I looked around the room. There was not much in it. His few possessions that were not his bed or furs, Ulfvaldr kept on his person. My knife had gone with him. I buckled my sheath to my hip and put my hand on its empty lip. The comfort of the hilt was no longer there. I listened and willed for something, anything to happen. Would I wound, would I kill one of these men, or Ulfvaldr, to escape?
To what life would I escape?
Footsteps approached. When I was certain they would come to the door, I sat back. It swung inward. Two of Ulfvaldr’s men entered. I recognized them. One was the old, graying Geroth. The other, I thought might be called Irlor. Their hair stood up from their heads, almost on end. Their beards were bristling like a great lightning storm was afoot. They took me by the arms and pulled me to my feet. I gave no resistance and followed. Whatever would happen, death included, had to be better than waiting.
I was right. Night had fallen, and the moon risen full. We left through the door we had come in and out into the clearing before the mountain. The men stood in a circle.
I saw Ulfvaldr. He stood in shadow. They had no fire, nor torches. I stumbled in the gloom to the center of the circle where I knelt. The men who held me knelt beside me, and the circle closed around us. The wind howled and blew through my hair like fingers of ice. I longed for a chance to stretch, to run, to do anything. My muscles twitched with animal need to attack or flee. I bared my teeth.
Ulfvaldr came to stand in the center of the circle, mere feet from me. I looked up at his great form. My eyes widened. He was stark naked. Atop his head, he wore a wolf skull. In the emerging rays of moonlight, I could see his tattoos and the way they trailed along his entire body, swirling together in a vortex that centered on his hips. They did look like they were dancing.
Ulfvaldr struck his chest. He tipped his head back, and with his lips to the sky, let loose a cry that shook my bones. My courage trickled out of me, replaced by cold fear. One by one, the other men joined in. They yipped and howled and stripped their clothes away, revealing their nakedness. They were all marked, though none so much as Ulfvaldr. I looked at them only for a moment before returning my gaze to Ulfvaldr. I could not keep my eyes from him.
Something sharp dug into my skin. I turned and my eyes fell on the man who held my right arm. I gasped.
He held onto me with claws that were still growing from his fingers. My eyes widened and bile rose in my throat as a claw came forward from the flesh of his thumb, where the nail should be. My focus tore away from Ulfvaldr and I watched the rest of the man’s fingernails stretch and darken. His arms rippled as though worms squirmed beneath the skin. The sound of bone cracking filled the air. I wrenched my eyes from his hand to his face and let out a scream.
The man’s face was all but gone. Yellow eyes and glistening white teeth were the only points that were not covered in dark fur. His snout was extended like a wolf’s, and his brows were furrowed. His ears had grown long but the shape of his skull remained human, at least for now.
The sight of the wolf-man tore the last bit of courage from my stomach. I pulled at his grasp and made to run. He was too strong. I collapsed onto shaking legs.
I looked back to Ulfvaldr. He alone stood unchanged. No, I looked at his hands. He only changed more slowly. The nails were long, sharp. He grinned at me and his teeth were the long needle points found in a predator’s jaw. His eyes gleamed with an unnatural reflectivity. I dropped to my knees and tried to scramble toward him. He made some gesture at the men, at the wolves, no - monsters, holding me and they released me. I scrambled forward, all too aware of the ragged breath at my back.
“Ulfvaldr…”
“Tonight, we find our truth! Tonight, we choose our path, and tonight, we prepare for war! Deswarvn says the king he saw, King Fundinn, is weak. He is ruled by anger without wisdom. He will make mistakes and they will be to our advantage. Now is the time.”
A chorus of howls soared up through the night. I covered my ears. Ulfvaldr walked forward, the wolf skull on his brown hair shining white and wicked in the moonlight. He reached down and took me by the shoulders. He drew me up to face him. I found my mouth whispering something. Ulfvaldr paid it no mind.
I found my voice, “Please.”
“Please what, Varghoss?”
