Page 23 of With Fangs and Claws (The Wolf Queen 1)

“You noticed that, then?” Axe sobered up, then undid the bottle clasp of one of Cook’s good bottles of cordial before drinking it down. “He is a miserable sod.” I waited then for some sort of explanation as to why, but he just shook his head. “But we’re not talking about my brother. You’ll have your own time with him to try and tease out his story. Now, are you going to sit on my lap while you eat that roll, or was that a privilege only Dane has earned?”

Except Dane didn’t ask, he just took, and if he had, I’d probably have reacted much as I did now, my eyes going wide.

“Too soon then,” Axe said with a slow nod. “Alright then, come closer. I’ll not bite, and you’ll need to become accustomed to all of us. I’ll keep my hands to myself, paying homage to your cook’s creations, but you’ll sit here by me.”

I eyed the spot on the stone he was sitting on, but he paid me little mind, not checking to see if I obeyed or not and perhaps that’s why I moved to do as he bade. He snorted when I checked to see there was still a gap between us, treating me to a brief sidelong look before doing exactly as he’d said he would. He ate huge amounts of food and with a gusto that would’ve made Cook beam, while I polished off the remains of my own breakfast. But right as I was beginning to relax, he brushed off his crumbs and then put his arm around my back, tucking me into his side.

“I know this is a hard thing for you, being a human girl, and gods, if I didn’t wish you’d been born on our side of the border,” he said in a low tone. His hand moved up and across my back. “You’d be over the moon at finding your mate if you were, knowing exactly what this meant. My brothers and I, we’re not normally patient men, but we’ll make an exception for you. We’ll take this at your pace.”

Except they weren’t, were they? I hadn’t been asked if I wanted to spend the morning with Axe, nor whether I wanted to ride perched on his saddle horn like a bundle of loot. But I remembered then what Kris had said.

“You must string the beasts along, make them think you are teetering on the edge of accepting them, but always holding off.”

Was it that piece of advice that had me turning towards the massive warg? Something that allowed me to dispense with the fake coquetry I’d been instructed to use. He let out a little rumble as I inspected him closely, a noise that was not something a human chest could produce, and then went very still.

This might be the way wolves hunted, I thought, becoming motionless and quiet myself, waiting for him to determine the right time to strike, but Axe made no move. I looked up at his long reddish-brown hair, saw the braids that had been bound in some of it, small metal charms attached at the bases. I traced the broad expanse of his forehead, saw his brow jerk up in response, skated over those even blue eyes, not wanting to meet his gaze right now, before following his nose down. Then it was harshly shaped bone structure, all angles, softened only by a full set of lips and some bronze scruff across his jaw. There were scars, small ones that were paler than his deep brown skin, and then there was his scent. I frowned as I breathed in, the winds reaching us even here and sending clouds of a dark, musky, masculine spice my way.

“You can smell me,” he said with a slow smile of satisfaction.

“Of course, I can,” I replied irritably.

“No, only you can. Other wargen? Sure, we all scent each other. It’s half the way we communicate with one another, letting the other know if we’re receptive to conversation or not. But you?” A big finger tapped the end of my nose. “As a human you shouldn’t get any of that. Your body is awakening to us, accepting the bond.”

I frowned, then thought furiously.

“Is it because Weyland gave me his blood?”

“He what?”

I tensed then, in response to hearing a sharp male tone and wanting to shrink away, but refusing to let myself. I glared up at him instead.

“I cut your brother when he took me to my room. He was being insolent.”

“Sounds like Weyland,” Axe agreed.

“He scooped his blood up and forced it between my lips and then…”

I tried to tell the story, but the memory of just how I’d felt when Weyland’s fingers entered my mouth came rushing in. My eyes flicked up to meet Axe’s, our gazes locking as my lips fell open and I felt a ghost of that intense pleasure rush through me.

“And then you would’ve felt so very good,” Axe announced, his voice much deeper, darker. His teeth flashed as he spoke; and were they sharper? “The cheeky bastard. He didn’t tell us he’d started your initiation. Probably because Dane would’ve beaten his hide for it.”

“Initiation?” I jerked back then, out from within the harbour of his arm. “What initiation?”

“You felt something when Dane sucked the blood from your fingers, yes? And then again when Weyland gave you a taste of his. Blood is life and is therefore potent magic for wargen. Wargs will gift tastes of their blood to their prospective mate during courting. This will make her stronger, faster, hardier. He does it to protect her, give her his strength and…”

I saw his fangs clearly now, poking over his lips as he grinned.

“And more pleasure than she’s ever known. You don’t know it yet, but you’ll come to crave what only we can give you, because no fumbling human boy will be able to satisfy you like we can.”

I was up and on my feet in moments, scrunching up the paper that my food had been wrapped in and shoving it into my pocket. I ignored the spread we had put out before us, walking swiftly back down the track and away from the spring, when Axe caught me. His hand wrapping around my arm provoked a vicious hiss from me and that had him snatching it back.

“That’s what your father did to you, grabbed your arm,” he said. “That’s how he hurt you.”

“That’s how he impressed the importance of titillating the four of you until you were too maddened by lust to think straight during negotiations,” I spat out, repeating words I had no business saying.

Perhaps it was the isolation, perhaps it was the bloody indignity of it all, but once the floodgates opened, I couldn’t shut them.

“Why else was I dragged out of bed and ordered into clothes he would normally have beaten me for wearing if he caught me? Why was I forced to ride double with you out here? Because he thought if your dick was aching from rubbing on my arse the whole way over, you’d be too entranced to bargain hard when formalising the deal.” I shook my head violently even as the big man kept on coming closer. “You did this, spilling your intentions out the moment you came before my father. You made it clear exactly how important I am to you, and now he’s going to use me as a means to wring greater concessions from you.”

---