Claimed by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar Book 2)

by Zoey Draven

  I gasped at his words, the voliki swirling slightly.

  “You want me deep inside you?” he growled, pressing the broad head of his cock to my entrance, and the contact made me shiver. “Do you want to feel that?”

  “Yes,” I breathed, feeling my sex tighten and squeeze in response, as if it knew what it was missing.

  But he was so large. In the back of my mind, I wondered if we would fit that way.

  We must, I thought. Because if I didn’t have him, I would regret it forever.

  “Then take me, Nelle,” he ordered as his cock began to press and press deep.

  I bit my lip, my muscles tensing again at the unfamiliar invasion.

  “Nik,” he rasped. “Relax, thissie. Let me in.”

  At his urgings, I purposefully focused on unclenching my inner muscles and gasped when he slid inside more.

  Pain began to make itself known. I was stretched to the brim and so full.

  Seerin pulled back slightly before he thrust back in, a choked groan falling from his throat, and a hiss of pain fell from mine as I felt something pinch hard.

  My demon king stilled, deep inside my body, and he leaned over me, his forearms dropping on both sides of my head, his chest flattening against my own.

  Lips parting, I looked up at him because I felt him everywhere. Our flesh touched, our skin slid together, and he was embedded so deep inside me that I felt him at my core.

  His lips found mine, distracting me momentarily from the pain.

  “Vok, you feel so good, thissie,” he murmured against me, his voice ragged and torn.

  “Yeah?” I whispered, tilting my hips slightly, testing the pain. It was lessening bit by bit.

  “Lysi,” he growled, trailing his mouth down my throat. He hunched over me, lifting slightly, and a startled moan emerged from my throat when he began to tongue my nipples.

  He kissed and rolled and nibbled at them until I was squirming. He read me well and by the time he finally pulled out of my body, only to thrust in even deeper, only a lingering ache from the pain remained and something much more pleasurable had begun to take its place.

  I gasped when he thrust again, my fingernails digging into the rippling muscles of his strong back.

  “More?” he purred.

  “Yes!”

  I sensed energy building within him and my belly quivered when I realized what it was.

  It was the full extent of his need, his intensity. It was something I always sensed just simmering underneath the surface, ready to boil over.

  Anticipation grew in my breast and I braced myself.

  I’d wanted to feel everything he had to give me?

  Well, I was about to.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Deeper.

  I needed to be deeper inside my female.

  Gripping her hips, I drew out from her sex before thrusting back inside hard, until I was seated entirely in her tight cunt. Through a mindless haze, I saw her eyes widen. I knew, wedged as deeply as I could be, she felt my dakke against her swollen bud.

  Her dark, half-lidded eyes went between us, saw the small swelling of my dakke that protruded just above the base of my cock. It pulsed with my arousal, with blood, with my heartbeat, with my crazed need for her.

  “Seerin,” she moaned, and I knew she felt that vibrating heat against her clit. “Ahh!”

  I didn’t give her time to catch her breath. I ground my cock into her, forcing her to take me even more, working my hips between her thighs.

  Then I pulled back, her cries of pleasure meeting my ears, and drove in.

  And then I didn’t stop.

  Too long had I needed her this way. Too many nights had I woken fucking the furs, needing her even in sleep, trying to release the dizzying tension inside me.

  My fucking was frenzied once I was certain the worst of her pain was over. I knew she’d been untried before this night. I knew she was unaccustomed to the demands that my body made on hers, but my thissie took me deep and she took me well.

  Her blunt little claws raked over my back and the thought that she marked me in her own way only heightened my need. It was a primal, animalistic sensation, and it drove me to mark her as well.

  I leaned over her, pulsing my hips in quick, fast, thorough thrusts, and bit at her neck before sucking on her sensitive flesh. I growled in satisfaction when her helpless moan reached my ears.

  I would be leaving for Dothik once the sun rose. But I would leave knowing that I’d marked my female’s flesh as mine and all males who dared to look at her would see the evidence of my claim.

