Savage Seed by Ivy Sparks

11

Leslie

Silence filledthe air as no one spoke, no one shouted, and no one moved. The only thing that stirred was Kade’s cock pressed against me, its twitching the only sign that time hadn’t stopped.

I felt Kade exhale harshly, his breath warming the top of my head.

Then the spell was broken. I looked at Kade helplessly as hands pulled me from him. He gave me a simple nod, his expression reassuring me that I shouldn’t resist.

I was guided toward an unmarked tent nearby, then pushed through the thin flap that acted as a door. Seconds later, the women who had led me here began tearing at my clothes. My knife fell to the ground and was picked up by one of the women. The moment hung in the air, as all the fight in my fight-or-flight instinct told me not to let her take it—that it was my only defense.

But there was still Kade, and the trust I had given him. In his village, he was the best defense I had.

I let the knife go.

Soon there was nothing left of anything I had brought with me through the desert. Not my knife, and not a shred of clothing. My bare skin seemed bright in the dimness of the tent, glowing and almost ethereal. I shivered and felt my nipples harden, my hands instinctively moving to cover them.

“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice shaking. The women surrounding me just stared, their faces a mixture of hardness and sympathy. Those expressions conveyed one simple thing.

I was fucked.

I suspected what was happening, but there was no one who could confirm or deny the thoughts running wild through my head. These women weren’t here to help me, and none of them even tried to speak, regardless of the language barrier. Maybe they didn’t care. I was just a pawn in their little tribal rituals.

The flap door opened and Kade stormed in, sending the women scurrying away from me. There was a fierceness in his movements that made me quiver. I wanted to go to him, run into his arms and wish this all away. But that was a foolish desire, something a scared little girl would want.

I was scared, and there was no point denying it. But not of him, not of Kade. The other man… He’d been utterly ferocious, screaming his assertion, his cruel eyes locked onto my body. The way he had looked at me… It was ugly. Vulgar.

I knew that look. Every woman knew that look, knew the feeling of having someone’s eyes on everything except her face. This native alien was no different from any number of the scummiest men I’d ever encountered.

His desire was disgusting. I didn’t want it.

What I did want was Kade, my warrior who’d rescued me and had been nothing but kind and marvelous and delicious with how his muscles rippled in the moonlight. Seeing him now sent waves of relief through my veins. Then something else, something much stronger, shot down my spine, landing at the apex between my thighs.

I shivered again, but my skin felt electrified. Despite the nightmare scenario I seemed to have stumbled into, I was wide awake and wanting.

Kade rushed toward me and barked something at the women in the tent. They filed out quickly and without a word, leaving Kade and me alone. He held something in his hand, and raising his palm toward me, he uncurled his fingers to reveal an injector gun. I’d seen them, and used them, many times before. But as for what was inside this particular one—nutrients or a vision enhancer or something else entirely—I had no clue.

The gun was small in his hand, like it was made for human hands. I knew his tribe probably wasn’t capable of building such an advanced piece of technology, so the gun must have been bought from whatever trading partners they had.

Kade raised the gun and said something softly, first pointing to his ear, then to mine.

Of course! It was a translator implant. He motioned toward me and I nodded, brushing my hair from my ear so that he could access the insertion point.

“Ouch!” I cried out when he pulled the trigger, but that was more from the anticipation of the shot hurting than from the shot itself. The pain itself was barely that of a pinch.

Setting down the device, he took my hands in his. I felt self-conscious, standing there completely nude before him. But if he made any notice of my discomfort, he didn’t let on.

“Leslie. Are you okay?”

His voice was deep and strong, and now that I could understand him, I found myself even more attracted to him. I felt a blush rising to the surface and looked away, embarrassment threatening to overwhelm me.

Kade gently grasped my chin and tilted my head up.

How easily I could get lost in those big emerald eyes…

He cleared his throat, but kept his hand on my face. It was as if he was afraid I would break if he let me go. Who knows? Maybe I would.

“I’m going to help you return to your father,” Kade said. I must have looked surprised, because he smiled. “I made a promise to you, whether you knew it or not. And I don’t break my promises.”

I opened my mouth and his thumb caught on my lower lip, pressing lightly into the soft flesh. His eyes darkened, and I slipped my tongue out to taste the salt of his skin. It was a bold move, one that took even me by surprise.

It was Kade’s turn to shiver. He removed his hand from my chin and grasped my hand instead. After a pause, he continued, “You came here because you trusted me to help you. To keep you safe. Do you still trust me?”

