Savage Desire (The Infinite City Book 4)

by Tiffany Roberts

  Her attention drifted to the other sounds in the room—the faint hum of the ship, which must’ve been what Thargen was referring to before; the whispers coming from the other side of the room, letting her know she wasn’t the only one awake; Iljibi’s droning snores.

  Finally, after what felt like hours, a sense of heaviness settled upon Yuri, and sleep claimed her.

  A growl startled her awake.

  Yuri’s eyes flashed open, but it was so dark that her groggy mind couldn’t immediately determine whether she’d actually opened her eyes or not. She stared into the blackness for several seconds, the passage of time marked only by the thumping of her heart, and listened for the sound—for any sound—in the stifling silence.

  Another growl came from behind her, but it was sharply cut off. Thargen twitched. His breathing became labored, and the heat of his body had intensified considerably. A new sound emerged from his throat; it seemed almost as though he were trying to speak, but all that came out was a low, rough groan.

  Yuri turned over to faced Thargen and reached for him. Her hand touched his shoulder, and she slid her palm across it and up his neck to cup his jaw. Leaning her head closer, she stroked his cheek with her thumb. “Shhh. It’s just a dream.”

  Thargen started with a snarl, his body going rigid and recoiling from her. His breaths were even more ragged now, punctuated by deep rumblings from his chest.

  “Shhh.” Yuri scooted closer until her body was flush against his, slipping an arm beneath his head so he had something to rest it on as she held him. She tucked her head just beneath his chin and continued stroking his cheek. “I’m here. It’s okay. It was a bad dream.”

  He remained tense—so tense that he was trembling—and his body was damp with sweat that seemed impossibly cold against his heated skin. She felt his heart thundering in his chest like it was the pounding of some immense drum.

  For a while, a long while, he just lay there and breathed. Slowly—so slowly it was difficult to notice—he eased. The tension in his muscles faded, his breathing smoothed and slowed, and his heart quieted.

  He’d fallen asleep again.

  Yuri skimmed her fingers over his jaw, tusks, lips, following the lines of his nose and brow until her fingertips encountered the scars on the side of his head. She traced those scars, frowning, each one making her heart ache a little more.

  How much had he suffered in his life? What had he gone through that had left him so scarred both inside and out?

  She returned her hand to his cheek and cuddled a little closer to him. She still felt safer with Thargen than anyone else, and maybe…maybe she’d granted him a bit of that security, too.

  Seven

  The next day—or at least the time between when the lights came back on and eventually went off again—passed much like the first. The prisoners were left largely alone. Firios entered the room twice, tossing out rations with his typical aloofness. One meal bar and two water cubes for each captive. None of it tasted good, and it did little to satisfy Yuri’s hunger and thirst, but it was better than nothing.

  Yuri understood that their captors were providing just enough for survival. She also understood that this journey was meant to break the captives; Yuri and the others were supposed to reach Caldorius as shells of their former selves, ready to bow to any prospective owner so long as there was a chance their conditions would improve.

  But she refused to succumb to the despair that constantly threatened to overwhelm her. Maybe the sight of blood made her queasy, but she would not be broken by this.

  Even when she wasn’t feeling particularly strong, she had Thargen with her—and his presence commanded her constant attention. Whenever he spoke, he offered Yuri confidence, reassurance, and encouragement.

  But the passage of time didn’t seem to be doing him any favors. That sense she’d had of him being a caged predator had only intensified through the day.

  His patience seemed frayed, and the easy humor he’d displayed since they first met burned away as untold hours ticked by. Yesterday, Thargen had brushed off most of Iljibi’s comments, offering a few snappy retorts that had made Yuri laugh despite everything. Today, he was increasingly hostile toward the cren—and his threats grew more serious and direct in accordance with his demeanor.

  Before long, it seemed like Thargen was ready to charge the bars separating the two cages any time Iljibi so much as glanced in Yuri’s direction. The kaital female in the other neighboring cage had taken to huddling as far away from Thargen as she could.

