Page 85 of The Wolf Queen

We’d been here before, Bryson and I. Not in this life, not in these bodies, but still. I saw priestesses lying in the heather, men with wolf masks pulled down over their heads, as the women pulled them closer and into their bodies. I saw that queen with the grand dress I’d spied in the temple, the silk pooling around her like spilled gold. She smiled wild as her hulking male companion leant over her, but when her legs went around his waist, so did mine. We tipped our lovers over onto their backs, because that was how this went.

We were queens and they were but kings for a day, or for as long as we needed them. We ruled this land, but the wolf god, he visited sometimes. A place was made for him in the old, old rituals, the peace and prosperity of the goddess interrupted by the chaos of the wolf god. They were all part of the cycle that turned and turned. The queen arched her hips, took the wolf man’s swollen length in hand and caressed that bulbous knot, smiling as his cock jerked, as seed smeared across her palm, just as Bryson’s did mine. And I felt like I wore a crown as I mounted him, watching his every response. The pain of anticipation was in that small frown, the pleasure of being finally touched came from his hiss, and then there was the hot stare as I worked him inside me. The wolf man, Bryson let us take our fill, but once he was seated deep, he took over.

Dane couldn’t order him around now, because Bryson’s hands slapped down around my hips, holding me still as his rolled, pushing him deeper inside me. and my body moved in response, like kelp on the sea bed, floating, flowing with each pulse of the current. I tightened around him, wanting, needing that hardness to anchor all my softness too. But then I released as well, letting myself slide down lower.

“Gods, Darcy…”

He said my name like a prayer and well he might. For the first time in my life, I truly felt like an avatar of the goddess. Mighty, invulnerable, heir to all the world’s pleasures, my hips bucked harder, faster, in time with his. Because while this was all very nice, I needed something else. An ache had set up deep inside me, one the head of his cock grazed with each pulse. But that wasn’t it, not what I truly needed. I shifted up, then came slamming down, grinding into this.

“She’s going to take him,” Gael said, wide eyed and my hand lashed out then, grabbing his.

“You going to knot this kingling?” Weyland asked, rising up onto his knees to press his mouth against mine. “You’ll have that death wolf following you around like a puppy after that. No one can resist that pleasure, Darcy, especially not from you.” His hand slid down between us, flicking his fingers across my pearl until I was clamping down tight around Bryson, but that wasn’t enough.

“More,” I told him, the queen demanded of the wolf man. “More!”

“I have everything you need, little queen.”

That wasn’t Bryson, but something else altogether. A dark force that rose up from the depths and stared at me through his eyes, right before he jerked me down. My body sang as it was forced to part, the knot feeling too big, too big, right before it became just what I wanted.

“Oh, gods…” I felt lightheaded and dizzy, the combination of pleasure and endorphins making me feel like I was about to fly away when whatever animating Bryson spoke.

“We meet again, my queen.”

The Morrigan had spoken to me so many times before this, her voice was always the rusty rasp of a knife being sharpened inside my head. This time my lips moved, but her words came out.

“Always, beloved.” We pressed our mouths together but didn’t kiss, something shifting back and forth between us along with our breath. “It’s been a long time. I feared you’d never come again.”

“I’ll always come for you.” Our bodies moved now, in long, galloping strokes. “The world might grow smaller, more complacent, the barriers between us steeper, but I’ll always come. But now that I’m here, do you accept my claim?”

“Always,” she said, I said, the queen from my vision said, right as the wolf man’s jaws snapped closed on our necks. “Always.”

“Doyou think this will be enough?”

We’d all fallen onto the bed in a messy pile some time afterwards. Bryson had come back to himself, then wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. He was doing that even now. But I’d woken up to find Dane sitting on the bed, staring out onto the balcony at the nearly full moon.

“It’ll have to be,” he replied. “Whatever power Bryson has, it’s more than we had before.” He looked down at me. “Sleep now. We’ll be holding a planning meeting for the defence of the keep and the lordlings here will want to um and ah about it all, but we’ll need to move through the caves to the keep come midday if we’re to have a chance to bring everyone inside the keep walls.”

“We’ll be facing a siege,” I said, beginning to fight my way free of Bryson’s grip, but Dane shook his head.

“Best we find a crystal cave somewhere on the keep grounds then. Your father’s seat was built to keep the worst of the wargen out, so we’ll need to find a way to bring food and water in, but that’s for us to worry about in the morning. Sleep now, because tomorrow we’ll need to use whatever power we’ve gained to bring to this fight.”

I shouldn’t have been able to sleep after that. Dane couldn’t, but my lids felt heavy anyway. When the darkness reached up to tug me under, I wasn’t scared. I saw a pair of golden eyes watching me from within it and that didn’t worry me at all.

Chapter49

I stood on the parapets of my father’s keep and stared out over the now empty fields and during that terrible lull before a battle, I wondered how the hell I came to be here.

I think Bryson had been surprised that he’d had to argue hard for the defence of his own country in the Royal Council meeting, but he had. Tristan had learned some humility in the incursion into Snowmere, but once he was safe behind the walls of Aramathia, some of that arrogance returned. Other southern lords who’d only heard what had happened discounted the tales not due to their veracity, but because the truth told was an inconvenient one. But Bryson had shown that he was the right candidate for king.

“There is no arguing this,” he told each one of them as he stood at the head of the table. “This isn’t deciding whether to raise or lower taxes or if a new capital works program is needed. This is about our survival.” I saw some faces harden, some lips twist, but they stayed silent as their king spoke. “I have seen the Reavers and if my word is not enough for you, then ask Lord Freeling, Lord Kendrick or any number of your fellows who have experienced the terrible ferocity of these beasts.”

His lips thinned and his eyes flashed as he regarded each man around the table.

“Your forefathers didn’t baulk from fighting the dreaded wargen. How will you be recorded in the history books?”

That appeared enough to get the bastards moving. Men were supplied, as were weapons and armour, but… I scanned the open fields, watched the way the wheat rippled as the breeze passed through it. Would it be enough?

“You’re worrying about the fight to come.” I spun around to find Dane standing there, the last rays of the sun casting his face in red gold. His lips twitched as he stepped closer. “You’re not sure we’ve done enough.”

---