Warlord's Mercy - Cynthia Sax Page 0,48
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“You’re going to die, Chamele.” Daisun raised his swords. “And then I’m going to fuck that cunt of yours in every hole she has.” He jabbed two of his blades in Tolui’s direction.
That made it easier for Tolui to sever both hands at once. He cut through skin, flesh, and bones with his claws, the bloodletting appeasing his savage nature.
Daisun screamed. His hands and swords fell.
Tolui retracted his claws and caught one of the weapons. “You’ll never touch my gerel or any other female again.” He moved to the side. “He’s all yours, human.”
The vengeful male’s eyes blazed as he swung his big axe.
Daisun’s last remaining hand landed with a splat on the sand.
“That’s for my mate.” The male hacked into the Palavian’s shoulder. “That’s for her also.” He cleaved through the enemy’s side. “And that.”
Daisun was a dead male standing. Tolui no longer felt the need to inflict the killing blow, to watch him gasp his last breath.
He jogged to the edge of the crowd and rammed the Palavian’s sword into the ground, burying it up to its hilt. “No one threatens my gerel. If you ever need a reminder of that, look at this sword and remember what happened to the Palavian.” Daisun lay on the sand, hacked apart by the axe-wielding male. “The next being to harm her physically, emotionally, or in any other way, will feel more pain than the Palavian experienced before he dies.”
Tolui stalked to Lea, grasped her hands, and pulled her against his chest. He needed to touch her, to reassure himself she was safe, she was his.
“Warlord. Warlord.” The crowd chanted that word over and over.
His gerel smiled up at him. The musk of her arousal filled his nostrils. “Now that Daisun is dead, the inhabitants of Chamele 4 need a new leader.”
Her unspoken suggestion, that he become their leader, tempted him. He wouldn’t have to leave her, could stay with his little human, residing in the tunnels he now considered home.
But she deserved better than a wasteland of a planet. And his brothers had fought too long, too hard, had made too many sacrifices to settle for less.
He suppressed his selfish thoughts. “I already have beings to lead, and they need me more than the inhabitants of Chamele 4 do.”
His gerel’s smile wavered. “Do your clone brothers need you more than I need you?”
Son of a Gechii. The choice he had to make was difficult. “They have no one and nothing, little human. I won’t abandon them as my source abandoned me.”
Her big brown eyes softened. “I would never ask you to abandon them, my Warlord.”
She rose up on the toes of her boots, grasping his shoulders. Her hands were rough. Her grip was firm.
He lowered his head until their faces were level.
“You’re a good male, Tolui.” She brushed her lips against his, her kiss light and sweet, the purity of it contrasting vividly against the death all around them. “I’m proud to be your gerel.”
Those quietly spoken words reached deep down inside him and coiled around his heart. He straightened. Warmth spread over his chest and up his neck.
“When this war has ended, I’m returning for you.” He strapped his arms around his gerel’s waist, holding her to him. “You’re mine and I keep what is mine.”
“Is that a promise?” Lea tilted her head back.
Tolui held her gaze, allowing his emotions to show. “That’s a vow.”
And he always kept his vows.
They returned to their tunnels, to their home. Tolui’s need for his gerel was intense. He wanted to hold her, rut with her, claim her completely.
Before he did that, he had another task to complete.
“Take me to your ship, gerel.” He squeezed her hand.
“Now?” Her eyes widened.
“Now.” He had to do this before his willpower completely dissipated.
She sighed. “Okay. I’ll bring you to my ship.” She led him across their private chamber, their growing chamber, through a narrow tunnel.
The space opened up into a huge ceiling-less chamber. The sky above their heads was blue, yet rock surrounded them, those stone walls high and solid except for the tunnel they’d navigated.
“It’s a hole in the side of the mountain.” He’d never seen anything like it.
Turning, he gazed around them. In the middle of the space was a large construction covered with fastened rock vulture hides.
“No one except me knows this area is here.” His gerel tugged on the edge of the leather. “And no one except me knows about this.”
The hides fell to the ground.
A pieced-together monstrosity only his little human