I did not want to feel anything for this female. So why did discomfort, mingled with rage, swarm my chest? Why did I feel the need to return to the Dead Mountain and slaughter that useless excuse for a human wherever he stood for daring to mark her flesh?
Hukri said something to Mina I didn’t hear over the rushing in my ears, but a moment later, the Dakkari female was leading her into the washing tub.
A gentle, shuddered sigh left Mina’s lips the moment she stepped into the water. For that brief moment, I watched her eyelids flutter shut as her lips parted in wonder. I was forgotten. It was only Mina and her simple pleasure as she sank down into the hot bath. I watched a tendril of steam curl around her neck and caress her flesh as she sighed.
If my cock hadn’t been fully hard before, it was now. A harsh breath escaped me, feeling my control begin to slip. What was it about this maddening female that made me feel perilously close to my baser instincts? Baser instincts I’d long judged other males, otherVorakkar, for acting upon?
“Vorakkar,” came Hukri’s voice. My attention snapped towards the Dakkari female, feeling like I’d been pulled from a dream.
I blinked, swallowing. “Neffar?”
“Her dress is in disrepair,” she said in Dakkari, keeping her gaze at the base of my throat, as was respectful of my horde members. “Should I retrieve a new one from the seamstress? Perhaps one of a smaller size to suit her? And I should go retrieve bath crystals.”
She is my prisoner, I reminded myself. What did I care if she remained in her dirty dress or had no soap to wash herself with?
Then why did you order her a bath if you do not care?a small, taunting voice came.Because even now, you know what she will become? What she will be to the horde?
With a growl, I waved my hand and said, “Lysi. Go.”
Hukri departed, striding past me with a small incline of her head. Leaving me alone with Mina. I crossed my arms over my chest as I regarded her. I didn’t dare step towards her because I wasn’t willing to see when my tentative control would officially snap.
She huddled underneath the water, the ends of her wavy hair bobbing on the surface before sinking below. With relief, I saw her hair covered the fullness of her breasts and she drew up her knees to shield her sex from my view.
Over the edge of the tub, her chain was pulled tight, stretched to its limit. I had a million things to do this morning and yet, the first thing I’d done was come here. To her.
Word had already gotten out that I’d returned. Many had greeted me on my walk here this morning, running their hands over my arms and my cuffs, as if in reassurance. So while my horde knew of my return, I still needed to brief my council and Valavik about what I’d learned under the Dead Mountain. About the humans, the witches, and Mina.
“Will you tell me one thing?” came her soft voice.
As if her voice pulled me by a string, I felt my feet moving.
With gritted teeth, I forced myself to still. “Neffar?”
Her lashes lowered briefly, her arms moving to hug her knees to her chest.
“You call me a witch. Is that what you want me to be for your horde?” she asked. “You want to keep me because I can control the fog? But I know your hordes move all across Dakkar. Places the fog does not reach. So what then? Will you set me free then?”
“Why do you want to goback?” I growled. “I thought you would want to be here, under my protection, with the swords of my horde behind you.”
“And am I? Under your protection?” she whispered, eyeing me. Her foot moved, rattling the chain against the washing tub as if to prove her point.
“Every member of my horde is under my protection.”
“But I’m not a member of your horde,” she said, her voice quiet. “I’m your prisoner. I’m just a human youtook.”
I grinned, though it was humorless. “Only because you took me first,sarkia.”
A small breath left her, though I sensed the seemingly endless stretch of her patience right then. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Because I know you will not like my answer.”
She stared, waiting.
Finally, I said, “The fog will stretch and grow and consume whatever it touches.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I’ve seen firsthand what it can do,” she said. “How it can kill.”
So, had some of the humans lost their lives to it? They seemed more immune to it than the Dakkari, but it was gratifying to know they could still bekilledby it if they weren’t careful.
