Warlord Reunited

Cynthia Sax

Book 3 of Barbarian Claims series

Solar cycles ago, Elle bonded with Berke, the fiercest of all Warlords. He declared their sexually intense bonding a mistake, deposited Elle on a distant planet and returned to Chamele to fight a war. Elle dealt with their separation by creating one of the best bounty-hunter schools in the galaxies.

Now, two of her top students have made the same mistake she did, bonding with Chamele Warlords. Determined to develop an antidote and save them from the pain she’s experienced, Elle captures her barbarian mate. Tempers flare and passions burn as she thaws the ice around Berke’s heart, revealing a desire too strong to ever be dissolved.

Because the most savage lust and love is hidden within the coldest of Warlords.

A Romantica® futuristic erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Warlord Reunited

Cynthia Sax

Chapter One

Only Zeta and Gale could induce me to leave my sanctuary and return to this cursed planet. Elle trudged across the barren plains of Chamele 1, her boots crunching on the crystallized snow.

I told all of my bounty hunters to avoid the Chamele system but did those two listen? No. The winds blasted against Elle’s back, pellets of ice biting into her white, cold-temperature suit.

Not only did they enter the system but they then compounded their bad decisions by bonding with Berke’s brothers. Warlords who are, I suspect, as arrogant as he is. Elle gritted her teeth and stomped toward the rock outcropping, venting her irritation on the frozen ground.

I should leave Zeta and Gale to share my fate, their misguided belief in lasting love forcing them to avoid all contact with other males, to spend their life spans isolated, alone, trapped.

Elle sighed, knowing she couldn’t be that heartless, not when she could cure her friends and spare them that pain. She continued her solitary trek. Each step brought her closer to the hardhearted male she needed for their cure and her anger flowed into bone-deep dread.

She’d met Berke mere steps away from this location. She’d been a young bounty hunter then and had crashed upon the planet while chasing a fugitive. She had tried to borrow a Chamele ship. Berke had intercepted her. He’d risen from a snowbank as though he’d been part of the land he guarded, rushed toward her with his inhuman speed, disarmed her easily, and pinned her to the unrelenting ground.

Elle had looked upward, met his dark gaze and awareness had flowed over her body, a sense of home engulfing her. From that instant onward, her heart had belonged to him, would always belong to him. She’d returned with Berke to his underground chambers and they’d spent many planet rotations playing, hunting, kissing, touching. He’d teased her about being a weak human. She’d called him a barbarian.

One sundown, they’d gone too far physically, sexually bonding, an act Elle had cherished and Berke had regretted. He’d called it a mistake, his cold voice cutting through her soul. After that, the playing had stopped, replaced with increasingly frantic rutting. When Berke had taken her to Dorian 2 and left her there, she’d known he wouldn’t ever return.

Elle had been right. She’d given her bounty-hunter school students the task of monitoring Dorian 2, solar cycles had passed and Berke hadn’t returned. He must have found a strong, worthy Chamele mate by now, had offspring, loved and been loved. She blinked back tears, feeling foolish for mourning a relationship that wasn’t meant to be.

He doesn’t care about me. I shouldn’t care about him. Elle tossed her head back defiantly, ice-covered strands of hair rattling against her cold-burned cheeks. I’ll capture him, run my experiments, break the bond, repeat the process for Zeta and Gale, leave Berke and the Chamele system forever.

She ignored the ache in her heart and scanned her surroundings, searching for danger, a habit ingrained from solar cycles of hunting fugitives. The sun’s rays had dimmed through space and cast a bluish glow over the desolate plains and jagged rock formations, the land as harsh and as humorless as the Warlord who ruled it.

Don’t think of him, of his hard body, his big hands, his sensual black eyes. Elle turned her back to the outside world, hunched her shoulders against the elements and carefully placed tabs on her gloved fingertips. She reached into the crevice, the break in the rock wall serving as a hidden back door to the Warlord’s private residences.

There was no sudden jolt that usually came with disrupting a Chamele security system. Elle frowned and peered into the darkness, her eyes adjusting slowly to the lack of light. Tabs already broke the circuit, deactivating the sensors.

Someone has already infiltrated Berke’s stronghold. Elle’s body tensed, her muscles pulling tight with concern over a male she shouldn’t care about.

Or he knows I’m coming for him. Elle relaxed. That scenario was more likely. Berke closely monitored landings on his planet. Even during that last visit to Dorian 2, the planet he’d left her on many solar cycles ago, he’d tracked activity on Chamele 1, putting his people’s safety first, before her, before their doomed relationship.

I no longer have the element of surprise. The challenge excited her. Elle pressed the button in her right cuff and her suit darkened to a concealing black. She slid into the crevice, entering the Warlord’s underground domain. The temperature increased immediately and the ice dangling from her eyelashes melted, the liquid splitting the light from the wall torches into a dizzying range of bright colors.

She moved along the narrow corridor, sprinting soundlessly from shadow to shadow. Her feet tingled, the feeling returning to her toes. The air grew warmer as she descended into the mining planet. Water dripped along the stone walls and perspiration slid between her breasts, invisible fingers of moisture stroking her skin.

Elle turned a corner and reeled backward as though she’d been struck. A piercing pain assaulted her brain and the air burned her nostrils. Threat. She searched the space, seeking the source of her agony.

A tall bare-chested male leaned against the far wall, taking inventory of his weapons. He moved his hands methodically over his daggers and guns, his body covered with an impressive array of weapons.

The strange male didn’t need a weapon to hurt her. Elle’s stomach heaved and bile rose in her throat, every moment spent away from Berke having reduced her tolerance for another male’s presence.

Ignore…pain. Elle breathed in, breathed out, breathed in, breathed out, pressing her body into a naturally formed alcove, the rock hard against her back. She examined the guard as she fought for composure, contemplating her next move.

The male had Berke’s long black hair, tanned skin and dark eyes. Despite the Chamele warrior’s broader, more heavily scarred face, Elle saw his resemblance to the Warlord. He must be one of Berke’s beloved brothers. The pain leveled, allowing her to think, to take action.

I’ll capture him also. She plucked at her gloves, drawing the fabric higher over her wrists, concealing all of her exposed skin. If I can capture him. The brother’s defined chest, bulging biceps and thick, leg-covering-clad thighs made him a daunting opponent. Elle extracted the gun from her right hip holster, slid the lever to Stun and aimed.

The brother raised his head, his dark eyes widened in alarm and she pressed the trigger. His face contorted and he fell silently to his knees.

“Gotcha,” Elle whispered. She holstered her gun and quickly, carefully strapped a leather gag over the brother’s closed mouth, preventing him from yelling for help.

Her captive jerked backward, his bare shoulder brushed Elle’s cheek and searing pain shot across her face, down her neck, welts bubbling on her skin. Moisture dripped from her nostrils, her head pounding and her knees shaking.

Elle bit back a curse. Once one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxies, she had almost been incapacitated by a mere touch.

“I should kill your brother for that offense alone,” she murmured. Bonding with Berke had ruined any chance she had of enjoying a normal life, her affliction forcing her to resign from active bounty hunting and to sequester herself at the all-female bounty-hunter school.

The captured warrior’s gaze met hers, his jaw dropped and the gag automatically tightened, strangling any protest he might make.

“And I should kill you for bonding with my friend, whichever one of my dear friends you have in your grasp.” She pulled his arms back and bound his wrists, the reinforced restraints unbreakable even by a Chamele warrior.

“But killing you now would hurt either Zeta or Gale, something I’d never do.” She restrained his boot-covered ankles. “I’ll capture Berke and come back for you.” Elle stood back, studied him and nodded curtly, satisfied he wouldn’t be able to free himself.

“Don’t go anywhere.” She continued along the corridor, glad to be away from Berke’s brother, away from the physical pain he caused her.

Berke will cause me another type of pain. She steeled herself for that confrontation. I’m stronger, stronger than he thinks.

As Elle approached his private chambers, she frowned. The alarms around the back entrance had been activated. Did they expect the brother to stop me? She snorted softly as she placed tabs on the sensors. Berke had always underestimated her, his weak human mate.

Prepare for a nasty surprise, Warlord. Elle pressed her glove against the control panel, the simulated handprint mimicking Berke’s creased palm and scarred fingers.

The doors slid open and a tantalizing wall of musk hit her, Berke’s scent holding no pain, only pure pleasure. My male. Elle’s pussy moistened and her nipples tightened, the rush of emotion making her head spin.

No. She pressed her lips together, fighting her arousal. He’s no longer your male, Elle. He’s your target. Focus on your target.

She slipped inside, searching for a shadow to hide in. There wasn’t any concealing darkness, the space brightly lit, and panic rose within her, swirling with her desire.

“You shouldn’t be here,” an achingly familiar voice rumbled, Berke’s words reaching deep inside of her, weakening her knees and stripping her pride. “It isn’t safe.”

He stood in the middle of the chamber, clad in black leather leg coverings and nothing else, his chest bare, his body harder, more muscular than she’d remembered. Berke’s angular face sported new scars, his left eyebrow split in two, his countenance more striking than handsome. He dominated the space, magnificently male and arrogantly unarmed, a cold-blooded predator in his prime.

“It isn’t safe for you.” Elle aimed her gun at his chest, her fingers trembling, her need for him fierce. She’d missed male companionship. She’d missed him…desperately. “You know why I’m here.” Blood tickled her top lip, the metallic taste seeping into her mouth.

“You’re bleeding.” Ice clung to Berke’s words, his coolness chilling Elle to the bone. “Who dared to harm you, gerel?” He met her gaze, his black eyes intense and deadly serious, and she suppressed a feminine shiver of delight. That banked passion was for her. He cared that she’d been harmed. “Give me his name and I’ll rip his heart out.” Long, sharp claws extended from his hands.

“The honor of ripping out your heart is mine, Warlord.” She wiped her sleeve under her nose, dampening the fabric with her blood, fighting the urge to go to him, to touch him, to lose herself in his embrace. “But first, I have a different use for it.”

“My heart is yours to use.” Berke slowly retracted his claws. “Tell me what I have to do to ensure you leave the Chamele system.”

He wants me to leave. Elle pushed away her pain and her need, focusing on negotiating, a skill she excelled at. “Until I grant them permission, Khan and Murad are not to abandon Zeta and Gale.” As you abandoned me on Dorian 2.

“My brothers won’t ever leave your friends’ sides.” The Warlord sighed, his chest rising and falling. “I’ve tried to separate them.”

He tried to separate them because he believes my human friends aren’t good enough for his brothers. Elle brushed the trigger of her gun with her thumb, irritation sharpening her desire. “Good. I won’t allow them to cause my friends pain.” As you caused me pain. “I’m also taking fluid samples from you and your brothers.”

Berke’s thin lips flattened. “Cloning is against Chamele law.”

“I’m not cloning you or your brothers,” Elle retorted, planning on only cloning their scent or skin or heartbeat or whatever it was that soothed their mates’ pain. She circled the Warlord, expelling some of her restless energy, some of her yearnings, some of her need.

Stars, do I need him. She licked her bottom lip, wishing to bite into Berke’s firm ass cheeks, to run her fingertips down his straight, proud spine, to bury her face in his long black hair.

He’ll hurt you again. Stick to the plan. Elle dragged her gaze away from Berke’s fit form and scanned the chamber. The space was stark and bare and reassuringly masculine, swords, daggers and guns hanging on the red-rock walls, an animal fur warming the floor. Tablets and communicators had been set on the countertops, at perfect angles, spaced at uniform distances from each other. There were no soft colors or feminine touches, no hints at offspring or another mate.

He’s alone. Hope flickered to life in Elle’s chest. But he still sees me as weak and unworthy. Berke remained still as she paced, exposing his unguarded back to her, unafraid that she, a mere human, could harm him. She caressed the trigger of her gun, tempted to correct his misperception.

“What experiments are you carrying out, Ellie?” he rumbled, her Warlord having the eerie ability to read her. “And what are the risks?”

“There aren’t any risks for you or your brothers.” Only for me. She touched the welts on her cheek, the risk to her life worth the freedom she and her friends could gain.

“I see.” Berke turned his head, his hair flowing over his shoulders. He studied her for five long heartbeats and Elle held her breath, concerned that he saw too much.

“You can run your experiments on me first,” Berke declared. “And we’ll discuss your proposal with my brothers.”

Elle hid her relief behind a curt nod. “I agree to that.” She slipped her gun into her right hip holster. She trusted Berke to keep his word. The Warlord prized honor more than life or love or their relationship.

“Once that is done, you’ll leave the Chamele system.” He breathed deeply and his nostrils flared. “But before you depart, we’ll rut. I smell your need, gerel. It matches my own.”

Her face heated. She knew lust had been he had ever felt for her. ‘‘That’s not how I gather fluid samples.” She backed away from him, away from temptation, unwilling to risk her heart again to please her body. “And you have other females to satisfy your needs.”

“We are bonded.” Berke stalked toward her, maintaining the distance between them. “There aren’t any other females for me. Only you make me hard.” He swept his palm over the ridge in his leg covers, his length and girth daunting. “I need you.”

“Have you also suffered?” Elle raised her gaze. There was a starkness in his eyes, an aching void she’d never seen before. Their separation had cost him as it had cost her.

“I have suffered.” He inclined his head. “It has been too long between ruttings.”

Between ruttings. Elle bristled at the implication that was all he needed her for. “And whose fault is that?” She twisted her lips. Berke’s lust for her wasn’t enough. It had never been enough. “You left me on Dorian 2.”

“I left you there to protect you.” His jaw jutted. “I was fighting a war.” He raked his fingers through his long black hair, brushing the strands back from his tanned face. “I continue to fight a war. Our enemy Tolui is building a clone army, creating an endless supply of warriors. You’re not safe, Ellie.”

Elle snorted softly, expressing her disbelief. “I’ve never been safe.” She unfastened her cold-temperature suit, revealing the circle of scars around her neck. “Not even on your Dorian 2.”

Berke stared at her and his cheeks paled. Silence stretched between them as long and as cold as a Chamele 1 storm. She waited, wondering if he cared enough to question her about the scars.

