by Lee Savino
Svein set his hand at my entrance again. His fingers were slick and this time, he easily pushed inside.
“Deep breath,” he ordered, and with it, pushed inside me. I shook. Rivulets of pleasure ran from deep inside me, spreading through my whole body.
“Too much?” Svein asked. He was inside me, his hand filling me. My entranced stretched around his wrist.
I wanted to thrash and cry because it wasn’t too much, it wasn’t enough. I was full, every part of me, and I only wanted more. I wanted these men to fill me up, mind body and soul. I wanted to drown.
Pleasure burned through my mind. It seized and shook me so hard my back spasmed. Svein’s fist touched every part of me.
I was floating in another world when he withdrew. The warrior’s chuckles wafted above me.
Dagg propped me up and gave me water, his beard tickling my bare chest. I tugged him to me, nuzzling blindly at his face until I found his lips.
“You did well,” he murmured. “Will you mind from now on?”
My head rolled against his forehead as I nodded.
“Good girl.”
He rose up and I blinked in to the dark. The two warriors loomed over me, pulling at their cocks, their eyes fixed on me. One by one, they spent, splashing on my bare skin.
“Rub it in, little one. Take our scent. Everyone will know who you belong to.”
Dagg lay down beside me, turning me so my body fit against his. His coarse hair rubbed against my skin, sending prickles of awareness through my sated body.
“Sleep in peace, little dove. You’re ours, now.”
I sank into sleep, his voice echoing into my dreams. We own you.
*
I stood on a cliff, staring down at the world far below. My skirts whipped in the wind that shrieked along the heights. Below, the Corpse King’s army fought the Berserkers. Sword beat shield, axe cleaved bone. The wind carried the sound of battle and the stench of the undead.
“It’s over,” the Corpse King said. He stood at my back, black robes swathing his bony self. His mirage was slipping—he looked more like the undead he commanded than the human mage he’d once been. “You may as well give it to me.”
My hand closed over the jewel at my neck. Eldritch light escaped from between my fingers.
“It does not belong to him.” There was a third on the cliff, a woman with white gold hair. “Give it to your sisters, so we may all defeat him.”
I opened my hand, and the stone had disappeared. I still saw it clearly, shimmering at the bottom of a pool.
I opened my mouth to tell the woman.
“No,” the mage king screamed, and threw a cloud of shadow at me. “Don’t speak.”
I felt a hand wrap about my mouth, choking my breath. I could not even scream—
I was halfway up and across the cave before the warriors found their feet.
“What is it, little dove?”
I shook my head, my head pounding with the Corpse King’s command. Don’t speak. Don’t speak. Horrible things would come to pass if I let loose my voice.
Squinting through the pain in my temples, I stooped and drew on my boots.
“Where are you going?”
I grabbed my cup and little pot and tossed it into the sack but got no further. Dagg caught me fast.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled.
Svein frowned. “You are upset. Will you tell us why?”
I shook my head. Tremors went through me. How had the Corpse King found me? My mates were supposed to keep the dreams at bay.
“Please,” Svein squatted before me. “Tell us what you fear. We would share this burden with you.”
I pressed my hands over my mouth. I felt the mage’s spell again, covering my mouth so my own screams filled my throat and choked me.
“Something’s wrong,” Dagg said gruffly. A low growl started rumbling in his chest.
“Fern,” Svein said. “if you tell us we can help you. Did something startle you?”
Dagg rose abruptly and started pacing, pausing only to raise his head. “Do you smell that?”
Was that a whiff of rot? Were the visions so bad they conjured the mage? Was he here?
This was my final fear: that the dreams would turn real.
I shivered hard and Svein tucked a pelt around me
“Was it a dream? Like the one you had before, when we were on the run from the abbey?”
“You were supposed to stop them,” I blurted, panting with the pain in my chest. “You were supposed to keep me safe.”
“We have failed you again, little one.” He pulled me into his arms, and I struggled.
