Savage Kingdom

The sight of his village was a relief that he soon reveled in. A breath of fresh air after the danger they had been through just before.

He carries Clara behind Kai. The village didn’t seem too much damaged over the other shakes that occurred, and everyone was fixing what had been broken. The ground was still intact along with the huts that were made to be sturdy to keep from falling under any circumstances. Everyone also seems to be well, which was another good sign.

“Clara!” Kane spots the two and ran from his previous spot and towards them with his arms stretched into the air. She expected Kito to put her down but he didn’t want to because of her weakness. Or that was his excuse.

She moved too much for him to hold her, indicating that she wanted to greet him, and he did by placing her feet on the ground first. She went to her knees and hid her low energy from her face as she took Kane into her arms and hugged him tightly.

“You were gone for days! Where did you go?” He shouts. Kito could see that he had been emerging himself in different cultures, mostly Maurea, with the engraved silver band around the crown of his head and the new change of a darker tunic. All he needed was the ears of a Maurea and he would fit in perfectly. “Pippie gave me some cool things, see? And Pasha too. And Zeezee took me their hut to show me other things too,” he stopped when he saw her tired eyes. “I think you need a nap, Sissy, you look tired.”

“You’re right, buddy,” she touches his arm by the contact of his skin made hers uncomfortable. After touching Kito’s only it felt like other people’s skin was... Irritating.

She wouldn’t become irritated with her little brother. She loves him, but right now she was going through something that made her body unpredictable and even needy. Too needy. There was no off button in her body that made it so hot.

Kito was the only one allowed to pick her back up. “You will be fine staying with Zeta a little longer, Kane?” It was the only one he could think of that matches Zeezee. He knew he guessed right when he nods, “Okay. Have a good nap, Clara!”

She waves bye to him from over Kito’s shoulder. He heads up the steps with Kai and made it to the front door of his hut that his brother opened kindly. “I will not ask questions until after you put her down and do what else you need to do. Afterward, you will meet me out here to talk.”

Kito stops to give him pleading eyes for the talk to be later. He would much rather be by her side and enjoy her company some more, the world falling around them can be doomed. He knew he was reacting to Clara’s current heat, he knew how it is himself, and he was quite annoyed his brother broke a rule and forced it.

He wasn’t sure what situation they were in, but that’s what he wanted to find out. “You would do the same to me. Don’t be long.” With that, he shut the door.

Inside he went to the bed, stepping over the cluster that he would pick up later. He places her on it and hands her some blankets, and although he wanted nothing more in this world but crawl in beside her. Hold her and continue the little connection they started outside, even sleep a bit himself.

He even wondered if it would go further than that. The way she smells made him purr again with his tail hanging limp, his eyes sparkled. He also remembered her health. That was more important. He went to find some food, he gave her the new leftovers Caji seemed to have made. When she had a bowl with these things in her hand she looked at him baffled. “Will you eat some of this too?”

He would. He would take any excuse to be by her side, yet he knew his brother was waiting, and that annoyed him. “I will in a moment but first you need to eat as much as you can. I will be back in a moment. Then... We need to talk.”

She nods. “Okay.”

The sooner he left the sooner he would return, so he turns and went out the front door. Kai was standing outside with his staff against the hut and his arms crossed over his chest. He could smell his brother and the other human’s now stronger smell, and he knew this was the last time he would most likely have a conversation with his brother for a while.

He was convinced that his brother would leave his hut a happy male come next sunrise if he leaves at all. It was only a matter of time now that he would finally have everything he has always wanted. Ser’avi knows he deserves it.

But forcing heat was what he didn’t agree with. It is selfish.

Kai spoke first the important things, “Where is Alira? I thought you would have found her and killed her. What she has done... There is no way she could redeem herself for it. The Maurea tribe is heartbroken and Skaal wants Alira’s blood. Which Ruro would give her over freely.”

His ears lower at the reminder of poor Dia. “I don’t think she survived where she came from, Kai. Everything was crumbling during the shake and I left her. She tried to kill Clara and me, many times,” he sighs. “But... Tell me where is Dia’s body? What is her mother planning to do with her?”

“Traditional,” he answers calmly when he saw the sad look. “Send her ashes to the stars so Nu’mer’an can welcome her. Her body is covered and sitting in a hut that no one but family is allowed to enter to mourn.”

Dia had been Kito’s friend while he was there at the Maurea tribe. She was well known everywhere because of her mastery of making tunics. Beautiful ones of all tribal traditional colors. Not only would she be missed for her personality but for her gift of bringing smiles to people with beautiful clothes. Pippie would miss her with their history of being together but separating because he was never one to stay with just one female, a reason Kai never respected him for. That was never the only reason he didn’t like him.

