by Dixon, Ruby
It’ll be wonderful for both of us, and I’m willing to put up with a little snow and a terrible day’s walk there to do it.
But my stubborn mate shakes his head. “It is too dangerous.”
I’m not deterred by his refusal. “Is it really? You and the other hunters go out in the brutal season when the weather is decent. It can be done, but it’s just unpleasant, right? I can live with a little unpleasant.”
Aehako traces his fingers over my belly. “It is also far, far colder—”
“Then we bundle up.”
“The weather might blow up and catch us by surprise—”
“Then we bring extra supplies and stick close to the hunter caves. If it takes us three days to get there because we have to keep pausing at hunter caves, I’m fine with that, too.”
He gets to his feet and gazes down at me, his face so full of frustration. He smooths my hair back from my face, troubled. “It is a lot of walking and you are carrying my kit.”
“I don’t mind walking—”
A thoughtful look crosses his face. “Though we could make a sled.”
“To carry our stuff?” I ask eagerly.
“For you to ride on.”
“Oh.” It’s not my ideal situation—I’d much rather walk—but he’s the expert. If he says it’s too nasty in the brutal season for me to walk to the main cave, then it’s too nasty. It doesn’t matter. I’ll ride in a sled if it means we get a chance to visit the healer and just take a break from things. “We can do all of that,” I tell him. “If we have a sled, we can pack it cram-full of extra supplies so we know we’re totally prepared for anything that comes up.”
Aehako still looks doubtful. “I will need a few days to prepare everything. And we must wait for good weather.”
“I’m fine with both,” I say, grabbing his hands. “This will be wonderful.”
He squeezes my hands. “Are you sure you wish to do this, my mate? It might be best for you to stay here, curled up by the fire. I do not want you to push yourself just for me.” His gaze is a mixture of worry and relief both.
“It’s not just for you,” I reassure him. “It’s for me, too.” And for the rest of the cave, because I’m pretty sure Aehako will snap before the brutal season is over. “As long as we go in totally prepared and take our time, I’m not worried about anything. You know this land. You know the paths, snow-covered or not. I trust you.”
Aehako smiles at me, and then drops to his knees to press another kiss to my belly. “Then it looks like we will be taking a journey. I will let the others know.”
I beam at him. I hope this is enough to take his mind off of all the stresses. Right now, my poor love is driving everyone crazy with his good intentions. And if this doesn’t help…we’ll figure something else out.
10
AEHAKO
For the next several days, I barely sleep. My mind is too full of preparations. I must ensure that everything is perfect and that we are ready when we finally step out into the brutal season snows. I will not risk my mate in the slightest.
So I work. I build a sled out of sa-kohtsk bones and thick hide, and some of the other males, bored with their confinement in the caves as the snow and wind roar outside, assist me. Eventually it is big and sturdy enough that it will glide over the snow with ease, and has plenty of room for my delicate mate, her growing belly, and the mountain of supplies we are going to take with us to ensure that we are prepared for any and all situations. I strap extra bone runners and leather to the sled, just in case it breaks. I pack bags of trail rations, even though there are caches scattered throughout these valleys and I am familiar with all of them. I prepare additional waterskins. Tea. Medicinal roots for my mate’s belly in case she wakes up ill. Extra clothing. Extra boots. Extra furs. Blankets. Tools. Knives. Spears.
Kemli’s mate Borran takes one look at the growing pile atop the sled and laughs until his entire body shakes. I do not care. I will be prepared for every situation.
My Kira says nothing about my enthusiastic packing. She just smiles at me and rubs a hand over her small belly, a sweet expression on her face.
It takes me two handfuls of days before I feel we are ready to go. I can think of nothing else to add to the sled, now bulging with its contents. I head out into the driving snow and practice pulling it, re-balancing things to ensure that the sled will not tip with my precious mate sitting atop it.
And then, finally, a day comes when the skies dawn clear and snow is not angrily flooding from the skies.
It is time to begin our journey.
