
Passion of the Wolf
by Sable Grey
Breathless Press
Calgary, Alberta
www.breathlesspress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Passion of the Wolf
Copyright© 2009 Sable Grey
ISBN: 978-1-926771-04-5
Cover Artist: Justyn Perry
Editor: Justyn Perry
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
Breathless Press
www.breathlesspress.com
I dedicate thisto the Bill in my life
Cait hugged her sister close as she peered over her father's shoulder at the men who'd raided Atherton castle. There had been an army, one that had set fire to the walls of Atherton and chased people from their homes, but only five had remained once they'd secured the castle. They stood near the door as if waiting.
Fiona sobbed softly against Cait's shoulder, refusing to look at those that had dragged them from their beds and down into the main hall. Fiona's mother wept as well, curled against Cait's father. Their only hope was her cousin, Ewan. Cait prayed he'd escaped detection and was on his way to Bathhurst.
At last the door of the castle opened and the men parted. Cait leaned farther to the side so she could see whose heavy step echoed across the stone threshold. Large leather boots reached up the woolen trousers of a pair of long legs. Metal armor made the man appear twice his size, the helmet he'd worn tucked under one bulky arm.
A thick mane of blond hair hung over the man's shoulder's framing a face of broad, strong features. His blue eyes narrowed as they swung around the hall to Cait's family, huddled in one corner.
He inclined his head sharply to one of the larger of his men and Cait's gaze widened when the man stepped forward and grabbed her father by the arm, hauling him forward. Rebekka instantly turned to reach for Fiona, both of them crying out with fear. Cait released Fiona to her mother and stood alone as her father was brought before the leader of the Viking rebels.
"Is there anyone else?" A deep baritone voice echoed through the room as the man released her father so he could stand without assistance.
"No," her father answered.
"If I find that you lie to me, I will kill one of the women. If there is someone else here, call out for them to come forward."
Cait watched her father pale. She didn't like to see him like this. Aengus Gillpatrick was not a weak man, accustomed to giving orders rather than receiving them.
"I swear there is no one else left here but my family." Aengus gritted through clenched teeth. "Your brutes chased out everyone else." His attention darted to Cait and she offered him a nod of reassurance, hoping her support would strengthen him. The Viking leader's gaze slid to Cait and she lifted her chin, following her father's lead. She would not show them fear.
"And this is the only family you had that occupied this place?"
Cait's heart thumped when the Viking stepped past her father and towards her. Still she didn't waver, forcing her shaking hands to still at her sides. She met the Viking's gaze vehemently, silently willing him to drop dead before he reached her.
"Yes. Let us go. Keep the castle," Aengus called.
The Viking halted in front of Cait and then turned to look back at her father. "This is your eldest?"
"Leave her alone."
Cait yelped when the Viking reached forward and grasped her by the hair of the back of her head and turned. "And you would sacrifice her over telling me the truth?"
Cait balled her fist and swung, hitting the man in his face with all of her might. She wasn't nearly as strong as he but it was enough force to make his grasp on her to loosen. She spun away from him and glared when he faced her. She felt smug satisfaction when a bit of blood dotted his lip.
"Do not place your filthy hands on me again or I will claw out your eyes and feed them to the dogs!" Cait hissed. "As he said there is no one left here. My cousin escaped before your men could find him."
"Your cousin?"
"Yes. He will bring back an army that will crush you and yours and we shall dance upon your graves every night of our lives so that your souls never rest for what you've done to our home." Cait spat on his boot.
He looked down and then back at her before turning and nodding again to the large man near her father. He instantly stepped through the door and returned moments later Ewan in tow, beaten and bloodied. She cried out and started to rush forward but the Viking caught her around the waist and shoved her back.
"As you see he did not succeed." The Viking turned. "I am Biel Vard and I claim this castle and the lands with it as my own. It will be called Blaidden and all that remains on this land after this night will become my property."
"This is our home!" Cait yelled at the back of his head.
"Cait, quiet," Aengus commanded.
"You may take your wife and one of your daughters and leave this place." Biel continued. "Or you can stay and do my bidding as your new master."
"I cannot leave without my entire family," Aengus argued. "I will leave but with my wife, both my daughters, and my nephew."
"Then you choose to remain." Biel glanced back at Cait. "And I will take one of your daughters as my woman."
"You cannot. You will not!" Aengus lunged but two of them grabbed him before he could get to Biel.
"I can and I most certainly will." Biel's gaze dragged to Fiona. "But you may choose which."
"I will not choose," Aengus refused.
"Take her!" Rebekka suddenly pointed at Cait, pushing Fiona behind her. "Take her and we will leave this place." Cait stared at Rebekka. She'd known the woman had always resented the love Aengus had for his first wife, her mother, but until that moment she'd never felt unloved herself.
Fiona howled and pulled from her mother's embrace running to Cait's embrace. "No!"
"We will not leave. And I will not choose."
"Then you will die and your wife will make the choice in your stead." Biel unhooked an ax from his side.
"Me!" Cait stepped forward, despite Fiona's wail, and waited until Biel turned to look back at her. "He chooses me. Leave him alone."
"No, Cait," Ewan argued.
"Cait," Aengus' voice was defeated when Biel inclined his head and reattached his weapon.
"Take the rest of them to the tower and keep them there," Biel commanded and his men moved to do as he bid. Cait watched them as they were taken from the hall and up the stone stairwell. Fiona's protests and Rebekka's weeping quieted as they were taken farther into the belly of the castle, leaving an uneasy silence to bounce around the corners of the hall.
"It was a wise choice."
"Choice?!" Cait whirled to face their captor, leaping forward to assault him. Her fists beat upon the rough leather of his armor until his strong fingers wrapped around her wrist. But she would not settle. Instead she leaned forward and sank her teeth into his solid jaw. She heard him grunt moments before the coppery taste of him filled her mouth. She collapsed to her knees when he shoved her from him.
"Very good, Biel," one of his men, the largest built of the five, returned and called from the stairwell above them. "You succeed in beating upon a helpless woman the moment I turn my back." He began descending.
Cait smiled evilly when Biel lifted his hand to his jaw. She would show him just how helpless she could be. Jumping to her feet, she swiped the candelabrum from its place on the table against the wall and whirled, swinging it into his shoulder with a shout. She swung again. And a third time until he grabbed it and wrestled it from her.
Her gaze darted around for the next weapon but she didn't move quickly enough and the Viking's thick arm wrapped around her, trapping her hands at her sides. She yelled and kicked at him until he raised his hand. Closing her eyes, she waited for the blow that never came.
"If his men had nearly as much fight as his offspring, we would never have gotten past the gates."
"What happened to your face, brother? Did she bite you?" The man behind them drew near, but Cait didn't look behind her. She knew the leader was the real threat. Her father had taught her much about men and war. Biel Vard was the core of the evil that had rained upon them.
"More beast than we," Biel murmured, shoving her away from him.
"The other girl and the mother are helpless and weak. The father took a crack at Boris. He is not feeble despite his age." The man's fingers touched Cait's arm and she jerked away, placing a few steps between her and the men.
"Neither am I. You will have to kill me before I allow you to touch me with your filthy body." She took several more steps backwards then turned and started to bolt.
"Then bring me her sister." Biel's deep voice stopped her at the doorway. Cold fear slipped through her body. Fiona wasn't like Cait. This hulking Viking would break her sister.
"Send them away from here and I will do as you wish," she countered without looking back.
"You are in no position to barter with me."Biel's heavy step drew closer and then stopped behind her. When he spoke it was directly next to her ear, causing her to jump despite her attempts to appear unafraid of him.
"It is not that wisp of a sister that I want anyway. I'd rather it be you."
Cait balled her fists. "Why would you think I cared what you wanted? You and your dogs stormed my home and are ripping my family apart." She faced him slowly. "I am not stupid. I know what you mean to do and why you mean to do it. By wedding and bedding me it gives you more legal right to claim my home as your own. Is it not enough that you have forced your way in here? That you shall force yourself into me? Are you so weak you feel you cannot accomplish what you mean to do without sending my family away now?"
"Bring the vicar." Biel's gaze never left Cait's.
A few moments later a man in a robe was brought into the room. Biel reached forward, took her by the arm and walked back to the center of the room. He inclined his head as Cait jerked her arm from his grasp.
She felt like choking the vicar as he began the ceremony. When it came time for her to verbally accept the marriage, she hesitated, glaring up at the Viking. He raised one thick brow and waited. There was nothing she could do.
Suddenly she smiled. She would marry this beast and then she would make him regret he ever set eyes on their gates. She would make him pay. That much she did have control over.
Affirming the union, the rest of the ceremony was but a faint whisper to her thoughts. Instead she filled her mind with all the acts of defiance she would assault him with. As the ceremony ended, she faced her new husband, feeling much stronger. He leaned forward to kiss her, gaze searching hers when she did nothing to stop him. Closer still and she smiled sweetly before raking her nails across his face. Curses erupted from his lips and bounced across the hall as he jerked away from her. The other that had stood as witness, of whom Biel had called brother, laughed.
"I am almost jealous she is not mine, Biel." He continued to chortle.
"Let us get this done with." Biel growled and slanted a glance at his brother. "And you are too soft, Loegaire. She would have already eaten you as her midday meal." It was meant as an insult to his brother. But Loegaire laughed again anyway, nodding.
Cait watched Biel begin removing his armor, realizing he meant to make the marriage legal that very moment. "Can this not be done without an audience?"
"I will have witnesses to the consummation." He dropped his weapons and armor to the side and pulled the ties of his leggings.
"If it is as pathetic as your honor, they shall have forgotten it by morning." Cait directed her words to the heart of him.
"Silence," he commanded and took her arm. "Don't fight me and it shall be over quickly." He walked her to the table near the wall, and then turned her to face him. This time she spit in his face.
"From this moment forward I shall fight everything you attempt," she vowed. "I shall give you no peace. You stormed the wrong gates if you thought to find yourself a docile obliging wife."
Biel wiped his face, staring down at her with hard eyes, and then he surprised her by turning and facing the vicar and his brother. "The vicar remains here until the marriage is consummated....by her choice"
Cait wanted to scream with victory. "Then you shall never be rid of him."
"Shall I take her to her family?" Loegaire asked.
"No. While she is not to be locked up as they are, she will have nothing more to do with them. And if she tries to escape or help any of them escape, kill her father." Biel's final words echoed behind him as he headed from the great hall. Cait's triumph plummeted in her stomach.
"I cannot remain here. I have responsibilities. Just do as he wishes, girl." The vicar growled and Cait's anger returned. The vicar's head snapped backwards when she hit him. She whirled and fled upstairs. She needed a quiet place to think.
Hours later, Biel stepped into the great hall. "Where is she?"
"In the master bed chambers," Loegaire answered. "She's probably waiting on you with a dagger in her boot."
