“That you’ll let me teach you how to paint.”
He barked out a laugh, and he wasn’t the only one. Several Hill women snickered right along with his guffaws.
“I mean it, Thrane. If you want me to learn to fight” — and I could see he did — “then you’re going to have learn to access your creative side. Do we have a deal?”
I crossed my arms to show him how serious I was, and my sisters followed suit. We stared him down until he threw his hands in the air.
“Fine! Now come on.”
The moment his fingers wrapped around my hand, any will to resist him dissipated like a wisp of smoke. I followed along for a few steps, until I realized he was leading me in the direction of his hut. It took a few more steps for me to regain my senses enough to stop in my tracks.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To my hut. Where else?” He tugged at my hand, but I wouldn’t move.
“No, I…uh…I think we should do it outside.”
His gaze turned sultry and and one eyebrow shot up suggestively. “Oh, you do, do you? You like it when others watch?”
Heat flooded my cheeks and my heart thumped wildly in my chest. “No! I just…I don’t trust you.”
He watched me for a moment, before smiling softly. “Right. You don’t trust me.”
Dammit! I hated him for being so cocky. I hated myself for not trusting myself to be alone with him. There was just something about him that made my toes curl. I’d never been into the ‘bad boy’ types before, but Thrane wasn’t just any ol’ bad boy. He was the real deal. A man who didn’t let anything stand in his way, who didn’t care what others thought of him, who refused to let such pesky things as other people’s feelings affect him in any way.
In other words, a colossal asshole.
Thrane cocked his head and gave me a curious look. “Why do you hate me so much?”
I barked out a incredulous laugh. “Are you really asking me that? You kidnap me and my sister, turn me into a Warg against my will, cursed me by making it so I’ll never find my fated mate — oh, and let’s not forget trying to kill those I love — and you wonder why I’m not your biggest fan?”
He frowned and started to argue, but I cut him off.
“Don’t even go there, pal. You know what you’ve done. Now can we just get this over with already?”
His gaze prickled my skin before he finally acquiesced. “So be it. First, I’m going to teach you how to block a blow…”
For the next forty minutes, Thrane showed me tactic after tactic, but none of it sunk in. All I could think was how good his body felt pressed up against mine as he poked and prodded me into the perfect poses. His hot breath on my neck as he pushed my shoulders down, his massive hands adjusting my hips, his damnable orange eyes boring down into my depths as he sparred across from me. What he taught me felt a lot less like violence and a lot more like foreplay, and my body didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
It was my brain that minded. Thrane was the most arrogant, cocky, insufferable jerk ever to step foot on Thracos. So why did my body insist on betraying me?
“Okay, now take all I’ve taught you and come at me,” he said, moving across from me and cocking one hip out nonchalantly, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
I crouched and did my best to summon up my training. Something about staying low to knock my enemy off-balance…or something.
Oh hell, screw it. Screaming at the top of my lungs, I used all the strength in my legs to launch myself at Thrane, aiming for his midsection. My face tingled in anticipation of pressing against his bare and very ripped abdomen.
The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back with my hands pinned above my head — the wind knocked out of me — while Thrane straddled my body. As I gasped for air, he grinned, then a strange thing happened. His brows came together, and something that looked suspiciously like worry flitted in his eyes.
“Slowly, calmly, just breathe” he murmured softly, holding eye contact with me as I concentrated on following his instructions.
It only took a few seconds for my lungs to start working again and I was able to breathe…then I forgot how. His face had softened in concern, and all I could think about was how yummy his mouth looked. I found myself raising my head in an unspoken invitation — one he seemed all too happy to accept. My eyes dropped closed as my lips parted. His warm breath whispered across them, teasing me, but the torture was exquisite.
“HEED ME!”
The ragged screech that sounded behind us snapped me out of his spell and pulled me back to reality. Wrenching my hands free from his grasp, I shimmied out from under him and jumped to my feet to find Ouma stumbling out of the forest.
