Warlord's Mercy: 4 (Barbarian Claims) (2 page)

“You don’t appear concerned.” Tolui rubbed one of his thumbs
over her bottom lip, escalating her awareness of him. “You should be.”

“Should I be concerned?” Lea raised her eyebrows. “There are
worse things than being killed.” She turned her head toward the crevice and
frowned. “I’d rather die than allow Daisun to use my body.”

“He won’t touch you.” Tolui’s face darkened, his eyes
glittering. “You’re my captive. You belong to me now.” His possessive tone
curled Lea’s toes. “I need to look at your wounds.” He released her and stepped
backward. Cool air rushed between them, reviving Lea’s lust-numbed brain.

“You won’t look at my wounds here.” She handed him the pack,
not having the strength to carry it. “Come with me.” Lea moved deeper into the
underground tunnels. Polished noncorrosive metal attached to the walls acted as
mirrors, reflecting the sunrays. The ancient lighting system illuminated the
narrow space, allowing plants to grow deep under the ground.

Lea turned right three times, left twice, right four more
times, and then took another left, navigating the labyrinth silently, conscious
of the big male behind her. She entered a small empty chamber.

“Step on the stones,” she advised. “Or you’ll set off my
alarm.” She skipped from flat stone to flat stone, the rest of the floor
covered with pieces of sharp-edged debris.

Lea moved into the second chamber, continuing the tour of
her meager living spaces. “All of these plants are edible or medicinal.” She
broke off a couple thick blades of healing green. “Do you need healing also?”

“I’ve healed.” Tolui’s voice was low and deep, awakening
needs within her, needs only he had ever provoked.

She examined him. He
had
healed. His wounds were
completely closed, five round scars puckering his skin. “Good.” She smiled. He
didn’t smile back, gazing at her as though she was a complex query he longed to
solve.

“Come with me.” Lea crossed the threshold into her living
space, the walls and floors decorated with rock vulture skins, boulders acting
as tables and seating. The reflected sunlight illuminated the space. “When the
sun sets, activate a light stick.” She nudged one with her foot. “I retrieve
them from crash sites so use them sparingly.” Her collection of salvaged items
surrounded her, her biggest prize hidden outside under a blanket of hides and a
layer of concealing sand.

“We are staying here?” Tolui raised one black eyebrow.

“Yes,” Lea confirmed. “
This
is home.” She placed the
blades of sweet smelling healing green on a flat-topped boulder and she glanced
up at Tolui, striving to read his expressionless face.

Home.
Although Tolui had never had a home, he felt as
though he belonged in the female’s underground chambers. He felt as though he
belonged with her.

She’s my
gerel
, the female I am destined to love
for my lifetime.
That discovery had torn all of Tolui’s carefully crafted
plans apart. He’d been told clones couldn’t have
gerels
, that they were
doomed to a solitary life, reproducing only by cloning themselves,
discriminated against and unloved.

He’d built his future around that lie, striving to obtain a
homeland where clones were seen as equal, even superior to all other beings,
yet the heat in his chest and the need to claim the tiny brown-eyed,
brown-haired female now told him the scientists were wrong. The little human
was
his
female and his plans must expand to include securing her.

Tolui tilted his head to the side, listening. Water rushed
along rock. “We’ll cleanse ourselves, little female.” He motioned with his hand
for his mate to precede him, wishing to keep his eyes on her.

“My name is Lea.” She frowned, resting her balled hands on
her shapely hips, her small, firm breasts barely contained by her torn chest
covering. Her skin was a shade darker than his and her brown curls had been
tied back from her face, the wispy tendrils reaching her waist. “And I’ll
cleanse myself alone, in private.”

“That wasn’t a request, Lea.” He dropped her pack and
approached her. “I’m your master now.” He couldn’t call himself a Warlord as he
didn’t yet have a planet to rule over. “We’ll cleanse ourselves together.”

Lea stood her ground, not at all afraid of him, her
fearlessness earning Tolui’s admiration. She was strong and brave and his. “I’m
not—”

He slung her over his uninjured shoulder and she shrieked,
pounding his back with her small fists and kicking his stomach with her
abnormally large boots. “Be still.” He smacked her wiggling ass.

“Don’t hit me.” The tantalizing scent of her arousal belied
her words.

