by V. K. Ludwig
“You’re wonderful.” His lips devoured mine, his fingers pinched my nipples, his tail stroked my leg, and not even an inch of my body remained untouched for more than a few seconds.
But it was the devotion in his gaze that held me captive. The ardent focus in his eyes as he read my reactions, adjusting pace and pressure until he had me trembling and panting underneath him. I was so close, sucking in a sharp breath when heat spread between my legs until—
“I’m not done with you yet.” Katedo pulled out so quickly my mind spun, but it shattered when he pressed his mouth to my pussy and suckled on my clit until my vision clouded.
My fingers dug into his inky hair all on their own, grappling for hold as his shameless tongue lapped up my arousal. He slowly circled the inner rim, dipped the stiff muscle inside, only to return to my clit with lips that pinched it into a swollen, throbbing knot.
Shaky fingers wrapped around the bony base of his horns. “Don’t stop.”
But he did stop.
And he did so with a chuckle, which morphed into a primal growl as he pushed his hard cock into me with one thrust, ripping a gasp from me when his knot stretched me to capacity. “Taste this.”
His kiss was a delicious mixture of my lust and the creamy sweetness of his cum, which he fed me as he stroked his tongue along my gums and sucked my lower lip between his. I moaned at the taste, and a wave of heat flooded between my legs as my clit twitched and convulsed.
He did this for a while: fucking me, licking me, then fucking me again. Sometimes, he did neither, and instead kissed along my stomach, or stroked seed from his ava in offering. It was slow, intimate, loving, inching me toward a sheer painful need for release.
“So close again,” he breathed against my ear, fucking me through the sensation of my muscles pulling tight. “I feel your cunt clenching down on my ava, begging for my seed. Do you want all of it?”
I arched my back and rocked against him, chasing my release before he would dare to pull out again. “All of it.”
“Look at me.” Clasping my chin, he let our eyes lock before our foreheads drifted together, and his thrusts turned deeper, closer, intensifying to a degree my heart matched his faster pace. “Come on my cock while I fill you with my seed.”
The heat between my legs swelled into a roaring flame that set my muscles ablaze. My entire body convulsed, disabling my next inhale as I came, ears pricking at the guttural groan that wedged from his throat as he followed.
With his hand firm on my hip and his tail wrapped around my thigh, he held me in place as he pinned me beneath his final thrust. He hissed and snarled as he spurted his cum deep inside me, his face almost agonized. Watching him fall apart like this was nothing short of mesmerizing.
His breathing stalled for a moment until, with a long exhale, he carefully rolled onto his back. Still seated inside me and no less engorged, he grabbed my ass and kept me on his cock, while positioning my head in the crook of his neck.
Beneath the rapid beats of his heart, his hum flared to life, vibrating along our soulbond and straight into my core. Bright like a beacon, it lured me deeper into his embrace as his fingers stroked over my back, filling me with this sense of belonging I’d always wanted.
I pressed a kiss to his neck, loving his minty scent that wafted around my nose. “You say zovazay doesn’t equal happiness, but I’ve never been happier in my life than I am at this moment.”
“Is that zovazay, or because I’m determined to see you happy?” His fingers stalled on my back for the briefest moment before he hugged me tightly. “You are here in my furs not because of fate, or a soulbond, or your heat, or my rut, but because I committed myself to us, and…” His voice thinned into silence until a thick swallow restored it. “And because I… I have feelings for you. You know that, right?”
Fear tugged on his vocal cords, the male undoubtedly brought face to face with something he once told me. His love was a dangerous thing, and it had to scare him. Just like the fact that I loved him scared me, but it was impossible not to.
Katedo was complicated, yes, but beneath that gruff exterior of a warlord was a male who loved deeply. Every day, he showed me with his attentiveness, his care, the way he even turned mundane things like breakfast into something memorable with one deep look. He was a protector and a provider, pouring his very being into me ever since the sting.
