Mate for the Feral Barbarians

by Scarlett Grove

  "Just close your eyes and we will upload the information directly into your brains," the second cupid said.

  Vock and I looked at each other. What were these creatures talking about? Upload the information into our brains? It was all foreign and strange. Their language made no sense. But we wanted mates; we needed mates. We could not live as a race if we did not have them. Not to mention the fact that the warriors were going mad without women. What was a male supposed to do with himself without a female?

  "What is upload?" I asked the cupid, lifting an eyebrow at the tiny flying creature.

  "We will put the information you need directly into your memory."

  "How will you do it? Magic?" Vock asked.

  "It's something like magic," the cupid said. "We have the most advanced technology resources at our disposal at the Celestial Mates Dating Agency," the cupid said.

  His words made no sense. What was a dating agency? What were advanced technology resources? I had no idea. What I did know was that I wanted to mate.

  "We agree," I said.

  "Yes," Vock agreed. "We want mates."

  The cupids lifted little sticks out of their sashes and pointed them at us. Blue light emerged from the tip of the sticks and propelled like an arrow straight to the center of our foreheads. All of a sudden, I had symbols inside my mind. A series of strange markings recognized from the ancient temples deep in the forest.

  "With these codes you can activate the ancient weapon inside the base of the ancient temple closest to your clan's treehouses," the first cupid said.

  Vock and I looked at each other again, feeling our twin bond radiate between us. We were both thinking the same thing. This was crazy, but the prospect of mates could make it all worth it. I definitely had new information inside my mind. How it got there, I had no idea.

  "How are we supposed to use this code?" I asked.

  "It will all come to you when the moment is right," the cupid said. "Our prime directive prohibits us from such interference. All we can do is set you on your way. But the test is yours to pass or fail."

  “Pass or fail?"

  "Activate the weapon and we will bring more brides for the clan,” one cupid said.

  I was about to ask another question about our mate, but the second cupid cut me off.

  “Thank you for your time, gentlemen. We must be leaving now. We have other clients waiting at headquarters. Rest assured that your race has been chosen as a special case to bring more love into the universe. Your mate will soon arrive. She will be the perfect woman for both of you. Congratulations, Vock and Konko. And good luck."

  The cupids vanished out of sight. Vock and I were left sitting in the middle of the jungle with agitated Kong beast mounts who were prancing and growling. The interaction with the cupids was so odd I was left wondering if it had been a dream. But no, it couldn't possibly have been a dream. I still remembered the series of symbols they had implanted in my mind.

  "Should we go to the temple now?” Vock asked me.

  "No. It could be a trick. Let's wait until they bring us our bride before we go and do their bidding. They could be in league with the sky devils.”

  Vock agreed and we rode on towards our hunting ground. It was a strange day to be sure, but we had to go on the hunt and bring meat back to the clan, nonetheless.

  After we brought down a Cocoche bird, we tied its giant legs to the back of our Kong beasts and towed our kill to the clan treehouses. After we left the beast with the butchers and our mounts with the beast master, we climbed up the rope ladder to visit the chief.

  The chief was alone in his chambers except for the two females he had claimed as his own. One of them wasn’t even his fated mate. Since the sky devils had poisoned the women, things for the Zimbre people had definitely changed.

  "We had a strange encounter in the jungle today," I started to tell the chief.

  "What kind of strange encounter?” He asked. "Was it the sky devils? Have the tribes to the East been hunting on our grounds again?"

  "Nothing like that. We had a visit from two strange creatures who looked very much like the ancient legends of the cupid."

  "The Love Angels?" the chief asked.

  "The same. These creatures popped out of thin air and offered us a proposition. They said that we would be given a mate and codes to activate a weapon under the ancient temple. The weapon will defeat the sky devils."

  "And if we defeat the sky devils," Vock said. "These cupids will bring us more females."

  "More mates for the clan," I added.

