by Ruby Dixon
Bek rolls his eyes at me and scoops up his spear as I turn away.
I jog in to the cave, looking for the female laughter. There is a group of females sitting next to Sevvah by the fire, laughing and sewing. My No-rah is not there, and I ignore their calls of greeting and head deeper into the cave, looking for my mate.
She comes out of Vektal and Shor-shie’s cave a moment later, laughing and holding an armful of furs. Her shorn, shoulder-length hair is in two short braids by her ears and her face is lit up with happiness.
“No-rah!” I call out, my heart surging at the sight of her. She is so lovely, my mate. I could gaze at her for hours on end and be content.
Her gaze flicks over to me and she gives a happy little squeak of surprise. No-rah tosses the furs down onto the cave floor and flings herself the short distance to my side, her arms wide. A moment later, she leaps onto me, flinging her arms around my neck and showering my face with kisses.
I hold her tight and kiss her small face back, over and over again. My world is feeling more and more right by the moment. When was the last time she kissed me with such joy? She loves me, but we have been so tired lately. This, I realize, I need just as much as her smiles. I need her kisses, her small, cold human hands sliding over me. “I missed you,” I growl at her, fighting the urge to drag her to the floor and claim her like a barbarian.
No-rah presses another happy kiss to my face. “I missed you, too! Where have you been? I was so worried.”
“Caught in the storm.” I press another kiss to her mouth, but the father in me cannot help but ask, “Where are the kits?”
She chuckles, and the sound is so light and airy it makes me smile in response. “Asha has been helping me. She loves playing with Anna and Elsa. Come, I’ll show you.” With one last kiss, she slides back down to the floor. I move to her discarded fur bundles and pick them up, holding them in front of my loincloth so no one notices just how much I have missed my mate. Others come up and give quick greetings, but my attention is only for my mate, who takes my hand and pulls me along to our cave. Her hips sway as she walks, and she glances back at me with a sultry promise in her eyes that makes me very glad I have the furs to hold in front of my cock.
When we get to our cave, Asha is there, holding a small bone rattle over the twins, who are lying on a blanket. She casts a look at No-rah, then rises and steps away as I bound forward to hold my daughters. I have missed their little faces, their toothless smiles, and even the stink of a dirty loincloth. I hug Ah-nah close and kiss her round face a dozen times before No-rah takes her from my hands and I pick up Ehl-sah and give her the same attention. “I have missed my family,” I say, holding Ehl-sah close. It feels as if I can truly relax for the first time in a handful of days.
No-rah casts a worried look at Asha, and then hands her the kit. “Kiss them for now, Dagesh, because they’re going with Asha tonight.”
I frown in surprise. “They are? Why?”
“Because you and I are going to have a night off, just the two of us.” She picks up a stack of kit-sized loincloths and puts them in a basket. “We are going to have a relaxing evening and we are going to talk.”
I hold my daughter in my arms, trying not to scowl as Asha hitches Ah-nah on her hip and heads away with the basket that No-rah hands her. “We are talking now.”
No-rah gives me a patient look and then holds her hands out for Ehl-sah. “We are going to talk.” As Asha leaves, No-rah glances at her and then moves closer to me. “That is human-speak for ‘you are going to give me your cock’.”
Oh.
Oh. I swallow a laugh, kiss my tiny daughter one more time, and then hand her off. My body hums pleasantly at the thought, and even though my khui is quiet in my chest, I am filled with lust for my mate, almost as intense as resonance. It has been a long time since we held each other and explored. I have missed it, and I have missed my No-rah. I watch as she bundles Ehl-sah into her basket and then takes the entire thing to Asha’s cave. She means it when she says we will have a night together. The thought fills me with an absurd amount of pleasure.
