Crimson Lips [Amazon Warriors] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

They wanted him to be compliant and explain why they had attacked the estate twice within a week.

The stench of the beast was grotesque, but she leaned in closer to talk to him.

“My name is Crimson Acker, leader of the Amazon tribe of Utah. Why have you and yours invaded my land?”

The creature only grunted, but she persisted.

“We were enemies once, but that was eons ago. What changed to make you attack our home?”

“You were informed you planned an attack against us.”

Well, that didn’t take as long as she thought.

“We haven’t had any cause to initiate an attack against you. I overheard some of the men talking the night you broke into the main house, and a message was sent back to you that nothing was found here to suggest an attack from us. Why would you come back tonight?”

“The first night we came, it was a recon mission, yet three of ours never made it back. We had to retaliate.”

“We regret your losses, but we had no idea of your intentions. You were trespassing on our land. We had a right to defend ourselves. You would have done the same. Now, because of your need to avenge your fallen, you have lost two more.”

The Cyclops hit his head against the gurney in frustration. “Why would one of yours come to us and lie?”

“What are you talking about? One of ours?”

“It was one of your female warriors who warned us of an attack.”

“Who?” she said with such rage the Cyclops flinched and the other warriors backed away from the bed. All except Sloan. He stood tall and strong at her side. She felt his hand on her lower back, giving her reassurance.

“I don’t know her full name.”

“Who?” she repeated as she brought her fist down by his head…hard.

“Annika!”

* * * *

Sloan watch as Crimson stilled and stared at the creature’s massacred face.

Then he had to listen as she released the most pained scream he had ever heard, and he’d seen people get their limbs blown off.

He was forced to restrain her when she went into a full blown rage, taking it out on the Cyclops, hitting him and shouting, “He’s lying,” over and over again.

The beast groaned with the pain she was inflicting on him. Sloan looked to the other warriors as he dragged Crimson from the building.

Once outside, she pushed him off and paced back and forth in front of him. Mumbling to herself, “she couldn’t” and “she wouldn’t,” followed by other nonsensical jargon.

She stopped suddenly and turned to him with tears in her eyes. “I can’t and won’t believe what that thing says.” She said it with utter confidence and authority.
What a loyal and admirable woman.

“Okay, so what do you want us to do?”

“Us?”

“Yes, us.”

“Okay, fine, if she’s found guilty of this, she will be put to death. I can’t risk that. We have to find her and get out of here, now.” She made to leave, but he grabbed her elbow, trying to stop her. She pulled away using her strength, but she didn’t run off.

“Just wait, think for a minute. You’re scared for your sister, I get it, I’d act irrationally if it was any of my brothers he’d named, but if you and Annika leave, that’s going to make her look guilty. Besides, you’re not the type of woman to run from fear.”

“What do you suggest?”

At least she was listening to reason.

“We find the person who really did this. Until then, you have to treat your sister as if she was anyone else. As leader of this tribe you can’t show favoritism. You have to be impartial. By all means postpone the trial to give us more time to find the bitch, but you can’t run, C.”

“If we don’t find the traitor in time?”

He heard the door to the clinic room open, he didn’t want anyone to hear what he had to say, so he leaned in as if to kiss her cheek. Instead he whispered in her ear, “If it comes to that…then we run.” As he moved away he placed a soft kiss to her temple.

The warriors approached them cautiously. They had heard the name that came from the beast’s lips and saw their leader’s reaction. They were right to be wary. One of them found the courage to speak up. “What would you like us to do?”

“Find Annika, take her to the cells, don’t harm her, and wait for me there.” Crimson spoke with a defeated tone that made his chest hurt.

After spending some time alone in her office with Sloan, just lying in his arms, trying to calm her rage, and thinking through what she was going to do, she felt like herself again. She went to see her sister, with Sloan supporting her the whole time.

“I’m sorry” was the only thing she could manage. She couldn’t even look her sister in the eye.

“Vicki explained to me what happened. I understand why you did what you did.”

“It’s not because I think you’re guilty…” she rushed to say.

“I know that,” her sister said softly as she smiled at her. “Just find whoever betrayed the tribe,” she said in a serious and stern voice.

She nodded her agreement, more determined than ever to prove her sister’s innocence.

“Is there anything you want?”

With a mischievous smile on her face, she looked between Crimson and Sloan and wiggled her eyebrows.

She laughed. “Not a chance.”

“Ah, come on.”

“Am I missing something here?” Sloan asked, sounding confused.

“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, my sister here is a voyeur,” she said, turning her head toward Sloan and wiggling her eyebrows at the gorgeous man behind her, mimicking her sister’s gesture.

Sloan chuckled and looked at Annika. “While I would never say no to your sister wanting to…” He left the sentence hanging but wagged his eyebrows, causing them both to laugh. “But we do not need an audience. This body”—he wrapped his arm round her midsection—“is for my viewing pleasure only.”

She liked his possessive side. She was getting hot just thinking about pleasure with this man. She felt her face flush. This was such an inappropriate time and place to be getting aroused.

Her sister could read her like a book and looked her in the eye, once again serious, “Don’t! Don’t feel guilty, and you...” She looked Sloan in the eye. “Take care of her, soldier boy.”

“I will.”

With that they left, leaving her sister behind in a cell.

* * * *

He felt hopeless when they got back to her room. He saw the pain and confusion in her eyes as she sat on the bed staring into the distance. Sloan just stood near the door watching her, unsure what to do for the best. All he knew was that this strong, powerful, and beautiful woman should never look so lost.

