“So far away from me, yet so close.” Valen rolled on top of Aaron.
Aaron looked around furtively. There were several other shifters in either wolf or human form sleeping nearby since all of the homes had been destroyed.
Valen grinned and licked Aaron’s face, from his chin to his temple.
Aaron sputtered and Valen got up, bringing Aaron to his feet as well.
“How’s your knee?”
Aaron put some weight on it and winced. “Still sore.”
Valen knelt. “Let me look at it.”
“But—” Aaron stopped protesting as Valen worked the fastening of his pants. Being prudish about nudity was kind of silly considering that very few people were clothed.
The morning did carry a chill with it. Aaron wasn’t the least bit cold while Valen was touching him, sliding his pants down and caressing his thighs as he did so.
Aaron’s cock began to fill. He tugged the hem of his shirt down, trying to cover it.
Valen leaned in and licked Aaron from the base of his shaft to the spongy tip.
Aaron hissed, clenching his fists and digging his nails into his palm to help hold back what would otherwise be an embarrassingly quick release. Unfortunately for him, the tiny bites of pain in his hands only aroused him more.
Valen trailed kisses down Aaron’s thigh while holding onto his hips.
Aaron didn’t see anyone else stirring yet. They would be if Valen made him come, because Aaron knew he would make a lot of noise. There was no chance of him being silent in the throes of pleasure.
Fortunately, Valen left off trying to drive Aaron insane with sensual touches, and instead tutted over Aaron’s knee. “That’s a nasty little cut. It wouldn’t hurt to have Lanaka look at it.”
But he wasn’t a shifter. “Um, would she be able to help me?” He felt foolish for asking. “No, never mind. It’s just a small cut. There’ve been much worse injuries for her to help with since…the attack.” He wasn’t sure what to call it, how to phrase it without insulting Valen.
Valen brushed a soft kiss over the wound. “Any injury to you is a priority to me.” He stood and pulled Aaron’s pants up. “We’ll go to her now. Lanaka’s home is intact. She lives in the shaman cave.”
“Hard to burn a cave down,” Aaron said. “I take it all of the former shamans lived there?”
Valen laughed quietly. “No, that’s the thing. Lanaka moved into it when my grandfather was alpha. He died fighting a bear, but that is another story. Anyway, Lanaka was the shaman he brought to the pack, and she refused to live in the big house the shaman before her had resided in. Said she was part of the earth, not part of another idiot’s vanity.”
“Was the one before her a good shaman?”
Valen shrugged as he handed Aaron his cane. “From what I know. He just liked as much luxury as he could have.”
Aaron didn’t ask any more questions while they walked to Lanaka’s cave, or the shaman’s cave, whichever he should call it. Lanaka was standing outside, nude as the day she was born, her arms raised up and her face tipped toward the sun. At first glance, it looked like she was raising the sun over her head.
All of the shifters were so comfortable with nudity, but Aaron wasn’t sure where he should look. Well, he knew where
not
to look, and he didn’t want to see anyone’s private parts except for Valen’s, and yet ironically, his very avoidance of said parts tended to end up with his gaze sinking right down to them.
It was mortifying.
Lanaka chanted words that were unfamiliar to Aaron. They brought goosebumps up on his skin. She finished what he thought was some sort of morning prayer.
“My nakedness unsettles you,” she said without turning to them.
“Er.” Aaron coughed, glancing to Valen for help.
Valen mouthed, “Tell the truth.”
Aaron didn’t have a better plan. “It’s not just you. We— The people I come from, we keep covered unless we’re bathing or…or with someone for…for sex.” Gods, there went his entire face, burning hot with a blush. “I’m not used to it.”
“You think it’s wrong?” she asked him. Then she pivoted around and he made sure to lock his gaze on her face.
“No, it’s different from what I’m used to, is all, which doesn’t mean it’s wrong.” That sounded okay and inoffensive.
Lanaka laughed, and he felt like she was laughing at him, not with him. “Your mate is very innocent, isn’t he, Valen?”
Valen’s cheeks turned ruddy, something Aaron had never seen before. “Not so innocent, Lanaka.”
“We’ve had sex,” Aaron blurted out, much to his mortification. He slapped his hands over his mouth.
Lanaka laughed harder. She laughed until she had to wipe at her eyes and she was gasping.
Aaron was sort of offended.
Valen appeared to be amused.
