The Battle Lord Saga 02 - Her Battle Lord's Desire (20 page)

“The hunters lodge is in that area,” Atty told her husband.

“I promised MaGrath he could come with us when you took me on the tour. Why don’t

you go get him and meet me there?”

“Where is he?”

“At your clinic or doctor’s office, or whatever you call it.”

Atty smiled. “Infirmary.”

Yulen released her hand as he stood. “Hopefully this won’t take too long. All right, Cole,

show me what you risked life and limb to tell me.”

Atty hurried off to fetch the physician, glad for the unusually cool weather they were

having. It was another second before she realized she’d never given Yulen an answer. Which

meant he would try again to coax her confession out of her. Fanning her face, she was smiling

when she reached the small infirmary and went inside to find the doctor.

It was not much later when they reached the area where they found Yulen giving

instructions to a very cowed soldier, under the watchful glare of Paxton and Mastin. They waited

until the Battle Lord curtly dismissed them, when Atty crooked a finger at the Second.

“Cole, you might be interested in this,” she invited him.

The young soldier gave her a questioning stare, then quickly looked to his leader for

confirmation. At Yulen’s nod, he joined them, and Atty led them to a small building sitting

adjacent to the compound wall. Not twenty feet away a small door in the wall gave the hunters

access to the forest beyond. Atty walked up to the lodge and put her hand on the door latch.

“If anyone gripes because I brought you here, just tell them it’s my prerogative. I’m

allowed to bring visitors as long as they remain supervised.” She grinned and pushed open the

door, gesturing for them to enter first.

Yulen walked in ahead of the others to find the interior dark and a bit stuffy. He was

surprised to discover there were no windows in the walls to allow in any outside light. Once they

were all inside, Atty went around the room to light three lanterns strategically hanging from the

ceiling. MaGrath let out a long, slow, appreciative whistle.

“Good heavens, this is one fine trophy den!”

“Makes Foster City look rather pathetic, doesn’t it?” Yulen smiled. “How many of these

are your kills, my love?”

Atty let her eyes roam around the lodge, taking in the mounted trophies filling nearly every

inch of space on the walls. Hanging just out of reach overhead were several stuffed birds,

including a couple of large crows, made to look like they in mid-flight. “Oh, I didn’t give them

any of my little stuff to keep,” she grinned enigmatically. Striding over to the far wall, she

reached for the rope pull that would open the closed curtain shutting off the rest of the room. “I

gave them something they would always remember me by.”

Keeping her eyes on the three men, she drew down the rope hard and fast. The look of

sheer fright and astonishment on their faces gave her a perverse thrill.

Yulen saw the devilish grin on her face. “How big was this thing?” he asked her.

Although he knew it was dead, he couldn’t help but approach the stuffed fully grown wolfen with

caution. Whoever had mounted it had done an excellent job, posing it so that it looked almost

ready to pounce and rend its victim to shreds at the first unguarded moment. Standing next to it,

the head nearly reached his chest.

“They figured it was nearly twelve hundred pounds, give or take.”

Mastin reached out and touched the grizzled fur. “My God, Atty. You brought this down

all by yourself?”

“With only a bow,” added Yulen with pride.

“How old were you?” MaGrath asked her.

“I did this last year,” she told them.

Yulen’s went head went up as he remembered what she’d told him before they’d left Alta

Novis. “Atty, I thought you said you only brought back the head.”

“I did,” she nodded, then pointed over their shoulders. “That one.”

They whirled around and spotted the smaller wolfen skull mounted on the wall right above

the door. They had missed seeing it when they’d entered the lodge. Yulen glanced back at her

for an explanation.

“It was a wolfen, just as they demanded, and it got me accepted into the caste. But it was

a baby. So a couple of months later I went back to get one of the pack males.” She gave Yulen a

coy look. “Took me two days to hunt him down, and two more days to bring him back.” She

suddenly gave herself a little shake. She averted her gaze momentarily as she briefly relived the

memory, and the Battle Lord couldn’t mistake the ghost of pain that flashed across her face.

“What, Atty? What happened out there?” he lowered his voice to ask her. He moved

closer so only he could hear her answer.

“You know that scar on the inside of my thigh?” she whispered, giving him a cautious

look.

Yes, he knew it. Intimately. It was a long, ragged river in her silken skin, less than an

inch from her pubic area. The first time he’d seen it, the sight of it had been enough to make his

skin crawl. He could only imagine how she’d gotten it, and until today he’d never really known

the truth as to how it got there. Yulen felt his skin turn cold. She saw the understanding in his

eyes, and she nodded.

“I nearly bled to death, but I got my trophy. I swear to you, Yulen, I never pulled that

kind of stunt again. And I never will. I learned my lesson.”

He opened his mouth to ask her how it had happened, but stopped himself. Maybe one

day she would confess the whole incident. When she did, he knew without a doubt it would be

one fascinating yet horrifying tale.

“Atty, is this what I think it is?” MaGrath was pointing to a creature mounted to a tree

limb and suspended overhead.

“That’s a chipmunk. Sisson brought it over from—” She caught herself and clammed up.

Giving her husband a quick glance, she relented and relaxed somewhat. “Sisson brought it from

North Crestin.” Despite the puzzled looks from Mastin and MaGrath, she was more surprised to

see an easy smile on Yulen’s face. “You know about North Crestin?” she asked him out of

curiosity.

“I also know about West Crestin, and I know about your trip to San Remus, although

you’ll have to tell me why you were there.”

“San Remus? There’s a compound named San Remus?” Mastin echoed. He appeared

transfixed by the enormous stuffed wolfen, and remained beside it, lightly stroking the preserved

coat.

