A Kiss of Frost, page 4
part #3 of Horned Holidays Series
“But how did you get here?”
The boy turned away from her, the tips of his ears turning red.
“This trader, Tolva, came through town. He was in a hurry and needed someone to help on the trip. Said he was going to the city and that I could earn a lot of money.”
“And you went with him,” Katerina said gently.
Johnny shrugged, still not looking at her. “Nothing for me in town. Thought I might do better in the city. But I didn’t know.”
He turned back, his young face anguished.
“He had them locked up in his wagon.”
One of the twins whimpered.
“I told him I didn’t want no part of it. But he said if I tried to leave he’d hurt them. I didn’t know what to do.”
Lorna crept out from her hiding place and took Johnny’s hand. She smiled up at him with that broken smile.
“You thayed with uth.”
“Yeah, squirt. I said I’d take care of you and I will.” He looked back at Katerina, his face softer. “We came down Ghost Valley even though I told him it wasn’t a good idea. We patched up here for the night. There was a storm so we stayed another day, and another. When we woke up on the third morning, he was gone.”
“Ghost Valley?” Merry asked.
“He never came back?” Katerina asked at the same time.
Johnny shook his head.
“Nope. I wanted to run for it, but it was still storming. The storm lasted a week, and he still hadn’t come back. I decided he must’ve wandered off and gotten killed. This place is safe enough. No one ever comes here.”
Katerina bit her lip, looking around at the children.
“What about food?”
“We got food. I make sure the kids eat.” Johnny’s initial scowl faded into a surprisingly charming grin. “If you mean me, I’ve always been skinny.”
She didn’t comment, and Jackasarian suspected that like him, she thought there was more to the story.
“I have a few supplies, and I’d be happy to share them. In exchange for a place to stay,” she added hastily when Johnny stiffened. “This is much cozier than the gatehouse.”
“Yeth. Thay,” Lorna said, smiling up at her.
“I reckon that’s all right,” Johnny said. “There’s some extra furs up in the loft.”
“That’s wonderful. I’ll just go get our things and come right back.”
“I’ll help you,” Merry volunteered.
Katerina opened her mouth, but Johnny beat her to it.
“You stay here,” he said roughly. “I’ll go. Girls don’t need to be out in the snow.”
Merry glared at him, but Katerina laughed.
“I notice you don’t object to me going out in the snow.” A tide of red swept up over the boy’s face, but Katerina smiled at him and put her hand on his arm. “I would be very happy to have you accompany me.”
Merry sniffed, but didn’t object as her sister and the young male set off into the storm. Jackasarian found himself agreeing with the youngster. Females did not belong outside under these conditions. He would have been happy to retrieve their belongings, but he did not see how he could do so without revealing his presence and he was curiously reluctant to do so. Not simply because as far as he could tell, humans were unacquainted with other races, but from an unusual feeling of trepidation.
She had smiled at him once, but she had been half-asleep. What if she recoiled now that she was awake? He couldn’t bear the thought of seeing the dismissal in her eyes that he’d seen in so many others. He settled for tracking them back to the complex, keeping to the rooftops and out of sight.
The fire she had built was almost out, and Johnny made a disgusted noise as he kicked apart the remaining embers.
“I shoulda come back sooner to put this out.” He gave her an oddly shy glance. “Your sister is quite a fighter.”
“Yes, she is, thank goodness. I never want anyone to be able to take advantage of her.”
The boy colored again. “I could show her a few moves, if you’d like. You learn to watch out for yourself when you’re on the street.”
“How long were you on the streets?” she asked softly and he shrugged.
“As long as I can remember. There was an old woman who used to feed me sometimes, but she didn’t have much to spare. And then she died.”
“Oh, Johnny, I’m so sorry.”
She gave his hand a quick squeeze, and even though Jackasarian did not like her hands on another male, even a young one, he admired her sympathetic heart.
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 longed 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 large 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.
CHAPTER 7
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.
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 scent 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 had 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.
