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she’d come. She’d gladly take her chances and
jump into the river.
    An animalistic roar echoed off the cave
walls. “Woman, stop!”
    Toni recognized Cormac’s loud command but she
ignored him. It didn’t matter anyway, because she slammed into
another male in the group. It was Malik. He took her by the
shoulders and with a snarl threw her up against the wall. Toni
screamed when he followed her there, crushing her with his huge
bulk. His large hands found her breasts, squeezing them until she
cried out. He was hard and wet against her belly, and real terror
raced through her at the possibility that he was going to rape her
before anyone came to her rescue. Everything was happening so
fast.
    Then he was pulled from her body, and
suddenly she was able to breathe again. Cormac had come to her
rescue, his features contorted with rage, his eyes flashing like
lightning in the dark, most of which he directed at her. Then he
turned his attention to Malik, and for the first time Toni noticed
that the other man had been thrown practically to the other side of
the cave.
    He’d hit the wall as if it was nothing,
swinging around to face Cormac. His body language spoke volumes. He
was ready for a fight. Cormac spoke in the dialect Toni had heard
him use earlier. The two men squared off as if getting ready to
fight. They went back and forth, swinging their arms in her
direction. The guttural language sounded old and primitive, almost
making Lila’s outrageous story believable. The others in the group
were standing by and watching, their expressions tense. The
children had stopped playing and were hiding behind the women that
Toni assumed were their mothers.
    If Toni had had the right presence of mind,
she would have used the distraction to make her escape while
everyone was focused on Cormac and Malik, but she couldn’t take her
eyes off of them. She’d never seen anything so fearful, so
primeval, as the scene playing out before her. Then, just as
quickly as it had begun, it ended, and the threat of a fight
evaporated.
    Malik grabbed another woman and pulled her to
a pelt, where he quickly proceeded to mount her from behind. Toni
couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She barely spared them a
glance, feeling sorry for the woman. Then she noticed Cormac
walking directly toward her, his glittering eyes filled with
intention. What was he going to do? Toni stood her ground, when
every ounce of self-preservation she possessed told her to turn and
run.
    She backed up but had nowhere to go. Cormac’s
angry gaze raked down her body and back up again before capturing
hers. He grunted something in his own language. The first thing he
did when his large body covered Toni’s was take her lips in a kiss
filled with rough passion. He forced her mouth open with his
tongue, and once their tongues met Toni was lost, melting into the
kiss.
    She didn’t try to understand why he was doing
what he was doing. As their mouths meshed and their tongues
explored, Cormac pressed his body against hers. Toni wasn’t
surprised to feel his strong erection against her. It seemed that
anger and highly intense situations ignited the clan men’s arousal,
and they weren’t shy about appeasing their lust on the nearest
female.
    Cormac tore his mouth from hers and began
kissing her neck beneath her ear. What was it with these men?
Toni’s gaze was drawn to Malik and the woman, who were screwing
like there was no tomorrow. The woman seemed to be enjoying his
roughness. Feeling that it would soon be her and Cormac putting on
a show for everyone, Toni braced herself for anything. She tried to
deny what her body wanted, but the truth was that she’d never
wanted anything more.
    All of a sudden she didn’t care about the
eyes watching them. Something about Cormac made Toni feel wild
inside, made her want to be reckless. She felt his hand glide down
her body and then her thong was torn away. His large hands went to
her waist, and with ease he lifted her off her