Splintered Dreams
by: Cat Skyfire and Yuuki Miyaka
Chapter Three
He didn't want to push her away, however. She felt good against him, with him. He'd had lovemates, but it wasn't quite the same. This was no dalliance. As little as he'd known this stranger from a strange tribe, he sensed she did few things lightly.
Ebony moved slightly in her sleep, and her face changed slowly. Her brow furrowed, and Stormseer saw tears slip from beneath her dark lashes to land on the furs below her cheek.
He shifted a little. He wished he could go back to sleep. But as soon as he shut his eyes, the images crept onto the lids, until he opened them again. He glanced at the maiden beside him, and saw tears. Gently, he moved his hand to brush the tears away, and wondered what tormented her.
She flinched away from the touch even in her sleep, though her body pressed a little more closely to his own.
The flinch, though involuntary, stabbed through him. Why? Why did it matter?
She drew in a long breath, and something made her smile slightly. Curling up against him, she settled back down.
He smiled gently. ***Aiyla....*** It was a soft send, not meant to disturb, but just to...comfort.
At the first touch of his mind on hers, she shot up, staring straight ahead in confusion.He was startled by her reaction. "Ebony?"She sat beside him, barely breathing, her face drawn and her eyes full of horror. Slowly she turned to look at him, without seeing him.
He gently tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but held back, just a moment. "Ebony?"
"I need to be alone." The words, when spoken, were harsh and cold. Something within her died a bit at hurting him so, but she couldn't face it. She just couldn't deal with it.
"Tell me what's wrong," he insisted.
"Your name should be Meddler," she said bitterly. But she stayed where she was. Silent and thoughtful, she stared at anything but him.
"Maybe," he acknowledged. "But I won't back down... I'm here to listen."
"How could they do that to us?"
"How could who do what?"
"Our tribes. How could they just . . . get rid of us so easily?"
"...I can't speak for your tribe, only mine. I was no loss to them... One has to be useful to be missed." His voice carried a tone of honesty, rather than bitterness.
"I was their memorykeeper. I was their storyteller. I was one of the best huntresses they had. And they just . . . abandoned me." Her head fell against her knees, staying there as she tried to figure out what to do with all the pain, all the betrayal, she felt.
He gently stroked her hair, comforting. "...You had the rage of two parents who lost home and cub in an instant. Your Chief... I don't know him, but I would imagine he was more worried about his tribe's safety... You were an adult...able to fend for yourself if need be, and... assumably, able to join the tribe later if you could... Were others lost...?"
Finally looking up, she touched Stormseer's arm. "I don't know."
"...Perhaps you wish to try to find them... To find out if you are truly blamed, or if it was just the anger of a moment, which would quickly fall away?"
"I'm glad you were the one to find me." She smiled crookedly. "I need you to keep me from becoming the next Two-Spear." She mentioned nothing of his idea, pretending that she had not heard it.
He smiled. "I'm glad I can be of use to you..."
"I love you." She said the words impulsively, then touched his lips with a finger. "Just don't answer. It'll be better that way."
Again she'd spoken of love. Again his mind reeled. He just nodded dumbly, heeding her wish for silence.
::Ryel?::
**Aiyla.***
She crooked another smile at him. "Are you looking forward to going back to your tribe?
"...How would I go back? I haven't done anything."
"But you will. I know it." Her smile grew sad. "I'll miss you when you do."
"Miss me? You could come with me."
"No. Obviously I am not made to be part of a tribe." Her laughter was mocking.
"...How many tribes have you been a part of?"
"Hold me?"
He let the question drop, and shifted to pull her against him, enfolding her within protective arms.She buried her face in the crook of his neck, her breath tickling him slightly. But it was the hot tears that truly caught his attention.
***I will stay with you as long as you need me, Aiyla.***
"Eventually you'll leave, same as everyone else."
"In sending, there is only truth... Tell me, why do you cry?" His voice was tender, but probing.
::Because I know I must lose you someday.::
"Why must you lose me?"
"I lose everyone."
"Who have you lost?"
Her simple words held within them a world of longing. "My parents. My tribe. My students. My friends."
He tightened his grip upon her, without even realizing he was doing it. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"Still, it hurts you, yet, and I'm sorry I cannot ease your pain."
Her lips met his in a kiss of gratitude. It did not stay so innocent for long.He felt himself smiling. This Ebony was a creature of extremes.Finally pulling away, she said over heavy breaths, "What do you do to me?"
This time his smile was an impish grin. "Whatever do you mean?"
"You make me forget my pain. I don't know how, but you do."
"Perhaps it's my roguish good looks. Maybe it's my eloquence. Maybe it's that you're desperate and I'm the only one around. Or maybe." His voice turned serious. "It's that you found someone willing to listen to you."
She touched his cheek with extreme gentleness. "I'm not desperate. Never that."
