His crude words barely fazed me. That was how deep I was in arousal, in the warm heat that made mewantto surrender to him. I felt like a stranger in my own body…and what scared me the most was not whatcouldhappen. It was that Iwantedit to happen.
Still, he didn’t touch me. My body was throbbing, my skin humming, my sex tingling so acutely it was almost painful. Instead, his hips fucked his fist faster, his breathing becoming more ragged and labored.
“Vok,vok!” he cursed, his voice dragging out in a long groan. “I’m going to—”
A rough, short bellow tore unexpectedly from his throat. His forehead dropped and I felt his teeth on the space just behind my ear, biting me but not enough to hurt. Just enough tomark.
The only sound that came from me was a whimper when I watched his cock twitch and expand…and then ropes of milky white seed burst violently from his tip. His ravaged groans vibrated across my skin, his body pulsing and rocking, and the essence of him marked the ground in front of us, glimmering on the forest floor.
Then quiet came. His hand dropped away but his forehead was still pressed against me. The strong bulk of his chest brushed my back with every quick breath he took.
Like I was in a daze, I blinked slowly. My fingers were still curled into little claws of my own. I felt like I was one touch away fromsomething. What did it feel like? His pleasure?
“Go,” he growled into my ear. “Go back before I fuck you against this tree. And this time,stay there.”
He released me and I almost stumbled. My knees were shaking. When my gaze met his, I wondered what expression he saw in my face to make his jaw clench tight and his nostrils flare.
The next moment, he turned his back to me, returning to the stream, tucking his spent cock into his trews as he went.
My good sense returned. Shame and embarrassment quickly followed it.
Without a backwards glance, I fled, running back to the clearing where hispyrokilay. I didn’t bother looking back, though my neck prickled.
I saw the golden glow of our fire ahead. When I burst through the thick tree line, I saw a grey shadow move. A grey shadow that had been crouching by the pile of deadjrikkia…and when the shadow whipped around, I saw its eyes and I realized our mistake too late.
TheVorakkarhad said thejrikkiahad been brought to our planet by the Killup. Only, he’d wrongfully assumed the ones that had attacked us had been a wild pack of them, drifting too far west from their home.
Now I realized they’d been the Killup’sscoutingpack.
A slim, chiseled stone blade came to my throat from behind, something wet adorning the tip. Two pairs of smooth, cold hands gripped my arms on both sides as the grey shadow with pitch black eyes approached me.
Movement flickered to my right. Then to my left.
More Killup emerged from the trees, their feet silent across the forest floor. I heard only a whisper of their clothing against their dark grey skin. I counted over ten, males and females alike, stone blades all drawn. Not even theVorakkar’s pyrokihad heard them. She still slept by the fire.
Over by the mound of deadjrikkia, the first Killup I’d seen approached me. Their leader? His clothing was a slightly darker shade of grey than the others and he wore a black band of fabric around his throat.
I saw my frightened face reflected in his eyes when he drew close. He tilted his head as he regarded me carefully. The gills on the sides of his neck fanned open.
It only occurred to me right then that it might be too late to scream.
Chapter Fourteen
Before I knew what was happening, theVorakkarhad burst from the tree line, his golden daggers drawn. He didn’t make a single sound as he aimed them for the nearest Killup’s throat.
“Wait,” I gasped out, my neck pressing into the stone blade held tight against my skin. “Don’t!”
They didn’t need to die. None of them did.
The horde king hesitated briefly at my words…but it cost him. The Killup he’d intended to strike whirled away, alerted to the danger, and five of the Killup jumped to his defense. They seemed to move as one, silently, slashing out their own blades at the horde king’s unprotected flesh.
He dodged easily and I frantically built up my gift’s energy, filling the space between the leader and myself.
Even though it wasn’t fully ready, I pushed into the Killup’s mind, my pupils dilating at what I found. He was…oddly calm. He was saddened by the slaughter of hisjrikkiabut he accepted their deaths. He feared for his fellow Killup because he recognized theVorakkarfor who he was…but he was prepared to lose them if necessary. He waspreparedto die.
It was a mere flash of emotions and then they changed. I sensed he’d decided to fight, that he would order his Killup to swarm, to take down the horde king with a single blow.
Without wasting another moment, I delved and pushed. The cool, startling sensation of changing minds was not something I would ever grow used to. I knew how unnatural it was, how invasive. But at this moment—and all the moments I’d ever chosen to do so—I felt my interference necessary.
