Chapter 8
Traggen chuckled when he got a look at K’var’s face, when the young wereleopard appeared at the table for dinner. K’var reddened and ducked his head, going around to sit down next to Traggen at his usual place. “Did you enjoy yourself, Cub?” Traggen asked him softly, making him squirm a bit in his chair.
“Yesss,” he hissed, half under his breath.
Traggen grinned but ruffled his hair affectionately. “That’s good. I’m glad. Not everyone has a good first time.”
K’var slid a glance his way. “Did you?” he asked curiously.
Traggen’s grin widened. “Of course I did. I chose a boy who had lots of experience and a gleam in his eyes that told me that he’d enjoy working to make me scream in pleasure,” he said, making K’var go a little pink again. His cousin was always so open about his sexuality…but then, so were most of his tribe as well. He wasn’t shy about sex, it was just that this had been his first time experiencing it…he rubbed at his nose with his fingertips.
“R’shan seemed very…experienced,” he replied slowly.
Traggen nodded. “The best kind,” he agreed. “Especially for a youngster’s first time.”
“But…” K’var began slowly, frowning a little, “Does that mean that R’shan has…with lots of people?” he asked unhappily.
Traggen hid a smile at the expression on the young wereleopard’s face. Ahh, jealousy and possessiveness. Two signs that the heart was involved, not just the gonads. “Perhaps. But perhaps it just means that he’s had one or two lovers that he was with more than once. Long enough to learn the ropes,” he replied. “Think of it this way, K’var. He was merely learning all of that so that he could pass it on to you. Just because he might have slept with a lot of people in the past, doesn’t mean that he has to continue to do so. Look at me, for example. I’ve never been with anyone else since I accepted your Uncle J’Dran as my mate. And I’m absolutely sure that I’ve been with ten times as many males as R’shan has. I was a busy little bee when I was younger. What counts now is not the past, but what happens in the future.”
K’var nodded slowly. “You’re right, Cousin Traggen. I won’t ask him about it - it’s none of my business anyway, not now that he’s with me.”
Traggen patted his arm. “That’s the spirit, cub. You just tie that hulking brute of a hunter around your little finger, and he won’t ever think about sniffing off after another male. I promise you that.”
K’var cocked his head. “How do I do that? Tie him around my little finger?” he asked in puzzlement.
Traggen snorted. “You just have to be yourself, K’var,” he replied in a good-humored tone of voice. “And it will happen naturally.”
They stopped talking about the subject just then, as Avhonari and Z’sharan entered the dining room. K’var leapt up to run around the table and hug Z’sharan, who returned the gesture and nuzzled his nose against his cub’s cheek. “Evening, Cub. Did you have a good day?” he asked, his eyes searching K’var’s face.
He ducked his head a little. “Yes, Father,” he mumbled, which made Z’sharan smiled slightly.
“Very well. What’s for dinner? I’m starving,” he remarked, tactfully changing the subject.
“Duck, actually,” Avhonari said, stepping past them to kiss K’var’s cheek and then take his seat at the table. “I knew having the duck pond dug out would start to pay off eventually. They’ve started to thrive, and so I had the man I pay to take care of them cull a few for our dinner.”
Z’sharan and K’var both looked interested. Neither had ever tasted duck before, although both of them adored the chickens that came from the large coop behind the house. While they’d had wild bird meat, they’d never tasted water fowl before this. Traggen chuckled. “You’ll like it. It’s a nice, savory meat,” he said. “I’ll be happy to have some again; it’s been almost a decade since I’ve had a duck.”
Avhonari nodded in agreement. “Indeed. That’s why I had them imported in the first place. I’ve always loved duck. Sit down, you two; and I’ll have the cook start to bring them out.”
Z’sharan and K’var readily took their seats, other thoughts forgotten in their interest over their dinner. And they both thoroughly enjoyed the duck, making little growling noises of approval in the backs of their throats as they ate. The two humans watched them in amused affection, enjoying their own dinners almost as much as the wereleopards did.
K’var snuggled up against R’shan’s massive chest, held securely in the hunter’s embrace. He laid his head against R’shan’s skin, hearing the steady thunder of his heart. Hands stroked over his naked body, caressing him idly. He closed his eyes, sighing in contented pleasure. Being held like this was much like being held by his parents - with an added dimension to it. His parents, after all, didn’t touch him in the way that R’shan did, didn’t caress him until all of his nerve-endings came alive in a wash of physical pleasure. Didn’t make his breath come short, and his body respond eagerly every time…
R’shan’s breath stirred his hair. “Are you falling asleep, K’var?” he rumbled softly.
“Mmm, hmm,” he murmured, hearing a low chuckle above his head.
“Just like a cub,” R’shan remarked, making his eyes fly open in indignation. He reared back, glowering at R’shan.
“I’m not a cub!” he protested vigorously, preparing to pull away completely out of the hunter’s grasp.
R’shan smiled at him in a way that made his breath catch, even though he was still indignant.
“I didn’t say that I thought you were a cub, K’var,” he pointed out in faint amusement. “Just that you’re falling asleep in my arms just like a cub would. If you were a cub, I wouldn’t do the things that I do with you,” he added, leaning forward to kiss K’var on the lips lightly. He licked a trail along his jawline, making K’var moan a little. He bit at K’var’s ear, making the younger wereleopard squirm in his lap. “I don’t do this with cubs,” he rasped into it.
