A Civilized Mating

Marie Harte

If one barbarian is lethal, two are even more dangerous… in bed

Earther Skye Jones arrives to rescue her friend from a barbarian kidnapping, knowing she’ll be throwing away her chances of a dream job on planet Ussed. But with her skills, she doesn’t anticipate being captured by a group of the sexy warriors. Or that she’ll fall for the sexy squad leader. If that weren’t bad enough, she’s brought back to their encampment, where she meets their clan leader, yet another hulking warrior that sets her blood afire.

When the mating instinct takes over, Skye finds herself with not just one, but two bed partners. Her life isn’t meant to be lived among the uncivilized. Or is it? Before she can decide what she wants, the choice is taken out of her hands by an enemy clan. And if she’s not careful, she’ll lose a lot more than a stubborn heart.

eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement of the copyright of this work.

A CIVILISED MATING

Alpha Series

Copyright © 2015 MARIE HARTE

ISBN: 978-1-936387-82-3

All Romance eBooks, LLC Palm Harbor, Florida 34684 www.allromanceebooks.com

This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or business establishments, events, or locales is coincidental.

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever with out written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First All Romance eBooks publication: February 2015

Chapter One

Hovering over Planet Ussed, 4th Quadrant

Earth Year 2437

“Skye, you are so screwed. Don’t do this.” Skye Jones bit her lower lip in indecision, her finger poised above the button as she tried to talk herself out of a rash plan. With one push she’d be transported onto the planet she was so close to nabbing as her dream assignment.

But if she went in without approval and made the mess she knew she’d have to make to rescue Lisa, she’d ruin two years of kissing ass and taking the worst assignments in the company to prove herself a team player. Could she do it? Abandon her dream job just so her friend wouldn’t be trapped with a brainless barbarian for the rest of her life?

Decisions, decisions.

Hell.

She pushed the button, knowing she couldn’t leave her best friend in the hands of some ginormous native with control issues. As she hurtled through time and space protected by a Tempien shield, she kissed her future at Armlin United goodbye. Oh, planet Ussed. We could have been so good together.

With all the training she’d had on western Ussed culture, Skye felt comfortable navigating the planet without a guide. She spoke fifteen of their dialects, thanks to a series of subtrans education packs. Expensive, but worth it, especially now. Along with a backpack of supplies, she wore standard western clothing—linen-like capri pants and matching tank top, cushy sandals—and had the requisite piercings in her ears and brow to pass as a resort attendant. She kept her hair long and free from dye, liking her ash-blond color, which would also help her pass as a native.

What those on Earth would call alternative or punk in style, the Ussed people had adapted as the norm. But instead of dressing in tons of black and leather, they wore light colors and loose-fitting clothing to combat the heat. Body art was encouraged, self-expression more than a right; it was a way of life.

From everything she’d read about the Welcome Resort—the place that should have been her promotion—beings from all over the four quadrants paid exorbitant fees to stay. At Welcome they could enjoy fine dining, pursue exotic activities, purchase items found from all over the universe, and expect unsolicited pampering. All pluses, no minuses. Well, that’s if one didn’t count on the barbarians to the east making trouble. Five hundred years ago, the West had made a pact with the East. To keep the barbarians from invading, they’d agreed not to encroach on eastern lands…and to allow the barbarians free access to the resort in exchange for their protection.

From the vids Skye had seen, the Westerner’s had come out on top. They had a resort worth every penny spent. A gorgeous view of several interconnecting lakes, domesticated wildlife that added to the striking atmosphere, and a five-star rating. The planet looked much like Earth, but with a vibrancy lacking in her homeworld. And the people… Just, wow.

Vids of the barbarians standing guard showed them to be at least seven feet tall with builds Mr. First Universe would envy. They didn’t use weapons either. Just their bare fists and the extremely effective animal hides that shielded them from all manner of attack.

That’s if a person could look beyond the handsome features of said security to bother. Hell, even Welcome’s security force was beautiful. Beyond odd, yet their system worked.

Or it had, until her unfortunate friend had caught the attention of one of their guards. Now the idiot thought he had a right to own her. At least, that’s how the translation worded it. Lisa had stepped in it big time.

Skye’s journey ended abruptly, and she found herself standing in Welcome’s visitor transport dock. It literally hurt her to see the beauty in the vids hadn’t been exaggerated, because she would never know the joy of living and working in the place. With a sigh, she stepped off the raised pad, hitched her bag higher on her shoulder, and made straight for the administrative building.

And how do I know where to go? Why, I have the whole place memorized because it was supposed to be my new home in another month. One lousy month and it could have all been hers. “Shake it off, Jones. A friend needs your help. Move it,” she told herself. The tough love helped, and she did her best to focus on the here and now, not what could have been.

Most of the patrons—both humanoid and not—arriving at the resort were affluent, famous, and in a few instances, infamous. Merchants, CEOs, alien mafia. It didn’t matter who you were. So long as you had money and left your weapons at the gate, you were welcome in Welcome.

The double welcome didn’t entertain her as it once had. Now she could only shake off her missed opportunity to lead to bigger and better things at Armlin, and hope to hell Lisa was still okay.

Skye threaded through several slow moving visitors and dodged waving appendages. A spiked tentacle drew a little too close to her, so she pushed out with a bit of telekinesis, so slight the creature shouldn’t have noticed it.

Like most humans from Earth, she possessed a smattering of psychic skill. Humanity had evolved a century or two ago. Those people with large amounts of psychic ability got the great jobs. Others, like Skye, had to fight their way to the top using know-how and ingenuity.

Though she came from a powerful psychic family, her main talents were useless unless she wanted a career in physical security. Um, no thanks. Security paid diddly, and those in the business normally had no necks, Y chromosomes, and no head for fashion. But to get her dream job—as a fashion buyer for Welcome’s resort—she’d steadily been working her way up the corporate ladder. From low-level gate security to protecting the boss’s daughter. Saving the foolish teenager from a kidnapping had proved fruitful, earning her a chance to take a placement test as a buyer for Welcome.

One which she’d passed with flying, blazing colors. And then…

“Oh my God, Skye. You have to come get me. Maht, that barbarian I was telling you about, somehow thinks he owns me or something. I mean, he’s hot as hell and the sex is phenomenal, but— The point is he won’t let me come back! I’m trapped on Ussed. Hurry before I end up married or pregnant by the big guy. And you have to promise not to tell anyone, or I’m worse than dead. I’m fired. Ask Mandy. She’ll fill you in.

“I’m in some weird colony on the eastern side of the border, on the other side of Lake Fryon. Look for the Cloud Tribe, Vyctore Clan. I—” It just stopped.

The frantic call had woken Skye out of a sound sleep three nights ago. She’d replayed the audio until she had it memorized. She knew who the Cloud Tribe was. The Ussed barbarians populated most of the planet, with the tribes separated geographically. The Cloud Tribe was fifty thousand strong the last time a census had been taken. But she knew little about the individual clans. Time to find this Mandy and figure out what the hell was going on.

Skye stepped up her pace, not surprised to see so many humans visiting. The resort had been started by humans who’d crossbred with the native population, so the place felt Earth-friendly. The natives looked human enough, save for various shades of skin, eye, and hair color. Even human hair dyes and contacts couldn’t pass for true Ussed vibrancy.

She walked around a neon-green-haired resort attendant, nearing the entrance of the resort’s gates, and saw her first barbarians up close. Holy hell, they’re huge. The vids hadn’t done them justice. The two men guarding either side of the large entrance stood a good head and a half taller than Skye’s own five eleven. Muscular legs like tree trunks, broad chests, corded abs, and arms thicker than her thigh made her wonder why anyone would even think about messing with them.

As in the vids she’d seen, they wore little, just a loincloth that reached mid-thigh but bared a bit of flank and probably a great deal of ass. She had to clear her throat to swallow and forced herself not to look and see for herself. The only other clothing also not covering much of their bodies was the nut-brown, surprisingly shiny armor at their forearms and over their knee-high boots.

They had sun-kissed skin, what looked like flesh-colored tattoos across their chests and shoulders, and like most Ussed natives, hairless bodies. Then again, with an almost tropical climate, what use had the Ussed people for hair? Both men did, however, have long black manes that easily brushed their chests. A tactical disadvantage, in her opinion.

As if the barbarian closest to her sensed her scrutiny as more than mere curiosity, he met her gaze.

Her heart nearly stopped. The man had golden eyes. Not yellow—gold. No discernable pupil or iris that she could tell, just a glowing, gold circle centered in the middle of a white orb. She’d have thought that would make him appear more alien, even off-putting. Instead she wondered what he’d look like in bed, wearing nothing at all.

He grinned, as if sensing her wandering thoughts. Which, according to all her data, he couldn’t. The Ussed weren’t psychic. Thank God. But she wondered if they possessed some weird kind of pheromone, because almost all the women, and a few men, looked at them the same way she just had.

She glared at him, ignored the way his grin faded as he narrowed his eyes on her, then flashed him her guest pass and hurried past him and the gate’s weapon sensor. She quickly found the inner courtyard of the resort’s massive welcome center. Several attendants came forward to greet the new arrivals, and she envied their smiles. Considering she’d made a half-assed plan with some impromptu help, she didn’t expect an individual greeting. She received welcomes and sincere smiles all the same.

As she’d thought, the employees at Welcome loved it here.

Friggin’ Lisa. Skye huffed and continued on her way, and no one stopped her as she entered the administrative building for resort employees only.

When she reached the front desk, she saw Mandy, a fellow Earther. Mandy seemed to be in her mid-twenties, like Skye and Lisa. She was short, built on the curvy side, and like everyone else working at Welcome, beautiful.

The young woman motioned Skye to a side room, then closed the door behind them. “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m Mandy. We spoke a few days ago.” Mandy had long dark hair, doe eyes, and cheekbones Skye would kill for. Another reason to dislike the girl—except she’d come to Lisa’s aid when Lisa needed it.

“I remember the call.” The brief vid conference with Mandy had burned itself into Skye’s brain. She took the girl’s proffered hand. “Glad to meet you. I appreciate you smoothing my way in.”

“The pass won’t last more than two weeks. But it’s enough to get you past security. In case you haven’t noticed, the guards are huge. No one gets by them.”

“Oh, I noticed.” Skye paused. “Are they all like that?’

“Huge, handsome, and hung?”

“Wasn’t sure about the hung part. Thanks for clarifying.”

Mandy grinned, which eased the stress lines at her eyes. “Yeah. We all like the man candy. You probably realized it’s tough to take your eyes away from them.”

“Do they emit a kind of attractant? Have some psychic mojo that wasn’t in my Welcome information packet?” Something to explain why even she’d been affected, when normally Skye could take or leave men, no matter how pretty they were. Her road to professional freedom had been her focus for so long that sex paled by comparison.

Mandy shook her head. “Nope. It’s weird. The scientists ruled out anything psychic or hormone related. Just a freak of nature, I guess. You can’t help looking at them. I mean, male perfection, right?” She sighed. “I get why Lisa lost her way.”

I do too, though this is typical for Lisa and her dealings with the opposite sex. Get in a bind, call Skye. Rinse. Repeat. “Interesting. Maybe it’s a genetic marker, a kind of advancement within the warrior people on Ussed.” And to be filed away for later, when she met this Maht guy. “Kind of hard to fight when you’re drooling over your opponent.”

“Exactly.”

Skye frowned. “So how is it Welcome doesn’t have more issues with the guards dragging women off with them? I mean, from what I saw, several guests would have been more than willing.”

“It’s forbidden. The East-West Treaty stands so long as the barbarians don’t interfere with resort attendants or guests. And to be honest, the barbarians just aren’t interested in those outside their tribes. Well, until Lisa. There have been so few exceptions over the years it’s a big deal if it happens.”

Skye perked up. Maybe there was a way out of this without losing her dream job or hurting Lisa’s future here. “Great. So then I just need to find Lisa’s supervisor and… Why are you shaking your head?”

“Resort employees are forbidden from interacting socially with the guards. Maht abducted her, but Lisa was more than eager to party with him before he took her. One thing the Vyctore Clan don’t do is molest the unwilling. So even if Lisa claimed Maht forced her, no one would believe her.”

Skye frowned. “I thought might makes right in the East.”

“It does, but there’s more to it than that. The barbarians are a lot more complicated than the books let on. All I can tell you is that Lisa’s in way over her head. If Mr. Franklin finds out she’s not really sick but shacking up with Maht, she’s fired and no longer Welcome’s problem. And if you don’t get her back from Maht, she’ll end up becoming barbarian property. Then she’ll be stuck on the planet with no way out.”

“But how can you say that if the employees and barbarians don’t mix? Maybe Maht will get bored with her and dump her by next month. Then all this won’t matter.”

“I didn’t say they never mix, only that they’re not supposed to. Like I said, they rarely venture outside their own culture for mating, so it’s never been a big deal before. Lisa’s the first girl from the resort I know of who grabbed a barbarian’s attention. Barbarian mating is serious stuff. The last time this happened was a hundred seventy-five years ago. Some Hrasheen princess fell in love with one of them and took him back to her planet to rule her kingdom. Ever since the big stink her uncle made over the matter, Welcome’s policy about fraternization has become a huge deal.”

“Great. So how do I go about getting her back?”

Mandy pulled out a map. “I’ve noted the last known sightings of some nearby Vyctore clan outposts. I bet Maht took her to one of them. That or he’s already back at his village. But I haven’t heard any rumors about new mating ceremonies or foreigners in the village, so I’m betting he hasn’t committed to her officially yet.”

“You haven’t heard? Heard from who?”

Mandy blushed. “Kahl, one of the perimeter guards, is a friend. Just a friend. Sometimes we talk.”

Skye would bet that wasn’t all Mandy wanted to do with him, but Mandy wasn’t her problem. Lisa was. Sometimes being a loyal best friend sucked. “Fine. So what’s the plan?”

“Lisa told me all about you.” Whatever that meant. “You find her and Maht before he gets back to the village. Talk some sense into his hard head. Lisa said you have a way with men.”

“I kick ass. I don’t know that that’s a ‘way with men’.”

“Well, then kick his ass. But get Lisa back here in the next nine days, in time for the Green Moon Dance, or she’s fired. I can’t cover for her past that. Everyone at the resort is expected to attend.”

“Terrific.” Nine days—one Ussed standard week. “I’ve got one measly week to find Lisa and drag her back here.”

Time to get cracking…

Chapter Two

Talzec frowned at the scene taking place in the shade while his men trained in the hot sun of the weapons courtyard. The sounds of clashing steel, grunts, and swearing mixed with the tangy scent of blood and sweat. Those were familiar and welcome senses that Talzec prized in his clan—the strongest of the strong.

Sex had its place as well. One of his warriors receiving ease by a female or fellow warrior was no big deal. But during the day, when the bastard should be training? Against the thick trunk of the maffet tree, Katan moaned as the female worked his cock with long draws of her mouth, moving enthusiastically and distracting more than a few of Katan’s peers.

Before Talzec could chastise the undisciplined warrior for creating such a spectacle, Xav took over. The clan’s second in command—Talzec’s beta—joined the pair in the shadows, murmured something to the female, then waited while Katan finished. His groan of contentment annoyed the piss out of Talzec, who would never reward a warrior for poor behavior.

Though the planet called them barbarians, he liked to think his people were more civilized than grunting brawlers who were more comfortable naked than clothed. His people did more than fight and breed. They strategized, bartered, raised their own crops, and defended their own. As their leader, Talzec brought more than power to his clan. He brought a clear-sighted vision of the future—one that didn’t allow for his men to ignore their duty in favor of a good fuck.

