His brow furrowed. “But . . . surely if you were to return after the Choosing Day—”
“With no memory of where I was for a month?” she cried. “They won’t let me go back to Earth unless they wipe my memory of Hir, of everything from the moment I stepped out of the house! I won’t have an explanation of where I’ve been, why no one has seen me, why I didn’t even take my cell. I haven’t even called Dean to find out how Emma is and that’s—look, that’s just not like me. I still have the rest of this moon cycle before the Day of Choosing comes and I can’t wait that long. Unless your father intervenes and helps me get home I’ll get back two weeks after Dean is going to drop Emma off.”
“And he—Dean—will search for you?”
She gave a short bitter laugh. “Actually, first he’ll search for my wallet and relieve me of any cash I have, then he’ll call Social Services and tell them I ran off.” Summer shook her head, not bothering to check her tears. “Don’t you understand? The courts could take Emma away from me. It might be years before I get her back—or never.”
“I will go,” Ke’lar promised swiftly. “I will go to Earth and find your child. I will bring her to you. I will appeal to the Council myself, apprise them of the urgency—”
“Ke’lar!” she cried. “You’re an almost seven-foot-tall alien! You can’t go running around the southeastern part the United States, hoping to find one little girl—even if your government allowed it—and we both know they aren’t going to let you go.” Summer passed her hand over her eyes. “Look, it comes down to this—if I’m not there when Dean comes back he’ll probably hand her over to the state. I have four days left to get back to Earth.”
His frown deepened. “Surely he would not surrender his child? He would care for her, protect her—”
“Yeah, you don’t know my ex. He was a lousy husband but he’s been an even worse father. He wasn’t even there when she was born and since then he’s hardly seen Emma at all. The only thing he seems to make time for is to bitch every month about sending support for her—not that it adds up to much. I even had my attorney draw up papers for him to waive his rights just so if anything happened to me Emma wouldn’t wind up being raised by someone who’d treat her like a burden. Well—” She ran her hands through her hair. “At least until she was old enough to be treated like a servant. The only reason he’s got Emma now is ’cause his mother begged me to send her. He’s got visitation but he never uses it so I couldn’t really object. And God love her, Dean’s momma is a real good woman with a jerk for a son. All Dean is really doing is picking Emma up and driving her back to mooch off his mom for two weeks, while Emma sees her grandmother.”
“He is not fit to be a father,” Ke’lar snarled. “He does not deserve all he has been given.”
Summer sighed. “You sure won’t get any argument from me.”
“I wish you had told me.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I wish you had trusted me.”
“I am trusting you, Ke’lar, with the most precious thing in my life—I’m trusting you with my baby girl.” She caught her hands in his. “You have to help me. You have to convince your father to send me home.”
“I cannot live on Earth with you.” His gaze was raw. “And I cannot live without you. There must be another way.”
“She’s my baby.” Her vision blurred. “And goddamn it, choosing between you is killing me.”
“I thought”—his throat worked for a moment—“there was another male that you loved.”
“No,” she murmured, taking his face in her hands. She brushed her nose to his in a g’hir’s kiss. “There’s no one but you.”
His eyes softened and he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. “Summer . . .”
He tilted his head, bringing his mouth to hers, his tongue flicking against the sensitive spot at the corner of her mouth. The cinnamon-sweet taste of him was delicious; his soft purr sent heat racing between her legs. This time, though, it was she who unfastened his clothing, who knelt above him, allowing him to enjoy the sight as she removed her own clothes.
He cupped her buttocks, ready to lift her onto his hard cock, when she put her hands to his shoulders to stop him.
“Wait—” She offered a quick smile. “My turn.”
He was ready, eager to be inside her, but he yielded, letting her push him back to lie down upon the pallet. He was all muscle and warm skin, his penis jutting upward, a gleam of moisture at the tip.
“Put your arms up,” she said, her voice husky. “Over your head.”
“Why?” he rumbled, looking perplexed even as he complied.
Her fingers traced the sinew of his hips and his cock twitched in response, his eyes like blue fire.
“Because now,” she murmured, “I want to capture you.”
His mouth parted as she slid her hand around his shaft, feeling it grow more taut, the lubrication increasing as she stroked.
His glowing eyes widened as she bent to press her mouth against the tip of his shaft, groaning as she ran her tongue along the luscious sweet wetness there.
His rumble went deeper than she’d ever heard it when she took him into her mouth, her hand stroking the length. With the heat of his cock in her mouth and his purr vibrating her clit she groaned, wondering just how long she could do this before her own need grew out of control.
His muscles were quivering, his hungry rumble making her tremble with need. She pressed her tongue to the underside of his shaft and suddenly the sweet taste of his seed burst into her mouth, leaving his body quaking.
“I did not . . . know,” he gasped, “you could . . . do that.”
She laughed, licking his candy sweet taste from her lips as she straddled his hips. “Like it?”
“Yes,” he growled fiercely.
His cock was still hard, his rumbling deep, and she shivered as he traced the outline of her body with the tips of his fingers.
