The Bridal Hunt (12 page)

I threw my head back and gasped as he brought me to climax, his finger slipping out suddenly, causing me to cry out at the loss, my sex convulsing around nothing, throbbing at the emptiness.

Then he was there, hot and hard, the head of him trying to make entry as he pushed his way in, his hands gripping my hips as he grunted and groaned, growling out in frustration at the tight fit.

My body was still coming off of my first orgasm, swiftly heading towards another as he steadily plowed his way inside my tight hot depths.

"Veck!" I bawled out, gripping the hair on his chest, tugging a little as he sent me over again.

He roared and slammed into me, his body stiffening and then rearing up as he ground his pelvis against mine, his grunts and gasps of fulfillment filling the air as we sated ourselves on each other.

He buried his face in my neck as he continued to pump in and out of me, his heart beat thumping as wildly as mine as we lay intertwined, the last remnants of our orgasms fading slowly, leaving me breathless and weak.

When our bodies had settled themselves some, he rolled over and pulled me on top of him, nuzzling my hair as he laid me on his chest and pulled my head down, his hands running soothingly over my back as his engorged erection still throbbed deep inside me.

"I thought you said no sex?" I asked bre
athlessly, but added quickly, "Not that I'm complaining or anything."

I know I'd technically said 'n
o' at first... and call me turncoat, but I'm definitely willing to be persuaded into camp 'yes, please, may I have another?'.

Round two anyone?

"Not sex," he said sitting up with me on his lap, making sure he stayed inside me, "Claim my mate,
make love
."

He grinned, wiggling his brows at me playfully.

I raised a brow at him and gave him an 'oh, really' stare.

He looked at me and cleared his throat, his smile suddenly fading, "Meanie's not mad at Veck?"

"Oh, you jerk." I tried to affect an injured tone, ruining it when he looked truly upset, maybe even worried, and I chuckled.

His smile kicked up in relief.

He cares, I know he does.

I slapped his chest playfully and tugged on a lock of his hair.

"No, I'm not mad. Though I probably should be." I smiled at him a little shyly.

He nuzzled my neck and hugged me to his chest, sighing in contentment as he told me, "Veck's mate, never letting Meanie go. Veck's forever."

I didn't say anything, but began to wonder if I
would
be able to leave him now if the opportunity did arise.

What did I really have waiting for me back there anyways?

Chapter 9

On the last day of their work week
, they work for seven days and then take the eighth day off, everyone gathers around big fire pits with spits of roasting meat on them.

Generally eating together, catching up, laughing, dancing, or as I witnessed some do the last time they'd gathered, get drunk on the fruity sour drink they brew and make an ass out of themselves.

I looked around surreptitiously, trying to spot Candy anywhere in the crowd. I was starting to get worried when I didn't see her all week and was beginning to worry about what had happened to her.

It has become my mission to find out.

I've become a bit of a stalker, following Kirch around when I could, trying to solve this mystery.

Where the hell is the stupid tart?

Where's a big great dane that can talk and rides around in a psychedelic shag wagon when you need one?

Is Candy
sick?

Did she get hurt?

Did Kirch harm her?

That last thought didn't sit too well with me, but for all of Kirch's grumbling, stomping about and all over sour disposition, I've never seen him r
aise his hand at anyone or do anything intentionally cruel.

All I've managed to figure out is that he's not all that bad of a beastie,
darn it
, and he tends towards the quietly brooding sort, often keeping to himself.

What does he do in his hut with his free time,
I wondered
.

Erm... maybe I don't wanna know. He could be tuggin' his rug for all I know.

I snorted at that thought.

Tuggin' his rug... hah...

His surliness seems to be more inwardly directed
, I reflected as I spotted him in the crowd, looking around avidly for someone or something.

His eyes found mine
, those scary, bright yellow irises locking on mine.

My stomach jumped and butterflies started banging around in my gut, a nervousness with him that I choose not to delve too deeply into, taking up residence in my body.

He kidnapped you, Mina. If anything, you should be sickened by the sight of him!

But...

...I'm not...

My thoughts were interrupted as he strode determinedly towards me, his steps long and lithe, gracefully predatory as he marched straight up to me, thrusting something directly in front of my face.

"Here."

"Uh...
" I pushed at his wrist, lowering the clump of flowers and weeds he had fisted in his huge paw out of my nose.

There was a whole lot of some kind of purple stemmed flower with green petals bunched in there, looking as if they were velvety to the touch.

He's been doing this all week, ever since I started trying to snoop on him, bringing me things, trying to approach me in the middle of a large group, like today.

"Take, Meanie," he demanded and shook the wild bouquet, reddish grey dirt shaking all over me from the roots covered in dirt that were still attached. "Like Meanie's eyes."

"Like my..."

He pointed at my eyes, then pointed at the light green petals, looking at me pointedly, then wiggling the bouquet again.

That's actually kind of sweet...

Oh, noooo, Mina. Don't even go there.

No. No. No.

And just like all the other gifts he's tried to 'give' me, I shook my head 'no' at him, clutching my hands behind my back.

No way in hell
.

I know what it would mean to him and I am
not
taking that prickly road with Kirch of the grumpy asses.

