Two women in the procession flanked Moira. “Let us show you to your quarters. I’m Pariri and this is Carila. Our husbands are Rahni’s cousins.”
“Are they Connal’s sons?”
“No, they’re Royce’s sons. He’s Connal’s oldest brother, Fay’s oldest brother, and he’s patriarch of Clan Prowiss.” Pariri laughed. “Don’t try to remember all the names and family relationships now. You’ll only give yourself a headache.”
Moira looked back and forth between these two beauties of Kratak. They both wore elaborate gowns sweeping the floor, and their dark hair fell below their shoulders. Delicate designs patterned their skin. They shamed Moira with her plain functional clothes and her canvas pants. “I guess I have a lot to learn here. I’ve only been on this planet a few days.”
The two women rounded on her and clapped their hands. “You’re from another planet? How exciting! You must tell us all about it. None of us thought Rahni would ever take a mate, and now here you are. It’s the most exciting news we’ve heard in years.”
“Don’t spread it around too much. His own parents don’t know about us yet.”
Pariri laid her hand on Moira’s arm. “Your secret is safe with us. The men are far too busy to bother about a piece of news like that. One of us would have to fly to the next Keep to deliver the news ourselves.”
Moira’s elation deflated. “I’m sorry to say they’ll be even busier when they hear what Rahni and I have to tell them. They’ll have to drop everything else and prepare for a full-scale invasion.”
Pariri waved her hand. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as that. Anyway, Royce and Rarik don’t drop everything for anything they don’t want to. You would have to make a pretty stunning case to catch their attention.”
Rahni appeared at Moira’s side. “Excuse me, ladies, but I have to take Moira away from you.”
Pariri took a step closer and murmured in Moira’s ear. “Get your business finished and meet us in front of your quarters in an hour. We want to hear all about the world you come from.”
The two women flounced away. Their reaction didn’t give her much hope that this Clan would take the Allies threat seriously. She could only hope the patriarch would listen when the news came straight from the Allies representative.
Rahni faced Connal. “Are you sure it’s that bad?”
Connal shook his head. “It’s worse. They never pay attention to anything that doesn’t fit their plans. If anything arises to interfere with what they want, they ignore it. You’ll have a hard time convincing them.”
Rahni turned to Moira. “Behind that door is the Clan Council chamber. We’ll meet my uncles Royce and Rarik. They’re the ones who will give the word to arm the Clan to combat the Allies.”
“I’ll do my best to back you up,” Connal told them, “but I had to warn you before you go in there to hear it for yourself.”
“Thank you. We appreciate your support.”
With a nod, Connal pushed open the heavy wooden door in the passage wall. It opened into a high chamber almost as big as the central hall at Harkniss Keep, and heat plumed up through the floor. Sunlight refracted down through ice lenses in the ceiling to illuminate the hall.
Connal paced across the chamber to a round table in the center. His footsteps rang on the stone floor. Two Kratak men even older than himself stood at the table with stacks of paper spread out before them. The older of the two straightened up and extended his arms to Rahni. “Rahni Harkniss. I heard you landed. You’re welcome, as always. How is your family?”
“My family is just fine, Uncle Royce, but I’m afraid I have bad news. The Allies who sent their representatives to our Clan, under the guise of a research team, have escalated their strategy toward this planet. They have withdrawn their advanced team in favor of a more direct approach.”
Royce glanced at Moira and then at Connal. “And how do you know all this?”
Moira spoke up. “I am the Allies representative.”
Royce frowned. “Then what are you doing here?”
“I’m Rahni’s mate. I came to warn you, so you could prepare for the impending threat. We saw the Allies General with our own eyes. She came to abort the research mission. That can only mean one thing.”
Connal spoke up. “Rowan Harkniss was right about these Allies. They sent their researchers to our planet to open the door to conquest.”
Royce’s voice boomed out through the stillness. “Rowan Harkniss sees threats everywhere. We have no time or resources to chase shadows. If these Allies really meant to invade us, we would know about it. Then we would arm and fight them.”
“We would fight them much better if we prepared now,” Rahni replied. “Warning the other Clans and arming in advance could give us the advantage we need to repel them.”
“When I see some more convincing evidence of a threatened invasion, I will arm.”
“What more convincing evidence do you need than the word of the Allies representative? Moira knows the Allies better than any of us. If she says the Allies plan to escalate, I believe her.”
Royce turned on Moira. “Did you hear your General say she intended to invade?”
“I was across the valley when she landed her shuttle in front of Harkniss Keep. I saw my Commanding Officer and her sister talk to the General before she flew away to Assan Keep to notify our second team.”
“Then you don’t know for certain why she landed. She could have been checking your progress.”
“This mission was supposed to last a year, with the strictest scientific hygiene. Under normal circumstances, the Allied Command would never interfere with this mission, not even to inform one of the team members that their spouse or child had died. General Duncan would not have landed here, a few days after our team began our stay, unless she had reason to abort the mission.”
“Perhaps she aborted the mission for some other reason—budget constraints, or something similar.”
