"Thena! Help me!"

The lithe young woman ran desperately toward the sound of the screams. She knew the voice of her younger sister, Arel, but there was a terror in the sound that was new and unfamiliar.

Thena's slim, golden hued legs flashed as she darted through the hot yellow grasses of the savannah. It was the time of the great Star's longest and hottest rule over her land, and even the towering black-trunked trees dotting the savannah steamed faintly each morning when the first light struck them. Now the world was suddenly a nightmarish place of meadow overlooked by blue sky pulsing in the heat, as Thena ran toward the grove near the lake, where she heard the cries of her sister.

As she approached, she knelt down instinctively, her golden hair glistening like the mane of an Ashter cat, her huge green eyes unblinking, her full lips parted and finely chiseled nostrils flared to take in the scents the low hot wind might carry to her.

Feline in grace, she crept close to the ground, gained the banks of the lake, and peered through the tall grasses that reached her breast when she was erect. "It is the Savages!" she gasped, recoiling in a momentary panic. She had already eluded capture by two of the creatures, who had been waiting in ambush for them, but she and Arel had become separated, and now the younger girl had been taken. Her first thought was to run away, at heart-tearing speed, to escape from the horror that confronted her. But she forced herself to lie quietly and watch, knowing that the tree-top homes of her people lay many hours away from this spot, and that she and Arel were paying the price now for their adventure.

"Please, please let me go!" Arel was pleading with the creatures, and Thena trembled in helpless rage as she watched her younger sister, whose hair was as tawny as the grasses, struggling with one of the savages. It was tall, brown-haired, with hair upon its face and its body, and Thena could see the musculature of its arms and chest, and its taut thighs. It wore a loincloth of purple spotted leather, fashioned from the hide of the spiral-horned Kalamin deer, and on its powerful arms were darker bands of hide that moved with the pulsation of the muscles.

She remembered now the word for these creatures, whose existence she had believed to be a legend: Males, whose name was taboo in the house of the women, and whose violence was feared above any wild beast. And yet they could speak, these creatures, for the one who held Arel's wrists pinned behind her back was saying to the other two, "Bring the beasts, that we may go before we are attacked by this little one's people!

Some of them have venomous claws! Help me with this kitten," he called to a third Male, and the savage stepped forward to grasp Arel's slim ankles, binding them with cords braided from the same blue Kindral vines whose fiber had made Thena's and Arel's short, airy garments, woven and spun during the long warm nights around the Mother Flame, the great open fire that was tended and never let to die...

Now the one who held Arel, the youngest one, it seemed, for his facial hair was the lightest and most silky, this one was tying her wrists behind her back. Thena tensed her body, and clutched her bow. She could kill one, even two. But the others would come after her. There would be no mercy for either her or her sister if she were found with the blood of these Males on the gold of her arrow points. She clenched her teeth in helpless impotence.

"No!" Arel was screaming again, struggling in the grasp of the Male, but he seemed to relish her spirit. "Let me go!" she cried, her cheeks burning a deeper rose hue, her long hair disordered, her breasts heaving with the agony of her struggle.

"I cannot let you go, Kitten," he laughed. "You must come with me, alone, since we cannot find your friends."

The other two savages approached leading four strange beasts, unlike any that Thena had ever seen. They had long, graceful legs, sharp, uncloven hoofs, glistening coats of short fur, and pointed ears.

The youngest Male was embracing Arel now, one hand behind her back, grasping her bound wrists, the other inexplicably opening the front of her dress to expose the girl's rounded, uptilted breasts, and their coral-colored tips, where milk given by the great Mother of all beings would flow someday, when Arel swelled with the child that the Goddess would send if She so desired.

Thena watched in shocked amazement as the Male caressed Arel's exposed breasts, then bent over her and placed his lips over the tip of one, like a suckling baby. The young girl was twisting and struggling helplessly. The great Star poured down its heat on the scene, while the trees and the other Males stood motionless as rock sentinels, and the blue of the sky seemed to melt into the surface of the lake and fuse them both into one vast cobalt mirror.

Then the Male gave a cry of pain, and Thena saw the crimson slash on his shoulder where Arel's white teeth had met in the flesh. The others stepped forward with menacing looks. "The Kitten has sharp teeth, Darek," cried one. "Show her the strength of your hand so that she will learn to sheath her fangs!"

The one they called Darek only smiled, holding Arel's wrists firmly, while he wiped away the blood with one careless hand. His eyes were as dark brown as his hair, and gleamed like the wolfish orbs of death that sometimes circled the trees, kept away by the great fire. But there was no anger in his words when he answered them, motioning them away with a commanding gesture. "No," he said quietly. "This little one meant no harm. She is only trying to protect herself. She will learn to know me in time. But for now, we will cover this pretty mouth until it can learn to give pleasure instead of pain."

Before Arel could resist, the Male bound her mouth tightly with a wide, soft strip of leather, tying it at the back of her head. In another moment, Thena saw her sister placed on the back of the riding beast, in front of the leader, who rode behind her, clasping one strong arm around her waist. "Great Mother," she breathed, "I must follow them and wait for the chance to free Arel. Grant me strength andspeed!"

She saw the captive girl glance around desperately as they rode off, and she prayed that Arel would have faith in her sister's loyalty and love. "For I, as the older, led her on this journey to find the lake we had heard of, and now I must bring her home." The image of Arel, bound and helpless, burned in her heart, and she clenched her bow in a moment of agonizing fear. If she were not able to free Arel, what would happen to her? Would she be killed? And yet, the Male had looked upon her with something like affection. It was all madness, not to be understood. The savages were like that. Their ways were alien, and until this moment, Thena had believed that the stories were all fantasies. Now she knew with grim certainty that they were not.

Shouldering her bow, Thena ran swiftly to the grove where she found the trail. They were already far in the distance, moving in the direction of the mountains, betrayed by the dust clouds their steeds made. I must keep out of sight, she thought, moving through the chest-high grass with the speed of a Kalamin. And when I have Arel safe with me, I shall kill all of them, silently, with my Claw-knife.

In a thickly woven pouch at her side hung the weapon of which she spoke, a thing of golden metal, multi-bladed, sharp as a river snake's spines, and each point of it shiny with the poison of white Malen berries that burst onto the low bushes once each year. Night was coming down out of the mountains as the great Star descended to rest in its opalescent throne under this vast lake which no one of the people had ever seen. Thena watched the distant cloud of dust, but she did not rest for an instant. Her leather-wrapped feet hit the ground lightly as she followed the trail of her sister's captors.

The thudding of the steed's hoofs was echoed in the pounding of Arel's heart. She felt the hard, muscled body of the Male who rode behind her, and despite her terror of him, she was grateful for the powerful arm that encircled her, because she felt that otherwise she would slip from the animal's back and be trampled into the dust that rose behind them in a swirling cloud.

She turned slightly and looked up at her captor. He was tall, broad-chested, and his aquiline nose, dark thick eyebrows, and full lips fascinated her. She had never seen a being like this before. Even the strong guard women were not as powerful as this one. He smiled down at her and drew her closer to his chest. "Soon we will camp for the night, Kitten," he murmured, his eyes flashing with some unknown emotion, "and then I will teach you all about life. You'll learn to love what I teach you."

"Never! I hate you! I want to go home!" That was what Arel tried to say, but her mouth was bound too tightly, and only stifled sounds emerged. Never in her seventeen seasons had she so longed to speak. Instead, she could only turn away in contempt. The wind of their swift passage roared in her ears, her wrists and ankles ached from the cords used to tie them, and she trembled inwardly with fear, for she sensed that she might never see her home again.

When they stopped at the lowering of the great Star to camp, the Male they called Darek lifted her carefully from the beast and laid her, still bound, on a luxuriant fur that he had spread on the grass. They were near a craggy mountain range when the light failed, and Arel seemed to feel the ominous presence of those cliffs of stones. Their very shadow was cold on her heart. Where is Thena? she cried in anguished silence, feeling the tears begin to come, as the Males built a fire and set up their camp without so much as a glance at her. She will come, Arel told herself bravely. My sister can follow any trail. But her courage began to fail her when Darek knelt beside her, took her up in his arms, and carried her to a tent made of black hides, which he had ordered his followers to erect.

"Come with me now, Kitten," he whispered. "It is time for your first lesson." Surely he could feel her trembling, but it seemed to have no effect on him. He laid her down inside the tent and closed the flap of material that served as a door. A branch covered by an eerie, phosphorescent moss hung in a corner and gave a faint light to the interior. She felt her cheeks burning with shame, and then she winced as he placed his hands on her exposed breasts, grasping them tightly, twisting the tips gently between his thumbs and fingers, and then bringing his tongue to probe the tender nipples, first one and then the other. She twisted, trying to pull away, and she screamed as loudly as she could, but the leather gag was too tight, and only a muffled cry escaped from her lips. Darek laughed softly. "Don't be afraid, Kitten," he said in a low voice. "I will be gentle."

What is he going to do to me? she thought wildly. He must mean that he will kill me, but mercifully. Oh, great Mother of us all! Help me!

She closed her eyes in terror, for he held a shining blade in one hand. But instead of piercing her heart with it, he began to cut away her garment, rending the material that she had so carefully woven into a silken web of shimmering blue cloth. She gazed up at him in amazement.

"You are beautiful," he said in a low tone, and Arel felt herself blushing again. "Your breasts are as glowing as the metal that we use to make our swords," he murmured. "Your hair shines like the surface of the sacred Lake, and your hips are curved as the orb of the Night Star that lights our way when the sky is black."

Astonishment possessed her at his words. This was poetry, as intricate and lovely as the chants sung around the Mother Flame. Despite his savagery and frightening strength, this Male...this one called Darek spoke well. But did he mean to kill her after all? Was he praising her only as a sacrifice to some ferocious deity?

The young girl felt her ankles being untied. She tried to kick, to defend herself, but his powerful body was lying over hers, pinning her limbs to the ground, and a moment later she felt an incredible sensation within her special woman's place, the corridor that ran red with the Night Star's changes. Something hard and taut, something warm and living, was entering her, forcing its way inside, rending through a barrier with unbearable pain, and filling her body! Her scream was stifled by his hand, pressed tightly over her bound lips, and then she lost consciousness for a time.

When she awoke, it was to a new sensation. Darek leaned over her, close to her body, supporting himself on his elbows, and moving his hips gently in a rhythmic motion. And the taut thing in her body moved with him. More than that, it sent an electric burning through her limbs, and a wild dizziness made the dimly lit chamber spin for a moment. She felt his hands moving quickly to untie the gag from her mouth, and then he was whispering, "You won't bite me now, will you, Kitten?"

To her own shame and horror, she was shaking her head, her soft lips were parting to admit his tongue, his mouth was covering hers, and his hands were everywhere on her body, stroking her tawny-hued breasts, touching the silken triangle of soft hairs between her hips, grasping her taut buttocks, and finally gripping her arms, while his hips thrust back and forth in sharp, forceful movements, until her back arched violently in a shuddering convulsion that spread throughout her body and left her flooded with a sensation of tingling warmth.

When it was over, the young girl lay exhausted and bewildered, while the Male bound her slim ankles, tightened the cords around her wrists, and took up the leather cloth. "No," she whispered faintly, gazing up at him, and she noticed that he looked at her in a new and tender way, although his eyes were still dark and frightening, and the dark brown hair on his chest and face shocked her anew each time she saw it. "Please don't do that. I won't scream."

"I'm sorry, little One," he murmured, and although she tried to turn away, he gagged her securely with the cloth. "We can't risk your calling to any of your people who may be trying to follow us . We know how dangerous they can be." He laughed in a low, husky tone. "You're mine now, Kitten. Mine, and I intend to keep you." He lay down next to her, drawing a robe of fur over them both, and leaned over to kiss her bound lips gently. "Sleep well, sweet One. In the morning, I shall teach you more."

Arel lay as still as possible, a vortex of thoughts twisting in her mind. What had he done to her, and why? It had not seemed to give him pleasure, for he had groaned at the last like a Lujal wolf when the arrow pierces its side, and closed his eyes as if in mortal pain. And yet, the lightning that had sped up and down her limbs had not been unpleasant. It was strange, but it had left her in a state of peace that she had never known before, as if she floated just above the ground in a warm bed of radiant mist. The young girl closed her amber eyes, and sought the renewal of sleep. Though he has not harmed me yet, I am still a prisoner, she warned herself silently. He means no good to me, or he would set me free. When Thena comes, we will escape, and she will slay them all.

She turned cautiously and opening her eyes, gazed at Darek. He lay sleeping at full length, his strong arms and long, powerful body in repose, his full lips curved in a dream-smile. Somehow, the thought of slaying him did not please Arel. He has placed some evil magic in my body, she thought. But I shall resist it, and him, so long as I still draw breath. He stirred in his sleep and rolled over, one arm encircling her body protectively. He moved closer, until she felt his warm, sweet breath against her cheek. And so Arel fell asleep, dreading the rise of the great Star in the morning, but with a strange anticipation in her loins that both terrified and bewildered her.

Darek the Brave, son of the great Javik, and brother to Rajan, leader of the Black Cliff Tribe, awoke to the sounds of his men breaking camp, the harsh cries of Lazlen birds that made their nests of stone in the crags nearby, and then, so softly that he could barely detect it, the gentle breathing of the young girl who lay in his bed of furs.

"Father of the Mountains," he whispered in a kind of awe, "how beautiful she is."

He watched her quietly, his heart beginning to beat faster and his manhood to swell uncontrollably. Her firm, rounded breasts moved slightly with each sleeping breath. Her eyelashes were long and dark, and her cheeks were touched with the deepened color of sleep. Darek felt his passion rising within him. Not in all his nineteen seasons had he felt this pounding of the heart, this quickening of his breath. He disregarded the sounds outside the tent. They were eager to return home, but he wanted to stay here forever...

Her lovely golden eyes opened, and he saw the momentary confusion as she gazed at him. Placing one finger against his own lips, he murmured, "Promise me that you will not scream, Kitten, and I shall remove that cloth."

She nodded quickly, and he gently untied the leather gag, exposing her full, rose-hued lips. He stroked her luxuriant light-colored hair, and waited for her to speak.

"Where are we now?" She spoke hesitantly, and a faint tremulous wavering was in her voice. Darek felt a quick rush of pity for her. She was full young to be taken like this, but he could not wish it undone.

"We are near to the mountains. The land of my people," he answered. But his mind was far away from his words. He was looking at the gentle curves of her hips, the lush beauty of her breasts, and longing to take her again. He forced himself to lie quietly by her side, leaning on one elbow, looking down at her. "What is your given name, little One?" he asked, and noticed that a blush spread over her cheeks.

"My name is Arel," she answered. "Please tell me what will happen to me," she added in a soft voice, vibrant with fear. Darek smiled reassuringly.

"Nothing evil, Arel. I am bringing you to my home, to be my mate. You will not be harmed."

Her eyes flared with the sudden brilliance of anger. "You have already harmed me!" she hissed. "I know not what magic you worked on me, but I felt great pain at first, and then, later..." She dropped her glance and hesitated, while Darek moved closer to her, running his hand slowly over her bare shoulder, touching her neck and bosom as gently as a wolf-Male carries its young between its teeth.

"Later?" he prompted her, pressing his lips against the softness of her neck.

"Later I felt so strange. As if I were dying." The young girl looked up at him as if pleading for an explanation. He laughed softly.

"That was love, Kitten. I made love to you. Always, the first time is painful for a woman. But it will never be so again. I promise!"

"Love...?" Her tone was perplexed, a faint note of longing in it that reminded him of the throbbing night winds that haunted the summers in the mountain caves of his people. "I do not understand. I love my sister, and I love she who bore me, and all my people, but never have we held each other in this way. And only the babies touch the breasts as you have done."

