Katzman
5
Nari
Khenti is running for his life. His contract holder has been murdered and he’s
accused of the crime. Now, the real killer is after him, intent on killing
Nari. The only place he can think of hiding is on Katzmann.
Semyon
Barak is concerned when Doctor Saris tells him someone stowed away on his ship
until he realizes that the gorgeous green eyed man is his ate—his very pregnant
mate. Now he has to figure out how to keep the frightened man safe while
keeping the hardest truth from them…the fact that they are mates.
Taking
Nari into the desert might not be the best choice possible but it’s the only
one Semyon has because the man after Nari is closing in on them and he has the
power of the Elquone thrown behind him. Semyon will have to use every bit of
training he’s ever had to keep his mate and their child alive because if the
dangers of the desert don’t kill them, the bands of roaming bandits just might.
STORY EXCERPT
“Okay.” Saris started wringing his
hands together as he walked away from Chellak and began pacing. “I was going
through the supplies that Semyon had brought in on his last mission when I came
across a box that wasn’t on the manifest. At first, I didn’t think much about
it. Mix-ups like that happen, you know?”
“But?” Chellak encouraged.
Saris tossed his hand up in the air
again, looking exasperated. “But the damn box started making tapping noises.”
Semyon’s jaw dropped. “Taping noises?”
Saris nodded rapidly. “When I tapped
back, I heard someone speaking from inside the box.”
“There was someone in the box?” Why
hadn’t he heard anything when he checked the supplies? Hell, how had he missed
an extra box that wasn’t on the manifest? He usually wasn’t so oblivious.
Semyon was very stringent when it came
to loading his ship. For someone to get an unmarked box past him was a feat.
Now he was just as curious as Chellak. He also wanted to know who in the hell
had gotten past him.
“Yes. His name is Nari. He’s the man
Garret was telling me about, the one the rumors are about.”
Chellak sighed as he walked back over
to sit behind his desk. He rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment and then
clasped his hands together. “From the beginning, Saris. What rumors?”
“Nari is Brüter. He entered into a contract
with a man off world. It seemed to be a good match from everything I heard, and
then suddenly Nari was brought back to Elquone to face charges that he killed
the contract holder. When it was discovered that Nari was carrying, his
execution was held off until after the child is born, which is in about two
month, give or take a week.”
“Wait,” Semyon said as he stepped
toward the doctor, feeling a sudden unfamiliar urge to know everything about
the rumors Saris had heard. “I thought he was being brought back to face
charges. I didn’t hear you say that he was found guilty in a trial.”
“That’s because there was no trial.”
Saris’s words were controlled.
“Then how–“
“The family of the man Nari was
charged with killing comes from money, a lot of money. They greased the right
palms and the High Ruler declared Nari guilty without a trial.”
“Can he do that?” Semyon asked as he
looked at Chellak.
“I don’t think so, but things are
still pretty precarious on Elquone since the last High Ruler died. I’m sure a
lot of things go on that aren’t exactly above board.”
“Nari says he didn’t kill the man. It
was the guy’s brother,” Saris quickly added.
“Do you believe him?” Chellak asked.
Saris’s lips thinned and he looked
pensive, as if he was truly giving the question some thought. “I can’t honestly
say. I know Nari is terrified. The brother is demanding the babe be turned over
to him as required by the contract. He is saying that the babe is the only
thing he has left of his brother.”
“Isn’t the contract nullified once the
contract holder dies?” Chellak asked.
“Yes, and that’s what they are using
to convict Nari. They say that he killed the contract holder in order to keep
his babe. Word is that Nari is insane.”
When Saris pulled out a vid-pad and
held it out to Chellak, Semyon peeked down at the information before the
vid-pad passed into Chellak’s hands. His breathe caught in his throat when he
saw the vivid green eyes staring back at him from the picture of the man in the
contract.
Those eyes mystified him. There was so
much hope and determination in them. How could a man with that kind of outlook
on life become a cold blooded killer?
“Is he insane?” Semyon asked.
“I think he’s terrified.” Sadness
sapped the color from Saris’s face. “They want to take his babe from him. I
think he has a right to be terrified.” Saris looked up. There were tears in his
eyes as he glanced over at Semyon and Chellak. “I would be if someone tried to
take my baberen.”
“Is there anything we can do to help
him?” There had to be something. Semyon didn’t know the guy but he felt for
him. And that was strange. Semyon didn’t tend to make a lot of personal
friendships, not after watching Bogden—the shaikh of the Leonid pride on
Katzmann—get betrayed by another warrior. It had almost cost Bogden his
life–and his mate. Semyon never wanted to be put in that position.
“If we continue to hide him here on
Katzmann, Chellak could get in trouble with the Federation. But, if we turn him
over to the High Ruler of Elquone, then Nari will lose his babe and be
executed,” Saris said as if he were truly split on what to do.
“I’ll take him.” It was a bold
statement. Semyon barely registered what came out of his mouth before both
Saris and Chellak were staring at him like he might be as crazy as Nari. Maybe
he was, but Semyon couldn’t allow Nari to be killed for a crime he hadn't even
had a chance to have a trial for. It wasn’t right, and Semyon wasn’t going to
allow the man to come to any harm.
“Semyon,” Chellak said slowly, “do you
know what you’re saying?”