“How?” he finally asked, his voice lowered to a husky whisper.

“I turned my back on someone I shouldn’t have trusted.” Elle shrugged away her carelessness. That lesson had been learned and would never be forgotten. “He was twice my size but I managed to flip him over and shoot his great green ass,” she declared proudly, relishing that memory. “I was fortunate he hadn’t used the laser wire or he would have decapitated me before I—”

Berke threw back his head and roared, the animalistic sound chilling Elle to her now-thawed toes. Claws extended from his hands and his muscles flexed. His body shimmered, fluctuating in and out of view. Chameles had the envy-inspiring ability to turn invisible.

Stars. She gazed at him with awe and wonder and desire, having never seen Berke lose control. This is why he sees me as weak.

The Warlord rushed forward and flung her over his shoulder, the impact driving the breath from her lungs. Her gun clattered to the stone floor. She pounded his back with her fists and kicked his stomach with her boots, instinctively trying to free herself.

Berke ignored her struggles and stomped into another chamber, carrying her as though she weighed nothing, his bare feet slapping on the floor. He dropped her onto a huge bed, the silver fabric covering the structure decadently soft. She bounced and sputtered and he covered her with his big body, stilling her flailing arms and legs.

“Ellie, Ellie, my foolish Ellie,” Berke murmured into her hair. “I failed to protect you. You were supposed to be safe.” He pulled her suit down over her shoulders and dragged his lips along her scars. “If you had died—” His voice broke.

Elle blinked, not knowing what to do with this new emotional Berke. “You would have been free.” She squirmed, trapped under his massive physique, unable to bear his tender touch, knowing what he felt was guilt, not love, not deep caring. “You could have then bonded with someone else, a female more suitable to be your gerel, a Chamele mate.”

“You’re my gerel.” Berke braced his body upward, his gaze fixed on her face.

“You said our bonding was a mistake,” Elle reminded him of his hurtful words, that surprising admission coming from a male who prided himself on always being right. “My death would have been one solution to your problem.”

“Your death is no solution to anything.” Berke scowled, his gaze returning to her neck. “I should have chosen a safer planet.”

“Chamele 1 is a safer planet.” Captured by his big body and her undeniable need for him, Elle accepted the inevitable. They’d rut but only on her terms. “There are other skills than strength.” She stripped off her gloves and splayed her fingers over his back, savoring the pain-free touching. Berke’s skin was warm and ridged with scars, the marks providing visible proof of the battles he’d been fighting. “If you weren’t so stubborn, so arrogant about your own abilities, you would have known that.”

She bent her knees, cradling him between her thighs, pressing her mons against the hard ridge in his leg coverings. “I could have fought by your side and we could have won your war…together.” Desire flowed over her, sweetened by memories of their past ruttings, clandestine encounters between a young bounty hunter and the Warlord whose planet she’d crashed upon. “There would have been no need for separation, for pain.”

“It was too dangerous.” He laved her scar with the flat of his tongue and she arched, pushing into his mouth, the sensation exquisite. “I had to protect you.” He grazed his teeth along her neck and she trembled.

“You didn’t have to protect me. I have skills. I can take care—”

Berke surged upward and Elle turned her head, denying him her mouth. His lips skimmed along her cheek, hot and firm.

“No kissing,” she told him. “Kissing is for lovers. If you want to rut, we’ll rut, but that’s all I’ll give you.”

“That’s not all you’ll give me.” He gripped her chin tightly, his fingers pressing into her skin, and he forced her to face him, his eyes glittering with dangerous intent. “I’m your mate. You’ll give me everything I want.”

Berke smashed his lips against hers, smothering her retort, taking what she vowed to never again freely give him. He stabbed his tongue into the seam of her lips, demanding entry.

Elle clenched her teeth, blocking his sensual assault, knowing if she allowed him inside her, she’d lose more of her heart to him, a male determined to reject her. She pounded on his shoulders with her fists, writhing under him.

Berke growled his discontentment and smacked his hand over her cloth-covered right breast in a primitive act of ownership. He squeezed her roughly, pinching her nipple between his fingers. Elle gasped and he invaded, plunging his tongue into her mouth.

She clung to him as he possessed her, explored her, his mouth tasting of charred meat, spices and dominant male, her male. He’d hurt her again, her fierce Warlord. She should push him away from her, maintain her dignity, her pride, her soul.

Their tongues slid together, tangling, tumbling and the warning sounds ringing in Elle’s mind faded, replaced by the roar of rising passion. Berke pulled her suit lower, freeing her breasts, and she wiggled under him in delight, anticipating his coarse touch, having dreamed of his hands during the endless nights they’d been apart.

He cupped and caressed with firm, knowing fingers, and she moaned into his mouth, needing more, needing him. Berke tightened his grip, pinching and releasing, pinching and releasing her nipples, flooding her senses with an arousing combination of pleasure and pain.

Elle raised her hips and ground herself against him, the layers of leather and fabric frustrating her. He drove her back, pinning her ass to the bed, controlling her movement. She raked her nails over his back, punishing him, and he hissed, his breath streaming over her lips.

“Be still, female,” Berke rumbled, his cheek pressing against hers, his lips tickling her earlobe. “I want you too much.” He moved his hips in slow, sensuous circles, coiling her need tighter.

“I want you more.” Elle licked down his neck, tasting salt and him. His veins pulsed under her tongue, the rapid tempo belying his emotionless expression. He desires me. She nipped at Berke’s collarbone and his cock bobbed, covered by black leather. “Take me, Warlord.” She glided her palms over his stomach, eager to touch him.

“I said be still.” He yanked her hands away from him, pressing his fingers into her wrists, and he stretched her arms above her head, holding her with one big hand, pulling her body tight underneath him.

“And I said to take me.” She arched, pushing her breasts into his chest, savoring the feel of skin on skin, reveling in his dominance. No one had ever mastered her as Berke had, the Warlord’s strength and control unmatched. “Rut into me hard and fast. Punish me for our bonding, for taking that choice away from you. Release some of the anger you must feel.”

“I knew bonding was wrong yet I couldn’t resist you.” Berke’s eyes darkened to the unrelieved blackness of open space and Elle trembled, wondering if she had pushed him too far this time. “I put you in danger, made you a target, failed to protect you.” He glanced at her scars and his grip on her wrists intensified even more. His claws extended and the lethal tips pricked her skin, dangerously close to her veins.

Elle stared silently up at Berke. Although she was smaller, weaker, unarmed, with no defense against his rarely revealed rage, she trusted in his code of honor. She trusted him not to physically hurt her.

“I would have sent more guards, moved you to a safer planet.” Berke grazed the claws of his free hand over her suit, shredding the material, leaving her completely naked, exposed and unprotected. “And you should have stayed where I placed you. You promised to wait for me.” He threaded his claws through her private curls and she spread her legs, opening to him, giving him access to all of her. “To obey me.”

“I never promised.” She shuddered as he dragged a sharp tip over her clit, leaving a trail of pleasure, his control of his natural weapons awe-inspiring. “You told me to wait but I knew.” The claw slid into her entrance and Elle panted, thrilled by the possible danger. “I knew you’d never fully claim me.”

“I said I would return.” Berke retracted his claws and plunged three thick fingers into her pussy, stretching her ruthlessly, as though he wished to punish her for her lack of faith. He worked her hard, drawing more moisture from her core, and she rocked into his hand, needing this, the combination of pain and pleasure, needing him, the only male she trusted to subdue her.

Her passion rose quickly, primed by many solar cycles of denial, of never-ending nights of building need with no satisfaction. He leaned his forehead against hers as he stroked in and out, in and out, the scent of her arousal filling the sleeping chamber. His breath wafted on her lips, hot and real, grounding her in reality.

“Berke, please,” Elle moaned, yearning for more, his fingers not enough for her. “I need your cock inside me.”

“You don’t deserve my cock,” he rumbled and her pussy clenched around his fingers, the added friction making her writhe. “You questioned my vow to you. You didn’t trust me, your mate, your only.”

“Wanted to…fix…mistake,” she panted, close, so very close to coming.

“How?” Berke stilled and she whimpered, needing one more pump of his hand to push her over the edge. “How would running away fix any of our mistakes?”

“Berke,” she pleaded, past pride, past everything, her worlds revolving around the rough, calloused fingers teasing her pussy folds.

“Tell me, gerel.” The command in his voice made her head jerk upward.

Berke stared at her, his chin squared, his jaw jutted. Elle stared back, seeing the inevitable outcome in his black eyes. He wouldn’t relent. He never relented. She was always the being to bend, to break, to hurt.

She closed her eyes, hiding from that all-seeing gaze of his, shielding herself emotionally. “I thought time and distance would sever our bond,” she admitted “That leaving you would fix our mistake.”

“Look at me,” he ordered softly.

Elle shook her head, unable to face him, to see the truth in his eyes, that he had never cared for her, had never wanted to bond with her.

“Look at me.” Berke shook her shoulders and she met his gaze, compelled by his dominance. His black eyebrows had lowered over his glittering eyes, his scars a stark silver against his tanned angular face.

“We’re bonded for life.” He spoke slowly as though he wanted her to note every word, to remember this moment, this message. “This isn’t one of your experiments. This is Chamele biology.”

His face hardened even more. “If you ever run away from me again, I’ll smack your ass so hard you won’t be able to sit down for eight planet rotations, do you understand?”

Stars. Elle stared at him, her pussy gushing, the moisture wetting her inner thighs.

“Do you understand?” Berke repeated, his tone harsher, stimulating her even more.

“I understand,” Elle whispered. She wiggled her ass, swishing her skin against the soft bed covering, striving to relieve some of her pent-up passion.

“Be still,” he commanded and she froze, swallowing her protest, her body stretched out naked under his. Berke flicked his leg coverings open and peeled the leather from his hips. His cock sprang loose, his shaft long and thick and hard, a ridge of flesh around his base, his private hair black and curly, his balls as impressively large as the rest of him.

Raw, stark lust dried Elle’s mouth. She darted her tongue out to wet her lips, hungry for a taste of his skin.

Berke’s gaze tracked the movement and he groaned, the sexy sound low and deep in his throat. “Only you do this to me, Ellie.” He wrapped his fingers around his shaft and gave his cock two punishing pumps. A dab of pre-cum formed on his tip, communicating his eagerness to come. “You make me lose control.”

Trapped by his command to remain still, Elle watched helplessly as he pleasured himself, her magnificent male ruthlessly yanking on the big cock she desperately wanted, needed inside her. She’d relived every past encounter with Berke hundreds of times in her dreams, her Warlord having pleased her, filled her as no other male ever could.

He gazed at her coldly, unsympathetically as she dangled on the fine edge of satisfaction, her body shaking harder and harder and harder, her teeth chattering and her nipples aching.

“I can’t last,” Elle finally confessed, ashamed of her weakness.

“You can.” Berke’s voice rang with certainty. “You’ll wait until I’m inside you.” He positioned his broad tip at her entrance and pushed in, stretching her, his girth larger than his fingers, larger than anything she’d ever had inside her.

Elle gritted her teeth, determined to obey him, this male she shouldn’t care for, this ruthless Warlord destined to discard her. As he sank deeper and deeper, her body celebrated his homecoming, melding to his cock, embracing his intimate invasion. She felt every vein on his shaft, every curve of his cock head. Finally her pussy lips skimmed over the ridge and touched his base.

“You’re inside me.” Elle’s vision blurred and tears streaked down her cheeks, the welt on her cheek burning with the salt. “Please,” she whispered, the effort to delay her orgasm draining her, eroding all her pride, all her remaining strength.

“I vowed you could come when I was inside you.” Berke rocked into her, the slide of cock in pussy sensually shallow, and she dug her fingertips into the bed covering, struggling to hold back her fulfillment.

“I keep my vows, Ellie.” He thrust harder and harder, ruthlessly stripping away her remaining control, leaving her with need and desire and want. Elle lifted her hips, meeting him halfway, smacking their bodies together, heat radiating from each point of contact.

“You can come now.” Berke labored over her with his renowned intensity, all of his concentration on her, on them, on this rutting, their connection. “Or you can wait for me.”

“How long?” Elle swallowed a whimper, wanting to please her Warlord, to have him join her. She didn’t want to come alone. If her experiment was successful, a lifetime of solitude stretched out before her. She’d never let another male inside her.

“Three more thrusts,” Berke grunted. “Touch me, gerel. You’ve earned that right.” He pulled back, his cock head skimming along her inner walls, and Elle clasped his shoulders, holding on to him, savoring the play of muscles under golden skin.

“One.” He slammed into her, shaking her slender form, and she moaned, wrapping her legs around his waist, using his strength to supplement hers.

Berke withdrew from her pussy, his gaze holding hers, commanding her obedience. “Two.” He drove even deeper and she pierced his skin with her fingernails, relaying her torment.

“Can’t.” Elle’s voice thinned.

“You can.” He pulled out to his tip and met her gaze, the bond between them as strong as it always was, not dampened by the time they’d spent apart.

“Come for me, gerel.” Berke lunged forward, burying himself to his base. “Come now.” He nipped her neck, marking her with his sharp teeth, the pain breaking her.

“Berke,” Elle screamed, flinging her body upward, coming with a mind-blasting force, her worlds splitting into a million brightly colored fragments.

Berke drove into her climax, caging her between his hard form and the soft bed, giving her the safety, the security she needed as she shamelessly fell apart, shrieking and bucking, clawing at his back and biting his right shoulder.

The ridge of flesh at the base of Berke’s shaft swelled, stretching her even more, and she tensed, her body remembering, her mind having never forgotten. Elle clutched his shoulders, bracing for the ecstasy only he could give her.

Berke thrust hard, filling her completely, and he roared her name, hard jets of cum spurting from his cock, the stream of hot liquid driving into her with a breathtaking velocity, setting off another orgasm even more intense than the last.

She screamed and screamed, her voice becoming hoarse with passion. Darkness closed on her, swirling faster, expanding to fill her view, sucking her into a black vortex of endless unrelenting bliss.

