Her Viking Wolves: 50 Loving States, Michigan (23 page)

“
F
J
…FJ…FJ!!!”

I keep calling FJ’s name as Olafr drags me from the house. At first Olafr just pulls me along. But when I dig in my heels in an attempt to stay within mind link range of FJ, Olafr sweeps me off my feet. And not in a romantic way. I feel like I’m an unruly child, being carted out of a nice restaurant.

Still, I keep calling out to FJ. Desperately yelling into his mind, until it feels like my brain is hoarse. And Olafr must know the exact moment when I’m out of mind range because he sets me down…then shoves me backwards when I try to run past him.

“Please,”
I say into his mind
. “We have to go back. He’s all alone, and my dad will kill him!”

I half expect Olafr to ignore me, too. But then his words appear inside my head, deep and somber.
“FJ will not let himself be killed this day. Not by that fenrir or by any other. Have no fear, he will come to agreement with your father for your hand.”

I give him a sorrowful shake of my head, wishing but knowing…
“My dad will never agree to that.”

“He will,”
Olafr assures me grimly.

“Even if he does—which he won’t—but even if he does, he wouldn’t really be agreeing. My dad always has an endgame in mind and it usually involves somebody dying. You don’t understand…”

Olafr’s eyes land on me, hotter than expected after FJ’s cold front.
“No, it is you who does not understand! You who left us after giving us your vow!”

“
I was only trying to protect you!”
I tell him—though this particular conversation feels a little beside the point right now.
“I was trying to keep you both safe.”

But my explanation only seems to make Olafr angrier.
“Think you we need your protection, Female?”
he asks, his face hard with rage.

“Yes,”
I answer frankly, raising my chin to glare up at him. “
Cuz this ain’t Dungeons and Dragons, okay? It’s the twenty-first century. And it’s one honorable Viking—your brother—versus my crazy-ass father who will do anything to get his way. So yeah, I do think you need my help!”

Wrong answer. I’m suddenly spun around, my whole body pushed into the nearest tree. Hands yank down my leggings and the next thing I know is the head of Olafr’s cock at the back of my pussy.

“Understand this, Female. You are ours. Ours to protect. Never will it be any other way.”

I gasp when he shoves into me, jerking my whole body upwards as he impales my core. He grabs my hair, pulling my head back hard.

“Do you see what you have wrought with your actions, Female? How I now must give you claim like an animal? Make you take my seed once again, so my mind may know some peace?
Ours always
.
That is what you did say. And yet have you betrayed us!”

His voice seethes with rage inside my head, each word punctuated by the hard thrusting of his dick. And I…

Well, my human understands on some level that this is not what we should be doing right now. Like at all. But my wolf goes wild inside me, flooding my pussy with desire. It’s only been a couple of days, but it feels like we’ve been apart for centuries. And I whimper with greedy need as I urgently receive Olafr’s wolf.

“
Ours always
. Repeat your vow, Female.”

I shake my head, trying to come up with an argument, even as the fire inside me rages uncontrollably, my womb clenching with the need to be sated.

“Repeat your vow, Female!”
Olafr growls, grabbing my hair even harder.

“Yours always!” I scream, unable to think straight. Unable to think of anything but being claimed by him once again. I want this, I realize. I’d been willing to give them up to keep them alive. But in that moment, at that tree, the only thing I know is the wanting. The need to have him claim me as his once more.

“Yours always!” I cry out loud once again, this time without having to be prompted.

All conversation ceases then, replaced by the sound of Olafr’s body slapping wildly into mine. And soon he releases a loud animal yell as his cum floods my pussy. It’s his release, but I’m the one who gets pushed completely over the edge.

The orgasm hits me hard. So hard. I can hear myself in the distance, crying and apologizing. Apologizing and crying. Forgetting every single reason I had for what I did.

For minutes on end, that’s all I know. Pleasure and tears. And jets of Olafr’s hot semen shooting inside me.

