by Sable Grey
Passion of
the Wolf
by Sable Grey
Breathless Press
Calgary, Alberta
www.breathlesspress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Passion of the Wolf
Copyright© 2009 Sable Grey
ISBN: 978-1-926771-04-5
Cover Artist: Justyn Perry
Editor: Justyn Perry
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in reviews.
Breathless Press
www.breathlesspress.com
I dedicate this
to the Bill in my life
Chapter 1
Cait hugged her sister close as she peered over her father’s shoulder at the men who’d raided Atherton castle. There had been an army, one that had set fire to the walls of Atherton and chased people from their homes, but only five had remained once they’d secured the castle. They stood near the door as if waiting.
Fiona sobbed softly against Cait’s shoulder, refusing to look at those that had dragged them from their beds and down into the main hall. Fiona’s mother wept as well, curled against Cait’s father. Their only hope was her cousin, Ewan. Cait prayed he’d escaped detection and was on his way to Bathhurst.
At last the door of the castle opened and the men parted. Cait leaned farther to the side so she could see whose heavy step echoed across the stone threshold. Large leather boots reached up the woolen trousers of a pair of long legs. Metal armor made the man appear twice his size, the helmet he’d worn tucked under one bulky arm.
A thick mane of blond hair hung over the man’s shoulder’s framing a face of broad, strong features. His blue eyes narrowed as they swung around the hall to Cait’s family, huddled in one corner.
He inclined his head sharply to one of the larger of his men and Cait’s gaze widened when the man stepped forward and grabbed her father by the arm, hauling him forward. Rebekka instantly turned to reach for Fiona, both of them crying out with fear. Cait released Fiona to her mother and stood alone as her father was brought before the leader of the Viking rebels.
“Is there anyone else?” A deep baritone voice echoed through the room as the man released her father so he could stand without assistance.
“No,” her father answered.
“If I find that you lie to me, I will kill one of the women. If there is someone else here, call out for them to come forward.”
Cait watched her father pale. She didn’t like to see him like this. Aengus Gillpatrick was not a weak man, accustomed to giving orders rather than receiving them.
“I swear there is no one else left here but my family.” Aengus gritted through clenched teeth. “Your brutes chased out everyone else.” His attention darted to Cait and she offered him a nod of reassurance, hoping her support would strengthen him. The Viking leader’s gaze slid to Cait and she lifted her chin, following her father’s lead. She would not show them fear.
“And this is the only family you had that occupied this place?”
Cait’s heart thumped when the Viking stepped past her father and towards her. Still she didn’t waver, forcing her shaking hands to still at her sides. She met the Viking’s gaze vehemently, silently willing him to drop dead before he reached her.
“Yes. Let us go. Keep the castle,” Aengus called.
The Viking halted in front of Cait and then turned to look back at her father. “This is your eldest?”
“Leave her alone.”
Cait yelped when the Viking reached forward and grasped her by the hair of the back of her head and turned. “And you would sacrifice her over telling me the truth?”
Cait balled her fist and swung, hitting the man in his face with all of her might. She wasn’t nearly as strong as he but it was enough force to make his grasp on her to loosen. She spun away from him and glared when he faced her. She felt smug satisfaction when a bit of blood dotted his lip.
“Do not place your filthy hands on me again or I will claw out your eyes and feed them to the dogs!” Cait hissed. “As he said there is no one left here. My cousin escaped before your men could find him.”
“Your cousin?”
“Yes. He will bring back an army that will crush you and yours and we shall dance upon your graves every night of our lives so that your souls never rest for what you’ve done to our home.” Cait spat on his boot.
He looked down and then back at her before turning and nodding again to the large man near her father. He instantly stepped through the door and returned moments later Ewan in tow, beaten and bloodied. She cried out and started to rush forward but the Viking caught her around the waist and shoved her back.
“As you see he did not succeed.” The Viking turned. “I am Biel Vard and I claim this castle and the lands with it as my own. It will be called Blaidden and all that remains on this land after this night will become my property.”
“This is our home!” Cait yelled at the back of his head.
“Cait, quiet,” Aengus commanded.
“You may take your wife and one of your daughters and leave this place.” Biel continued. “Or you can stay and do my bidding as your new master.”
“I cannot leave without my entire family,” Aengus argued. “I will leave but with my wife, both my daughters, and my nephew.”
“Then you choose to remain.” Biel glanced back at Cait. “And I will take one of your daughters as my woman.”
“You cannot. You will not!” Aengus lunged but two of them grabbed him before he could get to Biel.
“I can and I most certainly will.” Biel’s gaze dragged to Fiona. “But you may choose which.”
“I will not choose,” Aengus refused.
“Take her!” Rebekka suddenly pointed at Cait, pushing Fiona behind her. “Take her and we will leave this place.” Cait stared at Rebekka. She’d known the woman had always resented the love Aengus had for his first wife, her mother, but until that moment she’d never felt unloved herself.
