Tuesday Teaser, 1/20/15: Daughter of the Wolf Clan

I am moving right along on Wolf’s Princess now.  I just finished writing the big love scene between Rose and Sky. It took me the entire weekend to write! It’s amazing what a little love making will do for the level of affection and trust between mates. They are both pretty happy now! Maybe next week I’ll share a little snip of Wolf’s Princess, but for today, you get another helping of Kit and Olivia. 🙂

With supreme indifference to the threat of Kit’s claws, the woman turned and walked out of the cave. Eyeing Kit uneasily, Olivia walked after the woman, expecting Kit to stop her. But he only fell into step beside her, growling a quiet rumble under his breath. She tried to edge away from him, but he grabbed her arm to keep her close.

“Let go of me,” she snarled, every bit as ferociously as her aunt Glory could.

After a moment, he dropped her wrist, but stayed close. Olivia swallowed and kept her eyes on the woman. As they passed out of the cave, the warmth of the sun fell like a welcome blanket over her. She looked around to try to fix landmarks in her memory for her escape. The sense of warm comfort was shredded by the woman’s mocking laugh from a few yards away. “Hurry up, little human.”

Olivia followed, still casting thorough looks around to memorize the terrain. They were on a rocky mountainside so steep that if she tripped she’d slide thirty feet almost straight down. Nothing was familiar. She had no idea how to get home from here. There was a narrow ledge that went from Kit’s cave to another cave about a hundred yards away. The woman ran with light, sure feet along it, utterly confident she would not slip. Olivia took a deep breath and started after her, more slowly and carefully. She could feel the warmth of Kit’s body right behind her. Kit’s large, furry, naked body. it made her uncomfortable. He should have put some clothes on. The wolves of the Clan tended to wear as little as possible, but they wore at least breechcloths when they were in human form. Kit wore nothing at all. It reminded her that only a few minutes ago he had tried to rape her. So why did he seem like a friend? The woman might be her enemy, but she was Kit’s pack mate.

The other cave was larger than Kit’s, and dim after the bright morning light. A quick count told Olivia that there were about twenty adults there, mostly men, and about a dozen cougars. A group of ten children were herded to the back of the cave at the sight of her. Olivia was relieved everyone was clothed in pants and shirts, although they were barefoot. Clearly, this cave was a living area, as there were piles of blankets scattered along the wall and woven baskets with lids beside the blankets.

As she stood just inside the cave, every eye turned to her and silence fell. In the quiet, the mewling of kittens rose. The woman folded her arms over her ample bosom and stalked forward to stare into Olivia’s eyes. Olivia let her eyes drop so as to not challenge the Alpha female. She jumped when Kit’s arm curled around her waist and he leaned his hip against hers, but his warmth was comforting. It shouldn’t be comforting!

“Kit has brought a little human girl to our pride,” the woman announced loudly. Her lip curled. “What do you all think of that?”

Little? Olivia wanted to argue. She wasn’t as tall as her cousin Victoria, but she was above average for a woman. And she wasn’t a girl. She was nineteen now, old enough that even her father and brothers agreed she could have suitors. The two she’d had so far were boys she’d known all her life, and with her father sitting on the other side of the fireplace, working on his carving with a large knife instead of his usual small chisel, they hadn’t dared to even hold her hand.

“She’s human.” Scorn dripped from the voice. Another woman came from the rear of the cave, looking ready to spit at Olivia. She was shorter and slimmer than the other woman, but with similar coloring and features, and with a bitter expression that scared Olivia. “I say we kill her.”

Olivia was almost glad of Kit’s arm clamping around her and the snarl twisting his feline face. “Oleeya is mah madte. Mine!”

“So you’ve said. Repeatedly.” The first woman’s smile was cruel. “But from what I heard at your lair, she doesn’t agree. Do you, girl?”

Death colored the air shuddering in Olivia’s lungs. “I haven’t accepted him yet.” She laid one hand over the arm clenching her waist. “I need more time to get to know Kit before I accept him.”

“Liar.” It was the second woman, the bitter one. “All you humans are liars.”

Olivia forgot about not challenging anyone. She drew herself up and glared. “I am not a liar!” Well, maybe a little bit of a liar, but only to save her life. “In the Wolf Clan, a man courts a woman to give her a chance to accept him.”

“But you aren’t his mate yet, are you?” The woman pulled her pants off, and threw herself on a nearby pile of blankets, opening her legs so everyone could see her privates. Olivia felt her eyes stretch into wide circles before she jerked her gaze away. “Kit!” the woman bellowed. “Come service me. Now.”

Kit shook his head. His long hair brushed over Olivia’s shoulder. “I gih sex only Oleeya. Candt change back human now.”

“I don’t care,” snapped the woman. “I demand you service me now.”

There was a gasp and a murmur at this. Another voice rose, and it was familiar to Olivia. The dark-haired man from yesterday pushed to the front of the people. Devlin. “Tricia, the rule has always been that whichever form you queens are in, your partners will take the same form to give you sex. Kit can’t take full cougar form, so you both have to be human. He’s too upset to change right now, but even if he wasn’t, he can’t give you sex. He’s mated.”

The first woman, the taller one, took a menacing step. “Dev, you’re coming pretty close to insubordination, aren’t you?”

Devlin held her eyes for a moment before looking down. “Not intentionally, Maria. But I was with Kit when he found his mate yesterday, and I believe the mate bond exists. For him to service another female would be wrong.”