He jumped in surprise when she caught hold of him. Then he settled into her. His furry head dropped into the hollow of her neck, and his breath warmed her neck. The blocks of muscle along his back and shoulders tightened and lifted her off the bed. Tara shivered, but the longer she held onto him, the more the shivers changed into tremors of excitement.
She’d rolled around with Lycaon boys back in the village. Everyone her age did it, but none of them set her alight this way. His breath scorched her skin, and she rubbed her head against his fur. She ran her fingers through the coarse hair, and even that sparked surges of energy she couldn’t suppress. His very alien nature, his Ursidrean-ness, drove her out of her mind. Her body tingled with a thousand sparks. She arched her back and her body rippled against him.
The scene between the trees flashed through her mind, with Lilith’s hands squirreling into Taig’s pants, his crotch bulging, and his breath coming in gasps. Lilith’s tongue slithered into his ear, and her teeth sank into his flesh. Against her will, Tara thrilled to that forbidden pleasure. Her crotch twitched with excitement, and warm juice oozed out of her.
Allen growled against her shoulder. Was he thinking about the same thing? Did Lilith excite everyone with her antics? Were Ari and Reina touching and exploring each other right now in the next tent? What about Aeifa and Taman?
She couldn’t hold herself back. She bent her head and slipped her tongue into Allen’s ear. He reacted instantly by sinking his teeth into her shoulder. The thrill of pain brought a gasp from her mouth. She bent one leg around his back and drew him down on top of her.
He rubbed his fur down her neck to her chest and moved her shirt aside with his cheek. She hugged his head against her chest, and the rumblings from deep in his throat vibrated through her bones, down through her guts, and set the velvet tissue of her genitals humming to the same vibration.
His shoulders loomed over her. When did he get so big? She always thought of him as a little boy, but he dwarfed her now with his massive bulk. A giant with glowering eyes and hulking muscles caught her in his grasp. He could rend her in two, but he held her safe in his hands. His bulk protected her from the danger outside the tent. He would always protect her.
He rolled over on top of her. His weight overpowered her like nothing she’d ever experienced. She had no choice but to spread her legs around him, and his hips drove between down them. She panted for breath, and her hands raked through the fur down his back to his pants. She drove her fingers under his belt and down inside his pants. Warm fur covered his buttocks and ran down the back of his thighs.
Tara squeezed his ass with both hands and forced his hips against her. He pushed his bulging cock into her tender flesh, and his hands followed her down, down to her ass seething up and down in anticipation. He crushed both her buttocks in an iron grip, and he pushed her pants down over her hips. Her delicate petals sprang free into the brisk night air, and she sucked her breath through her teeth. The air hadn’t chilled her steaming juices an instant before he shoved his rigid bulge against her.
She clawed at his waistband in desperate need. She tore his pants off, and his cock shot out toward her. She arched her back one more time and aimed her hips with expert precision. His teeth caught her ear and he deafened her with his bellow. She spread her legs another fraction, and his cock plunged into her depths. She yelped into his ear, but the tide of desire wouldn’t let her settle. Hot flames licked through her, and she bucked and kicked against him. He didn’t rest a moment, but lifted his shoulders high above her. His eyes burned into her soul from far above her. She couldn’t see them with her eyes, but they burned in her mind and drove her into an intoxicated daze.
Her body moved of its own volition. She couldn’t stop it undulating against him, dancing in rhythm to his steady strokes. He growled between his teeth in harmony with her moaning. Their breath gasped faster until they both choked, but they only rode faster toward each other. At the last second, her eyes shot open. She strained for any sight of him, but explosions of light in front of her eyes blocked her vision. Then she tumbled down into dark oblivion where nothing existed but him.
She lay in the delirious glow of his love until he coughed into her hair. She stirred under him. “We should get up.”
“It’s not sunrise yet,” she replied.
“We have to find some way to rescue Taig,” he told her.
