Page 110 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

BONUS SCENE

Rachel

V antos is an early riser, but this morning I’m awake before him, my roiling stomach raising me from the bliss of the dreamspace to the waking world.

Which is not to say that reality isn’t also blissful since I mated to Vantos – I could just do without feeling like my stomach is turning itself inside out.

Vantos has an arm wrapped around me. I press my lips to the inside of his wrist, then slide out from underneath it, trying to do so quietly enough not to wake him.

He stirs a little, but I pet his hair and he quickly sinks back down into sleep.

I don’t want to disturb him. He might protest that he’s absolutely fine now, and maybe he is, but I can’t help remembering him lying in the healer’s hut, fighting for his life.

Allowing him a few extra moments of sleep makes me feel better.

I pull on my shoes and trudge from our hut to the healer’s hut.

There aren’t many people up and about – Ellie is sitting by the fire, sharpening her hunting knives, while Anghar talks to Rardek.

Off on another hunt to bring back food for the village.

It used to make my stomach pinch with guilt and worry, but Ellie came to me yesterday and told me how delighted Anghar was that their child would have another to play with.

I didn’t even know Ellie was pregnant. I guess that happened while I was travelling.

The healer’s hut is empty, Shemza either off on an early morning herb collection, or still sleeping in his hut. I pause in the entrance, smiling despite my churning stomach. It’s so good to be back in the village, and back doing healing work. I missed it while we were away.

I run my fingers over the drying herbs, breathing in their scent. I remember all their names, despite my time away, and their uses, too. Herbs for pain, herbs for sleeping, herbs for easing coughs and colds. Whatever ailments might bother the tribe, there’s something here to remedy it.

Including yuko root for an upset stomach.

I hunt through the baskets for Shemza’s supply and pull out a large root, taking it over to the table where we prepare our medicines.

I trim the root, then peel away the skin using one of Shemza’s blades.

They’re made of stone, not metal, but are more than sharp enough to slice through the tough roots.

Once it’s skinned, I slice the root into cubes, popping one into my mouth to chew as I work, hoping it will eliminate the metal taste at the back of my mouth and the roiling in my stomach.

Preferably before the preparation of the morning meal starts up around the communal fire.

Hannah is determined to feed me up now she knows I’m pregnant, and takes it a little personally when I turn away her offerings.

Once the rains start, the communal fires will no longer burn, and it will be down to us to fend for ourselves, cooking over the small fire in our huts.

I know some of the others aren’t looking forwards to this, being under-confident cooks, or just sad to lose the communal element to meals.

Me, I’m quite glad for the simple domesticity of it being just me and Vantos cooking round a fire.

I do like doing things in the group, but we’re newly mated, and selfishly, I just want to keep him to myself.

To learn everything there is to know about him, and spend time caged in his big, strong arms.

Of course, he’ll still have to patrol – though with Darran arriving any time now, the burden on Gregar’s warriors will be much smaller.

As I tidy up the healer’s hut, I imagine Vantos returning from his patrols, soaked through and grumpy.

I’d have a hot meal prepared for him, and blankets that I’d warmed by the fire.

I’d guide him to sit in his chair, wrap the blankets round his shoulders, and kiss his cheek.

And he might grumble a little, but I’d know it wasn’t at me.

Because his eyes would light up whenever I handed him something, whenever I touched him.

I’m smiling to myself when I return to our hut.

Vantos is awake, concern in his eyes as I approach him.

I hold up my hand with the yuko root cubes in it.

Vantos nods, then fetches me a bowl to put them in.

He sets it down on the one counter we have – where all the meal prep will take place once the big rains start – then returns to me, brushing his hand so gently over my stomach.

“Bad?” he says.

I shake my head. The sickness has mostly gone now, my stomach settled by the yuko root. Vantos continues to stroke my belly for a moment, and the heat of his big palms soothes away what little unsettledness remains. I melt into him, breathing his scent deep.

I think his tribe brothers are surprised by the change in him – how freely he smiles now.

He gets teased a lot around the fire in the evenings, when everyone is gathered together.

But I know he doesn’t mind. Every time someone says something in a teasing voice, he just sits up a little straighter, proud to be my mate.

Proud to be mine.

“What does it matter if they say I am soft for you?” he told me in the dreamspace. “They would be the same if they had a linasha of their own. And if being so happy that it makes me smile freely makes me soft, then it is something I gladly claim to be.”

He presses a kiss to my forehead, stooping a little to do so, then strokes a hand over my hair. And even though he doesn’t do it with any intention to get me in the bedroom, the touch still sends shivers through me. How could it not?

“Nhi linasha,” he says, and the edge of growl in his voice revs me the rest of the way up.

A whimper of need escapes my lips and Vantos stills. He probably has patrols to get to. Definitely needs to eat before he goes on those patrols, to ensure he’s at his full strength. But he also knows what it does to me when he calls me ‘linasha’.

He scoops me up into his arms, carrying me back to our bed and laying me down on it. My boots are off in moments, my night dress following rapidly afterwards. Then his clothes are gone and his body settles over me, his mouth claiming mine in a searing kiss.

We move together, waves of pleasure crashing through me.

Especially when his mating node slides over my clit.

I know from Liv and Ellie that the mating node activates when the woman is fertile.

That won’t be me for a long time, but I look forward to the day.

Not just because of the overwhelming pleasure Liv described, but because I want to have Vantos’ child. A sibling for the baby I’m carrying.

And yeah, I probably should have this baby before I start daydreaming about my next. Maybe the pain of labour and the hardships of raising a newborn will make me change my mind. But I don’t think so. Not when I have Vantos by my side, helping me.

As we lie together, breathing hard in the aftermath of our climax, I stroke my fingers over his face, tracing the shape of his brow, his cheekbones.

“I think I might just be the luckiest girl in the village,” I say.

And though he can’t know what I’m saying, Vantos responds with a smile.