She listened to him breathe, deep and powerful, slightly slower than her own rhythm, hers a counterpoint to his, male and female in a soft breath-song.
The urgency of her heat had been quenched for the moment, and all she felt was a satisfied laziness. She tried not to stir, savoring the quiet alone with the one she had wanted for so long and dared not have.
Memories rolled around in her mind, the courting circle, the squabbling males, and the latecomer with moonlit eyes. She knew now that her mind had transformed him into Bone-chewer and that she had begun to give herself to him. It was strange, though. Even though he had seized her nape, climbed onto her, started treading with his rear feet and even swept her tail aside, he never completed the act of mating.
She remembered her heat-driven surge of impatience as he became still over her, yet kept holding her nape. The eagerness in his smell was mixed with something else: a gentle reluctance, as if he realized that she was someone who should not or could not be taken in such a way. No, it wasn’t Thakur’s leap into the courting circle that had interrupted their mating. It had already halted, yet the male still crouched over her, holding her.
It made no sense, unless he was only protecting her from the other males who had no such hesitation. No, she had to be imagining it, just as she had imagined that he was Bone-chewer.
Thakur was no figment of a heated imagination. He was here, he was solid, he was comforting, he smelled wonderful, he was her mate, and that was all that mattered.
She wished she could hold that moment forever, clasped to her breast by her paws. She tried to stay still, but she knew she must have stirred, for his breathing quickened and he began to wake.
She felt him give a slight start as he woke to find her in his embrace. For a sharp instant, she thought he would pull away, but she felt him relax again, draw her closer, and start to purr.
“My Ratha,” he said, and the words lit a thrill of delight in her. “Finally.”
“My Thakur,” she purred, nearly lost in a wave of contentment. “For the rest of my life.”
She felt she could have stayed with him in the cocooning silence forever, but gradually, noises from outside began to filter through. She felt him lift his head, listen. She did the same, and distinctly caught a Named voice asking the whereabouts of the clan leader and the herding teacher.
“That’s Cherfan,” said her mate, gently sliding his foreleg out from beneath her cheek so that he could roll onto his front. “He’s forgotten that he is the clan leader, at least temporarily.”
“We should find out what happened,” Ratha said, but it was hard to end the moment.
Thakur licked her cheek gently and said, as if he knew, “There will be many more like this.”
She got up, fluffed her fur. “Just one question. The one who had me before you came. It was Night-who-eats-stars, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. There was something strange. He was just holding you, even though he could have mated.”
So Thakur noticed that, too! It wasn’t just my imagination.
“Of course, my view of things was a little confused,” he admitted.
“Thakur, he freed Thistle. He attacked another male so that she could escape. I thought I heard him telling Thistle to go. How could that be unless—”
“He is your son, Ratha. Yours and Bone-chewer’s. Thistle’s brother.”
Ratha calmed the excited thoughts that were swirling through her with a deep long breath.“That is why I could so easily think he was Bone-chewer. His scent—It reminded me so much of Bone-chewer.”
“Are you disappointed that—?”
“The one who has me now is not Bone-chewer? No, Thakur!” She rubbed her cheek against his side. “Yes, I loved him, but I never knew him that well. When he died, I made an image that stayed with me. I made it more than he really was.”
“Well, he was extraordinary,” Thakur answered softly. “I don’t fault you for missing him. I wish he hadn’t died.”
“I don’t have to miss him anymore. Bone-chewer is still here. He’s still alive. In you. I have both of you now. And the living one is even more precious.”
“You also have your son, if that’s what Night turns out to be. If so, he will be mine as well.” Thakur halted. “If we can find him. I hope I didn’t hurt him in the fight, but I wasn’t exactly thinking that clearly.”
“My gentle Thakur. Fighting! For me,” she teased.
“I never thought I could fight like that, but when I saw you in the midst of those …” He broke off as the clamor outside grew louder.
“We’d better see what’s happened,” Ratha said, feeling suddenly guilty and wondering how much time had passed since the herd had stampeded overhead.
She climbed out of the fire-den, feeling her belly tighten and her ears flatten for a fight if they were still surrounded by New Singer and his renegades. Instead, as she emerged, she was surrounded by the odors and body-rubs of the Named, both males and females.
“Clan leader!”
“Where did you go?”
“You should have seen those belly-biters run when we … ”
As Thakur emerged behind her, he, too, was engulfed by the living wave of fur, affection and excitement. They all toppled together in a squirming panther-pile.
“Wait,” Ratha said, as she tried not to get squashed. “You mean we won?”
“We won?” boomed a voice close to her ear. “Clan leader, it was like slapping a paw down on a bunch of sleepy flies, the way that rabble scattered. We probably didn’t need the other animals. One look at the rumblers and New Singer just about jumped out of his stripes. Herding teacher, that was a brilliant idea!”
“It wasn’t mine, Cherfan,” Ratha heard Thakur puff as he climbed free of the panther-pile and shook himself. “It was Mishanti and Bundi’s. Where are they?”
“Leading the herd back to the meadow,” Cherfan replied cheerfully. “Clan ground is ours again!”
“No sign of another attack?” Ratha asked, untangling herself reluctantly from the flopping tails, rubbing bodies, and licking tongues of her friends. Her fur was completely rumpled, but she didn’t care. It was so good for them to be together again on their home ground.
“I don’t think so,” Cherfan rumbled. “The last we saw of those renegades were their tails disappearing. Still, we’ll post scouts.”
“New Singer didn’t have time to even think his dung-eating song, much less send it.” This was Fessran, rubbing up against Cherfan. “Oooh, you big furry monster, you smell sooo luscious… .”
Ratha suddenly remembered the cubs. “They’re in the rock fall shelter by the steam.”
“Before we start making new cubs, we’d better get the old ones,” Cherfan said. “Quiet Hunter, give Ratha and Thakur their treelings and come with me. Mondir, Bira, Drani, you as well. Fessran, you stay. If you go, we’ll never get there.”
With his party in tow, the big herder brushed past Fessran, who collapsed on her rump with a “Hmmrh.” The Firekeeper turned to Ratha and Thakur. “So where did you two disappear to? I was afraid that all we would find of you would be flattened fur in the dirt.”
“We fell into the fire-den. It was a good thing that the rumblers didn’t break through the roof,” Ratha explained. “Bundi and Mishanti must have guided them away from it.”
“So it was the terrible two who saved our tails this time,” Fessran grinned. “Well, maybe I’ll forgive them for wrecking my den.”
“Where’s Thistle-chaser?”
“Sleeping in Quiet Hunter’s den. Well, actually it’s Thakur’s old one and Quiet Hunter repaired it. When Thistle escaped, he ran to her, and I imagine that they were soon doing the same thing in that lair that you two were doing in the fire-den.”
Ratha bristled, “Fess!”
She turned to Thakur. “I think I should find Thistle. After what she went through in the courting circle …”