There was no escape from Oriana. It was among the first lessons she’d learned. Pitying herself was useless. And so was wishing.
Life in Oriana and in the compound had been so empty that she’d soon stopped longing for anything. In nine long years, nobody had ever taken a moment to comfort her, to hold her.
But now this big, brawny Foher held her in the gentlest way, like she herself might have held her favorite teddy bear as a youngster. And she wanted nothing more than to hold him back.
“Kavi?”
His lips were brushing over her hair, the move teasing her scalp. “Go to sleep, Liana,” he said huskily.
“But…” I want you to touch me. Kiss me. Fuck me. I want you to touch me like other Fohers touch their mates.
Liana had suffered endless nights listening to the Fohers mating under their pelts, Galina and Ajay among the most active. Galina was strong and sexy and Ajay was almost as magnificent as Kavi. Sometimes as they fucked their pelts would shift, exposing parts of their bare flesh. One night Liana had been near bursting when she’d caught sight of the muscles on Ajay’s butt, clenching with each thrust as he fucked Galina. With his legs ramrod straight behind him, and Galina’s tanned legs draped over his shoulders, Ajay’s swollen, hair-roughened sac had been revealed, looking taut and full as it slapped Galina’s underside. His cock as it withdrew had glistened with moisture. Liana had almost jumped to her feet to shove Galina out of the way and part her legs wide so Ajay would sink that big, stiff rod inside her and ease her pain.
She didn’t, of course. It was Kavi she ached for, Kavi’s touch her body craved.
Now even though pelts covered them, other Foher couples’ deep-throated sounds, so brimming with passion, caused Liana to soak her dress. Heat simmered between her legs, fed by those sounds until she was close to an inferno, and it just made her long for Kavi all the more. She ached for Kavi’s strength, the calm, steady warmth that seemed to emanate from his core. The brief taste of him that night in the cell was one that still teased her mouth, and her jaw felt weak with hopes for more.
“Kavi…” she began again. Slowly, she turned in his arms until she faced him.
They lay side by side, his big arms around her, and it would take very little effort to lift her head and kiss him. Her eyes were drawn to his full, plush lips, and she licked her own as her body began to feel languid. “Kavi, why don’t you—”
“Sleep.”
She scowled. And thought of giving a big applause to Kavi for reminding her just how much she appealed to him.
Clearly the one time he’d touched her had been meant as punishment. Not as something he might have actually wanted to do.
Liana sighed in defeat, wrapping an arm around his waist and burying her head against his neck. When her stomach still felt a little cold, she wiggled closer until she felt his flesh.
“Don’t. Move.”
He sounded strained, as if speaking through clenched teeth. Liana vaguely and silently mused that he’d break his pearly whites if he kept that up. “Don’t worry, I’m good now,” she assured. “This feels…perfect.”
He exhaled a shaky breath. “It is torment for me.”
She smiled. “I’ll just pretend you didn’t say that and stay right here.”
“You move too much and you…” He trailed off when she tilted her head back and blinked up at him. “Argh. Go to sleep!”
Liana sighed in contentment, snuggling closer. “You’re better than any bed, Kavi,” she murmured drowsily.
His arms tightened around her but he didn’t respond. Yet when she was finally drifting to sleep, she thought she heard his voice, low and husky as he whispered, “And you are better than anything.”
Chapter Four
Morning came too soon, and as they made their way to Nowhere, Liana was in her sourest mood yet. She was tired, sweaty and her limbs and arms ached. How Kavi expected her to keep up with the Fohers and their big, powerful legs, she had no clue.
She’d entertained herself for a while with the view of a beautiful blue-green valley below, then quit when they started down a steep, rocky slope that required her shaky concentration and even shakier muscles.
“That’s it,” she mumbled, plopping down on the flattened surface of a jutting rock.
For all of Kavi’s pretending not to look at her all morning, he noticed in an instant, stomping from the front of the line all the way to the back to glower down at her. “I vow you do this on purpose so your humans may catch up!”