"Well, that's one of us!" She could hear the wryness in his forced laughter.
"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to leave?" She tried to keep her tone light, but somehow she was hurt by his words.
"Leave? Leave what? This cave?"
"No. Everything. Just go to another tribe altogether and forget ours?"
"...Other tribes?" He looked blank for a moment. "...You know...I had been so...amazed to find another elf who would speak to me, other than Screech, that I hadn't even consider that you were from another tribe... I mean, I knew my tribe had split from the Huntress Skyfire's...but...could there be still more tribes?" He seemed amazed.
"I'm certain there are. If your tribe split from Skyfire's, then there's at least one more tribe out there, a tribe of Two-Spear's. And there's my old one, not that I remember anything from it."
He considered. "I've stayed because I didn't know where else to go... I figured it would be well enough to eventually die near the tribe that had raised me...than to die utterly alone."
"You will never die alone." She shook her head, meaning the words. If she could help it, he would be surrounded by those he loved when he died. If he died.
"And what makes you so sure, young one?" He stroked his chin fur, thinking of the friends that had died before him.
"I know." she said.
"...I wish I could have your faith," he said, speaking the words slowly. For a moment, his eyes dimmed, as he continued remembering lost ones.
She stood, going over to the mouth of the cave and looking out. There was only one thin skin draped over her body, and it had a tendency to settle beautifully in the curves of her form. "I think part of you does, Ryel."
His eyes drifted over the beautiful form outlined at the cave mouth. Now his eyes glittered brightly. It wasn't the dead he was thinking about, but the living. Silently, he cursed himself. Had he been alone so long that the mere presence of a female turned him into a wolf in mating season? Or was it that his soul name drifting over her lips was like a balm to burnt flesh? He rose slowly, almost stalking her.
As prey unaware of the hunter, she rolled her head around her shoulders, hearing it crack twice. Reaching out with a graceful hand, she caught some of the moss growing on a tree over the cave's entrance. "Do you know the legend behind this?" she asked him softly, still unaware that he was stalking her.
He barely heard her words. Coming up behind her, he bent his head to her neck, nuzzling, nipping, hungry. His arms slid around her, holding her to him.
She leaned back against him, the moss slipping from her fingers. "I love you." The words slipped out, and Ebony was too distracted to ask for anything.
The words drifted through his consciousness as he was tracing her ear with his lips. "Tell me," he whispered. "What does that mean to you?"
"What?" she asked. Her brain was fogged with desire.
"What does love mean to you?" His hands drifted, searching her body in agonizing slowness.
"Everything," she breathed.
"What is...everything...?" He was having trouble focusing.
"Love."
She turned in his arms, facing him, her mouth nuzzling his chest, his shoulder, his neck.The answer left him a little empty, as if he hadn't quite figured it out. But the warm body against him overwhelmed his senses. He opened his mind to her, sharing the pleasure she gave him.
She gasped at the contact, then drank it in greedily. It was a few moments before she thought to do the same for him. But once her mind was open, he could see everything, exactly how much she cared for him, how much she HAD to in order to give him her soulname.He gasped. The revealing of emotions satisfied a part of what his soul hungered for so much. He pulled her against him. For a moment, the sexual urges were diminished, all he could do was feel the emotions. ***Aiyla***
::Ryel. You are everything.:: The confession left her stunned. She had not intended to tell him how she felt, preferring instead that he not feel as though he had to acknowledge her in the slightest.
***Aiyla. You are mine.*** It was not what he thought he would send, but a fierce protective possessiveness swept through him.
She pulled back, suddenly doused with the cold water of knowledge. ::I am no one's. Not now. Not ever.:: Her mindvoice told him she was angry, that he couldn't have chosen a worse thing to say.
He didn't think, he only acted. He caught her wrist in a gentle, but firm grip, and shook his head once. ***Aiyla.*** His thoughts swam with emotions he couldn't name. The desire to hurt anyone who hurt her, even himself. The desire to protect her from anything and everything. The pain of making her angry.
She twisted her wrist from his grasp, fighting the pain of leaving his body. "I am not yours to command, Stormseer." Her voice was ragged and rough, and she pulled the skin a little tighter around her shoulders.
The urge to drop to his knees and expose his throat ran strong through his veins. As it always had before. Something was different, though. He stepped a hair's breadth closer. His voice was a low growl. "No. Be my equal."
Her brow furrowed as she stared at him uncomprehendingly. "Your equal?"
He held out his hand. "Stand with me. Be mine. Let me be yours. Together."
"Why?" She wanted to believe that he wanted such a relationship. But she had to wrong. No one had ever wanted to be her equal. They had all wanted to rule her. Cutter, Skywise, Crossbow, Strongbow, Longbranch. No one.
"I am not strong enough to command you. I am too strong to show throat. I need you with me...my equal."
