Falcon’s Captive (22 page)

“Is he going to live?”

“Do you care?”

“He killed my mate,” she whispered. “When I saw the feather on his chest, I knew.”

“You nearly killed him.”

“There was no decision behind what I did,” she continued in that same barely audible voice. “The part of me that lives to kill took over.” She pressed a hand to her forehead, then wrapped her arms around her middle.

“You didn’t deliberately—”

“I knew only rage.”

Because he’d witnessed Tau’s mauling, he understood how deep her fury had been, yet that stood at odds with the dark confusion now in her eyes.

“Unless infection takes hold of him, Tau will live,” he told her. “But he’ll be changed.”

“The scars—”

“Not just that. His visions turned out to be nothing. Everything he said about how the spirits wanted us to use falcons to force the Outsiders to leave Ekew—maybe there never were any visions. Maybe he only said what he believed we wanted to hear.”

“I don’t know.”

“Things will change for my people,” he muttered. “So many things.”

“Where will you live?”

T
he wind at the top of Raptor’s Craig had been so strong she’d had to fight it, but down here she barely noted it. But then she had other things to concern herself with.

Most important was hearing Nakos’s answer.

Waiting for him to break the silence, she acknowledged the courage it had taken for him to stay behind. After all, if she’d seen her shaman all but destroyed by a raging predator, she probably would have fled, herself.

“Don’t you know?” she asked when she concluded that Nakos wasn’t going to answer her question about where he and the rest of the Ekewoko would go.

He glanced down at his hands. “We can’t return to Ekew.”

“Because the Outsiders—”

“Even if we set up our tents on some remote part of Ekew, they’ll destroy them.”

Burn them, he meant. Burn them with innocent men, women, and maybe children inside. “Then you’ll go somewhere else? Find new land—maybe settle where you and the other warriors left the rest of your people?”

“Near the sea?” He shook his head. “There isn’t enough open land. Trees and steep hillsides grow up to the shore. Besides, what do you care?”

“I do,” she said, but so low she wasn’t sure he’d heard.

She’d flown down here to try and explain the powerful emotions that had led to her attack on Tau, but now that didn’t seem to matter. In truth, she couldn’t think of anything to say. Maybe the only thing she could do was turn back into a Falcon and leave.

“I envy you,” he said. “What’s it like to have no cares beyond filling your belly?”

Her belly needed not food but his hand on it. Just thinking about his fingers on them made her breasts ache. And if he slid his hands between her legs in that knowing way of his—“You’re right. You should envy me and the rest of the Falcons. I’ll never know…”

“You’ll never know what?”

She’d nearly blurted that as a Falcon she’d be spared the kind of pain he’d endured and the decision he’d made when his grandparents’ house had been set on fire, but neither of them needed to hear those words.

“Nothing. Nakos, I became a woman today so you might understand why I attacked Tau.”

“Because you’re a killer. It’s in your nature, your blood.”

No!

“Is that why you ended your grandparents’ lives?” she shot at him. “Because, as a warrior, that ability was in your blood?”

His face went pale, and his fingers knotted. At the same time, his head snapped back as if she’d struck him.

“I’m sorry.” Barely aware of what she was doing, she stepped toward him. “I didn’t mean—by the spirits, I’m sorry.”

His arm snaked out. Grabbing her wrist, he yanked her against him. “Don’t.”

“I said I was sorry.” Her breasts, flattened against his body, heated. “I shouldn’t have, Nakos, I’d never—”

Before she could finish, he’d pushed her away but continued to hold on to her wrist. An odd quieting along with a familiar excitement slid into her. Was it possible she’d missed his rough handling?

“I wanted to talk to you again,” he said. “That’s why I stayed behind. Now I wish I hadn’t—no, that isn’t right. I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t try to see you one more time.”

One more time.
“I felt the same way. Nakos, I won’t ask you to forgive me for attacking your shaman because you’re right, it’s part of my nature.”

“An extremely complex nature.”

“Not to me, it isn’t,” she said as something hot flowed from him to envelope her. Earlier today she’d been filled with a savage fury that blocked out every other sensation. Now much the same thing was happening—only instead of fury, need claimed her.

His hold on her wrist let up a little. “I’ve always thought of myself as a warrior. Knowing I was a valuable Ekewoko helped me forgive myself for what I did all those years ago. But I’ll never come close to what you are: a creature designed to kill.”

