Chapter 3

He took her hand and led her over to the falls where they stood on a rock ledge, just inside the flow of water where it cascades over the rocks. They bathed in the cool rushing water then he pulled her out and hugged her to him.

“Crystal, I’m going to take you to a place that no one knows about but me. No one else can ever know about this place but you and me. I trust you and if you’ll learn to love me and trust me, we’ll need to keep this secret with our last breaths.”

“I’m with you Steve, I’ll go where you go. I’ll keep your secrets and I’ll stand beside you, no matter what. I never want to leave here or be away from you for any reason.”

He took her hand and led her underneath the rushing waters of the falls once more, then stepped down two steps. He helped her leap across a wide opening between the rocks and suddenly, they were behind the curtain of the water, standing inside a cave. She could see ancient drawings on the cave walls and ancient pottery on the floor. In the very back, stacked neatly against the wall, she saw large cardboard boxes.

“How in the world did you ever find this place? I love it here. I wish we had a bed here, we could make love right here in this hole behind the falls.”

“We don’t have a bed, but I like your idea. Maybe we need to get an air mattress and bring down here. We do have some boxes over here though. Have you ever made love on a cardboard box?” he spoke above steady droning of the falls.

“No, but I’m willing to try if you are...

“What’s in these boxes anyway? They won’t crush when we both sit on them will they?”

He led her to the row of boxes, stacked as high as the ceiling of the cave. He stopped where one box was on the floor and another was stacked higher behind it. He sat down and slid back until he had a backrest against the box behind him.

“Our future is in these boxes. I think they’re packed full enough that we won’t crush them,” he told her, pulling her around to sit across his legs.

“Wait, I want to do something before we do this,” she said as she knelt on the dry, sandy floor of the cave. His legs spread wide, his feet on the floor.

Steve’s cock was already hard, when Crystal took her fingers and raised it, he grew even more rigid. She looked it over, having never seen a man this close and personal. There were scars along one side and over the top of his shaft. The head of his cock was big. She could see what appeared to be burn scars on his upper thighs. His hair was thick, black and curly – covering his body from his groin to his neck.

She licked his sensitive cockhead as it throbbed in her hands. She opened her mouth and let her full lips slide over the smooth knob, sucking as she tried to pull it into her mouth. It was big and she opened her mouth until her jaws hurt, then tried again. She was barely able to get his cockhead between her lips without scraping him with her teeth. She opened her mouth wide and positioned her head to take him deeper. She could wait no longer. She needed him now.

“Hold me Steve, while I sit on your lap.”

She stood facing him, her feet spread wide to straddle the box on the floor of the cave.

He put his hands on her hips and she worked her way forward slowly, with short quick steps. Crystal threw her leg over his right leg, then over his left. She held herself steady with her hands on his shoulders.

“Hold it for me, Steve. I want to take you inside me.”

Crystal lowered her body, her knees quivering in excitement. She wanted him and her lust overrode her fears as she settled lower.

The head of his cock slipped into her, past her outer lips and into her vaginal opening. The pressure was greater, yet the pain was lessening, and she wanted more.

“Are you alright Crystal? We can stop any time. We don’t have to do this, I can give you satisfaction without tearing your pussy up,” Steve told her.

“I want you Steve. I want you and I want to make love with you. Let me take my time and I promise, you won’t regret it,” she told him as she leaned her forehead against his chin.

“Relax Crystal, let your legs rest on top of my legs and just slide back and forth. That’s the way. Now I’m going to put my hands on your hips and help you.”

“I like this Steve ... and I know I’ll learn to love it. You feel so big inside me. I never dreamed it would feel so good to have a cock as large as yours in my pussy. Fuck me deep and slow, Steve. Fuck me good. OH YES ... I’m getting a come and I can’t hold it any longer ... I want more, I want to come again and again Can we stay here a while? Can we fuck some more? I feel so good. OH YES, Steve, just like that. I love the way you make my body feel. OH DAMN, No one has ever sucked my nipples ... YES, You’re making me come again and I love it...

