The Chieftain’s Daughter by Leia Rice

beneath his lengthening cock. “Which is all for the better, because when you help my slave to escape into the woods, I am going to catch her…and then she will rightfully be mine.”
    She withdrew his finger, and her eyes dimmed once more. “What?”
    “You heard me. You are going to help her to escape. Let her think she is running back home. Do her the favor, Zari.” Aloran hooked his thumb around into her mouth and tugged her head so he could put his lips to hers. He kissed her passionately, his tongue roaming through her mouth, then broke it with a whisper. “And when I catch her, I will fuck her and make her mine.”
    Zari braced both hands against his chest and shoved out of Aloran’s lap.
    “What, my dear? You cannot expect to have both me and my father, can you?”
    “You are using me!”
    “Of course I am. In the end, you can have my father and go live together somewhere out of my way, and I will take his tribe and people and make them mine. I think it is fair. Don’t you?”
    Zari spun around and pointed a slender finger down at Aloran. “What good is your father to me if he is not chieftain anymore?”
    Aloran sighed, tapping a finger against his bottom lip in mock concern. “I suppose that isn’t my issue, is it?” He reached up and grabbed her wrist, yanking her back down into his lap. “Come, Zari. You know that just as soon as my old man is dead, I’ll take you as mine. But these things come in their own time. And if you ever want to be the mistress of this tribe, you will have to play with me…not against me.”
    She fell back into Aloran’s lap with a huff, and he could hear the growl that started low in her throat. With another kiss, the rumbling tapered off, and soon she returned the kiss with a fiery gusto. Aloran smiled after pulling his mouth away from hers, and then patted the curve of her ass. “That’s my girl. Now. Think of a plausible escape plan that the slave girl will believe. She is smart, remember, so if it seems thrown together, she will not trust it. Or you.”
    “Very well. I’ll come up with a plan, and that little whore better believe it because I have little patience for the web she’s trapped Mechan in.”

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
    Days passed Ishara by as she sat, naked and alone in her slave pen. Another woman from the tribe delivered her the dregs of someone’s dinner served in the same, dirty bowl at the same time every night. She only got one meal a day, and as soon as it came, Ishara devoured it quickly, afraid that someone would steal it away from her.
    She was becoming an animal. A frightened, penned up, helpless animal. She hardly took her eyes off Mechan’s tent, and every time he would slip out to attend to business, she would fill with hope that today would be the day he would release her. Sometimes, if she was lucky, he’d stop by her cage to drop off a warm, dry blanket. She always wished he’d hopefully let her out, but it never happened. If he did let her out, she planned on apologizing over and over again and begging for his forgiveness. Part of her was sickened by this evolution, but she hurt Mechan, and the other part of her wanted to fix the mistake she made.
    But he never did look at her. He walked by, his hardened feet squishing in the mud, and not once did he acknowledge that she was even alive any more. It stung Ishara, and she did not know how much longer she could take being caged.
    The morning sun peeked over the horizon, painting the skies in pinks and purples. Fingering the ivory bead in her hair, Ishara hummed softly to herself and thought about her father . Where could he be? Why hadn’t he come for her yet? She feared that perhaps her father died as a result of the camp raid. Maybe that damned Aloran killed him when no one else was looking.
    Ishara looked down to her feet as a beetle ran over her toes. She plucked the bug from her skin and popped it into her mouth. Crunching on the small snack, she watched a group of