DarykHunter (4 page)

Ketera was trapped against another wall as the dragon leaned toward her.

“Over here, you scurvy bastard! Here!” Dane flapped his arms.

The dragon looked his way, and when it did, Ketera moved to an alcove along the wall and stuffed herself and the wailing child inside it. No way the dragon could reach them in there. Thank the god this type of dragon didn’t breathe fire. Bellowing its displeasure, the dragon turned on Dane and charged.

Dane ran for all he was worth toward the gatehouse. As he left the castle, he hoped the dragon would fly back over the walls. He grabbed an abandoned sword off the ground. The dragon took flight and came after him over the wall. Roaring its displeasure, the gargantuan female sailed downward toward the drawbridge with incredible speed. Dane knew he had one more chance.

Now or never.

Battle lust surged inside him again, as primitive as the feral desires that pumped inside his ancestors. He growled and hurled the sword with all his strength toward the beast’s vulnerable stomach. Howling with pain, the beast crumpled, weight coming down square on the drawbridge.

Incredibly, the drawbridge held.

The creature started to tumble into the water. As the dragon’s tail sailed by Dane’s head, the force of the wind blew him off the drawbridge into the water.

* * * * *

Ketera heard the horrible commotion outside the castle walls and people yelled in surprise. The woman, who’d almost been crushed underfoot by the dragon, ran toward Ketera and yanked the child from Ketera’s arms. She dashed away without even acknowledging that Ketera had saved the young one. Panting for breath, Ketera didn’t care. Satisfaction and relief at having rescued the tiny girl made everything else fade to the background.

As a tremendous rumbling came from outside the castle, people streamed toward the drawbridge.

Ketera rushed forward, eager to see how Dane fared. Her heart pounded so heatedly in her ears she could barely catch her breath and her hands shook. She muscled through the crowd, beseeching people to let her through.

“He must be dead,” a man whispered as she came to the drawbridge opening.

No.

The dragon floated in the moat, but only for a few moments before it started to sink. Near the massive body, a man swam toward the shoreline, his movements sure and strong. Ketera smiled as she recognized Dane sluicing through the water. Two other Daryk Ones tossed a rope over the edge of the moat and hauled him to the surface. As he crawled up and stood, water cascaded down his face, his hair and over his entire body. A great cheer went up from the crowd as they saluted his bravery and the kill. People chanted his name and pumped their fists in the air.

Ketera wanted to feel revulsion at the violence she’d seen, but when she couldn’t, she realized she felt relief that he’d made it out of the battle alive.

He smiled, his eyes bright with triumph as his friends pounded him on the back. Attraction swirled low inside her at his smile. Instantly the smile faded, and he searched the crowd. She knew, somehow, that he looked for her. She started forward, her legs still shaky. When his gaze caught hers, his nostrils flared. His eyes smoldered a startling red, filled by the pure hunger she gauged in his steady attention. He stalked toward her, steps assured, his powerful body enhanced by the water that dripped over each muscular angle. As his strides brought him close, alarm broke loose inside her. Trapped. She turned, careful not to venture too close to the drawbridge edge. She ran for the jungle.

Idiot. Idiot! She’d waited too long to escape.

She didn’t make it far before his hand clamped on her upper arm and swung her about. She slammed into his chest with a gasp. His arms bracketed around her with a strength that could be crushing but only steadied her. She looked up, way up into his face.

His eyes burned, his lips parted. “Are you hurt?”

She blinked, surprised by his concern and even more startled by those red eyes. Why did his eyes glow like that? “No.” She squirmed. “Let me go!”

He cupped her chin and tilted it upward. “There’s blood.”

“I’m fine.”

“Umph.” His grunt came out rough as his gaze continued to roam her, as probing and searching as a physical touch.

He drew his hands away from her and clenched his fists. His chest moved up and down with the fury of emotion. Real fear catapulted upward inside her.

Before she could take another breath, he yanked her back into his arms.

He buried his face in her hair and whispered close to her ear, “Follow my lead and you’ll understand in time.”

She didn’t have time to ask what he meant.

