"Your knowledge of the stars betters my own." Xavion's surprise revealed a chauvinism so obviously intrinsic to his nature that Dee found herself charmed, rather than irritated by it. "You must teach me more," he commanded, poking the fire with a stick.
It's glow was faint, casting large phantom shadows around the cavern, but they held no menace for Dee. Xavion had said she was safe, and his presence alone assured her of that.
Seated at his side, she paused in the devouring of a slice of rockmelon to raise her eyebrows. "Oh really?"
An almost smile hovered on the edges of his sensuous lips. "But only if it gives you pleasure."
"Actually, it does," she relented, dropping her rockmelon rind into the flames, watching it crackle and spit as its remaining juices evaporated and rose in a spiral of smoke. "I miss Astronomy. It was my life."
Xavion's eyes searched hers for a moment before he said, "Then if time allows, we will speak of it again."
"If time allows?" She frowned. "I didn't know we were on a schedule."
"All things are finite," he replied as though that were an answer to her question. Then he turned back to feed the fire.
Dee sighed, taking a peeled mango from the banana leaf parcel at her side. She bit into it thoughtfully. How long would she be allowed to stay? Pietre could tell her, but in the twenty-four hours since she'd arrived he'd yet to make an appearance.
And who were these 'Lost Boys' he'd left her with? Not merely a randomly selected group of stunning men, as she'd first thought. There was between them an understanding that indicated they'd been a 'tribe' for some time before she'd arrived.
Xavion especially interested her. His speculations on the creation of the universe were fascinating — not religious, but laced with a spirituality Dee found as intriguing as the man himself. Yet within him she also sensed the pragmatism of the soldier, the man who would obey orders regardless of his inner-voice.
She'd enjoyed this time spent alone with him, exploring an intelligence she guessed was as lonely for stimulation as her own. Unfortunately, it had reminded her of a past she'd been determined to forget. A past that apparently didn't want to be forgotten.
Was she destined to always crave the gratification of her intellect in the same way her body now craved the physical gratification Pietre's fantasy had provided her with?
She was staring into the flames, deep in thought, when she felt Xavion's touch — a light pressure at the corner of her mouth. She turned as his thumb, now smeared with mango juice rose to his own lips for tasting. "The breakfast is to your liking?" he asked, the cool, wet thumb returning to skim the other side of her mouth.
"Very much," she assured him, wondering if the choice of food had been deliberate. The exotic flavours and textures had undoubtedly contributed to her current level of semi-arousal. That, and anticipation of what the new day would bring.
"I was worried it might not prove substantial enough," Xavion said, pulling a sticky strand of her hair away from where it had fallen onto the mango. He tucked it behind her ear. "You have such a voracious appetite."
Their eyes met, and with the ease of their enforced familiarity, his hand dropped to cup her breast, stroking the nipple lightly until it hardened in approval.
She continued her breakfast, biting into the succulent mango, tearing away the soft flesh that clung to its seed.
His hand slid lower and she felt her body stirring, overriding her previous thoughts with nerve-messages to the pleasure centre of her brain. She stopped eating and licked her lips.
"Is there anything else? Any… meat?"
How easy to forget the brain and concentrate on the body. In a deliberate furthering of her own arousal, she slipped the luscious fruit into her mouth, sucking it, moving it in and out, closing her eyes as its nectar ran over her chin and trickled down to her chest.
Would Xavion, watching, imagine her mouth working on him that way?
Her breasts tingled in anticipation of the touch, which when it came was the soft brush of his tongue licking between her breasts. Her nipples tightened, but he ignored them, following the trail of sticky liquid up her throat and over her chin.
By the time he arrived at her mouth she'd discarded the mango and was waiting, daring him to take her there in front of the fire. The others were outside somewhere. It was the perfect time.
"I'm still hungry," she said.
"Hmm, meat? Let me see." He licked at her lips, little lapping caresses. "There might be some turtle left."
