Man Hunt

by Harper Dell

  Leah felt sick. Britha was cunning. She might figure this whole thing out. But even if she didn’t, sheer force of numbers meant Ayden’s chances of escape would grow slimmer by the minute.

  “I have matters to attend to. Will you be fine?” asked Vasha. Leah nodded and the old woman hurried off.

  Leah looked around and moved quickly back down the stairs, put her lips to the ground, and told Ayden it was safe to come out.

  “Why are you back?” Ayden asked.

  “To tell you I can’t come with you,” Leah said.

  “Yes, you can, you said…”

  “No, Britha knows my scent even better than she knows her own. If I come with you, I am sentencing you to death. And Vasha is mobilizing the whole community to help her. Your people are safe for now, and we both know Vasha will not acquiesce to send more water whether I am with you or not,” she said, tears blurring her vision.

  “I won’t leave you,” Ayden said.

  “You have to.” Leah spoke with urgency. “You are needed on your planet. You said yourself there are not many people left. You will need to find other sources of water for them. Go now, before they start the hunt.”

  Ayden kissed away her tears.

  “I will love you always,” he said. “And I will find you again.”

  *

  He ran then, taking the stairs two at a time, and fled from the courthouse. He kept on running until the Azarian suns set, when his muscles were tight with exhaustion, sweat poured down his back, and his feet throbbed. The only good thing about the arduous day was that the exercise had kept him focused, his mind on the throng of women not far behind him, rather than the one woman he had given his heart.

  He knew he had to find his bearings and locate the spacecraft he had used to enter the Azarian atmosphere, but no doubt the women would locate it soon too. Ayden retraced his steps from when he had arrived and found himself at the waterfall where he had first locked eyes with Leah in that heady expression of their mutual self-indulgence. He drank greedily, thinking about how much had happened in the few days since then and that somehow he would find a way to get back to Leah.

  If I manage to get away from here in one piece first. He pushed aside the thick bushes lining the river, trying to find a good hiding place to sleep for the night. But the space was too small, and he knew he had little protection there. He moved his large frame carefully along the edge of the waterfall and briefly parted the glistening liquid with his palm, revealing the small inlet behind it that he had previously used as a hiding place.

  This will do. Ayden slipped through the curtain of water and lay down on the small ledge it hid, exhausted. He was hungry, but the rock was bare and he had no energy to go hunting, nor could he risk being seen.

  Instead, he closed his eyes and soon fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming of prison cells, purple lions, blistering heat, and the taste of fresh tousa berries on Leah’s moist lips.

  ****

  As Leah wrestled with her dreams, she finally decided she could not simply do nothing while she waited for the crazed mob to tear Ayden to pieces. Strong as he was, he was no match for hundreds of angry Azarian women. She moved to her window, stepped onto the ledge, and opened her wings. Just to check if he’s all right. I’ll find him and leave again. Then she flew, her senses on full alert for any sign of the man she loved.

  Leah listened to her heightened instincts and the beating of her heart. She headed straight for the waterfall where they had first connected.

  She found him in the small inlet behind the waterfall, stretched out, his chest rising up and down with the beat of his heart, warm breath condensing into the cold night air. She tapped his shoulder. “Ayden.”

  He shot up, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pinned her down.

  “It’s me, just me,” she protested.

  He let her go immediately. “I’m sorry. Are you okay? You shouldn’t be here.”

  “What else could I do? I was going out of my mind. I had to know you were safe.”

  He held her tight then. She clung to him, knowing this might be the last time she would see him.

  “Stay with me, he said.

  “I don’t want to place you in danger,” said Leah.

  “The women know not to risk searching during the night.”

  “All right, but only while the suns are down,” said Leah, not knowing if she would be brave enough to let go in the morning.

  *

  Come morning, she was faced with an altogether different predicament. Leah woke to find Britha standing over herself and Ayden, two mega-strength power lasers shoved into their faces. Ayden opened his eyes and pulled Leah toward him.

