Minotaur: Blooded (The Bestial Tribe) Read online

  I can’t. A murmur of desperation sounded from her and Vedikus pulled back, leaving her mouth well and truly raw. Her nails grazed down his skin as she sought to dislodge his heavy loincloth and remove the last of the barriers between them. When she felt his bulge, it was already dripping with lubrication, and a deep groan filled her ears. Aldora closed her eyes when clutched his wet shaft. So large.

  “It takes no small amount of courage for a small thing like you to take a bull’s cock in hand,” his voice teased her.

  “It takes no courage at all.” She squeezed him again.

  “Is that so, female?” His eyes twinkled with mischief.

  “None at all.”

  “Then show me how courageous you really are.”

  Aldora straddled his velvet thighs and pressed forward to steal a kiss. A brief graze of teeth. Her hand slipped down his engorged length to knead his root. She nipped his flesh as his hands fisted into her hair, making her eyes water. She moved her hand lower still and found his massive testicles, knowing from past experience that it drove men mad, and cupped them in her hand.

  Vedikus arched up into her with a roar, stabbing her sex with his prick. She moaned loudly, removing her hand while the sound echoed. His chest puffed out, his muscles tensed, and a gush of steam poured from his mouth. Aldora breathed in the heat, pulling more of his power inside her. It burned her throat.

  “I can do more.”

  His back hit the wall. “It may kill me, female.” She rolled his testicles between her hands, urged on by the glaze of need in his eyes. Inside me. Her sex clenched around nothing.

  “Are you so easily felled?”

  One hand palmed her hip. “You say that as you milk me for my seed,” he groaned. “Any beast would be lame to fight such a precarious position. You could maim me in one sure stroke.”

  “Then I have found your one other weakness,” Aldora warned with a small smile. Vedikus pulled her back down onto him by her hair. His other hand came up to cup her sex, and calloused thick fingers slipped through her folds. Vedikus rubbed vigorously. Her smile faded. His fingers circled her entrance and spread her wetness down her thighs. She released his root and gripped his shoulders, leaning forward to rest her brow on them.

  “And I have found yours,” Vedikus threatened her ear, one finger surging up inside her, forcing her hips in the air. “You tease me and I allow it, female, because you have become special to me, but you play with blades. I will use every weapon in my grasp to become the victor, and this,” his hand pistoned, driving her hips up further as he pushed another his finger inside her, “is a weakness I will exploit.”

  “Yes,” Aldora cried out, shuddering, wet all over. He thrust a third large finger in her, forcing her to take it. There was a stab of pain and she whimpered, biting down on her tongue. He touched a sensitive spot within and her muscles spasmed. Aldora gasped. Her legs trembled and the ground chaffed her knees.

  “Daily, relentlessly, and without rest. You will fill my stable, Aldora.”

  Yes!

  Vedikus chuckled, the sound wicked. He widened his fingers and stretched her, and returning her pain. Her teeth grazed his skin, her tongue tasting his flesh, gnawing with desperation as the first spark of bliss knotted her insides.

  Aldora moved her toes under her and lifted up with a scream, pulling away with pleasurable shock. An orgasm tore its way out of her, clawing her senses to ruin. Her brow dampened with sweat as she twisted and fought her way off Vedikus’s hand, the sudden rush of having her senses returned making her desperate. He grunted and rounded her body with his arm, bringing her back to him.

  “Don’t make me beg.”

  She barely heard it as she squirmed and caught her breath. He continued to ram his fingers inside her swollen sex, making her sacrifice more for him.

  Aldora swallowed, and with a slurp, he released her with another chilling laugh. His hands grabbed her hips and lowered her upon him. She whimpered when the head of his bulge found her aching sex and sought to fill it. She reached up weakly and held onto his horns.

  She pushed down onto him, her sex still constricting from her orgasm, and winced. He watched her efforts with a twitching smile, groaning against her struggles. Aldora shot up then slid a little more back down, mounting him. She slumped against his chest when she was fully seated, finally filled. His fingers bit into her, leveraging her final impalement, and her perfect surrender.

