Sarazen's Vengeance: Book 1.1 Read online

  All of the sudden it opened with a whoosh. Tarek stood there, imposing and immovable. Looking down at her with a gravity that made her throat close up.

  “This is our justice, little one.” he told her. His tone so gentle despite how big and gruff he was. Her bottom lip threatened to give a quiver.

  “Ohlen has claimed you as his mate. He goes to earn that right. You may witness what comes next, but understand it will be brutal. Ohlen chose to confine you here to spare you from it. From witnessing his beast claiming vengeance for its mate. I believe he wishes to spare himself your fear of him. Of thinking him a monster if you see him in such a state.”

  Andi stubbornly shook her head. Choked down her tears and lifted her chin to look up at the commander. She was angrier than she’d ever been in her life. She would not be denied the opportunity to see that piece of shit, who had ruined everything good and clean inside her and left only pain and filth behind, die.

  “If he’s going to kill Ethan, I don’t care if he changes into a fire breathing dragon. I want to see it happen.” she said it firmly. With conviction even though her bottom lip trembled. After a heartbeat, Tarek inclined his head and moved out of the way,

  “Then I will take you. Come.”

  Andi heard the sound of screaming long before they got to the barracks. It made her blood pound with eagerness. Eagerly needing to see what was being done to make such agonized sounds. She ran into the room where a monster was circling the already bleeding lump on the floor.

  The creature was beautiful in a, turn your knees to jelly, sort of way. Oddly enough, Andi wasn’t afraid. Not even when he roared and blood dripped from the fangs as long as her hand. Andi watched in horrified amazement as the enormous ginger and black beast, slashed and clawed at Ethan while he begged. While he screamed for mercy. Cried out in pain and bled on the floor.

  No one helped him.

  No one did anything.

  In a bit of a daze, Andi walked forward. Someone asked why nothing was being done to stop this. She paid them no mind. Fixated on the sight of the savagery unfolding in front of her. Fixated on the way the blood had splashed and spattered across the white floor. How it was starting to pool right there in front of her toes. She could feel the impact of the wet splat of blood across her skirt.

  Her heart pounded harder and harder. Until she worried it would pound right out of her chest to land at the beast’s furred feet. At Ohlen’s feet.

  Ohlen was the thing causing such carnage.

  Andi could hear Tarek speaking over the crunching of Ethan’s bones. Could hear his commanding voice, but not the words themselves. Not until one scream in particular made her shudder and break from the macabre trance she had fallen into.

  The beast that was Ohlen had bitten off Ethan’s left hand. The crunch of bone hideously loud. Andi felt a knot of ugly fear unravel in her chest at the sound.

  Ohlen brought it to her, carefully, purposefully depositing the severed appendage at her feet. Ethan’s left hand. The one that so often had knotted in her hair. Held her face against a wall. Closed around her throat until she passed out from lack of air. Covered her mouth and gripped her cheeks until his nails cut her skin.

  Ohlen brought her Ethan’s right hand. The hand that had torn her flight suits open. Grabbed at her breasts and cruelly twisted her nipples. Dug and scratched between her thighs until she bled.

  Now they looked so harmless lying on the floor. Lifeless. Innocuous.

  Tarek’s voice rolled over her like cleansing water. Drew her from the numb contemplation of the dismembered hands. Made her check back into reality to notice the hulking beast was covered and dripping with Ethan’s blood. Standing right in front of her waiting. Staring at her with concern.

  Ohlen. She reminded herself that the creature was Ohlen. She stared back at him. The yellow of his eyes bleeding slowly back to violet as his rage eased. His head tilted in an unspoken question. Whiskers twitching while he waited.

  Tarek’s words reverberated off the cavernous ceilings.

  “Your mate brings you the hands that harmed you. You are not expected to keep them. They are his promise that never again will any other hands touch you in harm. No other hands will cause you pain. No other hands will threaten you, not even his own. Whether you accept him or not, Andi of the Starsong, Ohlen is your mate and he will protect you always.”

