Origins_Shifters Forever Worlds

by Elle Thorne

  Calder gave her a look and slipped the leather strap from his wrist. “Do not go anywhere.” He raised a brow then turned toward the sound of Halvar’s voice.

  “Here, Halvar. Can a man not take a piss without being followed?”

  Raucous laughter sounded as Calder headed away from Brenna.

  She looked around at the brush, the forest.

  Dare she?

  The farther away Calder’s footsteps sounded, the more her certainty wavered.

  It was now or never.

  She clutched the wreath’s makings close to her chest and ran toward the trees.

  She ran and ran, unsure how long she’d run, until she was in such a dense thickness of forest that she could no longer see the moon, nor use its light to guide her.

  Winded, with a stitch in her side that was relentless, she leaned against a tree.

  “Pssst.” A small whistling sound caught her attention.

  She looked around the area. Who would be doing that?

  Surely it wasn’t one of the marauders. They’d have certainly recaptured her, rather than use subtle means to get her attention.

  “Who is it?” she whispered into the darkness.

  “Is my daughter still safe? I haven’t seen her in a day.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Freyja.”

  “You’re back from your trip.”

  “Keep your voice down, child.”

  “Sorry. Yes, she is fine. She fell and twisted her ankle. Astrid said she’s staying in the cooking hut, keeping the fire going.”

  “Good. Tell her that in three days, vengeance will be ours. The women are to pick up any weapon they can and attack.”

  “How will they know when?”

  “They’ll know.”

  “Wait, no. I can’t go back. I can’t. They will kill me when they find out that Eerika—”

  A growling, snuffling sound came from nearby.

  Brenna gasped. Was that a wolf? A boar? She clung to the tree and gauged the distance to the lowest branch. Could she climb it before the animal attacked her?

  She never had a chance to find out.

  A hand encircled her wrist.

  “I told you to stay put,” Calder’s voice held admonition. “You could get yourself killed out here. You could have gotten me in trouble.” His fingers found purchase on the leather strap and pulled on it.

  Brenna was speechless, her mind a flurry of activity, first from Freyja’s announcement, then the growling in the trees, and now being recaptured by Calder.

  She jerked on the strap. “You don’t understand.” She hoped Freyja was listening in and could see that one of the enemy was so close.

  Enemy? Was he her enemy? Yes, she reminded herself. He was her enemy as well as the enemy of her people.

  Then why didn’t she feel fear with him?

  “What don’t I understand? That you tried to run away?”

  “Your men will kill me when they return from their sojourn.”

  “And why would that be?”

  Tears threatened and then started a treacherous trip down her cheeks.

  “They will.”

  “We’ll talk about this after I get you back to your cell. I can’t have them noticing that you’re missing.”

  Brenna looked back toward the direction of Freyja but saw nothing. Had Calder not seen or heard them?

  He took a step forward, then looked back at her and tugged on the strap.

  Chapter Eight

  Calder situated Brenna in her cell. He hadn’t said a word to her on their trek back. She’d stumbled the entire walk as they returned, and even asked once why he didn’t.

  He hadn’t been about to tell her that shifters could see in the dark.

  She sat in the corner, on a pile of rugs, and sorted through the plant life she’d collected for her wreath making, then she began to plait and weave the components. Brenna never once looked up at him.

  Calder dragged a seat to the opposite corner, one where he could see who would enter before they could see him. And he watched her, this strong, silent beauty who’d dared to run. Why had she returned so easily? Why hadn’t she struggled or tried to escape? He pondered these questions while his bear paced relentlessly in Calder’s mind.

  At long last, he asked her a question. “Who put those scars on your back? What did you do to merit them?”

  Brenna’s head rose slowly from her task at hand, and her eyes took his full measure, then they narrowed, gleaming dangerously in the dim light cast by the candle he’d lit for her. “Who said I merited the scars?”

  He tilted his head and pondered her question though she didn’t take her gaze from his face. “Who did that to you?”

  Her lips turned tight, the bottom lip no longer plump and kissable, but rather a formidable line drawn in the sand.

  She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the door flinging open and crashing against the wall.

  Three men entered. Three of Halvar’s men, not the ones that followed Calder.

  “Precious bloom,” one of the men slurred.

  Calder noted that it didn’t take shifter super smelling to scent the odors that wafted from the three intruders. They smelled strongly of ale, and their stumbling was testimony to the amounts they must have consumed.

  “Let’s see what you have that would make your husband want you back,” another one said. His profile was a portrait of pure lust.

  “My husband?” Brenna asked. “Did he send word? Did your messengers return?”

  The third man laughed. “They shouldn’t be back for another two days. Plenty of time for you to heal from tonight’s pleasures. Plenty of time.” His laugh was raucous and menacing.

  “Stay away from me.” Brenna pushed herself against the wall and reached for a branch leaning in the corner. She lifted it and was poised, ready to strike.

  “Silly wench,” the first man said and stepped into the line of fire.

  “I will hurt you. I promise.”

  He stepped even closer.

  Probably close enough for her to smell his breath.

