LW Browning - Krystile Warriors 01 - Warlord's Honor (9 page)

"Prepare for a Claiming Ceremony tonight at dusk," Koda said, "if she is conscious."

The warlords moved away except Var. "This MX girl could be very dangerous."

"The girl is mine," Koda said. "Dangerous or not, she is mine. I will mate and claim her."

***

C
laire opened her mind before she opened her eyes. There were memories to process and something bad hung in the air. She was disoriented. Someone had removed her bloody clothes.

Osiria was in the tent with her. "You are awake, good. Do you suffer any ill effects from the ... healing?"

Healing. She had healed Lodi. "Is Lodi alright?" Claire asked. 

"Lodi is fine," Osiria smiled at her. "You saved him from certain death."

Koda came through the tent door, Osiria smiled and left.

He gave Claire a look so intense, she did not have to be an empath to know he was furious.

"Is healing one of those abilities of which you do not speak?"

Claire pulled the blanket higher, closer to her neck. "Yes, Warlord Leader."

"I would know about the other abilities."

Claire began to shake her head slowly from side to side. "I cannot."

That look must intimidate many in battle, she thought. He moved closer to her. Instinct made her recoil. He was deadly. She must never forget that. He stopped when he saw her reaction to him.

"Never again will you put yourself in so much danger. Why do you fear me?"

"You – you ..."

His fierce look relaxed. He took a deep breath. "I am a warlord. War is my business. I forget that you are not accustomed to our way of life. You have no need to fear me, girl. I will not hurt you. I am sorry you had to see that."

She nodded.

Koda sighed. "Many want what we have so they try to take it." He sounded resigned to his way of life.

Unsteady on her feet when she rose, her balance failed her. Koda pulled her close to him. She gasped as he jerked the blanket away and her bare breasts pressed against the hard muscles of his chest. She was weak and shaky and still her body responded to him. What was happening to her? She began to struggle. His hands were hot on her back. He held her tight while he moved one hang to pull her head to him. He kissed the top of her head. Her face touched his smooth skin and his emotions flowed over her like warm water. Her own emotions rose up even as his threatened to overwhelm her. 

This time, she recognized his lust. Her need was like a small flame kindled by his raw sexual power. She knew he could make the flame within her soar to a blaze that consumed her thoughts and overshadowed reason. His emotions were primal, male and violent, his muscles tensed as if for a battle. Those emotions were painful to Claire. She had just seen him kill with ease and without regret.

Time slowed. Each instant was a tableau that Claire studied. Moment by moment she allowed his feelings to flow into her. She examined his emotions, his memories. They were powerful, foreign. She absorbed and released his emotions back to him. She was gaining control of her gift.

Claire heard someone whispering, "Please." Some part of her mind recognized her own voice. She was asking him to stop the flow of emotions that threatened to consume her, but she was also begging him to quench the fire he had started within her.

Nothing had prepared her to deal with the lust of the big barbarian. She knew his pride, his strength, and his fierceness. He wanted to conquer her, possess and invade her. He left no room for her to fear him. She was shaking with need. Foolish girl, she was not gaining control of the situation. Her body's reaction proved she had no control when Koda touched her.

He forced her down under him as he pushed his knees between her legs and spread her wide. His lips sought hers and she opened her mouth to his plundering. He kissed her as though he were dying and her kisses kept him alive. The warlord lowered his head to her breasts. She gasped and whimpered as he suckled there while she wrapped his hair around her fingers and enjoyed the feel of it in her hands. Claire reveled in the touch of his mouth on her, of his skin against her own and his hands on her body. He sucked hard at her pink-tipped peaks. She writhed beneath him, her need the only thought in her mind. When he touched her face, Claire felt his possession of her. His hands were hot, branding her, claiming her body everywhere he touched. He claimed her soul when his emotions flowed into her.

He tortured her with kisses. She cried out when he began to probe between her legs with his hand. Her body wanted his touch. She tried to move her hips, but he pinned her with his weight. He was going to have her where he wanted her and she could struggle or not, he was going to have his way. 

