Blood Warrior

He couldn’t help a groan, which banished her hesitancy and made her smile. It also made her bold. She fumbled with the button and zipper of his cargo pants until she’d made room enough to slip her fingers inside. “Fuck,” he said roughly.

“That’s the idea.”

“You have no idea.”

With her free hand, she guided his beneath the waistband of his briefs. He made a fist around hers. The pressure, the heat—Tallis arched his neck, greedy for air. How long had it been? He couldn’t remember. And he knew that no matter how much time passed, he’d never forget Kavya’s tentative pace becoming more assured.

She clutched him tighter. Her fingers were caught between his and the swelling ache of his hard-on. But Tallis was the one caught. He couldn’t focus. It was either close his eyes to savor the pleasure ripping up from the base of his spine, or watch Kavya. Watch her eyes as they darted from his face to where she’d bared his cock. Watch her parted lips as she began to softly pant. Watch as she learned the rhythm of his desire.

She propped on one elbow. Although awkward, she managed to yank open his shirt. Her awed sigh made Tallis feel powerful, that his body aroused this mind-blowing woman.

Smiling with age-old female trickery, she began to experiment. She pushed his fist away, changed the rhythm, teasing him, increasing the pressure, gripping his swollen head, pumping his long shaft.

“The old-fashioned way, Tallis,” she said, her voice breathy. “You can’t give me your thoughts. Give me your words.”

“You think I can speak now, lonayip woman?”

“Yes.”

His head was spinning in circles that kept time with her strokes. “Don’t let up.”

“You made me feel amazing. Is this as good?”

“If you felt half of this, I did bloody well.”

She licked the fevered skin of his upper pectorals, then blew across the damp trail. “Beautiful.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. There. Like that—arching against me, your hips off the ground.” Kavya sounded overwhelmed. “I’ve never seen anything so powerful. I’ve never felt so powerful.”

“Faster.” He was thrusting up to meet every downward clench of her tight fist. So close, burning, he moved to enclose her hand in his once again.

“No,” she said sharply. “Mine.”

Leaning down, she found where his neck met his shoulder and sucked, licked, scraped her teeth across his heated flesh. It was her teeth, and the appreciative moan she hummed against his taut muscles—primal. Urgent. Earthy and strong. The combination sent him rocketing over the edge.

He cried out a hard curse and snapped rigid. The sky closed to black along with his eyelids. He didn’t see colors or stars; he only felt. Kavya pumped twice more before he came, streaking his abdomen with the hot proof of his release.

“Oh! Oh my.” The first was shock. The second was satisfaction. “That was . . .”

“Bloody fantastic,” Tallis scratched out. He tried to swallow but couldn’t. He needed water. He needed a steady breath. Later. “Are you sure you haven’t done this before?”

“Never.” She licked up to his earlobe, then caught his lips in a kiss that balanced between sweet and savage. “But I liked it.”

“Not more than I did.”

A blush—her blushes were always a surprise—turned the apples of her cheeks golden pink. “That was all right?”

“Very all right.” He pulled her close for another kiss, this one sweet enough to make him think, if only for a moment, that they were the forever sort of people. That wasn’t the case and never would be.

After a cursory cleanup, he forced a smile. “We’ll definitely need another bath,” he said blithely. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“And there you go again.” Her eyes were hazy and distant, when she met his gaze at all. “Tallis gone. The Heretic returned.”

He stood sharply, which meant shoving her off and away. Not his favorite chore. He set about reassembling his armaments and looked down at Kavya, who’d brought her knees to her chest. Obviously she wasn’t in the mood to explain herself, and he wasn’t in the mood to listen. The orgasm that had held back his worries wasn’t strong enough to keep them at bay forever.

Still sitting, Kavya aligned her knuckles in that odd, fastidious way.

He couldn’t resist. Not again. “Why do you do that?”

Her brown eyes were lightened by the sun, which made them look more like caramel. She narrowed them, but beneath her outward aggression was a different timbre—as if she’d been caught doing something wrong. “What are you talking about?”

Tallis nodded toward her knotted hands. “Your fingers interwoven, clasped so exactly.”

“I do nothing of the kind.”

“Keep lying about inconsequential things and we won’t be allies much longer, let alone lovers.”

“I should only lie about the consequential things?”

He offered a rueful shake of his head. “I can spot the big lies. The little lies, though—they chip cracks in mortar and wear away stones. As powerful as the elements. So . . . your call.”

“You act like this is some sort of test,” she said.

“Why shouldn’t it be? If I’m going to make a plan with anyone . . .” He shrugged. “Then it’s all about trust.”

—

Kavya looked down at her interwoven fingers. “How did you know?” she asked softly.

“Just my eyes and a really strong desire to know who the hell you are.” He touched beneath her chin and urged her face up, up, until she couldn’t look away. “I had a dream version of you, and a version of you intended for the rest of your followers, and then . . . here you are. Forgive my curiosity.”

“They’re—” Kavya had to stop, swallow, start again. “They’re the mountains. My knuckles. They’re the mountains and valleys of the Northern faction, where I was raised. I’ve never liked their chaos. The randomness. Too many hiding places and secrets and places where the sun came over the ridge at different times, different intensities. Nothing could be counted on.”

“Your homeland.”

She nodded. “My mother showed me how to line up my fingers and the knobs of my knuckles just so.”

“Like that?” Tallis knelt and traced the even bumps. “Perfectly aligned?”

“Yes.”

“Order out of chaos?”

She unclasped her fingers and shook feeling back into her numb hands. “But not anymore.”

“Because I caught on? That’s not fair. I’ve been surrounded by shadows and mirrors for longer than I care to remember. I find one solid, reliable truth and a woman willing to open up and explain what it means—and what? Should I apologize? I won’t, Kavya.”

Standing, she grabbed his pack and adjusted her stance. Not exactly order out of chaos, but with the strong foundation of the mountains. “We’ll reach the nearest village in a half hour or so. Then you’ll need to steal a moped, not a car. You’ll learn why when we get into Jaipur. We should reach the Old City before dark. Perfect place to hide. Plenty of time to plan.”

Kavya kept her steps evenly paced although she was crumbling on the inside. Everything she’d known was shattered or frozen or covered in blood. Pashkah would find her, eventually, no matter where she bedded down for the night. The tension in her spine promised as much. Tallis had her back. He was a living, unpredictable cyclone—the same entity, but always changing speed, direction, force.

He caught up and walked beside her in silence, as if they hadn’t shared the most intimate acts of her life. Her feet ached and started to bleed, but she said nothing. The physiology of the Dragon Kings meant she would