by Zara Starr
I couldn’t wait to have her all to myself. I knew this first time the triad would be necessary to complete the mating ritual, but we would not be forced to share her at all times, and I wanted to explore the areas of Ella’s body that I had not yet been introduced to.
Dew
I had been the lucky one in being able to provide a solitary pleasure to Ella that neither Bahl nor Karr had yet been granted, tasting the sweetness of her femininity upon my tongue.
The taste of her had been more than enough of an aphrodisiac to send me reeling with need, and by the time I got her body tightly wrapped around my cock, I was certain I would explode too soon and fail her.
Fortunately, that did not occur as I continued to thrust into her and felt the tightening of my balls as I grew closer to climax.
I looked up at her face as Ella rode the waves of ecstasy and began moaning aloud as her muscles clenched upon my cock.
The feeling was just too much and I could no longer contain myself, spilling my seed deep inside of her pussy, my hands digging into her waist as I moaned in pleasure.
I lifted my hand and drew my fingers through her hair as I pulled her closer to my face, my lips meeting with hers as my eyes closed. I relished the after-effects of our lovemaking.
How lucky were we all to have her select us?
In my eyes, Ella was amazing, gorgeous, and so energetic that I knew I would never be able to get enough.
Eighteen
Ella
After our foursome of lovemaking, I was feeling a bit strange. While I had enjoyed the session and had no complaints about any of my three new mates, I really didn’t know what to think of it all.
I had gone along with their customs because of my attraction to each of them, but I still didn’t know for sure how long I was going to be here. I was still trying to get home…wasn’t I?
I didn’t know how though. I didn’t even know where I was. Everything had changed so quickly and I wasn’t sure there was a way home… But there shouldn’t have been a way to this planet from Earth, either.
I wondered then, what the name of the planet was as I looked upon the three sleeping nude purples who had made love to me with both passion and precision, never getting in one another’s way as if it was the most natural thing ever.
I sighed. I hated being stuck in the cave day in and day out, and it was still very early in the day.
It dawned on me that, maybe, that was why the mate selection was done at the start of the day. So that the exhaustion from mating could be slept off without losing too much energy before the hunting or gathering again.
And yet, I instantly began to understand why so many women complained that their husbands would pass out right after lovemaking, while they felt revived and ready to take on the world.
I pursed my lips and walked over to where my gown was, lifting it from the ground and slipping it over my head. I needed to get out of there, and I wasn’t going to let any of these men interfere with that desire anymore.
I tiptoed across the cave as I inched toward its opening and cast a glance back at the snoring males. I needed to learn more than I had up to this point, and I knew that continuing to go along with what they wanted wasn’t going to resolve any of my questions.
I had to get a better idea of where I was, maybe how I got here, and what to expect from this planet. This was the perfect opportunity.
I knew there were creatures out there. Creatures that were bigger than me and that considered me meat. But I had only seen or heard them during storms and it wasn’t storming now.
The sun was bright in the sky and the atmosphere looked completely peaceful. A little peek outside wouldn’t hurt, right? I had to learn more about this place. I’d be right back before the males even noticed I was gone.
I quickly darted out of the cave and ran across the meadow toward the trees, dipping down into the underbrush as I began running away from Karr’s home cave.
I knew if I followed the footpaths, they would all lead back to the tribal cave, so I decided to take my chances trailblazing instead of looping in the circles I knew wouldn’t get me anywhere.
I continued running and found myself emerging in the midst of a clearing surrounded by a large grove of trees. I glanced upward and spotted a flock of Pahari who seemed to be nesting in the area and smiled at my luck.
“Pahari,” I said, appeased with the way the word sounded coming out of my mouth.
They were truly majestic birds, and all I wanted was to reach out and touch one, though I knew the welcome distraction wouldn’t get me anywhere. And the bird was definitely not going to swoop down and land on my shoulder.
I sighed and continued walking through the grove, the light of day growing dimmer as I strode into the treeline. I wondered if it was growing cooler simply because of the shadow of the trees or if I was honestly feeling cold.
I lifted my arms and began rubbing them to create friction and a modicum of warmth as I walked onward.
It wasn’t just the trees; no, it was growing colder. An ominous feeling overtook me as I glanced around.
The Pahari had disappeared, and without their constant happy fluttering and tweeting overhead, everything around me seemed eerily silent.
I coughed shortly as I continued to stare around the forest, a brief bit of sunlight breaking through the trees as the wind gently blew past me.
I shook my head, telling myself to calm down. There was no one here but me.
It didn’t help as I began walking forward down what appeared to be a winding trail that did not look anything like the footpaths regularly placed between the home caves.
I knit my brow and knelt down as I craned my neck to peer down the path. It was so dark that nothing was very visible, save for the shifting shadows that I presumed came from the sway of leaves and plants as the wind blew past them.
I needed to stop psyching myself out or I was going to faint and look like a fool. The last thing I needed was for my three mates to find me, passed out, in some forbidden part of the forest.
