DarykRogue Page 9

  A smidgen of humor made it past her nervousness. “Ah, so you’re troubled for my modesty.”

  He threw her a quick look as they approached the cabin. “Yes and no.”

  His confusing agreement and contradiction kept her off guard until they reached the cabin and he set her down long enough to unlock the door. She stepped in ahead of him as new trepidation rose inside her. What would happen next? He didn’t honestly expect sex right now, did he?

  The click of the door shutting and locking gave her a voice. “Listen, Rayder, we don’t have to—”

  He moved so quickly she barely saw it. He buried his fingers in her hair, tilted her head and kissed her. His mouth ravaged hers with heady intensity, his tongue sinking deep and caressing hers with wild, luscious strokes. She moaned and arched into him, caught up in his sudden passion. Instinct flared, and she responded. Her tongue moved, tasted him with feral intent. His cock pressed solid against her belly and excitement fluttered through her stomach. Breathless, she flung her arms around his neck and dove into the sensations rocking her. He tore his mouth from hers and peeled her arms from around his neck.

  “Wait.” His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, his eyes red and lips parted. “Not like this. I won’t fuck you like a brute. Not your first time.”

  Amazed, she stared at him.

  He stalked away, going to a small cabinet and opening it. He gathered two tankards and a large flask. While she recovered her breath, her body still throbbing with glorious sensations, he uncorked the flask and poured an amber liquid into both tankards. He lifted one tankard to his mouth and drank a copious amount without stopping then poured more amber liquid within. A warmth spread over her she didn’t understand as he walked toward her with both tankards in hand. His erection still pressed thick and long against his trousers, but she tried to avoid noticing it. That wasn’t going to be easy to do.

  As he handed her one tankard, he said, “To our marriage, however long it lasts.”

  “As long as it takes for me to return to Magonia.”

  “You aren’t ever going back there.”

  The finality in his low voice shocked her. Anger followed quickly. “You won’t command me like that. I won’t allow it.”

  He laughed, soft and certain. “Oh? A few days from Magonia and already you’re a true Dragonian woman. I like that.”

  She started to speak, but when he threw back his drink then wiped his mouth, she did the same. The fiery liquid burned her throat, but she barely choked on it.

  Rayder’s deep, hearty laugh caught her off guard. “You’ve had liquor before?”

  “Do not be so surprised.” She returned his smile. “I’m only twenty and three, but I’ve managed to sneak in a few drinks when my parents weren’t looking.” When his eyebrows lifted in disbelief, she jumped on it. “You doubt me?”

  He laughed again, and the accepting quality of his chuckle made worries dissolve. “I suppose I’ve judged you unfairly, just as you’ve judged me.”

  Not sure she wanted to admit she could have been partially wrong about him, she asked. “How do you see me?”

  “You’ve been sheltered and repressed. Given few options in life. Men have tried to control you and sometimes succeeded.” His gaze glittered, but the red had disappeared. “You’ve been good about following the rules until recently. Something changed all that.”

  Afraid he could look inside her and somehow extract the truth, she frowned. “I believe in many of the things the Chronicles of Magon say.”

  He snorted softly. “Are you sure? Women are allowed to drink liquor?”

  “No.”

  “Yet here you are. Breaking the rules. How does that work? How can you believe in a book that is full of shite about a woman’s place?”

  She’d never heard such passion in a man’s voice, particularly when it came to defending a woman. She certainly hadn’t expected it from him. “I’ve loosened my beliefs over the last year considerably, but that doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned all propriety.”

  “Last night you allowed me to stroke you between the legs, to touch you where no man has ever touched you. To suck your nipple. Is that allowed in your Chronicles of Magon?”

  Challenged, her blood heated and her face flamed. “No.”

  “Then own up to it, my beauty.” His voice was liquid soft and rumbling deep. “You’re breaking the rules with me. What does that say about you?”

  “That I’m…” Shame washed through her. “Sinful.”

