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The Noble Predator Ch. 02

By: Pandemos



© Pandemos, 2010. All Rights Reserved. 

Lira awoke in the darkness just before sunrise listening to the sound of light rain that had begun to fall. Her body was enveloped in the warm embrace of the beast who had taken her just hours earlier. The hours of lovemaking combined with the day long hike left her physically exhausted. Though her body ached for more sleep, her brain would not allow her to rest. 

She lay still with her back against her lover, not wishing to rouse him yet, her head resting on his right arm bent under her. Her brown hair, loosened from its elastic tie, cascaded around her shoulders and over his arm, her hips cradled within his own. She could feel his eyes on her as he lie waiting for her to stir from sleep. But she wasn't ready to face him yet, not until she could make sense of what happened last night and how she felt about it, not until she had figured out how to tell him good-bye without enraging him. She recalled his sudden aggression when she had rejected his request to stay with him and make this her home here in these backwoods of Maine. Though she had been alarmed by his reaction, their feral mating had awakened a long dormant desire, a primal need in her, arousing her to a fantastic orgasm. Even in the heat of his passion and anger, he had attended to her physical need, indulging her desires until she climaxed. 

She had never felt so sexually free with a partner, so completely sated than she did last night. But his attentions did not cease with their lovemaking. When she awoke in the middle of the night, thirsty and hungry, she found he had anticipated her needs, fruits and nuts placed by her head, a blanket she did not recognize was draped over her feet keeping them warm. Though his body heat warmed her, she felt a renewed shyness lying naked next to him under the glow of the stars and moon that permeated the fabric of the tent. She attempted to cover herself with the blanket even knowing she might overheat under it, but he stopped her from pulling the blanket up beyond her knees.

"Not hide," he demanded.

She initially resisted but he had looked at her with such longing, so she settled for using her arms to cover her breasts and torso as best she could. 

He gently pulled her arms away and whispered, "Please, Belle. So nice to look."

She felt herself blush at the idea that he found her body so appealing. Allowing him full view of all the curves of her body, the soft touch of his caresses relaxed her until she soon fell asleep while he watched her peacefully slumber.

Lying awake in the early morning light, she struggled to separate her physical desire from her emotional need. So many of the men who came into her life had showed her attention but only to abandon her after they had used her for their pleasure. Was she now falling into the same pattern she was trying to break, mistaking a man's sexual attention with love and affection? Feeling his warmth she thought, had he not been more than just sexually attentive, had he not also cared for and even cherished her? Was he not now showering her with affection, warming her and protecting her?

With the heat of his gaze on her, Lira kept replaying in her mind the moments of last night. True, he had stalked her, chased her, trapped her, stripped and exposed her. But looking back on the heated fusion of their bodies, his initial assault seemed more like rowdy, untamed foreplay. As she recalled the details, despite all his raw primal fucking, he never harmed her, and he never possessed her until she allowed him to. He gave her complete control. She was the one who initiated their coupling, even impatiently demanded it. Even before he did so, this creature, this beast, this man had repeatedly expressed a need for her, not just for the night, but forever. But was it a demand or did she have a choice in the matter? And how could she let her heart and body be possessed by him when she didn't even understand his true nature -- predator man or beast? As the memory of their lovemaking swirled in her brain, her desire for him, whatever his nature, began to escalate anew. 

His impatience for her was also growing, as he leaned into her and breathed heavily, "Belle."

The timbre of his voice echoed through her, sending shivers to the very area of her body that ached for his touch. She was delaying having to face him, fearing that the cold light of day may alter the vision of raw animalism and rugged handsomeness that she recalled. She smiled remembering the vision of wild hair framing rough, ruddy features, his thick muscular torso and legs that towered over her, and those meaty hands ravaging her body. With eyes closed, she edged backwards and pressed her body fully against his, feeling the stiff rod that was waiting for her attention. His arms tightened around her, emanating warmth and protection as Lira melted against him. 

"Rüt," she moaned as he tenderly spread kisses over her neck and shoulder. He took his time, he was patiently waiting for her to make her move. Without facing him, she slowly spread her thighs, beckoning him to explore her waiting core again. Delaying her gratification and increasing her anticipation, he slowly caressed her breasts, feeling the nipples harden under his playful thick fingers. She arched her back thrusting her chest up toward him, allowing his mouth to capture her left breast and suckle the hard nub while his hand continued to play with her right breast before continuing its journey along the gentle swell of her abdomen He dug his fingers into the flesh of her hips pulling her buttocks hard against his erect shaft before moving farther down between her splayed legs to the moist lips begging to be invaded. 

With the echo from the gentle patter of rain on the nylon tent, Lira moaned louder as his mouth and hands so skillfully heightened her pleasure. He lifted his mouth from her breast now slick with his saliva. She could feel his eyes on her waiting expectantly, but she kept her eyes closed, her hands laying lightly on his large hands, as they followed the movements of his caresses across her body, intertwining her fingers with his as they plunged into her wet core. She gasped loudly at the feeling of his large fingers penetrating the lips that had been fucked raw so recently. With that she opened her eyes to view her lover again. He was gazing down warmly into her face with steel blue eyes, his features strong and masculine but not as harsh as she recalled, his hair not a tangled mass of strands, but rather long dark silky locks cascading in waves past his shoulders, his figure while still massive compared to her curvy petite frame, was less imposing and less intimidating than when shadowed by the evening light. She noted a number of fresh cuts on his recently shaven skin. His eyes, pained with longing, searched hers as if desperately trying to read her mind. She smiled at her wild Adonis and lifted her head towards his to taste the lips that had given her skin such pleasure. 

He kissed her deeply, leaving no question of his desire for her. But she felt something more in his urgent kisses. Was it need? Did he really need her, as he had repeatedly declared during their lovemaking? He growled as she hitched her leg up over his thigh to allow him greater access to her hole, newly flowing with her moisture. She adjusted her torso to position her wet opening at the head of his cock, slowly gyrating her hips to tease the tip of his shaft with the outer edges of her vulva. But her actions equally stimulated her as his glans repeatedly grazed her clit drawing it to attention. Pre-cum was now leaking generously from the tip of his cock, coating her mound and mingling with her juices that had pooled at her clit. He broke their kiss with a sharp breath as she pressed her hips firmly down on his shaft, forcing his deep penetration of her wet pussy. She smiled at the control she felt over him, the control he was giving her. Bucking her backside toward his abdomen, she pressed further to take him fully into her warm center. His arm reached under her left leg lifting it above his thigh while his right arm which had cradled her head extended to cup her breasts with his hand. He held her still like this while he rammed into her eliciting high pitched moans and gasps from her with every thrust of his hips. 

"Oh God, oh God, ooooh Gaawwwd. Please....doooon't....sto...o...o...op!" she cried out. He eased up as soon as he felt her getting close to climaxing. She looked back at him with a pout on her lips. He smiled at her deviously before swallowing her pout with another kiss. 

"You torture me, my beast," she whispered breathlessly into his mouth. A chuckle escaped his lips, and Lira realized that her beast understood her more than his limited vocabulary led on. Before she could react, he slid himself down to drink from her fountain, his tongue searing her skin in the cool morning air. 

"Belle pains Rüt more," he whispered hoarsely as he plunged his tongue into her and lapped at the sweet fluid flowing freely. Who is this man, she thought briefly before he plunged his fingers into her, probing her center to bring about her orgasm like he had during the night. As though he had a treasure map of her body, he located her elusive pleasure spot and gently rubbed the swollen flesh with just enough pressure, causing Lira to squirt her ejaculate. He greedily drank her fluid like it was Ambrosia itself before clamping his lips around the nub of her clitoris sending her into a dual orgasm. As if in the free fall of a roller coast, Lira was pinned against the earth, unable to move except for the muscles contracting violently and uncontrollably around the invading fingers, bucking her hips into his mouth and squeezing her thighs around the head of her lover as she spasmed until her orgasm slowly subsided. 

Lira remained still as she recovered, breathing heavily, her breasts heaving, her nipples erect and excited from his stimulation. Rüt rested his head between her legs, enjoying her scent and continuing to dart his tongue randomly around and in her ultra-sensitive pussy causing her to squeal softly with each spasm and jerk. The temperature of the tent felt like it had increased by 50 degrees and her skin was covered in a film of moisture.

Rüt crawled up between her legs readying himself to drive his shaft through her. Lira sat up and held out her hand to stop him, pushing him on his back. "I have never felt such pleasure," she smiled at him, "but I don't think my poor cunt can take much more." She had never used such language during sex, preferring to shyly be fucked by men in the dark and in silence. But she was experiencing a new confidence and boldness she had never felt before. "But I still want to finish what I started," she said beguilingly as she leaned down to attend to the raging cock that was still twitching for relief. He stared at her, taking in her soft curves, her breasts that swung gently as she slid her body over him, and the heart shaped buttocks that protruded beyond her waist and painfully out of his reach as she knelt between his thighs.