  The chief sat back and rubbed his chin as his brides fussed with his furs and arranged his loincloth perfectly over his substantial cock. He looked up and to the side as if thinking and then crossed his arms over his chest when he leveled his gaze at me and my brother.

  "I see no harm in agreeing to the cupids’ terms," the chief said.

  "We have decided to wait to activate this ancient weapon until they bring us a bride," I said.

  "It could be a trap," Vock added.

  "That is wise. Go along with the cupids, but with caution,” the chief said. “I also want you to bring the female here before you claim her, for my…inspection. Now, warriors, I must ask you to leave. My females are in need of attention."

  He put his arms around the two young females and rose from his chief’s throne. I narrowed my eyes at him as he walked off towards his bedchamber with his two females. I heard Vock grunt as we both turned to leave the chief to his pleasantries. On the way across the rope bridge, back to the main public square of the treehouse, I couldn't help but feel a rash of anger.

  The chief was the only male in the clan who had two females. Many males had none. For dozens upon dozens of warriors in the clan, there were only half a dozen of childbearing age. The rest were older or too young to be mated. Yet the chief had taken two for himself. The first was his true mate, but the second very young. She had not had her mate identified among the clan. Perhaps she belonged to a male from another tribe, but the chief hadn’t waited to find out. He had claimed her as soon as she’d come of age.

  It was practices like these that were taking over the tribes when it came to females. As much as I respected and followed the dictates of my chief, I still did not agree with his decision to take the female for himself. In the end, it would make our clan stronger. I understood his reasoning. But the bond of fated mates was the oldest and most proud tradition of the Zimbre. To break it was a signal of cultural decay.

  "Do you think the cupids will really bring us our fated mate?" Vock asked.

  "I greatly hope what they say is true," I said.

  We spent the rest of the day with the warriors in the main square of our treehouse near the chief’s quarters. We drummed and sang and roasted Cocoche meat over the bonfire. The music and the rhythms of the Zimbre people filled my heart with pride. The thought that soon we would have females to fill the beds of the warriors again, bringing peace and contentment to the tribe, filled me with hope.

  Out of the glowing light of the bonfire, one of our last breeding females approached me and my brother. Vero held her infant daughter Mar in her hands. Mar was the first female child born in ten years.

  "Tomorrow, she will come," Vero said, her eyes distant and staring.

  It was known that Vero had the sight, something that had died out with the females.

  "Do you mean our mate?" Vock asked her.

  "Yes," Vero said. "I see her in the darkness. The cave near the treehouse city. She will appear there tomorrow.”

  3

  Kimmy

  I landed in the dark, the voices of the cupids telling me everything was going to be great. And a bunch of blah blah blah that didn’t really register. What the hell was going on? I couldn’t see a damn thing sitting on my butt on a hard stone floor.

  Scrambling to my feet, I brushed off my ass. I was still wearing the dress I’d worn on my date. A red lacy number that hugged my curves and accentuated my assets. Now it was getting all g
ritty from whatever was on this cold floor.

  “Where am I?” I demanded.

  “You are on the planet of Zimbre. Your mates, Konko and Vock, are of the Zimbre people. Didn’t you read about this in the terms and conditions?”

  “No I didn’t. I just wanted to know what my ideal mate said about me,” I said. I had considered that a pertinent issue at that moment in time.

  “Ah. Your ideal mates,” one of the cupids said, finally lighting some kind of magic wand to illuminate the cave.

  I could see them fluttering around above me, but not much else in either direction. “It says you are a strong and primal woman who desires adventure and deep passionate relationships.”

  “Hmm. Interesting,” I said, considering my quiz results. “Who are you, anyway? And what the hell is going on here?”

  “We are agents from the Celestial Mates Dating Agency. We’ve matched you with your perfect mates. We thought you understood.”

  “Dating agency? This isn’t how dating agencies work,” I said, stamping my foot on the ground.

  Unfortunately, I was barefoot and smashed my tender flesh into a jagged rock. “Ouch!”

  “Stop scaring her,” came an aggressive growl from deep inside the cave.