K’var was so far gone that he could barely comprehend what R’shan was saying. And he really didn’t care anyway; not when his body was stirring again in that wonderful way that it always did whenever R’shan touched him. R’shan laughed throatily, then rolled so that K’var was pressed into the furs of his bed. He moved more easily now; it had been almost a week since he’d been injured, and the bruise on his thigh was healing nicely. He laid his big form over K’var’s much smaller one, looking down into his lover’s large eyes. He rocked his body over K’var’s, grinding their groins together.
“You’re definitely not a cub,” he growled, then he descended on K’var hungrily. No more words were spoken between them, but then who needed words at a time like this…
K’var bounced out of the jungle, humming to himself. He waved to his father, who was standing on the porch waiting for both his mate and his cub to return from the village. Avhonari smiled in greeting and lifted his own hand in return, as his son darted up onto the porch and hurled himself into his father’s arms. “Good evening, K’var,” Avhonari remarked, running a hand lightly through his hair. “How are you? And how is R’shan?”
“I’m fine, Father; and R’shan is wonderful!” K’var piped up, beaming up into his father’s eyes.
Avhonari sighed in resignation. “I see. That’s is good. Go inside and take a bath before dinner. Oh, and K’var…” he went on, making the young wereleopard pause in his dash into the house. “Would you invite R’shan to dine here tomorrow night? Father Z’sharan and I wish to get to know him better.”
K’var blinked. “All right, Father,” he replied. “If that’s what you wish.”
“Yes, it is,” Avhonari replied.
“All right, then. I’ll ask him tomorrow,” K’var darted into the house, leaving Avhonari standing on the porch with a rueful half-smile on his face. His son didn’t seem to be aware of just what was going on between himself and R’shan yet, though the rest of his family were fully aware already. K’var’s innocence was charming and adorable. It was one of the reasons that Avhonari was totally sure that the hunter R’shan was completely smitten with his child already…
Traggen emerged from the house just then, shading his eyes against the light of the lowering sun as he stared at the jungle. Avhonari understood his nephew’s worried stare - J’Dran still hadn’t returned home, and it had been almost a week since he’d departed looking for a cub for he and Traggen to raise. Could something have happened to him? Avhonari hoped not; he liked his mate’s brother, and Traggen would be devastated if something untoward happened to his mate. He thought that he should ask Z’sharan about sending out search parties starting tomorrow, to see if they could find out where J’Dran had gone and what had happened to him. He wouldn’t say anything about it to Traggen just yet, not wanting to worry him any further.
Traggen sighed, lowering his hand. Avhonari cast him a sympathetic glance. The younger human leaning on the porch ailing, rubbing at the side of his face with his hand. Avhonari opened his mouth to say something, but just then a yell from the direction of the jungle distracted him. Both of them turned to look, and Avhonari saw his own mate emerge from the jungle…followed by J’Dran! Z’sharan waved at him, and Avhonari returned it in desperate relief as Traggen yelled himself and vaulted off the porch to go running down the shallow slope toward his returned mate. J’Dran grinned at him, but didn’t wave. He couldn’t; his arms were full of a small child who was clinging to his neck.
“J’Dran!” a relieved Traggen cried, running up to his mate. “Where have you been?! I’ve been worried sick, you big lout!”
J’Dran looked sheepish. “I’m sorry, little one, but I had to go further afield looking for an orphan cub than I imagined that I’d have to. All the way to the far side of the jungle, to the tribe that lives over by the Darktooth Mountains. It was a perilous trek, especially coming back with the cubs in tow.”
Traggen blinked. “Cubs?” he repeated, looking at the child in J’Dran’s arms, which was staring shyly at him with huge golden eyes.
J’Dran chuckled, then turned and displayed his back to his mate. There was a leather sling hanging over his shoulders, and a startled Traggen could see a small face edged by the fur lining the sling. A pair of big eyes were closed in sleep, and a tiny starfish hand was curled up against a porcelain cheek. J’Dran turned back around again. “This is Y’Dral,” he said to his mate, lifting the boy in his arms a bit, “And the baby is his sister M’Ran. They were newly orphaned; their parents died in a flash flood when they were fishing in the river that’s near their village. The Elders insisted that I had to take both of them, so that they wouldn’t be separated; or otherwise I couldn’t have either one. I can understand that. Is it all right with you, Traggen?” he asked, studying his mate’s face.
Traggen blew out a long breath. “Two?” he said slowly. “I was barely ready for one!”
J’Dran grimaced. “I know. But there were no other orphans in either of the other tribes that I visited. And these little ones need parents, now that theirs are gone. Please?” he asked hopefully, practically batting his eyes at his mate.
Traggen sighed, but he could feel himself giving in. He looked at the boy perched in J’Dran’s strong arms. “Y’Dral?” he said, and the boy cocked his head when his name was spoken. “I’m Traggen, J’Dran’s mate. I guess I’m going to be your father.”
The boy put his fingers in his mouth. He looked at J’Dran, who smiled at him easily and set him on his feet. Traggen crouched down, putting himself in the boy’s eye line once again. “Welcome to our home,” he said.
The cub stared at him uncertainly, but at last he took his fingers out of his mouth. “Father?” he asked in a small voice.
