Maybe soon, though.
Beh pushes her lips together as she tries to stop laughing and then places her mouth against my temple. Her lips are warm and soft on my skin, and I lean toward her to place my lips on her cheek and then on her forehead.
Her palm cups my jaw, and her eyes look intently into mine as she makes the same collection of sounds again. I place my mouth on top of hers, hoping she won’t make noises all night. I lay my head back on the furs and hold her body close to mine. My hand runs over her skin, finding her breast and remembering how it moves when I am thrusting against her.
I start to wonder what other ways I could try to put a baby inside of her.
The chill in the wind this morning is far colder than previous days. I wrap my outer fur tighter around my shoulders as I check over the landscape for any signs of danger. The fur is cut long and hangs down my back to keep the wind off of me. Seeing nothing of concern, but thinking of the impending cold, I collect some wood from the recess between the rocks above the cave entrance and bring it back inside. The stores are getting low.
Beh is asleep again, but I am not surprised. The sky is overcast, and the cave is still dark. I also woke her up twice during the night to put a baby inside of her. I tried to move really slowly the last time, hoping she wouldn’t wake up, but she did.
I stack some of the wood neatly in a nice dry part of the cave, close to the fire but not too close. I need to gather more and think maybe I will do that today before it gets any colder. It takes a long time to gather a lot of wood since there aren’t many trees near the cave, only the small grove near the ravine, but the wood from the trees there doesn’t burn well. I have to go to the pine forest near the lake to collect better wood, and I can’t carry very much at a time.
As I am stacking the wood, I notice there is a small piece of flattened bark up against the wall of the cave by Beh’s clay dishes. There is also the small flint knife I gave to Beh when she was trying to cut up some of the boar meat. I pick up the bark to toss it into the fire when I notice there are a bunch of parallel lines carved into it, presumably with the piece of flint. I cock my head to one side and peer at it, but I can’t fathom why Beh would put marks on a piece of wood. Though my first thought is to toss the piece of bark into the fire, I shrug my shoulders and lay the wood back where I found it instead. I may not know what it is for, but one broken dish is enough for me to learn not to mess with the things Beh has put to use.
I look outside again and see that it is really quite late in the morning even though the overcast sky doesn’t give much of a clue. I decide I need to wake Beh so there is still time to gather a decent amount of wood before dark.
I drop down next to her and reach out to touch her shoulder.
“Beh.” There is no response from my mate, so I try a little louder. “Beh!”
Beh grumbles and rolls, taking the edge of the fur and pulling it most of the way over her head. I can’t help but smile at the act. The little noise she makes is like a small animal’s squeak. I pull at the edge of the fur, but her fingers grip hard. She holds tight to the edge of it, so I know she is really awake.
On impulse, I stick my feet underneath the fur and snuggle in beside her. I feel her body push back against mine as it seeks the warmth, and I wrap my arm around her waist. My nose slides across her shoulder blade and up to her neck as my fingers trace little light circles around her side and belly.
Beh squirms at my light touch, her grunts of protest escaping even as she giggles. I smile against the skin of her throat and run the backs of my fingers across her belly. She wriggles and laughs as she makes loud sounds and grabs my hand. I pull, bringing her to her back so I can look at her face.
Her eyes are bright, and her smile is glorious. Her hair is everywhere, creating a soft, fluffy brown cloud behind her. She gazes up at me and makes the collection of sounds she has been repeating often when we are together in the furs.
I smile back at her and then bring my mouth to her neck to suck on the skin. I’m growing hard quickly, and I know I need to stop. We have no time for mating this morning; we have to gather enough wood before nightfall. Our stores of food are growing, but we don’t have quite enough to get us through the winter. The cold morning reminds me how soon winter will be here.
I pull away from her, and Beh scratches at my jaw with her fingers, making more sounds. I start to turn from her to get up, but she grips my shoulders to hold me close to her. I tilt my head and smile back as she makes more noise. This time, she includes both of our name-sounds, which is strange.
But, that’s my mate!
I nuzzle the tip of my nose against her and start to get up again. Again, she holds me back, saying our name-sounds together with another sound. I sigh and lay my head next to hers. I look over my shoulder to the cave’s opening and wonder how late in the morning it really is.