by Elle Thorne
Calder!
She glanced behind the bear, where Calder had been sitting, and of course, he wasn’t there. A part of her knew why, but the other part of her was in denial.
It can’t be.
She noticed the bodies of men, mauled and bloody, and was relieved that Calder wasn’t one of the fallen.
Of course, he isn’t, she chastised herself.
And yet…
“Calder?” she whispered.
The bear cocked its head to the side, those peculiar eyes appraising her.
“It’s you, isn’t it?”
She could have sworn she saw the blue flames flicker.
“You saved me,” she uttered.
Then, the dam broke.
Tears came, unfettered, flowing freely.
She swiped them away. No one had ever stood up for her in this way. Never.
“Thank you.” She reached out her hand, tentatively, and placed it on the bear’s shoulder.
The bear came closer, eclipsing her view of the attackers that had died, hiding the door and its confining bars.
Brenna ran her fingers over the fur; it was thick and almost bristly. She looked into the bear’s eyes, and for a reason she couldn’t understand, she wanted to tell it—him—about the scars. About her life. About her marriage.
“I’m the second daughter of a wealthy man,” she began. “My father isn’t a bad person, but my mother died when I was young, and he remarried. After that, his focus was the new woman in his life. I suppose that is how it should be, but to a little girl, it seemed like losing a parent all over again. I felt like an orphan.”
Brenna heaved a deep breath at the pain the memories stirred, then continued. “The land between my father’s and his enemy belongs to the man I was pledged to. My father arranged the marriage in order to secure the property as a barrier against attack.”
Biting back the tears she didn’t want to shed, she continued to stroke the bear’s coarse fur while he made soft growling sounds that weren’t in the least bit threatening.
“My father gave my hand in marriage to a man who prefers men.” She hiccoughed the sob back. “He has never taken me as a man would take a woman. He’s—” By the stars above, she wasn’t sure she could continue. She straightened her shoulders, bolstering herself. “He took me like a man would take another man.”
The bear’s snarl indicated his understanding and his displeasure.
She lowered her head. “And when I protested, he whipped my back. Whipped me with the same whip his handlers used on their oxen.”
She dropped her head into her arms and hid her face from the shame of it all.
Chapter Ten
Calder couldn’t allow his bear to keep him at bay. He pushed and shoved at his bear’s mind until finally, his strength of will won. He rapidly morphed into his human form, ignoring the pain of bones and sinew rearranging, muscles shortening, body transforming.
In his human form, he wrapped his arms around the sobbing woman.
“Brenna,” he whispered against her hair, his lips touching her temple. “You shouldn’t have gone through that.”
I’ll kill the bastard, by the gods. I will kill that son of a cur.
She raised her head, emerald eyes glistening. “You’re you,” her voice was filled with awe.
“Did you doubt it was me?”
“No.” Her lower lip trembled. “But—it is so much. Too much. You were a human, then a bear, and now a man again.”
“But it is me. It is all me.” He placed his fingers under her chin, locked his gaze with hers. “The messengers will be back with the ransom, or your husband, or news. Do you think he will pay the ransom?” He prayed the answer would be no. Then she could be free of the abusive mongrel.
“No.”
“What do you mean? Why not?” He fought the urge to jump with joy.
“Because Eerika did not tell them the right place to go. My husband is in the opposite direction. And though he is landed, he has no money. My father paid him to take me because of my husband’s lands. That money is long gone. He’d have to go to my father to get the money. He would not do that, even if he knew I was being held for ransom, which he will not know, because your men will return without having found him.”
Calder let the information sink in. “That means—”
“That I am worthless to your brother, to your cause. I cannot be used for ransom. Halvar will order my death.”
“I will not let that happen.”
She was biting the inside of her cheek so hard that he was sure she’d draw blood.
“How could you stop it?”
Calder let out a deep breath, pulled her closer into his arms. “You let me worry about that.”
He lowered his head and their lips met.
He claimed her mouth as fiercely as he wanted to claim her body, her heart, her very soul. She belonged to him. To him and his bear.
Chapter Eleven
Brenna restrained a sigh of pure bliss. She’d never been kissed before. Not that she would tell this man so. His mouth devoured hers hungrily, as though he were starving, and the sensation left her tingling and dizzy.
She returned his kiss, savoring the taste and smell of him. Pure man. His hand traveled to the back of her neck, landing gently on her nape, caressing the sensitive flesh there. His other arm curved around her hips, pressing against the small of her back.
His tongue sought hers, seeking, finding, claiming.
Brenna was caught off guard by the arousal he brought out in her. Her body was reaching in ways she had never imagined. Her nipples hardened and pressed against the tunic’s fabric, whilst between her legs, a heat grew that left her breathless.
They kissed and kissed while Brenna marveled at the connection a kiss could create.
Calder pulled away, leaving her lips lonely, locking his steely gaze with hers.
“What?” she whispered, astounded at how breathless and husky her voice was.
“I want you. I want you with a ferocity I’d not have thought possible.”
