WarlordsBounty

by Cynthia Sax

  Finally. Khan relaxed, more comfortable with action than with waiting. “You’ll have those hours.” As I have my gerel. His body hardened with anticipation, Zeta’s passion as fierce as she was. “Refasten the door also.”

  Murad wrinkled his forehead. “What happened to the door?”

  “Nothing…yet.” Khan squinted, specks of brown dotting the horizon, the flapping of the rock vultures’ wings barely audible, even with his enhanced hearing. “They’re here.” He extended his claws, eager to burn off his excess energy, fighting a substitute for the rutting he craved.

  “Rock vultures,” Murad scoffed, tossing his long gun and sword away from him, deeming to fight as Khan did, with the weapons nature had given them. The creatures neared, the setting sun reflecting off the metal in the largest rock vulture’s eye socket.

  “That’s a dagger,” Murad observed.

  Khan stayed silent, that obvious comment needing no reply.

  “It looks like your bounty hunter’s dagger.” His brother guessed its owner correctly. “She’ll be grateful to see it again, I imagine, very grateful. Hmmm…I wonder.” He stroked his chin with his claws. “If I return the weapon to her, will she rut with me?”

  “Touch her and you die,” Khan growled, his tolerance for jokes about Zeta low.

  “To kill him, you’d have to defeat us first.” Sartaq, Murad’s first, and three of his warriors swaggered toward them. “You may be our greatest warrior but there are three of us.” He grinned. “Three and a half if Ayur fights.”

  The youngest warrior flicked his fingers in an obscene gesture and the warriors laughed, all of them as foolish as their leader, Khan’s warriors were more grave and dignified.

  Sartaq studied the approaching creatures, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “Are we having rock vultures for the night feast?”

  “Ugh.” Murad made a gagging sound, the creatures tough and tasteless. “No. We hunt for sport. Khan is trying to impress his little bounty hunter. She has his balls—”

  “Silence,” Khan barked. A small rock vulture recklessly dived toward him, the wind whistling around its hairless body. He bent to the right, twisting his torso to avoid its deadly talons and grasping beak.

  As the predator passed, screeching with fury, Khan smacked the creature on its cheek with the back of his hand, sending it spinning toward his brother’s males, the warriors jostling to claim first kill.

  A larger rock vulture followed the first, not changing its approach, its tactics set after years of hunting mindless creatures. Khan batted the second rock vulture to his left, toward Ayur, his focus on his one-eyed prey.

  Rock vulture after rock vulture attacked, the sky darkening with their massive bodies, Khan’s ears ringing with their shrieks. He cleared a path toward their matriarch, swatting them left and right, downing them for the others. Blood sprayed his torso, coating his skin with red, as the warriors merrily beheaded the vicious beasts.

  The one-eyed rock vulture swooped down. Khan rolled and its talons skimmed across his shoulders, cool air rushing over him. He grabbed the creature by its neck and swung onto its back, his claws digging into its tough hide.

  The rock vulture reared upward, struggling to rise into the air, hampered by the additional weight. Khan dug his heels into its sides and wrapped one of his arms around its neck, pressing down on its windpipe. The creature turned its head, frantically snapping at his legs with its long beak, unable to reach his bare flesh.

  Desperate to escape him, it knocked itself against a rock, the impact jarring Khan’s body and loosening his grip, the pain dissipating his restless energy. He grunted and swiped his claws over the rock vulture, severing the tendons in the creature’s shoulders, crippling it. It flopped to the sand and they tumbled, wrestling, wings beating arms, talons connecting with claws, two savage beasts struggling for survival.

  Enough play. Khan clasped the mighty beast’s head, its veins pumping under his palms. “For Zeta,” he roared, yanking hard. Bone cracked and the rock vulture sagged, its wings and legs twitching, its beak clicking open and shut.

  Khan retracted his claws and pulled the dagger from the creature’s eye, hot blood gushing over his hand. He wiped the blade on his prey’s weathered skin.

  “This fight was over much too soon, brother.” Murad grinned at him, his face streaked with red. His warriors stood around him, dead rock vultures at their gore-splattered feet. “Tolui should give us a more satisfying battle.”

