by Marie Harte
“Because I’m a dumb shit who’s as likely to get shot as he is to find his father a cure,” he muttered, and tromped back to camp.
He found Thais clean, dressed, and ready to ride.
And ripe to be plucked from that innocence shining in her bright green eyes.
“Whenever you’re ready,” she said in a throaty, accented voice that made him think of soft sheets and sweaty sex.
I’ve been ready since the moment I laid eyes on you. He wanted to yank her off her horse and show her just what an orgasm felt like, and why so many lucky women in the Territories claimed him the best they’d ever had. Instead he glowered and moved past her to Beast.
The next few days were going to be the longest in his life, he just knew it.
Thais did her best to shrug off what had been the most exhilarating experience of her life as she rode beside Hinto. She’d held him, throbbing, in her hands. Had watched his life’s seed explode from his body. She’d done that. The power had been all hers.
She eased at the knowledge, gratified by his scowl. For too long she’d secretly feared the idea of being taken over by a man, to lie passive as he speared her with that blade of flesh while his seed took root in her belly. She knew the rudiments of procreation, but not the finer points. She hadn’t thought desire would ever prove a problem for her. Thais, like her mother, was a warrior, a guardian. Duty above all else, the art of war and the polish of victory her constant bedfellows.
No longer worried about the mating act itself, she nevertheless remained wary of Hinto’s allure. Hinto in the heat of climax was a thing of beauty. Such strength, he’d been all hers to command. Her curiosity awakened, she wanted to know more.
A definite problem.
She had to rid herself of this odd excitement. Her limbs felt light and her mind dizzy. Her sex throbbed. Might she someday experience that same loss of control Hinto suffered? No. I’ve seen the truth of a joining. I have no need to know more… Liar. As if her acquiescence earlier had been about knowledge.
A glance beside her showed Hinto, stone-faced. He didn’t seethe with anger, nor did he appear pleased. She didn’t know what to make of his new mood and wished she didn’t care what he felt. Men were puzzles and not to be trusted. Hadn’t Chow Yen admitted as much? It shouldn’t matter that Hinto had stuck by his word, that she found him more appealing with each step toward their destination, or that she couldn’t stop herself from looking at him whenever she could without detection.
She’d do best to put the mystery of the man behind her and worry about more important matters. Like Pilar and Bartel.
Thais left Hinto to his quiet and absorbed the mountainous view with pleasure. The crisp sky and burning sun made for a pleasant enough journey as they rode in silence for the rest of the day.
And night.
And the day after that.
Frustrated, because where before the silence had calmed her, it now irritated her, she sighed, determined to end the stalemate. “Hinto?”
He turned at the sound of her voice.
“What have I done to displease you?”
He gave her an odd look. “Displease me? Why, nothing, honey. I’m just dandy.”
He’d been treating her like a stranger for two days. No gentleness, no pleasantries, just a cold, aloof hunter who happened to travel along the same path she did. She couldn’t have said why the distance bothered her, but it did.
Then again, perhaps it was better this way.
“Forget I said anything.” She pushed ahead of him, her mare eager to put space between herself and the vore, who had begun to pay more attention to the jaunty brown horse.
“We’re close to town. I think we should settle in for the night, early. Get a head start in the morning fully rested just in case Gregor’s still there.” He hadn’t said so much in days.
“Makes sense.” She agreed, and not just to soothe his upset, which he insisted he didn’t have. Hinto not only possessed brawn and physical strength, the man had a hunter’s savvy that few could grasp. Not all Amazons could hunt or guard, though they’d been born to the life. Just as she imagined not all bounty hunters could track as well as Hinto. He found rabbits for meals when she’d seen nothing of them at all. He tracked wild dogs and mountain lions—great cats that took her breath away in awe—with a skill she considered astonishing.
Yet he continued to ignore her, stirring her disquiet.
