Hunting the Huntress (5 page)

The air around them grew scented with their passion and echoed with their cries.

Cheveyo tensed between her legs, his breath caught in his chest. It escaped on a long delighted growl. His orgasm shuddered through him, and his thumb squeezed her nub against his finger. With a groan she shuddered with ecstasy and dissolved beneath him.

Tate grunted above her. His body quivered, and with a final thrust, he surged deep into her mouth, his hot seed spurting into her eager throat. The sounds of their climax followed the watchful moon as it traveled across the autumn sky.

38

“We need to head back, my friend.” Cheveyo spoke softly, holding to the delicate sense of balance the three had reached. He wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night here with the woman they had come so far to find. But the night air was growing cold, and the scent of snow now filled the air.

Tate had risen again moments before to pace restlessly around the canyon once more. The harsh lines of the warrior’s face were set in the commanding mask Cheveyo had long since grown accustomed to. Behind the self-assured front, he could see the worry that weighed on his friend’s heart.

The source of that worry lay quietly in his arms. Not sleeping, but deliberately avoiding their gazes. Knowing she had much to think about, he left her to her thoughts and enjoyed the moment.

Her hot, exotic scent teased his senses. The smell of sex was ripe in the air. The reminders of their combined pleasure rode his senses, keeping him aroused even after the incredible climax she had brought him to only moments before.

She was perfect. Her face was delicately formed, even more striking in person than in his dreams. The slim cheekbones and long nose were in perfect balance with her deepset eyes. Full, lush lips were perfectly fitted for him. Her life had shaped and honed her body, until it became both weapon and tool. Tonight it had been a tool of pleasure.

Cheveyo stroked a hand down the curve of her back, relishing her warm flesh against his.

She was a strong woman. Every line in her body was carved of muscle. Smooth skin covered her strength, lending grace to the power. Watching her dissolve into climax with Tate had been like watching two great storm fronts collide over Yellow River Peak—two beautifully formed forces of power, coming together with a rush of wild energy and booming command.

39

Yet as much as he was aroused by her physical strength, he respected the quickness of her mind. It took great skill and an intelligent mind to become a huntress in a world where men were the providers. More than that, it had taken determination to keep the males of her pack from forcing her submission. He’d seen her sharpness in action as she tried to elude them during the hunt. Only the early scouting that Tate habitually did before a hunt had allowed them to force her into their trap. He murmured a quick thank you to the Great Spirit for the blessings she had been granted, both in body and intellect, and added a quick prayer for guidance.

A shadow passed before the moon as the gathering clouds thickened. He met Tate’s gaze as the warrior came to stand beside them.

“Let us head back before the snow catches us here unprepared.” Tate spoke with an ease of command, and Nilana nodded her agreement even as she slipped from Cheveyo’s arms. Cheveyo fought the impulse to hold her tight and rose to his feet. Quickly they shifted and headed out into the darkness of the night.

Cheveyo ran behind the other two as they ran back towards the gathered tribes, using the time to study Nilana with Tate more closely. She moved with a natural grace, every motion a fluid dance. Her delicate ears lay close to the fine bones of her skull, flickering to follow the sounds of the night around them. Tate ran shoulder to shoulder with her, his muscular body a perfect frame for her feminine shape. Already they had found a rhythm, one guarding the other as each searched the darkness for danger. With wordless communication they veered in perfect harmony up the shallow side of the dry canyon, feet moving in synchronized harmony. She wouldn’t admit it, but her spirit had already made a choice. Now they just had to convince her heart.

The memory of the fragile smile that had too briefly graced her lips was forever seared into his heart. For that one moment, she had sparkled with more than beauty. He had wanted nothing more than to make her smile again and again, and keep that look of utter fulfillment on her face forever.

40

It had been barely over a month since he’d first dreamed her face. In many ways, she was still a mystery to him. She was a woman who would confront danger with great courage, yet right now she hid the source of her fear—even from herself.