Tara sat up. She had to get her thoughts in order. “Where are the others?”
“They’re asleep in another tent,” he replied. “Under guard, of course.”
“And we’re under guard, too, I guess,” she remarked.
He nodded. “I had a good look around while you were asleep. There must be a hundred people surrounding us. I don’t know how we’d even get out of this tent, and even if we got away, they would track us down.”
Tara drove herself to her feet. “There must be some way.”
She peered through the tent opening. The aurora had faded, and clouds blocked out the stars. Pitch dark surrounded the tent on all sides. Tara couldn’t make out anybody beyond the door. “How could you see where they were?”
He snorted. “Ursidreans can’t see as well in the dark as Lycaon, but we can hear and smell as well as you can, maybe better. There are five over there and another six over there. I can hear another bunch moving around beyond those trees, and they’ve definitely stepped up their activity since you woke up. They’re guarding us. Make no mistake about that.”
She dropped down on her haunches. “Then it really is hopeless. We couldn’t get past them to free Taig, and we couldn’t get the others out, either. We’re stuck. They’ll probably kill us all.”
“No,” he replied. “Lilith explained it to us. Taig is supposed to be a price we pay to join these people. She said everyone who ever joined the Outliers paid the same price.”
Tara groaned. “They must be some kind of deviant.”
“I don’t know how they developed,” he replied, “but that Lilith is a demon. She said she came to the Outliers with her brother. She had a twin from her mother, and the Outliers sacrificed him so she could stay.”
“How awful!” Tara whispered.
“Do you want to know the most awful part about it?” he asked. “They were barely old enough to walk when it happened. She said her brother’s sacrifice is one of her earliest memories, and after they killed him, she sat down with the others and shared the feast. They ate him, just like they plan to do with Taig.”
Overwhelming fear and horror threatened to knock her off her feet. She would pass out if she stayed in one place a moment longer. She jumped to her feet and paced around the room. “We’ve got to get out of here. These people are evil. I don’t know what they are, but they can’t be people like us. They must be some kind of animal, or maybe they’re alien like the Romarie that brought our mothers to Angondra.”
Allen shook his head. “I think they’ve just lived in isolation so long they’ve developed these awful rituals. Lycaon hunters eat the hearts of the animals you hunt to take their strength into yourselves. It’s not that much of a stretch to do the same thing with people.”
“It’s not anywhere near the same thing!” she shot back.
“I didn’t say it was the same,” he countered. “I said it’s not that difficult to understand how they could develop a custom like this. They haven’t had contact with the rest of Angondra in centuries. The other factions had to deal with each other, in war, in peace negotiations, and they formed alliances with some factions while they fought others. They never existed in isolation like this. They couldn’t have developed something like this without the others finding out.”
“If that’s true,” Tara replied, “maybe the Aqinas have weird customs like that, too. Maybe that’s why no one ever comes back from there. They get eaten.”
Allen chuckled, but he shook his head again. “My mother has seen the Aqinas, and she says they are peaceful and civilized.”
; “I sure hope you’re right,” Tara murmured. “I hope our parents aren’t trying to negotiate with people like these Outliers.”
Chapter 5
A flurry of activity and babble of voices startled them from outside. Figures crossed the tent doorway headed toward the trees where Taig remained tied. Tara started forward, but Allen held her back. “Not yet.”
“We have to,” she insisted. “We have to move now or we’ll be too late. We don’t have time to stand around talking about this. They’ll be on their way to kill him soon.”
Before she could answer, a tiny light bobbed in the darkness. It danced across the ground and grew stronger and nearer, until it floated into the tent. “Aeifa! Ari! What are you doing here?”
Ari and Aeifa hurried into the tent with Reina on their heels. Aeifa didn’t answer, but nodded over her shoulder. Lilith entered behind her with another lantern in her hand. She surveyed the friends. “There. You’re all together now.”
