Chapter Twenty-two
Later…much later, it was finally over. Kate didn’t know how long they’d been at it—how long she’d spent with the big Kindred on his knees between her thighs—but she was sure it had been hours.
At the start of it, she wouldn’t have believed it was possible to come so many times. But Rone seemed to know exactly how long to wait between each orgasm to start building her up again. He also seemed to know about a million ways and techniques to make her come. After using his hands and mouth for a while, he showed her an array of kinky looking sex toys. Some he had chosen for her, he explained, and some Kate had found and ordered herself.
Kate was amazed at the variety but Rone explained that they liked to try new things together, to keep their relationshiop fresh. And of course, no matter how often she came, he always wanted to make her come again, to bring her more pleasure and more and more…
At last Kate couldn’t take it anymore. She was exhausted and was amazed that Rone wasn’t also worn out. But the big Kindred seemed to be tireless when it came to giving her pleasure.
“Rone,” she whispered, stroking his hair as he kissed and licked her thighs, cleaning away the honey she’d spilled for him during her latest orgasm. “Please, I…I’m getting really tired. Are you…do you think you’ve had enough? At least for now?” She had to ask because his eyes were still more silver than blue—a fact that worried her.
Rone gave her one final lick and looked up.
“I think so. Sorry, baby—I’ve just missed you so damn much.”
“I got that,” Kate said dryly, giving him a little smile. “And that was…amazing. I didn’t…didn’t know I could come that many times in a row.”
He gave her a lazy grin.
“That’s not even our record.”
“It’s not?” Kate looked at him, surprised. “But how…how could we possibly…?”
“On nights when the hunger is really bad we usually start like this—with me tasting you and making you come over and over with my mouth—giving you clitoral orgasms,” he explained. “Then we move to the Breeding Chair and spend the rest of the night there. Once I’m inside you and the precum and cum from my cock is working on you, then I can give you vaginal orgasms—much deeper and harder and longer than the ones you just had.”
“Really?” Kate felt her mouth go dry. “But I thought…thought all that about clitoral or vaginal orgasms was a myth.”
“It might be if you’re with a human male,” Rone told her. “But with a Wulven Kindred, it’s completely different. The compounds my body makes begin acting on you the minute I slide inside you. And the first time I come, it spreads throughout your system and stimulates your G-spot and makes you multi-multi-orgasmic.”
Kate frowned. “I’ve heard of multi-orgasmic. But what does multi-multi-orgasmic mean?”
“It’s a long chain of orgasms that melt into one another until it feels like one, long, single come that lasts for hours.” Rone gave her a lazy grin. “It’s only possible with a Wulven Kindred because of the compounds our bodies secrete to pleasure our mates.”
“Wow.” Kate gave a shaky laugh. “That sounds amazing but…I don’t know if I’m ready for it quite yet.”
“Of course not, baby,” he said at once. “I understand—you’re still getting to know me all over again. In fact, I think it would probably be better to hold off on making love until your memories return.”
Kate bit her lip. “But what if they don’t? What if I never fully remember…the way we were?”
He stroked her cheek lightly. “I think they will, in time. But if not, I’ll just have to try to make you fall in love with me all over again.”
Kate felt a blush rise to her cheeks at the intent expression in his silver-blue eyes.
“I wish…wish I could remember now,” she said in a low voice. “Wish I could feel for you what you feel for me, Rone.”
“You will, in time. At least, I hope and pray to the Goddess you will,” he said seriously. “What we had was so precious and perfect, Lalli. But if we have to build it again from the ground up, then I’m willing to do that. Like I said before, you’re worth waiting for—and working for.”
“Thank you.” Kate gave him a shy smile. She had to admit, if making her love him was his goal, the big Kindred was certainly getting there. Despite how much bigger he was than her, he had never been anything but sweet and kind and gentle. And if the way he had just spent hours between her legs, making her come over and over while asking for nothing in return was any indication, Kate thought he must be the most sensitive and giving lover she’d ever had.
