The Golden Line (Knotted 1)
She was going to die horribly.
And so continued her slow march, one where not even Uriel touched her to drag her onward. Heart thudding behind her ribs, her cadence wavered, and she was unsure if she could walk farther… but it was already too late.
Morgaine’s eyes never left the ground, but she knew those foreign Alphas were just ahead. She could smell their sweat, the soft aroma of leath
er, hear their grumbled murmurs.
Gruff, the commandant broke the lingering silence. “You are aware that this Omega is flawed? Your men briefed you on her shortcomings?”
Translation began at once, flowing, familiar speech turning guttural.
The beast replied, his voice a rasp of grit and dirt.
Moments later, the translator shared the menacing male’s words. Words that were only for her. “I have brought you a gift, gentle girl. Will you not look at me so I might give it to you?”
Her lip was shaking, so she sucked it into her mouth and bit down. Nails sharp against her palms, the pain familiar, Morgaine made herself obey. Inch by inch her chin went up, eyes following until she saw what was held out before her.
It was a mangy fur still in the shape of whatever brown animal it had been torn from, large enough to dwarf her if unraveled fully, and ugly as sin.
“I…”
The brute came toward her, Uriel pressing his hands to her spine to prevent her immediate retreat. With a swish, the skin was draped over her shoulders, covering her near nudity and offering warmth.
He spoke again, translation offered immediately. “I didn’t have anything finer prepared, but I could not have you cold and uncovered to be gawked at by these cowards.”
It was an odd gesture considering the Alphas she knew. They had never once cared if she was cold in their swath of fabric, and they certainly didn’t want her body covered from sight. Calling them cowards, though, seemed like an unwise choice.
The monstrous male began purring loudly, his hands coming to rest on her shoulders. There he kneaded tense muscle, putting his nose to her hair for a deep sniff.
Under the influence of that noise, of his nearness, her knees almost gave out. Instead they knocked together, and she drew in a shuddering breath.
She’d yet to look up to his face, eyes trained on a long scar across his chest, mouth dry, and fingers clutching at the draping fur as if it might shield her, Morgaine endured.
The careful fingers at her shoulders closed tighter, pulling her toward that naked, scarred chest as the male spoke to those who brought her. “This female is ripe.”
The commandant answered, short and cold. “She’s nearing her first estrous. Do not account for her age. As I said, she is flawed.”
Purr increasing in volume, his words soft despite the rasp and ugliness of his language, the foreigner spoke and the translator supplied, “If you use that word again to describe my kor’yr, I will rip out your throat, castrate your children, and see that your mate is defiled.”
She breathed out, tried to pull away, but her resistance went unheeded. He cupped the back of her head, pressing her cheek to his heart, just as his other arm clamped around her waist.
Locked tight to a stranger’s body, wrapped in the coarse skin of an unknown animal, frightened, Morgaine whimpered.
The fingers at her skull drew soft circles even as he held her tighter.
Purr intensifying, engulfing and abundant, it drowned out all else. She could feel it in each cell and hear it in a way that was too intimate to ignore. His offering was in her and around her, just as an enticing scent filled her lungs with each breath.
They had doused him in something that smelled appealing, a lie to cover his brutality. But like the purr, it did its work. Muscles loosened, her heart rate normalized, and Morgaine closed her eyes to it all.
“That’s it, princess. Fear does not suit you.” Warm fingers began to burrow deeper against her scalp, working their way down her neck and back up again until she let out an easy breath. “Come, I will show you what it means to be the kor’yr of Heidron Simin Gralloch.”
Chapter 13
The transport ship shook under their feet, Morgaine gawking at the view from the porthole. Outside that window a whole planet glowed, hundreds of other ships hovering above the atmosphere around it.
Her home world, there, so close all along.
It looked so big and so small, the swirled green-blue mass indescribable. Beauty like that was enough to keep her head turned away from the frightening male who held her close, twisting the length of her golden hair in his fist like a leash.