While she is gone, I strip my filthy leathers off my body and wash with a bit of melt-water warming over the fire. I grow sleepy, lulled by the warmth in the cave, my eyes drifting closed. It has been a long handful of days, a long turn of the moon. I think of tomorrow, and all the things that must be done. There are traps to set, pits to dig, caches to check in on, and hunter caves to re-supply. I am weary to the bone just thinking about all of it. I would rather stay with No-rah in the cave and kiss every inch of her soft human body. But lying in the furs with my mate does not feed her in the brutal season, so I must go out. I scrub a hand over my face and pull a fresh tunic over my chest. I must stay awake. I need to touch my mate, to take her body under mine. To taste her. I groan at the thought. How long has it been since I buried my face between her legs and tasted her cunt? Far too long.
No-rah does not return right away, and I take a few bites of dried kah and then lie down in our nest of furs, waiting for my mate. My eyes start to drift closed, the exhaustion I struggle with creeping up on me.
A hand touches my shoulder, rousing me. I jerk upright, nearly knocking No-rah in the head with my horns.
She giggles and moves back. “Sorry. I was gone a bit longer than I thought.”
“I fell asleep,” I murmur, trying to hold back a yawn. I reach for her, pulling her into my arms. “Come, we will mate now—”
No-rah laughs sweetly again, and tucks her body against mine, but pulls the blankets up. “We can sleep first. You’re tired.”
“I am tired but I also wish to mate,” I say, pressing a kiss to her cheek. Her jaw is so small and delicate, I cannot help but run my fangs along it.
She shivers and then gives my shoulder a tap. “Fine, if you want to stay awake, we need to talk.”
“I am not a good talker,” I tell her. I would rather keep distracting her.
“Oh stop that. You are plenty smart.”
“I am. Look at how much we are talking now,” I tell her between nips at her throat. I roll our twined bodies until she is under me, in the furs. “Look at how much our mouths are moving.”
“Yours, maybe,” she teases, but her laughter turns to a small sigh of pleasure when my tongue grazes her throat. Her hands go to my horns and she holds me against her. “You’re distracting me, aren’t you?”
“I am tasting you,” I correct. “Not distracting.”
“But I really want to talk.”
“You may talk,” I tell her. I grab the hem of her tunic and tug it upward. “As long as my mouth is free to taste you.”
My sweet No-rah makes another soft pleasure-sound, her hips rising on the furs. “I just want to know what’s wrong. Why you never come home anymore.”
I sit up, distracted away from my enticing mate. “You think I do not want to be here?”
The look in her eyes is troubled. “I don’t know. I tell myself that we’re fine, you and I, but then you’re up before dawn and you don’t come home again until I’m asleep.”
“I am hunting—“
“I know you are.” Her hand moves to my arm and she strokes it, soothing me. “I know you’re working super hard, baby. But that’s not my concern. My concern is that everyone else’s mates take a day off every now and then to relax. You never do. Ever since the girls have been born, you’re out the door.” Her mouth purses and there’s the barest quiver to her lower lip. “Sometimes I think it’s me.”
“What? Never.” I fall back over her, pressing quick, hot kisses to her face and throat. This is a human custom I love, this kissing. I can never get enough of putting my mouth on my mate. “If it were my choice, I would lie in bed all day with you. But I cannot. You must be fed. The twins must be fed.” Even now, the thought of the kits hungry and scared in the deep, cold days of the brutal season sends fear through my body.
She gives a small protesting shake of her head. “But we are being fed—“
“What if it is not enough?” The worry I have been sitting on for so long claws out of me. “What if we get halfway through the brutal season and the food runs out? We ran low on food this last season.” I try not to think about it, but it burns in my gut. “The heavy snows will be coming sooner this year, and there are more people to feed. What if—“
No-rah puts a finger over my lips, silencing me. “Then we’ll figure it out. But we’re going to be better prepared this year. The storage rooms are already full. All of the hunters are working extra to fill the caches. Tiffany’s got plants, and we’re drying berries. No one’s going to be caught unawares.” Her hand touches my arm, then reaches for one of my long braids and begins to play with it. “But you won’t be able to help if you kill yourself with exhaustion.”