Traggen found himself smiling. “Yes, Father,” he replied simply. “I am your father, as is J’Dran. And we’ll always take care of you, I promise.”
The cub looked back at J’Dran, who made shooing motions at him. At last he stepped toward Traggen, watching him warily. He waited until the boy was nearer to him, then lifted his hand and held it out. The cub stared at it, but at last he lifted his own hand and set it in Traggen’s. “Y’Dral,” he said again. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The golden eyes blinked at him. Traggen carefully eased himself down into the grass, sitting cross-legged. The cub stared at him, and when he didn’t move Y’Dral finally sat down on his knee tentatively. Traggen nearly held his breath as the cub got settled, looking up into his face with those huge eyes. He glanced at J’Dran, who had crouched down beside them. “You see? I knew you two would get along,” he said happily, reaching out to pet the cub’s hair affectionately.
“What about the baby? Won’t she need milk or something?” Traggen asked dubiously.
“No; she’s mostly weaned,” J’Dran answered readily. “All she needs is meat chewed for her. I can do that.”
Traggen was relieved to hear that, as he wasn’t sure exactly how one went about finding a wereleopard nursemaid. “Actually, dinner’s almost ready,” he said softly. “If you’re all hungry.”
J’Dran looked down on Y’Dral. “Are you hungry, Cub?” he asked.
The boy’s big eyes lit up from within. He nodded eagerly. J’Dran grinned. “I thought so. They’re always hungry at this age. We can go inside in a moment and get everybody something to eat. Are you sure that you’re all right with this, Traggen?” he asked again, his eyes searching his mate’s face.
Traggen shrugged, reaching out to caress the boy’s shoulder with his hand. “I’m sure that I will be, even if I’m not quite now,” he responded. “Besides, I’m just glad to have you home, J’Dran.”
The wereleopard looked satisfied with his answer. “I’m glad to be home, Traggen,” he replied readily. “Especially,” he looked at the cub perched on his mate’s knee, “Now that we have our family.”
“A bigger family than I expected,” Traggen remarked dryly, “But that’s fine. Although I know absolutely nothing about girls, J’Dran. So I sure hope that you do.”
The wereleopard shrugged in turn. “Not much, but I’m sure that there will be plenty of our tribeswomen who will be happy to help us learn all about them. All we have to do is show her to them, and even the most hardened warrior will melt. I guarantee it.”
Traggen found himself laughing. “You’re probably right,” he conceded. “Y’Dral. If you come with me, we can go in and get something to eat now.”
The cub hopped off of his lap and stood waiting while he got to his feet, then he reached out and grabbed a surprised Traggen’s hand. He tugged at it impatiently when the human didn’t move right away, and J’Dran’s eyes gleamed with laughter and fondness as the cub practically towed his mate away toward the house, so eager was he to get something to eat. He rose to his own feet carefully, aware of the cub sleeping in the sling on his back. His brother walked over to join him, and they moved toward the house together as Avhonari made the acquaintance of his new grandnephew.
Traggen curled up in bed next to his mate, relishing having J’Dran’s warmth and hard body against his once again. He glanced over at the make-shift crib next to the bed, where their new daughter M’Ran was sleeping. Y’Dral was tucked up in the bed in his new room, but they’d decided to keep the baby in their room for now. “I’m glad to have you home, J’Dran,” he murmured, rubbing his cheek against the wereleopard’s chest affectionately.
“I’m glad to be home, little one,” J’Dran replied, running his clawed fingers through Traggen’s curls. “Especially with our new cubs in tow. Aren’t they wonderful, Traggen?”
He smiled. “Yes, they are,” he agreed. “You did good, J’Dran. You did very good.”
“Of course I did. I picked you as a mate, didn’t I?” the wereleopard said teasingly.
Traggen blew out a mock-exasperated breath. “Silly lunkhead. Your doing that convinced me that you aren’t very smart.”
J’Dran grinned toothily, then kissed him. “Maybe I’m not very smart, but I know a good thing when I see it,” he said when their lips parted again.
Traggen ran a hand over his chest provocatively. “Yes, you do,” he agreed.
“I can be very good, as you well know,” he added in a sultry, insinuating tone of voice.
J’Dran’s breath caught. “”Show me just how good you are, Traggen,” he growled, and the human was happy to do just that.
Avhonari looked up when his nephew and brother-by-mating entered the dining room the next morning, J’Dran carrying the baby girl and Traggen leading Y’Dral by the hand. “Ah, good morning,” he remarked. “How are the children today?”
“No worse for wear for the long trip,” Traggen replied, lifting Y’Dral into an empty chair. “But hungry. Right, Y’Dral?”
The boy nodded eagerly, eyeing the fresh baked goods and heaps of bacon, sausage, and fluffy scrambled eggs with a rabid look in his eyes.
“Of course we’ll be happy to feed them,” Avhonari replied humorously, standing up to begin serving food onto the plate in front of Y’Dral.
“Where’s Z’sharan?” J’Dran asked as he sat down in his own chair with M’Ran on his lap. “And K’var?”
“Both have eaten and are gone,” Avhonari replied, smiling slightly as he heaped scrambled eggs onto Y’Dral’s plate. “For different reasons, of course. The Elders asked Z’sharan to recite a long history story for them this morning while the Council is in session, and K’var couldn’t wait to see R’shan. Young love,” he went on with a faint grimace.
