Warlord Reunited: 3 (Barbarian Claims) (4 page)

“You have accumulated some new toys.” Ellie peered at his arsenal, their mutual interest in weapons having served as their first intellectual link. “I’m impressed.”

Berke pushed away his unproven concerns about Tolui and fastened his boots. “I’m glad you approve.” He shrugged into a long cold-weather coat, the enhanced leather swirling around his calves. “Once we reach your ship, I’ll show them to you.” He heaved the pack over his shoulder and held out his palm.

Ellie hesitated for a heartbeat before taking his hand, her small, slender fingers curling around his, her skin calloused, the contrast of dainty bones and tough skin arousing Berke. “I might have obtained some new toys also.” She gave him an endearingly cheeky grin.

They walked together, in unison through the narrow underground passages, Berke shortening his strides to match hers. A companionable silence fell between them, allowing him to focus on the brush of her hips against his, the scent of her hair, the warmth of her body.
My gerel is here.
Contentment shrouded his warrior soul, a rare calm before the raging storm, a peace before the endless battle.

They reached the crevice, the now not-so-secret exit from his personal quarters, and Ellie rashly stepped forward, her fearlessness causing Berke’s heart to clench.

“No.” He pulled her back into the safety of his arms. “I’ll go first.” Her eyes glittered but she said nothing. Berke withdrew a gun from the straps on his jacket and he slid through the crack, angling his large body to fit the small space, the stone rubbing along his chest and back.

The whiteness of the snow temporarily blinded him and pellets of ice jabbed at his exposed skin, the wind snatching his breath. Berke blinked twice and his vision corrected, the land reverting to shades of blue. He surveyed the harsh terrain, seeing no tracks in the drifts and no shadows where they shouldn’t be.

Berke positioned his back to the howling wind, creating a calm around the opening, protecting his small human mate. “Hurry,” he urged, aware of his vulnerability.

“First you tell me to wait and now you tell me to hurry?” She scowled up at him. “Make up your mind, Warlord.” She stalked toward a flat field of ice, her shoulders hunched against the elements, her hair tussled by the storm.

Berke scanned the landscape as they moved, searching for any threat, any danger to Ellie. An ice vulture peered down at them from a snow-encased wire, its white feathers ruffled, trapping the heated air close to its thick skin.

Berke rested his hand on a dagger, ready to defend Ellie should the creature attack. “Where is your ship, foolish female?” He saw no signs of her single-manned vessel.

“Hidden in plain view.” She raised her hand, flattening her palm against an invisible wall. The air shimmered and a small ship appeared, its panels colored a dull black.

“Very clever.” He gazed at the vessel with admiration, proud of his female, its ingenious designer.

A ramp lowered and lights flickered to life, illuminating the snow around them. “It is very Chamele-like.” Ellie studied a panel and her lips curled upward, her breath hanging in a cloud around her face. “Your friend Tolui passed within an arm’s length and didn’t see my ship.” She looked to her left, the ice-covered ground smooth and unbroken. “He trekked that way if you wish to apprehend him.”

“He’s long gone,” Berke grumbled, reminded of his failure to protect his
gerel
. “The clone-lover is as swift as the wind.” He placed one of his hands on the small of Ellie’s back, the contact soothing him. “We’ll run your experiments while orbiting the planet. It’s safer. My fleet of warships will protect us.”

“My ship will protect us.” Ellie skipped up the ramp ahead of Berke, her footsteps enchantingly light. “I spent many late nights modifying it, wondering if I’d ever get the opportunity to use it again.” She pressed a lit square and the doors closed behind them. Berke found the stillness and warmth eerie after the turbulence of the surface’s storm. “I considered giving my ship to Gale.”

“If you had given your ship to Gale, it would have been destroyed during Tolui’s attack.” Berke’s mood grew grave. The war was never far from them.

“You don’t know my ship’s capabilities.” Ellie lifted her chin proudly. “It could have destroyed Tolui’s ship.” She patted a wall panel. “Ship, engage.”

The floor rumbled under Berke’s boots. “Do you need assistance plotting the route?” He trailed behind Ellie, noting the changes she’d wrought on the older ship, changes he could incorporate into his newer vessels.

“The route has already been plotted.” She smiled a bit too smugly for Berke’s comfort. “Relax and get comfortable, mate of mine. You’ll be here for a while.”

For a while?
He straightened to his full height, towering over his small female. “Ellie,” he rumbled.

