“Were you in love with Windwalker when you mated?”
That was the last thing Cloud had expected to be asked and the surprise of it made her laugh out loud.
“Oh, yes. Helplessly. Hopelessly. Head over heels.”
Star smiled. “Really?”
“Oh, yes.” She looked over at Starfire and grinned. “Still am. In love that is.”
“That’s nice.” Starfire wasn’t being insincere, but she sounded as if her thoughts were miles away.
They walked on and came to the place where the river widened and was as calm as a lake. Cloud stopped, picked up a pebble and threw it underhanded with such skill that it skipped three times before sinking.
Star laughed. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“Older brothers.”
“Can you teach me?”
“Sure. Anybody can do it.”
Cloud looked around for another pebble of a certain size, shape and weight, demonstrated the art of stone skipping and encouraged Star to try. After half an hour, Star was getting frustrated.
“Takes practice,” said Cloud, shrugging. “Like most things worth doing.” She glanced at Star. “But not love. Love doesn’t take practice. Relationships take work. And practice. But not love. You either love somebody or you don’t.”
Star nodded.
“Was there something more you wanted to say about that?”
Star shook her head. “No, but thank you for listening. And for the stone skipping lesson.”
“Anytime. We should get back. Gets dark early this time of year and I’m making your favorite for dinner.”
Star brightened. “Bread pudding?”
Cloud’s face fell. “No. Venison and dumplings.”
Star laughed. “Gotcha. I was just kidding. I don’t even like bread pudding. But I love venison and dumplings.”
Cloud put her arm around Star’s shoulders for a brief squeeze as they started back.
Halfway to the settlement, Star said, “When did you know you loved Win? I mean, how long after you met him?”
Cloud sighed and looked off to the horizon on her left. “He came to Clapton Quick with his father to talk to my uncle, who was king. My family also lived in the king’s house. I was running from the kitchen past the front door when I saw Win standing there waiting. I had a tart in my hand that I’d stolen from one of my brothers and he was chasing me.”
“I locked eyes with Win and was stopped in my tracks. My brother took the tart out of my hand and shoved the whole thing in his mouth grinning.” Starfire chuckled. “You’re not going to believe what Win said to me.”
“What?” Star was clearly into the story, which delighted Cloud a little.
“He said, ‘Come home with me and I’ll make sure that no one ever steals from you again.’
“I just stared at him, thinking he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, trying to sort through what he’d said. Meanwhile, my brother was laughing with a mouthful of tart. He said, ‘She’s the one who stole it from me!’
“Win didn’t look at my brother, but smiled at me in a way that made my knees weak. Then he said, ‘Come home with me and I’ll make sure you get to keep whatever you steal.’
“My mind probably wasn’t working correctly, being flooded with mating chemicals and all. But I said, ‘Okay.’
“When Stalkson Grey and my uncle ended their meeting an hour later, Win said, ‘Dad. Meet NightCloud. She’s coming home with us. Going to be your daughter-in-law.’
“My uncle looked at me sharply. ‘This what you want, Cloud?’ he said.
“All I could do was nod.”
Star laughed. “That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. Who would have guessed that my aunt and uncle were hiding such a totally hot story?”
“Well, I don’t know about ‘hot’. That’s not part of the story so far as you’re concerned, but it did work out. I think, where shifters are concerned, mating isn’t so much an intellectual process. Our bodies get things rolling by knowing who’s right for us. Then our minds urge us to follow our hearts.”
“That’s complicated.”
Cloud shook her head. “Not really. When you meet the right person, you’ll know.”
“What if the right person isn’t interested?”
“You know, honestly, I’ve never heard of that happening to shifters. That’s something I don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about.”
“Oh.”
“If that’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard, then clearly you haven’t asked Luna about how she got together with Grey.”
Ken’s brothers had noticed a change in him. He seemed both restless and melancholy, even with his preoccupation with implementing principles outlined in his new books. That, combined with his recent tendency to seek solitude, was troublesome. He’d been spending more and more time on his own in wolf form, which was never a good sign. Wolves craved togetherness like air and water. As their father had said, “A lone wolf is a wolf no’ right in the head.”
Liulf and Conn had suggested that perhaps he should think about taking a mate. He’d laughed at them and said that taking a mate wasn’t something you “think” about and that if anyone should know that, it would be the two of them. Both agreed that he had a point. Certainly neither of his brothers had been looking when the urge to mate suddenly became their reason for being.
The harder Ken tried to forget about Starfire, the more she dominated his thoughts, waking and sleeping. He’d kept an eye out for her at every Gathering since she’d silently watched him rut with Scarlet. She’d said something about finding her own hookups. The fact that he didn’t know whether she had or not tormented him. He also knew that the fact that she hadn’t been back to a Gathering since said something. He just wasn’t exactly sure what it said. It bothered him. Everything about Starfire was bothersome.
Stalkson Grey’s entire family was having dinner together one night in early April. Conversation turned to the upcoming expedition and assembly of a team.
“We’re sending two from our tribe because we have the most to lose. Loper is going to be one of them, but I haven’t decided on the other.”
“I want to go.”
Everybody at the table turned and looked at Starfire.
