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  It had never bothered me before. He’d always done his job well, and a Raas did not require affection from his crew. But now, as I watched him advance toward me, I wondered what my cousin really thought of me. And whether he would be happier if I was no longer Raas—or no longer alive.

  “I take it we will have no need for the sparring axes?” I asked, seeing the gleam of his blade.

  “We will not.” With a roar, he lunged for me and swung his axe at my head. I ducked, diving across the cage and leaping to my feet with my own weapon raised.

  Corvak was already charging me. I swung my blade at him, barely missing his ear as he parried to one side, spinning and attempting to come around behind me.

  I spun with him, my axe following the rotation of my body and making contact with the curve of his blade. The impact reverberated up my arm and made me stagger back.

  “You have something you wish to tell me, Corvak?” I asked, when he also stumbled back.

  “I have told you what I think,” he panted, his face already flaming red. “You refuse to hear me.”

  “Tell me again,” I growled. “What do you think?”

  He tossed his axe handle from one hand to the other as he stared me down. “You are letting that female influence you.”

  “Untrue,” I said, squeezing the handle of my weapon. “I do everything I do to protect the Vandar.”

  “And protect her,” he spit out.

  “She is mine to protect.” My words were low and deadly. “I took her as my prize. A Raas takes what he wants, and no one will harm what is mine.”

  “That whore will be the end of us.” Corvak’s voice rose to a shout. “She rules you, and she rules the horde.”

  Rage bubbled up as I charged him, slamming my body into his and knocking his axe from his grip. “No one rules my horde but me, and no one questions my loyalty to it!”

  Corvak hit the floor hard, and I pinned him down with the long handle of my axe across his throat and my legs pinning his arms to his side. He flailed under me, one arm trying to reach for his axe lying not far from him.

  “You would take up your axe and strike me down, cousin?” I asked, leaning my face down over his. “That is how you show loyalty to your Raas?”

  His eyes flashed as he looked up at me, then his body went limp and his eyes closed. “Forgive me, Raas.”

  I stood, picking up his axe and holding both weapons as he stood up. His chest heaved as he drew in breaths.

  “If you ever question my loyalty to my horde again, Corvak, I will put you out an air lock.” My voice was little more than a hiss. “After I cut off your head.”

  “I was wrong to question you, Raas.” He did not look up. “But I do not understand why we do not kill these Zagrath.”

  “You do not need to understand.” I threw his axe at him. “Raas does not need to explain himself to anyone. Not even to his battle chief.”

  His head snapped up. “Am I still your battle chief?”

  I studied him for a moment, wondering if I should put him out an airlock, since dissent could spread through a crew like a virus.

  “For now,” I finally said, turning and stomping from the battle ring. I stopped at the bottom of the steps, turning and pointing to him with my blade. “Do not mistake my mercy for weakness. If you do, it will be the last miscalculation you make.”

  He clicked his heels together and jutted his chin up. “Yes, Raas.”

  My heart was hammering wildly as I stormed through the ship to my quarters. Corvak was right about one thing. I could not let any female rule me.

  A Raas did not make deals. A Raas took what he wanted when he wanted it. It was time the female learned that.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Astrid

  I felt his weight on the bed as the movement pulled me out of sleep. I’d sent Krin back to his own quarters a while ago, knowing that Kratos would return and not welcome a young boy curled up like a puppy at the end of his bed.

  We’d managed to make a passable birthday cake, and Krin had devoured it like he was a child tasting sugar for the first time, his enthusiasm making me forget everything about where I was and how conflicted I felt about the Vandar, and the Raas who made my heart race.

  Rolling over, I blinked a few times to bring my eyes into focus in the dark. Then I sat up quickly once my eyes locked on him. Kratos stood completely naked at the foot of the bed, one knee on the bed and his cock jutting out rigid from his body. His chest rose and fell as if he’d run all the way to his quarters, and his body glistened with sweat.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “Did something happen?”

  He yanked the silk sheets off me, revealing a shorter nightgown I’d selected from the clothes brought to me. His gaze went to my mostly bare legs, and he let out a low rumble. “I have been patient enough, Raisa.”

  He grabbed my ankles and pulled me down to him in a single fast motion, the gown riding up to my waist.

  I tried to tug it down again, but he pushed my hands away and tore the silky fabric completely off my body.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I cried, even though there wasn’t much doubt in my mind exactly what was happening.

  He took my hands and pinned them over my head. “What I should have done the first second I was alone with you. What I have wanted to do since I saw you on that ship.” He lowered his head, so it was next to mine, inhaling deeply. “I’m claiming you as mine, female. From this moment on, you will be the property of Raas Kratos of the Vandar. No one else can lay a finger on you. And no one else can ever fuck you.”

  My heart beat like a trip wire as I struggled to loosen my hands. His body pressed hard against mine, making my breaths ragged. His own breath was hot against my neck, sending spasms of unwanted pleasure through me as I arched back.

  “You cannot escape me, Raisa.” He nipped my throat between words. “You are mine. Do you understand?”

  My thighs were slick, as heat pulsed hot between my legs, and I cursed my body for its traitorous response. I shook my head but didn’t speak.