“You’re my slave.” Tolui swatted her ass again, relishing
how her curves fit against his palm. She cried out, her husky voice thrilling
him. “You’re mine to do with as I wish.” He carried her into the next chamber.
The small space was empty, devoid of all of her impractical decorations and
makeshift furniture. An underground stream rushed along the far wall. Light
shone down on them, relayed from an opening far above them.

“No one owns me.” Lea glared at him as he lowered her to the
stone floor.

Tolui ignored her words. “Undress or I’ll tear your garments
off you.” He extended his claws, prepared to rake them over her tight-fitting
leather leg coverings.

“Don’t you dare tear my garments.” She turned her back to
him and hurriedly undid her laces. “I made this chest covering myself and I can
repair it easily.” She dropped the garment to the stone. “Don’t look at me as I
undress.” She kicked off her boots, her feet surprisingly small.

“I’ll look at you if it pleases me to look.” And it pleased
him to look. Lea’s body was slender and her back straight, her fragile skin
striped with red but not broken. She pulled her leg coverings down, revealing
an ass marked by his hand and a pair of legs he longed to wrap around his
waist.

Tolui’s cock hardened, straining against his leg coverings.
He retracted his claws, discarded his own boots and peeled the leather away
from his body, stripping naked, the cool air not deflating his erection.

Lea stepped into the stream, sank into water reaching her
shoulders, and she turned. “Oh.” Her lush mouth dropped open, her wide-eyed
gaze fixed on his groin. His cock bobbed as he moved toward her. “No.” She
scurried away. “You want to kill me, remember?”

“I want to take you on the stone floor, rut into you hard
and fast again and again and fill you with my seed.” Tolui submerged his
overheated body in the cold, clear water, the liquid rushing over his skin, a
thousand fingers caressing him. “
Then
I might kill you,” he bluffed
gruffly.

“You’d take me against my will?” Lea bobbed, sculling the
water with her calloused fingers.

“You’ll be willing.” Tolui dipped his head under the
surface, wetting his hair and washing the grime off his face. “You want me.”
Lea’s face flushed an enchanting shade of pink. “I can smell your need,
gerel
.”
He breathed deeply, savoring her scent.

“I shouldn’t want you.” She didn’t deny his words. “I don’t
know you. Why are you here? Why don’t you want to be found?”

Tolui straightened, reverting to his leadership role. “My
clone brothers and I are fighting for our rightful homeland.” He told her the
truth, his female was too observant and intelligent to be lied to. “The Chameles
don’t acknowledge our claim and if they find me before I can defend myself,
they’ll kill me.”

“Ahhh…” Lea nodded, her wet brown curls plastered around her
face, making her eyes appear even larger than they were. “Chamele 4 is well
worth fighting for.”

“Chamele 4?” He snorted, questioning his female’s thought
processes. “No being wishes to rule Chamele 4. This planet hasn’t the energy
reserves of Chamele 1, the vegetation of Chamele 2 or the herds of Chamele 3.”

“My father and I flew across the galaxy to settle upon
Chamele 4.” Lea’s eyes grew dreamy, her face softening. “And we would have
lived happily here if Daisun hadn’t killed my father and threatened me. We
would have filled chambers with vegetation and raised small beasts for food and
traded with the other planets.”

“What would you trade?” Tolui scoffed, incredulous that any
being would wish to reside upon the planet. “Chamele 4 is suitable only for a
hunting planet.”

“Wise people with a strong leader could cater to those
hunters.” She splashed water on her tanned face. “But that’s all dreaming. We
have no strong leader, only Daisun.” She curled her top lip. “And he wishes to
destroy and control, not build and lead.” She shook her head. “Which planet are
you fighting for?”

Tolui swam toward his female, needing to touch her. “We’re
fighting to control the entire system.”

Lea smiled, her face lighting up, her eyes burning brighter
than the sun, and he blinked, dazzled by her beauty. “If you controlled Chamele
4, you could send Daisun away and I wouldn’t have to leave my home.”

He frowned, not understanding Lea’s love for the dry,
lifeless planet. “We’ve talked enough about Chamele 4.” Tolui moved closer to
his
gerel
, intent on claiming her, on binding them together forever. “I
want to rut with you now.”