The female lowered Katan’s loincloth, stood, then bowed her head with respect. Katan at least had the sense to thank the woman before she left the area.

Talzec waited to see what Xav would do, fully prepared to thrash Katan in front of one and all to make a point. But Xav didn’t disappoint him. “With me,” he barked the order, and Katan seemed to deflate before nodding, fully aware of the repercussions awaiting him.

The pair moved into the training circle, and the others soon cleared the space to watch. Then Xav proceeded to show the men the merits of learning defense and attack in lieu of gaining pleasure, hitting all of Katan’s weak spots. The brutal scene didn’t take long before Katan couldn’t regain his feet and begged for a break, bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth and clutching his belly. Xav glanced up at Talzec.

He nodded, and Xav left the group after ordering their trainers to begin again. Xav reached Talzec and held up a hand. “No, I know what you’re going to say.”

Talzec raised a brow.

Xav glared. “I had to let him finish. Even I’m not that cruel. You know Jalla’s a genius with that mouth.”

It had been too many days and nights since he’d last experienced such pleasure, but Talzec had more command over his baser needs than most. “Did Katan give you a reason for why he decided to ignore training?”

Xav sighed. “You know it’s getting harder. Our females are only so many. The men aren’t bonding like we used to.” He paused. “We might need to start raiding again.”

“Damn.” Talzec had known this was coming.

“Some of the men have formed their own pair bonds, but we need more females. You know that.”

“Yes, but breaking training protocols isn’t the way to go about it.” Since he’d fought and won the challenge to take command of his clan a year prior, he’d been making changes. The clan had wanted someone to help them grow, and Talzec was just the warrior to lead them into the future. They already outclassed the other clans in weaponry skills and sheer ferocity when it came to battle. The Western resort now requested their members for guard duty more than any other clan.

But sexual issues had come to a head if his own men couldn’t contain their needs.

“You don’t feel it like they do. Like the rest of us do,” Xav emphasized.

Talzec saw the strain on his friend’s face and sighed. “I see.”

“I don’t think you do. Without the mating bond, the men aren’t finding satisfaction. Pairing with each other helps, but even for those with such a relationship, they’re losing focus.”

Talzec understood more than Xav knew. “You think because I lost Nalla I don’t feel the same urges.”

“I know you don’t.”

“Oh?” Talzec should have seen this coming days ago. Xav had been acting up more than usual. If Talzec hadn’t been so used to suppressing his own desires, he’d have seen to Xav’s needs without having to be reminded.

“When Nalla died, you went into mourning. We all know how hard that can be.” Xav paused. “But if you’d really look at what happened to you, you’d realize you—”

Talzec left before he did something he’d regret. Like pound Xav into the next territory. Though it had been a little over a year since Nalla had left them, he still felt her passing deep in the hurt parts of him he kept buried—because a true leader did what was best for his clan, not just himself. Grief had no place in a world built on vigor and might. He could not afford weakness. None of them could.

Barbarians, warriors, indomitable fighters. Talzec and his men were the best of the best, and they had enemies. Warriors who didn’t like them changing tradition. Rival clans who wanted their fertile lands, ripe women, and stalwart sons. He prized all of his people, and for a time he’d loved one more than any other.

Yet he, like the others, knew it hadn’t been a true mating. Had it been, he would have died along with Nalla, bonded in that most fundamental of ways—through lifeforce. His love of her had been true, but something had been missing. And he hated the reminder.

He lengthened his stride, not wanting to lose his composure in front of his men, several of whom had stopped fighting to watch him with Xav. He turned away from the main trail leading into the village center and instead sought a rarely used passage to a private grotto, where he normally went to work off his raging aggressions. Even among barbarians, Talzec knew he could be extremely destructive.

As expected, Xav, that tenacious bastard, followed him.

“Talzec, you run from yourself.” 

He stopped and turned around so fast Xav knocked into him. Annoyed, he used Xav’s momentum to flip the man onto his back, slamming him onto the ground. Hard. His warrior markings, normally skin-colored, darkened to black as he let loose his passion. He wasn’t surprised to see Xav’s markings already visible, swirling in patterns on his upper shoulders and down his broad chest.

Xav reached up to grab his arm, and Talzec extended his hand. Yet Xav apparently hadn’t finished trying to make a point. He yanked Talzec down and grunted when Talzec let his full weight slam into his beta. They rolled over thick grass, each trying to outmaneuver the other. The battlelust between them grew. Fists, knees, and elbows knocked and dug into firm flesh. The invigorating challenge whetted Talzec’s appetite to dominate.

Only Xav came close to matching him in a hand-to-hand brawl. His beta made up in agility what Talzec had in power, and they wrangled long enough for their contest of wills to shift into a need for something more.

The constant rubbing against each other had turned Xav rock hard, as Talzec had anticipated. But he hadn’t worked off his rage just yet.

“You need me,” Xav said, half-strangled under Talzec’s forearm. “Admit it.”

“Oh?” He leaned close and sucked at the base of Xav’s throat, causing the leaner man to arch into him. “That’s a nice thick cock rubbing against me. You want release?”

“Need it,” Xav breathed, and Talzec pulled back to see his lover flushed with desire. “Need you.” Xav ground up against Talzec’s own impressive erection.

Talzec hadn’t taken release in too long, and the fury of his arousal caught him off guard. The surge of passion he’d kept tamped down rolled to the surface.

Now Xav would get what he’d asked for—Talzec’s way.

Xav moaned into Talzec’s mouth as his lover, his commander, took charge. Talzec had always been the best of them, a natural leader. An alpha warrior at heart. Firm but not cruel, emotionless at times, but never heartless. He’d been missing Nalla for too long, and it was past time Xav forced the man to take a good hard look at himself.

Sex with Talzec was like nothing Xav had ever felt with anyone else. They’d been friends since birth but hadn’t bonded until just after Nalla’s passing. Xav belonged to his lover, but unlike Talzec, he knew they needed to mate with their female. A woman to complete them both. They just had to find her first.

Talzec murmured, “I’m here, tonan.” Tonan—a term of general affection in one sense. On a deeper level, it meant of my heart, said from Master to submissive. Xav never knew exactly how Talzec meant it. Hell, he wasn’t sure Talzec knew how he meant it. “Stay with me, damn it.” Talzec sucked Xav’s nipple into his mouth, then bit down, and Xav moaned.

A rough hand wrapped around his throat, making it difficult to breathe, which amped his desire. He jerked and swore, his cock on fire as Talzec continued to grind over him. But before Xav could pull his lover to him for another kiss, Talzec reached his free hand between them. He felt under Xav’s loincloth and grabbed the steely, slick shaft needing ease.

“Mother suns, please,” Xav begged. Please, tonai, he wanted to say but didn’t. Tonai—heart made whole, from submissive to master. An acknowledgement of his place they both tacitly acknowledged but refused to say aloud. “Please.”

“Watch me,” Talzec growled, let go of his throat, and stared into Xav’s face as he worked him faster and harder, his grip both punishing and so right Xav teetered on the edge of orgasm all too soon.

They didn’t talk, only the grunting and harsh breaths of carnal hunger sounded between them.

“Come,” Talzec ordered.

Xav was helpless to obey. His first release jetted over Talzec’s thick fingers, and he felt a part of him relax as his lover took his tension away. But his desire, not yet fully sated, flared anew when Talzec shifted over him, reminding him his tonai had yet to find his own ease.

“In your mouth.” Talzec got to his feet and lifted his pelt, exposing a glorious cock, nice and wet, prepared to fuck.

Xav quickly rose to his knees and opened his mouth.

Talzec pushed past Xav’s lips in one surge, hitting the back of his throat. Used to such roughness from his alpha and ecstatic to feel it once more, Xav was lost in the pleasure of working his lover until Talzec gripped him by the hair to stop him.

“Slower. I’m close.”

Xav obeyed. The thrill of acceding to someone stronger, more dominant, turned him on all over again.

“Touch yourself,” Talzec demanded, his voice low, gravelly. “Come when I do.” He shoved deeper into Xav’s mouth, and Xav brought himself to another, more intense climax while Talzec continued to push between his lips. “Hammer and fire. Yes. Fuck.” Talzec came in a great rush of seed as he thrust once more and stilled, his release an explosive ecstasy Xav could feel pulsing through him as well.

When Talzec ceased, Xav pulled his mouth away and finished spending on the ground, the act of pleasing his tonai as important as breathing.

He gradually felt Talzec stroking his hair, then his cheeks as the large warrior apologized…in his own way. “I let this go for too long.”

Xav stood on shaky legs, once again right with the world if not yet ready to catch his balance. By all the battle gods, Talzec made him crazed with lust, frustrated with need, and full of affection all in the same breath. “Apology accepted.” Pause. “Don’t let it happen again.”

Talzec laughed, his gaze admiring. “Now who’s alpha?”

“You are, you raging berserker.” A high compliment. Xav grinned back at his alpha, thoroughly pleased at the blue that sparked in Talzec’s golden eyes. Some odd strain of offworlder must have been introduced to Talzec’s line ages ago, because the Ussed barbarians were dark and gold.

At the thought, he asked, “Why do we not engage offworlders for sex?”

Talzec blinked, but not put off by Xav’s blunt change in subject, he answered, “Because Mextahn decreed we steer clear of them.”

“When he ended his disastrous mating. But that was two hundred years ago. And I’m talking about sex, not mating. I think the time has come to revisit the past.”

Talzec grunted.

“Of course, you know I’m thinking of Maht and that mess.”

“Hell. Have you tracked him down yet?”

Xav nodded. “He’s at the yernax point, outpost four. He’s still got the offworlder with him.” One of the two trackers he’d assigned to keep an eye on Maht had reported back recently. “Apparently they might be truly mated. Zhen said the pair have been copulating for hours without cease. And the female’s most striking.” A little too much enthusiasm in Zhen’s tone, but Xav would address that later.

“We have to fix this. If Maht’s truly mated to her… We’ll cross that if it comes to bear. But taking an offworlder from the resort could be considered a breach of the treaty. If that’s the case, we have a large mess to handle. The Tribe won’t stand for any clan ruining the East-West Treaty.”

Normally the feelings of the West didn’t matter much to the Tribe, though their clan had always abided by them. Most other clans didn’t think the West mattered. No one wanted their lush, much-too-vulnerable land. Not when the eastern world held so much promise. But Xav knew Talzec had plans to increase trade with the West, especially with the xechelln pelts seeming to be so much in demand.

“Want me to handle this?”

Talzec nodded. “Quietly. The fewer who know of this, the better. Take Zhen back with you. Lore is there as well?”

“Yes. He and Zhen work well together.” They’d also bonded, a fact Talzec no doubt knew, because he sighed.

“Fine. You three should be able to escort Maht and his alien female back here. Or should I send a few more men to help you?” The arrogant ass raised a brow.

“Funny.”

Talzec grinned.

“I can handle Maht on my own.” Xav frowned. “Why did you insist on Zhen and Lore helping anyway? I could have tracked Maht down myself.”

“Because I needed you here more.” Talzec’s smile faded. “The Nasuhl are building for a raid. I can feel it.”

“We should destroy them.” Xav had been saying that for years, but their old clan leader had wanted peace.

“We will this time.” Talzec didn’t show any emotion, but Xav knew how he felt about their rival clan…and about their clan leader, Daveen. Daveen—the man who had butchered Nalla, his own sister, for daring to love outside her clan.

Xav stepped up to Talzec, took his alpha by the shoulder, and squeezed it. “Yes, we will.”

Talzec seemed to snap himself out of his mood. “Good. Now quit fucking around and fix this problem with Maht.”

“What if the female doesn’t wish to return with us?”

“I will decide if she stays or leaves us.”

Xav grinned. “Yes, great leader.”

“You’re still here?”

Xav shot his leader an insulting hand gesture, to which Talzec replied with a chuckle. Then, in a much better mood than the one he’d arrived with, Xav left to search out Zhen and find their rebellious Maht.

He could only hope that in bringing the female home, they wouldn’t be ruining relations between themselves and the West. Especially if the offworld female had truly mated one of their own. At the thought, he smiled. 

Imagine the possibilities…

Chapter Three

Skye had spent the past two days tromping through the mid-center line of the Tribe boundary into the East. With just her course-finder, her pack, and her unerring sense of direction, she’d drawn closer to the third outpost on Mandy’s list. The first two hadn’t panned out, but perhaps outpost four would be the magic spot.

To her surprise, she’d started to enjoy herself after leaving the resort. The vegetation on Ussed was a mix of equatorial and tropical forest. And the land had a robust comingling of life and color. Greens, blues, browns, vibrant reds and oranges made up most of the hues she’d seen since starting her trek. The similarities to Earth didn’t surprise her. After all, she’d made a study of the planet for years, and its attraction for humans had been clear since the resort first opened.

Ussed had all the life, lushness, and wonder of an Earthen atmosphere minus pollutants and technological interference. Only on Welcome could electronics and phreidonics—space travel-related technology—be used. Teleporting, space-jumping, and vid calling didn’t work past the East-West border. Welcome had had to erect a technological barrier to employ their wonders in the first place.

But to a low-level security guard from Earth, to a person who did better with physical than psychic skills, using her body to overcome nature’s obstacles and miles and miles of walking was pure pleasure. She felt stronger with every step, enjoying the fresh air and binary sunshine. Lavender clouds obscured part of one sun, leaving her sweating but not overheating. It helped that she’d foregone longer capris for shorts and a cropped tank top. Her hiking boots were ideal for the terrain, and even her pack felt nonexistent. It was as if she were meant to be here.

That odd thought struck her for a moment before a noise up ahead distracted her.

She heard moaning and rustling coming from behind a set of thick trees. Carefully creeping forward and making no noise, she came upon what appeared to be a small, cleverly camouflaged hut. A male’s hoarse shout followed by a woman’s low moan told her exactly what she’d stumbled onto, and she felt her cheeks heat. She started to step back and away when she heard Lisa’s voice.

“Maht, more.”

Shocked, Skye had to know. She moved closer and peered through a slight gap in the brush masking a window. One peek to confirm Lisa’s identity and she’d move away, because watching her friend get it on had that ick factor she could do without.

But what she saw froze her to the spot.

Maht heaved and flexed, his buttocks just—superb. His entire body glistened with a faint sheen of gold as he made love to Lisa. Skye caught a glimpse of Lisa’s face, contorted in blissful agony, before Maht shifted and covered her entirely. Only Lisa’s dainty ankles wrapped around his back could be seen.

Jesus. No wonder her friend had fallen for the barbarian. The man was a powerhouse. All that sexy groaning, the sheer beauty in his frame, his clear expertise when it came to sex. Though Skye had been off men for some time, she couldn’t stop watching this particular man work. No matter what Mandy said, Skye would bet all she owned that the eastern barbarians possessed some kind of sexual draw, because even Skye felt tingly all over.

That sexual distraction would be her friend’s doom for sure, because Skye wasn’t at all sure she should interrupt the intense lovemaking in that hut. At any other time she would have chalked up their physical connection as mere fucking, but she sensed something else at play between Maht and Lisa. Some indefinable connection that spoke to more than bodies melding.

“Ah, and what is this? An intruder in our woods?”

The deep voice shouldn’t have caught her by surprise. That it had increased her need to distance herself from the male sexuality fogging up the hut. A heightened sense of preservation jacked her psychic skills. Time to put her useless-in-the-fashion-world talent to work.

