Captured: Warriors of Hir, Book 1 (5 page)

His breath shuddering, he collapsed against her, his big body still quaking from release. Jenna wrapped her arms around him, breathing in the cinnamon-like scent of him, feeling the slickness of sweat, human and alien, between them. Jenna pushed the hair out of her eyes, struggling to catch her own breath from the strongest finish she’d ever had.

Misinterpreting her gasps, he held his weight off her and she felt a flash of disappointment when he pulled his big cock out.

Gingerly—worried about breaking the bed maybe?—he shifted then curled his body around hers, cradling her.

He cupped her face and growled soft and low.

Tears suddenly blurred her vision. “God, I really wish I could understand what you’re saying.”

His alien eyes searched hers for a moment before he took her hand and laid it against his chest. She could feel his heart still thumping under her palm.

“Jjjeeennnaaa,” he growled. “Rrraaa’kkuurrr.”

This was insane. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. He wasn’t even
human
.

“Ra’kur,” she whispered. “Jenna.”

He drew her closer, kissing her lightly, her face, her mouth, her eyelids. He nuzzled her too, his face pressed to her throat to inhale deeply, and it wasn’t long before he started the rumbling-purr again . . .

Five

Ra’kur’s eyes snapped opened to the pale gray light of morning, his body curled around the softness of his mate. The symphony of this alien world’s scents filled his nostrils and he drew them in, seeking any threat to her.

The forest beasts he’d encountered yesterday were in the woods nearby this rough shelter again. With those great horns and their speed they would make for an exciting hunt but startled easily. They did not seem as if they would become aggressive when not provoked so he dismissed them.

He lay still, listening, sorting through the foreign scents, his eyes sharp to any shadow or movement, not about to endanger his mate by carelessness or inattention.

But the shelter seemed secure.

After a few moments Ra’kur relaxed and permitted himself the pleasure of just
looking
at her.

She was tiny, even for a female; not that he’d seen many in his lifetime. The Scourge had been designed to kill the females of his kind, but
she
was far lovelier than even those few that had survived that disease. Her body was milk pale, and her face and form, even her bones, seemed delicate, finely crafted by the All Mother. Her eyes, closed now, were an astonishing russet color with tiny flecks of golds and greens. He had never known such softness, never even imagined it in his harsh, wandering life. Between his fingers, her hair was alight with a thousand lights of red and gold shimmering along their dark strands.

He could still not believe his good fortune to find her unclaimed.

Her full pink mouth was parted in sleep and shadows of care showed beneath her eyes. He traced the faint scar that ran along the underside of her left forearm, from elbow to midway to her wrist. The injury must have happened in childhood; he wondered at the wound that had caused it and how she had come to be here, in this frozen, remote place, all alone.

He could smell the fading scent of another who had inhabited this shelter—a male, older. The tang of his illness still lingered. Ra’kur thought of the rough, flat image she’d held so lovingly the night before, the sorrow in her eyes, the grief.

A sire, then? Or grandsire perhaps?

Of course that didn’t explain why she would be wandering the forest alone, unprotected and still unmated. She must have scores of suitors.

Ra’kur let his breath out. It didn’t matter now. They were fools for not capturing her and he already had. He would fight off any who sought to take her from him and it would not be long before he took her and left this world.

He sighed, remembering damage done to his ship, the gagging smell of burnt circuitry and the emergency landing on this planet. A blast from a Zerar vessel had blown the entire directional assembly and the wormhole he’d opened hurled him to this world instead.

He gave a faint smile as she sighed in her sleep.

Not that he was sorry.

Still, it meant days on this backward world to make repairs before he could take his mate back to the homeworld. He couldn’t wait to show her his house and lands, to enfold her in the protection of his clan.

His arms tightened around her. With so very few females left Jenna would be valuable beyond imagination. He would need all his clanbrothers’ might to keep her. Hir’s enemies had achieved their goal with the horror of the Scourge they had unleashed: his kind was dying out. He was deeply grateful to have found a lifemate at last, even if they would never have offspring.

Jenna . . .

Such an alien nameword! He struggled to pronounce it even though his people had spent countless millennia as traders and languages came easily to him.

Well,
usually
they did, he thought, chagrined.
Hers
seemed to be made up of different tongues, as if her world had been invaded in waves, each conqueror adding rules and words till the whole thing was one illogical jumble.

It was frustrating to struggle so to talk with the one person in the galaxy he most wanted to communicate with. It would be much easier when he got her back to the ship for the linguistic implant.

He brushed his mouth against her skin, pressing his face to the spot where her neck and shoulder met to breathe in the sweetness of her, like cali flowers warmed by sunshine. She stirred, her pink-tipped breasts brushing against him, and he grinned, the mating growl starting as his penis hardened, already lubricating in anticipation of more coupling.

Well, we will make do for now . . .

