Chapter 10

Mace

I had been out every single day since Alicia and I had returned to the clubhouse looking for signs of the ancient burial ground the elders talked about. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust the elders, but I was starting to believe it might not exist after all. Perhaps it was in another area of the national forest? It was vast and in some parts, the terrain was too rough to navigate on foot.

Coyote had stuck by my side like a true brother. He hadn’t complained once, and he’d poured over topographical maps with me and given me good counsel on finding the spot. There were lots of things going on in our club and in Coyote’s life, but he hadn’t let me down even once. He was a true friend and club brother. So today, we were hiking through a valley looking in a new spot.

As we walked, Coyote played with Nine, tossing a large stick for him to fetch over and over again. Me? All I could think of was Alicia. Since we’d been staying at the clubhouse, she’d been extra sweet to me. I didn’t know for sure, but it seemed like she was interested in me, like she would welcome a kiss from me. A proper kiss, not like the quick one we’d shared last week. It was about to happen the other night when we’d played pool, until Nine stepped in. After that moment passed, it didn’t seem right to try again. I didn’t want to rush her—she was having to share a room with me, and I didn’t want her to feel that us getting closer was expected.

I had promised myself that I wouldn’t hit on her. Even though she was twenty-one-years-old, she was still a vulnerable person who had been granted sanctuary by our club. Any decent man wouldn’t be jacking off like an asshole to thoughts of her, but I was, every morning and night.

Three nights ago when we were playing pool, I’d have had to be pretty dense not to see the huge hints she was dropping when she was flirting with me. But I still felt like I’d be taking advantage of her and that she was just saying those things because she thought it was expected of her.

That had been going round and round in my head, like I was a fool who couldn’t reason his way through the situation. Maybe I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was. Either that or I was too smart for my own good and that’s why I was so obsessed with doing the right thing by her, rather than just living in the moment which had always been my philosophy on life.

When I stepped on something hard and flat, I realized that I’d shifted off the grid formation. I’d gotten some advice from the archaeologists, and they’d told me how they did searches, taking a specific area and splitting it into grids. I had to admit it was easier than just aimlessly wandering around, which was what I’d been doing up to that point. Coyote and Nine were far to the left. I knelt down to see what I’d stepped on and found it was a piece of fired pottery with some markings on it. Using my sleeve, I wiped the top to remove the mud. The more I wiped, the clearer it became that this was a funeral plaque of some sort. I could see my tribes’ symbols for death, rebirth and, possibly, ascension. I had to be careful with this artifact because it was extremely rare and valuable. That’s if it was truly an artifact, and not some modern reproduction. I couldn’t believe I’d finally done it after all these days of looking, it was truly like finding a needle in a haystack.

In the distance I could see Coyote and Nine moving towards me. I stood and held up the find for them to see. “I found it! Don’t come any closer. I don’t want us to trample anything related to this find. I need to put the markers in place like the Professor told me.”

Coyote’s expression turned excited, but he did as I asked. “Congratulations, Mace. Your tribe is going to be thrilled that you managed to pull this off.” When Nine started to bolt across the flat expanse of land to me, Coyote grabbed his collar and held him back.

I pulled out my cell phone, snapped a picture of the stone artifact and sent it to our elders’ group chat. Within seconds I began to get feedback from different tribe members. It was clear that they’d opened their group chat to everyone, and word was spreading fast.

Finally, my phone rang. It was our chief, which is simply the honorary title given to the head of our elder council.

“Hello, Jonas. What do you think? Is this the real thing?”

“Without inspecting it firsthand, I can only say it is highly likely.”

Our chief was always hedging his bets and always reluctant to speak in certainties until he’d triple checked his facts.

“How do you want to proceed?” I asked him cautiously. “I don’t want to do any digging in case I damage anything.”

“Jake has agreed to drop everything in favor of leading a team. There are two other archaeologists from Masa University who have agreed to help him.”