Fiona howled and pulled from her mother’s embrace running to Cait’s embrace. “No!”
“We will not leave. And I will not choose.”
“Then you will die and your wife will make the choice in your stead.” Biel unhooked an ax from his side.
“Me!” Cait stepped forward, despite Fiona’s wail, and waited until Biel turned to look back at her. “He chooses me. Leave him alone.”
“No, Cait,” Ewan argued.
“Cait,” Aengus’ voice was defeated when Biel inclined his head and reattached his weapon.
“Take the rest of them to the tower and keep them there,” Biel commanded and his men moved to do as he bid. Cait watched them as they were taken from the hall and up the stone stairwell. Fiona’s protests and Rebekka’s weeping quieted as they were taken farther into the belly of the castle, leaving an uneasy silence to bounce around the corners of the hall.
“It was a wise choice.”
“Choice?!” Cait whirled to face their captor, leaping forward to assault him. Her fists beat upon the rough leather of his armor until his strong fingers wrapped around her wrist. But she would not settle. Instead she leaned forward and sank her teeth into his solid jaw. She heard him grunt moments before the coppery taste of him filled her mouth. She collapsed to her knees when he shoved her from him.
“Very good, Biel,” one of his men, the largest built of the five, returned
and called from the stairwell above them. “You succeed in beating upon a helpless woman the moment I turn my back.” He began descending.
Cait smiled evilly when Biel lifted his hand to his jaw. She would show him just how helpless she could be. Jumping to her feet, she swiped the candelabrum from its place on the table against the wall and whirled, swinging it into his shoulder with a shout. She swung again. And a third time until he grabbed it and wrestled it from her.
Her gaze darted around for the next weapon but she didn’t move quickly enough and the Viking’s thick arm wrapped around her, trapping her hands at her sides. She yelled and kicked at him until he raised his hand. Closing her eyes, she waited for the blow that never came.
“If his men had nearly as much fight as his offspring, we would never have gotten past the gates.”
“What happened to your face, brother? Did she bite you?” The man behind them drew near, but Cait didn’t look behind her. She knew the leader was the real threat. Her father had taught her much about men and war. Biel Vard was the core of the evil that had rained upon them.
“More beast than we,” Biel murmured, shoving her away from him.
“The other girl and the mother are helpless and weak. The father took a crack at Boris. He is not feeble despite his age.” The man’s fingers touched Cait’s arm and she jerked away, placing a few steps between her and the men.
“Neither am I. You will have to kill me before I allow you to touch me with your filthy body.” She took several more steps backwards then turned and started to bolt.
“Then bring me her sister.” Biel’s deep voice stopped her at the doorway. Cold fear slipped through her body. Fiona wasn’t like Cait. This hulking Viking would break her sister.
“Send them away from here and I will do as you wish,” she countered without looking back.
“You are in no position to barter with me.”Biel’s heavy step drew closer and then stopped behind her. When he spoke it was directly next to her ear, causing her to jump despite her attempts to appear unafraid of him.
“It is not that wisp of a sister that I want anyway. I’d rather it be you.”
Cait balled her fists. “Why would you think I cared what you wanted? You and your dogs stormed my home and are ripping my family apart.” She faced him slowly. “I am not stupid. I know what you mean to do and why you mean to do it. By wedding and bedding me it gives you more legal right to claim my home as your own. Is it not enough that you have forced your way in here? That you shall force yourself into me? Are you so weak you feel you cannot accomplish what you mean to do without sending my family away now?”
“Bring the vicar.” Biel’s gaze never left Cait’s.
A few moments later a man in a robe was brought into the room. Biel reached forward, took her by the arm and walked back to the center of the room. He inclined his head as Cait jerked her arm from his grasp.
She felt like choking the vicar as he began the ceremony. When it came time for her to verbally accept the marriage, she hesitated, glaring up at the Viking. He raised one thick brow and waited. There was nothing she could do.
Suddenly she smiled. She would marry this beast and then she would make him regret he ever set eyes on their gates. She would make him pay. That much she did have control over.
Affirming the union, the rest of the ceremony was but a faint whisper to her thoughts. Instead she filled her mind with all the acts of defiance she would assault him with. As the ceremony ended, she faced her new husband, feeling much stronger. He leaned forward to kiss her, gaze searching hers when she did nothing to stop him. Closer still and she smiled sweetly before raking her nails across his face. Curses erupted from his lips and bounced across the hall as he jerked away from her. The other that had stood as witness, of whom Biel had called brother, laughed.
“I am almost jealous she is not mine, Biel.” He continued to chortle.
“Let us get this done with.” Biel growled and slanted a glance at his brother. “And you are too soft, Loegaire. She would have already eaten you as her midday meal.” It was meant as an insult to his brother. But Loegaire laughed again anyway, nodding.
Cait watched Biel begin removing his armor, realizing he meant to make the marriage legal that very moment. “Can this not be done without an audience?”