Having watched her with the gathered people of the southern tribes, he’d seen how easily she talked to the oldest warriors or the youngest of maidens. With a sympathetic ear or a helping hand, she found a way to put those around her at ease. Yet for all her grace with others she held herself back, not allowing herself to engage on a deeper level with the people around her. At night she had gone to her lodge alone, sharing her furs with no other. For a woman whose spirit called to the people around her, she lived curiously removed.

In his deepest dreams, she had captivated him. She’d been a light in the dark, and he had spent many nights in spirit walk to find her. When finally he had stared into her eyes, he’d known he had found his soul waiting for him there. And it had taken only that one smile to complete him.

Love surged through him, fierce and protective. He would find out what she feared.

And he would show her that together they had the strength and courage enough to face any battle.

41

A mating.

Nilana had never thought the choice would come to her. Now she lay in her lodge sheltered between the two most captivating men she’d ever met, filled with a fierce longing for the very thing she feared most.

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” Tate’s voice washed over her with the warm heat of smoke from a fire. “Having to face the possibilities.”

“I can’t be what you want me to be. Who you need me to be.” Her words were strained. “I am a huntress. I can’t be your mate.” She buried her face in his broad shoulder, wishing she could stop the night from slipping away.

Cheveyo sat up beside her, his hard body leaning over hers. “You are a huntress. No one has denied that. Why do you keep saying it as if it is what holds you back?”

Filled with frustration, Nilana met his gaze. How could he be this dense? “I could never understand how the other women can be content, happy waiting at the camp for the hunters to return. Cooking, tending the lodge, cleaning the kill. That is the life of a woman once mated. I have no skills for such a life! I would be a failure as a mate.”

“You could never be a failure at anything you put your heart to. But no one is asking you to become a cook.”

Tate added his voice to that of his shaman. “Wildcat, we need a mate who is our partner. Someone to bring her strength to our pack, and to our lodge. If we looked only for a cook, or a woman to bear our children, we would not have had the need to travel the long weeks to the harvest hunt.”

She remained still, listening to what they said. Wanting to believe them with all her heart—a heart they had opened to desires she had never thought to discover when the mating hunt had begun. They surrounded her, Cheveyo sitting on one side, Tate still 42

cradling her close from behind. And she felt the beginning of hope spread through her veins.

“We can go back to our tribe unmated.” Tate spoke the words, his voice tight and unhappy behind her. “And our lives will go on. Although they will be darker without you.

Our spirits will miss what they have found in you, the piece that completes our whole.

But we don’t want to. We don’t want to live without you beside us. We want to mate, to join our spirit totems to yours as our flesh merges and binds us into one. We would choose to build our tribe, our future, with you—Nilana, great huntress, who could be our mate.”

“Is it truly hard to accept that you could find happiness with us?” Cheveyo asked at last. “Have we been that unpleasing to your body and spirit?” His lips curved up in a small smile with the last, but his gaze was steady on hers.

Staring into his eyes, she felt the first buds of acceptance come to life within her.

She smiled at him, admiring him in his scarred perfection. Reflected in his eyes she could see herself, held tight by the muscled arms of the warrior behind her. Her heart beat fast in her chest, filled with a joy she’d never thought to know.

She held her hand out to him in invitation, surprised at its steadiness when she faced such a momentous decision. But then in her heart, she was sure. “You have certainly been pleasing my body. Now it’s time for you to please my spirit as well. Let us mate.”

Tate’s roar of satisfaction filled the air. Nilana laughed, knowing the lodges near them would certainly have heard the sound and known the reason. With a smile for Cheveyo, she pulled him down by her side. He came to her willingly, eagerly, his lips latching onto first one dusky nipple then the other with a deep groan of hunger. Her back arched as arrows of heat ran through her veins.

Turning to Tate, she met his mouth with hers. His tongue entered her hungrily, and she leaned into his kiss. His cock pressed against her hip, and she wiggled teasingly against him.

43

In her spirit, she felt her cougar begin to stir. Her totem wanted this with a hunger that rapidly spread to consume her body. A welcoming dampness grew between her thighs.

