by Lily Thomas
“I didn’t need him taking Ezi away. Her leg needs to heal, and I think the best place for her is here with me.” Ezi didn’t need Girk dragging her through the cold as he searched for another clan to join, not when they were already getting help. “Anyways,” Girk was gone, and there was no reason for them to continue talking about it, “should we continue our challenge?”
He looked like he might want to argue, but he nodded his head. “Let’s get back to hunting, but this time don’t go far.”
She nodded her head. Girk could have been something more dangerous. She wasn’t planning on going anywhere far this time. Girk could have been a member of Daerk’s clan, and there was no telling which of them would kill her before getting to know who she was.
By the end of the day, they had both collected a fair bit of small game. They met by a large pine tree.
Aiyre flopped her catch down on the ground next to his stockpile. He looked over at her pile. It did indeed look larger than his, but it was close.
“It looks like I have won,” Aiyre announced with a triumphant smile, glad they were able to get past Girk’s interruption. She’d been afraid Daerk might hunt Girk down, but he had surprised her. It helped her to believe Daerk had been telling her the truth that not all his people had been involved.
He returned her smile. “You’re an impressive hunter. I never saw some of those snow rabbits that you killed.” Which really was impressive, since he had better vision than she did and she couldn’t help but smile at his compliment.
“If you had been in your sabertooth form, I’m sure you would have done a lot better.”
“True.” His other form would’ve given him a better advantage over her. “Let’s get these back to the cave.”
“I’m sorry about the interruption.” She couldn’t help but bring it up to see what he thought.
“You had no idea he was alive. I could pick up the smell of surprise on you a valley away.” Daerk told her.
“Still, you won’t,” she couldn’t believe she was going to ask this but, “you won’t hunt him down, will you?”
“If he tried to take you away, then yes, but his scent is slowly disappearing from the area, which means that he is leaving like he said he would. I don’t think there is any need for you to worry about us running into each other again.”
“Thank you for not killing him.”
“I wouldn’t have killed your clanmate without cause.” His gold eyes skimmed over her as he tried to read her. “I’m surprised you didn’t go with him.”
“As I said before, Ezi doesn’t need the strain on her leg, and I figured you wouldn’t just let me go.”
He pressed her up against a tree. “Never.” Then his lips came down and captured hers. After a couple of seconds, he broke away. Then he sniffed the air around them. “You can use Ezi as an excuse, but I can smell your desire. You want to stay.”
Then he pulled away, and she was left to stare at him. He was correct though. She wanted nothing more than to stay with him. Girk hadn’t been the right man for her, but Daerk was.
“Let’s get back to the cave before they miss us.” Daerk led her back over to their kills.
They each took a hold of their catch and made their way back to the cave, side by side. She could imagine more days just like this. It felt nice to have someone standing by her side, ready to back her if she needed it.
“It looks like that went well,” Ezi commented from where she was sitting as Aiyre and Daerk strode into the cave, with their kills slung over their shoulders.
“We ended up making a better team than I would have thought.” Aiyre looked over her shoulder at Daerk. She wondered if he would say anything about Girk, but she knew he had to be smarter than that. This was something she needed to tell Ezi without it being blurted out.
He tossed her a grin. He wouldn’t say anything, and she knew he was still pleased that she’d chosen him over Girk.
She placed her animals by the fire and took a seat. It was time to clean and take care of the meat. Daerk took a seat next to her, and together they cleaned the animals.
She took hold of the feet and peeled off the skin. In the world that they lived, they tried to waste as little as possible. Once she was done with that, she took to gutting the rabbits and then placing them over the fire to smoke the meat without high heat.
“Tomorrow morning Eron and I will return to our village,” Daerk told her as he placed a couple more rabbits over the fire. “There is only so long we can spend away from the village before drawing attention to ourselves, and I don’t want someone growing curious and discovering you.”
She nodded. “When can we expect you back?” And why was her heart longing for him to stay?
“As soon as I am able,” Daerk promised. Then he turned his golden eyes on her and pinned her with an intense stare. “Please stay put this time. I don’t want to chase you down in the snow because you are impatient for my return.”
“I’ll stay put this time.” Mainly, because she had learned to trust him. As her mate, he would do anything to please her. She couldn’t see him ever harming her. The one thing standing in the way was his clan. She wasn’t sure they could figure that out, but she was willing to give it a try, mainly because she and Ezi would need to stay here for the winter.
“Good.” Daerk’s eyes relaxed a little bit with her promise.
Aiyre found it difficult to take her eyes off of him. He was so magnetic, always drawing her eyes to him. He would be a man she would welcome into her life with open arms if he weren’t a sabertooth with a clan that wanted her dead. For now, she would take it day by day, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for an entire life with him.
She glanced around the cave. If his clan didn’t accept her, she wasn’t keen on the idea of living with just him in a cave, or with a human clan where she wouldn’t be able to shift.
Though she had to admit they’d been getting along and worked well together, but there were still a lot of challenges ahead of them, like a leader that would rather rip her throat out with his teeth than accept her into his clan.
