“What is it?” he asked.
“How’s it going to be when I go back to Harbeiz and you go back to the border patrol?” she asked.
“I don’t suppose you would come back to the border patrol with me,” he remarked.
She smiled. “I don’t think so. I couldn’t live out in the mountains for years. I need to be settled with other people around me.”
“How do I know you won’t stay with the Avitras?” he asked. “Once we find your sisters, you could decide you can’t be separated from them. You might stay with them and I’ll come back to the border patrol.”
“That won’t happen,” she replied. “I’ve been with the Ursidreans for months, and I have you. I’ll come back.”
“How can you be sure?” he asked.
She stared straight in front of her. “I’m sure.”
Chapter 9
“Emily.”
“What?”
He laid his hand on her cheek and turned her face toward him. His eyes drilled into her soul. “It’s very pleasant to hold your hand and talk, but I need something more than promises. I don’t want to leave you, and you don’t want to leave me, but what assurance do we have that we will stay together? What commitment do we have that we’ll make sacrifices to stay together?”
“What are you asking?” she asked. “Are you asking for a long-term commitment? Are you asking me to promise you my undying loyalty? I don’t understand.”
He waved his hand. “Nothing like that. I wouldn’t presume to ask that when the future is so uncertain. I don’t know what I’m asking, but I need some sign from you that I’m not some passing whim of yours. I need something solid to hold onto.”
She studied him. “I was thinking the same thing on the way here. I barely know you, and here we are trekking all over the planet and holding hands. I want some assurance of you, too.”
His eyes brightened. “Then what are we going to do about that?”
She paused. Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. He met her lips with a moment’s hesitation. Then he gave himself over to it with his direct determination. He enclosed her in his embrace, and they sank into the comfort of one another’s presence.
After a long moment, he drew back and smiled. “That will do.”
Emily laughed. They sat together on the grass with their hands joined. They always came back to that simple acknowledgment of togetherness. “What happens now that you’ve got your assurance?”
He shook his head. “I still don’t have any answers. I just needed to know I’m not dispensable to you.”
She huddled close in his arms. “You could never be dispensable to anyone.”
“You’d be surprised,” he replied.
“You could never be dispensable to me,” she told him.
“Nor you to me,” he replied. “That’s why I had to come with you.”
“Something’s been bothering me, though,” she told him. “I can’t get something you said out of my mind.”
“What did I say?” he asked.
“You said you wanted assurance that we would make sacrifices to stay together,” she told him. “What did you mean?”
“If we become long-term mates,” he replied, “one of us will have to sacrifice for the other. Either I’ll have to leave the mountains or you'll have to leave the city. One of us will have to give up our old life for the new one.”
“Is that something you would be willing to do?” she asked.
He gazed up at the sky. “I really don’t know.”
“I wouldn’t want to live in the mountains—not indefinitely,” she replied. “But I wouldn’t want you to give up the job you love for me, either.”
“I wouldn’t want you to live in the mountains indefinitely,” he told her. “You wouldn’t be happy, and I wouldn’t make you unhappy.”
Emily brightened up. “At least we agree neither of us should be unhappy for the sake of the other.”
“It still doesn’t get us closer to solving the problem,” he replied.
“Like you said,” she told him, “until we become mates, there is no real problem.”
He didn’t answer. The sun streamed through the trees, and they sat in silence, hand in hand, until it disappeared behind the horizon. Faruk got to his feet and raised Emily from the ground. Without saying anything, they strolled back to the village. Lycaon of all ages and color patterns moved between the houses. The women tended the last chores in preparation for night. Old men played with the children and the old women talked in doorways.
A blessed tranquility enveloped the village. Emily never experienced anything like it in Harbeiz. The hum of technology blocked it out. Here, nothing separated people from each other. No social intricacies interfered with the natural relationships between generations and sexes and families and friends. People met one another in their raw primitive form, and their relationships carried a clean, raw, direct power Emily never saw anywhere else.
Faruk’s hand weighed heavy in hers. She smiled up at him. They would have to separate now to go to their own huts. She sighed. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Have you forgotten?” he asked. “We’re going to Caleb’s for a meal.”
She brightened up and gave his hand a squeeze. They went on to Caleb’s house, where they retreated to a formal distance. They didn't come back together until hours later, when Emily stepped through Caleb’s door.
She looked up and caught her breath. A brilliant yellow aurora lit up the night sky. Bursts of starlight lined the waves of energy pouring through the atmosphere and lit up the Lycaon village as bright as day. “I’ve never seen it so bright.”
Chris emerged from the hut. “It’s like this all over the planet. Can you believe that? It’s much stronger than the aurorae on Earth, and it isn’t confined to the poles.”
Emily stared up at it. “It’s beautiful.”
Chris sighed. “I prefer the black starry sky. That’s what I grew up with, and that’s what I love.”
“And now you’ll never see it again,” Emily pointed out.
