Alien Mask, page 17
With a man she did not want to be with.
She does not want what I want.
I’d have to learn to accept that. I just... Hadn’t learned quite yet.
But I was clever enough. I’d get it eventually.
I hope.
“If I’d wanted to steal her,” I said flatly to Dalk, “I could have swept her away on my mount at any point this entire time. You have spears which I am confident I could dodge, and no arrows. You would not have been able to stop me.”
“We would have stopped you! We would have-”
“OK, enough,” Priya exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “Dalk, I’m going to fly down with Breena and Lerokan. It’s the safest way. I’m not even sure I trust the strength of my own arms around Oxriel’s neck, and he’ll be too busy climbing down to help hold on to me. This way is better. I’ll see you down there.”
She turned away from them in a movement that filled me with smirking pride.
At least, in this one small thing, she’d chosen me.
I hoisted her up onto Breena in a movement that had become quite natural for us, then leaped up to settle myself behind her.
Priya started to say something to the others, something like, “See you down there,” but I commanded Breena into flight immediately, sucking those words into the wind.
I clutched Priya against my chest as we descended, keeping her closer than I ever had.
This was the last time I’d get to touch her.
I would admit to no one but myself that I extended the moment slightly. I did not urge Breena to land immediately at the base of the cliff that the four warriors now scaled down. We flew a little further into the valley beyond, eventually stopping in a smooth, shadowy place.
If Priya noticed how far we’d flown, she didn’t say anything as I dismounted and then helped her down.
We both glanced back down the valley. The desert men were about halfway down the sheer side of the cliff, now.
“They won’t be much longer,” Priya said, her gaze still on the other men while mine was fastened entirely to her. Even with her unusual, high-bridged nose, or perhaps because of it, her profile was an elegant one. She held her chin high and her gaze was serious. Her beautiful long hair had been bound in a braid for the journey. I wanted to take apart that braid with my claws, tell her there would be no journey. There would be nothing but these mountains and Breena and me for her, now.
As the men reached the base of the cliff and started jogging this way, my fingers found their way to her chin, forcing her eyes to mine.
They widened at my movement, my touch, shock clear in their depths as I cupped her jaw.
She does not like this.
I went to remove my hand, but she snapped her own little hand up in response. She slammed her warm palm to my knuckles, keeping my hand in place against her unbearably soft skin.
“Come with us,” she said.
She’d asked me to come with her before. It had not been a good option then, because I did not trust the lands and the journey.
But now, we had more men, men who knew the way and could help protect her.
My jaw tightened as I looked down at her beautiful, hopeful face. Yes, hopeful.
She hopes I’ll say yes.
“Why?” I asked leaning down and forcing her to tip her head back.
She’d chosen the other men, her people. She’d chosen to go back.
Was this her way of also somehow choosing me?
Or was this pity?
“Why do you care why? Do you want to come with us or not?” she asked. Curse me, her eyes were doing that tears thing. It made my guts clench.
And it made my other hand rise to the other side of her jaw.
“I need to know if you ask out of pity, or merely for the alliance your people want. Or if there’s something else,” I said, leaning down lower with every uttered word until my mouth was a mere breath from hers, the snout of my mask angling to one side. “Because there is something else for me.”
“Something else... Something like what?”
Her breath on my mouth was a revelation. The sensation had me swallowing a groan as it glanced down my spine like sun reflecting off rippling water. Tingles shot straight to my groin, my tail, and all the way to the tips of my claws.
“Something,” I murmured, my lips actually brushing hers this time.
Something I never thought I wanted. Something I’d spent so long running from. Something that found me anyway.
My mate.
The words were a boom of thunder in my head, shaking me to my core.
They shocked me. Frightened me. And yet were the truest ones to ever speak themselves into being.
For once, I did not try to run. I did not turn away.
Her lips parted. The softest moan escaped, heating my skin.
And I was lost.
My fingers turned to stone at the sides of her face as my mouth slammed to hers.
Thank the peaks, she did not pull away. Her arms flew around my waist, dragging me harder against her. My cock immediately hardened to a painful spear, the tip prodding against her belly.
I took several steps, driving her back against the stone until she was trapped beneath my bulk.
Curse me, her mouth was dizzyingly wet. Impossibly sweet. She opened herself to the onslaught of my three tongues as they dove and stroked and tasted.
I’d never done this with a female.
Never really wanted to.
The instincts inside me now were so powerful, so feral, that I almost did not recognize myself.
This is madness, I thought as another moan from Priya made my hips buck against her.
No. This is the mate bond.
I realized belatedly that the other warriors were coming towards us. And I was probably about to get a spear through the side of the head for crushing Priya against the stone like this and ravaging her sweet little mouth.
But it would have been worth it. Would have been worth it to see my brains dashed against the stone just to have had this final moment.
This was the mate bond. It had to be.
I’d always thought I didn’t want it.
But this was not the work of the Vrika. No instant bond had formed out of thin air.
