Virgin Outcast: Bred to the Beast

by Fannie Tucker

  Intent on his tracks, with her ears full of the constant babble of running water, Kara barely heard the voices in time to avoid stumbling out into the open. If the horse hadn't whinnied, she would have run right into Luther's back.

  She froze at the soft sound, followed by a stamping of hooves. Slowly, she pressed herself against the nearest tree and peered around it. Just a little ways off, she could see the stone bridge she'd crossed the night before. Rela the Wise Woman sat astride a pale mare on the bridge, and Luther stood before her, arms crossed.

  "...making her nervous," Rela said.

  "Your horse wouldn't be nervous if you hadn't bothered to come out here. Stop sending girls to me, woman. I've told you before - your curse dies with me. I sent this one away as soon as I found her."

  Rela's lips curled in a slow smile. "I think not, Luther. You'll sire a pup, and someday, he'll find you, as you did your own father."

  "And why should some innocent girl suffer for the mistakes of a dead man?" Luther stepped forward, but Rela pulled something from beneath her robes, the necklace of fangs Kara had seen in the dream.

  "You should have asked your father," Rela said. "A bit late for that now, isn't it?" She turned her horse so that it angled away from the woodsman, and the mare calmed somewhat, though still ready to bolt. "This girl will be the one, Luther. She cannot return home, and she has nowhere else to go." Rela laughed suddenly. "In fact, she's promised to stay where she is until I call for her, and I won't do that until you accept your fate."

  "Damn you, woman. I won't fall into this trap!" His last word was a bitter growl, and Rela's pale mare reared.

  "You already have, Luther," Rela said, calming the skittish horse. "You and yours, for generations to come. Krall shall provide; I've seen to that." She laughed again as she put her heels into the mare's flanks and galloped away.

  Luther stood watching her go, his chest rising and falling with quick, deep breaths. Then with shocking suddenness, he spun and sprinted off down the road, away from the bridge.

  Kara let out a breath she hadn't realized she held, then slipped carefully behind the tree and tiptoed away.

  Kara returned to the cottage, disturbed by what she'd heard. She pulled the rocking chair out onto the cottage's porch and gazed at the woods. As she rocked, the exchange between Rela and Luther played out in her head. She knew that Rela wanted her here in this cottage, and that Luther didn't. But why?

  The cottage stood on the slopes of the mountain ridge west of Krall, and beyond the trees, she could see miles of rolling farmland, brown and gray now with winter so near. Over the distant valley, dark clouds loomed, illuminated now and again by flashes of lightning. Thunder rumbled, faint and distant.

  She pushed the troubled thoughts aside and tried to focus on the memory of her time with Mykal in the smithy, those precious moments of intense passion before they'd been discovered, but even that pleasant memory was tainted by the intrusion of Mayor Shen's torchlight, by her banishment, and by the dream of Rela and Mykal.

  She knew it had been real, what she'd witnessed in her sleep; the details had never faded from her mind, and she could still see Rela's smooth legs wrapped around her betrothed's waist, see him pumping her against the side of his cell while her fingernails raked his back.

  Kara shook her head to banish the memory. She hated Rela for seducing Mykal, but she was furious with him as well. How could he let her? She turned her thoughts to the present. Would Rela really send for her or had this all been a ruse to lure her to Luther's cottage? What would Luther do if he returned and found that she'd not departed? She wondered if her parents had been told of her exile yet. Would they try to follow her?

  Questions tumbled through her head, each more unsettling than the last, and none with answers. She knew she was being led into a trap like a lamb to slaughter, but she couldn't see the trap, much less the way out. Perhaps Luther was right. Perhaps she should put Krall behind her and run as far and as fast as possible. But to walk away from her parents? From Mykal?

  She heated the stew at midday, then again for her evening meal, taking water from the stream that ran along the clearing's edge. As the sun fell behind the mountains, she felt clearer of mind. She had decided to wait another day to see if Rela would bring Mykal to her. Luther didn't want her here, but surely he would shelter her for one more night.