Tara glared at her. “Leave us alone. You’re going to kill my brother and eat him, so don’t come around trying to be friendly. I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life searching for a way to pay you back for this. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll kill you for this.”
Lilith returned her gaze with distant detachment. Then she nodded. “I understand. Believe me, I understand how you feel.”
“You couldn’t understand how I feel,” Tara snapped. “You’re a zombie. You’re dead to the Angondran race. You might as well be dead from the neck up, and I’ll never have anything more to do with you.”
Lilith waited until she finished. When she spoke, she kept her voice low. “They killed my brother, too.”
“And you enjoyed that, didn’t you?” Tara hissed. “Was he as delicious as Taig?”
Lilith winced. “I don’t remember.”
Tara threw up her hands and spun away. “Get out of here. Don’t show your face to me again.”
Lilith didn’t move. “I came here to tell you I’ll get you out of here if you only listen to me.”
Tara spun back around the other way. “What?”
“I’ll get you out,” Lilith replied. “I’ll help you get Taig and get away.”
The others exchanged glances. “Why would you do that?”
Lilith shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. The important thing is to make sure you get out and make it back to the inhabited territories.”
“How will we do that?” Allen asked.
“It shouldn’t be too hard.” Lilith looked down at their feet and back up to their faces. “You’re Lycaon. You can run back before anybody knows you’re gone.”
Ari snorted. “That’s not likely to happen. There are guards crawling all over this camp. They’re all around this tent and all around Taig. How are we going to get past them?”
“And don’t forget Reina,” Aeifa added. “The boys can’t run as fast as we can, but at least they can run. Reina can’t. She’d never be able to keep up with us.”
Taman frowned. “We can’t trust her, anyway. She’s trying to trick us by offering us a chance to escape. I don’t believe a word she says. She’s the one who did this to Taig. She’s the worst of the bunch.”
A sad smile played on Lilith’s lips. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you the truth. Just take this chance and go while you can.”
Tara crossed her arms over her chest. “None of us is going anywhere on your word until you explain why you’re doing this. None of us has any reason to trust you.”
Lilith cocked her head the other way. “It’s her.”
The whole group gasped. “Aeifa, why her?”
Lilith studied Aeifa. “She reminds me of my mother. She sort of looks like her, with that light colored hair and her eyes. I don’t remember much about my life before I came to the Outliers, but I remember what she looked like.” Lilith shook her head. “I haven’t thought about this for years. I suppose it’s you showing up here that made me think of it.”
“What does that have to do with letting us go?” Tara asked.
“We’ve sacrificed dozens of people, that I can remember,” Lilith replied. “I’ve never seen anybody react the way you did. Or maybe I just didn’t notice the way they reacted. I noticed the way you reacted, though. I never really thought about it before. The Outliers’ customs always seemed normal to me. It’s all I’ve ever known. But when I saw how upset you got about Taig, I started thinking about my mother. I thought maybe she would react that way if she knew about my brother Ledo.”
Tara frowned. “I thought you didn’t care. I thought you didn’t feel anything.”
Lilith lowered her eyes to the ground. “I guess I didn’t.”
“Why should we believe you can feel anything now?” Ari asked.
“I don’t feel anything now,” Lilith told him. “But I guess I don’t want to see what happened to Ledo happen to Taig. I couldn’t do anything for Ledo then, but I can do something for Taig now.”
Tara couldn’t control her shaking hands. “Come with us, Lilith. Get away from these horrible people. You can go back to the Avitras and find your parents.”
Lilith shook her head. “I’ll help you get away, but I won’t go. The Outliers are my people now. I’ve been with them all my life. I can’t change now.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Allen told her. “You helping us proves you’re still alive. You don’t have to stay here.”
Lilith turned away. “I can’t leave. Now come on. I’ll show you how to get away.”
“How are we going to get us past the guards?” Ari asked.
Lilith shrugged. “I drugged them. They won’t wake up any time soon.”
