The Mating Ritual

by Tory Richards

  “Cormac!” She twisted and wiggled beneath him, gasping for breath, feeling an orgasm spiraling through her body at record speed. “Please…!”

  Comprehending her need, Cormac jabbed his tongue over her clit several more times before crawling up her body. His mouth covered Toni’s again as he positioned his dick at the entrance to her buzzing pussy. Toni moaned deeply, swallowing his tongue, and waiting impatiently for sheer bliss to overcome her. It happened when he thrust his hips forward. His enormous sex parted her plump pussy lips, slid over her clit, and tunneled further beyond.

  He seemed content to lay there unmoving. Toni felt his cock pulsing inside her, filling her completely. She thrust up, encouraging him to fuck her. His grunt was followed by a return thrust down. Then he began to plunge in and out, slow at first, building to a speed that took Toni’s breath away. His climatic release fueled hers.

  Cormac’s bear-like roar drowned out Toni’s cry of release. He held her by the hips, pulling her tightly against him while grinding his cock as deep as he could. Overcome with blinding, toe-curling pleasure, she lost control and bit Cormac on the chest. He hardly seemed to notice, and once their convulsions had stopped, Toni collapsed, feeling his rapid heartbeat against her breast.

  She was caught off guard when his lips brushed against her mouth in a feather light caress.

  “Sleep now.” Cormac rolled, bringing her with him as he settled on his back. He dragged a hide over them before wrapping his arms around her.

  I have become a nympho overnight because, God, help me, I want Cormac all over again. What’s wrong with me? Toni began to wonder if there was something in his semen that made her feel that way. No, that was silly, wasn’t it?

  Eventually she slept.

  Chapter 5

  “Toni.”

  The sound of her name seemed to be coming from far away. She resisted the pull and tried to snuggle deeper into the pleasant warmth beneath her. A sigh escaped her when she felt a gentle, intimate caress on her bare bottom.

  “Toni, wake. We go now.”

  Go where? She was having the most delicious dream, an erotic dream that she didn’t want to interrupt. But the sound of her name on Cormac’s lips for the first time had a strange and powerful effect on her. Her hand smoothed up his ribcage and defined pecs before coming to a rest on his taut nipple. With the fog of sleep clouding her judgment, she tweaked the nub maybe a little too roughly because the next thing she knew Cormac grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up his body.

  She gasped; wide awake now, her eyes growing round. How had she ended up sleeping on top of him? “I’m sorry,” Toni said, thinking that she’d hurt him.

  “No time for mating now,” he rasped with a fire in his eyes. He gave her a hard kiss, and then rolled to his feet, bringing one of the furs with him.

  Toni watched as he covered his lower body. He helped her to her feet, his gaze making a lingering sweep down her body.

  “I like mating with you.” He touched her hair. “You have a nice body.” Frowning, his hand went to her breast. “I don’t like this.” Before she could guess his intentions he took the thin fabric between her breasts and easily tore it apart.

  Toni’s breasts bounced free as he tugged the bra away. She watched it float to the floor before having the presence of mind to cover her nudity. Bringing her hair forward, she glanced around nervously to see if they were being watched. Thankfully, everyone seemed busy as they prepared to leave.

  Cormac seemed to sense her uneasiness and reached up to run the back of his hand over her cheek. “Go with Lila.” He turned to join the men where they were gathering.

  Toni glanced to where the women were. Lila smiled and encouraged her over. Noticing some of the women were gathering up the unclaimed hides and tying them into bundles, she reached for the hide she’d shared with Cormac, rolling it as she walked to join Lila. Toni knew she wouldn’t be allowed to use it to cover her nudity, but she wanted to keep it in case she got the opportunity to make a run for it.

  Lila reached for it.

  Toni pulled it against her. “I’ll carry it. I want to help.”

  Lila shrugged her shoulders and turned. “We go now.”

