Eighteen
They didn’t have to rebuild the Refuge.
Dita had seen the apprehension in Kralj’s eyes as they’d approached its walls. But the settlement had been as calm as it could be.
The beings waiting to pass through its gates hadn’t protested their temporary delay. Warriors hadn’t attacked, seeking to topple the Refuge’s Ruler. Not one resident had rebelled.
No one, other than his males, had realized Kralj had been gone.
That irked her proud male, a reaction Dita found amusing. “See? Nothing happened. You can leave the settlement.”
“We’re never leaving the Refuge again.” Kralj scowled at her as he carried her into the medic bay. “There’s no need.”
“Because this is our home,” she murmured.
“This is our home,” he confirmed as they entered Azalea’s private chamber.
The young female slept. A covering cloth was tucked around her slim form. She looked delicate, small, peaceful and Dita made no attempt to speak to her, to touch her.
Azalea’s body and mind needed the rest to recover. Seeing her, confirming she lived was enough to calm Dita, to reassure her that Sari hadn’t died in vain.
Hulagu sat by Azalea’s side. “She’s strong and survived. Thank the stars.” His gaze didn’t move from the young female’s bruised face. “But I should have been with her. I should have put her first.”
“You can’t change the past.” Kralj’s tone was brusque. “Focus on the future.”
“My future is with her. I’m never leaving her side.” Hulagu’s declaration held the strength of a vow. “I’ll protect her with my life if I have to.”
“If you stay within the Refuge, that sacrifice won’t be necessary.” Kralj’s fingers splayed over Dita’s ass. “Your gerel will have my protection also. No one would dare harm her.”
Dita stared at him. Since the moment they had met, he’d been adamant about residents fending for themselves, about not involving himself in their business. As long as his rules were followed, their dealings were none of his concern, he’d told her.
Why was he extending his protection now to Azalea?
Kralj met her gaze and Dita read the answer in his eyes. He was doing this for her. She glowed, touched by his actions. Her male was breaking all of his rules to make her happy.
“I can protect my own gerel.” Hulagu wasn’t as appreciative of the gift.
“And I can protect my own mate.” Kralj countered in a way that preserved the young warrior’s pride. “Yet I’ve erected high walls around our domicile and have surrounded myself with the best warriors in the universe, warriors who will safeguard my mate as though she was their own.”
She could also protect herself. Dita kept that insight to herself because Azalea couldn’t do the same. Not yet.
“You don’t have to make your decision now. Talk it over with your gerel.” Kralj motioned toward the sleeping girl. “But know if you stay, I expect your loyalty. You will report to me, train intensely, follow my orders without question.”
Hulagu turned his head. His brown eyes were tinged with red. Dita’s heart twisted. The warrior had been crying.
“I would be part of your team?” he asked.
Kralj nodded.
“I will always place my gerel first, putting her above all others.” The young warrior’s chin lifted. “You are a skilled leader but she is the light to my darkness. I love her with everything I am and cannot live without her.”
“I would never ask you to live without her.” Kralj glanced at Dita. “A gerel, a mate is an extension of our own being. To be disloyal to her is to be disloyal to ourselves.” He paused. “Consider the offer, warrior.”
He hefted Dita over his right shoulder, turned and strode out of the medic bay.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his back.
“He’ll be a great warrior… some planet rotation in the far, far future.” Kralj’s voice was gruff.
He carried her to their domicile. They strode through the doorway. Dita glanced around them. Patrons gambled, drank, fondled the breeding females. Everything was reassuringly the same.
“As there were no consequences to us leaving the Refuge.” Dita watched Kralj’s coat swirl around his big boots as he walked through the public chambers. “There’s no need to reprimand me.”
“There’s a need, little one.” Kralj patted her ass.
She frowned.
There was no reason for him to be gentle with her. She was completely healed. Energy zipped through her form, pulsed in her veins.
And, emotionally, she required more than a pat on the ass. She had lost a friend and had almost died. Dita craved a mind-cleansing, soul-purging rough fuck with her savage male.
She knew how to get one.
“If there had been ten fewer males, I think I could have defeated them.” She deliberately taunted him with that boast. “At sunrise, I’ll gather some of the best warriors in the universe and test my skills.”
“There will be no testing of your skills.” Kralj slapped her ass harder.
She felt the contact through her body covering. It was good but could be better. “It would be hand-to-hand combat only.”