Her lips parted, but he didn't kiss her. He pulled back a little, breathing her breath, looking into her eyes.
She rested her sticky hand on his chest, feeling his strong heartbeat beneath her palm. It was fast. "I don't want turtle," she said.
"Fish?"
Her fingertips trailed down, teasing his stomach before settling on his loin cloth, covering the hard flesh she was determined to taste. It jumped under her hand.
"I want to eat you, Xavion," she said, squeezing gently, feeling the thrill of her own audaciousness. "I want to lick all the juice off your body and eat your — "
"Meat?"
She nodded, her tongue restless over her lips, wanting to taste his salty flesh, to suck it greedily into her mouth, to make Xavion lose control. That was what she wanted. Xavion's control.
He watched her for a long moment while she attempted to subdue her restlessness. She wanted power over him, but he was too strong for her to take it. She must win it.
His breathing was heavier. "Peter warned me not to underestimate you," he said, taking her hand and laying it back on her lap. "You're very persuasive."
"Am I?" Dee wasn't put off. It was all a game, a ritual. She needed to discover Xavion's code, his secret trigger, then she'd have him.
Without having been told, she knew that was her purpose, not to satisfy them, but herself. And she wanted more than the mere pleasuring of her body. She wanted power.
"You know you are," he said, and she looked not at him then, but at herself, down her naked body, over her breasts and belly to the dark curls that seemed to pulse with life.
She felt desire coming off her in waves, like the beacon of a lighthouse. Did Xavion see that with his poet's eyes? Would her insatiability be the key to his submission? She looked back at him. "If I'm so persuasive, how can you resist?"
He shrugged. "Orders. It's not my day," and rising to his feet, he offered her a hand.
She hesitated. "If there's a roster I'd like to see it."
He smiled. "I assure you there is no roster."
Still frowning, she took his hand and let him help her to her feet. "Then how do you — "
"Peter decides."
"But how does he tell you?" She gestured around the cavern. "He's not here. Is there a — "
Xavion held up a hand to silence her, and Dee could sense she'd gone too far.
"Our tribe survives in a delicate balance of authority and obedience," he said. "I would not have you tamper with that."
Xavion was deadly serious and Dee had a sudden fear she was about to be evicted.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I shouldn't have asked."
"If you are to be one of us you must not question our ways."
"I won't. I promise." Pietre's world was growing stranger by the minute but Dee didn't care. She wanted the sex — needed it now like a drug and the thought of withdrawal made her stomach twist sickeningly. "I want to stay."
Xavion tortured her with a moment of silence before he said, "You are our Wendee." The finality in his voice was reassuring.
"Thank you, Xavion. I won't disappoint you."
He nodded, his expression softening marginally. "I can tell you that Peter's intent is for us to interact with you on an individual basis."
"You mean private — "
"Nothing is private here, Wendee," Xavion's eyes searched hers. "Everything is known. And we obey Peter. As you must," he reminded her.
"One at a time?"
"The twins count as one."
She swallowed, remembering her brief experience with them. What pleasures could they share in a whole day together? The mind boggled.
Then her thoughts sped to Christophe. She hadn't seen him that morning. She wanted to see him. She wanted… "Whose day is it today?"
Xavion smiled again. "You are eager to start. That is good."
"Xavion," she touched his chest again, wishing he'd take her roughly as he had before. She was so restless. "Who will…" She shrugged.
"Be your lover today?"
"Is it Christophe?" She bit her lip. She shouldn't have asked.
"Probably not," Xavion said, and she felt a pang of disappointment.
"Then…?"
"Mack, I expect."
"Mack?" She held back a shiver of apprehension.
"He'll fight among the challengers to win you," Xavion explained. "He's stronger than the others."
"A fight?" She shook her head, trying to grasp the concept. "Where people get hurt?"
"A knife fight. Some cuts. Nothing fatal."
Nothing fatal. "Who will fight him?"
