Silver Ruff had assigned New Gaul wolves to guard the two left at the camp, but they didn’t impose on the couple’s sense of privacy. With everyone gone from the cabin except Liulf and Rain, she went to a cloth bag and withdrew a musical instrument, similar to a guitar but held upright with a longer neck.
“Would you like me to play for you, Liulf?”
“Aye, lass. I’d love ye to play for me.”
“What kind of music do you like?”
He thought about it for a minute and finally said, “Whate’er ye play.”
She laughed and he smiled in response. Rain’s breath caught at the sight, beautiful enough to stop a female’s heart. Seeing her expression change, he became uncertain. “Did I say somethin’ wrong?”
“No, Liulf,” she shook her head and grinned at him. “You smiled.”
“Aye. Did ye like it?”
“I loved it.”
“Then I’ll be doin’ it again.”
“Promise?”
“Ye have my word on it.”
The first day Rain played and sang while Liulf dozed on and off.
The second day it rained. Liulf dozed and Rain watched, loving him more with every rise and fall of his chest as he breathed in and out. She wondered if the slashes across his abdomen would scar and leave a permanent testament to his courage. And love. Not that she would be forgetting.
The third day he said, “How did ye come to be named Rain Falling?”
She laughed softly. “It’s one of those stories. Silly really. My parents claimed that, if I cried hard enough, the sky would weep with me.”
When she looked at Liulf to get his reaction, she saw love shining back from his eyes. “How about you? What does Liulf mean?”
“Nothin’ really.” He shrugged.
“Oh, no you don’t. I told mine.”
“’Tis embarrassin’.”
“I don’t care. Out with it.”
His mouth twitched. “Means Shield Wolf.”
“I’m going to need more.”
He rolled his eyes and looked away. “The Shield Wolf is first in battle. Supposed to be the strongest I suppose.”
She smiled. “And why is that embarrassing?” Rain squeezed his big hand with her smaller one while thinking that nothing could be more enchanting than a slightly pink blush rising in Liulf’s masculine face.
“Ye know.”
“No. I do not know,” she flirted. “Why is it embarrassing to be the biggest, baddest wolf?”
He squirmed a little, knowing that she was teasing, feeling uncomfortable and loving it at the same time. “Bein’ strong is no’ embarrassin’. Sayin’ so just is no’…” He screwed up his face.
“Are you trying to say that vanity isn’t a good trait for an alpha?” He nodded once, eyes fixed on her as if willing her to understand. “I understand. It’s another reason for me to love you.”
Liulf’s lips parted in surprise. He had carefully avoided the subject of mating for fear of scaring her away. He had thought he would take and enjoy any attention she was willing to give for as long as she was willing to give it.
He shored up his emotions, but decided to find out where they stood, once and for all.
“So will ye be comin’ home with me then?”
Rain beamed. “Of course. What did you think?”
At that very moment two New Gaul wolves entered to deliver food sent by Silver Ruff. They set it down and asked Rain if she needed anything else.
“Aye. If it would no’ trouble ye too much, could ye move these beds together and turn the mattresses cross ways instead of long ways?”
The wolves looked at Rain with understanding, grinned and proceeded to follow her direction.
She helped Liulf stand. He no longer needed the help, but cherished the moments when he could touch her and, in leaning into her, pull her closer.
By the time they had eaten the food it was getting dark. Rain helped Liulf into the left side of the makeshift bed for two so that his good arm was in the middle of the bed. When she started to light candles, Liulf stopped her.
“Come and lay by my side if ye love me, Rain. Let me feel you press yer body close to mine and hear ye breathin’ next to me.”
Rain didn’t hesitate. She pulled off her boots and eased onto the bed, being careful to keep him still. “Tell me if this hurts you.”
When she rested her head on his left shoulder, she was amazed that she hadn’t realized, long before the incident with the bear, that Liulf smelled better than anything in the world. She knew she would never get enough of his scent and instinctively wanted to rub it all over her.
