Chapter 15 Beg Me
#16 of Fox Hunt
Beg Me
Chapter 15
Ukudlala and Nhlahla were both armed. Ukudlala carried a spear, while Nhlahla had brought dagger and sling. A dark bandage was wrapped around the vixen's belly, and like her brother, her face was etched in disgust. The siblings glared as they circled in close, blocking the way forward and back, their eyes tracing over the fox and the hound, sharp with anger.
Aina was so glad to see Nhlahla alive that for a moment, she almost ran to her. But she stopped herself at the last second and instead stepped in front of the foxhound. "Please . . . I know I have done wrong. But the blame is not hers. It is mine," she said in their language. She inclined her head to Ukudlala and whispered, "Avell."
Ukudlala's chest heaved. "You dare beg my forgiveness? Yes, beg!" He jabbed his spear at Aina, and hating herself, she sank to her knees.
"Please, Uku," Aina whispered. She looked steadily into his pained eyes, hoping to reach the young and sweet boy who used to stumble after her. But Ukudlala's eyes were flat as he glared down at her, and she realized that sweet boy was gone.
"See?" Nhlahla hissed to her brother. "She protects the dog bitch. She loves it!"
Ukudlala shook his head darkly. "How could you? I called you wife, and you ran from me?" Without warning, he took a halting step forward and gave Aina the back of his paw.
"Lily!" the foxhound cried.
Aina felt her cheek cut her teeth as the force of the blow knocked her to the mud. Her thick red tail flopped as the grass and earth came up to scratch her. Somewhere behind her, she heard a blow. "Mmph!" Aina looked up in time to see blood ribbon across the air as Evelyn was backslapped by Nhlahla. Face twisted, Nhlahla struck Evelyn yet again, and she staggered to her knees with blood dripping from her nose.
"N-No!" Aina choked.
"Tried to kill me, didn't you?" Nhlahla snarled. She grabbed Evelyn by the mane, and pressing the dagger to her throat, she forced her to look Aina. "I want you to watch," she hissed in the foxhound's ear. "Watch as your lover pays for her treachery!"
Aina's ears pricked forward in alarm. She heard Ukudlala's spear fall in the grass, and before she had a chance to react, he struck her again. She reeled from the blow as blood seeped hot from her nose. He grabbed her by the mane, and the pain burned through her scalp.
"D-Don't hurt her too much, Uku!" Nhlahla scolded. "Just fuck her up a little --"
"Shut up," Ukudlala said calmly. Clutching a fistful of Aina's red mane, he ripped her head back and made her look at him. "Slut," he whispered. "Licking dog pussy in the forest - our forest! You are less than nothing. A perversion of the very nature we honor!"
"Ah!"
Nhlahla swallowed miserably and didn't protest when Ukudlala struck Aina again. Aina felt her jaw tremble, threatening to pop free as she hit the ground a second time. She heard Evelyn call her name, heard her scream when Nhlahla struck her next.
Lying on her face in the grass, Aina felt the tears rise: Nhlahla had straddled Evelyn's belly and was punching her in the face - over and over. She grabbed her by the mane and slammed her head on the ground, screaming through her teeth, "You thought to take my love from me! You stole her with your bitch tits and the scent of your bitch pussy!"
Evelyn struggled blindly to fight back. Nhlahla struck her again - so hard that she dropped her head and lay still. Sneering, Nhlahla dragged Evelyn up by the mane, put her dagger to her throat, and growled in her ear, "Watch."
Locked in that tight red arm, Evelyn looked at Aina with tears glistening in her blue eyes.
Aina swallowed a sob to see Evelyn so battered: a bruise was forming over her eye, her lip was cut, and blood trailed from her mane. She looked at Aina apologetically. "I love you," she mouthed with trembling lips.
Aina choked when Ukudlala climbed on top of her. His fingers curled in her mane again as he growled for her to get on her knees. She sluggishly obeyed, her eyes dull with misery as he grabbed her by the tail - and crammed his thick erection between the lips of her sex. Her sex was so dry that his thrusts burned. She sobbed quietly. He told her shut up, and grabbing her breasts in fistfuls, he banged into her, humping, growling, and panting.
Aina rocked beneath him, the blood trailing from her lip as she begged. "Please, Uku . . . this isn't you! You're h-hurting me!"
"Yes," Ukudlala hissed. "Beg me to stop." He tightened his fingers on her throat. "Beg me!"
"Stop!" Nhlahla suddenly shrieked. "Dammit, Uku --!"
"Shut UP!" Ukudlala roared. He grabbed Aina by the hip and slammed in hard. She jerked beneath him and choked, her breasts flapping as he forced his way in. "How dare you," he snarled at her. "How dare you spend years smelling the way you do, looking the way you do, and yet mocking me to my face!" Aina was startled to hear the tears in his voice when he said, "I loved you! Completely! And yet . . . you fucked my sister!"
Nhlahla's mouth fell open. Clearly, she hadn't told Ukudlala that much.
"And that stupid dog bitch," Ukudlala went on. "Well, no more. Now you are mine. I will drag you home by the mane if I have to. And if you resist me, I will kill you." He fumbled between Aina's legs and spread the lips of her sex to get in. Her lips were clenching on his erection hard, and when he spread them, he slipped in so deep that she cried out.
"Ah! Ah - ah . . . ahaha . . ." Aina sobbed. "Uku . . . p-please . . ."
"Leave her alone!" Nhlahla wailed. She let go of Evelyn and leapt at her brother, dagger raised. Ukudlala grabbed her face as she came down at him and shoved her away viscously hard. She slammed into a tree and they heard her back crack as she sank in the grass.
