by Lily Thomas
“How long until he and I are kicked out of the clan?” Andrea asked as she fiddled with a rock bead that’s been sewed onto her shirt.
“That will be decided by the current leader of the clan, our uncle.”
Now Andrea just had to hope the uncle liked Rokki enough to postpone their being kicked out of the clan… at least long enough for her bracelet to be repaired. Then she could get back to her time… and leave Rokki to get kicked out of the clan by himself.
Andrea cringed as she watched a coal flicker back to life and glitter with an inner fire like it was angry with the direction of her thoughts.
“Where is Rokki?” Andrea asked as her eyes skimmed over the huts that surrounded them and found several curious glances cast her way as clanmates went about their daily activities. It was a bustling medium-sized village. Their clan was doing very well, and she could see why they would like to continue to please the gods. It would be a shame to have all this taken away.
“He is on a hunt for the Neanderthals who have trespassed on our pack territory. We aren’t sure why, but they’ve been wandering across our territory, taking our prey and causing our men to worry about our women hunting alone.”
“Oh, yes. Sorry. I forgot you said he was on a hunt.” Like the night when Andrea had first seen Rokki in his dire wolf form. He had been hunting the Neanderthals, and in the process, had saved her.
“Is this her?” Another woman skipped into view, a long brunette braid bouncing behind her. Then the young woman squatted in front of Andrea as she peered into Andrea’s face. “Are you Rokki’s mate?”
“I’m not his mate.” Andrea tried once more, hoping someone in this clan of dire wolves would listen to her.
The young woman took an audible whiff of the air. “You smell of Rokki,” she cocked her head to the side, causing her braid to shift to the other shoulder, “almost more than your own scent… and if I’m smelling it correctly, the two of you have been under the furs together.”
“Wait, what?” Andrea scooted back on her butt. “Can everyone in this village smell this on me?”
The new woman shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong about joining Rokki under the furs.” She winked over at Zuri. “There are many women who wish to be joined with him.”
“He’s a womanizer?”
Silence greeted her question. Zuri shrugged, and the other woman squinted her eyes at Andrea as she tried to process the words. Ah, womanizer probably wasn’t in their vocabulary.
“He’s with a lot of women?” Andrea clarified.
“No,” the new woman shook her head vigorously. “If he does lay with women, then he does it outside the clan.”
“So, you haven’t slept with him?” Andrea wasn’t sure how this woman knew Rokki, and she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
“Her?” Zuri laughed. “He’s our brother.”
“Oh.” Andrea looked between the two of them. The new woman didn’t look horribly similar to Rokki or Darc, but she knew genetics could be funny sometimes with how it blended from two parents. And now that she looked at Zuri, she didn’t look similar to either of her brothers as well.
“I’m Ode, and the youngest of the siblings.” Ode smiled over at Andrea. “It’s good to have another sister in our family, even if you aren’t a dire wolf.”
Andrea smiled at Ode. Other than Darc, the rest of Rokki’s pack seemed to be welcoming.
“She won’t be here with us for long,” Zuri said. “She isn’t the witch.”
“Oh.” The smile slipped off Ode’s face. “I love Darc, but I was hoping that out of both of them, Rokki would be staying with us.”
Andrea wished she could change who she was for them, but she couldn’t. She just hoped Rokki wouldn’t hold it against her. She was forcing him out of his own clan because of who she was.
Her heart went out to him. She’d just left her mother in another time. Her heart ached about that, but at the same time, it wasn’t like she saw her mother all that much. An archeologist went where the jobs were, and usually, that wasn’t anywhere near one’s home town. To be frank, it was usually in another country. Which made her think she was only experiencing a fraction of what Ode and Zuri felt.
Andrea let the women draw her into conversation, as she hoped for Rokki’s return. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be much longer. He was her one rock in this world of large beasts and unknowns.
