by Ashley West
His palm cupped the entire side of her face, and her skin was warm beneath his hand, making him press it closer to the smooth contour of her cheek.
“You’re right about that,” Kayla replied, sounding somewhat breathless. “It’s been...a really long time for me.”
Khaos got the feeling that she was talking about more than just going on a vacation. With the way she worked, it was obvious that she didn’t have time to make relationships or probably even have flings, really.
He was so tempted to push for something. To pull her down and kiss her and try and see where it could go, but it hit him that he respected her too much for that. She was trying so hard to help him when it wasn’t her problem or even something that affected her people, and she didn’t have to do that. If he pushed too much and messed things up, then his people would suffer, and it wasn’t worth it to have that happen.
No matter how much he wanted to see how pretty she would be under him.
Apparently luck was in his favor, though because heat flared in her eyes and she leaned down a bit, searching his face. “I don’t do this either,” Kayla murmured. “Almost never, in fact.”
“First time for everything?” Khaos tried, mouth curving into a smile as he looked at her.
A lovely flush colored her cheeks, and he was pleased to feel it under his hand, thumb stroking across her cheekbone.
“That’s really tempting,” she breathed back, and he could see her struggling with the decision. Honestly, it was flattering that she was even considering it, since she definitely didn’t seem to be the type to jump into bed (or onto the couch) with just anyone.
They didn’t know each other all that well yet, but Khaos was definitely hoping that there was a way he could change that.
Even if nothing happened right away, or at all, she was definitely the kind of person that he wanted to get closer to, which was surprising because usually he wasn’t the kind of person who was interested in things like that at all. Flings and casual affairs were easier for him in general, and more fun, usually, but there was something about Kayla that just made him want to keep her close and keep her safe.
To make her his.
“I shouldn’t… I have to work in the morning,” she murmured, and there was real regret in her voice. “Can we...take a rain check on this?”
He frowned, turning the unfamiliar term over in his head, and his arched eyebrow seemed to be enough to let her know that she had no idea what he was talking about.
Kayla smiled and shook her head. “It means that we’ll come back to this. When I don’t have to get up in a few hours and go into the office. I have Saturday off, and we can do something that isn’t work for a change. If you want?”
“I want,” Khaos said, and before she could pull away he was tugging her down into a kiss. It was just a brushing of their lips against each other, warm breath mingling for a few seconds before he let her go and she pulled back.
“Oh,” she breathed.
“Yeah,” Khaos echoed because there wasn’t much else to say.
Chapter 6: In the Shadows
“Sir, we’ve located him.”
The voice was cold and almost metallic sounding, consonants clipped and sharp in the gloom of the room.
The home of the Vekosh was harsh and dark, located just on the edge of the desert and dark most of the day. It was perfect for a race of creatures who skulked in shadows and thrived in darkness, hunting and hurting those who needed the light to flourish.
“Where?” rasped the king of them, a large creature with scaled skin and red eyes. His bulk was squeezed onto his throne, a chair made of iron and bone, as cold and harsh as the man himself. Clawed fingers dug into the armrests of the throne as he surveyed the minion who had come bowing and scraping in.
The Kaspersi were like a plague to his people. Taking all of the more fertile areas and turning them into havens of technology and growth. They spread like fungus, growing faster than the Vekosh could wipe them out and leaving only the ruins of what they left behind for his people to try to salvage into something worth having.
The only way to overcome it would be to wipe out the Kaspersi, the most populous of all the races that called Blessini home, and Nambroc, the king, was salivating at the chance to do it.
But first he had to hunt down their so called champion. Perhaps killing their beacon of hope would do wonders for lowering the morale of the Kaspersi and make them easier to pick off. Once they were all wiped out, no one would be able to stop the Vekosh from claiming whatever land they wanted.
Nambroc looked down his nose at his underling, waiting for him to report on the whereabouts of the Kaspersi champion. If they thought that sending some weakling warrior to another planet for help was going to save them, then they were very much mistaken.
“He is on Earth, my lord,” the underling replied, nose touching the floor from the depth of his bow. “They have sent him to the humans.”
Nambroc scoffed at that. “Humans. They are the only race more worthless than the Kaspersi. As if they could do anything to prevent the inevitable.”
“They have been known to be resourceful at times, my king.”
“Please. They are as skilled at killing each other as anything else. If not for their sheer stubbornness they would have wiped themselves out centuries ago. They are like icjhi,” he said, naming a kind of pest that thrived on Blessini and were impossible to kill without also killing the plants and animals around them. “And their entire planet should be burned.”
But it would be much too much hassle to destroy an entire planet, and there were priorities to think about, so Nambroc put that out of his mind for the moment. He had a goal that he needed to focus on.
He pried his claws from the throne and steepled his fingers, red eyes thoughtful as he contemplated a plan. “We will need to move faster. If we allow the champion, “ and he said the word like it was something distasteful. “To succeed, then we will be back at the beginning, and that cannot happen. Do you understand me?”
