Jorah rubbed his jaw as Isolde turned to face him triumphantly. Clearly there was food for thought here. Their assumptions about raising the cubs were taking quite a bashing.
“What excellent boys you have raised Mr Roper,” Issy smiled. ”You and your wife must be very proud of them.”
Mr Roper blinked, his eyes very moist.
“That we are missus – I mean, milady. They’s all we has.” He gulped again. “One day a week you say for lessons?” he repeated. “And they’d be home before nightfall?”
“Indeed, you’d be doing us a favour by letting them come here. I think their example would help. Especially,” she continued resolutely. “With their positive attitude towards humans.”
Seeing Baris’ mouth open, Jorah frowned at him and gave a slight shake of his head. His brother fell silent at once.
Mr Roper rocked back on his heels.
“Ah well, when you put it like that milady…”
“Wonderful. Boys, do you think you would like to come to the castle once a week to mix with other wolves and learn how to hunt in a pack?” asked Issy turning to the children.
They squinted up at her.
“So long as we can go home afterward,” said Gilby casting a glance at his brother who nodded in agreement.
“Of course,” agreed Issy, after a brief glance at Jorah. “All the boys will be going home to their families. Where they belong.”
Mr Roper cast a shrewd glance from Issy’s fixed smile to Jorah’s tense stance and showing himself to be no fool, rapidly excused himself from the situation.
“Come along boys, your grammy will be waiting to hear the good news,” he blustered.
Baris took a step in front of the door to block the exit, but Jorah jerked his head and Baris moved obediently away letting the Ropers take their leave.
“We’ll see you next week boys,” Issy called after them. “Please give my regards to Mrs Roper.”
Jorah breathed heavily through his nose, his every impulse trained on the female in front of him. His mate, his wolf howled. No, not his mate! He had to stop thinking of her in those terms, damn it! His wolf was clamouring with excitement at her show of dominance over his pack members. His mouth was dry and his cock hard. She would be fierce in the defence of their cubs. She was his Alpha Bitch. He wanted to impregnate her. Dimly he was aware of his pack members Cedric, Baris, Geoffrey and Alfric in the room but he couldn’t focus on them while she was in front of him, crowding his senses, inflaming him. She stared back at him, defiantly, her chest rising and falling. Showing no fear, despite her flagrant show of mutiny in front of a pack outsider. His nostrils flared. She had defied him openly In front of his pack – he should be furious. And he was, one some level. But that came secondary to his first overriding impulse – to fuck her senseless. Under her calm exterior he could feel her wrath pulsing out and damn, it was exciting him. He wanted to mount her now, for noisy, sweaty sex. He wanted it bad. His gaze flickered to Alfric.
“Out,” he managed to grind out. “All of you.”
Alfric hesitated only a second before barking some order at the others and they cleared the room. His beta would have been able to tell exactly what his first impulse was and it wasn’t to punish his rebellious little bride. As the door slammed behind them, he started unlacing his crotch.
“Get here, now!”
Her eyes widened before narrowing.
“You know I’m right,” she argued even as she came immediately towards him, appeasing him with her physical obedience if nothing else.
“No more talking! Lift up your skirts.”
Slowly she bent at the waist, not breaking eye contact as she gathered her skirts.
“Children should be with their families Jorah…” she protested, her voice breaking off with an exclamation as he surged forward pinning her against the wall.
“You can just keep talking all you like,” he said gruffly. “You’re just getting me more worked up.”
“I want you to send all those boys homes to their families,” she said steadily as he bunched her skirt up around her waist and started shoving her underwear down.
“I heard you,” he grunted as he felt her soft naked skin under his hands and felt rational thought slip away. This was what he wanted. Always this. He cupped her full backside and pulled her up flush against his hard cock. She panted softly, her hands spreading across his broad shoulders to anchor herself against him. He liked the way she clutched at his shoulders. Almost he wished she had claws to sink in him. Her natural scent assailed his nostrils, musky, feminine, hot for him. Isolde.