"So lovely," he mused, cupping one firm breast in his hand and placing his lips over the nipple for a long moment. "I know it is hard for you to understand, Arel, because they do not tell you. But a part of my body entered yours to place the seed of life. This is how the children are begotten."

A look of horror paled her expressive face. The lips parted slightly, and a low gasp escaped her throat. "No!" she whispered. "The Great Mother of all beings swells our bodies when it is time!"

"You have seen the deer in the meadows, and the wolves at dusk, Kitten," he said quietly, reaching down to untie her slim ankles and rub them where the cruel cords had left a faint reddened line. "Even your own Faral cats that sleep in your tree-nests with your people...even they make love. Every Female who is born, among the beasts or the people, carries that sweet passageway." His hand strayed unbidden to the warm cleft between her hips and rested there, moving rhythmically while he spoke.

"And every Male bears this." Now he felt a momentary shyness, but he quickly removed his loincloth and revealed himself to her. His manhood, a darker bronze than the rest of his body, stood erect, swelling, longing for her body like a creature possessed of a soul.

Large amber eyes gazing at him, and no sound. Not a word. "Kitten..." He began to stroke her gently, his powerful hands moving from her hips to her breasts, his mouth following them, while she lay rigidly still.

"Do not resist me, Arel," he murmured. "Or there may be pain again. Let me love you..."

"No!" she shrieked wildly, startling him with the frenzy of rage and terror in her voice. "My sister follows us! She will slay all of you!"

Darek knelt beside her, his face darkening and grim. "So! We were right! Your companion is tracking us! And she escaped us at the Lake. She must be a courageous Female, this sister of yours. But I will not have her find us."

As Arel opened her lips to scream again, the young Male clamped his hand over her mouth. He found the leather cloth and gagged her tightly. "I wanted to kiss your sweet lips while I took you," he murmured, "but that must wait until we are home."

His eager hands were on her breasts, and the soft tips became erect under his probing tongue. He forced her slim thighs apart with his knees, and plunged his manhood into her. The girl's eyes widened, and she moaned in pain. You will learn, Kitten, he thought. You will learn that it can be a pleasant as the spring rains to be mated by a Male. The pounding of his heart increased twofold, and the movement of his loins kept pace with it. And now the girl began to respond, her hips undulating, her eyes closing, and low moans of rapture sounding in her throat like the soft purring of a young cat.

With quick hands, he untied the gag again, and was rewarded to find that she parted her lips for his tongue to enter. He drank the nectar of her mouth, while his maleness thrust deep into a sheath of pulsating, moist warmth, the essence of her being exposed to his seeking manhood. Then the world exploded inside him, glittering shards of passion ripped through his chest, stomach, and limbs, and he grasped her as a man caught in the rising floods of the canyon river would cling to a smooth-barked tree.

Afterwards Darek held her in his arms while she wept softly. "Do not be sad," he whispered. "I will never let anyone harm you. We will be together. You are mine now."

"I shall never see Thena again..." Her tone was bleak and despairing. Darek felt his chest tighten.

"I wish you to be happy with me, Kitten," Darek said in a low, urgent tone. He reached into the pouch that carried his belongings and brought out one of the garments he had brought with him. Without meeting her eyes, the powerful young Male swiftly untied her wrists and offered her the clothing.Suddenly, he was ashamed to look at her nakedness, and he felt an inexplicable sadness. No one had told him about this part of it. They had taught him much about Females, but never had he been told of this, that women would feel sorrow. That they would long to return to their homes. That they had hearts to mourn with and minds to carry thoughts of their own people.

When she was dressed, in a soft leather garment that covered most of her lovely body, exposing only her delicate feet and hands, Darek picked her up and stood erect within the high-ceilinged tent. "Are you ready to go home?" he asked, savoring the feel of her body in his arms. "To your new home, with me, Kitten?"

Arel laid her head against the Male's muscular shoulder and wept at his words. To her new home! Where she would never see her people again! She shook her head violently, but he did not seem to notice. As easily as if he carried a child, he brought her to his steed and placed her before him. He had not bound or gagged her this time, and she was able to straddle the beast they rode, and so feel more secure.

Once again, his arm was around her waist, but instead of feeling hatred and anger against this Male, Arel knew only confusion and sorrow. I should despise him, she thought, but I cannot. When he...made love to me, he changed my heart somehow, as well as my body. The young huntress, bred as a warrior and tracker, knew that her thoughts were not the ancient truths that were spoken around the Mother Flame, or sung as war chants when the black Lujal wolves grew bold enough to show their teeth at the tree-homes of her people. But still, it is what I feel, she mused. A spasm of grief clenched in her chest. Thena would understand! Butshall I ever see her again?

As they rode, their trail led them up into the rocks, where intricate formations of black stone towered on either side, and the way was steep, narrow, and treacherous. In a grove of massive trees, they stopped by a boulder strewn canyon, where a stream of silver water plunged over a cliff, forming a waterfall that freshened all the air with a light mist and formed a deep, blue-black pool.

While the other Males watered the beasts, the girl found herself being led to a leafy thicket, secluded from view by a thick mass of trees with dark and pungent leaves. It was so different from Arel's home of open lands and yellow grasses. Like an enchanted bower, it was cool, quiet, and fragrant. Its floor was lush green grass, as soft as fine woven cloth.

"Why are you so silent, Kitten?" He had murmured the words close to her ear, and when she turned to look at him, she saw that his dark brows were drawn together in a frown, but not an angry one.

He looks sorrowful, she marvelled. But what cause could her conqueror have to grieve? "I am thinking of my family," she murmured. "I will miss them." She could not know how the shafts of Starshine, penetrating the thicket, touched the radiant silk of her hair and lighted her eyes with flecks of green and pure gold. But she saw her own beauty reflected in the intense gaze of her captor. Now, the Male seemed to relax, and the corners of his lips curved up. He drew her close to his chest and brought his lips to her ear.

"Don't grieve, little One," he whispered. "Your sister will be welcomed in our city as your companion, free to come and go as she wishes." He hesitated, touching Arel's lips and forehead with gentle fingers. "You I must keep, Kitten. I cannot bear to part with you. But no harm will come to your sister. I swear it!" Darek's eyes had darkened when he spoke, as if he foresaw some great danger, but Arel was too happy to notice.

"You promise?" she breathed, placing her arms around his neck in her eagerness, turning her lovely face up to his, her half-parted mouth close to Darek's lips. "If only Thena and I can be together sometimes, I will be content! I will not try to escape!" The young girl blushed, suddenly aware of her own actions, but it was too late. Darek was embracing her, clasping his hands around her waist and covering her lips with his warm, sensual mouth.

"I believe you, Kitten." His voice was low and throbbing with passion. And Arel felt her own body answer him, in terrifying but ecstatic signals: the tautness of her nipples, the fiery incandescence in her limbs, the quick breaths that filled her lungs with the perfumed scent of the leaves and made her eyes close against her will, and her own lips that locked against Darek's mouth, her hands that explored the sleek muscles of his back and shoulders, and her hips that pressed against the hardened maleness at his loins in a supplicating demand.

Arel found her soft garment pulled from her by Darek's eager hands. The grass was cool against her naked back and buttocks, and her lover's body was joined to her by a living shaft of hard flesh that seemed to drive toward her heart. She cried out again and again in the final moments, but he did not cover her mouth with his hand. He drank in her cries as if they were sweetest nectar. She saw his dark eyes, glowing with passion, and she gazed into them while her hands fastened in his hair, and her legs wound around his body, chaining him to her. "Arel," he cried once, and she watched his eyes close, his nostrils flare to take in more breath, his body convulse. Then her own life left her, dissolving her limbs as it fled, and she spoke his name as she dropped into a lake of pure balm and oblivion.
"Darek...I love you..."

The wolves ran silently, hunting their prey, and Thena kept just ahead of them. She leaped from boulder to boulder, scrambling desperately through the crags of the mountain range. In the lesser light of the Night Star, she saw the gleam of their teeth and glow of their eyes. She heard the faint scraping of claws against bare rock, as they drove her back, toward a cliff that looked out over a fog shrouded valley, where death waited for her to leap into its arms.

Her long golden hair was wet with the moisture of the night and of her own exertion. Her breath came in quick, short panting bursts, as she turned to face them. The silence was broken now by their savage baying and fierce snarls. Quickly she discarded her bow as useless against so many at close range, and gripped her spear. At each end of the polished wood a sharp blade gleamed. "I shall take half of you at least with me to the Great Mother's arms," she hissed, glaring into the wolves' merciless eyes and feeling their hot breath on her face.

The lead wolf struck first, as was his right, and Thena caught him on the point of the spear. His blood spurted in a widening pool, and she slipped to her knees on the wet rock. The pack lunged forward as one beast, jaws open, baying hideously. She freed her spear, leaped up, but lost her footing. The moon whirled above her, the wolf-cries shrieked in her ears, and she smelled the rank odor of blood as she plunged toward the mist covered rocks below her.

But as she fell, something gripped her arm like the talons of a hunting bird. For an instant she hung between sky and earth, dangling over the veiled expanse of nothingness, where jagged death awaited her. Then in one swift motion, she was drawn upwards and found herself standing on the cliff's edge again.

The wolves were grouped in a circle, silent and watchful, and in the play of light and shadow, the girl saw what had pulled her out of the valley of mist. A Male! But not one of those who took Arel! She almost cried aloud, but only the cool wind, the night vapor, the twisted trees, and the wolves would have heard her. He was like the others, but taller, and her trained huntress eyes, well used to judging the strength of beasts, noted that he was more powerful as well, his chest and shoulders broader, the muscles more prominent. He wore a loincloth and short tunic of supple hides, black in color as the merciless night sky.

His face was bare, but not smooth. Even in the Night Starshine she could detect the dark traces of a beard, just as the old legends of these Savages had described. His mouth was full and sensual, his nose straight and well-shaped, and his hair was pure black, and long, reaching his shoulders in a thick and glossy mane.

All these details the girl saw in one glance before she tensed herself to fight and kill if need be. She knew that he was appraising her as well, his fierce dark eyes scanning her face and body, his lips curved in an ominous smile. "Lie down!" he cried abruptly, pointing at the savage wolves, and they sank obediently to the cold stone, their tongues lolling, and only an occasional whine of eagerness betraying their desire to finish off their lost prey. "What do you want here, in our land?" he demanded. His voice was not harsh, but it was cold and stern, the mark of one who was used to command.

"I am seeking my sister," the girl answered. She was still trembling from her desperate flight before the pack and her plunge into shrouded death, but she kept her voice steady and clear by the force of her will. "She was carried off by four of your kind. I was tracking them until your black wolves caught my scent. If you will let me pass, I shall pick up the trail again." And if you will not, I shall slay you, she thought, one hand touching the claw knife in its pouch. Her spear had parted from her when she fell, and rested now on the valley's floor.

He laughed, a low, threatening sound. It was echoed by faint growls from the wolves' throats. "Let you pass?" The tall, powerful Male moved a step closer to the girl. Without warning, he seized her arms and pulled her to him. In another instant, Thena's wrists were grasped tightly by one of the Savage's hands, while his other hand fastened roughly in her flowing hair. "No, Beauty," he murmured. "Our ruler, Rajan, would reward me if I brought him such a Female as you to be his bedmate!" He appraised her with an icy gaze. "Your breasts are firm and young. Your hips are rounded and will carry many sons for him. Rajan will be pleased."

Her lips parted in silent amazement, Thena stared at him for a moment. His sensual mouth and burning eyes were inches from her face. He seemed about to devour her, but instead of fear, Thena knew only a ferocious rage that gave her the heart and strength of a lioness. Just as Arel had done, she sank her teeth into the Male's arm, but far deeper and more savagely.

He made no outcry, but he raised one hand and struck her hard across the face. The blow made a resonant sound in her ears, like the high-pitched flutes that her people loved to play on. Then it passed, and she felt the stinging pain his hand had left. "I cannot stand," she murmured in a faint voice, wavering on her feet, but when he released her wrists in order to support her body, Thena's hand shot to her side. The claw knife was in her hand and thrusting at his chest. In another instant he would have died, but this creature was too quick for her. She cried out in pain and anger as he gripped her arm, wrenched the weapon from her hand, and tossed it carelessly over the cliff.

"Now, She-Cat," he growled, "I'll take you to our Master. But first I'll pull your claws, if you have any left." In one savage movement, he twisted her arms behind her and she felt her wrists being bound with braided leather cord. All her lithe power was to no avail. He held her as easily as a child holds a Faral kitten, and the bonds he used were brutally effective.

Taking another piece of cord from a leather pouch he carried, the Male secured her ankles and extended the rope to her thighs, looping it around them above her knees. "Do you feel helpless now, Beauty?" he laughed, straightening up and looking down at her, where she lay on the cold, hard rock. "You look more beautiful this way, and not so dangerous!"

He pulled her roughly to her feet and brought out a piece of black leather, formed like a bit for riding animals, but thicker, with cords attached. "For you, She-Cat." Your teeth are sharp as they are white. Now open your mouth!" he commanded. She shook her head stubbornly, clamping her jaws together, but his hands were too strong. When it was clear that he would force her mouth open and do her an injury unless she obeyed, the girl parted her soft rosy lips unwillingly. The Male thrust the leather gag between her teeth and then secured it by tying the cords tightly at the back of her head.

"Now I may bring you to our city," he said in an ironic tone, "without any danger that you might maim our ruler before he can enjoy your body." For the first time, the Savage's eyes seemed to gleam with desire, and his voice held a note of admiration. But Thena was in too much agony of mind to notice. Her pride was like a swift Kalamin deer which cunning traps had felled and brought into shameful captivity. The bonds that cut into her arms and legs and the gag that stifled even the slightest sound from her mouth were as nothing compared to the pain Thena knew at her failure to help Arel.

But I will wait and watch, she promised herself, as the Male threw her easily over one shoulder and strode up the mountainside, his wolves running quietly at his heels. Her long golden hair hung down and obscured her vision. The Male's strong hand clasped firmly over her buttocks, to hold her in place. She raged inwardly at the chance that had sent him her way. To kill him, to kill this king, Rajan, to slay as many of the Savages as she could...this was her only thought as she was carried up a narrow rock-encrusted trail, deep into the heart of the Black Cliffs.

Thena shivered in the dank closeness of the mountain trail. Her stomach ached from the hardness of the Male's shoulder, and the tight cords bit into her bound limbs. Suddenly, she heard wolves baying in the distance, and the Male's pack answering them. In a few moments, he strode into a large level ground surrounded by towering crags, whose fantastic shapes loomed in silhouette against the Night Star-brightened sky.

Lying over his shoulder, her head down, Thena was unable to see clearly, but she was aware of other Males, whose features glowed in the radiance of a huge fire. They let her captor pass without challenge, and she had a confused impression that they saluted him by raising their clenched fists and then slamming them against their chests. One of these guards opened a huge door of wood and metal which was built into the rock, and the Male who carried Thena strode through, while the portal shut behind them with a sound of heavy finality.

To her relief, he lowered her from his shoulder and then cradled her in his arms. She looked up at him in mute defiance, but he responded with a low, sinister laugh. "You're angry, She-Cat!" he murmured. "But your fierce looks won't frighten Rajan. He's fond of wild things, especially when they have jewel-green eyes and hair spun from Starshine." He glanced ironically at his arm, still streaked with blood from Thena's bite. "And once he tames that beautiful mouth, he'll probably find it full of sweet nectar, like any wild flower."