The way he said my name seemed to shatter my spine, to send my bones to ruins. I struggled to stay steady, not to collapse again. Perhaps it was my will, but it was more likely his strength, that kept me upright.
I could not answer. The plea I wanted to voice was shameful. When that thought crossed my mind, it lit my courage like a fire that only needed a spark to touch the kindling. The heat rose up in me and I spat back into his face.
“Let me go and you won’t face the end of my sword.”
“Very well.”
He released his hands and I fell to the ground at his feet. The wolf men howled and yipped with something akin to laughter. Heat rushed to my face.
“Varghoss. You are no prince. These lands were once shared among our people and yours, and we have equal claim to them. Secondly, your father was king, and your father is dead, so you are no prince, but a king. Pledge fealty to me and I will install you in your rightful place, King of your people in our land, and I shall rule also from your castle, King of mine. We will hunt the forests and keep wolves and bears from your villages as we did in the days of my father, King Ulfi.”
“What’s to stop me from waiting for my stepfather to die and inheriting the throne?”
“Oh, your stepfather will die, but if you do not pledge your sword to me, so will you. I have no use for kings who will not-” he paused for a moment to let his tongue run over his teeth. I watched the sweet, pink tongue curl around one of his fangs, “who cannot kneel when it is called for.”
I shuddered. His tone of voice said that he meant more by the term, kneel. The shudder was not all fear. I felt my pants tighten and I prayed that he would not notice. His gaze flickered up and down my body. He could tell.
I thought of my people, the ones who lived in the villages, the ones who were sleeping right now, unaware of the danger they were in. I never thought I would be amongst the invading army that threatened my own people. I never imagined I would have a chance to save them.
The castle was strong. I racked my brain. I thought of the drawbridge, with its newly forged chains and the heavy iron-reinforced planks. I could think of no weaknesses, and only of the many defenses. I thought of the few men who bothered to recognize my presence. Finli, Skaroi and a few others. Would they join me? Would they die?
“My people will be killed.”
“Only those who resist us.”
I looked at the earth. At the blades of grass beneath the moonlight. Would the naked form of the man who had just taken my flesh, and his monsters, be the last of my visions? I smiled. If so, then I had seen more of the world than many would. Monsters and men and passion converged in one single moonlight night, the night I would die.
I pushed myself up from the dirt and stood to meet Ulfvaldr’s eyes. They gleamed like hard metal. His teeth pressed against his full lips, begging to be let out.
“No, Ulfvaldr. I cannot let you invade this night.”
“Then you will die,” his face was blank as stone. It was too blank.
“What if you did not have to kill me to take what is yours?”
His mouth hardened into a line.
“I don’t dispute your claim,” I said, stepping toward him. I could have sworn I heard his heart beating in his chest. It might have been my own.
“Then why-”
“But my loyalties are to my people. Let me go back, let me warn them, let me prepare the way for you, and welcome you in.”
“Let you go back to warn your people against my invasion? No, Varghoss. Your choices are kneel or die.”
“I cannot lead my people to their slaughter.”
“Then you will die. I do not need your authority to rule.”
“But it would help,” m
y pulse was quick. I saw his claws begin to grow from his fingers. Ulfvaldr was losing his hold on whatever kept him human longer than the others. I looked around the circle. They stood on all fours, now, their mouths dripping with spittle.
“What can I do to prove that I am trustworthy?”
I reached out a hand. He clasped it in a grip so tight my heartbeat in my fingertips. His eyes were animal. His skin hotter than it should have been on this cold night. It threatened to burn me. I stepped forward, into his embrace, and wrapped my free hand around the back of his head. I pulled him, slowly, into a kiss.
His neck was stiff, at first. I pressed my lips to his, tasting blood. His lips softened. The grip he had on my hand loosened. Then his arms were wrapped around me. A stifled growl rumbled in his throat. It seemed to echo against the moon.
He swept me down to the ground. Ulfvaldr was on top of me. He rocked his hips into mine. I moaned at the pressure. His cock was hard against my own, and rapidly growing stiffer. His weight atop me was immense. I pulled him down onto me, longing for all the closeness he could give.
