PrimalHunger (23 page)

Skreeta shook with rage. “My father should have been king.”

Tensions were rising, and even Simien seemed to finally be
aware. Kendra shimmied against Azros, seemingly relaxed when in reality she was
like a coiled spring. “The queen didn’t think so, and neither did the court.
She would die before allowing your bloodline access to the throne.” No one was
watching the sex show. All eyes were fixated on these two. Mase strayed closer
to them. Azros caught Jackson’s movement. They were prepared for an attack.

“Then maybe the queen should be replaced.”

“Replaced? It’s treason to threaten your queen. You would
kill her?” It was a toneless question.

“If she stood in the way of my father’s legacy…yes.”

The smile Kendra gave her aunt was wrapped in sweet intent.
“I had no idea you were such a daddy’s little girl.”

Tension mounted to near-palpable levels. “Kendra…”

She dug divots into his skin and he shut his mouth.

Skreeta’s hand shot forward and she jerked her arm to
encompass the entire room. “You think you’re any better than me? Cavorting with
whores and thieves.” She stabbed a finger at Azros. “Choosing animals over your
own people.” A vein pulsed on her forehead. She was red-faced and furious. Why
was Kendra baiting her?

“Unlike you, I don’t have to drug my men to keep them in my
bed.” She ran her nails down his leg. “He’s mine by choice.”

“I test drove him a few times. Tell me, does he still quiver
when you touch his stripes?”

Azros growled. He would tear her apart.

Kendra sighed. “So you’re the reason I had to re-teach him
how to please a woman.” She shook her head. “Pathetic. Like your father before
you.”

Azros nipped at her ear. She was going to pay for that
comment later.

“I will not stand here and be insulted by the likes of you.”
She leaned close. “I challenge you, Princess Ashamia ah’Kendrah Deshavin, to a
T’oatha Balleh. Winner takes all.”

Kendra rose to her feet and Azros followed. She was standing
too close to Skreeta. Mase moved discreetly behind the woman. Skreeta’s guards
closed in. “I accept your challenge.”

Skreeta’s smile was smug. “I finally get to finish what we
began so long ago.”

Kendra’s smile was pure pleasure. “You sure you’re up for
the challenge? What’s the matter? Run out of seven-year-olds to torture?”

Skreeta’s hands drew into fists. She stood, and the entire
room sizzled with tension.

“Ladies. Ladies.” Simien shoved his considerable bulk
between the two. “I sense a long-standing rivalry here.” He rubbed his hands
together.

That was a helluva understatement.

Kendra never took her eyes off Skreeta. “Simien. You have an
arena.”

“One of the best this side of the known universe.”

“I choose Suplato’s arena for the location.” Kendra tilted
her head. “What is your choice?”

She was pleased with these events. Dawning realization came
over Azros.
Kendra is the distraction.
Anger boiled over in her mind.
When he would have stood, Kendra pushed him back.

Skreeta smirked. Her icy gaze slid to his direction.
“Daggers.”

“Dual-wield?”

“Of course.”

“I will need you two to sign a medical waiver stating that
you will pay all medical costs. The
Suplato
, of course, is not
responsible for any injuries, damage to property or person, etcetera.”

Kendra waved a hand. “Of course. What day will you be
available, Simien?”

“Why, we just happen to have an event planned for tomorrow
night.” He grinned. “It will be my honor to set you up as the main event,
Ambassador.”

Kendra nodded to Simien. She cut her eyes at Skreeta. “What
would happen if we failed to show?”

He twirled the point of a blade against his finger. “Let’s
not go down that road. I would hate to have royal blood on my hands.” His grin
belied his supposed sincerity.

Skreeta seethed with barely suppressed rage. Her gaze fell
to the pendant resting against Azros’ chest. “I will have that necklace, and
your man-whore before the end.” Disgust curled her lips.

“You may find, auntie, that your judgment day has finally
arrived.”

“Not by your hand.” Skreeta turned on her heel and stalked
away. Her entourage followed, dragging his man with them.

Captain Suplato raised an eyebrow. “I can’t wait to see this
one.” He nodded to Destiny. “I will have copies of the rules forwarded to both
parties. I assume you’ll be the witness?”

Destiny smiled. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss this one for the
world.”

