Return_Mate of the Cave Bear

by Harmony Raines

  The spirits could deal with his soul. For Haran would burn his corpse so it would never return. Any sympathy he had for these brutes was gone.

  Chapter Nine - Jenna

  The waiting was unbearable, and if it were not for her desire to protect the baby inside her, she would have ignored the pain in her ankle and gone out to find Haran. Instead, she sat in the near dark, imagining all of the things that could go wrong. Most of them ended in Haran getting a spear through his heart.

  “That won’t happen,” she told herself. But it was easier to say than to believe. The light outside of the cave changed, and she knew the sun had reached its midpoint in the sky. He had been gone for hours and she had drunk all of her water. Soon she would have to try to stand and go to find out what had happened.

  Dragging herself forward, she went to the mouth of the cave. There she gripped the inside wall and pulled herself up, hand over hand until she was standing. Very carefully, she put some weight on her foot, thankful when her ankle didn’t immediately collapse under her. Hopping as much as she could, hardly putting any weight on her foot, she moved to stand just outside the cave, the brushwood all around her. That was going to be tricky to move.

  She put her hands on the first piece of brushwood, ready to pull it to one side, when she smelt burning. Not just any burning. This was the smell of burnt flesh. Her heart beat so rapidly she thought it would explode in her chest. Her worst fears were returning. The Masu had caught Haran and maybe Putol, they were burning their bodies so that their souls would not return.

  “No,” she said shaking her head. This couldn’t be happening. They would find her here and either kill her too or bend her to their will. Her child would be killed. Or maybe they would simply kill her too.

  “Haran. Don’t leave me here.” She pulled at the brushwood frantically, trying to get out, although she knew it was too late.

  But the book. The book had pictured the Dualis moving together to a promised land. What if instead it showed the extinction of the species? A line of animals going to join the spirits?

  If Jenna could have slapped herself across the face, it was exactly what she would have done to end her own hysteria. Had she forgotten everything else that was in the book? She hadn’t written it yet, so how could she die here? No matter what, she had to survive and so did her child, or else Martha would never have been born and never help her. But did Martha still exist? If something went wrong in this time then she would never know if Martha ceased to exist in the future. Just because she was alive when Jenna left, did not mean she was still alive now.

  “Stop it!” she shouted at herself. “This is not helping.”

  She leaned back against the cave wall and tried to collect her thoughts. But a sound outside startled her. Taking a step back, she tried to conceal herself, wishing she hadn’t moved the brushwood. She had given her hiding place away.

  Barely daring to breathe, she looked for where her attacker would come from, wishing she was able to run and get a knife. But she couldn’t risk falling and making a noise. A rustling of branches and then the brushwood was pulled away. To her relief, there stood Haran.

  Sobbing in relief, she threw herself into his arms. “I thought they had found me. I was so scared you had been caught. I could smell the burning. It smelt like flesh.”

  “It is. We burnt the Masu.”

  “They were killed. How many?” Her thoughts went back to Renu; her fears were that they had tracked down the whole of the tribe and had murdered them all. Innocent and guilty alike. But were there any innocents? They had all feared and loathed the Dualis. Happy to watch them tortured and killed.

  “Ten, maybe more. All the guards they sent to hunt us. The tribe is weak now.”

  “And what happens to the rest of the tribe?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Are you going to hunt them down and kill them too?”

  He came to her and hugged her tightly. “I do not hold with killing for the sake of killing. There has been too much of that already. But if they attack, we will have no choice.”

  “I understand, but there was at least one amongst them that was kind to me.”

  “Until she found out who your mate was.”

  “That’s not fair; she said that a Dualis attacked her and the man she loved.”

  “So she thinks we are all the same?”

  “Don’t you think all the Masu are the same?”

  He sighed against her. “Yes. I suppose we have a lot to learn about each other.”

  “Indeed.” She lifted her face to look up at him. “I have missed you. Although we have been apart less than a day, it still feels like an eternity. I’m just so grateful to be home.”

  “Jenna, we will have to leave here.”

  “I know, and not just because of the Masu. While we stay here there will always be a chance that I will disappear again.”

  “Into the sky?”

  “Into the sky. There is so much I have to tell you. So much I shouldn’t tell you.”

  “If we move from this place you will be safe?”

  “Yes. I believe so, Haran.”

  “Then tomorrow we leave. But for now, I want to welcome you back properly. I have missed you, Jenna.”

  “And I have missed you, Haran. So very much. I know what we have to do. I know where we have to go, where we will be safe. But for now I want to show you how much I have missed you.” She kissed him, winding her arms around his neck. “Is it safe for now?”

  “It is safe.” He kissed her then, his lips soft but firm on hers. She stroked his neck, trailing her hand down over his chest. His body stiffened and she knew that his desire for her was building.

  He lifted her and she rested her head on his chest while he carried her to the back of the cave, placing her down on the soft furs. His heartbeat so strong, so real. This was her world; he was her world. She would go with him to the ends of this earth, so different from her own, if it meant they would be safe and be together.