But then I slowly come back to myself. And eventually I hear Olafr behind me, his breathing harsh even as he gently pulls out. I don’t realize he’s lifted me off my feet while fucking me from behind until my body slides down his, the backs of my shoes once again hitting the ground.

He turns me around.
“Did I hurt you?”
he asks quietly.
“Hurting you was not my intent.”

I shake my head.
“No, you didn’t hurt me.”

“Thank the gods.”
Olafr’s thick arms come around me and he pulls me to his massive chest. I let him, needing the comfort of his embrace.

“Those weapons your grandfather did take away. They are something more deadly than what the Alaska beta used to force my sleep, yes?”

My eyes completely bug out.
“Wait, you thought those Mossbergs were just big tranq guns? Is that why you rushed Yancey? Because you thought his gun would only put you to sleep?”
I ask.

Before he can answer, I let him know,
“Olafr, those are twelve-gauge shotguns, not tranq guns. Tranq guns are light and shoot darts that put you to sleep. Twelve-gauges are heavy and the ones my pack uses shoot silver bullets.”

At his confused look, I explain,
“Bullets are like arrows, but way more deadly. Real guns don’t put you to sleep. They make you dead. Do you understand? Please tell me you understand and you’ll never do anything as stupid as rushing a wolf with a gun again.”

Olafr’s brow knits.
“I understand.”

And I let out a small sigh of relief.
“Good.”

But then he takes my head in his hands, pressing his forehead into mine, as he whispers inside my mind,
“Would you make me dead with your pack’s kind of gun,
Varra
?”

“What? No, Olafr! I would never do that! I wouldn’t ever hurt you.”
I try to pull away so I can see his face and figure out why he would even think something like that.

But his fingers tighten around the back of my head, keeping me in place.
“So you say. But did you leave, and did you promise your troth to another.”

“I left to keep you safe!”
I cry inside his head, desperate to make him understand.
“I left because I care about you and FJ. Because I didn’t want you hurt, and because I knew my father’s people would come to Alaska and kill you if I didn’t. Which is why you guys coming here was an unbelievable risk on your part.”

I take a deep mental breath to calm my voice.
“Trust me, if you and FJ hadn’t run into my grandfather first, there would have been no fight because my father wouldn’t have risked it. Dad simply would have taken you out—killed you both—because you’re not part of his plans for me. He still might.”

Despondent, I rest my forehead against Olafr’s wide chest.
“And don’t think this is over because FJ struck some kind of deal with my grandfather. My dad is seriously the worst. Seriously…”

We stand like that for a long time. Then I feel his large hand on my back, rubbing it in circles as he says,
“I believe you believe truly the words you speak.”
His voice sounds resigned, weary.
“Mayhap you did not mean betrayal when you departed and promised your troth to another.”

“I didn’t,” I say into his chest. Then into his mind:
“I really didn’t.”

“I understand, but I do not forgive.”
Olafr stops rubbing my back then.
“Not until you give your vow to never leave us again. I would have this vow from you, that you will be ours ever from this day, that you will stay with us for always, no matter what comes.”

I sigh against his chest.
“I don’t want to ever lie to you again, Olafr. Which is why I’m telling you now that I’m not free to make that vow. As much as I would like to.”

“Then you may as well make me dead with one of your silver bullets,”
he answers, his voice fierce with anguish.
“For I will not live without you!”

“Olafr, you don’t understand.”

“Nay, it is you who do not understand, Female. You are my treasure! My heart! What my mother’s God calls my soul. You carry our pup within you. I would not live without you. I cannot live without you. This is not possible for a wolf such as I. If you cannot give us this vow, then you must give me your silver bullet.”

His words crack my heart all the way open, and I find myself once again fighting to hold back hot tears.
“That’s crazy. You’re being crazy.”

Olafr takes me by both cheeks, raising my head so I have to look at him.
“Have you no love for us, Female?”