  “I think it says you’re learning the truth. That women are equal to men. That women deserve freedom and happiness. On Dragonia, women have that.”

  Astonished, her brows knitted as she thought about what he’d said. She held out the tankard. “I think I’ll need another.” He grinned and returned to the table to pour. Curiosity turned her in another direction. “I thought the ceremony was to be on deck.”

  “I told the admiral I wouldn’t subject you to other men’s stares. At first he balked, but he gave in soon enough.”

  He came back with her tankard and this time she sipped the liquor and allowed the heat to flow downward slowly. Something that resembled admiration started inside her. “Thank you. I didn’t expect…”

  “You didn’t expect me to care for your feelings.”

  “No.”

  He tossed back the reminder of his drink and returned it to the cabinet where he set it down. “Don’t admire me too much, Xandra. My feelings for you are temporary. Born of lust.”

  He gripped the side of the cabinet with both hands, his knuckles showing white as he lowered his head and closed his eyes for a moment. He returned to her, his eyes flaming, his cock looking even harder and thicker. He took her tankard from her and slid it onto a table nearby.

  Anger flared under her skin at his words. She wanted to lash out. “How can you be a slave trader and believe about women what you just told me?”

  He drew her into his arms. “Because I’m not the man you think I am. Let’s leave it at that. It’s safer.”

  “For whom? You or me?”

  He leaned nearer, his hands caressing up and down her back. “I’m not going to take you tonight. When and if you decide to give me your virginity, it has to be on your terms.”

  His hands rucked up the back of her dress and cupped the globes of her ass. He squeezed and she gasped in surprise and arousal. Her palms spread over his chest, taking in the uncompromising hardness beneath her fingers. Thick desire swirled in her stomach—she recognized it from last night, the same slow and inevitable craving.

  “What if I don’t ever want more…sex with you.”

  He kissed her forehead then her nose then her mouth. His lips trailed to her ear where he swirled his tongue and caused a soft gasp to leave her throat. “I never said no sex. I just won’t fuck you.”

  His harsh word, which she’d heard even in Magonia and knew what it meant, didn’t offend her. No, it caused a new flame to burn low and catch fire between her legs. “I’m your wife. Aren’t we supposed to have sex?”

  His breath whispered over her earlobe. “Oh yeah. That’s what everyone outside this cabin thinks we’re going to do.” Rayder pressed his hips to hers. “I want you. I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you. What I feel for you isn’t sweet or pretty or neat. It’s hot. It’s dirty. It’s the most animal feeling I’ve ever had. I’ve never wanted to fuck a woman more than I want to fuck you. And I’m afraid of that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s obsessing me. Stalking me like a bastia in the jungle.”

  “Bastia?”

  “A nasty lizard several yards long. Has a horrible bite.”

  She shivered, but not from fear as his lips traveled over her neck with soft attention. “I’m like a lizard? How flattering.” He slapped her butt and she yelped in surprise at the small sting. “What are you—”

  “You’re mine.” His statement was rough and uncompromising.

  “What?”

  “
Now that we’re married, no man would dare touch you or harm you. He knows if he did I have license to kill him.”

  A little perturbed, she came back with, “How barbaric. I thought you said women in Dragonia are free.”

  “They’re free. You don’t understand my meaning. The people on this ship claim to be Dragonian, but they don’t follow the general rules of society.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Obviously not.”

  “Women are precious in Dragonia. The people are going sterile and few have babies any longer. That’s one of the reasons why Drakus Fina buys slaves from Magonia and gives them to Dragonian men. He believes that if we breed with Magonian women, we’ll repopulate our continent again.”

  Shocked, she asked, “Do you believe that?”

  “I think it makes sense. Our continent and yours have been too isolated from each other for many hundreds of years. Perhaps we need to mix our bloods.”

  “So you condone this Drakus Fina, whoever he is, taking women as slaves?”

