She rolled her eyes and rose to her feet. Close to the feces pit a few beds remained free. She was tired enough the smell wouldn’t stop her from sleeping.
Peder’s hand snaked around her wrist and pulled her back into his arms. “Where are you going?”
She pointed over her shoulder to her intended destination.
His brow furrowed. “You stay with me.” She’d never heard him sound so angry. “You’re mine.”
She’d never had a male make such a claim. If they’d been at home, her father would have put a stop to it, but she didn’t have him anymore. Her heart drummed. She actually didn’t mind Peder’s attitude.
He blushed but still held her gaze as if her equal. Definitely not omega-like behavior. Any other time, an omega would have let go and dropped their gaze. Dark moon, an omega wouldn’t have dared grab a hunter to begin with.
“To protect, understand?”
She dropped to her knees in front of him and growled, gripping his hair. “You have it all wrong, sweet male. You’re mine.”
Chapter Fourteen
On his horse, Benic followed Ahote. The shifter hadn’t been happy about stopping at his castle first until he’d offered Ahote provisions. Dried meat was the way to any hunter’s heart. Benic had needed to inform his chamberlain that he’d be going on a few days’ journey.
Ahote carried a pack on his back with spare clothes and the food Benic had provided. The shifter presently raced in feral form in great loping strides. His midnight fur was Inacio’s wet dream.
Benic sighed. His incubus had thrown the fit of all fits when he told him he couldn’t come. Inacio was great for parties and shopping, but not on a slaver hunt. The poor thing had had his share of suffering at slaver hands. Benic wouldn’t even discuss the situation with him and bring back sore memories. When he returned and had time to woo Inacio with mulled wine and fine dragon silks, he would explain why he’d left him behind.
They’d departed the forest the previous evening and were now crossing the grasslands between his home and New Berg. It had been well over a day since Kele had been taken.
“Is their scent still strong?” Benic gripped the pommel of his sword.
“Like a blazing path. They weren’t trying to hide their passing whatsoever,” Ahote shouted over his shoulder. “I guess they weren’t worried about your retaliation.”
He ground his teeth and almost chipped a fang. The last thing he wanted to do was agree with this specific male. The slavers had grown bold and he’d grown lazy.
Ahote stopped in a clearing of crushed vegetation. His nose to the ground, he circled around the area.
Benic dismounted his horse well before the clearing. The animal tolerated Ahote but that was as far as their relationship would go. Pacing the old campground, he noted fire pits. He knelt next to one of them and touched the cold coals. “They’ve been gone awhile.” Something sparkled in the sunlight a few inches from his feet. He ran his fingers through the grass until they hit a solid metallic object. He pulled out the ruby pendant he’d given Kele. He covered his mouth and sensed the blood draining from his face. One of the slavers must have dropped it there by the fireside. She’d worn it to her mating ceremony.
She’d been thinking of him after all.
He pocketed the jewelry and closed his eyes for a moment. I am coming Kele. Stay strong.
“I smell Payami mingled with other shifters.” He snuffled a specific spot. “Here. Kele was lying here, and I’m pretty sure Peder’s scent is next to hers.”
Benic’s heart warred with itself. She lived but in another’s arms. Fuck.
“I smell blood.” Ahote tracked back and forth over the area. “Just traces here, but it grows stronger this way.” He took off at a run, nose to the ground.
Benic tried to keep pace but he couldn’t compete with four legs.
A howl split the air and he drew his sword, ready to decapitate any who attacked. With his weapon held at the ready, he crested the hill and stumbled to a stop. He rested his sword tip on the ground and caught his breath.
Ahote hovered over the dead body of a young, pretty female.
“Do you know her?”
He shook his big furry head. “No, she doesn’t smell like any pack I know.” He traced obvious puncture wounds on her neck and wrists. “Savages. They didn’t have to kill her.” Gently, he closed her eyes. “Do you have a spade?”