“Don’t worry. I’ll release you.” Her boots danced across the wire-mesh floor. “After I run my experiments.” Berke relaxed, his shoulders easing downward. “And after we dispose of your friend Tolui.”

“Ellie!” he bellowed, folding his fingers into fists, his claws pricking his skin. “That was
not
our agreement.”

“Our agreement was that I leave Chamele 1 today. I’m leaving Chamele 1 today.” She tossed her head back, her long, brown curls bouncing around her pert ass, and his cock hardened, his body responding to that sexual taunt. “I also vowed to leave the Chamele system after I ran my experiments and we talked to your brothers. I plan to uphold my vow.”

“Both of those tasks will be completed today.” Berke narrowed his eyes, gazing fervently at her back, determined to protect her whether or not she wanted to be protected.

“Running the experiments today was never part of our agreement.” Ellie laughed, her mirth escalating Berke’s frustration. “These things take time, Warlord.”

He lengthened his stride, catching up to her. “Time we’ll spend orbiting Chamele 1.” He grabbed her arms and spun her around to face him. “You’re
not
hunting Tolui. He’s a Chamele warrior. He’s stronger—”

“Faster, deadlier, a being so superior, I could never harm him.” Ellie’s eyes flashed with hurt. Berke didn’t know its cause. Her sarcastically spoken words reflected the unfortunate reality. She
was
smaller and slower, more fragile, delicately human. “I understand.” She jerked out of his grip.

At least one of us understands.
Berke watched helplessly as Ellie stormed away, his female more complex than the most detailed battle plan.

“Ship.” Elle pressed her lips together, stopping her request.
I won’t track his position. He doesn’t care about me. I shouldn’t care about him.

Elle gazed through the bridge’s main viewscreen, watching swirls of blue dance over Chamele 1’s predominantly white surface. The ice-covered planet’s cold beauty reminded her of its equally cold Warlord. She raised the right cuff of her oversized cold-temperature suit to her nose and breathed deeply, inhaling Berke’s distinctive scent. Her pussy moistened, her body aching for him.

I’m not weak.
Elle pushed her ass out of the worn chair, needing to take action, to move, to change into her own clothes and regain her identity.
I’m a bounty hunter, blast it.
She strode through the bridge, the other chairs and consoles empty, waiting as she had waited…for him to find her, to retrieve her, to bring her home.

If he cared, he would have found me.
She maneuvered the narrow corridors, the energy-reducing lights flickering to full brightness before her, the silence accentuating her loneliness.
But he doesn’t care.

She slapped her palm against her sleeping chamber’s control panel and the doors slid open, revealing Berke stretched out on her bed, his arms folded behind his head, his big form gloriously naked and his cock hard.

Elle’s breath caught.
He may not care but he does desire me.
“You located my sleeping chambers.” Her voice lowered to a sensual huskiness, her need for him overriding her pain.
And I’m weak, so very weak.

Berke’s nostrils flared. “They smell of you.”

“I smell of you,” she confessed, plucking at the lapels of her cold-temperature suit.

“I like that you smell of me,” her Warlord rumbled. “It declares to the worlds you’re mine.” He curled his fingers around his girth, fisting his cock and he leisurely pumped, shamelessly pleasuring himself in front of her.

He’s here…for now. Why shouldn’t I sate my lust?
Elle licked her bottom lip and Berke’s grip on his shaft tightened, a dab of pre-cum forming on his tip. “I’m angry with you.” She raised her chin, fighting her arousal.

Berke raised his eyebrows. “And I’m angry with you,
gerel
.” He stroked his cock faster, up and down, up and down, and Elle’s nipples grew taut, pressing against her suit’s coarse fabric. “This foolish plan of yours will put us both in danger.”

Elle rolled her eyes, her Warlord’s arrogance knowing no bounds. “You don’t know what my plan is.” She stepped closer to him. “I’ve retrieved fugitives similar to Tolui in the past.”
In the distant past, before I met Berke and lost that ability.
She kept that critical piece of information to herself.

“None of your fugitives were similar to Tolui,” Berke growled, his eyes gleaming. “He surrounds himself with clones.” He cupped his balls with his free hand as though presenting them to her.

Elle crawled onto the bed, positioning herself between his spread legs, unable to resist his offer. “The most sophisticated fugitives use clones to throw bounty hunters off their trails.” She covered his hands with hers, following his movements with her fingers, remembering how to please him, not that she’d ever forgotten. “We’ve developed devices to detect them.”

