by Marie Harte
“I’m in control now,” he said with a smile that melted the ice around her heart.
She leaned close to kiss him. His muscular arms imprisoned her as heat welded them together. While the fire burned, desperate cries from the Amazon village echoed around the jungle. “Help us, Thais. We need you. We’re dying!”
But Thais couldn’t leave. Nor did she want to. While the other snakes killed and raped and maimed, she fell deeper under Hinto’s spell, losing herself once again in the simple pleasure life afforded those who took the easy path…
She wanted to frown, to call out for help, to get away, and then the nightmare morphed into something else.
Warmth trailed down her neck and lingered at her pulse point. A strong hand moved down her stomach to the cinch of her trousers. He opened the part and eased his hand inside, combing through the bit of hair protecting her sex. Parting her folds, his fingers slid through her slit, grazing the bud that gave such pleasure when aroused.
She shifted and moaned, much preferring this dream to the other.
Kisses turned into hungry demands for more. Still soft, still gentle, yet he moved with a sense of urgency as he pulled her pants down over her hips.
On her side, she felt awkward, restless.
And then his fingers pushed into her channel and filled the hungry void within. He stroked, in and out, the familiar rhythm one she wanted to feel again.
They didn’t speak with words, but with their bodies. He bit at her earlobe and sucked the sting away. Wetness flooded her loins, earning a groan from him as well.
He played with her, testing and teasing. And then she felt something thick and hot against her backside. His hot flesh pressing between her buttocks as he slid up and down her crack.
Her knees were pinned together by her lowered trousers. But he managed to inch between her thighs.
The awkwardness of it all woke her from her daze.
He pushed inside her tight, wet sheath and swore.
“Fuck me. You’re perfect.” His hoarse voice pleased her.
She felt his every touch, their position one that allowed no escape from the bruising intimacy as he took her. Hinto dominated, forcing her to feel her pleasure as he rubbed her clit with his finger while thrusting in and out with greater speed.
The climax washed over her in a rush, like the welcome release of a dream.
He groaned and pulled out of her, shoving against her buttocks with an urgency that told her he neared his end. Grinding against her ass, he whispered her name as he came.
Wet stickiness covered her as they lay together, fighting for calm.
The amazing bliss still stunned her. That Thais could feel such joy after lying with a male… Everything she’d ever heard about the sexual act seemed a lie. Hinto had never been cruel, nor had he hurt her. He saw to her needs before finding his own end. She’d found no frustration, other than abstinence.
Thais flushed. She still had a hard time believing she’d instigated all this. But yesterday, seeing him in his naked glory, so thick and aroused by the sight of her, she could do little else. Had he been arrogant or demanding, she might have resisted him. But he’d looked annoyed, as if caught in this whirlwind of desire, a victim like Thais.
The perfection of their union had stayed with her long after they’d lain by the fire. She’d never slept so soundly. Never wakened to such bliss, either. Worries about the future paled next to reveling in their joining.
“Thais,” he murmured and kissed her along her neck. He continued to hold her close, as if she mattered to him. “Why do you always smell like flowers?”
“I have an oil that soothes rough skin. Would you like some?”
He chuckled and ground against her, spreading the mess he’d made. “I’d rather you rubbed it over me a different way. Hmm, honey. This is the way I’d like to wake every morning.”
Silence filled the relaxed space. Beast mumbled a greeting, and Hinto took a deep breath.
“Unfortunately, we can’t stay here forever. Beast is giving me dirty looks. Time to find him some meat. Hold on while I find something to clean us both.”
He left, looking much stronger than he’d been in days. Perhaps the sex had empowered him, she thought with amusement. He returned to her with wet hair and used a dampened rag to clean her.
“Made a mess, sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry. Hinto sounded like a man staking a claim.
She intended to warn him not to become attached, but when she glanced up at him, she saw only good humor in his face. Hinto had fucked any number of women. Why should she consider that she had meant any more to him than they had?
