by Ruby Storm
The rank smell of the long-toothed cat grew stronger with each breath as Jaggar lunged headlong into a small clearing. His gaze darted between the ferocious tiger and an opening in the earth.
She was there. He was certain.
And the feral animal knew it too. Already the beast marked his territory as he stalked his prey, scratching at the mossy earth with a growl rumbling deep inside its throat. Heavy feline muscles rippled ominously beneath the thick coat of stripes when the animal hunkered down to swipe a paw into the small entrance.
A feminine scream pierced the air only seconds before the big cat hissed in pain. Jaggar skidded to a halt and flexed his muscled arm. With all his brute strength behind his aim, he raced forward with a war cry piercing the stillness and sailed the spear across the clearing just as the tiger’s haunches bunched in readiness to pounce inside the cave. Jaggar’s aim was true. The spear sliced through the dense fur and muscle, halting the animal in its tracks. The tiger gurgled once in surprised pain then slumped to the ground.
Tramping across the vine-covered forest floor, Jaggar bent to retrieve one lifeless back paw of the huge cat and easily dragged it away from the cave opening. Turning, he cocked his head and listened intently.
Her breathing came to him from somewhere in the darkness, small hitches of air separated by whimpers of fear.
Jaggar returned to the entrance, remembering a flash of her white hair and eyes the color of the sky above him.
Now his gaze settled on the opening of the cave. “Come out!” he ordered.
There was a telltale shuffling sound and he instantly knew she moved farther into the interior of the cave. The little minx meant to escape his clutches. He had killed for her, most definitely saved her life, yet she would not come easily. Anger inflated his broad chest as he sank to his knees and burrowed into the murky chamber. Her essence flooded his nostrils, a mixture of feminine musk and sweet morning air that clung to her skin. His cock stirred as the bulk of his huge body sealed the light from entering, and he moved farther into the darkness, his arm swiping blindly to locate her.
His hunter skills focused on a movement to his right. He pounced and curled his fingers around a slim feminine ankle. Despite her efforts to shake him off, his captive was no match for Jaggar’s physical strength. He backed out, easily dragging her squirming body along with him.
She fought like a wildcat, her nails clawing at his thick wrist and the strong fingers that banded her ankle, but Jaggar paid no mind and easily yanked her through the opening. His dark eyes shuttered. Lust burned in his groin at the sight of her sarong that wound high about her waist as she continued to kick with her free leg. His eyes took in the slim line of her velvety thighs and rested on her exposed cunt. His anger instantly forgotten, he wrestled her wriggling body to the mossy earth with his massive size and effortlessly pinned her slender wrists above her head. The fingers of his free hand traced her luscious curves.
She spit at him and fought to bite the tender underside of one bulging arm. Her curves forgotten, Jaggar clamped his hand over her exposed furred mound. “Cease your struggles!”
The woman gasped in surprise. Jaggar chuckled at the heated disgust that settled in her gaze. It was easy to disregard the extreme abhorrence that blazed within them because the round, blue orbs now captured his attention. Her eyes matched perfectly to the clear blue sky of earlier. His appreciative gaze cast a path across her slim nose, to her full strawberry-colored lips and back to the cloud of white locks spread across the forest’s floor. So different from the Stonemen females whose dark skin shimmered in the day’s sun, he mused. This female beneath him was a trophy and a possession that would stand out in his village and he would be the envy of all. He could take her now, lose himself in her hot sheath, but there would be plenty of time for mating in the days to come. The warrior hunters already on their way back to the fortress, waited for his return.
He reached up and ran his fingers through the thick waves of her hair.
“You will do nicely. Of all the women taken today, I have captured the grandest prize.”
Chapter Two
The woman beneath him closed her eyes and jerked her head away, struggling to break the contact of his fingers whispering through her hair. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she drew in deep mouthfuls of air, delighting Jaggar as he remembered her wet, naked breasts earlier at the stream. Yet she remained silent. Relentlessly, he tugged his fingers through the white strands, hoping to gain another response of any kind. Finally, her eyes snapped open and she silently glared up with deep, burning revulsion.
The corner of his mouth quirked upward with delight. “You have nothing to say? That is good. When I mate a woman, I only want to hear her cries of pleasure.” As he said it, his hand moved back to cup her mound. Having her in his grasp was a perfect moment.
She groaned and struggled to close her legs, but Jaggar used his powerful thighs to spread her knees wider as he shifted his position and lay beside her. His hand settled on the flat of her stomach, noticing how the soft skin beneath his fingertips flinched from the touch. “I have never seen a woman who looks like you. I would hazard a guess, however, that among your breed of people you are considered comely. So it is my assumption that someone as fair of face as you surely has had a man’s cock pumping inside. That is good. I’ve no time to break in virgins.” His fingers drifted back through her soft pubic hair and lower in an attempt to gain more reaction. He couldn’t help himself. He longed to hear her voice and provoking her seemed the only thing to help reach that end.
Nothing—except an angry widening of her eyes so palpable that it could have sliced him in two.
