2HotCurvesAhead
Page 28
If she were honest, Eileen couldn’t blame Leif. His need to find relief in her was Eileen’s own fault. She could count herself lucky for not being burned alive at the stake but that didn’t mean she had to like her new status. One thing to take a man as her lover—quite another to be used as if she were a worthless whore.
What would happen to her once the potion’s effect had worn off and Leif got tired of her? Eileen wrapped the poisonous hemlock roots carefully in a rack and hid them between her other herbs. She could bear being used by Leif but she wasn’t going to accept other men against her will. If she couldn’t escape, death was a much better destiny than being given to Leif’s men in such a way.
“Are you ready to leave?” Leif asked from the threshold, his voice tense.
Eileen looked at her bundle of things lying on the table. There hadn’t been much to gather up to take with her. Her book, some herbs and amulets, and her two dresses were all Eileen really had, all she could take with her, anyway. She nodded.
Leif went to the shelves where still some jars with potions and different wooden bowls with fresh herbs remained. He searched through what little was left on the shelves and inside the two baskets hanging on the wall, and took a loaf of bread, the smoked salmon and the berries Eileen had found two days ago in the forest.
“Let’s go,” he said, taking Eileen’s bundle.
She took a long, last look around as Leif went outside. She wasn’t going to leave much behind but the pallet, the stool and the table. Even so, everything had been hers, earned with her work or received in exchange of her services. The future she’d dreamed of—one filled with freedom and peace—would remain here. Eileen closed her fingers around the amulet hanging from her neck as she closed the door to her home behind her for the very last time. If only her wolf was here with her, she could have at least said goodbye to him. Eileen missed the beast. Somehow, he’d calmed her with his company.
“What are you looking for?” Leif asked, waiting beside the horse with narrowed eyes.
“My wolf…I can’t find him.”
Leif’s stance loosened as he turned to the horse and mounted.
“Let’s go. The wolf will find you when the time is right.”
“My hens and the goat!” She couldn’t leave them back there to die!
Leif’s hand on her arm held her still.
“I’ll send someone to pick them up, and whatever else you want. Now, no more excuses, witch,” Leif said.
Eileen opened her mouth to protest but ended up accepting Leif’s help to mount. His muscles tensed under her hands as she held on to him.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said through clenched teeth as he urged his horse into a full gallop.
Lost in her thoughts and occupied watching out for her wolf, it took Eileen a while to notice they were heading to the west.
“Where are we going?” she asked. “Your lands are to the north.”
“We’re taking another path, a quite longer one but free from ambushes,” Leif stated, slowing a bit. “Here, eat.” He gave her a piece of bread and smoked salmon.
“You believe someone would ambush you?” Eileen asked, taking a big bite from the bread.
“I’m not afraid for me, but for you,” Leif stated. “I didn’t like the way that conniving bitch looked at you. Ingrid smelled like burned sour milk. Who knows…she may have convinced her father or some of his men to come for you. I prefer not to take risks in the shape I’m in right now.”
Eileen frowned. She couldn’t remember any smell coming from Ingrid. “What do you mean, about the shape you’re in now?”
“You need to ask? You were the one who made the potion,” Leif growled.
Eileen swallowed nervously and fell silent.
* * * * *
After spending what seemed like hours riding on the horse’s rump, Eileen ached, and her ass and back hurt terribly. She didn’t even want to think about how her rump would feel if she were one of those scrawny girls, all skin and bones and with no flesh on their bottom to cushion them from the horse’s bumpy gait.
Eileen had already given up her search for the wolf. He was nowhere to be seen. Had something happened to him? The possibility made her eyes sting. She loved that damn beast and missed him already.
“Why did you help me that time in the forest when my jarl and his sons tried to have their way with me?” Eileen asked Leif the one question to which she’d always wanted to know the answer.
“What should I have done?” Leif asked, with an annoyed tone in his voice. “Should I have helped them rape you?”
“No!” Eileen exclaimed.
Both stayed silent until Leif let out a deep sigh.
“My mother instilled in us a healthy respect toward women. Neither I nor any other male in my family has ever touched a woman against her wish, and we certainly disapprove of men who do. That reason in itself would have been enough to intervene,” he explained. “But the truth is that your voice… You triggered something in me that made me lose control. The only thing I could think of was protecting you.” He ran a hand over his eyes. “I suppose I was too young to understand what was happening,” he murmured, more to himself than to her.
“You risked war with your neighbors for a thrall,” she said, still not able to understand him.
“Well, you prevented war between our clans when you told people that foreigners had attacked your entire party on your way back, and you gave my description as the person who had scared them away but who’d arrived too late to help your owner, didn’t you?”
“You knew?” Eileen asked, surprised.
“Yes. Jarl Elof and his men went out with a hunting party, seeking revenge. They came to my father and questioned him about those foreigners. At that moment, my father discovered what had happened. He recognized my description and came afterward to ask me how I could have abandoned the dead in the woods. I should have at least escorted you to their family to deliver the bad news to their next of kin.”