“I’m more than that.” She wanted to continue, yet she didn’t. Words built upon words could never say everything or change his mind. Weary of trying, she lowered her gaze and stared at her hand in his.

“Can you break free of what the spirits dictate?” he asked.

“As a woman, no.”

“But if you became a Falcon—”

“I don’t want to. Not now.”

He tugged on her arm, and she stepped toward him again. Her heart rate kicked up. When they were so close that his features blurred, she placed her free hand on his shoulder. “Let me go.”

He did after a moment, his arms dropping to his sides but his gaze not leaving her. The wind riffled across her back. Resting the hand he’d been holding on his other shoulder, she leaned into him. Her breasts again caressed his flesh, and her already hard nipples throbbed.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asked, his body tense and unmoving.

“I’m asking you to see me as a woman.”

“A woman.”

The simple words vibrated through her as he cupped her buttocks and pulled her against him. Sliding her arms up so they circled his neck, she rubbed his collarbone with the side of her face. He’d become precious to her, part of the air she breathed, the reason her pussy flowed.

Now it was his turn to slide his hands over her, working slowly from her ass cheeks to the small of her back, then up her spine as she whimpered and nibbled on his collarbone. Arching her spine, she tried to read his expression, but they were too close, and she couldn’t begin to think how to put distance between them.

“Naked,” he breathed. “You came to me naked.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because this is who I am.” Blushing, she ducked her head. As she did, her chin struck his chest, causing her to bite her tongue. Eyes burning, she breathed deeply until the pain receded.

But even if she couldn’t get her body to work as it should, she knew it belonged against his. Granted, the contact might not last, but she’d take everything she could into her.

Because of him, she was looking at her world and life in ways she never would have otherwise. She owed him her gratitude.

And her body.

A burning sensation along the back of her calves prompted her settle onto her heels. As she did, she ran her tongue over his chest, leaving damp warmth behind.

“You’re seducing me,” he muttered.

“Am I?”

“You know you are.”

“Because I’m a woman?”

“Is that what this is about?” Cupping her upper arms, he pushed her back a little. “You want me to never forget that part of your nature?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t. I can’t.” He reinforced his words by thrusting himself at her so his cock ground into her belly.

Reaching between them, she fumbled with the tie to his loincloth. Freeing it, she leaned away long enough to tug the garment down around his knees. Then, surrendering, she once more closed in on him. He held her hard against him for a long time while her head swam and hot pinpricks of sensation chased over her. His cock again prodded her belly.

“Wait,” he muttered just as she rose onto her toes. “Let me…”

Hating every moment of the separation, she nonetheless stepped back so he could kick out of his loincloth. He stumbled a little, causing her to chuckle. So she wasn’t the only awkward one.

Before she knew what he had in mind, he’d wrapped an arm around her back and turned her slightly to the side so her left shoulder kissed his chest. Masculine fingers circled a breast repeatedly while she reached for his cock, touching only to draw back. When he left off her breast and began a slow, hot journey down her ribs and from there to her waist, strength flowed out of her, leaving her gasping. Her gasps turned to pants the moment his fingers slipped into her pubic hair.

“You want this, Falcon woman?”

“You know…”

“Yes, I do.”

Sunlight melted the snow that sometimes covered the ground all winter at Falcon Land. She was like snow, slipping away and becoming nothing. At the same time, she fed off the warmth that was Nakos. Determined to share what she was experiencing with him, she ran her hand under his cock and closed her fingers over it. Her fingertips were numb; her wrist ached. She couldn’t think what else to do.

He turned her some more so his larger arm fit into the space he’d created between them. Even before he ran his hand between her legs, she’d widened her stance, welcoming him in. Yes, he’d touched her here before, tested her readiness, taken her moisture, and slipped his fingers into her, but it was all new. All overwhelming!

She jumped, shivered, knees threatening to buckle. In her attempt to keep her feet under her, she released his cock and gripped his shoulders with both hands. Still he kept after her, dipping into the secret welcoming place.

“Ah!” she groaned. “Ah.”

“You’re so wet. Drenched and hot.”

A woman. I am a woman.

As much as she loved revealing what made her heart beat, the predator blood running through her demanded to be in control so she again went in search of his cock. She cupped and cradled it, their arms rubbing together as they claimed each other’s sex.

“You’re killing me, Jola.”

“No. I’d never—”

“Not that way. But I want you so damn bad.”