The odd surge of jealousy struck her mute. Thais didn’t need to warn Hinto not to become involved, she needed to warn herself. One evening—and one morning—of terrific sex and she wanted to bind Hinto to her, to do what? To follow her to the ends of the Territories to avenge her people? To steal back the crown, return it to the Amazon, and then what? Settle down and have babies?
She didn’t know whether to feel horrified or excited at thoughts of growing round with his child.
“I’d love to know what the hell you’re thinkin’,” Hinto murmured, leaned down to kiss her then walked to Beast.
“Ah, just wishing we could stay here longer. But we need to move on.” Right now. No more thoughts of babies. By the Goddess, I’ve become addled by sex.
This had to be a test. The Great Mother wanted to see if she had learned her lesson, and apparently, Thais hadn’t. For the briefest second she’d longed to stay with Hinto, to forget about Bartel and simply live in the moment.
The worst kind of sin she could think of, to forego duty before pleasure. Throughout her childhood, Thais had resisted temptations offered by others. She hadn’t gorged on sweets or tried to engage with other tribes outside of the Amazon. She’d followed every rule to the letter, lived and breathed to make her mother proud—what every Amazon aspired to be, the dutiful daughter.
Until she’d broken a rule, her mother had died, and Thais now swept enemy lands to avenge her family. Yet she hadn’t considered sex with Hinto to be breaking a rule so much as he was a distraction. A temptation she needed to conquer before it conquered her.
Queen Estefina would have told her to have no further contact with Hinto, a male worth nothing more than the seed he could spend.
Her mother would have demanded she fulfill her oath and see Hinto to his home, where his family could protect him, as he’d protected her. Duty came second to warrior’s honor, an honor Hinto clearly possessed.
Chow Yen would have told Thais to follow her heart, that in being herself and loving the life the Goddess had given her, she’d find no wrong in the doing.
“Thais, I need your help.” Hinto interrupted the cacophony of her thoughts. “Beast wants food. There’s something small about forty paces to your right, that way. A boar or a bobcat, I’m thinking.” He pointed behind her. “I’d give you my gun but we don’t want to make noise. There’s no hint of McKenzie’s boys around, but it never hurts to be careful.” He handed her his knife instead.
She took it and fingered the blade, then swept her side to feel her own. Killing a rabbit with her dagger the last time had been difficult. She needed to find a new bow. She’d given hers to Yara before they’d parted, since Yara’s had broken. Until she had a better distance weapon, her dagger would have to work.
“I’ll get it. Forty paces that way?” She salivated at thoughts of eating meat again, but Beast hadn’t fed in days.
He nodded. “There’s something else out there with it. Maybe some young.”
“How do you know this?” She didn’t expect him to answer. He hadn’t before. As much as she and Hinto fit physically, a distance still separated them.
“Happy hunting.” He grinned and sat down. “We’ll be waiting.”
Thais scowled and headed into the forest, making sure to keep away from the small copse of blood trees that seemed to crop up everywhere in the Territories. The small c
lusters of red bark and black leaves had a tendency to blend in this fading season. The predatory foliage reminded her of the spiked taltra at home, giant bushes that could eat an Amazon whole, digesting her for days.
Shaking off the uneasy memory, she reminded herself that in this instance, she was the hunter. Her footsteps made no sound, despite the debris of fallen leaves, brush, and sticks all around. She’d been bred to hunt, raised to succeed. She’d proven herself to Hinto days ago and felt a warm rush of pleasure he didn’t feel the need to smother her with advice or protection.
Wild boar could be deadly adversaries. Thais had killed her fair share. This one would fall as the others had.
Following a trail she could see, now that she knew what to look for, she came upon the boar and three of its young mewling for food. The little ones were the size of Hinto’s boots, the mother five times their size.
After a brief prayer to the Goddess, Thais crept closer, glad to be downwind of the creatures, so they wouldn’t catch her scent until it was too late. Grabbing a rock from the ground, she pocketed it and climbed a tree several feet.