His lips came down over hers. Surprised, she drew in a sharp breath. Firm and aggressive, his kiss wasn’t the sweet, light kisses she’d witnessed men and women sharing on Magonia. No. His mouth took, twisting over hers from side to side then sealing securely to taste. His tongue slipped inside immediately, and she jerked in amazement. Cheers went up around them as Dane devoured her mouth, each stroke of his tongue along hers sending incredible sparks dancing in her body like touches of embers from a fire. Liquid heat spilled through her middle, charging her body with a craving that abolished her fear in a wash of desire.

Her hands gripped his shoulders convulsively.

Yet as his fingers speared into her hair and his other arm tucked her tighter against his body, many of the things she’d learned started to dissolve like sleeping powder in water. Fire licked her body as a strange dizziness overtook her. Her limbs felt weaker, her mind fuzzy with a sensual daze. Her nipples tightened and tingled, and a treacherous ache built between her thighs. Strange, undulating calls came from the crowd and instinctively she recognized this was somehow expected. His kiss gentled, and as it did, she heard the cheers around them die down. He drew back, and she saw a strange red glow pulsate in his eyes, and when his lips parted, she sensed he still wanted more. Something deeper, more feral. More dangerous to her very being.

It frightened her in a way that didn’t have a name.

His arms fell away from her.

Ketera stared at him in amazement, her jaw slack. She quivered, her body alive with every sensation she could remember having in her life. Rolls of heat cascaded through her. Tears rose to her eyes, but she didn’t feel sad so much as shocked.

Bewildered, she spoke through trembling lips. “How dare you?”

Now that the trauma had died down, new aches tortured her muscles. All around her, normalcy started to return. It surprised her how calm people now seemed, their smiles returning. The drama of the event pulsed with dull, painful thuds. He grabbed her arm. Before she could protest, he swept her up in his arms.

She gasped in indignation and kicked her legs. “Put me down. I can walk. I’ve been doing it since I was very young. My legs are fully functional.”

His arms around her felt secure and those wild feelings he’d aroused with the kiss continued to tremble within. She tried tamping down the feelings, but her body didn’t care what her mind thought. Her skin flushed upward into her neck and face as she thought about how she’d reacted. Angry with herself for allowing him to take liberties and responding to his impudent embrace, she pushed at his shoulders and continued to kick her legs. He was so strong it didn’t faze him. Frustrated, she almost screamed. Most of the men she knew couldn’t withstand blows like this without dumping the abuser on the ground.

“Women are not allowed to face down dragons.” He almost growled the words as he walked. “I told you to stay in the tower.”

His imperious tone, spoken in a clipped fashion, didn’t surprise her. But fury grew even higher regardless. “So this is how you treat women here? Putting women in their place? Not allowing them to flourish?”

“Wherever you got your information, it is flawed. Women on Dragonia have every freedom. You’ve seen in this castle how they walk around without escort. Do you see any of them led around by the nose by men? They sell goods at the carts and run their own households. There are few single women, but that is because there are so many more men than women and the competition for wives is furious. I find it strange that you come from a society as restrictive as yours and yet you condemn what you think is restrictive in ours.”

Guilt twinged at her. He continued, contempt clear in his voice. “There are many hazards outside our castles. Women go where they will, and the elements, the hardships and those men among us who are not honorable often kill them. Brigands and thieves.” He chuckled. “Then again, there are just as many women who are brigands and thieves. A law was almost put into effect a few years back that would curtail many freedoms for women. It was voted down. Women weren’t willing to give up their status in order to be safer.”

Startled that what she’d read about women in the texts appeared true, she said, “And yet you felt compelled to order me to stay in the tower room.”

His mouth hardened into a grim line. “Damn it, Ketera. You aren’t from here and you don’t understand everything you need to know to survive. Allowing you freedom at this point is throwing your life away. The dragon could have killed you.”

“It didn’t.”

“Wait. You didn’t leave because you wanted to see the dragon. You thought you would escape the castle.”

She would not admit it. “Put me down. I won’t try to run now.”

