Page 2 of Craved By the Alien Warlord

It was a pleasant distraction; one I could easily get onboard with.

"Keta maruga," Kendryx said in his deep voice, and I rolled my eyes because I had no fucking idea what he just said or wanted me to do.

With a loud sigh, he lifted me off my feet. "Hey, stop that, let me down," I protested.

He didn't listen and with my head pressed against his chest I noticed his even breathing and the steady thumbing of his heart, that didn't pick up in speed at all, when he walked us to the ship.

Seemingly not caring about his boots and leather breeches getting wet, he marched right into the waves until they were up to his thighs while keeping me away from the freezing cold water.

He lifted me a bit higher and said something else I didn’t understand in his guttural tone, but I grasped that he wanted me to climb onboard.

I stretched out my arms to pull myself up, and his hands planted firmly on my ass, giving me a shove and making my skin tingle at the same time. The help was unexpected, and I fell over the other side onto the deck.

"Ouch! A warning next time would be nice," I grumbled, rubbing my behind where he had touched me and closing my eyes just for a moment to relish the memory of his large hands on me.

When I stood up and peered over the railing, I watched him in disbelief as he marched back to the sand where the other warlords and their khazar—king or emperor or whatever—waited for him.

Frustration over him leaving me here aboard the ship, alone, raged through me. My inability to sail this ship only added to the growing fury inside me that I directed straight at the arrogant bastard who left me here, unconcerned that I might take the ship and sail off on my own because he knew damn well that I neither knew how to steer the freaking ship nor where I would sail it to.

I stomped my foot and cussed him out with every curse I knew—and there were a lot of them. When I ran out, I invented a few very creative ones.

Brogan,Vandor,andKhazarGryck stood by their horses, watching me approach them after I deposited the human kallini aboard the ship King Uthar so generously donated for our mission. His absence was telling. I knew he had developed feelings for his prisoner even though he only showed them through anger directed at her. I knew, because a male protected what was his—and Chrissy was MINE.

I felt it the moment she and the other human kallinies walked into the great hall. One look at her had been all it took for me to recognize my czira—heart, soulmate. I also knew that I had my work cut out for me, because I had never before met a more obstinate, stubborn kallini than her. Where Alahna and Damaris were even-tempered and sweet, Chrissy was the complete opposite. Or perhaps she simply tried to portray herself as such. I wasn't sure which way it would go yet but hoped for the latter, because as much as I enjoyed a good battle, I always preferred welcoming arms, especially from the kallini I chose to spend the rest of my life with.

"Are you ready for this?" Vandor asked.

I was sure he meant the journey over the Dark Sea, into human-controlled Vandall territory, but my mind automatically went to Chrissy. Kar, I was ready for her. More than ready.

I was ready to battle her and win her over. Even though right now it seemed a lot easier to defeat the formidable human army than to conquer the heart of the kallini whose eyes I sensed shooting arrows at my back right now.

"We just fought long, hard battles," Gryck cautioned.

I grinned. "Which we won, and we will win this one too."

Gryck referred to our months long campaign against two warlords who had dared to challenge him. The battles had been brutal, but it had been more trying following their tracks and getting them to commit to a fight than the actual battle itself. Which, for some reason, seemed to be repeating itself now, as I would have to follow Chrissy's lead in approaching her superiors before we engaged them.

"She will see reason," Brogan, who had known Chrissy longer and therefore better than the rest of us, said.

"Let's just hope she truly knows of the human's secret weakness, because I would hate seeing more Thyres die a senseless death," Gryck cautioned.

"I believe she does," Brogan asserted. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have voted for this mission and allowed our most valuable bargaining chip to return to her tribe."

"I will keep my eye on her," I promised.

The look Brogan gave me indicated he already knew that I wanted to keep more than my eye on her, but he said nothing. Both Brogan and Vandor had found their cziras among the human kallinies, and both males understood my desire for Chrissy. Vandor even gave me something akin to a sympathetic glance, earning him a scowl from me.

"Send messages if you can. We loaded a few birds for you," Gryck said.

"Don't eat them," Vandor advised with a grin.

"Go with the gods, may they protect you." Gryck clasped his hand around my shoulder.

"Thank you, Khazar. You have my word, before the cold season is over, the human threat will have been dealt with, or at least given a crippling blow," I promised.

I embraced the three males, one after the other, before I turned and marched determinedly back to the ship from where Chrissy's eyes were still throwing daggers at me.

We didn't speak each other's tongues, but her green eyes were expressive enough to give me a clear picture of how irritated she was with me for forcing her to accept my company on this trip. I grinned and waved at her, irritating her further, and chuckled at how easy it was to get under her skin.

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