He carried her down a corridor that was hewn from solid rock, and the girl realized that she was inside the cliff itself, in a cavern lighted by some natural glowing substance in the walls, and formed by nature or by craft into a subterranean palace. He stopped at an inner door, kicked it open with his foot, and giving a sharp command to his beasts to stay, he walked in and set Thena abruptly and not gently on her feet. He closed the door and barred it with a long piece of metal.

She looked around in wonder at the gleaming walls of the cave-room, veined in gold, crimson, blue and a dozen other colors, shimmering like the pearlescent heart of a shell-creature from the lake in her home. My home... The word made her sick with desire for the open grassland. She felt suddenly faint and weakened by the oppressive closeness of the cavern, and a subtle chill spread through her body, which was streaked with the dust and blood that were the visible signs of her struggle for survival on the mountain. The Male seemed to notice her discomfort.

"Don't worry, Beauty," he said in an ironic tone. "I won't let your new Master see you until you're bathed and dressed. The water should warm you, too, if you're not used to our chill nights." For the first time, she noticed a large hollow in the cave floor, filled with clear water that emitted a faint steam. A warm spring bubbled up from below ground and replenished the water, which overflowed into a crevice in the floor.

Before she had time to realize what was happening, the Male seized her in his arms and dropped her into the water. The pool was only waist deep, but she struggled helplessly to reach the surface until he stepped into the water and pulled her to her feet. "I don't want to drown you," he laughed, pushing her wet hair away from her face so that she could breathe more easily. "Although Rajan might, if you bite him as you did me! Shall I take the gag out?" he asked, one hand touching the straps that held it in place. "I don't want to hit you again, Beauty, but I will, if you use your sharp teeth on me!"

The girl studied his face. His looks were less grim and savage than they had been on the cliff. Perhaps if I appease him, lull him into thinking I am broken to his will, I can slay him and escape. I must find Arel. She may even be a prisoner in this cave-city of the Males! She looked into his eyes, and then lowered her gaze in submission and nodded. He reached out, untied the straps, and removed the leather gag from between her teeth. Thena took a deep breath through her mouth. "I am grateful," she said softly. "Will you loosen these bonds? They are painful."

The Male gave her a skeptical glance, but he untied the cords around her wrists. He freed her ankles and thighs, and she sighed with relief, for it was easier to stand in the water when her legs were not bound. "My name is Thena," she said in a soft, placating tone. "Can you tell me how you are called?"

"They who know me best call me Lujal," he answered. "That is another word for Wolf." He picked up a metallic vessel, intricately carved, that stood on the marble-veined edge of the pool, and from it, poured a handful of sweet-scented liquid into the palm of his hand. "Now take off your clothes, and I'll wash you, Beauty." She stared at him in shock, her cheeks hot, her heart pounding. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes that almost maddened her, but she forced herself to obey, pulling off the brief garment that was torn and badly stained.

The girl held it out to him silently, and the Male tossed it carelessly onto the ground. "Rajan will provide you with all the clothing you will need," he said. His gaze was traveling up and down her body like an animal tracking its prey, and she shuddered involuntarily. He smiled and moved to stand close to her, looking into her eyes. "You must have traveled a long distance from your home." His voice was deep and resonant, so unlike the melodious accents of Thena's people. "What made you come into the Black Cliff country?"

"I told you I was looking for my sister," she retorted. "This country is all new to me. I did not know the Savages dwelled here!"

"Savages!" Lujal smiled. "You're right, Beauty. That is exactly what I am!" His black glittering eyes seemed to thrust into her. He grasped her tightly around the waist, and his other hand moved over her neck, her breasts, and her hips in a slow, languorous motion. The foaming softness of the lotion cleansed her body pleasantly, but she trembled inwardly with anger at his bold touch. When he had finished, Lujal allowed her to dip into the warm water, until all traces of the blood and dirt were gone, and her chill had subsided. He lifted her from the pool and gave her a soft woven cloth to dry herself.

As she did so, he leaned against a jutting pillar of rock and watched her, as one would observe a prize from the hunt, or a newly captured pet. "Now our Lord Rajan will be pleased to take you to his bed," he said in a voice that was suddenly lower and more husky.

"What does this Rajan want from me?" she cried, unable to restrain herself any longer. "Why should he wish to share his sleeping place with me?"

Lujal laughed and picked her up in his arms. She began to struggle, but he tossed her onto a pile of furs that evidently served him as a bed. "I'll show you, Thena," he said. "It's easier than trying to explain." She watched in astonishment as he removed his tunic and revealed his bronzed chest, covered with coarse black hairs, and the powerful muscles of his arms and shoulders. When he stripped off his loincloth, exposing the swollen Maleness of his body, Thena felt her face grow hot from anger.

"You are well named, Wolf!" she hissed. "I have seen the wolves mating in their season, and the other beasts too! But the Mother who bore us all has spared my people that horror of being mounted by ones such as you!"

"She's spared you nothing, Beauty!" he answered, staring at her in fierce hunger, his eyes like two dark fires, his color heightened, and his lips parted as he breathed deeply, inhaling her scent as a predatory beast would do. "You'll be mounted like any She-cat in heat! And you'll mewl for the pleasure of it, just as they do!"

Before she could leap to her feet and elude him, Lujal sprang upon her, as the lead wolf had done in the wind haunted mountains. "No!" she screamed, clawing at him, kicking and struggling wildly. "You'll die for this, Lujal!"

The Male's powerful hands pinned her wrists against the thick furs, and his hot mouth was fastened on one breast. She felt his tongue thrust at the nipple, tormenting it until it contracted into a small, taut mound, and incredibly, the place between her thighs pulsed in a pain unlike anything she'd ever known, sharp, but sweet and tantalizing. A sudden rush of wetness moistened that place, as if her body welcomed this invader, and she saw that Lujal felt it by his bold smile, the flash of triumph in his eyes, and his deep voice murmuring, "It's well worth dying for, Beauty!"

Thena felt his strong hands grip her thighs and spread them apart. "Please! No!" She screamed in terror, but it was too late. His body lunged against hers, and a thing as hard and firm as a spear shaft of flesh thrust up into her body, filling it with a taut, throbbing warmth. Lujal's passion was as ferocious as the wolves he was named for. His breath came in quick fierce pants, and when he pressed his body against hers, she could feel his heart thudding wildly. His dark eyes were almost black, and his mouth covered hers in a rough kiss that bruised her lips. Deep inside her, his manhood plunged in and out as he thrust his hips against hers violently. "You want me, Beauty!" he cried in a hoarse, exultant tone. "You're as wet and swollen as any cat in season would be!"

He looked down at her in triumph, one hand holding her wrists, while the other grasped one of her breasts roughly. "I want you to die, Lujal!" she answered him, panting under the weight of his body.

"Not yet," he growled, and thrust himself so deep into her that she cried out in pain. "I'm not ready to die yet! I want to take you, Beauty, for the space of a thousand moons, and more..."

She lunged at him, her teeth met just short of his bronzed arm, and she saw Lujal's lip curl in anger. He raised his hand as if to strike her, but instead he grasped a woven scarf that lay on the bed and gagged her tightly, winding it twice around her mouth. "Now," he snarled, "unless you enjoy pain, don't fight me any more, Beauty. My patience is at an end! And there is no one that will help you in this place. You belong to me, and I could kill you here and now if I wished to!"

Lujal bent over her once more. His mouth was on her soft vulnerable neck, her shoulders, and on her breasts, bruised and swollen from his brutal touch. Then his eyes closed, he threw his head back and breathed rapidly, and his loins slammed against her hips in a hard, pumping motion that left her breathless. In a final convulsion of his body, he filled her woman's chamber with a warm gush of liquid, and then lay over her, his maleness still throbbing inside her, his panting subsiding like the racing of his heart, and his eyes half-closed, while his hands grasped her breasts.

Thena lay still, her eyes closed, but her heart was pounding. There were no words in her people's language for what had happened to her, but she felt as if a spear had pierced her bosom. She knew that he had wounded her, because while the first wetness had been a betrayal of her own body, moistening the way for the conqueror to enter, another kind of liquid had spurted when he did so... Her own blood, from within her... She felt and scented it, and the knowledge gave her a mixture of sorrow, rage, and shame. And Lujal, his dark eyes gazing in lazy triumph into hers...he felt nothing for her, nothing but the excitement of conquest. Does he still intend to give me to this ruler? she wondered. How can I ever understand his mind? He is a Male, as far removed from me and my people as the wolves he hunts with!

Lujal had closed his eyes, and she began to hope that he might sleep, so that she could try to escape. But in a few moments, he sat up and seized her wrists. "I know that my Beauty won't be here when I wake up, unless I make sure of her," he said. "She's not fond enough of me yet!" he added sardonically.

And I never will be, she thought, wishing that the venom of her feelings could penetrate his chest and stop his heart. But she was helpless, and her hands could not carry out the dictates of her mind. Lujal bound her wrists with soft cords, woven from fiber, and tied them to a metal ring set in the wall, so that her arms were above her head, supported by the furs on which she lay. The position was uncomfortable, but not torturous. Lujal looked down at her, and his handsome, barbaric features reflected his satisfaction at his new conquest. I would that I might find a spear and pierce his heart, to release his conqueror's pride, she thought bitterly, as he tightened her gag, and bent over her, the glitter of passion in his eyes, his mouth and hands roving over her helpless body.

"You must learn to submit to me, Thena," the Male whispered, as he penetrated her again in a sudden thrust. She tried to scream, but only muffled sounds came through the gag, and Lujal clamped his hand tightly over her mouth. "I will tell you when to speak," he whispered, "and now is not the time." She felt his tongue probing her nipples, and his hot, swollen maleness invading her body, and she prayed, Mother of Earth, let me live through this night to save Arel, and to slay this Wolf...

The Great Star of Day was rising over the Black Cliff City, before Lujal had satisfied his desires and turned on his side to sleep. Lying next to her captor, Thena forced herself to rest and to rally her strength for whatever further ordeals lay ahead in this nightmare world of Male dominion.

A glow of midday light penetrated the cavern from an opening high in the vaulted ceiling. Lujal stretched lazily, and stood up from his bed, bestowing one deliberately careless glance on the girl who lay bound and gagged on the thick furs. He smiled when he saw that her eyes were open and blazing with green fire when she looked at him. "You are a wild one," he said roughly, "but you'll be tamed soon enough." The tall, powerful Male stood next to the bed, looking down at her. He watched her fruitless struggle against her bonds, and then he knelt down on the furs and bent over her.

"There's no use fighting me, Beauty," he laughed. His hands strayed to her rounded breasts, and he felt his manhood pulse and stiffen. She is beautiful, Lujal thought. Huge green eyes, rose-colored lips. And this body. Golden skin, breasts as round and ripe as the fruit of the Riala trees...

He bent down and teased her nipples with his tongue, his hands grasping her breasts tightly. "I'm going to untie your gag," he whispered. "But if you bite me again, you'll be punished." Lujal reached to one side of his bed and brought out a short whip of black leather, with several lashes. "Seven tongues to stroke your body," he said, brushing the handle of the whip against her cheek. "I want to kiss your mouth, but I don't want to lose any more blood."

Throwing the whip down, he removed the gag from his beautiful prisoner's mouth. Lujal, the son of Javik, had seen twenty-five summers come and go. He had taken many women during the eight seasons since he came of age, but none of them had made his heart run with the speed of a wolves' pack, like this one. Now her lush, full lips were freed from the cloth, and he placed his mouth over hers in a rough, urgent kiss. There was no passionate response, and he had expected none, but she didn't even try to bite or pull away. This young Female huntress who had fallen into his nets had been spirited and fiery, but now she was quiet, almost passive. Was she this easily broken to his will?

Lujal felt a strange disappointment. Last night, he had raped her unwilling body, while she fought him desperately. Her resistance had inflamed him to the point of frenzy. Now she lay still in his arms, her beautiful eyes closed, her slim legs resting on the fur, her body no longer twisting away from him in the ferocity of hatred. But this might be only a new kind of rebellion on her part, a stoical withdrawing of herself from him. An indifference to him, to his desires, as if he did not even exist... Lujal felt a sudden rush of anger.

"Open your eyes, She-cat!" he snarled, "or you'll be hurt!" Her eyes opened, and he kissed her again, a deep, lingering kiss, plunging his tongue into the sweetness of her mouth. "By the Night Star and the Wolves that follow it, you are beautiful," he said in unwilling admiration. "So beautiful, and so cold," he added in a lower voice.

"What do you want from me?" Her voice was soft, melodious, and throaty. Lujal frowned.

"So you can still speak," he said brusquely. "I want nothing from you that I can't take!"

"I can speak," she answered. "But there is little for me to say to you. Shall I ask the wolf not to devour me? We do not talk to beasts. You must take me, because I am powerless to stop you."

Lujal glanced at the cords that bound her wrists above her head. The undertone of hatred in her voice was unmistakable, and Lujal laughed. "You're right, Beauty! You can't stop me. Maybe you don't even want to!" In one swift movement, he parted her thighs with his knees, grasped her buttocks, and thrust that hardened part of himself deep inside her. She gasped once, but made no other sound, and she watched him with the look of a cornered animal that waits for its chance to escape.

But that no longer mattered to Lujal, because he was losing himself in the sweet, ripe warmth of her, feeling it lock around him until it seemed as if this joining could never be dissolved, as if the searing heat of his maleness and the wet softness of her womanhood would meld together in an unbreakable bond. He knew a sudden fear at the thought that he could lose himself so in mating a Female, and the fear was followed by a strange anger, so that he drove himself into her more violently than before, and grasped her arms tight enough to bruise them. When she cried out in pain, he clamped a brutal hand over her mouth, and drove his taut manhood into her as fiercely as ever he had thrust a sword into his Enemy.

When it was over, Lujal drew away from her at once, leaped to his feet, and pulled on his clothing, a loincloth, a black woven tunic that hung to just above his knees and was belted with a wide strip of Kalamin hide, and supple deer-skin boots that he bound in place with strips of leather. When he had finished, he checked to be certain that the bonds on the girl's wrists were secure. For some reason, Lujal avoided looking into her eyes. But when he did at last, he felt his heart began to thud in a faster rhythm, his breathing grow deeper and suddenly labored, and his loins tighten in fierce urgency.

"By the Black Cliffs!" he said in a low voice. "Are you a Sorceress, She-cat? What kind of Female are you? I tire of most women after a night, but I want you again!" She was staring up at him in silence, and he clenched his fists at his side. She has no power over me, he told himself, but he couldn't seem to look away from her. Perhaps it was the smooth texture of her bare skin, or the luminous green of her huge eyes, framed by thick, dark lashes. Her hair shone against the furs in a luxuriant mass of radiance. As he gazed at her bare breasts, rounded, golden, and tipped with pink, and her curving hips, where the zone of delight was marked by bright, silky hairs, Lujal fought to restrain himself from losing all thought and will in the sweet depths of her.

"I am not a Sorceress, Lujal." The girl's voice was clear and strong. As he suspected, she had been feigning submission last night, and indifference this morning. Hatred and resistance were the only reactions that he could be sure of in his captive. "I did not lure you or your wolves to me, nor did I enchant you into abducting me." A note of irony was in her voice, as she added, "From what you say, I am not the first Female you have mounted. Can they all have been Witches?"

"No, they were not Witches," Lujal answered softly. "But not one of them was like you..." Enough! he thought in rising anger. This is not sorcery, it is weakness in me, and I can't let her see it! "I'm going to Rajan's chamber now," he said, his eyes and his voice suddenly cold and expressionless. "He'll be coming for you, Beauty, and in a few hours you may be wishing that I had kept you for my mate!" His tone was threatening, but the girl seemed not to notice or to react.

