Korjh's Bride

by Clarissa Lake

  “Korjh, I love you,” she said at the same time he said, “Zara, I love you.” And they both laughed and kissed again for a while before he let her down.

  Korjh soaped a bath sponge and washed Zara slowly and sensually giving extra care to her breasts, washing and rinsing then sucking each of her nipples until she moaned. He cleaned the rest of her and lastly the flower of her sex.

  When he had rinsed her there, he knelt in front of her and called again for the mist. He parted her curls and gripped her thighs, kissing and gently sucking her center. Zara caressed his head, cooing and moaning approvingly as held her steady tonguing her clit until she screamed and convulsed in rapture as she came at length, sinking to her knees to hug him fervently.

  “I love you, Korjh, only you. Don’t ever doubt it,” she whispered as he hugged her back.

  The horrible memories from the night before had receded from her thoughts as she held the man she loved with all her heart.

  After first meal, Korjh and Zara went to the barn and saddled their horses. They mounted up and rode over to the tool shed by the tikas’ hen house, and he got another relay receptacle to reseat the relay and fix the force field that contained the tikas raised for meat. They rode down the path to that pasture and scouted around to see if there were any stragglers. There were a few, and three were dead and partly consumed by one predator or another.

  Once they were again contained, Korjh did a count. Out of a hundred, three were dead, and two were missing. He guessed that the ones left alive saw and heard the others being killed and eaten, so they went deeper into their own pasture to escape. With the force field restored, they would be safe inside, and the predators would remain outside.

  They went on the rest of their morning ride at a leisurely pace, but something was bothering Korjh.

  “Zara, I need to ask you something, and I want you to tell me honestly how you feel. It’s bothered me for a while now and especially after last night.”

  “Okay,” she said with a nod.

  “I keep asking myself how what I did, that first night you came to my room was all that different than what Tydo was trying to do,” he said miserably. “I hate myself for being so rough with you.”

  She looked at him and sighed. “Well for one, I came to mate with you, and I said ‘don’t stop.’ You are my husband, and I wanted you as much as you wanted me. My whole body craved for you to be inside me. I loved you even then.”

  “Yeah, you were maybe a little rough, but it was so hot! I wanted you. I was wet for you before I even got to your door. That’s the difference,” she assured him. Just talking about it was making her squirm in her seat. She wondered if Korjh noticed as he looked at her with a doubtful frown.

  “It was passionate and exciting because I wanted you, but only you,” she repeated. “Korjh, what if I had said no? Would you have tied me up and raped me?”

  “Hell, no!” He was adamant. “I probably would have broken up the furniture instead. I would never hurt you, Zara.”

  “And you didn’t,” she said gently.

  Korjh guided his horse up close to hers and reached over to caress her cheek. She turned her face and kissed his palm, looking back at him with pure love in her eyes. It warmed his soul like nothing he had ever felt before.

  He was still upset with himself because his gut had told him Tydo couldn’t be trusted, and Korjh let his sense of honor expose Zara to a dangerous predator. He was grateful that Tydo saved his life, but if he ever saw him again, he might have to kill him.

  There was a message waiting when they got back to the house from Tydo. Korjh was tempted to erase it without even listening to it, but curiosity made him give the view command.

  Korjh,

  I know you probably don’t want to hear a thing I have to say. I sure as hell wouldn’t blame you. I went a little crazy there. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I just couldn’t seem to stop.

  Zara is so pretty and sexy, and I was so jealous that you had her and I have no one. That doesn’t excuse what I did, it’s just what is. This probably doesn’t mean much, but I’m sorry. I won’t bother you and your mate again. Goodbye.

  “I should have him detained, the bastard,” Korjh growled, “but I don’t even want him on the same planet as we are.”

  “Maybe that’s why he commed,” Zara said, “so we wouldn’t have him arrested.”

  “I wouldn’t doubt it. We still could. The house AI recorded everything he did.”

  Zara shook her head. “I vote for off the planet. I don’t ever want to see his face again. I don’t even want to think about him.”

  Korjh poked the virtual screen and archived the message to get him off the screen.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Zara rested her hand on the console inadvertently opening several virtual screens at once. “Oh!” She jumped with a start as they all popped up. Then she started looking at them. Every room in the house was displayed. One of the cleaning bots was moving around the main sitting area cleaning the floor as she looked at them.

  They were surveilling every room in the house, even the bedroom she used to work in. She knew that Korjh had direct access to all of it through his cybernetics.

  “You’ve been spying on me!” she exclaimed. “What did you think you were going to see? Did you think I was sneaking off to meet some lover? Or, maybe I kept him stowed in the closet?”

  “No, of course not!” he replied. He looked angry and a bit disgruntled.

  “Then what is it for? I never lied to you about what I was doing.”

  “I just wanted to see you,” he finally admitted. “I didn’t understand why you didn’t want me there. This need to be alone made me think you were rejecting me. I had no friends here---only you. I didn’t realize how empty my life had become until you came into it.”

