He turned his face so he could place a kiss against her palm then fused his gaze with hers. “What was I to say? You had been given to my brother. It would have been dishonorable to have spoken to you of my feelings."
"Yet you do so now."
"Now you have vowed you will not accept the Joining with Chaska,” he said. “Now I can offer you my protection and my love. I would make you a far better husband than Chaska ever could."
At that bold statement Mina could not help but compare the two men. Chaska was the shorter of the two, heavier in weight and given over to a bit of flab around the waist and under his chin. Takoda was leaner with a tightly honed body upon which not an ounce of fat could be seen. Where Chaska's braids were longer than Takoda's, his hair was coarser and usually smelled musky. In contrast, Takoda's hair was sleek and shiny and as she stroked her fingertips along the tip of his braid, she discovered it was as soft as a duckling's down and smelled of sweet grass. Strips of otter-skin intertwined with a twisted deerskin thong had been added to each braid to stiffen it. Among the Dark Wolf clan, Takoda was a warrior of some note, while Chaska seemed content to follow his younger brother and not take upon himself the mantle of leadership.
"Chaska Dark Wolf is lazy,” Mina had heard one of the elders remark. “And he has embraced many of the unhealthy practices of the white man. It is said that he hates to return to human form when he changes for it takes too much energy."
She lowered her gaze to Takoda's mouth. Unlike Chaska's tobacco-juice stained teeth, Takoda's were straight and very white for he disdained the filthy habit. And then there was Chaska's fondness for the white man's strong drink.
"What are you thinking?” Takoda asked. He lightly rubbed his thumb across her nipple and shifted his weight upon her so she felt the hardness between his legs.
Mina gasped but did not push his hand away. She was enjoying the heat from his hand through the buckskin of her dress. Enjoyable, too, was that hardness that brought an ache to her lower body. “I am wondering what the tribal council will say. Do you think they will set aside my betrothal to Chaska so easily?” she asked.
"I will go before them and offer to engage in a contest with Chaska for your hand. I have supporters among the council of elders. I believe they will allow me to challenge for you."
She could not imagine brother against brother in combat for her. Chaska was not known for his warrior abilities and she doubted he would be willing to meet Takoda on the field of battle. There was no uncertainty of who the champion would be.
"I will speak to your father, first,” he stated. “That is the honorable and right thing to do."
"What if my father does not accept your suit?” she asked.
"There is but one way to assure that he does,” he said with a growl.
His slid his hand from her breast and down her side to her thigh. Shifting slightly so his entire weight was not upon her, he crushed the skirt of her dress in his hands and began inching the hem up her leg.
"What are you doing?” she asked, her eyes wide.
"Claiming you so there will be no mistaking who you belong to,” he answered.
Mina stopped breathing. In her tribe it was not uncommon for young people to experiment with mating and though the tribal elders did not condone such practices, neither did they condemn it. It was left up to the individual clans to set the restrictions and limitations for their female children while males were allowed free range. Her parents, however, had strictly forbidden her to have relations with Chaska but they had said nothing about his brother.
"Teshima. Nyhimaiah Washina,” he whispered, telling her he loved her and that she would be his as his palm touched her upper thigh.
His hand was gentle and calloused and deliciously warm as he placed it between her legs, the base of his palm resting on her folds, his fingers threading through her nether curls. Why she felt no mortification at so intimate a touch did not occur to her. She simply lay there basking in the feeling he was invoking. He was gazing down at her as though she were a feast laid out for his enjoyment and that made her very soul soar inside her body.
"Tell me no,” he said, “and I will stop.” He pressed the heel of his hand against her firmly. “Though I am on fire with need of you, I will stop."
Mina could not have spoken had her very life depended upon it. She was lost in the dark fire smoldering in his eyes, the strong planes of his handsome face, the way he put out his tongue and curled it over his bottom lip for just a fleeting moment before drawing it back into the warm recessed of his mouth. That particular sight sent a quiver of need straight through her lower body.