“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he practically snarled, staring at her lush full mouth and wanting it on his so bad. But his teeth were down, kissing was a bad idea. He shook his head to keep hold of his rational thoughts. It was hard when she was pressed up against him, so abundant and lush and his. “Give me your mouth,” he heard himself growl. “Now!”
“You’ll send them home?” she asked stubbornly tilting her chin at him. He scanned her beautiful eyes. They stared at him straight and true. Wanting an answer. Showing absolutely no fear.
“Yes,” he hissed, sounding barely human.
She tightened her legs around his waist and drew herself up for his kiss, pressing her mouth to his and flicking her tongue along his lower lip. That was all it took. He pressed her ruthlessly back against the wall and ground his hardness against the cradle of her hips as his mouth slid against hers in a carnal kiss of hunger and urgency. His teeth were down, but retracting them into the gum at this point was not an option. She answered his kiss with almost equal desire as if he had ignited hers with the show of his. Thank gods, he was not in the mood for foreplay! He groaned as he tasted flecks of her blood against his tongue. His healing saliva quickly sealed any nicks from his fangs. Seizing her wrists he pinned her arms over her head and thrust up into her, ruthlessly impaling her on an earth-shattering roar. His nature demanded that he dominated her now with his physicality. He felt the explosions of light behind his eyeballs at the burst of pleasure from being seated so deeply inside her. Mine. It took every last ounce of willpower to hold still for even a moment allowing her to adjust to him. He realised with surprise that he was still in-tune with her body, her racing pulse, the rise and fall of her every breath. He could smell the scent of her desire enveloping him, inciting him. He shuddered with pleasure, forcing his eyes open to look down into hers. Sure enough she was staring back at him, her pupils dilated but her gaze direct, challenging. He thrust and she moaned, her heels digging into the small of his back as she arched into him. There were words he wanted to say, angry words expressing his displeasure at her flouting him in front of his pack, in front of outsiders damn it! But how could his lips form words of displeasure when she was pulsing and squeezing around his cock so sweetly that he wanted to howl like a wolf at the moon? Instead he gave up on words and just grunted like a beast as he rutted in and out of her, his muscles bunching and straining, as he pounded and hammered into her again and again until she was pushing back against him, desperate for her own release. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out of her, ignoring her wail of frustration and sinking with her to the floor where he pulled her onto her knees and pushed her roughly forward into a position where he could mount her from behind. She tried to turn about to see what he was about, but he yanked hard on her hips, sinking back into her blissful tightness again, making them both moan at the sensation. Before she could draw a breath, he was pistoning his hips until he had the hard, fast rhythm that he wanted, that he needed. He could get off this way and leave her high and dry, he thought fleetingly. That would be a ,fitting punishment for her. He closed his eyes revelling in the feel of her soft cushioned body as he slammed against her delightful generous bottom, her soft quivering thighs. He wouldn’t last long like this, already his balls were drawing up, preparing to release into her. It was too much stimulation. Gods, he loved her curvy body. She gave a muffled sob and pushed back against him, seeking the fric
tion she needed to come. His wolf was yipping at him to give his female what she needed, but his pride demanded he withhold it. Ruthlessly he suppressed his inner promptings and bearing down on her shouted out as he shot into her with his explosive climax. He panted against her back, taking great gulps of air as the roaring in his ears subsided and his rioting senses simmered back down. He pulled out of her and immediately she rolled onto her back staring up at him mutinously. He did a double-take at her flustered, annoyed expression. So… she knew or at least suspected that he had deliberately withheld her pleasure. Good. He crooked an eyebrow at her quizzically.
“Something to say?” He asked pulling his breeches back up and tucking himself in.