She turned slowly, giving herself time to regain her focus and balance. To her bemusement, the action behind her grew louder. Maht either hadn’t heard the intruders or didn’t care.

She heard Lisa cry out and cringed when the giants facing her grinned.

Definitely barbarians, but from what clan she didn’t know. These two looked somewhat different than the warriors she’d seen guarding Welcome’s gates. Like the others, they had similar coloring. Instead of flesh-colored tattoos, though, they had swirling symbols in red and orange that seemed to shift when they moved. They had a hardness to their gazes. Not just a fierceness, but she sensed a buried threat. She narrowed her eyes and looked deeper—with her psychic sense.

Oh hell. They reveled in causing pain, found it sexually gratifying. A deeper psychic probe told her more than she wanted to know. Ew. Okay, not going to be best friends with these guys, then.

She widened her stance and bent her knees while releasing her pack to the ground. She had no weapon handy. But then, phasers didn’t work in the East, and she didn’t think a knife would be a smart choice with these guys. Something larger, a staff or club to keep them at an arm’s length, at least, while she studied their moves to counterattack.

Neither of them had made any threatening gestures. Yet. But her ingrained senses warned of an impending fight.

“Who are you?” the one with the scar down his face asked.

“Who are you?” she retorted.

The pair chuckled, and the one with slashing orange tattoos down his chest stepped closer. “We are the guardians of the East…offworlder.” He took a good hard sniff, and his eyes narrowed. “You are different.” He nodded to his friend. “Like the one in there, I think.”

“Ah.” Scarface grinned. “So we have double the prize tonight.”

Considering she’d never been called a prize before, Skye wanted to preen a little. But anything these two wanted to celebrate had to be bad. Scarface didn’t give any warning before he attacked. He came at her with a blow that would have snapped her head back and knocked her on her ass, unconscious. But she caught a slight hint of violence before it happened and dodged the attack.

She countered with a sharp kick to his knees that surprised him into falling back.

His friend guffawed. “Got you there, Fleen.”

“Fuck off.”

She had no problem translating the easy banter between warriors. And she was ready for Slash’s move. While Fleen got to his feet, Slash barreled into her and slammed her to the ground. Poised over her, he loomed with a large grin, his incisors a little too sharp for comfort. Had he filed them or been born with fangs? She didn’t recall the barbarians she’d studied about being vampiric in any way.

“Such an easy conquest.” Slash snorted and turned to face Fleen. “You see how I—”

Sensing a vulnerability at his throat when he turned his head, she struck with the side of her hand in four rapid chops, then drew her knees in and kicked out, hitting him in the stomach.

Slash coughed and flew back when she added a telekinetic push.

“Ah, not so easy, is she?” Fleen stood and planted his hands on his hips. “She’s full of surprises, but you can handle her while I grab the other one.”

Slash growled low in his throat while she rushed to her feet. With Fleen heading toward the hut and Lisa, Skye knew she couldn’t wait much longer. She made the first move this time, diving to the ground at Slash’s feet and tucking and rolling, knocking him over. As he hit the ground, she hurried out of range, avoiding his return kick. She used the offensive skills she’d mastered on Earth and managed to put Slash in a chokehold, working to sever the flow of oxygen to his brain.

Unfortunately his thick neck made that virtually impossible. It did serve to enrage him, though. While they struggled, she heard a roar from the hut and the sound of fighting. With any luck, Lisa had gotten to safety while Maht dealt with Fleen.

Worried that if she didn’t hurry, more enemy barbarians might arrive, Skye stepped it up. She delved deeper into Slash with her inner senses, absorbing the knowing of his movements. Fleen and Maht broke through the wooden door of the hut, grappling a few feet away. She watched them out of the corner of her eye and maneuvered out of Slash’s hold. He almost had her by the throat until she exploded into action.

Kicking, shifting weight, and manipulating the tricky barbarian into a weakened position, she knocked him out cold. She didn’t stop moving and grabbed Fleen before he could attack Maht again. She tossed him against a tree, simultaneously slamming his thick head while telepathically pinching his sensitive nyal nerve, severing oxygen to his brain. He dropped like a stone. Well, more like a boulder.

Before she could celebrate, Maht grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her against a tree. No doubt he meant to be gentle, because he hadn’t used half the strength with her she’d seen him use on Fleen. But the jarring hit against the tree winded her.

She wheezed, trying to catch her breath.

“Female, you interrupt at your peril.” His eyes glowed, and a hint of red disturbed the pooling gold at the orbs’ centers. He took a deep whiff, then eased his grip. “What—”

Before he could finish the thought, she headbutted him, and he slumped over and swore. She pulled her knees up and shoved, hitting the center of his steely abdomen. Then she pushed, physically and mentally.

He flew straight up a good ten feet then came crashing down.

He hit hard but rolled to his feet, stunned but not done. Jesus. What does it take to put this guy down?

“Maht, Skye, no!” Lisa shouted.

The distraction took Maht’s attention for the split second Skye needed to knock the big bastard back to the ground. She psychically drew from him with a skill she hadn’t realized she possessed. A few well-placed punches and he was finally out.

She worked to catch her breath, feeling sore in places. Damn, but even at home against the best fighters she’d ever faced, she’d never been challenged like this.

“What did you do?” Lisa shrieked, crying, and raced to Maht’s side. Fortunately, she’d taken time to don an overlarge shirt.

“What?” Skye panted. “You’re welcome. Oh, no, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Lisa started babbling, “I’m just… We’re mating. Mated, I think. God, Skye. I don’t know what to do. I need to go back, but I don’t think I can now. I love him—I think. And I might be pregnant.”

“Whoa. What?”

Before Lisa could expound upon the craziness, more barbarians entered the scene. These two didn’t give off the ugly vibe Fleen and Slash had. But their intensity was palpable. Skye shook with the vibration of violence and sensed like calling to like, especially when she looked into the gaze of the taller of the two.

“What is all this?” the shorter one asked. Shorter one. Ha. He still topped her by a good foot and a half.

“A very good question,” Hottie the Barbarian answered. He wore authority well, and she had the impression he was of higher rank. She couldn’t be certain, but he felt more…dangerous.

Both men wore standard barbarian gear, and heavens, but those loincloths really did reveal a great deal of sexy man-ass. When Hottie shifted, she couldn’t help noticing his front matched his back in the Holy Hannah department.

Hottie’s lips quirked when he noticed her attention, and she swore under her breath, bemused that she couldn’t seem to control her libido around these people.

His friend pointed at Lisa and grinned. “Maht’s mate.” He laughed at Lisa’s blush. “You have been well-pleasured, female. The look suits you.”

“Zehn.” Hottie sighed. “We’ll figure this out back at home. You, female—” he motioned to Lisa “—come with us.” Then he crooked a finger at Skye. “You as well. We will settle this matter at home.”

“I don’t think so.” Skye straightened and rested on the balls of her feet, buzzing and ready to go again. “Lisa and I are part of the resort. We’re offworlders,” she emphasized. “We know you guys don’t mingle with those not of your tribe, so we’re heading back to Welcome. Now.”

Lisa continued to sniffle even as she stood on shaky legs. “Skye, I don’t know…”

“Lisa, you are Maht’s female.” Zehn nodded. “He has made an excellent choice. You are most pleasing.”

“Thanks.” There went Lisa, blushing and fawning just because a hot guy told her she looked good.

Skye glared at the pair. “Lisa, we have to go.”

Slowly, the smiles faded. Zehn cocked his head and he studied her. “Xaveht, do you sense something different about them? Especially that one?” He nodded at her.

“About the light-haired one?” Hottie—Xaveht—asked, all but ignoring Lisa now. That should have been a good thing.

Skye knew it wasn’t.

“Yes.” Zehn frowned. He stepped toward Lisa, as if to grab her, and Skye rushed into action. She kicked him back while pushing Lisa behind her.

“Lisa, grab my pack and follow the course-finder back to the resort. Go.”

“But, Maht…”

“Damn it. We’ll sort it all out later. In the safety of the resort. Go.”

The men didn’t give Lisa a second look. Their concentration on Skye made her fuzzy for a moment, awash in tactical energy. Assessing, watching, planning. They felt like a well-oiled machine and acted like one unit as they fanned out to flank her.

“Hell no.” She turned and attacked the weaker of the two—Zehn—first. Once she had him on the ground, she turned to face Xaveht but found him gone. “Shit.” He must have darted after Lisa.

She turned to leave Zehn but ended up running smack into Xaveht’s chest. Where the hell had he come from? His arms wrapped around her like steel bands. As she struggled with Xaveht, she heard him order Zehn to capture Lisa.

Skye fought harder, but no matter how she tried to tap into Xaveht’s moves and escape, she couldn’t break free. Unlike Zehn, Xaveht had a tighter, less manageable energy.

So she used her telekinesis to kick him in the balls.

His eyes widened and his hold loosened, but not enough for her to go completely free.

“Female, you surprise me.” The bastard had the nerve to grin at her.

Laughing at her, like the chauvinistic fools back on Earth had. Before she’d kicked their asses.

She tried to headbutt him and threw herself right out of his grasp when he suddenly wasn’t there. Seconds later, as she tried to rise to her feet, he knocked her back to the ground. She struggled, managed to find a few tendrils of his ability to call her own and grappled with him, feeling like a slippery eel he had trouble catching.

“Female, cease.” He sounded annoyed and no longer smiled.

Not that his lack of a grin made him any less appealing.

She hated that she found him more attractive, especially because she couldn’t help noticing how firm he was. Everywhere. They rolled, and his imposing erection ground against her while he tried to hold her closer.

He muttered something under his breath that sounded lyrical, something she couldn’t understand even with her translation capability. Then, before she could figure out how to escape his hold, he pinned her under him, hard body and all, and kissed her.

The press of his lips stole her entire ability to do more than respond. He felt so good. He tasted like peppermint cocoa, which kind of freaked her out, because it was her favorite taste in the world. And she sipped it from his firm, arousing lips.

He dragged her closer, his big hands gripping her ass to pull her tighter against that insistent part of him. Even as she gave one last, valiant effort to squirm away, he deepened the kiss with a moan and shoved between her legs, pressing her clit with that massive cock barely contained by his loincloth.

“Oh,” was the only thing she could manage when he trailed kisses down her lips to her neck and sucked. He took one hand from her ass so that he could squeeze her breast, and she nearly came from the delightful pressure. Xaveht was so aggressive and strong, not easily manipulated. He was her dream man come to life.

And part of the clan trying to claim rights to her friend. Forever.

Reason threatened to reassert itself, and she knew she had to get away. Then his magical hand left her breast to encircle her neck. She knew the danger he imposed, yet her arousal blossomed instead of disappearing in a wave of terror.

“No,” she breathed when he leaned back to stare down at her. She caught a glimpse of red in the gold center of his eyes, then an odd flash of blue. As he squeezed her neck and rocked against her, she found her escape in the most intense orgasm of her life.

Chapter Four

Xav groaned as he spent all over the inside of his loincloth. The female’s passion had increased his own to such a degree, he didn’t know what to do. She finally sagged in his hold, succumbing to the sleeper pinch he’d tried to be gentle about giving. He hadn’t expected to find so much pleasure in an offworlder’s kiss. Nor had he envisioned how much her enjoyment would enhance his own.

He grimaced and stood, knowing he needed to clean himself before Zehn returned. Some example he was setting for his men. After cleaning up, he looked around, still unsure of what had transpired. Maht and two of the Nasuhl clan lay unmoving. Not dead—as they breathed still— but the battle must have been intense to render warriors unconscious.

He surmised Maht had handled the Nasuhl in order to protect his mate. Because yes, even Xav had scented Maht’s claim all over the female. He’d saturated her with his seed, and if Xav were a betting man, he’d venture to say the female would be pregnant in little time, if she wasn’t already.

Crossing to Maht, he used a revitalizing hold to awaken the male, then trussed the enemy up to each other, not wanting to deal with raiders while handling precious females.

Lisa, Maht’s offworlder, had beauty, sensuality, and a fine body made for loving. But the woman who’d dared challenge him stirred him like no other…save Talzec.

Xav’s heart raced at the implications, but he refused to consider any possibility of the future until he had everyone safely at home, where he could investigate further.

He heard a noise and turned to see Zehn cradling the red-haired female, who sobbed and whispered Maht’s name. Before Maht’s rage could surge out of control, Xav put a hand on the male’s chest to hold him back.

“She missed you,” Zehn explained before gently placing the female in Maht’s waiting arms.

A calm as he’d never seen settled on Maht’s face, and Xav knew it was only a matter of time before trouble blew up around them. Maht would not return the female, which would mean a war between East and West if the female wanted to go back home. She didn’t appear to want to leave Maht, but females could be fickle. Offworlders even more so.

He and Zehn exchanged a wary look. Then Xav glanced down at the woman on the ground. Skye, he remembered her friend calling her. The name attributed to the blanket of color above them. She’d felt like a blanket, keeping him warm and well-pleasured as she’d rocked against him, her breath like life itself, her taste better than any berry he’d sampled.

He tied her up in the same way he’d secured their enemy. Except he secured her wrist to his, a short leash to keep her restrained. Then he hoisted her over his shoulder, in awe that someone who weighed so little had hauled Zehn around and tried to defeat him as well. So cute, but this offworld kitten had claws.

He sighed, wondering what Talzec would make of not just one, but two uninvited females descending on their clan. “Time to head home, warriors. You, Maht, have some serious explaining to do.”

Maht seemed not at all concerned. “Of course, Xav. I intend to explain it all. I can do no less to ensure safety for my mate.”

“You are certain?”

Maht nodded with pride. “She carries our young already.”

“That was fast.” Zehn grinned.

Xav shook his head. “You can laugh about it, but I doubt Maht will find it so easy to sell Talzec on an offworlder. Not to mention the little matter of him breaking the treaty.”

That finally took the calm from Maht’s face.

“Where is Lore?” Xav asked Zehn.

“Lore’s here too?” Maht blinked. “I hadn’t heard him.”

“You sensed nothing for days, buried in your mate.” Zehn snorted. “Hold, he’s…” Zehn paused and frowned. His and Lore’s unusual pairing allowed them to communicate telepathically, but Xav had always wondered if their ability stemmed from Lore’s obvious offworlder ancestry—he had one green eye and one gold.

Zehn continued.“Three more warrior Nasuhl were coming too close, from the river’s side. Lore is finishing with the last.”

“Wait here,” Xav ordered Maht, untied the rope from his wrist, then gently deposited Skye on the ground. He left with Zehn and found Lore a short distance away, stacking bodies. “All dead?” he asked.

The rugged warrior nodded.

“Good.” Xav didn’t like this clear breach of territory. Granted, they were near a neutral line, but the Nasuhl had clearly crossed into Vyctore land. He hadn’t liked leaving the other two Nasuhl alive, but since they hadn’t been his battle conquests, he hadn’t earned the right to dispose of them. This way they could send their leader a message—that the Vyctore were not to be trifled with.

After gathering their small group, they set off for their village. It didn’t take long before Skye woke, and after a brief struggle to free herself, she accepted defeat and lay quietly over his shoulder.

He liked the sense of her there, a subtle weight pressing into him. More than her physical presence, he felt a stirring of lust, of heat, and surprisingly, an emotional connection he’d only ever experienced with Talzec.

