They walked the planked sidewalk back the way they’d come, halting in front of the half doors of the saloon. Music tinkled from within. The scent of ale hung sour in the air.
Roxana pushed through the doors and every head turned their way, gazes widening on the appearance of his warriors, then homing in on Roxana’s proximity to Dagr. The music quieted; voices trailed off.
She stepped backward, pressing against Dagr and lifting her face to his, the pose intimate. “Your men will need to fan out and take seats. Pretend not to be looking for a fight.”
Dagr gave a subtle signal to his men. He didn’t need to tell them to keep their heads clear and their weapons handy. The atmosphere inside the bar was so thick an ax could have cleaved it in two.
Roxana flung back her hair and walked straight for the bar.
Dagr followed on her heels, all the while watching the rest of the room out of the corners of his eyes. But his attention strayed almost immediately, snagging on the face of the barman.
The creature’s skin was striped gray and black with fur as short as a mouse’s. His lip was split like a cat’s, his eyes gold, large, and unblinking as he stared back at Dagr. The cat-man grinned, the tips of his white fangs appearing beneath the upper lip. “First trip to Karthagos?”
The voice was human enough if one discounted the underlying purr. Dagr nodded, then aimed a glance at Roxana.
Her lush mouth curved into a delicious smile. “Billy isn’t a pet.”
The barman laughed. “What can I get you? Would you like dark mead?” he asked, eyeing Dagr’s furs.
Dagr nodded, not trusting his voice because a growl was working its way up his throat.
Honora snickered beside him. “Billy’s a hybrid. So are they,” she said, pointing her chin toward two nearly naked barmaids, both brown-haired and pale-skinned. But they appeared human, their bodies free of hair. While their bodies were more deeply muscled than most females, their shapes were feminine, their breasts tipped with rosy nipples and their skin a smooth pearl white.
“Look at their eyes,” Roxana whispered.
The women turned, and their eyes caught the lamplight, reflecting off flat, golden discs like a lynx’s eyes in pure light.
“It’s not natural,” Dagr said.
“Of course it is. Now, anyway. They breed their own litters these days.”
Roxana accepted a shot glass of an amber liquid and tossed it back with a jerk of her head. Then her gaze sliced around the room. “He’s not here.”
Dagr dragged his gaze from the hybrid women. “Who’s not?”
“The one you need to talk to. Horace.” She leaned an elbow on the bar. “He handled the transaction and gave us the stake to launch the mission. Fatin, the hunter in charge of the extraction team, hasn’t returned yet either.”
“Will Horace be here later?”
“Maybe, but you can’t just park here and not raise suspicions that you’re lying in wait.”
Damn. Irritation tensed his jaw. The woman was right. It was becoming an epidemic. “What do you suggest?”
She lifted her chin to the rooms lining the upstairs balcony. “I suggest we entertain ourselves,” she said, her voice dropping to a sultry rumble.
Honora’s breath hissed between her teeth; her feet scuffed the floor.
Roxana smacked her lips at Honora. “She can come too.”
While Dagr enjoyed Honora’s fiery response, he didn’t think putting two strongly opposed women in the same bed was a very good idea.
Honora’s hands fisted, and she stepped around Dagr, who laced an arm around her middle to pull her back. “We will have to think of another way to pass the time.”
Roxana pouted, but turned her back to the bar and leaned her elbows on it. “Who is truly enthralled?”
“You can choose one of my men.”
She heaved a deep sigh, her gaze regretful as it raked his body, but she eyed the two Vikings who flanked him. “I’ll take them both.”
Dagr nodded and the men followed Roxana up the stairs.
“Do you trust her?” Honora bit out.
“You found all her weapons. My men aren’t fools.”
Her amber gaze nailed him. “Were you attracted?”
Dagr lifted the beaker the barman slid his way and drew on it. “The only thing that aroused me was the way you grew enflamed.”
Honora’s lips twisted into a snarl. “I was angry. Still am. But not over her. You’re enjoying this too much.”
