“I suppose so,” Astrid replied. In truth, it sounded like complete anarchy.
They sat in silence for a few seconds, before Sabine stood. “I will let you get some rest.”
Astrid bit her lip, resisting the urge to ask Sabine to stay. She had always prided herself in being independent, but after everything that had happened, she really didn’t want to be alone.
“Okay, thanks,” she said, averting her gaze.
Sabine’s response was an odd barking sound. Astrid glanced up at her, brow furrowed. A moment later, Noona came scampering into the room. The large husky crashed into Astrid, lavishing her face with slobbery kisses. Astrid threw her arms around the dog’s neck and let out a squeal of delight.
“She followed us all the way here,” Sabine informed her. “We were taking bets on whether she’d fall into the ravine, but your mutt is quite capable.”
By the time Noona’s enthusiastic assault was finished, Sabine had vanished. Noona took the liberty of licking Astrid’s soup bowl clean, and then curled up on the furs beside her.
Even with Noona by her side and exhaustion bearing down on her, sleep was still elusive for Astrid. Images of dismembered men, bloodstained snow, and serrated teeth vied for the forefront of her mind. When she finally did pass out, the images followed her into her nightmares, as did the cold desolation of the tundra.
***
Every joint and muscle in Astrid’s body protested as she awoke. Her neck was particularly stiff, and she recognized that she probably hadn’t moved an inch from the position she’d fallen asleep in.
Passive anxiety kept her from shifting positions and trying to slip back into sleep. She had no delusions about where she was or what her circumstances were. She remembered everything.
The place where Noona had been was empty. As she felt around the cool space, she became aware of soft, subtle growling. It didn’t sound threatening, but that pesky anxiety had her shooting up from the furs and scanning the room in the jerky motions of a startled squirrel.
The lantern that Erik had lit was still burning, though the oil was considerably low. It cast light over Noona, who lay in the corner of the room, sharing a large bone with a brown wolf about her size. They were sharing in the way of two friendly dogs: pulling the bone back and forth and growling at one another, but making no effort to instigate an outright brawl over it.
Shoulders slumping in relief, Astrid rubbed her temple. “Well, at least one of us is making friends.”
She began picking through the bundle of clothing that Sabine had brought her. Enclosed was a rudimentary shirt made of leather. It had misshapen sleeves, with one arm longer than the other, and a neckline trimmed with an uneven strip of fur. The pants were made of a dark brown hide that she couldn’t readily identify, and were of the same shoddy craftsmanship as the shirt. There was also some sort of cape, made of shaggy brown fur. The individual pieces looked like they would have been rejected by The Salvation Army and the outfit as a whole was a fashion abomination.
“But damn, it sure looks warm,” she mumbled, mulling over the clothing. She noticed that the insides were lined with fur, and between the layers was some sort of additional insulation. Hideous as they were, they were clothes fashioned for function.
She decided to change into them, not just because they would keep her warm, but also because the outfit would most definitely ward off any advances from Erik.
Having to strip naked in the freezing room almost had Astrid rethinking her decision. She put the pants on first, and then took the more daunting plunge and removed her jacket, cardigan, and blouse. Everything was unzipped and unbuttoned, a reminder of Erik’s meticulous attempt at seduction. By the time she was removing her tank top, warmth had blossomed over her skin, leaving it lightly flushed.
Astrid knew that it was the alpha’s physical appearance that caused her to react the way that she did. If he didn’t have the body of a god, if he looked like a grotesque beast, or even just an average male, the things he’d done to her would have felt like the violation that they were. With this in mind, she resolved herself not to be suckered in by him again.
“Do all humans look like you?”
With a yelp of surprised, Astrid snapped her head to the side. In the corner of the room, Noona was still chewing on one end of the bone. The brown wolf, however, was gone. In its place was a young girl who couldn’t have been more than eight or nine. She had long, willowy limbs and chestnut hair. One of her delicate hands was clutching at the other end of the bone.