Thinking of that made her realize that while Rone had been literally pleasuring her for hours, she had never once offered to return the favor.
“Um, Rone?” she asked, looking at him uncertainly. “You’ve been doing so much for me—I mean, tasting me for so long—but I haven’t done, er, anything for you.”
He looked surprised. “What do you mean you haven’t done anything for me? You let me taste you, baby—that’s the greatest gift of pleasure you could give me.”
“That’s very sweet of you to say,” Kate said, smiling. “But you made me come over and over and you never got to come yourself. Do you want…do you need some help to, you know, get off?”
He laughed, a deep rumbling sound she was growing to love.
“Don’t you remember me telling you that I almost always come when I go down on you?”
“Oh…that’s right.” Kate had forgotten it. “It, uh, really turns you on that much?” she asked doubtfully.
“Hell yes, baby,” he growled softly. “Tasting your honey and hearing you call my name…feeling your sweet pussy tightening all around my tongue or fingers—it’s incredibly erotic. I’ve probably come as many times as you did tonight—if not more. In fact…” He grimaced as he stood. “I really need to go clean up. I don’t produce as much cum when you’re not physically touching my shaft, but I’m still pretty sticky.”
“So…are Wulven Kindred multi-orgasmic too?” Kate asked him as he went into the small bathroom and started to run some water.
“All Kindred males are,” Rone called back over the sound of the splashing. He came out of the bathroom naked, with just a towel wrapped around his lean hips. “The Goddess created us that way. Coming inside your mate helps bond her to you and strengthens the bond once it’s formed. The more often we can bring our mate to orgasm and orgasm ourselves, the stronger and more closely we are bound to her.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Kate said. “Since Kindred bond for life.”
“We do,” Rone said seriously. “I know that humans often divorce and go their separate ways but that…” He shook his head. “It’s unthinkable for a Kindred. The idea of leaving your mate once you have found her is unimaginable. Why would you leave the one perfect female the Goddess created just for you to look for another?”
“But what if a Kindred’s mate dies?” Kate asked curiously. “Can he form a new bond with someone else?”
“Some can. But most…” Rone shook his head. “Well, most Kindred males won’t survive the death of their mate.” He looked at her seriously. “That’s how I knew, deep down, that you were still alive—even after you’d been taken, Lalli. Because I was still alive. If you died…if I’d lost you…” His voice grew hoarse and he looked away for a moment.
“Oh, Rone…” Kate went to him and put a hand on his arm. Rone turned to her and pulled her close, wrapping her in arms that felt like warm, flexible steel. Kate went to him willingly and pressed her face to his broad chest, breathing in that warm, spicy aroma he’d called his Bonding Scent. It made her want to wrap herself around him and never let go.
“I’m just so grateful I found you, Lalli,” Rone murmured, kissing her hair. “So thankful to the Goddess to have you in my arms again.”
“You really believe in that?” Kate asked, looking up at him. “I mean, you believe in the Kindred Goddess?”
“You do too—you just don’t remember it,” Rone told her softly. “She is real and she cares about her children. We met her, you know—or saw her in action, anyway. At the joining ceremony of your friend Emily and her Beast Kindred warrior, Tragar.”
Kate stared at him. “We did? She actually came to the wedding? To bless the union or what?”
“There was a bit more to it than that.” A little smile played around the corners of Rone’s mouth. “But let’s just say that anyone who was at the ceremony that day is a true believer—even if they were an atheist before.”
“I wish I could remember,” Kate said wistfully. “Before we came to Flame and Frost I just wanted to regain my last memories of my Mom and find out what I’d been doing for the last three years. But now, well…” She sighed. “I wish I could remember us too.”
“You will.” Rone stroked her hair. “Maybe going back to G’nera will help jog your memory.”
“Where will I go while you…while you change?” Kate couldn’t help the small shiver that ran through her at the thought of the big Kindred morphing into a huge, hairy beast. What would he look like, anyway? Some kind of werewolf? Kate didn’t know and she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.
