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TIME TO ROAR
MIDNIGHT MATES
BOOK 4
MILLY TAIDEN
 CONTENTS

About the Book

Time to Roar

1. Maeve
2. Leo
3. Maeve
4. Maeve
5. Leo
6. Leo
7. Maeve
8. Maeve
9. Leo
10. Maeve
11. Maeve
12. Leo
13. Maeve
14. Leo
15. Maeve
16. Leo
17. Maeve
18. Maeve
19. Leo
20. Maeve
21. Leo

About the Author

Also by Milly Taiden
 ABOUT THE BOOK

Maeve Lawson is a wonderful counselor for her students, but she never takes her own advice when it
comes to intimate relationships. It’s easy to tell someone else how to communicate effectively. It’s
much harder putting it into practice, which is the heart of her problems. But when she meets a big,
hunky lion, she’s ready to give intimacy a shot.
Leo, a lion shifter and the manager of Midnight Mates, has survived living without a pride by
burying himself in long, hard hours working to make the bar a huge success for his friends … his
chosen family. He’s happy and content with his life until the woman of his dreams leans on his
counter. Maeve is sweet, beautiful and makes every protective instinct in him go off.
How can two dysfunctional souls come together as one if each of them is too afraid to open up to
the other? Fate has a way of bringing mates together, but life has many ways to keep them apart.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be
construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Published By
Latin Goddess Press
Winter Springs, FL 32708
http://millytaiden.com
Time to Roar
Copyright © 2022 by Milly Taiden
Cover: Jacqueline Sweet
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Property of Milly Taiden
November 2022

Created with Vellum

— For my readers.

Thankful for you.

TIME TO ROAR
 MIDNIGHT MATES 4

NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

MILLY TAIDEN
ONE
 MAEVE

“I t’ssmileokay,back,Keith. You can tell me anything,” Maeve said, trying a warm smile. The boy tried to
but there was barely a twitch of the lips. His eyes were wide and shadowed, he
looked like he carried the woes of an old man, and he was only ten.
Maeve loved her work as a school counselor. Helping people, especially kids, was what she did
best. It gave meaning to her life to know she had given assistance when it was needed the most.
But days like these weighed on her heart, and there was nothing to do but push forward. Maeve
sighed as she reached over to pull the blind down. She didn’t want to lose the light, but she did want
to banish any distractions that would pull his eyes away.
He does carry the sadness of an old man. His parents were killed in a horrible car accident,
and he takes care of his elderly great aunt and uncle more than they look after him!
“You know anything you say to me, I can’t share with anyone. It won’t get back to your folks or the
other teachers. That’s what I’m here for.”
Keith picked at his fingers, nodding. He looked away to the floor.
Keith had been getting into fights and taking out his anger issues on other kids, sometimes even
yelling at teachers. This was concerning enough, but today, his teacher Ms. Millers had found him
drawing a detailed sketch of a grave … with his own name on the headstone.
Maeve's heart broke as she watched the boy look away and completely disassociate. It was like
he was drifting away on a dark sea, clinging to a wooden raft that was about to capsize, while she
begged him to take the lifeline so she could drag him to safety.
But he wouldn’t. He wasn’t going to reach out. He was going to drift away from her.
“Keith, can you please talk to me about this drawing you did today?”
The kid sighed and slumped his shoulders even further.
“It was just a gag, okay? Like a cartoon. Something you’d draw for Halloween.”
“It’s very good,” Maeve said, meaning it. The stone had great perspective, and the long grass
around the grave was artfully done. The issue was that this kid wished he was dead on some level.
And no one wishes to be dead. They wish to be free of pain. All they need is for someone to
stand between them and the grave until they find hope again.
She should recommend to his great-aunt and uncle that he see a private counselor, maybe even a
child psychologist. She would definitely draw up a letter for them, but there was a good chance they
wouldn’t follow up.
“Okay, Keith. I’ll let you go. The bell is about to ring. I’d like to see you next week, okay?”
“Okay,” he said dully. Maeve was struck by an idea.
“Hey, what’s the class you hate the most?”
 “Ugh, science,” he muttered. “It gives me a headache.”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll book our next talk for your science class, and I’ll bring some fancy art
supplies you can keep, okay?”
Keith smiled just a little. His eyes were still full of pain and helplessness, but Maeve desperately
hoped she’d given him something to look forward to.
“Okay,” he said. “Thanks.”
The bell rang just as he left. Maeve organized her desk, waited for the first rush of students to
pass by, and then headed to the main office. Thankfully, a few board members were in the conference
room. Maeve was grateful because she needed to address the board.
She knocked lightly on the door, sticking her head in to see the principal and a few others
gathered, including Jim Langston, the newest board member. Cassie was not there, and Maeve’s
confidence fell. She could have used her friend to back her up.
“Hello,” she said softly. “I’m glad to see a few of you here. There’s something I need to ask.”
“Go ahead,” the principal said. “You can sit and join us if you’d like. I don’t blame you if you
don’t. We’re discussing policy on communications during school hours.”
Maeve smiled, a little amused at the principal's tone. The use of electronic devices was a constant
battle.
“Okay, so this young man, Keith, was found drawing a morbid picture indicating he may want to
do harm to himself. I’m required to send a letter to his guardians to encourage them to seek therapy
for him, as well as forward a request for a child psychologist to assess him at school.”
“A drawing, you say?” Jim Langston said. “That sounds pretty harmless. I don’t think we need to
waste the school’s money on that.”
Maeve wanted to argue that one boy’s life was worth any amount of money, but other members of
the board quickly agreed with Jim. Before she knew it, her option had been discounted, and she’d
been dismissed from the room.
Feeling defeated, Maeve left through the front doors, heading for her car. Just as she got there, her
phone rang, startling her.
“Hello?” she asked, struggling with her keys and phone.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Struggling to get into my car, Cassie. Where are you? There was a board meeting, and you
weren’t there.”
“I had to head out back to the gym. Some jocks were wrecking equipment, and the gym teacher
needed backup.”
“Fair enough,” Maeve said. She didn’t want to bother Cassie with her problems. Besides, Jim
was probably right.
“What are you doing tomorrow night?” Cassie asked.
“Oh, I’m pretty tired. I’m looking forward to a quiet day and an early night.”
“The hell you are. You’re coming out with the girls.”
“Cassie, I …”
“No ifs, no buts! You’re coming. Since all our hubbies work there, it’s free entry, drinks, and
food. Come on, Maeve.”
Maeve really didn’t want to go out, but she felt she would disappoint everyone if she didn’t. She
told Cassie she’d be there. Then she drove home to shower, relax and unwind before going to bed
early.
The others were already there when she arrived at the club the next night. Rylee was drinking a
virgin fruit cocktail, thanks to her carrying a bun in the oven. Gage was coming out to check on her
just as Maeve sat down. It was sweet the way he doted on her.
Sydney was with Draco on the stage, grinding away as Draco smashed beats. When she saw
Maeve, she ran over and wrapped her in a huge hug. Maeve felt much better after some affection and
was already feeling glad she had come.
Cassie joined them a few minutes later, coming from the bar where she’d watched Talon make
cocktails. Cassie gave Maeve a hug also, which helped some of the previous day’s worries slip
away.
They drank and danced for a short while, and Maeve was able to forget her troubles a little. Her
eyes scanned those standing around as she swayed on the dance floor. Even though the ladies had
come to the club many times, Maeve had not really paid much attention to the guys there. It wasn’t
until her friends hooked up that she thought about finding a date of her own.
The trouble was her relationships never went well. There wasn’t much point looking around since
she was only setting herself up for failure.
That didn’t stop her from watching an incredibly hot guy who seemed to be everywhere at once.
He talked to Draco, Talon, and Gage. Maeve couldn’t believe she’d never noticed him before.
“Hey,” Sydney said, sidling up to her. “Are you watching Leo?” she hollered over the music
blaring from the speakers.
Maeve blushed. “No, I am not.”
“I think you are.”
“She definitely is,” Rylee put in, raising her arms over her head and shaking what God gave her.
“I am not,” Maeve protested, looking down at her hands.
“We all saw you looking.” Cassie grinned. “Why are you trying to hide it?”
“I didn’t come out to hook up. I just want to let off some steam, that’s all. I don’t want things to get
complicated.”
“There’s nothing complicated about love,” Sydney said.
Cassie nodded. “I know it looks that way at first, but truly, there’s not.”
“Guys, look. I’m still really tired. Maybe I should just go,” Maeve said, turning toward the exit. “I
told you I wanted an early night, so …”
“No, you don’t,” Rylee said, snatching up her hand. “You’re not getting away that easily.”
“I told you, I’m fine. I just want to get out of here. It’s awfully loud.”
“I saw your eyes glued to his butt,” Sydney said. “I think you should at least say hi.”
“Yeah, come on,” Rylee said, yanking on Maeve’s hand. “I’ll introduce you. Look, he’s behind the
bar right now. Let’s go.”
“No,” Maeve protested. “I don’t want to.”
She looked at Cassie and Sydney for help, but they just waved, grinning.
“Have a great time,” Sydney called from the center of the dance floor. Maeve muttered curses
under her breath as Rylee dragged her through the crowd.
The rows upon rows of people parted for the pregnant Rylee like the Red Sea. As soon as they
saw her belly, everyone hurried to get out of the way. Maeve was being lugged closer and closer to
Leo, and there was nothing she could do about it.
She considered yanking her hand out of Rylee’s and bolting for the door. If she did it quickly
enough, she might make it before any of her friends could stop her. Leo was cute, but Maeve hadn’t
been on a single good date. She really didn’t think her streak of bad luck was set to end tonight.
Maeve also knew it wouldn't be over if she attempted to bolt. Her friends would corner her at
another time or devise a meeting for her with Leo. Getting the situation sprung on her unaware would
be far worse, so, with a sigh, Maeve prepared to meet Leo.
It won’t hurt just to say hi. There’s no way he would want to be with me, so I might as well just
go along with it.
As they approached, Maeve became transfixed by his beautiful, articulate hands. As he spoke to
the clubgoers, he made emphatic gestures that she found completely adorable.
His shaggy blonde hair glinted in the shifting light. Even though he stood by the ice machine, the
colored strobes from the dance floor still reached him, painting his face and hair with a rainbow of
flickering illumination.
He’s like a fairy tale.
Maeve frowned, shaking her head. The last thing she needed right now was to think about
impossible fantasy situations. It would only get her hopes up.
Somewhere deep inside her, hope was blooming even as she tried to stop it. Her friends had
found love … real love.
Maybe, I could too. I don’t know.
The closer they got, the less Maeve believed it. Leo was hot … incredibly super-hot. Along with
beautiful long-fingered hands that swished alluringly while he spoke, he had broad, strong shoulders
and a tapered, chiseled body shown off by a tight shirt, all while possessing dramatic, almost fierce
features.
Maeve felt like she was running out of air, even as she dragged in deep breaths. There were too
many people. She was hot and crowded.
“Rylee, I can’t do this.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rylee said, not even turning around. “You’re just saying hi.”
“I can’t …” Maeve tried again to protest and pulled away. However, Rylee had an iron grip on
her and kept towing her through the crowd.
“Hey, Leo,” Rylee said, finally letting go of Maeve so she could lean on the bar. “This is my
friend, Maeve,” Rylee announced, hurling Maeve in front of her, so she was in the center of attention.
Maeve felt utterly trapped, like a deer surrounded by hunting dogs.
She turned slowly to look up at Leo. His beautiful, amber eyes were pale in the dim light, almost
like liquid gold. They shimmered as his pupils dilated, making Maeve shiver. She felt like he was
staring straight through to her soul, and there was no turning back now.
The noise of the club, even the flickering lights, all fell away. Between her and Leo, there was
complete silence. Stillness had covered them as if they had entered a world where only the two of
them existed.
As they stared at each other, chills ran down her spine. At the same time, her heart pounded,
making sweat break out around her temples. She fervently prayed that she was in an anxiety-ridden
time warp and she’d only been looking at him for about ten seconds.
It feels like I’ve been silently staring at him for ten hours. And I really could.
Now that she was closer, she could pick out so many details that she’d missed from a distance.
This man was hot, and it wasn’t just his looks. There was an energy behind it, something that crackled
and burned and drew her in.
He’s a blazing star, and I’m a helpless little planet …
If he wasn’t so ridiculously hot, Maeve might not have felt so anxious. She hoped that she’d be
able to unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth to actually make conversation … as soon as she
could think of something to say, of course.
TWO
 LEO