  Her throat worked. She opened her mouth to speak but words wouldn’t come. Thankfully, her body reacted to her true desire. Andi reached out. Brushed her trembling fingers along one of Ohlen’s silvery whiskers. Testing the shape of the silky filament. Coming away with a crimson droplet of blood.

  It was already cold. Already sticky. Wasn’t that odd?

  Ohlen’s tongue snaked out to clean her finger. The rough texture of it was startling enough for her throat to open up and a little sound to come out. She had expected his fur to be coarse or abrasive against her palms. To her surprise, it was fluffy. So soft that her hands sank into it like it was made of clouds.

  Andi was amazed by the thrill it brought. The thrill that such a powerful creature, one that stood eye level with her, would lower its head and press into her hands. She stroked his ears to the very end of the tufted tips. A purr vibrated from his blood-soaked muzzle. Andi swallowed thickly, licking her dry lips.

  “You’ve pretty much shredded everything else. If it’s not too much trouble, could I have his heart too?”

  Ohlen chuffed like he was laughing. After a quick lick to her hand, he spun away to pounce on Ethan. Ohlen positioned himself so that she wouldn’t see the heart being clawed and chewed out of Ethan’s chest. Allowed her to see only Ethan’s face. See the terror in his eyes as she watched the last few moments of his life.

  A grotesque squelching sound was the last sound that came from Ethan’s body.

  After one good whack of his paw to what remained of Ethan’s corpse, Ohlen turned to come to her. Carefully laying down the red, oozing organ at her feet.

  It looked so normal. Not blackened or oozing toxic sludge. Not abscessed or half rotted away like she’d thought it would be. Andi picked up the hem of her dress and poked at the still warm, slightly rubbery feeling organ with her foot. Tempted to crush it under her heel,

  “I thought it’d be black, or covered in festering sores or something.”

  Andi stepped over the gruesome tokens Ohlen had brought her and threw her arms around his furry neck. She didn’t even care that he was covered in blood. He made a weird sound in his throat, but she was too busy crying silently against his fur to identify it. He wrapped a leg around her and pulled her closer. Tucked his chin down over her back with a soft purr. She felt his body shift and begin to change. Not even the popping of bones and ligaments reshaping, or the weird slither of muscle reshaping under his skin, made her let him go. Soon it wasn’t a furred beast cradling her. It was an alien warrior with strong arms and a deeply comforting voice.

  “You will never fear this day again, my one. Let me take you to our quarters and wash away the last of your grief, please,” he whispered into her ear. Achingly soft.

  Shaking with silent sobs like she was, all she could do was nod.

  It was over. She was free.

  Three

  Ohlen walked naked and uncaring through the halls. Uncaring, because even covered in blood and gore, his mate clung to him. Clung as though at any moment she would be torn away from him. Her tears slid down his chest in a constant stream. If not for the nearly overwhelming scent of her relief, he would have been panicking.

  He walked into the lift with her. Kneading at her hair in an attempt to comfort her. Not sure how far he could push before she became uncomfortable with his touch.

  Andi’s tears had gentled by the time they reached his quarters. He asked if she wanted him to leave her be to cleanse and she shook her head almost violently. Digging her nails into his shoulders to keep him from putting her down. Had the circumstances been different, it would have made him smile.

&nbs
p; He walked into the stall with her, murmuring his promise not to leave her. She allowed him to set her feet down and start the wash. Ohlen kept her curled close while the spray covered both of them. Andi shifted slowly from one foot to the other. Pulled her fingernails from his shoulders and moved her arms from up around his neck. Down to press her palms flat against his chest. Turned her cheek to his heart, one side then the other. He was bothered greatly by his inability to control the rigid length of his cock. Angry with himself for the pleasure he found in friction of his shaft against her soft belly. The material of her gown sensually chaffing his sensitive flesh.

  “If you are ill at ease with my nudity, I will remedy that immediately.”

  “I’m fine. I want to make sure the enzyme can get off all the blood.” she whispered.