Traggen chuckled, taking his seat next to his mate and their new baby. “You love it and you know it, Uncle Avhonari,” he teased.
“Yes, having your only child grow up and leave you for a mate is amazing, Traggen,” Avhonari replied dryly as he resumed his own seat. “Just wait until it happens to YOU. You’ll find out how pleasant it is.”
Traggen laughed at him openly. “You’ll survive. Besides, you have a new great-nephew and niece to make much of now. And it’ll be some time before either of them grows up and starts looking for a mate.”
“You have a point,” Avhonari said musingly, glancing at Y’Dral. The cub was eating his food so swiftly it was wonder he didn’t choke to death. He smiled and started eating his own breakfast, content to have children in the house once again. He was absolutely sure that J’Dran and Traggen would be happy to leave part of raising them to him and Z’sharan, since they already had so much experience. And he was fine with that. He’d found that he really liked children, and just being around them made him feel young and alive.
K’var bounced into R’shan’s house, finding the hunter checking the bindings on his favorite spear. R’shan looked up when he appeared, and smiled slightly in greeting. “Good morning, K’var,” he said.
“Good morning, R’shan,” K’var said in return.
R’shan set the spear aside. He reached out and pulled K’var into his lap, nuzzling his nose into the amber-colored hair atop his head. “I missed you last night,” he remarked.
K’var wound his arms around R’shan’s neck. “Me, too,” he said, tucking his head under R’shan’s chin.
Silence fell for a moment, then the hunter said slowly: “I have been thinking, K’var.”
He pulled back, wondering at that serious tone of voice. “About what?” he asked with a touch of anxiety in his voice.
“About us,” R’shan replied gravely, his eyes meeting K’var’s.
K’var gnawed on his lower lip a little. “Do you…? What is it?”
R’shan sighed and reached up to touch his lip, running his clawed fingertip over that pink surface tenderly. “I thought,” he began musingly, “That if I could couple with you that it would take care of my problem. My attraction to you. But it has only drawn me closer to you instead. You are still very child-like in some ways, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You’re very sweet and kind, a gentle-hearted soul. The way you look at me…” he trailed off, then took a deep breath. “I find that I cannot do without it,” he said seriously. “I need you, K’var. I’m too uptight,” he added with a wry grimace, “And too serious by half. You’ll keep me from growing old before my time. If you want to, that is. What I’m trying to say, VERY inarticulately…would you be my mate, K’var?”
He gasped, his eyes going wide. This wasn’t at all what he’d expected R’shan to say. “Y-You want me to be your mate?” he asked.
R’shan frowned. “Is there something wrong with that?” he asked sharply.
K’var collected himself. “Oh, no,” he said. “I just never thought that someone like you would want to mate with someone like me. Couple with me, maybe, but be mates? You’ve always lectured me and gotten angry with me, and…”
The hunter snorted. “I had good reason for that sometimes, I’d like to point out,” he growled. “And that was in the past. Now, I do not want to lecture you anymore. There are so many other things that we could be doing instead,” he went on, and the golden gleam in his eyes made K’var’s body stand to attention immediately. “But you still haven’t answered me. Will you be my mate or not?”
His brusque, rather annoyed question made K’var grin widely. It was SO R’shan! He tightened his grip around the hunter’s neck and kissed him. “Yes,” he said after he’d pulled away at last, “I will. Be your mate, that is. I know we may fight, but Uncle J’Dran and Cousin Traggen fight all the time and they really love each other,” he added happily.
R’shan rolled his eyes a little, but couldn’t help smiling at the same time. “You are a silly thing, K’var,” he said, trying to sound stern and failing utterly.
“I know. But you like that about me, don’t you? “K’var said, nestling against him in pure bliss.
“Yes for some strange reason I find that I do,” R’shan agreed, tightening his arms around K’var’s lithe form. “We’ll go before the Elders today and declare that we’re mated. Unless you want to wait for some reason?”
“No, today is fine. But…my parents want you to come to dinner tonight so that they can talk to you. I think it’s because they’re worried that you’ll break my heart,” K’var said matter-of-factly. “They’ll be so pleased about our announcement that they’ll stop worrying. And…”
“Yes?” R’shan asked, while letting his hands begin to slide down K’var’s torso in searching circles.
“I was wondering if …you wouldn’t mind…moving in with me…” K’var gasped, wriggling as R’shan began to make his body come alive once again, “At my fathers’ house. It would make them happy, and…I don’t…want to…leave my family…” he trailed off, moaning, as R’shan licked at the side of his neck.
The hunter considered his request in silence for a moment. “I suppose that would be fine,” he conceded. “For now. Perhaps later we might decide that we don’t want to live with your family anymore, though…”
“It’s all right if we decide to move back to the village later on,” K’var told him, kissing his chin, “I just don’t want my fathers to be sad that I’m gone. My Uncle and Cousin have some new cubs for them to take care of, so I’m sure it won’t take long for them to adjust to me being an adult,” he said, laughing.
R’shan shook his head, then turned them so that K’var ended up on his back on the bed. “Silly cub,” he murmured as he bent his head to begin tracing his lips over K’var’s skin.
“But I’m YOUR silly cub, aren’t I, R’shan?” K’var gasped, then arched his back into the kisses.