He curved a hand behind her neck and pulled her close. “I don’t mind you showing your claws.”
“Careful. I’ll be wanting to see her fur,” the barman teased behind them.
Honora’s eyes widened. “I’m not ...”
The cat’s lip split in a wide grin. “Do you think I’d care?”
Dagr growled and looped his arm around her waist, pulling her toward an empty table. He sat and pulled her onto his lap, laying her backward over his arm and giving her a hard kiss. With just a nibble, her tight lips relaxed and responded.
A throat cleared, and he glanced up. Birget turned a chair and straddled it backward, lifting a brow toward Honora. “You should get your own room, but then again, I don’t think Roxana would mind you both joining her two studs.”
Dagr’s cock roused uncomfortably against Honora’s hip.
Her eyelids drifted down, but she watched him from beneath her dark lashes, a small frown bisecting her brows.
“Admit you’re jealous.” He leaned close. “Just the mention of her name has your back stiffening.”
Her lips pouted. “I’d never be jealous over you.”
One of the hybrid barmaids sidled up beside Dagr and leaned close enough her ripe breast rubbed the fur cloaking his shoulders. Her exhalation rumbled. “What can I bring you, master?”
Dagr felt his loins tighten at the vibrations that shivered against him, at the catlike purr underlying the woman’s voice.
Honora stiffened in his arms and he gazed down, expecting another jealous flush, but found her gaze curious.
The barmaid gave Dagr a look that begged permission. At his nod, she leaned over him to lower her face to Honora’s.
Honora pulled back, her eyes widening, but the woman merely nuzzled her cheek. Honora’s breath hitched. The curiosity burning in her amber gaze intensified.
The cat’s eyebrows gave a wicked waggle. “Imagine what I might do for you, lady.” She turned her head toward Dagr. “Do you have the ore to purchase my talents?”
Dagr cleared his throat. “We’ve time while we wait for an associate to arrive. We’ll take a room. Alone.” He wasn’t quite ready to share Honora yet, despite her curiosity.
The half-breed feline pursed her lips in disappointment, but swaggered away, her ass twitching. All that was missing from the picture was a long tail.
He pulled his gaze away and glanced down at Honora, whose expression brimmed with rueful amusement. One of her sleek brows arched. “You can deny all you want, but this,” she said, grinding against his erection, “isn’t all for me.”
Unwilling to be drawn into conversation with a jealous woman, he grunted, then aimed a pointed glance at Birget, ignoring her disapproving glower from across the table. “You two keep an eye out for trouble. We’ll be busy ‘blending,’ ” he said, smiling.
Birget’s face blushed a bright red while Baraq’s shoulders shook.
Honora’s was reddening too, but not from embarrassment; he could smell the strength of her arousal. He rose, jostling Honora in his arms and causing her to yelp and clutch his shoulders. His smile didn’t wane all the way up the stairs.
An attendant on the floor above opened a door for him. He swept inside and set Honora on her feet. A sumptuous bed on a raised platform sat in the center of the room. A washbasin with a faucet above it was tucked into a corner. Other than that, the room was bare.
Honora wasted no time stripping off the skin-suit. His own clothes landed in a pile and he stalked her, walking her bac
kward to a bed piled high with downy pillows. He unlatched the collar from her neck, and dropped it and the leash to the floor, planted his hand in the center of her chest and shoved. Then he climbed onto the bed to hover over her.
Honora watched him, her golden-brown eyes slitted. She lay still except for the thumb toggling her nipple. “Are you sure it’s me you want in this bed, Lord Dagr?”
Her voice, mimicking the purr of the barmaid, slid over him like a sensual caress. Honora was learning to tease. “Don’t you think that if I desired another bedmate, she’d be here? After all, you are my captive. You must do my bidding, even if it is to cool your heels below while I seek my pleasure with another.”
He plucked her hand from her breast, latched it with the other and held them both high above her head as he lowered himself.
