Kave: Warriors of Etlon Book 3

by Abigail Myst

  With a gracefulness Humility could never have managed by herself, Kave flipped them over and pulled her legs up onto his chest. It was obscene to watch her feet dangle over his green shoulders, but she was so close to another orgasm, there was no stopping.

  Kave gave her what she requested, pumping into her while he stared down hungrily at her.

  As she screamed out another orgasm, he let out a shout and took his own release. A moment later, she was cradled tenderly in his arms.

  “Not sure this is fair. Coming in and accosting a girl in her room while she’s asleep. Did you even knock?”

  A moment of silence from the warrior before he replied.

  “These are my quarters. I don’t see the need to knock.”

  Despite being thoroughly in an exhausted sex haze, Humility sat up in bed.

  “Wait, you live here?”

  “Where else would they put my mate?

  “You don’t have any stuff.”

  “Stuff. There is a table. Chairs. If they are not to your liking, then-”

  “I mean pictures of your family. Nicknacks. Stuff.”

  Everyone had stuff. Her house back home was filled with her family’s stuff: trophies her brothers had won in high school, crafting supplies she hadn’t touched in a year. Her mother’s clothes were still in her father’s closet, as if removing them would remove one more piece of her memory.

  “I have no family.” The sadness in his voice told Humility there was a lot more to that story. She knew nothing about the alien in the bed next to her. “You are my family now. We will have a hoard of sons.” he told her.

  “A hoard, eh?” She still hadn’t wrapped her brain around having one alien baby.

  “At least five.”

  It suddenly dawned on her that sons were all he could have. No little pink socks and bows or chats about boys over crochet. The closest she’d ever come to a daughter was her sister, Wendy. Her own brothers were useless, completely and absolutely. Her sons would not be. No, they’d just go off to die in some alien war.

  She laid back in bed and Kave gathered her in his arms.

  “Five is a lot.”

  “The number is negotiable.”

  “So I guess you’re not interested in turning me back in.” She was only half joking, but Kave took her seriously.

  “You are not happy here. My quarters are unsuitable and I abandoned you to the jungle.”

  “Honestly, I haven’t been here long enough to be happy or unhappy. It’s just you tell everyone you meet that I stabbed you. I wouldn’t think you’d be in a grand hurry to keep me.”

  “You are mine! And you are strong and smart and-”

  “Better than Jane?”

  Kave froze. He actually stopped breathing for a moment. Humility felt her heart drop in her chest. It shouldn’t be so worrying that he prefered someone else. They’d only known each other for a short time.

  “Jane smells like tarnac.“

  “That would only be helpful if I knew what tarnac was.”

  “It is a spice. Like... cheese? A very smelly cheese. Very masculine. It is okay, but a warrior cannot live on tarnac alone.”

  “Stinky cheese?”

  “Do not tell her that. It is not flattering and Jane has earned the respect of the clan with great feats of bloodshed against the Suhlik.”

  “Right.” Humility probably wouldn’t want to know that she smelled like tarnac either. “So what do I smell like?”

  Kave stuck his nose deep in her hair and inhaled.

  “Like life,” he said wistfully. “And breath and my heart’s desire.”

  Humility remained silent for a long moment, finally fathoming the depth of the Mahdfel bond.

  “What do I smell like to other warriors?”

  “Mine.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kave

  Kave was beginning to understand the mated warriors that walked around with silly grins on their faces. Having a mate to plow on a regular basis truly put one in a good mood. He had already pondered the face of his first son. He imagined a light green skin with perhaps hair (dark green would be good) and a glowing tattoo of his clan in the middle of his chest. He would be strong and fierce and would be a warlord of his own right. Kave would teach him how to wield a blade before he could walk.

  Humility had taken to the life well. Their routine had begun to settle into a nice easy pace that Kave was happy to have. Humility had already smoothed his contact with the other wives. It was great. He could actually breathe without Meadow ambushing him over the latest detail of some party. It had only taken a bit of conversation to convince her of her duties.

  “You want me to what?” she’d asked him.

  “Be decisive. But fair.”

  “I don’t know anything about being in charge.”

  “Use judgement. And make a list of the requests you are unsure of, and we will review them once a cycle.”

  “And the other women, they’re just going to accept my commands?”

  “They will because I have given you authority. In a few days, you shall see that the requests generally repeat themselves. Meadow and Jane have a good idea of the resources available and now that all the wives have arrived, things will finally settle.”

  “All of them?”

  “You are the last. The best for last, I believe is the Terran expression.”

  “Ha.”

  Humility did not seem to grasp his compliments. Maybe Kave was doing it wrong. He was going to have to ask Jane to instruct him on how to give compliments again.

  He caught her crossing the quad a few minutes later and called out to her. Kave noticed her pausing a moment, nearly considering walking away, but waiting.

  “Jane! I told her that she was lovely and smart and strong and the best for last, but she did not seem pleased. She was not angry, but she was not pleased. How may I improve?”