His young mate snuggled close with a happy feminine sigh that made Liulf’s malehood twitch. He closed his eyes and reveled in the sensation of wholeness. The emptiness, that had always felt like a hunger needing to be fed, was gone, chased away by a little she-wolf who had become more important to him than anything, even his pack.
The first time he’d seen the territory that became New Scotia, he’d thought it was paradise, but after learning how it felt to have Rain Falling settle against him, her body going soft and accepting, he knew he’d been wrong. She was his paradise.
Rain lifted her head. She didn’t speak, but he knew something was on her mind.
“What is it, lass?”
“Kiss me, Liulf.”
As her mate, his first response would always be to give her what she needed without question, which was why he wasn’t thinking when he started to pull up with his stomach muscles. He winced and groaned when the still-sore muscles reminded him he was supposed to be recovering. That little bit of exertion and pain left him breathing hard. Rain kept her hand resting on his chest as if that would keep him from moving and doing further damage.
“Looks like if there’s to be kissin’, ye will have to be the one doin’ it. For now.” The two words he added at the end were pointed and full of promise.
Motivated by the feelings that rose from lying close to Liulf, Rain was feeling eager to explore more intimacy. After deciding the best approach might be sitting on her knees, she leaned over Liulf’s body, bracing herself with her hand on the other side of his broken arm and slowly lowered her face to his.
She touched her lips lightly to his and pulled back. He grinned, which simply electrified her. Having spent hours gazing at the perfection of his body, she was well aware that her mate was a catch in every sense, but when he smiled, he was transformed into such a vision of male beauty that even Connuchur couldn’t compare.
“Come now,” he said softly. “Ye’ve more to give me.”
His gaze shot to her tongue as she licked her bottom lip before pressing her mouth to Liulf’s again softly, stroking her tongue lightly against his bottom lip. Liulf sucked at her bottom lip, coaxing her to deepen the kiss. Their breathing quickened when tongues began to tangle and she had the urge to rock her body against him. She pulled back, knowing it would be too easy to get carried away and hurt him.
“Liulf,” she said his name almost reverently.
“I knew ye had somethin’ precious for me, Rain. Now I have somethin’ to dream about while this body is completin’ the mend. Then I’ll be showin’ ye how much I’ve been wantin’ ye.”
She kissed his chest. “You need to hurry and get well.”
He laughed, which caused him to reflexively reach toward his sore midsection with his good hand. The sensation of laughter was so foreign to him that he had to take a second to get used to the uncommon vibration of it. He couldn’t recall if he had ever laughed out loud since his mother had died and that was hundreds of years in the past.
“Ye made me laugh, Rain Falling.”
“Yes.”
“I ne’er laugh.” A touch of a smile lingered on his lips, as did the amused light in his eyes.
“Please don’t say that. It makes me want to tickle you.”
The idea of being tickled when he was trying to heal stomach wounds struck him as so funny he had to laugh more, even t
hough it hurt.
When he quieted, he pulled her closer with his good arm. “Ye’re cruel to me, Rain. When I’m strong again, I’ll be the one threatenin’ you with sweet torture.”
She clearly heard the sexual implication and felt a shiver of anticipation.
Every day Liulf rose and walked a little farther. The first few times he leaned on Rain for support, but gradually she felt his weight less and less. He asked endless questions about her life, her pack, her likes and dislikes, and seemed genuinely interested in anything she said or did.
At night when she eased in beside him, he held his breath so that he wouldn’t miss the sigh that always followed. It was music to his ears, evidence that his young mate was happy to be matched with him. As Liulf’s strength improved, their nightly kisses became gradually more insistent and curious as eager hands began wandering and learning each other’s bodies.
“I wish I had thought to ask Luna exactly when you would be ready for, um, mating.”
“I’m ready now, Rain, but I plan to couple with ye when I have both my arms to put ‘round ye. Ye deserve to be embraced proper so ye’ll know I’m strong and will protect ye in the way ye deserve.”
