No Escape - Book 4: Trek Mi Q'an Page 8

  “Thank the goddess,” Klykka breathed out. “Are the deuce of you passing fair?”

  Kari tucked a tress of fire-berry hair behind her ear. “Yes. I was worried when I couldn’t get through. Is everything alright there? Was Jana found? Are you and Dorra—”

  Klykka interrupted her questions with a wave of her hands. “We’ve no time for this. In a few words,” she said hurriedly, ”Dorra and I are passing fair, yet Jana has not yet been located. Kara was captured by her betrothed—” She ignored their gasps and continued on, knowing time was of the essence. “And I’ve a great hall full of passed out warlords, all of whom want to find Jana and Dari.” She tugged in a breath of air. “Are the deuce of you safely removed from Galis with the boy-child?”

  “Aye.” Dari nodded succinctly, answering the question for Kari. “Bazi sleeps the sleep of the innocent whilst Kari steadily navigates us from Trek Mi Q’an.”

  “Where do you go?” she asked quickly. “Tell me that I might send aide.”

  Just then the doors to the warring chamber exploded open and angry warlords materialized seemingly out of nowhere. Klykka whirled around and gasped, startled. Thinking quickly, she closed her eyes, preparing to send out the strongest wave of sexual titillation in existence. “Nay!” she bellowed when Jek’s strong hands clasped her arms and forced her to cease her mental incantations. “Release me!”

  “’Tis best if you remain silent, wench,” Jek murmured into her ear. “You’ve already made me look the fool. I shan’t hesitate to return the favor.”

  Klykka gulped a bit nervously, but said nothing.

  Her body in fight-or-flight mode, Kari was preparing to end the holo-communication so their position couldn’t be traced when a sight she had not at all been expecting to see appeared before her. Her eyes wide, her face draining of all color, she gasped as her silver-blue gaze raked over a very familiar and very imposing eight-foot tall frame. “You,” she breathed out as her eyes found his face.

  Death’s entire body stilled as his golden gaze drank in the sight of Kari Gy’at Li for the first time in nine agonizingly long Yessat years. He felt as though he’d been punched in the stomach so powerful was the effect on him. He had scoured Galis and searched the dimensions for her these past years, yet until this moment had never heard tell of her. “You disobeyed me, wench,” he rumbled out, his jaw clenched tightly. He ignored the feelings she evoked in him and concentrated on the tangible. “Come back here anon and bring the princess with you.”

  Kari said nothing. She was so stunned that she could scarcely think let alone speak. Her eyes narrowed as they raked over him. He looked so powerful, so masculine and handsome. His huge, massively muscular body looked to be riddled with even more battle scars than he’d sported since the last time she’d seen him.

  She sighed. She’d fantasized about him for nine Yessat years. And now here he was.

  Taking another deep breath, Kari closed her eyes briefly and snapped herself back into the proper frame of mind. She wanted to see him, wanted to touch him so incredibly much, but…

  “I can’t,” she whispered, looking away from him. “I can’t come back.”

  Death’s eyes narrowed at her words. “Do not flee from me again, little one, or when I catch you ‘twill be hellfire to pay,” he finished grimly.

  Her eyes flew open. “Why?” she asked hoarsely. “Why do you want me? For a toy to add to your collection?”

  Death’s golden gaze never wavered from Kari’s. “You are mine,” he said firmly to Kari. “You are my mate.”

  Klykka gasped. Stunned, and uncertain what to say, she joined in the conversation for the first time. “This matters naught, Kari, and well you know it.” Her nostrils flared. “Dari has a mission at hand and naught, not even emotions, can interfere with it,” she reminded her.

  Kari nodded, but didn’t open her eyes.

  Kil’s gaze widened as it flew to Dari. “What does she mean, Dari? What has happened? Of what mission does she speak?”

  Dari nibbled at her lower lip and looked away.

  “You can tell me, Dari,” Rem chimed in. “You and I were ever close whilst you were growing up. Come, pani, tell us—”

  His words were interrupted by the crashing sound of Dak making his way into the Gy’at Li warring chamber. Dari cried out when she saw him, her usual formidable resolve crackling under the emotion of seeing her sire once again.