H e'd been busting his ass all night to make sure everything ran smoothly. It started when he
arrived early for his shift at eight. It was supposed to be a quick run inside, something simple
since he technically was not even supposed to be at work, but everything blew to shit the
second he came in the door.
First, it was the kitchen. It hadn't been thoroughly cleaned this month yet, and he knew just how
disgusting the kitchen could get. So, he started the in-depth scrubbing. He emptied out the deep
freezers, then threw away old food and rearranged everything. He cleaned behind the freezers and
wiped down the walls. He sprayed behind the ovens and all the top shelves. He dusted everything he
could see.
It took an hour, and then he went into his office. He’d just seated himself when he received a call
that someone wasn't going to make it in for their shift. He sighed. He still had payroll to do, and he
wanted to work on some posters they were putting up in a few weeks. He didn't have time to work in
the front.
But as the general manager of Midnight Mates, it was part of his duties to ensure that everything
ran smoothly. That, and he liked to make sure all his ducks were in a row. He had a way of making
everything go how it needed to.
So, he agreed to work the bar after ten. It gave him an hour to look through payroll and fine tune
the posters. He would need more time, but it would have to work for him now.
A knock on his door broke his attention, and Talon stood in the doorway. He gave him a look, and
he rubbed his eyes. "Talon, don't yell at me."
Talon made a face. "I thought you weren't supposed to be here tonight."
"Well, things changed," Leo grumbled, waving papers at him.
Talon raised an eyebrow. "It's just for a short shift, and I'll be out."
"You know, sometimes I feel you like being here," he teased.
He snorted and shook his head, glancing at the poster. "Before you slip out, what are your thoughts
on the poster?"
Talon came around and glanced at the picture. Just then, Draco walked by the doorway. He
rounded back, slipping his head into the office. "Hey, meeting of the minds in here?"
"Come look at the poster," Talon said, waving Draco in. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. If Talon was
calling Draco in, it was because he didn't want to be honest.
Draco stepped into the room and glanced at the poster. His eyebrows went up. "A little childish,
isn't it?"
"Makes me think a kid could have drawn it," Talon replied.
 He quickly clicked out of it and turned toward them. "You guys are both asses, you know that?
You could just say you don't like it."
"Aww, did we hit a nerve?" Draco asked, hitting his shoulder.
He pulled himself up. "You guys are terrible friends."
"Oh, come on, lighten up. We can pay someone to make the posters. Stop worrying. You worry too
much."
He liked to worry. It made him focus more on his job, and he liked the job. He was good at what
he did. Everyone always said the days ended well when he was at the club.
"I'm not taking any more ridicule, so you go enjoy yourselves. I'll see you guys out there."
Talon waved a hand, and Draco gave him a thumbs up. He slipped out of his office.
The club was packed with the lights down low and the music humming through the building like
blood flowing through the body. The bar was packed, and the bartenders were rushing around,
allowing the business to run.
He eyed the bouncers, each at the doors, and recalled their names in his head. He took notice of
who was working and where each person was stationed. He liked to know if something was off.
Everything was running perfectly. Drinks were being served, and customers were buzzing around
happily. The club was doing well, and that's what he wanted to see.
He went over his itinerary, which he'd memorized a long time ago. He had a printed copy behind
the bar, but he didn't need it.
Starting at 10:00, I'll audit the cash drawers. At 10:15, I'll check the champagne reserve.
He made a mental note to make sure to see where their order was since it was delayed an extra
day. And then, at 10:30, he would check in with the kitchen staff.
He knew he could cross that off his list since he was just there, but he'd rather keep it than drop it.
You never knew when someone was going to need an extra hand. I'd rather be a pain in the ass
than being told I was a terrible manager because I ignored someone.
"Wowza." Someone at the bar spoke up, pulling his attention away from the ice maker, which was
the step before auditing the cash. He looked across the room, and his heart stopped beating.
Dancing in the middle of the spotlights was a group of four girls. He knew Cassie and Sydney as
they were Talon and Draco's wives. They had mated not too long ago. Rylee was Gage's mate. He'd
gotten to know three of the four women on a very personal level. The fourth, well, he'd never seen her
before.
She was new, and she made his mind glitch. His fingers froze, and his mind suddenly spasmed.
She stood swaying her hips to the music, and her blonde hair fell in soft waves around her face. She
was laughing, and he watched her violet eyes light up. His insides twisted violently.
He had no idea who she was, but she'd certainly caught his attention, which had never happened
to him. And he'd been working the club for a while, and he'd seen every type of person you could. No
one ever caught his attention.
She looked away from the girls, and her eyes landed on him. He could get lost in her eyes,
enjoying how soft they looked. She held a gentle smile on her lips, and he tried to remember what he
was doing.
What had I been doing? Shit, she made me forget.
As he stood behind the bar with his tongue hanging out, the other three on the dance floor looked
at him at the same time, and Rylee smirked cheekily. He quickly turned, trying to remember his list.
What had I been doing? Ice maker. Yes, clean the ice maker.
He bent down and started to pull the ice maker apart. He needed to clean it and throw another bag
of ice in.
"Umm ... Leo? You just finished that." One of the bartenders gave him a tilted look. "You feeling
okay?"
No, I’m not. My mind is cluster fucked.
His heart fluttered, and his stomach twisted. He wanted to walk across the room, take her to a
corner, and do all the things he had never done before during work hours.
"I'm fine," he said, pulling himself up. He told himself not to look at her, but his eyes did anyway.
They drifted straight to her, where she stood looking at him.
Cassie held a smirk as well now, and Sydney was talking. Rylee was still holding her wicked
grin, and he didn't like it.
Fuck.
He whirled and tried to keep himself busy. He needed to. Otherwise, they would come to the bar.
He turned and grabbed one of the three tablets they had behind the counter. He flipped through the
list of everything that needed to be done for the night when he felt the bartender nudge him on the
shoulder. "Incoming," she whispered, making him look up.
He swallowed, and he watched the ladies walking toward him. Shit. He couldn't run because that
was just wrong, but he knew better than to stay standing there. Yet, he did just that.
The woman blinked at him, and he knew those eyes would haunt his dreams until he died. They
certainly pulled someone in. Her lips caught his attention in a deep shade of red, and her outfit. Lord.
He ground his teeth together to keep him from moaning.
He turned away with the tablet and tried to make himself look busy. He knew he probably looked
like a dumbass.
"Leo," Rylee spoke up in a gentle voice, and his body stiffened. If he turned around, she'd be
standing across the counter. He bit hard onto his cheek. "This is my friend Maeve." He could hear her
clicking her nails on the counter, waiting.
He sighed and turned, knowing when he'd been defeated. His heart skipped a beat as she now
stood just feet from him. Her eyes looked even brighter from this distance, and her hair looked softer.
Her scent made him pause.
His lion growled violently, aching for him to move. He pushed it down, learning how to years
ago. He was a lone lion, after all. One girl wasn't going to make him behave like an animal.
He tried to act like it didn't affect him, but he could see Rylee could tell. She had that evil little
smirk on her face as she leaned forward. "Leo, I don't think you've ever met Maeve before, have you?
Strange as we've come in here together countless times."
He looked at Maeve for a split second before looking back at Rylee. "No, I haven't. You know
how busy I am."
Rylee still held that wicked grin. "Isn't she pretty?"
Maeve blushed harder, glaring at Rylee. He saw the look of death and tried to hold a smirk back.
Clearly, that wasn't something she expected. He thought it was kind of cute.
Sydney and Cassie were ordering, so they couldn't save him, not like they would. They probably
helped Rylee with the idea.
He had to say something but nothing too upfront, allowing Rylee the chance to take the
conversation further. He needed to make it short and sweet.
"Yes." He nodded his head, glancing at Maeve. "Very, are you guys enjoying your evening?"
She nodded at him. "We are. It's jam-packed tonight."
It was my getaway ticket. She knew it was busy, and I was busy. I could end the conversation
right there.
Not that he really wanted to, Maeve was certainly making his insides stir, and he wanted to talk
longer, maybe without the entourage of the girls. But he was at work, and he needed to focus.
"Yes, and on that note …"
"Oh, Leo." Rylee leaned over. "We were just talking about dancing, and wouldn't it be so nice for
her to dance with someone else? I mean, I did, but in my condition, I really shouldn't be dancing that
long. Gage wouldn't be happy with me."
He almost glared at her. Yes, Rylee was pregnant and far enough along, you noticed, but she never
let that stop her from doing things. She was just using it as an excuse now.
He scowled at her, knowing where she was going with this.
"As much as I would love to do just that, I'm very busy. I have many things to go through and a
checklist that needs my attention." He waved the tablet to prove his point.
He could see Maeve's eyes drop slightly. She'd been looking forward to that idea. So, Rylee had
spoken about it before they even came over. Very Rylee, for sure.
Suddenly the tablet was pulled from his hand, and he turned to see Gage standing next to him. He
wondered if he and his wife could just hear each other and knew when to gang up together.
"Actually, you're not even supposed to be on shift. I can take over from here."
"As the manager ..." he started. Talon approached from behind Gage with a smirk, stopping him.
"As the owner, I would love for you to set a good example, and that would be taking this very nice
lady dancing."
He wanted to growl but didn't. He just stood with his mouth open, unsure of what to say.
Talon leaned closer. "Go on now, Leo. You don't want to be rude."
Was I? Was that how I was coming across? I hoped not. I don’t want to be.
He just didn't do this. This wasn't his normal. It was clear he was being set up, and he didn't know
how to deal with that. He didn't date. His life consisted of honest work and going home.
After everything he went through growing up, it just seemed easier to keep a safe distance from
people, and he did that almost as well as he did his job. He knew people could end up hurting him, so
he never wanted to take a chance.
Maeve looked at him hopefully, and he knew he didn't have an option. Not that he wasn't looking
forward to getting to know her. Whoever she was, she was certainly someone that caught his attention.
"All right," he said, nodding. "Would you care to dance?"
His insides stirred, wondering if she would refuse him. The idea sent a pang to his heart.
But her smile brightened, and she nodded eagerly.
He rounded the counter and held a hand out. She took it, and he liked how small it felt in his. He
wrapped his fingers around hers and guided her to the dance floor.
THREE
 MAEVE

M aeve initially felt awkward about being forced to dance with a guy she had just met. Though
looking at him from across the room, she could tell he was a man of power. He likely knew
what he was doing when it came to the mechanics of the female form.
The thought made her feel naughty, and it had been too long since she felt so giddy.
“Come on,” Talon said, pushing Leo toward her. “You need to let loose every now and then.”
Cassie, holding Maeve around the waist, leaned into her ear, her voice tickling the small hairs on
the back of her neck. “That certainly sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”
Maeve felt her friend push her forward, nearly sending her tumbling over her heels into the arms
of the sexy stranger.
He held a hand out to her, and Maeve knew right then and there that she was going to be in some
trouble.
He held her hand tightly, his musky fragrance wafting upward and enchanting her nostrils. The
thump of the music made her ears ring. The wash of the neon lights flashing over his handsome,
sharply featured face gave the moment an even more surreal edge.
“I guess we should do as they ask,” Leo said, yelling over the music.
Maeve nodded, feeling the urge to twirl her fingers in her hair like a smitten fifteen-year-old.
Leo thankfully took the lead, holding Maeve by her forearm, his magical amber eyes glowing in
the strobing lights of the club. He held her in the crowd, and all at once, they were the only two on the
floor. No one else registered in her mind.
Maeve was an okay dancer, but it wasn’t something she usually worried about when she was out
with friends. Female friends didn’t care about how well you moved to the rhythm. But she didn’t think
she’d have to impress a devilishly fetching suitor on that very same night.
The pulsing rumble of the music evolved into a harmony, a single stream of baby blue light
coupled with the ambiance. Leo held out his arms to her, and Maeve boldly went to him, repressing a
shiver as his big hands wrapped her waist and her breasts pressed against his chest.
“So I’m guessing you don’t come here often?” Leo said with a smirk.
The music was still loud despite the slowing of harmonies, and he had to lean into her ear for her
to hear him. His voice was positively enchanting, deep and silky like honey pouring from a spout.
Maeve found herself giggling, her cheeks aching from the smile she sported.
“Not really,” she murmured into his ear. “My friends are all married to your friends, so I usually
feel like a fifth wheel.”
He nodded, his hands on her waist politely positioned but firm enough to entice an entirely
different meaning.
 “I’ve heard,” he said, one hand rubbing her lower back. “The boys around here can’t get enough
of their women. They must be something.”
Maeve felt a bit embarrassed about being the only single woman out of her friend group, then
realized that Leo was in the same position. More comfortable with him, she traced her hands from his
chest to the back of his head. Her breasts, exposed at the tantalizing cleavage level, felt incredibly
pressed to his firm body.
“They truly are,” she replied.
Leo somehow pulled her in even closer, using one hand on her lower back while the other rested
on her hips. Maeve gasped as their pelvises aligned perfectly.
He leaned in ever so gently, then spoke into her ear like he was casting a spell.
“I think you’re quite something, too,” he purred.
Her entire body broke out into goosebumps as a sea of arousal broke forth between her legs as
well. Maeve wasn’t a prudish woman. She had nights to herself where she made sure a few good
orgasms would decompress her stress levels, but that wasn’t the same as becoming one with another
person physically.
But most of the men she’d been with had been disasters, which included their bedroom skills and
appetites.
Something about Leo coerced the wild animal inside her to breathe heavily.
Just as Maeve was about to reply with something just as flirty, the music changed into a spicy,
fast-paced salsa routine. They both froze as the people around them began swaying their hips back
and forth, easily merging into the abrupt change in theme.
They laughed as their bodies separated, and Leo held on tenderly to her fingers.
“I think it’s something like this.”
Leo began to swing his hips back and forth in a way that not many men were either capable of or
comfortable with. The sight of his crotch encased in tight dress pants moving back and forth like a
pendulum on a string made Maeve’s panties nearly soak completely through.
She was amused and turned on by him, even if his moves weren’t flawless. She did as he did,
letting herself go for the first time in a long time, rocking her body side to side, and showing off her
shapely form.
Leo spun her around, and she raised her hands into the air, moving her body like a sensual wave
as she backed her ass up into him. He leaned his chin into the nape of her neck as he took her by the
hips once again, his own moving in a succinct motion that stirred the volcano of Maeve’s carnal
desires.
Jesus, this man is so fucking sexy. I can’t take it.
They remained in that position for the rest of the song, the red and pink flare of lights dancing over
their forms. Maeve was in her element and in the moment, which was something that wasn’t often
easy for her.
She turned her mouth to his as his warm breath poured over her skin. His ravenous eyes wandered
over her lips and her breasts, and his hands moved up and down her thighs to tease her sensitive
erogenous zones. They were in their own world, utterly captivated, and she loved it.
The song ended, fading into a more modern tune that had the patrons singing along in a dull roar.
Maeve remained pressed against Leo, unable to peel herself from his muscular, tempting frame.
“Do you want to go somewhere private?” Leo whispered over her lips. “Somewhere a bit
quieter?”
Maeve’s brain was fuzzy, so it took her a moment to respond. She felt like she was drunk, or at
least tipsy. But she had barely had one drink, and the night was still very young.
She spun herself around, loving how Leo always seemed to be holding onto one of her hands.
“I would love that,” she shouted over the music.
He nodded, his perfect teeth flashing in the dark, and guided her through the sea of people.
They moved past the dance floor, the crowd clustered at the bar, and then passed through a velvet
rope barrier. He nodded at someone, and Maeve turned to see Gage and Talon watching.
Leo led her up a dark set of stairs, holding onto her wrist and making sure she was all right with
her heels climbing with the dim lighting.
The music faded the farther they moved from the DJ booth, but the general vibrations through the
floor remained. He came to a black door with his name embedded on the wall in gold lettering.
“You have your own office here?” she asked, still feeling in a stupor.
He grinned at her as he fished his keys out of his pocket and inserted one into the lock, snapping it
open hastily.
“Oh, I think you’ll find it more interesting than just some office,” he quipped.
He swung the door open, then held out his free hand to welcome her into his haven away from the
bright lights of club life.
Maeve felt like laughing as she marveled at how luxurious the space that hovered nearly directly
over the dance floor was, even more so than her apartment or any apartment her teacher’s salary
lifestyle had laid eyes upon. He hadn’t been joking about it not just being some office. There was an
office space, of course, with a decadent thick oak desk and leather chair as she walked in. There was
an entire bedroom off to the left, which looked like something out of a home and design magazine.
“Wow,” she muttered.
She heard Leo close and lock the door behind her. She reacted to the sound and found Leo leaning
up against the wall, gazing at her.
“Told you,” he said.
She smirked, pointing at the desk.
“Is that where you get all of your manager-ing done?” she joked.
“Yes, that is, indeed, where all the magic happens.”
Maeve was feeling sexy and daring after being so sexually repressed for a long time. She found
herself following the yearnings of the animal bellowing inside of her, and she took a few small, sultry
steps toward the desk.
“You must spend a lot of time here,” she said softly. “To have a bed and everything …”
The window behind the desk was a gloomy painting of the night, cast in a dusty shade of a
crescent moon. Maeve sat on the top of the desk and crossed her legs, more than aware that the sleek
dress she was wearing was riding up near her underwear line.
“I do work quite a bit,” Leo said, sauntering toward her. “It’s best sometimes, after a long day, if I
have a place to lay my head.”
He came to her with his hands in his pockets, and she placed her hands back on the desk, leaning
on her fingertips and popping out her chest broadly. She felt a direct current move through to her
pussy when his amber eyes flickered down to her generous cleavage.
“To lay your head?” she said in a dusky, alluring voice. “Or to lay something else entirely?”
His smile was smug, but it was driving her crazy. He lifted his hands from his pockets and placed
them over her own, leaning over her shape on the desk to the point where their torsos were merely a
breath away.
“What on earth could you be implying?” he whispered.
 Maeve bit her bottom lip, forcing her gaze to rip away from his enticing stare. She shook her
head, hoping the sweet bouquet of her shampoo rushed through him like a hurricane.
“Oh, I don’t know, something that might feel a bit more relaxing after a long, hard, day.”
She crawled her fingers up his chest to emphasize the last three words, like a spider climbing a
web. She moved to his neck, stroking the cable-like muscles, then his strong chin, and finally, those
tasty-looking lips.
Maeve let one finger rest upon them as her heart rattled in her chest like a frenzied bird.
“You’re so gorgeous,” he said over her finger. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I would
really like to fuck you.”
His brazen words came out over her finger, initially as delicate as glass, then fierce and eager.
Her entire body was like a spark, ready to ignite the moment he touched her.
She pulled him in by his face to hers, and their kiss exploded. She found herself groaning into his
mouth as his lips quickly parted, his tongue plunging into hers, exploring the wet and flavorful world
of her opening. Maeve wrapped her legs around him as she leaned back onto the desk, the fire of their
passion unleashing the creature within.
Maeve would have never believed something like that would happen to her. She had met all of her
previous boyfriends and even a handful of hook-ups through conventional methods like dating apps
and meeting a friend of a friend. She had never been so adventurous to start making out with the
manager of a club, especially one she had literally just met.
But he did something to her body. Normally, Maeve was reserved. But Leo was pulling out the
sensual part of her that was long forgotten.
She let all of her stress and doubts go as she ran her hands furiously through Leo’s luscious locks,
adoring the way his strong body felt pressed against hers as they ate each other up on the desk’s
surface.
It was the greatest kiss she’d ever experienced. It was bursting with fervor, just enough tongue and
a tease of what was to come.
He explored her mouth for a long time as the club below them continued to thump, the rumbles
present but vague in the presence of the hulking man whose hand had found her bare thighs.
“Fuck, you taste so good,” Leo muttered.
Maeve had a fleeting thought that she shouldn’t go all the way with Leo. She didn’t know him at
all, and plus, he was a good friend of the husbands of her own good friends.
But that thought faded like snow in the rain. He rubbed her thighs with both hands as their mouths
continued to devour one another.
Leo parted them briefly, his voice lingering over her lips, sending a wave of tingles through her.
“I want to taste your pussy, too,” he purred.
Maeve knew that there was no going back. She leaned back on the desk as he slowly brought one
hand between her legs, her heat emanating like a jewel inside of a cave.
He teased her near her panties as she groaned, then finally pushed the front of the fabric aside to
slide two fingers from the bottom of her mound all the way to the throbbing core of her desire.
“Oh fuck!”
Maeve whimpered as he moved his fingers up and down her pussy in the most expert way she had
ever experienced.
FOUR
 MAEVE