Lira was never very fond of giving oral sex, but most of the men she had been with had expected it, actually demanded it in the bedroom. She dreaded the universal signal, the hand on her head insistently pushing her face down until it was eye level with the protruding member. In an effort to please, she would dutifully suck, lick, and deep-throat the appendage until it released its creamy, white substance. Having learned that men enjoy seeing a woman swallow their spend, she forced herself to be a swallower. But each emission she had ever tasted was bitter, salty, and just felt so thick in her mouth. It was the worst part of sex for her. But pursing her lips at the tip of his cock as she fondled it in her hands, she wanted to consume this man as much as she wanted to be consumed by him. 

Lira darted her tongue out to savor the pre-cum that had started to leak more heavily. She moaned as she pursed her lips around the large soft head. Rüt bent his head back as her moans sent ripples of pleasure through his body. Encouraged, she wrapped her lips around the shaft and slid her mouth down until she had swallowed half of his length. Widening her throat, she continued to take him until he bumped the back of her throat. The jolt caused her to choke. Rüt looked up to see tears in her eyes from the strain of accepting his generous size in her small mouth. He sat up and pulled her up by the shoulders to rest against his chest.

"I not need," he struggled to tell her, wiping her tears away.

She kissed him softly, "But I do." He hesitated but before he could resist further, "Would you deny me the pleasure of tasting you?" she challenged, further surprising herself with her boldness. He struggled for a moment before loosening his grip on her shoulders allowing her to return to his engorged appendage. Trying again to take him in her mouth, she angled her head up closer to his abdomen to allow the natural curve of his erection to line up with the natural curve of her throat. Having successfully taken him fully, she hummed and moaned lightly sending shivers up his cock and through his spine. She looked up to see him struggling to maintain control and focus on Lira but she saw he was moments from exploding. Wanting to delay his gratification just a bit longer, she moved her head from his shaft now soaked with her saliva and focused her attention on the sacs from which she sought to elicit the thick milky fluid.

Taking first one sac and then the other in her mouth, she tongued and sucked each one, enjoying the feeling of fluid floating within the sacs as she manipulated them with her tongue. Rüt began to moan loudly now and writhe under her touch, his fingers interlocking with her hand that lay braced against his hip. She buried her nose in his pubis, infused with the heady scent of his musk. For the first time in her life, she desired to swallow a man for her own pleasure, enjoy every inch of him, every scent, every taste until she knew every element of his being. Possessed with an urgency to fulfill and be fulfilled, Lira licked the fresh pre-cum before thrusting the entire shaft in her mouth until he hit the back of her throat. 

She pressed her lips tight around his girth and frantically pumped the length of his shaft in and out of her stretched mouth. With each downward thrust, the tip of his cock contacted and rubbed against the back of Lira's throat eliciting a guttural groan from her lover. Controlling her reflex, Lira vigorously milked his cock, desperate to feel his hot seed splash against her throat and into her belly. Cradling the orbs that were aching to release his fluid while pumping him in and out of her warm mouth, she felt his balls tighten as they prepared to project his cream. Tightening the pressure of her lips on his cock, she could hear Rüt panting and gasping for air as he neared release. 

Lira felt his shaft swell and streams of thick cum splashed in her mouth as Rüt's legs stiffened and his hips stilled while a wave of pleasure shook through his body. She tried to savor the taste of him, but ribbon after ribbon of cum was streaming into her mouth. She swallowed quickly to try to catch every drop of him, not wanting to spill his seed. But his emissions were too great and wads of his cum filled her mouth to capacity before she could swallow. She struggled to breath with him still embedded in her mouth as thick gobs of his milky substance slid out the corners of her mouth, down her chin and in her hair before dripping on his thigh. As she pulled herself off of him, she allowed herself the pleasure of swallowing what was left in her mouth, tasting his saltiness mixed with a hint of sweetness. She looked up at Rüt who was mindlessly fingering her wavy hair while his body shuddered from his intense orgasm.

As his orgasm began to subside, Rüt started to regain his breath. He opened his eyes and looked down at the cum soaked faced of Lira who suddenly looked self-conscious. Seeing her distraught, he pulled her to his chest, searching for an explanation. "I hurt you?" he asked, his voice ragged.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry," she stammered, "I made a mess." She blushed with embarrassment as she looked at the trails of cum that fell on her and Rüt. 

He smiled at her, struggling to speak. "Not cry. So good, Belle." He wiped his cum from her face and hair and slowly began to message it into her skin, kissing her tenderly while she lay beside him until her tears dried.

Rüt rested his head on Lira's chest, lazily caressing and kissing her warm body while she ran her hand through the soft curls on his head. After some time had passed, she asked, "You understand what I say?" He leaned on his elbow to look up at her for a moment, then nodded slightly. 

"But you don't speak very much?" it was a statement more than a question. 

He sighed, "No" he struggled, as he again instinctively touched the metal band around his throat. 

"You have trouble speaking? Because of the choker?" she guessed as she fingered it lightly.

He nodded and pulled her hand away to stop her from touching it further. 

"Why do you wear it? Why don't you take it off ," she asked. "I'll help," she offered, pressing against his hands to help remove the metal.

Rüt smiled weakly and shook his head. "No, it not come off," as he placed her hand at her side. Seeing the well of pain in his face, she brought her hand up to caress his face and ease some of the hurt, hoping for an explanation for his extraordinary condition.

"Belle," he started, the bass of his voice vibrating in the small space. 

"Lira," she offered, "My name is Lira."

He looked at her puzzled. "Leee...Leeea," he struggled with the syllables. Until he gave up, "Belle," he insisted. 

"Belle," she granted. 

"Belle," he continued, looking at her intently, "Belle, stay here, make home here." 

She smiled at him, not wanting to dampen the moment they were sharing. "I have a home. I live in New York. "

"You not want to stay? Not like me?" he tested.

"Yes, I like you, but..."

"You live here," he urged.

This was getting very complicated, very quickly, she thought. She instantly thought of all her obligations back in New York. Her job, as much as she disliked it, was a good job and paid the bills. Her mother, as disagreeable as she was, was terminally ill, and Lira felt an obligation to care for her dying mother. 

"But my mother," she explained, "my mother needs me to take care of her." 

"I need you," he continued to press.

"She is my mother, she has no one else to care for her," she said, beginning to feel indignant at his presumptuousness.

He paused. "Mother come too," he offered. 

She cringed at the thought of her mother and him ever meeting. Her mother would likely try to bed him herself, if she were feeling well enough. 

"My mother is too weak to come up here," which was not altogether a lie. "You would have to come to live with us," she prodded. 

She suddenly had a bizarre image of this half-naked, mono-syllabic, metal collar adorned man walking down the streets of New York City to meet her mother, until she realized he might actually assimilate well in those surroundings. But she regretted her suggestion as soon as the words left her mouth. She wasn't sure if she was ashamed of introducing him to her mother or of introducing her mother to him. Either way, she had no desire cross that line.

He cupped her chin to force her to look into his face, his voice hoarse from straining against the metal band constricting his throat, "I not leave. You stay," he demanded, "please." She saw the distress in his eyes. 

"I'll return," she offered, pulling her face to the side forcing his hand away. 

He looked deflated. 

Lira was starting to be suspicious of his insistence. He couldn't expect her to make a life-altering decision within 24 hours of meeting this man. But more problematic, he offered no explanation for why he felt compelled to stay on this mountain or why he was rendered nearly mute by a choker around his neck. Her head was starting to hurt from lack of sleep and overexertion. She was tired and needed rest. 


The Noble Predator Ch. 02



"I'll return," she said vaguely with a hint of annoyance, as she laid down with her back to him. After a moment, Rüt gave in and pressed against her with his arm draped over her waist as she drifted to sleep.

Lira awoke alone in her tent, shivering from the cold. She hadn't realized how much Rüt's body heat had kept her naked body warm throughout the night and morning. She peered out of the tent. The rain was still coming down steadily, but she could see no sign of him. She sat back in her tent pulling her sleeping bag around her, smelling the intoxicating scent of him lingering in the air and on her sleeping bag where he had slept. But his inexplicable circumstances were troubling her. She sat contemplating his insistent request. How could she possibly live here, like a hermit, secluded from civilization? She could still feel the way his touch had burned like fire on her skin, but the pleasant memories were disrupted by his distressing demands. He wanted her to stay and give herself to him when she had just spent the last several months trying to stay clear from the manipulations of men. She scoffed at herself that even on this remote mountain, its one resident wanted to manipulate her and bend her to his will. 

As Lira sat contemplating the full weight of what he was asking of her, the sudden urge to run overwhelmed her. She could avoid being used yet again to satisfy a man's sexual needs at her expense, avoid being charmed yet again by a man into believing that, after only one night, he needed her, avoid another messy affair leaving her humiliated and alone. 