To her surprise he dumped her quickly onto her feet. His big hand latched around her right biceps as they marched along.

Silence gathered for a moment as they continued through the crowd. Finally he said, “You did a good thing in saving that child. You showed bravery beyond most men.”

Her lips quirked in a reluctant smile. Receiving a compliment from him, she imagined, was hard-earned. “Thank you. I didn’t think. I just did it.”

“Is that a problem you have? Impulsive nature?”

“My father said as much.”

She caught his quick grin. It disappeared just as fast. “Maybe some arrogance?”

“What?”

“You think you know so much about Dragonia, but how could you? You judge us based on your own culture, on what you assume is right and wrong. You condemn before you understand why we are the way we are.”

Shame threatened, but so did defensive instincts. “I’ve always prided myself on open-minded discourse. So few of my people do. It’s caused me no end of trouble.”

“You’re scorned where you live?”

“Not exactly. I’m left…alone.”

That loneliness still resided in her heart, growing deeper with every second when she thought about her father so far away in Magonia.

“Why are you alone?” he asked.

What could she admit without sounding the fool? “Men do not want wives who think. At least that’s what I’ve heard. Besides, I do not want a husband. I don’t like…”

“What?”

“Wifely duties.” The words held scorn and sounded dirty in her mouth. “Men do nothing but paw.”

“You didn’t mind my pawing.”

“Sex for pleasure is a sin. That’s what the scribes tell us.”

He chuckled, the sound dark and carnal and filled with complete disbelief. “Then you believe what you and I did this morning was a sin?” His voice went husky. “There is so much more we could do together. I could make you scream with pleasure you have never—”

“Don’t!” She put her palms over her ears. “I do not want to know. Such beastly need is sin.”

He snorted loudly. “What fool taught you that?”

“It’s written in the Chronicles of Magon.”

“Your god.”

“Yes.”

He shook his head and continued into the tower. He urged her to climb the steps ahead. “You’re complaining about suppression of women and yet your people tell you women should remain sexually restrained. I don’t think you’re any better than we are.”

She pursed her lips but didn’t say a thing. How could she argue with logic that sound? Defense still came to the surface. “You don’t know me. You have no idea what my education is and what I understand about your people.”

He threw her an exasperated look and started to strip. “Enlighten me.”

She looked away immediately as he peeled off his clothes.

She stopped and considered if she could enlighten him. No. If he knew too much about why she’d been on that ship—

Better to leave things as is for now, and she’d take the opportunity to escape when it came. Perhaps tonight when he slept.

He pulled off his breastplate and tunic in quick order. “Come. Undress and bathe. It will soothe your muscles.”

His chest gleamed with sweat. His hair hung limp and wet around his shoulders. He undid the tie around his waist and dropped the garment to the floor.

Ketera could not believe her eyes. Though she’d seen part of him naked, his blatant display shocked her. She looked away again, but those several seconds of bare skin imbedded in her mind like a brand.

Wide, hard shoulders. Strong chest. Powerful arms. Stomach rippling with muscles. That secret bulge she’d never seen naked on any man before…lying between his thighs. While she had responded to his masculinity when she’d seen him earlier, there was nothing more disturbing than seeing all of it exposed. His long, thick cock was nestled in dark hair and was semi-erect.

She couldn’t resist another look to confirm if what she saw was real.

Oh my.
Yes. As she watched, his cock grew longer, harder and rose upward toward his stomach. The head grew rosy with color. Something primal unwound inside her, a furling of sweet, hot need she couldn’t resist. Her gaze snapped to his, and that red gleam was back, the intensity of his stare so overwhelming she trembled with longing. Suddenly a strange and sensual awareness seemed to surround them. She could hear his breathing quickening, see his chest rising and falling more deeply. She sensed struggle within him.

“Don’t look at me like that.” His voice roughened. “After a dragon fight, a Daryk One is hot to fuck.”

“Fuck?” She almost gasped the word.

He stood close, his hands clenched into fists as if he feared he might snatch her against him. “You have never heard the word?”

She swallowed hard, her heartbeat picking up the pace. “Yes, I have heard it.”