"Only Christophe has tendered his desire to challenge. The twins have been hurt at Mack's hand before, and Josh has no passion for the prize."
Did that mean Josh was strictly homosexual or that he simply didn't desire her enough to fight for her?
She glanced back at Xavion, trying not to look self-conscious. "Will you… challenge?"
"Peter has ordered me remain aloof from the contest."
That just left Christophe. She'd wounded his emotions the day before, could she stand by and watch him actually physically harmed?
"Is there another way?"
Xavion glanced over her shoulder, a secret look in his eyes. "Peter knew you would respond thus. He has offered an alternative, but the danger will be to you and not the boy."
She didn't hesitate. "I'll do it."
"Enter!" Xavion called, and in the deep shadows on the other side of the cavern, a fur wall-hanging moved, revealing a tunnel from which the Lost Boys entered.
As they drew near, Xavion announced, "Wendee has chosen The Pursuit."
Christophe's panic stricken eyes met hers. "No!" He lunged forward, only to be held back by Josh at his side. "The Challenge," he pleaded with her. "Please, The Challenge."
"What is The Pursuit?" she asked Xavion, although it was Christophe who held her attention. Still grasped tightly by Josh, he was shaking his head, his eyes pleading.
"It takes place in the world outside our caves," Xavion explained. "You will have eight minutes head start before the others leave singly and begin the pursuit. The game ends when you are captured…" Xavion glanced at Christophe who was breathing through gritted teeth. "… after which, the winner takes any reward he chooses, regardless of your wishes."
"You mean rape?" She turned to look at Mack, and the bland expression on his face chilled her insides with fear.
"Rape, pain, humiliation. Anything the winner chooses," Xavion answered calmly.
Dee licked her lips. "For how long?"
"Reward time is dependant on the chase. The entire game must be completed within an hour."
"And if no-one catches me within that time?"
"Then you are the victor, and free to take the lover of your choice for the remainder of the day."
"Don't do it," Christophe pleaded. "He'll hurt you." But Dee and Xavion were exchanging a silent communication. Her eyes said, This is a test, isn't it? To gauge my obedience within the tribe. And Xavion's eyes said, Yes.
She looked away. The stakes had been raised. Would she call or fold.
"Wendee?" Xavion was waiting.
"Let me do it," Christophe pleaded. "I want to do it."
Dee looked back to Xavion. "When do I start?"
He acknowledged her bravado with a nod. "When you feel prepared."
"I won't let you. This is — "
"Gag him," Xavion commanded.
Dee heard the scuffle but she wouldn't look. She had to concentrate, to think past the fear. To Xavion she said, "I'll need my watch."
"Here." He passed her a banana leaf parcel. "Peter left this for you."
Dee fumbled it open and found, not her own Rolex, but a delicate gold wristwatch that appeared to be a genuine antique. She slipped it onto her wrist. A perfect fit.
And the perfect adornment for a naked woman fleeing from violent rapists, she thought, and laughed softly. But within the laughter bubbled hysteria. She cut it off, looking Xavion in the eye. "Ready."
The sound of struggling behind her faded as she followed Xavion behind the wall hanging and through a narrow passage into the sunlight.
She squinted, then stared around in surprise. "It's a forest. A eucalypt forest." She shaded her eyes and tilted her head, then gasped. "A kookaburra. There's a kookaburra up there!" She looked back at Xavion. "I thought we were on an island."
"We are. Never Land is an island."
"But eucalypts don't grow — "
"Listen," Xavion said, and she did.
The sound of waves breaking came from somewhere to her left. She looked back at him in awe. "A beach."
He nodded.
She remembered there were islands off the coast of Queensland that supported native forests. Small forests, but this could be one of them. She mustn't be far from home.
"You have fifty-seven minutes, Wendee," Xavion said, effectively cutting off her thoughts. "Five minutes until we come after you."
She stared at him for a moment, then turned and fled.