How The Warrior Fell (Falling Warriors series Book 1) (27 page)

One by one the village men left until only Tristan remained. Tyronian was the first to leave, unable to bear the sight of his cousin’s slumped form and the lingering scent of her burnt flesh.

“I hope you’re happy now, brother,” Tristan said, staring down at Leawyn. Her blonde hair bright against her pale, sweat-soaked skin.

“You’ve officially ruined her for any man who would have taken your place when you perish.”

Xavier slowly looked up to meet Tristan’s gaze. “Ruined her for other men . . . or you?”

Tristan said nothing in reply and stormed away.

Xavier once again looked down to Leawyn, staring at the still steaming mark of his forefathers.

A horse’s head with its mane blowing in the wind, taking shape of a woman.

“Mine,” Xavier whispered.

W
HEN LEAWYN AWOKE,
the first thing she registered was the pain.

It was sharp and fiery. It caused instant tears to gather in her eyes and spill down her cheeks.

Moving was agony, and when she tried, she yelped at the sharp pain.

“Lady Chief,” the soft voice was sweet and tearful.

Leawyn blinked her eyes open, vision hazy until it cleared and she met Namoriee’s eyes. Seeing the anxiety and sadness in Namoriee’s gaze, Leawyn burst into tears.

Leawyn felt herself being wrapped up carefully into Namoriee’s tiny arms in a comforting embrace.

Every heavy heave of Leawyn’s sobs caused the pain in her hip to flare up with a vengeance, but she couldn’t stop even if she wanted to. Leawyn simply clung to her handmaiden’s arms, and bawled.

It was how her husband found them when he walked into the hut. He paused, taking in the scene in silence. Leawyn watched him hesitate, then harden his gaze with his decision. “Namoriee.”

Namoriee stiffened, glancing up fearfully at Xavier. The dead, emotionless face made her shiver, and Leawyn clung to her a little tighter.

“Leave,” Xavier ordered. Namoriee paused, glancing down at Leawyn uncertainly. Clearly her loyalties were conflicted.

“Now,” Xavier said darkly, leveling her with a piercing look.

Namoriee closed her eyes in defeat, and slowly stood up, untangling from Leawyn when she gripped her tighter.

“I’m sorry,” Namoriee whispered, finally managing to get out of her grasp. Leawyn noticed she didn’t make eye contact as she passed her chief and silently closed the door.

Leawyn hugged herself, bowing her head so her hair shielded her face. She flinched away when Xavier went to tuck her hair behind her ear. He scowled down at her; she could see his anger quickly mounting.

“Get out,” Leawyn whispered.

“No,” Xavier refused.

“Get out!” she screamed at him, lashing out and slapping him across his face.

Xavier’s nostrils flared, his face twisting in rage as his eyes grew icy. “Do that again, and you’ll regret it,” Xavier warned menacingly.

“Why?” Leawyn challenged, a slightly deranged look in her eye. “You’ll hit me?” She slapped him again, then leaned forward, tilting her head as she looked up at Xavier. “You’ll punish me? Mark me?”

“Leawyn,” he growled threateningly, flinching as her hand connected to his cheek again.

“Leave bruises on my body?” Leawyn screeched shrilly. “Well, too late for that—you already did!” she shouted, and slapped Xavier in the face yet again. Hard. Her anger fueling her.

Smack!

Xavier snapped.

With a savage snarl on his face, he grasped her shoulders and threw her down.

“I hate you,” Leawyn threw her head back and laughed humorlessly.

It was a hideous laugh, deep and dark and unhinged. “I hate you,” she gasped, still laughing. “I hate you.”

“Stop,” Xavier growled, his face red with his fury. Grasping her shoulders again in a tight grip, he shook her hard, her head wobbling back and forth from the force. It only caused Leawyn to cackle louder.

“I hate you!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, getting in Xavier’s face.

“You hate me?” Xavier seethed, lifting her up. “Huh?” He shook her again, his anger completely out of control. “Do you?” he bellowed, the vein in his neck bulging.

“Yes!” Leawyn cried back, refusing to flinch away from him. “I hate you! I’ve always hated you, and I always will.” Her lips twisted up in scorn. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

“But you didn’t, and that was your mistake.”

Their bodies heaved together, their breaths coming out in sharp, quick outbursts.

Like a whip, they both snapped.

Their lips crashed together in a kiss, their teeth clinking together as their tongues battled. Leawyn took Xavier’s bottom lip, and sunk down until she could almost feel her teeth meeting together. Xavier let out a shout, yanking his head back.

She met his gaze defiantly, her breaths coming out in gasps. Xavier snarled, shoving his hands between her legs, until his fingers dove into her warm heat.

“You don’t hate me when I do this, do you?” His thumb brushed against her nub before sliding his fingers into her warmth. Leawyn moaned, her body spasming against the pressure.

Xavier shifted so she lay on her back, his hand still buried inside her, pumping furiously. He pulled back, just enough to slide his finger out so he could add another, and shoved them both back into her roughly.

Leawyn yelped at both the intrusion and the pain as her hips bucked. Her burn mark stretching painfully, her legs spread wider as Xavier nestled between them. He leaned forward, his body flush against hers as he bit her neck, hard.

“I own you,” Xavier growled. “Everything belongs to me.” Xavier slid his other hand beneath her, lifting up her hips enough so his thumb brushed against her anal entrance. “You might hate me, but your body doesn’t.” Xavier brushed the fingers of his other hand against her clit, while his thumb pressed in, filling her.

Leawyn screamed, her body convulsing against her orgasm.

