by Lily Thomas
Tor was already taken though, and no woman would be able to distract him from Ezi. His eyes slid back over to her. “Will you be joining us?” He asked as he prowled closer.
Her head snapped up, and she nodded. “Eron asked me to find a few plants for him to replenish his supplies, so yes.”
“Will you bring Flosa?” Tor waved a couple of fingers at the baby in her arms, and he could have sworn amusement filled Flosa’s little eyes. The baby was firmly pressed against her mother’s teat, her cheeks working hard as she fed eagerly.
“No.”
“We are leaving. Are you two coming or not?”
Tor glanced over at the group to see Ila facing them, her hands on her hips.
“Are you ready?” He glanced back at Ezi to see her shake her head. Turning back to the group not too far away, he said, “We will catch up to you. Go on without us.”
The small group left as they chatted and laughed. There was a calm and ease to the clan now that the mammoths had shown up. The gods hadn’t abandoned them, not yet at least.
“How much longer do you think we will be?”
Ezi pulled Flosa off the first breast and switched the child in her arms until Flosa was firmly suckling off her other nipple. “Until she is full, and then I’ll give her to Ake while I search for the plants, Eron asked me to look for.”
“She looks so like you,” Tor commented as he watched the pair of them.
“Does she?” Ezi cocked her head to the side as she studied the infant in her arms. “I think she has a lot from her father.” Her voice dropped lower, “Every time I look at her, I think of him.”
There was sorrow coating her voice, and it twisted his heart. He wasn’t sure he could replace what she’d lost, but he hoped to have the chance to repair any damage that’d been caused that night of the attack.
“I didn’t know her father, so I can’t say for certain, but she does look like you. There’s a spark in her eyes that tells me she will be just as strong as her mother.”
“Strong?” Ezi shook her head, denying his words.
Tor chuckled. “You have survived a lot more than most. You made it through a sabertooth attack. You lost everyone except Aiyre, and yet you stand here among us rather than sitting inside a hut ignoring the world around you. I call that strong.”
“I don’t know much about you.” Ezi changed the subject of their conversation, raising a hand to her heating cheeks. “Are your mother and father still alive?”
“They are not.” He wished his mother was still alive so he could turn to her for guidance. His mate was difficult to win over, and he was sure his mother would have had some sage advice for him.
“How long has it been?”
“Too many cycles to count.” He waved a hand in the air.
Ezi nodded. “I’m sorry. It’s never easy to lose someone so close.”
Tor shrugged. “I miss my parents, but Daerk’s mother has been there as a motherly figure. The loss would have been worse if she hadn’t been so accepting of me.”
They fell into silence, the only noise coming from Flosa as she continued to suckle and fill her belly with milk. Being near the both of them was comforting, and he found some of the stress in his shoulders sloughing off. He was still worried about joining the hunt with his limp, but this would be his chance to test out his leg and see if it really did affect his hunting.
Within a few minutes, Ake approached.
“Are you done with feeding Flosa?” Ake smiled down at the baby.
“Yes.” Ezi groaned as she popped Flosa off her breast and handed the baby over to Ake. Rotating her shoulders, Ezi pulled her shirt back into place. “I’m not sure if she is drinking my milk or eating me.” Ezi rubbed a breast through her shirt.
“A little of both.” Ake teased. “I will be here with Flosa.” She reassured the new mother before walking away until she was in the center of the makeshift camp.
“We should catch up to the other women before we lose them.” Tor ushered her away.
Ezi raised an eyebrow. “Can a sabertooth shifter ever lose a fresh scent?”
Tor smirked. “Depends how interested we are in the scent.”
She rolled her eyes, and without another word, she spun on a heel and followed after the group. Tor followed on her heels, eager to spend more time with her. He could feel her coming around to him. When she looked at him, there was less apprehensiveness and more light. A light skip entered his steps as they worked their way through the forest.
Chapter 18
Ezi bent over and picked a couple of small yellow flowers that waved in the slight wind. She wasn’t entirely certain what Eron used them for, but he had described them to her perfectly. There were five little round petals around a darker yellow center.
Using two of her fingers, she clipped the small stem lightly with her fingernails. She gathered the flowers gently in one hand as she walked around, bent at the waist, as she clipped more of the flowers.
Standing up straight, Ezi glanced around to find herself slightly removed from the main group. Her eyes scanned through the trees until she spotted him. Tor. He stood off to one side of the main group, talking to another man, who she had yet to learn the name of, or she just couldn’t remember. She’d have to remember to ask the man’s name at some point.
Soft voices from behind Ezi caught her attention, and she walked a couple of steps back behind a large tree trunk so she could overhear the conversation without interrupting it. If she learned what the women in the clan talked about, then she could blend in easier when she started conversations with them.
“Have you seen his face when he looks at her?” One woman lamented.
Ezi cocked her head to the side, wondering who was speaking and who they were talking about.
“I know she’s been through a lot, and our clan is responsible, but Tor is a good man.”
Ah. They were speaking about herself and Tor. A frown turned down the sides of her mouth. She wanted to step out from behind the tree and stop the conversation, but she also wanted to hear what they thought of her.