  It only marginally satisfied this beastly urge growing in me, an urge I’d never experienced before, but it would be enough until I returned.

  “Your cunt takes me so well, rei thissie,” I rumbled, my voice nothing more than a guttural rasp.

  “More,” she whimpered, her brow furrowing. “Please, Seerin, I need more.”

  Vok, she pleased me.

  My gaze narrowed on her, on the mark on the side of her neck, and I pinned her hips, keeping her still when she’d begun to squirm.

  “Ahh!” she cried out when I began to fuck her even harder, unleashing upon her the full extent of my strength. “Oh, I’m—”

  I felt her inner walls flutter around my unyielding cock, hot and tight.

  Then her back arched off the furs, her nipples straining and budding hard, and she began to orgasm with an intensity and violence that made her scream.

  “Vok,” I grated, my breath wrenched from my lungs. “Vok!”

  Disbelief shot through me as her cunt clamped down on me. Nothing had ever felt so good, so right.

  A harsh snarl escaped me before I bellowed my release into her neck. My body jerked and my seed shot forward, sizzling up my shaft, emptying inside my female. Euphoria seared me, punishing wave after punishing wave.

  “Lysi, kassikari,” I rasped, shuddering over her still. “Bnuru tei lilji rini, rei kalles.”

  Turning my face, I caught her mouth and kissed her deep. I felt her heart thundering against my own and she whimpered when she felt my dakke pulse in time with it, matching her rhythm.

  It took me a good, solid moment afterwards to realize what I’d called her. Kassikari. My mate. My destined mate.

  I growled, ignoring how right that word felt, assigned to her. I didn’t have that luxury, so I pushed it from my mind. I distracted myself in another way.

  Her sharp inhale reached my ears when I rocked my hips into her, grinding into her sensitive, heated flesh. I was still hard inside her, the extent of my need barely assuaged.

  “A-again?” she rasped, her eyes half-lidded and glazed with her pleasure.

  “Again.”

  “Seerin,” Nelle whispered. “I can’t…anymore. Please.”

  It was the early hours of morning. Even the drums from the frost feast had finally died down, leaving my horde wrapped in the quietness of the night. Unless, of course, they’d heard my female’s pleasured screams.

  Her chest was heaving, her body sweating despite the chill. She was spent and was begging for mercy. The smallest of touches set her off, flying up to new heights. Her flesh was sensitive, sore, and tender, no doubt.

  I groaned out a harsh breath, my throat raw and scratchy from my bellows. I’d been…relentless. Even I recognized that.

  I didn’t trust my voice. So, after our last orgasms, the last of many we’d shared throughout the long night, I tucked her close, though I never left the tight sheath of her sex.

  Her hot breath came in pants against my chest. Between us, I felt our thighs slick with my seed and her arousal. I’d pumped endless amounts into her tonight and the knowledge made that beast inside me immensely satisfied.

  “Veekor, my starling,” I rumbled. “I will have you again before dawn. So rest now.”

  Her eyes were closed before the last words fell from my lips. And even though she slumbered deeply, her little blunt claws still clutched tightly to my chest, as if afraid to let me
go.

  I’d never known such peace as I did at that moment. I felt it settle around my shoulders, loosening decades of old tension. I felt it cocoon the both of us, the rest of the universe floating away, until all I saw was her face.

  I knew what this feeling was. I’d never experienced it before, but I knew what she pulled from me, from the dark depths of my mind and my heart.

  Brushing my lips against the top of her head, I inhaled her scent deep, memorizing it.

  Then I followed her in sleep.

  Perched on the edge of the bed, clutching the furs around her naked shoulders, she looked at me with a solemnness that tugged at my chest.

  It was too soon to leave after the night we’d shared, but I no longer had a choice. The moon would be full in four days’ time. If I rode Lokkas hard, I would reach the capitol in time.

  My female watched me dress in my warmest clothes, watched as I sheathed my sword and pulled on my boots. The voliki was utterly silent, save for the fire crackling in the basin.

