Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

For most of his life, Koda had been a side sleeper. Sleeping on his back or front would always make it difficult to drift off and actually get anything approaching quality sleep. It was just part of who he was. Coming here, he’d learned to adapt.

When it was just Sienna at his side, they’d end up spooned more often than not, but he would occasionally wake up with her using him as a pillow while he was flat on his back. Arthene added to the occurrence of this, usually using him as something approaching a stuffed animal or a pillow, with a rare time where she’d drag him onto her like a blanket in the night.

Adding Calandra to the mix and how the dwarven woman liked to sleep in the spot that was the warmest cemented him now as a back sleeper for the rest of his life. But Koda wasn’t going to complain. The love of his women made it easy to relax and when you were surrounded by such things, it made sleeping easy.

And waking all the more amusing.

Calandra woke him that morning as she had basically every morning since joining their happy little family. Arthene had grumbled at first, wanting a turn, but Calandra had simply said it would require Arthene to wake up sooner. Something the bear beastfolk was against from the start. So instead, while Calandra woke Koda in the most pleasurable way, Arthene and Sienna clung to him, helping keep the champion silent as his shortest lover proved the other advantage of letting her use his inner thigh as her pillow at night.

Koda groaned quietly as Calandra finished her ministrations, the dwarven woman ensuring he was tidy before shimmying up to lay on his chest, peeking out from underneath their combined blankets with amusement twinkling in her olive eyes while strands of her brown hair stuck to her sweaty forehead where they had escaped her braids.

“Morning, my mate,” Calandra crooned, kissing Koda’s chest lightly while settling into position on top of him.

He’d taken to sleeping naked after Arthene and Sienna had made a good case for it a week previously, and he hadn’t regretted it yet. Especially with the warmth of his lovers pressed in on all sides right now. Koda’s ‘little-champion’ was already perking up in case he was called in for additional duty, but he doubted that the opportunity would present itself, given that he could hear movement from the other hunters with them and it sounded like Hans was stirring the fire.

“Good morning, dear Calandra,” Koda replied.

He leaned down to press a kiss to Calandra’s forehead, getting a quiet hum of happiness as she nuzzled into his chest while wiggling her hips. The motion caused the plush dwarven woman’s curves to grind into him, further teasing his little-champion to rise for battle, even as her thighs slid closed on him.

“None of that now,” Sienna cautioned, her voice raspy from sleep still. “We need to keep moving. Once we set up a camp for processing the fruits of the hunt, then you can sneak off to fuck in the grass without feeling guilty. It’s what I’m waiting for.”

“As you command, sweet Sienna,” Calandra replied, turning to lay her head on Koda’s chest so she could shoot the wolf beastfolk a smile.

Calandra had adopted the pet-name from Arthene without a single moment of hesitation, recognizing how much Sienna liked it. Sienna, who only had one eye open to watch their antics, rolled that one eye. Koda could feel her tail wiggling happily behind her back though. Sienna was tucked into his side with her breasts pressing into his chest and one of his legs trapped between hers.

“What is the plan for the day again?” Calandra asked, wiggling again to make herself comfortable and sending another thrill of stimulation from where her thighs had his length pinned.

“Keep pursuing the herd. We are close enough to that large copse of woods along the river that we can use that as a processing site rather than have to drag them all the way back to the foothills,” Sienna mumbled quietly.

The one eye that had been peeking at them blinked several times, and her pointed wolf ears—which had been laying back in her hair during sleep—were slowly rising like the sun that was just now peeking over the horizon.

“Got it. I’m not much of one for such work, but I’m happy to learn. Can’t expect our big, strong champion to keep me as more than a mistress otherwise,” Calandra teased, giving another wiggle of her hips.

“Never,” Koda replied with such firmness that Calandra froze. She shifted again to peek up through her bangs at him and Koda smiled at her affectionately. Something that she saw in his gaze made Calandra melt against him with a happy noise.

“Sorry, Sienna. We are just gonna have to be a bit late. I need to reward our mate for being so quick to reassure me,” Calandra hummed as she shifted before sinking herself down on Koda’s little champion.