“I have a lot to tell you about what had happened when we were away,” he changes the subject because his heart couldn’t take more at this moment. So he put his mind to work telling him the situations they had been in. The Nahgua, the lava, then... The things that escaped. One was a foul creature of Dannica’s and another being. He would call it a being because he didn’t know what he was.

“He looks like a Kikera,” he continued. “Yet he was Xutashi. His ears were straight and curved and his tail was black and slender but still had spots with more fur on the end. I don’t know what to say about him. He brought us out of the cave and left. I didn’t hear him walk away.”

“Hmm....” The hums in thought. “Maybe Zeta knows about this. If this is all an action between the Gods then that is something we need to inform the tribes if a creature like that is on the loose. Tell me, you said that they were fighting?”

He nods, “when the other beast came from the ground, the one that Alira wanted to rise, it looked back and flew off like it was fleeing. It tried to escape, but when it tried to go through the other entrance that’s when the second one came. They fought relentlessly.”

“If this is all something between the Gods then I think that one is hunting the other,” he always liked to try to explain things or decipher them. He wanted to know what was happening at all times and always tried to listen to every single detail. It made lying to him impossible. “I’m just guessing though, but if the male one didn’t hurt you and the other attacked you it seems possible. If this has something to do with the Gods... Should we stay out of it?”

Kito was restless now with his hand on the handle of the hut just waiting for the conversation to end and return inside, a subtly rude display. Kai decided to bug him and continue with another new topic. “Would you like Mia and I to watch the boy-cub rather than Pippie or Zeta? He seems to have exhausted Pippie out and Zeta may never give him back to you.”

“Kane will be happy with anyone,” his foot taps on the ground impatiently. “Anything else?”

The mischievous grin that he attempts to hide finally exposed itself added with a small chuckle, but then his face became slightly serious. “You should not have forced her.”

He made a sideways glance. “You smell it, don’t you?”

“I do,” he steps closer to encourage him to take a step away from the door and a little bit away in case the words went past the wall. He needed to make sure his brother knew the realness of what was happening, not the stupid things Pippie probably had told him. “I want to tell you this is forever. I know what is going through your mind, Na'Kito. But this isn’t a Xutashi woman that father spoke to you about when you were younger and he didn’t know that it wasn’t a Xutashi you will be with. You don’t have to listen but I beg you to do so. They are much different than you think."

He was offering him a choice of whether to stay and listen or go into the hut and continue what had been started. Hearing about him having a chance at hurting her was something that made his ears perk and worry. He even forgot the thoughts that ran through his mind that were forced by heat. He blinks in concern, “It just happened. But go ahead, what do you want to tell me?”

He felt relief that he remains to stand there and show concern. He wonders what else happened in that cave that he didn’t tell him about. The more intimate things. He nodded, "It hurts them, the first time. Worse than Xutashi’s, since theirs is masked by their heat. This is only natural to a handful of humans. The only reason why she is going through it is because of her bond to you, but her body can’t shield it. She will feel it. Learn to control yourself. That is what makes us different than the others.”

His ears flatten, “I did not think about it when I first bit her, it happened when it came to mind. It just... Came. A lot of contact was made. I didn’t expect it to be so strong. Punish me however you want later, what's done is done."

He half chuckles, “I will most certainly have to have this talk to Xain as well who has been following that little human around behind her heels. She yells at him a lot and he just smiles and, just like any Chayeene, finds it amusing. One would confuse them as enemies. They are strange, but he cannot force her into heat while in this village although it is allowed in theirs. Not with the new human here, I am certain he had thought about it already. Or I am already too late, we will see.”

“I would like to go inside now,” he decides to make his need known since he already spoke about needs. “I will speak to you another time.”

“Another time,” he reluctantly let him go. Seeing his jittery behavior as long as he did was enough petty revenge he could get for now. There was another thing he notices that he couldn’t leave unsaid. He held out his wrist, “Before you go.”

He would have not taken it if he was sure he didn’t need it. Clara only gave him enough for him to return, so he took what Kai offered without saying a word against it. He would not mind having the energy.

He went inside after he told Kai his thanks. His patience was already worn thin, he wanted to go back to her.

When she hears the door shut Clara places the bowl down and looks at him. Half of the meats in the bowl was already consumed and she was saving the other half for him. The sight of him again made her want to melt in the covers halfway over her and she felt that wave of warmth ease into her again. She rubs her hands that tingle with urgency. “Kito, you look tired. Do you want to sit next to me?”

He did. Gods, he did.

