DarykRogue

by Denise A. Agnew

  Her jaw sagged as everything inside her protested. “You don’t mean to make good on this…claiming. No decent man would. I only kissed you to make it look like I wanted the claiming.”

  “Too bad, my darling. You should have put more thought into it before you acted.” His words came out sharp and sarcastic. “As it is, you should only feel a little safe from the rest of the men on this ship. They don’t always follow the rules of Dragonian society. If you leave this room without me you take your life in your hands.”

  Rayder turned toward her, his eyes glinting with menace. That’s also when she saw another feature she couldn’t fail to notice. His manhood pressed solidly against his trousers and the material outlined his thick, long cock.

  By the god Magon. Surprise rocked her.

  Flummoxed, she paused to take stock of what she’d experienced. “You’re saying a man might try to…harm me even though you’ve claimed me already?”

  “Anything is possible. As the second-in-command of this ship, I have privileges,” he said. “One is claiming any woman who comes aboard as mine if I so chose. The admiral wanted you. I told him I hadn’t experienced the pleasure of a woman’s touch in many a month and he gave you to me as a gift.”

  Her mouth dropped open, but she was speechless.

  “Tonight,” he said with deadly softness as he smiled, “tonight we will sleep here together.”

  Panic did a mad dance inside her. “You’d take a woman against her will?”

  He glared. “You’ll come to me willingly.”

  Desperate, she said quickly, “You wouldn’t really rob a virgin of her virtue, would you?”

  A cocky smile touched his mouth, but his eyes were hard. “A virgin though you were married? How interesting.” He retraced his steps until he stood so close she felt his heat. “Beware of lying to me. Punishment for liars on this ship is swift and harsh.”

  He left and closed the door with a soft snick.

  Xandra stared at the door, her vision turned inward to the sight of his cock. She hadn’t experienced the wild mix of emotions stalking her at that moment. Trepidation. Amazement. And more disturbing, a curiosity and wild reckless desire that shook her to the core. Rayder Tyrus wanted her sexually, and his thick, long manhood pressing against his trousers had shown her the proof. She’d seen Taris’ cock, but it had been fairly small and had repulsed her. She swallowed hard.

  But this man…well…

  Heat filled her face and flushed all through her body.

  As a younger woman, she’d read some forbidden journals her brother had located in a secret library being run out of a house in Opali, and her knowledge of sex had skyrocketed. Book learning though, was far less scary than seeing evidence of sex firsthand. She’d urged her brother to return the books before they were caught with them, and told him to never show her the journals again. But at night, her rebellious soul had haunted her with dreams of what sex must be like, what delights might be found in something so outlawed and denied by her people.

  Then her wedding night with Taris had come and destroyed all hope that sexual relations could be wonderful and pleasant for all concerned.

  She flopped back against the bed, her mind a jumble, and her body assaulted by unwanted but seemingly unavoidable sensations. Rayder Tyrus’ kiss had ignited her cravings, and the realization he wanted her sexually had taken her off guard. Though she’d heard of these slavers and their horrible penchant for sex, she’d never imagined one wanting her.

  How was she going to escape this mess?

  * * * * *

  “I am fucked,” Rayder whispered as he left his stateroom.

  He took deep breaths as he stared at nothing, knowing his erection would take a while to disappear, and the raging sexual needs of a Daryk One would continue to flow through his blood.

  I’m not a Daryk One anymore.

  No, they had different names for him back in Dragonia and his home at Felican Castle.

  Betrayer.

  Rogue.

  Banished for all time.

  He gritted his teeth, unwilling to think about what he’d sacrificed to accomplish his goal.

  You haven’t accomplished the goal, you fool. That fact burned inside him like hot water, but his raging need for his slave burned brighter.

  That kiss had been necessary, but he could have taken her with a little peck. Instead he’d plunged into her sweetness, tasting her delicious mouth until he’d wanted to drag her into the cabin and fuck her there and then.

  But the reason why she’d aroused him so intensely frightened him more than anything else.

