by Tana Stone
My pace quickened when I realized that it might be Corvak. It didn’t make much sense, but maybe the warrior decided to make a stop along the way to meet me.
I stepped into the open area and immediately realized my mistake. It wasn’t Corvak. It was Donal and a couple of his friends passing a bottle of fermented algae among them as they sat on the lowest ring of stone benches. I froze and tried to back away, but it was too late.
“Sienna.” Donal’s voice was slurred as he leapt down and ran toward me.
I ran down the pitch-black entrance tunnel, my arms stretched out so I wouldn’t hit one of the stone walls in the dark. Donal sober was bad enough. I did not want to deal with him drunk. My stomach lurched when he caught up to me and wrenched my arm back.
“I wanna talk to you.” His hand squeezed my arm painfully as he backed me against the wall.
“Not now.” I twisted my head so avoid the stink of algae on his breath. “You’ve been drinking.”
“So?” He leaned his body flat against mine and the almost dead weight of him made me gasp. “You got a problem with drinking? B’cause your father’s a drunk?”
My first instinct was to knee him in the balls, but I remembered what Juliette had said. Donal and his father were powerful. If I pissed them off too much it would be bad for everyone.
“I’d rather talk tomorrow.” As difficult as it was, I used my sweetest and most placating voice. One I was startled to discover I had. “It’s late and my sister is waiting for me.”
His breath was hot on my face as he considered this. “It is late. Why are you out so late anyway?”
I opened my mouth but couldn’t think of a good excuse that I could have for wandering outside the village in the middle of the night.
“You looking for me, Sienna? Is that it? You looking for me to ‘pologize?”
I had no intention of apologizing since he was the one who’d been the ass, but if it would get him off me, I’d go with it. “Yep. I was looking for you. But I think it’s better if we talk tomorrow.”
He blew out a fishy breath that made me want to gag. “Now is better.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Now we’re alone, and no one is watching.”
My heart raced. He was right. Aside from his friends, who would never stand up to him, we were alone in a dark tunnel far enough away from the dwellings that no one would hear me call for help.
“My sister is nearby,” I said. “She came with me so I wouldn’t be alone. I really should go, or she’ll come looking for me.”
“Not before I show you how much I want you to be mine, Sienna.” He shifted his weight, so I felt exactly what he was talking about, pressed hard between my legs. He thrust against me. “Can you feel that?”
Screw how important the guy and his father were, I thought, as anger surged within me. “I sure do. Do you feel this?” I brought my foot down hard on his instep and when he flinched and stumbled back a step, I snapped my knee up as hard as I could into his groin.
He didn’t cry out. Instead, he made a high-pitched squeal before thudding to the ground.
I fumbled over his body, trying to run past him, but he grabbed for my ankle and brought me down. My knees hit the stone first and then my hands, sending pain shooting down my legs and arms.
I clearly hadn’t hurt him badly enough. That, or the booze was fueling his rage and he was feeling no pain. I wasn’t so lucky. My hands burned and my knees throbbed as I attempted to scramble away from him.
“No so fast,” Donal said, as he tried to climb on top of me. “I wasn’t done with you. I’ve been patient for long enough. It’s time I made you mine.”
“I’ll never be yours,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Once I ruin you, you will,” he panted.
“Not if I ruin you first.” I bent one leg and kicked it out as sharply as I could, hearing the satisfying crunch of bone as I made contact.
His wail of agony filled the tunnel. This time, I scrabbled to my feet and ran as fast as I could from the amphitheater, not stopping when I heard his friends’ yells as they ran to his aid, or when tears of fury clouded my vision.
I barreled through the deserted village square and up the stone path. I had to get to my dwelling before Donal caught up to me. My father was pretty useless, but even he wouldn’t let Donal drag me from our front door. My legs shook, burning from the exertion of running uphill, and I was almost grateful when I rounded the corner and strong hands closed around my arms, bringing me to a standstill.
Chapter Eighteen
Ch 18
Corvak
“Sienna?” The female heaved in ragged breaths as her body shook. Her hair was tangled around her face and tears streaked her dusty cheeks. “What happened?”
She swiped at her eyes as she looked up at me. First her expression was relieved then it darkened. She slapped at my chest. “You didn’t show up!”
“I was running late,” I said, glancing around the pathway at the nearby dwellings and the windows covered only by filmy curtains. I didn’t tell her that I’d been running late because I’d been talking myself in and out of my deal with her most of the evening. That wouldn’t calm her down, and if she persisted in shrieking, the entire village would wake up and find us together.
“Running late?” She pushed away from me, her face alight with anger. “How could you be running late? What could you possibly be doing? It’s the middle of the night?”
One of the nearby curtains fluttered. Tvek. Before she could raise her voice again, I clamped a hand over her mouth and spun her around so that she faced away from me. I lifted her up and held her flush to my chest as I rushed back up the path and burst into my quarters.
She thrashed against me, but I jerked her to me, whispering into her ear. “I’ll let you go if you promise to stop making so much noise. I don’t think either one of us wants to explain what we’re doing together in the middle of the night, and if you keep yelling, we’ll have to.”
