Slave Gold 4: United Alliance (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

Her voice was raspy which he suspected was from her crying but he pretended not to notice. Hakk held out his hand to her and waited to see if she would take it. He remained still as she stared at his large tanned hand as if she was warring with herself in her mind. Finally she released a great whoosh of air from her lungs and he frowned when he realized she had been holding her breath, but when she lifted her own small, pale hand out toward his, he carefully engulfed her palm and fingers and kept his smile of joy and excitement hidden.

  Hakk couldn’t help but breathe in the sweet fragrance emanating from her soft skin and hoped that one day soon he would be able to place his nose against her flesh and breathe her in as long and as much as he wanted.

  Toak came up to her other side and when she glanced at him he too held out his hand. “May I?”

  River nodded, glancing shyly from Hakk to Toak as his brother clasped her hand and then they led her back inside, through the resting room, and toward the feasting hall.

  “Where are…Stryk and Palk?” River asked.

  From the way she hesitated over his brothers names she wasn’t sure she had said their names right so Hakk gave her hand a gentle squeeze and when she looked up at him he smiled. “They were called away to deal with a small problem. They will be back soon.”

  “Oh.” She glanced around the feasting hall as they entered and sighed with what sounded like relief. Most of the warriors had already left to go to their own homes and only a few remained at the far tables as they drank and conversed.

  Hakk wondered if River had been uncomfortable being surrounded by so many men and then he snorted at that thought. Of course she had. She had been the only female in the room with tall, hulking warriors of an entirely different species. No wonder she had been so scared. He hoped she would relax and talk more and realized that they would never hurt her.

  When she was seated, Hakk motioned to one of the warriors to inform the kitchen staff to bring them some food and then he picked up the jug of water and poured the liquid into a cup before handing it to River.

  She looked into the cup, sniffed it, and then took a cautious sip.

  “It’s just water. Do you think I would give you something that would harm you, make you sick?”

  “N–no,” she answered quietly and then drained the contents. “I wasn’t sure what it was. The water on Earth is clear, not orange.”

  “You’re from E–earth?”

  River nodded.

  “I have heard of that planet,” Toak said from River’s other side.

  “You have,” she asked excitedly. “If you know where it is, you could take me back home.”

  Toak shook his head. “We cannot. It is one hundred parsecs from here. We would never be able to make the journey.”

  “Why not?”

  “We would all be dead way before we even got to your Earth’s galaxy,” Hakk explained. “One parsec is equal to just over three light years.”

  “You don’t have the technology, spaceships that travel at the speed of light?” River’s shoulders slumped with dejection and her eyes were so sad, Hakk felt pain pierce his heart.

  He reached out and enfolded her hand. The moment his skin touched hers his birth-ident mark warmed sending trails of lust through his body.

  Hakk didn’t want to answer her question. They had technology and powerful illumcrystals but he needed her to stay with him and his brothers. She was their mate and the light of their lonely lives. How could he let her go when she meant the world to him? So instead of answering her question he directed her attention to the food when the warriors placed it on the table.

  “You must eat, River. You are hungry and after you have taken nourishment we will show you to a bed so you may rest.”

  River nodded and watched as he placed food items on her plate before filling his own. He watched as she took her first tentative bit of tarki meat and shifted in his seat when she moaned. His dick was hard straining against the seam of his ties and he felt pre-cum leak from the tip. I am in deep fucking shit.

  “This tastes like chicken only way better,” River said after she swallowed and then stared at his chest.

  “What’s with the marks and purple on your chests?”

  “They are our birth-ident marks. All Safurian warriors are born with such but each family mark is different and unique.”

  “Huh,” River said and studied the black swirls intently. His breath caught in his throat and he stopped breathing altogether when she reached up and traced a finger over the mark. His whole body shuddered with the light contact of her skin against his. Blood roared through his ears and he moaned with pleasure at her touch. “Does that hurt?”

  “No,” he replied in a strangled voice.

  “Why do the colors move and swirl and at other times are still?”

  Hakk wouldn’t have been able to answer to save his own life. River had no idea what she was doing to him, but he knew if he opened his mouth he would end up roaring out with bliss and scaring her. And he was too scared to move in case he frightened her by pouncing on her. The urges raging inside of him to claim and mate with her were so intense he was shaking.

  “Warrior birth-ident marks only react to the touch of a true-mate,” Toak explained.

  River gasped and snatched her hand back before turning her head and concentrating on her meal again. Hakk nodded to his brother over her bent head and breathed deeply a few times as he tried to control the ravenous lust racing through his system. However, that didn’t help one bit because each time he drew in a breath, her sweet musky scent drifted to his nostrils. A low growl formed in his chest and escaped his mouth. She was just as turned on as he was.

  If Stryk and Palk hadn’t entered the feasting hall right then, Hakk may have done something really stupid. His thoughts were already on picking her up from her chair, sitting her on the table in front of him and feasting on her instead of the food.

  * * * *

  River didn’t know what was wrong with her. Each time she breathed in, the men’s delectable earthy, musky scents ramped her libido up even higher. But that was inconsequential now that she thought about it. When she’d been holding Hakk’s and Toak’s hands her body had felt like it was overloaded with desire and when she’d touched Hakk’s birth-ident mark she’d swear she was about to have an orgasm.