Xav had never hurt for companionship. He usually preferred females, but he’d never connected deeply enough with any of them to procreate. His second seed—that which gave life—he continued to hold for his future mate. Sex among his clan had always been considered pleasurable, an integral part of life should they want their clan to grow. But years of interbreeding and a dwindling supply of eligible females had whittled down their numbers, not just in their clan, but throughout the tribe.

Like he’d told Talzec, pairing was tough everywhere. The Vytcore warriors had adapted to unmet carnal needs by taking each other. Male-to-male pairings had become the norm for many. Some lucky few, like Maht, found a birth-mate before pairing. Xav doubted Maht would take a male lover since he’d apparently found his female.

At the thought, Xav ran his hand up and down Skye’s strong thighs and felt her jerk. She said nothing, but he could sense her angry tension growing as they moved. As the suns started to set, he made the command decision to pitch camp. They had another day before they reached home, and with the Nasuhl daring to cross territory lines, he would rather be prepared and rested than attacked. Especially with precious females as cargo, and a mated one at that.

“We camp here. Lore, scout the area and set up a perimeter.”

Lore nodded and left.

“Zehn and Maht, see to the females. I’ll take first watch after hunting us something to eat.”

He left and returned some time later, only to see the clearing empty except for a small fire and supply packs. The three moons lit a cloudless sky and enabled him to see without effort, not needing his enhanced vision to penetrate the dark. He dropped the four flehiks he’d killed near the fire, stopped to listen, then followed the sound of swearing and scuffling a short distance away. What he saw when he rounded a small cluster of boulders should have surprised him but didn’t. He’d had a feeling Skye would only fake docility so long.

Maht, Lore, and Zhen were sitting on Skye’s legs, arms and chest while Lisa watched and encouraged her friend to win. To win?

“Come on, Skye. You can do better than that.”

“Lisa, shut up.” Skye let out an impressive series of Ussed swear words. “Get off me, you idiots!”

“Female, if you don’t relax, you’ll hurt yourself.” Zehn let out an oomph when she punched him in the belly with one arm which had gotten free. “Lore, am I mistaken? Or did this luscious woman call you an idiot?”

“She meant Maht,” Lore teased before nimbly dodging a knee to his groin. “I am most impressed at her ferocity.”

“Suck it, dirtbag,” Skye muttered as she lay on the ground, gasping for breath. “I can’t… breathe.”

Maht chuckled. “Ah, such deception. You utter untruths, Skye of Earth. Lisa told me all about your skills.”

Maht hadn’t mentioned this to Xav. Perhaps Xav should question the warrior sooner than later, especially if he had information on the delectable offworlder. Though Xav could see the beauty in Lisa’s ample curves and fiery tresses, it was Skye who intrigued him.

“Oh?” Xav said in a loud voice. “What skills are those?”

Lisa blinked at his hands. “Oh my God. What happened?”

He glanced down, realized she referred to the black and red blood on his hands, and wiped them on a nearby maffet leaf. “Nothing. I have found us a meal.”

“Blesta?” Lore asked, hopeful.

“Flehiks. Four of them.”

Maht rubbed his belly. “Ah, my favorite.” He turned to Lisa. “You will enjoy them, sweet. They are full of nutrient and flavorful as well.”

“Flehiks?” Lisa asked.

Skye sighed. “They’re a cross between a rabbit and a pig. Don’t ask. They’re supposedly pretty tasty.”

“Never heard of them.”

“That’s because you didn’t study the eastern side of the island. Westerners are huge fans of fish and chicken.”

He didn’t understand the term. “Chicken?”

“Blesta, but domesticated.”

“Ah.” Xav grinned down at her, still stuck under three amused warriors. “Are you ready to behave?”

“Kiss my ass.”

Zhen sighed. “She is most difficult. But her breasts are amazing.”

“Hey.”

Lisa narrowed her eyes on Maht, who was quick to focus her attention on his hands. “I only hold her legs, sweetling. You see? Only from your breasts will I suckle.”

“That is way too much information,” Skye groaned. “Okay, okay. Everyone, off. I promise to behave. For now,” she added under her breath.

Maht jumped to his feet and took Lisa with him back toward the fire. Zhen and Lore, Xav saw with displeasure, took way too much time “assisting” Skye to her feet.

“Hands off.” She brushed away the grass from her belly and legs, and Xav had a hard time looking away from her amazing body. He’d seen many females in his time, to include offworlders, but a rare few had such strength of female form. Even Lisa had more softness than her friend. He wanted to feel Skye again, to run his hands over her contrasts and seek the heat of her that had so pleasured him before. Would she be soft between her thighs? Sweet?

Lore smirked at him. “Come on, Zhen. Let’s head back and help Maht. Looks like our fearless leader has things well in hand.” Lore gave a deliberate onceover to the noticeable bulge in Xav’s loincloth.

“Well…” Zhen’s eyes twinkled.

“Away with you two.” Xav waved a hand. Once they’d gone, he closed the distance between him and Skye. “Are you all right?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She sounded defensive.

“No reason, only that three huge warriors had you pinned to the ground. And not in a fun way.”

She blushed.

“Our females are close to your size, if a little smaller. None of them have ever tangled with a warrior.”

She frowned. “Why don’t you have any female warriors? I’ve read about you Barbarians, and the books say warring is limited to the men. What do your females do all day?”

“Much.” He looked her over, agreeing with Zhen that Skye did indeed have amazing breasts. Her nipples were hard, and when he inhaled, he caught the enticing aroma of her need on the air. So, she felt it too.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She crossed her arms over her chest. A pity.

He reached out a hand to tuck away the stray strands of hair that had come untangled from the tie holding it back. Wanting to see it down, he tugged the band away.

“Oh man. Why did you do that?” She put her hands up to catch the falling silk, and he stepped closer.

“You are very beautiful.” He loved her blush. “Skin so fine. Eyes a lovely shade of brown. You offworlders are so…unique.” She had a speck of black in the center of a slight ring of brown that turned different shades of gold under the shadows. The moonlight bathed her in a glow, making her appear as one of his people. “Who are you, Skye of Earth, and why have you come?”

In this instant, he could well believe her a gift from the Maker, a treasure to hold close and never let go. Had Talzec felt this way about Nalla? Such hunger, such curiosity? Xav had never before been so enamored with a female. Her energy fascinated him, because he could feel the hum of it when they touched.

He put his hand on her shoulder and looked into wary eyes when she glared up at him. “Ah, sweet Skye, I feel so much of you.”

“Y-you’d better stop. Feeling me, I mean.” She swallowed loudly, but he listened to her body and spirit, not her words.

“That’s not what you really want,” he whispered, needing to taste her again. “But I will do nothing to harm you, tonan.” Tonan had slipped out of him without thought. Yet as he said it, he was shocked to realize he meant it. He wanted very much to master her…to stand by Talzec as they mastered her together.

“What does tonan mean?” She licked her lips, and he groaned.

“Just one small taste, then we go back to the fire. Yes?” He tightened his grip on her shoulder, then released her to run his fingers over her arms to her breasts. So light, that touch, yet he felt the heat of her to his bones. To one place in particular, now hard and throbbing between his legs.

“Um, well…” She stared at his mouth, her eyes seeming black, the brown swallowed up by that well of night at their center. “One kiss can’t hurt, can it?”

He didn’t want her to second-guess her answer, so he kissed her. And lost his ability to think.

Chapter Five

Skye hadn’t expected the kiss to affect her so deeply. Not when she’d spent so much time rationalizing her last interaction with Xaveht. Had to be her dry spell that had caused her to go off like a rocket. What woman orgasmed from a little petting, and with an alien she’d just met, no less?

So she was unprepared for the devastation of this kiss. God, it was even better than the last one, and she’d known to be ready for his taste. More of that damn chocolate mint, except layered with a lusty spark that drove her insane. She wanted to spread her legs wide and take him deep inside. From one kiss.

Then the bastard groaned and tugged her even closer. Knowing he felt the same desire only made hers worse. Everywhere she touched him she tingled. He felt hot, steely hard, and those delicious muscles fit with her body as if made for her.

“Mmm. Yes, tonan. So good,” he whispered against her cheek as his kisses trailed to her ear. “You smell so sweet. In time, I will lick you up, and we will see how wet you can make me, yes?”

“Wet?” she rasped.

He grabbed one her hands and snaked it down the front of him under his loincloth.

She started. He felt slick all over. When had he lubed himself up?

“When we want, we grow slick. It helps because we’re so much larger than our females.”

Good night, how was she supposed to respond to that? Not only was the guy hung like a horse, he was thoroughly lubed, so he’d fit even easier. She clenched her hand around him, her fingers not meeting due to his girth. Who knew she’d find a tiny sliver of boyfriend heaven up in the stars?

Xaveht took her hand away and wiped it on her own belly, exposed by her cropped tank. “Now you will smell like me.”

She didn’t smell a thing. Nothing aromatic about the guy, at least not that she could tell amidst the sweet flowers and crisp scent of the tropics around them.

Xaveht kissed her again, gentling his hold as he slowly pulled back. To her embarrassment, she leaned into him so much she nearly fell when he completely withdrew. He steadied her, and her cheeks blazed with heat. She wanted to look away, but she’d never been one to avoid necessary confrontation.

She met his gaze, noted that spark of red then blue in the center of his eyes and watched it slowly fade as he watched her. “What are you doing to me?”

“Doing?” He ran a callused finger over her cheek, looking down on her. Man, he was tall. And hot. And lickable all over. Yeah, I’m apparently hooked on barbarians. And I’m supposed to help Lisa? Get it together, Skye!

“You know.” She crossed her arms over her chest and regained her balance, breathing evenly. “Making me feel…attracted to you.”

“I do not know about making you do anything.” Xaveht grinned, and her knees threatened to buckle. “I do know that you’re very interesting, offworlder.”

“Skye.”

“Skye.” He seemed to savor her name. “You smell of summer rains and crackle with the power of lightning deep inside. I can feel your energy seething. It calls to mine.”

She blinked. “Wait. You can feel energy in others?”

“Of course. All Ussed can, even our weak westerners have such an ability.” He paused. “Are you saying your people cannot? But I felt you earlier. We were tied. Phelthar.”

She didn’t understand the word. “Phelthar?”

“Yes, the state in which we are tied to all things, or to one thing in particular.” He stared down her body with a grin. “I would be tied to you in other ways as well.”

Her face burned. “Ah, well, yeah. See, that’s what so weird about you. I don’t normally just kiss anyone, you know.”

His grin widened. Shoot. “That is good to know indeed.”

Before she could try to make up for admitting a vulnerability, Lore returned. He looked from his leader to her, took a few subtle sniffs, then shared his own shit-eating grin.

This is so embarrassing.

“Our meal is ready.” As they passed, she heard him say to Xaveht, “So she is off-limits?”

“Yes.”

A simple answer, and one that felt like an admission of ownership. Slavery had been outlawed on Earth over a thousand years ago. So why did the notion of belonging to the huge barbarian flip her switch like it was Christmas?

They sat down around a small fire, Lisa practically in Maht’s lap while he fed her from his friggin’ hand.

“Geez, Lisa,” she muttered and took small bites of surprisingly tasty, tender meat. Those rabbit-pig things tasted pretty good.

Lisa ignored her, smiling shyly up at Maht.

“Ah, the play of new mates.” Lore grinned at the couple, then looked at her and Xaveht. He motioned to Zhen, said something she couldn’t make out, then turned with Zehn to stare—and laugh—at her.

“What?” she snapped.

“Such spirit.” Zhen nodded, mischief in the small curl of his lips. “I don’t know if Xav can handle her by himself. No doubt Talzec will be needed to tame this one.”

“Tame who?” A second mention of this Talzec character. Already she didn’t like him. Skye would have stood and forced Zhen to explain himself when Xav put a hand on her shoulder, stilling her.

“Easy, Skye. Pay no attention to the droning of an akla.” Akla—beelike creatures known for their steady, melodic humming. As far from a hardened warrior as a butterfly was to a hawk.

“Akla? Great leader, such words hurt.” Zhen didn’t look hurt, grinning like a madman.

Xav scooted closer to her on the downed tree on which they sat, his entire left leg in contact with hers. She moved away, giving them some space, and thought she heard him sigh.

“Now, Maht,” he ordered, “tell us what happened earlier today.”

Skye said, “I—”

Xav placed a firm hand on her knee, and the contact sizzled before he removed it. “No. Maht must answer for his actions. And he will begin with why he took an offworlder from the West, that place from which we must never raid for fear of breaking an age-old treaty.”

Maht looked nervous. For a guy who seemed to have broken his tribe’s main law, he hadn’t been too repentant while banging her best friend. Lisa held onto his hand while he spoke, and Skye had a bad feeling she wouldn’t be taking her friend anywhere without Maht by their side.

“I was stationed as security at the resort.”

“This we know.”

Maht nodded. “I spent my time like I normally do. The visitors and attendants always want a ride, but they do not trigger the instinct.” Ride? Instinct? “Until I saw Lisa. She had been transferred to act as liaison to our guard. The first moment I looked into her eyes, we connected.”

“Phelthar,” Lore murmured, and Zhen agreed.

“Perhaps this is only your body lonely for a female,” Xav offered. “She is most comely.”

“No. I know the difference between release and phelthar. This, with Lisa, engages all of me.”

Xav stroked his chin. “I was afraid you’d say that. Considering that even from here I can sense your mark, I do not think Talzec will part the two of you.”

“Thank you.” Maht bowed his head.

“But… I am not sure if you will be allowed to stay. Breaking the treaty is not something we can hide.”

“But she wants to stay with me. She is here of her own free will.”

“Yeah?” Skye cut in. “Then why am I here? She sent me a message to come rescue her.”

Maht turned a stricken gaze to Lisa, and for a moment Skye actually felt sorry for him. “Is this true, sweetling?”

Lisa sniffled. “I’m sorry. It’s just… This is so confusing. We haven’t been together long, and you were talking about keeping me here. I mean, I’m from Earth. I work at Welcome. I don’t know anything about your culture. Heck, Maht. I barely know you.” She absently rubbed her belly, and Skye wanted to groan, because the satisfied look on Maht’s face was impossible to miss.

“Ah, now I understand. So much so soon. It threw me as well. We do not normally take to offworlders. Finding you, as much as it is a joy, is a shock as well.”

The intimacy building around the couple felt real. Like a force field of affection and protection at the same time.

Skye frowned and stared harder at them. In the light of the fire, she could almost see lines of light connecting the pair. She blinked and concentrated, wondering if perhaps this planet was enhancing her psychic abilities. That or the weird meat she’d consumed had the same effect as certain hallucinogens at home.

Maht continued, looking away from Lisa to Xav again. “The needs were pressing. I confess I could not wait to arrive home. We settled into the yernax point and I lost myself between her soft thighs.”

“TMI, buddy.” Skye didn’t need to look at Lisa to feel her friend’s discomfiture, so she focused on her stick of meat.

“And then?” Xav prodded.

“Then the noise of intruders distracted me. I heard the female—” he nodded at Skye “—talking with warriors I did not know. I felt danger, and then a Nasuhl entered our post.”

“This means war,” Zhen muttered.

Lore nodded.

“When I left the hut fighting the intruder, I saw Lisa’s friend fighting another of the warriors.” He sounded surprised, which didn’t help Sky’s ego any. “She took him down.”

Lore gaped at her. “She did?”

“It wasn’t you?” Zhen asked Maht.

