Charlotte Boyett-Compo- WIND VERSE- Hunger's Harmattan Unknown (top business books of all time .TXT) 📖

“I love you, ionúin,” he said. “Iwant nothing more than to spend my life beside you. I vow that I will love andhonor you, protect and care for you all the hours of our lives. I will standbeside you in good times and in bad, I will respect your goals and your beliefsand I will honor them as I honor you. I am asking you to be my life-mate, myhelp-meet as I pledge I will be those things to you.” He lifted her hand to hislips and kissed her knuckles. “Will you Join with me, Shanee Iphito?”

Shanee’s heart was trip hammering in herchest and her throat was clogged with unshed tears, making it impossible forher to speak. She could only nod.

“Aye?” he asked, his face hopeful.

She nodded again and when she got the oneword out, her voice broke. “Aye.”

Ailyn shot to his feet and swept her up inhis arms, slanting his mouth across hers in a kiss that practically sizzled.

A resounding cheer went up from thevillagers and Bahiya breathed a sigh of relief. She cast her mate an archedlook then turned away.

Two days later Ailyn left the village to goback to the cave alone. For the first time since his first Transition, he didnot fear the change but looked forward to it. He wanted it over with so hecould return to Shanee and the Ceangal that awaited him.

Trudging deep into an underground portionof the cave to which he’d never taken Shanee, he was aware of the chill thatflushed over his naked body. He had removed his breechclout—his one concessionto propriety—for when he shifted into his beastly form, the small strip ofclothing would be torn asunder anyway. Barefoot and shivering as he movedfarther below the surface, the distant drip of water and squeal of bats caughthis attention. He knew the bats would be fleeing his arrival, streaking outthrough the vents only they could fit through.

With him he carried a small satchel thatcontained a vial and vac-syringe of concentrated tenerse and four quart-sizedbottles of blood. The blood would keep chilled in a small pool fed by anartesian well whose bubbling waters were ice cold.

When he reached the seven-foot-round holethat opened into what appeared to be a bottomless expanse, he was beginning tofeel the itch, the heat infusing his body that signaled the onset ofTransition.

He took the satchel and set it down besidethe incandescent pool. He took out the Sustenance, put the bottles into thewater and then went over to squat at the opening of the cavern with its slick,steep walls that were as smooth as glass. He waited until his bones began topop, his sinews to stretch, his joints creak then he jumped off into space asthe first wiry hairs began to sprout on his elongating body. By the time he hitthe bottom of the lava tube—landing lithely on his feet—he was more animal thanman. By the time he let loose the howl hovering in his throat, he was no longerhuman and would not be for nearly a week.

* * * * *

Shanee hesitated as Bahiya stood cookingtheir midday meal. She had read the reports of what Transition was like for themen who had been turned into Reapers but reading of it and hearing of itfirsthand were two separate things. She ached to know what it was her mate wasexperiencing at that moment.

“Talk to Tariq,” Bahiya said, not lookingup from the pot. “A man’s Transition is different from a woman’s.”

Sometimes Shanee forgot that Bahiya was afemale Reaper even though—like now—the older woman could read her mind soeasily. Bahiya was so quiet, so shy and so gentle with everyone around her itwas hard to imagine she could turn into a raging beast.

“I nibble things,” Bahiya said with agiggle, and glanced around at Shanee. “I don’t gobble like my man.” She laughedat her joke and waved Shanee toward Tariq who was working at his forge.

It was only when the Prime Reaper fashionedjewelry and art pieces that he wore clothing of any kind. A thick leather apronhung from his neck to cover his body from chest to knee.

“A spark on your dangly hurts like the verydemon,” he had explained to her. “Doesn’t feel good on your nipples either.”

Tariq was hammering a small strip ofred-hot gold on the anvil when she joined him. He smiled. “He’s in fullTransition and not in any kind of pain.”

She sat down on a stump that was used as astool. “Will you tell me what it is like for him?”

“You read the file on Reapers,” he said.“Did they not show you a vid-com? I know they made one of each man’s firstTransition.”

“I saw Damian’s but General Strom said hecouldn’t find Ailyn’s.”

“He lied,” Tariq said.

“Why would he?”

“I am sure he had his reasons.” He washolding the gold strip with long-handled tongs as he worked it. Stopping hishammering, he lifted the strip and plunged it into a bucket of water.

“So tell me what Ailyn is going through.Make me understand what happened to him that day.”

“What has he said to you about it?”

Shanee looked out over the village. “Hesaid when the Transition began he didn’t know what was happening. No one hadtold him what to expect.”

“They didn’t tell anyone,” Tariq stated.

She went on to tell him the other thingsAilyn had revealed to her about that hideous day.

“You spoke to him when he was undergoingthe change,” she said.

“I tried but he didn’t really hear me. Thatwasn’t important. It was the sound of my voice reassuring him that he wasn’talone in this that was meant to allay his fears.”

“He thought he was going insane.”

“They all did,” Tariq said. “When he beganlistening to me, he was no longer so despondent though he constantly begged tobe allowed to die.”

“Thank the gods he wasn’t put down like therogues,” she said. “As hard as it was for him, at least he didn’t go insanewith it.”

Tariq took up another gold strip from asmall brazier and laid it on his anvil. “The stronger the man, the better, andAilyn is a strong man. That first Transition is always the hardest,” he toldher.