  “He’ll pay for his crimes in blood. Tolui will no longer steal our females or our children,” Khan declared heatedly, the rival Warlord’s stealthy night attacks making a mockery of his protection.

  The warriors cheered, raising their swords, their boisterous response reassuring him, Tolui’s death and Khan’s dubious role in Berke’s plan necessary. For my people. Khan strode to the big boulder where he’d hidden his pack. Tolui must be stopped.

  His brother followed him. “Are you concerned that the battle will place your bounty hunter in danger?” Murad expressed Khan’s most serious concern.

  “She’ll be far from the battle. After delivering me to Tolui and collecting the bounty, she’ll return to her home planet to disburse the credits.” Khan frowned, his female was credit hungry, the reasons for her insatiability not detailed in any of the research notes Berke had provided to him. “She’ll be safe on her home planet.” He pulled the after-battle kit out of his pack and unrolled the cloth over the boulder. “Tolui won’t touch her.”

  “My lord,” Sartaq, Murad’s first, called. “Fifty credits says you won’t swallow the big rock vulture’s remaining eyeball.”

  Boyish foolishness. Khan shook his head, his battle-hardened males having too much respect to ever challenge him.

  “Those fifty credits are mine, Sartaq.” Murad swaggered toward the downed beast, his warriors exchanging wagers.

  Khan turned his back to their shenanigans. He rubbed his softest cleaning cloth over Zeta’s dagger, removing the remaining speckles of blood and gore. The chatter of the others faded, a calmness falling upon him as he slowly, thoroughly polished the silver metal, sliding the fabric back and forth, back and forth.

  With his thumbnail, he etched around the hilt, excavating the grime from past kills, kills he hadn’t the pleasure of sharing with her. He slid his fingertips over the smaller grooves where her fingers had gripped the dagger, pressing his heat into the metal, imprinting upon her weapon.

  Khan buffed the dagger, so slim and dainty, distinctly feminine and hers, until it gleamed, his dark eyes reflecting in the blade.

  My gerel. His mouth curled upward, warmth spreading over his chest. Tomorrow, I hunt you.

  Chapter Two

  “A client is willing to pay that much for him?” Zeta gaped at the image of her friend, her pretty face projected onto the bridge’s closed main viewscreen, her leveraged-to-the-portholes ship remaining parked on Chamele 4, despite Khan’s warning.

  “They’re willing to pay that much for his body,” Gale, a fellow orphan and graduate of the bounty-hunter school, corrected. Brightly colored drawings completed by the younger girls decorated the wall behind her, Gale constantly surrounding herself with objects she’d scavenged from others, her attempt to create connections, however flimsy. “No one wants him alive. That’s how dangerous he is.”

  That dangerous male wants me. Zeta trembled, remembering his words, his warning, his sure touch and calloused hands. I’ll rut into you with such force, such vigor, that you’ll scream my name.

  Zeta scrolled through the client’s contact information, no address, not even a planet, supplied. Peculiar. She tapped her short, blunt fingernails on the console. Her workspace was immaculate, devoid of any personal touches. Connections were fleeting and hurtful, not worthy of the time invested.

  You’re a bounty hunter, Zeta. Be a bounty hunter. She pushed aside the unsettled feeling in her gut, her job to deliver the fugitive to the client, not to evaluate the client.“I’m not killing him so
they’ll have to take him alive.”

  “You’re not capturing him.” Her friend frowned, her tone motherly. “If Elle hears you’re in that sector, she’ll fire both of us. You know how she feels about Chamele.”

  “Everyone knows how she feels about Chamele.” Guilt battered Zeta’s resolve, her actions risking Gale’s role at the firm and betraying their leader. Elle was passionate about her no-Chamele-retrievals rule, her reasons unknown. “The school needs these credits, Gale. We have less than fifteen days to earn them or one hundred and seven defenseless girls will be kicked out onto the street.”

  “Oh hon.” Gale’s fingers curled around a damaged dagger sheath Zeta had long ago discarded and her face softened. “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to pay the bills. We always do.”

  “I always do and we are finding a way.” Zeta lifted her chin. Bringing in revenue was her responsibility. “This retrieval would cover a decade’s worth of school expenses. With these credits, we could expand if we wanted to, reaching more girls, giving them the same opportunities, the same independence we have.” Her voice broke.

