14. Turren

As we walked throughout the afternoon, all I could think about was the pleasure Kaila had found from my touch.

The heady flavor of her flesh. The way her body had taken my fingers so sweetly. And the way she’d moaned and thrust her hips up to meet my thrusts with complete abandon.

She hadn’t surrendered to me, and I wasn’t sure I’d want someone who would, but she was softening. My patience and persistence were paying off.

Tonight, I’d claim a kiss and see what happened after that.

“Would you like to hear about my desert home?” I asked Kaila. She’d been striding in the middle of us along a narrow shayde trail with her brother taking the lead, but the trail had widened, and she’d dropped back to walk beside me.

Brunnen remained ahead of us, slashing at thick branches with his staff, perfecting the thrusts I’d taught him once I could drag my mind away from my pretty mate’s luscious body and focus on the situation at hand.

I needed to be alert for threats, not consumed by my need to continue pleasuring my mate.

“Tell me,” she said.

“First, we’re a migratory clan, though we spend about half our year near the vox breeding grounds.”

“I’ve heard of voxes,” Brunnen said over his shoulder. With a grunt, he thrust his spear forward as if to impale an attacking predator, following the gouge with a kick high enough to hit a head with the intent to stun, another trick I’d taught him.

“You have?” Kaila sent me a bemused look. Whenever I caught her gaze, color flooded her face, and she dragged her eyes away. But when she appeared to think I wasn’t looking, her attention would lock again on me. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but I’d ask as soon as we were alone.

I had to know if she was beginning to more than like me. I hated to think her response was only her body speaking and not her heart and mind.

“Yes, they’re huge birds and the orcs ride on their backs,” Brunnen said.

“The Ember Clan is the keeper of the voxes. They leave with their newly bonded orcs, but every few years, they return to breed. They’re not the best parents, which is why we’re there to help. While the parents leave to return to their orcs, we remain by the seeds. Orcs travel from other clans to bond with a vox youngling the moment it slips from its seed. We show them how to train the vox as it matures, and when they’re ready, they take to the skies and return to their own clan.”

“I want to ride a vox,” Brunnen said in awe. “It must be amazing. You’re high up and powerful.”

“It’s wonderful.” If Kaila chose to go with me back to my desert home, Brunnen would come with us. He could bond with a vox. I was sure humans could do so. Why not? I’d be with him, cheering for him as he explored the wonder of his first vox. “Just like on the ground, however, there are dangers in the sky. But with training, a warrior and his or her vox will be prepared to meet them.”

“Like me.” Brunnen slashed his spear through a thin branch blocking the path.

“Like you,” I agreed with a smile I shared with Kaila. “Would you like to bond with a vox?”

“Humans can bond with them?” Her voice came out in jerky gasps. “I’m not sure I’d want something like that.”

“Why not?”

“Isn’t it scary?”

“It’s unlike anything else in the world. You’re one with the creature, soaring through the air and diving to the ground.”

“They’re like a pet?”

“In some ways.”

“Does flying around like that upset your belly?”

“You get used to it. You don’t start out with complex maneuvers. The orc and the vox are taught at a pace they can build on.”

Biting her lower lip, she nodded. “Maybe it would be nice. To try.”

A concession I wanted to grab onto. Instead, I answered her question. “We live in hide tents when we travel and in wooden homes when we remain with the voxes in the mountains. The mountains are . . . glorious.” I grinned, remembering. “The valley spreads before you, so vast, it makes your throat clench tight. But the desert has its own beauty. Whenever I step out of my hide home, something about it grabs me by the soul. It’s in my blood, my bones, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

“I haven’t seen it before,” she said in a wistful tone. “Maybe one day, I will.”

“I’m going to,” Brunnen said.

She huffed. “I thought you wanted to live in the village with me.”

“I will for a time, but then I might travel to stay with Turren.” His needy gaze met mine. “If I’m welcome.”

“You will always have a place by my fire.” This was an orc expression commonly made to a friend. In many ways, Brunnen already felt like a brother, and that pleased me immensely.

“Then expect me soon.” Brunnen poked a tree trunk, and a branch snapped down to smack him on the head. He pinwheeled backward, dropping his staff, and gazed up at the tree in awe.

“See?” I said to Kaila. “Some trees are sentient.”

“That’s . . .” Brunnen plucked his spear off the ground and bowed to the tree. “I apologize. I’ll be more respectful.” With that, he kept walking, his step almost dancing across the ground.

“I’ve heard the desert is completely barren,” Kaila said. “There’s no water. No vegetation.”

As a gardener, that must sound like a wasteland to my pretty mate.

“We live near oases where there’s plenty of water.”

“You do like to swim and bathe.”

“The pools are beautiful, such a stark contrast to the dry sand stretching for cliks in all directions. It’s hot during the day, which makes the pools welcome, but it cools down nicely at night. Then, we slumber beneath thick blankets within our snug homes.”

“You mentioned Brunnen being welcome at your fire, so you must burn . . . something.”

“In the mountains, wood. In the desert, dung.”

Her eyes widened. “Poop? You cook food over poop?”

Put that way, I’d be incredulous myself.

“It’s not our dung. The voxes provide plenty, as do other creatures living in the sand. And we don’t cook food over it. We use it for our central fire in the evening when everyone gathers.”

“What fuel do you use to cook food, then?”

“The desert is dry, but plants find a way to grow. We dry those and use them. And we have ovens at the oasis.”

“Like the stoves we used in the village fueled by wood. I can’t picture a place with almost no water. Sand everywhere.”

“As I said, it’s beautiful. Treacherous at times, but so is the forest.”

“And my village,” she said softly. “How do you find enough to drink? I assume there are no rivers.”

“You’re correct. When we travel, we carry water, but there are plants we cut and smash to release their juices. There’s nothing sweeter or tastier than that.” Except her, my precious Kaila.

Anticipation coiled across my bones. I couldn’t wait until tonight when we’d be alone.