“Uh, sorry,” Astrid stammered, looking down at her state of undress. She quickly pulled the fur top over her head. “I guess I should have known that you weren’t a wolf.”
The girl frowned. “But I am a wolf.”
“Oh, I mean, I thought… Um, never mind.” Astrid cringed at her remarkable dearth of eloquence. “What’s your name?”
“Halley,” the girl said. She released the bone and approached Astrid on all fours, uncertainty marring her small face. “Can I touch you?”
Brows knitting together, Astrid gave a small shrug. “Sure?”
Halley placed her hand on Astrid’s cheek. It was unexpectedly warm. She held it there for a moment, and then gave Astrid’s cheek a gentle squeeze. A slow smile spread over the girl’s face.
“You’re very soft,” she said. Then, without warning, she launched herself forward and buried her head in Astrid’s chest. “Mmm, and squishy, too. I like this.”
Astrid racked her brain for something that would explain the girl’s bizarre behavior. In the pack that Ginnifer had documented, there hadn’t been any children. The alpha male, Zane, had formed the pack himself and had yet to take a mate to produce offspring. She did know that werewolves as a species could be rather tactile, using touch both as a means to foster intimacy as well as leave scent markers.
She wasn’t sure if this was either of those things, but she was certain that it made her uncomfortable. Placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders, she carefully pried her off and held her at arm’s length.
Unaffected by the slight, the girl asked, “Are you going to be Erik’s mate?”
Coming from a small child, Astrid found the question disturbing. “No, I don’t think that’s the case.”
“Good,” the girl said, her pale blue eyes brightening. “Then you can be my father’s mate.”
“Uh—”
“He’s very handsome.”
“I’m sure he is, but I’m really not looking for a mate right now.”
Halley’s shoulders slumped. “Oh. I see.” Then, quick as lightning, her attention shifted. “I like your pup.”
It was only after she nodded towards the husky that Astrid caught on. “You mean Noona?”
“Noo-na,” Halley repeated, glancing back at the dog. “So that’s your name.”
“Noona isn’t my pup, she’s my friend,” Astrid explained.
Halley looked at her, cocking her head in a vaguely familiar manner. “But she’s so little. None of the adults ever want to be friends with me. Do you want to be friends with me?”
“Sure,” Astrid said, the word insincere even to her own ears.
“Yay!” In an impressive maneuver, the girl wriggled her shoulders free and reattached herself to Astrid’s midsection, once again using the older woman’s chest as a pillow. “I’ve always wanted a friend.”
Astrid awkwardly patted her head, while silently wondering, Could this situation get any weirder?
CHAPTER FOUR
“You know you can’t keep her here.”
Erik peered up at Sten through one half-opened eye. “I was not aware that I took orders from you.”
The central chamber was unusually empty that day. The pack had spent the morning high on sweets, only to collectively crash midday. Most had retired to their respective rooms, and the few who remained were either dozing or lazily grooming each other in wolf form.
The freezing temperature within the den made staying in human form for any len
gth of time largely impractical. For the majority of the pack members, taking human form was reserved only for times when nonverbal communication would not suffice.
Erik never had trouble getting his point across. He hadn’t even held a direct conversation with at least half of his pack members. In his opinion, an alpha did not need to explain himself, and any message he needed to relay to his inferiors could be easily conveyed through barks, growls, and snarls.
But unlike most alphas, he did not particularly favor his wolf form. It was simply more practical than his human form, as it kept him warmer, was more capable of killing, and it prevented Sten from trying to engage him in conversation.
“It’s not an order, it’s logic,” Sten said, folding his arms over his chest. “You’ve always been quite vocal about not wanting a mate, but if she stays here, you won’t have much of a choice in the matter.”
