Page 84 of Sold to the Nalgar
His breath slowed. Rage coiled in his chest, cold, sharp, and ready to cut. Beside him, Cecilia shifted, as if she could feel the weight of his anger. The silence that came before slaughter. She turned her face toward him, red-brown eyes searching.
He didn’t give her time to speak.
“Let’s move,” he said, his voice like gravel grinding steel.
They descended the jagged path that wound down toward the outskirts. Below, dark figures clashed in the ruins—men clad in blood-red armor. Vuvak’s colors. Clan Kovak. The upstart bastard had dared to strike at his heart.
Zarokh’s teeth bared, more animal than man.
Howdarethey? How dare Vuvak stain his city, his rule, with fire and blood? And Velkar—snake that he was—had given them the opening.
Ships roared overhead, shadows slicing through smoke. A firefight broke out near the central square. He could hear the crack of energy rifles, the clash of metal on metal, the guttural roars of death.
He needed strength. He needed blood.
The thought tore through him, clear and undeniable. He turned to her. Cecilia froze under the feral glint of his eyes.
“Stay by my side,” he said, low and hard. The translator in his palm echoed his words in her language. “At all costs.”
Confusion flickered across her face. Then, fear, as he sank to one knee before her. His massive form bowed, an unnatural, almost violent gesture of submission.
“I need your blood,” he rasped. “Give me strength, so I can take back what is mine. Otherwise, we will both fall.”
She took a step back. “What?” The single word cracked with disbelief.
He raised his head, black eyes burning. “Cecilia. If I do not take it, I cannot fight them. Velkar. Vuvak. All of them will burn what is mine—and you with it. Your blood will make me stronger. It always does. Understand. This place is mine. The people, the buildings, the war-machines, the riches.Allof it. And so are you. Now, I will do what I’ve always done: defend what is mine. I won’t allow them to steal it. But I need your help. I needyou.”
She swallowed, her body rigid, her fear tangible.
“Do not fear,” he said, softer now, but no less intense. “I will protect you. I will tear them apart. I will make them choke on their betrayal.” He rose, towering, dangerous, and desperate all at once.
His hand brushed her arm, light but insistent. “Stay. With. Me.”
For a heartbeat, silence pressed between them, broken only by the distant thunder of explosions. Somewhere in the chaos below, men still loyal to him fought like cornereddarharin. He could feel them, sense their loyalty burning under the wreckage.
“They are not gone,” he said, more to himself than her. “I will rally them. I will take back what is mine. And when I do…” His voice cut off, the words curling into a snarl. “Vuvak will bleed.”
CHAPTER 42
Cecilia’s pulse hammered as Zarokh’s words sank into her skin.Give me your blood.
She stared at him, the smoke-stained sky bleeding red over his massive frame. He looked like a beast pulled taut on the edge of a chain, his muscles trembling, his breathing harsh. His black eyes burned, bottomless pools with veins of crimson running through them.
She knew he wasn’t asking.
He wasbegging.
Her wrist trembled as she lifted it, her throat dry. “Do it,” she whispered.
Zarokh didn’t hesitate.
He caught her hand, his grip like iron and fire, and brought her wrist to his mouth. His fangs sank into her pulse point with a low, guttural growl.
The pain was sharp, blinding, but it wasn’t pain for long. A familiar heat flooded her veins, a liquid pulse of lightning and pleasure. His mouth was hot,hungry, his tongue tracing her skin as he drank with a strange, savage reverence. Fury and sensuality, war and intimacy tangled together. She gasped,her knees buckling. His other arm wrapped around her waist, holding her steady as he fed like a storm unleashed.
Her eyes locked on his face. His red gaze blazed as if it could burn through her, wild and unrestrained. His lips, slick with her blood, curved into something feral and beautiful.
God. She was obsessed.
