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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Verna

I was…married?

‘Twas a strange sensation. But even stranger was that I never doubted it. The same way I knew deep in my chest that Jorak was my Mate, I also knew he was now my husband. There’d been no priest, no blessing…but we didn’t need it.

The moon, the stones, the snow…they’d been all the blessings we needed. Jorak was my Mate and my husband, and that was all I needed.

That night, he showed me exactly how much he loved me. Seven times, actually.

I fell asleep sprawled across his chest, wearing only a grin.

The following morning, I woke to Jorak’s gentle touches. He lay on his side, his weight resting on his scarred stump, his gaze intense as his eyes followed his fingers across my skin. I watched him for a moment, intrigued by the emotion I could see in his expression.

Finally, I could no longer stand the soft caresses and had to squirm away. His gaze darted to mine, and when he raised a brow, I allowed my chuckles to burst free.

“Apparently I am a bit ticklish.”

His second brow joined the first. “Ye didnae ken?”

When would I have found out? Between the hard labor of my childhood, Alred’s beatings, and the rough use of my customers? Jorak was the first to touch me with such gentleness.

I surged up, wrapping my arms around his neck, capturing his mouth. He held me against him as he rolled onto his back and I felt his lips curl beneath mine.

That afternoon, we had an unexpected visitor. Torvolk arrived, clearly frustrated and seeking a distraction. He seemed surprised at Jorak’s welcome, and more surprised at my presence. He’d only recently returned from his mission when I’d decided to leave the village, so mayhap he hadn’t heard Jorak and I were…

Mated. There is no use avoiding the term. You have been blessed with a future. A male who will protect you. More importantly, a male who loves you, who wants to make you happy.

Aye, and I wanted to make him happy. I loved the way we worked together—cleaning out the empty byre, or in the kitchen, or setting traps in the woods. I loved him …and I worried for him.

I worried terribly.

Midwinter came and went and we celebrated in our own way.

Another pair of fat rabbits roasted over the fire, the vegetables boiled, and the cheese baked into the bread the way I remembered from my childhood. The pair of us had too much wine, and I heard Jorak guffaw for the first time, which had me giggling for the rest of the night.

“If ye dinnae stop laughing at me, lass, I’ll have to give yer mouth something else to do,” he warned, trying to sound menacing.

This, of course, made me laugh harder, but as his scowl deepened, I fell to my knees, snaked my hands beneath his kilt, and slid his cock between my lips.

From then on, the only sounds we made were moans.

On Midwinter Day, we re-lit the hearth together. I held the flint and he struck it with steel, and we grinned at one another as it took.

“A new year,” I whispered.

“A new life,” he replied, standing and scooping me into his arms.

I squeaked, “Where are we going?”

“Back to bed, Mate. I have read about yer people’s traditional honied moon, and I have some catching up to do.”

Aye, there was quite a lot of laughter too.

But beneath it all? Worry.

We were in our honied moon, yes, but… Each night, the moon grew a little larger in the sky. The full moon was almost upon us, and I worried what that would bring. I worried for Jorak— not because I didn’t think he could handle himself—but because I didn’t want it to come to that.

If Alred came through the veil this month, I needed to be the one to confront him, to send him on his way.

To keep everyone I’d come to love safe.

The evening before the full moon, Jorak came in from outside, stomping the snow off his boots, and reached for the clasp of his cloak. To my surprise, he also began to unbuckle his belt. One of the things I’d learned to love these last weeks was the ease of access granted by kilts, and I was surprised he was bothering.

Because when he shot me an expectant, knowing look, I found myself blushing, understanding exactly what he wanted.

“Again?” I murmured teasingly, already untying my bodice laces. Although ‘twas easy enough to just lift my skirts and climb onto his lap, I knew he liked to tease my nipples. I liked it too.

“Tonight is the full moon,” he announced arrogantly, when he stood before me fully naked. My fingers paused what they were doing, just so I could admire his strong thigh, smooth stomach and…and other bits.

“Mate, I require yer help.”

A little distracted, I promised, “ Aught .”

The noise he made might have been a chuckle, and he crossed to help me undress.

“Good lass. ‘Twill be yer responsibility to tire me out.”

I tipped my head back up at him with a smirk.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Tire me out, female!” he repeated, smacking me lightly on the arse. “I need a nap to make it through the night, and ‘tis yer job to make it happen.”

Giggling, I led him by the hand to the bed, where I pushed him down onto his back. I tried for a serious tone when I announced, “I have never tried to fook ye without coming a few times before hand, but I will try.”