S he threw her head back as Leo slid his fingers up and down and inside her wet pussy, parting
her legs wider for him at the same time. Feeling someone other than herself touching her most
sensitive spot was spellbinding enough to send her body cascading toward a climax rather
quickly.
When Maeve lifted her head back to him, he took her face in his hand, watching her closely as he
rubbed her in pressured circles.
“Do you like that, baby?” he whispered.
“Oh fuck, yeah,” she moaned. “My pussy has been so neglected lately.”
He ran a hand through her hair and gripped it, not tightly, but firmly.
“That’s no good, honey,” he said, still massaging her wetness. “You need to give this pussy the
attention it deserves.”
She smiled at him mischievously as she slowly tilted her head back. His hand remained slightly
pulling at her hair.
“Then give me what I deserve,” she growled.
Maeve peered over her nose at him, watching as the glimmer of a thousand dirty thoughts seemed
to dance in his eyes. He began rubbing at her clit harder, faster, staying in the spot she designated by
the beautiful whimpers of pleasure she expressed to him.
She bucked her hips against his fingers, adoring the pressure, the velocity, and the technique of his
touch. She couldn’t believe she was already so close to the peak of her sensual passion, the dance and
tease serving as more than flawless foreplay.
“Oh, Leo,” she moaned, her panting getting shorter and shorter. “Just like that, yes, yes, baby,
please!”
She felt the deep rumble of his own growling as his two fingers slipped deep inside her pussy, his
thumb remaining to twirl in circles around her clit. Maeve yelped at the sudden sensation of
something inside her but chuckled manically as she realized he was fucking her with his strong and
sexy hands.
“Oh yes, baby, come for me,” he whispered, leaning into her cleavage. “I want you to scream my
name over and over.”
The sight was an erotic medley of sensual moans, wet slapping of skin, and the animalistic
thumping music coming from directly below. Something about people dancing under them without a
clue that she was getting fucked into oblivion by the manager pushed Maeve over the edge into an
ocean of utter rapture.
“FUCK! LEO!”
 Her voice was high-pitched as her orgasm shot through her body with the touch of Leo’s teeth
yanking at the front of her dress like knives to her throat. Her body rumbled madly, and she moaned
with an uncharacteristic amount of obliviousness and savagery.
She shut her eyes as Leo kept her orgasm going, pushing his fingers in and out while still stroking
her clit, and Maeve could have sworn that she saw shooting stars behind her eyelids.
When the tingle became too much to bear, she clapped her thighs closed over his hand, taking him
by the wrist like the jaws of life.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she muttered as her pussy throbbed.
Her orgasm was one giant, sensational pulse. Her eyes fluttered open, and she noticed the proud
smirk on Leo’s face.
“What are you doing to me?” she muttered, fumbling backward on the desk to catch her breath.
Leo then started rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, his eyes gleaming with a devilish intention.
“I’m just getting started,” he growled.
Leo went to his knees on the floor of his office, his powerful mouth lining up with the pink petals
of her core. It took Maeve a moment in her dazed state to realize what he was about to do, then
suddenly, like a lion devouring his prey, he plunged into her.
“FUCK, LEO!”
Maeve grunted like a wild beast as Leo began to go to town on her pussy with his mouth. He
wrapped his lips around her pussy lips, using it entirely as suction, so the whole of her sex was taken
into him and stimulated with a power equivalent to her handy bedside vibrator.
Leo went between using entire suction, flicking her clit with his tongue at a rapid speed, and
tasting her, from top to bottom, like the most delicious ice cream cone. Maeve couldn’t remember the
last time anyone had eaten her out so perfectly well.
It was difficult for her not to feel eager with Leo. There wasn’t any time for luxuriating, for slow
and languishing lovemaking. What she felt with him with a primal need to fuck, to be fucked, to feel
every single sensation under the sun that sex had to offer, all at the subservience to that hungry,
primitive sense of need.
What had begun as a display of worshiping, making Maeve feel bewitchingly sexy, turned quickly
into another bout of vivacious indulgence. She tangled her fingers into his fragrant hair as he lapped
up her juices, and she bucked against him, guiding him to the spot that would push her over the edge
once more.
“Yes, baby, taste me,” she whispered, feeling dirtier than ever. “Taste this magical pussy.”
She didn’t know what she was going to say before the words came out of her mouth. Leo met her
eyes as his pink tongue emerged from his mouth, licking her slowly, the tip touching her clit and
making her buck harder against him.
“You’re a bad girl,” he whispered before returning to her sweet juices.
She bit her lip. She was a bad girl, deep down. She loved sex, and she wasn’t going to ever be
ashamed of it.
“Got a problem with that?” she said breathlessly.
Maeve pushed her pussy into his face, and Leo grinned, finding the right button again and using his
nose along with his lips to apply pressure and suck at the same time.
He paused for a fleeting second to respond, giving Maeve the foxy look of a man who knew
exactly how to please a woman.
“I adore it.”
He turned back to his sucking and rubbing movements, going faster as her body requested, and
Maeve had to lean farther back against the desk.
She stared up at the ceiling as the avalanche of yet another orgasm rolled through her body with
just as much chaos and surprise as the first one of the night. She squeezed her eyes shut and left her
mouth agape and silent as spurts of sparkles glittered up her bones, the echo of Leo’s mouth sucking at
her wet core, a titillating accent to their orchestra.
“Oh, shit, Leo!” Maeve squealed.
It made all of her skin break out in goosebumps, once again causing the hub of her pussy to feel as
charged as electric fencing. He pulled away in time, halting the sucking, but gave her sweetness one
last lick before kissing the inside of her thighs.
“Fuck,” she trembled.
All of the fucking had been done with her dress remaining intact, the skirt portion merely hiked
up, and her panties pushed aside. She felt like a disheveled mess, but a glorious one, her brain
swimming in dopamine and the afterglow of multiple orgasms.
“Leo,” she panted. “You eat my pussy so well.”
He chuckled deeply as she leaned her back against the desk, thankful for its size and ability to
hold her. She lay still and limp for a moment as she listened to her heart pump in her chest, the blood
flow through her veins, and the sensation of her body’s pulsing radiance.
She began to breathe deeper, her breasts rising and falling softly, and it was then that she felt Leo
take her underwear by the waistline and yank it all the way down her legs.
Maeve lifted her head briefly to see Leo smelling her panties, a sight that nearly made her come
all over again.
“You taste like honey, you sweet goddess,” he murmured, closing his eyes as he engulfed himself
in her arousal.
Maeve didn’t know what was happening to her, but it was a confidence she had never
experienced in her life. She sat up on the desk, slid herself off, and after finding her balance, she
started unbuttoning Leo’s shirt.
“I think you have too many clothes on,” she muttered.
Leo dropped her panties to the floor, reached around her back, and started playing with the zipper.
“I think you do, too,” he quipped.
“You first.”
“No darling, always you first.”
He pulled at the zipper on her dress as she got to the final button on his shirt. She could see the
rippling abs beneath the fabric, tanned skin that looked velvety soft to the touch.
“You’re so sexy,” she whispered.
“I am nothing in comparison to you,” Leo replied.
The zipper met the base of her spine, and Maeve lowered it, first from her breasts and then all the
way to the floor. She stood before him only in her bra, her pussy still throbbing from her climaxes. He
lifted his hands to cup her tits, but she touched his palms before he could get there.
“You first,” she repeated.
The look on his face was endlessly amused. He whipped the shirt off his shoulders, allowing it to
pile with their clothing pooling beside them. Maeve then did the same thing, to touch those washboard
abs that seemed nearly fake, and he took hold of her wrists.
“Always you first,” Leo said, eyebrow cocked.
Maeve blew her bangs out of her face, then let her hands drop to her sides. She wasn’t ever going
to complain about a man who wanted to explore her body first, to give her pleasure before his own
was barely even approached.
The muscles in his forearms tensed as his big hands found her breasts, the tips of his fingers
touching the exposed cleavage popping out of her bra. She gasped as he touched her and then
whimpered as he began to squeeze. That devilish smirk flashed over his face again, and her breath
became shallow once more.
“Suck on my tits,” she ordered.
He growled at her and did just as she asked, but first, he reached around her back to snap off her
bra. It fell to the floor as her wonderful bosom exposed itself, and his head fell to her nipples the way
a groveller falls to a queen.
His mouth was wet and warm as he lapped at her. Her nipples had been erect since they started
dancing in the dark. She ran her hands through his hair, pressing her body closer into him as
shockwaves bounced between her tits.
He pushed them together and started sucking them both at the same time, which nearly sent Maeve
through the ceiling. Her knees buckled, but he caught her as she winced in divine ecstasy.
“Come here, you gorgeous specimen.”
Leo lifted her, using her ass cheeks as leverage so that her legs wrapped around his waist. Her
breasts remained in his face, which he happily lost himself in. He continued with his expert sucking
as he carried her to the bed, squeezing her ass and grunting along the way.
He gently set her on the mattress, which felt massive to Maeve’s minor level of awareness. She
was lost in the sensations of Leo’s hot mouth, skillful fingers, and sharp body. She lay on her back as
he continued to play with her breasts, one of his hands sliding between her legs and entering her
wetness once again.
He was still in his dress pants as he rubbed her clit, his knees straddling her waist as he began
moving in fast circles again. Maeve reached out to the bulge in his pants, which looked like a metal
pipe from her vantage point.
When she finally touched it, her pussy pulsed. His cock was thick and long, unlike any she had felt
in her sex life.
Leo stopped sucking at her breasts and removed his hand from her pussy as she began moving
both hands up and down his shaft. He sat up, still straddling her, as she wandered his size.
“Are you craving my cock, baby?” he asked.
The bedroom glowed softly, painting Leo in the image of a Greek god. His shaggy, golden hair,
along with the amber eyes, didn’t hurt the metaphor either.
Plus, the man seemed to be sheathing a massive cock.
Maeve bit her lip, feeling her pelvis rise from the mattress, her back arching with immediacy.
“You are packing, aren’t you, mister manager?” she said, teasing him with a lick of her plump
lips.
Leo gazed down at her hands, which had begun rubbing his cock faster and harder. He leaned
forward, leaving her hands stroking his pants with a desperate velocity.
“You really are a bad girl,” he growled at her.
Their lips hovered for a moment over one another, tracing with a breathy playfulness, and finally,
their open mouths collided.
Maeve tasted her own pussy on his lips, and the naughtiness of the deed turned her on further.
Her moans were even more unhinged as their tongues danced, her pussy juice being shared
between them like a secret. She continued stroking his cock the whole time, feeling the walls of her
vagina tensing with the yearning to be filled.
 He released himself from her, sat up, then slid his knees off the bed. When he unbuckled his belt,
Maeve sat up, too, and went onto all fours.
“I want to see that ass, baby,” Leo ordered. “I want to watch it bounce while I fuck you.”
Maeve remained still, her pussy throbbing with need. She desperately wanted to see the cock that
had been hidden from her the entire time, the weapon that would surely destroy all expectations of any
future lover to come.
He knew she did too. She could see it in his eyes as she looked up at him, slowly unbuttoning his
pants, lowering the zipper, and laboriously hooking his thumbs into the waistline.
Leo hesitated, then gave her a wink that was somehow both sweet and sexy.
“I want to see you,” she nearly hissed.
He pulled down his underwear and pants at the same time, and Maeve’s eyes widened, and her
mouth dropped open.
Before her was a perfectly curved, thick, long, veiny cock, springing from the depths of her
fantasies.
FIVE
 LEO