Berke collapsed on top of her, his body hot and reassuringly heavy, and Elle lost consciousness, dragged unwillingly into the blackness, not knowing how many more moments she’d have with her Warlord.

Chapter Two

My gerel. Berke petted Ellie’s long, brown hair, unable to stop touching his small human mate, even as she slept. Her adorable snores broke the silence, reassurance she was alive and here with him. She shifted yet again, pressing her supple body against his muscles, her wet pussy enveloping his semi-hard cock, her pert ass sticking in the air, her slight curves made for vigorous rutting.

She has to leave the Chamele system. Berke pressed his lips together, regretfully accepting that truth. The conflict with Tolui grew more violent and Ellie’s safety was his first concern. But until she leaves, we’ll take every opportunity we’re given to rut, sexually sating ourselves so we can last during the solar cycles we have to be apart. He nuzzled his chin into her curls, savoring the womanly scent of her, a part of him, a hidden, secret part, only completed when she was near.

I’ll place her on a safer planet and this time, I’ll ask for her vow not to leave. Berke gripped Ellie tighter, hugging her to him, needing to physically reassure himself she was safe.

I’ll assign my best Chamele warrior to watch over her. He touched the scar marring her delicate neck and shuddered, her coldly relayed story filling him with a horror that wouldn’t ever dissipate.

“Your days of taking risks are done, Ellie,” he murmured.

“Life is risk.” She raised her head and met his gaze, her brown eyes blurry with sleep, her face soft, her plush lips upturned. “Which reminds me. We should free your brother. If he’s anything like you, he’ll be very, very angry.”

“My brother?” Berke frowned. Ellie had never met Khan or Murad. He didn’t even trust his beloved siblings with knowledge of her existence. “None of my brothers are on Chamele 1. They reside on their own planets.”

“Hmmm…” Ellie sat up, the sight of her pink tight nipples and firm, small breasts temporarily purging the thoughts from Berke’s brain. “Then who was in the corridor?” Berke’s cock slipped from her pussy, that connection between them missed immediately. “One of your warriors?”

One of my—

Son of a Gechii. Berke pushed her away from him and reached for his leg coverings, panic surging through his veins. “I don’t have any warriors positioned in the corridor.” Knowing Ellie was coming, he had cleared the corridors around him, leaving no potential witnesses to their meeting. “What did he look like?”

Ellie gathered her tattered suit in her hands. “He looks like you.” She dropped the strips of fabric, her forehead furrowing. “Except his face is broader and he has more scars.” She brushed her fingers over the bridge of her nose, and Berke’s body temperature plummeted. His greatest enemy had that distinct scar.

“That’s Tolui.” He left his leg coverings unfastened and grabbed his sword, the weight heavy and right in his hands. “Stay here.” Berke ran out of the chambers, his bare feet landing soundlessly on the stone floor.

As Berke moved, he opened his enhanced senses, reverting to hunting mode. He heard the rustle of cloth against soft skin behind him, the drip, drip, drip of melting ice along the rock walls, the whine of the wind on the surface. He flared his nostrils, smelling the musk of Ellie’s pussy clinging to his skin, the recirculated air pushing through the corridors, the crisp coolness of the exterior.

Berke couldn’t detect Tolui and that confused him as Chamele warriors had the ability to sense each other, even in invisibility mode. He spotted severed restraints writhing on the floor, the currents of energy snapping and sparking. A leather gag curled closer to the exit.

He followed the winding corridor to the crevice. The sensors had been disrupted and the rebel warrior was gone. Berke stifled his roar of frustration. Tolui was slipperier than a wet taimen.

Boot heels slapped against stone, the gait light and short. Ellie’s scent intensified and cloth flapped, his mate’s breathing loud in the narrow space. Berke ground his teeth. His foolish female had disobeyed his command and was running heedlessly into possible danger.

She appeared, her cheeks flushed and her wild brown curls streaming out behind her, guns clasped in both her small hands. At least she’s armed. Berke glared at her, his frustration and fear and anger spiraling upward.

“How did he get away?” Ellie panted, holstering her guns. She bent over to examine the restraints, and the oversized cold-temperature suit she’d borrowed from his chambers gapped open to reveal her pale breasts. “I calibrated these to hold you.” She kicked one restraint with the toe of her military-styled boot.

“I need a set to restrain you,” Berke grumbled, directing his dark emotions at Ellie, a being he could control…barely. “Tolui has abnormal strength for a Chamele. He could have killed you, gerel.”

“He didn’t kill me.” She brushed her fingertips over the blemish on her cheek, the mark red and angry, freshly obtained.

Had she obtained it from Tolui? An ice-cold rage swept over Berke. “Did he hurt you?”

“He touched me.” Ellie rolled her big brown eyes. “As you know, that’s all a male needs to do to hurt me.”

As I know? Berke stared at her, knowing nothing, her words confusing him, his fury over Tolui touching Ellie not allowing him to think rationally.

“Tolui didn’t know I’d be here and no one other than you, Zeta and Gale know who I am.” Bitterness edged Ellie’s words. “So it’s more likely that he came to kill you.” She frowned, lines appearing between her finely arched eyebrows. “You need better security, Berke.” Her fingers trembled. “If anything happened to you…”

She’s worried about me. Berke blinked, a warmth spreading across his chest.

“But nothing happened to you because thankfully, I arrived when I did and stopped him.” Ellie paced back and forth, back and forth, his female being a bundle of barely contained energy, her brown hair streaming out behind her and her boot heels ringing on the stone floor. “Is Tolui the same character that blew up Gale’s ship?”

“Yes,” Berke admitted, his failure to protect his people, to protect Ellie irking him.

“And you allowed that?” Ellie raised her eyebrows and he gritted his teeth, not allowing any of Tolui’s rebel actions. “In your own airspace? No. No. No.” She shook her head. “You have to capture Tolui, Berke. He’s a nuisance.”

“He’s more than a nuisance, he’s the reason we’re at war, and we’ve tried to capture him.” Berke folded his arms and braced his feet apart. “He’s impossible to apprehend.”

“Impossible?” Ellie glanced pointedly at the restraints and Berke’s face heated, his female having accomplished what neither he nor any of his warriors could do. “Maybe it’s impossible for you,” she scoffed, straightening to her full adorable height. “For an experienced bounty hunter such as myself, it is very much possible.”

She grinned at him and Berke inwardly groaned, that cocky expression on Ellie’s beautiful face always preceding some sort of heart-stopping risk.

“You’re not going after Tolui,” he told her bluntly, hoping to sever that fanciful idea before it took root.

“You’re correct. I’m not going after Tolui.” Her grin widened. “We’re going after Tolui, together.” She gazed up at him with that hopeful look in her big brown eyes he could never resist.

I have to resist her, for her safety. “No.” Berke stepped backward, putting more distance between him and the only female in the galaxy who could convince him to do something he shouldn’t. “You’re running your experiments on me and leaving. That was the agreement.”

Her eyes narrowed. “The agreement was to draw fluids from your brothers also.”

“We’ll discuss your proposal with them.” Berke kept his countenance blank, not committing to more, convincing his brothers to have their fluids taken another impossible request. “And then you’re leaving.”

She tilted her head, studying him, her curls bouncing around her shoulders, the decadently soft tendrils close enough for him to touch. “You want me to run my experiments on you, discuss my proposal with your brothers and then leave?”

Berke hesitated before nodding, all his instincts screaming a warning.

“Hmmm…” Ellie curled her bottom lip, her sexy pout hardening his cock. “I’ll do that.” She nodded curtly, his contrary female’s agreement too readily given for Berke’s comfort.

“I’ll draw your fluids on my ship.” She gathered up the restraints and the gag, her damaged gear reminding him how close she’d been to his enemy.

“You’re leaving Chamele 1 today, gerel.” Berke scowled, determined that they run her experiments, whatever they were, and discuss Ellie’s proposal with his brothers before sunset.

“That I can guarantee.” She sauntered toward his chambers, her hips swaying enticingly, her laughter echoing off the rock walls, her happiness mocking Berke’s fears.

Once she leaves Chamele, she’ll be safe. Berke followed her, wishing he could follow her across the galaxies, leaving the war and his loneliness behind him. I can’t. My people depend upon me.

He gazed at his gerel’s straight spine, Ellie also knowing the responsibility of leadership. “I hear your bounty-hunter school is doing well,” he said, proud of her achievements, achievements his planet would benefit from once the war ended.

“Do you hear that?” Ellie snorted. “Is facing eviction doing well?” She kicked a loose stone, the sound ricocheting down the empty corridor.

“Khan transferred credits to the school.” Berke frowned, having anonymously sent his female additional funds.

“The owner of the property we’re currently using wants to develop the land.” Ellie stopped at the doors to his chambers. A scowl darkened her beautiful face, worry lines appearing between her eyebrows. Berke fought the urge to kiss her concerns away. “We’re looking for a new home, perhaps a new planet.” She gazed up at him, hope glimmering in her brown eyes.

Berke thought of the underground space he’d created for her school and stayed silent, the situation on Chamele 1 too unstable for Ellie and her students. He pressed his palm against the control panel and the doors slid open.

“Why am I telling you this?” Ellie’s lips twisted. “You don’t care.” She flounced by him, brushing her shoulder against his chest, leaving a trail of mind-numbing arousal, dissipating the little restraint he had left.

Berke stepped inside the doors, grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, her body fitting perfectly into his. “I care,” he growled, looking into her widening eyes. “Never question that. You’re mine to protect.”

He lowered his head and crushed his lips against hers, capturing her lush flesh, tasting her surprise. She opened her mouth and he surged inside, filling that space, sliding along her tongue, branding hers as his.

Ellie moaned, the muffled sound exciting him, and she flattened her palms against his chest, her fingers spread over his skin. Berke gripped her hips and drew her nearer, grinding her fabric-covered mons against the ridge in his leg coverings, hard for her again, still, forever needing her, his mate, his gerel.

The scent of her desire teased his nostrils, her response strong and true and real, her body holding no secrets, no misunderstandings. Berke stroked into her with his tongue, coaxing more musk, more heat, more moaning from his female, his focus on Ellie, on pleasing her, on binding her tighter to him.

A communicator beeped and Berke froze, alarm surging through him. What am I doing? He tore his lips from Ellie’s. The enemy is on my planet, threatening my people and endangering my mate.

Berke stalked to the counter, avoiding his gerel’s questioning gaze, and he picked up the communicator, noting his number-one warrior’s image on the screen. “Raise the threat level to extreme, Jochi,” he barked into the device. “Tolui accessed the underground.”

He rattled off orders as he watched Ellie circle the chamber. She touched discarded weapons and looked in storage containers. What is she searching for? He ended the transmission as quickly as possible and plunked the communicator back on the counter. “Can I help you find something?”

“Do any of your warriors know I’m here?” She answered his question with another question, as evasive as any spy, his mate small yet deadly.

“No.” Berke grunted, the less beings knowing about Ellie, the safer she’d be. He gathered his favorite weapons, taking daggers and guns from counters and storage containers, and he placed them in a large leather pack.

“Why am I not surprised?” Ellie returned to his side, the frown on her beautiful face indicating his answer had displeased her.

My mate’s anger is another cost of this cursed war. Berke added his sword to the pack, a bone-deep weariness sinking into his shoulders. The weapon, a gift from the father he’d revered, had been wielded too many times defending the planets he and his brothers had inherited.

Ellie thought Tolui was one of my brothers. Berke drifted his fingertips over the worn hilt, doubt coiling around him. He had noticed the similarities before, keeping those suspicions to himself, not wishing to hurt his mother. Could Tolui be a half brother, sired before my father and mother had bonded? Could he have a legitimate claim to our empire?

“You have accumulated some new toys.” Ellie peered at his arsenal, their mutual interest in weapons having served as their first intellectual link. “I’m impressed.”

Berke pushed away his unproven concerns about Tolui and fastened his boots. “I’m glad you approve.” He shrugged into a long cold-weather coat, the enhanced leather swirling around his calves. “Once we reach your ship, I’ll show them to you.” He heaved the pack over his shoulder and held out his palm.

Ellie hesitated for a heartbeat before taking his hand, her small, slender fingers curling around his, her skin calloused, the contrast of dainty bones and tough skin arousing Berke. “I might have obtained some new toys also.” She gave him an endearingly cheeky grin.

They walked together, in unison through the narrow underground passages, Berke shortening his strides to match hers. A companionable silence fell between them, allowing him to focus on the brush of her hips against his, the scent of her hair, the warmth of her body. My gerel is here. Contentment shrouded his warrior soul, a rare calm before the raging storm, a peace before the endless battle.

They reached the crevice, the now not-so-secret exit from his personal quarters, and Ellie rashly stepped forward, her fearlessness causing Berke’s heart to clench.

“No.” He pulled her back into the safety of his arms. “I’ll go first.” Her eyes glittered but she said nothing. Berke withdrew a gun from the straps on his jacket and he slid through the crack, angling his large body to fit the small space, the stone rubbing along his chest and back.

The whiteness of the snow temporarily blinded him and pellets of ice jabbed at his exposed skin, the wind snatching his breath. Berke blinked twice and his vision corrected, the land reverting to shades of blue. He surveyed the harsh terrain, seeing no tracks in the drifts and no shadows where they shouldn’t be.

Berke positioned his back to the howling wind, creating a calm around the opening, protecting his small human mate. “Hurry,” he urged, aware of his vulnerability.

“First you tell me to wait and now you tell me to hurry?” She scowled up at him. “Make up your mind, Warlord.” She stalked toward a flat field of ice, her shoulders hunched against the elements, her hair tussled by the storm.

Berke scanned the landscape as they moved, searching for any threat, any danger to Ellie. An ice vulture peered down at them from a snow-encased wire, its white feathers ruffled, trapping the heated air close to its thick skin.

Berke rested his hand on a dagger, ready to defend Ellie should the creature attack. “Where is your ship, foolish female?” He saw no signs of her single-manned vessel.