“How long can Tor last?” A third voice asked, and without looking, Ezi knew the woman was looking around at the rest of the group.
“He’s lasted this long without his mate.”
“He’s also been gone.” Another pointed out.
“I feel sorry for him. He must look at her and see everything he is missing in his life. A mate is life. She is the source of happiness for the rest of his life. She will provide him with children.”
Ezi glanced through the trees to where Tor still stood talking with the other man. Was he wishing for children of his own? And was she the one causing him to wait?
She licked her lips. Thinking back to the last time Tor held Flosa, Ezi searched her memory for any clues. He had stared down at Flosa with a glint of… something in his eyes. Even when the child wasn’t his, he’d been able to cradle her gently and amuse her with his wiggling fingers. It wouldn’t surprise her if he made a great father. He was tender, but she could also see him enforcing rules inside the hut.
Raising a hand, Ezi rubbed a couple of fingers over her left breast. It felt like there was something inside her breaking, like a thick ice sheet melting when the heat of the spring came to the land.
“Do you think she will ever accept him?”
“She hasn’t yet.”
Ezi smothered a snort that threatened to come out her nose. If they’d seen her and Tor last night, this conversation might never have happened. She hadn’t accepted Tor as anything other than a lover last night, but it may have stopped their tongues from wagging like the tail on a horse when flies were bothering it.
Rolling her eyes, Ezi opened her satchel, placed the small flowers inside, and cautiously walked away, making absolutely no sound. The women didn’t bother her at all. Nothing they thought mattered to her, and nothing they said would influence her, and she found no need in interrupting their harmless conversation.
If T
or was the right man for her, then she had no doubt the gods would show her. They always had a way of showing what needed to be shown. At least, that was what she’d been told as a child.
“Finding everything you need?” Tor approached her, his arms relaxed by his sides, a small smile playing across his lips as his eyes lazily wandered over her.
“I still need some mushrooms.”
The smile on his lips grew wider. “I think I spotted a couple of mushrooms over here.” He raised a hand and pointed a finger away from both of the groups.
“Thank you.” Ezi smiled shyly and brushed past him. His finger grazed along her shoulder, and even through the thick fabric of animal leather, she could feel the thrill pulse up into the base of her skull. All he had to do was touch her, and it would send her mind reeling.
Quickening her steps, she plowed ahead, determined to find those mushrooms so she could get back to Flosa and away from Tor. Her feet crunched over fallen leaves and dry twigs that littered the forest floor.
The scent of freshly trampled foliage called to her. It begged her to shift into her pronghorn form and prance through the forest. She could hear that Tor was following her, but he was a good distance behind her.
Stopping, she dropped her satchel, shrugged out of her shirt, and shook her pants off her legs, and then toed her moccasins off her feet.
“Ezi?”
Turning her head so she could glance over her shoulder, she caught sight of Tor, who had stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes wandered all over her naked backside, his eyes gone wide out of shock, until his eyelids dropped, hooding his eyes.
“Ezi.” He whispered, and when she glanced lower than his face, she noticed a sizeable bulge in his pants.
“Catch me, sabertooth.” Whirling around, Ezi shifted into her pronghorn form, and leaped through the air, landing on four hooved feet, which swiftly carried her through the forest. Wind whipped through the brown and white fur that covered her large frame.
A growl pierced the air around her, and a skitter of excitement flew through her heart. Tor was after her.
Her hooves frantically beat against the ground as she tried to hold her lead. Trees flew past her in a blur of brown and green with a spot of color every time she sped past flowers.
Soon, she could hear his heavy breathing and his large paws landing against the ground with a soft thump. He’d shifted into his sabertooth form and was after her.
For a quick second, Ezi doubted she could do this. He was hunting her down like sabertooths the night of the attack, but this time her mind knew there would only be pleasure at the end of this hunt… no death… no blood. Only pleasure.
Tor landed on her, and they went down, but at the last moment, he shifted his large cat weight and took the brunt of the fall. They skidded across the ground for a second, and then they stopped.
Ezi shifted into her human self and found herself dwarfed by the large animal under her. Her heart skittered in fear before she took control of it. Bracing herself, she glanced down to find Tor looking up at her in silence. His large golden cat eyes were zeroed in on her face.
Her eyes skimmed down his short snout to the large canines that sprouted from his upper jaw, past his lower one, and still went even lower before coming to a sharp point. Reaching out a shaky hand, she gently poked a pad of her finger against the tip. It could tear into her flesh, and the rest of his mouth would easily make short work of her bones like they were the thinnest twigs.
Tor didn’t move. All he did was breath, his chest carrying her up and down as she laid across his sabertooth body, and blink at her. He was giving her time. He was always giving her time.
Those women had been right. He was a good man. He wasn’t forcing her to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with, and when they did do something, he took his time, allowing her the chance to refuse him.
Ezi wouldn’t have ever expected a sabertooth shifter to be this kind.
It was unbelievable.
Yet, it was happening.
Next, Ezi turned her gaze to his massive front paws. There were sizeable claws on each toe and just as sharp as his teeth.
