by Claudia King
"Why does it worry you?" the other girl said as she wrung out her drying hair on the opposite side of the tent. "You cannot have expected to be carrying his child already."
"I know, Fern, but what will I do when he next calls me to his bed? Must I deny him until I am ready again? I will feel useless!"
"There is more than one way to please a male, you know."
Netya squinted at her. "How?"
Fern grinned, as she was apt to when preparing to tease Netya's innocence. "Can you think of nothing at all?"
"Oh, will you please just tell me?! The alpha may send for me at any moment, and I do not want to disappoint him."
"It is early in the day still, relax. You have plenty of time. Think of what the alpha does to please you and himself before you make love."
Netya sat down on the furs and tried to think, imagining what she might do if she were Fern. "He likes to touch me, and kiss my body." Her cheeks warmed. She was still unused to discussing these things as openly as the Moon People did. "Should I do the same for him?"
"You are learning!" Fern nodded and sat down with a smile. "But that is not enough to satisfy most men. They long to feel the warmth of entering you, so you must give it to him in other ways. Take him inside your body in the other places he can reach, and allow him to find his pleasure there."
"Will that work? Will he still be able to sire his heir that way?"
Fern shook her head. "There is only one way for his essence to find that place inside you. But I do not think he will mind once you offer him the alternatives."
"Are you sure? His only reason for bringing me here was that I might bear him a child."
"Oh, I am sure." Fern's grin broadened. "He may be the alpha, but he is still a man, and most men are not thinking of children when they take women to their beds. Many pack leaders keep concubines for pleasure alone."
When Netya thought about it, it made sense, and she felt foolish for assuming Khelt's interest in her lay solely in her ability to bear him a child. He clearly felt pleasure just as intense as hers during their nights together.
"Was he without the company of a female for long, before he chose me?" she asked.
Fern hesitated, almost slipping into her evasive manner again, but she had become comfortable enough with Netya over the past few weeks not to let it stifle her too much. "It has been several years, yes," she said. "When Khelt was younger he took many females to his bed. I was not yet of age then, but the older girls vied for his attention often. That was before he became alpha, when his father still lived."
"Why did he stop?"
This time Fern really did seem uncomfortable. She chewed her lip, lowering her voice, as if afraid that someone might have their ear to the tent wall outside. "You must never speak to him of this. The alpha is better than most men at keeping his temper, but there is one thing that angers him greatly. He will not ever speak of it to the pack."
"What is it?" Netya pried, her curiosity prickling along with a mounting sense of unease. "I would not want to bring such a matter up unintentionally."
"He stopped when he learned he was to be mated to a female from a rival pack. They said she was young, but wise beyond her years, and greatly gifted in the ways of the spirits. She was to be our den mother, and it has long been tradition for the alpha and den mother to mate."
Netya recalled the night Erech and Nathar had fought, and a chill went through her. "She was Adel?"
"Yes," Fern whispered. "Her pack had fought ours for many years, but they started to grow weak, losing many of their warriors in battle with your people. They offered Adel to us as the greatest gift they could give, hoping to bond our packs together as allies rather than enemies. She and Khelt would have been mated, but she refused to submit to him as her superior. Something happened between them. I do not know what, but it was a disagreement that left three of our brothers and sisters dead after a confrontation with your people. From that day on, the two have hated one another."
"I remember," Netya said, fascinated. She recalled that day, too, but from quite a different perspective. It must have been almost eight years past, when she was still a girl. The men had returned home boasting of three new skulls to line their wall, the most they had ever taken, and the entire village had celebrated the victory for several days thereafter. It had been a further two years before anyone caught a glimpse of the Moon People again. Netya now felt ashamed that she had cheered for the victorious warriors along with the other girls, happy in the knowledge that more of the monsters had been slain.
"Had the alpha taken a different mate at that point it would have gone against all of our traditions," Fern continued. "He would have greatly shamed Adel and her pack, and called his own authority into question. So instead he refused to claim any female, and he has not taken another woman to his bed ever since."
Netya nodded slowly. "And this is why he chose me, because he has no obligation to make me his mate?"
"I think so, yes. Even a consort from our own pack would cause upset. He would be seen to favour someone else over the den mother. But as an outsider, you are not in competition with any of the other females. In truth, I think his choice to take you was very wise. None of our customs account for what the alpha has done, and so there is no offence to be taken. He will have his heir without making enemies of Adel's old pack again in the process."
"I would not be so sure of that," Netya said. "Adel has not looked kindly on me once since I arrived."
"It is strange." Fern frowned. "She cares as little for the alpha as he does for her. I would not have thought she would be offended by him choosing someone else."
"I will try my best to stay out of her way, all the same. And thank you for telling me of this, Fern. I think I understand the alpha a little better now."
Fern smiled. "It is often wise for those of our rank to stay out of the affairs of those in power. We have our place, as do they."
Netya brightened up, glad to leave such complicated matters where they belonged. "Now explain to me again," she said. "What are these other ways in which I might please the alpha?"
