Claimed by the Warrior (3 page)

“I’m here for you. You shouldn’t have come here alone. Unmated females cannot travel to the mountain regions without an escort.” At his words every warrior grew silent until she could hear blood rushing in her ears.

That couldn’t be good.

Two males that looked as if they were brothers stepped forward in her direction, but almost immediately two more tried to move past them. Then someone took a swing at someone until it was an all-out brawl.

Brandt and Aeron moved in front of her, backing up until all she could hear were shouts and the thud of flesh against flesh. She winced at the cries of pain she heard, but no way was she going to try to move from her spot.

“Everyone out!” a male voice roared.

Just like that, the fighting noises stopped. She peeked out from behind Aeron to find some males bleeding on the ground, others on top of them, all in fighting positions. It was pure insanity.

To her surprise everyone, including Brandt, filed out like a cohesive unit. Whoever this male was, he clearly commanded respect. Or at least fear. Aeron immediately holstered both his weapons. If he was doing that, he must trust whoever… Her eyes widened as she took in the male.

He wore simple black trousers, dark boots—and no tunic. His chest was broad and muscular. Though that seemed too tame a description. It was as if he’d been carved right out of the mountain itself. His breathing was slightly labored, his chest rising and falling more rapidly than was normal. The movement drew her gaze downward even as she tried to tell herself not to stare at the sexy stranger. He was covered in nicks and scars, too many to count. For some reason, all those scars added to his appeal. His skin wasn’t as bronzed as hers, but his closely shorn hair was a midnight black. Everything about him was rough and raw and as she met his bright blue gaze she felt the connection like a punch to her solar plexus. His cheekbones were just as carved as the rest of him, the sharp angles giving him a deadly edge she doubted he needed.

Taking her completely off guard, heat pooled between her legs as their gazes locked. She’d never reacted to a male like this. Ever. She swallowed hard and tried to force her throat to work. She needed to say something, not just stare.

“Do not be afraid.” He held up his palms. “I’m Conlaoch—Con. We’ve been communicating about the project.”

Afraid? Oh, thank the goddess he read her emotions wrong. She cleared her throat and stepped out from behind Aeron, who was watching her with concern. “I’m not afraid, just confused about what’s going on.”

“Has anyone harmed you?” her friend demanded.

“No. I’ve just been answering questions about human females since none of them have ever seen any. The Q and A has been harmless.” She stole another glance at Con, the male she’d been emailing with the past moon cycle. She’d had no idea he looked like
that
. He still watched her, his face like stone. Not unfriendly, but unreadable. It knocked her off kilter.

“We need to leave right now,” Aeron murmured, drawing her attention back to him.

Before she could respond, Daan and Brandt strode back in, their expressions a mirror of determination. “We declare you enact the Ducereco law.”

Aeron cursed as Con scrubbed a hand over his face. “Get out, now.”

Brandt’s jaw tightened mutinously. “No. You know the law.”

“Now is not the time for that. She’s a guest—and human—and we will treat her as such.” There was a deadly edge to Con’s voice. The deep quality of it sent a shiver of awareness down her spine and to other places.

“What does Ducereco mean?” she asked Aeron since the other males were having a staring contest.

Something flickered in his eyes. “Unmated females don’t travel to this region or the other mountain regions for a reason. Their laws are…slightly different.”

All her muscles pulled taut as she picked up on her friend’s stress. This couldn’t be good. “Different how?”

“Basically, if I’d gotten you out before they’d declared Ducereco, you would have been fine, but now you must remain here for one moon cycle. The males will use that moon cycle to convince you to mate with two of them.” His expression was as grim as his voice.

She raised her eyebrows. “Excuse me?” A moon cycle was roughly thirty days. “I’m going home after my presentation this evening and no one is stopping me.” She turned to glare at both Daan and Brandt.

Neither backed down, but stood there with their arms crossed over their chest. Con simply watched her with a neutral expression. He shook his head. “You cannot leave. It is the law.”

