First Love for the Second time

I glanced over at the man who sat down next to me at the counter for a moment, not expecting anything. My mouth gaped open incredulously and I had to quickly close it. I turned my head away as fast as I could.

That was the first guy I'd ever fallen in love with, back when I was just a boy in high school. We had been in the same class when we were 16, but he moved away before I'd ever gathered up the courage to talk to him. He was fairly cold back then, somehow popular with the girls.

His reputation was that of a person who'd hookup with a girl for a couple of hours, and then dump her after he'd had his fun. Thus – even if I had gathered up the courage to talk to him – he wouldn't have been interested in me. It still made me a bit sad to think about it.

“Hey... don't I know you?” He asked me after he'd ordered a ham sandwich and a drink called Kombucha.

“Uh...” I murmured, unsure how to answer that. I mean we had been in the same class, but he hadn't ever seemed to notice me.

“Ah whatever,” he stated with an uncaring shrug. He slipped me a business card. “I do computer repairs, if you ever need it.”

“Uh... actually...” I muttered because I had an old laptop that I'd love to have fixed up – if for no other reason than I had a lot of stuff on it I'd like to back up. “I do.”

“Good,” he grunted, and then basically ignored me as he ate his food – which was served just then.

I gestured for the waitress to refill my cup with hot water, and then set a bag of my favorite tea in it to steep. As it did, I absently twirled the tiny straw-like stick around my cup. Focusing on the changing color of the water helped me keep my eyes off him. Otherwise I'd be staring at him like a crazy stalker!

When I finished my cup of tea, I decided to stand up and leave the cafe before he wondered if I was a weirdo or something. As I did so, he grabbed my sleeve. This made me curious enough to stop.

“I thought you needed a computer repaired,” he reminded me.

“I do,” I stated, pointing out the fact that I'd put his card in my back pocket.

“Well if you just give me a couple of minutes to get a box for my leftovers, I'll go with you and do that now.”

“O...kay...” I murmured, not expecting that.

About a half an hour later, we were in my tiny apartment. With as few words as possible, he asked me which computer I wanted fixed, and then busied himself working on it. I was fascinated to see him use an astonishing amount of equipment that he carried around in a bag.

“There... that'll take about an hour...” he informed me at one point.

I then settled his payment so that I couldn't forget and look like a cheep ass jerk. He was as cold and quiet as he ever was. I wondered if this was just his basic personality or if he was only like that to me.

With a shrug, I decided to get drunk. Either I'd gather up the courage to babble to him, or I'd drive him off and not have to think about him anymore. Silently, I made myself a screwdriver.

“I'll take one,” he said when he noticed that I was adding vodka to my orange juice.

As we drank, we both relaxed just a little.

“You're gay, right?” He asked me unexpectedly.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “But you're not...”

“That's true,” he stated with a nod and a shrug. “I like women so much that I try to find a new one every night.”

Ah... so that hadn't changed. I sighed in disappointment.

“But I've never actually been with a guy before,” he added. “So I have no idea if I'd like them too. Maybe I would... I've caught myself thinking about it...”

I tilted my head at him in confusion. Was he suggesting that we have sex? He pointed at my bed.

“You wanna?”

I couldn't actually speak – I was that stunned! So instead, I nodded my head. He stood up and walked to the bed, gesturing for me to follow him. We each removed our clothes as we went.

I didn't really know what to expect. Previously when I hooked up, I was usually the one doing most everything. I'd suck on the guy until he was ready to enter me, and then I'd bounce or rock until he got off. I'd also use a hand on my own shaft to get me off too, which was admittedly fun even if it was a bit one sided.

With him, since he'd never been with a guy before, I thought I'd have to do the same, but he surprised me. Taking the lead, he treated me like he'd treat a woman – I'd imagine. He licked my nipples and kissed my chest as he stroked my shaft.

Light strokes of his hand made me shiver in pleasure. I gasped and panted and moaned shamelessly even though I was usually pretty quiet in bed. Wanting to please him in return, I tried to stroke his body and lick his nipples, but I must admit that what he was doing to me made it very hard to think coherently.

Just when I thought he was going to progress to penetration, a bell dinged fairly loudly. He chuckled wryly.

“Give me a minute, and then we'll continue this,” he stated as he got out of bed. I watched him type a bunch of commands into my laptop and his equipment, and then he nodded in satisfaction. “That'll take a while, but then your computer should be usable again.”

I grinned at him as he crawled back into bed with me. I really wanted to kiss him, but he avoided my mouth. It was like he thought kissing was icky or something. Anyway, I decided that it was my turn to play with him.

I took his shaft into my mouth. It had been hard prior to his getting out of bed, but at the moment, it was only about half hard. He moaned happily as I sucked on him, but practically the moment he was fully hard again, he stopped me.

“If you keep doing that, I'm going to cum. Give me a moment...”

I watched him look up at the ceiling for a few seconds, and then he rolled on top of me. His eyes looked far away as he pushed into me. He had a look of concentration that made me wonder if he was trying not to hurt me.

Happily, he was buried deep a few moments later. I braced myself against the headboard as he thrust into me quite forcefully. Having him in my bed and inside me was sheer bliss! This was a good 10 year fantasy come true!