  Thargen expressed his restlessness in small ways, like frequently changing position while sitting, or repeatedly clenching his fists, often hard enough to make his knuckles pale and the tendons on his forearms stand out.

  Not long after Firios had delivered the second round of water cubes for the day, Thargen’s restlessness ratcheted up to a new level—he began pacing. The fact that he could cross the entire space in two or three agitated strides only made the cell feel infinitely smaller than it already was.

  It was only when the lights went out for another night cycle that Thargen seemed to relax. He and Yuri lay in the same position they’d assumed after his nightmare the night before—face-to-face with her body tucked against him, his head resting on her arm for support.

  Right before Yuri drifted to sleep, Thargen muttered, “Wish I had my arms around you, zoani.”

  Thargen woke her once during that period of darkness, having released a troubled growl, but she quickly soothed him back into a quiet slumber.

  The next day was just like the prior two, different only in that Yuri was beginning to feel the effects of her confinement and lacking nourishment—and Thargen was even more irritable.

  Firios brought more meal bars and water cubes, and Yuri helped Thargen eat.

  There was something new in Thargen’s eyes—an unsettling gleam that seemed to spark only when he was looking away from her. More than once, she saw him ball his hands into fists and tug against his manacles as he prowled the cage, his movements stiffer and more agitated than they’d been the day before.

  She could almost envision a countdown timer over his head, rapidly ticking toward zero—but she couldn’t guess what would happen once it ran out.

  Yuri looked up at Thargen. He was standing still now, positioned at the front of the cell as though waiting for someone to enter the room, posture rigid and muscles tense.

  Her gaze trekked over his form. No matter how often she looked upon him, his appeal never lessened. If anything, her attraction to him only grew with each passing hour. She hadn’t been lying when she told him that she’d had a thing for orcs when she was younger. That thing had evolved as she’d matured into a woman, expanding into an appreciation of a variety of inhuman features—the sort of features that might’ve prompted some people to call Thargen monstrous.

  The sort of features that had initially drawn her eye to him.

  Thargen was tall, muscular, savage-looking, and the perfect shade of green, but it wasn’t those looks that had locked Yuri in. The person behind those features was interesting, funny, and thoughtful, too.

  It was part of her job to be friendly to patrons at Starlight Trance—to laugh at their jokes, to make them feel welcome, to put them at ease. She’d talked to so many people of so many species that she’d lost track of them all long ago, but she’d never experienced as immediate and powerful a connection as she had with Thargen. His golden eyes, protruding tusks, and green skin might’ve caught her attention, but it was his genuine humor and honesty that had sealed the deal. Even if he hadn’t given her a chip loaded with enough credits to buy a round of drinks for everyone in the club, she would’ve gone back to talk to him again and again.

  And during their time in this situation, he had done so much for her. He’d made her feel safe when she had no reason to, and his presence was the only thing keeping her hope alive. She wanted to give back to him, to return the favor—to ease him now that he was slipping. It’d be a lie to say she di
dn’t need the distraction, too, but she wanted to help him beyond the comfort she’d provided during the night.

  She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Tell me about where you’re from.”

  His shoulders rose with a deep breath. When he exhaled, a barely noticeable shiver coursed up his spine, shaking away just a little of his tension. “Rather hear about where you’re from.”

  “I can tell you about Earth later, but only if you tell me about where you’re from first.”

  He leaned forward, resting his forehead against the bars. He turned his head slightly toward her before he spoke. “I…don’t remember too much. Valgorond is a big world. And spherical, I guess. Like most planets I’ve been to. Grew up in the Rokkoshi tribal holdings, which border this rugged mountain range that always reminded me of teeth jutting up from a jawbone. Those mountains used to be crawling with skeks, but…that was a long time before me.”

  “Come on. I know you can give me more details than that.” She smiled. “Is the sky yellow, and the water purple?”

  He chuckled and shook his head slightly. “Throw out enough colors and I guess you’re bound to get one right, huh? Yeah, the water’s usually kinda purple. But we don’t have a yellow sky. It’s somewhere between purple and blue on clear days. And I guess the light from the star Valgorond orbits is weaker, or comes from farther away, because everything Shay’s shown me makes Earth look brighter and more vibrant.”