Moira shook her head, but Connal cut her off. “You two wouldn’t act if the Allies bombed this Keep and annihilated half our population. You don’t care about anything but your grand plans to expand this Keep.”
“I’m responsible for everyone in this Keep,” Royce returned. “Maybe in thirty years, when Rarik and I are dead and you become patriarch, you’ll understand what that means. This Keep is too small for the people we already have, and another generation is already filling it up with babies. We have to expand now, or we’ll be sleeping in the passages.”
“We won’t be sleeping anywhere, if the Allies have their way.”
“By your own admission, the Allies sent this research team as a diplomatic overture. They have no desire to engage in a full-scale war to win this planet or they would have blown us to smithereens already. So, they withdrew their advanced team. The next wave will be a more concentrated diplomatic mission to convince us to join them.” He turned to Moira. “Isn’t that right?”
“That’s the way it usually goes.”
“Then we have time to dedicate to the more pressing problem of expanding this Keep before that happens.”
Moira started to say something else, but Rahni laid his hand on her arm. “Come on. This is going nowhere.”
Connal stormed across the hall again, and after he conducted Rahni and Moira back into the passage, he slammed the door. “They’re fools. They always have been. Most people in this Clan want them deposed for incompetence.”
“Then you would be patriarch, Uncle.”
“That will never happen. I don’t have the support, and with Tam and Yorik and their friends, no one can depose Royce.”
“Who are Tam and Yorik?” Moira asked.
“They’re Royce’s oldest sons. Tam is in line to take over from Royce as patriarch. If anyone tried to depose Royce, they would only be putting Tam in charge instead, and we’d be right back where we started.”
Rahni took Moira on his arm. “Thank you for backing us, Uncle. I’m glad someone here believes us.”
�
�I’ve known you since you were tiny, Rahni, and I was always close to your mother. I know you wouldn’t come all this way to warn us if the situation wasn’t serious.”
“Too bad Royce and Rarik don’t feel the same way. You warned us it was useless, but at least we tried.”
“I haven’t given up yet. If what you say is true, someone has to take responsibility for the whole Clan’s safety. We can’t leave the Clan open to attack.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I have to do something.”
Rahni turned away. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I’ll show Moira to our quarters.”
Connal went off one way, and Rahni led Moira through the passages and halls to the far end of the Keep. “Where are we going?”
“I have my own quarters here. I come up here regularly to visit my relatives.”
“Everybody knows you.”
“But not everybody likes me. Be careful around here. A Clan this size always harbors hidden animosity in one form or another. Not everyone who seems to be a friend is one.”
“Pariri and Carila seem nice enough. They were delighted you finally found a mate.”
Rahni didn’t smile the way Moira expected him to. “They’re the ones I mean. Pariri is Tam’s wife and Carila is Yorik’s wife.”
“They said they’re your cousins. Aren’t you on good terms with them?”
Just then, Rahni turned a corner and came face to face with two men his own age. They wore the same clothes as all other Kratak men, and their skin rippled with undulating color patterns. “Rahni Harkniss. We meet again.”
Rahni’s face hardened into a mask of black determination. “Tam. Yorik. It’s good to see you alive and healthy.”
“We hear you’ve been meeting with my father. We hear you’re warning the Clan about some alien invasion.”
“That’s right. This is my mate, Moira. She came from the Allies, and she says they plan to conquer this planet in the near future.”
Yorik let out a low, disgusting chuckle. “Rahni Harkniss has a mate! Haw haw haw! Just wait ‘til the girls find out!”
Tam guffawed in Rahni’s face. Moira clenched her fist on Rahni’s arm, but he never moved a muscle. “Is that what you boys came all the way over here to say to me, or is there something else you want to tell me?”
The smile vanished off Tam’s face. “You’re the oldest son of Rowan Harkniss.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Don’t play stupid. We all know you’re soft in the head, Rahni, or you wouldn’t be living as a dragon on top of a mountain by yourself for the last twenty years, but you’re next in line as patriarch of Clan Harkniss.”
“I doubt that. My brother Rohn will probably take over. I’m too soft in the head to be patriarch.”
“What do you take us for? You didn’t come all the way up here to warn us about any alien invasion.”
“What did I come up here for, then? I’m sorry I can’t remember. I’m soft in the head, so you’ll have to remind me.”
“You came here to take over as patriarch, now that you have a mate. Don’t deny it.”
“Your father Royce is patriarch, the last time I checked, not you, Tam. If I’m taking over, that’s his problem, isn’t it? At the moment, he’s more concerned with expanding the Keep than with any threat to his patriarchy.”
Tam took a step forward. His lips curled back from his teeth, and his skin turned black. “Go out to the roof and fly back the way you came before you wind up in trouble.”
“I’ll never be in trouble from the likes of you, Tam.”
“You don’t belong here with your alien mate. Pack up and get out of here, if you know what’s good for you.”
“Your father is still patriarch here, and he welcomed me here as his sister’s son. No one can tell me to pack up and get out except him.”
“I’ll be patriarch soon enough, and then you better watch out.”