“I feel the same,” she breathed.
He ran a finger along her jawline, tracing it down, over her neck and into the hollow where she could feel her pulse beating strongly. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
She didn’t know what the future held, but she knew one thing for certain, she would not rest tonight if it was not in this man’s arms, after…
A blush made its way to her cheeks.
“You are embarrassed?”
“Only slightly. I’ve not… you know my situation.”
He nodded gravely. “I won’t be rough. I’ll have control.”
“And if I want you to be rough?” She surprised herself by asking.
“I’ll be what you need me to be.”
His hands traveled along her waist, pushing the tunic over her ribcage, over her breasts, cupping them at the same time and lowering his head, claiming each pebbled peak, sucking, kissing, licking.
That heat between Brenna’s legs grew and her core arched closer to Calder.
He raised his head and she sighed as his thumbs grazed over her dusky nipples, then raised her tunic above her head.
She stood before him, torn between feeling shy and feeling wanton.
“By the gods, you are a goddess.” Lust shown in his eyes, and the bear’s amber depths flickered within. He threw the tunic aside and slid his hands down, over her hips, cupping her arse, kneading the flesh, tempting the core of her which felt like it had the utmost of sensitivity at that moment, pulsing and throbbing.
Or perhaps that wasn’t her pulsing and throbbing alone, for pressed against her was an insistent hardness. His length on her cleft, tempting her with a pleasure she had never experienced.
Brenna wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him closer, only to find that he was pushing her downward, laying her into the soft furs. She raised herself to her elbows and watched him undress, marveling at the muscles, the rock-hard st
omach, the thick legs, and the massive erection between them.
She drew in a sharp intake of breath. He was huge.
He lowered himself, placed a finger over her lips. “Do not be nervous. I would not hurt you.”
She nodded apprehensively.
He leaned down, stroking her legs, her stomach, his fingertips making patterns over her flesh, threatening to consume her with a desire unlike one she’d ever thought existed. She ached for him. An ache evident in the soft moans that escaped her lips. In the center of her cleft, a sensation of a current running through her made her moans turn to panting.
While exploring her body, he lowered his lips to hers, his tongue taking hers in a primal dance that left her head spinning. He lowered his head, his tongue sliding between her breasts, licking the valley between, then worshiping her nipples while his large hand cupped and hefted the weight of her breast, making sounds of approval that spurred her passion higher.
He lapped and licked at her hardened peaks while she felt a moisture building within and her muscles contracted, over and over, wanting him within her.
He raised his head, studied her face. “You are the most beautiful woman.” His voice was not much more than a growl, his bear close to the surface.
He lowered his face, tracing a trail from the valley between her breasts to her stomach.
And lower.
Lower.
Lower.
Brenna held her breath.
He placed his hands on either side of her mound, and spread her open.
She gasped at the excitement this brought her.
When he lowered his mouth and warm air touched a part of her that nothing had ever touched, she flinched as the most delightful of pleasures seared its way along her nerve endings.
“Calder.” Her voice was husky.
His only response was to lower his head farther and take her core into his mouth and suck on it gently, at first. Then his sucking grew with intensity as he drew more of her tenderness into his mouth.
She raised her hands, clasped his head, scoring his scalp with her nails while fluxes of pleasure pulsated throughout her being. She ground her body into his mouth, wanting more.
“Greedy,” he muttered.
She blushed, felt the heat rising to her cheeks and was thankful that he wasn’t looking at her face, that all of his energy and attention was riveted to giving her pleasure.
“I love that you’re greedy for me,” he affirmed.
She rode more and more waves of sheer desire, surrendering herself to him until all she could do was grab his shoulders and try to pull him up.
Her need for him was overpowering.
He nodded, his face passion filled, his handsomeness rugged, fierce, and filled with promises of a passionate forever.
She wasn’t even sure what promises he could make her, a captive, but tonight, she was his, and he was hers.
He rose, his hard body on top of hers as he pulled himself until their lips were touching and his hardness was pressing against a part of her that wanted him so completely.
He rubbed his shaft from her core to her entrance and back, over and over, until she was sure she would scream at him to take her.
And just when she was a breath away from crying out for him, he pressed inward, filling her, slowly, then pushing forward.
Her body took him in as if he were made for her. His width spread her, filling her, touching ever part of her, leaving her breathless, with just a twinge of pain to merge with the pleasure of it all.
Until his first real thrust.
She released a cry. He ceased moving and covered her mouth with his, drinking in her gasp.
Then he raised his head and studied her face. “I’ll stop. I did not think it would hurt you so.”
“Don’t stop.” She smiled at him while tears formed in her eyes at his sweetness for worrying about her.
He thumbed a tear away. “You are crying? It hurts this much?”
She shook her head. “Tears of joy. To have a wonderful man like you for my first time.” She wondered, too, what the future held. Would they be torn apart when the ruse about her husband was learned? “Please, continue.”