For having been so close to cumming a minute ago, he suddenly had stamina to last quite a while. Both of us started grunting and panting in pleasure as he pounded into me. Even my headboard got into the act by banging quite loudly.

I was damn near ready to explode into a thousand pieces some time later when my neighbor returned, got impatient with us, and started banging on the wall in a warning to finish up already. Strangely, this made me chuckle for a second before I clutched him to me and shook ever so slightly as I squirted out a mess between us.

He clutched my hips and ground into me as he also climaxed. His breath escaped him in a soft roar as he pumped me full. I loved the feel of it and wanted to hold onto him. He let me for a few moments as he recovered, but then he withdrew from me and rolled out of bed.

“Do you mind if I take a shower?” He asked.

“Not at all,” I replied with a mental sigh. Just once, it would be nice for a lover to want to stay and cuddle when we were done. Maybe even spend the night.

After his shower, he checked on my computer. “This still has a few more hours to go, but I don't need to do anything else to it. When it's done, just restart it, and then you'll be good to go. So... I'm going to take off.”

I nodded a bit morosely as I watched him get dressed.

“Bye!” He called out as he left. I had nothing better to do, so I rolled over and went to sleep.

***

I didn't hear from him for a good two weeks, and then I got a call. I almost didn't answer because I didn't recognize the number, but something made me shrug and press the talk button.

“Hello?”

“You mind if I come over for a bit?”

My mouth hung open in shock. “How did you get this number?!”

“I saw a business card holder on your desk and took one,” he stated. I figured he must be referring to when he was working on my computer.

“Oh...” I murmured, and then scratched my head as I thought about this. “Uh... my place is a mess...”

“I don't care,” he grunted, making me think that he had just shrugged.

“I suppose,” I murmured, secretly happy that I'd get to see him again.

“I'm almost there, actually. The woman I was planning to hookup with tonight had to bail. So I was wondering if you wanted to have sex again.”

I'm glad he had mentioned this before he showed up because I would have probably looked a little disappointed by this news had he told me in person. Not disappointed by the prospect of sex, but disappointed that he only thought of me after the woman canceled their plans.

“Uh... sure... I'll leave the door unlocked, so just let yourself in, but I need to hop in the shower,” I told him.

“Okay,” he agreed, and then hung up.

I very hastily tried to clean up the worst of the mess since I'd been too busy working to clean during the last few days. Then I got in the shower and did some necessary cleaning – including internal cleaning that would make lovin' a bit easier.

When I was done, I dried off and wrapped the towel around my hips. Using another towel, I rubbed my hair dry as I walked out of my bathroom to see if he had arrived yet. To my surprise, he grabbed me, dragged me to my bed, and pushed me on it before I had a chance to say a word. Not even hi!

He must have been very worked up by that woman before she bailed on him because he practically attacked me. I tensed up for a second when I realized that he was just going to oil himself up and enter me, but then I exhaled and surrendered to him. No matter how abrupt and cold he was being, it was still better than never seeing him again.

We had some pretty hot sex for at least an hour before – once again the neighbor got fed up and started pounding on the wall – and we climaxed. I have no idea what he was thinking, but for me, the orgasm was incredible. Mind blowing! I really wish that we could do it again, but I'm fairly certain that we were both going to have to recover for a while before we could try it again.

Except that he only lay in bed for a few minutes before getting up. “I'm going to go take a shower.”

“Yeah,” I agreed with a sigh, knowing that I may as well just go to sleep. He was only going to leave when he was done. Sure enough, he noticed that I was asleep – although I wasn't fully asleep just yet, only about half asleep – exhaled in relief, and then got dressed. He slipped out of my little studio apartment without even trying to wake me up to say goodbye.

Oh well...

Two weeks later, he came over again, and then after that, he showed up almost every Sunday. It was strange in that we almost never talked. We just had incredible sex, and then he left. That said, I noticed that on the days that he showed up kind of early, he'd quietly play a video game or something while I finished up my work.

As a freelance writer, I often had projects due first thing Monday morning, and so working on them on Sunday just made sense to me. He – as a computer repair tech – usually had weekends off. I'm almost certain that he spent Friday and Saturday nights in a club until he hooked up with someone. Not to mention, he was seriously good in bed, so he probably had an excellent reputation to keep him in demand.

About six months after we first started hooking up, I met someone who I kind of liked. I hung out with him every night for a week before we actually hooked up. That happened to be on a Saturday night. We were up half the night before falling asleep.

As a result, we were still sleeping when my lover arrived on Sunday. I'd given him a key at some point, so he let himself in. I didn't know this at the time because he turned around and left the moment he saw me in bed with someone else.

When I did finally wake up, I noticed that it was only about an hour before my lover usually showed up, so I asked the guy I liked to leave. He looked almost comically disappointed, which made me want to kiss him. We kissed and fooled around for a while, but then I insisted that he had to leave.

I didn't want to deal with the awkward situation of two lovers meeting each other just yet. Maybe in the future if I decided I was serious about either of them, but for now, it was just playing. As far as I could tell, it was just playing for them too.

Which made me seriously confused when my lover didn't show up. I waited for hours – long past the time I normally finished my work and had dinner. Just after I took a shower and slipped into bed, I decided to call him.