In a panic, Lira looked for her hiking boots and realized they were by the large granite boulder where he had discarded them after undressing her. She grabbed some clothes and spare sneakers from her backpack in the tent and threw them on before grabbing her pack and running from the camp and down the mountain, leaving her tent, her sleeping bag, her razor and other toiletries, and all her food behind. 

The rain had begun to fall harder now as she descended. The rain soaked ground made running treacherous, and her sore legs were unsteady as they struggled to withstand the strenuous sprint down the mountain. Her sneakers were not meant for hiking and did not provide much traction. Out of breath, she stopped briefly for a rest and wondered how long it would be before he would realize she was gone, how long before he would come after her. After his behavior last night, he would not let her leave willingly, she felt certain. Yet despite the panic overtaking her, her mind was filled with images of their lovemaking from their previous night and early morning, and she felt a twinge of longing again. A part of her wished he would follow her down the mountain and stop her from leaving. But her brain fought off her emotional response and propelled her to continue her escape. As she glanced over her shoulder to see if she might see him closing in behind her, she stepped on a smooth rock covered in a layer of wet leaves. Her legs flew out from under her and in an instant she was on her back. As she sat up in the mud, feeling an ache in her backside, chilled to her bones, her fear of being trapped by this mountain man was outweighed by an aching need to be safe in his arms again. As she struggled with the battle going on between her head and her heart, she covered her face with her hands and began to sob. She felt a pair of strong arms pull her up and hug her to a warm chest. Slowly she felt his warmth invade her body and raise her temperature. 

She looked up at Rüt as he stood naked before her, his wet hair pasted against his face, as water cascaded down his muscular shoulders.

"You found me," she said hesitantly.

He pulled away from her and looked down at his hand, holding out the car keys. They must have fallen out of her pack when she hurriedly dressed in the tent, she thought. He was not coming to stop her, but to let her go. 

She slowly took them from his hand and looked up expectantly at him. He gave her a long, wounded look, before turning to head back up the mountain. She stood in the rain, which was starting to come down heavier, and watched as he made his way back up the mountain, watching his long legs effortlessly climb over rocks and dead tree trunks. 

The words of her grandmother came back to her, "One day you will find someone who will love you, who will see all that beauty in you and cherish you for it, just as you are." 

She stood looking up the hill at the man whose nickname for her was beauty itself. A man who had given her the most incredible night. A man who had made her feel beautiful and safe. A man who only asked that she stay with him. She ran toward him, the rain starting to fall harder. 

"Don't go," she pleaded. 

He turned to face her. "This my home," he said flatly, "I stay." He stared at her waiting for her response. After a few moments, he started to turn back.

"I will return," she promised. "In a month, I'll be back." 

He looked at her accusingly, the rain coming in droves now, "You ran. You not come back."

"Yes, I ran," she yelled to be heard through the pounding rain, "I'm sorry. But I was scared."

"I not hurt you," he responded defensively against her implication that he meant to do her harm. 

"No, that's not what I mean," she paused to consider her words. "I was not afraid of you. I was afraid of not being able to give you the answers you need to hear, not being able to give you what you want."

"I want you, I want you here," he stated simply. 

"But I cannot stay. I can only promise to return. In thirty days, I'll come back here to see you again. I promise." She waited for his reaction, "Please, this is all I can do for now." 

After a few moments, he walked back to her and kissed her softly on the lips, lingering. 

"I wait," he agreed skeptically. "I wait for Belle."



The Noble Predator Ch. 03



© Pandemos, 2010. All Rights Reserved. 

Back in New York, Lira relived in her mind the moments she had just spent in the forests of Maine with the mountain man who had called himself Rüt, the same man who had stalked her, trapped her, seduced her and made her feel freer than she had ever felt with any man. It all felt like a weird, erotic dream. She looked down at the marks on her abdomen where he had kneaded her flesh, felt the sore muscles between her thighs and knew it had all been very real. She sat in her small studio, apartment in New York City, eating cereal for dinner, looking around at her meager furnishings, and an immense loneliness gripped her. She would give anything to look into Rüt's eyes at that moment, feel his warmth, hear the deep timbre of his voice. Her mind tried to shake her back to reality and all good sense, but her heart was inexplicably drawn to this mysterious man. Their time together had been brief but intense, and she found herself thinking about him constantly. 

Visiting her mother in Queens, Lira was preparing all the various medications her mother needed to take throughout the day. Recently, Lira's mother had been diagnosed with the same form of cancer that had claimed her grandmother nearly eight years ago. Despite the hardship her mother had caused her throughout Lira's young adulthood, Lira felt obligated to care for her mother in her time of need. Because of the progression of the disease, her mother required considerable attention and care. Sitting in her mother's cold apartment, she was anxious for the next thirty days to pass when she had promised him she would return to see him again. Lira hoped that her longing for Rüt would wane with the activity of having to care for her mother. But her mother's sharp tongue and spitefulness did not diminish despite the compassion that Lira had shown. Spending so much time with her mother, Lira had become more and more desperate for some solace, even if it was in the arms of a predator living in isolation in the mountains. 

After 20 days, Lira's desire for Rüt had not faded as she had hoped. Rather it had only intensified with each passing day. After only three weeks, her attention span was almost non-existent, her every waking moment plagued with thoughts of Rüt. Her dreams were filled with sensual images of herself running through a large forest in the darkness until she was met with a large beast, allowing herself to be molested and taken fully, waking covered in a film of sweat, her sheets wet from her nocturnal emissions. But she could never tell whether she was running towards or away from the beast in her dreams.

Lira couldn't wait any longer to satisfy her ache. Desperate to see him, she hurriedly scheduled time off from work and arranged for her mother's care while she was away. The drive to Maine seemed endless. She was breathless with excitement by the time she parked the car behind the large granite boulder at the trailhead. 

Lira nearly sprinted up the mountain, anxious to see Rüt again, to prove to him, and to herself, that she would keep to her promises, to prove that he didn't have any reason to doubt her. She called out for him several times as she climbed higher, but she was still a ways off from where they first met. She was growing tired, but pure adrenaline pushed her forward. Then she saw him, standing so tall and proud on top of a large granite outcrop, the same one she had hidden behind when he first tried to take her. His strong features were striking, he looked even more handsome than she remembered. She realized she had not taken any pains on her appearance and felt a twinge of fear that she might not be attractive to him now. But he had already spotted her and was hurriedly climbing down to greet her. In her excitement, her fears vanished as she ran toward him with a burst of energy. She held his face in her hands, caressing his smooth skin, the cuts and scrapes that had dotted his face when they first met were gone now. She kissed him deeply, as he pulled her into him, pressing her hard against his body. 

"Belle," he breathed hoarsely, straining against the metal collar encircling his neck tightly, "you came back." 

"I couldn't stay away," she managed to say between gasps for air, "I missed you." Her hands were frantically groping at him, desperate to feel him again.

Without another word, he took her in his arms and carried her to a clearing where a small creek ran. His skin was on fire. Her entire body receptive and open, she gave herself fully, unreservedly to him as he carefully removed her clothing, kissing each newly exposed area of flesh as he went. She leaned back on her hands as she sat in front of him in only her panties which were drenched with the fluid of her excitement. He gazed lustfully at her, her breasts heaving in the afternoon sun, and swiftly removed the thin cloth that hung around his hips exposing his own excitement. He leaned down to kiss her and finger the elastic band of her panties. Her hands pressed on his, her fingers intertwined with his grasping the elastic band, helping him remove the last bit of fabric between them. Locking her arms around his neck, she pulled herself up to straddle his thighs, feeling his engorged member jolt and twitch between her legs. 

"You've put a spell on me," she whispered before grazing his earlobe with her teeth. He groaned deeply and pressed himself between her waiting thighs, her body was flooded with her fluids as she gyrated her hips, grinding into him while their lips were locked in an endless kiss. Her hips ground into him deliberately, her juices coating his thick cock and pooling at its root until mixed with his own as they came and then came again in the late afternoon sun. 

Half dazed and temporarily satisfied, Lira and Rüt dressed for the hike up the mountain. She wondered if he would show her where he made his home, she assumed he had some more specific, more permanent residency. But they stopped again at her tent, set up just as she had last left it before she ran away from him less than a month ago, though there clearly had been some housekeeping since she left. Her belongings were stacked neatly and the sleeping bag was being aired out on a nearby tree branch. 

She was surprised to find a camp fire burning with water boiling, as if he was expecting her. He pulled out a container of meat and fruits which he set about cooking over the fire. 

"How did you know I was coming today?" she eyed him suspiciously as she came to kneel beside him.

"Not know," he rasped, "hope, each day."

She paused as she imagined how anxious he must have been waiting all these days, not knowing if she would return. 

"Then, I'm sorry I kept you waiting," she smiled, and stroked his cheek with the back of her hand. There was a kindness to him, a gentleness with her that made her heart ache and fueled her desire.