L eo was positively enchanted by Maeve. Her sheer boldness, fragrance, and adventurous spirit
turned him on like nothing in his life, and he had been with a handful of women. After all, he
was a club manager, and that meant women looking for a quick roll in the hay came to him like
flies to honey.
He’d had women in his office, but usually after hours or during the week when the club wasn’t
open. It wasn’t like him to ditch his responsibilities and run upstairs with some woman he had just
met; the job was his life, and nothing ever, not even some fresh, hot piece of meat, came before that.
But Maeve was different. The softness of her skin and the harmonies of her moans as he reached
into her pussy and played her like an instrument gave him a sense of satisfaction that transcended the
mere physical collision.
When he removed his cock from his underwear, she was kneeling on the bed, glowing from the
first two orgasms he had happily given her. His manhood felt suffocated inside his pants as he ate up
her juices, sending her body soaring into space just the way he intended. He was glad to finally have
it out in the air and to have someone as delicious as Maeve looking up at it with utter amazement.
“Holy shit, Leo,” she muttered, tongue peeking out from between her mouth and tracing along
those plump and tasty lips.
Leo stepped out of his pants and boxers, then kicked the clothing aside. He grabbed the goddess
on his bed by the ankles, flipped her to her back, and pulled her closer to him, causing an eruption of
deep sultry laughter to emerge.
“You like it?” he whispered.
She parted her legs for him, and the candied perfume of her pussy wafted upward and caused him
to emit a deep growl.
“I do,” she purred.
Leo’s cock stood at attention, overlooking Maeve’s glimmering, radiating body. Her nipples were
still hard, and her pussy was still sleek, ready for him to completely take her.
Before he could do what he intended, Maeve sat up on the edge of the bed and took the base of his
cock in hand. He gazed down, wide-eyed, at the supremely erotic sight of Maeve’s gloriously naked
body.
“I want to taste,” she groaned.
He said nothing as her lovely pink tongue emerged from her mouth, then licked him from base to
head, one hand on his balls, massaging them softly as Leo tried to contain himself.
“Oh, Maeve,” he moaned.
She smiled with satisfaction as she returned to the head of his cock, then slid the entirety of the
shaft inside her warm, wet mouth. Leo threw his head back and let out a guttural howl as she bobbed
back and forth upon his size, using her tongue to twirl along the head and slide beneath the bottom
intermittently.
Leo looked down at the luscious sight of the blonde, shapely woman sucking on his cock at a
ravenous pace, going at him with an expert head motion blended with the rapturous sliding of her
hand up and down his shaft. The damp smacking of her suctioning around him was enough to put him
all the way over the edge. His spine tingled like a thousand little feathers were crawling up his back.
But he wasn’t going to let himself spill just yet. He needed to feel her tight pussy around him,
make it pulse, make her scream, make her forget any other man who had ever been inside her.
As much as he was enjoying the image of her passionately pleasing him, he took hold of her locks
and guided her head away from his cock. She looked up at him with naughty eyes, wiping her mouth
with the back of her hand.
“Fuck, you’re so big, Leo,” she remarked, panting as she began to lean forward again, one hand
still moving up and down his shaft.
Leo felt like he was going to burst at any moment. So he gently pushed her shoulders back onto the
bed, and then he flipped her over so that she was on all fours on the mattress.
She gasped, likely amazed by his strength, then presented herself to him. Her ass was right at dick
level, and she waved it at him, propping herself higher as she leaned her head against the bed.
“Holy hell, Maeve,” Leo said, eyes wide, stroking his own cock. “You are beyond sexy, you
gorgeous woman.”
She giggled, then waved her ample ass at him again. It was tempting to keep her waiting and to
tease her with his mouth or fingers again, but his cock was too strained, too much in need to feel her
warmth wrapped around him to wait any longer.
He approached her, stroking the smooth skin of her ass, and she pressed into him, her need just as
urgent as his.
“Please, baby, I need you,” she begged.
He did just as she pleased and easily glided his cock into her snug pussy.
“Oh fuck!” she exclaimed.
Leo’s lion immediately took over, his primal need to fuck taking charge. He took Maeve by the
hips and pulled her in closer to him, causing her to gasp and follow his lead, then started fucking her
like the fierce animal that he was.
“Oh, Leo, yes!” She screamed his name as he fired his cock deep into her cave.
Leo’s nails dug into the flesh of Maeve’s hips, not too deep, but enough to leave a trail of light red
marks. He moved them down to the cheeks of her glorious ass, squeezing them and lapping up the
sight of them bouncing like ripples in water.
“You’re such a fucking bad girl,” Leo grunted as he continued to thrust.
“I am. I am so bad for you, baby,” Maeve whimpered.
Their moans and groans were a symphony of pleasure, mixed with the wet slapping of his cock
into her needful pussy, her lovely ass hammering back into his pelvis with a primal yearning. She sat
back up onto her palms to gain more momentum, meeting his thrusts with the same level of intensity
and velocity.
“You fuck me so good,” she said, turning to face him.
The look on her face nearly made him lose it. Her dazzling violet eyes were overflowing with
lust, her rose-colored lips pouted while her tits bounced up and down in the foreground. Her look
only made him go faster, wanting her to experience a state of bliss that she wouldn’t be able to shake
for days.
Leo plowed into her like a jackrabbit, grunting and growling as Maeve's voice elevated into high-
pitched, feral tones. She rocked her ass against him, the clapping sounds beginning to sound like
applause while the mattress beneath them rattled.
“Yes, yes, yes!” She bellowed as he felt the walls of her vagina tense around his cock, and her
body began to shake like a marionette. She was coming hard, spilling her wonderful secrets all over
him.
“OH GOD, OH GOD, LEO!”
He continued pumping into her as her orgasm rendered her speechless, forcing her to silently lay
her head on the bed with her ass in the air as she absorbed the lengthy fit of gratification.
“Yes, baby, come for me,” he growled.
Maeve whimpered as he slowed his strokes, rubbing at the faint red marks he’d left on her ass
cheeks. Her pussy pulsed, and waves of shock moved over her skin once more in blankets of
goosebumps.
But before she had a chance to calm down from the brain-splitting ecstasy, Leo pulled her gently
from the waist to her feet, then held her dozy frame as he sat on the edge of the mattress. She was
looking more than disheveled, her hair frazzled and messy from her pure state of elation.
Leo pushed her hair out of her eyes, thinking she was beautiful.
“Ride me,” he said, holding her by the wrists. “I want to see your face when you come again.”
She blinked at him, almost in disbelief, then straddled him, placing her knees on the mattress as
she slowly lowered her dripping pussy onto his cock. Leo rolled his eyes and growled as she fit
perfectly on top of him, her tightness squeezing him nearly into oblivion.
Maeve rode him without encouragement, bouncing on top of his cock without thinking twice. Leo
loved the sight of a woman in charge. A woman who knew what she wanted and who wasn’t afraid to
seek out pleasure for pleasure’s sake only. Plus, he loved watching her tits bounce, giving him the
opportunity to taste and observe her facial reactions to his touch.
“Leo, you feel so good,” she moaned, then bit her lower lip.
Leo held onto her hips as she bounced, repeatedly pushing her hair out of her face with one hand.
Their eyes connected, violet and amber crashing into one single sensation of sexual delight.
“You’re so beautiful,” he crooned.
His words only made her bounce more urgent, animalistic, and more self-focused. Leo loved it,
and he sought to enhance her sensation by kissing around her lips and the entirety of her breasts before
going in for the final suck.
“Fuck!”
Maeve pushed her tits into his face as she buried her fingers in his locks. Leo ramped himself up,
shoving his cock upward into her as she rammed downward, every connection signaled by another
tantalizing whimper emerging from her sweet lips. To Leo, it sounded like the soft wind of a winter
morning.
“Oh my God, I’m going to come again,” she groaned into his ear in disbelief. “Fuck me, Leo, yes,
baby!”
Leo hammered into her so hard that she nearly leapt upward in reaction. She followed his flow by
hammering her pussy down on him, a tangled gasp crawling out her throat each time he managed to
stroke against her sensitive G-spot.
They regained their flow again easily, Leo’s cock pushing deep inside Maeve’s pussy, the walls
of her vagina beginning to tense in anticipation yet again. Leo shook his head back and forth between
her tits, sucking at the flabby bulbs, then pushed both tits together for a final double-sucking session.
“Oh, God!”
Maeve let out what sounded like an anguished cry as Leo felt her squirt all over his cock. And he
continued sucking at her hard nipples like a conductor finishing off his final masterpiece. It only took
him a few more strokes to spill inside her, releasing her nipples and pressing his face between her
valley as he croaked out a demonic-sounding grunt.
“Oh fuck, Maeve!” he called from in between her tits.
She was panting on top of him with her nails digging into his skull as he felt the magic of his
climax caress his body. Feeling her shudder over him, his cock quivered inside her, and it felt like the
most complete moment of his life.
“Leo, Leo, Leo.” She rocked on top of him still. He moved his hands up and down her smooth,
sweat-coated body, not wanting to move away from the warm embrace of her skin enveloping him.
He kissed where his head had ended up between her breasts, then kissed every inch of the
mounds, giving the nipples a final lick.
Maeve shook as he did so, and he gazed up at her, smiling.
“You are so bad,” she whispered to him.
Their foreheads met, and Leo felt confident enough to look deep into those wonderful pools of her
eyes. They swam with pleasure, a spectacular sight to see on the face of a winsome woman.
“Uh-huh,” he said, dazed. “I guess we match up well, don’t we?”
She let out a faint laugh, and they kissed softly, the energy of their earlier make-out session having
dimmed for the time being.
Leo didn’t know why, but he felt the urge to keep kissing her, to keep looking deeply into her
lovely eyes, to stay in her presence for as long as possible. It was an odd feeling for someone like
him, who found it easy to see sex as just that ... sex and only sex.
Maeve groaned as she rolled onto the bed next to him, splaying out on her back. Her eyes were
closed, and her body continued to writhe, but with the wallowing feeling of satisfaction.
“I have never …” Maeve began, speaking whimsically. “I have never … come that many times …
with anyone.”
Leo shifted his body to lay next to her on his side, propping his head up to get a good look at her
captivating form.
“Is that so?”
She turned and looked at him dreamily. A tiny smirk appeared on her face as her blinks began to
slow down.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard that before,” she said, looking closer and closer to slumber by
the second. “You should have it crocheted onto a pillow.”
Her quick wit made him burst out into a deep belly laugh, not just for the hilarity of the statement
but also because of the way that it had surprised him. She was surely unlike anyone he had ever
shared a bed with.
She rolled onto her side, tucking her hands beneath her cheeks to stare at him while he wiped
away a tear from laughing.
“I guess that was a good one.”
He finished off the chuckle, then lay closer to her, one hand on her hip and moving in gentle
circles.
“It was,” he remarked. “I think you’re a pretty good one too.”
Maeve looked away from him and bashfully shrugged her shoulders.
 “You’re not so bad yourself.”
She couldn’t meet his eye, but he didn’t mind. She managed to disarm him at the best of times, her
eyes penetrative, almost all-knowing. A woman not being able to take a compliment also wasn’t
something new to him. Most women didn’t know their own worth because the world didn’t allow
them to.
Leo felt the desire to show her exactly how wonderful she was.
SIX
 LEO

