No Escape - Book 4: Trek Mi Q'an Page 6

  Only then, only once her womb had been gushed with potent seed, did Jana release his jugular. Exhausted, and still half delirious, she could only find enough energy to gasp when she felt fangs tear through the flesh of her neck. “Yorin.”

  She came immediately. Loudly. Violently.

  Her last conscious thought before the blackness overtook her was that he had bound her to him for life.

  And that her womb had been impregnated with a species not her own.

  * * * * *

  Kari Gy’at Li nibbled on her lower lip as she ended the holo-communication with Klykka. She took a deep breath, breathing in the pure nighttime air of Valor City. Wide-eyed, she turned to Dari. “Kara and Jana are missing.”

  Dari’s eyes rounded to the shape of full moons. “What?”

  “Kara disappeared from the Trefa jungle a few hours past and Jana seemingly disappeared from her own bedchamber.”

  “Good goddess,” Dari breathed out. Unblinking, she shook her head. “Is there any guess as to what became of them?”

  Kari sighed. “Yes.” She bit on her lip for a moment as she studied Dari’s face. “Klykka thinks they’ve fled for safety.”

  “Fled? But why?”

  “Because it gets worse,” Kari muttered. When Dari looked at her quizzically, she took a deep breath and expelled it loudly. “The Emperor and his men—your father and betrothed included—are demanding that Galis raise its shield and allow them passage inside.” Her voice quieted. “They’ve come looking for Kara and Jana. And,” she said pointedly, “you know what else it is that they want as well.”

  “Me,” Dari murmured.

  As loathe as she was to admit it, the temptation of surrendering herself to Gio was a bewitching one, yet ‘twas for a certainty she could not. Her eyes flicked to a few feet behind them where Bazi stood. ‘Twas for a certainty if she was found before she had time to prove who the Evil One was, and what it really was, the young boy-child would be brought back to Arak with her and murdered for a certainty. Mayhap she would be murdered too.

  “What do you want to do?” Kari whispered. She reached for Dari’s hand and squeezed it in a soothing manner. “Whatever you choose to do, I’ll stand by you.”

  Dari took a deep breath whilst she studied the visage of the six-foot boy-child who for the first time in weeks was at peace. There was but one choice, she knew. Leastways, she could never live with herself if death were to come to him.

  Turning back to face Kari, she nodded her head, her mind made up. “We flee. Name the place and let us be gone.”

  Chapter 7

  Airspace approximately five Nuba-hours outside Planet Zideon,

  The next day

  Kara sat across from Cam at the raised table aboard the gastrolight cruiser and partook of the evening repast. Or tried to partake of it was mayhap more to the point. She found ‘twas hard to enjoy a meal when her only company to share it with stared blankly into space, not so much as deigning to glance in her direction whilst he ate.

  She looked away from him and sighed. “Will you not talk to me?” she asked tiredly as she rubbed at a temple with her hand. “’Twill be a long trip if we sit in silence throughout—”

  “What is there to say?” he cut in, his voice a low murmur. She could feel his turquoise eyes boring holes into the side of her face, grazing o’er her breasts. “’Tis sorely apparent you’ve no wish to be my nee’ka.”

  She didn’t need to look up and see him to know that his jaw was clenched unforgivingly. “’Tis also sorely apparent to any warrior with half a mind that you will attempt to flee me again when given the chance.” His nostrils flared. “And so when we arrive on Zideon you will be granted few, if any, rights. I cannot trust you,” he gritted out. “You sentenced me and your birth family to five Yessat years of hellfire with your childishness.”

  Kara’s eyes closed at his words. She felt sick in the pit of her stomach realizing as she did that his words were true. She and Jana had caused much pain for many. ‘Twas fact. And yet…

  “Why will I be granted no rights?” she asked bitterly, her eyes opening once again then flying up to meet his gaze. She felt a little girl-child again, but refused to show him her weakness. “Think you I have not suffered as w—”

  “Silence.”

