by Cynthia Sax
Warlord’s Mercy
Cynthia Sax
Book 4 of the Barbarian Claims series.
Tolui, a clone of a powerful Warlord, is a male without a homeland or a future. He’s doomed to never mate, and ruthlessly wages war, seeking to give his clone brothers a planet system to call their own, a place where they can live without persecution.
When Tolui crashes on a deserted planet and meets a small human female, he discovers everything he knows about clones is a lie. Lea, his destined mate, unleashes the passion he’s suppressed over his lifetime. He wants her. He needs her. He’ll do anything to bond with her.
But he won’t share her. Tolui’s greatest battle will be the fight for Lea’s heart. To win her love, he’ll face hundreds of his clone brothers, men who look exactly like him.
A Romantica® futuristic erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
WARLORD’S MERCY
Cynthia Sax
Chapter One
Lea neatly folded the leg and chest coverings and slid them into a crack in the rock, leaving them for Har, her business associate, to retrieve. The death garments she had crafted had been horrifically small. The female must have been barely a woman.
Lea sighed. That would have been her fate if she hadn’t fled to the underground tunnels four solar cycles ago. She had been young and naïve then. All of them had been. When they had exited the transport ship and stepped upon Chamele 4’s reddish-brown sands, Lea, her father, and the other refuges of the Balazoid-Federation wars had declared the barren planet to be their new home.
Daisun and his band of brutes had then attacked them, slaughtering the males and enslaving the females. Daisun had laughed as he’d killed her peace-loving father. He’d smiled as he’d kicked the body aside. Lea had run from the blood-soaked scene, her dreams of a home, companionship, a normal life shattered.
He’d pursued her for solar cycles, tracking her through the rough terrain, forcing her to live in isolation, spending nights alone, hidden deep within the underground tunnels. She had met with others only to trade and only when it was safe, when Daisun and his males were far away.
She had to be even more careful now. Lea glanced at the crack in the rock. As his supply of sex slaves dwindled, Daisun would increase his efforts to capture her.
“To save myself, I must leave the land I’ve grown to love.” She skimmed her fingers over the stone outcropping. Varying shades of color delineated centuries of soil settlement and created intricate designs on its surface, designs she used in the garments she crafted.
“I’ll take these images with me,” she murmured. The hum of an approaching ship’s engine filled the silence. “Chamele 4 will always be a part of my soul.”
The ship’s hum became a roar surprisingly quickly. She tilted her head back as a small vessel shot across the orange, cloudless sky. It flew too fast and too low over Lea’s head, whipping strands of her hair against her face. The ship wouldn’t clear the nearest and the largest of the Khatagtai Mountains. A tremor rolled down her spine. The base of the mountain was a short trek from where she stood.
Lea slung her empty pack over her shoulders and she ran, following the ship. Her boots skimmed across the sand. Perspiration trickled between her breasts, underneath her chest covering. Pieced together from rock vulture skins, the snug-fitting brown leather garment deflected merely a fraction of the sun’s scorching rays.
A boom echoed across the arid landscape and a cloud of red dust rose from the base of the mountain. Daisun and his brutes would see that cloud. Lea moved faster, determined to be the first being to arrive at the wreckage. She pumped her arms and legs, her thigh muscles burning as she darted between the tall spires of rock. The path was rough and seldom used, the arid planet home to a few sparse settlements of humanoid squatters, vicious rock vultures and even deadlier beasts she didn’t dare hunt.
Lea passed a viewscreen half buried in the ground, its transparent surface fractured with cracks. Twisted metal stuck out of the sand. The scent of spilled fuel clung to the blistering-hot wind. Increasing amounts of debris littered the trail.
There’d be no survivors. She pushed away her sadness and maintained her harsh pace. Solar cycles of scavenging alone and unprotected, on Chamele 4 had taught her to look after herself first. If she was ever to leave, to find a safer home, she needed a working power converter. This ship might have one.