“Today?” my Kira asks as she wakes up.
“Today,” I agree, and my belly is filled with dread and determination both. More than anything, I want to take my Kira to see the healer, to reassure us that all is well…but I hope this is not foolish. I hope this is not a mistake. I frown, thinking of the bags I have packed. “Perhaps I should get one more pouch of trail rations before we go.”
“How many do you have?” Kira asks, yawning as she crawls from the furs and begins to straighten things.
I think for a moment. “Eight.”
She sputters, turning to look at me with wide eyes. “We can eat off of just one bag for a week. Eight seems excessive.”
“I want to be prepared,” I tell her with a grin, and decide to quietly add one more bag. Just in case. “Now, come. I have extra furs for you to wear while we travel.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes.” I cup her cheek and smile down at her skeptical little face. “I will take good care of you, never fear.”
“Oh boy. Should I put my boots on?”
“I have boots for you.”
“Oh boy,” she says again. But Kira puts her hand in mine and lets me lead her out of the cave.
I have our sled and supplies waiting at the entrance to the cave, so I begin bundling my mate after she says a quick goodbye to the tribe, most of whom are watching us prepare to leave. I layer one set of leathers on my mate, and then another, and another, belting them to keep the clothing tight against her body so no wind can cut through and chill her. After a few more layers, someone snickers quietly nearby.
I study my mate, and then add another heavy fur vest, one of mine that hangs to her knees on her and nearly wraps around her twice. I belt it tight and then start to add another layer, just in case.
Kira sputters. “Aehako, how many layers do I need?”
“All of them,” I tell her cheerfully.
She giggles and when I pick up a cloak, she touches my hand. “Enough, love. I can barely walk in this.”
“You do not need to walk at all. You are going to be on a sled.”
She shakes her head, bouncing her arms against her well-padded sides. “I look like a snowman.”
I have seen the rounded figures the humans sometimes make out of snow at the cave entrance and…she is not wrong. It is adorable, though. I lean in and give her small nose a kiss on the tip. “I bundle you because you will be sitting instead of walking. Trust me when I say you will be cold enough to be grateful for all these layers.”
Kira gives me a skeptical look, but nods. “All right, then. You’re the expert.”
I get her seated on the packed sled, then pile furs atop her and swaddle her like a kit, until she’s laughing at my protectiveness. Perhaps I am overdoing it a little, but I do not care. She is more than precious to me, my mate, and I do not mind looking foolish if it saves her a moment of discomfort. When I am convinced she will be warm enough, I toss on my own wraps and loop the strap for the sled around my waist, harnessing it to my body. Even if I should drop the leather ropes, she will not slide away from me.
With a cheerful wave goodbye, I haul the sled out into the cold. The day is mostly clear, a thick cloud-cover hiding the suns from sight and keeping the temperature icy. The wind is high, biting at my exposed skin, so I tug a wrap higher around my nose and make sure that Kira’s covers most of her face, and then set off.
We set a good pace, th
e snow thick on the ground, and I choose a path that will stay close to the cliffs but will not entail dragging the sled up the steep slopes of the nearby rocky surfaces. The farther we get away from the South Cave, the more concerned I am that it is perhaps far too cold for Kira. Her human skin cannot take the cold like mine can. She is sitting, which is bound to make her colder, and the clouds look as if they are growing thicker by the moment.
A short time later, I spot the trail to a hunter cave. I immediately head in that direction, moving toward it. The privacy screen is up to protect the cave’s contents, but no one is inside. I pause, considering the skies once more, and then turn to my mate.
“We are stopping here for the day,” I announce, unstrapping myself from the sled.
Kira pulls off the thick fur covering the lower half of her face like a mask and gives me an odd look. “We haven’t gone very far, have we? It’s not even been a few hours.”
“I will not chance getting caught in a snowstorm with you and our kit,” I tell her, moving to her side and taking her hands to help her to her feet. “You said you did not care if this took many, many days, right?”