“Oh! I didn’t think of that,” she stammered in embarrassment.
“Taking into account your age and the state you were in, you did much more than I expected. Anyway, it didn’t matter. Jarl Elof was too happy about becoming the new jarl to even think about waging a war.”
“You never came for your tunic and belt knife,” Eileen said.
“I couldn’t get close to you. You were only a child then, too young for a grown… For someone like me. After what happened in the woods with your jarl, in order to prevent other incidents, my father decided to send me to King Harold until I learned to control myself.”
Learned to control himself? Eileen was about to ask what Leif meant by that when he bent over with a painful moan.
“Leif? Leif, what’s happening?”
“Your damn potion…” Leif spat out.
“Oh!” She looked at his hunched back, not knowing what to do. “Maybe we should stop to…” To do what? Eileen asked herself. Hadn’t she decided only a little while ago that she wouldn’t volunteer her…services?
She screeched as strong arms grabbed her by the waist and swung her through the air until she sat in front of Leif. His starved kiss left her barely time to drag some air into her empty lungs. By Loki! Had she really believed she’d be able to be cold and indifferent in this man’s arms? A sizzling heat filled her womb and made her cunt clench.
Leif looked at her. His dilated pupils had left only two thin rings of his blue irises and his face reflected his painful constraint.
“I need you, witch!” he stated.
The rough, urgent undertone in his voice traveled straight to Eileen’s pussy, making her vibrate with desire.
She kissed him back. Two blinks later, she lay facedown over the horse’s back, with her rear end caressed by the breeze and Leif finding his way inside her with a long moan. He didn’t stop the horse but instead used the beast’s fast rhythm to move deeper inside her.
She closed her eyes. The horse’s hooves echoed in her
ears as they pounded against the ground, the sound mixing with Leif’s grunts, her cries of pleasure and the blood racing through her veins. Eileen’s entire world shrank to Leif’s cock stretching her core, filling her, conquering her with deep, possessive thrusts, while his hands held her still and protected her from falling. She felt secure enough to forget everything else, to exist only for this moment, for the feelings Leif arouse in her body and soul. Everything else, her punishment, her destiny…could wait.
Chapter Four
When Leif’s nose nudged her softly, Eileen whimpered with exhaustion. She’d been riding Leif’s cock for almost as long as they’d been on the horse’s back, which didn’t include the times they had dismounted.
“Wake up, little witch, we’ve arrived,” Leif said.
Reluctantly, Eileen opened her eyes and tried to straighten her aching back as she saw they neared the village. She had known that Leif’s clan was larger than that of Jarl Elof’s but she hadn’t expected such a big difference. She had counted twenty-two longhouses but wasn’t sure if there weren’t even more. She moaned when she moved and the other parts of her body began to hurt too.
As they reached the first house, at least two dozen people were waiting to receive them and wolves were coming from everywhere. Both wolves and people had their curious stares fixed on Eileen. Damn! How long would it be before Leif’s kinsmen figured out she was a witch? And even worse, how would they react when they heard about the potion she’d made for their jarl and how he was going to use her until his need to fuck her had passed?
Eileen shook her head and centered her attention on the wolves. There was something strange about them and there were so many of them. Where had they come from? Not that she was afraid of them. Eileen had always had a special connection to animals, and these wolves were beautiful and seemed to be peaceful. Most of them had black-and-white fur but a few of them were entirely white, as her wolf had been. My wolf… Eileen bit her lip. She couldn’t stop missing him.
“Wolves?” Eileen whispered.
“Mmhmm!” was Leif’s only response.
As soon as he helped her down from the horse, cubs began to jump playfully around them. Eileen kneeled down to scratch the little guys behind their ears, chuckling while she tried to keep her face away from their long, slobbery tongues.
Elder, larger wolves neared Eileen too, sniffing and studying her. Maybe she should have been afraid, being so near to such dangerous beasts, but strangely, she didn’t feel the least bit intimidated by them. Soon, an entire pack surrounded her. Astounded, she looked to Leif. “This is amazing! Where did they all come from?”
“They’re part of our family,” Leif said, rubbing the nape of his neck.
“They live here with you?” Why is he averting his gaze? Eileen studied him with narrowed eyes. Weird!
Leif nodded.
“And do you think my wolf—?”
“You’ll see him soon enough,” Leif cut her off, kicking a stone as if it had attacked him.
Laughing happily when one of the adult wolves rubbed his head against her, Eileen reached out to pet him. Suddenly, a low, menacing growl resounded behind her and the big beast immediately stepped back. Eileen spun around, startled, only to see Leif with bared teeth and glowing blue eyes.
“Leif?”
“You are mine!”
Eileen looked bewildered at him. “He’s only a wolf.”
Leif eyed her with a frown and stopped growling. “Come here!”
She stood up and slowly approached him. What was happening? What was this all about? As soon as she reached him, Leif turned her toward the wolves and embraced her from behind.
“I need to show you something,” he said, taking a deep breath.
He gave a short nod in the wolves’ direction and they began to shift one by one into nude men, women and children.
