“There,” I pant, satisfied. I put a hand on her buttock and rub my strangely viscous seed into her skin. “Now you wear my scent and not I’rec’s.”
D’see immediately scrambles forward, flipping over until her backside is on the furs. Even the sight of that pleases me, because my scent will be all over her bedding. The look she gives me is not pleased, though. It is shocked. “All of that was because you wanted me to wear your scent?” She gives me an angry look. “What is going on with you, O’jek?”
“Going on with me?” It is a ridiculous question. “Why must something be going on with me?”
She shakes her head, her eyes wide. “Were you jealous of I’rec’s scent? Is that why you dragged me over here and ripped my leggings?”
I snort. “Pah.”
“Don’t ‘pah’ me,” she continues, her gaze searching. “He’s your clan brother. He’s your closest friend. Why are you being so weird?”
Swallowing, I feel the first surges of guilt. She is not wrong. I’rec is my brother as much as Juth is. We grew up together, he and I. We have shared sorrows and joys through many turns of the seasons. I would trust him with my life…and yet the thought of him touching D’see makes me crazed. Even now, just thinking about it sends a ferocious possessive surge through my body, as if I need to claim her again and mark her as my own. I scrub a hand over my face, then hitch my leggings up. “I…did not like his scent on you.”
“Yes, well, I was just reading him a letter from Tia. There was absolutely nothing to be jealous of.” D’see tells me. She pulls the furs over her bared legs and shakes her head at me. “What are we doing, O’jek? You say you don’t want me, that you’re done with me, but we fool around every night. The entire tribe knows I smell like you…and now you’re getting jealous of your oldest friend because I read him a letter from his girlfriend? You’re sending me mixed signals and I don’t know what to think.”
I am silent. She is right. She is right about all of this.
“You know I don’t want I’rec, right?”
“I know this.” I truly do. Now that his scent is no longer on her, I feel like I can think straight, and I am ashamed of my actions.
“Then why are you being like this?”
“I…do not know.”
D’see sighs. She shakes her head again. “Either we’re doing this or we’re not. If we’re not, I want you to leave.”
Automatically, I get to my feet and head for the entrance to the hut. She sucks in a breath, and I can tell without looking over at her that I have hurt her feelings. That makes me feel…worse. What am I doing? Why will I not turn around and pull her into my arms like I want to? Why am I yet walking away?
But I cannot seem to stop myself. I leave the hut—and D’see—and head back down to the beach. I do not want to go out hunting again—not with D’see’s scent all over my skin and her taste in my mouth—but it feels wrong to rejoin the tribe and sit around the fire as if nothing is wrong.
Everything feels wrong.
CHAPTER 28
O’JEK
I walk the shore all afternoon, alone. The sheltered cove of our village is not large, so I climb around rocks and along a narrow precipice to the next stretch of land, all to keep walking along the shore. When I have gone far enough that I can no longer see the huts or smell the fires, I sit down on the shore and stare at the waves.
What am I doing? Even now, the need to return to D’see and cover her with my scent is overwhelming. I want nothing more than to grab her and drag her down to the furs again, to kiss her until she’s breathless and panting under me. I know it is a bad idea. A terrible one. And yet…she is hard to resist.
A figure appears on the horizon, and then another. My heart thuds…and then slows once it becomes obvious that neither would be D’see. Of course not. She will remain safe and secure at the camp. I am too far out for her to hunt after…and I do not know why that disappoints me. I told her I did not want to do this. She does not need to prove to me that she is capable because I have already decided I will not risk my heart.
The wind shifts, and I catch the scent of Juth, and then of R’jaal. That is…strange. Sure enough, when I squint at the figures in the distance again, I can see the stump of Juth’s tail and R’jaal’s arching horns. Why have those two come after me? I remain where I am, fighting back a surge of annoyance. Has I’rec sent them to lecture me? He thinks I am being foolish in pushing D’see away.