Penelope Ann shook her head. “He doesn’t hear it. He keeps talking like I never said anything.”
Anna gazed toward the house. “He must have really gone off the deep end.”
Penelope Ann wrung her hands. “What am I going to do?”
Anna hefted the weapon in her hand. “I can’t give this to Menlo. If Aquilla attacked him, they would fight to the death. No matter who won, the result would be the same. Another war would destroy both the Avitras and the Ursidreans, regardless of how it gets started.”
Penelope Ann started to argue, but Anna cut her off. “The only solution is to avoid a fight. If Aquilla is that bent on killing him, then we have to find a way to get him away.”
“But how?” Penelope Ann asked. “Aquilla’s men would catch him the minute he set foot out of the store room.”
Anna smiled to herself. “Aquilla’s men.”
Penelope Ann stared at her. “What are you going to do?”
Anna hefted the weapon again. “I don’t know, but I won’t give this to Menlo—not yet. We just might be able to avoid bloodshed. I’ll keep this in reserve just in case anything goes wrong.” She tucked the stone into her waistband. “Thank you for this. It’s a big help.”
“How can it be a help if you’re not going to use it?” Penelope Ann asked.
“Just knowing it’s there helps a lot,” she replied. “Now go home. I have a job to do, and I don’t want you watching and asking a lot of questions.”
Chapter 11
Anna crouched behind the store room and drew the sillian and the stone knife out of her clothes. She set the animal on the boards of the balcony and set to work. She hadn’t cut up an animal since she butchered a chicken in her father’s yard, but this couldn’t be much different. She rolled the furry skin in her fingers until she worked a piece of it away from the underlying muscle. Then she cut.
The weapon was as sharp as she expected, and the sillian’s skin sloughed off the carcass with no trouble. She opened the abdominal cavity and scooped out the organs. She wrapped the skin and offal Piwaka’s cloth and stowed it in a corner next to the store room. She cleaned off the knife and hid it in her boot. She wouldn’t tell Menlo about it just yet. With any luck, neither of them would ever have to use it.
She ran through the situation in her mind. She could count on Aquilla not to sneak into the store room unseen and kill Menlo. He would choose a public place to execute his prisoner to show everyone what a powerful leader he was. When he decided to kill Menlo, Anna could count on some form of warning. She would slip Menlo the knife if he needed it.
She lifted the barricade and stepped into the dim room. Menlo sat in his corner where she’d left him, but his eyes brightened when he recognized her. “I didn’t think you were coming back.”
She stepped forward. “I wouldn’t leave you here like this.” She unfastened the cords around his wrists and ankles.
“I don’t mean that,” he replied. “Aquilla was just here.”
Anna’s head shot up. “What did he say?”
“Just the usual mumbo-jumbo about how he couldn’t let the Ursidreans take advantage of the Avitras,” he replied. “I couldn’t follow half of what he said, but he didn’t have any trouble putting words together into a sentence. That guy can talk. I’ll give him that.”
Anna shook herself. “Never mind about him. I brought you something.”
Menlo frowned. “What?”
Anna opened the cloth and laid a mound of square chunks of meat on the floor in front of him. He stared at them for a moment. Then, with a furious growl, he pounced on them and devoured them in a heartbeat.
Her idea of him tearing the sillian apart with his teeth wasn’t much different than his treatment of the meat. He really was that hungry. He would tear a dead animal apart with his teeth to save his own life. Who wouldn’t?
She sat down on the floor in front of him. When he finished, she folded up the cloth and tucked it away. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes with a sigh.
“Tell me what Aquilla said,” she told him. “He must have made some coherent statement, or he wouldn’t have come to visit you.”
Menlo didn’t open his eyes. “He’s going to kill me. That’s what he said.”
Anna’s blood ran cold. “Is that what he said?”
“Of course,” Menlo replied. “He wants to rub my nose in it so I’ll be quaking in fear when the time comes.”
