by Claudia King
Netya held her breath, eyes wide as she listened. She was beginning to piece together this side of the tale with the version she had heard from the men of her village, and it made her stomach squirm as if she had been there on that night herself.
"That was when Khelt realised Adel was not just an unruly female playing games with him. He commanded her to follow, and she refused. If he wanted to prove he truly cared about his people, Adel said, he would call off his hunters and follow her back to safety. Khelt refused to back down. His pride did not help, of course, but he believed far more lives might be lost if he did not return to the pack with fresh kill soon. He called Adel a coward, and threatened that she would be the one leaving others to die if she did not join him in challenging the Sun People.
"So both of them departed and took those who were loyal with them. Khelt believed Adel's disobedience would be short-lived, and that she would hurry back to join him soon, while Adel thought the alpha's nerve would falter once he saw the Sun People waiting for them."
Netya's heart sank as she realised the inevitable conclusion. "Neither of them gave in, did they?"
"No. By the time Khelt realised nobody was coming to his aid, the Sun People had already encircled us. They had nets and spears, and three of us were dead within moments. Khelt called the retreat, and the rest managed to escape before any more lives were lost."
"How terrible it must have been."
"Terrible for all of us, but none more so than the alpha and den mother. One of those killed was a seer, and the moment we regrouped with the rest of the pack I thought Khelt and Adel were about to tear each other apart. They were both furious that the other had been so stubborn. If not for their respect for the pack's grief, that night might have ended with even more blood spilled.
"Khelt talked with me often about exiling Adel back to her old pack in the months that followed, but we both knew it would only lead to another bitter feud with her people. He refused to even consider taking her as his mate after that, and it has coloured everything between the two of them since."
Netya bit her lip, angry at the way Adel had abandoned her people in a time of need, but also frustrated that the outcome had not been entirely of the den mother's making. She wanted to be able to side with Khelt, but she understood now why he had reason to doubt himself.
"Did the pack find good hunting in time that year?" she said.
"Thankfully yes, though it was a hard winter with little to go around, and two of the elders slipped away in the cold months. We tried to keep them well fed when they became weak, but it is impossible to say whether a few mouthfuls of food might have made a difference." Caspian took a deep breath as he came to the end of the tale, running a hand through his light brown hair. Recounting it seemed to have exhausted him, and he took a long drink from his cup of water before looking at Netya again. "You have one more thing left to ask me, don't you?"
Netya gave him a bittersweet smile. He could read her well.
—26—
A Meeting of Hearts
"Which one of them do you think was right?" she said.
"That is the tragedy of it," Caspian replied. "They were both right. Had Adel given in, Khelt would have had the numbers to easily defeat the Sun People, perhaps even without any bloodshed, and the pack would have been well fed. But if Khelt had backed down, not a single life would have been risked, and the hunt could have continued safely."
"I would have been brave and sided with Khelt," Netya said.
"Just as I did," Caspian replied. "Because that is where our loyalties lie. Still, just because Khelt is my friend and your alpha, that makes him no more right than Adel was that night. A seer must understand these things." He smiled, shaking off the melancholy his story had brought on. "I think you realised that already, though."
"I cannot blame Adel entirely, even though I want to."
"And that is what sets you apart from most others. It has been so long since I've talked with another person who sees things in the same way."
Netya dropped her eyes to the floor, realising that her hand was still cupped in Caspian's. His thumb stroked absently up and down the surface of her palm, and she felt in his touch the sudden connection they had shared before. She had spoken so openly this evening, asking things that she dared not pose to anyone else, and not once had she felt threatened or judged for it. The time had passed in the blink of an eye, and she did not want to leave.
"It is late," Caspian said.
Netya did not reply, watching his thumb as it continued to brush her palm. The air almost seemed to hum in her ears as the moments crept by, the urges within her strengthening.
"The night of the summer fires," she said at last, her throat feeling dry and husky. "I hoped you would pick me."
She looked up at him, and he stared at her, blinking his blue eyes just once.
"Someone else needed me more that night," he said.
"And now?"
"Now..." Caspian gave her a sad smile and shook his head. "You are Khelt's, and hearts are dangerous things to toy with."
"I did not ask you for your heart." Netya swallowed, realising she was trembling. The two of them were very close together now.
"Perhaps you would have it, whether you asked or not."
Netya closed her eyes and leaned forward, allowing her forehead to press gently against his chin. Her free hand moved to his shoulder. "You speak to me like no other man ever has," she said. "It makes me feel as though I am more than just a woman, and yet when I am with you I can think of nothing else."
"You are not just a woman, you are Netya. I see you as who you are."
She opened her eyes and looked to the piece of wood on the table, seeking out the symbol he had made for her. "You are too wise to take a foolish girl like me, aren't you?"
Caspian's heavy breath tickled her hair. He ran his finger beneath her chin, then tilted it up to face him. "No, I am not."
