Female Prey & the Elusive Prey (32 page)

“A very strong and very cruel man taught me this once.” Lane hissed softly. Kimberley felt her wrapping rope around her ankle, knotting it tight. Then Lane bent Kimberley’s leg double, calf to thigh. She ran a single strand of the rope around Kimberley’s thigh, pulled it painfully tight and knotted it securely to the bound ankle. She did the same to Kimberley’s other leg before flipping her over onto her back again. Kimberley raised her head as best she could to look down along the length of her body, between her breasts, along her belly, to the tuft of honey-blonde hair between her raised and parted knees. She could see the single rope strands digging deeply into her thighs. Somehow, she felt more open, more vulnerable this way than she had when she was staked out naked in the long grass last year.

Lane flowed forward, her hand sliding under Kimberley’s head to lift it. “Now, kiss me, my Elf-Girl,” she purred. “I’m going to make you come…and when you do, I want you to scream into my mouth.” Her lips fastened onto Kimberley’s. As Kimberley felt Lane’s fingers sliding into her, she opened her mouth wide, wider, her tongue stabbing into Lane’s mouth as Lane’s tongue stabbed into hers. Lane’s fingers found Kimberley’s swollen clitoris. They rubbed, they pinched, they prodded. Kimberley desperately sucked fresh air in through her nose whenever she remembered to breathe. Lane would not break the kiss, and she was far too strong to fight.

“Mmmm…that’s it, Elf-Girl. Now the last one.” Lane thrust another finger between Kimberley’s lips. Kimberley tasted herself on it, salty and sweet. She licked and sucked Lane’s finger clean. She was still bound and still on her back, drenched in the sweat of her exertions. Her body was still tingling, and she was still short of breath. Lane’s thick hair hung down to either side of her face, hiding it in shadows, but Kimberley could swear that she could still see Lane’s terrible predator eyes glowing faintly in the dark. She was sitting alongside Kimberley, her hip against Kimberley’s chest. Her free hand rested lightly on Kimberley’s breast. The air in the tent was heavy with the scent of female sweat and musk.

“I’m almost tempted…” Lane stopped and laughed faintly. “I’m almost tempted to have you tie me up now and have your way with me, Elf-Girl. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Kimberley smiled sleepily. She didn’t say anything.

“Yes…” Lane leaned closer, her face still obscured in shadow. “I’m sure you would…but you also might leave me naked and bound for those men who took your friend to find, hmmm? I can’t risk that.” Her hands reached out to tickle Kimberley’s ears, lightly.

“Oh, my!” Lane chuckled as Kimberley shuddered violently. She repeated the touch, and

Kimberley moaned as her body spasmed. “How very interesting! I wish I had known sooner, dear Elf-Girl. We might have had even more…fun.” She leaned away, tossing her hair back. “Well, perhaps next time.” Now Kimberley could see that she was smiling. “Well, since I won’t let you tie me up, and I can’t free you just now, you’ll just have to wait there for a moment. I’m very…excited, as you can see. I have to do something about that.”

She turned away, towards her bedroll. As she did, Kimberley caught sight of something and gasped. Lane paused, looking back over her shoulder. She looked down to where Kimberley’s gaze was fixed and then back up at Kimberley. “Yes,” she nodded. “I was branded three years ago, Elf-Girl. Shall I tell you about it?”

“You…you don’t have to.” Kimberley shook her head.

“Oh, but it’s a very exciting story.” Lane picked up something and turned back around to sit facing Kimberley. She held the object up and smiled. It was a vibrator. She switched it on, and Kimberley heard a low, muted buzzing.

“It was the second time I came to this place,” Lane went on. The first time…well, I played a tourist the first time. It was fun, but I wanted more of a challenge. I wanted something more…raw.” She applied the blunt tip of the vibrator to her nipple and shivered, tilting her head back, sucking in a breath with a long hiss.

“Raw?” Kimberley asked after a moment.

“What?” Lane seemed to return from some far place. “Oh, yes. Raw. Well, I found it. He was tall and strong and thirteen years older than I was. He took me from the hotel out into the woods and he kept me there for three days, Elf-Girl. He kept me naked the whole time and chained to a stake for most of the time. I loved it!”

“You…just went with him?”