"I would never say no to you, chemioho," she replied, calling him her betrothed. It was a name she had never once used to Chaska.
His body trembled at her words and he turned his hand so his fingers were paused at the entrance of her sheath. Lowering his head, he put his lips to the side of her neck where the flesh was night-kissed and cool. His warm breath wafted over her throat.
"I will never hurt you, arechi hyegahaota,” he swore. “I offer you only respect and honor. All that I have, I lay at your feet."
Among the Kochodol tribe—the Sun People—their warrior's words were law. Lies were never spoken and deceit was rare. Honor was more important than life and for a warrior to make a vow, to swear an oath, it was unbreakable.
"Make me yours, then, chemioho,” she whispered to him. “Make me your woman."
He raised his head and claimed her mouth once more, his tongue slipping between her lips, probing for entrance and when she opened to him, he thrust inside slowly and swirled the tip against the roof of her mouth. Her groan made him grunt with pleasure.
Mina felt his fingers sliding slowly, delicately along her folds—the index and middle digit bracketing that sensitive area to move down the slick valleys alongside her outer lips. His short nails scratched gently as he brought his fingers up again just as slowly and she shivered. With his tongue now deep in her mouth, she was dragging ragged breaths in through her nostrils and could hear her blood pounding like the hooves of the giant buffalo thundering over the prairie land. When his thumb touched some ultra-sensitive part of her just beneath the mons, she instinctively arched her hips up and flattened her sex against his palm.
He released her mouth. “Easy, arechi hyegahaota," he said. “I want this to be as nearly perfect for you as I can make it."
It was perfect just lying there on the ground with him as the black velvet of the sky hung like a canopy above them. His lips at the hollow of her throat were perfection and as his tongue swept over that responsive area, she put her hands up to clutch at his broad shoulders.
Takoda eased away from her and sat up. Positioning himself between her thighs, he knelt, nudging her legs farther apart as he slid the hem of her buckskin dress up to her waist, baring her to his view.
"Oh, chemioho!" she exclaimed, turning her head to bury her face against her shoulder.
"No, my lovely one,” he said softly, reaching across her with his right hand to lay the back of his palm against her right cheek to turn her face back toward him. “There is no shame in what I do. It is right. It is what a man and woman do when they mate. I want to see every part of you."
Her face heated with embarrassment, she said nothing, just lay there as he gazed down at the juncture of her thighs. Grasping handfuls of the soft sand beneath her hips she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Your body is a delight to gaze upon, hishnae,” he said softly. “And your scent is driving me mad."
Hearing him call her heart of his heart in the language of their people sent chills racing through Mina. It was a term of endearment not lightly bestowed and when a man found the one woman to whom he could speak that precious title, he had already made a firm commitment to her down to his soul.
Takoda took her shoulders in his hands and helped her to sit. He then pulled the dress from her body, laying it carefully aside. The night wind wafted over her flesh and brought goosebumps that grew
more copious when he put his hand to the center of her chest and pressed lightly, letting her know he wished for her to lie down again.
Silently, she watched him get to his feet and remove first his utility belt from which hung the possibles bag, his knife sheath, and flint bag. Next he took off the belt holding up the soft breechclout that cupped his genitals and that had been made from a piece of soft, weathered tipi covering. Her avid eyes would not look away as he took off his leggings and stood before her adorned in only the two red, cobalt and white bead worked rawhide armbands that circled his arm just above the bulging biceps and the three row bone chocker at his throat.
"Does the sight of me please you, hishnae?” he asked.
Mina had to swallow before she could answer. She was unable to tear her attention from the thick shaft that jutted toward her. It was long and made the very teeth in her mouth ache with wanting it inside her. “Ayai, chianusko,” she replied, naming him her beloved one for the first time.