Jake was his eldest son, he was the main driving force behind this search, but his full-time job meant that he couldn’t take the time out to do the initial searching. “That’s great but there’s something you should know.” I told him.

“What’s that?”

“I found some members of a Mexican cartel setting up camp about seven miles east of this location a few weeks ago. They disappeared but left five dead bodies behind. We believe they were Latino gang members.”

“Are you saying it’s not safe for my son and the university professors to be out there alone?”

“Yeah. That’s definitely what I’m saying. I’ve not seen any more activity in the time I’ve been out here, but I think it’s best to be cautious—especially now I’ve made this find. My club brother and I can hold the site until they get here, but you’re gonna need to hire security to keep them safe while they work this site.”

A short silence spun out between us and finally he spoke. “I’ve been texting the other elders. We’ll get some volunteers from our tribe in place within the hour as a stopgap measure until we can hire proper security.”

“That would work, my MC has a security business so if you want to use them, I could probably get you a good discount. I’ll drop you a location pin along with some general images of the site. The bit of land I’m on looks to be about fifteen or twenty acres. I don’t know how much of it was used by our people for the burial ground.”

“The archaeologists will figure that out and our attorneys will have hard evidence of our tribe’s heritage in this area. You’ve done good work, Huri.”

“I just sent you the location pin. We’ll be here until your men arrive. I hope this is the missing piece of evidence we need to get tribal recognition.”

“So do I. This has been a long and hard-fought battle.”

When the call ended, I took a moment to put a marker where I’d found the piece of pottery so the archaeologists could document everything correctly, before walking over to Coyote and Nine. “Sorry about that. I had to contact Chief Jonas. They’re sending people to process the site. As soon as they get here, we’re free to leave.”

“No problem. I’ll bet they were excited.”

“They were excited but more concerned about securing the site.”

I sat down beside Coyote and we both looked over the tablet in my hands. I probably should have put it back where I found it, but I didn’t want to mess anything up. I could see other bits from the same piece on the forest floor, so that should be enough for them. Coyote ran his fingers over the intricate carvings. “Can you read this?”

I snorted a laugh, “Not really. I recognize some of the symbols for death and a few more, but it doesn’t really make sense to me.”

Coyote shrugged. “I don’t read my people’s ancient languages either so don’t feel bad. Hell, I’m not sure I know exactly who my ancient ancestors were. I’m Puerto Rican so I know I’m gonna be a mix of European, Native, maybe Black, but I never really had an identity other than being me.”

I gave him a lopsided grin. “You could take one of those DNA tests and let the scientists figure it out.”

His hand drops away from the artifact. “To be honest, I’m not entirely certain sure I want to know who my ancestors were. I’m just gonna leave that shit alone. I’m not even close with my extended family, just my sister and mom really.”

“I guess it’s different for my tribe because even though there’s been a lot of marrying out, like my parents, we still have a strong identity of who we are.”

“I think that’s really cool,” he responded sincerely.

Coyote and I talked for almost two hours while we waited for my tribe to show up. When they did it was a sight to see. They parked well back from the area and swarmed me to get a look at the artifact, particularly the archaeologists. The minute that I could extricate myself from the large group, Coyote and I took off. Nine was happy to be back in his side car and darkness fell.

***

I walked into our room at the clubhouse to find Alicia knee deep in a book. Her face lit up when she saw me. Of course I reciprocated because Alicia had come to mean so much to me in the short time I’d known her.

“I can’t believe we found it today,” I told her.

She got up to greet me. “I know. The image of the artifact you sent me was amazing.”

“Well, they’re already setting up an excavation site so it’s their problem now.” I said teasingly.

“Good,” she responded as she moved closer to me. “That means you’ll have more time for me.”

“You want more time with me? I can definitely do that. What did you have in mind?” I’d decided on the way back to the clubhouse, that if she was gonna be all flirty then I’d be a fool to shove her away. She was an adult and could make her own decisions about what was best for her.

“Maybe a shower and then a small celebration.”

“A celebration. Really?” I’ve gotta admit that I’m kind of surprised that she’s so jazzed about my tribal stuff.