  His warm hands slipped the ragged cotton top up and over her head, his hands covering her breasts. She kissed him, feeling his lips against hers while his hands stroked the sensitive flesh of her breast. His thumbs brushed her nipples, making the rest of her body aflame. Jenna knew she should be more worried about what had happened outside the cave, but for now, she wanted them to be alone in the cave that had been their home. Because she knew this was probably the last time he would make love to her here. Their lives were about to change; their small world was about to get bigger and busier.

  Lying down next to her, he stroked her skin, along her arms and over her breasts, trailing the back of his hand down her belly, making her shiver with anticipation. He kissed her neck and she turned towards him, her fingers stroking his chest, feeling his nipples turn to taut buds. She kissed him on his sun-bronzed skin, tasting the mixture of salt and wood smoke, his own unique scent.

  For a long while, they teased each other, losing themselves in the sensations made by fingers and lips. He kissed every exposed inch of her body until she was so wet and needy for him that she slipped her hand over his cock to make him want to wait no longer. She squeezed him, stroking his cock until he groaned against her skin. Then she slipped her hand inside his hide pants and slowly eased them down over his hips.

  Haran sat up, pushing his pants to the floor. Once naked, he knelt before her and removed the rest of her scant clothing. Then he sat on his haunches looking at her curvy body, before stroking the tops of her feet, working his way up her legs. He leaned down, his lips kissing her inner calves, and then the backs of her knees, finally he used his hand to part her thighs, kissing her tender skin until he reached her sex.

  His mouth covered her clit, licking her sensitive little bud until she lost all control. She writhed under his touch; his fingers pressing inside her while his mouth continued to stimulate her until the lights in her head were nearly as bright as when she was in the wormhole. Haran didn’t let up until she came, a soft whimper
ing escaping her lips as sensations flooded her body. She thrust her hands into his hair, her fingers curling around the strands and pulling it while he continued to lick and suck her clit.

  When her orgasm passed, he lifted his head and moved up over her body. Resting his weight on his elbows, he guided his cock into her sex, sliding deep inside her with one thrust. Jenna gripped the top of his arms, her fingers digging into his flesh as he pulled back out and then thrust into her.

  There was no gentle build-up; he had done that before with his mouth and his hands. Now he claimed her, worshipped her body with his. In and out he moved, and the tension between them grew quickly. His adrenaline pumped through his body, making him more demanding. Whatever had happened out on the plain had affected him; this was his way of coming back to himself. With her, he could be himself, the two-legged Haran, the man who loved and cherished his woman. His mate. Slowly the bear side of him grew quieter and his thrusts slowed.

  Kissing her gently, he stroked the hair back from her face, some of the strands sticking to her damp forehead. “I love you, Jenna.”

  “I love you, Haran. I hope we are never apart again.”

  Moving slowly, he made their lovemaking last, neither of them wanting to be separate, both needing to be joined as one. When he finally came, his seed filled her, and her sex pulsed and throbbed around him. Haran buried his face in her neck and cried out, and then he kissed and nipped her neck, his teeth marking her again. If anyone ever doubted whom she belonged to, they would know for sure now.

  “I am the same woman, Haran,” she said when they lay together in each other’s arms.

  “I know. But I still want to make sure that when we leave, no one will ever think you are not mine, that I have not claimed you.”

  She ran her fingertip over the raised skin of the mark. She was his; no mark would ever be needed to prove that. But it was his way, and she had to admit it felt nice to belong to him. So much for twenty-second century equality!

  Chapter Ten - Haran

  “I have lived here for most of my life,” he said.

  “Sometimes you have to move on,” Jenna said.

  “Like you did?” he asked.

  “Mine was a little more extreme.”

  “It is hard for a simple creature like me to imagine what it must be like to move through time.”

  “You are not so simple, Haran. First, you can change into an animal and secondly, you are so eager to live in peace. It is something that men in the world I come from seem to have forgotten to do. In some ways the Masu never outgrew the need to hunt and destroy what they do not understand.”

  He placed his hand on her belly. “I can’t believe they would try to use our child as a weapon.”

  “Neither can I. But I have to believe what Martha said. She would have no reason to lie to me.”

  “So we leave here and journey north.”

  “Yes. Once we’re away from here, the wormhole will not be able to pull me in. Let’s move to the north and find a better life. Our baby should be born where we are safe.”

  “And so our enemies will come and take our land and we will be forever squeezed into a smaller corner of the Earth.”

  “Not for a long time, Haran. Our children and their children will be safe.”

  “Because this thing ... this book told you so.”

  “Yes. Well, sort of. I think that Martha was right. That book doesn’t belong here. We should make our own choices, our own mistakes. That way we know we are not being manipulated.”

  “And what if we change the future, and that means you did not come here to me?”

  “I am still here now. Let’s live for today. Apart from the book, I choose to live our lives without thought to what happens in thousands of years. Our child is not yet born, so my story can stay in my head. When she is old enough, I will tell her and she will learn to pass it down to her children and so on through time, until Martha is once again born.”

  He groaned. “That makes my head feel as though it is being drawn out through my eye socket.”