He eyed her like he would take her again then and there, but he kept to his cooking duties. He needed to feed his forest nymph if she was going to have the energy for the night of lovemaking he had in store for her. Lira eyed Rüt. She was hungry, but not for food. Her appetite for Rut was great and she was far from satiated. She mewed and purred while he desperately tried to focus on the task at hand. She shed all her clothing, along with all former shyness, and was brushing her body against his allowing her breasts to rest on his arm as he sat by the fire. He averted his gaze from her alluring movements lest he make her a captive to his own desire. Each time she brushed her hand under his loincloth, she felt him jolt and stiffen before he would patiently remove her hand and place it by her side, attempting to conceal his own pleasure before squatting by the fire again. Undeterred, she attacked again, running her hand through his hair with still no success in distracting him. In an act of desperation, she rubbed her moist mound against his bare back sending a shiver down his spine as he stifled a moan. 

Rüt rose abruptly and tossed Lira up over his shoulders as she giggled uncontrollably. "No more play," he growled mischievously, playfully hitting her round bottom and biting it softly, "I take now, no rest for Belle," his grumble turning to deep throated laughter. "Make me go mad..." 

While his laugh was playful, his touch was demanding. She had pushed him to the edge of his control and his body required release. He laid her down on a bed of moss growing wildly under a birch tree. She submissively rolled onto her hands and knees, thrusting her backside to his throbbing erection. He brushed his fingers against her hole to ensure her body was prepared for his invasion. Her cunt and inner thighs were already coated with her juices, her pussy swollen with excitement. With his knees planted between her thighs, his large hands grabbed her shoulder and hip and roughly pulled her onto his cock causing her to gasp loudly. 

"That's it, my love," she exclaimed breathily as she looked back at him. With that, he grabbed her waist tightly and thrust deeply into her eliciting a loud moan from Lira. He pounded her backside mercilessly as she pressed back to meet each of his powerful thrusts. She leaned forward and bent her arms to bring her face to the ground, deepening his penetration. Their desire insatiable, sexual play escalated into a frenzied coitus, groping and clawing at each other, unconscious of the other, unconscious of themselves, focused only on fulfilling the painful ache deep within each of them, the forest echoing with the feral sounds of their wild fucking. Finally, Lira released an unearthly scream as her entire body contracted in a series of orgasms. Bucking involuntarily, the muscles of her inner walls milked the cock within her. Her thighs shaking, Lira's legs collapsed beneath her, weak from straining, no longer able to support her weight. 

Rüt tightened his grip to keep her from falling and held her hips in place, while he continued to plunge his raging cock into her tight sheath. Feeling his balls contract, he embedded himself deep into her womb, roaring loudly into the air as stream after stream of hot cum spewed into her. His entire body spent, he pulled Lira's limp body back against his chest keeping her impaled on his cock, breathing heavily into her damp hair as he showered her neck with loving kisses. She leaned against him, flush with the heat of their passion, her nipples erect in the cooling evening air, his seed spilling out from her, dripping down onto Rüt's thigh. He clung to her, his arms enveloping her small body from behind, his face tucked into her the small of her neck, motionless like living sculptures left abandoned in the remote forest as a memory of their heated passion. 

Lira left three days later, tired, spent and deliriously happy and again promising to return in 30 days. He had walked Lira halfway down the mountain and held her for a long while before reluctantly releasing her from his embrace, watching her hike down and out of view. It was equally painful for her to leave him, and she spent most of the long ride home bursting uncontrollably into tears. 

For several months they continued in this way seeing each about once a month or whenever she could manage time away from her mother and work, their time apart fueling their passion, their time together brief but intense. Though his English had improved, Lira still did not understand Rüt's inexplicable condition and his need to stay on this mountain. But with each passing month, Rüt was unable or unwilling to give Lira any explanation making Lira begin to question her relationship with Rüt, wondering before each visit whether she should return or if they would both just be better off if she stayed away and kept to her normal, unsatisfying yet familiar life. 

But in reality, her normal, unsatisfying life had already changed since she had begun her strange relationship with her mountain recluse. The strenuous hikes had begun to change her body, and she found herself going on long walks or going to the gym in her apartment building to build her endurance. 

And despite the short time she had spent with him, he had already started to have an impact in her life. Whether it was because he had given her more self-assurance in her appearance, whether his love had made her feel emotionally stronger, she had begun to feel a new confidence and boldness. At first, it was so subtle, she hadn't event realized it was happening. It started with little things as simple as asserting herself with the grocery store bagger who had put her milk on top of the eggs. But these little acts soon gave way to more significant acts that belied her growing self-confidence and poise. That little voice in her head that had stifled her out of fear, fear of rejection, abandonment or worse was giving way to another, stronger voice that was starting to make itself heard, until it was drowning out the one that had made her so weak and powerless for so long. 

One Wednesday afternoon in early July just before her long-anticipated weekend with Rüt, Lira's boss had approached her. 

"Lira, I'm afraid you're going to have to cancel your plans for this weekend. You know the mergers and acquisitions department has been reviewing a number of paper processing plants in Washington, Oregon and Maine. We need you to go to Portland, Oregon, for a few months to help Bill Wynne conduct some due diligence on a few potential acquisitions out there."

Lira's heart sank. A long trip like this would mean she couldn't see Rüt until the fall. Worse yet, this wasn't within the scope of her job. She had only ever been involved with an acquisition once before, and even then she had only looked at the financial records. She didn't know the first thing about conducting due diligence for M&A's. Normally, she would have automatically agreed despite the inconvenience on her life, despite the nagging feeling that this didn't make sense, despite the fact that Bill Wynne was a huge pervert who had more than once tried to feel Lira up in the elevators. But that new voice in her head told her she was being used yet again though she didn't know why. 

"But Mr. Bender, I've never worked on an acquisition. I don't know how I could be useful. I'm not even part of Mr. Wynne's department," she hesitated.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. We are a little short staffed because Bill's assistant has asked to stay close to home. So she'll be working with Diller in Maine on the Bardon Paper Mill negotiations." Jack Bender was the Senior Executive VP and was not used to being challenged, least of all by a mousy assistant but he appeared to humor her.

"I didn't realize we were looking at any acquisitions in Maine," she said trying to divert the conversation. 

"Yeah," he said somewhat distant, apparently preoccupied by a dozen things at once. "It's a small family business but the only family heir died about ten years ago. They are still pretty devastated by the loss of their son. So we are trying to get the other family members to sell, but the bastards are holding out on us." He seemed to catch himself, somewhat surprised by this own candor with a mere administrative staffer. He focused again on Lira, "It's going to take some finesse." Lira knew exactly what he meant. 

Jackie was a rather buxom woman who was often invited to attend negotiations and meetings to distract the other side. Lira found it abhorrent but Jackie quite liked the attention as well as the power it gave her. 

"You could learn a lot from working with Wynne." Bender was back on track. "You know, he especially asked for you. This could be the start of something big for you."

Lira suddenly realized why she was chosen for this project. Over a year ago, Lira had been on a similar trip assisting another executive in Canada. It had been a short two day jaunt. The executive had requested she meet him in his room late at night to go through some financial records. He had ordered room service and served her copious amounts of wine until she was feeling dizzy from overindulgence. She complained she was feeling ill and had begun to leave when he objected and insisted she stay with him, claiming he was lonely for her. She resisted his advances and tried to push him away, but he was persistent. Her head was numb and she felt powerless to resist. As her head swam from the alcohol, she felt his hands begin to lift her skirt. He was whispering vulgarities in her ear, telling her he knew she wanted him to do this. 

"I've seen the way you look at me, I'm giving you exactly what you want," he seethed in her ear. "Spread your legs for me, show me your precious hole." She wanted to vomit, she wanted to run, instead she spread her legs and just hoped it would be over soon as she floated in and out of consciousness. She lay still with the room spinning around her as this married fifty-five year old man, groped her, violated her and finally came inside her. 

His last words to her as he escorted her out of his room, "If you mention this to anyone, I'll have your job." Lira had blamed herself for going to his room, for drinking so much wine, for unwittingly leading him on. 

She was suddenly reminded of his smell, his taste, his voice as he bucked and groped above her limp body, it felt as if it happened yesterday. She remembered how he had lured her to his room and practically forced her to drink almost a bottle of wine. Only now did she realize that Wynne's sexual advances started shortly after that trip. Of course, she thought, Wynne was good friends with the executive. They likely had a good laugh about what an easy conquest she was. Her face reddened with anger.

That new voice in her head started to scream at her. She was not some office whore to be passed around by the executives. "I'm sorry, Mr. Bender. I'm afraid I won't be able to do this. I have a number of personal matters that require I stay close to home." She paused wanting to appear appeasing, "If you would like some assistance on the Maine project, I would be happy to help there." She noticed Jack's face harden and thought she might be fired on the spot. She could almost read his thoughts as he fumed at her insubordination. The thought of being away from Rüt, the thought of being pawed by any other man, made her stomach churn. Fire me, she was challenging Bender as she looked directly into his eyes. To her surprise, he backed down. 

