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The Seduction of Seleste

from the world of the mating season

He Keeps the Cold Out

Chapter 34

Honiahaka tried to make Seleste stay behind at the camp, but she insisted on coming when he, Keme, and Soomse set out to collect Talisa. Soomse ordered his four warriors to stay behind and guard the camp, and should Soomse give "the howl" they were to come without a moment's delay. Then the group set forth into the darkness, into the trees, into the scent of pine and mud.

They knew where Talisa had gone without question: to the shemale camp that - as Honiahaka had told them - was not very far from where they themselves were camped. Honiahaka led the way, Soomse at his side. Keme and Seleste followed side by side.

Seleste kept glancing anxiously at Keme. She wasn't sure Keme should have been coming: no matter that they were sorry for their crimes, the shemales still hated Keme. Honiahaka seemed just as worried and told Keme to stay behind with Seleste, but Keme adamantly refused.

They had been walking for some time when Keme spoke. "You should have stayed behind," he said, shattering Seleste's thoughts. He took her arm and stopped her.

"I'm not_ _pregnant," Seleste said in exasperation. She could see Keme's silver ears in the dark: they went back on his head and he frowned.

"You don't know that," he whispered to her miserably. "You just don't know."

"Talisa could just as easily be pregnant," Seleste said. "And I don't see you fussing so over her!"

Keme snorted. "Me fuss over Talisa? She has Honi for that. Like she'd listen to me anyway."

"And I would?"

Keme rolled his eyes and smiled. "Point taken."

Seleste felt a thrill of happiness when he took her paw and pulled her on. He had been so distant for so long! She tightened her fingers in his as they hurried to catch up.

Honiahaka and Soomse had stopped some way ahead. They were crouched in the bushes. Seleste and Keme joined them. Keme was going to speak when Honiahaka shushed him and pointed. Seleste looked where he had indicated and gasped.

Down below sat the shemale camp, the fire in its center glowing. Dawn was coming. The pale fingers of the sun reached between the trees, and the fire was burning very low, as if it was dwindling. There were bodies. Bodies everywhere. Seleste crouched very still and thought she couldn't breathe for the gruesome sight. The shemales were weeping, beating their breasts and pulling their manes as they mourned their dead. They carried the bodies toward a mass grave dug out on the edge of their camp. Two shemales stood still beside the fire, and Talisa knelt between them. Her paws were bound behind her back, her mouth was gagged, and she was bleeding from her temple. She was furious. Another of the shemales stood behind her. She held a dagger to Talisa's throat and was holding her head back by the mane.

Honiahaka shook his head darkly. "Fool!"

"Your orders, my chieftess," Soomse whispered to Seleste.

"Who said she was in charge?" Keme demanded.

"I don't take orders from you, pup," Soomse returned.

"We're not going to go barreling down there and kill them all," Seleste said at once, and she saw Keme's chest heave angrily out of the corner of her eye. "Maybe we could knock some of them out with your darts," she said to Soomse. "We wouldn't have to fight them all. And we could get Talisa and get out of there."

"Sounds like a plan," Honiahaka agreed.

"Yes, my chieftess," Soomse said reverently. He pulled the blowguns from his belt and passed them around.

Keme only glowered. It was clear to Seleste that he wanted to kill every last shemale down there. She was glad when he didn't argue, just snatched the blowgun that was passed to him.

Seleste took a blowgun in her slender fingers and just stared at it. She had never used one before and was anxious about her aim. But seeing Talisa down there about to have her throat slit, she steeled herself.

"I'll take the shemale standing on Talisa's right," Seleste whispered. "She's closest, and since my aim is probably bad . . ."

"Your right or _her _right?" wondered Soomse.

Keme rolled his eyes. "Seleste's right! I'll take the one on the left. Honi, you get that one over there - Soomse, take the spotted bitch with the dagger at Talisa's throat. You have the best aim. Don't let us down."

Soomse ignored Keme and looked at Seleste for confirmation.

"Do as he says, Soomse," Seleste said.

Soomse nodded. "Then I will do my best, my chieftess. Should I die, Yahzi will take charge of the escort."

"Oh, Soomse, you won't die," said Seleste miserably.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" said Keme. "I wanna get back to camp before breakfast."

Honiahaka smiled.

They each took a breath and fired. The shemales didn't know what hit them. Soomse shot the spotted shemale right in the forehead. Her eyes crossed and she toppled over. The guards standing either side of Talisa were hit likewise. Seleste didn't know how, but she managed to hit her target in the arm. Still bound and kneeling, Talisa looked around, as frantic and confused as the shemales scattering around her. More of the darts came. The shemales staggered drowsily to their knees, moaning, hissing, and gasping as their shaking paws tore the darts free.

The spotted shemale sat up, and yanking the dart from her forehead in a ribbon of blood, she snarled and grabbed Talisa by the mane. "You'll be _sorry _your little friends came!" she growled. Talisa sneered as she was dragged to her feet.

