Lost Bloodline 4 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Koda did his best to explain to the newcomers from the other tribes what had happened.

Apparently, while Vysin had given them general information about Koda and the champion’s exploits, he hadn’t really divulged much beyond that. To the point that he’d even concealed the presence of Arthene in their group.

Actually seeing the shrine that had been formed in the Last Fang Cave had swayed Jordan over, and the prospect of meeting a primal spirit like Arthene was rapidly bringing Melia onside as well.

“I honestly had no idea that Arthene was such a big deal,” Koda murmured to Samira as they led the group of traders and hunters back along the main road to the village.

“She is one of the oldest and best known of the Beast Queen’s daughters,” Samira replied with a muffled giggle. “Though you might not think that given how you have seen her. I know my own observations have muffled the reverence a bit, but they are also enhanced by what I saw her achieve during the fight with the trolls.”

Koda nodded in understanding of that declaration. He’d just finished telling Jordan and Melia the whole story of the trolls, specifically how Arthene had held off nearly half a dozen of them by herself in her bear form.

While the two representatives had never met a primal spirit, they were at least familiar with the potency and threat of trolls, as their tribes’ territories bordered on the kind of mountainous terrain that such creatures favored. So after Koda’s story, they had lapsed into thoughtful silence.

“And what I saw you achieve as well,” Samira said even quieter, almost quiet enough that Koda missed it.

He shot a sidelong look at Samira to find the caracal woman blushing faintly, but not looking his way. Her attitude and bearing reminded Koda of the tribeswoman’s blunt declaration that she wanted to join his family, something she’d danced around for a bit before deciding to cut to the chase.

You really haven’t been getting to know her like you should, Koda thought to himself. Sure, you have good reasons, what with getting ready for winter and finally getting to enjoy your home. But isn’t today the first time you’ve made time to spend with just Samira?

That thought, coupled with Samira’s earnest declaration of interest, made Koda grimace. He’d been a bad host in that fashion, but at least he’d realized it himself before one of his girls had decided to manually adjust his attitude and remind him.

Koda’s desire to avoid that fate was strong enough that he opened his mouth before he finished formulating his thoughts.

“So, Samira,” Koda said, then froze when her intelligent, green eyes darted over to lock with his.

Koda didn’t feel himself falling into them like he would with Sienna’s crystalline orbs, but the intensity in Samira’s gaze startled him. They pierced him with the gaze of a hunter training all of itself on its target as Samira focused on him without a single shred of hesitation.

She’s not thinking of anything else. I have her full attention, Koda thought in wonder.

Samira always seemed like she had her head in the clouds, distracted from her surroundings by some measure. She was always thinking about her stories, legends, and tales. That or how she could add to them. But Koda realized now that Samira was entirely focused on just him. That sort of intensity startled him at first, but it was also strangely flattering.

“Ah,” Koda cleared his throat before continuing, darting a glance over his shoulder at the group that was following them. “Samira, it occurs to me that we haven’t been spending as much time as I would like together, and I apologize for that. Is there anything that you’d like to do? Anything I can do for you to make up for that?”

Samira continued to walk, but stared at him with a blank look on her face for a good ten feet before she blinked. Then she blinked again. A third blink finally seemed to power-cycle her mind and the caracal woman’s ears twitched.

“Koda… you don’t have to—” Samira began to say, her large, tuft-tipped ears folding back into her sandy-blonde hair.

“I want to,” Koda interrupted.

Samira’s ears shot back upright, quivering in excitement enough that the fluffy tips danced back and forth. Before she could speak, Koda continued.

“I want to get to know you better. I regret that I’ve been so busy lately and I want to make up for the lost time. So is there anything that you’d like to do? Anything at all that I can do for you?”

“Umm… could we go for a walk?” Samira asked tentatively, clearly reining in her excitement in an effort to appear composed. “I’ve explored a lot of the village, but… well I kind of would like it if you could show me the places I have heard stories about? Like that valley where you fought that first major battle against the Crooked? And I’d like to see the Windwalker’s Retreat…”

“Sure, we can do that. Are you sure that is all you want?” Koda’s reply was greeted with a broad smile and a rapid lashing of Samira’s feline tail, which was the only answer he needed to know that she was very happy with his agreement.

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By the time their group got back to Silverstone, it was already late in the afternoon. Because of this, most of the shops were closing. The Silent Plains hunters who had come to trade all agreed that they would be better served by resting for the night and then meeting with the various vendors in town the following day.

Before, Koda had offered to host the traders from the Silent Plains in his house. It had been meant to both welcome them and give them familiar faces with which the traders could converse. But as soon as they realized that Koda’s home was also where Arthene was living, both Melia and Jordan declined.

“It wouldn’t be right to invite ourselves into your home, and I do not want to offend the Den Mother,” Jordan insisted. “We can get rooms at the inn easily enough.”

“Agreed. While I would dearly like to meet with the Den Mother and learn more of her, it does not feel like our place to simply force our way in,” Melia agreed.

