Pursued (37 page)

Merrick opened his eyes again and frowned up at her. “Like hell I should. Didn’t I tell you I’d protect you no matter what? Besides…” He sighed. “I’d rather be in pain than see you hurting. It’s easier…better.”

“Not for me.” Tears welled up in her deep brown eyes as she looked down at him. “I’m so sorry, Merrick—I shouldn’t have disregarded your warning. I didn’t mean to—it’s just that the little blue pony, I mean
billib,
I saved from the
xenox
followed me all the way to camp. And then when I tried to send him away, he went straight into the Deep Blue.”

“So you ran after him to save him again, of course,” Merrick growled. He didn’t know whether to be amused or annoyed. What the hell was it with Elise and the damn
billibs?

She nodded. “Yes, I meant to just grab him and bring him right back out into the regular jungle again, but then he found a
skrillix
plant for me. And I thought, ‘Oh perfect, I’ll just take a branch with me and all our troubles will be over.’” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Guess I was wrong about that, huh?”

“Guess so,” Merrick grunted. “Damn it, I need to get up and see how bad my back is.” He hoisted himself into a sitting position and flexed experimentally despite Elise’s protests. His back no longer felt like it was on fire—now it felt like ten thousand
barsian
wasps were stinging it. Merrick winced. Fuck, the venom in that bastard’s claws was no laughing matter. He wondered how long it would take to work out of his system.

“How do you feel?” Elise asked anxiously.

Merrick took one look at her eyes—still wet from tears—and knew he couldn’t tell her the truth. “It’s a little tight,” he said, flexing again and trying to repress a groan. “But nothing I can’t live with.”

“Lies are a honey on the lips and poison in the ears,” said a new voice.

Merrick turned quickly to see who was sneaking up behind him. The sudden move made it feel like he’d been hit with lightening right between the shoulder blades. This time he couldn’t completely suppress his groan of pain.

“See? Lies.” The speaker was an old woman, dressed in the long, flowing blue robe traditional to the females of the Ancient Ones. Elise was wearing one too, he noticed.
Probably gave it to her to cover up her sacrilegious red underwear
, he though dryly.

“Who are you?” His voice came out in a croak.

“This is Mother Healer,” Elise said. “She’s been looking after you—both of us, really.” She tried to smile but Merrick got the feeling that though she was grateful to the old woman, she wasn’t very comfortable around her.
Probably because it’s damn hard to be comfortable around someone who disapproves of you,
he thought as the old woman shot Elise a sour look.

“Thank you for tending my back,” he said, bowing his neck stiffly. The bolt of pain that shot down his spine made him regret the gesture at once.

“You were severely wounded. There was only so much I could do.” She sniffed. “You are lucky your kind heal quickly, Kindred.”

“Not quickly enough, I guess,” he said with another wince. “My back still feels raw.”

“It is not, though.” Coming around behind him, she began stripping something off his back in a quick, businesslike manner.

Merrick watched as the little pink leaves she’d put on his back fluttered down and tried not to wince as they came off. When the last one was gone, he heard Elise breathe a soft exclamation of surprise.

“Oh, it’s all healed! There are nothing but scars now. A lot of scars, but still…”

“I’ve got plenty of scars. A few more won’t bother me,” Merrick said automatically.
But if the wounds are all scarred over, why does it still hurt so fucking much?

“The lingering pain is the result of bitter
anx
venom still trapped under your skin. It will not dissipate until you receive the antidote.”

“What antidote?” Merrick demanded at the same time Elise said,

“Do you have any?”

“Bitter
anx
is derived from the
jiree
plant—the redemption plant, we call it. If you had been punished for your own sins, your only cure would be to right the wrong you had caused in the first place,” the old woman lectured. “But because you were wounded for this girl-child, another antidote is necessary.”

“What?” Merrick growled, beginning to lose patience. “Just tell me what to do or where to go.”

Mother-Healer frowned. “The only cure for your agony is the female life-essence of the one you were wounded for. Only she whose punishment you took may heal your hurt.”

Merrick knew at once what she was talking about, and his heart sank. “No,” he said, shaking his head firmly. “No—not going to happen.”