Anna’s astonishment turned to rage. “He’s not going to kill you.”
Menlo peeked at her through his half-closed eyelids. “What’s to stop him? You?” He chuckled. “That’s sweet of you.”
Anna shook her head. “Maybe not me, but something will. I think I know something that will.”
“What could that be?” he asked.
“Never mind,” she replied. “I don’t want to promise anything, but I might have a few options left.”
He chuckled again and shook his head, but he didn’t answer.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” she asked.
He smiled up at her and shrugged. “You’ve been very kind to me, and I don’t like to deprive you of all hope. But Aquilla is Alpha of his faction. You aren’t even Avitras. You’re a guest here. What could you possibly do to save me?”
She turned away. “You’ve been locked in this room too long. The rest of the world is still going on outside. Days pass, and people talk to each other. Where do you think I got that meat for you?”
He blinked down at the floor in front of him. “What?”
Now it was her turn to smile. “Did you think I went hunting for it to get food for you?”
He opened his mouth and shut it again. “I...I guess I didn’t really think about it.”
“No, you didn’t,” she replied. “For one thing, I can’t hunt. All I did was clean the animal and cut it up for you. For another thing, the Avitras are herbivores. They don’t have any weapons for hunting. I could get in big trouble for this.”
He nodded with round eyes. “In more ways than one.”
She squatted down in front of him. “Some other people in the village are helping me. I don’t want to tell you who they are, because if Aquilla finds out you have help, he won’t stop until he gets you to tell him who they are. But I’m not alone. Other Avitras want to help you, and one of them gave me that meat to give to you. We’ll find a way to stop Aquilla from killing you.”
He made a face. “Let him kill me. I don’t want to keep living like this.”
She sat down and brought her face close to his. “Don’t give up—not now when we have the chance to help you. Hang on a little longer. We might be able to bring Aquilla around.”
He shook his head, but his chin fell onto his chest. “You might be able to help me with your salve and some food every now and then. But what can that really do for me? I’ll probably never get home again. Aquilla will never let me go.”
She couldn’t stop herself from touching his hand. “Don’t give up, Menlo. We’re doing everything we can. It might not get you out of here, but it’s the best we can do for now.”
He nodded and pressed her hand. “I shouldn’t be so ungrateful. I’m lucky to have you—and your friends.”
“I’ll try to get you some more food,” she told him. “If Aquilla stays away from you for a while, your wrists might heal a little. And I can try to come back tonight so you can get some sleep.”
He shook his head. “I can’t let you risk that anymore. You got away with it once, but not again. If anything happened to you....”
She stiffened. “Don’t you want me to come back? I thought you slept well last night.”
“I did,” he replied. “I can’t think of anything I’d like better in the world than to sleep with you watching over me. But you’ve done enough already. I can’t let Aquilla hurt you the way he’s hurting me. I couldn’t live with that.”
She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Bu
t I want to come. I was looking forward to it, and now you’re telling me not to. Are you trying to rob me of all hope?”
His eyes rose to her face. “Listen to me, Anna. Aquilla has passed beyond the limit of rational thought. He won’t hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his way. If he found out you kept coming here to help me, that would be the end of you. No one could protect you from him.”
Her shoulders drooped. “I know it’s dangerous, but I have to come. I thought I was joining the Avitras faction, and that I would mate with one of their men and make my home here. Now that hope is gone. I came here with my sister, and now she’s gone, too. I thought Aquilla and Penelope Ann were my friends, and that I could trust them to help me settle in here. Now, ever since Aquilla brought you here, the ground is slipping under my feet. I’ve got nothing to stand on. This is all I have left.”
He stared into her eyes. For a moment, she couldn’t tell if he believed her or nor. Menlo turning away from her would be the biggest disaster of all. Then he stroked the back of her hand. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Alright. You can come. I just hate to think of anything happening to you.”