  Dak came to a halt in front of his daughter’s holo-image and took a deep breath. His eyes raked o’er her, ascertaining that she was passing fair. “Mani and I are worried,” he rasped out. His eyes were troubled. “Please remove yourself to Arak, ty’ka.”

  “I can’t,” Dari said quietly, her glowing blue eyes in mourning. “I can’t chance it until I have…more information.” She swore under her breath, immediately chastising herself for giving away even that much of a hint to her sire as to her activities. She could take no chances.

  Dak’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Information?” he murmured. “What sort of information do you seek, pani?” When she did naught but remain rigid in her silence, chills raced up and down Dak’s spine. He knew—knew—something horrid had happened and mayhap was still happening. “Please, wee one,” he said pleadingly, “I can’t help you if you don’t—”

  Her sire’s words were brought to a halt a moment later when Gio stormed into the warring chamber and made a direct path toward Dari’s holo-image. To her credit she held his gaze, even though he looked as though he wanted to murder her. He was angry, she realized. Fiercely possessive and angry.

  “Remove yourself back to Arak,” Gio ground out. His eyes grazed o’er her, the longing he felt to simply touch her overwhelming to him. His nostrils flared. “Do not make me hunt you down, ty’ka.”

  Dari’s nostrils did some flaring of their own. She ignored the sunken feeling she had inside, ignored her reaction to the way her hearts thumped in her chest when he called her ty’ka, ignored the chance she’d been given to gaze upon him once more, ignored even the memories that pounded through her mind, reminding her of the wondrous way he’d been intimately touching her body ever since her seventeenth Yessat year had passed. She reminded herself instead of how she’d loathed him when first she’d been taken to Arak so many Yessat years ago. ‘Twas necessary to call upon those emotions now. “You shan’t find me until I am ready to be found, Gio Z’an Tar.” She took a deep breath. “If ever I want found.”

  A tic began to work in his cheek. “You would cause this much grief to experience naught more than a time of freedom? Have you not learned by Kara’s example?” he murmured.

  Dari sat up regally straight, her chin going up a notch. He would attempt to remind her that even though Kara had fled, in the end she had been recaptured by Cam.

  Well, ‘twas no matter, she reminded herself firmly. Her sire and uncles had nigh unto choked a confession out of her, but now that she’d regained her wits, ‘twas necessary to remember she had to keep Gio in the dark. Let him think she desired naught but freedom. Let him think what he would if it kept him from the Rah.

  Just then Bazi awoke and the masculine sound of his voice calling to Dari captured the attention of every warlord in the chamber. Dari gulped a bit roughly, uncertain what to do. She wanted no one, not even her sire, let alone an entire chamber of warriors, to know that Bazi was aboard ship.

  Gio’s entire body stilled, for he knew not whom the voice belonged to, only that it was male. His breathing grew labored as he narrowed his gaze at his betrothed. “Who is that?” he rasped out. “And why does the male beckon to you?”

  Dari took a deep breath, but remained silent.

  “Answer me wench!” Gio bellowed, his arm flailing wildly about. A low growling sound erupted from his throat a split second before he hurled himself toward the holo-image as if trying to jump through it. “I’ll kill him!” he shouted. “Do you hear me, Dari? You have issued your lover a death sentence!”

  Dari’s eyes widened and then closed. Good
goddess, what should she do? What should she—

  Dak and Kil surged toward Gio in an effort to restrain him. Dari’s hand flew to grasp Kari’s wrist and her fingers dug into the flesh there whilst she watched the fight unfold. Gio had gone wild. Primal. She knew how strong her uncle and sire were, yet ‘twas not until Lord Death and her Uncle Rem added their strength into the mayhem that Gio was successfully restrained.

  Dari released a pent-up breath, then released Kari’s wrist a moment later. She knew ‘twas impossible for Gio to jump through a virtual image, yet she didn’t want him to do himself a harm trying either.