Lea’s stomach fluttered as Tolui approached, the reflected
sunlight illuminating his black hair, scarred face and broad shoulders. His
expression was darkly intense, the warrior’s fierce gaze focused on her.

She wanted him, her breasts aching for his touch, but when
Tolui took her, she suspected he’d conquer more than her body. She wasn’t ready
for that, not yet.

“We should talk more,” she insisted. “Tell me of your
family.”

“I’m a clone,” he rumbled, standing naked in the water less
than an arm’s length from her. “I was raised in a laboratory. My source is dead
and his natural offspring rule the system…for now.”

“You’re alone, as I am.” Lea’s already weakened resolve
dissipated even more.

“There are other clones. I must return to them, lead them to
victory, and claim our homeland.” Tolui’s black eyes glinted. “As I claim
you…now.”

He reached out, folded his fingers over her hips and pulled
her to him. She gasped as their naked bodies smacked together, his hard cock
pushing against her stomach, his hands warm and calloused.

“Let me go.” Lea struggled, pushing against his chest. She
twisted in his arms, rubbing her feet against his legs, unable to touch the
bottom of the underground stream.

Tolui cupped Lea’s abused ass and squeezed, the pain
stimulating her more. “Tell me you don’t want me, little female, and I’ll let
you go.” His gaze held hers, his expression deadly serious.

Lea stilled. “I shouldn’t want you,” she confessed, unable to
lie to him. “You’re a stranger, my captor.” His long black hair swirled around
them, the soft strands brushing against her arms, tempting her to touch them.

“I’m more than your captor. I’m your master.” Tolui heaved
her over his uninjured shoulder, and she shrieked. Water ran along her back,
between her ass cheeks, all of her naked body exposed. “And you have no choice.
You
will
rut with me.” He swatted her ass, the smack of skin against
skin loud, and he stalked out of the stream, one of his hands remaining on her
bare curves, his other hand strapped over her legs, restraining her.

“I don’t have a choice.” Lea gazed down at his clenched ass
cheeks and his narrow waist. All of his body was hard, his tanned skin pulled
tightly over muscle. “If I please you, will you take me with you when you
leave?”

He grunted, cupping her head as he laid her carefully down
on the cold stone.

“Is that a yes?” She gazed up at Tolui, acutely aware of
their nakedness. Her back burned from the rock vulture’s talons and her ass ached
from his heavy palm, the agony heightening her arousal.

“Masters don’t answer questions.” He spread her arms to the
side. “Leave your hands there,” he instructed, his tone stern. Lea obeyed,
wishing to please him, to earn her place by his side.

“Let me look at my prize.” Tolui brushed her hair away from
her face and he leaned forward, gazing into her eyes. “You appear healthy.” He
stroked one of his rough fingers over her cheek, across her bottom lip, down
her neck, and Lea trembled. “Your breasts are firm and small.” He cupped them
in his calloused palms and her heart skipped a beat, her pussy moistening.

“I’m sorry.” Lea apologized, pushing her small breasts
upward into his hands.

“I’m not sorry.” Tolui pinched her nipples and she cried
out, arching her back. “Be still.” He gave her breasts a light slap, the
contact tightening her nipples even more. “Small breasts bring a higher price.”
He covered her breasts with his big hands, squeezing and releasing, squeezing
and releasing and her body throbbed to his tempo.

“You’d sell me?” She dug her fingertips into the rock,
struggling to remain still.

“I am your master.” Tolui’s dark eyes glinted “I can do
anything I wish with you.” He slid his hands over her stomach, caressed her
hipbones, explored her brown private curls. Moisture ran down Lea’s inner
thighs. “Spread your legs. Let me look at your pussy.”

He’ll look at all of me.
Lea’s face heated as she
opened her body to his gaze.

“Your pussy lips are pink and plump.” Tolui swept his
fingertips over her and she shook. “You’re dripping for me.” He held his finger
up for her to see, his skin glistening with her juices. “That’s good. The
buyers like a responsive slave.” He stroked her up and down, drawing more
moisture from her core.

Stars. I need him
. Lea gritted her teeth.

“This is a special feature on human female slaves.” Tolui
rubbed one of his thumbs over her clit and a high-pitched whine rose from her
throat, his touch too exquisite, torturing her. “Don’t come yet, slave.” He
pressed his hands down on her hips, pinning her ass to the stone. “You don’t
have my permission.” He narrowed his gaze.