"Do you intend to let me lie here and die of thirst, or starve to my death?" she demanded. "Does your ruler prefer to mate with Females who are so weakened by abuse that they cannot resist? If so, he must be as cowardly as you, Lujal! You use ropes and the threat of whips to subdue one who might kill you in battle, if we both held swords in our hands!"

Lujal stared at her for a moment in surprise and then a laugh that was harsh as a Warrior's cry came from his throat. "I have only one sword which I would ever use on you, She-cat, and that is the one that grows out of my body. But when your Master comes for you, I think I can guarantee that he'll feed you well. He wants a strong, healthy mate to bear his sons. And who knows? He may even give you a chance to fight him. He'd probably enjoy the challenge!"

The Male reached down one powerful hand and touched his captive's cheek. "I'll miss you, Beauty," he murmured. For an instant, he wanted to strip off his clothing and feel her firm breasts and her nipples against his chest, to be gripped by the pulsating lips that lay hidden between her slim thighs. He straightened up and strode out the door, barring it behind him. The Male who was called Wolf felt a strange longing in his broad chest, as he walked toward the chamber of Rajan, ruler of the Black Cliffs.

As the door closed heavily, Thena felt the strength of fury inhabiting her limbs. She began to work steadily at the cords that bound her wrists, inching her way up the bed until she could use her teeth to aid her, plucking at the ropes in relentless determination. After a while, she was overjoyed to find that the bonds began to give way. I will not let this Rajan find me here, bound and helpless! she vowed. And if afterwards, I can find Lujal, so much the better. I will slay him as well. When she found herself free, the young girl was almost too surprised to act at once. Then she leaped to the door, but it was too tightly locked, too massive for her to have any hope of destroying it.

Then I shall wait for him and destroy him... She searched the room for a weapon and found a short-bladed knife of yellow metal, lying where its owner had probably tossed it carelessly. She crouched in a dark corner of the cavern and waited for her new Master to claim her, and die.

In the ruler's chamber, Darek waited uneasily for the arrival of Rajan. His Kitten was by his side, but while he paced the huge, vaulted cavern in steadily mounting tension, she sat cross-legged on the floor, playing with one of the wolf-bitch's puppies, stroking its smooth fur, and laughing at its clumsiness, for it was a very young whelp. He smiled down at her and was rewarded with a dazzling look of love. She is mine, he marveled silently. And what is even stranger, I am hers. I do not know which of us is more the prisoner now...

Two guards entered, and one favored Darek with a curt nod and the words, "Our Lord Rajan comes." The young Male turned hastily to Arel, took the wolf pup from her arms and set it down, and, raising the girl to her feet, drew her to his side in a protective gesture.

The Master of the Black Cliff people entered silently. He seemed hardly to notice them, although the chamber was empty except for Darek, Arel, and the two guards. Darek heard Kitten's quick intake of breath and felt her tremble, as she faced Rajan. And he was an imposing figure, tall, dressed in a tunic of black interwoven with golden threads, booted with black leather, and attended by three of the largest wolves, who moved at his heels and lay down at a slight gesture from his hand, their tongues out, their yellow eyes reflecting the cavern's luminescence.

"Don't be afraid, Kitten," Darek whispered, placing his arm around her and bringing her toward the carved stone chair where Rajan stood waiting for them. He knelt before his ruler, and Arel knelt beside him, her head bowed. She smelled fragrant as a forest lily, and the feel of her soft skin as he held her hand was almost maddening. But he forced himself to be calm, and to rise again, as soon as Rajan had seated himself.

"My Lord," he said, "I come to ask your permission to take this Female as my bond-mate. To take her to my dwelling, keep and protect her, and get children on her body." Dutifully, Darek repeated the prescribed words, but they seemed far removed from the feelings he had for Arel. The words were cold and harsh, and his love was a warm, caring thing that he had never known before.

Rajan spoke in the familiar stern tones of command and ritual. "Thou hast remarked her taboo sign, so that no laws may be broken?" His voice was deep and seemed to echo in the spacious room.

"I have, my Lord," Darek answered. "Her sign is unlike my own. There is no danger of evoking the Curse." He was aware of Arel's startled glance, and he held one finger to her lips. He had already explained to her the importance of silence in this ceremony, but he knew that she was learning strange, new ways. And she did not yet know how he had carefully scanned the small, tattooed design on the inside of her left arm before he had dared to make love to her.

If her sign had matched his own, their union would have been forbidden. The young Male's heart had pounded wildly when he examined her marks, for he wanted her beautiful body enough to defy the taboo, and yet it would have meant death for them both. How he had praised the Father of Mountains when he saw that the Wolf, whose pattern he bore on one powerful arm, was not tattooed into his Love's soft skin. Instead, she wore the tiny but unmistakable image of the lithe Kalamin deer.

Rajan's deep voice startled Darek out of his reverie, for he was gazing down at his Kitten, and remembering the night in his tent, his first taste of her ripe lips and lithesome body...and the two nights since they had arrived at the Black Cliffs, where he had taught her more and more of love in the warm chamber that was his own within the caves of the mountain.

"Hast thou the bonds for thy mate?" The Master was watching him closely, his dark brows drawn together in a frown.

Darek reached into a leather bag and brought out the bracelets of carefully hammered gold, connected by a heavy chain of the same metal. He had decided not to worry the girl with the details of the ceremony, but perhaps that had been a mistake. Now, Kitten's amber eyes widened, and her lips parted in astonishment, as Darek grasped her wrists behind her back, placed the open bonds over them, and then clamped them shut. Only the key that he wore at his neck would open them. He clasped Arel's waist reassuringly, but she cried, "Darek, why are you doing this to me? I thought you loved me!"

"Shhh! Don't speak, Kitten!" Darek touched her lips again in warning, but it was too late. Rajan's dark eyes bore a fierce glitter, and he rose out of his chair. "She does not understand, my Lord," the young Male said quickly. "Arel will be silent. Be still," he cried in a harsh voice. "It is forbidden for you to speak! If you speak again, you will be gagged as well as bound!"

Her eyes were brimming with tears that frosted the lacy dark lashes and glittered on her cheeks. "It is our way, Arel," he whispered gently, "but it is only for this time of ritual. I will never hurt you, Kitten..."

"It is well. The woman is bound to thee, Darek, son of Javik. Take her to thy dwelling. But first, speak with me alone. I have much to say to thee." Rajan was standing, arms folded, his black eyes fierce and probing. Darek picked up his mate and carried her to an outer chamber, where he quickly unlocked her bracelets.

"Wait here, my Love," he murmured, touching his lips gently to her cheeks and forehead. "I will not be long."

She was smiling at him again, now that the bonds were removed, and Darek knew that she still trusted him. "And you will speak to him of my sister, as you promised?" she asked.

Darek smiled and answered, "As I promised, Kitten," but the words had a hollow ring in his own ears. He had sent his men back to look for the girl as soon as they had arrived safely at the Fortress, but no trace had been found of her. She was cunning and courageous, and yet her own skills at eluding them might mean her death in these mountains. If a wolf pack had found her, or worse, a band of Outcast Males, she might even now be dead, and his promise less than useless.

But now that Arel was bound to him, he could ask Rajan for permission to take her outside the fortress and carry on the search. Riding by his side, free and unhurt, Arel would be a living sign that no harm awaited Thena, if she would only show herself. And that was another assurance that he must get from Rajan, that the girl would not be made a captive if she were found. It was a favor the Master had never yet granted to any Female. Darek sighed inwardly, and drew Arel to him for a long kiss.

"You are truly mine now," he whispered, "and never will I bind you as I did on this day!"

"There is no need, my husband," the girl murmured, her huge eyes gazing deep into his. "I love you, and..." A deep blush suffused her cheeks and bosom. "And I long for you to hold me again."

Leaving her in the outer chamber, Darek returned to the presence of his ruler. The Master ordered his guards to leave, and then he barred the door behind them.

The two Males faced each other silently for a moment, and then a broad smile curved the lips of Rajan. He strode forward and seized Darek's hand while clapping him on one shoulder. "You brought back only one prize, my Brother," he laughed, "but I can see that you think her well worth the journey! And she's a pretty little thing!"

Darek smiled and returned the pressure of his brother's hand, but his heart was still uneasy. Rajan was in a good humor, that much was certain, but how would he react to Darek's request? The young Male had no fear of any living creature, but he respected and loved his elder brother. I have no wish to bring the sword of anger between us, he thought resolutely. But I must keep my promise to Arel.

"Sit down, Darek," the other Male said, pointing to a carved chair covered in thick fur. "Bring us something to drink," he ordered a servant who had entered in response to his call. "My brother has returned from his journey, and that's a reason to celebrate." Rajan's eyes gleamed wickedly for a moment, and he added, with a smile at Darek, "And I have other reasons as well. You aren't the only one who returned from your hunt with a prize."

Darek had to swallow deeply from his cup before he could answer. "You took many deer?" he asked, leaning forward in sudden apprehension. "I noticed that your lead wolf, Karesh, was not at your feet today..." He stopped at Rajan's frown, but then the mood passed, and the older Male downed the amber liquid in his cup at one gulp, setting the vessel on the arm of his throne-chair with a thud.

"Not deer," he laughed, his dark eyes suddenly burning, his sensual lips parted to show his white, even teeth. He glanced down at the three wolves that still kept watch at his side. "And I lost Karesh to a She-cat's claws. But I brought the Cat home, Darek." Rajan leaned back in his seat in obvious satisfaction. "She is in my chamber. You will see her when she is tame enough to be bound to me."

The younger Male stood up abruptly. "A Female?" he cried, unable to contain himself. "Where did you find her? What does she look like? Have you harmed...have you taken her body?"

Rajan was on his feet now as well, his expression puzzled, but not yet angry. And yet it might come to that, Darek knew, if what he suspected were fact.

"Do I look like a whelp?" Rajan laughed. "Of course I took her. I breached her maidenhead just this night past, and all through this night..." His voice grew lower, and he looked past Darek, into the empty space of the room. "There is something about this one, some Female magic I haven't known before. Even now, I find myself wanting her."

"Did you remark her sign?" Darek demanded. He saw his brother's eyes narrow in scrutiny.
"I did. You wouldn't accuse me of breaking the Taboo?" Rajan's voice was still calm, but there was an undertone of menace, and Darek wondered if he had gone too far. If he had, it was too late to turn back. He had to know the truth. His brother continued, "Her sign was the Deer. I hope that relieves your mind."

"It does not!" Darek cried, unable to restrain himself any longer. "The Female is Arel's sister, who followed us here from the Lake. I promised her that no harm would come to Thena, that she would be free to see her sister, and to come and go from our city at will!"

The two powerful Males faced each other again, but this time the taste of anger was in the air. Darek tensed his body. He and Rajan had fought in their youth, but never to do real injury. And now that Rajan was their leader, to attack him was rebellion against the Black Cliff people as well...

"Your promise was made too quickly, my Brother." Rajan's voice was cold and calm, but his heightened color betrayed his anger. "You had no right to make a pledge that you couldn't keep, but I understand why you did it. Your Mate has bewitched you, but she'll have to learn to accept our ways. And Thena is mine now." The Ruler took a deep breath and seemed to be making an enormous effort to restrain himself. "What would you do, Darek, if I were to demand that you let Arel go? Never see her again? Wouldn't you want to kill me before you'd let that happen?"

"But I love Arel!" The words left his lips before Darek could think of what he said. But he wouldn't recall them. He stood as defiant as before, glaring at his brother, his own heart pounding.

"Love!" Rajan's lip curled in a sneer, and he shook his black-maned head violently. "You can't love a Female, Darek! They're not to be trusted, and they don't think as we do. Their bodies are useful, for making love, for getting sons, for certain kinds of work, but that's all. I want to keep this Female because her body and her face are beautiful. And there's much I want to do to that body. Many new ways of love that I want to teach her." He licked his lips in obvious anticipation, his eyes gleaming. Darek clenched his fists.

"When we called you Lujal for a sport-name, we chose well, Brother!" he said in a low, angry voice. "You are as brave as the wolves you hunt with, but sometimes you are even more savage." For a moment, Darek felt like a small boy again. He remembered the times that his older brother had rescued him from trouble, and taught him the ways of their fierce world, and he felt a wetness in his eyes that shocked him.

He saw a glimmer of remembrance cross Rajan's face too, and then the strong features relaxed into a smile. "Little Brother, no Females should ever come between us, for any reason. Your pretty Mate wants to be with her sister, and she will be. In fact, she has me to thank that she still has a sister. I found her in the jaws of my pack and ready to tumble off the Chynak Crag. I brought her home, bathed her, and made love to her. That's all. She hasn't been hurt in any way, except for the little wound that all Females must bleed from, the first time of love. You can tell your Kitten that you've kept your promise. That Thena is safe with me, and that soon, when the She-cat has learned to keep her claws in, she'll be bound to me as my Queen. Won't that satisfy your promise, Darek?"

There was something almost wistful in the powerful Male's last words, and Darek stared at his older Brother in confusion. Then he nodded quickly, and Rajan strode forward and embraced him in a quick, rough fashion. Drawing back, they looked at each other, and Rajan laughed, while Darek smiled in relief.

It was over, and the younger Male saw the wisdom of it. When he told Arel that her sister's life had been saved by their Ruler, and that soon they would be together every day, she would be overjoyed. The anxious look he had seen too often since Thena had disappeared would be gone from his Kitten's lovely face. They would be happy together.

"Your mate is waiting for you, Darek. And she seems to be under your spell, as much as you are under hers!" Rajan was looking at him with a smile as mischievous as when they were boys together, and had conspired to disrupt the elders' meeting with a well-placed Fire Melon, planted in the Flame Pit and exploding its seeds in all directions when the heat called on it to spawn.

"I wish you many sons, Lujal," Darek said warmly, turning to enter the chamber where Arel waited.
"And I wish you the same," Lujal laughed. "Many sons from long nights of love!"

With a brief salute of farewell, Darek entered the chamber where Arel waited. "She's alive and safe," he cried immediately. "Thena is here in the fortress. You'll see her very soon!"

His Kitten's lovely lips parted in a gasp of joy, and she embraced him. "Oh, Darek," she murmured, "you kept your promise. Now I know that you truly love me."

As he clasped her in his arms and carried her toward their new home, Darek could only hope that Thena would adapt as well to her new life as Arel had done. The flame of doubt rose in his mind, but he quenched it in the moist, soft lips of his tawny-haired love.

Even before he saw the empty bed and the frayed ropes, Lujal, Lord of the Black Cliff Males who knew him as Rajan, sensed that his captive had escaped. The heavy door was still barred on the outside, and so he knew that she must be somewhere in the series of chambers that were his dwelling. There was no other way out.

The three wolves had accompanied him into the room, and they growled, their legs stiff, the hair rising along their necks and backs. "Stay!" he commanded, pointing to the door. "Guard!" Obediently, they trotted to their places and sat watching him intently, their eyes glowing in the perpetual shine of the cavern walls.

One chamber was darkened, its walls covered by hides. It was the place where Lujal slept when he wished to rest his body in deep sleep, or to recover from the bloody wounds that he sometimes suffered in hunting or in battle. That's where she will be lying in wait for me, he thought, feeling only amusement at the notion. Armed with one of my weapons, probably, and ready to drive it into my heart. He smiled grimly, and his dark, handsome features reflected the irony of the moment. If I should die by a Female's hand, I hope that Darek will throw my body to the Lazlen birds, to be torn like any carrion. But no, he mused, my brother has always been more tenderhearted than I.

Lujal moved cautiously into the darkened chamber. He threw his head back and scented the air, taking her fragrance immediately, knowing she was there and feeling no fear, only a ferocious longing for her body that smote his chest and loins, made his heart pound wildly and his manhood swell in unbearable desire. And at that moment, as if she sensed his distraction, the She-cat struck, slashing at Lujal's back with his own blade. He felt the searing pain, whirled instantly and faced her. She had darted to a far corner of the room. He saw her eyes and hair radiant in the gloom, and he hardly noticed the blood flowing from his wound.