“Hidden in plain view.” She raised her hand, flattening her palm against an invisible wall. The air shimmered and a small ship appeared, its panels colored a dull black.

“Very clever.” He gazed at the vessel with admiration, proud of his female, its ingenious designer.

A ramp lowered and lights flickered to life, illuminating the snow around them. “It is very Chamele-like.” Ellie studied a panel and her lips curled upward, her breath hanging in a cloud around her face. “Your friend Tolui passed within an arm’s length and didn’t see my ship.” She looked to her left, the ice-covered ground smooth and unbroken. “He trekked that way if you wish to apprehend him.”

“He’s long gone,” Berke grumbled, reminded of his failure to protect his gerel. “The clone-lover is as swift as the wind.” He placed one of his hands on the small of Ellie’s back, the contact soothing him. “We’ll run your experiments while orbiting the planet. It’s safer. My fleet of warships will protect us.”

“My ship will protect us.” Ellie skipped up the ramp ahead of Berke, her footsteps enchantingly light. “I spent many late nights modifying it, wondering if I’d ever get the opportunity to use it again.” She pressed a lit square and the doors closed behind them. Berke found the stillness and warmth eerie after the turbulence of the surface’s storm. “I considered giving my ship to Gale.”

“If you had given your ship to Gale, it would have been destroyed during Tolui’s attack.” Berke’s mood grew grave. The war was never far from them.

“You don’t know my ship’s capabilities.” Ellie lifted her chin proudly. “It could have destroyed Tolui’s ship.” She patted a wall panel. “Ship, engage.”

The floor rumbled under Berke’s boots. “Do you need assistance plotting the route?” He trailed behind Ellie, noting the changes she’d wrought on the older ship, changes he could incorporate into his newer vessels.

“The route has already been plotted.” She smiled a bit too smugly for Berke’s comfort. “Relax and get comfortable, mate of mine. You’ll be here for a while.”

For a while? He straightened to his full height, towering over his small female. “Ellie,” he rumbled.

“Don’t worry. I’ll release you.” Her boots danced across the wire-mesh floor. “After I run my experiments.” Berke relaxed, his shoulders easing downward. “And after we dispose of your friend Tolui.”

“Ellie!” he bellowed, folding his fingers into fists, his claws pricking his skin. “That was not our agreement.”

“Our agreement was that I leave Chamele 1 today. I’m leaving Chamele 1 today.” She tossed her head back, her long, brown curls bouncing around her pert ass, and his cock hardened, his body responding to that sexual taunt. “I also vowed to leave the Chamele system after I ran my experiments and we talked to your brothers. I plan to uphold my vow.”

“Both of those tasks will be completed today.” Berke narrowed his eyes, gazing fervently at her back, determined to protect her whether or not she wanted to be protected.

“Running the experiments today was never part of our agreement.” Ellie laughed, her mirth escalating Berke’s frustration. “These things take time, Warlord.”

He lengthened his stride, catching up to her. “Time we’ll spend orbiting Chamele 1.” He grabbed her arms and spun her around to face him. “You’re not hunting Tolui. He’s a Chamele warrior. He’s stronger—”

“Faster, deadlier, a being so superior, I could never harm him.” Ellie’s eyes flashed with hurt. Berke didn’t know its cause. Her sarcastically spoken words reflected the unfortunate reality. She was smaller and slower, more fragile, delicately human. “I understand.” She jerked out of his grip.

At least one of us understands. Berke watched helplessly as Ellie stormed away, his female more complex than the most detailed battle plan.

Chapter Three

“Ship.” Elle pressed her lips together, stopping her request. I won’t track his position. He doesn’t care about me. I shouldn’t care about him.

Elle gazed through the bridge’s main viewscreen, watching swirls of blue dance over Chamele 1’s predominantly white surface. The ice-covered planet’s cold beauty reminded her of its equally cold Warlord. She raised the right cuff of her oversized cold-temperature suit to her nose and breathed deeply, inhaling Berke’s distinctive scent. Her pussy moistened, her body aching for him.

I’m not weak. Elle pushed her ass out of the worn chair, needing to take action, to move, to change into her own clothes and regain her identity. I’m a bounty hunter, blast it. She strode through the bridge, the other chairs and consoles empty, waiting as she had waited…for him to find her, to retrieve her, to bring her home.

If he cared, he would have found me. She maneuvered the narrow corridors, the energy-reducing lights flickering to full brightness before her, the silence accentuating her loneliness. But he doesn’t care.

She slapped her palm against her sleeping chamber’s control panel and the doors slid open, revealing Berke stretched out on her bed, his arms folded behind his head, his big form gloriously naked and his cock hard.

Elle’s breath caught. He may not care but he does desire me. “You located my sleeping chambers.” Her voice lowered to a sensual huskiness, her need for him overriding her pain. And I’m weak, so very weak.

Berke’s nostrils flared. “They smell of you.”

“I smell of you,” she confessed, plucking at the lapels of her cold-temperature suit.

“I like that you smell of me,” her Warlord rumbled. “It declares to the worlds you’re mine.” He curled his fingers around his girth, fisting his cock and he leisurely pumped, shamelessly pleasuring himself in front of her.

He’s here…for now. Why shouldn’t I sate my lust? Elle licked her bottom lip and Berke’s grip on his shaft tightened, a dab of pre-cum forming on his tip. “I’m angry with you.” She raised her chin, fighting her arousal.

Berke raised his eyebrows. “And I’m angry with you, gerel.” He stroked his cock faster, up and down, up and down, and Elle’s nipples grew taut, pressing against her suit’s coarse fabric. “This foolish plan of yours will put us both in danger.”

Elle rolled her eyes, her Warlord’s arrogance knowing no bounds. “You don’t know what my plan is.” She stepped closer to him. “I’ve retrieved fugitives similar to Tolui in the past.” In the distant past, before I met Berke and lost that ability. She kept that critical piece of information to herself.

“None of your fugitives were similar to Tolui,” Berke growled, his eyes gleaming. “He surrounds himself with clones.” He cupped his balls with his free hand as though presenting them to her.

Elle crawled onto the bed, positioning herself between his spread legs, unable to resist his offer. “The most sophisticated fugitives use clones to throw bounty hunters off their trails.” She covered his hands with hers, following his movements with her fingers, remembering how to please him, not that she’d ever forgotten. “We’ve developed devices to detect them.”

Berke stilled and his gaze met hers. “You can track clones?” His hands dropped to the bed.

“We prefer to find the fugitives.” Elle wrapped her fingers around his shaft, using both her hands to cover more skin, and she mimicked his touch. “But the devices can be modified to track their clones.” She pumped him, relishing his warm skin, embracing the softness over unyielding rigidity.

Berke didn’t say anything, his lack of response telling.

“That would have helped you, wouldn’t it?” Elle tilted her head, studying him. His eyes had deepened to the blackest black, his jaw was clenched and his fingers dug into the mattress. “Your weak human mate could have assisted you in your war.”

He grumbled something she couldn’t hear, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Elle smiled, her male stubborn beyond belief, and she worked his cock harder, faster, pushing at his renowned restraint, seeking to drive him over the edge, to make him lose control.

“Gerel.” Berke lifted his hips, thrusting into her hands.

She bent over him and extended her tongue. A strangled sound escaped from Berke’s grim lips, the verbalization of his weakness exciting Elle. She licked the pre-cum off his tip, tasting minerals and man and desire, and he jerked against her palms, his abdominal muscles rippling.

Elle pumped him with her hands and laved his inner thighs with her tongue, exploring every dip of skin, every bulge of muscle, indulging in caresses that held no pain, only pleasure. Berke was her bonded mate, the only male she could touch.

She playfully flicked his balls with the tip of her tongue and Berke yelped, hardening even more, perspiration streaming down his tanned cheeks. Elle stroked him up and down, marveling at the power under her fingertips, power she controlled.

She sucked one of his balls into her mouth, drawing a groan from Berke. Encouraged, Elle moved to its twin, rolling it with her tongue.

“No more teasing, Ellie. I can’t last,” her proud male admitted.

Elle pushed her lips over his cock head, taking him deep into her mouth, riding his thrusts. The veins on his shaft pulsed and his breathing rasped. She tugged and released, tugged and released, mercilessly stripping his control, intent on binding him to her as tightly as she was bound to him.

Berke grasped the back of her head, his claws pricking her scalp, the pain exhilarating her, and he guided her up and down his shaft once, twice, three more times. The ridge at the base of his cock swelled and Elle sucked, her cheeks indenting around him.

“Enough, female.” He pulled her away from him, easily overpowering her resistance.

“Never enough.” Elle met his stormy gaze and cradled his cock head with the tip of her tongue, waiting, needing all of him.

Berke muttered under his breath and fiercely pumped his cock, his knuckles white around his shaft. She smiled, granting him that illusion of control for six heartbeats, allowing him to temporarily retreat behind his cold mask of indifference. His shoulders lowered and his jaw eased.

She cupped his balls and Berke stiffened, his eyes widening. “You wouldn’t,” he rumbled.

“Wouldn’t I?” Elle squeezed.

Berke roared and drove his hips upward, arching his spine, his muscles tightening under Elle. A hard pulse of hot cum erupted from his cock head and shot down her throat, coating her mouth with liquid heat.

She screamed, coming with a mind-spinning force, her body convulsing and her pussy clenching down on nothing. Mindless with ecstasy, she fastened her lips around Berke’s tip and sucked every last drop from his bucking body, tonguing his slit, searching for more, more, more.

Berke’s shudders eased and slowly stopped. “My gerel.” He drew her up his large form, sliding her curves against his warm muscle, the full-body caress causing Elle to tremble, a weakness he thankfully didn’t remark upon. Her Warlord wrapped his arms around her waist and cupped her fabric-covered ass with his big palms, securing her to him.

Elle rested her cheek on his chest, listening to Berke’s heart beating strong and true against her ear. Was that enough to prove myself worthy of being a Chamele Warlord’s mate? She traced the wide silver scar slashing his right pectoral into two. Or will I always remain his dirty little secret, hidden away from his world?

His breathing leveled, precious time ticking away, and the worry inside her built, the future and his plans unknown. “Berke?”

“Yes, gerel.” He brushed her curls away from her face, his gentle touch tugging at her heart.

Elle swallowed hard, unwilling to examine, to name the feelings churning inside her. Will you ever claim me? Fearing the answer, she asked a safer question. “Have your people met Zeta and Gale?”

“Unfortunately yes.” Berke sighed and she rode the rise and fall of his chest. “Every Chamele, friend or foe, knows they’re bonded to my brothers. The fools have told the worlds.”

“Oh.” Their mates want them. They’ll never experience my pain, never desire to break their bonds, never need the results of my experiments.

“Your brothers must love them.” Elle summoned up a smile, her cheeks aching from the effort, her heart hurting.

“They don’t love their gerels enough,” Berke murmured. “Not nearly enough.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, his tender touch soothing some of her pain. “Sleep, Ellie. I’ll protect you.”

But he’ll never love me. She closed her eyes, trapping the teardrops that threatened to fall.

* * * * *

The next evening, Berke lounged in the first officer’s chair, his gerel seated beside him, positioned close enough to touch. “And your ship’s scanner works on the same premise?” He examined the handheld device Ellie had designed to detect clones.

“It looks for the same genetic markers.” His mate’s small form was dwarfed by the large captain’s chair, a loose-fitting blue flight suit concealing her curves, her long hair draped over her shoulders. The loose tendrils made her appear young and vulnerable, rousing Berke’s protective instincts.

“When a ship comes within range, we can differentiate the clones from the other life forms.” She gazed at the main viewscreen, a frown on her beautiful face.

“I’ll ask Murad to boost the tracking ability to cover a greater distance.” Excitement swelled within him. Ellie’s invention increased his odds of ending the war quickly. “We can then search entire planets for Tolui’s army.” As he strategized, Berke tapped his fingers against the small screen. “Why didn’t I think of this?”

“It was the pain.” Ellie waved her small hand dismissively. “It’s challenging to think clearly when your nostrils are burning and your head is splitting into two.”

“Pain?” Berke straightened, certain he’d heard her incorrectly. “What pain?”

She swirled her fingertips over the controls, zooming in on one of his warships, and the lines etched between her eyebrows deepened. “You know, the pain because of your leadership role. You couldn’t isolate yourself from the opposite sex as I could.” Ellie shook her head, her curls tumbling over her breasts. “This won’t work. Ship, chart a course to the Tengri Sector.”

“Ship, disregard that order,” Berke barked. “We’re not leaving this sector. What are you talking about? What pain?”

“We have to leave the sector. Tolui hasn’t survived this long by being a fool.” Ellie’s brown eyes blazed with heated emotion. “He’ll know your ships are in orbit. He won’t contact me this close to Chamele 1.”

Berke set the clone-detecting device on the first officer’s console and lurched to his feet, not caring about Tolui or his gerel’s mysterious plan to catch him. “Did our separation cause you pain, Ellie?”

Ellie turned her head, her gaze meeting his. “Only when I shared a space with another male.” She brushed her fingers over the healing burn on her cheek. “Didn’t being near another female cause you pain?”

“I felt nothing, a numbness.” I hurt my female with my decisions, with my arrogance. Berke curled his fingers into tight fists. “I didn’t feel physical pain.”

“Because you didn’t care.” She glared at him, her eyes flashing with hurt and anger.

Berke flinched. “Because I’m not human.” He cautiously approached Ellie, not knowing how to fix his mistake. “I’m a Chamele.” He stood in front of her chair. “I thought you only felt the loneliness, the dead space inside your soul.” He rubbed his bare chest, remembering that aching emptiness. “I didn’t know—”

“That, even in this, I’d be weaker than you are?” Ellie looked away from him, her silent rejection cutting him. “That every day my tolerance for the company of other males would diminish until I had to erect barriers between me and the outside world, giving up the career I loved, becoming a prisoner in an all-female school?” His passionate female’s flat, dead tone revealed the extent of her anguish.

Anguish I inadvertently caused. “Ellie.” Berke sank to his knees before her, the wire-mesh floor digging into his leg coverings, that pain serving as a small penance for what he’d done.