Knowing she’d have only one chance at this, she moved lightning fast, ripping Aeron’s pulse gun from his belt. She held it up, waving it at them as they stared at her in shock. She actually had no clue how to work the weapon, or even if it
would
work for her. Now that she thought about it, she was certain these things had to be programmed by DNA or fingerprint or…something. Damn it. Maybe not though, because the males stood there staring at her as if she’d grown a tail. Aeron just grinned at the other three males and thankfully didn’t attempt to stop her.

“If you think you’re going to kidnap and…assault me, you’re out of your mind! You can’t keep me here.” She wouldn’t just give up without a fight.

“Assault you?” Daan had the gall to sound insulted after he’d just made it clear he had no problem keeping her hostage.

Now Aeron stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the other males. She tilted the weapon away from him. “No one will harm you in that way if that’s what you mean. They have one moon cycle to court you, which generally means they bring you gifts and act like barbaric children trying to win your affection. No one will touch you against your will.” When he reached for the gun, she let him take it.

She wrapped her arms around herself. “They can’t just keep me here,” she whispered, though in her gut she knew she couldn’t fight this. The laws on Lumineta were so strange sometimes, and she’d learned some were unbreakable. And if even Aeron wasn’t able to change things, then she had no choice but to stay.

Aeron’s dark look confirmed her fear. “I’m sorry, Leilani. I tried to get here before it happened. I called Con and he came as quick as he could as well. He assumed you were coming with a mate or had a mate or he would have arrived sooner.”

Fury ballooned inside her as she digested what was happening. She sidestepped Aeron to look fully at the three males. “You’re all barbaric!”

They all nodded in agreement, as if what she’d said was completely true. As if they didn’t care that they were complete barbarians. Which just pissed her off even more. “Fine. If I have to stay for a moon cycle…” She grabbed her carrycase and pulled out the presentation cube she’d planned to show Con with all the updates for the most recent renovations. There were copies on her office drive, but she wasn’t going to give it to them. She dropped the shiny cube to the floor and stomped on it. With her sandals and apparent lack of force, it didn’t do much damage so she looked at Aeron.

Shrugging, he slammed a booted foot down on it until it cracked, then crumbled into pieces.

Feeling a little better, she pinned her gaze on Con. He was the leader, he should be able to make them let her leave. Since he wasn’t helping her, she wasn’t going to help him at all. “That contained the updates you requested for the project. I think you should prepare for a delay of one moon cycle.”

Next to her Aeron smothered a laugh as Con stared at her in horror.

“You cannot do that.” His speech was as formal as many of the warriors she’d met.

Normally she found their speech patterns adorable. Now, not so much. “Pretty sure I just did.”

His eyes widened.

“I knew human females were not rational,” Daan muttered.

Leilani’s gaze snapped to his. “Maybe we’re not, but just fyi, whatever you planned to do to court me, don’t bother. I wouldn’t mate with you or your brother in a million solar cycles. And I’m going to make sure all my human female friends know
you
think we’re irrational and stupid. I’ll make sure your name is synonymous with herpes.” Belatedly she realized they wouldn’t know what that was because they didn’t have many diseases here, but her point was clear enough. “You will never mate with a human!” Okay, was she being a bitch? Yes. Did she feel bad? No. If these maniacs thought they could keep her captive for a moon cycle like she was some caged animal, she was going to make them want to send her home a lot sooner.

Daan’s face paled and a twinge of guilt wormed its way into her conscience. “You will tell all human females I’m undesirable?”

It wasn’t like she knew
all
humans females here, though she knew all the ones from her transport. It was on the tip of her tongue to say yes, but he looked so forlorn she found that maybe she wasn’t as bitchy as she thought. She sighed. “No. But don’t bother trying to court me. You’ll be wasting your time.” That was at least the truth.

He looked almost hurt by that, which was ridiculous. It was his and Brandt’s fault that she was being held captive for a moon cycle. How was that even going to work? Her head hurt thinking about it. She turned to Aeron. “Can you make them leave so we can talk?”