  Xandra Shorenus had worked on his vulnerabilities from the moment he rescued her from the churning black ocean. His first impulse upon seeing people in the water was to help them—living on this ship for almost three years hadn’t destroyed all his humanity. Oh, he’d tried. He’d immersed himself in this world and with the taint of a slave ship came sacrifice. Losing every fucking stitch of his humanity would be easy.

  But more had happened than he expected.

  He’d taken a deep kiss from her because he wanted to stamp ownership on her to protect her from other men, but something astounding and amazing had exploded inside him when he’d kissed her.

  He’d recognized her as his mate.

  The woman he was supposed to be with for all time.

  All the signs were there.

  Then fear had thrown him sideways.

  He didn’t want a mate. Not when his mission wasn’t complete.

  He remembered his mother whispering to him as she lay dying three years ago, “Rayder, my boy, promise me you’ll keep this family alive. Marry. Have children. Don’t let Dragonia die. Don’t let our family die.”

  He couldn’t cry then. Hadn’t allowed himself to cry even though he’d wanted to rage against anything and everything. For his mother. For his dead sister.

  He would fulfill his mother’s dying wish.

  Just not here and now.

  Damn his mother and damn him, and damn Xandra Shorenus.

  He took a shuddering breath as emotions rocketed through him. Sexual frustration mixed with a yearning for Xandra he barely restrained. He swallowed hard. It didn’t matter if his cock was so hard he could pound nails with it. He had the willpower to ignore a woman’s sexual allure even if she was his mate.

  He had work to do. He considered locking his stateroom door, but the men on deck wouldn’t dare enter without his permission. Farcam, who’d accosted Xandra, would be punished when the admiral heard of it. Rayder would make damn sure Farcam wouldn’t consider getting within several feet of her. As men threw sidelong glances at Rayder, he knew they wondered why he’d picked her as his slave. He glared at them and continued his rounds about the deck. As he walked, he pondered his situation.

  Yes. Fucked described him if he didn’t take care. The admiral had questioned his motivations for wanting the woman. After all, two of the women below in the hold had bigger breasts. Rounder hips. More uniform features. Tasty morsels, as the admiral had said, licking his lips as he did so. The man was scum. Filthy fucking pond scum. He wanted to hang the—

  He stopped that train of thought. He needed to keep in mind that his job here wasn’t done. Might take months longer. Years longer. Just killing Admiral Karman Aramus wouldn’t solve the problem. Other slavers would take his place.

  Yes, but Aramus is the one you want.

  Still, he couldn’t afford mistakes. He’d made far too many over the last years. Revenge burned deep in his heart, and in the back of that emotion lay shame. Burning, unrelenting and impossible to ignore for long. Perhaps, if he sailed on this forsaken craft long enough, he’d pay enough penitence.

  His mind turned back to Xandra as he walked to the railing and gripped it.

  Taris Elian. Obviously she’d disliked this Taris Elian with a fury evident in the way her eyes had burned. She’d seemed relieved her husband was dead. Simply because it was an arranged attachment? That hardly seemed enough to p
rocure such wrath. She’d said she’d escaped him, so it was obvious whatever the man had done she hadn’t liked it.

  It didn’t matter now. If the man had survived, Rayder would have fought the other for her.

  And her husband would have lost.

  Fuck me. Yeah, the realization disturbed Rayder down to the core. He’d never fought another man for a woman. He’d fought men who’d tried to take advantage of a woman on more than one occasion. He wouldn’t tolerate a man abusing a woman if he could prevent it.

  Better Xandra didn’t know that however. It might keep her in line if she thought he was a cad of the first order.

  Never mind. He needed to think about his main goals, and not the woman in his cabin. He returned from inward thoughts to his surroundings.

  Ocean spray dewed everything. Taracore birds sailed high in the sky, their calls horrible screeches as they traveled the air. The menacing, large creatures had tried landing on deck once recently and had torn the ear off one sailor. Only swift action had saved the man from being carried off into the sky and certain death.

  Rayder winced. His world presented dangers far too numerous to mention, but he’d have to instruct Xandra. If she fell prey to one of those birds or one of these scurvy men again…

  No, nothing would happen to another innocent. He’d see to that.