I trailed my finger around his dark gray nipple. “Same here.”
The moment I said it, he held me tighter yet, as if he feared my small declaration would somehow rip me away from him. “Rest, gam zahim, my love, because I’ll want you again soon.”
Eighteen
Katedo
“We split our warbands in three groups: one on each side, one slightly behind at the middle.” At a twirl of my finger, I rearranged the holographic standards, positioning them on the strategy map chiseled into the floor at the center of the Chamber of the Five Pillars. “Once we funnel the freeraiders into one mass, the middle group will penetrate through theirs and split them apart.”
It came as no surprise that Sevja simply nodded. She’d been my advisor even before I’d become warlord, and knew my way of thinking when it came to strategy.
Arms crossed in front of his bare chest, Razgar rubbed his thumb along his chin as his green eyes flicked over the markers. “You’re planning to drive them toward the cliffs running along each side.”
“Let nature flank them from one side and warriors from the middle, while keeping the rear open for their females and children to flee.”
“Hmm...” Even though he nodded approval, slow steps carried him around the holograms. “One problem.” His tailclaw cut through the air, letting the hologram of the middle warband flicker and distort. “We would wear this group thin, considering they’ll have to fight on both sides.”
I pointed at the two groups securing the left and right. “I don’t expect much fighting, to be honest. Even if they’re stupid enough to defend this plateau, we can use these two on the sides to squeeze them into retreat. Either that, or they’ll fall to their deaths.”
“Fine.” At a sharp, high-pitched whistle, that damn bird of his — which had rested on his throne up to this point — flapped its white wings and flew across the chamber, only to land on his outstretched arm. “I’ll be there with the first rays of the sun and three-hundred warriors. None of us have stepped onto this plateau in… how long? Three solar cycles?”
“Nearly four,” I said and shut down the holograms. “They’ve got a strong foothold there, and none of us wanted to bother with it since the game was just as plentiful elsewhere. But after they attacked my envoy, it’s time we put them in their place and show them where they belong.”
“I already assigned three-hundred of our warriors,” Sevja said. “Faruk insists on coming. All this sitting around and recovering…” She shook her head. “It’s not for him.”
A twinge around my guts. “You know my opinion on fighting pairs who share zovazay.”
“I only allowed fifty of them for this mission, and will assign them to different groups. Bringing distance between them will avoid any issues.”
“Very well. Nobody knows their combat readiness more than you.”
Razgar grabbed a piece of meat from the leather pouch tied to his loincloth and tossed it into the air, smiling when this creature’s sharp beak caught it with little effort. “I’m curious and want to find out who and what settles up there.”
A nod of agreement. “We might be able to retrieve a few stolen things of value.”
His gaze went adrift on the carved map. “Yes. I’ve lost a great deal to thieves.”
“Are you planning to settle up there? The plateau reaches all the way to the White Sea. Plenty of room for the both of us.” When he said nothing for a long while, only stared and absentmindedly stroked his bird of prey, I cleared my throat. “Razgar?”
His eyes snapped up to me. “Hmm?”
“I asked if you were planning to settle on th
e plateau.”
“Right here, if that’s agreeable with you.” He pointed at a spot that rested between a set of ravines, one to each side of the cliffs, which the freeraiders would likely use as an additional escape route. “If we both settle with these between us, we can protect each other better.”
No matter how unpredictable his temper, I appreciated his sense for sound planning. “Use the ravines to round the plateau and stab them in the back, if they were to attack.”
“Exactly.” He suckled on his upper lip. “So… west winds carried a story across the plains, whispering that Warlord Katedo has taken a woman as his urizaya.”
Tension crept into my shoulders, stiffening the joints. “It’s true. I will remain at Noja for a few additional suns until she finishes the bulk of her obligations at the lab where she works.”
“Oh, I bet the Empire is so very pleased to put yet another one of them beside a warlord.” The disdain in his voice, I simply ignored. “Not much longer, and Solgad will sprawl with hybrids—”
“Still can’t say it without poison dripping from your fangs, huh?” a familiar voice interrupted.
