VIKING ROMANCE: Married to the Viking King: Wolf Shifter Romance (3 page)

Overall, Linnea was quite content with her new life. But recently she had begun to develop a strange sense of suspicion about this clan. It seemed to her as if it was almost too well managed. In her old village, people got along well enough, but there was always some level of strife. People would argue about property lines, or the quality of the meat the hunters were bringing in. It was just idle complaining for no real reason, but it was normal.

Here, it seemed that nobody argued about anything at all. If there was a question on how to handle an issue, each member of the clan referred to Aric and Aric alone. And whatever he decided was the final answer. There was no argument, and the clan members didn’t grumble about it behind his back. It truly was as if Aric was the supreme leader, and any argument was not going to be tolerated.

Linnea brought up this strange vibe she was getting from the clan with Aric one night before bed, and he all but dismissed her.

“Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?” he shrugged as he stretched his huge frame out over the bed. “What good is a leader if people aren’t going to obey him?”

“I think that people do obey their leader,” Linnea elaborated. “But they don’t always agree.”

“Then I think he is either a bad leader,” he said. “Or they are a bad clan. A good clan knows that the leader has only ever in his mind what is best for the clan as a whole. And with that in mind, the clan also knows that anything the leader says is right, must be right, and it must be what is best for the clan. It is the job of the leader to know what is best, and to dictate what must be done in order to keep things at their best.”

“I know,” Linnea sighed, and she thought of something else. “What if someone ever defied you? What if they refused to do what you say?”

“That is interpreted as a challenge,” Aric explained. “And whoever wins the challenge is the leader. The loser of the challenge is either killed in the fight, or exiled after his loss.”

“Have you ever exiled anyone?” Linnea asked, and she felt him stiffen beside her.

“No,” he answered. “I have only been challenged once. And the reason I have not been challenged since is because I made an example of my challenger by ending his life. It is the absolute hardest thing I have ever done.”

“I’m sorry…” Linnea whispered softly.

Aric looked at her, and stroked her face, offering her a soft smile.

“Hush,” he commanded gently. “Come here. It’s time for bed.”

Wrapped in his arms, it was easy to forget about the strange atmosphere of this small clan. There was just something different about them, and she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Too tired to dwell on it she allowed her thoughts to wander as she fell into a peaceful sleep with her husband.

More time passed, and the seasons began to change from winter into spring. The cold night air was replaced by a warm breeze, and they no longer had to keep a fire going all the time in their dwellings. The men relaxed in their hunting and fishing in order to spend more time with their wives. Aric, too, seemed to feel the change in the air, and there was hardly a time when he wasn’t touching her in some way or the next. Linnea vaguely wondered how she was not yet with child.

Still, in spite of the frivolous energy that the springtime inspired, chores still had to be done. Linnea took it upon herself to look after the sheep for a while. She counted them and patted a few of them on the head as she passed through their ranks. The sheep were allowed to wander, and every now and again a clan member would come out to check on them throughout the day. Then at night, someone would shepherd them into a coral in the village, so that they wouldn’t be in danger.

Linnea found that she truly enjoyed looking after the sheep. It was a good way to occupy her time, and now that the weather was pleasant, it was a good excuse to go out into the sun. In addition, she secretly felt that the sheep liked her more than the clan members did. She pushed those thoughts away, though, and focused on watching the sheep. Today though, they had wandered quite far.

The sun was starting to set, and Linnea had only just begun to herd the sheep back toward the village. When she began to see people approaching from a distance. Her stomach dropped as they got closer and closer. There was no way she was going to be able to protect the sheep or herself if these men had ill intentions for her. And as they got closer and closer, she only got more and more anxious.

“Why hello,” one of the three men greeted her. She said nothing, only eyeing him warily.

“Don’t be so shy,” another of them said.

“We were wondering if you could help us with something,” the first man spoke again. Linnea dearly wished that she was somewhere else.

“You see,” the first man went on. “As men, we have particular… needs.”

Linnea felt her stomach drop, and her face blanched.

“Hold on, don’t worry,” the man held up his hands in a gesture of innocence. “We aren’t trying to prey upon little shepherdesses. We’re actually looking for a village.”

“We heard tell that there was one up here by the shoreline,” the third man finally spoke.

Linnea said nothing. She knew these men had every intention of ransacking her village, and raping the women there. The men of course would have to fight them, and Linnea couldn’t stand the thought of Aric getting bloodied and torn for her sake. The men would return home to a destroyed village, and find their women missing or dead. She knew that she couldn’t tell these men where her village was. She had to keep them away at all costs.

“So can you tell us where the village is?” the first man stepped closer to her.

“No,” Linnea answered him. “I don’t know much about villages here, I’m just passing through with these sheep.”

“Oh?” the man raised an eyebrow. “And where are you taking your sheep?”

“Oh nowhere,” Linnea tried to think of a decent justification. The sun had set completely at this point, and she was now in darkness faced with these three men.

“Nowhere, I see,” one of the men chuckled. “Seems like an interesting destination.”

“Nevertheless,” the first man sighed. “If there’s no village around here, how are we ever going to find any wholesome entertainment?”

Linnea felt her heart pound in her chest. They were really drawing this charade out. She wished they would just hurry up and victimize her so she could gather the flock and just go home.

Linnea didn’t have to wait long, as the first man came to stand close to her.

“Well,” he sighed mockingly. “We usually don’t prey upon pretty little shepherdesses, but in this case, I think we’re being forced to make an exception.”

The man suddenly gave Linnea a swift kick, and she fell down on her knees with a yelp.

“Since you refuse to tell us when your little village is,” the man growled at her. “We’re all going to take turns using you. Over and over, and over, until we think we’ve had enough.”

