by Lily Thomas
Tor couldn’t believe it. These two people were supposed to be his friends, and yet they denied him the one thing that he wanted the most, to be one with the dancing flames. Their every wiggle enticed him as if rubbing his face in their warmth.
“I need to be in the fire.”
Eron shook his head as he placed a hand on Tor’s arm. “Hold in there. This fever will break in no time, and you’ll regret having jumped into a fire. Burns are no fun.”
“It will warm me.”
“We will warm you,” Eron promised. “Quick Daerk, build up that fire.” He waved a hand at the fire and the spare wood sitting nearby.
Daerk dashed towards the fire and began stirring it up until a heatwave washed through the inside of the hut. Then he watched as Daerk threw a couple of logs onto the fire, the flames quickly licking at the edges and catching the dry bark on fire.
Tor’s eyes sank shut.
“Are you still here?” Eron patted his arm, and Tor’s eyes shot wide. “Don’t fall asleep on me now. I came here to find out how you are and treat your wound.”
“Am I in the village?” His voice surprised even his own ears. It was rough from all the time he’d spent passed out. “Water?” He croaked.
“I’ve got some.” Daerk came back into view as he poured some water from an animal skin hanging on his waist into a bone cup. “Here.” He handed it down to Eron, but Tor reached up and snatched it.
“I can.” He winced as his words scraped up his dry throat. Then he raised himself on an elbow and took a sip of the cool water that gently soothed his throat. Within minutes, he’d sucked down the whole cup of water. He handed the cup back to Daerk and slowly laid back down on the bed of furs.
“It’s good to see you awake and able to do some things for yourself.” Eron smiled down at him, and he returned the smile that he’d known since he’d been born. Eron was like a second father to almost everyone in the clan.
“I’m glad I’m not with our ancestors.”
“You’re lucky you aren’t.” Daerk folded his arms in front of his chest. “You’re an idiot.”
Tor smirked as he chuckled, and then began coughing as his sore throat complained about the sudden laughter.
“Here,” Eron held another bone cup up to Tor’s lips, “this will help with any pain while I tend to your wound.”
Tor leaned forward, and the moment the liquid hit the tip of his tongue, he pulled back and spat it out, nearly hitting Eron. “What is that?” He croaked.
Eron’s lips pursed as he grumbled and made a new batch. “It’s juice from herbs mixed into water, and I need you to drink it.”
“It tastes like piss.”
Daerk let out a bellow of a laugh. “Because you know what piss tastes like?”
Tor chuckled. “I could imagine what it tastes like.”
“Uh huh.” Daerk wiped a tear away from the corner of his eye. “I believe you.”
“Shouldn’t you remove him from my hut if he isn’t helping me feel better?” Tor asked as he hitched a thumb over at Daerk.
“Someone needs to watch you.” Eron handed him another cup of the bitter liquid. “You tried to jump into your hut fire. Until you prove you aren’t going to harm yourself, then you will be watched.”
Tor held his breath, scrunched his nose, and downed the liquid in the cup before swallowing it with a curse and handing it back to Eron. “It was the fever, but now that the hut is warmer, I don’t have that urge.”
“You’ll have to forgive me if I’m still worried about you harming yourself. This wound will only get worse before it gets better.”
Daerk walked over to the other side of his bed and bent down. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here to bother you back to health.”
“Great.” Tor rolled his eyes and let his head roll to one side, and then he caught it. It was just a brief scent on the wind, but it was there. Something floral and delicate. A scent he hadn’t smelled in many moons. It was so strong he wondered if she’d maybe even been inside his hut recently. “How is Ezi?”
Silence greeted his ears.
He turned his head so he could look at both of the men bent down around him. “How is she?” He sniffed the air again, but in his human form he couldn’t be sure it really had been her scent. What if she was dead? This silence that was greeting his questions was beginning to cause his heart to pitter-patter inside his chest.
“She had a rough birth,” Eron said as he glanced up from Tor’s wound.
“Is she…?” He couldn’t even say the word out loud.
“She’s alive.” Daerk rushed to fill him in.
“And the baby?” Tor hoped they both were fine. The child might not be his, but he knew how much it would mean to Ezi. It was one of the last things she had from her clan and from a man she’d loved. He wanted to hate the other man, but she had known her partner before Tor came into her life, and he was now dead, and no threat to Tor.
“The baby is fine as well. Very healthy.”
Relief washed through him.
“And she is here? In this clan still?” That hint of her scent could have been his traumatized mind imagining things.
“She is.” Daerk nodded his head. “She hasn’t asked to leave, probably because of her newborn and because Aiyre is here. They are like sisters.”
“Has she asked about me?” Was that his heart hitching in his chest?
Daerk glanced over at Eron who just shrugged in return. His leather shirt bunching up around the shoulders with the movement.
“It’s fine if the answer is no.” It wouldn’t surprise him terribly if Ezi didn’t care about him. He was nothing more than another sabertooth shifter to her.
Eron bent further over his wound. “I think I may have overheard a conversation or two between Ezi and Aiyre about your health.”
A little hope soared into his chest, sending his heart racing in his chest.
