Page 97 of With Fangs and Claws (The Wolf Queen 1)

“She’s one of us,” a blonde-haired woman said, edging closer. Her long hair had been bound back tight in a series of warrior’s braids I instantly wanted to emulate. “How the hell did a Wolf Maiden survive growing up in Grania? I thought they squashed their women like bugs.”

“She was trained by Nordred she says,” Selene replied, taking my swords carefully from my fingers, the aches in them only just beginning to register.

“So she was.”

That deep masculine voice felt odd, weird, in this space, and he had us all turning to look at him.

Axe.My mind was slow with the name, slow with everything. My blood was still up, the terrible tide still stirring, ready to sweep up and over all things… I jumped when a massive hand landed on my shoulder, then felt the urge to throw it off. I tested that impulse in my mind, turning it over and over, not sure what it meant, whether it was one I should give into. As I did so, I slowly came back to myself.

“Nordred came back with us from Grania and is staying in an inn in Snowmere, if you can believe it,” Axe continued. “He performed some kind of magic, getting those hidebound idiots to allow Darcy to train with them.”

“More than train,” Selene said, squaring up to the big man. Her stare was uncompromising, her arms locked down across her chest. “He fed a hunger inside her, one that would’ve swallowed her whole if he hadn’t taken her on.”

“The Maidens that don’t get sent to us quickly enough,” a woman with light brown hair said. “They are the ones who are the most likely to take their own lives. The wolf gets turned inwards, starts attacking she who gives them life.”

“You know what this means though, Prince Axe,” Selene said. “You say this woman is your mate.”

There were rumbles from the other women at that, but his big hand slid under my plait, to where sweat soaked the small hairs at the nape of my neck.

“I’ll say it until she says I’m not, then I’ll keep saying it until my last breath leaves me,” he replied.

“And if she says she is one of us?” the blonde-haired woman said. “Some Maidens find their mates, but…” She shook her head slowly, her eyes coming to rest on me. “What’s inside us, it can’t settle, can’t allow us to play house, raise children, be a fucking princess.”

“No, instead you are forced to make sure queens and princesses stay safe,” Axe replied. “You’ve been with Darcy for one day. Give her the time to find herself. That’s what we’ve been doing.”

“If you’re smart, you’ll present her here every day,” Selene said. “She has to find a way to live with what’s inside her or…”

“Or she’ll turn feral, and my mother will have everything she needs,” Axe replied. “We know, Selene. Darcy will come here on her own and none of us will seek to stop her, but…” His grip tightened around my neck. And that slight bite? It had my eyes closing, my head leaning into that harsh embrace. “But my mate is right out there, on the precipice of something she’s not ready to jump off from, and I need to reel her back in.”

“Maybe that’s where she’s supposed to be, did you think of that?” a slender dark-haired woman said. “We are the Wolf Maidens. We live on the cliff’s edge you speak of. We always have.”

“But she hasn’t chosen you. Not yet, so I ask with all due respect, leave my mate to me, until she does.”

“Keep your cock away from her,” Selene said as she turned to go, the other women going with her. “If you really love her, you’ll do that. We can’t take her if you’ve claimed a part of her.” Her fist slammed down on her chest. “Mind, body and soul with the pack, always.”

When he nodded,they took their leave and I was left wavering on my feet, just staring at where they had gone. Axe moved so he was facing me, peering into my eyes, and then his lips thinned down.

“Battle fever,” he said. “Damn close to pushing you into a berserk state. Fuck!”

At that sharp exclamation, my swords came up, ready for more. More, more, more came the frantic throb of my heart.

“No more,” Axe growled. “You’ve had too much already. I’ll need to talk to Dane about this. If you choose the Maidens, if this is the life you want to live, I’ll let you go.” His teeth clamped tight then, the muscles in his jaw jumping like a hooked fish, his eyes burning with a light I couldn’t quite understand. As he shook his head sharply, I saw them take on a curious shine. “But I can’t see you go berserk. Do you know what that means? A battle fever that consumes you and everyone around you. You can’t sort friend from foe, innocent from combatant. You fight, destroy everything.”

His words snagged at me, small flashes of memory disturbing this strange state of readiness I found myself in. Of people turned to meat. Of broken and burned buildings. Of a wall painted with the crude effigy of a raven… My breath sucked in, and I felt tears prick at my eyes, but even as they did, my arms trembled.

“Axe…” I ground out his name, having to force it out between my lips. “I need more.”

“I know, my love, I can feel the hunger inside you like it’s my own.” His hands went to my face, staring down at me. “It claws at me like it does when I’m on the battlefield.”

I could see it then, his massive hulking frame covered in chain mail armour, his battle-axe raised and ready and, just then, I wanted to meet that impressive warrior head-on more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life. He was so big and so strong. My eyes raked over his muscular form, seeing the challenge he posed and being unable to look away from it. But he kept on saying no. He explained his reasoning, but I couldn’t seem to hear it. I jerked away from him, even as he called my name, and marched over to the rack of practice weapons before grabbing a fake battle-axe and throwing it at him.

When he caught it with little effort, I grinned, a long, nasty smile with a whole lot of teeth. What I’d been doing with Selene, it’d felt good, right, but this? There was something else here, and my head jerked up, my spine growing longer, as a result. I spun my swords in my grip with and then tracked him.

“You keep pushing and we’ll both tip over,” he promised in a dark voice. “I know the siren song of going berserk as much as anyone. To abandon all thought and feeling and just become the blade.”

Yess…a voice hissed inside my head. Test him. You’ll never really know him until you test him.

If I’d been in my right mind, such thoughts would have probably worried me, but there was no place for wariness now. The tide in my blood was creeping back, bringing with it a wave that kept rising. I bowed to Axe, even as he growled complaints and words of caution at me, and then I moved. I was a flashy twirl of limbs going around and around, hurtling towards him until I felt the blunt clack of my swords against his axe, setting a song soaring in my heart, making me grin even wider.

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