  Ohlen made a soft sound. Relieved, thrilled by how she continued to allow his hands on her. He rubbed up and down her back. Massaged the enzyme into her dark hair.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  His guts twisted with regret. The human male’s punishment should have lasted far longer than it had. So great was Ohlen’s desire to destroy the despicable creature, he lost his control.

  “You need not thank me, my one. Not for that. I lost control. It was over too soon.”

  The wash ended and the warm currents of air whipped around them. Forestalling any reply she might have made. Once it was done, he reached down and scooped her up by the thighs. Carried her out towards the main room.

  “You haven’t eaten since yesterday.” he commented.

  Andi was already slender. Hardly any weight at all in his grasp. She hadn’t in fact eaten much of anything since she had come aboard.

  “Who told you that?”

  He touched a kiss to her shoulder and felt her stiffen slightly. He waited for her to tell him to stop. To his delight, she relaxed not long later,

  “You found my presence unsettling and wouldn’t speak to me, my one. I did what I had to, to ensure you were properly cared for.”

  “You were worried about me?” she was so surprised by this.

  It made his heart hurt. “Of course. I am still.”

  Ohlen set her down on the lounge at the end of his bed. Reaching for a blanket to lay over her lap and another to knot around his waist. Andi curled her legs up under the blanket while he typed in a request from the galley. Her lips rolled together. Teeth tugging nervously at the lush curves.

  Curves that enticed him after what he’d seen the commander and his mate doing in the temple. Ohlen had gone in to pray for guidance, interrupting an intimate moment between the two. He had inadvertently seen something that had made him insanely curious. Curious and aroused. Thoughts for later.

  “Why did you not stay at the observation deck?”

  Ohlen reached for a soft skein of her hair, moved deliberately slow to give her time to withdraw, rubbing the silkiness of it between his fingers. Andi shook her head, not hard enough to pull her hair from his fingers and twisted her hands around in the blanket. Looking at her lap,

  “Because I’m not a good person and I wanted to watch him die. Listen to him screaming. I wanted to see him bleed.”

  She jumped at the touch of his fingers on her cheek, but she didn’t jerk away. Her lashes fluttered. Rose to mee his gaze. To his amazement, the subtle fragrance of arousal wafted off her beautiful self. He swallowed the growl that filled his mouth.

  “How does that make you a bad person? He hurt you irreparably. It is only right that he be hurt all that much more. That you feel vindicated by it. I did not want you to watch and find a legitimate reason to fear me. More than you already do.”

  Her lips gave a little wobble as she turned her cheek into his touch. Leaned forward slightly towards him. Her body and her scent telling him without a doubt that she was comfortable in his presence. The relief was unimaginable. Andi sniffled. Scooting an inch or two closer to him. He held his breath to keep from doing anything to make her move away.

  “You are the first person to have protected me like that, Ohlen. He’s dead and won’t ever touch me again. You made that happen.”

  “You are my mate, Andi. The only one I will ever have. I will allow nothing, no one, to harm you.”

  “I believe you.” she murmured. Blushing when he smiled back at her,

  “Good. May I ask you something?”

  “Okay.”

  “I happened to interrupt the commander and your lieutenant in the temple. They looked to be eating at one another’s lips and taking great enjoyment from it. I’ve never seen any of my people do this before. I can only assume perhaps it is a human proclivity. What is it?”

  Andi frowned at him for a minute. When she understood what he was asking, her eyelashes fluttered again. That sweet, intoxicating scent of her arousal once more perfuming the air between them.

  “Kissing.” she murmured.

  Rolling her lips together as she smiled and scooted a little closer. Her breath caught when he rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. Pulled it free from her teeth to soothe the pressure of her bite.

  “Later, when you have come to trust me with all of you. I would like to know this…kissing.”

  Before she could answer him, the alert at the door to his quarters beeped. “Wait here a moment, my one.”