“Maybe she just wondered how long she had until you were better and she had to leave.”
And then his hope was dashed.
Tor glared up at Daerk. “I prefer to think my mate won’t run from me.” Deny him over and over again, sure, but not run from him.
His sabertooth purred in agreement.
He rolled his eyes. The stupid thing was finally making its presence known. It’d been quiet for so long, but one whiff of Ezi and it was eager to come back.
“Do you think you could ask if she’d come visit?”
Daerk rubbed a hand across his chin, playing with the stubble that was growing there. “I’m not sure she will agree.”
“All you have to do is ask.” Tor glanced down at where Eron was working on his wound. Whatever he’d drunk was working well, and he couldn’t feel a single thing as Eron poked and prodded his leg. He glanced back up at Daerk. “All I’m asking is that you ask her.”
“I will ask her,” Daerk promised, “but I can’t promise that she will agree.”
“That’s fine.” Tor’s eyes sank closed as he relaxed on the bed of furs beneath him. It felt good to be home again. It’d been too long. Perhaps his wound had been a blessing from the gods. It’d gotten him back home, some place he needed to be. All these months alone had been hard on him.
He heard the entrance to his hut rustle as Daerk left.
“Almost done,” Eron said.
“Take your time. It feels good to be back here and surrounded by my clan mates.”
“I hope your time away from the clan helped you find whatever you sought.” Eron said as he continued to work.
Tor frowned. “I’m not sure what I sought by running away.”
“Is that what you did? Run away?”
Talking to Eron was never easy. The old man saw too much, but maybe that should be expected when he was always communing with the gods. This man was the wisest person Tor had ever known.
A sharp piercing cry penetrated the air around them, and Tor’s eyes shot wide.
“Is that…?”
“Ezi’s the onl
y woman with such a young child at the moment, so it must be,” Eron confirmed, not even looking up from his work.
Flashes of Ezi passed through his mind as the baby continued to cry out, and then silence fell. She must have given the hungry child what it’d been crying out for, but her image never left him. Those jade eyes of hers could never be forgotten. They’d penetrated his very soul, and now that he was back, he wanted to have his mate by his side once more.
After a week of listening to the sounds of the clan right outside his walls and Ezi’s crying baby, Tor couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to be a part of this world that was carrying on around him instead of being bedridden.
He wanted to be a part of the clan, and he was hoping for a glimpse of Ezi. Daerk had yet to convince her to come by for a visit. So, if she wouldn’t come to him then he had no other option than to go to her. He’d given her as much time as he could by leaving, but now that he was back he had an itch to take his mate as his own.
If Eron caught him sneaking out of his hut, the old man would have his head, but it was a risk he was willing to take. Just one glance to make sure Ezi was fine, and it would be worth it.
His sabertooth purred in agreement. The stupid thing only liked showing itself when he was thinking of his mate… it had a one-track mind. Otherwise, it was completely useless.
Even with the encouraging words of others, Tor wanted to see for himself that Ezi and her child were fine. Childbirth could be tricky, and there was a small part of his mind that was worried that people might be lying to him. He’d been near death’s door, and he worried Ezi hadn’t visited him because she’d been unable.
Rising up from his bed, Tor wobbled a bit. His legs weren’t quite stable yet, but he wouldn’t be deterred. Eron himself had said how well his thigh was healing and had even mentioned that walking around might be good for it, but he’d never said when. Tor felt like a naughty child going behind his mother’s back. He just hoped he wasn’t caught.
When he reached the hut entrance, he raised his hand and then paused. Maybe he was being silly. If he saw Ezi, it would only bring back all the hurt of her rejection and leave him wanting something he might never be allowed to have.
He raised his other hand to his chest and rubbed the area over his heart. It felt like it might be cracking inside his chest, and he hoped that couldn’t truly happen.
His sabertooth growled in frustration, pushing him forward. It wanted to lay eyes on their mate.
Shoving his hand against the hut flap, Tor walked outside into a warm day. The sunshine streamed down, highlighting everything around him, and he wondered how he’d been gone for so long.
A couple of children ran past him, and a smile creased his lips. It felt good to be back in his clan. He missed having all this life surrounding him. His days away from the clan had been lonely and quiet.
He wasn’t sure if it was just him or not, but there seemed to be a few more huts in the clan, meaning he’d missed the joyous occasion of a couple of mates joining together. He was curious to find out who had joined, but that could wait until later.
Tor began walking around the huts, stretching his legs out, and feeling like his normal self. There was a bit of a limp to his walk, but it was so much better than being cooped up in his hut. There was still some pain in his leg, but it wasn’t searing pain, it was just a bother more than anything else.
As he neared the middle of the village, he leaned up against the outside of a hut allowing his leg some rest. He didn’t want to overdo it and end up back in bedrest with Eron always watching.
And then he saw her.
The breath left Tor’s chest in a rush as his eyes scanned over her eager to see how she was doing. Was it possible that she’d gotten more beautiful while he’d been gone? If he hadn’t been leaning against a hut, he might have fallen to the ground with her overwhelming beauty.