The minion nodded fervently. “What must we do?”
“We will send someone to Earth to deal with him. There are others, I’m sure, but the loss of the champion is a start. And he can lead us to the rest of them. The Kaspersi will be so much easier to destroy once they realize there is no hope for them.”
A savage joy lit in his chest at the thought of crushing them under his heel and seizing everything that they held dear. No longer would the Vekosh have to hide and deal in secret and darkness. Their darkness could spread and cover the planet, wiping out one race after another until everything was theirs by right of how they’d won it.
They didn’t have the time or manpower to conquer another planet just yet, but the time would come when they could. When they could wipe out the humans and take the Earth’s resources for their own.
The thought of it was enough to have his lips curling into a smile, teeth sharp and dripping with saliva and venom as he pictured himself stomping out all of his enemies. And his enemies were many at this point. So many thought they were a match for the might of the Vekosh, when really they were not even contenders in the fight that would come for them.
But there would be time for that later.
For now this would have to do.
“Find whoever is working with him,” Nambroc added. “Make sure that they can no longer provide him with their assistance. Let us see how the Kaspersi fare when they don’t have someone to hide behind.”
His minion nodded and leapt to his feet, hurrying out of the throne room to go do as he was told. The word would be spread throughout the people, and the best and swiftest would go out to make sure that Nambroc’s will was done.
He ruled his people with an iron fist, making examples of those who sought to challenge him, and there was a reason he had been king of the Vekosh for so long. People cowered before him, and just his name was enough to strike fear into the hearts of the people most of the time. Other clans knew what he could do to them if
given the chance, and it was high time that he finished wiping out the Kaspersi so he could turn his attention to the rest of them and see his conquest complete.
Chapter 7: A Long Time Coming
Kayla had been so adamant that she didn’t need to have someone in her life to be happy. She’d always been a firm believer that she could be happy with just herself and her work and the things she’d built. And then she met Khaos and suddenly she found herself wishing she had more time in the day to spend with him.
Their first weekend together was amazing.
By some stroke of luck she had an entire Saturday to herself, and Khaos had shown up not long after she’d gotten showered and dressed, his eyes intent on her as he stood at her door.
Charlie had greeted him with a tongue bath to the face, which Khaos handled with dignity that made Kayla laugh.
Once they’d put the dog outside, they’d eaten, and after that neither of them had been able to hold back.
Khaos was a force. His hands were everywhere, groping and gripping, pulling her closer to him and pushing her against the walls and doors, setting her skin on fire with the heat of his fingers digging into her flesh.
She’d warned him that it had been a good long while since she’d had anything like this happen to her, but he still hadn’t reacted to that by being overly gentle. He’d still bitten and claimed, kissing her breathless and coaxing noises out of her that she’d forgotten she could make.
And he didn’t seem to be in a hurry either. As much urgency was in his motions, it was mostly just that he wanted to touch her, it seemed, not that he wanted to rush the experience.
Long minutes went by before he had her shirt off, calloused hands running over the smooth skin of her chest and then down to her stomach before sliding back up again. There was something like wonder in his eyes as he looked at her, and he swore in a language she didn’t recognize before dipping his head and pressing his mouth to her throat.
“Ah.” The groaned sigh was out of her mouth before she could think to contain it, and heat was coursing through her in pulsing waves. They’d barely even started, and already she wanted more.
Apparently this was what she had been missing out on all this time, but for some reason she was pretty sure that she wouldn’t have gotten it from the florist across the street from the clinic. This seemed to be something that she was only going to get from Khaos and his particular brand of intensity, and the thought of trying it with someone else just felt wrong in that moment.
They spent a good, long time kissing, learning each other and the way they tasted and moved their mouths together. The noises that she was making into his mouth would have been embarrassing, but the way Khaos responded to them by pulling her closer and digging his fingers in deeper more than made it worthwhile. She couldn’t stop kissing him back, losing herself in the way he bit her lower lip and sucked it into his mouth before teasing her tongue with his own.
Before they’d even made any moves towards her bedroom, Kayla was already panting and so wet.
“For me?” Khaos asked when his fingers had slipped down into her pants, rubbing her wetness through her underwear.
“You see anyone else here?” Kayla retorted, moaning shamelessly at how good it felt to be touched there. She masturbated when she had the time, but there were few things that were as good as being touched by someone else, and she just wanted to take her pants off all together and spread her legs for him.
His laugh was low and sensual, caressing her gently. “Thankfully, no.” And with that he was withdrawing his hand and hitching her closer and then lifting her by the hips as if she weighed nothing.
Kayla yelped and wrapped her legs around his waist for balance, fingers digging into his shoulder as she leaned into him.
“Being a warrior apparently pays off,” she said, sounding breathless to her own ears.
Khaos grinned, and it was feral. “You haven’t seen nothing yet, I swear.”