“Come inside, and don’t pout, Aaron Olsen. I find you very charming and quite perfect for Valen. He’s lucky to have found you.” Lanaka led the way into her cave.
Mollified by Lanaka’s praise, Aaron entered her dwelling. He was surprised to see that she had colorful blankets and rugs on the walls and floors, as well as many pictures, painted and sketched, all over. The surfaces of her furniture—the tables and shelves—were covered in books and knick-knacks, some that were nothing more than rocks, but very beautiful ones.
“You expected a dull ol’ cave?” Lanaka tittered. “I’ve had years and years to collect my treasures. When I die, the next shaman can do what she wants with them.”
“She?” Valen asked.
Lanaka picked up a smooth-looking pink thing. “She. Don’t tell anyone I let that slip. She’ll find her way here.” She held the item out to Aaron. “It’s a shell, from the seashore. Would you like to hold it?”
Aaron almost couldn’t breathe, he was so excited. “The seashore? Which one? How old is it? Did you go yourself? Are you sure that’s what it is?” He had to bite his tongue to shut himself up.
Lanaka placed the shell in his hands. “Yes, I walked along the shore every day when I was a child. I collected shells. This was my favorite. It will be yours when I die.”
Aaron stared at her. “Oh, I couldn’t. It’s… It’s too much.” The shell wasn’t just pink—it had lighter and darker complementary shades to it, ranging from mauve to white. There was even a hint of orange on its spiky tips.
“I came from a very small pack that lived to the northeast of here. The winters were very cold. I loved the snow. Now I prefer heat to cold. And you
will
keep the gift I have given you, along with the book I have on shells. Its pages have been treated and sealed to prevent it from aging and falling apart. Good thing, too, or I’d never have gotten it. It’s quite old.” She winked at him. “Older than me, with fewer wrinkles.” Lanaka wiggled her arm, which made lots of her parts jiggle.
Aaron moved his attention back to the shell.
“Now let me see why you’re limping. That’s why you’ve brought him to me.”
Valen took Aaron’s cane. He’d dropped it when he’d reached for the shell. “That, yes, and some lubrication.”
Aaron squeaked in shock. He closed his hands around the shell. “You asked her for—” He was going to die, that was all there was to it. He remembered the conversation with Valen about why lubrication was needed. Valen wanted to fuck him.
In my bottom!
“Calm down, Aaron Olsen. You aren’t the first man or woman to engage in such sexual acts.” Lanaka pointed to a chair. “Sit.”
“Women do it too?” Aaron asked, trying to make sense of that. Women
had
somewhere else for a penis to go. Besides their mouth. Aaron could suck Valen’s cock, but he didn’t have a vagina to take it into.
“So innocent,” Lanaka muttered. “Yes, they do, because it feels good for them. Maybe not exactly like it does for a man—I couldn’t say, not being a male—but anal sex is quite enjoyable when done right.
That
I can assure you.”
Aaron didn’t mean to squawk. It just slipped out because he couldn’t quite get his lungs to work right.
“Put his head down between his knees,” Lanaka advised Valen.
Then Valen was pushing on Aaron’s nape. “Deep breaths,” Valen ordered. His rich, warm voice calmed Aaron more than taking in air did.
“I think, if we will be interacting with humans, we might have to consider wearing a minimal amount of clothing,” said Lanaka, chuckling afterwards.
“Huh?” Valen stopped trying to soothe Aaron in order to respond to Lanaka’s proclamation. “Clothes?”
Lanaka gestured at Aaron. “Take his pants off, and yes, clothes. I am assuming Aaron Olsen will be living here. He has family. They will not want to simply let this fine man go.”
“It’s just Aaron,” Aaron said as Valen began to once again unfasten his pants. “Olsen is my last name.”
“Last name?” Lanaka gave him an arch look. “Is this your last life? I don’t foresee that as being a truth.”
Aaron shook his head then raised his butt up so Valen could pull his clothing down. Valen also removed Aaron’s foot coverings. “No, I mean… We have at least two names, sometimes three. The first name is what everyone calls us by if they’re our friends and family. The last name is what people who aren’t familiar to us are told to use. Middle names…” He frowned. “Well, those are only used by our parents when we get in trouble. Like,
Aaron Eddings Olsen, make up your bed right now!
If my parents ever used Eddings, I know I’m in for it.”
Lanaka scowled. “That seems complicated. I like Aaron Olsen.”
“Call me whatever you like, just maybe leave out the Eddings,” he requested.