“Yes, you are, K’var. And you always will be,” R’shan growled, just before he silenced K’var’s mouth in the best way possible…
The End
Traggen chuckled when he got a look at K’var’s face, when the young wereleopard appeared at the table for dinner. K’var reddened and ducked his head, going around to sit down next to Traggen at his usual place. “Did you enjoy yourself, Cub?” Traggen asked him softly, making him squirm a bit in his chair.
“Yesss,” he hissed, half under his breath.
Traggen grinned but ruffled his hair affectionately. “That’s good. I’m glad. Not everyone has a good first time.”
K’var slid a glance his way. “Did you?” he asked curiously.
Traggen’s grin widened. “Of course I did. I chose a boy who had lots of experience and a gleam in his eyes that told me that he’d enjoy working to make me scream in pleasure,” he said, making K’var go a little pink again. His cousin was always so open about his sexuality…but then, so were most of his tribe as well. He wasn’t shy about sex, it was just that this had been his first time experiencing it…he rubbed at his nose with his fingertips.
“R’shan seemed very…experienced,” he replied slowly.
Traggen nodded. “The best kind,” he agreed. “Especially for a youngster’s first time.”
“But…” K’var began slowly, frowning a little, “Does that mean that R’shan has…with lots of people?” he asked unhappily.
Traggen hid a smile at the expression on the young wereleopard’s face. Ahh, jealousy and possessiveness. Two signs that the heart was involved, not just the gonads. “Perhaps. But perhaps it just means that he’s had one or two lovers that he was with more than once. Long enough to learn the ropes,” he replied. “Think of it this way, K’var. He was merely learning all of that so that he could pass it on to you. Just because he might have slept with a lot of people in the past, doesn’t mean that he has to continue to do so. Look at me, for example. I’ve never been with anyone else since I accepted your Uncle J’Dran as my mate. And I’m absolutely sure that I’ve been with ten times as many males as R’shan has. I was a busy little bee when I was younger. What counts now is not the past, but what happens in the future.”
K’var nodded slowly. “You’re right, Cousin Traggen. I won’t ask him about it - it’s none of my business anyway, not now that he’s with me.”
Traggen patted his arm. “That’s the spirit, cub. You just tie that hulking brute of a hunter around your little finger, and he won’t ever think about sniffing off after another male. I promise you that.”
K’var cocked his head. “How do I do that? Tie him around my little finger?” he asked in puzzlement.
Traggen snorted. “You just have to be yourself, K’var,” he replied in a good-humored tone of voice. “And it will happen naturally.”
They stopped talking about the subject just then, as Avhonari and Z’sharan entered the dining room. K’var leapt up to run around the table and hug Z’sharan, who returned the gesture and nuzzled his nose against his cub’s cheek. “Evening, Cub. Did you have a good day?” he asked, his eyes searching K’var’s face.
He ducked his head a little. “Yes, Father,” he mumbled, which made Z’sharan smiled slightly.
“Very well. What’s for dinner? I’m starving,” he remarked, tactfully changing the subject.
“Duck, actually,” Avhonari said, stepping past them to kiss K’var’s cheek and then take his seat at the table. “I knew having the duck pond dug out would start to pay off eventually. They’ve started to thrive, and so I had the man I pay to take care of them cull a few for our dinner.”
Z’sharan and K’var both looked interested. Neither had ever tasted duck before, although both of them adored the chickens that came from the large coop behind the house. While they’d had wild bird meat, they’d never tasted water fowl before this. Traggen chuckled. “You’ll like it. It’s a nice, savory meat,” he said. “I’ll be happy to have some again; it’s been almost a decade since I’ve had a duck.”
Avhonari nodded in agreement. “Indeed. That’s why I had them imported in the first place. I’ve always loved duck. Sit down, you two; and I’ll have the cook start to bring them out.”
Z’sharan and K’var readily took their seats, other thoughts forgotten in their interest over their dinner. And they both thoroughly enjoyed the duck, making little growling noises of approval in the backs of their throats as they ate. The two humans watched them in amused affection, enjoying their own dinners almost as much as the wereleopards did.
K’var snuggled up against R’shan’s massive chest, held securely in the hunter’s embrace. He laid his head against R’shan’s skin, hearing the steady thunder of his heart. Hands stroked over his naked body, caressing him idly. He closed his eyes, sighing in contented pleasure. Being held like this was much like being held by his parents - with an added dimension to it. His parents, after all, didn’t touch him in the way that R’shan did, didn’t caress him until all of his nerve-endings came alive in a wash of physical pleasure. Didn’t make his breath come short, and his body respond eagerly every time…
R’shan’s breath stirred his hair. “Are you falling asleep, K’var?” he rumbled softly.
“Mmm, hmm,” he murmured, hearing a low chuckle above his head.
“Just like a cub,” R’shan remarked, making his eyes fly open in indignation. He reared back, glowering at R’shan.
“I’m not a cub!” he protested vigorously, preparing to pull away completely out of the hunter’s grasp.
R’shan smiled at him in a way that made his breath catch, even though he was still indignant.
“I didn’t say that I thought you were a cub, K’var,” he pointed out in faint amusement. “Just that you’re falling asleep in my arms just like a cub would. If you were a cub, I wouldn’t do the things that I do with you,” he added, leaning forward to kiss K’var on the lips lightly. He licked a trail along his jawline, making K’var moan a little. He bit at K’var’s ear, making the younger wereleopard squirm in his lap. “I don’t do this with cubs,” he rasped into it.
