by Sky Winters
My value to him? What did I mean to him except a potential marriage? A fragile peace treaty between two powers at odds? A pretty and available woman for him to use as he pleased? All for a contract I had nothing to do with. I jutted my chin at him defiantly. He was a rogue and a brute, and now he was manhandling me.
“I didn't agree to marry you and I certainly didn't agree to take your orders!” I exclaimed, wriggling free from his grasp.
“It's dangerous, my Lady,” he said in a low, serious voice, casting his eyes quickly away from me. I wondered in surprise if perhaps I had hurt his feelings. Until that moment he had seemed so invincible.
Again, I remembered Kain dying on the battlefield with the highlanders. Good. If I hurt his feelings that meant I had at least some small advantage over the brute. It was my only form of power in this situation. Everybody was thicker and stronger than I was, I may as well resort to the power my looks and sharp tongue awarded me, just like the jealous and vile women in my own kingdom would have done. I used to wonder why they were so harsh with their husbands and suitors, and now I thought I might understand why.
“Very well. Can we please go to back now?” I asked, resigning myself to a malicious nature. If it gave me any control over my life, I might as well give it a try. I couldn't be at Lord Lachlan's mercy.
“All right,” he said.
I followed him back to the encampment quietly. My emotions were all over the place. He was acting as if I had stricken him, and although I took secret pleasure in hurting a highlander, I couldn't help but feel guilty about it. This just served to make me angrier though, so I went back to the tent where Winny was sipping on a glass of mead and laid down in my cot to get some sleep.
***
I woke up in the middle of the night from another dream about Kain in battle. Again, he was fighting for his life, and before I could reach him, a white wolf appeared in the distance and held my gaze. I wanted to shout at it for answers but instead, I woke myself up with a little gasp. I couldn't handle being in the highlands for another second.
My stomach grumbled painfully. In my haughtiness, I had refused to take to dinner with the others, pretending to be sleeping deeply when they asked me to join them. I didn't like how I was acting, but I didn't know how else to get everybody to leave me alone. Nobody could run my life anymore – I was an adult and I had every right to go wherever I wanted.
I sat bolt upright in bed. That's right – Lord Lachlan said I was free to return home any time I wanted. And I wanted nothing more in that instant than to be in the lowlands, back in my own bed. Where people were cultured and refined and didn't talk to trees. I glowered and got quietly out of my cot, careful not to wake Winny, who had been sharing her tent with me since I arrived. I would miss her. I would miss most of them, really, but I couldn't handle being a pawn in Lord Lachlan's games anymore.
I grabbed my satchel and filled it with the rest of my possessions, packing quickly and slinging it over my shoulder. I buttoned up my nightclothes and dressed in the tartan that Winny had given me. I gazed at her sleeping peacefully before I headed quietly out the tent and toward the road that led, inevitably, toward home.
I snuck past the guards and into the deep darkness of the night. I headed toward the stables, situated further out of the encampment to give the horses more solitude. I would take one and go home, nobody could stop me, and I'd be returning my parent's investment with interest. I would have a highlander's horse.
I fumed at the thought of myself as an investment. I was making the right decision. I was about to mount the horse when suddenly I was grabbed from behind. I was whipped forcfully around. I expected to be peering into Lord Lachlan's stern face, but I had slipped even beneath his awareness and into the night. Instead, I was face to face with the leader of the O'Connell bandits. He sneered at me and clapped a dirty hand over my face before I had the chance to scream.
“We're going to have some fun, princess,” the man said. His breath smelled as if his teeth were rotting in his mouth, and I quirmed, attempting to cry out. Nobody heard me though, and I was dragged away into the darkness.
Chapter 8
I was taken hostage by the O'Connell clan, and realized that these men were everything I thought I had hated about highlanders. Lord Lachlan and his people were nothing like these hedonistic monsters. Each of them took turns touching and leering at me as I was led away into the leader's tent, where he tied me to a stake in the corner.