  Conflict simmered in his eyes, but his desire for her was overwhelming it. “I’m trying to explain while you’ll need to act a part while on this ship. Admiral Aramus isn’t like most Dragonian men. He’s like Drakus Fina and has little or no regard for women as equals. As my wife, you’ll have less trouble from him. Don’t let him know what you really think and feel. Be subservient. Keep your mouth shut around him. Do as I say.” He slipped his hand behind her neck and held her steady, eyes fierce and hot. “If he thinks at any time you’re not subservient enough, he may try to have you thrown overboard or instantly sold. Perhaps even sold to someone as odious as Farcam. He won’t care that you’re my wife if you piss him off enough.”

  Silence drowned the room as she shivered at the implication. Emotions boiled up inside her. Fear. Defiance. Mostly defiance. “But—”

  He smothered her protest with a kiss, cupped her ass and dipped down to line up his cock with her pussy. She groaned as he lifted and instinctively her legs wrapped around his waist. His cock rubbed and stroked along her folds as he walked to the bed and released her.

  “Sit on the edge of the bed,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Wait and see.”

  He reached down, removed her shoes and tossed them aside. Before she could muster one word he snatched her dress up over her head and off. She was naked just that quickly. A flush covered her body as he examined her with flaming eyes. He’d take her now. He seemed too aroused to do otherwise, and she realized that she didn’t care.

  Yes, she did. This beast of a man, a slave trader, did things to her she couldn’t comprehend. She’d heard of women falling to urges forbidden in the Chronicles of Magon. Yet Ketera had explained to her that on Dragonia these thoughts and inclinations were even encouraged. The words of the wedding ceremony helped confirm that. And Daryk Ones, like this man, well, that was something all together different. She didn’t know if Daryk Ones were different from other men on Dragonia and Magon. Perhaps now she’d find out.

  His gaze devoured her, appreciation more than evident. “Lie back.”

  She did as he asked, quivering with an excitement that held her silent. She’d heard whispers, hush-hush talk of a woman’s moment when she learned the biggest mystery of all. Perhaps tonight she’d know the answer. His eyes burned that red, and she had to know why.

  “Why?” She took a deep breath. “Why are your eyes like that? What are you?”

  He didn’t growl or grow angry. Instead his smile came slowly and seductively. “I’m a Daryk One. And my blood runs hot for sex. When I meet the woman who is my mate, she is mine. My body is hers to cherish. To take. To enjoy. I’m hers. My eyes burn this way in battle or passion. It’s a part of my blood and can’t be removed.”

  “Forever?” It couldn’t be. She didn’t love him and he didn’t love her. “Love doesn’t exist between a man and woman unless it’s a union proclaimed by the will of Magon. My religion says—”

  “Bugger your religion and mine,” he said with passion. “I’m not a religious man and never have been. What I feel with you can only be one thing. I didn’t want it to be, but it is. Mating is a primal desire, declared by nature, not some god that humans have designed for purposes of control and greed. We are the gods, my beauty. Only us.”

  Blaspheme. “Impossible.”

  “Why?” He hovered over her, his eyes burning so red now she couldn’t avoid looking at them. “Why is it impossible? Think for yourself and decide if what you feel is the will of a god or your own desires.”

  “I don’t…” Desire did ride upon her, but if she let go, if she gave in to what he said, then where was her willpower? How did she ever return to herself if he possessed her? “You cannot expect me to understand this mating the way you do. I’m Magonian. It will take time. Time I’m not sure I want to take.”

  A smile laced with sarcasm touched his mouth. “Where can you go? If you try to leave this ship, I will bring you back. If you escaped me, Dragonia is a huge country. Everywhere there is danger. Poisonous animals, ravenous dragons and lawless men who don’t care if they treat you with respect and unharmed. Even if none of those things killed you, the jungle or the desert or the ice would. You wouldn’t survive without me, Xandra. Not one day.”

  His arrogance fired her blood. She stared him down. She was naked, but she wasn’t defenseless. “That, as you’ve said before, is bollocks.”