"This is unexpected," he gave her a tight smile. "I suppose we can find someone else to work with Wynne. If we need you in Maine, I'll let you know," he said curtly and walked away.

She stared back at Bender as he marched off. Her heart was racing, but she felt a weight lifted. She defied an executive, and he backed down! She felt a sudden power, a strength she had never known before. She didn't have to bend to anyone's will. The earth would not stop if she refused anyone's demands on her. That weekend in Maine, she could feel her strength fueled as she lay in Rüt's arms. 

With each visit throughout the summer, Rüt remained insistent, inviting her, pleading in vain with her to stay with him forever, holding her longer and longer before she hiked down the mountain leaving him behind. Each time she pretended her mother's illness kept her from committing to him. But she knew in her heart her mother had little to do with it, and she feared he understood this as well. 

On one particular visit in August, she had walked to the stream to get some water and wash her backpack of dirt and leaves while Rüt had left to get some food for them. As she was approaching the camp, she saw Rüt in the distance, looking dejected and distraught as he frantically searched the campsite area. She watched with concern, studying him and surveying the area for the source of his anxiety. His face was full of pain until he saw her in the distance with her jug of water and pack in her hand. He tried to conceal his concern, but she had already witnessed his panic. She tried to comfort him, reassure him, but he walked away from her, feigning a pressing need to begin a fire and cook their dinner. But that night, he took her with an urgency that she hadn't experienced before with him as he dominated and conquered her while she submitted to his power. That night, when she attempted to withdraw from the intense heat of his body searing her skin, he clung to her and held her in place until she surrendered and fell asleep with him still embedded within her, claiming her. His intensity had alarmed her and she wondered if his anger was not a forewarning to her. She knew so little of this man, other than he was becoming more and more desperate for her to stay. She sensed that he was becoming increasingly afraid that one day she would leave and never return. But each time, she had been able to mollify him, until late September.




The Noble Predator Ch. 03



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the end of the summer, Lira's mother had been hospitalized, delaying her return to Maine by several weeks. When she finally saw Rüt waiting for her on the granite boulder, as she always found him. He was crouched on the boulder, fingering a shiny object in his hand. When he finally saw her approaching, his relief quickly turned to anger. He nearly jumped the 30 feet off the granite cliff to reach her, his face enraged. "I wait. Each day, you do not come," he was furious as he towered over her. 

"My mother was in the hospital", she tried to explain. She had expected him to be displeased, but she had not anticipated this level of anger. But she was not afraid of him. She knew him too well to believe him to be capable of any violence against her. She saw his angry outburst for what it was -- fear. Fear that she had deserted him, fear that something had happened to her, fear that he might never see her again. 

It took him a moment to calm himself and focus on her words. He softened and took her in his arms. 

"She well?" he asked.

"Yes, for now." She wanted to explain her mother's illness, and her relationship with her mother, but decided she preferred to keep him separate from her other life. Her trips to see Rüt, her time with him, had become a haven for her despite her ambivalence, and she didn't want any of the unpleasantness of her other life to encroach on the serenity that she had found here with Rüt.

With a concerned look, she touched the skin on his neck, noticing the flesh around the metal brace was raw and swollen. The stress of the many days waiting had caused the choker to tighten further around his throat. In the last few weeks, she had worried how her absence would be construed by Rüt and whether he would begin to doubt her return. But for the first time, she began to worry that her actions could so directly impact his physical well-being. 

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern. 

He nodded, "Yes, now."

The autumn air was crisp and cool. She noticed he was wearing threadbare pants and an equally worn shirt and was glad she had thought to bring some warm clothes for him to wear during the approaching winter. 

"Where did you find these," she asked, curious how he managed to obtain anything up here. 

He didn't answer as they made their way up the mountain. As they reached their campsite, Lira began to lead Rüt, pulling him into the tent, anxious again to feel his heat against her skin. He stopped her, "No," he instructed and led her by the hand for another hour's hike up the mountain. He silenced her with kisses each time she playfully asked where they were going, but she had suspected quickly that he was taking her to his home, their home if she would just say the word. 

Deep in the forest just before the treeline, they came upon an old abandoned shed abutting another large granite outcrop, possibly a vestige of a ranger's station or a hunter's lodge. It was almost completely demolished. Lira held her breath fearing this was Rüt's idea of home. He led her to the front of the structure, where he lifted the rotted door and pushed aside a large stone slab to reveal a hidden access to another room built into the stone and earth, possibly an extension of a cave of some sort. They ducked through the entry and Lira was stunned into silence at what she saw. It was a simple lodge, yet clean and well maintained. Larger than her own apartment, he had a separate bedroom and cooking area, graced with makeshift bookshelves stacked with various collections of odds and ends, knives, an old rusty razor spotted with dried blood, a set of disposable razors she recognized as the ones that had gone missing from her backpack a few months earlier, a small stack of folded clothes, and a row of well worn books. 

He eyed her as she took in their surroundings. "This is amazing", she said. Cooking utensils were set along a large hollowed out piece of granite serving as a kitchen basin. A hand-carved wooden chair sat beside a wooden table. "Did you make this?" she asked incredulously. He nodded proudly. "But how did you...?" her voice trailed off as she sat down, "It is so comfortable." He was overjoyed as she admired the comfortable surroundings. She walked to the shelves of books and odds and ends, "where did you ever get these?" she almost asked to herself as she thumbed through copies of Metamorphoses, Gulliver's Travels, Gabriel García Márquez's Collection of Short Stories.. 

"Camps, trash," he strained to speak. Yes, hikers were always littering the mountain with things they'd lost or left behind. She was reminded with a pang of regret of her grandmothers ring she had lost here nearly eight years ago. 

With a smile she pointed to the set of her razors, "And these?" she asked lightheartedly, "what else have you taken from me?" She thought she actually saw him blush slightly but she was quickly distracted by the cozy looking bed set against the far wall.

She walked to the bed and sat on the soft handmade down mattress covered by a down filled comforter. Lying down, she sank into the soft billowing folds. "This is heavenly," she gushed, "How did you ever manage all this."

Rüt beamed with pride, pleased that Lira was so impressed with his home, their home, hopeful this would be enough for her, that she would finally say "yes" to him. In a long stride, he was kneeling at her side, "Tell me, now you stay here," he begged. 

"One day," she assured him, knowing she was disappointing him yet again, "But not now."

A scowl darkened his face, "Why?!" he demanded, "Snow comes. Road will close" 

He was right. She had been thinking about the impending winter and had begun to worry that she would not be able to visit him for possibly five or six months once they had their first snowstorm. The roads would be closed this far up north, and hiking would be difficult if not dangerous. 

"I can't, not yet," she responded.

"Why?" he growled, "Why!"

"Because, I," she stammered struggling to give him an answer but there was none, "I just need time..." Even as she said the words, she knew that if she wasn't prepared to commit to him now, she might never be able to give him the answer he so desperately sought. His behavior had become more and more urgent, more and more demanding. She was afraid to give herself to him but equally afraid of losing him, losing his love. 

"No more time," he urged, "Need you now," he demanded. The angrier he became, the more he gasped and struggled to speak. 

"Then my answer is 'No'," she answered defiantly, angry at him for forcing her to answer, as she moved to walk out the door. 

His face drained of color as he deduced her true feelings. Her heart ached with the realization that she might never be able to fully give herself to him, never be able to commit to staying with him on this mountain, and now he knew that as well. 

He approached her hesitantly, his face pained.

"Not go," he pleaded, "If I wait ten years for you say yes, I have hope, but one day with no hope, I not want to live. I need Belle." 

He knelt at her feet and buried his head in her hips. He gave himself to her completely, showing just how vulnerable he was, and just how much power she had over him. He was completely at her mercy. 

Placing her hand on his head, her own voice trembled as she whispered, "I know, my love. I know."

He laid her down gently on the soft pillows of his bed. But there was a canyon between them now that could not be bridged. All they could do was cling to each other trying to mend the pain in their hearts. Their bodies exhausted from the day's exertion, aching with desire, their minds tormented by the uncertainty of their future, they were physically and emotionally raw. She felt his anguish in every touch, saw it in every look. Silently, he removed their clothes, working deliberately, with a single purpose. He gently penetrated her, filling her with all he had to give. 

Over the next three days, he remained distant, but never left her side. He made love to her tenderly but urgently, never letting her rest from their coupling. Lira saw the desperation in his eyes and understood his only desire was to fill her fertile womb with his seed, to give her a life that would grow inside of her, a part of him to be with her in all the places she would explore but he could not, a part of him to be with her always. And she opened her body to him, willingly, compliantly. 