“We been waiting for you,” he said, licking his blackened teeth. “Heard a lot about you, Princess.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, glowering down at the floor. “Where would you hear anything about me?”
“From your brother,” he said. “You look just bloody like him.”
I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, how he might have known my brother, but before I could get the words out, he shoved a dirty piece of cloth in my mouth and tied another one around it to kep it in place. I furrowed my eyebrows, sensing that the man would like it even better if I struggled, and did my best to keep my composure. I tilted my chin up at him, again borrowing my mother's regal expression. The grin faded from his face and he left the tent.
“Send Lachlan the message of ransom!” he shouted to the men.
I heard the clatter of hooves as horses headed to the camp. I had been foolish to think I could make my way safely home even after Lachlan's warnings. I worried now, after my unkindness toward him, if he would even want to come for me at all. I didn't see why he would. Everything was hopeless.
***
The bandit's leader, presumably O'Connell, disappeared from the tent for a few hours. I was exhausted and hungry, which made me miserable. And on top of it all, my hands and feet were bound too tightly and I could scarcely move. I wondered how it could get any worse, when O'Connell stepped inside the tent with a sickening smirk on his face.
“C'mon lass, the fellas want to have a little fun with ye,” he said, roughly pulling me up and leading me out to the fire, where about sixteen men were leering at me, devilish looks in their eyes.
“I'll start off the festivities,” O'Connell said, gripping my knee and sliding his hand up under my dress. I spit on him and the others laughed. He raised his hand to strike me. I flinched, expecting searing pain, but his blow never reached my face. The great white wolf I had seen before raced out of the dark woods and lept at O'Connell's throat. I hid my face as the sounds of him choking on his last breaths filled the air.
Several of the men began advancing toward the wolf, grabbing weapons of all shapes and sizes. Fear gripped my heart, and for the first time I realized that I didn't want the wolf to die – it had become the same as the wolf in my dreams, and somehow it was connected to the fate of my twin. I knew nothing more truly than I knew this. I watched in horror and awe as the beautiful creature became stained with blood as its enormous body massacred the slew of men trying to kill it.
I cried out as a man, one of the last alive, approached the wolf from behind as it tore out another man's throat. He was holding a huge club over his head and smacked the great wolf over the head with a loud thud. The wolf whimpered.
“No!” I cried as it fell to the ground in a heap. Suddenly, a change began to take place in the wolf. Before my very eyes, it began to change shape, morphing in an aura of light from a wolf down to something much smaller. A naked human. The man struggled weakly to his feet, and my eyes roamed his perfect form. His back was to me, and I could scarcely believe my eyes when he turned to look over his shoulder at me and I was staring right into the face of Lord Lachlan.
Just then, three more wolves lept into the campsite, downing the men before they had a chance to do any more harm to their pack leader. Their terrified wails distracted from the shock I felt as Lord Lachlan steadied himself, bringing his hand to the wound on his forehead. Then, much like a wolf, he shook his head, whipping his long hair wildly, and straightened his back. He approached me, his lithe body glowing in the firelig
ht, and for a moment, everything else disappeared.
He untied me gingerly, but I couldn't yet stand. My legs felt weak with fear and adrenaline, and he allowed me to stay on the ground for a moment.
“He said something about my brother,” I whispered, tears streaming down my face. “That he'd heard a lot about me from him. Why is that?”
“Your brother, Kain the Able, was a fantastic fighter. It is the O'Connell's clan that brings a bad name to the rest of us. We had banded together to fight against them, but they had taken Kain captive, hoping for a reward from the lowlanders for his return. Your family. My pack and I were able to save him, and in battle we fought against the O'Connells and the clans they had brainwashed against us. We had a common enemy, and he was a worthy friend.”
Lord Lachlan lowered his eyes to the ground and heaved a deep sigh.