Quickly, he ripped the hides from one wall, and the phosphorescent rock illuminated the scene, revealed Thena grasping the bloodied knife, her back placed against the wall, and fiery determination in her eyes. The Male clutched his wounded shoulder and laughed aloud. "A bit to the right and you would have been stepping over my dead body now, Beauty, although my wolves would not have let you leave this room alive." He took several steps toward her and halted.

"I shall kill myself, then, and cheat your pack of their sport!" She spoke defiantly, and he watched her, almost mesmerized by her beauty, ignoring the slash in his flesh. Thena's hair was a cloud of golden radiance around her finely shaped features, her full, sensual lips of coral hue, luminous green eyes framed in lacy black lashes, slender nose, and high cheekbones touched with heightened color. And her body...

Moving toward her again, he scanned the lines of her lithe form. The girl was still naked as her captor had left her, and her rounded firm breasts and hips, and slender waist seemed to call for his hands to grasp them. Her tawny-gold skin gleamed in the cave's light, and Lujal longed to put his mouth over her rosy nipples and coax them into tautness, to part her hidden lips and thrust himself inside her.

"No, Thena," he murmured. "You won't kill yourself, because that would cause your sister Arel great pain, and you don't want to hurt her. You've risked your life again and again to try to find her. And now you've succeeded."

The proud young Huntress gasped softly, and her eyes widened in surprise. "She's here?" Thena cried. "Is she well? Have you hurt her?" Her slim hand clutched the knife in a grip of desperation. When Lujal spoke again, his voice was soothing, almost hypnotic.

"She is alive, well, and longing to see you, Beauty," he said. "I've just seen her. She has not been harmed. And she won't be, not by me or any other Male. I swear it!"

Her lovely eyes closed for an instant in exhaustion and release from fear, and in that small space of time, the Wolf sprang, seizing the slender wrist of her knife hand and twisting it until she cried in pain and dropped the weapon.

Lujal's breathing was labored, and his voice was rough with passion. He pulled her savagely to him and pinned her wrists behind her back, while he looked down at her. "I warned you, Beauty," he snarled. "I told you that you would be punished if you used those sharp teeth on me again, and you've nearly killed me into the bargain." His powerful muscles tensed, he lifted her up in his arms, and carried her into a different chamber.

"Will you kill me, then?" She spoke in soft but clear tones, and showed no fear. The Lord of the Black Cliffs shook his head.

"Then I would only punish myself," he answered in a low voice, "and deprive myself of the pleasure I take in your sweet young body."

"What of this Rajan?" she demanded. "Was I not to be his Mate? Surely he will be displeased if you harm me!"

"The game is over, Beauty," he answered, and drew her close to his chest, feeling the firm roundness of her breasts against his skin. "I am Rajan, although my brother Darek and our friends from boyhood have always called me Lujal. And you are mine, to do with as I please!"

She recoiled in horror when he spoke Darek's name. "That is the Savage who carried off my sister! If he is your brother, then she is lost to me! Tell me what he has done to her!"

"He's done nothing but take her as a Bond-mate! My brother is as brave and strong as a lion, but he always had a streak of gentleness. I think your sister has worked some spell on him. He says that he loves her!" Lujal's voice was full of irony as he spoke, and he felt the girl renew her struggles in his arms. He placed her on her feet and held her tightly against him.

"How can I believe you?" she cried. "Unless I see her well and safe, I cannot rest!"

"The sooner you submit to me and call me Master, the sooner you'll see her," he said harshly. "But for now, you must learn obedience. I can't take a woman to my bed who tries to kill me every chance she gets."

She struggled violently, but he dragged her to a pillar of rock, where a metal ring had been driven into the surface. He turned her to face the pillar and tied her wrists firmly to the ring. Taking a deep breath, Lujal reached down and picked up a many-lashed whip of black leather. The girl had twisted around to look at him over her shoulder, and he heard the quick intake of breath when she saw the whip.

"You are a coward!" she hissed. "But you will never be able to lie easy next to me, unless I am tied hand and foot, for I swear by the Star of Day that I shall kill you, Lujal."

The powerful Male didn't answer. His eyes roved over her smooth body and the golden skin of her firm buttocks. One hand grasped the whip handle tightly and he lifted it high. The lashes flicked over her body and left reddened lines, but she didn't wince or cry out. Lujal brought the whip down again and again, each time with more force. The slap of the leather against her buttocks echoed in his ears, and he felt sweat begin to drip from his body.

Why don't you scream, She-Cat? His chest was burning in growing rage and another feeling, one he could barely acknowledge, shame at what he did. He stepped forward and ran his hand over the soft skin, crisscrossed with fiery marks. "You're so quiet, Beauty," he taunted her, grasping her hair and forcing her to look at him. "Why don't you tell me what you think of me?"

"I think that you are a wolves' whelp, Lujal, that loves to torture the small things which cannot run from it. I think that you are a whining dog in the shape of a Male, and that only the birds which swallow carrion are fouler than you."

The calm, icy tone of her voice, and the slight smile that curved her lips as she spoke, gazing directly into his eyes, staggered Lujal. He stared at her without speaking, and then threw down the whip. "I find that I can do without your words," he snarled.

Grasping a piece of woven cloth, he thrust it into her mouth, choking off whatever words she had meant to speak. He tied the gag brutally in place with a leather strap, and picked up the whip again. After that a frenzy seemed to possess him, and he lashed her until his strong arm was weary. Then he stepped forward, seized her golden hair and twisted her head around so that he could look into her eyes. He saw rage there, defiance, and hatred, but no submission. And then, against her will, he knew, Lujal saw two shining tears well up in the jewel-green eyes and spill over onto her face.

You are as brave as the wolves you hunt with, Lujal, but sometimes you are even more savage!

Darek's remembered words startled him, for they seemed to be spoken aloud in the silent chamber. Lujal, son of Javik, stared at the whip in his hand as if he had never seen it before. When he touched the girl's cheek and felt her tears, they seemed to scald his fingers. "Thena..." Lujal heard himself speak her name in a hoarse, trembling voice. Suddenly hands which seemed to belong to another man were removing the gag from her bruised mouth and untying her wrists.

When he picked her up, he felt her body go limp, saw her eyes close, and knew that the long nights without sleep, the endless journey on foot, and the lack of food or drink had taken her into a death-sleep. He could have added that the whipping had sent her into merciful unconsciousness, but he would not think of that, even as he laid her gently on his bed of furs, laved her stripes in soothing liquid, and covered her with a soft blanket. Lujal knelt by the bed and watched his beautiful captive, his heart pounding, but with fear now, not desire. If she should die... He clenched his fists in sudden despair, and then strode to the door and unbarred it, calling to one of his guards.

And when Darek had been summoned, bringing Arel to nurse her sister, Lujal called his wolves and hunted far into the mountains, that fresh meat might be distilled into broth to nourish his Love, and that new hides might be made into the softest of clothing for her. When he watched by his fire at night in the fortress courtyard, he saw her hair and her face reflected in the flames. And when he knelt by her bedside and saw her stir into consciousness, the bleak hardness melted in his heart and fused into a white-hot flame of some new emotion that he had not known in all the summers he had lived.

Continued on page 2

Arel walked to the edge of the forest pool and kneeling down, touched the surface lightly with her delicate hand. She glanced at her sister who lay sleeping on a mat of fur, laid under the sheltering branches of a tree whose bark was a pure white, and whose leaves shone in rainbow colors under the warm afternoon son. Arel smiled at the sight of Thena. After many days, the fever had subsided, and she was well again.

The ruler of this place, the one that Darek to his shame called Brother... The young girl took a deep breath. Her hatred of this Rajan was so great that it was of a strength equal to her love for Darek. When Arel saw what he had done to Thena, she had wanted to claw and bite him, but Darek had held her back, and Rajan had stood in grim silence, his arms folded, until she was secure in her Mate's arms. Then she remembered his words, spoken in a deep voice which seemed to be heavy with sorrow. You can help your sister, Arel, but not by wasting your blows on me. Nurse and care for her. She needs you.

As he held her, Darek's heart was pounding too, and she could feel his body trembling in rage. You have betrayed me, Rajan. I call you Brother no longer! You said no harm would come to Arel's sister, and you lied! Her Love had spoken to the Lord of the Black Cliffs in words that cut like the whip's lash, and Rajan's face had darkened in anger, but he had turned away, calling to his wolves, and Arel had not seen him for the space of several risings and settings of the Day Star. She knew that he sent every hour for word of Thena, except for the time that he was in the mountains hunting.

And when Thena was awakening into consciousness, he slipped into the room and knelt by her bed, watching the girl with a strange expression on his face, one that Arel could not fathom. Thena had not seemed to notice him, but her eyes had locked onto Arel's face, and a smile of joy had touched her lips. Since then, she had grown in strength and the warm glow of her skin and lips had returned. Her wounded body had healed without a scar, because of the special nectar which Arel distilled from certain flowers and used to bathe her wounds. Her eyes were a brilliant green again, her hair glossy and radiant.

Each day, they walked in a forest garden that was enclosed by steep cliffs, and swam together in a deep pool formed by the river plunging over a sheer rock. At night, she slept by her sister on the soft furs. Arel saw her Bond-Mate only when he came for word of Thena's recovery. It was almost as if they had never left the tree-homes of their people, as if Arel had never known what it was to love a Male. She blushed at the thought of Darek and how she longed for him to hold her again. When she looked up, she saw that her sister stood beside her at the rim of the pond.

Arel stood up and took Thena's hand. "You slept well, my Sister?" the girl asked, worried by a new expression in Thena's eyes, by the frown on her lovely brow, and the tight unsmiling line of her mouth.

"I am well-rested, Arel," she answered, adding in a low voice, "and strong enough now to plan our escape."

For a moment, the younger girl had to look down. She could not meet her sister's searching gaze. Finally, she forced herself to speak. "Thena, I cannot go. I promised Darek..."

Thena's voice was impatient and brusque. "That promise has no meaning! I have been both imprisoned and harmed! He broke his word, Arel, or rather, the Wolf that he calls Brother broke it for him. But it is all one. They cannot be trusted, not even your Darek. Did he not bind you in the ritual?"

"Yes, but it was only a symbol!" Arel felt her breath coming rapidly. It was so hard for her to defy the sister she loved, the one who had guided and instructed her, who had been as a Mother when she who bore them had died...

"He does love me," the younger girl added haltingly, "and I love him!"
"How can you love your captor?"

Arel looked into the green eyes of her sister. There in the forest glade, Thena stood proud, defiant, untamed, her body clothed in the Enemy's supple hides, but her heart unbound. She sighed. How can I tell her? she thought. The hatred was in my soul as it lies in hers, but Darek was kind to me. Not like Rajan. "You must go without me, Thena," she whispered, conscious of the soft breeze, the ceaseless sighing of the water that gushed over rocks into the deep pool, and the bright flicker of the prismatic leaves as they turned in loving embrace with the wind. "It will break my heart to lose you, but I cannot leave him." A deep shame overwhelmed her, and she hid her face in her hands. But then she felt Thena gently pull them away and stroke her cheek.

"I understand, Little Sister." Thena's hand clasped her own, and she was smiling. "When the time comes, I shall return alone to the grassland. Until then, do not betray me, even to your...your Bond-Mate." She took a deep breath. "I intend to escape, Arel, and nothing or no one can stop me. Not even you."

Arel had never seen Thena look so serious, so determined. "I would never betray you," she cried, embracing Thena, feeling her sister's strong arms encircle her. Then she heard a gasp, and Thena's body stiffened. Quickly, they separated, and when Arel turned, she saw what had startled the other girl.

Rajan stood at the edge of the glade, where a small trail led into its lush, grassy shelter. His arms were folded across his chest, he wore the black tunic she remembered from the Ritual, and his looks were stern. When she turned to Thena, she saw the unmistakable fires of hatred burning in her sister's green eyes, saw her cheeks deepen their golden-rose hue, and her fists clench at her side.

"What do you want?" Thena's voice was steady, but Arel sensed the undertone of rage. This Male had intruded upon their time together, had dared to show himself to one he had so cruelly abused. Moreover, the remorse he had shown before was gone. He looked arrogant, proud, merciless, as befitted the Ruler of these Savages, as Thena called them.

When Rajan spoke, his voice was deep as she remembered it, but not sorrowful. She could not identify his emotion. Perhaps he felt none, for no being who had a heart could do what he had done to Thena.

"I want to speak with you, Beauty," Rajan said in a cold tone. "You may leave us, Arel," he added, softening his voice and his glance slightly. "My Brother, your Bond-Mate, has been longing for you these past days...and nights. Now that your sister is well-rested and strong, she no longer needs you by her side."

Rajan's last words were said in an ironic tone which left little doubt that he had overheard their conversation. Arel felt her heart pound in sudden anger, but the pressure of Thena's hand caught her attention. "Go to your Husband, Arel. I will speak with my captor. Unless he kill me outright, there is nothing he can show me in the way of suffering, beyond what I have already learned."

Arel embraced Thena and ran to the trail's entrance. Rajan moved aside to let her pass. She had noticed that at her sister's last words, his dark brows had drawn together in a frown. Down the path, she turned and peered anxiously through the thick screen of leaves and wood. She could see that Rajan had approached Thena, was standing a few steps from her. But before she had time to see more, she felt a strong hand grasp her arm gently, and she turned to look up into Darek's face.

In a moment, she was resting her head on his chest and sobbing. For these many days, Arel had been strong, nursing her sister. Now she gave way to her feelings, and felt the soothing touch of her Love. "Come, Arel, let us go home," he murmured.

"But if he hurts her again..." Arel felt her throat constrict with fear and rage, and her body trembled uncontrollably, but Darek held her and stroked her long hair until she was calm again.

"Look at me, Arel," he whispered.

Feeling a kind of awe, she gazed up into his brown eyes. She could not doubt the truth of what he said next.

"Of his own will, my Brother has sworn to me, at the temple of the Father of Mountains, that he will not harm your sister. And I have sworn to kill him if he breaks his vow. The Elders of the Black Cliff Tribe have witnessed this. They will ensure that either he keeps his promise, or I keep mine." The Male took a deep breath, pulled his Mate to his chest, and Arel felt his lips engulfing hers. When he drew away, he whispered, "You believe me, Arel?"

And she answered, "As I believe that the Day Star will show its light again tomorrow..."

Without looking back, Arel followed her Bond-Mate back to their dwelling cave. The only sound on the trail was the crisp breaking of leaves and twigs beneath their feet, the occasional warble of a bird, and the sighing wind as it soothed the fears of every living thing.

Thena watched the dark-haired Male steadily, not taking her eyes from his face. For a moment, she imagined that Lujal was restless under her gaze, but he did not turn away. "Well, Beauty, do you feel strong enough to escape from me?" he laughed. He was as arrogant as ever, but she forced herself to remain as icily calm as he seemed to be.

"That is not your concern, Lujal," she retorted. The tall, powerful Male moved closer to her, but the girl stood her ground defiantly. In unwilling fascination, she found herself scanning his muscular body, bronzed by the sun, his glossy mane of black hair, his savagely handsome features and his eyes that were even blacker in the Day-Star's light than she remembered them from the cavern. To her own horror, she remembered Lujal's sensual lips on her own, his mouth tormenting her nipples into hardness, and the sweet, wet pain that convulsed her hidden lips while his hands mastered her breasts, and his manhood plunged into her body...

She saw by the expression of hungry desire on Lujal's face that he remembered it too. Involuntarily, she took a step backwards, but the Male didn't lunge at her as she had expected.