  Outside, the horde was quiet, still slumbering away after the night of celebration. Dawn had just broken and stale blue light filtered through at the entrance. Life would be slow in my horde that day and time would move even slower still, the further from my thissie I was.

  “It is already difficult to leave, kalles,” I murmured softly, eyeing her. “Do not make it harder.”

  She sighed and pushed up from the bed. I watched her expression pull and I knew she was sore from our matings. It was the only thing I regretted…that she was hurting from it.

  “Come,” I rasped, holding my hand out for her. She came into my arms as if she belonged there, as if she’d been in them her entire life. “I will send for a hot bath once I leave, to help with the pain.”

  “I’ll go to the commons,” she told me. “Don’t worry. No one will be there at this time of morning and I would hate for you to wake the warriors. Let them sleep.”

  I frowned, but knew that even if I roused a few warriors to bring her hot water, she would still go to the common bathing voliki regardless.

  “Very well,” I rumbled, running my fingers through her dark hair.

  “Will you see your mother in Dothik?” she whispered.

  My jaw clenched. “Lysi. I will see her as soon as I can.”

  She nodded against my chest and then her eyes met mine. “Be safe on your way and on your return, alright?”

  I was reminded of her words when I’d taken her out onto the plains. That, regardless of what happened, she was still my friend. That she would still worry for me, that she would still miss me.

  Pressing my lips to hers, I kissed her deep and slow, unlike the frenzied, overwhelming way of last night. Even still, when I felt her respond, my body heated, banishing the chill and dread. Her breath hitched and I felt her eyelashes flutter against my face as her hands clutched my shoulders.

  With a groan and a soft curse, I pulled away, knowing that if we continued, we would end up right back in the furs. I needed to leave. It was my duty and I could not disregard that, no matter how much I ached to.

  She licked her lips and met my gaze. She’d always been so expressive, but through her desire, I saw her sadness.

  “I will return to you, rei thissie,” I promised her, cupping her cheeks. I pressed one last kiss to her forehead, lingering.

  Then I growled, turning away from her. I picked up my travel sack, filled with rations and furs for my journey.

  Briefly, I hesitated, stilling on the threshold of my voliki, but then I pushed through the flaps with a rough exhale. I didn’t look back at her because I knew if I did, I would never leave.

  The icy morning air met me, embraced me. Not a single Dakkari was in sight. I collected Lokkas from the pyroki enclosure, saddling my travel sack, and then I swung up onto his back.

  “Vir drak,” I murmured down to him once we reached the protective fence of my horde.

  At my command, he raced through the gates.

  At the last moment, I turned, searching for my voliki on the incline of my encampment. And I saw her. Standing just outside the entrance, in nothing but her boots and the fur blanket wrapped around her shoulders, watching me leave despite the cold. Even from there, I saw her shiver—yet her eyes never left me.

  Longing rose in my chest, but I forced myself to turn forward in my seat, my eyes roaming the whitened landscape of my home planet. As harsh and unforgiving as it was during the cold season, I found it beautiful.

  To Lokkas, I growled, “Vir drak ji Dothik.”

  We ride for Dothik.

  Chapter Thirty

  Thud.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  The arrows connected, one right after another, into the makeshift target that my mitri crafted for me. I’d found it out on the training grounds one evening. He’d told me it was so I wouldn’t utterly destroy the flagpole.

  It had been four days since Seerin left. My body had recovered and healed from the night before his departure, but I still ached for him. Everywhere. I thought about him too much, missed him too much, needed him too much.

  I sighed, breathing hard as I stared at the arrows covering the target. I was growing used to the Dakkari bow, though it was much too large for my frame.

  Odrii would usually be practicing with me, but he seemed to be avoiding me. I knew it was because of what had happened at the frost feast. I’d presented my goblet to Seerin and the horde king had accepted it.

