Mating Rights by Jaide Fox

answer.”
    She snatched her arm
free. “You don’t have to be an oaf.”
    “So you’d rather I take
what crumbs you choose to leave me? I should be content?”
    “Now I’m the one
confused. We both had our jollies. I told you I wasn’t looking for more. I
don’t know how to be any clearer.”
    “That’s not the point.
Maybe I’m looking for more. Maybe I don’t like feeling I’m being used,” Jaxon
said.
    Mali snorted. “A dozen
men would love to be used in just such a way. No worries on taking care of me
or babies. You have the best I can offer.”
    “Show me these men,” he
said in a deadly soft voice that sent a chill up her spine.
    Mali shuddered, shaking
the fear off. “You’re the only one.”
    He made a half grunt,
half snort noise that was all disbelief.
    She clenched her jaw.
“I should have followed my instincts and kept far away from you. I should have never
let you touch me.”
    “Aye, gel, now yer
using your head instead of that sweet cunny. But trouble likes company. We both
know that. You pursued me. You’ve only yourself to blame for this and you know
it.”
    Mali opened her mouth
to rebuke him then snapped it shut. She’d resisted him about as effectively as
snow melting under the sun. One kiss and a rub and she’d parted her legs like a
whore. He couldn’t have made her feel worse than making her face the facts.
    “If you canna tell me
the truth or offer more than your body, don’t bother coming back. When you’re
ready to talk, you know where I’ll be.” Jaxon threw his cloak over his
shoulders and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
     
     

Chapter Nine
     
    What the hell just
happened ?
    Mali walked through the
bustling streets in a fog. Fleeting pleasure wasn’t worth this much emotional
upheaval. Why did she continue to push her limits? She wanted to blame the heat
and the moon, the presence of the clan, anything but herself.She didn’t know what she was doing anymore. The goal
of keeping aloof from the mating heat wasn’t working. Despite their tiff, she
found herself thinking about him touching her, plundering her body.She needed a dunk in ice water. Or maybe a mallet to
the head to set her straight again.Anything was
better than admitting she had another weakness to add to her list.
    Wood smoke and fat
hissing on flame caught her nose and guided her through town. The packed dirt
road was easily traveled though rutted out by wagon wheels in the center. She
passed other women dressed in white as she was, thronged together in small
clusters as they watched what the clan menfolk had up for grabs.Mali was more interested in assuaging her hunger than
ogling men. Her stomach rumbled, and she tried to remember the last thing she
ate, but couldn’t.
    The wolf effigy was
gone, replaced by a newly constructed fire pit dug into the ground and lined
with flat stones. Oak smoldered in the pits, wafting delicious smoke through
town. Gangly youths kept spits of meat turning.Dozens
of chickens glistened and browned over one section. Another section held
mutton. An enormous blackened cauldron bubbled with some type of stew with
chunks of carrots, onions, and turnips boiling to the brim. Another with some
kind of porridge, and another simmered what smelled of wine. Rows of tables and
pews had been set to either side as well as a stage for entertainment. She
presumed that would be for the evening.
    A boy, not more than
fifteen, rushed past carrying an armload of pewter plates to stack on one end
of a serving table. The plates clattered. The top of the stack scattered across
the table.
    “Ralph! Can you do
nothing without a calamity? Come here, lad,” a plump older woman yelled, her
hands on her hips and her face exasperated. He hastily restacked the plates and
rushed to the red cheeked woman. Tripping over his feet, he stumbled and
stopped in front of her where she returned to stirring the cauldron of wine.
    Mali walked to the
woman laboring over the stews where