When he had her under him, he pressed his thickened cock against her mound. “Any doubts this is all for you now?”
Her lips twitched, and then she laughed. She wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed.
Dagr centered himself at her entrance and stroked deep, closing his eyes for a moment to savor the pleasure of her wet heat.
When he glanced down, he found her staring up at him, studying his expression. “What do you see, elskling?”
She wrinkled her nose. “You’re very beautiful.”
He arched an eyebrow. “You say that as though that doesn’t please you.”
Honora arched, pulling her hands from his embrace. She trailed her fingertips down his cheeks, rubbed his mouth with a thumb. Her gaze, almost shy, rose to lock with his. “Every time I see you, I find something new to admire. When you’re fierce and hard, I tremble, but you still take my breath away. When you’re like this, relaxed,” she paused and swallowed, “you’re a very handsome man. I can see why Roxana was eager to have you. And I get why your concubines would be willing to share you.”
Dagr held himself still despite the pulsing of her inner walls around his cock. “But you are not.”
“It sounds selfish, especially after the pleasure you afforded me with your men, but I’m greedy.”
He smiled and leaned down to kiss her. “I like that you’re possessive. In any other woman, that quality would annoy me. But I find great satisfaction in your jealousy.”
Her lips twisted. “I shouldn’t tell you a thing. It will only make your head swell.”
“Too late,” he growled, giving her a sexy dig of his cock. Then thrusting his arms beneath her, he embraced her, cradling her body against his. They stroked together, heat building inside her narrow channel. The first flutters of arousal clamped around his shaft, and he rolled, settling with her knees on either side of his hips.
She bent, kissing his mouth, his chin, burrowing into the corner of his neck to suck at his skin. “Have I told you I love the way you smell?”
He found himself smiling at the ceiling and clutched her hips to force her to move on his cock. “Are you next going to praise my breath?”
She giggled, a sound that was slightly strangled because he flexed his hips to drive up as she sank down his shaft. “Do you want me to? Should I praise the strength of your arms, the thickness of your cock?” She groaned and crashed down against him again. “Because right now, all I can think of is how good this feels ... ”
Since she needed no more encouragement to move, he slid his hands from her rump and cupped her breasts, tweaking the nipples and enjoying her sounds—breathy moans, desperate murmurs. She thought him beautiful, but she was that and so much more.
Every day, every hour they spent together, she surprised him. Pleased him in ways he wasn’t yet ready to define. More sure than ever before, he knew he’d never let her go.
Fourteen
Honora floated on a wave of pleasure. Although that was probably not the right description. The waves were growing choppy, violent even, and her thighs were quivering with the strain to keep up the pace.
She halted her movements. “Enough. Wait.” She gasped, leaning on a hand planted against his chest while she tried to catch her breath. “I don’t know how you do it. I’m out of breath.”
Dagr’s smirk, so full of masculine pride, stretched across his face. “You are the weaker sex.”
She scowled.
His hands smoothed over her slick skin. “Would you like me to take over?”
She blew out a deep breath, studying him, making him wait. His body was tense, his cock thick and urgent inside her. Stars, she loved his stamina. “Would you mind—just until I catch my breath?”
He lifted her slowly off his shaft, then flipped her to her back—so suddenly, she gave a startled shriek.
Leaning over her, his gaze trailed down her body and back up to cling to her mouth.
She wet her lips. An invitation he couldn’t miss.
“Do not ask unless you mean to follow through,” he warned.
The low rumbling of his voice did things to her. Her belly tightened. Her womb cramped. She wrapped her hand around his shaft and tugged.
He crawled up her body until his knees straddled her shoulders. Then he cupped the back of her head to take the strain as she rose to accept the thrust of his cock, all the way to the back of her throat. He pumped slowly in and out, ripples of tension sliding across his belly. She reveled in the power she wielded as she submitted to the forceful strokes.
Honora moaned around Dagr’s cock and sucked it hard, drawing on it deeply. Her tongue stroked his cap, and she suctioned her mouth so hard Dagr cursed, then quickly pulled away, ringing his cock as he gave her a narrowed glance that made her insides quiver.
