“If you weren’t a believer before, you are now.” It was a statement of fact from Patrick and one she could not argue with.
“I am.” She walked around the perimeter of the cave, looking at the different images and trying to figure out what they were. Some of them had been damaged by water dripping into the cave, others were half finished, as if the artist intended to come back and finish their work.
Sage shuddered as she imagined the various reasons the artist might not have completed their drawing. Death from dragon fire or starvation, or perhaps they were drawn in the last few days before the Stone Claw Clan bought a ship and sailed away from the River Run Mountains forever.
“Here is the map.” Patrick stood with his head cocked to one side, his flashlight centered on a drawing that depicted a ship on the sea, with large waves all around it. Before them was land with the River Run Mountains outlined as tall peaks. Behind them was the shape of a landmass Sage was not familiar with.
“Do you have any idea where it is?” Sage asked Patrick as she took out her phone and snapped a photo of it.
“Not exactly.” He turned to look at her. “But the Stone Claw Clan were supposed to originate from China.”
She fingered her hair, twirling a tendril around and around her index finger. “Black hair, dark eyes. Although I’m tall for an Oriental woman.”
“You’ve had a few generations for some of the characteristics to be bred out of your genes. Maybe the hair color was stronger, while your shifter genes would make you taller.” Patrick looked back at the image. “I always wondered what happened to them.”
“Whether they made it safely home?”
“Yes. Whether they were welcomed. Or if they wished they’d stayed here.” He shrugged. “I suppose we’ll never know.”
“We could always try to find out. With the internet and everything these days, there might be a record of the Stone Claw Clan on another continent.” Sage folded her arms and stared at the drawing. “Is the past best left in the past? Or should we seek the answers to all the questions?”
“I never thought about it before,” Patrick confessed. “But that was before I met you. These people are my people now.”
Sage unfolded her arms and reached for his hand. “We are one.”
Patrick turned to face her, his features half hidden in the faint light. “We are one.”
She lifted her hand and stroked his cheek before standing on tiptoes and kissing his mouth. They were one. She wanted them to be one, joined as mates in this place where her ancestors once cowered in fear. It was time to wipe the slate clean, for all animosity between the Stone Claws, the River Wolves and the dragons to be swept aside. Hadn’t they shown over the last few weeks how they could all work together for a common good?
Their kiss deepened, Patrick ran his tongue along her lower lip and she opened her mouth, her teeth grazing his tongue. Patrick groaned, his hand on the small of her back, drawing her near. They stood in the cave, surrounded by the drawings made by her ancestors, lips pressed together, bodies as hot as dragon fire while the world outside passed them by, and day turned to night. There was no time here, in the safety of the mountains, that had stood long before man even set foot on them.
Patrick sighed as their kiss broke. “I want you.”
“I want you, too.” She gave a small smile. “Why don’t we set up camp?”
“In here or outside?” Patrick asked.
“Outside.” She kissed his lips quickly before turning toward the entrance. “I want to make love under the stars,” she cast back over her shoulder.
Patrick stood rooted to the spot for a long moment, as if letting the words sink in. Then he was galvanized into action, stumbling forward like a lovesick fool. “You are full of surprises.”
“Well, thank you.” She shone the flashlight in front of her, heading back outside into the clear, crisp evening. “This is so much better.”
“The cave is safer, but not for long periods. It must have been hellish in there with everyone in such a small area. And the animals, too.” He dumped his pack on the ground.
“Where do we set up camp?” Sage asked, not wanting to dwell on the past. Not when her future was here right in front of her.
Patrick pointed toward the ruins. “When we came up here with the dragons, we had a good look around. There’s a large flat area with relatively few broken pieces of masonry over there.”
“Show me. We should have collected firewood on the way.” She tripped over a lump of wood as she spoke. “Forget what I said, there’s plenty of dried wood scattered around.”
“Why don’t you collect it while I set up the tent? Unless you want to set up the tent?” Patrick offered.
“No, it’s okay, you do it, it’s your tent and you know how to put it up. I don’t want to get in a tangle with the poles and everything.” She gave a chuckle. “I’ve watched enough kids trying to put up tents when they don’t have instructions.”
“I’m sure you could work it out,” Patrick said, dumping his pack on the ground and removing the small two-man tent.
“I’m sure I could.” She grinned at him in the darkness. “I’ll show you my fire lighting skills instead.” She bent down and picked up several pieces of wood and began to make a pile next to where Patrick was fitting the tent poles inside each other. “I think you’ve done that before.”
“I like to get out and camp in the mountains as often as I can. Although I don’t always use a tent. Sometimes I like to go wolf and spend the night under the stars.”
“Maybe we can do that next time we camp out. Perhaps over in Bear Creek.” Sage wanted to show Patrick where she’d grown up. She wanted him to know how special it was to her. Even though she was ready to commit to living in River Wolf with him.
“I’d like that. I’d like to meet your family, too. I know George and Nana are coming in a couple of days. But I’d like to meet your brothers.” He had the tent rods in place and now began to thread them through the thin fabric of the tent.
“They’ll like you,” Sage told him.
