by Abby Weeks
“What were their names?” Aisha said.
“They had names in the old tongue,” Ma Hetty said. “That was the language we shifters spoke before the humans arrived. The older was called Ta’an, the younger was Ta’nun.”
“And what happened?”
“The same thing that has been happening for as long as there have been males and females of any species. They pined for me, they craved me, they howled at the moon for me.”
“Did they pursue you?”
“Goodness no. That’s something you must have learned by now. The males will not dare to pursue a female until after they have been given permission.”
“How do we give them permission?” Aisha said.
“The mating ritual. The female chooses the males by performing the ritual. Once that’s been done, the males are permitted to pursue the female and try to mate with her.”
“The handmaiden can perform the ritual with as many males as she wishes, isn’t that so?” Aisha said.
Ma Hetty laughed. “That’s so,” she said. “The handmaiden’s bond. It’s the basis of all shifter society. And what’s more, once the bond has been formed, the handmaiden can mate with as many bonded males as she wishes.”
“How is the ritual performed?” Aisha said.
“That’s something that no one can ever teach you, child,” Ma Hetty said. “Every female creates her own ritual. It’s something instinctive and intense and completely natural. You don’t have to worry about it. When you’re ready to form the bond, you’ll know, and so will the males.”
“So what happened,” Aisha said, “between you and Ta’an and Ta’nun?”
“Well,” Ma Hetty said, and Aisha could sense that even just talking about it was difficult for her. “What happened was that I fell for Ta’an. He was the older brother, and everything about him attracted me. He could drive me wild with desire, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
Aisha laughed.
“Don’t think you’re the first,” Ma Hetty said. “This was sixty years ago, and I can tell you that every time I saw Ta’an, my pussy grew hot and wet, and he could smell it. He knew what he did to me, and he was so ready to mate with me that he would get erections as hard as branch stumps. I saw him naked often, and whenever he knew I was present, he’d stiffen up like a log of solid oak. I could imprint images into his mind, and I did it often. It was a form of flirting. I’d go somewhere alone and get naked, maybe a stream or a waterfall, and then I’d look at my naked body and send the image of what I saw to Ta’an.”
Aisha was amazed.
“I’d even pleasure myself,” Ma Hetty said, “and as I’d bring myself to the point of orgasm, I’d transmit the images and the sensations to Ta’an and he’d just go crazy for me. I remember there was one day when he killed fourteen deer out of sheer frustration for me. He got severely scolded by the elders for that, but everyone knew it was sexual frustration that led him to such excess.”
“So did you form a bond with him?” Aisha asked, barely able to contain her curiosity. She pictured herself transmitting images of her naked body to the four brothers, and the thought thrilled her so intensely that she felt her own cunt moisten.
Ma Hetty looked sad. “I prepared to,” she said. “I went naked into the forest. I aroused myself.”
“What did you do?”
“Touched myself.”
Aisha blushed, picturing Ma Hetty masturbating by a mountain stream, completely naked. She blushed even more when Ma Hetty sent her the image of the actual memory. It was very graphic. Ma Hetty had lain down on the ground next to a stream, naked, and had aroused herself by rubbing her clit. Then she’d started fingering herself vigorously, bringing herself to the very edge of the point of orgasm. Aisha felt as if she was actually there, watching Ma Hetty masturbate as a young woman. It was a very vivid image.
“Wow,” Aisha said, “you were very beautiful.”
“I was beautiful and I was horny,” Ma Hetty said, “and at my age, I think I can say without shame that that’s a very beautiful position to be in.”
“So what happened? Did Ta’an come?”
“I thought he’d come. I didn’t reach out and call to him mentally because I was a romantic back then, and I foolishly believed that if I went out into the forest and prepared for the mating ritual, that it would be Ta’an who would come first.”
“But it wasn’t,” Aisha said.
“No. It wasn’t. As you can guess, it was Ta’nun who found me. I was thrusting my finger so deeply into my wet pussy that I was in a frenzy of desire and passion. And Ta’nun wasn’t alone.”
“Who was with him?”
“He was with one of his hunting mates. A male by the name of Ta’dara.”
“I can see where this is going,” Aisha said.
Ma Hetty nodded sadly. I performed the ritual with Ta’nun and Ta’dara, and then I mated with both of them. It was a wanton afternoon. I was drenched in passion, Aisha. I had so many orgasms that I almost fainted. The two males used me in every way imaginable, and I loved all of it. Once I’d performed the bonding ritual, they were free to do with me as they willed. The only way I could revoke permission would have been to break the bond, and that afternoon, I had no such thing on my mind. Ta’nun and Ta’dara fucked me so hard that I had to beg them to stop.”
“Did it feel good?” Aisha said, feeling herself grow aroused just from Ma Hetty’s description of what had happened.
“It was the best feeling imaginable,” she said. “I’ve seen humans mating, and I’m sure you’ve seen the same.”
“I’ve experienced it,” Aisha said.
“Then I can tell you, you know nothing. The intensity of shifter mating is in a whole other level, Aisha. It’s insanely intense.”
