O'Rrin The Protector, page 16
part #1 of Thoherian Barbarians Series
Oh. He wanted to mate me. More than anything. A shiver raced through my body, and his eyes darkened as he moved closer.
“Yes,” I said quietly, the word as nervous as the rest of me.
“Yes?” O’Rrin repeated, clearly a confirmation.
“Yes,” I said a second time, stronger and more certain. Then I glanced towards the rest of camp. “Um, as long as we do it where they can’t find us.”
O’Rrin’s heated smirk turned darker with pleasure. “There is a reason I stopped early, my Hetta,” he murmured. “We will have privacy here.”
My cheeks went scarlet again, and I wondered if he would think that was my natural color at the rate I was going. Then he stripped the rest of his clothes off, and although I had thought my cheeks could not darken further, I was proven wrong. Especially when he reached for me and started undoing my clothes.
I had to help, of course, because the ship clothes I was still wearing were different than anything he’d seen before. We didn’t have ties like he did, the shirt and shorts instead going up and down, respectively. I stopped him before he could sneak my shorts off, stepping closer to him. To my surprise, he sank down to a cross-legged position, drawing attention to his cock. His rather large, thick cock that was covered in the same scales as the rest of him.
It got even worse when he pulled me down onto his lap, and the only thing between me and his erection was the thin fabric I was still wearing on my crotch. I was shivering, but it was the good type of shiver. His body heat was high enough that I didn’t feel cold, a nice change from the walk of the day.
Well, that and the fact my whole body felt like it was on fire. My breasts were bared to him, although he seemed more perplexed by them than anything. Given L’Anna didn’t have boobs like me, I had to wonder if they weren’t something common on N’Akron women.
“May I kiss you again, my Hetta?” O’Rrin purred, his finger on my chin. He was still much taller than I was, but in his lap, he could lean down comfortably to reach me and I could reach him without straining myself.
I whimpered and nodded, not sure I would have been able to produce words even if I’d been paid for it.
Then his lips covered mine, his tongue easily slicking its way inside and sliding against mine. I moaned into the touch, clutching at his shoulders and rubbing down against his hardness. I was running purely on instinct now, and instinct wanted that thick cock of his inside me, now. Not five minutes ago, now.
Apparently, the horny part of me wasn’t very patient.
“Shall I show you how my people ‘kiss’?” O’Rrin murmured between kisses, leaving me panting with swollen lips. I was pretty sure my brain had started to leak through my ears, not that it was entirely a bad thing. If I was already this turned on, how much better would it get?
“Yes, please,” I whispered, shyness making my cheeks flame. But I was still strong enough to say the words, strong enough to reach out and touch his cheek. I was careful not to put weight on his injured leg, but I wanted to feel him close to me. Hadn’t I just thought about how I wanted to be stronger and braver for him?
He gave me one last kiss on my nose before nuzzling it with his, his eyes open and surprisingly dazzling that close. “We nuzzle.” He rubbed his nose against mine and then trailed down to my neck, nuzzling and nipping the soft skin there. “We taste.” His tongue flicked out against my skin, sending a spark down my spine that made heat pulse between my legs. “I would like to taste you everywhere, I think. See how different you taste from N’Akron women.”
Disappointment caught me off guard. “Have you tasted a lot?”
He gave me a surprised look. “No,” he answered easily. “But the other hunters and warriors talk, and I’ve heard stories.” The heat was back in his eyes. “I know how to pleasure a female in the sack.”
Okay, I’ll admit, I giggled at that. How could I not? He seemed bemused more than anything, although I knew he clearly didn’t get the joke. The puzzlement in his eyes vanished when I took a deep breath and then reached out to wrap my fingers around his cock. He was similar to human men, with the crowned head, but the skin covering his erection was textured, almost ribbed, and I couldn’t help but wonder what that would feel like inside me.
I gulped.
Then his cock withdrew into his body and he groaned, arching his hips towards me even though I was no longer touching him.
