by Lee Savino
We reached the pit. With a gesture, Samuel bade us all stay back. He alone went to peer down at the man.
I moved as close as I could without breaking my Alpha’s command. If the encounter upset him and Samuel’s beast broke free, I would be close enough to do something. Even die.
“Maddox. I am Samuel, once named Sigmund. Speak.”
“Alpha.” The prisoner’s tone, at least, was respectful. “Ragnvald Bodolf’s son sends his greetings.”
“It’s been a long time since I heard that name. I wonder now why I am hearing it again.”
“Ragnvald has looked for you these past few decades. He knows you left his father Bodolf’s pack, and severed the Alpha bond. He wishes to make peace.”
“By sending you to trespass on our land?”
“I am a Berserker. I fear no one.”
“Perhaps you should, Maddox of Ragnvald’s clan. Tell me, where are you from?”
“Ériu,” Maddox named an island to the east of us. “I was cursed by a witch to bear the Berserker rage. I came to fight for a king, and Ragnvald found me. He taught me to train my beast.”
“And what of Ragnvald now? Does he control his beast, or does the beast control him?”
Maddox’s silence told us the answer.
“How long ago did Ragnvald lose control?” Samuel’s voice was deceptively gentle.
“Three moons. Ragnvald has since gained the upper hand but—”
“But will lose it again. It’s only a matter of time. His father succumbed to the rage.”
“Ragnvald killed him.”
“I wondered what had happened to Bodolf. So now—” Samuel’s tone hardened. “You come to me, to beg me to save Ragnvald? Knowing how dangerous it is for one Alpha to best another? Did you really think I’d risk my life, and the sanity of my pack for a warrior I abandoned long ago?”
“I had hoped you would remember him as a brother.”
“No,” Samuel said, and reached out, beckoning to me. I went and stood next to my Alpha, frowning down at the prisoner. “Daegan is my brother. Ragnvald and I were rivals, at best. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you.”
“He did.” Maddox stood straight-backed, inked shoulders set as if he were entering a fight instead of looking up at his captors from the bottom of a pit. “I had hoped the centuries would’ve mellowed you.”
“I am a Berserker. We do not grow weak.”
“The beast makes the strongest of us weak. I have seen it. A great warrior, leader, friend…now slavering like a dog. I keep him chained in a cave, away from the pack. If one of them were to stray, or if he were to break loose and come for us, a link to his mind would be enough to pull us all into madness.” Naked pain crawled over Maddox’s face.
I did not have to hear Samuel’s thoughts to know what my Alpha wanted to do. Saving Ragnvald would satisfy him, if only because the warrior would be indebted to him. Beyond that, it pleased Samuel to preserve a link to his past. And there was the part of him that wanted to save a man’s life for the sake of saving it.
I felt Samuel harden himself to Maddox’s pleas. In this moment, my Alpha would prove why he was a true leader.
“I am sorry,” Samuel said. “You have done a great thing for your warrior brother.”
“But you will not help.”
“I cannot. If you live long enough to survive Ragnvald, and become Alpha, you’ll understand. I will not risk many for one.” Both Samuel and I turned away from the pit.
Maddox called after us, his voice cracking. “We have a wolf in our pack who reads runes. He told us there is a woman for us.”
I stopped in my tracks, and Samuel gripped my shoulder to keep me from flying back, demanding Maddox say more.
Could Brenna be the mate for these other wolves?
No. It cannot be. We willnae allow it.
“I know you have a secret.” Maddox said. “I scent her on you.”
Annoyance turned to fear within me.
Control yourself, Samuel ordered me. He does not know who she is to us.
With a hand signal, Samuel ordered us all away from the pit. Maddox kept shouting.
“I know she isn’t just a whore you picked up from the village. Ragnvald has dreamt of her—our volva. You must let me speak to her!”
Samuel turned before I could stop him, and raced back to teeter on the edge of the pit. “The only thing I must do is decide whether or not to cover this pit with a stone. The rain will be a mercy, until hunger eats you alive. Be silent, or I will order the pack to cover this pit with a rock, and you will never see the sun again.”