  “She is ours,” said a second growl.

  “All agreements are final,” a cupid said, right before both of them blipped out of sight, taking the light with them.

  I was left alone in the darkness with whoever or whatever claimed I belonged to him. I gulped. I assumed it was Konko and Vock. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that I was going to meet the jungle boys did fill me with more than a little bit of a thrill. But at the same time, this was utterly terrifying.

  Their eyes glowed yellow in the darkness as they approached. I tried to back up, but my foot hurt too much to go very fast. I had to limp away, but it wasn’t like I could go anywhere. I couldn’t even see.

  Hands grabbed me, touching and caressing. They roved my flesh as hot breath blew over my exposed chest and shoulders. I screamed with surprise and tried to get away, but they held me. My foot hurt really bad, and I just knew it was bleeding.

  “So soft,” one of the feral men said.

  Their lips brushed over my neck and shoulders. Before I knew what was happening, they were licking my earlobes.

  “Please stop,” I whimpered.

  This had to be a dream right? I must have fallen asleep at some point in front of the TV. If this was a dream, I might as well go along with it. Wouldn’t you? We all know the bonus prize you get from those kinds of dreams. A hand cupped my sex over my form-fitting dress, and I groaned.

  “We need to get her away from the clan,” one of them said. “The chief will try to take her for himself.”

  “She belongs to us. No one else can have her.”

  One of them picked me up and lifted me over the shoulder of the other one. He held my ass with one of his big hands and my legs with the other. The second one growled and fondled my breasts as I was hanging over the first one. I didn’t know if I should moan or protest. It all seemed so real. But it couldn’t be real. This was insane. It had to be a dream.

  I moaned with pleasure, but quietly so they wouldn’t hear. Just in case. I knew I shouldn’t let them treat me like this. Not unless they bought me dinner first. If so, it would probably turn into one of the world’s top ten best dates.

  The one with me over his shoulder hurried down the corridor of the cave until I finally saw light leaking through a crack up ahead. It was upside down from my vantage point, but the closer we got, the clearer it became.

  We walked out into the light, and I got a good look at the world for the first time. It was that same jungle from the pictures on the internet. I pushed up from the guy’s muscled ass, covered only in an animal hide loincloth, and tried to look around. He slapped my ass and I yelped.

  “She’s so soft,” he grunted again, squeezing my flesh.

  “She smells so good,” said the second one, sniffing at my hips and ass. “Ripe and sweet enough to grow a baby inside her.”

  “I must fill her with my seed,” said the one not holding me. He grabbed at my hips and pulled me down to the ground.

  I stood between them, looking up at the towering indigo blue barbarians. I rubbed their chests and bit my lip. This was a dream, right? I might as well enjoy it. But still, I wanted to know what was going on.

  “So which of you is Konko and which is Vock?” I asked, looking from one to the other.

  They were almost identical, except one of them had a scar on his cheek.

  “I am Konko,” said the one with the scar who’d been carrying me. “This is my brother, Vock.”

  Vock looked at me with glowing yellow eyes. He reached out and grasped my hair, pulling it up to his nose to smell it.

  “She smells so sweet,” Vock growled. “The others will pick up her scent. We must leave.”

  “I’m Kimmy. Who are the others?” I asked as Vock picked me up in a cradle hold and carried me through the jungle. I could see in the distance behind me, up a ridge over the cave mouth, there was a series of what looked like treehouses. They were so intricate and complex it couldn’t be real. Konko and Vock picked up speed as they ran through the thick underbrush. We came around a corner to a clearing where two bipedal dinosaur creatures with mottled pink and green skin were tied to a palm tree trunk.

  They were harnessed and saddled and were big enough to dwarf the huge men who’d taken me from the cave. Vock jumped with amazing strength and grace onto the back of one of the dinosaurs.