  “Yeah, we have a bright blue sky with big, white, fluffy clouds, and our water was either blue, green, or gray, depending on where you lived and what was in it.” Yuri tilted her head. “Who’s Shay?”

  Thargen turned around to face her and leaned back against the bars. Though his posture seemed more relaxed, there was still clear strain in his expression—a crease between his eyebrows, a tightness around his mouth, and just a hint of that wild light in his eyes, though the latter faded when he met her gaze.

  “She’s a friend of mine,” he said.

  “She’s from Earth? She’s human?”

  He nodded. “Her and Samantha both.”

  “Two female humans?” Yuri’s brows rose. “You in a habit of making friends with female terrans?”

  “Technically Leah’s a female terran, too. So you can say three.”

  “Huh. And here I thought I was special.”

  His lips tilted into a lopsided smile. “You are. You’re the only terran I know who I don’t live with.”

  She rolled her eyes and looked away from him. “Wow. That totally makes me feel better.”

  I’m not jealous. Nope. Not at all. Not even a smidge…

  Okay, so maybe I am a teensy, weensy, tiny little bit.

  At the edge of Yuri’s vision, Thargen pushed away from the bars, walked toward her, and plopped onto the floor in front of her. “They’re friends. Family, pretty much. And anyway, Sam and Shay both have mates of their own, and Leah’s just a year old.” That smile of his stretched into a grin with just the right amount of wickedness in it. “You don’t have anything to worry about, zoani.”

  “I’m not worried about anything,” she said way faster than she’d meant to.

  Smooth, Yuri.

  Her cheeks warmed as she returned her gaze to Thargen. He was sitting cross legged, a position that only emphasized the powerful muscles of his thighs—but which definitely didn’t hide his semi-erect cock.

  A semi-erect cock that was working its way toward full mast even as she stared at it.

  It’s so beautiful…

  Focus, Yuri!

  She forced her eyes up to find him watching her with a knowing grin.

  Busted.

  Yuri cleared her throat and said, “You, uh…mentioned buying a gift for a baby before. Was that for Leah?”

  “Yeah. Everyone suddenly decided a knife was inappropriate to give a baby.”

  Her brows rose. “It really is, you crazy vorgal.”

  “How the hell is a baby supposed to defend itself otherwise if it doesn’t have any claws or tusks?” Thargen grunted dismissively. “Anyway, all the terrans I know would tell you that we crazy vorgals are the best kind.”

  She tilted her head. “Besides my brother and a guy who works at Starlight Trance, I haven’t seen any humans after immigrating to Arthos. Everyone just kind of went their separate ways, and that was it. It’s pretty easy to get lost in the Undercity.”

  “Pretty easy to get lost anywhere in Arthos. It’s like the city was built to swallow people up.” His shoulders twitched, and his grin faltered. He shook his head and chuckled. “All this time and I suddenly forget I’m locked up. Was about to put a hand on your leg and charm you by saying I’d introduce you to more terrans when we get back.”

  Yuri wiggled her eyebrows. “You can put your hand on my leg when we get out of here, how’s that?”

  “Terran, that’s just one place I plan to put my hands.”

  Heat sparked in her core. Yuri crossed her ankles, hugging her legs more firmly. She wanted his hands everywhere. “You, uh, were telling me about your homeworld.”

  His smile regained that mischievous slant for an instant; it was just long enough to tell Yuri that he knew exactly what he was making her feel.

  “Yeah, I was. Area I lived in, my tribe’s lands, is this combination of steppe and highlands. Rugged terrain, not many trees, gets real cold in the winter and too damned hot in the summer. Got this short, scratchy grass that grows all over. In the dry season, it gets these dust storms that make everything turn reddish brown, sometimes for days afterward.”

  “Why ever would you leave it?” she asked. “It sounds like a lovely vacation spot.”

