The Barbarian Prince (6 page)

Ualan’s jaw tightened in irritation, as he looked over his good friend. The man’s eyes dipped down over Ualan’s oiled skin and loincloth in amusement. Ualan stepped forward, his eyes daring the man to laugh.

"I take it she hasn’t chosen," said the man smoothly, and with a curl of knowing humor to his beard-covered lips.

Ualan’s fist tightened in response. He was not allowed to speak.

Agro was already married and seemed to be enjoying the pleasures of the feast, as was evident by the drunken glaze in his eyes. But Ualan wasn’t fooled. He knew well that Agro’s senses were sharp.

"She will never choose with you out here," said the man wisely as he began to move past. Then he stopped to speak. Ualan knew that Agro couldn’t help himself. "By all that’s sacred, you’re an ugly man Ualan. Get back to the tents before you scare off our women, too."

Ualan grinned wickedly at the taunt. A fight would do much to restore his good humor. He might not be able to speak, but he could act. Balling his hand into a fist, he rewarded Agro with a swift punch to the face.

* * * *

Morrigan was furious. How dare he touch her like that and then leave as if it were no big deal? But, more than her fury, she was humiliated by the treacherousness of her body. One look and she had crumpled to his demands, following his order like a harem slave.

Dress, she fumed. I’ll show you dressed, you big, overbearing caveman!

Satisfied that Ualan would not be coming for her again anytime soon, Morrigan crept to the tent’s opening. It was still dark out, but she knew that this night would last longer than the nights on Earth. That was why the Qurilixian had chosen it for their Breeding Festival. She remembered it vaguely from her uploads--something about the moonlight making them aroused or some such nonsense.

So much for accurate uploads from Galaxy Brides, she mused bitterly. Ualan had hardly looked aroused by her, at least not as she had been by him. It shamed her to remember it. I should write a piece on inaccurate uploads and expose the cretin who made those things as a fraud who knows nothing about planetary or cultural facts.

To Morrigan’s surprise, she heard moans of pleasure still coming from various tents around the encampment. It would seem Qurilixian men were certainly insatiable, when they chose to be. She felt an unwanted stirring and an urge to turn around for just one more taste of Ualan’s passions.

"What is the matter with me?" hissed Morrigan to herself, comforted by the sound of her own voice. She would not put herself through that humiliation again. A loud scream of ecstasy pierced the air and she grimaced. "Galaxy Brides, my ass. More like Galaxy Sluts. All right, focus Morrigan, you have got to gather information."

But saying it was harder than actually doing it. Unlike her other assignments, there was no clear person to interview. She had no idea who the royalty were or if they had even attended. The Qurilixian didn’t believe in crowns or purple flowing robes to mark their aristocrats, so there was no pointed sign reading, ‘here, look here, this is a Prince’. For all she knew, the Princes were amongst the ones who hadn’t taken a bride back to their tents. They could all be at home getting drunk and watching each other grow old. Not that she could blame them. None of the women on the spaceship seemed like royalty material to her.

Moving through the pyramids, Morrigan tried to make her way around to the married couples. But, when the tall throne chairs came into view, she was met with disappointment. No one was left at the thrones. Sighing in frustration, she crept closer.

"Ah! Ah!"

Morrigan jolted in alarm at the high-pitched screech, her heart squeezing in her throat, only to relax as she realized the sound came from inside a nearby tent. In frustration, she shook her head.

Concentrate! she scolded herself.

Then, from the side of the bonfire, Morrigan heard a sultry laugh of a woman followed by the growl of a man. She crept forward in the shadows, careful to stay hidden from view.

A healthy specimen of female beauty came rushing forward, taunting her naked lover with her bared charms. Laughing, she threw back her head and made her way to one of the throne chairs before the fire. The man growled again, swiftly stalking her with unrefined, animalistic stealth.

Morrigan gasped. Her breath deepened as she watched the couple begin to make love before the flames. She couldn’t take her eyes away, though she knew she should. It was forbidden, what she was doing. But it was also erotic and dangerous and thrilling. Her blood began to stir and rush. Her flesh began to tingle and heat. Her lips went dry, eager for Ualan’s kisses to wet them once more.

