The Breaker's Concubine (23 page)

her eventual escape.

“Hello, Master,” she said in what she hoped was a meek voice.

Nothing, no response to indicate he heard a word she said. Wetting her lips, she took

hesitant steps behind him, not trusting him to keep her from running into a wall or hurting

herself. They moved through an occupied area of the trade post. Voices and laughter assaulted

her heightened sense of hearing, and she stumbled as someone roughly brushed into her.

“Watch where you’re going,” a woman said in disgust and shoved her roughly.

Unprepared for the shove, she stumbled into a very warm and very big body. He held her

and growled out, “Touch her again and you die.”

Her body throbbed from her contact with him, and she pushed away. Each rush of desire

felt like a betrayal, and his hand brushing down her arm sent tingles over her skin. Without

another word, he tugged her leash and led her farther through the post.

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“May I ask where we’re going, Master?” He took her hand to help her step over a ledge.

Silence answered her question, and she gritted her teeth in irritation.

“Your ship is ready, Sir,” a cheerful woman’s voice said from ahead.

“Thank you,” the man pulling her leash said in a low voice, and she shook her head. He

sounded familiar, something about the cadence of his tone. If she didn’t know better, she would

think she knew him. That was probably the drugs muddling her mind. Depending on the

aphrodisiac used, she could expect anything from a full mental fuck where they made her believe

she was in love with her new Master, to a rush of hormones that would have her humping against

anything male that stood still.

Placing a warm hand on her lower back, he led her up a ramp. At the top, they paused, and

someone to their left made a low whistle. “Now I see what all the fuss was about.”

“Silence,” the man barked and jerked her roughly after him. A flare of warmth and

anticipation rushed over her, and she stumbled. The strong hand that steadied her lingered on her

wrist, stroking the skin with a soft caress. Confusion and anger had her jerking away before she

remembered she was supposed to appear harmless.

“Such a brave little thing,” he said in a soft voice and ran his thumb along her lower lip.

“Thank you, Master,” she said in what she hoped was a simpering tone. If his snort was

any indication, she had failed miserably. Damn him, it was so hard to concentrate with the mood

swings the drugs were putting her through. First worry, then anger, followed quickly by joy and

anticipation. But mainly she felt an overwhelming desire that had her inner thighs wet with her

need.

“In you go,” he said before pushing her forward with his hands on her bottom.

The door closed behind her, and she turned, reaching forward with her hands. Meeting

only the cold metal of the closed door, she reached up to remove her blindfold.

“Don’t touch it,” another man’s voice said.

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Ann Mayburn

Chapter Twelve

Melania shivered beneath his voice as if a set of hands were sliding down her hips and

cupping her mound. Heat instantly pulsed between her legs, and a rush of liquid warmth wet her

inner thighs. Shocked by her visceral response, she pressed back against the closed door in an

attempt to cool her body. The drug couldn’t work that long; she had to wait it out and hope they

made a mistake. As soon as they did, she would kill whoever she had to in order to get to

Devnar.

With a
snick
, the bindings holding her wrist together released, and she shook out her

hands. The heat of his body touched her before his hands cupped her face. His cheek brushed

against hers, and she moaned at the hot rush of lust. “If I had my pick of all the women in the

universe, I would still choose you.”

His words hit her like a slap, and she stiffened against him. “What did you say?”

Devnar’s voice spoke again, his lips brushing her ear. “Is that how you address your

Master?”

He made no move to stop her as she pulled the silk scarf from her face, tearing out some

strands of hair in her haste. Squinting against the sudden light, she tried to make out the face of

the man grinning down at her. A soot black suede shirt accented his broad shoulders and brought

out the golden tones in his skin. Dark circles stood beneath his eyes, and the lines around his

mouth had deepened.

“Devnar?” Her fingertips trembled as she stroked a hand down his cheek, touching the

small scar on his lower lip. “Are you really here, or is this some drug-induced illusion?”

He nipped her finger and sucked it into his mouth. The joy she’d felt earlier blazed through

her, and she realized it wasn’t drugs she was feeling, but the link of their bond. He released her

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129

finger with a smile, and he ran his hands down her body. “I’m really here. Sorry about the drugs,

but Lord Mithrik insisted that your role of slave be played out in full.”

He swept her into his arms and carried her to the large bed at the back of the room. The

floor vibrated beneath her feet as the ship left the port. “For the love of the Gods, tell me what is

going on!” She began to cry and shake in his arms as her emotions exploded. He made deep

soothing sounds in his throat as he kissed her over and over until she stopped trembling with

fear. As his kisses slowed, they changed in tone until her desire reawakened with a vengeance.

He seemed to respond to that change in her mood and turned his kiss from gentle to fierce. When

his teeth nipped her lower lip, she sighed with pleasure.

He leaned back on the bed with her in his arms and held her so tight she had trouble

drawing a breath. “Lord Mithrik knew the moment I landed on your planet that Lady Grenba had

smuggled me in, but he didn’t know why. He quickly learned who I was and heard rumors of my

‘addictive’ effects. Curious, he dispatched Khilam to see if it was true while he sent other spies

to Lady Grenba’s estates to find Bolin and Ikel, my men.” His arms eased around her, and she

sucked in a deep breath before settling back on his chest. “Lord Mithrik and Khilam learned

many things, none of them good. Khilam in particular had to report the bad news that sex with a

Jensian is utterly addictive to a Kyrimian.”

A new male voice sounded from the doorway. “It wasn’t easy convincing Lord Mithrik to

not go off and kill every Jensian he could find, starting with Devnar.” Melania gave a small

scream as Khilam entered the bedroom from the small bathroom and held up his hands as she

launched herself at him.

