by Zoey Draven
I’d never seen anything like it. Never seen something so physically brutal or intense. People in my village weren’t warriors, weren’t fighters. The majority of them had probably never held a blade in their lives. To see such skill and savagery up close…it was shocking. It reminded me of all the tales we’d been told of the Dakkari since we were young.
Arokan braced, still, eyeing the three males on the ground, waiting. After a moment, when none of them rose, he straightened, some of the tension leaving him, as he barked out something in Dakkari and helped the male nearest him up to a stand, clapping him across the shoulders.
He turned his head to say something to the male and that was when he caught my eyes. I watched him hesitate, his gaze narrowing ever so slightly, before he called out an order to the two dozen or so males that had also been watching the training session from the sidelines. Four more entered the clearing and began to spar with one another, while Arokan made his way towards me, sheathing his sword at his hip.
Arokan nodded at the guard, who seemed to melt away with Mirari and Lavi. Until it was just the two of us.
“Is something wrong, kalles?” he asked, his eyes focused on me.
My heart was still drumming in my chest from that training session. What disturbed me the most was that my eyes tracked over his flesh, seeing the sweat and dirt, remembering how efficiently he’d dispatched his opponents. What disturbed me the most was that my nipples were pebbled underneath my tunic and despite the soreness of my sex, I was remembering the exquisite feel of his length inside me.
“How long have you been fighting like that?” I found myself asking, trying to distance myself from my body’s treacherous demands.
“Since I was strong enough to hold a blade,” he answered, cocking his head to the side. “I was trained from a young age.”
It showed. I wondered if his father had taught him. If his mother had been a Morakkari, it meant that his father had been a Vorakkar.
“What is it that you need, kalles?” he murmured. That scent of him, his sweat, his musk fogged my brain, made my mouth water.
Blinking, I managed to remember why I’d sought him out.
“Is there anything I can do around camp?” I asked.
He wiped his forearm across his forehead, his fresh gold markings from that morning flashing. Unlike mine, they didn’t look reddened or irritated.
“There is no need.”
“I want to do something,” I amended.
He turned the full-force of his gaze onto me. “Why?”
I inhaled a short breath and said, “Look, I know how it works. I know that my life, at least for the immediate future is with you, here.” He frowned at that. “Maybe that will change in time, but for now, it would benefit me to learn about this place, about your people. About you. And I can’t do any of that sitting on my ass in a tent all day.”
Something rose from him, wild and quick. He advanced on me, lowered his head ever so slightly, and growled, “Your future is always with me, kalles. Do not ever say otherwise.”
My lips parted, not expecting that reaction. “Arokan.”
A sharp exhale whistled through his nostrils and he bit out a curse in Dakkari, looking away, past me to his camp.
“That’s…” I swallowed, trailing off. “All I meant was that we don’t know what the future brings. All I meant was that I’m here now. I’m not going to fight you at every turn anymore. I’ve accepted that this is the path my life has taken and if that’s so, I want to build a life here. I need a purpose.”
“Your purpose is to stand beside me,” he growled, “as my queen.”
“As your ornament?” I rasped, frustrated. “As your trophy? I’m not going to spend my life like that, Arokan. I can’t. It would kill me.”
His gaze flashed, his yellow irises contracted.
“I just want a job,” I said softly, hesitantly reached out to touch his forearm. His skin was hot from the sun, from his exertion. “However small it might be. Anything.”
His gaze went down to my hand resting against him and when he didn’t reply, I bit my lip and pulled it away.
In a flash, he caught my hand, keeping that connection.
“Anything?” he repeated, running his calloused thumb across the back of my hand. I’d never known such a simple touch could feel so…arousing. So intimate.
“Y-yes,” I replied, my head going a little fuzzy again.
He leaned close, those rapt eyes freezing me into place. Softly, he said, “Then you will aid with the pyrokis’ care.”
My eyes widened and I snatched my hand back, taking a whole step away from him, as if to distance myself from his words. “Arokan, no. I can’t do that.”
“You said anything. You wanted a job, this is the one I task to you,” he replied simply.
My breath hitched, my mind flashing to those red-eyed beasts, the same kind of beast that had mauled my mother, that had forced me to end her suffering.
“Please, I’ll do anything else but—”
“Do you think I have not noticed your aversion to them?” Arokan asked softly.
“I…I…”
“Pyrokis are the foundation of all Dakkari hordes,” he said. “If you wish to learn more about us, you must first understand them. The horde will never truly accept you unless you master your fear and open yourself to these creatures.”
I bit my tongue, looking at the ground between us.
“Will you do this?” Arokan asked. “For me? For the horde? For yourself?”
“I don’t know if I can,” I said softly, but then I looked up at him. Swallowing, I nodded with dread pooling in my belly, and whispered, “But I will try.”
He made a sound in the back of his throat, reached out to thread his fingers through my hair. A gasp of surprise left me when he cupped the nape of my neck, tugging me forward, and kissed me right there, on the edge of the training grounds, with over two dozen Dakkari horde warriors watching.
