“Papa, oh, Papa, I miss you so,” she whispered. “And, Papa, I have so much to learn, but Wolf Hawk is eager to teach me.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and recalled how moments ago the man she loved had been something besides a man…a powerfully muscled wolf who seemed to have control over those that had gone into the cabin to torment the evil men.
“I will be alright, Papa,” she went on. “I could not have a better man to protect me than Wolf Hawk. I love him. He loves me. When I have our first child, I shall bring the baby here for you to know.”
She could feel Wolf Hawk waiting for her, she herself wanted to leave this place of mystery as fast as she could. Once they returned to the village, surely all of this strangeness would be left behind. She had never seen Wolf Hawk be anything but his people’s leader while she was at the village with him. She doubted that his people even knew the true powers that he held within his grip.
“I love you, Papa,” Mia whispered, then rose to her feet and went to Wolf Hawk. “I’m ready.”
She shivered when she again heard the two trappers screaming and shouting. They had been made to know the evil they did.
Mia would not think of what their final end might be.
All she knew was that the wolves were still there with the men. She believed that those wolves were the spirits of some of Wolf Hawk’s warriors who had left this earth.
“Let us put this all behind us,” Wolf Hawk said, lifting Mia into his powerful arms. “What you saw today was something that could have made you afraid to love me. I am glad that your faith in me and my love for you is so strong that you could accept what you saw. There is even more, my woman, that you will also learn about me, but for now, this is enough.”
“Yes, enough,” Mia murmured as he drew her lips against his and gave her a kiss filled with passion and heat.
“The moon is full,” he whispered against her lips. “The river is calm. Let us go home, my woman, and make love.”
“Yes, let’s,” she whispered, sucking in a wild gasp of plea sure when he reached a hand up inside the skirt of her dress, his fingers caressing her where she already ached for him.
“I love you so,” Mia whispered against his lips. “I love everything about you. Everything.”
That was all Wolf Hawk needed to hear.
Chapter Thirty-one
If ever wife was happy as a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
—Anne Bradstreet
The morning sun was creeping up from the horizon, tinting the sky a soft pink as Mia awakened after her first full night of being Wolf Hawk’s wife.
“You are awake,” Wolf Hawk said. He moved closer to Mia amid their pelts and blankets beside the fire pit, where only cold ashes now lay.
The temperature outside had risen, so that no fires were built inside the tepees. All of the cooking was done outside by the women of the village. And the very bottom edges of all the tepees were rolled up and secured, allowing fresh, cool air to sweep through the opening.
Mia felt it even now, the sweetness of the morning air, which held the scent of cook fires already being built throughout the village.
“Yes, husband, I am awake,” Mia said, turning to Wolf Hawk. “How could I not be? We forgot to cover Georgina last night and daylight awakened her. She is already singing.”
“And a beautiful song it is,” Wolf Hawk said, gazing over at Georgina, who was moving back and forth on her perch as she continued to serenade the two love birds.
Mia moved even closer to Wolf Hawk, whose nakedness fired her senses. She felt somewhat shameful because she always needed him.
But she loved him so much, and he loved her, it was only natural for them to ache to make love whenever they could.
And, ah, how wonderful it was for Mia to be able to go to sleep in her husband’s arms, as well as wake up snuggled next to him.
“I love calling you husband,” Mia murmured, slowly running a hand down the smoothness of his chest, then lower, past his flat stomach.
She giggled when her touch caused his manhood to jerk with plea sure beneath her fingers.
“And I love doing this to you,” she murmured.