Free The Warlord's Concubine by J.E. Keep, M. Keep

relaxed. “Retreat
might be the only option. To leave behind the city and its spoils.”
    She rubbed him so gently as she thought that over, her head
shaking in protest, “This is yours. The city and its spoils
belong to you, and I won’t let you lose that. I may have failed
with the Princess, but I will not fail in this. There is a way,”
she nuzzled his jaw. “We will think of something.”
    Her bold words surprised him, and he furrowed his brows again as
he looked to her, studying her as if she were a new person
altogether.
    It was a long silence of his studied gaze, only broken when he
lifted his hand, stroking his fingertips along her stomach, then
breast. He pressed his palm to her darkened areola and squeezed, the
tender, swollen mound aching with the pain of it before he released.
“You’re pregnant,” he said simply.
    “Yes,” she responded in the same, clipped tone, but
her smile was undeniable. Her fingers ran along his jaw, teasing him
before returning to tend to the muscles in his neck and shoulders.
“And I will give birth in the same place I conceived. This is
your domain, now, Your Greatness. We will fight for you,” she
paused, licking her lips. “One of the others,” she said,
obviously referring to the concubines, for whom else was there, for
her? “They mentioned they have certain powers you can best take
advantage of. Would you grace me with their battle knowledge?”
    She had seen nobody but the other concubines and him for so long,
there was no mistaking who she meant. The suggestion made him arch
his brow and look on at her in surprise again. She was full of
intrigue.
    Licking along his own full lips, he squeezed her against his hard
body. “The women of the Ka’reem are forbidden to fight.
It has been so for time immemorial,” he stated this plainly,
“until I came along.” But she could tell on his voice
there was something else. Something he wasn’t saying but seemed
to beg to be pried out of him.
    Her lips found his neck, and her breath washed over his throat
before she kissed him, the light sensation so tender and doting.
“But?” she whispered, her smooth skin rubbing along his
as she nuzzled his ear with her nose. Her fingers still worked
against him and she was a constant source of pleasure with the way
her expert ministrations worked him.
    With a husky groan he squeezed his thick bicep about her, mashing
those heavy, engorged breasts to his pecs. Biting her ear, he ground
his arousal against her, stroking a hand along her full hip as he
muttered lowly. “You are a vexing woman, Mirella. A dangerous
plaything,” he remarked with every bit of complement his voice
could hold.
    “It is a secret. Even amongst the Ka’reem themselves.”
He hesitated, his breathing heavy, “It is why the men fear
their women without even knowing why.”
    A brief huff of air passed his flesh, a half-hearted laugh with a
quirked grin, “I thought it was just because they were tough.”
Her hands kept finding all those right places, playing him so
expertly even in this new situation. Her tongue traced along his
Adam’s apple, suctioning around it for a second before she
pulled back, her green eyes on his.
    “I am yours, Your Greatness. In all things. Let me help you
and share your burdens,” she pleaded, so genuinely.
    It was no easy decision. That much was obvious watching his
smooth, unblemished face contort in thought over the question.
Sliding a hand over her stomach, he pressed in against it, feeling
the slight bit of hardness beneath her soft, smooth skin, as if
feeling evidence of her pregnant state confirmed something for him he
needed to know.
    With a stern nod he said, “You’ll meet the seer.
She’ll judge you. Perhaps teach you,” he remarked. Then
added softer, “I hope she finds you worthy, as I have.”
    She felt so tender at his touch, but his words drove her to a
place she’d never known existed within herself. She fought back
the signs of her weakness, but that