She rounded a bend and skidded to a stop, sand spraying over her overly large boots. An escape pod was wedged between a boulder and the base of the mountain. The doors were open. The panels were gouged and dented, their markings written in both Chamele and the universal language. The sand around the vessel was stained black.
Lea extracted daggers from her thigh sheaths and approached the escape pod slowly, carefully. Severed cables snapped, blue light flashing from the writhing ends. One set of bloody handprints coated the doorframe. The red marks were large, the fingers thick and male.
She glanced around her and didn’t see any beings. She listened and heard nothing except for the sizzle and pop of the damaged vessel.
Lea held her breath and stepped into the escape pod. She exhaled. The space was empty. Puddles of red blood pooled on one white seat. More blood slicked the floor. The control pad had been torn off the wall panel, the homing device disconnected.
He doesn’t want to be found and I don’t want to find him. Lea sheathed her daggers and pried off another wall panel, revealing the power converter. She extracted a loosening tool from her pack and carefully disconnected the delicate piece of technology. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she worked. Lea was keenly aware that Daisun and his band of thugs were headed toward her.
If Daisun captures me, I’ll wish I were dead. She removed the power converter and nestled it between the hides in her pack. A rock vulture screeched, its distinctive call warning Lea another being neared.
She heaved the pack over her back, straining at the weight, hurried through the exit and—
A force slammed her back against the escape pod, the breath whooshing from her lungs, the pack dropping from her shoulders. “Don’t move,” a deep voice growled. A large male pressed his muscular forearm against her neck, his hold strong enough to restrain her yet loose enough to allow her to breathe. Her booted feet dangled above the ground.
Lea gazed into a scarred rugged face. The male’s dark eyes gleamed with barely repressed rage, his jaw square and strong. His long straight black hair draped over wide tanned shoulders. Blood dripped down his defined torso.
She stilled, her body instinctually responding to the stranger’s dominance, her nipples tightening and her pussy moistening. He was a Chamele warrior and she was an illegal squatter on his hunting planet, a physically weaker human. She should fear him.
Lea felt many emotions, none of them fear. He was powerful, well able to protect her from Daisun, from rivals, and she was a female who hadn’t been held in many solar cycles. In his face, she saw no cruelty, only anger and an intriguing awareness.
He wants me. Lea met his gaze. And I want him.
The Chamele’s nostrils flared and his eye color deepened to the stark black of open space. “A clone can’t have a gerel.” He leaned into her, the impressively large ridge in his leg coverings pushing against her. “This…you must be a trick.” A scar slashed his face from his eye to his mouth and he brushed that scarred cheek against hers, the raised skin exciting her. He was fierce and dangerous and he desired her. “I should kill you now.”
Lea swallowed hard, her mouth drying with lust, not terror. He wouldn’t kill her. She knew that in her soul. “You can kill me later, Chamele,” she said with a bravado she didn’t feel. “We have to move. Daisun and
his brutes will be here soon, and if we remain at the crash site, they’ll kill you and take me captive.”
“I’m Tolui, a Chamele.” He flared his fingers and extended his claws, sun reflecting off the deadly tips. “The brutes you fear can’t kill me.” Blood streamed down his chest.
“Normally, I’d agree with you but you’re hurt, Tolui.” She touched the five deep wounds on his shoulder and he inhaled sharply. “And there are many of them. Follow me to safety.” Lea wiggled, rubbing her body over his, trapped between him and the escape pod. All of his physique was unrelentingly hard, a finely honed weapon he could use against her…if he wished to harm her.
“Why should I trust you?” Tolui searched her face, the bulge in his leg coverings telling her what he truly wanted. “You could lead me into a trap.”
Lea stared back at him, having nothing to hide. “Then don’t trust me. Trust the rock vultures.” She gazed upward. A flock of rock vultures circled slightly to the right above them, their position scarily close. “Whom are they hunting?”
Tolui tilted his head back and studied the sky, his profile as cragged as the mountain, his long hair sweeping over his spine. She wanted to skim her fingertips along the scar on his nose, to bury her face in his black hair, to inhale more of his musky male scent.