He blatantly ignores everything on the ground, all of his candles and other objects, he might have even broken something stepping on it. He didn’t care. He crawls into the bed and instead of sitting next to her he move closer so that he could press his forehead against hers and shut his eyes. She mirrors him, her hands touch his arms like she wanted to do since he left. “Did you tell them everything?”

“Only my brother,” he purrs when her whole hands cover his skin, palm, and fingers. Caressing. “Nothing else should bother us for a while. He also took Kane and I have not heard of Caji, but I assume he is still with Zeta. So we don’t have anything to do but rest.”

Her face flushes in reaction to his gentle words, her eyes open to look at other parts of him. His body, the tattoo that marks his skin and muscles that he had all over. He probably didn’t have any fat on him. No, he didn’t. Even by her human standards, he was attractive, which has to be the reason why Alira wanted him to. Something deep in her wanted to explore every inch with her hands and the tips of her fingers.

She wasn’t mindless either. She wanted to know why she felt so... Desperate.

“What is going on?” He was nibbling over her skin and her breath caught in her throat when his fangs brush over it. He answers lowly, “Remember that you are my mate, Clara?” He lifts his head. “We made so much of a connection in that cave that sent you into heat now. Well, not mostly in the cave... When I bit you. I did it too aggressively. Our bodies want to please each other in... Well, they want to come together,” he intertwines his fingers. “Mate.”

Her legs numbed. Sweet Jesus, he meant...

Of course, he did.

It went through her mind and just the thought of them doing such things made the fire worse. It also made her heart stammer and breathing radical. “T-that?” Well, what else did her body want when it acted this way? He watches her become a nervous wreck at the thought of doing such things. He sat down on the bed slightly away to give her time to breathe and focus, even if it was uncomfortable to be away.

She gives him another look that reminded him of a small observing one. “I-I... We haven’t even kissed yet. I...” She couldn’t stop stammering herself, even smiling anxiously. Her mind was stumbling on itself when her awoken libido and common sense clashed. “I’m not sure that I would even be good at it. Any of it. Or-”

His laughter put her words to a halt before she could say anything else that he would find even more amusing. His tail curves behind him, a sign of content and calmness. He didn’t feel awkward about it. Shy, maybe, but that would come later. “You said yet. Do you want to? I would not mind,” he opens his arms in invitation.

She was amazed by how calm he was about this. She even felt a piece inside of her wanting to go to him and accept the invitation he gave to her freely, the thought of kissing him was like a fantasy she didn’t dare explore before.

She remains still and shook her head, “you’re insanely brave. I am not in the condition to do anything that involves connecting especially after it’s been a while since I brushed my teeth,” she wonders what method they had to get their teeth as white as they were in the middle of a jungle. Seeing his confusion she chose to decipher it. “Clean my teeth. Or mouth. Or body especially since we made it out of the cave, and a lot of things. I usually keep up with that.”

His head reminds her of a perplexed dog when it slanted to the side the way it did and blink. “So... You would like to clean yourself?”

“I think it’s a better choice especially since I just ate and... The cave... And...” She saw him move closer so that he settled beside her, his hand found the side of her jaw to move her face towards him. Her words faltered when he brushed his thumb over her bottom lip to cease her speaking as cute as he thought it was. He knew the real reason. She was timid and overthinking things. “I want you to kiss me, Clara. I have waited a while for you... I don’t care about those silly things as long as it’s you.”

His words almost made her heart combust. Not only was it her body that reached out for him but her heart did with just as much eagerness as the rest of her. “Pfft, you'll rethink that. But I never... Did any of that, Kito.”

“If only you knew how much that pleases me,” he wouldn’t know how to take it if she had done these things before. It’s one of the things that many of his kind worries about, especially if one comes here with cubs of their own.

Xutashi was too jealous and set in primal ways when it comes to their mates. Bonds were usually sensitive and females usually did turn out to be virgins with their drained arousal until they meet, that is when the sexual needs hit them full force. It came with the color. The only possible way they were not virgins was by unwilling means. The same for the males. They didn’t feel urges towards anyone else but one.

Another reason Pippie always thought it was more cruel than pleasant to be destined to someone.

Gazing at her hazel eyes he was grateful he didn’t have to have that problem with her. Kane was simply her little brother and he can work with that. He appreciates and enjoys him and wanted to make him his own. He wouldn’t mind that. The boy-cub still had a lot of room to learn.

“I remember you saying that you never had an interest with anyone else before... ” she still couldn’t believe herself that he hasn’t found a woman of his kind to test the waters a bit. He was, as she thought before, attractive even to her who didn’t think that there was any chance they would even consider doing something like... That. Even kissing. She should run for the hills but she was too enthralled by his eyes to move. Bright dark blue eyes that she couldn’t look away from. Entranced by them even. “Tell me the truth. You honestly never did anything?”

