by Claudia King
"Have you ever seen those with red hair?" she asked, before the good mood could be spoiled.
"Oh yes." Fern nodded. "There are some of them with the North People. They are born from the spirits of blood and fire, so that they may feel more keenly the heartbeat of the world around them. Many of them are great shamans, in the same way our most gifted seers draw their power from the wisdom of the night."
"I wonder if it was this night's wisdom that led me to where I am now," Netya pondered.
"Or perhaps it was a lustful alpha and an excitable girl." Fern grinned, tickling Netya from behind. "The colour of our hair tells only of what the spirits gift us, we may choose for ourselves what we do with it."
"Then I choose not to believe that my hair has any great destiny in store for me."
"Good! Then you will not mind running us an errand to fetch the herbs we need from the seers' cave. Ask for the burnt leaf ones, they should have plenty prepared for the women tonight."
Netya hurried up the slope, glancing back across the camp as she went and feeling another quiver of excitement as the conical pyres around the edge of the outcrop began to flicker to life one by one. As dusk fell the home of the Moon People transformed itself into a giant altar of fire, blazing up into the night sky as one final farewell to the months of summer.
Netya looked to the entrance to Khelt's den as she walked by, but it was not even lit with so much as a single torch. The cave seemed quiet and lonely, and she wondered what the alpha would be doing on this night while many of the other pack members his age indulged in the passions of their youth. He was a strong man. Perhaps stronger than any man. But surely even someone as resolute as Khelt felt the troubles of a lonely spirit once in a while?
There was nobody at the entrance to the seers' cave, so Netya waited patiently outside, making sure she remained a respectful distance from the opening. The urge to peer inside was strong, but she knew what lay within was forbidden to her. Worse still, somewhere inside was Adel's lair.
One of the seers came out after a short while, and she used the words she had learned from Fern to ask for the burnt leaf herbs. The woman nodded and disappeared back inside, leaving Netya to wait on one of the rocks while she kicked her legs and watched dusk fall, humming a tune to herself as the fires started to contrast more and more with the darkening sky.
She was caught off guard when the den mother herself returned with a sizeable bag in her hands and held it out to her.
"Are these the herbs I asked for, den mother?" she asked tentatively. "You are generous, but Fern and I will only need enough for tonight."
"Will you?" Adel said, voice laden with scorn. "Perhaps I should not be surprised. If you hadn't the sense to run when you had the chance, perhaps you care not for whatever child the alpha saddles you with."
Netya swallowed, but held her ground. "I do not need these herbs for my time with the alpha."
"You think yourself very wise, Sun girl. But once you have a son or daughter of the Moon People, where do you suppose your fate will lead? To stay with your child, or to abandon it when you return to the family who raised you? Even Khelt must know you can never have both."
"Den mother," Netya said, "whatever you would deny from Khelt, please do not deny it through me." She thought Adel might hit her then, wincing in anticipation as she braced herself for a repeat of her confrontation with Vaya. Instead, the older woman only glared, and Netya saw for the first time the tiny lines of strain that marked the den mother's otherwise pristine face.
"Is denying him what he wants all I care about in your eyes?" she said softly.
"I know you sought to turn me against him," Netya said, finding it hard to meet the den mother's gaze, but growing in confidence a little now that she did not feel a swift punishment coming. "I do not need this many herbs."
"Take them anyway," Adel said, and pressed the bundle into Netya's hands before she could protest. "You may come to me if you require more." The seer tugged her fur shawl tighter around her shoulders and turned back into the cave, leaving Netya clutching the bag on her own.
She felt hot and uncomfortable. She had stood up to the den mother, had she not? And yet somehow it still seemed as if Adel had played another trick at her expense, planting a seed of doubt in her mind that niggled beneath the surface. Unlike Vaya, the den mother's power was not in her physical strength. Having her nose broken had hurt, but Netya found herself almost wishing it had happened again when she realised what Adel had done.
She was half way back to the tent when she paused, looking down at the bag clutched in her hand. It contained enough of the herbs to keep her from bearing a child for months. If she were to ask for this many doses again, the seers would wonder why. She could dispose of them, or ask Fern to return the rest tomorrow.
The thought Adel had seeded returned unbidden. In her ignorance, she had not considered what mothering a child of the Moon People would mean for her in the years to come. Glancing around anxiously, Netya hurried past the tent and clambered down the steep edge of the outcrop until she found a crack in one of the protruding stones. She took a handful of herbs from the bag, then stuffed it inside, wedging in a small rock to hide it from view.
She did not need to use the herbs. She did not want to. It would be a long time before any of the problems Adel had mentioned might happen. And yet, she could not bring herself to throw the bag away. It would be there if she needed it. If she ever changed her mind. A reassurance, and nothing more.
Only she would know. Her, and Adel.
—16—
The Celebration
Netya pushed all thoughts of the bag to the back of her mind as she returned to the tent, refusing to let worries over what Adel might or might not have persuaded her to do spoil the evening. She took a deep breath and let the sweet smells of the fires fill her lungs, smiling as she remembered what the night had in store for her. Excitement quickened her pulse once again, and she ducked inside to find Fern already heating water over the fire. Her handful of herbs had already been prepared by the seers and did not need stewing, but mixing them with warm water made the medicine more palatable and easy to swallow.