She shook her head, glaring up at him. He extended his hand for her to take but she ignored it, rolling instead to her feet and hastily righting her clothing. She refused to look at him as he exited the room and he emerged into the corridor his satisfaction already seeping away. His wolf was angry he’d left her wanting. That was the point, he told himself crossly. He marched down the corridor heading towards the South tower. Suppressing the impulse to turn around and finish her off. The ‘biddable little wife’ he’d picked to make his life easier was turning out to be a total distraction. His heels struck the stone flagstones with a measured thud as he brooded heavily on the situation. Of course, she wouldn’t understand about the foundlings. They weren’t human and belonged with their own kind. It was madness leaving them to be brought up by humans. And yet… those Roper boys had more spirit than the five miserable cubs upstairs who’d been taken from their humans. Could it be that they were somehow weaker by being separated from them? He scratched his head distractedly. But this had always been the way things were done at Varkash… since his great-grandfather’s days. Who the hells did Isolde think she was to question the ways of their pack? He fumed silently as he mounted the stone steps up the tower. And half the human families didn’t even want the cubs anyway! At least that was what he’d always been told… In his grandfather’s time they used to be abandoned at the Keep gates by their mothers. The cubs were from unmated werewolf couplings with humans. They were unwanted, illegitimate and needed the protection of the pack. They were the future of the pack godsdamnit. And now, thanks to his bloody-minded little wife he was going to have to break with tradition and return them all to their ignorant humans… He was only halfway up the tower when he found someone sat on the step waiting for him.
“Geoffrey,” he exclaimed with surprise.
“Are you going to do it?” the youth asked abruptly. “Let them go home to their mums?”
Something in his squire’s gaze made him pause, remembering that Geoffrey himself had been a foundling, brought to the Keep before he was a day old and abandoned.
“Honestly? Yes, but I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing,” he answered heavily.
Geoffrey bit the side of his mouth.
“Do you want my opinion?” he asked quietly. “As someone who actually has first-hand experience?”
Jorah sat down on the step beside him.
“Has it been so bad, being raised by the pack?” he asked haltingly.
Geoffrey shrugged.
“I don’t know any better do I? I was told my mother didn’t want me. That humans reject my kind. But that wasn’t true.”
Jorah stirred uneasily.
“Well in some cases….”
“Not their cases. Their families didn’t want to give them up. They’d raised them.” He turned to look Jorah straight in the eye. “And not in my case either.”
Jorah stared back.
“No?” he asked.
“My mother’s right here at the Keep,” he said softly.
Jorah’s eyebrows shot up.
“What?”
“I don’t expect you’ve ever noticed her. She’s beneath your notice on two counts. One, she’s human and two, she’s a servant. She came here to be close to me. She’s lived under the same roof as me for fifteen years but I never got to call her mother.”
“When did she tell you?” asked Jorah slowly.
“She didn’t. We’ve never spoken above a few words.”
“Then how-“
“You think we can’t identify the scent of our human family members my Lord?” Geoffrey’s lip curled. “They’re just as much a part of us as the wolf. That’s what you don’t understand. To us, they’re the same as pack.” He stood up and took a step down the staircase.
“Where are you going?” Jorah called after him.
“I’m going to speak to my mother,” he answered resolutely.
Jorah listened to the ring of his echoing footsteps as he disappeared down the tower before turning back and mounting the rest of the steps thoughtfully to the top.
Baris was stood awaiting him with his arms folded.
“Tell me you told her to mind her place, brother,” he seethed.
“We’re taking them back to their families this afternoon,” replied Jorah steadily.
His brother’s jaw dropped.
“You’ve run mad! I don’t know how she’s done it, but she’s got her claws in you something fierce…”
Jorah slammed his palms down on a table surface making the books lay on its surface jump.
“Watch how you speak of my ma-wife,” he shouted. “You watch your mouth!”
His brother ground his teeth.
“She views things with a fresh pair of eyes,” Jorah carried on more calmly. “Some of the old ways – they need updating.”
“Updating is it? Not just torn apart?”
Jorah eyed his brother heavily.