  Ohlen came back with a tray filled with all the foods she had tried at least twice so far and set it on the small table in front of her. Offered her a quick smile when she stared at him in bewilderment.

  “Why does your commander always rub his nose along Clary’s?” she blurted. Hurriedly, as though she worried he would be displeased by her curiosity. He was very pleased to answer her. Beyond pleased, because she was speaking to him.

  “It is our way of showing affection, tenderness, and desire. Also to press a bit of our scent onto our mate’s skin.”

  “So, the Sarazen version of a kiss?”

  He tilted his head at her inquisitively. “Is that why humans kiss their mates?”

  “It’s what they say. I’ve um, never done it.” she looked away shyly.

  He moved back to kneel in front of her. Gave her time to pull away in case it frightened her. He brushed his nose up the length of hers, offering a soft rumble of sound meant to reassure and calm her. The sound he would only ever be able to make for her. For his mate.

  Andi was very stiff at first. Stiff enough that he almost pulled back. He worried he had gone too far until she let out a slow, shuddering breath and relaxed. Allowing his caress. Leaning into his touch. He rubbed up the other side of her nose. Let his brow rest on hers, murmuring to prolong the sweetness of the moment.

  “Then when you are ready, it will be ours alone. I need to dress. Eat.”

  Andi ate a third of what he desired her to, but she ate. She seemed to take amusement from him clearing the rest of the plates himself. Asking him where he put it all in a timid little voice. He was delighted by her continued inquisitiveness. His thoughts focused foremost on his body language, doing his best to give her time to watch him. To grow more accustomed to his nearness, now that she wasn’t suffering the immediate aftermath of watching her former tormentor, die an extremely painful death.

  She was exhausted emotionally. Ohlen could see her body beginning to wilt with the tiredness born of such relief. Such release. He suggested she move to the bed and the scent of her fear immediately flooded the room. Her eyes rolled a little too wide, a little too white. He moved to crouch in front of her again and she flinched back. Then was mortified to have done so.

  “I’m s-sorry,” she stammered. Trying to get hold of herself. Instead of taking her hands or curling his arms around her like he desired, he wrapped his fingers gently around her ankle. Rubbed up and down the fine bones there with his thumb,

  “You have nothing to be sorry for, my one. The bed is all for you. I will sleep here.”

  Ohlen tried to use the gentlest tone he knew. Unfortunately, it still came out as somewhat of an order. She still recoiled. He could hea
r how hard her heart pounded. Raced like a frightened animal trapped within her chest.

  Andi looked at the lounge she sat on, then sideways at the bed. Looking anywhere but at him it seemed. She again licked the soft swells of her trembling lips. The need surged to taste such soft curves. To taste all of her. He restrained himself. Shoved his beast down and forced it to heel.

  “I’m smaller. I should take the couch. You’ll barely fit, and it’s your bed-” she murmured. Shuddered when he growled his displeasure,

  “It is our bed, my one. Where you will sleep, alone, until such time as you give permission for me to share it with you.”

  “But-“

  “No, Andi. Your comfort and well-being will always be my first concern. These quarters are ours until we reach Saraz. You need not ask permission to do anything within them. I will clean up our meal. You, get ready for sleep.”

  ****

  Andi woke up twice in the middle of the night. Her mind hemorrhaging every horrific moment spent suffering at Ethan’s hands.

  The first time Ohlen woke her. She nearly fell off the bed with how fast her body moved. Lurching back purely out of instinctual reaction more than fear of Ohlen himself. Before he had gotten control of it and turned the lights on, she had seen his stricken expression. She calmed almost immediately and apologized to him. It had seemed only to make him angry, despite how gently he tucked her back in and lowered the lights again. Soothing her until she fell back to sleep.

  The second time she’d jolted awake, she didn’t go flying off the bed. Ohlen was already there in his cat form. One big paw on her shoulder to steady her. The ginger beast kneaded gently at her skin while he looked down at her. The concern plain on his feline face. His whiskers pulsed with the soft sound he made. Used his paw to pull her closer against his side.