“I have a relative—the sister of my mother—what you would call my ‘aunt’ I believe,” Rone said. “Tante Corii. She always liked you—you can stay with her while I go to the Howlund and let my Beast free for the night of the full moons’ convergence.”
Kate shifted. “That might be kind of awkward—me staying with her when I don’t know her at all.”
He laughed, that deep rumbling sound again that seemed to shake her entire body.
“That’s what you said the first time we went to G’nera to let my Beast roam free. But believe me, Tante Corii loves you—and you really like her too. You’ll get along just fine, don’t worry.”
“And what about you? Will you be all right out there in the, uh, the Howlund place?” Kate asked. “Are you sure I shouldn’t come with you?” Not that she really wanted to but it seemed like she ought to offer.
“No—no, I don’t want you anywhere near me when I change.” For the first time Rone’s voice turned harsh and his eyes flashed dangerously.
“I’m sorry,” Kate said quickly, taking a step back from him. “I just thought… She frowned as a memory tried to surface. “Don’t the other girls, uh, females go there with their mates sometimes?”
“They do,” he admitted heavily. “Usually during the first change after their joining, a female will accompany her mate to the Howlund to try and tame his Beast.”
“And what happens when he changes…when he lets his Beast come out around her?” Kate’s mouth felt dry but she made herself ask anyway.
“Then she either tames his Beast and it breeds her or…” Rone took a deep breath. “Or she fails to tame it and she dies.”
“She…dies?” Kate asked faintly. “Does he kill her?”
Rone nodded tersely. “If the Beast won’t accept her as its mate, it will rip her limb from limb.”
“But…I thought you said that wouldn’t be a problem for us?” Kate asked. “I thought you said your Beast would be more interested in, uh, breeding than feeding.”
“So I believe it would,” Rone growled. “But I won’t do that to you, Lalli—I won’t take you that way. It’s too rough—too harsh. The Beast has no gentleness in him and you’re so small…so delicate.” He looked away. “It would be too much like…”
“Like what?” Kate prompted when he broke off.
“Like rape,” Rone said harshly, looking at her directly. “That’s what breeding with the Beast is. It’s rape. And I won’t do that to you—especially now that I know what you went through in college.”
“I’m sorry.” Kate put a hand to her mouth. “I…I didn’t know.”
He sighed. “You don’t remember but we’ve had this discussion before. You actually tried to convince me to do it—to take you in my Beast form, but of course, I refused.” He shook his head. “It was one of the worst arguments we’ve ever had.”
“It was? But why? Why would I want that?” Kate asked, shaking her head. Why would she ask to be manhandled and forced into rough sex with his Beast? Had she been extra kinky or something? It didn’t sound like something she would want—or even something she could stand. So why…?
“Because you wanted a baby so badly,” Rone said softly. “And breeding with the Beast is an almost certain way to get a female pregnant.”
“But…but I thought that’s what the Breeding Chair was for,” Kate protested, her eyes sliding to the strange, rocking-chair thing in one corner of the room.
“The Breeding Chair takes longer—sometimes years—to accomplish what a single night of intensive breeding with the Beast can do,” Rone told her. “You see, a female’s body has to be prepared for a Wulven’s seed to take root. That can be accomplished by many long, slow, gentle sessions in the Breeding Chair or one rough night of fucking with the Beast. You were tired of waiting—you said you wanted to start a family and you weren’t afraid my Beast would hurt you. So…”
He let the sentence trail off.
“I see.” Kate nodded. “Well, you don’t have to worry about me wanting that right now, anyway. I’m nowhere near ready to start a family.”
“Which is why you’re going to stay with Tante Corii while I change at the Howlund.” Rone smiled at her. “Wait until you meet her again—you’re really going to like her.”
* * * * *
“Well now, well now, if it isn’t my favorite sister’s son’s mate in the whole universe.” Tante Corri welcomed Kate with open arms, just as Rone had known she would. He had taken the precaution of calling ahead and letting her know exactly what had happened and what to expect and she had taken it in stride—all but one part…
“So you’re still not going to let her tame your Beast?” she’d asked when Rone had explained that he needed a place for Kate to stay while he went to the Howlund.
