by Dixon, Ruby
“Does it matter?” I ask. “Come ride me.” I give up on holding my hands at my sides and cradle her waist instead, dragging her down farther onto my cock. Her sheath is slick with her arousal, and we both groan as she takes me to the hilt. When her hips are flush to mine, she wiggles against me, rubbing herself against my spur, and I love the way she gasps. Her nipples are taut with her excitement, and I let my tail slide over to one, teasing it as she begins to ride me.
I love watching her as she presses her hands to my chest, her eyes closed as she bounces atop me, using my cock to pleasure herself. She sets the pace, and it is clear to me that she will not last long. It seems like no time at all before her movements become jerky, her cunt clenching tighter with every rocking motion atop me, and Kira becomes more frantic, bouncing quicker atop me. I encourage her with teasing words, grinding her hips down upon me even as I thrust upward, and love the squeal of pleasure she makes when my spur hits her just right.
Then she is clenching and coming atop me, and I gently roll our bodies over until she is beneath me and I can claim her for my own release.
When we are both spent, I slide free from her body and press a kiss to her soft mouth, then rest my head atop her belly. “Did we wake my kit?” I ask, rubbing a hand over her naked belly. I cannot be more content than this moment, I think. Not ever. I have everything I have ever wanted right here in my arms.
“Sleeping, I imagine.” Kira yawns. “You know…”
I lift my head, giving her a curious look. “What is it?”
She gets an innocent look on her face and shrugs. “I was just thinking we could always go looking for Harlow while we’re out.”
Not this. As gently as I can, I pull my mate into my arms and stroke her hair. “I love you, my Kira, and I love that you have never given up, but look at the weather outside, my mate. If your Har-loh managed to live when she wandered off, do you think she could live through this?”
“I don’t know.” She sniffs, and I hold her tighter. I hate that she still thinks of her lost tribemate. “I just…I feel like we should have looked harder. That maybe if we turned the right corner, we’d have found her.”
“There are always those that walk into the snow and never come back,” I say, stroking her mane. “It is hard to accept, but it is part of life. Risking your life—and that of our kit—to find her body will not do anyone any good.”
“I guess,” Kira says with a small sigh. “I just…I hate that we lost her. I feel responsible.”
“You are not. You did not force her out into the snow. You could not have known what was to happen.” I press another kiss to her brow. “Is this why you wished to go on this journey? To look for her?”
“Actually, no,” she admits, her hand sliding up and down my side. “I’m selfish, I guess. I thought it might be nice if we got away from the others for a while. Had a little ‘you and me’ time.”
“We have ‘you and me’ time in our cave every night,” I reassure her.
“No, I mean, time alone. Together. Just the two of us. Like Georgie’s honeymoon. It’s time for us to just spend together, bonding. Reconnecting.”
“Do we need to reconnect?” I gently thrust my hips at her. “I am ready.”
“Not like that.” She ducks her head against my shoulder. “Pervert.”
I just grin. I like her smiles more than anything in this world. “So what you are telling me is that you do not mind if our trip to the other cave takes a great many days because we can spend them alone together?”
“Yes.” Her voice is muffled against my skin.
“This is a good thing,” I promise her. “Because I intend on stopping at every hunter cave along the way to ensure we are not caught in a storm.”
She chuckles, pressing a lazy kiss to my skin, her fingers tracing patterns on my hip. “Exactly how many are there between here and there?”
I consider the path in my head, one I have traveled a great many times before. “Six.”
“Six?” she sputters. “What, are we going just across the hill and stopping for the day?”
“Possibly. Is that a problem?” I reach up and cup one of her teats, toying with the sensitive nipple. Her teats have grown larger, I think, the nipples darker. I decide I like the change, just like I like the way her hips and bottom are spreading larger. It is just more of her to enjoy. “I thought you wished for us to reconnect. I have lots of parts that need connection to my mate. Very, very frequent connections.”
