists roughly and pulled them together, winding the vine around her them.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure you don’t run,” he gritted.

  She ought to worry, ought to be planning her next escape, but all she could do was watch in fascination. She liked him angry, dark purpose oozing from his swift, capable movements. This male could get them out of any situation. He’d come alone to an enemy planet with no weapon but his two hands and had busted her out of the dungeon. He’d navigated through underground tunnels and unmarked terrain with nothing more than his eyes. He’d known how to handle animal traps and carnivorous plants. Apparently, he knew how to handle her rebellion, too.

  He looped one end of the vine over a branch and pulled it taut, lifting her arms over her head until she had to launch to her tiptoes to follow it.

  “Ouch. You’re hurting me,” she whined, only because she knew he cared about such things.

  His mouth remained firm. “You’ll survive.”

  “I’m sorry about your head,” she offered quickly. “Are you all right?”

  One corner of his mouth quirked in a wry grin. “I’ll survive.”

  Were they smiling at one another? Was he over being angry now that he had her bound and on display? She danced on her toes closer to him, her nipples tight, pussy throbbing, but he ignored her and stalked away.

  “Wait! Where are you going? Don’t leave me here like this! What if a beast attacks me? Or another being?”

  He stopped long enough to turn and shake his head. “I won’t let that happen, starshine.”

  I know you won’t.