  She looked away, staring at the empty chair to her left, struggling to control her emotions, the school having saved her from the harsh life of prostitution, the most common future for female orphans.

  “This target isn’t a jewel thief, Zee,” Gale murmured. “He’s a Warlord. He has fought the scum of the universes and won.”

  “He hasn’t fought me and I’m good, very good.” Zeta straightened in her seat, meeting her friend’s gaze. “I—”

  “Zeta!” Flesh smacked against metal. “Open the door,” Khan demanded, his voice muffled by the ship’s sturdy walls.

  He came back for me. Zeta wiggled in the worn captain’s chair, surprised and pleased and over-the-moons excited that he had returned as promised. He hasn’t left me…yet.

  “Gale, I have to go.” She smothered a giddy grin, every cell in her touch-deprived body singing with anticipation. “It’s best if we don’t communicate again until this retrieval is complete.”

  Gale’s golden face darkened. “That’s not a good idea. I have a bad feeling about this target.”

  “Zeta!” Khan bellowed, the door ringing as though he’d slammed a Vladium hammer against it. “Open the door or I’ll tear it off.”

  Could he? Zeta tilted her head, weighing his strength against the thickness of the door. “Gale, I have to end this transmission. Something has come up.”

  “I heard.” Her friend’s lips twisted. “If I don’t hear from you in three days, I’m coming for you.”

  Metal screeched and Zeta’s panic escalated. “Yes, yes, three days. Transmission ended.” She smacked her palm on the release button and the image faded.

  “Don’t you dare damage my ship,” she yelled, racing down the darkened corridors of her massive vessel, the energy-conserving lights flickering to life around her.

  “Too late.” Khan stomped toward her, gloriously naked, his entire body revealed. Stars. She blinked, his cock as huge as the rest of him, his shaft hard and erect, jutting out from short black curls, a peculiar ring of flesh around his base.

  “And I dare,” he growled, retracting his long claws. “I dare more than you can imagine.” He reached for her.

  “I have a very good imagination.” She jumped back, trying to dodge him. He grasped her waist, her response time too slow, and he slung her over his shoulder.

  Zeta stared down at his clenched ass cheeks. “Put me down, you brute.” She smacked his ass, his flesh as toned and firm as she’d remembered, his muscular form featuring prominently in her dreams.

  “Never.” Khan pivoted on his heels, his bare feet grinding into the rough mesh floor, and she winced at the pain that must have caused him.

  “I gave you the choice of opening the door or not and you chose incorrectly.” He slapped her fabric-covered ass, heating her flesh. “I’ll give you no more choices today.” Khan marched with her toward the entrance, an ominous gap where the thick door had once been, the metal frame gouged with claw marks.

  “I was talking to my friend,” she grumbled, kicking him halfheartedly, careful not to target his hard cock, a body part she desperately needed inside her. “My worlds don’t orbit around you and your inflexible schedule.”

  “They do now.” Khan jumped to the ground, his bare feet sinking into the hot sand. “I’m your everything.”

  He’ll be my everything and I’ll be nothing, weak and helpless, at the mercy of others. Never. Never again. “I can take care of myself.” She bristled, stiffening.

  He laid her upon the smooth flat rock, cupping her head in his palms, his hands preventing her skull from slamming against the hard stone. “I know you can take care of yourself, gerel.” His dark eyes warmed. “But you don’t have to. I’m here now and I’ll protect you.” Khan extended his claws, the tips as sharp as her best blades. “Stay still.”

  His claws descended and she froze, trusting him, this stranger, with her life. Khan shredded her clothes quickly, cutting the fabric into ribbons, his tips grazing her skin in a dangerous caress. Her heart pounded and her nipples tightened, as he retracted his claws and brushed the remnants of cloth aside.

  “Beautiful.” He gazed down upon her, seeing all of her, her body naked except for her boots, her legs spread open to him.

  Zeta clutched the rock underneath her, resisting the urge to cover herself, allowing him to look at her. “Beauty can be deadly.” She stared up at him defiantly, her cheeks burning and her pussy wet, waiting breathlessly for him to take her, to pound her into the boulder as he’d promised.

