33. Chapter 33

Bzun- Lhan left not much longer after Dzar-Ghan's accusations. Spitting and hollering threats, he took off with the men who decided to follow him. Dzar-Ghan watched his departure thoughtfully before he turned back to Dzur-Khan and me. "Well, let's talk about tomorrow."

So we did. For the first time, I learned that Vandruk also utilized writing. Their letters weren't like anything I had ever seen before and were something I would also have to learn. They didn't have a pen and paper like I was used to, but a writing utensil similar to a pencil, only it was written in deep purple letters. Their paper was made from hides, cured and thinned to rival the expensive kind of stationery we use on Earth.

Dzur-Khan sat down and, in an elegant hand, wrote down what we discussed. Of course, women were at the top of the list, but Lexi, who joined us, also suggested more medical supplies which would come in handy, especially burn lotion. Some of the Vandruks were hurt worse than Bran-Vhal.

Dzar-Ghan only had one request. He wanted someone who would be able to open the cave and help bury their dead loved ones.

I suggested more guns like the ones Willis and his men had used, but I knew that would be a long shot. I doubted Weidenhof's willingness to arm the very people he wished to subjugate.

Our camp was quiet and much more peaceful than it had been the previous night. Without the Queen Bees' presence, it seemed the air around us had gotten lighter.

"Whatever you think Bzun-Lhan did, he's going to hide it," Dzur-Khan said to Dzar-Ghan when we were done with our list.

"He can't. I will catch him, and he knows it. He can't hide his secrets." His eyes moved up heavenward to take in the nebula so far above us. "I hope Mynarra will forgive me, but I will take the first gallis who comes through the red fog as my khadahrshi to show my support for you and Tzar-Than before I finish my business with Bzun-Lhan. "

The haunted look in his eyes stopped me from asking who Mynarra was until he left Dzur-Khan and me sitting alone by the fire.

"She was to be his mate," Dzur-Khan confirmed what I had already guessed.

"I'm so sorry."

I swallowed. I had never asked him, but now I needed to know, "Did you… did you have a… mate?"

His thumb caressed the top of my hand as we were holding them. "Sa," he said with a hint of melancholy washing over his features.

My heart constricted. "Did you… did you love her?" I hated myself not only for my weakness of asking, wanting—no, needing—to know the answer, but also for the stab of jealousy directed at a woman who had been dead for more than ten years. Because she was a woman with more rights to Dzur-Khan than I had, she had been one of his tribe.

"Not like you," Dzur-Khan said, but he still looked too forlorn to have his words give me comfort. "We were so young." A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. A smile of fond yet painful memories and, again, a stab of jealousy pricked my stomach. "She was Tzar-Than's sister, Tilliah. She was so full of life, always laughing. I had just proven myself in the Khadahr Trials and won the right to pick a mate."

"And she would have accepted?" I didn't like the edge in my voice, but at least he didn't seem to notice it.

"Sa, we'd known each other since we were children."

"I'm sorry," I repeated, not knowing what else to say.

"It was a long time ago. Some of us have a harder time letting go. Dzar-Ghan is one of them."

"Have you? Let go?" I held my breath, waiting for his answer.

"The moment I laid eyes on you," he answered so sincerely, it nearly broke my heart and made me feel small for my earlier jealousy .

"When I first saw you, nothing of what happened mattered much any longer because I knew I would have never met you if it hadn't been for our tragedy. Or I wouldn't have been free for you."

I pulled my lower lip in and bit down because I needed physical pain to distract me from the emotions rushing through me that nearly swallowed me. They ranged from shame to joy, from delight to a ragged pain for what he went through. But also a guilt-ridden relief at his words. Because yes, if humans hadn't opened the portal that caused so much tragedy to his people, we would have never met. If my sister hadn't been killed, I wouldn't be here.

Would he have been as enamored with Dawn as he had been with me?

His words about how the name Dawn didn't suit me came back to me, and I decided no. He wouldn't have been. We had been meant for each other. Right then, I swore that I would make us count for something because our happiness was born from so much blood and tears.

"I love you," I squeezed his hand.