“Can we make love again later? I want you again already!”

“Any time, Baby.”

He led her to the opening of the cave, letting the rushing waters cool their fevered bodies as they held each other. He showed her where she could stand, looking through the falling curtain of water and see out onto the rock ledges and all around the falls, with the clear pool below.

“I love this place ... and I’m falling in love with you, Steve.”

“I falling in love with you very fast, Crystal. I felt the pull when you came to talk to me and sat on the stool, eating part of my food, as if you’d known me forever.”

“I felt the same way. I was drawn to you by your rugged, masculine looks. Then you blew me away with your soft voice and your easy smile.”

“Let’s go see if we still have the two wild pups. If Dog was able to make them stay, we may have a chance with them. Food is the one thing that will get an animal’s attention. If we can get them to eat, they’ll stay for more.”

They left Crystal’s truck parked in the dirt road near the falls and walked up to the cabin. They saw Dog and his two pups asleep on the porch.

Steve held Crystal’s hand aas they walked right past them into the kitchen. The pups stood up when they walked upon the porch, but lay back down, closer to Dog after Steve and Crystal had walked into the house.

“Get those leftover biscuits and open them so we can pour this gravy over them and crumble the leftover bacon on them. If bacon grease and gravy don’t make them want to stay, nothing will,” Steve told her as they worked to prepare a big plate of food for the wild cur pups.

“You take it out there, Crystal. Talk softly to Dog. His reaction will let them know you’re not a threat. Put the plate down as close as you can to them without them shying away.”

She crouched low and walked slowly toward the three dogs. They were cautiously watching her. Dog was thumping his tail on the wood porch. The two pups snuggled closer to him, but stayed by his side.

She placed the plate on the floor, then gradually pushed it even closer with her hand. She talked to Dog the whole time in a soft voice, then stood slowly, to walk back to Steve. He was smiling and she knew she had done it right.

He reached for her and they hugged as she turned back to see the pups stand up. With their bodies crouched low, their necks extended warily, they smelled the food. They moved closer, licking their chops, sniffing again. Their tongues darted out, licking a taste of the gravy. The plate of biscuits, gravy, bacon and bacon grease was gone in a matter of seconds as the two pups gulped the food down, then licked the plate shiny clean.

Crystal looked at Steve and he smiled.

Dog lay still, watching the whole thing. He never made a move to eat from the plate. He looked up at Steve and turned to lick his pups as they lay back beside him with their heads on his body.

“That’s a good beginning. But we need to cook more biscuits, gravy and bacon. If you can get Dog to take one from your hand, they may try the same thing,” Steve whispered as they backed slowly into the kitchen.

“Get the bacon out and start frying it. I’ll make the biscuits and gravy.”

When they had two bread pans of homemade biscuits in the oven and a large pan of bacon frying over low heat in the skillet, he took her hand and pulled her onto his knees.

“Tomorrow, I’ll paint your face and body camo and we’ll run through the forest. We need to start your training, along with the pups,” he told her.

“I smell the biscuits, lets go feed our babies. I’m getting excited again just thinking about all we can do together here.”

“We haven’t even scratched the surface.”

Crystal took the bacon from the skillet. It wasn’t crisp, but it was done and there was plenty of grease. Steve turned the oven broiler on to brown the tops of the biscuits and started stirring water and flour into the pan with the bacon grease.

They had two more large plates of food for the young pups and Crystal took one in each hand out to the porch.

“When you go out there, set the plates down, out away from them. Take a biscuit with gravy and bacon on it, and slowly reach out to let Dog have it ... Then take one in each hand and hold it out to the pups. Be careful of your fingers when they take it.”

Dog thumped his tail on the porch, welcoming her out with them. The pups smelled more food and both thumped their tails on the porch in anticipation.

She stooped to place the two plates on the porch, then picked up a biscuit covered in gravy and crumbled bacon. She reached out slowly to let Dog take it from her hand. He gulped it down and licked his mouth as he lay on the porch. The pups came to him and licked his mouth and turned to look up at Crystal.