Before anyone could argue with her, she slipped out of the tent into the night, leaving the friends no choice but to follow her. Allen went first. He cocked his ears to hear the soft fall of her feet in the grass. Tara hung close behind him until they found the torches surrounding Taig. Sure enough, a dozen guards lay asleep on the ground. They didn’t stir when the group approached.
Taig’s chin hung down on his chest, and a bruise darkened the side of his face where Lilith hit him with her stick. Reina stepped on dry stick, and Taig’s head shot up with a start. “Who’s there?”
Tara ran to his side, but she dared not touch him. “We’re here, Taig. We’re getting out of here.”
His eyes raced from one side to the other. He yanked at his bonds when he saw Lilith. Blood trickled down his wrists. “Don’t let her come near me.”
Lilith laughed in his face. Her bright teeth shone in the torchlight. “I’m sacrificing a lot more than you think by letting you go. Don’t tempt me to keep you here after all.”
“What do you mean?” Tara asked.
“Don’t you know?” Lilith waved her hand. “I guess you wouldn’t know. The designated gets to pitch the chosen before the sacrifice.”
Tara blinked. “You’re not making sense. What are you saying?”
Lilith smacked her lips. “This is like explaining everything to children. One person gets picked to conduct the sacrificial ritual. Old Ponchy gave me the honor of designating me, and I got to choose who we would sacrifice. I chose him.” She nodded toward Taig. “If I’m going to pitch someone, I might as well pick the best one, and he looked the best to me.”
Aeifa made a disgusted face. “Are you telling us that, after you groped Taig the way you did, you’re going to finish him off before you kill him? You’re going to have sex with him.”
A groan escaped Taig, and the Ursidreans shifted from one foot to the other.
Lilith darted forward. She pressed her body against Taig and ran her tongue up the side of his face. He jerked and struggled, but he couldn’t get away. Lilith bit his ear. Then she stepped back with a cruel laugh. “You love it, don’t you? You wish I could pitch you, just once, don’t you? Wouldn’t you love to get into me, just once before you kick off for the outer stratosphere? Wouldn’t you love to die shooting your strength
into me? You know you would.” She laughed at her own joke, but her voice rang hollow in the trees.
Taig fought against his bonds and whined in terror. The others stared at the two in shock. In the end, Lilith turned away. She pulled a metal dagger from her waist and slashed the thongs holding Taig’s wrists. He slumped and almost fell, but Tara ducked under his arm and held him up.
Lilith sniffed at him. “He won’t be running anywhere the way he is. The guards will catch you before the sun gets up.”
“I’ll run out of here,” Taig replied. “I’ll run ‘til I drop.”
“We’ll get him out of here,” Tara told Lilith. “Don’t you worry about that. We’ll get him out if we have to carry him the whole way.”
“You’ll have to,” Lilith replied. “You’ll have to get over that pass in a hurry if you want to get away with your lives. If the Outliers catch you, they won’t bother to bring you back for a second chance.”
“We’ll make it,” Ari exclaimed.
“What about Reina?” Aeifa asked.
“One of us could carry her,” Allen suggested.
“Who could carry her?” Aeifa asked. “You two boys can only just run fast enough to keep up. You couldn’t add a weight like that and expect them to make it out.”
“I would carry her myself,” Tara replied, “but I’ll probably have to carry Taig.”
Taig pushed her away. He took one unsteady step before he caught his balance. “No one’s carrying me. I can run. You see if I don’t keep up with the rest of you.”
Ari spoke up. “Then I’ll carry Reina. Now come on. We don’t have a lot of time.”
“We’ll be back in Ursidrean territory before sunset,” Allen exclaimed.
Lilith shook her head. “You can’t go back to Ursidrean territory. The Outliers will find you if you go that way.”
Optorio Civil War Complete Series Box Set (Books 1 - 6): A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance (Optorio Chronicles Book 2) Page 91