“Tolui contacted Zeta closer to your sun.” Ellie stared over his right shoulder, her refusal to look at him punishing Berke even more. “He might feel safe there.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Ship, chart a course to Chamele 4.”

“Gerel.” Berke placed his palms on her flight suit-covered thighs, needing to touch her, yearning to hold her. “What is the purpose behind the experiments you’re running?” he asked, dreading the answer.

Her gaze met his, her eyes covered with a wet sheen, his strong female battling tears. “I’m trying to correct our mistake, Berke.”

“You’re severing our bond,” he bluntly stated, his soul screaming a protest, needing her more than he had ever needed anyone or anything. She nodded and he clenched his jaw, smothering his pain over layers of ice. “Once this war ends—”

“Nothing will change between us. I’ll still be a weak human, unworthy of a great Chamele Warlord,” Ellie said softly.

The worlds shifted under Berke’s knees, the magnitude of his blunder hitting him. “Is that what you think?” He stared at his beautiful, clever, brave female. “That you’re unworthy?” She turned her head away from him but not before he saw her pain. “Ellie.” He buried his face in her lap, inhaling her delectable scent. “You’re worthy, too worthy. You’re irreplaceable, Ellie.”

“You said bonding with me was a mistake.”

“Bonding was a mistake,” Berke explained, wishing he could take back those words, words spoken out of shock at what he’d done, how he’d put her, his everything, at risk. “It exposes.” He waved his right hand, unable to label the raw, intense emotions he felt for Ellie. “And it puts you in danger. Tolui could target you to get to me.”

“Khan and Murad—”

“Were right,” he muttered against her leg. “I know nothing about human females.” She stiffened. “Any females,” he hastily corrected. “Not that you’re any female.” He raised his head and met her bemused gaze. “I’d do anything to protect you, Ellie. That’s why I sent you away.”

“Because protecting me is your duty.” She pushed a strand of hair away from his face, her touch light and loving and some of the tension inside of Berke eased.

“Because you’re my gerel,” he murmured. Ellie was more important to him than duty or even honor. “When I defeat Tolui and battle his army, it will be for you.”

“We’ll defeat Tolui together.” Ellie captured his face between her hands, her fingertips coarse, her hands belonging to a warrior female. “And there won’t be any more battles. My plan will work.”

Could we defeat Tolui together? Berke leaned his forehead against Ellie’s, their noses touching, her breath teasing his lips. Can I risk her to win this war? If she died… “No. I can’t lose you, Ellie.”

“I’m not as fragile as you think I am.” She petted his head, smoothing his long hair, her caresses soothing him. “Before I met you, I was the best bounty hunter credits could buy.”

And I forced her to give that up. Berke straightened. “All I wanted to do was keep you safe.” He lifted her, slipped into the captain’s chair and settled her on his lap, relishing her slight weight, how her ass nestled against his hard groin. “You’re my light, my treasure, my reason for being.”

“And all I wanted was to stand by your side,” Ellie whispered. “In battle or in peace. I’ll assist you, Warlord. Haven’t I already proven that with the clone detector?”

The clone detector could end the war. Berke propped his chin on the curve of her shoulder. Ellie’s curls teased his cheek, soft yet strong, as alive and as contradictory as his female.

They watched the distant stars blur in the viewscreen, the constellations as familiar as his own hands, a symbol of all that he fought to protect.

No, not all that I fight for. Berke flattened his palms against Ellie’s stomach. All she wants is to stand by my side. He took a deep breath and asked, “What is your plan?”

Ellie swung her legs to the side, her pert ass perched on one of his thighs and she gazed at him, studying his face. Berke didn’t know what she looked for. “My plan is your original plan except instead of Zeta trading Khan to Tolui for credits, I’m trading you.”

Berke frowned, thinking of reasons to discard the plan, not wanting his reckless female to be anywhere near his enemy. “Tolui will send a clone.”

“Which I will detect and reject.” Ellie grinned, flashing white teeth, the sparkle returning to her eyes.

“He’ll blow up the ship,” Berke countered, unwilling to take any chances with his gerel.

Ellie made a rude noise with her lips. “You’ve been fighting forever. He’ll want the satisfaction of killing you himself. That was Tolui on Chamele 1.” She trembled and Berke tightened his grip on her, seeking to ease her fear. “The rage I felt radiating from him couldn’t have been copied.”

“He could have killed you while in that rage.” Berke glared at the mark on her cheek, wishing to kill Tolui for that affront alone.

“But he didn’t kill me.” Ellie pressed an index finger against his lips. “Because I’m good and because he thinks we’re on the same side. He thought I was there to kill you. He still thinks that.”

Berke nipped her fingertip, tasting salt and female. “You’re good but not invincible and you don’t know what that clone-lover thinks.”

“Is it that bad that he loves clones?” Ellie caressed Berke’s nipples, swirling her fingers over the flat flesh, the stimulation hardening his cock. “I’ve met clones. They’re not that different from you or me.”

“According to Tolui, they’re superior.” Berke scowled, negotiating with the rebel an exercise in frustration, his demand for a clone-governed system ridiculous. “He has enhanced his manufactured warriors to benefit his own purposes, uncaring of the consequences, and he’d have Chameles serve these creations of his.”

“You? Serve?” Ellie laughed. “Never.”

“I only serve you.” Berke wedged his hands between her thighs, spreading her legs wider, opening her to him. “My gerel.” He stroked his fingers over her mons, her heat, her wetness seeping through the fabric of her blue flight suit. “I long to please you, Ellie.” He nuzzled against her neck, mouthing over her skin, wishing to give her ecstasy to offset the agony he’d caused.

“We’re on the bridge of my ship.” Ellie’s voice lowered to a sexy huskiness, her protest adorably feeble. “If someone hailed us, they’d see.”

“What would they see?” Berke extended his claws and raked them over Ellie’s flight suit, shredding the garment into strips, revealing pale skin, pink nipples, a triangle of short brown curls. “They’d see a Chamele Warlord paying homage to his small human female.” He retracted his claws, not trusting his already frayed control, and he traced the scar on her neck with his tongue, licked over her collarbone, dragged his mouth lower to her succulent curves. “The female he will always desire.”

She arched her back, lifting her breasts. “Show me how much you want me.” Ellie held his head as he fastened his lips to her right nipple, sucking that intriguing combination of soft tautness into his mouth.

Berke feasted upon his mate’s slender form, thoughts of Tolui and clones and battles fading, his world narrowing to Ellie, her pleasure, her desire. He drew as much of her breast as he could into his mouth, applying a constant pressure, twirling his tongue around her nipple, playing her body as only he could, with tenderness, devotion.

“Berke.” She writhed over his thighs, rubbing her bare ass into his leg coverings, branding the leather with her scent of her skin.

“I’m honoring you with my mouth, with my body.” He caught her nipple between his lips and pulled, elongating the delicate tip. Ellie whimpered, that quiet sound of surrender exciting Berke. He released her nipple and skimmed his teeth over her ivory skin to torment her left breast.

“I’m worshipping you, my little bounty hunter, my reckless warrior.” He laved her with the flat of his tongue, swirling the tip over her nipple, and Ellie dug her fingernails into his scalp, the pain stimulating. He raised his gaze, meeting hers, and threw his habitual caution to the wild Chamele winds. “The only female I want fighting by my side.”

Ellie inhaled sharply, her response pushing her breast against his mouth, and Berke sucked on that decadent curve, accepting all of her, accepting fate. They were meant to be together, on her ship’s bridge, in his sleeping chambers, on the bloody battlefield.

Berke tugged and released, tugged and released, drawing moans from deep within Ellie’s throat. He’d protect her, kill for her, die for her. She stroked her trembling fingers over the ridge in his leg coverings, torturing him with her touch.

“Rut on me, Ellie.” He unfastened his leg coverings with a vicious yank, tearing the leather, and he lifted her. She wrapped her hands around his cock, positioned him at her entrance, her heat engulfing him, her wetness coating his tip, and she lowered on him, taking him inside her hot, tight body.

“Good.” Berke’s eyes rolled back in his head as she continued her leisurely descent. “But too slow.” He pulled her downward, digging his fingertips into her hips.

Ellie growled, sounding more adorable than fierce, and she clung to his shoulders, offering a feeble resistance Berke easily overcame. He drew her fully down him, her pussy lips touching his base, and her inner walls squeezing his bonding ridge.

“Better.” Berke loosened his grip, content to be inside his female, the connection between them humming.

“For you.” She swatted his chest, the smack of skin against skin loud, the contact heating his flesh. “I had my own plans.”

“Which were to torture me.” Berke squeezed Ellie’s glorious ass and regretted the action instantly, her pussy walls constricting around him, tempting him to spill his seed. “You push me too far, gerel.”

“You need to be pushed,” Ellie huffed, her eyes glittering and her cheeks flushed pink. “You’re too rigid, Warlord.” She rose on her knees, the delectable slide testing Berke’s restraint, and she fell down on him, taking his cock even deeper.

“You’ll soon take care of my rigidity.” He gritted his teeth as she rocked, her breasts swaying against his chest, her nipples grazing his skin. Her long, brown curls tumbled over her back, the tendrils teasing his fingers.

“If I can.” Ellie shifted, her rutting shallow and her rhythm unruly. “I need longer legs.” Her face twisted with frustration.

“You are small.” Berke suppressed a grin, feeling young and carefree, a warrior without the responsibilities of a planet, a people.

Ellie narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not helping.” She stilled, allowing him to regain some of his control.

“You’re a strong female.” He met her gaze. “Ask for what you need.”

“I am a strong female and I’ll take what I need.” Ellie clutched his shoulders and pulled her body upward. Berke’s cock glided along her inner walls, encased in her wet heat. She paused with only his cock head remaining inside her, holding the control-stripping pose for five long heartbeats and then she let go, impaling herself on his shaft, her ass slapping against his thighs, her juices splattering his balls.

“Yes, take what you need,” Berke rumbled, impressed with his gerel’s strength and with her ingenuity. He cupped her ass, lifting her. “Rut on me.” He released her and she shrieked, grabbing his arms to slow her decent, squeezing her pussy around his cock.

“You’re killing me,” he groaned, assisting her yet again, unable, unwilling to stop the torment, to deny her. She raked her nails along his skin, leaving a stinging trail of red, the pain adding to his pleasure.

She touched his base and he drove his hips upward, pushing deeper, grunting with effort, needing to please Ellie, to shred her control as she shredded his. She held on to his arms, gripping him with her rough fingers, her lips parting in a gasp.

Berke captured her mouth, muffling the sound, tasting the spice of their evening rations, the meal eaten on the bridge as they both worked, together, side by side. She ran her calloused hands along his arms, across his shoulders and clasped his nape, tangling her fingers in his hair, her tongue stroking between his lips, her desire feeding Berke’s.

He slid her up and down his shaft, faster and faster, swallowing her pants, savoring her heat, her wetness. Her legs trembled and her pussy tightened around him, her passion as unstoppable as she was.

Berke rutted into her with a fierce determination, seeking to satisfy her, to bring her to fulfillment first. Ellie arched her back, pushing her breasts into his chest, and he held her to him, perspiration dripping between his shoulder blades, wetting the leather chair.

“Tell me what you need,” he demanded hoarsely, unable to last for much longer, his control stripped bare, his balls aching and the base of his shaft swollen.

“Smack my ass.” She tilted her hips, offering that firm, pale flesh to him. “Punish me.”

“Yes.” His cock bobbed inside her, his body agreeing with her proposal. “This is for leaving Dorian 2.” Berke slapped her ass, using a fraction of his strength, and Ellie cried out, her pussy tightening around his shaft.

“And this is for not returning to me earlier.” He heated her skin with his hand, the whack of skin meeting skin loud and arousing, driving them both closer to sexual fulfillment.

“For causing yourself unnecessary pain.” He cuffed her ass, careful not to cause lasting damage.

“For risking your life. For being reckless.” He rained playful blows down on her curves, marking her white skin. “For doubting my vow.” He rubbed the heel of his hand into the burn and she wiggled, her pussy juices soaking his shaft. “For threatening to break our bond.”

“For caring.” Tears streaked down Ellie’s cheeks.

“No.” Berke pressed his fingertips into her abused ass and she hissed. “For believing I didn’t care.” He slapped her ass with the flat of his palm and she screamed, clenching her pussy down on him, severing his control.

“Ellie,” he roared, thrusting upward, riding her orgasmic storm, finding sweet release in her willing body. He pumped hot cum into her pussy, filling her with his seed. She raked his back with her nails, punishing him as he had punished her, with passion and desire.

Berke gazed into her flushed face, unable to look away, having never seen anyone or anything as beautiful as his gerel. She was the heat to his coldness, the light to his darkness, the heart beating in his chest and the air in his lungs.

Ellie quieted and leaned her forehead against his chest, her breath hot on his skin, and he held her, the swelling at the base of his cock serving as an unbreakable physical link, a connection between the two of them.

I can’t lose her. Berke clutched his little female closer to him. “I care, Ellie.” He rested his chin on the top of her head. “I care too much.”

Chapter Four

“Territory scan complete, Captain,” the ship informed Elle three peaceful planet rotations later, that time having been spent orbiting Chamele 4, strengthening the ship’s defenses and rutting with her sexually insatiable Warlord. She couldn’t recall a time when she’d been happier. “Sixteen humanoids detected. Zero clones detected.”

“Impossible,” Berke scoffed, clad only in leg coverings and black boots, his big body dominating the chair beside her. “It must be a malfunction. I’ve requested all of our hunting parties to return to their home planets and prepare for an attack against Tolui.”

“You’re assuming they’re Chameles.” Elle transferred the information, displaying the sixteen humanoid heat signatures on the main viewscreen, the proof indisputable. The heat signatures ranged in size and shapes, each believably unique. “Your malfunction is heading toward the Khatagtai Mountains.”