“Let me pleasure you the same way,” he murmured.
“I don’t know,” she teased, a little breathless. “Those fangs look awful sharp.”
“You have fangs too.” He half sat up and she gasped as the wet heat of his mouth closed around her nipple. “Dainty little human ones.”
It was a moment before she could think clearly enough to answer as he kissed his way to the other breast.
“Those are called ‘canines’ and they aren’t really—oh!” she breathed as his fingers brushed her clit, the moisture there making it easy for him to stroke her.
“I love to see you find your pleasure,” he rumbled. “I have never imagined anything so arousing.”
“Good,” she managed. “How about now?”
He lay back and clasped her by the hips. He lowered her slowly, till his cock filled her completely.
His hands rested on her thighs, his fingers stroking in rhythm as he rocked beneath her, his glowing eyes blue fire as he watched her. Suddenly her climax hit and his fingers tightened reflexively as he pulsed inside her.
She collapsed atop him, too spent for the moment even to roll off.
His arms encircled her, holding her. “There will never be another but you, my mate, my sweet Summer . . .”
Summer stirred and reached out, only to find the place beside her on the pallet empty.
She blinked, rubbing at her eyes. From the light filtering through the shelter she knew it was very early morning but she didn’t hear Ke’lar moving about outside.
It was very quiet.
Too quiet.
Her heart in her throat and trying to make as little noise as possible, Summer reached for her clothes and dressed swiftly. She hesitated for a moment, listening, at the shelter’s exit, then pushed it open and stepped outside.
The suns had not yet risen over the Zun Mountains; the air was cool and fog swirled through the valley, blanketing everything in an otherworldly mist.
She was alone.
Her glance darted about the field, the mist-shrouded trees, but there was no sign of him.
Summer wrapped her arms around herself at the answering silence.
Would he do that? Would he just go off and leave her in the middle of nowhere?
Like hell he would. Something’s wrong.
Not that it was much protection, really, but it was hard to take even those few tentative steps away from the shelter.
Summer raised her voice. “Ke’lar?”
She heard it then, male, g’hir for certain, off to her right in the same direction as the stream—a groan of one in great pain . . .
“Ke’lar!”
She ran that way, trying to watch her footing, cursing herself for leaving the blaster back at the shelter, considering and discarding the idea of going back for it.
He was slumped over but she couldn’t see him clearly. There was a shape there in the fog but like nothing familiar at all.
A few more stumbling steps and the sight came clear.
“Oh, no. Ke’lar—”
He was kneeling at the multari’s side, his hand gently stroking her nose. Beya’s long neck was stretched out along the ground, her legs tucked under her where she lay, her face peaceful, her glowing eyes closed forever . . .
G’hir couldn’t cry but the grief etched into his face showed he felt loss as deeply as any human. Summer knelt beside him on the cold, damp ground. She wrapped her arms around him and trembling, Ke’lar clung to her. A wail sound rose in his throat till it echoed through the small grove.
“I’m sorry.” Summer rocked him as he keened for Beya. Any thought of how this might delay them, how badly they needed the multari to reach the clanhall, vanished in the face of his pain. “I’m so sorry . . .”
She stayed there with him, holding him against her, and he clung to her. In time his keen quieted but he did not let her go.
“I do not remember her. My mother,” he murmured finally, his eyes on the multari who had been his companion for so many years. “I ought to, I was five summers when she died; old enough to have some memory of her but I have none. They say it was the trauma, that when the Scourge tore through our enclosure my mind blocked the horror of it. But I do not remember much before that time either. It is as if I were born into a world already broken, with no recall of a time when my kind was not a dying race. . . .”
“I’m sorry.” Summer stroked his silky hair, wishing she could say more, wishing she had some great comfort to offer.
“No child so young should be without her mother,” he said hoarsely. “We cannot let your child know such terrible grief. We cannot leave her unprotected. You are right, my Summer. No matter what the cost, you must return to your world.”
Fourteen
Ke’lar shouldered most of the supplies on their trek to the clanhall, although he allowed her to carry some small portion of them. Summer waited respectfully as Ke’lar returned the animal who had been his companion and comfort for so long to the g’hir’s All Mother.
His face was ragged with grief but he sent her a grateful look when Summer took his hand.
“We will be there by the evening meal,” he promised, with a glance at the suns.
“Only because I walk so freaking slow.” She raised her eyebrows. “We could just leave everything here and you could carry me on your back.”
He shook his head. “This foresting has been one full of surprises and—difficulties. It is a few hours’ walk to the clanhall but I will not leave our supplies here, and risk finding shelter and food—should we need them—to chance. Carrying you and the supplies both will tire me. I may need to protect you and I will not gamble with your safety.”
“Protect me from what?” she asked with a worried glance at the forest around them.
His fangs showed for an instant as if warning the universe at large not to dare threaten her. “From anything.”
“We’re in your clan’s territory,” she reminded. “We should be pretty safe here.”
“I am a g’hir warrior, you are my mate. I cannot tolerate danger to you.” His hand cradled hers. “But you are human, I do not expect you to understand.”