Biel grunted in agreement. "She bites like a bear." He touched the mark she'd left on his cheek and almost smiled. Cait Gillpatrick had been an unexpected fire burning in the hearth of her father's castle. She'd had spine and had shown no fear of him. Even when she'd thought he would truly strike her she had closed her eyes and waited without flinching. Biel respected women with that kind of courage. And so did his brothers.
"You won't force her." As if reading his mind, Loegaire spoke his thoughts.
"I will not." He glanced towards the stairs."It is not my wish to break the spirit of these people."
"I doubt she could be broken even if you had it in mind to try." Loegaire laughed. "Bonny thing to carry such weapons."
"She was armed?" Uif sounded surprised as he looked up from the table between Loegaire and Biel.
"Her tongue cuts deeper than a sword," Loegaire revealed, then addressed the eldest of them again. "She will not relent. It will not happen tonight."
Biel wanted to join his brothers but knew he must finish the business at hand before he could rest. He left them and made his way the stone staircase and to the master bed chamber.
Turning the handle, he allowed the door to swing open, half expecting her to be waiting with some new weapon to bash him in the head with. Instead, he found her standing across the room looking out the window. Entering, he smiled when she didn't turn to face him, as if she had no fear of him at all.
He closed the door behind him and walked to the center of the room. Crossing his arms, he waited, allowing her to take the time she needed. Loegaire was wrong. It would happen. She would submit to him for her family's sake. It was the only vulnerability she'd allowed them to see.
"I shall agree to do as you wish, to become your wife in the eyes of God and the King. I shall do it only this once and you will send my family away from here immediately after the vicar agrees the marriage is consummated." She still didn't face him. "You will send them away even when my father refuses. And you will not send them away as servants but with honor so that when they arrive and my uncle's home, they will not be disgraced."
"And if I refused to do what you think you can command?"
"Then I shall continue to refuse you and you shall never have your legal right to Atherton."
"Blaidden," he corrected.
"Not until this marriage is consummated. Until then it is still Atherton and still belongs to my father." She lifted her chin. "I am not stupid."
No she was not. She was very clever. He studied her a moment and then walked across the room to the large chair near the hearth. He didn't look away from her as he settled into the cushions. Stretching his legs out, he folded his arms over his chest and continued to regard her in silence.
"It is what you meant to do to begin with was it not?" She met his gaze.
"That was before you married my face with your fangs." He saw the momentary lift in the corner of her lips then blew out a breath. "Very well. I want this business finished quickly. I shall send your family to your uncle's home less you and your cousin."
"Do it now and you may bring back the vicar and your brother as witness this very moment."
"No." He shook his head. "We will consummate this marriage and only then will your family be safely released."
"My cousin with them," she pushed.
"Your cousin stays."
He watched her frown then finally inclined her head. "Then quickly be done with it. I shall not rest until my sister is away from you and your horde of dogs."
\*\*\*
"Your mood is too foul to be that of a man who succeeded." Loegaire scratched at his thick beard. "What is wrong? I will kill the problem if for no other reason than to save myself from suffering your scowl."
Across the hall, Cait appeared. Biel watched her walk the length of the room. She held her head high, her shoulders back and she walked spine straight. When she was almost to the door, Uif stepped in front of her. Her eyes widened and she attempted to step around him but he did not allow her to pass.
"I thought I was allowed to move about as I pleased once my family was gone?" She lifted her voice but didn't even look in his direction.
"Do not attempt to run," Biel called and gave Uif a quick nod, who in turn stepped aside, reached back and pushed open the door for her.
"I wouldn't think of doing so without slitting your throat first." Cait stepped forward through the door before Biel could respond. Loegaire's laughter filled the hall and Biel would have laughed himself if it were not the memory of her lifeless expression from the night before haunting him.
"You cannot tell me that she does not light your fire with that spine of hers, brother," Loegaire accused as Biel stood set the ax aside. "If she were mine, I'd follow her wherever she was going and make her realize how much she wanted to be my bride."
"She doesn't want to be my bride, Loegaire. She was forced into this marriage by me and she shall continue to hate me for it." Biel shook his head. "It matters not. We have prevented our enemies from moving closer to our families. That is all that matters."
Loegaire's gaze narrowed. "She is the reason your mood is so foul?"
"We should start building the new wall around this place. The one we nearly burned was inadequate and couldn't keep sheep out of this place." Biel headed for the door. "I want Blaidden so solid that our enemies wouldn't dare cross that bay."
"Biel," Loegaire followed him into the sunlight. "You said she did not weep."
"She did not." Biel winced. "She just lay there glaring at me, telling me how much she hated me"
"Why didn't you change her mind?"
Biel found Cait leading a horse from one of the stables--- his horse. He watched her slide her hand down the horse's mane gently and lean closer to speak to the animal. His own steed betrayed him by lowering his head to nuzzle the woman's palm.
"She deserves her anger," Biel murmured.
"Does she deserve to remain in a marriage that she resents or one that she might embrace?" Loegaire argued. "You know you could change her mind about you."
Biel allowed himself to smile. "I do not know, brother. Her determination is nearly as intimidating as you are." Cait smiled at the animal she was stroking but lifted her attention when Loegaire laughed. When she found Biel watching her, her smile disappeared and her expression hardened.
"She will try to run," Loegaire warned.
"Yes." Biel nodded.
"Shall I ready you a new horse for the chase since she thinks to steal yours?"
Biel watched Cait climb onto Odin's back. "No." When he looked at his brother he saw the look of surprise.
"I have never known you to let go of anything that was yours."
Biel hadn't thought about that. She was his now. He watched her ride the horse through what was left of the gates. No sooner was she through them, did she kick the horse into a full gallop.
"If she gets to the river, you might lose the trail," Loegaire warned.
"Get me a damned horse," Biel growled. Loegaire nodded and headed to the stables, leading back two readied horses.
"You are coming with me?" Biel watched his brother slide atop one of the horses.
"I like her spine, brother. I can't wait to see her lash out at you again." Loegaire's beard bunched with his grin. Biel grunted in response as he mounted the mare and gave her nudge.
It took them fifteen minutes to catch up with her. She'd almost made it to the river when they rode upon her. She leaned further down on the horse, urging the animal to run faster but Biel rode alongside her, reached over, and grasped her around the waist. As he lifted her she hit at him and then kicked, knocking them both off balance.
Biel hit the ground first, her atop him. For a moment neither of them moved. Then she leapt away from him, scrambling to her feet. She backed away as he rose and he watched her gaze dart around and then rest on a broken limb. He smiled when she dove for it and then brandished it in front of her like a sword.
"I told you not to run." He grunted at the pain in his shoulder from his fall and reached up to massage it as he rolled it forward.
"You got what you wanted. You don't need me now."
"And what of your cousin? With you gone, I have no reason to allow him to live." He saw her eyes widened moments before she charged at him, her limb lifted. He caught it in mid swing and wrestled it away from her. She delivered an effective kick to his shin just as Loegaire returned with the horses.
"Do you need any help, brother?"
Biel slanted a glare at his brother moments before she kicked at him again. This time he ignored her strike and reached out to grasp her arm. Her nails dug into him, raking from shoulder to elbow. Growling a curse, he spun her and pulled her back to his chest, trapping her arms at her sides.
"Stop!" But his command went ignored as she jerked her head backwards and into his jaw. His hold on her loosened and she bolted away from him when he shook his head against the pain. Heat filled him. He couldn't deny her fight was arousing.
It was apparent that he wouldn't be able to muscle her into doing what he wished or he would end up hurting her and that thought had no appeal. "Your mother gave you up so easily that one would think you would be grateful."
Her eyes widened. "She is not my mother and why should I be grateful! You came in and destroyed my home, took my family away from me."
"Blaidden is mine but it is also yours now." He shrugged. "If it were not for me everything your father owns would have gone to your cousin. And I give you a family. My brothers are now your brothers."
"I don't look at her like a sister," Loegaire piped clearly ignoring Biel's slicing glare. "She's much better to look at than anyone in our family and I do not know any of our females that could best you as she has."
"If you are not going to help, could you just leave us?" Biel growled.
Loegaire rolled his eyes and stepped forward towards Cait. Biel liked that she didn't cringe or flinch. Instead she lifted her chin as if ready to turn her attacks on his brother if he meant to grab her.
"Come along now, bonny Cait. No need in wasting your time like this when you could be planning another escape. He is too stubborn to give in and will allow you to continue to beat upon him until you are too weary to stand. Then he will carry you back." Loegaire held out a large hand. "Besides, you have many more weapons to use against him at Blaidden. I'll give you the use of my own sword to run him through with if you'll come back with me now."
"I meant help me." Biel frowned.
"You lie. I am not stupid." Cait's gaze narrowed on Loegaire.
"Nay you aren't stupid. I wouldn't like you so much if you were. Neither am I so I do not offer it to you now. I don't want you to accidentally crack my head open instead of his." Loegaire wiggled his fingers, hand still extended. "I'll give you use of my sword and if he bests you anyway, I'll teach you how to use it. Eventually you'll wear him down if you are as willful as I think you are."
"Why should you want me to kill your own brother?"
"I don't think you'll kill him, bonny Cait. He's as tough as leather. But I wouldn't mind you harming him a bit for not offering you more gentleness last night. He did you an injustice from what I understand." Loegaire glanced over his shoulder at Biel. "He could have made it better for you."
"Men do not care of a woman when they climb atop them." Cait argued and Biel noticed that some of her fight was leaving her voice. Even her stance became more relaxed.
"Some do. He normally does. I imagine he was too ridden with guilt and am surprised he managed to even perform the basics." Loegaire smiled when the corner of her lips lifted slightly. "Will you not come back with me? I am not as proud as he. I will get on my knees and plead for your return if you so wish it though I might need assistance getting back up. My feeble body has seen too many battles to move as agile as I would like."
Biel's frown deepened when he saw her softening. His brother was doing what he should have done, offered her kindness and seduced her with warmth. But she wasn't looking at Loegaire as she'd glared at him the night before.
"You are no more feeble than I am..." she stopped, her eyes narrowing again.
Good, Biel thought to himself. She was at least intelligent enough to know what he was doing.
"You raided my home. You beat my cousin bloody. Why should I trust you would hand over your sword so easily?"
"I didn't ask you to trust me, bonny Cait, just to entertain me with your attack on my brother. It amuses me and I shouldn't be made to suffer his foul mood without some amusement at his expense."
"If you were not my brother, I would hate you." Biel snapped. "Enough of this. My patience is gone. You are coming back to Blaidden even if I have to drag you back by the hair of your head."
Her icy eyes swung back to Biel and then with a mocking smile, lifted her hand and slid it into Loegaire's. "If he does not give me his sword, I shall steal it and bury it tonight in your skull."
