by Zoey Draven
He froze. Underneath my hand, I felt the muscles in his chest flex.
“Neffar?” he growled.
His eyes were glowing golden now, but not in fury. In something else entirely.
I remembered my talk with Mirari and Lavi that morning. Determination shot through me. That and pent-up frustration and desire despite the mess I’d made that night. I definitely had some lost ground to make up.
With that thought, I brought my hands—albeit trembling—to laces of his hides.
His breath hitched. “What are you doing, kalles?”
Nervous adrenaline and need rushed under my skin as I carefully tugged him to sit on the edge of the bed.
Arokan looked stunned as I dropped to my knees in front of him, reaching into his hides for his thickening, hot cock.
“I’m taking some much-needed advice from a very wise female,” I told him, eager and anxious and determined.
Though I had no idea what I was doing, I ducked my head and wrapped my lips around his pulsing cock.
His resounding bellow could probably be heard all around camp.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Vok, kalles!” Arokan rasped, his eyes darkening, his thighs spreading. His voice was hoarse from his bellow.
I looked up at him as I opened my mouth wider, trying to take him deeper. But it was next to impossible to take more than a few inches. He was too thick.
So, instead, I focused on his throbbing head, pulling back for air before leaning forward again to suck on the sensitive flesh softly.
I hoped I was doing this right. I knew next to nothing about pleasuring a male, but judging by the way Arokan’s chest heaved, how a tumble of groans and growls rose in his throat, how his eyes never left me…I figured I was doing something right.
What I didn’t expect was how aroused this would make me.
Nonetheless, I felt my sex gush, especially when he reached his hand down to gather up my hair when it fell in my face. He gripped it gently, helping to guide me in a steady rhythm over his cock.
I moaned around his length and he whispered something in Dakkari, his eyes closing for a brief moment. My eyes found the rigid bump just above the base of his shaft and I saw it harden. Intrigued, I reached forward and brushed my fingers over it, feeling it begin to vibrate at the stimulation.
Arokan exhaled a sharp breath, his head falling back in pleasure, the strong tendons in his throat stretching. A thrill went through me. I liked this. I liked seeing him this way, I liked that I was doing this to him.
“Does that feel good?” I whispered, pressing the bump.
“Vok, lysi,” he hissed, his voice broken.
Pleased, flushed with excitement and arousal, I returned to sucking the head of his head. Soon, however, my jaw began to ache. I pulled back to catch my breath, continuing to stroke him with my fist. Then, curious, I leaned forward and licked the vibrating bump, laving it with my tongue, remembering the press of it against my clit when he fucked me those first times.
That made him roar with pleasure. Then, I felt the grip in my hair tighten, felt him pull my head back, exposing my throat.
I met his gaze with half-lidded glazed over eyes and reddened lips.
“Enough, rei Morakkari,” he rasped, his breathing ragged. With one quick maneuver, he pulled me from between his legs and back onto the bed. “You will make me cum before I am ready.”
Then he stood from the bed, his engorged cock bobbing. He didn’t bother to kick off his pants, he simply tugged mine down and tossed them to the floor, baring my lower half.
He cursed and took my legs in his grip, pulling them wide. “Look at how pink and wet your cunt is for me, kalles.”
I bit my lip, wiggling my hips, trying to inch closer to him. “Please, Arokan,” I whispered. “Please.”
With a rough growl, he positioned his cock at my entrance and he thrust inside me with one stiff, teeth-chattering, sublime motion. He let out a deep, deep groan that I felt reverberate in my own body.
“Oh yes!” I moaned, my eyes squeezing shut. A little pain twinged deep inside, but I didn’t care. I just needed to get used to his size again. It felt good, that pain.
“There is nothing better than your cunt, kalles,” he rasped, wrapping his arm underneath my hips, pulling me down over him with more leverage and power.
Then he didn’t stop. He gave me a single moment to adjust to him and then he couldn’t stop. He pounded into me with deep, hard thrusts that made stars burst into my vision.
Our voliki was filled with primal, erotic sounds. The sounds of sex and mating. Of flesh slapping against flesh, of moans and groans and cries, and whispered words and savage curses.
It was perfect. He was perfect.
Arokan caught my wrists in between it all. He looked at the gold markings and then he threaded our hands together, so our tattoos touched and aligned.
Dazed, my lips parted, I looked up at him, on the verge of cumming. Any moment now, he would send me over the edge.
His hands squeezed mine and he leaned down low over my body. With his marked flesh against mine, with his cock buried deep inside me, he murmured, “We are one, kassikari.”
My breath hitched and then he caught my lips in a fierce kiss, growling deep in his throat. I returned it with enthusiasm and fervor.
And it didn’t take long until that kiss, until his touch, sent me over the edge.
My scream was muffled against his lips and I turned my head instead to bite his shoulder, unfathomable pleasure tearing through my body.
I think he liked that because he roared, his thrusts deepening, growing rough and savage. Then I felt his seed spill into me, felt his body tremble and jerk, as he came undone.
Afterwards, I laid underneath him in a warm haze, disbelieving that anything could feel so good.
