Scent of Salvation (Chronicles of Eorthe #1) (30 page)

Chaska released her hair then grabbed her shoulders so they could face each other. A huge smile was plastered to her face. “You came close to shifting!” She hugged Kele to her bosom.

Bones creaked in the embrace, but Kele leaned into it. She blinked at her mother. “I almost did.” She touched her face but it didn’t feel any different.

“You need to set your feral side free, Kele.” Her mother pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Kele’s heart raced. She wanted to sing and dance. She wanted to fight some more. She wanted to race to Peder’s room and tell him what happened.

“What is going on in here?” Her father stuck his head inside the school room, his eyebrows furrowed as he glanced from wife to daughter. “Do I need to call for the healer again?”

Benic followed Inali into the school room where he found Kele and Chaska twisted on the floor. A lump the size of an apple stood on Chaska’s head and Kele’s dress had been torn. “We’re late. Such a pity.” He sighed and met the she-beast’s furious glare.

His gaze traveled to the small glimpse of white flesh peeking through the tear of Kele’s dress. He ached to puncture her tender, young flesh with his teeth.

Chaska grasped the cloth and pulled it together. “Some of the pins from your sewing kit are in my back. Once you pull them free, we will fix this tear.” She assisted her daughter to her feet. “We’re well, Inali. Go feed the vampire. He looks hungry.”

Benic licked his fangs. One day…

The alpha smacked him on the shoulder. “Let’s leave the females to their sewing. I have business to discuss with you.”

“Over a bottle of wine, I hope.”

Inali gave him a wolfish grin. “Of course.”

They strolled through the courtyard of the den. The sun beat down upon their heads from the opening in the mountaintop. Beads of sweat trickled along Benic’s neck. The wine better be from the cooling well.

A leather ball bounced past them followed by a group of dirty, male pups. He shook his head. Shifters bred so easily.

Vampires grew up lonely. He’d never heard of, let alone seen, a group of vampire children playing. The idea was novel yet impossible. So far…

“What’s on your mind, Inali?” He followed the alpha into a shaded area with a set of chairs. The wine waited for them on the table. The alpha was nothing if not generous. Benic sighed as he sat then filled both their cups.

“My daughter.”

Benic slopped a little wine onto the table and grimaced.

“I’m worried about her future.” The alpha sipped his cup, leaning back in the chair.

A group of hunters, in feral form, stalked by on their way out of the den. Ahote wasn’t among them. Benic knew what occupied the hunter’s time—a pretty omega male, who the vampire would like nothing more than to serve to Chaska at dinner time. The whelp couldn’t stop eyeing Kele. The only thing keeping Benic from revealing this little secret was his need for Susan’s return, and Peder was the key.

Benic finished his wine. “That seems like a natural thing for a father to do.” And why did he need to speak with Benic about it?

“I’m not blind. She’s a beautiful female, and you’ve been showing my daughter some interest.”

Benic’s slow pulse paused. He stared at the alpha. They’d already started this discussion. Apparently, Inali needed to finish it.

“Do you wish to marry her? That is what vampires do, marry?”

Benic poured the rest of the wine in his cup, filling it to the brim. “I think this conversation is going to require more.” He swung the empty bottle between his fingers. His tolerance would require the whole cellar to get through the rest of this day.

Inali frowned. “I doubt that.”

Sighing, Benic sipped as he stared at the leaves above his head. “You know I can’t do that, Inali. The council would never approve a vampire-shifter marriage.”

“It would give us too much power.”

“They would kill her.” He faced Inali. “The less attention she draws to herself the better. You know this. Why are we really having this meeting?”

“The alpha of the Urutu pack has made an offer to mate her.”

It took all of Benic’s training to keep from groaning. “That’s nice. She can spend her life with a poor pack on the fringe of the tribe. May as well betroth her to Sorin of the Apisi.”

“It’s not as terrible as that. I can offer the finances the Urutu need to provide Kele with a comfortable life. The alpha is simple but kind. He would worship my daughter.”

“It seems like such a waste.” Benic drained his cup again then toyed with it. “I can only offer a position of consort in my court, Inali. But she’d have influence and my protection.”

“Until she grew old and you lost interest in her, but I did want to hear your counter offer before deciding.” He set his cup on the table and rose.

An empty pit grew where Benic’s heart had stopped. He leaned forward. “You should let her decide.”

“No, I fear she’d choose you out of desperation. She doesn’t know your people as well as I do though.” Inali left.

Wonderful. Benic took Inali’s still-full cup. First the Susan problem, then Peder, now this. How would he get what he wanted?

Chapter Thirty-Two

The rabbits Sorin caught were young. They had enough meat to make a meal for him and Susan.

He and Susan had made camp outside the Temple, their trip over the mountain uneventful. The pot over the fire and the blankets Susan carried were their only gear, the sky their roof and the ground their bed.

She lay on her back, staring at the bright stars through the forest canopy. “That the constellations are the same gives me a small measure of comfort. Technically I’m still home.”

Dropping their dinner by the fire, he stayed in feral form. Easier to protect her this way.

She turned her head toward him and her eyes went wide. She pointed to her mouth. “You have some blood on your—muzzle.”

The firelight tossed red highlights in her hair as she lay on her side, her dress clinging to her hips. He couldn’t wait to slip it off again. He licked his chops. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Her voice grew faint.

“Can you skin the rabbits while I clean up in the stream?” He tossed some wood on the fire. It wouldn’t take long to roast them. He would find some branches to make spits after washing.

“Okay.” She dangled the dagger he handed her between two fingers and stared at their meal as if they were children.

“Susan?”