Rain gaped at Liulf for a couple of heartbeats and then burst out laughing.
He scowled. “’Tis rude to laugh without sharin’ the joke.”
“Liulf! If I close my eyes without reminding myself not to think about it, what I see is a grizzly bear as big as a lodge planning to feed me to her babies for supper. You saved me from that. In fact, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” She leaned over and ran a trail of kisses over the still red marks where the bear’s claws had cut deep into Liulf’s body. Watching her do so made him gasp and then hold his breath as his cock swelled to painfully ripe. She looked up. “I’m real clear on the fact that you’re strong and that you’ll protect me. If it was ever a question, it hasn’t been since that day.”
Rain watched Liulf’s face as he processed her words and knew the moment when he decided that mating traditions could be dispensed with if both parties agreed wholeheartedly. His eyes darkened and became hooded right before he said, “Take off yer clothes.”
She grinned and complied without further discussion.
Liulf swept his gaze over her slowly and felt himself get impossibly harder. He’d just implied that he was giving them permission to complete the mating, ceremony or not. She climbed onto the bed, eyes gleaming with intent.
“Now come over here and remove my kilt.”
His good hand ran over her naked body while she fumbled with his belt buckle. In the time she’d been nursing Liulf, she’d become familiar with kilt fastening and unfastening, but hadn’t been aroused when she was doing it. When he finally felt the cool air on his privates, it added to his excitement.
“Touch me.” A small line formed between his brows as he watched her straddle him. But rather than touching, she bent down and blew air along his cock from base to head, never taking her eyes away.
She took him in her fist, squeezed and stroked when he hissed, then moved her body upward so that his lips could latch on to one of her breasts. She moaned when he alternately sucked her nipple and ran his tongue around it, and the sound of pleasing her was the sweetest thing he’d ever heard. Pulling away, she lowered herself so that they were once again face to face, and centered her passion on the prospect of kissing him senseless. He growled his encouragement as he ran his good hand up the smooth skin of her thigh until he found her apex.
Between the sensation of her mate’s touch at her core and the beastly noises he was making, she tore away from the kiss and threw her head back in pleasure. As she rose, towering over him, he was sure he’d never seen anything so breathtaking. Not until she held his throbbing cock so that it stood straight up and began to ease herself down. As excited as she was, Rain never lost sight of the fact that she needed to give them both pleasure without hurting her mate. She rode him rhythmically, but not hard enough to put undue strain on the newly healed wounds.
“Tell me you love me, Liulf. I want to hear the words.”
“I love ye, Rain.”
The next morning when Rain woke, she would have stretched and purred like a contented cat, except for the fact that Liulf had left the bed. She sat up and looked around the cabin. “Liulf?”
“Out here.”
He was sitting on a bench just outside the door. “I need to go now.”
“Go?”
“Aye. I can no’ stay away longer.”
“You’re not ready. Luna said that, when you were well enough to walk home, you could go. She doesn’t want you riding in a wagon because she’s afraid it will be too much strain.”
“Aye. I plan to walk.”
“No.” She shook her head as if she actually had a say in the matter, which Liulf found both cute and charming. “You’re not ready.”
With a ghost of a smile, he said, “Come here,” holding out his left hand.
She went without question and allowed him to carefully seat her on his lap for the first time. He was so tall that being on his lap put them face to face. She reached up to play with his silky hair while his good left arm went around her waist and held her securely to him.
“I like this,” she smiled.
“Aye. As do I.” He nuzzled and nibbled her neck, which caused her thighs to clench together. “But do no’ be thinkin’ you will distract me from the subject at hand.” He pulled back to look in her eyes so that she would see his resolve. “’Tis time to go.”
“But why, Liulf? What’s the urgency? It’s good here.”
“’Tis good here, Rain. ‘Twill always be good when ye’re with me, where’re that be. But yer mate is alpha to a pack even larger than your mother’s. Ye have to know what that means.”
“But your brothers are looking after things for you.”
