Berrr's Vow (20 page)

Berrr had said that he cared about Alluwn once, refusing to give her up until he’d had no choice but to set her free.
Maybe he’ll take her back as his bound.
Pain burned in Shanna’s chest at the thought of Berrr still being in love with the woman who’d borne him three daughters and four sons, if she’d been happy to do it or not. He had to still love her after all the years they’d been together and now Alluwn had come back to him.

“I knew he was too damn good to be true.”

The guard opened one of the vehicle doors to help Shanna climb inside. He frowned at her.

“I don’t understand.”

Shanna met his bright green eyes and blinked back tears. “Unfortunately, I do. Let’s go. Take me to Rever’s house please.”

Chapter Eleven

The white-haired tall Zorn woman smiled widely at Shanna from across the table, pushing a lock of her hair back. “Eat.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have much of an appetite, Ali,” Shanna admitted softly.

Ali, Rever’s house helper, frowned. “You are sad that you missed Argis Rever and Brenda? They will return tonight like I told you yesterday when you arrived here. They were not expecting a guest but you are very welcome here, Shanna. You must eat breakfast. You barely touched your dinner I prepared last night.”

Sighing loudly, Shanna lifted a fork and pushed food around her plate. “It’s really good, Ali. Thank you. I just… I’m not very hungry.”

“Hyvin Berrr did not come last night but he did send a message that he would visit today.”

Pain lanced through Shanna. Berrr hadn’t come to talk to her but had instead sent a personal messenger saying his meetings were going to last longer than he thought because another district had been attacked and he didn’t want her to wait up too late for him. She had wanted to snort but instead she’d fought tears. Maybe he was in meetings or maybe he was so busy with his Alluwn that he would finally arrive to tell her he was taking the bitch back.

“I am Brenda’s best friend,” Ali said softly. “I love humans. You are sad. You can talk to me about anything and I will not gossip. Brenda trusts me so you can too.”

Looking up to meet the other woman’s concerned gaze, Shanna hesitated. She’d been told that Brenda was human but she hadn’t met the woman since Rever had taken his bound on a sudden trip to get her mind off what had happened to Ariel. Brenda was pregnant and both of them were now worried she would have a difficult birth as well. Their trip had been unplanned and sudden, Ali had explained to her.

“Is this about Hyvin Berrr? Zorn men are very different from the Earth men you are accustomed to. Brenda has told me all about humans.”

“His bound came back yesterday,” Shanna blurted. “He couldn’t get me out of there fast enough. I thought it was over with her but obviously it’s not and I fell in love with him.”

Ali’s eyes widened. “She returned?”

Miserable, Shanna pushed her food around on the plate again, piling up something green that was similar to mashed potatoes in substance.
“Yeah.
I guess maybe she is ready to come back into his life.”

Shaking her white head, Ali softly growled. “Not that one. If Bratha Alluwn comes it is to make Hyvin Berrr miserable. That woman lives to hurt our Hyvin. She is not right in her mind anymore and she is not tolerated by Zorn people.”

“He rushed me out a back door to get me out of his house before she saw me, shoved me at one of the guards and promised to come see me last night but he blew me off.”

Frowning deeply, Ali tilted her head, staring at Shanna for long seconds. “Bratha Alluwn is known for her viciousness on Zorn. Perhaps he was trying to spare you from her.”

Shrugging, Shanna forced herself to take a bite of food. Starving herself wasn’t going to do a bit of good to mend her breaking heart. “I think he still loves her.”

“No one loves their biggest enemy.”

It was Shanna’s turn to frown at Ali as she lifted her gaze. “They are bound and have children together.”

“Yes but she publically humiliated him and then had him bound to her as punishment. It is very effective punishment, albeit unjustified in this case, to make a warrior suffer that kind of great shame. The entire population knows how it is between them. We always hoped that he would find another Zorn woman who would challenge Bratha Alluwn but his house helpers were too weak or too frightened to do what needs to be done. They were the only ones who had the right to challenge his bound.”

“Challenge?”

“It is a shame that you are human and not built as strongly as our women.” Ali stood up to pour another drink from a pitcher before sitting back down. “Only a woman under his protection can issue a challenge to an unfit bound with the warrior’s permission. That is Zorn law.”