  “You had to know I would find you,” said Britha. “I would know your scent even if you were flying beneath the oceans, Leah.”

  “I take it there is now a bounty on both our heads,” Leah said in reply.

  “A secret one on yours. People will believe it if they are told you died by the man’s hands. Why are you doing this? Is the man worth your life?”

  She indicated for the two of them to stand and head out from behind the waterfall.

  “He is worth everything,” Leah said, taking Ayden’s hand.

  “You are naive and stupid.”

  “No, you are if you believe their lies.”

  “Leah,” Ayden said, putting a hand on her arm. “Leave it be.” They moved out and stood near the bushes.

  “What is it you see in the man that is so wonderful?” Britha asked.

  “It is not what I see; it is what I feel, here and here,” she said, placing one hand on her heart and the other on her sex.

  Britha grimaced. “Step away from him. I will deal with you one at a time.”

  Leah stepped aside, as Britha moved her attention to Ayden.

  “Can I ask you something?” Ayden said. “Who will you kill first? If it’s me, then you can’t blame Leah’s death on the violent creature you all want me to be. You know how meticulous and professional your world is. The women will want to know exactly what time we died and how. It would make your job much easier if Leah were to die first.”

  “Ayden…” Leah cautioned.

  “Simply being practical.” He gave Leah a look that said Trust me.

  Britha eyed first one and then the other. “Do you believe me yet, Leah?” she asked, her voice rising with fury. “The man is using you. He wants me to kill you so he can overpower me.”

  Just then, another voice interrupted their discourse.

  “Let me solve the problem,” said Vasha. “I will kill Leah, and you may have the man.”

  Britha looked nervously from Vasha to Leah. “How did you find us?” she asked.

  “I may be an old woman now, but I was once a bounty hunter like you. I still have a few skills to rely on. Come now Britha, enough talk. The women are not far behind me. Let us end this mess and put our world to rights.”

  Vasha raised her weapon, pointing it at the space between Leah’s eyes.

  “I was an excellent markswoman too. Let’s see if I’ve still got the touch,” she murmured, her concentration as rigid as her stance.

  For a moment, nobody moved. Leah could see Ayden was poised like a spring, ready to leap to her defense, but she soon found there was no need.

  “No!” said Britha, turning her power lasers on Vasha. “You cannot kill Leah. Go, Leah, get out of here!”

  Leah looked at her, stunned. “I don’t understand. Why?”

  “Just go!”

  “But I cannot without Ayden.”

  Britha momentarily turned her head toward Ayden. “Take her. Get her away from here,” she said.

  Ayden nodded his agreement, pulled Leah by the hand and hurried her off. “Come, Leah. We must leave now.”

  Leah took a moment to gather her thoughts, then told Ayden to climb onto her back.

  “What?”

  “Jump on.” She could already hear the throng of angry
women approaching. “It will be quicker if we fly, and the air currents will support us. You won’t be too heavy.”

  Ayden did as he was told, glorying in the feel of her as Leah moved away from the waterfall, opened her magnificent wings, and took to the skies.

  “Keep your eyes peeled for my craft,” he said.

  But that was the last thing on her mind.

  Chapter 9

  Ayden was distracted. He had never experienced anything more sensual in his life. Not only was he immersed in the exhilaration and freedom of soaring through the air, but he was doing it on the back of the woman he loved, her heart beating to the rhythm of her wings.

  The feel of her warm body and velvety wings under him, separated only by the occasional cool breeze of air, raised goose bumps all over his flesh—and that wasn’t the only thing rising.

  Ayden held on tightly to Leah with his muscular thighs, pressing against her. He roamed his hands over her, brushing her taut nipples, and she momentarily tipped her body into the wind.

  “You are going to make me fall out of the sky,” she said.

  “I’ll be there to catch you,” he murmured, tasting the smooth skin at the base of her neck.