“If you betray me, little female, I’ll kill you.” He released her and she dropped to the ground, her boots sinking into the sand.
Lea picked up her heavy pack, grunting with the effort. “I thought you had already decided to kill me.” She trudged toward the mountain, taking the winding trail to the right.
“If you betray me, I’ll kill you slowly.” Tolui transferred the pack from her shoulders to his, lifting it easily. He walked silently behind her, his body casting a shadow over her, blocking some of the heat of the giant blood-red sun.
“Ahhh…that’s comforting.” She’d lived with the possibility of dying for many solar cycles and that threat no longer scared her. Lea headed toward a hidden entrance to the underground tunnels. She’d found it on one of her explorations.
Males whooped behind them. Daisun’s brutes must have located the escape pod. Lea sprinted away from that danger, trusting Tolui to match her speed.
Wind whistled above Lea, warning her another two-legged predator had found them. “Down!” She tumbled forward over the sand, wincing as talons grazed her leather-clad back, leaving a stinging trail over her skin.
Tolui jabbed his claws upward, impaling the rock vulture on the sharp tips, and he casually tossed the creature behind him. It screeched, its beak opening and shutting, revealing deadly teeth, its hairless, featherless wings flapping.
The Chamele warrior didn’t give the rock vulture a second glance. He rushed to Lea’s side and scooped her into his arms, surrounding her with his hard muscle, engulfing her in his body heat.
“You’re hurt,” Tolui rumbled. He felt so good, so right, as though he was meant to hold her. Lea was tempted to linger in his embrace, to savor the illusion of safety, of being protected, cared for.
“She went this way,” a male shouted.
Pain blazed across her back as Lea wiggled out of Tolui’s fierce grip. “We have to move.” She scrambled to her feet and dashed down the trail, swerving to the left and to the right, avoiding rock spires and fossilized trees.
The voices grew louder behind them. Lea panted, perspiration coating her skin. Her leg coverings clung to her thighs, her muscles screaming a protest.
She finally spotted the crevice in the rock wall and slowed. “In here.” She gestured toward the small opening.
“You enter before I do.” Tolui jutted his jaw, his scars flashing silver in his tanned face.
There was no time to argue. Lea slipped though the crevice easily, entering the dark cool cavern, and she held out her hand. “Give me the pack.” She gritted her teeth as he complied, the heavy pack straining her arm muscles. “Now you follow.” She stepped back, her steps obscenely loud in the confined space.
Tolui grunted as he squeezed through the opening. He made it through…barely, the tight fit reopening his healing wounds. “Gerel.” He swayed on his feet, his face pale and his mouth pressed into a grim white line. The rock had been painted red with his blood.
“Stay here.” Lea extracted a hide from her pack and wiped the leather over her perspiration-covered legs, dampening the garment. She slid back into the crevice and frantically scrubbed the rock clean.
“I get her first,” Daisun declared, his disgusting claim on her body spoken too close for Lea’s comfort.
She reentered the cavern and raised her right index finger to her lips, signaling for Tolui to be quiet. Her heart pounded, her palms moistening.
“You can have her after I’m done with her,” her nemesis promised and a tremor of fear rolled down Lea’s spine. Daisun was the reason she didn’t feel safe on Chamele 4. He was the reason she had to leave…soon, before her luck ran out.
“There won’t be anything left once you’re done with her,” one of his males grumbled. “She’s too small to last long.”
“That’s true.” The cruelty edging Daisun’s laughter sickened Lea. She gripped the damp walls of the cavern, hoping she’d remain hidden, safe.
The males exchanged jibes, talking about cock sizes and females they’d abused in the past. Their words faded until she no longer heard them.
That was too close. Lea trembled.
Tolui moved swiftly, silently, appearing suddenly before her. He wrapped his arms around her, careful not to touch the scratches on her back, and he pressed her face into his bare chest. He was warm and big and strong, a Chamele warrior, well able to defend her…if he wished to.
