Daahn Rising (16 page)

Forcing himself not to retreat was difficult, but Evan managed it. He stood his ground, staring up at Daahn, weighing how strong he wanted the elder to think he was. With Zondra in his arms, he suddenly felt like he was using her as a shield. “Mac, you may want to take Zondra.”

The Grea Elder’s frills wavered and then straightened.

Mac leaned toward Evan. “You’re insulting him by saying he’d attack you with his
gran-vvaash
in your arms.”

That kicked Evan’s anger into high gear. “On the contrary, if he intends to fight me, I plan on having both hands free to give it my best shot. Having Zondra out of the line of fire goes without saying.”

“Ballsy, boy,” Mac breathed, but he didn’t take Zondra.

Evan glared at him. “Aleeks, would you please —”

Daahn’s frills folded against his skin, and his ridge plates retracted. He put his hands out for Zondra.

Evan took a step back, shooting a questioning look at Mac.

“Do it. There are... It is a Xxanian custom to honor a woman by bathing.” He hesitated and looked up at Daahn. “All of us will enter the pool with Zondra and bathe her with clove oil.”

His gut reaction was to tell them to shove it. Instead he forced his answer from between clenched teeth. “Zondra expects this?”

Aleeks answered that time. “Only from relatives. If we had another sister with a mate, her mate wouldn’t be allowed to touch Zondra.”

“And doing this doesn’t” — Evan stared up at Daahn. It was clear the elder understood English, even if he didn’t speak it — “obligate us to anything?”

The Xxanian’s eye slits narrowed, but the elder didn’t respond.

“What are you saying, Evan?” Mac inquired. “Be specific.”

“If Daahn thinks this gives him some hold over us or rights to tell me how to live my life, he can screw that. Zondra is my mate, and I’ll dig a fucking cave to shelter us before I —”

It took a moment for Evan to identify the seal-bark sound as laughter. Daahn’s hand thumped down on his shoulder, sending shards of agony Evan tried not to show down his arm.

The wide mouth full of serrated hunting teeth opened, and Daahn spoke slowly... and in muddled English. “I greet the brother warrior. Welcome to the nest.”

“Again... thank you.” Hopefully this time it wouldn’t offend Daahn.

Time for a show of trust.
Evan offered Zondra to him.

The elder took her solemnly and tucked Zondra beneath his chin. A series of trills and coos left his lips, odd sounds for so fierce a creature to make.

“The soothing sound the Xxan make for their young,” Aleeks imparted. “
Gran-seir
has held every child of his line like that and welcomed them to the nest.”

Evan made a mental note to have Zondra teach him that to use with their children. For that matter, he needed to learn Xxan. The constant translations — or lack of them — was likely to drive him insane.

The cooing turned to a hummed note, and the other men joined the chorus. Evan tried to match the pitch, and Mac offered a nod of encouragement.

It was a slow procession down to the pool. At the edge, everyone except Daahn started removing the
S’suumea
. Evan hesitated, then stripped his pants away and dropped them to the rock edge.

Daahn settled Zondra in Evan’s arms and motioned them down the slope and into the pool. The other men followed. When the water reached halfway up his thighs, Aleeks told him to stop and kneel. The water covered his lowest ribs, and Zondra’s dark hair floated along on the surface.

Ripples slapped his back, a sure sign that Daahn had entered the water. Evan didn’t look his way, unsure of Xxanian mores on nudity and propriety.

Zondra’s
gran-seir
went to his knees near her feet. The scent of clove was nearly eye watering in its intensity. Daahn passed a small bottle to Mac, then lifted one of Zondra’s feet and massaged the clove oil into it.

Mac took a handful and passed the bottle along to Aleeks. Mac worked the oil into her lower leg through the silk. Aleeks started at her hand and his
seir
at her shoulder.

Aleeks spoke without looking up. “When her legs are done, lower Zondra into the water. Cradle her head to your chest, so we can —”

He stopped short at Daahn’s roar. Evan skittered to the side, running aground on Zondra’s
seir
.

The older man steadied him. “Don’t move,” he ordered.

Daahn roared again, and Evan stared at him, swallowing a lump of fear. The ridge plates and frills were out and the latter shaking in warning. The hisses escaping his mouth left no question that he was furious and intent on harming someone.

