Her lower lip thrusts out slightly, and I sense victory. “It’s going to take days for you to get there, and days for you to come back. Longer with the new women. I don’t want to be apart from you for that long.”
I pull her close and nip at that full lower lip of hers. “Knowing you are here will bring me back faster. I will make them run through the snow. I will insist the human females be carried like fresh meat.”
A small reluctant giggle escapes her at that.
I kiss her cheek, then her jaw. My soft, sweet Jo-see likes to be kissed everywhere, and I am all too happy to please her. “And we will not take Vaza, because he is old. We will take young, strong males and whatever human woman has the longest legs. And every night after a long day of running, they will complain that I drive them too hard, but it will not matter, because the only thing that matters is coming back to my mate.”
She sighs and wraps her arms around my neck. “All right, but you can’t go explore the island without me, okay?”
“I will go nowhere that I do not have to.” I pull the laces of her tunic free. “And for now, I wish to go nowhere but to bed with my mate.”
“It’s the middle of the day, Haeden!”
“An excellent time to enjoy resonance, is it not?”
Her hand cups my cock through my breechcloth, and it seems that we both agree.
JOSIE
The group gets ready to leave the next morning. It’s been decided that Hassen, Taushen, Bek, Rokan, and my Haeden will go. Raahosh will accompany them because he is the best tracker. The human selected is Claire, initially, but Kira has put up a quiet stink to Georgie, and when the party gets ready to leave in the morning, it’s Kira and Aehako who join the group. Claire and her mate will stay behind.
Kira brings Kae to me. “Can you watch over her while I’m gone? Stacy will feed her, and she’s starting on solids with a not-potato mash, but I don’t want Stacy to have to juggle two infants.” She presses a kiss to her baby’s head and she looks upset, but determined.
“Of course. Hurry back.”
Her smile is grim. “Oh, I’m going to make them rush. I can’t bear the thought of leaving Kae behind for longer than I have to.”
“You don’t have to go,” I protest.
“I want to see,” Kira says quietly. “I need to know.”
I nod and hug Kae close. Poor Kira’s been quietly distraught, and I get that. She wants to know just how many girls she might have accidentally murdered. I get that. I do. So I volunteer to go again. “I’m perfectly fine with going and reporting back.”
“Absolutely not,” Claire says at my side. She sets her pack down on the ground, ready to stay. “You’re preggers.”
“So are you!”
“I’m also half a foot taller than you,” Claire points out. “And stronger.”
I stick my tongue out at her because everything she says is the truth. Claire’s always been a quiet one but since mating to Ereven, she smiles a lot more and seems a lot more lighthearted. She looks pleased even though she’s not going on the journey. Pregnancy hormones I guess.
And okay, I’m a little excited about the whole preggers thing. Because she’s right - I’ve missed my period. Granted, it might be due to the recently-lost IUD. Or it might be that all the stress of the traveling caused me to skip. Whatever it is, I haven’t had it and I’m hoping desperately that I’m pregnant too.
But…I still want to go with Haeden and the others. “What about…what about the sky-claws? I bet they can snatch Kira just as easily as me. We probably weigh the same.”
Kira looks over her shoulder at her mate. Aehako moves forward and ties a thick rope cord to her waist as a belt, and then ties the other end around his hips. Tied together. Of course. If one gets snatched, the other will be dragged along. It’s a smart solution, and I kind of wonder if Haeden deliberately didn’t do it because he wanted to carry me.
Carry me, that is, and then pause to fuck me every half hour. I press a hand to my heated cheeks. “It’s still not fair,” I protest.
“It’ll be fine,” Claire says, smiling encouragingly at me. She pats me on the shoulder. “I know you’re disappointed but I’m sure they’ll go as fast as they can.”
I grumble a response but then Haeden emerges from our cave and my gaze goes to him. The man is positively mouth-watering as he strides through the central living area, his spear in hand. His movements are graceful but strong, and the fur cloak over his shoulders is lightweight, as the snow doesn’t bother him like it does me. It barely hides his strong chest and I think of the next two weeks and how I’m not going to be able to sleep with my head pillowed on that rock-hard chest or wake up holding his tail. For the next two weeks, I won’t be able to have sex with my man, to hear that wicked little snort he makes when he’s amused by something, won’t have his touch.
