Mating Rights (6 page)

“Ouch,” she said.

“Sorry. It is bad. You
can do more with it when we get to the festival. I can braid it by sections and
keep it from getting tangled again. They won’t be pretty, but we’re limited
with supplies now. None of these other girls know what it’s like to have curly
hair like ours,” Kimber said.

“No, I wouldn’t imagine
they would,” Mali agreed. Her mother had always taken care of this chore for
her before. She felt a sudden, heart wrenching need to see her mother and
father again. Tears stung her eyes. Even knowing that she’d stopped running and
fighting if only to draw attention away from her parents—it didn’t help with
the knowledge that they were too far away to offer her any help if she needed
it.

“Are you okay?” Kimber
asked.

Mali wanted to return
home, not carry on with this masquerade. But she had to pretend nothing was
wrong. She gave a watery laugh. “I’m fine. Just a little homesick. I’ve never
been away from home before.”

“Me either. They had to
pry me out the door,” Kimber said. “I’m terrified at the thought of letting a
man bed me let alone the things that happen at festival. Don’t tell the others.
I feel like we have a connection. Can I…trust you?” she whispered.

Mali was good at
keeping secrets. She looked over her shoulder at Kimber. “Of course. I won’t
say a word. I feel much the same about choosing a mate.”

***

Jaxon, Torolf, and
Ranger returned to camp. With a glance, Jaxon could see there was no security
in the arrangement of tents. His guts twisted with the realization that if the
ursine were close by and so inclined, they could ravage through the camp and
kill everyone. The women couldn’t be counted upon to mount a defense. Adolpho
was old and out of shape. Torolf and Ranger had never even seen one of the bear
clan.

A sense of urgency
swept through Jaxon. He wanted to tell everyone to pack up their belongings and
leave right then, but that would create a panic. He wasn’t even sure they had
anything to worry about.
It was nearly dark, as
well, and the horses would have difficulty navigating the hillside leading up
to the festival in the night.
Much as he hated
it, their best bet was to keep watch through the night, taking shifts, and hope
like hell that the rogue ursine didn’t come their way.

“Check the area
discreetly. We’ll take watch in shifts tonight. Don’t let the others know.
We’ll move fast tomorrow,” Jaxon said.

“Aye,” Torolf and
Ranger agreed.

Jaxon walked to Adolpho
to give him the news. The old man took it in stride. Behind the big man,
Jaxon’s gaze caught on Mali.
She’d changed out
of her dirty clothes and braided her hair into thick braids.

Had he even looked at
her before—as anything more than a scraggly female? He remembered feeling her
soft warm body beneath him and her heavily fringed eyes wildly looking for some
way to escape. His suspicions about her had not been waylaid, even by her
change in attitude. Knowing women, he suspected she was merely biding her time
until she had an opportunity to return home.

But now, with that
white blouse and the skirt that hugged her curvy hips, he felt stricken by a
feeling he hadn’t experienced in years. Heat. Need.
Was
he addled? She was too young, too sheltered and inexperienced to consider for
anything but dumping off on another, misinformed clan member.
The faster he could have her out of his safekeeping,
the better.

Without realizing it,
he stared long and hard at her as the thoughts piled up in his head. She looked
up, as if sensing his eyes greedily taking in every inch of her and the dirty
things he imagined doing to her willing flesh. She smiled, almost shyly, and
looked down at her bare feet.

Damn
women and their
wiles
. He sucked in a harsh breath.

She tucked her thick
bottom lip under her teeth. The corners of her mouth begged a nibble.

Blood throbbed low and
dull in his belly.

“Jaxon?” Adolpho said,
ripping him out of a daze.

Jaxon grunted. “What?”

“Stop looking at the
girl like you want to eat her, boyo,” Adolpho said.

“I feel like I haven’t
eaten in years,” Jaxon muttered.

Adolpho chuckled and
pushed a bowl of soup in his hands. “Eat this and get your mind on more
important matters. Like keeping us all alive.”

“Aye,” he said before
walking off to drink his soup. Soft potato chunks slipped down his throat. He
studiously ignored the dark temptress until he noticed her approach from the
corner of his eye. She had a natural sway in her walk that the skirt
agonizingly accentuated. Jaxon snapped his mouth shut so he didn’t look the
fool. “Where you going?” he asked her.

Mali stopped and looked
at him. “To wash my bowl of course.”

“Let one of the men
take that,” he said. He didn’t need anyone making themselves a target by
wandering off alone right now.

She laughed a throaty
chuckle. “I’ve never known a man willing to wash dishes when there’s women
around. I can do it myself. I don’t mind.”

“I’ll come with you.
Let me grab the other bowls in that basket. We’ll make one trip.” He tipped his
bowl up and finished his soup.

“Are you afraid I’ll
try to escape? Is that why you’re coming with me?”

Jaxon stepped around
the issue. No sense in scaring the girl without reason. “You’re not a prisoner,
Mali, just an unmated female of breeding age. Your parents should have told you
clan law before now.”

“They did. Papa’s very
protective,” she said, casting her eyes down at the ground as she walked beside
him.

He couldn’t help but
notice the way she walked, gingerly picking her path to protect her bare soles.
Her small brown toes looked ripe for nibbling. She stumbled and grabbed his
arm.

“Ow. Sorry. I caught a
stone in my heel. I’m not normally tender-footed,” she said, letting go of his
bicep, which felt branded by the heat of her hand.

“We should have looked
for your shoes. Let you get your things before leaving. I dunna what I was
thinking.”

“I didn’t know you had
an accent,” she said.

He swore she…purred.
“I’ve lost most of it over the years. Livin’ here in the area, town life can
change you given enough time.”