“They’re off-planet squatters.” Berke leaned forward in his seat, the muscles over his back rippling, and Elle’s fingers twitched, her desire to touch him, to stroke his tanned skin, escalating. “How did we not detect them?”

“How indeed?” she asked dryly. “The monitoring system for this planet is older than I am. My first-solar-cycle students could land on Chamele 4 without detection.”

Red color streaked across Berke’s scarred cheeks. “It’s an inhospitable planet, unfit for permanent settlement.” He edged his voice with ice, his tone not fooling Elle. Her Warlord was clearly embarrassed by his failure. “And we’ve been preoccupied with fighting the war.”

“While I have one hundred and seven bounty hunters in training monitoring planets, places no one wishes to have monitored” Elle replied, her words as clipped and emotionless as his. “But yes, yes, they’re safe.” She anticipated his response. “As safe as I was on Dorian 2.” She touched the scar on her neck.

Berke lowered his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes, his face hard. “Ellie,” he growled.

The heat signatures disappeared. “Wait.” She scanned the area and couldn’t locate them. “You were correct, Berke.” Elle frowned. “It must have been a malfunction.” She edged the ship closer to one of Chamele 4’s moons, expanding her search. The heat signatures didn’t reappear. “Because they’re gone.”

“They’ve accessed the ancient tunnels.” Berke stared at the main viewscreen, his chin jutted, his profile as cragged as the ice-covered mountains on his home planet. “The rock on Chamele 4 acts as a shield, blocking all signals.” He swept one of his big hands over his hair, pushing the long black tendrils back. “I’ll add evicting squatters to my tasks to do.”

“It would be a great training exercise for my more advanced students.” Elle continued with her campaign, determined to prove to Berke that she and her students would add value. “They could work together, supervised by the trainers, experienced bounty hunters.”

“Ellie.”

“The junior females could upgrade your antiquated monitoring systems, detecting future squatters and possibly clone invasions.” She ignored Berke’s pussy-moistening growl, warming to the possibilities. “We’d run flights over the Noirsooroi Desert and—”

“An unidentified warship has entered the system, Captain,” the ship interrupted. “The unidentified warship has locked upon us.”

“What?” Elle straightened in her chair, fear coursing down her spine. “How were they able to sneak up on us like that?” She groaned, the answer obvious. “They hid behind the moon.”

“The moon is also shielded.” Berke flicked his fingers over his personal viewscreen, his expression grim. The image of a sleek black warship appeared before them, the more modern vessel having capabilities Elle envied. “That’s one of our warships. It was stolen from a base on Chamele 3 half of a solar cycle ago.”

“You need all of your monitoring systems upgraded,” she muttered, mentally noting to add that to her tasks to do, if they survived this encounter. “We can’t outrun the ship.” She considered their meager options, her ship designed for stealth, not open battle. “We could—”

“The unidentified warship is requesting we open hailing frequencies, Captain.”

“Tolui,” Elle said at the same time as Berke, their voices merging as one. “I told you he’d contact me.” She gave her Warlord a cheeky smile, hoping her assertions about Tolui not wanting to blow them up were also correct. Berke grumbled words in his native language she didn’t yet know. “Let’s see what he wants, shall we? Open hailing frequencies, Ship.”

“Video and audio link established,” the ship chirped.

Tolui’s broad, scarred face was projected upon the main viewscreen. His black eyes sizzled with unrestrained rage, his chest was bare and his long hair pushed back from his forehead. “I want the Chamele Warlord,” he demanded, forgoing communications protocol, his voice containing a Berke-like brusqueness.

“Do you?” Elle typed onto her personal viewscreen, silently instructing her ship to scan the warship for life forms. “I want to know how you escaped your restraints,” she quipped, playing the worlds-weary bounty hunter.

“I’m willing to pay for the Warlord.” Tolui ignored her request, staring straight at her, his jaw squared and his teeth partially bared in a menacing scowl.

He resembles Berke. Elle placed an image of Berke on the main viewscreen, the similarities between their facial features uncanny and undeniable. Her Warlord stiffened beside her.

“There is more than one bounty on this fugitive’s pretty head.” Elle forced a coldness she didn’t feel. Tolui threatened her male, her mate. “If you want preferential treatment, you’ll have to top the highest bounty by ten percent.”

“I agree to that payment.” Tolui answered too quickly, not responding with the expected counteroffer.

Because he doesn’t plan to pay the bounty. He plans to kill both of us. Elle tapped her short, blunt fingernails against the leather armrest, debating her next move.

Her personal viewscreen flashed red. She glanced at the results of the scan and a tremor rolled down her spine, the situation growing more complicated by the heartbeat. She sent the results to Berke. He inhaled sharply.

Elle muted the link and covered her mouth with her hand. “It’s Tolui. You see how angry he is. No one other than Tolui hates you that much.”

“Five clones, no humanoids are on board the warship,” Berke answered. “Those were the results of the scan. How can he be Tolui?”

How can he be Tolui? Elle froze, the answer obvious. She reactivated the link, requiring confirmation. “You’re a clone.”

Tolui’s face darkened. “I am.” His eyes flashed with heated emotion. “Do you have a problem with that?”

He’s a clone, but a clone of whom? Elle leaned back in her chair, her gut telling her Berke wouldn’t like the answer. “Does your humanoid source have a claim to the credits?”

Tolui glared at her. Elle gazed blankly at him, showing no emotion, having spent most of her life negotiating with beings more fierce than the Chamele rebel.

“My Chamele source deserted me after your fugitive, his beloved first son, was born,” Tolui spat, extending his claws. “He’s now dead and even if he wasn’t, I owe him nothing.”

The source had to be Berke’s beloved father. Elle stared coolly at Tolui, concealing her emotions under a layer of ice, unable to turn her head and see her Warlord’s pain. Their lives depended upon her responses.

“Then I don’t have a problem with you being a clone,” she replied, her voice flat. “I’m sending you the transfer details.” She tapped on her personal viewscreen, relaying the information through the communications link. “Once I’ve confirmed receipt of the credits, I’ll grant you access to my ship.”

“Double-cross me, bounty hunter, and I’ll take access of your ship,” Tolui growled.

“I’ve heard that threat before, Chamele, and I remain here.” Elle gave him a small smile. “Ship, end transmission.” The main viewscreen returned to the image of Chamele 4, the red planet set against a black sheet of distant stars.

Elle exhaled, sagging in her seat, the tension easing from her shoulders. “We survived…barely. Tolui is extremely paranoid.” She slid her gaze to Berke.

He clasped his chair’s armrests, his spine rigid, his knuckles white and his claws extended. “He’s not a clone of my father.” Berke glared at the main viewscreen. “My father banned cloning. He wouldn’t enforce a law he’d already broken.”

Elle rose to her booted feet and shook the wrinkles out of her blue flight suit, choosing her words carefully, not wanting to increase her mate’s pain. “Perhaps that’s why your father made the law.” She moved to the first officer’s chair, standing between Berke and the main viewscreen. He continued to stare straight ahead, his gaze not shifting. “He realized from his own experience how dangerous cloning could be.”

Berke didn’t reply, his lips pressed together in a grim white line.

Elle slipped into his lap, his thighs solid under her ass, and her stoic Warlord tightened his grip on the armrests, digging his fingers into the leather. She sighed. Berke’s father had been his hero, a being who could do no wrong.

“I never met your father.” I’ve never met any members of his family. “But from the way you’ve talked about him, I know he was a great ruler.” Elle touched Berke’s forehead, reveling in his warm skin. “No ruler is perfect though and part of caring for someone is accepting all of them, their strengths, their weaknesses, their wisdom and their mistakes.” She brushed her fingers over his hair, stroking him, petting him, wishing to ease his torment, not knowing how.

Silence stretched, moments and distance hanging between them, and then Berke surged forward, wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face between her breasts. Elle held him as he shuddered, his broad shoulders shaking.

“I love you, Berke,” she whispered into his hair. “And we’ll get through this.” She nuzzled her chin into the long black strands, inhaling his distinctive musk. “Together.” Elle caressed his back, following the dip along his spine with her fingertips, rubbing warmth into his skin, lending him her strength, what little she had. “We’ll deal with Tolui.”

“I’ll deal with Tolui.” Berke raised his head, his eyes as hard as ice, his cheeks dry. “I’m fixing my father’s mistake, Ellie.” Waves of red-hot rage radiated from her normally cool Warlord.

“Some mistakes aren’t meant to be fixed.” She captured his face between her palms, knowing what he planned to do, feeling his anguish. “Don’t take any action you’ll regret.”

“I won’t regret this.” Berke met her gaze squarely. “My father knew cloning himself was wrong. He created a law banning the process. He—”

“He allowed Tolui to live.” She swirled circles over Berke’s scarred cheeks with her thumbs, seeking to restore her mate’s reasoning. “That was your father’s wish.”

“That isn’t my wish.” Berke shifted under her and Ellie reluctantly slid off his lap onto her feet. “I won’t allow a clone of my father to exist.” He leaped out of his chair.

“And I won’t allow you to make a bad decision, not one that will cause you pain.” She faced him squarely, her fists propped on her hips. “You’re not thinking logically, Berke.”

“I always think logically,” he roared, his face flushing and his eyes flashing. “I’m a Warlord. I put my people’s needs before my own. This is a decision I’m making for them.”

“I’m a Warlord’s lady,” Elle yelled back, raising onto the tiptoes of her clunky boots. “I put your needs before my own and I’m protecting you from your own arrogant self.”

Berke glowered at her. She glowered back, not retreating one fraction.

“Foolish female.” He stepped away from her and retracted his claws. “What would you have me do?” His shoulders slumped as though collapsing under the weight of his responsibilities. “Tolui’s very existence puts everything my brothers and I have worked for at risk. It will cause dissention throughout the Chamele system. Some warriors will believe him to be a reincarnation of my father.” Her cool, collected Warlord resurfaced and her tension eased. Elle was able to reason with this version of Berke.

“I understand,” she murmured.

“Do you?” Berke met her gaze. “Because I can’t tolerate an extension of this war, Ellie,” he added softly, sounding heartbreakingly weary. “I won’t survive without you.”

He might not love me but he does care for me. A warmth spread across Elle’s chest. “Killing your father’s clone will damage your soul, Berke. You won’t be the same being afterward. I know this, here.” She placed his hand over her heart.

“I know this also.” He sighed, splaying his fingers wider, claiming more of her body. “But the alternatives—”

“Are numerous. You’re bonded to the best bounty hunter in the system.” She grinned at him, feigning a confidence she didn’t feel. “I’ve captured Tolui alive once. As I’ve enhanced my restraints, I expect, with your help, I can capture him alive again.”

“We could capture him alive,” Berke repeated slowly as though he were contemplating her plan. “Where would we release him?”

“Tolui might like Gehenna 5.” Elle leaned into Berke’s body, savoring his hard form. “That prison planet would allow him to vent some of his rage.”

“No one likes Gehenna 5.” Berke pressed his lips against her forehead. “Thank you, gerel,” he murmured.

She tilted her head back, confused. “For what?”

Color crept up his bare chest. “For caring enough to stand up to me. For putting my desires first. For returning to me when I needed you the most.”

“Oh.” She studied him, the power dynamic between them shifting once again, their connection tightening, their bond strengthening.

“The unidentified warship is requesting we open hailing frequencies, Captain,” the ship informed them.

“Already?” Elle reluctantly returned to her captain’s chair. “Was your father as impatient?”

Grooves formed on Berke’s sloping forehead. “I believe he was. You can ask my mother when you see her.”

When I see her. Elle wiggled with excitement, Berke’s casual assumption that she’d meet his mother thrilling her. “Open hailing frequencies, Ship.”

“Video and audio link established.”

Tolui’s image filled the main viewscreen, his silver scars accentuated by his tanned face and dark hair. “I transferred the credits, bounty hunter.” He scowled, his eyes blazing with a frightening fury. “Yet you didn’t contact me.”

With a couple flicks of her fingertips, Elle verified the credit transfer into her account. “So you have, Chamele clone.” She showed him no weakness and no emotion. “I’ll be expecting you. Alone.” Tolui opened his mouth. “That’s not negotiable. Ship, end transmission.”

The main viewscreen returned to the more soothing image of Chamele 4. “He won’t arrive alone,” Berke drawled, expressing Elle’s thoughts.

“No, he won’t.” She turned their ship to face the rapidly approaching warship, Tolui clearly impatient for the confrontation. “Ship, arm the detonators on the docking doors, five count delay upon breach.” She reached for the black body armor stored on the console and strapped the thin protective gear over her arms, legs, and torso.

“Detonators armed, Captain, five count delay upon breach,” the ship confirmed.

“I’ll kill the surviving clones. I don’t want you to go near them.” Berke’s fingers closed around the hilt of his sword, his expression icy cold, deadly, her Warlord preparing for battle.

“Not even you can kill four clones.” Elle shook her head. Berke continued to view her as his weak, inferior human mate. “We’re working together on this retrieval.” She slid guns and daggers into empty leather straps on her thighs and waist, the weight comforting and familiar.

Berke sheathed his sword, metal gliding along leather. “You’ll follow my orders.”

“If your orders are logical,” she agreed, wrapping restraints around her forearms, the devices doubling as extra protection. Her heart pounded with anticipation. Tolui was possibly her most skilled opponent.

Chapter Five

If my orders are logical. Berke pressed his lips together, biting back his retort. He recognized Elle’s concerns as legitimate as his feelings about his gerel were not at all logical. He palmed his favorite gun, the metal cool against his fingers, the heft reassuring.

“Come, Ellie.” He held out his free hand, needing to touch, to control his reckless female, the thrill of battle dampened by his fear of losing her.

“Yes, Warlord, high commander, sir,” Ellie replied with a playful insolence he only tolerated from her. Her small hand slid over his skin, the tremble in her fingers communicating her trepidation and arousing Berke’s protective instincts.

He closed his fingers over hers, securing her, and they walked across the bridge, through the silver sliding doors and down the narrow dimly lit corridors. Her hips brushed against his leg coverings with each stride, heightening his already heightened awareness of her. Her feminine musk teased his nostrils, the scent uniquely hers.

