by Lee Savino
I felt it then, a honeyed warmth rushing over me. Two strong cords, one Thorsteinn, one Vik.
“What is this?” I whispered.
“We marked you. You’re ours now,” He cradled me closer, mouth curving in a rare grin. “You belong to us. No more running, little one.”
I stared into his storm grey eyes. I wanted to ask what they’d done. I did not understand but I knew it was magic that joined us together, magic that had healed me. When I opened my mouth, not a protest or a question came out.
“You saved me.”
Thorsteinn gazed at me steadily. “Yes.”
Ahead, on another branch, Vik set down the knife he’d been sharpening, and waved. I raised my hand in greeting, still filled with wonder.
I did not know these warriors. I did not fully understand their enemy, the Corpse King, or why he targeted the abbey. I did not know what my life would be like as their captive or why, among all the young woman of the abbey, they chose me.
I pressed the tight skin of my leg where the bone had once broken through, marveling. The healing had left no mark. It wasn’t even sore. In my blood, the bond hummed.
“You asked my name, once.” I swallowed. “Do you still want to know it?”
Thorsteinn’s brows quirked as if to say, Of course.
“Sorrel.” I told them, sitting high in the tree, my feet waving in the breeze. “My name is Sorrel.”
Now
“Sorrel. Sorrel.”
I woke with the two warriors standing over me. I rolled to a sitting position. I was back in the tree lodge. All that had passed between us—every good memory—paled in light of my sins.
“It’s done.”
My gaze flitted between them until Vik explained, “The Alphas passed judgment. You are guilty of harming Rosalind.”
My hands fisted in the blankets.
“Do you wish to know your sentence?”
I didn’t answer. They’d tell me anyway.
Sure enough, Vik squatted close to me. “The penalty for harming a spaewife is death.”
So, I’d been told.
“But since you are a spaewife yourself, the Alphas agreed this is a special case.” He ran his hand over my head. “They also took into account that we had tried and failed to form a bond.”
I flinched and looked away. I did not need to be reminded that I had been used and cast aside.
Gentle hands settled on my shoulders, right over the twin bite marks they’d given me what seemed like so long ago. “Sorrel, it is a good thing. If there is no bond, then there’s a chance to redeem you.” His large, tattooed hand settled on my shoulder, right above the old bite mark. “To claim you.”
I held my breath. Was he saying what I thought he was saying?
“Sorrel, look at me,” Thorsteinn ordered, and waited until I raised my gaze.
“They’ve given us another chance. We have one moon to bind you to us and turn you into our mate.”
I frowned, my brow wrinkling.
“The Alphas spared your life,” Vik said. “The story we told them worked.”
Thorsteinn knelt in front of me, crowding close until all I saw was his stern face. “You are wild and disobedient. A threat to yourself and all others. To save your life, we must prove you are bonded and submit fully to us.” His voice was a guttural growl.
I lick my lips and challenged, “And what if you fail?”
Thorsteinn snarled and Vik spoke up. “We will not fail. Sorrel, we’re going to tame you.”
Vik
Vik
“No,” she raised her head. “You can try. But you will never tame me.”
“That is what you think,” Thorsteinn growled, and I put a hand on his arm.
“Are you so eager for your own death? You attacked another spaewife. She lies asleep, on the edge of death, and the pack is calling for your blood. If you do not submit to us, your life is forfeit.” I motioned to the lodge entrance. “Even now there are warriors prowling the mountain. If they found you unattended, they would snap your neck and not feel remorse.”
“Let them come for me,” she said fiercely. “I would fight them.”
“You would die,” Thorsteinn said.
“Sorrel,” I started to reason with her and Thorsteinn waved a hand.
“Enough. We will argue with you no longer. You will submit to us. We will teach you to obey. If you do not, you will not like the consequences.”
“Do what you will,” she hissed. “I will never submit to you.”
I squatted close and caught a lock of her hair, tugging on it playfully. “Not even if we make the rewards greater than the punishment?” I caressed her shoulder and her eyes dropped. She flushed. Ah, yes, she was still affected by us. “You remember,” my voice grew deeper. “We shared a bond.”
“A bond?” She wrenched her shoulder away. “That’s not what you told the Alphas.”
“We explained why we said that. To save your life. To give you a chance.”
“I don’t want you anymore.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Have you thought of that?”
“Enough,” Thorsteinn said. “You do not trust us. You will in time.”
She swallowed, her head bowed so her short hair covered her face.
Do you think this is the way? I asked Thorsteinn.
He jerked his chin up. Hold. Hold steady. “Tonight, we begin. First, we punish you for leaving us. For putting our property in harm’s way.”
“Very well,” she muttered.
I raised my brows. Could it be so easy?
“You want to punish me? Fine.” She rose and ripped off her jerkin. “Do your worst.”
I stifled a laugh. She was still defiant. Still the Sorrel we had fallen in love with from the first.
She turned her back to us, and I sucked in a breath. In an instant, I was across the room and touching the scars on her back. Long white lines on her brown skin. “Who did this to you?”
She whirled, holding up her jerkin between us like a shield.
