“I am sorry, but I will not go unless you accompany me, my lord.”
“Do you dare to defy me?”
Sachin leaned down and grinned. “Kabril, do not make me knock your pampered arse from that chair. You can and will go with me to find your bride. You can and will get to know her. Befriend her even. You can and will get her to love you. If I can still tolerate you after all of these centuries, I am sure she will at least be somewhat fond of you.”
“Sachin?” he asked, his mouth agape. “Cease your blathering.”
“Do not Sachin me, my lord. And I will not cease my anything. I have known you all of my three hundred and ninety-five cycles. I am permitted to uncover your veiled eyes when called for.” He assumed a posture of superiority and shook slightly. It took Kabril a moment to realize Sachin was laughing.
Unable to stop himself, Kabril joined him, laughing from the gut. It felt good to release some of the tension he had locked away. In truth, Sachin knew him well. He knew that being direct worked to a certain degree. He also had a knack for taking an opposing view on a matter only to get Kabril to argue the point, all the while agreeing with Kabril. “Very well. It may be best for me to learn a few Earth customs.”
“Actually,” Sachin said, “I have something better in mind. May I suggest you alert the advisors you will be on Earth for many moons? Perhaps Rossi should be contacted to sit in while you are gone?”
“You wish me to call one of my brothers home to rule while I am on Earth for many moons? Now I know you jest. It is clear you suffer from the pull of the moons, Sachin. Mayhap you should seek the counsel of an old crone.” Since four moons orbited their planet, one so large it was seen even in waking hours, it was always safe to blame them for madness. And it was apparent Sachin was afflicted with moon madness.
Shaking his head, Sachin chuckled. “No, my lord. I do not jest and I have not been stricken by the moons. There is much work to be done.”
“Work?”
Sachin grinned mischievously. “Ah, the king must learn to speak as humans do, without drawing attention to himself. He must also learn the Earthly art of wooing a woman.”
Kabril cringed. Nothing called “wooing” could be good. “Leave me in peace for a bit.”
“As you command,” Sachin said as he walked in the direction of the outer hall. “I will alert the others of your departure.”
Kabril sighed and put his head back, closing his eyes, attempting to wish away the prophecies. It did not work. The gods did look favorably upon him at the moment. He could not blame them. He’d taken their names in vain and had mocked others’ devotion of them.
Served him right to have to go to Earth of all places. A just punishment indeed. Next, the gods would say he must reside there until they deemed otherwise.
He shuddered.
He kept his eyes closed, wondering what his woman looked like. Flashes of long dark hair came to him and his body instantly tightened. His cock stirred to life and he groaned, his hand going to the front of his trews.
There was a harem in place at the castle. He could summon forth women from it to alleviate the tension in his cock. But he did not. Instead, he untied the front of his trews and released his cock, knowing he would not be bothered again.
Thoughts and the tiniest of flashes of a woman returned to him. He could not see her face or make out much of anything about her. All he did know was the very idea of her hardened him more. He wanted to find her, sink into her depths and lose himself in her. But he would not tell Sachin that. No. His friend would find too much joy in knowing Kabril truly did want the woman—whoever she may be.
Even if she was human.
He squeezed his cock harder, his breathing rash as he pushed thoughts of her being human from his mind. He needed a good fuck. He’d put too long between them. Mayhap the moons had afflicted him.
That was the only explanation for his body lusting after a human, of all things. He pumped his cock, his thoughts lost on a woman he could not clearly see while his body teetered on the edge of bliss.
Kabril continued to work his cock until his ball sac drew up and his seed spilled forth and onto the floor. A servant would see to the mess. They always did.
Though, once, he’d learned his seed had been taken to the Oracle in hopes of figuring out why the birth rates in the realm had dropped so. It was then the foolish prophecy had been spoken.
Kabril’s cock wilted at the thought of it all. He tucked it away in his trews and sighed. Sometimes he wished he had the freedoms his brothers had. None worried about ruling or the tasks that came along with it. Each lived a life outside of the castle, for the most part.