Grey glanced at Win and Cloud before he spoke. “It’s a serious endeavor, Star, and not without risk. We have to send someone who is adventurous enough to go, but also with the right temperament. We need good fighters because we don’t know what’s out there. We also need people who know how to remain calm and in control.”
“Uncle Win will vouch for me,” she replied.
Grey looked at Win. “Naturally I don’t relish the thought of my niece volunteering for an exploration that is potentially dangerous.” He looked directly at Starfire. “And I would ask you to reconsider because you mean so much to us.”
“Everyone going means something to somebody,” said Star.
Win sighed as he stole a glance at Cloud. “Undoubtedly true. The difference being that you are my concern.”
Star’s voice softened. “I appreciate that. Honestly. I do. But I want to go.”
It would have been hard to deny her since it was the first time Star had shown any sign of enthusiasm for six months.
Win looked at his father. “I don’t want her to go, but I’m leaving the choice up to her. Yes. I can vouch for her. We hunted together on numerous occasions. On one such time in particular, we came across a bull elk so large you would have been amazed had you seen him. He had a rack four feet wide.
“She was fierce and fearless. She has an incredible instinct for knowing exactly when and where to strike. She’s fast, sharp-eyed, everything you would want in battle.”
Star dipped her head, almost embarrassed. She had expected Win to vouch for her, but hadn’t expected that level of glowing praise.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“Nothing undeserved,” he replied.
Grey shifte
d in his seat and appeared uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. “The bull… He didn’t have one stubby point on the left side, did he?”
Grey wished he hadn’t asked, because if they had brought down the old fella, he didn’t really want to know. It was a strange sentiment for a wolf, but there it was nonetheless.
Win gave him a strange look. “Honestly don’t remember, Dad.”
Grey looked at Star who agreed with Win by shaking her head.
“Very well, Starfire. Looks like you’re the other team member from New Elk Mountain. Expedition leaves from here in two weeks. We’ll confer on supplies in a week or so.”
“Thank you,” she repeated, smiling like she’d come back to the living. “I won’t disappoint you.”
“If you don’t want to disappoint me, then come back alive with detailed reports on what you find. In case I’m not clear, the most important part of that was ‘come back alive’.”
“Yes, sir.”
It was the third week of April, on the new moon, when the expedition team arrived at New Elk Mountain. Spring planting had begun. Trees and plants were blossoming. Skittish young newborns, wild and domesticated, ran and frolicked in woods and fields. It seemed that the entire world was blessed with new life.
Plans were for the team to spend the night in the northernmost colony and set out first thing the following morning.
Cloud knocked on Starfire’s door. “It’s open,” she said.
Cloud peeked in. “The team is here. The king is asking that you come down and meet the others.”
“Okay.”
“Star, are you positive this is what you want?”
“Positive. Let’s go see who else is going.” She smiled.
Grey was standing by an ox cart talking to a couple of people when Starfire arrived.
“Starfire,” he acknowledged her. “This is Redruff from First Colony. She’s going to drive the cart and cook when possible.” Star nodded at Redruff, who appeared to be about her age and looked tough as nails. “You know Loper.”
“Hey,” said Loper with a grin. He was from New Elk Mountain, but he’d left for Lunark before Star had moved in with Win and Cloud. So she hadn’t known him long. He was unmated and easygoing with a charming lopsided grin, sandy blond hair and hazel eyes that glittered with mischief. There was no denying he was attractive and he’d flirted with her on multiple occasions. She just wasn’t feeling it.
“Hey,” she answered with a polite smile.
Two other males came around the end of the wagon. It took a second for Star’s brain to process the fact that one of them was Cinaed.
“You know Ken, of course,” Grey said. “He’s heading up the team. What he says goes. And this is Brack from New Gaul.”
Star hadn’t heard anything after ‘Ken’. She’d frozen in place realizing that he was not only going, but leading. She soon learned that he was just as clueless.
Ken gave her a brisk perfunctory nod and turned to Grey. “So where’s our fifth?”
Grey looked at Star. “Right here.”
Ken looked at Star as if he’d never seen her before. His nostrils flared, his ears turned pink, and he said one simple word. “No.”
Grey raised an eyebrow. “No? What do you mean, no?”
“Uh oh,” said Loper under his breath.
“I mean she’s no’ suitable,” said Ken.
Loper whistled, thinking a wolf would need balls of steel not to shrink under Grey’s alpha presence, especially when he was beginning to bristle.
“Not suitable in what way?” Grey said slowly and evenly. “You were told from the beginning that you would not be choosing your team. She’s representing New Elk Mountain. Do you have a problem with that?”
Ken stared at Star for a few seconds before looking away. “No. I do no’ have a problem with that.”
“Good!” Grey said. “Loper, show Brack and Redruff the guest house. Come back for dinner at my place at six.”
Starfire turned back toward the house feeling stunned, barely containing her impulse to race to her room and lock the door. The adventure that was intended to get her mind off Cinaed had just turned into a nightmare. If it wasn’t bad enough that he was leader of the team, the fact that he’d tried to reject her in front of the others made her skin heat with shame.
