Warlord Reunited: 3 (Barbarian Claims) Read online

  Warlord Reunited

  Cynthia Sax

  Book 3 of Barbarian Claims series

  Solar cycles ago, Elle bonded with Berke, the fiercest of all Warlords. He declared their sexually intense bonding a mistake, deposited Elle on a distant planet and returned to Chamele to fight a war. Elle dealt with their separation by creating one of the best bounty-hunter schools in the galaxies.

  Now, two of her top students have made the same mistake she did, bonding with Chamele Warlords. Determined to develop an antidote and save them from the pain she’s experienced, Elle captures her barbarian mate. Tempers flare and passions burn as she thaws the ice around Berke’s heart, revealing a desire too strong to ever be dissolved.

  Because the most savage lust and love is hidden within the coldest of Warlords.

  A Romantica® futuristic erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

  Warlord Reunited

  Cynthia Sax

  Chapter One

  Only Zeta and Gale could induce me to leave my sanctuary and return to this cursed planet. Elle trudged across the barren plains of Chamele 1, her boots crunching on the crystallized snow.

  I told all of my bounty hunters to avoid the Chamele system but did those two listen? No. The winds blasted against Elle’s back, pellets of ice biting into her white, cold-temperature suit.

  Not only did they enter the system but they then compounded their bad decisions by bonding with Berke’s brothers. Warlords who are, I suspect, as arrogant as he is. Elle gritted her teeth and stomped toward the rock outcropping, venting her irritation on the frozen ground.

  I should leave Zeta and Gale to share my fate, their misguided belief in lasting love forcing them to avoid all contact with other males, to spend their life spans isolated, alone, trapped.

  Elle sighed, knowing she couldn’t be that heartless, not when she could cure her friends and spare them that pain. She continued her solitary trek. Each step brought her closer to the hardhearted male she needed for their cure and her anger flowed into bone-deep dread.

  She’d met Berke mere steps away from this location. She’d been a young bounty hunter then and had crashed upon the planet while chasing a fugitive. She had tried to borrow a Chamele ship. Berke had intercepted her. He’d risen from a snowbank as though he’d been part of the land he guarded, rushed toward her with his inhuman speed, disarmed her easily, and pinned her to the unrelenting ground.

  Elle had looked upward, met his dark gaze and awareness had flowed over her body, a sense of home engulfing her. From that instant onward, her heart had belonged to him, would always belong to him. She’d returned with Berke to his underground chambers and they’d spent many planet rotations playing, hunting, kissing, touching. He’d teased her about being a weak human. She’d called him a barbarian.

  One sundown, they’d gone too far physically, sexually bonding, an act Elle had cherished and Berke had regretted. He’d called it a mistake, his cold voice cutting through her soul. After that, the playing had stopped, replaced with increasingly frantic rutting. When Berke had taken her to Dorian 2 and left her there, she’d known he wouldn’t ever return.

  Elle had been right. She’d given her bounty-hunter school students the task of monitoring Dorian 2, solar cycles had passed and Berke hadn’t returned. He must have found a strong, worthy Chamele mate by now, had offspring, loved and been loved. She blinked back tears, feeling foolish for mourning a relationship that wasn’t meant to be.

  He doesn’t care about me. I shouldn’t care about him. Elle tossed her head back defiantly, ice-covered strands of hair rattling against her cold-burned cheeks. I’ll capture him, run my experiments, break the bond, repeat the process for Zeta and Gale, leave Berke and the Chamele system forever.

  She ignored the ache in her heart and scanned her surroundings, searching for danger, a habit ingrained from solar cycles of hunting fugitives. The sun’s rays had dimmed through space and cast a bluish glow over the desolate plains and jagged rock formations, the land as harsh and as humorless as the Warlord who ruled it.

  Don’t think of him, of his hard body, his big hands, his sensual black eyes. Elle turned her back to the outside world, hunched her shoulders against the elements and carefully placed tabs on her gloved fingertips. She reached into the crevice, the break in the rock wall serving as a hidden back door to the Warlord’s private residences.