Linnea could only close her eyes and try to distance her thoughts from the situation as her face was pushed roughly into the grass so that her backside was in the air. She felt the man lift up the bottom of her skirts and toss them over her back, so that she was bare to him. Linnea only hoped it would be over soon.

The man seized her hips in a rough grasp, and she felt him preparing to plunge into her, when suddenly a wild snarl tore through the air to land on their ears. The sound was repeated, and it became obvious that there were multiple wild animals upon them.

Terror shot through Linnea at the feral sound. She shot up from her vulnerable position on the ground, and squinted through the night to try and see what horrific creatures had come out of the darkness. Linnea was paralyzed by fear at what she saw. Even as dark as it was, there was no mistaking the shape of a pack of enormous wolves, all of them poised and ready to attack.

Linnea didn’t have time to try and escape. In less time than it took for her to identify them, they were already charging at full force. Linnea immediately dropped to the ground and covered herself as best she could. The wolves seemed to pay her no attention, and passed right over her. The three men, however, were not so lucky. She could hear their screams and the growls and snarls of the wolves as each of her attackers was silenced by the pack of wolves.

When she heard no more screaming and growling, Linnea knew that her time was up. The wolves would surely come for her next, and all she could do was silently prepare for death. She listened carefully, but the noise she heard was not at all what she expected.

“Linnea!” she heard Aric’s voice as clear as day. Then, she felt his arms around her as he hauled her off the ground and into his arms.

Linnea felt a wave of relief wash over her to see him, but she couldn’t help but be puzzled as to how he had arrived there so suddenly. She pulled back, and to her horror, she saw one of the wolves just behind him.

“Aric!” Linnea cried out to warn him, but he secured her.

“No, stop,” he said in a soothing voice. “We’re safe, we’re safe. I promise.”

Linnea looked at him as if he had lost his mind. The wolves were clearly still here, and they were in very real danger. She pulled back, and she was going to drag him back to the village if she had to, when she realized that he was covered in blood. Additionally, he was not wearing clothes.

Linnea took all this in, and couldn’t help but be hopelessly confused. Then one by one, the wolves in the field transformed into various members of Aric’s clan, all naked and in various states of disarray. Linnea could not believe her eyes.

“I wish I could have told you about this,” Aric said apologetically. “But it’s against pack law to tell outsiders, except in times of great peril, or when we are absolutely certain that an outsider is loyal. In this case, both were applicable.”

“You could have led those men right to the village,” Astred started, and Linnea noted that her skin was also marred with blood. “But you didn’t. You were willing to sacrifice yourself rather than give up the pack. You really are one of us.”

Linnea’s head was spinning, and somehow, she felt an overwhelming sense of happiness at hearing those words. For once, she was part of something. She was a part of the pack. 

“Come on, let’s get you home,” Aric murmured into Linnea’s ear, and then scooped her up into his arms. “You all round up the sheep.”

Without another word to the other members of the pack, Aric carried Linnea back into the village and into their home. Once there he promptly washed all the blood off his body. Linnea watched as rivulets of bloodstained water ran down his chest and legs. Her mind was boggled by the information she had just received, and it was so much easier just to admire her husband’s beautiful, human body.

Aric must have noticed her watching him, for he quickly finished cleaning himself off, and moved away from the tub of water to join her on the bed. He wasted no time, and covered her mouth in a demanding kiss. Linnea fairly melted under him, and she squirmed with need as she felt his hot, hard erection rubbing against her thigh.

Aric withdrew from her only long enough to tear her dress from her body, and then he was upon her again. He pawed roughly at her breasts, and she gasped at the raw intensity of the sensation. Her head spun, and she could barely breathe.

“You’re one of us,” Aric whispered harshly into her ear, and the sound sent shivers down Linnea’s spine. “My pack has finally accepted you.”

Linnea whimpered as Aric nipped at her earlobe and then moved down to her neck, roughly biting and sucking at it. She gasped and her hips bucked as he tweaked her nipples with his fingertips. He moved his hands to secure her hips as he slowly kissed his way down from her neck. He placed a soft kiss on each of her nipples before he moved further down. Linnea buried her hands into his hair as his tongue dipped into her navel. She tilted her hips up, a deep ache having already developed in her core.

Aric moved his hands from her hips and placed them instead on the insides of her thighs, holding them open. With his fingertips, he carefully spread her nether lips, and he flicked his tongue over the little nub of her pleasure. Linnea let out a cry and her hips jerked in response to his touch. She then moaned as he launched a full on attack of her most sensitive entrance with his tongue and lips. He licked and licked and sucked until she thought he would drive her mad.

He drove her to heights of pleasure she never thought were possible with his mouth, but what she wanted more than anything was for him to drive in and out of her with his thick manhood.

“Aric, please…” Linnea moaned as Aric nipped at her button.

“Please what?” he demanded of her, teasing her slit with his tongue.

“Oh, I want…” Linnea struggle to form words as her body was wracked with waves of sensation. “I want you… inside me…”

Aric didn’t bother to reply with words. Instead, he promptly inserted two fingers into her and began to pound them into her. Linnea let out a keening moan, and squirmed underneath his firm hold over her. She loved the feeling of his fingers, but she was aching for his cock, and she would say anything he needed to hear to have him buried completely inside her.

“Aric, please,” Linnea gasped desperately. “I want your hard cock. Oh Aric I need it inside me, please, please…”

Linnea begged and her body thrashed around on the bed as tears flowed from her eyes. She whimpered as suddenly Aric removed his hands from her completely. Before she knew it, he was hovering over her, and he was teasing at her entrance with the head of his cock. Linnea whimpered pitifully and arched her hips up to try and entice him.