“What’s not going to happen?” Elise demanded. “What—how can I help? What can I do?”

“Nothing,” Merrick growled, before the old woman could answer. “Not a fucking thing, baby, so don’t worry about it.”

“But…” Elise was clearly frustrated but that was too damn bad as far as Merrick was concerned.

Mother-Healer didn’t seem to care either way. “Very well,” she said shrugging. “Then you must prepare yourself for a year and a day of agony.” Rising, she pointed at the little pink leaves she’d stripped off his back. “Gather these and throw them to the winds. Then move yourself into the guest’s sleeping chamber at the far end of the hall. I’m tired of having you in the middle of my floor, taking up space.”

Merrick did as she asked, moving stiffly and trying not to let the pain he was feeling show in his eyes as he picked up the leaves. He had a year and a day of this burning agony to look forward to, so he might as well get used to it. Elise walked silently beside him, but he could feel her worry and frustration clearly through their link. And something else as well…
hunger.
It was like a roaring beast inside her, throwing itself at the bars of its cage, desperate to get out. But he saw none of the desperation he felt inside Elise on her face.
Guess I’m not the only one who can lie with my eyes,
he thought grimly.

They went outside together into the deep blue dusk and he noted that they were high in one of the grandfather trees. The broad road-sized limb they were on was mostly quiet with only a few women and children passing along it, but Merrick could hear more activity in the rustling branches above their heads. The Ancient Ones must have a whole city up here, situated in the branches of this one tree. How the hell had they gotten him up here while he was passed out? He would have been dead weight—and with his size and muscle mass, he wasn’t exactly the lightest male in the galaxy.

“It took four of their biggest guys to get you up here,” Elise said, answering his unspoken question. “I couldn’t see how they had gotten up the tree and I was scared to death they’d take you away and I’d never see you again.” She let go of a handful of the pale pink leaves and watched as they fluttered away on the wind. “Then a little boy named Tooy showed me how to climb up the vines on the side of the tree. The Ancients dumped you in Mother Healer’s house and that’s where we’ve been ever since. This is the first time I’ve been outside since we got here.” She took a deep breath, as though savoring the rich air of the indigo jungle.

“How many days was I out?” Merrick asked, as casually as he could, scattering his own double handful of leaves.

“Four.” Elise let go of the last of her pale pink leaves and then dusted her hands together. “Well, we’d better get back inside.”

She started to turn but Merrick grabbed her wrist. “Wait.”

“What?” She looked up at him wide-eyed.

“You’re
hungry
,” Merrick growled. “So fucking hungry you’re nearly starving. And no wonder—I’ve been out four days and you haven’t done a damn thing to feed yourself.”

“What was I supposed to do?” she snapped, yanking her wrist away. “Hump your leg while you were passed out? You were lying right in the middle of Mother-Healer’s floor and she already thinks I’m the Whore of Babylon because I was wearing my nice red underwear when we got here.”

“You could have done
something
to help yourself. To get skin-to-skin contact while I was out,” Merrick countered. “You knew I wouldn’t care.”

“I
did,”
she said defensively. “I helped change the dressing on your back. And, well…” She looked down at her feet. “I spent a lot of time stroking your cheek…watching you sleep.” She cleared her throat. “It wasn’t much but it was enough to keep me from going into, uh, withdrawal.”

Merrick had a sudden vision of her kneeling beside him on the grass mat and gently stroking his face as she guarded his slumber. Abruptly his anger left him, replaced with a surge of emotion so strong it nearly knocked him off the tree branch. Damn it, how could he be upset with her now?

“Ah, baby…” he sighed.

“Can we please go back inside now?” Elise’s cheeks were pink with embarrassment. “It’s getting dark fast and I don’t want to risk walking off the side of the branch because I can’t see past the end of my own nose.”

“Sure. Let’s go.” Merrick led the way back to the leaf hut. The hut had an empty feel and Mother-Healer was nowhere to be seen. Well, maybe she was down at the marketplace getting supplies. He fervently hoped that some of what she was getting was food. After four days without, he was starving. Yet, his physical hunger was nothing compared to the emotional
hunger
Elise was feeling. Merrick frowned—time to do something about that, right now. “Come on,” he told Elise. “Let’s go check out my new room.”