  Didi was on her knees, burying something in a hole. Toni watched her out of curiosity for a moment, returning Didi’s smile when she paused long enough to glance up at them. What was she burying? The answer came when one of the other women brought Didi some primitive looking utensils. Didi took them silently and added them to the hole. It then dawned on Toni what she was doing. She was burying the things they wouldn’t be taking with them. She supposed so that way if someone stumbled upon the cave, there wouldn’t be any signs that someone else had been there.

  “Toni, come,” Lila said with a touch of impatience in her tone.

  Before the main fire was doused, several men lit torches to lead the way. Cormac was at the head of the group, so Toni stayed close to Lila. They moved through a maze of damp tunnels and room-like caverns until eventually they reached the entrance to the cave. Toni took a deep breath of fresh air when she stepped outside, not realizing until that moment just how damp and musty the cave had been.

  It was dark, but the sky was clear, making the moon and stars appear brighter and closer to the ground than usual. The torches were extinguished and tossed into the darkness. Before they left the area, several men disguised the cave opening with large tree limbs and leafy branches.

  “Why do you travel after dark?” Toni asked. She could barely see anything.

  “It’s safer for us.” Lila took her hand. “We are too close to civilization here. After tonight it will be safer and we will be able to move by day.”

  Too close to civilization? Toni knew that the nearest town was an hour away and decided that Lila must be referring to the people who lived scattered throughout the mountain region. “How far are we going?”

  “We go to Horseshoe Mountain.”

  That didn’t really tell Toni anything. She’d never heard of Horseshoe Mountain, so she assumed it was a landmark that only they knew about. As they walked along an invisible path she realized why Lila had taken her by the hand. It would be easy to step off the path and become separated from the others. She was surprised by how silently they moved through the forest, even the children seemed to know to stay quiet.

  Toni knew that if she were going to run she would have to do it before day light. The further they moved away from the cave, the more lost she became, but the cover of darkness would be to her advantage. As Lila pulled her along, she ran through several scenarios in her mind of how she would pull off her escape. The first priority was to get to the very end of the line. Instinct told her that the further away she was from Cormac and the other men, the better her chances of escape were.

  Will he come after me? Toni had a feeling that he would and that it wouldn’t have anything to do with his wanting her. Their staying under the radar so successfully had to be the result of making sure that they went undetected and stayed out of sight. Toni doubted that they would allow an outsider to escape. Deep down she knew that if she didn’t make a run for it, and make it count, she wouldn’t get another chance.

  She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, wishing that she had on shoes. Lila kept up a good pace for being elderly; she was apparently in good shape. Toni realized that she was going to have to do something to slow her down. She thought that if she pretended to step on something it might work in her favor. Taking a deep breath for courage, Toni knew that it was now or never. She let out a gasp and pulled back on Lila’s hand, causing the other woman to stop. The others continued around them without breaking stride.

  “I stepped on something,” Toni explained to the silent Lila, hopping around on one foot while pretending to examine the other. She sucked in her breath as if she was in pain. Once she was sure most of the women and children had passed them by she put her foot down, and took a couple of tentative steps. Making sure to wait until the last person had wa
lked past, she mumbled, “It must have been a rock or something.”

  “Let me feel,” Lila said in a low, concerned tone.

  Toni had no choice but to lift her foot. Lila’s hands were gentle as they moved over her arch and heel.

  “I think I just bruised it.” Toni felt bad for lying to Lila.

  “Your feet are soft,” Lila said, letting Toni lower her foot to the ground again. “They will toughen up soon enough.”

  Toni remained quiet. Not if I can help it.

  They fell back into line, and Toni was thankful the others had moved on ahead. She could barely make out their dark shapes as they tread further into the darkness. It occurred to her that if they were to stop she wouldn’t be able to differentiate them from the surrounding trees. That, too, would be in her favor.

  Toni guessed that they’d been on the move for about an hour when she decided the time had come to make her move. She felt her stomach clench with anxiety, which it usually did when she was about to do something she was uncertain of. Not knowing how Cormac might react caused her to rethink what she was about to do, but only for a moment. The sooner she made her escape, the better.