“Tante Corii, we’ve been over this before,” Rone had told her patiently as they spoke over the viewscreen. “Kate’s too delicate and precious to me to risk her around my Beast.”
The old lady shook her gray hair and made a tsking sound.
“I know she’s petite, Rone, but there are girls here on G’nera nearly as small who tame their mate’s Beast. I’m telling you, the two of you won’t have a true bond until she does.”
“We managed just fine before and she’d never tamed it,” Rone had pointed out. “And she’s from Earth, Tante. The females there are more delicate.”
“Delicate or not, you’re going against the natural order of things and the will of the Goddess by not letting her tame your Beast.”
“I love her too much—I just got her back and I won’t risk losing her again.” Rone had run a hand through his hair in agitation. “Please, Tante Corii, just let her stay with you while I take my fur-form.”
“Well…” She sighed. “All right. Your business is your business, Rone. But I can’t help feeling like you’re going to be sorry if you won’t at least let her meet your Beast at some point.”
“There’s nothing to meet,” Rone said darkly. “We all know that the Beast is nothing but carnal appetite. It’s the worst part of a male. Why would I let Kate see the worst part of me? Even if it was safe, I wouldn’t want that.”
“If she loves you, Rone, she’ll take the good with the bad,” Tante Corii had said gently.
“But that’s the thing—she doesn’t love me—not yet. She’s forgotten everything we had, everything we shared and I don’t know when she’ll ever remember. I’m trying to bring her to me all over again, Tante. I don’t want to scare her away or make her hate me.”
“All right.” She’d nodded. “She can stay with me. But mind you think about letting her tame your Beast some time in the future—when she’s regained her feelings for you again.”
“I hope that will be soon.” Rone had sighed. “I’m so in love with her, Tante—I never stopped. But I’m having to build her trust in me from the very beginning. It’s a very delicate time right now. So please…just keep things light between you while she stays with you. All right?”
“All right, all right,” the old woman had said. “I won’t put my nose where it doesn’t belong. You bring Kate here to me and I’ll watch over her while you change.”
“Thank you.” Rone had felt a surge of relief. He loved his Tante Corii—she was his only living relative. But she could be really stubborn at times…
Now as he introduced her to Kate, he hoped she would remember her promise. So far, at least, she seemed to be on her best behavior…
“It’s so good to see you again!” she told Kate, giving her a big hug.
Kate hugged back, an uncertain look on her face.
“I, uh, know that I knew you in the past but I’m afraid I don’t remember you right now. My memories…”
“I know all about that, never you mind.” Tante Corii smiled at her. “Why don’t you just come along into the domicile and we can all have a nice hot cup of chuurah tea before Rone goes off to the Howlund to change?”
“Actually…” Rone shifted from foot to foot, looking in the direction of the forest which was filled with silvery green and blue trees. “I’d really like to go now. I’m sorry, Tante but can I visit with you after?”
“Of course. A male’s got to do what a male’s got to do.” Tante patted his arm and smiled. “Just you go on and don’t worry about a thing. Kate and I are going to get to know each other all over again.”
“Thank you.” Rone gave her a grateful smile and a peck on the cheek. Already he could feel his Beast rumbling inside him, demanding to be let out, to roam free, to hunt and kill or breed—whichever he permitted. It had been too long since he took his fur-form—too long since he’d allowed the other half of himself room to breathe. But he took a moment to kiss Kate as well—gently on the lips.
“I love you,” he murmured, looking into her eyes. “I swear I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Just promise me you’ll stay here, safe inside with Tante Corii.”
“I promise.” Kate looked up at him, an anxious expression in her pale green eyes. “But…will it be safe for you?”
Tante Corii gave an amused laugh.
“My goodness child—he’ll be in his fur-form! There’s nothing on the Goddess’s green planet that can hurt him in that form.”
“Well that’s good to know, anyway.” Kate smiled at him and Rone was warmed to see the concern she felt for him in her lovely eyes.