T hey moved from the bottom of the king-sized mattress to the top, resting their heads against the
fluffy pillows. The light in the room was dim, a spatter of rain outside adding to the comforting
ambiance of the evening. Below, music continued to pump while patrons danced and buzzed on
the high of the nightlife.
Maeve had moved into his arms, resting against his bicep as they talked about lighter things. She
spoke about her job as a counselor and her friendship with Cassie and Rylee. The entire time she
spoke, Leo lay there, half-looking at her hypnotizing gaze, half-afraid of the sensation blooming in his
chest.
“So I suppose a lot of girls have been up here?”
Maeve had turned to lie on her back, motioning to the room, her naked body looking smooth and
inviting.
Leo grimaced, feeling oddly self-conscious about whether to lie or not. With most women, it was
easy, but with Maeve, it felt like his tongue was being pulled out of his throat.
“Well, not a lot, per se,” he said, looking away from her. “I’m pretty focused on my work, so
there’s little time for that kind of thing.”
Maeve turned to face him, propping herself up on her elbow. The way her arm arched into the
bedside lamp light cast a tantalizing shadow, one that Leo had to quickly look away from.
She caught his gaze, and she frowned, her lips pursed as if waiting for a kiss.
“What?” he said, smiling smugly.
“I wasn’t born yesterday,” she said. “You’re the owner of a pretty luxurious club. Of course, you
will get a lot of women banging at your ‘office’ door.”
She used air quotes to emphasize the word office before he corrected her.
“I’m actually just the manager,” he said, still looking up at her like a flower to the sun.
Maeve rolled her eyes dramatically, then pushed his shoulders in a playful manner.
“You know what I mean.”
He looked at her, his mouth agape in a feigned offense, then started tickling her. Her giggle was
sweet and enchanting, and that bloom in his chest grew larger.
As she struggled to bat him away, Leo heard the abrupt chime of his work phone. He held her
wrists as he tried to look over at it, watching the glow rise more than once.
He had left everything up to the underlings, who weren’t the managers of the massive club for a
good reason. All of the inclinations toward fun and relaxation disappeared as he let Maeve’s hands
go, letting them fall back to the mattress.
“I’ve got to go,” he said sternly. “I’m afraid the minions need my expertise.”
 Leo rolled over to the side of the bed where his phone lay, then read the messages before sitting
up and hurriedly getting himself dressed. One of the bar-backs was having an issue with an imported
beer brand that a customer was complaining about and needed him to either pacify the customer or
locate the brand.
It wasn’t something that rendered immediate action. The bar-back didn’t even seem all that
concerned about it. But Leo was starting to get concerned by what he was already feeling with Maeve
so quickly.
There was an ease when they spoke, when they fucked, and when they laughed together that made
anxiety rise to the top of his chest. It was quite a lot like wanting to look at the sun but staring would
make you blind.
He pulled on his underwear and pants and then buttoned up his dress shirt as he heard Maeve roll
off the bed and begin to do the same. He couldn’t bear to look at her, worried that what he was doing,
or what he had done, was a mistake.
When he was dressed, he handed Maeve the phone he used for personal use. He still couldn’t
look her in the eye as she stood there, looking delicious in her bra and panties.
“You can put your number in there if you want,” he said.
She nodded, lacking the enthusiasm of their previous interactions.
Leo slipped his shoes back on, then left the office without another word. He stood there in the
hallway, the sound of the bumping music vibrations getting closer, wondering if he should return and
apologize for the abrupt change in mood.
But the anxiety crawled through him like a rattlesnake, forcing him into fight or flight mode, and as
usual with Leo, he chose flight.
He soared down the stairs with the usual mask of authority, searching for the bar-back who had
messaged him most recently. His mind was a carousel of thoughts, mesmerized by the magical sex
he’d just had, her scent and taste lingering on his tongue.
Leo forced himself to be in the moment and pushed through the wash of crowd and colors swirling
overhead in neon green and yellow. As he had predicted, things had gone to shit without him, which
was rare.
He took the problems on headfirst, finding the brand of beer that the customer complained about,
cleaning up the bar that had started to become sticky with lemon and lime juice, and going through all
of his usual nightly routines.
Talon was the owner of the club, who still dealt with managerial duties every now and then, but
he wasn’t as stringent and focused as Leo was. As Leo stood by the bar nearest the DJ booth cleaning
up the overflowing garbage can, he saw Talon’s frame come into sight.
“Did you get some, man?” Talon screamed into his ear.
Leo was in no mood for lighthearted sex talk. Everything had come apart at the seams. There had
been a fight that no one told him about in the men’s washroom, and a woman had to inform one of the
security guards that she was being harassed at the center of the dance floor. Not only did it not look
good for the club’s reputation, but it didn’t look good for his reputation.
“Not now,” Leo snapped at him.
Talon came around the side of the bar and tried to slap a hand onto his shoulder. Leo brushed it
away, continuing to clean up the mess with a dirty washcloth.
“Don’t, Talon,” Leo said. “This is why I never put pleasure before work. Look at this place. Why
does this cloth smell like shit?”
Talon stood there, then placed his hands into his pockets. He didn’t say anything as he walked
away, disappearing into the darkness of the dance floor.
Leo didn’t care. Talon, Draco, and Gage had always told him how uptight he was and that he
should let things slide a little bit more. He had taken that advice that night, and although the sex was
life-changing, what did it matter? The place he had worked so hard to maintain had fallen apart in a
matter of hours without his presence.
Leo spent the rest of the night cursing himself for leaving the floor on a Saturday night, one of their
busiest nights of the week. Once everything had closed after two a.m., Leo finished his closing duties,
then returned to his office and bedroom space.
He was briefly surprised to find both rooms without a single trace of the woman he had entangled
with beautifully. When he realized how late it was, he knew he had made her wait an unreasonable
amount of time.
He also had never said when or if he would be back.
Normally, that kind of thing wouldn’t bother Leo. He had never left his post to fuck, usually
leaving that kind of fun for afterward when the job was finished. He would have sex with a woman,
and she would leave the next day, never to be heard from again.
The idea of never seeing Maeve again made his heart ache.
Leo searched for his personal phone and found it sitting on the side of the bed. The side where
Maeve had been lying after their spectacular fucking session.
He picked it up and searched through it frantically, more than once, feeling his heart racing. When
he realized she hadn’t dialed in her number, he tossed the phone back to the bed so hard it bounced,
then crashed onto the hardwood floor.
“Fuck!” he exclaimed.
Leo picked up the phone from the floor, feeling like a complete tool. After noticing a split in the
screen, he placed it on his dresser, making a mental note to buy himself another one.
Normally, Leo would go back to his apartment to sleep the night off, then get up and come back to
the club Sunday morning, fresh as a daisy, for another week of planning, ordering products, and
maintaining employees. But his dalliance with Maeve had made his mind turn topsy-turvy, so he
decided to try something else entirely.
He ignored Talon, Draco, and Gage as he left the club, got in the car, and drove out of the city.
There was a place that he went when he was feeling unsettled, a place he hadn’t shared with the boys
of the club or anyone who had ever been important to him.
Living in the city as a lion shifter meant that he rarely had the opportunity to stretch out his king-
sized bones. He needed a place where he wouldn’t be noticed. Otherwise, some city kid or a nosy
idiot would see him and think that a lion had escaped from the zoo.
It was a few hours from the hub of the city where the club thrived. Leo didn’t care; he knew he
wouldn't be able to sleep without this escape.
Finally, he arrived at a vast, thick, and dense forest where he could bound about, hunt, growl, and
roar as much as he wanted without the fear of getting caught.
He parked the car in a spot away from the road so it wouldn’t be noticed. It was nearly four in the
morning, so the night sky was dark blue with clouds like a thin veil.
He removed his clothing inside the forest, folding and placing them where only he would see
them. He also didn’t want anyone to notice a naked man standing outside a secret forest.
When Leo closed his eyes to set his beast free, the coolness of the night air tickled his flesh. The
faint glow of the moon spilled onto the trees, and the taste, that incredible lingering taste of Maeve’s
lips, filled his mouth.
 Oh, hell, what is going on?
His tail sprouted from his spine, and he went to all fours, feeling his jaw shoot out and expand to
make room for rows of knife-sharp teeth. Golden-shaded fur rose from his human skin, fluttering in
the breeze like the sublime sight of the Northern Plains. The process finished with his entire body
growing larger, his torso thicker, and his flesh and bones expanding to make up for the inflation of
every muscle in his body.
Being in his lion form made Leo feel like his true self. It flushed out all of the fear and anxiety his
human form held so tightly wound. He opened his eyes and felt new and fresh, the ease he’d been
searching for all night.
But as he began to bound along inside the forest, his paws sinking into the chilly earth, he found
that Maeve remained inside his head. She danced there, a pleasing sight and memory, but he scoffed at
himself, running faster into the night.
His feelings for Maeve made him think of his parents, which angered and terrified him. He ran
faster, the lungs in his chest straining as the image of the lions’ funeral returned like an unwelcome
guest.
Leo rarely allowed himself to think of his mother and father, who had died young in a tragic fight
with some other shifters. All of the good things, like the lessons, the love, and the fun, were stricken
from the record of his mind. He had loved them both so dearly, and their deaths had ruined the idea of
trusting a benevolent bond, in any form, for Leo.
After their deaths, multiple alphas came onto the pride, attempting to take over. Their lack of true
leadership created many violent clashes that ultimately led to the downfall of the pride and, finally,
the dissolution of it as a unit entirely.
That meant that Leo needed to learn by himself how to fend for himself and how to live without a
pride. That was rare for lion shifters, but he counted himself lucky when he’d found Talon, Draco, and
Gage. They were his chosen pride, and that was enough for him.
But Maeve has awakened that lion in him that craved a mate. That natural feeling in his chest that
wanted not only sex but also companionship and a lifelong commitment to another person who would
bind them for eternity.
He had seen his friends fall into what was expected of them, what had long been foretold for them
as shifters. They had found their mates and fallen in love with the women who would be theirs always
and forever.
Leo pushed his legs faster, hoping the harder he ran, the faster the doubtful and curious thoughts
would flee from his mind.
But after nearly an hour of full-blown sprinting, they did not. All he ended up with was a stitch in
his side and an aching sensation of emptiness.
He needed to focus on work and get back to what he knew, not some fleeting, insecure idea of
what was cosmically destined for him.
SEVEN
 MAEVE

W hat was I thinking? Sleeping with him?

She kept repeating the words in her head as she drove home.
I wasn't. I wasn't thinking. That is entirely the point, but Lord, that felt like heaven.
But she decided she didn't need romance in her life. She was busy enough as it was, and she
couldn't picture someone else in her life at the moment. As amazing as the night was and as wonderful
as the orgasms felt, she knew better. She couldn't complicate her life.
She sighed as she drove, gripping the steering wheel tightly. She tried to forget about the night, but
how could she?
His hands on my body. God, they sent me ablaze. And his lips … damn, he knew what he was
doing.
She shook her head.
"Enough," she said, looking at herself in the rearview mirror. "No more of this. We already said
this was complicated enough."
And it was.
She finally got home and hurried inside. She grabbed her mail as she slipped the door shut,
flipping through it. The normal bills and several fliers, but then her fingers froze on something she
wasn't expecting. A high school reunion letter.
"Shit."
The idea was interesting as she enjoyed high school, but she knew better than to show up alone.
She had seen other peers’ posts. Many had gotten married and had children. People had landed their
dream jobs, and several were traveling the world. Everyone looked like they were doing better than
her. She couldn't show up by herself.
She ripped the letter open and scanned the words, her heart sinking quicker.
To Maeve,
As our five-year reunion is quickly approaching, we wanted to reach out and send you an
invitation to join us at the high school on Saturday, April 9, at eight p.m. for a blasting party.
There will be food and alcohol, plus a live video stream of all our high school photos.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, remembering some rather embarrassing photos she had taken.
She had never thought much of them until now. She suddenly dreaded the idea of them podcasting
them everywhere.
As we get closer to the date, we have an online email you can send some photos of what your
life has been up to, consisting of a new job, new home, new town, children, pets, etc.
She frowned. She didn't even have a damn dog she could take a photo of. She tossed the letter
onto the couch. She just wouldn't go.
What the hell am I supposed to do? I can't post anything, but I can't not post something. I'll be
the only person that doesn't, and then everyone will ask me.
She rubbed her forehead. She had an amazing job, yes, but at the moment, she wasn't feeling like a
fantastic school counselor. She felt she was failing, and it looked pathetic. She had a schoolmate who
went to Harvard and another in their fifth year of school to become a plastic surgeon. She looked like
a child compared to them.
She walked into the kitchen and grabbed herself a bottle of wine. What am I going to do? I have
to go, but who am I going to take?
She thought of Leo but remembered she didn't give him her number, so there was no way for her to
contact him about it.
Stupid, Maeve. That was stupid. You could’ve had a date.
Well, she couldn't change the past now. She would just need to think of something else. Besides, it
was probably for the best anyway.
While at work on Monday, she tried to forget about the high school reunion. She needed to focus
on her work issues rather than something that wasn't really a problem to begin with.
There was a soft knock on her door, and Ms. Millers stepped in. Maeve looked away from her
computer.
"Ms. Millers, good afternoon. What brings you to my office?" It was rare for teachers to stop by
during the day. Most of her time was for children, so her stomach sank a little.
The teacher frowned, twisting her fingers together. Her hair, pulled into a bun, was starting to
come out. She sighed. "I caught wind that you were recommending that Keith seek counseling. If you
don't mind me asking, what was your reason behind that?"
Ms. Millers was the science teacher for the elementary kids, which meant she only saw Keith for
an hour each day. Every teacher knew about Keith's past, but that didn't mean they were up on
everything happening to every kid.
She placed her hands on the table and gave her a weak smile. "I did. With everything that is going
on, I've been seeing too many red flags to ignore the issue. For as young as he is and everything he has
gone through, it was just better to get ahead of the issue than behind it."
Ms. Millers frowned, looking a little concerned now. She sighed. "I thought I'd let you know that
Keith faked a stomachache to get out of recess, and it isn't the first time."
She didn't like the sound of that. "How many times has he done that?"
"Too many to count, to be honest. I know Keith is a smart kid, and he loves to play outside. I had
him last year, but the child now and the child a year ago aren't the same."
She softly took a deep breath. She figured things were going to get worse, but she didn't expect
that right away.
"He’s different because he is depressed."
She wet her lips. "That isn't in his file, and that's why I thought I'd stop by. Shouldn't it be?"
"The school board fought me on it, not wanting to label a troubled kid with something simple. But
yes, I think Keith is depressed. So if you could, keep an eye on him. I know the kid has a bright future
ahead of him."
Ms. Millers nodded before she slipped out of the room. Maeve pinched the bridge of her nose.
I can't just ignore this. Keith needs help. He's crying out for help, and no one is giving it to
him.
She looked at her jacket and thought of his elder aunt and uncle. They looked like caring people,
Another random document with
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vihdoinkin Kuusingin suulle. — Ei totta tosiaan, tehnyt mieli lähteä
toista kertaa tuolle taipaleelle.

Sankassa sumussa soutelimme vielä Vuotungin järven poikki ja

saavuimme puoliyön tienoissa Alavuotungin taloon. "Yöjalkalaisiksi"
tai mustilaisiksi olivat talossa ensin meitä luulleet, koiran
haukkumasta herättyään, ja varustauneet jo kutsumattomille vieraille
"matkapassin" antaakseen. Lähemmäksi päästyämme sanoivat
kuitenkin arvanneensa, jotta "oikioita ihmisiä nämät sentään taitavat
ollakkin". Ja niin saimme talossa yösijan sen pitemmittä mutkitta.

Huvin vuoksi tahdon mainita muutaman seikan todisteeksi siitä,

etteivät matkailijat vielä ole ehtineet kaikin paikoin totuttaa kansaa
suuria maksuja vaatimaan, matkustajia nylkemään. Kun näet talosta
seuraavana aamuna lähtiessämme kysyimme, mitä olimme velkaa,
arveli isäntä: "Mahtaisikkohan olla viisitoista penniä miehestä paljo".

Ja arvaatteko, mistä kaikesta tuo suuri summa, viisitoista penniä?

Tuskin. Olimme näet olleet talossa yötä ja saaneet kutakuinkin hyvät
makuusijat, juoneet aamulla kahvit, oikein "kaksi kuppia mieheen",
syöneet vankan aamiaisen, saaden ensikerran matkallamme
uutisperunoitakin — talon väkikään ei vielä ollut ennen raskinnut
maistaa — ja maukkaasti paistetuita tuoreita ahvenia oikein mielin
määrin. — "Taksaa" ei saatettane kalliiksi moittia.