  Jane stared at him a moment, raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Honestly, that’s not my forte. I lean more into field dressing rifles with my eyes closed, not complimenting the ladies.” Jane stared off to the horizon for a moment, and sighed. “But now that I’ve gotten to know her a bit, I’d imagine that she’s just not used to them. Compliments, I mean. Sincere compliments. So she may not believe them at first. Just keep telling her your feelings. She’ll believe you eventually.”

  Kave watched his mate closely, trying not to hover and still being attentive to his duties. Humility wandered around, exploring, her face mostly unanimated. Many of the wives gave her a penetrating stare that suggested they were sizing her up. It had been a long time since Kave had seen that stare from a warrior, but he knew from his youth, training with Athen, what it meant. There was going to be a struggle for power.

  More than once, Kave had cut off a challenger before they’d even got started. It only took a few beatdowns of upstart warriors to make the rest of them tow the line. Athen had fought off his fair share of challenges too. He had to, in order to keep his own reputation intact and not becoming known as a prince who let his second in command fight all his battles. Kave just thought of it as evening the odds.

  How to even the odds between Humility and the other mates, however, was a completely different problem. They were sneakier than warriors, and it was difficult to see them fuming. Warriors turned just a hair towards mint before they regained control of betraying skin but wives were all infuriatingly solid colors. The different skin tones fascinated him. At one point he imagined his mate would be the color of a chocolate night, like Folgar’s mate. Now that Humility was his, he couldn’t see himself with any other except her creamy skin that he could stroke for hours, especially the soft underside of her breast that was undarkened by the sun.

  The sudden desire for her caused him seek her out, just to put his eyes upon that skin. She was not by the mess tent, as she had been earlier. No, she was nowhere in sight. Knots filled his stomach and the flush of alarm rippled over his skin. It was nothing, nothing, he told himself as he tried not
to sprint over to the other side of the quad to catch a glimpse of his mate. He could not see her red flame anywhere.

  A scan of the beach was not fruitful either. A dozen women wearing bikinis played volleyball while another group sat under a tree reading But Humility was not in either group. Her skin was too delicate to wear so little clothing on the sand and she wasn’t much for group reading either.

  It wasn’t until he reached the sand that he saw the lone figure near the force fence. A large sun hat covered most of her hair, but he knew instinctively that it was her. Kave’s body loosened and began to calm until he saw her wade out into the water.

  Even at a dead sprint it felt like it was forever until he reached her.

  “What are you doing?” he called to her.

  She had the gall to look up at him with a look of annoyance.

  “Wading?”

  “You are too close to the force fence.”

  “It sizzles the water a bit. I can see it. I’m fine.”

  The water lapped at his feet and Kave fought down the fear of water that had been ingrained into his kind by the Suhlik. There was something about watching his mate go deeper into the water that set him on edge.

  “Come back here.” When she kept walking, he continued, “It isn’t safe.” It was a plea. The closest thing a warrior did to begging.

  “They told me you go this way all the time.”

  The other warriors were not supposed to know about that, but they were correct. He went around the barrier often on his patrols.

  “Humility!”

  “Scaredy cat.” She actually began to swim, floating out of reach to the edge of the force fence before cutting back in on the other side of the fence. Kave had no choice. He followed her and when she realized he was actually coming over, she scrambled up out of the water on the jungle side of the force fence and halfway up the beach. He was distracted for a moment by her shirt, sticking to her enticingly, but was at least glad to see her knife strapped to her waist.

  Kave waded around the force fence, his need to reach his mate overpowering any inherent fear. Once, he cut too close to the force fence and felt the singe of it on his skin. Pressing onward against the waves, he leaped out over the breaker and splashed into the sandy bottom, cursing the way it sucked his foot in, slowing him down.

  Hue was past the tree line and ducked out of sight. His mate was fast, but he was faster. Despite her recent dip in the ocean, her scent was strong and practically pointed an arrow in her direction. He could follow her anywhere.

  Kave came up suddenly behind her and scooped his mate up in his arms. He rolled them to the ground and they came to rest in a slight alcove among the dense tree roots. To his surprise, she was laughing. She put her arms around his neck and snuggled closer, burying her giggles in his chest. It was impossible to be angry at her when she was making snoggling noises against his skin and clinging to him in such an appealing way.

  “You have misbehaved,” he said sternly.

  “So have you.”

  “I- My behavior is not in question.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because. It is not.”

  “Oh. Okay.” He’d learned enough of the Terran females to know that the tone of her voice indicated that it was indeed not okay, but he said nothing.

  “Why are you all so afraid of the water?” she asked, her hands wandering suggestively over his chest.

  “The Suhlik. I imagine it was a convenient way to corral us by ingraining a fear of it. Or perhaps because they themselves cannot swim.”

  “But you braved the water for me.”

  “Mahdfel can conquer any fear.”

  “Uh-huh.” Once again, her tone indicated she was not being straightforward.

  An idea popped into his head. Kave pondered it as much as her hands, now roving lower, allowed. To take her back to camp now would cause shame to one of them. He’d be forced to punish her for running into the jungle unprotected. If he didn’t, then his warriors would take that as a sign of weakness. If he, however, extended their stay, and they walked back in casually with, oh a josgrave or two in tow, then he could pass their excursion off as a hunting trip, and Humility would be lauded as a fit mate for an Etlonian warrior.