  “The feeds are for security. I just used it to look in on you that’s how I knew what Tydo was up to after I figured out what he did to the relay.”

  “You were right about there not being much to do with all my bots and machines doing the work. I had trouble keeping busy while you worked on your projects. So, I started studying Earth culture and what you were trying to tell me made sense.”

  “I just need to create. Jodra and I talked to the owner of one of the factory shops, and she likes my designs,” she said. “They can make custom clothing on demand, so they are willing to take some of my designs and offer them for sale, and pay me a commission. Their equipment can generate the patterns, cut them out and sew them. They will also give clothes I design for myself or you at cost.”

  “Does that mean you will be spending even more time on your designing?” he asked.

  “Maybe some. I have almost enough to make a catalog of designs,” she said.

  “Have you ever thought about breeding more horses? When I told Jodra about riding to oversee the crops and the enjoyment we get from them, she was interested in getting some for their farm.”

  “I would have to import some more embryos for genetic diversity. The nurtury requires constant monitoring and training them takes a lot of time and patience,” Korjh said.

  “But you’re good at it, and you enjoy it. You are the only person on this whole planet that has the knowledge and experience. “It would give you something to do while I do my thing.”

  “Korjh, I love you with all my heart, but I can’t spend every minute of every day with you.” She put her arms around him and looked up at him. “It’s better for our relationship if we have time to do things we like apart as well as together.”

  He nodded, looking down at her. His eyes grew dark, and she felt the evidence of what he was thinking about against her belly and a slow smile played on her lips.

  “What would you say about sharing a nice hot bath with me?”

  “Will there be fooling around?”

  “Definitely fooling around,” he assured her.

  “I’m in,” she laughed giving him an affectionate squeeze.

  He was hers, a
nd she was his. Pity anyone who tried to come between them.

  EPILOGUE:

  Seven years later

  Four children two years apart---two sets of twins. How could a man be so fortunate, Korjh wondered? He had built his house hoping for a family to fill it. Then Zara came and filled his life with love and bore his children.

  He and Zara watched as their two boys and two girls rode the big black horses around the ring Korjh had made to teach them to ride. The girls were four, and the boys were six: Ellie, Lana, Jared, and Benjar.

  The children were all smiles as the four horses walked calmly around in a circle as tame as pet ponies. This was precisely what he had raised the horses for, not knowing if he would ever have children to ride them.

  As he watched them with his arm around the lovely woman at his side, he realized he had wealth beyond his wildest dreams right there in front of him.

  The End

  Wicked Ways

  Horse Clan Chronicles 1

  Clarissa Lake

  Copyright © 2018 by Clarissa Lake

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  Author’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Wicked Ways /Clarissa Lake -- 1st ed.

  ASIN: B078QSRRW3

  Preface

  This is a spinoff story is based on material presented in Oltarin: The Horse Clans Colony by Christine Myers, written and being published with the permission of the author.

  A colonial expedition is sabotaged and set off course landing on Oltarin by mistake. Technology is lost, and society devolves into a dystopia where revenge for a murder new world escalates into a blood feud of more than five hundred years.

  Wicked Ways occurs just two hundred years into that feud.

  Chapter One

  When Darwick “Wick” McKell first saw her standing in the field picking berries. Her long blond hair glinted in the sunlight, and her voluptuous curves wouldn’t be hidden under the loose tunic and pants she wore. He couldn’t find Vargan Rode to kill, so he made a new plan. He would take his woman and kill her instead. Vargan Rode was going to pay one way or another.

  Darwick watched her for a few more minutes before he set his horse in motion. The young woman looked up at the sound of galloping hooves, her eyes wide with fear. She recognized the leathers of the mountain clan, and she knew she was in trouble. She was alone in the field, and only her father knew where she had gone, but he was out on the lake fishing.

  Lora dropped her bucket and started to run, but man and horse caught her quickly. He leaned down and captured her as his horse skidded to a stop and Darwick pulled her kicking and screaming up on the horse in front of him on her belly. With a slight pressure of his knee, the horse whirled and set off on a gallop down the same trail he had come.

  A few minutes later, they came to a stop under the shade of some willow trees near the lakeshore. As soon as the horse stopped, Lora pushed off the horse and took off running. Wick laughed, as he had fully expected that.

  He jumped down from his mount and took after her in long easy strides. Catching her quickly, he tackled her to the soft sandy ground. He pulled a rope from his belt and quickly bound her wrists behind her back as deftly as he would an escaped calf.

  “No, please! Let me go!” she cried.

  Wick reached for his long knife and turned her over. He should probably kill her now and be done with it. Vargan would be quick to come after him once he learned his woman was taken. There were tears in her eyes as she looked up at him and her chest was heaving from the exertion. When she saw the knife, her eyes widened with fear. She looked into his eyes and saw his intent to kill her.

