by Lili Zander
My heart beat so hard it was painful. I was ready to die.
But when they touched me they were gentle. A hand brushed back my hair, then stroked my jaw. One steadied me from behind as the other cupped my head and turned my head this way and that. The one behind me gathered my hair behind me. I held my breath as the two massive warriors handled me.
I realized the smell of blood had fallen away, replaced by another scent, an animal musk that was much more pleasant.
A finger ran over my neck, near the scar and I sucked in a breath. The hands dropped away.
Their faces dipped close to mine, and I felt their breath on my skin as if they took deep scents of my hair.
“So good,” one of them groaned.
I didn’t understand. I was afraid of them taking me but I didn’t know why they weren’t.
“It’s working,” one murmured to the other. “The witch was right.”
As they dipped their heads and scented me, my heart beat faster in response to their proximity. Something stirred deep inside me. Desire. A few minutes alone with these men and I’d been more intimate with them than any other.
As one they bent their heads to mine, nuzzling close to my neck a tingling spread over my skin.
I felt it then, unbidden, a stirring in my loins. Ever since I had come into womanhood, my desires were strong. Every month I fought the pull to find a man and join with him. I was hideous and destined to be an outcast and alone. But each full moon my body came alive, beset by waves of roiling lust until I felt desperate enough to grab the nearest man and beg him to give me sons.
The heat poured over me until I heard a gasp—one of the warriors jerked back and stepped away.
“She’s ready,” one growled. Instead of frightening, the sound excited me.
What was happening?
“Not here, brother,” the blond rasped.
Without answering, the dark-haired one pulled me on.
For a while we walked, pushing through the forest and forded a stream. The heat in me faded as I followed, weak with hunger and fear, eventually stumbling on exhaustion numbed feet.
The dark-haired warrior stopped, and I flinched, expecting him to bully me into continuing on.
Instead, he guided me to face him. Again his hands came to me, stroking back my hair. I winced when I realized what he was doing: looking at my scar.
Involuntarily my head jerked and he let my chin go, offering me water instead. He held the skin while I drank, and when I’d had my fill he offered me dried meat, feeding me from his hand. I stared into the strange golden eyes, unable to keep the questions off my face: Who are you? What are you going to do with me?
When I was done, he lay a hand on his chest and uttered a guttural sound I didn’t understand. He repeated it twice, then lay his hand on my chest.
“Brenna.” I could barely make out my name, but I nodded.
A shadow of a smile curved his full lips. Shrugging off the gray pelt he wore, he wrapped it around my shoulders before pulling me back into the circle of his strong arms.
My heart beat faster. The pelt’s warmth seeped into my tired body, and the big man held me steady. I still felt frightened, but waited obediently in the dark haired warrior’s embrace. I dared not struggle.
The brush around us rippled and the warriors surrounded us. I shrank towards my black-haired captor, but he held me fast, turning me so I faced the warrior who seemed to be their leader.
The blond was so huge, my neck had to tip back to see him. He moved forward and I couldn’t help trembling so hard I would’ve fallen if the dark haired warrior let me go. Every instinct in me screamed that this was a wild man, a beast a dangerous monster and I needed to run.
He reached out and I flinched.
His hand halted.
He swallowed, as if trying to remember how to use his voice.
“Brenna.” My name was no more than a soft growl. “We mean you no harm.”
I studied him. As big as the warriors were, the blond was one of the largest. He walked lightly, muscles bulging. Long locks of blond hair brushed his broad shoulders. His face was rawboned and half covered in a beard, the defining feature his great gold eyebrows over those amazing eyes.
When his gaze caught mine, his eyes glowed.
His hands touched my face, a thumb stroking my lips. He tilted it to and fro. He pushed my hair away from my neck. I shut my eyes, knowing what he saw, the white weals and gnarled tissue, healed into a disfiguring scar that had taken my voice, and nearly taken my life.
I barely remembered the attack: a large dark shape rushing at me from the shadows, then pain. Lots of pain. My mother told me I lay near death for days. No one thought I would survive, but I did.
Some believed it would be better if I hadn’t. Even though I healed from the attack, the scars marked my face and my life. The boys used to chase me down the street, throwing things. I grew up learning to blend into the shadows. To move silently so I wouldn’t draw attention to myself. Later, when my mother married my stepfather, I learned to cower and hide.
Her body is pretty enough, my stepfather had said. Just put a bag over her head so you can stand it.
Now my new owner tipped my head this way and that, studying the scar. He nodded, looking satisfied. “The mark of the wolf,” he rasped.
