by Marie Harte
The deep voice shouldn’t have caught her by surprise. That it had increased her need to distance herself from the male sexuality fogging up the hut. A heightened sense of preservation jacked her psychic skills. Time to put her useless-in-the-fashion-world talent to work.
She turned slowly, giving herself time to regain her focus and balance. To her bemusement, the action behind her grew louder. Maht either hadn’t heard the intruders or didn’t care.
She heard Lisa cry out and cringed when the giants facing her grinned.
Definitely barbarians, but from what clan she didn’t know. These two looked somewhat different than the warriors she’d seen guarding Welcome’s gates. Like the others, they had similar coloring. Instead of flesh-colored tattoos, though, they had swirling symbols in red and orange that seemed to shift when they moved. They had a hardness to their gazes. Not just a fierceness, but she sensed a buried threat. She narrowed her eyes and looked deeper—with her psychic sense.
Oh hell. They reveled in causing pain, found it sexually gratifying. A deeper psychic probe told her more than she wanted to know. Ew. Okay, not going to be best friends with these guys, then.
She widened her stance and bent her knees while releasing her pack to the ground. She had no weapon handy. But then, phasers didn’t work in the East, and she didn’t think a knife would be a smart choice with these guys. Something larger, a staff or club to keep them at an arm’s length, at least, while she studied their moves to counterattack.
Neither of them had made any threatening gestures. Yet. But her ingrained senses warned of an impending fight.
“Who are you?” the one with the scar down his face asked.
“Who are you?” she retorted.
The pair chuckled, and the one with slashing orange tattoos down his chest stepped closer. “We are the guardians of the East…offworlder.” He took a good hard sniff, and his eyes narrowed. “You are different.” He nodded to his friend. “Like the one in there, I think.”
“Ah.” Scarface grinned. “So we have double the prize tonight.”
Considering she’d never been called a prize before, Skye wanted to preen a little. But anything these two wanted to celebrate had to be bad. Scarface didn’t give any warning before he attacked. He came at her with a blow that would have snapped her head back and knocked her on her ass, unconscious. But she caught a slight hint of violence before it happened and dodged the attack.
She countered with a sharp kick to his knees that surprised him into falling back.
His friend guffawed. “Got you there, Fleen.”
“Fuck off.”
She had no problem translating the easy banter between warriors. And she was ready for Slash’s move. While Fleen got to his feet, Slash barreled into her and slammed her to the ground. Poised over her, he loomed with a large grin, his incisors a little too sharp for comfort. Had he filed them or been born with fangs? She didn’t recall the barbarians she’d studied about being vampiric in any way.
“Such an easy conquest.” Slash snorted and turned to face Fleen. “You see how I—”
Sensing a vulnerability at his throat when he turned his head, she struck with the side of her hand in four rapid chops, then drew her knees in and kicked out, hitting him in the stomach.
Slash coughed and flew back when she added a telekinetic push.
“Ah, not so easy, is she?” Fleen stood and planted his hands on his hips. “She’s full of surprises, but you can handle her while I grab the other one.”
Slash growled low in his throat while she rushed to her feet. With Fleen heading toward the hut and Lisa, Skye knew she couldn’t wait much longer. She made the first move this time, diving to the ground at Slash’s feet and tucking and rolling, knocking him over. As he hit the ground, she hurried out of range, avoiding his return kick. She used the offensive skills she’d mastered on Earth and managed to put Slash in a chokehold, working to sever the flow of oxygen to his brain.
Unfortunately his thick neck made that virtually impossible. It did serve to enrage him, though. While they struggled, she heard a roar from the hut and the sound of fighting. With any luck, Lisa had gotten to safety while Maht dealt with Fleen.
Worried that if she didn’t hurry, more enemy barbarians might arrive, Skye stepped it up. She delved deeper into Slash with her inner senses, absorbing the knowing of his movements. Fleen and Maht broke through the wooden door of the hut, grappling a few feet away. She watched them out of the corner of her eye and maneuvered out of Slash’s hold. He almost had her by the throat until she exploded into action.
