Feral Fever Read online

  The big lout. "Can't you tell?"

  He chuckled softly. "I thought you were so fragile when I first laid eyes upon you. But you rode my war mount like a seasoned warrior." His chuckle gurgled into a growl. "Clinging to me just as you did now." He leaned over to nuzzle her breast, scraping up another rash of my gooseflesh with the coarse hairs of his beard as he plucked my nipple into a taut bead with his teeth. "And I knew back then there was no way I could feed you to the wolves. What are wolves anyway?"

  I would have cried right then, but he kept nibbling on my nipples, sending electrifying ecstasy shafting through my core.

  So I found my hero. His heart held the courage, honor, and strength I needed to survive the trials ahead. Even if I never took on another mate. Even if Queen Ishan forced me to take on fifteen. But once the blood bond was made, nothing could separate me from Borun. He would always be worthy enough to save me from the wolves. And even if it seemed ludicrous that I could love him after knowing him two days, maybe that was possible. It certainly stood for a lengthy debate given the type of world I was thrown into on Luvk. Now to seal the blood bond. "Wolves look a lot like Jonner. Smaller though. I need a knife, Borun."

  He snorted. "I make love to you, and you're going to try to kill me now?"

  I couldn't help but laugh. "The blood bond. I'm about to make you a Marshal."

  His gaze locked on mine again. "Little one, you meant what you said back in the cave?"

  As if I'd go around tempting tough bastards with fantasy to wrap them around my little finger. I'd need something stronger like magic and blood to manage that feat. "Do you think I'd whip up these crazy notions to entrap males? No, I'm not about to let you get away. Give me a knife, Borun."

  He chuckled and rolled to one side of the sleeping fur. "Oh, little one, you don't have to do anything to entrap warriors on Luvk. Merely enter a room, and they'll line up to do your bidding." He pulled a long knife from the darkness and handed over.

  I quickly sliced a small cut on my upper arm and scraped some of the blood up with the blade. "Here." I extended the knife to him.

  "That's it? I just take such a small amount? It's almost as if there is no reason for the gesture."

  "Yes." God if he really didn't want to do this. I couldn't have every warrior on Luvk running around trying to win me over to ingest my blood because he shared the details of were-assassin blood bondage with Luvks.

  He ran a long finger across the sharp edge and licked his digit clean of the libation. His gaze flashed like the blood sparked a fire in his soul.

  Firelight danced upon the blade.

  He slit his upper arm in the same area I cut mine, scraped up a draught, and handed over. "To seal the pact for you, little one."

  How did he always know what to say to make my heart dive?

  "I hear your heart, Aisling."

  I snatched the blade and licked the blood from the edge before those observant glowing eyes.

  A tingling burned through every cell of my body, slowly radiating from my core out to the tips of my limbs. I stared at his shadowy face the hearth's light hid from me. All but his eyes of shimmering golden fog. And knew my life would never be the same. Could he even begin to comprehend what lay ahead?

  "Has the burning stopped?" he asked.

  So he felt it too. "Yes."

  "We are one?"

  "Bonded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. I hear in about twelve hours measured by the method on my home world, I'll become ill. It's a symptom of the blood lust. But other species don't experience the lust at the same intensity people from my world do. So, you may not have the need to mate with me as often as I do."

  He threw his head back laughing.

  His ass off, literally.

  "You have no idea how the mind of a Royal Guard dwells on nothing but mating, little one. And how to keep you alive to ensure I can mate." He rolled me over to where I straddled his waist and he rocked his hips until the tip of his thick engorged member rubbed my lower back. "If I cannot give you a child in three months time, it is nigh impossible."

  Shit. Why hadn't I thought of the high risk in pregnancy among were-mates? Why did the fact suddenly hit me now?

  "Aisling," he rose so quickly to clutch me against his beating heart. "What did I say?"

  How could I tell him? I just created the unbreakable blood mate bond. "I'm almost afraid to admit it." Because my safety without Kruk afoot hinged upon a successful pregnancy.