“The aurora isn’t like this every night,” Chris told her. “It only happens during certain phases of the lunar cycle. At other times, the sky is as black as Earth, and the stars are just as beautiful.” She moved away. “I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She vanished into the sleeping village, and Faruk came out of Caleb’s hut. “That was the best meal I’ve had in years.” He glanced at her and followed her gaze to the sky. “What are you looking at?”
She nodded upward. “That. It’s beautiful.”
He frowned. “Don’t you have it on your planet?”
“Not like this,” she replied. “We have it near the extreme poles of the planet, and it’s not as strong as this. I’ve see it a few times, but nothing like this. I could stand here and look at it all night long.”
He waited, but she didn’t move. Then he took her hand. “You’ll freeze if you stand here and look at it all night long. Come back to your hut and get some sleep.”
She let him lead her between the silent dwellings. They stopped in front of Emily’s hut, but they didn’t let go of each other’s hands. Emily gazed up at the sky for a minute. Then she surveyed the shadowy village. At last, she turned to Faruk.
She smiled at him, but neither said a word. He didn’t smile, though. He fixed her with his intense gaze, and his palm burned her hand. What was he thinking right now? He bent down to kiss her and straightened up again.
They stared into one another’s eyes for a long time. Emily could make out every hair on his head in the aurora’s light. His ears twitched. He was waiting for something. Then, without a word, he bent down and slipped through the door into Emily’s hut. He pulled her after him by the hand, and darkness enfolded them.
Emily’s eyes adjusted to the dark, and she found her way down onto the bed. He brought his face close to hers and turned her toward him. H
is voice murmured low in the dark. “Emily.”
“I’m here,” she whispered.
“I don’t want to wonder anymore,” he breathed. “I want us to be mated.”
She caught her breath, but he wasn’t saying anything she didn’t already know. “I want that, too.”
His mouth closed over hers, and the heady wine of intoxicated passion swept over her mind. The uncertainty was over. She gave herself over to him and her body into his arms.
“We’ll be together,” he murmured. “Whatever happens, we’ll find a way to stay together.”
She closed her eyes and sank into his kiss. She leaned back, and they stretched out together on the blankets. From the connection between their lips, they gazed into each other’s eyes by the light coming through the hut’s stick walls. They breathed back and forth and listened to one another’s breathing.
Faruk took her in his arms, and this time, she let the full intensity of her passion flare against him. Their breathing quickened and she pressed her body against his iron bulk. He accepted her with open arms, and with every escalation of her desire, he matched her step for step.
In a flash, she rolled on top of him. His body went stiff under her, and she lay on his mountainous chest. He pulled her down onto him with his arms, and she threw all her weight into him, but she didn’t make a dent.
Then she felt his body swelling under her. She threw all caution to the wind and tore open her shirt. She let her bare breasts fall against his chest, and the next minute, her legs spread to straddle his hips. She pushed herself up and balanced there dripping wet on his thick length.
He fell back on the bed, and she stabbed herself down onto him. Wave upon wave of long-buried passion flooded her starved body. She bucked and kicked to goad him on, but he needed no encouragement. Her legs thrashed out, and she galloped far away over the mountains where no one could find her again.
In the dead of night, Emily woke in pitch darkness. The aurora’s yellow glow no longer slipped through the openings in the hut’s walls. Her eyes struggled to adjust, but she couldn’t see anything. She lay still to keep from waking Faruk. His breathing rose and fell in a steady tide behind her, and his arm hung heavy and motionless over her ribs. She closed her eyes, but her mind whirled with memories and sensations from the last few hours. Her body flared with renewed excitement, but she had to keep perfectly still. Even the warm wet stains on her legs drove her to greater heights of desire for him.
She never moved a muscle, but the energy coursing through her must have triggered his senses. His breathing changed, and his arm stiffened. Emily held her breath and listened. He struggled to breath for a moment. Then he sighed and was fully awake.
He held himself still for a minute, too. Then he dropped his face into the crook of her neck. He stroked her neck and shoulder with his lips, and she pressed her head back against him. Her breath deepened, and the tingle of excitement rose to a fevered pitch. She couldn’t hold herself back anymore. She pressed herself into him, and his body quivered to life.
His hand flattened against her belly, and her abdomen went taut. He traced his fingertips around her navel, and she sucked her breath through her teeth to keep herself under control. She would wake the whole village with her shouts of ecstasy if she didn’t. His cock bulged against her from behind, and she pushed back against it.
His hand slipped farther down between her legs. The cocktail of sweat and desire still dampened it from their earlier encounter and lubricated the passage of his fingers down. He plowed a furrow to her secret opening, and she spread herself to receive him.
He growled into her neck, and she drove herself back into him. His other arm snaked around her ribs and pulled her against him. His hardened member drove between her legs, and his fingers guided it home. Emily gasped and writhed in convulsions of tension. She couldn’t move with him holding her so tight, and between his cock behind her and his finger in front of her, she couldn’t extricate herself one way or the other.
Faruk moved her body for her. He pulled her back to engulf his throbbing shaft and pushed her forward to slide out, ready for another thrust. She gave herself into his hands, and her body vibrated to his rhythm.