She wanted to shout back at him, because she was tired and, frankly, she hadn’t had much sleep and it was entirely his fault. But he was quicker, stealing a gasp from her when he lifted her into his arms.
She was very ready to protest then decided to remain quiet and enjoy it. This was much nicer than walking, of course.
Her hands quickly locked behind his neck and she held on tightly, the wistful image of being a princess springing to mind for a full second.
Kavi’s footsteps were slow, testing the ground beneath him before going forward. His clear, intelligent gray eyes were focused ahead. Sounds of bird life echoed from the woods afar and the breeze that played with his hair almost sang her a lullaby.
Liana stared at Kavi’s rugged profile and tried hard not to feel gooey. But she was being embraced by a big, muscled, very attractive Foher. It was impossible to remain solid.
“I’m tired and I want to know where we’re going,” she said. His neck was huge under her linked hands and the warmth of it began to seep into her bones.
“We go home.”
“Where is home, Kavi?”
It was a while before he turned to stare deeply into her eyes. “Fohers have been looking for home for a hundred years.”
She stared at his rugged face, her heart constricting. She could relate to that on a certain level. She’d been torn away from her home nearly a decade ago, and now she barely remembered which direction home was. She was wandering aimlessly too, with no immediate plan for her life at all. She had no goal except surviving, no direction except where she was taken.
Maybe it was time she tried to find home too.
In the meantime, she just tucked her head under Kavi’s chin and sighed.
But it wasn’t fair that whenever Liana was walking, the group could go on for hours. And now that she was being given a nice, comfy ride—better than a first-class ticket anywhere—they paused to rest when they reached a wide clearing because the children were thirsty.
“You may get down, Liana,” Kavi said when he remained standing and she remained in his arms, swinging her feet and daydreaming of a cocktail.
“Hmm?”
“I will release you now.”
“Oh!”
Her flush turned crimson when he loosened his hold and let her body slowly slide down the length of his, his protuberant cock stroking a perfect line up her stomach. She was a second away from falling at his feet in a pile of melted bones before she had the mind to straighten and clear her throat. “Thank you.”
Galina, Ajay’s mate, had become Liana’s first real friend among the Fohers, and the only female among thirty who knew how to speak English. Now her dark-haired, muscular new friend stepped forward, tapping her shoulder and saying, “I will teach you to use a knife, yes?”
Liana stared down at the knife in Galina’s outstretched hand with uncertainty. It was bigger than the usual kitchen knives she was used to, the handle wider than her wrist, the tip glinting menacingly.
“She’s human, Galina,” Kavi said from behind Liana.
Liana snatched the knife from Galina’s hand, pivoting on her heel and pointing it directly at him. “I’ll have you know humans are capable of many things and cutting things for eating purposes is one of them!”
A lone eyebrow shot up in surprise then Kavi’s deep-throated chuckle skimmed up her flesh until she was covered in goose bumps. Even with the haughty look on his face he managed to look incredibly sexy—and she couldn’t stop the image that s
prang to mind of his tongue on her. And the memory of the enormous cock under his thick-skin breeches.
Galina tugged on her wrist. “Come. We go practice.”
Liana scowled at Kavi. “Somewhere he’s not!” she said accusingly.
Galina’s chocolate-brown eyes sparkled. “Yes.”
Liana stomped away as Kavi crossed his arms and watched her go. She was determined to show him she wasn’t completely useless—and if he wasn’t convinced after she herself killed and decapitated whatever unfortunate animal crossed her path, then she shouldn’t care less what a big tree like him thought!
Twigs snapped under her feet as she and Galina made their way into the rife, shadowed forest, sunlight barely slipping through the thickset branches high above. Oriana’s forests were those from dreams, with thousand-year-old trees reaching high toward the skies.
They succeeded in making Liana feel tiny. A little dot in the whole universe.
“What’s mipe, anyway?” she asked.