  Borun pushed me aside, laid me in his arms, and settled me down against the soft fur of his bed like a broken body. Firelight etched out his strong features and painted the stripes upon the skin of his face.

  "Tell me," he ordered.

  Would he hate me? I hadn't lied. But everything he had done to protect me was suddenly tossed out the window. "With were-assassin marriages," I gulped down a knot forming in my throat, "pregnancies are extremely risky and rarely produce children."

  ?

  Chapter Eight

  Aisling's heart drummed so rapidly that she couldn't look at her mate and clamped her eyelids shut. The science behind the dilemma probably wouldn't change the questions that raged through his mind, she thought. Luvks were so violent. And I hadn't just omitted the details. Hell, rabid tigers chased us the entire time we were together en route to the palace. Nobody had a moment to contemplate having children. Although that part of mating seems extremely important to Borun, it never even crossed my mind. Especially when he lifted me off Jonner, marched me in before the Queens and warriors, and roared his ass off in the great hall. Who would think of anything other than a warrior like him saving her when facing all that brouhaha? "Thank you for saving me. But I think I've done myself in." I popped my eyes open to find him watching me.

  A lump of dread fisted in my throat.

  His lips gently planted a kiss upon mine. "No more riding war beasts."

  He planted another sizzling kiss on one of my nipples.

  A bolt of desire shot through me as the nipple knotted.

  He tugged the bead into a long point with his teeth, only to release the tender tissue. "No more wild mating."

  He groaned.

  For what? His misery. I couldn't blame him. The thought of not going riding really sucked. He must hate having to play things easy. Safe.

  He shoved my legs wide, moving ever so quickly to slide between my thighs. "And no more worries." His hot mouth landed on my navel, lapping, nibbling, while his broad palm massaged my ribs with the most delicate of touches.

  If this was what he meant by no wild sex, we were both in trouble because all I wanted to do was get him inside me. Grind his hard shaft until it became a permanent fixture within me. God, to only stop my soul from begging for his stiff ramming cock.

  His moist mouth and scratchy stubble edged lower, dragging those hands along. Down to where he spread my nether folds wide and licked my trembling body beyond controllable. Sucking, nibbling, lathing around and around until I became deliriously close to shooting off the bed.

  He rose and thrust the full length of his hardness inside me.

  All the way to the blessed hairy root.

  My body tensed around him, trying to lock him there.

  "Aisling," he groaned and threw his head back as he pushed his body backward at the end of those incredibly muscled arms. "I want to hold back. To keep from hurting you." He gasped.

  God wouldn't he pound into me? I rocked my hips and squeezed my vaginal muscles as tightly as possible. Something had to set him off. Release the frenzied beast.

  He growled, withdrawing ever so slowly, painstakingly creeping his luscious thick shaft along the tightness of my vagina, and leaned onto one arm, muscles bulging to the max above me, watching, savoring every moment as he pulled his engorged member out of my body with excruciating patience. Over and over so damned slowly I almost cussed.

  I couldn't stop watching or squeezing the sanity out of him. Couldn't close my eyes to shut out the view of him taking what he wanted.


  When would he just let go and take it all?

  Everything about him was raw strength and power. And here he hovered above me, proving to himself, or me, that he controlled our world. Everything but my ability to breathe. I gasped for air beneath the overarching undulating muscle of his arm.

  Wouldn't he ever end this madness? I snaked a leg over his striped firm ass and curled the foot around his thigh to pull his glorious weight down atop my belly.

  His golden gaze slid to meet mine while he stilled, perched upon that one arm.

  Something flashed in those misty orbs.

  Was that satisfaction for how he played my body like a musical instrument? "Borun," I whined. Not a sound I liked to make, by the way.

  He leaned the tight muscles of his waist into my belly and fell onto his other arm. His amazing mass pinning my groin right where he wanted it. And he rocked the wiry hairs of his sex against my sensitive nub.

  He was trying to kill me with deprivation. I curled my other leg around his other thigh, opening myself to him as much as possible. I wanted to be his war mount. If only he'd ride me as hard and fast as we'd ridden before. Harder. Faster.