K’var was so far gone that he could barely comprehend what R’shan was saying. And he really didn’t care anyway; not when his body was stirring again in that wonderful way that it always did whenever R’shan touched him. R’shan laughed throatily, then rolled so that K’var was pressed into the furs of his bed. He moved more easily now; it had been almost a week since he’d been injured, and the bruise on his thigh was healing nicely. He laid his big form over K’var’s much smaller one, looking down into his lover’s large eyes. He rocked his body over K’var’s, grinding their groins together.
“You’re definitely not a cub,” he growled, then he descended on K’var hungrily. No more words were spoken between them, but then who needed words at a time like this…
K’var bounced out of the jungle, humming to himself. He waved to his father, who was standing on the porch waiting for both his mate and his cub to return from the village. Avhonari smiled in greeting and lifted his own hand in return, as his son darted up onto the porch and hurled himself into his father’s arms. “Good evening, K’var,” Avhonari remarked, running a hand lightly through his hair. “How are you? And how is R’shan?”
“I’m fine, Father; and R’shan is wonderful!” K’var piped up, beaming up into his father’s eyes.
Avhonari sighed in resignation. “I see. That’s is good. Go inside and take a bath before dinner. Oh, and K’var…” he went on, making the young wereleopard pause in his dash into the house. “Would you invite R’shan to dine here tomorrow night? Father Z’sharan and I wish to get to know him better.”
K’var blinked. “All right, Father,” he replied. “If that’s what you wish.”
“Yes, it is,” Avhonari replied.
“All right, then. I’ll ask him tomorrow,” K’var darted into the house, leaving Avhonari standing on the porch with a rueful half-smile on his face. His son didn’t seem to be aware of just what was going on between himself and R’shan yet, though the rest of his family were fully aware already. K’var’s innocence was charming and adorable. It was one of the reasons that Avhonari was totally sure that the hunter R’shan was completely smitten with his child already…
Traggen emerged from the house just then, shading his eyes against the light of the lowering sun as he stared at the jungle. Avhonari understood his nephew’s worried stare - J’Dran still hadn’t returned home, and it had been almost a week since he’d departed looking for a cub for he and Traggen to raise. Could something have happened to him? Avhonari hoped not; he liked his mate’s brother, and Traggen would be devastated if something untoward happened to his mate. He thought that he should ask Z’sharan about sending out search parties starting tomorrow, to see if they could find out where J’Dran had gone and what had happened to him. He wouldn’t say anything about it to Traggen just yet, not wanting to worry him any further.
Traggen sighed, lowering his hand. Avhonari cast him a sympathetic glance. The younger human leaning on the porch ailing, rubbing at the side of his face with his hand. Avhonari opened his mouth to say something, but just then a yell from the direction of the jungle distracted him. Both of them turned to look, and Avhonari saw his own mate emerge from the jungle…followed by J’Dran! Z’sharan waved at him, and Avhonari returned it in desperate relief as Traggen yelled himself and vaulted off the porch to go running down the shallow slope toward his returned mate. J’Dran grinned at him, but didn’t wave. He couldn’t; his arms were full of a small child who was clinging to his neck.
“J’Dran!” a relieved Traggen cried, running up to his mate. “Where have you been?! I’ve been worried sick, you big lout!”
J’Dran looked sheepish. “I’m sorry, little one, but I had to go further afield looking for an orphan cub than I imagined that I’d have to. All the way to the far side of the jungle, to the tribe that lives over by the Darktooth Mountains. It was a perilous trek, especially coming back with the cubs in tow.”
Traggen blinked. “Cubs?” he repeated, looking at the child in J’Dran’s arms, which was staring shyly at him with huge golden eyes.
J’Dran chuckled, then turned and displayed his back to his mate. There was a leather sling hanging over his shoulders, and a startled Traggen could see a small face edged by the fur lining the sling. A pair of big eyes were closed in sleep, and a tiny starfish hand was curled up against a porcelain cheek. J’Dran turned back around again. “This is Y’Dral,” he said to his mate, lifting the boy in his arms a bit, “And the baby is his sister M’Ran. They were newly orphaned; their parents died in a flash flood when they were fishing in the river that’s near their village. The Elders insisted that I had to take both of them, so that they wouldn’t be separated; or otherwise I couldn’t have either one. I can understand that. Is it all right with you, Traggen?” he asked, studying his mate’s face.
Traggen blew out a long breath. “Two?” he said slowly. “I was barely ready for one!”
J’Dran grimaced. “I know. But there were no other orphans in either of the other tribes that I visited. And these little ones need parents, now that theirs are gone. Please?” he asked hopefully, practically batting his eyes at his mate.
Traggen sighed, but he could feel himself giving in. He looked at the boy perched in J’Dran’s strong arms. “Y’Dral?” he said, and the boy cocked his head when his name was spoken. “I’m Traggen, J’Dran’s mate. I guess I’m going to be your father.”
The boy put his fingers in his mouth. He looked at J’Dran, who smiled at him easily and set him on his feet. Traggen crouched down, putting himself in the boy’s eye line once again. “Welcome to our home,” he said.
The cub stared at him uncertainly, but at last he took his fingers out of his mouth. “Father?” he asked in a small voice.
