Tricked Out Turning Drastic (Star Keeper Series Book 2), page 7
Removing my satchel, I lifted the flap and Lady Silver flew out. Speaking to her—just her, I said, "Can you take this over to the ridge area for ten keviks?" I didn't know if she had a grasp of time-keeping but she nodded in assent and gripped the bag's strap in her pages while lumbering off to the nearby precipice. That done, I took a moment to identify where Robert was. Betting on a telepathic link, I patted my upper right arm through the robe and sent a few thoughts to the vine telling him to leave if he could—at least for a moment.
He squeezed tighter.
Oh, he heard alright.
I tried again, this time speaking to Robert out loud to voice my concern. "I don't want you to get hurt. I don't know how you'll react." Not being mahdra-based, I had no idea how he'd respond toward Krule's nulling effect.
There was a testy vibration, but no movement. I didn't think he was going to budge.
So be it.
Realizing Krule's eyes were upon me, I smiled nervously but then snickered with what I was about to do. Since Robert was adamant about staying, I could proceed at any moment. I could have just taken off the cloak as I didn't feel any spying mahdra spells in the forested area, but I also realized that Krule's presence could very well make it harder for me to perceive any. After all, I was no expert, and the experience with the Sihvaks in the cave three months ago made me formulate a partial theory of proximal disruption of my 'keen' senses when around the huge K'Vroken. Even when Splaht had been spelled to jump, I had missed the telltale ordering code of mahdra emanating from his asshole self.
Plus, according to Rescoven, I had cloaks to spare so...
"I need you to sweep the area and clean it of mahdra, just in case," I addressed Krule. Putting my hands up, predicting his next words, I added, "I know the spells on me will go kaput, but can you isolate it to our immediate area? Leave Lady Silver and Red unharmed?"
"I am your accurate blade, Trick," he said with smooth, K'Vrok confidence. He showed his teeth.
My mouth tilted up, but I nodded.
Suddenly, any spells around us—though unlikely to have existed—evaporated just as my cloak fanned out in a snap of instant expansion. Robert lazily slithered down to my arm as if nothing happened at all. Relieved and chuckling, I reached to my neck and unclasped the brooch holding the cloak shut. I pulled it off. Dappled in the revealing moonlight of Haell's nocturnal orbiting triplets, my wings mesmerizingly stretched on their own as they attractively lustered silky-white with a thin film of polychromatic opalescence. Like a coiling arm bracer, Robert glinted gold on my left forearm completely unfazed by the null.
The warrior gaped. "Vrekk. Me. You are a goddess." He leaned over to get a closer look at my new appendages.
I laughed a bit while my cheeks reddened slightly. "Grew them in these last three months while in a coma. And," I leaned forward setting up for what I was about to do next—after all, I didn't see a sword on him—"don't startle," I warned. Betting he wouldn't like what I was about to do, I grinned cheekily.
He chuckled. "Never," he responded. We were very close.
I moved my index finger to his exposed, wickedly sharp left canine—a tooth's slashing power that I had read about in avid depth—and then quickly raked my skin across the side of it. The flesh split like butter would to a hot knife. Reflexively, he jerked back. A thin line of blood began pouring out and dripping down my wrist. I was stunned for a moment myself. I hadn't even felt it.
"Ha—made you flinch," I said amusedly. "Watch," I added, still holding my hand out on display. Immediately my flesh began to mend right before our eyes, sealing completely. The pain was almost non-existent. "I heal almost instantly—very stout and hardy," I added, mimicking the words he spoke that night in the library. "Please don't worry on my behalf," I smiled. "I'm sorry Keeper Rescoven didn't communicate to you as to what was happening while I was sleeping, but he was just looking out for me." Here I went… "I'm not from Haell in any way, Krule. See the stars up there shining through the leaves?"
He nodded without taking his eyes off of me.