  God to touch him. I slid my hands over his waist to his back and ran my palms down that amazing musculature, bent to the absolute limit the way he arched overhead. Down to his wrought iron ass.

  "We'll be careful tomorrow," he groaned and pounded into me.

  Slapping my bottom with the pat of his balls. Again and again, he rammed his thick rod into my starving flesh until I couldn't hold back my cries of passion. I had to hold something. Had to hang on. Because we were so damned separate. Too damned far apart. If we could only meld into one cohesive mass… I tried to grab his arms but couldn't get a grip.

  He must have known. He pressed his weight into my chest until I could sink my fingernails into his shoulder blades.

  The world slipped away where I clung to his thrusting muscles. All I could do was gulp for air and focus on where his body melded with mine between my legs that encircled his lithe waist.

  He planted his nose into my hair and danced inside me, rubbing the deep itch of my passion into a tidal wave of spasms. I cried beneath him. He growled a low territorial sound into my ear, and his cock jerked inside me, throbbing, exploding his hot seed into my soul.

  Bright blue light flashed.

  Between us. I almost flinched but held onto his shoulders, released my leg grip around his waist, gave him my body, and matched his dying thrusts. Anything to make us whole again. To keep us together.

  But the light had burst from our bodies. I think.

  "Aisling," he groaned and collapsed.

  God to have that body on mine always. Draping me. Spooning me. Pinning me down to mate. And now there was this strange blue light. He hadn't seemed to have noticed in the darkness. I turned my nose into the damp hair sticking to his neck and tried to smooth away the creases my fingernails had left from my death grip on his shoulder blades. "Borun?"

  "Uhm?"

  He definitely was well-versed in English. "Did you see the light?"

  His head jerked up. "What light, little one?"

  I met his golden gaze. "It was between us. Blue light."

  His gaze pinched shut a bit. "Between us?"

  I nodded.

  His hand went to my cheek where his fingers rubbed my skin contemplatively as he scanned the surrounding darkness. "No." His gaze landed back on me. "Was it inward, moving out?"

  Maybe. "I don't know."

  He slid his palm down my neck, over my clavicle, and to my arm where he fingered my skin. "Your cut is gone from the blood exchange."

  I healed myself? Was that possible?

  He felt the spot where he'd sliced himself, rocking his hips forward in one intoxicating motion, pushing my body as if he still wanted me. "And I'm healed as well."

  Nobody told me I'd be able to heal through sex.

  "Aisling," he gasped.

  I met his gaze. "What else happened?"

  He dipped down until the tip of his pointed nose touched mine. His gaze boring into mine. "What if this healing skill you possess protects our children?"

  The thought was overwhelming. The potential even more so. Kruk couldn't hurt me. Relief welled up inside me until my eyes watered and my nose ran.

  "Don't cry, little one." Borun pulled me along the side of his protective body and blocked out the insane world with those big muscled arms. "It's a sign. A gift from the stars."

  * * * *

  Borun fought the urge to go roaring around the compound given he'd just mated and beat Kruk's political ploy. But Aisling needed to feel safe, he concluded. The only way to help her relax and sleep was to lie still and convey my feelings for her. I slid my arms around her body, still slick from mating, held her as I had done in the cave, and listened to her heartsong with one of my ears pressed against her ribs.

  Gods, to hold her like this was unimaginable yesterday.

  She was mine.

  I was mated.

  And I did anything but cringe in fear.

  How could anyone have convinced me that I'd welcome this moment so? I'd run from mating my entire forty-four years of life. Or at least as long as I could remember. Mating caused unhappy ties, demands, and pain. But Aisling hadn't done so. Why would she? She's a female from a different world.

  And I have beaten Kruk for the moment. Now she'll face the revelation of Mother's strategy with me. I just need to protect her from the Queens now. Those females would be foolish to cross me. And they know it. My mate was mine. Nobody would dare toy with my Aisling.