This time I was the one staring at him. “What the—”
He gave me a quizzical look. “Your males cannot sheath themselves?”
“No,” I answered, strangled. “If they do, they call it tucking, and it ain’t pretty.”
It was clear most of the second sentence hadn’t made sense to him, but he nodded anyway. “How is mating done on Earth, hmm?” His voice was a low, sensual hiss, his words punctuated by the flick of his long, strong-looking tongue. “Where may I put my mouth?”
Oh, God, I probably looked like a strawberry at that point. Strong and brave, I reminded myself. That was what I wanted to be. Instead of looking terrified, I tried to look seductive. “You could put your mouth on my pussy.”
The confusion on O’Rrin’s mouth was worth taking a mental snapshot of. “Your…what?”
So many words didn’t translate. What were the translators good for, anyway? Instead of managing words, I pointed, and O’Rrin’s eyes lit up. “Human males truly taste their women there?” He looked delighted.
I nodded, my insides feeling like they were melting at the hot lust that shot through his eyes.
“I bet you will be the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted,” he murmured, easing down my shorts without a second thought. I wanted to cup my pussy in my hands, hiding it from him, but I was supposed to be confident.
I wanted to be confident.
Instead of hiding as he slid down my body, his hand cupping my breast before making it to my folds. His tongue flicked out, his breath tantalizingly close, and I gulped down a rush of fear before slowly spreading my legs for him.
He hissed low in his throat at the sight, his hands gripping me tighter on my thighs. “So beautiful,” he murmured, moving to part my folds so he could get a better look at me. My thighs quaked, nerves threatening to overwhelm me, but all of that vanished when he leaned down and that sinfully forked tongue of his licked from my core to my clit. I cried out and arched my hips, wanting him to do that more.
It was something I could easily find myself becoming addicted to.
“I remember this little nub,” O’Rrin murmured, his tongue circling my clit and making my body go haywire. I tried not to sob, but it was hard, because all I wanted to do was clamp my thighs around his head and make sure he never went anywhere else ever. I wanted him to be licking me like he was, like I was the finest thing he had ever tasted.
“O’Rrin,” I managed, breathless. My nerves were starting to dissipate, leaving behind an aching sort of hunger I hadn’t felt before. All I wanted was him inside me and right frickin’ now. But then his forked tongue dipped inside my core, causing another pulse of warmth.
“You’re so wet for me.” His tongue seemed addicted to my taste, trying to catch every drop of wetness.
“You haven’t done this before?” I asked as he teased my core with a finger, starting to dip inside. I whimpered. “Just…”
“I have not,” O’Rrin said agreeably, “but I am a quick learner.” With that, he slid his finger inside me at the same time his mouth circled my clit and then sucked, and I grabbed at him, trying not to scream as I came. If I’d actually had strong thighs, I would have worried about crushing his skull. Instead, I just felt like Jell-O when he let go of me.
“Holy fuck,” I whispered to the top of the tent.
O’Rrin lifted his head, his brow ridges furrowed in an approximation of confusion.
“Human expression.” I lay there for a bit longer, considering, and then grabbed at him. He scowled, because apparently, he’d been staring at my pussy and wanting round two, but I had a different plan. “I want you in me.”
He met my gaze, the surprise quickly replaced by hunger. “You want my thickness inside you, my sweet Hetta?” His words were hissed, but instead of sounding ominous, they made me sticky between my thighs. Whatever O’Rrin was, he certainly turned my crank.
“Please,” I said breathlessly. “I need you inside me.” I wrapped my legs around his hips, grateful that the height difference wasn’t too much of a problem, and held his golden gaze. While his eyes were usually a light gold, they seemed to shine in the darkness between us.
“Whatever you need,” he murmured, his tongue flicking against my neck in a slow and deliberate caress. I moaned, trying to grind against his cock but not getting any relief.