His kiss was slow and passionate, claiming her lips one at a time as he savoured every moment of it. Netya's fingers tightened around his hand, drawn to his warmth as a wave of lightheadedness swept over her. It reminded her of the feelings that had surged through her body when she shared her first kiss with Layon, only this time they were much, much stronger. She pressed herself up against Caspian, wanting him to take her and hold her, claim her and join with her in ways no other man yet had.
Fern had been right when she told her all those months ago that it would be different with every partner. Khelt was like the powerful bear whose pelt was draped over his throne, overwhelming and insurmountable in his passion, making Netya feel small and delicate beneath him. Erech had reminded her more of the mountain cats in the ravine, quick and eager and lithe in his movements.
Caspian, though, was the one who truly felt like a wolf. The way he kissed her was both effortlessly confident, and yet curious and inquiring. The brush of his teeth against her tongue and lips added a sharpness to it, a lingering danger, and his hands settled around her hips in a light grasp that told her she was going nowhere, like the prey that knows it has already been caught.
She climbed into his lap, legs encircling his waist as he bore her up. The shortly trimmed bristles on his chin scratched her with a pleasant roughness as the soft embrace of their lips continued, and Netya felt as if she could linger there for hours despite the growing need in her lower belly. Caspian's long kisses questioned her, seeking out the responses of her body and rewarding them in turn. He was clearly taking the lead, but she was no passive partner in their exchange. He wanted to draw out the desires from inside her and feel them just as keenly as she longed to experience his own passions.
In much the same way as she had desired to please Khelt, Netya was overcome with the urge to do the same for Caspian, except this time it was no sense of duty or obligation to her alpha that drove her. Her talents in the ways of pleasure had grown considerably over the past year, and she longed to lavish them on the man who now held her, doing things for him that perh
aps no other woman could.
Netya's hair drifted down in wisps around her shoulders as she pulled her gown over her head and let it fall to the floor behind them, twining her naked body closer around Caspian's as the roughness of his clothes dragged against her sensitive nipples, tightening them to hard points as the growing bulge between his legs pressed against the part of her that desired it most.
He combed her hair back with his fingers, toying with the small braid of wooden beads as he looked at her. "Lie with me where we can feel the fire on our skin," he said, letting his hand drift across her cheek as he slowly pulled away, leaving her to kiss the tips of his fingers when they finally left her. He strode over to the bed and pulled off several heavy furs, draping them across the floor next to the fire.
Netya curled her toes against the rough stone as she approached him, reaching for his fingers and helping them unfasten the wooden clasp of his belt as he too shed his clothing. He seemed to know what she wanted, giving her a moment of patience as she drew close and rested her cheek against his chest, letting her hands roam across his masculine body, caressing the muscles of his stomach and waist, the smooth plane of his back, the firmness of his manhood.
They sank down together on the furs, the soft tickle greeting Netya's bare skin along with the heat of the fire. Her mouth sought its way across his chest, savouring the taste of him as she made her way lower, before finally taking him into her mouth. A surge of desire gripped her, the longing to please Caspian taking hold again as his potent male scent flooded across her tongue. She worked to take him as deeply as she could, letting him enjoy the tight warmth of her body as her fingers massaged his stomach.
He twitched with pleasure, but before she could coax him to his peak he eased her gently off, kissing her again as he pressed her back against the furs.
"No need to be hasty," he said as he slipped his fingers between her legs, sliding them up and down the length of her cleft until they brushed the sensitive nub at its hood.
"I want to please you as many times as I can," Netya gasped, gripping his wrist as he spread her open and toyed with her moistening folds.
"The pleasure you wait for is greater than the pleasure you don't. I will show you." He knelt over her and kissed her navel, slowly, deliberately, forcing her to wait as his fingertips teased the edges of her stomach. She was breathing heavily by the time his lips reached the space between her legs, and for the first time she experienced the same kind of pleasure she had just given Caspian.
It was softer, more teasing, and not as intense as she had expected, but the sensation of his tongue running over the sensitive pearl at the peak of her folds sent a shudder up her spine that tightened her muscles and forced her to curl her fingers into the fur beneath them. Her chest rose and fell as she squirmed, biting back her noises of pleasure until Caspian forced them out of her regardless. The intense skill of his pacing brought her again and again to the point where she almost felt her climax brimming, then he would back off, leaving her to savour the desperate, yet strangely pleasurable sense of her tension draining away.
At first it almost frustrated her, before she realised that the sensations she felt were growing stronger each time, building the liquid pleasure within her to a simmer, then a boil, until her cheeks were flushed and her skin hot with perspiration, grinding her back into the fur as the brush of each hair felt like it was lighting a thousand sparks inside her body.
With Khelt and Erech, Netya has always taken her pleasure from the feeling of being claimed in the most physical way possible by a male. Their strength and eagerness to slake their lust had been exciting, effortlessly awakening the primal urges of a woman within her.