She’s coming back to me, little by little, he thought. Soon I’ll win her love again and we can be like we were before. And even if she never gets her memories back, we can make new ones together. We’ll have another joining ceremony—another wedding—whatever she wants. We’ll be a team again and the first thing we’re going to do is hunt down that son-of-a-bitch Dark Kindred, Two and make him pay for wiping Kate’s memories in the first place. After that, we’ll be free to do as we want…living our lives on the Finder, traveling the universe and loving each other every day, rebuilding the perfect life we lost…
It was a wonderful thought—a perfect plan for their future together. Rone was certain they had turned the corner and were on the right track—nothing could pull them apart now.
Nothing.
* * * * *
“What does it mean, his ‘fur-form’?” Kate asked, when she and the old lady were inside the little hut which was covered in some kind of flowering blue vine. They were seated at a table which appeared to have been grown rather than made—at least, all four of its legs seemed to be rooted in the floor which was carpeted by some kind of dense, purple moss that felt heavenly on her feet when she took of her shoes.
“Well that’s just what Wulvan males call it when their Beast comes out.” Tante Corii poured her a steaming cup of aromatic tea into a long, thin drinking vessel that looked like a champagne flute and a coffee mug had mated and produced a baby.
“So…they don’t actually turn into an animal? Or some kind of hairy werewolf-type creature?” Kate wanted to know.
“Oh gracious, child—no!” Tante Corii laughed good naturedly. “Now mind you, they used to before the Kindred came along and started intermarrying with the Wulven. They used to turn into a ravening, wild, four-legged creature with huge lamp-like eyes and fangs as long as your finger. But the Kindred genes are strong and they bred most of that out in a few generations. Now when a Wulven male takes his ‘fur-form’ he mostly just gets a little harrier and his eyes turn silver.”
“Really? That’s it?” Kate was slightly disappointed. After all Rone’s dire talk about his big, bad Beast, she’d been imagining at the very least, a character out of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale and at worse, some kind of wolfman.
Tante Corii gave her a level look.
“Believe me, child—that’s enough. For when the Beast comes out, a male Wulven doesn’t just change outwardly—he changes inwardly as well. The good and decent and civilized part of him is gone—just gone. And all that’s left is a monster in male form—one who has only two interests.”
“Breeding or feeding, right?” Kate said in a low voice.
“That’s right, I’m afraid.” Tante Corii sighed. “But you know, that isn’t to say the Beast is evil or worthless—it’s just a personification of the most simple and direct drives that live in all of us. They’re just especially strong in males, that’s all.”
“Rone told me that before I lost my memories I wanted to…wanted to try and tame his Beast,” Kate said, looking down at her tea-flute or whatever the weird drinking vessel was called.
“That you did, child. You confided as much to me the last time the two of you were here.” The old woman got up from the table for a moment. When she came back, she had an ancient, worn volume in one hand, bound in blue leather. “Here.” She slid the text in front of Kate. “You asked me to get you that.”
“What is it?” Kate stroked a finger over the leather spine of the book curiously. It was strangely smooth, as though hundreds of hands had touched it over the generations.
“The Landii-Katrum—the Volume of Submission.” Tante Corii tapped the blue leather with one crooked finger. “In there are explicit instructions on how to get your male’s Beast to breed you rather than feeding on you.”
“My God. Is that really a problem? I mean, does it happen often that the girl gets eaten instead of, uh, bred?”
The old woman shrugged. “It happens from time to time but mostly when the match is wrong for some reason or the female doesn’t truly love the male she’s trying to tame. The Beast can sense things—it sniffs out true intentions and if true love and caring aren’t present in the female’s heart, it can smell that in her scent. That’s when things tend to turn, well…bloody.”
Kate shivered. “Ugh! Well I guess you don’t have many gold-diggers on G’nera, huh?” Then, seeing the confused expression on Tante Corii’s face she explained. “Someone who only wants to get married—uh, joined—for wealth or power.”
