by Savino, Lee
“It works,” I said.
Thorsteinn grunted.
“Let me out,” Sorrel tugged her bonds.
“No. Not until you please us.” My breeches were uncomfortably tight, so I undid them.
“Put that cock near me and I’ll bite it off,” Sorrel snarled.
“Then you will be in there a long time.” Thorsteinn rapped the cage frame.
She bared her teeth.
I turned away. “What say you, Thorsteinn, shall we have a fire? Or go for a hunt? There’s another boar we could—”
“All right,” Sorrel muttered. “Fine.”
I’d made the bars wide enough for us to reach our hands through. We did that now, stroking her back and legs.
I grinned at her. “I told you you would like this cage.”
“Well, I don’t. I don’t like it at all.”
“Because you don’t know how to enjoy it.”
She glared.
“Close your eyes.” I waited until she did and rewarded her by running my hand down her back. Thorsteinn joined me on the other side, and together we rubbed down our mate, massaging her tight neck and shoulders, squeezing her legs and patting her backside and haunches.
“There,” he murmured, squatting to inspect her nether lips. “I knew you’d enjoy it.”
Sure enough, the skin between her thighs shone with arousal. There was a large enough gap in the bars for Thorsteinn to reach in and tease the plump lips. Sorrel gasped and tried to get away at first, but Thorsteinn pressed his face against the bars, angling his head just right for him to lick the tender juncture.
I reached in and squeezed her small breasts, tugging the nipples and enjoying the way her back arched to follow my touch.
After long minutes, her breathing grew more ragged. Her head dropped. I went around tugged her face up by her hair and met her lips.
“I don’t—” she started, and I kissed the protest away.
“Calm. You cannot move, remember? You cannot get out until we allow it. You can only… be.”
“Be what?” she asks her voice slurred. Drunk on sensation.
“Be ours, little warrior,” I whispered. I fed her my fingers, she took them in her mouth, sucking. My cock throbbed, swelling and threatening to split my breeches. I freed it and it curled up against my belly, leaking.
Thorsteinn kept licking her, taking advantage of her helpless state. He gripped her bottom, alternately squeezing and smacking it. She arched her back, pressing her backside against the cage, mewling. He dipped his fingers into her. She stiffened and trembled, her mouth slackening. My fingers pushed back her moan. Her tongue curled around the rough digits, licking as I fucked her mouth with my hand.
“That’s it,” I growled. A slight quiver went through her body. The cage creaked as she rocked on Thorsteinn’s fingers, moving as much as the tight bonds would allow. As I reached my free hand in and plucked her peaked nipples, she moaned again. Her climax rippled through her. The cage shook.
I could stand it no longer. I stepped away long enough to take the rope and unwind it from the hook, lowering the cage so it settled between Thorsteinn and me. Sorrel craned her neck to look up at me. Her face was now the right height to suck my cock.
“Gently. No teeth. Bite us and you will live in here,” I rapped the cage. “Understand?”
Her answer was garbled as her mouth was filled. I hissed as she took me deep. Her tongue licked along my veined length, finding every sensitive spot. My balls hung heavy, filled with all the cum in the world, ready to erupt into her perfect mouth. I gripped her hair and tugged this way and that, teaching her exactly how to please me.
Across from me, Thorsteinn dropped his breeches. Sorrel hummed around my cock as he breached her pussy. The cage swayed between us. Every time he thrust, she took my cock deeper. Steadying the cage with both hands, I pushed her back. We worked into a rhythm, moving her back and forth between us. Her hands clenched against the bars, her nipples hardened and her eyes fluttering closed as we filled her. Best of all, she could not move or speak. We’d taken away all choices, and the only one left was to let us use her for our pleasure and her own.
Thorsteinn must have reached between her legs to stimulate her again, because she shook with another climax, gasping around my cock. I thrust deep into her throat and shot my cum into her gullet. She choked a little, tears leaking from her eyes, but she took all I had to give. I cradled her face as I drew out and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“Well done, little one,” I praised her, kissing her. She smiled against my lips.
“You’re a braver man than I,” Thorsteinn muttered. I stepped back and let him finish. Sorrel cried out as he thrust in and out, gripping the cage tight and slamming into her. The lodge filled with the slap of skin on wet skin. Sorrel writhed and shuddered, climaxes overtaking her again and again. With a roar, Thorsteinn came.
I waited a mere minute before undoing her bonds and letting her slump down with a contented sigh.
“See?” I told her smugly. “I told you you would like the cage.”
7
Sorrel
“Sorrel,” Vik shook me awake. “Sorrel, wake up.”
“What is it?” I met the grim faces of the warriors.
“The Alphas have summoned us. We must go, but you are staying here.”
I rubbed my face. My body was sore but sated from our antics with the cage. It was still night, though. A few birds sang in the darkness.
Outside, someone called for Thorsteinn. I shrank back in the pelts.
“What is happening? Who is that?”
“The Alphas have called the pack to gather at the standing stones. We go to tell your story but leave you with a guard.”
“Why can’t I go with you?”
“Too dangerous. There are some warriors who are enraged over the events. The Alpha’s want to speak to the pack without distraction.”