On the last morning of her long weekend with Rüt, she lay in bed alone while Rüt had gone to collect some wood for a morning fire. She was mentally preparing for her departure, but trying to delay it as long as possible. As she looked around the room, she began to idly inspect the trinkets that he had collected on the shelves. She lightly touched her razor blades laying on the shelf, together with an old battered compass. There were several empty bottles of Salty Dog beer, probably left by young trekkers who had carried more beer than water. There were tweezers and scissors, toothpaste and brushes, flashlights and oil lamps, standard household items making the space feel familiar and comfortable. She picked up one of the well-worn books lying on the shelf to read it and an old folded piece of paper fell out. As she picked up the paper, she noticed the gleam of a small metallic object hidden just behind the books. She reached back and pulled out a circular metal band. She stared at the object for several moments as her mind tried to grasp the truth of what she saw. Stunned, she slowly traced the outline of the large diamond jewel with her finger.

It had been eight years since she last saw the diamond ring that her grandmother had given her. It had been eight years since she had lost her grandmother's precious keepsake. It had been eight years her bad luck had first started, bad luck that she attributed to her careless safeguarding of her grandmother's last gift to her. 

She inspected the inscription on the inside of the band: BELLE. He had thought it was her ring. How did he find it? she thought relieved to have it again after all these years. She looked up at all the trinkets and knick-knacks and items strewn on the shelves, and she became enraged. She heard footsteps behind her as Rüt entered. She turned to him accusingly, his face already ashen as he looked down and saw what she held in her hands. His face tensed.

In a step, he was in front of her, grabbing the paper in her hands. 

"Did you read?" he demanded holding the worn folded paper in her face. 

"What?" she looked at him annoyed. "NO."

Relief washed over his face. "You not take," he said emphatically.

"What! You stole this!" she snapped, holding the ring in his face. "Like you stole all this stuff," she said waving her arms at the shelves. "You stole this from me and kept it from me for all this time!" 

He looked at her, apprehensive, "Yes, but..." he struggled to explain but no words would come.

Rüt looked at her uncomfortably. "I took to keep you with me." 

"You had no right," she fumed, but tears were starting to cloud her vision. 

"Please, Belle," he said, reaching down to wipe the tears from her eyes but she backed away sharply. 

"Belle," he tried to calm her, "not be mad."

"My name is Lira," she said emphatically, "Belle was my grandmother's name. You didn't take my ring, you took hers. It was the only thing I had of her, and you stole it from me," she repeated.

"Please," he began.

"No, don't try to explain," she cut him short while she pulled her clothes on, hurriedly getting her pack. "How could you keep this from me all this time," she fumed, "what else are you keeping from me?" She paused and looked at the collar around his neck. "What is it you are hiding from me? What is that thing on your neck? And why are you hiding on this mountain? You expect me to give myself to you, abandon my life to be with you, while you continue to withhold everything from me. I can't do this anymore, Rüt. I can't."

"Belle," he grabbed her arm and pressed against her, kissing her hard on the lips trying to connect with her again. 

For a moment she submitted, parting her lips briefly before her anger resurfaced and she tried to pull away. He held her with an iron grip, unrelenting. 

"I can't pretend that I can be satisfied with a life up here alone with you. I need more than sex and a hovel with a bed, I need someone who will grow with me, have a family with me. How can we do that up here?" 

She saw him wince at her words, but she wanted to hurt him. 

"Mine," he growled just as he did the first night he took her on the mountain, but he was less gentle, less patient than he was then. He pushed her on the bed and pinned her arms back as he rubbed against her, "Mine," he repeated mindlessly, spreading her legs with his knee as he frantically worked to unbutton her pants. "I need Belle, Belle need Rüt." She recalled him saying these same words when he chased her that night just a few months earlier. 

She stopped him. "But I don't, Rüt," she stated flatly as she pushed him away to stand up. "I don't need you, Rüt," she said resolutely, trying to convince herself as much as him. 

She saw a flash of anger as he pushed himself back on top of her, jerking her arms back, tearing at her pants and holding her in place as he looked down at her with a crazed look. She suddenly didn't recognize the man towering over her. Though she had once felt secure and safe from harm with him, perhaps she knew his personality as little as she knew his history. Perhaps he was capable of more violence against her than she had let herself believe.

As he tore her panties from her hips, his own pants down at his knees, she looked up at him with fear in her eyes as he readied himself to violate her. She tried desperately to lock her knees together, but she was no match for his strength. He looked back at her and paused to finally see her fear. His face softened and his entire body slumped. 

He abruptly pulled himself off of her small trembling body, still breathing heavily as he pulled his pants to his waist and walked to the door. His body stiffened, he stood facing the wall, the air filled with tension as Lira sobbed quietly on the bed. Lira jumped at the sound of breaking wood as he slammed his fists in the wall, propelling books and cups off the shelving. 

"Belle, go now," he quietly pleaded over his shoulder. 

Her heart sank. She pulled her clothes together, angry, hurt and confused and walked towards the exit. She turned to look back at him, "Rüt."

"Go," he roared, refusing to return her stare. 

She walked out into the cold, cloudy morning, tears streaming down her face. She felt a sudden chill as she started down the mountain. Oddly, the air felt colder and colder the farther she moved from Rüt. By the time she arrived at her car, she was chilled to the bone. She drove home trying to convince herself that this was how it had to end, that their love was fated from the start, that she finally had her grandmother's ring and the curse would finally be lifted. Only when she got home did she discover that she had left the ring with Rüt on the table, but sitting at the kitchen table crying into her frozen dinner, she suddenly realized she didn't care about the ring. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lira sat in her mother's bedroom. With her mother's condition worsening, Lira had been spending more and more time at her mother's house to care for her. It had been four months since he had sent her away, but the pain of their separation had not diminished.

She frequently recalled the last time they made love. Even then, she had felt Rüt was saying his last goodbye. His every touch, every moment with her had a gravity, as if he was trying to capture each moment and make it last a lifetime. Only when she had cheapened their love as merely sex did he become enraged, his anguish and desperation giving way to anger, which had given way to resignation. 

But spring was coming and, she missed him terribly. The time with her mother only deepened her longing for Rüt. Her energy was sapped and her heart was heavy, her spirit empty. Despite her last words to him, her longing was not physical. She felt a hole in her heart, an ache just to be near him, to feel his energy, feel her own energy restored in a way that only he could do. 

Their baby was due in another five months, but so far she had managed to keep it a secret from her mother and everyone at work. She spent most of her time in her bedroom replaying her last moments with Rüt. She sorely regretted how she had left him. Though he offered her all the love, safety, protection that she had never known before, she had thrown it away out of fear. 

"Why haven't you gone on any more of those weekend getaways you were so secretive about," her mother demanded over breakfast. "Did your boyfriend finally dump you because you couldn't satisfy him? Or did he decide he didn't need you and your bun in the oven. You'll never get anyone now, how do you expect to take care of that thing."

Lira's face grew red with anger. She glared at her mother sitting across from her. Her mother, who had not shown her much kindness before the disease, had become more and more bitter as the disease had progressed. Since her father left them thirteen years earlier, her mother had become a bitter hateful woman who saw fit to aim all her anger at her own daughter, filling Lira with insecurities until Lira doubted if she had any worth at all. But Lira realized she wasn't the same scared girl that she was before she met Rüt. His love had changed her, made her stronger, confident and secure. Without his love, she had begun to feel weaker and less capable. But just the memory of their time together warmed her skin.

She remembered her grandmother's words, "You will find the man who will cherish all that beauty." 

Lira looked at her mother and couldn't help but feel pity for her now. After all this time and despite her mother's best efforts, Lira had had a man that truly loved her, something her mother never had. In a moment of clarity, she realized she would be a fool to spend another minute away from the one person that made her happy beyond measure. 

Later that evening, Lira began packing, anxious to leave for Maine as soon as the hospice care showed up in the morning. It was still early and she could not know whether the roads would be open or the mountain would be traversable, but she had to hope that the recent warm spell in New England had melted much of the snow in the trail that led up the mountain to Rüt. She needed to get to Rüt to tell him everything she was feeling, to apologize for hurting him so, and to finally give him the answer he wanted to hear, the answer she was ready to give with all her heart. 

"Lira," her mother cried from the living room which for convenience had turned into her mother's makeshift bedroom. "Something's wrong, I need help." 

Lira was immediately suspicious. Her mother's demands had been endless. Now Lira suspected she was trying to manipulate her to keep her from Rüt. Even if her mother didn't know exactly who she was seeing, these weekend getaways clearly made Lira happy and that was enough reason for her mother to try to interfere. 

"Lira," her mother cried out again more urgently, "I need help."