He approached where she sat on the bed and knelt at her feet. He brought his hands up to caress her face, trying to make her look at him, but she was lost in her own thoughts, seemingly unaware of his presence.

So, he kissed her. It started out a gentle brush of his lips against hers, trying to gauge her reaction, but there was none. He just kissed her harder, running his tongue across her lips to pry them open. When they parted slightly, appearing as if her reactions to him were on autopilot, he thrust his tongue inside, needing to taste his woman on his lips.

His woman? When had that happened?

No time to think of that right now. He had to bring Crimson back from wherever her thoughts had taken her.

She started to relax into his touch, his kiss, and responded in kind to the force of their embrace. She kissed him like she was starved for his kiss. She combed her fingers through his short, stubbled hair and held on tight, pulling him close and refusing to let the contact end.

An attack of conscience made him pull back. Now he’d got her attention, they needed to talk. Otherwise, he felt he was taking advantage of her, and she would hate him for it later.

Pulling back only a fraction so he could speak, their lips brushed as her told her, “It’s not your fault.” Her only response was to pull him in for another kiss, more desperate than the last.

Sloan was finding it hard to resist, so he pulled himself away with some force, probably losing some hair in the process. He stood and took a few steps away from pure temptation.

Crimson glared at him as if he was the enemy. He guessed some reaction was better than none at all.

“It’s not your fault,” he repeated.

She stood and stepped closer to him. In a chillingly calm voice, she said, “My sister is locked in a cell, my tribe is on the brink of war, and we have been betrayed by one of our own. I am the leader of this tribe, how the hell is this not
my
fault?”

“
You
didn’t frame your sister, the traitor did.
You
didn’t start this war, the traitor did. You may be leader of this tribe, and, yes, you are responsible for the safety and well-being of your people, but their actions are their own, just as the traitor’s actions against the tribe are their own.”

“I should have known. I should have seen this coming.” Her frustration was starting to show.

Sloan tried to reason. “How? You cannot know when someone keeps secrets from you otherwise it wouldn’t be a secret. Leaders do what they can with the information they have. You had no reason to believe one of your people would turn against you.”

“I am an Amazon. I should have known!” Crimson practically screamed at him.

Sloan closed the distance between them, and got right in her face. “You are a
descendent
of a god, not a god yourself. You are not an all-knowing, all-powerful being.
You
are a warrior to your core,
you
will do what any warrior will do, fight. Find the bastard who’s betrayed you, free your sister, and make peace with the Cyclopes. That is what a true leader, a true warrior would do. That is what
you
will do.”

They stared at each other, neither one saying a word. His words just hung in the air between them.

* * * *

No one ever spoke to her like that, with so much faith and conviction. He made her feel like she could conquer anything. Right then, she wanted to conquer him.

With lightning speed, she grabbed his face, jumped up, and wrapped her legs round his waist, kissing him as if her life depended on it.

She could tell he was shocked. He stumbled and sputtered, trying to pull away from her kiss.

“What are...damn it...stop!”

“No, I need this right now, I need you. So stop fighting me, damn it!” she exclaimed, frustrated. She looked deep into his eyes and calmly stated, “I don’t want to be a leader or an Amazon right now. I just want to be a woman, your woman. C. I don’t want to think about anything else. I just want to feel. I know this is the wrong time for this, but I need it. I need you.”

Sloan stared into her eyes as if searching for something. She saw the moment he found what he was looking for as his face and his whole body relaxed in her embrace “You’ll always be C to me.” He offered his mouth up to her for a slow, torturous kiss. A kiss filled with everything neither of them could say.

She could feel him walking with her in his arms to what she hoped was the bed. He lay her down slowly, treating her like she was a china doll. They moved to the center of the bed, Crimson on her back staring up at a man she never would have considered to be her life partner, but looking at him now, how could she not?

He leaned down to nuzzle her neck when he whispered in her ear. “Tonight, there will be no punishments, no interruptions. We’re going to take this nice and slow until you can think of nothing but me, feel nothing but me, see nothing but me. Tonight, nothing else exists.”

The picture he painted was perfection. She closed her eyes and felt his warmth surround her. They each kissed and caressed, slowly undressing each other. It was heavenly torture. She just wanted to feel him pound himself inside her, but this, this was what she needed. To get lost in wonderful sensations.

By the time they’d gotten completely naked, she could already feel her womanly juices slick the inside of her thighs. She reached down to grab a firm hold of his stiff shaft. She wanted him inside of her. Sloan buried his head between her neck and her shoulder. He seemed to be fighting the urge to finish this as much as she was as she slowly but firmly stroked his shaft.

She gasped when, all of a sudden, she found herself on top of Sloan, straddling his muscular thighs. Just as she was about to ask why they had changed positions, he said as he cupped her face in one hand and looked her in the eye with an emotion she refused to name, “I can’t control myself with you. Take from me what you need.”

She leaned forward and kissed him with such passion it was almost painful. When she pulled back to look him in the eye once more, she said to the man beneath her, “I just need you.”

With that, she used the hand that had remained on his cock to guide him where she needed him most. She was so wet she slid straight down to the hilt. Before she started to move, she watched her hands as they brushed down his powerful arms to his rough, callused hands. It was the first time she was free to explore his magnificent body. He took the hit and lifted his arms slightly so she could entwine their fingers together. She looked at their hands for a while, looking at the beauty in the innocent touch.