I turned toward the archway, finding Zerim stroll into the chamber accompanied by Mother. “Zerim son of Zavis, would you look at yourself! When was the last time I saw you?”
“I found him at the skyport,” Mother said. “Barely recognized him in the black Empire uniform of a warrior.”
That young male who’d been under my care for many solar cycles had matured for sure, his posture proud as he walked toward us. “Two solar cycles ago? I just arrived and heard you were readying the tribe to leave for the plains, and I was never someone to turn down a party. Figured I would show myself before I return to Warlord Fesaho.”
“You showed yourself,” Razgar murmured. “And now you should leave. A half-blood like you has no business being in this sacred chamber.”
“If my presence upsets Mekara, surely she’ll let us… oh, I just remembered.” Where Zerim would have wrapped his tail around his leg a few solar cycles ago, he now bared fangs at Razgar. “I was touched by the goddess herself because she favors me.”
Razgar hissed through gritted fangs, that temper he couldn’t seem to control on full display. “Still pretending to be a shimid.”
“Careful,” I warned. “Zerim will be a warden of the Empire one sun.”
“And follow in his father’s footsteps who brought war and misery to Solgad.”
“We taught him better than that.” He’d been Solgad’s ward for many solar cycles, raised among warlords with the hope of giving Jal’zar a voice among the Empire one sun. “Zerim is as much Jal’zar as I.”
Razgar let his claw flick behind him. “With a crippled tail, unable to sire—”
A screech cut through the tense air, and wings flapped wildly as the bird seemingly attacked its master. But only for a second, beak pecking and claws ripping at Razgar’s brown braid, before the bird returned to his arm and calmed.
Wide-eyed and panting, Razgar stared at Zerim. “How did you do this? I have seven shimids, only two of them with beastsight. Not one can command them.”
A taunting smirk came over Zerim’s face. “By Mekara and the Three Suns, I could have sworn you just called me a shimid.”
Rather than unleashing his vile temper, Razgar took a deep breath before he said, “I could use a shimid with that skill.”
Zerim laughed and leaned into Razgar, whispering something I couldn’t quite hear, though I could have sworn it sounded a lot like go fuck yourself.
Razgar gave a final growl, then turned heel and left the chamber. “My warriors and I will be there.”
Mother waited until the echo of his steps faded before she patted Zerim against his gray horns like she used to when he was younger. “How is your mother?”
“Well,” he said. “She and dad settled in a district formerly known as the Arabian desert. The climate’s better for her. I just spent two weeks sitting-in when the wardens met, just to familiarize myself with those issues the Empire is dealing with. Kokkonians are threatening to attack the sen-delta belt, so we had to enforce an embargo to keep the hostilities at bay.”
That Jal’zar had grown so tall I had to reach up to place a hand onto his shoulder. “And now? Back to Fesaho’s tribe after the sun feast?”
A quick nod. “Fayo, his son, wants me as his shimid once his father returns to Mekara and he becomes warlord. He’s a fantastic warrior, so there’s little doubt that he’ll win the trial upon his father’s death, and take a woman named Selene as his mate.”
“How much longer?”
He shrugged. “Hard to say. There are suns where he can barely breathe, and others when he shouts at his son until it scares the ushtis off.”
“They argue over the tribe?” Not an uncommon occurrence when a warlord had an heir to take over after his death.
Zerim nodded solemnly. “Fesaho is very spiritual and always consults with his shimids. Fayo, on the other hand, wants things to be more… progressive.”
Which was likely why he chose Zerim as his shimid, given how he was the only living hybrid which, in itself, made him a symbol of that progressiveness. “You control beasts now?”
“I wouldn’t call it control. It rarely ever works and, if it does, it only stirs them up for a second.”
“Beastsight?”