While Calandra and Koda shared a quiet groan at the penetration, Sienna snickered and settled in to watch.

“I’d warn you to not wear him out, but I don’t think even Arthene’s been able to really wear our mate out yet…”

<><><>

Calandra was quick enough in her rewarding of Koda that no one was the wiser, save for Sienna and Arthene who had front-row seats. Arthene had woken shortly after the two of them started jostling and joined Sienna in watching and lending a ‘helping hand’ in keeping them quiet. Or in this case, a helping tit by smothering Koda with them to keep him from making too much noise while Sienna covered Calandra’s mouth.

When they were all finished up and dressed once more, Calandra and Arthene set about packing up the bedding while Sienna and Koda went to help prepare breakfast as the sun continued to creep towards the horizon and light up the sky.

Hans and Netta were both up already, the two of them arguing playfully over how they’d prepare the food and what would make for the best option to fuel their day.

“I’m telling you, Hans. We should save the dried fruit for later on. If we blow through it all now, then we are going to regret it later,” Netta was saying as the two of them crept quietly through the thin trees at the edge of the stream where they’d camped.

“And I’m telling you that porridge should either be sweet, or not at all. The idea of meat in porridge just feels wrong to me. Sure, meat on the side—I’ll never say bacon is a wrong choice in breakfast—but not actually in the porridge.”

“Then don’t call it porridge, it’s oat and meat soup for breakfast. Plain porridge is gross,” Netta huffed. “I notice you didn’t deny my statement about wanting to save the dried fruit, though.”

“I’d be a fool not to. We all saw how Arthene was looking at that herd the other day. We won’t be short on meat but unless we find some late season currents by the streams, all we have for fruit will be the dried apples and pears we have with us.”

Hans caught sight of Koda and Sienna approaching through the thick darkness and waved to them. The bull-horned man sat next to the small fire in the middle of the largest clearing where they were camped, stirring a pot that hung over it with a large spoon.

“There you two are, the others following?”

“Morning Hans, Netta,” Koda said with a wave, “and yes, they are just folding up the bedding and will be joining us soon. Your summary about the meat is likely right. I know Arthene perked right up when she remembered we were close enough to actually take down one of the bison. Since they bedded down near that watering hole last night.”

They’d followed the herd for the better part of two days. Arthene would have continued into the night if not for the fact that Koda had threatened to cut her off from snuggles for the night if she came back smelling of blood and woke them in the middle of the night to start processing one of the animals.

It’d been a good three days since they’d left the village now, Koda was fairly sure of that but his ability to track passing days was slipping somewhat as everything seemed to gel together without having specific days of the week matter.

“Honestly, it might be best just to turn your lady loose to hunt while we find a campsite to set up in. This is good but we are still more than a mile or so from that watering hole,” Netta suggested.

The avian beastfolk had caved to Hans’ persistent defense of the plain porridge and instead produced a small, flat metal plate with a handle that she set on the edge of the fire. She was doggedly tearing a hunk of dried meat into strips, using her knife when needed, and laying them on the plate to warm up. Koda had a feeling that Netta’s share would end up in her porridge regardless, and he couldn’t fault her. Plain oatmeal never really sat well on his stomach.

“I think Arthene would love that. But we’d better scout that watering hole out first. Sources of drinking water that large attract more than just herds and I don’t want anything surprising her.”

“Koda, while it’s endearing that you worry for her, I would feel bad for anything that tries to surprise our Arthene,” Sienna reassured him, laying first a hand on his arm then a kiss on his throat.

“You lot are just too adorable,” Netta said with a grin and Hans dipped his horned head in agreement.

“Aye, I almost wish that my Brit wanted to travel more so she would be by my side. But I’ll just be thankful she puts up with me seizing this opportunity to be more than just a miner.” Hans patted the haft of the heavy iron mattock that sat leaning against his thigh.

The mining tool would normally have looked absolutely ridiculous to wield as a weapon, but Hans had made good use of both the pointed pickaxe head and the spade-shaped scoop on the other side in fights. Koda had seen the big man wielding it with one or both hands to vicious effect.