  “I know you understand.” He murmured, his voice softer as it buzzed my ear. “You’ve always been mine, haven’t you? You’ve always been waiting for me? That’s why there were no other males before. You were destined for me.”

  He held both my wrists together with one of his hands and moved his other down one side of my now-bare body. Even though his hands were huge, he wasn’t rough as his fingers skimmed the swell of my breast. Lifting his head from my neck, he met my gaze, his own eyes black and shining. “Tell me.”

  My pulse skittered, and my throat was so dry I could only make a high, breathy sound.

  The Vandar warlord used his knees to part my legs, his cock hard against my thighs. “Tvek.” His eyes rolled back in his head for a moment, and he bit down on his bottom lip. “You’re already soaking for me.”

  My cheeks burned. I couldn’t believe how wet I was, or that I actually wanted this huge alien to fuck me. But I did.

  “Tell me you want me,” he insisted, when he’d locked eyes with me again. “I can feel how much you need me. You don’t have to fight it, Raisa. You don’t have to fight me.”

  So many emotions stormed through me I was sure I’d implode. But he was right. I didn’t have the strength to resist him anymore, or fight my own feelings. “I want you, Raas.”

  His pupils flared, and he crushed his mouth to mine, parting my lips with a hard swipe of his tongue. Our tongues tangled, and he moaned into my mouth as he kissed me deeper. When he relaxed his grip on my hands, I wrapped them around his broad back, then moved them into his hair.

  His kiss was so drugging, I was only faintly aware that he’d moved his hand down and was dragging the crown of his cock through my folds. I curled one leg around his ass, and he groaned. He tore his mouth from mine, breath hitching in his throat as he notched his cock at my opening, holding it there.

  My heart was knocking against my ribs, and my entire body trembled, but I didn�
�t want him to stop.

  “Raisa.” He stroked a finger down one cheek, his voice husky.

  “Please,” I whispered. “I want you inside me.”

  He put his forehead to mine as he pushed his cock in slowly. The stretch made my breath catch in my throat as my body tried to take him. He paused, lifting himself to lock eyes with me. “I’m sorry, Raisa.”

  Before I could ask him why he was sorry, he’d thrust himself the rest of the way in with a single powerful stroke. I gasped at the searing pain and dug my fingernails into his back, tears springing to my eyes.

  Burying his head in my neck, he murmured words in Vandar to me as the pain faded.

  After a minute or so, I unclenched my nails. “You can move, Raas.”

  Raising himself to his elbows, he dragged his cock slowly out and back in, his neck muscles tight from the restraint. “So tight.”

  Even though I was still adjusting to his massive cock, I loved the feeling of being filled by him. I shifted my hips up to meet his, and his pupils widened again. “You like it deep?”

  I nodded. “I want more.”

  He dragged his thumb across my mouth, putting it between my lips. I sucked on it, and he grinned. “Greedy Raisa.” He sat back on his heels, lifting my hips with his hands and spreading my legs wider. Looking down, he let out a dark growl. “Your tight little kurlek looks so perfect with my cock splitting it.”

  “Kurlek?” I managed to ask as slid his thick length into me again.

  Kratos moved a finger to my clit and circled it as he continued to stroke his cock deep. “Your cunt, Raisa. Your perfect little cunt.”

  Hearing that word on his lips made me bow my back and let out my own moan.

  “You like that word better though, don’t you?” he growled.

  I could only gasp in response, my release building as the Vandar warlord pounded into me, his finger stroking my clit.

  “Say you’re mine, Raisa,” he said between gasps.

  I looked at him, his expression wild and his dark hair a torrent around his face. “I’m yours.”

  He thrust harder, his jaw tight. “You belong to Raas Kratos.” He circled my clit faster. “No one else will ever fuck you but me. Promise me!”

  “I promise,” I said, my words slurred as my legs began to shake and my body pulsed around his cock. I raked my hand through my own hair and screamed until my throat was hoarse. He didn’t stop hammering into me as I came and moments later, he was thrusting hard and arching his back as he shot into me.

  Wrapping both legs around his waist, I pulled him down onto me. Kratos rolled onto his back, taking me with him, his cock still very much inside me. I lay my head on his damp chest, rising and falling with him as he caught his breath. After a few minutes, he took my head in his hands and lifted it so that he could meet my eyes.

  “Are you okay, Raisa?” He smoothed a strand of hair off my forehead. “Did it hurt too much?”

  “Not too much,” I said, although I could already feel the painful throb between my legs. I bit my lip, shy to ask my next question.

  “Was it okay for you?” I whispered, despising the shake in my voice. “I mean, since I’d never…”

  He pulled me up so that my face was over his. “It was perfect. You are perfect.” His hand cupped my jaw. “And you are mine.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kratos

  She wiggled on top of me, and I wrapped my tail around her hips to still her movements. Her brow furrowed.

  “If you continue to move like that, I will have to fuck you again,” I said, my voice a low rumble. My cock was still inside her tight heat and her movements were making it stiffen again.

  “Oh.” She looked surprised, but then her lips curled into a small smile. “I wouldn’t mind that so much.”

