Stolen: Warriors of Hir, Book 3 (11 page)

“And who are you?” he rumbled, his eyes glowing blue even in the faint light of the shelter.

She blinked. “That’s not an easy question to answer.”

He gave a quick smile. “But if you know who you are not . . .”

“Then that just leaves who I am?” she asked wryly.

Ke’lar shrugged. “It is a place to begin.”

“Well,” she began slowly after a moment. “I guess you could say I’m pretty responsible, but then again I’ve had to be. I’m twenty-six and a lot of women my age are still clubbing while I’m the coupon-clipping, money in the cookie-jar
and
in a high yield CD type. I guess that has a lot to do with losing my parents when I did. My parents left me some money, not a lot, and I wasn’t about to squander what I had especially since . . .” Summer shifted on the pallet. “Well, since everyone else could go home to mom and dad if they ran into trouble but I had to rely on myself.” She passed her hand over her eyes. “I sure couldn’t count on Dean for anything.”

“You have great courage,” he growled. “To head into the Hir forests alone and untrained.”

She gave an embarrassed shrug. “I had a blaster.”

“I have been meaning to ask . . . Did you have a destination when you fled their land?”

She hesitated, but really, what difference did it make? “The capital. I knew if I headed east from Betari territory I’d eventually hit Be’lyn City.”

His black eyebrows shot up.  “You were going to the capital?”

“Yes,” she said, a little annoyed that he made idea sound ludicrous.

“
You
—a human female”—his voice rose—“were going to go alone
and unprotected—into Be’lyn City?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Typical dumb blond thing to do, huh?”

“I do not understand what your hair shade has to do with any of this,” he growled with a dismissive glance at it. “And your high intelligence is unquestionable but—the recklessness of it! Why would you go there?”

“Where the hell else
could
I go?” she demanded. “Besides, it’s a big city and in my experience if there’s something that you’re looking for that’s tough to find—say, transport off the planet—a big city is a good place to find that.”

“And that was your plan? To wander the city alone, seeking help?”

“I can take care of myself! You know,” Summer said, turning and leaning on her elbow as he was, “you guys go on and on about how g’hir are honorable warriors—”

“Not all of us!” he burst out, flinging his hand out in an uncharacteristic show of frustration. “Did you think a city full of males from a dying race would let a beautiful human female just
walk by
without seeking to capture her? If you had even reached the capital! You would have to cross Erah land and Arnaru lands before you came to the city outskirts. And with no resources—”

“What the hell happened to thinking I’m brilliant and brave? Those are resources. Besides, I have a truckload of stubbornness and a backpack full of jewels!”

“You—?” He shook his head a little. “What do you mean—what jewels?”

“The jewels the Betari gave me as the next clanmother.”

“
What?
”

“Well, I had to have something to bribe or buy my way back to Earth! It’s not like they take Visa.”

He stared. “You are a thief!”

“You can’t steal what people
give
you!” she threw back. “They insisted I take them! Swore up and down that they were mine!”

“I do not think using the riches of a hundred generations of Betari clanmothers to flee their enclosure is what they intended!”

“Oh, well, oops.” She gave an exaggerated shrug. “Maybe next time they kidnap someone they’ll explain the terms in writing.”

“This is an affront to their enclosure.” He passed his hand over his face. “Now they will say I have stolen you
and
their heirlooms.”

“Stolen me?” she asked. “What are you talking about?”

His face flushed with annoyance but then he met her eyes and his expression eased. “There are traditions, forms that must be observed to prevent war—”

“I guess your clans really hate each other, huh?”

“An ancient rivalry,” he grumbled. “And a pointless one, since we are all dying out.” He shook his head again. “The jewels must be returned to the Betari.”

“But not me?”

“Of course not,” he growled, sounding surprised. “I would never return you to them.”

He actually seemed to mean that.

“I’m not sure I was going to make it to the city anyway,” she mumbled. “I mean I figured I could do ten miles a day easy, maybe fifteen if I pushed it. Turns out I was figuring it with paved roads in mind. I really underestimated how hard it was to travel through uncut forest. I’m sure I didn’t have enough food. I didn’t really know how to find water—I can’t smell it like you can. And now, with the storm—”

“Then it is fortunate the Goddess brought me to that riverside,” he said with a faint smile.