  Kara grimaced at the ice in his voice as well as at the strong hurt in his tone. She had shamed him—shamed and embarrassed him. And, she thought with a stab of guilt, she had also betrayed him and hurt him in the doing. Another fiercer stab of guilt lanced through her. “Cam,” she said softly, “’tis sorry I am. I never meant to—”

  “You never meant to do what?” His jaw clenched impossibly tighter as he slowly rose to his feet. “Hurt me?” he asked softly. He began to walk towards her, the look in his eyes frightening in its intensity.

  She would not, she reminded herself, show him her fear. Her nostrils flared instead. “What are you doing?” she asked with more grit than she felt. Her eyes watched him warily. “Mayhap ‘tis best do you seat yourself—oh.”

  Kara swallowed a bit nervously as she studied him through rounded eyes. She gasped when one of his hands clamped about her wrist, then gasped again when he picked her up and carried her o’er to his vesha bench. “What do you?” she whispered, her voice slightly shaking.

  “I do unto you what is my right. Guards!” he called out loudly. “You may enter this chamber anon.”

  She sucked in her breath. His voice was like ice and it frightened her for a certainty. When he stretched her out o’er his lap that her head dangled o’er one side of his thighs and her feet o’er the other, her fright escalated into panic. “Nay!” she gasped, unable to believe he was going to punish her this way. “Cam I beseech you—”

  “’Tis best,” he ground out, “that you accept your token punishment with the grace befitting a Queen.” He waited until ten warrior guardsmen had filed into the chamber before he hiked up the back of her qi’ka skirt and exposed her bare buttocks to the men of his command. “You knew the price you would pay when you disobeyed me,” he gritted. “Verily, I have twice bore witness to the Empress being punished thusly o’er the years. ‘Tis the way of it when a wench disobeys her master and well you know it.”

  Kara closed her eyes, blushing at the impending humiliation. Cam believed her to be aware of her mani’s public spankings at her sire’s hands when in fact she had been kept in the dark. She had heard the rumors. She hadn’t believed them—until now.

  “Please,” Kara said quietly. “I do not wish to be spanked before your men.” She bit down onto her lower lip, heat suffusing her face at the mere thought.

  “You would have me look the fool after all that you have done?” he asked softly. Too softly, she thought warily.

  “Nay but—ouch!”

  Kara grimaced at the impact of the first sharp spank he awarded her backside. She steeled herself for the next one, her buttocks clenching together, intuitively figuring as she did that there were four more to come—one for each Yessat year she had spent in hiding.

  And, inevitably, she was right. Four more sharp spanks crashed down upon the flesh of her buttocks, each one harder and more painful than the previous one. Throughout the whole of it she managed to retain her quiet dignity in front of Cam and his men, but by the time the last of the five stinging spanks had been awarded to her, her buttocks were fierce sore and she was unable to avoid the release of a small whimper.

  His large hand stilled upon the cheek of one red buttock. “Will you disobey me again, wench?” he asked loudly, making certain all in the chamber could hear his words.

  Kara felt her teeth grind together at the cool command of his tone. ‘Twas no wonder wenches didn’t often disobey their Sacred Mates, she thought acidly, for to be splayed out like this and publicly spanked was embarrassing in the extreme. She wanted to curse Cam, to tell him exactly what was on her mind, but she knew that to do so in front of his warriors would only further shame him, which in turn would garner her naught but
a fiercer spanking. “Nay,” she hissed.

  He gave her a small, stinging whack to her backside, letting her know that naught but a properly chastised tone of voice was acceptable. “I did not hear you, nee’ka. Answer me again.”

  Her nostrils flared, but she gave him the bedamned word he sought and spoke it this time in a neutral tone of voice. “Nay,” she repeated. ‘Twas her guilt and naught else that induced her to say it. And then she added for clarity, “I shan’t shame you again.”

  He ran a soothing hand o’er her buttocks, inducing her to whimper. She gritted her teeth at the submissive sound, chastising herself anon.

  “’Tis a good wench,” Cam murmured whilst he stroked her buttocks. “Now show these warriors proper respect unto me.”

