There’s a screen covering it as well, faded painted symbols dancing along the hide. Kemli had a sister once, Koloi, but she died with the khui-sickness. Koloi enjoyed painting, much like Kemli’s daughter Farli now does. And her old cave still bears the remnants of her fanciful designs. I push aside the screen and duck to enter the cave, tugging Kira behind me.
Her pleased gasp tells me I’ve done well. “It’s so dark in here, Aehako. But are those…”
“Designs, yes. The woman who used to live in this cave painted the walls. Do you like it?”
“It’s so pretty.” She steps forward, toward the fire pit, gazing up where a trickle of light comes from overhead. “Smoke hole?”
I nod.
“That’s handy.” She gazes around again, and then points at the back of the cave. “What’s that?”
I take a few steps into the shadows and recognition dawns. “It’s the skull of a sa-kohtsk. There’s no bathing pool here, so they would hollow the skull out and line it with waterproof hides to make a small bathing pool—“
Her shriek of excitement echoes. “It’s a tub?”
I shrug my shoulders. I don’t know the word. “I suppose?”
Kira hops in place and then bounds toward me, grabbing my hand. “I want this cave. This one’s ours, right?”
I feel a sweeping sense of pride at her excitement. “Yes. This is what I picked for us.”
Her arms fling around my waist. “This is wonderful!”
To think that my Kira would be so excited by a bit of paint on the walls and a makeshift bathing pool. My hands go to her back and slide up and down her spine. “I am glad you like it.”
“I love it,” she says. “I can’t wait to move in. So much privacy will be wonderful. We’ll have time to clean things up and make it cozy before the winter comes.”
Winter is her word for the brutal season, so I simply nod.
She tilts her head back and gazes up at me, and there’s a hint of a smile playing around her lips. I’m entranced at the sight of it. “There’s one thing this place needs,” she tells me.
“Oh?”
She steps back and pulls her bag off her shoulder. I know she’s brought a waterskin and some of the root-cakes that the humans love for a meal, but I’m curious as to why we would need them now. She turns her back to me and moves toward the wall, toward the nook of the sleeping area. There’s a bit of a shelf mixed among the spiky edges of the cave, and she places an object there.
I see it, and a bark of laughter erupts from my throat.
It’s the courting gift I gave her – the replica of my cock, carved from bone. She’s brought it and made the cave ‘ours’ by placing it here. I laugh long and hard at the sight, and her happy laughter twines with mine. The sound of her carefree laugh – her happiness – makes my entire body react, and I pull her against me. “My sweet mate,” I murmur, and drag my fingers through her hair. “Did you bring that so I could use it on you?”
Her expression changes to one of shyness and she averts her eyes. But instead of a protest, her hands slide to the front of my tunic and she tugs at it.
Aha. So my mate misses my body as much as I miss hers. Need surges through me. I dig my fingers into the silky strands of her mane and tug it back, exposing her neck. I rake my teeth over the cords of her throat, and then drag my tongue over her skin.
She shivers. “I’ve missed you, Aehako. I feel like we haven’t had a moment alone in forever.”
“Look around you, my mate. There is nothing but privacy here.”
Kira tugs at the front of my tunic. “Then why are you still dressed?”
I nibble on her throat before releasing her. “So eager. It does a male’s heart good to hear his mate is so anxious to join with him.” I undo the laces of my tunic and then tug the entire thing over my head, leaving me only in leggings and loincloth. I spread my tunic on the dusty floor so my mate won’t have to sit on the cold rock.
She immediately begins to undo the laces of her cloak, and I stop her. “I will undress you.”
“Oh?” A smile plays at the corners of her mouth. “Are you going to unwrap me like a present?”
“Like a bit of organ meat hiding under the ribs of a fresh kill,” I tease.
Her nose wrinkles. “That…sounds awful.”
“Ah, but those are the tastiest, juiciest parts.” I undo my loincloth and she watches me undress, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. I toss it down on the floor, and then my leggings, and soft boots. Then I am completely naked in front of her, my cock jutting hard, eager for her body. I clasp my cock in my hand and give it a teasing stroke, just to see her expression.