Traggen found himself smiling. “Yes, Father,” he replied simply. “I am your father, as is J’Dran. And we’ll always take care of you, I promise.”
The cub looked back at J’Dran, who made shooing motions at him. At last he stepped toward Traggen, watching him warily. He waited until the boy was nearer to him, then lifted his hand and held it out. The cub stared at it, but at last he lifted his own hand and set it in Traggen’s. “Y’Dral,” he said again. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The golden eyes blinked at him. Traggen carefully eased himself down into the grass, sitting cross-legged. The cub stared at him, and when he didn’t move Y’Dral finally sat down on his knee tentatively. Traggen nearly held his breath as the cub got settled, looking up into his face with those huge eyes. He glanced at J’Dran, who had crouched down beside them. “You see? I knew you two would get along,” he said happily, reaching out to pet the cub’s hair affectionately.
“What about the baby? Won’t she need milk or something?” Traggen asked dubiously.
“No; she’s mostly weaned,” J’Dran answered readily. “All she needs is meat chewed for her. I can do that.”
Traggen was relieved to hear that, as he wasn’t sure exactly how one went about finding a wereleopard nursemaid. “Actually, dinner’s almost ready,” he said softly. “If you’re all hungry.”
J’Dran looked down on Y’Dral. “Are you hungry, Cub?” he asked.
The boy’s big eyes lit up from within. He nodded eagerly. J’Dran grinned. “I thought so. They’re always hungry at this age. We can go inside in a moment and get everybody something to eat. Are you sure that you’re all right with this, Traggen?” he asked again, his eyes searching his mate’s face.
Traggen shrugged, reaching out to caress the boy’s shoulder with his hand. “I’m sure that I will be, even if I’m not quite now,” he responded. “Besides, I’m just glad to have you home, J’Dran.”
The wereleopard looked satisfied with his answer. “I’m glad to be home, Traggen,” he replied readily. “Especially,” he looked at the cub perched on his mate’s knee, “Now that we have our family.”
“A bigger family than I expected,” Traggen remarked dryly, “But that’s fine. Although I know absolutely nothing about girls, J’Dran. So I sure hope that you do.”
The wereleopard shrugged in turn. “Not much, but I’m sure that there will be plenty of our tribeswomen who will be happy to help us learn all about them. All we have to do is show her to them, and even the most hardened warrior will melt. I guarantee it.”
Traggen found himself laughing. “You’re probably right,” he conceded. “Y’Dral. If you come with me, we can go in and get something to eat now.”
The cub hopped off of his lap and stood waiting while he got to his feet, then he reached out and grabbed a surprised Traggen’s hand. He tugged at it impatiently when the human didn’t move right away, and J’Dran’s eyes gleamed with laughter and fondness as the cub practically towed his mate away toward the house, so eager was he to get something to eat. He rose to his own feet carefully, aware of the cub sleeping in the sling on his back. His brother walked over to join him, and they moved toward the house together as Avhonari made the acquaintance of his new grandnephew.
Traggen curled up in bed next to his mate, relishing having J’Dran’s warmth and hard body against his once again. He glanced over at the make-shift crib next to the bed, where their new daughter M’Ran was sleeping. Y’Dral was tucked up in the bed in his new room, but they’d decided to keep the baby in their room for now. “I’m glad to have you home, J’Dran,” he murmured, rubbing his cheek against the wereleopard’s chest affectionately.
“I’m glad to be home, little one,” J’Dran replied, running his clawed fingers through Traggen’s curls. “Especially with our new cubs in tow. Aren’t they wonderful, Traggen?”
He smiled. “Yes, they are,” he agreed. “You did good, J’Dran. You did very good.”
“Of course I did. I picked you as a mate, didn’t I?” the wereleopard said teasingly.
Traggen blew out a mock-exasperated breath. “Silly lunkhead. Your doing that convinced me that you aren’t very smart.”
J’Dran grinned toothily, then kissed him. “Maybe I’m not very smart, but I know a good thing when I see it,” he said when their lips parted again.
Traggen ran a hand over his chest provocatively. “Yes, you do,” he agreed.
“I can be very good, as you well know,” he added in a sultry, insinuating tone of voice.
J’Dran’s breath caught. “”Show me just how good you are, Traggen,” he growled, and the human was happy to do just that.
Avhonari looked up when his nephew and brother-by-mating entered the dining room the next morning, J’Dran carrying the baby girl and Traggen leading Y’Dral by the hand. “Ah, good morning,” he remarked. “How are the children today?”
“No worse for wear for the long trip,” Traggen replied, lifting Y’Dral into an empty chair. “But hungry. Right, Y’Dral?”
The boy nodded eagerly, eyeing the fresh baked goods and heaps of bacon, sausage, and fluffy scrambled eggs with a rabid look in his eyes.
“Of course we’ll be happy to feed them,” Avhonari replied humorously, standing up to begin serving food onto the plate in front of Y’Dral.
“Where’s Z’sharan?” J’Dran asked as he sat down in his own chair with M’Ran on his lap. “And K’var?”
“Both have eaten and are gone,” Avhonari replied, smiling slightly as he heaped scrambled eggs onto Y’Dral’s plate. “For different reasons, of course. The Elders asked Z’sharan to recite a long history story for them this morning while the Council is in session, and K’var couldn’t wait to see R’shan. Young love,” he went on with a faint grimace.