“If you become patriarch of this Clan, Tam, all your relatives better watch out.”
Tam flew at him with his hands outstretched toward Rahni’s throat, but Yorik darted between them and held his brother back. “Don’t soil your hands with him. We’ll handle this another way.”
He dragged his brother away, and the two men disappeared around the corner. Rahni waited until they left before he urged Moira on. “See what I mean?”
“And they’re your own cousins? They’re dangerous.”
“It’s like this in every Keep. People living so close to each other with so many interrelationships going every direction are bound to have some conflicts.”
“What did he mean about you being soft in the head?”
Rahni shrugged. “I’ve become something of a joke around these Keeps. I’m not like the others, who all live in Keeps in their human forms all the time. I’m the only one who wants to live as a dragon.”
“I like you as a dragon. I don’t think you’re soft in the head at all.”
Chapter 7
Rahni led Moira down another endless passage and turned off into a bedroom like the one Haya showed her at Harkniss Keep. He closed the door and slumped down into a chair. “I haven’t spent this much time as a man since I can remember.”
She crossed the room and rested her hand on his shoulder. “I shouldn’t have asked you to bring me here. I wish now I hadn’t. We should have stayed where we were. If we have to live in a Keep, at least we would be around your family. I didn’t realize they would be so hostile to you.”
“I didn’t, either, actually. I thought we would be safe here, that we could hide from the future here. Now I can see that was a mistake.”
“Was it like this the last time you came?”
“It’s never been like this.”
“What changed?”
“First of all, I never asked to speak to my uncles about anything important before, much less an alien invasion. I never brought a mate here before, either. It’s like they said. They never had to take me seriously before. Everybody always knew Rohn would become patriarch after my father died, and I would keep living alone on the mountain like I always did. Now here I am, walking around in human form with a woman on my arm. It’s bound to give Tam the shivers.”
“I don’t think I like everybody talking about me in the same sentence with the term ‘alien invasion’.”
Rahni’s head snapped up, and his eyes flew to her face. Then he broke out in a grin. He grabbed her by the hips and steered her toward him. “You’re my alien.”
She swatted him. “Stop that. I just said I didn’t like it.”
He swept his arms around her hips and pulled her against his chest. He rubbed his chin against her stomach. “I’ll give you an alien invasion, baby. Come here.”
She pretended to struggle, but his rough touch sent a surge of passion to her crotch. She swooned in his arms, even as she pressed against them to escape. “Rahni...”
“That’s it, baby. Say my name. I love it when you say my name like that.”
She panted through her pouting lips, and the blood rushed to her cheeks.
“You can’t fight me, baby. You’re all mine now. Come on. I can see it in your eyes. You want it, don’t you? I know you do.”
He ran his hands down the back of her knees, and her flesh melted. Her cunt yawned open and sobbed for him, and her nipples tightened against her shirt. He breathed into her belly, and the warmth traveled down between her legs to ooze out along her swollen lips.
He scraped up her thighs to her ass and cradled the two globes in his hands. He kneaded them apart and worked his fingers into her crack. “Rahni...”
He purred into her belly, and his face inched lower until his cheek grazed her quivering mons. He hummed into her zipper and moved her hips back and forth across his face. He whispered to her sweet slit hidden under the canvas. “You want it, don’t you? You want me.”
Her head reeled on her neck so she could barely stay upright. He g
ripped her around the legs to hold her up, and her pelvis craned to reach him. He rubbed his head against her vulva and brought her sweet juices flowing to burn down her thighs.
He scooped up her chest to her breasts and manhandled them until she mewed in naked lust. He teased her nipples to two hard nubs. Her pulse pounded in her veins, and she followed his head with her hands, back and forth over her vulva until she couldn’t stand it any longer.
He raised her shirt over her head and let it fall. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, and it brushed the tops of her breasts in sensual curtains. She gazed down at him between the flickering shadows.
He dragged her pants down around her hips to expose her generous ass to his exploring hands. She couldn’t see the alabaster of her own skin through the patterns flashing before her eyes. To her, the patterns covered her skin the same as his. They traveled back and forth between him and her with no interruption.
He unzipped her fly, and the round orb of her belly pooched out to touch his face. He nuzzled along her navel to the indentation where her belly angled down into the tangled hair around her tasty secret buried there. She ran her fingers through his hair in fevered desire. She savored the anticipation of waiting for him at the same she ached for him to finish her off.
His hands burned against her ass, and the flames licked through her pelvis to the tortured leaves unfurling between her legs. With excruciating slow care, he peeled her pants down over her hips, but he left them cinched around her knees and locked her between his gripping thighs.
He bent his head just another inch, just one more inch, and nosed into her nest of delight. He pushed her petals aside with his lips and brought the panting gasps choking from her throat.
He nestled one hand between the pillows of her bound-up thighs, and his palm dissolved her muscles with its heat. He glided up into her saturated tissues, and his fingers found their way into the boiling slit of her cunt. At the same moment, his tongue darted into the gap, and the erotic nectar of his saliva burned its way into her veins.
Rhani (Dragons of Kratak Book 3) Page 5