She looked up at him, her eyes wide, then glanced down to the ground in thought. "You . . . need me?"
"I can't explain..." Words were too little, he realized, and began sending. Years of loneliness crashed in on her from his mind. How long had it been? How many eights had he been adrift from his tribe, with none but a half-wit to see? And the one he meets is strong. No scorn for his failings. No expectations. Not perfect...needing him. Someone the bottom wolf doesn't fear.
Her tongue flicked out to wet suddenly dry lips, and she swallowed heavily. ::Ryel.:: With the word came images of what she saw when she looked at him. Not Bottom Wolf. Gentle strength. Wondrous compassion. A need to help. Healing love. And passion . . . Both the passion of the elf before her and the passion he inspired in her.
He stepped closer, his fingertips brushing over her lips. ***Aiyla.*** As she had, he shared what he saw in her. A strong beauty. The scarring was not disfiguring in his eyes, but instead it etched her fine features. An elf of strong passions, strong emotions. Anger, passion, whatever she felt, she felt with her full being. That never did she hold back.
Her hands came up to tangle with his. ::You see that?::
***That is who you are, Aiyla.***
She gazed up at him in surprise, then looked away again. A corner of her mouth quirked up tentatively, and she stepped up against him. The skin fell away, allowing their bodies to touch with no buffer between them. ::For as long as you want me, Ryel.::
***Forever.***
Her breath caught in her throat and all movement from her body ceased. ::Are you sure? You barely know me.::
***How well did you know me when you offered me your heart?***
::Well enough. It was right. It was . . . necessary.::
***So is this.***
Her hand came up to his chest, resting over his heart. ::Forever.::
She could feel the pounding under her fingers. ***Thank you.*** The gratitude was real.
Suddenly things seemed too fast for her. She tried to take a step back, but her legs wouldn't let her.His hands went to her shoulders, supporting.
"I love you. I do." she whispered.
"Thank you." The words were simple, but he meant them.
"So why am I suddenly terrified?"
"Because you're no longer alone, and you don't know whether to run to it or run away?"
Her mouth smiled at him, though her eyes did not. "And what would you recommend . . . L-lovemate?" She stumbled over the last word, unsure of what he wanted her to call him.
"If you're wise...you'll away." His tone held a note of self-deprecation. "But I want you to run to it... Be more than my lovemate... Be my lifemate."
"Your lifemate?"
"Forever, not just a moment..."
She turned away to look back out of the mouth of the cave. Her hands came up to hold her upper arms, as though she were cold.
He rested his hands on her shoulders. She could feel the heat pouring from them.
She stayed very still for a long time before turning back to him. "I'm cold, lifemate."
His heart leapt in his chest. He'd never felt such a gladness, ever. "Then come away from the wind." He drew her into his arms, and turned so his back was to the cave entrance.
She smiled shyly. "Will your chief have anything to say about it?"
"What chief?" He slid his hands over her chilled back.
"The one I'll probably have to Challenge when you return."
"...Why would he care if I've taken a mate? He hasn't concerned himself yet."
"Cutter would care. He'd be happy. But he would care. I guess I just expected your chief to be like him."
"...I don't know what he'd do...it's been...a long time since I've seen him."
"Well, one thing's for certain. He's not going to be pleased to meet me."
"Why is that?"
She tapped his forehead. "The block. Remember?"
He nodded slowly. "...I've grown used to sending again...it feels so wonderful."
::Sending to you feels so right, Ryel.::
He slowly drew her back to the furs. He sat, pulling her down so he could hold her. For long minutes, he did not move, just held her close against him.
"It seems strange that I would find what I wanted so badly by coming here."
"And what have you sought?" He bent his head, inhaling her scent.
She bared her throat at his actions. "You."
"And did you know that I was what you sought?" He bent his head to her throat, reveling in both her submissive action, and the sensations he could send through her body with the brush of his lips.
"I love you."
Stormseer and Ebony joined gently. It was not the joining they would have had, when hunger rushed through him at the sight of her outlined at the cave entrance, but it was satisfying. It was, he mused, as if they were starting anew, shy and uncertain.
Cradling her against him later, he couldn't quite believe it. The day before, he was cursing his life, as he dangled from a trap. Now he had a lifemate...one who loved him. A beauty, yet strong. Only one thing yet marred his life. He had no home.
Ebony smiled up at the roof of the cave lazily, content just to breathe for the moment.
He had to win his way back into his tribe, or find a place he'd feel content. "Ebony?"
"Hmm?" She didn't feel like trying to find the energy to form real words just yet.
"What did you mean when you said my tribe would accept me back?"
"Hmm?" she repeated, her brow furrowing. She didn't want to think.
"You said my tribe would accept me back.... What did you mean?"
"What did I mean?" Ebony scrunched her face up in an effort to think. Laying here within her love . . . no, her lifemate's arms was intoxicating. Moreso than dreamberries ever had been. "Why do you ask?"
