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The Seduction of Seleste

from the world of the mating season

The Lost Burial Grounds of Meketh

Chapter 6

Keme stood in shock for a moment. One second the little female was waltzing off with his stuff, next second and she was shooting out of sight. The last thing he saw was the wispy ends of her mane as she disappeared. In a pale brown flash, she was gone. His ears pricked forward and he leaned toward the hole through which she had fallen. She was still screaming. And screaming. And screaming. Then bang. Crunch. The screaming stopped.

Terrified, he crawled carefully toward the hole and prayed that he was not about to fall in as well. He peered down after her. It was too dark to see anything. But he could hear. Water was dripping. Rocks were shifting. She was crying. Oh good. Well, at least she was still alive.

"Stay where you are!" Keme called down to her. "I'll find some way to get you out --"

"Like I'm going anywhere," she sobbed sarcastically. Her moans were echoing. Wherever she was, it was a large place.

Keme scowled, suddenly fed up. "I'm just trying to help. I could walk away and leave you there. After all, you haven't given me much reason to want to keep helping you! First you kick me in the nuts, then you steal my stuff --"

Keme shouted as the ground suddenly gave away beneath him. The hole crumbled even wider under his weight, and before he knew it, he was soaring down toward the female. She managed to drag herself out of harm's way and he landed hard on his side. The impact was so rattling his ears rang. He bit his tongue and tasted blood.

Then you get me trapped in a pit, Keme thought darkly. He just lay there for a moment. His body pulsed with pain and to move would have been agony.

"Oh god, are you okay?"

He heard the female scramble toward him.

"Don't be dead - please, don't be dead!"

Keme dragged himself upright. He was aching but he was intact, and what was more, he could already feel the pain receding. The female seemed amazed. She sat regarding him in wonder as she clutched her ankle.

"You . . . you didn't even break anything!" she cried. "But this hole is so deep!" She gazed up at the opening, which was the size of an apple at this distance.

Keme scratched his ears. He had always been uncommonly hardy and strong. Aiyana told him it was because of his mother. Him break a bone? He couldn't even remember breaking a nail.

The female hissed with pain and clutched her ankle tighter. She had attempted to move again. She was bleeding freely from her ankle and her paws trembled to stop the blood. Her foot was limp and it was clear she had broken the bone. She also seemed to have a broken finger: it hung lifeless from her paw. She was lucky. She should have broken her neck. But ah. His traveling pack had broken her fall. And ironically enough, his spear lay beside her, complete and intact.

Keme groaned as he stretched his sore muscles. "You're hurt. Well, at least I'm safe from you kicking me. Pass me my bag and I'll see what I can do. Then I'll . . . try to get us out of here. Wherever here is." Keme looked around. It was so dark and damp and musty in this place. The only light came from the hole above, and that wasn't enough to see more than a few feet away. They were sitting in a spotlight in a pool of blackness.

The female looked hesitant and Keme couldn't believe it: just a minute ago, she had gone from hating him to hoping he was alive and now she was back to hating him? Females! He reached over and snatched his bag, then ruffled through it. She watched him miserably, and after a while she said something that made him pause.

"I'm sorry."

Keme stared.

The female scowled and looked away. Her lip trembled. "It's just . . . so many things happened today. I was banished from my tribe, my home is g-gone . . . I have nothing and no where to go. My whole world, everything I know has crumbled."

Keme went back to rummaging in his bag. "Yes, I saw," he said sympathetically. "It looked like the summer village was being attacked. I was on my way there and backtracked when I saw the fire --" He stopped and cleared his throat as if he had said too much.

Keme could tell he had snagged her interest and avoided her eye when he started to bandage her ankle. First he cleaned the wound of the mud and filth that had stuck to it, then he carefully began to wind. He could feel her eyes, now soft and thoughtful, probing him, absorbing his every gesture.

"What is it?" he finally snapped.

"You were coming to my village?"

"So?"

Her face scrunched up. "You're so secretive."

"How nice of you to notice."

"And rude!"

"Thanks. I try to keep it short in the summer."

"Ugh!" She scowled at him, but he only hunched over his work and smiled to himself.

