Page 10 of A Kiss of Frost

The pair gathered up Katerina’s belongings and headed back to the other shelter. He lingered long enough to remove all signs of the fire and to restore the gatehouse to its previous condition before following them.

Once back at the shelter, he hesitated, looking at the closed doors and window shutters. Through Keffi’s eyes, he could see them inside, laughing and happy. He had never felt quite so isolated before, not even when the other males in his class decided he was unworthy and refused to speak to him for an entire year. His father’s death and his new position as head of his house had ended that, but he had never forgotten. This, somehow, was even worse.

He actually got as far as putting his hand on the door, determined to make his presence known and force them to accept him, but that approach had never worked with his fellow warriors. Why would it work with this group of misfit humans? He would have to be satisfied with watching. But as he prepared to settle back with his data unit, he happened to glance up. There appeared to be just the faintest glow from beneath the roof of the shelter.

Curious, he climbed up the end wall, his uncovered fingers protesting the icy cold of the stone. He discovered a small window wedged beneath the roof in the crook between this building and the adjacent one. It too had been shuttered, but the shutter was slightly ajar, revealing a sliver of the loft beyond. There was laughter from below and through Keffi’s eyes, he could see Katerina bend over a pot on the stove. Her face was flushed and she was smiling.

A tantalizing aroma made its way out through the small crack. To his utter shock, his stomach made a noise. He had been surviving on nutrient pills – more than enough to satisfy his physical requirements but at this moment they seemed completely inadequate. Food had never been of interest to him, but he suddenly long to taste whatever she was cooking below. He remained huddled next to the window, listening as she served the meal and they ate together. She told the children a story then sent her sister up the ladder to the loft, following with a bucket of water.

“Do you want to wash?” she asked.

“In the morning.” Merry yawned, then settled down on the pile of furs at the far end of the loft. “G’ night, Kat.”

“Good night, sweetheart.”

The lights below went out but he had excellent night vision and he could see clearly as she pushed down her pants to reveal pale, slender legs, then shrugged off her shirt as well. Beneath it, she wore nothing but a thin white garment that left her shoulders bare. With a tired sigh, she sat down on her own pile of furs and dipped a cloth into the bucket of water. She ran it across her face and down her arms and her legs while he greedily watched each movement.

By the Horns, what he wouldn’t give to trace that same path with his tongue - just as the human male had licked his female. But the human male had not been thorough enough. He wished to explore every inch of her skin.

She reached beneath the garment to cleanse her breasts and he saw her nipples, surprisingly long and thick for one with such small, perfect breasts. His shaft was pressed so painfully against his survival suit that he could feel it throb with each beat of his heart. She even dipped the cloth between her legs and although he could not see he could easily imagine its path. A growl almost escaped his lips and he pulled away from the window, afraid of betraying himself. His body had blocked the wind and when he moved, cold air must have entered because she shivered and frowned at the window. She moved across to try and close the small gap but the shutter didn’t respond when she tugged on it.

She was so close to him. Only the wooden shutters separated their bodies. Her fragrance washed over him, as clean and sweet as forbidden fruit. The shutters would not stop him. With one move, he could wrench them open and pull her into his arms where she belonged. The impulse was so strong that he had to dig his claws into his palms in order to prevent himself from taking action.

He sat huddled in the darkness, blood dripping slowly onto the snow until she sighed and returned to her furs. She pulled her blanket over her shoulders but it wasn’t until her breathing deepened that he allowed himself to move. Then he wedged his body against the crack, determined not to permit any more cold air to disturb her.

As the night passed the snow piled up around him, the weight adding to the insulation of his survival suit and he felt oddly content. Perhaps he dozed because the next time he opened his eyes, the sky had begun to lighten. He needed to move before he was discovered. He climbed to his feet, or at least he attempted to. He had not accounted for the effects of a long night of cold. His feet refused to support him and slid out from beneath him. He grabbed for the stone wall of the neighboring building but his hands too were numb with cold and he couldn’t grip the rock.

He fell. A hard landing only slightly softened by the mound of snow beneath him. The sky whirled above him floating in and out of his vision with the drifting snow. And then she was there, her beautiful face staring down at him.

He smiled, and then the world went dark.

CHAPTER7

Katerina dreamed about her snow prince. Dreamed that he carried her off to an ice palace with soaring walls and a bed covered with white furs. Dreamed he laid her down on those furs and kissed her and touched her and…

A loud thump penetrated her dreams, and she startled awake, her heart racing. Everyone else was still asleep and nothing seemed to be wrong. Perhaps it was just the snow sliding off the roof. From the white glow seeping through the crack in the window shutters, it must be morning. Odd. She hadn’t felt cold all night but now there was a definite chill in the air now.

The remnants of her dream lingered. She wasn’t a virgin, but the few times she’d escaped her father’s eye long enough to meet a man she’d found the entire experience rushed and unsatisfactory. It had never left her feeling like this – her nipples hard and throbbing and her clit swollen and pulsing between her legs. She could still smell her dream lover, his cool, minty making her skin tingle.

She was tempted to relieve her aching body, but then Merry muttered something in her sleep and distracted her. Her thoughts turned first to her sister and then to the other children. What was she going to do? She couldn’t leave them out here on their own, but how could she take them with her when she had no place to go? It had been bad enough dragging her sister into the unknown. Jaelle had promised safety, but she couldn’t expect her to find a solution for an additional four children.

She remembered the way the twins had cuddled against her side as she told stories last night, obviously desperate for affection. Johnny had clearly done his best, assuming a responsibility that was far too heavy for his thin shoulders, but he was too young to be both mother and father to three other children.

From what she’d been able to determine, all of the children were orphans and unwanted. Lorna had even been given to Tolva by an aunt who didn’t want the responsibility of the child. And what he planned to do with them? Johnny thought that he’d probably intended to put them to work, despite their age. Tolva had been heading north - not south to the city - and the only thing in that direction was the mining claims.

While child slavery was not permitted anywhere she had ever been, children often began work at a very young age. Not that her life with her father had been much better, she thought bitterly, but at least he was only taking advantage of her and not someone else’s children.

Someone stirred down below and she heard the sound of muffled giggles. She was no closer to a solution than she had been when she first woke, but at least she had a few days to consider the problem. Although she was quite sure that her father would be searching for them, she still believed he would head back along the trail first. She certainly couldn’t see him fighting his way through the snow to find them. It should be safe enough for now.

She quickly pulled her pants and shirt back on and climbed down the ladder, leaving Merry to sleep. The twins were the ones who had been giggling, and they gave her identical sunny smiles when she appeared.

“Look,” Cecelia whispered, pointing at the door.

The pika! She had forgotten all about the creature in the relief of discovering her sister, but it must have been inside the entire night. Now it was pacing restlessly back and forth in front of the door. As soon as it saw her, it chirped excitedly and came over to tug at her pants as it had done the previous night.

“I’m sorry,” she laughed. “You must really want to get outside.”

She removed the heavy wooden bar that locked the door, then pulled it open to reveal a grey sky and more snow drifting down from above. She expected the pika to dart off immediately but instead it tugged on her pants leg again. It was acting the same way it had last night, as if it wanted her to follow it. She didn’t want to leave the warmth of their shelter, but the pika had been the one who’d led her here, and she felt as if she owed it something.

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