Her mouth quirks in a hint of a smile, but she nods at me. “I did say that.”
I help my mate waddle into the cave (perhaps I did wrap a few too many layers of furs around her) and start a fire so she can warm herself while I unpack. As if the skies have decided to agree with me, large flakes of snow ride the wind, and the day grows dark despite that it is mid-day.
“You see?” I tell Kira as I haul our packs inside. “Your mate is always right.”
“I’m gonna ignore that,” she teases, holding her pink hands toward the fire to warm them. “Do you need help?”
“If you go near the front of that cave, I will spank you like a naughty kit,” I promise her. “Sit and warm up.”
I work on unpacking the sled that I just packed not too long ago, and by the time I am done, the snow is easing up. I wait for Kira to point this out, but she says nothing, feeding bits of fuel to the fire and setting up a tripod and pouch so we can make tea. She has stripped most of her extra layers off and created a nest of furs in the back of the cave, and when I put the privacy screen over the entrance to block the wind, she straightens and smiles at me.
“All done?” she asks, a smile on her face.
I nod, taking the food satchel out of her hands. “I know you think I am overprotective, but I would rather be cautious than caught out in the cold with you and the kit.”
“Did I say anything?”
“I could hear you thinking it,” I tease her. “You think very loudly.”
“Not loudly enough, it seems,” Kira says, moving to my side. She unties the belt holding my clothing to my body, letting it slide to the ground. She pulls at my clothing, peeling one layer off and then another. “I was just thinking that there’s nothing wrong with us taking our time. Spending a little quiet time together, just you and me. I think you could use a vacation.”
“A vay-cay-shun?”
She nods. “It’s where humans take a little trip to get away from their worries.”
“You think I have worries?”
She tugs on another thick layer of furs over my chest, smiling up at me as she leans close. “Or maybe you just need to get away for a little bit.” She lets the fur slide to the ground and then I am in nothing but a vest and my leggings. Kira moves behind me, her hand sliding across my backside.
“Are you seducing me?” I ask her. “Should I expect a courting gift?”
“No courting gift. But…would it be so bad if I was seducing you? Should I stop?” She presses her cheek to my arm and hugs me from behind, her hands on my stomach. “Is it so bad if I like touching my mate?”
“It is not bad at all.” My breath quickens, and the press of her smaller body against mine makes me hungry for more. I ache to touch her, to fling her down onto the furs and just rut into her welcoming body…but she is carrying my kit. We must be careful. “Are you tired?” I ask instead. “Should you lie down and rest?”
“Rest? From sitting in a sled all morning?” She lets out a derisive little snort and one of her hands slides to my cock. “I’m feeling pretty good, actually.” Her fingers graze up and down the front of my leathers. “It seems you feel pretty good, too.”
I groan at her feather-light touch. Just that small caress is enough for my cock to harden, and I pull my mate tighter against me. I tilt my head back, giving my body over to her touch. “It is because I have the finest mate in both caves,” I tell her. “Just knowing that she is mine makes me impossibly hard.”
“It’s a wonder you’re not hard all day,” she teases, rubbing her mouth against my bare arm and then biting me lightly. “Just wandering around the hills of snow, your dick standing up for all the world to see.”
“How do you know I do not?” I tease back, because I like her silly mood. “How do you know I do not stop every few feet and just stroke my fine cock while I think about my mate?”
She chuckles, coming out from behind me. “Because every time you come back to the cave, you’re so excited to see me. If you’d been playing with your cock all day long, you wouldn’t be able to last for nearly as long as you do.” Her cheeks flush with a hint of color. Even after many turns of the moon as mates, my Kira still gets shy when she says bold things, as if she expects to be rebuffed.
Impossible. I will never rebuff her, especially not when she is eager for my touch. It is the greatest of gifts. “You are saying I have great stamina, then? I am pleased, my pretty mate. Sometimes I wish to last longer, just to please you.” I pull her mane free from its braid and let my fingers glide through her soft locks.
