Chapter 9 #3
“I’m a healer. Danger always begs the presence of a healer.
I didn’t choose the horse, he chose me. Rather insistently, I might add.
He’s fast, beautiful, and spirited, but only dangerous to an inexperienced rider.
I’m delighted to realize that I’m a greatly experienced rider.
As for the clothes, I hardly think skirts would have sufficed.
They slow me down. I’d rather not be slow while near a fire, thank you. ”
“By the Lord and Lady,” he swore softly, giving her a sharp shake that drew her to his chest. He despised her logic and matter-of-fact tone, especially when she made it so hard to argue against her.
“Have a care, Mystique! I don’t want you near this fire and out on the roads when a horde of Jakals is running wild!
You don’t have the power you need to protect yourself if—”
He broke off to crush his mouth against hers. He felt her determination and stubbornness and that she wouldn’t let him sway her no matter how hard he tried. She’d just as soon force him to physically restrain her, something he would have no right to do. Besides, it would hurt her deeply if he did.
He smelled and tasted of smoke, but she opened herself to his assault, taking his attack the way she did everything from him.
With acceptance. Always such acceptance.
And he knew if was only for him that she would ever exhibit such patience even when she didn’t agree with his opinions or behaviors.
His heart squeezed into a knot. It was this acceptance that was teaching him to be more tolerant himself.
He loved to preach about how open-minded he was, railing against those who turned away from the Sánge, yet he barely tolerated the independent ways of a single woman.
He gentled his kiss, and she accepted that as well.
Reule broke off, holding her face in his huge palms and rubbing her wet lips against his.
“The wind changes too fast, kébé, for you to set up a permanent place. Find your injured and take them away from here. Keep moving and keep telepaths with you. Two guards, at all times. Put them to work if you like, but keep them near. They’ll be responsible for your life and safety, and I will kill them if you’re harmed in any way.
Are you willing to take that responsibility?
Do you understand this is a truth and not an idle threat? ” he demanded.
“Yes, my Sánge lord, I understand quite well. I’ve brought two guards and five other attendants to assist me, as you see.
” She lifted a hand in the direction of her escort.
“I’m not eager to die, Reule, but I won’t wait around while others risk their lives for what is now my home.
Not when I can be useful to them. You would never be able to do that, and neither can I. ”
“I fear losing you,” he said, suddenly fierce against her lips again. “Do you understand that? I fear nothing so much as I fear losing you!”
Mystique took his kiss, blinking as tears welled above her lashes.
She felt his words throughout her soul, and they sang delight deep into her bones.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with the boomerang intensity of the emotion he’d created within her.
His hands wrapped around her ribs, thumbs brushing beneath her breasts and fingertips grasping her back.
He crushed the breath from her in his intensity.
“Now,” he said gruffly, his voice hoarse from emotion and need, “get to a safe distance and follow my orders. If I see one thing …”
“You’ll send me to bed without dessert. Yes, I know.” She sighed in a put-upon manner, but she was smiling.
“Oh no, kébé,” he corrected her, those thumbs sneaking up over the undersides of her breasts to rub over her accessible nipples through the very thin material of her shirt. They hardened rapidly beneath his skilled taunt. “I won’t be denying you your sweets tonight.”
The implication was clear, and Mystique shivered as she looked up into the hot promise of his eyes.
She nearly protested when he removed his touch and hoisted her back onto her saddle.
He shot her a final warning look before reeling Fit around and leaping off in his original direction.
She watched him go for a minute. He was so beautiful, hair streaming behind him and muscled legs clutching muscled horseflesh as though they were part of each other.
She felt the imprint of his hands on her body.
One day she was going to have to let him know exactly how frustrating that could be.
But first they had to take care of the Jakals’ latest deadly mischief.
Shielding her eyes, she looked toward the fire and the wall of black and brown smoke.
She prayed there wouldn’t be too many homes lost and that the conflagration could be stopped quickly.
Grabbing her reins, she turned and headed back to the group waiting on the road, determined to be what help she could.
“What do you think?”