Not really.
“If I sign a contract with Nari and
claim him according to Katzman law, it should keep them from forcing him to
return to Elquone and keep Chellak from being caught in the middle of this shit
storm.”
“Semyon, you can’t mate with someone
that isn’t your mate,” Chellak insisted with adamancy. “Even you now that.”
Semyon grabbed the vid-pad from
Chellak and stared down at the man’s green eyes again. He could feel something
move inside of him, something he had not experienced before–at least, not on
this level.
The urge to protect the man and his
unborn babe became almost more impetrative than the duty he felt toward Chellak
Rai, and that was something he had lived by for more years than he could count.
He felt an overwhelming need to physically claim the man, to protect him and
cherish him.
And that was insane, because it could
only mean one thing.
“I think he is my mate.”
ADULT EXCERPT
Nari’s hands clutched in the blankets
on either side of him as Semyon’s mouth moved along the vulnerable arch of his
throat, lavishing his skin with kisses and little nips from his sharp teeth.
When that wasn’t enough, Nari reached up and fisted his hand in Semyon’s hair,
holding the man’s head to him.
“Need you so much, Nari.” Semyon’s
voice seemed to glide over Nari’s body like the brush of silken sheets against
his skin. It made him ache with want. “Always going to need you,” Semyon
whispered along Nari’s sensitive skin.
Nari shuddered. He couldn’t explain
the indisputable bond between them. There was some force beyond his
comprehension, driving him toward Semyon, making him want to beg for the man’s
touch. He just no longer cared what it was, or even why it was.
Nari licked his dry lips nervously,
needing to touch Semyon as much as he needed to feel his touch. Semyon’s rough,
rasping tongue stroked over his neck. When Semyon’s mouth closed over the
mating mark, sucking at the flesh softly, tenderly, Nari felt his cock swell
and pulse.
“My mayht,
always mine,” Semyon whispered against Nari’s skin.
Semyon’s golden eyes glittered with
sexual intent as the man raised his head and gazed down at Nari. His cheekbones
appeared flushed beneath the dark tan, his lips fuller, more sensual. They
looked kissable.
Much to Nari’s relief, Semyon leaned
down and latched onto his mouth. Their tongues danced together, gently
exploring, tasting, until air became a necessity. They both drew deep drags of
air into their lungs. Their lips met seconds later but this time it wasn't the
slow gentle kiss it had been before. This time it was out of control, frantic,
and filled with everything needy.
When Semyon lifted his head and gazed
down at Nari, there was a feral light in his eyes that almost scared Nari. If
it wasn’t for the gentle way that Semyon caressed his skin and moved down his
body, Nari would have questioned his intentions.
Nari licked his lips, starting to pant
with need as Semyon spread his legs and knelt between them, crying out when he
felt Semyon’s fingers brush over his tight entrance. He squirmed when Semyon
pushed his legs up, fighting for breath.
Semyon’s tongue slid down to Nari’s
puckered hole and swirled around. Nari gasped for breath as Semyon licked him,
Semyon’s growls of pleasure echoing through his body. He could feel a wild,
uncontrollable sensation building. His body tingled. The pressure increased as
Semyon’s tongue stroked around his ass, over it, pushing gently but insistently
against his tight opening.
“Semyon.” Nari’s plea was a breathless
moan as his hands went to Semyon’s shoulders, his nails biting into the man’s
tanned skin. He needed. “Please.”
Semyon was up and between his legs
before Nari could barely register the man moving. Nari gasped as the thick
length of Semyon’s cock slid into him, stretching him. One hard thrust buried
the thick erection into Nari’s body to the hilt.
Nari watched Semyon’s handsome face
stiffen, his jaw ticking as he fought for control. His eyes closed and his body
went tight, tense. Nari’s breath caught in his throat as he watched, entranced.
Semyon was a creature of pure beauty as his control fought his need for
pleasure.
Semyon’s eyes opened just as quickly
as they had closed. He started moving, thrusting his hard length in and out of
Nari’s tight hole. The burning intensity in Semyon’s eyes as he looked down at
Nari made him gasp. No one had ever looked at him with such need, such want, or
with such tenderness. Nari felt like he could live the rest of his life in that
look.
Semyon drove his cock harder and
harder into Nari, rocking the carriage with the force of his thrusts. Nari
moaned as the long thick cock that
seemed to fill him so perfectly brushed across his prostate with every thrust of Semyon’s hips.
His head arched back as Semyon leaned
down over him and nuzzled at his neck. He groaned, shivering at the feel of
Semyon’s teeth scraping over his throat. Semyon licked the soft flesh just
beneath Nari’s ear before sinking his teeth in.
“Semy!” Nari cried out. He was held
still by Semyon’s hard body, his thrusting hips, and the sharp fangs imbedded
in his skin. Semyon growled around the flesh in his mouth, low, primal,
demanding Nari’s surrender as he drove his cock into Nari over and over again.
Nari’s eyes widened and he stared at
the room of the carriage in stunned silence for a second before his orgasm hit
and he screamed. His climax was like a tidal wave, tearing through him. He held
tight to Semyon’s hair, praying for some anchor to hold him to this realm of existence
because he was positive he was dying.
No one could survive that much
pleasure.
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