Her Mate and Master (Zandian Masters 6)

Hopefully, she and Tomis would convince them to come along, and her warrior could bring them to his prince instead. Perform his duty with a different female.

Why did that idea make her want to run and leap into his arms, beg him to forget about his duty and take her back to the waterfall?

But no. If Tomis wanted to keep her, if he wanted to mate her, he certainly would have asked by now. He’d mastered her, had bred her in every position possible, had demanded her obedience and promised to serve. But this relationship wasn’t about mating.

The sooner she got that throu

gh her head, the better.

~.~

“The hardest thing, at first, was defending against the wild beasts,” Banf said.

They sat in a semicircle around a tiny fire, discussing the difficulties the survivors had faced in living without a shred of technology. All four of them shared the tales, seeming eager to articulate the stories they’d kept to themselves for so long.

Though he suspected Talia had lived through just as much or worse difficulty in her life, she offered sympathetic words and listened with rapt attention. Somehow, she’d become the focal point of the group, the children all gathered at her feet, the adults all vying for her attention.

She deserved every bit of it, but Tomis didn’t like the way the males eyed Talia.

Of course, they’d be affected by breeding season as well, and if their female had just given birth, she probably wasn’t participating in this season. Which meant all their interest fell on Talia.

Veck.

To make it worse, Talia didn’t seem eager to leave. Did she want to be bred by those males?

The thought made him want to dismember them, one by one.

He gazed at her, face lit by moonlight and a small fire, holding Eslyn’s infant. The awe and wonder on her face made him want to kiss her senseless. What if—he hardly dared think it—she bore his young?

Would it be such a terrible thing?

Possibly.

Master Seke would beat him into the ground for losing control with his daughter. A beating he could take. He’d been trained to endure all kinds of discomfort. But would his mentor accept him as a mate for Talia?

Probably not. Though there were few Zandians left. Surely Seke would want a more nobly born male for his daughter. And what if Daneth wished to use Talia as a vessel?

He ground his teeth, the idea of the species’ physician examining or touching Talia turning him downright violent.

He needed to get a grip on his emotions. Talia wasn’t his to claim. And she didn’t even want to be claimed by him. She still resisted leaving the planet with him.

She and the rest of the group. He needed to convince them all to leave for their safety and the continuation of the species. Leaving two females of breeding age, and four Zandian children exposed to danger would be unconscionable.

Chapter Six

Talia woke to the sound of children’s voices. She’d slept with Esylyn and the infant on a soft mattress made of piles of animal furs. She’d attempted to refuse the bed, preferring to sleep outside, under the stars, with Tomis, but their hosts insisted.

In the end, she’d given in, only because she feared she’d beg and plead Tomis to take her again if she slept beside him, and she didn’t want to humiliate herself anymore.

Yes, he’d proven willing to serve her that way, but the more times they bred, the more likely she’d conceive his child and the harder it would be to part from him when the time came.

She heard Tomis’ voice outside, speaking jovially to the children. Stars, it caused her physical pain to hear him. All her life believing she was a human slave, she’d never pictured herself with a family. Humans didn’t get to have families. If they bred, it was surreptitiously, and they were soon parted from their mates or children. Or they were bred by their masters and forced to raise a child of another species. So, she’d never wanted a mate or children. Had believed her life began and died with Thurn.

Now, having glimpsed what a Zandian family might look like, she wanted it with a desperation bordering on insanity.

Of course, it was probably just the crystals and her raging hormones, but knowing that made it no less intense. She wanted a mate. Young.

She wanted Tomis to pierce her with Zandian crystal, swear to protect and keep her forever. And veck if that didn’t make her a pathetic, weak female.