After all she had just put him through, did she really expect him to talk about himself? She was nuttier than he thought.

"My name is Seleste," she tried again.

"Let you know when I care."

"Ugh! Could you please just - I'm trying to make up for my behavior. Look . . ."

He paused when she closed her small paw over his. He looked up and her eyes were miserable and pleading.

"I've just been through hell," she said hoarsely. "I was scared, I didn't know what to do. I'm sure you can't say the same," she said with a miserable laugh, "but meeting you is probably the best thing that's happened to me today. I mean it. If you hadn't come along, I would have run into those slavers eventually, and I'd still be with them." Her face darkened and she looked away.

Keme went back to his work. "It's okay," he managed at last. "Seleste," he added awkwardly.

They fell silent as he finished up on her ankle. He pulled out more bandages and looked at her paw. He wanted to take it so he could bind her finger to a stick he had found nearby, but he felt nervous about doing so. She was staring at him with those pretty grey eyes, and she seemed to understand: her paw was resting on her thigh, very close to her pussy. She smiled and offered it to him. He seemed relieved. He carefully laid her paw on his thigh, then very slowly straightened her finger.

"I'm going to set the bone," he warned her. "Here . . . bite on this."

Seleste took the rag he pulled from his bag and put it in her mouth. She was glad. When he realigned her finger bone, she wanted to scream. She sobbed behind the rag as he worked, and she tried to hold still, but her paw wouldn't stop shaking.

"It's okay, almost done . . . there." Keme wound the last bit of bandage tight and tucked the rest away. He had wanted to have a look around, to find some way out, but he was suddenly so tired he couldn't bring himself to do it. He just sat there looking weary.

"We - I have my blanket still - I mean," Seleste added quickly when he looked at her, "I'm not asking you to - I mean to sleep on. We could share it." She blushed furiously.

Keme looked back at her and realized for the first time that she was attracted him. He laughed and her cheeks burned even brighter. "Sure," he said, "and thanks for not kicking me in the nuts again."

"My ankle's broken," she returned.

Keme smiled. She was joking with him now? Maybe she had come to her senses at last. Whatever had happened to her in that village, it must've been terrible.

"You still have the other foot," he told her but spread her blanket anyway.

They lay on the blanket side by side, on their backs, the darkness pressing in all around. It was unnerving. Anything could be lurking in that darkness. Keme drank the air in. But no. He didn't smell anything. It seemed they were alone in this hollow, echoing cave. Alone with the distant sound of dripping water.

Keme rummaged in his bag a moment and found some bread. He broke it in halves and passed a piece to her. They lay there eating in silence as the steady beam of moonlight reached down to touch them.

"Are you too secretive to tell me your name?" Seleste said at last. She lay with her broken paw resting on her stomach, the other holding her bread. Her slanted eyes regarded him curiously.

Keme put his big arm behind his head and laughed. "My name actually means secret. Guess she named me well."

"So . . . you were your mother's secret?"

"She wasn't my mother."

"She?"

Keme's face darkened. He didn't want to talk about Aiyana. Not tonight. Perhaps not ever. The grief was still too near. How long ago had she died? It still felt as if he had sank the knife just yesterday. He suddenly became moody and withdrawn, and having finished his bread, he turned his back to her and used his traveling pack as a pillow.

Sensing she had prodded too deeply, Seleste whispered meekly, "Goodnight . . . Secret."

Keme couldn't help it. He smiled.

When Keme later awoke, the light filtering down through the hole above had gone from pale white to buttery yellow. Daylight. He eased himself up on his elbow and looked around. His tousled mane was half in his eyes, but he could see the female was already awake. She was sitting up, one knee drawn up and her hurt ankle carefully resting on a bunched corner of the blanket. Her mane was tangled and in her eyes as well. She had slept after all.

Looking at her, Keme suddenly pitied her. She was filthy with dirt and blood and she reeked of cum. She was cold, naked, and trembling. As Aiyana had told him, most females her age went about naked, but he was starting to realize that this one had not. She didn't seem accustomed to the eyes of males on her flesh, and when she noticed he was awake, she covered her breasts on reflex.

