Broken by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar #4) - Zoey Draven Page 0,87
his chosen Morakkari, gifts he might have been collecting for her even when he’d lived in the saruk.
That thought made jealousy burn in my chest, though it was more of a deep, melancholic ache than a sharp, punishing sting.
“A child,” he whispered. “Then again, so was I, though I was older than you. For years and years, all I wanted was to watch over you. Protect you. Make you laugh and smile because I loved it when you did.”
His voice was soft but I heard the truth in it. The soft reverence in it, like he held onto those memories of our childhood just like I did. Because they’d been special—not many were lucky enough to experience a friendship like ours—and we’d both known that.
“And for a long time,” he continued, “I did not see you as a female of age.”
I inhaled a long breath and blew it out. His head shifted, his warm hand slid across my waist, draping over my hips. My heart picked up speed.
His lips were against my ear when he murmured, “But I remember one of the first times I wanted you. One of the first times I saw you as a female in your prime, a female I wanted to take to my furs and keep there.”
My lips parted and I barely suppressed a shiver.
“The storm over Drukkar’s Sea,” he said and I swallowed, my mind already going to that night because I knew exactly the moment he was talking about. “Do you remember?”
I was reeling, my thoughts of that night flowing fast. Kiran had snuck me out of my soliki, long after the saruk slept, because a storm had blown in off the coast. The moon had been full, though we’d hardly been able to see through the black clouds. And purple lightning had struck across the sea, thunderous loud booms following in its wake.
Kiran had already been to Dothik then. But he’d returned to the saruk for a little while, on a short break from his darukkar training at the capital.
“I remember. The rains came and we got soaked to the bone,” I whispered. “It was beautiful that night.”
“Lysi,” he murmured, his voice gruff in agreement. “The rains came and soaked your night dress straight through.”
I blinked, heat coiling up my throat, making it difficult to swallow.
“And you were bared to me,” he growled in my ear. “All of you.”
My nipples went tight, my breasts heavy with the desire I heard in that rich voice.
Surprise jolted me when that big, heavy hand slid again, as the back of his claws brushed my tight nipples, a strangled sound falling from my throat. Gentle enough that it might have been a mistake…but Kiran didn’t do anything by accident.
“And these,” he rasped, “were pebbled hard and straining against that vokking dress. And all I wanted to do was lay you down on that coastal cliff and suckle on them as the rain pelted us.”
His claws dragged against my left nipple, more deliberately this time, and I couldn’t contain my gasp. I couldn’t help the sound that fell from my throat, a shocking sizzle of pleasure from that tiny touch completely consuming me.
It frightened me, the depth of it. I had deprived myself of a male’s touch for so long and now that Kiran—the only male I’d ever truly desired—was stroking me, it was overwhelming.
“K-Kiran,” I whispered, gripping his wrist and squeezing, keeping those claws away even as my legs tensed and a sharp throbbing began between them.
“And your smile that night, seffi,” he continued, his voice sounding dazed. Far away, as if he hadn’t heard me say his name. “Vok, you were laughing and running along the cliffs. We were such a mess from the mud and the runiri pollen. But you didn’t care. You were delighted. I’d never seen you so happy and you were happy so often, Maeva.”
I…had been. Kiran had always made me happy, even when he made me want to scream.
“You don’t know how vokking close I came to claiming you that night,” he confessed.
Blood rushed in my ears at the pronouncement as disbelief mingled with my lust, as my lust mingled with my memories. And everything, everything, was always mingled with Kiran.
“I would have let you,” I whispered, my throat stinging and aching. Because I’d wanted him so much. Because I’d loved him so much then.
“I know,” he growled.
Licking my lips, not entirely sure I wanted to know the answer, I asked, “Then why didn’t you?”