He kicked open the doors to their private chambers. “There will be no hand-to-hand combat.” His palm connected solidly with her backside and she jerked, surprised and pleased by his reaction. “There will be no combat of any kind.” He smacked her again, thrillingly hard.
She could take more than that. “But—”
“No.” Kralj sat on the edge of the sleeping support, drew her over his knee, and cuffed her wiggling ass. “No.” Smack. “No.” Smack. “No.” Smack. He slowed.
Dita didn’t want the punishment to end. “But—”
“No.” He spanked her again and again. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The burn spread over her body, lighting fires within her. Her pussy dripped. Her breasts ached.
Her dominant male was as turned on by the reprimand as she was. The bulge in his ass coverings pushed against her. His breathing was strained. She lifted into his hand, offering more of her to punish.
“You will not take unnecessary risks with your life.” His voice was terse with emotion. “I won’t tolerate that.”
He worried about her, cared about her. She heard that in his words.
“Yes, sir.” Dita floated, her head fuzzy.
He spanked her once, twice, three more times, then rubbed her curves, dipping his fingers between her legs, heightening the pleasure, extending the pain. “Did I hurt you?”
“Not enough,” she mumbled.
His chest shook. “You would test the patience of a rock.” Kralj flipped her over, handling her as though she weighed nothing. “You’re too reckless, little one.” He stroked his thumbs over her cheeks. “Some planet rotation, you’ll push yourself too far.”
She gazed up at him, feeling the tenderness in his touch, seeing the love in his eyes. “And you’ll be there to save me.” Dita summoned a smile, her ass on fire. “Like you did this planet rotation.” She cupped his cheek.
Kralj pressed his face into her palm. “I wasn’t there soon enough.” He removed her boots, pulled the tattered and stained body covering off her. “You were injured.”
And her overly responsible male blamed himself for that.
He and Hulagu, his young protégé, were alike in many ways.
“I was injured.” She wouldn’t insult Kralj’s intelligence by claiming she hadn’t been hurt. “But you healed all of my wounds and I survived.”
“Hmmm…” He slid his hands over her neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, moving lower, inspecting every part of her, his perusal exciting her. She spread her legs and pushed her hips upward, silently asking for his fingers on her pussy.
Kralj’s eyes glittered. He deliberately avoided that part of her.
She huffed with frustration. “It’s a dangerous universe. I will incur injuries again.”
“No, you won’t.” His voice was firm with certainty. He wiggled her toes, one by one. “I’ll ensure you’re not harmed.”
“You’ll be the beast protecting me in my dreams.” Dita twisted the words he’d once told her. “The comfort I feel in the dark, the warm breath wafting over the back of my neck telling me I’m never alone.” She smiled at him. “You’re a monster and you’re mine.”
“I’m yours.” He turned her onto her stomach, glided his palms along her body. She twitched as he squeezed her burning ass. “And you’re mine. You will obey me.”
“Or you’ll ravish my mouth?” She kicked backward, wanting that punishment.
“I’ll show you what I’ll do.” He picked her up, lifting her high in the air, and tossed her behind him.
Dita instinctively reacted to what her assassin mind perceived as an attack. She curled into a ball and tumbled onto the sleeping support, coming to a stop in a crouched position, her arms raised to defend herself.
Her heart pounded. Her body, already aroused by the spanking, pulsed even more.
Kralj stood. His lips twitched. “You can’t defeat me, my little assassin.” He shrugged out of his coat. The leather fell to the floor, revealing golden skin, delineated muscle, his pecs flat, his abs sculpted. The scars on his shoulder, his biceps, were proof of his power, his ability to survive, to conquer.
He was right. She’d never defeat him but she would spend all of her now long lifespan testing herself against him. That challenge thrilled her. “You’ll be the first one to come.”
“You’ll come twice before I do.” Kralj kicked off his boots. “But only because I allow that.” He unfastened his ass coverings slowly, revealing more and more of his long, thick cock. “I control when you find release. Your orgasms belong to me.”
“Do they?” She wet her bottom lip with her tongue, her need for him escalating.
His cock bobbed. “They do.” He stripped faster. “Move over.” Kralj pushed her to the far side of the sleeping support. The friction against her skin titillated her.
She was in a bad way.
And judging by his smug expression, Kralj knew it. He reclined, lying flat on his back.
Dita’s blood raced. She’d ride him. He was giving her that control over him. She trembled with anticipation, with wanting, with a yearning impossible to deny, the pressure inside her building. “Sir?”