Need to see if Cal has any tricks she can teach Hans about using that. He kinda wields it like an axe, which makes sense for how it’s weighted. He’s made do just on strength so far, but Hans is a good guy and I want to make sure he doesn’t get hurt, Koda thought before settling into a cross-legged position by the fire to wait for the other two to wake. When Sienna moved to sit next to him, Koda caught her hips and tugged his first mate onto his lap.

Sienna yipped in surprise at the sudden movement that steered her to land where she did, but snuggled into Koda’s chest while her tail beat a happy beat against his chest as the energetic bundle of fluff showed her contentment.

“Way too cute,” Netta snorted, rolling her eyes as the feathers threaded through her hair flexed and resettled, blending in once more with the strands. “I don’t know how you four do it, especially with the rate at which Aegisclaw is expanding the family. No offense meant, champion.”

“None taken, Netta.” Koda answered, wrapping one arm around Sienna’s waist to hold her in place across his lap while the other reached up to start gently finger-combing out her short mess of hair.

Sienna had originally kept her hair trimmed short, citing that it made it easier to move amongst the trees while it was short. But at Arthene’s gentle urging, the wolf beastfolk had been letting her hair grow out. It’d only been a few weeks now, but the mop of hair was slowly gaining length. 

Koda wasn’t going to complain about the choice either. He loved how all his women looked and agreed with Arthene that Sienna would look absolutely sexy with long hair. And if she worried about it getting caught then they could just braid it for her.

That’d make all three of my lovers with braids. Handles for days, Koda thought with a small grin before turning his attention back to the others while making sure to take time to spoil Sienna. He had to make sure he kept affections balanced between his women so none of them felt left out or unappreciated.

They chatted quietly while the others stirred. Arthene and Calandra returned with their packs and food was distributed, with Todd and Hannah being woken only when the food was ready, as the two of them had taken the late rotation on the watch schedule.

Koda’d had a word with Todd to ensure that he and his three girls were put on the rotation as well, their turn just hadn’t come up since they only needed one person on watch while the others slept with their smaller group. He didn’t look forward to having to leave his ladies behind in the middle of the night to stand a watch rotation, but he knew it was necessary.

With the food eaten and everyone ready to go, they set out towards the watering hole. The herd that they’d been chasing was still bedded down in early light, though a few of the large beasts were up and moving about.

Koda was walking in the lead of the group. He’d felt something tugging on him almost as soon as they’d started moving and was guiding them towards what he was sure was another site of power. Perhaps even linked to the watering hole in front of them where a half-dozen streams converged and pooled before flowing out as three larger rivers.

“Arthene,” Koda tilted his head to look back at his large lover, her bear ears twitching as she kept her yellow eyes fastened on the herd ahead of them. “Arthene,” he repeated when she didn’t respond at first.

Arthene blinked and shook her head, looking down to meet Koda’s gaze. He saw a deep hunger there, an almost feral need to feed. It rapidly faded though and was replaced by love as a wide smile spread across Arthene’s features and she pointedly put more bounce in her step to make the upper slopes of her breasts dance alluringly for him.

“What is it, my mate?” Arthene husked.

Koda felt a thrill of desire race up his spine. It took him a moment to wrangle it down, as he wanted nothing more than to put truth to that title she’d given him right now. Once he had his libido under control again, he responded.

“The other suggested it and I agree. We are out here to hunt for sites of power as well as to just hunt. We can set up a camp for dressing the animal once we locate the site of power. Do you want to—”

“Yes!” Arthene interrupted with an excited bounce, lunging forward to grab Koda and drag him into her chest. Since he was facing away from her and had only turned slightly, this basically ended up with him wedged between her breasts and his face smushed into her right boob while she pinned him to her muscled abdomen.

“Mmph!” Koda protested before nipping Arthene’s breast firmly to get her attention. She moaned rather loudly before hauling him out of her cleavage and pulling him into a kiss.