  He smiled, but humor never reached his eyes. “You don’t understand. Even if I have to let you go eventually, you’re still my mate. I would do anything for you. Anything to protect you. Once a Daryk One finds his true mate, it cannot be any other way. When we went through the ceremony, that’s when I realized my attraction to you was more than surface.” His voice held a thickness, a drugging need for her. “Your body is mine, your desire is mine and you can’t escape it.”

  She never expected a man this rough-looking would ever speak so passionately and with undeniable conviction. She’d expected uncouth. Mean. Brutal even.

  Never this… Oh never this…

  Everything within her responded, as if he’d put some spell upon her she couldn’t escape. Perhaps she should have run and been frightened, but it had the opposite effect. If she was to know slavery soon, she wanted this small moment in time, filled with the extraordinary, with feelings and touch.

  “Oh,” was all she managed, breathless as she watched him crawl up her body, bracketing her hips with his thighs.

  He settled beside her, his big body touching her from calf to chest. He hadn’t taken off a piece of his clothing, and being so naked before him made her feel vulnerable in an entirely new way.

  He encircled one breast in his right hand then drew his thumb and forefinger together to lightly pinch and tweak the already hard nipple. “Beautiful. By the god, you are beautiful.”

  Xandra couldn’t hold back the moan as pleasure flew from her sensitive nipple straight to between her legs and tingled. She closed her eyes as she trembled. Taris had fumbled with her breasts, clumsy and harsh. This was so different. With Taris they’d had all their clothes on and he’d caressed her over her garments.

  Rayder dipped his head and flicked with his tongue, licked the aroused nipple and teased it with brush after brush of wet, hot attention. She started to writhe under the intimate touch, the ache between her thighs growing higher. Oh, if she could only…

  She didn’t know what.

  He sucked and licked, making circles around her nipple then moving to the other breast. As he tortured her flesh with his tongue, he continued the madness by plucking at the nipple he’d just feasted upon. Warm licks brought her to the edge of an abyss. He wouldn’t stop, and she couldn’t beg because she didn’t know what she wanted. Perhaps more of what she’d experienced last night. Could his suckling bring her to the edge of sexual fulfillment again? A moment later, he stopped playing with her breasts and moved downward, sprinkling her belly with tender kisses until he slid off the bed to kneel between her thighs
.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, half excited, half-frightened.

  “Bringing you to fulfillment. As I did last night.” She allowed him to part her thighs then slip his hands beneath her knees. She propped up on her elbows.

  She trembled as he placed her feet on the bed. She was open to him in every way, and while she felt indecent and sinful, the sensation tore away barriers. He kept his eyes on hers until the last moment when his mouth touched her intimately.

  Chapter Eight

  “Wait,” Xandra said, shocked. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to lick your sweet pussy.”

  She blushed. “Why?”

  “Because it will feel good for both of us. I’m going to thrust my fingers inside you.” His eyes burned as he looked up at her. “I’ll flick my tongue over your sweet spot until you explode under my mouth.”

  “Oh.”

  Her breathless declaration mad him smile. “Now lie back and close your eyes.”

  “But—”

  “Do it.”

  The slight command in his voice made her want to pop him one, but she did as told.

  Xandra’s eyes closed and she threw back her head at the sharply thrilling sensation of his tongue lapping at her folds. She was wet, so wet, and he tasted, made a meal of her. Her heartbeat quickened and she fell back on the bed. His tongue soothed a path over each fold, and the tingle it left behind with each stroke made her moan softly. His tongue pushed inside her and shock made her rise up on her elbows again. But that made it worse—he stopped long enough to spear her with those brilliant eyes blazing with his desire and the sharp need inside her increased. Watching his mouth settle between her legs, watching him devour her with steady licks made her stomach contract and breath catch. A heat wave throbbed low in her belly, making her ache for the sexual fulfillment she’d experienced before. She lay back on the bed, unable to stop the groans that fell from her lips. His tongue slipped inside her as his thumb found her tingling bud and brushed it with gentle touches. Her hips twitched and rose against his insistent stimulation. As he had her mouth, his tongue speared into her with sensual strokes.