And soon I’ll have one of my own. Warmth floods through me at the thought, and I squeeze Haeden’s neck tightly and press a kiss to his check.
“Eh? One more time before we reach the caves? Insatiable female.” He reaches between us and begins to undo the knot on his leggings.
“Wait, that wasn’t what I meant,” I protest. But when he nips my ear in that sexy way, I figure one more romp won’t hurt matters. “Just a quick one,” I amend, tugging at my own clothes.
He sinks into me and we work quickly. I’ve figured out that grabbing the front of his vest to anchor myself and letting him do all the heavy lifting works out best. Gravity does the rest, and within a span of a minute or two, I’m biting my lip and coming so hard that I’m seeing stars.
“My mate,” he hisses into my ear possessively. “My Jo-see—“
“Ho,” calls out a distant voice. “Haeden? Jo-see?”
I squeal in horror and shift against Haeden, just as he comes. Oh my God, someone’s going to see him nailing me and then it’ll be all over the cave. “Babe,” I say in his ear. “They’re going to see us—”
“I need a moment,” he bellows.
My ears ring but I’m glad he said something. I bury my face against his neck as his entire body shivers with the force of his orgasm. He bucks one last time and then nuzzles my cheek. “I should put you down.”
It’s sweet that he sounds strangely reluctant to do so. I press a kiss to his face and then slowly peel off of him. “Love you, baby.”
He still doesn’t grasp my human need to say what he thinks is obvious, but when he grabs a handful of my hair and gives me another fierce, breathtaking kiss, I know he means it just as much as I do.
Then we straighten our clothing and Haeden tucks me under his protective arm - even though I’m assured that no sky-claws come this far over the mountains - and we go to meet the hunter waiting for us. To my relief, the big blue shape on the horizon has given us some space and headed back down the track-covered paths leading toward the tribal cave. There’s a plume of smoke on the horizon and I feel a strange pang of happiness at the sight of it. To think I wanted to leave and never come back. A lot has changed in a few weeks.
I touch my stomach, wondering if even more has changed than I imagined. I really, really hope so. I think of Haeden’s baby in my stomach. I think of us as a family and it makes me shiver with happiness.
He pulls me closer and tugs the furs over my chest closed. “Cold? We will be home soon.”
“I’m good.” I loop my arm around his waist, reaching for his tail. “I promise.”
“Are you anxious?”
I consider this. I am returning home failed in my mission to defeat my cootie. But I’m also really happy the mission didn’t work. I know everyone’s going to be watching us like hawks to see how we react to each other. Ideally I’d like another month alone with my man, maybe get a bit more of the frenzied fucking out of our systems and settle in to being a couple, but I keep thinking of those two girls in the pods back in metlak and sky-claw territory. They need a rescue. And really, I can handle a few people smirking because I finally got laid. “Not nervous,” I tell him. “You?”
He snorts as if the question is ridiculous, and I grin.
“Ho,” the other calls again as we approach, raising a hand. I can tell from the long, smooth hair and the shade of blue that it’s Salukh, Tiffany’s mate. I’m suddenly eager to see my bestie. Up until she mated with Salukh, she’d been my roomie from day one on the ice planet and I’ve missed her more than anyone else.
I wave back.
He jogs toward us and I see his eyes widen a bit at the sight of Haeden’s arm around my shoulders. I guess it is a little surprising to see us so snuggly. I’m not even bothered by that, strangely. I don’t care. I’m happy and no one’s going to burst my bubble.
“It is good to see the both of you,” Salukh says as he approaches. He leans over to clap Haeden on the shoulder and smiles at me. “Many have been worried. I think if you were not back in another moon, the chief would have sent us to find you.”
Haeden makes an irritated sound in his throat. “Jo-see is safe with me. Vektal would not send anyone because he knows I am a good hunter. There is no need for a rescue.”
Salukh just gives us a calm smile and takes Haeden’s overloaded pack from his shoulder, slinging it onto his own. “Of course.” That’s just how Salukh is - he’s chill. Nothing bothers him.
“How’s Tiff?” I ask as we head down to the cave. “She have morning sickness?”