"Yeah, I'm coming," she tried to hide her irritation, brightened by her impending reunion with Rüt, knowing how happy it would make Rüt, how happy it would make her. As she approached her mother with the evening's series of pills, Lira dropped the glass of water. She stood frozen looking at the blood soaked blanket on her mother's chest. 

"Mom," she gasped, as she reached for the phone to call 911. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lira began the familiar climb up the mountain. It had been four weeks since her mother was hospitalized. A few weeks later she had lapsed into a coma for several days before dying. Lira had to handle her affairs and make arrangements for the funeral, but she hadn't shed a tear for the mother who had caused her such grief and pain. 




The Noble Predator Ch. 03



Instead she could think of nothing else but to see Rüt again. Her few weekends with him had been more meaningful to her than anything in the past eight years of her life. As she hiked numbly up the mountain trudging through the icy snow, she wondered now why she ever had any doubt or hesitation. Why had it taken her so long to see all she needed or wanted was right here on this mountain?

Half way up the mountain she saw him. He didn't see her right away. He was perched on his rock, head down, with the ring in his hand, lost in thought. A twig snapped under her foot, and he looked up sharply. He looked thin and drawn. He looked old, lines creasing his forehead and eyes, he looked like he had aged twenty years. He was wearing long pants and a coat she had brought when she last saw him. He stood up slowly, warily, eyeing her with disbelief. She smiled tentatively at him, and walked toward him. He climbed down toward her, until finally he was in front of her.

He looked gravely at her, "You came for," he said, handing her the ring in his hand.

She took the ring from his fingers and looked at it a long while before handing it back to him, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. She felt a pain in her heart knowing he had come here every day for the last five months waiting for her just to see her once more and return it to her. 

"No, Rüt," her voice trembled, "I did not come for this. I left something here that is much more precious to me." She reached up to touch his face, wanting to remove the lines of misery and worry that were etched in his brow.

"Belle," he breathed as he picked her up in his arms. He held her so tightly she thought he might snap her in two. He stood breathing in her scent, feeling her warmth. 

Her body was exhausted from the hike, her mind was exhausted from her mother's death and these long months without Rüt. She felt numb as she clung to him feeling the full weight of the strain of the last five months come crashing down on her. 

She buried her head in his chest, breathing in his scent, his hot breath on her neck. She was overcome by desire, overwhelmed by emotion and need. It had been a long, lonely winter. 

She wanted only to immerse herself in this man who made her feel so much, made her feel empowered, made her feel herself. She felt a sudden need to drive her memories away until it was just her and Rüt, and their baby. She pulled at Rüt eager to bury her fingers in his soft carpet on his chest, feel him inside of her. Her urgency alarmed him, she was aggressive, almost angry. She pulled at the waistband of his pants, fumbling to free the cock that she had felt grow hard. Rüt looked down at her, confused and concerned by her uncharacteristic aggression. She was not with him, her mind was a million miles away and he felt it. He held her hands together, stopping her frantic attack, and held her eyes with his, wanting to center her, bring her back to him. 

Lira burst into tears as he delved deeply in her eyes. "Can you forgive me? I didn't mean those terrible things I said. When I'm with you I feel strong, I feel whole. Nothing feels real until I smell you, taste you, feel your heat. I need to feel you. I do need you, Rüt. More than you can know."

He understood her need. He craved her heat, her taste, her smell. Without her, he was lost, condemned. With her, he was whole and liberated. Against the spruce tree where they stood, near where they had made love countless times, Rüt took her quickly, gently, lovingly, giving her the warmth she craved deep within. She did not cum. Her need was beyond sexual gratification. She wanted, needed, only to feel their bodies meld into one. He came in her quietly, gently thrusting one final time before she felt him shudder within her. As he held her still against the tree, buried in her warmth, she felt his shoulders tense in her embrace as his chest heaved softly. With his face buried in her neck, she felt a trail of light moisture against her neck. He clung to her like this for a long time. She held him close wrapping herself tightly around him.

They walked silently up the mountain. When they finally reached the warmth of his cabin, he pulled her to him, kissing her hungrily again, tearing off her jacket.

"I love you, Rüt," her voice almost a whisper. "I have always loved you. It has taken me a long time to figure out that I am more myself with you than with anyone else. My home is wherever you are, right here." She placed her hand over his heart. "If that is a mountain in northern Maine, or a glacier in the Artic, that is where I will make my home. I will never leave you again," she promised.

He stood speechless for a moment. "Belle, I..." but he was seized from speaking. An electricity filled the room as his entire body tensed and he fell to his knees. 

He cried in pain, grasping at the collar which had turned a fire red. It was burning his skin as it vibrated around his neck, cutting off his breathing. Lira gasped and dropped to her knees to help him remove it. But it wouldn't budge as it burned her fingers. She felt helpless watching Rüt struggle to breath as the collar suffocated him. She searched for his knife when suddenly, the metal band opened and fell to the floor next to them.

Rüt kneeled slumped over, breathing heavily, as Lira sat bewildered at his side, tears of panic streaming down her face, stroking his back to comfort him.

He raised his head slowly, clutching his neck scarred with the mark of the collar. 

"You did it," he said, "You did it, Lira."

Lira looked at Rüt bewildered. His voice had the same deep timbre, but he was speaking in complete sentences without his usual staggered speech or raspy voice. He was not straining against the collar, the strain of constant wrenching was gone, and the lines of his face softened. She realized he had just said her name for the first time. She shrank back from him.

"Lira, don't be afraid, my love. How can I explain?" he looked at her apprehensively. He brought her to sit on the bed as he pulled a chair in front of her, holding her hands as he spoke slowly and recounted the events that had made him a prisoner of this mountain.

"For ten years I have been trapped on this mountain, strangled of speech because of a gypsies curse." He watched her, her face incredulous, as he tried to explain, "As a young man, I had fallen in love with her daughter. I brought her up here hiking where we made love, and I took her virginity. She gave herself willingly, but she believed it meant we'd be together forever. I was too young to be in love. She wanted marriage and a baby. I was scared so I broke up with her. She felt abandoned, devastated."

He hesitated, ashamed as he recalled his actions "Soon after, she took her life, in the very spot we had made love. A few days after the funeral, her mother visited me at my home in Bangor. She had brought some wine to toast in memory of her daughter. Looking back, I knew something was strange, but I thought if it eased her mother's suffering in some way, I should oblige her. But soon after drinking the brew, I blacked out. The next thing I knew I was here, with this letter in my pocket." 

He picked up the old folded paper from the shelf that she had discovered and handed it to her.

To the Predator of Young Women,

Do not try to remove the metal brace which now graces your neck. You might recognize it as the metal choker my sweet Chavali wore around her dainty neck. You shall wear it as a reminder of the love she so readily gave you. You shall remain on this mountain as a reminder of how imprudently, how thoughtlessly you deflowered and defiled my innocent child.

My Chavali was a precious and naïve young woman when you found her who knew nothing of the wiles of men. I blame myself for not teaching her caution with men like yourself who would beguile and capture the heart of such a sweet child for your own sexual needs, but I blame you for callously spurning her love that you had so masterfully encouraged. Brokenhearted, she was inconsolable as I watched my angel consumed by misery and dejection until her only freedom from pain was for her to end her short life. 

Now, it is your turn to know what it means to want without hope of satiating such need, and for your family, who is at least in part to blame for fostering such heartlessness, to feel the loss of a child as I have felt. 

To prevent such dishonor and pain from ever befalling another mother, you are hereby banished to this mountain. To prevent another young woman from ever falling victim to such a ruthless predator, you are hereby condemned to a lifetime of limited and painful speech. If you should venture from the boundaries of this mountain, the jewel around your neck shall constrict your neck to asphyxiation. 

But I am not so cruel as to leave you without any hope of freedom. If you, in your current state, can win the love of a woman and her commitment to stay here with you on this mountain, just as my Chavali had committed herself to you, only then will you be released from this curse. However, you may not speak of or disclose your condition or the remedy for this curse. To do so will revoke any hope of freedom and your curse will be irreversible. 

Live deliberately, for your survival will depend on the limited resources you find on this mountain. Live carefully, for if discovered you will likely be forcibly removed from this mountain to your certain death. Live reflectively, for if you should escape this curse, you should never cause such harm again. 

Damara, forever grieving mother of Chavali

Lira looked up, wide eyed and confused. 

"She was angry and bitter," he said, as he took the letter from Lira's hands. "I never meant to hurt Val. I did really love her. But I was just young and stupid. We were both just too young."

As she sat before him, she looked at him gravely. "You needed me to promise to stay with you to lift this curse," she asked slowly, her mind gradually digesting everything she had just learned.

"Yes, yes. That is why I was so insistent. I was so afraid you would not come back, so afraid that my desperation would drive you away. But that's why I needed you so much. I would never have pressured you like I did otherwise." He was exuberant, constantly massaging the calloused skin where the collar had been. She, on the other hand, felt her world caving in on her.