Only then did she realize she was struggling, against her need or his, she did not know. The tension was unbearable until he gave her release. She would take whatever he gave her. That thought was strong and clear and made something inside her twist. She seldom read another's thoughts so clearly.

He moved down, pulled her legs wide and ravaged her core with his mouth. Claire tossed her head from side to side, her desire building beyond anything she had ever imagined. Craving rose within her like a force of nature. Tension built until she broke from it. She came apart under him and would have gone flying out into space had he not held her down.

As the last spasm of her release twitched deep inside her, he lifted his head and pulled her up. He turned her over and pulled her to her knees. She felt his manhood positioned to enter her from behind. "Stay. Take it." He fisted his hand in her hair, moved it to one side to bare her neck before he bit down on her to hold her in place. His teeth broke the skin on the delicate curve where her neck met her shoulder. She cried out, panicked, tried to get away from him. He put one arm under her hips, pulled her to him. She screamed with the shock of his penetration and his emotions.

He began thrusting long, slow strokes that caused the fire inside her to burn again, even hotter this time. How could that be? He was in control. All she was able to do was accept him. He claimed a part of her with every thrust.

When she whimpered, he stroked harder and faster. She felt his satisfaction at the violence of the sex, his enjoyment of her heat and soft wetness as he pounded into her and overwhelmed her senses. His pleasure at the taste of her blood in his mouth burst in her mind. Her tension built beyond what she could endure. He reveled in her need, her softness, her feel, her taste, and her smell. She thought he was never going to get enough and she was going to die beneath him.

He released her from his bite. “You are mine.” He ground out hoarsely as he pulled almost completely out of her.

Claire was frantic in her need. She looked back at him.

“Say it.” Koda said.

She tried to push herself back onto him... but he held her fast. “Say it.” He grunted.

“Please, I cannot,” she cried.

“You are MINE,” he groaned and thrust hard into her.

She felt an emotion from him that she could identify only as rage. Her orgasm crashed through her with the sensation that she was being ripped open from the inside. When her muscles tightened around his manhood, milking him, pushing him over the edge, he roared at her and pumped his seed deep into her womb.

Claire felt the primal need within him, wild and dangerous and conquering as he filled her. She knew his satisfaction as he mated with her, knew his shock as his orgasm continued, went beyond anything he had ever experienced. Even as she recognized his emotions, she was aware of them in a vague, dreamlike way. Her emotions screamed at her. The orgasm broke apart deep within her very essence. Just as she thought it was over, another wave hit her. She was helpless to do anything except endure while the waves built and rolled through her, again and again.

When it was done, they both felt the last twitch deep inside her belly. Tears ran from her eyes. He released her hair and was careful to ease her down to the floor of the tent. Koda had been holding her to him with one of his strong arms under her hips. He was gentle with her now as he lay down beside her and pulled her close to him. How strange that he should be so gentle after and so brutal during. He licked the bite mark he had left on her.

He lifted her face to his. "You are mine. Mine. And I am yours." He whispered as he looked into her eyes. "Say it."

His proprietary feeling toward her was more than Claire was able to process. She was confused, different somehow. He had changed her. The release had been emotional as well as physical. The bite caused a change in her. Tears streamed from her eyes.

"I am yours," she whispered.

"I have mated with you. Now I claim you before witnesses. It is our custom. I can wait no longer to do this."

He got to his feet and re-tied his pants at his waist. Shock went through her when he broke contact with her. The last emotion she read from him was regret. "Come." He took her wrist and pulled her to her feet.

Claire tried to stop when she realized he was going outside. "Wait! No!" Her legs gave out. She was naked! He caught her before she fell, picked her up in his arms and continued out to the middle of the circle of tents under the pavilion. To her horror, she saw the warlords waited there.

She struggled to no avail as he carried her. When he stopped in the middle of the circle, he set her down, put his hand in her hair, and pushed her to her knees.

