The Mating Ritual
Chapter 3

He pulled, not slipped, out of her. Toni had the feeling that under normal circumstances that wasn’t something he would do. As he got to his feet she noticed he was still somewhat hard, and dripping. The pungent smell of s*x assailed her nostrils and had a strong effect on her. It was like an aphrodisiac, keeping her semi aroused. And him, too, it seemed.

She took the hand he offered, and soon found herself on her feet. Then he snatched up the fur and wrapped it around his h**s. She in turn snatched up her ruined thong and put it on, tying the broken

ends to keep it in place.

“Go.” He pushed her in front of him.

A man of few words, Toni thought. She went because she knew she didn’t have a choice. As the voices became louder she became more nervous and self-conscious of her semi-nudity. There was a mixture of male and female voices, and surprisingly, she could hear children, too. That small thought calmed her a little, and before she knew it, they were entering a large, open cavern.

She took in the primitive scene before her with a quick glance. There was a large fire pit in the center of the cave, with skewers holding large fish and some kind of vegetables on them. Two women who appeared to be the oldest in the group were tending to it. She estimated there were about fifteen adults and five children of different ages playing about. But what caused her to gasp out loud and capture

the attention of everyone was the couple f*****g in the corner. They were going at it like dogs, lost in their own pleasure, and uncaring that they had an audience.

There was no question that they were another race of people, perhaps one that hadn’t yet been discovered. They were tall, even the women, and muscular, with long hair the same color as Cormac’s,

and brown eyes, their bodies tanned from living out doors and using the skins of animals as clothing. They looked healthy, rugged, and powerful.

All at once, everyone stopped what they were doing, and all eyes were on Toni. Even the couple screwing paused for a few seconds before taking up where they had left off. Toni stopped, aware Cormac

was directly behind her, and she was half-surprised that he didn’t push her forward. Feeling vulnerable and exposed, she brought her waist-length hair forward to cover her breasts.

The women, some clothed fully in pieces of hide, and some naked from the waist up, were obviously curious. The expressions on their faces ranged from being faintly welcoming to coldly indifferent.

The open stares of the men were altogether different and slightly frightening. Carnal l**t was the first thought that came to Toni’s mind. It was as if they were all instantly aroused. Their nostrils began to

flare, and some even raised their noses to the air and breathed in deeply.

She wanted to run screaming from the cave when a few began to walk towards her, their gazes running over her with definite purpose. When she saw their penises lengthening on the males that were unclothed, she leaned back against Cormac with growing panic. Her eyes grew round with fear because his c**k was just as hard. It was as if seeing her effect on his friends had renewed his arousal, too.

The possibility of being gang raped entered her mind. She was thankful when Cormac’s strong arm slid around her waist, pulling Toni against him sharply.

She wanted to believe he was sending a message to the others that she belonged to him. One of the younger men stopped abruptly, his brow furrowing.

“You have mated with her,” he said angrily, his gaze focused on the lower half of Toni’s body.

Toni closed her eyes with embarrassment. There was nothing she could do to stop the trail of cum that was soaking through her thong and running down the inside of her thighs, not with the amount of semen Cormac had spilled inside her body. And the scent of their coupling was still strong and fresh, surrounding them like a cape. When she opened her eyes again the few men who’d stepped forward

had stopped now, and were half circling her and Cormac. Toni was suddenly afraid they were going to attack.

“You know our laws,” another man said in an accusing tone, stepping closer. He could be considered handsome if not for the frown governing his expression.

“Cormac is our leader, Malik!” An older man came to Cormac’s defense, his gaze shooting arrows at the circle of men. He’d remained in the background until then.

Toni digested that information, but remained quiet. She sensed that something of significance was taking place.

“Until the mating ritual any man can claim her!” Malik barked.

What? Toni didn’t like the sound of that. Especially the way Malik was looking her over with eager lustiness. His large s*x was dangling at half-mast between his stocky thighs.

“You forget your place, Malik.” Cormac growled, adding, “There will be a mating ritual when we reach the others.”

Toni had no idea what that was, but intuition told her that Cormac might indeed be staking his claim to her. She didn’t care, as long as he kept her close she felt safer. The men facing them were aroused, and their eyes, slightly wild looking, said they wanted a go at the new girl.

“You claim this woman as your mate?” Malik questioned with outrage. “She’s not from our kind.”

Toni felt as if he was reminding Cormac of something important. She sensed that of all the men, this one in particular was the most threatening. He was as big as Cormac, and clearly not afraid to challenge his leader. The scowl between his dark eyes said that he was angry, yet he was obviously aroused, too.

Toni’s gaze encompassed the various clusters of women who were quietly looking on, searching for an ally, yet replaceing none. It was as if they accepted this kind of behavior as normal.

“As leader of Oh-Mah I can claim any woman I want,” Cormac finally said. “I want this woman as my mate.“

“Your mating with her already doesn’t change anything,” Malik snarled. “It must be done according to our laws if you want to keep her from us.”