Eileen stood motionless, trying to take in what was happening before her eyes. As each shifter changed form, they looked at her with worried expressions, as if they feared her reaction. Did they expect her to scream and run away? When the last one of them had shifted Eileen still stood quietly.
“Eileen, I know this has to be frightening for you and—” Leif began in a calm tone.
“You are he, aren’t you?” Eileen asked without turning around. “You are my…the wolf.”
She should have known. Her wolf and Leif had the same eyes and both made her feel calm.
Leif took another deep breath. “Yes.”
“And all this time you’ve been in my hut with me, while I bathed, slept and…” Finally, Eileen turned around to glare at Leif. I trusted him and he kept me in the dark the whole time! Even when he knew I was worried and was looking for him! “You took the potion, even being aware of what it would do to you. You took the potion anyway because you wanted to have your way with me, and even then, you let Ingrid accuse me!”
“Well, ahh—” Leif scratched his neck.
The slap resounded loudly in the clearing, leaving a tense silence behind. Eileen didn’t need to check to see if his people had stopped breathing—it was a given. She put her hands on her hips and looked straight at Leif. It didn’t matter how he punished her now for her audacity. She was within her right! He’d deceived her!
Frowning, Leif stared down at her. “Woman, are you aware that you just slapped a jarl?”
“And what are you going to do? Bite me? Spank me?” Eileen challenged him, not in the least bit intimidated by Leif’s dark glare.
A slow grin spread across his face. “First, I’m going to marry you; afterward, we can talk about your other proposals.”
“What?” Eileen asked, giving him a flabbergasted look.
“If you want to be the alpha bitch, you’ll have to marry the alpha,” Leif said.
“I don’t want to be the alpha bitch!” Eileen protested, startled by the idea.
“Too late! You’ve challenged me in front of my whole pack. Either I kill you or I marry you.” Leif’s frown deepened and he crossed his bulky arms.
“Then kill me and let’s get this over with!” Eileen said, looking him straight in the eyes. How dare he threaten her with death if she didn’t marry him!
“You’re my mate and we’re going to marry,” Leif stated, and his tone told her he grew weary of this argument.
“You’re a jarl—you can’t marry a thrall.” Eileen mocked the idea, raising her eyebrow. No way was she going to marry a man who didn’t respect her.
“Do you have a protective charm for a warrior?” Leif inquired, uncrossing his arms.
Fuming, Eileen searched in her pouch and threw him a wooden charm.
“I’ll accept this as payment for your freedom.”
Eileen narrowed her eyes. Was he making fun of her? “If I’m free, then I don’t need to marry you.”
“Yes, you do!” Leif said with a growl, clearly beginning to get angry at her continued defiance.
“I’m not going to marry a man who doesn’t even know my name!” Eileen replied.
“Humpf!” Obviously dumbstruck, Leif gazed at her, two red spots covering his cheeks while some of his pack mates snickered lowly.
“What’s your name?” he finally asked.
Eileen snorted.
Leif gave her a long, considering stare. “Olaf, begin preparing the bonding ceremony!”
“You can’t bond with a woman if you don’t know her name,” Eileen stated triumphantly.
“Errr… Alpha, she’s right. We need her name for the bonding,” the one called Olaf spoke up.
Eileen recognized the man as the warrior she’d seen with Ingrid in the woods.
“Prepare the fucking ceremony!” Leif grunted.
“What are you doing?” Eileen shrieked when he threw her over his shoulder.
“I’m going to get your damn name!” Leif stated, walking determinedly toward what seemed to be the bathhouse. “Olaf, stand guard before the door and pay attention. As soon as you hear her cry out her name, you can go to inf
orm the priest.”
“Oh, no! You are not going to convince me to give you my name,” Eileen spat. She opened her mouth as widely as she could, intending to show him how human women could defend themselves from disrespectful men.
When she bit down hard on the only place she was able to reach—Leif’s ass—a long, startled howl made her grin with satisfaction.
* * * * *
He’d done it! Leif had made Eileen cry out her name loud and clear, and he did so more than once—in the bathhouse and here in his bed too! She bit her lip, mortified by her weakness. Maybe it was the bed. She had never lain in a real bed before. A thrall like her couldn’t afford such luxuries. You aren’t a thrall anymore! He has given you your freedom, Eileen reminded herself.
“Why are you still grumping around, witch?” he asked, lying at her side, seemingly satisfied with himself.
“Why do you still call me witch, if you know my name now?” she asked sulkily, wishing she could erase the dumb grin from his face.
“Because you are my very own witch, and as long as you are going to keep me on my knees, it’ll grant me at least an excuse before my kinsmen.” Leif chuckled, obviously amused.
“Are you aware that I could bewitch you?” She tried to give Leif a warning glare. He didn’t need to know that his words made her feel all warm and bright in her heart. She had still to teach him how to treat a woman, before he discovered how much she loved him.
“You bewitched my heart already a long time ago, witch,” Leif murmured, looking Eileen straight into the eyes, before he took her mouth once again, showing her just how deeply her magic had affected him.