Read Online Broken by Erin M. Leaf - Free Book Online

first roared through her. Dimly,
she sensed Zoen and Jaxt’s minds at the edges of her own, and then their pleasure overrode everything.
    She
shattered into a million pieces with the taste of blood on her tongue.
     

Chapter
Seven
     
    Sky
forced her eyes open. Her body ached—a lot, which was weird because she also
felt great. Strangely energized. Confused, she groaned
softly and rolled over, bumping into Zoen . He didn’t
stir. They’d fallen asleep in a pile next to the dying fire, on the hard floor
of the cave’s mouth.
    Hell,
no wonder my back is all kinked up, she mused wincing against the morning sunlight. There’s nothing quite like
sleeping on the ground with no pallet to really screw up your spine. She stood
and stretched, working out the kinks in her spine. Her foot bumped the blade Zoen had shoved into the ground, and she flushed,
remembering what she’d let them do to her last night. Tentatively, she reached
up and touched the twin bite marks on either side of her neck. They didn’t hurt
as much as she’d expected.
    “You
are now blood-kin,” Jaxt said, startling her.
    She
whirled around. He lay on the ground naked and unselfconscious. The mass of
scarring of his right thigh wasn’t nearly as bad as it should be. That
disturbed her for some reason. Along his chest, his three small golden gems
winked at her from his skin. Zoen had the same kind
of gems embedded in his skin; she remembered seeing them last night. She forced
her eyes away from his impressive musculature and frowned. “Blood-kin?” she
asked, a trickle of unease tickling at her throat.
    “You
took our blood into your body, as we took yours.” Zoen’s voice was rough.
    She
glanced at the other Xyran . “I thought you were still
asleep.”
    Instead
of answering, he pulled out his golden knife. “This is yours now,” he said,
holding it out to her.
    She
shook her head and slowly backed away, feeling more naked now than she had last
night with her legs open. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’re
mistaken.” Just as she was about to march off to the water chamber, Jaxt spoke again.
    “You
belong to us, now.”
    She
froze as her heart flipped painfully in her chest. The sound of his words
traced across her skin, as if her body were more aware of him, now. Which was crazy.
    “She
does not understand,” Zoen murmured.
    She
stomped back over to them. “Explain exactly what you mean,” she demanded.
    Zoen stood up gracefully. “When you agreed to share blood, you became our blood-kin,
our mate. You are bound to us for all time now, as we are to you.”
    Sky
clenched her fists. Bound? For all time? Oh, no fucking way!
    “Our
lives are connected. When you die, so shall we. When you are injured—” With
those words, Jaxt paused and lightly touched his
thigh. “We will feel your pain.”
    “No,”
Sky said, her voice shaking. “I didn’t agree to that.”
    “You
let us both into your body at the same time. You shared our blood,” Zoen said calmly. “There is no undoing it.”
    “No,
fucking way,” Sky replied, biting off each word with precision. She was not calm. “I will not be bound. “
    Jaxt frowned, getting to his feet, too. “No male Xyran has
taken a woman to be his mate, his blood-kin, in a thousand, thousand years.” He
slashed his hand through the air angrily. “And you deny us?”
    “You
misunderstand, Sky. We are bound to you, just as much as you are bound to us,” Zoen said, but Sky had had enough.
    “Get
your things together. You are out of here, today,” she retorted, spinning
around and walking to the back of the cave. She stopped near her weapons and
looked down at them. She wanted something that would make her feel better, so
she grabbed her axe and ran her fingers down the handle. It was familiar. Safe.
    “We
need a power cell. The ship Zoen came in has none
left that are functional,” Jaxt said, his voice taut with frustration.
    Sky
turned. Both aliens stood at the entrance of