  He laughed. “I don’t remember much, but I know there’s beauty there. Not saying I appreciated it back then, but I’m sure it’s there. Joined the military as soon as I could. There isn’t any real action on Valgorond anymore, not since the last time the tribes united a few hundred years ago, so I was shipped out to space. I served…seven or eight years, I think. Went back to my homeworld for a few months after my near-death experience had me discharged, but there wasn’t anything there for me. Been on Arthos for the nine or ten years since.”

  “And now you work as a security guard.”

  “Yep. It has its moments.”

  Yuri tapped her right cheek. “What does your tattoo mean?”

  He shifted his eyes as though to look down at the symbol. “Rank, unit, honors. I was in the Rokkoshi Vanguard, best of the best. First in, last out. Marks along the bottom are completed campaigns.”

  She ran her gaze over the crimson tattoo again, studying it closer than she had thus far. The central symbol was clearly a double-headed battle-axe—just the sort of thing she would’ve expected from the orcs in those old fantasy games. But the symbols around it were more abstract. Some looked like alien writing, and the ones he’d mentioned at the bottom looked like a set of thin, pointed fangs. There were eleven of those marks, many with at least one dot over them. The combined symbols gave the tattoo an overall shape reminiscent of a shield.

  “That looks like quite a few,” she said.

  “Woulda had more if not for…” He turned his head to the side, displaying the scars on the right side of his skull.

  Yuri leaned forward and reached out to lightly ran her fingers over them. “What happened?”

  “Iljibi will show you what happens if you don’t shut up,” Iljibi grumbled, kicking the bars between the cages.

  That furious light Yuri had seen more and more of lately flared in Thargen’s eyes, and his lips curled back to reveal clenched teeth.

  Yuri caught Thargen’s chin before he could turn toward Iljibi and forced him to keep his eyes on her. “Ignore him.” She lifted her other hand and caressed the scars on his head. “Tell me what happened here.”

  His nostrils flared, but that primal fire in his eyes diminished. His jaw muscles ticked once, twice, and finally relaxed after the third time. When Yuri was sure he’d calmed, she lowered h
er hands and wrapped her arms back around her legs.

  “Don’t remember most of it. Was on some planet, don’t know if it even has a name, fighting skeks. We were always fighting fucking skeks. We were…pinned down somewhere…” Thargen’s brow furrowed. He searched Yuri’s eyes, but there was a sudden vacancy in his gaze that suggested he was lost in his own recollection. “We had wounded. My friend, Urgand, was tending them, but we were being overrun. I tried to hold the enemy back until we could be extracted, but…”

  Thargen shook his head, and his eyes regained their focus. “There was an explosion or something. I blacked out. Next thing I remember, I was in the infirmary of a battlecruiser. Urgand had dragged me off that planet, had saved my life, and I couldn’t even remember all of it to thank him properly.

  “He was discharged and moved to Arthos a few years after me. We’ve worked together ever since. He’s, uh…he’s kept me out of a lot of trouble over the years, even if I can’t always recognize it at the time.”

  Yuri smiled. “You kept in contact before he was discharged? Is that how he found you?”

  “Heh, no. I didn’t keep in contact with anyone after they sent me home. I was just…lost. All I knew was fighting, so my only thought, I guess, was to go and do more of it without breaking too many laws. He tracked me down. One of those things where bleeding together made us brothers, or some sappy shit like that.”

  Yuri’s brows rose. “Wow. So, he was determined to find you. Kind of like…your guardian angel and the angel on your shoulder at once.”

  “What’s an angel?”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, guess that’s a word the translators wouldn’t really be able to define. An angel is…well, I guess they’re from these millennia-old religions on Earth, but they’ve kinda transcended their origins. Angels are supposed to be these beautiful, radiant beings of light, goodness, and righteousness. Protectors and guardians. Stuff like that.”

  Thargen tipped his head back to look up at the ceiling. “Don’t know about all the radiance and beauty stuff. Guess to most non-vorgals, Urgand looks a lot like me.” He returned his gaze to her and grinned. “But he doesn’t look as good as me, of course.”