“Hello?” He grumbled, sounding upset.

“Are you okay?” I asked in concern. “You haven't come over...”

“Nah, I'm sick today. I'm probably going to be sick next Sunday too, so don't worry if I don't come over,” he stated coldly. He was always cold, so I almost thought nothing of it, but the fact that he was already sure he was still going to be sick next week confused me.

“Uh... Is something wrong?” I wondered.

“Not particularly,” he stated, but something in his voice made me think he was lying.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“I'm sure!” He roared angrily. “I'm going to be sick for a while, so don't worry about me. Just call me when you're done messing around with that guy!”

“Wait! What?” I asked in confusion.

“Don't try to deny it!” He exclaimed angrily.

“I'm not, but how do you even know about him, and more importantly, why do you care?” I demanded, a bit upset myself now. “You have sex with women all the time!”

“Yes, but that's different!” He yelled.

“How?!” I asked incredulously.

“Because that's women! They don't really mean anything to me!” He confessed, and then gasped and went silent.

“Uh...” I really wasn't sure how to respond to that. “So... wait! Do you mean to say that you're mad at me because I mean something to you?”

“No!” He roared way more emphatically than necessary. This indicated that he was probably lying.

I shrugged. “Then what does it matter who I sleep with?”

“ARGH!” He roared before hanging up on me.

I stared at the phone for a good two minutes before I shook my head and tossed it on my bed. Whatever...

The next week passed in much the same way as the previous one had. I spent a lot of time with the new guy I liked. We had a lot of sex, and so he practically lived with me for the whole week. But then I asked him to leave on Sunday afternoon.

“Do you have someone else coming over or something?” He asked jokingly, holding me close and nibbling on my neck.

“I might, I'm not entirely sure,” I admitted.

“Oh...” he stated in mild surprise as he let me go and took a step back. “I'm sorry; I didn't realized that you had a boyfriend already.”

“Well... I don't think I do...” I began, not sure how to explain it. “He just comes over when he's in the mood – almost always on Sunday – has his way with me, and then leaves.”

“That doesn't sound very fun for you,” he muttered, clearly offended on my behalf.

I shrugged. “That's true, except that the sex is so fabulous that I don't mind. He was also my first love, and the thought of never seeing him again hurts a bit.”

“Ah,” he remarked in understanding. “So while you might be willing to get into an official relationship with me, you probably won't give him up because you're not really with him all that much anyway.”

“Exactly,” I stated, glad that he understood.

“I guess I can handle that... So long as he doesn't abuse you or anything,” he said, kissing me on the cheek. “But wait a minute; just exactly how fabulous could the sex possibly be???”

I laughed. “Well... he's a notorious womanizer and has had a lot of practice in bed. Each time, I feel like the earth moves under the bed!”

“Yeah... I'd probably hang onto that on the side too!” He stated with a wry chuckle. I kissed him before sending him on his way. Then I sat down to do my work.

“So you're still with him?” My lover demanded almost jealously a little over two minutes later, surprising me. I turned around in my chair and stared at him. “I thought you were like me, not staying with anyone in particular longer than a few nights!”

“Well,” I began with a shrug. “That's true enough. I haven't found someone I like who likes me in return until now.”

“So you like him?” He asked with a grumble.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “He knows about you, by the way, and he doesn't seem to mind that I don't want to give you up.”

“Argh!” He growled, pulling on his hair as he paced my tiny apartment. “Why?!”

I wondered if he was actually asking me that, and if so, why what? He continued to pace, and after a few moments, I decided to return to my work. He wasn't actually talking to me or paying any attention to me anyway.

Eventually, he stopped pacing and faced the ceiling. Still tugging on his hair – as far as I could tell out of the corner of my eye – he half whined.

“Why does he have to be the one I like?!” He shouted at the ceiling.

“Huh?” I asked in confusion, turning around to look at him again.

“You!” He cried out, pointing at me as if accusing me of something wicked.

“Me what?” I wondered.

“I don't think you even remember me, but ever since we were in high school together, I've thought about you all the time!” He confessed. “I could not even begin to understand why, so I just ignored my feelings and tried to get you out of my head! Imagine my surprise when we met at random in a cafe!”

“Wait...” I was more confused than ever now. “You remember me from high school?”

“Yeah... You used to stare at me during class...”

“That's because I really liked you back then,” I admitted. “You were my first love...”

“I was???” He asked in astonishment.

“Still are,” I confessed in a near whisper. “Why do you think I put up with the way you treat me?”

He looked down in something close to shame. “I'm sorry about that, but I don't know how...” He shrugged helplessly. “I don't know how to deal with my feelings. I don't know how to act around you. I don't know how to actually be in a relationship! I love having sex with women! I never thought about being with a man – except for horny teenaged wondering. I also never had a girlfriend, so I just don't know how to be with someone...”

I gave him a tiny smile. “I've only had one or two boyfriends, and those didn't last more than a couple months each. Thus, I'm not an expert in relationships either. Would you like to figure out how to have a relationship with me?”

He looked down and away, and then at his feet, and finally at the ceiling. “Yeah...” he murmured softly.