  *

  Leah shivered with pleasure. She turned her face to meet his and they shared a deep, searching kiss that sent heat rushing through her body.

  Ayden moved his hand down, quickly finding what he was looking for. “You’re ready,” he chuckled.

  She reached a hand back to feel him. “And so are you,” she grinned, navigating her way through the air currents.

  “A very desirable combination,” said Ayden, pointing in the direction they should fly.

  “If we were not so high above the ground,” she reminded him.

  Leah went quiet. She had stopped flapping her wings, allowing the wind to carry them and the thermal gusts to keep them aloft.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  Leah turned her head to meet his gaze. “I was thinking about Britha. I wonder why she helped us earlier.”

  “Not us. You.”

  “I do not understand,” Leah said, confused.

  Ayden smiled. “You don’t realize how desirable you are, do you? Every time I watched Britha watching you it was like looking into my own soul. I’d recognize that expression on her face any time.”

  “What expression?”

  “She’s in love with you, Leah. I know how she feels. She would rather give you up forever than see you harmed.”

  A tear came to Leah’s eye. “So that’s why you told her to kill me first.”

  “Yes,” said Ayden. “I knew she could no more kill you than I could. What do you think happened with Vasha after we left?”

  “Britha would not dare to hurt Vasha. She would be cursed forever.”

  “What will they do to Britha then?”

  Leah thought a moment. “Nothing. Vasha will go back and say you overpowered them both and kept me captive. She will not admit her embarrassment. They will live with an uneasy truce, and Vasha will make life difficult for Britha.”

  “But Britha is a strong woman.”

  “Yes, she will rise above it,” said Leah.

  “Well we know we have at least two allies here; Britha and your birth mother,” he said,

  “Yes, it bodes well for the future. It will be hard to leave, but you will bring me back to make things right?”

  *

  “It may take some time, but now that we’re together, the prophecy will come to pass. Our worlds will come together— we will make sure of that. I think we must be near now,” he added, scanning the ground beneath them.

  “Is that it?” asked Leah, pointing at what, from that height, looked like a silver bowl lying upside down on some flattened bushes, branches covering its sides.

  “Right where I left her.”

  “Hold tight,” Leah said as she slowed down and landed gently on the ground.

  They walked hand-in-hand toward the spacecraft. As they got closer, Ayden moved ahead and began lifting branches off the top.

  “Looking good,” he said. “Hop in.” He lifted Leah effortlessly up to the door.

  As she entered, she gasped.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s me,” said Leah, eyeing the holographic image that filled the center of the small craft with a good measure of curiosity.

  “The woman I was sent to find,” said Ayden. “The one who found me,” he clarified as he climbed up and hugged her to him. Then he reached over and pressed a lever and the image disappeared.

  “I don’t need that anymore.”

  Ayden moved to the front of the vessel and it soon sprang into action, lifting them high into the Azarian sky.

  “I’m sorry there’s not much room in here,” said Ayden.

  “The closer I am to you the better,” said Leah.

  “In that case,” said Ayden, switching to Autopilot, “Let’s see just how close we can get.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and initiated a sweet, gentle kiss.

  “At last we can take our time,” he said. Then he removed her leather bra and the strappy skirt that hung below her backside. He stepped back and looked at her.

  Leah smiled. “Come to me,” she said, the sultry tone of her voice wrapping itself around him.

  Ayden placed a hand on each of her shoulders and ran them over her entire body, first down her arms, then under and up to her breasts. There he wavered a moment as he massaged their fullness. Leah groaned as he continued the journey, moving his fingers to the smooth skin on her lower back, bumping them gently over her backside. He slipped his hands between the cheeks and then rounded them forward and pressed down to reach her sex.

  *

  Leah pulled him closer. She couldn’t believe they were, at last, completely alone with no danger waiting around a corner. She wanted to savor every minute, but at the same time, she didn’t know if she could wait another moment.