  I tilted my head at her, amazed that one who had been so shy was now so hungry for me. “You are sure you will not be sore?”

  “Oh, I definitely will be, but I don’t mind so much.” She pushed herself up so she was straddling me, her hands braced on my chest.

  I moved my grip on her hips up to cup her round breasts, rolling the hard points between my fingers and thumbs. “Everything about you is soft, except for these.”

  She let out a moan and tilted her head back as she moved herself up and down my cock slowly. As much as I wanted to flip her onto her back and thrust myself deep, I forced myself to let her ride me as I watched.

  Her eyelids fluttered as she leaned forward, letting her hair fall forward and brush across my chest muscles. She dug her fingers into my flesh as her pace increased, and when she opened her eyes to lock onto mine, she was breathing hard and looked almost desperate.

  I moved my hands back down to her hips, lifting her up until the crown of my cock teased her opening and then bringing her down again. She gasped with each deep thrust, clawing at my chest before she reared up and arched her back, shaking as she spasmed around my cock.

  I sat up and flipped her over until she was on her hands and knees. She was still sucking in breath when I forced her head down onto the bed and tilted her ass up, spreading her legs and plunging inside her.

  Tvek, she was so tight it was hard not to explode with each stroke.

  Looking down at her curvy ass, I loved how her flesh quivered as I pounded into her. So soft and perfect. I grasped her hips, angling them so I could go even deeper, then I leaned forward and pulled her hands back, holding them at the small of her back while I fucked her.

  “Do you like this?” I gritted out as my release chased me.

  She twisted her head to look back at me, her eyes molten. “Yes, Raas.”

  “Then you will like this more.” I curled my tail around so that the tip could flick her little bundle of nerves while I took her from behind. As the silky fur found her slick nub, she gasped and jerked, her body trembling once more.

  “Do you like my tail playing with you, Raisa?” I rasped, savoring the sensation of fucking her while my tail stroked her slickness.

  She bobbed her head up and down without speaking. But her body told me everything I needed to know as her tight heat spasmed around my cock and her gasps were high and breathy.

  I let out a primal roar as I hammered home and gave one final hard thrust, emptying into her, hot and hard. She sank onto the bed, and I collapsed beside her, tugging her so that her body was tucked into mine. The only sounds in the room were that of our frantic breath.

  “You are still okay?” I asked, once I could speak again.

  She hitched in a breath. “I might never walk again.”

  I eyed the top of her head. “You are sure you were a virgin?”

  “Yes.” Her voice was hesitant. “I think I’d remember doing something like that before.”

  Although I believed her—I’d felt how unimaginably tight she’d been—it was hard to reconcile the tentative virgin with the woman who’d just ridden my cock with such fervor.

  She lifted her head to look at me. “Why?”

  “You do not fuck like a virgin.”

  Her cheeks immediately flooded with color. “I guess I just really liked it. Was I not supposed to?”

  “No, you were.” I rubbed a hand along her back. “I suppose I am feeling lucky that I captured such a lusty human.”

  She nudged me hard, giggling. “If you didn’t use your tail, I might have been able to control myself.”

  “Oh, I do not want you controlling yourself. And I am glad you enjoyed my tail. Just one more reason you are meant to be mine, Raisa.”

  She dropped her gaze to my chest. “I don’t think your crew agrees with you.”

  “My crew has no say in the matter,” I bit out, more harshly than I’d intended. “I am Raas. I answer to no one.”

  “But they’re not happy I’m here, right? They don’t like having a woman on board.”

  I looked down at her, but her eyes were fixed on my chest where she was tracing the curve of my markings. “Who told you that?”

  “N
o one had to tell me. I can feel the mood on the ship. It’s pretty obvious.”

  Feel the mood? Was this a human thing? “What do you feel?”

  She twitched one shoulder up. “For one, your first officer is fine with me, but he’s worried about you and about what the crew thinks. He wants to protect you.”

  I narrowed my gaze at her soft, pale hair. “Bron is my most loyal warrior, but how do you know all that about him?”

  “It’s a sense I got when he was talking to me. The way he looked at me, the way he said your name. Little things. But it’s usually the little things that give people away.” She drew in a long breath. “Like on my sister’s ship—the one you took me from—I always knew that the crew tolerated me only because my sister was the captain. They were nice to my face, but the smiles were never real. Not that I blame them. They’d earned their spots, but I’d just been given one because of my sister, and I was pretty bad at it. I mean, obviously, since I navigated us into Vandar space.”

  I was suddenly very grateful that Astrid had been so bad at her job. “What do you sense about my other warriors?”

  “I haven’t exactly met many, but the one who was by your side when you brought me on your ship…”

  “If it wasn’t Bron, you must mean Corvak, my battle chief.”

  “He envies you,” she said. “He wants what you have. Well, maybe not me. He isn’t crazy about me.” Her finger tracing my markings paused. “You should be careful with that one.”

  Her observation about Corvak was painfully accurate, but I did not like getting a warning from a female. I shook my head. “He would never be disloyal.”

  “Especially not if he feels appreciated. You could diffuse his jealousy by making him more important. Or feel more important. Then he wouldn’t be tempted to betray you.”