Noin vähää ei kohtuudentuntomme sallinut antaa. Yleensä

kuitenkin pidimme "prinsiippinämme", ettei kansaa pidä totuttaa liian
runsaille maksuille. Vähästä pian totutaan, sen olimme huomanneet
Paanajärvellä. Kun näet siellä poikaset ja tyttöset Mäntyniemessä
ollessamme toivat meille tarjoksi mansikkatuohisiaan ja joku
joukostamme antoi ensimäiselle 25—30 penniä hänen
tuokkosellisestaan, niin jopa vähän päästä toiset puolia markkoja
mielivät tahtoa, olipa astia kuinka pieni hyvänsä. Tuosta
sopimattomuudesta huomautettuina he sitten kuitenkin tyytyivät
kymmeneen penniinkin, kun senkään vaan saivat. —

Seuraavana päivänä emme pitkää matkaa kulkeneet, liekkö paria

penikulmaa täyteen tullut. Soutelimme pieniä järviä, jokia, virtoja ja
suvannoita. Nakattiinpa onkeakin pikku koskissa matkan varrella.
Eikä ne niin kalattomia näyttäneet olevan kuin ensin luulimme, sillä
aikalaisia harreja niistä koukkuihin käpertyi. Ammuskelimme myöskin
vesilintuja; niitä olimme vähin saaneet ja syöneet pitkin matkaakin,
vaan nyt niitä alkoi olla viljavammalti, kun joet ja järvet muuttuivat
ruohorantaisiksi ja siis vesilinnuille sopivammiksi.

Pari pahempaakin paikkaa vielä tiellemme sattui. Muutamassa

kohden piti näet erään kuivan pikkukosken ohi — Saunakoski
nimeltään — taivaltaa lyhyt kankaan kaistale. Se oli kuitenkin
telotettu ja vähällä vaivalla siitä siis suoriuttiin. Eräs toinen koski, jota
Jyrkäksikoskeksi mainittiin, oli sanottu myös tavallisesti
taivallettavan, kun se on kovin kiverä noustavaksi, mutta meidän
pojat arvelivat tuosta liian suuren vaivan tulevan, pistivät koskipuvun
päälleen eli paremmin sanoen riisuivat muut tamineet päältä pois ja
— niin se vene nousi että "humu kuului ja kärty haisi". Tuumi tohtori
tuossa venettä vedettäessä jotta: "Mitähän mahtaisivat Helsingin
neitoset sanoa, jos niitä tuohon sillalle sattuisi joitakin ajamaan ja
näkisivät pojat tämmöisissä 'tokumenteissä'… Kyllä taitaisi suu
virnelle vähän venähtää ja nenä tulla käännettäväksi toiseen
ilmansuuntaan — kainouden takia tietystikkin." — Paanajärvelle
menevän maantien silta näet menee juuri kosken kohdalla joen
poikki.
 Suiningin suurehkolle järvelle saavuttuamme soudimme itäpäitse
selän yli ja, kun ilta oli jo käsissä, yövyimme Multaksen taloon. —

Nyt alkoi meille järvinen matka. Olimme toivoneet että saisimme

myötäisen järvillä, siten saadaksemme hiukan levähtää edellisten
päiväin ponnistusten jälkeen. Vallan pilvissä pitäjä, hattarojen
hallitsija ei kuitenkaan tällä kertaa ollut meille ensinkään suosiollinen,
vaan päin vastoin. Noilla moneen ilman suuntaan olevilla järvillä
osasi tuuli päivän kuluessa aina niin pyöriä, ettei vahingossakaan
vetäväksi sattunut. Niinpä saimmekin soudella kovaa vastatuulta
koko pitkän pyhäpäivän, ensin Suiningin päästä päähän, sitten puoli
penikulmaa jokea ja kapeaa salmea Kiitämään, josta kaivettua
kanavaa myöten pääsimme Kirpistöön. Soukkaa salmea soutelimme
sitten Kirpistöstä suureen Muojärveen.

Nyt olisi meidän, jos tahdoimme Vuokkiniemen kautta pyrkiä

Oulujoen latvavesille, sopinut suoraan laskea laitatuulella Muojärven
halki ja edelleen salmien kautta Joukamojärveen, josta Venäjän
puolelle laskeva Pistojoki alkaa. Kun emme kuitenkaan olleet
saaneet minkäällaisia tietoja Pistojen kulkukelpoisuudesta, niin
jatkoimme vastatuuleen soutamista poikki Muojärvenkin laajan
selän. Sitäpaitse oli meidän muutoinkin välttämätöntä käydä ensin
Kuusamon kirkonkylällä. Olimme näet unohuttaneet matkalle
lähtiessämme Oulujoen osan kartastamme ja ilman sitä emme
mitenkään voineet tuolle taipaleelle lähteä. Toivoimme muutoinkin
kirkolla saavamme tietoja omaisiltamme ja tahdoimme puolestamme
ilmoittaa jotain itsestämme ja matkoistamme, jotteivät kotolaiset
kovin rauhattomiksi kävisi meidän kohtalomme takia.

Muosalmen kautta pääsimme Välijärveen. Emme joutaneet edes

Muosalmen mainitussa talossa pistäytymään, vaikkakin pitkin
matkaa oli meille kerrottu, ettei siitä tavallisesti sivu kuleta talossa
käymättä, varakas kun se näet on ja vierasvarainen. Tahdoimme
joutua sinä päivänä välttämättömästi Kuusamon kirkolle. Niin
vetelimmekin yhtämenoa. Miehet ja naiset talon pihamaalla
ihmetellen katselivat noita kummannäköisiä kulkijoita, jotka vihaisesti
soutaen ponnistelivat vastatuuleen; tuuli oli näet ruvennut kiihtymään
kiihtyrnistään, puhallellen jo pikku myrskynä.

Välijärvestä saimme kilometrin verran laskea hyvää laitasta

Virransalmen kautta paria penikulmaa pitkän Kuusamojärven
itäpäähän.

Toivoimme tuulen meitä nyt vähänkään rupeavan vetämään, mutta

niin se kuin kiusalla kiepsahti taasen melkein vastaiseksi. Niin
kovasti ponnisti länsi vastaan, että vene kahdella parilla soutaen ja
perästä huovaten kuitenkin kuin hivumalla vaan eteenpäin kulki.
Jopa Kantoniemen kohdalla tuuli semmoiseksi myrskyksi yltyi, että
katsoimme viisaimmaksi koettaa päästä järven toisella puolen oleviin
taloihin säätä pitämään; olimme näet tuulen suojaa saadaksemme
soutaneet järven eteläistä rantaa.

Taloon alkoi jo muutoinkin mieli tehdä, sillä lännen taivas vetäytyi

pelottavan synkkiin pilviin, josta arvasimme aika myrskyn kohta
nousevan. Epäilytti kyllä hiukan lähteä laitatuulella soutamaan yli
aukean selän, kun järvi jo myrskyn käsissä vaahtopäinä väkiaaltoina
hurjasti meurusi. Onnellisesti kuitenkin pääsimme toiselle puolelle,
vaikkakin vasta kovain ponnistusten perästä ja läpimärkinä, aallot
kun ehtimiseen yli varppeitten olivat vettä räpsineet. Tuskin olimme
taloon ehtineet, kun vettä alkoi tulla taivaan täydeltä. Vihurikin vinkui
ja ulvoi kuin hiisi haltioissaan olisi myrskynä mellastaen tahtonut
näyttää voimiaan.
 Pari tuntia saimme talossa odotella rajuilman asettumista. Hieman
kyllä vielä sittenkin vettä vihmoi, mutta tuosta huolimatta lähdimme
loppumatkaa soutelemaan. Tuuli oli sillä välin tyyntynyt ja alkoi
kallistua enempi pohjasen puoleen, muuttaen ilman iltapuolella
koleaksi Soutamalla kuitenkin lämminnä pysyttelimme. Mutta jopa
alkoi vähitellen siihenkin kyllästyä, kun kämmenet ja käsivarret kovin
tuntuvasti rupesivat muistuttamaan, että aika olisi taasen
levähtääkkin. Perille me sittenkin ponnistelimme ja pääsimme
kirkkorantaan puoliyön tienoissa. Sanomatta on selvää että
suloiselta tuntui päästä seinien sisälle, leuvat kun jo kylmästä
mielivät pahoin loukkua lyömään; eihän läpimärkä ja väsynyt mies
kovin paljon kylmää kestä.

Kestikievariin menimme sisälle. Oikeinpa nautinnolla taasen

pitkästä ajasta söimme illallisen ihmisten tavalla. Ja sitten
paiskauttiin pehmoisille vuoteille Nukku-Matin kanssa tuttavuutta
tekemään. Tietysti se ei kauvan antanutkaan odotella itseään
ennenkuin jo tuli väsyneiden luoksi virvottavalle tervehdykselleen. —
Huolimatta koko päivän kestäneestä kovasta vastatuulesta olimme
sinä päivänä soutaneet yli viiden penikulman, joka ei ole mikään
pieni päiväntaival. —

Kauniita olivat yleensä kaikki sinä päivänä kulkemamme järvet

olleet, tarjoten silmän ihailtavaksi mitä sievimpiä järvimaisemia.
Loppumatkalle ei tuota nautintoa kuitenkaan enään riittänyt. Synti
todellakin on että muutoin niin luonnonkauniissa Kuusamossa
kirkonkylä on saanut sijansa niin rumassa seudussa. Onhan se
melkein kuin vetelöiden soiden taka rakennettu aukealle
alankomaalle. Pensaikkoniityt vaan ja kaislarantainen kuiva
lahdenlätykkä ovat sen ainoana kaunistuksena. Melkein mielipahalla
näkee tuon, muistaessaan niitä monia sopivia, luonnonkauniita
kylänpaikkoja, joita matkan varrella on nähnyt.

IX. Kuusamon kirkolla. — Karhunjahdille. — Kuusamon kansa ja

sen olot.

Kylmänä ja sateisenharmajäna vaikeni maanantai, heinäkuun 30

päivä, tai oikeastaan oli vaiennut, sillä lähempänä puoltapäivää kuin
aamua oli aika jo, kun me ylös kyhäysimme.

Ensi työnä tietysti oli hakea postista, mitä hyvää sillä oli meille
annettavana. Kaivattu kartta ja kirjeitä sieltä saatiinkin. Uutiset eivät
juuri vereksiä enään olleet, kun kirjeet yli kahden viikon olivat olleet
jo odottamassa. Hauskaa oli kuitenkin saada vaikkapa vanhojakin
uutisia, sillä tuo oli ensi ja ainoa kerta koko viiden viikon matkalla,
kun kirjeitä saimme.

Kuten edellä olen maininnut, olimme Kokossa päättäneet, että

kirkolta hevosella tekisimme retken Rukatunturille. Muistutinkin
tuosta tovereita, kun he olivat tuolla tuumalla saaneet minut silloin
luopumaan jalkamatka-esityksestäni, vaan kun ilmasuhteet eivät
olleet oikein suotuisat, ei esitykseni nytkään saanut kannatusta.
Insinööri oli tunturilla jo ennen kerran käynyt ja vaikka sanoi
näköalan kyllä maksavan matkan vaivat, ei nyt kuitenkaan tuntenut
ensinkään halua lähteä tuonne kylmään ilmaan, kun "saattoi vielä
sadekkin tulla kaiken muun hyvän lisäksi"; taivas näet oli pilvessä,
lämmintä vaan 7—8 astetta ja pohjanen kylläkin kylmästi henkäili
Turjan jäisiltä tuntureilta. Tohtorilla olisi mieli kyllä tehnyt lähteä,
mutta pelkäsi vilustumista hänkin. Uusi matkatoverimme taas sanoi
kylliksi saaneensa jo väsyttää sääriänsä vaaroilla viikkokaudet
juostessaan. Yksin en minäkään viitsinyt lähteä tuolle neljän
penikulman matkalle, vaikka yhteisestä kassasta tarjouttiin se kyllä
maksamaan. Ja niin jäi kuin jäikin Rukatunturillakin käynti meiltä —
toiseen kertaan. Lähdimme sen sijaan kyläilemään iltapäiväksi. —

Oli vähällä käydä niikseen, että kirkolta lähtömme olisi lykkäytynyt

muutamiksi päiviksi. Karhu näet oli kaatanut useita lehmiä aivan
kirkonkylän läheisyydessä. Oli se muka nähtykin jossain kylän
kulmalla, pari neljännestä vaan kirkolta. Seudun jahtimiehet olivat
sentähden kovassa puuhassa lähteä karhua ahdistelemaan
seuraavana päivänä. Meitä tietysti pyydettiin mukaan. Retkelle lähtö
oli jo niin varma, että odotettiin enään vaan karhukoiraa, jota oli
lähetetty mies hakemaan eräästä talosta jossain naapurikylässä;
kelvollista koiraa näet ei tiedetty muualla koko seudulla olevan ja
koira kuitenkin oli välttämätön, kun haaskoja ei oltu löydetty.

Tietysti emme mekään malttaneet jättää käyttämättä tuota sopivaa

tilaisuutta päästä kerran metsän kuningasta silmästä silmään
kentiesi katsomaan; siksi olimme kaikki liian innokkaita metsämiehiä.
Yksin insinöörimmekin oli suostuvainen, vaikka kyllä tavallisesti
halveksi kaikkea metsästystä; retkellä oli hän kuitenkin niin
raaistunut, että prinsiipeistään huolimatta tahtoi ampua pienet
vesilinnunpoikasetkin, eikä siis tietysti katsonut olevan syytä
kieltäytyä karhunkaatoonkaan lähtemästä. Juteltiin sitten illan kuluksi
muilta kuulemiansa karhujuttuja, joita ihmeesti ja ihan kuin itsestään
kunkin mieleen nyt juohtui, toinen toistaan merkillisempiä.
Innostuneina ei paljon muusta osattu puhuakkaan kuin karhun-
tapporetkelle lähdöstä, sille varustaumisesta, pyssyistä, luodeista
y.m. Eikö liene mielikuvituksissaan karhun kimpussakin jo oltu… Ja
kuitenkin koko retkemme sitten sai niin kovin nolon lopun: siitä ei
tullut valmista paremmin kuin mustilaisen varsasta hevosta;
erinomainen hevonen näet siitäkin olisi tullut, vaan kun se — syntyi
kuolleena. Illalla saimme nimittäin tiedon, ettei mies ollut koiraansa
antanutkaan. Oli vaan tuuminut: "Enpä häntä mielelläni juuri lainoille
anna, rupee sitten kylillä juoksemaan, jottei kotona ensinkään saa
pysymään".