“I fought the one, but she defeated the other. Then she came after the one I was fighting with.” He frowned at her. “She defeated him too. Enemies so close to my new mate triggered the instinct even more. I have the vague impression of pinning Skye to a tree, concern for Lisa my only goal. Skye then battled me. I have no idea what else happened until Xav woke me.”

Now everyone was staring at her, and Skye felt the way she had at home. Not fitting in, alien among her own kind. Women didn’t possess fighting skills. If anything, their intellect had risen to surpass most men’s. So to find a “throwback” like Skye, who aligned more with fighting skills than cerebral pursuits, hadn’t painted her in a very good light.

“Truly, Skye?” Xav asked. She couldn’t read the emotion in his voice. Awe or disbelief? Pride or disgust? “You defeated Maht and the others?”

She glanced at Maht but didn’t see the scorn she’d thought she might. Most men didn’t like being beaten by a female. He appeared fine with it.

“Skye?” Xav said again, more impatient.

“So what if I did? I came here to protect my friend. Instead, I find her getting freaky with a giant. Then two more of you guys showed up, and they weren’t all that nice. I did what I had to do.” She grew more concerned with the sober faces looking back at her.

Xav stood. “Put out the fire. Break camp. We’re returning home. Talzec needs to know of this Nasuhl interference.” He kept looking at her. “By now they will have returned to their village and reported.”

The others made haste obeying while Skye tried to figure out what the hell was going on. “Hey, Xav, wait.” He stopped in the middle of his conversation with Maht, the odd dialect of course one she couldn’t understand. “What’s up? Why are we hurrying now? Is it some big deal that I dealt with the Nasuhl instead of Maht?”

He just stared at her, his entire bearing that of a conquering warrior. “Yes, it is.”

Instead of explaining, he turned back to Maht and their conversation, ignoring her.

“Asshole.” She glared at him, annoyed to be relegated to standing with Lisa like helpless cargo. Whatever. She’d use her gifts to protect her friend—her pregnant friend. To Lisa, she said, “So you’re pregnant, huh?”

“Yes.” Lisa signed and rubbed her belly. “It’s totally weird, but I can feel a little tickle in my stomach.”

“Sure that’s not the flehik we just ate?”

Lisa laughed, much lighter about the whole mess than Skye would have thought. “No. I’m… I don’t know. I’m happy about the baby and Maht. Still not sure about living with barbarians away from everything I know.” She let out a breath. “But I feel a sense of excitement and almost acceptance. Weird, right?”

All that talk of bonding and energy melding had Skye thinking. “Maybe not as weird as it sounds. This phelthar stuff sounds like a psychic joining. Your psychic skills lay in charming the pants off of people. So at Welcome, you were personnel management, right?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So you managed yourself into a husband, is what I’m thinking. They mate or marry, whatever you want to call it, on a deeper level than finding a justice of the peace. His psyche seems to have bonded with yours.”

Lisa took Skye’s hand and squeezed it. “The Green Moon dance is in another five days.”

“You know?”

“Yes. So I have a little more time before it’s all or none. Life here with Maht and the baby, or life back at home. I know I’m done with the resort. They won’t take me back, not with a barbarian baby. That’s a clear violation of their fraternization policy.”

“You think?” Skye snorted.

Lisa grinned, then a tear trickled from her eye.

“Damn. I’m sorry. I was just teasing.” Lisa had seemed so okay with her pregnancy.

“No. I’m just emotional. Happy one minute, scared out of my mind the next. I mean, a baby?”

“Life is seriously throwing you some curves.” Skye shrugged. “But no biggie. We can handle it.”

“I’m so glad to have you as a friend.” Lisa gave her a hug then pulled back, and more tears followed. “Oh my God. I just realized. With you here helping me, your chances for advancement at Welcome are ruined, aren’t they?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Skye, I’m so sorry. I—”

“Come.” Maht drew them apart and shot Skye an angry look, one she returned.

“No, little warrior.” Beside him, Lore shook his head. “Save your energy for when we get to the village.” In a lower voice that didn’t reassure her one bit, he added, “You’re going to need it.”

***

Daveen, leader of the Nasuhl Clan, listened with curiosity to the tale his returning warriors told. They gathered in his chambers, deep in the cool caves protected from any enemy by a series of interlocking passages only Daveen, his cousin Morlo, and a few others knew. But Daveen wanted this information kept close. No common area for this discussion. Female offworlders? Sexual offerings from the Maker or a plot by the West to spy on them? And what of this female battling warriors and winning?

“So this female, an offworlder, bested you both? And the Vyctore male as well?”

Fleen shifted on his feet. “She didn’t best me, exactly.”

“She threw you,” Haen added with a sneer. “So you ordered me to deal with her while you took the easier of the two. Yet still you lost to him.”

Fleen drew back his hand to cuff Haen when Daveen stopped him. “Hold. The females. Describe them again. And give me details about the fighter.”

She intrigued him, this woman with light-colored hair and brown eyes. Her body had been made for war, apparently, because no weak female could defeat warriors he himself had trained. Fleen and Haen were no ordinary Nasuhl. They were part of his interior guard.

Still, defeat had to be met with some form of discipline. He nodded to Morlo, not only his cousin, but his beta as well. “Fifteen lashes each. But make Haen’s pretty for the females.” Nasul women did so like their men scarred.

Morlo nodded, and like the beasts Nasuhl had trained them to be, Haen and Fleen accompanied a dominant master with their proverbial tails between their legs. Daveen ruled all with an iron fist, but Morlo had all his trust and bestowed authority. The last in Daveen’s bloodline, and the only person in this life he knew would not turn on him.

As usual, at thoughts of betrayal, he thought of Nalla, his dear sister. Once again, he knew deep, never-ending pain.

Daveen had been raiding for years, taking only the most prime female flesh from other villages and training them to handle a warrior’s needs. He had a rougher touch than most females wanted to handle. Only Nalla had seen him for what he was. Only she’d been able to handle him in the special way he needed. And then she’d gone, supposedly rescued by that dishonorable scum, Talzec.

A fury of hatred and need for justice burned in Daveen’s breast. Soon he would take Talzec down, destroy the man and everything he held dear. To know Talzec had claimed Nalla for his own sickened him. The only thing that made him feel better was the fact they clearly hadn’t bonded, because Nalla had passed and Talzec remained. The weak piece of shit hadn’t even had the decency to take his own life. Nalla meant that little to him.

Enraged, as he normally was, Daveen stormed back to his bedchamber and sent for two of his concubines. He dragged out his favorite whips, needing to play. The females arrived and immediately huddled in fear, knowing that particular look in his eye. Their trainer, an older whore with an able mind if battered body, stood by, watching.

“Present yourselves,” she said in an icy tone.

While he readied to release the tension and anger that never went away, he thought about the offworlder female and her soft, sexy friend. Imagining them giving back the fight he desperately needed, he stripped down and began to flick his whips, warming up. Then he worked the females through their paces, climaxing multiple times while keeping his second seed from ejaculation. His second seed—that which he’d only ever held for Nalla, a woman worthy of his lineage. Just as he’d considered her ready to receive him, to continue his line with child, Talzec had stolen her. And now he was left without an heir. Truth to tell, Daveen feared ever finding a worthy female to bear him young.

Someone who could fight like a man, or at least fuck like one. Though it went against all the Nasuhl believed in, men fucking men made a twisted kind of sense. Daveen could only imagine a male being able to withstand the force he used when expelling his second seed. Still, fucking a male was something no self-respecting barbarian would ever do.

Yet another reason to despise the Vyctore clan. Those hell demons had taken to accepting, even welcoming, male-to-male pairings, spurring many other clans to do the same. That godless reject Talzec had a habit of ruining everything he touched.

Someday, Talzec. I’ll have your head, and I’ll mount it over my bed so that while I’m fucking my way to pleasure, you’ll be watching and knowing you lost everything. To me.

Chapter Six

Skye didn’t know what she’d expected, but the words barbarian and village brought to mind crude structures and even cruder people. What she encountered as they entered the Vyctore clan village stunned her. Deep in the heart of the tropics, surrounded on three sides by dense, well-guarded terrain and on the other by a large lake, the place felt warm, friendly.

Several thatched huts, some open, some closed off, were scattered throughout the large clearing away from the thick tree line surrounding the village. As she watched, a few children raced around chattering and playing a game of what looked like tag.

To the far end near a natural spring, several females stood over tables. Their clothing covered their essential parts—thank God. Skye was no prude, but she hadn’t looked forward to watching naked breasts bob and shake during her stay. Considering how little the male barbarians wore, the females seemed overdressed. Thin, short, sleeveless dresses in dark browns and greens and patterned with bright colors, like the flowers around them, covered them from shoulder to high on the thigh. One or two women bent over the table and showed a thong-like undergarment. Then a few others moved and displayed the fact they wore nothing underneath.

The men working around them or walking by didn’t ogle anyone but seemed to treat those they encountered with respect.

Interesting.

The females were definitely smaller than the men. The barbarian males on average stood seven feet tall. The females were more Earth-like, all dark haired and golden eyed, but about Lisa’s height. Even here, Skye stood out among the females. Honestly, that kind of annoyed her. How could it be that female barbarians seemed more feminine than she did?

All the males, even those working with stones and produce—some type of bartering system?—looked like warriors. They had large muscles, a wariness to them suggesting a familiarity with combat, and screamed danger. Around the perimeter, she noticed a guard force carrying weapons of all kinds. Battle axes, hammers, spears, and a few long bows.

Fascinating. Her interest caught and held on the challenging energy coming from the guards, especially.

A glance to her left showed a small gaggle of women surrounding Maht had Lisa. Lisa smiled, sheltered by Maht’s towering frame. He looked on proudly while Lisa and the women talked and laughed. Lisa had no trouble making friends, which would certainly help her here.

“Come, Skye. Don’t be afraid.” Xav tugged her after him, and she realized she’d stopped in her tracks to take everything in.

“Scared? I don’t think so.” She could almost feel Lore and Zhen grinning behind her. “And you two can piss off.”

Zhen chuckled. “The female is overwhelmed by our camp, Lore. I think it might be best if we introduce her to the others.”

“Not until Talzec is informed,” Xav stated.

Xav seemed different here. Bigger, more serious, more threatening. Skye couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was as if Xav fed off the energy around them in a fundamentally commanding way.

A loud buzzing within her surged in another direction, and she turned, like a magnet attracted to its opposite. A fighter with some prowess. She could almost taste the lure of wild battle. She took one step, then another as Xav drew her forward, his hand curled around hers. To her astonishment, that powerful energy licking at hers seemed to join Xav’s, making her almost-lover both familiar and a stranger at the same time.

“Lore, bring Maht and Lisa,” Xav ordered.

The barbarians ahead of them moved aside to reveal the source of that well of energy. Skye got her first look at who she knew to be Talzec. He felt like a ball of lightning, so much power and strength in the air crackling around him. She knew no one else felt it like she did, because had they been so sensitive, they’d be doing their best not to cringe.

Xav’s hand on hers tightened, but he didn’t look at her. Instead, he kept his gaze on Talzec, his…alpha? From what she’d learned on their journey, the planet had three tribes of barbarians. In each tribe, there were thousands of clans. Under the Cloud Tribe, the Vyctore and Nasuhl clans thrived as enemies, apparently. Daveen, the leader of the Nasuhl, had killed his own sister and had a bad habit of torturing his opponents and raping their women. Not a great resume.

The Vyctore were known as the fiercest and best warriors in the tribe. At least, according to the proud Vyctore warriors who’d accompanied her here. As she watched those around the camp and took in their leader, she could well believe their boasts.

Talzec was by far the largest man around. He had more muscle than Xav, whom she’d considered freakin’ huge. Tall, dark, and oh-my-God handsome, the man had long black hair that covered his shoulders and reached mid-chest. Those flesh-colored tattoos on him, that all the barbarians had, grew darker and swirled in a pattern as Xav and she drew closer.

Around them, everyone stopped dead.

What the hell?

“What is this?” Talzec boomed, his voice as authoritative and deep as she might have imagined.

“This is why we were delayed,” Xav said, a note of amusement in his voice.

That relieved her. If Xav wasn’t too put off by his ferocious leader, the guy couldn’t be all bad.

Wait. This? Did he mean her and Lisa? This?

Talzec looked over Xav’s shoulder. “Zhen, Lore.” He nodded, then his gaze narrowed, and she felt an arrow of power surge past her. “Maht. You bring an unexpected treasure.”

“Alpha.” Maht bowed his head. “This is my mate, Lisa.”

“Your mate, hmm? Interesting that you did not ask for permission before breaking the treaty.”

“Not that any would have been given,” Xav muttered.

Talzec glared at him, and Xav shut up. The leader’s gaze passed over Skye, then came back again. His tattoos swirled faster, and she saw a glimmer of blue flash in the center of his eyes.

Xav tensed.

She had no idea what the hell was going on, but the stress all around them grew. No one spoke—worry one. Everyone backed away from her small group—huge worry number two.

“Maht?” Lisa whispered.

“Shh. It’s all right, sweetling.”

“No, it’s not,” Talzec growled, his gaze still on Skye. “Why are there two offworlders in my camp right now?”

Lisa stepped back behind Maht.

Xav moved to position himself firmly between Skye and Talzec, which had Talzec looking even grimmer.

Suddenly, Skye’s sense of self-preservation vanished as anger at the unfairness and weirdness of the situation took hold. She darted around Xav before he could stop her and walked right up to Talzec, stopping only a foot away.

Jesus, she could feel that intense heat bleeding from his body into hers as his energy sought her secrets. She tried to hold him out while looking for cracks in his psychic shield. She needed to know how he’d react to danger if she had any chance of surviving.

She poked him in the belly and felt absolutely no give in his muscle. Suppressing a totally inappropriate shiver of need, she stood firm. “Look, buddy. It’s been a shitty week, and you’re not helping.” She ignored the gasps of those around her and continued. “Your barbarian stole my friend, sexed her up, impregnated her, and now claims her as his mate. You can’t just steal people. She’s an offworlder. She has rights.”

Talzec didn’t blink as he watched her, and those fascinating golden orbs of his kept flashing to blue and back again. Darts of red swirled, then vanished, while his tattoos moved faster. Totally not human, Skye. Remember that. 

“And what of you, little human?” he asked in a beastly growl.

“I’m here to help her. She’s my best friend.” She put her hands on her hips, trying to look bigger and failing miserably under his larger-than-life presence.

“She defeated two Nasuhl warriors. And Maht,” Xav said, startling her to hear him so close behind her. She hadn’t felt him at all, so focused on Talzec.

Talzec frowned, which made him look even sexier—meaner. “An offworld female defeated a Vyctore warrior?” He scoffed, his disdain evident.

She saw red. Without thinking, she tapped into his energy and forced him to step closer with a telekinetic tug. Then she hooked a foot around his ankle and yanked.

A normal man would have fallen on his ass. Talzec stumbled and immediately caught his balance.

“I told you,” Xav said and laughed at the giant tower of rage now looming over her.

Talzec leaned down and opened his mouth to say something. Then he sniffed and froze. His head whipped to Xav, who nodded. Straightening to his full height, he ordered Xav to take her to his quarters.

“To my hut?” Xav sounded surprised. “Not the guest quarters?”

“Do what I told you to.” The quiet threat in Talzec’s tone said more than a shout could have. Whispers around them turned into loud discussions of shock and awe that an offworlder had dared confront their leader. “Maht, you and Lisa come with me.” He turned on his heel and walked away.

