Sam's Secret (Icehome)

I walk behind her in silence, even though I wish nothing more than to move to my mate's side. To guide her gently around the biggest snowdrifts instead of watching her stubbornly push her way through. We will be at the fruit caves later tonight or early tomorrow morning, if all goes as planned and the weather does not punish us.

Perhaps once we are there, she will relax and welcome my presence with a smile. My khui sings, reminding me that my body still aches.

Sam asked me earlier if touching myself gave relief. If it took the wild need away for a short time.

I lied. It has not helped. It only makes me want her more. In this, I am selfish. I lied because I wanted to hear her touch her body. I knew she was outside, listening to me, and it made my hand grip my cock tighter, made the release all the sweeter. Tonight, I will insist she touch herself. To “take the edge off” as she says.

Maybe she will even let me watch. I would gladly let her watch me.

It is late afternoon when a large shadow glides overhead, blotting out the sunlight. Sam pauses in her steps, looking up.

"No!" My instincts flare and I immediately rush forward, covering Sam's smaller form with mine. She makes a yelp of surprise, and then struggles to break free, panting with terror. "It is me," I remind her, trapping her flailing arms with my own. "It is Sessah. It is Sessah."

She makes a low sound of unhappiness, and I can feel her trembling underneath me, her terrified quivering breaking my spirit into pieces. Why is she so afraid to be touched? I do not understand it. I stroke her hair, murmuring soothing words even as I protect her smaller form with mine as the shadow circles overhead. If it is sky-claw, they will see my bigger form and leave her be. There are many stories of Jo-see and Haeden's resonance, but I think of how small Jo-see was swallowed whole by a sky-claw and I will not let the same happen to my Sam.

I hold her tight, even as she struggles to break free. The shadow soars overhead once more, and then there is a whoosh of air that stirs my mane and a noisy thump behind us that shakes pebbles loose from the canyon walls. I breathe a sigh of relief, because there is only one creature that massive in this region.

"Ash-tar," I explain to Sam, reluctantly letting her go. She stumbles backward out of my grasp and falls on her behind into the snow, gazing up at me. Her eyes are dilated, the blue so vivid I could lose myself in her gaze. Her khui sings to mine, and her arousal scent hangs in the air, heavy and delicious. Her legs are sprawled in front of her and I want nothing more than to crouch between them and shove them around my hips.

Instead, I offer her my hand.

Sam shakes her head, getting to her feet and dusting snow off of her clothes. She moves past me, waving in greeting to the large golden dragon who has landed behind us. "You could have called out a warning," she yells at him. "You scared us half to death."

The dragon does not shift forms immediately. Instead, he holds out his front claws, offering two bundles out to us. I take the larger basket, unsurprised to see Katamneas grinning up at me. "Ho there, young hunter," I say, and the boy holds his arms out to me. I swoop him up, laughing and tossing him into the air as Sam gently extricates Varukhal from his carrying basket. "You are tracking with your father today?"

"We are hunting you!" Katamneas says with delight, flinging his small, scaly arms around my neck. "Caught you!"

"You have," I agree, and then pat his back as his arm thorns dig into my hide. He is the exact image of his father in all ways, and Ashtar has large, dangerous protrusions along the backs of his arms and legs. "Mind your spikes."

Katamneas just laughs and flings his arms out. "Throw me again!"

As if he did not just fly through the air with his father. But I do so, watching Sam out of the corner of my eye as she hugs Varukhal—Ash-tar's youngest—against her chest. She presses her cheek to his, smiling, and my heart aches with want.

"I found you two," Ashtar calls out, striding forward to greet us. "You're making good time. In a hurry to get somewhere?"

Sam ignores his question, cuddling the kit in her arms. "Looks like you're on dad duty today?"

The dragon-man nods, hands on hips and showing off his fine, scaled form. He wears nothing, which does not bother me, but I know the human females are sensitive to it. I glance over at my female, but she is focusing on the kit in her arms and not the male standing proudly between us. "My sweet fires needed some time to herself," Ash-tar says. "So she is spending time with Hannah and doing whatever she likes, and I have the children this day." He moves to stand next to Sam, chucking the fat chin of Varukhal. "So I thought I would bring them on a nice flight. They sleep well when in the air."