I felt the Alpha’s rage building, the taint spreading, silencing his wolf, swallowing his humanity until the only thing left was the beast—
Samuel. I choked out. Give yer rage to me.
The Alpha roared.
I shifted, and ran and ran and ran. Samuel’s blast of power overtook me and I felt my wolf self change—nails lengthening, body reshaping—so I was neither man nor wolf but something else.
“What is the beast?” Yseult once asked us. “Man or wolf?”
“Neither.” I’d answered, at the same time Samuel said, “Both. The focus of the wolf and cruelty of the man.”
“What comes of such a union?”
“Ragnarok.” Samuel had answered. “The end of worlds.”
The end of my world, I thought, before the beast claimed my mind.
*
I woke in the center of a circle of destruction. Saplings and bushes ripped from the ground. The earth torn where great claws had ripped into it. My hands bore cuts lined with dried blood. The magic healed quickly, but I still ached.
Beside me lay the carcass of a stag, a powerful creature with a giant rack of antlers. A hundred spears would have to work to bring it down. The head lay several feet away from its body. Its entrails spilled in a gruesome feast for ravens.
I stood, stretching painful muscles. The elk wasn’t the only casualty. Carcasses of animals littered the ground. Rodents, sparrows, even beetles, nothing survived the maelstrom of Berserker rage. The earth stank of tainted magic.
At least I was alive. Samuel once told me about a Berserker who, after a great battle, clawed his own heart out. Others cut their flesh with knives. What else had I done?
There was no sight of the mountain. I had run for miles. Luckily I could easily follow the beast’s path.
I headed home, but my steps faltered. When the beast was upon us, it took our sight, our vision, our sanity. Our woman would never survive. Our only hope was to stay away. It would be better if I never returned.
Do not think such thoughts, Samuel ordered. Come home. She misses you.
I obeyed. I did not know how Samuel could be so calm. To him, Brenna was the last hope of a dying man.
And his control had to be perfect.
By dusk I limped up the mountain. Samuel met me at the mouth of the cave.
“How long was I gone?”
“Three days. I am sorry,” he said, before loping away. He would spend a day off the mountain, part in penance, in part to distance himself from the rage simmering underneath all my control.
I found Brenna in a chamber we’d given her for her own. Long ago, whoever had carved the rooms out of stone had cunningly found ways to let air and light flow in from the outside. Brenna’s little room had a patch of sunlight from late morning until afternoon. The place stayed warmer than any other, besides the cavern of hot springs.
My footsteps were silent on the stone floor. Our beloved knelt over a patch of earth we’d gathered for her, tending to her garden. I’d never believed flowers would grow inside a cave, but Brenna probably could coax them from the very stone.
“Hello, lass.”
She started at my voice, and again when she saw me. I must’ve looked rougher than I felt, for she came to my side and threw my arm around her shoulders to guide me to the bathing chamber. There, she washed her hands before gripping mine and leading me into the pool.
I didn
’t realize how my head was pounding until her fingers stroked my hair. I stood with my eyes closed as she soaped a cloth and rubbed my tired muscles. When she bade me dunk, I obeyed and came out of the water feeling like a new man.
“Brenna.” I wanted to touch her, but I felt I did not deserve her. I held out my hands to her, wondering how I could explain, wondering how much Samuel had told her.
She took a step towards me, then another. I realized it didn’t matter. Even if we tried to keep a secret from her, somehow she knew. Her hands gripped mine.
My control snapped. I pulled her into my arms, and she let me, her body soft and pliant. Her fingers danced over my jaw, reminding me to be gentle. My own fingers fisted in her hair, drawing her head back for a kiss. I claimed her mouth until her cheeks were scraped raw from my stubble.
Lifting her, I strode quickly to our chambers. When the Berserker rage took me, I’d lain on the cold forest floor. I wanted her in the softness of the furs. The simple pleasures reminded me of my humanity.
In her arms I would remember who I was. I would remember who I still could be.
Inside our chambers, I set Brenna down and backed her to the dais. She lay willingly, and opened her legs.