Siihen saatiin siksi kertaa tyytyä. Pakoiltiin kyllä, että niin

ajattelemattomasti oli asiaa puuhattu, kun ei näet pyydetty miestä
itseään koirineen mukaan.

"Tokko tuolla koko koiralla mitään olisi tehnytkään", oli kuitenkin

joku jo tietävinään. "Kuuluu se kyllä jonkun kerran karhua —
sanotaan kahtakin — metsässä haukuskelleen ja ahdistelleen
yhdessä kohden pysymään useampia tunteja, kunnes miehet ehtivät
kotoa aseita noutaa, vaan osanneeko tuo silti jäliltä etsiä." — Sillä
lohduttelimme muutkin mieliämme, että turhaa olisi taitanut ollakkin
lähteä sellaisella koiralla hakemaan; ei olisi löytynyt kumminkaan…

Illan kuluksi juteltaessa saimme kuulla, että meiltä oli jotain

erinomaisempaa näkemättä jäänyt. Kuului siellä näet Kuusamon
takamailla kohoavan uusia Kullervoita kaksikin. Toisen niistä
sanottiin olevan Ellalan talossa Kiitämän rannalla: seitsenvuotinen
poika, joka on niin tavattoman tukeva ja vankka, että työreen
miehineen päivineen kantaa kuin ei mitään. Toisen taas pitäisi olla
Sosson talossa Muojärven rannalla: se oli nelivuotiaana jo niin suuri
ja turpea ollut, ettei suurimmat miehet olleet ympärysmitassa
piisanneet. Puhuttiinpa vielä kolmannestakin "ihmelapsesta", —
Kallungin Antiksi häntä mainittiin — joka, käsitön ollen, kuului
jaloillaan oikein hienoakin puusepän työtä tekevän; yksinään hänen
sanottiin mökissään asuvan ja hoitavan koko taloutensa, viljelevän
pienet peltonsa y. m. — Totena nämät jutut meille kerrottiin, vieläpä
sen tekivät semmoiset henkilöt, joita ei ollut ensinkään syytä epäillä.
Olimme kuitenkin jo sivu noista "ihmeistä" kulkeneet, emmekä enään
niiden näkemisen takia viitsineet takasin palata, vaikka uteliaita kyllä
olisimme olleet. —

Ennenkuin jätämme Kuusamon, tahdon vielä lausua muutaman

sanan kuusamolaisista sekä heidän oloistaan ja elinkeinoistaan,
mikäli me pikaisella matkallamme ehdimme niihin tutustua.

Kansan luonteen silmäänpistävinnä pääomituisuutena on tuo

yleensäkkin pohjalaisissa tavattava oman arvon, yhdenvertaisuuden
ja vapauden tunne, sekä suoruus, joka kansaan perehtymättömästä
usein saattaa tuntua ylpeydeltä, jopa väliin loukkaavaltakin. Noista
ominaisuuksista älköön kuitenkaan kukaan ottako loukkautuaksensa,
sillä tuossa suorassa luonteessa piilee sittenkin pohjalla paljon
hyväntahtoisuutta, ystävällisyyttä ja vaatimattomuutta. Voipa melkein
sanoa, että esim. kemiläiseen kuusamolaista verratessa tuo
luonteen pohjalainen ominaisuus, suoruus, jälkimmäisessä ilmenee
koko joukon lauhkeammassa muodossa. Verratessa näitä molempia
taas esim. Oulujärven ympäristöjen vakaaluontoiseen
savolaissukuiseen asujamistoon, huomaa edellisten iloisuutensa,
vilkkautensa ja reippautensa kautta yhä vieläkin todistavan
karjalaisesta sukuperästään. Väittelyn alaisena on oppineiden
kesken kyllä vielä tänäänkin noiden pohjanperukan asukasten
sukuperä. Toiset ovat todistelleet heidän polveutuvan karjalaisista,
toiset taas hämäläisistä, vieläpä jotkut muinaisista kainulaisistakin,
jotka taas vuorostaan olisivat olleet hämäläis-sukuisia Pohjanlahden
pohjoisrannikon asukkaita. Miten tuon kysymyksen laita lienee
oikeastaan, kuitenkin ainoastaan kansan luonteen ominaisuuksia
silmällä pitäen olisi taipuvainen uskomaan että nykyinen Pohjolan
asujamisto pikemmin polveutuisi karjalaisista kuin hämäläisistä. Jo
kansan muodon yleistyyppikin puollustaa tätä otaksumista.

Ompa muitakin jälkiä tuosta karjalaisluonteesta vielä näkyvissä

etenkin kuusamolaisessa. Samalla kun hän näet on kohtelias,
palvelevainen ja ystävällinen, voipi tuon kaiken takana piillä
omanvoiton pyynti, ahneus, jopa viekkauskin. Varsinkin saavat nuot
taipumukset kiihdykettä kuusamolaisen kaikenlaiseen kaupantekoon
taipuvasta luonteesta, sekin karjalaissukuisten ominaisuuksia.
Kauppoja tehdessä nuo kuusamolaisen luonteen heikommat puolet
pääasiallisesti saavatkin tilaisuutta esiintymään. Tuo kuitenkaan ei
ole missään ristiriitaisuudessa mainitsemani luonteen suoruuden
kanssa, kun ymmärrämme suoruuden semmoisena kuin se
pohjalaisessa esiintyy, ei näet ihan samana kuin rehellisyys. Muutoin
ovat kuusamolaiset yrittelevää ja eteenpäin pyrkivää kansaa kaikissa
suhteissa, niinpä sivistyspyrinnöissä ja kirjallisissa harrastuksissakin.
— Poikkeuksia tietysti näistä kansan luonteen pääpiirteistä löytyy
niin kuusamolaisten kesken kuin muuallakin.

Asumuksien uhkeuteen sekä puhtauteen ja siisteyteen nähden jää

Kuusamo paljon jälille Kemijokivarsista. Tosin kyllä talot ovat
laatuunkäypiä, niin että niissä matkustaja voi toimeen tulla kun ei ole
kovin suuria vaatimuksia, mutta mikä tahtoo kaikkialla kiusaksi
käydä, on monenlaisten "syöpäläisten" paljous; russakat varsinkin,
joiden sanotaan Venäjän karjalaisten mukana ilmauneen, näkyvät
hyvin Kuusamoon perehtyneen.

Mitä taas elinkeinoihin tulee, niin on vaikea sanoa, maanviljelyskö

vai karjanhoito Kuusamossa on pääelinkeinona: kumpaakin
hajotetaan rinnakkain melkein saman verran, vaan erittäin edullista
ei kumpikaan niistä ole.
 Hiekka- ja kivisekainen maa ei ole laadultaan kovinkaan
hedelmällistä; peltoja näkeekin ainoastaan viestävillä järvien
rannoilla. Ennen aikaan kun huhdan poltto oli luvallista, kuului sitä
harjotetun melkoisessa määrässä, etenkin ruunun metsissä, ja
sanottiin siitä saadun hyviä satoja väliin. Mutta sitten tuli kielto,
metsä kun näet siten tuli haaskatuksi, ja niin täytyi kuusamolaisten
turvautua peltotilkkuihinsa. Vaan kun halla ei täällä ole mikään outo
vieras, niin ei pettukaan ole tuntematonta; omilla eloillaan ei
Kuusamo milloinkaan toimeen tule.

Karjanhoidolle on haittana se, että noilla vaaraisilla mailla

laidunmaat eivät ole erittäin kehuttavat. Talvikonnun saanti varsinkin
on vaikeaa, kun niityt ovat pienet ja huonot. Siitä syystä "konnun
nuusa" ei ole harvinainen Kuusamossa. Muun hyvän lisäksi vielä
metsän kuulu kuningaskin usein käypi tervehtimässä korpiloissa
laitumella kulkevia karjavähäisiä ja sen vierailut eivät tietysti aina ole
viattominta laatua.

Poronviljelys, joka sekin tavallaan kuuluu karjanhoitoon, on ennen

aikaan ollut Kuusamon pääelinkeinoja, poron lihoilla ja
rahdinkuletuksella kun näet hyvät rahat ansaittiin. Viime aikoina on
kuitenkin sekin elinkeino häviämään päin. Monet ovat näet
poronviljelyksen haitat nykyjään: jäkälämaat ovat huononneet,
pakkas- ja lumitalvina välttämätön luppopuiden kaataminen ruunun
metsissä tehty melkein mahdottomaksi, porojen niityille ja viljelyksille
tekemien vahinkojen takia porottomien viha käy yhä kiihkeämmäksi
ja alituiset riidat rajalaisten kanssa aikaan saavat moninaisia ikäviä
rettelöitä. Varsinkin kolme viimeksi mainittua seikkaa ovat antaneet
paljon tyytymättömyyden ja riidan aihetta. Kun sattuu paljoluminen
pakkastalvi, niin ei poro voikkaan kaivaa hangittuneen lumen alta
ravintoaan. Silloin poromies turvautuu kirveeseen: hakkaa kumoon
luppoa eli naavaa kasvavat puut, joista poro tarkkaan kaluaa tuon
hänelle mieluisan loiskasvin. Mutta kun kukin poro tarvitsee
vähintään yhden puun vuorokauden osalle siten elääkseen, niin voi
kyllä käsittää, että tuommoinen metsänhakkuu suurille laumoille
aikaa myöten käy vankoissakin metsissä haaskaukseksi. Sentähden
onkin ruunun metsissä kielletty kaatamasta muita kuin
kelpaamattomia puita ja nekin määrätty karsittaviksi sekä rangat
koloille hakattaviksi joka puolen metrin päästä, että ne pikemmin
lahosivat Tuommoisia määräyksiä on tietysti poromiehen mahdoton
täyttää, joten lain rikkomiset siinä suhteessa tulevat melkein
pakollisiksi. Miten turmiollista tuommoinen pakollinen lain rikkominen
on taas kansan käsitteelle lain pyhyydestä ja oikeuden sekä
velvollisuuksien vaatimuksista, sen kyllä helposti voi ymmärtää.
Mutta minkäs teet, kun on "suo siellä, vetelä täällä, kuivaa ei
kussaan". — Porojen maanviljelijälle tuottamaa haittaa — kesillä
näet porot saavat elää ihan omissa valloissaan, hoitajitta, paimenitta
— sekä rajalaisten kanssa syntyviä rettelöitä on koetettu poistaa
siten että valtio on antanut melkoisia summia suurten poroaituuksien
rakentamista varten, jotta nuo vapautta rakastavat elukat estettäisiin
luvattomille alueille menemästä. Vaikea lienee kuitenkin siten
tarkotusta saavuttaa.

Sivuelinkeinoina harjotetaan Kuusamossa melkoisessa määrässä

kalastusta, metsästystä, vieläpä kauppaliikettäkin.

Kalarikkaat järvet ja joet tarjoavat saalista talon tarpeeksi, jopa

ylikin. Pääasiallisesti kalastetaan nuotilla ja saadaan muikkua, siikaa,
lohensukuisia kulmakoita ja nieriäisiä y.m. Ovatpa kuusamolaiset
ennen ahkerasti kulkeneet kalastamassa aina Vienanmeressä ja
Muurmanin rannikolla, jossa heillä kuuluu olleen omia laivojakin.
Vielä nytkin keväisin joitakin miehiä tuommoisille retkille lähtee.
Venäjän karjalaisten kateuden sekä vakaantuneempain kotoisten
olosuhteiden takia ovat ne kuitenkin vähenemässä päin ja
merkityksensä jo kadottaneet.

Metsästys tarjoo myös kuusamolaisille tuloja, milloin vaan lintuja ja

oravia sattuu viljemmälti olemaan. Valituksia kuitenkin kuului, että
varsinkin linnut ovat metsistä kadonneet. Jäniksiä kyllä aina olisi,
vaan "Jussi" paralle ei suurta arvoa anneta eikä sitä pyydetä muutoin
kuin ansoilla talvisaikaan valkoisen turkkinsa takia, josta
"laukkuryssä" penni kymmenisen maksaa. Petoeläimiä saadaan
harvoin, vaikka karhut, ahmat ynnä muut pienemmät pedot eivät
olekkaan noissa synkissä korvissa harvinaisia.

Mitä mainitsemaani kauppaliikkeeseen tulee, niin paitsi paikallista

kauppaa on moni kuusamolainen, varsinkin ennen, Venäjän
karjalaisten tapaan reppu selässä kulkenut maita mantereita,
"maailmaa nähdäkseen", kuten heidän on tapana sanoa. Ja
sitäpaitse, onhan tunnettua, että juuri kuusamolaisia on ympäri
Pohjanmaata kauppamiehinä, jopa suurinakin liikkeen harjottajina.

X. Kuusamon kirkolta Iijoen suulle.

Kerrankin sai taasen laskea oikein myötäistä.

Mitä suotuisimmalla tuulella näet lähdimme kirkonkylältä

seuraavana aamuna halkomaan Kuusamojärven selkää. Pitkälti ei
tuota hyvää kuitenkaan piisannut, Vanttajanjoen suulle asti vaan.
Olimme nimittäin päättäneet heittää Vuokkiniemen kautta menon
sikseen, kun emme Pistojesta kirkollakaan sen parempia tietoja
saaneet ja kun kotia alkoi jo muutoinkin kiire tulla. Sen sijaan
aijoimme pyrkiä Kuusamon vesistöistä Iin vesille ja sieltä sitten,
miten näkyisi, Oulujoen latvoille Hossa- ja Kiantajärvien sekä niihin
laskevien jokien kautta. Aikomuksemme oli nyt ensinkin päästä
Vanttajanjokea samannimiseen järveen. Ennenkuin Iijärveen pääsee
Vanttajajärvestä, tiesimme olevan toista kilometrin taivalluksen yli
Maanselän kannaksen, joka on veden jakajana; Kuusamon puoliset
vedet näet laskevat Venäjän puolelle Vienanmereen, Iin vedet
Pohjanlahteen. Tuota emme kuitenkaan huoleksi panneet, sillä
saimme kuulla, että sitä tietä ennenkin on veneitä taivallettu.

