Primal Quest Page 20

  Now, she only had to find Raven and coerce him into giving her a little freedom. She found him talking with Teril on one side of the tent, not that far away from the entrance. Wearing a white shirt, black leather pants and sturdy boots, he looked delicious. Walking up to him, she slipped an arm around his waist. Taking the opportunity to lean into him, she rested her head against his chest. A slow steady beat sounded against her ear. Almost immediately, his arm came around her and held her to him as he continued to talk to Teril for a few moments.

  After he had finished his discussion with Teril, he turned her in his arms and drew her fully against his body. He inhaled her luscious scent, his cock hardening, pressing against his tight leathers. Caidi slid both of her arms around him and contentedly snuggled against him.

  “You are finally awake, my sweet Caidi.” Raven thrust his hips against the soft swell of her stomach, letting her feel his hard length. “Are you feeling all right? You didn’t stir when I rose and dressed.”

  “I am fine, Raven. I was simply tired.” Caidi rushed to reassure him before he could recommend that she see the healer. The man was fanatical when it came to her health. “Um, I forgot to ask last night if Zaden’s men had had any success in finding the place where I was held. The directions I gave would have gotten them in the general area, but weren’t very precise.”

  “Of course they found the house where you were held. They are Shadatai Zarain,” Raven informed her with a broad smile.

  “Stop boasting about the attributes of the Shadatai and tell me if they found Mandi and if she was still alive when they got there,” Caidi demanded, smacking her palm against his chest.

  Raven chuckled at her reprimand. “The Indiri was still there. She had a black eye and a few other bruises that had been given to her by her next-father, but other than that, she was in good health.”

  “Did she leave with them? Did she believe them?” Caidi shot the questions at him.

  “She went along with them willingly enough when they told her that her sister was safely away from any surviving Bavaok and would be waiting for her on Askara. They are coming back here, because they still don’t know if they were anywhere near a gate.” Amused by her impatience, he leaned back to study her expressive face.

  “When are we leaving Astien?” Caidi fingered the pouch at her waist. “Are we still going to Askara?”

  “As soon as Zaden’s men return with the Indiri, we will all leave for Askara. It will be quite a traveling party.” Raven cast his gaze around the three camps.

  Caidi looked up at Raven with a mischievous grin on her face. “So, you are certain that Shadatai senses are far superior to all others?”

  “Definitely.”

  “So, do you think that you are up to a real challenge? One that you have never encountered before or at least that you are unaware you have faced?” Caidi winked and the wicked grin curved her lips.

  “I am up to a challenge, but I always like to know what the stakes and risks are before I gamble.” Raven wondered what she was planning. “Tell me about what you propose.”

  “I suggest a little game of hide and seek. There are no risks that I can think of. If I get into trouble, have difficulty of any kind, I can always call to you. You will come to my aid.” Caidi shrugged.

  “And the stakes?” Raven raised his brows.

  “The stakes, hmm…” Caidi gave it no real thought and chose the first thing that came to mind. She wanted the freedom to run in the forest more than any prize. “If I succeed in eluding you in your hunt and you can’t track me with anything but my presence as a shifter, you will take me someplace tonight where I can have a real bath, instead of the wash with a rag that I have had. If you find me, I won’t complain about having to continue to bathe with a bowl of water and a washcloth. As I see it, you don’t have much to lose. Are the stakes acceptable to you?”

  “No, they are unacceptable. If I win, you won’t try to tempt me, to take control of the pace and the force of our love while you are pregnant.” Raven gave her a calculating smile.

  “For a Shadatai, you can be frustratingly priggish. No matter, you won’t win.” Caidi laughed. “I will want a head start, a lead before you come after me. There would be no contest for your search if you could see me when the game begins.”

  “If I give up the search, I will contact you through our connection, but before you race off, I want your word that you will call me if you need help in any way. I don’t care if it is a turned ankle or some strange feeling that worries you.” Raven tilted her chin up in order to force her to look into his eyes so that he could be assured of the truth in her answer.

  Caidi had to sigh over his question, but looked him straight in the eyes. “If I am hurt or in any way threatened, you have my oath that I will call to you. Do you promise that your men won’t interfere in our little game in any way?”

  “They know that you are going to show me something very important and they will allow you to go wherever you want. They will also keep others from interfering with you as you try to elude me,” Raven assured her gravely. “You will have until the count of fifty to get out of sight and to gain a lead. One…”

  Caidi didn’t wait to hear his deep voice intone the number two. She took off at a fast trot toward the Kaden side of the encampment. She lifted the skirt of her dress to allow her to go faster. When she neared a group of the Kaden females, she stuck her hand into the pouch and grasped the crystal tightly in her fist. She was taking no chances that it would fall through her fingers as she moved.

  She saw several men do double takes as their sight and their higher senses gave them contradictory information. She could understand the reaction. It was strange the first time that your senses fooled you when you knew for certain that someone was a shifter, but couldn’t feel their presence.