His eyes lit up, and he pulled my hand to his lips to kiss it. "I love you too."

Feeling complete, I leaned into him. His hand caressed my head, my face. "I was going to plan this very elaborate, romantic declaration for you," he whispered.

"This is romantic," I said, lifting my head to look up into his strong profile, so handsome it nearly made me weep.

"You are so easy to please." He smiled.

"Hmm," I disagreed, "I'm not sure about that, but you do a fabulous job of it."

"How fabulous?" He wanted to know.

I moved my hand between his legs and stroked his hardening cock. "I don't know. Why don't we find out?"

"Gallis." Without effort, he lifted me and turned me around so I straddled his legs, facing him. "You are so damn tempting."

I squirmed on his lap, purposefully and shamelessly rubbing my core against his enlarging cock. "Whatcha gonna do about it?"

"First," he said, leaning forward, "I'm going to kiss you senseless." His mouth pressed against mine. Greedily, I opened my lips to invite his tongue in, which entered like a conquering army. Battling mine, I groaned and felt a rush of liquid drowning my pussy. God, how did he do that with just a kiss?

"Then I'm going to carry you off into our tent," he announced, rising and breaking our kiss.

"That would have only been hotter if you had said cave," I mumbled, suckling on his thick neck.

"Cave, huh? I can take you to a cave." He hoisted me around. I didn't think he had any idea that what he was doing was exactly what I had had in mind, as I was now laying over his shoulder, ass up in the air exactly as I imagined a caveman would.

"Oh, that's so hot. Slap my ass," I demanded.

"Slap your…"

"Ass, please, slap my ass," I was already so wet and ready for him that I feared his slap would indeed push me over the edge, but no man had ever carried me like this, and I loved it. It was arousing as fuck.

His hand moved up, and he did as I requested, but that wasn't enough. "Harder."

"Gallis," he groaned, nearly stumbling.

"Harder," I repeated, holding my breath until I felt a stinging slap on my ass that vibrated into my pussy, making my clit pulse.

"Oh fuck, Dzur-Khan, that felt good."

He ducked into the tent opening with me. "You are the strangest gallis I have ever met."

"Yeah, but one that turns you on," I replied as he, too softly, let me down. I would have rather he had thrown me on the furs and ripped my clothes off, but the look on his face was enough. Raw desire screamed from his eyes.

"What else are you going to do to me now that you have me in your tent?" My voice sounded throaty and breathless.

"I'm going to feast on your tits," he announced, his hands grabbing the shirt of my uniform and tearing it in two.

My knees shook from the animalistic gesture. Even more, when his hands reached forward to grab each one of my tits in one of his. Bending forward, his lips were right by my ear, sending showers of goosebumps down my spine while he continued to massage my tits, rubbing his calloused palms over the tender flesh and my peaked nipples, already hypersensitive to his touch.

"I'm going to knead your tits and feast on your nipples until you're so wet I could drown in your juices."

This time, my knees caved in. With a slight chuckle, he helped me down to the bed of furs, never stopping massaging at least one of my breasts. He pushed me back.

"Such perfect tits," he rasped, diving forward like a starving man and latching on to one nipple. My eyes rolled back as he rolled it between his lips, nipped, and pulled.

His other hand moved between my legs, rubbed against my swollen clit through my pants, and I stretched my legs wide open for him to have a better reach before I shamelessly began to ride his hand.

All the while, my hands roamed his body, his thick biceps and pecs; I loved how hard they felt under my palms, how I could press without hurting him. When my hand moved lower to cup his ass, he jerked in surprise before a deep moan escaped him. "Amber!"

I squeezed his ass again, relishing in his groan and the press of his ever-hardening cock against my leg.

His lips let go of my nipple with a loud pop before they traced down in between my breasts, moving down lower and leaving a hot trail. His fingers moved between my skin and my pants, and he began pushing them down while following their trajectory.

"Then I'm going to drink all those juices you are so generously offering, making you come hard enough to cry my name," he mumbled, sending me another few inches closer to the edge.

My entire body hummed and vibrated under his first hard lick from one end of my slit to the other, holding up my hips and spreading my legs for easier access. I cried out with lust and hunger for more .

