by Lee Savino
Shock made him pause, and saved Brenna’s life. The large blond hunched and growled, his wolf coming over him.
It was over in a flash, but I’d never forget the bone-chilling sight of my mate facing the large golden animal with nothing but her anger and a stick.
Wulfgar’s hand clasped on Siebold’s scruff, and hauled him back. I caught Brenna and pulled her to my side.
“Kneel,” I ordered her furiously, and forced her down. I kept a hand on her head, as a reminder to lower her gaze. I could only imagine her furious expression, but she stayed down, a picture of submission, at least. I hoped it would be enough to placate the pack.
The warriors all waited to see what their Alpha would do. Disobedience like that couldn’t go unchecked. The rules were in place to keep the Berserkers from tearing each other apart.
I cursed under my breath.
You see, Siebold whined through the pack bonds. You see, Alpha?
“I do see. Brenna.”
Brenna flinched under my hand, but didn’t look up.
“You must trust your mates to defend you. You are the weakest among us and cannot fight for dominance. You will be punished in front of the pack to learn your place.”
A slight slump of her shoulders told me she understood. I warred between wanting to comfort her and wanting to set her over my knee and blister her behind in view of everyone.
Siebold whined happily. Wulfgar yanked him back as if he were a naughty pup.
“Siebold,” Samuel addressed the golden wolf. “You will not touch her sisters. We promised we would keep them safe.”
“Why not, Alpha?” a warrior asked. “They are so young, and ripe for the taking. Why do we suffer when these women might help us?”
Another warrior added, “We could just take one…the eldest. The blonde. She will be enough to warm us all through the winter.”
A grunt from Siebold, who’d changed back into man form and prowled forward, keeping the fire between us. “I know the blonde. Sweet bitch, she bathes naked in the forest stream. Flaunting herself in front of us…she’s practically asking for it.”
This time, I noted how Siebold directed his taunts, and kept a hand on Brenna. It didn’t matter. With a swift motion, she leaned forward, grabbed up the great stick, and thrust it into the fire.
Not just into the fire—at the cooking pot. The tripod shuddered and the pot tipped, spilling broth onto the hissing fire. Steam rose as the pot rolled towards the scowling Siebold. The warrior leapt out of the way, but not fast enough to escape the hot liquid. He yowled.
This time I hauled our beloved out of the clearing, away from the pack. “Are ye mad, lass?” I’d never guess, in a hundred years, that our woman would behave as she did. It seemed her sweet submissive self went only so far as our chambers.
This was serious. Siebold was mad enough to shift and try to destroy her. Already Wulfgar and Fergus were pushing through warriors to stand between me and the Viking. The wolves were restless, shifting, whining, wondering if there would be a fight.
A sound rolled across the clearing that I didn’t expect. Seated on his throne, Samuel was laughing. His chuckle echoed over the clearing. Wulfgar laughed too, and Siebold turned on the great warrior with fury.
“Change,” Samuel ordered. Siebold’s body jerked from man to beast, forced to obey the Alpha’s command. Shrieking human turned into whimpering wolf, easily subdued by Wulfgar and a few others. One or two other wolves in the pack were caught unawares by the Alpha’s command and shifted into their animal form. They shuffled out of sight, ashamed. The rest of the pack quieted, on edge, waiting at the Alpha’s word.
“We will not touch our woman’s sisters. We promised,” Samuel said. “Brenna will be punished in front of the pack in lieu of challenging Siebold for dominance. Any challenge she gives will be met with punishment. She’s a female and human besides and much weaker.” Samuel nodded to me. “Daegan will carry out her discipline for all to see. She is our mate, and our responsibility.”
A ripple of energy ran through the pack at the word ‘mate.’ For a moment, everything on the mountain held its breath.
Yes, said my wolf. Our mate.
For once I didn’t have the heart to correct it.
“Will she one day bear you pups?” one of the warriors asked.
Samuel’s face hardened. “No. But she is our mate nonetheless.” He motioned to me. “Daegan.”