She just rolls her eyes at me and settles in against my side. “Your hand feels good,” she admits after a moment when I keep rolling her nipple.
“Another connection,” I promise. “Shall I connect my mouth to your nipple and feast?”
Kira lets out a dreamy sigh, rolling onto her back. “God, yes.”
Six days of connecting with my mate. I like this idea a lot. Even as I nuzzle my way down her soft skin toward her teat, I wonder if I can find more caves along the way to extend our trip.
As long as we are safe from the weather, after all, what is the harm?
11
KIRA
It’s so odd to me how our roles have reversed, Aehako and I. In my pregnancy, I’m the easygoing one, the one that never worries about anything. Aehako is the one that stresses over the smallest of things. When we get ready to leave the hunter cave the next morning, a thick snow starts to fall, so we unpack our things and stay for another day.
And then another.
It takes three days before the weather lets up enough for us to travel some, and it takes another four days before we approach the valley that holds the main cave of the sa-khui.
“Well,” I tease Aehako as he hauls the sled through the snow, the smoke from the main cave on the horizon. “You did say it would take several days.”
“It might take one more,” he admits to me, pausing and looking up at the gray skies. “I do not like the sight of those clouds.”
If we stop right at the finish line, that just seems silly. “I bet we can make it,” I tell him cheerfully. “I can get off and walk—”
Before I finish the thought, he tugs the sled along, hustling through the snow at a breakneck pace. I smother a giggle behind my thick glove.
Really, even if we stopped for another day, it’d be all right. The “vacation” away from the South Cave has been good for us. I didn’t realize how much stress that being leader was putting on Aehako, in addition to my pregnancy. He worries all the time if his decisions are correct ones, or if the tribe would not be happier back at the main cave. He worries some—like Hemalo and Asha—are displeased with his leadership. He worries he is not as authoritative as Vektal, because he is usually a more laughing sort.
And me, I had no idea my mate was holding all this in. I thought he’d taken to leadership the way he takes to everything—with enthusiasm and a big smile. Turns out he’s been hiding his fears because he didn’t want to burden me.
The guy thinks I’m more fragile than glass, apparently.
So we talk, a lot. We organize supplies in each cave we stop in, and refresh what we need. I start sewing a blanket out of fur scraps just to give my hands something to do, and we talk more. Aehako laughs so much in this vacation that I realize he hasn’t been laughing much in the last few weeks, and I’ve been too preoccupied to notice it.
I vow to make him laugh more often.
So I start sewing something else with the scraps. I tell him that it’s just another blanket, but I make a small, fuzzy loincloth instead, and I stuff the backside full of more scraps so it’ll make the wearer have a massive bubble butt. Another idea occurs to me, and for a moment, I shake my head. That’s not who I am, making obscene things out of leather…but it’ll make Aehako laugh. So after smothering a few giggles, I go ahead and make an “attachment” for the front of the loincloth, too.
All of this happens under Aehako’s nose as we laze about in the hunter caves. He takes naps, so many of them I worry he’s been losing sleep, and he p
uts his hands on my belly and talks to our kit for hours on end. It’s so nice to be away, just the two of us, that I secretly hope for bad weather on our return trip, too.
After all, we’re in no hurry to get back, are we? Everyone’s an adult. The South Cave can manage itself for a few weeks.
The sled jerks ahead, making me yelp as Aehako picks up the pace. Sure enough, a thicker snowfall is starting to pour from the skies, but Aehako has apparently decided to sprint the rest of the way instead of pausing at another hunter cave. I cling to the packs as we zoom over the snow, and the distant cave comes closer and closer to view. The sight of the large, triangular opening of the main cave fills me with a curious sense of…not exactly homesickness, but a wistful sort of pleasure.
This was my first home here on Not-Hoth. It’ll always hold a special place in my heart.
“Ho,” someone cries, and a fur-covered figure jogs toward our sled.
“Ho!” Aehako pants, not stopping even as the other hunter pulls up alongside us. “We are heading in before the weather hits.”