The others from the Silent Plains all looked to Cyrus, who shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s no issue to me,” the older cougar beastfolk said. “We could easily camp in the woods near town if we had to, but I wouldn’t mind having a bed under me.”

“Then you might be best going to Banno’s tavern,” Samira chimed in from Koda’s side as they stood on the outskirts of Silverstone.

The caracal woman had been virtually skipping along at Koda’s side since his agreement to go on another walk with her. Apparently, their trip to the edge of the valley didn’t count as one in her mind, since it was with the intent of meeting others. Koda was frankly surprised that she hadn't tried to tow him off immediately.

“She’s right,” Koda said after a moment of thought. “While we have the space at my home, you’d be sleeping in bedrolls on the floor in the spare room. Getting ready for winter has us rushing about and we haven’t really had time to furnish much of the house.”

“Then we will go and seek rest in the tavern,” Cyrus said decisively, his eyes narrowing with an understanding smile. Koda remembered a fragment of information from his previous life that cats blinked or squinted their eyes as a sign of trust, and he immediately wondered if cat beastfolk did the same thing.

I wouldn’t be surprised. Sienna loves getting head-scratches just like most canines I knew, and Arthene is definitely sleepy enough that it might just be a bear trait, Koda thought before leaving that train of thought to fend for itself.

While he’d been lost mulling it over, Samira had given the group directions to the tavern in town.

“I’ll let the headwoman know that you have arrived so she can meet with us tomorrow,” Koda called as Cyrus began directing their group into the late afternoon of the village. “Enjoy a warm bed and good food. Let Banno know that you are guests of mine and he’ll make sure you are taken care of.”

“We will do so, Champion. Thank you again,” Cyrus gave Koda another salute and half-bow, but this time the elder hunter didn’t wait for Koda to return them before he headed off.

“Well then,” Koda said with a relieved sigh. “Shall we head back to the house?”

“Could we… go for that walk?” Samira asked shyly, biting her bottom lip while her leafy green eyes shimmered in the late afternoon light.

“Already? Sure, I guess. Let’s swing by the house to let the others know we came back already and where we are going though, okay?”

Samira nodded rapidly at Koda’s request and scampered off down the lane to do just that. Koda followed in her wake, a bemused smile on his face at the feline woman’s enthusiasm.

Arriving back at his home, Koda followed Samira inside to find Arthene lounging at the kitchen table with Sienna while the wolf beastfolk worked on her new spear. He could also hear Calandra singing in dwarven from the kitchen.

“Oh, you two are back already?” Sienna said, spotting them first and setting aside the carving tools she had been using to refine the spear shaft.

Sienna didn’t wait for either of them to respond, hurrying around the table with a broad smile on her lips and her red-black hair bouncing with each step.

Koda didn’t hesitate either, sweeping Sienna into his arms with a broad smile and planting a kiss on his first mate’s lips that made her croon happily while her fluffy tail whirled like a windmill behind her.

Since Koda was otherwise distracted, Samira answered the question for him.

“Yes! We found the traders and brought them back to town. They decided to take rooms at Banno’s so they could enjoy warm beds, though they brought a pair of representatives from other tribes as well. Arthene, they are going to be a bit star-struck when they get to meet you…”

The incarnate primal spirit sighed but nodded in understanding, shifting in her chair so she was leaning backwards and letting her head hang to look at them upside down with a lazy amusement.

“Of course they are. I look forward to the day when people see Koda is more impressive than me. That will allow me to avoid such duty.”

“I doubt that’ll ever happen,” Koda said with a laugh after he finally pulled back from Sienna, though he kept an arm slung around her waist to pull her into his side. “My lovely Den-Mother is just that impressive. People will come from miles around simply to pay their respects to such an ancient and honorable guardian.”

Arthene’s face screwed up in distaste at that thought, but smoothed out again when Koda bent to plant an upside-down kiss on Arthene’s lips. The hand that wasn’t holding Sienna to his side caressed its way across Arthene’s cheek to cup her muscled neck possessively and then dance down over the top of her chest.

“Mmm, flatterer and a tease,” Arthene hummed while shooting him a lidded look and arching her back further to put her full chest on an even greater display. “You escaped my temptation earlier… but will you do the same now?”

To add further fuel to the fires of arousal she was fanning in Koda, Arthene traced her tongue over her bottom lip suggestively and gave him a saucy wink.

Koda had to fight the urge to agree right then and there. Arthene was a sensual creature when she wanted to be, and she was closely in touch with her natural drives. And since sex was one of those natural drives, she was adept at teasing him into a frenzy when she wanted to.

But he’d made a promise to Samira already, and didn’t want to break it. He’d been reminded earlier and also resolved himself to be better about not ignoring Samira.

So Koda pulled back on his arousal—though Sienna giggled in his ear as she felt his manhood harden against her leg—and instead kissed Arthene on the tip of the nose.

“Maybe tonight, Arthene. I was just stopping in with Samira to let you all know we’d made it back, but she wants to see the valley where we stamped out that first Crooked camp,” Koda said, darting his eyes back to Sienna with a smile. “You know the one. Where you and the others chased me after they attacked the village?”