Jorak stretched arrogantly and placed his hand behind his head. “Do yer best, lass, I’ll rate yer performance later.”

I couldn’t contain my laughter as I straddled him, but I could admit his demands—and just the expectation of the pleasure to come—had already made me wet. I braced my palms on his chest and slid backward until his cock was nestled against my curls.

Despite his attempts to appear disinterested, Jorak was watching me intently. As I slid my cunny along the underside of his cock, his nostrils flared.

“I think ye’ll do just fine,” he murmured, and I knew he was smelling my arousal.

I reached between us, moved his cock into position, then slid down atop it.

The climax burst over me.

Clamping my thighs against his hips, I rode out the pleasure, rocking and moaning, loving the way he felt in me. Through it all, Jorak stayed still, watching me.

Only when I was recovered did he begin to move, his hand roaming over my thigh, my side, cupping my breast, playing with my clitoris. I loved how this position allowed him to hit the rough spot deep inside me that drove me wild…I came a second time on his cock as he massaged my bud.

After that, he held my hip in place as he took over the rhythm, slamming upward into me with his feet braced. I loved his strength, and I tipped forward to brace myself on either side of his head. This allowed him to capture my nipple in his mouth, at the same time his fingers probed my back entrance.

‘Twas so decadent I felt my third orgasm building, and when his tongue rasped along my skin and his claws dimpled my arse, I fell off the precipice.

“Jorak!” I screamed, even as I felt him swelling inside me.

“Mate,” he growled as he came, spilling wave after wave of spicy-scented seed against my womb. “My Verna.”

When I collapsed—truly exhausted—against his chest, I wasn’t surprised to feel his heart pounding as strongly as mine.

After a few minutes, I acknowledged I should probably get us a wet cloth, but his arm tightened around me, holding me in place.

“Yer performance was sufficient.” He yawned. “I should demand a nap more often.”

Too tired to giggle, I placed a kiss on his chest.

“I shall endeavor to put ye to sleep each full moon.” A pause, and then, knowing I needed to bring it up: “Jorak, tonight…”

His hand, which had lazily been dragging up and down my spine, paused for a moment.

“Tonight, I suspect Torvolk will have to return to the human’s world to look for our chief. He’ll hate leaving Isadora, I ken, but he is the only male who can find Kragorn, if the puir bastard has been taken by the humans.”

It hadn’t been what I wanted to ask, but I was glad for the distraction.

“Was he? Taken I mean?”

“We dinnae ken.” Jorak yawned once more. “If Torvolk crosses over tonight, we’ll find out more in a month.”

And if Alred didn’t come through tonight, I’d have to wait a month. I gnawed on my lip, wondering how to bring it up…but Jorak’s snores interrupted my thoughts.

I had to grin. Mission complete . I closed my eyes and snuggled against him, glad for the chance to nap, myself.

That evening was…well, I suppose exciting would be a good description. If I weren’t so worried about Alred, I would have enjoyed helping Jorak with the preparations. When he told me he usually made pottage for any visitors who would be coming through the stones, I leapt to volunteer.

At least chopping vegetables would keep my hands—if not my mind—busy.

The nights might be getting shorter, but the darkness still seemed to last a long while. He gave me a hard kiss before he left the cottage, and I couldn’t resist throwing my arms around him and pulling him down for a longer one.

“Be careful,” I whispered, pressing my forehead to his.

“I’m the Bloodfire Keeper,” he murmured right back. “This is what I do.”

“What we do, husband.”

With my eyes closed, I felt his grin in my heart.

“Aye,” he drawled. “What we do.”

Before midnight, I peeked outside to see Torvolk—atop his horse—join my Mate by the stones. They stood, a pair of warriors, talking for a long moment before Torvolk suddenly whirled about. I watched Jorak watch him go, and was surprised to see Isadora—when did she learn to ride?—thundering across the valley toward her Mate. Torvolk swept her up, and I could see their relief from here.

I should be out there. I should stand beside my Mate as the veil opened. I hurried to pull on my warmest stockings and my hat and mittens…but as I threw the door open, a surprising sight made me gasp.

Isadora was hurrying toward me, leading her Mate, who all but carried another male, a bigger male, across his shoulders. Behind them, Jorak’s arm was around a tiny human female who slumped from exhaustion.

Glad now for the pottage, I built up the fire as the visitors joined us. As Isadora took over the woman’s care, Jorak and Torvolk laid the groaning male on our bed.

I thrust a mug of spiced wine into the woman’s hands.

“Who is it?”

Isadora was beaming.

“’Tis Kragorn! The chief has returned.”