“Why are you surprised?” his golden brow arches. He was thinking about kissing her then and there but her surprise was too much for him to do it now.

“Guys in my world are rarely virgins after they are seventeen,” she said. “And you’re... Good looking. Even by human standards.”

Her face was red again. He grins, unable to hide his now exposing his fangs. “Good looking? Is that how you human say that you are attracted?”

His nose touches hers so she wouldn’t continue talking, “Human males do not mate as we do. Are you going to kiss me now? Or do you want me to?”

Was he going to ignore everything that his brother told him just a second before?

It sounds like it was between the line of a plea, her timidness was adorable but he was boarding desperation. He wants it to be her that kisses him so she can learn to be comfortable with freely showing him her affections. He wants her to give it to him. Her scent increases and a part of him shiver from it. He was just an inch away. All she had to do was move forward and press her lips against his. How hard could that be?

Her heart was beating louder than a drum and couldn’t stop. She could hear it beating in her ears. She decides to just do it. What could be the harm?

She shut her eyes and eased forward slowly, her lips touching his gently, and she had expected it to be sweet. A peck. But when her whole body burned all at once starting from her lips she nearly gasped and pulled away. He didn’t let her. His hand moves through her hair and behind her head to keep her still so that she was trapped with her decision.

Yes, he completely was going to ignore his warning.

It grew from a peck to a tasteful kiss, his purrs deepened and he could feel the brutal part of the heat process when he became insanely aroused. Everything about her attracts him, even the feelings of her hair around his fingers.

Why was she so concern about this? Every second they continue was how much further they were falling into that inevitable fate. She knew it too when she felt her body growing damp in places that were never affected before. A part of her core was uncomfortably too feverish herself. Her body was betraying her without care, her legs couldn’t remain still, rubbing together to ease the ache she felt in between them.

The tasteful kiss wasn’t enough and she felt his tongue touching the crease of her lips and was pleading for an entry that she was hesitant to give even with the voice in the back of her head begging to just give access to him sooner. He must have heard that voice. She didn’t understand what was happening to her or the different person she was becoming. Did Kane say exactly how long she has been in the cave? Has it been long enough?

It felt so good. Somehow the weird sensations lured her further into that pit. Perhaps what he told her was real. He was meant to be hers... only that could explain how well he fit. Someone who wasn’t from where she was from.

Without breaking that kiss he moves forward and arranges her back in the bed and knocks the bowl over and all it’s contents on the already messy floor.

The sudden change rendered her breathless, and that gasp is what he used to gain entry past her lips. He didn’t devour her at first because he didn’t want to press too much of him on her at once, even it was one of his body’s many hard demands. He already had her this far, however.

Her hands feels him. He senses her fingers kneading the flesh on his chest and even lower to the firm indention of his abdominals. He was making low groans from deep in his throats as soft feminine hands felt his body. Only her hands. Only Clara’s.

She wasn’t aware of many things herself. Her legs were wide and he was positioned perfectly between them like experienced lovers. It was how he was able to receive that close connection he craves so much. Her mind was numb to the kissing. To his smell, which she could finally inhale being so close to him.

She was soon aware of the male’s visible hardness against the inside of her right thigh. She was afraid to look down.

“It’s your...” She didn’t know if she could call it what they did. Was there a kind word to call it? Were kind words supposed to be involved?

“Yes,” he smiles. He wasn’t as shy as he thought he would. He was enjoying her heat against him in return. From the look in her eyes, she couldn’t hide the fact that it was something she was more curious than frightened. Even discreetly excited although it was a secret she didn’t keep hidden well.

She was aware of her shock of being in this situation in the first place. So much sexual tension. The memories of her laying in bed in the room alone always wondering about all the things she gave up the chances of having for Kane for now, she wondered if by the time he was older she could have more time for such things.

It always made her wonder. Twenty years old and still a virgin, she was sure some were older than her still innocent, but she gave up the idea of guys with her.

He pushes away from her to sit in the bed with his back against the wall. His movements are so quick that she looked up instantly to see why he left her. His heat was replaced with the sensitive cold air that deeply upset her. Her body didn’t feel like hers anymore... Her breasts were heavy and ached for attention, all the heat that her body created and received was going straight to the rising temperature of her core.

Never in her life had she felt this way. She didn’t think it was possible and she should be terrified. She saw him going through the same. His pupils were huge and his breathing was labored. Slow. Deep. His own need now bare to her eyes underneath his trousers.

His voice was deeply male. “Should I go...?” She would kill him if she said yes. He would. For her.