  Zarain men intercepted any man who came toward her. Caidi didn’t bother to worry about interference after she saw the first man intercepted. She ran into the forest. Her steps were quick, uneven. She moved away from the camp with no destination in mind. Her only purpose was to put distance between Raven and herself. She was determined to win this bet. After a little while, she slowed and then turned, planning to make a wide circle around the camp. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw movement and spun to confront the danger.

  She found Teril trailing her. Caidi stopped, narrowed her eyes at the man, raised an eyebrow, and waited for his explanation. This was more of Raven’s interference. Insufferable, overprotective…

  “The Achan doesn’t want you to be in the forest alone, Acine. He has sworn that he won’t use me, my presence to find you or be looking for the presence of two people. He will only be looking for a female shifter presence.” Teril saw the anger simmering in her eyes, could smell it on the wind.

  “And what about you?” Caidi eyed him suspiciously. If Teril fed him information, Raven could easily find her.

  “I have promised not to give him any hints or clues about your location. I won’t contact him in any way unless you are in some kind of trouble or get hurt.” Teril gave her a shrug and an I-have-to-follow-orders look.

  “All right, I don’t like it, but you can follow me. There isn’t much choice.” Caidi turned and began walking.

  “It is very unsettling to be standing in front of you and not sense anything when I know for certain that you are Shadatai. You might not want to go in that direction.” He nodded in the direction Caidi had been going to take. “There are hunters that way. We wouldn’t want to take any chances.”

  Caidi rolled her eyes to the heavens at the lengths her chalon would go to ensure her safety and sighed. “If I remember right, there is a bend in the river near here that has some nice flat rocks along the bank to sit on while I wait for Raven to tire of trying to sense me. That man is a trial to me.” Muttering under her breath, she led the way. “I wonder what I ever did to deserve it.”

  Teril heard her, but just smiled. He fell into step beside Caidi as she walked toward the river.
“I don’t think that it will take him long to give up the search. The Achan likes to know where you are at all times.”

  Since he had brought up the subject in an oblique way, Caidi decided to ask him about Shadatai females and how they were treated within the pack and by their mates. She knew absolutely nothing about the Shadatai that was more than a rumor. “Are Shadatai women always watched as avidly as Raven watches me?”

  Teril looked a little bit startled by the question. “No, Shadatai men know that their women are strong and capable. Yes, they are protective of them, but the male knows that the woman can take care of herself.” Teril explained. “The Achan does respect your capabilities as a shifter, but he has expressed some concern over your safety when you are alone.”

  Caidi sighed. It was no more than she had expected. She wasn’t insulted by Raven’s concern. She was merely a little upset with certain female members of her pack who, she once again promised herself, would hear a few words about the value of silence. It was fine for them to go and tell every little detail in her life. They didn’t have to deal with the overprotective man who seemed convinced that she was an accident waiting to happen. They could have kept a few of the stories to themselves, spaced the telling over a few weeks. Hearing about it all at once, probably a little exaggerated in some cases, was bound to cause trouble, to give him a false impression about her life.

  “Acine.” Teril frowned, clearly thinking, as they arrived at the river. By the look on his face, she could tell that he was curious about how she did it and the effects on the one who was masked. “Can you sense other people while you are like that, while others are unable to sense you?”

  “Yes, I have the full range of Zarain senses—well, Shadatai senses. I can sense you and, in the distance, the camp and the shifters there. I know that there are some shifters in the forest.” Caidi smiled, more than willing to answer his questions. “There is a group of shifters close to us.”

  Caidi sat down on one of the rocks near the water’s edge with her feet tucked underneath the skirt of the dress. She waited calm and serene, unconcerned that Raven had been able to sense her shifter presence. The stone’s ability to mask a shifter’s presence was unquestionable.

  All right, Caidi, you have had your fun, your time running around the forest, even if it wasn’t without an escort. I acknowledge freely that I wouldn’t have been able to find you simply by tracking you with the use of my higher senses. You can have your prize. You will have your real bath tonight in the river. However there is one thing that I should point out to you. Raven paused in his mental concession.

  “I am a very good tracker, my chalie. You didn’t even bother to hide your trail as you moved through the forest,” he said aloud as he strode from the concealing trees at the edge of the river. He was followed by the Kaden Charal as well as Zaden and a few other Shadatai Zarain.

  “Of course I didn’t bother to hide my trail. You had promised not to use it to track me. You weren’t supposed to be using it to find me.” Caidi frowned at him.

  “I kept my promise to you. Did you think that I would simply wait for you to make your way back to camp after I had given up the search for you?” Raven enjoyed the flags of red on her cheeks. “I’m not that patient.”

  Caidi leapt to her feet and planted her hands on her hips. “You admit you lost?”

  “I knew almost immediately after I began that if I had to rely solely on searching for a female shifter presence that I would never find you. I’m not one to ignore the obvious.” Raven walked over and ran his fingers over her cheek.

  “You could have let me do this on my own.” Caidi poked her finger into his chest, still very irritated with him.

  “I felt you as you neared the group of Kaden women and then suddenly you were gone. In spite of knowing that you would try to disappear, I almost turned around when I suddenly couldn’t feel you.” Raven raised his brows, ignoring her complaints for the time. “Now, you will tell me how you did it.”