The man caressed the woman’s skin in long strokes. His fingers tested her wetness. His lips savored her small breasts, worshiping. Then, turning, the woman braced her hand on the throne so her lover could enter her from behind. The man held back, biting and licking the flesh of her backside.

"Oh," another moan from a tent.

"Argh," this time it was a man from across the encampment.

"Mm," Morrigan bit her lips. Her body flamed. Her head spun in circles until she couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t think beyond her passionate flesh and churning desires, dizzy--so dizzy. It was as if a spell had been cast and she was the sorry recipient of it. What was happening to her? Her body was going crazy with passion and fire. The sexual tension was so thick that she imagined she could smell it.

True, before tonight, she had been on assignment in some of the most dismal of places with creatures no human could be attracted to. Her work kept her from her own kind, making relationships impossible, except with other journalists who she had vowed never to become involved with.

When she was on Earth, it was always researching or uploading planetary facts into her brain, readying herself for her next assignment. But, it didn’t mean she was ignorant. It didn’t mean she didn’t know. Out of all she had borne witness to, Ualan was the first man she had met that had ever stirred her senses to wakefulness, had brought her from one dream into another. And he did it all with very few, low-toned, blood-stirringly erotic words. Come. Choose.

As she spied, the man stood behind the woman. He grabbed her hips. Morrigan unconsciously touched her breast. Her heart pounded beneath her fingers. Inching with aggravating slowness, the man entered his lover. She panted and threw glorious waves of red-brown hair over her shoulder at him. The man grabbed the locks, using them to control her to his passion.

Unexpectedly, Morrigan felt a caressing hand on her arm. She shivered, instinctively knowing it was Ualan come to fetch her back to his tent. She didn’t move, dazed as her eyes strayed to the thrusting man’s buttocks, her ears jealous of the woman’s cries of passion.

Ualan pulled on her arm, forcing her to stand. She kept her back to him as his lips found her earlobe. The leather mask brushed her neck. The soft breeze swept over her heating skin. The thrusting man’s passions became louder and more claiming as he moved forcefully behind his screaming lover.

Ualan did not pull her back, allowing her to watch, not judging her for it. His people were not inhibited when it came to such things. He continued to kiss her skin, nip at her earlobe, to lick at her rapid pulse. His own eyes strayed to the couple. His hand fell from Morrigan’s arm, not restraining her to him, but for the tantalizing motion of his lips on her skin.

"How?" began Morrigan, breathless. She couldn’t finish as her hips started to mimic the light thrusting of their own accord. But they were frustrated for they thrust at air not solid, scorching man flesh. How are you doing this? How are you controlling me?

Ualan misunderstood the weak question, and answered, "My crystal will always find you."

Morrigan pressed her buttocks back into Ualan’s erection. She felt the fur covering him and hated it because it kept him from her. The night was filled with passion, with unforeseen magic. It pulsed around the encampment, through the long night of the festival. It was in the air. It was in every fiber of Morrigan’s body, until she thought, it doesn’t matter. Tonight it doesn’t matter. Take whatever Ualan offers. Take it, live it, and then keep it secret. No one will ever know. Take it. Take.

As the couple climaxed, Morrigan closed her eyes, forgetting what she had sworn to moments before. She wanted Ualan to finish what he started. Maybe then she could think clearly. Hushing a desperate entreaty, she said, "Take me back to the tent, Ualan. Please, take me … back."

Ualan growled, turning her tenderly about so he could lift her into his arms. He did it easily, his muscles folding protectively around her. The crystal still glowed, but she ignored it. She didn’t care if all they felt was its magical effects. Tonight, she would forget her scientific approach to everything and believe in magic.

He did not kiss her as he walked, instead choosing to study her intently. Morrigan read a myriad of emotions on his face--the most predominant was passion. But, beyond that, hidden behind his eyes was a searching, a longing, and an ache she could feel inside her breasts as if it was her own.

Chapter Five

Once back in the tent, Ualan set her before him. His hand lifted to Morrigan’s face, sweeping across the soft features. His eyes dipped to her breasts, heaving delightedly with her breath. A wicked smile came to his lips. It sent chills over her. Instinctively, she knew he was contemplating punishing her for trying to escape him yet again.