What I was about to say was going to sound so unbelievably stupid—as the truth often did… "Many of those support life on other planets, just like Haell is supported by the twin goddesses. Many creatures and peoples exist in the universe. I managed to arrive here by an intergalactic passageway a while back—"
He was chuckling, but not in disbelief. "Over two rotations ago," he interrupted as if not shocked at all by what I was dropping. He grabbed a small twig off the forest floor to his right and began picking a tooth with a grin. "It was the Kreshok summer solstice when I felt you. It took me nearly all that time to dig out of the seaside mountain to catch a ship and sail to the epicenter of the energy I felt but then blinked out of existence. Tricky Kalla, I knew you were starlight," he said self-confidently, cocksure with his gaze.
It was my turn to be shocked.
What the hell?
Questions buzzed in my mind and I felt my lips opening and spurting one out. "You felt me arrive?" What he was saying sounded similar to the energy felt by the Sahven at the time of my awful entrance. He nodded with a wicked smirk. I shook my head processing, my eyes suddenly narrowing. "And why did you have to dig yourself out of a mountain?" I asked. My brows furrowed.
He huffed out as if that part was boring to him. "Because two clansmen purposefully stoked my destabilizing mahdra ability and I, in reflex, ate their hunger and left them for dead as dried husks of their former selves," he answered casually. "It was unintentional, as I told you before."
My eyes were bulging. I waved him on to elaborate.
"No, Kalla. I'd rather talk about what you just said about yourself," he said pointing the twig at me.
"Aaand I'd rather not. Go on," I motioned. "Yours is more interesting."
"Kalla, you just claimed you came from the stars," he pointed upward. "Do continue," he said as if stressing the point that it would be absurd not to after dropping such an unheard-of announcement.
"Yeah, no." I was good with absurd.
"Shall we fight for the topic of discussion? I don't mind," he remarked. He roguishly moved his large shoulders and bopped his large browline.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, we know you can kick my ass—"
"Doubtful," he interjected.
Tilting my head wondering what he meant by that, I said, "I'd rather talk about you."
Huffing in amusement, he then gave me a look. Eventually deciding, he obliged though it seemed like he was just humoring me. "The Nation of Clans didn't see it as I did—as an unfortunate, deadly reflex. They ordered my imprisonment. I allowed it," he said dully hurrying through it. Shrugging, he continued, "Some believe my unaging ability is due to the massive hunger I possess. I am old, but don't look it. From birth, I have always been different, and in many ways, I upended K'Vrokens' confidence and beliefs. So they buried me in a cell of solid stone."
No big. Trust me to find someone who had been formally imprisoned to be attracted to. We were opposites in many ways, but in this, we shared a similar experience. Perhaps that explained the chemistry.
"Solid stone? You dug out from solid stone?" I asked, choosing not to skip over that part.
He grinned and then lifted a hand. Instantly, six-inch obsidian-like claws extruded. "They continually grow. The soft rock on the coast barely dulled them, though I did manage to go through several striations of shek'koz stone which caused some wear."
I blinked a few times. It took him…quite some time to get out. That was a whole different level of determination. "So, what was your plan when you found the source of the blast?"
"Drain it dry." He grinned at me snapping the twig in his bite.
My jaw must have dropped as my head went back. "The hell—"
Chuckling, he continued, "Eat until finally satiated. I do not know." He smirked licking a tooth to intimidate, but it was in jest. "But as I made it to the decadent Sahven-controlled city of TreValla, I ran into a problem. A K'Vrok had been abducted. I sensed him and his discordant energy in a warehouse and freed him and the other occupants…though I could have left him to rot as the Clans had done for me." His mouth tilted up at one corner. "But I am caring and unerringly kind," he said, the sarcasm dripping. "He alone went back to K'Vroken lands alerting the clans, thus explaining the current state of political affairs."
"You were here because of me. Not because of the abductions," I said redundantly, needing to hear it aloud, nonetheless.
"The abductions were secondary by mere happenstance to my primary purpose," he said with a nod. "The city hinted at that elusive energy, and it wasn't mahdra—not entirely. I came to find it—the source."
"And when I walked out from the tree line that night?" My pulse sped up. I knew he posed no threat to me now; intuition or goddess-derived ability, he meant me no harm. But he could have ripped my head off instantly when he saw me or sensed me behind him.