Loegaire chuckled and closed his fingers over her hand. She offered no fight as he led her back to the horse he'd tied to his own. Biel felt like drawing his own sword on his brother as he watched him help Cait onto the horse. She didn't even make an attempt to escape, instead stared defiantly at Biel while Loegaire mounted his own horse.
"Are you coming?" His brother grinned down at him.
Biel didn't answer, pulling himself onto his horse. He turned and led them back to Blaidden. When they arrived his brother's cheered but she walked past them back into the castle. The moment they were in the great hall, she turned and held out her hand.
"Your sword?"
Loegaire smiled at her as some of the others filed in behind them. After a moment, he unsheathed his sword and offered her the hilt. Her eyes widened as if surprised he had not lied.
"He is big, but he is fast," Loegaire warned as she reached forward. The moment he released the weapon to her, the tip dipped and hit the floor. Biel watched her lift the weapon with both hands.
"I don't have time for this. There is a wall to be built." Biel started to turn.
"Perhaps something to entice him, bonny Cait," Loegaire suggested. "You cut him, you are allowed to go free. If he can get the sword from you, you give him a kiss...one without teeth and claws."
"Just one cut?"
Biel saw the look of hope flare to life in her eyes. It made him angry, mostly at himself. He faced her fully when she lifted the sword. Of course she would try to use it. As she advanced so did he. He intended to just take the weapon from her but then she surprised him.
The sword arched up and she shifted her weight. God's blood! She knew how to use it. He stepped backwards as the sword came down and back again when she lunged, the point directed at his chest. Behind her Loegaire laughed and clapped his hands together, pleased with the discovery that she could use the weapon.
It was too heavy for her and while her movements were slowed, her swipes were deliberate. "Give her something lighter. She can barely lift that one." One of his brothers stepped forward and held out a smaller sword. She traded it out while Biel retrieved his own weapon.
This time she moved much quicker but with his own sword he was able to block her strikes. "Use your weight to add force. When you swing, do with your whole body, not just your arm."
She frowned. "You will tell me how to kill you now?"
"You will not kill me but I can see it is not the first time you've lifted a weapon."
"My cousin taught me so he could practice." She swung and then jabbed, nearly hitting his side. "And while I might not kill you, I will strike you so that I can leave this place."
Biel sheathed his sword and waited for her to get close enough. She swung and he stepped closer quickly grasping the weapon with one hand, above hers, and with his other, wrapping his fingers around her arm. He jerked the weapon away and thrust it towards Loegaire.
Her hope fled, replaced at first with devastation, and then with anger. "And now you will take your kiss I suppose."
"No." He winced and softened his voice. "No, I will not take it. I believe the barter you made was that I was to receive a kiss from you." He allowed his fingers to loosen on her arm and brought the other, when Loegaire retrieved the weapon, to her hand.
"It was my mistake in thinking I could strike you but your brother said he will show me how to use the weapon. It is a small price to pay so that I can be more successful the next time." She jerked her fingers from his. "Please do not feign tenderness. It is too late for that. I've seen your true nature and it would be ridiculous to pretend you are otherwise now just to impress your brother."
"Mayhap I want to impress you," Biel suggested and then almost smiled when she snorted. "Very well, if you will not accept my civility then I shall do as you assume I will and take what is mine."
She lifted her chin. "Nothing of me is yours. You think that climbing atop me you somehow laid claim to me?" Her laugh was mocking. "I allowed you to do that to save my sister from you. If it were not for that fact alone, Atherton would still belong to my father."
He grunted, "A choice I allowed you. Do you not realize that everything you did was by choice granted to you by me? Were I less, I might have come in and forced myself upon you and your sister. The vicar could have married us while I was in you." He didn't expect her to slap him, though he should have. Her fingers left a sting on his cheek.
"And now you are my wife. You are mine. And I will do with you whatever I wish. I have shown patience and allowed you to fight back. But you do not mistake my patience for weakness. If it were my will I could have you and pass you around to my brothers."
She poked her finger into his chest. "And is that your will? It would not surprise me and at least I might be offered some pleasure of my own from one of them." Her words were her weapons now. "Men think sex gives them power over women, that they can break a will by violating a body. It is that stupidity that I am counting on for it will offer opportunity to run you through."
Biel glared down at her, barely hearing the low warning that Loegaire murmured. Her fight aroused him. She had spine and refused to be intimidated. His brother had told him that she'd hit the vicar. Now, she glared at him, her gaze unwavering.
"I shall advise you that in the future if you wish to barter for your freedom that I am the one you should make your deals with. My brother offered you freedom that was not his to give. Even if you'd succeeded in harming me, you would have had to remain here." He cocked his head to the side when her eyes widened.
"Yet you mean to claim a reward for my not harming you?" She whirled on her heel and stamped towards the stairs. She didn't look back as she ascended and then disappeared from view.
"You should have just kissed her."
"She makes it damnably hard to do that." Biel growled at Loegaire. "And you don't help matters at all."
Cait lay in bed and listened to her Viking husband enter the chamber. The hour was late. He'd spent most of the day helping his men start the construction of the new wall. She'd watched them from the window for hours. Once he'd looked up at her. She'd met his gaze with a glare and could have sworn he she saw a little smile on his lips when he turned away.
He did not light a candle but undressed in the dark. She held her breath when the bed gave way to his weight and gripped the blankets when he slid beneath them. She could feel the heat of his body even before he rolled towards her and draped a thick arm across her waist.
"Don't touch me."
For a moment he didn't move, then his palm slid up between her breasts and laid flat. He pulled her backwards, sliding her to him. She tried to scoot away but he held her where she was.
"You are filthy and disgust me," she snapped.
"And you have the tongue of an asp." But he chuckled and it infuriated her. She grasped his arm and turned her head, biting down into his skin. He sucked in his breath and jerked his hand away but a moment later he'd rolled her to her back and loomed above her. She stared wide eyed at his eyes, rooted with fear, unable to scream when they glowed yellow at her.
"Do you know how a man of the wolf claims his mate? His bite. Unless you wish me to mark you as mine, do not bite me again because every time you do it, all I can think of doing is climbing atop you." His voice was deep, his breath hot against her face. Those eyes held her. He wasn't man, she realized. He was some kind of devil, something evil.
"Please don't kill me," her own voice trembled.
He stared at her for a few minutes and his eyes dimmed and then returned to normal. Slowly he eased from atop her and settled next to her but she remained as she was, staring up into the darkness, her heart pounding. Man of the wolf, that is what he said. She felt ill. She'd allowed him to consummate their marriage the night before, a marriage that was not to just a man but to some kind of evil beast.
She suddenly leapt from beside him and away from the bed. In the darkness she saw his form rise to sit up. She backed away until she could press her back against the farthest wall.
"What are you doing?" His form stood and walked towards her but she closed her eyes, willing him to go away.
She listened to him draw closer and then jumped when his hand touched her cheek. She turned her head.
"I am man," he said quietly. "I am of the wolf and can take on its form but I am still man." His knuckles grazed her jaw and she whimpered. No man had yellow eyes like that.
"Don't." He grasped her jaw and forced her face forward. "Kick at me if you are afraid but do not cower." She didn't open her eyes, too afraid of what she might see. And then the next moment, his lips brushed against hers. She lifted her hands and shoved against his solid chest.
"That's it. Don't let fear make you weak, Cait," he murmured against her mouth and she shoved again. Then hit at him as tears slid down her cheeks. She sobbed but she continued to hit until he stepped back and then pulled her into his embrace. She tried to push away from him, to jerk free but he just held her to his chest.
"I'm sorry." He spoke quietly next to her ear. "I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm sorry."
Finally she found her voice. "You did mean to. It's all you've done since you forced your way into my home. You've frightened everyone here into doing what you want. You force and intimidate and...and..."
"Not this time. I did not mean to make you fear me." He held her away from him, then released her and turned. He lit a candle next to the bed and Cait's breath caught in her throat. He was naked. She had known it but without the light it had been easy not to think of it. Skin stretched over hard muscle and no softness anywhere. When he faced her, she looked away.
"Look at me. I am man." He walked closer but she didn't look. "I can be injured and harmed just as any other. Can't you see that?"
Finally her gaze drew back to him and then down to the scar on his side. "But you...your eyes...."
"I am a man of the wolf. It is not as uncommon as you might think. I shouldn't have used it to frighten you." He planted his hand on the wall next to her head and leaned his weight on that arm. "You just stir me so that I want...your viciousness is alluring."
"And yours is disgusting." She was too exhausted to add more sharpness to her words.
"There are men coming here. Men like me, our enemies. They would have torn this place to shreds if we'd not come here and taken it. With access to the loch we can keep them from coming farther north this way. We killed none of your people. Our intention is not to kill the innocent."
"But you...you beat upon my cousin and forced my father..."
"Your father had dealings with our enemies and had given them permission to come this way. It is why we had to take the castle and set up here."
Cait shook her head. "My father didn't know what you were..."
"He knows."
She shook her head again. No. Her father wouldn't have left her had he known. They wouldn't have been able to drag him away. He wouldn't have left her to marry a beast.
"Your father knows and foolishly thought that if allowed them to use Blaidden they would hold up their end of the bargain. They would not. They would have destroyed this place and every person here." He blew out a heavy breath. "Now that Blaidden is mine, those that would come here will either do so and be defeated or will keep their distance."
"Why didn't you explain that yesterday? Why didn't you tell us the danger..."
"Because your father already knew. And there was no time to explain anything. I was too busy trying to keep you from mauling me or riding directly into their horde. It is true that we take what we want but we do not wish for the others to destroy everything around us. They would have destroyed this entire island."
"All of it?" She shook her head.
"All of it. The numbers of our packs are many. It was easy to overtake your castle. It would be just as easy to go from town to town and do the same. That's exactly what they would have done. From here we can stop them, save your people and keep our enemies from sailing on to our people, our families."
Cait's head hurt. It was too much to believe.
"You could have done all of that without a marriage."
"I could have but I wanted Blaidden," he said simply. "And when you hit me, I wanted you too." His lips lifted slightly in the corners. He started to lean forward but Cait lifted her hands to his chest and pushed him back.
"But I do not want you. You forced me into this marriage and..."
"I gave you a choice. And I do believe it was you who struck the deal. I took the castle. You gave yourself to me by choice," he corrected.
"To save my family."
"It was still a choice. And I notice your family did not fight for you as you did them. The woman all but threw you at us." He lifted his free hand and touched her hair. It was odd looking at the ends of her hair between his fingers.
"She was saving Fiona. She isn't as strong as I am..."
Again he interrupted to correct her. "What have I done to you that required you to be strong? Last night? Despite the harsh words you hurled at me, I was as gentle as I could be."
Cait frowned. He was right. He could have been rough. He could have left bruises as she'd suspected he would. But he hadn't.
"You don't understand. Fiona is more tender than I."