Takoda smiled and went to his knees between her spread knees. “You are more beautiful than I could have ever imagined,” he said and laid the palm of his hand on her thigh, stroking her tenderly, almost reverently.
Gently, softly, and unhurriedly, he stretched out atop her, letting her get used to the naked weight of him pressing her down. He laid still though his cock flexed against her lower body.
"He wants you,” the warrior said.
She could feel moisture along her thigh and knew it must be coming from his shaft. There was a faint scent and for some reason that heightened the desire coursing through her body.
"Tell me what to do,” she asked.
He smiled and his face became so handsome it hurt her heart to look at him. His was such a perfect visage, a faultlessly formed body. Lying beneath him she throbbed like the strings of a lute. When he took her hand and placed it on his rigid sex, she drew in a long, slow breath.
"You are hard,” she said in awe.
"Stroke him, hishnae, and I will grow harder for you,” he vowed.
His flesh was soft yet the core of him was like iron. As she ran her hand up and down his length she could feel the blood drumming within his shaft. A thin coating of something warm and slick soon covered her palm.
"It is the essence of life that you feel clinging to you,” he explained. “It is that which makes a baby inside you."
That thought widened her eyes. It astounded her to know she wielded such power in her hand. She released him, wanting more but not knowing how to ask.
He seemed to understand and his hand was once more between her legs as he shifted to his left side so he could touch her heated core. He rubbed his hand up and down her sex—his middle finger seeming to go lower and lower until he was probing just inside her channel.
"It will hurt the first time, hishnae," he warned her. “That I can not prevent but I swear to you it will never hurt again."
"I know,” she said and at his elevated brows she giggled. “Women talk, warrior."
He grinned. “Not nearly as bad as their men folk,” he countered and slipped half of his middle finger inside her.
"Umm,” she said, closing her eyes to the glorious feel.
Takoda moved his finger in and out of her slowly, going deeper with every third invasion into her moist heat. When she had accommodated that finger, he insinuated the second into her and continued the slow, methodical foray until he could add the third finger—stretching her gently, slowly, but firmly.
"You are slick with your own essence,” he told her and withdrew his fingers to bring them to his mouth.
Mina stopped breathing when she saw him place his wet fingers between his lips to taste her juices. She stared at him as he licked the moisture from his flesh then lowered his hand between her legs once more.
"There is nothing either wrong or dirty about what I just did,” he said and bent over to kiss her, to let her taste herself on his lips.
The slightly starchy aroma of her body clung to his mouth and she wasn't so sure she liked the sensation. She thought of the white whore suckling Chaska's shaft and she tensed.
"I do not want to suckle you, Takoda,” she said, her forehead creased.
"You do not have to do anything you do not want to, hishnae,” he assured her. “But I want more than just a sampling of your juices. I want to feast upon them."
Before she could stop him, he slid down her until his mouth was cupping her sex, his tongue lapping at the moisture. He used his thumbs to spread her vaginal lips then he attacked her clit with flicks that made her squirm beneath him. By the time he peeled the hood from that sensitive little nub and began to lightly suckle it, she was in the beginning throes of release.
Mina had no idea what it was that was building inside her. It was heat and it was moistness and it was an itch that caused her to grind her hips against her lover's face. She was panting as she lay writhing beneath his mouth. Whatever was eating away at her insides was doing the strangest things to her breasts. They were tingling and the nipples were so sensitive that when he reached up a hand to touch one, she cried out and something happened inside her that seemed to go on and on and on, pulsing with the most delicious feeling she could never have imagined. As that sensation became even more intense, Takoda pushed himself over her and he impaled her on the thick heat of his shaft.
There was no pain—only a slight stinging—but how the man filled her! She felt stretched to her limits and yet the pleasure seemed to start up again when he began moving inside her and before she knew what she was doing, she had thrown her legs around his hips and was meeting him thrust for thrust.
