by Lily Thomas
“It doesn’t worry you now though?”
“Why would it? She’d still be my mate, and they’d still be my offspring. I’d treasure them no matter what.” Tor’s voice held such conviction that it moved Daerk.
“You couldn’t take a pronghorn hunting in their animal form.” He worried.
“They can still hunt in their human form,” Tor replied.
They broke into the main chamber. The ceiling rose high above them with stalactites hanging down like jagged teeth, threatening to fall and smash anyone foolish enough to challenge them.
The cave was well lit with animal fat torches burning brightly along the edges, and in the middle where Eron sat on a bear fur.
Eron was decked out in his ceremonial outfit, a sabertooth skull over his own, the teeth coming down the sides of his face, giving him a fearsome look in the flickering light, even though he was well past his prime.
“Eron,” Daerk called out gently. He was intruding, and he didn’t want to be too rude about it.
Eron’s eyes opened. “What brings you here to me?”
Tor stepped forward. “I have found my mate, but she is injured to the point of dying. I am afraid she will not make it without your assistance.” He rushed.
“Bring her to me then.” Eron stood up from the fur.
“Both of our mates are from the pronghorn clan we just attacked.” Daerk filled in. “We can’t bring them here without Brog losing his mind and killing them both.”
Eron stared at the both of them in silence for a few seconds and then shook his head. “Let me grab my herbs, and I will meet you both at the edge of the camp.”
To Daerk’s relief, it didn’t take Eron too long to collect his things. He had to get back to his mate and lay eyes on her again, and he knew Tor felt the same way.
“How far are these mates?” Eron asked. He still looked in tip-top shape, but he’d slowly stopped traveling outside of the village unless it was an emergency. They’d been traveling through the snow for a while now, and Eron was beginning to huff and puff.
“Not too much further, I promise you.” Daerk felt horrible dragging him all the way out here into the middle of nowhere, but neither he or Tor knew much about healing. Ask him to hunt down an animal for the clan, and he would be successful. Ask him to heal a broken bone, and he’d be lost.
“I think I can see a light.” Tor squinted into the blowing snow.
Daerk glanced over at what Tor was seeing. “It must be the campfire inside the cave.”
“Let’s get a move on then,” Eron grumbled as he pressed forward, the snow whipping his fur cloak around his frame.
Daerk hefted a bag over his shoulder. He’d managed to sneak out some more supplies which he was sure they would need sooner or later.
They trudged up the hill to the shining beacon of light. Shoving through the flap over the entrance of the cave Daerk’s eyes eagerly searched for Aiyre but came up empty.
Tor brushed past him to squat beside Ezi. “Ezi?” His voice took on a panicked tone.
Daerk forgot about Aiyre for a brief second as he turned his attention to the pair in front of him. Ezi looked like she was on death’s door.
“You have to save her!” Tor barked at Eron his voice echoing off the rock walls of the cave.
Eron raised an eyebrow in Tor’s direction, as he stoked the fire flooding the cave with heat. “Can you take over?” Eron handed Daerk the branch.
Then Eron squatted down next to Ezi as well.
As they examined her leg, Daerk glanced around the inside of the cave. Where was Aiyre? Was she further inside the cave? He couldn’t see her leaving Ezi’s side, at least not with all the commotion going on over here… unless she’d gone out into the snow for something.
He sniffed the air.
Her scent was still floating thickly through the air. If she had gone, she hadn’t been gone for long.
“Who is there?” Ezi’s eyes opened, but as she looked around, he could see they were glazed over.
“Is she blind?” Tor looked close to pulling out all of his hair.
Daerk hated seeing his friend like this. He could only hope Eron would save her life.
“She’s just coping with the pain from her leg,” Eron reassured him.
“Who’s there?” She slurred.
“Shhh… it’s me, Tor, the sabertooth shifter from earlier.” He reached out a hand to brush the side of her face, and she flinched away from his touch. Tor withdrew his hand, looking like she’d stabbed a stone dagger into his chest.
“Where is Aiyre?” Ezi asked them.
“I was hoping you could tell me.” Daerk rose from beside the fire unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. He got the feeling he wouldn’t enjoy the answer.
“She didn’t think you’d return soon enough to save my life, so she went out to search for help.”
“How long has she been gone?”
“Since you left.”
“Idiot.” Daerk strode over to the mouth of the cave, then turned on his heel to glance back at the other two men. “Will either of you need me?”
“Go,” Eron commanded as he bent over his pack of herbs.
With a nod, Daerk left the cave and welcomed the frigid air. Why couldn’t his mate just sit still? He’d returned within a day of leaving, wasn’t that fast enough for her?
Shedding his clothing, he let the shift overtake him. Slowly tan fur spread over his frame, and then his muscles and bones stretched. What seemed to take forever only lasted a mere second before he was able to launch himself into the deep snow.
His powerful legs kicked up snow, as he let his nose guide him. It was hard to pick up her scent with the constant snowfall, but he was determined and unwilling to let anything get in his way.