Arokan lifted his head, though I still felt his cock pulsing inside me. His heavy lidded gaze sought mine and I tilted my head up in invitation. He took my lips and I disentangled our hands so I could wrap them around his massive shoulders.
Closing my eyes, I smiled, drugged on sex and Arokan. Finally, some of the tension that had been building and building over the past week had left, though it was by no means gone.
Arokan seemed to feel the same way because when he pulled his head back to look down at me, his eyes burned with need as he rasped, “I am not done with you, Morakkari.”
“Good,” I whispered back. “I’m not done with you either, Vorakkar.”
Apparently, Arokan still wasn’t done with me, hours later, when I had to beg him for a reprieve.
“J-just a little while,” I gasped, still feeling my sex flutter with the last two orgasms he’d wrung from me. “I just need to rest.”
He growled but acquiesced, dragging my limp, thoroughly pleasured body, up the bed, tucking me into his side.
I blew out a shuddering breath, still panting from the exertion. I’d been unprepared for this, unprepared for the full-force of his desire and need.
But I had loved every single moment of it.
His seed leaked from between my legs. I didn’t know how many times he’d cum inside me, but the evidence was all over the furs. They would need to be washed thoroughly in the morning, but I was too exhausted to care that night.
Apparently, my horde king had been holding back. A lot. I’d always assumed that the Dakkari had a healthy drive for sex, but I didn’t know just how much they needed it.
His hand stroked over my body gently, his tail wrapping around my thigh, holding me against his side. My fingers traced over the slim, flexible appendage and the tip twitched at my touch.
I smiled, stretching a bit. I would be doubly sore in the morning. Not just from the training, but from the marathon of sex.
“Did I hurt you?” he finally asked, his voice guttural and rough yet quiet.
“No,” I whispered, looking up at him. “You didn’t. I feel good.”
His lips twitched at that word, his brow quirking as if to say
‘only good?’ I liked this side of Arokan too. All the tension had left his body, leaving him relaxed and loose.
“I heard you’ve been somewhat of a terror to your warriors lately,” I commented.
He grunted and he angled a look down at me. “Keeping tabs on me?” he asked, repeating words I’d once said to him.
Surprised, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I have my sources,” I said, unwilling to give up Mirari’s name.
“My warriors have nothing to fear from me in the morning,” he rasped, stroking that large palm down my back, settling over my buttocks and squeezing, making my breath hitch. “I will be as docile as a newborn bveri.”
I grinned.
“What else have your sources said about me?” he asked.
Damn.
“Not much,” I said.
“Tell me,” he murmured.
I bit my lip but then said, “I know that Hukan was your mother’s sister.”
He grunted again. “Lysi.”
“I know that you and Hukan are the last of your line,” I said, watching him.
“Until you gift me young, we are,” he murmured. “But Rath Kitala will flourish once more. I know it.”
My breath hitched. Until, not if. As if it was a certain thing. And perhaps after tonight, if my cycle was correctly aligned…it was a certain thing.
That should frighten me, shouldn’t it?
“How do you know we’re even…compatible in that way?” I whispered.
His tail twitched. “You think I am the first Dakkari to take a human as a mate?”
I thought of Mithelda, of what Arokan said about her capture from my village.
But what he was implying made me pay attention. “There are children already?” I asked, my heart speeding up in my chest. “Dakkari-human children?”
“Lysi,” he confirmed.
Disbelief went through me.
“Not in my horde, obviously,” he continued. “In others.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “You’ve seen them?” I asked in awe.
He nodded. “They are young. Healthy. Strong. So, lysi, kalles, I know you will bear me children.”
I blew out a breath then nibbled on my lip as I felt more of his seed leak from my body.
He tilted my chin up so I met his eyes. “What do you think of, kalles?”
Softly, I confessed, “Truthfully, I’ve never given much thought to children. It never seemed possible for me.”
“Do you desire them?” he questioned, his eyes rapt.
The answer came to me easily, which was surprising in itself.
“Yes,” I whispered.
The knowledge pleased my husband. I could see that plainly. He leaned forward to capture my lips and I let out a small sigh, his kiss fogging my mind.
“We will make it so,” he murmured against me. “If we have not already.”
I blushed, despite everything that had happened that night, and he pulled back to study me, seemingly amused.
My eyes strayed to his shoulder where I saw one of his scars curve around from his back. I reached forward to trace the raised line. Though I could not see his back, I knew that the majority of his flesh was covered in scars, as if he’d been whipped.
Before, I’d never been courageous enough to ask, but right then, I felt the question tumble out before I could stop it. “What happened?”
He caught my hand, pressing his lips to the center of my palm before they trailed over my wrist, kissing my golden markings.
He took his time answering me, but finally he said, “A Vorakkar must be strong for his horde. He must be able to withstand pain and suffering in order to lead them best and he must not let pain and suffering break him.”
My brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
“All Vorakkars wear these scars, kalles,” he told me. “It is the final test, the test chosen and carried out by the Dothikkar.”
My eyes widened in realization. “He…your king did this?”
