Predator Ridge

by Candace Smith

  At last, he seemed satisfied with her efforts and he pushed her away. He stood and sealed himself behind the tight jeans until the monster would once more be unleashed, and then he reached for Ashley’s arm and lifted her to her feet. Ashley was sniffling and staring at his boots, knowing he was aware that she had wantonly displayed herself. Her mind still reeled with the thought that she had exhibited a passion she was unaware she possessed, for a stranger.

  He tilted her chin and squeezed until she raised her eyes, languishing in her misery. Ashley watched his eyes narrow as he smiled maliciously. Her shoulders hitched in silent sobs of embarrassment while he reached around her back to release her wrists. When she tried to cover herself again, his hand came down across her reddened bottom. Reluctantly, she let her arms drop to her sides.

  He moved her hands to the front, tied the leash to her wrists and swung up into the saddle. Ashley watched in dulled acceptance while he stuffed the shirt into the saddle pack. Somehow, it did not seem right to have Charlie’s comforting smell enveloping her while the mixed juices of passion with the stranger leaked down her thighs.

  CHAPTER III

  He led her up the wooded slope on the other side of the valley after crossing the stream in frigid waters that swirled only as deep as her knees. She wanted to sink down and let the stream wash the evidence off her thighs, but the horse continued to tug her forward.

  By mid afternoon, the high mountain air was cooling and Ashley’s teeth began to chatter. Her feet and hands felt numb as she trudged along wearing only the moccasins, and she actually considered what she might have to do to earn the minimal warmth and right to wear the shirt again. The man finally turned towards a small path in some trees, and Ashley found herself stopping in a grassy alcove surrounded on two sides by pines with a rocky wall along the back and a slight overhang. After dismounting, the man unlashed the leash from her wrists and the back of the saddle, and she rubbed her arms briskly within the limits her wrists were bound to.

  Ashley was exhausted from the unaccustomed physical demands of the hike and her fear. She found that any hopeful thoughts she had of Charlie finding her, perhaps even spotting them from an airplane above once they decided the ground search was futile, were painfully humiliating. A great deal of her time walking had been spent trying to convince herself whether or not she was even worth his time to rescue. How could she be, when she would have to admit in court that she had not even fought the assault? Quite the contrary, her body had responded with an arousal she did not know she possessed. She could imagine the look of pained betrayal in Charlie’s bright blue eyes, and the look of utter disgust on her mother’s face.

  Ashley warily watched the man as he unsaddled the horse and removed a bedroll. He spread it on the ground and lay the saddle at the top like a headboard of a bed, and she jumped back a little when he quickly strode up to her. He grabbed her bound wrists and untied the knot fusing them together. The leather strips had rubbed her skin so it remained pink, but he left the nooses in place. “Gather some small branches and pieces of wood. Stay at the edge of the clearing where I can see you.”

  Ashley silently walked towards the edges of the campsite and collected the wood. She laid it down by the stone circle of a fire pit that, judging by the soot on the rocks, had seen many previous uses. The man set to the chore of building the fire, and he seemed to disregard Ashley’s presence. Instinctively, she knew that if she tried to sneak into the shadows of the pines, she would quickly be recaptured and punished. She stood silently watching the wood ignite and the flicker of the first flames.

  Garrett noticed she was no longer trying to shield her body from him, while she watched him light the fire. He removed the sack of jerky and the canteen from the packs, and sat down, stretched his long legs on top of the blanket and leaned back against the saddle. “Come here.” Ashley silently approached him and stood at the edge of the bedroll. “Kneel.” He pointed to a spot on the blanket by his hip.

  Ashley dropped to her bruised knees where he had indicated, still shivering with the cold but warming slightly from the heat of the fire. The man held out a piece of the dried meat and her fingers tentatively reached for it. The man laid the canteen between them and Ashley understood it to mean they would be sharing the water.