Takoda's hands slipped under her rump and he lifted her up, positioning her so that his plunges were controlled and measured and as gentle as he could make them despite the fact he wanted to pump as hard and as fast inside her as he could. She was heavenly tight around his throbbing member and so slick and so precious as the waves of her release milked him. He was not all the way in her and when he finally pushed, finally seated himself as deep as he could go she shrieked and clawed at his back, bucking beneath him, thrashing her head back and forth as another wave of intense pleasure claimed her.
"Ayai, hishnae,” he whispered against her throat. “Ayai!"
She felt him go perfectly still inside her then his shaft began to jerk—once, twice, three, four, five times. She knew he was spilling his seed into her. She clung to him as he shuddered several times then laid down upon her, his full weight crushing her in such a pleasurable way, she could never have expected it. Wrapping her arms around him, she held him with her chin atop his sleek dark hair and listened to their hearts.
"Teshima, hishnae," he said, avowing his love for her.
"Teshima, chianusko,” she replied and, off in the distance, she heard one of his blood kin howling to the full moon sailing overhead.
Chapter Two
Chaska Dark Wolf was furious when he awoke barely at dawn the next morning to find his future father-in-law shaking him roughly, yelling at him to rise. He shook off the old man's hand and sat up, wincing at the wicked hangover that was crushing his skull. “What is it, neshoko?” he snarled, remembering to give the old man the title of father at the last moment.
"Where is your intended?” Kohana Windwalker demanded. He was glaring at Chaska. “She did not return to our camp last evening. Where is she?"
It took Chaska a moment to realize who the old man meant then he made the mistake of shrugging. “How would I know? She was not here."
Kohana lashed out with a hand that was quicker than the younger man could have anticipated and clamped his fingers around Chaska's neck. “Where is my daughter?” He shook Chaska.
Knowing he could not attack the old man but wanting to with every fiber in his being, Chaska put up placating hands. “I do not know, neshoko. I have not seen my betrothed for a week now.” He attempted to put respect and fear into his tone when all he really wanted to do was curse the aged fool.
Mina's father let go of the y
ounger man's neck and turned away. “Her mother is worried sick,” he stated. “This is not like our daughter to be so thoughtless."
Not really caring whether or not Mina ever came home, Chaska flung the covers aside and stood up, not in the least concerned with his nakedness though he noticed his future father-in-law pursed his lips with annoyance. “Did her pony come home? Could he have thrown her?"
"No, the beast did not return,” Kohana replied.
"Let me get dressed and we will go find Takoda,” Chaska said, padding over to the washstand to lean over the ewer and throw water into his aching face. “He is the best tracker among us."
Kohana's sensitive nose caught the whiff of spent body fluids and narrowed his eyes. “You have not befouled my daughter, have you?"
Chaska froze in the act of putting on his leggings. He straightened up, his eyes unblinking. “Of course, not, neshoko. Why would you think so?"
The old man nudged his chin toward the bed. “This place smells like essence.” There was deadly iron in his withering tone and accusation in his dark eyes.
His face turning pale, Chaska knew he could not lie to the old man. “I had a woman here,” he admitted and then with a careless wave of a hand he added, “a white slut suckled me.” There was deceit in his explanation but it wasn't an out-and-out lie. The white whore had suckled him but he dared not admit he had thrust himself between her evil thighs. That would not set well with his future father-in-law and might well break the Gahaota. He did not need the wrath of the tribal council descending down around his ears.
The admission Chaska made concerning the white prostitute seemed to shock Kohana. “You could not discipline yourself enough to wait for the Joining, Chaska? It is less than a month away!"
Grinding his teeth as he settled his breechclout into place on his hips, Chaska gave the old man a steady look. “I have needs I would not have gone to your daughter to fill, neshoko. I have too much respect for your family."
Kohana held the younger man's steady gaze for a moment then nodded. “I would have castrated you had you despoiled her this close to the ceremony."
Autumn Wind Page 2
