Captive of the Horde King (Horde Kings Of Dakkar #1) - Zoey Draven Page 0,6

all of them. It was standing on all four of its legs, which were tipped in sharp, talon-like black claws. Its scales were painted in thin gold strips, looping up and around in the Dakkari way, similar to the tattoos adorning the horde king’s flesh. Also like its master, the beast had a plethora of scars—across its sides, the front of its legs, around its tall, thick neck.

And its eyes…they were red. A blood red. Like blood on ice. Like my mother’s blood.

Panic began to rise in my belly and I stumbled away from the beast, though the horde king’s chest prevented me from going anywhere. He stood behind me, a wall of unmovable strength.

He didn’t give me a choice. He gripped me around my waist, hauled me up high like I weighed nothing, and settled me on the back of the monster, my legs dangling over both sides of its massive, cold body.

It felt like a rock underneath me and when it shifted on its feet, I felt its tendons and muscles flex too. When I started to slide off, I placed my hands at the base of its neck, though the cool touch of its scales made me want to recoil in horror.

The horde king swung up behind me a moment later, not allowing me time to adjust. He scooted forward, until I was wedged between his strong thighs, until his groin was pressed against my lower back. The heat of him and how much stronger he was than I registered.

Strong, tanned hands appeared in front of me, grasping onto the thin, gold, metal chains that secured around the beast’s snout, looping up around its neck. The horde king fisted them in one hand and used the other to press against my belly, anchoring me to him.

I refused to cry out when he made a sound in the back of his throat, which set the beast into motion. Swallowing my panic, I held on as best as I could as it jolted in a high-speed run. I felt the horde king’s thighs tense around me, bracing, obviously comfortable being on the back of it.

But I was not. I didn’t think I ever would be.

That hand pressed tighter into my belly. It was so large that I felt it span across my ribs. I knew it wouldn’t be the last time those hands were on me.

My face burned, my throat tightened. I stared at the empty darkness of Dakkar in front of me, framed by the beast’s long, pointed ears, at the empty, wild lands beyond my village that not many dared to venture into.

What had I done? What would my life be like from this moment forward?

I’d sold myself to a horde king of Dakkar to save my brother’s life. I’d sold myself to a horde king to serve him…as his human whore.

That knowledge sunk in.

It sunk in deep and festered.

Chapter Three

It seemed like hours until I spied lights in the distance.

An encampment, I realized, as we drew closer and closer.

The moon was already sinking into the star-speckled night sky. It had to be the early hours of morning and though I was exhausted from the day’s events, I hadn’t been able to relax or sleep. The jostling, rough movements of the black-scaled beast had ensured my discomfort and it had been hours since I could feel my legs or my backside. Surely I would be bruised in the morning.

The camp was mostly quiet once we reached the perimeter, but I spied many Dakkari males still awake, huddled around tall, gilded cauldrons of fire. The Dakkari didn’t believe in burning the earth, but seeing that enclosed fire made my belly churn. I never wanted to see fire again.

The encampment was surprisingly large. It surprised me that there was a camp, a base for the roaming Dakkari. No one had ever heard about one. The camp alone was larger than my entire village and we had a population of 86.

85 now, I thought silently to myself.

Large, domed tents of tanned animal hide dotted the flat land, the camp positioned at the edge of a darkened forest of black trees. I had only seen trees once before and I stared up at them, amazed at their height.

Loud trills echoed in the night sky, making me jump. The horde king’s hand tightened on my belly briefly before he made a responding trill, loud and deep, from the back of his throat. I felt it vibrate through his body, against my back.