“No, I must go. The visions will continue to come, until they are real.” it was my fault. I drew the dreams, and they grew more solid until they’d come to pass. Time and time again, it had happened. I’d seen the destruction of the abbey, the kidnapping of my friends. The Corpse King coming for the Berserkers in the mist. Then it had all happened, and I’d been powerless to stop it.
I had to go. I was a danger to everyone I cared about.
“Let us fight for you. Let us keep you safe.”
“No,” I wept. “I cannot. He will come for me and I will never be safe.”
“Who?
“The Corpse King,” Dagg growled. He stopped pacing, his limbs going stiff. With a great groan, he threw his head back. His face reshaped, bones popping with the Change.
“Dagg,” Svein barked. “Not here—run!”
The dark-furred monster rushed outside and roared.
27
I sat by the fire, my heart sick. Svein had gone out for a time, to find Dagg after his rampage. He made me promise to stay put and took my boots for good measure. I didn’t move. I was too tired and wrung out to run.
The visions had found me, even here. My mates did nothing to stop them. They would continue to get worse. Then the fits would come. Better for me to beg to be put down. I knew how Dagg felt, at the mercy of the battle rage.
Footsteps came to the cave, along with the scent of pine and fur. The warriors returning, stomping to make sure I heard them. Two pairs of boots came to my side, but I still didn’t look up. Dagg must be all right, if he’d returned. If I was lucky, he wouldn’t hate me for bringing on the madness.
They should send me away. The next time the visions came, the madness might take Dagg forever. It would’ve been better had I been burned as a witch by the nuns, then bring this evil to ones I loved. They could’ve chosen another spaewife for themselves. The pain that thought brought nearly crippled me.
Svein set my boots down near me. “We have decided. You will tell us the visions you see.”
My shoulders slumped. Don’t speak, don’t speak. My head hurt with a piercing pain.
“Fern,” Gentle hands settled on my head, eclipsing the ache. “You will obey.”
What did it matter, if I was to die?
“I see the Corpse King, only he is made of mist and bones. There are often women—ghosts—who try to guide me. I have a jewel on a chain I must keep safe.”
“Good girl,” Svein murmured, and the stabbing in my head lessened.
“The Corpse King wants the jewel. I don’t know why, only that he wants it. No one has it though,” I tried to remember the last of my dream. “It is lost. Hidden somewhere.” The image came to me again. “At the bottom of a pool.”
There was a long silence. I waited for the warriors to denounce me and take my head. Or perhaps they’d just throw me out to die. It would not take more than a few hours in this cold. It’d be quick.
“What is this stone?” Svein mused, almost to himself.
“It’s white, with a little blue. Sometimes it glows,” I said.
Dagg growled, until Svein nudged him. Then the sound cut off.
“The pack must know of this,” Svein said. “Soon. We must send a message.”
“But then they will find you,” I quavered.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Maybe they’ll see how our mate returned us to s
anity. How you saved us.”
“I have not saved you. I have brought evil into your midst.”
“Enough. It is not your fault. We know how to drive the Corpse King away.”
I lifted my head. “How?”
“We will mark you. Claim you forever as ours.”
Dagg knelt. His eyes were bright, his beard unruly, but he was every inch a man. Rough fingers brushed at my cheeks, dashing away my tears. “You belong to us.”
I shook my head sadly.
“Once you begged for our mark.”
Before. Now I could not stand the thought of sharing my nightmares with them. They should cast me out as my family had.
I covered my face and wept.
“Enough,” Dagg said and tugged me to his lap. He held me a long time, rubbing my back, soothing me. Svein brought me a cup of tea, and then a plate of stew. Dagg fed me.
As I ate, the two conversed without speaking. This was the brother bond I’d so hoped would return. The fact that I could hear it meant our mating bond was almost complete. All that was missing was the mating mark.