“Has Alfric ever spoken to you of his experience being raised by the pack?” he asked softly.
Baris flinched.
“No,” he admitted defensively.
Jorah smiled at him coldly.
“Maybe you should ask sometime?”
His brother coloured hotly.
Of course, his beta had never spoken to him about it either but after Geoffrey’s comments his eyes had been opened to the fact it was an upbringing that - lacked.
“We will ask their families if they’ll be willing to bring the boys to the Keep say once a week for … pack lessons.” He improvised. “That way we can build a connection with them. Make sure the pack’s future is secured.”
Baris shrugged.
“Whatever you say brother,” he muttered with a disapproving shake of his head. “I just hope you know what you’re about.”
“What’s that?” Jorah asked narrowing his eyes.
“Your little human… she’s really got you by the balls brother.”
Jorah gave a short mirthless laugh.
“Careful Baris,” he cautioned. “last time you insulted her she had to save your hide.” He looked around the room slowly. “She’s not here to swoop in and defend your miserable ass this time.”
Baris stiffened.
“You and Ran will be accompanying me to the farms this afternoon as emissaries for the pack. It’s an order not a request,” Jorah informed him. “Have the boys rounded up with their stuff in the next half hour.”
His brother nodded briefly and Jorah made his exit. He felt a lot lighter on his way down the stairs than he had on the way up. Like a burden had been lifted. He was doing the right thing. It was a conviction that only grew over the next few hours as they returned each of the boys. The reunions were heart-wrenching. Almost he shuddered to see the depth of feeling between the cubs and their human families. What he’d nearly done horrified him. He found himself actually apologising to his human tenants. His reception into their homes was awkward at best. To break the ice he found himself talking of a harvest feast they were planning up at the hall for tenants and masters alike. Of a new way forward where all the people of Varkash could work together toward the common goal of getting the place back on its feet, irrespective of human or wolf. He found himself telling them of his human bride who he wanted to introduce to them, their new mistress. Their distru
stful expressions had turned to dazed astonishment. He felt like an asshole. This was what he should have been doing instead of repairing the physical broken down fences on his estate. He got first hand accounts of any raiding that had occurred in his absence. He promised to be a better master, a vigilant overlord who would protect them all in future. All of them agreed to let their cubs attend lessons at the Keep twice a week. Ran had emerged from his thunderstruck silence to add a helping word here or there. Baris had been largely silent but he had patted each of the boys on the shoulder before they left and accepted any oat-cakes or salted meat tentatively offered by way of hospitality. Jorah could feel both his brothers gazes on him as they rode between the farms.
“Lord Jorah, I believe you’ve become a politician,” marvelled Ran. “I’ve never seen the like!”
Jorah grunted.
“We’ve got much work to do,” he reflected grimly. Always his thoughts kept returning to Issy who was rightly pissed with him. His wolf was pacing with agitation at having left her so many hours ago at the castle in anger. We’ll make things right with her, Jorah promised under his breath, trying to soothe his own lupine nature. She’ll forgive us. Of course, his wolf didn’t think that was good enough. He was still angry he’d denied her rapture that afternoon and had just selfishly used her body for his own ends. Jorah closed his eyes briefly at the memory. Yes, that was a mistake. I was angry, he conceded. We’ll make it up to her. With the feast. His wolf didn’t know fuck all about feasts and continued to snap and snarl at him in irritation. Dark rain-clouds were gathering overhead before they were even an hour from home and the heavens opened. By the time they rode into the stables night had fallen and they were sodden to the skin. Jed and Roland the groomsmen were there to take their horses from them for a rub down and Jorah returned to the house in some haste. The house was very quiet and he almost thought everyone was a-bed when one of the maids came sailing out of the sitting room and helped remove his coat. She’d been crying he noticed with surprise, but when she saw him looking at her closely she gave him a genuine if slightly wobbly smile that touched her eyes. And suddenly he knew.
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