Chapter 15
Rokki loped into the village in his dire wolf form, his men hot on his heels. He shrugged off the strung-up rabbits they’d stripped off the Neanderthals and shifted back into his human form. Fur melted into tanned skin, and his paws elongated into long, strong fingers, and his snout receded back into his face.
“Take the rabbits over to Vor’s hut. He will spread them out among our pack mates or have them smoked into strips of meat.” Rokki instructed his men. “I have other things to do.” And then he strode away knowing his men would follow his instructions.
It was time to head back to his hut, get some supplies for Andrea, and get back to her. He could only imagine how she felt being left alone in the middle of a forest, but he’d needed to take care of the Neanderthals.
As he strode among the huts and said his hellos to fellow pack members, a sweet scent drifted on the air, right past his nose. His inner dire wolf demanded that he take a better whiff, and something about it was familiar, comforting.
Pausing mid-step, Rokki sucked in another whiff of the appealing scent. Then his eyes popped wide as it finally hit him how he knew the scent.
“Andrea?” He whispered as he suddenly spun in a tight circle, all the while sniffing the air. Once he pinpointed the direction from where it came, he marched off, determined to find the source of his mate’s scent.
As he neared the village fire, he spotted her. Andrea sat on the ground, speaking with his two sisters. There was a light smile on her lips, so she was happy, and he couldn’t smell any fear or worry coming off of her. She seemed comfortable.
How had Andrea found her way here? He supposed he might never know unless he walked over and asked her.
Rokki relaxed a bit as he took in the scene in front of him with pleasure. He hadn’t been sure his sisters would welcome his mate, but it was nice to see they were accepting her.
“Where have you been?” A voice growled from behind him.
Spinning, Rokki growled in kind, a snarl curling one side of his lips. “What do you want, Darc?”
“Where have you been?” Darc repeated as he folded his arms in front of his chest, showing off his impressive display of muscles. Unfortunately for him, Rokki was just as muscled.
“I dealt with some Neanderthals in our territory.”
“I found your mate wandering around lost in the woods.”
“She wasn’t in the hunting hut?”
Darc shook his head. “You should take better care of your mate, little brother. Leaving her alone in the forest was foolish. Anything could have ended her life before your return.”
“I can handle my own mate,” Rokki growled low in his throat. His beast wasn’t pleased someone else would criticize decisions they made about their mate.
Darc’s golden eyes narrowed on him. “You should have brought her back to the clan when you found her.”
“I was going to once I was sure she would be safe here.” Rokki didn’t bother to hide his meaning from Darc as he stared his brother in the eyes.
“Is she a witch?” Darc throat bobbed as he swallowed, waiting impatiently for Rokki’s answer.
Now it was Rokki’s time to narrow his eyes on his brother. “She says she is a human, and so far, I haven’t seen her use any magic.” He wasn’t about to tell Darc that he’d seen her disappear and appear. There was still the possibility she was a witch and didn’t know. Maybe she hadn’t grown up in a coven and had no idea she had magic coursing through her blood. It was possible, and it gave him hope.
Darc’s eyes left him and glanced over Rokki’s shoulder to where Andrea sat with
their sisters. “If she ends up being human, our uncle will cast you out. I’ll make sure of it.”
Rokki chuckled, and Darc’s eyes landed back on him as he scowled. “That could be years, brother. If you want me kicked out, you must find your witch mate to prove mine is just a human. The prophecy doesn’t say when I have to be kicked out, it just says the brother with a human mate must leave when the other finds their witch mate.”
And Rokki prayed to the gods it ended up being Darc who left the clan, not him. He loved Darc, despite the tension between them, but it hadn’t always been like this. When they were children, and their dire wolves had yet to show themselves, they’d been inseparable. Only when their dire wolves showed themselves to be alpha wolves had the problems developed.
Darc grumbled something under his breath before striding away. Rokki would take it as a win, and his inner dire wolf wanted to howl in triumph, but he refrained. There was no need to provoke Darc and wind up rolling around on the ground in a fight… in front of the whole clan.