“Tell him,” Zondra’s
seir
urged him.

“Tell him what? I don’t speak Xxan, remember?”
Shit. Please tell me he doesn’t want me dead.
It wasn’t dying that scared him; it never had. But what his death would do to Zondra was enough to curdle his stomach.

“You killed the one who scarred Zondra? If you did, tell him now,” he ordered.

“Yes, I killed him. I pummeled him into a puddle on the floor... literally. He was dead within minutes of me reaching him.”

Daahn’s roaring became a growling... then subsided. His frills came down slowly, but his ridge plates remained extended.

Evan loosened his hold on Zondra, trying to force his ragged breathing smoother.

The elder’s attention to Zondra’s injured foot was even more out of place than the cooing sound had been. He brushed his mouth over it, nuzzled the liquid stitches, then made a sound that Evan might have called a sob if he wanted to chance Daahn killing him. In the next moment, he was spreading clove oil over that foot gently, not massaging as he had the other.

The sounds he made were stilted. The ones Mac made in response had a soothing note to them. Daahn jerked his head up and stared at Evan for a moment. His nod was slow and precise.

“Is something wrong?” Evan asked, his pulse jumping.

Mac smiled. “Just a sign of respect.”

He preempted Evan’s move to ask more questions by telling him it was time to shift Zondra. Evan complied, and the men moved into a tight ring around her, shuffling to place Daahn at her back. He tensed at the move. Mac warned him down, and Evan nodded in response. He didn’t know the meaning of Daahn’s placement, but he suspected he was about to learn it.

“Remove the
S’suuhhea
,” Mac instructed. “The female always removes her clothing in the water, where the other males cannot see her.”

Evan peeled the silk up. It clung to her body and came away in a slide that was far too sensual for his piece of mind, considering the other men surrounding her. When the garment was in Evan’s hand, Aleeks took it and tossed it out of the pool.

Daahn made a rumbling little sound, and Evan stared at him over Zondra’s shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop. The elder didn’t speak again. He raised one taloned hand, palm up. His son poured the clove oil in it. Aleeks raised her hair and held it away from her shoulders and back.

At the first stroke of Daahn’s hand against the back of her neck, Mac started talking. “Daahn will bathe Zondra’s back. After that, he will hold her for you while you bathe her chest and... intimately. While you do that, Aleeks and I will leave the pool. Andy will stay to translate.”

Andy. Her seir.
Evan hadn’t known his name. “I understand.”

“Typically we would all leave, but with Zondra unconscious, this is going to go a little differently than usual.”

“In what way?” Based on Mac’s tone, he could guess it was something he wouldn’t like.

“Andy will leave the water before you and have a drying cloth ready for Zondra outside the pool.”

His jaw tightened down, and Evan forced it loose. “Okay. So he’s going to help me get Zondra dried and dressed since she can’t do it for herself.”

“Sort of. He’ll hold her while you dress in the
S’suumea
, then —”

“I’m not dressing in it.”

Daahn stopped moving and raised his head to glare at Evan.

He didn’t back down. Mac had told him not to. “I realize this is your nest, but I am not one of your descendants. Maybe someday, I might wear it... for holidays or ceremonies. But I am human, and I will dress as I always have.”

There was a moment of silence. Daahn offered a single grunt and went back to work bathing Zondra.

“What did he say?”

Mac smiled. “You don’t really want to know that.”

“I’m not wearing it,” Evan repeated.

“He doesn’t expect you to.”

“I take it that grunt was some sort of insult then?” The hair on the back of his neck bristled in response.

Daahn’s nostrils flared, and Evan wondered if he was gauging his enemy’s state of mind by the move. The Xxan were very scent oriented, he knew.

“You could say that.”

“Good enough. I’m sure I’ll offer a few of my own before we’re done.”

Daahn snapped a look at Evan, snorted, and collected more clove oil.

Something in that move made Evan want to laugh, but he restrained himself. “So Andy will hold her while I put my dungaree pants back on. What then?”

“Daahn will hold her while you dry and dress her. Tonight he insists that you both sleep in the center nest.”

“Insists?” His anger took notice at that.