Lane chuckled. “You’d have to meet him to understand. And anyway, I’d been…in heat ever since I’d looked into his eyes. He took me to a campsite he had. Once we were there, he made me strip and watched while he threw all of my clothes into the fire, one by one.”

Kimberley shuddered, remembering what had been done to her clothes…and all of her equipment as well…last year.

“He didn’t tie me up at first. He could have. Instead, he put a chain around my neck with a padlock. The other end of the chain was fastened to a tree stump with a big spike.” Lane looked down at Kimberley. “Then he made me get down on all fours…like your friend…but with my head touching the ground and my ass up in the air for him. That was the first time he ever…took me. I remember I kept trying to lift my head off of the ground, and he kept pushing it back down. I didn’t get much satisfaction out of that first time, but it left me wanting more…so much more! And I got it.” She laid down on her side, facing Kimberley, only a few feet away. Her voice had grown quieter and huskier.

“He tied my hands behind me the next time. He wanted my mouth. And he came in it. I’d never had a man come in my mouth before and when I coughed and choked and spat it out, he gave me a good going-over on my ass with a strap. The next time, I swallowed it all.”

Kimberley nodded slowly. It sounded very familiar. She could picture Alpha acting that way with her and her responding as Lane had.

“He fed me.” Lane breathed. “He gave me water. When I got too dirty, he washed me. And he fucked me…hard…several times a day.” Lane inched closer, her eyes boring into Kimberley’s again. This time, Kimberley found it much less disturbing.

“Then he wanted my ass.” Lane’s face was only inches from Kimberley’s now. “For the first time, I was scared. I told him no. He wouldn’t listen. I didn’t quite realize that he didn’t have to. So many things are so very different here. I screamed and I cried, but he went ahead anyway…” She paused and took a deep breath. “That did something to me. After that, I was his. I would have done anything he wanted. Absolutely anything. Do you understand?”

Kimberley gulped and nodded. Yes, she understood very well. Except for… She gulped again. “And he said he wanted to brand you?”

“No.” Lane’s voice was very, very low now. “He said he was going to brand me. I suppose I could have told him ‘no’…in fact, I know now that if I had, he couldn’t have branded me…but it never occurred to me. He brought me back to town with my hands tied behind me and that chain still around my neck. He took me to the slave market. They branded me there in a small back room. They put some kind of hard rubber bit in my mouth to keep me from biting my tongue.” She shuddered. “I felt OWNED. I loved it!” She sighed. “We only had a few more days. When they were over, he went his way and I went mine.”

“You miss him?” Kimberley asked.

“Sometimes I think so.” Lane nodded. “Sometimes I think I just miss that feeling.” She fell silent for a moment, looking off into nothing. Then, suddenly, the old Lane was back, smiling that predator smile. “No more talk for now, Elf-Girl.” She rolled over so that her back was to Kimberley and began to use her vibrator. Kimberley, with an effort, rolled onto her side so she could watch it all better.

Lane used the vibrator vigorously, sometimes thrusting it into her gaping mouth before putting it back between her long legs. She made considerable noise as well, mostly groans and hissing intakes of breath. Kimberley wondered why Lane hadn’t made her use her mouth to give her pleasure…or indeed use anything else. She also hoped fervently that Lane was not going to leave her bound like this all night. Her thighs were beginning to hurt.

Chapter Eight

Kimberley came awake immediately and completely, just as she always did when camping outdoors. She sat up, blinking and confused for a moment. Why was it still so dark? Then she remembered where she was and how she had gotten there.

Lane was gone. So was all of Lane’s gear. While that strange woman had finally untied her so that she could sleep in relative comfort, she had kept the bedroll strictly for herself, forcing her sort-of captive to sleep on the floor of the big tent. Kimberley sighed and crawled around collecting her clothes. She hoped she’d be able to find her pack again, but if she couldn’t, she supposed she could replace all of her stuff when she got to the trading post or town. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be far away. And it shouldn’t be too hard to get there this morning. It wasn’t likely that there was more than one group of hunters hanging around the place waiting for female prey to wander by. The four men who had taken Barbara last night were probably going to sleep late today. She snickered at the thought and wondered how much sleep Barbara had gotten. She did feel a faint pang of conscience about setting her friend up like that…but she thought she could survive it. Anyway, at the moment all she really cared about was getting herself a hot bath, a hot meal, and fresh clothes.