She took two halves of biscuits from a plate and held one out to each of them. They eased forward and snapped the biscuits from her hands, narrowly missing her fingers.

Crystal pulled her hands back and watched them.

Dog thumped his tail repeatedly and the pups stood and sniffed the plates.

They eased closer with their heads down, their necks extended, easing closer.

She took two more biscuit halves covered in gravy and extended her arms slowly toward them once more.

With a snap of their jaws, the pups gulped the offered food and licked their chops, wagging their tails.

“Again Crystal,” Steve spoke softly from behind her. She reached down for another biscuit in each hand, and this time, she didn’t extend her arms as far. She made them come closer to take the food. She took her hands and slid the plates over just an inch or two closer to them.

The pups eased closer, each of them snapping up a half biscuit, jumping back to gulp it down. They each came right back and snatched another one. Then they took two steps forward and bent over the plates, eating and licking the thick gravy, gobbling the food down whole until the plates were empty and licked clean.

Crystal had stayed close to the plates. The pups were looking up at her and she wanted to pet them. In a voice so soft, Steve could hardly hear, she spoke to the pups.

“We’re proud of you boys. We want you to stay with us and live here with Dog. We want you to be smart and do as we ask, yet we want you to keep your wild nature as we become friends. If we feed you biscuits and gravy, will you stay with us?” she whispered as they looked up at her.

Very slowly, Crystal reached out to lay her hands on the plates, palms up as the pups watched warily. She never moved her fingers, never flinched. She looked into their eyes as they both stared at her, then at her open hands.

First one then the other moved closer and sniffed her fingers. They licked her fingers with their long tongues, their eyes never leaving her eyes as they did.

“Good puppies, both of you will make us proud. You’ll make old Dog proud of his boys too,” she whispered as they looked at her, slowly wagging their tails.

Crystal eased backward, still squatting on her haunches as she moved back away from them. They licked the plates once more and she backed away to stand beside Steve. She had tears in her eyes and he held her close.

“That was very moving, Crystal. You’re a natural at this. I may never have gotten them to eat from my hand, but they belong to you now. It won’t be long until they’ll be following you into the forest and back. We’ll go slow and train them. They learn from repetition, and Dog will help us a lot as we get him to do the things we want them to learn.”

He took her hand and they walked back down the smooth rock slope to the falls. They never talked, they never even looked at each other. When they came over the top of the round boulder overlooking the pool below, the spray from the falls was billowing up and covering them in a fine mist. They held hands as they leaped into the cool, clear pool below.

They came up, blowing their breaths out in a rush, as they recovered from the cool water. When they looked up, they saw movement on the rocks above them. There stood Dog and his two pups looking down at them.

The sun was close to an hour from setting and the shade of the trees was already making shadows under the thickest parts of the forest.

“Lets run Crystal. Lets run naked, and tomorrow we’ll get up early and paint each other with camo. We’ll run through the forest naked before breakfast.”

Steve pulled her hand with him as he went to the edge of the pool.

They started off slowly, running while looking back to see Dog following them. They saw the two pups behind him.

“They’re running with Dog, Steve. I love this! When we put our paint on tomorrow morning, can we wear it all day?”

“Sure. Do you really want to be naked all day?”

“YES! I want to run and I want you to start teaching me where to hide, what to watch out for and how to be a part of the forest without being seen.”

“I hope you know, being naked with camo paint all over your body, is one hell of a turn on. It’s almost like running through the forest and not being seen. You’ll feel invincible and the adrenaline starts to pump. Your body feels like you could whip an army. You’ll begin to feel like you’re a part of this wilderness, like you could transform back to the wild side of your caveman ancestors.”

“Wow, you’ve made me really want to be a part of this now. I want to run and hide, watching as the forest animals go past. I want you to throw me to the ground and fuck me like an animal. I want to experience it all as you help me learn to live in your world.”