“Rokki?”
Spinning on a foot, he found his sisters and Andrea staring over at him.
“What did Darc want from you?” Zuri asked as he walked over to them.
“Nothing.” Rokki wasn’t about to bring up the issue right now. Right now, he wanted to enjoy having his mate in his pack village. “I heard Darc found you wandering around the forest. Why didn’t you stay in the hunting hut?” He folded his arms over his bare chest as he raised a dark eyebrow and stared down at Andrea, who still sat on the ground.
“Well,” Andrea blushed as she looked to the other women, “something came sniffing around the hut… I got scared and ran.”
“What was it?” Ode asked breathlessly. “A sabertooth? A male mammoth on a rampage?”
“I have no idea.” Andrea’s face colored even more.
“Probably a squirrel.” Rokki shook his head. His loose black hair swirled around his shoulders. “Everything sounds larger in the dark.”
Andrea glared up at him. Her green eyes churned with anger at his words. “It was large. It wasn’t a squirrel.” She blustered.
Zuri glared up at him. “You weren’t there, Rokki. And she is human. You can’t blame her for running when something comes sniffing around. You are the one at fault. You should have brought her to the pack the moment you found her.”
“I needed to make sure she was safe here.”
Zuri scoffed. “You and Darc may fight, but there is no way he would harm your mate. He would never do such a thing. It goes against everything we believe. Mates are life. If he harmed her, he would be shunned by the pack, whether or not his mate turns out to be a witch.”
Rokki shook his head. “None of us know what he would and still could do to Andrea if she were a witch.” He didn’t like the idea, but if his brother ever threatened Andrea’s life, he would rip his brother’s throat out.
“If she were a witch, she would be able to hold her own against Darc.” Zuri reasoned. “And if she is a human, she has nothing to fear from Darc, because you’ll be banished with her soon enough.”
“Enough of this pointless discussion. She is here, and so far, everything is fine.” Rokki wasn’t going to keep discussing this with them. “Come,” he held out his hand to Andrea, “we need to bring you to the shaman.”
“Why?” Andrea questioned, but she still slipped her hand into his and allowed him to pull her up. Trust glistened brightly in her eyes.
“We need to get you tattooed.”
“Wait, what?” Andrea asked as she suddenly tried to yank back her hand. Rokki’s grip was like iron, tough, unyielding.
“You are a part of this pack now, and we must get you the tattoos. If you ever encounter another dire wolf pack, they will know where you belong.” Rokki explained as though this should be a simple matter.
“I’ve never had a tattoo, and I’m not sure I want one.” Andrea didn’t believe twenty-first century tattoo parlors were sanitary, and she knew for sure that ice age tattooing couldn’t be any more sanitary.
“You are now a part of the pack, and you must fit in, Andrea.” Rokki motioned to his chest and upper arms, at the reddish tattoos that decorated his skin.
The tattoos added a dangerous and sexy appeal to his already well-muscled body. The swirls and dots were mesmerizing, and someday she would ask him what every single one of them meant to him and his people.
“Do I have to get a tattoo?” Andrea turned her eyes up to him and batted her lashes. She wasn’t sure it would work, but she was willing to give it a try.
“I will delay it, but you will need to get your tattoo someday.” Rokki squeezed her hand. “Are you afraid of the pain?”
She nodded her head.
“I won’t lie. It is uncomfortable, but the shaman has plenty of herbs for you to smoke or drink that will dull it.” Rokki promised.
Andrea sighed in relief that she had been able to postpone the tattoos. When he tugged on her hand, she allowed him to pull her along as he guided her to a large hut on the edge of the village.
“Does it even matter?” Andrea asked. “I’m human, and if we are kicked out of the pack, then why would it matter that I get the tattoo?”