Chapter 9
Night had fallen, and Aiyre was starting to doubt her sanity. Even her pronghorn form was wishing for the warmth of the cave, but she had to press on. She wasn’t about to go back without any help, and there had to be someone out there, someone who wouldn’t be a sabertooth shifter.
She could only imagine being mated to such a beast. Those razor-sharp claws and teeth as long as her hand. It would be insane for either of them to think they had a future together. He was a born predator, and she was prey.
She quivered at the very thought of his sabertooth form.
Aiyre hoped Ezi would make it. She was the last clanmate Aiyre had left, and this life was too harsh to go it alone.
A crunching of the snow had her ears perking up. They moved on top of her head, facing forwards, to the side, and then behind her, pinpointing where the noise was coming from. She slowly approached, her long slender legs easily picking their way through the snow.
Millions of flakes flew around her in the dark, but she was able to pick up the scent. It was just of a herd of horses. She relaxed a bit and easily made her way through the herd of horses without causing any alarm.
She was just another prey animal in her pronghorn form. There was no reason for them to care about her presence, and their presence gave her some more confidence.
It was rare for her to go off on her own. She’d always had clanmates to accompany her, so the company of the horses was welcomed.
She left the herd of horses behind, but then a neigh of alarm went up through the horse herd. Aiyre’s ears perked back up as fear spread through her. What had the horse herd seen or smelled?
Giving the air around her a quick sniff she tried to pinpoint what it was but came up empty.
The herd bolted, kicking up massive amounts of snow as they fled the scene. All of them were in a panic. Her heart sped up.
Aiyre kicked herself into gear, splitting off from the group, hoping to disappear into the night.
She wasn’t going to be that lucky. Her ears picked up something large following right after her. The moment she heard the growl behind her, her blood froze, but she kept moving. Something was coming after her. Her muscles started to burn with her exertions. She
could feel her strength waning, so she turned to face her opponent.
A sabertooth cat’s shadow could be seen sprinting towards her through the falling snow.
Aiyre readied herself for what might come next.
The sabertooth stopped. Was it a shifter? She still couldn’t see it very well through the shifting snow. She sniffed the cold air, but only came up with the overwhelming scent of horses.
When the sabertooth approached her again, she leveled her head at it, brandishing her horns. They weren’t much, but she hoped it would be enough to defend herself.
The sabertooth gave a huff of frustration and began to circle her. Quickly, she moved in a circle as well as she didn’t want to let the sabertooth get a good attacking angle.
Why hadn’t the sabertooth gone after the horses? The odds had been in her favor since the horse herd had been such a large group. Maybe separating from the herd hadn’t been such a wise decision after all. Or the gods were just against her.
The sabertooth growled at her again and took a swipe at her with its massive claws. Shifter or not it looked ready to kill her, and she wasn’t planning on being its next meal.
Raising up on her hind legs she tried to knock the sabertooth in the head with her hooves, but it quickly dodged her attempts and came back in to swipe a claw at her. It barely missed her thigh.
Aiyre jumped back into a sprint, hoping to gain some distance with her surprise leap into action, but the sabertooth was quick to jump in front of her path and stop her.
She was going to die out here, and Ezi was probably going to die as well. There went the last of their clan.
The sabertooth launched itself at her, claws extended. She turned to dodge, but one of the claws latched onto her thigh, yanking free a piece of skin. She let out a yelp of pain, almost shifting back into her human form with the force of the pain shooting through her.
Dislodging herself from its claw, she faced it as it made another lunge at her. She put her head down, hoping to at least do it a little harm before it claimed her as its next snack.
Another sabertooth flew out of nowhere and began attacking the first with a fury.
It stopped her short for a couple of seconds, and then she got her butt moving. She needed to now find some shelter so she could tend to the wound on her thigh. She also needed to get as far as she could from these two sabertooths who were fighting over her. She wasn’t ready to be either of their snacks.
Limping away from the fight she tried in vain to find somewhere to hide herself away. She wasn’t about to stick around and see which one won the rights to eat her.
Daerk had heard the scream of an animal and raced over to make sure it wasn’t Aiyre, but it had been. He was just glad she was still alive when he got on the scene. His heart had nearly stopped when he’d scented her in a fight with a wild sabertooth.
The wild sabertooth took a swing at his head with a massive paw of razor-sharp claws, and he dodged before hooking his own claws into the wild sabertooth. He tore some flesh from the sabertooths forearm, and then it bolted into the snowflakes not wanting to risk death.
It was for the best. It may have tried to eat his mate, but it was only a wild animal trying to survive. He didn’t want to kill the sabertooth, since his clan respected them.
Turning around he looked around the area and found Aiyre gone. He understood her being scared and fleeing, but now he was going to have to find her all over again. He shook his head as he growled.
The gods had given him a frustrating mate. She was independent and willing to do anything for her clanmate, even if it might put her in danger. Despite her frustrating traits, he had to admire her for her tenacity.
Sticking his black nose in the air, he sniffed the air. In no time, he picked up on her scent... and blood. His stomach rolled. He had no idea how injured she was before she ran off. Maybe she was bleeding to death right now.
