“Would you like me to…clean them up?”
I look back to my reflection in the mirror and straighten my tie. “Yes, get everything cleaned. After all, my new bride deserves fresh sheets.”
“Very good,” he mumbles, then disappears from the room.
“May I go?” my tailor asks.
I look at his pale face, then back at my reflection. “Yes, but I need even more clothes. My bride will expect the perfect husband.”
“Of course,” he says, bowing his head.
I smile in the mirror. My bride will be perfect. I’ll be the perfect husband.
And then, I’ll have it all.
Chapter Seven
Drake
I sit beneath a tree, eating an apple and regarding the other “students” from beneath my lashes. Today new students were arriving, and apparently, they were headed for the House of Berserkers, named after the most powerful berserker house in all of North America. The instant I’d learned the newbies were berserkers, I’d lost interest.
Berserkers were worse than animals. At least animals made sense. They killed to eat. They fought to survive. And they fucked…well, for fun. But berserkers? They were crazed assholes with a thirst for blood.
I had heard few to none ever made it past the cullings.
Fewer still managed to even survive their time here.
Smiling, I take another bite of my apple. As the fucking berserkers fight amongst themselves, growling and shouting, many of the shifters gather, egging them on. Other students stop to watch the spectacle, at a safer distance, and one of them catches my eye.
A beautiful red-head with a thirst for dragon cock. Too bad for her she isn’t my type.
Still, she saunters toward me, casting me sultry looks, then stops to stand in front of me. “Enjoying the sight?” she purrs.
I glance away from her to the fight. “I grow…bored with this place.”
She flashes a smile. “Keep being a good boy, and you might actually make it out of here at the next culling.”
I huff, a trail of smoke rising from my nostrils. “I doubt it.”
Dragon shifters were rare, hunted to the point of near extinction, and if the rest of the supernatural community had their way, we would be extinct. My existence was a thorn in their side. If I didn’t screw up on my own, they’d find a way to make me screw up.
Danielle sits down beside me, even though I hadn’t invited her to, and trails a hand up my thigh. “Come on, Drake, let’s forget about all that.”
“Succumbing to my allure again?” I ask, lifting a brow.
She grabs my junk, and I jerk. “I’d want to stroke you off, with or without your lure, baby.”
I almost sigh. Dragons are hard to resist. Instinctually, other beings bowed down to my kind, they submitted, and females had an instant desire to mate with us. Compatible females had an even harder time resisting us, but I had a harder time refusing them too. Luckily for me, Danielle was not a compatible mate. Even with her hand working my dick, I stayed limp.
Something she was starting to notice.
“What do you need me to do?” she begs.
“Nothing,” I growl. “Find another male.”
Instead, she leans closer, and whispers in my ear, “I’ll do anything. Fuck my hand, my mouth, my pussy, even my ass. In private. Right here and now, whatever you want, Drake.”
Still my dick remains limp. I was a virile male, more than ready to gift a female with my seed, but dragons liked females that were…like treasures, rare and beautiful.
Danielle was not a treasure. She was a woman who confused physical affection with love. A woman who had attached herself to half the men here.
“What do I have to do?” she whispers again.
I try to think of another way to shoot her down gently, but a commotion near the shifters and berserkers distracts me. The security guards are dragging someone in. Someone who seems to be foolish enough to fight back.
For a minute I almost curse the fool. Anyone stupid enough to… And then I see her.
I swear the sky opens up. I swear thunder and lightning shake my earth, and my head goes light. The person who fights is a female. A startlingly beautiful female with hair so white it’s almost silver. It flows down her strong body, like a curtain that can’t possibly protect her from this place. And the leather outfit she wears…a growl explodes from my lips. It reveals far too much of her perfectly curved body. Her large breasts, her tiny waist, her hips made to be grabbed.
“Oh, Drake,” I hear Danielle gasp.
I look down and see her working my cock, hard. And the bastard is standing tall and ready.
My gaze moves back to the new woman. The guards have left her, surrounded by the berserkers and shifters. And yet, her eyes are focused on me, specifically on the hand on my cock.
I shove Danielle’s hand back and stand. It isn’t that I care if my female saw me being touched by another woman. Shifter women understand that a powerful dragon like myself might have many females.
And yet, I will make it clear to this woman that I will have her as my own.
Crossing out of the shade of the tree, I toss my apple and march across the grass. Already the sounds of the men jeering reaches my ears, and something inside of me twists. She stands in the middle of the big men, and yet there isn’t an ounce of fear in her face.
Instead, her small hands bunch into fists.
One of the men grabs her ass. I’m running before I know what I’m doing, and yet before I can reach her, she’s knocked him right on his ass, sending the wolf shifter down onto the dirt training area like a tree falling over. I skid to a halt near her.
She’s breathing hard. “Anyone touches me…be ready to have your ass kicked!”
There are a few bemused chuckles.
A berserker steps out of the crowd, heading for her, a smirk on his face. He reaches for my female, but I’ve closed my hand around his throat before I realize I’m moving. His eyes bug out, and I slowly begin to crush the bones in his throat, seeing red.