“Please, O’Rrin,” I begged. I let out a sigh of pleasure when he pushed my knees up to my chest and held me there, starting to rock his hips against mine. Then his cock was pushing into my core, slow yet steady, and I whimpered again. He was huge and thick, and it hurt, at least a little. But it also sent waves of pleasure rushing through my body, threatening to drown me. I couldn’t even think about the pain when there was something so much better to focus on.
“Hetta,” O’Rrin said against my neck, not having to pound to thrust into me. Instead he took advantage of his retractable cock, or whatever you wanted to call it, and turned me inside out with gentle rocking motions of his hips.
Whatever he was doing, it was blowing my mind. I groaned underneath him, starting to chant his name as the climax built inside me. I was so, so close to an orgasm that would blow the last one out of the water, as scary as the thought was.
Then his tongue moved to the crook of my shoulder. “May I bite your shoulder and mark you as my mate, my Hetta?” His thrusts were long and languid now, but there was no missing the heat in his words.
Except when I finally thought about them, I tensed. “Wait, what?”
O’Rrin froze, still hard, and what had been building of my climax quickly disappeared. “You wish me to stop?”
“What do you mean, make me your mate?” I was trying not to panic, but now that my brain had caught up, it was panicking for me.
O’Rrin did that brow-ridge frown again, his golden eyes solemn. “I told you earlier, I wished for you to be my mate.”
Ah, shit. I hadn’t paid attention to what was behind what he said and had just focused on the fact that he wanted me, and I was paying for it. He pulled out and sat back on his heels, letting go of my knees and giving me a cautious look. “You do not wish to be my mate?”
I may have been naïve and inexperienced, but even I could tell this was a delicate situation. “I just need time to think, you know?” I tried to keep the words as gentle as I could. It wasn’t a no, but I wanted to wrap my mind around the finality of it. “I want to know what being mated means to you. On my planet, girls don’t just run around getting married to strangers.”
There was a tinge of red that flashed in his eyes before it disappeared, although he didn’t feel angry. “You feel we are strangers?”
I blinked at him. That was what bothered him? “We just met less than two weeks ago,” I pointed out.
He was quiet now, his tongue flicking into the air even as his eyes looked thoughtful. “Take your time to think,” he said finally. “I do not wish to pressure you into anything.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it, feeling guilty and not sure what to do about it. I wanted to grab him and explain, tell him that I wanted him, too, but my brain was so mixed up with everything. Did I want him forever, or were my feelings still mixed up in his near-death?
The uncomfortable quiet was shattered between us by the sound of someone shrieking. Not a happy shriek, either. I bolted to my feet, looking at O’Rrin, who was throwing his clothes back on.
“Who’s that screaming?” I asked him, torn between running towards the noise and staying where I was.
He was grim, and he didn’t look at me. “L’Anna.”
18
O’Rrin
Guilt and worry battled within me as I raced to the central campfire. I should have spent more time with my people, ensuring they were safe, than taking one to my bed that apparently did not wish to be there.
Strangers. I still couldn’t understand how she could think that.
Then I realized she was behind me and stopped, which meant she nearly ran into my back. “Go find a patch of grass and hide,” I ordered, not caring that my tone was curt.
Her eyes narrowed at me. “I want to go with you.” The sounds of sobbing floated towards us, and I practically itched with the need to check out what was going on. But I wanted Hetta safe first.
“If it is the Caterri, I don’t want you to be there.” I spoke firmly, because she was going to listen to me even if she didn’t want to.
She held my eyes for a few moments longer and then scowled, turning around and stalking back towards our tent. It wasn’t far from a rash of bushes that should have been comfortable enough to hide her human form, no matter what was going on.
I was hit with a pang of regret once I turned around and headed back towards the campfire. What had I been thinking, asking Hetta to be my mate? She should have rejected me. I was an orphan; I could offer her nothing. For a few moments, I had wondered if there was something to R’Asha’s constant talks about fate, like Hetta had come from the stars just for me. But it seemed not to be.
“Yrrix!”