Keme dragged himself upright. The place was still dark, but the gloom had receded a bit with the coming day. He could see the opposite wall now. There was a path and paintings on the walls. Paintings of wolves coupling. He sat in amazement. Breasts being groped. Big cocks feeding in and out of pink and straining vaginas. Where in god's name were they?

"I know," Seleste muttered. Her eyes raked over the paintings in wonder and disgust. "I couldn't believe it either, the first time I saw it." Her head fell back, and as Keme followed her gaze he realized the paintings stretched all the way to the ceiling: they had been sleeping under that.

"But when I saw them," went on Seleste, "I understood where we are. These are the sacred tunnels of the sun village. They use them for their mating season."

"Their what?" There was that phrase again. Keme was starting to wonder why Aiyana had never told him about this mating season. It seemed important. Everywhere he traveled, he overheard wolves discussing it. Was it some sacred sex ritual? Were virgins sacrificed to horny gods once a year?

Seleste stared at him in as much amazement as if he could have been one of the paintings. "You're joking again, right?" she said.

Aggravated by her large-eyed astonishment, Keme shook his head and looked away. "Let's just say I haven't exactly lived a conventional life." He climbed to his feet with a groan and dusted himself off as he looked around.

"There's a path," Seleste remarked. "I've been watching it all morning. I keep thinking how anything could have come up it in the night - lone wolves, beasts, anything. We're lucky to be alive. I don't know why that fall didn't snap my spine - and you. . . ." She eyed the tight muscles of Keme's back and felt a blush creeping on. "I still don't understand you. You standing there without a scratch is a miracle."

With his back to her, Keme's face darkened. It wasn't a miracle. It was his ancestry. He went to the path and glanced down. The tunnel winded away ten feet and split in two directions. It was the same the other way. And the paintings. More of them towered, bright and gleaming, against the walls. Wolves humping, wolves kissing, females riding cocks, sucking cocks, tit-fucking cocks. It was enough to make Keme squirm. Behind him, the female cried out.

"Take care of her, Keme!" He could just imagine Aiyana's indignation as she scolded him. The little creature was injured and frightened and needed a protector. He was her protector now, whether he liked it or not.

Keme went back to the blanket where the female was sitting. She had been sobbing as she clutched her ankle, but seeing him approach, she bit her lip and tried to look as if it was nothing. He smiled. She was a terrible little actress: her face was still pale and strained and she hissed with the slightest movement.

He went to his traveling pack and crouched next to it. He could feel her eyes on him as he rummaged through it. Gods. Did she have to stare at him so? It was as if she had never seen a male in her life! He looked up and caught her eying his cock. He couldn't believe it! She blushed and looked away, and he realized she was probably wondering if he was still in pain there. Funny thing was, he was. Falling thirty feet down a rabbit hole? Nothing. Getting kicked in the nuts? Debilitating.

"Yes, it hurts still, and like a bitch," he said without looking up. "I might not be able to have pups now. I hope you're happy." When he glanced up again, she seemed put at ease, and he was glad. "And look," he added, offering his paw, "they didn't burst."

The female's eyes went to his offered palm, and when she saw the berries there, she stared in the same wide-eyed astonishment. He couldn't blame her: they fall through a thirty-foot hole and the things that should break are the things that don't.

He popped a berry in his mouth and closed his eyes, glad to feel the ache in his crotch receding. "Here," he said, offering her one, "for the pain."

He thought she was going to take the berry, but she did something he had never anticipated: she opened her mouth and offered her tongue. He squatted there looking perplexed.

"Yes," Keme joked after a pause, "your tongue is pink. Very pink. Like . . . other parts of you."

Seleste's cheeks crinkled in her eyes in a smile, but she did not close her mouth. Keme carefully dropped the berry on her tongue and she ate it. He could sense that she wanted to suck his finger and quickly withdrew his paw. She was bewildered by his reaction. She was starting to feel at ease with him and had simply wanted to joke around. But god. Didn't she realize her own allure? He glanced at her, and seeing her disappointed eyes, he realized that she didn't.

"Think you can walk?" Keme asked her. "I want out of here a sap."