A heated smile curled his mouth upward. Jaggar was good at playing the sexual game. He would be the victor in the end. He flattened his hand until the length of his middle finger rested in the warmth of her dampened slit. Her lids fluttered slightly, but she remained mute as sparks shot from the blue depths of her almond-shaped eyes.
Jaggar nodded slightly with a smile that continued to twitch his mouth. Hooking a thick middle finger, he dragged it through her slit from her ass upward until the roughened tip stroked her swelling clit. Her body jerked beneath him and her warm breath tickled across his cheek. “Ahhh, a response. I know you can speak. I listened to the soft sound of your words and your laughter back at the pond.” His finger pressured her erect nub.
“Stop!”
“Stop something we both want?” His finger swirled around her moist clit once more.
“It is not a want! You are the last beast I will mate with!”
“A beast? I think not. A beast is one such as the carcass lying at the edge of the trees, a beast that would easily have killed you for a quick meal. I want an easy morsel too, but not one that would end your life for an eternity. I want the taste of you on my tongue. I only hope to steal away your breath for a short time as you moan with pleasure.”
Jaggar’s fingertip slipped back through her soft mons until it rested at the threshold of her womanly heat. A sigh of regret slipped out. “For as much as I could find myself lost within you, the day grows long. There will be a lifetime ahead of us to bask in the sinful pleasure of mating.” He rose to his knees before he let her go, keeping a close eye on her as she scrambled to a sitting position, tugged her sarong to her knees and wrapped her arms about her trembling body.
“Stand up, woman, and tell me your name.”
He watched her startled gaze flow over the tightly corded muscles of his arms and across the breadth of his massive chest. Jaggar knew his towering presence brooked no obstinacy on her part and eventually she would realize it. But at the moment, the soft contours of her face were a constant changing plane of emotions and it delighted him immensely. He knew the exact moment the female realized she had no choice but to do as he demanded. Slowly, she rose to her feet, dwarfed by his sheer size. The top of her head came only to his chest.
She raised her chin in defiance, her eyes shooting sparks of hatred.
She scowled in a show of insolence and jutted her chin higher before placing her palms against her slim hips.
She flinched hard when he reached out, and Jaggar wondered if she thought he would beat her back to the ground for her disrespect. Instead, his fingers clutched her upper arm. He hauled her closer to the dead tiger, yanked out his spear and silently led her from the glade. When he knew she couldn’t see his face, a smile flirted across his lips. Yes, the woman would definitely make the rest of his life interesting.
* * * * *
Hours later, Kella stumbled along beside the Stoneman in an effort to keep pace with his long strides. The more she fought his hold, the more ominous his features became. She did not care. What did she have to lose? He would most likely mate with her then choke the breath from her lungs. Stonemen were sadistic animals. Better a quick death than days of torture. A streak of fear such as she’d never known nearly paralyzed her. Yes, better to die quickly. Kella knew the stories, had listened to the tales around a tribal fire. She prayed for death, quick and sure.
The sun’s rays still heated the last vestiges of the afternoon. Beads of perspiration trickled between her heavy breasts, yet the heat seemed not to affect him at all. Kella was certain that if she fell senseless to the ground, he would simply drag her across the rocky terrain they now traveled through, unmindful as the skin was scraped away from her bones.
She had studied him as she stumbled endlessly on through the dense forest and upward now and deeper into the mountain’s foothills. His thighs were heavy as the sturdiest tree trunks in the forest, his muscular arms matching. A mass of black, straight hair was caught with a leather strap atop her captor’s head, but loose, dark strands whipped in the wind currents as they traveled higher and higher now into the Grand Mountains. He had taken off his hairshirt and wrapped it about his waist. His bare chest spanned an arm’s length. But it was the color of the giant’s skin that continually had her wondering if he were totally human. The sunlight glinted off his rippling muscles that were a deep shade of near black and panther sleek as they tramped always farther and farther from her home.
The sun now hovered in the western sky, an orange glowing ball behind the highest peak of the mountainous region. Kella refused to give in to the numbing weariness, working hard to stay upright. The Stoneman’s hand still clamped her upper arm and the few times she’d tripped, he’d easily kept her from pitching to the ground as he pulled her forward. Onward they traveled as the day turned to black ebony, and still the warrior kept moving, unmindful of her whimpers as she stumbled. How could he know where they traveled? Kella could not even see the hand holding her upright. When he finally stopped and easily hauled her over his shoulder, Kella didn’t have the energy to fight off the touch of his thick fingers on her ass as she hung limply.
Kella snapped awake when she was lifted from his shoulder and forced to stand beside him. She blinked, momentarily confused, until her eyes widened in surprise. The moon glowed now, casting a beam across a stone wall that rose sharply to the night sky, seeming to have erupted from thick foliage without a base.
The Stonemen’s fortress. Her heart sank. Once she was inside the rock barrier she most likely would never see her homeland or her clan again.
“Open!” he ordered loudly. A heavy wooden door creaked wide.