“Don’t ask me to skin Thumper.” She blinked repeatedly, tears sparkling on her lashes.

Tilting his ears forward, he removed the dagger from her weak grasp. Why was she so upset? “I’ll do it. That’s fine.”

She wiped her eyes. “We don’t normally hunt for our food. We raise animals on farms, and I buy my meat already processed.” Fiddling with the hem of her dress, she kept her gaze averted.

“Where’s the fun in that?” He rubbed his face against her hair.

“It’s going to be hard getting used to living so differently.” She sniffed and held up a large lump in her hand. “I did find six potatoes where you told me to dig.”

He lifted her chin. “See, you’re learning already.” They would have their interesting issues but it could all work out. Now he knew not to ask her to skin animals. He chuckled and took the rabbits from her sight.

“I’ve never eaten rabbit before,” she called out.

Yes, she had. She just hadn’t known rabbit was in the stew she’d eaten a few nights ago. “You’ll love them. I wish I had more spices.” He made quick work of the pair and laid the pelts out to dry. They’d make nice moccasins for a pup.

He shifted to civil form and returned to the fire. “Place the potatoes close to the embers.” He spitted the Thumpers, as Susan called them, with sticks, then set them over the flames.

Color returned to her cheeks, and she set a smile on her face. “I want you to know how much I appreciate your patience.”

The kilt he found in the cave fit his waist and he settled on the blankets, then pulled her into his arms. “I wish I’d seen your world so I can understand what you need.” With a stick, he pushed a young potato closer to the heat.

She glared at him.

“Don’t give me that look. It will take longer to cook if the potatoes are too far from the heat.”

Laughing, she hugged him close. “I doubt you’d have liked my world. There’s very little wilderness where I lived, and the smells probably would have killed you.”

“A little stink wouldn’t defeat me.” Sorin snorted.

Susan couldn’t picture him being happy surrounded by exhaust from cars and the general pollution of the planet. If anything, he’d be miserable in a city. Not that they ever had to worry about such a scenario. DOUG was gone. No machine, no portal.

Or at least there shouldn’t be, but something was forcing those weak gates to flicker open. Maybe a residual effect from the blast? Maybe she’d torn an opening through the dimensional wall?

The warmth from her shifter and the light show from the flames made her eyelids grow heavy. “I doubt anything could defeat you.” She cringed a little inside. Did she really just say that? How besotted of her.

“There’s so much I don’t know about you.” He stroked her hair.

She’d purr if she could. “Hmm? Ask away.”

Twiddling with the ends of a strand, he remained quiet. The pregnant silence grew until he sighed. “How do humans mate?”

Her lethargy vanished. “Would you like another demonstration? I thought we covered the basics last night.”

He laughed, a clear and loud sound. “Not sex. I mean, how do they bond, make a lasting relationship? An exclusive one.”

“Oh.” She joined him in laughing. “They get married. They proclaim their love for each other in front of witnesses. A ceremony of sorts.” Reluctant to leave his arms, she sat up straighter and withdrew so she could gaze into his face. “Do shifters do something similar?”

“No. Once the couple decides to be exclusive their scents mix as they share the same bed on a regular basis.” He stroked her cheek. “It’s quite obvious to everyone else that it’s a mating.”

Susan swallowed. “So when we return—the pack will know we’re sleeping together.” Then Lailanie could gut her.
Yay.

“Yes.” His brow wrinkled. “We’ll deal with my pack when the time comes. No one will stops us from being together.”

His pack.

She kept the smile plastered on her face. No matter how much he loved her, she’d always be an outsider. The human. He’d fight her battles, protect and shield her from Eorthe, and she’d die inside a little each time.

His expression softened. “I hurt your feelings again.”

“No.” She shook her head and busied her hands by turning hot potatoes.

“I can smell your lie.” He nuzzled her cheek. “Susan, talk to me.”

She tossed her stick in the fire, and embers floated into the night sky. “That’s not fair. You can smell everything I feel, and I-I’m incompetent.”

“Not everything. Not the important things like love.” His whispered words sent a flood of warmth through her.

She blinked at him through the flickers of firelight.

“You saved lives where I was powerless. That’s not useless. I think you’re too hard on yourself.” He leaned toward her. “I want to mark you. I’ll kill any male who even presumes to sniff around you.”

“You’ve given me one.” She held up her hand where he’d placed his scent.

“That was only temporary and has been washed off.” He scooted closer, their noses almost bumping. “I want them to see how much you mean to me.” He caressed the skin along her neck. “I want to bite you right about here, where everyone can see.”

A lump formed in Susan’s throat. Things had become serious fast. Sorin was the kind of male who went after what he wanted. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. Hell, she didn’t want to deny him. “This makes things more permanent between us?”

“Yes.”

“What happens when you get bored of me and start sniffing at other females?”

He laughed right in her face. “You’d serve my balls for dinner and the pack would relish them. I can’t ever see myself becoming bored.” Sorin’s grin faded. “I would never hurt you purposely. I don’t make half-hearted decisions but…” He undid the bow tying her dress closed. “I can mark you somewhere less obvious—a place only you and I will know about until you’re ready to be more public, my love.”

My love?

She launched her body at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and planted a kiss on his mouth. Her momentum tumbled him back. Could he really be falling in love with her?

The impact made him gasp but he didn’t hesitate in pulling her closer.

Taking her time, she stroked his face, tracing the scars on his cheek, and deepened the kiss. How could she have doubts after all they’d been through? Breaking away, she straddled him and yanked her dress over her head. “I just can’t keep my clothes on when you’re around.”

“That’s a problem I hope we never solve.” He ran his hands from her hips, up over her breasts, and back down again. “You’re so beautiful.”