by Anny Cook
Wrenna sighed and restlessly shifted in the bed. “I feel like one of Gazelle’s embroidery projects.”
“Yep. I’ve seen her latest project. I think you’re insulting your papa. His stitches are very neat and tiny.” He slowly rolled over and found the tiny pot of lip ointment on the little bedside table. “Here. Let me put some of this on your lips. Are you thirsty?”
“Uh-huh.” She struggled to swallow and made a face. “Yech. My mouth tastes like your old socks.”
“Now that’s just nasty,” Trav said with a shudder. “How would you like some apple juice?”
“Uh-hum.” He held the willow straw to her lips as she eagerly sipped.
Long before her thirst was quenched, he took the glass away and when she would have protested, he shook his head. “Llyon said you can only have a little at a time. Your belly isn’t ready for a lot of fluids at one time.”
“Where is everyone?” It had suddenly occurred to her that it was awfully quiet for a household containing so many people.
Trav laughed softly. “If they’re smart, they’re either sleeping or making love. It’s just after dawn.” He cautiously rolled from the bed and hobbled naked over to the window, pushing the heavy curtain back so that the early morning sun streamed into the room. “I suspect that Llyon will be along in a few minutes to check on us.”
She frowned. “Trav, why are you having so much trouble walking? I thought your legs were better.”
“They were,” Llyon informed her from the doorway. “But then, he decided to trot down the hill to save you and a lot of his fractures cracked again.”
“What?” She stared at Trav, appalled and angry. “Why did you do that?”
“Hmmm. Let me see. Could it be because the damned grimahrs were savaging the woman I love? Maybe?”
Tears glittered in her eyes and threatened to spill over. Llyon shook his head and chided her, “Now, Wrenna, no need to be upset. It gave him the perfect excuse to sleep and cuddle with you.” Slipping his arm under her, he helped her sit up. “If I help you into the bathing room, Trav can help you have a quick basin bath. How does that sound?”
Wrenna pressed her lips together for a moment and then nodded. “All right.”
“Trav?”
“I’m working on it.” Trav shuffled off to find bathing sheets and fill the sink. For the last eight-day, he had been taking care of himself, once again able to do without the help he found so irritating. He suspected that Llyon had suggested him helping Wrenna so that he would feel more useful and less helpless. That was okay. He loved taking care of his little bond mate.
When Llyon carried Wrenna into the bathing room and settled her in a chair, Trav asked, “Why can’t we just take a bath? Her stitches are all healed and that way, I could wash her hair.” He frowned at Ly. “Besides, I bet the warm water would feel real good on her muscles.”
“Wrenna? Do you want a bath?” Ly asked.
“Please!”
It took some fancy maneuvering but Llyon got Trav and Wrenna settled in the big round tub of steaming water and bath salts. Pulling the door nearly closed to give them some privacy, he went off in search of helpers to clean their room and make up the bed with fresh, sweet-smelling bedding. Once he had that arranged, he walked out onto his patio and slumped down on a chair.
Tyger found him there, silently shaking as hot tears rolled down his cheeks. Without a word, Ty wrapped his arms around him and held him close, knowing that up until Wrenna woke up, Llyon hadn’t been sure that he could save her. Merlyn peeked out the patio door, saw them and started to say something but Ty merely shook his head and Merlyn went away. Llyon didn’t need conversation or reassurances. He simply needed comfort and acceptance.
* * * * *
Exactly one eight-day later, Wrenna demonstrated the wonderful recuperative powers of the valley inhabitants. Sliding across the bed under the covers, she snuggled up to Trav’s warm body. “I have to be with you, Trav. I don’t know what is happening to me but I have to be here, even if we only hold each other.”
With faint resignation, he put his arms around her and pulled her close spoon fashion. “If the grimahrs hadn’t attacked you we would be bonded. You are going to be the death of me yet, Wren. I’m so hard that I could drill through rock, let alone that thin thing you have for a maidenhead.” He shifted around and she could feel his erection snugged between his belly and her backside.
“Shall I suck it for you?” she asked anxiously. “I don’t want you to hurt, Trav.”
He groaned softly. “I don’t think that’s going to help, honey. Much as I love it when you take me in your hot little mouth, the only thing that’s going to fix this is when I finally bury Mr. Peter so deep inside you that we can’t find him for a week.” He spread his hand across her belly. “I want to be so deep that I can feel your womb when I make you pregnant. I never felt this before, Wren. I’m so hungry for you I feel like I’m on fire.”
She covered his hand with hers. “I want that too, Trav. I want to feel your baby growing inside me. I never really cared about that before.” She closed her eyes tightly to hold back the tears. “I always knew that I would grow up, find a bond mate and have babies but I wasn’t that excited about it. I would rather be making my pots. Then you came to the valley and all I could think about was getting you to be my bond mate.”
He felt her tiny sobs and demanded, “Why are you crying, Wren? What’s wrong?”
“I think I trapped you, Trav. It was wrong! I came in and tried to make you want me but you were right. It wasn’t fair.” She shuddered. “If you want to change your mind, I would understand,” she offered bravely.