“Aye. And I trust them with my life, but my people will become restless if I’m away any longer. I need to go.”
“You haven’t walked further than to the stream and back.”
His hand drifted down to her hip and squeezed. “Are ye worried about leavin’ yer home?” He looked into her eyes to judge her reaction and thought he saw a flicker of worry. “Tell me the truth. I shall ne’er be angry with ye for sayin’ what’s in yer heart and mind.”
“I… don’t know. Maybe. But my biggest concern is you.”
“I do no’ doubt that. But do no’ worry about your place in New Scotia. The Highlander wolves will love ye as I do.”
“You can’t know that, Liulf.”
“I can and I do. But in any case. ‘Tis no’ as if ye are leavin’ forever. Ye can see your family and friends whene’er ye want.”
Reluctantly, Rain arranged for a bison and cart to carry the things she most wanted to take with her to New Scotia. Liulf told Silver Ruff that, when he was fully himself again, he would resume his weekly visits except that, instead of hoping to get a glimpse of Rain Falling, he’d be bringing her with him. The New Gaul alpha was pleased enough with that promise and with the match her daughter had made.
Silver Ruff insisted on sending a brace of her hunters with the couple, saying she’d heard there were bears in the woods. The journey, that normally took Liulf two hours in wolf form, took three days because he was slow and exhausted before he reached ten miles a day.
The second day it rained on them and soaked the sheepskin wool between Liulf’s right arm and the splint Luna had fashioned from hide and twine. Once the wool was wet, he complained incessantly.
Rain laughed at him. “You didn’t complain about a broken arm or having your stomach sliced open or any of the awful things that went with it like vomit and fever, but you gripe like a bluejay and whine like a baby about a little wet wool.”
He gave Rain a wry look. “As my mate, ‘tis yer job to give me sympathy.”
She stepped in front of him, stopping his forward progress, and circled her arms around his waist. Touching his lips lightly with hers, she sm
irked. “I’ll give you plenty of ‘sympathy’ as soon as we stop for the night.”
“Ye’ve decided yer no’ longer bashful?” He nodded toward the two wolves functioning as their escort.
“I plan to ask them to camp near enough, but give us some newlymated time.”
He arched a brow. “Oh look. Is that the sun settin’ now?”
She laughed and patted his finely shaped rear end.
It stopped raining, but since the bison had a harder time pulling wooden wheels over wet ground than dry, their progress was slowed further and they soon decided they might as well stop. She first hobbled the bison so that he could graze, but not go too far and not be hard to catch in the morning. Then she unharnessed him. She’d found a place to stop next to a waist-high rock. After feeding her mate elk jerky, corn meal flats, and a small round pinkish fruit that Liulf had never seen before, she removed the tarp that had protected her things from the rain and began unpacking the cart, setting her things on top of where she spread the tarp on the ground.
“What are ye doin’ now, Rain?”
“You’ll see.”
After a quarter hour, the cart was almost empty. She pulled it around and positioned the traces on the rock so that the cart was level and stable.
“Come see,” she said as she moved to the rear.
By that time it was dark. The clouds were gone, leaving a clear starry night with a waxing moon shedding enough light for Liulf to see that she’d left her prize possession in the bed of the cart – her feather mattress. She pulled the boots from her feet and lifted her hemp shift over her head, exposing skin that looked like the surface of a pearl in the incandescent moonlight.
“Here,” she said as she reached for Liulf’s kilt, “let me help you with this.”
They had found that the idea of Liulf wearing a shirt wasn’t practical with a broken arm, which was fine with Rain because she loved watching the rippling movement of his upper body. She had often lost her train of thought in conversation because she’d gotten caught up in following the movements of hills and valleys. She unfastened his belt and his kilt and laid both over the side of the cart. Then she turned and crawled into the wagon, giving him a very fine view of her from the rear.
Liulf: Alpha of the Mahdrah Ahlee, New Scotia Highlander Werewolves: A Paranormal Romance (The Brothers Cu Ahlee Book 1) Page 8