Berke stilled and his gaze met hers. “You can track clones?” His hands dropped to the bed.

“We prefer to find the fugitives.” Elle wrapped her fingers around his shaft, using both her hands to cover more skin, and she mimicked his touch. “But the devices can be modified to track their clones.” She pumped him, relishing his warm skin, embracing the softness over unyielding rigidity.

Berke didn’t say anything, his lack of response telling.

“That would have helped you, wouldn’t it?” Elle tilted her head, studying him. His eyes had deepened to the blackest black, his jaw was clenched and his fingers dug into the mattress. “Your weak human mate could have assisted you in your war.”

He grumbled something she couldn’t hear, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Elle smiled, her male stubborn beyond belief, and she worked his cock harder, faster, pushing at his renowned restraint, seeking to drive him over the edge, to make him lose control.

“
Gerel
.” Berke lifted his hips, thrusting into her hands.

She bent over him and extended her tongue. A strangled sound escaped from Berke’s grim lips, the verbalization of his weakness exciting Elle. She licked the pre-cum off his tip, tasting minerals and man and desire, and he jerked against her palms, his abdominal muscles rippling.

Elle pumped him with her hands and laved his inner thighs with her tongue, exploring every dip of skin, every bulge of muscle, indulging in caresses that held no pain, only pleasure. Berke was her bonded mate, the only male she could touch.

She playfully flicked his balls with the tip of her tongue and Berke yelped, hardening even more, perspiration streaming down his tanned cheeks. Elle stroked him up and down, marveling at the power under her fingertips, power she controlled.

She sucked one of his balls into her mouth, drawing a groan from Berke. Encouraged, Elle moved to its twin, rolling it with her tongue.

“No more teasing, Ellie. I can’t last,” her proud male admitted.

Elle pushed her lips over his cock head, taking him deep into her mouth, riding his thrusts. The veins on his shaft pulsed and his breathing rasped. She tugged and released, tugged and released, mercilessly stripping his control, intent on binding him to her as tightly as she was bound to him.

Berke grasped the back of her head, his claws pricking her scalp, the pain exhilarating her, and he guided her up and down his shaft once, twice, three more times. The ridge at the base of his cock swelled and Elle sucked, her cheeks indenting around him.

“Enough, female.” He pulled her away from him, easily overpowering her resistance.

“Never enough.” Elle met his stormy gaze and cradled his cock head with the tip of her tongue, waiting, needing all of him.

Berke muttered under his breath and fiercely pumped his cock, his knuckles white around his shaft. She smiled, granting him that illusion of control for six heartbeats, allowing him to temporarily retreat behind his cold mask of indifference. His shoulders lowered and his jaw eased.

She cupped his balls and Berke stiffened, his eyes widening. “You wouldn’t,” he rumbled.

“Wouldn’t I?” Elle squeezed.

Berke roared and drove his hips upward, arching his spine, his muscles tightening under Elle. A hard pulse of hot cum erupted from his cock head and shot down her throat, coating her mouth with liquid heat.

She screamed, coming with a mind-spinning force, her body convulsing and her pussy clenching down on nothing. Mindless with ecstasy, she fastened her lips around Berke’s tip and sucked every last drop from his bucking body, tonguing his slit, searching for more, more, more.

Berke’s shudders eased and slowly stopped. “My
gerel
.” He drew her up his large form, sliding her curves against his warm muscle, the full-body caress causing Elle to tremble, a weakness he thankfully didn’t remark upon. Her Warlord wrapped his arms around her waist and cupped her fabric-covered ass with his big palms, securing her to him.

Elle rested her cheek on his chest, listening to Berke’s heart beating strong and true against her ear.
Was that enough to
prove myself worthy of being a Chamele Warlord’s mate?
She traced the wide silver scar slashing his right pectoral into two.
Or will I always remain his dirty little secret, hidden away from his world?

His breathing leveled, precious time ticking away, and the worry inside her built, the future and his plans unknown. “Berke?”

“Yes,
gerel
.” He brushed her curls away from her face, his gentle touch tugging at her heart.

Elle swallowed hard, unwilling to examine, to name the feelings churning inside her.
Will you ever claim me?
Fearing the answer, she asked a safer question. “Have your people met Zeta and Gale?”

“Unfortunately yes.” Berke sighed and she rode the rise and fall of his chest. “Every Chamele, friend or foe, knows they’re bonded to my brothers. The fools have told the worlds.”