“One of the men, a bandit named Emry, was on the battlefield that day. We were on the cliff's edge when it happened. I saw him fighting Kain and ran as quickly as I could, but I was still human and wasn't fast enough. By the time I transformed, Emry had run his blade through your brother. I pounced on Emry hard enough to knock him over the cliff's edge, but it was too late for your brother. I nuzzled him and comforted him as he died.”
“How did you come to know each other?” I asked. It seemed so wrong when compared to what I already held in my beliefs, but in my heart, I knew it was so, and that this is what my dreams had been trying to tell me for so long. Kain didn't want any hatred in my heard. Not for the highlanders, not for anyone.
“As I mentioned, we had a common enemy. We rescued him from the O'Connell clan just as we are rescuing you. And when we transformed to our human forms, Kain fell instantly in love with a woman here – a woman I've been reluctant to introduce you to for fear of a misunderstanding. Come here now, Maily.”
A beautiful woman approached, also completely nude. Her stunning body showed marks of childbirth, and I looked from Lord Lachlan to Maily in confusion. Before I could ask the obvious question, a small wolf pup with a satchel in his mouth ran up to her and nuzzled her legs. She picked him up and he transformed into a giggling baby boy. He looked just like Kain and I.
“Your nephew,” she said, handing the small child down to me. He was around three years old, and we stared at each other until tears welled in my eyes. I knew everything they were saying to be true in my heart, and I hugged the boy as the others dug through his satchel for their clothes, dressing quickly among the corpses before heading back toward camp for the night.
“They took you far,” Lord Lachlan said down to me. “We highlanders can hike 60 miles in a single day, but I'm afraid you are of too weak of a constitution for the journey back. We can make camp in the woods a ways away from here. Take some of their supplies and head back to the settlement in the morning. It has been a long night. Come on out of here, you don't need to be around all of this carnage.”
He took my hands and pulled me to my feet, and I followed him around camp as he looted it for what we needed. We headed away from the bandit's camp and began our search for a place to spend the night.
Chapter 9
We found a pleasant clearing and Lord Lachlan busied himself setting up a campsite. He first built a fire and sat me in front of it before cooking a hearty meal of goat's meat and porridge. We ate quietly.
“Are you injured?” I asked when we were finished.
“No, love. Just a scratch. Did they harm you at all?” his eyes grew hard at the possibility.
“I'm fine,” I said, longing for the comfort of his warm body beside me. I shivered and looked out into the trees. He seemed to read my mind, and scooted beside me, wrapping his strong arms around me.
“I misunderstood you,” I said softly to him. “I'm so sorry.”
He laughed heartily.
“I like a woman who takes care of herself,” he said, and I put my arms around him, toying with his soft hair. He looked down into my eyes and my breath caught in my throat. I knew I was ready for him now.
I tilted my chin up, this time not in indignance but to kiss him. He met my mouth greedily, and I sighed in pleasure as his hot tongue brought me an unexpected taste of rapture. I kissed back passionately and rested my hand on the bulge of his kilt, stroking it curiously. I could tell he was surprised by my boldness.
“Are you sure this is what you want? We are not yet wed,” he whispered, pulling me on top of himself and pressing my middle against the hard, urgent testament to his longing.
I felt a rush between my legs and nodded. I could feel his every movement beneath the fabric of his kilt as he began to strip me of my dress, revealing my pale breasts and lean stomach. Soon, the only thing separating us was a thin barrier of cloth. I moaned as he easily bypassed it, pressing his hot flesh against me, halting at a bunched area of damp fabric between my own legs. He slid himself against it without moving the fabric. I closed my eyes, gasping as tendrils of pleasure wound their way around me.
He sat up, his rippling muscles flexed and glimmering in the soft glow of the fire light. His strong hands found their way to my waist and lifted me, moving the bunched fabric out of his way and using his large fingers to knead soft bursts of bliss from me. He pulled them away and examined the way they shimmered in the fire light before giving me a wolfish grin.