  I need more. She moved weakly. Vedikus lifted her on his bull’s cock as if he heard her thoughts, thrusting her back down. Another scream left her lips as she felt her insides being rearranged, the pain intense, but the pleasure exploded like a wildfire from it. She melted as he moved her above him.

  Aldora threw her head back and lifted her face to the ceiling, filling the cave with frenzied moans and grunts as she rode her minotaur hard, being led by his groping hands, giving herself to her senses. Their flesh slapped and the fire died to completion at her back, pitching them into darkness. Another knot began to untie within her core and she pressed her fingers to her clit, rubbing it in wild circles, taking it in.

  Thunder and scalding rain filled her, shooting up inside, while the source jostled her above him. A ringing sounded in her head as his seed shot from his tip, implanting in her womb. She rode him back down to the floor as Vedikus continued to spurt inside her until seed gushed from her sex to coat their thighs. Her fingers stroked her clit frantically.

  He ripped her hand away and replaced it with his own, violently bringing her back over the edge. The noises she made sounded inhuman and garbled but she didn’t care, couldn’t even muster the strength to discern if they were even hers, having lost herself in release.

  Vedikus twisted her to the floor, spreading her legs wide, as he continued to pump, as if he couldn’t get enough of her body’s jerking orgasm, and every time she constricted around him, the tips of his horns scrapped the stone above her head. Aldora settled back, panting from exertion as her bull bred her, and she allowed it, feeling her desperation vanish and her excitement return.

  The first threads of dawn peeked through the small, jagged entrance to the cave when Vedikus eased himself from her with a grunt, his body coming back down to plaster against hers. He rested his head in the crook of her shoulder, tickling her skin. He licked her, moving his tongue over her throat, along her jaw, and to her forehead. Aldora shivered despite her exhaustion and felt the soft tapping of his tail caressing the side of her thigh.

  “Vedikus,” she moaned softly. His tongue slid from her face and moved down her body, cleaning her, and tasting her everywhere. If there was ever a moment where she may have liked being numb with illness, it was quickly expelled from her head. Her limbs fell lifelessly away from her body as he worked his mouth over them.

  When it was over, she sighed with contentment and watched, languid and sated, as he rose naked above her and eyed her lifeless body with possession. Power emanated from him, addictive power that made her want to crawl on her hands and knees and worship at his cloven feet. Aldora stretched, hiding the thrill of her thoughts. His seed gushed out of her.

  “Do not move,” he ordered before picking up the jug and leaving the cave with his tail swinging. She stared at the point where he had vanished, disturbed with how lonely she abruptly felt out of his presence. Her toes curled nervously as she tried to rest, and tried to obey.

  He returned sometime later, rousing her, with fresh wood and a dead creature. She watched, moving to lie on her side, as their fire was built back up and a less humid warmth replaced the heat from their rutting. Light returned to their stony bubble, and with it, the prospect of a new day.

  Aldora rose up and pulled her shift to her.

  “I prefer you bare.”

  She bunched the fabric in her hands. “I would like to dress.”

  “Then dress.” He cocked his head, his eyes pinning her. She twitched nervously and waited for him to look away. He didn’t. The fire crackled.

  Aldora straightened
to meet the challenge and lifted her arms above her head, showing off her nakedness for one unhindered, taunting second longer before slipping her shift on. With it in place, she still felt naked under his gaze. Because I still am, under this...

  He snorted once and shifted his focus back to his kill, taking her dagger out to skin it. Aldora noticed his prick stiffen again before she looked away, her attention returning to the overwhelming amount of wetness between her legs. She searched for something to clean herself but gave up after a moment when she remembered how very little they had now after Prayer.

  Vedikus made short work of the carcass, disposing the excess well away from the cave, and cleaning it.

  “What is that?” she asked just to fill the quiet.