She hesitated. She shouldn’t even care but . . . “What were you really doing way out there anyway, Ke’lar?”

“Foresting.”

“Yeah . . . you may not have noticed but I’m
human
,” Summer said dryly. “I don’t really know what you mean when you say that. It seems a bit like a mix of what humans call ‘camping’ and exploring but from just the way you guys say the word I know it’s more.”

He regarded her thoughtfully. “It is a difficult concept to express in words. It is something instinctive to g’hir, something we understand from earliest childhood. To forest does mean to travel, to explore the land as our ancestors did, but it
is
more,” he agreed. “It is a sacred journey as well. A way of opening oneself to the lifeforce that is Hir, that is our All Mother.”

“So you weren’t . . . Look, I’m just going to say it—Were you out there to spy on the Betari?”

He gave a short huff, a surprised g’hir chuckle. “No. I confess it did not even occur to me. I care little for enclosure politics. I only sought a solitary place.”

“Why?” He was silent for several moments and she raised her eyebrows. “Is this some kind of secret g’hir thing humans shouldn’t ask about?”

“I sought to commune with Hir,” he said reluctantly. “With the All Mother, the giver of all life. I was praying to Her.”

“For something? Or because you’ve done something you were sorry for?” She covered her eyes with her hand and flopped onto her back. “Never mind. I can’t believe I even asked you that. It’s none of my business anyway.”

“The answer is both,” he said quietly after a moment. “I went to ask the Goddess for something but also to loose my anger upon Her.”

“Your anger?” She frowned at him in surprise. Ke’lar seemed like the most even-tempered person she’d ever met, g’hir
or
human. “Why are you angry with your Goddess?”

His throat worked for a moment. “Because she had long ignored my pleas, denied me that which I have longed to have. I begged the Goddess to let me go to your world that I might find a mate,” he rumbled quietly. “When I knew for certain there was no hope that I would ever make that journey, I could not bear even the company of my clanbrothers. I forested for weeks, alone, raging at Her . . .
hating
Her . . . before I came to that place by the river. I looked into the night sky, to the Sisters looking down so coldly on me, I watched the Brother suns rise, demanding to know why our Mother would have had me be born at all only to suffer. But I was a fool. I will forever beg Her forgiveness, offer up my gratitude.”

“A fool?” she asked. “Why do you say that?”

“Because She brought me something more precious than I could ever imagine.” His blue eyes glowed in the dimness as they met hers. “You.”

Ten

“Me?” she breathed.

“You cannot say you have not noticed.” His bright gaze was raw. “I cannot hide my feelings for you any more than I can stop my heart from beating.”

Her own heart was hammering in her chest as his fingers lightly brushed her forehead, tracing the curve of her cheek to run down the tender skin of her throat.

“When you emerged from the forest I thought the Goddess had sent you to me.” He swallowed and his words suddenly came out in a rush. “It sounds foolish, I know. And I know too you do not feel the same for me but if someday you thought perhaps you could . . .”

Shyly, he leaned closer, his breath mingling with hers, to brush his nose up one side of hers, and down the other—a g’hir’s kiss.

“My sweet one . . .” His breath mingled with hers, his voice lowered, a soft mating purr rising in his chest to vibrate through her, right to her clit.  “My Summer . . .”

“Ke’lar—” Her head was spinning from the heat he sent rushing through her; that rumble-purr of his had made her breasts heavy, her center so tight she was clenching her hand, the nails biting into her palm, to keep from reaching for him. “Oh, goddamn it . . .”

A look of embarrassment, of shame, crossed his face.

“Forgive me,” he mumbled. “I forgot for a moment how the g’hir have wronged you, of what you think of my kind.” His expression was wretched, his mating purr fading. “You have asked my protection, nothing more. I should have never spoken of my feelings for you. I vow I will not again . . .”

He began to draw away but with a low moan Summer brought her mouth to his, her arms winding around his neck to pull him close.

He froze, uncertain, because he would never have kissed like this. G’hir didn’t touch mouths like humans did.

But he let her kiss him now, his full mouth softening against hers. He caught his breath when she sought to part his lips, yielding easily as she deepened the kiss, and she shuddered with wanting to feel the sharpness of his fangs against her tongue.

