Page 57 of Sun Warrior

“Beltane? Is it really Beltane so soon? Great Goddess, I’ve totally lost track of time,” Mari said.

“Sora remembered!” Danita jumped to her feet, obviously eager torun ahead, but she paused and turned to Mari. “Mari, do you think I can join the Clan instead of staying inside the burrow?”

“If you feel up to it, of course you may,” Mari said. “Sora’s already Washed the Clan, so if any males have come to the Gathering you should be safe, but Danita, you have to realize there might be Clansmen there.”

Danita ducked her head and spoke to her feet. “The ones who attacked me?”

“Maybe,” Mari said.

Danita lifted her head. “I won’t let what they did to me rule the rest of my life. I want to join the Beltane celebration, just like I would havebefore.” Her hand stroked Bast, and she spoke directly to the big feline. “Bast, will you please come to me after Mari introduces you and Antreas to the Clan?”

Bast made her strange coughing-bark and rubbed against Danita’s legs, purring like a humming wasp nest.

“That’s a yes,” Antreas said.

Danita sent him an annoyed look. “I know. You’re not the only one who can understand her.”

“What’s happening?” Nik asked.

The weight that had been settling around Mari’s heart shifted, lifted, if only a little. “It’s the Clan. They’re rejoicing in Beltane, and the girls are excited to join them.”

“Beltane? What’s that?” Antreas asked.

“It’s fun! That’s what it is!” Danita shot back over her shoulder at him from where she and Jenna were already straining to run ahead to the Gathering.

“It’s one of our seasonal celebrations,” Mari explained as they headed around the path and then came to the wide stones that had been placed generations ago to form stairs leading up to the birthing burrow. “Beltane is a fertility celebration—fertility for the crops we’ve planted, and fertility for the Clan. There are always lots of babies born in late February and early March—conceived during a Beltane celebration.” She felt Nik’s gaze on her, which had her stomach fluttering like it did when he held herhand. “It’s halfway between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, and Clan Weaver always celebrates with a Gathering, good food, and all-night dancing and singing.”

“And spring mead! We celebrate with that, too!” Jenna said.

“Yeah, we sure do. I wonder if Sora managed to unearth any?” Mari’s mouth watered at the thought of the drink that fermented all winter in carved oak barrels Clanswomen buried to unearth, rich and strong and sweet, in the spring.

“Oh, I hope so!” Jenna jumped up and down in excitement. “Come on, Mari!”

“You two go ahead and join the Clan, but Bast needs to stay with us until I make introductions. And put those baskets of supplies by the burrow.” As Jenna and Danita darted ahead, splashing through the stream that wound around the burrow, Mari told the three men, “Remember what I said about watching for Clansmen. They are dangerous—very dangerous.”

“Understood,” Nik said. “Though it won’t endear us to your Clan if we show up and have to start fighting their males.”

“I think it’d be more endearing than standing by and watching a bunch of males crazed with Night Fever brutalize Clanswomen,” Mari said.

“Good point,” Davis said. “And I hope there’s mead, too.”

“Let’s go see,” Mari said.

“After you, Moon Woman,” Antreas said as his Lynx meowed pitifully and stared after Danita.

“Hey, cat man,” Davis teased good-naturedly. “Aren’t you afraid of losing Bast to that girl?”

“No.Losingher to Danita isn’t what I’m afraid of,” the Lynx man muttered so softly that Mari was pretty sure she was the only one who heard him.

CHAPTER 14

Nik, Davis, Antreas, and their Companions followed closely behind as Mari climbed the wide stone stairs to the birthing burrow. She was glad to see that the door to the burrow had been repaired. Before it, Danita and Jenna had placed their laden baskets of aloe, salves, and the supplies Mari had carefully chosen. Mari added her basket of fresh-baked bread to the group and then followed the familiar path that circled around the large burrow, leading to the clearing where the stream widened so that it provided water for the thriving herb and vegetable gardens that surrounded it. From the vantage point of the burrow, Mari paused while the men and their Companions joined her. She looked down at the impromptu Gathering and a wave of homesickness for her mama washed through her.

Mama should be here. She should be leading the rebuilding of the Clan, and the Beltane Gathering.

But her mama was dead, and it was up to Mari and Sora to pick up the broken pieces of the Clan and put them back together.

Maybe we can put the pieces back together to form a newer, better, happier Clan… one that calls itself a Pack!