  “Cease this,” Dari said fervently. “Please, Gio, do not do this,” she said in a tone of voice that coming from any other wench would have sounded a plea.

  His breathing was heavy, his chest constricting up and down with the movement. Restrained by two warlords at either side, he could do naught but stare into her eyes. “How could you hurt me this way?” he rasped out. His eyes were wild, panicked, as though he had to recapture her anon lest he go mad. “I thought you had…come to love me.” His voice was hurt. Choked and hurt.

  Dari closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. She wanted to scream at the fates that had made it necessary to tear out his hearts this way. She yearned to shout out to him that ‘twas not true, that she had coupled with no male, yet an inner voice kept telling her to remain silent until Bazi was safely removed from Trek Mi Q’an.

  Gio’s jaw clenched. “Have you naught to say?” he ground out.

  Dari held his gaze for a suspended moment. ‘Twas so quiet within the warring chamber that nary a breath was taken. But finally, realizing ‘twas naught that could be said whilst she needed to protect Bazi, she gently shook her head and looked away.

  “I see,” he murmured.

  For the first time in she didn’t know how long, Dari felt her eyes filling up with tears and her bottom lip trembling. Before she could disgrace herself, before she began weeping right there in front of all and sundry, she stood up and left the chamber she had been seated within, leaving Kari to deal with the situation alone.

  Dari could hear Gio yelling for her as she walked away. She could feel his panic, wondering as he must where she was walking off to…or whom she was walking off to. She could feel his anger, his hurt, his possessiveness, his sense of betrayal. Weeping, she fled as fast as her feet would carry her.

  Back at the holo-communicator, Kari sighed. This was the most confusing and gut-wrenching day she’d lived through ever since that day so many years ago when forces she still didn’t comprehend had snatched her from earth and placed her on Galis. Her mind said that they were doing the right thing, yet her body and heart wanted to return to Galis…and to him. It was obvious that Dari was experiencing the same emotions. She took comfort in that, realizing she was not alone.

  Kari gazed into Death’s golden eyes once more. The intense way that he stared at her told her he would never let this decision go unchallenged. He would hunt her down, she realized. He would never stop, never relent, until he had her firmly under his power once more.

  Heat rushed through her as the renewed memories of the week they had spent together in Crystal City took over. The way he had touched her, commanded her, and perhaps…loved her?

  She sighed, knowing that week could never again be relived.

  Closing her eyes and taking a fortifying breath, she switched off the holo-communicator.

  Chapter 9

  Planet Zideon, Kopa’Ty Palace

  A sennight later

  Cam lie abed, moaning as he watched his cock disappear into the mouth of his ever-voracious Kefa Muta. He wanted Kara, would give anything to have her lips wrapped about his manhood thusly, yet knew also that he would have to content himself with his favored slave. Kara had made that plain when she’d sent Muta to his rooms to see to his comforts this eve. For a sennight now she had done the same every moon-rising, not deigning to see to his needs herself.

  He gasped as he spurted, his eyes closing tightly as he pretended ‘twas the mouth of his nee’ka he was spurting into. He needed to see her, needed to touch her, yet was afraid ‘twas too soon to approach her. Already they had been removed to Zideon for o’er a sennight, yet not once in that time had they coupled or shared a bed. ‘Twas unnatural, he conceded on a mental sigh. And what’s more, ‘twas like as naught destined to drive him mad.

  He wanted her powerfully, he admitted as he opened his eyes, watching as Muta’s blue lips took to suckling his man sac. He needed to be inside of Kara’s flesh like he needed to breathe. Yet he knew not what could be done to correct the bad feelings that lay between them, feelings that were keeping them divided better than any crystal walls could ever do.

  Twice he had attempted to reassure her of his emotions, to gently let her know that she had never been a mere battle prize to him, yet he knew not if his words had been believed. She had quietly thanked him, smiled softly up to him even, but then she had removed herself from the chamber without another word, lost in her own thoughts.

  Cam gritted his teeth. He would give anything—everything—to be able to read his neek’a’s mind.