Perhaps this is what I’ve wanted all along. The chance to choose.
And I could choose. Choose my fate.
Choose to be with her.
I drew back from the temptation of her mouth, only for the briefest moment, to speak tumbling, urgent words against her lips.
“I will come with you. I’ll go to the settlement. Cursed peaks, Priya, you can’t keep me away.”
Now that I’d chosen her, chosen this, no one could keep me from my path.
From her.
She gave an answering cry, the sound twanging through my ribs. There was relief in it, and hurt, and hope.
“Lerokan! I’m so happy. You have no idea. I thought you didn’t care that much. I thought that you’d be happier without me. I thought-”
“You think too much,” I whispered, pressing my mouth to hers once more. Her lips gave way to my mouth immediately, sucking me back into her hot depths.
So much blood rushed to my cock I wasn’t exactly sure how I remained upright, but I did. My left leg bent, my knee urging between her thighs until the juncture of her cunt was firmly pressed to the top of my leg. Even through her clothing, I could feel her desperate heat.
“This is the ‘something else,’” I told her, dragging my lips hungrily along her delicate jaw. “I don’t want to come back as your ally. I don’t want to come back as your friend.”
She gasped. I groaned, bending further to suckle at the frantic pulse of her throat.
“So... So that’s what you meant,” she whispered. I paused, then pulled my head back up to look at her face. She was beautiful like this. Mouth wet and swollen. Eyes glazed but still focused on me.
“The other night?” I asked to clarify. Yes, I had said those words to her the other night. And she’d looked confused and hurt. As if anything beyond friendship were impossible.
“I thought,” she panted, “that you were rejecting me. I thought that if you didn’t even want to be my friend, then... Then I may as well just go back and forget all about you.”
“As if you could forget about me,” I teased.
I felt her smile as my lips sought hers again. But she spoke, stopping me from stroking inward with my tongues.
“There’s no way I could. I love you, Lerokan.”
The statement was an arrow through me, hot and sharp. Priya made a grunting sound and her eyes got huge with panic as she looked at my shoulder.
Oh. No, that was an actual arrow.
I spun, hissing, crowding her even closer to the cliff behind my back, ignoring the throb at my shoulder. Six men on braxilk dove through the air, arrows raining down so fast it was like a shower of glinting stars streaking through the night.
Fool. You were so wrapped up in her that you completely lost all use of your senses.
“Stay here,” I commanded, twisting around to look at her. She shook her head up and down in that human gesture of agreement.
“Breena, keep her safe,” I ordered my mount. The order was unnecessary. Breena had already stepped closer, ready to put her body between Priya and the night air.
I took a few steps forward while simultaneously snatching my bow from where it was slung across my chest. With my other hand, I went to grab an arrow from the quiver at my back.
The hand did not move.
Grunting, I tossed down my bow and grasped the arrowhead poking from the front of my right shoulder. Gritting my fangs, I pulled harder and harder until the entire arrow had slid through my joint. Blood flowed freely, and there was great pain, but I could mostly move my arm again.
Grasping my bow once more, I fired a volley of arrows into the night. But my aim proved poor, my arm weakened from the injury.
I glanced down the valley to see the four Sea Sand warriors fighting vigorously.
They’ll lose, I realized. Despite the strength of the Sea Sand men, this time, they could not win. They’d been victorious in the last battle against Gahn Thaleo’s men, but they’d been greater in numbers and they’d had the monster of a Bitter Sea man with them.
I was almost instantly proven correct. One Sea Sand man, then another, and another, were incapacitated and pulled up onto the backs of the enemy braxilk. Dalk was the last one left standing, but a swift blow to the head sent him to the ground. Soon, he was pulled up, too.
They’re not killing them. They’re taking them...
There is no fight now. I need to get Priya out of here.
There was nothing I could do for those men.
And keeping Priya safe eclipsed every other priority.
I turned back to her.
“We have to go.”
“But!”
“Now,” I hissed. I grabbed Priya and dropped her roughly onto Breena’s back, haste making my movements clumsy.
Ah, well. A bruised bottom is better than the alternative.
But the alternative arrived despite my best efforts. Just as I leaped onto Breena’s back, a braxilk dove and carved past us. A man’s arm shot out, snatching Priya up and out of my reach.
Priya screamed my name. Screamed it so hard that it branded me. Marked me as forever hers.
I did not need to command Breena into motion. She beat her wings mightily, rising rapidly, flying faster than she’d ever flown as we pursued the group.
All six of the enemy braxilk were ahead of us, and based on their direction, they were heading back to Gahn Thaleo’s territory.
No. They cannot take her. Cannot have her.
I’d only just gotten a taste of her.
Only just begun to love her.
Her sweetness was in my blood, now. And it lent my wounded limb strength enough to send arrow after arrow into the sky ahead.
We were gaining on them. With only one rider I was therefore lighter and faster than most of their group.
But too soon, I’d run out of arrows.
They hadn’t.