I growled in Brenna’s ear as I marched her across the clearing. “That was verra dangerous. I’d almost be proud if I didn’t have to punish ye. But now I intend to blister yer backside. Ye earned it.”
I handed her over to the Alpha.
“Naughty one,” Samuel said. “Now you’ll be disciplined like a wolf, stripped bare for all to see.”
Fear finally crossed her features. I petted her hair. “Dinnae worry. It’ll hurt, but we’ll not let any true harm come to ye. Do ye trust us?”
Fear receded. She met my gaze with clear brown eyes as she nodded.
Samuel helped her kneel at his side. The ritual we’d painstakingly planned would continue. The Alpha looked stern on his throne, in control, but his hand was gentle as he stroked her hair.
Grinning, I loped off, motioning to the small redhead wolf waiting at the mouth of the cave.
“Fergus,” I ordered, “fetch me the flogger.”
He returned, and I noticed how he was walking with a bit of a swagger. The little wolf had enjoyed watching Siebold humbled by a mere human.
“Dinnae get any ideas,” I warned him as he presented the flogger to me. “Otherwise you’ll be the one bared to the lash.”
I’d spent the past few days practicing for this moment, including an afternoon in a secluded grove, working out my whipping arm with Fergus’ back as a target. Samuel and I had planned every moment of this discipline ritual.
Fergus had created this punishment tool. He’d bound soft strips of deerskin into a handle. The strips were soft and supple. Wielded correctly, it would not mar or mark our woman’s flesh, though it would sting. I felt a heady rush of arousal at the thought of Brenna’s white back bare and lovely, exposed to the flogger’s soft kiss. Perhaps, if I handled it well today, she would allow me to use the tool on her in private.
I reached for the implement, but Fergus held it back. “Beta,” he said in a quiet, nervous voice. “Ye do not have to do this. Siebold is just trying to pick a fight. The pack will understand.” He kept his gaze carefully lowered.
“Not after her stunt, they won’t.” I stepped closer. “This will not hurt her. Ye helped me make sure of it. Truly, Fergus. I would never cause her undue harm.”
My reassurance relaxed him. He looked serious, but the worry lines disappeared from his youthful face.
I stalked to the center of the pack, my eyes on Brenna. Excitement buzzed down the pack bond. The wolves waited, hungry with anticipation.
I motioned and Wulfgar and Fergus—the two warriors we trusted most--crossed to Brenna to pull her up.
She resisted, but at Samuel’s warning allowed them to set her on her feet and guide her to a wooden frame we used as a drying rack. The warriors tied Brenna’s arms above her head, using leather ties. She faced away from the pack, so they could see the lash hit her back and count each stripe, red on white.
At my nod, Fergus took her braid and placed it over her shoulder, out of the way.
“It’ll be all right,” I heard Fergus whisper to Brenna.
Wulfgar frowned at the little red wolf, but as soon as Fergus couldn’t see his face, he grinned. The giant warrior had a soft spot for smaller beings with undiminished spirit.
Wulfgar stepped away. I took my place in front of the pack. It was so quiet I could hear flies buzzing, and the frightened pants of the bound woman.
It shouldn’t excite me but it did.
“Brenna of the Berserker clan, you’re being punished for challenging a warrior. This whipping will teach you your place. Pack rules allow you to submit this way instea
d of fighting to the death.”
I prayed she heard these words and understood the gravity of her offense. Berserkers lived and died by the rules, carefully crafted to keep the beast at bay.
It was up to me to complete the ritual. Besides my somber expression, I wore deerskin breeches. My chest was bare. I drew a knife and walked around to face our beloved. I held her eyes as I lifted the blade. She didn’t look away, but stayed brave as I cut off her meager shift. The cloth fell and bared her perfect body to every man and wolf in the clearing.
A short whine rose from one, and ended when Samuel growled. Today, the pack could look upon on our woman, but we would not let them forget she belonged to us.
Brenna closed her eyes. Her pure skin pebbled, from both the cool mountain air and her own fearful anticipation. I broke the ritual then, leaning forward to kiss her. “Trust me, lass,” I breathed against her mouth. She nodded. I caught the slight scent of her musk when I stepped back.