Her body went limp against mine, and she nodded. I released her, dropping my hand from her mouth and uncoiling the arm I’d had around her waist.
Sienna spun around and slapped me, her eyes blazing. “That’s for lying to me. You weren’t running late, so tell me what happened.”
I stared at her as my cheek stung from the impact of her hand. Instead of angering me, her blow made it even harder to resist her. Watching her chest heaving and her face flushed from rage, I wanted nothing more than to crush my mouth to hers. Which was exactly why I hadn’t shown up to teach her, and what I couldn’t tell her.
Even though Vandar didn’t lie, I couldn’t admit to her or myself that I was so weak as to desire the female I’d promised to teach. A human female, I reminded myself. The very last thing I needed or wanted. After all the trouble human women had caused me, how was it possible that one occupied my thoughts like Sienna did?
I clenched my teeth as I stared down at her, the urge to fist my hands in her wild hair almost uncontrollable. I would have to lie, as distasteful as that was to me.
“I learned something from your planet’s ministers. Something that made me realize that I need to work harder to ready your people for impending war.”
Sienna’s mouth opened slightly. She hadn’t been expecting me to say that. “What do you mean war? Kimithion III has always been a peaceful planet. We’re too small and insignificant to pose any threat to the empire.”
I stepped away from her and leaned my back on the nearest wall. “Your planet’s effect on living creatures isn’t insignificant. Immortality would give the Zagrath something that would make their empire almost invincible.”
She sunk onto my stiff couch. “I don’t understand. Why are we in danger now? The planet has always been like this, and it’s always been a secret we kept easily.”
“It’s why your people don’t travel off-world, or encourage interaction with other species, isn’t it? And why your supply deliveries are so limited?”
The female nodded. “The Kimi
therian in charge of accepting supply deliveries changes every few years, so no one making deliveries can notice that he doesn’t age.”
I nodded. It made sense. The Vandar awareness of Kimithion III had been limited before my horde reached out to them about accepting an exile.
“But the damage was already done,” I whispered to myself.
“What damage?” Sienna asked, popping back up to her feet. “What are you talking about?”
I straightened, shaking my head. “I probably shouldn’t tell you all the details, but the empire knows more about your planet than they should. They’re sending a ship here, and I suspect it’s a scouting mission so they can determine if the intel is accurate.”
“The Zagrath are coming here?” Her flushed cheeks paled.
I grunted. “Trust me, I’m not happy about it, either. It would be a coup for an imperial soldier to locate a lone Vandar and take him prisoner. As much as I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on Kimithion III, I want to spend it in a Zagrath brig even less.”
She sized me up, her gaze darting around. “We should hide you. I know some spots the empire would never find, places most Kimitherians don’t even know about.”
I straightened and put my hands on her shoulders. “I have no intention of hiding from the empire.”
“But if they find you and take you—“
I placed one finger over her rapidly moving lips. “I also have no intention of letting the empire gather information about your planet, or taking me with them.”
She swatted my hand away and glared at me. “How? How are you going to stop all these things from happening? You’re one Vandar and they’re,” she waved a hand in the air, “the empire that controls most of the galaxy.”
Her voice had grown louder as she’d gotten more worked up, and I was grateful that the living quarters were built into the rock and had thick, stone walls separating them. The only drawback were the triangular windows that had no panes. The thin fabric hanging over them prevented others from peering in, but did little to muffle sound.
This time I put a finger to my own lips and stepped so close that our bodies almost touched. “Do you wish to wake the entire village?”
Her fierce expression relaxed, although her cheeks were still an alluring shade of pink. “No, of course not. But you still haven’t explained how you plan to save us and yourself or what any of this has to do with you standing me up.”
“I did not stand you up on purpose,” I lied. “I was busy devising a battle plan and lost track of time.”
Now her eyes sparked with interest. “A battle plan? Like the ones you made for the Vandar as their battle chief?”
“You remember I was battle chief?”
The pink in her cheeks deepened, and she twitched one shoulder. “Of course I remembered. I remember everything you’ve ever said to me.”
My throat constricted as I gazed down at her. She might be a human female, but she was unlike any I’d encountered. As much as I knew an attachment to a female was a bad idea, I couldn’t seem to stop myself from falling for her.
“It is too dangerous for me to continue to meet you now that the empire is coming.” I rested a hand on her hip, as if holding her to me. “I do not want to risk you.”
“What are you talking about? The whole reason we’re meeting in secret is so I can be ready to fight by your side when the time comes.”
I bit back a groan as heat prickled my skin. She was so fiery and so stubborn. A Vandar female had nothing on Sienna. “It’s too dangerous. The Zagrath will not hesitate to kill a female who is fighting with me.”
She lifted her chin. “I’m not afraid of the Zagrath.”
“You should be.” I tangled a hand in her hair and jerked her to me, tipping her head back. “You should be more frightened of a lot of things, including me.”
Her breath was shallow, and her lips parted as she held my gaze, her eyes half-lidded with desire. “I’ve never been afraid of you. I know your bark is worse than your bite, Vandar.”
