“Ahem!” Aunt Caroline stood in the doorway, a maid stood beside her, holding a tray of breakfast. “Richard, we are having a family meeting in the parlor. Your breakfast is waiting for you there.” She gestured for the maid to set the tray on Lissa’s lap. Caroline sat on the other side of the bed. “Lissa and I must have a chat,” she flipped her hand to motion Richard away, “woman to woman, if you know what that means.”
“I was just leaving,” he said.
“Now, my sweet and not-so-innocent little girl, we must talk about your responsibilities as a new member of the Cailean family.” She smiled. “I assume Richard has proposed to you? He was discussing it for hours last night while you were sleeping. We couldn’t shut him up.”
Lissa fussed with the lace edge of the coverlet. “Yes, he did.” She lifted her head and gazed at Caroline with radiant eyes. “Isn’t it wonderful, Miss Cailean? He loves me!”
Caroline clasped Lissa’s face in her hands and kissed her gently. “Yes, it is wonderful. And you can call me Aunt Caroline now.” She glanced away, then back to Lissa’s face. “I, and the rest of the family have already agreed to let you marry Richard. We will have a family meeting in a few minutes to discuss the arrangements.” Caroline coughed and looked away, “And the ritual.”
“Ritual? Some kind of religious ceremony?”
“No, nothing like that! It’s more like...uh...well, the Cailean family has a tradition, more than a century old, that everyone in the family, and the staff, when they become eighteen, or when they join Blackthorne House, must pass a...well...think of it as a ceremony.” Aunt Caroline looked at Lissa and inhaled a deep breath. “You must surrender to it if you want to marry Richard. You will surrender all your rights and freedom during the ceremony. Once you agree, you cannot escape it.”
Lissa’s lower lip trembled. “W-what kind of...c-ceremony?”
“You will not be allowed to know anything. You won’t know what will be done to you, who will do it, or how long it will last.
“But...”
Aunt Caroline pressed her hand over Lissa’s mouth. “You are not allowed to talk about it. Usually, the person doesn’t even know it’s going to happen. It comes as a total surprise. A terrifying surprise.”
Lissa gasped, pushing Aunt Caroline’s hand from her mouth. “Please, Miss Cail..., Aunt Caroline, don’t let anyone hurt me!”
Aunt Caroline grasped Lissa’s hands and squeezed them. “How much do you love Richard?”
“More than anything else in the world!”
“Richard can be yours, for the rest of your life, but you must submit to the family ritual.”
Lissa dipped her head and nodded, tears dropping from her cheeks.
“Read this out loud to me.” Caroline handed Lissa a slip of paper.
Lissa held it in her trembling hands and read. “I, Lissa Herne, do willingly and freely submit myself to the Cailean family ritual of membership. I understand and agree that my freedom and rights are forfeit during the course of the ritual. I surrender my body into their hands for whatever use they may choose. I do this of my own informed consent, and free will.”
“Sign it, please.” Aunt Caroline handed Lissa a pen. She signed with a shaky scrawl.
“Now,” Caroline said with a hint of hardness in her voice, “put your hands behind your back.”
Lissa felt the handcuffs ratcheting tight around her wrists. “But...”
“I will feed you.” Caroline motioned the maid away. “Thank you, Fiona. I will take care of Lady Lissa now.” She turned back to her, “You will not be allowed to use your hands for anything until we are finished with you.”
“But, Aunt Caroline, I need to use the bathroom.”
“Not even that.”
“But how?”
“One of our men will take care of your needs in the bathroom.”
“A man! Watching me while I...oh, no, I’ll die of embarrassment!”
“I doubt you will die, but it does take some getting used to. Now, let’s feed you some breakfast,” Aunt Caroline looked into her eyes with a sinister nod, “you will need all the strength you can get. Now, open your mouth and eat. Remember, you have no choice. You will obey every word we speak to you.” Caroline reached down and picked up a long, supple riding crop. She stroked it over Lissa’s naked breasts. “Or else!”
“Oh, Richard,” Lissa sobbed, “see how much I love you.”