  She laughed. “Then let’s go and start our new life, a new adventure. In my overcrowded world, people would pay vast amounts of money to journey across vast empty plains in search of a new life.”

  “Then those people are strange.”

  “No. They are adventurers with nothing left to explore and find. Whereas we are blessed to be about to set off on a path that no one has ever followed before.”

  He wrapped his arm around her and said, “Here I am, wanting to hold on to my past, when you have let go of yours. You are right, it is time to build a new life, to stop being afraid of what we know and start to find joy in what we do not. A new land awaits.”

  “A cold land.”

  “Then it is a good thing you have me to keep you warm.”

  “The spirits have truly blessed me, Haran.”

  Chapter Eleven - Jenna

  They walked away from the cave, each carrying a big pack filled with food and anything else they thought essential. Both of them had a water skin slung over their backs. A short distance away, they met up with Putol; this was the start of their great trek north. The other Dualis and their mates were waiting further along the dusty plain.

  “Hello, Putol, how many?”

  “Fifty altogether. A few scouts have not returned but they will be able to follow our tracks. We will not move quickly, so they will not be left too far behind.”

  “Fifty, and hopefully we will gain more as we move across the land. I am sure that there are others who have already tried to escape persecution by moving to where it is always winter.”

  Jenna shivered despite the warmth of the summer sun. “I am not looking forward to the winter. If it is as cold as you say, we have a couple of months to find somewhere to shelter from the cold. I hope we can find somewhere for us all.”

  “We will. You will need to give birth before we move on again,” Haran said.

  She placed her hand on her stomach. “I hope our child will be born into a world where she is safe.”

  “That will only happen if we get moving,” Putol said. He moved away and, in one swift movement, was the sleek black panther once more.

  “I am glad you don’t spend so much time as a bear,” Jenna said. She liked having Haran to talk to. He still shared his vast knowledge of the land and its flora and fauna with her.

  “He moves fast as a panther and his hearing is much better. I, on the other hand, am a great, lumbering bear.”

  “Well, my great, lumbering bear,” she said and kissed him. “Our adventure begins.”

  An excitement filled her that was only surmounted when they reached the camp where other Dualis and their mates waited. It was the first time she had met them and she was surprised to see so many like her amongst them. “So not is everyone prejudiced against you?” she asked Putol, who now stood next to her on two legs.

  “No, it seems that once they discover that the Dualis is the superior creature they cannot resist. It is our animal magnetism,” he said, smiling at his own joke. “There is nothing like having a furry mate to cuddle up next to when the winter snows come.”

  “I can imagine that fur coats are especially welcome in the winter. It is my main fear when we leave for the north.”

  “Don’t worry, Jenna. We will find shelter,” Putol reassured her.

  “I hope you're right. When do we leave?”

  “Now. I think it’s time to take the first step on this long journey. Let’s hope we have no problems and no attacks from our enemies.”

  “What happened to the rest of the Masu tribe, Putol?” She hated to ask, but needed to know the answer, so that it wouldn’t continually play around in her head.

  “They scattered, or hid. We could have tracked them, but after they lost most of their hunters, they will soon die in the cold. Their leader might be able to tell them what to do, but his talk will be worth nothing when their bellies are empty and the cold bites.”

  “That might
be crueller than actually killing them,” Jenna said, thinking of Renu.

  “They were not worth the hunt,” said Putol and then left her and Haran. He ran to join the others and rouse them to their feet.

  “He makes a great leader,” Haran said.

  “Is he our chief?” Jenna asked.

  “We do not have a chief, we are not Masu, but someone has to lead us.”

  “And you did not want the job?” she asked.

  “They do not know me and I do not know them. There is no trust, it is something that you have to earn and Putol has earned it over some time. He is the one responsible for gathering us all together. He had the dream; you are just guiding him in the right direction.”

  “I hope so,” she said, taking his hand. The rest of the new tribe made ready to leave, and she was reminded of her drawing. In the few days they had been back, Haran had provided her with charcoal and had sat in open fascination watching her write and draw. Eventually they had taken some ochre and other dyes and made drawings on the walls of their caves. Bears, mammoths, and, of course, the big black panther. Haran had an eye for making them look alive.

  When they had made love that night with the flames of the fire flickering on the walls, the drawings had danced around them. She had wondered what their child would be. Haran said that they would only find out at puberty, and it had nothing to do with what he was.

  “The spirits decide,” was his answer.

  ***

  “A good kill,” Kalli said, thanking Haran.

  “It seems your skills as a hunter are very appreciated,” said Putol.

  “Because the animals here have seen bears and big cats, but have not learned to be wary of a hunter with a spear,” Jenna said proudly.

  “The meat is good,” Haran said modestly. “And everyone is happy.”

  Haran was slowly becoming a great asset to the tribe. It had taken some time for him to feel relaxed around so many people. Having lived so long alone, it had not been easy for him to deal with other people’s wishes and demands. His frustration had often grown to an intolerable point when they had to wait for someone, for no particular reason, other than they wanted extra time to rest. Now Putol had got the group into the habit of following his orders, but sometimes even Jenna despaired at the moods of others. And she was used to living with a population numbering in the billions.