The other men were less objectionable. But none of them had seen the shame and fear in the female’s eyes. Or if they had, they didn’t care enough to call a halt to the lewd spectacle. Ayron was no prude. He’d participated in many feasts. This wasn’t the first time those pillars had been used to provide a show for the Tryb. In the past, the star had been a willing participant. Or, occasionally, someone’s naughty mate, brought there to be disciplined. Tied up, stripped, and spanked in front of the whole Tryb, then made to service her master.
This female knew nothing of their ways. And despite what Eva said, he was willing to bet she’d never been touched that way before. He’d seen the look in her eyes when Nazery ran his tongue over her breast. Shame, yes. But he’d seen her body shiver uncontrollably, heard her gasp as a bolt of raw lust shot through her. There was no tiny smile of satisfaction on her face. There’d been no soft moan from her lips. Only shock, followed by surprise and confusion she tried hard to conceal.
When Ayron got to his quarters, he found that tired as he was, sleep eluded him. He stood in the doorway of his home for what seemed like hours, watching the revelry far below. Listening to the sensuous beat of the drums. Trying to empty his mind of the image of the female, her naked body gleaming in the torchlight as hands and fingers and tongues roamed over it.
His cock had been stiff for hours, balls aching for release. Feeling like a traitor to his beloved Naia, he went inside and relieved his need.
Hours later, he tossed and turned. He could still feel the touch of the female when he jumped into the bath to comfort her — hands clasped around his neck, warm, smooth skin against his as he held her trembling body in his arms.
Chapter Ten
Lexi sized up her guards. Two old women, stooped and gnarled, made more so by the packs they carried on their backs. It would be laughable if she wasn’t so frightened. Even here, she could see Eva’s crafty mind at work. Men were men, no matter what their age. She probably didn’t trust any of them to simply abandon Lexi in the wilderness untouched. The matriarch was determined one of the Tryb’s mighty hunters would win the right to take her first.
Her wrists were tied together behind her back. They’d tied a rope between her ankles too. Lexi was reduced to taking small steps, hobbling along between them as if she too was crippled with age. Worst of all, they’d taken away her cylerian. Slashed it to bits then burned it. Maybe they’d thought it would give her an unfair advantage, turn into some kind of shield or cloaking device. After all, she wasn’t meant to get away forever. Only long enough to be hunted down, captured, and dragged back to their underground city.
The women led her into the barren wasteland for what seemed like miles. The moon was full, casting its strange purple glow on the sea of sand and rock the Tryb called the Outlands. Lexi marveled that any creature could survive out here, let alone grow to the size of the narliphant the hunters brought down.
They stopped at a large outcropping of rock. The women shoved her to the ground next to a huge boulder. Then they moved away about thirty feet and dropped their burdens. One of them made a point of leaving a shard of bone in full view. Without a word, they disappeared into the shadows.
Lexi took stock of her situation. Alone in the wilderness. Again. But this time she knew she wouldn’t be alone for long. Before she was led away, she’d heard the instructions Mother Eva issued to the hunters. She’d be given a few hours’ head start. Then five savages would track her down like an animal, each competing with the others for the right to own her for the rest of her life.
Which wouldn’t be long if she didn’t get moving. Lexi scrambled to her feet, covering the distance to the packs they’d left as fast as she could. She dropped to the ground next to the piece of bone and clawed at the sand to grab it between her fingers. The shard was sharp as a knife. Lexi dropped it a few times and had to feel around behind her back for it, but she managed to cut the rope around her wrists enough to work her hands free. After untying her ankles, she turned her attention to the packs.
Two flasks of water. A few hunks of narliphant meat. A packet of the nasty-smelling leaves that would leach the poisonous effects of the sun from her body. A heavy cloak made of animal hide.
That was all. No weapons. Other than the cloak, nothing to shelter her from the blistering rays that would be out in a few hours.