Waiting there, she withdrew her knife and the rock and made a sound to attract the mother’s attention. She tossed the rock directly below her and waited.
The boar roared and left her babes behind as she investigated the intrusion. Thais threw her knife into creature’s snout. Then she jumped down from the tree, landing on top of the wounded animal.
Without giving it time to attack, she stuck it behind its skull with Hinto’s knife. Three repeated thrusts and the boar died. Thais removed and cleaned the blades on its hide, while the boar’s young squealed in fright near a hollowed out log. Knowing they would die without a mother to protect them, Thais thanked them for their sacrifice and quickly eased their suffering.
She brought them back with her but left the boar’s carcass for Beast. When she reached the camp, she saw Hinto rubbing Beast down. The mare stood by the other side of the camp, chewing on what looked like wild beets.
“Go on. Go eat.” Hinto slapped Beast on his flank and watched the vore dart into the forest, the way Thais had come. His eyes lit up as he saw her catch. “Hot damn, Thais. You never disappoint, do you?”
Before she could dwell on those she had in fact let down, Hinto dragged her by the arm to the fire and instigated an argument about who should cook. By the time he’d wormed his way out of fixing their meal, Thais realized he’d worked her out of her grim mood as well.
She shook her head and prepared the meat while Hinto saw to Ainippe.
“Shifty bastard,” she muttered, still not sure how he’d won the argument.
“I heard that.”
She grinned anyway.
***
“So as I see it, we have another four, maybe five days before we hit Shine.” Hinto rode on a contented Beast. The sun shone brightly, heating up what would prove to be a gorgeous, though cool, day.
The clouds overhead shifted in the blowing winds. No sign of rain, for which he was grateful. Now that he’d had more paste applied to his healing wound, filled his belly on a delicious meal of roast pork, and could sit atop his mount without the sexual hungers Thais had recently sated, Hinto glowed with good cheer. His father and brothers wouldn’t recognize him when they saw him. He’d have to make sure not to grin too much. Didn’t want to scare them.
“That meat seems to have perked you up,” Thais said, her accent more pronounced lately.
He liked to think she trusted him enough to be herself.
“Honey, a good boar can fill your belly for weeks. If I’d had more salt, I’d have taken more than her flanks. But I don’t want to attract too many predators.”
“The predator you’re riding seems to have enjoyed himself.”
Beast grinned, and Hinto smelled the coppery scent of blood. “Damn, son, we need to fix that bad breath of yours.”
Beast snickered.
“Pig guts and blood. Not nearly as pretty as Thais’s scent.” Flowers and me, all over her.
She frowned at him.
He shrugged in feigned innocence. “What?”
“Tell me more about Shine.” She ignored his question, a sure sign he’d irritated her, which made him want to laugh out loud. Damn. He hadn’t felt this good in years.
“It’s up in Big Sky Territory, which we’ll cross tomorrow. Country’s wild up there. I think there’s maybe two UTO’s in the whole territory, mostly because it’s so open. Only NorthWest has less folks than Big Sky.”
“And Shine? Is your town as wild?”
“Hell yeah,” he said with satisfaction. “That’s what makes it so perfect. Not too many folks living up where we are. Those that do protect each other. Not like Morrow. Course, that’s a helluva lot more crowded, what with the railway so close. Up in Shine, there are a few ranches, an old blacksmith, and the last time I visited, they were building a general store. Not sure why, but if they have it stocked, I’m sure some of us will use it.”
“No house of worship? No miners or farmers?”
“Nah, no church. Most of us commune through the land. It’s pure, almost as if the sky rocks never touched down out there. You’ll see. The pretty colors, the crisp air.” He glanced at the jacket she wore. Leather lined with what looked like wool. His father had crafted his jacket a few years ago: cowhide and fox fur. It kept him warm enough during the harsh winters.
“We don’t have any use for miners,” he continued. “Loggers and miners are shot on sight. Anyone looting from the land is as good as dead where I’m from. We’re our own UTO.”