  The thunderclouds grew closer as the shadow of the mountains stretched across the valley, and brown and yellow faded to a mottled gray. The towering clouds promised rain, the kind of storm that could beat down crops and wash away fields in muddy torrents. She shuddered at the thought of being caught out in that.

  Luther didn't return, even as darkness fell. When the last of the sun's light faded, the trees suddenly seemed much closer. With a wary eye on the darkness, Kara pulled the rocking chair back inside and bolted the door behind her. Glowing yellow eyes still lingered fresh in her memory. If Luther returned, he could knock.

  A soft rain began to fall, and a rising wind made branches clatter against one another in the darkness like rolling bones. Kara built up the fire until the roaring blaze warmed the cottage and banished the shadows from the darkest corners, then huddled beneath the bearskin on the feather mattress. Sleep took her as she worked over the puzzle of Rela and Luther.

  "Rise and come," a voice said, a command that Kara could not ignore. Her eyes jerked open at the same time a peal of thunder split the night. Rain roared on the cottage roof, and wind howled through the trees outside.

  Rise and come. The words echoed in Kara's mind. Rela's words. The Wise Woman had called for her as promised. She slid off the bed, but kept the bearskin wrapped around her shoulders. The fire had dwindled to glowing embers, and a chill had settled on the cottage.

  As if in a trance, Kara went to the door and threw back the crossbar. Driving rain pelted the ground in sheets, but she stepped out into the night without hesitation.

  The rain quickly soaked her hair and the bearskin that she wore like a shawl until both were plastered to her skin. She let the bearskin fall behind her and walked across the clearing wearing only her shift, which quickly grew sodden and clung to her curves. The wet grass softened her steps and tingled between her toes. Rise and come. Mykal waited ahead.

  She was almost to the trees when a bolt of lightning exploded overhead, bathing the entire clearing in stark white light. Every tree and branch stood out clearly, and between the trunks, Kara saw something else, a darker shape against the gray bark. It was shaped like a man, but its head lay low on its huge, rounded shoulders, and the legs seemed to bend in the wrong places. A pair of sharp eyes leered at Kara, gleaming like burnished gold.

  Thunder boomed, a deafening explosion directly overhead, and it shattered Kara's trance like glass. Had she really followed Rela's voice out into the storm? Her fear crashed back down like the crossbar slamming into place, that terrified sprint through the night, the yellow-eyed beast close behind. Yet somehow she'd let herself be drawn out into the night, far from safety.

  Trembling, she backpedaled toward the cottage, watching the spot where those eyes had been. Another bolt of lightning seared the sky, bringing a moment of daylight to the clearing and the forest beyond.

  Where the beast had been, Kara saw nothing. Where had it gone?

  She turned and ran.

  The cottage seemed impossibly far away. The door stood open, a rectangle of faint orange light from the dying embers in the fireplace. The rain and wind drove at her, seeming to push her back. Why had she come out into this? Her feet slipped on the wet grass, and she fell to her knees.

  Something dark moved in front of the doorway, blocking what little light remained. Kara froze.

  "You were told to leave," a voice said. The words were the deep rumble of a growling mastiff. The creature's bulk was a darker shadow on the black night, but its eyes glowed yellow, as though they drank the light.

  Kara had seen those eyes before, in the instant before she slammed the cottage door last nigh
t. But she'd seen them again in daylight, when they were softer and the brown of polished wood. Luther's eyes. You'll sire a pup someday, Rela had told him. She understood now why Rela had sent her here. She was to be this creature's broodmare.

  Another lightning flash showed her Luther's full form. His head stood low on his thick, round shoulders, and his face had elongated into a muzzle full of sharp teeth. Still, now that she knew, she could see Luther's features in that face, wilder and more savage, but the man was there. Coarse hair covered most of his powerful torso, the same black she remembered in his beard. He stood naked, with a long, thick cock hanging like a rope between long, well-muscled legs that were built to run, to kill. The lightning faded, and the beast roared as thunder exploded almost overhead. With him between her and the cottage, she had no chance.

  That thought brought calm, somehow. Whatever happened here was beyond her control. She could as easily move a mountain as fight this beast. Her body screamed to turn and run, but she stood her ground, meeting that baleful yellow gaze.