“Enough!”
I barely register someone has spoken until a small hand touches my arm.
My gaze snaps away from the man and lands on the stunning female. Up close, she’s a damned goddess. Lush lips, high cheekbones, dark brows arched over brilliant blue eyes. My heart hammers, and I know I’ll need to fuck this woman soon or else lose my mind.
“Put him down,” she snaps.
I drop the man and turn toward her. My much larger body dwarfs her smaller one in a way that has me imagining all the ways I could spin this tiny woman on my cock. I lean closer and take a deep breath, breathing in her scent. Instantly, I’m overwhelmed. She smells like nature. Like the woods, and the water, and the fresh air. But it’s more than that. Her scent calls to something within me…the beast within me, in a way no woman has before.
“Come with me,” I tell her, my voice low and husky.
I expect many things. For her to allow me to sweep her into my arms. For her to take my arm and walk away.
I do not expect the arrogance in her face as she steps back from me. “Not a chance.”
A growl builds low in my throat. “Female—“
“I have a name,” she snaps.
“Tell it,” I snap back.
She gives me a dirty look and then actually turns her back on me and begins to walk away.
Every shifter, every berserker, they stare at us with mouths hanging open. Has any woman ever refused me? Have even the men dared to disobey me?
The answer was simple: no, no they hadn’t.
Perhaps this woman was a beautiful, perfectly-scented fool.
“Come back here!” I order, my voice shattering the silence that stretches between us all.
Very slowly she looks back at me, and I have one moment of triumphant before she speaks, “Go to hell, shifter.”
A cold hot fury unravels within me. My hands curl into fists. This woman…I will break her. I will make her mine. And when I
’m done with her, she will suck my cock on her knees. She will beg for it. She will drink my cum like her favorite snack.
I smile at her, and for the first time I see a flicker of doubt in her eyes.
And then a bell chimes, signaling the first class.
“We’ll finish this…later,” I promise both her and myself.
Chapter Eight
Kiera
I’m trembling, but I’ll be damned if I let the giant shifter know he’s gotten to me. But holy hell, I’d have to be a moron not to be scared of him. He was easily seven feet tall, tall even for a damn berserker. Bigger than any berserker I’d met, both in height and size, and that was not an easy feat.
What the hell kind of shifter is he? Not a bear, that was for sure. I’d know a bear anywhere. So what, then? The truth was I had no idea.
But he was also different than any of the men back home. He was…classically handsome, his light brown hair styled, left a little long on top, and his face cleanly shaven. His face was almost too beautiful to be a man’s, with green eyes and an almost permanent arrogant expression. He was not at all my usual type, but I felt like a woman who had tasted every flavor of ice cream and was suddenly presented with something entirely new.
Which made me want to beg for a taste.
A shiver moves down my spine. Why the hell do I find him so damn attractive?
Berserkers weren’t exactly known for holding back when we wanted something. We lived life to the fullest, and because there were so few males, that usually meant we females had multiple partners at any given time. And yet, something about the shifter made me nervous. Maybe it was the way he looked at me like he already owned me. Or the fact that it was hard to breathe when his gaze met mine.
Which meant that even if I wanted to lick every drop of that ice cream cone, I wouldn’t. Because the last thing I needed right now was another mysterious man complicating my life.
I ignore the way my thighs clench together, and finally release a breath when the big shifter turns away from me. The two dozen or so people who stand around move to form a circle around a dirt area, but I remain where I’m standing, studying them suspiciously.
A man, who can’t be more than a few years older than all of us, comes to stand in the middle of the circle. He crosses big arms over a broad chest and grins. “Who wants to go first today?”
To my surprise, no one volunteers, so I was going to guess whatever he had planned isn’t fun.
His gaze sweeps the circle, then falls on me. And the bastard’s expression instantly changes. “You must be the new girl.”
I glare back at him.
He grins. “Kiera, be a good girl and come here.”
I remain where I stand.
Something dangerous flashes in his eyes. “Come here, or I’m going to make you come here, and it’s going to be unpleasant.”
Every one of the students tense. And I might not be a genius, but I am an expert at body language. This guy’s promise…he means it.
So, carefully, I move toward him.
The students part at my approach, and I continue moving until I come to stand just a foot in front of him. Our teacher looks surprised that I’d drawn so near him. But I know people. If I’m going to do whatever the hell he has planned, I want him to feel deep down that I’m not afraid of him.
“What a good girl,” he purrs in a way I find insulting and more than a little creepy. “You know I’ve never trained a female berserker… I’ve actually never even met one.”
His gaze sweeps to my chest, and I swear I’d never felt grosser. Not only was I wearing the same clothes that I’d been caught in two days earlier, but this asshole is looking at me like he was slowly undressing me.
“Up here, fucker!” I finally say, pointing to my eyes.
His gaze snaps up, and his cheeks heat. “Careful…”
“Careful checking out students,” I shoot back at him. “You wouldn’t want anyone thinking you’re some pervert who takes advantage of the people in your care, because there’s a special place in hell for dirtbags like that.”