"Give up your plan of escape, Beauty," he smiled. "It's useless. Even if you could get out of the fortress, you would never survive the journey back to your homeland. Wolves, Big Cats, or Outcast Males...one or the other would have you in its jaws before too long." Suddenly, his voice softened inexplicably, and he drew closer to her. "I've come here to tell you that you are to be bound to me, Thena, just as your sister was to Darek. You'll be my Queen, live in my cavern, bear my sons. And I'll have no other Females as wives," he added with a proud sweep of his hand. "Now come to my throne-chamber for the Ritual. I want to take you to my bed tonight, as my Bond-Mate!"

Lujal reached out and grasped her wrists tightly. She could see the desire in his eyes, and against her will, she glanced at his loins, where the swelling of his manhood under the tunic he wore proclaimed his hunger even more openly.

Thena stared at him in open astonishment, not even aware that he was pulling her toward him, that his hands were clasped around her waist. "Mother of us all!" she cried. "Can it be possible? Can you believe that I would willingly share your bed, after what you have done to me?" She felt unable to speak further, even if Lujal's lips had not been pressed against hers, shutting off any further words.

One powerful hand embraced her, and the other moved from one of her breasts to the other, opening her soft deerskin dress at the bosom and exposing her body to his hot touch. In one violent motion that seemed to catch him off-guard, Thena pushed with both hands at his chest, and when he staggered under the blow, she slipped away from his grasp and ran past the glade, along the cliffs to a rock which overlooked the river below the tranquil pool.

A raging confusion of water lay beneath her, and its wild spray wet her face, while a wind swept up from the battered rocks below and called her to join it, to be carried down the fierce tumbling river and into oblivion.

While she stood looking down, mesmerized by the chaos that awaited her, Thena heard Lujal's voice calling her. She turned and faced him defiantly. "I am going to die, Lujal," she cried, "rather than be your captive!"

He was watching her closely, his body tensed to spring. The girl longed to leap into the freedom of death, but something, perhaps the thought of her sister, perhaps the longing to see her home again, stayed her. Like a stalking animal, the Male sensed her hesitation. Before she could act, he had lunged onto the rock and was holding her tightly in his arms.

"Once again, I've saved you from a fall, Beauty. You owe me something for your life, especially since you've shown your gratitude so far only by trying to kill me!"

As he carried her from the rock and laid her on the soft fur, Thena felt a deepening panic. She knew he intended to rape her again, and her heart raced wildly at the thought, but her womanhood betrayed her once more. Between her thighs she felt the pulsating response that was beyond the control of even her strong will... Oh, let me die rather than feel pleasure at this Savage's touch, she prayed wildly, as Lujal bent over her.

"I've sworn not to harm you," he murmured in a low, husky voice, "but even the most aged of our Elder Tribesmen would understand my taking your body! The Father of Mountains himself could not resist you! And to make love to you is no injury!" She closed her eyes in desperation, but could not shut out her sense of touch, nor shield her body from his demanding hands that stripped her clothing away, and grasped her breasts in a triumphant gesture of ownership that almost drove her to madness.

Suddenly, her body broke free of its paralysis, and the young girl began to fight back, kicking, clawing, even biting. She stared fiercely into Lujal's eyes as she struggled, but even when her nails and her teeth struck his flesh, and the crimson blood trickled from the wounds, he did not flinch, nor did he strike her. He clenched his jaws tightly, and his eyes blazed in passion, but he was never brutal, even when he bound her wrists with the braided cord that had encircled her waist.

Lujal was breathing heavily when he drew back to look at her. "I feel something different for you," he said in a low voice. "I have from the beginning. And I could never hurt you again, even if I hadn't taken my oath at the Temple. But this you must understand. I rule here, and you must submit to me! There is no other way." For a moment, his voice seemed almost persuasive, as he added, "Your sister has accepted her new life. Why can't you do the same? If I have to bind and gag you in order to enjoy your body, I'll do it, but I'd rather give you the same pleasure that you give me."

The girl watched her captor closely. For a moment, his voice, his look had been almost...tender. She lay quietly, for now that her wrists were tied, she had no real chance of escape. It would have to come later, and in order to gain the chance of freedom, Thena would have to seem resigned to her fate, and lure Lujal into relaxing his guard.

"I despise you, Lujal," she said coldly. "But I am not so foolish as to think I can escape. It seems that I must submit to you and the ways of your Savages."

Lujal looked startled by her quick surrender, and then smiled wickedly. "Indeed, you must, Beauty. And I will begin by showing you another way of making love, one that we Savages practice."

"Why do you call it making love, Wolf, when it is the violation of a woman's body? You twist meaning to suit your own purposes!" She spat out the words, putting all the contempt she felt into them, and she was not surprised when Lujal clamped one bronzed hand tightly over her mouth.

"You shouldn't talk while I'm loving you," he whispered. "It only distracts you, and it might make me angry. And I don't want to make love to you while I'm angry, because I might hurt you." He removed his hand, tore a strip of cloth from his tunic, and gagged her tightly. His eyes flashed in anticipation as he wound the cloth around her mouth and knotted it securely at the back of her head. "In a little while, you may be begging me to take this off so that we can kiss," he murmured, "and to untie your hands to let you embrace me." She shook her head violently, crying out words that were meant to be Never, Lujal! I hate you! But they were muffled by the heavy cloth that covered her lips.

The Male grasped her thighs, and she tensed herself for the invading force of his manhood, the taut, swollen shaft that would thrust inside her, bruising the delicate tissues of her body, battering and ramming into her until she cried out in pain.

But instead, to her shocked amazement, Lujal gently spread her thighs and placed his mouth on the soft petals of her womanhood, the outer lips that lay hidden beneath the silky growth of golden hairs at the base of her abdomen. Incredulous, she raised her head and shoulders, bracing herself on her bound wrists, and stared at him. Lujal was lying at full length on the ground, his dark hands clasped firmly around her thighs, and his mouth fastened on the place he had violated so many times.

Now the Male's insistent, probing tongue thrust into that corridor of warmth and wetness, and he seemed to be reveling in her body, for she heard him making sounds of pleasure, low noises of delight, that she had heard before only when he was raping her. He looked up and gazed into her eyes. "These lips are as sweet as any flower," he murmured. She shook her head violently and tried to pull away, but he grasped her thighs more tightly. "No, Beauty," he smiled, "I want to kiss you in a special place, so you may understand what pleasure is."

Suddenly, the girl felt Lujal's tongue touch a small, erect bud of flesh above the opening to her body. She stiffened in surprise, but after a moment, she could no longer try to resist him. She lay back, her senses inflamed by the spot of passion which Lujal had found and brought to life with his agile tongue and warm mouth.

It swept over her, the tingling fire that raced up and down her limbs, the sensation of cold that followed it, the dizziness, and then the movement of her body, her back arching and hips twisting, beyond any control of her mind.

Thena began to moan, low throaty sounds that were muffled by the gag. She felt Lujal's tongue thrust at the small, swollen part of her, and incredibly, she longed to fasten her hands in his dark hair, to clasp him and cling to him, as if he were the only rampart that could save her in the storm which convulsed her body and dissolved her heart in liquid, icy fire.

"Lujal! Take me, now!" She cried out the muffled words before she knew what she said. Her captor drew his mouth away from between her thighs and bent over her.

"Do you want me, Beauty?" he whispered. She couldn't answer him in words, only in gasps and soft moanings, but he seemed to understand.

Lujal's glittering black eyes gazed into hers, and this time there was no triumph in his look, but instead a tender longing and desire. Thena felt his hardened maleness plunge deep inside her, and she thrust her hips upwards to welcome it, to let it fill her completely. The Male's strong hands untied her wrists and released her mouth, and Thena heard herself cry out, "Please, please..." The girl's lips parted in rapid breaths, and her hands locked around his neck as if she would draw Lujal into her and fuse them as one being.

He held her tightly and thrust his hips back and forth in a powerful, steady rhythm until time stopped, and the sky seemed to grow dark, or perhaps it was only the clouding of her vision turning inward.

Suddenly, Thena was twisting, grasping at him in wild desperation, clinging to him, and crying out again and again, "Lujal...Lujal...!" as waves of lightning pulsed through her body, obliterated its connection to the world, separated it from her soul, and left her weeping in the tight embrace of her lover.

When Lujal awoke in his bed of furs, with the walls of his cavern chamber gleaming around him, he reached for his Bond-Mate and pulled her to his chest. To his pleased surprise, she wound her arms about his neck, and lifted her rounded, golden hued breasts invitingly. "Good morning, Love," she murmured, and he wondered for a moment if he were dreaming.

But her rosy nipples were sweet in his mouth, and the fragrance of her body was not a dream. Nor was the velvety texture of her skin as the Male ran his hands over her body."Good morning, Beauty," he whispered, and followed his words with a passionate kiss, placing his mouth over her soft, ripe lips and thrusting his tongue into their nectar. She is not like the same Female, he thought in wonder. Since the afternoon before, when he had kissed her secret lips, satiating himself in their essence and bringing her the ecstatic release she had never known before, his beautiful young captive had given him her heart.

And I lied to you before, Beauty, he mused, touching her soft cheeks and lips tenderly with one finger, stroking her golden hair with one powerful hand. I said there was nothing I wanted from you that I could not take.

But there was always your love, which only you could give to me...

Her eyes were gazing into his now, and he felt the throbbing between his legs from his erect manhood. But this time, he thought of her and restrained himself.

"Shall I make love to you now, Beauty?" Lujal said in a low, sensual voice. "Or do you want to sleep?"

"I want you to take me, Love," she murmured, "but not here. Let us go back to the Forest, where you first taught me to love you..."

The Ruler of the Black Cliffs felt his heart pounding more rapidly. He stood up and drew his Love gently to her feet. Looking down at her, he answered, "Whatever you wish, Thena." He embraced her, feeling the warm, voluptuous curves of her body pressed against him, gazing into her huge green eyes. She is more beautiful than the Night Star, he thought, and felt a twist of joy in his chest when she looked up at him and smiled.

As they dressed, Lujal watched her in admiration. She was graceful, but her body had a lithe power to it that fascinated him. He remembered the evening before, the Bonding Ritual. She had submitted to it all, allowed him to clasp the golden bracelets around her wrists, kept silent during the ceremony, and afterwards...

Afterwards had been a night of love unlike any he'd ever known. This girl is as passionate as she is beautiful and strong. She is well-chosen to be a Queen. Almost as if the Father of Mountains had sent her to me, he marvelled silently. He glanced at her firm belly, and thought of the child which might be growing there, even now...

"Of what are you thinking, Lujal?"

Her soft voice startled him. She had dressed in a short garment of soft woven fibers, fashioned for her by Arel as she kept watch during her sister's illness. It was a brilliant green, the same color as Thena's eyes, and the translucent cloth revealed the outline of her breasts and small waist. It was an airy thing, better suited to the heat of the grassland than the fierce winds of the mountains. Her slim thighs and well-shaped legs were not covered, and Lujal felt his breath come more rapidly as he scanned the lines of her body.

"I was thinking of you, Thena," he replied in a husky voice. "You're the most beautiful Female I have ever seen."

She laughed softly, and reached up to touch his hair. He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips. "Let's hurry to the Forest, Beauty," he murmured. "I'm a Male, and there are limits to my patience." He thought that a quick flare of emotion sparkled in the depths of her green eyes, but she smiled again, and she did not protest when he pulled her to his chest and luxuriated in the softness of her lips and the firmness of her body under his seeking hands.

"Why do I see no other women here but Arel and myself?"

Lujal rolled over lazily onto his back. The warm sun in this sheltered glade and the muted roar of the river falls had almost lulled him to sleep. It was late afternoon in the mountains now, but the flat rock on which they lay was still radiating the gentle heat it had taken from the Day Star. Lujal had made love to his Bond-Mate again and again that day, and each time she had responded in a way that brought a deeper longing for her, something he had no way to name.

To see her like that, he thought, remembering the way it had been... Her body trembles, her voice cries out my name, her eyes close one moment, and then open wide, gazing at me, while she pants through half-opened lips, and her beautiful face blushes as if the setting Day Star were touching it in rose-gold...

"Lujal...?"

With a start, he realized that he had not answered her question. "I was thinking of our time together," Lujal said, "but I can answer you, Beauty. There are other Females here, and you will see them at the proper time."

"When will that be?"

The Ruler of the Black Cliffs Tribe studied his beautiful Bond-Mate. She seemed relaxed, lying next to him, on her side, her lips curved up in a gentle smile. Her golden hair glimmered in the softening light, and her eyelids were half-closed, so that her thick, dark lashes shaded the green orbs. And yet there was something about her, some intensity in her voice or tenseness about her body...

Lujal sighed. It was time now to tell her everything, but it was not a task he relished. The Females were kept in ignorance by the Elders of their People. They lived in a fantasy world with no wars or battles, where even the hunters were gentle with their prey, and lulled the deer into a stupor with a harmless poison, before they killed them swiftly and painlessly. Not like the Males' hunting, where the wolves and the men pursued their prey with fierce howls, while torches flared, and blood ran scarlet on the black rocks...

"Soon, Thena," he answered. "First I've got something to tell you about our people, yours and mine."

She watched him intently. Lujal sat up and leaned his back against a warm, smooth boulder. He felt awkward as a whelp, for never before had he told these words to any Female. "Males and Females haven't always lived apart," he said quickly, wanting to get it over as soon as possible. "Our tribal Elders say that some evil spirit drove the women to live in the grasslands, and the men to these caves. But except for our one God, the Father of Mountains, I don't believe in things I can't see or touch..."

"Or kill?" Thena's clear voice interrupted him, and Lujal glanced at her. His Bond-mate sat by his side, her lovely face untroubled and smiling, but there had been something in her voice which made him study her carefully before he continued.

"Yes, or kill in the hunt. What difference does it make how it happened?" he added impatiently. "Or why? Our people live apart, and we only meet each other in the Seasons of Love, when the Female Elders choose the girls they'll send to the Sea-Lake." She was visibly shocked by his words, and the tall, powerful Male couldn't repress a smile. "Yes, Beauty," he said in a low voice. "You were sent away from your home so that Darek and his men could take you and bring you here, to the Black Cliffs. It's part of the Bond between your people and mine."

"The Bond?" Her voice was taut with shock that she tried to control. "What Bond could there be between Women and... and..."

"And Savages?" Lujal reached out to touch her hair. It was soft and glossy in the reddening light. "You see I haven't forgotten what you used to call me. It's an old bond, older than any living Male or Female. It's so powerful that any Male who breaks it, dies. The Males live here, apart from the Females, without any contact between the two tribes. But once every summer, the terms of the Bond require that your Elders send their most beautiful young girls to the Lake, as tribute."

Lujal noticed that green flare of emotion in her eyes again, and her lips tightened. She spoke quietly, but he sensed the restraint in her tone. "Among our people, those whose child-bearing time has come travel to this Lake so that the Great Mother may swell their bodies with new life. It is our most sacred ritual."

She seemed to defy him to contradict her, and for a moment, Lujal felt almost sorry that he had to destroy her mystical beliefs in a Goddess that would give her people children without the evil of violation by a Male. But one way or another, that seed must be planted, he thought. "Yes, Beauty," he said. "And you've seen them come back, with Female babies at their breasts. But a few don't come back. Haven't you ever wondered what happened to them?"

Her eyes were almost luminescent now, and her whole body was rigid as she listened intently. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Our Elders tell us that they were called by the Great Mother, to be her handmaidens in the Lands of grassy fields and eternal star-shine. But I never believed it. I always thought that wolves had taken them."