Seleste snorted. "Walking is for wolves that can at least move their ankle without crying."

Keme groaned. It was as he had feared: he would have to carry her. He would have to carry every damn thing! Her, the spear, the traveling pack . . . ugh. How had he gotten himself into this mess? He should have stayed in the jungle where he belonged. Aiyana had been right: there was nothing for him out here.

Keme strapped on his traveling pack, then jammed his spear between it and his back. The female watched him and her ears went down when she realized what was about to happen. But did she really expect them to just stay there? He squatted and wrapped her in the blanket, then whispered for her to put her arms around his neck. She was trembling when she obeyed and he wondered why. She shouldn't have been in much pain anymore. The berries should have helped. Her small cry when he lifted her in his arms startled him and he paused. But she shook her head vigorously and buried her face in his neck. It was almost as if she was hiding from him, and he suddenly realized that she was embarrassed.

Her embarrassment, her helplessness, her beauty . . . it was starting to fill his head with questions. Aiyana had told him things about the wolves that lived in villages, that in some places the females were trained to be warriors as fierce as the males. Aiyana herself had been a hardened warrior. She had painted a picture for him of females who were tough and unflinching, right down to the youngest village girl. And listening to Aiyana, he had been so eager to see these villages and faraway worlds that he had only ever dreamed of. After all of Aiyana's stories, how was it possible that the summer village had produced a female as weak and crying as Seleste?

But Keme didn't ask. And when she suddenly sobbed hard into his neck, he still didn't ask. His eyes clouded with misery as he carried her up the dark tunnel and he felt a wave of pity. She was crying so hard. Whatever those males had done when they raped her back at the summer village, it must have been terrible. He hoped to god she wasn't going to tell him some gruesome story later about having her hymen broken with a knife.

Some time had passed when he paused to rest and set her down. She cried into the blanket that was wrapped around her. He still didn't ask why. Of course he wanted to know, but he knew the moment she told her story, he would have to tell his. And he was damned if he relived Aiyana's death for some wolf he didn't even know.

A small pool of water had gathered nearby. Glancing up, Keme noticed for the first time that the tunnel ceiling was lined in small holes. Ah. So the holes were for admitting sunlight. The place must have been ancient if tiny Seleste had broken one by running across it. With her sobs ringing in his ears, he gathered water into his paws and began to smooth the dirt off. He squatted with his hard thighs wide, his muscles flexing, his thick phallus hanging quiet in a nest of dark curly fur. The longer he bathed, the quieter she became, and he was wringing out his long mane when she suddenly stopped.

Keme looked up. It seemed Seleste had finished crying and was dabbing her tears with the blanket. Her slanted eyes darted every now and then to him, as if she was ashamed. She glanced at his cock again and went scarlet.

Keme laughed at her. "Haven't you ever seen a male's dick before? Don't tell me you haven't. You must've lived blindfolded to have achieved that."

"The males in my father's hut always wore skirts and thongs," Seleste muttered to her knees. "It marked them as protectors of the family. And the leather was hardened to protect their . . . penises." Her blush deepened and she looked away.

Keme snorted. "Where was a leather thong when I needed it?" He laughed to himself and splashed water on his face. It took him a second to register what she had just said to him. "Wait . . . you had protectors? Then you're . . ."

"A princess. Yes," Seleste said dismally.

Keme stared at her. He rolled his eyes. Now it made sense: her helplessness, her confusion. She'd probably had wolves waiting on her paw and foot her entire life. But he still couldn't understand it. From what Aiyana had told him, even princesses were trained warriors.

"But you have to have seen a cock before," Keme went on. "I mean, you went out in your village from time to time --"

Seleste shook her head. "I went out, but I was never allowed to interact with young males or even stand close to them. They were always kept at a distance. And protectors of a princess are always seasoned warriors. Young males around a princess? She wouldn't be a virgin very long."

Keme laughed dryly. "That makes sense."

So he was the first young male she had ever been near? She had led a sheltered life indeed.

"What do you know about the tunnel?" he asked her. "I mean, is it just for this mating thing, or does it open up in other places - what?"