  Garrett watched the girl’s resigned features, and he was pleased with how quickly she was assimilating to her situation. He was beginning to feel optimistic, that he might have found a suitable companion to join his transition to the ranch. He was bemused by his feelings, while he watched the silent woman nibbling at the tough meat. Perhaps Colby might be persuaded to let him keep her when he descended from the mountains to take his place on the plains.

  Ten years ago, Colby had found Garrett handcuffed in an office in a Mexican brothel. Antonio had been summoned to the room of one of his missing whores, and he found her bound to the bed in a painful configuration by a big man standing over her upturned red bottom. The cowhand’s belt was still in his hand, and his chest was slick with sweat at the lashing he had given the woman. Antonio recognized the aroused wildness in the youthful man’s eyes and called Colby, indicating that he found him another potential trainer to break in the new captures.

  Colby never had to threaten Garrett with the option of a lengthy incarceration in one of the torturous Mexican jails, after he described his alternative suggestion. Garrett had been fascinated by the thought of being paid well to abduct young women and systematically train them so they were compliant enough to understand their new position as sex slaves for the wealthy ranchers. All he had to do was to make sure they would willingly submit themselves to whatever their new masters required.

  It took five years of working the parks and arranging the abductions, with the winter months spent under Colby’s guidance, before Garrett was moved up the mountain as a trainer. At first, Garrett had looked forward to the solitude of his time in the wilderness with only a few weeks of the year spent in civilization so he could organize his affairs. Spring would mark the end of his sixth year. Garrett’s trained women were always in the highest demand, and two years ago Colby had asked him what he intended to do with his hoarded money.

  From an early age Garrett had discovered his need to dominate women, and he had honed his expertise over the years. What set his methods apart was his innate ability to make them orgasm. It was the ultimate humiliation and quickly subdued them, and he used his talent to both punish and train. His women were bringing top dollars at the sales, especially the last five abductions. Three of them, including Joanne, had been claimed, and the other two were making the rounds in Antonio’s more elite brothels south of the border.

  Colby liked the silent man, and he had already been planning on expanding his enterprise to more fully trained women. The small ranch on the plateau of the foothill ridge at the western edge of his property would make a good location to house the new operation. He arranged to sell it to Garrett, and the two would become partners in the business. Garrett found himself looking forward to when the snows melted and the mountain pass cleared again so he could make his final ride down the ridge.

  Garrett studied Ashley more closely now that there was a chance he would ask Colby if he could keep her. He was used to the women fighting or breaking down, but this one had something in her background that had stripped her of independence, and he could see that although she was frightened, her natural tendency seemed to be waiting for his instruction. It would open up new arousing possibilities if he had found a woman who could be trained to accept the more extreme tortures he desired without shutting down.

  She was a good height at five foot five, and although her breasts were a little large on her slender frame, they seemed to balance against the rest of her figure. She had a slim waist, and the only extra weight on her was the slight fullness of her hips and thighs, which Garrett looked forward to plying his whip to. The gold flecks in her eyes were more pronounced in the firelight, which also picked up the deep red highlights in her hair. All in all
, the girl was a beauty, and much prettier than the others he had trained. It seemed he had found the perfect package.

  The way the man stared made Ashley nervous, but she continued to quietly tear small pieces of the meat and she was relieved the small offering seemed to appease her hunger. The man reached for the canteen, and after drinking he held it out to her. Her fingers trembled slightly as she took it from him, and after she drank she handed it back out to him. The flashing thought that the heavy metal could be used as a weapon… a quick swing against his head… was dismissed. She had no idea how to travel the treacherous path back through the rugged wilderness, and even in the security of the campsite with Charlie the nighttime sounds had kept her awake for over an hour as she envisioned what dangerous animals were waiting to pounce on her.