“Enough to let me come live with you?” Patrick asked.
Sage emptied her arms of the wood. It clattered down onto the small pile she’d already collected. “I thought we’d be living in River Wolf.” She dusted her hands off and wandered over to help him stretch the tent fabric over the poles.
“I’d like to. But I also know you have a life in Bear Creek, probably more of a life than I have here,” he admitted.
“Well, I have some idea about that. Which I will tell you when we have the camp set up and dinner on. That climb earlier today has worked up an appetite.” She stood back and admired the small tent. “Cozy.”
“That’s the idea.” He came around to stand next to her. “Two people, a confined space. Anything can happen.”
“I hope so.” With that, she returned to collecting the wood, while she went over the plans for their future. Someway they had to make this work, but the fact he was willing to make sacrifices for her and leave his home only deepened her resolve to make it work for everyone.
Chapter Eight – Patrick
He hammered the last of the tent pegs into the stony ground and stood back to assess his work. It would do. The side of the mountain was not the easiest place to pitch a tent, but he was confident it would still be there in the morning.
“Looks good,” Sage complimented.
“So do you.” He grinned as she made a face. She’d lit the fire and fed it enough wood to satisfy its hunger. The flames danced, the wood crackled and soon the embers would be hot enough for them to boil some water for coffee and make dinner.
“What culinary delights do we have to eat?” Sage asked, brushing off his comment. If he had his way, they might put dinner off for a couple of hours and spend some time testing out the inside of the tent. He was certain it was both comfortable and secure but just to make sure…
He dragged his mind back to her question, her question about food, even though
all he wanted to do was eat Sage. The person, not the herb. “I have some stew we can warm up. And there’s the bread Hetty made. I think that should satisfy our stomachs.”
“I believe you are right.” Sage crouched down next to her pack and took out the bread along with the bottles of water she’d packed. “There’s no water up here?”
Patrick pointed to down the valley. “There’s a small stream down there. We can fill up the water bottles in the morning.”
“Okay.” They worked together to assemble the meal, with Patrick warming the stew in a pan, while Sage found a large flat rock, which she rolled over to the campfire. It made a perfect table to lay out all the food along with two steaming cups of coffee.
“This is the life,” Patrick said as he ate his stew, cross-legged on the ground next to Sage.
“It is a simple life,” Sage agreed. “Good food, good company and the stars above our head.”
“It makes me feel so small,” Patrick admitted. “Those stars are millions and billions of miles away, the light we see is from so long ago. We’re here for a blip in time and then we’re gone.”
“That’s why we have to make the most of our blip in time.” She spooned food into her mouth. “Nana, my mom, has taught me so much recently about how we have to make the best of what we have. We have to forge forward, always going forward, never looking back. I think I see that now.”
“I’ve always looked forward,” Patrick admitted. “But until recently it’s felt as if the way was blocked. Everything has changed for me.”
“In a good way, I hope?” Sage asked.
“Of course.”
“Some people don’t like change, no matter how much they say they do, they don’t like the way life springs surprises on them.” She tore off a hunk of bread and picked it apart, eating it one morsel at a time.
“I like surprises. It’s what makes life fun. And dragons are about as surprising as it gets.” He turned and looked over his shoulder, back toward the twin peaks although they were hidden by the night. “I hope Emilia finds what she’s looking for.”
“Or finds nothing at all.” Sage sighed and popped another piece of bread in her mouth. “Can you imagine not knowing what happened to your father? Worse, having no one to question to find out the truth? After four hundred years, that trail is definitely cold.”
“She has Thorn and Magnus, plus her surrogate family. They are close-knit,” Patrick said.
“It’s funny you know more about them than me. And they live on my mountains.” She finished her bread and rubbed the crumbs off her fingers. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she said, “Would you really move to my mountain?”
“Yes, I would,” Patrick answered solemnly.
“What about the village? You resisted leaving when there was no water and no prospects.”
“Things change. I had nothing else to worry about. No one else to provide for. Now I have you, and I hope we’ll have a family. I can’t give you the life you deserve if I don’t have a regular income.” He stared into the flames, wishing he could see the future and knew what it held.
“Well, what if we built a business in River Wolf? We could expand the Chance Heights Activity Center. Perhaps, when the river is flowing fully, we could base it around water sports.” She rested her chin on her knees. “It would be a way of healing the damage done by my clan to yours.”
“Are the Stone Claws really your clan?” Patrick asked.
Sage held out her arm and pulled her sleeve up to reveal her tattoo. “Yes, they are. I might not have ever met any of them but that doesn’t mean they are not my people.”
Patrick leaned forward and took her arm in his hand, running the tip of his finger over the oval tattoo, with a claw mark going through it. “I’ve seen this before.”
“Where?” she asked, suddenly excited. “It’s been a tradition in our family for the children to get the tattoo when they first shift. But part of me always thought it was just a cute thing our ancestors decided to do and it became a family tradition.”
“No, there’s a drawing of it in the caves. I never took much notice of it, but it’s also etched into one of the stones in the River Wolf village. I’ll show you when we go into the caves next.” He let her arm go and looked into her face. “It’s like history is coming alive.”