  Kara’s nostrils flared to wicked proportions. If the rumors concerning public spankings were true, then so too were the rumors concerning how a wench might show proper respect to her Sacred Mate following a punishment. She closed her eyes briefly, realizing as she now did that the spanking was naught in terms of embarrassment compared to what was to come.

  For a suspended moment she didn’t move, just continued to dangle there across his lap. She flirted with the idea of disobeying him again, but in the end decided against it. Cam needed to save face. And such, whether she had a care for it or not, was apparently how a Trystonni male when shamed by his nee’ka restored his pride.

  After taking a deep breath, Kara raised herself up off of Cam’s lap and stood before him, waiting whilst he summoned off her qi’ka. When he had done so, she came down to her knees before him and began to remove the boots that covered his feet.

  Cam’s eyes raked o’er her body as he watched her perform the ancient ceremony that bespoke of complete and total submission to one’s mate. He felt his cock stiffen merely watching her and wanted more than anything to fill her up with it.

  In front of him, Kara’s cheeks were pinkened. Mayhap, she told herself, if her mating mistress had informed her of this custom years ago whilst she had been of the schooling age, she never would have been so bold as to flee Tryston in the first.

  “Show them,” Cam murmured. “Show these warriors your submission to me.”

  Her eyes widened at the challenge she heard in his voice. This was his way of saying that if she was truly sorrowful o’er the pain and shame she had caused him in the past, then she would cause no more by shaming him yet again in front of his men.

  On a sigh, she relented.

  Naked on her knees before him, Kara spread out her thighs as far apart as they would go, then lowered her face to his bared feet. She was careful to keep her channel on full display for the warriors gathered behind her to watch, her buttocks raised high as she began kissing his feet.

  She knew ‘twas up to Cam how long this phase of her punishment was to go on and, indeed, he allowed it to go on for quite some time. Perversely, ‘twas only then that Kara realized just how sorely she had injured him. Cam was not the type to inflict revenge upon her, yet the fact that he was allowing the kissing of his feet whilst her channel was on display for others to go on for so long was proof positive of all that he had endured at her hands. She grimaced at the thought, wondering if even after all this had transpired he would forgive her.

  “Enough,” Cam murmured. “Rise up, nee’ka.”

  She closed her eyes at the gentleness of his tone. ‘Twas then that she knew for a certainty that he had harbored no desire to see her splayed out the way that she had been. He had merely done it because ‘twas what was expected of him. To do aught else would have made him appear weak—a death sentence for a warlord who forged his way in life by commanding the respect of so many.

  Mayhap ‘twas guilt, mayhap ‘twas the desire to show him she well and truly wished for peace between them, but when Kara raised herself up before him, she lifted only her face and remained upon her knees. Her thighs still spread submissively wide, her channel still on display for all and sundry to gaze upon, she removed his thick cock from his leathers and wrapped her lips about it.

  Cam shuddered, his breath escaping in a hiss. He cupped her face with his palms, watching through eyes narrowed in bliss as she sucked him off for all to see. She took her time with it, allowing him to feel the pleasure of her warm mouth for long minutes before she began working him frenziedly, suckling his stiff erection in rapid sucks.

  He came hard, spurting into her mouth on a groan. His breathing labored, he flicked his hand toward his men, indicating ‘twas time for them to take their leave.

  At last, Kara’s head slowly raised from his lap and their gazes clashed together. Cam’s nostrils flared as he studied her face, wanting as he did for all to be healed between them, yet simultaneously afraid to entrust her with his vulnerability.

  Kara took a deep breath as she studied his face in return. Everything Cam had punished her for—and more—was true. She had hurt and betrayed both him and her family. She had fled from her husband without giving him the chance to calm her fears of him. She had schemed and lied, connived and even stolen to achieve her means. There was much she had done that was wrong. And yet, there was one thing her Sacred Mate was wrong about himself.

  “I won’t try to run from you again,” she said gently. “I say that now not that you might save face before your warriors, but that you might know in your hearts ‘tis true.” Her eyes softened as she looked at him. “’Tis a vow amongst Sacred Mates.”