  Calder was in an awkward position. He knew defending her and hurting his brother’s top men would not go over well, but he’d not let this happen.

  Seemed his bear had decided the same, but had also determined to take the upper hand.

  The man put his hand on Brenna’s shoulder and pulled her close.

  She struck with the branch, but the man only laughed and yanked it from her.

  At this point, Calder couldn’t have spoken if he’d wanted to as his bear was in the throes of morphing from Calder’s human form into a large dark brown bear.

  His muscles stretched, his bones yielded to the shift with a creak.

  The men whirled around, hearing his transformation.

  It was too late for them to shift into their own bears, though it would have been tight quarters if they had.

  Calder rushed them, claws outstretch, he slashed flesh, left, right, back and forth repeatedly. Blood spurted as the men collapsed, all three on the verge of death, bleeding out while Calder’s bear stood over them, snarling.

  He looked up at Brenna.

  She’d fainted and was on the bundle of furs, face up.

  Calder pushed against his bear to let him return to his human form, but the bear wouldn’t budge. It absolutely refused to yield control to Calder.

  So, in his bear form, albeit reluctantly, Calder stood over Brenna, guarding her. He shoved his bear nose against her shoulder and inhaled deeply, his broad bear chest expanding.

  Chapter Nine

  Brenna opened her eyes. The world before her was dark brown fur.

  Fur?

  Fur!

  A soft growling sound made her heart stop. She froze, motionless, trying to remember.

  The fur moved back slightly. Before her on all fours, waited the largest bear she’d ever seen. Bigger than she even thought bears could get.

  She wouldn’t scream. No, she wouldn’
t. Screaming might make it attack her.

  Then it occurred to her. The bear wasn’t acting aggressively. It stood there, watching her. She couldn’t help but notice that its eyes, a roasted brown hue had a dark blue ring of flames surrounding the iris.

  Just like Calder’s but in reverse.

  Calder!

  She glanced behind the bear, where Calder had been sitting, and of course, he wasn’t there. A part of her knew why, but the other part of her was in denial.

  It can’t be.

  She noticed the bodies of men, mauled and bloody, and was relieved that Calder wasn’t one of the fallen.

  Of course, he isn’t, she chastised herself.

  And yet…

  “Calder?” she whispered.

  The bear cocked its head to the side, those peculiar eyes appraising her.

  “It’s you, isn’t it?”

  She could have sworn she saw the blue flames flicker.

  “You saved me,” she uttered.

  Then, the dam broke.

  Tears came, unfettered, flowing freely.

  She swiped them away. No one had ever stood up for her in this way. Never.

  “Thank you.” She reached out her hand, tentatively, and placed it on the bear’s shoulder.

  The bear came closer, eclipsing her view of the attackers that had died, hiding the door and its confining bars.

  Brenna ran her fingers over the fur; it was thick and almost bristly. She looked into the bear’s eyes, and for a reason she couldn’t understand, she wanted to tell it—him—about the scars. About her life. About her marriage.

  “I’m the second daughter of a wealthy man,” she began. “My father isn’t a bad person, but my mother died when I was young, and he remarried. After that, his focus was the new woman in his life. I suppose that is how it should be, but to a little girl, it seemed like losing a parent all over again. I felt like an orphan.”

  Brenna heaved a deep breath at the pain the memories stirred, then continued. “The land between my father’s and his enemy belongs to the man I was pledged to. My father arranged the marriage in order to secure the property as a barrier against attack.”

  Biting back the tears she didn’t want to shed, she continued to stroke the bear’s coarse fur while he made soft growling sounds that weren’t in the least bit threatening.

  “My father gave my hand in marriage to a man who prefers men.” She hiccoughed the sob back. “He has never taken me as a man would take a woman. He’s—” By the stars above, she wasn’t sure she could continue. She straightened her shoulders, bolstering herself. “He took me like a man would take another man.”

  The bear’s snarl indicated his understanding and his displeasure.

  She lowered her head. “And when I protested, he whipped my back. Whipped me with the same whip his handlers used on their oxen.”

  She dropped her head into her arms and hid her face from the shame of it all.

  Chapter Ten

  Calder couldn’t allow his bear to keep him at bay. He pushed and shoved at his bear’s mind until finally, his strength of will won. He rapidly morphed into his human form, ignoring the pain of bones and sinew rearranging, muscles shortening, body transforming.

  In his human form, he wrapped his arms around the sobbing woman.

  “Brenna,” he whispered against her hair, his lips touching her temple. “You shouldn’t have gone through that.”

  I’ll kill the bastard, by the gods. I will kill that son of a cur.

  She raised her head, emerald eyes glistening. “You’re you,” her voice was filled with awe.

  “Did you doubt it was me?”

  “No.” Her lower lip trembled. “But—it is so much. Too much. You were a human, then a bear, and now a man again.”

  “But it is me. It is all me.” He placed his fingers under her chin, locked his gaze with hers. “The messengers will be back with the ransom, or your husband, or news. Do you think he will pay the ransom?” He prayed the answer would be no. Then she could be free of the abusive mongrel.