Chapter Twelve

Azros came to in chains. He roared, jerking his wrists
against the hold. “Where is my mate?” He bellowed the question to an empty
room, in his cell. The cage that had held him for six months. Horror washed
through him. This wasn’t happening! They had been drugged at the party. A door
opened. In walked Kendra, holding a metal tray covered in a blood-red cloth.
“Kendra. Thank the fates. You’ve got to get me out of here.” Something was
wrong…her scent was different.

Kendra walked to a table and set down the tray. She smiled
the same brittle smile she’d sported at the party. “I can’t let you leave. Now
that I caught you, I get to keep you. Remember?” She pulled off the cloth with
a flourish. Three needles. He’d never survive. The first two had nearly killed
him the last time.

He jerked harder on the chains. “No. Don’t do this.”

Kendra morphed into Shyla. Azros’ stomach clenched. “You’re
one of the Kagami assassins.”

“I’ve been one all the time. Couldn’t you tell?” She picked
up the first needle and walked toward him. The chains were retracting,
stretching his arms and legs spread-eagle across the wall. “This will only hurt
for a minute.”

Liar!
Azros fought.

“It’s a futile effort to struggle.” She stabbed the needle
in his thigh, pressing the plunger in a slow push.

The burning hit almost immediately. He growled and sucked up
the pain. He’d be damned if they saw his agony. His muscles bunched and
strained.

She smiled in a parody of human emotion. “That’s my good
little pet.” Her hand rose, patting his face. He tried to jerk away, but she
clenched her hand in his hair, holding him still. “Did you think I wouldn’t
find you?” Her voice changed. Became harsher, wilder. Shyla’s face melted into
Skreeta’s.

Insanity blazed in the depths of her eyes. “You will always
be mine.”

“I belong to no one!”

Skreeta laughed. “Hear that, niece? He doesn’t belong to
anyone.” Skreeta stepped aside. Stark horror clenched his gut. A cry of agony
tore from his throat. In the center of a table was Kendra’s severed head.

Azros!

Azros sat straight up, dragging in breath after breath. His
gaze darted around the room. No cell. He ran his hands over each wrist. No
marks. He inspected his thigh. Nothing. Sheets were a tangle around his legs.

A tentative touch to his back had him spinning around.

“Azros?”

She was alive. Brilliantly, incredibly, alive. He wrapped
his arms around her, dragging her into his lap. “It was just a dream. Thank the
fates….” He nuzzled her neck, letting her scent envelop him, and push the
darkness away.

“What the…” She wrapped her arms around him. “What can I do
to help?”

“Just touch me. Let me hold you.”

She did just that, slid her fingers up and down his back in
soothing caresses. “I couldn’t wake you.” She hesitated for a moment. “Do you
want to tell me about it?”

His sweat-soaked body shivered in the cool room. “It was a nightmare.
A horrible nightmare.”

Kendra cupped his cheek with a delicate brush of her
fingers. “Seeing Skreeta triggered nightmares for us both. Mine involved
watching the scientists die from poison, and reliving my parents’ deaths.”

Azros gave a half laugh and looked down into the warm gaze
of his mate. “Mine involved captivity and a severed head.”

Kendra gave an assessing nod. “Not bad. I’d have to say we
were pretty close on the nightmare scale.”

Azros kissed her lightly on the tip of her lovely nose. “Not
even close.”

He brushed his fingers along her cheek. Losing her would
devastate him. He pressed his forehead against hers, unable to say the words.
Azros pressed kisses along her skin. How did she come to mean so much to him in
such a short amount of time?

His eyes burned with unshed tears. How much longer would she
feel the effects of the mating? When she walked away, it was going to destroy
him.

“Let’s not think of these things.” She gently kissed him, a
smooth tasting of his lips. He moaned at her delicious flavor. “Let me take the
pain away.”

“I need you.” He dragged in one breath after another,
drinking in her scent. His hands traveled over her body. Clothes disappeared in
moments. His lips surrounded a nipple. Teeth nipped and tugged, gentle and arousing.
His fingers slipped between her legs. Hot cream surrounded his digits as her
pussy clenched. Her rich scent surrounded him, helped him forget. He kissed
down her body. His tongue lapped at her juices, stroking the little nub of her
clit. He flicked his tongue over and over against it.