“Are you mine?” He growled into my ear.
“If you wish me yours.”
I did not know why I agreed so readily. Was it that I had seen him every night in my dreams? Was it that, that made him so familiar? What if the dreams were a warning?
“I saw you in my dreams, Varghoss,” he whispered.
His confession struck me through the chest. I tried to say something. He slid a hand beneath the small of my back and pulled me up into him. I moaned.
“I want you. Give yourself to me,” he whispered.
“I need time to warm the villagers. I need time to tell them they can side with you and live.”
“I can give you three days, but I want you.”
I felt his muscles growing and stiffening beneath my fingers. This man was not yet a beast like the others, but the way his eyes flashed like a predator’s told me this man was a wolf inside. I stared up at Ulfvaldr’s lips, and nodded. In a rush of air, he stood upright. My eyes went to his cock. It was hard and standing straight up between his legs. I rolled to my knees and bent forward in a bow.
“I accept your terms.”
“Truly?”
He bent a claw beneath my chin and lifted my eyes. His body was exquisite, better in this moment than in any dream. If what that old witch said was true, then this was meant to be. I could not help it. I pushed the danger I sensed to the back of my mind. Still, my hands shook as I moved them to his hips.
They shook with fear, and with desire. I gripped his hips. His eyes broke away to the sky. I leaned forward toward his pulsating cock and took it in my mouth.
Ulfvaldr drew in a ragged breath. His hips twitched. The collected leader seemed on the edge of becoming undone. For all my bowing, something kindled inside me. I wanted to make him lose control.
I caught his claws out of the corner of my eye. If he lost control - it would be more than I should risk. The thought flew from my mind. I wanted him, and he, me, and for the first time, I had a man whose chest heaved and eyelids fluttered at my touch.
I slid his cock down my throat, holding back my body’s desire to gag on it. Ulfvaldr groaned and twined a hand through my hair. He pulled me closer, pressing the tip of his cock to the back of my throat. I swallowed it down gladly.
His breath hitched and his hips bucked. He pulled me to the base of his cock. I could not breathe and did not care. I sucked and ran my tongue along his shaft. When my air began to run out, I pushed back against his hand. He let me go, still keeping his hand on the back of my head. I filled my lungs with a gasp. Ulfvaldr plunged his cock back down my throat.
I swallowed and lapped and sucked and licked. My cock grew harder. The blood fell from my head to between my legs. Between the longing with which my hardness plagued me and the lack of air, I grew dizzy. My vision was spotted, but my desire could not have been clearer. I pulled Ulfvaldr’s hips toward me and with them, his cock, deeper down my throat.
“Varghoss…” He breathed.
Ulfvaldr looked down at me with something like wonder. I was going to burst from tension. It only made me suck the harder. I reached down a hand to my own bulge and rubbed it. I groaned into his cock, letting drops of spittle fall to the ground. The cold night air wicked away the heat. The heady scent of his arousal filled my nostrils. Ulfvaldr’s breathing became ragged.
He grabbed the back of my head with both his hands and shoved his cock down my throat. With furious motion, he began to fuck my mouth. I hung on and stroked myself, growing dizzier with each thrust.
My orgasm came in waves. I shuddered and sucked and stroked his balls. He pounded into my mouth and throat, filling me with his manhood. I groaned. He threw back his head and howled. The sky shook. Ulfvaldr’s muscles tensed, his abdominals standing out in stark contrast in the moonlight. He was made of sinew and power. His seed shot into my throat. I choked on it and drank it down. It was sweet, and salty, and potent.
It was only when I had lapped up every last drop that Ulfvaldr pulled away. He looked down at me, creases forming at the corners of his eyes. He let loose a great breath and stepped back, freeing his cock from my hands. I stayed on my knees, dazed and spent.
“We hunt. Feast and prepare yourself for battle, three days hence,” he called to his men.
With a mighty howl, he threw his head back to the moon. His body contorted. I heard bone cracking. I backed away on the ground. I slipped in the dew. Ulfvaldr twisted and turned. His body sprouted thick fur and his face elongated.