Without any hesitation, I nodded. “Of course,” I said, giving his hands a tight squeeze. “You’ve never given me reason not to.” And in that moment, I knew it was true. The doubts that had bounced back and forth in my mind had come from me. Never from him.

Kade nodded, and a loose strand of hair fell from its place and came to rest atop his shoulder. “Good. I need you to trust me now. My tribe has… customs. There are rules—ancient rules—that no one has been willing to remove. One of those rules involves outsiders. Female outsiders.”

The air escaped from my lungs as I held onto Kade’s every word.

“Leslie, Trag tried to claim you the moment he saw you walk into camp. He is unmated, like me. That means that he has yet to find a mate.” Kade swallowed, and I watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed beneath his skin.

“When one of my people hasn’t found their mate within our tribe, they may claim a female from outside the tribe instead, for the purposes of breeding. For most of my people’s existence, that has meant claiming a female from another tribe. But since the outsiders—your people—have arrived, the practice has extended to them as well. It is a practice that I have always found abhorrent—”

“Abhorrent?” I interrupted, offended by the idea that claiming me would be “abhorrent.”

His eyes bore into mine as he leaned closer. I wasn’t sure if it was his intent, but he was so close I barely had room to breathe. His scent nearly overtook me; the sand in his hair, the sweat from his skin. And something else, something deeper… Something unmistakably sexual.

“But I couldn’t let Trag have you, Leslie. I made you a promise to return you to your people. And I intend to fulfill that promise.” Kade paused, his face now inches from mine. Despite the fear and confusion I felt over what had happened outside, in here—in this tent, with this man—I felt safe. Composed.

Turned on.

I grimaced as I felt my body betraying me. I tried clenching my thighs together, but it was pointless. I knew he could smell my arousal.

He looked at me and drew a short breath. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I nodded, although he must have seen how clouded my eyes were with lust because a sound rumbled deep in his chest. “I have placed a claim on you, Leslie. By my tribe’s law, soon, you will be mine.”

As his words pierced through the fog, my blood chilled and I took a step back. He allowed my hands to slip away from his, but nothing in his demeanor looked remorseful or uncertain.

If anything, he looked even more dominant than when he’d torn that sand beast apart with his bare hands. He looked… possessive.

Over me.

I fumbled back a few more steps and raised my arms to cover my chest again. The look Kade was giving me made me realize what I was in for. And as much as my body kept trying to tell me to let him take me, my mind was on an entirely different wavelength.

I was about to be claimed by a native. Claimed like some broodmare, just like the stories I’d overheard the miners telling. Would I be the next story they’d tell? Of the small blonde chick—the boss’s daughter, no less!—who had thought she would one day run the mines, only to end up a slave to a barbaric, alien race?

Kade’s nostrils flared, and his muscles twitched. He seemed to be holding himself back.

“Does that mean you and I will be… mates?” I managed to ask.

His eyes widened just a bit before he regained his composure. “No,” he replied. “There is a distinction between ‘claiming’ someone and being ‘mated’ to someone. Mates happen naturally, as if by fate. We can’t choose a mate. Trag has tried to make a claim on you, which is why I’ve done the same. As the higher ranking male in the tribe, I get to exercise my right to claim you first. Once we have performed the claiming ritual, you will be free of any obligation to Trag.”

“Claiming ritual?” I gasped, and Kade stepped forward to calm me. “That’s not some kind of blood sacrifice, is it?”

His eyebrow quirked up. “What? No. Is that something your people do?”

“No! Of course not!”

He scratched at his neck. I envied how okay he was with all of this. “The claiming ritual is sacred. It will bind us together. Without it, my claiming you will mean nothing. Trag’s claim would be recognized instead, and he would be able to have his way with you.”

Trag’s face flashed in my head and I shook it away. “I don’t want that.”

“I know,” Kade breathed. “Nor do I.”

The seconds ticked by before he continued again. “We have to bathe each other in the ocean first. Then I’ll lead you to the sacred grounds.”

“Sacred grounds? Is that where we…?”

Kade nodded. “There, we will lay in the moonlight before the entire clan.”

“Lay? Is that a euphemism for—”

“Yes, Leslie.”

“In front of everyone?”

Kade didn’t answer. Instead, he opened the door and offered me his hand.

I couldn’t hesitate any longer.

I put my hand in his.