I cursed and ducked as their projectiles zinged past my head
My stomach clenched as we suddenly dropped.
“Breena!”
An arrow had found its target in the meat between her body and her right wing.
Loyal mount that she was, she beat her wings furiously despite the injury, trying to regain altitude.
But another arrow followed swiftly after the first, completely immobilizing her wing.
The shadows of the valley rose up all around us.
Swallowed us.
Down, down, down we went.
Down, until there was nothing left but vicious dark and the echoing scream of my name on the wind.
Down, until we crashed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Lerokan
Breena was an utter marvel. During our fall, she managed to use her good wing to steer us towards a steep incline of mountain stone. We crashed into its side, near the bottom of the valley, and she kept beating her working wing to slow us as we careened down. That way, we slid rather than plummeting straight down.
When we hit the ground, it was forceful enough to rattle my fangs, but I didn’t break any bones.
My mount, however, had not fared as well.
I leaped off of her back immediately, helping move her away from the stone. Luckily, it did not seem as if her legs were damaged. She took a few steps, her right wing dragging.
I held my breath as I got closer to inspect her wing.
The crash into the stone had left her much worse off than before. Now, instead of two arrow wounds that would have healed well enough with Vrika’s blood, she had an utterly mangled limb.
That was very bad. Bad for Breena, who now had to be in immense pain.
And bad because we could not immediately take back off in pursuit of the others.
I curled my claws into my palms, roaring with fury and frustration.
I allowed myself that one thing. That one moment.
Then I got to work.
I tore my bedding hides from where they were strapped to Breena’s side. I cut a long strip and then bound my shoulder to help stem the bleeding of my wound. I then fashioned yet more strips, bringing them to Breena’s destroyed wing.
She cawed in agony as I probed the wing.
“Can you get it against your side? I won’t leave you here, but we can’t have it dragging the way it is. That will make things worse and slow us down.”
We could not afford to be slowed down. Not with Priya in enemy hands.
After a few false starts, she managed to ease her wing against her side. Working as quickly and as gently as possible, I strapped her wing firmly in place with the hide.
“There. Now we’re both in good enough shape for what comes next.”
She blinked her agreement and began to trot rapidly away from me.
“Not that way!” I cried, realizing she was going in the opposite direction, away from the way the other braxilk had flown.
I turned and started sprinting towards Gahn Thaleo’s territory, my chest on fire, blood pumping hard and soaking into my makeshift bandage. My breath hissed between clenched fangs as I pushed myself faster, my feet flying over pebbles and boulders and dust as I leaped and ran.
Breena’s insistent caw made me slow down to look back. She wasn’t following. She jerked her beak back the way she’d been going before.
Towards Gahn Errok’s territory.
“No!” I screamed, grinding to a halt. “There’s no time! It will take days to reach them! And they won’t even help me, anyway!” As an exile, I had no right to access the army and resources of the tribe.
But Breena did not budge, her eyes calm but determined.
Slowly, slowly, reality sank down upon me. The weight of it was vast and sudden. My knees nearly buckled.
I cannot help her. Not like this.
Just as it would take days to reach my old tribal territory, it would also take days to reach Gahn Thaleo’s territory on foot. And when I got there, what could I possibly achieve in such a state? I would be a single injured man with a one-winged, flightless braxilk up against Thaleo’s fit and flying army.
“What I lack in strength and circumstance, I make up for in spite,” I spat viciously. “I will get there. And I will kill any and every man who had a hand in taking Priya.”
But Breena did not believe me. I could see it in those six deep eyes.
She wants me to submit to Gahn Errok and ask for his help.
I bit back a hiss, already picturing Errok’s smug face as I prostrated myself before him.
But what if it was the only way to get her back?
If I go alone like this, I’ll take an arrow through the head before I can even get close to her...
I hated it.
But I would do it.
I’d do it a thousand cursed times to save her.
All I can hope is that Gahn Thaleo has enough honour not to hurt a female, even one as strange and argumentative as her...
I sprinted to Breena’s side and we both cast our eyes homeward.
“You are right. We need Errok,” I muttered darkly, despising the words as I said them. We started to jog, then run, neither of us wanting to waste a moment.
It was time to go, and go swiftly.
Time to face the Gahn.
The man who’d thrust this mask down over my face. The man who’d tried so hard to control me.
The man I’d known from the moment of my birth.
Prepare yourself, older brother.
Lerokan returns. And he is full of rage.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Priya
If I’d thought flying with Lerokan was chaotic, this was ten times worse. I wasn’t even sitting up! The bastard who’d grabbed me had tossed me over his lap like a sac of bloody potatoes. Thankfully at least, unlike some of my flights with Lerokan, we weren’t dodging or avoiding anything. The flight path was straight, which meant my awkward position was uncomfortable, but not rib-breakingly so.
Even so, the nausea overwhelmed me. I did everything I could to keep my eyes open, to track where we were headed, but I couldn’t. I squeezed them shut.
