Page 29 of With Fangs and Claws (The Wolf Queen 1)

Chapter 13

“Why have you brought me out here?” I snapped when Weyland let Poll slow down to a trot, then a walk, finally stopping next to a tree. I slid off the horse’s back as soon as I could, after spitting the words at Weyland.

He just smirked as he dismounted much more slowly, then clicked for Poll to follow him over to a nearby stream. The horse gratefully drank from the water as the warg approached me. I turned to run, though not exactly knowing where to go. There wasn’t much out this way, with only a few crofts amongst the fields that supported the castle extending in the opposite direction and even then, what would a smallholder do against this wretched creature?

“Oh, I wouldn’t suggest running right now, lass, not while my blood is up. My beast wants to tear that fuck to pieces for daring to breathe the same air as you. Then he wants to rip off those bloody clothes that should make you look like a boy but instead enhance every curve, and rut you on the ground stained with the blood of that bastard who was all over you in the stables.”

My brow creased as I felt a wave of nausea at his description.

“You’re a beast.”

“Guilty as charged, lass, and the only comfort you’ll get is that I’m your beast, wholly and solely. Now.” He strode over, making a mockery of any attempt I might make to escape, slapping a hand down on my shoulder when I went to jerk away and then pulling me close, even as my feet dragged across the ground. For the second time in my life, I found myself pressed against a very hard, very warm male body. “Tell me what the hell is going on with that boy.” I wriggled against his grip but got nowhere with it. “Tell me what he means to you and I might not kill him.”

I stared up at Weyland then, seeing the hard planes of his face, the intense gaze, his long blond hair a messy tangle over his shoulders, and the grim set of his jaw.

“I love Kris,” I said. “I always have. No one was trying to cheat you of what you see as yours. We’ve been growing closer together for so long—”

“Yet he only made overtures of a physical nature when we announced you were our mate?” His eyebrow cocked upwards, and a slow smile formed. “We’ve all seen it before. Nothing becomes more alluring than a toy that’s just about to be taken away.”

“I’m not a toy!”

“No, lass,” I tensed as he stroked the side of my face, “you’re not. You’re a queen who’s much too good for the likes of some wet-behind-the-ears boy. He didn’t do a thing to win you before this, did he? He was friendly, knew you harboured soft thoughts for him, and no doubt found it all very entertaining. Not like us. We saw you for the queen you are the minute we laid eyes on you and managed to stiff our people a whole lot of gold to get you. If you’ve got any wild plans with that boy, now’s the time to confess them. If we know what’s coming, we can minimise the damage to him, to you, but if you run? I told you that if you did, we would chase you to ground, and we will. Then our beasts will force us to claim you right there and then. You don’t want that.”

“No,” I snarled, “I don’t.”

“Ohh, you misunderstand me, lass.” His grin widened. “You’ll want the rutting. Trust me when I tell you that, when it comes time, you’ll be begging for it.”

I shoved at his chest, wanting to get free of this insufferable man, while worrying about how to protect Kris from not only the wargen, but most of all from my father.

“And this is how I know that to be true.”

I was spun around, left to stare at the trees and grass beyond as he pressed my back against his front, but if I thought that was to give me leave to run, I was mistaken. His massive hand slid down my body and with it came a fire, one I’d only just become acquainted with in the stables. But for some reason, what Kris had managed to stir were only weak embers in comparison to this. I let out a low groan, unable to keep it in due to the waves of pleasure crashing over me, something that only heightened as his hand slid lower.

“That’s it, lass. Feel what burns between us,” he said in a gentler, hoarser tone.

And I did. His hand came to rest low on my pelvis, somewhere I had no business letting any man touch me. But I could no more bat his hand away than I could forgo my next breath, because whatever both men had managed to stoke, it was about to come to a fiery conclusion.

“What…? What is this?”

“Just a sample of what we can give you, my queen. I can’t wait to make you mine, to strip you down and taste every inch of you, my ears filled with the songs of your cries of pleasure. But you won’t let that happen yet. So, I need to give you a little preview, awaken the hunger that obviously lurks within you, one no pitiful little human could ever hope to satisfy. Because you’re a wild girl, a warg at heart and you just need to let her come forth.”

None of that made sense, his words washing over me like the deep booming pulses inside me. It felt like parts of my body I’d never been aware of before were waking up, swelling, tightening, tensing, my breath coming in frantic little bursts, until…

“Oh gods, Weyland…”

I croaked that out, traitorous little wench that I was, crying his name just as I had Kris’ not long ago. But I couldn’t think of my knight, the keep, Father, anything, not as the warmth of Weyland’s hand grew and the heat inside me blazed in response. “I… I… I…”

“Just let go, lass. I promise you’ll thank me when you do. It’ll be glorious and my brothers will beat me black and blue for being the first to give you this, but I’ll take that beating any day of the week if that’s the price I must pay. Come for me, Darcy.”

I didn’t understand a word of what he said, but his bark forced a response from me that my mind couldn’t comprehend. That fiery feeling was apparently just a weak predecessor of what was to come as my whole body was set ablaze.

I cried out his name, the gods’ names, and other incoherent prayers as my body jerked and twitched, wracked so hard by waves of pure ecstasy that it was as if my skin turned to gold, washing away any pain, doubt, fear or anger. I became putty in the warg’s hands, which, of course, was exactly what he had planned.

He turned me around, my body moulding to his naturally now and when he kissed me, I leant into the caress, sucking his taste from his lips and tongue. He swept me up then, into his arms, my legs locking around his waist… when suddenly my brain kicked in. I froze, jerking away and staring at the heavy-eyed warg. It took several moments for him to detect my change in mood. Then his changed with it.

His eyes lost their glow, hardening, every expression being packed away and replaced by frustration.

“And now the guilt comes?” he asked, having identified part of what the problem was with an accuracy that frankly surprised me, but he missed the flush of shame that washed through me.

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