“Absolutely. I have something special planned for the two of us.”

“I like the sound of that. I’ll grab a shower and get dressed. Give me fifteen minutes.”

When we headed downstairs, all my club brothers started congratulating me. They all understood what a big moment this was for my tribe, and it made me so proud to be part of this brotherhood as well. Alicia was standing to the side with a huge smile on her pretty face. After chatting with my club brothers I headed back to her, “Do you mind if I ask where we’re going?”

She shot me a happy smile before answering. “To Bennigan’s for dinner, I made us a reservation.”

I didn’t often eat out, but I liked that place. “I didn’t know you liked pub food.”

“Rosie told me about it and said it was one of your favorite places,” she responded.

“That was a sweet idea, darlin’,” I said.

I decided to take my pickup truck rather than my motorcycle, Alicia was dressed up and looked real nice and I didn’t want to get her outfit dirty. We chatted all the way to the restaurant. But when we got there, the big surprise started. My whole family was there along with Chief Jonas and the rest of the elders. Glancing at Alicia, I asked, “You decided to throw a party to celebrate?”

She nodded and slipped her arm through mine. “It was Storm’s idea. The club paid for it, but they wanted you to celebrate with your family since the discovery was so important to your tribe.”

I had to admit my club president can be one outstandingly considerate man when he wants to be. I made a mental note to thank him in person when the celebration was over. My club president had hired the private dining room, and we were getting the special treatment.

My family couldn’t get enough of Alicia, my grandmother especially kept pinching her cheeks and telling her to eat up. Which is my grandma’s way of showing love. The elders told stories of our tribe’s past accomplishments and spoke of our old traditions. I’ve always loved hearing them speak and Alicia was almost as enthralled with them as I was.

By the time dinner was over, everyone was feeling pleasantly full and ready for a walk. I left them to it as I’d spent all day walking around the forest. So after saying our goodbyes we went our separate ways.

***

On the drive back to the clubhouse I reflected on my day. Today might just be one of the best days of my life. I found the elusive burial ground of my people which would give us standing for our tribe to be officially recognized, and my achievement was recognized by my family and tribal elders, securing my legacy among my people. I would forever be known as the man who made it possible for our tribe to be recognized. I can’t think of anything that could top this day.

That was until we walked into the clubhouse and Alicia led me downstairs. I hesitated at the top of the stairs and whispered, “You know the downstairs bar is not like the upstairs bar, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, Rosie explained it all to me. Upstairs is PG and downstairs is Rated X.”

I tried to ignore the way my cock punched at my zipper at the thought of being down there with Alicia, instead I said, “You’re about to see my club brothers and their old ladies half naked and maybe making out. You sure you’re okay with that? It might be a bit much.”

“I don’t know, Mace. All I know is that I’ve led a sheltered life, and I don’t want to die without having lived a little. I want to see all the things the world has to offer. I don’t want to die a big old virgin without have done anything adventurous.”

I turned her around and said, “Fine. We can go and have some fun, but this is no place to lose your virginity. If you’re not comfortable, just say and we’ll leave.”

She flashed me a smile and I led her down into our den of debauchery. Halfway down the steps, the scent of sex was so strong it about knocked me down. Alicia gasped and her hand clamped down on my arm more firmly.

“You wanna head back to the bar?”

“No,” she answered resolutely.

By the time we stepped into the dimly lit room, we could hear the sounds of sex and see people discretely making out in the corners of the room.

I took her straight to a table along the back wall and motioned for the brother who was working the bar to bring us some drinks. I figured she could always hide behind a big mug of beer. And hide she did, peering around her mug to see who was present and if they were too compromised to talk. Newsflash, they were all too busy to bother with visiting us or anyone else. It’s the sort of place where any socializing was done one-on-one. Or possibly more, in the far corner I could see two of my club brothers tag-teaming one of the club girls.