“Come here.” Kralj patted his thighs.
“You don’t have to issue that order twice.” She straddled him, eager for the contact.
“If only that were true of all orders I give you.” He grabbed her legs and pulled her snug against his cock, her pussy lips hugging his shaft.
She inhaled sharply, her form shaking with pleasure. He was warm and rigid and pressing against all the right places.
“Work me, little one.” Kralj gripped her hips, coaxed her to move against him.
She undulated, slicking his cock with her juices, making him glisten. A drop of pre-cum already formed on his tip.
“If I work you, you’ll come first.” It was an empty warning. She was one stroke of a finger away from fulfillment.
“You’re coming now.” His eyes gleamed with erotic intent.
Dita froze in place, mentally bracing for his sensuous attack. She wouldn’t help him win the challenge. “That’s not happ—”
Kralj forced her to move, grinding her beleaguered ass against his unrelenting thighs and she gritted her teeth, unable to stop him, his strength far superior to hers.
Her hips were swiveled once, twice, the pain exquisite, intense. It was too much, too good, but she could resist it. She could—
He bucked upward.
Dita broke, splintering into pieces. She screamed her satisfaction, clutching his forearms, arching her back, her body gyrating in the air.
Bliss, hot, intense, and primal, pounded her, blasting her brain to dust, decimating the trials of the planet rotation, her grief, her anger, her regrets. All she knew was him, her male, his touch, his scent, his breathing.
Kralj cupped her breasts, kneading them, ruthlessly prolonging her pleasure until it was spent, until she had nothing left.
Dita sagged against him, drained, happy. He ran his hands over her quivering form, his expression satisfied. The male was in control and he realized that.
“You’re merciless.” She summoned a smile.
“I’m a monster.” His hands returned to her breasts. “That was one.”
He pinched her nipples, pulled on that sensitive flesh and Dita whimpered. She’d just come. She should be sated. But he knew her body, knew her penchant for pain, knew how she’d react to it, to him. Her wetness bathed the base of his cock. Her pussy pulsed with a soul deep desire. “Kralj.”
“Mount me.” He curved his palms under her ass and raised her high above him, that show of strength farther eroding her willpower.
Her opponent had unlimited power, knowledge, intent. It would be a challenge to defeat him, almost foolhardy. If it weren’t for her pride, she wouldn’t attempt it.
But she was determined to win, to achieve the impossible, to make him come before he gave her satisfaction a second time. Dita jutted her jaw and positioned his tip at her entrance. His hardness bumped against her sensitive flesh and she shuddered, the contact amplified by expectation.
He lowered her and she moaned. It felt so good, their joining. It was the belonging she’d always searched for, a safe place, a sanctuary in a brutal world.
Dita took his girth, all of his power into her body, his cockhead forcing her inner walls farther apart, reshaping her to fit him. The male she loved, the male who loved her back, was inside her.
Kralj had saved her life. His blood flowed through her veins, his nanohumanics changing her forever. He had given her a part of himself in the desert, a link that would never be severed, and he gave her a part of himself now.
She was fully seated on him, her pussy lips touching his base. “We’re connected.” Dita met Kralj’s gaze. In the blackness of his eyes, she saw his beast. It was hungry, wanting her, but it would never hurt her. “Do you feel it?”
“I feel it too much,” he rumbled. The air inside the chamber circulated faster and faster. Her male’s renowned restraint was slipping.
She leaned forward and bracketed his handsome face with her palms. “Focus on me.” She stroked his cheeks, one smooth, the other ridged with scars. “Give me your power.”
They gazed at each other for four, five, six heartbeats.
“You’re tight, hot, wet, mine.” Kralj breathed deeply.
He was inhaling her scent. That knowledge heated her to the core, her wetness soaking his shaft, her nipples tightening even more.
“With one squeeze of your thighs, you could have won the challenge,” he confessed. “My willpower was frayed. I would have come before I had given you release a second time.”
That victory would have cost lives. She had to absorb some of his power before he relinquished his control. If she didn’t, beings died.
“I don’t want the easy win, handsome.” She grinned at him. “I want to earn it.”
Kralj’s dark eyes glowed. “You will earn it.” He lifted her upward. Her pussy lips clung to him, slicking his flesh.
When she reached his rim, he met her gaze. He held her there for one, two heartbeats. Dita’s body trembled. She knew what he planned to do, both wanted and dreaded it.