I don't care how many women have multiple mates around here, let them have a million if its suits them.

Good for them, hope they're happy... just leave me the heck out of it.

He growled and leaned in towards me, his warm breath hot by my ear as he growled again.

I backed away, ashamed at my body's response, gooseflesh covering me instantly at his second, more meaningful growl.

"I'm with Veck. I'm Veck's mate."

Other beasties started to take note of us quietly arguing, Kirch's growling and grunting catching their attention.

He snarled at me, frustrated and angry, shoving the flowers into my hands and stomping off, grumbling loudly as he headed off towards the huts.

I can't be too sure, but I'm pretty sure the things he was barking, to no one in general, were not complimentary to my ‘kind’ or my gender...
probably not kind to
me
in general.

There might even be a few cuss words thrown in there somewhere too, just for effect, but I really couldn't tell ya.

I acted like nothing was amiss, sneaking covert glances at my flowers, taking a whiff of them when I thought no one was looking.

Kirch doesn't know this, but I kept all the other gifts too, hiding them wrapped up in a bundle in my old clothes, shoved in the back of the closet.

I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.

I'm not going to acknowledge
that
either, I'll just keep telling myself that it's because they were thoughtful and beautifully hand made.

Nothing to do with him.

Nothing.

Maybe that's what he does with his free time? The wood work.

He'd made little trinkets and figurines out of wood for me, carving them and staining them with naturally made dyes.

The detail on them was so intricate and meticulous, it made them almost life like, the little wooden creatures practically reaching out towards me when I snuck a peek ever so often at them and admired them.

Popping out of my thoughts, I glanced up, spotting Veck making his way towards me.

A wide grin spread across his face as he made his way over, his eyes twinkling mischievously as his head bobbed above everyone else's in the crowd, by at least five inches.

Yep, Mina, you just had to go and mate the biggest bastard they had, didn't you?

I smiled fondly as Veck lumbered towards me, his excitement obvious in his face as the light from the fire danced across his features.

No more surly scowls for my mate
, I thought grinning,
he's been smiling like that all week.

Hmmm, wonder why?

My nipples hardened just thinking about it.

"Hey, sweet cheeks, what are you up to?" I asked saucily, hugging him affectionately as he lifted me off my feet and nuzzled my neck.

That deep rusty purr he has only for me, vibrated his chest as he hummed against my throat.

"Mmmm?" he murmured as his hands rubbed my hips, massaging them in his big strong hands as he held me to him.

"Don't you
mmmm
me, Veck. I know you're up to something and I want to know what."

I waited impatiently as he pulled back to look at me.

My eyebrows rose inquiringly at him and he pursed his lips, as if he was thinking about what he was going to say.

"Veck not tell. Show Meanie.
Meanie like, yes?" He set me down and scooped my hand up in his, clasping it gently as he tugged me away from the group gathered to celebrate.

I allowed him to tug me along, swinging our hands between us as we headed towards the woods.

He noticed the flowers I was still holding and smiled at me.

"Picking flowers, Meanie?"

"Oh, you know me," I joked, waggling my bouquet at him, "I just go around stealing them out of people's yards, right after I've toilet papered their huts."

"Toilet papered?"

"Paper you wipe your butt with."

I chortled at the look on his face.

"It's not any different than what you all use."

He opened his mouth to say something, probably argue, but I stopped him.

"Don't even
try
to tell me it’s better than using a leaf, bud, 'cause it aint."

He wisely kept his mouth shut, giving me a wink and a smirk before he turned to keep walking.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked as I tried to navigate my way through the darkness of the woods.

He didn't respond, just kept leading me deeper and deeper into the forest, humming a little on his way.

I looked at his back dubiously and decided to just let him show me instead, so I kept quiet and let him lead me to his surprise.

We entered a clearing and my breath caught as I took it all in.

It's so beautiful
.

There were icicles hanging from the trees all around us. A stump from a tree was centered towards the edge of the frozen lake that butted up against our spot. It was placed strategically so it was overlooking the beautiful lake.

There was an arbor made of twigs and branches that came over the tree stump, winter Lo denaii blossoms twined into the branches.

A thin layer of frost covered
everything, making it look like everything glittered as he lit candles sitting on small round clay discs strewn about everywhere.

"What is all this?" I asked completely surprised.

Veck walked over to the tree stump and picked up a couple of things before he made his way over to me, kneeling down on his knees in front of me as he gripped my hips and looked at me.

It was a little silly when you thought about it, him being eye level with me when he gets down on his knees, but I had a feeling I knew what he was doing and my heart melted at all the effort he'd put into all of this.

"Meanie? Veck do this right?" he asked as he glanced around at everything, "This Meanie’s marr… uh... marr..."

"Marriage?" I asked him as I sniffled a little, "You want me to marry you?"

"Yes," he nodded and took something out of his belt, opening his fist to show me a delicately twined ring fashioned from braided bits of animal hide, an opal like shimmering stone beaded in the center.

He made it, I know he did.

"Meanie said her people marriage. For forever. Meanie marriage Veck forever?" he asked as he held the ring in his open palm out to me.