“HEED ME!” she screeched again, her crazy white hair even crazier than usual, and her cloudy eyes rolled back in her head.
“Oh no,” I whispered. I’d witnessed Ouma’s prophecies before, and they were always terrifying, if not always sensible.
“Crazy old crone,” Thrane grumbled behind me.
I whirled on him. “Hold your tongue and show her some respect! This woman has seen more than you, or all of your ancestors, combined. She saved my sister’s life in the meadow, and I won’t tolerate you saying a single word against her, do you understand?”
Thrane started at my outburst, then nodded mutely. As I turned my focus back on Ouma, I spotted several Hill females staring at me in awe. Ignoring them all, I rushed to the old woman’s side and supported her as her body convulsed with a vision.
“Weep not! Light shimmers behind the morning veil!”
As I cradled Ouma in my arms and lowered her to the ground, the convulsions easing to slight tremors, Thrane snorted and muttered under his breath.
“Psh! Of course the sun shines in the morning. What’s with this old bat?”
5
ARLYNN
“I’ve really missed having breakfast with you two.”
It was the first time my sisters had joined me for a meal in what used to be ‘our’ hut, but was now just mine. Tears of gratitude and love filled my eyes as I watched Sienna and Natalie devour big bowls of helix-seed mash with a side of reet cakes.
When the tribes merged, we pooled our resources, and mash had become a breakfast staple — just as it probably had been during the time of the Great Tribe, when brothers Tooibas and Vanter ruled all of Thracos. After they both fell deeply in love with the same woman, the Great Tribe split in two. Helixgrass, which grew wild on the Hill, became all but impossible to find in the Valley. The common grain reet, which was farmed in the Valley, disappeared from the Hill tribe’s diet. It was a terribly romantic tale, but the effect on the Warg species turned out to be devastating.
Unbeknownst to anyone, when consumed together, the two foods reacted chemically to create a gender balance in Wargs. After the split, girl babies became scarce, and the tribe had nearly accepted their doom. Then Natalie and her big brain came along to save the day.
I didn’t usually bother eating mash for breakfast since I don’t have a mate, and as far as I could tell, would never have one. My sisters, however…
“So? Any news on the baby front?” I asked, carefully watching their faces as I sipped on a cup of pink billowberry tea.
Sienna kept her head down and shoveled more mash in her mouth, while Natalie gave herself away by glancing at our sister.
“I knew it!” I shouted, jumping up and running around my tiny table to hug Sienna. “I thought you looked a little…thicker.”
Mid-hug, Sienna socked my arm. “Are you calling me fat?”
We all laughed to the point of crying. At the Training Center in our old Terran settlement, trainers and dietitians and psychologists had done everything they could to beat the fat out of us. We’d been considered unworthy and unwanted there. It had been hell.
Then we’d somehow found our way into the clutches of the most terrifying monsters on this planet — Wargs — but they’d turned out to be wonderful creatures who’d see
n us as tiny, frail and revered. We’d never felt delicate and feminine, until every unmated male Warg within sniffing range had started coming around.
“It’s not just me, you know,” Sienna finally said through a flood of joyful tears. Her pointed look at Natalie sent me for a loop.
“You too?!” I cried, pulling my oh-so-analytical sister into a tight bear hug. “I can’t believe this! I’m going to be a two-time aunty!”
My heart nearly burst with happiness at the idea of both my sisters having babies. I couldn’t wait to spoil the little whelps, who hopefully would be girls, though I wouldn’t care one way or the other.
My heart also broke a little, thinking I’d never be able to join in such a blessing. It clenched, and I could barely breathe with the weight of it all, but having my sisters’ arms wrapped around me gave me strength. They both knew my secret fear, and I knew they knew what I was going through at this moment.
“Arlynn—” Sienna started, but I cut off her sympathetic words by standing and moving back to my seat, brushing the tears out of my eyes as I sat.