She was grinning at him. It was suddenly aggravating as hell and he splashed her. She shielded herself and laughed at him. Her giggles were almost refreshing after all the sobbing, so he splashed her again. The water weighed down her mane and fur, plastered her breasts until the pink nipples stood out hard. She noticed his staring and covered herself, dismally wishing no doubt for her princess attire. The dried blood and dirt, meanwhile, was chipping loose of her fur. He was glad to see it falling away. It made her look less pitiful and injured.

Scooping water in his paw, Keme moved close and carefully washed the blood from her arm. She hesitated but stretched her arm for him to continue washing. He finished at her paw, then scooped up more water and carefully cleaned her neck. She held her mane back for him to do it, and for the first time, she wasn't embarrassed by her naked breasts. Her eyes studied him steadily. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"It's just . . ." she said at last. Her face scrunched up. "How can you not know about the mating season?"

"The same way you've never been around young dick."

Don't let her start probing again, he thought as he washed her. "Lay down," he whispered. She watched him happily as she did what he asked. She was trembling slightly and breathless. God, what was wrong with her? She was lying on her back with her thick mane spread around her. Small licks of mane fell across her eyes. Those pretty eyes. He watched her curiously as he continued to clean her. He couldn't figure out why she would act that way every now and then - breathless and flustered and nervous and yet somehow, unafraid. He was smoothing the blood from her thigh when she spoke again.

"Who is Aiyana?" Her eyes echoed with sadness when she spoke the words.

Keme froze. He had never told her Aiyana's name.

"You talk in your sleep."

Keme's face hardened. He dried his paws on his thighs and stood. Seleste sat up and watched dismally as he strapped on his traveling pack. The spear was once again rammed between his back and the bag, then he turned to her.

Feeling wretched for having asked, Seleste wrapped herself in the blanket and waited for him to lift her. He gathered her to his chest and set off down the tunnel again.

"I don't know if it opens in other places," Seleste said quietly. "Only that it leads to the sun village. It's supposed to have many openings, but they were shut off because of lone wolves. Only one is open now."

"You know a lot about this for someone who's probably never left the summer village," Keme said shortly.

"My father was friends with the chief of the sun village. I thought I would take refuge there."

"Friends in high places and all that."

Keme's tone was biting and sarcastic. Seleste looked at him, stung. "I'm sorry!" she snapped angrily. "I only asked because --" She broke off and her eyes clouded with pity. "You were . . . you sounded so sad. You spoke to her like . . . like a lover."

Oh god! What had he been saying in his sleep?!

"It was nothing bad," went on Seleste when she saw his horror. "You just . . . you called out for her. As if you were aching for her. I know the feeling." Suddenly wretched, she dropped her head against him and closed her eyes.

Keme glanced down at her. So she'd had a lover. All the crying suddenly made sense. She would probably never see this lover again now, or even worse, perhaps her lover was dead. Yes, the weight of those tears . . . they were tears of mourning.

"I'm sorry, too," Keme whispered, and without thinking, he kissed her head.

Seleste closed her eyes and smiled. "Thank you," she whispered. "For your kindness."

Keme cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anytime."

They continued up the tunnel, and as he held her close, he realized they had just become friends. Friends. He'd never seen that coming.

"What's that up ahead?" Seleste whispered hoarsely.

They had been walking for some time - well, he had been walking anyway, he thought wearily - when the darkness ahead suddenly seemed to gather like a frothing cloud. A black wall. A dead end. No . . . not a wall. A boulder.

His eyes fixed on the boulder, Keme set Seleste on her feet. She limped to the wall and held herself up, watching him in confusion. He approached the boulder, never once looking back at her.

". . . what are you doing?" she said, her ears pricked forward. "You can't think to move that!"

Keme didn't answer. He knew the boulder was twice his girth and height. But he also knew he could move it. He hugged the boulder and braced himself a moment, then pressed. It shifted easily in his grasp, and as earth and grass crumbled from the cracks, it crept slowly to one side, until a white fog had snaked into the corridor.

Keme's head was turned against the boulder and he could see Seleste as she watched him. One small paw rested on her bosom, her grey eyes were wide, and she whispered in amazement, "Oh my god."