  Caidi pulled her still-fisted hand from the pouch at her waist. Shaking her head, she gave up the battle for the moment. “Hold out your hand, Raven.”

  Raven did as she instructed. She held her fisted hand over his for a moment. Unclenching her fingers, she dropped the gray crystal into his palm as she stared into his eyes.

  “Close your hand.” Caidi tilted her head back to watch his face.

  Raven looked at Zaden even as he followed her instruction. “Does it work on males?”

  Zaden nodded. “I can’t sense you at all. It works on you just as it did on her. Amazing, that all it takes is a little crystal.”

  Caidi chuckled. “All that is required is direct, constant contact with the skin. I usually wear it on a necklace or something like that so that its presence on me is easily explained, accepted. As long as it remains in contact with the wearer’s skin, the person is protected,” Caidi explained with a shrug.

  “There is still the small matter of your smell, my chalie. I would know you for a shifter if I happened to get even a hint of your scent and in the cities that is more than a likely occurrence,” Raven corrected as he dropped the crystal into a pouch hanging at his belt.

  Caidi rolled her eyes at his presumption that she had forgotten that little point. “The shifter smell can be hidden just as easily. Do you seriously think that we would have remained free and unknown by other groups for so long if we could hide the fact that we were female shifters from only the higher senses of those we wished to avoid? We weren’t naïve about how hard it would be to fool another shifter. We learned how to disguise the shifter scent.”

  “Do you have any more of these crystals with you? Where do you get them?” Raven asked.

  “I have more of those crystals with me, but I’m not carrying any more than the one that I gave you. I didn’t need more than that one. As to where I get them, I will think about telling that part of the secret,” Caidi informed him with a raised brow and a teasing smile. She waited expectantly for his reaction. She could actually see him struggle for control of himself.

  Raven drew in a deep breath to calm the urge to demand an answer to both of his questions. The woman seemed to revel in pushing him. “Where are the other crystals, Caidi?” It was a struggle, but his voice was as calm as a day without wind.

  Caidi sighed, a little disappointed by his calm reaction. She waited for his response to the next revelation. She held out a hand to placate him when he began to frown as the silence stretched. “They are under a false lining in my bag.”

  “This would be the bag I brought to you? You are saying that the bag that has been with me since our departure from Carait has concealed them the entire journey?” Raven asked. His voice sounded strained, nearly strangled from the effort not to yell.

  “That would be the bag I speak of. That is the very bag I carried into the Taivain when I returned from Falash. I meant to conceal them elsewhere, but forgot about them. When I remembered, I decided that it was time to tell you about my secret.” Caidi gave him a sweet smile. She could feel that he was both impressed and shocked that she still had them with her. He was chagrined at not having searched her bag himself.

  “Let’s walk back to camp,” Raven said as he put his arm around her shoulders and urged her back toward the group of tents.

  “What would happen if you went wild and took me for a walk in the forest, Raven?” Caidi teased, sensing his desire to get her back among the others. He was again worried about her safety.

  Raven leveled a very serious gaze on her face. “I will feel better when you are back in camp.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Caidi frowned and stared at him. She was very serious, too. I did much better than simply survive life’s little trials before I chanced to encounter you. I’m not a helpless little cub.

  Raven raised his brows. I never thought you were.

  I traveled to worlds that you probably haven’t even heard of and I left without a scratch on me most of the time. All I had were my abilit
ies as a Zarain female to call on then. I didn’t have the ability to call for help telepathically when I found myself in trouble on those worlds yet I am still here, still alive. Caidi resisted the urge to stamp her foot.

  Someone has tried to kill you. Raven caught her eyes and saw them narrow.

  Caidi demanded, turning her head enough to glare at him. What grave disaster could happen to me on a simple walk through the forest with so many others nearby and ready to offer help if need be? Why would you think that I would need someone with me at all times to protect me and what are they protecting me from?

  You have these restrictions because I have heard about your life before you found me, my chalie, Raven stated baldly and without a hint of apology. The very ground broke beneath you right outside of a travel gatehouse when you were visiting one of those distant planets. Luckily, you weren’t injured in your fall. You fell into a cavern that was half-filled with water. You had to be pulled out of that cavern. You seem to have an ability to attract trouble and you are drawn to strange situations. Your whole life has been like that.

  You are exaggerating everything and the falling into a cave thing only happened once. Anyway, if you had been to the planet then you would know that the whole area near that particular gate is riddled with water-carved tunnels and caverns. In that place, it isn’t a strange occurrence to fall into one. Caidi tried to step away from Raven, wriggling her shoulders.

  It’s strange for anyone to fall through the ground. Raven almost laughed at her justification, but this was far from funny.

  The details of your story are also wrong. It didn’t happen right outside of the gatehouse. The land there is stable. The place where I fell into the cave was a day’s walk away from the gatehouse. Caidi heaved an exasperated sigh. I can see that we should go back to camp. There are apparently some misconceptions that I have to straighten out.