Anger buzzes around him. “You’re up next.” His gaze snaps to someone in the crowd. “Drake, you’re her opponent.”
“Opponent?”
The teacher grins. “Why yes, didn’t anyone tell you the first class of the day is your training course? Fighting 101, as we like to call it.”
“Fighting?” I shrug. Fighting I can do.
I turn slowly around as someone steps free from the circle, and my stomach drops. The massive man I’d insulted just a few moments ago… is currently squaring off with me.
Great, just fucking great.
“So, how does this work? Do we…?”
My opponent roars and dives at me.
If not for a lifetime of training, the fight would’ve been over right then, but at the last possible second, I twist away. He skids to a halt, whirls around, and his eyes narrow.
“Come on, big boy, come get me.”
He dives at me again. This time, I slip to the opposite side, then follow up with a kick to his ass.
The shouting around us dies down to silence.
The big man, this Drake, turns to face me. “That was a mistake.”
My hands curl into fists. “Probably not my first one.”
He advances on me, going slower this time, and I can tell by the way he advances on me that he’d decided he was done with this game. That he was just going to clock me and end it. I only wonder if he knows I’ve been fighting big guys my whole life.
Instantly, he swings at me.
I catch his arm and try to pull him forward, to use his momentum against him, but I hadn’t been prepared for him to pull his punch at the last possible second. Instead, he leans into me, knocking us both to the ground in an instant.
Struggling, knowing I’m done for if the big guy can pin me, I try to get out from under him. I try to escape, but it’s too late. He presses down on me, knocking the air from my lungs. I try to strike him, but he easily catches my wrists, pinning them above my head.
As black edges my vision, I wait for the teacher to call him the victor, but he says nothing.
Drake leans closer and runs his lips along my neck. I shiver as he bites lightly at the junction between my neck and shoulder. Hot need rushes through my body, surprising me, and I’m no longer just gasping from lack of air.
He swears above me, and I feel a shudder wrack his body.
“Hurt her,” I hear the teacher command. “Break her. Injure her. Fucking do something, Drake!”
Instead, he lifts his weight from me, if only by a little, then settles between my thighs more comfortably, his erection hard, long, and painfully evident.
My eyes widen. “Get off of me!”
He moves to my ear. “I’m a shifter, sweetheart, I can smell just how wet you are. Want me to take a little taste?”
For one second I consider biting him, and then an idea hits me. I press myself harder against him and whisper, “You better.”
His body tenses above me. His weight shifts again, and I’m not sure exactly what he’s going to do, but I know he wants me.
I wait for just the right moment, and then I knee him in the groin as hard as I can.
He makes a choking sound above me.
I wiggle a hand free and dive my palm into his nose, then knee him in the groin again before shoving him off of me. When I spring free, I dance away from the giant man and glare at the teacher.
“Are we done now?”
The shifter roars in fury on the ground. I hide my surprise and lift a brow, locking eyes with the teacher. “Are we?”
He shakes himself. “Fine. Done. Go clean up. Next partners, George and Kyle.”
I turn my back on all of them, even though I have no idea where the hell I’m supposed to clean up, and head for the closest building. When I reach the steps, I look up at the huge white stone structure. “House of Berserkers” is written across it in black letters.
My mouth curls down. House of Berserkers is also the name of the leaders of all the berserkers in North America. They were run by a bunch of arrogant assholes who were always struggling for more and more power over our clans, even though my father was one of the clan leaders that fought them every step of the way. Living in a building named after them irritated me.
Climbing up the steps, I push open the huge glass doors. On the other side, a man waits. He’s thin compared to most berserkers, with blond hair that hangs into his eyes. “Kiera?”
I nod.
“I’m Tyler. I’m sort of in charge of showing newbies around.”
“Well, you kind of suck at it,” I say. “Those asshole guards dropped me right into that stupid class, and I haven’t even gotten a chance to clean up or—“ I stop myself. “What I meant to say is thanks, and that I’m not always a bitch, I’m just having a bad day.”
His stressed expression fades away. “You’d be surprised by how many people have bad days when they come here.”
I smile, and he smiles back.
“Let me show you to your room.”
He leads me down the hall to the last room on the first floor. Using a key, he unlocks the door and pushes it open, before handing me the key. I step in, and I’m surprised to find a super small room, but at least a private room.
As my gaze runs over the one bed tucked in one corner, a big window, and a tiny desk, I spot the two familiar bags on my bed. “What’s that?” It can’t be.
“Your family was allowed to send you some belongings,” he says, wincing. “The guards take out anything deemed dangerous, but it’s still better than an adult prison. We get a little bit of leeway, being youthful criminals and all.”
I go to the bags like I’m in a spell and unzip them, breathing deeply of the familiar smells of home. One bag holds clothes. In the other I spot a few pictures, and zip it right back up. If I look at any of that, I’m going to completely lose my shit, and I can’t lose my shit in front of this guy.
Then I realize something is under the blanket thrown on my bed. Drawing it back, I spot my axes and gasp. Picking them up, I feel a deep sense of relief that I haven’t felt since being taken from my home.
Untamed- House of Berserkers Page 4