  He cocked his head to one side as though surprised she hadn't moved. "Won't you run, girl? It's hardly sporting if you just stand there." Luther began pacing back and forth in front of the cottage. As he moved aside, she could see a clear path to the door, but the tension in his posture told her he was ready to pounce.

  As cold rain slid down her skin, Kara realized that he wanted her to run. Luther the man was still in that creature, but the beast's instincts were strong. If she ran, the beast could take over, and Luther couldn't blame himself for what happened.

  She shook her head. "I won't run from you, Luther. I can't escape. If you must take me, let it be the man who decides, not the beast."

  He growled then. "So be it," he said. "And damn that witch to hell." He bent forward and touched his hands - forepaws - to the grass, then leapt forward.

  Kara gasped in surprise at his speed and took a step back as the massive beast barreled into her. She braced herself for impact, but he rolled as they fell and hit the ground with his shoulder, pulled her over him, then turned again so she landed on in the grass almost softly, her arms pinned to the earth by his big, strong hands. Sharp claws pressed against the soft skin along her inner wrist, and she wondered if he could feel her pulse.

  As she lay in the cold wet grass with the beast atop her, his eyes met hers, and that yellow gaze was like a churning pool of emotion; loneliness and longing at war with a wild animal hunger.

  "I cannot resist you," Luther said. "My father warned me it would be this way. But he didn't warn me that you would be beautiful." He averted his gaze then and burrowed his big long head against her neck, nuzzling the soft white flesh above her collarbone. A long tongue flickered out, tasting her even as rain cascaded across her skin. Kara shuddered. The cold rain had drenched her so thoroughly, and now his mouth felt warm on her skin.

  One clawed hand released her wrist and hooked the neckline of her shift. She felt a jerk and heard the tearing of thin fabric over the rain. The white linen parted, neatly cut down the middle, and Luther moved his mouth lower, his warm tongue exploring her breasts. Her nipples, already puckered and firm from the chill and the rain, ached for his touch, and a wild tingle shot through her when his tongue flickered over them. She moaned and arched her back, pushing her bottom and shoulders into the thick carpet of grass, thrusting her breasts up towards him.

  Without thinking, she grabbed Luther's massive head and pulled it against her. She wanted so badly for this to be Mykal, but Mykal had given himself to Rela. She knew now why the Wise Woman had made her watch, to plant a seed of jealousy in Kara's mind so that when this moment came, she would be more willing. Kara hated Rela for her scheming, but some part of her wanted Luther. Her life had been turned upside down in a single day, yet here was a man who held true to himself, even though that meant life as an outcast.

  Luther sensed her desire as a wolf scents distant prey on the wind, and his hands roamed over her, a rough caress that left rippling gooseflesh in its wake and made her crave his touch.

  He rolled to one side, kissing her neck, her face, her breasts while his hand moved down her flat belly, and his claws left faint red lines that weren't quite scratches on her soft skin. He ripped the dress further to expose the tuft of dark hair at her crotch, and his long fingers slid between her thighs.

  Kara shuddered as his fingertips brushed her inner lips, and she opened her legs to him. She was wet from more than the rain, and his fingertips found her moisture as he spread her apart. She cried out into the howling wind as he massaged her sensitive bud, ripe and swollen and ready for his touch. His hunger was too wild for gentleness, and the touch was almost more than she could bear. She gripped his shaggy mane and convulsed beneath him, but Luther would not relent. His finger slid up and down between her folds, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she thrashed.

  Luther slid down between her legs, kneeling on the wet grass with his muzzle between her thighs. His yellow eyes met hers as his mouth pressed against her sex. He inhaled deeply, savoring her musky odor, then his tongue probed her slit, rolling gently upward until it touched the quivering nub of flesh. She gasped and writhed on the wet grass, but he took her hips in a firm grip, pinning her to the earth. Luther's mouth pressed harder, and warm pleasure exploded through her. For a long moment, she couldn't feel the rain or the chill. The only thunder she heard was blood rushing in her ears, her heart hammering in her chest.