Evelyn stared with wet eyes at Nhlahla's limp body. She seemed stricken by shock and unable to move. It looked like Nhlahla was dead.
Ukudlala didn't seem to care. He slapped Aina's buttocks until they jiggled, and grabbing her by the tail, he humped her faster and harder, until she felt the blood oozing down her thighs. She tried to crawl away, but he grabbed her by the mane and pulled her back.
"Where are you going? You're mine," Ukudlala hissed. "Mine! As you were always meant to be!"
"Leave . . . her alone," Nhlahla moaned as she came to. Her eyes flashed, and raising her dagger again, she leapt a second time at her brother. A gunshot rang through the forest, so loud they all jolted. The bullet whizzed past Nhlahla, just grazing her side in a splash of blood. She screamed and fell to the ground.
"No!" Aina cried as the tears rose to blind her.
Ukudlala looked at his sister in horror. "Nh --!" The word was cut from his mouth by another gunshot. Aina looked over her shoulder and screamed: Ukudlala had been shot in the chest. He stared past her with unseeing eyes, then slowly, he sank back and collapsed.
Trembling and crying, Evelyn crawled to Aina and cupped her face. "A-Are you alright?" she whispered hoarsely. But she didn't give Aina a chance to respond. She pulled her in her arms and sobbed, "I'm s-so sorry."
Aina closed her eyes and stroked Evelyn's mane. "It's alright . . . don't cry . . ." The words died on her lips as Red Mane came toward them through the trees. He was clad in his riding clothes, his red mane was smoothed back in a tail, and in his paws was a rifle. His face was hard, his eyes biting. He raised the rifle and pointed it at Aina's face.
"Back away from her, vixen."
"R-Richie," Evelyn said, wiping away her tears. She scrambled to her feet, and suddenly remembering she was naked, she covered her breasts. "It's okay - Lil - she didn't do anything."
Too frightened to move, Aina remained on the ground.
Red Mane's hard eyes went from Evelyn to Aina to Evelyn again. Aina heard sudden movement behind her, and Red Mane swung the rifle around. Evelyn screamed softly when he fired. Nhlahla had been creeping away, clutching at the wound in her side. Red Mane's shot hit the dirt near her tail, exploding in a cloud. She gasped and scrambled away through the trees as fast as her legs could carry her. Aina watched her go, the sadness like lead in her chest.
"Dick to the rescue again, Evelyn?" Red Mane said. He set aside the rifle, and removing his own cloak, he placed it around Evelyn's shoulders.
Evelyn clutched the cloak shut at her throat. Tears clung to her lashes, and as the gray light of dawn lit the forest, it made her white fur glow. "R-Richie . . ." she whispered.
Red Mane was looking at Aina. Without taking his eyes from her, he called over his shoulder, "Haskell! Bring rope!"
"Aye, m'lord!" called Long Face from somewhere in the trees. Aina's heart sank when he came forward with two horses.
"No," Evelyn said at once. "Leave her alone - let her go!"
Red Mane's nostrils flared. "Have you completely lost your senses, bitch?" he said to her in amazement. "This creature kidnaps you and leads you off to get raped, and you want me to pretend it didn't happen?"
Evelyn glowered. She shook her head and stepped closer to Red Mane. "She didn't kidnap me! I ran away!"
Red Mane slung the rifle on his back. "Of course you did," he said wearily. "It must be Tuesday." He held out his arm. "On my horse, then. We're going home."
Evelyn stepped from his grasp. "No!"
Red Mane looked at her, amazement lighting his eyes again.
"No!" Evelyn repeated when Long Face started binding Aina's wrists. Aina stood and allowed it to happen. Pain pulsed between her thighs where Ukudlala had raped her, and her face was throbbing with cuts and bruises where his unrelenting knuckles had knocked her down again and again. But she looked at his staring face in the grass and could feel nothing but pity. The irony of it all cut her like a knife: only days before, she had saved him from rape at the paws of Red Mane.
"She didn't do anything!" Evelyn wailed, and Aina thought she looked like a frightened pup as the tears leaked down her face. Her tail was low and twitched at the tip in agitation. Aina wanted to hold her, to hush her and stroke her mane.
Red Mane looked down at Evelyn, a tender light in his eyes. He pulled her to his chest, and Aina was surprised when Evelyn burst into tears.
"He h-hit her!" Evelyn sobbed against Red Mane. "Again and again! And there was nothing I could d-do to s-stop him!"
"Hush, darling," Red Mane whispered and stroked Evelyn's white curls. He closed his eyes as he held her, and Aina thought he looked very sad. "Hush, darling. Richie is here now. Come on . . . get on the horse. I'll take you home and everything will be alright again. Come along . . ." He took her by the paw, and like a lost little child, she followed him to the horse.
Aina felt a little lost herself as Long Face swept her into his strong arms. She dropped her cheek against his shoulder and was surprised when he kissed her head.
"Poor thing," Long Face whispered to her. "Made a break for freedom and your own kind does this to you?" He glared at Ukudlala's body. "Come on then," he said and carried her to his horse. She was surprised when he sat her in the saddle and climbed up behind her. "Let's get you home," he said in her ear.
Aina's ears pricked forward. Home? Was she to live with the dogs now? She wanted to ask, but Long Face snapped the reins, and the horse took off at a light trot, following the horse that carried Red Mane and Evelyn.
Let's get you home, he'd said. She smiled sadly. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.