"I wouldn't have harmed the girl. Just as I've not harmed you. It matters not. I did not want for her. She wept like the other. You looked right at me." Again he smiled. "I shall give you time to digest everything I've told you. You can return to bed now."
Cait stood there as he stepped aside. He was right. It was much to think about at once. She walked back to the bed and climbed beneath the blankets. He settled beside her and then blew out the candle.
"Why did you explain all that to me?"
"Perhaps to make up for my frightening you so badly," he answered after a moment.
"I wouldn't have remained afraid. By morning I would have tried to kill you anyway." She rolled to her side, back to him. "I was just shocked and didn't know how to react." After a moment his turned towards her and draped his arm over her.
\*\*\*
"It's been four days and she hasn't tried to escape at all." Loegaire almost sounded disappointed.
"I don't think she will attempt to run again." Biel settled the stone in place and waited for his brother to spread mortar atop it. He lifted another of the large stones that others were carrying and dropping in a pile outside the wall they were erecting. On the other side Uif added to its strength by attaching timbers held in place by thick wooden slats. Some of the townspeople who'd not fled remained and were finally starting to join the construction of the fortress.
"She has accepted she is your wife?" Loegaire asked as Biel settled the next stone.
"I don't know. I just know she will not try to run again." Biel lifted his gaze to find her leading her cousin from the castle. Ewan stood there looking at the wall that almost circled the castle. He surveyed their work for several minutes before looking Biel's way and then walking forward.
"It isn't high enough if you mean it to be a defensive wall." Ewan spoke before he got to them.
"It will be." Biel answered and lifted another stone.
When he offered no more, Loegaire spoke. "We will build it in two sections. This is the lower and it shall be finished tonight. Then atop it a second will be built. Then we will help those working on the outer wall." He pointed and Ewan looked at the second wall being constructed several yards out.
"My cousin tells me there is a chance we will be attacked." Ewan turned his gaze back to Biel. "That is why you took this place. You needn't have run my uncle from here."
"Your uncle is not to be trusted."
"My uncle is a brave man and would not risk his family."
"Sometimes foolishness makes a person untrustworthy." Biel accepted the water that one of his men brought to him. He drank deeply and passed it to Loegaire. "It is that foolishness that brought us to this place to begin with."
"He goes to my father's home. I should send a message to my father of what has happened and why you and your men are here." Ewan stepped closer. "I offer this for my cousin's safety. I would not want her to come to harm when my father and his men come back for me."
Biel leaned against the wall. "Cait is my wife now. I would not allow her to be harmed. Unlike others, I protect those that are mine. I do not give them up or use them to barter with." Behind Ewan, Cait remained silent but her gaze darted to his. "Would you Loegaire?"
"I would not."
"You will allow me to send the message?" Ewan's irritation was evident.
"You may send whatever message you would like to your father, hopefully warning him not to attack us lest he wishes to meet a swift death. He should only bring his men if he means to defend Blaidden from our enemies."
"Why should he defend you at all?" Ewan snapped.
"Because I am his niece's husband. Because this is her home." Biel crossed his arms.
"That you forcefully took!" Ewan looked ready to leap at him.
"And paid for when your uncle left this place. He carried with him a large enough amount to purchase land and home elsewhere." He saw Cait's widened gaze and she stepped forward.
"Why would you do that?" she asked.
Biel didn't answer and went back to work.
"He did it for you, bonny Cait." Loegaire said. "You are his wife and he would see that his wife's family is taken care of."
Biel said nothing until Ewan and Cait walked back to the castle. "I don't remember requesting that you explain my behavior."
"It was for peace of mind." Loegaire defended himself.
"I did not request that of you either."
"It might make her think a bit of her situation if she knew that the husband she despises offered her more honor than the family she fought so much for." Loegaire snapped. "Forgive me for telling her what she should have already been told."
Biel said nothing else and they finished the wall by nightfall. He ate with his men and then went upstairs to retire. Unlike the nights before, he did not step into a darkened chamber. This night, Cait waited up for him and to his surprise had drawn him a bath.
"Do not think this means anything," she warned. "I do not wish to suffocate from your stink tonight."
He grunted as he began removing his clothes. Once naked, he settled in the large basin of water. As he was settled, she moved and reached to collect his things but he reached out and caught her wrist before she could pick up his weapons.
"Afraid I will turn them on you?" Her eyes glittered. "If I meant to do such a thing I've had ample opportunity."
For a moment, Biel did not release her, and then slowly loosened his fingers. She pressed her lips, rolling her eyes, and picked up the weapons, setting them on the table next to the bed.
"Come here, wife." He watched her look back at him.
"Why?"
"Do not question me. Come here." He waited. Finally, most likely out of curiosity, she walked to him and stood beside the basin.
"I wish you to wash me." Again he waited. Would she appease?
"Can you not wash yourself?"
"I'm weary." He smiled when she made a sound of impatience but lowered to her knees.
"A day's work and men turn into invalids," she grumbled reaching for the soap and cloth. "Lean forward lest you wish me to reconsider and cut off your head with your own sword." He chuckled as he leaned forward. She washed his back, then his hair. When he leaned back, she bent forward running her soapy cloth over his chest, arms, and legs. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, enjoying the feel of her movements. After rinsing away the soap, her hands grew still but she didn't move away. A moment later, the cloth dipped beneath the surface and touched his cock.
He hadn't thought she would. But she bathed all of him. And his body responded. He heard her gasp when he hardened. She started to stand but he reached out and caught her arm as he opened his eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and he could see that her breathing was different.
"You will leave me in this condition? You are a vicious woman, Cait Vard." He saw her eyes widen as he said her full name. Perhaps she'd not realized his name was hers now.
"I've done what you wanted." She didn't try to pull away.
"Touch me." He met her gaze, moments before it darted to his cock. "Touch me, Cait and relieve me."
Her lips curled and she knelt beside him again but he didn't release her when she started to bend forward. "Touch me...gently."
She failed miserably when she tried not to smile. "Perhaps I mean to remove it from your body completely."
Biel released her arm and tilted his head back again, closing his eyes. "That would be very unfortunate for you since I had not intended on harming you."
A moment later her fingers slid against him. They wrapped around him and pulled up his length. He groaned in response.
"I do this now for you because of what you did for my family. You gave them money. I appreciate that you did that." Her palm slid down him again. "It changes nothing between us."
She was wrong. It changed everything. The pull of her fingers caused his stomach to tighten as arousal coiled inside him. The beast inside of him would not be satisfied. He reached down and closed his hand over hers, tightening her fingers and setting the rhythm.
"Like that." He released her and allowed her to continue. It wouldn't take him long and his breathing deepened as his balls tightened. Tension tightened and then suddenly her hand left him. He opened his eyes just as someone rapped on the door.
She rose to her feet but he stood and stepped out of the water. Without covering himself he went to the door and opened it. Loegaire stood there.
"What is it?"
Loegaire grinned at him. "Taking a bath are ye?"
"What is it that you want, brother, or I swear I will crack open your head." He heard Cait's chuckle from behind him.
"Well, I can't find Ewan anywhere and one of the horses is gone."
"He's most likely headed to his father's home and has abandoned her like the rest of her family did. Go and find him and bring him back." Biel glanced back at Cait. It was obvious she'd heard him but did not respond.
"Will you be coming with us?"
"No, I will not be coming with you." He closed the door on his brother's grin.
"You don't need him. If you gave my father money, the castle belongs to you." Cait spoke when he faced her.
"I want to keep him here until after I'm certain there will be no attack from our enemies. The last thing I need is him leading an army on us while we're in the middle of our own fight. Now come here." When she didn't move, he stalked forward and she matched every step with one of retreat.
"I heard him walking up the corridor. It's why I stopped." Her back bumped against the wall. "I can continue."
"It's too late for that now." He placed both hands on either side of her against the wall.
"It doesn't look too late." Her gaze darted down to his hard cock.
"I want in you." He leaned forward. "Deep in you."
Cait couldn't explain the heat that flushed her body in response to his words. Suddenly her clothes felt too tight and the room seemed warmer. She'd touched him as she he wanted, half out of curiosity, half out of gratitude for what he'd done for her family. But when he'd groaned, she couldn't deny that she liked the way he sounded. Now with his arms on either side of her, he seemed to take up the entire room leaving no air for her to breathe.
"It's dishonorable for you to even ask this of me." She tried to fight away her body's ache. She shouldn't desire this man. He'd taken her home less than a week before. He'd made her marry him to save her family. He'd admitted he was a wolf. She'd seen his eyes herself. She should hate him.
"I didn't ask." He leaned closer.
"You are dripping all over the floor." She refused to look at him.
"Cait." He said her name and her gaze lifted to his. Her breath caught. His eyes were full of desire. The planes of his face were flushed and his nose flared. His intensity made her tremble.
"Remove your clothes or I will rip them from your body."
Her heartbeat accelerated. "What if I tell you it's not my wish for you to..."
He leaned closer so that he was a breath away from her. "I know it would be a lie. I can see it in your eyes. I can smell it in the air. Take off your clothes."
Her hands shook as she did as he commanded. When she was nude, he didn't move away, lowering his gaze over her body. What had she expected when she'd prepared the bath? She'd known this would happen. It was why she'd done it.
"Beautiful," he whispered and his jaw grazed her cheek as he breathed her in. It was a primitive thing to do. This close and she felt the heat from his body. It made her shiver.
"Spread your legs."
She obeyed and then gasped when he shifted his weight to one arm and lowered a hand to touch the most intimate part of her. His fingers slipped between her folds and then dipped inside of her.
"You are ready for me." He leaned back slightly so he could look at her face. "You want me. Say it."
She shook her head and then sucked in her breath when his palm cupped and pressed against her. When he rocked his finger into her, his hand stimulated her sex. He moved his hand against her. Her body responded to the sensations, nipples hardening. He leaned forward and took one peak between his lips, rolled his tongue around its tip, before sucking fiercely. He applied the same attention to the other.
Cait's entire body shook with tension. "I want you." The words tumbled from her lips before she could stop them. Instantly he straightened and grasped her hand. Turning he strode to the bed, pulling her with him. He laid her on her back and then crawled atop her, settling between her thighs.
One quick thrust and Cait arched into him. The intrusion felt good. She reached forward to grasp his shoulders as he pulled and then thrust again. With every rock of his hips, he made a sound in his throat that was half groan, half growl. It sent hot shivers over her body.
He leaned forward and kissed her as his cock plunged into her, one hand sliding between them to pluck at her nipples. Passion swept over her and she pulled at his shoulders for more, nails biting into his skin. He sucked air through his teeth as he broke their kiss and hovered above her.