“Oh.”
Their mates want them. They’ll never experience my pain, never desire to break their bonds, never need the results of my experiments.

“Your brothers must love them.” Elle summoned up a smile, her cheeks aching from the effort, her heart hurting.

“They don’t love their
gerels
enough,” Berke murmured. “Not nearly enough.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, his tender touch soothing some of her pain. “Sleep, Ellie. I’ll protect you.”

But he’ll never love me.
She closed her eyes, trapping the teardrops that threatened to fall.

* * * * *

The next evening, Berke lounged in the first officer’s chair, his
gerel
seated beside him, positioned close enough to touch. “And your ship’s scanner works on the same premise?” He examined the handheld device Ellie had designed to detect clones.

“It looks for the same genetic markers.” His mate’s small form was dwarfed by the large captain’s chair, a loose-fitting blue flight suit concealing her curves, her long hair draped over her shoulders. The loose tendrils made her appear young and vulnerable, rousing Berke’s protective instincts.

“When a ship comes within range, we can differentiate the clones from the other life forms.” She gazed at the main viewscreen, a frown on her beautiful face.

“I’ll ask Murad to boost the tracking ability to cover a greater distance.” Excitement swelled within him. Ellie’s invention increased his odds of ending the war quickly. “We can then search entire planets for Tolui’s army.” As he strategized, Berke tapped his fingers against the small screen. “Why didn’t I think of this?”

“It was the pain.” Ellie waved her small hand dismissively. “It’s challenging to think clearly when your nostrils are burning and your head is splitting into two.”

“Pain?” Berke straightened, certain he’d heard her incorrectly. “What pain?”

She swirled her fingertips over the controls, zooming in on one of his warships, and the lines etched between her eyebrows deepened. “You know, the pain because of your leadership role. You couldn’t isolate yourself from the opposite sex as I could.” Ellie shook her head, her curls tumbling over her breasts. “This won’t work. Ship, chart a course to the Tengri Sector.”

“Ship, disregard that order,” Berke barked. “We’re not leaving this sector. What are you talking about? What pain?”

“We have to leave the sector. Tolui hasn’t survived this long by being a fool.” Ellie’s brown eyes blazed with heated emotion. “He’ll know your ships are in orbit. He won’t contact me this close to Chamele 1.”

Berke set the clone-detecting device on the first officer’s console and lurched to his feet, not caring about Tolui or his
gerel
’s mysterious plan to catch him. “Did our separation cause you pain, Ellie?”

Ellie turned her head, her gaze meeting his. “Only when I shared a space with another male.” She brushed her fingers over the healing burn on her cheek. “Didn’t being near another female cause you pain?”

“I felt nothing, a numbness.”
I hurt my female with my decisions, with my arrogance.
Berke curled his fingers into tight fists. “I didn’t feel physical pain.”

“Because you didn’t care.” She glared at him, her eyes flashing with hurt and anger.

Berke flinched. “Because I’m not human.” He cautiously approached Ellie, not knowing how to fix his mistake. “I’m a Chamele.” He stood in front of her chair. “I thought you only felt the loneliness, the dead space inside your soul.” He rubbed his bare chest, remembering that aching emptiness. “I didn’t know—”

“That, even in this, I’d be weaker than you are?” Ellie looked away from him, her silent rejection cutting him. “That every day my tolerance for the company of other males would diminish until I had to erect barriers between me and the outside world, giving up the career I loved, becoming a prisoner in an all-female school?” His passionate female’s flat, dead tone revealed the extent of her anguish.

Anguish I inadvertently caused.
“Ellie.” Berke sank to his knees before her, the wire-mesh floor digging into his leg coverings, that pain serving as a small penance for what he’d done.

“Tolui contacted Zeta closer to your sun.” Ellie stared over his right shoulder, her refusal to look at him punishing Berke even more. “He might feel safe there.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Ship, chart a course to Chamele 4.”

“
Gerel
.” Berke placed his palms on her flight suit-covered thighs, needing to touch her, yearning to hold her. “What is the purpose behind the experiments you’re running?” he asked, dreading the answer.

Her gaze met his, her eyes covered with a wet sheen, his strong female battling tears. “I’m trying to correct our mistake, Berke.”

“You’re severing our bond,” he bluntly stated, his soul screaming a protest, needing her more than he had ever needed anyone or anything. She nodded and he clenched his jaw, smothering his pain over layers of ice. “Once this war ends—”