Erik gave a small growl of appreciation as Ila worked a particularly troublesome kink from his back. The limber she-wolf was straddling his back, carefully working out all of the tension in his muscles. His nightly massage was perhaps the only activity Erik did exclusively in human form. He enjoyed the feel of a female’s hands on him, flesh against flesh, skin against skin. Unfortunately, Sten knew that this was the one time he could coerce the alpha into conversation, which meant that the massages were rarely peaceful.
Opening his eye all the way, Erik said, “Do not presume I share your lack of self-control, brother.”
It was a low blow, but too often, Sten forgot his place.
“It doesn’t matter how much self-control you have,” Sten stated flatly. “You only have to lose control once. Besides, if you don’t take her as your mate, it will only make you more aggressive towards the other males. And we both know that your temper is one area that you don’t exercise self-control.”
Erik didn’t bother denying the last part. He had never found much use for reigning in his temper. It was his volatility that kept his pack members in line. If they didn’t fear his wrath, they would all behave as Sten did, questioning his actions at every turn. That was no way to lead a pack.
Stretching each of his arms out, Erik found the muscles and joints to be loose and relaxed. He gave a grunt of approval and Ila hummed with delight. He felt her draw a finger along his spine.
“Shall I do the front now?” she asked demurely.
To his disappointment, he had to decline. “Later. My niece is here.”
Ila took the signal to climb off. She covered his back with a muskox fur, concealing his nudity just as Halley came bounding into the chamber. Rather than immediately dashing to her father, the pup was preoccupied playing with the dog. Erik’s lip curled distastefully as he watched his niece pounce on the animal. The two exchanged playful nips, and then began chasing one another in a circle.
He had been aware of the dog’s presence in his den—how could he not smell it? But he had not sanctioned it. He’d intended on ordering the animal be removed. Unfortunately, it seemed to have latched on to the one person that would complicate that process.
Erik was not fond of Halley—not in the way he imagined an uncle might be. She was loud, needy, and had the tendency to cry over senseless things. But despite his aversion towards the pup, he couldn’t help but feel a pull towards her that was driven entirely by instinct. She was not only family, but also a member of his pack. Her age and size made her weak, and his wolf felt compelled to guard and nurture her.
It was one of the many reasons that he disliked his wolf.
While Halley and the dog tussled on the floor, the human emerged from the darkness of the main corridor. She had hair the color of chocolate, and it spiraled down past her shoulders in springy curls. Her eyes, which lacked the guile typical of female wolves, were the color of freshly ground coffee beans. He would have compared her skin to caramel, but it had certain radiance to it that conjured images of a sweet toffee candy that he’d once had in his youth.
Erik still wasn’t sure if he wanted to fuck her, or eat her.
Perhaps both, he mused as his cock began to swell.
The human scanned the room, her arms wrapped around her midsection. Was she aware of how vulnerable she was making herself look? The few males that lingered in the room certainly were. They leered at her from their perches and alcoves, practically salivating. The human in Erik found this amusing. The wolf had the sudden urge to mark his territory. Images flitted through his mind. Forcing her down onto the floor. Tearing apart her clothing with his claws. Flipping her onto her belly, and then mounting her from behind. Sinking his teeth into her neck as he fucked her with wild abandon.
The alpha suppressed a groan. He glanced up at Sten, expecting his brother to be eyeing him with reprimand. The physical evidence of Erik’s arousal was covered by the muskox fur, but the scent was doubtlessly hanging in the air. In Erik’s opinion, Halley was far too young to understand what this scent meant, but his brother was militant when it came to preserving his daughter’s innocence.
But Sten’s pale gaze was not even on him. Like the other males, he appeared to be captivated by the human. His nostrils flared, and to Erik’s complete surprise, the beta male licked his lips. Inside his chest, Erik’s wolf gave a warning growl. He managed to crush the sound before it reached his throat.
Deliberately taunting the beast within himself, Erik said, “You can fuck her.”
Sten’s head snapped down to regard his brother. Shame and disbelief warred for dominance of his hard face.
“What?”
Slowly, Erik said, “When I’m done with her, you can fuck her.”
