Chapter 4
Tara came to her senses in a dark tent. She whimpered in her sleep and started upright, but a cool hand touched her forehead and eased her down. “It’s all right. I’m here.”
“Taig!” she cried.
“He’s all right for now,” the voice told her. “They won’t sacrifice him ‘til morning.”
Tara’s mind cleared enough to recognize the voice. “Allen. What are you doing here?”
His soft voice came to her out of the dark. “Someone had to stay with you. Reina wanted to, but I convinced the others to let me stay.”
She looked around, but her eyes couldn’t detect the faintest light. “What time is it?”
“It must be after midnight,” he replied. “The whole camp’s asleep.”
She swallowed a lump in her throat and her voice quavered. “Except Taig.”
“It’s all right,” he murmured. “We’ll find a way to get him out. We won’t stand by and watch them kill him.”
She clamped her eyes shut and threw her arm over her eyes. She couldn’t break down now, especially with Allen sitting right there. His hand settled on her shoulder. “It’s okay.”
She tried to sit up, but he pressed her down again. “Rest a little longer. You’re spent.”
She sank back on a pile of blankets. Her eyes hurt, and nervous exhaustion tortured her every nerve. She wished she could sink into unconsciousness, but worry for Taig kept her alert.
Out of the darkness, Allen’s hand came to rest on her forehead. He stroked her hair back from her face and soothed her nerves. “You passed out when they told us they planned to eat him. They let us bring you here, but they would only let one person stay with you.”
“Why did you decide to stay?” she asked.
“I care about you,” he murmured. “Don’t you know that by now?”
She blinked. She couldn’t see any more of him than a shadow. “I didn’t think....”
“Don’t think.” His lips landed on her forehead, and his breath rushed into her hair. “Shh.”
She relaxed back on the blankets. Her mind roiled at the possibilities, from Taig out there tied between two trees, to her parents and village vanished without a trace, and back again to her cousins and friends. She couldn’t forget the danger they were in, but her soul cried out for Allen. She could lean on him for comfort in a way she couldn’t with anyone else. She could show him her fear and let him support her.
If Reina was here, Tara would have to be strong and sure. She couldn’t show any uncertainty around Reina, or the girl would fall apart. Tara would have to get up and formulate a plan for their escape. Allen had a twin brother of his own. How would he feel if Taman was tied to that tree right now? Would she be able to offer him comfort in the face of a hopeless situation?
Without meaning to, she threw her arms around his neck and hung on for dear life. Everything she’d ever done and everywhere she’d ever gone, Taig had been by her side. If anything happened to Taig, she would be alone in the world for the first time. Not even Ari and Aeifa could take his place. Allen could anchor her. His massive shoulders could shelter her and keep her safe.
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.”