Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 83205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
"Have you seen my hands? They were filthy until our swim." She holds one up as if by example. "And I don't know if you noticed, but our friends smell like three-day-old roadkill."
I chuckle, because how could anyone ignore that smell? "They are eye-wateringly foul."
"Just thinking about them makes me want to wash my hands again," she admits, and then tilts her head, giving me a sly look. "Wanna scrub my back for real?"
My cock twitches with interest. "Insatiable female. You know I will."
"I swear I really mean it," she protests. "Scrubbing, not sex."
Sure, sure. We both know she is lying.
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
AIDY
Over the space of a few days, our new cave becomes home. It'll never be the tiny rancher with sun-yellow walls I sometimes dream about from back home, but it's spacious and roomy and my heated cavern with the pool in it makes up for so much that I can't even be disappointed. This is just temporary until we win, I remind myself, but the thought of it being temporary no longer feels like the "out" it was before, when we first were stranded here.
What happens to Corvak once we "win"? Do they separate us? Do we go our separate ways? I hate the thought, so I push it from my mind and focus on my surroundings.
The second cavern isn't as big as the first one, but it feels more private, especially since when we wake up in the mornings, there's at least one of the snow-people peering in, looking for Corvak. The main cavern will be the work area, I decide, and the second one, closer to the pool and slightly warmer, will be our bedroom. I establish a firepit in the main cavern and line it with a heavy double-row of rocks, then do the same in the "bedroom." I make a bed for us out of the comfortable, soft furs that we'd stolen from the supply cave. In the front cave, I keep the fire going at all times and cook the food that's constantly being brought up to us by our snow-people allies. I use a sharp-edged knife and scrape the gunk off the back of the skins from our more recent kills, but I don't know how to make them soft and pretty like the ones we stole. They're still gross and smelly and hard from dried-on bits. We're going to have to use them at some point, though, because we need clothing and shoes and a jillion other things.
If I don't stress about what we're going to wear, or the fact that more snow-people show up in the valley below every damn day, I'm loving my cave and I'm loving being with Corvak. He spends a fair amount of each day with the snow-people, training them…or trying to. They don't listen very well, but he doesn't give up. He's determined to have his army.
Once he's had his fill of them for the day, however, he comes home to me. We spend time in the pool and then the rest of the evening pretty much twined around each other. The sex is incredible each time, to the point that I'm just as ravenous for him as he is for me. I've never thought of myself as the type to be addicted to a man, but the moment Corvak returns from hunting, it's all I can do to keep my hands off of him.
Some days are trickier than others. Like today? Today I can't stop staring at the entrance of the cave, waiting for him to return. I keep imagining all the filthy things I want to do to him as I make another brothy stew, this time with fish and rabbit-like meat. When a shadow darkens the cave mouth, I perk up, resisting the urge to fix my hair and primp a bit.
It's only Pinkie, though. She hovers near the entrance, tapping her fingers with her name-gesture to let me know it's her. I'm disappointed but not surprised. It's early yet, and no doubt Corvak is busy trying to show the snow-people how to hold a spear. They tend to throw it away and run the moment there's a threat, which would be funny if they weren't supposed to be an army. "I'll come to you," I say/sign to her. "Stay there."
I grab a handful of roots that I roasted in the coals earlier, because for some silly reason, the women never eat the meat, and I want to give Pinkie some food. I scoop a bowl of soup for her small son and bring it to the cave entrance with me. Corvak has thoughtfully set up a large rock in a safe, level spot just outside the cave for me to sit on. I sit down and set the food next to me as Pinkie warily approaches.