A ripple went around the assembled men, and the other warriors pressed closer. The black haired man held me still, hefty arms around my body.
I wished I could ask what the blond warrior meant.
The men surrounded me, staring at my hideous scars.
My blond captor released my jaw and I ducked my head down again in shame. His large, rough hands caught my head again, and raised it, but this time he cupped my face.
I shut my eyes. I couldn’t even cry out. This man now owned me. I’d resigned myself to living life with a disfigured face, unwanted and unloved, but I’d never thought I’d become a slave.
“Brenna,” The command came in that rasping growl. “Look at me.”
Somehow I obeyed and met the leader’s steady gaze. Something in that golden glow mesmerized me, and I felt calmer.
“Do not be afraid.” His throat worked for a moment, as if he was trying to remember how to speak. “Is it true you cannot speak?”
I nodded.
“Can you read or write?”
I shook my head. This was the strangest conversation I’d had in my nineteen years.
He looked frustrated, exchanging glances with the warrior who held me.
A voice spoke at my ear, still rough and guttural, but a bit more clearly than before. “We would like to find a way to talk to ye.” The speaker turned me to face him, and I flinched as he brought his hand up, but he only examined the scars as the blond had.
By the time he was done, all warriors but the blond had melted away. Dark hair touched my cheek and I winced, realizing there was a bruise on my face from when my stepfather struck me.
The blond crowded closer, a sound rumbling in his great chest, not unlike a growl.
“Brenna,” he said. “We will not hurt you. I swear it. No one will ever hurt you again.”
The dark haired one took a few locks of my hair in his hand, gripping them lightly and raising them to his face. He breathed in my scent, then looked at me with glowing eyes and said in a clear voice.
“Ye belong to us now.”
When Brenna's father sells her to a band of passing warriors, her only thought is to survive. She doesn't expect to be claimed by the two fearsome warriors who lead the Berserker clan. Kept in captivity, she is coddled and cared for, treated more like a savior than a slave. Can captivity lead to love? And when she discovers the truth behind the myth of the fearsome warriors, can she accept her place as the Berserkers' true mate?
Author's Note: Sold to the Berserkers is a standalone, short, MFM ménage romance starring two huge, dominant warriors who make it all about the woman. Read the whole best-selling Berserker saga to see what readers are raving about...<
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THE BERSERKER SAGA
Sold to the Berserkers
Mated to the Berserkers
Bred by the Berserkers (FREE novella only available at www.leesavino.com)
Taken by the Berserkers
Given to the Berserkers
Claimed by the Berserkers
Rescued by the Berserker - free on all sites, including Wattpad
Captured by the Berserkers
Kidnapped by the Berserkers- coming soon
...and more!!!
Books by Lili Zander
Adventures of Suzie and the Alien
Adventures of Suzie and the Alien (Episodes 1-5)
Which includes:
Episode 1: The Alien, the Doctor and the Virgin
Episode 2: The Alien Trains the Virgin
Episode 3: The Alien, the Virgin and the Warrior Queen
Episode 4: Tentacle Monsters and the Virgin
Episode 5: The Virgin Returns Home
BOOKS BY TARA CRESCENT
MÉNAGE ROMANCE
The Playing for Love Series (Ménage MFM Romance)
Betting on Bailey
Gambling with Gabriella
Playing with Piper
Wagering on Wendy
Messing with Miki
The Dirty Series (Ménage MFM Romance)
Dirty Therapy
Dirty Talk
Dirty Games
Dirty Words
Standalone Books
Dirty X6 (A MFMMMMM Menage Romance)
Books by Lee Savino
The Berserker Saga
Sold to the Berserkers
Mated to the Berserkers
Bred by the Berserkers (FREE novella only available at www.leesavino.com)
Taken by the Berserkers
Given to the Berserkers
Claimed by the Berserkers
Rescued by the Berserkers
Captured by the Berserkers
Kidnapped by the Berserkers
Dragons in Exile (Sci-fi Menage Romance)
Draekon Mate: Exiled to the Prison Planet
Draekon Fire: Exiled to the Prison Planet
Contemporary Romance
Rescuing Regina
Her Marine Daddy
Mafia Romance
Innocence in the Underworld: A Mafia Romance Trilogy
The Rocky Mountain Bride Series (19th century cowboys)
Rocky Mountain Dawn
Rocky Mountain Bride
Rocky Mountain Rose
Rocky Mountain Romp
Rocky Mountain Rogue
Rocky Mountain Wild
Rocky Mountain Ride
Historical Menage
Pearl's Possession