“I see that! And you brought your pretty mate!” The hunter lowers his hood and it is Zolaya, who grins at me. “My mate will be glad to see the both of you. I suppose I can put off checking my traps for a day or so.”
“Go check them,” Aehako tells him with a friendly shout. “We will be staying for several days yet. Feed your mate’s growing belly!”
Zolaya claps a big hand on Aehako’s shoulder and then nods at me. “Perhaps I shall!” He jogs off again, passing us by, and then we are almost at the cave.
“Ho!” cries another voice. “Visitors!”
My eyes brim with happy tears as more people crowd at the entrance of the cave, and I see humans mixed with friendly blue faces. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed everyone until just now, and I’m filled with a wild, impatient sort of joy as we approach.
I can’t wait to hug all my friends again.
Aehako finally stops his endless jog and pulls the sled directly in front of the cave entrance. His shoulders heaving, panting, he moves to my side and helps me climb out of the massive pile of supplies. Immediately, I’m met with happy squeals. Marlene—ever exuberant—flings her arms around me and Ariana bursts into tears and hugs me, too. I see Georgie, standing next to her mate, and Nora, and it’s all too much. I get weepy, too, and then Georgie and I collapse on top of each other and sob, much to Vektal and Aehako’s chagrin.
“Pregnancy tears,” I explain to my mate as I wipe my cheeks. “I’m happy. I really am.”
My mate looks uncertain, but he’s quickly distracted away as his mother and father arrive. Sevvah and Oshen are enveloped in bear hugs, and then his brother Rokan is there, a faint smile on his face. Sessah—a much tinier, younger version of my mate—is there too, and he beams up at his grown brother, so small and adorable that I realize that our child might look just like him.
And I start crying again. Before Aehako can ask, I blubber, “I swear I’m happy!”
Sevvah just clucks at me, tugging me into her arms. She’s so regal, his mother, with her looping gray braid and the only hint of her age the lines around her eyes. “Of course you are happy, dear heart. You are carrying a kit. If he has not seen you weep at least once a day over nothing at all, then he should count himself very lucky.” She smooths her fingers over my face and then beams down at me. “Come, I will make you something to eat.”
“Now I’m hungry,” Georgie mutters at my side.
“Then I will feed you, too,” Sevvah says easily. “Come sit by the fire while my Aehako greets his friends.”
* * *
Sevvah fusses over me for a while as Aehako meets with Vektal, and then is pulled away for one thing after another. I get it, though. He’s leading the South Cave and everyone’s going to want to know what’s going on there. He’s going to be busy all day, even though he casts several worried looks toward his mother’s cave as if he wants to come and hover all over me.
“His father was like that the first time I carried,” Sevvah says with a rueful smile. “He was at my side so much that I wanted to shove his head into the snow if he did not give me space to breathe.”
I smile at her. “When does it wear off? When does he relax?”
“He does not.” Sevvah chuckles at her own joke. “If he is anything like his father, he will be the most attentive of fathers—sometimes annoyingly so.”
That’s all right with me.
Georgie shows up at Sevvah’s cave entrance just then, and peeks inside. “Knock knock.”
“Come in,” Sevvah tells her. “I was just about to prepare this evening’s meal.”
My friend looks at me, then holds up a soft wrap. “I was actually going to take a dip in the bathing pool and wondered if Kira wanted to join me.”
It sounds like a gossip session, and it’s been so long since I’ve had a long chat with Georgie and Liz and the others that I immediately get to my feet. Then I hesitate, looking over at Sevvah.
“Go on,” the older woman says, squeezing my shoulder. “Food will not be ready for a while yet and if you are out in the open, Aehako can quit casting worried looks in this direction.” She rolls her eyes.
“All right.” I head towards Georgie.
As we approach the main part of the cave, I see Aehako glance over. He’s talking with Rokan, his expression grave. A twinge of worry hits me and I squeeze Georgie’s arm, letting her know that I’ll join her shortly. I head toward Aehako, and when I move to his side, he and Rokan immediately stop talking.