“The last time I was this close to a sabertooth, it was trying to kill me.”
Tor shifted under her until he was a man, and his arms wrapped around her as his hands ran up and down her back. The gentle touch of his hands soothed her. She pressed her bare chest against his, her face close to his, and her legs entwined with his hairier ones.
Bending her head down, she planted a kiss against his soft lips. His beard tickled her skin as the prickly hairs pressed against her soft skin. She smiled against his lips as the hair tickled her.
One of his hands worked its way into her hair, pushing her lips more fully against his as his tongue darted out, slipping along the line her lips formed. Slowly, she opened her lips ever so slightly, allowing him entrance. His tongue slipped past her lips and into her mouth, and her tongue darted forward to meet his. Together their tongues danced as each fought to get past the other.
Pulling away with a loud smack, Ezi smiled down at him. Placing her hands against his chest, she heaved herself up. “Tor.”
“Yes?” He rolled them over until they were both on their sides facing each other.
Ezi wanted to tell him how she felt. There was an ache inside her to join with him and to be his mate, but she still wasn’t able to say it out loud. She wasn’t ready.
Instead of answering him, Ezi reached between their hot bodies and grabbed a hold of his hard cock. Sunlight danced over his face as the leaves high above them shifted with the light wind.
A groan left his mouth as his eyelids sank closed.
Using her hand, she pumped up and down his cock, enjoying the feel of it in her hand. The weight of it. With just a few simple moves, she had him groaning like it was the best thing he’d ever enjoyed. She was the one in power right now, and she loved it. Loved the feel of him in her hand.
She ran a thumb over the tip of his cock, spreading the bead of cum around the head. Glancing down between them, she watched his cock pop in and out of her hand.
“I need you,” Tor growled before flipping on top of her. He leaned back on his heels, his gaze raking over her naked form in the bright light of the day. “Spread your thighs and show me what I wish to see.” A wicked smile curved his lips.
Biting the inside of her cheek, Ezi did as he bid. Spreading her thighs, she held her breath as she waited for his approval. This would be the first time he would see her spread out in front of him without the cover of night.
With a growl of appreciation, Tor ducked down between her thighs. His hot hands spread her thighs even wider, and the cooler air of the day brushed up against her lower region. It felt good. It felt exciting.
His hands skimmed down her thighs until they reach the apex of her thighs. Using only his thumbs, he spread her inner lips wide to his view. Ezi glanced down her belly to see him gazing at her with lust curling through his blue eyes like a wispy cloud.
Then his mouth landed on her. Hot and heavy.
The tip of his tongue slid up between her folds until it reached the nub at the top of her lips. His lips closed around her nub as he sucked the sensitive flesh into his mouth, lightly scraping his teeth against her.
Sensation flowed through her like a hot wanting that she was unable to name. Her mouth popped open, and her eyelids sank down.
“Gods.” She panted under him.
A moan ripped up her throat, and her hands clawed desperately at the long grass beside her. A few of the weaker strands came up as she writhed in pleasure on the ground. The soft grass nuzzled her buttocks while Tor sent shivers of delight racing all the way to her toes.
Tor didn’t give her any time to think about what they were doing or who could wander across them. He sucked and licked at her like he was desperate for all that he could get. A growl rumbled out of his chest and vibrated against her nub, sending a thrill of delicious sensations rolling through her. His thumbs kept h
er lips spread and out of the way.
The pressure built and then crashed down on her like the weight of a mammoth. Pleasure ripped through her body as she bucked and twisted below him. His tongue never slowed, sending her over the cliff. Moving his hands to her waist, he held her down as she threatened to buck his mouth off in her enthusiasm.
With a snarl against her flesh, he flipped her over onto her hands and knees.
“Tor!” She gasped in surprise. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him sitting back on his heels, his eyes scanning over her buttocks.
A grin spread over her face right before she wiggled her butt in his face.
Tor groaned. “You are beautiful.” He shook his head like he was at a loss for words. “I wish you could see yourself from my eyes.”
Ezi wished she could too. Then maybe she’d understand what he was feeling and maybe it would help her feel safe with him, not that he made her feel fearful.
“I need to be in you.” He groaned as he stood up on his knees and wrapped his hands around her waist. He drew her towards him.
Her heart sped up as she uttered, “I want to feel you inside me.” The pleasure he brought her was like nothing she’d ever felt before.
Tor’s cock rubbed up against her slick lips, the head sliding between them. It didn’t enter her but just slid against her wetness, the tip rubbing against her nub. Thrills raced through her.
His hands tightened around her waist as his cock slowly entered her, spreading her wide. She loved the sensation of him filling her. There were no words to describe it. He pressed deeper and deeper, and a low moan escaped her mouth. He didn’t stop until his entire shaft was penetrating her, his balls touching her flesh.
“Mate.”
Instead of answering him, Ezi rocked back, enticing him.
Tor withdrew his cock to the head and then slammed back into her. His balls bounced against her wet flesh causing the pleasure to spike through her more intensely. With each thrust, Ezi cried out. Her entrance clamped down around him, the last time she’d climaxed still on her mind.