She was wearing her brunette hair loose, and he loved how it flowed around her shoulders. Her gaze was focused on a bundle in her arms, and his eyes slowly dropped to that bundle. Little arms reached up out of the furs, trying to grip her swaying hair.
A smile spread across his lips as he forgot about his leg completely. She looked happy and in love with the child in her arms, and he felt his heart pinch a little more. He wanted to be there next to her, supporting her and the child.
But there… there was something awkward about the image in front of him.
The smile slowly faded from his lips as Tor realized what he was seeing. It looked like Ezi wasn’t comfortable with her own child. Every touch looked strange and cautious, and it caused him to worry about her.
He’d always known she’d make a great mother, but every movement of hers was stiff and uncertain like she wasn’t sure how to interact with her child.
Or maybe he saw something that wasn’t there. It had been several months since he last saw her, and it was like he was relearning her movements all over again. It had to be in his head. Ezi would love any child of hers unconditionally.
The child cooed in her arms as the loose hair dangled above its face.
As Tor continued to watch their interactions, he felt longing creep into his heart. He wanted nothing more than to join them, to be a part of that loving interaction.
Forgetting himself, he placed his full weight on his injured leg, and dots swam across his vision as pain seared up his spine and into the base of his skull. Tor reached out, trying to catch himself, but missed and plummeted to the ground with a grunt as his leg gave way under him.
As he glanced up, he caught sight of Ezi’s face. She was facing him, and her lips had gone round with her shock to find him so close. He reached out a hand, wanting to speak with her, but it wasn’t long before his clan mates rushed to his side to give him aide and she spun around on a heel and left the area in a rush.
It was then that his heart shattered inside his chest as he watched her back recede.
Chapter 8
Ezi felt her head reel as she hastily put distance between herself and Tor. He was back up on his feet and moving around the village, and it worried her. Last time she’d asked Aiyre about Tor she’d gotten the impression he wouldn’t be up on his feet any time soon.
She was putting distance between them not because she feared him, but because it was only a matter of time before he pressed her for this mate hood that burned under the sabertooths’ skins. It was instinct.
When she’d heard the grunt of pain, she hadn’t dreamed it would be Tor. The look on his face. The agony. And she wasn’t entirely sure if it was because of his wound or the sight of her flinching away from him.
Now that she knew he was getting back on his feet, she would spend more time in the hut she shared with other single women in the clan. Despite having a child, she was unmated, which meant she didn’t get her own hut.
Once she dashed through the entrance of the communal hut, she felt some panic slide off her shoulders. Tor wouldn’t be welcomed in this hut. It was a place only for the women of the tribe. A place that would offer her shelter from those piercing sky-blue eyes of his.
Ezi plopped down on her bed of furs and placed the cooing child in its own bed.
“There you are.”
Ezi glanced up to see Aiyre headed straight for her. “Where else might I be now that Tor is walking around the village?”
Aiyre shrugged and then turned her attention to Flosa. “How’s the child?”
“She’s doing well.” Ezi picked up a leather strap near her bed and began to braid her hair. “She has an appetite, and I swear she’s more active than any other child I’ve seen.”
Aiyre wiggled her fingers near the baby, and Flosa made a grab at them, but her chubby little baby fingers weren’t quite quick enough.
“I saw you run away from Tor.”
“I didn’t run away from him.” Ezi was quick to correct her friend as she tied off her braid and flung it over her shoulder. “I was startled, and my reaction was to run, but it wasn’t because of hi
m.”
“I know I’ve mentioned this before, but,” Aiyre placed her hands in her lap as she faced Ezi, “I still want you to know I will find another pronghorn clan for you to join if you wish. Now that Tor is back and healing, it might not be long before you find yourself running in any direction you can find. His sabertooth instinct will drive him towards you.”
Aiyre was right. With Tor on the mend, it meant her peaceful time in this clan was coming to an end.
“I wish you knew where Girk had gone.” Ezi referenced the only other pronghorn shifter who’d made it out alive the night their clan had been attacked. Unlike them, he had decided to venture away from this land to find another pronghorn clan to join. If Ezi hadn’t been hurt in the attack, then she and Aiyre may have decided to join him. She still had the scars from that night to show exactly how dangerous a sabertooth could be.
“Sadly, I’m not sure I can find him again,” Aiyre smirked. “Although, knowing Girk, he’ll be sure to leave some sort of sign at any clan gatherings in the area. Would you like me to reach out and find out where he’s gone?”
Ezi glanced at Flosa, who’d finally closed her eyes. “If I run, Tor will follow. Maybe not closely, but he’ll be there.”
“He left when you pushed him away.” Aiyre placed her hands behind her back and leaned back. “He might not follow after you.”
Ezi rolled her eyes as she leaned back against one of the bone supports of the hut. “Do you think he left the village thinking I would leave? He knew where I was. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that these sabertooths always know where their mate is.”
“True.” Aiyre laughed. “Daerk always knows where to find me. You know, I think it’s that nose of theirs.” She tapped her nose with a finger as she chuckled, and Ezi joined in.
“It’s much better than ours.”
They sat there in the hut in silence, watching other women in the clan go about their own business. Some sat weaving near a fire while chatting about something, and others came and went as they went about daily tasks.
