A Civilized Mating (7 page)

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.