  Satiated, momentarily, I just needed to rest for what comes tomorrow. The Queens will be plotting to gain the upper hand with Aisling. She will need my guidance. So a rested mate with a clear mind would serve her best. But I so wanted to touch her soul again. To nurture the germ of a child and show the rest of the Royal Guards who had captured the Marshal's heart.

  * * * *

  Aisling awoke on her back with her big sleeping tiger mate wrapped around her chest. Like I was his body pillow, she mused. I tried not to chuckle. His face snuggled between my breasts, one arm curled over me holding my right side, the other arched around my head and shoulders. One of his knees was tucked between my thighs. Way too nice. And I wasn't about to move and lose the happy feeling humming through my body.

  So this was the torture he warned me of. Well, not so bad. Maybe if I had been mated to other Luvk males I would be miserable. Like Kruk. I struggled not to shudder and wake my mate. But fortunately, I had my Borun. And we'd bonded beyond standard rules of marriage with the blood bond.

  How do I tell if my feelings were more from the blood pact than what I could ever call love? I'd never been in love before. I'd been in lust twice. I'd been in equitable relationships to promote my career. But I'd never just wanted to lie around and let someone coddle me. Borun could do that anytime. Especially since he helped me rein in my healing powers. I think.

  I guess it's crazy to fancy this stuff as powers when I have to have sex with someone to control the energy. But some things are nuttier than my situation. Like, hello, I'm sleeping in a tiger man's sleeping skins on a planet just a quick turn and two steps through a magic portal on the far side of Quadrant Four… What could be nuttier than that?

  Borun stirred atop me.

  He had to be exhausted. I raked a handful of fingers through his hair to comfort him.

  He tilted his golden gaze to mine. "Did the food wake you?" He shoved up on his hands and leaned on one of his sides.

  Food? "What food?"

  He pointed at a tray with glistening silver dishes covered with ornate domes. "And the chest must be for you. Mother wouldn't have one of her sons mated without sending a wedding gift."

  Why did I get the feeling that box contained his bride price? The vile queen. I tried not to snort and insult Borun because he definitely had value-the most of any male I had met in the seven realms. But Queen Ishan was something else.

  Hi
s stomach pealed for food. "I'm famished." He rose, stepped over me, walked his incredible striped nude butt across the room, and returned with the tray.

  I would have sent him for something else just to watch his muscles move but thought my motives would be a little too obvious. However, he'd probably like that.

  He placed the tray beside me and began pulling covers off dishes. "Bread?" He extended a piece to my lips. "Your people call this bread."

  Okay, I'll taste it. But afterward, he's explaining how he knows about my people and English. I took a bite of salty softness. Bread. And chewed. Strange but almost familiar herbs seasoned the melting carbohydrates. "It's delicious." I swallowed. "But I want to know how you know my language."

  His eyebrows arched as if he relished descrying the great mystery. " Two males who were enslaved by the sky demons escaped, returned, and began teaching us the language over two generations ago. Most nobles speak it. Even though we don't admit this to the Slakens. We feel we have the advantage when captured, knowing their tongue."

  Did Goro know this part of Luvk history? But Borun had said bread was of our people. "So you learned about bread from these Luvks, not earthlings?"

  He chewed a bite of the bread and shook his head. "Commander Goro spent a week here last month. He told us many things. How some things we had would prove familiar comforts for the Marshal who came." He shot me a wink and hopped to his feet. "My mother heard the same things." He swung the chest's lid wide and foraged through the loot, his killer ass angled toward me in the firelight's glow.

  Undoubtedly on purpose.

  He withdrew a long piece of leather or fabric with some type of fluffy white fur dabbled with black spots sewn to one end and brought it to me.

  I'd rather have watched him walk across the room than have studied that object.

  He held the fur end up until the other end brushed the wooden floor. "And this is a queen's jacket."

  Becoming a queen was out of the question.

  "You look ill, little one." He knelt by my side, draping the jacket across my legs.

  His pleasure in presenting me with the garment was truly touching. Insulting him wasn't my goal. But how could anyone from my world versed in equality even begin to stomach the concept of queen? If I could stop the madness, I had to intervene now. I locked a firm gaze on his.