It was starting to get warm in the tent. The faint, lingering scents of last night began to revive. Dressed now, Kimberley crawled over to the zippered flap and opened it. She stuck her head out to draw in a deep breath of fresh air and was startled when her own pack tumbled in onto her. There was a note pinned to it. She read it.

“Dear Elf-Girl…”
Lane’s writing was sprawling and spidery, but not too hard to read. “You see I have not only set you free, but also retrieved your pack for you. I wish you luck with your plans, but since I am not entirely sure that you would not betray me to the hunters as you did your friend, I think I will move elsewhere for now. L.”

Something made her carefully fold the note and tuck it away in her shirt pocket. Lane was a very strange woman. Kimberley didn’t know how much of the story she had related to her last night was true…Lane’s brand had looked exactly like Cat’s…but it didn’t matter. She was free again.

It wasn’t just a trading post, but it wasn’t quite a town either. Like Gordburg itself, it looked something like a movie lot for an old Western. The two main buildings were a general store on one side of the dirt road that served as the main street and a two-story building opposite it that seemed to be a combination saloon and rooming house. There were a few small, one-story buildings that looked to be houses, and a barn-like building at the far end of the street. She was pretty sure what that was for. It was early, but there were a few men already up and about. Kimberley felt every one of their eyes on her as she hitched up her pack and strode up to the saloon. She pushed through the swinging doors and went in.

Inside, it looked even more like something out of an old oat-burner; plank floors, covered with sawdust, solid wooden tables and chairs, an ornate bar and a plain wooden staircase leading up to the second floor. There was a bartender behind the bar, polishing glasses. He was a heavyset, jowly individual, bald on top with a short fringe of dark hair around the sides. He gave her a quick glance as she entered and nodded. Kimberley took a quick look around. There didn’t seem to be anybody else here at the moment.

“Good morning,” she smiled at the bartender as she approached him. “I’d like to get a room, please.”

“Would you, now?” the bartender eyed her. “And who might you be?”

“Check for yourself.” Kimberley turned her head so her chip-implanted ear was towards him. He reached under the bar and pulled out a device identical to the one Lane had shown her. He pointed it towards her.

“All right…Elf-Girl? Did I say something funny, Miss?”

“Oh…” Kimberley waved a hand as she fought to stifle a fit of the giggles. She hadn’t been quite sure of the protocol for identifying herself out here, and it had just struck her that she’d been playing it “by ear”. “No, no…I just thought of something is all.”

“All right.” The bartender shrugged. “We have a couple of rooms available, all in the back. Will you be wanting anything else?”

“The rooms all have bathrooms?”

“Yes. Not much, though, just a toilet, sink and shower each.”

“That’ll be fine.” Kimberley looked around. “Is there any place around here where I can get breakfast?”

“Right here, Miss.” The bartender jerked his thumb back over his shoulder. “We have a kitchen in the rear. Nothing fancy there either. We serve eggs, pancakes, ham, bacon, sausage, coffee and orange juice.”

Kimberley fought back an urge to ask if that was the menu all day long. “Great!” she smiled. “I’d like plenty of all of them, please. I can eat here?” She indicated the empty tables.

“Yes. Or we can bring it up to your room.”

“No, down here will be fine.” It wouldn’t do to begin the legend of Elf-Girl by having breakfast out of sight in her room now, would it? That hot shower would just have to wait. “Can I sit anywhere?”

“Pick a table,” the bartender shrugged. “I’ll send someone over to get your order. Here’s your key. Room 4.”

Kimberley noticed a coffee machine behind the bar. “Mind if I get a cup of that now?” she asked, pointing towards it.

It was good, strong, hot coffee. Kimberley savored it as she sat with her back to a corner, her pack on the floor beside her. She was enjoying this. After breakfast she’d get cleaned up, change into the fresh clothes she carried in her pack and take a tour of this place, more to let herself be seen than anything else, but she was interested in having a look in that barn.

“What would you like, Miss?” Kimberley looked up. This was the waitress? Well, she had a pencil and an order pad, so she must be the waitress, although Kimberley had never seen one dressed quite like this. The woman was close to Kimberley’s age and height, with long dark hair. She wore a very short black skirt, a frilly, white bib apron and low black heels. Aside from the black leather collar around her neck and matching leather straps around her wrists and ankles, that was it. The apron barely covered her nipples, and there was no name tag.