by Lee Savino
A shadow loomed in the mouth of the cave.
“Svein,” I cried. “Look. Dagg has returned.”
My light-haired mate nodded to his warrior brother, who rose. Both stood watching each other warily.
Dagg’s bare chest still bore marks from Svein’s claws, and under Svein’s clothes, I knew he bore the same.
“He is returned,” I repeated. “We can be together again.”
Svein shrugged.
When I stood, some of Dagg’s spend trickled down my leg. I ignored it and went to Svein, though my face heated to the root of my hair. His lips twisted wryly, as if he knew why I blushed. I took his hand and walked him back into the cave, near the fire. The two men faced each other, tense.
“How was your hunt?” I broke the bitter silence. None of my friends from the abbey would believe I could make conversation like this, but I felt I must ease the way.
“Well enough. I got a buck and left it to drain outside.” Svein drew his axe and ran a finger along the bloody edge before using a rag and some snow to clean it. “Hunting would be better if a monster hadn’t driven all the prey away.”
A low growling sound filled the cave. It came from Dagg. I returned to his side and it stopped.
“You must bathe. Here, Svein brought me a cauldron to use, and I have cleansing herbs.”
Dagg answered “My wolf plunged into a freezing stream for you.”
I grimaced. “This will be less painful.” I bustled about, making ready. When the water was warmed, I tugged at the dark-bearded warrior. “Come on. Before it gets cold.”
“Perhaps Svein will get us more wood for the fire.” Dagg turned a pointed look to Svein.
“I’m not leaving.” The blond folded his arms over his chest.
“This is Dagg,” I reproached Svein. “Your warrior brother. I’m safe with him.”
Dagg touched my hair. “He remembers a time that wasn’t true.”
“That was the Corpse King’s doing. He turned you against us.”
“Even so, he must atone,” Svein said. “Trust isn’t easily regained.”
“The curse has receded. The madness is at bay. But I will atone.” Dagg knelt and took my hand. “I will atone.”
Dagg stayed kneeling for me, and even then, I had to lift the cup high to pour it over his head. Svein kept guard at the mouth of the cave, arms crossed over his chest, mouth set in a grim line. He watched Dagg as Dagg had watched us for so many days. Did Svein think I betrayed him? Was the bond between them so broken, we could never again be one?
As if he heard my fearful thoughts, Dagg murmured, “There is a still a bond between us. He just wishes there were not.”
I swept the cleaning cloth over his broad chest, wincing at the half-healed cuts under the dark mat of hair. “You need to make peace.”
“Soon, little dove.” He tugged me close. “First, let me enjoy my bath.”
“It’s not a real bath,” I whispered. He slipped a hand up my leg and heat came into my face again. I twisted a little out of reach. “I need to wash, too.”
“Leave it.” He raised his chin and sniffed the air, eye bright. “You should smell of me, always.”
I swatted him with the wet cloth. Rucking up my shift, I started to climb into the caldron, where I could thoroughly cleanse myself.
Strong arms banded around my middle. I shrieked, but Dagg lifted me easily and carried me to the pelts. He dropped me there and I rolled, dodging him. He rose, blocking my exit with his giant body. He caught me again, by the shift, and I wriggled out of it, laughing. Another grab and we went down together. Somehow, I ended up on top.
“I’m still messy,” I protested when he pulled me down and hooked a heavy leg over mine.
“No sense getting clean when I’ll only get you dirty again.” His deep voice was guttural as a bark, and his eyes gleamed so bright I knew the beast was near.
A long kiss later and I rubbed wantonly against his hard midriff, angling my body and sighing as I reached for relief.
“Easy,” Dagg growled, and pulled a pelt over my shoulders.
Heat broke through me even as he chided, “You’ll catch a chill, little dove.”
“You will warm me.” I twisted and reached out to Svein, who had come inside the cave, the better to watch over me. “You both will.”
“Peace, brother?” Dagg called. “For her sake.”
“For her sake,” Svein agreed. “Peace.”