Cait realized he liked the roughness. She remembered when she'd bit at him how he'd told her it aroused him. Now she leaned up and nibbled at his jaw. When she moved her lips to his shoulder and applied more pressure, his hips jerked forward. Cait was assaulted with the heady thrill of control. She dragged her nails over his shoulders to his chest and then bit again.
"Stop or so help me I shall lose myself in you," he murmured, for once that strong baritone voice sounding desperate. She bit him again and when he looked down at her, his eyes were yellowed. At first it frightened her but when his hips began rocking into her, thrusting forcefully, she didn't care what color his eyes would turn next.
He rode her urgently and she lifted her knees to his waist, offering him more of her. And he took it. He was like something of nature, wild and unkempt, his long hair hanging down around them both while those yellow eyes bore into her. Her tension broke and pleasure exploded, reached from her sex out into her limbs until she shook beneath its force.
He joined her rapture a moment later, thrusting deep, his cock convulsing within her while he threw his head back and bared his teeth. He stilled momentarily before falling forward, his weight on his arms at either side of her. Silence filled the room, broken only by their heavy breaths.
Slowly, the yellow dimmed and disappeared from his eyes. "You weaken me woman," he finally rasped. Weakened? He was anything but weak. He'd been strong and dominating and it had made her behave more beastly than he.
Finally he pulled from within her and rolled over to lie beside her. She stretched, enjoying the warmth that pulled in her limbs. When she looked at him, he'd tucked one arm behind his head. He slipped the other beneath her and curled her to him.
"You push me to lose myself completely to the wolf."
"You said you can take the wolf's form. Have you ever done so when you've lain with a woman?" Cait asked, breathing out in relief when he shook his head.
"No but sometimes there can be changes."
"Like your eyes."
"Aye. I do not want to frighten you again." He turned his head so he could kiss the top of her head. "Keep your nails and teeth away from me. You make it so I have no control and the wolf inside me drives me by impulse."
"What does it feel like when you lose control, when the wolf takes you over?"
"Freedom," he murmured. "So much pleasure that I feel consumed by it."
That is how she'd felt just moments before. "But you never become the wolf."
"Sometimes in battle it happens. It's different when with a woman. Normally we only change by will." He pulled his arm from beneath her and sat up. "Stay here. Rest. I shall return once Ewan is secured in the castle."
"I'm already half asleep." She closed her eyes and then smiled when his lips brushed hers momentarily.
With both defense walls completed, the men now turned their attention to the castle itself. Cait watched the men work, taking them water when they looked to be getting weary. Much had changed for her in the last five days. At first she was angry at those she watched fortify the castle. Now she was angrier at her own family. As much as she didn't like it, Biel was right. They had abandoned her. All of them. Now these men, strangers, worked to protect her, her home, and their family in ways hers had never thought to do.
And they were wolves. Or of the wolf. How odd that she could come to accept that so easily. Her gaze drifted to Biel. He was their leader. He was her husband. Her body warmed for him each time she looked at him. He was dominant and even bullying at times but he did not leave her powerless. He never had. He'd allowed her to fight back, to strike out at him when other men would have beaten her. He'd given her choices, though difficult, as if testing her strength.
She took the water to her husband and when he accepted and drank, she reached out and touched his shoulder. Long had he shed his tunic, exposing his deep chest to the sun. She'd watched him, marveling at the muscle she now ran her nails across.
His head snapped around and those blue eyes narrowed on her. "Where is your cousin?"
"I have him scrubbing the floors in the kitchen. One of your brothers is watching him." She dragged her nails over his skin again then took the water and held it out to Loegaire. He accepted it with his usual easy smile and drank deeply.
"And what are you doing while I work?" Biel demanded.
She slanted her gaze back at him and smiled. "Watching you work." She purposely allowed her gaze drop to his chest, then lower to his stomach. "Wondering how beastly a smell you will drag into my bed tonight so that I might suffocate." Loegaire laughed aloud passing the water back to Biel.
"Would you ask I spend the day plucking wildflowers so I do not offend your delicate senses and give you only a home that could not keep a sheep from barging in its doors?" Biel asked.
"I've asked nothing at all of you, husband." She reached for the water flask but he held it back so she had to reach farther. "Now you are only being cruel. I think you mean to anger me. Unless you wish me to bite you again I insist you find a more appeasing mood."
Loegaire laughed again but Biel's gaze darkened slightly. She knew very well that the mere mention of biting him aroused him. She became aware that his brothers had stopped their work and were watching them now.
"Perhaps my wife will oblige me by remaining inside and reserving her games for private exchange." Biel's hand wrapped around her waist and he pulled her forward, against him. "For as you can see, my brothers and I are close. The wolf binds us closer than any other siblings. They feel what I feel as I can detect their arousals as well."
Cait's head snapped around to Loegaire with sudden realization. "You scoundrel! That is why you encouraged me to fight against your brother! I thought all along that perhaps you'd taken pity, perhaps even liked me, and now I find you only fed your own lusts!"
Loegaire's grin twisted. "I do like you, bonny Cait. We all do."
Cait looked back at Biel and pushed at his chest but he didn't release her. "You could have told me."
"Aye I could have." He leaned down and spoke into her ear. "I could do a great many things, wife. I do not to save you humiliation and to protect your privacy."
Cait turned her head to stare up at him. How could he make her heart race like this with just a drop of his voice?
"I don't understand."
"My brothers and I share everything." His gaze met hers directly.
Cait gasped. "But Uif has a wife!"
"And we've all had her." Biel didn't look away. "Now do you understand?"
He released her and handed her the flask of water. She just stood there numbly looking at him as he turned and went back to work. Her gaze darted around to the brothers that worked alongside him. Each time she became accustomed to something he told her, she learned something new. Her attention rested on Loegaire until he looked at her. Then she turned and hurried back to the castle.
Biel found her hours later in the stables, brushing down his horse. "Thinking of trying to steal him and escape again?" He asked and leaned against the wall next to the stall.
"Do you mean to share me with your brothers?" She faced him after a moment of silence.
He sighed heavily. "I mean to tell you what you need to know so that you may live as you wish, Cait."
"When we are together, they feel it too?" she asked.
"They do." He nodded.
"Then I've no privacy at all." She turned back to the horse. "They might as well be standing in the room watching."
"If you like." Biel grinned when she made a noise. "It is something that cannot be helped. Our energies are connected by the wolf. You felt my energy when we came together didn't you? It felt as if we were surrounded by heat as strong as a storm on the water. I know you felt it."
"But that was us."
"They felt it too that night. And had they been there in the room, their energies would have joined ours. It intensifies the effects." He held up a hand before she could speak. "I do not need you to lay with them, Cait. That is your choice, not mine. I only tell you so you know how it is with me and them."
Cait frowned. She was an outsider. Not really one of them. She was only Biel's wife. Just as she'd only been only her father's first daughter.
"I have upset you." He reached over the wall and touched her arm but she shook her head.
"I am not upset."
Biel slowly walked around and stepped into the stall, reaching for her and bringing her to him. "You are upset. You look as if you might burst into tears any moment."
"It's just...so much to try to understand. I did not know of these things before you came to be here." Cait pressed her cheek to his chest, the sound of his heartbeat comforting her. "I am trying."
Biel winced. Yes she was. She was accepting them but he must give her time to go through the process.
"Well no tears. I'd much rather you kick at me than to weep." He grunted when she did just that, delivering a sharp strike to his shin. "That's better. Now, unless you want to appease my other desires, I must return to work."
"What other desires?" Her eyes glittered when she looked up at him.
Biel breathed in deeply. He'd smelled her arousal throughout the day. They all had. Despite her shock, it had grown stronger when he'd revealed the sharing of Uif's wife. Now it seemed that scent surrounded him, filled the stables.
He reached down and freed himself from his leggings. "Put your mouth on me, Cait." Her gaze dropped to his cock and her tongue slid along her bottom lip. "Suck."
She lowered to her knees and leaned forward, her palm sliding along him before she wrapped her fingers around him. Tentatively she brought her lips to the crown and he watched himself disappear slowly into her sweet mouth. Her cheeks sank as she sucked and he groaned, closing his eyes. As she began to push and pull her lips over him, he reached out and gripped the timbers that framed the stall doorway, rocking his hips forward to meet her suckling mouth.
And then she pressed her teeth against the head of his cock, just enough pressure to make his balls tighten. "By the Gods, Cait, don't. I warn you." Her hands left his cock as she rocked forward, teeth dragging slightly across his skin. Her nails raked lightly down his thighs.
The sound that came from him was more beast than man, the wolf wanting more of this woman kneeling before him. Biel felt himself slipping, couldn't help it. He jerked his hips forward as he felt his canines extend slightly from his gums. When she looked up at him, her movements stilled.
"Suck," he commanded in a guttural growl. After a moment she obliged, resuming her rhythm. After a moment she pressed her teeth again and the pleasure that enveloped him was so great that he nearly went to his knees. It wasn't enough. He wanted more.
Stepping back from her mouth, he reached down and grasped her arm. Out of the stall to the low work counter in the back. He lifted her atop the narrow surface and slid her back against the wall. Shoving her skirts to her waist, he thrust her knees apart and settled his cock against her cunt.
"I want you," he told her and despite the slight fear in her eyes, she nodded. He plunged to the heart of her and then used his body to press her back flat against the wall, wanting to touch as much of her with himself as possible. Her hands rested on his forearms and he placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head.
"When I push deep into you, bite me as you did before, Cait. You shall see my true nature. I will endeavor not to make you my mate but your curiosity will be sated today. You will see the worst I become."
"You are frightening me." She whispered.
"Is it not the control you are after, Cait? Now you have it." He thrust roughly, deeply causing her to cry out. He waited and then she lowered her head to his shoulder and bit him.
"Harder." He spoke as he rocked his hips forward again. She obliged and the sensations that over took him caused his body to quake with need. He barely felt the pain of his nails when they grew and toughened to those of the razor sharp wolf claws. Cait's head snapped around to stare at his hands but he forced himself to keep them there on the wall.
"Harder."
"I'm afraid to."
"There shall be no more change, Cait. Only my hunger for you, my desire." He rocked back before plunging into her again. When she bit down this time it was in response to the tension tightening in her own body. Biel could smell her arousal heighten.
"Can you feel it now? In the air around us?" He tilted his head back and breathed in deeply, pushing himself as deep as he could into her. She whimpered and when he looked at her, her eyes were darkened. She nodded. Yes, she could feel it. She could feel the wolf there, his passion, his need.
"If my brothers were here, it would be stronger. Pleasure close to madness. This is what we feel all the time, keep it captured inside of us." He turned his lips to her ear, "You set me free, Cait."