Chapter Nine
Run, Pretty Bunny, Run!
“What shall we do to her?” Uncle Gerritt looked around the table, gauging the expressions on the faces of the family and staff.
“She’s been through a severe test already,” Gregor said. “I saw what Treise and Barth did to her.”
“Doesn’t count,” Russell replied.
Richard clenched his fist and looked at him. “Uncle Russell, just how much do you expect that young girl can endure?”
Russell ran his fingers through his flame-red hair and glanced at the doctor, “What do you say, Dr. Woolsey?”
“She’s had a nasty shock the last two days. I’d suggest a day of rest in bed,” he shot a quick glance at Richard, “alone.”
“But can she be initiated?” Russell leaned forward with his arm on the table.
“If she is willing,” the doctor replied. “I’ve examined her, and she seems to be physically fit, but exhausted. Psychologically, her captivity with the satyrs was the worst of it. It was her love for Richard that kept her from going mad in their clutches.” He smiled at Richard and continued, “Yes, tomorrow evening would be the earliest I would say, to begin her initiation. Since she is not yet a member of the family or staff, she must give her permission before we begin.”
“We have it.” Aunt Caroline strode into the room, brandishing a document. “Here it is, with her signature. She agrees, for the sake of marrying Richard.
“Good,” said Chalmers, leaning back in his chair. “Now, let’s decide what we will do to her.”
“Gregor’s tower?” Russell asked.
“No,” Richard said, “she was a prisoner there already.”
“You have no say in this,” his uncle replied. “You’re going to marry her, so you are biased.”
“He’s right, Richard,” Gerritt said. “I’m afraid you will be only a silent witness in this meeting.
“Sorry, Richard,” Aunt Caroline said. She lay her hand on his shoulder. “Tomorrow Farley, the stable keeper will take her to be locked in the cage in the stable. She is in quarantine until the initiation begins. Only Dr. Woolsey will be allowed to visit her.”
“Not even me?” Miss Ballard leaned forward and snapped her ubiquitous heavy riding crop down on the table. “It’s my job to keep her meek and obedient.”
“Not this time,” Dr. Woolsey answered. “Not this girl. The moment the wedding is concluded, she will be your superior, and administrator of the household. No, not you, not this time.”
Miss Ballard slunk back, slouching down in her chair with a scowl. She crossed her arms and maintained an icy silence for the rest of the meeting.
Suggestions were offered, schemes plotted, and grins and elbow nudges circulated around the table. After nearly an hour of discussion and debate, they reached agreement. The die was cast, the diabolical game had been decided.
The evening of the next day arrived, and the participants assembled. A delegation of the Cailean family prepared the men chosen to initiate Lissa; Chalmers the estate manager, Shawe, the groundskeeper, one-eyed Crom, huge black Gregor, Farley the stable keeper, and Selby the old butler.
Garrett nodded to them. “Strip naked, but keep your boots on. You’ll be running a long way, across meadows and through the forest.”
“Wear these,” Aunt Caroline said. She handed each man a full-head mask shaped realistically like a wolf’s head, covered with real wolf fur. They pulled them over their heads, and secured the collars around their necks. “Now you look like what you men really are, when you see me, or any pretty woman, naked and def
enseless.”
The men laughed, turning their heads to look at each other. From the neck up, they sported the precise likeness of a wolf’s-head; the eyes piercing and cruel, the jaws open, crimson tongue projecting over an array of sharp teeth. They nudged elbows, imitating growls, barks, and panting for the chase.
“When can we start after her?” Crom said.
Gerritt pulled out his waist-pocket watch and glanced at it. “Wait fifteen minutes, to give Lissa a head-start. Then your fun begins.”
“Aw-w-w-w,” Shaw said, “she will be so far ahead, and we won’t find her in the woods.”
“Not likely,” Aunt Caroline replied. “She’s barefoot, so the rough ground will hurt her feet and slow her down. Her arms are strapped up tight against her back, so she won’t be able to use them to keep her balance. Also, she’s wearing a collar with a bell. Even in the dark you will find her.” She reached down and patted his erection. “Don’t worry, your plaything won’t be disappointed.”