  Her eyes dropped to the single bed roll, half again as wide as the discount provisions she had bought with Charlie, and promising more warmth with their thickness. She wondered if she would be expected to curl up beside him, or would he leave her shivering and trying to warm herself by the dwindling fire? She experienced a rapid cramp of sexual heat as her channel lubricated at the thought of lying with the man, and she felt her cheeks redden. The man terrified her, but for some reason her body kept responding to him with an aroused response. Ashley decided it was just her unconscious way of dealing with her need to survive the ordeal until she was rescued.

  Garrett put the food away and leaned forward to take off his boots. He shrugged out of his long coat, laid it over the saddle, and rested his hat on top of the pile. Ashley flinched when he grabbed her wrists and tied them back together in front of her. He opened the blankets and ordered her to lie down on the side with the fold, away from the zipper. She quivered, but silently complied because the alternative was to remain in the cold.

  After he zipped them in, pressing them close together, he grabbed her wrists and lifted them over her head. She felt him loop her hands around the saddle horn, and then he pulled her body down into the blankets, stretching her arms so she could not raise her wrists free from the saddle. He rolled her onto her side so that her back was to him, and he curled up behind her. Ashley stared into the trees and her eyes began to drip silently as the man’s arm wrapped under her breasts, reminding her of her last night in the tent with Charlie.

  Just as she began to draw even, weary breaths, she felt the man’s thumb begin to softly caress her nipple. She was too tired to offer protest, and dropped into an exhausted sleep. When Garrett sensed her sleeping, he untied her wrists from the saddle, and during the late night temperature drop, Ashley pushed back into his warmth while she slept and she gripped his arm tightly around her.

  Ashley felt a light brushing against her nipple, and another hand reached over her hip and buried between her thighs. She smiled in her sleepy state at the gentle seduction, and pushed her hips into the hand stroking her rapidly dampening folds. A long finger pushed into her, while fingers teased her hardened nipple and a thumb strummed her exposed clit.

  She slowly awakened to the dawn in a fuzzy headed state when her orgasm hit, with an awareness that the expert manipulations were not the nervous fumblings of Charlie but the devious seductions of her captor. Even while she shuddered her climax, she panicked and tried to untangle from his arms, only to find herself trapped at the edge of the bedroll. She heard the man chuckle softly, and just before he rose from their makeshift bed, he whispered in her ear, “I did not give you permission to cum, Ashley.”

  Ashley’s eyes filled with humiliated tears, and she tried to disappear within the blankets of the bedroll. The man squatted by her head to remove the jerky, two apples and the canteen from the saddle. On this trip, it was the only food he brought. “Get up, girl.”

  All she wanted to do was to stay buried in the blankets and will herself away from this confusing terror. For all the fear the man instilled in her, the most frightening aspect was his ability to cause her body to so readily respond with aroused desire. Her mind continued its ineffectual battle to deny his affect on her, but her channel clenched when she envisioned the cruel smile in his deep blue eyes. Ashley thought once more of escaping, and she considered that this stranger was perhaps the most dangerous predator on the ridge.

  She slowly rose from the bedroll and stared at the ground beside him while he slid on his boots. Garrett saw the flush of her humiliation coloring her chest and face, and he stood tilting her chin so she had to look up at him. “Say, ‘Thank you, Garrett’.”

  Oh god, no… no, he can’t have a name. I can’t put a name on this dangerous man. Ashley stood in mute terror, looking up at his bemused expression.

  Garrett waited patiently for the shock to leave her eyes. He could see the exact moment, when the tears spilled, and she realized she had to obey him or risk another punishment. He arched a brow, daring her to refuse his request. “Thank you, Garrett,” she murmured softly, and she followed the words with a quick sob. The simple acknowledgement pierced through her, and the quiet words seemed to echo and thunder around her. She had just thanked her captor for seducing her to an orgasm she once more had no control over, and the debasing, forced acknowledgement completed her humiliation. She whimpered while he held her chin and continued to stare into her liquid amber gaze. He finally released her, and he handed her some of the jerky and one of the apples.