Lea gulped air, fighting to regain control and Tolui waited,
watching her, expecting her to obey him. Her breathing leveled, her body
calming.

He circled her entrance and she tensed. “You’re strong. You
can do this.” He held her gaze and pushed his finger deep inside her. She
whimpered, gripping him with her pussy muscles. “You’re tight.”

“It’s been many solar cycles since a male touched me,” she
admitted.

He pulled his finger out of her pussy, sliding his skin
along her inner walls. “Do
not
talk of other males.” Tolui filled her
again, ramming his finger deep, and she stiffened. “You belong to me now.” He
stroked in, stroked out, pushing her ruthlessly toward fulfillment.

“I belong to you,” Lea repeated. “Tolui?”

“You can take more,
gerel
.” He added another thick
finger, stretching her open, and she thrashed her head from left to right, the
sensation too intense. “Control yourself,” Tolui ordered, pumping her.

She closed her eyes. Tears streamed down her face.

“Look at me,” he demanded. Lea complied, instinctually
obeying him. Their gazes met and held, his eyes as black as a starless night.
She shook, tremors rolling over her.

“Tolui,” she whispered.

“Do you want me?” he growled.

“I want you,” she confessed, her mind incapable of
deception, her body needing release. “Give me permission.”

His eyes gleamed and his lips curled upward ever so
slightly. “Then come for me, Lea.” He drove his fingers deep inside her pussy.
“Come now.” He smacked his thumb against her clit, breaking her.

“Tolui,” she screamed, arching her back, coming hard, her
world spinning around her faster and faster. At the center of her solar system
was Tolui, his dark gaze fixed on her face, his fingers filling her pussy. She
clenched him with her inner muscles, holding onto her warrior, her master, her
tormenter, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Tolui.” She shook, needing to touch more of him, not daring
to. She kept her arms at her sides.

“I’m here. I have you.” He removed his fingers from her
pussy and he covered her with his hard body, his warmth comforting her, his
musky scent filling her nostrils. She was no longer alone, one mistake away
from death. He was with her, protecting her, his willing slave.

“Did I please you?” Lea fluttered her fingers over him,
touching him tentatively, not knowing if touching was now allowed.

“Yes, you pleased me.” Tolui licked the tear tracks on her
cheek, his tongue hot and rough. “And you’ll continue to please me.”

He drew back from her and Lea lowered her gaze. His cock was
hard, huge, long and thick, black curls covering his base. She licked her
bottom lip, intimidated by his size.

“Ready yourself for me,” he warned her.

Lea bent her knees, spread her thighs wider, and lifted her
ass, offering him her pussy. “I’m ready, Tolui.” Her fingers trembled.

He cupped her ass, kneeling between her legs. “This pussy is
my pussy.” Tolui prodded her entrance with his broad cock head. “I own you.” He
pushed into her, stretching her painfully tight, and she pressed her lips
together, smothering her cry.

“I’ll mount you.” He slid deeper and deeper and deeper. “Rut
into you.” She felt the flare of his tip, the rub of his rim, the veins on his
shaft, the interesting ridge around his base. “Fill you with my genetically
enhanced seed.”

Tolui lowered his body onto hers, flattening her against the
stone floor. “A clone’s cock is inside you, little human.” Fierce emotion
flashed across his scarred face and Lea’s breath caught.

“Tolui’s cock is inside me,” Lea dared to correct him, her
voice husky with passion. “You’re an individual, not a type of being.” She
stared up at him.

Tolui stared back, jagged blue streaks of energy sizzling in
his black eyes. “Some females would argue all clones are the same.” He lifted
his square chin.

“Do
not
talk of other females,” Lea echoed his
earlier words. “You belong to me now.” She pushed her hips upward, taking him
deeper inside her. “As I belong to—”

Tolui captured her lips with his, silencing her declaration
with a savage kiss. She inhaled sharply, surprised by his response and he
filled her mouth with his tongue, possessing her, branding her, claiming her.
He tasted of open fire and fresh herbs and she sucked on him greedily, pulling
a groan from his throat.