Xavier pulled his hand away. Leaning back on his knees, he lifted her body up, then slammed her down on his length in one hard pull. Not giving her body time to get used to the intrusion, he continued to thrust up against her, pulling out almost all the way, and then slamming into her again.

Leawyn eyes rolled back into her head from the painful pleasure of it, her mouth opened in a silent scream as Xavier plowed into her relentlessly. His big hands gripped the inside of her thighs as he sprawled her out, opening her wide for him. Her body jerked forward with each powerful thrust of his hips. The sound of his length pushing into her warm crevice mixed with their grunts and moans.

The intensity of it was almost too much for Leawyn. Their bodies grew slick with sweat, making it hard for them to stay together. She slid away from him with each jerking motion of his hips.

Xavier reached out and grabbed her throat, holding her down as he used one hand under her ass to lift her hips up, making him go deeper.

His pelvic bone bumped her clitoris with each stroke.

“Give it to me,” Xavier grunted, continuing his brutal thrusts into her slick, tight body.

Leawyn moaned loudly, shaking her head. Xavier bared his teeth as he gripped her neck tighter. “Give it to me.”

“No!” Leawyn shouted defiantly, choking against his hold, and if anything, Xavier’s thrusts grew more powerful, rocking her to her core.

He moved so his weight was resting on his arm; using his grip around her neck, he forced it back so her chest was arched up to him.

The stroke of his tongue against her nipple made her convulse around him. The nip of his teeth made her scream. And when his hand left her neck to pinch her nub—

She shattered.

The very moment Leawyn’s scream ripped out of her throat, Xavier lost the battle and came in giant bursts inside of her. He slumped against Leawyn.

They both tried to catch their breath, her body still shaking with the aftershocks of her climax.

Xavier brushed his thumb against her burn, making Leawyn yelp and flinch away from him. He ignored her, and did it again, this time with more pressure.

“Xavier!” Leawyn yelped again, the pain stabbing. She pushed against his chest, trying to get him off of her.

“This mark . . . this pain,” Xavier said softly, staring down at the raised, angry flesh of her hip. Blood seeped through the skin that had scabbed over, reopened from the movement of their joining. “It belongs to me, just like you do,” he whispered, looking up at her when he pushed against the burn again, making her cry out.

“You might hate me Leawyn, and I don’t blame you if you do.” She sobbed, still fruitlessly trying to push him away. “But this?” Xavier grabbed her hair and made her look down at his hand, pushing down on the burn again, irritating it further. “I own you. You’re mine.”

Leawyn cried again in pain, and Xavier bent his head and kissed the irritated, heated skin.

“I need you.”

“Why?” Leawyn sobbed. Big, fat tears rolled down her cheeks as her anguished eyes met his own empty ones. “Why, Xavier?” she gasped out, her body trembling violently. “Why me?”

“Because,” Xavier said, his voice almost inaudible. The emotions thick in his voice made him sound less than the fierce warrior he was.

“You make me feel again.”

With his admission, Leawyn stopped pushing against his shoulders, shocked. Xavier closed his eyes and rested his head on her flat stomach, snaking his arm around and under her, nuzzling into her.

Leawyn’s tears still ran unchecked down her cheeks as she stared down at him. In that moment, Xavier looked like a child to her. He looked like a lost boy confined in a hardened man’s body. Slowly, as if unsure of the movement, Leawyn brought her hand up so it rested upon his shoulders.

“This has to stop,” Leawyn whispered, defeat heavy in the words.

Xavier slowly looked up at her, and Leawyn met his eyes. What she saw in them took her breath away.

Pain.

Regret.

Anger.

Hope.

Need.

Xavier’s eyes were like her own; the only noticeable difference was the color. She knew they were both lost in a deep sea of the unknown, and the more they swam, the deeper they went. The more they fought and resisted the waves, the quicker they sank.

Unwilling as she was, she knew their life boat was acceptance and each other.

“Xavier.” Leawyn lifted his chin with her slender fingers so he had to hear her. To see the gravity of what she had to say. It was the same thing he had done to her on multiple occasions.

“This has to stop.” Her voice hitched on the last word as her eyes once again rapidly filled with tears. “You win, I have no one,” Leawyn cried, the first tear spilling down her cheek. “I’m alone.”

Dropping her grip on his chin, she bowed her head, body shuddering as she sobbed. The sound was heavy and grief-filled as each sob tore from her throat.

Leawyn was startled when Xavier gently cupped her cheeks, bringing his face close to hers. He studied her vividly, watching each and every tear that slid down her fair skin and taking her in.

“You’re not alone,” Xavier whispered thickly. “You are the most beautiful flower, Leawyn. Don’t let people crush you. Even if it’s me.”

Then, he kissed her.

T
HE SOUND OF
horses and loud voices of men woke her up.

Still in the firm grips of sleep, it took a moment for Leawyn to realize Xavier was no longer in bed with her. Leaning up on her right elbow, she looked over her shoulder to Xavier’s side of the bed. The sheets were still rumpled. She placed a hand on the pallet and frowned.

It was still warm.

Leawyn squinted up at the small window inside her hut, the midday’s sunlight bright in her eyes.

Xavier slept in?

For the sake of her own sanity, Leawyn decided she didn’t want to think too much about it and flopped back on the bed. She winced at the flare of pain that shot from her hip at her sudden movement. She glanced down at the raised mark, studying it for the first time.

If it wasn’t on her own body, and if she didn’t feel the absolute pain of the symbol being branded into her skin, she would think the mark was actually quite beautiful. It was a woman’s face, with long, flowing hair that morphed into the mane of a horse. It was Saviero and his love.