“That, I can do,” he said, and the pride in his voice gave me comfort, considering how long he’d struggled to find his gifts. “It’s quite the thrill, seeing something through the eyes of a bird circling the plains.”
Mother patted his arm. “And your visions?”
“As confusing as ever.” He chuckled. “I’ve gotten pretty good at sensing Mekara’s connections across yonis, patterns of magnetic disbalance, and zovazay.”
That statement returned the tension to my shoulders full-force, but they locked in place when Mother said, “Oh, do look upon Katedo’s zovazay. Reiko, our shimid, keeps saying it is weak. But she is old and will likely reunite with Mekara even before Warlord Fesaho does.”
“What?” Zerim lifted a brow at me, bringing a thickness to my throat that made breathing painful. “You took a mate?”
“Urizaya Jessica,” Mother said with so much adoration on her tone, my chest ached to a degree I wanted to curl it in shame. “What a lovely creature she is, bringing so much life and laughter to our family. Perhaps he should have claimed her during her heat? Do you see Katedo’s zovazay weak as well?”
Zerim’s lips parted and closed several times as he stared at me, no doubt confused because he saw nothing at all. My bond to Jessica wasn’t weak — it was non-existent.
“There’s no bond.” The confession left bitterness on my tongue, my lie as vile as poison, but I would not have Zerim make himself a liar just to cover for my sin.
“But…” Mother’s eyes sought mine, the wrinkles around them ever-changing as her lips curled and flattened several times. “Reiko said it was weak.”
“Reiko can barely see the path before her own feet anymore. As competent as she is in the arts of tending to a wekhja, she was confused about what she did and didn’t see.”
“But Jessica carries a wekhja where you stung her.”
“Yes, I stung her.” In a state barely lucid, overwhelmed by the accumulation of too many suppressed ruts and the memory of her scent. “But I… I never hummed. I never completed the bond.”
There, the shameful truth was out.
Mother’s hand clenched by her side as if she considered slapping me and, by Mekara, I would have deserved it. Instead, she cupped my cheek, her touch caring, which made this so much worse. As did the disappointment I saw in each slow shake of her head.
“Why did you not complete the bond?”
“Because…” Dismay tangled through me, forming a knot of anger at all this. “Because I wasn’t ready.”
“Not ready? Katedo, that is not up to you to decide,” she said. “Mekara makes those choices for us.”
That knot tightened. “I don’t happen to agree with all of Mekara’s choices.”
“This woman brought you and Kamenji close once more and drives out that suffocating silence in your life, wanting nothing more but zovazay, and you refused her that?”
“I didn’t… refuse.” Memories pushed before my eyes of how I’d pulled my bloody tailclaw from between her ribs, my veins swollen with nothing short of panic. “Do you have any idea how scared I was when my rut eased, and I felt her heavy and limp in my arms? Unresponsive? The last thing on my mind was to hum.”
“Do not give me your excuses,” she hissed at me. “Stinging a female without offering her your hum? What kind of male does that? The ones who visit brothels and pay for this atrocity.”
My fangs ground so hard they groaned under the pressure. “Did I not make her my urizaya? Am I not treating her well? Every second I can spare, I spend with Jessica, reassuring her of my devotion. I search for the finest jewelry. I hold her, and pet her, and stroke her, and hum her to sleep each night.”
“You are lying to her!”
“And whose fault is that?” I barked loud enough Zerim took a step back and dipped his head. “I asked everyone to stay away until I took care of this mess, but who had to meddle again? What was I supposed to do? Kamenji stormed into the room and hummed for her. You came and took her into your arms. Jessica was so happy when she thought she was bonded she cried. What was I supposed to do after all that? Tell her and break her heart?” Dull pressure expanded at my core, fading away the remnants of that needling anger. “Hurting her is the last thing I want to do.”
Because I loved her.
My breathing stalled for a moment at that terrifying confession. But it was because of my love for her that I would fix this. Would set it right, and give Jessica what she deserved, because it had come at a slip of my control.