Aisha laughed. She wasn’t sure if it was out of embarrassment or excitement.
“But as soon as it was over, which was hours later, I realized what I’d done.”
“You’d broken Ta’an’s heart, hadn’t you?”
“Worse,” Ma Hetty said. “The entire time that Ta’nun and Ta’dara were fucking me like their own personal whore, I’d been thinking of Ta’an. And unwittingly, I’d been transmitting the images of what the other two were doing to me directly to him. It was overwhelming. He thought I was trying to hurt him. By the time I realized what I’d done, it was already too late. Ta’an had gone deep into enemy territory. I reached out to him with my mind, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He traveled farther and farther away, deep into the wolf country, and he never came back.”
“He died?”
“I’d lost contact with him long before, but I’ll never forget the moment he died. I felt it in my mind like a bullet.”
Aisha’s eyes were filling with tears as Ma Hetty continued with her sad tale.
“I never forgave myself,” Ma Hetty said. “My lust and my passion had killed him.”
“And that’s why you became a seer?”
“That’s why,” Ma Hetty said. “I wanted to punish myself. I didn’t deserve the pleasure of mating. And even when I was the last female left, I still didn’t renounce my vows as a seer. I’ve been celibate ever since that day, and I’ll never change that. Nothing can change it.”
Aisha held Ma Hetty in her arms and let the old woman release some of the emotion that had been pent up inside her for all those years.
“You were so young,” she said. “You didn’t know what was happening. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”
Ma Hetty looked deeply into Aisha’s eyes. “I tell you all this because I want you to know what’s at stake. The feelings of these males are so intense, they’re going to become so passionate, you’ll have to be careful.”
“How can I be careful?” Aisha said. “I don’t even know what I’m doing.”
Ma Hetty just smiled at her. “You’ll figure it out,” she said. “Just go with your instincts, go with your heart, and don’t give in to the temptation of the moment. Make sure you’re always with th
e male you want to be with.”
“But how can I choose just one of them?” Aisha said. “It will kill the others.”
“That’s the thing,” Ma Hetty said. “You don’t have to choose just one. And even if there’s one you think you’re falling in love with, you might not have the luxury of limiting yourself to just him.”
“But then, what if the same thing happens to me that happened to you?”
“Just be wise,” Ma Hetty said. “They’ll be understanding, more understanding than you think. Just make it clear to each of them how you feel, keep them in control. You’re the one who’s got to control them. You’re the only person in the world who’ll be able to rein in their emotions.”
*
Chapter 38
AISHA RETURNED TO THE CABIN in a daze. Ma Hetty’s story was terrifying. It was so sad. What if the same thing happened with her? What if she somehow hurt or betrayed one of the brothers? What would she do then? What if one of them hurt himself, or worse, killed himself, because of something she did? She’d already seen how intensely they reacted to her. She’d never experienced males so intense and passionate.
She reached out and touched the consciousness of the males before she reached the cabin. She’d been concealing herself from them, and now she wanted to warn them that she was almost back at the cabin. She could sense from each of them that they were pent up with emotion. She felt as if she was walking a tightrope.
“Where were you?” Tucker said as soon as she stepped in the front door.
“We were so worried,” Hardy said.
Aisha smiled at them.
Logan raised his voice. “Don’t question her like that,” he said to the younger brothers. “Aisha is free to come and go as she pleases. She’s a handmaiden of our pack, the last female of her kind, and we can’t smother her.”
Hardy and Tucker apologized by bowing their heads. Aisha flashed back to the images she’d had of all four of them from the night before. She looked at Packer the most closely of all. He hadn’t spoken a word since she’d entered the house. She could still taste in her mouth the blood of the wolves he’d killed the night before.
How was she ever going to do this? How was she going to give each of them what he wanted? She could sense their thoughts, their emotions, their passions. They were at boiling point.
She walked over to the table and as soon as she sat down, she started to cry. She felt silly. She was embarrassed at her own display of emotion. But she couldn’t help it. All four brothers were on their feet, but she turned on them.
“Stay back,” she said.
They stopped in their tracks. As the oldest, Logan spoke for all of them.
“Are you all right?”
“Of course I’m not all right,” she sobbed.
“What have we done? Have we upset you?”
“What do you think?” she said. “Do you have any idea what this is like for me? The four of you have been acting like children. You’ve placed me in an impossible situation.”
“What do you mean?” Logan said.
“I know what each of you was doing last night. I saw you running, I heard you howling, I tasted the blood of the beasts you killed.” She looked at Packer as she said that.
He looked away.
“Don’t look away,” she said to him. “You could have been killed acting like that.”
Packer stood up. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Aisha,” he said. “I didn’t mean to pressure you.”
“But can’t you see how that pressures me? You’re out there killing wolves because you want me. You’re risking your life. You’re brooding and lusting.”
“It’s in our blood, Aisha,” Logan said. “We can’t control it.”