She almost choked when she tried to speak. “Something’s already happening to you. I have to live with that every day. I’m driving myself crazy trying to figure out how to get you out of this, but what options do I have? I can’t exactly fight the whole faction. I’m only one person.”
He cradled her hand in both of his. “You don’t have to fight the whole faction. You’re not responsible for me. You should protect yourself. I would protect you if I could.”
“I am responsible for you,” she countered. “If I don’t help you, no one else will.”
“You said you had friends who want to help you,” he pointed out.
“They want to help me help you,” she explained. “If I wasn’t sticking my neck out to help you, they wouldn’t do anything. They would sit back and say it’s not their place to interfere with Aquilla’s decisions.”
Menlo cocked his head. “Is that what they said?”
Anna blushed. “One of them said that. He said it right before he gave me that meat for you, so I guess he doesn’t mind interfering so much.”
Menlo smiled to himself. “I see.”
She tugged at her hand. “I better go. Aquilla could come back at any time.”
“I don’t think so,” he replied. “He said he was going to call a council of his Guard. He could be gone for a while.”
Anna glanced over her shoulder. “He said that right after he said he was going to kill you?”
Menlo nodded.
She tried to stand up. “Then there’s no time to lose. I have to find out what he plans to do so we can stop him.”
He held tight to her hand. “Don’t leave, Anna.”
Her eyes widened. “This is serious. When he comes back with his men, he’ll have a plan in mind for killing you. I don’t know. Maybe he plans to send your head back to the Ursidreans as a message. We can’t just sit back and wait.”
He didn’t let her go. “Even if he does kill me, I would rather spend my last hours here with you. Don’t run away. Stay here.”
She couldn’t speak through her parched lips.
His eyes flickered across her face, down to her mouth and back up to her eyes. “You’re not the only one who lost everything. Looking forward to you coming back here is all I’ve got left.”
A shiver of excitement quivered through her. Was he really saying what she thought he was saying? She didn’t dare breathe.
“When Aquilla brought me here,” he went on, “I thought I was done for. I never expected anybody to help me, and you’ve helped me so many times I can never repay you.”
“I don’t want you to repay me,” she began.
“That’s not what I mean,” he replied. “You’ve helped me, and now you’re telling me there are others who want to help me, too. You’re the only light in the darkness. I can’t lose you now.”
She laid her other hand over his, but that simple touch seemed so paltry now. Nothing would satisfy her now but to touch him with more than just her hand. She couldn’t let herself touch his body, but her soul cried out against all restraint to do it.
What could they have been if they hadn’t met in some dank store room in the Avitras village? What would they have said to each other? How could they have known each other? What would they have shared without all this fear and pain keeping them apart?
She saw it all when she looked into his eyes. She knew him as something other than a prisoner. If she could see the places he lived before his capture, she could understand him as a person instead of an obligation. If she could get to know him in the daylight instead of this dark closet, she could appreciate his strength as well as his soft side.
They might laugh and talk and walk together in the forest. They might sit in the sunshine and wait for the day to end. When the stars came out, they might walk back to.....wherever he lived. Penelope Ann told her the Ursidreans lived in caves in the mountains, but Anna couldn’t believe anything any of them told her anymore. She wouldn’t believe it until she saw it for herself, and when was that likely to happen?
She would leave the Avitras when this was all over. Once she didn’t have to worry about Menlo anymore, she would turn her back on the Avitras once and for all. She’d only stayed this long in the fading hope that Frieda would turn up again. That hope died when Anna looked at Menlo’s face. Frieda wasn’t coming back. She was gone. Most likely, she was dead. Anna would never get back to Earth, and she had only two relatives left alive on this planet. Her other sister Emily lived with the Ursidreans, and her cousin Aimee Sandoval lived with the Lycaon. The Lycaon welcomed the marooned human women with open arms. She would go back to them.