My own cock was painfully hard as I stalked back around and readied the flogger. I snapped it several times before laying it on her back.
I heard a harsh sound as she sucked in a breath, but she relaxed when she realized the impact didn’t hurt. I whipped her carefully, painting her upper back and curved buttocks red. These first strikes served to warm her skin and ready it for a long beating. Over time the sting would rise from the striped skin, but for now it would feel as gentle as a massage.
I paused when her skin grew flushed. Brenna’s breathing was deep and even. If I could, I would stop here, give her pleasure. But the pack expected her misery.
Flicking my wrist, I let the flogger fly. Brenna’s body jerked as the strands hit her with more force. A bright red slash appeared on her skin. Her feet danced as she tried to escape the pain.
Several wolves cheered. Samuel growled again, and silenced them.
I gave Brenna several light strokes before intensifying the blows. Red blossomed on her back, and though I was carefully not to let the strands wrap around her front, a few times she twisted and the flogger bit her sides. That would hurt the worst, I knew. The end of the strands felt like bee stings.
The flogging would hurt worse than a spanking, but the marks would fade by the next day. It was nothing like a beating with a true whip made with braided rope, and rocks and pottery shards that could strip a man’s flesh.
If I beat her long and gently enough, she might even fall asleep.
I leaned into the rhythm, ignoring the blood pounding in my head and cock. I don’t know how long I spent striking her with the flogger. At times I was slow and gentle, alternating with more forceful blows.
I don’t know when Brenna stopped fighting and surrendered to the sensation, but as the beating continued, intensified, she didn’t flinch. Her head dipped lower and lower, and her whole body went limp. The flogger licked again and again at her soft skin, and a blush spread over her upper back and bottom. I kept whipping her, even as the deep pink turned red.
In the haze of my arousal, I barely heard my Alpha speak.
“Daegan, that’s enough.”
As soon as I undid her wrists, Brenna slumped against me, huddling under my arms, hiding her face in my chest. The real punishment wasn’t the flogging, it was the humiliation. The act of being bared and punished before the pack broke the most belligerent wolf’s spirit.
It was necessary. I would tell her, over and over again. I would carry her to our cave and use every unguent I had to soothe her. I would bathe her carefully and kiss away her tears.
Brenna shifted in my arms and I caught a glimpse of her face, the high color in her pale cheeks. There were a few tearstains, but not many.
I sniffed the air and realized what my body and every wolf had picked up on—the sweet, heady musk filling the clearing, lying thick on the summer air.
Our beloved was aroused.
Incredulous, I pushed a fallen strand of hair away from her face. Her eyes were glazed, her expression lax with submission. She breathed against me, her body melting into mine, pliant. She was ready to be taken and fucked, dominated completely.
A hungry whine rose from the ranks of wolves, and this time, no growl from the Alpha could quell it.
“Wulfgar,” Samuel called to complete the ritual. “Is the pack satisfied with this punishment?”
“The pack is satisfied,” the warrior rumbled.
Daegan, get her inside.
I pulled Brenna past the wolves, eager to hide her away from prying eyes. Behind me, Fergus and Wulfgar followed close, protected our flank from the slavering beasts. As soon as we hit the mouth of the cave I scooped our beloved into my arms. I carried her, careful of her reddened flesh.
In our chambers, I laid our woman down to inspect her back. The strokes had heated her flesh, but none of the strands had broken the skin. She writhed under the lightest touch, and the heady scent of her arousal filled the air. I checked between her legs.
“By the moon, ye are so wet for me.” I teased her gently, stoking the flame lit by the pain in her back. She arched into my hand, ready for me. My fingers thrummed faster between her legs. My other hand reached under her to find a nipple, and pinch it. Her body convulsed.
“That’s it, wee love. Take yer pleasure.”