I grabbed Alicia’s arm steering her away from that sight and led her over to the juke box. It was a vintage addition that everyone loved. I fed a tenner in it and picked several songs that we could slow dance to. It gave us something to do besides stare. And slow dancing with Alicia was my new favorite thing because she pressed her body against mine and allowed me to kiss and nuzzle her neck.

Being this close to her made my cock rock hard. It took her a minute to notice, and it was funny when she did. Her hazel eyes went wide with surprise, and she bit her lip. She discretely pointed to my cock and asked quietly, “Does it always do that when you come down here.”

I laughed, “No darlin’, it always does that when I’m close to you.”

“What do you normally do about it?”

I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I normally stroke myself until I come while thinking about you.”

When she looked up at me, I see the little wheels in her head were turning. “What if I stroked it for you?”

I almost stopped in my tracks, “Is that an academic question or are you volunteering?”

She stopped chewing on her bottom lip long enough to answer. “Maybe a little of both.”

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go sit down and I’ll show you how it works down here.”

The minute my ass hit the seat, I pulled Alicia into my lap so she was straddling me. She gave a little squeak of surprise but came willingly. “See how all the other couples are sitting, with their old ladies in their laps with their backs to everyone?”

She glanced around before responding. “I had noticed that. Yes.”

“It’s a pose that makes whatever we’re doing more private.”

It took her minute to think it over and then she nodded.

“We don’t have to do anything but if you want to follow through with that offer, you can open my pants and touch me.”

I slid my hand up her skirt and squeezed her ass cheeks. “If you want, I can take your panties off or put my fingers inside to pleasure you.”

“Out of all that, what sounds good to you?”

“I want to touch you first,” she answers with no hesitation.

I reached down and unbuttoned the top button of my jeans. “Miss Alicia, I’d be mighty proud if you stroked my cock here at the Dark Slayers clubhouse.”

She laughed and relaxed a bit in my lap. “What’s up with the southern accent?”

“I thought if I role played a prim and proper southern gentleman, it would help you relax. Is it working?”

She shook her head. “No. Not really. I don’t ever want you to be anyone but yourself.” And with that, she leaned over and gave me a lingering kiss on the lips. Our first kiss was sweet and sexy and made of all the things I’d come to love about her. I’d already tasted her lips when I’d jokingly asked her to kiss me to make up for what she’d said about my eyes. Now as her lips parted, and my tongue tangled with hers it felt like something sacred. I didn’t want to think about how many women I’d kissed, at a time like this—but I knew that none of them had this effect on me. She continued kissing me as she unzipped my jeans and fondled my cock awkwardly.

I slid the fingers of one hand through her hair and pulled her head back to look into her eyes. “Take me out and stroke my cock with both hands.”

“Both hands?” she asked innocently.

“Yeah, I’m more than a handful.”

Looking down at the rather huge bulge in my pants she said, “Oh, that explains a lot.”

I chuckled until she pulled my cock out, taking a moment to admire it before stroking up and down again with both hands, just like I asked. And it felt so good, I had to suppress a groan of pleasure. Everything about this moment spoke to me as a male, but most especially having my own sweet little woman who wanted to stroke my cock, wanted to give me pleasure. The club girls tended to ignore me when I was a prospect, but I did okay with women in general. Though most of them just wanted to ride my thick cock and call it a night, not wanting to take time getting to know me.

Unable to resist, I ran one hand up between her thighs to find her panties were soaked for me. When I stroked one finger over her clit, she made a needy sound of pleasure. “I’m going to stroke you while you stroke me, okay sweetness.”

She nodded and kept on tugging on my cock with her soft delicate hands. Meanwhile, I slid two fingers into the side of her panties, wetting my fingers in her slick honey while I explored how she liked having her clit touched. Came to find out, she liked having the gentle pressure around the sides. I sat there enjoying the long smooth stokes she gave my cock and took my time driving her wild with my fingers. I made her come three times before I tucked my hard cock back into my pants, picked her up, and carried her to my room. When I tossed her onto the bed and started taking my clothing off, she followed suit.