If not for the way Caspian was treating her at that moment, she might never have realised there was a very different side to the pleasures she could experience at the hands of a man. There was strength and power, yes, and she relished the gentle dig of Caspian's thumbs pressing against her stomach, but his true hold over her came from the way he played on her urges, binding her to him with an invisible leash of desire. Every time he slowed or paused, the hot place within her belly squirmed in desperation. She felt that she would do anything for him if only he would let her recapture that pleasure once again. She needed it. She needed him to give it to her, and the knowledge that he could exert such a hold without the need to so much as say a single word excited her more than anything she had experienced in her life.
"Please take me," she begged him breathlessly as he paused, kissing his way back up her stomach. "I cannot bear it any longer."
Caspian smiled, sliding his arms beneath her as he rose to his knees, dragging her up with him. "Will you bear it a little longer, just for me?" he said, brushing the back of his finger up and down the side of her neck so agonisingly gently that it made Netya shudder. He gazed into her eyes, smile fading as pure passion crept into his voice. "Seeing you like this, feeling how it makes you move in my arms, that is my pleasure."
Netya kissed him desperately, pressing her hips up against his manhood, wanting nothing more than to feel him inside her. "How do you make me feel this way?" she whispered, trying to guide him between her folds, but he denied her.
"Turn around," he instructed. "You understand that lovemaking is more that just a slaking of urges, don't you?"
Netya nodded, quivering with need, but growing ever more excited as she obeyed his command. She knelt upright on the furs in front of Caspian, and he settled easily into place behind her, encircling her with his arms.
"Let your body be patient," he said, reaching down to slide his manhood between her legs, the crown pressing insistently against her entrance. She felt him twitch, the surge of his shaft straining to enter her, but she fought the urge to push back.
Caspian rested his chin on her shoulder, hands sliding up and down her body until they crossed over her breasts. He took her nipples between his fingers, rolling them gently, then harder, until Netya bit her lip and whimpered. He squeezed hard enough that it hurt, but he had brought her to a place where pain became pleasure, and she craved more of it. Her body was something else in his arms. Every sensation was bliss.
The pressure between Netya's legs built, and with a gentle parting the tip of his shaft slid inside her. It was slow, excruciatingly so, but she allowed the shudders of desperation to grip her body as she held still in his arms, clinging on to his wrists as he caressed her. Caspian filled her completely, stretching her satisfyingly tight by the time their hips met. She settled her weight back against him, savouring the dull tug in her belly as he pressed just slightly deeper. Then, just as she thought she could endure no more, he finally took her in the way she wanted.
There were no wild thrusts, no sharp bucks of desire that threatened to hurt her, no reckless surge to the finish. He moved his hips in motion with hers, practically rocking her in his lap as he remained buried almost to the hilt. The friction was small, simmering, but had it been any greater Netya knew she would have been driven to her climax within moments.
She writhed in his grip, squeezing the fur between her toes as her fingernails dug into Caspian's arms. His own hold tightened in response, one hand pinning her hips in place while the other encircled her chest, keeping their bodies deliciously close at all times.
Netya craned her neck to kiss him, though she barely had the breath for it any more. His rough cheek scratched her chin with every motion, and her inner muscles rippled and squeezed tighter and more uncontrollably with each shallow thrust.
He was building her to a moment so intense that Netya's mind went blank when she thought of it, believing that she had never needed anything so much in her life. Nothing outside the furs and the fire seemed to matter. Just like on the night of the summer fires, she felt trapped in a place beyond the world she knew, where the moment swallowed her until everything else was gone and only the wild girl within remained.
Her hand shot to the back of Caspian's neck, tightening in his hair as she screwed her eyes shut, brow creasing with
pleasure. He seemed to sense the change in her, the breaking of the final shackles within her body and mind, and within moments the sharp panting of his breath had matched her own. The strong, gentle pace ceased, but he did not lose himself in furious abandon. Even as they reached the crest of their lovemaking, he remained in control, moving his hips just fast enough, just hard enough, to push her to the peak she needed.
It was not when her body convulsed in the first moment of climax that Netya realised just how far Caspian had driven her, but when that summit ebbed, only to be taken over by another, even stronger surge moments later. She was unable to breathe, losing control of her muscles as she twitched and strained in ways that she was unable to keep up with. High-pitched sounds of ecstasy left her lips, though whether they were words, whimpers, or cries she could not tell. Caspian pushed her on, holding her there in the moment, never going too fast or too slow to let it burn out prematurely. For the first time since the night Khelt had claimed her womanhood, she was overwhelmed with sensations too extreme for her spirit to endure.
Blackness took her for a moment, but she felt Caspian's arms bearing her up the whole way through, even when her limp body regained its strength and the world swam back into colour on the tail of one final climax. Her loss of control seemed too much for the male, and he buried his face in the side of her neck, groaning as his hot breath rushed against her. A moment later she was empty, the warmth of Caspian's climax spilling against her lower back as he ground himself against her, chest heaving as he nuzzled and nipped at her ear.
Netya felt as if she had just held her breath for longer than she was capable, unable to do anything but gasp, filling her lungs with aching breaths as she and her lover leaned up against each other. Her only disappointment was that he had withdrawn at the last moment, and as sense returned to her she flushed when realising why. If only she could have told him about the herbs.