"The Kalla bird sang and I awoke." He gazed at my wings. "I was the one consumed, I realized. Vrekk the K'Vrok, vrekk the soil from which I hailed—"
"I don't understand. You once referred to K'Vroken-controlled lands as your own," I said. I specifically remember he was quite proud of his heritage—of his land.
He shrugged casually once again. I motioned for him to continue since it seemed he was going to bring up me for a second time.
As he did before, he obliged. With a deep sigh as if bored with the topic but wanting to please me, he rubbed his forehead once and then started back up, saying, "K'Vrok clans award power through a gathering they call the Trials. Power could be mine if I chose it. I never did. I fought through their wars and won their battles, but in the end, my indifference grew along with my ability." He chuckled. "But don't misunderstand, my arrogance has never left. And my pride wouldn't dare have you think I'm incapable. If you wish for me to rule in an official capacity, then I will go and dominate the Trials if it pleases you." He made a motion as if to get up.
I held up my hands. "No, that won't be necessary." Good hell. Joking aside, I didn't think he was exaggerating regarding his capability.
Lowering my arms, I rested my palms on my knees as I thought about things. Not only were the Trials something completely new to me, but as I sat there, I wondered momentarily what it would be like to see him fight another K'Vroken. I knew my obsession with his race was a tad unnatural, but I couldn't deny that it would be life-shatteringly epic to watch. But then I also realized that our coming together was more fated than I first surmised. He wasn't just a chance acquaintance—our personalities weren't just two people kind of clicking in an off-hand manner. Not at all. Opposite attraction was right—as I had first recognized. But was this tied to the Celestials?
"Trick?" he asked with another dark smirk.
"Hm?" I raised my brows.
"Your wings are nice," he said meaningfully. He liked that word.
My cheeks heated.
Leaning to the side, he asked, "May I touch them?"
Vrekk it, I knew we were on the topic of me again but I was suddenly distracted by his question. His hands. Nodding, I secretly bit part of my inner lip. He moved his palms toward me and softly felt the top arch of my wing, running his hands down the length. I shivered. With his lip tilted upward, he lifted one hand and analyzed my body language. Seeing something powerfully indicative, he got closer to my middle and touched the base of my wings near my back. My breathing sped up. My shirt was customized for my wings, but I still felt his touch searingly. I looked up.
"We are different, Trick. Light and darkness," he said, his eyes were deep, serious, and locked on as if I were delicious prey. I nodded. "But I cannot help feeling—"
"Can I touch your hands—your claws?" I blurted out nervously. I guess I was demanding a trade or an even exchange. Regardless, it was something that I wanted. Power was drifting up through my core but I felt that if I could control the moment, then I could control my pure mahdra from reacting to my rising, ahem, biological needs. His growling K'Vrok voice was effortlessly stoking me—which was so damn annoying and simultaneously nice.
He paused and then nodded pulling back his arms with a satisfied grin I assumed only a male could make. Still, he saw something in me and adjusted knowingly. Raising a hand, he flexed out his lethal claws.
My hands shot out. Taking it, I felt his foreign palm and the long length of his fingers. I traced his strong grip with my feather-light touch. I heard him inhale raggedly. Reaching his claws, I gently prodded them, and then, me being me, cut the pad of my finger intentionally for experimental purposes. It was a tiny wound.
He pulled back, tsking me. "You keep doing that," he said with a shake of his head.
I grinned a bit teasingly. I liked annoying him as he did me.
"Trick?" he asked again.
"Hm?"
He leaned forward. "Don't startle," he repeated my earlier words showing his wicked, deadly teeth. Suddenly, in a move too fast to track, he had my forearm in his grasp. Looking into my eyes, he dared me to protest as he dipped his head and then ran his thick, dark tongue over the old blood on my wrist, lapping at what had already dripped down from the first cut in one upward, smooth stroke all the way to my newly punctured fingertip.
I ignited.
Chapter six
Undiluted mahdra instantly surged as my body heated in a way I was completely unfamiliar with. I scrambled backward and focused on breathing, my eyes locked on to his. In my peripheral, my wings began to faintly illuminate. He just licked my blood. Was that normal? Was that a K'Vrok thing?