I smiled and stepped closer to him. “Well, the first thing you have to know is this...” I pulled him closer and kissed him. He seemed to resist at first, and then melted and wound his arms around me as he returned my kiss.

Our kiss lasted a good minute, but then I laced my fingers through his and stepped back so I could simply look at him.

“Anything else I should know?” He wondered with a tiny but cute little smile.

“Just that when we're done having sex, I'd like you to stay with me. Cuddle. Sleep. Snuggle. Things like that...” I informed him.

“That'll be weird,” he remarked, and then shrugged. “But I'll try it.”

Happier than I can ever remember being, I led him to bed.

Yalera the Brave - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“Prince Crispin was an avid hunter as well,” Ando informed her. “I'm sure that he would have enjoyed telling you about the time when he took down a rampaging bear.”

Yalera smiled at Ando for a moment before returning her attention to the tracks she was following. “The more I learn about him, the more I think that my husband and I would have gotten along pretty well.”

“Are you actually trying to track a boar?” Ando asked incredulously when he noticed what she was focusing on.

“Well...” Yalera answered with a shrug. “These droppings are over a day old, so...” She didn't have to tell him that the boar was likely long gone.

He watched her carefully as she held her bow up and aimed. At first, he thought that she was simply someone who had hunted once or twice as a child and thought that she was good when she was actually inexperienced. He also thought that all the bragging about her skill was mere flattery. In his Kingdom, it would be almost unheard of for a woman to be allowed to use a weapon of any kind, not even to hunt.

However, as he observed her, he realized that she actually knew what she was doing. He frowned and slightly shook his head. Even if she does know how to hunt, that's no guarantee that her aim is accurate.

Yalera sighed and lowered her bow. “That one got away...” she muttered softly, referring to a plump fox.

Ando took the opportunity a few minutes later to shoot the fattest hare he'd ever seen. As he did this, a pheasant was startled from its hiding spot. Yalera shot it before it could get more than a few feet. She bent over to pick it up with a smile.

“I actually like pheasant, so this was fortuitous.”

Ando harrumphed. “I'm happier with this hare.”

Yalera got very quiet and closed her eyes. “That way...”

Ando aimed his ear in the direction she pointed, and heard some faint rustling. He agreed with a nod. “I'm impressed that you were able to shoot that while it was in motion.”

Yalera smiled at him. “Even before my father was nearly killed in an accident a few years ago, he brought us hunting. He was quite a master in his day. However, after his accident, he had to rely on us. If we wanted to make sure that we'd have enough to feed us and our smilodons all winter long, I had to shoot a lot of prey. I found it so much fun that I practiced it all the time.”

“They can't hunt in winter?” Ando asked curiously.

“Well they can, but they're spoiled,” Yalera answered with a laugh. “Given a choice, they'll take pre-hunted food on the coldest days of winter.”

The faint rustling changed abruptly so that it was an almost panicked rush that came ever closer to them. Yalera didn't even think about it. She simply prepared her bow and braced herself to face down whatever it was.

“That sounds big!” Ando hissed at her urgently.

“A stag, I think,” Yalera whispered to him. She was proven right when a good sized buck ran at her. She calmly aimed and waited for the right moment to shoot it.

It fell to the ground, prompting Yalera to giggle.”I guess that's a joint kill since you got it too!”

Ando sighed in relief. His job as a bodyguard had never quite prepared him to stand by while his charge hunted a large animal running straight at her. He was infinitely glad that she really was a good shot.

Yalera closed her eyes a moment and held up a hand to signal him to be quiet. The rustling hadn't stopped. She grabbed another arrow and prepared it. A boar emerged as if he had been chasing the buck.

She shot the boar, trusting that it had died as she closed her eyes to keep listening. “There's something else coming, but it's being sneakier...”

Sure enough, the wild male smilodon eventually stopped stalking her and showed himself. He growled, clearly hoping to scare her away from the dead prey. To be fair, he had been the one to spook them in her direction.

She held up her hands as if surrendering. “Hi there, boy... I have no problem sharing my kills with you. There's enough for both of us...”

The smilodon stared at her suspiciously. She still smelled strongly of his mates, which confused him. Yalera was willing to bet that he was wondering why her cats had been protecting her in the first place.

“Princess,” Ando whispered urgently. “We should back away slowly.”

“He has no reason to hurt us,” Yalera stated confidently. “We're not threatening him and he can see that he has food right there. So long as we let him take what he wants, he'll leave us alone.”

“He clearly wants us to leave,” Ando murmured, subtly referring to the continued growling.

“That's because he doesn't trust us,” Yalera pointed out. “And why would he with you aiming your bow at him?”

“Princess, I'm begging you! Please walk away for now. Let him eat his fill and leave in peace,” Ando suggested.

Yalera sighed in defeat. “Fine...” She took a slow step backwards. Suddenly, there was a loud roar as Yuna leapt into the small clearing. She faced the male, repeating her threat until he backed up quite a ways and then sat down.

“Yuna my love!” Yalera cried out joyously. Yuna cast a suspicious glance over her shoulder at the male as she trotted over to Yalera. The two greeted each other with kisses. Yuna rubbed her head against Yalera as Yalera hugged her the best she could. “Oh I missed you so much!”