“Ahhh. I see how it is! You toy with my body and my affections and then you tell me you don’t want me,” he teased. “My heart, you won’t get me to change my mind ever. If you’re still willing to take me after all the ugly things I have done in my life, I’ll be with you until one of us dies. You’ll be stuck with me, sooner than you think!”
“What?” she twisted so she could just see his face. “What are you saying?”
He kissed her gently. “Tomorrow, we are going to have our pledging and oath-binding if I have to crawl to the circle and have Dancer and you hold me up!” Pulling her closer, he admitted, “I can get through tonight but that’s my limit. Tomorrow, you’re mine, one way or another!”
“Trav, you’re not ready yet. I don’t want to hurt you!”
“Good! You can do all the work. I’ll just lie there and enjoy it.” Rubbing her belly, he said, “Get some sleep, because tomorrow you’re going to be really busy and I promise you by nightfall you’ll be pregnant with our baby.”
“Yes!” She burrowed against him, holding his hand across her belly. “I want you so much, Trav. Feel my belly here, waiting for you.”
“Dammit, Wrenna! Are you trying to make me crazy?” he demanded, even as he spread his fingers out under hers. “I am not made of stone, you know. I’m just surprised somebody in your family hasn’t put a stop to all this petting we do.”
Twisting in his arms, she faced him and kissed him very soberly. “They would never interfere with a bond, Trav.”
“What do you mean?” he questioned uneasily. “What’s going on?”
“We are promised,” she said seriously. “Usually, if we were promised, we would be bonded by the end of the week. Because you were not well yet, it has taken longer but it’s considered just as binding.”
“So you’re saying that we’re ‘sort of’ married?” he asked incredulously. “That’s why they don’t care if we bathe together or whatever?”
She nodded. “Especially whatever. You are my bond mate. I could have always slept with you but we don’t get much rest that way,” she said, smiling. Reaching down, she held his cock gently in her hands, leisurely stroking him. “You needed your rest to get better.”
“Uh-huh.” Gently removing her hands, he turned her over so she was facing away from him. “Go to sleep. We are definitely having our oa
th-binding tomorrow. I have a feeling I’ll get a lot more rest that way—even if we sleep with you sprawled out on top of me! Sleep!” he commanded sternly, wrapping her hands in his and holding them down across her tummy. “Sleep.”
The next morning he summoned Dancer and made his request. Dancer stared at him in astonishment. “You want what? Are you out of your mind?”
“Pretty nearly. If I don’t bond with Wrenna pretty soon, I’m not going to have a mind. Come on, Dance. You’ve got to help me a little here,” he begged.
Llyon shook his head. “You can’t do it yet. You can’t even stand up long enough to walk to the front of the house. How will you get out to the pledging circle?”
“Do we have to stand to pledge or do the oath-binding?” he demanded wrathfully. “Surely there must be some way!”
“Well-ll,” Merlyn said slowly. “There is no rule about the pledging, only tradition. Almost everyone sits down for their oath-binding. Some even lie down, I suppose. The valley certainly doesn’t seem to care.” He looked at the other men. “How will we get him there?”
Shaking his head in capitulation, Dancer suggested, “We’ll take him there in the cart. Actually, we’ll take them both. If we use some blankets and pad it well, they should be okay.”
“Bonding cottage,” Llyon said woodenly. “The nearest cottage to any circle is still too far. By the time they finally get there, Wrenna will be going into schalzah. He is not ready to survive schalzah!”
The all shook their heads in agreement to that. Then Wrenna intervened firmly. “We will go to the cave behind the waterfall. It’s dry. We can take some hot rocks to keep it warm and some light stones for light. Blankets and bedding are all we need. There is water close at hand and we can take some of Llyon’s food bars.” She shrugged. “After that, all he must do is lie there. I will take care of the rest of it.”
There was a pregnant pause and then the men roared with laughter. She didn’t see what they thought was so amusing but she nodded firmly. “That is what we will do. Now I will go find the bedding and other things so that we can go have the pledging and oath-binding.” Staring at Dancer militantly, she directed, “Please fix that cart for Trav and me.”
Merlyn and Dancer were concerned about being so far away from Jade and Eppie if the oath-binding caused another bonding storm. Llyon finally suggested that Tyger could stand in as Wrenna’s male relative and Llyon himself would serve as her healer. He sent Robyn and Hawke on ahead with all of the supplies, instructing them to leave them outside the circle. Then, trundling Trav and Wrenna in the cart, they made the trip to the circle. Trav claimed that he now knew what a baby felt like but Wrenna merely told him to quit complaining. As far as she was concerned, the important thing was that they got there.
When they reached the circle, Llyon waited as they undressed. Tyger spread out the new bonding and pledging blankets he had barely finished in time and Llyon and Tyger lifted Trav up on the stone, then helped Wrenna climb up. When they were both settled, he said, “Tyger and I will prepare the cave after your pledging rite. Then we’ll be back when we have everything ready.”
Merlyn and Llyon had been quite specific with their instructions and suggestions, so Traveller was ready. He sat cross-legged on the blanket, waiting for Wrenna. Moving very carefully, she slid into his lap, arranged his erection between them and then wrapped her arms around him. “Hmmm. I like this,” she said with a smile. “Now wrap your arms around me and hold me close.”