Xav hustled her with him, so that she almost had to run to keep up. They entered a hut on the far side of encampment, right next to a larger structure that held a banner over it signifying the leader’s home. That much she knew from her studies of the barbarians.

Great. She’d now be sequestered right next to a giant with a chip on his shoulder about offworlders.

Inside the hut, she saw open windows facing the forest. A large pallet on the ground made up of furs and skins took up most of the room, with a wooden cabinet to one side and a table and chairs on the other. Large by her standards, but small when occupied by a barbarian. The place was simple but clean, and it smelled sweet, probably from the yellow blossoms dangling on the vines right outside the windows.

She’d barely stepped inside when Xav grabbed her and dragged her down under him on the pallet, which was surprisingly comfortable.

“Hey, stop.” She tried to slap at his hands, but the man moved faster than she could follow. She had a hard time mimicking his movements because there was little pattern to them. This, at least for him, seemed new.

To her shock, he’d bared her breasts. Now naked from the waist up, she couldn’t think about much more than keeping the rest of her clothes on. “Xaveht!”

He shifted off her, and she was naked.

“Wh-what are you doing?” ended in a high-pitched squeak when he removed his loincloth and boots to reveal perfection.

“I cannot wait, tonan. I need you now.”

He covered her in seconds and nudged her thighs wider.

Thought left her as emotion took over. The sensation of oneness with him filled her from head to toe. Xaveht and she belonged together. And another waited in the background, a hovering energy that pressed at her to accept everything and submit.

All-consuming need struck her mute, until she looked deeply into Xaveht’s blazing eyes. “Yes,” she hissed, feeling him to her bones. She needed more, though, and Xav, bless him, didn’t disappoint.

***

Talzec still couldn’t believe what he’d sensed. Maht had been stupid enough to abscond with an offworlder, but there could be no denying the phelthar. Even now Talzec could feel the spark of life in the woman’s womb, could scent Maht’s marker all over her. In such a brief time, for a barbarian to mate with an alien female and then create life… Their Maker surely approved of the union. A baby would settle any worries that Maht had done wrong, though Talzec intended to discipline his warrior for not taking the time to inform his Alpha first.

Some extra perimeter duty would be just the thing, especially for a newly mated warrior. Maht’s need for the female would burn until the initial mating passed.

The mating play would have to keep.

Xaveht could not.

His beta had mated. With an offworlder who not only didn’t belong, but acted as a warrior? Talzec couldn’t wrap his mind around it, but he couldn’t stop clutching to that connection of energy that had taken him unaware. The moment he’d seen her, he’d felt her. To his core. The way he felt Xav, bonded, joined in all ways.

Rarely did a warrior find a mate. A true-bond from a pairing was a joy, and his need for Xav he accepted. But for a woman who would never be Nalla—that hurt.

“Alpha?” Maht said from behind him.

Talzec focused on his clan’s needs, not his own, and turned to face Maht. They stood in some privacy though had not yet reached the petitioner’s circle. Fuck it. He needed to get back to Xaveht, and the sooner the better.

“You took an offworlder from the resort, breaching the East-West treaty.”

Maht stiffened and put the female behind him, protecting her even though she needed no protection from Talzec. “I did.”

“You mated her without permission. You got her with child.” A miracle in itself.

“I did.”

“You do realize you have broken a five-hundred-year-old treaty, bringing forth a war we cannot fight since our clans are so divided.”

“Wait, wait.” The female, Lisa, moved to stand next to her mate. She had such pretty hair, so red. And strange blue eyes with those odd little black dots in the center of them. Her form was utterly feminine. Large breasts, a small waist, and a rounded ass a man could hold onto while he pounded into her.

And then it was no longer Lisa and Maht, but Talzec and Skye and Xav. Talzec would slide his cock deep as his beta gripped that firm ass. He’d stroke until Xav took his first release. Then Talzec would find her mouth and slip between her ripe lips, her tongue lapping at his slit. He’d stare into her bright brown eyes and grip her honey-gold hair streaked with brown, commanding her to open wider and receive—

“Talzec?” Maht stood closer, appearing concerned. “You look…odd.”

Talzed blinked and shook his head, but the pleasure he continued to experience felt much too sexual. “You two are clearly mated. You must stay in the village, where it is safe.”

More lust, a warmth surrounding the head of his cock. Lips tugging, a tongue rolling around, stroking his shaft.

“Maht,” Talzec said in a rough voice, fighting for control. “You have perimeter duty as punishment. See Xaveht later tonight for details. After. First you must settle your mate and make her feel welcome.”

He turned to Lisa, comparing her sweet yet docile energy to the fierce rebellion of the female she’d arrived with. “Lisa, you agree to stay here of your own free will. I will hear it said, or you will go back to the West and not return to Vyctore lands. Ever.”

She paled.

“I will have your answer at moon’s light. Maht, you have until then to convince her to stay. But you may not hold her against her will.” A code his clan would never break—not after what had happened to Nalla.

Yet even thoughts of his beloved could not turn him from his course. He hurried from the pair, seeking his beta’s quarters. He must have worn a look of rage or determination on his face, because no one stepped in his path.  

Soon after he caught sight of Xav’s hut, he heard the sounds. A woman’s low moan, his beta’s groans and grunts of sexual need. The scent of mating and welcome beckoned him closer, until he was almost running to join them.

He shoved past the animal skin barring him from Xaveht’s, not surprised to see his beta buried deep inside the female. Strands of her blonde hair fanned out around her head. Her small hands clawed at Xav’s back as he shoved deeper, and her ankles wrapped around his waist, holding him tight. 

Xav cried out as he came, and the female writhed beneath him. Talzec couldn’t help gripping himself tight, so hard he hurt. Xaveht alone possessed a rare beauty, but while bonded to the female, his energy shone with a light that blinded.

“What took you so long?” Xav panted as he withdrew, still hard and slick from a desire that had yet to fade.

“Xav,” the female groaned and tried to pull him back. She saw Talzec and froze. Her focus seemed to cloud, shift, and center again. Then she held her hands out to him. “I need…”

Xav moved over on the pallet. Making way for his alpha.

Talzec didn’t feel himself moving, but he must have dropped his loincloth and boots because when he joined the pair on the pallet, he fitted his naked body to the female as if in a dream.

“Woman, I—”

“Skye.” She yanked his mouth to hers.

She tasted like Xav. She tasted like she belonged to him. So aggressive, so like his pair-bond lover, yet soft.

His beta ran a hand up and down Talzec’s back, increasing the intimacy. “I gave her my first seed. She needs more.”

“I need you,” the female murmured before sliding kisses down Talzec’s jaw to his neck, where she bit him hard enough to leave a mark.

Then he knew what he had to do, to show her and Xav where they fit in the hierarchy of his world. The instinct rose and consumed him.

“No, Skye. You will follow my lead. You two belong to me.”

Chapter Seven

Xav had been waiting for this, the moment his alpha accepted a third into their bed.

As soon as Xav had returned to the hut with Skye, he’d known he could no longer wait to have her. Being around his family, his people, stirred his power. As did being near Talzec. So close, they fed off each other, their phelthar growing stronger daily.

Skye’s presence heightened everything.

That his female wanted him sealed her own fate. She’d been as hungry to have him inside her as he’d been to fuck her. The first slide inside her hot, tight pussy had nearly shot him into an ecstasy so strong he’d lost all control. A warrior prided himself on control, and Xav had all but given it up to Skye.

Stroking in and out, feeling her come around him as she cried out, tasting her passion from red lips stung with the fruit of need. His first seed had all but spilled out of him.

And then Talzec had arrived. The subtle pulse of his alpha’s presence had been with him the moment they’d entered the village. But now, it was as if Skye intensified the connection. And she added a strange psychic link he and Talzec had never before shared.

He sensed Skye’s deep passion, her longing to belong, her confused lust and desperate need for him, as well as her desire for Talzec, a man she didn’t like yet needed to complete her. The phelthar was strong between Xav and Skye. But with Talzec, it felt off-the-charts explosive.

His alpha growled his commands, and Xav wondered if Skye would balk or accept them. With Xav, she’d done what he wanted, yet she’d also been a bit less than wholly submissive.

Talzec would expect nothing less than unwavering obedience. In their relationship, hell, in the entire clan, one man ruled. And it wasn’t Xaveht.

“Both of you, on your knees.” Talzec rose to his feet, his cock wet and thick, his balls tight. Oh yes, Talzec wanted this, wanted them. His eyes were no longer gold, but a bright blue. The way they flashed then glowed when he came inside Xav. But this time they stayed blue. As blue as the sky.

The comparison wasn’t lost on him, and Xav smiled as he knelt beside Skye and waited.

She shook her head. “You’re doing something to me, just like Xav does.”

“Silence, female.”

She glared up at Talzec. “My name is Skye,” she said with a silken anger that only enhanced Xav’s need to take her again.

“You do not seem to understand the meaning of silence. Show her, Xav.”

Xav understood and didn’t hesitate. He leaned forward, opened his mouth, and took Talzec to the back of his throat. His lover didn’t moan, but a spurt of fluid filled Xav’s mouth, and he sucked it down.

Skye watched in stunned silence as Talzec fucked Xav’s mouth. As he did, Xav’s cock filled out, even slicker than he’d been before.

“Oh wow. That is just so…hot.” Skye cupped her breasts and pinched her nipples, and Talzec’s nostrils flared.

He withdrew from Xav’s mouth. “Get between her legs, on your back.”

Xav scurried to position himself between her legs, knowing what his alpha had in mind.

“Now, Skye. Suck me dry. Until I give over my first seed.”

She blinked, chewed her lower lip, then took Talzec’s fat cock between her lips. The moment the tip of Talzec’s cock disappeared in her mouth, Xav reached up between her legs and sucked her clit.

She gave a startled moan, and Talzec pushed deeper.

“That’s it,” he said as he gripped her hair. “Take me deeper. Suckle the sweet juice from my shaft. Swallow me.” He pumped into her mouth, fucking her with slow, shallow strokes while Xav ate her out, enjoying the hell out of their play.

The energy in the room surged, a well of affection, desire, and confusion mingling to overwhelm them all.

Xav nibbled at her clit and shoved a finger inside her, and Skye came hard. He knew because he felt her tighten around him, saw his alpha tense then begin to pump faster in her mouth.

In two more thrusts Talzec grunted and spent, his balls taut, his body locked up as he filled her mouth with seed. Still coming, he withdrew from her mouth and forced her back to sit over Xav’s cock.

“Now ride him.” Talzec continued to work his shaft while she ground over Xav. So primed to touch her, Xav gripped her hips and forced her to ride him faster while staring up at Talzec’s arousal. His alpha continued to spend, showering their female with his scent as it dropped onto her breasts and spattered her skin. A true second seed, because her skin absorbed it, leaving no mess but the scent of connection joining them.

So excited at the prospect of a future with the woman he’d been searching for without knowing it, Xav groaned and would have come inside her had Talzec not ordered him not to.

“Not yet. Mark her instead.”

Xav managed to push her off him and come onto her belly, his instinct to procreate with Skye nearly irresistible.

Instead he finished outside her body, his seed soaking into her skin.

Talzec grunted, leaned down, and drew Skye to her feet. Then he kissed her, so deeply and for so long, Xav wondered that they didn’t expire from a lack of oxygen.

Without warning, Talzec pulled away and shoved Skye at him. He glared at them both, swore, then redressed while sporting another erection. He left the hut in a rage, though Xav could still feel the male’s desire and affection winding together in a baffling sense of dread and excitement. Poor Talzec, still not sure how to accept a woman into his heart.

Skye looked lost, so Xav hugged her, wanting her all over again. But this time the need was tempered with a tenderness for his mate. A need to protect, to care for and pleasure. The instinct had truly kicked in, because he sensed what she needed through phelthar.

He drew her with him outside. She was still too dazed to worry about clothing, though he knew most offworlders perceived nakedness as vulnerability.

“No one will notice anything odd about your nudity,” he said as he guided her down a path to his favorite cleaning spot by the river. Once there, he got into the water with her and gently bathed her in the bubbling pool.

She moaned, obviously well-used, and let him tend to her. She looked near to sleeping when she spoke. “What exactly happened back there? Other than that I blew a hot alien, rode another sexy barbarian, and all after coming a few times with you.”

He chuckled. “We’ve bonded, Skye.”

She closed her eyes and sank deeper in the water. “This is not happening.”

He’d figured she’d be difficult about the situation, so he didn’t want to burden her unduly. Not yet. But he had to make up for Talzec’s abrupt departure. “I’m afraid it is happening. Something about you and Lisa seems to be compatible with our people.”

“Lucky for Maht he found her before you did, then,” she quipped.

“Lisa is beautiful, and from what Maht said, kind at heart. But she is not you. Even had Maht severed the mating before it took root, I would not bond with Lisa. She is not for me.” For us—me and my alpha.

“How can you tell?”

“You know exactly how I can tell. You feel that intense connection with me, and with Talzec, that you feel for no other. Aside from Talzec, I do not sense others as deeply as I do you. Our energies align.”

“Yeah, about that.” She opened her eyes wide to stare at him, and he drifted closer in the water, watching her breasts bob in the hot liquid. “So you and Talzec are close.”

“Very.” He smiled at her blush. For such a fierce brawler, she had a tendency to be adorably vulnerable. So womanlike, yet not at the same time. He found her contrasts fascinating.

“I mean, you blew him. Do you, um, do you guys have sex with each other a lot?”

This story Talzec should tell, but Xav knew his lover would not. “Our females are few in number, and our warriors have needs. It used to be forbidden among our kind, but love is an energy that unites all things.”

“I guess.”

“Does it bother you that Talzec and I fuck?”

She blinked at the direct question. “Um, no. Actually, it was really sexy, you doing that to him.”

“Sucking his dick?” he asked bluntly, just to see her turn red again.

She bit her lower lip, and he kissed it better. “Oh yeah.”

“Talzec is my alpha, my commander in all things. We were best of friends growing up. Then he rescued Nalla from her clan, and he fell for her.” Xav sighed. “Things did not go well for them, and Nalla died. That’s when Talzec and I bonded. His need for stability overcame his resistance to what his spirit knew to be right.”

“What should his spirit have known?”

“That he and I shared more than a spiritual connection. We were meant to form a unit, two warriors, one female. Nalla was not for him.”

“Didn’t you like her?”

“I did. She was a good female. Soft, kind. But not for him. When she died, he stayed. They never truly connected.”

“Wait. What does that mean?”

“It means, tonan, that when we mate, we mate for life. A true joining means our spirits intertwine. When one of us dies, we all die.”

“Oh, wow.” She stroked the water from his shoulders, bared above the surface of the pool. “When did she die?”

“A year ago. The Nasuhl, the clan men you fought yesterday, belonged to her tribe. Their leader, Daveen, is the one who killed her.”

“Oh boy.”

“A war is brewing, and soon we will fight the Nasuhl and force them to pay for their crimes. Their leader would do anything to hurt Talzec. And now you are a part of him.”

“Yeah? So why did he leave in such a hurry?” She scowled, but he sensed her hurt at the rejection.

“Because he’s still grieving, and he’s afraid to feel again. He would never admit it, but Talzec lost a part of himself when Nalla died. He couldn’t protect her, and she paid the price. His closeness with me still worries him, but he cannot avoid phelthar forever. A good leader does what is best for his people, and being strong and stable comes from loving.”

She drew him down for a kiss, one that soothed as it aroused. “You know, for a bunch of barbarians, you guys sound pretty darn wise about relationships. Well, except for this nonsense about women not being warriors.”

