Sam's Secret (Icehome)

"A-are you awake?" my mate calls out softly. "I can hear your khui."

I swallow hard, because my cock is surging at the sound of her voice. "I am awake, yes."

"Should we get started on the day?"

I close my eyes, bracing myself, but it does no good. Just the sound of her voice makes the need increase. "I…am not certain how far I can walk."

"Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?" Sam sits up, and when I open my eyes, she has a worried look on her face. Her teats press enticingly against the front of her tunic and there is a faint, musky scent in the air. Her arousal. I bite back another groan. Today will be impossible.

"It is the resonance," I pant. "It is…very demanding."

"Oh god." She sounds panicked. "Do we need to separate? We should, shouldn't we?"

I shake my head. "If we did, I would follow you. Resonance would not allow otherwise. We are safer together. Splitting up will not change the need. It might make it worse." When she makes a worried sound, I sit up to reassure her, and my cock is so hard it brushes against my belly, my loincloth blatantly lifted.

She stares. It only makes me harder.

Sam jumps to her feet, snatching up her boots. She shoves her foot into one, hopping. "I can't stay here. I can't do this."

"Sam, wait," I say. To my surprise, she does. She freezes in place, and the musky scent of her arousal grows thicker. Hot need pounds through me, and I clench my fists at my side. "I can smell your hunger, too. It is not just me."

"I know." She bites her lip. "But the difference between you and me is that I can walk affected like this, and you can't." She points one boot at me. "So I'm going to take a walk outside and you're going to take the edge off. And then we'll set out. Okay?"

I stare at her in surprise. "You want me to…touch myself?"

"Well, what's the alternative? I'm trying to be practical here." She puts her boot on and then her hands go to her hips. She's jittery, and I know the wrong move will make her flee. "You…you can take the edge off, and then you can tell me if it helps. If it does, I might need to do the same."

So she hungers as deeply as I do? For some reason that is both reassuring and incredibly frustrating. But I nod. "Stay close. I will…be quick."

"Quick. Right." With a dazed expression, Sam watches me for a moment longer and then bolts from the cave, taking her delicious scent with her.

7

SAM

I can't believe I just told Sessah to jerk off.

My face feels utterly flushed with heat, and even going outside into the cold, snowy air doesn't do much for relief. My khui won't shut up. Even as I hug my fur cloak to my chest and stare out at the morning sky, stepping away from the cave, my khui sings loudly. It's like it's practically angry with me because I didn't fling myself onto my back and let Sessah mount me the moment resonance hit.

And Sessah…Sessah's a big boy, all over. Jesus. I saw what he's packing under that loincloth, and I try to match it up to the boy I knew from three years ago, but I didn't pay attention back then. My body sure is paying attention now.

Sure, it's a normal function, but it's not quite the same as blowing your nose or taking a piss. It's…personal. Throw in the khui and it's doubly so. But what are our choices? I saw the massive erection he was sporting. There's no way he can walk all day with that sort of thing in his pants. I'm suffering just as much as he is, too, but in more inward ways. My pussy feels feverish and constantly slick, and I woke up with the sensation of my body clenching on nothing at all and my nipples hard and aching. Everything makes me horny—the breeze on my skin, the clothes on my body, the realization that Sessah is going to jerk off…

Oh my god. Sessah's going to jerk off. And because of resonance, he's going to think of me while he does it.

And because I'm resonating, too, I can't walk away. I should. I'm giving him privacy so he can take care of business and we can get on with our journey. I turn and stare at the leather screen over the entrance of the hunter cave, propped up against the rocky mouth. I can't see anything.

I should just walk away.

I should.

I should.

I close my eyes, think forcefully about walking away, and take one step forward.

A muffled, masculine gasp from inside the cave stops all of those plans. I can't walk away now, not even if every part of me knows that I should. Instead, my ears are straining to hear another sound. Anything from the cave. Sessah's voice. Sessah's khui…