Snow flew behind him as he charged into the dark letting his nose lead him.
Then he spotted her as the snow died down a little bit. She was laying on the ground in her human form. This was bad. Shifting into his human form, he dealt with the cold shoving it from his mind. Nothing was more important than seeing to his mate.
“Aiyre?”
Her eyes flew open. “You found me.”
“Of course.” He bent down next to her to examine her thigh.
“I wasn’t sure you’d return in time to save Ezi, so I left to find help.” She explained as she brought her arms up to hug herself in the cold.
“I know.” Her wound was bleeding a fair bit. It wasn’t large, but it still worried him. “If I shift, will you be able to wrap your arms around my neck?”
She nodded stiffly. “My arms are working just fine.”
Now he would just have to get her back to the cave before she froze to death.
Daerk shifted back into his sabertooth form and laid down next to her so that she could wrap her arms around his neck. Once she was in place, holding onto his fur with a solid grip, he tore off through the night. He was getting them back to the cave.
“You’re so warm.” Aiyre murmured as she snuggled her face against the fur around his neck.
He chuffed in amusement wishing he could say more, but unable to in this form. He also wished she was in a more sound mind, rather than freezing, so he could get her used to his sabertooth form. After the attack on her people, he wanted to make sure she didn’t fear his other form because his sabertooth would do anything to keep her safe.
Aiyre was freezing. Her front was pressed against his warm fur, but her backside was almost painful with the cold night air rushing past them. She wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to hold onto his fur.
Slowly, she felt her fingers start to slip, and she knew they were nowhere close to the cave. She tried to tighten her hold on his fur, but her fingers were too frozen for her to move them.
Her fingers slipped all the way, and she flew off his backside.
Daerk rounded, and she got a good visual of his sabertooth form. He was definitely intimidating in this form. Those long canines of his draped well below his jawline.
It brought back memories of the night when her people were attacked, and she’d been faced with killing sabertooths or dying.
He shifted into his human form and bent down next to her. “How are you?” His eyes skimmed over her, and she could read the worry in those depths.
“Cold.” Her body shivered uncontrollably, and she couldn’t get her pronghorn to shift. The thing was being stubborn, refusing to show up.
He glanced around, and then picked her up in his arms and carried her through the snow.
“Aren’t you freezing?” She asked, her teeth going a mile a minute with the cold that was racking her body.
“I am.”
“You should just leave me and see to yourself. It was my fault coming out here. I should’ve believed you would return as quickly as you could.”
“I’m your mate.” His gold eyes glanced down at her, their depths full of intensity. “Leaving you to fend for yourself in the cold was never going to happen.” He sent her a wink. “Even if you did something stupid.”
“Thank you.” She nuzzled her face against his warm chest.
She was too cold right now to have boundaries, and the blood loss wasn’t helping, but at least she could feel it scabbing over… more like freezing over. Hopefully, she wouldn’t lose any more blood now.
He took them into a nearby forest, placed her on the snow, and then went about clearing an area of snow. Once he reached the ground, he picked her back up and placed her on the ground.
Daerk gathered as much wood as would fit in his arms. She watched on as he got a fire going, the flames reaching sky high as he continued to build up the fire into a bonfire. The nearby snow started to melt, and she was able to feel the heat from the fire reaching out to defend them from the winter.
He walked over to her and laid down against her back as her front was warmed from
the fire.
“Won’t you be cold back there?” She asked, her teeth had finally stopped chattering, but she was still freezing.
“Yes, but would you be comfortable with me enough to let me shift back into my sabertooth form?” His voice held a hopefulness that choked her a bit. He was being so attentive and sweet to her.
“I will be fine with it.” Mainly, because she would be warmer with him in his sabertooth form.
“It would be best if you could change back into your pronghorn form as well.” He advised as he moved away from her.
“I’ll give it a try.” She just hoped her pronghorn side would shift willingly. Aiyre focused in on her pronghorn side, and with a little effort, she let the shift come over her until her skin was covered by a protective layer of soft brown fur.
She heard nothing from behind her until something large and furry curved around her backside.
Aiyre was tempted to look behind her and examine his sabertooth form, but at the same time, she was too scared. Her heart pounded away in her chest, and she had no doubt he could hear it. Her pronghorn was not happy about this. It continued to protest cuddling with a sabertooth, no matter how much she told it to be quiet.
Daerk might be her mate, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still be intimidating. Her pronghorn knew what he could do, even if she kept trying to tell it there was nothing to fear. If he’d wanted to kill her, he’d had plenty of chances.
She snuggled her back against him anyway, because he was warm and he was saving her life. With both him and the fire she had no trouble warming back up.
After less than an hour, he moved behind her, and then came around, signaling that she should get back on top of him.
Aiyre shifted back into her human form, goosebumps spreading over her skin instantly. “Already?” She was so warm and cozy where she was.
He chuffed through his nose.
“Fine.” Aiyre climbed back on top of him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her fingers were warm and nimble, and she was able to get a good hold on his fur.