“You are both, so I suppose we must be wrong.” He grinned and shifted her to sit over him, angling himself between her legs, then inside her. “Oh, Maker, you feel so good.”

“So do you. Now make me forget about how weird all this is and come hard. But no babies, right?”

“No, no babies.” Not yet.

They lost themselves to the beauty of their joining, and all the while Xav knew his alpha could feel the building lust. And love.

Yet Talzec stayed away. He didn’t come to Xav’s pallet that night, or the next day. Xav wondered how long Talzec thought he could keep up the pretense of not caring what Skye did. The stubborn man.

Xav frowned. Sooner or later he’d have to fix things, but not yet. Now when he had a warm woman waiting to spar with him before evening meal.

Chapter Eight

Skye didn’t know how to feel. Sex with Xav was miraculous. With him, she had no problem submitting or feeling weird about it. Who wouldn’t accede to the demands of a seven-foot-tall warrior with sex on the brain? Especially when he looked like a hot weightlifter and knew how to use his body like a weapon. He was her fantasy made flesh.

But… For some weird reason, she craved Talzec. She’d never, ever, had unprotected sex. Typically she kept up to date with shots to prevent pregnancy and disease, but those were specific to certain species. At the rate she and Xav continued to fool around, she kept upping her chances for a baby. Though he’d promised he’d never give her his “second seed” and impregnate her, they’d gotten pretty close a time or two. Talk about a lust that didn’t quit.

The man turned her on without trying, and she had a hard time asking him for anything when he turned all dominant master on her.

But he couldn’t compete with Talzec’s inherent commanding presence. Even Xav bowed to Talzec, his alpha and sexual master.

“Talzec, you coward.” She knew it was asking a lot for the man to forget his precious ex. Skye had never suffered loss like that and didn’t know how he felt. She empathized, truly. But Talzec had no problem fucking Xav. She’d watched him several times in just two days. It was a wonder Xav didn’t walk bowlegged from the pounding he’d received.

So freakin’ hot. Being ordered to watch Xav take it up the ass or blow Talzec turned her on like crazy. They looked like models together, grappling and rubbing and coming on each other. What wasn’t to love? Except Talzec would study her watching him fuck, giving her that superior look as if daring her to compete with him. It made little sense and ruined what should have been a sexy-as-all-get-out fantasy.

She sighed and walked down to Xav’s favorite spot, the grotto. She knew Talzec might be around, but she forced herself not to care. After that one amazing sexcapade with him and Xav, he’d been avoiding her. What a pussy. She kept mentally insulting him, knowing it was better to dislike him than feel unwanted.

Jesus, she’d only known him for a few days. Xav too. But that freaky knowing that had grown with her time spent on Ussed tampered with her emotions. She felt Xav and Talzec, knew their feelings if not their thoughts. It bothered her, but she refused to tell Xav the truth, that they had totally connected.

Since Lisa had described having similar feelings toward Maht, Skye knew she teetered on the brink of making her own life choices. Xav had all but claimed her as his own. Everyone treated her like she belonged to him…and Talzec. 

Only Talzec didn’t seem too impressed with her. Well screw him.

Skye would have to be an idiot to decide her future in days. Who the hell gave up an entire life for incredible sex with a barbarian anyway? Sure, Xav was amazing, but he wasn’t the endgame. At one point, Welcome had been her life trophy. Now she had to make some new dreams.

Dreams that didn’t revolve around stubborn barbarians.

She left the grotto and sought out Xav. “Hey, beta.”

He turned with a smile. Too handsome for words. His body glistened with sweat as he left the training ring. “Yes, tonan?”

He still hadn’t told her what that meant, but since she’d heard a few other guys call their females that, she figured it to be a term of endearment. That or the clan referred to each other as “asshole” in dulcet tones.

“I need to get back.”

His smile faded. “Get back where?”

“To Welcome. I need to tell them Lisa won’t be returning.”

“Zhen and Lore can go.”

“No. I need to let Lisa’s friend Mandy know in person. She’ll be able to handle things. I don’t want Lisa’s family to worry. And with her pregnant and the Nasuhl making trouble, she needs to stay here.”

“On that I agree.” He paused, took her by the chin and tilted her face to better look into her eyes. “You are coming back?”

“I don’t know. Sex with you is great.” Phenomenal, and I want more, stat. “But I have a life to lead. I’ve been doing nothing here for days. Now that I know Lisa is fine, I should get back to reality.”

“This can be your reality if you let it,” he said in a low voice. “Talzec is unsure of you, so he’s acting like an ass.”

“He can act however he wants. I barely know him. Hell, I barely know you, except in the sack. Xav, we come from different worlds. I can’t live my life for great sex.”

“I know many things about you, Skye. And you know many things about me.”

Well, they had talked, and she did know a lot of his likes and dislikes. He loved the evening but hated waking up in the morning. He favored blesta over flehik, liked berries for their sweet taste, and had claimed he’d lay his life down for her without question. She felt him inside her at the oddest times and kept telling herself the sensation had to be fanciful thinking. It was one thing to sense his feelings when they were intimate, quite another to know about him no matter where he was.

Of Talzec she sensed little, just bursts of desire and confusion that mirrored her own.

“What do you know of me, Skye?” Xav asked, stroking her chin.

“Well, you’re a warm blanket in the evening.”

“See? I fit you.” He gave her a kiss. “I would never imprison you in a place you wanted to leave. Zhen and Lore can accompany you to the resort to alert your friend. You, of course, are always free to go.” He pulled her in for a hug and about broke her heart when he added, “But if you leave, I will never be the same. I don’t need more time to know I love you. I won’t demand you return, but if you would, I will claim you as my own.”

“And Talzec?” she had to ask. “What about him?”

“He and I need to have a long talk. It’s way past time he faced old hurts.”

“Don’t do it on my account.” Yeah, knock that bastard around, force him to realize how great we could all be together. Skye had a hard time believing it, but she trusted that inner sense of hers. Ussed had helped her psychic skills to grow, and she knew without a doubt Talzec completed her. Completed them, she corrected as she looked into Xav’s golden eyes.

“I will do it for us all,” Xav declared.

“Right. Um, well, before I go, what’s with the moving tattoos?” She pointed to his chest, now streaked with bright blue markings. Every time she asked him about them, he changed the subject, and she was dying to know.

He winked. “I’ll tell you when you come back.”

“No pressure or anything.” She snorted.

“Of course not. You can only follow the instinct. That love buried deep inside. I would ask nothing more from you.”

She felt weepy, which was stupid. Heading back to Welcome, away from this la-la land of sexy men and friendly women, made sense. She’d see how she felt about the idea of sticking around after some time away from Xav. Her barbarian.

She sniffed and wiped an eye. “Sorry. Allergies.”

“Uh-huh.” He took a stray tear to his lips and smiled. “I will wait for you, tonan.” He walked away.

Skye forced herself to say goodbye to Lisa and wished her well.

“Come back. I’ll miss you.” Lisa started bawling.

Maht sighed and hugged his mate. “Yes, come back. Our females wish to watch you fight some more.”

She smiled. Some of the barbarian females had been intrigued at the idea of a woman warrior. Who knew? Maybe sticking around the Vyctore clan would be good for them all.

And there she went again, making excuses so she could stay when she really needed distance to figure out her life.

Later, when she started to leave camp with Zhen and Lore, she felt a burning heat in the center of her back.

She turned and saw Talzec staring at her. She frowned back at him. “Good riddance.” Then she walked away, determined not to like him.

It took a lot of effort to pretend she hadn’t seen Talzec do any number of admirable things over the last few days. He offered comfort to a little girl who’d fallen off a horse-like creature. She’d seen him instruct his men at offensive skills, displaying a patience she wouldn’t have credited him from their own interactions. She’d heard him mediate between rivals fighting over a female’s affection, using common sense and factoring in the woman’s opinion in making his decision. What a bummer that such an amazing man and leader, and one hell of a lover, seemed to dislike her.

“Story of my life,” she muttered and walked faster.

“What’s that?” Lore asked.

“Nothing.” She sighed. Nothing at all.

***

Talzec was in no mood to deal with Xaveht. Watching his—the—female leave camp bothered him deep inside, and he had no idea how to handle his uncertainty. On the one hand, she was a distraction. He wanted her gone, that way he’d stop training until he reached exhaustion so as not to think about her. Then he’d stop spying on her and watching her fit in all too well with his clan.

The women loved her uniqueness. The men coveted her beauty and wild energy. The children thought her perfect. Xav, that bastard, continued to sing her praises. Hell, Skye even liked watching him and Xav in bed together. He had to admit having her eyes on him while he dominated his beta made his orgasms even better.

They shared energy despite him not wanting to. She was his mate. He knew it. Xav knew it. Yet he couldn’t get past the guilt that he was betraying Nalla in some way by accepting a new woman into his life.

“You.” Xav glared at him, noticed a few warriors lingering in the training ring, and stiffened. “Alpha, I need a word when you have the time.”

“Fine.” Talzec motioned for Xav to follow him to the grotto. Once there, he faced his mate and sighed. “Go ahead.”

“She’s our mate. Our mate. Not just yours to disregard. I love her. You do too, if you’d look past your worries about Nalla.”

“Watch your tone.”

But Xav wouldn’t be swayed. “Your argument that you barely know her would hold more sway…if you hadn’t already mated her. You giant ass.”

Talzec shoved Xav back. “Enough.”

“No. She left and might not come back.”

“I saw.” And the idea of her leaving bothered the hell out of him.

“I intend to formally claim her when she returns.”

“When? More like if she returns. You said she was leaving.”

“She’ll be back. She loves us.”

Talzec’s heart raced. “Us? She hates me.”

“She’s confused. You’d know how she really feels if you’d just open up inside. She balances you. She’s perfect, the counterpoint to your stubbornness. I feel her inside me all the time. We’re mated, just as you mated us both the other day. It only takes once for the energies to properly align. Why can’t you admit how you feel?”

“She’s an offworlder.”

“The same excuse she used to leave, that we barely know each other. But we do know each other. The knowing is there, inside you. She’s our magic, our mate. A gift from the Maker, if only you’ll accept her.”

Talzec sighed. “I don’t know how. Xav, I can’t make another mistake. Nalla crushed me. But you and Skye make me feel again. Really feel. I need time to figure out what this means.”

“We both know, but you’re too stubborn to admit it. Fine. Bring her back and convince her to stay, so that we have time to work her into our lives. I want her, you want her. But more, we need her. She’s more than amazing sex.” Xav paused. “I know you’ve felt us when we’re together. But do you look deeper? Can you feel her inside you?”

“Yes, damn it. I can.” Talzec clenched his fists by his side. “Okay. She can come back. But when you get her, she—”

“No. You have to bring her back. Not me or Zhen or Lore. You. She needs to know you’re not rejecting her. You only rejected your feelings for her.”

“Xav, stop.”

“Talzec, enough. Go after her. Maybe when she’s back, you’ll find that you’re not as compatible as you thought.”

“That’s a lie. She fits me perfectly.”

Xav smirked. Then his smile faded, and he shook his head. Talzec felt uneasy as well. Something was wrong.

“It’s her. Skye.” Talzec knew, and Xav nodded. “She’s not okay.” Talzec paused, sensing her danger as if she stood next to him. Then he caught a psychic scent that chilled him to his bones. “The Nasuhl have her.”

***

Daveen stared at the unconscious female, in awe that she’d taken out two of his men while her guards had done the same. He’d lost six men but in the end had wounded if not killed Vyctore warriors and stolen the woman Talzec had claimed as his own. The woman clearly wore his mark, and Daveen couldn’t have been more pleased.

He himself carried her to the Vyctore outpost, to that same spot she’d first encountered his men. There, on enemy soil, he’d take her and share his second seed. A fitting spot to begin anew. Now he just had to wait for Talzec to arrive, so his enemy could watch Daveen fuck the fight out of the female. Such a fitting revenge on the bastard who’d upended Daveen’s whole world.

“I’ll avenge you, Nalla.” He had to wipe his eyes, almost feeling his dead sister-mate encouraging him. He squeezed the offworlder tighter, running his hand over her flank. She dangled over his shoulder, unmoving.

His men circled him, a good dozen warriors keen to watch their leader defeat the hated Vyctore clan leader.

“You left the message with one of them still living?” he asked Morlo.

Morlo nodded. “It went against my better judgment to leave him alive, but he’ll send Talzec when the fuckhead arrives—alone.” Or Daveen would slaughter the female, a threat he intended to carry out should it come to that.

“Perfect.” Daveen smiled. “This is a new day for us, my friend. A brand new life that will soon be free of our enemy.”

Chapter Nine

When Skye woke, she found herself lying on a pallet that reminded her of Xav’s. A glance around showed darkness had descended, only the faint light of the moons helping her to see. The last thing she remembered, she’d been on the trail to Welcome when she’d sensed others nearby. Zhen had knocked her out of the way of an arrow and taken it in his shoulder. Lore had been battling barbarians in a silent fight that scared the crap out of her. She’d helped, then…nothing.

Had to be the Nasuhl, unless the Vyctore were warring with someone else she didn’t know about. Or did they have barbarian gangs who preyed on travelers? Her head throbbed, and she drew in a deep, even breath and let it out, calming herself. No time to freak out when the guys needed her.

She cautiously sat up, then stood. And stilled. 

An unfamiliar energy, a strong one, waited nearby. She gathered her power, absorbing an unwholesome taint from the adversary watching her. An enemy. No, not her enemy. Talzec’s. A sweltering buzz, then in her mind’s eye she watched a replay of an old battle. Seeing Talzec’s mastery of bare-fisted fighting floored her. As did the fact his challenge loser now faced her with a score to settle.

Shit.

“Ah, so perceptive.” The deep voice sounded oily, covered in malice.

“Who are you?”

“I am Daveen, your new master. And soon, the father of your sons and daughters. Have no fear. I will not be too hard on you.” He chuckled. “Until we have a proper audience, I will not take you.”

“You mean rape me.”

His dark form stepped from the shadows he’d been hiding in, and she saw him shrug. “Your perception matters little.”

“Is that what Nalla said?” Not the smartest thing she could have mentioned, especially when his eyes narrowed and his massive muscles bunched.

Like Talzec, this man had a freakishly large build. Power radiated from him, but it wasn’t a clear strength, rather a murky sense of victory and repulsion mixed together. He had stringy black hair, blood-red tattoo work on his chest and face—a series of parallel lines under his left eye to his jawline, and flat eyes. Like a handsome evil villain, with a serial-rapist vibe.

“My sister was a wholesome female. You are not to speak her name.”

“Why the hell would you kill your own sister?” From his deviant sexual energy, she could too easily imagine what Daveen might have done to the poor girl.

“She was my love. My own. Talzec stole her from me, made her question what was right.” His eyes glowed, and he leaned closer, dragging her to him with one hand engulfing her shoulder. “I will have my revenge, and you will feel the love she might have had.”

“Love? You can’t force love.”

He brought her so close, she felt sparks of his energy zapping her. The contact hurt. Not just weird, but bad weird. “Love is what I say it is. And you, nueshka, will know a love as fierce as the pain which drives Talzec mad.”

He mashed his lips to hers, and the sadistic kiss made her want to vomit. She bit his lip, and he jerked back. Then she spit his blood in his face and wrenched out of his hold, moving as far away as the walls of the hut would allow.

“Such a fighter.” He smiled. “Just like my Nalla.”

