A Civilized Mating (3 page)

“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…

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.