Vanttajanjoen löytämisessä siinä ensinkin työ oli. Kovin oli puro

pieni ja kaislaiseen, vetelään järven rantaan kun se vielä laski, ei sitä
niinkään helpolla huomannut. Kun vihdoin löysimme joen, ei se
suurta iloa meille tuottanut. Alkoi näet taasenkin veneen vetäminen.
Jo suussa siinä tahtoi tenän tehdä, kun puro oli niin matala,
ruohoinen ja liejuinen, ettei tahtonut läpi päästä keinoilla millään.
Ylempänä tuo meno jonkun matkaa oli hiukan parempaa, kun saattoi
nuoralla vedellä venettä pitkin puroa. Mutta kun se sitten koskeksi
kyhäysi, ei koko joesta ollut enään paljon taikaa: oli siinä siksi vettä
että juuri näkyi. Tuo ei kuitenkaan meitä isosti säikäyttänyt, sillä
olimmehan jo kerran jos toisenkin matkallamme kuivia kulkeneet.
Keino miten päästä eteenpäin oli hyvin yksinkertainen: vedettiin vene
miehissä kivikkoa myöten kosken päälle.

Muutamassa kohden ylempänä oli puro niinkin kaitasena syvälle

suoniityn sisään uurtautunut, että kun venettä siitä läpi kiskoimme,
leikkasivat varppeet kummaltakin puolen turpasta puron partaista
veneeseen. Siitä tuon jo suunnilleen arvaa, minkälainen se
"kulkuväylä" oli. Isommalla vedellä sitä ylös kuului kyllä ennenkin
kuletetun veneitä, harvoin kuitenkin nykyvuosina. Mieluummin
taivalletaan suoraan Kuusamojärvestä Vanttajajärveen, jos tarve
vaatii sitä tietä kulkemaan. Harvoin sitäkään enään tehdään, kun
näet jokikulku "kaupunkiin", s.o. Ouluun, on melkein kokonaan
lakannut, kun maantie pari vuosikymmentä sitten Kuusamoon
saatiin.

Iättömiä emme kuitenkaan Vanttajanjoen nousemisessa viipyneet,

se kun ei ole kuin noin neljännestä pitkä. Soutelimme sitten puolen
penikulman pituisen Vanttajajärven toiseen päähän "Valittajan
vanhuksia" tervehtimään. — Aikomuksemme oli saada talosta
neuvoja ja apua, Iijärveen venettämme taivaltaaksemme.

Terveinä ja tyytyväisinä vanhukset tapasimmekin. Aika ketteränä

se vanha emäntä vieläkin pyörähteli, ruokaa meille laitellessaan.
Ukko myöskin oli terve ja puhelias; itse lupausi lähtemään
renkipoikansa kanssa saattajaksikin meille.

Kuvaavaa muutoin sydänmaan oloille on muuan pikku tapaus,

joka meitä huvitti. Kun näet tiedustelimme, kuinka pitkälti
taivallusmatkaa Iijärveen karttuisi, tuumiskeli ukko: "No sinnehän se
taitaa mennä kappaleen toiselle neljännekselle". — Emäntä kait
tahtoi kuitenkin näyttää seuranneensa paremmin aikaansa ja rupesi
tarkoin selittämään, että niin ja niin monta kilometriä sitä taivalta on.

"Tämä meijän vaari se tahtoo vain pysyä niissä vanhoissa mitoissa

vieläkin", lisäsi hän kuin puollustellen asiaan sekaantumistaan.

"No mutta oletkos sinä sitten muori kulta koskaan sitä kilomeetriä
nähnyt, kun niin tiijät määräillä matkat niissä uusissa mitoissa?"
kysäsi tuohon isäntä muijaltaan puoleksi leikillisesti, voimatta
kuitenkaan salata pientä vahingon iloa, kun sai toista siten nolata.
 "Kukapa häntä lienee nähnyt, vaan kun ne niitä meeterejään ja
litrojaan tahtovat pakottaa käyttämään, niin täytyy kait niitä joskus
oppia tuntemaan", virkahti tuohon emäntä, närkästyneenä ukon
sattuvan pilan johdosta. Ja sen enempää enään puheisiimme
sekaantumatta pyörähti hän toiseen huoneeseen. —

Niin sitä sitten taasen vetää könyytettiin venettä kankaan poikki

härjän vuodasta leikatuilla "poronhihnoilla", joita Vanttajan ukko oli
mukaan varannut; sanoi näet helpomman olevan niillä vetää kuin
"sulin käsin" ja sen me taipaleella todeksi huomasimmekin.

Matkan varrella jaariteltiin ajan kuluksi yhtä ja toista. Ukko kertoi,

miten ennen kuusamolaisten täytyi sen kautta voija muita lastejaan
"kaupunkiin" kulottaa, kun ei maantietä ollut. Sanoipa olleensa
viitisenkymmentä vuotta sitten taivaltamassa Pohjolan kuulun
"tukkipohatan" Kurtinkin ensimäistä voilastia. "Velaksi kuului sen
kylältä keräillyksi saaneen", tiesi vaari vakuuttaa. — "Jo vain ei olisi
silloin uskonut, että siitä vielä semmoinen pohatta paisuu",
tuumiskeli hän.

Sievästi johdettiin puhe ukkoon itseensä ja joku kuin sivumennen

mainitsi: "Teistähän se Santeri Ingmanni kuuluu kirjankin
kirjoittaneen".

"Niin — kuuluuhan se…" virkahti tuohon vanhus hymähtäen.

"Vaan mitä niistä kirjailijoista… Panevat enemmäksi puoleksi
omiaan, minkä hänkin meistä kertoessaan." —

Ainoastaan puolentoista tuntia meni meillä tuossa toista kilometrin

taivalluksessa. Suuresti apuna olivat näet entiset telotukset, jotka
olivat säilyneet polulla etenkin suopaikoilla.
 Nyt olimme siis toisissa vesistöissä. Pitkälti emme kuitenkaan
eteenpäin päässeet, ennenkuin jo taasen taivallus työksi tuli. Kapea
lahti näet vaan on tuossa mantereen ja yli kolme neljännestä pitkän,
kaksihaaraisen Jouhtenniemen välillä. Niemen poikki veneet
tavallisesti kuuluttiin taivaltavan, kun pitkä kierros muutoin täytyisi
tehdä. Niinpä mekin vedimme veneen tuon puoli kilometriä leveän,
korkeana harjuna kulkevan niemen poikki. Telotettu siinä oli kyllä tie,
mutta lujalle otti sittenkin ennenkuin yli päästiin, väsyneet kun oltiin
jo edellisestä taivaltamisesta.

Aukeni nyt eteemme kaunis Iijärvi pitkänkapeine selkineen. Sen

pohjoispuolella Vanttaja- ja Mustavaarat kohottelevat kyömyisiä
selkiään, itäpäästä taas Iivaara uhkeana ylenee kolmatta sataa
metriä yli järven pinnan; järvetkin niillä seuduin ovat muutoin noin
300 metriä yli meren pinnan. Iivaaran vierellä tuossa sopusointuisasti
ylenevät vielä hieman matalammat Ahven- ja Penikkavaarat.

Sieltä Iivaaran rinteiltä ne saavat Iijoen latvat alkunsa pieninä

puroina. Kuuluupa vaaralla olevan lähde, josta vesi juoksee
kahtaanne päin. Toiselta laidalta näet lähtee Iijoen äärimmäisin
haara, kun taas toiselta puolen muuan Pistojoen haara saa alkunsa.
Sen lähteen vedet siis hajaantuvat jokseenkin kauvas: osa
Pohjanlahteen, toinen Vienanmereen.

Iijoen ylimmällä latvaosalla on nimenä Rajajoki. Kerrotaan sen

nimensä saaneen siitä, että sen kautta muinoin muka Venäjän ja
Suomen välinen raja on kulkenut. — Iivaara on muutoin merkillinen
sen puolesta, että se tiettävästi on ainoa paikka ainakin Suomessa,
jollei liene koko maailmassakin, jossa löytyy erästä omituista
vuorilajia, jota vaaran nimen mukaan on "ioliitiksi" ruvettu
kutsumaan. —
 Yleensä voi sanoa, että nämät seudut olivat matkallamme
viimeiset huomattavammassa määrässä luonnonkauniit. Iijoen varret
näet eivät ole paremmin kuin sen kosketkaan joitakin pienempiä
poikkeuksia lukuun ottamatta, mitään erikoisen kauniita. Senpä
vuoksi syystä voi sanoakkin, että nyt oli hauskin ja viehättävin osa
matkastamme kulettuna, hurja koskienlasku sekä väsyttävä
suvantojen ja järvien soutaminen enään vaan jälellä. Sen tähden
seuraavassa kerronkin vaan lyhyin piirtein matkastamme Iijokea
alas, viivähtäen ainoastaan joissakin, kentiesi hiukan lukijoitakin
huvittavissa kohdissa. — Tiedän kyllä että monien nimien
luetteleminen tuntuu joistakin lukijoista hiukan kuivalta. Kuitenkaan
en malta olla matkan mukaan mainitsematta Iijoen lukuisain koskien
nimiä, koska useat niistä kuvaavat hyvin kosken luonnetta, kuten
kaikkikin kansan antamat nimitykset. Useilla nimillä olisi sitäpaitse
vielä oma historiansakin, mutta tässä ei ole kuitenkaan tilaisuutta
ruveta tarkemmin niistä selkoa tekemään.

Soutelimme siis poikki tyyntä Iijärveä. Puhtaan kirkkaalta

sinitaivaan rannalta loi heinäkuun viimeisen päivän ilta-aurinko
punertavan ruskonsa järven pintaan ja kultaili kauniisti taustalla
olevien vaarojen siintäviä harjoja. Oli niin juhlallisen kaunista ja
tyyntä, ettemme edes puhelemisella raskineet tuota luonnon
rauhallisuutta häiritä, vaan sanattomina soutelimme, nauttien
luonnon herttaisuudesta ja viehättävyydestä. Niin saavuimme lahden
perukkaan, josta Iijoki alkaa. Pohjolan kesän omituisen lumoavassa
illan hämyssä soutelimme vielä tyynenlaista jokea Poussujärven
ylipuolella olevan Poussukosken niskaan. Koskelle emme
kuitenkaan enään lähteneet, kun hämärä alkoi jo pahasti haitata ja
kun koski, vaikka kyllä oli sanottu perkatuksi, näytti kovin pahalta ja
matalalta laskettavaksi. Talokin piti kartan mukaan siinä ihan lähellä
olla. Vedimme siis veneen kiville kosken niskaan ja lähdimme taloa
hakemaan. Se löytyikin, vaikka vasta puolen kilometrin päässä ja
yösijan siellä myös saimme. Ettei kuitenkaan yksinään tarvinnut
yötänsä viettää, siitä viljalti vilisevät russakat huolen pitivät. —

Aamulla kuletimme veneen nuorassa ja sauvomilla kosken alle;

laskea koskea ei voinut, niin kovin matala ja kivikko se oli.

Purjeessa lasketelimme Poussujärven halki ja soutelimme sitten

sen perukasta lähtevää, läpi Rahkolammen juoksevaa jokea
Soivionjärveen. Tuohon järveen laskiessamme näimme etäällä sen
itärantaa pitkin juoksentelevan jonkun tavallista suuremman,
korkeajalkaisen elukan, jota koosta ja käynnistä päättäen arvelimme
hirveksi. Kiiruhdimme soutamaan siihen suuntaan, tuota kummaa
nähdäksemme, mutta silloin se, luultavasti meidät huomaten,
pyörähti metsään ja katosi näkyvistämme.

Raakkujärveen laskevan lyhyen joen sekä mainitun järven poikki

soudettuamme saavuimme Kurenjoelle. Se laskee, Hammas- ja
Kurenkoskissa välillä kuohahtaen, Vähäkero-nimiseen järveen. —
Jälkimäinen sen koskista on todellakin kaitanen ja jyrkkä kuin
kurenkaula. Koettaessamme kahden miehen sauvomissa laskea
sitä, sattui niin hullusti, että vene yhtäkkiä hypähti kivimuljun päälle ja
pyörähti siinä ympäri, ei kuitenkaan kumoon, vaan keula vasta- ja
perä myötävirtaan. Katsoimmekin viisaimmaksi nakata köydet
kahden puolen maalle, kun vene kerran oli noin sukkelasti
kokokäännöksen tehnyt. Köysillä ohjaten laskimme sitten veneen
kosken alle.

Lieneekö äskeisen "hirven" näkemisestä metsämiesluontomme

kovin kiihtynyt tai silmätkö muutoin lienevät pettäneet, se vaan, että
kun Vähänkeron keskelle pääsimme, niin ensin yksi, sitten toisetkin
luuli ihan varmasti rannalla näkevänsä taasen tavallista oudompia
elukoita, tällä kertaa ei sen huonompia kuin kerrassaan — karhuja.
Ja olikin niitä koko kolme kappaletta, emä ja kaksi pentua. Niin
päättelimme. Tuolla rantasuolla ne kuukkivat mättäiden välissä,
siirtyivät siitä pian läheiseen viidakkoon… Katsotaan neljän miehen,
katsotaan tarkastikkin… Ei ne todellakaan voi olla muita kuin
karhuja, siihen päätökseen tulimme yksimielisesti.

Tuostakos sitten touhu nousi.

"No nyt sitä pannaan toimeen karhujahti ainakin, ilman Kuusamon

herroja ja heidän koiriaan", joukosta joku jo innostuneena huudahti.

Luotipatruunia, joita tohtori varovaisen insinöörin kehotuksesta oli

jo kotona kymmenkunnan valmiiksi ladannut tämmöisen tapauksen
varalta, pistetään kahteen muassa olevaan haulikkoon… Ne
kahdelle miehelle aseiksi… Kolmas ottaisi kirveen, neljäs — no,
kunhan jotain asetta hänkin käteensä saisi, vaikka sauvomen, muun
paremman puutteessa… Ja onhan puukotkin joka miehellä,
muutamilla kaksikin, oikeita pohjalaisia surma-aseita…

Soudetaan rantaan, min keretään… Kilvan sitten suolle ja

pensaikkoon, ensin edes jälkiä nähdäkseen… Ja tuossahan ne jo…
"No voi sun perhana!" Ja kaikki purskahdimme kohti kurkkua
nauramaan, sillä tuolla ne menivät, kiitivät täyttä neliä, min
enimpänsä ennättivät, läpi pensaikon ja pitkin suota ne kolme —
poroa, emä vasoineen. — Hukkaan menivät siis taasen hyvät
humalat.

Sitten sitä ihmeteltiin ja vielä uudestaan ja uudestaan ihmeteltiin,

miten noin oli voitu erehtyä. "Mutta kyllä ne sittenkin niin kummilta
näyttivät tuossa suomätästen välillä hypellessään, että olisi siinä
erehtynyt toinenkin, vaikkei olisikkaan äsken nähnyt hirveä kuten