Lissa stumbled out of the cage door and loped north across the lawn toward the meadow. The rising, milky ball of the fecund full moon poised on the eastern hilltops, staring across the dim twilight meadow. His haunting eye spied out her every maneuver to escape, mocking her desperate attempt to hide. His brightness illuminated her every move in conspiracy with the human wolves who would soon emerge from the house to run her down.
Lissa was a hundred stumbling strides out into the meadow, still running away from the—what? Who knows what they will do to me if—no, WHEN—they capture me?
Her gasping breath burned in her throat while her naked legs pistoned up and down. Forward—must escape... Please! God of the forest—if you are real—Let me find shelter in your woods!
The muscles of her lower back and belly began to ache with the strain of balancing her torso without the swing of free arms. Lissa wept in frustration as her shoulders instinctively kept trying to jerk her harnessed arms free from their bondage against her upper back. Every misplaced footfall was a terrifying struggle to recover her equilibrium in a sideways stagger. The white, furry rabbit ears they had fastened to the top of her head flopped in a cruel parody of her plight. The puffy ball of white fur glued to her back at the top of her buttocks waggled wantonly with every motion of her running thighs.
The silver bell on her collar lurched wildly as she ran, jangling a constant tattle-tale of her location; “Here she is! Here she is! Come and fuck her!” The forest was still more than a league away. She wouldn’t be more than half-way there before her pursuers would dash out of Blackthorne House and see her in the distance.
If they can run twice as fast as me, they will catch me before I reach the trees! Lissa grimaced as she commanded her aching legs to go faster and save her. An emerald sea of grass flowed under her petite feet.
Got to go faster. Got to! Her lungs pumped air with furious desperation, heaving her naked breasts into a voluptuous dance that would coax an erection from a corpse.
The minutes crawled through her mind as the trees grew larger in her sight, nearing with cruel slowness. Lissa risked a glance over her shoulder. The men had already begun their game of chasing her. She could see them far behind, their naked bodies almost luminescent in the moonlight, loping along with a relaxed stride. They saw her looking at them and waved at her, whooping with brutish glee and speeding up their pace. She choked back a sob as she turned her gaze back to the forest. Still so far away!
A rabbit leaped from a coarse tuft of grass in front of Lissa. Startled, she lost her balance and sprawled, rolling in the grass. Get up! Get up! Her mind screamed. Without the use of her arms, she thrashed about, losing precious seconds of escape time. She jackknifed her torso until she could get her knees under her and struggle to her bare feet. Lissa heard the men’s voices far behind her, laughing and mocking her bad luck.
Even these brief seconds of rest from running had stiffened her leg muscles. A few twinges of pain warned of the impending cramps that would paralyze her legs.
“Oh, gawd,” she cried aloud with the first stab of pain. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to slow down to dampen the convulsions that soon would cripple her.
Got to keep moving—can’t stop. If I let my legs rest, the muscles will clench taut and I will fall down helpless in the grass.
Lissa groaned aloud until her pumping legs forced more oxygen to their tortured muscles. Like a second wind, they recovered their strength, and she sped on toward the green refuge now only a few hundred yards ahead. She glanced over her shoulder just as she dashed under the first branches marking the edge of the forest. Her predators had increased their speed, and already had closed half the distance to her.
The lavender twilight had faded from the sky, deepening the gloom under the trees. There was a dimly perceived path twisting away before her. She could follow it, and avoid tripping over tree roots or low bushes. But then, so could the men, making it certain they would capture her. She had to risk an unknown direction. Her feet leaped over a large stone beside the path and began their stinging journey over sharp twigs and pebbles, into the heart of a primeval darkness.
There was no sense of direction in this dark, repeating pattern of tree trunks and mossy ground. Only an occasional moonbeam wedged between leafy canopies warned Lissa that she was wandering aside from her escape route. Her heart leaped into her throat as she realized she had half-turned back, moving in a quarter circle. Only luck or a miracle could save her from straying in a circle that would steer her defenseless body into the clutches of her pursuers.