Shanna bit her lip. “I don’t understand so explain this law to me specifically.”

“If a bound is unfit or unstable a house helper can ask the warrior his permission to challenge the bound for her status. If he agrees, the house helper will challenge the bound to a fight. It is a rarely used law but it does happen in extreme circumstances. They can fight to the death or until one concedes to the winner and then the winner has won the right to be the warrior’s bound. It has to be approved by a judge and the fight witnessed publically so everyone knows it was fair and just. I wished that Brenda would have challenged Rever’s human bound but she said humans don’t fight like that to challenge each other in relationships. It did work out in the end but it was miserable for all until the issue was resolved.”

“I’m confused. Isn’t Brenda Rever’s bound?”

Smiling, Ali started talking, telling Shanna all about Brenda and Rever. “It did work out and now they are bound,” she finished saying. “His first human now lives far away from here because her warrior had to separate her from other Zorn men. I feel deep sympathy for that one. He is stuck with her unless he allows her near other males. If she is stupid enough to offer her body up to them again he could hand her off to the next unsuspecting male.”

Shanna was stunned. She sat there picking at her food until she raised her head, eyeing Ali. “So house helpers have the right to challenge a bound for her position if I get permission from Berrr to do it first?”

Ali paled. “You can’t consider doing this, Shanna. Bratha Alluwn is Zorn and she is known for her viciousness. She comes from the strongest bloodlines and is not a typical Zorn female. That is why she was considered a perfect match for Hyvin Berrr to begin with and why their sons are all so strong. She would win and she would not have mercy to spare your life. I never meant that you should challenge her for it would bring you death.” Ali took a deep breath. “If she did find mercy for you as winner she would send you away to whatever household she deemed fitting. You would have no say in the matter and she could send you to a very bad place. You would never be allowed in the home of Hyvin Berrr again or even allowed to speak to him. It is the Zorn way in these matters. You must understand that Bratha Alluwn is a born fighter, she is—”

A loud bell sounded, causing Ali to stop talking instantly to stand up. “That must be Hyvin Berrr for you.” She fled the room.

Shanna slowly walked to the living room with dread. It was probably just another personal messenger sending Berrr’s lame excuses why he was avoiding her. When she stepped into the living room her gaze met a pair of beautiful bright blue eyes. Berrr was wearing his black kick-ass uniform and he grinned when he saw her, opening up his arms.

“My Shanna.
Come.”

He held her before she realized that she’d run at him and had thrown her arms around his neck when he bent forward to catch her. His strong embrace tightened around her, her face buried against the collar of his leather outfit, and her nose filled with the wonderful masculine scent she missed desperately. Wincing at just how little self-control she seemed to have over her happiness at seeing him again, she forced herself to lift her head.

Berrr grinned when their gazes locked. “I missed you painfully, my Shanna.” He started walking, her body tightly pressed against hers. “I should have woken you last night.”

“Hyvin Berrr, is there anything I can get for you? Are you hungry?” Ali had her head bowed as she spoke.

“Get out of the way of the guest quarters and make sure no one disturbs us. My guards are outside with instructions to not let anyone near the house.”

Ali dove out of his way as Berrr carried a stunned Shanna back to the room that she’d slept in the night before, and the door slammed loudly as he used his boot to kick it closed. A gasp escaped her as she hit the bed where Berrr tossed her. She sat up, a little stunned to see him bending over and tearing off his boots. His face
lifted,
those intense eyes of his meeting her wide gaze, as he growled low at her.

“Undress now or I’ll tear those clothes off you.”

Shanna pushed the air from her lungs, reaching for her shirt. Some of her questions were answered. Berrr removed his uniform in record speed, nearly ripping it at the seams to get it off. He appeared to be a desperate man in need of sex and very turned-on. Shanna wanted to believe that meant he hadn’t spent the night in Alluwn’s bed. He had come for her and she doubted he would have if he’d gotten back together with his bound. Relief flooded her as she yanked off her shirt and went for the waist of her pants to wiggle out of them. Berrr bent, reaching to help her by grabbing her pants, tearing them the rest of the way off her legs. He just threw them over his shoulder, his gaze fixing on her thighs.

“Open for me now,” he snarled.