Kicking, shifting weight, and manipulating the tricky barbarian into a weakened position, she knocked him out cold. She didn’t stop moving and grabbed Fleen before he could attack Maht again. She tossed him against a tree, simultaneously slamming his thick head while telepathically pinching his sensitive nyal nerve, severing oxygen to his brain. He dropped like a stone. Well, more like a boulder.
Before she could celebrate, Maht grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her against a tree. No doubt he meant to be gentle, because he hadn’t used half the strength with her she’d seen him use on Fleen. But the jarring hit against the tree winded her.
She wheezed, trying to catch her breath.
“Female, you interrupt at your peril.” His eyes glowed, and a hint of red disturbed the pooling gold at the orbs’ centers. He took a deep whiff, then eased his grip. “What—”
Before he could finish the thought, she headbutted him, and he slumped over and swore. She pulled her knees up and shoved, hitting the center of his steely abdomen. Then she pushed, physically and mentally.
He flew straight up a good ten feet then came crashing down.
He hit hard but rolled to his feet, stunned but not done. Jesus. What does it take to put this guy down?
“Maht, Skye, no!” Lisa shouted.
The distraction took Maht’s attention for the split second Skye needed to knock the big bastard back to the ground. She psychically drew from him with a skill she hadn’t realized she possessed. A few well-placed punches and he was finally out.
She worked to catch her breath, feeling sore in places. Damn, but even at home against the best fighters she’d ever faced, she’d never been challenged like this.
“What did you do?” Lisa shrieked, crying, and raced to Maht’s side. Fortunately, she’d taken time to don an overlarge shirt.
“What?” Skye panted. “You’re welcome. Oh, no, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Lisa started babbling, “I’m just… We’re mating. Mated, I think. God, Skye. I don’t know what to do. I need to go back, but I don’t think I can now. I love him—I think. And I might be pregnant.”
“Whoa. What?”
Before Lisa could expound upon the craziness, more barbarians entered the scene. These two didn’t give off the ugly vibe Fleen and Slash had. But their intensity was palpable. Skye shook with the vibration of violence and sensed like calling to like, especially when she looked into the gaze of the taller of the two.
“What is all this?” the shorter one asked. Shorter one. Ha. He still topped her by a good foot and a half.
“A very good question,” Hottie the Barbarian answered. He wore authority well, and she had the impression he was of higher rank. She couldn’t be certain, but he felt more…dangerous.
Both men wore standard barbarian gear, and heavens, but those loincloths really did reveal a great deal of sexy man-ass. When Hottie shifted, she couldn’t help noticing his front matched his back in the Holy Hannah department.
Hottie’s lips quirked when he noticed her attention, and she swore under her breath, bemused that she couldn’t seem to control her libido around these people.
His friend pointed at Lisa and grinned. “Maht’s mate.” He laughed at Lisa’s blush. “You have been well-pleasured, female. The look suits you.”
“Zehn.” Hottie sighed. “We’ll figure this out back at home. You, female—” he motione
d to Lisa “—come with us.” Then he crooked a finger at Skye. “You as well. We will settle this matter at home.”
“I don’t think so.” Skye straightened and rested on the balls of her feet, buzzing and ready to go again. “Lisa and I are part of the resort. We’re offworlders,” she emphasized. “We know you guys don’t mingle with those not of your tribe, so we’re heading back to Welcome. Now.”
Lisa continued to sniffle even as she stood on shaky legs. “Skye, I don’t know…”
“Lisa, you are Maht’s female.” Zehn nodded. “He has made an excellent choice. You are most pleasing.”
“Thanks.” There went Lisa, blushing and fawning just because a hot guy told her she looked good.
Skye glared at the pair. “Lisa, we have to go.”
Slowly, the smiles faded. Zehn cocked his head and he studied her. “Xaveht, do you sense something different about them? Especially that one?” He nodded at her.
“About the light-haired one?” Hottie—Xaveht—asked, all but ignoring Lisa now. That should have been a good thing.
Skye knew it wasn’t.
“Yes.” Zehn frowned. He stepped toward Lisa, as if to grab her, and Skye rushed into action. She kicked him back while pushing Lisa behind her.