Rossi, the youngest of his brothers, tended to spend the most time within the castle walls, no doubt because he liked the free use of the harem. Keonae and Aeson were next in line to rule—being part of a set of triplets that included Kabril. He had beat Aeson out by mere minutes, making him king.
Often, Kabril would sit and wonder what life would have been like had he been the second of the triplets to arrive. He had not spoken with Aeson in more than two full moon cycles. Last Kabril had heard, Aeson was off in the human realm—again. Disobeying Kabril’s orders. And Keonae now resided among the humans. Something Kabril had considered forbidding but with Keonae’s past and the heartache his brother had suffered, Kabril understood the man’s need to fade away from all that was known, and simply exist. And his other brothers—two sets of twins—were heading up different regiments of Kabril’s armies. Doing as duty required of them.
Chapter Three
Earth, six weeks later…
Rayna Vogel lay in bed, her sheets pulled up tight around her naked form. Morning light spilled into her bedroom window and she turned her head, allowing it to wash over her face.
She stretched, thinking about the dream she’d had. It was a doozy. Her body still tingled. She’d been whisked off by some warrior man who seemed very out of place, almost medieval in a sense. He’d taken her to a castle, high in the mountains, and once there he’d rocked her world. So much so her inner thighs still spasmed with the aftereffects of his rockage.
She tried to think of what he’d looked like.
Handsome.
Striking.
All man.
With a hefty dose of alpha.
But she couldn’t actually remember his face. Only his body—and what a body it had been. Every detail of his shape and form. Even down to the dimples on his backside. She’d never seen anything like his body in waking hours. And probably never would, since she’d dreamed him up and all.
She lay on her back, her gaze going to the ceiling. It was good to be home. She spent such little time there anymore that she’d nearly forgotten how good her bed felt. Too much time away on photo shoots. The money was welcomed and she’d saved every penny she could, living a rather modest life.
She was totally alone now, no family to rely on, no close friends to speak of. Her chest tightened, tears wanting to come. She blinked them away, took a deep, calming breath. She wouldn’t cry anymore. Not over this. Crying wouldn’t bring her loved ones back.
Nothing would.
She’d only just reached a spot in her life where she was able to say goodbye to certain things. Her grandmother’s home was one of those things. The time had come to let it go, to allow someone else to find joy there, someone else to perhaps start a family there and breathe new life into the old dwelling. She had plans to greet the new owners later in the day.
Rayna eased out of bed, the sheet sliding away from her naked body. She walked to the window overlooking the backyard, which connected to her grandmother’s grounds as well. It would be sad to see the home go, but it had sat empty too long now.
Her fingers grazed the window, the sunlight warming them instantly. She closed her eyes, thinking back to her dream. She’d felt whole and complete when dreaming of him. If only that filtered into her waking hours.
“Time to turn over a new leaf,” she said, taking a deep
breath and turning from the window in the direction of her bathroom.
A long hot bath was in order. Then it would be off to try to make peace with giving up a large piece of her past. She just hoped she could hold it together when seeing someone living in her grandmother’s house.
Chapter Four
Kabril dusted off his hands and looked around the location Sachin had secured for them. Supposedly, it was to be home for the duration of the fool’s mission they were on. Kabril was not one to do manual labor. He had people for that sort of thing. Yet, for several weeks, he had put his time in, cleaning, de-webbing, and doing what he could to make the new dwelling feel like home.
As much as he wanted to punish Sachin, Kabril had to admit that doing things for himself felt oddly liberating. Of course, he would never tell Sachin such a thing. To do so would mean allowing Sachin to know he was right in forcing Kabril’s hand and making him come to Earth’s realm.
The home Sachin had selected from there was in close proximity to one of the portals back home. One near the Tocallie Mountains that Kabril favored so much. He’d given his word to try living among humans and not return to Accipitridae, but he was not sure he could actually hold true to his promise. The call of the mountains, of home, was simply too great.