Even though she was big and healthy, Galina walked soundlessly through the trees in a way that had made Liana eerily uncomfortable at first. Her hair was the same dark, rich color of the bark on the trees around them, and as it fell loose past her shoulders and down to her waist, it provided decent camouflage, letting her blend in with the wilderness.
“Map,” she said in a whisper, already focused on the hunt.
“Oh.” Liana smiled, thrilled that finally someone was giving her some answers. “And what map would that be?”
“Mipe is map. That is all. Now quiet.”
Liana ignored her. The hunt could wait, after all. “What about sumi?”
Galina pondered her question for what seemed like hours, as if debating whether to answer. Finally she said, “Kavi wants you for himself.”
How Galina had managed to casually speak such noteworthy news was inexplicable. Liana felt a million flutters in her stomach at her friend’s admission. “But he doesn’t even look at me,” she countered.
“Because you’re human…he hesitates.”
Liana scowled, not liking the way that sounded. As if being human was a bad thing. “We’re not that different, you know.”
Galina hesitated before saying more then smiled mischievously. “Sumi roughly means ‘mine’…that you have been claimed.”
Hunting and maiming and killing some poor Orianian creature became even more impossible after that. All Liana could think of was sumi.
Sumi.
Kavi had told Luka she was “sumi”. Many, many times. But did he mean she was sumi slave, or sumi captive? Because he didn’t treat her as either. She wasn’t expected to do anything—and that was hardly slavery.
Liana had also had her fair share of opportunities to escape. Why hadn’t she? Maybe because she didn’t want a bloody confrontation between the Fohers and humans. Or maybe because she’d felt more at home with these Fohers than with the humans in the compound. For the first time in years she felt the desire to live. She didn’t want Lyle to take it from her—and was determined not to let him.
She was sumi now.
* * * * *
She woke up to the unmistakable sounds of Fohers getting ready for battle. Feet stomping on the earth, hurried grunts as they slung their weapons on their backs, reached for their poles, daggers, bows.
Liana didn’t see Kavi among the stampede. But she spotted Galina, hurriedly slinging her bow behind her shoulder.
Liana jumped to her feet and somehow managed to reach her without being trampled. When she spoke, she sounded hysterical even to her own ears. “What is this? What’s wrong? Where the hell is Kavi?”
Galina placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, her voice calm. “The humans are minutes away. The men want to keep them out of the camp.”
Kavi appeared from out of nowhere, a dangerous, towering beast advancing on her. He grabbed one of her arms and squeezed. “You will wait here.” Before she even thought of a retort he’d charged into the trees. And a ghostly silence settled in the camp.
Liana cursed under her breath, kicked a little rock with her foot, then pouted and crossed her arms.
She’d been a coward long enough.
Grabbing a nearby dagger, she exchanged a nod with Hani, one of the Foher women who’d stayed behind with the children, and sprinted into the forest.
Mighty tree trunks littered her path, the scent of humid earth quickly filling her lungs. Her heart pounded as the slanted path became darker and darker until she no longer knew what lay beneath her feet. But maybe in this case, ignorance was bliss. For all she knew there was some variety of snake waiting to—
“Hey!” A hand had coiled around her elbow and pulled her back behind a tree. Liana gasped when a big hand quickly pressed to her mouth.
“Kavi will be angered. He said to stay,” Galina whispered.
Both her lungs almost exited her body when she exhaled. “You scared me,” she hissed. “And I can use a knife. I want to help.”
“I know.” Galina nodded in understanding.
They shared a smile—Galina’s steady, Liana’s quaky—then Galina pressed a finger to her lips. Liana nodded in understanding, quietly following her.
Her eyes now adjusting to the dim forest, Liana saw Fohers hiding in the trees, dangling from their crooked limbs, while others crouched behind bushes. Waiting.
Liana pressed herself against Galina’s back, certain that she could hear the rustle of the underbrush as the humans neared.
Then that high-pitched, native battle cry rang in her ears.