“Lisa, grab my pack and follow the course-finder back to the resort. Go.”
“But, Maht…”
“Damn it. We’ll sort it all out later. In the safety of the resort. Go.”
The men didn’t give Lisa a second look. Their concentration on Skye made her fuzzy for a moment, awash in tactical energy. Assessing, watching, planning. They felt like a well-oiled machine and acted like one unit as they fanned out to flank her.
“Hell no.” She turned and attacked the weaker of the two—Zehn—first. Once she had him on the ground, she turned to face Xaveht but found him gone. “Shit.” He must have darted after Lisa.
She turned to leave Zehn but ended up running smack into Xaveht’s chest. Where the hell had he come from? His arms wrapped around her like steel bands. As she struggled with Xaveht, she heard him order Zehn to capture Lisa.
Skye fought harder, but no matter how she tried to tap into Xaveht’s moves and escape, she couldn’t break free. Unlike Zehn, Xaveht had a tighter, less manageable energy.
So she used her telekinesis to kick him in the balls.
His eyes widened and his hold loosened, but not enough for her to go completely free.
“Female, you surprise me.” The bastard had the nerve to grin at her.
Laughing at her, like the chauvinistic fools back on Earth had. Before she’d kicked their asses.
She tried to headbutt him and threw herself right out of his grasp when he suddenly wasn’t there. Seconds later, as she tried to rise to her feet, he knocked her back to the ground. She struggled, managed to find a few tendrils of his ability to call her own and grappled with him, feeling like a slippery eel he had trouble catching.
“Female, cease.” He sounded annoyed and no longer smiled.
Not that his lack of a grin made him any less appealing.
She hated that she found him more attractive, especially because she couldn’t help noticing how firm he was. Everywhere. They rolled, and his imposing erection ground against her while he tried to hold her closer.
He muttered something under his breath that sounded lyrical, something she couldn’t understand even with her translation capability. Then, before she could figure out how to escape his hold, he pinned her under him, hard body and all, and kissed her.
The press of his lips stole her entire ability to do more than respond. He felt so good. He tasted like peppermint cocoa, which kind of freaked her out, because it was her favorite taste in the world. And she sipped it from his firm, arousing lips.
He dragged her closer, his big hands gripping her ass to pull her tighter against that insistent part of him. Even as she gave one last, valiant effort to squirm away, he deepened the kiss with a moan and shoved between her legs, pressing her clit with that massive cock barely contained by his loincloth.
“Oh,” was the only thing she could manage when he trailed kisses down her lips to her neck and sucked. He took one hand from her ass so that he could squeeze her breast, and she nearly came from the delightful pressure. Xaveht was so aggressive and strong, not easily manipulated. He was her dream man come to life.
And part of the clan trying to claim rights to her friend. Forever.
Reason threatened to reassert itself, and she knew she had to get away. Then his magical hand left her breast to encircle her neck. She knew the danger he imposed, yet her arousal blossomed instead of disappearing in a wave of terror.
“No,” she breathed when he leaned back to stare down at her. She caught a glimpse of red in the gold center of his eyes, then an odd flash of blue. As he squeezed her neck and rocked against her, she found her escape in the most intense orgasm of her life.
Chapter Four
Xav groaned as he spent all over the inside of his loincloth. The female’s passion had increased his own to such a degree, he didn’t know what to do. She finally sagged in his hold, succumbing to the sleeper pinch he’d tried to be gentle about giving. He hadn’t expected to find so much pleasure in an offworlder’s kiss. Nor had he envisioned how much her enjoyment would enhance his own.
He grimaced and stood, knowing he needed to clean himself before Zehn returned. Some example he was setting for his men. After cleaning up, he looked around, still unsure of what had transpired. Maht and two of the Nasuhl clan lay unmoving. Not dead—as they breathed still— but the battle must have been intense to render warriors unconscious.
He surmised Maht had handled the Nasuhl in order to protect his mate. Because yes, even Xav had scented Maht’s claim all over the female. He’d saturated her with his seed, and if Xav were a betting man, he’d venture to say the female would be pregnant in little time, if she wasn’t already.
