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CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Errok
Zuh-Tephanie’s peopleand mine stood together in the hall. The sun set outside, casting warm light licking along the walls. It made my mate’s skin glow and added a soft red shine to her hair. Her eyes shone, their colour warmer and deeper than usual as the sun descended.
“Now, you present the Gahnala-Kai Rek,” Aunt Tilka told me. Lerokan and Priya stood beside her, nearest to Zuh-Tephanie and me. For once, there was no insolent smirk on Lerokan’s face, and he was giving the ceremony the attention owed. My claws twitched, but I was careful not to ruin the delicate jewellery I held. I’d spent the past four days crafting it in snatched, secret moments when Zuh-Tephanie was with Priya or her other friends who were currently staying in my mountain.
Zuh-Tephanie’s gaze went to my claws, then swung back to my face. Normally, the Gahnala-Kai Rek was an ornate garment that wrapped around a Ghanala’s tail, presented by her Gahn. But as my pretty mate had no tail, I’d had to make other arrangements. I’d heard that the Sea Sand Gahns had created arm-pieces for their Gahnalas, but my mate needed something different. Something unique that only I would give her. Something fit for a Deep Sky Gahnala.
She was so short compared to me that she did not need to bend her head. I slipped the many loops of soft, thin hide around her neck. The garment settled beautifully against her, accentuating her gleaming collarbones, her breasts. She was not wearing her cloak today, nor one of her usual human sleeveless tunics. She’d acquiesced to wear the garb of my people for the Ghanala-Kai Rek ceremony. Soft hide leg coverings and a vest tied with straps in the middle. Normally, the gap in the two sides of the vest was not so alarmingly arousing. But as Zuh-Tephanie had breasts, confoundingly lovely ones, the garment that had been custom-fitted to her size pushed the soft globes of flesh together. I found it difficult not to drag my tongues down the seductive cleavage there.
“This is amazing,” she breathed, unaware of my heated gaze. Her fingers skimmed over the loops of hide straps, catching on the gleaming blue, white, black, and green gems I’d turned into beads for the piece. At the very bottom of the longest loop, dangling between her breasts, was a shining feather of Togo’s father, Balto. Balto was the braxilk I’d learned to fly on as a cub. When he died, I kept this prized feather, waiting for the right moment to use it.
This was the moment.
This was the woman.
This was my entire life, standing so small and beautiful, right in front of me. She was smiling, and I had put that smile there after so many days of earning her ire.
My fingers lingered at her jaw, sliding back and into her hair.
One of her friends, the one with the dark marks on her arms, said something in their native tongue that I did not understand. Something aboutkiss ing thuh barride.
Zuh-Tephanie shot her friend a glance, laughing.
“What is she saying?” I murmured, tipping my mate’s head back until her eyes were forced to meet mine.Never let those eyes leave me, love.
“She wants us to do this.” My mate slid her hands over my chest to my neck until she could cup my jaw. She tugged me down, and a ripple of hot pleasure ran through me as her mouth opened under mine. I became vaguely aware of that same friend, Fiona, whooping. But I heard it as a distant sound. My body was too full of rushing love for Zuh-Tephanie to notice anything else.
When she finally pulled away, my knees grew alarmingly weak at just how lovely she looked. Her face flushed, her eyes all big and glossy, her mouth wet from the kiss. My cock grew thick.
“Hey, isn’t there one more thing we’re supposed to do?” my Gahnala asked suddenly. “At Chapman and Fallo’s Gahnala-Kai, he gave her his weapon as a symbol. Something like that... Can’t quite remember.”
“We do something similar here,” I replied. Lerokan held out my bow and quiver for my mate. The bow, and the arrow she selected, were astoundingly erotic in her soft hands. Far too big for those little fingers. I realized then this was the first time she was touching my weapons since that night she’d healed me. The first night we’d ever spent together.
“Nock your arrow, beloved,” I rasped, letting my hands drop regretfully from her hair. She clearly had no idea what she was doing, but she steadied herself and made a good show of stepping back and aiming an arrow at me.
As Zuh-Tephanie fought to keep her arrow straight, I spoke, loud enough so that my voice filled the hall.
“I, Gahn Errok of the Deep Sky, offer my bow, my arrows, my blades, to Gahnala Zuh-Tephanie. I offer her this as I offer her all other things – my body, my strength, my fealty, my love.” My voice grew softer, quieter, just for her. “In this moment, as in all moments, beloved, I am defenceless against you. Do with me what you will.”
Acidic doubt burned my tongues as I wondered, for the briefest flicker, if she might try to kill me after all. If all of this had not been real.