“I can do this,” he assured her. “All day long.”
“You won’t have to. Now close your eyes and just feel how we touch. How we fit together. How our hearts beat at the same time.”
He sighed very quietly. “I love you, Wrenna.”
“I love you, Traveller. I want to share all of this with you. Imagine that your mind is a lovely jeweled box. Do you see it? Now open it so that we can share its treasure.” Suddenly he felt the warm tide of love and need. Ah, Trav… see how beautiful our treasure is. See how we need each other.
Wrenna! He clasped her tightly and felt tears running down his cheeks.
She led him through the vows and then gently kissed him. They were locked in the deep silent communion of rapport when they heard Llyon softly ask, “Ready?”
Trav opened his eyes and looked around until he found Llyon in the entryway. “Ready,” he affirmed calmly. “May we begin?”
“Yes. Tyger has agreed to stand as Wrenna’s representative. I will serve as her healer. All the required elements are present. We will wait near the pool. Call when you are ready to move.”
Trav took up the slith that Tyger lent them and slid it from its sheath. Wrenna moved so that she was on her knees straddling Trav’s lap. First he carefully nudged his cock into place, rocking until it was lodged partially inside her slippery pussy. Then he slashed their palms, clasped them together and shouted out the words he’d practiced over and over in his mind. “By the mingling of our blood and this sacrifice, I take this woman for my bond mate until death.”
Wrenna plunged down, impaling herself on his cock as she bit down hard on his shoulder. She withdrew her fangs and suckled at the pinpoints of blood before licking him clean. Deep in her tight pussy, her schela gripped his hard cock, squeezing so hard he was sure it would be bruised afterward. They sat motionless, their clasped hands between their bodies, amazed at the feelings cascading through them.
“Okay?” Trav whispered.
“Uh-hmm.” Her head rested on his shoulders as they curled together, their free arms wrapped tightly around each other.
“God, I love you so much.”
“Trav? I love you.”
“But? I think I hear a ‘but’ in your voice.”
“I need you to move your cock. Can you push it deeper? I need more,” she muttered in a somewhat embarrassed tone.
“Wrenna? Sweetheart? Never be ashamed to ask for what you need,” he said as he thrust as deep as he could go. She cried out and shuddered around him, squeezing and releasing in tight rhythmic contractions. Then he felt the tickling milking nibbles of the mhital on the very tip of his cock and the hot, jetting streams of his climax overwhelmed him.
When the bonding rite was completed, a gentle breeze whirled through circle, embracing them with warm scents of roses and lilacs. Tiny lightning flickers ran from stone to stone, then across the altar stone and up their clasped hands, as though the valley knew that they were fragile. When they opened their hands, they had fresh pink scars in place of the slashes.
“Llyon?” Traveller called out.
Llyon poked his head around the sentinel stones and witnessed the healed scars. He nodded once. “It is well done. May you have many years and many children. Go in peace.”
Tyger and Llyon walked carefully into the circle, uncertain that they would be allowed but it seemed that the valley was in a gentle mood. They helped Trav and Wrenna down from the stone, made sure that they were well on their way to the cave and left them to complete their bonding.
The walk to the cave seemed endless though it was only a few feet. Without the mental shields they had voluntarily banished, they had no defense against the tidal wave of joint clamoring demands of their bodies. Finally, the waterfall loomed up as dark clouds gathered overhead. It seemed that the valley wouldn’t completely escape a storm. Wrenna took his hand and led him behind the waterfall into the warm cave.
Llyon had lit two of the scented candles reserved for very special occasions. In their soft light, they could see the lovely setting that Llyon and Tyger had prepared for them. Wrenna led him over to their luxurious bed and helped him sit down. When he was settled, she joined him, smiling shakily. “Trav, I don’t think I can wait anymore. I need you again.”
“Nor can I,” he assured her in that dark gravelly tone he used when he was holding on to his control with both hands.
“Lean back against the pillows,” she whispered. She straddled his legs, grasped his erection and said huskily, “I need you to help me,
please. I’m sorry but I have to have you inside me now!” Her plea shattered the last shreds of his rapidly fragmenting control. He grasped her hips, balancing her until his aching erection was seated just inside her silky pussy, wet with their mingled juices. Then with one slow glide, she seemed to melt down around him like lava until he was deep inside her. Both sat in momentary shock as strange, staggering sensations assaulted them again. As they sorted through the feelings that belonged to each of them individually, the overload subsided a little.
His cock twitched involuntarily. Her pussy contracted reflexively and her schela clenched. Abruptly, seized by the uncontrollable drive for completion, he thrust deeply while she ground her hips as though she would never get close enough. Leaning forward, he captured a nipple, suckling strongly for a moment. Then moving to capture the other one, he sucked it while brushing his tongue across the sensitive tip. Screaming, she unraveled as her first climax took her over the top. Without waiting for her to come down, he urged her again into the wild ride for completion. Over and over, he pushed her further and further, until they exploded together.