  Garrett watched her stare at the ground while she ate in silence. It was interesting how simple it was to fuck with her mind. By the time they reached the cabin, she would be totally unbalanced. Still, it was curious that even through her terror she submitted to him so easily. After they finished eating, the man knelt to pack the bedroll and he handed her the canteen. “Go to the right of the wall of rock and refill this in the pond.”

  Ashley was still slightly dazed, and she limped as she wandered along the wall until it ended in a small stream winding down from the ridge above them. She knelt and filled the container and looked around the woods. If only she were brave enough to run. Ashley looked down at her battered, swollen feet and knew it would be impossible. She stood and walked slowly back to the man… Garrett.

  The horse was saddled and packed when she returned, and while he stashed the canteen, her eyes searched the clearing for the moccasins. They were gone, and she managed to stifle a sob at the thought of having to travel across the hard ground, once again barefoot.

  Garrett pulled the shirt out of the saddlebag and tossed it to her. In her surprise, she almost dropped it. She was confused at this turn of events, but she hurried to get the shirt buttoned and to roll up the sleeves. The chambray was a lightweight, more suited for the warmer temperatures below the mountains, but it offered a little protection from the cool morning breeze. The man swung up in the saddle and held down his hand. “Come here.”

  Although she was afraid of being held close to him, the reprieve for her aching legs and tortured feet had her cautiously holding up her hand and watching him with frightened eyes. Garrett had noticed her ruined feet when she left to get the water, and he knew it was no benefit to him to have her injured further. The time left on the ride should give her the opportunity to heal a little before they arrived at his home. He pulled her up onto the saddle in front of him and reached around her to secure her wrists. After they were lashed, he lifted them over his head so she had to strain her thighs to hold herself up to keep from hanging from his neck. Ashley wanted to protest the arrangement, but the thought of another day trailing behind the horse on her injured feet kept her silent.

  Garrett turned the horse out of the trees and back onto the path up the rocky ridge. The wind blew briskly, and he felt the woman shiver against him. Garrett opened his coat and folded it around her, and her shivers of cold changed to trembles of fear at the close proximity of leaning against him. In less than an hour, her thighs had given up their precarious grip on the saddle, leaving her supported by her arms with her bottom barely brushing the seat. Eventually, she was forced to relieve some of the stress by relaxing further against him, and
when her head listed sideways, he realized she had fallen asleep to the swaying of the horse and the warmth of his chest.

  It was apparent Ashley did not possess the athletic endurance of some of the other women he had captured, and he glanced down at her pale skin and bruised feet. He wondered how her boyfriend had managed to convince the girl to go camping, because it was quite apparent she was much more accustomed to inside recreation.

  They rode throughout the morning, with Ashley drifting and shuddering awake along the way. The first time she woke up it had alarmed her, and it took her a moment to catch her bearings. Her mind was reacting to the overloaded sensations while her body relaxed into the warmth and the rocking of the horse, and once more she would jerk awake and realize she had drifted off again. It seemed almost every time she opened her eyes, thinking she had merely blinked, the scenery would be different.

  Garrett let the hand resting on her thigh reach between her legs. Her pussy was spread and barely touching the leather, and he let a finger gently stroke her exposed bead. She was napping again, and he slowly stroked her folds until he felt her cream slicken her soft surface. She shuddered a small intake of breath and he felt her bottom tighten, and she began to push into his hand. A smile creased his face while he continued to manipulate her, and he realized he was dealing with a very inexperienced young woman.

  He felt her stiffen when she woke again, and she immediately tried to squeeze her legs together. Her hips tried to move away, but her choices were to push forward into the maddening hand, or back into his lap and press against his swelling cock, because his thighs kept her trapped from moving to either side. Ashley could feel herself begin to contract, and she panicked as she thrust into his hand in a frustrated attempt to push him away. Garrett leaned down, and his deep voice threatened quietly, “You do not have permission to cum, Ashley.” He was rewarded by her small sob.