Was this all a ruse just so he could gain his freedom? she wondered. Had she been nothing more than his ticket off the mountain?

"So now you're free...to go...to leave the mountain." She bit her lower lip to stop it from trembling. 

He was confused as he saw her struggling until he realized the effect of his words. Pulling her shoulders to him, locking his eyes on hers, "But only if you will come with me. I love you, Lira. My home is with you. If you want to spend eternity on this mountain, I will gladly live out my days here, making love to you on every patch of earth from here to New Hampshire." She looked up at him with a wary smile, "But if it's all the same to you, I'd like to taste something other than roasted tree frogs and wild turkey and pine nuts, and finally make love to you on a proper bed."

She was staring at him, trying to digest everything at once, while he was releasing a torrent of words that had been pent up for ten years. She remained motionless, speechless. 

"I'm sorry about being secretive, but now you understand why I couldn't tell you." She slowly relaxed in his arms. "Every time I watched you leave I thought it would be the last time I'd see you. When I saw you with the letter in your hand that day five months ago, I thought all hope had been lost."

"Belle," he breathed softly as he handed her the ring. 

She slowly took it from him. "That's my grandmother's name," she said, looking at the inscription. "It is my name," she looked at him, "I was named for her, Lirabelle." He stood close to her. "She gave it to me the summer we had come up here camping. That was the last summer I spent with her," tears welling up in her eyes. "My life seemed to fall apart after that. I used to think I had been cursed because I had been so careless and lost it," she stared down at it.

"I, I didn't know," he said, reaching down to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I had seen you camping, stood watching you. I just wanted something from you, something to remember you by. But when I saw that, I thought if you thought you had lost it, you would have to return here to look for it. When you didn't return, I gave up hope that you would ever come back. But then I saw you again as you climbed the mountain, last Spring. That was the first time in a long time that I felt hope, a glimmer of happiness again. But I would not have taken it if I knew it would cause you such pain."

"No, it didn't," she smiled at him, "the pain would have been there anyway. The real curse was my grandmother's death. After she died, I thought there was no one left to love me, who would care for me. But my curse was lifted the day I met you."

"Marry me, Belle," he breathed in her ear, "make my happiness complete."

Her tears began flowing freely, as he waited for her response. 

She nodded vigorously, "Yes," she said, trying to catch her breath, "I will. I will marry you, Rüt.

He held her face in his hands, and kissed her like he was kissing her for the first time as she fell against him, dizzy and lightheaded.

"It's Rutherford, my name is Rutherford Jackson Bardon. Rüt is my nickname," he smiled.

'Rutherford," she whispered as she tilted her head inviting his kiss, her desire quickly rekindled. She tore at his pants while he started to tear her clothes from her body. As he pulled her sweater off, Lira stopped abruptly and stepped back from his reach to pose in front of the door. He stared curiously at her for a moment before noticing the prominent swell of her abdomen, taking a moment for his brain to digest what his eyes were seeing. He smiled broadly. In a single stride he was kneeling in front of her, spreading long, sensual kisses along the womb encasing their baby. "Belle, I can ask for nothing more from you."

She tried to hold back her tears, "Oh Rüt, I am sorry it took me so long to give you all that I have." 

"Shhhh," he consoled her, "I would wait an eternity for you," he whispered, feeling the moistness between her legs, as he whispered and cooed to the child she held within her belly.

With his arms around her, Lira felt a confidence and security she had never felt before in her life. She knew with this man by her side, there was nothing she ever had to fear, there was nothing she could not handle. 

She kissed his scarred neck, licking at the tender marks. His hands roamed her body as if he was discovering her for the first time. In an instant he was naked before her. He removed her clothing until she stood proudly before him fully exposed. He laid her on the mattress to make love one last time on the mountain. She spread her thighs anxious to feel him in her again. 

"You have taken me in every way," she whispered in his ear as he nibbled on her ivory neck, "but one. I want you to have exhausted me before you take me off this mountain."

He looked at her curiously with a smile.

She pushed him on his back. His cock hard and dripping with pre-cum, he was already ready to penetrate and release himself into her. Lira took her time to suck and lick at him, licking the shaft to coat it generously with her saliva. He moaned quietly at first then more loudly as she took his sacks into her mouth, until his head arched back and his hips pushed up bucking involuntarily. She looked up at him and smiled to see her man, the father of her child, lose himself to her. Finally, she moved her body to sit on his hips. He looked up at her deliriously, waiting for her to ease the pressure growing between his legs. She smiled down at him knowing she was about to bring him ecstasy as she lifted her buttocks to expose her sphincter to his hard cock. Balancing herself above him, she allowed his cock to rub the tender entry and pressed her body slightly to provide just a bit of pressure to the tender hole. He watched her expectantly as she eased herself slightly further until she felt the pop of her anal cherry as he broke through the tight closure and entered her virgin territory. He gasped at the tightness around his cock and watched her as she relaxed to the invasion. Gasping in unison, she leaned back further into him, pumping up and down slightly to allow his pre-cum to lubricate her core. The sensation was exhilarating to her as his cock penetrated her deeper and deeper with each of her gentle thrusts until he was fully inside her. She rocked gently with him in her backside, losing herself to the new sensations invading her body. She watched the man under her consumed in pleasure, holding her hips and fingering her pussy drenched with her fluids as she rocked on his hard cock. 

"I love you, Lira," he moaned. "You amaze me in everything you do." 

With that, she smiled and rocked harder allowing him to slide in and out of her canal as his fingers remained within her sopping cunt. Her face contorted as he made her cum on his fingers, until she was bucking uncontrollably on his shaft. His face contorted as he finally came in her until streams of his creamy fluid ran down her ass to her thighs. She slumped on top of Rüt as they both gasped for air. 

"I love you, Rutherford," she breathed heavily. "Rutherford," she giggled. "I will have a hard time getting used to that name." 

"You may call me anything, my love." He continued to caress her as she rested against him, fingering the dark hairs on his chest, breathing in his musk. 

"Lirabelle Bardon," she said finally. "That does have a ring to it."

"Bardon," she repeated. "Any relation to the Bardon Paper Mills?" she asked casually.

Yawning, he responded, "One in the same." 

She abruptly leaned on her elbow to look at him. 

"You are the son that died ten years ago," she looked at him in surprise recalling her conversation with Jack Bender. 

"Yes. Well I guess that is what they suspect," he paused as he gave it more thought.

"We need to get to your family. They are trying to sell the business," a look of panic crossed her face as he looked back at her doubtfully.

"That's the family business, they would never sell," he said confidently.

"That was before they lost their only son," she cautioned. "They have been devastated and want to sell the business which was to have been run by you." 

"How do you know they are selling?" he asked her, concern beginning to wrinkle his brow.

"My company is trying to convince them to sell. I'm quite sure they are trying to strong arm your family into selling it cheaply," she was remembering various conversations she had overheard in the office about the negotiations. Even at the time, she had felt it was rather sleazy. Now she was concerned her company's efforts might steal his family business out from under him.

She lay in his arms trying not to worry. 

"Belle," he finally said, "it will be waiting for us in the morning. Whatever happens, we will be able to handle."

She hugged him close, feeling his warmth and knowing the truth of his words as they fell asleep in each others arms.

Early the next morning while Lira had gone to relieve herself, Rüt began to dismantle the place he had called home for the last ten years. Lira came back to find him pulling apart the bed.

"Don't," she pleaded. 

He looked at her perplexed. "You don't want to live here, do you?"

She sauntered up to him, "No," she laughed but then became serious, "but I think we might need this place. I will understand if you don't want to, but I love this place. It is where I found my happiness, where I fell in love with you. I think there may be times when we need to rediscover that when things get a little crazy." 




The Noble Predator Ch. 03



"I think once in awhile, I will need to see your naked body running through these woods," he grinned devilishly.

She paused, "I think once in awhile, I will want to be stalked and captured by a handsome predator again."

"Did I really stalk you, capture you like a predator?" he asked, concerned.

"Mind, body and soul," she answered with a kiss.

She pushed him to the bed to straddle his legs. He swallowed her smile in a passionate kiss. 

"Please, just take me now," she urged, arching her hips into his body, grinding into the cock that was already at attention again. 

"I can't do that. I have a lifetime to pleasure every inch of this beautiful body," he teased, "I intend to draw out every second of pleasure, starting from here," as he showered her forehead with kisses slowly working down, "So beautiful," he whispered as his hands traced the outline of her face, "Lira, Belle, my beauty."

Their lovemaking was passionate, feral, and wild as they fucked and rode each other with abandon, both wishing this moment would not end, dreading the loss of this untamed, uninhibited natural world that had been their paradise. This predator and his seductress, despite the secret bonds that had restricted them, had found a freedom and a sanctuary on this mountain that they were now leaving for the constraints of a world built on rules and expectations. Each found themselves already eager to return to their mountain refuge as they screamed out in ecstasy one last time.