Does every beautiful young girl initiated at Blackthorne House have to endure this terror? Lissa stopped, leaning against a tree as she panted, out of breath. Where can I go? How long can I just keep running? This whole story they told me of giving me a chance to escape is a cruel game for their amusement. If I stay here, they will catch me. If I keep running, I’ll come out of the forest into the vineyard where those horrible creatures live. Please, please, let me wake up from this hideous nightmare!
The sound of male voices entering the woods decided the issue for her. Lissa gulped a lung full of air and sprinted toward the thickest cluster of trees. She knew roughly where they were behind her from the sound of their voices; boasting of their sexual power, arguing about which way she had gone, and the occasional curse to announce a stubbed toe.
At least I know which way not to run.
But where was all this running taking her? Even if she was successful in avoiding capture through the night, when the sun rose in the morning it would be easy for them to see her. And then they would—they would...
No, don’t think about that. It just makes you weak, and you need all your strength. Tears crept down her cheeks. She ran on.
The trees thinned ahead, showing ribbons of moonlight between their trunks. Lissa slipped around the thickest tree trunk, pressing her naked body against it to hide from the men getting closer behind her. A narrow river flowed in front of her, the moon transmuting its smooth flowing surface into liquid silver.
How deep? She asked herself. With my arms bound in this leather harness, I can’t swim! There would be no advantage in trying to escape across it if I drowned.
Lissa heard laughter, the sound of male beasts closing in on the scent of their prey.
“Here’s where she went. The broken twigs show where her feet were running.”
“Come on, let’s get her! My dripping cock needs a squirming victim.”
“My cock is getting almost as long as my whip,” another male voice said.
More laughter.
They’re getting closer! She whirled around, desperate in the darkness to find safety. The darkness she prayed would be her friend was also her foe, preventing her from locating a hidden refuge.
There, that low bush. It’s my only hope. Lissa knelt and crawled under the spreading branches. She crouched down in the darkness, pressing her naked breasts against her knees. She opened her mouth, trying to breathe silently, listening to their bo
ots crunching closer and closer.
Don’t shiver! If I give in to my fear and tremble against the twigs, it will be heard!
She was trapped. She couldn’t escape them now. If she moved, even slightly, that fiendish bell on her collar would betray her into their hands, whips, and cocks. Their voices were getting close! She could recognize them now.
“Spread out and check every shadow,” Shawe’s voice said.
“She’s gotta be here somewhere,” Gregor said. “My cock’s itching—only does that when a naked pussy is near.”
Lissa’s heart hammered against her ribs. She clamped her tear-drenched eyes shut and held her breath. Thank you, she whispered in her mind, whoever made the rules, thank you for not letting them have lanterns or dogs to sniff out my scent.
Their twig-snapping feet were moving away to each side as they searched behind every tree, felt the ground in every shadow. Somehow, miraculously, they had missed her.
Thank you, thank you. Lissa murmured her gratitude with silent lips, her cheeks glistening with tears.
The voices faded, moving away in the distance along the river. She waited, listening with every fiber of her body. Their voices were faint now, moving away along the river to the east.
Lissa exhaled a long breath of relief. She wiggled from under the bush, her silver tattle-tale bell tinkling on her collar.
“She’s here!” Shawe’s voice cried out only a dozen yards away. He had stayed behind, signaling the other men to keep walking while he listened. “Come on back. Let’s get her!” he stepped from behind a tree, the pale skin of his naked body visible in the dim patches of moonlight.
Lissa leaped up, scrambling desperately to escape. Her flashing thighs spread as she leaped into the river, willing to risk its unknown depth rather than the certain terror of the men’s grasping hands and ravenous lust of their jabbing cocks.
“She’s in the river!” Shawe trotted along the edge of the water, keeping pace with Lissa’s efforts to escape. She had made a terrible mistake in the dark. She was wading against the current, barely able to make progress. “Here, she’s here!” he shouted.
Bound For Pleasure at Blackthorne Page 26