“What? No. We don’t have time to dig a grave.” He sheathed his sword.
“We will not leave her to rot in the elements. Someone loved her.” He rose to his hind legs and crossed his arms. “She was someone’s child, sister, maybe a mother. The least we can offer is a shallow grave.”
May God have mercy on his soul for thinking this fool would be a good ally. Muscle and hormones ruled this hunter like most of his ilk. “Very well, how do you propose we dig?”
“Don’t worry, vampire.” He spat out the last word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. “I will do it with my hands. Your soft hands don’t have to get dirty.”
Ahote pierced the soil with his claws and began to move the dirt.
“We’re wasting time. They could be sold by the time we get to New Berg.” What would Sorin do if they returned empty-handed? That alpha had the balls to breach his castle and sneak into his tower. Ahote was a fool, but not Sorin. Benic would never be able to sleep again.
“It would go faster if you shut up and helped instead.”
He unfastened his sword belt and tossed it on the grass along with his fine, leather jacket. “Move over.” He got down on his knees and dug with his fucking fingers.
Ahote slowed and stared.
“Well, don’t stop now. Let’s get this over with.” He scooped out the loose soil and piled it on the edge.
“You know Kele won’t ever consent to marry you.”
He stopped and threw a clump at Ahote. “What does that have to do with digging this grave?” Leaning forward, he met his blue-eyed wolf glare. “What do you know about love?”
He shrugged. “That it’s not worth it. Look at you, a lord on his knees digging in the dirt. Never thought I’d see the day.” He continued digging deeper and kept silent.
Good thing he did. As if Benic had never dug a hole. Granted, this was the first grave he’d burrowed with his bare hands. Next thing he knew he’d be wearing leather kilts and spewing things about pack life being the only honest way to live. He scowled.
Vampire society brought civility and knowledge wherever it alighted in these wild lands. South Amerigo and Afrika were excellent examples. If not for vampires, these places would still be torn by war. They spread peace and learning.
His gaze landed on the dead female. Some of them did, not all.
“That’s deep enough.” Ahote rose to his feet and lifted the small female into her unmarked grave. Someone had loved her and didn’t even know she’d passed into the dark. Ahote turned his back on him to brush dirt off his fur.
Benic made a quick sign of the cross over her body and murmured a fast prayer under his breath.
“You never came across as religious, Benic.” Ahote gave him a very wolfish grin.
“I’m not.” He pushed the dirt over her body. Damn it, he’d hoped he hadn’t seen. “But I don’t see how it would hurt.”
“You never sent your priests into the forest to convert us. Why?”
He shrugged. “They’re not my priests. You have your Goddess. Who’s to say you’re wrong and we’re right? Maybe they’re both the same thing.”
“Don’t ever say that to Kele.” With that, the hunter ran off. Nose to the ground again.
Benic had to run back to his horse and gallop to keep him in visual range. Kele. What had those slavers done to her?
Chapter Fifteen
Kele’s small hands fisted in his hair. Peder loved this possessive gesture. The female he’d left months ago had seemed a girl still. She definitely acted full grown now. If only they were in his den. He wouldn’t take her here.
Not her first time. He wouldn’t let this prison sully her memories of him, even if that meant he never got a chance to fulfill their desires.
He lay down and drew her next to him so she was against the wall, sheltered from prying eyes.
Darkness engulfed them quickly, especially without any fires or torches for light. The rustle of leather and chain mail served as their lullaby as the guards moved around the compound.
Kele ran her hand over his shoulder, traced the lines of the muscles in his arm, then jumped her hand to his stomach to slide over his chest.
Untouched by a male. He closed his eyes. If he’d only known, he wouldn’t have nipped her or kissed her so hard. She must think him without finesse or skill, but it was actually the opposite. He’d been a lover to many shifters. With practice came excellence.
Her fingers brushed his nipple and he moaned. She lowered her head and kissed his neck with a shy peck. “Is this okay?”