“Please,” the little human whispered, curling around the warm mug. “Please help him. He is hurt.”

“I’m fine,” groaned the male on the bed. “Lillian is half-frozen.”

Isadora sprang to slide her cloak around the woman, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who wondered exactly how this pair wound up coming through the stones this night.

Jorak exchanged a glance with Torvolk. “Nan can heal him.”

“I’m fine ,” the chief growled, but I could see the bloodstains on his plaid, see the dirt and blood and worse which covered his skin and matted his hair. Hear the weakness in his voice. “We werenae followed.”

“Well, thank fook for that,” Torvolk muttered, dragging his hand through his hair. “We have to get them to the village as quickly as possible.”

My Mate nodded and the two males began to make plans. I glanced between them and Isadora, who was fussing over—Lillian, was it?—and realized there was no one watching the stones.

If Alred came through tonight, I had to know it. I couldn’t risk him being stuck here after the veil closed. I had to send him back the way he came. With everyone distracted, I slipped from the cottage and ran toward the stones.

I was just in time.

As I reached the edge of the clearing, a horse burst from the mist, its rider wild-eyed and snarling. It took me no time at all to recognize Alred, and I clenched my hands into fists inside my mittens.

“You!” He snarled, catching sight of me. “Verna! In your whore’s cloak and smugness!” When he yanked on the reins, the horse pranced around in a circle, but Alred swung his head about to hold his glare. “Get over here, slut. You’re coming home!”

I lifted my chin. “I am home, Alred. I am here to tell you to leave. There is naught for you here.”

The man spat angrily then swung down from the horse. I tried to hold my ground but could read the violence in his intention as he stalked toward me. I began to back up.

“When you left, you not only deprived me of my best whore, but also my contracts?—”

“I burned them,” I blurted, stumbling over a snowdrift as I retreated and falling to my arse. “The scrolls I took. I burned them. They are not here.”

That drew him up short, and he glared at me. “You burned them? Did you read them?”

I tried for a smile, but know it came out sickly as I attempted to struggle to my feet. “How would I know how to read?”

“True. So they’re gone?”

“Aye,” I huffed, hoping he would not see my lie. “Whatever they said, no one else back in town need know what?—”

My blathering ended on a gasp as he wrapped his hand around my wrist and yanked me to my feet.

“Without that deed, I cannae prove I own the tavern,” he muttered, pulling me toward the horse. “But if it has been destroyed, then at least no one else will know it.”

I dug in my heels. “I do not want to return?—”

His harsh bark of laughter sent dread through me. “You think I give a shite what you want, slut? My customers have missed you.”

He swung me toward the horse. “You’ve had a bit of a holiday, now get on the horse.”

As I stumbled against the horse, I reached for my dagger. Rebounding off the horse’s shoulder, I twisted about, brandishing the blade.

“I am not going back with you, Alred. I am happy here. You can leave safely now, knowing the tavern is securely yours.”

Another laugh. “Or I could take you with me.”

With that, he lowered his shoulder and bent over, intent on lifting me over his shoulder.

I could defend myself. I would defend myself.

But there was someone who could protect me even better.

Even as I scuttled backward, I took a deep breath and screamed.

“ Jorak !”

Jorak

Kragorn was alive! I was just as amazed—and pleased—as Torvolk. Our chief was wounded and ill-treated, but alive, and I looked forward to hearing the tale of where he’d been since last autumn.

But for now, he was in good hands, and I had confidence my cousin and his Mate could bring the chief—and his wee human captive—safely to Nan in Bloodfire Village.

It took me far longer than it should have, however, to realize my own Mate was missing.

I snapped straight, peering in the corners of the cottage, as if the shadows hid a shapely redhead.

“Where’s Verna?” I barked, twisting in a circle. “Verna?”

Isadora was comforting the human and now shook her head in confusion.

“She was just here a moment ago.”

Dread coiled in the pit of my stomach, and I knew— knew that she was in trouble. This was the same way I’d felt when she’d snuck away from the village; certain she needed me, uncertain how I knew.

“Well, fook ,” I muttered, stalking toward the door.

I was just slamming it behind me when her scream rent the air.

“ Jorak! ”

I was running before my brain fully understood the danger.

A flash of red by the stones—Verna! Struggling to get away from a male!

With a roar, I ripped my sword from its scabbard as I hurtled toward them.

A part of me, the part of me I’d carefully nurtured for seven years, was warning me to stay calm, in control. To assess, to consider, to judge.

But my Kteer , that primitive, primal part of me, was screaming Kill hurt maim blood kill death PAIN.