Was it normal to like it?
Shit.
Licking my lips, I tried to get a word out. And then I shook my head and focused on not crawling back to him to feed the inner flame I had burning. "I need you to take my extra mahdra, here," I said with some difficulty. I was warring on the inside. I wanted more, and, I wasn't ready. It was damn irritating, that's what it was.
He was irritating.
Breathing hard with his head tilted back to the night sky, the very male cartilage structure in his neck moved as he spoke in his growling, deep bass. "You taste of my Nix blades forged from the smoldering rivers underTowerlahns themselves," he said thickly. He lowered his head and met my gaze grinning darkly, slowly.
"Good hell, not helping," I said, half wanting to fan myself. "Krule, take some energy—now please."
Dipping his head with that wicked smirk, instantly I felt relief as the mahdra dissipated. But then he began to growl. Licking his teeth, Krule proceeded to get on all fours to stalk toward me.
Funny, that instead of worrying me, his move was stoking the troublesome desire I was halfheartedly trying to manage. Turned out that not only was I obsessed with K'Vroken history and war tactics, but I really liked feeling small and feminine next to a hulking mass of murderous muscle wanting to eat me in every way as he slowly made his way over, his eyes unwavering, and his chest deeply rattling and resonating to my, er, core.
Like my earlier thought, it was irritating…damn exciting, too.
Nervously, I laughed. It came out sounding a bit jumpy.
"Kalla, your smell," he said gutturally, still moving. But then something in him made him pause. Perhaps it was my wide eyes. Taking a moment, he sat back on his heels and rolled his thick neck breathing very heavily, in and out. "You unhinge me, Kalla. I apologize for almost engaging the hunt with you."
The hunt? I raised an eyebrow at that. "That happen often?" I asked breathing just as deeply. I didn't know what the hunt was, but there was a rabid little star inside of me burning green at the thought he had stalked someone else in the same manner as he had just done. I may have not been ready to risk a desire-born supernova, but I certainly was willing to stake a claim, just barely smothering my own growl in response.
He laughed cynically. "Trick, no." He stood up. "I learned early on in my youth that all females, regardless of race, either fear me, pass out in a severe biological reaction to my touch, or vomit in my presence. As the Balyach incarnate I am both their prized nightmare weapon and the anathema which they curse under their breath because they lack the courage to do so to my face." Walking off a few steps in the tree line, Krule came back with some dry wood in his arms. He began setting up the fire pit.
I sat up and leaned on the tree behind me. Inwardly, I was glad for his movement. As I watched him set up, Lady Silver swooped in and brought with her the satchel. I gave her a pat on the spine with a smile. To Krule, I said, "The Balyach is a manufactured myth regarding the Shadowed Ones. Why do you keep calling yourself that?"
He stopped and grinned in my direction. "Because it was I who inspired it," he said, then growled deeply to make a point. He was playing.
I snickered. "You're scary, alright." And profoundly attractive. Yes, I was still cooling off. And yes, I was inwardly admitting to shivit that I wouldn't normally. "What are you doing by the way?" I eyed his backside for a moment as he leaned over. I couldn't help it. Muscular, firm, his butt was annoying, too.
"I am going to feed you. You need meat and I killed a Vrox earlier today," he answered.
"Poaching in Sahven-controlled reserves? That's dangerous," I teased. I didn't care in the least. "Did you kill it with one of your Nix blades? Your gladiator swords or the klayvore?" I looked around determined. I liked his blades—even if I was terrible at wielding them.
"A rock."
I gave a snort.
"Sweet Kalla, my swords are hidden in an abandoned location in the city within the sprawl that's swallowing Vahlta Hall." The fire suddenly lit and a warming light bathed the space. He stood again and eyed me. "I have tried to restrain myself while hiding here these last few months. I have been…stressed."
I bit my lip. "And hiding the klayvore helps?"
He nodded and then took a step toward me but stopped as he realized what he was doing. He grabbed the back of his neck and exhaled. Looking askance at the fire, he paused. "I hope you do not think of this as a date. This is me simply feeding you. You said no 'dates' so I am actively not doing the date," he said.