“Hey, I have a kid, remember?” she pointed out. “You want to see some serious mama-bear action—threaten a human female’s baby.”
He stopped, his glowing eyes serious. “You must tell them.”
“About Emma?” Her jaw hardened. “No fucking way.”
“When the decision was made to take women from your world it was decided that no female who had already borne offspring be taken from her young. Ar’ar has broken this directive. They will allow you to return to Earth. They must.”
“Or instead,” she began sharply, “the Council—that Mirak practically runs—will give their clan a slap on the wrist instead and decide that Ar’ar has a right to go get ‘his’ daughter. That’s the law too, isn’t it?”
“A child belongs to the mother and the mother’s mate. Emma is not Ar’ar’s daughter,” Ke’lar said quietly. “She is mine.”
Summer swallowed hard. “What will your clanfather do? What will the Erah do if they find out they can add not just one female but two to their enclosure?”
“I am not saying they will be pleased to let you go,” he growled softly. “But they will obey the law. My clan will respect your choice.”
“The choice I get to make after one moon cycle with you, right?” she asked hoarsely. “To obey the law your clan could only let me go home after my Day of Choosing—a full moon cycle from our first coupling, right? Twenty-seven days from now.”
He passed his hand over his face. “Yes.”
“That just resets the clock. That has me getting home a month after Dean brings Emma back.”
“And so I must not claim you for my mate,” he said, his shoulders falling. He regarded her gravely for a moment, then gave her hand a gentle tug. “We will plead your case to my father. He too has great influence with the Council.”
“What if that doesn’t work? What if your father won’t help?”
“Emma—”
“No,” she said firmly. “I won’t risk them knowing about her. For all I know Mirak will arrange a military raid to find her.”
His glowing blue eyes were steady. “Then we must trust that the All Mother will soften my father’s heart to your cause.”
They walked in silence, hand in hand, each absorbed with their own thoughts when Summer slowly became aware of something she hadn’t seen in days.
Summer blinked. “Hey, this is a road! An actual road!”
It was dirt road, granted, but a wide cleared space. The kind of road she’d thought would enable her to cover ten miles a day when she’d first escaped the Betari clanhall.
“It is the southern road of our territory and will lead us to my clan’s enclosure. I have walked it many times. But come,” he said, leading her instead through the trees, toward the river and to a shaded spot there. In the distance was a village-like cluster of buildings and towering over them a structure that could only be the Erah clanhall.
Her way home.
Ke’lar glanced about the place and gave a nod of approval, already shrugging off his pack. “This will do.”
“Why are we stopping here?” she asked, and her eyebrows shot up as his clothes started coming off. “And uh, what are you doing?” Her gaze traced his naked form, her breath quickening. “I mean, not that I mind . . .”
Her tone was husky but the expression he turned on her was serious.
“They will smell me on you, and you on me,” he reminded. “They will know we have mated.”
“Oh,” she murmured.
His jaw worked for a moment. “We must convince my father to return you to Earth. If I claim you, you must remain on Hir until your Choosing Day, so I cannot do so. The only way for you to be returned to Earth is to publicly accuse the Betari of threatening you, of denying your right to choose, and then asking my father to take up your cause. You must enter the Erah clanhall as Ar’ar’s mate to do that.”
“I se
e.” She shifted her weight. “I didn’t realize how much that was going to bother me.”
“To proclaim yourself his mate and then forswear him?”
“No,” she said softly. “To pretend like you don’t mean anything to me.”
“It will take all my strength to do this.” His face was ragged. “To stand by and not declare you mine. But if you are to forswear Ar’ar and do it in the Erah clanhall, you must be seen as one of the Betari, not one of my clan. You cannot be seen to favor me as an alternate to Ar’ar. We must wash and change here before we encounter any of my clanbrothers and we must not touch again.”
Her throat tightened. “You mean never?”
Ke’lar met her gaze and in his eyes she saw something of what this was costing him. “It would be best . . . not to.”
I have to do this. I have to get home. Emma needs me . . .
“Okay,” she said hoarsely. “Okay.”
She slipped the small pack he’d allowed her off her back. He handed her a small pouch of cleanser and she noticed that when he did he took care not to touch her. He kept his gaze from her as he entered the river water to wash too.
Water played over his body in the sunlight.
Summer swallowed hard and stripped her clothes off. The water was cold and she dunked herself into it and came up gasping.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his back to her.
She was suddenly reminded of the first night they met, of her washing in this same river but way upstream, worried that all he wanted was to get an eyeful.
But he wasn’t even looking at her now.
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat and poured some of the spicy-smelling cleanser into her palm. “It’s just freezing.”
“There will be hot baths at the clanhall,” he said apologetically. “And proper beds.”
But we won’t be sharing one.
She rubbed the cleanser between her hands and started washing her hair.
It’s not like he could come and live with her on Earth, for Christ’s sake! It’s not like she and Ke’lar and Emma could settle into some cute little cottage and be a family.
Stolen: Warriors of Hir, Book 3 Page 12