Traggen chuckled, taking his seat next to his mate and their new baby. “You love it and you know it, Uncle Avhonari,” he teased.
“Yes, having your only child grow up and leave you for a mate is amazing, Traggen,” Avhonari replied dryly as he resumed his own seat. “Just wait until it happens to YOU. You’ll find out how pleasant it is.”
Traggen laughed at him openly. “You’ll survive. Besides, you have a new great-nephew and niece to make much of now. And it’ll be some time before either of them grows up and starts looking for a mate.”
“You have a point,” Avhonari said musingly, glancing at Y’Dral. The cub was eating his food so swiftly it was wonder he didn’t choke to death. He smiled and started eating his own breakfast, content to have children in the house once again. He was absolutely sure that J’Dran and Traggen would be happy to leave part of raising them to him and Z’sharan, since they already had so much experience. And he was fine with that. He’d found that he really liked children, and just being around them made him feel young and alive.
K’var bounced into R’shan’s house, finding the hunter checking the bindings on his favorite spear. R’shan looked up when he appeared, and smiled slightly in greeting. “Good morning, K’var,” he said.
“Good morning, R’shan,” K’var said in return.
R’shan set the spear aside. He reached out and pulled K’var into his lap, nuzzling his nose into the amber-colored hair atop his head. “I missed you last night,” he remarked.
K’var wound his arms around R’shan’s neck. “Me, too,” he said, tucking his head under R’shan’s chin.
Silence fell for a moment, then the hunter said slowly: “I have been thinking, K’var.”
He pulled back, wondering at that serious tone of voice. “About what?” he asked with a touch of anxiety in his voice.
“About us,” R’shan replied gravely, his eyes meeting K’var’s.
K’var gnawed on his lower lip a little. “Do you…? What is it?”
R’shan sighed and reached up to touch his lip, running his clawed fingertip over that pink surface tenderly. “I thought,” he began musingly, “That if I could couple with you that it would take care of my problem. My attraction to you. But it has only drawn me closer to you instead. You are still very child-like in some ways, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You’re very sweet and kind, a gentle-hearted soul. The way you look at me…” he trailed off, then took a deep breath. “I find that I cannot do without it,” he said seriously. “I need you, K’var. I’m too uptight,” he added with a wry grimace, “And too serious by half. You’ll keep me from growing old before my time. If you want to, that is. What I’m trying to say, VERY inarticulately…would you be my mate, K’var?”
He gasped, his eyes going wide. This wasn’t at all what he’d expected R’shan to say. “Y-You want me to be your mate?” he asked.
R’shan frowned. “Is there something wrong with that?” he asked sharply.
K’var collected himself. “Oh, no,” he said. “I just never thought that someone like you would want to mate with someone like me. Couple with me, maybe, but be mates? You’ve always lectured me and gotten angry with me, and…”
The hunter snorted. “I had good reason for that sometimes, I’d like to point out,” he growled. “And that was in the past. Now, I do not want to lecture you anymore. There are so many other things that we could be doing instead,” he went on, and the golden gleam in his eyes made K’var’s body stand to attention immediately. “But you still haven’t answered me. Will you be my mate or not?”
His brusque, rather annoyed question made K’var grin widely. It was SO R’shan! He tightened his grip around the hunter’s neck and kissed him. “Yes,” he said after he’d pulled away at last, “I will. Be your mate, that is. I know we may fight, but Uncle J’Dran and Cousin Traggen fight all the time and they really love each other,” he added happily.
R’shan rolled his eyes a little, but couldn’t help smiling at the same time. “You are a silly thing, K’var,” he said, trying to sound stern and failing utterly.
“I know. But you like that about me, don’t you? “K’var said, nestling against him in pure bliss.
“Yes for some strange reason I find that I do,” R’shan agreed, tightening his arms around K’var’s lithe form. “We’ll go before the Elders today and declare that we’re mated. Unless you want to wait for some reason?”
“No, today is fine. But…my parents want you to come to dinner tonight so that they can talk to you. I think it’s because they’re worried that you’ll break my heart,” K’var said matter-of-factly. “They’ll be so pleased about our announcement that they’ll stop worrying. And…”
“Yes?” R’shan asked, while letting his hands begin to slide down K’var’s torso in searching circles.
“I was wondering if …you wouldn’t mind…moving in with me…” K’var gasped, wriggling as R’shan began to make his body come alive once again, “At my fathers’ house. It would make them happy, and…I don’t…want to…leave my family…” he trailed off, moaning, as R’shan licked at the side of his neck.
The hunter considered his request in silence for a moment. “I suppose that would be fine,” he conceded. “For now. Perhaps later we might decide that we don’t want to live with your family anymore, though…”
“It’s all right if we decide to move back to the village later on,” K’var told him, kissing his chin, “I just don’t want my fathers to be sad that I’m gone. My Uncle and Cousin have some new cubs for them to take care of, so I’m sure it won’t take long for them to adjust to me being an adult,” he said, laughing.
R’shan shook his head, then turned them so that K’var ended up on his back on the bed. “Silly cub,” he murmured as he bent his head to begin tracing his lips over K’var’s skin.
“But I’m YOUR silly cub, aren’t I, R’shan?” K’var gasped, then arched his back into the kisses.
“Yes, you are, K’var. And you always will be,” R’shan growled, just before he silenced K’var’s mouth in the best way possible…
The End