The boulder shifted free at last, and with one paw, Keme easily shoved it to one side. It crashed toward the wall and slammed with such shuddering force that Seleste lost balance and almost fell. Keme caught the boulder against the wall and pressed it there until it was still. He turned. A new tunnel gaped before them, and from its mouth rolled a white fog so thick it chilled his fur. He turned to Seleste and lifted her easily in his arms.

"But - how did you do that!" Seleste cried as he bore her away. She peered up at him with large, astonished eyes.

Keme looked away. He was getting really tired of her astonishment. "I'll tell you when you're older," he said wearily.

"You'll tell me now! You aren't like any wolf I've ever known! You fall for thirty feet and don't come by more than a scratch, you climb trees like some wild beast, you slay wolves before they even know you're there, and now you can move boulders?!"

Her voice was almost a shriek. She was frightened of him now. He supposed he didn't blame her: she had probably just realized that he could snap her in halves and floss with her spine.

Keme sighed. "Some day, when we're out of these musty tunnels, safe somewhere, and I have a full belly, I'll tell you anything you like. Anything. But right now I just want to focus on getting the hell out of here before something eats us."

He waited for her answer and was relieved when she whispered, "Fair enough."

Good. Maybe she had some sense after all.

Eventually, the tunnel steeped down into a flight of stone stairs. The walls pressed so close Keme would have scraped his shoulders had he been a bit older. He could feel the cold fog kissing his ankles, and the scent of grass was strong on the air. Grass? What the hell were they about to find? A secret garden?

The female was silent as they made their way down and he knew she was frightened. Neither of them had a clue what hidden depths they were approaching. The longer they traveled, the less the new passage felt like a part of the mating tunnels. No, this place was something else entirely. Keme couldn't remember the last time he saw a painting. Perhaps hours ago.

They came to the bottom of the stairs at last, and as Keme stepped through the archway, he was blasted by the stale scent of dead grass. The earth was dry here and barren. It was a dark cavernous room with a fountain in the center. The fountain spouted no water but for a single trickle that drip, drip, dripped into the stone basin waiting beneath the statue of a female. The female was naked and it was from the bowl in her paws that the water kept drip, dripping. Another statue stood back to back with her, a naked male holding a similar bowl of water that was also dripping. The fountain and its naked statues loomed to the earthen ceiling, and Keme might have been impressed if not for the grave markers stretching away from him in rows.

Keme stopped dead at the sight. A graveyard . . . down here? He set Seleste on her feet and she clung to his arm.

"I don't like this place," she whispered - as if she thought the statues could hear her. How cute.

"Let's go back," Seleste begged. "We shouldn't have come down here in the first place."

Keme snorted. "Where else were we gonna go? I'm not going back. I'm not going to wander this place in circles. I'd rather follow a straight line."

"That makes no sense!"

"You wanna go back? Then go!" He jerked his arm free of her and stepped into the fog. He could feel her watching as he moved among the graves. The little rock piles sat in neat rows and were of all sizes. Adults and children alike had been buried in this place. But why? Keme had to wonder how many times the sun wolves came to the tunnels for their sex rituals without ever knowing the dead lie beneath them, silent witnesses to their love making.

"Let's go," Seleste said wretchedly. "Please! I have a bad feeling about this place."

Keme ignored her. He didn't know why, but he couldn't take his eyes off the statues towering over the fountain. He felt drawn to them, as if his feet were moving of their own accord. He stopped before the statues and just stared. The female was exquisite. Her slender body was curvy in all the right places, her breasts were full and high, her nipples large, her hips round, her ass plump beneath her tail. The male, meanwhile, was everything a male could hope to be: a huge cock, a hard muscular body, a handsome face. Both statues bore haughty expressions that were caught somewhere between seduction and lust.

Keme could see the cleft of the female's pussy as it was pressed between her thighs. Without knowing why, unable to stop, unable to think, he climbed into the basin of the fountain, and taking her hips in his paws, he gave her stone pussy a hard lick.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

A female's moan echoed around the cavern. Keme and Seleste stumbled, then collapsed to the floor.