Page 71 of Sun Warrior

“I—I just meant someday. Not now. Not even soon. And not necessarily with me. I was just curious, that’s all.” She realized she was babbling and closed her lips tightly so that nothing else embarrassing could escape. When he still said nothing, she tried to pull her hand from his, feeling horribly inept and thinking that he’d probably had lots more experience with relationships and sex and all of that than her—just aboutanyonehad more experience than she had. Could it be that the truth was, no matter how much he cared about her, Nik didn’t want children with her? They’d be part Earth Walker. Maybe Nik didn’t want babies who had Scratcher blood.

But Nik held tightly on to her hand, not letting her pull away from him. He lifted it to his lips, kissing the back of it sweetly, softly, before saying, “Sorry, Mari. I didn’t mean to take so long to answer. It’s complicated, though.”

“Yeah, I understand. I’m not part of your Tribe, and that’s—”

“Hey!” He stopped and turned her to face him. “That’s not it at all. Mari, don’t you understand what you’ve done for me?”

“I’ve turned your life upside down,” Mari said honestly.

“Well, yeah, but that’s not what I meant. When I found you, or rather, you found me, I finally felt understood. You know what it’s like not to fit in—to watch everyone around you be one way but know you’re not that way. Mari, you’re magickal and strong and beautiful, and I think about touching you—a lot, like, to the point it’s distracting. Hell, you’re a Goddess to me! But what I appreciate most about you is that I can be myself with you. Mari, I love you.”

She stared up at him, her stomach doing strange little flip-flops. “I love you, too, Nik,” she heard herself saying.

“Well, that’s a relief to hear!” he said. He bent and kissed her. There was heat in the kiss, and a promise of much more to come, but he pulled back so that he could meet her eyes, though he kept his arms around her. “I want children. Lots of children. And lots of canines, too. Shepherds, Terriers, it doesn’t matter. I want a bunch of them. But it also doesn’t matter if my children never bond with a canine—never become a Companion or even a Moon Woman like you, though that would be something truly spectacular. I will value our children for who they are, not for some kind of perceived Tribal status. What took me so long to answer is that I want all of that, but in a world whereour children won’t be judged by their mixed blood.”

“I want that, too,” Mari said. “Only I really do hope that all of my…”—she paused, smiling shyly, and then corrected herself—“I mean,ourchildren, I hopeourchildren are chosen by canines. Life is just better with a Companion.”

Rigel came tearing past them, chasing Laru, who still had the stick he wanted, and almost crashed into the two of them.

“Hey! Watch where you’re running,” Nik called.

Laru instantly turned and padded to Nik, stick in mouth, breathing heavily, but looking pleased with himself. Rigel bounced around his sire, making small, begging sounds.

“You’re being pathetic,” Mari told her pup. “There’s a forest full of sticks around you. Just find another one.”

Whining softly, the young Shepherd left the path, sniffing around. In a few moments he reappeared, dragging a log that was the size of Nik’s leg, which made Mari roll her eyes and then giggle.

“Well, I like that he sets his bar high,” Nik said, grinning at the pup. Laru sneezed in obvious disgust, which made them both laugh. Then Nik cupped Mari’s face in his hands. “Will you really build it with me? This new world where our children, our people, our Pack, will not be shamed or judged by the shade of their skin, or the color of their eyes, but instead will be valued for their strengths and their goodness?”

Mari felt a sense of stillness come over her, as if she’d waited her entire life to be asked such a question by someone who could actually help her change the world. “Nik, that’s been my dream since I understood that I was different, and that my difference wasn’t accepted by my Clan. Yes! A million times yes!” She stepped into his arms and felt as if she’d finally come home.

***

The burrow was tidy and warm, and it smelled of freshly baked bread, rabbit, and a smoldering hearth fire. Mari felt the last of her tension slip from her shoulders as they closed the thick wooden door and barred it against the outside world.

“Are you hungry? I made sure we left a loaf of Sora’s bread. I could spread some honey on it,” Mari asked Nik as Laru and Rigel curled up together in front of the door and promptly feel asleep, looking more like twins than sire and son.

“That sounds great. I’ll stoke the hearth fire and brew that tea Sora said you should drink while you’re cutting the bread.” Nik rifled through the basket of dried-tea pouches until he found the chamomile-lavender mixture.

Working side by side, they were soon sitting cross-legged before the hearth fire, munching bread and honey and sipping fragrant tea.

“I think it went well tonight, don’t you? I mean, no one died. No onewas even injured. Companions are guarding Clanswomen, and Clanswomen are taking care of Companions. I’d call that success, though it was upsetting how fast the women turned on us when they thought we’d hurt Sora,” Nik said.

Mari started to agree with him, her mind casting back to the voice of anger that had almost caused a riot, when suddenly that shrill voice clicked in her memory. “It was Serena!”

“Who? I don’t think I know a Serena.”

“She’s a Clanswoman who chose to leave earlier today when I accepted O’Bryan and the rest of the Companions in our group. Serena couldn’t handle it. Actually, she acted a lot like I expected the entire Clan to act in response to finding out about Rigel and me. I told her to leave if she couldn’t accept the Companions and me. She left with a few of the older women. They were supposed to be heading to either Clan Fisher on the coast or another Clan south of here.” Mari shook her head in disgust. “But she snuck back, probably to get Washed again. Obviously, she also wanted to try to start problems between Tribe and Clan. I didn’t see her in the group afterward, but I’m going to have to warn Sora about her.”

“The last thing we need is someone sowing poison among us,” Nik said. “Speaking of poison, I had a thought about the Skin Stealers’ disease that I wanted to talk with you about once we were alone.”

“Well, we’re alone right now,” Mari said.

“We are indeed. For the first time in what seems like a long time,” Nik said. He reached over and touched her bottom lip, wiping a sticky drop of honey from it and then sucking it from his fingertip. “Sweet, like you.”

Mari felt a rush of heat and totally forgot what he had been saying. His green eyes gleamed knowingly at her. “Huh?” she said, her head feeling as woozy as her stomach.

“I was saying that you’re sweet as honey.”