Hinto chose a defensible spot, dismounted, and began to set up camp. She followed automatically, falling into a familiar rhythm. Take care of the horses, take care of the bedding, eat and sleep.
“So you’re an Amazon.”
She started and stared at him. Hinto stood next to Beast, gently brushing the vore’s tangled mane. “I—what?”
“You mentioned that only an Amazon selected to breed could take a man into her body.” His eyes glinted as they rested on her. “So you were never selected to breed?”
Thais hadn’t said those exact words. But she couldn’t believe she’d spoken openly about the tribe. Though their origins were not secret, to protect themselves from outsiders, Amazons normally only shared details of their life with one another. Then again, with the few individuals left among her people, did it really matter?
“I am a guardian.”
“What’s that?” He seemed genuinely interested as his large hands stroked the course hide of the vore. Such graceful fingers tugged through the creature’s hair. “Thais?”
She blinked and focused on her horse to ease her embarrassment. Goddess knew she had no business fixating on any part of Hinto. Not hands, hair, eyes, or… She snuck a gaze at his crotch and as hurriedly looked away. How large that part of him had grown just two short days ago, a morning she couldn’t forget, no matter how hard she tried.
Thais cleared her throat and removed her mare’s saddle. “All Amazons are warriors. We live to protect one another.”
“A bunch of crazy women living together in one of the Territories,” he muttered.
She adapted his explanation to mask the truth. “We live together in Temeco, but we’re not crazy women.”
He snorted. “No, you just think you’re from a legendary tribe of warrior women who use men for sex then cook the meat off their bones and eat them for sacrifice.”
“What?”
“Hell. I used that one on my little brother years ago. ‘Bout scared the snot out of him too. Took Wolf a long time to warm to girls after that.” He grinned, and the beauty of his smile took Thais’s breath away.
She shook her head, irritated his mouth could make her lose composure. “Amazons do not eat the flesh of men. That’s nonsense.”
“Hey, I’m just telling you what little boys say to scare each other. We all know Amazons don’t exist.” He gave her a sharp look.
“Right. Just a fantasy.” In truth, Amazons were a fantasy, now that Pilar and her traitorous sisters had decimated a once-proud tribe. Thais drifted into silence, caring for her horse with automatic motion.
Reminders of so many senseless deaths made her lose her appetite. When Hinto suggested tearing into the hard tack he’d brought along, she rejected the notion of food.
“I’m not hungry. Just tired.”
The sun had yet to set, but Thais suddenly felt the drain of her responsibilities. Such a small mistake years ago, a yearning for a last bit of fun with friends, and she forever paid the price of survival.
She laid down and shifted her hat over her eyes. She had just drifted asleep when a rustle over the grass told her someone approached. She tightened her fist around the hilt of her knife and didn’t settle until she caught Hinto’s scent.
“Easy, Thais. I’m just gonna lay beside you, where we’re sheltered by the trees from that wind blowing harder. Easy now,” he murmured and finally stopped moving.
Used to his presence, Thais shut out the rest of the world and accepted the rest she knew she needed. She didn’t stir when callused fingers grazed her cheek. Instead she sighed and rol
led closer to the source of contentment always just out of reach.
Chapter Five
“Thais?”
Her name seemed to come from a great distance. Annoyed at the disturbance, she tried to push it away. Her hand connected with something solid, and she blinked sleepily at Hinto.
He rested on his side, his elbow bent and his head propped on his hand as he stared at her.
“What?” she mumbled, still caught between sleep and awareness.
“I’ve been doing some thinking.”
She yawned and closed her eyes. She’d been having the best dream. In it, she and her mother hunted a giant boar that had gored Pilar to death. Blessed by the Goddess, they’d run forever without tiring and felt no hunger or thirst as they closed on the enemy, a beast with Aaron Bartel’s watery eyes.
“Thais, I just wanted to apologize.”