Claire was confused. All the warlords were gathered under the pavilion to watch them. Watch what? Was he about to execute her? She covered her breasts with her hands and her hair as she knelt there, afraid to move. She could feel their stares on her, but she dared not look up. 

Koda removed something from his belt. He leaned down to put it around her neck. It was cold, metal. He snapped it into place and then went down on one knee in front of her.

"I have mated you, now I claim you before all. You will obey me and serve me. You are mine and wear my binding. Now all will know you belong to me. I will provide for your needs and will honor you as my claimed and mated female. You are my mate as I am yours."

Claire's confusion and fear kept her silent. The tears had not yet dried on her face from their mating. Her skin was still flushed from their shared orgasm. 

He looked down at her. She could not meet his eyes. Of course, he could not do this to her. The idea was – insane. In her panic, she tried to run, but Koda held her hair in his fist. She was going nowhere until he let her. What had he done to her? She felt strange, unable to get a full breath.

He lifted her chin with his hand so that she looked up into his face. "It is customary for the one who is now claimed to pledge to the one who has claimed her so that she acknowledges him as her true and rightful mate."

She stared up at him in complete disbelief. Finally she was able to whisper, "I cannot."

He spoke again, "It is customary for you to pledge yourself as mine, pita. It is not necessary, I have bound and claimed you, but it is customary. Will you say the words?"

She looked up at him, her mouth opened, but no words came out.

"The girl is moved beyond words," Reaf said as he stepped forward.

"That is doubtless the case. My sister is overwhelmed." Lodi was solemn.

Reaf handed a blanket to Koda. He wrapped the blanket around Claire.

Everyone turned to look at the fire in the center of the pavilion. Var, wearing heavy gloves, pulled a long metal stick out of the fire. There was something flat on the end of the stick. It was so hot it glowed red. Var came to Koda's side. Koda stood and kept his hands on either side of Claire's face while Var pressed the red-hot brand onto his left arm. Dren read some words in a language Claire did not know. She felt the burn on her own arm. The smell of Koda's burning flesh assailed her nostrils; she heard the sizzle of his skin. Koda looked into her eyes. After a small eternity, Var pulled the brand away from Koda’s arm.

Dren handed Koda a dagger.
Koda cut his forearm. Reaf held a silver chalice to collect his blood. Koda put his fist in Claire's hair and held the chalice to her lips. "Drink."

She swallowed without thinking when he tilted her head back. His blood tasted sweet. His blood. She drank it?!

Claire's world slowly became silent. For the first time in her memory, she could feel no emotions other than her own. She looked around in a panic. Nothing. There was nothing beyond her shields. Her empath world was quiet. Even the faint buzzing of the minds of the small creatures nearby was lost to her.

Dren finished reading, put away his vid reader and stepped back. Reaf stepped forward and announced. "It is done. Warlord Leader Koda has mated and claimed Claire."

Koda pulled Claire up to stand. He knelt down on one knee in front of her and placed a gentle kiss on her bare hand before nuzzling her stomach. She felt nothing from Koda. Quiet echoed in her head, the silence deafening. When Koda stood again, the warlords brought their right fists to their hearts with great force. She startled at the sound then sank back down to her knees, stunned. How did one deal with the inconceivable?

Cheers rang out around the circle and the warlords came forward to offer congratulations. Koda accepted their good wishes as she knelt in front of him. She knew if she tried to run again, he would only catch her. That would humiliate her even more than this... whatever this was. It would humiliate him too. Instinct kept her still. In her wildest imaginings she had never dreamed of anything like this. She reminded herself that all she had to do was survive until Calks came back to get her.

She pulled the blanket closer around her while she covered her face. Why had her world gone quiet? The last thing she had received were thoughts from Reaf and Koda. They thought the mate bite and the Claiming Ceremony might offer protection. Protection from her? The bite and ceremony muted her empath abilities. They had begun to dull since he bit her. Did Koda do this to her on purpose? How could he have known this would happen? That last feeling she had from him after the mating was deep regret. It was painful in its starkness. What did he regret?