Piper tilts her head. “I don’t think anyone has ever said that to me before.”
Other than her mention of living in the bottom tier of Earth, my mate has not mentioned anything of her past. Nothing spoken of siblings nor of a nene or baba.
“None of your family ever told you of their pride in you?”
“We were never close. Even when they were alive.”
“Then I will make sure you hear it every turn to make up for all the times you missed.”
Piper strokes my chest, her fingers tracing one of my mating marks. A shudder runs down my spine, and beneath my leg coverings, my cock twitches. I bite back the groan. As if sensing what she is doing to me, mykeeshlaglances up at me through the fine hairs that dust her cheeks when she closes her eyes. The scent of her arousal strengthens.
“You unravel my control, my precious mate.”
“Is that not what I’m supposed to do?” Piper says with a sly grin.
“Aye, but not when we both go to sleep in our empty furs.”
She nibbles at her bottom lip. Each time she does this, I imagine replacing her teeth with mine, so that I might nip at her the tender flesh.
“What if,” she pauses. “What if we don’t return to our empty furs?”
My heart skips and my mind is uncertain of the words I heard. “Are you saying you wish to share my furs?”
“I know you’re not getting enough sleep, because every day you come get me before dawn and don’t walk back to the settlement with me until well after we eat.”
“As much as I want us to share my furs, I do not want you doing so only because you think I am not sleeping long enough.”
“It’s not just that,” she says, but nothing more.
With my finger, I tip her chin up. “Then what else is it? Remember, you can speak any and all truths to me.”
“Fine. I don’t want to keep sleeping alone. But I’m also scared.” Her blunt teeth wear at her lip again. “I love kissing you and I want us to…touch each other, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go further than that yet. I don’t want to be a tease.”
“You are only a tease in the best of ways.” I play with that long spiraled curl again. “Just knowing you wish to kiss and touch is more than I ever prayed for. Until I met you, I thought I would be alone for the rest of my days. Any affection I receive from you is a gift from the goddess. If, and when, the time comes and you are ready to mate physically with me, I will cherish that gift just as much as all the others you have given me.”
“Damn it, Katem.” Piper sniffles. “You’re trying to make me fall in love with you, aren’t you?”
I cock my head and offer a small grin. “Is it working?”
She sniffs again. “Maybe.”
“Then, yes.”
Piper scans my face and then slowly rises to mouth touch with me. She deepens our connection and slips her tongue between my lips. I meet it with my own and they glide against each other, tangling and twining in a synchronized movement that defies pleasure as I knew it before I discovered my mate’s touch.
My fingers spear her hair and I meet every stroke with my own, swallowing down the mewling sounds she makes. Mating fluid leaks from the nodes of my cock dampening my leg coverings. Without thought, I grind my pelvis against Piper’s and drink down the gasp she releases. The hard pebbles of her chestmounds dig into my flesh and my hand itches to know how they feel as well.
Not wanting to frighten her, I grip her hip harder, to keep my hand anchored in one place so it is not tempted to wander and disrupt us.
A burst of laughter from outside the tent startles us and we break apart, each of us breathless. Piper covers her mouth and giggles.
“I suppose that’s going to happen a lot after I move here, isn’t it?”
“There are joys of seeing our village grow, but then there are times like this when I have brief second thoughts.”
She puffs out a breath of air that quickly turns into a cough, then another. They continue, growing progressively harsher. Piper folds over and appears to struggle breathing. I quickly shove aside the door flap and call out for help several times until I catch the attention of Rassim and Alanda.
“Get a healer, quickly.” I stumble back inside and hold onto my mate so she does not collapse.