The pain he must have withstood. The agony. How long had he been whipped? Shock and disbelief and horror rolled through me.
“I chose this,” he corrected, taking my face in his hands. “I have always known my purpose is this. I have always known I would be a Vorakkar. It was inevitable. It was but a fleeting moment in my life, a necessary step in order to achieve something more. I would do it again without hesitation.”
I understood what he was saying. One sacrifice to achieve everything he’d wanted.
But…
“It’s barbaric,” I protested.
“It is the old way, the old tradition.”
There seemed to be a lot of those, I couldn’t help but think.
“How many tests did you have to go through?” I asked.
“As many as was necessary,” he told me. Something told me he didn’t want me to know the exact number and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to know.
I blew out a breath. “We’d been told that there are six horde kings across Dakkar, which includes you. Is that true? There are five other Vorakkars?”
“Six,” he corrected. “And the Dothikkar is currently in the process of selecting a seventh.”
“So many,” I commented softly.
Arokan ran his hand back up my bare spine until he cupped the nape of my neck, holding me still as he said, “The Ghertun grow bold. We simply need more horde warriors to patrol the wild lands, to keep them in line.”
Concern touched my brow. “It’s that worrisome?”
“Lysi, I will not lie to you,” he confessed. “They reproduce very quickly, which means their numbers grow quickly.”
“Is that what you were meeting about tonight?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Partly,” he answered. “Mostly, the bveri are beginning to migrate south. Soon, it will be time to leave this area, to follow them. We will journey for a new encampment during the next moon cycle.”
The knowledge sent a thread of panic through me. South. Further away from my brother. Would I ever see him again?
Not only that, but I’d just felt like I’d begun to settle there. Now, he was telling me we were to pack up and leave, to start fresh elsewhere.
This is the horde life, I told myself. The Dakkari way.
“How do you feel about that, kalles?” he asked me softly, studying me.
“It seems overwhelming,” I said honestly. Then I sighed, touching the solid muscles of his chest, tracing the golden markings of his skin. “But I’ll enjoy seeing more of Dakkar. Though I was born here, I’ve seen very little of my home planet.”
He made a sound deep in his throat and his arms came around me, pulling me more tightly into his body.
I felt warm and safe in his arms. And I knew, without a doubt, that I’d given up yet another piece of my heart to him that night. How much more would he take before there was nothing left?
“I will show it all to you, Luna,” he murmured. “I promise.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Are you frustrated, kalles?” Arokan growled, his voice rough and wild, spurring on my emotion.
I was frustrated and tired and sore beyond belief.
“Yes,” I hissed back, the weight of the dagger still unfamiliar in my hand. It was perfectly balanced. The handle was made of bveri bone, strong and solid, and the blade was of light yet lethal Dakkari steel. Expertly crafted, or so Arokan had told me.
Arokan rushed me out of nowhere and I was unprepared, distracted by his words. I gasped and he grabbed my throat, to tell me that I’d let my guard down, that if he was an enemy, that would have been a kill shot. I would be dead.
The Dakkari didn’t mess around. Not with training. They’d been raised warriors, even the females, and everything that Arokan taught me demonstrated that.
He was hard on me because he wanted me to learn quickly. He wanted to make me stronger.
My husband squeezed my throat lightly, not enough to hurt, but enough to get my attention. My breathing went tight b
ecause I remembered when he’d done something similar between the furs, when he’d pinned me down and mounted me from behind.
Great. Now I was frustrated, tired, sore, and aroused.
“Get angry,” he growled, his body pressed against mine. “Feel that emotion and then let it go. Emotion will get you killed if you let it.”
My eyes narrowed and I pushed him away, my muscles straining.
“Again,” I said, panting with exertion.
His mouth tightened but he jerked his head in a nod.
It was a calm, peaceful night, though it was late. Arokan had finished with his duties later than usual, but he’d asked if I still wanted to train that night once he returned.
I’d wanted to, but instead of going to the training ground, he’d led me into the forest, much to my confusion.
I’d been nervous, considering the last time I’d been there, the Ghertun scout had most likely been watching my every move. But I trusted Arokan. He wouldn’t bring me there unless he believed it was safe.
“Use the environment,” he’d told me. “Anything can be a weapon if you use it correctly.”
With that in mind, I rushed him first that time. I’d been frightened to accidentally cut him with the blade or injure him in some way, but quickly, my fears had been alleviated. Arokan was much too skilled as a warrior to be seriously harmed by a novice like me. And when I had managed a shallow cut earlier on, he’d simply looked down at it and grunted, “Good. Very good, kalles.”
I’d been much too pleased by his praise to admit I’d cut him on accident.
He quickly side-stepped my rush, his arm swiping out to disarm me of my blade. It thudded softly onto the forest floor, but there was no time to reach for it.
Before I knew it, he dove for me and I hit the ground hard, the air in my lungs whooshing out of me. He straddled his thighs around my hips, keeping me pinned as his hands pressed down on my shoulders. And though I struggled to catch my breath, I never stopped struggling underneath him.