The answer springs into my heart, immediate as a breath. But I shake my head, insisting to him and to me
. “I…I just met you.”

“Yea, not even half a full moon tide ago did we meet. This does not change my question. Have you no love for us?”

I shake my head, wanting to say no because this is dangerous. He has no idea what he’s asking me. But I can’t lie to him, so I tell the truth.
“Yes, I do. But it doesn’t matter, because I’m not free. I’m not free to love. That’s not how it works in my pack—“

Olafr’s lips crash down on mine.

“I have love for you, too,
Varra
. I love you.”

He kisses me and mind talks to me at the same time.

“You must trust Fenrisson. He is your fenrir. You must trust Olafr. I am your protector. We will keep you safe from these people. I promise you this. But if you do run from us again, I cannot be responsible for the actions of my human or my wolf. Understand you this?”

No, I don’t understand. There’s no possible way to understand his confidence that he and FJ will handle whatever my father throws at them. But this is Olafr. My wolf. My fated mate. Begging me never to leave him again, even if it’s for his own good.

How can I not make him this promise?

“Okay, I won’t leave,”
I say inside his head.
“Even if I’m really, really scared for you. I won’t leave you two again.”

And though I’m pretty despondent about our future situation, Olafr’s entire face relaxes with relief.
“That is all that matters,
Varra
.”

He kisses me again then, with such passion I almost forget about everything standing in the way of our perfect future. His dragons. My father. Olafr and FJ’s impending deaths at Dad’s hand.

For that short blissful moment, there’s only Olafr’s kiss. Promising miracles as he whispers inside my head.
“Believe in us,
Varra
. Believe in us.”

W
e walk back
to the kingdom house together—but not really. Olafr leads the way, as if he’s forgotten he’s in human form now. I watch his head go back and forth as he continuously scans the forest perimeters, and I recall the faint perma-glow of his eyes before he took me against the tree. His wolf is still in charge and he seems more animal than human sometimes, which leads me to wonder…is he choosing to stay this way? Or is he the father of the baby growing inside my womb and therefore unable to change back?

With a sudden need to be beside him, I jog to catch up. But his body stiffens when I take his much larger hand in mine.

“Is something amiss?”
he asks, looking toward the house.
“Something I cannot sense?”

“No. I just wanted to hold your hand,”
I answer, dipping my head away from his wary look.
“It’s something people from this time do to…I don’t know. Feel closer, I guess.”

After a few seconds, his hand squeezes mine.
“My mother does not do this with my father. But I like it.”

I like it, too, and we walk hand-in-hand back to the house. That means we get a whole five minutes of almost feeling at peace before we arrive just in time to see the old kingdom house door fly open. Olafr goes rigid beside me, and my body feels just as tight when my father comes charging out.

But he doesn’t spare either of us a second glance. Just heads down the hill, back toward the Cadillac. And still without his twelve-gauge, which tells me as much as anything that he didn’t win whatever argument took place inside.

Yancey and Clyde follow but at a slower pace. Yancey’s face is set into its usual hard-to-read expression. But Clyde looks completely dazed. Shell-shocked, like he just witnessed a drive-by.

“Be at ease,
Varra
,”
Olafr says inside my mind.
“FJ has come to an agreement with your pack. And now will we return to your kingdom’s other house together.”

Okay, serious alarm bells go off inside my head.
“They came to an agreement? Are you trying to tell me he actually got my father to agree to let him marry me?”

A pause. Then:
“Yea.”

“And does anyone plan to explain how this happened?”

“I do not have the words for this in my tongue or yours,
Varra
. It is better that FJ explains.”

I actually turn to look up at him as I think back,
“You mean FJ who isn’t currently talking to me?”

Big pause, then he squeezes my hand.
“There is much to forgive and my brother did not suffer your disappearance as well as I. It will not be as easy to move him from his anger.”