Fuck yes. “Don’t stop.” Keeping his hands on her hips grew more difficult. He’d been with virgins when he was younger, but this was Kele—who had long been the goddess of his fantasies.
She continued exploring his skin with her mouth. When she reached the pulse in his throat, she took a tiny gentle bite.
He jerked her hips against his. His cock tented his kilt as he rocked against her. All he had to do was lift the hem of her dress and thrust. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Peder?” she whispered in his ear. Her hot breath trailed over his skin.
“Yes.”
She fiddled with the ends of his hair. “Um, can I touch it?”
He went rock still. “It?”
Her hand wandered toward his stomach, trailing her palm in the fine hair that drew a line from his navel to below. She hesitated at his kilt.
“Yes, yes.” He nodded just in case she’d gone deaf. He pressed his hands against the wall behind her. They could play at touching. He could keep himself from going too far.
Her hands found their way under his clothes and tentative fingertips brushed his hard length.
He hissed at the sudden contact. His cock ached and throbbed with the need to be gripped and tugged. He hadn’t accepted a lover since he’d rescued Kele from Benic’s castle. No sex for months. It was unheard of, and he wanted her so bad he could taste his own arousal in the air.
She jerked away. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, you couldn’t if you tried.” Well, maybe with a sharp object, but they’d cover the basics tonight. “Let me show you how.” He slid her slim fingers back to his cock and wrapped them where they belonged. “Squeeze a little.” The pressure grew and the air seemed to vanish around him. “More. Oh yes, like that. Now stroke.” He guided her hand up and down until she found her own rhythm.
He returned his hands to the wall and watched the wonder in her face.
“It’s so hard.”
Oh yes, he was.
She quickened her pace and squeezed tighter. “But your skin is so soft.” Her hips moved with her strokes as if she imagined him inside her.
Fucking close to coming too, he wanted to touch her. He slipped his hand under her hem.
“Peder?”
“Shh, if you don’t like it, tell me to stop.” He spread her legs enough to allow his fingers to brush along the lips of her pussy. “More?”
She bobbed her head quickly.
He spread his fingers and slid them along inside of her folds. Back and forth with the same rhythm she fondled him with. “You feel like a dream.”
“More.” She shifted her leg over his thigh and opened her pussy for his exploration.
With his thumb, he rubbed her clit. The small noises she made drove him mad. He captured her mouth in a kiss. Thrusting inside with a rigid tongue, he mimicked what he wanted to do to her with his cock. Fast and hard, he took her to another level and pressed her into the pallet.
She rocked her hips and pulled on his cock as if it were a lifeline.
Kele couldn’t catch her breath. It was if she was running a race but on her back. Her hips had taken on a life of their own and rolled with an agility she hadn’t thought possible. She’d brought herself to completion before so she wasn’t unaware of what Peder was doing, but he did it so much better.
Small noises of pleasure escaped her control. She didn’t want anyone hearing them but she would need to shove her dress in her mouth to make it stop.
Peder’s talented fingers skirted her entrance.
Oh yes, she wished he’d hurry. His cock grew ever harder within her hand and pulsed as she squeezed.
“Kele, I’m so close.” He pressed a finger inside her very slowly. “Fuck, you’re so tight.”
She was so confined under him. She barely had enough room to move the hand that pleasured him. Surprisingly, she liked Peder acting this way. One of them had to take control and it wouldn’t be her. She hadn’t a clue how she would have seduced him.
With a gradual increase, Peder pumped his digit in her and managed to still rub against that special spot.
Something in her lower stomach clenched tight and she arched her back. Oh, how she wished these recent months hadn’t been stolen from them.
“Am I hurting you?” he murmured in her ear in a breathless voice.
“No. I want you.” She kissed him with the same hunger he’d shown her. She was a fast study. With her free hand, she gripped the back of his head and pressed their mouths together in a clash of teeth. All he had to do was roll a little closer to settle between her legs.