  Kara grabbed fistfuls of grass, squeezing and pulling as a climax rolled through her body. The wind howled and lighting flashed above, leaving purple afterimages across her vision as thunder boomed, a crash that she felt deep inside, resonating with the shockwaves of pleasure emanating from the beast's tongue.

  When it ended, she slumped into the grass, panting. Exhausted though she was, her sex ached for more. It was the same urgent need she'd felt with Mykal in the smithy, a void inside her that needed to be filled. She took Luther's head in her hands and pulled him up.

  Luther needed no urging. He lunged upward, and in the blink of an eye, his huge body loomed over her and shielded her from the rain. She put his hands on his bulging arms and looked up into his golden eyes. Luther's humanity had vanished from that gaze; all she saw was raw animal lust. She opened herself to that lust and surrendered.

  Luther thrust his hips forward and entered her in one long, smooth motion. As his rigid cock pierced her maidenhead, a sharp pain rolled through her body, quickly replaced by a flood of sweetness as his thick shaft plunged deep inside her. Kara's back arched, and she trembled beneath him as her virginal blood trickled onto the wet grass beneath them to be washed away by the rain.

  Luther let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a growl. His clawed hands tore the earth to either side of Kara's head, and he began to move, pumping with a desperate hunger. His savage thrusts pushed at her, moving her on the grass. She thought of the Wise Woman pinned by her betrothed's huge body, and she wrapped her legs around Luther as she'd seen Rela do. Now she moved with him, using his own body to take shelter from his brutish and untamed hunger.

  The thought of Rela and Mykal was too fresh a wound, and she pushed it aside, focusing instead on this new sensation. She'd never before had a man inside her, and Luther was a man like no other. Thick and long and rigid as an ax handle, he slid in and out smoothly, swinging his hips in long arcs that brought him almost out, then plunged deep, sending waves of sensation through her body, each unrelentingly stronger than the last, building like the momentum of a horse running down a long slope, faster and faster.

  Kara wrapped her arms around that broad back, feeling hard muscle tense and flex beneath the fur. His musk filled her nostrils, deep and coppery and wild, and she embraced him. Her sex began to quiver, and she felt another climax rushing up from the depths of her belly. She raked her fingernails down Luther's back and urged him on. He pummeled her, his lean hips moving in time with his panting breath on her neck.

  Suddenly, he slowed, and his th
rusts took on a purposeful rhythm, deep and powerful. He rose up one last time, then came down, burying his cock inside her until his hips pressed against her thighs, deeper than ever before, deeper than she thought possible. They came together then, Kara writhing on the wet grass as Luther threw back his massive head and howled into the storm, a long, rolling sound full of wild lust and anger.

  Kara could no longer feel the cold raindrops pelting her skin, or the wet, ruined dress that clung to her figure. She could only feel Luther's cock inside her, throbbing, pulsing as he filled her with his hot seed. Time seemed to slow as pleasure blossomed and burst, rolling out from her loins in waves. Luther trembled above her, pushing against her so that each thick spurt landed in her fertile soil. She felt him take root inside her and knew that it wasn't her imagination. Rela wanted this man - this beast - to have a child by her for reasons she would never understand, and now that it was done, she felt at peace. Whatever happened next, fate and destiny drove her life.

  As her climax ebbed, Luther slumped atop her, spent. She wrapped her arms around him and felt him... shift. His weight grew less, his shoulders narrower. When she moved her hand along his back, she felt only smooth skin. His head raised up, not the face of a beast, but the bearded man who had shared rabbit stew with her.

  Without a word, he climbed to his feet and pulled her up. The storm was easing now, blown westward to the mountains, the rain reduced to a gentle shower. Thunder rolled down from the rocky slopes, a gentle rumble now. They ran through the wet grass to the warm safety of the cottage.

  Luther pulled an old quilt from a chest and wrapped it around Kara's naked body. Her ruined shift dried in front of the fire. She huddled in the rocking chair, shivering, as though the cold she'd ignored outside had finally exacted its toll.

  While he dressed himself in a pair of buckskin trousers, Luther avoided her gaze, but she saw regret in his soft brown eyes.