My eyes widen since it hadn’t been all that “easy” to move Olafr from
his
anger. I mean, there was the extreme tree-fucking, then a whole lot of emotional blackmail, followed by me once again speaking a promise I had no business making.

“Olafr…”
I take him by both hands and look him in the eye.
“You’ve got to listen to me. I know you think FJ has got this, but he doesn’t. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my dad this angry. And even if he and FJ came to an agreement, that doesn’t mean he’s going to keep his part of the bargain. We need to run and hide. Not forever. Just until you figure out what you need to fight the dragons.”

Olafr drops both my hands, his expression now hard as stone.
“No,
Varra
. We do not run from this.”

But before I can open my mind to argue with him, he reaches up to run a large hand over my yarn locs.
“You will return with us to your kingdom’s house. You have married me already under the full moon. But you must marry FJ in front of your people who do not know or follow the Brother Bond. And then will we be together, until it is time to return to our own land.”

Olafr shakes his head, his grave tone letting me know his next words are the final say.
“We will not run. Never will we run again. This is the only way it can be. In us you must believe.”

“But—”

“You must believe.”

Rumbles of deep male laughter interrupt my next protest.

“I like you, boy,” my grandfather booms as he walks out of the house behind FJ.

“I have like for you, as well,” FJ answers, bowing his head with a warm grin. One I remember well from our time in Alaska together.

But then they both see me with Olafr’s hand cupping my head. And the smiles drops right off both their faces.

After an awkward beat, FJ turns to Granddad. “We will go to the other kingdom house with the female now,” he says, like I’m some kind of package Granddad’s handing over. “And there will we give your people the news of our mating.”

“Sorry I can’t be there,” Granddad says. “Them seven hour drives ain’t doing it for me no more.”

He shoots Olafr and me a disapproving look, and then says to FJ, “But I’ll make sure to send the two of you a nice wedding gift.”

“Your help is gift enough,” FJ answers smoothly.

And Granddad throws FJ a half-amused look. “Okay yella Viking, I’m just waiting to see what them Dark Wolves do when they get a hold of that crazy accent of yours. Don’t get killed before next Thanksgiving, alright?”

FJ assures him he won’t over his shoulder as the three of us leave out. But all amusement disappears from his face as soon as we start heading down the hill, and it once again becomes a cold mask.

“FJ,” I whisper, running to keep up with him. “I know you’re mad at me. But we really need to talk about this. So if you’ve turned off our mental connection, please turn it back on. It’s not too late to run, but we only have a very short window—”

Like a weary executive dealing with a pesky subordinate, FJ looks over my head to Olafr, whose deep voice suddenly appears inside my mind.
“Cease,
Varra
. Your fenrir has his decision made.”

“But—”

Olafr abruptly turns and takes me by the arms so I’m forced to hang back while FJ continues down the hill.
“You will not speak to him of this again.”

But I can’t back down because this is a matter of a life and death. Even if they don’t know it, I do.
“Olafr, please use your mind link to talk to him for me…”
I beg.
“You’ve got to convince him to come now and hide someplace where they won’t find us.”

Olafr’s face resets, hard as a statue’s.
“Come,”
he says, taking me by the arm. And we continue down the hill like I haven’t said anything.

“I have yet to travel inside the belly of a horseless carriage,” FJ is saying to my brother when Olafr and I reach the car. “But stories of these did my mother tell to me. And for this ride have I much excitement.”

My brother opens the back passenger door for us, throwing me a look like,
Where the hell did you find these dudes, Tee?

And my father eyes FJ up and down before grunting, “You lucky we drove in the Cadillac. Or else you would have been on the back of Tiara’s bike.”

FJ’s eyes go cool again. Apparently he doesn’t have to be from the current century to understand my father’s insult. In our pack, a wolf riding on the back of his she-wolf’s bike is considered just about the least masculine thing a Dark Wolf could ever do.