The sound of N’Ashtar shouting his brother’s name brought me back to the present and away from the human who was hopefully hiding where I had told her to. The warriors were clustered around the campfire, and N’Ashtar looked pissed. L’Anna was sitting on one of the rocks, her head in her hands as her body shook with loud sobs. We did not cry like the humans, but we did show our sorrow.
“What happened?” I asked immediately, glancing at V’Annor. Erica wasn’t far behind him, Dana and Jackie quickly going to L’Anna’s shoulders. That was when I saw it.
On L’Anna’s shoulder was a fresh mate mark. Clearly not wanted, if her reaction was anything to go by. I lifted my head and met N’Ashtar’s furious gaze. “Yrrix?”
“Yrrix,” N’Ashtar snarled. “He has fled the camp, the coward.”
“I did not want to be mated to him,” L’Anna managed, and although Dana had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, none of us N’Akron knew what to do with that sort of gesture. That type of affection was usually only shared with a mate, but everything about the humans was different. “He grabbed me when I was out relieving myself, and told me we’d be stronger together, that we could go to the Caterri and blame everything that happened on the humans and N’Ashtar. That we could save the tribe and dispose of N’Ashtar in the same go, and we would be king and queen.” She let out another broken sob. “I said no. But he did not take no for an answer.”
Fury raced through my veins, my dark red eyes matching the color of my fellow warriors. In N’Akron culture, there were few bigger crimes than to claim a female against her will. Even worse, the mated bite meant L’Anna could not be tithed to the Caterri, and through his actions, Yrrix had effectively ruined any chance we had of making the tithe, whether we’d wanted to or not.
I snarled at Yrrix under my breath. “We need to find him.”
N’Ashtar opened his mouth to agree and then jerked his head when a noise caught his attention. I heard the sound of something being drawn from a sheath, heard the jittery Caterri voices on the wind, and immediately formed our small group into a circle around the humans.
“Get the fuck out of the way,” Dana snarled, shoving me to make a space next to me even as she picked up the spear she’d designated as hers. Jackie was right by her side, Erica staying protected. I looked longingly in the direction of Hetta, but if she fled her hiding place now, there would be no chance to escape the Caterri.
Before I could draw another breath, they were on us. There were eight of them, but eight was more than enough when they were clearly better prepared. I drew my knife from my hip sheath and quickly took down one of the Caterri, whose sword then became L’Anna’s.
“O’Rrin, to your left!” N’Ashtar shouted, and I dodged just before a Caterri’s weapon would have hit my shoulder.
I grunted my thanks, dispatching that Caterri even as we fought the rest. N’Ashtar was fighting near the humans, clearly keeping an eye on Dana and Jackie, V’Annor was doing the best he could with just one arm, and L’Anna and R’Asha were utilizing all the training they had gotten growing up.
This was the sort of reason that, in N’Akkar, all little ones trained as warriors until they were older. That way, no matter what happened, they were at least able to protect themselves—and others. Yet none of us were at full strength, not after a long day of traveling. My thigh ached, and the humans had to be exhausted.
I couldn’t focus on that, or on Hetta. Instead, I had to focus on taking out Caterri after Caterri, slicing and stabbing when needed. By the time the last one lay bleeding on the ground, the wound on its thigh fatal, I was breathing hard and none of us looked unscathed. But I couldn’t show it. I couldn’t even look in Hetta’s direction, afraid it would somehow give the Caterri a clue to where she was, whether or not it lived.
“Foolish,” the Caterri muttered, shaking his head. “We were sent to investigate, and now that we do not return? All of the N’Akron will pay.” He chuckled, a cold, dark sort of chuckle that made my scales prickle uncomfortably.
“How did you find us?” N’Ashtar asked, crouching in front of the Caterri with an expression that clearly said he would not tolerate dishonesty.
“That wasn’t all of us,” the Caterri said simply. “You didn’t kill all of us. No, a small troop stole one of your females and escaped.”
My blood ran cold and immediately my eyes darted to Hetta’s hiding place. But the Caterri seemed to be smirking at N’Ashtar, not at me.