I pushed off Dagg and he let me go running to Svein. Dancing up to tiptoes, I wrapped my arms around Svein’s neck and rewarded him with a kiss. He took control. With fist in my hair and large hand splayed over my bottom, he walked me backward until we neared our bed. Then he turned me firmly and, with an iron arm banded around my waist, drew my hair aside and fastened his lips on my neck. A bolt of lightning shot from his lips to my core. My knees buckled, and I sagged, suspended by the arm locked around me.
“Little red,” Dagg knelt before me, at the right height to take my breasts in his mouth. Svein’s hand slid down my front, cupping my heat. His fingers dipped inside.
A moan shuddered through me, once, twice, again. I writhed, pinned between two men intent on delivering delicious torment. My breasts grew full and heavy under Dagg’s lips. His beard tickled me
Svein’s breath was hot on my neck, finding the most sensitive spots to worry. His teeth scraped my pulse, sending primal shivers through me. Any little bit of fear dissolved and drowned in desire.
Dagg’s kisses reached my cunt and I arched in Svein’s hold to push into Dagg’s willing mouth.
“Do you want us?” Svein caught my earlobe between his teeth and bit gently.
“Yes,” I gasped. My inner muscles clenched around Svein’s questing fingers. Svein’s teeth traced down my neck, and I remembered what my friends had said of their warriors, how Berserkers claimed their mates. Perhaps this would be a way to link Dagg and Svein together again.
“Claim me. Mark me.”
A second later, Svein set my feet on the ground. “Making demands, are we?”
“Wait—”
Svein’s hand closed around my neck, angling my head to face him. “You sacrifice yourself so that I might link to Dagg?” His heated gaze was almost menacing. My pulse fluttered against his palm.
“No, I just…”
Svein turned me to face Dagg.
“What shall we do with this naughty one, who risked her life coming down the mountain to save us?” Svein asked.
“Teach her to mind. Teach her who she belongs to,” Dagg answered gruffly. His mouth was mouth stern under his great beard.
“Please, I—”
“We’ll mark you, little one. But not in the way you desire.”
My legs gave out and Svein caught me. “I wish to shave this.” His great hand cupped between my legs.
“Not bare,” Dagg frowned.
“No,” Svein agreed. “I like to see a little tuft of red.”
I squirmed, face hot, mortified that they would speak of this. A minute later, I was on my back, splayed comfortably on the pelts, with Dagg kneeling between my legs.
Svein produced a knife and whetstone. He tested the blade against his finger and sharpened it some more.
Dagg washed me carefully with warm water, and pressed hot cloths to the apex of my legs. When they cooled he took them away and replaced them with his mouth. My body surged up into that one point of contact, pleasure trolling slowly through me.
Then Dagg was gone and Svein took his place. Firelight glinted on metal.
“Frightened?”
I shook my head.
“You should be. We are monsters. But you did not have the sense to be afraid.”
Dagg sat behind me and gathered me onto his lap. He hooked my legs on either side of his and spread me wide.
“Even in those first days, you were never really afraid,” he nuzzled my ear. “That is how we knew you belonged to us.”
Svein bent to his task. I shut my eyes. In s
ome ways it was worse, being perfectly attuned to the feeling of his fingers stroking across my soap-slicked skin, the wet sound of the blade separating the red down from my flesh. Dagg kept my legs firmly apart. Svein pressed a hand above my pubic bone, holding me still. I lay perfectly open, my bones melting into Dagg’s sturdy form, my body rising and falling with his breath. I had no being, no sense of myself beyond the points of where they touched me, claimed me, owned me.
And when Svein was done, they lay me down and took turns showing me how I belonged to them. I begged and begged, but they did not mark me. Not yet. But I knew they would soon.
26
“Now that the snows are less, we might have visitors.” Svein commented the next morning. He squatted by the firepit, poking leaves into the ashes to see if one would light.
“Visitors?” I asked.
“Some of the pack, hunting us.”
“But, the Alpha’s cut you off.”