Hinto’s low voice interrupted her lassitude, but his words brought her fully awake. An apology? “For what?” Perhaps now he’d admit he’d been in a serious pique for the last few days.
“I left you with the wrong impression.” His palm flattened against her stomach.
Her heart beat faster. “I don’t understand.” Why is your touch so enticing?
He nodded. “I know. And that’s the problem. I need to correct this, and then I’ll let you get back to sleep.” He leaned closer, his lips full, his breath clean and minty. He stopped so close the moonlight illuminated the individual eyelashes framing his piercing eyes. “Thais, you trust me not to hurt you, don’t you?”
She tensed and reached for her knife—that wasn’t there.
“Give me back—”
“Not until I’ve fixed this. I told you I’d never force a woman, didn’t I?”
She felt like a fool for trusting him. “I want my knife. Now.”
“Honey, I’m a smart man. If I’d really wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t have woken you to do it.”
Trying to reason while her body reacted to his nearness was nearly impossible. She tried to match his calm tone. “That would not make sense, no. Then again, you are a man. And men don’t often make sense.”
He rubbed her stomach with a soft touch, stirring butterflies of sensation. Her loins pooled with an excitement she couldn’t seem to turn off. “No, I supposed we don’t seem like we make much sense.” He chuckled, and her fear faded under the sincere pleasure of his smile. “I’m not gonna do anything but kiss you. I need to show you something.”
“With just your mouth?” Surely he couldn’t hurt her with his lips? And if it meant he’d let her get back to sleep, she’d be a fool not to allow his touch. She dearly wanted to dream about her mother again, where she might stick the enemy with a guardian spear that should have been hers.
“Just my mouth. I’ll keep my hands here.” In a flash, he rolled on top of her. Before she could protest, he planted his hands on either side of her body and leaned up, pressing his groin against hers in a curiously unsettling manner.
She swallowed, annoyed to feel even a frisson of unease. She knew many ways to incapacitate an enemy so close. Males had a vulnerability squarely between their legs. One swift shove with her knee and she’d end him before he could think to begin. She shifted so that her thigh pressed against the taut line of his groin, and she forced herself to ignore what “taut” looked like, the memories of him too close to the surface.
“If this will hurry things, please do whatever it is you need to. But make it quick. You interrupted my rest.”
Hinto’s gaze centered on her mouth. “Sure thing, honey. And you keep that leg where it is. You don’t like what I’m doing, you take me right out.”
His awareness of the precariousness of his position relaxed the last of her worries. As quick as Hinto seemed to be, even he would not be able to stop her should she wish to smash his tender organ against his body. By deliberately leaving himself open to attack, he put his fate in her hands. She liked the control.
She nodded. “Get to it, then.”
Hinto didn’t wait another second. He leaned down and pressed a whisper-light kiss against her lips. Before she could catch her breath, he did it again. The sensation of his firm mouth against hers surprised her. She felt the kiss vibrate through her mouth to her belly and further down, tingling between her legs.
“Mmm, you taste good.” He held himself up by his hands and used only his mouth, but even his words began to stroke her into a pleasurable state of being.
His lips trailed from her mouth to her cheek and down her neck. She’d never known how sensitive certain parts of her body could be. When his mouth hovered over her earlobe and sucked the flesh inside, she trembled, seeking something more. He kissed her ear, the shell of it, the spot behind it, and she found herself trying to press closer to him.
Her thigh pushed against his loins, not hard enough to hurt, but to seek more bodily contact. She liked the way his breath caught when she moved with him. He murmured something she didn’t understand, then sucked harder at the base of her neck, which managed to affect her breasts.
Her nipples beaded under her clothes, rubbing uncomfortably against the binding when she sucked in a breath.
“Now let me kiss you again,” Hinto murmured and trailed his mouth back toward hers.
More than willing to see what else he could do, she nodded and had to blink her eyes open, not sure when she’d closed them. His heavy-lidded gaze made him seem more feline and predatory than she would have thought. The sense that these kisses might not be a good idea surfaced, and then he pressed his lips to hers again.