“Solan and Markon must be over the moons,” I said cheerfully, smiling until it felt as if my cheeks would crack.
Sienna laughed. “Solan wants to shout it to the world, but I’ve convinced him to stay quiet until Bandrin and Binkor say I’m past any danger.”
“Quite smart,” Natalie agreed. “We’re doing the same, although Markon is finding it difficult to keep it from Thrane.”
The mention of his name set my teeth on edge. I’d come too close to letting him kiss me — again! Thank God for Ouma and her mysterious prophecies.
“What do Solan and Markon think about what Ouma said yesterday?” I asked, trying to keep my mind off Thrane.
“About what everyone else thinks, I suppose,” Sienna said. “It’s impossible to decipher them until they come true, it seems. At least this one sounded hopeful, although no one can figure out what a morning veil is. Maybe the forest canopy and the ‘light’ is the sun? Bah, who knows!”
“What was she doing in the village anyway?” Natalie asked.
“I think she was checking on the new couples from the claiming,” Sienna answered. “Two Hill females told me she’d paid them a visit a couple days ago and gave them bundles of dried herbs with instructions on making some kind of tea. They said it tasted like death.”
“As bad as the food at the Training Center?” Natalie asked.
We all groaned, but I spoke first. “Nothing could be as bad as that! Boy, do I miss the rest of the girls though.”
“I wonder what Raylen’s doing right now, “ Sienna sighed, looking wistful and worried at the same time.
“Probably puking her guts out from over-exercise,” Nat said matter-of-factly.
“Nice,” Sienna laughed. “Do you think they ever wonder what happened to us?”
“Of course,” I said, growing somber. “My parents must wonder the same thing. I hope they’re not worried.”
Sienna and Natalie froze. I knew they didn’t believe me when I insisted my parents had been forced to leave me at the Center, but they’d come back for me one day. I knew it was true and that was all that mattered. The other girls at the Center hadn’t been so lucky. Most of them — including my Sienna and Nat, who’d become closer to me than sisters — had been dumped there like unwanted kittens. Not wanting to get into yet another argument about how delusional I was, I changed the subject.
“So what are you two up to today?” I asked, nibbling on a reet cake. Normally rather sweet, it tasted like sawdust on my tongue.
“I’m working with Prinda, Yara, and some other women to set up the nursery,” Sienna said, her eyes bright with excitement.
Sienna had been a driving force for the plan, which would allow women time to train and contribute to the newly expanded village, without having to worry about leaving their children alone. It was brilliant, really — no surprise, since it was Sienna’s idea.
Not to be outdone, Natalie leaned forward. “Jorek and I are going to try to find a better tasting blend that will still yield more girl babies — at least in the short-term. The stuff we whipped up for the claiming should work, but it tastes like ass.”
Sienna nodded gravely. “True. But I suppose that’s better than tasting like death.”
“What about you, Arlynn?” Nat asked, ignoring Sienna.
“Today is Thrane’s first painting lesson,” I said, willing the blush in my cheeks to subside.
“Oooh,” they both cooed at me, making me flush even hotter.
“Knock it off!”
“What?” Sienna asked innocently. “You keep saying he ruined you for other men. Maybe it’s because he’s your fated. Ever think of that?”
“No!” I shouted. “I have never thought of that!”
Liar!
“It makes sense, Arlynn,” Nat chimed in. “What doesn’t make sense is that his bite has some magical, mystical power to prevent you from finding a mate. It’s much more logical if the reason you don’t feel a connection with any other male is because you’re fated to be with Thrane.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” They were really starting to piss me off. I jumped up and cleared the dishes, even though they hadn’t finished their mash yet. “Thrane is a violent bully who hates everyone and everything. Do you really see me with someone like…him?”
They exchanged a pointed look, then both shrugged.
“Just remember, we’re trying to keep the pregnancies quiet for now.” Natalie stood and pushed in her chair, resigned to the fact she wouldn’t be finishing her meal. Sienna followed suit.
