Page 41 of Warlord's Mate

“You are.” Jityria reached out and gave her a slight shove.

Marcy balled her fists and clenched her teeth, counting to ten before blowing out a breath. “I’m not supposed to leave camp by myself.”

“And I say what the warlord doesn’t know, won’t hurt him. Now go before I tell Darqu that you’ve refused to do his bidding.”

Darqu had been left in charge of the camp while the warlord was gone. Like most of the aliens here, they were mostly hardened warriors, and she didn’t want to piss any of them off.

Marcy snatched the basket from the ground, looked at Krista and said in her best Arnold Schwarzenegger imitation, “I’ll be back.” She gave Jityria a sneer and left, Krista’s laughter following her into the trees.

Jorrick scowled, his mood still foul, and the others were beginning to notice. Hushed whispers filtered through the trees, their voices muffled enough that along with the swaying tree limbs, he wasn’t able to make out what anyone was saying but knew it was Mar-see they were discussing. He’d heard her name floating on the breeze once or twice and them discussing her had him snapping at the ones brave enough to talk to him. If he had to guess, he’d say her dancing for him was the topic of conversation for most, if not all of them. That dance hadn’t left his thoughts either.

Waking up face down on the floor sobered him up faster than the special tea Cayen made. The night before had come back to him in a flash the moment he sat up on his knees and saw Mar-see in his bed. He’d been trying to strip out of his clothes to get a second taste of what he’d had under the waterfall but he’d passed out before getting the chance.

The headache he woke up with had been different from most and the moment he remembered thinking he’d been drugged, the anger that came with the knowledge had cleared his head enough to realize that bedding Mar-see was monumentally stupid. He’d known it while standing underneath that waterfall waiting for her and he knew it even more now.

She confused him and he couldn’t afford to let his thoughts get so muddled. The sight of her made him want things he shouldn’t, and he needed time to think. Doing that while she was so near would have been impossible so he’d rounded up the scouting party and headed away from camp to clear his head without the constant reminder of her. He hadn’t taken her from the arena for his pleasure. She was bait and nothing more and he couldn't forget that.

Why can’t she be both?

He scowled at his thoughts. She couldn’t be both because if he continued to fuck her, he’d start to care and if he cared, he wouldn’t be able to use her to lure Allok in. She had one purpose in his camp and it wasn’t to ride his cock. She was his means to revenge and nothing more.

But she’s already under your skin. You running away is proof of that.

Jorrick pushed his hair away from his face. Maybe the rumors about her being able to wield magic were true. Maybe that was why he felt so drawn to her.

Or maybe your attraction has everything to do with a mating bond snapping into place.

A burst of laughter brought his head up. A small group a few hundrednesecsaway were laughing. Luckily none had turned to look his way or he would have had one of their heads just to ease his need for violence. Him not being aware of what was going on around him proved she was a distraction he didn’t need. He’d let Mar-see consume too much of his time and thoughts. He may want to bed her but that didn’t mean he should. He’d been in want of the comfort only a female could provide for nearly eight turns of the seasons now but hadn’t indulged, even with the knowledge that it would take nothing more than a word to get Jityria in his bed. As far as he was concerned, he was finished with females, especially ones with hair as red as flame, whose skin was soft and pale pink and felt so right pressed against his flesh. She was leading him to distraction and the sole reason he was here amongst these small clusters of men as they searched for Aris, setting off for countless nights of sleeping on the ground instead of protecting his camp. If he wasn’t near her, then he wouldn’t constantly think of her.

And how’s that been working so far?

He scowled at the thought as Aryan fell into step with him, nodded his head in greeting. “How far do you wish us to go?”

The distraction Aryan provided was just what he needed. He straightened and said, “Once we reach the border of our territory, we’ll split up and do a sweep around the entire area. If Aris isn’t found, then it's safe to think Allok has him.”

“And if he does?”

Jorrick clenched his jaw. “Then instead of a rescue mission, this will turn into a burial procession.”

Aryan said nothing to that. There was little reason to. His men knew as well as he did that Aris was probably dead. Being out here still and looking for him was a waste of time and resources, but he’d needed to be as far away from Mar-see as he could get. A couple of weeks away from camp was plenty long enough to get her out of his head. By the time he made it back to camp, he will have sorted out his thoughts and pushed the desire he felt for her completely out of his system. All he had to do was kill enough of Allok’s men to drown out the sound of her screams of ecstasy.

Thinking of them immediately conjured them inside his head. No matter how hard he tried, he could still hear her, could still see the look on her face as her cunt clenched around his cock as she came, screaming and panting, the sound echoing off the cavern’s crystal walls.

His cock twitched just thinking about it, which made his ire even more profound. If he lived to be a thousand, he’d never forget that day, and he was probably fooling himself into thinking this excursion would be enough to make him forget about wanting her but he’d try his damnedest. It’s the only thing he could do at this point because truth was, she may be his revenge, but he wanted her unlike anything else in his existence and he’d die before letting another female ruin his life.

She’d only grabbed a handful of the berries Cayen needed when she heard someone behind her. Marcy looked over her shoulder and saw an alien she’d only seen around camp but had never spoken to. She didn’t even know his name. He was one of the more human looking aliens. His skin was colored a dark bronze and if it wasn’t for the shape of his ears and the three dark slits over the bridge of his flat nose, he could pass for a human man.

He was stomping toward her, his stride wide as he crossed to where she stood and she knew she was about to get yelled at by the look on his face alone. She sighed. Did these aliens never get tired of being assholes?

“You are not to leave camp alone, human!”

“That’s what I thought, too.” She bent to pick another handful of the berries. “But Jityria—” Her words were cut short when he grabbed her arm and jerked her upright. “Hey, watch it—”

“The warlord instructed you to remain in camp.” His hand around her arm tightened. “Just because he is not here doesn’t give you the right to do as you please.”

He yanked on her arm and jerked her to him. The pain from the move shot all the way up her arm into her shoulder. She dropped the basket, the berries spilling onto the ground. The pain in her arm was so intense, she forgot about trying to pick it up as she concentrated on keeping her feet underneath her as he hauled her back toward camp.

Darqu was marching their way. He looked like a cross between a human and a fish. His face was elongated and his ears could pass for fins if it weren’t for the hole in front of them that clearly allowed him to hear.