That left her in an impossible position. If she went as planned, she’d be self-conscious about the fact that the rest of the team had all witnessed Ken’s exchange with the king. They’d either hold her in disdain or feel sorry for her. On the other hand, if she didn’t go, she’d be defeated by the ignorant and careless protest of an asshole and that would wound her pride just as badly.
It didn’t take long to reach a decision. She’d volunteered. The king had accepted. That should have been that and, by the gods, that would be that. Nothing would stop her from going. She had every bit as much right to be on the team as Cinaed. And he’d better not take any missteps or she’d be quick to point them out. In front of everyone.
Starfire sat at the other end of the table from where Ken was engaged in conversation with the king and his cousin. She began the process of getting to know Redruff who, unlike everyone else on the expedition, was born in Lunark. Redruff was every bit as tough as she looked and apparently had a reputation for being able to cook as well.
Brack wasn’t exactly surly, but he wasn’t friendly either. If he had a sense of humor, he was keeping it well guarded.
“What made you want to go exploring, Brack?” Starfire asked.
“Who said I wanted to go?” he said. “How do you know it’s not a punishment?”
Not being accustomed to people being rude at the dinner table, Star was too surprised to answer for a moment. She thought carefully about how to reply and decided to be as diplomatic as possible. After all, they were going to be constantly together for some time.
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have made any assumptions. I don’t know that you want to go and I don’t know that it isn’t a punishment. But if it is, I hope you’ll tell us what you did.”
Redruff almost snorted up ale trying to laugh and drink at the same time. Loper gave Star a grin while continuing to chew from across the table. She breathed an internal sigh of relief seeing that at least two of her four companions were personable and made her feel at ease.
Loper leaned across the table and lowered his voice. “So what’s the story with the king’s nephew? Why is his tail tied in a knot about you going?”
“You’d have to ask him because it’s a mystery to me.”
“Maybe he doesn’t like the way she smells.” Brack chuckled.
Loper turned to look at the man sitting next to him. “I don’t like the way you smell,” he said as he shoved Brack off the bench and onto the floor.
Brack was up and ready to fight in an instant. Grey and Ken responded just as quickly.
When Grey put his palm on Brack’s chest, he stilled instantly. “Starting a fight at the king’s table? Is this acceptable behavior in New Gaul?”
“I didn’t start it. That lunker shoved me off my seat.”
Grey turned to Loper, who said, “He insulted Starfire.”
Grey narrowed his eyes at Brack then spoke to his nephew. “Looks like you have a problem, Ken.” With that Grey stepped away, returned to his chair at the other end of the room, and resumed eating dinner. If Ken was going to be effective as leader, he needed to establish his status sooner rather than later.
To Brack, Ken said, “Outside.” Over his shoulder, he said, “You, too,” to Loper.
After they’d left the room, Redruff said, “This is shaping up to be fun.”
“You think I should find somebody to take my place?”
Redruff looked shocked. “Why? Don’t be ridiculous. You’d stay home because a bunch of young wolves have the hots for you?”
Star’s brows drew together. “You and I seem to have been privy to the same events, but we’ve drawn wildly different conclusions.”
&nb
sp; Redruff laughed. “Does that mean you want to bet?”
“All three of the cocks are hoping to snuggle up with you in the cool of the mountains. They just have different ways of showing it.”
Star cocked her head. “No. I don’t want to bet, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not sure you’re wrong.”
“Whatever.” Redruff shrugged.
“Are you mated?” Starfire asked.
“Would have been. He was killed by the dragon shifters.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry for bringing it up.”
“No. It’s okay. Now you know my reason for going. I agree that we need to know what’s on the other side of the mountain range. You might say I have a personal stake in it. We can handle anything with advance warning and preparation. We were caught off guard with the dragons. We’d lived here for so long without challenge…” She trailed off.
“Where I come from they say knowledge is power.”
“That’s true to a point, but in the end power is power.”
Starfire wondered what she meant by that, but let it go.
Outside in front of the house, Ken put his finger in Brack’s chest and said, “The king is right. ‘Tis hard to believe ‘twould be acceptable behavior in the New Gaul alpha’s house. Ye’ve disrespected no’ only a member of this team, but the king of New Scotia and me as well. If this is yer best foot forward, I’m inclined to leave ye behind and proceed as four instead of five.” Brack said nothing. “Well?”
“Was there a question?” Brack said.
Ken narrowed his eyes. “Looks like we have a problem.”
Brack smiled broadly. “No problem here, boss. Just a simple misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstandin’,” Ken repeated. “Seems unlikely, but I’ll let it pass. If you choose to test me, you’ll be makin’ yer way back to New Gaul with the burden of explainin’ why ye were dismissed from the expedition. Am I clear?”
“Yes, indeed.”
Brack seemed to be making a show of acquiescence. Ken knew it, but a single incident wasn’t sufficient reason for sending him home. Without solid, irrefutable grounds, he could cause a tricky diplomatic incident with New Gaul. That was why Ken was feeling more regret by the second for having said yes to Grey’s proposal that he lead the team.
Fire Wolf: CINAED (New Scotia Pack Book 3) Page 4