Quickly pulling on her boots and wrapping her cloak around her shoulders, she stepped out into the snowy morning. She expected the pika to take off through the maze of buildings, but instead it scampered along the front of their shelter to a large mound of snow in the corner between their building and the next. Maybe that’s what I heard falling from the roof, she thought as the pika climbed on top of the mound, chirping again.
It wasn’t until she took another step closer that she realized there was a body half-buried in the snow. He was wearing a white garment that blended with the snow, and it took a moment for her to realize just how big he was, her eyes traveling up over strong legs to a narrow waist and broad shoulders and finally to his face. A stunningly handsome face, as white as the surrounding snow. Was he… was he dead?
She bent cautiously over him and his eyes opened—brilliant blue eyes that seemed oddly familiar. Then he moved his head and the snow fell away to reveal his horns—the same horns she remembered from her dream. It was her snow prince.
“You,” she whispered.
He smiled up at her, a surprisingly sweet smile despite the sharp white teeth it revealed, but then his eyes fluttered closed again.
No! She automatically reached for him, grasping a big shoulder, his muscles firm and strong beneath her hand. His head moved at her touch, but his eyes remained closed.
“Who is he?” Johnny asked suspiciously as he appeared at her side, and then his eyes widened. “What is he?”
“I don’t know, but I think he’s hurt. We have to get him inside.”
“You gotta be kidding. What if he’s dangerous?” The boy’s eyes traveled from the horns to the big body, and he shook his head. “No, I know he’s dangerous. What if he hurts the kids, or tries to take them?”
It was a fair question, even though she found his size more reassuring than frightening. She didn’t believe that he meant them any harm, but could she take the chance? The pika chirped impatiently, staring at her from its big lavender eyes, and oddly enough that helped her to decide.
“But what if he’s not dangerous to us? We can’t just leave him out here to die. Is there somewhere inside where we could keep him separated?”
Johnny scuffed at the snow with his foot, scowling, then gave a reluctant nod.
“There’s a bedroom back behind the stove wall. Tolva was sleeping in it.”
“Will you help me get him there?”
“I guess.”
Johnny was obviously not enthusiastic about the idea, but he bent over the stranger’s body with her. It was immediately clear that he was far too heavy for them to carry. Johnny grunted and disappeared back inside, returning with a blanket. With a considerable amount of effort, they managed to roll the stranger onto the blanket and then the two of them dragged it across the snowy ground and into the shelter. The children looked at him with wide eyes, including Merry, who was now awake.
“He’s so handsome. Who is he?”
Johnny scowled at her.
“He’s a stranger. A weird-looking stranger. You stay away from him, you hear me?”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“Stop it, you two,” she said, still panting from the effort of tugging his body along. “Unless you want to leave him in the middle of the floor, we need to keep going.”
Johnny stopped glaring at Merry, and nodded.
“Yeah, this way.”
He opened the door in the back wall next to the stove to reveal a small bedroom. The wooden bedstead was still intact, furs draped over the frame. She looked at it and sighed. How was she going to get him up on the bed? As she bent over to try and tug him up, his eyes flickered open.
“Can you stand?” she asked. “I want to get you onto the bed.”
He didn’t really seem to see or hear her, but when she put her shoulder under his arm to lever him up, his arm tightened around her shoulder. She was all too aware of the strength of that arm, but although her pulse was beating rapidly, it wasn’t from fear. This close to him, his scent washed over her and she recognized it. The same cool, minty scent that had filled her head when she woke. Just the memory sent a small pulse of arousal through her body.
“That’s right,” she murmured. “Can you stand?”
It took a few tries before her words seemed to penetrate, but he stumbled to his feet, and she urged him the few steps to the bed and down onto the furs. He collapsed down, taking her with him, his arm still around her shoulders and she found herself plastered on top of his big body. It felt oddly comfortable, as if she belonged there, and it wasn’t until she heard Merry giggle that she thought to free herself.
He was unconscious again, but she managed to swing his legs up on the bed before covering him with another fur. She wished she knew what she could do to help him, but he looked strangely peaceful, more like he was sleeping than unconscious, and his breathing was steady enough. Maybe all she could do was wait. She reluctantly left the room, and Johnny immediately started to close the door.