Rune approached the pair much more calmly. She gave Yalera a quick kiss before walking back over to her mate and sitting in front of him. She stared at him as if telling him that she fully planned to keep an eye on him until she was certain that he didn't plan to harm Yalera.

The male sighed almost grumpily and lay down. He got comfortable, licking his paws as he glanced mournfully at the delicious smelling prey. Yalera pulled a hunting knife out of her quiver of arrows as she walked over to the stag.

“Do you want to do it or shall I?” Yalera asked Yuna. Yuna meowed, and then nudged Yalera out of the way. She used her powerful mouth and paws to tear an entire hind leg from the stag. She then carried it over to her mate and dropped it in front of him.

Yalera giggled. “You practically tossed that at him! Did he do something to make you mad?”

Yuna growled and Rune snorted. The way that Yuna purposely strutted over to Yalera and rubbed her head against her arm, Yalera understood what she was thinking. She giggled again.

“Oh! I get it! You're upset that he was threatening me,” she stated with a grin. “I'll take the other hind leg and the ribcage. You can have the rest, but I want the entire boar!”

Both Yuna and Rune nodded at this. Yuna then tore the agreed upon leg off the stag and set it aside. Yalera got onto her knees and stabbed her knife into the stag's sternum.

“My Princess... perhaps doing that yourself is uh... best left to others...” Ando protested awkwardly.

Yalera bit her lip in thought and removed her knife. “Girls, it would be easier for me if you tore the front legs off too.” She crawled out of the way and sat to watch them work. As she did so, she focused her attention on her twin.

Rohan? … Rohan?

What? I'm busy.

By the Gods! Again?!

If he had been standing in front of her, she would have seen him blushing.

I found Rune and Yuna. I also got you that boar you wanted. I could really use some help...

Be right there! Rohan promised.

Yalera ruffled Rune's fur. “Rohan's coming!”

Rune meowed happily, already gnawing on her stag leg. Yalera busied herself harvesting the ribcage from the stag, tossing the entrails at the male smilodon. He caught them with a sound like he was thrilled that she was giving him his favorite part.

Ando sighed in reluctant acceptance that she was going to bloody her hands. He then turned his attention to preparing the boar for transportation. It took him about 15 minutes to make an appropriate pole out of a branch, which he then secured to the boar with rope he had in his hunting pack.

“It's a good thing I could sense you,” Rohan remarked almost derisively. “Since you didn't bother to tell me where you were.”

“You didn't ask!” Yalera stated with a laugh.

Rohan ignored the guards he had brought with him as he walked over to Rune and stroked her head. “I missed you more than I thought possible.”

Rune licked him, not caring in the slightest that she got blood all over him. Rohan groaned softly as he wiped the blood away. As he did this, he looked over at the male smilodon.

“There really is a male... I mean I believed you, but it's different to see it with my own eyes!” He confessed.

The male smilodon was definitely apprehensive about so many humans so close to him. He had stopped eating to watch them suspiciously. Rohan held up a hand as if he longed to pet the smilodon, but he was nowhere near close enough. Even so, the smilodon growled softly in warning.

Rune leapt to her feet and roared her mate. He gave her a look like he was asking: why are you yelling at me and not these humans?! She snorted and rubbed her head against Rohan's side.

“You're getting me covered in blood,” Rohan protested with a laugh. He hugged his cat and gently bit her ear.

Yalera had long since removed the ribcage from the carcass, and had been snacking on bits of the stag's liver. She licked the blood from her lips with a smile before she picked up the stag's heart. She held it out to the male.

“You want this?” She asked, very slowly taking a step closer to him.

“My Princess!” Ando protested in horror as he realized what she was doing.

“Oh hush!” Yalera insisted. “You'll upset him.” She took another careful step forward, holding out the heart.

He looked at her thoroughly before glancing at Yuna. Yuna was sitting at attention. It was almost like she was saying: Don't you dare hurt my human!

He sniffed in the direction of the heart, and then bowed his head slightly. Yalera took this as a sign that she had permission to approach him. She walked slowly but steadily in his direction, holding out the heart. He let her get close enough to him that she could set the heart in his mouth, but she wasn't that trusting. She set it down in front of his paws, and then held out her hands.

He gave her an almost grumpy look, but since no one dared to breath – much less threaten him – he gave a long suffering sigh before sniffing her hands.

“You see? I'm a friend,” Yalera informed him. She slowly set her hand on his head. He looked over at Yuna again, who was stalking closer to him. With another sigh, he let Yalera pet him exactly twice before her shook her hand off his head. “Thank you.” Yalera praised, and then backed away.

Rohan carefully took her place, holding his hand out the moment she was far enough away that the male smilodon wouldn't feel ganged up on. The large cat could smell Rune on Rohan quite strongly, and so let him near without much fuss. He couldn't quite understand why his mates liked these humans so much, but since the humans hadn't tried to hurt him, he was willing to tolerate them.

Rohan was able to pet him exactly twice as well. Then he backed away with a huge grin. “I can't believe he let us pet him!”

A brave soldier decided that if the twins could pet the wild smilodon, it couldn't hurt to try to befriend him. He held out a hunk of jerky as he carefully approached him. However, the smilodon had had enough of these humans and got to his feet so that he could growl. It wasn't an angry growl, but it was clearly a warning to stay away. The soldier took the hint and backed away.