“You said you wished to punish me.” Her chin rose. “What does it matter that someone else already has?”
“Answer me,” I growled. I brushed her arms aside. My hands clamped on her shoulders and turned her to face me. “If one of the pack has hurt you, I’ll—”
“The nuns,” She burst out. “The nuns did it. Back at the abbey.”
“Why?” I turned her and ran a hand down her back, brushing every ancient weal. How had I never seen this?
She hid from us. Always. Thorsteinn reminded me. And we let her. She had suffered trauma both from the Corpse King and us forcing the bond. We thought we would coax her to open to us, in time. And then we ran out of time.
We made a mistake, brother. We never should have left. I told him, regret filling my voice, choking me. We never should have accepted that patrol. We should have stayed with her and made sure of the bond. If we have missed our chance—
It’s not too late, Thorsteinn insisted. I was not so sure.
“I never saw this,” I said to Sorrel, still tracing the marks. “You hid them well.” Always bathing out of site. Never stripping in front of us. We had thought she was shy. We allowed her to hide.
We had missed so much.
She shivered under my touch but did not draw away.
“Why did the nuns hurt you?” I asked again.
“Because I would not submit. You see, I have never been good and obedient. Following the rules never gave me anything. The only remedy is to go my own way.”
I cupped her chin “You will obey us.” I hunkered down to meet her angry gaze. “You will find you enjoy it.”
She wrenched away “I will never enjoy it.” She backed away and I let her, for now.
“I swear this. We will bring you to heel. But you will find pleasure in it.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You won’t have to believe. You’ll know,” Thorsteinn said.
“Firm, fair correction,” I said. “Nothi
ng that harms you. Just enough of a sting to teach you who is your master.”
“You are not my masters,” she hissed.
“We are,” Thorsteinn strode forward, herding her back to me. Her stiff form bent and swayed. We read it in her posture and her scent—that slight hesitation. The desire to yield.
“It’s been a long road, Sorrel.” I kept my voice soft. “You don’t have to run any more. You don’t have to fight.”
“We will protect you, little one.” The way Thorsteinn towered over her, it seemed ridiculous such a small woman could turn us inside out. Yet she had.
“I do not need your protection,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.
“No? We are all that stands between you and the angry pack.” Thorsteinn crossed his arms over his chest. “They call for your blood. Shall we turn you over to them instead?”
“No,” I said before she could answer. I drew her close. “We will never let them touch you. Never. We will wrap you in layers of safety, so nothing harms you again.”
Emotion rippled across her face. I caught her chin before she could hide.
“Yield to us, Sorrel. I promise it will be worth it. Now come,” I patted my knee. Thorsteinn and I agreed I’d be the first to punish her. Of the two of us, I was more level headed about her attempted escape. Thorsteinn was surprised that she ran. I was not. Women always leave.
“Over my lap,” I ordered, smoothing my face of all emotion.
Uncertainty flickered over her face. Confusion. Anger. Stubbornness. She would not bend easily. Good.
“You will lie over Vik’s lap and accept your punishment. Or we will march you up the mountain and bind you to a post and whip you for all to see.”
She stiffened. You fool, I opened the bond between me and Thorsteinn and blasted him. Did you not see the scars on her back?
I rose and caught her chin, forcing her to look at me. “We would use a soft flogger. One that leaves marks that fade. Never, ever scar.”
“As I told you before,” she sneered, even as I felt her pulse fluttering. “Do your worst.”
“As you wish.” I shrugged and tossed her up over my shoulder. She struggled marginally as I crossed the room and sat, positioning her over my lap. Her breeches tore as I tugged them down.
“What are you doing?” she cried, kicking.
“Punishing you.”
“My clothes,” she writhed so hard I let her escape.
“You will not need them for a time. Clothes are a privilege you must earn.”
“You intend me to go naked in front of the pack?” she clutched her jerkin.
I growled, pulling her close with a hand clamped on the nape of her neck. “Never in front of the pack. We will never share you.”
Something flickered across her face. Relief. She hid it behind a sullen frown. “You say it like I’m a possession.”
“You are,” I announced. “You belong to us. It’s time you knew it. You may wear the jerkin for now, if you accept your punishment willingly. Come, back over my lap.”
Something flared in her scent. Arousal. Thorsteinn halted his pacing, angling his head towards the scent.
I hid my surprise but not my glee.
“You don’t have to act like you’re enjoying this.” she muttered but pushed herself over my lap.
“I’m not acting. I intend to enjoy every bit of this. Now how many swats for running away?”
She started to answer, and I clapped my hand on her bottom. “Not up to you. I say—as many as it takes to remind you every time you sit.”
I squeezed the globes of her tight bottom, warming the flesh. I may have spent an extra-long time doing this, enjoying the scent of arousal that rose like the sweetest perfume. “You are truly a spaewife,” I murmured, chuckling at her annoyed huff. “One more thing, little mate. It’s okay to cry.”
“I don’t cry.” She ground her teeth.
“If you say so.” I palmed her bare ass. “But it will do you good.”
“You cry when you get spanked?” She raised her head to glare at me. I could only shake my head at her defiance.