Kayla was used to men boasting about their sexual prowess (if not to her, then she was used to hearing about it from the nurses and in the media), and usually she was completely skeptical about it.
But Khaos delivered.
“Oh god,” she groaned, legs spread and her fingers in his hair. “Oh god.”
He had his head between her legs, and he was doing things with his tongue that she knew she’d never experienced before with the limited times she’d done things like this. Each pass from the warm, slick muscle had her spasming under him, and she knew that there was some truth in the fact that going without for a while made you more sensitive when it came to finally getting some.
And god, she was sensitive. She couldn’t hold back her cries of pleasure, and she worried that she was hurting Khaos with how tightly her fingers were wound into his hair.
He wasn’t complaining, though, just humming and making pleased noises against her wet folds, working her up until she was right there at the edge and was so sure that she was going to come.
Khaos didn’t make it that easy, though. Instead of taking her over the edge, he pulled back, licking his lips and giving her a broad grin. She was naked and spread across the bed, and he was down to just his pants, showing off his broad chest and shoulders and the collection of scars that stretched across his tanned skin.
It was also apparent that he was turned on, as the limits of his pants were being tested by his thick erection.
Kayla half wanted it in her mouth, but she figured that there would be time for that later, and she wanted it inside of her more.
“Tell me what you want,” Khaos said, looking at her with intense eyes.
“You,” she breathed back, legs still spread for him. “I want you. Please?”
He groaned and moved on top of her, capturing her lips in a hot kiss. “I’d never make you beg.” The promise in his voice was so alluring, and by the time he was pushing into her, Kayla was nearly incoherent with the pleasure of it.
She loved the way he felt inside of her, stretching her and pushing in deeper and deeper until he’d bottomed out.
They both needed a moment to adjust, each of them panting hard and trying to remember how to breathe while they got ahold of themselves.
“You feel so good,” Khaos said before letting loose a long string of swearing. “So, so good.”
“I’m so glad you approve,” was what Kayla wanted to say, but her words were cut off by Khaos pulling out of her just enough to make her miss his presence inside of her, and then pushing back in with a sharp snap of his hips.
It was a very good thing that she was already so wet and turned on for him, or the bulk of his length might have hurt. As it was, it was a pleasant challenge, and each stroke in and out of her hit all of those places that made her shiver inside.
After all the build up, it didn’t take long. Khaos moved with power and grace, and Kayla just tried to hold on, gripping onto him, fingers digging into the skin of his back and shoulders, leaving marks behind from her short nails.
He seemed to like it (if the noise he made when she dragged her nails over his shoulders was any indication), and so she didn’t hold herself back, letting him feel and hear how much she was enjoying herself.
White hot pleasure coiled in her, and she couldn’t help the way she panted and arched up, practically begging for more, harder, faster. He drove into her, stroking over those places that were so sensitive and good, and her whole body felt on fire in the best possible way.
It was probably one of the best experiences she had in recent memory, and when they were both spent and panting some time later, the cries of pleasure and passion dying away on their lips as they lay there in the bed, she felt more satisfied than she had in a very long time.
Kayla never would have pegged Khaos for a cuddler, but there he was, holding her to him and stroking fingers through her hair as the sweat cooled on their bodies and they came back to themselves, heart rates returning to normal.
“I bet you have women from all over the place
throwing themselves at you,” Kayla teased as she traced the raised skin of one of the scars on his arm. “With you being the champion, and all.”
He laughed softly. “I actually didn’t have that much time to revel in being champion before I had to come here,” he said. “But yeah. And it was happening before I became champion, too.”
“Oh, I’m sure. Big, strong man like you? I bet you had to keep them away with your axe.”
“Now why would I have wanted to keep them away?” Khaos asked, arching an eyebrow and carding his fingers through her hair. “And what about you? As beautiful and smart as you are, I bet you have human men lining up for the chance to be with you.”
Kayla’s smile dimmed a bit and she sighed softly. “Not as many as you’d think.” It wasn’t that men didn’t like her, because that very much wasn’t true. She got catcalled and hit on as much as any other conventionally attractive woman out there, but that kind of attention wasn’t what she was looking for. That didn’t do anything for her, and once it moved past that stage, men began to see why she wasn’t what they were looking for. Her job always came first, and she was always tired and worn down from working so much, and there was very little she could do about it.
“I’ve never been the kind of girl that men want to keep around for too long,” she admitted. “I’m not spontaneous or easy to get along with most of the time. Turns out most guys are looking for a partner who can actually spend time with them and put them first, and that’s just not me.”
Khaos frowned and sat up a bit, looking down at her. “Well, then human men are stupid. You have passion, Kayla. You have something you believe in that drives you, and that’s not something you should have to feel bad about.” He hesitated for a second and then continued. “On the other hand, you do work too much.”
“Thanks,” Kayla said dryly. “I took an oath, Khaos. That I would help people and devote my time to making sure that I’m doing all I can. It’s what I was born to do.”