“Eddings doesn’t fit.” Lanaka flapped her hands at Valen. “Scoot. Go sit on the stone bench outside while I examine your mate.”
“I thought we had to have a ceremony to be mates.” Kind of like a marriage ceremony, he supposed.
“There will be a ceremony,” Valen rumbled. “But you’re already mine, just as I’m yours.”
“It’s what’s in the heart that matters,” Lanaka added. “Now shoo, Valen. Don’t forget there will be a ceremony for you as our alpha. We can combine the two, if you’d like.”
Valen stood. “If Aaron would like that. I think it would also make a firm statement that he is not to be harassed.”
“It would. What do you think?” Lanaka raised her eyebrows at him.
Aaron wanted whatever would be best for everyone and said so. “It’s what works for you both. I’m happy to do that.”
Valen bent and took a quick kiss. “Don’t forget the lubricant, Lanaka.”
“As if I’d forget your precious lube,” she called to him as he left the cave. “The pink on your cheeks gives you a healthy glow, Aaron Olsen. No wonder Valen likes to bring the color up on you.”
She cupped the back of his knee. “This should have been stitched.”
“Our doctor is dangerous to our health,” Aaron told her. “At least
I
think he is.”
“Well, it’s too late to stitch it now. How did you do this?” She stood and gathered some items from a nearby cabinet.
Aaron explained what he’d done while she got her things together. “I can be clumsy when I’m distracted or tired.”
“Were you pining for Valen?”
“Maybe.” Aaron twined his fingers together. “Okay, yes, and I was worried because I… I had thoughts about dying.”
“Those kind of thoughts can drive a person into death’s arms, I know,” Lanaka said. “The mind is a complicated thing, too intricate for me to ever understand. Still, I’ve seen people who get locked into this dark place in their head. It doesn’t mean they are bad people, or weak. It is a part of their life, for whatever reason, and they must deal with it how they can.”
“Yes, well, I thought of drowning myself because it seemed an easy way out,” Aaron confessed. “My people aren’t— I didn’t think I could be like them.”
Lanaka looked up at him, her eyes sharp and knowing. “Humans are still prudes about sex, are they?”
Aaron could happily dispel that myth. A little. “As it turns out, not so much as I believed they were. Things will hopefully be all right with them now. My father said he will be implementing changes, that he’d gone along with the rules for too long because it was easier.”
“Your father sounds like a smart man.” Lanaka knelt again. “I am going to clean this off, then bandage it. I’ll put this mix on it, and I want you to drink some herbs I have to prevent infection.”
Aaron had to ask the question burning in his mind. “Will it work on me? I’m not a shifter.”
“It’ll work just fine. You’re a person, and while we may call you a Human, in all reality, when we are in this form, we are basically all the same. Our shifter nature provides us with immunity to diseases we wouldn’t have otherwise,” she said. “Which is why we weren’t affected by the plagues and illnesses that caused so much destruction around the world. This will help you, in other words.”
“Thank you.” Aaron liked the way the mixture she rubbed over his cut cooled the whole area. “That’s nice.”
“Think I’ll give you a small bottle of something extra since you like that cooling sensation.” She said it in a teasing way that had Aaron puzzled.
“For my knee?” he finally had to ask when she didn’t offer further explanation.
Lanaka cackled and stood up, having wrapped his knee in cloth. “Oh no, Aaron Olsen. This is for…other parts.”
His dick twitched at the thought of some of that cooling mix on it. It’d be cold and hot at the same time.
“Yes, I see that you like the idea.”
Aaron put his hands over his rising shaft. “I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t be. Shifters often mate around others. Not the pups and kids, of course. We aren’t that animalistic. But when the young ones are kept in and the rest of us can play. It’s a very sensual thing, to watch those around you fucking and sucking and so on. You’ll enjoy it,” she informed him. “Now, let me get you the herbal tea. Valen, come in.”
“You just sent me out so you could talk dirty to Aaron, didn’t you?” Valen joked.
Lanaka sent him a silly grin. “Of course. I’m going to get you and him some special lube, too.”
“Oh, great.” Valen rubbed his hands together. “Also, he wants to go with us to hunt down the people responsible for the attack.”
“Then take him. He’s your mate, ceremony or not, didn’t we cover that already? You will treat him as an equal.” Lanaka walked to her cabinet again.
Aaron stuck his tongue out at Valen, but ruined his attempt at brattiness by laughing.