  There was no sudden jolt that usually came with disrupting a Chamele security system. Elle frowned and peered into the darkness, her eyes adjusting slowly to the lack of light. Tabs already broke the circuit, deactivating the sensors.

  Someone has already infiltrated Berke’s stronghold. Elle’s body tensed, her muscles pulling tight with concern over a male she shouldn’t care about.

  Or he knows I’m coming for him. Elle relaxed. That scenario was more likely. Berke closely monitored landings on his planet. Even during that last visit to Dorian 2, the planet he’d left her on many solar cycles ago, he’d tracked activity on Chamele 1, putting his people’s safety first, before her, before their doomed relationship.

  I no longer have the element of surprise. The challenge excited her. Elle pressed the button in her right cuff and her suit darkened to a concealing black. She slid into the crevice, entering the Warlord’s underground domain. The temperature increased immediately and the ice dangling from her eyelashes melted, the liquid splitting the light from the wall torches into a dizzying range of bright colors.

  She moved along the narrow corridor, sprinting soundlessly from shadow to shadow. Her feet tingled, the feeling returning to her toes. The air grew warmer as she descended into the mining planet. Water dripped along the stone walls and perspiration slid between her breasts, invisible fingers of moisture stroking her skin.

  Elle turned a corner and reeled backward as though she’d been struck. A piercing pain assaulted her brain and the air burned her nostrils. Threat. She searched the space, seeking the source of her agony.

  A tall bare-chested male leaned against the far wall, taking inventory of his weapons. He moved his hands methodically over his daggers and guns, his body covered with an impressive array of weapons.

  The strange male didn’t need a weapon to hurt her. Elle’s stomach heaved and bile rose in her throat, every moment spent away from Berke having reduced her tolerance for another male’s presence.

  Ignore…pain. Elle breathed in, breathed out, breathed in, breathed out, pressing her body into a naturally formed alcove, the rock hard against her back. She examined the guard as she fought for composure, contemplating her next move.

  The male had Berke’s long black hair, tanned skin and dark eyes. Despite the Chamele warrior’s broader, more heavily scarred face, Elle saw his resemblance to the Warlord. He must be one of Berke’s beloved brothers. The pain leveled, allowing her to think, to take action.

  I’ll capture him also. She plucked at her gloves, drawing the fabric higher over her wrists, concealing all of her exposed skin. If I can capture him. The brother’s defined chest, bulging biceps and thick, leg-covering-clad thighs made him a daunting opponent. Elle extracted the gun from her right hip holster, slid the lever to Stun and aimed.

  The brother raised his head, his dark eyes widened in alarm and she pressed the trigger. His face contorted and he fell silently to his knees.

  “Gotcha,” Elle whispered. She holstered her gun and quickly, carefully strapped a leather gag over the brother’s closed mouth, preventing him from yelling for help.

  Her captive jerked backward, his bare shoulder brushed Elle’s cheek and searing pain shot across her face, down her neck, welts bubbling on her skin. Moisture dripped from her nostrils, her head pounding and her knees s
haking.

  Elle bit back a curse. Once one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxies, she had almost been incapacitated by a mere touch.

  “I should kill your brother for that offense alone,” she murmured. Bonding with Berke had ruined any chance she had of enjoying a normal life, her affliction forcing her to resign from active bounty hunting and to sequester herself at the all-female bounty-hunter school.

  The captured warrior’s gaze met hers, his jaw dropped and the gag automatically tightened, strangling any protest he might make.

  “And I should kill you for bonding with my friend, whichever one of my dear friends you have in your grasp.” She pulled his arms back and bound his wrists, the reinforced restraints unbreakable even by a Chamele warrior.

  “But killing you now would hurt either Zeta or Gale, something I’d never do.” She restrained his boot-covered ankles. “I’ll capture Berke and come back for you.” Elle stood back, studied him and nodded curtly, satisfied he wouldn’t be able to free himself.

  “Don’t go anywhere.” She continued along the corridor, glad to be away from Berke’s brother, away from the physical pain he caused her.