“I will have witnesses to the consummation.” He dropped his weapons and armor to the side and pulled the ties of his leggings.
“If it is as pathetic as your honor, they shall have forgotten it by morning.” Cait directed her words to the heart of him.
“Silence,” he commanded and took her arm. “Don’t fight me and it shall be over quickly.” He walked her to the table near the wall, and then turned her to face him. This time she spit in his face.
“From this moment forward I shall fight everything you attempt,” she vowed. “I shall give you no peace. You stormed the wrong gates if you thought to find yourself a docile obliging wife.”
Biel wiped his face, staring down at her with hard eyes, and then he surprised her by turning and facing the vicar and his brother. “The vicar remains here until the marriage is consummated….by her choice”
Cait wanted to scream with victory. “Then you shall never be rid of him.”
“Shall I take her to her family?” Loegaire asked.
“No. While she is not to be locked up as they are, she will have nothing more to do with them. And if she tries to escape or help any of them escape, kill her father.” Biel’s final words echoed behind him as he headed from the great hall. Cait’s triumph plummeted in her stomach.
“I cannot remain here. I have responsibilities. Just do as he wishes, girl.” The vicar growled and Cait’s anger returned. The vicar’s head snapped backwards when she hit him. She whirled and fled upstairs. She needed a quiet place to think.
Hours later, Biel stepped into the great hall. “Where is she?”
“In the master bed chambers,” Loegaire answered. “She’s probably waiting on you with a dagger in her boot.”
Biel grunted in agreement. “She bites like a bear.” He touched the mark she’d left on his cheek and almost smiled. Cait Gillpatrick had been an unexpected fire burning in the hearth of her father’s castle. She’d had spine and had shown no fear of him. Even when she’d thought he would truly strike her she had closed her eyes and waited without flinching. Biel respected women with that kind of courage. And so did his brothers.
“You won’t force her.” As if reading his mind, Loegaire spoke his thoughts.
“I will not.” He glanced towards the stairs.“It is not my wish to break the spirit of these people.”
“I doubt she could be broken even if you had it in mind to try.” Loegaire laughed. “Bonny thing to carry such weapons.”
“She was armed?” Uif sounded surprised as he looked up from the table between Loegaire and Biel.
“Her tongue cuts deeper than a sword,” Loegaire revealed, then addressed the eldest of them again. “She will not relent. It will not happen tonight.”
Biel wanted to join his brothers but knew he must finish the business at hand before he could rest. He left them and made his way the stone staircase and to the master bed chamber.
Turning the handle, he allowed the door to swing open, half expecting her to be waiting with some new weapon to bash him in the head with. Instead, he found her standing across the room looking out the window. Entering, he smiled when she didn’t turn to face him, as if she had no fear of him at all.
He closed the door behind him and walked to the center of the room. Crossing his arms, he waited, allowing her to take the time she needed. Loegaire was wrong. It would happen. She would submit to him for her family’s sake. It was the only vulnerability she’d allowed them to see.
“I shall agree to do as you wish, to become your wife in the eyes of God and the King. I shall do it only this once and you will send my family away from here immediately after the vicar agrees the marriage is consummated.” She still didn’t face hi
m. “You will send them away even when my father refuses. And you will not send them away as servants but with honor so that when they arrive and my uncle’s home, they will not be disgraced.”
“And if I refused to do what you think you can command?”
“Then I shall continue to refuse you and you shall never have your legal right to Atherton.”
“Blaidden,” he corrected.
“Not until this marriage is consummated. Until then it is still Atherton and still belongs to my father.” She lifted her chin. “I am not stupid.”
No she was not. She was very clever. He studied her a moment and then walked across the room to the large chair near the hearth. He didn’t look away from her as he settled into the cushions. Stretching his legs out, he folded his arms over his chest and continued to regard her in silence.
“It is what you meant to do to begin with was it not?” She met his gaze.
“That was before you married my face with your fangs.” He saw the momentary lift in the corner of her lips then blew out a breath. “Very well. I want this business finished quickly. I shall send your family to your uncle’s home less you and your cousin.”
“Do it now and you may bring back the vicar and your brother as witness this very moment.”
“No.” He shook his head. “We will consummate this marriage and only then will your family be safely released.”
“My cousin with them,” she pushed.
“Your cousin stays.”
He watched her frown then finally inclined her head. “Then quickly be done with it. I shall not rest until my sister is away from you and your horde of dogs.”
***
“Your mood is too foul to be that of a man who succeeded.” Loegaire scratched at his thick beard. “What is wrong? I will kill the problem if for no other reason than to save myself from suffering your scowl.”
Across the hall, Cait appeared. Biel watched her walk the length of the room. She held her head high, her shoulders back and she walked spine straight. When she was almost to the door, Uif stepped in front of her. Her eyes widened and she attempted to step around him but he did not allow her to pass.