She sighed. “I suppose
it’s just as well we didn’t collect my things. Mama and Papa probably would
have been waiting on you at the house and fed you to the pigs…if we’d gone
back.”

Jaxon choked on a
laugh. “Good to know I escaped an early demise.”

She nodded. “I thought
so. It would’ve been a shame to see you brought down in your prime.”

“I’m far from my prime,
gel. You don’t get a face like this and a limp from being a young man.”

Much as he tried to
hide the limp, it had bothered him since he’d gotten the scars across his face.
The two were entwined, sealing his fate as an undesirable mate. Not that he’d
been interested in finding a new woman after losing Jen to the Ursine.

He cleared his throat,
uncomfortable with the discussion being focused on him. “So you’re ready to do
your duty and commit to finding a mate now?” he said, setting the basket by the
riverbank.

“No,” she said,
squatting by the river to wash bowls.

The simplicity of the scene
caused a twinge in his gut, a longing for something more for himself. He
scowled inwardly. Such was not his lot in life. Soldier, guardian, loner—that
was more in line with his future and the end of his days. To want happiness was
as unknown to him as a rainy day without an ache in his back and knee. Old men
only got peace when they died.

“I didn’t think you
would. It’s natural. You’ll get the hang of it with enough practice. Young gel
like you should have plenty ah offers,” Jaxon said.

“Wonderful,” she said
in a sarcastic tone he didn’t miss. “I’ve never even been kissed, and yet I am
supposed to find someone to…” She looked up at him with those big doe eyes that
made his groin squirm in uncomfortable ways. “You should show me how to kiss.
It is the least you could do.”

Jaxon choked on his own
saliva. He coughed for several minutes before giving her an incredulous look.
“Why should I be the one to break you in?”

She shrugged, but
something in her eyes made him believe she wasn’t so nonchalant about the
matter. “Why not? You dragged me into this.”

“It’s our duty—”

She dropped the last
clean bowl into the basket and stood to her full height before facing him. “I’m
not a child, if that’s what bothers you.”

He scowled and looked
around the woods. The sky darkened. The back of his neck prickled as the wind
rustled the trees and leaves fluttered on the damp loam. They should be getting
back, not playing games.

“Just a quick peck to
alleviate my fears?” she said, closing the distance between them. She put her hands
on his chest. He wondered if she could feel the sudden quickening of his pulse.

His nostrils detected
the subtle sweet scent of pheromones rising from her skin. Mali was going into heat
and she didn’t even know it. That would explain her sudden interest in him. He
had a cock and he was available. Damned if he wanted to be the one to bring her
into it. He grabbed her wrists, intending to thrust her away and head back to
camp. She tipped her face up, cracking her eyes to heavy lidded slits. Her warm
brown skin looked heavenly, but her full parted lips glistened with the nectar
of her mouth as if she’d just licked them.

Damn him straight to
hell…he wanted to see what she tasted like even if it killed him.

Jaxon bent his head and
closed the distance to her mouth, knowing full well committing himself to a
kiss was lunatic folly.
He could hear her breath
catch in her throat. He could feel the pulse in her wrists flutter beneath his
fingertips as he held her tight. As his lips touched hers, her eyes flew open,
startled that he’d given in.

“Wait—”

Jaxon cut off her
protestation, swallowing her words as he kissed her and stole her breath.
She tried to jerk her hands free, but he wouldn’t
release her. Her fright or resistance—whatever it was—heightened his sudden
excitement. How long had it been since a woman had teased him with her body?
Since a woman had asked for his kiss?
She didn’t
know what she wanted, the little fool.

He nibbled her mouth, dragging
his teeth across her bottom lip. She shivered, and he dragged her hands down to
his sides, pulling her flush against his chest. Her small breasts poked him,
drawing attention to her tightening nipples.
She
gasped into his mouth, struggling to pull her hands free.

He released her as
suddenly as he’d grabbed her, breathing heavily as he broke free.

Mali brought her hand
up as if she’d slap his face and just as fast dropped her hand. “You’re a
beast!” she snapped.

She looked well kissed,
but not as thoroughly as he would have liked.

“Don’t tempt a wolf
when he’s hungry, gel,” he ground out, barely recognizing his hoarse voice.

“I should slap you. But
I asked for it.”

“That you did,” he
said, nodding and watching her warily.

She spit on the ground
and wiped her mouth off with the sleeve of her forearm.

He couldn’t help the
guffaw at her expense. She looked outraged, which only amused him more. “Don’t
you go running off by yerself now.”

“I’ll do as I please. I
know how to take care of myself,” Mali said. Grabbing her skirt, she whirled
around and ran up the trail back to camp.

He snatched up the
basket and ran behind her, grimacing at the pain in his knee as he was forced
to keep pace with her.
Damn the wet weather, and damn little women getting
their first taste of real men.

If Mali had harbored
any illusions that she could charm her way to freedom with her body, Jaxon had
effectively diffused that idea. That kiss was nothing like what she’d seen her
mother and father share between them. She felt flustered just thinking about
him sawing his mouth across hers. The feel of his teeth, the taste of his
mouth, and that hot, wet tongue penetrating inside her…

Her insides squirmed,
and her sex tightened uncomfortably.
She could
only imagine what it must be like between a man and a woman. The farm animals
had always seemed so unhappy about being bred too…

Mali glared at Jaxon
across the fire. The dolt didn’t have the good grace to die from daggers
shooting from her eyes.
Instead, he gave her a
look that made her temperature soar despite the cold breeze tearing through her
braids and down the back of her shirt. She shuddered and hugged her arms around
her knees.
The good spots close to the fire had
been secured by Angelica and her brood. Kimber sat next to her, sharing a small
blanket across their laps, but that left their backs exposed to the cold. The
long sleeved shirt did little to keep the cold from skating up and down her
spine.