I was fine and I knew it. With a renewed sense of bravado, I began walking down the trail, ducking to keep from running into branches as I made my way down it.
The pathway was narrow and scraggly branches seemed to jut out toward me, closing in on me as I continued making slow progress until I felt they were tearing against my skin and the dress, making passage damn near impossible.
“Dammit!” I hissed in frustration as I tried to pull a prickling vine away from my dress.
I groaned and pulled at the vine, ripping it from my skin and dress and tossing it away from me. I looked down to see the trail still visible—though barely—and pushed myself forward with the intent of finding out exactly where it led.
From the looks of it, nobody had trekked down the path for a great deal of time, the growth unattended and allowed to grow wild and encroaching so that the path was practically blocked.
But would anyone just create a path for no reason? Surely, it had to lead to something, or else why had it even been made?
I felt the ground suddenly begin to grow soft beneath my feet, seeming to melt into a marshy bog as I worked my way through the underbrush. The trail had completely disappeared as I looked around.
I was in the middle of a large and dark swamp with a smell that mirrored what I imagined a port-a-potty smelled like after a month of sitting in the sun and not being serviced. Full of nasty, rotting shit and smelling worse than a broken septic tank.
I groaned. Where the hell was I?
Even on Earth, I knew that finding yourself alone in a dark and smelly swamp was both dangerous and really stupid.
And yet, here I was.
I lifted my head as I heard the sound of movement through the marsh and peered around the swamp anxiously.
“Hello?” I called out.
The swishing sound had come and gone twice, and I waited for it to come again.
There! The sound was growing closer but no one answered me.
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“Hello? Is someone out there?” I called, raising my pitch slightly.
It could have been Arh, I supposed; he had run off from the ceremony into the woods earlier.
I tried to keep myself calm as I stepped up onto a large rock—what appeared to be a rock in my eyes. As it began slipping out from beneath me I realized that it was nothing more than a grassy knoll with zero stability.
Suddenly, a huge, purplish-looking, snake-like creature lunged from the murky waters with a splash.
I gasped as I peered into its mouth and noted several rows of sharp, threatening teeth coming for me.
I thrust myself past the creature and jumped, moving away from it as quickly as I could and damn near running to make it back to solid land.
The problem was, everywhere I stepped seemed to slip back into the murk, and I was surprised it wasn’t pulling me down with it, just like quicksand!
I scowled as yet another creature shot from the water, nearly grasping my leg with its razor-sharp fangs.
I leaped toward a fallen tree and dug my nails into the bark, pulling myself up atop it as I looked down at the massive beasts now chasing me.
“Leeches?” I squealed.
They were damn near the size of school buses. Though I was several feet off the ground and above the swampy mess, I knew they could still reach me simply due to their enormity.
I shook my head and began climbing up the fallen tree, making sure that my feet did not slip as I moved.
There was very little else I could use to keep myself both dry and out of the peat, but the tree was at least the size of a Grand Sequoia when it had stood.
Strong, wide, and prone to taking damn near forever to completely biodegrade, or so I hoped.
Bahl
I rolled over but did not find the soft warmth of Ella at my side, and I cracked my eyes open as I sat up on the furs. I narrowed my gaze and glanced around the cave, but I still saw no sign of her, my eyes moving to where I had tossed her gown, finding it was now gone.
I frowned and stood up gently kicking at Dew’s side as I stood over him.
“Wake up,” I demanded, looking over to Karr as I made my way around to him and did the same. “Ella is gone.”
Both males groaned and sat up, completely unaware of what I had said to them as they continued to blink awake.
“What?” Karr asked, looking around the cave and then narrowing his eyes. He yawned but then became quickly alert. “Where’s Ella?”
“I don’t know. I just now awoke and she’s not here.” I started to feel a bit panicked. I knew she hadn’t been out of our sight since she’d come to us, one of us was always with her.
Dew stood up and pursed his lips. “She had been tired of staying in the cave. She wanted to see the land. She wanted to be outside.” He shook his head. “She’s probably gone off to explore.”
“Well, then we should go looking for her because she could be in danger now,” I said, angry at myself and both of the others for being careless and falling asleep so that Ella had no escort outside the cave.
Karr tilted his head and stood up, moving to slip his breeches back on as he grabbed his spear, a knife, and bow and arrows.
“Are you that afraid?” Dew asked.
Karr shot him a warning glance and shook his head. “I’m not afraid. I’m prepared. She doesn’t know anything about Eilahas. She’ll quickly perish out there. And…”
He looked away. He didn’t say it out loud, but we all knew what he was thinking.
Karr’s own mother had died because she had left the caves. The elders had been supposed to protect her after her own mates had died, and she had gone to gather some herbs for Khay because he had been sick…
She never returned from the trip.
He strode past the two of us and paused at the mouth of the cave, glancing back over his shoulder. “Are you two coming?” he snapped.
I quickly put on my pants, as did Dew, and the three of us collected what weapons we could as we made our way out to find her.