“I think this is Chayne’s area of expertise,” Darcio said with a sigh as he rose from studying the ground. “Where’s Delano? He’s far better equipped to track the bastards.”
“He’s fetching Saber from the city. Now that the fire is out, the Jakals will want to find a nice cozy camp to enjoy their glut of emotion.
” Reule spat onto the ground, then looked up at the bright moon.
“I won’t wait until morning for this. I know we’re all tired, but I won’t let them get away.
We lost three innocent people tonight. Not to mention a hundred acres of farmland that won’t be able to grow anything until the char has been gone at least a year. ”
“Think this is retaliation for our killing the Jakals in the damplands?” Rye asked.
“I don’t really care. If the Jakals are wanting an outright war, they’d best be prepared. We have shelter, food, supplies, and electricity. The winter can be very long in the wilderness if I start kicking them off my lands. Ungrateful animals.”
“Reule, before Delano and Saber get here, I want to ask you something,” Rye said suddenly.
“Mmm?”
“It’s not like you to be the last to sense trouble. What the hell was that at dinner tonight?”
Reule looked up at him, understanding instantly that Rye knew perfectly well why he’d been slow to identify trouble.
“Well, Blade, I could be wrong,” he mused scornfully, “but I’d guess it was because I was preoccupied by the idea of making love to the redhead to my left.
Since you damn well already know that, stop playing games and get to your point. ”
“It’s just that you’ve been really distracted over this, My Prime,” Rye said, bowing his head in respectful apology. “The entire Pack feels it. It’s been a little—”
“Rye!” Darcio cut him off sharply.
Rye’s amputated point suddenly became clear and Reule couldn’t help the fit of laughter that came up unexpectedly. It made lungs and a throat rough with smoke rebel into coughs. It took him a while to recover, and when he did he saw Darcio and Rye looking at him in bemusement.
“Let me get this clear,” he chuckled, coughing again.
“Are you trying to tell me I need to get laid? That the Pack is inconveniently homy and restless because for once I’m not obsessed with the workings of Jeth, and you don’t know what the hell to do with yourselves?
I gather if I take Mystique to bed all of your problems would be solved? ”
Reule snickered when Rye winced at the painful accuracy of his observations.
“That about sums it up,” Darcio said with a self-deprecating grin. “But it’s just a suggestion, mind you.”
“Darcio, you’re an ass,” Rye grumbled. “Just because I said aloud what we were all complaining about doesn’t mean I’m the designated idiot.”
Reule looked from one man to the other, aware of approaching hoofbeats in the distance.
“Doesn’t it bother any of you that Mystique is an outlander?
That she’s a fertile woman? What if I bed her and she conceives?
I would be honor-bound to make her my Prima.
You would have an outlander for a queen. ”
“Does it matter if it bothers us, Reule?” Darcio countered.
“We know you care for Jeth and the Pack above all else, but there are some choices a man makes solely for himself. Prime or no,” he insisted when he saw Reule building a response, “there are things that make being king worthwhile, and one of those things is the power to choose whomever you wish for your queen. Don’t worry about us.
“I saw you born, Reule. In all the time since, I’ve never seen you take to a woman the way you’ve taken to Mystique. That says something to me. To us all. We’re all aware of how extraordinary she is.”
“We know so little about her,” Reule said absently as he tried to absorb Darcio’s surprising words.
“We know she has a good heart, more guts than most men, and the grace and beauty needed to guide and represent your realm,” Rye interjected.
“She’s also a powerful ’pathic, which means introducing fresh power into Sánge royal bloodlines.
And,” Rye paused a beat to grin, “I think she’s sweet on you. ”
Darcio burst into laughter as the approaching riders finally drew to a dusty halt. Three of them dismounted, another ten remaining on horseback. The smell of smoke and soot was heavy on the newcomers and Reule turned to greet them.
He looked straight into diamond eyes that glittered in the moonlight.
“What the…?”
Before he could work up the appropriate protest, Mystique stepped up against him and slid her arms around his waist. She tilted her head back and smiled at him as she infused his tired, soiled body with her pleasant warmth.