—11—
Khelt
In the days following his decision to take Netya from her village, Khelt had feared he'd made a grave mistake. Caspian's counsel left him feeling a blind fool, as it so often did, and the two days he had spent anxiously patrolling the edge of the Sun People's territory for any sign of pursuit had left him ragged and exhausted. Only after fearing he might collapse from exertion had he returned to his pack. Taking such matters upon himself and driving his body to the brink of endurance always had a way of calming the alpha. He often thought that, should he one day die in battle, he would gladly accept such a fate if only he could meet it knowing he had fought until his last shred of energy left him.
It was in the moments of doubt that he felt truly uncomfortable. Doubt was not prey that could be hunted down and trapped, nor a foe that could be slain through speed and strength. It threatened everything he had to be to his pack. He was their leader, their guide, their monolith who would weather every storm and bear the weight of a hundred burdens on their behalf. Through him they were strong, and if he were to falter, so would they.
He missed the simple pleasures of life. The days of his youth when he would run for miles trying to reach the mountains in the distance, always getting close, but never managing to climb them for himself. The nights when he would seek out a pretty girl and feel her writhe beneath him in the furs as he slaked his desire.
The days of my youth, he thought with a snort of amusement as he leaned back against his throne, cracking another nut between his fingers and dropping the shell back into the bowl. He was in his prime. Older men than he had yet to even find mates and settle into their roles within the pack. He was not a man to lament his position. The pack came before all else, and their strength and happiness was his own.
At first he had been concerned, fearing the Sun People might finally brave the open plains to reclaim their lost da
ughter. Their tracking skills were poor, and they could not follow scents like wolves, but they were resourceful in other ways.
Still, as the days passed his worries diminished. The Sun People had never come before, and they would not come this time. He regretted the brashness of his decision, but it seemed he had not been punished for it this time.
Perhaps he had even done the girl Netya a kindness. Her outburst the night he returned had been worrying, but since then she seemed to have taken to pack life readily. It was possible her life among her own people had been unhappy, or perhaps she was simply still infatuated with him, as young females were apt to be with the first man to claim their womanhood.
He was fond of her. Netya's keen spirit and honesty were admirable traits in a female, and he wondered whether she might have the makings of more than just a simple concubine as she grew older. Besides which, she was pretty and eager, and he took great pleasure in claiming her long and hard to ease the tensions of the day. Like a lost keepsake found again after many years, he had not realised how much he missed having the company of a female until he had taken one to his bed again.
He was already stirring in anticipation, a subtle tension building in his lower body as he waited for his concubine to arrive. He might enjoy her more than once this evening. He was not weary, and the night was young, with little else to occupy his attention. He smiled at the thought of leaving her panting and limp with exhaustion, her body glossed with perspiration after he was finished. It felt good to leave a female so thoroughly satisfied. Yet another of his duties as alpha well done.
When Netya peeked in through the hanging drape he beckoned her over without a word, smiling as he allowed the girl to straddle his lap and twine her hands around the back of his neck. For one who had been untouched mere weeks before, she was taking to the ways of seduction well. That would be Fern's doing, no doubt. Putting the two of them together had been a good decision.
He lifted a nut to her mouth and allowed her to take it between her teeth, brushing his thumb across her soft lips gently, his gaze transfixed by them.
"You are eager tonight," he said.
"I am always eager to please you, my alpha." She shifted a little in his lap, pressing against the growing swell beneath his kilt.
"You recite those words like a pup learning her first manners." Khelt smiled. "But it would be a lie to say I do not still enjoy hearing them." He pulled her into a kiss suddenly, dragging her smaller body up against his chest as he sighed with pleasure, losing himself in the blissful taste of her.
Netya's scent sometimes clung in his wolf's nostrils when he made the change shortly after coupling with the girl, and it gave rise to a feral hunger in his chest that left him longing to rush straight back to the den and mount her all over again. Had he been a lesser man, the sort of barbarian Netya had first taken him for, like the alphas of the wild cave packs, his wolf might have gathered half a dozen concubines to him and spent every evening rutting in the heat of a warm den. It was certainly a thought that appealed to his wilder side. Pleasure, comfort, and females with which to satiate his every desire. The longings of wolves.
When he broke the kiss Netya was already gasping for breath. His manhood twitched with pleasure. He exhausted the girl so easily.
"I hope I do not tire you too soon," he said. "Because I do not intend to let you sleep until this night is old."
Netya grinned, letting her palms slip from the back of his neck to rub up and down the alpha's bare chest. "I will try my best, my alpha, but Fern has told me I must please you in different ways this evening."
"She presumes to know how her alpha desires his pleasure now?"
"She did not mean any disrespect by it. The next days will be my woman's time, so I cannot lie with you as normal."
Khelt noted the anxiety creeping into her voice as she spoke, and the nervous look in her eyes. As much as she tried to embrace her new duties as his concubine, there was still much of the nervous young girl about her. His heart sank a little, but the steely restraint of his alpha returned to quash the desire that had built in his loins.
