Page 13 of Battle Fluke
“Of touching myself?” Hudson’s cheeks reddened. She didn’t enter her slit, but she did continue to touch the edge with the tip of one finger. “Pleasure is freedom. Isn’t it?”
“It is,” Kyree agreed, swallowing heavily. Her body heated just from watching Hudson move seductively. She could imagine Hudson touching her like that, and fear ran through her, straight into her heart. What was she thinking?
“Kyree…” Honour’s voice was nothing more than a whimper.
Kyree flipped around and raced toward Honour. She checked her over, finding Honour’s eyes still closed, her chest rising and falling in a gentle slumber. Kyree closed her eyes and took deep steadying breaths. She was going to have to figure this out. She was going to have to get control of herself better. She had to stop falling under Hudson’s spell.
“She sleeps well,” Hudson commented, right next to Kyree, a hand on the small of her back. “It’s good for her. The tonic will be ready when the light dawns.”
Kyree nodded. She’d gotten the answer to a question she hadn’t even asked. “You don’t fit in with your tribe.”
Hudson snorted. “No, I don’t. I left them in hopes of starting a revolution.”
“By kidnapping neighboring tribe’s generals?”
“That was a happy coincidence.” Hudson brushed the backs of her fingers along Honour’s cheek. “I never intended to find you.”
“And since you have?”
“I’m not sure what I’ll do with you yet.” Hudson turned her full gaze on Kyree. “But I’m certainly enjoying my time locked away with you.”
Locked away with them? Kyree shook her head. “Will you let us go?”
Hudson’s laugh was slow at first, then it raised up, louder and faster. She shook her head, her golden hair shimmering around her in the fading light of the sun. Her entire body shook with the movement.
“Have you had sex?” Hudson’s eyes were wide, laughter still on her tongue.
“I don’t understand.”
“With our illustrious general. You two seem very close.”
Kyree shook her head, finally giving in and answering Hudson’s initial question. “No, we haven’t. That would be outside the laws of my tribe.”
“Hmm…” Hudson leaned against the wall of the cave, eyeing Kyree over like she was a piece of meat, perhaps the one that Kyree had just eaten. “What the elders don’t know…”
“They always know,” Kyree retorted. “And I have hope of returning to my people one day.”
“Do you, though?” Hudson was back up again, circling behind Kyree as Honour still lay prone on the cave floor. “Because the longer you’re away—”
“I left with permission because of the war.”
“Did that permission include returning?”
Kyree clenched her teeth tightly. It hadn’t. And it further proved that Hudson had spent considerable time with a deep sounding mer for her to understand these nuances.
“That’s what I thought.” Hudson put her hands on Kyree’s hips. But she didn’t move beyond that. She didn’t touch, or slide, or tease.
Kyree wanted her to. Something in the last hour had set her entire body on fire with desire. She hadn’t been wanted by another mer like this in ages. That was the desire she was feeling, the one she was drawn to, nothing more. And she wouldn’t give up her place in her tribe for a fling.
“Do you have someone back home?”
“No,” Kyree admitted. “Which is why it was ideal for me to be the one to leave.”
“So you were alone there, and you’re alone here.”
“I’m not alone,” Kyree quickly replied. “I have Honour.”
“That you do.” Hudson tightened her grasp on Kyree’s hips, her fingers hurting Kyree slightly for a few seconds before she let up. “Don’t let her go.”