At last, a brown and gray wolf stood before me. It possessed those same golden eyes. I watched my breath cloud between us, and the steam from its nostrils collided with mine. The wolf gave me a nod, and, with another great howl, ran in the direction of the forest and the sea. The other wolves followed.
I stood and wrapped my arms around myself and looked to where the stars stood in the sky above. In this moment, it seemed like I could see their movement. I ran a finger along my lip. I could still taste him. My throat was raw and my knees were scraped. Cold clung to me where I had spilled my own seed. The forest was quiet now. The wolves were quiet, hunting.
“Ulfvaldr,” I whispered, letting the name play on my tongue.
What have I agreed to? I hunched forward and prayed that all would go well. I prayed that Ulfvaldr was not the mad wolf-man he might be, that this man, who filled my mind and heart with feelings so strong they were like an illness, that he felt something of the same. I opened my eyes again. The night was more than half through.
It was time to go back. I would retrieve my cloak and my horse, if I could, and make the journey to the castle. Ulfvaldr would know where I had gone, and, no doubt, I would see him in three days, for good or for ill.
Chapter 8
Ulfvaldr
The smell of salt tickled my nostrils. I swam through the trees like a fish through water. Nothing could touch me. Not a branch snagged my fur. I was water, I was wind, and I was moonlight passing over leaves.
The kill had been quick, a small thing, a rabbit. It was enough. I needed no more. I left my other wolves to hunt and ran toward the salt, the sea.
The sea. It enchanted me with the song it called that only my wolf ears could hear. It rang out up from the waves and over the dunes and cliffs and through the forest.
My men were not like the other men, the full men. We did not venture out onto the sea. That way lay fear for us.
But it called.
And I ran.
Rabbits and birds scattered alike as my pace became furious. I cared less and less for the odd branch that got in my way or for keeping the quiet as I left my hunting pack behind and made it to the edge of the wood. I burst through the edge of trees. Below was a glowing black swelling shape that sang beneath moon.
I rolled on my back to encrust my fur with the salt that sprayed up from the sea. I let the salt tickle my tongue and the air fill my lungs and body with the knowledge of things old,
and deep, and very far away. I thought of those who were gone from our tribe, dead. They seemed to come back to me when I was near the sea. I let out a yip and ran down my familiar path on the cliffside.
The sea let out spray against the rocks on the shore. It was vast and cold and something about it pulled me toward it. It was something my father had talked about, the call of the void, of the unknown. I dipped my front paws in the water and let them wash through the fur. My senses clamored. The cold water sank into my bones and made me feel alive, so alive from paw to ear tip.
Varghoss’s face crossed my vision. My fur rose and I let out a howl. I hoped he could hear it, wherever he was. On his way back to his human castle, no doubt. I pulled back my lips in a wolf’s grin, feeling the wind whip between my teeth. There would be blood in three days. I hoped for his sake, he was right that it needed only be only one man’s blood, that man who held that castle, and who needed to die for his deeds. But I would take as many men as I had to, in order to get back what was ours.
Chapter 9
Varghoss
“You’re back.”
The words were said with surprise, but not with relief. I rose from my bow, despite not having the permission. My stepfather furrowed his brows, a deep crease forming between them. He leaned back into his throne. The others who had come to supplicate and pay their taxes kneeled on the floor around the perimeter of the room, watching. The villagers looked ragged, their eyes ringed with red and purple. Fundinn’s warriors leaned on their spears, a casual reminder of his power, and the cost of disobedience.
“Kilfa,” Fundinn said, “Prince Varghoss looks tired, perhaps ill. Take him to get some rest while I hear the rest of my subjects.”
“Fundinn, stepfather,” I wrenched his arm from the hold Kilfa put on it. I looked to Finli, to Skaroi, to anyone for backup, “What I say is true. There is danger and I need to warn the villages so they can rally their defenses.”
Claw and Crown Bundle: A Gay Viking Historical Fantasy Shifter Romance Series Page 5