"Of course," he said. "I should have known it was coming by your scent. You may return to your own tent, then. I will not call on you until you are ready once more."
"I am still willing," Netya replied. "But as I said, I would please you in other ways."
There was something about her response that stirred the desire in Khelt back to life. The way she had said it was not exactly impertinent, but most other respectful females would have obeyed his order easily without trying to persuade him otherwise. Fern's influence again, no doubt. Or perhaps just another natural difference between the etiquette of her people and his. Still, whether she realised she had been provocative or not, it nudged Khelt's desire to assert his male dominance once again.
"Will you now?" he said. "Has my concubine become so talented already?"
"I know only what Fern has taught me this afternoon." Netya flushed and averted her eyes from him. "But I am eager to try."
Khelt looked at her for a moment longer, then allowed his desire to take hold in full. He pulled Netya into another tight kiss, before dragging her gown off her shoulders to leave the girl naked save for her moccasins. He cupped and squeezed her breasts, drawing each nub to a hard point with his teeth and tongue as he breathed in her scent, relishing his concubine's small noises of pleasure as he explored the softness of her bare skin.
The girl was usually so passive, allowing him to take charge and guide their lovemaking, which suited him perfectly, but this time he felt her hands caressing him back in response. To Khelt's surprise it only spurred him on more, his pulse quickening as her fingers moved lower toward his hips. When she began to leave small, tentative kisses on his chest that strayed gradually downwards, he eased her back and unfastened his kilt, allowing the tension between his legs to spring free.
"To your knees," he growled as he leaned forward to tug at her earlobe with his teeth. "And show me what you have learned."
Netya slid out of his lap, nervous fingers finding their way to his manhood as she knelt at the foot of his throne. He longed to take her as he wished, but for now he would restrain himself to a slower pleasure. The girl's inexperience showed, but he was patient, and when the warmth of her mouth engulfed him he leaned back with a groan of satisfaction, twining her braid around his hand as he cupped the top of her head. His shaft twitched and strained in her mouth, letting her know when her tongue did the things that pleased him most.
If anything Netya was too eager, or Fern had instructed her too well, and several times she ended up short of breath and coughing as she attempted to take more of him than she was yet able. Still, it made Khelt's body stir with craving to imagine the pleasures the girl might bring him once she had gathered more experience.
He fought the building urge to drive himself as deep as he desired, encouraging Netya instead to please him with her hands while her mouth caressed that most sensitive point of his manhood. Perhaps he would not be able to take his concubine many times in the way he had first envisioned that evening, but the night could be spent in other pleasurable ways. He was no longer even thinking of his intent to sire an heir with her by the time his lower body surged with pleasure, his hand tightening in her hair as he reined in the throes of pleasure that gripped his muscles. He grit his teeth with a heavy groan, perspiration beading on his forehead as Netya took his essence into her mouth, fighting the urge to buck as he allowed the girl to take her time.
With his initial lust satiated, but his energy far from spent, Khelt took her to his bed, allowing the last of the light to fade outside as minute after minute slipped by. He lost himself in the pleasure of discovering everything his concubine had begun to learn, testing her body's limits and easing them further as he explored all but the one entrance that was forbidden to him. The hours of slow, gentle pacing intermingled with her cries and his own growls of release, driving all other concerns from his mind. He was bothered by not a si
ngle unwelcome doubt until at long last, with the fire burning low, he and Netya collapsed against the furs in a tangle of damp skin and soaked hair.
She fell asleep immediately, her body cupped into the curve of his own as he looked down at the exhausted girl with a smile. He did not even bother to clean the oils they had used and the remnants of their lovemaking from the bed before joining her in unconsciousness, wondering how he had ever managed to sleep soundly without such a willing young female to drive the toils of leadership from his mind.
Khelt awoke to rays of morning sunlight creeping across the walls of his den, filtering in through the gaps in the cave roof to bring a warm brightness to the chamber. He enjoyed these summer months when he could leave the openings uncovered. Winter was a dark and lonely time, and he would have gladly slept huddled with the others in their communal shelters when it came time for the pack to retreat from the harsh weather. Propriety, however, kept the alpha isolated to face the long winter nights on his own.
But this season he might have a warm body to share his furs for the first time in years. He watched Netya as she slept, bringing his lips to within an inch of her shoulder, then hesitating. He would allow her to sleep a while longer yet.
Climbing over his concubine as gingerly as he could, he slipped out of the bed and went to wash, bathing the scent of her from his body reluctantly. He longed to breathe it in again when he took the shape of his wolf and opened his senses to their full breadth, but that was a distraction unbecoming of an alpha. Netya would still be here when he returned. A well-earned reward for the duties of the day.
He stepped out of the pool and wrung out his mane of long hair, flicking it back out of his eyes as he blew the dim coals of the fire back to life and fed them fresh kindling. The sound of footsteps approached from the cave's entrance, and a moment later the drapes parted.