She shrugged, apparently thinking the subject of her
hunger
was dropped. “Okay.”

They went down the hallway and entered the room at the very end, just as the old woman had directed. Inside was a large, low sleeping platform covered in a quilt of
yanyan
leaves which had been stitched together with plant fibers.

Merrick lowered himself stiffly to the platform and felt the soft give as it took his weight. The mattress was probably stuffed with
dweezle
fluff—a soft, downy substance that grew on the edge of the Deep Blue. The Rageron natives gathered it too and the Ancient Ones never complained—it was almost directly between the regular jungle and the Deep Blue and there was always plenty to go around for both races.

Elise hovered uncertainly beside him, as though she wasn’t sure if she should stand or sit.

“Come here.” Merrick reached up and dragged her down into his lap. At once she began to struggle.

“Let me go!”

“No,” he said roughly. “Not until we feed your
hunger.”

“No!” Elise insisted, pushing at his chest.

Merrick growled in frustration. “You’re starving! Why in the seven hells not?” he demanded, glaring at her.

Elise glared right back. “Because I refuse to let you help me until you let
me
help
you
.”

“Help me? Help me how?” He frowned.

Elise put a hand on her hip. “Don’t pretend like you don’t remember. Mother-Healer told you the only antidote to the venom in your back was my life-essence. So here.”

To his surprise, she shoved the inside of her wrist against his mouth and began pressing hard against his fangs.

“What the hell?” Gently but firmly he removed her wrist. “What do you think you’re doing, baby?”

“Giving you my essence,” she insisted. “My blood—isn’t that what she meant? Come on, Merrick—bite me. Take what you need.”

He shook his head and pushed her gently out of his lap. “No, baby, it isn’t your blood that I need. That’s not what Mother-Healer meant by your female life-essence.”

“Well, then what?” she demanded. “I don’t understand!”

“You don’t have to,” he growled. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.”

“Like hell you will!” Elise shouted at him. “I got you into this mess, Merrick and I can see you’re in pain. Why won’t you let me help you?”

“Because I don’t need your help. I feel
fine
.” He rose from the sleeping platform angrily but the gesture sent bolts of pain down his back and he groaned out loud before he could stop himself.

Elise narrowed her eyes. “Liar.”

“Liar yourself,” he countered. “Why were you acting like you weren’t
hungry,
pretending everything was fine when I woke up?”

“Because.” Elise’s voice suddenly got low and she looked away. “Because sometimes if you pretend hard enough, things actually
are
fine.”

“That’s not true and deep down inside you know it.” He sank back down on the bed, cursing when the pain ran down his back again.

“Mother-Healer said you’d have that pain a year and a day if you didn’t get the antidote,” Elise said softly. “Tell me, Merrick, how long is a year on Rageron?”

He sighed. “The planet rotates on its axis every twenty-five hours, so our days last just a little longer than yours on Earth.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “And the years?”

Merrick gritted his teeth. “Rageron makes a very slow orbit around its sun, so one of our years is about equal to ten Earth years. Satisfied?”

“Ten Earth years?” Elise looked horrified. “That’s awful! You can’t live with this pain for ten years!”

“I’ve lived with other, deeper pains for longer than that,” Merrick said stoically. “I’ll get used to this one, too.”

“But why?” Suddenly, Elise got down on her knees in front of him. Grasping his big hands between her small ones, she looked up into his eyes. “Why put up with it when I can help you? Please, Merrick, please…just let me
help.”

“I can’t,” he said heavily. “Don’t ask me, baby—don’t ask me to ask you.”

“Ask me what? Please, Merrick, just tell me how I can help—how I can heal you?”

His back felt like it was on fire and his head throbbed. Finally his last thread of patience broke. “Look at me, Elise,” he demanded, raising her chin so they were eye to eye. “The reason I can’t ask for your help is that I don’t want to hurt or scare you. Because the only fucking way you can heal me is to spread your thighs and let me lap your sweet pussy.”