  Berke will cause me another type of pain. She steeled herself for that confrontation. I’m stronger, stronger than he thinks.

  As Elle approached his private chambers, she frowned. The alarms around the back entrance had been activated. Did they expect the brother to stop me? She snorted softly as she placed tabs on the sensors. Berke had always underestimated her, his weak human mate.

  Prepare for a nasty surprise, Warlord. Elle pressed her glove against the control panel, the simulated handprint mimicking Berke’s creased palm and scarred fingers.

  The doors slid open and a tantalizing wall of musk hit her, Berke’s scent holding no pain, only pure pleasure. My male. Elle’s pussy moistened and her nipples tightened, the rush of emotion making her head spin.

  No. She pressed her lips together, fighting her arousal. He’s no longer your male, Elle. He’s your target. Focus on your target.

  She slipped inside, searching for a shadow to hide in. There wasn’t any concealing darkness, the space brightly lit, and panic rose within her, swirling with her desire.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” an achingly familiar voice rumbled, Berke’s words reaching deep inside of her, weakening her knees and stripping her pride. “It isn’t safe.”

  He stood in the middle of the chamber, clad in black leather leg coverings and nothing else, his chest bare, his body harder, more muscular than she’d remembered. Berke’s angular face sported new scars, his left eyebrow split in two, his countenance more striking than handsome. He dominated the space, magnificently male and arrogantly unarmed, a cold-blooded predator in his prime.

  “It isn’t safe for you.” Elle aimed her gun at his chest, her fingers trembling, her need for him fierce. She’d missed male companionship. She’d missed him…desperately. “You know why I’m here.” Blood tickled her top lip, the metallic taste seeping into her mouth.

  “You’re bleeding.” Ice clung to Berke’s words, his coolness chilling Elle to the bone. “Who dared to harm you, gerel?” He met her gaze, his black eyes intense and deadly serious, and she suppressed a feminine shiver of delight. That banked passion was for her. He cared that she’d been harmed. “Give me his name and I’ll rip his heart out.” Long, sharp claws extended from his hands.

  “The honor of ripping out your heart is mine, Warlord.” She wiped her sleeve under her nose, dampening the fabric with her blood, fighting the urge to go to him, to touch him, to lose herself in his embrace. “But first, I have a different use for it.”

  “My heart is yours to use.” Berke slowly retracted his claws. “Tell me what I have to do to ensure you leave the Chamele system.”

  He wants me to leave. Elle pushed away her pain and her need, focusing on negotiating, a skill she excelled at. “Until I grant them permission, Khan and Murad are not to abandon Zeta and Gale.” As you abandoned me on Dorian 2.

  “My brothers won’t ever leave your friends’ sides.” The Warlord sighed, his chest rising and falling. “I’ve tried to separate them.”

  He tried to separate them because he believes my human friends aren’t good enough for his brothers. Elle brushed the trigger of her gun with her thumb, irritation sharpening her desire. “Good. I won’t allow them to cause my friends pain.” As you caused me pain. “I’m also taking fluid samples from you and your brothers.”

  Berke’s thin lips flattened. “Cloning is against Chamele law.”

  “I’m not cloning you or your brothers,” Elle retorted, planning on only cloning their scent or skin or heartbeat or whatever it was that soothed their mates’ pain. She circled the Warlord, expelling some of her restless energy, some of her yearnings, some of her need.

  Stars, do I need him. She licked her bottom lip, wishing to bite into Berke’s firm ass cheeks, to run her fingertips down his straight, proud spine, to bury her face in his long black hair.

  He’ll hurt you again. Stick to the plan. Elle dragged her gaze away from Berke’s fit form and scanned the chamber. The space was stark and bare and reassuringly masculine, swords, daggers and guns hanging on the red-rock walls, an animal fur warming the floor. Tablets and communicators had been set on the countertops, at perfect angles, spaced at uniform distances from each other. There were no soft colors or feminine touches, no hints at offspring or another mate.