She cringed, fighting her first impulse to run and hide, and then the second one to drop to her knees and play dead.
“I go.”
It was all she heard from Galina before she found herself alone, quivering behind the tree, wincing every time she heard steel clashing with steel.
“He’s the one! Get him!”
It was Lyle’s voice that pulled her out of her fear. Lyle’s command echoing in her mind—leaving Liana no doubt as to whom he was referring. Who he’d ordered the men to capture.
Kavi.
And all Liana could think of was not seeing those haunting gray eyes again. Never feeling his lips on hers. Never feeling him inside her.
Oh no, Lyle wouldn’t!
It was that iron will clamped around her heart that gave her legs the strength to move.
She held fast to it as she stepped around the tree, spotting Kavi easily in the battlefield, towering even among other Fohers. For the barest second she gloried at the sight of him, all magnificent strength as he rammed his forehead against the first man to reach him, sending him toppling to the ground. Then her eyes scanned the chaos for Lyle.
The coward. That son of a bitch.
She spotted him, undefeatable with a gun in each hand. Her long breath felt bumpy in her throat as she quickly thought of a distraction. “It’s me you w‑want, Lyle!” Her words were neither steady, nor strong—as she’d have liked them to be—but it seemed as though every one had heard that pitiful sound, and now they all paused to stare at her.
Lyle’s eyes widened at his first glimpse of her. Liana was sure he hardly recognized her. With her uncombed hair and animal-skin dress, she must look like a Neanderthal.
Seconds passed, stillness spreading in the area until, lithe as a predator, Galina slowly inched her way to her side, obscured by the very tree Liana had hid behind only seconds before. Liana almost fainted with relief when she felt the warmth of her friend’s lean body so close to hers. “Liana?” Concern edged her friend’s voice.
“He wants me, Galina,” Liana murmured, hoping to God her friend would understand her meaning. She leveled her gaze on Lyle once again and raised her voice. “I have something he wants—don’t I, Lyle?”
Lyle stared, looking genuinely surprised for the first time since Liana had known him.
“So. Take me,” she said, her voice growing steady.
“Forgive me, my friend,” Galina whispered, curling a hand around he
r arm, “but you are not going anywhere.”
Liana sucked in a breath as the sharp point of Galina’s dagger pressed against her chest, Galina’s threat piercing her ears. “I will kill the woman,” she shouted, the sound of her voice holding as much impact as her meaning. “If you don’t retreat now, I will tear off her skin and will not mind at all if you stand there and watch.”
Liana knew Galina would never do that to her but her heart raced anyway. For her. For Kavi. For all Fohers. She felt the color drain from her face, her legs unsteady as she waited for Lyle’s reaction. It seemed that not even a leaf dared move under the pressure, the air itself crackling with tension.
It took a while for Lyle to move. When he hesitated, Liana wondered if he would call Galina’s bluff and let her strip off the skin from her body. But no. He wouldn’t. What Liana held was priceless to him. Precious. And he finally made a silent signal to his men who, several unnerving heartbeats later, began to retreat.
“You may keep her—for now,” Lyle said, his gaze directed toward Kavi. The unspoken promise in Lyle’s words made Liana’s skin prick with unease.
Galina’s hand tightened reflexively on her arm. “We will see about that,” she said.
Not turning his back to them, Lyle took a retreating step, then another, then several more until he was far enough to turn around amidst the trees and sprint out of sight.
“A group should follow them,” Galina said, “to confirm their retreat.”
Kavi did not reply but Liana supposed he’d agreed, for Luka and two other Fohers quietly made their way toward where the humans had disappeared.
As Galina lowered her dagger, Liana bit her lower lip and chanced a glance toward Kavi.
And dear Lord, he looked angry.
No. Furious.
He was panting with rage, his eyes glittering with fury through two tiny slits. And Liana suddenly knew that she would never feel his lips on hers. Ever.
He’d kill her first.
* * * * *