Well if that’s not alarming, I don’t know what is. “Hello, Rokan,” I say easily. “How are you?”
“Very well.” He smiles at me. “It is good to see you and my brother again. I like how happy you have made him.”
“We’re both very happy,” I agree, and Aehako runs his hand down my hair affectionately. I glance up at my mate. “What were you two talking about?”
“Nothing important,” Aehako says, perhaps a bit too brightly. “Maylak is napping so you will not be able to see her until later tonight. Kashrem says her kit is big in her belly and makes her very tired.”
“I know what that’s like,” I murmur, caressing my belly. It already feels enormous…and I’m tired all the time at the halfway point. Just more to look forward to, I suppose.
Aehako puts a protective hand on my shoulder and bends down, peering into my face. “Are you tired? Do you need to rest? Perhaps you should rest—”
“I’m fine,” I tell him firmly. I lean in and give him a quick peck on the nose. “And I’m going to go relax in the pool with Georgie and the others. I promise I’ll take it easy.”
He hesitates, and then nods, rubbing his knuckles along my jaw. “Speak if you need anything.”
“I will.” I smile at Rokan, and then head over to the center of the cave, where the large bathing pool steams and calls invitingly. Megan and Nora are already in it, both of them naked. Georgie joins them, sliding into the pool, and I loosen my wrap and outer layers, folding them neatly before I set them on a nearby rock seat. I ease myself to the edge, wearing nothing but a leather loincloth and a breast-band. No one will think twice if I get completely naked, but I’m still a little awkward about nudity and my changing body isn’t helping things. I slide into the water, and then the delicious warmth of it hits me like a freight train. I bite back a moan of pleasure as the comforting heat soaks into my tired body. “Oh boy, I missed this.”
“I can imagine,” Georgie says. “No pool at the South Cave? You heathens, you.”
“We have a sa-kohtsk skull in our cave that I can put water in, but it never gets very hot or very deep, because getting rid of the water is such a chore. This is…different.” I close my eyes, leaning against the ledge. “This is bliss.”
“I’m in here almost every day,” Megan agrees. “It helps with my fat ankles. Or at least, I tell myself that it does.”
“You just missed Liz, by the way,” Nora says. “She and Raahosh set of
f yesterday. She’ll be so bummed she missed you.”
I’m bummed I missed her, too. I love her brash mouth and wish I could see how she’s handling her pregnancy. If Raahosh is letting her go hunting with him, I’m guessing he’s not as hover-y as Aehako is. “We’re staying for a few days. Maybe they’ll return before we leave.”
“I hope so.” Megan rubs her belly, which looks twice the size of mine, complete with stretch marks. For all that we’re only a few weeks apart, she looks way more pregnant than me, and I’m briefly envious. Does that mean she’ll have her baby sooner than me? Or is she just naturally carrying larger? I wish we had more answers, but we’re all going to be the first ones to have “hybrid” babies. This is uncharted territory for all of us.
I glance over at my mate again, but he’s deep in discussion with his brother, neither one of them looking over here. I wonder if anything’s amiss. Wouldn’t he tell me if it was?
“So,” Megan continues. “Give us all the gossip at the South Cave. How’s Josie? Tiffany? Claire?”
I settle in and talk about my tribesmates for what feels like hours, who is up to what, Tiffany’s latest craft projects, Farli and her new pet Chompy, who poops literally everywhere in the cave, much to Kemli’s chagrin, and the latest hunting mishaps. I don’t think of myself as a chatty sort, but I find that I’m talking for hours about the smallest details of our life at the South Cave, and Megan and Nora and Georgie all share their own stories with me. There’s a tale of a hopper that got into the storage rooms and destroyed a ton of roots before anyone realized what was happening, and Megan talks about her latest macrame projects. Nora talks about sex—being Nora—and how she and Marlene are trying to design better underwear.
“Where is Marlene?” I ask, curious.