Laying down she watched the rabbits cook from her position. So much had changed in her life, and she hadn’t had the time to think about it. She missed her clan with all her heart, but sadly she had to move on and think of the future.
Aiyre rolled over, giving her back to the fire and watched the shadows dance over the crevices of the cave. Years of smoke had discolored the walls, and she wondered how long the sabertooth shifters had been using this cave.
“What are you thinking about?” Daerk moved behind her, laying down, and wrapping an arm around her waist.
She should push him away, but she needed the contact. Without a clan, she had no one else to turn to other than Ezi, but Aiyre couldn’t burden her when Ezi had just as much to think about.
“If the mammoths had come on time, none of this might have happened.” She confessed.
She felt him nod behind her. “The gods work in strange ways. I wish it could have been prevented.”
“I believe you.”
It shocked them both into silence. It was true though. She didn’t get any evil intent coming off of Daerk, and she believed he and his friends were not involved in the attack on her people. She would save her judgment on the rest of his clan once she had the opportunity to meet them.
“Does this mean you will accept me?”
She could hear the emotion in his voice, the hope she would finally take him as her partner. She could still feel the area on her neck that he’d marked with a bite. A part of her had accepted him, but her mind wasn’t quite there yet.
“No,” Aiyre said. “I’m not ready to accept you. I told Girk what I had to so he’d go away without any threat of him coming back to rescue me.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not ready. I need time.”
He growled softly behind her, not threatening, but just irritated.
“What does this matehood entail? How do your p
eople celebrate a joining?” She was curious to know what might be different between their people, and she was doing her best not to ask too many questions at once.
“I imagine it isn’t too different from what your people do.” His hand stroked over her belly playing with the fur of her shirt. “We have a cave system where we will go to join our bodies under the blessing of the gods. You’ll be taken to the women’s tent, and I will go to the men’s tent before that. The day after, you and I will be joined, and our lives together will begin.”
“It isn’t much different then.” It surprised her a bit to hear this. “I would’ve expected something different.”
“What?”
“I have no idea what I would’ve expected to be different. I just figured it would be.”
“The only difference would be our animal gods. We revere the sabertooth.” He paused for a brief second. “If there is anything from your people you would like to do for the ceremony, please let me know. I would like to make you happy.”
“I will let you know.”
They went silent as he held her in his arms. She felt safe and happy where she was, but she still had to figure out what to do about his clan. They’d killed her people, and she worried about them finishing the job.
The crackle of the fire lulled her to sleep. When she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself back with her clan. Her dreams flooded over her. Naru and Bhirk welcomed her into their arms. Everything was back to normal, and she was going to enjoy the dream to its fullest.
Chapter 14
“Try not to be gone for too long.” Aiyre looked over at Daerk who was bundled up for the weather outside, and a spear gripped in one of his hands. The image he presented sent her heart skittering away inside her chest.
“I will do my best.”
“How is Ezi’s leg?” Aiyre turned to Eron. She was still concerned about her friend, who might be the only other survivor from the attack on her people, except Girk who was now gone. She had to remember to tell Ezi.
“It is healing nicely, and I don’t foresee any issues with it.” Eron gave her a broad smile, lines creasing over his weathered face. “I’ve changed the bandages again. If we can’t get back within a couple of days, it would be wise to get her walking around. She’ll need to strengthen her leg.”
Aiyre nodded. “I can do that.” She glanced down at her own leg.
“I wouldn’t worry about your leg either,” Eron told her.
“We will be back soon,” Daerk promised again.
She nodded. “Don’t worry about us. We know how to handle ourselves.”
His eyes moved over her as if memorizing her form. With a nod, he and Eron headed out of the cave, letting the fur flap fall back into place behind them.
She let out a sigh, but instead of feeling relieved she actually felt like she was missing something. Daerk had made a place for himself in her life and heart.
“I hope I didn’t hurt Tor by rejecting him,” Ezi spoke up now that they were the only two in the cave. “He hasn’t been back since he stormed off.”
“He will get over it.” Aiyre took a seat next to her friend. “Although it could be a good idea to let him know what is going on. He might understand if you let him know what you lost and what you might still gain.” Aiyre made a point of looking at Ezi’s stomach.
Ezi’s hand rubbed over it. “It’s still too soon to know.”
“I know, but there is the possibility, and he’ll have to face that.” Aiyre wasn’t sure how a mated species would take the hit that his mate was pregnant by another man. She hoped Tor would realize Ezi hadn’t known him when she and Drakk joined together.
“Would he accept it?”
Aiyre could only shrug in response. “That is something you will have to discuss with him. I have no idea how a sabertooth would react to this.”
Ezi nodded. “When he comes back, I will tell him why I can’t accept his joining.”
Aiyre frowned a bit. She felt like it was an if and not a when. Tor had been upset, and he hadn’t been back yet. Perhaps he would return to the sabertooth village, and then he and Ezi could work out their differences, but she doubted he’d return to the cave.