Before he could respond, Con pointed at the door. The two males looked as if they wanted to protest, but they left. She’d expected Con to leave as well, but he stepped closer to her and Aeron. When he did, a subtle masculine scent teased her nose. It did strange things to her insides. Though she was certain it wasn’t just the way he smelled, but the whole package. Seriously, how was it possible that this huge, sexy male even existed? He had to be mated. Not that it mattered. She wanted nothing to do with any of these crazy warriors.

“I am sorry that our first meeting was like this. And I apologize for my lateness. We had an issue at one of the construction sites, but I came as soon as Aeron contacted me.” Now he actually looked apologetic. “I have enjoyed our email interactions and while I know this is not your wish, I will make sure you are comfortable during your stay here. My brother and I have an extra room and we will make sure you are protected—though none of my males would ever try to harm you.”

The civility of his tone and his earnest manner chiseled away at her resolve. Now she felt bad about smashing the presentation cube—until he continued.

“But I must insist that you send me the updated files. I know you have access to all your files and I will not tolerate a delay.”

Aeron cleared his throat as Leilani blinked at Con in surprise. Oooookay, so her guilt dissipated. “You will not tolerate a delay?”

He nodded once, a small smile tugging at his oh-so-kissable mouth. His bottom lip was full and made her want to nibble on it—which was ridiculous. “Correct.”

“Well, I will not tolerate being held hostage.”

His brow furrowed. “It is the law. I cannot break it.”

She lifted a shoulder and was surprised when his gaze strayed there, following the action. A flash of barely concealed hunger sparked inside her before annoyance replaced it. “Until you find a way to send me home, then you’re out of luck.”

He shook his head once. His dark hair was trimmed close to his head. She wondered if it would be soft if she skimmed her fingers over it. “This is not rational. If there is a delay, it also delays the payment to your firm.”

“I’m on salary.”

He watched her for a long moment, his expression dark. It was as if he thought he could will her into doing his bidding. She arched an eyebrow, which seemed to infuriate him.

Con looked at Aeron, who shrugged. “If your males want to mate with a human female, get used to losing arguments.
Often.
I do not blame her, and you better keep her safe and happy.” The words “or else” hung in the air as the two men stared hard at each other.

Finally Con gave one sharp nod. “You have my word. No harm will come to her. I will die before I allow that to happen. And I will see if I can find a loophole to return her home earlier as she was not aware of our law.”

Leilani almost let out a sigh of relief, but kept her reaction to herself. “Will your mate mind me staying in your home?” Because she did feel a little bad about that. It wasn’t his mate’s fault that because of a stupid law she’d be forced to let an unknown human female reside in her home for an entire moon cycle.

Con didn’t look at her, just pulled out his communicator as he said, “My brother and I have no mate. Females are too much trouble,” he muttered, before turning away from her and placing a call.

She stared after him helplessly. She’d assumed he’d been mated since he’d made the offer to house her. Now she had more to worry about—like being stuck under the roof with tall, dark and surly. It wasn’t like she’d asked to be kidnapped. Stupid tears stung her eyes but she blinked them away. She absolutely wouldn’t break down until she was alone.

Chapter 3

“Quit glaring,” Cyn muttered as he grabbed a water container from their cooler. He shoved one at Con.

Con glanced at the silent hallway entrance. Leilani hadn’t come out of her room since he and his brother had been home. He wasn’t certain if she’d been out of it today, but he had the strangest urge to see her. It was simply because she was beautiful, but that meant nothing. He’d seen more beautiful women. He was certain of it—he just couldn’t remember where.

He’d heard about the beauty of human females but he hadn’t been interested because of how frail they were supposed to be. Meeting Leilani had changed his perception more than he wanted to admit. But…it was more than that. The way she’d taken Aeron’s pulse gun and waved it at them had stunned him. All of them. And though he wouldn’t admit it, he’d been aroused by her show of temper.