Yalera draped herself over Yuna's back. “Are you ready to come back with me?”

Yuna shook her head. Rune also shook her head. Both carried their food over to their mate and sat next to him.

“I see,” Yalera murmured in disappointment. Noticing that Ando and the soldiers were ready to carry the boar back to camp, Yalera sighed and went over to Yuna so that she could rest her head on Yuna's head. “Have fun, my love, but please come back soon.”

Yuna meowed and then kissed her. Yalera didn't even care that she now had blood smeared on her face. “Let's go back to camp,” she suggested, beckoning to the soldiers.

“I'm going to go take a look at that lake you mentioned,” Rohan stated, and then pointed. “It's that way, right?”

“Yep,” Yalera confirmed with a nod. “Beware of snakes!”

Rohan chuckled. “Will do! I just thought it would be a good idea to check out the lake so that I can help Yemry refill our water bags before we move on.”

“Good idea!” Yalera agreed with a smile. She led the way back to camp, humming cheerfully as she finished snacking on the stag's liver. The moment they got back, the soldiers got busy processing the boar. Meanwhile, Yalera stoked the fire so that she could grill up the ribs she carried in a protective cloth. She let the soldiers deal with the leg they'd carried back for her.

Ando silently accepted the pheasant she'd caught, and prepared it so that it shouldn't spoil before they got a chance to eat it – likely the next evening. The hare he caught was prepared in the same way. A glance at Yalera showed that she really was dirty and had no concern about it. He fully expected her to suddenly announce that she wanted to go take a bath!

Hannah sat down next to her in front of the fire. “Where's Rohan?”

“He went to check out the lake where the snake tried to eat me,” Yalera informed her sister in law.

“I hope he doesn't get eaten!” Hannah blurted out in dismay.

“He should be fine. It's nearly midday so there's plenty of light to see by. I was attacked in full dark,” Yalera explained.

Yemry and Baethan returned with a half dozen small game animals between them. Baethan glanced at the boar and rolled his eyes. “Does this means that she wins? We caught more than her, but hers is bigger.”

Ando snorted in amusement. “She definitely wins! You should have seen the stag!”

Yalera giggled. “Nah! You shot the stag too, thus I only got a boar and a pheasant.”

“I may have shot the stag too, but yours was definitely the kill shot,” Ando muttered, not exactly pleased by this.

Yemry laughed. “You're on the same team!”

Yalera giggled again. “That's true.” She smirked at Ando. “I guess we win together!”

Baethan shook his head and grumbled at this.

Yemry slapped him on the back. “Cheer up, maybe one of the other teams bagged more.”

“Perhaps,” Baethan grumbled, not really believing it.

“I actually had help,” Yalera admitted. “That male smilodon was chasing one or both of my kills before I shot them. If not for him, I probably wouldn't have – Rohan!” Yalera gasped and clutched her head. She immediately grabbed her bow and quiver as she ran out of camp. “Rohan!”

“What's the matter?!” Yemry called out as he chased her. Ando and Baethan both followed, but a gesture to the other soldiers commanded them to stay behind. Hannah wasn't sure whether to follow or stay. Only the fact that she couldn't run prompted her to stay behind.

Yalera was running flat out, barely remembering to check that she still had slightly more than half a quiver full of arrows. “YUNA!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. “RUNE!”

“Yalera!” Yemry shouted. “What's wrong?!”

“Rohan!” Yalera cried as if this answered his question.

“What happened to Rohan?!” Yemry roared in concern.

“He's fighting for his life!” Yalera yelled before taking a deep breath. “YUNA! I NEED YOU!”

A roar answered her from nearby. A second roar let her know that Rune was also nearby. However, it sounded like Rune was traveling away from them. This made sense to Yalera because if Rohan had called out at all, Rune would be rushing to his aid.

Yuna burst through some trees, changing direction to match Yalera's. Yalera reached out and grabbed some fur as she jumped on Yuna's back.

“Oh come on!” Baethan protested. “We can't keep up with you as it is!”

Yalera didn't care. She gasped and panted from exertion as Yuna raced in the direction that Rune was roaring. She barely remembered to look at them over her shoulder.

“He's by the lake!” She called out in case they lost sight of her. The moment she caught her breath, she grabbed hold of her bow and prepared to shoot it the first second she located her twin. If he was injured in the slightest, she'd kill his attackers before they had a chance to realize she was there.

Yalera... Rohan mentally cried out just before she felt a stinging pain in the back of her head – that was actually in the back of his head. The next moment, there was nothing.

“Rohan!” Yalera screamed. She was almost frantic as sobs escaped her. In the distance Rune roared. Yuna was getting closer, but Yalera feared that it would be too late.

They finally burst into the clearing surrounding the lake about five minutes later. Yuna stopped running abruptly. Yalera searched for someone to shoot, but no one was there. Aside from Rune, who was caught in a nasty trap. It was a metal contraption designed to bite anything smaller than a bear's foot clean off.