  “A mountain tark. They are common here in the cliffs and more so as we ascend. They’re called to the heights and are often found high up in trees if they make their way out of this region.” He stuck it on the blade of her weapon and placed it in the fire, next to the jar that was boiling over with water. Before long, the smell of meat being roasted sent her stomach rumbling. She had eaten little in the last span of days, and she was beginning to feel it.

  “Come.” Vedikus pulled apart sizzling strips of meat with his fingers. She moved to his side at his bidding, and with the same possessive look he gave her earlier, he fed her from his hand. Aldora chewed slowly and brushed her hair with her fingers.

  “Vedikus,” she started, unsure, between bites, still feeling the wetness from their coupling every time she shifted her legs.

  “What?”

  “Why do you ask me to mount you?” Aldora blurted out quickly.

  He glanced at her sharply before cutting off another strip. “It is a tradition among my people to claim our mate.”

  She scrunched her face in confusion.

  “Our strength comes from the animalistic side, but our power comes from our lineage with humans and the purity of our blood. When a bull mates, they mount the female, and we are driven to do the same, but sex is often had between the different clans of a tribe. We see our ancestors as greater than us because they have lived and have propagated, but it stems from the natural wrongness of the act itself. A female cannot mount a bull, it is not done, but we are human too and choose to protect that part of ourselves that the queen has given us. To have you mount me,” Vedikus lowered the dagger, “is a devious act and one not followed by many minotaurs. It binds us. It is not done unless it is between two who choose to mate for life because it wars with our instincts. For you to lower yourself onto me,” his voice deepened, “proves the union is sought... not forced.”

  Her mouth dried up and she lifted the jug to clear the taste from her mouth. “I didn’t know. Does that mean we are married?”

  “That is a human concept and one I have heard about. Yes, in vagueness, we are married but there is no way to break the bind which we have placed. That I have placed.”

  Her belly fluttered. Aldora wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and hid a small smile behind it. Trickery, again. She knew she should be irate, but such small things no longer mattered to her. A small piece of her knew she would have stayed the moment he bound her in rope to his side. That same part wanted to show her appreciation because she wanted her monstrous warrior, needed him in the quietness of her heart.

  The thing I feared most...

  The labyrinth.

  It had become an otherworldly salvation. A dangerous one, but there hadn’t been a day in all the long years of residing in Thetras and working on the farm that her life hadn’t been in danger, that the corrupt, paranoid, deviant men and women of Savadon hadn’t oppressed her.

  “So... we are mated,” she whispered to herself.

  Vedikus’s gaze sharpened on her further, heating up her insides. “Yes, we are mated.”

  She no longer hid her smile, overcome with a wonderful sense of freedom, and climbed back into his lap. He stiffened, unsure, as she settled over him, reaching down to move his leathers to the side once again to find his erect prick. Without meeting his eyes, she took him back into her body with a sigh and leaned into his chest. His hands came up to wrap back around her, holding her to him. “You do not know what you do, female,” his voice was raspy and thick above her.

  “I know exactly what I’m doing.” Aldora rested her head upon him and closed her eyes. “This time I know what it means.”

  I know you.

  She pressed her lips to his skin and tasted his flesh, inhaling heavily to take in his scent at the same time. There was little energy left in her bones to move as she drowned in his heady aura, his enchanting voice, and his heat.

  Vedikus leaned back and pulled her atop him, keeping them joined. Aldora matched her breathing to his, and with the early morning light brightening to day, she found true rest for the first time since she could remember, well away from all that she had known. The past she no longer wanted to dwell on. Because right at that moment...

  She felt like a queen.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ***

  The sun was bright through the mist when they finally left the cave. Vedikus tilted his head to the sky, enjoying the small amount of warmth he got from it. His clan had chosen the mountains near Prayer for many reasons, but climate and defensibility were among them. The elevation lessened the mist to a point and sometimes when least expected, one could see the sky in all its glory.