“Yeah, don’t let it slip out during pillow talk,” she teased.
“Trust me, I never let it slip out,” said a decidedly growly, masculine voice from behind me. “Now tell me more about the pillow talk.”
Spinning around, I gawked at how Thrane’s broad, muscular frame filled the doorway, to the point of blocking out the light of day. Our eyes locked and my heart sped up to double-time. He looked far too amused for my taste. The last thing I needed was for him to think he had even the slightest chance of getting into my bed.
Thanks, Sienna!
“Nothing!” I practically shouted. Only after they all stared at me as if kronkworms were wriggling out of my ears, did I realize I’d answered a question that hadn’t been asked.
Sienna and Arlynn smirked at each other, then at me, then at Thrane. Sienna spoke first.
“I think it’s time we get going, don’t you, Nat? We have that…um, thing this morning.”
“Thing?” Natalie asked, completely oblivious, as usual. “What thing?”
Sienna nudged her toward the door. “You know, the thing. Just shut up and move it.”
Thrane stepped inside to give them room to pass, and as they did, Natalie grinned up at him. “Oh, yeah! The thing!”
6
THRANE
My nostrils flared at Arlynn’s distinctive scent. A crispness that brought to mind cool breezes on crisp autumn days wafted off her. Far from overpowering, it still had the power to leave me fuzzy-headed whenever I drew close to her.
“So you won’t trust yourself with me in my hut, but you’ll risk teaching me to paint in the close quarters of your hut?” I teased, enjoying the way her cheeks pinked up. “Is it possible you’ve finally come to your senses?”
I willed her to say yes, to pull me into a frantic kiss, to let me take her right there on the floor — then maybe I could get her out of my head once and for all. Gods knew she didn’t like me, any more than I cared for her airy-fairy spirituality. But damn…that ass!
“The only sense I have for you, Thrane, is disgust,” she snorted, but her flaming cheeks told a different story. “Besides, we’re going to start with some plein air painting.”
I snorted. “How do you paint plain air?”
“Here, take these.” She thrust a stack of painting supplies, including two short easels, into my arms and led me out the door. “Not plain air, b
ut plein. It just means we’re going to paint outside.”
I grumbled for effect, but the truth was, I didn’t mind the view swaying back and forth ahead of me in the slightest. She could lead me wherever she wanted, as long as I got to walk behind her. I didn’t even mind the stares we got as I followed along like a puppy. Hopefully, my obvious interest in her would scare off any other males who came sniffing around. And if not, then I’d just have to use different, yet very effective, tactics to pound it into their skulls. Literally.
“I’m honestly surprised you showed up at all,” she said over her shoulder as we trudged through the forest in the direction of the nearby stream.
The suggestion she thought I was a liar cut me deeper than I cared to think about. “Know this about me, Arlynn, I’m a man of my word.”
She shot me a cynical look, but said nothing.
“I admit, I hold no value in the arts,” I conceded, “but when I make a commitment, I keep it…or I’ll die trying.”
She held her tongue for the rest of the walk. Only the sounds of the forest interrupted the heavy silence between us. I listened intently for any sign of danger, but grumpuses and forest rats hadn’t ventured this close to a Warg village in many moons. We were safe. She was safe.
“This stream is one of my favorite spots to paint,” Arlynn said as she took the supplies and equipment from me.
She placed the easels close together in front of a fallen tree, then perched that ripe behind of hers on the log and patted the spot next to her. I had to move the easel farther out to accommodate my size as I sat so close our hips touched. Her heat seared my flesh and it took the strength of the Elders to keep myself from taking her on the forest floor, surrounded by nature.
“We’re just going to have some fun this first time, see what you can do.” She seemed to catch the double meaning of her words instantly, but pressed on before I could comment. “Use your charcoal to sketch whatever interests you.”
Thrane's Fated Page 3