  The sea was rough after the storm yesterday, and the god Draconus only knew this cursed ship could have been destroyed by the rogue wave too. Perhaps the massive size of the slaver ship had assured its safety. The Beast had plowed the sea for dozens of years, raping and pillaging these waters. Since Rayder had joined this crew, he’d learned valuable lessons. Never allow the slaves to become more important than his mission.

  His one and only mission in life.

  Xandra Shorenus, though, had touched something he couldn’t afford to have touched. Her delicate features were young. She couldn’t be more than one and twenty-five to his thirty. Blue eyes ringed by long golden lashes had sparked with fire at him, stirring his libido as quickly as his indignation. A small bruise on her right cheekbone hadn’t marred the smooth rosy touch to her skin. Tangled red-blonde hair fringed over her forehead and trailed around her shoulders, thick and tempting. She needed a bath to wash away the ocean, and he’d make sure she received one as soon as possible. She was tall, but his large frame still dwarfed her slim body. He’d watched her small hands move, expressive in agitation, her grace evident even when she’d suffered the elements and the brutal choking. The piece of filth who’d touched her would pay dearly. Rayder gripped the railing and battled with anger. He could have Farcam killed. Execute him with a single blow. But he couldn’t afford to allow his reaction to Xandra to fuel too many questions.

  She was property, and that was the end of it.

  Any man who dared touch her would find death at the end of his sword, and they all knew it.

  “There you are.” The voice nearby came from Rayder’s left side and footsteps approached cautiously.

  Rayder took a steadying breath as the man he hated more than anyone on Protican came toward him. He turned toward Admiral Karman Aramus. “Admiral.”

  The rogue Daryk One approached him, his height intimidating. The admiral remained stalwart despite his advanced age of sixty-five. He’d lived a long time and seen too much, and Rayder wanted to end the man in the worst possible way. His head of thick gray hair hung in a flowing mane over his broad shoulders. He wore a long-sleeved black tunic open at the chest. His breeches were loose and gathered at the bottom by boots. Gray eyes, hard and intense, reviewed Rayder with a critical eye.

  “I understand you fought over your slave woman. Am I to understand that she’s not only your slave but your mate?”

  Rayder swallowed, ready to lie and lie again, just as he did every day he set foot on this deck. “As a former Daryk One, I claimed her this very day as my intended. She’s my mate.”

  The admiral smiled. “Congratulations. Then you shall marry her.”

  Chapter Three

  Rayder stared at Admiral Aramus with disbelief. “Sir?”

  The admiral tucked his thumbs in his belt and strode confidently toward Rayder. “If she is your mate, you must marry her.”

  Rayder had to wiggle out of this. He couldn’t deny he planned to protect his mate. But he’d do the same for any innocent woman, wouldn’t he? He’d want to do anything he could to assist her. His gut clenched with guilt. He hadn’t protected every innocent on this ship, at least not as well as he would have liked.

  It wasn’t convenient for her to be his mate now, damn the hells.

  Rayder recalled everything he’d heard about Dragonian mates.

  Powerful needs, both emotional and sexual, overwhelm the individuals.

  The man’s protective instincts become uncontrollable. He will do anything to protect his mate, including kill.

  There is no other mate but one to the other. They are as one.

  These signs are undeniable and almost immediate upon meeting and touching the mate.

  Rayder’s jaw clenched as he struggled with unwanted possibilities. He didn’t want her to be his mate…but…

  The admiral chuckled. “Why so reluctant? We shall have Suteras Carna do the ceremony.”

  Rayder couldn’t deny that Suteras could do the ceremony as the designated religious man of the ship, but Rayder didn’t take to religion or ceremony the way most Dragonians did. Before Rayder could object, the admiral gestured at a younger man who was fixing some ropes nearby.

  “Jonala, fetch Suteras. I have business with him.”

  As the young man ran to find Suteras, Rayder posed another objection. “I’ve claimed her for sex, not as a true mate. You take women other than your wife for sex.”

  The admiral nodded. “Naturally. But my wife is not my mate.” He shrugged. “My wife is a mistake. I have thought of selling her.”