His rhythm was wild when he began to move again, unable to slow himself. She responded with as much urgency, lifting her knees to his hips. Her nails gripped him and those small even teeth nipped at his neck and shoulders, driving him so it took every ounce of his willpower not to mark her as his. He couldn't kiss her, he wouldn't. If he did he could not stop himself. Instead he threw his head back and dug his claws into the rough wood on either side of her head, his hips jutting against hers with every rough thrust. Her screams filled the air, and she bucked against him as she found her release, his name spilling from those lips so that he clawed at the walls. The wolf inside of him wanted her too, wanted him to make her theirs.
When he released he did so in a flurry of violent pleasure. And to his surprise, she leaned forward and bit into him just as he filled her, causing the sensation to intensify so that lights flickered in the corners of his eyes. The sound that came from him was only half human shout, half beastly growl. And then the wolf stilled inside of him, sated, and leaving him gasping for breath.
Biel straightened, working his fingers against the pain after the claws retracted. His teeth settled back into his gums. Still his heart pounded in his chest while he dragged air into his lungs. She looked none the better. Her cheeks were reddened, her lids heavy. Dark hair hung around her face and sweat dotted her temples.
"You like pain."
"Some pain is good." He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. "I wanted to kiss you but could not. You have a mouth that begs for kisses." He licked at her bottom lip.
"Is it always this intense? Is it never tender?"
Biel leaned back and looked into her eyes. "Keep your teeth and nails to yourself and I can be as tender as you would like. You take my control away from me, woman, so that I can think of nothing but burying myself inside of you. I told you before. You weaken me."
"I thought you were going to bite me," she said after a moment.
"I wanted to." Part of him still did.
"Why didn't you?"
"I will not force you to become my mate, Cait. You are my wife but once this is over, if you wish me to free you from that marriage, I will do so. If I make you...completely mine...I will never release you. I find it hard to do so even now." He rubbed his cheek against hers as he continued. "I crave your fire, your spirit. But to be my mate, you must crave mine."
"I don't know how I feel," she said honestly. "It is confusing. My body reacts one way even when my mind tells me something different. I do not even feel I am myself when we are like this."
"You are no different. You fought me fearlessly when you thought I meant to hurt your family. You have the same fierce passion always, you just didn't know it." He leaned back and smiled down at her. "If that were not true I would not have wanted you so deeply. I wouldn't now."
She licked her lips. "I shall be embarrassed now to walk back to the castle with all of them knowing what we've done."
He chuckled. "You needn't feel embarrassed, my Cait. In one week you've accepted us for what we are and proved it now by doing what you've done. They have nothing but respect for you."
"And lust."
Biel's smile widened. "Yes. It cannot be helped. Each of us dreams of a woman like you who can free us. They will lust for you but they shall also respect and defend you as one of their own."
Her lashes lowered. "But I am not one of you am I? Not really. Not as your brothers' wives. I cannot feel what they feel but I can sense that I am not part of their family as others are." She frowned. "I have never been part of anyone's family, always just someone there but never embraced into a family's fold."
Biel's chest tightened and he slid his arms around her, bringing her to his chest. "That is true, Cait, but you are mine if not ours. You are my own, my wife." He kissed her forehead. "You've been pushed aside haven't you? Your father's wife and her child came first to your father."
"We had our own relationship. My sister and I were close. Ewan and I were close," she insisted.
"But you did not feel you belonged."
"I thought I did until you came here and no one..."
"They did not fight for you as you fought for them." Biel nodded and then frowned as he felt her tears against his skin. His arms tightened.
"My brothers would fight for you as if you were there own wife. They will do that because you are mine." He stroked her hair. "It is true there isn't the same bond as if you were my mate, one of us, but they would never forsake you. If someone came into this place as we had, one by one they would fall before they allowed another to take or harm you."
"You would not have killed them if my father had fought for me."
"No."
"You would have been gentle with my sister."
"Yes."
"If my father had refused to leave..."
"He would have been allowed to stay." Biel breathed out heavily. "We are an intimidating bunch but we respect the strength of families."
"And mine had none."
He leaned back and lifted her face with his fingers. "That is not true. You are the strength of that family. You fought, like a bear, and enjoyed your victories no matter how small or arousing they were to me." He kissed her lips. This time she responded, kissing him back. Her hands slid over his shoulders and into his hair, pulling him to kiss her deeper.
His laughter broke their kiss when her body tightened around his cock, still inside of her. "And now you mean to weaken my strength as well. I have an appetite and normally can appease but after what we've already done, as close to marking you as I was, you must give me time to revive myself."
"I want you." They were his own words, the ones he'd given her before.
"So this is your new plan of escape. To kill me with sex?" He pulled from within her, but her moan of protest caused his cock to harden despite the exhaustion he felt.
"Perhaps. It is a good plan." She looked at his cock and then back to his face. When she arched a brow in challenge he held out his hand.
"Not like this. Somewhere softer for you." He looked around and then led her to the clean hay meant for the horses. "Lay down for me, my Cait, and no nails, no teeth this time."
She lay down and he settled next to her, reaching forward to unfasten her dress so that he could free her breasts. Leaning forward he licked at her nipples, enjoying the soft hum she sounded in response. He returned to her mouth and kissed her gently while he slipped his hand beneath her skirt to touch her sex.
She was wet from their joining and he liked the feel of her on his fingers. Dragging that moistness to her clit he began to massage her and with his mouth brought her nipples erect and darkened. Every sound she made stabbed desire into him. Her nails brushed the nape of his neck but he wasn't going to let her arouse him like that again so soon. She'd asked about tenderness and he was going to prove that he didn't always have to ride her like a beast.
Collecting her wrists in one hand, he pushed them above her head, pinning them there with little effort. He sank one finger into her as he kissed her lips, drinking the moan she offered. Then she whispered his name against his mouth. His chest tightened with emotion.
"Cait," he murmured back.
"Please."
She undid him. He pulled his hand from her then moved atop her. He slid into her and body clenched around him as if it had missed him in the few minutes he'd been away. Slow, lazy strokes and it didn't take long to have her wiggling beneath him, trying to meet his gentle thrusts. She was so responsive.
"Tell me how you want it, Cait."
"Harder."
He thrust his hips. "Like this?"
"Yessss." She hissed. "Faster." He quickened his rhythm so she could become accustomed and instantly she fell into pace, lifting to meet him.
"How does that feel?"
"You know that it feels good." She tried to free her arms but he held them where they were.
"Give to me, Cait. Give me your pleasure." He spoke softly and leaned down, brushing his lips over her jaw. "I love the taste of you." His tongue licked at her throat.
"The feel of you," she echoed.
"Your scent," he whispered and inhaled before releasing his breath against the very place he'd licked. Her nipples responded by pressing up harder against his chest. Her breath was coming in short sharp rasps, her whimpers more frequent.
"Faster," she whispered. He obliged, bringing her closer to release.
"I want to touch you, please." Her eyes pleaded.
"You are touching me, deeply." But he released her hands so she could slide her palms to his chest, then his shoulders. She didn't dig her nails in; rather she pulled at him, using his strength to lift herself to meet his strokes.
"Are you close, my Cait?"
"Yessss."
"You want to give to me?"
"Yessss."
He smiled and kissed her mouth again, rocking into her. She found release quickly, and he rode her through the peak and gentle descent. When she smiled up at him, those heavy lidded eyes glittering, he straightened and slipped his hands beneath her, lifting her slightly. He plunged deep, seeking his own pleasure and finding it quickly. Moments later, he pulled from within her and sat beside her, leaning back against the wall.
"We can't remain in the stables all day you know. I do have to get back to work." He slanted his gaze down at her as she stretched, reminding him of a feline.
"I know."
"That second time was ours you know. My brothers only feel when you pull out the wolf. They did not share that time." He saw her smile. He'd known that would please her.
"I'm not certain how I feel about you sharing me with them. Loegaire perhaps but only if you are with me. But I don't know the others as well." She was conceding and it surprised him.
"There is no rush." He stroked the side of her face. "Think about it and we shall discuss it again later. Now, I must go to work." He waited for her to nod and stood. Once his leggings were in place he held a hand down and she took it so he could help her to her feet.
"It will be better if you stay away from me today. You are a distraction that I'm apparently too weak to ignore." He kissed her cheek. "You understand I would love nothing better than to remain here with you."
"Go before you start sounding like a weak wife rather than a strong husband." She teased. He grinned and then headed from the stables.
Cait watched him go, surprised again at how easy it was to accept Biel, his brothers, and their ways. She felt for the first time in her life like a woman, an individual who was wanted and loved. It made the rest easier to accept, she supposed.
Hours later, she found Loegaire in the great hall, sharpening the blades of his and his brother's weapons. It took no surmise that Biel had most likely sent him inside in the event she wished to speak with him.
"I hear you've been working your cousin like he was your slave rather than your kinsman." Loegaire didn't even look up as she entered.
"And he is taking his punishment like a man. He knows I am angry at him for trying to desert me." She neared, gaze dropping to the sword he was sharpening.
"It's for you. I had one made that would be lighter for you." He held it out, hilt to her.
He'd made her a weapon. She took it, smiling at its weight. It was perfect.
"Well go ahead. Swing it around a bit. Let me see how well you can handle it already. No ideas about severing my head though." He grinned.
Cait stepped back and swung the sword as Ewan had taught her in the past. She had to admit that she liked the surprised look on Loegaire's bearded face.
"We'll start practicing and within a year you'll be as skilled a swordsman as my brother." He nodded approval. "Then we shall see if he can win a kiss or not from you."
She smiled and then took the sheath he offered. "Thank you. It was very kind of you to have this made for me."
He nodded and reached for one of the larger sword. He ran his sharpening stone down the length of it. Cait took a breath. He was waiting for her to speak.
"Today, you could feel us."
"As if I could help it." His eyes slanted up at her. "It made our work hard to concentrate on."
"Biel told me that you share your women." She licked her lips. "Don't you become jealous?"
He grunted, for the first time reminding her very much of her husband. "We don't try to take one another's women. We just share them in sex. Uif's wife is his wife."
Cait thought about that. "Do you ever share them together?"
He nodded without looking up, "Aye, we've done that."
"Does Biel want to share me?"
"We all want to share what we have with one another." He set the sword aside and stood. He was of larger build than Biel but never seemed so when Biel was present. Now she was very aware of his size.
"We are of the wolf but we cherish our women, bonny Cait."
Her eyes widened when he reached out and touched her cheek affectionately. His blue eyes were kind and gentle. She did not know how she felt about that.
"You are my brother's wife and I shall accept you regardless if you bed me or not. You are not required to please anyone but yourself." His hand fell from her face. "I, like my brothers, like your grit. You have spine that we appreciate in women. Weak women end up in weeping heaps on the floor. You grow claws and fight your way through life. We respect that and we shall not love you less if you save yourself only for your husband."
She blinked. His rough voice wrapped around such gentle words warmed her, made her feel like she belonged.
"Have you a wife of your own?"
"I never married my mate. She's a bonny strumpet that would slap my face if I proposed." His beard bunched. "I love her more than my own horse."