  Gradually she slowed her pace. If Lila noticed, she said nothing, adjusting her speed to match Toni. When Toni felt she’d distanced herself enough from the others to get a good head start, she pulled her hand from Lila’s, turned, and broke into a sprint down the unseen path they’d just taken. Lila shouted out an alarm almost immediately, causing Toni to veer off into the bushes. The darkness would swallow her up, but she was exasperatingly aware that the noise she was making would lead Cormac directly to her.

  Was it just last night that she’d been running through the woods to escape killers? It seemed like eons ago. Now she was running from a clan of Oh-Mah, who shouldn’t even exist, and from a man who made her feel things as a woman she’d never felt before. Toni knew she had to get Cormac out of her mind, but it wouldn’t be easy.

  She ran like hell, thrashing through trees, stumbling over rocks and roots, and anything else in her way. She kept her arms out in front of her in an effort to clear a path, and protect her face. At one point she tore through a thicket, and fell to her knees right into a cold stream. A sharp gasp escaped her, and she took a moment to catch her breath, trying to focus her gaze on her dark surroundings.

  It surprised Toni that she didn’t hear anyone behind her, but then something further upstream drew her attention. Is that a splash? She narrowed her gaze, until she was able to make out a large shape poised midstream. What is that? God, don’t let it be a bear! But then it moved, and Toni watched the shape unfold, and slowly straighten to its full height. Cormac!

  She slowly got to her feet, keeping her gaze glued to him. Instinct told Toni that Cormac’s gaze was on her, too, watching and waiting. With a sinking feeling she knew that it was just a matter of time before he caught her, but she didn’t let it keep her from jumping across the brook and entering the thicket on the other side.

  Toni had no sooner broken into a run than she felt something sharp pierce her heel. She just managed not to cry out at the irony of the fact that this time the injury to her foot was real. Hitting the ground hard, she grabbed her foot and examined it, gingerly poking the area and expecting to find something protruding from it, or at least a foot wet with blood. She thanked God under her breath that it was neither. She must have just stepped on a rock. Karma, this is what I get for lying to Lila about it being bruised the first time.

  Toni got to her feet, unrolled the fur, and wrapped it around her shoulders, before taking a tentative step. Damn! It hurt like hell. There was no way she’d be able to run any further, and hobbling away was out of the question. She could hear Cormac crashing through the forest with no regard for safety or concern of being heard, quickly closing the distance between them. With no other options, Toni sank against a tree in an effort to become less noticeable.

  It would be too much to hope that he’d continue past without seeing her. She held her breath and listened, then closed her eyes with the crazy thought that it would keep her from being seen. When the noise of leaves and twigs snapping beneath the weight of Cormac turned to silence, she opened her eyes, and watched as he walked directly up to her without hesitation.

  Her heart was pounding loud in her ears. “I had to try,” Toni said softly, looking up at him.

  The next thing she knew Cormac reached down, grabbed her by the arm, and hauled her to her feet. He took her hands into one of his large hands while his other wrapped a rope around her wrist, binding them together, all done without speaking. Toni gasped at the tightness of the rope, but Cormac ignored her. Once he was finished, he swung around, pulling her roughly behind him. The hide around her shoulders slipped down her body.

  As soon as her tender heel hit the ground, Toni cried out, lifting her foot. Cormac turned back to her, and with a grunt that sounded like irritation, lifted her off her feet, and arranged her over his shoulder. His anger was palpable. Toni’s instincts warned her not to test him while he was in this state. He snatched the fur from the ground before he began walking, and pulled it over her naked backside.

  Toni was uncomfortable as hell, but she knew that things could have gone a lot worse for her. Cormac came from a different world, if what Lila said were true, and she’d already seen him kill two men without hesitation. She sensed he’d do whatever it took to ensure his safety, and the safety of his people. Would he hurt her? Toni didn’t want to find out.