“This was my world as a kid ... living in the wild, watching the animals, seeing the food chain evolve, and the strongest survive. I knew one day I would come back to this world. I thought it would be up near Jasper, but I found this place and bought it from the old man who owned it. He told me of the places that would make your hair stand up when you see them. Places where the flight animals gathered in groups, seeking safety in numbers from the prey animals as they stalk the forest for food and dominance of their domain.”

“Damn Steve! I love this already, just listening to you talk about this wilderness world. I wonder just how many men know this wild country as you do. Are there many?”

“There are some who do. Then there are the survivalists who hang out in the forest north and east of here. They pretend to be survivors of some nuclear disaster, getting their kicks from mock combat and war games. There are some who come to the edges of the forest to play games in their make believe world and shoot each other with paint-balls. All in mock battles with mock weapons. Then they go back to their everyday world with smiles of accomplishment that they won the weekend battle and moved up a notch on the tote board.”

“Do you ever see them? I mean do they come across the river where the high bluff marks our land?”

“They do once in a while. I’ve met them and asked them to leave. They try to bluff me. When they turn and see Dog, they nearly shit down their legs. I have seen them on this side and I’ve stuck arrows in trees, just inches from their ears as they peep around to see if they’ve been spotted.”

“Will you teach me to shoot the bows, so I can use them to defend myself and our property?”

“We’ll start that tomorrow. We’ll carry our bows and plenty of arrows with us from now on, each time we run. I have a knife I want you to keep strapped on your waist at all times. When I teach you to use a weapon, you’ll learn to kill with it, not just use it in self defense.”

“Do you think I could ever kill another human? Am I made that way?” she asked.

“If you see someone about to kill me or another person ... or Dog and you’re the only one who can save them, you’ll kill and you’ll feel good about having the power to save a life. Even if you have to take a life to do it.”

They were over two miles from the cabin and the light was gone from the forest floor. There was still a dim light in the sky, above the tree tops. The air around them was cooling fast from the heat of the day. They turned to see Dog and his pups behind them as started walking back past them. They weren’t running, in an effort to keep from frightening the pups.

Dog walked off the darkening trail and his pups followed him as Steve and Crystal walked faster past them, then broke into a run through the forest. She followed him as he ran, knowing his eyes were accustomed to this. He was good at moving through the dark unseen ... unheard. He was as close to an animal as she’d ever known a man could be – even her own daddy, who was himself, a mountain man.

She already knew her man was afraid of no one. Not even the animals in his world. He was not only the owner of the property, he was the ruler of his kingdom and he ruled with wisdom and knowledge. Using force when necessary, killing for food ... ready to kill in self defense when it was forced upon him.

Crystal watched his dark form, his thick legs and his broad shoulders just ahead of her as they ran. His muscular buttocks sawing back and forth, as he ran with the ease of a big cat across the floor of the ever darkening forest.

When they reached the small clearing where the cabin stood, she was right beside him.

“Steve – I love this! I’m never leaving unless you leave with me,” she told him when they reached the porch.

“Then you’ll never leave except to get supplies ... Get your phone and call your friend Janelle. Tell her that you’re quitting and you’ll pick up your last paycheck at Julio’s bar. Put that money in the bank ... all of it. Pay off your pickup, lump sum. If you need more, I’ll give you more. I want you to pay off your student loan too. I want you here and I don’t want you worrying about bills. We’ll go down one day this week and get your stuff from the apartment.”

“You spoke of supplies. Do we need to take some of my money and buy more supplies? There’ll be two of us, and now the two pups to feed. Will we need more weapons for survival or to defend of the property?”

“No, I have all the weapons we’ll ever need. More so than it would take to defend the whole county. Dog will teach the pups to fend for themselves, just as he does. We’ll get tick and flea drops and put on them as soon as you can touch them. If the time comes for us to restock our weapons and ammo, Julio will handle that. He has connections that will supply us with no trace of what it was, how much or where it went. We’ll go to town once a month to stock up on canned goods, flour, meal, sugar, salt, coffee and tea. We’ll grow what we need in the spring and summer, and put it in the freezer. We’ll feed off the forest the rest of the time.”