The old lady’s face cleared. “Oh. Well no, we don’t. Any male’s Beast would smell such duplicity. And usually, it isn’t a problem—almost all Beasts are more interested in breeding than feeding when they catch their chosen female’s scent.”
“I would think it would never be a problem at all, if you only marry for love here,” Kate said thoughtfully.
“Well, there have been a few tragic instances where a female was forced into a joining by her family…we even have an old legend about it. The story of Trane and Jalla.”
“Trane and Jalla? Who were they?”
“It is an ancient tale—one that took place before the Kindred came to G’nera and tempered the Beasts of the Wulven males somewhat. Trane was a male who was deeply in love with a female, Jalla. However, she was in love with another,” Tante Corii explained. “But their parents decided it was an advantageous match and decreed they would join Jalla to Trane whether she wanted to or no.”
“Weren’t they worried she’d be killed by his Beast?” Kate asked.
The old woman shook her head.
“They dismissed her other love as a passing infatuation. They were certain that by the time she was joined to Trane she would learn to love him. And so they were joined.” She sighed. “Soon after that, Trane came to realize that the love Jalla had for the other male was no passing fancy—he was the one she ought to have been joined to. Trane went to his parents and asked to have the joining dissolved but they decreed there was too much at stake to make such a costly decision and denied his request.”
“So what could he do?” Kate asked, taking a sip of her tea, which had cooled considerably.
“Well, Trane was truly in love with Jalla. And even though she didn’t return that love, he didn’t want her to be hurt or killed. So he refused to let her try to tame his Beast because he feared for her. But his parents and hers caught him in a trap, the next time he went to the Howlund. They forced the two of them together and, well…his Beast killed her.” Tante Corii shook her gray head sadly.
“Oh, no!” Kate put a hand to her mouth. “That’s so sad! And then he had to live with the guilt the rest of his life?”
“Oh no, child, he did not live with guilt.”
“He didn’t? Why?” Kate asked. She could only imagine how horrible it would be to wake up from some kind of bestial fugue state and realize you’d hurt or killed the one you loved. Did he…did he kill himself?” she asked, thinking it was like G’nera’s version of a Romeo and Juliette story.
“In a way. He gave himself to the Ei’wani—the living death,” Tante Corii said.
“Living death?” Kate shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s when a Wulven male goes to the wilderness—not just the Howlund, mind you but the wastes at the edge of Corith al Cruthe—the Desert of Death. There he gives up his consciousness for good and lets his Beast take over completely so that he need never think of the horrible thing he has done again.”
“Oh, that’s awful!” Kate exclaimed.
“Yet some males do it—usually when they have done some terrible thing or suffered a loss so great their mind cannot bear it,” Tante Corii said. “Honestly, I was afraid that Rone might go to the Desert of Death himself when you went missing. And if he hadn’t found you, he might have.”
“Please don’t talk like that—I can’t stand it,” Kate whispered. “I…I don’t even want to think of such a thing.”
The look in Tante Corii’s faded blue eyes softened somewhat. “You really care for him, don’t you child?”
“I do,” Kate admitted. “Or I’m beginning to. Since I lost all the memories of how we first met and fell in love, it’s kind of like we’re starting from scratch. But Rone is so kind and gentle and patient—I can see why I fell for him the first time.”
“And you’re beginning to fall again.” Tante Corii smiled at her. “I knew you were the right female for my sister’s son the first moment I laid eyes on you, Kate. This is a terrible setback the two of you are going through but I know with the Goddess’s help, you’ll be back together and stronger than ever soon. And then maybe you’ll have a use for this.” She tapped the blue leather binding of the Landii-Katrum knowingly.
“May I keep it? To study?” Kate asked. “I mean, I can tell it’s very old but I promise I’ll be careful with it.”
“It’s been passed down in our family for generations,” the old woman told her. “So it’s rightfully yours now. Just mind you don’t let Rone see you with it—he didn’t want you to have it.”
“Because he’s afraid he’ll hurt me if I…if I try to tame his Beast,” Kate said. “He said it was like, uh…well, like rape.” Her cheeks burned as she said it but Rone’s aunt seemed to take her words in stride.