“You bastard!” she screamed and tried to push Devnar’s arm off her.

Devnar scrambled forward and grabbed her ankle, dragging her back before she could

reach Khilam. “Easy,” he whispered, and she relaxed at the scent of his breath. He ran smoothing

circles over her arm with his hand. The hormones of his breath fired chemical receptors in her

brain that signaled safety and security.

“That’s really annoying,” she said with a huff and turned to glare at Khilam.

“As I was saying”—Khilam gave her a wide berth and sat on the gray couch across from

the bed—“I soon found out that Devnar was extremely addictive.” He gave her a wry smile, and

she fought a smile as she remembered their time together. “When I reported back to Lord

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Ann Mayburn

Mithrik what had happened, and after he got over his urge to kill Devnar, we began to suspect

Lady Grenba was going to use Devnar to addict the empress—”

“And gain control of her.” Devnar lifted her hair off the back of her neck and placed a kiss

there that made her shiver. “If Lady Grenba held you, and you commanded me to make love to

the empress, I would have had to comply. Without your command, I would be unable to rise to

the occasion, and the empress would do anything to get me serviceable again.”

Khilam stroked his goatee. “When our spies reached Devnar’s men on Lady Grenba’s

estate, we managed to piece together at least part of her plan. She was going to use Bolin and

Ikel as backup to addict the empress in case things fell apart with Devnar. Fortunately we

reached Devnar’s men before she was able to force them to bond with anyone of her choosing.”

Devnar traced the curve of her ear with his finger. “You know how I saw them in the

arena? Lord Mithrik entered them on purpose to try and see how both you and Lady Grenba

would react to their presence. What he didn’t count on was my reaction.”

“Or the empress’s reaction,” Khilam added with a smirk.

Before she could ask what he meant, Devnar stroked his fingers along her collarbone,

sending chills through her. “If things had gone Lady Grenba’s way, the empress would have

been addicted to Bolin and Ikel, and they in turn would have done anything Lady Grenba wanted

in order to keep their bond mate safe.”

“Leaving Lady Grenba in control of the one thing the empress wanted but could not have.”

Melania shivered and tried not to imagine what Lady Grenba would have done to convince her

and Devnar to go along with her diabolical plan. “So the empress never wanted an off-worlder as

a concubine?” She couldn’t stop touching Devnar, couldn’t stop breathing in a deep lungful of

his scent.

Khilam shook his head. “No, she did and does want an off-worlder as her concubine. She

thinks that if she is ever going to prove to our people it is time for Kyrimia to rejoin the rest of

the galaxy, having an off-worlder as her beloved would go a long way toward changing people’s

minds.” He leaned forward on his elbows. “Lord Mithrik approves of a Jensian as her concubine,

especially after seeing how loyal Devnar was with you.”

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131

Devnar shifted behind her and pulled her body closer to his. “Over a dozen planets are

getting ready to send their best men as candidates. We think Lady Grenba was going to slip me

in with the rest and use you to help get me in.”

She squirmed away from his hand and turned to face Khilam. “Even if I had managed to

get him in, the regulators would have surely noticed. They must be very unhappy about the off-

worlders coming here.”

“You would think,” Khilam said in a dry voice. “We have reason to believe the regulators

may have been in on it.” He grimaced as she gaped at him. “Powerful forces have been blocking

my Lord Mithrik at every turn. We suspect much but can prove little.”

“They couldn’t figure out if you were in on it or not,” Devnar added, and they all rocked as

the ship moved into hyperspeed.

“So we set you up.” Khilam had the good grace to look embarrassed. “We arranged to have

Devnar’s men fight at the arena, hoping it would provoke a reaction and give us an excuse to

take you into custody while seeing if Lady Grenba would try to rescue you and implicate

herself.”

“But it worked a little too well. They didn’t take into account my battle rage would

demand that I rescue my men,” Devnar added as he ran his hands down her arms. It was getting

increasingly hard to concentrate, especially with his thick erection pressing into her back.

Khilam shifted on the couch and tugged at the edge of his shirt. “With the public scene you

caused, Lord Mithrik had to follow through with his threats. Lady Grenba’s spies have been

watching every move we make, and they tried to outbid Devnar’s man, Volun, at the auction.”

Devnar rubbed his cheek against her hair. “The bitch has gone into hiding. Lord Mithrik

hasn’t been able to find her, and we’re hoping to follow her agents back to whatever hole she’s

crawled into. Lord Adsel is somewhere on Jensia, and I promise we are going to do everything

we can to find him and make him suffer for his betrayal. I’m sure with me out of the way, he

planned to press his case for being the next ruler of my people.” His voice dropped to a growl.

“With me addicted to Melania, he could control me and make me send a message to my people

giving him my support as their leader.” His arms tightened, and he buried his face against her

neck. “I would do anything to keep you safe.”

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Ann Mayburn

Leaning back into Devnar’s chest, she felt exhaustion wash over her. This still felt like a

surreal dream, but she tried to focus on what they were saying. All she wanted to do was wrap

Devnar around her like a warm blanket and pretend the last two days had never happened. “Why

did Lady Grenba send Devnar to me? I’m one of the last people that would help her against the

empress.”

“So that he would bond you. She knew from Lord Adsel, one of Devnar’s political rivals

on Jensia, what kind of woman would attract him. Your natural compassion and kindness would

be the sweet trap for his affection. Once you were bonded, she would use you as leverage against

him. If he didn’t do what she wanted, she would harm you. Lord Adsel told Lady Grenba all