Crossing to Maht, he used a revitalizing hold to awaken the male, then trussed the enemy up to each other, not wanting to deal with raiders while handling precious females.
Lisa, Maht’s offworlder, had beauty, sensuality, and a fine body made for loving. But the woman who’d dared challenge him stirred him like no other…save Talzec.
Xav’s heart raced at the implications, but he refused to consider any possibility of the future until he had everyone safely at home, where he could investigate further.
He heard a noise and turned to see Zehn cradling the red-haired female, who sobbed and whispered Maht’s name. Before Maht’s rage could surge out of control, Xav put a hand on the male’s chest to hold him back.
“She missed you,” Zehn explained before gently placing the female in Maht’s waiting arms.
A calm as he’d never seen settled on Maht’s face, and Xav knew it was only a matter of time before trouble blew up around them. Maht would not return the female, which would mean a war between East and West if the female wanted to go back home. She didn’t appear to want to leave Maht, but females could be fickle. Offworlders even more so.
He and Zehn exchanged a wary look. Then Xav glanced down at the woman on the ground. Skye, he remembered her friend calling her. The name attributed to the blanket of color above them. She’d felt like a blanket, keeping him warm and well-pleasured as she’d rocked against him, her breath like life itself, her taste better than any berry he’d sampled.
He tied her up in the same way he’d secured their enemy. Except he secured her wrist to his, a short leash to keep her restrained. Then he hoisted her over his shoulder, in awe that someone who weighed so little had hauled Zehn around and tried to defeat him as well. So cute, but this offworld kitten had claws.
He sighed, wondering what Talzec would make of not just one, but two uninvited females descending on their clan. “Time to head home, warriors. You, Maht, have some serious explaining to do.”
Maht seemed not at all concerned. “Of course, Xav. I intend to explain it all. I can do no less to ensure safet
y for my mate.”
“You are certain?”
Maht nodded with pride. “She carries our young already.”
“That was fast.” Zehn grinned.
Xav shook his head. “You can laugh about it, but I doubt Maht will find it so easy to sell Talzec on an offworlder. Not to mention the little matter of him breaking the treaty.”
That finally took the calm from Maht’s face.
“Where is Lore?” Xav asked Zehn.
“Lore’s here too?” Maht blinked. “I hadn’t heard him.”
“You sensed nothing for days, buried in your mate.” Zehn snorted. “Hold, he’s…” Zehn paused and frowned. His and Lore’s unusual pairing allowed them to communicate telepathically, but Xav had always wondered if their ability stemmed from Lore’s obvious offworlder ancestry—he had one green eye and one gold.
Zehn continued.“Three more warrior Nasuhl were coming too close, from the river’s side. Lore is finishing with the last.”
“Wait here,” Xav ordered Maht, untied the rope from his wrist, then gently deposited Skye on the ground. He left with Zehn and found Lore a short distance away, stacking bodies. “All dead?” he asked.
The rugged warrior nodded.
“Good.” Xav didn’t like this clear breach of territory. Granted, they were near a neutral line, but the Nasuhl had clearly crossed into Vyctore land. He hadn’t liked leaving the other two Nasuhl alive, but since they hadn’t been his battle conquests, he hadn’t earned the right to dispose of them. This way they could send their leader a message—that the Vyctore were not to be trifled with.
After gathering their small group, they set off for their village. It didn’t take long before Skye woke, and after a brief struggle to free herself, she accepted defeat and lay quietly over his shoulder.
He liked the sense of her there, a subtle weight pressing into him. More than her physical presence, he felt a stirring of lust, of heat, and surprisingly, an emotional connection he’d only ever experienced with Talzec.
Xav had never hurt for companionship. He usually preferred females, but he’d never connected deeply enough with any of them to procreate. His second seed—that which gave life—he continued to hold for his future mate. Sex among his clan had always been considered pleasurable, an integral part of life should they want their clan to grow. But years of interbreeding and a dwindling supply of eligible females had whittled down their numbers, not just in their clan, but throughout the tribe.