“Come, Female,”
Olafr says into the tense silence that follows that jibe.
“FJ tells me we will sit in the back.”

Then the opportunity to run is gone. I have no choice but to get in the car. And hope to God I can come up with a plan before my father brutally murders my fated mates.

O
kay
, six hours later I have to admit to myself I’ve got nothing. I mean just no earthly idea how to keep my father from murdering my mates.

I thought and thought on it as we drove down to Detroit. I even took a few more runs at getting into FJ’s mind when we stopped for food, gas, and a restroom break.

But I still didn’t get anything from him. Just a bunch of silence as I watched him and Olafr eat hamburgers for the first time. Olafr in the back with me, FJ in the middle row with my brother. However, they continued to exchange several looks as they eat. And I’m pretty sure they were talking about more than the French fries.

We pull into Hidden Hills shortly after sunset, but I still haven’t come up with any kind of plan that doesn’t involve either their full cooperation…or me dragging two large, unconscious, heavily muscled werewolves to safety after somehow incapacitating Yancey, Clyde, and Dad.

Speaking of which…

I nervously eye Dad in the front passenger seat. Head bent, still texting.

This is so not going to end well
, I think when our large kingdom house comes into sight in the distance. A gated mansion within a gated community, I can see rows and rows of chromed-up motorcycles sitting outside the wrought-iron gates. An entire army’s worth of heavy-duty bikes.

With my heart in my throat, I try again, pushing the same message into both of their minds.
“Please listen to me. We’ve got to get out of here. We’ve got to…”

No answer. Not even from Olafr, who’s sitting right beside me.

And sooner than I want, the wrought iron gates open and we’re driving through.

Strange, I used to think of the kingdom house as my refuge. Used to hate leaving it. And the few times I did, a surge of relief would come over me as soon as I drove back through its gates. Even going on dates with Kyle had been tough. It only took an hour or two before I’d be completely desperate to return to the rooms where I spent most of my time.

But now the house’s French chateau exterior fills my whole body with dread. The entire mansion is lit up like a Christmas tree, and even though I can’t see anyone through the diamond paned windows, I can smell and even faintly hear all the werewolves inside.

The Cadillac stops and the doors pop open. Then I’m down to the only halfway valid plan I’ve been able to come up with so far: throw myself in front of them and hope to God that will keep the firing squad waiting for us from shooting them on sight. Then maybe if FJ and Olafr can see my father’s way of “keeping his promises” in action, they’ll finally believe me and run like I told them to.

I try to move into position right before we’re all set to enter the house through the double-arched front doors—but Olafr stretches out a thick arm and gently herds me back behind him.

“Our mother has told my father of modern she-wolves and their desire to walk beside their mate always. But this I cannot allow as your protector. You will walk behind us into this place.”

Ugh!!!

Feeling like I’m really, really not going to like the time period I’m trying so hard to get them back to alive, my mind scrambles for another escape plan.

But then it’s too late. My father throws both doors open and walks us inside.

From my position behind FJ and Olafr, I can’t see much. But my nose easily paints the picture for me. A shit ton of leather. Probably all the bikers in the pack, called from across the state of Michigan to do the dirty job of killing these two wolves on sight. Because that’s how my father rolls. He’s not going to let two wolves overpower him twice. No, this time he’s going to make sure the job gets done.

As if to confirm my assessment, I hear my father yell out to the pack, “You ready...!”

“NO!!!!” I scream, prying myself into the small space between FJ and Olafr’s large bodies and bursting through—

Only to see every biker in my state pack dressed in their best white leathers…along with their mates. And my Aunt/Stepmother Evelyn.

They all have their arms raised, in preparation to cheer. But in the wake of my scream, they look to my father.

Who finishes with a strained, “…for a wedding?”

Oh.

I step back and find I finally have FJ’s full attention. He’s staring at me along with Olafr, my father and pretty much every other wolf gathered here today.

So that happened.