“So I won’t have to register, then?” she teased.
He laughed. “Honey, you’re registered with me. The Dakotas are legendary around Shine. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.”
“Like the Nolans?”
“Ha ha. Very funny.”
They rode in companionable silence for a while. Eagles soared overhead. Deer scattered when they caught Beast’s scent. Mountain lions, wolves, foxes and the like milled about the open valley they rode through, a primitive Eden filled with predators, prey, and lovers.
Hinto swelled with satisfaction. Had he known the effect sex with Thais would have had on him sooner, he’d have seduced her that first day he’d seen her tangling with Lenny and Benny. Or at least, he’d have tried harder.
He glanced at her, wondering what she thought about as she looked around her with curiosity.
How different was this place from her own home? The Amazons supposedly lived in the jungle. What manner of creatures had she lived with? For that matter, what manner of people?
“Thais, what’s it like in the jungle? Are your trees this big? Are there mountains there, or just vines and snakes and heat?” What little he knew came from his mother’s people, tales he’d heard when he was just a young boy. The Dakota learned through story and through the telling, an intelligent, giving tribe who’d survived when many others over the years had not.
She looked at him, her eyes as dark as the moss in the shadows of the trees. “Much of my home is the same as this. Large, life-giving trees. Tall grasses, flowers. Animals that kill, animals that are killed, for food, clothing and nourishment.” She smiled at a hawk overhead. “But our animals are different. Much more colorful, and so very loud. Sometimes at night, the silence of your forests are peaceful.”
“And empty, I’d imagine,” he murmured.
“Yes.” She sighed. “I miss my home, but it’s not really my home anymore.”
“Really? I never feel that way about Shine.” He couldn’t imagine spending his entire life away from the ranch. “No matter how much I ride away from the place, my family’s there. It’s where I plan to settle when this is all over.”
She regarded him with hooded eyes. “Really?”
“You’ll see. You can breathe the peace in the air, there. Like I said, there aren’t many folks who want to live so far away from everyone and everything. But I like that. Less people means less problems.
“Mahpee, that’s my older brother, is taken with anything on four legs. He loves vores and taming wild horses. He’s smart enough to work with the creatures, instead of trying to mold them into mindless beasts.”
Beast shook his displeasure.
“No one could ever call you mindless, Beast. Senseless, maybe,” he growled and patted the vore with respect. “But never stupid.”
“Mahpee is the one who lost his wife?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t easy. Still isn’t, I guess. He keeps to himself mostly. Wolf, that’s my younger brother, he’s a pain in the ass. Kid has a smart mouth, but he knows horseflesh. He normally spends his time helping my father with the farm. We run a small one, enough to feed the family and trade for what we don’t have. We’re pretty self-sufficient up in Shine.”
“Do you never get lonely?” she asked, as if puzzled.
“Lonely?”
“For companionship.” The slight blush on her cheeks told him what she meant.
“Oh, you mean for sex. Well, Shine isn’t all that big, but there’s a few whores in town who enjoy the business. Women aren’t treated poorly everywhere. Most small settlements treasure females. There are so few of you as it is.”
She frowned, as if not liking the reminder that she was in fact a woman.
“Haven’t you noticed that most women have several males as family?”
“Yes, but it’s not that way everywhere. Many of the women in Temeco lived a life with one or two men at most. And some of the men didn’t seek female companionship.”
Hinto knew of a few in Shine like that. He didn’t understand the call to fuck a man, but he didn’t mind those that did. Less competition for females, to his way of thinking. “Some men prefer men, others like women. My brothers will like you just fine.” He frowned.
“Why are you making a face?”
“Look, do me a favor. Don’t shoot Wolf when he tries to move on you.”
She blinked in surprise. “What?”
“I know my family. Mahpee will leave you alone, for the most part. He’s always been quiet, but since Dana, he only goes to town once in a great while for, uh, companionship. Wolf, on the other hand, is a real problem. Boy thinks he’s a damned rabbit.”