  “We will go hunting,” Kave said as he bounded up and placed Humility on her feet.

  “Hunting? I was thinking…” Her voice tapered off and she looked to the side.

  “Your screams will scare off the prey. We will celebrate our success after.”

  Humility opened her mouth and then shut it again without speaking.

  Kave proceeded through the jungle, keeping his pace slower so as not to tax his mate. He had a good idea of where to go. There was a watering hole not to far and it would be easy to catch a josgrave. There was also a soft bed of moss that would make for an excellent place to take his mate.

  “I’m not that loud, am I?” Humility asked from behind him.

  “You are loudest, I think, when I use my tongue.” He smiled back at her.

  “But still not that loud.”

  “If you are not loud, then I must double my focus on pleasuring you.”

  “You pleasure me plenty.”

  “Yes, I think I do.” he replied, satisfied.

  She mumbled something that he couldn’t quite her, but when he asked her to repeat it, she just smiled at him and waved him to continue walking.

  When they reached the grotto, Humilities eyes lit up. The pool was crystal clear and only about fifteen meters in diameter. It was fed by a hot spring, and the overflow trickled down a little rock cliff into a bubbling waterfall. It was only a few meters deep and there was a rock ledge along one side, perfect for sitting. Kave had used it to conquer his fear of submersion. It was also a useful place for lying in wait for creatures coming for a drink.

  Humility trailed her fingers in the water.

  “It’s like a hot tub!” Moments later she was removing her clothes, dropping them in a pile and stepping into the water. It was only up to her knees, but it still set off a gnawing fear in Kave’s stomach.

  Humility stepped off the ledge and went under the water. He sprinted to the edge, nearly following her in, but caught himself as she came up sputtering and laughing. She was in no danger. Humility was fine. His mate was enjoying herself. He steadied his breath and repeated his mantra.

  “Come on in, the water is fine.” she urged.

  “It is better if I stand watch.”

  “Scaredy cat.”

  It was the second time she had called him a feline. Why it should be scared, he was unsure, but the insult seemed mild enough He watched as she treaded water, her breasts bobbling along the surface in a most appealing manner.

  “I haven’t had a spa bath like this in a long time. And never one without my clothes on. It feels totally sinful.”

  “Then perhaps you should exit.”

  “Sinful in a good way.”

  “There is sinful good?”

  “Yes. Like how it’s wrong to want to kill something, but feels really good to be bathed in Suhlik blood?”

  “Ah, yes. But to kill a Suhlik is not wrong.”

  “Where I come from, killing any living thing except for, oh, to eat is considered wrong.”

  “Suhlik are poisonous. But their scales make very pretty lamps.”

  Humility looked at him with a horrified gaze, especially when she realized he was serious.

  “You don’t have any Suhlik lamps, do you?”

  “No. But they are popular in the great houses on Etlon.”

  “Do you have a great house?”

  “I am an orphan with no family. I have no use for a house.”

  “But you want a family.”

  “I will buy you a house and we will fill it with Suhlik lamps. And stuff',” he told her, remembering her criticism of his quarters.

  “We can leave out the lamps. Just plain old regular lamps are fine enough.”

  Humility swam closer to him and crooked her finger a
t him.

  She curled up on the ledge and tapped the edge of the rock wall near his toes.

  “Why don’t you at least have a seat? Surely just dipping your toes won’t do you any harm.”

  Kave scanned the edge of the grotto and finding no sign of danger, followed his mate’s wishes and sat on the ledge with his feet in the water. Before he realized her plan, Humility rose to her knees and put herself between his legs. A moment later, her soft hands were finding their way into his uniform and pulling out his cock. At her touch, he sprang into full readiness.

  Kave could hardly resist the urge to moan when Humility’s hands grasped him and her tongue reached out to lap the head of his cock. He had the perfect view as she played her tongue around the head for what seemed like an eternity, swirling it around and running a little rougher over the sensitive line.

  “We-” Kave began, only to stop as she finally engulfed the tip of his cock with her mouth. “Were going to hunt first,” he gasped.

  “You said we were worried about my screams, not yours,” she replied, letting go of his cock head with a pop.

  Kave resisted the urge to yell out pleasure as she ran her tongue from the base of his cock to the head and then took it back into her mouth.

  “I am also loud.”

  “Are you?” She took another stroke, this time along the other side. From this angle, he could see how pleased she was at teasing him in this manner.

  “When my mate pleases me.”

  “Oh? And how is your mate pleasing you?”

  “Very well.”

  Her mouth was wet and delicious, and surely watching the pleasure she took in it added to his own. He was going to burst soon if he did not find release.

  “Humility. I shall-”

  “Spray all over my face in a second?”

  Her hands increased her fervor as her mouth continued to devour him in a delicious pleasure.

  “I shall shout.”

  She didn’t let go of his cock to reply. Instead, she stared up at him mischievously with those beautiful eyes that made him want to empty his soul into her. When he placed his hands in her hair, she knew she had broken his resolve, weak as it had been at the start.

  “Hue! Humility! My life!”