  Rayder’s disgust rose high, burning inside him like hot coals. “Bound by marriage, you cannot sell her. Besides, you said she was your mate.”

  “I was mistaken.”

  Rayder couldn’t restrain the words. “You can’t be mistaken.”

  The admiral’s stance widened, his thin legs stalwart against the roll of the deck, his mouth a firm line and a muscle twitching next to his right eye. “You’ve seen how she is with me. She hates me. That is not a true mate. I made a mistake. You are a good slaver, Rayder, but you aren’t the admiral of this ship. What I say is law.”

  Rayder swallowed around his ire and contained his desire to throttle the man. “Of course.”

  Suteras Carna appeared around the corner, his rotund, short body rolling in a strange staggered gait. “You called for me, Admiral?”

  The admiral slapped the man on the shoulder. “Ah, good to see you, Suteras. We have a wedding to plan.”

  Suteras’ pudgy face made is age indeterminate. “Who?” His gaze flicked to Rayder. “Surely not you?”

  Rayder tossed a contemptuous look the man’s way. “I don’t think it’s necessary.”

  Admiral Aramus frowned deeply, his patience apparently wearing thin. “You will wed your slave girl. Today.”

  Rayder’s mind raced for a way around this marriage sham, but he couldn’t think of a way. Suteras might also work on a slave ship, but as a designated religious man, he could perform the weddings anywhere, and the ceremony would hold up under Dragonian law. Rayder was forced to go along with the sham. He could protect the woman in his quarters with law on his side, and after he’d taken down Admiral Aramus, he would release Xandra from the fake marriage. He wouldn’t take her sexually. After all, his threat to sleep with her tonight had been meant to keep her in line.

  Besides the fact he knew if he did have sex with her, she would be bound more tightly to him than anything he’d experienced. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his revenge. On the true reason he was on this damn ship.

  “Fine. A marriage,” Rayder said. “But give me until tomorrow. Does your wife have an ap
propriate dress for Xandra?”

  The admiral’s expression eased into satisfaction at his triumph. “I will ask her.”

  Rayder’s jaw clenched. “My betrothed needs a bath. I need a tub brought to my quarters.”

  A leering smile spread over the admiral’s mouth. “Done. I’ll have it sent immediately. In the meantime, we have business to attend to.”

  Glad to leave nuptials conversation, Rayder said, “Of course, Admiral.”

  The ship rocked under their feet, and Rayder saw gray clouds turning darker on the horizon. White caps rolled, a sure sign rougher waters would soon pummel the ship.

  The admiral noticed the storm and growled. “Humph. Another storm is coming. The seer told me this morning this storm is worse than yesterday’s.”

  Rayder didn’t believe the seer knew better than mariners, but he didn’t argue the point. No, he had other plans. “The wind is blowing east and it’ll steer us toward Dragonia. We could put into shore for supplies.”

  Aramus turned a gaze full of speculation toward the horizon. “We’ll see how the storm blows. If the seer is right, you will stop near Drakus Fina’s camp and partake of his hospitality. Otherwise, we will stay as always on the ocean where we belong.”

  “Very well. What business did you wish to discuss?”

  Aramus stopped wandering across the deck, the imperious tilt of his head said he felt in control. And damn him to the hells, the man was in control with a hard fist and ruthless cruelty. Aramus wouldn’t fail to harm his wife or the slaves belowdecks, and he wouldn’t hesitate to harm Xandra.

  By the god, the admiral wouldn’t harm Xandra. Rayder wouldn’t tolerate it. His fists tightened at his sides as he warred against the pressure building inside that demanded action. Rayder had a stake, a horrible stake in how this all played out. He wouldn’t turn from his mission and his real reason for being on the Beast even if he married a woman he’d known less than two days. It was all a part of the mirage. He could do this. He could do anything to reach his final goal.

  Rayder waited as impatience ate at his heels. “Admiral?”

  The man turned toward Rayder and smiled. “When you enter Drakus’ camp to get supplies, you must simper like a little girl to get what we want.”