Cormac said something low and menacing to Malik in a language that Toni had never heard before. Whatever he said, Malik responded by glaring at Cormac silently.

It appeared that as far as Cormac was concerned there was no longer an issue, because he took Toni by the arm and pulled her toward the fire. She squealed when one of the men reached out and caressed her butt on the way by, but Cormac didn’t break stride. When they reached the fire he addressed one woman in particular.

“Take her.”

The woman nodded. Cormac left Toni there and walked off. She followed him with her gaze, curious to see where he was going, aware that most of the men were still ogling her as they slowly returned to what they’d been doing before. She was glad that they were keeping their distance. The couple rutting against the wall finally finished with loud g****s, but no one seemed to pay them any mind.

Cormac joined the older man who was resting against the cave wall, the same man who’d spoken up for him earlier.

Toni took a deep breath and glanced back at the woman in front of her. “My name is Toni.”

“I’m Lila.” She turned back to the fire.

“Lila, I’d like to go home.” Toni made sure her voice didn’t carry. “Can you help me?” Lila’s gaze flickered on Toni briefly, but she ignored her comment. “Sit.”

Toni lowered herself carefully to one of the smooth rocks circling the fire pit, feeling less on display once she was sitting down. She examined the animal skin covering Lila’s breasts and the bottom half of her body. It was simply made but fully adequate in covering what it needed. Her long salt and pepper hair was braided. It was hard to gauge her age, considering that she appeared to have spent years in the sun. But despite her deeply tanned skin and the lines around her eyes and mouth, it was obvious that she’d been a beauty when she was younger.

“Do you think I can have something to wear?” Toni decided to play dumb. With the exception of two women who were completely naked, all of the women in the cave were covered like Lila.

Lila glanced up from the pot she was stirring. “Not until the mating ritual. Until then you remain as you are. That’s the way it has always been. You already have Cormac’s scent on you; it is what arouses the other males. Keep your distance from them, and go nowhere alone.”

Gladly, Toni thought. She didn’t want to invite trouble, and she especially didn’t want Malik to get his hands on her. Her gaze moved about the cave, seeing more than one passageway and wondering

which one led the way out. It dawned on her that even if she did replace her way to the cave entrance, she would still need help replaceing her way back home.

She watched Lila turn the fish over the fire. “What exactly is the mating ritual?” she finally asked.

“It is when Cormac mates with you in front of the whole village. Then you belong to only him, and no man is allowed to touch you.”

In front of the whole village! Toni didn’t like the sound of that. She was the girl who didn’t like to explore when it came to s*x, who would never consider a threesome or an orgy, or letting someone watch while she had s*x, much less a group. She wasn’t a prude, or she would have never enjoyed the lusty romp she and Cormac had shared earlier, but public s*x? Not going to happen!

She had to get back home. By now the local police would know that something had happened to her. Detective Todd would have been notified, and Mary. Mary would be worried sick, but with two little ones, a third on the way, and a husband who traveled a lot, she wouldn’t have time for much more than that.

Toni had to make Cormac listen to reason, and if he refused to help her she’d just follow the river until she reached somewhere that she could get help.

“He will not let you go.” Lila’s soft voice broke into Toni’s thoughts. “There are others, females, in the mountains who are not descendants of Oh-Mah. In the beginning they all tried to escape, too. But they were mated early on, and became pregnant. Once that happens they will never let you go.”

“Oh-Mah?” Toni remembered Cormac using that word.

“Your people call us Bigfoot.”

What is she saying? Toni shook her head with shock and disbelief. Was the woman crazy? “Bigfoot? I don’t believe you. That’s a legend, a myth. He doesn’t exist.” She began to glance at everyone with

a different eye, looking for signs that proved what Lila was telling her was the truth. She almost burst out laughing that she would consider it for even a second.

“It is true,” Lila insisted. “There has been Oh-Mah for many centuries. But a sickness took their women, and made others infertile, so Oh-Mah men took women like you to breed. This go on for centuries, now Oh-Mah look like your people.

They’d evolved? Toni was shaking her head in denial the entire time that Lila spoke. “No. That’s not possible!” These people are the descendants of Bigfoot? Other than outrageous stories of sightings

throughout history, no one had ever proved that Bigfoot actually existed.

“Is true,” Lila insisted again. “There is one small family of full-blooded Oh-Mah left, deep in the mountains up north. They are dying off because they refuse to weaken Oh-Mah bloodline.” She stopped

stirring the pot she was squatting next to and fixed her gaze on Toni. “You will see one day.”

“No.” Toni slowly rose to her feet, horror setting in at the wild story the woman was telling her. “I don’t believe you! You’re crazy!” She began to back up, forgetting where she was, and unknowingly drawing interest from the rest. “You’re all crazy!” When would she wake up from this nightmare? Without thinking, she turned to flee. There was only one way to go, and that was back the way she’d come.