“Considering breaking our agreement?” asked Sachin, walking into the room from the back hall, carrying yet another box. The old home seemed to posses limitless boxes, filled with what Sachin had explained were keepsakes, though they meant little to Kabril.
Kabril cast Sachin a warning look. “And if I am?”
“I shall mock you without mercy for centuries for being a coward.”
“A what?”
“One without honor or bravery,” returned Sachin. He looked very smug.
“I am dangerously close to killing you.” Kabril touched his side, where he normally kept a sword.
“I know,” said Sachin, setting down the box. “Why do you think I disarmed you upon our arrival?”
He opened it and withdrew something Kabril had learned was called a photograph. It was of an older human woman with a young one. The young one had long dark hair and huge wide eyes, a sharp contrast against her alabaster skin. She was stunning. Unlike any woman he’d ever seen before. Though, she was far too young for his tastes.
He looked upon the older woman more, soaking in the sight of what humans called aging. His kind did not age in a manner similar. It took them centuries before others stopped seeing them as too young, a mere fledgling. Human lives were but a blink of an eye.
“Sachin,” he said, a serious tone to his voice. “When I meet this human who is to be my queen, I will not love her.”
“Because you are incapable of such a thing or because you fear she will age and die?” asked his old friend.
Anyone else and Kabril would have leveled them for daring to question him on such a thing. But Sachin was different. And he was correct. Kabril touched the photograph, his hand running over the older woman. “They are fragile, are they not?”
“Yes, but the Oracle would not speak of a human as your mate if the woman was not as our woman are.”
“Humans are not immortal.”
“No,” responded Sachin. “But stories of old tell of joinings between our kind and humans. Of how, once the claim was staked and the act followed through, that the human’s life essence was then tied to the shifter’s.”
“Those are old tales told around campfires,” Kabril said, worry lacing his heart. He did not want to love a woman only to lose her.
“There must be some truth in them, for long ago our ancestors did mate with humans.” Sachin took the photograph from Kabril. “The young woman here is pleasing to the eye.”
“Do not look upon her,” snapped Kabril, taking it from Sachin and tucking it away beneath his arm. “Have you not something else to do? Perhaps more cleaning, as you have reduced us to the same rank as kitchen maids and serving staff.”
“Oh, how the high born whine when they are forced to do something more than sit upon a throne.”
Kabril pushed Sachin and hid his laughter as he walked away, keeping the photograph close to him as he headed up the stairs to the room he had claimed for himself. The young woman in it appealed to him greatly, though she should not. She was too young for him. Still, he would keep the photograph. It was the first thing since their arrival to earth that he found value in.
Chapter Five
Rayna Vogel stared at the old home, reminiscent of baroque styling, and smiled. It had been a long time since she’d seen the sculptures adorning the corners. Layers of dirt and webs had blanketed them to the point she’d long since forgotten how beautiful they were. Rayna had lived with her grandmother until it had been time for Rayna to go off to college. Even then, she’d returned and bought the home that had a backyard touching this one’s. She had wanted to be close to her grandmother and still feel like an adult. Now that years had passed and so had her grandmother, Rayna realized how foolish she’d been. She should have just moved back home with the woman and been there in her final years.
Grandmother, I miss you.
She held the dish full of chicken divan and prepared to head up the steps to meet her newest neighbors. Never a social butterfly, Rayna had to force herself to get out, stay in contact with people and avoid spending time with only the animals she photographed. Animals were so much easier to deal with than people. They didn’t expect her to hold long, drawn-out conversations or to return their phone calls. They didn’t make her empty promises and they didn’t leave her alone.
“Can I help you?” The deep, distinctively male, heavily accented voice came from behind her.