  It brought him comfort. The secretive moments when the world cleared, and when he and his brothers first struck their weapons into the cliffs above, they all knew they had found the land the Bathyr would settle.

  “I thought I would never see it again,” Aldora said next to him. “It’s even more beautiful than I remembered.”

  “When we reach our destination, it will only get better.” And he looked forward to showing her. “My brothers will know by now that we are ascending. They will be waiting if they do not meet us halfway.”

  “How?”

  Vedikus watched as the glow of the sun vanished behind stringy clouds, and when it was gone, he faced Aldora who continued to look up at the misty sky. He took her chin, turning her eyes to him. “Keep your eyes on me. I will not lead you astray.” She nodded mutely and he released her, still jealous of the sky. “As for my brothers, there are three guarding our home. They maintain traps and enchantments that have been placed among the pathways and caves here. The moment we crossed the marker would be when they were alerted, however, I know the locations of all of the traps.”

  “Just three?” Aldora frowned. “I thought... I thought when you said tribe, that there would be more.”

  They resumed walking and he felt her hand tug on the back of his loincloth. He grunted to himself, pleased that she still sought his assistance.

  “There are only five of us currently,” he said, hollowly, “We left the main tribe several seasons ago...”

  “Wait!” She jerked his cloth back, and he had to stop from being unclothed entirely. “Please,” she added quickly, softening her hold. Vedikus reached up and smoothed the hair out of her face where the wind whipped it.

  “You do not have to fear me, female,” he gritted his teeth, angered he even had to say it. “I would never unleash my violence on you. We are one now.” Even the thought made him furious. What point was there in going through the trouble for a human mate to just hurt them? He did not want what his sire and mother had.

  Aldora reached up and pulled back her hair harshly, revealing her wide, worried eyes. “It’s not that. I don’t know what to expect anymore. I thought we journeyed to a-a settlement of some sort, with well, many minotaurs, not just three.”

  “Five,” he corrected.

  “Five then. There’s so few. Why are there so few of you?”

  So few...

  His chest constricted tightly as he searched her gaze. It implored him to answer, but to answer would be speaking the words of his brother’s plight and bringing it to light. The Bathyr never spoke of the incident that sh
attered their loyalty to their mother tribe, and he found it hard to try. The words tasted bitter.

  She is Bathyr. She has a right to know.

  Vedikus grunted, forcing the words to rise. “We are few because our old tribe betrayed us. They thought it within their power to sour the name of my mother.” He pulled her against him when the wind shrieked, rubbing her bare arms with his large ones to warm her.

  “Your mother is alive?” Aldora pushed against his chest. “I thought—”

  “She is gone.”

  “Gone?”

  “Come and I’ll tell you another story to pass the time.” He tucked her under his arm and they continued their climb. “Those that await us are my blood brothers, the only bulls my mother and father sired. The Bathyr.” It was not often he heard his ancestral name aloud.

  “Steelslash was my sire’s name, changed for what he did best, a warrior unlike any living minotaur had seen. He became chief when he returned from the barrier paths with my mother many years ago in hope that his prowess would breed well with human blood. His power was a beacon for my kind, and the minotaur followed him blindly, lured by it, to parts of the world we sought to conquer.”

  “You speak of them as if they are in the past... I’m sorry for your loss,” Aldora said, startling him. She is sorry for me? “In a way... I’ve lost my parents—my family—too,” her voice softened. “But knowing they are still out there, alive, settled in a good life, eases my pain.”

  “It would ease mine as well.”

  “I am your family now, Vedikus,” she breathed.

  He barely heard her words through the wind. Family. My mate readily accepts her fate. His heart beat hard within his chest, and he leaned his nose to the top of her head so he could breathe her comforting scent in. His senses flooded with sweet evergreen, and his tail thumped under his loincloth. “Yes,” he rasped. “You are Bathyr, and you’ll give our clan a way to become the mightiest tribe this land has ever birthed.” Her fingers pressed into his skin and caressed one of his many scars.