And I was a distraction. I swallowed. “I don’t want you to leave me.”
“We aren’t leaving for long. Just for a time. We’ll come back to you, Sorrel, we swear it.” I let Vik crush me to him, closing my eyes as he kissed my hair.
“Draw the rope ladder up after us,” Thorsteinn ordered before they left.
I watched them climb down and tree the warrior who was to be my guard. Knut, I remembered. Hazel’s mate.
“Sorrel,” Thorsteinn tugged the rope ladder, and waited until I drew it back up to lope down the path that would take them to the standing stones. Knut took his place beside the tree, half in, half out of shadows.
I sat by the low fire and tried to focus on sharpening my arrowheads but could not settle. What if the Alphas did not believe Thorsteinn and Vik? Would the pack turn on them? They were the only ones defending me, it seemed. I laid out my weapons and counted them, then packed them all up and started pacing. Vik and Thorsteinn risked everything for me. It was my fault it took so long to bond. Why was I so stupid?
A howl broke out in the distance. A lone wolf, its voice rising in pitch and volume until another overtook it. And another. And another—a whole host of wolves singing in eerie harmony. I rubbed my arms and paced some more.
Knut still hadn’t moved from the foot of the tree. He didn’t look up but kept his eyes on the path. A host of lights bobbed in the distance. A low murmur of voices, joining in with the wolves. The warriors were coming.
“Get her,” they chanted. “Seize the murderer.”
I stepped back from the lodge entrance and poured water on the fire. My hands no longer shook. It was as if I expected it—the angry mob coming for me. They would overpower Knut and take me.
Tying my pack tight, I took the rolled-up ladder and snuck out a window on the opposite side of the lodge door. I shimmied out onto a branch. Vik and Thorsteinn had not taught me to climb, but I’d had plenty of practice hiding from nuns at the orphanage.
Head down, I crawled as far as the branch would allow.
The chorus of angry voices grew louder.
At the foot of the tree, torches flared. A shout greeted them—Knut, commanding them to stop. He would not stop a mob.
Carefully, I tied the rope ladder to the branch and let it fall. A pause, while I waited for a shout to go up, a sign that they noticed me. All I heard was Knut speaking to the warriors, trying to reason with them. Then: a clang of metal on metal—weapons drawn.
I swung off the branch and scrambled down the ladder. I’d reached halfway when a shout went up.
“There—behind the tree! She’s escaping!”
I leapt the rest of the way. The ground jarred my legs but after staggering sideways, I marshaled my balance enough to run.
From then on, it was a game. The warriors rushed after me; I ran into the undergrowth, dropping to my belly and crawling under briars while the warriors cursed and tried to come after me.
A wolf almost caught me when I exited, and I swung up into another tree, racing along, leaping from branch to branch.
I made the mistake of looking back, once. A fire grew in the sky. A sob caught in my throat when I realized what it was—Yggdrasil was burning. They’d set fire to my home.
Forcing my heavy legs onwards, I ducked and rolled down a steep hill, racing for the boundary of the mountain.
* * *
Thorsteinn
I stood with my arms crossed over my chest, facing the Alphas. Beside me, Vik fingered his axe.
“The raven is a messenger of Odin,” one of the Alphas was telling the others. “We can hope the Corpse King does not use them for his evil purposes.”
“Any word from the witches?”
“No. And Rosalind is awake but doesn’t remember anything.” The Alphas kept murmuring while we waited.
Finally, I cleared my throat.
“Patience, warrior,” Samuel threw a sympathetic glance my way. “We are waiting for the pack to gather.”
“With respect,” I inclined my head. “We left our mate alone and promised to return to her shortly.”
“So, you have mated her?” Daegan asked.
“The bond is new, but we believe it’s strong,” Vik reported. “But even if it would not survive a test, we claim Sorrel as mate. Anyone who wants her dead will feel the blade of my axe.”
“Well said,” Maddox thumped the arm of his seat. Ragnvald steeped his fingers, looking thoughtful. Samuel opened his mouth but before he could speak a shout made us turn.
“Thorsteinn! Vik!”
“Knut?” I bounded across the clearing to him. My weapon appeared in my hand.
“Fire in your lodge,” he reported.
“Sorrel—?”
“Escaped.”
“What? What is the meaning of this?” Samuel roared.
“A mob came for her,” Knut said. “I could not stop them.”
Samuel pounded the arm of his great throne, “I gave orders—”
“They disobeyed,” Knut snapped.
“Sorrel,” I whispered. As one, Vik and I clutched our weapons and ran from the clearing. We had to find our mate.
* * *
Sorrel
I reached the boundary at the first light of dawn. There were no patrols of draugr in sight, but I hefted a rune stone anyway, glad I’d thought to pack some.
I hesitated at the foot of the hill, weighing my options. I could run and hide for a time, and hope Thorsteinn and Vik could find me. I couldn’t leave tracks for them to find and risk the other warriors catching me.
Or, I could run without stopping, deep into enemy territory. I had the skills to survive. I could live in the wilderness for good. Just like I’d planned to, before the Berserkers captured me. I could be free.