“If we are forced to leave, it is important you get the tattoo.” Rokki pulled up and brought her into his bare chest, and she felt his cock between their bodies. “If something happens to me out there, and you wander across a clan gathering or another dire wolf pack, they will bring you back to this pack, and this pack will protect you.” Every word held such conviction that she found herself believing him.
Andrea could only nod her head. “I understand.” If she did end up here for the rest of her life, she would be sure to get the tattoo.
“Now, come, I am sure the shaman is expecting us. He knows all.” Rokki sent her a wink, before turning and ducking under the fur covering the entrance of the hut. Andrea followed after him.
The moment she stepped inside the hut, a thick layer of smoke smacked her in the face, and she coughed a bit. Raising a hand to her mouth and nose, she sucked in tentative breathes until her lungs grew used to all the smoke hanging in the air.
“I have been waiting for both of you.” A strong male voice said somewhere inside the hut, but the smoke hid the speaker from her view.
“Sit here,” Rokki commanded her.
Andrea could barely see the ground under her, but she sank to the ground and found a folded up fur below her. She sank onto it and enjoyed its softness under her butt.
Rokki sat beside her on another folded up fur.
As if on cue, the smoke dissipated, and Andrea finally got her first look at the man sitting across from them, a fire pit between them. Small orange flames licked across the wood logs and cackled in delight.
“I am the pack shaman.”
“I am Andrea.”
“I know who you are.” A smile spread across the shaman’s face, causing wrinkles to spread across his age softened skin. “Rokki has waited a long time for his mate.”
There was that mate thing again, but she wasn’t about to argue it with anyone else. It went in one ear and out the other. She had finally given up. Instead, she said, “I don’t want a tattoo.”
The old man chuckled. “When you are ready, you will get one. For now, Rokki believes it is important that I tell you the story of our people and how we came to be a part of this land.”
Andrea’s shoulders slumped in relief. She’d at least gotten the tattoo topic pushed off, and maybe if she was lucky, everyone would forget about it with time. When she knew she was stuck here forever or they were banished, then she would get the tattoo.
“You are the best storyteller in the pack.” Rokki nodded his head.
Andrea glanced over at Rokki, where she saw admiration and respect shining bright in his golden eyes. He looked like an eager child waiting for his favorite bed time story… this mountain of a man who could turn into a menacing dire wolf liked to hear stories from the clan shaman.
“I would love to hear the story of your people,” Andrea said as she rotated her head and looked back at the old man sitting across the fire from her. She folded her hands in her lap as she readied herself for the tale.
The shaman picked up a long wooden pipe. One end was slightly raised, and as he pressed his lips to the other end, she saw a flicker of something catching fire inside the pipe. Then the shaman brought the pipe away from his mouth and sent a puff of smoke spiraling out of his nose. The smoke lazily trickled up to join the rest of the smoke inside the large hut. He passed the pipe to Rokki with two hands, and Rokki accepted it with a couple of hands and a slight incline of his head.
Rokki took a puff, tilted his head back, and slowly let the smoke out of his mouth in a stream of grey. Then he presented the wooden pipe to Andrea.
“Oh, no, thanks.” She waved her hands in front of her.
Rokki’s eyes narrowed on her. “You will not refuse the pipe in the shaman’s hut, Andrea.”
A small heat crept up her cheeks. She felt like a child being scolded about a rule she had no idea about.
“Here.” Andrea held out her hands and accepted the pipe. This would be the very first time she ever smoked something. Images from her high school health class floated through her mind of blackened lungs. Sucking in a deep breath, she raised the tip of the pipe to her mouth and sucked in.
Immediately, she began to sputter and choke as she handed the pipe back to Rokki. A blush stained her cheeks. Clearly, she didn’t know how to smoke, because neither of them had choked on the smoke like her.
Andrea blinked as she watched the flames of the fire flicker in front of her. She could swear she saw shapes within the flames. Squinting at the flames, she tried to make sense of what her eyes were attempting to tell her brain.