He kissed her tenderly. And slid in and out of her, gently, expertly, as if instinctively knowing what to do for her. After several moments of this, he pulled completely out, then plunged in with one long stroke. Over, and over again.
Her body surprised her by delivering more of those waves of pleasure that she rode while she buried her nails in his back. Gasp after gasp, moan after moan, he drove into her, until finally, the wave crested so that she knew she’d be spent, completely and fully.
“Calder! Oh!”
With that, he drove in hard, and she felt a pulsing heat merging with her own. He buried his face into her neck, whispering her name over and over.
Chapter Twelve
Brenna snuggled deeper into the warmth that surrounded her. The morning sounds from the nearby forest filtered into her sleep-laden mind, but the comfort of her surroundings repeatedly tugged her under, like the whirlpool in the ocean pulled on a swimmer.
She rested her head against a solidness which rose and fell in a rhythm that matched her own breathing. Frowning, still confused, she opened her eyes.
And found herself looking into Calder’s eyes with their darker flame that she knew now was his bear. Her lips were tender from a night spent kissing into the early morning hours. Calder had been tender with her, and it was a tenderness she hadn’t expected from a man of his people, a man that also was a bear.
Whispers entered her subconsciousness, and for a brief second, she believed she might be hearing things. Or hallucinating.
Then she recognized the voice.
Freyja!
She listened closely to the words filling her mind, but couldn’t understand them. This was not a language native to Brenna. The foreign words were chanted, and they grew louder and louder. Brenna couldn’t have said what made her realize that the voices were in her head. The chanting became so loud that it eclipsed her own thinking.
Seconds later, Brenna’s world erupted into chaos. The sounds of men yelling, cursing, and women screaming filled the air.
Calder grabbed his head, an expression of sheer pain etched into his handsome features. Tendons on his neck and forehead popped out from the utter agony he was experiencing.
He grunted. “Brenna,” his voice was a growl of anguish. “What is happening to me?”
He rose to his feet, barely able to manage that. Brenna stood, put his arm around her shoulders. “I need to get you out of here.”
“My bear, something is happening to him.”
Brenna gave him a sideways glance. Could she tell him about Freyja? She wasn’t sure she could. Then she noticed—
Brenna gasped. “You’re bleeding.”
Tears of blood flowed down his face.
What was Freyja doing? Would this kill him?
Brenna couldn’t have said what instinct drove her next move; she had no experience with witchery or shifters, but somehow, it came to her.
“We have to get you out of here. Away from Freyja. Away from the sound of her chanting voice.”
“I hear no chanting. Only yelling and screaming,” he managed to say around the cloud of pain that must have ruled his existence at that moment.
“I know. I know you don’t hear it, but…” She grabbed his other arm, and tugging him along, pulled him out of the hut.
The village was mass chaos. Men fighting each other, and at the same time appearing to fight ghosts while women came upon them and managed to stab, hit, and club them with anything that could be used as a weapon while the men were incapacitated and holding their heads.
In front of the village’s central fire, Freyja stood, clad in a black robe, face upraised, arms lifted to the sky, her lips moved soundlessly. Her eyes were unfocused, looking at nothing in particular.
This was the time. Brenna knew instantly and instinctively she had to g
et Calder out of there.
Freyja was the most powerful of witches, that was no secret, and whatever she was doing to the men would not end well for them. And by default, that included Calder.
Brenna found herself wishing she had knowledge of how witchcraft worked. How to avoid it, how to circumvent it. But she knew naught about the mystical arts.
She glanced at Calder. Blood streamed from his eyes like uncontained tears of crimson, more than before. She gasped.
He raised a brow. “What is it?”
She shook her head. She couldn’t tell him that the bleeding had gotten worse.
“I need to help them.” He pointed to his clansmen.
“You can’t.”
“I must.” He made to go toward the melee.
Brenna grabbed his arm, held tightly. “You must come with me. Now.”
“Why?” he asked, but he followed her, allowing her to lead him at a sprint, toward a nearby grove of trees.
Once in the cover of the trees, Brenna turned to survey the fracas they’d left behind. More and more of the men had fallen.
“What is happening to my people?” Calder swiped at his face, then stared at his bloody hand. “What in the curses is happening to me?”
“Your people have made a mistake. They’ve trifled with the wrong witch. This village is one that belongs to Freyja. It’s her daughter’s village. She’s wreaking her vengeance on your kind. The others will not survive. I need to help you.”
He shook his head. Blood flew from his face. “No. I have to help my brother. My men.”
“No.” She refused to release his arm. “For the sake of our baby.”
He scowled. “What is this madness you speak of, woman? You cannot know you are with child the next day after a coupling.”
She would have to tell him about her dream. She hadn’t really had a chance to process the meaning herself yet.
“We will have a son. He will be the start of a new breed of people. I will not let you put that in jeopardy.”
“Are you saying…”
She shook her head. “I do not know what I am saying. I do not know if the gods are revealing a child that will come this year or in the next few years. All I know is that we are destined.”