  But Ayden did not increase the pace. He kneeled and moved his hands to the front of her thighs, running them down her toned legs. Then he buried his face between her legs.

  Leah arched her back, her breath coming in short gasps as he massaged her sweet spot. Then he stood. Leah reached for him urgently, desperately rubbing against him. He lifted her in his arms and they shared a fervent kiss as he lay her down on the small bedsit.

  She undid the knot at his waist.

  He straddled her then, stroked her hair, and kissed her nose.

  “You are so gorgeous,” he said.

  Leah placed a palm each side of his rough cheeks. “And you are the most handsome beast I have ever laid eyes on.”

  Ayden growled and she laughed. He adjusted his lower body, sinking deep inside her. She was more than ready as he plunged in and out, over and over, Leah lifting her pelvis in time to his rhythm, urgent and hot. He moved faster and faster, panting and sweating, heaving with the effort of it. Small electric shocks began to take over Leah’s swollen flesh as Ayden throbbed inside her. She wrapped her legs tighter around him, pulling him deeper into her, until she exploded with pleasure, her orgasm pulsing through her.

  Ayden gasped, reaching his own peak. Her body jerked in time with his, primal sounds indicating her pleasure. She felt as though they were one, no longer knowing or caring where she ended and he began.

  Afterward, they rested, lying cheek to cheek. The spacecraft moved gently past a thousand twinkling stars and the farther they moved from Azaria, the more Leah wondered what lay ahead.

  “Should I be afraid?” she asked.

  Ayden looked at her curiously. “Of what?”

  Leah shifted, deeply serious. “Whatever lies in wait for me on your planet. There are so many questions going through my head right now—If your people will accept me. If Vasha will ever allow us anywhere near Azaria again. How we are going to fix six-thousand years of madness.”

  Ayden stroked her hair. He looked int
o her eyes. “Do you trust me?” he asked.

  “Completely.”

  “Then trust that we will make things right. Together.”

  Leah nodded. She had made her choice. Whatever the future held, she would not face it alone. “I am so glad you found me.”

  “I had to. It was destined.”

  “And if not for destiny?”

  “I would have scoured the universe. There is no one else for me. You are my world, Leah. You are my love.”

  “And you are mine,” said Leah, placing her head on his warm chest, feeling his heart beat in time with her own. “I love you, Ayden.”

  She fell asleep like that, dreaming of new worlds and new possibilities—a place where men and women could live in harmony.

  From the author

  Thank you for reading this book!

  If you loved reading it as much as I loved writing it, please post an honest review where you purchased it and let your friends know!

  Sign up to my mailing list to be the first to know when I have a new release. Simply drop a mail with the subject line Juicy Reads to harper.dell.books@gmail.com

  In light and love (plus a little bit of lust ;) )

  Harper Dell

  About this Book

  Lifesaver is part of the Love Bites family of books. These fast-paced, standalone holiday romances offer that perfect bit of ‘me time’. Other books in the Love Bites family include Lifesaver (Valentine’s Day), A Soldier’s Kiss (Fourth of July), Holding My Breath (Halloween) and Miracle Guy (Christmas).

  Other Books by Harper Dell

  Trust Me: Brianna & Cole

  The Hansons: Book 1

  Meet the Hansons! Brianna and Cole are the first to share their love story with you. Eldest sister, Brianna, allows herself two lovers a year. As a top-class divorce lawyer, she has seen the worst of relationships. Add to that her father abandoning the family when she was just a child, and marriage and children are off the cards. She figures she has things just right to keep her satisfied until her hormones head for the grave. At least until she meets Cole. His loveless childhood has left him craving a relationship and family. He wants to give his future children everything he never had. He wants that with Brianna and he can be every bit as stubborn as she is. When an unusual complication pits them against one another, it takes a dog named Ollie, some advice from an unexpected source and some painful home truths to steer them on the path to happiness.