He sighed, accepting all that she offered. His touch on her was gentle but he was rock hard against her thigh. His mouth had the sweetest spicy taste to it and he pressed closer, eager for more. His fingers threaded through her hair as he experimented in the ways of a human kiss, lightly flicking his tongue to the corner of her mouth then running along the inside of her upper lip. 

He brushed his nose to hers and his lips traced her cheek and throat as he fit his body to hers, his skin warm and smooth, the broad muscles of his back under her fingers. Ke’lar pressed his face to the spot where her neck and shoulder met, pausing there to breathe in her scent, and the rumble deepened in his chest, thrumming through her, rising to tighten her nipples.

She wore nothing but the nightgown and Summer slid her leg over him, wrapping around his hip to press his hard cock, already lubricating in readiness, to her entrance.

A fine tremble ran along his body and suddenly he was no longer docile, yielding to her, but the hunter he was bred to be. His hands moved with a g’hir’s speed to free her of her nightdress and in a heartbeat she lay bare beneath him. His eyes were blue fire as he drank in the sight of her, open and ready for him.

His fangs flashed and his touch turned slow, deliberate, possessive. His knuckles traced from the hollow of her throat to her breastbone. Then lightly, with just the pad of his finger, he brushed against her nipple and she gasped as shocks exploded along every nerve of her body.

“You cannot know how many times I have stopped myself from touching you,” he rumbled hoarsely, cupping her breast, his thumb tracing the peak.

“God!” she got out.

His fingers ran the length of her body, over her ribs and belly to rest against the lips of her pussy.

“How I have ached for you . . .”

His rumble-purr sent tingles of pleasure racing between her thighs to vibrate her clit. Her mouth parted as he found her sensitive nub but he simply held it captive between his warm fingers, his gaze burning into hers, watching her reaction.

He bent closer, his breath hot on her throat. “How I longed to have you ache for me . . .”

His fangs nipped her then, lightly, just at the base of her neck, and simultaneously, with a single flick of his thumb against her clit, he had her coming so hard she whimpered, her nails digging into his shoulders.

He slid two fingers inside her and her pussy pulsed around them with her climax. Rumbling, he withdrew his fingers to take position over her, the tip of his cock gleaming with moisture. 

His purr had her arousal soaring again instantly and having him there, hot against her opening, was driving her wild. She arched against him, desperate to have him inside her.

He made a sound then, a strangled gasp at the sensation as the very tip of his cock dipped between her lips.

“I have not—” he gasped. “I have never—”

“I know.” Summer shifted beneath him, her hands going to his hips to press him forward, lifting her body so the head of his cock slipped inside. “It’s all right.”

“Summer . . .” His whole body was taut, trembling with the effort to hold still. “You must be sure—”

“Please,” she begged.

She pressed harder, urging him on, mad with it. He was big but she was slippery from her climax and he surrendered, groaning with pleasure as he slid into her, in a heartbeat fully sheathed inside.

He resisted for just an instant as Summer urged him to pull back then into her again and his eyes widened as he caught the rhythm. It was glorious to watch him as he moved inside her, abandoning himself to it.

He balanced effortlessly on one arm, cupping her buttock to hold her still for him, every thrust and withdraw of his cock brushing her clit.

“Say—” he rumbled hoarsely, his voice deep and hungry, the combination of his strokes and rumbling-purr soaking her pussy, bringing her to the brink again. “Say you are mine.”

“I’m . . .”

His glowing gaze held hers, his cock hot and slick as he rocked inside her. “You are mine.”

“—yours! God, please . . .!”

His fangs bared, his rumble-purr tightening her center to aching as he thrust deep and hard and then she was coming again.

Her pleasure took the last of Ke’lar control. His growl rose to a roar and then his rhythm broke and he shuddered, pulsing hot inside her as he came.

He was shaking, his head hanging, their bodies slick against each other. He shifted then, still filling her, his cock still rock hard as he caged her face with his arms.

“And I am yours . . . “ He brushed his nose to hers. “My beloved. My Summer . . . ”

Her eyes stung at the sincerity, the reverence, in his eyes. Only one other in her life had ever looked at her as if she were the whole world—

But Ke’lar was g’hir, not human, and once was not nearly enough to sate him. He was still hard inside her. His rumbling purr rose to hum through her and then nothing in the universe existed but them. Summer curled against him, gasping in renewed pleasure as his strokes started again.