MaGrath chuckled. “This gets better every minute. First I find out Wallis has better

pharmaceuticals than I ever had, and now we discover there’s a whole network of Mutah

compounds we never knew existed. Do they stretch north to south like ours?”

“Somewhat,” she admitted, albeit reluctantly. “There’s quite a few of them to the west.

None to the east, as far as we know. If there are, we’ve never had contact with anyone from that

direction.”

There was a knock on the door, to which Mastin wryly commented, “Not me this time,

sir.” An unfamiliar face popped around the corner.

“Ah! They said you’d be here. Two more hunters have re-entered the compound with

their spoils. Looks like it’s going to be a celebratory kill, Atty!” he grinned happily at her. “You

brought us luck!”

Atty smiled in return. “Thanks, Fullus. We’ll be right out.”

Sighing, Yulen admitted it was time he got back to work. Their two hour break was

probably already up. Mastin left the room first as Atty went around the lodge, extinguishing the

lanterns. MaGrath exited the room behind Mastin, leaving Yulen alone to wait for her. But

before she came around to the door, he closed it behind the two men and reached for her in the

darkness.

Her mouth was ready for him when he carefully dipped his head and brought his arms

around her. She shivered in his embrace as she lifted herself up on tiptoe to feel his body mold to

hers. They kissed with an urgency dictated by where they were, panting heavily as their hands

roamed over each other, touching and caressing with a hunger that only increased in urgency. In

the darkness they were unusually aware of the feel of their skin beneath their clothes...of the

perspiration...the heat...the delicious softness.

Atty whimpered briefly before her fingers reached beneath his tunic to find his chest. The

hairs were warm. Tantalizing. She pressed her mouth over one male nipple, teasing it into a hard

bud, and she smiled when he trembled against her, a low growl vibrating inside his chest.

Yulen bowed his head to taste the sweet curve of her neck. She was such a hot, sweaty

essence, keeping his blood just below boiling level. A hand reached up to release the tieback in

her hair until it fell like a silken curtain against his face. For a moment he wished he could pull her

down to the floor and take her there. She was straining, pressing herself as tightly as she could

along his pulsing length, whispering his name over and over.

The door opened just a crack and MaGrath’s voice washed over them. “I hate to interrupt

you two lovebirds, but I think some of the Council members are waiting for you over in the

courtyard, Yulen.” He casually shut the door, plunging them back into darkness.

Yulen cursed softly, not wanting to remove his hands from where they were nestled.

Chuckling, Atty drew away from him. “Later, my beloved husband.”

“Do I have your word?” he whispered almost breathlessly. He felt her lift his hand and

place it over one perfect breast. He gave it a gentle squeeze, rolling his thumb over the tight

nipple, and heard her gasp with pleasure. She shivered slightly, raising his need, his fever, and his

erection a few degrees higher.

“You have more than my word,” she murmured, and gave him a final kiss that told him

everything he needed to know.

Before he could comment further, she slipped out the door, leaving him alone to calm

down enough so he could attend to business without embarrassing himself.

With the exception of a brief noon break, time passed quickly despite Yulen’s dire

prediction. Of course, taking a walk around the compound to point out and note problem areas in

the wall and other defenses helped to eat up the hours, thanks in large part to the Wallis women

who had shooed them away from the tables so they could begin to set up for the celebration.

Twice Yulen spotted MaGrath, accompanied by a tall, thin, almost impossibly gangly man

a good two feet taller than the six foot physician. They were always in deep discussion, or

argument, depending on one’s point of view. Laughing softly, the Battle Lord had a good idea

what their debates might be about, having been on the losing end of many similar verbal battles

himself with the man.

He had not seen Atty again, however. Not since their visit to the hunters lodge. Yulen

shook his head. Maybe it was just as well. Having her near, either visually or physically, would

have put a definite kink in his ability to concentrate. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what she’d

been up to during the day.

Little by little, sometimes alone and sometimes in pairs, the rest of the hunters had

returned to find they’d been trumped by the very woman they’d believed no longer had what it

took to be effective. Atty may have given more credit to the animal for its woeful sense of

direction than to her skill, yet Yulen had little doubt she relished in her accomplishment. He made

a note to stroke her pride a bit. She deserved it.

And then, after he stroked her pride, he would stroke other, more intimate areas.

“D’Jacques?”

“Sebastien?” The Battle Lord glanced up at the man with the bull-like facial features and

waited for him to continue. Despite the Mutah’s appearance, the carpenter had a sharp and

inquisitive mind.

“Explain to me again how raising the compound walls another three feet would make them

more effective when they’re already fifteen feet high.”

He started to answer when a young woman dressed in a blue gingham dress ran up to their

small group and grabbed Sebastien by the hand.

“Pawpee! They’re needing you over by the pit! Hurry, hurry!”

Twoson noticed the concerned look that came over Yulen’s face, and chuckled. “It’s

nothing to worry about,” he commented as they watched the man being led away by his daughter.

“Sebastien’s the unofficial keeper of the flame. He determines how hot the coals are, and if

there’s a need for more wood, less wood. You understand.”

A young man brandishing a small lit torch hurried by them to begin lighting the lanterns

along the inner wall. Yulen was surprised to see how late it had gotten. “Guess it’s time to call it

quits for the day,” he observed. “Twoson, what all happens at one of these feast festivals, if I may

ask?”

The huge man shrugged. “Pretty much what you’d expect. Lots of eating. Plenty to

drink. There’s a bonfire lit in the courtyard for people to dance around. We have some pretty

decent musicians in Wallis, if I say so myself.” He grinned. “How good a dancer are you?”

Yulen held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry, but that’s one area I never look lessons in.”

“Shame. Although, I have to let you know, Atty might have been pretty good at it herself

if she’d attended her classes like she was supposed to. I don’t know how many time Eenoi