Brenna’s gown was wet, so I stripped it off her. The fabric tore in my haste. “Sorry, lass. I’ll buy ye another. I’ll buy ye a hundred more, so ye have plenty left when I rip them off.”
I bent my head to her breast. Our beloved’s body arched and undulated beneath my questing mouth. Her breathing grew harsh as I worked lower, finding her most secret places and exploring them with my tongue. Her soft gasps filled the chamber.
“I missed ye, Brenna.” A kiss to her ankle, and I nibbled my way back up to her center. Brenna lay limp, already sated by one orgasm. “I need ye. I want yer scent all over my body.” I rubbed my face in her secret folds, holding her down by her hips as she fought to get away. “One whiff of me and the pack will know I am yers.” Brenna’s body shook under me as pleasure rolled through her. She still writhed as I flipped her over and pushed my cock into her. “I cannae get enough of this. Never, never.” I groaned as I rocked in and out of her. She was wet and ready, her liquid heat flowing in rivers over my cock. I pulled out and paused before slamming into her. Her body slid forward over the furs. I did it thrice more before she fought her way to hands and knees. Fisting her hands in the pelts, she pushed back against me. We worked in rhythm. Our hips slapped together and I felt my balls tighten at the sound.
“You’re gonna take all I give ye.” Pushing my body forward, I forced her flat onto the furs. She stilled when my mouth found the tender place between her neck and shoulder.
Mark her. My wolf growled. Claim her. Our mate. My head burst with the pain of fighting the desire to bite down.
Brenna huddled underneath me, her head bent forward in surrender. My mouth watered at the sight of her, the fall of her dark hair, the creamy slope of her shoulder.
“Nay,” I barked, and wrenched myself up. Brenna looked back in concern.
I felt Samuel’s presence at my back.
“Do you have it under control?”
Cursing, I rose. My cock was painfully hard. I would rather rip open my own chest than deny myself like this.
“Go,” Samuel said. “Get the beast under control.”
“Tis not the beast,” I gasped. “The wolf wants to mark her.” I realized we were speaking out loud and covered my mouth with my hand.
What was happening? Her presence both restored and took all our control. Would it ever be safe to lie with her again?
Brenna sat watching us, naked but for the fall of her long, dark hair. She rose and padded towards us.
“Nay.” I held out my hand to stop her. Ignoring it, she pressed herself against my body. This time, her mouth touched mine, then worked down my neck and chest. I clenched my fists as arousal spread through me. Her teeth grazed my collarbone. I sucked in a breath. More than anything I wanted her to bite down, to claim me. A mating bite from a human. What did it mean?
She kissed down my body, going to her knees. When she nuzzled the crevice between my cock and legs, my fingers clenched in her thick hair.
Samuel started forward, and I growled without taking my eyes off Brenna. She knelt before me, her head tipped back and throat exposed, nothing but desire in her eyes.
My fingers loosened in her hair, just enough for her to lean forward and capture my cock in her mouth. I kept a hand at her head, but she moved freely, licking up and down my shaft before swallowing it down.
My knees almost gave out. I tugged Brenna’s head back and used her hair to draw her to her feet. Samuel stepped close to her, steadying our beloved as I lifted her into my arms and set her on my cock. Her arms tangled around my shoulders as I moved her hips up and down, forcing my shaft deep inside her. Samuel pressed closer. His eyes met mine.
Ye can take her ass.
Samuel nodded.
Now, brother.
I knew the second his finger slid into our beloved’s tight back channel. Between my cock and the intrusion in her virgin hole, she bucked wildly. Her nails clawed my back as her orgasm claimed her.
I came with a roar. I ended up on my knees, Brenna’s body still shuddering as I cradled her.
Samuel stood by, wiping his hand on a rag while wearing a smug smile.
*
The next few days and nights, I fucked and slept, woke in Brenna’s arms and did it all over again. Samuel brought us food and watched over us, but did not take his own pleasure. There was no danger of him losing control in the throes of passion, but it was his form of penance.
