I couldn’t take the mockery from everyone and watching her grow from a child to a woman, so when I had the chance to farm in England and take lands for a couple of years, I did. I thought it would give her time to grow without me there, so I wouldn’t remember the child she was but the woman.
It had worked. Now, I couldn’t imagine her as the little girl she once was but the woman she has grown to be with her curves, her breasts, and her legs. She is the woman I always desired.
A habit that shouldn’t be a habit is letting my wolf control my actions. We are supposed to control ourselves, not let the beast out of its chains to control us or things like this happen. I took what was never mine and will never be mine.
Though, I let the beast out of its chain more than once with her, more than I liked. I had no control. If my mother knew she wouldn’t be happy. She would tell me I was like Runa. Perhaps that’s why I had fallen in love with her when I was a child, Runa being my first love.
Runa is more one with her wolf, more so than anyone else I have ever met. More so than me or any berserker. Every day she wakes she sees through the eyes of a wolf, never being gifted the sight of man and meaning her true self is never caged but loose.
My father always said Runa was a “true child of Fenrir,” angering my mother who never sees Runa as anything but a deformity. I have never seen my mother more cold and cruel as she is with Runa, such hatred in her blood. I could even smell the hate.
Runa only has no control with anger and then her wolf rampages much like in the tales of Fenrir breaking from his chains. I also have no control with my anger but apparently lust too, as I watch Ellie sleep. I guess desire is another feeling where I lose control seeing as I marked Ellie as a child.
Before Ellie, I wanted to make Runa mine. I would do anything, even hurt my own brother for her….
She and I are alike. When our emotions become too strong to contain, our wolves replace us. We aren’t ourselves and hurt those around us more than we like...
I thought being with her would restore the balance for both of us, but she hadn’t seen me in the same way I saw her. Perhaps because I made fun of her based on her appearance or even the fact she saw my brother more than I.
But I took Runa’s first, something my brother didn’t have the privilege of taking from her. We had sex once, when we were older, in the barn. Leif was there as well for it was something we did, sharing women. Runa, of course, consented.
After everything was over, we never spoke of that night again. I tried to broach the topic many times, but the words never left my mouth. It wasn’t every day my brother and I shared a woman we both liked and cared for, so I found speaking about my feelings difficult.
After making Runa a woman I would never touch her again. The feelings she stirred within my heart felt nice, but my wolf denied her. My wolf didn’t like Runa, seeing her more like a sister, but my feelings stayed for her, only now they have waned.
Once we had sex, I got more obsessive. I craved her more often than I should have and Leif even got annoyed and angry. He went as far as threatening me despite him being the younger brother and possibly weaker.
Good natured, women loving, and all fun no work brother had become serious over something, and not just something, but Runa—a woman he was smitten with in one glance, way before we had our wolves. Love at first sight despite his denials.
I am sure it was the same with her, as her eyes lit with life when she spotted Leif for the first time when they were so dead beforehand. Or the first time her cheeks got rosy from his gawking and how she had to turn her face away and then try to run her hand through her messy hair, embarrassed by her state of appearance.
After angering Leif to the point his wolf had surfaced as he became ready to die for her, I decided to end it there. To forget about her, as I loved my brother, despite the fact that I once tried to kill him when we were younger. I didn’t think I would let my anger get that far to be honest, anyway.
I didn’t want to hurt Leif. He was family. Runa would never accept me no matter what I did, anyway. And if I did hurt Leif, she would not forgive me. Perhaps her wolf would kill me. I had no choice, so I left not soon after on my raid to England, and that is where I met young Ellie, something that my wolf desired to bring home, something it wanted.
I heard tales about such things as mates for us, and I believe Ellie was that for me. Mates are either something you believe in, or you don’t. Most of us don’t, especially me, but Ellie might have made a liar of my beliefs. Well, it could very well be just words, but they are pretty words that I can think of when I see her.
I felt a bond of friendship when she was younger but when she was older, that changed. It was a bond of sexual desire and want. The moment I saw her, I wanted to marry her after my four-year trip. Now it has developed into something more than want.
She is something I want to protect, to spend time with, and to love. I have long since forgotten about Runa. Yet, Ellie is hard to read. One minute I feel like her gaze is loving, the next full of hate.
It is hard to pin what she feels, and I reach out and softly touch her face. The touch doesn’t make her stir, meaning she must feel relaxed.
She looks like a Goddess, perhaps like Freya. It makes me want to have sex with her again as my eyes slip down her body after staring at her face.
She is so vulnerable, and my eyes travel back up to her face before her neck. But I think I exhausted her and abused her body too much already. If we have sex again, she might actually break.
I sit up, seeing the fire had long since died out, and the light from underneath the door peeks through telling me it is morning.
I recall that I admitted I knew about her dealings with Adisa and wanting to free her friends and that she has already freed her friend Margaret who is now in the mead hall working.
I remember the memory like it was yesterday.
The dark-skinned cat had come back before my mother with his head held high instead of lowered, despite after hurting Leif so severely. He was fearless...I give him that.