It was another couple of hours before the celebration began properly, and Netya found herself pacing back and forth within the tent's narrow confines as the minutes crept by.
"You are like a restless fly when you become nervous," Fern said from her seat. "If you had a wolf within you I would say she was clawing to get out."
"I do not know what to expect," Netya replied. "Will the other males be different from the alpha? What if none of them pick me?"
"Then pick one for yourself, though I doubt you will need to. Two pretty girls like us? We shall be spoiled for choice this evening!"
"Can we go out and see the fires?"
Fern shook her head. "It will be more special if we wait. This is a spiritual time. Under the light of the fires you will feel like a different person, and you will remember it for the rest of your life."
"But I do not like waiting. It is agony when things are left to hang on my mind."
"A good kind of agony though, yes?" Fern rose to her feet and caught Netya by the waist, halting her restless pacing. Once she had stilled, she kissed her on the lips. "There, will that satisfy you for a few minutes?" Fern grinned.
"You always tease," Netya said, trying to extricate herself from her friend's grip. "As pretty as you are, I would rather have those kisses from a male."
"Are you sure? You may never know if you do not try."
Netya could tell her uncomfortable expression would only provoke Fern further, but she was caught off guard when the other girl kissed her again, and this time held her lips in place, putting out her tongue to add a sudden intimacy to the gesture.
She did not feel the same heat that a man's kiss stirred within her. Fern's breath was warm and sweet, and her lips were playful. The kiss made no demands of Netya, and so she allowed it to continue. After a moment she responded tentatively, out of cur
iosity more than anything else.
If her friend had been trying to take her mind off things, she had certainly succeeded. After a short while they parted, and Fern cocked her head to the side with a smile.
"There. That was not so bad, was it?"
Netya wrinkled the space between her eyebrows. "I still prefer the kiss of a man."
"But it was not unpleasant?"
"No," she admitted.
"You see! Tonight is a time for exploring these things. You will have plenty of time to discover all sorts of new pleasures before the sun rises. There is no need to be impatient."
Thankfully Netya did not have long to wait. Within a few minutes the long howl of a wolf sounded from the heart of the camp, signalling that it was time for the celebration to begin. A chorus of eager yowls and barks rose from further in the distance, where the men had gathered on the plains, and Netya wondered what private rituals drew out their wolves on this night.
Fern led them outside and down the path to the central fire, the other females joining them a few at a time until they had formed a procession. The pyres surrounding the outcrop seemed even larger than before, roaring up into the darkness to paint the entire camp in yellow-orange light that flickered with a hundred different shadows. It was just as Fern had said. Walking down to the gathering area, Netya felt as though this night was something different, something special. The sweet fronds burning in the fires filled the air with their scent. The dull roar and heat of the flames pressed in from all around. The orange light illuminated their small peak like the wick of a lamp.
It was as if the home of the Moon People had been stolen away from the real world, sealed in a bubble of warmth and light that drifted through the dark realm of the spirits, absorbing every wisp of tantalising mystery that swirled through the air around it. Netya trembled with anticipation, and she took Fern's hand as they approached the central fire and stopped just beyond the reach of its light.
"We go to meet the men in as pleasing a form as we can," Fern said as she reached down to slide her gown off, just as the rest of the females were doing. Netya followed suit, only a little uncomfortable in her nakedness as she joined the others in their ritual.
The men and women of the pack came together in unison, both groups arriving at the gathering spot at the same time. No longer in their animal shapes, the males stood naked as well, and Netya began to feel a little breathless as her eyes roamed across the full display of firelit bodies before her.
Rather than waiting on any further ceremony, the Moon People mingled with excitement. The older, more experienced men and women stepped forward first, calling out in siren song to one another as familiar partners and mates came together, hands settling on bare skin as conversation mingled with kisses. In many ways it reminded Netya of the evening celebrations she had attended before, but this time an undercurrent of intensity ran through the gathering, a tug toward the pleasures that were usually shared in private.
Like many of the younger men and women she hung back at first, glancing nervously around the group as she wondered how she would know when to approach, or be approached, by a potential partner. It turned out not to be as complicated as she imagined. Fern led them to a group of her friends near the fire, and rather than being captured immediately by a pair of eager males they instead sat down as they would have done on any other evening, greeting one another warmly as bowls of food and the bitter-tasting drink were passed around.
Netya allowed herself to relax. Several of the others had taken to the celebration eagerly, and already she saw couples entwined in one another's arms all around the clearing, but most of the Moon People seemed to be taking the night at a slower pace.
Erech, who had grown into a far more confident, decisive man since his victory over Nathar, sat across from Netya on the other side of the group, and a smile lingered on his lips as he watched her, seemingly just as oblivious to the conversation going on around them as she was. The roaring heat of the fire had already warmed her skin, but she suspected it would have begun to glow anyway under the attention of the young male.
After giving him a few shy glances from beneath her curtain of hair he moved over to sit beside her, and his hand immediately found its way to her thigh as he leaned in close.