Azros buried himself in her heat, tasting, sucking, until
her thighs trembled. She writhed against him. Her body and scent told him she
was close.

Fingers fisted in his hair, pressing him against her moist
flesh. Her sweet, little cries made his cock harder.

“Azros, please.” Her whispered plea devastated him. She came
around his fingers.

“You’re so delicious.”

She touched his face. He looked up. Her cheeks were flushed,
and her lashes were lowered. She was like a wanton goddess. “I’ve never seen a
more beautiful woman.” Azros took her lips in a slow kiss.

“You taste like me.” She smiled.

“I told you you’re delicious.” He kissed her, stroking his
cock along her wet slit. She arched against him. “So wet for me.” Sliding into
her pussy was like coming home. Her legs came around his hips.

He stroked, long and deep thrusts that had them both
trembling. He buried his face against her shoulder and nipped at the mark he’d
given her. Her pussy clenched around his cock. “Sweet mate. I will make you
burn for me.” His tongue laved the spot, and passionate cries left her throat.

Kendra’s nails dug into his shoulder. “More. Please.”

His teeth scraped the mark. He ached to sink his teeth into
the skin once more.

“Do it.” Her words were a raw whisper against his ear. “Bite
me.” She gasped and moaned.

Azros rubbed his lips against the mark.

Her nails dug into his arm. “Do it!”

He bit. Pressure released from his fangs in a searing gush
of
lambyre
. Her cries grew wilder. Sweat glistened from her skin. This
was his mate. His love. He stroked his tongue on the mark. Her blood mixed with
the
lambyre
. Their combined flavor was incredible. Kendra arched. “I’m
coming.” She cried her release into the pillow.

“That’s it,
Desh’ra
. I love the way your pussy milks
my cock.” His balls tightened, and his muscles clenched. He roared his release,
sinking his cock as deep as possible in her welcoming body.

He stroked his tongue against the new wounds on her
shoulder. Her taste was unimaginable. “You are ambrosia.”

Kendra’s body trembled in tiny aftershocks of pleasure. She
gave a throaty sound that might have been an affirmative. He leaned back and
saw a well-satisfied woman. His lips lifted in a smirk.

“I think you wore me out, mate.” Kendra’s voice was husky in
near-sleep. His heart hitched. She said mate.

Azros nibbled on her lip, and she gave him a soft kiss.
“That was the plan, after all.” He grinned.

She cuddled against him and he held her close. Kendra had
called him her mate. Twice now. Hope grew in his chest like a summer fire,
threatening to consume everything. He inhaled her scent. Skreeta’s betrayals
were the only obstacles standing in their way.

He drifted off to a dreamless sleep, purring, content to
hold his mate until they went to war.

* * * * *

Azros gazed down at his mate. It was so tempting to curl
back up in the bed and forget about all this, keep her safe. He smiled and
brushed a tendril of hair from her cheek. Her warmth kept the darkness at bay,
made him remember what it was like to live. He leaned over, inhaling the scent
unique to Kendra. His internal chrono told him it was time. They had a schedule
to keep.

He brushed his lips across her cheek. “I love you.” The
whispered words would have to do until this nightmare was over. He prayed to the
fates that whatever plan she’d concocted would keep her safe. Azros picked up
his bag and strode from the room without looking back.

He stalked down the corridor, following a memorized trail to
the clinic. Neither one of them had brought up the fact that she was fighting
Skreeta.

Azros checked the time. He had one last wheel to set in
motion before they took the ship. One that required Xavier’s assistance.

His part was crucial, and everything hinged on his
compliance. He reached the empty night-staff corridor.

A familiar scent reached his nose. He inhaled. “Xavier?”
They were supposed to meet in the clinic. The underlying stench of blood and
fear warped the scent.

“Well, well. What have we here?”

A familiar and cloying scent blanketed his senses, deadening
them. Panic rose as bile in his throat. Hearing, taste, smell and his extra
senses were smothered. Azros’ nails dug into his palms, as he tried to hide
their trembling. His body broke out in a sweat.

“Well done, Shyla.” Skreeta’s voice grated like broken glass.

Shyla stepped from the shadows. He stared down the barrel of
a pistol. Her body reeked of Xavier’s fear and blood.

This wasn’t part of the plan. “What did you do to him?” His
mind grew foggy, and Azros shook his head.