Lips parting against him, I clutched his biceps as he took his kiss with a ferocity and thoroughness of a horde king.
“Brave kalles,” he rasped against me, pulling back. He released me, so quickly that I swayed. “You are—”
Suddenly, alarmed shouts echoed through camp and Arokan’s head snapped up, towards the direction of the forest.
He jerked his head towards the horde warriors, bellowing out an order in Dakkari and they all ran towards the back of the camp.
“What’s happening?” I cried, as shouts of alarm rang out.
Arokan pushed me into the arms of my assigned guard. “Stay with him, kalles. Do not leave his side.”
In Dakkari, he said something to the guard, who jerked his head in a nod.
“Wait!” I said, confused and concerned. “What is—”
“Do as I say!” Arokan growled. “I will find you later.”
Then he turned his back and sprinted toward the direction of the forest, unsheathing his sword as he went.
Chapter Fifteen
Pacing the confines of the tent, I blew out an impatient, anxious breath for the hundredth time in the last four hours, give or take.
I was worried, frightened, irritated…and I didn’t know what else to do so I simply paced. Back and forth. The scarred guard wouldn’t let me outside, though I could tell that night had already fallen. There was still no word about what had happened in the camp prior to Arokan’s departure. And if the guard knew, he was keeping a tight lip.
Mirari and Lavi watched me, fidgeting on their cushions. They held blades in their hands, as if they were prepared to fight if something or someone entered the tent.
Earlier, I’d asked them if they knew how to use blades, if they’d been trained to defend themselves.
“Lysi,” Mirari replied. “All Dakkari know how to fight. We were all trained.”
I didn’t know how to fight. There had never been a need for it, especially when other work had to be done in the village.
But now, trapped in a tent, af
ter what happened earlier…I couldn’t help but wonder what I would do if something came through the entrance and attacked us. I wouldn’t know what to do.
“What do you think is happening?” I asked again.
“I am sure the Vorakkar is handling it, whatever it is,” Mirari tried to reassure me.
I’d never been patient, one of my many faults.
“Do you think—”
The tent flap pulled back and Arokan appeared, a stormy, furious expression on his face. He ordered the piki to leave and Mirari and Lavi scurried out without a backwards glance, obviously sensing the same mood I was.
Sharp relief made me a little lightheaded but soon, anger took its place. Which probably wasn’t the wisest emotion to show, considering Arokan looked…untamed. He looked ready to boil over.
“Where the hell have you been?” I cried out. “What happened out there? I’ve been imagining the worst—what are you doing?”
Arokan growled, capturing my hands with his tail in a tight grip when I pushed at his chest, and he tugged down my pants with a rough pull.
Suddenly, I was naked from the waist down, my bare sex and bare buttocks on display. Then he pushed me down onto the furs, turning me so I was bent over the edge.
My breaths came out in rough pants when I struggled against him, my cheek pressed against the furs, my hair tangling in front of my eyes. “Arokan,” I hissed. “Right now is not the time for—”
I jerked in shock when he gave my exposed buttocks a slap. Not enough to hurt. Just enough to get my attention, to make me seethe.
“Enough,” he growled. “All I need right now is to be buried in your cunt. Nothing more.”
Disbelief and fury and something I didn’t want to identify—something that felt an awful lot like need—made me buck against him and hiss, “You did not just do that. I’m not your damn pyroki, Arokan!”
“Nik, you are certainly not,” he rasped, untying the laces of his pants, pushing the waist band down over his hard cock with a rough jerk. “Kailon is obedient.”
I gasped, outraged, and tried to scratch at his arms when his hands came to grip my hips, when they slid under my tunic to cup my breasts. I cried out in frustration when he pinched my nipples softly, a sizzle of arousal running through my belly.
His tail once again captured my wrists, holding them tight behind my back, until I couldn’t move, not with him keeping me in place.
One of his hands left my breasts and I felt the pad of his finger run down my slit. He found my clit and I made a desperate sound in the back of my throat, my hips bucking. I couldn’t tell if I was trying to get away…or trying to press closer.
“Tell me what happened today,” I ordered, though, to my mortification, my voice came out breathless.
“I will,” he rasped. “After.”
“Ugh!”
His finger slid inside me. When that finger curled against my inner walls, I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Damn you,” I whispered when my hips moved of their own accord, moving against him, seeking that pleasure I knew he could give me. Maybe this was what I needed…a release. A release of the frustration and worry and anger that had been building and building all afternoon.
Suddenly, his finger retreated and I felt the press of his cock take its place. Though I bit my lip at the sharp twinge I felt, I didn’t cry out as he thrust inside me.
So deep, so hard.
So good.
Stars burst in my vision and I gasped into the furs as he pinched my nipple a little harder.
“Lysi,” he hissed and then he pulled out, thrusting back inside with more force.
Then he didn’t stop.
He fucked me hard and fast, grunts of pleasure emanating from him, while desperate moans tumbled from me. Every hard, throbbing, hot inch of him stimulated me in places I hadn’t even known existed…places that threatened to consume me with pleasure.