It is going to be a long freaking two weeks.
I give him a mournful look as he approaches and, to my chagrin, the waterworks start. I sniff, wiping at my eyes as I juggle the baby.
He pulls me against him, mindful of Kae, and tosses his spear aside so he can wipe away my tears. “My Jo-see. It is a long trip but it is a worthwhile one. Do not weep.”
“Of course I’m going to weep,” I say crankily, leaning into his touch. “I miss you already and you haven’t even gone yet.”
“But I will be back,” he says in a low, husky voice. “And we will start our life together.”
“I suppose I do have reunion sex to look forward to,” I say, trying to make him smile. He looks so somber, like he’s just as bummed to leave me as I am to have him go.
“And lots of frankissing.” He leans close and nips at my ear, then whispers, “All over. Even your ankles.”
I smack at his chest but my cootie, the most obvious cootie on the planet, is purring loud and happily for all to hear. Someone nearby snickers. Screw them. This is my mate, and he’s leaving me for two weeks. I curl my fingers in the front of his vest and press a kiss to his mouth. “You hurry home fast or I’m tossing you aside.”
He snorts. “Bring someone else to your furs and I will ram my spear up his nethers.”
That shouldn’t amuse me nearly as much as it does. His jealousy keeps the smile on my face even when we say our goodbyes and the tribe members left in the cave linger at the entrance to watch them go. The group begins up the snowy hills and finally heads off over the horizon. One big, familiar body remains on the ridge for a long moment after the others disappear. He raises a hand, and I raise mine back.
Then, Haeden’s gone and I’m left in the cave with the rest.
As if on cue, Kae starts to cry, wailing in my arms. Yeah, I know how that feels, Kae.
I turn around and Liz is right there, holding her baby. She takes one look at me and bursts into tears.
My eyes widen. “Liz? You okay?” I’d hold out my arms for Raashel but I’ve got a wailing Kae on my hands already.
She wipes her face with a corner of Raashel’s blanket. “God, I’m glad I held in all the bawling and snot until they left, or I’d never live it down.” She sniffs hard.
I give her a wary look, perching Kae on my hip and giving her a bounce. “Is everything okay?” Liz is normally the cut-up, the wise-ass that nothing gets to. Her mate is leaving with the others, and I admit I’m a little surprised Liz didn’t volunteer to go with them. Sure, she has the baby, but she’s left Raashel with Nora or Stacy before for a day or two. “Are you and Raahosh…you know, good?”
Her face crumples and she swipes at her nose again, then presses a kiss to the baby’s bumpy little forehead. “Yeah, we’re awesome. I’m just…” she sighs and leans in. “If you tell anyone I’m going to skewer you like a quill-beast and roast your ass over the fire.”
“I won’t say anything.”
She wipes at her face again and forces a smile to her lips. “It’s just hormones. I resonated to Raahosh again. Bun number two is officially in the oven.”
21
HAEDEN
As I promised my mate, I set a bruising pace over the mountains. The others do not complain - Raahosh is just as eager to return to his own mate, and the unmated men are eager to see the new human women. The only one that seems displeased is Aehako, who watches his human mate carefully and snarls at me when she needs to rest. Kira never complains, however, and is grimly determined to continue on as fast as she can go.
I miss Jo-see fiercely. As one day crawls into the next, I obsess with thoughts of her smile, her laugh, the soft feel of her skin against mine. The small sounds she makes when her cunt clenches around my cock. My khui is silent for the first time in forever, and I hate it. Now that I have her, there is no going back to the half-dead state I existed in before. Even though we are parted, I know I have her to return home to, and it spurs my steps.
There are signs of both metlaks and sky-claws the closer we get to the abandoned ship. More half-eaten dvisti litter the landscape, and a few metlak carcasses. We see nothing in the skies, but Kira draws closer to her mate for the rest of the day. We are somber that evening as we crowd close to the hunter cave. It is not big enough for most of us to sleep in, so Kira and Aehako sleep inside with a small fire and the rest of us keep watch at the mouth if it.