“I don’t want you to go near them,” he repeated, his gaze sliding to the mark on Ellie’s cheek. The burn Tolui had given her with a mere touch hadn’t yet healed.

“I might not be as physically strong as they are.” She lifted her chin, as defiant and fearless as ever. “But I have other skills.”

“You can outshoot me,” Berke declared proudly, having watched her practice daily at the ship’s firing range. Ellie’s eyes widened, her face flushing a delightful pink. “You’ll cover me with gunfire as I move closer.” She opened her mouth to protest and he added softly, “They’re male, Ellie.”

“Oh.” Her mouth dropped open. “I could be a hindrance.” She touched her cheek.

“You won’t be.” Berke assured her, linking their fingers together. “You were correct,” he confessed. “I can’t kill four clones and subdue Tolui on my own.” Tolui, my father’s clone. He couldn’t think of that now, putting everything except for the upcoming confrontation out of his mind. “I need you, gerel.”

“You need me?” Ellie’s gaze met his. “Your weak human mate?”

“Weak?” A bark of laughter escaped Berke’s lips. “You?” His female nodded, her brown curls bouncing around her slender shoulders, her expression adorably serious. “You captured Tolui on your own. You flew across numerous galaxies to rescue your friends. You dare to question my orders. Constantly. Ellie, you’re the strongest female I’ve ever met.”

“Truthfully?” She squeezed his fingers.

Berke squeezed back, using only a fraction of his strength. “Truthfully.” They turned a corner, the docking doors visible down the corridor. Red beams outlined the frame, his clever female having set bombs around the entrance.

“Then I was wrong.” Ellie worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “Me being human isn’t the reason.”

Berke concealed his confusion under a mask of indifference. “That isn’t the reason for—”

The ship shuddered and Berke wrapped his arm around Ellie’s waist, steadying her, reassuring himself she was unharmed.

“Tolui may be extremely impatient.” He guided Ellie into an alcove, positioned across from the docking doors, far enough away to shield them from shrapnel. “But he’s not a fool.” Berke created a protective cage around his female with his body, supplementing her woefully inadequate body armor. “He’ll send his clones into the ship first.”

Ellie wiggled her ass, swishing her pert curves back and forth, back and forth, tormenting Berke’s semi-hard cock. “You take the clones closest to us. I’ll take the farthest clones.” She raised her guns, her hands impressively steady.

Berke’s lips twitched. His little human was accustomed to assuming command. “You agreed to follow my orders, gerel.” He drew his second gun and aimed toward the door. “You take the clones farthest from us. I’ll take the nearest clones,” he joked, seeking to break the tension between them.

Ellie laughed, rubbing her body against his, and Berke’s heart beat faster, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

A blast rocked the ship. The docking doors propelled forward and bounced off the far wall panels. Berke silently counted. One. Two. Three. Four. Figures rushed into the corridor and crouched behind the docking doors. Five.

A second blast ripped through the space, temporarily deafening Berke, shrapnel pinging around them. He flattened Ellie against the concealing wall, covering her with his body. Bodies flew, blood splattering the metallic panels, the odor of death scenting the air, the doors reduced to fragments.

“How many did we get?” Ellie asked, her voice muffled.

“Two.” Berke released her, his ears ringing. “There are two more clones to kill and Tolui to apprehend.”

Shots sounded, bullets pelting the panels around them. Berke ducked into the corridor, shot at the gap where the docking doors once were, and ducked back. Ellie did the same, Berke’s breath catching every time her body was exposed to the bullets.

A dark form rushed across the narrow space. Berke shot, the form stumbled and disappeared into an alcove, leaving a trail of blood on the floor.

“You got him.” The pride in Ellie’s voice warmed Berke’s heart.

“I injured him,” he corrected gruffly. “I’m crossing the corridor.” He coiled his muscles, lowering his torso. “Cover me.” He sprang, rolling across the space.

Bullets flew around him, stinging his skin as they skimmed his arms and legs. The fourth clone leaned out of the door frame, his gun aimed directly at Berke.

A gun retorted and the clone was tossed backward, blood blooming over his right shoulder. His body jerked as more bullets ripped into his tanned flesh.

“Gotcha,” Ellie crowed, his female’s enthusiasm making Berke smile.

“The last one is mine.” He flattened his body against the door of the storage chamber, his chest heaving, perspiration streaking down his back, the recess concealing him from the clone’s bullets.

“Not if I get him first.” Ellie swung her gun into the corridor and her bullets glided along the wall, tearing strips of metal away from the panels. “I can’t reach him.” She retreated into the alcove.

“I can reach him. Keep him trapped in his hole.” Berke surged into the corridor, firing both his guns. Ellie’s bullets rushed along the wall, pinning the clone in place. “We—”

Ellie’s triggers clicked. “Empty.” She tossed the guns onto the floor.

Before she could draw new guns, the clone rushed away from them, zigzagging from alcove to alcove. Berke raced after him, shooting, his prey shockingly fast.

He must be genetically enhanced. Berke’s muscles ached and his lungs burned. He exchanged weapons, not breaking the rhythm of his gunfire.

The clone hesitated at the end of the corridor, looking from left to right, his long black hair swinging over his shoulders. Berke shot him in the shoulder blade and he spun around, a gun dropping from his twitching fingers, the barrel clinking against the metal floor.

“Do you surrender, clone?” Berke approached him cautiously, both his guns aimed at the clone’s scarred face. He saw the resemblance to his father now, his features achingly familiar. A clone of a clone of my father.

“Never,” the clone sneered, his eyes as hard as Chamele 1’s ice crust. “And my name is Twelve, not clone. Scream that when you die.” He dived to the right, raising his remaining gun.

Berke lunged toward him, pressing his triggers in rapid succession, riddling the clone’s body with bullets, inflicting wounds too deep and too severe to heal. The clone, Twelve, shook on the floor, blood dripping from his thin lips, his death noises slowly fading.

“Gotcha,” Berke uttered one of Ellie’s favorite phrases.

She didn’t respond, the silence eerie.

“Ellie.” A sheet of heart-stopping cold swept over Berke. He pivoted on his boot heels and froze, a band of pain constricting around his chest.

“Gotcha.” Tolui grinned, the humor not reaching his black eyes. Blood streamed down his right leg, his leg coverings torn. He stood with his feet braced apart, his left arm slung across Ellie’s frail neck and a gun pressed to her side. She pulled at his arm and kicked her feet, her boots not touching the floor, her eyes wide.

“This is between you and me, Tolui.” Berke struggled to contain his rage, his claws pricking his skin. “Don’t hurt her.”

“Lower your guns.” Tolui shifted his grip, lowering his arm, and Ellie gulped air, gasping and sputtering. “And I’ll let her go.”

“He won’t let me go.” The rawness in Ellie’s voice escalated Berke’s anger. “Shoot him, Berke. Aim for his shoulder if you can’t bring yourself to kill him.”

“She’ll be dead before you press the trigger,” Tolui warned, shaking Ellie’s small body, rattling her teeth.

Berke tightened his grip on his guns. Tolui living was no longer an option, not after the clone threatened and hurt his gerel.

“You could end the war right now, Berke.” His rash female continued to talk, risking her life by invoking her captor’s ire. “You’ll save lives, your people’s lives. Think of your people.”

“My people?” Berke stared at Ellie. “I can’t think of my people now.”

“You can. You love your people.” A sheen of moisture covered Ellie’s brown eyes.

“I love you more.” Berke crouched, setting his guns flat on the floor. “I’d give up everything for you, Ellie—my planet, my people, my life.”

“Berke, no,” she pleaded.

“So the great Warlord does have a weakness.” Tolui smirked, loosening his clasp on Ellie. Her boots touched the floor, her heels ringing on the metal.

“I’m not a weakness. I made an error,” Ellie explained, her tone defensive. “I didn’t know Tolui was so fast. I was distracted and he surprised me.”

“He did more than surprise you,” Berke muttered, blaming himself, not his mate, for this situation. He’d left her alone to face Tolui. He fixed his gaze on his soon-to-be-dead enemy. Blood pooled around the clone’s big black boots, an injury he could exploit.

“You vowed to let her go,” Berke added louder. “She’s a frail human female and not part of this war.”

Ellie stiffened, her shoulders straightening, and Berke braced, cursing his mate’s pride. For once in your rebellious life, gerel, follow someone else’s lead.

As though hearing his silent plea, she suddenly sagged against the Chamele clone, her form disturbingly limp and lifeless. “Berke is right.” Her voice was pitifully weak. “I should have stayed on Dorian 2. I was safe there.”

She wasn’t safe on Dorian 2. Berke met Ellie’s gaze, her face shielded from Tolui’s watchful gaze by her thick brown curls. She fought off an attacker. She flashed him a lightening-quick grin, the same grin she always wore before she implemented one of her crazy plans.

Son of a Gechii. He swallowed a groan. She’ll be the death of me.

“Are you breaking your vow, Tolui?” Berke taunted, drawing the clone’s attention away from Ellie. “I’m unarmed yet you continue to cower behind a tiny female.” He curled his top lip, openly revealing his disgust, and Tolui’s eyes blazed with anger. “Let her go and fight me like a warrior.” Berke contracted his muscles, preparing to act. “Or are clones incapable of honor?”

“Only fools risk victory for honor.” Tolui aimed his gun toward Berke. “There is no need to prove my hon—”

Ellie drove her elbows into the clone’s stomach and Tolui folded over, gasping. Berke sprang forward, bellowing with rage, extending his claws. A shot rang out, the impact flinging Ellie back, her ass skidding along the floor, and Tolui’s gun dropped to the wire mesh.

“Ellie!” Berke skewered Tolui on his claws and threw him down the hallway. The clone connected with the wall, bones crunched and his form stilled.

“Ellie.” Berke rushed to his gerel’s side, his heart pounding. “Ellie.” He fell to his knees in front of her and sharp shards of pain jabbed up his thighs. “My Ellie.” He brushed back her long, brown curls, revealing her pale face.

“Did we get him?” She wheezed, holding her stomach.

“Did he get you?” He pried her fingers away from her body and probed the long, deep horizontal tear in her body armor, finding no bullet and no blood. “The bullet skimmed your stomach.” Berke released his breath. “Are you hurt?” He grazed the red marks around her neck.

“He didn’t hurt me very much, surprisingly. My skin didn’t blister. My tolerance to strange males must be increasing.” Ellie gave him a feeble smile. “Where?” She coughed. “Where is Tolui?”

Berke turned his head. The corridor was empty. “He’s gone.” He frowned, shifting closer to Ellie, protecting his gerel being his highest, his only priority.

Ellie clutched his right arm, digging her short, blunt nails into his skin, and she struggled to her feet. “We have to capture him, stop him.” She swayed.

Berke swung her into his arms, her weight slight. “We are not doing anything, foolish female.” He carried her toward their sleeping chambers, planning to lock her in before hunting Tolui down.

“Tolui didn’t pass us. He must have run in the other direction.” She reached over his shoulder, stretching her hand toward the vacant corridor. “He’ll access my bridge and—”

“Escape pod two released,” the ship informed them.

“Ship,” Berke barked, needing confirmation. “How many beings occupied escape pod two?”

“One clone occupied escape pod two.”

“Tolui,” Berke and Ellie said in unison. She pressed her palms against his chest, her skin warm and calloused, the hands of a warrior female. “The escape pods move slowly. If we run to the bridge, we might be able to shoot him out of space.”

Berke suppressed the thrill of the chase, focusing on what was most important to him—Ellie. “My warriors have instructions to track any unidentified vessel.”

Ellie gazed up at him. “You’ve been chasing Tolui for solar cycles and you’d allow one of your warriors to capture him?”

“I’m not leaving your side, gerel.” He increased his grip on her delectable curves. “I almost lost you.” His voice broke, emotion constricting his throat.

Her eyes softened. “You didn’t lose me.” She cupped his cheek. “We fought our enemy and survived.”

“You were fierce.” He turned his head and kissed her palm, tasting the salt of her skin. “And frightening.” Berke carried her through the doors to their sleeping chambers and laid her carefully on the bed.

“Your days of taking risks are done, Ellie.” He glanced at the red marks on her neck and his mood darkened. “You’re not venturing off-planet again.”

“I’m not venturing off Dorian 2?” Ellie’s plush lips drooped, tempting him to kiss them.

“You’re not venturing off Chamele 1.” Berke leaned over Ellie and brushed his mouth across hers. “You can train your students underground.” He straightened, subduing his unruly desires. Ellie needed time to recuperate from her ordeal. “If you wish to see Zeta and Gale, they can visit you but you’re not leaving our home. Ever.” He crossed his arms in front of his body and leveled his iciest, most impervious glare on his rebellious mate, bracing for her protests.

“Are you claiming me, Warlord?” Ellie’s eyes sparkled, her response surprising him, her beauty blinding him.

“I claimed you moments after we met, foolish female.” Berke forced his severe expression, seeking to banish all her doubts. “You’re mine and once you’re recovered, I’ll prove that to you.”

She slid her hands along the bed. “I feel better already.”

Berke strode to an empty chair, away from the bed, away from his bruised and battered female, away from temptation. “Remove your body armor and sleep, gerel.” He sat down and picked up a personal viewscreen, avoiding her heated gaze, his cock hard and his soul needy. “I’ll be here when you wake.”

Chapter Six

“The escape pod was found on Chamele 4 at the base of the Khatagtai Mountains,” Jochi, Berke’s best warrior reported, his grim face projected on the bridge’s main viewscreen. “A body wasn’t retrieved but it is unlikely any being survived that crash.”

“It is improbable that he survived but not impossible,” Berke replied, seated in the first officer’s chair, clad in tight leather leg coverings, boots and nothing else, his magnificent chest bare. “Tolui has accomplished the impossible before.” He turned his head and met Elle’s gaze. “Can any of your devices locate terminated life forms?”

Jochi raised his eyebrows, openly revealing his surprise upon hearing Berke’s request for assistance, and Elle smothered her smile, maintaining a cool Berke-like expression. “The ship logged Tolui’s genetic markers during his attack, but they can only be detected at close range.”