“Don’t be absurd,” Sten said, even as his eyes searched Erik’s face for any hint of deceit.
“You can even take her as your mate.”
This statement had Erik’s wolf thrashing against the confines of his chest, and it gave him a twisted pleasure to hear the beast howl in outrage.
“I’m not alpha,” Sten said, clearly taken aback. It pleased Erik that after all these years, he could still shock his older brother.
“You think I would be threatened?” The prospect of the mild-mannered Sten vying for dominance of the pack was almost laughable, though Erik masked his amusement as best he could. “When I’m done, she’s yours. Mate her, have a whole brood of pups with her for all I care. No one will question who their alpha is.”
“You’re too arrogant for your own good,” Sten said, his eyes shifting back to the human. They now regarded her with a flicker of lust. “You have no idea of the power she’s going to hold over you.”
Erik considered Sten’s words for all of a second, before promptly discarding them. So far as he’d seen, there were two types of shifters. There were those like Sten, who suppressed their inner beasts in favor of indulging human emotions and desires. Then there were those like their father, who suppressed their humanity and allowed the beast to reign supreme.
Early on, Erik had learned that in order to become a truly powerful and formidable alpha, he would have to create his own unique type. Where most alphas discounted humanity as weakness, Erik saw its true potential. There was no species he’d yet encountered that had such an immense capacity for violence and cruelty. He embraced these traits, while keeping his physically powerful but emotionally unstable wolf on a short leash. He was the master of the animal within, keeping it caged and indulging it just enough to keep it hungering for dominance. That way, when he did unleash it, its ferocity was without compare.
Halley bounded up to them, shifting mid-jump to spring into Sten’s open arms. Erik’s combative brother vanished, replaced by the doting father.
“What are you doing up so early?” he asked, mussing up his daughter’s hair.
“I made friends,” she enthused, pointing at the dog, and then the human. “That’s Noona, and that’s Astrid.”
Erik had already been aware of the human’s name. He overheard it while listening in on her conversation with Sabine. For some reason, hearing her name made the muscles i
n his abdomen coil.
The human was approaching them now, her eyes fixed on Sten and Halley. Her face was slightly flushed, and the alpha found himself wondering if that was because she was intimidated, or because she found his brother to be attractive.
“This is my papa,” Halley announced, worming free of her father’s hold to stand between them.
He extended a hand to Astrid, shaking it in a very human gesture. “My name’s Sten. I hope Halley hasn’t given you any trouble.”
The color on her cheeks deepened. “No, no, she’s wonderful. No trouble at all.”
“She smells like a dog,” Erik interrupted. They both looked down at him. Noticing him for the first time, the human’s expression instantly hardened. “Go get her washed up.”
Halley let out a whine, but didn’t object. Sten hesitated, then gave a reluctant nod. It was the closest any of his pack members came to defying his orders, but he tolerated it because they were family.
“Pleasure to meet you, Astrid,” Sten said, inclining his head. “If you need anything, you can always ask for me.”
Erik considered pointing out that he was perfectly capable of providing for the human’s needs, but Sten was already walking away, his daughter in tow. They would talk later, he decided. While Erik was going to make good on his promise to give the human to Sten, for now, she belonged to him.
The human stared after his brother, looking very much like she wanted to follow him. Erik sat up, feeling the need for a little leverage. She was so short that he didn’t have to lift his chin very high to gaze at her face. He liked how short she was. It set her apart from the leggy she-wolves he was accustomed to. Fucking her would be complicated, but he found the challenge appealing.
Erik pinched the hide shirt she wore, rolling the fabric between his fingers. “These clothes suit you.”
He had her full attention once more, though she seemed at a loss for words. Surprising, considering how incessantly she’d chattered during their previous encounters. Perhaps the alcohol that he’d smelled on her breath had loosened her tongue.
Enslaved by the Alpha: Part One (Shifters of Nunavut Book 1) Page 4