"I'm going down there before she kills Talisa!" Keme shouted and scrambled off.

"Keme!" Seleste shouted in alarm. She shoved Soomse in the shoulder. "Go with him!"

"Yes, Chieftess!" Soomse grabbed his spear and did as he was bid without hesitation.

Seleste started to follow but Honiahaka stopped her. She struggled in his arms, watching with wide eyes as Keme and Soomse tore into the shemales. Soomse was an excellent warrior and Seleste realized that Ahote had sent his best: he stabbed one shemale in the gut, kicked another away, ducked a blow from one, and punched down another. The shemales launched at him, as if to take the weaker of their two attackers down first, but Soomse was relentless. Before long, weapons and bodies alike littered the ground.

Keme, meanwhile, had grabbed the spotted shemale by the mane. He swung her away from Talisa and backslapped her to the ground. She fell hard on her face, and as she was crawling away through the mud, he pulled her back by the mane and slapped her down again. Seleste watched this in horror. It was as if the spotted shemale had done Keme some great wrong: there was something _personal _in the way he hit her. The spotted shemale rolled over and kicked Keme hard in the nuts. He grunted and sank to one knee. Another ran up behind him with a dagger. With lightning quick reflexes, he spun and twisted the dagger from her paw. He and the shemale grappled. Behind him, the spotted shemale reached for her spear and dragged herself slowly from the mud.

"Keme!" Seleste screamed, on the verge of hysteria. "No!" She finally broke free of Honiahaka and pelted breathlessly down the incline. She could hear Honiahaka calling her name as he ran after her, but she didn't stop. She slid in the mud when she reached the bottom of the hill and almost fell to one knee. Her skirt tore as she caught herself. As it was falling away, she noticed a dagger on the ground and snatched it up. The spotted shemale was lifting her spear behind Keme. No. No!

Seleste stepped between Keme and the shemale, and as the spear was coming down, she sank her dagger up and in. The spear clattered to the ground. The spotted shemale stared in blank surprise as her life spilled red over the hilt of the dagger. Sneering, Seleste grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her closer. The blade sank deeper with a nasty crunch. You'll never hurt him! she thought and her heart pounded with rage. She ripped the dagger free and the shemale sank to the ground. She was dead.

Seleste stood there trembling a long time as she looked down at the shemale. The spotted shemale . . . her face looked so sad. But her eyes, they were relieved too - as if death had been a release. Seleste knelt briefly to close the shemale's eyes, then she took a step back and just stood there, trembling. Her silk top hung from her breasts in rags. The cold air hit her buttocks, and she realized her skirt had long fallen away. The dagger fell from her paw. It took her a long time to realize someone was touching her shoulder.

"Look what you've done to Seleste," Honiahaka said from somewhere - Seleste couldn't see him, couldn't see anything but the blood. "Are you happy?"

"No," Talisa answered bitterly. "I'm not happy, Honi."

"Seleste?" It was Keme's voice. He sadly tied her torn top over her breasts for her. She felt his big paws fumbling at her hip and realized he was also tying on her skirt.

Seleste's vision suddenly blurred. She couldn't move. Large tears clung to her lashes before trickling away. She sniffed and trembled and couldn't think, couldn't breathe. She was glad when she felt Keme's lips on her cheek. "It's okay," he whispered in her ear. "No one deserved that more than Watseka."

"My chieftess?" Soomse said uncertainly.

All was quiet. Every shemale was dead.

Still trembling all over, Seleste suddenly turned and threw herself against Keme. She hugged him tight and closed her eyes, and she was glad when he closed his strong arms around her, when the hot scent of him rose to fill her nostrils, when his wet kisses found her mane. He kept whispering that it was okay. Was it really? She had killed someone. Had looked into their eyes as they died. And she was glad she did it. Was that really okay?

"Let's just get the hell out of here," Talisa said darkly.

"No," Honiahaka said at once.

Seleste looked around. She finally saw Honiahaka: he was standing some feet away, his pale eyes bright with anger as he looked upon the carnage. He waved his big paws over the camp and looked in Talisa's direction in disgust.

"None of this," Honiahaka said, "had to happen. None of it!" He stabbed a finger at Talisa. "_You _are going to stay here and _you _are going to help me bury them!"

"The hell I will!" Talisa snarled back.

"You bet your sweet ass _you will," Honiahaka said in a low voice, and Seleste went very still in Keme's arms: she had never seen the sun chief so _livid. Seleste gasped when Honiahaka grabbed Talisa by the arm and jerked her around. Talisa screamed angrily and tried to twist free, but he forced her to look at the bodies.

"Look," Honiahaka hissed in Talisa's ear. He shook her slightly. "This is what happens - this senseless death and violence! How many of them did you kill before we even got here? Six? Seven?"

Talisa's lip curled. "Eight."

Honiahaka shook his head. "And you wonder," he said in her ear, "why they were so filled with hatred and anger. It's wolves like you that keep the cycle going." He let Talisa go, and she gasped angrily when he lifted a shemale's bloody body and shoved it in her arms. Seleste recognized the body: it was the shemale who had given Honiahaka head.