My resolve crumbled, blood pounding in my ears as my tail quivered in anticipation. “That is where you are wrong, Sienna. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You know I don’t mind pain, Corvak.” She let a breathy moan escape her lips. “I promise I can take what you give me.”
I released a final desperate snarl before crushing my mouth to hers.
Chapter Nineteen
Ch 19
Sienna
The impact of his kiss provoked an involuntary gasp as his lips claimed mine. I scraped my fingers up his scruff then buried my hands in his hair, partly to hold him to me and partly to keep myself from falling. There was nothing tentative about the way Corvak kissed me, his mouth dominant as it took possession of mine, but his lips were surprisingly soft. He parted my lips with a dominant swipe of his tongue, and I opened eagerly to him, moaning as his tongue stroked mine.
The hand that had braced my hip now circled to the small of my back and then moved to my ass as he ground himself into me. I lifted my knee and hooked it around his thigh, wanting to feel more of his rigid length. The tail that had been swishing behind him now caressed the inside of my leg, moving higher as I responded to his attentions.
Moving both hands to my ass, he hoisted me up without breaking the kiss and wrapped my legs around his waist. Before I knew what was happening, Corvak had pivoted and pressed me up against the wall. My legs were still wrapped around him, but he threaded his fingers with mine and pinned them over my head as he rocked his hips forward.
Even through my pants, his hard cock rubbed between my legs and sent sensations of pleasure and need arrowing through me. I pushed against his hands while squeezing my feet into his ass, leveraging the pressure to move myself up and down slightly. His deep rumble of a growl told me my movements were having the desired effect.
After a few moments, he tore his lips from mine. His dark eyes flashed dangerously as he panted. “Sienna, we can’t.”
I caught my own breath as my heart thundered in my chest then nipped at his bottom lip. “Oh, I’m pretty sure we can.”
He rested his forehead on mine. “I can’t do this to you. This is wrong.”
The haze of euphoria began to clear as he released my hands and lowered my feet to the floor. I touched a finger to my swollen lips, already cooling from the absence of his warmth. “I don’t get it. One second you’re dry humping me against the wall, and the next you’re done?”
He visibly flinched at my words, stepping back and scoring a hand through his hair. His tail no longer snapped back and forth, and his gaze wouldn’t meet mine.
“This is my mistake. Not yours. I was weak. I never should have allowed myself…I never should have agreed to teach you in the first place. That was my mistake.”
I shook my head, hoping to dislodge his words from my ears. “What are you talking about? You regret teaching me to fight just because we kissed? That’s crazy. Who cares if we kissed? It doesn’t have anything to do with you teaching me.”
His eyes locked on mine. “It has everything to do with it. I knew better than to get involved with you. Even though you’re a human female, and I usually despise human females, I knew it was a risk because you were different.” He hesitated, his gaze softening. “You are different.” Then he closed his eyes and fisted his hands. “But it doesn’t matter. None of that matters.” He opened his eyes, and they were cold and hard. “This cannot happen.”
A chill passed through me. “Wait. What are you saying?”
He backed away from me, crossing his arms over his chest. “I am sorry, Sienna. You should go.”
A sob welled up in my throat, but I forced it down. “And our fighting sessions?”
He gave a brusque shake of his head. “I can no longer teach you. I need to focus on preparing your planet to defend itself against the enemy.” He held up a hand when I opened my mouth to argue. “And that is something of which you cannot be a part. You know your planet will not allow it.
”
“But it’s a stupid rule,” I said, hearing the quaver in my voice. “Especially since I’m the best fighter you have.”
His jaw was tight as he looked at me, a flicker of regret crossing his face. “This was always a dream that could never be. You fighting. Us…” His words trailed off then he drew in a breath. “We both knew that. I never intended to stay, and you cannot leave.”
The truth of his words was like ice water, dousing any fire that was left inside me. The smallest part of me had hoped that after our late-night combat sessions and talks that maybe he’d warmed to the idea of staying, but it was clear his intentions hadn’t changed. And my wretched life hadn’t either.
In a burst of anger, I thrust my hand out hard, catching him in the solar plexus. Even though he was startled, he was only caught off guard for a second, darting his hand out and grabbing my wrist. I attempted to kick him, but he sidestepped my flailing foot, pulling me in and spinning me around so his body cocooned mine from behind.
I thrashed in his arms, but he knew all the moves I was using to get away. He knew because he’d taught them to me. After a few more failed attempts to get out of his grasp, I went still.
“I wish you’d never set foot on this planet,” I hissed. “I was better off before I knew that anything better existed out there.”
“I wish that, too,” he husked, his breath warm on my ear as he held me tight. “More than you can know.”
With a final heave, I elbowed him in the ribs and twisted from his arms, stumbling toward the door and not looking back as I ran out of his dwelling and up the rocky path toward my own. Tears made my vision blurry, but it was a route I knew all too well. It was one I’d walk up and down for the rest of my life, I thought with an ache of regret, knowing that my life would remain the same as the rotations passed, but Corvak would not be there.