“You mean the one you’d planned to try and take out on your own after shaming the rest of us for taking so long to strike back?” Sienna replied airily, her blue-green eyes dancing in amusement and drawing Koda into their depths once more. “I think I remember that one. The standing stones were quite impressive, and I believe some of the villagers have gone out there to clean up the pyres so the wilderness can reclaim the place easier.”

“That’s a relief,” Koda said and meant it.

Their group had to kill dozens of Crooked in that fight, including the first champion that he’d had to bring down. That fight had been both difficult and bloody, with Koda barely escaping his own death several times during the fight. They’d piled all the bodies and the disturbing paraphernalia of the Crooked against a cliff wall and set the lot on fire to dispose of it. The last thing Koda wanted to see was the charred bones of the Crooked that he’d had to kill, especially on what he was hoping was a romantic evening walk.

“Yes, it is. I believe it was also because of the shrine that you created there too. They didn’t want the young ones to find the bones when they brought them there to pay respects to Thera,” Sienna continued with a small smile on her lips.

“Is that Koda I hear?” Calandra called from the kitchen, interrupting their conversation.

A moment later, the dwarven woman poked her head around the door and broke into a broad grin. She had a dark apron on over her clothes to protect them that was marked with flour and a few other small stains from cooking.

Calandra mirrored Sienna’s earlier actions, not hesitating to immediately hurried around the table to where Koda stood with his arm around Sienna’s waist, her own arms spreading wide to demand a hug.

Koda released his grip on his other two mates and took a knee to put himself on the dwarven woman’s level. Calandra accepted his embrace, twisting her body to keep from transferring the worst of the stains on her apron to Koda’s relatively clean clothes, though her strong arms still trapped him in a hug that pressed her full bust into his chest.

“What’s this I heard about you going for a walk? Are you so afraid of my cooking that you want to try and dodge dinner?” Calandra asked once they separated, her large olive-colored eyes glimmering with amusement.

“Not afraid, just a bit hesitant is all,” Koda replied with a grin, tugging playfully on one of the three thick braids the dwarven woman kept her brown hair in.

Calandra arched an eyebrow at him, propping her fists on her hips and throwing her ample chest out in his direction.

“I’ll have you know that I am a great cook! I can definitely do more than traveling soups and stews.”

“Cal, I think I smell your bread burning…” Sienna said dryly from behind Koda.

The dwarven woman’s eyes widened and she whirled towards the kitchen in surprise, only to blow out her breath in annoyance.

“Damn it, Sienna! I actually thought something was burning,” Calandra growled when she didn’t see the expected billow of smoke.

Sienna giggled quietly, her tail whipping back and forth in amusement as she leaned over Koda’s still-squatting form to press a kiss to the top of Calandra’s head.

“Just teasing you, dear. Though you should keep watch on your food until you are used to the new fireplace. With the changes Koda had me make to it, I’ve noticed that it holds heat better.”

“Just a part of insulating the outside to make the bathing room,” Koda said defensively. Both girls turned smiles his way, but Calandra took the opportunity to steal another kiss from Koda.

“We didn’t say it was a bad thing, just that we are adjusting to it,” Calandra reminded him before bopping Koda lightly on the nose. “If you are going to go on a walkabout with Samira, then get going! Dinner will be ready in another hour or two, so don’t spend too long out there.”

“I’ll make sure that we are back in time for dinner,” Samira promised with a sharp nod that sent her pointed, feline ears flapping.

“I mean this with all the love I have for you, Samira,” Arthene drawled, still leaning over backwards in her chair. “But of the two of you, I think you are the most likely to get distracted and lose track of time.”

To head off any more teasing, Koda pushed himself to his feet and spoke.

“I’ll make sure to be back in time for dinner. Whatever you are making, Cal, it smells delicious.”

The complement made the busty dwarven woman’s chest puff out even further and her smile grew. She turned and hurried back to the kitchen with a bounce in her step, though Koda wouldn’t have noticed that. He was too busy staring at Calandra’s firm bottom as she left.

A gentle poke from Sienna drew Koda back to reality, while Arthene’s snickering picked up once more.

“Get going, love,” Sienna reminded him gently while tossing her head towards the door. “You did promise Samira you’d take her out there, and now you promised to make it back for dinner.”

Smiling down at Sienna and Arthene, even as Calandra’s singing picked up in the kitchen once more, Koda couldn’t help but feel like he was simply buried in love at the moment.

Is this what true happiness is? A loving home and a family that cares about you? Koda thought as he got one last kiss from both Sienna and Arthene before leading Samira out the door.

He couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible to be happier as he led Samira down the lane, the caracal woman bouncing happily along at his side and already peppering him with more questions about the battle that he’d fought in the valley they were headed for.

Thera definitely made good on her promise to give me a loving family, Koda thought with a smile as he watched Samira skip along. Despite his earlier affection to his mates, the caracal woman didn’t appear envious or even put out in the slightest. Instead, she was excited to have more time with him right then.

Love shared grows, Koda thought with a smile as the two of them headed into the cool afternoon together.