“Yes,” Dagg said, coming in with an armful of wood. “and there’s one benefit to that. They won’t be able to find us as easily.”
“They can track us,” Svein commented, moving out of the way so Dagg could finish the fire.
“We can hide out tracks.”
“Wait,” I said. “Why don’t you want them to find you?”
Svein had his knife out now and was rubbing soap on his face to shave. He caught me watching and grinned. The memory of that knife sent heat flooding to my lower half, and I blushed.
“They’ll take you from us again and drive us away. My guess is the snow is what kept them away so long,” Dagg said.
“If they bother,” Svein mused. “My guess, they won’t risk this happening again. They’ll call for our death.”
I gasped.
“The blizzards kept them away, but now we must be careful.”
“I do not want you to die,” I said.
“Nor I,” Dagg murmured. “Not when we found a reason to live.”
Once the fire was built, and Svein tested the smoothness of his cheeks by rubbing them on my face and kissing me, both warriors rose.
“We need to go hunt.” Svein strapped on his knife and axe, while Dagg studied his hand, curling his fingers inward like they were tipped with claws.
“Both of you?”
“It takes two to bring down big prey, little red.” Dagg cupped the back of my neck and pulled me forward to plant a kiss on my brow. “We’ll return by sundown.”
“Stay in the cave,” Svein ordered.
I tidied up and took the time to properly wash. I spent some time examining the place they’d shaved bare but did no more than stir up a little longing for the warrior’s earlier return. Wrapping myself in a pelt, I sat and stayed warm by the fire. I found myself staring at the flames in a trance—but without a dreadful vision. With Dagg and Svein around, I was safe.
Things were going better than I dared hope, but there were still challenges. The time would come when my mates would mark me, and then what? Winter would not last forever. We belonged back on the mountain, with the pack. I missed my friends, and surely Dagg and Svein would wish to be accepted by their fellow warriors.
An earthy grunt caught my ears, and I wandered to the front of the cave. Booted footprints led away, but there was no sign of the warriors. Only a slight rustle in the forest beyond. I pulled a pelt around me and ventured out.
There, hunched behind a few holly bushes. Was that black fur?
“Dagg?”
Had he returned? Was he no longer a man, but a monster?
The creature ambled out from behind the bracken and I froze. It wasn’t a Berserker monster, but a bear, woken before it’s time. Lean, angry, and very, very hungry.
Slowly, I took a step back. There was a chance it would not see or scent me, or that it would smell the fire on me and stay away.
A half step back, and another. The animal grunted and shuffled closer. It had found something interesting under the bush. The bones from a past meal. Dagg had left them there. As I stood there, willing myself to inch further toward the cave, the bear lumbered along the edge of the bushes, sniffing for more bones, and suddenly was between me and the cave. It went on ripping and gnawing at its newfound meal, while my eyes darted around, frantically looking for an escape route.
The bear shuffled around the front of the cave, grunting at the fire smell. Then it’s head swung to me.
I ran before it charged. Branches whipped my face as I crashed into the bracken, the bear a dark shape behind. I fought free of the briars holding me and raced into the forest, zig zagging between the pines.
A grunt behind me. The bear was gaining ground. It was big and hungry, and I was lost on unfamiliar terrain. Snow sucked at my boots, dragging me down, and I staggered, wrenching my body forward as fast as I could.
Dark fur flashed to my right and I veered away, only to collide with something white and solid and warm. Not a snow drift. It lifted me while my legs still pumped and held me fast. I screamed, clawing and fighting, but it held me easily, clutching me to its great body.
Be still. Golden eyes pinned me. The creature holding me was big with white and grey fur. It had a wolf’s muzzle and shaggy body rising up on two legs, taller than any man.
A growl shook the air and went through me. Two dark forms rose up and clashed together. The bear and... something else. Another monster covered in dark fur.
“Dagg,” I breathed as the dark monster roared loud enough to shake snow from the trees. The bear turned and ran. Dagg dropped to all fours, shrinking a little into the form of a wolf.