“Cool down. The center nest is calming and healing for an injured Xxanian. He wishes Zondra to wake to the calming effects. I highly suggest you don’t refuse this order.”

Evan forced his muscles to ease. “If it will help Zondra, I will do whatever she needs.” He focused on Daahn’s oversized head. “You don’t have to make orders for that. Just explain it to me.”

The elder raised his head again, met Evan’s gaze, and offered a tip of his head in seeming agreement.

Daahn let out a series of hisses and trills, and Mac and Aleeks rose and left the water without a backward glance. When they were gone, Evan eased her back into her
gran-seir
’s arms. The other two men didn’t look down at her. That was something of a relief.

Andy passed the clove oil into Evan’s hands, and Evan set to work bathing her.

Halfway down her chest, Daahn started speaking in Xxan again.

Andy’s translation was slow and measured. “This bath is ceremonial. It will only be repeated if Zondra is ill or injured... or after she gives birth.”

Zondra would be awake for those baths. It wouldn’t be as awkward or as intimate. “I understand.”

Daahn continued, and Evan listened to the cadence. It wasn’t short and gruff. Nor was it the cooing tone he’d used for Zondra. Already Evan could pick out the tone a Dominant used with another Dominant. It was a tone of respect.

“You will bathe Zondra with the clove oil once daily for two months. It doesn’t have to be here in the center nest. It can be in your rooms.”

“Is there a reason for this? Will it help Zondra?”

He nodded. “The spice is very important in a Xxanian mating. You don’t need Daahn’s permission to use the spice, but when he orders you to use it to bathe Zondra, you should.”

It grated on his nerves, but Evan grumbled his agreement.

The bathing grated on his nerves as well. Touching her intimately in the presence of other men wasn’t something he wanted to do. Worse, he was hard and wanting, with no way to sate himself. His breathing ragged, Evan tried to focus on finishing the torturous bathing.

Andy started talking, what was clearly a communication from him and not from Daahn. “I know. It’s arousing. We won’t think you’re some sort of deviant.”

Finding the words to answer that was nearly impossible. He stared at her
seir
for a long moment, then nodded.

“Finished?” Andy prompted.

“Yes.”
Not nearly, and I won’t be until Zondra is awake and comfortable enough to be receptive.
After what had happened, who knew how long that would take.

Andy rose and strode out of the pool. Fortunately, he wasn’t erect. That would have snapped Evan’s patience. He did likewise, and Daahn steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. Evan wanted to protest that he didn’t need the help, but this was for Zondra’s safety, he was sure. He let it slide.

Her
seir
had a brightly colored sheet in his arms, and Evan settled Zondra into it and wrapped it around her. That accomplished, he snagged his pants from the floor and pulled them on.

That move short-circuited halfway up his legs, at the moment Daahn reached out and placed his hand over Zondra’s womb. A series of sounds left his lips, his mouth opened, and his forked tongue extended for what Zondra called a tongue-scent.

Evan shot a look demanding answers at Andy. He wasn’t going to attack Daahn, but he sure as hell wanted to know what the elder was doing.

The explanation came immediately. “My
seir
is evaluating your child. An elder always knows what the child will be early in gestation and plans accordingly.”

“It’s a boy. We already know that.” Keeping the edge out of his voice was impossible, it seemed.

Daahn offered a crooning sound and turned his gaze on Evan.

“A young Dominant.” It sounded as if Andy was offering correction. “Daahn is most pleased with the addition to the nest.”

“And if he wasn’t?” Evan challenged.

Andy smiled widely, showing his hunting teeth. “Any young are rejoiced. But a young Dominant confirms that you are a strong enough warrior to be an asset to the nest. Of course, in the future, if you bring female young to the nest, you will be most prized.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Evan offered dryly. He finished donning and fastening his pants, watching as Andy passed Zondra into Daahn’s hands and took his leave.

No translator.
Either Daahn had nothing left to say to him, or they felt whatever he did say would be impossible to mistake.

Evan retrieved the clean
S’suuhhea
from the thronelike chair set before a water wall. Daahn didn’t presume to uncover Zondra for him. He let Evan handle dressing her and even lowered her for Evan’s comfort.

Once she was dressed, Daahn motioned with his head, and Evan lifted her out of the wet sheet. The elder started to turn away.