He doesn’t wish to defend me. Lea sighed. He wishes to rut with me and then leave. She examined the wounds on his shoulder. Skin already covered the puncture marks. “You heal quickly.” She traced the holes with her fingertips.
Tolui shuddered, the muscles in his abdomen rippling. “I’m a Chamele…clone.” Red pigment streaked across his scarred cheekbones.
“You’re a clone?” Lea met Tolui’s gaze. He lifted his chin and straightened to his full height, glaring down at her as though daring her to comment on his origins. Cloning was forbidden in the Chamele system.
Lea didn’t come from the Chamele system. She judged him for who he was, not for his genetics, and in her eyes, he was Tolui, a formidable male in his prime. “Are you enhanced?” she asked, curious. She’d never heard of a Chamele clone before now.
Tolui nodded curtly, his gaze fixed on her face.
“That would make you more powerful than a Chamele. I’m a mere human.” She offered him a small smile, wondering if a mighty Chamele clone would lower himself to rut with a human female. “You’ll be able to kill me easily.”
“You don’t appear concerned.” Tolui rubbed one of his thumbs over her bottom lip, escalating her awareness of him. “You should be.”
“Should I be concerned?” Lea raised her eyebrows. “There are worse things than being killed.” She turned her head toward the crevice and frowned. “I’d rather die than allow Daisun to use my body.”
“He won’t touch you.” Tolui’s face darkened, his eyes glittering. “You’re my captive. You belong to me now.” His possessive tone curled Lea’s toes. “I need to look at your wounds.” He released her and stepped backward. Cool air rushed between them, reviving Lea’s lust-numbed brain.
“You won’t look at my wounds here.” She handed him the pack, not having the strength to carry it. “Come with me.” Lea moved deeper into the underground tunnels. Polished noncorrosive metal attached to the walls acted as mirrors, reflecting the sunrays. The ancient lighting system illuminated the narrow space, allowing plants to grow deep under the ground.
Lea turned right three times, left twice, right four more times, and then took another left, navigating the labyrinth silently, conscious of the big male behind her. She entered a small empty chamber.
“Step on the stones,”
she advised. “Or you’ll set off my alarm.” She skipped from flat stone to flat stone, the rest of the floor covered with pieces of sharp-edged debris.
Lea moved into the second chamber, continuing the tour of her meager living spaces. “All of these plants are edible or medicinal.” She broke off a couple thick blades of healing green. “Do you need healing also?”
“I’ve healed.” Tolui’s voice was low and deep, awakening needs within her, needs only he had ever provoked.
She examined him. He had healed. His wounds were completely closed, five round scars puckering his skin. “Good.” She smiled. He didn’t smile back, gazing at her as though she was a complex query he longed to solve.
“Come with me.” Lea crossed the threshold into her living space, the walls and floors decorated with rock vulture skins, boulders acting as tables and seating. The reflected sunlight illuminated the space. “When the sun sets, activate a light stick.” She nudged one with her foot. “I retrieve them from crash sites so use them sparingly.” Her collection of salvaged items surrounded her, her biggest prize hidden outside under a blanket of hides and a layer of concealing sand.
“We are staying here?” Tolui raised one black eyebrow.
“Yes,” Lea confirmed. “This is home.” She placed the blades of sweet smelling healing green on a flat-topped boulder and she glanced up at Tolui, striving to read his expressionless face.
Home. Although Tolui had never had a home, he felt as though he belonged in the female’s underground chambers. He felt as though he belonged with her.
She’s my gerel, the female I am destined to love for my lifetime. That discovery had torn all of Tolui’s carefully crafted plans apart. He’d been told clones couldn’t have gerels, that they were doomed to a solitary life, reproducing only by cloning themselves, discriminated against and unloved.
He’d built his future around that lie, striving to obtain a homeland where clones were seen as equal, even superior to all other beings, yet the heat in his chest and the need to claim the tiny brown-eyed, brown-haired female now told him the scientists were wrong. The little human was his female and his plans must expand to include securing her.