“If you lasted any longer, I might fall apart,” she teases me.
“Such flattery.”
“You love it.”
“I do indeed.”
Kira smiles at me, and then she tugs on my vest, pulling it off. Her hands go to my leggings next, and I let her undress me, though I draw the line at my boots because I do not want her bending over more than she has to. She rolls her eyes at my insistence, and strips off her own clothing.
I will never get over the joy of having a mate, I think. Of watching her eyes brighten with anticipation as I stand naked before her, of seeing the familiar curves of her body reveal themselves as she pulls off her clothing. I help her along, letting her lean on my shoulder as she kicks off boots and leggings, and then we are both undressed before each other. I have mated with Kira more times than I can count, but each one is as fresh and as joyous as the first. I will never tire of her smile, of the sight of her hips, or the flush on her cheeks when she comes. I will never tire of her, ever.
My khui has chosen so very well for me.
As I stand there, smiling at my mate like a lovesick fool, my poor female shivers, her full teats pricking in response to the cold air. “Let’s get under the furs.”
“I thought you would never ask,” I tease.
We go to the bed of furs, and instead of lying down first, Kira puts her hands on my chest and mock-pushes me toward the nest. “You first. I want to play with you for a bit.”
“You do? Truly, I am the luckiest of males.” I eagerly lie on my back, adjusting a roll of fur under my neck so my horn tips do not press uncomfortably against the cave floor. My beautiful, nude mate slides her leg over my body and then descends, settling her bottom against my hips. My cock brushes up against her backside, my spur teasingly close to her soft folds, but she does not sit fully against me. Instead, she leans forward and runs a hand over my chest.
“God, I love looking at you,” Kira sighs, her fingers brushing over my flat teats and dancing across the plating of my chest. “Just seeing you like this makes me want to bite you all over.”
I shift underneath her, because my cock likes the thought of her biting me very much. “What is stopping you?”
She lifts her head and gives me a surprisingly mischievous look. My Kira is normally the somber one, the o
ne that needs encouragement to laugh. She is the serious one and I am the tease, the light-hearted one. Seeing her like this, though, it makes my heart pound.
I love it when she takes control.
Kira sweeps her long hair over her shoulder, then leans down and nips at one of my teats. Her small teeth are nothing but a graze against my much-harder skin, but I shudder anyhow. The sight of her actions alone is enough to make my cock harden painfully. She nips at me again, tiny bites up and down my pectorals, and then lifts one of my arms and nibbles up the soft inside, sending shivers of longing up and down my spine.
“Lean back,” I rasp. “Seat yourself on my cock.”
“Soon.”
“At least rub yourself on my spur,” I cajole. “Wet it with your cunt. Slide over it. Take me in your body.”
“Soon,” she promises again, and nips at a vein on my arm.
I groan again.
Kira flexes her hips, teasing her bottom against my cock as she brushes her lips over my skin. I want to put my hands all over her, force her down onto my length, but she is fragile and carrying my kit. I fist my hands at my side instead, determined not to touch her and interrupt. I flick my tail up and down her creamy thigh, though, unable to stop from touching her in some way as she nibbles and bites her way over to my opposite arm.
“You’re so big,” she says with a happy sigh. “Big and strong and just looking at you turns me on.”
“Does it?” I manage. “Show me how much.”
She gives me a playful look and then takes my cock in her hand. She lifts her hips and rubs my length up and down her folds. “Do you feel how wet I am? That’s all because of you.”
I groan, fascinated at my mate’s aggressiveness. I love how Kira can be both shy and yet hungry for my touch at the same time. Truly, I am the luckiest of males to have her as my mate. My khui has chosen so very well. “Come and sit on my face,” I entreat her. “Let me lick you until you come.”
“Not today,” she promises, breathless as she rubs my cock through her folds again. This time, she fits the tip of my cock at her entrance and lets out a little gasp of sheer delight when I buck my hips, thrusting lightly into her. “You’re not playing fair.”