  After a while Cormac’s long legged strides turned into a jog as he made his way back the way they’d come. Soft grunts escaped Toni with every jarring step, but she remained stubbornly quiet. They caught up with his people surprisingly fast; making her wonder if he’d taken a different route back. Instead of setting her on her feet where the women and children walked at the back of the line, he continued with her to the front.

  Cormac’s hands slid beneath the hide, up the backs of her legs, thighs, butt, and back as he lowered her to the ground. The gesture wasn’t meant to be sexual, yet a spark ignited deep inside Toni. She met the hard glitter of his eyes when he set her on the ground before him.

  “I had to try,” she repeated her earlier comment, not expecting him to understand.

  “Do not try again.” His tone was cold, devoid of emotion. “You will get hurt. No one escapes Oh-Mah. It is vital for our survival.”

  Toni understood why Cormac wanted to protect his people. They hadn’t remained a mystery for centuries by letting the outside world get close to them. She thought about the women Lila had mentioned back in the cave, the ones kidnapped for breeding. Was that to become her fate? She could already be pregnant with Cormac’s child.

  “Do you understand?” Cormac pulled her closer, as if to get her attention. Toni felt a rush of tears burn in her eyes, choked with emotion that prevented her from speaking. “I do not want to hurt you,” he said in an unexpectedly gentle tone, “When mating with you feels so good.”

  His lips covered hers, surprising Toni and she responded to his kiss willingly as the tears rolled down her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if they were because of her failed escape attempt, or her conflicting emotions. She didn’t want to like Cormac’s mouth on hers, his hands, his body, but the truth was that she liked it too much. In a relatively short time she found her emotions warring with her common sense, something that usually didn’t happen until she was months into a new relationship. We’re not even in a relationship!

  Cormac’s gentle, exploratory kiss pulled Toni back to the present and the pleasant sensation flowing through her. When she opened her mouth to allow his tongue inside he deepened his kiss until it turned hungry and needy. She felt his hands move with purpose beneath the fur still cloaking her body, turning Toni warm and tingly wherever he touched her.

  Why can’t I resist him?

  A voice came from out of nowhere, and Cormac broke their kiss. “Come.” Taking up the rope dangling between her tied wrists he turned and began to lead the wa
y, pulling Toni behind him.

  Apparently he wasn’t taking any more chances, and she realized she would have to earn his trust before she could attempt to run away again. She was grateful that he had allowed her to keep the fur over her shoulders, and decided she could live with the ache of a sore heel if not bringing attention to herself afforded her that one small trade off. She limped behind Cormac as fast as she could, determined to keep up. After a while, he let the rope fall from his fingers.

  They traveled for hours, quietly, and didn’t stop for anything. They carried the children when they got tired. Toni wondered who was going to carry her, because several hours into the hike her feet were sore and she knew had to be bleeding. Limping caused the muscles in her legs to ache. She had given up long ago trying to find a safe place to step. The bottoms of their feet must be like leather.

  As they traveled further into the mountains, Toni wondered how she was ever going to find her way home. They passed nothing that revealed that they were anywhere near civilization. No noises, except for the typical sounds of wildlife, and occasionally the noise of running water. No lights twinkling in the distance, or fires that indicated a house nearby. No barking dogs or signs of any other domesticated animals.

  It had become colder since they started out. She concentrated on putting one foot before the other, and not on the discomfort of being chilled and thirsty beyond belief. She knew Cormac was going to have to stop eventually, and she was determined that it wasn’t going to be because of her.

  As the hours passed and they continued to travel upwards, Toni felt her heart pounding from the grueling pace. She gasped for breath because the higher altitude meant thinner air. Cormac reached back and took her by the hand, giving her a pull up the slope they were going. Thank God! When they crested the first mountain, she saw the rising sun beyond. Pausing because Cormac had, Toni took in the breathtaking view of the landscape ahead of them, and that’s when she saw what she believed was Horseshoe Mountain. It was obvious, two mountains side by side, with a horseshoe shaped valley between them. Is that where they live?