She needed them. Needed them both, her warrior and shaman. She moaned into Tate’s mouth and rolled to follow him to the ground. Twisting his hips, he settled on his back and pulled her over his shaft. His musk rolled off his skin now in waves, and she wanted to wallow against him until her body was marked with his scent. His large hands cupped her breasts, fingers massaging the nipples into tight points of fiery pleasure.

Cheveyo licked her neck, sucking the sensitive flesh into his teeth and biting gently.

Releasing her, he moved down her back to lick gently at the curve of her hips and backside. His lips left a trail of fire down the cleft of her buttocks.

His hand moved between her thighs, and a pleased sigh came from him at the moisture he found there. His fingers dipped into her channel and pulled a gasp from her with the thrust of one finger deep inside her. Stroking deeply, he allowed her dew to coat him heavily. Then a finger was there at the rosebud of her ass, pressing firmly past the tight outer ring.

Nilana gasped, arching her body away from him. Not in denial, but in shock at the unknown pressure. Tate had paused expectantly beneath her, waiting at the entrance of her core. Now he surged forward, using her instinctive movements to work his way deep inside her heat with a single thrust. And there she poised, balanced on the pinnacle of pleasure, with delight stroking hot across her core.

She whimpered, hanging still and motionless between them. Then she felt the spirit inside her spring to life and began to move with the desires of her beast.

Leaning forward into Tate’s hands, she lowered her chest to press against his. Her bottom was thrust high in the air, clearly offering her submission to their demands. The cock that filled her began to move, and she reveled in the sensation of her flesh stretching to adapt to the thickness within. “Ride with me, Wildcat. Let our spirits show you what pleasure we can find together.” Tate urged her into sensuous motion atop him, while he thrust into her deeply.

44

The burning pressure behind her grew, and she felt the stretching as a second finger joined the first. Finally a third, and she began to moan low in her throat. Her hips rose and fell. Each rise took her into the sweet, burning pain behind her. Each fall onto Tate’s hardness raked her across the edge of ecstasy as nerve endings inside she’d not known existed were treated to a fiery pleasure.

Cheveyo groaned as he at last allowed his control to break. His cougar came forth in a growl of demand, and she felt him move to cover her. His front curved around her back as he positioned the broad head of his cock against her buttocks, and pushed.

Nilana experienced the huge pressure, but this time she was ready. She pushed out eagerly, welcoming the harsh fire of his entry, letting his thrust fill her at the moment she settled fully into the rigid staff that filled her womb. Their double penetration strummed across her body in a wave of consuming pleasure. Tate’s knees rose, and he began a rapid thrusting that kept her in a state of constant movement as he pushed her up, then allowed the weight of Cheveyo to force her back down. Burning ever higher, she felt the pull of climax as it raced towards her.

As she screamed out her pleasure, she heard her lovers growl their possession in return. She felt the beginnings of a piercing pain , as the two cocks that filled her began to develop the barbs that would bind them through the mating. Every nerve screamed to life while her body adapted, agony mixed with an ecstasy she’d never dreamed existed.

Eagerly she embraced both the pain and pleasure of the physical binding that would echo the spiritual bond of their mating.

Throwing back her head, she caught sight of the moon through the smoke hole as it spun across the heavens. With a final growl, she released her cougar and let it possess her body, eager to merge her spirit with those of her chosen mates. Tate roared beneath her.

His eyes clenched shut, then opened to stare at her with the slitted eyes of his cougar.

Midnight black, they captured her in their commanding gaze. His hand lifted to stroke her core, circling the bud that ached for his touch. Once, twice he rubbed before she exploded in release against him, feeling her cougar scream a welcome along the tie that bound their spirits.

45

Nilana bucked wildly as the climax swept through her. She felt Cheveyo’s teeth close around her neck again, holding her tightly between strong jaws. Then his spirit swept into her as well, and the three beasts came together in a rush of sensation that scorched her to her soul.

Their minds joined together with their spirits, and she felt the bond growing stronger.

