“He was a great warrior. A Northman. He had this ship when I met him. Different crew. We sail with him because the pay is good. He never loses a fight.” Hawk rose and held out his hand, though I knew he didn’t want me to take it. “Come. Best be back.”
“Why me?” I asked as I fell into step beside him. The figure at sea had already disappeared. “How did he find me?”
“Don’t know. He orders us where to go. Told us to sail to that island you lived on. We saw you on the cliff before the mists came up and helped us steal you away.” Hawk grinned as if he were proud of his work, kidnapping me. I rolled my eyes.
By the time we reached the foot of the stairs, he’d sobered.
“You call to him, lass. He’s never hunted anyone like this before. I don’t know if you can break the curse but—”
I put up a hand and he fell silent. “I have to try.”
My captor wasn’t back in our tower when I returned but it was just as well. Hawk gave me more water to wash, and even provided a few herbs. After he left, I purified myself and the room. Tossed away my old gown and bloodied pelts. Built up the fire, unbound my hair.
Hawk hollered up before he entered the room. When he saw me, he whistled. “Well, now.”
I blushed. I’d prepared myself like a bride. I’d done more for my captor than I’d done for Dòmhnall. “I hope it works.”
Hawk set a full pitcher of mead and a plate of meat down where I directed. “If it helps, I’ve not heard him laugh in a long time. Not like he laughs around you.”
I snorted. “He laughed when I tried to slit his throat. Not sure if that’s a sign he’s more a man than a fool.”
“You’re the only woman who ever dared take a knife to him. Or fight him at all.”
I gnawed my lip.
“Are you afraid he won’t forgive you? He already has. I’ve never seen him look at anyone like he looks at you. And you him. You’re not as afraid of him as you pretend.” He wagged his finger at me.
“His presence, it’s potent,” I admitted. “Feels like fire, or strong mead.”
“That’s love, I expect.”
I shot Hawk a sharp look. He laughed and rapped the table before heading out. “Don’t worry, lass. If anyone’s strong enough to love a man like that, I reckon it’s you.”
Moonrise found me by the fire hearth, braiding and re-braiding my long, dark hair. The Sea Wolf hadn’t returned yet, and when he did, what would be? Man or beast?
A lonely howl cut the night and I shivered. What was the nature of this curse and how could I break it? I tried to remember how the story ended. My mother told a few versions. Sometimes the warrior wandered forever until he became a ghost, a haunting. Sometimes he found his lady love, and they lived happily together. Nanny preferred that ending and that was how she told it.
This time, the story’s end was up to me.
How do you win the love of a monster? And was Hawk right? If I won the Sea Wolf’s favor, was I strong enough to love a monster in return?
Love did not matter. I would open my legs for him tonight. Again. I thought of how well he lay between my legs last night and blushed. He certainly had skill. Maybe tonight would be no hardship.
A growl outside the window, and a scraping sound. I straightened. The Sea Wolf was coming.
The blond head and shaggy white pelt appeared first. He pulled himself through the window and when he rose, the room shrank. He was already naked. Under a pelt I’d wrapped up in for warmth, I was the same. It would save time, and I wouldn’t end up with another ripped dress.
I cleared my throat and found my voice. “Mead?” I asked.
The hulk remained in shadows, and still. Only two glowing eyes marked his presence.
“There’s meat also. I can go down and get Hawk to bring more—”
A thunderous growl crashed over me.
Don’t speak of Hawk, then. Or talk of leaving the tower.
But it was too late. The mountain came to me, hunched and sure-footed as a hunter. He moved like an animal. I forced myself not to flee. I walked slowly from the hearth to the bed, allowing him to herd me away from the door or the window. No escape. I could’ve told him I wasn’t going to run, but if I said the word run, he would pounce. The Wolf with me tonight was not a man but a wild thing.
I backed up to bed, setting my hand on his chest when he crowded me.
“Easy. I’m here. I’m yours.”
Another growl. I gasped, not in fear, but at the pleasure knifing through my loins.
The Wolf grabbed my hips and set me against him. I got a good feel of his cock. Monster indeed.
I tilted my head back, baring my throat. Allowing him to kiss me or rip my life out. The ultimate submission.
He lowered his great head, scenting up the line of my neck to my ear. He could kill me now. At least it would be quick.
“Take me then,” I whispered, not knowing whether I asked for death or pleasure. “Freely offered.”
He bit me, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to make me gasp. A splash of shock like cold water. The mark throbbed above my pulse.
He lifted me against him, his fingers digging into my buttocks and upper thighs, and rubbed me against him, up and down. Little sparks tingled between us. I clutched his shoulders, gazing into his golden eyes. His long, thick cock, trapped between us, rubbed between my slick folds. I wrapped my legs around his waist, rocking my hips against him as he held me aloft. His muscles were iron under my hands.
He smiled when I shuddered against him. I rode the white-hot edge of orgasm, my calves tugging him closer. Before my climax was spent, he lay me down, drew apart my legs and surged between them. His cock breached my entrance, stretching me, almost too big to fit. He growled and forced himself inside, shattering my first climax and sending me higher. I writhed, half trying to impale myself, half trying to get away.
He held my hips and waited. When I calmed, he rocked back and forth slowly, each stroke going deeper. I stared down at the cock thicker than my forearm disappearing inside me.
Large hands lifted my bottom, tilting my hips, ensuring his cock dragged over a secret spot above my entrance. I clawed at his forearms, desperate for him to stop, to never stop, to break me apart. He did not slow or waver. Nor did he speed his thrusts, even when I screamed curses at him. He laughed in my face.
Climax after climax took me. Only when I relaxed backwards, limp and sated, did he bend over me, brace on one arm, and pound me into the bed. His final thrusts made me bounce. I expected him to root deep and shout his triumph, but he pulled out at the last, and spilled all over. Thick white seed covered my breasts and belly.
At least I won’t bear a child.
Looking down at the mess he made, he seemed pleased. I rolled my eyes.
With a grunt, he took my wrist and directed me to rub the pearly essence into my skin. I sighed and complied.
He strutted to the hearth to get the mead. His cock still stood out from his body, straight and proud. But he let me drink a goodly amount of mead, and wash my hands clean, though he wouldn’t let me wash my body.
I sat in his lap and played with his long, tawny locks of hair.
“You smell like the sea,” I whispered.
He grunted and palmed my breast.