  “This first rutting will be hard and fast,” Khan warned, stroking one of his hands over his big cock, the veins lifting on his shaft, a pearl of pre-cum forming on his purplish tip. “I want you too much.”

  He wants me. Her heart squeezed. “If you wanted me so much, you’d stop talking and take me.” Zeta recklessly flung that challenge at him, tilting her hips upward, offering him her pussy, wanting him as badly as he wanted her.

  He swept a thick rough finger along her pussy lips and she trembled, his fleeting touch tormenting her. “You want to be taken.” Khan held up his glistening fingertip for her to inspect, showing her the proof of her desire. “You want me.” He slid his fingertip between his grim lips and noisily sucked her juices off his skin, the sight erotic. “You’re delicious, little hunter.” He smacked his lips.

  “You promised hard and fast, Khan,” she reminded him, impatiently flexing her thighs, her frustration escalating, having dreamed all last night of him, of this encounter, needing him now. “I can’t wait until the end of time for you. I have things to do.”

  “Silence, female.” Khan growled. He covered her with his warm body, his muscles flattening her curves against the rock. “There’s only one thing you have to do today.” He threaded his fingers through hers, his palms claiming hers, and he spread her arms to her sides, stretching her tightly underneath him. “And that’s rut with me.” As he prodded her entrance with his cock head, positioning himself, he raked his teeth along her neck, sending shivers of sensation over her captured form.

  “You keep talking.” Zeta wrapped her legs around his waist and linked her ankles over his ass, holding him to her. “I’m taking action.” She pulled him forward as she pushed her hips upward, taking him into her, his girth stretching her.

  “Stars.” She grimaced, forcing him deeper. Her eyes watered and her pussy burned, his shaft filling her as she’d never been filled before, branding her, reshaping her with his size. “Faster.” Her voice thinned, his slow descent torturous.

  Khan thrust and she screamed, clutching his hands, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Shhh…” He held himself still, his cock buried balls-deep inside her. “It is done.” He followed the tear tracks with the flat of his tongue, his tenderness touching her lonely heart.

  Zeta met his gaze and a connection flared between them, raw and rare and doomed, Khan her target, a fugitive to be captured a
nd sold. “Not done.” She rocked, the slide of cock in pussy shallow, the pain tolerable.

  Khan remained motionless, bracing himself above her, allowing Zeta to control their fucking. Her grip on his shaft loosened and the pain faded, her pussy juices easing the wondrous friction.

  As she fucked him, he pressed his lips together, lines appearing between his black eyebrows, fierce emotions flitting across his stern face.

  He controls his passion for me. Zeta’s heart warmed, no other male having ever been so considerate of her well-being. “Let go.” She squeezed his shaft with her pussy muscles. “Take me the way you want to. Make me scream your name, Khan.”

  Khan didn’t move, his jaw jutted stubbornly, the scar on his cheek flashing silver. “Make my body yours,” she demanded, pushing her hips upward.

  “You are mine,” he growled, pushing back, slamming her ass into the rock, delicious heat radiating from the point of contact.

  “Yes.” She arched, pressing her nipples into his hard chest. “More. Make me feel it. Make me feel you.”

  Khan pulled out to his tip. He hovered above her for a heartbeat before thrusting deep, his balls slapping against her ass, his coarse hair tickling her pussy lips.

  “Yes,” she cried out, feeling everything, the veins on his shaft, the interesting ridge at the base of his cock, his breath on her face. His musk filled her nostrils and his body heat enveloped her.

  “Gerel,” Khan murmured that endearment she didn’t know the meaning of and he withdrew, his next thrust harder, deeper. She eagerly rose up to meet him, their hips smacking together, adding more heat, more pain, more satisfaction.

  Khan pounded into her pussy again and again, maintaining a merciless rhythm. He rode her hard, taking her with an unrivalled strength, owning her curves, and Zeta’s passion climbed quickly, raging wilder than a solar flare. She clung to him, digging her boot heels into his ass and gazing up into his primitive face with wonder, having never been fucked so thoroughly, her breasts and ass throbbing from the abuse.