  Avuli had assured me that Odrii would get over it—that he was young and embarrassed. I felt partly responsible. I’d told the warrior that there was nothing between Seerin and I—which, at that point, had seemed like the truth to me—but I’d never revealed the extent of my feelings for the Vorakkar to my friend. Perhaps Odrii had mistaken my friendship for something more and I should’ve made that distinction clearer.

  Odrii wasn’t the only one wary of me, however. After Seerin had left for Dothik, there was a strange atmosphere in the encampment whenever I walked around. No one seemed to meet my gaze anymore, except for Avuli, Arlah, and my mitri. Even the bikku that delivered my meals didn’t speak with me anymore. She simply inclined her head, dropped off the tray of food, and departed as quickly as she’d come.

  I hadn’t voiced my worries to Avuli, who usually helped me understand the perplexing intricacies of Dakkari culture. Instead, I simply minded myself whenever I walked through the camp, hoping that by publicly conveying my interest in Seerin at the frost feast, I hadn’t inadvertently made myself an outcast.

  The only place I found the quiet peace I craved was out on the training grounds at night. Though the cold froze my hands and cheeks, I needed to be out there. A part of me knew it was also to look for Seerin.

  I was just nocking my next arrow when my neck prickled and I realized that I was no longer alone. Footsteps approached the fence behind me and when I turned to look—hoping it was perhaps Odrii—I saw, to my surprise and hesitation, that it was Seerin’s second-in-command. His pujerak, I believed he was called.

  I’d seen him enough times with Seerin around the encampment to know that the two males were close. Not only was this male his pujerak, but he was also Seerin’s friend.

  The only time I’d ever spoken to the pujerak directly was back at my village, so I was surprised when he emerged from the shadows of the darkened, quiet camp to approach me on the training grounds.

  I angled my bow down, but kept it gripped in my palm as the Dakkari male studied me, though he seemed in no rush to speak first.

  Growing uncomfortable with his silence, I thumbed the bowstring back and forth as I waited.

  “Did you know, vekkiri, that the way hordes are classified, how they are recognized, are by their Vorakkar’s family name?” he asked softly, forgoing any kind of greeting.

  My brow furrowed, but I didn’t look away from him.

  “This horde is Rath Tuviri,” the pujerak said.

  Seerin of Rath Tuviri, I remembered him telling me.

&n
bsp; “‘Rath’ in our language is directly translated to ‘the end’ in yours. ‘The end of Tuviri.’ I have always thought that strange. That family names mean ‘the end of,’ even when they are ancient lines.”

  I didn’t know why he was telling me these things and my confusion must’ve shown on my face.

  “What is your family name, vekkiri?” he asked, unmoving. “Do you know it?”

  I shook my head, but I watched him closely. “No. I am only called Nelle.”

  Or thissie, but only Seerin called me that and I wanted to keep it that way.

  Something in his expression changed, just a slight down-turning of his lips. He didn’t look any older than Seerin, but the grave expression on his face reminded me of one of the elders I’d seen in the encampment.

  “You will be his end, vekkiri,” the pujerak rasped, “in the literal sense of the word.”

  My hand tightened on the bow and I realized now why he’d sought me out.

  “I have known him longer than any Dakkari in this horde,” the pujerak said next, confirming my suspicions that the two males had a long history. “I know his strengths and his weaknesses. And I see clearly that you are a weakness. One that must be ended before it threatens everything we have built.”

  He was warning me. That was his intention in coming here.

  “You knew him in Dothik,” I guessed. “You were one of the ones he watched over.”

  The pujerak didn’t seem surprised that I knew Seerin’s history.

  “And I watched over him,” the male returned. “As I have always done. As I continue to do, even now.”

  “You love him as a brother,” I guessed next. Why else would the pujerak threaten me like this, unless he thought he was protecting Seerin?

  His eyes narrowed. A silent wind ruffled the furs draped over his shoulders as he said, “You understand nothing of what we have gone through, vekkiri. But our reward was this life, this horde. I will not watch it fall because of one female, who comes from nowhere, who comes from no family.”