Her vision cleared, and Menlo’s face hovered before her eyes again. How could this situation resolve except in his death? He was right. Aquilla would never let him go. He would rally his men to kill Menlo. Her throat tightened. She couldn’t be swayed by false hopes of him getting free and back to his own people. Piwaka giving her the sillian was one thing. Freeing Menlo was another matter altogether. All the other Guards would support Aquilla, and not even Piwaka could stand against them all.
Menlo’s breath puffed into her face when he whispered, “Are you there, Anna?”
She tried to smile, but inside, sobs choked her heart. “I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
She couldn’t stand it any longer. She clamped her eyes shut and leaned forward. Her lips touched his, and he froze in surprise. Then, in a whirlwind of arms and bodies, they clutched each other in a frenzy of longing and desperation. Another day, another hour, another minute into the future no longer existed. They might die together, but at least they would have each other.
His mouth lingered on hers for only a moment. Then he gnawed down her neck to her chest. She devoured every inch of his skin she could find. She ran her fingers through his hair the way she dreamed of the night before. She spread her legs around his waist to draw him into herself.
They clawed at one another in desperate hunger. Anna would never have known he was worn down with hunger and pain and exhaustion. He crushed her against his big hard body with his mighty arms and reared up onto his knees. Her skirt rode up her thighs to her waist. Menlo’s large hands gripped her ass and he pulled her against his erection. She took control and devoured his mouth. She rubbed against his hardness and moaned. Riding him she showed him what she wanted. He groaned and kissed her harder, more demanding as if this was going to be his one and only chance. When he pulled back he was breathing heavily and she could feel his heart racing against her breasts.
He didn’t wait long before he pulled Anna’s shirt over her head and pulled her skirt down her hips. Anna had to wiggle to get it down her curves. Now she stood before him naked, and feeling a little vulnerable. She became aware that she wasn’t model thin, and her ski
n wasn’t perfectly tan and flawless. He froze and stared at her. The heat in his eyes told her she was everything he ever wanted.
He was the biggest man she had ever seen. He was strong, hard, and muscular. She ran her fingers down his abs to the button on his pants. She popped the button and his erection jumped at her, she wrapped her small hand around him but he flipped her over on her back, and she yelped in ecstasy when she felt his tongue lick her pussy, and he didn’t stop. His tongue swirled and licked her thoroughly. Her body shook and she wrapped her fingers into his hair trying to pull him away only to push her pussy closer. She flipped on her back wanting to see him working on her. She lifted her hips crying out when he stuck his tongue inside of her. She arched off the wood floor and pushed further into his face grinding against his mouth as she came. Pleasure wove through Anna as Menlo continued to lick and then sucked her clit into his mouth.
Finally after all this time he was going to make love to her. There in the small room floor Menlo pushed into Anna. Her body tightened, but he slid in inch by inch. Taking his time and enjoying the feel of her wet pussy wrapping around him. He thrust deeper and she gasped when he was fully seated. Her body still tingled from her last orgasm and her inner muscles milked his cock tightening around him.
He clenched his jaw and pulled out only to slowly thrust back in. He made love to her. Their pace became synchronized as she lifted her hips to meet each thrust. His eyes never left hers and when he kissed her it was soft. His touch was light and sensual. She wrapped her legs around his waist pulling him deeper inside of her and holding him close. Her nails scratched his back and he grunted. Her feet were constantly slapping against his bare backside and she could feel the hardness of those heart shaped globes.
This was a spontaneous, spur of the moment kind of thing that most women would give anything to get from their significant other. Anna had always been closed off emotionally, but this was an exception. It’s not often and it’s usually not for long, but she felt that Menlo might be someone special.
His eyes widened and she felt his cock grow even larger inside of her. His eyes glazed over and then he thrust in and out of her with such a force that she could do nothing but lay there and take it. She locked her legs around him and held on as he took her, and when he came, she gave it her all to not scream as Menlo owned her body and soul.
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