His body consumed her and she could feel every inch, as he pulled it free and then slammed it forth with a determination that she could see in his eyes. She moved against him, her eyes closed and then they fluttered open with the feeling of an orgasm that had been stirred to the surface by him buried inside her.
“Fuck MEEEEEEEEEE”, she whimpered, trying not to scream as he pummeled in her with relentless thrusts. He was using that strong masculine physique to drive repeatedly in and out of her. The mutual feeling between them was beyond reasoning.
The way Faruk was holding Emily and plummeting her depths was almost too good to be real. She had experienced good sex on earth with men before but Faruk was different, he was a mighty beast of a man. He was all man, charming and had a good heart.
His body began to show the signs of exertion, fatigue setting in and making his breath labored. Just when she thought that he was almost done, he suddenly got his second wind. He was plowing her deeper and deeper, while at the same time rubbing his shaft against her little friend. The constant friction of wetness that was circling her clit sent her to a place of complete bliss.
“I’m cumming…oh my god…that’s it. Don’t stop…whatever you do don’t stop… I…… Yes…Faruk…Faruk…FARUKKKKKKK.” She called his name several times with the last one being punctuated with a high pitched squeal that made her believe that she woke up the entire village. She was twisting and turning and it was a wonder that he was even able to stay in the saddle.
They had thrown caution to the wind and gave in to their baser animalistic desires. It was everything that she thought it would be and more. She didn’t know quite what to expect with an alien race, but it appeared that she had nothing to worry about.
Nothing could separate them now. They were mates. They were joined.
Chapter 10
Chris and Turk filed out of the village. Faruk came after them, but Emily stopped to look back. “I almost wish I could stay here longer. I only just got here, and there’s so much to learn about these people.”
Faruk surveyed the village. “Yes. I never knew they had such a complex and interesting culture. I’ll have to study them further, and I’m sure Donen will want to hear everything we learned here. Our people don’t know nearly enough about the Lycaon.”
“Do you think there’s any chance for peace between our factions?” she asked.
“If all the factions and all the Alphas are guarding the same secret in fear the others will find out,” he replied, “it’s a simple matter of letting the secret out.”
“Letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak?” Emily chuckled. “But who will be the first to let their guard down? It would take a brave Alpha to take that step and expose himself to his enemies.”
“Donen would do it,” he told her. “I know him well enough to know he’s waiting for an opening like this. When I tell him Caleb has the same problem of not enough men to guard the border, Donen will jump at the chance to lower our defenses and make peace. You heard him back home. He sent word to Renier that he wants a truce, and that’s after he invaded Renier’s territory and almost got killed for it. If that didn’t take courage, I don’t know what does.”
They set off down the trail. “Maybe now isn’t such a great time to be flying off to Avitras territory to search for my sisters.”
“It’s the best possible time to do it,” he replied. “You won’t rest until you see them safe and happy, and we can carry word to Aquilla that our factions want peace. If all the Alphas want peace the way we do, we could be on the doorstep of a great era for our planet.”
She stole a sidelong glance at him. “Aren’t you worried about seeing Aquilla again? Aren’t you worried he’ll try to kill you in revenge for his brother’s death?”
“He doesn’t know which Ursidrean killed his brother.” Faruk grinned at her. “If he did, I wouldn’t set foot anywhere near Avitras territory.”
She slipped her hand into his. “Good, because I don’t want you endangering yourself for me.”
“I’d do a lot more than endanger myself for you,” he replied. “And you don’t have to worry about me going back to the border patrol any time soon. After this trip, I’ll be staying in Harbeiz for a long time, reporting to Donen and the Supreme Council about what we found. This is important information. No one has come back from our neighboring factions’ territory with information like this—ever.”
She squeezed his hand. “You might even enter politics.”
He made a face. “Don’t even joke about that.”
Chris stopped by a stream bed near midday, and they shared a meal out of Turk’s pack of supplies. Emily looked around. “How do you know this area so well?”
“This is our territory,” Chris replied. “We’ve traveled over this area dozens of times over the past year.”
“Have you used this stopping place all those times, too?” she asked.
Chris laughed. “No.”
Emily studied her. “Why do you say it like that?”
“We cross this territory in a fraction of the time,” Chris replied. “We usually run it instead of walking it. We’re walking because you’re here.”
Emily stared at her. “You....run it? How?”
Chris shrugged. “We run. We don’t walk.”
Emily blinked. “How can you run with packs on your backs?”
“We don’t carry packs,” Chris told her.
Emily’s mouth fell open. “But....”
“We don’t carry anything except our weapons,” Chris told her. “Sometimes we don’t even carry that. We hunt along the way, but sometimes we use our bare hands. The Lycaon can run down anything they find in these woods. I can’t catch the biggest prey. I’m not as fast as most Lycaon. But Turk can.”
“But how can you do that?” Emily asked. “How can you run that fast, to run down an animal....?”
Damen (Dragons of Kratak Book 2) Page 36