We must claim her. If the Corpse King wages war in her mind, we must defend her. Both of us. If I fall—
I will not let you, brother. If we fall, we fall together. Together we will be stronger, Svein vowed.
Perhaps the Alphas will help us.
And if they do not? What if the pack comes for her?
Dagg bared his teeth. We will fight.
After dinner, Svein washed my face and hands, then cupped my cheek and studied me for a long time.
“You belong to us,” he murmured. “We won’t let you go.”
I roused a little. “It’s too late,” I said tiredly. “Let me leave. He will come and find me, and I will lead him to you, and the others. That’s what he wants. He needs a bride to fuel his power.” As I spoke the words, I realized they were true. My instincts to run from the mountain, the heart of the Berserker territory, would save my friends. I would not be the weakness that allowed the Corpse King access to them.
Svein lifted the hair from my neck and cradled the base of my skull. One twist and he’d snap my neck. I closed my eyes. I should beg him to do it.
“No. You are safe here. We will defend you with our lives.”
“You belong to us, little dove,” Dagg murmured at my back. His large hands skimmed down my legs, outlining them under my gown. “Your body is ours.” Even in my despair, my body responded, quickening. “It knows its masters.”
Svein started to lift me and I struggled. It was like a leaf fighting a gale.
“Do not hurt yourself,” the warriors crooned as they stripped me bare and laid me down. Dagg lay down behind me and pulled me against his body, surrounding me with his strength. For a while we lay like that, his warmth infusing me. He played with my hair, stroking it from the back of my neck until I was attuned to his touch.
Hot breath blew over the vulnerable spot at the base of my neck. “Tonight we show you how much we own your body.”
I let out a sigh. Excitement buzzed through me despite myself.
His fingers strayed to my front, finding my breasts and rolling the nipples one by one. “You brought us back to ourselves. Now we will claim you. The circle will be complete.”
A few nuzzling kisses at my nape and I was so relaxed I barely protested when Dagg rose and Svein arranged me on my back.
“I trust you will not move from where I place you.”
I shook my head languidly.
“If you do I will tie you down.”
A quiver went through me. Svein bent and kissed me, trailing kisses down my body. He settled between my legs, nibbling the inside of one thigh, then the other, holding me down when I jerked. He licked me teasingly and then flipped me over, kissing down my sensitive spine. My bottom rocked against him, pushing up against his hard cock. He grasped my hips to keep me still, trailing his tongue down past the apex of my buttocks to dip into the cleft.
“What?” I gasped and wriggled to get away.
A hard hand cracked against my bottom. Svein pulled back and took his time dispensing correction, spanking my bare cheeks until the stinging heat made me drip shamefully.
“Will you submit to me?”
“Yes,” I cried.
He explored between my legs. “Wet,” he announced with satisfaction.
“Barely a punishment,” Dagg chuckled.
“So sweet. Your body knows who owns it.” Svein parted my bottom cheeks and licked between them.
“Oh no,” I moaned as his tongue circled my lower hole. It was shameful, how good it felt.
“You love it. You’re soaking,” he said in wonder. His other hand stroked over my wet lower lips as his mouth plundered my naughty back hole. He paused to nibble on my left buttock. “I like your cheeks red. When you disobey I’ll take pleasure correcting you.”
“She takes pleasure, too,” Dagg murmured. His hands brushed my swaying breasts, just enough touch to make me want more.
“Please,” I breathed.
“What is it you want, little red?” Svein asked, wicked humor in his voice.
I lifted my bottom. Flushed hot as I begged silently for them to take me.
“And if I decide I wish to claim you here?” He probed my back hole with a thick finger. I pressed my face into the pelts and moaned.
“So sweet and obedient. I’ll make you come with my mouth on your cunny and my fingers in your bottom hole.”
“Ohhh…”
“Beg me.”
“Please make me cum…”
He laid a light slap on my throbbing cheek. “How?”
“With your mouth... on my cunny.”