Cait laughed and shook her head. "What is she like?"
"Nagging, bossy, loud. According to her I can do nothing correctly. She's perfect." He winked. "More meat on her than you. You could do with more of a waist yourself. Hair as red as the sun."
"You do love her."
"Of course. I'd be mad without her." He shrugged his heavy shoulders.
"She does not mind that you sleep with your brothers' women?"
"No more than I mind that she entertains my brothers' appetites." He leaned towards her. "We have our own moments mind you and despite what you might think, I'm exactly what she loves."
"You are mistaken, Loegaire. I think I understand why she would love you so much." Cait smiled at the sudden look of embarrassment in his eyes.
"Well I have a temper like a bear." He grunted looking away. "She's the only one that can stand me when I'm in a mood."
"Did Biel send you in here to share me?" Cait waited as he looked at her.
"He didn't. He said you always seemed more comfortable with me and suggested you might want to discuss this whole brother business with me. I asked if he'd like me to wear a bonny dress and bring out the meals as well."
Cait laughed abruptly. "He is right. I was always less fearful of you."
"I can pound his skull in you know," Loegaire defended himself.
"Yes but you never hide your true nature. He hides himself better than you do." She reached forward and scratched at his beard. "Even with this in the way I can see more of you than I could of him."
"He opens up when you get to know him. He's used to leading and too many enemies would see him as weak if he did differently."
"Yes, I understand him now. He and I are not so different that way. These past days I've learned that I too hid myself from my father's wife and even my own father much of the time." She looked at her hands. "I was angry at him at first. I hated him."
"It passed," Loegaire said knowingly.
"Yes. Now I am just saddened by him." She shrugged and waved a hand dismissing the subject of her father. She wasn't even sure why she brought it up.
"So should I tell my brother that you understand now about our women?"
"Yes, I understand, I think." She nodded.
He looked relieved and set the weapon aside, starting for the door, and then stopped. "I think you are a good mate for him." He didn't look back at her. "He will keep you as for as long as he lives if you let him."
Cait stared at him. "You cannot know that. You've only been here a week."
"I know my brother." He said nothing more, making his way from the castle.
Cait's heart drummed in her chest. She sat in her chamber waiting for Biel and Loegaire. She didn't know why she'd told Biel she would do this; he hadn't asked. In fact he looked surprised -- right before his eyes darkened and she felt the heat from his body, indicating his arousal. She'd changed since that day in the stables. She couldn't explain it but it felt as if she were smothering and all she could think of was Biel.
When they'd taken their meal just the night before and she'd watched him eat the meat from the bones of a fowl she'd wanted to leap across the table and bite him until he could do nothing but climb on top of her. It was absurd to feel the way she did.
And now she'd done this.
Finally the door opened and she turned. Biel entered first and Loegaire followed him inside. She stood there watching him while he walked to his chair and sat, then bent down to remove his boots.
"I'm a little nervous..." she stopped when Biel cast a glance at his brother and nodded. Loegaire strode forward and grasped her shoulders. In the next instant his beard tickled her face as he kissed her roughly. Those large arms wrapped completely around her. It washed over her in a blast of heat. She felt safe.
When his lips left hers he stepped backwards and at the same time, Biel's hands lifted her shirt over her head. He tossed the garment to the side and slid his hands around her waist and up to her breasts, pulling her back against him. She shivered as his cock rested against her ass.
"Still nervous?"
"Yes," she whispered back at him. "And excited."
"Don't be frightened. I will not leave you." Biel kissed her neck then let his teeth graze her skin. She closed her eyes, surprised she would like the feel of his teeth on her skin. Encouraged by her response, he applied the same pressure to her shoulder. Hot chills raced across her skin and she moaned. One hand drifted down her stomach to curl between her thighs and into her cunt. His thick fingers pressed, the heat of his palm applying pressure.
She leaned back into him as he continued to nibble at her until her body warmed and trembled.
"Come on, bonny," Loegaire called and when Cait opened her eyes, she saw that he was naked and laying across the bed. His cock sat thick and hard from a nest of dark hair. He had much more hair on his chest than Biel and it was as dark as that below.
Biel released her and she walked to the bed. She looked back at her husband and he lifted his fingers to his lips, sucking the tips where she knew he could taste her. He gave her a reassuring nod.
"I give you the reigns, bonny. Do with me what you want." Loegaire's beard bunched as he tucked his hands behind his head and she smiled. Awkwardly she straddled him and hovered over his cock, then eased herself down, pushing him slowly inside of her.
"Biel?" His hands found her shoulders instantly. "You must tell me this is right. I...I..."
"You are my wife, Cait. Whatever we do, however we wish, is right." His words offered her some comfort. His hands on her arms offered more so she rocked her hips forward. Biel collected her hair and pulled it to one side so he could suckle the skin right below her ear. She started to relax again and began moving atop Loegaire.
After a moment, he lifted his hips, meeting her movements and it felt good. When Biel released her, she leaned forward, riding Loegaire, seeking her own pleasure. He removed one hand from behind his head and reached forward to cup her face.
"Come and kiss me, bonny."
She leaned forward and then gasped against his mouth when she felt Biel's cock bump against her ass. She knew what was to come. She prayed there would be no pain. Biel pushed, easing gently inside of her, his hands sliding around her hips. He did not jab into her, tenderly stretching her to accommodate him until he was sheathed completely.
His breath was hot against her cheek when he leaned over her. "I want you." She could only moan in response. She wanted him too. He withdrew and then pushed into her again, and beneath her Loegaire lifted his hips to the same rhythm. She'd never felt so full, so wanton, so alive.
Biel's arms slipped beneath hers and pulled her back onto his cock and off of Loegaire's. Her thighs rested intimately against her husband's and he bowed his head to bite at her shoulder again. Loegaire shifted from beneath her and on his knees in front of her, entered her again. His hands gripped her hips. The two of them held her up and began rocking into her. Loegaire caught her mouth when she moaned for more. He kissed her roughly, deeply while Biel's mouth made a path of kisses and nips across her skin.
It was too much. Her heart pounding. The sound of their heavy breaths and primitive noises in their throats. The friction of their bodies against hers. She cried out as the ache inside her of opened. She felt completely consumed and shook uncontrollably. Loegaire released her mouth and leaned back, his eyes widening slightly. Then a slow smile bunched his beard and he thrust roughly into her.
She grabbed at Biel's hands, nails curling into his knuckles as she bucked back against him. She tilted her head back, eyes closed ans he bent his head forward to kiss her but she caught his lip between her teeth momentarily. He turned his head and her eyes opened to see him struggling for control. As waves of new pleasure vibrated through her she caught his earlobe in her teeth and bit down, reveling in the sound of the growl that crawled from his chest.
She didn't know where the rush of possessiveness came from. It over took her in a ball of heat. As the air around them thickened, charged with their arousals, both men plunged in and out of her while she bit at Biel's ear and jaw.
"Mine." It didn't even sound like her own voice. Biel thrust deep in response and released into her with a shout. He pulled out and stumbled back to the chair. Loegaire moved, guiding her beneath him.
"I will not be so gentle now that I've seen you." He whispered and thrust roughly into her. She placed her hands on each side of his face and brought his mouth to hers, then curled her fingers into his beard and tugged slightly. He responded with a grunt and his rhythm quickened.
Tension tightened inside of her and then filled her completely, thundering through her every vein. Loegaire released into her moments after. He rolled off of her to sit on the side of the bed, breathing raggedly. She felt empty without them but her body was warm and her skin alive.
"You make it difficult not to bite you, woman." Biel growled from behind them. Loegaire lifted his head to look at his brother, then down at Cait. Something in his eyes glittered but he said nothing for a several moments.
"Why don't you make yourself useful and go find us some water. I have a feeling bonny here isn't finished with us and I am too out of breath to move."
Biel grumbled something before rising and without pulling on his clothes did as his brother wished. The moment he was gone, Loegaire looked at Cait.
"He has not bitten you? He has not marked you as his mate?"
Cait blinked. "No. He said it was my choice and he would not do it until I wanted it."
"And when did you want it?"
Was it that obvious? "When he and I were in the stables. When I saw him with his teeth and his claws and his yellowed eyes. I wanted it so deeply I nearly wept."
"Do you know what happens when you become his mate?"
She shook her head.
"When you look at him you ache for him, are drawn to be one with him. You smell him even when he isn't close to you. You feel his heat the moment he walks into the room." Loegaire looked at her directly. "You would do anything to free the wolf inside of him and inside of yourself."
She licked her lips. He was looking at her so intently. The door opened a moment later she breathed out, thankful Biel had returned. The room had felt cold without him. As he drew near she breathed in deeply and then froze. Her head snapped around and she found Loegaire still looking at her.
A moment later shouts sounded from outside. In an instant Loegaire and Biel stood at the window.
"They're here." Biel's voice vibrated around the words.
"Who?" Cait rushed to the window and stood between them as an arch of a hundred flames swept from inside the walls, lighting up the sky and then the ground where an army of riders galloped from the banks of the loch toward the walls.
Cait started as she saw the arrows pierce some and Biel's hands instantly pulled her away from the window. "Stay inside. We will have our wounded brought in to you and the other women. Don't leave the castle while I'm gone."
"I'm afraid."
Biel kissed her roughly before reaching for his clothes. "I won't let them get to you, my Cait."
"And if they do?"
Loegaire is the one that answered. "Then run that little sword of yours through the heart of the first one of the bastards that gets through the door."
She stared at them as they dressed quickly and then left her. Die fighting.
\*\*\*
It wasn't until hours later that the sounds of battle ceased. Men were brought into the Great Hall where Cait and the other women tended to them as best as they could. When the fighting grew quiet, many released sighs of relief. Cait stood and gripped her sword, waiting to see who would enter the doors now. She would do as her brother-in-law suggested. She would not let them take her. She would fight until they killed her.
The doors opened and Uif's dark head of hair poked inside first. She breathed out but that breath halted as he moved farther into the room.
"An arrow. All the way through." He lugged Biel inside.
"Have they gone?" One of the women called.
"Just inside the trees. They've not penetrated our walls. Many of their own are wounded too. They will attack again." He heaved his brother to Cait's feet and then knelt beside him. "I will pull the arrow from him if you will ready the linens." He called over his shoulder for one of his brothers, instructing him to bring a fired blade so he could close the wound once the arrow was removed.
"He will scream against the pain." Uif warned and Cait nodded. "Hold him as still as you're able." She moved around and lifted his head to her lap so she could slip her arms beneath his. Her heart pounded as she watched Uif break the head of the arrow off behind him. Then with one mighty jerk, he pulled the arrow out the front. Blood pooled and one of the women pressed the linens to the wound.
Loegaire brought in the fired sword and reached around Cait to help her hold Biel. Uif's eyes glittered slightly.