He shook his head while keeping their mouths locked. Bending his finger, he rubbed a spot inside of her with firm strokes.
Lights flashed inside her eyelids as her climax pinnacled and crashed around her. She bucked against Peder but he held her in place with a strength she appreciated.
Peder groaned as warm liquid splashed her thighs and his member spasmed in her hand. His drew slightly away from her and slowed the exploration of her mouth with less invasive lips.
She caught her breath and wrapped him in a hug. “I don’t care about the others anymore, Peder. Take me like a mate.” This could be their last night together. They didn’t know what would happen in the morning. Either of them could be sold.
He drew in a long, shaky breath and looked around the holding pen. The scent of refuse had grown strong with the shift of the wind. It mingled with smells of unwashed shifters. “Here?” Sadness deepened his voice. “This wasn’t how I pictured our first time.”
She laughed before she could muffle the sound. “Nor I. You did think of me?” She tucked his hair behind his ear so she could see the classic lines of his face. So breathtakingly handsome. What would Mother have said if she’d brought him home?
The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “Yes, I gave it much thought. Sometimes three times a day.”
A flush of heat spread across her cheeks. Hopefully, the night hid it from his view. “That seems excessive.”
He rolled his hips so his hardening cock nudged her side, then leaned in close to whisper in her ear, “Not really.” He cupped one of her breasts in his hand. “Let me show you.”
Desire bloomed the moment he touched her, even over her clothes. “Yes.”
He bent his head over hers. “No matter what happens, Kele, I will always be yours.”
Her breath hitched in her throat. “And I yours.” The words came out rough. Tonight was all they’d ever have.
Someone coughed and groaned next to them. “Kele?”
They both jerked at the sound of Nahuel’s voice.
“Oh, my head. What hit me?”
Another shifter shushed him from across the room.
Peder rolled off and helped her to her feet before they both approached the injured hunter.
She knelt next to him. “You took a nasty hit. You’ve been out for hours.”
He rubbed his head. “I think I might throw up.”
Peder scooped the bigger male in his arms and helped him walk to edges of the pen, wher
e Nahuel promptly lost his stomach contents. Peder rubbed his back and tossed her an apologetic smile.
So much for their last night together.
Chapter Sixteen
The Temple hall was filled with shadows that moved. Kele stood in the doorway with her feet rooted to the stone as a chill seeped into her soul. No clouds dotted the clear blue sky above, so where did all these shadows come from? Hesitant, she lifted her hand to touch the darkness. It slid over her skin cool and smooth like dragon silk.
Something roiled and surged to cover her flesh and she jerked away. The bulge formed into an ambiguous face. Peering closer, she watched as it became more detailed.
“Papa?”
His eyelids opened and empty sockets stared at her as his mouth yawned into a silent scream.
She bolted up, waking from the nightmare. Sweat coated her skin and her blood pumped so loud she couldn’t hear anything. She rubbed her tired eyes and blinked to refocus. She sat on a pallet on the floor of a prison.
And her parents were still dead.
Nahuel had fallen asleep at some point after she’d retreated to sleep. He’d retched the rest of the night with Peder at his side. She flopped back on the pallet and let her gaze wander around the holding cell.
There he was.
Peder stood by the bars, conversing with a guard. He reached between and touched the vampire’s arm and gave him a shy smile.
The guard laughed as he unhooked a water skin from his belt and handed it to Peder. He seemed nervous as he reached through the bars to stroke her male’s hair.
A growl tore out of her chest and before she knew it, she’d shifted and stormed across the pen with her dress torn yet clinging precariously to her body. Mine. She swiped her claws at the guard but he’d jumped out of her reach.
“Kele!” Peder inserted himself between her and the guard. In his civil form, he couldn’t match her in strength. Instead, he petted her fur and murmured things in her ears. “It’s okay. Shhh. It’s okay. Stop snarling like that. You’ll draw Timothy out. Come on now. Shift to civil form.”
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