Leif just so happened to be with Runa that night, or else the entire house would have been in an uproar. Mainly a fight between Leif and Adisa. Luckily, Runa was soothing his pride more than he needed.
My mother had asked, “Why are you here, Adisa? Have you come to apologize for your actions?”
He spoke with a heavy dialect. “No. I have come with information regarding Ellie.”
You could tell he had gained my mother’s interest as well as mine with the mention of Ellie. Perhaps even the small tabby cat on mother’s lap who never takes interest in anything other than food and fresh milk. Its green eyes focused on the dark-skinned man as if it understood human tongue.
“Do tell then,” my mother said and Adisa gave her a look saying he wasn’t going to tell without a price.
“Will you tell me where my sister is exactly and the name of the people who bought her?” he questioned, staring into the eyes of my mother with no fear. He probably thought he could best her in a fight after beating Leif so that is why he held his head up so high.
“Of course. As long as the information you give me is actually something I should hear. Now, what has she been up to?”
He ignored my mother’s statement, and he asked, “Will you also give me temporary freedom when I wish it in order to find her?”
She looks annoyed as she starts to frown, and she said, “Yes. I will.”
He seemed to get tense for a moment as if betraying a friend and his eyes cast down before he said, “Then I will keep you to your word. She has been dealing with me using furs and pelts and meat for trade for some time now.”
“What for?” questioned Noma, looking worried. “She doesn’t owe anyone, correct?”
“Not exactly. She is gaining money to earn the freedom of her captive friends. I think she has already set one free,” Adisa explained and you could tell he was not lying.
Noma sighs to herself, and she asks, “Is that a
ll?”
“Yes.”
She leaned forward in her chair, and she said, “Then I shall tell you where your sister is…. but you must promise that you will always be loyal to me no matter what.”
"Then...I promise."
Adisa’s eyes are interested, and he listened carefully to what my mother said next even though after that I left the room, no longer interested as the conversation was over about Ellie and had moved on to Adisa, himself.
I wonder if the cat is preparing to leave soon. If so, I won’t have to worry about him with Leif or Ellie for that matter.
I slip on my pants from yesterday before sliding on my boots, and I look down at Ellie once more. She is sound asleep, and I don’t want to disturb her, but I don’t want to go and just leave her like this. If a man found her so vulnerable out here in the woods, he would take it as a perfect chance to molest or hurt her.
“Ellie,” I say, finding my shirt on the floor and slipping it on over my head, adjusting it.
She doesn’t stir, and I raise my brows.
I lean down and give her shoulder a good shake before her eyes slowly drift open to look at me. She looks a bit confused at first before her cheeks gain color and she sits up covering her chest, despite the fact I saw everything. I even know the way her perky breasts bounce at the slightest of my thrusts.
I smirk slightly, dropping her dress on her lap, and I say, “Let’s head back. I’m sure you’re hungry.”
She quickly pulls her dress over her head before her body, and she slips on her boots without ushering a word to me. You can tell the memories of last night are bouncing around her head right about now, the sleepy look on her face vanishing.
I wonder what memories she is replaying in her head? Maybe during the time of her first release and how cute she sounded and looked.
She touches her neck, and she asks me with uncertainty in her voice, “What about Noma? Or your family? What will they think...?”
“They won’t care. Maybe my father will be disgusted, but that’s about it. He never liked me all that much, anyway,” I explain to her.
It was the truth...So why would he like a woman I picked out?
“It’s embarrassing,” she mutters, standing up, and her dress falls over her legs once more. “But I need to clean first before we head back.”
That’s right, I can imagine how she must feel. Everything inside her must have dried by now. It is different for women than it is for men.
“I almost forgot. I will take you to the closest place to wash up,” I say, and I head towards the door and push it open.
The morning light is bright, and the skies are clear, luckily, for our sakes. We just bathed yesterday, but after our actions I think we both need to wash up, especially Ellie.
She follows behind me soon after, and I can’t help but smell a scent that isn’t ours, and it is strong...It still lingers in the air, meaning it is recent this person passed through these woods.
It wasn’t Arvid, Noma, or even Leif, but no other outsider would dare step into these woods unless they needed to speak to my parents because of an emergency. The villagers and the others know this property is off-limits as my parents are surprisingly private.
So, who was it? I never smelled it before.
Something is wrong...Even if there is an emergency, they would have used the path and not cleared through the woods.
I stop, feeling Ellie too far behind me. I turn around to face her, and I say, “Stay by me. Someone else besides us has been here recently.” But as I turn around, my heart stops as someone was already behind her—not only that, but their sword was out.
This person has the intent to kill, and I don’t know if I have time to stop it.
Chapter 25
A Dangerous Encounter
By the time Frey turns around and warns me of an unknown person in the woods, I can feel a presence behind me. They are close, and I know one misstep could send my head flying or get me stabbed in a fatal spot.
Frey is much too far to help me in such a little amount of time so by the time his words reach my ears, I turn around quickly, aiming for their arms. if I run, I will only be cut down. I have enough time to grab the person’s wrist holding the sword and much to my surprise the wrist feels small in my hand.