Her hands - even if only on my mane - feel good. This closeness, this comfort feels good. I have missed it in my constant need to go hunt. “I just want to do everything I can.”
“I know you do, Dagesh.” The human way she says my name always makes me smile - she cannot pronounce it right, but she always tries hard. “But if you can’t hunt one day, the others will pick up the slack. That’s why we’re a tribe. We all pitch in and help the others. No one is going to let anyone starve.”
I take a deep breath and nod. What she is saying makes sense. “It is…hard. I always see more I can do.”
“There will always be more to do,” she tells me. “How do you think I feel with the babies? And the cave? And cooking? And sewing? Hell, I used to go to the store for everything and now I have to make my own freaking underpants. Do you know how overwhelming that is?”
I frown. “No. I do not—“
She pats my arm again. “Bless your heart, baby. Just imagine that it’s all very different for me too, and I’m trying. But we take things one day at a time. That’s all we can do. And while I think it’s wonderful that you’re such a hard worker, me and the girls need you around, too.” Her fingers work on the end of my braid and she manages to pull the tie loose, freeing my mane.
“Because you need help with them?” Another surge of guilt washes through me.
“No,” she says, dragging her fingers through my mane to undo my braid with gentle tugging motions. “Asha has shown me that everyone will help, and all I need to do is ask. If the babies get overwhelming, someone else can help out.” Her gaze meets mine. “I want you here because I love you and I miss you, and I don’t want you to miss out on when the girls start walking.”
My lips twitch with a smile as I think of her earlier words. “And because you want my cock?”
She grins. “That, too.”
I lean down to kiss her funny little human mouth with its square, blunt teeth. “How could you think I do not want you?”
“Um, how about because we haven’t had sex since before the babies were born? I checked with the healer and she said I’ve been good to go for a while now, but you’ve been too busy.”
She has been wanting to mate? I think of the long nights where I have held her, my body full of need, but afraid to push her too hard. “Why did you not say before today?”
“Because that’s not how humans do things! The guy makes the first move! They flirt and court the girl!”
“Court? What do you mean, court?” Why are there so many rules to humans?
“I mean, you tell me you want sex!” The look on her face is the one she has when she is embarrassed.
“You just pushed two kits out of your body. Two. I do not know how that feels. How am I to know if you are ready for mating unless you tell me?”
“I’ve been dropping hints!”
“I do not know these hints.”
She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “You are the worst flirt ever, Dagesh.”
I sit up and spread my hands wide. “Who am I to flirt with? Maylak? She has a mate. Asha? She also has a mate. And before they had mates, they had pleasure-mates. When I met you, we resonated immediately. I have no need to flirt, because my khui chose you.”
“So this is your way of telling me that you’ve been missing my signals? What about when I wear the low-cut tunic?”
I give her an exasperated look. “You are nursing our daughters. Your tunic is off more than it is on.”
No-rah giggles again. “Okay, fine. So you’re telling me I need to be more forward.”
“You told me earlier you want my cock. That is the first indication you have given me that you are ready for mating.” I lean in to kiss her smiling mouth again. “It is always ready for you.”
“Well, then,” she says in a throaty voice. “I will learn to be more obvious. How’s this for a signal?” And she reaches between us and cups my sac in her hand.
I nod solemnly. “It is a good one.”
“You can signal me back, you know,” No-rah says. “Tell me that you’re feeling sexy and want some attention from your mate. There’s always things we can do.” She releases my sac and then strokes my shaft lightly before her fingers dance to my spur and tease it.
I groan, desperately wanting to shove my cock into her hand so she can rub it again. “My signal is more…intense.” Immediately I picture how I would signal my mate that I want her, and nearly spill my seed in her hand.
“Oooh? I think you need to show me.”
I think I do, as well. I slide down her body and grab the waistband of her leggings, tugging them down. I hear her startled little gasp but I do not pause. I have dreamed of doing this ever since she grew too pregnant to mate comfortably. I have missed her taste, the softness of her folds against the ridges of my tongue. I tug her leggings to her knees before she kicks them off, and then pull one of her slim legs over my shoulder. “You are so smooth and soft,” I murmur, brushing my mouth along the inside of her thigh. I want to taste her all over, all night long.