They’d dressed her in a simple skirt and a band of cloth tied over her breasts, like the women of the Tryb. The garments were a drab brown. With the cloak tossed over her shoulders, she’d blend into the moonlit landscape. Eva had wanted to challenge her warriors. She wasn’t about to stake Lexi out, an easy target to spot.
A sharp wind blew across the plain. Lexi shivered. Heat. Cold. Currents of air whipping her bare skin. She’d experienced so many physical sensations foreign to her since she arrived.
She wrapped the cloak around her, stuffed the other supplies into one of the packs and slung it over her shoulder. The empty pack she tied around her waist with the rope they used to bind her feet. Both might come in handy. Finally she tucked the shard of bone into her makeshift belt. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was better than nothing.
Her first order of business — find shelter. A cleft in the rocks, a small cave. The underground city was so large, Lexi guessed it wasn’t the only cavern extending deep into the bowels of Iridia. Maybe that’s how the animals had survived too. They might live in enormous underground burrows with a supply of water and some form of plant life they could eat. Maybe they only came out at night.
The thought was enough to make her glance over her shoulder every few minutes as she jogged away from the boulders. Lexi checked the ground behind her. They’d given her a pair of flat sandals that laced halfway to her knees but the ground was so hard she didn’t leave any footprints. They couldn’t track her that way.
She had no real plan — only to survive long enough to make her way back to where she’d landed. If — no,when— she corrected herself.Whenthe search party arrived on Iridia, she wanted to be as close to the portal as possible.
That was easier said than done. From what she’d seen, the whole planet was one big sandbox dotted with rocks. Here and there a jagged hump arose, all that was left of a mountain long ago worn down by the ceaseless wind sweeping across its surface. Lexi had only a vague idea where she’d landed. Without the rising and setting suns as guideposts, she had no idea which direction to head. All she could do was keep moving.
Hours later, the gray pre-dawn light revealed a cleft in a sheer rock face ahead. She sighed in relief. It was too narrow to give refuge to any large beasts. Lexi picked up her pace, slipped through the opening into the dark void beyond just as the killing rays of Phalyx broke over the horizon.
Lexi ventured just far enough into the darkness to keep the rays of Iridia’s twin suns off her skin. From the narrow opening, the cleft widened into a cave. The light didn’t penetrate far enough for her to see where it ended.
Although she’d seen skins of unfamiliar creatures in the city, she hadn’t found evidence of any other living creatures on the planet besides the Tryb members and the narliphant. But if two species had survived, many others surely had as well, evidenced by the strange beasts woven into Eva’s tapestry.
Lexi tried not to imagine any of those fierce animals creeping up on her from the darkness beyond. To keep her mind busy, she went back through the packs, rearranging their contents, then had a few sips of water. Her stomach roiled. She didn’t think she could hold down a meal, but she forced herself to take a few bites of the meat to keep up her strength. Then she curled up against one wall of the cave, snuggled under the cloak, and closed her eyes. The strong gravitational pull on Iridia made every move difficult and the long trek had worn her out.
She woke hours later to the sound of snuffling. Lexi froze.Somethingwas in the cave with her. The cloak covered her from head to toe. She didn’t dare peek out from underneath it. If she didn’t move, the creature might not find her.
She heard the shout the same instant her cover was ripped away. Lexi squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, blinded by a flaming torch. She gave herself a moment to adjust then opened her eyes a slit.
Her heart sank. The one called Eli had found her. Of all the hunters, she feared him most. When they found her, he’d pinched and twisted her nipples until she’d had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. At the feast, he’d been the first to grope her, poking and pawing, grinning when she cringed from him. She remembered all too well the way he’d shoved his fingers roughly up inside her. She’d stifled a cry, unwilling to give him that satisfaction.
Eli rammed the end of the torch into a crevice in the wall, then stared down at her, his eyes hungry. “You made it a long way. I’ll give you that. You’re stronger than you look. That’s good. The harder you fight, the stiffer my rod will get.”
Eli unfastened the garment slung around his hips. He tossed it aside and stood proudly in front of her, his manhood jutting out. He stroked it as he went on.