“Careful. Little ones who challenge their mates get fucked. Hard,” I slapped the underside of her rounded bottom, enjoying the sharp crack that echoed about the lodge.
Her eyes darted to the floor, but her scent rose around me, a sweet miasma. She could not hide her arousal.
“You like this. Admit it.”
“I…” a sigh shuddered through her.
“No matter. You do not have to say it,” I delivered three crisp swats to the right cheek, admiring the pink blush. “I can smell it well enough.”
Her head tossed back and forth, her brow wrinkled in confusion. She was an innocent. We had not touched her intimately. Why had we waited so long? The space between us was now a chasm.
We wanted to be sure. We claimed her so quickly, to heal her.
Our mistake, brother. We should’ve done this from the first. Spanked her for running and fucked her until she would never think to leave.
Better late than never.
I hoped so. I hoped it was not too late.
The spanking went on. I paused plenty of times to rub her sore bottom, easing the sting and awakening more feelings in her. It wasn’t the pain that would bring her obedience.
Sure enough, I reached between her legs to find her silky lips. “So sweet and wet. Do you know how to touch yourself to feel good?”
A slight sob ran through her.
“Shhh, let it out, there’s a good lass.”
She pushed away from me, scrambling back.
“Leave me alone.”
Thorsteinn started for her and I gestured him to leave her. She could be angry. She could put up walls for now.
One way or another, we’d tear them down.
Will this work? I asked via the bond. Sorrel was curled up on a pile of pelts, sleeping bathed in firelight. Every so often she twitched.
“It must work,” Thorsteinn answered out loud, all confidence. He couldn’t hide his trepidation from me. I felt his emotions through the bond. “If it does not, the alphas will pronounce her sentence.”
She cannot die. Not after everything we have been through.
Before that happens, we will leave. We will take her and run.
I shook my head. And how long would we survive without help from the pack? The Corpse King had grown powerful. Even when we were on patrol, we relied heavily on our pack mates to give us aid. Until we rose up together to defeat our enemy, the safest place for any spaewife is on our mountain.
We will train her to obey, Thorsteinn insisted. Only when she is truly tamed can we ensure her safety.
I clenched my jaw before I said what I thought: Sorrel would never be tamed.
Thorsteinn caught my hastily banned thought. He glared. She will break. I will make sure of it.
Poor little maiden. I crossed the lodge and squatted next to her, tugging a pelt over her shoulders.
Her forehead wrinkled. She had so many burdens, even in sleep. Surely, she would allow us to take at least one.
We must convince her she belongs with us. As we should’ve from the first, Thorsteinn said.
And if it doesn’t work? I traced a finger over her brow, wishing I could smooth the worry lines there.
It must.
We didn’t voice what we feared most: we’d waited too long to make Sorrel ours.
Sorrel
A rough hand shook me awake in darkness. For a moment I was back in the abbey, getting roused first by my friends, then by an angry nun with a switch.
“Sorrel, time to rise,” Vik rasped.
“No. Too early.” I tried to cover my head with a pelt, and he pulled it away.
“You must wake,” he said with a laugh. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”
I raised my head and glared at the darkness beyond the entrance of our tree lodge.
“Rise now, or after a spanking. Your choice.”
With a huff, I
sat up.
“Good lass,” Vik grinned.
“Where is Thorsteinn?”
“Gone to hunt. Come.” He tugged me to standing and led me to the far side of the fire pit where a pot of water steamed.
“First a wash.” He tugged my jerkin up and I caught his forearms.
“You used to let me bathe myself.” They even gave me privacy. Even around my own friends, I refused to undress. The scars on my back were only part of it. I did not want anyone to see me without my armor.
“That was before you ran. Now you will rely on us for everything. Eating. Sleeping. Bathing,” his voice deepened. “Pleasure.”
I flushed and looked away. They had only begun to initiate me into the rites of pleasure before they were called away on patrol. Still, I remembered.
“You remember it, don’t you?” he asked. “How we held you and cared for you?”
“Yes, I remember.” I raised my chin. “And then you left.”
“That was our folly, and our greatest regret.”
I blinked at the sadness in his tone.
“Come,” he pulled off my jerkin. I reached for the cloth and he tutted. I gritted my teeth and stood still as he ran the cloth over my neck and shoulders, down my breasts.
“We will wash you every night like this,” he informed me in a low tone. “We would’ve last night, but you fell asleep so quickly.”
“I—” last night I’d succumbed to exhaustion after the spanking. “I was tired.”
“So you will be every night. We will wear you out,” Vik promised with a wicked flash of fang.
I bowed my head. Frowning, he tipped up my chin, “What is it, little one?”
“You say you will claim me. But what if the bonding does not work?”
“It will work. We will not stop until it’s complete.”
“What if it is not possible?”
“Let us worry about that.” He rubbed the cloth between my breasts, slowly washing down my front. I pushed him away, and he tutted at me. “Hands behind your back,” he ordered, and slapped the side of my thigh with the cloth when I refused. Rolling my eyes, I did as he bid. The sooner the bath was over, the better.