The white and grey monster huffed and started striding back to the cave.
“Svein,” I murmured as he cradled me in his arms. I traced the monstrous features, the fur lined neck, the sleek muzzle. Golden eyes watched me explore. When I got close to his teeth, canines long as knives, he turned his head and nipped at my fingers. By the time we returned, his form was a man’s, not as big but just as powerful. The Change left a white and grey fur across his shoulders. As soon as we entered the cave, he tossed the pelt down.
“What—” I started to ask, when he whirled and advanced, looming over me. He put his hands on my neckline and tore my gown straight down the front. Too shocked to speak, I stood shivering in my shift as he pawed over me, the animal qualities of his face receding further.
A dark hulking form entered the cave. Dagg. His hands were more bear like than human and tipped with scythe like claws.
I heard clearly their voices in my mind.
She must be punished. They agreed and turned their golden gaze on me.
I swallowed and stepped back. Dagg and Svein, I reminded myself. Dagg and Svein. They would not hurt me.
Are you so sure, little red? Svein’s growl held amusement. Again, I had the impression he’d spoken but heard not words.
You broke your word. You left the cave. Svein’s face bore no trace of humor.
“I only—”
Take off your shift. Now, he added when I hesitated.
I stripped in haste, lest he tear it again as easy as breaking a cobweb.
Now go to the pelts, all fours. Arse in the air.
I dropped to the bed and scrambled to obey. My neck prickled at the incredibly vulnerable position. On all fours with a cheek pressed to the pelts, my haunches were exposed. They could do anything they liked with me.
As I thought this, a large hand rested on my bottom. Fingers lightly bit in to my flesh and drew downwards. If he was in beast form, the claws would leave bloody furrows. How easy it would be for the monsters to deliver death.
Oh, little red, we will not harm you, not in that way. But there are consequences. The hands settled on my hips and propped them higher. Hot breath gusted over my lower lips. Teeth, the canines long and not quite human, nibbled on my exposed center.
A large body laid out beside me. I kept my head down in case looking around would not please them. The mouth between my legs kept up its leisurely exploration. A large finger brushed my
breast. My breath caught as a claw traced a lazy circle around my nipple. I was shivering for a different reason than cold. In fact, in the past few minutes, it’d grown very warm.
“You do well to obey us,” Dagg murmured at my side.
“I didn’t mean to run into danger.”
“You’ve been running into danger since the night you came to us,” Svein sounded stern. “And we are grateful. But it ends now.”
“You want us to protect you. We will.”
Dagg kept fondling my breasts as Svein’s fingers skimmed the line of my buttocks. Ripples of sensation shot straight through my core.
“Relax. I’m going to punish you now.”
Svein set my knees a few inches wider, giving him ample access to me. “This is ours,” he murmured, sliding up the inside of my legs to cup my pulsing core. “And this.”
“Yes,” I whispered.
Slowly, he slid a finger in. My muscles tightened around the intruder. After running the single digit around the edge of my needy opening, he added another. And another. The fourth pressed in soon after, stretching me.
“Ohhh,” I whimpered at the invasion, just on the edge of discomfort
“Calm,” Dagg stroked down my spine until I relaxed.
“That’s it.” Svein now had his fingers tight together, fitting all of them into the tight entrance to my body. “Open, little red. Open to me.
He pressed in and the uncomfortable stretch turned into an overwhelming sensation. I whimpered as my body flexed around him, little muscles tightening with pleasure.
Slowly, Svein retreated, murmuring something I didn’t hear.
“Let me,” Dagg murmured and the shadows moved over me as they switched places.
Hot breath hit my nethers, strong fingers holding my legs apart when I would squirm. Instead of fingers, his tongue worked in the furrows around my sex, finding the secret spots that pulled soft moans from my mouth as pleasure burned through me.
Large hands lifted and positioned me, gentle as if handling a bird’s egg. They set me on my back, then rose up on either side of me, mountains of shadow with golden eyes.