She wallowed in the glorious and intoxicating joy of the moment, the dark, carnal delight they shared from their mating. Their minds began to race in tandem, thought and feeling springing from one to another until there was no telling where her body stopped and her spirit began. Every moment of their ecstasy became hers, driving her up higher until she could swear she touched the sky itself.

Great Spirit, what did I ever do to deserve this?
She couldn’t tell where the thought came from or whose heart had first felt it. She only knew it was now a feeling that lived and grew in all three of them. Every breath deepened their bond until she thought she sensed eternity down the long link, a melding with no beginning and no end, only the certainty of forever.

As one, the men tensed, swelling inside her. Front and back, their bodies tied to hers in a physical joining that would hold them locked together. She felt the orgasms sweep their bodies, and her body began to quiver in response. On and on it went, her passages clenching as her body milked the fluids from their shafts.

“Wildcat.” Tate’s mouth found hers with a soul-searing kiss. Thoroughly, lingeringly he possessed her, claiming the right to bind her to him for eternity.

She pulled away at last and turned her head to meet the gaze of Cheveyo. She was not surprised to see his eyes had taken their animal shape, deep green gems that glittered with satisfaction. His tongue was more demanding as he staked his equal claim, warring with her until she sighed her submission.

We found you.

Nilana heard the words come through the bond, two very satisfied male voices speaking as one. The warmth of their love filled her.

46

She knew she had found not one, but two men to call her own. Men who would never ask her to be what she was not, and who treasured her for what she was. She could taste the bitter remnants of their fear she would not mate, and she rejoiced in their overwhelming bliss at having gained her acceptance.

Cuddled between them, she found her home. As they lay joined together and relished the bond of their mating, she slid into sleep hearing a final loving thought make its way through their joining.
Welcome home, brave huntress. Welcome home.

47

About the Author

To learn more about Ember Case, please visit
www.embercase.com. Send an e
mail to Ember at
[email protected]
or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EmberCase

Dragons.

Just the word conjures visions of a dreamworld filled with magic. Fiery passion. Love
without boundaries.

I Dream of Dragons

Available Now

In Bianca D'Arc's
Wings of Change,
one young woman could be the miracle that heals a dying dragon—and supplies the missing piece to his family.

At the risk of her own heart, a knight issues a challenge to quell a troublesome dragon in Summer Devon's
Knight's Challenge
.

Eve is a master manipulator, but two brother dragons catch her off-guard and turn her resistance to putty in Marie Harte's
The Dragons’ Demon
.

In Kathleen Scott's
Dragon Tamer,
Serrah and Darion race against time to find out what is killing the precious dragons of Cambry.

Nina Mamone's
Hard to Guard
forces two dragon guardians into a reluctant partnership to track down a kidnapped wyrm.

Are you ready for this world? Get ready to be swept away on the wings of dragons.

Their love knew no shape, no limit, no boundary. Until someone destroyed their trust.

Trinity Broken

© 2007 Jamie Craig

Scientist Joshua Ames committed the unforgivable sin. He fell in love with his research subjects, shapeshifters Cameron and Sara. Despite the taboo against humans mingling with shifters, Josh left his life behind and moved into theirs without regret.

Then Sara disappeared.

When Josh and Cam finally find her, she is unconscious, emaciated and shackled.

They thought the hard part was living without her. But as soon as Sara wakes, they realize the hard part will be putting their lives back together.

Sara barely remembers life with Cam and Josh. All she remembers is a monster, a shifter who wore Cam’s face, who tortured and tested her for two long years. Without a home, conditioned to fear her own abilities, Sara struggles to start over.

Solving the mystery behind Sara’s kidnapping is the key to her recovery, because whoever destroyed their relationship is hunting her, intent on getting her back.

The truth could bring the three lovers peace—or send them spiraling apart.

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex including m/m and m/m/f, graphic language, violence.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Trinity Broken: Sara sat up against the headboard. Without looking away from Cam, she slowly shut her eyes and inhaled.

“That’s good,” Josh said.

“Now, we want to clear your mind. When you exhale, focus on how you feel when you breathe, what your lungs are doing. With your next breath, just focus on how it feels to inhale.”