The Mating Ritual (7 page)

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

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

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

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

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

Toni remained quiet. Not if I can help
it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why can’t I resist him?

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

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

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

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

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

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

A shrill scream drew her attention toward the
sky, where she saw a hawk soaring with a fish in its beak. She
watched its graceful movements for a moment, envying the freedom it
had. Soon another, probably its mate, joined it and they soared
away toward the mountain peaks. She watched until they disappeared
from view.

Once the others caught up to them, Cormac
moved forward again. Horseshoe Mountain looked far away, and Toni
had to wonder if they weren’t going to stop until they reached it.
No one complained if they were tired or hungry, trudging along as
if they already hadn’t been walking for hours. The Oh-Mah seemed to
have an abundance of energy and perseverance, and their stamina was
amazing.

Finally, daybreak arrived, and Toni was able
to make out her surroundings. They’d been traveling single file,
she supposed for safety reasons. She glanced down at the ground,
not surprised to see that there wasn’t a trail. She assumed that
Cormac had been leading them by instinct, and from the experience
of traveling back and forth over the years. Toni also assumed that
they must have good night vision. What else explained Cormac’s
ability to walk directly up to her in the pitch dark when she’d
been cowering against that tree?

They came to a stream, and Toni was relieved
when Cormac finally stopped. He turned to her. “Drink.”

She didn’t hesitate, dropping to her knees
and cupping her hands for a drink as the others were doing. The
cold, running water was so clear that Toni could see to the bottom,
and it tasted wonderful. Her long hair fell down the front of her
and dangled into the water, but Toni didn’t care. There was no
telling when they would stop again, and she was going to drink her
fill.

“Too much.” Cormac wrapped his hand around
her upper arm and pulled Toni back to her feet.

Their eyes met. She tried to ignore the
flutter of awareness in her belly, pulling the fur closer around
her. He was apparently amused at her effort to try to cover her
nudity. Her mouth turned up in response to his smile, it seemed the
most natural thing to do. He reached out and ran his thumb over her
bottom lip.

The older man she’d seen talking to Cormac
back in the cave interrupted the moment by saying something. Cormac
glanced down at Toni’s feet and frowned. The next thing Toni knew
she was in his arms, and he was carrying her somewhere away from
the others. Toni took the opportunity to look Cormac over, now that
she was seeing him in the light of day for the first time. His
chiseled features showed signs that he’d been in a few fights. From
what she could see of his tanned, upper body it was also marred
with scars that did nothing to diminish the sexiness of his defined
muscles. Toni could understand why he was the Oh-Mah leader.
Overall, he was a strong alpha male, exuding danger and
confidence.