Yalera was torn between looking for her twin and helping his beloved pet. The fact that Rune was meowing pitifully tugged at her heart. She slid off Yuna's back and quickly stomped on the lever to open the trap. Rune inspected her paw, which was not broken simply because it was far more massive than the trap was made for. Even so, it was definitely injured. It looked like something had bitten her.

“Rohan!” Yalera called out helplessly as she looked around. She also disabled the trap so it couldn't injure her cats again.

“Where is he?” Yemry asked as he bent over slightly to pant. Baethan looked ready to collapse. He was bent in half as he gasped to try to catch his breath. Ando was also breathing heavily, but he didn't let that stop him from surveying his surroundings.

“My Princess,” Ando called out. He yanked an arrow out of a tree and carried the paper it freed over to her.

Yalera accepted it with a frown. It read: This one for the bitch that killed my Lord's son! Three days and he dies!

“He's alive,” Yalera gasped out in relief. She turned the paper over to find a map with an X marking a spot not too far from where they were.

Yemry snatched the paper from her. He read the note. “We can't take this seriously.” Even as he said this, Yalera mounted her smilodon again. “Yalera! No! You can't go after them!”

Yalera drew her bow and aimed it at him. “Try and stop me!”

“Yalera,” Yemry murmured, hurt by her action.

“I would die before I let them kill Rohan!” Yalera cried.

Yemry growled in frustration. “I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to rescue him. Just that this is something that my soldiers and I should handle while you are safely in camp.”

“Never!” Yalera hissed. “The longer we sit here arguing, the farther away they're getting. My plan is to catch up with them and shoot them all!” She nudged Yuna's side.

Yemry hastily got in front of Yuna and held out his hands. “Just wait!”

“Yemry!” Yalera growled, her hands flexing in a way that let him know she was seriously considering shooting him.

“Fine! If you're going to go off impetuously, I won't stop you, but at least hear me out!” Yemry demanded. “Wait just long enough for me to run back and gather up most of my men.”

“In that time, they could reach some sort of safehold!” Yalera argued.

Yemry pulled on his hair to help him think. All it really did was sting his head. He groaned. “Please let me ensure your safety! I may as well kill myself if I have to go back and explain to our mother why I let you go to your death!”

Yalera glared at him and very softly but firmly told him: “If that happens, you be sure to tell her that I cannot live without my twin! I am choosing to be stubborn and not listen to reason, because until I have Rohan back, there is no reason to live!”

Yemry sighed in defeat and lowered his hands. “Baethan, you go with her and Ando. I'll go get my men and catch up to you three as soon as I can. Yalera! At least have the decency to travel at a pace these two can keep up with without exhausting themselves.”

Yalera sighed impatiently. “Fine... Take the map and take Rune. She looks like she can limp back to camp with you, but probably couldn't keep up with us.”

Yemry nodded, then he gave Baethan an utterly serious look. “If the worst has happened and Rohan is already dead, you do whatever you have to in order to get Yalera back alive.”

“What am I going to do? She has a massive smilodon to bite me if I do anything she doesn't like!” Baethan pointed out.

“If the situation was dire, Yuna would sacrifice her life while you carried an inexplicably unconscious Yalera to safety,” Yemry stated grimly, implying that Baethan might have to knock Yalera out.

“Got it!” Baethan exclaimed in understanding.

“Hey!” Yalera protested indignantly.

“If you don't like it, then don't do anything stupid!” Yemry advised. Then he saluted her and ran off toward their camp.

Yalera patted her beloved pet on the neck. “Find Rohan.”

Yuna nodded her head just once before sniffing the ground. She quickly located Rohan's scent and followed it around the lake. To Ando and Baethan's relief, she traveled in a trot that they could keep up with by jogging lightly.

“My Princess, your older brother is right... You should not be trying to rescue your twin,” Ando informed her. “Your place is safely in camp.”

“Ando! I'll shoot you if you try to stop me!” Yalera warned him seriously.

“It's not my place to tell you what to do,” he murmured, sounding frustrated. “However, it is my job to keep you safe. This is madness! A Princess should – ”

Yalera tugged on Yuna in a signal to stop. She aimed her bow at Ando with a fierce growl. “I don't care what a Princess should or should not do! Have you never loved someone so much that you can't breath without them?!”

Ando regarded her silently for a long moment. Finally, he sighed in defeat. “Yes... That's how I felt about Prince Crispin. He was like a brother to me! That's why I have to protect you, no matter what!”

Yalera huffed with a short nod. “Yeah, well imagine for just a second that you actually were his twin sister. Would you really let anyone stop you from rescuing him? Just because you were a girl?”

“I... I suppose not...” Ando murmured.

Yalera stopped aiming her bow at him. Abruptly, she smirked. “I warned you that I wasn't very good at sitting back and letting people protect me.”

“That you did,” Ando stated, returning her smile.

Yalera nudged Yuna so that she would resume following Rohan's scent. “For what it's worth, if we do manage to rescue my brother, I'll owe you both a debt that I'll probably never be able to truly repay.”

“I can think of a couple ways,” Baethan muttered with a wry grin as he jogged, not thinking that they'd hear him.

“I'm sorry, but I couldn't allow any of the things you're thinking of,” Ando stated, also with a wry grin and a slight shake of his head.

“What things?” Yalera asked curiously.