“She is very good,” Salukh says, grinning over at me. “No sickness at all.”
“That bitch. It figures.” I smile. Tiffany is like perfection come to life. She’s beautiful, smart, talented, and nice to boot. I’d hate her if I didn’t love her like the sister I never had. “She’s probably going to be the most perfect pregnant person ever.”
“Not in my eyes,” Haeden says, his tone a little surly as if the very thought irritates him.
And that just makes me even happier. I give his tail a little squeeze (which, okay, probably arouses him).
We make it into the cave and the scents of smoke and roasting meat, the chatter of people, and a baby’s cry fill me with a happy pang of homesickness.
“Oh my God,” someone squeals. “It’s Josie and Haeden!”
A moment later, we’re surrounded by people determined to hug and greet us. I’m smothered in a wave of people as Nora, Stacy, Ariana, Megan, and Georgie take their turns hugging me. Liz shows up next and plops her baby into my arms. “Because you’ll want to see Raashel before her mommy, right?” She smirks. “Get that practice in?”
I blush. “Maybe.”
“Oooh, someone sealed the deal!” She leans in and puts a hand to her ear. “I don’t hear your cootie humming like a freight train anymore.”
“Jeez, Liz, why don’t you be obvious about it?” I say, but I’m smiling. Raashel looks bigger than the last time I saw her, a thick shock of black hair sticking up and pulled into a tiny leather bow atop her head. She’s so stinking cute.
“Didn’t you know? Obvious is my middle name!” She gives me a half-squeeze. “I’m glad you’re back and everything worked out.”
“How are you sure it all worked out?” I ask, curious. I haven’t even had a chance to say much of anything.
“Because you’re all goofy grins?” Georgie butts in, shifting her baby on her hip.
“And Haeden keeps looking over here like he’d like to snatch you by the hair and drag you back to his cave, Neanderthal style?”
I glance over and sure enough, Haeden’s giving me a scorching hot look even as the other hunters greet him and chatter his ear off. I blush again.
Then Tiffany appears, and Kira, and Harlow, who’s come to the main cave for a few weeks in the hopes that I would return. I’m handed babies to hug and I admire Megan’s baby-bump. She’s so close to giving birth, and Claire is just now starting to show, and everyone can’t stop talking and hugging me. It’s wonderful.
I realize we’re a family after all, the twelve of us. I never had a family in the past, and it’s like fate has handed me a brand new one full of eclectic people.
I’m so happy I could cry, but that would upset Haeden, so I just beam at everyone and hug the babies.
“So what made you run?” Harlow asks, handing over her little Rukhar for his turn for my attention. “And did you bring back my glass disc? I need that for the next rock cutter.”
“It’s in my bag,” I tell her, and press a kiss to Rukhar’s little blue cheek. Of all the babies, he’s the smallest but also looks the most sa-khui. “As for the running, it’s a long story. Look at you, Rukhar! You’re getting so big!”
As if to prove that he’s not going to fall for my clumsy attempt to change the topic, Rukhar grabs a handful of my hair and yanks, burbling. I wince and detangle it from his little fist.
“I’m glad you’re back, though I was starting to wonder if you’d ever return. You can be a little…stubborn.”
I grin, even though Rukhar’s bobbing fist just yanked out several strands of hair by the root. “I wasn’t planning on it at first.”
“What changed your mind?” Kira asks.
Oh shit. No one else knows about the other girls yet or that I found the crashed ship. And Kira…if she finds out there were other pods, broken pods — she’ll be devastated. She brought down the ship by destroying the crew, and while I haven’t shed a tear for the kidnapping, rapey, murderous bastards, it’s different when you realize there were humans on board. “Um, it’s a long story and one I should probably tell the chief first.”
Georgie steps forward and hands her baby to Liz. “I’ll get Vektal. Meet me in my cave?”
I nod and give Rukhar another kiss before reluctantly handing him back. My stomach is in knots. It’s a dual-edged sword, the finding of two more girls. On one hand, there are still many, many unmated men in the tribe who would love the chance at a family. On the other hand, I wonder at how this will affect poor Kira. And I think of the recent fighting over Tiffany’s attention - these poor girls are going to be mobbed.