  Maybe the goddess Branwen was right. Maybe she was meant to be here because of these men, but she wasn’t about to jump into bed with them. For all she knew they weren’t even sexually compatible. Plus she wasn’t the type of woman to jump into bed with someone she didn’t know.

  River suspected she was fighting a losing battle though. Whenever she was close to them her body lit up like never before.

  “What was the problem?”

  “The leaders of Aeros are undecided on whether an alliance is practical,” Stryk said as he took a seat next to Toak.

  “I thought there was a problem in the kitchen?” Hakk asked.

  “Easily dealt with in minutes.” Palk waved his hand in the air. “The message from Aeros was far more important.”

  “Why are they undecided?” Toak asked.

  Stryk shrugged. “They are sick of fighting and want to live in peace.”

  “We have to convince them otherwise,” Hakk said. “Don’t they realize that the Pendag might target them and their planet too?”

  “We tried to explain that but Barclay said since they’d never had trouble with the fuckers he didn’t want to risk the Pendag finding their people and planet by getting involved.” Palk sighed with frustration and then glanced at River as he sniffed the air.

  River’s cheeks heated with embarrassment when she noticed him staring avidly at her and knew they could all smell her arousal. She ducked her head and took another bite of the tarki.

  “At least the Cardinals are on our side,” Toak said.

  “I can’t believe that the Aerosians aren’t going to come to the party. The leaders have a human mate who will be in danger if the Pendag find out.” Hakk s
ighed and scrubbed a hand over his face.

  “I’m not sure the others are fully committed either.” Palk drained the contents of his glass.

  “These Pendag,” River said. “Who are they?”

  “They are much like us except they are selfish and greedy?”

  “Why?”

  “They steal water and need power crystals not of their own planet to power their homes and spaceships.”

  “They don’t have any of their own?” River asked.

  Hakk shook his head. “No. The environment on Pendag is harsh, arid. They have not had any rain for decades. The only way they can survive is to steal water or war and take over other worlds.”

  “Have you tried talking with them?” River asked. “Surely they have something they could trade with you for what they need?”

  “No,” Stryk answered angrily. “We do not want to have any dealings with those scourge.”

  “They are the reason we have no women,” Palk stated angrily.

  River decided it was time to keep her mouth shut. She didn’t want any of that anger directed at her. Her heart started aching the moment Palk started speaking in that angry tone. She quickly finished eating, stood and then stepped away from the table.

  Hakk and Toak both moved at the same time. Their hands gently wrapped around her wrists and stopped her.

  “Where are you going?” Hakk asked.

  “I’m tired. I’d like to retire.”

  Hakk released her and Palk rose to his feet. River tugged her wrist from his warm clasp and almost sighed when her throbbing clit eased to a dull ache. How the hell was she supposed to survive if every time they touched her, her body blazed with unrequited passion?

  It was going to be nearly impossible to keep them at an arm’s length and what was worse was the fact that she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

  By the time they reached the bedroom River’s body was one big ache. She entered the room when Toak swept his arm out and she hurried away from him as she looked about. The bed was fucking massive but she loved the décor. It was a four post bed with white see through gauzy curtains hanging from each post. The quilt was an aqua color and there were lots of different colored pillows strewn across the top in contrast.

  There was a closed door to the right and she hoped it was a bathroom because after the day she’d had she felt grungy and in need of a shower. Clothes were another story. She could wash out her underwear but she didn’t want to have to wear the same skirt and shirt day in and day out. She turned to ask Toak if he could find her something else to wear but her question died in her throat and she gasped when she saw there was only inches separating his body from hers. She hadn’t even heard him moving up behind her.

  Her gaze wandered over his impressive expansive chest and she couldn’t help but look at his birth-ident mark. Each time she looked at those things, she felt as if she was being mesmerized, but she knew that wasn't true. She was drawn to them and wasn’t sure why she was holding back when she wanted, needed to feel his and his brothers hands and mouths on her body.

  Just by looking at him her body was softening and her legs began to tremble. His stomach was flat and washboard hard. The outline of each muscle clearly delineated in definition. None of the men had any hair on their chests or stomach and she wondered if they had means to get rid of it or if the lack was natural to their species.

  Without even thinking about what she was doing she watched with fascination as her hand landed on his stomach just above the waistband of his leather pants and she caressed over his smooth, warm skin.

  Heat made her palm tingle and when she looked up to meet his gaze, her heart flipped and her breath stuttered. His pupils were so dilated they had nearly encompassed the irises and hunger blazed from his eyes as he looked at her.

  She didn’t notice that her hand had stopped its sensory perusal of his stomach until he placed his own large one over hers and moved it up his stomach, torso, and pectoral. His little nipple was hard against her skin and he groaned as he skimmed her hand over it again and again, but when he placed her palm flat over his birth-ident mark, River was lost.

  Lost in a world of heat, hunger, and bliss.

  So entranced in his famished gaze, she didn’t even realize he had lowered his head closer to hers until his warm, moist breath fanned over her lips. She licked her own unconsciously and then she moaned as his flesh met hers.