It seemed greedy to want more than that, so I was surprised when my gratification only deepened. He closed his vibrant eyes and pushed his rod gently against my opening, until he was partially inside. The foreign feeling of a man's phallus against me was jarring at first, but he began expertly pleasuring me as he slid further and further inside. He went with excruciating slowness, awakening my appetite until even the whole of him didn't feel like enough.
The pleading in my eyes elicited a smile from him, and he gently lifted me from himself and laid me down on the tartan cloth I had been cloaked in. He fussed over me until I was comfortable, and then, with an expression of pure revelry, pushed his engorged manhood deeply inside of me. I cried out in surprise and in gratification. Never had I felt better than in that moment. He thrust again and again, indulging every wave of my satisfaction.
I could see the enjoyment on his face, and I felt a shudder inside of me as his eyes roamed my naked body.
“You're perfect,” he said with a low growl, and unleashed an animalistic fervor within me. We moaned together until suddenly it felt as if I were being lifted straight out of my body by a burst of ecstasy. My hips buckled against his and I cried out fervently. He uttered a low moan as I squeezed him, until suddenly I was flooded with a hot rush of liquid that elevated my climax. He gripped my legs tightly, grimacing in pleasure up at the moon until the gushing of his seed subsided.
He lay next to me, entwining my hand in his and examining our hands together in the moonlight. I curled my body into him and we lay like that for as long as I could stand before I was shivering with the cold. I dressed slowly as he watched, lounging immodestly on the tartan, his expelled member resting against his leg and glistening in the firelight.
“Are you ready then?” he asked me, his eyes intent.
“Ready for what?” I asked, thinking with some surprise that he already wanted to have another go with me on the tartan.
“To marry me?” he asked, his warm lips curled into a grin.
I opened my mouth and closed it again, unable to find the right words. Instead, I made my way over to him and knelt down with my hands around his broad shoulders.
“Yes,” I whispered into his ear. We hugged and he held me tightly. I was ready to embrace my new home and a completely different way of life.
Epilogue
It had been six months since I first arrived with the highlanders. Lord Lachlan and I were bound in union for a month. We'd had a very Gaelic wedding ceremony in the mountains, with the fresh air blowing our hair out toward the wind. I could feel Kain there, blessing us with his spirit. Lord Lachlan had a great hand in convincing me that he had never left me at all, not the way I t
hought he had. It brought me a great sense of peace, and knowing that my twin and his little pup were attending my wedding was the best gift I could ever have received.
At least, that's what I thought until I noticed with some concern that I hadn't bled since a frisky romp my husband and I had a few months ago, near the spring where we had first shared a kiss. I came to him with the news and his entire face lit up.
“You do realize what this means, don't you, Bethia?” he asked me, picking me up and spinning me around his tent.
“I don't...” I said, my eyebrows furrowed. Although I was a woman, my own body's workings were still quite mysterious to me. Nobody in the lowlands thought it was proper to teach a woman how she worked. I was impressed and surprised by the frankness the highland women shared with their young, bare-footed children about the way nature worked. In my native home it was shameful, but here it was a natural and accepted aspect of life.
“You're with child, love! It is a day to celebrate!” he exclaimed. “You're having my children!”
“Your...you mean we're starting a family? Already?” I asked, laughing in disbelief as he continued to dance with me. I let him spin me round in his strong arms.
“Yes! Our legacy shall continue.”
I held him still for a moment, tears in my eyes.
“I think it's twins,” I whispered.
He knew the significance to me and held me close.
“They'll be the most well loved pups in all the world,” he said softly.
We held each other, both lost in thought. Our future was in my belly right that moment, and we couldn't have been happier.
The End.
Chapter One
Alisa stared out over her family’s lands from the parapet of her father’s castle. Clan McGregor had some of the largest holdings in Scotland, and even in the midst of a bloody, devastating civil war, the true wealth of her kin was in rolling emerald hills and blue skies so sharp and clear even a dreary day could seem like a summer frolic. She thought to herself, I may never see this sight again, and though in that moment she felt like indulging in self-pity, she alone of all her sisters had the sense to recognize the futility of such thinking.