Startled, Rayna tossed the dish in the air and narrowly missed dropping it onto the ground. A strong hand gripped her shoulder, and a yelp almost escaped her. Composing herself, Rayna turned and came face-to-face with a tall man with raven hair, a dark goatee and a body deserving of a magazine cover. His silver gaze, while certainly something she’d never seen before, was captivating and put her at ease. “Umm?”
“Umm?” There was no mistaking the mocking tone of his voice. He put a hand in his pocket and glanced at the dish. His nose wrinkled, and for a minute Rayna thought for sure he’d be sick. “What, may I ask, is in there?”
“It’s a chicken dish,” she blurted out. She’d never been much with conversation starting. “I brought it to welcome you to the neighborhood. I live just down the road a bit. I’m not the greatest cook in the world but I’m not so bad—”
“Chicken?” He gasped, his eyes widening and the blood draining from his face as he reached for the dish, only to yank his hands away, a look of disgust in his eyes. “You brought us chicken? To eat? A bird? For food? For us? I know certain species of birds eat others here, but where we are from that is simply not done.”
Puzzled, Rayna took a step back and tried to understand what the problem could be. Had she sold her grandmother’s house to a nutjob? What was he babbling about birds eating birds? His accent did make it difficult for her to fully understand him, so there was a chance she’d simply misunderstood. “Are you a vegetarian?”
“A veg-ee-terrian?” he asked, over pronouncing the word.
“Someone who doesn’t eat meat,” she returned, understanding there was a language barrier between them. “Where are you from?”
“Nowhere you have heard of,” he returned, his brows meeting. “You have people who do not eat meat?”
“Yes.”
“Are you one?” he asked.
“No.”
He glanced at the dish in her hands. “And you eat birds?”
She blushed. “I do.”
He cringed.
“Sachin, how much longer must we endure this gods-forsaken realm? And why must we be—”
The silver-eyed man before her seized hold of the dish and stood at attention as if royalty was about to appear. He cleared his throat, his gaze flickering to Rayna for a brief moment. “Kabril, good of you to joi
n us. I was just greeting our neighbor.”
“Rayna,” she said, eyeing the manner in which Sachin held the dish. He looked as if he thought it would bite him. Unnerved, she glanced over her shoulder to find an equally tall man with the same jet-black hair. She didn’t think it was possible to improve upon Sachin’s good looks. She was wrong.
Really wrong.
The newcomer was sexy with a capital S. This one had eyes of gold, reflecting the midafternoon sun back at her. He also lacked a goatee, though he had the start of a five o’clock shadow. Both men were good-looking to the extreme but this one, there was something about him that made her gut clench at the sight of him. His muscular form was recognizable to her. Flashes from her dreams returned to her and she felt her face heating, as thoughts of carnal pleasures raced over her. Her knees felt weak and her pulse sped as she stared at the man. His gaze raked over her, slow at first, like she was being judged, before it turned into something else. As if he wanted to devour her, and she certainly wanted to be gobbled up by him.
“Kabril.” Sachin took a step closer to her, still holding the dish she’d made at an odd angle, as if it were an explosive rather than dinner. “Kabril,” he said, this time more forceful than before.
The man closest to her with the golden gaze didn’t seem to hear the other as he stared at her. She gulped, her gaze sliding over him more. The lightweight, white shirt he wore was unbuttoned a bit, revealing his tawny, hairless chest—a chest that made her think of her dream and the man in it.
Moisture pooled at the apex of her thighs. She’d never been this turned on by nothing more than the sight of a man. This man was something indeed.
“Kabril!” Sachin shouted.
Kabril nodded, his gaze matching hers, moving over hers as she was doing to him. His sleeves were cuffed to mid-arm, showing off just how muscular he was. If she didn’t pull herself together and fast, she’d likely melt into a puddle of desire. She licked her lower lip, desperately trying to push thoughts of tasting his skin from her mind. For a split second, Rayna could have sworn she heard Sachin address Kabril as my lord, but she was too swept up in the man’s presence to pay much heed to how he was being addressed.
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