"Forgive me, brother." His voice cracked as he nodded. The woman pulled the linens back and he touched the flat blade against the wound. Biel's eyes opened and his shout bounced through the hall as he jerked against the arms that held him. Cait leaned forward, his burning flesh stinging her nose and pressed her lips to his temple.
"Once more." Uif whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek. Loegaire heaved his brother up to his side, holding him while Cait wrapped her arms around her husband and held him. His shout was followed by desperate cries of pain.
She wept as she cradled him in her arms. She kissed his face as he drew ragged breaths. Emotion filled her so that she shook.
"They are coming." Someone called from outside.
"They're past the second wall." One of the women called from the door, closed it and rushed farther into the room. "There are not as many as there were."
"Prepare yourselves." Cait took a breath and looked down at her husband. She picked up her sword just as the door opened and Loegaire and his brothers entered.
"Push to the back of the castle." Loegaire called but Cait did not budge. "Go!"
"I will not leave my husband." She looked back to find the other women pulling up the wounded's weapons. "We will all stay and fight." Adrenalin pumped through her and her body shook as Loegaire looked back at her.
"We call the wolf to defend you, bonny." His yellow eyes glowed as he stared at her. She felt a bond tie between them and then the others when they slowly turned to look at her too. They began to shift. Some of the women screamed. Others only gasped. Bones cracked, muscles stretched until each one of them took on the forms of large grey wolves.
She felt no fear at all. Instead it all felt familiar and a sense of belonging settled over her. Suddenly a blinding pain erupted and her sword clattered to the ground. She stared at her hand as her nails extended and curved into those of sharp claws. Her shoulders popped with agonizing pain. Her heart beat accelerated and she felt herself stretching forward onto all fours as hair pushed painfully up, thick and coarse, from the pores of her skin.
When the pain stopped suddenly she felt a rush of freedom, power, and possessive anger. It filled her and she bared her teeth as the door of the castle was thrown open. As one she leapt with her husband's brothers. Her teeth connected with the flesh of one man's throat. One jerk and she felt his neck snap. She would not let them get to Biel!
She leapt at another, yelped as a sharp pain hit her side and sent her backwards. Before she leapt back to her feet, Loegaire and Uif attacked the man viscously. The pain in her side seemed minimal. She lunged again. And again. The coppery taste of their enemy in her mouth.
She felt mad with blood lust and she didn't stop until she was standing in the doorway, staring out at those that had retreated. Her chest heaved as she backed into the castle again. And as quickly as she'd changed, the pain came again. She curled up on the floor, whimpering against it until she fell into darkness.
\*\*\*
"Bonny," Loegaire's voice found her and pulled her from blackness. She opened her eyes. She was in her chamber. In her bed. Her side ached and when she lifted her hand there she found it bandaged. Jerking her hand up she breathed out to find five fingers and no paw.
But it had happened. She could still taste the blood in her mouth. Her mind recalled how savagely she'd attacked and killed the men that had tried to come into the castle. Her stomach turned and she bent over the side of the bed as she heaved.
A large hand rested on her back. It was Loegaire that held her hair away from her face and then eased her back down to the blankets. Uif moved to clean the floor. Neither said a word. She felt the heat beside her and turned her head. Biel slept next to her. She reached for his hand.
"You were very brave for him," Loegaire said quietly after a moment and then grew quiet again. His large hand stroked her hair. Uif bent to kiss her cheek. But she didn't look at either of them. She lay there watching her husband, finding comfort in the rhythm of his breath.
Doane Gilpatrick marched his army to the gates of the first wall around the new fortress where his brother's home stood almost two months prior. Biel met him at those gates; gaze swimming the faces of the men but Cait's father was not among them. It disappointed him for he knew his presence might have lifted her spirits.
"I have come upon the request of my son, Ewan Gilpatrick, to offer my assistance in a looming battle he described to be on its way." Doane's narrow face held no emotion. They were a month late. The battle had already taken place and Biel's men had pushed the enemy's army back.
An arrow suddenly arched in the air and then struck at Biel's feet. A second followed. Anger welled inside of him. Those were the signals from his men who'd been sent to watch for another group meant to ambush them upon sighting Gilpatrick's small army.
"You play so carelessly with your son's life. Has no one in this family have any feelings for one another?" Biel snatched up the arrow. "You think me so foolish that I would not be prepared for your ambush. As you sit there upon your mount, your second group is being captured."
A muscle in Doane's face twitched and he looked beyond Biel. Biel needn't turn. He knew that it was Ewan and Cait that approached, that they'd most likely heard what had happened.
"How could you, Father?" Ewan's voice rose before he halted at Biel's side. "What of mine or Cait's safety? Did you not consider us at all? Just this miserable piece of land? Cait's father will not approve."
"Cait's father leads the second army." Biel snatched up the second arrow and held it up.
"I never realized how much honor you lacked, Father. I always thought you a great man and see now you are driven only by greed." Ewan's words were harsh. Biel waited. He would allow Ewan to decide what to do with his father and those he led but to his surprise is was Cait who stepped forward.
"You are not welcomed at Blaidden, Uncle, not until you make amends to my cousin for your behavior today. Know that you have no rights to this property anymore. Neither does my father. Blaidden belongs to me and thus to my husband and the son that grows in my belly."
Biel's head snapped around but Cait did not look at him. "Were you to show honor today rather than despicable disregard for your own son, I might have granted you welcome but I turn you away. Take your men away lest you mean to have them slaughtered by my husband's brothers and men as would they any enemy." Cait's gaze turned to Biel. "Have my father brought to me in the castle and the rest sent away as well. Take their horses and make them walk the journey home, to give them time to contemplate their loyalties and greed."
Biel blinked. She was more vicious than he.
"Come, Ewan, let us leave my husband to his business." Cait slid an arm around her cousin and the two turned and retreated back through the gates.
Biel shrugged as those behind the wall made themselves seen over its top, arrows pointed down at those below. "As she wishes, dismount and leave your horses."
"You allow a woman to lead your army?" Doane spat.
"I allow my wife just about anything she wishes so long as she allows me privileges as her husband." Biel grinned when his men laughed behind him. Loegaire had told him that Cait had stood bravely over his body, sword ready to protect him when he'd been injured. He'd seen the respect for her in the eyes of all his brothers. She'd received an injury but it had not been deep and had healed quickly.
"You will dismount or I shall give the order to attack." After a moment, Doane and his men dismounted. Some stepped forward to collect the horses and then disappeared with the animals back through the gates.
With only a glare to voice his anger, Doane turned and strode away, leading those that followed by foot the way they'd come. Thirty minutes later another smaller group of horses were led to the gates along with Aengus Gilpatrick.
"My wife waits to receive you. I shall take you in myself." Biel turned and Aengus followed.
"My God. I cannot believe what you've done in such a short time." Aengus stared at the homes that had been built against the first wall.
"These are the living spaces for the warriors of Blaidden. Their families reside inside the keep." Biel led him through the second gates and looked back as Aengus stopped and stared. Blaidden had become a small village within those walls with homes scattering the grounds between the wall and the castle. He did not tell him that workers had already begun digging the moat that was to wrap around the entire site.
"As you can see, some of those who lived on your land decided to remain. They are allowed to live upon the land with no payment to me as long as they, as a village, provide for one another." Biel waved a hand towards the small trading market near the farthest corner of the wall. "They trade their goods for what they need and in doing so, support one another. We produce much more than we need and that is sold to other villages to continue the development of defenses here.
Aengus began walking again, this time stepping to Biel's side as they moved towards the castle. His gaze lifted to the new stone walls that had been built outside the original walls. It would take three armies to penetrate those walls.
"My daughter is well?"
"You are concerned for her? She does not believe that as truth. She believes you abandoned her. And now you've come to attack her home." Biel opened the door and stepped aside to allow Aengus entry into what once was his own home.
Cait stood, chin lifted in the center of the Great Hall. Her father rushed forward but slowed and did not embrace her when her expression reflected no happiness of their reunion.
"Explain to me father where honor lies when a man sells his home legally and then tries to attack it in order to steal it back?" She met her father's gaze evenly.
"I came back for you."
"For me?"
"And because Atherton is our home."
She shook her head. "Blaidden," she corrected, "is no longer yours to take back. I am no longer yours to take back. I am Cait Vard, wife to Biel Vard. Blaidden is my home and his family is my family. You will not attempt to attack these walls again."
Aengus stared at his daughter. "You've changed."
"Have I?"
"These brutes have changed you, turned your heart against me."
Cait stepped forward her eyes flashing angrily. "No, Father, you did that to me the day you left me here. I fought to save you and yours and you left me. You took my husband's money and left me."
Aengus visibly paled. "I was trying to protect your sister..."
"You were protecting yourself." Cait shook her head. "I do not hate you, Father, but I no longer have the respect I once held for you. I thought you a mighty soldier, a brave man with much honor. Those were the illusions of a child for her father, a father she loved more than he loved her. I see you now as just a man. I do not hate you. But I will not allow you to threaten my home again."
"We could come back here. We could stay with you..." Aengus began but Cait shook her head and cut him off.
"You were given more than enough to start yourself anew." She offered a slight smile. "Perhaps you are impressed with how well my husband is doing here and will follow his lead in building your new home."
"You are still my daughter."
"No Father, I am not. I am of the Wolf. I belong to my husband now and he to me. You may go now, Father. I trust you will be happy as will I without you."
Her words made Biel swell. He did not care that her father remained even after being dismissed as he strode towards her. She turned as he took her by the shoulders and kissed her deeply.
"Tell me it is true. You are with child."
"I am," she said softly. Biel lifted her and swung her in a circle, joy filling his chest.
"But you are not of the Wolf." He said as he sat her to her feet. "We can remedy that."
"But I am, Biel. I do not know for certain when it happened. Perhaps in the stables that day when I accepted the wolf inside you. I felt the change, the mark upon me without your bite. It was your passion I think that brought me in. I do know it happened though."
"How?" Biel shook his head. "How could you know for certain without..." his words halted as those amber eyes that he loved so much, glowed yellow.
"Just as you know the wolf is part of you, I know it is a part of me too. Perhaps it always was and it took you to free me."
"And we are free."
"Forever."
Biography
Sable Grey resides in the deep south of the United States with her wonderful husband, very spoiled dog, and three crazy cats. She spends her time researching her genealogy, designing cover art, watching movies, and reading.
With favorite authors like Stephen King, Piers Anthony, and Iris Johansen, it's no mystery where the inspiration to write tales of love, adventure, and mystery come from. An avid reader and storyteller at a young age, Sable began writing small stories as a child for her mother. However, it wasn't until she was well in to her twenties that she realized that her calling was sharing her stories with a larger audience than just family members and friends.
Now, Sable is dedicated to her craft and to bringing her readers quality fiction with unforgettable characters.