But freedom wouldn’t mean anything without Thorsteinn and Vik. I hadn’t meant to let them in, but they knocked down my walls and stormed the door anyway.
Whipping out an arrow, I notched my bow and let it fly striking a tree and pointing in the direction where I’d go. My warriors were expert trackers. They’d understand. They would find me.
I had almost reached the border when a group of warriors stepped out from behind a cluster of birch.
“Got you,” Ragnar said, and grabbed me by the jerkin.
I struggled, but they took my bow and arrow and knives, and pulled a bag over my head.
* * *
Vik
We reached the lodge just as the final planks caught fire. Ash and burning wood rained down. A few warriors stood around and cheered. Thorsteinn shoved them aside, ignoring their shouted insults. We had to find Sorrel.
“This way,” I ran to the remnants of the ladder. Someone had smeared pitch onto it so it’d burn. The charred ends smoked high above our heads. “She dropped to the ground here.” I pointed to the set of footprints. “She ran that way, into the brambles.”
“She’s carrying a pack,” Thorsteinn muttered.
“She knew the lodge would be attacked. She left before it happened,” I said sharply. “She did not leave us.” I brushed by him roughly, hoping it was true.
“We need to find her.” We raced down the hill, leaving our burning home behind.
* * *
Sorrel
My world was darkness. The bag covered my face and body, the rough threads rubbing my face. The scent of dirt surrounded me. I swallowed my nausea as the warrior carried me like a sack of potatoes, uncaring how he jostled me. My heart beat in panic and I gritted my teeth so I wouldn’t cry out. Thorsteinn and Vik would come for me. They would find me.
“Here we are,” someone grunted, and my world turned upside down. I landed on the ground, stunned for a moment. Someone grabbed my leg and flipped me, and I was falling, falling.
I landed in darkness. Overhead a few warriors leaned over the pit where they’d thrown me.
“There. That’ll teach her.”
“No please,” I lifted my hands to the sky, but the darkness covered the round hole and sealed away the sun.
Everything went dark.
* * *
Thorsteinn
“There.” I pointed to the path of disturbed leaves marking Sorrel’s path. “She went towards the boundary.”
“Of course she did,” Vik said. “She knows how to survive out there. We taught her.”
He took off and I ran beside him. “We must consider that she does not want to be found. She took her pack. Stores for food—”
“No,” Vik said. “She did not run from us.”
“She may have. Women always leave.”
“She is not any woman. She is ours,” he bellowed. His skin cracked and fur sprouted down his arm. Soon the beast would break free.
That’s when I saw the arrow, the fletch fluttering high above our heads. “Look there,” I shouted, and Vik grunted. We turned and raced the way the arrow pointed.
“Forgive me, Sorrel,” I muttered to myself as I ran. “I never should’ve doubted you.”
* * *
Sorrel
A moaning sound filled the pit. My hand flew to my throat and I realized the sound came from me. It cut off abruptly and there was nothing. No noise. No light. My heart beat pounded in my ears.
Something rustled in the dark. Blackness rose up to swallow me. Soon there would be no Sorrel. There would be nothing of me left.
“Let me out,” It came out a croak but inside my head, I was screaming.
The darkness would eat me alive. But when I closed my eyes there was a flash of light.
There! A light around the door. Just a crack, just enough.
Thorsteinn? Vik? Help me!
* * *
Vik
We ran as monsters, tracking Sorrel. Her trail led to the boundary… straight into a waiting group of warriors. We followed their tracks and lost them in a mountain stream.
“Where is she?” Thorsteinn raged.
I cursed. The forest spun in a circle.
Leaves flew as Thorsteinn fell to all fours and raked the earth with his claws.
Vik, Sorrel’s voice whispered.
“Sorrel?”
I whirled. “Where?”
The beast that was Thorsteinn swiveled his great black head towards me.
Do you hear that? I asked via our mind link.
The beast grunted.
Vik. Thorsteinn. Help!
Sorrel, we both stretched our minds towards hers. Speak to us.
Help me!
We both were running, the forest a blur around us.
What happened? Where are you?
I… I left the lodge. I had to. She sniffled. She was somewhere crouched in the dark. Alone, afraid. She hated the dark.
We know. Thorsteinn answered, sounding reasonably like himself, for all he was a fur covered monster racing beside me, sometimes on two feet, sometimes on four.
I ran to the boundary. The warriors caught me, and I can’t get out.
Stay with us, Sorrel, I said. Keep talking. We’re coming. Do you know where they took you?
Silence.
Then: a mindless wail.
The dark the dark the dark
“Darkness.” I mused aloud. “She hates the dark. But only when it closes around her, like in a pit…” I stopped as Thorsteinn roared beside me.
“I know where she is,” I told him, and headed back to the place of the standing stones.
* * *
Sorrel
Darkness clawed at me, crawling down my throat. I couldn’t speak. I could only reach out in my mind.
Vik. Thorsteinn. Please…
Sorrel? Sorrel!
I’m here. They caught me—I shared the image.
Stay calm, little warrior, we are coming.
A roar reached my ears. Someone was scrabbling at the stone covering my prison. I shrank back into darkness in case my captors had returned to torment me.