There was no fear as Shanna spread her legs wide, falling on her back on the soft mattress, as Berrr gripped her inner thighs, shoving them wider apart. Most women would probably be terrified at the rough, harsh tone of his voice but Shanna knew he wasn’t in a rage. He snarled again, it turning into a deep growl a heartbeat before his thumbs spread her labia and his mouth was over her clit. She closed her eyes and gripped the first things her hand came into contact with, one hand curled around the side of the bed, the other one fisting the comforter. A moan tore from her.

“Oh fuck, Berrr. Damn,” she moaned. “Zero to sixty and that feels so…
Oh God!”

His thumb drove into her pussy. Berrr was sucking, licking and tormenting her sensitive bud with his lips surrounding it, taunting it without mercy. He was going to get her off in record time too if he didn’t slow down but as she writhed and bucked her hips against his mouth, his thumb started to move inside her, sliding in and out of her a few inches at a time at a fast pace.

“Berrr!”

She screamed his name as she came hard, fast and violently. Pleasure slammed her, tearing through her entire body.

He released her as Shanna gasped in breath, her body twitching, her pussy still clenching from the spasms that gripped her. The bed moved and then a large hand wrapped around one of her ankles, dragging her down the mattress to the edge. The movement stopped and then a large hand gripped her hip, flipping her over onto her stomach. Shanna’s eyes opened just as she was jerked around on the bed again, her knees going off the edge of the mattress. She didn’t hit the floor, instead a large male body pinned her over the corner of the bed, keeping her knees inches from the floor, a cry of surprise and rapture tearing through her parted lips as Berrr drove his cock deep into her pussy in one swift motion.

“Oh God!”

He was big, thick and fucking her hard and fast, pinning her so tight to the bed that she couldn’t even move. His hands moved, his larger ones curling around her fisted ones to hold them in place, as his breath teased the side of her neck and shoulder on her right side. Pleasure and pain gripped her as Berrr fucked her, his hips pumping against her ass as he continued to pound her hard and deep. She realized pleasure won out as she cried out again, climaxing a second time, the muscles inside her pussy going nuts, gripping and releasing the thick cock driving in and out of her.

There was a scrape of sharp teeth a second before his mouth clamped down on her shoulder at the very base of her neck, his teeth biting into her enough to cause pain to shoot through her. Shanna was so stunned that he’d bitten her that she couldn’t even scream as she sucked in air from the pain before his mouth released her. He roared out as he came, almost convulsing with his hips against her ass, his incredibly rigid cock pumped and jerked while he flooded her with his cum.

They both had to catch their breath. Shanna was pinned under Berrr’s larger body, unable to move, while he recovered first. Gently, his hands released hers and reached for her shoulders. A soft growl came from the man.

“I bit you. I’m so sorry, my Shanna.”

Her face was on the bed, her cheek to the comforter, eyes closed, as she shrugged. “It doesn’t really hurt. It’s okay.”

Softly growling, Berrr carefully withdrew from her body. “You’re human and you are still bruised up from your attack. I should have been gentler with you. I apologize.”

That got her to open her eyes. Shanna stared over her shoulder to look back at Berrr, shooting him a frown. “Did you hear me complaining?” Before he could speak, she did. “That would be a no. I admit the biting thing is kinky and I hope you don’t do it often because ouch but no worries.”

Berrr’s hands slid down her arms to her hips. She was lifted and rolled onto the bed. She relaxed, not caring that Berrr was shifting her around as he climbed on the bed with her, both of them lying sideways across it. Berrr turned her a little more so they faced each other on their sides while he used his bent arm to prop up his head. His intense gaze locked with hers, a frown turning his mouth downward, telling her that he wasn’t happy.

“I wanted to mark you, leave something of mine on your body, I think. I will try to never bite you again. I didn’t break the skin.” His attention went to the slightly throbbing area where he’d struck with his teeth, his frown deepening. “You will have bruises for a while.”

“I said it’s all right.” She lifted her hand and let her fingertips play with the hair on his chest. “I missed you.” She looked up, staring at his face, and sighed. “What’s going on with you and Alluwn? Is she staying? Are you leaving me here? Is it over between us? Don’t fuck around with me, Berrr. Just be honest so I can deal with this.”