He lapped at my pussy, making noises that sounded like growling, nearly blowing my mind. I began to pant as the first waves of my climax washed through me, taking me under the moment he sucked my clit into his mouth.

"Dzur-Khan!" I cried, riding the waves of hot, utter bliss.

"And then I'm going to fuck you until you can't lift a finger," he promised, coming up from between my legs with a dazed expression on his face. For a moment, I thought he had cum too, but his hard cock impaled me seconds later.

Making good on his promise, he thrust into me so hard and deep at once that I gasped. Clinging to his biceps, I absorbed his thrusts as they kept coming hard and wild and unrestrained.

My core knotted so deeply that I was sure any second now I would shatter into a million pieces—a person could only take so much pleasure—but it kept coming, running through my body, my veins in waves of the sweetest bliss.

The tips of my fingers dug into his rock-hard biceps, and my tits bounced deliciously until he got hold of one with his mouth and latched on to a nipple, driving my ecstasy up another notch, so high, I could hardly stand it. I needed to come.

His hips rolled, his cock moved in and out of me. He changed his angle slightly. Now on his way in, he hit my G-spot, and on his way out, he rubbed against my clit. Sobbing and mewling sounds escaped me. I needed it to end. I needed to come. I didn't want it to stop .

And then the world stopped around me. Just stopped. Heat and pleasure rolled through me. Carried me off into a world filled with bliss and hot syrup moving through my core. I screamed his name.

"Dzur-Khan!"

He stiffened on top of me and roared into the night as his cock pulsed inside me, filling me with his seed. "MINE!"

That one little word took my breath away. That's all I wanted. I wanted to be HIS.

"Yours!" I cried, carried away by the emotions coursing through my chest. I needed him to know that I was his and always would be, just as he was mine.

We lay in each other's arms, utterly at peace with one another. My head rested on his chest while I listened to the beat slowly return to normal. My fingers traced up from his belly button over his incredibly sculpted abs. I had always been a sucker for a muscly man, but Dzur-Khan took the word muscles to a whole new level. No, strike that planet.

Eventually, I reached the spot where his scars began, traced their many grooves, marveled at the raised flesh in between, and allowed my curiosity to get the better of me. "What happened? What are these?"

I continued my tracing and enjoyed how my head rose and fell while his deep voice sounded through the scarcely illuminated tent. "They're my Khadahr markings."

"I gathered that," I replied, "they're so… even. How…"

"They are received during the last test," Dzun-Khan's voice was level. He could have been describing a baptism instead of the mutilation of his body. "Every male found worthy to undergo the last test has to stand in front of all the clans while a priest lays the Mantle of Trial over his shoulder and side. The mantle was dunked first into one of the Pits of Daggahr, a liquid similar to your firebomb. It burns a male's chest."

I shuddered at the barbarism of it. "Why?"

"A Khadahr's burden is a heavy one to bear. During the trials, we had to prove our bravery, prowess, intelligence, and strength; the last trial tests our endurance, our willingness to endure pain for two fingerbreadths of time and to stand firm while doing so."

I kissed one of the raised scars, imagining the mantle to have been made like some kind of net, which explained the even honeycomb-like scars.

"And the next day, you're expected to pick a bride?"

He shook his head. "Nek, we have three days of healing before we pick our mates."

I closed my eyes. "So they did that to you before the cave-in?"

"That time was slightly different. It wasn't done until weeks later, after we lost all hope." A hint of sadness resonated in his voice, and I kissed his scarred flesh again.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," he replied, raising his head to look down at me.

"I know, still. What you went through…"

"I don't think your life was much easier."

Aside from the physical pain, no, he was right. Physical pain was one thing I hadn't endured, not like this. There had been fist fights with others, training, and yeah, a few… altercations with hostiles, a few gunshot wounds…

"You have your own warrior scars." Dzur-Khan's fingers traced to the raised scars of my bullet wounds, another from a knife, one from a broken arm… I supposed he was right; we all carried our scars and battle wounds. I lifted my hand and stared at the perfect X, a smile tugging at my lips. This was one scar I would wear with pride.