The male had dared to touch my Mate and would pay.

But by the time I’d reached the stones, Verna had broken free. She turned, panic in her lovely eyes, and stumbled toward me. Instinctively, I lowered my sword, the need to comfort her overriding my Kteer ’s urges.

“Verna!” I bellowed, the remains of my right arm reaching for her. “ Dkaar !”

And she was almost to me when the bastard behind her grabbed her by the nape of her cloak, yanking her backward. With a stifled scream, she slammed into him, and he wrapped his arm around her throat.

“Back off, orc,” he spat. “This is between us.”

Verna was struggling. “Let me go! Alred, you have to?—”

“I don’t have to do aught!” He twisted her about, and when her hat fell off, he grabbed her hair. “Get on the horse!”

I’d frozen when he’d grabbed her, and in that moment, as Verna’s eyes met mine, I realized why.

I was afraid.

The fear had paralyzed me.

I’d lived the last seven years in fear .

In fear of what would happen if I allowed my Kteer to rule me. Fear of what would happen if I reacted instead of considered, if I embraced the chaos.

The world around me seemed to slow as Alred swung Verna toward his nervous mount. He was going to take her away from me. If I didn’t reach them in time, she would be in the human world for a full moon’s cycle, without me.

Without me .

Well, to all the hells with that!

She was the one to teach me there were acceptable— useful —times to lose control…and this was one of them.

I took a deep breath and time sped up again as I lifted my blade.

“Release her,” I growled.

Alred paused in the act of shoving Verna toward the saddle.

“Orc, I don’t care what she promised, she’s not yours.”

I stalked forward. “She is mine.”

The bastard had the ballocks to step toward me, while holding my Mate.

“Was she tupping you? Taking your beastly cock?” He shrugged. “She’s a whore, that’s what she does . You mean naught to her.”

I glanced over his shoulder to see Verna’s tear-stained face, and when I did, she began to frantically shake her head.

“That is not true?—”

But Alred interrupted her to spit at me. “You do not have a claim to her.”

Although my Kteer urged me to take off his head, I held the need in check for long enough to snarl, “She’s my Mate. Let her go.”

“Mate? Mate ?” He had the audacity to laugh. “What does mating have to do?—”

That was enough. I lifted my sword and roared.

“ Take yer hands off my wife !”

I had the satisfaction of watching shock dart across his face before my blade bit true.

Verna’s gasp was her only reaction to the sight of her old master’s head wobbling, then falling forward into the snow. By the time his body followed, she had thrown herself against my chest, her arms around my neck, sobbing.

I dropped the sword, forgotten, in my need to comfort my Mate. My wife . I held her as she cried, and I whispered the words she needed to hear.

“’Tis over, dkaar . Dinnae fash, he cannae hurt ye now.” I wanted to stroke her back, her hair…but I also couldn’t seem to make myself loosen my hold on her to do so.

“I have ye, ye are safe.”

“He was going to drag me away from you,” Verna sobbed. “Jorak, he was going to?—”

“Hush, lass, all is well,” I scolded, pressing kiss after kiss along her forehead. “I got here in time, did I no’?”

She jerked away from me and stared, wide-eyed up at me.

“You did.” Her hands moved to my cheeks. “Oh, Jorak, you did . You were there when I needed you. I should have never thought?—”

“To face him without me?” I rumbled. “I dinnae need yer protection, lass.”

“Nay.” Her smile was bright, despite her tears. “But I need yours. You have saved me so many times, my love, and now…”

I pretended to huff in exasperation. “I suppose I’ll have to spend the rest of our lives protecting ye.”

There in the snow, the full moon overhead, she stared up at me. Behind her, the mist slowly faded as the doorway to her world closed, and I knew she was right where she belonged. Here, among the Bloodfire Clan.

With me .

I bent down to kiss the tip of her nose, then her cheek, which tasted of tears.

“I love ye,” I whispered, my Kteer reveling in the fact I’d kept her safe and would continue to. “Thank ye for teaching me what I needed.”

“What do you need?” she whispered.

“ Ye . And my clan. And confidence in my own abilities. And the reminder ‘tis fine to lose control sometimes. ‘Twas… unexpected. ”

Her grin turned a little impish. “I like it when you lose control.”

“I ken,” I growled, leaning down to capture her lips in a gentle kiss. I wanted her—I always wanted her—but not now. Not with a body in the snow and my chief in our cottage.

“Later,” I promised.

When we pulled apart, she smiled softly up at me, and I saw the love in her gaze.

“I love you, Mate.”

Would I ever tire of hearing her call me that?

“ Wife .”