“Nothing!” Baethan hastily denied, blushing as he looked away.

Yalera tilted her head as she looked back at him. She was confused for a moment, but then when she realized what he must be referring to, she was confused for a completely different reason. “Really?”

Baethan wisely held his tongue, simply shrugging and shaking his head.

“Hmm...” Yalera hummed to herself in thought. Thinking about all possible meanings of Baethan's joke helped her to not obsess over her brother. This also helped her calm down.

To her great disappointment, they didn't catch up with Rohan's captors before nightfall. Yalera would have insisted that they continue the search, but the temperature dropped suddenly, making her teeth chatter and her skin stand up as she shivered. She roared in frustration as she signaled Yuna to stop.

“Yemry hasn't caught up to us yet either, and with this temperature, he probably won't!” Yalera growled in frustration. She pointed to an extremely tall and wide evergreen. “There's a natural shelter, and it looks big enough for all three of us and Yuna.

The lowest branches formed a tent like structure. The inside of it was lined with a thick layer of needles. It could keep out the cold a little, but not when the wind blew. As a result, Yalera was soon wishing that she'd had the foresight to grab her cloak during her frantic dash out of camp.

Yuna curled up behind Yalera, trying to stay between her and the wind. Yalera stroked her fur repeatedly, finding the action soothing. “I love you so much, Yuna,” she whispered. Yuna purred, licking Yalera as if the girl was a cub.

“I wonder if I should try making a fire,” Baethan murmured aloud, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm.

“Probably not,” Ando answered. “There's no way to stop the fire from spreading to all the mast under this tree while we sleep.”

Yalera had been raised at the edge of a wilderness that experience extremely cold winters, so she knew how to survive. She shifted until she was centered on Yuna's body, using her a bit like a pillow. She tugged on Baethan's hand even as she lightly kicked Ando.

“Both of you, come here,” she ordered. “We need to stay as close together as possible. Also, pull as much of this over us as we can.” She grabbed a handful of evergreen needles – which were actually brown – and held it out so they'd know what she was talking about. “The more we can pack onto us, the warmer we'll stay.”

“Yes Princess,” Ando responded. He knew she was right even though his winter survival training had always included tents and fur blankets, so he had no direct experience taking shelter in the wild with nothing.

They busied themselves gathering up as much of the mast as they could until they were nearly buried as they reclined against Yuna. She curled her legs around them as she lay on her side. Her head kept shifting to look at Yalera – as if half afraid that the girl was going to disappear.

Baethan chuckled nervously. “Why am I the one closest to her sharp teeth?”

Yalera giggled. “Because I figured that neither one of you would relish the idea of snuggling with each other!”

Baethan blushed. Ando shrugged. “Survival is survival,” he stated.

Yalera was exhausted enough that she fell asleep fairly quickly. Her head rolled onto Baethan's shoulder, which made him blush... and smile softly. Ando caught his look and frowned.

“Don't even think about touching her,” Ando warned softly.

“I wouldn't do something like that,” Baethan protested, clearly offended.

“Rohan,” Yalera murmured in her sleep, slipping one of her hands in Baethan's. Baethan did his best not to react to this since Ando couldn't see it under their makeshift blanket. Instead, he squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Rohan...” she repeated.

“I think she loves that brother a little too much,” Baethan muttered under his breath.

Ando laughed. “I've thought much the same!”

Hours passed in more or less peaceful slumber. Yalera continually murmured her brother's name, but it was softly enough that it didn't wake her companions. Until she suddenly sat up with a sharply inhaled gasp.

“Rohan!” She cried out. She scrambled to get out of their cozy cocoon so that she could vomit without making a mess on her companions. She lay on the ground afterward groaning.

“My Princess?” Ando inquired in concern.

“Rohan,” Yalera repeated, flinching and gasping. She clutched her side and gagged as if she was about to vomit again. “He's alive!”

“We knew that,” Ando muttered dryly. “Or weren't you sure?”

“I wasn't,” Yalera whispered, her voice soft and far away. “I couldn't feel him...” She grunted and curled into herself. “Ah!”

This was not behavior that made sense. Ando and Baethan exchanged concerned glances. There was just barely enough moonlight to let them see each other.

Ando tried again. “Princess?”

Yalera kept moving her body strangely as she grunted. Her breaths escaped her in funny little gasps. She softly started to cry. “I'm going to kill them all...”

“What's the matter?” Baethan demanded, tempted to pull her into his arms and shake her until she explained things.

“They're beating him,” Yalera cried. Her hands pressed to her stomach. “I don't know why! He stopped fighting back, but they won't stop!” One hand moved to her back as she cried out. “Ah! Oh Gods! STOP!”

She tried crawling away, as if that could stop them from beating on her twin. More vomit spewed from her. “Rohan...” she sobbed. To her relief, the beating stopped a moment later, but she could feel him laying in pain.

Yalera...

Rohan! We're coming for you, just hang on until we find you!

No! Stay away! They plan to kill you!

I don't care! I'll rescue you or die trying!

Yalera please... I don't want you to die...

Rohan...

Before Rohan could think anything else, he passed out, leaving Yalera sobbing as she lay on the ground. “I'm going to kill them,” she vowed in a whisper.

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