She didn’t protest when he once more changed position, scooting down the bed to lie between her legs. His eagerness to have her every way he could pleased her.
He tucked his face between her legs and lapped over her sex with his wicked tongue. His large calloused hands cupped her buttocks, squeezing as he pleasured her. At first, he nibbled at her folds, and then sucked them into his mouth to tug and torture her.
Squirming, she dug her fingernails into his scalp and pulled. “That feels so good. Feels like more ... ”
His tongue stroked her clit. Then fingers pulled the top of her folds to draw up the hood cloaking it. He blew a stream of steamy air over the sensitive knot.
Honora lifted her knees and let them splay wide. “Don’t tease.”
A tap landed on her clit. “Would you tell me what to do?”
She groaned. “Are you always this touchy? It was just a little slip.” He pinched her clit, making her jerk. She hissed between her teeth. “Not nice!”
“Will you continue to complain?”
Honora gave him a nearly cross-eyed glare but kept silent.
His mouth curved. His hands delivered a sexy caress. When he relented with his teasing and bent over her again, her breath left in a relieved rush because he went straight to the source of her delight.
His tongue flicked and feathered her clit until her abdomen vibrated from the pleasure. “I’m close, so close!”
“Then, come, elskling. Come!”
Honora didn’t need any more encouragement. She soared over the peak, shocked still and shuddering. She moaned, unable to breathe for the beauty of the moment.
His hands slid from under her. Fingers stroked her sex, soothing her now. Kisses dotted her thighs and mound.
She felt limp, replete. Wonderfully boneless. She could happily drift into sleep, but knew her lusty lover wasn’t nearly through with her. As soon as the thought flitted through her mind, Dagr stirred and knelt beside her. His fist slowly stroked his cock, drawing her attention. When he was assured of her interest, he raised his eyebrows.
Honora gifted him with tired smile and rose to lean on her elbows. “I’ll have to add another quality to that list of things I admire. Your tongue’s amazing, pirate.”
Dagr’s skin felt stretched tight. Every muscle in his body was tense, rigid. Lust held him in near agony, he was so aroused. The mission had been forgotten in the l
ast half hour while Honora had writhed like a wanton, suspended beyond herself by the lush eroticism of their encounter. He’d felt the wild thrumming pulse too, and wondered if they’d been fed an aphrodisiac in their mead to increase their arousal to a fever pitch. Or maybe it was just the woman.
Even with her hair a wild, wet tangle, her skin rosy and slick, she was so beautiful, so desirable, he ached.
For the moment, he didn’t care about the cause for his heightened lust. Blood thundered through his veins. His cock was swollen, his balls rock hard. He needed release.
Honora gave him a sultry look from beneath her dark eyelashes. “I suppose you want me to do something about your current state? Looks painful.”
Dagr grunted. To say anything now would only be stating the obvious.
He liked it when Honora arched that brow, as she was doing now, daring him to take the reins again—which he inevitably did each and every time they came together. But he knew her ploy. She pushed, only because she wanted to be forced to surrender.
Holding out his hand, he waited while she took her sweet time sliding her palm across his. He closed his fingers and dragged her to her knees. Then he fisted his hand in her hair and pulled her face toward his groin before releasing her. Not a very subtle command, but he’d earned a little compensation.
Honora leaned forward, darting a glance toward his face. Anticipation sizzled as he braced apart his legs. She pushed away the hand fisting his cock, replaced it with her own, and squeezed hard.
His thighs trembled, and that was before she stuck her hand between his legs and gently gripped his balls.
The sweet witch leaned lower to rub her cheeks against his inner thigh, then up his shaft, her tongue darting out now and then to wet him. His cock tapped his belly in soft pulses.
Honora smiled, a feline glint in her eyes, and pulled it down to her mouth—the wet, succulent, messy kisses she pressed against the shaft destroying his control.
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