She’d gladly take her chances and jump into the river.

An animalistic roar echoed off the cave walls. “Woman, stop!”

Toni recognized Cormac’s loud command but she ignored him. It didn’t matter anyway, because she slammed into another male in the group. It was Malik. He took her by the shoulders and with a snarl threw her up against the wall. Toni screamed when he followed her there, crushing her with his huge bulk. His large hands found her breasts, squeezing them until she cried out. He was hard and wet

against her belly, and real terror raced through her at the possibility that he was going to rape her before anyone came to her rescue. Everything was happening so fast.

Then he was pulled from her body, and suddenly she was able to breathe again. Cormac had come to her rescue, his features contorted with rage, his eyes flashing like lightning in the dark, most of which he directed at her. Then he turned his attention to Malik, and for the first time Toni noticed that the other man had been thrown practically to the other side of the cave.

He’d hit the wall as if it was nothing, swinging around to face Cormac. His body language spoke volumes. He was ready for a fight. Cormac spoke in the dialect Toni had heard him use earlier. The two men squared off as if getting ready to fight. They went back and forth, swinging their arms in her direction.

The guttural language sounded old and primitive, almost making Lila’s outrageous story believable. The others in the group were standing by and watching, their expressions tense. The children had stopped playing and were hiding behind the women that Toni assumed were their mothers.

If Toni had had the right presence of mind, she would have used the distraction to make her escape while everyone was focused on Cormac and Malik, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of them. She’d

never seen anything so fearful, so primeval, as the scene playing out before her. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, it ended, and the threat of a fight evaporated.

Malik grabbed another woman and pulled her to a pelt, where he quickly proceeded to mount her from behind. Toni couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She barely spared them a glance, feeling sorry for the woman. Then she noticed Cormac walking directly toward her, his glittering eyes filled with intention. What was he going to do? Toni stood her ground, when every ounce of self-preservation she possessed told her to turn and run.

She backed up but had nowhere to go. Cormac’s angry gaze raked down her body and back up again before capturing hers. He grunted something in his own language. The first thing he did when his

large body covered Toni’s was take her lips in a k**s filled with rough passion. He forced her mouth open with his tongue, and once their tongues met Toni was lost, melting into the k**s.

She didn’t try to understand why he was doing what he was doing. As their mouths meshed and their tongues explored, Cormac pressed his body against hers. Toni wasn’t surprised to feel his strong

e******n against her. It seemed that anger and highly intense situations ignited the clan men’s arousal, and they weren’t shy about appeasing their l**t on the nearest female.

Cormac tore his mouth from hers and began kissing her neck beneath her ear. What was it with these men? Toni’s gaze was drawn to Malik and the woman, who were screwing like there was no tomorrow. The woman seemed to be enjoying his roughness. Feeling that it would soon be her and Cormac putting on a show for everyone, Toni braced herself for anything. She tried to deny what her body wanted, but the truth was that she’d never wanted anything more.

All of a sudden she didn’t care about the eyes watching them. Something about Cormac made Toni feel wild inside, made her want to be reckless. She felt his hand glide down her body and then her thong was torn away. His large hands went to her waist, and with ease he lifted her off her feet. Then, without warning, preparation, or foreplay, his c**k entered her body, and Cormac didn’t stop pushing until his vein-riddled muscle couldn’t go in any further.

Toni cried out in mild pain, surprised at how fast her body stretched to accommodate his girth. She gripped his shoulders for support, losing the battle not to respond to him. Hearing the other couple lose control in the moment of their release only made Toni hotter, and her muscles clenched around Cormac’s pounding c**k. Unlike the first time, he seemed intent on f*****g her as fast and as

hard as he could. No time for finesse, just a quick, hot f**k against the cave wall.

Toni knew they were being watched, and was thankful Cormac kept his body in front of her. His stamina was amazing, his g****s indicating he found as much pleasure in her body as she did in his.

She was filled to capacity, the mushroom-shaped head of his shaft brushing against her very core.

As he continued to thrust into her uncontrolled, Toni, lost in ecstasy, gave his shoulder a vicious bite. Under the circumstances, it seemed appropriate to do, and did the trick. Cormac threw his head back, roaring with gratification when he climaxed hard. Lost in her own o****m, Toni tried to hold on to a measure of control, but in the end, she lost, crying out for all to hear. The pleasure was so intense

that she thought she might pass out. She felt Cormac’s hand at the back of her head, and then they were kissing passionately.

As the after affects diminished, Toni grew limp against Cormac, but his body kept her pinned against the cold wall. Minutes passed before he finally withdrew, but instead of letting Toni slide down his form, he picked her up and headed down another dimly lit passageway.

Toni didn’t care where they were going. She rested her head against his chest and tried to keep her eyes open, wondering what he had in store for her now.