“Jochi, once my gerel has transferred the technology to you, search the area surrounding the wreckage,” Berke ordered. “Find Tolui’s body.”

The scarred warrior swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Your gerel, my lord?”

“Elle is my gerel, your lady,” Berke explained curtly and Elle’s heart squeezed, his public acknowledgement of their relationship soothing the last of her lingering fears.

“She’s the best bounty hunter in existence and has already captured Tolui once.” Berke delivered the commendation without emotion, his words surprising and pleasing her. “Consider a command received from her to be a command received from me.”

Jochi appeared as astonished as she felt. “Congratulations, my lord.” The somber warrior studied Elle closely via the visual links. Lines appeared between his eyebrows. “Lady Zeta and Lady Gale have spoken to their warriors of an Elle, the leader of the bounty hunters, a strong female warrior with unmatched tactical skills.”

“Lady Zeta and Lady Gale have been too generous with their praise.” Elle’s face heated. “Some say your Warlord’s tactical skills match mine.”

“Some extremely loyal human bounty hunters might say that.” Berke’s dark eyes glinted. “But all Chamele warriors know my tactical skills surpass yours.” He puffed out his chest.

“Your Chamele warriors have no knowledge of my tactical skills.” Elle bestowed her haughtiest gaze upon him. “Zeta and Gale have a basis on which to compare.” She tapped her chin, contemplating how best to showcase her tactical skills. “Hmmm…”

“No.” Berke straightened in his chair. “The answer is no.”

“You don’t know what I’ve planned.” She grinned and he groaned, the sexy rumble tightening her nipples. “Are you threatened by my prowess, Warlord?” Elle leaned toward him and covered his hand with her palm.

“Threatened isn’t what I’m feeling.” Berke flipped his palm over and threaded his fingers through hers, securing her to him. “And your prowess with battle strategy isn’t what I’m thinking about.” His gaze sizzled with heat.

“No?” Elle’s heart skipped a beat, her pussy moistening and her passion rising.

Berke flared his nostrils and his grim lips curled upward. “No.” His voice lowered.

Jochi cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him. “We’re happy for you, my lord.” A crimson blush colored the warrior’s weathered visage. “And it’s a great honor to meet you, my lady.” He bowed his dark head.

“Jochi, we’ll continue this discussion at a later time,” Berke decided.

“Thank you, my lord.” Jochi’s visible relief made Elle smile. “End transmission.” The main viewscreen flickered and displayed a view of Chamele 4. Berke lunged to his feet, his movements smooth, sensuous, captivating Elle.

“Shouldn’t locating Tolui be your first priority?” She gazed up at him, admiring his broad chest, his tight abdomen, the noticeable bulge in his leg coverings.

“Tolui is likely dead and you’ve always been my first priority.” Berke gathered her into his arms, lifting her easily out of her captain’s chair. She slid her hands up his chest and linked her fingers behind his neck. “I promised to prove that to you once you recovered.”

“I’ve recovered,” Elle murmured, resting her cheek on his chest, his heart beating against her skin, the rhythm thrillingly fast.

“So you say.” Berke carried her across the bridge, through the sliding doors, down the corridor, his gait even, his feet soundless. “I’ll verify that for myself.” Although his expression remained stoic, tension and need radiated from him.

“Will you?” She pressed her lips to his skin, tasting salt and minerals. A shudder rolled down his big form. He wants me…badly. Elle smiled up at him, the power she wielded over her Warlord escalating her desire.

They entered their sleeping chambers. “I will.” Berke lowered her carefully to the bed. Elle drifted her fingertips over his chest, and his muscles rippled. “No.” He captured her wrists, pushed her back and stretched her arms above her head. “Keep your hands there.”

She obeyed, frowning. “But—”

“No buts.” Berke straightened her body, his hands gentle and his tone stern. “Stay still or I’ll use the restraints.”

The restraints. Elle trembled with excitement. “Is your control lacking, Warlord?”

“Yes.” Berke surprised her by admitting. He extended his claws and leisurely ran the deadly tips over her body, grazing her nipples, her stomach, her mons, shredding her flight suit to strips of fabric, leaving not even a hint of pink on her white skin. “With you, I have no control. I’ve never had control.”

Retracting his claws, he brushed the remains of her garment aside, gazing upon her with heated eyes, and Elle sucked in her breath, Berke’ need, want, love for her fiercely reflecting in his scarred countenance.

“Never doubt how much you mean to me, Ellie.” He leaned over her and brushed his lips across her forehead, down her cheek, over her chin, avoiding her parted lips. “I would die for you.” Berke skimmed his teeth along her neck and tremors flowed over her. “Kill for you.” He traced her collarbone with the tip of his tongue and Elle arched, needing his lips on her breasts.

“For you, I’d give up everything.” Berke circled her right breast, coiling her passion around her, his mouth hot and his lips firm. “My family, my people.” His nose brushed against her nipple and she gripped her hands together tightly, fighting the urge to cup his head. “I’d turn my back on honor.”

“I’d never ask that of you.” Elle ached for him, for his touch.

“You wouldn’t have to ask.” He fastened his mouth over her nipple and sucked, the pleasure bowing Elle’s spine. “I’d do anything to make you happy.” Berke lavished her breast with wet heat, flicking his tongue over her skin, tormenting her with teasing strokes. “To keep you safe.” He dragged his lips to her other breast and repeated his slow, sweet torture.

“Berke.” Elle panted, gripping her fingers so intensely, her knuckles hurt.

“You can control this, gerel.” He slid the flat of his hand down her stomach, over her mons, dipping his fingertips into her juices. “You’re strong.” Berke caressed her folds as he nuzzled her breasts, his breath hot on her nipple. “The strongest female I’ve ever met.” He slipped one calloused finger into her pussy and Elle whimpered, her body clenching him.

“That’s it.” He pumped her, drawing more moisture, more tremors from her core. “Hold on to me, Ellie.” Berke added a finger, stretching her open. “Grip me with that tight little pussy.” He worked her hard, stripping her restraint with each deep stroke.

“I can’t,” she pleaded, unable to be the strong female Berke wanted.

“Not yet.” His command supplemented her resolve, his tone allowing no disobedience. He mouthed over her stomach. “You can wait for me.” His breath wafted on her inner thighs and she gritted her teeth, struggling for control.

“I want to taste your passion.” Berke withdrew his fingers, his skin glistening with her juices. “When I suck on you, you can come.” She twitched as he fastened his mouth over her pussy.

His gaze met hers, his eyes dark with desire, and he sucked hard on her clit. Elle screamed his name, bucking into him, throwing her body forward, trusting him to catch her as she splintered into a million different parts, blasted apart by passion. She shook, writhed, the tug and release, tug and release of his mouth prolonging, deepening her orgasm.

Drained emotionally and physically, she collapsed on the bed, unable to stop the quivering in her limbs, her legs spread, her arms remaining where Berke had placed them. Her dour Warlord speared his tongue into her pussy, licking and sucking, drinking the moisture of her release with a gratifying gusto.

“I love you, Berke,” Elle whispered, overcome with emotion.

Berke raised his head, the lights reflecting off his wet lips. “But do I love you?” Elle hesitated and he smiled grimly. “I see I have some more proving to do.” He moved up her body, his skin sliding along hers, his lower body remaining encased in tight black leather.

“I don’t know if I can survive more proving.” She bent her knees, cradling him between her thighs, his weigh comfortingly heavy.

“Touch me, Ellie.” He swept his lips over hers, teasing her with his light caress, his mouth tasting of her intimate juices.

“Yes.” She dropped her hands to Berke’s shoulders, his muscles pulling taut under his tanned skin. “I love touching you.” Ellie kneaded him, rubbing her fingertips into his warmth. “You’re so strong, so powerful.”

He covered her lips with his, rocking his hips, the hard ridge in his leather leg coverings rubbing against her pussy. She opened to Berke, allowing him into her mouth, their tongues tangling, dueling for dominance.

His chest rumbled and the sound rolled into her, moving down her throat, connecting them. She lifted her hands to his long, black hair and buried her fingers into the soft tendrils.

I love her. Berke moved against Ellie, his plans for multiple rounds of mind-blowing pleasure blown to bits by his need for her, this small human female he couldn’t live without. She tasted of those sweet rations she ate upon waking, the special servings she guarded with the ferocity of a mother unee, allowing him only a nibble from her slender fingers.

“Claim me, Berke.” She raised her hips, pushing against his throbbing cock. “Claim me completely.”

“Yes.” He couldn’t deny her anything. He reached between them and yanked the leather from his hips, tearing his constrictive leg coverings, removing that last barrier between them.

“Yes,” Berke repeated with satisfaction, sliding his hard shaft against her moist feminine folds, bathing his skin her delectable juices, her flavor lingering on his tongue. He skimmed his teeth over her white neck, her blood pumping strong and true in her veins, and she tilted her head to the side, submitting to him, offering more of her skin to mark, to brand, to own.

Berke mouthed along the scars on her neck, the pink skin serving as a lingering reminder of how fragile life was, how precious and rare their love was. The fear of losing Ellie, the urge to protect her continued to possess him but he was the only male he trusted to safeguard her, to put her safety first.

“Fill me.” She arched, flattening her soft breasts against his hard chest. “Berke.” She tugged his hair, the pinpricks of pain along his scalp exciting him.

“Be still,” he ordered, driving her hips back with his, pinning her ass against the bed. Rebellion flashed in her brown eyes and he struggled to suppress his grin, his female’s strength equaling his. “You need to learn patience.” He probed her pussy with his cock head, searching for her entrance.

“Patience?” Ellie scoffed, angling her hips, assisting him. “I’ve waited to be claimed for far too many solar cycles, Warlord. I’ve been patient enough. Fulfill your vow.” She lunged forward, clamped her blunt teeth over his bottom lip and pulled, her aggression pushing him over the edge.

“Ellie,” he bellowed, filling with her with one long, hard thrust, her inner walls holding him, squeezing him. He gritted his teeth, his control compromised by her heat.

“Berke,” she cried, wrapping her legs around his waist, digging her booted heels into his ass. His gerel was white skin, pink lips and leather boots, curves and strength, beauty and intelligence, female and warrior, everything he could ever want, his fantasy come to life.

Berke eased out of her hot pussy, his cock head blazing along her inner walls, and he pushed back in. He forced himself to move slowly, concentrating on Ellie’s needs, rebuilding her passions stroke by stroke. She undulated under him, her nipples teasing his chest, her hips rolling, urging him to thrust faster, harder.

He ravished her pussy with his cock and her mouth with his tongue, her lips becoming slick and swollen with his ardent attentions. She sank her fingernails into his shoulders, searing his skin with the small crescents of pain, blood and sex scenting the recirculated air.

They merged, meshed, becoming one, a being stronger, more powerful than their individual selves. Berke grunted, brushing her delicate, white earlobe with his lips, and she panted, her warm breath washing over his skin, their rutting sounds echoing in the small sleeping chamber.

Berke slammed into Ellie’s pussy harder and harder, eager to please her, his gerel, the force of his thrusts banging the bed against the metal wall panel. She rose into each surge forward, embracing his savagery.

“My Ellie.” He nipped at her earlobe, needing to mark her, to claim her.

She gasped and her pussy tightened around his swelling shaft, the friction heating, stimulating his already sensitive skin. Nothing had ever felt as good, as right as being in Ellie, with her fingers gripping his shoulders and her legs encircling his waist.

“Berke?” She stared up at him, her mouth open, her beautiful face flushed, her big brown eyes glazed with passion.

This stunning creature is mine. “Come for me, Ellie.” Berke didn’t hold anything back, rutting into his small female with everything he had, allowing all his passion, all his love to show, masking nothing from her, leaving her no reason to doubt, to fear. “Come now.” He lowered his head and bit her hard on the shoulder.

“Berke,” she screamed, clenching down on his shaft with her inner walls, her intimate grip severing his control.

He roared, driving into her, hot cum spurting from his cock, filling her, coating her with his essence. Berke thrust once, twice more into her writhing body, her pulsing pussy, and collapsed, fused in place.

Ellie squeaked a protest and he rolled onto his back, taking her with him, their bodies and souls and hearts connected. She flattened her palm on his chest, splaying her fingers over his skin, claiming him as he claimed her.

“Do I love you, Ellie?” Berke asked, wanting to hear her voice.

“Yes, you love me,” she whispered, sounding adorably dazed and his chest puffed with pride.

He brushed her long, brown curls back from her face, savoring the softness. “Don’t ever doubt that.” He forced his stern tone.

“I don’t…now.” Ellie tilted her head back, an impish smile lighting up her face. “But I might have doubts later.” She squeezed his shaft with her inner muscles.

Berke groaned. “You’ll be the death of me, foolish female.”

Ellie laughed, her joy spreading to Berke.

About Cynthia Sax

Cynthia Sax lives in a world where demons aren’t all bad, angels aren’t all good and magic happens every single day. Although her heroes may not always say, “I love you”, they will do anything for the women they love. They live passionately. They fight fiercely. They love the same women forever.

Cynthia has loved the same wonderful man forever. Her supportive hubby offers himself up to the joys and pains of research while they travel the world together, meeting fascinating people and finding inspiration in exotic places such as Istanbul, Bali and Chicago.

Cynthia welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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Alien Abductions 2: Ravished by Moonbeam

Alien Abductions 3: Exposed by Moonbeam

Operation Erotic: Assassin Mine

Operation Erotic: Menage Lost

Operation Erotic 1: Mission Menage

Operation Erotic 2: Savage Menage

Operation Erotic 3: Unleashed Menage

Tattooed Tryst

Warlord’s Bounty

Warlord Unarmed

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Warlord Reunited

ISBN 9781419946851

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Warlord Reunited Copyright © 2013 Cynthia Sax

Edited by Briana St. James

Cover design and photography by Syneca

Additional Cover photography by Catmando/shutterstock.com

Model: Johnny

Electronic book publication July 2013

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