Lea ran her hands over his shoulders, exploring his scarred
skin. He stroked into her mouth and rubbed his body over hers, rocking into her
pussy and teasing her nipples with his chest. She’d already come once, harder
than she’d ever come before, and she should be sated sexually, yet a need rose
within her once more.

I’m addicted to him.
She threaded her fingers through
Tolui’s long wet hair, holding onto him. Her pussy eased around his shaft, her
juices slicking his skin, allowing him to thrust harder, deeper.

He lowered his head and pressed his scarred cheek against
her skin, his hot breath wafting over her ear. Lea panted, pulling his hair,
trapped between hard male and harder stone. Her hips collided with his and her
ass smacked against the stone floor, her body heating until she feared she’d
combust.

Tolui grunted, adding his savage noises to hers. A thin
sheen of perspiration formed over his back and chest. She fixed her lips to his
skin and sucked, tasting salt and minerals and man. He shuddered, his response
cascading down his spine, thrilling Lea. She did that to him, made her Chamele
warrior lose control.

She met each thrust, her legs shaking, her pussy gripping
his shaft tighter and tighter, fulfillment rushing toward her with the speed of
the underground stream. “Tolui.”

“Can’t last,” he growled, the base of his shaft expanding. “
Gerel
.”
Tolui drove deep, raised his head, and roared that word again, the sound
temporarily deafening her. Hot cum shot out of his cock with a breath-stealing
force, slamming into Lea’s pussy, pushing her over the edge.

She screamed, her second climax even more acute than her
first. Colors spun around her. Her voice grew hoarse. She felt too much,
pleasure flowing along her arms and legs. A black vortex swirled, sucking her
into its center, and she lost consciousness.

“
Gerel
.” Tolui collapsed on top of his female’s limp
body, his cock lodged deep inside her wet, hot pussy, his
gerel
’s wet
hot pussy. He rolled, taking her with him, the stone cool and wet against his
back.

He had bonded with a female, the swelling providing physical
proof of a truth his heart already accepted. He stroked his hands over his
little human’s back. He’d been told clones couldn’t bond. He’d also been told
no female would ever care for a clone.

You’re an individual, not a type of being
. Lea’s
words echoed in his mind. He smoothed her hair, dividing the wet strands.
Could
she grow to care for me?

Tolui tended to her hair, savoring the softness of the brown
tendrils.
I’ll have to leave her here.
He sighed. He had a war to fight
and Lea was a weakness the Warlord brothers could exploit. He’d been unable to
kill the eldest brother’s little
gerel
but Berke might not have the same
qualms toward harming Lea.

He pressed his lips to her forehead, tasting the salt of her
skin. He couldn’t risk her safety.

“Mmm…” Lea splayed her small fingers over his chest. “Are
you stuck inside me?” She lifted her head, her big brown eyes delightfully
unfocused.

“The swelling will go down soon.” Tolui traced her lips, her
pink flesh plumped from his kisses. “You have water and food here, foolish
female. Why are you risking your safety and leaving the tunnels?”

“I hunt rock vultures, harvesting their meat and creating
garments from their skin. I trade those garments with others for items I need.”
She frowned, her forehead furrowing. “You don’t rut with many females, do you?
After rutting, you’re supposed to tell me sweet words and flattering lies.”

Did she think a clone had unlimited rutting
opportunities?
He lifted a strand of Lea’s hair to his nose and inhaled,
savoring her unique scent. “I’ve been at war. Rutting hasn’t been a priority
for me.” He shifted under her, his cock softening. “I’ll leave you with a flock
of dead rock vultures and you’ll stay in the tunnels.”

“You’re leaving me here?” Lea’s bottom lip curled. “I
thought I’d pleased you.” She pushed away from him. His cock slipped from her
warmth, Tolui keenly missed their physical connection.

“You pleased me,
gerel
.” He jumped to his feet and
stood beside her. “You’ll do as I say and stay in the tunnels.”

“I’ll do as I wish.” She tilted her head back to glare up at
him. “I’m not truly your slave. I allowed you to capture me. I could have
escaped you, lost you in the tunnels.”

Tolui’s mood darkened. “You’ll never escape me.” He stepped
closer to her.

His fearless female held her ground. Her nipples were taut
and his seed dripped down her legs. The musk of her arousal teased his
nostrils. “You’re leaving me,” she reminded him.