  Her eyelids closed and she melted into him as he kissed her. Toak invaded her senses. He tasted like a mix of cloves and cinnamon and she wanted more. His tongue rubbed along hers and he growled low in his throat as his hand cupped the back of her head and he slanted his mouth for a better angle.

  The kiss seemed to go on forever and yet the moment his mouth left hers she felt as if it was over way too soon. Never had she been kissed so thoroughly nor like she was the sexiest woman in the world. That’s how she’d felt when Toak’s mouth had been devouring hers and now that she’d had a taste, she craved more.

  His lips nibbled from the corner of her mouth over to her jaw before he licked and sucked the skin along her neck. If he hadn’t wrapped an arm around her waist she may just have ended up in a puddle on the floor, because her legs refused to hold her up any longer when her knees buckled.

  And then her feet left the floor.

  Shivers shook her body and the heat radiating from his birth-ident mark felt like it was searing a brand into her skin, but it wasn’t painful. That heat seemed to light up her whole body from the inside out and the hunger rose until the flames of desire were licking her insides.

  When she felt the soft mattress against her back she sighed and arched her body up against his as he pushed her shirt aside and licked along her collar bone. Her legs fell open and she mewled with lust when his big body came down over hers, his pelvis resting in the cradle between her legs.

  The thick, hard ridge of his cock pressed against her mound causing her pussy to clench and she sobbed with frustration because her skirt was hampering her need to spread her legs wider. If she couldn’t open her legs further she wouldn’t be able to feel that hard dick where she was aching to feel it the most.

  Toak must have been thinking along the same lines because he rolled them both to their sides and then felt a tug on the waistband of her skirt. A rending sound reached her ears but she was too caught up in his touch, smell, and taste to care about anything else.

  Cooler air coming in through the open doorway which led outside caressed over her naked skin causing goose bumps to form, but she was instantly warmed when Toak rolled them once more. She opened her eyes as she looked up at him and then closed them once more as he started kissing her again.

  Her legs were splayed wide and when he pushed his hips into hers, she groaned as his leather covered cock pressed against her aching cotton covered cunt.

  It was the most erotic experience of her life and yet she was a little intimidated by how much she was feeling. She felt as if part of his soul was seeping under her skin and burrowing into her body. Even though that made her nervous, she didn’t want him to stop. Ever.

  Chapter Five

  Toak couldn’t get enough of River’s mouth. Her exotic flavor tasted so right on his tongue. He loved her skin against his, but he needed more contact. He’d already ripped the sheathe covering her lower body away but his leather pants were interfering with his need to have her flesh against his own.

  He loved the little whimpering sounds she made in the back of her throat as he kissed her but he wanted her screaming his name as she peaked. His birth-ident mark was so hot it felt like it was searing into the skin of his pectoral and yet there was no pain. At least none that really hurt. The pain he felt was from needing to bond with his mate but he wasn’t sure she was ready for that yet. They’d only spent a few short hours together and although she was just as hungry for him as he was for her, he could still feel a smidgeon of reticence coming from her. That was something that surprised him, the fact he could feel some of her emotions alre
ady when they hadn’t even true-mated yet.

  He’d heard stories about the connection that was made with a true-bond mate and couldn’t wait to have that link with River.

  He growled when her hands skimmed his chest and hoped she would touch more of him. His body was aching with a need so intense, he wasn’t sure he could go slowly, if she let him love her. He was weak with desire and yet he felt empowered to have her beneath him. If they got to the next level he would need to slow down so he didn’t frighten her with his hunger.

  Toak slipped his hand beneath the edge of her shirt and groaned when his flesh connected with her warm, soft, yet toned flat belly. The heat of her skin and the aroma of her desire was an aphrodisiac he couldn’t ignore. Without breaking the kiss he lifted from her slightly, gripped the edges of her shirt, and tugged the material apart. He lowered his body back onto hers, yet kept most of his weight resting on his elbows so he didn’t crush her, and when her plump breasts connected with his chest he growled low in his throat.

  He nearly howled with disappointment when she turned her head disconnecting their mouths but when she heaved in big gasps of air, he realized that he should have let her up before this. Each time she breathed her breasts pressed into his bare chest and when he felt hard little nubs push into his skin, he looked down. His breath caught with excitement when he saw her hard nipples poking against the strange contraption covering her breasts and his mouth watered to taste her skin.

  When her hands moved on his chest he looked up to meet her passion hazed eyes and hoped she wouldn’t call an end to his need for her.

  “What are you doing to me?” she asked in a breathless voice.

  “Loving you,” Toak replied in a low growl.

  “But…I don’t—ˮ

  Toak didn’t let her finish her words as he started to kiss her again, too scared she would push him away. His cock was so fucking hard and he ached to be deep inside her wet body. He could smell the juices leaking from her sex and he wanted a taste, but right now he concentrated on making love to her mouth. He pushed the thing covering her breasts up high onto her chest and palmed one of her plump feminine mounds. She made an almost purring sound in the back of her throat as he squeezed and kneaded her fleshy globe but when he skimmed his thumb over the hard peak, she sobbed in pleasure.