"I...just want to know." His head was swimming. She felt ... right in his arms.
"Why shouldn't you be accepted? You're one of them." Simple enough logic. Ebony smiled in satisfaction. It made perfect sense to her.
"And sent away...banished."
"In the heat of the moment. For little enough reason." She thought a moment. "Besides, you're true kin to those of the tribe."
"...As opposed to what? But how would I be let in?"
"I don't understand." Thought was beginning to return, and with it some understanding of what he was asking. But that understanding was not enough.
"...My father isn't just going to...LET me in..."
"He should."
"...Why?"
"Because. " She reached out, touching a single finger to his nose. "You're his son."
"That didn't stop him from banishing me..."
"That was merely anger speaking."
"...I don't think so..."
"Of course it was, lifemate." Her hand reached up again, this time to caress his cheek. "Let me talk to him."
He smiled at the tender touch. His own will was melting away under her gentle words. "If you want..."
"Where do I find him, beloved?"
"...I can lead you there..."
"When?"
"When do you want me to?"
She considered her options and his pain for a single moment. "Now."
"...Now??"
Her face steeled. "Yes. Better to face this longtooth before it causes more hurt."
"...Now? But...right now is so...pleasurable." He slid a hand along her shoulder.
The coldness fell from her face, and she smiled in happiness. But before anything was said, she shook her head. "Yes, but it will be even moreso when you are not haunted by the pain of the past."
He gave a sigh, sliding his hand along more sensitive parts. "...If you insist..."
She arched against him, then tensed and pushed him away. "Beloved, please."
"Please...that's a word that can mean many things..." His fingers teased.
She gasped softly, and her brows drew together in mild anger. "Stop."
"...don't make me stop..."
"Your father . . ."
"Has lived a long time...he'll live another day, I'm sure...but this moment...." He bent his head to nuzzle along her ear, "will not last..."
She arched again, pressing her body against his in an effort to meld with him, to truly become one soul. She breathed a shuddery sigh, desperately trying to hold onto some semblance of reason.
He opened his mind freely, sharing how happy he was just to give her pleasure, to offer himself to her.
That opening was her undoing. Her eyes warmed completely, and her lips captured his as she gave him the same gift. Her fingers traced his chest, trailing patterns of liquid fire along every inch of his torso.She felt him relax, feeling a contentment he had not truly enjoyed before he'd met her. Even as his body burned and hungered, his soul was at peace. Even as his hands sought out every tender spot on her body, he was calm. He was, simply, happy.
"Beloved . . ." she breathed softly, trying desperately to pull him closer to her. And as her body attempted it, her soul became one with his.
Time passed without a thought. All he knew was that he, Ryel, was with her, Aiyla. He couldn't quite tell where his body ended, and hers began, and that thought pleased him, somehow. Nothing else mattered, but that they were together.
Floating on a cloud of pure satisfaction, Ebony grinned to herself. At this rate, she would have to change her name to Ravvit.
***Lifemate....*** He sent it as a sign of contentment.
She stretched against him in complete languor. ::Ryel . . . :: Somehow, the name seemed to sum up everything good about him.
He gave a groan. Her stretching only reawoke the hunger that had been put to bed just moments before.
A sly smile graced her lips. "Something . . . wrong?"
He gave a low growl. "...We just joined, and yet I need you again..."
She blushed slightly. "Then come to me."
He pulled her body against his, tightly. His mind was filled with the hunger that filled him. It confused him, how he could join, and yet be so...
She wound her arms around his neck, welcoming him to her. "I want you." The words had no true sound. They were merely breaths.
He growled, the sound of a hungry wolf, unsated. This joining was not a collection of tender caresses. This was hunger, need, primal and urgent. Not harsh, but insistent, demanding.Ebony reveled in it, reveled in the idea that she could cause such need. And found herself in like position. Soon desperate in her own desires, she clawed and scratched her way to holding him closer.
Every scratch was like wood on a fire, making him burn hotter than he could have imagined. ***Aiyla!*** It was a possessive send, demanding her body and soul to cool and temper himself.
::Yes.::
He tilted his head back and howled as the release he so desperately sought came within reach.
Ebony shuddered her own release, then howled with him. It was a mating howl, one that told everyone far and wide how much the lifemates loved each other.
He had never felt so weak. A newborn cub had more strength in its legs than he did in his whole body. His skin still burned, but his whole body felt like it was humming.
She pulled him to her, keeping him on her chest as she nestled under him, preparing for sleep. She had barely enough energy to move.
His eyes closed in contentment. Whatever the morrow would bring, she was his, now.
::Love you, Ryel . . .:: she Sent even as her brain fogged with sleep.
***Aiyla.*** It was a tender send, laced with sleep.
Her body snuggled against him as he sensed her sleep.