As for me, I found my absolution in Brenna’s arms. When I left the cave one night, I felt peace where the rage had been.
The moon shone high in the sky as I left our chambers and our beloved asleep on the furs.
I found Samuel near the prisoner’s pit. On his orders, the pack had doused the bonfire. The Alpha squatted near the charred remains. He rose when he saw me, and indicated that we should keep far away from the pit. If Maddox heard us, he did not cry out or plead for mercy. I wondered if anyone had bothered to feed him.
In silence, Samuel and I climbed the mountain until we looked out on the valley washed in silvery light. The Alpha dismissed the lookout, and waited until the warrior had trotted out of earshot before he took his place on top of the look-out rock. I leaned against it.
Samuel broke the silence first. “Do you remember the day the witch told us there was a woman for us?”
“Aye.” I let my head fall back against the stone. Samuel had been barely human, his control worn thread thin. Unable to shift into the wolf at whim—a fact I’d hid from the rest of our pack. Another moon and I would’ve tricked Samuel into the pit, imprisoning the threat, much like Maddox had when he chained his Alpha up.
“Yseult was so smug. I could barely believe she told the truth.”
“And then ye remembered the village you’d passed through. A dark-haired woman, tall and lovely, who wore a scarf around her neck.” I stepped away from the rock to look up at Samuel. “Ye told me ye followed her that evening. She went into the forest, where she stripped and bathed in secret. And there ye saw her scars.”
“She was mesmerizing. Fearless. I almost took her there.”
“I remember teasing ye, asking why ye stopped.”
There was enough moonlight to reveal the smile playing around Samuel’s mouth. “You asked me if I’d taken a vow of celibacy.”
“Ye were a monk.”
“Not anymore. I don’t know if I fully explained why I left her then, but knew instantly she was the woman the runes spoke of. When I first saw Brenna…”
He paused and I waited.
“I couldn’t take my eyes from her,” he whispered. “I didn’t know who she was, or if she was meant for us, but I felt something. A connection, a reverence. I’d never worshiped truly until that moment. ”
“Why are ye telling me this?” I asked, even though I could gues
s.
“Do you think we chose wrong? Perhaps the runes—”
“No. The gods are playing a joke on us, to give us a woman we cannae have.” I climbed up beside Samuel, so the moonlit world lay at my feet as well as his. “I’m not giving her up. We will find a way to keep her. We must.”
Samuel sighed, and nodded.
We stood there a long time, waiting for the first crease of red light on the edge of the world. When it came, I blinked like a man awake for the first time. “We need to get back. She shouldn’t wake alone.”
Samuel led the way, but before we came in view of the pack’s bonfire, he stopped.
“When my beast overpowers me, take our woman to her sisters. Give the eldest all the money we have, and make them take Brenna far, far away, to a place we cannot follow.
I felt a chill. He hadn’t said ‘if’, but ‘when.’ “Samuel—”
“Promise me, brother.”
“Ye dinnae know—”
Promise me, Samuel roared in my mind.
I bowed my head. “I promise,” I said finally. “I will help Brenna escape. But I will search for our true mate. And I will find her, and bring her back here. And she will give us peace.”
Samuel nodded. “Very well.” It was a nice dream to cling to, even if it probably wouldn’t come to pass. “I’ve decided what to do with the prisoner.” His expression told me he regretted what he was about to tell me.
“It’s the only choice,” I said. “We cannae risk him bringing tales of Brenna back to his Alpha.”
“It will be slow. The rain will keep him alive for a time. But he hasn’t had flesh to eat for days, besides his own.”
“We can try to spear him, as Siebold did. Perhaps I will have better aim. Or we can wait until he is weak, then pull him up and kill him.”
“No.” Samuel said. “Leave him to die.”
When the Alpha disappeared into the cave, I lingered to give the news to the pack. I gave orders to let the prisoner succumb to hunger. Fergus piped up.
“Can I watch?”
“No. Samuel wishes to give the wolf his dignity. Set a guard around the perimeter but tell them to keep their distance.” I didn’t add my disapproval of this courtesy.