No-rah whimpers my name and her hands go back to my horns. “I think I like your signal.”
I know she does. I like it, too. I can smell the scent of her arousal the closer I get to her cunt, and I can see her pink folds peeking out from under the curls that shield them. I push her thighs further apart and bury my face against her, as I have thought about for several turns of the moon now. The taste of her sweetness dances over my tongue and I groan again, licking with long, intense strokes to capture every bit of juice. “This, I have missed,” I rasp between licks.
“God, me too,” she breathes, and I can feel her body quiver. I can feel her shudder with every lap of my tongue, and I focus on her little third nipple between her folds, because I know she likes it when I circle it. No-rah moans and pushes her hips up, encouraging me.
My cock is brutally hard, my need for her intense. I feel as if I am right back to the first time we mated, when I pushed into her and spent immediately, not used to pleasing a mate. It took me two turns of the moon to learn to hold out long enough to make sure she came first. Now I make sure she does every time, but tonight? Tonight it will be difficult to wait.
I must make her come fast, then.
I burn to be inside her, but I know I will not last long when I am. So I must please her with my tongue and my lips, first. I lick her folds, dragging my tongue over her softness over and over again, until she is crying out her pleasure. When her hips arch again, I push a finger inside her, and nearly spill at how tight and wet she is. My mate’s sweet cunt is so ready for my cock.
No-rah cries out, her hands gripping my horns hard as I rub my finger inside her. There is a spot, just inside, that feels different than the rest of her slick warmth, and I seek it out. I found it once and she went wild in the furs when I did. I want to see her do that again.
I rub my finger along the inside of her tight cunt and feel a small, textured patch on her walls. Her loud cry immediately rings out, and then she grabs a pillow and stuffs it over her face. Aha. I have found it. Pleased with myself, I lick her third nipple and rub at the spot inside her again, waiting.
It does not take long; a moment later she is screaming my name int
o the pillow, her hips jerking as her cunt clenches around my finger, and her juices flood my mouth. She comes so hard I feel her entire body quake with the force of her reaction, and it makes me wild with need.
I press one last kiss to her tasty cunt, then rise onto my haunches over my mate. I push her thighs apart and shove my cock into her warmth, desperate to seat myself inside her.
She screams into the pillow again, this time a “Yes!”
My eyes nearly roll back into my head with overwhelming pleasure as her tight cunt grips my cock, clenching hard around it. Her folds rub against my spur as I thrust forward, slicking it. I love the feeling, and I take one hand and squeeze her folds together as I thrust again. It pushes my spur along her slick channel, and the cry that chokes out of her is nearly as great as my own. Her cunt squeezes me tight and then I feel her body quake as she comes for a second time.
My own release floods out of me. With a groan, my sac tightens against my shaft and then I lose control, thrusting into my mate’s soft warmth with ferocious intensity as my seed floods out of me. Spots dance behind my eyelids, and I keep thrusting shallowly as I wait for my breath to return. It does, eventually, and I press gentle kisses to my No-rah’s sweaty face as she peels the pillow away and gasps.
“My love,” I murmur. “My heart.”
“God, I missed that,” she says and throws her arms around my neck. “Didn’t realize how much until now.”
Me, either. I roll onto my side and hold her body tight against mine, our damp skin pressing together. We are going to do this again as soon as my strength returns, I vow. Several times this night, and once more at dawn.
Her hand smooths down my arm, as if she cannot stop touching me. “I love you.”
“You are my heart,” I tell her again. “Never doubt that.”
“Then take a day off,” No-rah encourages. She grabs my tail and grips it at the base, stroking where it meets my backside. The feeling is…intense and my tired cock springs to life once more. “Stay in tomorrow. We’ll relax and you can hang out with me and the babies.”