Slowly, he stalked her, forcing her to back away. Morrigan glanced at the bed, ready for him to take her. He forced her past the silken paradise it offered. She touched him, but he pushed her fingers away. Keeping his gaze fixed steadily on her, he continued to move her back until Morrigan’s legs bumped into the edge of the bondage throne.

Ualan’s wicked smile broadened. His fingers moved from her cheek, down her neck and the beating pulse beneath her flushed skin. With a rip, he pulled her gown from her body, exposing her to his whim. Morrigan’s nipples peaked, excited by his power. He didn’t touch them, refusing to answer their beckoning call.

With a firm shove, he pushed her naked body on the throne. Morrigan panted, unable to stand once he towered so commandingly over her. This was his game and he was in control. Part of her wanted to fight him, to resist. But she was weak. She was slave to his whims.

Ualan leaned into her face, his hot breath caressing her skin as he moved his lips just beyond her flesh’s arching reach. The strangely erotic feel of smoothed wood, carved to mold into her buttocks, caught her by surprise and she gasped as it teasingly spread her cheeks.

Ualan’s whispering breath continued lower, over her chin. It found a place to gush between her breasts. His lips drifted over a ripe nipple, teasing it with a feathery kiss that sent a shockwave of passion through Morrigan’s limbs. She bucked off the throne, only to settle once more out of fear that she would anger him and he would stop his excruciating torment of her flesh.

His breath continued across her. Her neglected breast arched as he neared it, ready and waiting for its reward like the other had received. It was left wanting. Morrigan groaned, her hips pressing down on the throne. Her eyes sought his. Her fingers rose to grab his hair and force him forward.

Ualan held back. With the swiftness of a striking snake, his fingers curled around her wrists and brought them hard to the arms of the chair. He held them there as she struggled. All the time he breathed on her, the hot, feathery fanning of torment.

When she understood him enough to stop struggling, Ualan forced the heat of his breath lower, over her ribs, across her flat stomach, around her contracting navel. Her legs spread, wanting him lower. His hands held her wrists hard to the throne, making it impossible to fight. Not that she could. Morrigan tensed, her legs waiting for him to get just low enough that she could wrap him to her and force him to touch her.

To her agony, he did touch her. But it was not as she would have him. His tongue edged out from his firm lips--so slow, so distressing, so very painful to watch. Morrigan couldn’t look away. Her mouth opened wanting the feel of his lips for itself.

With a tender lick that she felt in every concentrated nerve, he slid his tongue into her navel. Morrigan screamed, her body alighting with fierce excitement. Her legs worked, trying to find hold over his shoulder, only to be blocked by his arms holding her down.

Ualan’s lick moved down in a direct path to her seeking womanhood. His tongue met the top arch only to circle around to the side. Morrigan protested, thinking she was about to die from the torment. His tongue darted away only to come back freshly wetted. It traced the indent of her leg. Morrigan tried to squeeze his head, trying to control the controller. Ualan growled, pulling back from her. Morrigan was instantly sorry for her actions and she tried to repent by letting her legs fall back to the sides where he’d put them.

Morrigan’s eyes rolled back in her head. Ualan’s hands left her. She didn’t dare move. Keeping herself as he wanted her, she peeked from lowered lashes. Ualan stood proudly before her. The fur was pooled on the floor. The height of his naked member towered for her to see. He was shameless, waiting patiently for her gaze to make the journey back up his body.

"Are you ready to choose?" he questioned when she finally met his eyes.

Morrigan took in his athletic form with the expression of a hunting lioness. She didn’t answer with words, hoping he would accept her stillness as a response.

His was a body formed of hard work and exercise, not enhanced by machines. There was vitality to him, a power and control unknown to other men. He was the proud warrior, the conqueror. And by the look in his eyes, he would soon be her conqueror.

There was tenderness in his expression and an aching she didn’t understand. Gently, he leaned and kissed her mouth, rubbing his lips over hers in a soft hold. Morrigan couldn’t help herself. She moaned lightly against him. Her body sang with the fire of his touch--so sweet.

Ualan pulled back and continued to study her for a long moment, his eyes taking in her every breath. There was so much inside his gaze that Morrigan had to look away. She couldn’t understand the questions or the tormented emotions she found there. Her body was too weak to try.