  He looked away from her, afraid to believe. “As if a vow from you means aught,” he defensively ground out.

  Affronted, Kara sucked in her breath. She quickly stood up and backed away from the raised table a few steps. “There is much I have done that is wrong,” she rasped out, her naked breasts heaving before him, “leastways, I have never uttered a lie unto you.”

  The hurt in her voice caused Cam to look up. He studied her face but said nothing.

  “Even once in the five years you thought me dead,” she asked angrily, “did you ever wonder why ‘twas that I ran from you?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I wanted a taste of freedom, aye, but I’ve come to realize o’er the passing of time that freedom wouldn’t have been enough of a lure to make me flee.”

  His nostrils flared. “Oh aye, nee’ka, I know why ‘twas you fled from me. Leastways, it’s all I’ve been able to think upon every moon-rising for the last five Yessat years.”

  Kara squinted her eyes and cocked her head. She could tell he was serious in his thinking, yet something told her they were not thinking along the same lines. His voice was too bitter. “What mean you?” she whispered.

  “Because I was not a warrior born,” he ground out. Cam’s eyes bore into hers. “I spent year upon year upon year proving myself to be a better hunter, a better fighter, than any highborn warrior in existence.” His eyes flicked longingly o’er her form. “I did so that you might be proud to call me your own, that you would feel pride of the hearts instead of embarrassment for being Kara K’ala Ra.” He looked away. “Yet all that I did ‘twas never enough. You never felt pride. And you never came to love me,” he murmured.

  A numbing chill worked its way down Kara’s spine. She couldn’t have been more shocked by his confession had he sprouted metallic skin and turned into a gazi-kor right there at the raised table. Her eyes haunted, she took a deep breath. “’Tis ironic for a certainty,” she whispered as she stared at him.

  “I don’t follow.” Cam shook his head, then looked up to meet her gaze once more. “Of what do you speak?”

  “’Tis my sire that wanted you to be a great warlord, but ‘twas never what I myself wanted.”

  His brow furrowed uncomprehendingly.

  “I ran from you because I feared I was naught but a battle prize to you,” she said sadly. “It had naught to do with your titles or lack thereof.”

  Cam’s entire body stilled. Every muscle in his body corded and tensed. He wanted so much to believe her for he loved her as he could love no other, and yet so much hurt had passed between them
that he was afraid to cling to the small hope she’d just thrown his way. “Do you speak the truth to me?” he rasped out.

  Her smile was poignant, sad. “Aye, ‘tis true.”

  She took a deep breath, too overcome with emotion to remain in the chamber with him. She needed to go to her apartments aboard the ship and think for a spell.

  She loved Cam K’al Ra. She had always loved him. She had tried to forget it for a time, yet she could suppress the truth of it no more. And now, ironic though ‘twas when at last she had admitted her buried feelings to herself, it appeared as though all was lost. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t believe her. And mayhap he never would again.

  Kara turned about to walk away. She could feel his eyes upon her. Swiveling her head, she took a calming breath and then looked at him from o’er her shoulder. “You became a great warlord that I might love you,” she said quietly. “Yet ‘twas the son of a lowly trelli miner that I fell in love with.”

  Cam felt tears sting the backs of his eyes. He blinked them away as he watched her take a deep breath and walk away from him. It hadn’t escaped his notice that her eyes had been glowing a dimmed blue, believing as she did that all was lost between them.

  Leastways, she was wrong. Things had never felt more right.

  Or at least, he conceded wearily, they had never felt more right to him. How she felt about him now, he couldn’t say.

  Chapter 8

  Meanwhile, back on Galis…

  Zor’s lips tightened into a grim line as he glanced around at the bevy of bound male servants attending to the evening repast. ‘Twas nigh unto disgusting, the sight of so many erect manparts standing about. He sighed, telling himself ‘twas true he had now lived to see it all. And to think that his wee Kara had lived amongst the Galians for five Yessat years…