"Then you were wiser than most of your people," Luja murmured. "My brothers, the wolves of these mountains, took them, but not to kill. Just as Darek took Arel, and I took you. It is forbidden for a Male to mate with a Female whose sign is the same as his. If they bear sons, they remain here. Those who bear daughters must leave, and are sworn to silence when they return. If the Bond were to be broken by either side..." He looked up into the dusky sky and despite himself, felt a faint shiver of cold. "The legends say that Evil would destroy both our people if that happened," he continued in a deliberately careless tone. "But as I told you, I don't believe in spirits, evil or good."

"Why does my sister believe that she will stay with Darek? What will happen if she bears a girl-baby? Won't she be sent back to our people?" The young girl's voice was vibrant with tension. Lujal gave her a smile with a hint of mischief.

"And what about you, Beauty? Aren't you wondering what might happen to you? But don't worry," he added proudly. "I rule the Black Cliff Tribe, and that gives me certain privileges, including the right to keep my Bond-mate for as long as I wish, even if she bears me daughters as well as sons. I've extended those rights to Darek, because he's my brother."

A sudden revelation seemed to flow over Thena's mind. Her color rose in obvious anger, and she cried, "The other Females you boasted about, the ones you mounted...were they part of your privileges?"

Surprised at her quickness, Lujal stood up and pulled her roughly to her feet. "Yes," he retorted. "I had the Females from the Lake, before they were given to their Bond-mates." He saw the angry question in her eyes and answered hurriedly, "Except for Arel! She was Darek's from the beginning. As brother of Rajan, he had that right. But the others were nothing to me, Thena!" Lujal found himself speaking rapidly, suddenly anxious to make her understand. "I didn't allow myself to get children on their bodies. And after I tired of them, I gave them to their Mates." He paused and then pressed his mouth against hers in sudden passion. "But you I could never tire of, Beauty," he said, his voice husky with desire.

Miraculously, she no longer seemed angry. "I understand it all now, my Love." Her soft voice was a sigh of fragrant warmth against his cheek. "I am so grateful that you have opened my eyes to the truth, for I have been as unaware as the singing birds in the meadows..."

"Then you still feel the same about me?" Lujal cradled her in his arms and carried her to a grassy spot where he had laid a velvety robe of furs. He laid her down gently, feeling the smoothness of her skin under his hands.

"Yes, Lujal. I feel exactly what I felt for you last night, when you took me as your Mate, and closed the golden bonds about my wrists..."

He bent over her, gently spreading her thighs apart, but she put up one slim hand, touching his chest lightly. "Please, Lujal. Lie down and let me love you this time."

"Men of my tribe do not lie beneath women," Lujal retorted brusquely. His powerful hands pinned her wrists to the ground, and he bent over her unclothed body, feeling the surge of hunger that never seemed to leave him, whenever she was near.

"Let me give you the pleasure that you gave me," she whispered shyly. He stared at her in silence for a few moments.

"You would do that willingly?" Lujal asked. The thought of her lovely, warm mouth touching his manhood made the strong Warrior almost weak with desire for that moment.

"I love you," she answered, her voice as melodic as the water's muted song. "That part of you is beautiful and strong. Why should I not wish to kiss it and give you the delight you gave me?"

Silently, Lujal released her wrists and lay down on his back, stretching his long powerful limbs and closing his eyes. He felt her tongue and mouth caressing his maleness, and the moans of pleasure sounded in his throat like the love growls of a wolf in heat. Her tongue was like gentle lightning. It flickered around the throbbing head of his member, teasing it into an explosive erection. Just before the streams of liquid could jet from his manhood, Lujal pulled the girl to his chest and thrust himself inside her. She lay above him, clasped to his body, while he cried aloud, closed his eyes in ecstatic torment, and drove his seed deep inside her.

As he lay beneath her, Lujal looked up into her beautiful face. His Beauty smiled at him, and he felt an incredible warmth course through his body. His limbs and belly had seemed to vanish in the furnace of his climax, so that he was a disembodied glow of passion, but now they had returned. His whole body was at peace, and so was his mind. The Father of Mountains be thanked that I took this She-Cat on the mountains, he thought drowsily. She's not only strong and beautiful, but she loves me, like no other Male was ever loved by a Female...

The prick of pain was so slight that he would not have noticed it, except that it was followed by a cool, almost delicious sensation that spread in slow billowing motion throughout his body. It took a great effort, but Lujal the Wolf, Ruler of the Black Cliff Tribe, opened his eyes and gazed searchingly into the deep-water green of his Love's eyes. It didn't surprise him that her glance was a flash of triumph, that a fierce smile curved her lips, and that she was bending over him like a cat whose sharp claws were about to tear at his body. But he was sinking too deeply into the long sleep to care.

"Thena..." His voice seemed locked into his throat, but he managed to speak her name once, and add, in a tone which might have held great sorrow or bitterness if he had possessed the strength for these emotions, "Why...?"

"Why?" Her lips were close to his now, and she seemed to fill each word with the same venom she had used to send him into death. "Because I despise you, Lujal, just as I always have. I didn't lie when I said my feelings had not changed, that they were the same as when you bound my wrists with the golden bonds. I hated you at that moment, and I hate you now!"

She leaped gracefully to her feet, and Lujal looked up at her. Her voice seemed to come from the sky and to reach him at the bottom of a deep, black pit, where he lay in chill silence and solitude. "I wanted to lie above you so that when I pricked you with the juice of the Malen berries, you would not fall upon me, and trap me here!"

"Will I die?" he murmured, without fear, and almost without any real curiosity, so cool and heavy were his limbs, and so faint the beating of his strong heart.

The girl he had loved, still loved in a way he had never thought possible, held his golden dagger in her hand. "You will die, Lujal," she answered quietly. "As I have sworn you would, ever since the night you and your wolf pack hunted me down. But I am more merciful than you. Before I plunge this claw into your heart, I will let the kiss of the berries put you to sleep, so that you will not have to see your life's blood pumping out onto the Mother's breast!"

He smiled and tried to rise, but it was impossible. Keeping his eyes open with an effort, he whispered hoarsely, "Beauty...do you remember what you said to me that night, when I made love to you for the first time?"

"Yes," she answered proudly, her hair golden in the dying sun. "I said 'you'll die for this, Lujal!'"

Lujal closed his eyes. He could tell by her fragrance that she bent near to catch his words. "And I said 'it's well worth dying for, Beauty,'" he whispered. "And so it was..."

Darkness fell, and the Wolf slept.

Thena ran cautiously and swiftly down the mountain trail, the same torturous path which Lujal had followed so easily, carrying her, a captive, tightly tied like a trophy of the hunt. Her eyes blurred by the moonlight, her heart beating rapidly, her mouth made dry by anguish and apprehension, Thena did not stop until she reached the beginnings of the grasslands. As she coursed down from the mountains, the girl had stopped every hour to anoint her body and feet with a smooth, odorless liquid, brewed to extinguish scent, and designed to foil the tracking wolves of her enemies.

Now at the brim of the Mother Lake, Thena tore off the hated garments of her captivity and plunged into the healing waters. Warm, nurturing, buoying her body as if she rested on the breast of a kind parent, the liquid eased her pain of body and of mind. Later, she nestled in a silky, matted bed of grass which had been the sleeping place of some other hunted creature, but she slept fitfully, thinking of Arel, mourning her loss, and in her brief dreams, seeing Lujal, feeling his hands and mouth on her nipples, her breasts, her lips.

When Thena woke to the Day-Star's earliest warmth, her sister was bending over her. "Arel!" she cried in delighted amazement, and sat up so quickly that dizziness overcame her, and she fell back onto the bed of grass.

"Shhh," the other girl whispered, glancing around cautiously. "I too used the scent-destroyer, and took the quickest way down the mountain...one of their riding beasts." Arel gestured toward the creature which was tethered to a tree, and nickered softly at the sound of her voice. "I knew you would come to the Lake. Now, we can go home." The younger girl drew her sister to her feet and led her to the mount. Thena felt sorrowful without knowing exactly why.

"But you loved Darek," she murmured. "How could you have left him?" Arel smiled and touched her sister's cheek with a soft hand.

"You needed me, Thena. I could not let you go back alone. Besides..." She blushed and looked down at the grassy ground for a moment. "I will go back to him one day. Will you forgive me for that, my sister?"

Thena smiled in return. "How could I do anything else but forgive you, and love you? Now, show me how to ride this creature and we will go home indeed."

It was the last day of a long journey when the two girls, leading their steed, entered the land of their fore-mothers. They both felt uneasy without knowing why. But all seemed quiet and peaceful. The encircling fences of wood were in place, and the guard women were on duty, their bodies gleaming in the torchlight. Thena remembered how surprised she had been at the powerfully muscled bodies of the Males compared to these who protected her people.

Tare stepped forward to bar their way as they walked out of the shadows, but she lowered her spear and smiled broadly when she recognized them. "You have come back!" she cried. "We did not know if we would see you again. But why have you returned without babies? Has not the Great Mother made you swollen in the belly?"

"Perhaps," Thena answered tersely. "But we must not speak of that now." She made an effort to return Tare's smile when she saw the woman eyeing her with open curiosity. She felt Arel's trembling as the younger girl leaned against her for support. "We must see the Elderesses, now. Take us to them."

"I must not leave my post, but you may go in and enter the House of Wisdom. There will be much joy at sight of you." Tare looked relaxed and unsuspicious, but Thena felt uneasy, like a girl called up before the Elderesses to recite her lessons.

Silently, the two sisters entered the Chamber. Wedra, eldest of all in years and knowledge, was standing before a dim fire, while three other women sat in a circle around her. They looked up as the girls entered, and Thena immediately sensed the emotions of fear, shock, even anger that hung on the air like a scent of blood. "We give all honor to thee, living symbols of the Great Mother," she began, but Wedra interrupted her. The older woman's voice was taut with some restrained emotion.

"Why do you return here, Thena and Arel?" she demanded. "I sent you to the Lake, for the perpetuation of our people. Why have you returned with empty arms?"

"What should we bring you, honored One?" Thena replied. She watched the woman closely. Wedra's hair was white as the grasses when the Day-Star had bleached all their color. Her face was a deep brown, and the thin lines about her pale blue eyes and straight lips reminded Thena of the veined rocks in the Black Cliffs. "Tomorrow I will hunt deer for your stomachs, and Arel will gather every herb that is wanting for the relief of sickness, or to give beauty to the sense of smell or sight."

"Leave us," Wedra cried, gesturing to the other women, who rose and glided out into the night. When they were alone, she continued harshly, "You should bring us children, Thena. You have been many weeks gone, and by now you must know why you were sent to the Lake."

Wedra's eyes burned like the embers of wood in the fire, but Thena would not look away. "We met those whom you sent us to meet, honored Mother, but he who mounted me..." She paused, noticing the way that Wedra's eyes narrowed at her words, and her mouth curved downward in disapproval. "He who mounted me also misused me. He bound and gagged me, ravished my body and then beat me without mercy. I would not stay to be his slave!" she finished proudly. "I will not!"

The old woman gazed from one to the other of them. Her long woven robe of white seemed to sparkle with the suddenly flaring embers. "Is this true, Arel? Have you two foolish girls broken the ancient Bond between our Tribes?" Her voice was a wind's whisper over the blades of grass. Arel nodded in mute dismay.

"It is true, honored Mother! But Thena could not live as Lujal's slave. I will return to Darek, my Bond-Mate. But she can never return! She would be killed!"

"Killed? Why killed? Only the Renegade Males kill Females. What have you done that they should wish to harm you?" Wedra's face had paled, and her hand trembled as she stretched it forth to touch Thena's shoulder.

"She slew their ruler, Rajan," Arel cried. "It was the only way she could escape! She is not to blame!"

"Silence!" Wedra bowed her head for a few moments, while the fire's light danced around them and made dream-like patterns on the woven walls. "You have broken the Taboo, and great evil must follow. You cannot remain here to bring ill-fortune to our people. You must go back to your Bond-Mates and fulfill the ancient imperative...to bring new life to our land..."

"I will not!" Thena protested angrily. "Nothing can make me return to that place!"

Wedra sighed and stretched her thin arms out in a gesture of renunciation. "Then go from our land! Sleep in the grass with the birds and the deer, but do not bring evil upon your sisters and mothers!" The old woman turned away and vanished from the Council Chamber in a ghostly flash of white that soon dissolved into the darkness outside. Thena felt the hot tears begin to spill out of her eyes.

"I have brought this trouble to you, Arel," she whispered, sinking to her knees before the fire. "If only you had not followed me...but I did not believe what Lujal told me about a Bond between our people and those savages! Even now that Wedra has said it as well, it is like an evil dream..." The girl placed her hands over her eyes and felt the liquid well onto them. But a quick touch from Arel brought her to her feet. Tare stood before them, the spear in her hand.

"Thena, I know that you could kill me in any contest between us, but still, you must go. Wedra has said it. I must give my life to drive you out, if it is needed. Please, Thena, do not force us to hurt you. We all love you both. And yet, you must leave us!" Infinite pain was in Tare's clear, strong tones, and Thena shook her head.

"No, I will not resist you. Come, Arel." She took her sister's hand with infinite tenderness and together they walked out of the fire's circular light, out of the round, swelling keep of the Chamber, out of the safe enclosure, and into the darkest night either of them had ever seen. Later that night, in a grove of trees far from their beloved home, the two outcasts fell asleep in each other's arms, as innocent as cat cubs seeking warmth and comfort from a threatening storm.

Thena awoke first, sitting up quickly, her eyes straining to pierce the raw, misty darkness that seemed to soak into the damp ground and drip from the trembling branches of the forest. She heard and saw nothing to explain her sudden terror, but like all of her people, Thena trusted the messages of her soul as well as those of her thinking mind.

"Wake up, Arel," she whispered, feeling the pounding pulse of urgency in her throat, her chest, and at each point of her body where the life's blood shone blue through her skin. "We are in danger!"

"How...what, Thena? I hear nothing." The younger girl was drowsy, rubbing her eyes like a child. A fierce surge of protective love ran through her sister.

It is my action which brought her to this hazard. I will not let her be hurt, she vowed, but it was a vow made to be broken.

In seconds the eerie fog-hung silence of the grove was torn into shards of harsh yells, sickening odors, and huge, hulking forms. Renegade Males! Thena had only time for that one brief thought before a figure bent over her and rough hands clutched her wrists, jerking her violently forward until she was pressed against the chest of a Male, beside whom Lujal was a model of civility and gentleness. He was quick though for such a massive creature. Before she could react, Thena was spun around, her wrists bound behind her, and a strip of leather tied brutally over her mouth.

The Male who held Thena seemed to be the head of these monsters. He turned her about again and stared hungrily at her face, his mouth inches from hers. She was aware of yellowed teeth and even yellower eyes. She also saw that her sister had been taken captive as well. There seemed to be several Renegades. Two of them mounted a nearby rock to keep watch, while the one who held Arel grinned horribly at his leader.

"I'll take this little one first, Gerf, then share her with the others-if there's anything left!" He was slavering as any hungry beast would do, and when Thena met Arel's terrified gaze, she shuddered violently. "Right here, under this tree!" he added, laid the girl down roughly and began to remove the filthy hides that passed for his clothing. Gerf also laughed, even more loudly than his friend.

"I want some privacy. Even you won't want to see what I'm going to do to this one, Targ!" he boasted. In a few moments the ferocious Male had strode out of firelight's range and found a sheltered spot behind a boulder. The full Night-Star's light could barely penetrate it. Thena was thrown to the ground and felt, rather than saw, Gerf bend over her. Then her clothing was ripped from her body, and his roughened hands began to paw her viciously. "I want to hear you scream," he whispered hoarsely, untying the gag and throwing it to one side. "But first I want to taste that beautiful mouth..." His harsh lips bruised hers for what seemed an eternity. When he took his mouth away, Thena let a shriek of despair and supplication break from her throat.