“Well, it’s a rough coupling and make no mistake about that,” she said frankly. “But you don’t go to tame a male’s Beast expecting tender kisses and gentle love-making. You have to be ready and willing to submit and understand that when he takes you it won’t be pretty or sweet. It will be harsh and raw and long and hard. But if you’re ready for that—if you can take pleasure in submitting to the Beast and just open yourself to him, well, then it needn’t be a rape.”
“I see.” Kate’s cheeks were still burning at the old woman’s frank description but she thought she could understand. Mating with the Beast would require a certain mindset—a willingness to open yourself to his savage lovemaking and submit to his carnal lusts. Which was doubtless why the book Tante Corii had given her was called The Volume of Submission.
“I’m glad you understand,” Tante Corii said. “It’s not a pretty thing—but it can be good just the same. Especially when you wake in your male’s arms and feel the bond between you and know nothing can ever separate you again.”
Kate frowned. “But if everyone else here does that—if all females do when they mate with a Wulven male—then why is Rone so reluctant to let me do it?”
“Well…” Tante Corii sighed. “I think he’s afraid he’ll hurt you. Because of you being so tiny, you know.”
“Yes, I know that,” Kate said. “He told me that. But is there some other reason—some underlying problem that makes him so reluctant to do what every other male on his planet does?”
“Ah, you’re very wise.” Tante Corii nodded. “There is, actually. Rone had a female relative—I’m not sure what you would call her—the daughter of my brother.”
“A cousin, I think,” Kate said.
“All right then—a cousin. Anyway, she was older than Rone but he loved her like an older sibling. Le’la, she was called.” Tante Corii looked sad. “She’s gone now—the Blue Fever took her when it swept through our region, years ago, before we had a cure. But before she died…”
“Did something happen to her?” Kate asked gently. “Did she have…trouble when she tried to tame her male’s Beast?”
“It was…an especially rough mating,” Tante Corii said heavily. “The male she loved wasn’t overly gentle even when he didn’t let his Beast out. And when she went to tame him, well…he scarred her.”
“Scarred her?” Kate frowned. “But I thought a Wulven male was able to heal his mate’s wounds. Rone, uh, healed some for me.” She thought of the way he had licked her back and shivered.
“And so they can—fresh wounds are easy to heal. As long as they aren’t inflicted by the male’s Beast during breeding. Those wounds—wounds made with the teeth or claws—can never be healed and they scar badly.” Tante Corii sighed. “It’s to do with the Wulven biology, you see—the Beast wants to mark his partner, so no other male will come near her. And so he produces special compounds during mating that causes scars form wherever he wounds her.”
“And where…where was Le’la wounded?” Kate asked.
“From here…to here.” The old lady drew a line with her finger from her forehead down to her cheek bone. “He blinded her in her right eye as well. Poor girl—she never looked the same. And she was so beautiful before.”
“Oh my God, that’s awful.” Kate shivered, glad that she wasn’t going to the Howlund to try and tame Rone’s Beast.
“It’s rare that something that bad happens,” Tante Corii told her. “Most mating scars are small and inconspicuous. But seeing his beloved Le’la scarred like that had quite an effect on Rone—he was only young, you see. And it wasn’t just her face that got torn up.”
“It…it wasn’t?” Kate was almost afraid to ask where else Rone’s beloved cousin had been wounded.
“I’m afraid not. As I said, the one who mated her wasn’t known for his gentleness. And in Beast form, well…” Tante Corii shook her head. “The healer had to come and examine her—you know, between her legs? She was that badly injured.”
“Uh…” Kate didn’t know what to say.
“Anyway, we thought Rone was out playing but it turned out later that he had been hiding in the closet, listening to everything that went on. Poor Le’la crying out in pain and the healer saying how rough she’d had it, how he’d bruised her inside…” She shook her head. “Rone didn’t admit to me he’d heard all that for years, you know but when he did, he swore he would never hurt a female he loved in such a way. And that’s why he doesn’t want you to try and tame his Beast—even though it’s the Wulven way and the way the Goddess has ordained for us.”