He was savage. He was thorough. He knew how to fuck me until I screamed. He knew how to fuck me until I was cumming all over his cock.
He bit out a curse. “Already, kassikari?” his voice dark and velvety and absolutely sinful. “Vok, you need this just like I do. Tell me!”
“No,” I bit out in between gasps as my amazing orgasm made every muscle in my body clench tight.
“Stubborn kalles,” he grunted, slamming into me hard.
It didn’t take him long after to orgasm. I moaned into the furs when I felt him shoot his hot seed into me, pulsing and throbbing. His roaring groan of release rang in my ears.
His tail released my hands and it wasn’t until just then that I realized he’d been mindful of my fresh, raw markings.
With a purring sound, he dragged me up the bed until I collapsed against him, my head cushioned on his chest, which heaved underneath my cheek. He was flat on his back, with his pants still down to his mid-thighs, his cock resting on his taut abdomen.
When I caught my breath, I pressed my fingernails into his flesh and said, “I hate you.”
“Nik, you do not,” he said next, his voice surprisingly soft. He turned his head to look at me and continued with, “I think you want to. But you do not, kalles.”
Arokan stretched his other arm over his head, arching his back a little, and I realized that he no longer looked ready to kill someone. Most of the tension had drained from his body.
I didn’t know what the hell had just happened, but he’d fucked a little of my temper right out of me. It should disturb me how easily I’d given into him, how much I’d wanted it.
But right then, with my cheek pressed against his chest, with my tunic ridden up to just below my breasts, and his seed leaking from my body…I felt decidedly less disturbed than I should be.
“What happened this afternoon?” I asked, not wanting to dwell on that thought, needing a distraction.
His muscles tensed. He turned his head to regard me, those yellow-rimmed eyes contracting. “I am not done with you yet.”
He wanted…more?
Swallowing, I said, “You said you would tell me after and this is after.”
He blew out a breath, reaching out to run a hand through my hair. He grunted, though I couldn’t tell if it was in frustration or amusement. “You are right.”
Surprise made me raise my brows.
He frowned and said, “We captured a Ghertun scout on the edge of the camp.”
I gasped, sitting up to look down at him. “What?”
“He came from the forest. He will not tell us where the rest of his pack is, despite our methods of…persuasion.”
I thought back to the movement in the forest we’d heard during the walk we’d taken and I brought a hand to my throat, “I thought there was something or someone in the forest when we went in earlier this afternoon.”
Arokan froze. “Neffar?”
Had that been a Ghertun? Had he been watching us?
I shivered and said, “We heard branches snapping. I thought maybe it was a beast of some kind and we turned around. But now…I can’t help but wonder if—”
Arokan broke out with a loud curse, pressing a hand to his eyes.
“Arokan,” I said gently.
“You will have two guards watching you at all times if I am not with you,” he said, his voice hard and unyielding.
My mouth dropped. “That’s completely unnecessary. I don’t even need one.”
“Ghertun are dangerous. I will not risk your safety,” he growled, glaring up at me, though his words made my breath catch. “I have seen them do unspeakable things and if there is a scout nearby, then his pack is not far behind.”
“You think they mean to attack us?” I asked, freezing. “They mean to attack a whole horde? That’s suicide.”
“I do not know yet,” he replied. For some reason, I had expected him to be tight-lipped about matters like these. It surprised me that he shared the information without hesitation. I was…grateful for that, that he wasn’t keeping me in the dark. “It is possible the tassimara drew t
hem near. Regardless, we are close enough to Dothik where I have to take action before they get too close to the capital.”
My heart beat drummed with dread. “What do you mean to do?”
“Find them before they find us,” he answered. “Ghertun scouts usually travel two days ahead of a pack. We have time.”
I dragged my knees to my chest and I felt Arokan’s hand stroke up my back. We were quiet for a moment before I said, “Thank you for telling me.”
“You are Morakkari,” he replied. “You have a right to know.”
Did I? Up until a few days ago, I hadn’t even known about the Ghertuns’ existence, much less the danger that they posed.
Turning my head slightly, I looked down at Arokan, sprawled out beside me.
I could have done a lot worse for myself, I realized suddenly, that knowledge bursting through me. I’d never given thought to joining my life with a man. Never given much thought to a future with a family, with children, not when my village was struggling, not when there was work to be done, not when Kivan needed me to be strong.
But Arokan was strong. He protected his people at all costs, could show mercy when needed, kindness when it was unexpected.
He hadn’t abused me, hadn’t hurt me. Instead, he’d made me his queen and answered my questions without hesitation. He’d given me a job that would challenge me, he’d given me guards to protect me, and he’d driven me mad with frightening desire.
He was…not what I had expected.
“I dispatched my pujerak to your village this morning,” he said quietly.
Hope sprang in my chest. The messenger with the three bveri. The deal we’d made last night at the tassimara…
“You did?”
He jerked his head in a nod. “He should have already arrived.”
I looked away when unexpected tears sprang in my eyes. I didn’t want him to see me cry, but the thought that my brother could have fresh meat, actual food for the first time…it was something I never thought would happen.
“Thank you,” I whispered.