“And?”
“Your fingers in my bottom,” I whispered, cheeks aflame.
“Good girl. Roll over. I’ll give you what you need.”
I was spared the sight of Svein’s wicked mouth and fingers stroking me by Dagg, who bent and claimed my mouth. He waited until I gasped my pleasure to present his cock to my lips.
“Your turn to please us,” he murmured and came into me slowly as I moaned. Svein kept fondling me as I sucked Dagg’s cock. I clenched around his fingers.
“Greedy,” Svein murmured, and took his hand away. A second later, he set his cock at my wet entrance. “I’ll give you what you need.”
For all their size, the two warriors were gentle. Dagg kept light fingers on my face, guiding me to lick him as he pleased. I would’ve blushed to serve him this way, but with Svein thrusting the promise of pleasure hovering just out of reach, I was eager to please.
All too soon, Dagg withdrew from my mouth, his rod hard and stiff.
“What—” I started to ask, when they propped me up between them. Svein settled me firmly on him, filling me even more. Dagg pressed against my back, playing with my hair.
“The mating bite,” he breathed at my nape. Prickles went up and down my neck.
“I am not—”
Svein rolled his hips under me, sending his cock surging deeper, and I lost the ability to speak.
Twin canines pressed against my vulnerable shoulder. Svein rose up and smoothed my hair away from the other side. His hips kept rocking, making me ride him to completion as the two held me fast with firm hands, and bit down.
A second of pain, an instant of hovering on the precipice. My breath whistled between my teeth, body clenching. It was too much for Svein, who came, bucking wildly
He bent me forward and Dagg worked his cock at my back, grunting as his seed splashed me. He spread it around, dipping between my buttocks to tease my back hole.
“One day soon we will take you here,” he promised.
I lay limp on Svein, panting. The marks on my shoulders sizzled and burned, but the skin had already healed. Four slight red weals were the only sign I’d been marked.
It’ll be enough to warn any Berserker away from you. And the Corpse King, should he trespass where he doesn’t belong.
I blinked at Dagg, realizing he
’d heard my thoughts.
That’s right, little dove. We’re joined now. Svein and I will make sure nothing keeps us apart.
I’d never be alone again. Never wake from a bad dream and have no one to comfort me. My mates would bear the burden along with me. There was no way to stop it. There was nothing I could do but to wait for a vision to come.
28
Dagg
A man who escapes death takes no moment for granted. When I woke beside my mate, her red hair spilled across my chest, I did not hurry to rise. The fire needed tending, Svein and I needed to hunt, but it wouldn’t do to risk waking Fern. She slept as if wrung out from fighting a great battle. Which, in a way, we had. I stroked her soft hair and savored the moment. After all, it was the least I could do to let her rest.
Besides, my cock was so hard, the slightest brush against her legs while rising would have me spilling like an untried youth.
On the other side of our mate, Svein chuckled. Go ahead, Dagg. When she wakes, I’ll be the one to pleasure her. I’m man enough to wait.
Grabbing a pelt, I flung it hard enough to whip Svein in the face while missing Fern. He laughed louder.
Quiet, you lump. You’re as loud as a boar crashing in brush.
What am I then? Svein taunted. A lump or a boar?
You’re useless as a handless axe.
Those can be quite useful. I remember this one battle—
Between us our mate jerked in her sleep. The two of us were on instant alert, but after a moment she quieted. She settled against me again, her breathing going soft once more.
The Alphas need to know what she is. We need to tell them.
I know. I threaded red strands between my fingers. She’s a volva, a seeress.
I’m surprised we didn’t guess when she first had the dream. Remember, in the mists?
She must tell the pack of her visions. They may hold a clue to defeating the Corpse King. She may save us.
Not us. If we returned to the mountain, our fellow Berserkers may kill us, and take our mate from us.
The beast inside me said we must fight to prevent it. But with the whole pack against us, we would fail.