"Very beautiful," he said in a thickly accented approximation of her own tongue.
The effort made her smile, and her heart beat a little quicker as his fingers played across her skin curiously, teasing little circles up and down her leg.
"He made me teach him how to say that this morning," Fern whispered to her with a giggle, before turning back to the partner Netya recalled having seen her with on the night Erech and Nathar fought.
She turned back to Erech, her gaze lingering on his body. He was not as broad and masculine as Khelt, but smooth and enticing all the same. His blue eyes twinkled with confidence, and when she did not protest he moved in closed, caressing her body with both hands as he tilted his head to breath in the scent of her hair.
The young male's touch quickly became more eager, sliding his palms across the pleasing contours of her body as if there was too much for him to explore and too little time. As the excited tingle grew in her belly, Netya found herself responding in kind, allowing her hands to feel the ways in which he was both similar and pleasingly different to Khelt. His eager manhood soon brushed her leg, and a hungry kiss found her lips moments after.
She lay back in the grass, the heat and sweet scents in the air sending a heady ripple through her body as Erech followed her down, soon relinquishing his claim on her mouth as he resumed kissing and burying his face in her flowing black hair. Khelt made her feel desired, but not quite like this. To Erech she seemed an exotic treasure, a forbidden fruit that he knew he might never have the chance to sample again. The almost reckless desire of the male quickened Netya's readiness for him. It was flattering in a way she had never felt before. She was well aware that her time with Khelt was a topic of jealousy among the other young females, but she had never stopped to consider that she, too, might be seen as a tantalising prize fit only for an alpha's claiming by the males of the pack.
"You desire me so?" she said breathlessly as his hands found her breasts, squeezing hard.
"Very beautiful," he repeated, murmuring the words into her ear distractedly before kissing her again. He seemed far more concerned with lovemaking than talking. It made Netya smile as she was reminded of how Fern often described men: hot-blooded and single-minded once they were caught by a female's allure. He meant to claim her and make her his, even if it was only for a few brief moments on this one summer night. Netya was happy to be claimed, and she allowed herself to relinquish control as Erech hefted her legs up to rest over his shoulders, then pinned her wrists to the ground beneath his palms.
He held her there beneath him for a moment, a wolfish grin crossing his face. No doubt he was savouring the conquest, relishing the victory, filling his thoughts with all of the things that make young men proud and strong.
Despite the thud of her pulse in her chest, Netya squirmed enticingly beneath him, pressing herself up against the hardness between his legs. She looked her partner in the eyes and smiled.
"I am yours, my alpha," she whispered. The word alpha was the same in both their tongues, and she felt the way it made him twitch when she said it. "Alpha," she repeated.
As if the surge of pleasure building within him was about to burst, Erech pressed himself between her folds and bore down fervently, a groan leaving his lips as her warmth enveloped him. His hips drove against hers rapidly, filling her body fast, but not so deep as to be uncomfortable.
Netya gave voice to a squeal of her own, having no time to relax or savour the intimate moment. Intimate was not the word to describe it. This was passionate. Hot and vigorous and impatient, and she found herself caring little for the discomfort of her body being bent almost double beneath Erech as he took her with hurried thrusts and hungry kisses.
He did not drive her toward t
he kind of climax that loomed like a cresting wave, building in weight and intensity until it shattered her mind apart with a crash of pleasure, but rather he stirred a churning spring in her belly. The grip of ecstasy squeezed and softened in her lower body in time with his thrusts, never quite peaking, but filling her with more than enough desire and enjoyment regardless.
Erech buried his face in the side of her neck, nuzzling at her flushed skin as his mouth suckled and his teeth nipped, the young male's scalding breath huffing against her rapidly as his hips met hers with clap after clap of flesh on skin. He clutched her wrists tightly, a sudden shudder gripping his body. His weight bore down on her hard, and then the cry of release rumbled up from deep within his chest, his teeth tightening against her shoulder as his manhood strained and surged within her.
She joined him in his groans of pleasure, writhing beneath him in the way Khelt always enjoyed in his moment of climax. Erech spent himself within her, then relaxed, his groans becoming satisfied chuckles of pleasure as he let her ankles slip from his shoulders and fall to the ground, pulling her on top of him as he rolled on to his back.
Netya grinned, laughing with him as she tossed back her hair and placed her palms on his chest, pretending as though she was now the one holding him down as she leaned in to kiss him again. Erech murmured something in his own tongue as he caught his breath, eyes closed and a smile on his lips. He beckoned Netya down and savoured the taste of her tongue one last time before getting back up, and the pair of them stumbled clumsily back to where they had been seated, still both giddy in the afterglow.
Her apprehension completely gone, Netya seemed unable to remove the smile from her lips as she gazed around the gathering through newly initiated eyes. How had her own people ever been coy about something so joyous and free? The summer fires had ignited their own fresh blaze within Netya's soul, taking her to a place she had only ever glimpsed in fantasies. She had felt it calling to her when she gazed into the eyes of the wolf skull for the first time. She had lived it when she rode across the plains with the pack. Now she was there again. The girl who had always hidden behind Netya's veneer of good sense and reserve was awake at last, and she was glowing.