He dropped her.
Her ass smacked against his thighs. Pain and pleasure meshed, the emotions amplifying each other. She clenched his shaft, instinctively holding onto him.
They both moaned.
Kralj repeated the motion, lifting her, dropping her, lifting her, dropping her. She connected with his hard muscle again and again, her breasts jiggling.
She was riding her powerful male. He was underneath her, his abs rippling, his fit physique hers to utilize and she would utilize him. She wanted all of him, wouldn’t be satisfied with less.
“Faster,” Dita urged, clasping his arms, trying to speed the pace. “Harder.”
Kralj grunted and frustratingly maintained his slow, steady tempo, her stubborn male refusing to be pushed. His gaze was fixed on her face, his expression solemn, intense. His shadow coiled around them, the darkness creating intimacy. The two of them were in a private sanctuary, his attention on her, her attention on him.
They weren’t normal beings and this wasn’t a normal fuck.
The wind Kralj had created plucked at Dita’s curls. The sleeping support shook. The weapons on the walls rattled.
Yet it was perfect, meant to be.
“Can you sense it?” Dita panted, cupping her breasts. “How right this is?” She constricted around his shaft, tightening their connection. “Your monster playing with mine?”
“Yes.” The skin pulled tight over Kralj’s cheekbones. “So right.” Fires burned in his eyes. “You.” He thrust upward as he drove her down on him, shaking her body. “Me.”
Kralj ravished her and she ravished him right back, rippling her pussy walls over his shaft, taunting him with sexy sounds, with seductive looks. She couldn’t control her rise and fall. Her small size hindered that action. But she could and would torment him in other ways.
“Mate.” Growls escaped Kralj’s lips, his beast wrestling for dominance. “Mine.”
That declaration was low and deep and arousing as fuck, his voice reaching the very center of her, drawing forth a primal urge she battled to resist. “Kralj.” His name was a plea for mercy.
She loved a monster and he offered no leniency, moving under her, winding her body tighter and tighter and tighter. She couldn’t bear it. She—
He thrust upward, slapping his base against her feminine folds, severing her grip on reality.
“Mine,” Dita shrieked, grasping his arms with her fingers, his cock with her pussy.
“Mine,” Kralj roared, driving into her with a soul-bending force. The ceiling above them cracked. Weapons fell to the floor, clattering against the tile. Hard jets of nanohumanic-infused cum hit her intimate flesh and an ecstasy bordering on pain tore her apart.
She convulsed, her teeth clattering, her gaze unfocused. He came again and again, filling her with warmth, with his essence, the bliss divine. Colors danced in front of her eyes. Sounds swelled and muted. Every part of her bubbled, tingled, was vividly alive.
“Love.” Dita collapsed, drained, her body folding over his. “Love you.” Her brain had been razed by passion and she didn’t know much else but she did know that.
She loved this male with all of her heart.
He strapped his arms around her, his skin damp from their exertions. “I love you, little one.”
She rested her cheek on his chest. “I didn’t win.” She came first. “But I certainly didn’t lose.”
“This was a reprimand.” Kralj splayed his fingers over her bare back, as though he wished to touch as much of her as possible. “Not a reward.”
Dita laughed. “Is there a difference?”
She loved his reprimands, delighted in the feel of his coarse palm against her tender ass.
“Only you would ask if there was a difference between a reprimand and a reward.” He pulled her up until she stared straight into his dark eyes. “You’re dangerous. I knew that when I met you.”
“You recognized my fierce assassin skills?” Dita’s chest puffed out with pride.
He shook his head, his expression bemused. “I recognized who you were to me.”
“A fellow monster?”
“A fellow monster, my mate, the female I’m destined to love for my long lifespan, the only being who could make me lose control.” Kralj skimmed his lips over hers, his light teasing kiss enchanting Dita. “My heart realized you were a threat.”
She beamed at him. “You didn’t heed that warning.”
“I tried.” He placed her palm on his scarred cheek. “But, with one touch of your hand, you defeated me. I was yours from that moment on.”
“And I was yours.” She stroked her handsome male’s face, basking in his devotion. “Only two powerful beings could experience feelings this strong.”
“Only two monsters could love this intensely.” His eyes gleamed.
He rolled her onto her back and Dita laughed, clutching his wide shoulders.
She wouldn’t trade her far-from-normal life for anything in the universe.
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