Mari's Mistake - Ruby Dixon Page 0,51

didn't hit anyone! Why is everyone mad at me?" She storms through camp, all thick black curls and angry tears.

Liz trails behind her, a baby at her breast and an angry look on her face. "I'm not done talking to you! Get back here!"

"You're not my mother!" Tia bellows at her, and then storms into the women's cave.

Liz sputters, her face red with fury as her mate comes up behind her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Jesus Christ, remind me that I can't choke her to death?"

"You cannot choke her to death," Raahosh says in an equally flat voice. "But something must be done with her. I'rec, too. Fighting is not allowed inside the tribe. If we all swung our fists as we pleased, everything would be chaos."

R'jaal gets to his feet, holding a wet cloth to the side of his swollen face. I know I'rec's in Veronica's tent, and R'jaal declined having the healer look at his injuries. He has a guilty look on his face, his expression sad as he looks around the camp. "You must punish me," R'jaal declares. "I am a leader, and I fought with him as much as he fought with me."

"Oh, everyone's getting punished," Liz declares angrily, and then the baby at her breast begins to cry. "Oh, goddamn it."

Raahosh takes his mate by the shoulders before she can stomp off, and then cups her chin. "Calm yourself, my mate. I will make sure everything is taken care of."

Liz's jaw clenches, but she nods, letting out a deep breath. "You know how I feel."

"I do." He caresses the hard set of her jaw with his thumb, smiling faintly at her, and I'm filled with envy at their easy relationship. Why can't it be that easy between me and T'chai? Why can't I be the one with a baby at my breast?

"I can hardly wait for our girls to turn into teenagers," Liz says wryly, and then takes the crying baby away from the camp, making soothing sounds.

Raahosh just rubs his brows and glances over at us. "Your mate is not harmed?"

"It is nothing," T'chai begins.

I cut him off by putting my fingers against his lips and turning to Raahosh. "Not harmed? You want to see these gouges on his face?"

"They are not deep," T'chai mumbles around my fingers.

"If the wounds were on my face would you feel the same?" I ask him in a tight voice. Shit, I'm almost as mad as Liz. I'm practically shaking I'm so frustrated.

"I'rec will be punished," Raahosh reassures me. "He will be so busy with hunting he will have no time to talk to the females."

"And me?" R'jaal grimaces and moves the cloth from his eye. "I fought just as much. You cannot blame I’rec for everything. He thinks I was encroaching on his female, and I let my dislike of him get to me.”

"You will be punished as well. And Tee-ah, too," Raahosh says.

“Is she his?” T’chai asks. “I’rec’s mate?”

“No. She has been mouth-mating with several of the unmated males. It is no wonder they are all upset. Both O’jek and Sessah have been by to ask about her.”

Gail clucks under her tongue. "Kissing half the camp is bad news, but she's just a young, hormonal girl around a bunch of attractive men. What do y'all expect? She'll grow out of it."

"Then perhaps it is best that she not be around the males until she does." Raahosh crosses his arms. "I have spoken with my mate and with the other hunters from Croatoan, and we feel she might be better off at the village, where there are no males to be bothered. It solves all the problems."

Tia will haaate that, but it might be the right thing to do. "How are you going to get her to them," I ask. "I thought we couldn't go to the village until the brutal season is over? Bek and Elly said it's too hard to walk." I know, because I've asked. There's a healer at Croatoan, and while I'm not keen on healers right now, I've given it a thought a time or four.

"Ash-tar says he will brave a flight if it is important. I believe this is important." Raahosh has a stubborn look on his face.

T'chai touches my hand again, and that skittering feeling of “wrong” moves through me again. A whole other village. Away from the men here. Maybe Tia isn't the only one that should go. My heart hurts at the thought but…I wonder