Page 72 of Warlord's Mate
“You’ll probably regret eating all of those.”
“Why?”
He laughed. “One would have done the trick.”
“And eating four of them?”
He leaned toward her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him. He was already hard, the length of him pressing into her hip. “You’ll feel no pain, that’s for certain.”
He kissed her then, and took his time about it, his fingers tunneling into her hair. She forgot about her throbbing hand the longer she stood there, the incessant movement of Jorrick’s tongue inside her mouth the only thing registering. By the time he backed her up to the large rock behind the waterfall, she felt dizzy. Whether it was from the leaves she’d eaten or the mind numbing attention given to her by Jorrick, Marcy felt nothing but tingling warmth through every limb.
He made love to her slowly, drawing out each movement as if it was the last time he’d ever get to touch her. The unyielding strength of his arms around her and the hard press of his hips between her thighs as he rocked against her was a slow erotic dance driving her toward orgasm. When she crashed over the edge, Jorrick’s grunts loud next to her ear, his hold on her tightened to near bruising. They stood silently for long minutes afterward, neither moving. When her heart rate had returned to normal, Marcy sighed contently. “What do we do now?”
“My first choice would be sleep.”
She laughed. “Not surprised.”
He lifted his head and gave her another kiss, lingering a few moments before pulling away. “I want to leave this place. Take you and Aris and find somewhere else to live.”
“What about the others?”
“They’re free to do as they wish. I no longer want to be responsible for them.”
She frowned. “But what about Krista, and Celestia, and the others?”
He didn’t answer, nor did he have to. The look on his face was telling enough. He was going to leave them behind to fend for themselves. They’d be dead within the week or slave to some creature they weren’t strong enough to get away from.
She pushed away from him and washed the grime from her body, noting that the leaves she’d chewed had done exactly as he said they would. They’d masked the pain until she felt nothing. Or was it disappointment making her feel so numb? Jorrick wanted to take her away but in doing so, she’d have to leave behind those she cared about.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jorrick stretched out a hand and found the space beside him empty. He opened his eyes to see he’d woken alone. Propping up on one elbow, he pushed his hair from his face then stood, lifting his arms and stretching the kinks from his back while looking around camp for Mar-see. His mate was sitting with the other females, their heads all bent as they discussed things too quietly for him to hear. Mar-see looked over at him, the disappointment in her eyes obvious from across camp. For a brief moment, he wondered if she’d fight him when they went to leave, if she’d refuse to go with him.
They’d left the privacy of the crystal cave the night before and had returned to camp, eaten a meager meal of roots and a few ground nuts someone had found, then laid down to sleep underneath the branches of several low-lying trees. He’d told her of his plan to leave, of finding a new place to make a life and she’d tried to persuade him to take the others. She’d pulled away when he again told her no and for the first time, a woman dared to argue with him. He’d been so impressed with her audacity, he’d let her berate him quietly under her breath until she’d finally turned her back to him and laid down to sleep, mumbling he could do as he wished. That if the others didn’t go, neither would she.
A growl crawled its way from his chest at the thought. He would not leave her behind. His mate was headstrong, but he was stronger. She’d come with him of her own free will or he’d carry her away screaming. Her choice.
Commotion coming from the trees had everyone rousing. It sounded as if a herd ofdrexunwere trampling though the forest. Voices reached them a few moments later, then there were people invading his burned camp. He recognized them immediately. It was the Draegon and his mate.
“Marcy!”
Jorrick saw his mate’s face light up when she saw her friend—the dragons mate—Sara. The two were running across camp toward each other as Toren and several other men came into view. Each of them wore nothing more than a loin cloth and their eyes were the brightest shade of purple, the pupils slitted.
Dragons.
They stood on two feet and looked no different than he did but the men before him were of the Draegon race. He’d bet his life on it.
Toren glanced around the camp, straightening when he saw him. He headed his way and Jorrick met him halfway. He nodded his head in greeting. “I didn’t expect to see you again.”
Toren continued his perusal of the camp. “I had not planned to return. My mate made me sleep outside our dwelling for not bringing Marcy home to her. We came to collect her.”
His heartbeat slowed for a brief second, then resumed, pounding in his chest. “She is not going anywhere.”
Toren nodded. “I told my mate this but she refused to listen.” He turned to look at her. She and Marcy were chattering with the others, twin smiles on their faces. “Earth women do not know their place.”
“I can hear you, you know.” Sara and Mar-see both looked their way. “And there is no ‘place’ for earth women to be. Men are no better than we are. You just need to learn that most of us don’t take shit from overbearing neanderthals, is all.”
The dragon growled deep in his throat but a smile curved his lips. Obviously, Toren found his mate’s boldness as charming as he found Mar-see’s and so be it. If his Mar-see needed to be assertive and think she made the rules, then he’d let her. There was no harm in it letting her think she could do as she pleased.