Her captor entered through an opening in the rock wall and dragged her along a beaten path lined with small stone huts and lit torches. It was a sight Kella had never seen. Her people lived in tents made from hide. Riotous revelry met her ears as they rounded a corner and entered into an open area that was well lit by numerous small fires. She had never heard such a clamor nor seen so many people in one gathering spot. Her heart sank into her stomach. The captured women of her tribe were each tied to an overhead wooden beam in the center. Huge dark-skinned men crowded around them in the firelight.
Jaggar hailed the onlookers and tightened his grip on Kella’s arm when she planted her feet and fought to shake off his hold.
“Cease your struggles, woman.”
She only fought harder.
With a rumbling chuckle, he tossed his spear to a nearby man and yanked her body close to his. “It is useless to fight. You can either submit or you can join your female friends. Either way you will be mine.”
Kella curled her fist and swung for his chin, connecting with a blow that sent a line of pain rippling through her hand and up her arm. Her efforts only made him laugh as he swept her squirming body up and over his shoulder once more, and he tramped through the milling crowd.
“Ho, Jaggar! It seems you have found the one you sought!” a man called out. “But are you sure she is woman or wildcat?”
“Crete, my friend! The wildness only gives me hope there will be more woman to tame!” Jaggar laughed with a flash of teeth. “It does seem she has chosen to join her tribeswomen. A foolish choice no doubt.”
Before Kella knew it, she was sliding down over his hard chest as he accepted a length of rope from the man.
But Kella was having none of it. She let her body go limp and when her feet hit the ground she slipped from the Stoneman’s hold. She had not taken two running steps when his arm snaked around her waist and she was yanked back against the hard slab of his belly, then screeched in protest when he dipped to nestle his growing cock against her buttocks.
Jaggar tossed the rope back to Crete. “Tie the woman’s hands, but watch your bullocks unless you plan to let others pleasure themselves within the wet softness of our prisoners.”
Once the deed was done, Jaggar easily wrestled Kella’s squirming body into line with the other captives and bound her hands to the overhead beam. She glared upward, her face red from exertion, beads of perspiration wetting her brow and firm breasts heaving beneath the sarong. She ignored the audible sobbing of the other women as Jaggar stepped close once more.
“You will be sorry when our clansmen come for us,” she spouted.
She watched one of his arched eyebrows cock upward. He grinned widely and Kella yearned to slap his black cheek. It was something that never ever would have come to mind if she were dealing with males of her clan. To be so disrespectful among her own would mean death. And right now death looked to be in the near future. Kella never knew she could be so brave.
His hand cupped her chin in a firm yet gentle hold. “I think not, woman. Your men are like mice and scatter about in confusion when it comes to battle.” He reached out to fondle one tantalizing breast.
With the heat of helpless anger, Kella spit at him. Her mistake.
Jaggar bunched the neckline of her sarong in a powerful grip and yanked her close. The knotted rope at her wrists bit into her skin but was immediately forgotten when he clamped a hand between her warm thighs.
He bent closer, his eyes seeming to glow from within.
Whether it was from anger or lust, she did not know. Kella waited on a precipice of the unknown, waiting for him to rip her apart from limb to limb.
When he spoke, his words instead were directed to the chuckling crowd of warriors behind him. “I claim this woman before all. It will be my pleasure when she bows in respect and begs me to lie between these silken thighs!”
His declaration brought concurring guffaws from the many dark-skinned men milling around them.
“Let our new concubines bask in the last of the evening heat while we dine and drink to build our strength for the coming hours,” he continued. “I have a good notion the night will be long and filled with enjoyment!”
The warriors dispersed, but Jaggar tightened his hold on Kella’s heart-shaped chin as he withdrew his opposite hand from the heat between her legs. His free palm brushed upward to curl around the back of her neck, clutching the slim length in a firm grip.
Silently, he dipped his head and ran his tongue over her cheek until he forced her
mouth to his in a bruising manner. Kella whimpered beneath the onslaught of his caress, having no clue why the man would do such a thing. No one had ever pressed their lips to hers. It was a foreign thing to her, and though strange pings of heat rippled through her body, she struggled against him. His tongue danced over her teeth, swiping inside the warm cavern then licking at her swollen lips before delving deep inside once more.
When Jaggar ended the assault, he stepped away but not before tracing roughened fingertips over a covered breast to pluck at an erect nipple beneath the soft fur of her sarong. She swallowed back the lump in her throat as those same fingers drifted down to rest against the flat of her belly. His heavy-lidded eyes stared warmly, confusing her beyond a doubt. Where was his anger?
“A kiss to remember you by,” he murmured, then leaned forward again as his tongue swept across her trembling bottom lip. Abruptly, his exploration ended.
He turned and walked away.
Kella’s body flushed with unbearable heat. Her lips burned. The insides of her belly churned. She hung limply, stunned at the strange flickering of something akin to delight still heating the area between her legs. Words of disgust had flown from her brain. Was the Stoneman a Shaman of some sorts to be able to create this burn when she detested him so thoroughly? She would be powerless to resist if he was. His strange magic would render her helpless.