  He’s alone. Hope flickered to life in Elle’s chest. But he still sees me as weak and unworthy. Berke remained still as she paced, exposing his unguarded back to her, unafraid that she, a mere human, could harm him. She caressed the trigger of her gun, tempted to correct his misperception.

  “What experiments are you carrying out, Ellie?” he rumbled, her Warlord having the eerie ability to read her. “And what are the risks?”

  “There aren’t any risks for you or your brothers.” Only for me. She touched the welts on her cheek, the risk to her life worth the freedom she and her friends could gain.

  “I see.” Berke turned his head, his hair flowing over his shoulders. He studied her for five long heartbeats and Elle held her breath, concerned that he saw too much.

  “You can run your experiments on me first,” Berke declared. “And we’ll discuss your proposal with my brothers.”

  Elle hid her relief behind a curt nod. “I agree to that.” She slipped her gun into her right hip holster. She trusted Berke to keep his word. The Warlord prized honor more than life or love or their relationship.

  “Once that is done, you’ll leave the Chamele system.” He breathed deeply and his nostrils flared. “But before you depart, we’ll rut. I smell your need, gerel. It matches my own.”

  Her face heated. She knew lust had been he had ever felt for her. ‘‘That’s not how I gather fluid samples.” She backed away from him, away from temptation, unwilling to risk her heart again to please her body. “And you have other females to satisfy your needs.”

  “We are bonded.” Berke stalked toward her, maintaining the distance between them. “There aren’t any other females for me. Only you make me hard.” He swept his palm over the ridge in his leg covers, his length and girth daunting. “I need you.”

  “Have you also suffered?” Elle raised her gaze. There was a starkness in his eyes, an aching void she’d never seen before. Their separation had cost him as it had cost her.

  “I have suffered.” He inclined his head. “It has been too long between ruttings.”

  Between ruttings. Elle bristled at the implication that was all he needed her for. “And whose fault is that?” She twisted her lips. Berke’s lust for her wasn’t enough. It had never been enough. “You left me on Dorian 2.”

  “I left you there to protect you.” His jaw jutted. “I was fighting a war.” He raked his fingers through his long black hair, brushing the strands back from his tanned face. “I continue to fight a war. Our enemy Tolui is building a clone army, creating an endless supply of warriors.
You’re not safe, Ellie.”

  Elle snorted softly, expressing her disbelief. “I’ve never been safe.” She unfastened her cold-temperature suit, revealing the circle of scars around her neck. “Not even on your Dorian 2.”

  Berke stared at her and his cheeks paled. Silence stretched between them as long and as cold as a Chamele 1 storm. She waited, wondering if he cared enough to question her about the scars.

  “How?” he finally asked, his voice lowered to a husky whisper.

  “I turned my back on someone I shouldn’t have trusted.” Elle shrugged away her carelessness. That lesson had been learned and would never be forgotten. “He was twice my size but I managed to flip him over and shoot his great green ass,” she declared proudly, relishing that memory. “I was fortunate he hadn’t used the laser wire or he would have decapitated me before I—”

  Berke threw back his head and roared, the animalistic sound chilling Elle to her now-thawed toes. Claws extended from his hands and his muscles flexed. His body shimmered, fluctuating in and out of view. Chameles had the envy-inspiring ability to turn invisible.

  Stars. She gazed at him with awe and wonder and desire, having never seen Berke lose control. This is why he sees me as weak.

  The Warlord rushed forward and flung her over his shoulder, the impact driving the breath from her lungs. Her gun clattered to the stone floor. She pounded his back with her fists and kicked his stomach with her boots, instinctively trying to free herself.

  Berke ignored her struggles and stomped into another chamber, carrying her as though she weighed nothing, his bare feet slapping on the floor. He dropped her onto a huge bed, the silver fabric covering the structure decadently soft. She bounced and sputtered and he covered her with his big body, stilling her flailing arms and legs.

  “Ellie, Ellie, my foolish Ellie,” Berke murmured into her hair. “I failed to protect you. You were supposed to be safe.” He pulled her suit down over her shoulders and dragged his lips along her scars. “If you had died—” His voice broke.