“I have something to tell.” Aiyre made eye contact with Ezi as she prepared herself.
“What is it?”
She sucked in a steadying breath. “I saw one of our clanmates while Daerk and I were out hunting.”
“Who?” Aiyre was barely able to hear Ezi as she whispered the single word.
“Girk.”
Ezi smiled, and then she glanced around. “Where is he?”
“I told him he was the only other clanmate I’d seen,” Aiyre admitted not knowing what her reaction might be.
“Why?” Ezi twisted her hands in her lap.
“I didn’t want him to come charging into the cave and demanding that you come with him. He could have made your leg worse while he tried to find another pronghorn clan.”
“Probably for the best.” Ezi surprised her.
“You aren’t upset I didn’t tell him about you?”
“Girk was a friend, nothing more. It was your decision on how to handle him. I just wished he could’ve stayed with us. It would’ve been nice to have another clanmate with us.”
“He met Daerk.”
Ezi’s eyes widened as she leaned in. “How did that go?”
“Better than would’ve been expected.”
“No fighting?”
“Thankfully, no.”
“The gods must have been with you then.” Ezi leaned back against the cave wall. “Do you think he’ll survive and find another clan to join?”
“I think he will.” Aiyre nodded her head as she reached her hands out to the fire. “Girk is a fierce warrior, and he won’t let anything stop him once he has his mind set on something.”
Ezi closed her eyes. “Good.”
Aiyre enjoyed knowing their clan would still survive through Girk because there was still the worry that Daerk’s clan would kill her and Ezi. But with Girk out there, they still had a chance of their clan surviving.
When Daerk’s village came into sight, he felt his muscles tense a bit. It was back to being under Brog’s thumb.
“Be careful what you say.” Eron cautioned as they approached the edge of the village.
“I know.” Daerk wasn’t about to let anyone know about his mate. There was no need to bring down the wrath of Brog onto her head. Somehow, he would have to figure out how to make his clan safe for her.
Eron headed off, most likely to get back to his cave where he could commune with the gods and get a fire roaring to life deep in the cave to heat his old bones. He didn’t like to leave the village or his cave unless he had to, but Daerk was thankful he’d done it.
Daerk headed into the village, and it didn’t take long for people to notice his return.
Ryion walked over to him with a smile plastered all over his face. “Those rabbits for us?” He pointed to the rabbits draped over his shoulder.
“Of course.” Daerk handed over the rabbits. He’d left several with Aiyre and Ezi and had taken the rest with him, so he could help to explain his disappearance.
Ryion lifted the rope of tied up rabbits. “Looks like a good hall, but it won’t take us long to go through it. Not with all the mouths, we have to feed. Our clan is too big for our own good.”
“I know.”
Ryion looked at him, before clapping him on the back. “I didn’t mean to bring you down.” Then he looked around them, making sure no one was near. “I feel as though I should tell you something.”
Daerk raised an eyebrow and leaned in. “What is it?”
“There have been a few grumblings since we attacked the pronghorn shifters. The clan is starting to think it may have been the wrong thing to do.”
He nodded. “I am glad to hear that.”
“Just be careful. These grumblings could reach Brog’s ears, and if they do, he might blame you. He finds you to be a threat
, and I hope he is right.” Ryion slapped him on the back one last time and headed off.
Daerk felt his chest fill with excitement. His clan realized Brog had lied to them. His time might come. If his clan backed him, he would be able to challenge Brog, but it was a fine line. If he did challenge Brog, there was the possibility he might not survive, and he had a mate to think about now. It wasn’t like Brog was old. Their leader was still in his prime and would be a formidable foe.
If Daerk died, she might not survive. He had to come up with a plan of what to do with her if he challenged Brog and didn’t come out on top. Something that made everything a bit difficult was the fact that Tor was still gone, and he had no idea when his friend would come back. It meant there was one less person to back him up when he challenged Brog.
A couple of women ambled out of the hut of unmated females. Their eyes stroked over him, and he shivered in disgust. Now that he’d found his mate their appreciation only annoyed him to the core, but it wasn’t their fault. They had no idea he was finally mated.
He wanted to tell everyone he saw but couldn’t risk it. For now, he would keep his mouth shut and let everyone believe he was unmated, even his own mother and sister. They’d find out soon enough.
Mira sashayed her way over to him. “Why do you keep leaving the village?” She purred.
“To hunt for the clan. Perhaps you should think about doing that as well instead of staying here in the village.” Daerk spat baring his teeth, and he felt his canines lengthen slightly. He was tired of uselessness, and Brog seemed to think it was just fine to let his supporters sit on their butts doing nothing.
There was a reason their meat hut had a dwindling supply when only part of the clan was hunting, and the rest ate what they brought back.
Mira huffed. “It isn’t a woman’s place to provide for the clan.”
Daerk snorted. “You’re a sabertooth shifter, act like it.” He stormed away from her. He didn’t have the time nor the patience to go back and forth with her about this. She was a sabertooth, a natural born killer and all she wanted to do was sit around the village while the threat of starvation hung over them all.