  She was utterly helpless and at his mercy, but she didn’t plead for her life. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut and waited for him to drive the blade into her.

  Wick wanted to kill someone to make them pay for the death of his brother. Watching the rise and fall of her full breasts made his cock stir, and he knew he couldn’t kill her. But he sure as hell could fuck her. This wasn’t the time or the place, and rape wasn’t what he had in mind. He knew he could make her want him. No, he wouldn’t kill her; she was too good a woman to waste.

  Stealing Vargan’s woman was better than killing her. Wick put his knife back in its sheath and pulled Lora to her feet.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said meeting her wide blue eyes.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked.

  “Vargan Rode killed my brother, so I’m taking his woman, you,” he said, letting his eyes peruse her feminine curves. “Now you are my woman.”

  “But, I never did anything to you. I never killed anyone!” she cried. “Why do I have to pay for what Vargan did?”

  “Why not? You were his woman, weren’t you?’

  “That wasn’t my choice. The marriage was arranged.”

  “Well, now it’s unarranged. You are my woman now.” Wick told her in no uncertain terms.

  “What if I don’t want to be? What if I don’t want to be anyone’s woman?” she demanded, now that she knew he wouldn’t kill her.

  Wick strode up to her until his chest was touching hers and took her face in his hands and kissed her, none too gently. He pressed his thumbs against her jaw to make her open her mouth for his tongue to stake his claim. She groaned plaintively and tried to pull away at first, but he held her head so she couldn’t. The longer he kissed her, the less she resisted.

  Her mouth tasted sweet, like the berries she had been picking. Her lips were warm and soft. Pretty soon she was kissing him back and leaned against him for balance.

  Yes, he thought, as a fiery lust hardened his cock and he felt her soft breasts pressed against his chest. She was his now, and he was taking her home with him back to the mountains. He wanted her now, but he wasn’t safe this close to the lake clans’ village.

  He also wanted to take is time and seduce her properly. No McKell ever had to rape a woman they wanted, and he wasn’t going to be the first. He finally took his lips from hers. “Come on, we have to go.”

  “You mean before Vargan catches up with us and kills you for taking me?” she taunted.

  “Him, I could take alone, but he would never come alone. There were at least a dozen with him when he killed my brother,” replied Wick smoothly. “He’s a fucking coward.”

  “What does that make you, stealing an unarmed woman?”

  “Would you rather wed Vargan Rhode?” he asked.

  “I’d rather stay with my family and friends in the village where I grew up,” she retorted. “I never hurt anyone. Why do I have to pay? It’s not fair!”

  “Life isn’t fair. Rode took my brother, and I’m taking you,” he said and gripped her upper arm with a large, powerful hand. He started walking toward his bay stallion, pulling her along with him.

  Lora tried to hold her ground, “Please, I just want to go home.”

  “We are going home,” he said. “My home.” He tugged her arm forcing her to walk with him. He had mixed feelings about what he was doing, but he wasn’t going to let her know that. He was taking her as his, it was his right, according to clan law---his clans’ law.

  When they reached his horse, he lifted her easily up onto its back and climbed on behind her. With her wrists bound in back, he would have to steady her with one arm around her and rein his horse with the other. Before he set the horse in motion, he gave in to temptation and cupped her breasts in his hands and pulled her back against him.

  Mine!

  She groaned, but he couldn’t tell whether in protest or pleasure. He gave himself a mental shake and set his horse off at a gallop. They needed to get
away as far and fast as possible. He wouldn’t feel safe until they reached the foothills of the Cerulean Mountains. It was hard not to think about when he got her someplace safe when her bottom was pressed up against his cock as they rode.

  Before this trip was through, she was going to want him as much as he wanted her.

  Chapter Two

  The horse galloped on for hours, carrying the two riders farther and farther from Sapphire Lake. Wick’s stallion was a descendant of genetically engineered horses brought to the planet two hundred years before. He was bigger and stronger than the original horses from Earth with greater stamina due to a stronger, larger heart and greater lung capacity. But even Arracon got tired after many miles.

  A light touch on the reins signaled the stallion to slow his pace to a walk while Wick gazed about looking for a suitable place to bed for the night. A few minutes later he spotted a grove of trees with a steep rock face at the back.

  Wick had only one pallet, but he wouldn’t have given Lora one if he had another. He had untied her to tend to her needs but tethered her so she couldn’t go far. Then he bound her hands behind her back again and helped her lay down on his pallet he’d spread over a soft bed of moss. He lay down beside her, watching her chest rise and fall.

  She was beautiful, and her breasts looked luscious under the tunic. He decided now was as good a time as any to get a look at what he had. Her tunic fastened up the front with wooden buttons, and he started unfastening them one by one.

  “No,” Lora shook her head, “please don’t, not like this.”

  “Relax, Lora. I’m not going to rape you,” he murmured and caressed her cheek.

  “Then what?” she asked, eyes brimming with tears. She sighed and blinked back her tears, and Wick apparently took that as consent.