“You are a wise and loving mate,” Arthene husked when their lips finally parted. “I will happily hunt while you prepare camp to dress the carcass and start drying the meat. I had worried at first that you might find it beneath you…”

Arthene let the sentence drop off at that and grunted in surprise when Koda got hold of the closest set of handles he could reach to steer her mind. His hands sank into the soft flesh of her breasts as he hefted the twin mounds bracketing him without leaning back.

“We are a team, all four of us. No task is beneath one of us if it supports the others. I know how much you want one of the bison, so I thought it would be best to let you pick. Just none with a calf, okay?”

Arthene gave him another kiss, this time using it to muffle a moan while Koda continued to knead her breasts for a few moments. When Arthene was done thanking him, she set Koda back on the ground and urged him to hurry. He caught smirks from his two lovers and long-suffering looks mixed with amusement from the other four.

“Come on! I want to see if we can find that site or not! Then hunting!” Arthene urged, pushing Koda along like an oversized toddler who had been promised ice-cream if they went shopping.

Laughing, Koda let her push.

<><><>

They found the site of power just as Koda had expected, along the shore of the lake overlooking the water. He followed the sense of pressure along the shore, wading right through the streams without hesitation, while the group trailed after him. They’d all seen him claim one of these before, but it was still interesting enough that no one wanted to be left behind for it.

The site itself was unassuming when they found it, just a cluster of ash trees that grew so close together that their gnarled roots intertwined with each other where they sat between two of the streams. The branches of the trees knit together so tightly above that it blocked out the sun and provided total shade at the center of the little grove. The only way into or out of the circle of six trees was from a narrow slit that looked out over the lake. There was maybe five or six feet of space between the trunks in the center.

Stepping through the slot, Koda felt the power that dwelt there humming in his bones. This was a sacred site for sure, a place where time passed and one could observe the passage of the wild around oneself from shelter and safety. It felt like a favorite recliner to Koda, and he knelt on the loamy soil for a moment before conjuring his totemic gauntlet on his right hand.

Pricking his left thumb with the razor-sharp claws of his gauntlet, he let the blood drip into his palm for a moment, watching the red droplets as they gained a silvery sheen that reminded him of Thera’s eyes. With that done, he poured the blood onto the soil and opened the gateway in his soul that linked him to Thera, through the distant bloodline she had blessed so long ago.

Unlike the deep wellspring he’d found a week previous that was a site of power, no beam of light shot out to strike him. Instead, Koda felt a surge of something warm rise up from the ground and wrap around him. It reminded him vaguely of Arthene bundling him into a hug while in her dire bear form. Vast, soft, and affectionate.

The power sank into him gently, spiraling into his soul and Koda thought he heard the distant song of birds intermixed with the splash of water and a lowing of herd animals before the sounds faded from him and he rose to his feet.

While he had knelt there, reveling in the power flowing through him and to Thera, the shrine had appeared.

As always, it was simple and to the point. A fur-on hide of some large animal settled onto the ground, fur side up, before a stone bowl appeared and settled into place at the back of the hollow.

Koda swore that he felt a kiss on his cheek at that moment, as well as the whiff of a wild scent which reminded him of Thera, before it was gone.

Finished claiming the site, he dusted his hands off and rose to his feet once more. Slipping out of the circle of trees was easy enough and Koda was startled to see fresh buds on all the branches near him.

I wonder if that is because Thera is recovering? He thought, before turning his attention back to his group.

Arthene barely waited for his nod before she turned to Sienna and traded her bone club to the wolf beastfolk for her spear. Weapon in hand, Arthene bounded away into the grass, vanishing without a sound despite her size.

“Remind me never to really offend her,” Hans muttered, staring in surprise after the vanished woman.

“Hans, if you haven’t figured that out on your own by this point, then you really do deserve your family name,” Todd replied dryly, getting a glare from the horned man.

“What was his family name?” Calandra asked curiously as the remaining seven began casting around for a good spot to set up camp in the trees, some distance back from the water.

“Bellowtail,” snickered Netta, earning her own glare from Hans. “The implications stick, otherwise he’d be done with it, I’m sure.”

A round of laughter crossed the group as they set to work.