  “No.”

  “What do you mean? Why not?” He fought the urge to jump with joy.

  “Because Eerika did not tell them the right place to go. My husband is in the opposite direction. And though he is landed, he has no money. My father paid him to take me because of my husband’s lands. That money is long gone. He’d have to go to my father to get the money. He would not do that, even if he knew I was being held for ransom, which he will not know, because your men will return without having found him.”

  Calder let the information sink in. “That means—”

  “That I am worthless to your brother, to your cause. I cannot be used for ransom. Halvar will order my death.”

  “I will not let that happen.”

  She was biting the inside of her cheek so hard that he was sure she’d draw blood.

  “How could you stop it?”

  Calder let out a deep breath, pulled her closer into his arms. “You let me worry about that.”

  He lowered his head and their lips met.

  He claimed her mouth as fiercely as he wanted to claim her body, her heart, her very soul. She belonged to him. To him and his bear.

  Chapter Eleven

  Brenna restrained a sigh of pure bliss. She’d never been kissed before. Not that she would tell this man so. His mouth devoured hers hungrily, as though he were starving, and the sensation left her tingling and dizzy.

  She returned his kiss, savoring the taste and smell of him. Pure man. His hand traveled to the back of her neck, landing gently on her nape, caressing the sensitive flesh there. His other arm curved around her hips, pressing against the small of her back.

  His tongue sought hers, seeking, finding, claiming.

  Brenna was caught off guard by the arousal he brought out in her. Her body was reaching in ways she had never imagined. Her nipples hardened and pressed against the tunic’s fabric, whilst between her legs, a heat grew that left her breathless.

  They kissed and kissed while Brenna marveled at the connection a kiss could create.

  Calder pulled away, leaving her lips lonely, locking his steely gaze with hers.

  “What?” she whispered, astounded at how breathless and husky her voice was.

  “I want you. I want you with a ferocity I’d not have thought possible.”

  “I feel the same,” she breathed.

  He ran a finger along her jawline, tracing it down, over her neck and into the hollow where she could feel her pulse beating strongly. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  She didn’t know what the future held, but she knew one thing for certain, she would not rest tonight if it was not in this man’s arms, after…

  A blush made its way to her cheeks.

  “You are embarrassed?”

  “Only slightly. I’ve not… you know my situation.”

  He nodded gravely. “I won’t be rough. I’ll have control.”

  “And if I want you to be rough?” She surprised herself by asking.

  “I’ll be what you need me to be.”

  His hands traveled along her waist, pushing the tunic over her ribcage, over her breasts, cupping them at the same time and lowering his head, claiming each pebbled peak, sucking, kissing, licking.

  That heat between Brenna’s legs grew and her core arched closer to Calder.

  He raised his head and she sighed as his thumbs grazed over her dusky nipples, then raised her tunic above her head.

  She stood before him, torn between feeling shy and feeling wanton.

  “By the gods, you are a goddess.” Lust shown in his eyes, and the bear’s amber depths flickered within. He threw the tunic aside and slid his hands down, over her hips, cupping her arse, kneading the flesh, tempting the core of her which felt like it had the utmost of sensitivity at that moment, pulsing and throbbing.

  Or perhaps that wasn’t her pulsing and throbbing alone, for pressed against her was an insistent hardness. His length on he
r cleft, tempting her with a pleasure she had never experienced.

  Brenna wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him closer, only to find that he was pushing her downward, laying her into the soft furs. She raised herself to her elbows and watched him undress, marveling at the muscles, the rock-hard stomach, the thick legs, and the massive erection between them.

  She drew in a sharp intake of breath. He was huge.

  He lowered himself, placed a finger over her lips. “Do not be nervous. I would not hurt you.”

  She nodded apprehensively.

  He leaned down, stroking her legs, her stomach, his fingertips making patterns over her flesh, threatening to consume her with a desire unlike one she’d ever thought existed. She ached for him. An ache evident in the soft moans that escaped her lips. In the center of her cleft, a sensation of a current running through her made her moans turn to panting.

  While exploring her body, he lowered his lips to hers, his tongue taking hers in a primal dance that left her head spinning. He lowered his head, his tongue sliding between her breasts, licking the valley between, then worshiping her nipples while his large hand cupped and hefted the weight of her breast, making sounds of approval that spurred her passion higher.

  He lapped and licked at her hardened peaks while she felt a moisture building within and her muscles contracted, over and over, wanting him within her.

  He raised his head, studied her face. “You are the most beautiful woman.” His voice was not much more than a growl, his bear close to the surface.

  He lowered his face, tracing a trail from the valley between her breasts to her stomach.

  And lower.

  Lower.

  Lower.

  Brenna held her breath.

  He placed his hands on either side of her mound, and spread her open.

  She gasped at the excitement this brought her.

  When he lowered his mouth and warm air touched a part of her that nothing had ever touched, she flinched as the most delightful of pleasures seared its way along her nerve endings.

  “Calder.” Her voice was husky.