“How did we manage before if I couldn’t tame his Beast?” Kate asked.
“You found a way around it somehow.” Tante Corii looked disapproving. “But it meant you had an incomplete bond. And I truly believe that your memories would not have been so thoroughly and easily wiped if you’d had a full bond to hold you together. Being incompletely bonded makes you vulnerable to outside attacks—keeps you from giving yourselves to each other completely.”
“I see,” Kate said uneasily.
“So you just think about that and study that copy of the Landii-Katrum.” She tapped the book again. “And if you don’t use it yourself, keep it for your son or daughter when they come of age. Because I just know you and Rone are going to start a family soon—probably the very next time he takes you to the Breeding Chair.”
“Oh…uh…” Kate could feel her cheeks getting hot. “I guess so.”
“I know so,” Tante Corii said firmly. “Now, I know the two of you have had a rough time lately—Rone told me how you barely escaped from that crazy Fire and Snow place.”
“It was called Flame and Frost,” Kate corrected gently. “But yes, it was weird and we were lucky to get out when we did.”
“Exactly. So I’m just going to show you to your room and let you relax. Would that be all right?”
“That would be…” Kate yawned. “Oh, excuse me! That would be wonderful, actually. I’m really very tired,” she admitted.
“Of course you are. So you’re to have my best guest room right by the flower garden where you can smell lovely scents all night long.”
Tante Corri led her through the small cottage to a back room. It was small but it had a soft, low bed covered in a blanket of little red flowers that Kate loved at once. In one corner of the room was a door that led out into a garden filled with so many different types of flowers she was amazed.
“Oh, these are gorgeous,” she exclaimed, examining the riot of color when the old woman threw open the door to show her. “And they smell so good.” A mixture of aromas, some delicate and some rich and heady was carried into the small room by a soft breeze.
“Ah yes, I love to watch them grow.” Tante Corii looked at the garden proudly. “Just you leave the door cracked a bit while you sleep and their scents will bring you sweet dreams. Don’t worry—it’s perfectly safe.”
“Is it? But what about all the males at the Howlund?” Kate looked towards the forest uncertainly.
“Never you mind about that, child. See these?” Tante Corii walked to the edge of the little garden and pointed to a border of tall purple flowers that looked a little bit like lilies. “These are purple gloved staybacks. A male in his Beast form can’t stand the scent of them.”
“Even when the moons, uh, converge?” Kate shivered and looked up at the two silvery disks in the sky. As the sunlight faded, they were becoming clearer and obviously coming closer together. She wondered if all the males at the Howlund would change at the same time once the moons overlapped or if they were already mindless Beasts.
Rone’s aunt laughed. “Yes, child, even at the convergence when all males with Beasts within must turn, whether they want to or no. The purple gloved staybacks will keep you safe as long as you stay within the borders of the garden.”
Kate smiled. “I’m staying right here—I promise. I just want to snuggle down under that gorgeous blanket and get some sleep. Is it really made of living flowers?”
“That it is, my child.” Tante Corii smiled rather sadly. “You admired it the first time you came to meet me, too. And you wanted me to teach you the technique to grow your own living blanket.”
“Maybe this time you really can teach me,” Kate said, smiling back. “I would love to learn.”
“We’ll talk about it on the morrow,” Tante Corii promised. “For now, I’ll leave a glow on for you.” She pointed to a small lamp on a low table by the bed. “You can just blow it out when you’re ready to sleep. Oh—and before I forget—I put your favorite petal gown in the fresher for you.” She nodded at a small doorway in the corner of the room. But instead of a door, it had a long curtain which appeared to be made of flowering vines. “You always told me wearing it when you sleep under the living blanket gives you the best dreams.”
“I did?” Kate shrugged. “Okay, that sounds really nice. Thank you so much, Tante Corii.”
“You’re welcome, child. Now do try and get some sleep.”
“I will,” Kate promised and smiled as the old lady let herself out of the room and shut the door behind her.