  4

  Vock

  As soon as I saw her, my primal bond lust started to rumble in my chest. I held her over the back of my Kong beast, cradled in my arms. Her smell wafted into my nose, even over the scent of the white Linnon blossoms that filled the air as they fell from the Linnon trees around us. The first thing I noticed about this female was her tiny stature. She was too small to be claimed by two Zimbre warriors.

  Kimmy marveled at the sight of it all, her delicious lips parting as she gasped. Our world was new to her. And thanks to the magic of the cupids, she had been brought here to us. And lucky were we that the cupids had blessed us with our sweet Kimmy. I looked down at her flesh as her dress rode up further around her lush thighs. How I wanted to spread those thighs and find the treasure between them.

  My cock hardened painfully against her side and she twisted her head to look up at me. The tiny woman barely came up to my shoulders when she was sitting. I looked down at her as I guided my Kong beast. She bit her lower lip and glanced down at my cock behind her. It was only a tiny glance, but I knew what she wanted. I could smell her arousal pouring off of her sweet cunt.

  I ached to lick it and taste her sweet nectar. We couldn’t get to our hunting treehouse fast enough. Unfortunately, I’d have my brother to contend with. There was no way we could share this tiny creature. I doubted such a tiny female could withstand the claiming of two Zimbre males.

  “She is very small,” I said.

  “Soft and fragile,” Konko agreed.

  “We cannot claim this female together,” I concluded. “We will tear her apart.”

  She had to be claimed before we took her back to the clan. That much was clear. The chief or the other Zimbre males would try to take her from us. We would keep her, even if that meant defying the chief.

  With only a few females left, the old ways had fallen by the wayside. Females were claimed earlier and earlier. The last female had been claimed by the chief and had a baby in her belly by the time she was eighteen. In the old days, males never claimed a female until she was at least twenty-two. Back when we had a female for every male, the Zimbre took their time finding the fated mate meant to be his life partner.

  Now, no one cared. The Zimbre males just needed females. Any female would do. Even the bond mate of another man. It disgusted me. But I understood. I had felt those urges myself. There was a single teenaged girl in the tribe now, and she received constant of
ferings of meat and fruit from the clan males. The Zimbre would never mate with one so young, but they could not resist courting her.

  I had refused to sink so low and so had my brother. Perhaps that was why the cupids had chosen us. We had integrity. They said they would bring more mates to the clan. But we had to defeat the sky devils first.

  Ten years ago, the silver, disc-shaped sky devils arrived. They spread poisoned gas over our clan treehouses. The clans grew sick, and most of the females died.

  My need to rut rose in my loins. I held back the desire to spread Kimmy and have her ride me instead of my Kong beast. She let out a little gasp when my cock throbbed against her side. I couldn’t hide it any more than I could hide my inner panther’s need to claim her.

  The Zimbre were shapeshifters.

  The shift took great stores of energy, and was only done when absolutely necessary. We shifted to hunt the Iggat beasts that swarm the planes in the dry season. Or to protect the clan treehouse cities from flocks of giant angry Scree birds.

  The feral instinct was there all the same and the call to mate was killing me as I held her through the miles of jungle we rode to our hunting treehouse, high in a towering, wide-trunked Banktock tree and quite comfortable for our present needs.

  I slid from the back of my Kong beast, taking my mate down with me. I cradled her against my chest, seeing that she’d injured her foot. A flash of panic surged in my gut.

  “My mate is hurt!” I gasped, jumping up to the rope ladder. I held her in one arm and climbed to the platform with the other. When I made it to the treehouse, I carried her to the bed and set her down.

  “Our mate,” Konko growled behind me. “Or did you forget already, brother?”

  I knelt beside the bed and lifted her dainty foot. A strip of raw flesh gashed over her sole. Grabbing a clay pot of ointment from the coiled vine table beside the bed, I lifted it over the wound and dribbled the healing oil onto her flesh.

  She drew a sharp breath through her teeth. It hurt my heart to hurt her. But at the same time, it aroused my desire to think she might make such a noise when she took my cock in her damp cunt. The smell of her had filled my lungs the entire trip to the hunting lodge.