She opened her mouth to protest when he did the strangest thing. He penetrated her mouth with his tongue.
She tensed, and he immediately stilled with her. His tongue slid over her teeth, the roof of her mouth, her own tongue, and pleasure washed through her body to pool in her sex.
She inhaled in shock, not having expected so much excitement from a man’s mouth.
He groaned and deepened the kiss, and the control she thought she’d had vanished between one heartbeat and the next.
Thais clutched at his arms, planted on either side of her. His thick forearms strained but he didn’t shudder, didn’t move. And he didn’t stop kissing her.
She didn’t like the wetness between her legs but couldn’t stop it. The place between her thighs pulsed, and she squirmed, only to gasp as fire snaked through her body when she accidentally brushed her nub against the fabric of her pants.
“There’s more,” Hinto whispered in her ear before nipping at her lobe again.
She arched up, unable to stop herself. The pressure against her chest bothered her more than she could say.
As if he read her mind, Hinto pushed himself to a sitting position, straddling her waist as he sat back on his feet. She clearly saw the large bulge between his legs, but he made no move to release himself from his pants.
Instead, he eyed the button of her shirt. “Thais, open your shirt. You like my kisses, right? Just do it. Trust me, you’ll like this just as much.”
She nodded, wondering what else he could do with that mouth. Don’t do this. Don’t let him take over. Stop this before it’s too late. But her curiosity wanted to be appeased. Before what’s too late? Better to know so she could prepare herself later, she rationalized.
In seconds, she’d unbuttoned her shirt and bared her bound breasts. He frowned at the material. “Doesn’t that hurt?”
Unknotting the band between her breasts, she began to unwind it with Hinto’s help. He lifted her with each pass of the band, using little effort, as if she weighed nothing of substance.
“It’s uncomfortable,” she said when she could catch her breath. He’d already seen her naked, so she didn’t see the harm in letting him relieve her. If anything, the less pressure over her breasts, the better.
After he helped her remove the last binding, he licked his lips. “Remember, you said I could kiss you.”
She didn’t understand, until he lowered his mouth and took her
nipple between his lips.
“Hinto,” she breathed, not aware of anything but the heat of his mouth.
He licked and tugged her flesh with his teeth, and all the while his hands once again remained firmly on the ground. With just his lips and that wicked tongue, he pushed her into a blaze of excitement that felt as if a fire had gathered between her legs.
“I don’t know what this is,” she gasped. “I burn.”
“It’s called desire,” Hinto murmured as he left her nipple to torment the other. He sucked it into his mouth and moaned her name. “You taste so good.”
Thais didn’t like the loss of control, the alien feel of her own body caught in something she had no idea how to handle. She needed more, but she didn’t know what more she needed.
“I’m—It hurts.” She reached up and ran her fingers through his thick hair, pressing him harder against her breast. When he bit down, then soothed the sting with his tongue, quakes spread through her sex.
Hinto let go of her nipple and looked up. He met her gaze, his eyes darker, like the sky before a storm. “Want me to stop the hurt, honey?” he asked in a guttural voice that stoked her heat higher.
“Yes, please,” she whispered, anything to get her body back to its normal calm.
He scooted down her body.
She stopped him by grabbing the collar of his shirt. He couldn’t leave her now, could he? “What are you doing?”
His gaze moved from her face to her breasts and lingered. “I’m going to put out the fire. It’s between your legs, right, Thais?” he asked and lowered his mouth to her crotch. To her astonishment, he kissed her right through her jeans over the spasming bud.
“Yes, yes. There.”
“I told you I won’t use my hands.” The rumble of his words excited her even more, though she couldn’t have said why. Scents, sights and sounds merged, until she could only follow his lead and hope for the best. He’d said he could help her. And she wanted to know what more she needed that he could give her.