“Well, it’s got to stop. I can’t be the one who’s responsible for the four of you and your emotions. It’s got to change.”
“What do you mean?”
“How can I choose among you when I see how much is at stake? How can I make one of you happy and the other three miserable? It’s not fair. It’s not right.”
They all looked at her. All four of them stared at her as if she was the wolf and they were the prey. They were afraid she was going to leave them. It broke her heart to sense the agony each of them was holding back. She was being hard on them. They couldn’t help the intensity of the emotions she unleashed within them. They’d tried not to pressure her. They’d tried to leave her alone. They’d tried to hide the depth of their agony from her.
She got up from her seat and walked past them to the door of the cabin. They all watched her every move. She stood at the door and pointed to the highest peak in the mountains to the north.
“What do you call that peak?” she said.
They followed the direction of her hand up into the cloudy peaks of the mountains. She was pointing at the most dangerous-looking spot in the entire mountain range. They all looked at her.
“You don’t want to go there,” Packer said. “It’s not safe.”
“Just tell me what it’s called.”
“We call it the Knife Point,” he said.
“Be there, at midnight, all four of you,” she said, and with that, she turned and ran into the forest.
*
Chapter 39
AISHA DIDN’T HIDE FROM THE brothers that day. She allowed them to sense her, to know where she was, to know she was safe. They knew not to bother her, but they also knew what she was feeling and where she was going. She was going to the Knife Point. She could see why it was called that. The jagged spike of rock resembled the blade of a hunting knife. It was solid granite, rising hundreds of feet into the sky, and she could see even from the distance that it was going to be very difficult to climb.
Even as she walked through the forest in the full afternoon sun, she was already dreading the challenge of climbing it to its peak. She regretted picking such a precipitous spot for what she was planning. But she’d been impulsive. She’d been feeling emotional. And she knew she needed a dramatic place for what she was planning.
And what was she planning? Even the thought of it made her quiver with fear and anticipation. She was going to bond with them. Not one of them, not even two of them, but all four of them. She wasn’t planning on mating with them. She didn’t feel she knew them well enough yet. She’d been forced to sleep with men before, she’d even allowed herself to be used by Heath and Hunter back when she was still journeying north to Alaska, and she’d since sworn to herself that she’d never be forced into having sex with men of any kind, ever again. She wasn’t going to allow the four brothers to use her however they wanted simply because she was the last female of their kind left on earth. No. She would form the bond with them. She felt as if she owed them that much. But then the rest would be up to them. If they wanted to mate with her, they would have to woo her and romance her. She deserved that.
*
Chapter 40
THE CLIMB UP TO THE Knife Point was long and arduous. Treacherous cliffs hung over the forest below like walls of rock. When Aisha reached the foot of the peak and looked up, she couldn’t even see the top of it. It was lost in cloud. She rounded the base of the rocky spike and eventually, on careful examination, found a trail that led through the rock of the cliffs and was a little easier to climb. She began making her way along the trail, climbing rock, careful at every step not to lose her footing.
After an hour of climbing, she stopped to catch her breath. The view down over the forest was simply breathtaking. It was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen in her entire life. She could see for a hundred miles in every direction, her shifter senses making her eyesight keener than it had ever been before. She could see eagles circling in the distance and estimated they must have been twenty miles away. She heard them as clearly as if they were directly above her. The mist rising slowly from the forest was eerie and sad. She thought about what she was doing. And then, without reaching any kind of conclusion, she continued to climb.
She told herself she had no
choice. The brothers needed to bond with her. Once that was done, the rest would be in their hands. If any of them managed to mate with her, it would be up to them. She’d give all four of them permission to pursue her. The rest, they would have to earn.
*
Chapter 41
IT WAS DARK BY THE time she reached the jagged peak of the Knife Point. The air was deathly still. She knew it was cold, but there was no part of her that felt even the slightest chill. Perhaps it was the vigor of the climb that had warmed her, or else it was the new shifter instincts that were awakening within her, growing stronger by the day, that kept her warm even in the coldest of Alaskan weather.
She looked at the moon. It was high and bright as it had been the night before. She reached out to the brothers and knew they were already coming for her, climbing the rock of the peak. She sat on a boulder overlooking the place where the trail reached the top of the peak and waited for them. She didn’t have to wait long.
The four brothers arrived just as the moon was reaching its highest point in the night sky. They had come as wolves, and once on top of the jagged peak of rock, they shifted back into their human forms.
Aisha was breathless as she looked at them. All four of them were completely naked. They were strong men, any one of them could have lifted her up and thrown her into the air. It was a thrill just to see them there. There seemed to be so much of them. So much muscle, so much flesh. Their arms and legs were thick and muscular. Their chests were broad and hard. Their stomachs were rippled with abdominal muscle that she wanted to run her fingers over. Their hair was shaggy. They were breathing hard after the exertion of the climb, and the white air of their breaths puffed in front of them. She glanced down below their waists and was shocked at the size and readiness of the four delicious-looking cocks that were pointing at her. They were semi-erect and seemed to be throbbing with desire.