“I’m coming alive,” Sage said seductively. She tipped her body toward him and captured his lips with hers. “Enough talk for tonight.”
“I’m not going to argue with that,” Patrick said and cupped her face in his large hand, his thumb caressing her cheek as their lips met and they kissed. A kiss filled with meaning, with commitment, and with hope.
Patrick wanted to believe they could work together and regenerate River Wolf in a sustainable way. That they could build a future for themselves and for future generations. Wasn’t it time River Wolf overcame its past and created a new future?
Their lips moved, sending tingling sensations through his body as Sage slid her hand under his shirt and stroked his bare skin with her fingertips. “I think it’s time we went inside.”
Patrick looked at the little tent and hoped it would withstand a wolf and a bear shifter consummating their bond. “I should put out the fire.”
“Yes, you should.” She kissed his lips and slid her hand down from under his shirt and stroked his hard length which bulged in his jeans. “And then you can come inside and quench another fire.”
Sage got up and with one final kiss on his cheek, she unzipped the tent and went inside. Patrick sat still for a moment, looking up at the vast array of stars above his head. He was on top of the world, in every sense of the word. If he let go, he would float up to the clouds and keep going, lost in the vastness of space.
But that could never happen because Sage anchored him to this world. She was his, and the bond they shared was too strong to ever break. Tonight, here on the mountain, that bond would be strengthened. In the same way that at some point in their lives the same bond would be tested, stretched until it should snap under the strain. But it wouldn’t. It was unbreakable.
Unless you keep her waiting much longer, his wolf said helpfully.
You have a point, Patrick replied and pushed himself up from the ground. After banking the fire, he took one last look around and then ducked inside the tent.
“Hi.” Patrick’s eyes locked on Sage’s, resisting the temptation to look lower to where the sleeping bag barely covered her breasts.
“What took you so long?” Sage asked in a sultry voice and she held out her hand to him.
Patrick swallowed down his desire before it overtook him and quickly undid the laces of his hiking boots. His fingers trembled, and he fumbled with the knot, before he licked them off. Next, he undid his belt and wriggled out of his jeans, kicking the thin fabric wall of the tent in his haste.
Sage giggled as she watched him. Patrick had never been cool in his life, but right now he probably looked like a high school kid waiting to get laid for the first time.
“Take your time,” Sage told him as he tied himself in knots with his T-shirt. “I can wait.”
“I can’t,” Patrick said as his shirt finally popped off his head.
“Then come here, I’ve warmed the bed up for you.” She opened the sleeping bag and he crawled toward her, his back sliding along the roof of the too-small tent.
“This is snug.” He slid into the bed beside her, skin against skin.
“We’ll have to cuddle together.” As if to prove her point, Sage wrapped her arms around him and held him close, her lips on his hard-toned chest, leaving a trail of butterfly kisses as she sought out his nipple, and grazed it with her teeth.
Impossibly hard, he jerked his hips forward as the sensation of her mouth on him flooded his veins, and his brain. Patrick groaned, and slid his hand over her soft stomach, seeking out her wonderful, voluptuous breasts. Cupping her left breast in the palm of his hand, he brushed her nipple with his thumb. She gasped against him before regaining contr
ol and torturing his nipple with her mouth, while her left hand slid down between their bodies to close around his hardness.
Patrick closed his eyes and wallowed in bliss like his wolf liked to wallow in an ice-cold mountain stream on a hot summer’s day. But this was better than any ice-cold stream, although he might need to visit one to cool down since he was afraid he might internally combust due to the heat she ignited in him.
Sage moved, pushing him onto his back, holding his hands above his head as she sat straddling him. “Are you ready to submit, wolf-man?” she asked as she bit his lower lip and rubbed her body against him. She lifted herself up on her knees and the head of his cock pressed against her slick heat.
“Yes.” His answer was simple and truthful. He would submit to her anytime, anywhere, and he wasn’t too proud to admit it. Although his wolf wasn’t so sure.
Slowly, she guided him inside her, the warmth of her slick inner walls sheathing his cock as she slid down onto him. Inch by incredible inch she took him inside her, while she pinned his arms above his head. They both knew she couldn’t hold him down if he wanted to take control. However, he was happy right where he was.
When Sage had completely impaled herself on him, she sat up, letting go of his wrists and began to move. Rocking back and forth, she circled her hips and stretched her inner walls around him. In a trance-like state she rode him, the rise and fall of her body mesmerizing as she took them both closer to the edge of orgasm.
Patrick placed his hands on her hips, not guiding her, she didn’t need any help to find the pleasure she sought. He sat up, covering the soft skin of her breasts with kisses, before capturing her taut nipple in his mouth.
Her inner walls tightened, gripping him harder, and her momentum grew in intensity. He let go of her hips and placed one hand on the small of her back, holding her close while the other hand cupped her other breast, his thumb chafing her nipple until he finally pushed her over the edge.
Sage threw her head back and cried out into the night as she came. Patrick followed, finally taking control and thrusting upward into her, his essence filling her.
River Run Wolf Page 6