  The only thing that had kept him going this past sennight was the certain knowledge that her emotions were in turmoil. She might avoid him, she might even go so far as to purposely hide from him, but he knew her emotions had rarely strayed from him. He figured ‘twas a promising sign for o’er the passage of time Kara K’ala Ra had learned well to school her emotions that they might not spill o’er to alert him of their existence whilst she’d been in hiding. The fact that they were now spilling o’er powerfully enough to make him aware not only of their existence but also of the fact that they were focused upon him and no other was telling unto itself.

  Cam turned his head, latching his mouth around the plump nipple of a green slave who pillowed him. He sucked on the nipple, closing his eyes whilst his manhood hardened for the insatiable Muta, her lips working up and down the length of his rod once again.

  He slowly fell asleep that way, much the same as he had in his youth, feeling empty inside yet knowing ‘twas necessary to have his needs seen to.

  His emotions were in turmoil. He could understand Kara’s reasoning, goddess help him, and that meant he could understand both why she had fled in the first and why she kept herself hidden away from him even now. And yet he also knew for a certainty that he could not continue on like this.

  Cam sighed. He needed his nee’ka in a way he’d never needed anyone or anything before.

  * * * * *

  Kara swam through the waters of Loch Lia-Rah with sunken hearts. Returning from the dead was overwhelming to her, she silently admitted. Every day, every hour, every moment, she was learning of new things that only served to further remind her of all the pain she had caused to her Sacred Mate by fleeing from him.

  Cam’s haunted eyes bespoke of torment, of pain. Even the possessions of his dominion told the same story, reflecting the fact that he had lived out five Yessat years as a man tortured. Before she had “died”, Cam had christened the stronghold of planet Zideon the Palace of Dreams. When she had passed on, at least so far as he knew, he had renamed it Kopa’Ty.

  A Warrior’s Sorrow. Or, more simply, My Sorrow.

  She wanted naught more than to make amends to him, to let bygones be bygones and carry on as they should have from the first, yet she feared his rejection more powerfully than ever, feared too that ‘twould take a miracle from the goddess before Cam forgave her of the transgressions she’d committed against so many.

  Kara closed her eyes in grief, knowing as she did that her husband must think she hated him. She could see in his eyes how much he longed for her despite everything, yet she had sent Kefas to his bedchamber each moon-rising rather than joining him there as she wanted to, as she should have.

  She knew not why she continued to do so, except for the fact that she was afraid that after their passion had been spent together she would see naught but revulsion for her
in his beautiful, haunting eyes. But she was stronger than this, she reminded herself staunchly. Leastways, if she wanted a happy life with Cam she had to at least let him know she was desirous of one.

  No more bedamned pride, she vowed, as she emerged naked from the waters. She would go to him this very eve and make her charms available to him. But from there, she told herself resolutely, whatever happened betwixt them was in Cam’s hands.

  * * * * *

  Cam awoke slowly in the thick of the night, his mind groggy yet nevertheless registering the fact that he was being suckled off. He sighed, not at all in the mood to spurt for the Kefas yet again.

  “No more,” he said gruffly, his hand reaching down to thread through Muta’s hair. “’Tis time for me to sleep…” His voice trailed off disbelievingly.

  Cam’s eyes widened and his breathing stilled when it dawned on him that the hair in his hand was not the blue hue he’d been expecting, but the black hair he’d forever dreamed of. “Kara,” he rasped out, “what do you here?”

  She met his eyes briefly whilst she sucked up and down the length of him, but never stopped in her ministrations long enough to answer his question. His large palm settled at the back of her head, cradling her there. “Aye,” he said thickly, his breathing growing labored, “do not stop, wee one.”

  And she didn’t. Kara closed her eyes and took him in clear to the back of her throat, working up and down the length of his cock just as her mating mistress had instructed her to do in her youth whilst she’d been bade to practice on lesser males the way of pleasing her future mate. Apparently, she thought with a secret smile, the instructions had at last paid off, for Cam was moaning and groaning, his chest heaving up and down with the effort to stop himself from spurting.

  “Nee’ka,” he rasped. “Aye. Oh aye.”