You sick fuck. She drew in her energy and prepared to run for it. She had to avoid him and leave, then avoid the warriors he had to have with him. If only she knew where she was.

Then she didn’t need to worry, because a bellow came from close by. A familiar sense of homecoming and strength filled her, and she knew.

“Talzec,” she whispered.

“Finally. He comes.” Daveen pounced with a quickness that shocked her, then he dragged her outside by her hair.

After tossing her to the ground, he stepped behind her, looming over her like a conquering hero.

Talzec landed in a crouch a few feet away, covered in dirt and blood, his racing tattoos glowing gold. That was a new one.

Daveen seemed taken aback—she felt a break in his battlestance. Not one to let a disadvantage go unnoticed, Skye rolled toward his feet, then kicked at his knees with all her might.

He stumbled, and everything became pure chaos. Talzec screamed with a rage that terrified her. So when he grabbed her and tossed her behind him, she worried she’d hit a tree and break her neck. Instead, she landed in Xav’s waiting arms.

“Tonan, thank the Maker.” He hugged her tight. “Now watch and learn why your alpha is a leader to be proud of.”

***

Talzec had waited for this moment for a solid year. When he would have sought first vengeance, he’d had his clan to look out for. At the time, the Nasuhl had more numbers and higher skilled warriors. No longer. They still outnumbered the Vyctore, but Talzec would pit any of his men against a half dozen of Daveen’s and expect victory.

“You killed Nalla,” Daveen yelled. “For that you will die.”

“I saved her. You were savaging your sister, and the poor woman wanted peace. I loved her,” Talzec bit out. “But you weren’t content to let her go. You killed her, you piece of avhleh. You are condemned to live an eternity in the hells of Fyanthul.”

Talzec didn’t waste any more time talking. Daveen maimed and bludgeoned with those fists, so the battle would not be an easy one. But he’d make it quicker than he’d once intended, because he had a new female to protect.

Getting to the yernax point had been the longest day of his life. Thinking he’d lose Skye before he had a chance to get to know her, to love her, put everything into perspective. He’d prayed to his Maker as he and Xav raced to rescue her. Finding Lore frantically trying to save Zhen, near death, had been one blessing. Lore’s warning, that if Talzec didn’t come alone, Daveen would tear Skye apart, had been a second lucky thing. Because Lore had added that Daveen planned to ruin Skye in front of Talzec, and not before. That gave Skye a measure of safety and Xav incentive to continue unnoticed, decimating the Nasuhl stationed throughout the woods in the journey to outpost four.

Launching himself at Daveen, Talzec feinted high then moved low to grab Skye. He threw her behind him, knowing Xav would be there. The move left his back exposed, and Daveen took advantage, breaking several of Talzec’s ribs.

But an odd thing happened. Instead of suffering from extreme pain, Talzec felt stronger. A surge of energy wrapped him in a cocoon of numbness, so that he straightened and caught the fist aimed for his face. He squeezed, with all the rage and hurt inside him, and crushed Daveen’s hand. Daveen screamed in anger and pain.

“For Nalla.” Then he dragged the man to his knees and kicked him full in the face. Warriors around them yelled for their leader and attacked, but Talzec didn’t stop. He continued to pummel Daveen, immune to the beating the others gave him. He felt nothing, only a deepening satisfaction as Daveen turned from a person into a bloodied mess.

“For Xav. For Lore. For Zhen.” He kept punching, unaware that the others beating him had drawn back. Then he pulled his fist back for the final blow. “For my mate, Skye.” Talzec let go of everything but the need for justice and delivered the death strike cleanly.

Daveen flopped to the ground, a mess of tattered flesh, blood, and bone.

Talzec staggered as a wave of horrendous pain overcame him. “No. Have to protect…” He couldn’t afford to fall now, not when he had Xav and Skye still vulnerable.

“This is not over, you bastard,” Morlo promised as he and a few others raced away.

Confused, Talzec turned and stumbled. Then Xav was there under one arm, and Skye by his other side. A booming cheer filled the air, and his warriors watched him with pride, Vyctore barbarians all over the place.

“How…?”

Xav smiled. “Before we left, I gave Katan a message. He rallied our stealth troop. We’ve been slaughtering them in silence all the way here. Tapped in to Skye, I could sense the others around her. It was an amazing victory.”

Skye hugged him, and even through the pain, he sensed her affection. Her…love.  “Sorry about the aftereffects. Xav and I experimented a little. We pooled our energy to protect you, so you didn’t feel the enemy’s attack. But we had to pull it back.”

“Tonan, I am sorry.” Talzec owed her so much more than he’d given.

She frowned. “What does that mean?”

“That I’m sorry? I have not given you the respect or attention you deserve. But my feelings for Nalla—”

Xav’s chuckle interrupted him.

“You think my grief and guilt for my mate funny?” That didn’t seem like the Xav he knew and…loved.

“No, no. Not at all. It’s just that Skye was asking about the word ‘tonan’. Not why you’re sorry. We all know you’re sorry,” Xav teased.

Talzec felt an unfamiliar heat over his face. “Oh.”

Skye laughed, and despite his pain, he felt good. So much better than he’d been in a long time. Nalla had been avenged. An evil purged from this world. And the potential for a happy life in his grasp.

To Skye, he said, “Tonan means ‘of my heart’.”

She paused. “Then you and Xav are my tonan.”

“No.” He frowned. “Tonan comes from your master. To us, you would say tonai. As my mate has moaned when I am buried deep inside him.”

“Talzec, not in front of the warriors,” Xav muttered. “Bastard. He’s right, though. I am your tonai, as he is my tonai. My heart made whole. From submissive to master.”

“Wait. Submissive?” Skye clutched him tighter, and Talzec barely stifled a moan. “Oh, sorry. It’s just…” She looked around and whispered. “Yeah, okay, I’m a little submissive. But only with sex. And both of you, quiet in front of the others, you hear me?”

His little warrior looked fierce. He couldn’t have been prouder. “Let’s go home, tonan. I have some things to make right.” He glanced at Xav. “To both of you.”

***

Skye felt nervous. Silly to feel anxious. Three days after Talzec had destroyed Daveen, and she’d given Mandy word about Lisa’s, and her own, decision to stay with the Vyctore, life had been golden. The women and Maht still fell all over themselves to make Lisa happy.

Skye had been elevated in the entire clan’s eyes as the alpha and beta’s mate, as well as a warrior. The only female warrior in the Cloud Tribe. A unique honor, and one that would see their clan celebrated at the annual Cloud Tribe festival in another month. She’d have to perform, but she couldn’t wait. Here, being physically strong and adept at fighting elevated one’s position in the clan. Skye had become a virtual member of royalty. And that was without her association to the alpha.

Nibbling her fingernails, she paced, naked, in Talzec’s hut. Twice the size of Xav’s, it would soon be connected to Xav’s hut, to officially announce their communal tie.

“Oh my God. I have two husbands.” Mates. Life partners. Since Talzec had finally opened all the way up to her and Xav, she felt that lifeforce flowing through all of them. Their energy had healed him over the past two days, and he and Xav had been giving her hot, knowing looks all evening at the communal meal and after, at the clan celebration.

She didn’t need anything to know she was drunk on the pair of them. Talzec at his most charming, to make up for being a jerk before, devastated her. Xav was no better, always kissing or touching her when he felt like it. Though she’d seen some of the barbarians, men and women, engaging in public sex, she’d expressly forbidden Xav from indulging with her outside of their hut.

To which he’d laughed and said, “As if Talzec or I would share the sight of your glorious pleasure with anyone but each other.”

Noise from outside, and a familiar energy, warned of their arrival.

Talzec and Xav entered together, both naked and damp from a recent bath.

“Finally. A fitting mating night.” Talzec smiled, so incredibly handsome. He turned to kiss Xav and took his cock in hand. She’d already been nervous and aroused thinking of the night to come, but watching Talzec handle Xav had her beyond wet.

“Watch my beta come,” he said in a thick voice.

She and Talzec watched the spurt of seed leave Xav to land on Talzec’s belly.

“Tonai, yes,” Xav moaned.

Skye couldn’t blink. Especially when Talzec rubbed the moisture into his skin.

“A marker from my tonan. And I’ll have another from you, Skye.” He and Xav pulled her down with them onto Talzec’s massive pallet. Talzec lay on his back and winked at Xav, who laughed.

“I love my mates,” Xav said, joy evident in his words and energy.

“As do I,” Talzec rumbled. “Now, tonan,” he said to Skye. “Come sit on my face.”

She gaped at him, then saw Xav nod. “This is real, right? I don’t want this to be a dream.”

“It’s real, Skye.” Talzec smiled, and she saw the love there. “But if you don’t soon do what I told you, you will be punished.”

She wasn’t stupid. She hurried to kneel over Talzec’s face, ignoring Xav’s laughter. Then she knew nothing more as Talzec gripped her hips and pulled her over his mouth.

His lips like magic, he drew forth her climax with little effort, licking and sucking her into multiple orgasms. His groans of pleasure became gasps of intense ecstasy, and he teased her into another rise to climax too fast.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Xav sucking Talzec’s cock, which accounted for the burst of desire flooding the room. Then she couldn’t think anymore as Talzec shoved a thick finger up her pussy and sucked hard on her clit.

Screaming her pleasure, she felt him jerk and pump behind her.

Xav groaned, and she knew Talzec had just given his beta a mouthful of seed.

Slowly pushing her off his face, Talzec rolled to kiss her, and she tasted herself on his lips.

Xav spooned her from behind, kissing the back of her neck. “Tonight is for our pleasure, tonan,” he said to her. “Talzec and I have decided to wait for children until we’ve all had time together. Until you are ready, and we are more secure within the tribe.”

“Oh, good,” she managed to say while Talzec kissed his way to her breasts. A normal woman would be too exhausted by now to do more than sigh. But sharing energy with her mates gave her their sexual drive. Like them, she was raring to go again.

“So we will not give you our second seed.” Talzec kissed her nipples, molding her swollen breasts with his hot hands. “But we will give you our first seed many times this night.”

“Yes, together,” Xav agreed.

Talzec rolled away, and Xav urged her to her hands and knees.

Excited about what would soon follow, she spread her knees wider, so aroused she couldn’t stand it.

“Ah, tonan. Such a pretty pussy.” Talzec moved behind her while Xav knelt before her, his thick erection impossible to miss. The sheen of desire over his cock tasted minty, like his kiss, and made her think of an aphrodisiac. Because the more she tasted him, the more she wanted him.

Talzec traced her folds, circling around but not touching her clit. But she couldn’t focus on that for long because Xav neared with his cock, stroking her lips with it.

She opened her mouth and flicked her tongue over him, and like that, he stilled.

“Yes, Xaveht,” Talzec growled. “You may take her mouth. But you will not spill until I tell you to.”

“Yes, tonai.”

Talzec gave a deep laugh. “Such a good submissive you are, Xav. So sweet.”

“Fuck off,” Xav muttered, then groaned and thrust into Skye’s mouth.

She worked him good while Talzec fingered her to near orgasm. Her alpha kept stopping right when she meant to come. Until she was backing into him as hard as she was sucking Xav, wanting his seed.

“Now, Xaveht. You may come. And you too, Skye.”

The magic words upped everyone’s ardor, because Xav jetted down her throat and moaned her name at the same time Talzec removed his finger and pushed the whole of himself inside her.

So wet, so needy, Skye came around him while swallowing down Xav’s seed. It took Talzec one more thrust before he too released, and the loving energy in the room enhanced their pleasure until Skye couldn’t take any more.

When she next could see and hear, she found herself sandwiched between two amazing warriors. Her tonai. Xaveht and Talzec. Such amazing men to be tied to for life.

“Ah, she’s awake. Good.” Talzec stroked her hair. “It was a glorious mating, Skye. You and Xaveht hold my heart. In all ways.”

Tied by a lifeforce and love. Forever.

“Not all ways, Talzec.” Xav sighed, sounding sad.

She turned to him. “What’s wrong?” Had she done something to upset him?

“It’s just, you have not shared all of yourself with us.” Xav kissed her lips with tenderness, then more affection and lust until she quivered with need.

Talzec nuzzled her neck and prodded her ass with his monster cock.

“Oh no. Not there.”

Xav smiled against her lips. “Yes, there. Do not worry, tonan. We’ll be gentle. And this way, we get to fill you with a second seed that will not get you with child.”

“Um, well, you could do that in my mouth, right?”

Talzec chuckled. “No. Not unless you wanted to drown. Our second seed is copious. Then again, it’s also nutritional. Perhaps you and Xav could share my second seed before bathing in it.”

“Talzec,” Xav scolded. “First we need to show her how much we love her.” He cupped her cheek. “You will feel such warmth when we jet inside you.”

She squirmed, so aroused she felt as if she’d burst. Then she felt Talzec between her buttocks, his cock prodding her anus. A moment later, he pushed his slick shaft deeper, stretching her, and it hurt.

“Hey. Talzec, you—Xav?”

Xav had lifted her leg over his and pushed inside her, which made Talzec moan.

Before long, that lovely energy they shared made the pain fade under shared ecstasy.

“Oh, God, that’s good.” She kissed Xav everywhere she could reach while he fucked her. Talzec wrapped his arms around her to play with her breasts while he continued to stroke in and out, arousing nerves that had never been so pleasured. She panted, building toward her end. “I’ve never been the meat in this kind of sandwich before.”

“Such a way of speaking, offworlder,” Talzec teased. “You feel like silk, as warm and tight as my Xav.”

“Hmm.” Xav was too busy kissing her and thrusting to answer.

Oh, they’d get to feeling this same tortuous desire, she pledged to herself, then cried out as she came. As her warriors followed suit, demonstrating their love, Skye knew she’d finally come home.

***

Zhen and Lore looked at each other, then back at their alpha’s hut as the cries of passion reached them.

“That kind of pleasure from an offworlder.” Zhen sighed, still not fully recovered from the arrow that had almost pierced his heart. “I can feel their joy.”

Lore nodded. “I know. I’m thick and aching. Let’s go back home.”

Zhen agreed, but along the way, he mentioned the female that had been on their minds for days. “That female Skye spoke to.”

“Mandy.” Lore sighed. “Such a pretty one.”

“Yes. And she seemed more than willing to come visit Kahl here at the village, did she not?”

“Kahl’s an idiot. She can do so much better than him.”

They both knew Kahl would fuck the woman raw if she gave Kahl permission. The horny bastard loved females, and the more the merrier.

“She deserves honorable mates.” Lore glanced at his bandaged chest. “The kind who would put themselves in front of an arrow for the alpha’s mate.”

“This is true.” Zhen paused in thought. “It would only be right for us to do our part and take a turn on guard duty at the resort.”

“And to let Mandy know her friends do well here. That we stand by the treaty. It is not our fault we are irresistible to offworlders.” They shared a grin. With both Skye and Lisa formally leaving the resort of their own free will, the resort could say nothing about barbarians breaking the treaty.

“We could even show her how true we are to maintaining peace with the West. Escort her back here. Introduce her to our way of life. It might make it easier for her to work at Welcome, would it not?” Zhen chuckled.

Lore kissed him, and as they made plans to visit their new offworlder friend, he wondered if Talzec had any notion of what mating his offworlder had started.

About the Author

Marie Harte, caffeine addict, boy referee, romance aficionado, and New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, has over 100 books published with more constantly on the way. She’s a confessed bibliophile and devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a happily ever after.

For more information on other books by Marie, visit her official website: MarieHarte.com

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