Jenna woke to a soft rumbling purr and caught her breath at the wet heat as he caught the peak of her breast in his mouth. Automatically she softened against him, his fingers already at her clit and stroking her to readiness.

Her eyes fluttered open as he urged her legs wider. His eyes glowed eerie blue in the faint light of morning, his black hair curtained his face as he positioned his cock at her opening and held her gaze as he entered her.

Caught beneath him, she wrapped her arms around his neck as he slid inside her, his eyes half shut in pleasure, and his rumble-purr deepened, vibrating through her clit with every stroke.

He held her face between his hands, gently brushing his nose against hers. His mouth touched hers and a single flick of his tongue between her lips sent her crying out as she contracted hard around him.

He moved fast and deep then, rigid inside her. He bent his head, his mouth open and moist against her throat and big body taut. Two more deep thrusts and he was pulsing inside her.  

His body was heavy on hers as his rumbling faded, his breathing still fast as he drew back to look at her. A smile flittered across his face at she blinked up at him. He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth then moved beside her, cradling her against him again.

“Holy cow,” she managed weakly. Between last night and this morning they’d had sex no fewer than six times and both had climaxed many more times than that. His stamina was amazing and she had the sudden thought that if she stayed here another five minutes or so, he’d be rumble-purring again.

He tried to hold her when she pulled away but she shook her head.

“Look, I don’t know about your people but I need something to drink. And a shower. And
food
. ”

Her legs were still shaking as she stood. The cold didn’t seem to bother him as he sat up, still bare, but she was already shivering and he gave a wolfish grin at her hardened nipples.

She pulled her knee-length robe and sheepskin boots on and headed for the bathroom while he dressed. She shut the door behind her. The lock was busted, of course, but he’d figured out she was serious about wanting privacy in here.

She washed her hands, looking at herself in the mirror, the flush on her cheeks, the brightness in her eyes. This whole thing was absolutely crazy.

But whatever happens I’m not sorry, damn it.

Jenna smiled when she came out to the living room to find him already dressed and leaning against the wall, his arms crossed as he waited for her.

“I’m starved. Are you hungry?”

His fangs flashed with a grin. “
Hhhurrrggggyyy
.”

He caught her in a hug then with a quick nose rub went into the bathroom as she headed to see what she had left in the kitchen. From his emphasis on the word and their activities last night and this morning she figured she’d better make it a
big
breakfast.

She pulled the electric grill and stirred together the pancake batter. She had plenty of syrup and—since he liked it so much—decided to fry up the last of the bacon and make a pan of scrambled eggs.

She started a pot of coffee and poured some juice for herself, already cooking when he joined her in the kitchen.

Of course it wasn’t easy to get anything done with Ra’kur kissing and nuzzling her every time she got near him.

She waved him off, smiling. “You want breakfast, don’t you?
Hungry
, right?”

He made a
snorf
sound. His electric eyes were alight with humor and he very deliberately folded his massive arms as if to show her he would keep his hands off—for now.

She was flipping a pancake when she caught him drinking her orange juice.

“Hey!” she protested with a laugh. “That’s mine!”

He looked from her to the glass in his hand, blinking, then offered it to her.

“Hold on,” she said. “Let me get these flipped or they’ll burn, then I’ll get you some.”

She topped off her own cup and handed him a glass and the jug of Tropicana since he was probably going to finish the rest of the juice off anyway.

She warmed the maple syrup in the microwave. She had two pancakes, a piece of bacon, and some eggs and put the rest on two dinner plates in front of him.

“Here,” she said, pouring the syrup generously over the pancakes. She cut them for him too and speared a big mouthful onto a fork to hold out to him.

His face lit up at his first taste. He remembered the bacon from last night of course and seemed to like his eggs scrambled just as much as he liked them in omelet form.

Jenna sipped her coffee and, plainly noticing she hadn’t served him any, he gave a curious sniff in the direction of her mug.

“It’s coffee. Do you want to try it?” she asked, offering her cup to him. “It doesn’t have any sugar or milk.”

He took a swallow and made such an extraordinary face that Jenna bit the inside of her cheek to keep from giggling. He looked like he was  trying not to spit it out in disgust but didn’t want to offend her.

“Drinking it black really is an acquired taste. Hold on.”

She poured another cup, adding a generous amount of milk and sugar as he guzzled some orange juice.

He sniffed then took a small, cautious sip from the mug she gave him. He seemed to find it made this way a lot more palatable but it didn’t look like it was going to be a favorite either.

He had polished off all the bacon and the nine eggs on his plate and was happily adding more maple syrup to his pancakes when his head suddenly came up and he snarled.

Jenna jumped at the sound, her coffee sloshing over her hand.

Ra’kur’s eyes were fixed toward the living room, his fangs bared, and in the next moment he bumped the table as he stood, already striding that way.