It feels like a woman's…
It doesn’t matter as the person struggles, clearly inexperienced with anything to do with fighting and I pry the sword from their fingers, it stabs the earth in an upright position.
They scream in frustration as they lunge for me, this time slashing my arm with a small dagger they pull from their belt with their free hand.
No doubt about it, this person in a dark cloak is a woman.
I wince, droplets of blood splattering on the dirt below as blood wells from the deep cut on my arm, and I hear Frey run up behind me as I start fighting the woman for the dagger.
‘Why is she attacking me?’ I question in my head, fighting desperately for an answer as I grab ahold of the dagger making it stop from waving frantically in my face.
It is then I get a good look at the woman, and it is Bard’s lover I met yesterday at the lake. She looks evil, and she screams in my face once I find out it is her, “I know now you killed Bard! You evil wench!”
My eyes widen at her discovery, and she seethes as she says, “An old man witnessed everything you did! He didn’t tell anyone in fear, but he was overwhelmed with guilt when he saw me carrying Bard’s child...You even lied to me about your name...Ellie.”
Frey takes the sword out from within the earth, and it is hard to read his face at what he is hearing as I glance over at him in worry.
She then looks over to Frey frantically and screams as he does not move to attack her, “Did you know your lover was a cold-blooded killer? She shot Bard with her arrows over and over again only to bash his skull in with a rock. Bard was your people, she is just an English whore!”
My hands start trembling and as my stomach twists in worry, she takes advantage of this, working her hand out of my grip, and she goes to attack me, an attack I should have seen coming. Her attack is aimed right for my chest.
I try to use my hand for coverage, an attempt to block her, but her attack never comes.
I look to find blood pouring onto the ground as I reopen my eyes. It is not my own but hers. My eyes travel to the ground then to the woman, and she looks shocked as her entire right arm starting from her elbow was missing.
The arm itself lands a few feet away from us, and the sight makes me sick, between the bone and the meat, it is like Bard all over again, but this time it is his lover.
I don’t want this...
She screams, and she falls back while holding her arm and her eyes flash angrily towards Frey, tears pouring from her eyes, “You’re protecting a killer!”
“I don’t care,” he says, the sword shiny with blood pointing it at her. “She is mine, and I expect she had very good reasons to kill the boy. I won’t let you live as you made the decision today to attack her.”
He stalks towards her, the wolfish look returning to his eyes again and I yell, suddenly remembering and grabbing on to Frey’s arm, “Don’t Frey! She’s pregnant!”
“We have to kill her, Ellie,” he growls. “For she will only come back to harm you and even the child survives it will grow to hate you as you are its father’s killer. You can’t let her live.”
Bodil scrambles to her feet, trying her best to escape as her arm continues to pour blood. She must not have been a wolf but a human, seeing as she was fleeing Frey and me. She continues to try and run, but she falls to her knees only a few feet away.
Bard must have had a thing for human women since he thought he could easily take advantage of them, unlike a female wolf who wouldn’t take too kindly to such things.
“Frey, please!” I beg him. “If we kill her, the cycle of revenge will never stop. There will be people looking for her in her village when she doesn’t return home. Not only that, you would
be killing the child! Please!”
Frey sets his jaw as he watches the woman with a predatory look, his eyes following her movements as she returns to her feet and runs farther into the forest.
He drops the sword eventually, seeming to listen to me as she ventures deeper into the forest and out of sight.
He looks towards me, and he says, “She will come back. She will never stop wanting you dead. That’s if she survives a wound like that...she isn’t a she-wolf or else she would have attacked me unless her pregnancy prevents her from shifting. There are rare cases of that happening.”
“I know...” I trail, and Frey looks towards my arm, and he picks it up, watching the blood continue to pour from my wound.
“You get hurt so easily,” he murmurs, letting go of my arm.
He sighs as he rips the cuffs of his pants before wrapping it tightly around my arm and tying it, making me wince. “Come on. This time, stay close.”
He grabs my upper arm, pulling me along, and I question at his silence, “Aren’t you going to ask about Bard?”
“No, I expect you had your reasons, and I even remember him as a boy. He hurt and harassed you more than once. I should have had mother keep an eye on him more, but she was busy with the village…And he hated me for killing his companion. I don’t know what happened between you and him while I was gone, but I have an inkling his death wasn’t for nothing,” Frey explains.
I remain shocked as I walk with Frey, expecting a totally different reaction to him finding out about Bard’s death.
“But he was your people…” I mutter confusedly.
“It doesn’t matter who it was. Bard was an evil boy and no doubt just as evil as a man. I should have dealt with him as a boy, but my conscious and need to protect the young in the village prevented me. That is why you can’t let people live who hold grudges like that...things turn ugly,” Frey says, his face looking grim as he turns around thinking about Bodil.
“But still people can change…” I mutter.
Frey turns towards me his eyes narrowed, “People like that don’t change. Do you think that woman will forgive you about her dead lover and now missing arm? No... if anything she will be more focused on revenge. I’m telling you, Ellie, letting her live might be one of the biggest mistakes in your life...and it might be mine as well.”
Wolves Among Danes Page 25