My thoughts had me quickly growing agitated. I hated that we had failed her. And I didn’t like that Ella hadn’t woken one of us to go with her. I would have gladly taken her to explore the entire island, had she only asked.
“This is my fault,” Dew said as we all walked into the underbrush.
“Why do you say that? We were passed out just like you were,” Karr grated.
Dew scratched at his head and groaned. “I brought her outside so she could see the Pahari and enjoy the sun. She stayed inside, despite her desire to come out, until I gave her a taste of nature’s beauty.”
“And you think that is why she ran away? She seemed happy earlier,” I replied, suddenly wondering if my performance had somehow been less than pleasing to Ella.
I paused suddenly and began shaking my head. “I think she’s trying to find a way home.” I heard the sharp intake of breath at that idea, but it was reasonable. “She must miss her home. And no matter how well she has adjusted, this is not her home.”
Karr glanced back at me as he snapped a branch from out of the path and pointed to the ground, completely ignoring my comment.
“You see that?” he asked. I nodded at him, “Those are her footprints. Follow me this way. I think she may be in the swamp!” Karr’s voice grew urgent as he began running after the trail of prints, darting beneath a large branch as he disappeared from our sight.
“I think you’re right. She has repeatedly wanted to go outside and I think she really misses her own people, her home,” Dew said quietly before we took off after Karr.
“Hurry!” came Karr’s echoing voice through the shrubs, and Dew and I began running toward him as he approached an unmarked trail.
I gaped as I drew closer. Never before had I seen such a strange area, but I also knew it had been ages since our kind hunted in the swamps.
Since the monlas and stag were easier to deal with than the seedy creatures that resided in the marsh, we’d abandoned those searches for sustenance.
Fear entered my heart as I understood why Karr was frantic by the idea of Ella being here.
“She definitely went into the swamp,” Karr muttered as he pointed to a torn vine that sat at the edge of the trail. We pushed through and found ourselves standing in the peat.
“Ella?” I called out. There was no response.
Dew broke away from my side and began calling for her too. “Ella!” he yelled.
Karr began running and leaping over knolls, splashing the murky water up around him as he let out a loud battle cry. “He-yi-ai-ai-yah!” he bellowed as he tossed a spear directly for a looming leech.
“Karr!” Ella’s voice rang out and my eyes snapped over to a large fallen Hikisu tree, one that had lived for eons and had fallen before we had ceased coming to these parts.
Atop it, Ella was standing in watch of the leech that Karr now tore apart as he ripped his spear from its hide.
I rushed toward Ella and waved to Dew, who ran faster than I, leaping atop the tree and pulling Ella to him.
As I approached, a third leech tried to grasp my ankle, but I reached down, my fingers tightening around the creature’s throat as I pulled it in half with my bare hands.
I tossed the dead leech away from me and held my hands out as Dew lowered Ella into them.
He leaped down from the log and we approached Karr together, our eyes darting over the mess of leech carrion sinking in the waters beneath us, hoping there would be no more surprises.
Ella
I was beyond grateful for my mates coming to my rescue, and Karr specifically, rising to defend me once again.
I groaned as I realized, however, that I still hadn’t learned what I most wanted to know, and it was beyond time for me to do so. I looked at the three of them as they brought me back toward the meadow and sighed.
“I want to go home,” I said, feeling terrible for the fact that I had just come to them, had just mated with them, and now I was asking to leave.
Was I expected to just accept my fate and remain here when everything I knew and loved—save for these three men—was on an entirely different planet?
There were so many possibilities. What if there wasn’t a way home? Or, what if Earth didn’t exist? I could have time traveled, for all I know, and in this day and age, Earth had been destroyed.
Hell, if that was true, maybe I was on Earth, or the planet it had become.
Maybe someone else would have sat back and let these three wonderful men cater to her while the memory of that other life faded into the distant realms of her mind. But I wasn’t that woman. I was a woman who needed answers. If there was any way to get home, I had to try.
“I want to go home,” I repeated, with more strength and conviction this time.
I looked around at the three of them, but I eventually landed my gaze on Karr. He seemed to be something like an Alpha or pack leader among our group, and I felt he would be the one to make this decision.
Karr nodded and waved me toward him. “Come,” he coaxed, having learned the word from me finally. I sighed and walked over to him. He nodded to Bahl and Dew. “Come, you and you.”
I smiled. He was very good at speaking what little English he had learned, but I was still in despair over the fact that I couldn’t just come right out and ask him what had happened to me.
I wasn’t even sure he actually knew. He had rescued me, but had he seen my arrival? Did he know where I landed or see how I got here?
It was all so blurry, and none of it made sense. We didn’t know enough of each other’s language for me to get a clear response, even if I wanted to ask him what he’d seen and what he knew.
Still, I followed him, desperate for a shred of hope that I could return to Earth or get some explanation or clarification.
We trekked along, back to the worn footpath, and I was glad to be out of the swamp and away from that terrifying overgrown path I’d stumbled on.