I leaned over her, watching her twitch and surrender to the movement of my hand. At the last second, I draped myself over her, pressing my body against her sensitized skin. Her pain melded with pleasure, overwhelming her senses, and she almost bucked me off as her orgasm took her. My cock swelled painfully in my leather breeches. I lifted off her and latched my mouth to the back of her neck, sucking hard enough to leave a red mark.
Mine.
Teeth grew in my mouth, and the wolf yipped with glee at the thought of marking her.
Our woman. Ours.
I snapped my head back, pushing away from her, off the dais, to the other side of the room where it was safe.
She would not survive a mating bite. Tender human skin crushed under a wolf’s jaws—how was that love?
The red marks I’d placed on her skin only made me want to mark her permanently.
When I felt calm enough to approach, I got our beloved a drink of water, and held the cup to her lips. Once she drank, I lay beside her, stroking her cheek, kissing her yielding lips.
“Daegan,” Samuel entered, and I stood aside at his request.
He knelt and touched her hair, waiting until she roused a little.
“Stay on your belly,” he ordered, and examined the marks on her back.
“No blood,” I offered.
“She did well,” Samuel said and stepped away. I could scent his excitement, but like me, he strolled around the room until he had it under control. “I set a guard at the mouth of the cave, and sent most of the pack on patrol, away from the mountain.”
“Just as well. We can fuck her senseless without fear of interruption.” I shucked off my pants.
“Brenna,” Samuel called, seating himself on a rock. “Come here.”
It took her a moment to arrange her limbs so she could walk from the bed, but she made it to the Alpha and stood between his legs so he could steady her.
“You understand why you were punished?”
She nodded.
Samuel stroked back her hair. “It is necessary, little love. Each of us has our place in the pack. Our very survival depends on it.
“You cannot fight a wolf as a challenger is meant to. If you challenge another and cannot follow through, the rules decree you must be punished. It is a mercy that Siebold wasn’t allowed to punish you.”
Her eyes widened.
Samuel picked up the flogger, examining the soft leather strips and showing our beloved. “Daegan fashioned this for you so you would not be hurt. You will thank him later.” He tossed the flogger aside, and his face hardened.
“Kneel,” he ordered, she sank down. Samuel spread his legs and brushed aside his loin cloth. Even seated, the Alpha looked powerful, with thick legs and a mus
cled chest.
“You took your punishment well, little love. And now you will show your Alpha you understand your place.”
His hand guided her head to his cock and she sucked it down.
Samuel continued, stroking her hair. “The way of the wolf is hard. We live at on the brink of life or death. As Alpha, I protect my pack. I would die for it. The weakest wolves are to be protected. But I cannot do this if they disobey my commands. The slightest hesitation could mean the difference between life or death.”
He sucked in a breath as Brenna bobbed her head, sliding several inches down his cock before coming off with a pop. Her tongue lapped lazily over him.
My own balls tightened in sympathy.
“All the way down now,” the Alpha ordered, and, with a deep breath, Brenna obeyed.
“Good girl. Take it all.”
Samuel made her work on her knees until he grunted and spent himself in her mouth.
Brenna bobbed her head leisurely until Samuel gripped her hair and pulled it off with a plop. He bent her head back so her eyes met his.
“The next time you put yourself in danger, attacking a warrior like that, I will have Daegan whip you with more than just a soft flogger. And more than once. You won’t sleep on your back for weeks. Do you understand?”
Brenna nodded, lips soft and shining.
“She’s all yours,” Samuel said to me, stern expression falling away.
“Here, Brenna,” I ordered. “Crawl up on the dais. Hands and knees.”
She slunk gracefully towards me, and I nearly spent myself at the sight.
As she passed, I caught her chin. Her eyes were half lidded with pleasure. I touched her lip and she licked my finger in a submissive haze.
“Ye are all right, lass,” I chuckled and helped her onto the pelt covered rock. “Now arch yer back and present yer lovely arse to me.”
She did as I commanded, her breathing coming harsher with excitement.
She expected a good hard fucking, and that’s exactly what she was going to get. I picked up the jar of oil and coated my fingers before spreading it liberally over the crevice between her reddened bottom cheeks.