"Get. Burying." Honiahaka said flatly.

Cradling the small body to her breasts, Talisa looked down at it and swallowed hard. It was in that moment, as Talisa stood there bloody and filthy, that she seemed to understand the significance of what she had done. She nodded quietly and began carrying bodies back and forth to the mass grave the shemales had been filling. Without a word, Honiahaka and Soomse helped.

Back at camp, Soomse reported to his warriors. He announced that they would be setting out at noon after "the chieftess" and the others had gotten some rest.

Seleste was glad. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept and the sun was coming up. But once they reached the camp, she didn't think she could sleep regardless. She just kept seeing Watseka's eyes as she drove the dagger in, and though Keme had helped her wash the blood off, she still felt it, sticky and warm, on her paws.

Seleste went to the fire like one blind and sat, staring. Keme tried to talk to her, but she couldn't answer, so he kissed her cheek and went to bed. Honiahaka was so angry that he didn't speak to anyone, just went to bed without a word. They didn't have a bedroll for him, so he crawled into Keme's. The two slept back to back, Keme under the covers and Honiahaka on top.

Talisa tried to sleep but wound up joining Seleste at the fire. They both sat in silence a long time. Soomse dozed nearby against a tree while his tired warriors paced the edge of the camp.

"I don't know why I do the things I do," Talisa said hoarsely after a while. "I just do them, without hesitating. If I think wolves I care about are in danger . . ." she shrugged. "Then nothing else matters."

Seleste looked at her sympathetically and didn't know what to say.

"When I was little girl I thought I'd become the best warrior in the village," continued Talisa. "That would impress my mother and she would come home, because then I'd be better than this great warrior she was in love with over in the mountain village. So I worked hard from the time I was very small, studied under my father. And he was only too happy to teach me because it took his mind off Mom.

"I still remember my first kill," she said with a small frown and gazed into the distance. "Sometimes lone wolves get bold, form packs, sneak into villages. I was sixteen, working on the home patrol. A couple lone wolves got over the village walls - don't ask me how, but they did. They thought they were gonna have fun with me. Boy, did they mess with the wrong female."

Seleste smiled. She could only imagine.

"The first one," continued Talisa, "he ran off when he got a taste of my knuckles. Tail tucked firmly between legs. The second one, he wasn't so quick to give up. He really thought he was gonna carry me off to some dark corner and rape me. He was determined. But I was just as. He managed to back me into a wall, had ripped half my leather off and was feeling me up. My weapons were stripped, all over the ground. I was bloody and cut up and so was he. He kicked my legs apart, jerked me up in the air . . . and as he was forcing his way in, I stabbed him with his own knife." Talisa closed her eyes.

"It was behind his ear," she whispered. "Tucked away in his braids. He collapsed and dragged me down with him. He lay there in his blood and my blood. He died. I went home and climbed through my bedroom window. And I cried myself to sleep. Never told a soul."

Talisa just stared at the fire, and Seleste wanted to hug her, but she knew more was coming. She was right.

"It was then that I realized what a dangerous game I was playing," Talisa said, not looking at Seleste. "There were some really very dangerous_ _wolves out in the world, and I had volunteered for a job that meant I must face them head-on. On a daily basis, too. It was a scary thought. And what was even worse? The thought that I would have to kill like that. Again and again. It frightened me to realize that one day I would become so cold, killing wouldn't even affect me. I thought . . . I thought that day had come a long time ago. But to have Honiahaka around . . ." She glanced at the sun chief's sleeping form. "He helps me remember that the world isn't so black and white. He . . . keeps the cold out." She looked at Seleste and smiled.

Sitting next to Talisa, Seleste suddenly realized what she was trying to tell her: Seleste's shock at having killed someone was a good _thing. The story was meant to comfort. Seleste smiled back at Talisa. "Oh Talisa," she said soothingly. She scooted close and put her arm around her friend. "Why don't you just _tell Honiahaka how you feel?"

Talisa made a face. "Be_cause_, simp. I'm not good at flowers and poetry. That's Honiahaka's thing. Me? I'm good at hacking things up and presenting their heads. Maybe I could bring him a boar head? He'd like that, wouldn't he?"

Seleste laughed at the joke. "Alright, alright! Still, I think you should tell him. He already knows about Keme and me, so it's not like I'm still in the way, right? And I think he could really use your love at a time like this --"

Talisa snorted. "Sel, you're so sweet sometimes you make my teeth rot. No. I couldn't - I couldn't make Honi happy. Didn't you see what happened today? If anything, I just piss him off."

Seleste shook her head. "I may not know how to use a dagger or behead a boar, but I know love when I see it. You running to Honia and falling in his arms like that . . . that was love, Talisa. And if he really keeps the cold out, you'd do well to have him around." So saying, Seleste kissed Talisa on the cheek and went to bed.