“I—I,” she stutters, jerking back, rubbing me while she does so, forcing the dangerous tension inside me toward the brink.
Releasing her neck in a flash, I grasp her hips to throw her on the floor so I can mount her from behind.
The next second, I am on top of her, throwing the hides aside and ramming my hips against hers, trying to find her deep. It’s hidden among the tussle of her weak armor. “You will take me again and again, human! That is your punishment!” I hiss.
Pulling her hair to the side, I force her to look back at me.
“Aida!” a voice calls out, interrupting as our eyes meet. I snarl loudly in warning. Death will come to those who intervene! I thrust my hips forward, my cock tip finally hitting—finding—the soft, wet heat between her thighs. It slips before it fully penetrates her.
“Mother,” Aida gasps loudly, throwing herself away from me.
My hands drop. Mother?
Aida scrambles away and rises.
9
The Elders
Before dawn, I’m led deeper into the cave, following a path of torches to where the elders are. Mother leads the way, huffing, upset.
She’s horrified that the male was awake, shocked that he was on top of me naked—I’m reeling from that too—and concerned for my safety along with his. She didn’t want me alone with him, and now she’s made the sentiments known, loudly, for all the nearby tribemates to awaken and hear.
I’m upset too, but for so many reasons. My body is doing strange things, and my thoughts are a mess. My core hasn’t stopped fluttering for hours, and my arousal gathers to trickle down my legs.
He was nearly in me. For a moment. The shock of that has yet to leave my body. Truer aim, and my innocence would have been taken. Snatched. And claimed.
My mind and my body have yet to decide how I feel about that.
I keep rubbing my thighs together, trying to make my arousal go away, but it just gets worse. I’ve never been this aroused before, not even while thinking of my darkest fantasies late at night…
And it’s worse because he’s behind me, not a stride away, often daring to come closer and breathe down my neck. I can see his shadow eclipse mine now and again as we walk, and the dark sharpness of his horns pierce every gloomy corner. Even with a pelt tied around his waist, I feel his cock poke my backside every time he bumps into me.
I brace for his brutal penetration constantly.
He bumps into me a lot. To the point that if we had nothing shielding us right now, I’m sure he would have no problem rutting me while we walked, in front of everyone… slipping his shaft between my buttocks with each stride.
My core gushes a little. More uncertainty knots my belly. I imagine it. Then there’s a twinge of shame and embarrassment.
Milaye’s sisters are following behind, weapons at the ready, I remind myself. Stop thinking about sex.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, my stomach is grumbling, my limbs are tight from abuse, and the restful, amazing sleep I got lying against the male—whose panting in my ear is making my spine ramrod straight, my whole body aware of his—wasn’t nearly enough.
Around us, people waking for the day, and the first wafts of cooking fish fill the air.
My face falls. I don’t want to face the elders.
Not now. Not like this. My dewy thighs slip against each other with each step.
Mother stops before a large tent and turns to me. “They have questions, Aida, for you alone,” she adds, glancing at him behind me.
He growls, steps up right behind me so that we touch, and I pivot to face him. “It’s the law of the tribe,” I urge, peering up at him. Every time I do so, my gaze goes to his glittering horns.
“I do not care for human law,” he utters.
Mother tugs me back, brow furrowed and flashing him a look of annoyance. “My daughter saved your life, tended your wounds, and has given you shelter. Soon you will be fed. You will obey our laws while you are a guest here, male. Unless you forgo our shelter and choose to leave?” She sounds hopeful.
His gaze mutes when he looks at her. “Leave? No, I will not leave, not yet,” he says. “But make no mistake, human, your daughter owes me a great debt. One night of shelter does not begin to cover what she has stolen from me.”
Mother’s mouth purses. “Go, Aida. Talk to them. They’re waiting. Your father is waiting. I will stay here with—what do you call yourself, male?” she asks.
The light briefly returns to his eyes. “Zaeyr,” he announces, straightening.
“Zaeyr,” I whisper. He turns to face me, flashing me a look of ferocious desire. Zaeyr. I like it. I like it so much more than any other male name I’ve ever heard. “Wait here,” I say quickly. “I’ll be right back.”
I’m forced to bear the weight of his heavy stare before I turn and duck through the tent entrance. A sliver of coldness runs through me as I walk to the central fire and face the two men and two old females before me.
Nata and Drea are the last of the grandmothers. Nata is a great-aunt to me, my oldest living relative since my grandmother passed away years ago. Stagie and Tabach are the last of the old men.
Though Tabach is my father, he is twice the age of my mother. His first mate could not conceive children, and after many years of failure, Tabach mated my mother, Shyn, when she came of age, producing me and my sister, who she raised with the tribe’s help. They do not live together, but they are amicable. Mother takes care of him in the elder huts where he