"Great Mother! Help us!" The words were cut off by Gerf's hardened tongue, thrusting between her lips. His knees jammed against her inner thighs, forcing them apart, and his hands grasped her breasts again.

"Now," he grunted, glaring down at her in a savage frenzy that seemed more like hunger than desire. "Now, Bitch!" But as the monster poised to enter her, a flare of light blazed in her eyes, Gerf's heavy body was pulled from hers in one rough motion, and a voice she had never thought to hear again broke the silence.

"Well, Beauty, I knew you couldn't keep out of trouble without me!"

The tone was a mixture of reproach and amusement. The voice was deep and unmistakable. And when she looked up at the figure with a glowing torch in one hand, Thena saw the dark eyes and handsome face of Lujal, her Lord and Master.

Lujal had thrown Gerf solidly against a nearby tree. Now Thena screamed in terror as the Outcast Leader pulled an ax from his belt and brandished it. But the fear was for another, not herself.

"Lujal! He has a weapon!" At the sound of her voice, the tall dark haired Male glanced at her and smiled, a dangerous curve to his sensual lips. His eyes gleamed in the light of the torch which he now thrust into the ground. Lujal's muscular chest was bare, and glistened with sweat. He wore only a loincloth of black leather, and a sword hung at his side.

"And so do I, Beauty," Lujal said in a low voice, taut with menace. The heavy battle sword was in his hand, and its blade met the edge of the ax with a thunderous sound that sent blue sparks into the air.

"This woman's mine!" roared Gerf, as the two men circled each other warily. "My men will cut you up and feed you to the carrion-eaters!"

Lujal laughed wickedly. He balanced the sword in his hand, and moved as agilely as a stalking wolf. "Nothing here belongs to you, Gerf. I know of you and your foul ways. We could smell your stench for half a day before we caught up to you. One of your men was preparing to harm this Female's sister when we found him. The girl's Bond-Mate, my brother, didn't approve." He added with deliberate sarcasm, "We sent Targ and his friends back to the fire-pits where they were born. Now you can join them there!"

Thena's wrists were still bound, but she had managed to struggle to her feet. Now she gasped in relief when she heard that Arel was safe, and Lujal smiled at her, that lazy, triumphant smile she had once hated so much. "Thank you, Lujal, for my sister's life, and mine," she cried. But at that instant, Gerf charged, swinging his ax. The powerful, bronze-skinned Male of the Black Cliff Tribe raised his sword.

"Don't thank me yet, Beauty," he growled, lunging to meet his enemy's onslaught. Chest to chest, panting in each other's faces, sweat gleaming on their bodies, the two Males fought, sword battering the ax, each blade missing its target by inches. Thena choked off a scream when Lujal fell against a rotted log, and Gerf raised his ax with a guttural sound of glee. But just before the blade struck, Lujal rolled to one side, leaped to his feet, and drove the sword straight into Gerf's massive chest. The beast-man gave one ghastly cry, staggered, fell, and was silent.

Lujal pulled the sword from his foe's chest and held it in the torch flame. "I won't have a proud weapon stained with that thing's blood," he growled. Thrusting the sword into a leather sheath at his side, he strode to Thena's side, gently pulled her to his chest, and kissed her mouth, a long, sensuous melding of their lips which sent fire shooting up and down every vein in her body. She eagerly returned his kiss, opening her mouth to accept his tongue, lifting her naked breasts to his seeking hands, all the while feeling herself trembling and faint with desire.

"Take me, Lujal," she murmured, when he had released her mouth and she was able to speak. "Now, here...please..." She heard his low, husky laugh, but it was not triumphant or contemptuous. It was a sound of surprised pleasure, of astonished delight.

"You want me, Beauty?" The deep male voice was strong and unwavering, but she heard a note of wistfulness, as if he could not believe her words.

And no wonder, Thena thought ruefully. The last time I offered myself to him, I threatened to kill him.

"Yes, my Lord," she answered, and added in a low tone, "That is why I could not kill you after all, when I had you helpless, at my mercy."

"Helpless..." Lujal drew her close again, his tanned, muscular arms embracing her firmly, his dark eyes gazing into hers, and an amused smile curving his lips. "Yes, I was helpless, Beauty. But I did not mind it. The pleasure you gave me was worth ten thousand deaths." He gave a quick, sharp whistle, and in response, his steed appeared through the shadowy trees.

Thena felt his hands gently placing a soft woven garment around her, before lifting her onto the creature's back, as easily as a child lifts a kitten. He sprang up behind her, and she shivered with uncontrollable desire to feel the pressure of his hardened manhood on her buttocks, the protective curve of his arm around her waist, and his sweet, warm breath against her neck, her ears, her hair. He nuzzled and kissed her back and shoulders, and then shook his head like a wolf just out of a lake, as if to dispel his desire for a time. "We will go home now, Thena," he whispered, calling her by her true name for the first time. "When you are bathed, and rested, and have quenched your thirst and hunger, we shall make each other helpless, with desire."

She leaned gratefully back against his broad, muscled chest and allowed her eyes to close, in the perfect knowledge that no harm which Lujal's mortal powers could protect her against would ever threaten her again. As they rode, she mused, So this is Love between a male and female. I think I shall like it...very well! Had she been able to read Lujal's mind, she would have known that his thoughts were exactly the same.

Kneeling at the edge of the great silver Lake, as she had once before knelt at the mountain pool, Arel looked at her own reflection. At first, the image seemed unchanged, her huge amber eyes flecked with gold, her tawny hair billowing about her shoulders. But when she rose and touched her own breasts, they were swollen, and her belly was taut and rounded. In three cycles of the Night-Light. Arel watched a darting songbird flash across its surface and alight on a bush at the lake's edge. It began its song, trilling and warbling in a kind of ecstasy, and the young girl smiled. "No, of course not, Darek," she declared, brushing her soft lips against his cheek. "But sometimes I am afraid...I don't know of what...perhaps that some evil will truly come on our people from the Taboo, because Thena and I broke the Bond."

For a moment, tears glistened in her eyes, but Darek embraced her, and as she rested her head against his broad chest, the young Male moved his hand gently over her radiant hair. "There is no more Taboo, Arel. You know that Rajan commanded our Elders to meet with your Elderesses and create a new Bond between our people." His eyes glowed, and his voice was vibrant. "Now men and women can live together, as I think the Father of Mountains intended they should."

"And the Mother of the Grasslands as well," Arel reminded him gently. "This is a beautiful place for a village," she added, gazing at the expanse of waving grass, the towering trees, and in the distance, the Black Cliffs, which no longer seemed foreboding to her, but rose in fantastic, gleaming shapes that spoke of sanctuary, and of power used to protect.

It had not been easy for the Women of the Open Lands and the Men of the Mountains to reach agreement. But Rajan had been firm. The old ways would no longer answer, he had said in his deep stern voice, clad in the black garments he had worn to bind Arel to Darek, his sword at his side, and his wolves at his heels. And they had listened. Thena had spoken eloquently as well, and as the daughter of an Elderess who had been highly honored in her lifetime, she too was heeded.

And so, the women had come to live at the Lake, a place of lush grass and sheltering trees. Now, Males lived here too, with their mates, while some Females had gone to the mountain Fortress.

But of their own free wills had the women left the grassland. That was the greatest difference...

"Look!" Arel whispered. "It is Tellia, from our village. We gather herbs together. And the Male with her, he is your friend, Ralek."
Darek followed her gaze to a distant grove of trees. The two she had named seemed unaware that anyone else existed in this world of dappled light, shimmering water, and trembling breezes. As Darek and Arel watched, they saw Ralek reach up into a flowering tree where Tellia would have needed to climb, and bring down a small branch of fragrant blossoms. Even from where they stood, Darek and Arel could see that Tellia smiled and inhaled the scent of the blossoms. Ralek took her hand in his and brought it gently to his lips, and then the two lovers walked into the grove and were caught up in its welcoming shadows.

"That is the new way," Darek smiled. "He must persuade her to become his Bond-Mate. And in the Ceremony of Joining, each will place one golden bond on the wrist of the other, to signify that they are joined equally. I wish that I had been allowed to win you with flowers and kisses, my Love..." The young Male sighed ruefully, and Arel felt her heart leap in the ecstasy of her love for him.

"It does not matter," she said firmly, clasping her arms around him. "You were gentle, and I loved you from the first time..." Arel felt herself blushing and turned away.

"Shall we go home, Kitten?" His voice was low and urgent. Arel nodded wordlessly. Hand in hand, they walked to the sturdy building of branches and grass that Darek had built in the style of the Women's Village. Inside was a soft mat, where Arel reclined, beckoning Darek to her.

The young Male lay beside his Bond-Mate, and ran his hand slowly over her abdomen, which swelled in a gentle curve from the growing baby within her. "How beautiful you are, Arel," he said softly. "Your body swells like a ripe fruit in the autumn..." She closed her eyes as Darek's lips touched her body and left a sensation of tingling in each spot where they rested.

How could I have loved him so? Arel wondered silently, while his hands moved to her breasts and clasped them urgently. Darek's warm mouth fastened over first one nipple and then the other, teasing them into hardness, while the girl's hips began to writhe in passionate expectation. He stole me away from my home, took my body against my will...and yet I loved him from the time of our first joining.

Now she was moaning and pulling him down to kiss her mouth, seeking the wet firmness of his tongue, lifting her hips and spreading her thighs apart to welcome him. "Love me..." she whispered..."Please, Darek..." And then he entered her, gently, because of the baby, moving in rhythmic strokes until her limbs were on fire and she writhed under him in an agony of delight.

Darek...my Love...deeper, deeper inside me...until you're lost in me...

And when the delight of joining rushed over her like the wind-waves on the Lake's breast, Arel moaned aloud, gasping and holding tightly to her Lover, until he too made the wordless cries of joy, closing his eyes and plunging himself inside her body.

How little I knew, she mused, when they were both quiet, satiated with desire. I thought that his cries were those of pain when first he took me. The powerful young Male, her Bond-Mate, lay beside her, his muscular arms around her tightly, his lips warm against hers. There was nothing more to wish for, except a baby who would be strong and healthy. And the greatest joy for Arel was that neither she, nor any of her sisters, would have to part with their babies or their Bond-Mates. "If our child is a Female, she can still know her father," she murmured, gazing at Darek's face. "And the same will be true of all the children now..."

"Yes, Kitten," Darek answered her in a drowsy voice. "But I would never have sent you away, even under the old Bond. Never..."

Encircled by her Bond-Mate's arms, Arel fell asleep. The exciting scent of his body, the hardened strength of his thighs and shoulders, the faint roughness on his chin, and the hair that grew on his body, especially his broad chest, had once been strange and frightening to her. Now it was as familiar and as precious as the Grassland itself, the sturdy trees, and the fragrant wind. Soon that part of Darek which grew within her would come into this peaceful world, a miraculous joining of their souls. As she dreamed, Arel had only one last thing to hope for.

May my dearest sister Thena be as happy as I am...may Rajan be as good to her as my Love is to me...

Thena walked steadily through the darkness of the mountains. She could no longer run with the swiftness of the Kalamin Deer, because her lithe body was swollen, in breast and belly. Lujal's seed grew inside her where he had placed it that first night. The night when he had brought her, bound and gagged, to his chamber, and raped her again and again...

She was dressed in a light garment of woven cloth, dyed a soft blue, because it was the False Summer, the time in Autumn when the land grew heated, as if the Great Mother fought the approach of the icy rains and snows with all the fiery will in her breast.

And she was hunted. Hunted and tracked like the deer, and by a Wolf. He followed her even now, loping in relentless speed along some rocky trail. A night wind came up to cool the earth's fever, and Thena paused to listen. Was that the snap of a branch? Did she hear the sound of panting breaths, like a stalking beast?
"Lujal!" She turned to face him, as the tall Male strode out of the darkness. "How did you find me?"

"By your fragrance, Beauty." The curve of his lips, the shine of his teeth were menacing. His sinewy body moved closer to hers, and before she could react, Lujal had seized her wrists and drawn her to him.

"No! Leave me!" she screamed, but the sound was cut off by his hand, clamped tightly over her mouth. And yet, the Wolf was gentle as he held her, and the girl did not struggle violently. I must not harm the baby, she cried inwardly. Nothing must harm it.

"I'll bring you to my lair," Lujal laughed. His black hair glistened in the Night-Star's light, and his large dark eyes had the glitter of a predator's glare. "But I can't carry you over my shoulder as I did that first night, She-Cat." His voice became low and tender for a moment, and she felt his hand touch her swollen belly. "You're heavy with child. My child," he added, and she could detect the pride in his deep voice.

Her lips were opened to scream again, but Lujal thrust a gag of soft hide into her mouth and knotted it tightly at the back of her head. His firm hands bound her wrists behind her, and in a moment, she was cradled in his sturdy arms.

This time, Lujal brought his captive home by a different way, a secret tunnel that took them into the cavernous chamber. Thena heard the Wolf laugh as he laid her down on that same bed of furs where he had raped her, three changes of the Night-Star before.

"Now, Beauty," he murmured, unfastening his tunic and leather pants, and exposing his swollen maleness. "I'm going to have you, but gently, because of this..." His bronzed hand was clasped over her belly, and she moaned through the tight gag.

Now he had spread her legs, clasped her thighs, and was licking her sex hungrily, his tongue prodding at the soft flesh, even thrusting inside her. Thena's heart began to pound, and she felt her hips writhing, lifting her hips in ecstasy to meet his mouth.

"Yes, my Love, I understand..." Lujal's voice was suddenly so gentle. She felt him untie her hands so that she could clasp his back, feel the powerful muscles swelling under her touch. Then his hardened manhood entered her warm, wet sex, moving in and out, while her body convulsed in response.

A stifled moan from her lips, and Lujal removed her gag. But before she could cry out, his mouth was over hers, his tongue was cutting off any cries, and his hands were on her swollen breasts.

Lujal, Lujal! Please...take me...

The words flashed in her mind as brightly as the lines of radiance that shot from Sky to Earth in times of storm. Then the storm broke over her, lifting her to the clouds and hurling her back again, while she clung to Lujal's body, and let him swallow her screams.

"Are you happy, Beauty?" There was tender concern in his voice and in the touch of his hand. Thena lay in her lover's strong embrace, lost in the warmth and strength of his body, and she nodded quietly.

"I cannot explain why, Lujal..." The girl hesitated, and then forced herself to continue. "When you take me this way, I love you more for it. And yet when it was real, when I was your captive, I wanted to be free, and I despised you."

"I enjoy our games, Beauty." Lujal's fiercely handsome features betrayed his desire, as he gazed down at his prize. "But I'm glad they're only games. I could never lose you now... And yet I like to play with you, to pursue you in the mountains, carry you off." His voice husky with passion, he added, "All I really have to do is look at you, Thena, and I want you..."

Thena met his lips with her own. When they played this game, when Lujal pursued and caught her, gagged and bound her, and brought her back to their home to be lovingly raped, it aroused an incredible desire within her. She did not know why, but that did not matter.

"I love you, Lujal," she murmured, when he freed her lips for a moment. "Beyond reason, despite the hatred I felt for you once...I love you."

"And I adore you, Beauty..." Lujal's savage dark eyes had a gentle light, and his deep, commanding voice was low and tender. "Sometimes I carry you off, but even when you're my captive, I'm really in your thrall. And you know that, as well as I..."

Words crept into her mind, although she did not speak them: Each other's prisoners, we are finally free... Thena nestled against her Lover's chest and drifted into a long, contented sleep.

The End