Holding him with one hand, clinging to his shoulder with the other, she stood on her toes. She was swimming, churning, being thrown about and wanting to take him on the same journey. Something clawed its way up her throat to press against her clenched teeth. She barely heard her thin cry.

“By all that’s holy!” Nakos exclaimed. “If you’re going to—”

Not change. No, not that!

Tears flowed. Thinking to wipe them away, she pressed her face into his chest. She blinked, blinked again.

What was that? His hand no longer between her legs but sliding along the back of her thigh, lifting and bending her knee at the same time. She now stood on one leg. He drew her toward him, close, closer yet. A sudden spark of clarity and she understood what he had in mind. His cock slid along her mons, glided over hot flesh. By thrusting her pelvis at him, she offered her pussy to him. His tip kissed her opening.

Then he was in her, going deep and strong, stretching and filling her. Her cheeks became flushed. She couldn’t breathe.

Ah yes, Nakos driving himself ever deeper inside her body. Pulling back again only to plow her once more. She hung on to him, trusting him to keep her erect, one leg dangling uselessly, the other hard and strained.

In he ran, deep and full, sliding out a little only to ram anew while she hissed and cried. His cock caressed everywhere, laid claim to each inch of her, blew both her mind and body apart.

“Yes, yes! By the spirits, Nakos, yes!”

Sweat still clung to Nakos, but with the sun soon setting, before long he’d get chilled. Looking down at Jola’s naked body from under heavy eyelids, he wondered if she was equally vulnerable. She might need his arms around her to keep her warm. Of course, she could always change form.

“I’m not going to stay.” He had to work at getting the words past his throat. “My companions—they’ll worry if I don’t catch up to them.”

“Is there any chance they’d return ready for battle?”

Now that both of her feet were planted on the ground and she and Nakos no longer clung to each other as if they were starving, she seemed smaller, frail even, when he knew she was anything but. His fingers ached with the need to stroke her hair so he tucked his hands under his armpits. Maybe he should have first put his loincloth back on.

“They’d be armed,” he told her. “But how can they prepare for an enemy they’ve never encountered?”

“Falcons aren’t the enemy, Nakos. We never were.”

He wanted to believe her, needed to. But trust could be dangerous. Besides, what did it matter?

Looking up at him, she ran her hands over her hips and then her thighs. “Sex happened so fast. I didn’t know we’d—”

“Didn’t you? Where is your dress?”

“I didn’t think to bring it with me.”

How a Falcon could carry any garments was beyond his comprehension. Maybe, if he had a lifetime in which to learn what it meant to be one, he’d understand, but he didn’t have that.

“Thank you for this last memory,” he made himself say. “I’ll never forget what happened between us.”

Moisture glistened in her large, expressive eyes. “I don’t want you to leave. You and your people have nowhere to go, nothing to return to.”

“After everything I did to you, you don’t hate me?”

“Because of you, I’m alive again. The past is that, the past.”

“You’ve forgiven Tau?”

“I don’t—maybe. Forces I don’t understand rule him. Who am I to judge them?”

Her words, coupled with the tears she didn’t try to hide, put an end to his vow not to touch her again. Still, as he ran his fingers into her hair, he cursed his weakness. Leaving her was going to be even harder.

“Do you also forgive me for what I did to my grandparents?” he asked.

She covered his hand with hers. “Of course. What matters is that you do.”

They’d said so many things since she’d joined him a little while ago, and yet it didn’t seem nearly enough. But maybe it didn’t matter because he belonged with his people and she with hers.

A wind gust blew her hair over her face. When he brushed it back, her tears dampened his fingers. Touching them to his lips, he tasted her. He’d never forget her.

“Do it,” she whispered. “Leave, if you must.”

“Jola—”

“Now. Before I try to stop you.”

For an instant, he felt nothing, did nothing. Then a deep chill spread through him. His limbs were numb, his chest so tight he could barely breathe. Acting without thought, he stepped back, his fingers combing her hair one final time as he did. Then he leaned down, snatched his loincloth, and stepped into it. He looked at her without truly seeing her as he gathered up his weapons. His world no longer had any depth. He couldn’t speak.

But as he started to turn his back on her, movement above caught his attention. Motionless, he watched as two small birds circled above him and Jola, floating closer with every circuit. The pair landed soundlessly. Piercing gazes cut into him. Then, as one, they shook off their Falcon bodies, and two unabashedly naked men stood before him. Their features were similar although one appeared to be much older than the other.