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  Mated to the Berserkers

  A ménage shifter romance

  By Lee Savino

  The buck stood grazing on the edge of the forest stream, its crown of proud antlers reflected in the rippling water. I watched hidden in the shadows. I’d tracked the buck for miles, loosening my muscles and enjoying the hunt, and I could almost taste my prey. A real wolf wouldn’t be able to take down so large a quarry without its pack. A man could kill a buck with bow and arrow, and struggle to carry it back to his home. But I was neither human nor true wolf.

  The wind shifted, and brought a flurry of scents. Among the usual bouquet, I smelled something sour. Another wolf, but not a familiar one. I knew the scents of my pack. This was an intruder.

  The wind shifted and the buck grazed closer to my hiding place. My wolf forgot the worrying scent and focused on the prey immediately across the stream.

  I Changed. In one instant the water below me reflected a man, with hard muscles and dark hair. Then an unnatural wind stirred the leaves, and in place of a man stood a great black wolf.

  The buck raised its head at the unfamiliar wave of magic. It caught scent of the wolf I had become, and ran.

  It was a short chase.

  Afterward, licking the blood off my paw, I felt reluctant to change back. Men were slow and stupid, and bound by rules. They couldn’t even smell the kaleidoscope of colors that the forest was, choosing instead to destroy everything with fire and live in smelly shacks in the mud.

  Was not the world so much more beautiful as a wolf?

  But beneath the simple, animal consciousness, lurked a darker beast. Even now, with the taste of blood in my mouth, the rage-filled creature struggled for dominance. I wrestled with it, shaking my wolf head as if worried by flies. My frantic inner fight brought me to the stream where I watched my canine features grow and Change into something grotesque...

  My canine nose caught a pale scent, wafting all the way down from the mountain my pack called home. The smell told me a woman lived there. Not just any woman. Our woman.

  Our mate.

  The beast receded. Sanity returned.

  I savored the woman’s scent--light and cool, perfumed and perfect amid the sweaty stench of the warriors. She was waiting.

  One more breath of her luscious scent, and I shifted. Paws became hands, fur became hair, and the bloodlust of the beast died as if it had never been.

  I ran all the way home, carrying the buck.

  At the top of the mountain path, a giant warrior stood guard, honing his axe. Wulfgar had been a deadly warrior even before becoming a Berserker. His blunt features brightened at the sight of fresh meat.

  I slung the deer at his feet.

  “Good hunt?” The massive warrior gave an appreciative sniff.

  I grunted. After being a wolf, speech took its time returning.

  Wulfgar barked an order to another wolf. “Roast the choicest bits over the fire for the Alpha’s woman. Give the rest to the pack.”

  I nodded my thanks to Wulfgar, and the small red-headed wolf that came to collect the carcass.

  “Beta,” they both acknowledged me with a dip of their heads, taking care to avert their eyes from mine out of respect for my rank. Even though Wulgar stood a full head taller than me, I was slightly more dominant, if only because of my bond with the Alpha, Samuel.

  A breeze swept along the face of the mountain, stirring the smoke of the fire and bringing the sweet aroma of a woman to me.

  I left the fire and entered the cave, following the stone passageway to the quarters I shared with Samuel…and her.

  As I walked down the hall, the sweet scent grew stronger. I paused in the doorway to our rooms. Inside Samuel lounged in wolf form, tawny streaks in his grey hide.

  I nodded to him and headed straight for the pelt covered dais we used as a bed, to peek at the dark-haired woman burrowed in the furs.

  Still asleep, Samuel spoke through our bond.

  Best we stop wearing her out, I grinned at him.

  He almost smiled. He’d been a Berserker so long, and spent almost a century half mad with magic. I’d been the tether holding him to the world, keeping him from a killing rage that would rape his mind. We’d fought Samuel’s beast, together, and searched high and low for the woman the witch told us would save him—a woman marked by the wolf.

  Brenna.

  A deep breath, and the scent of her filled my lungs. The wolf quieted. I hadn’t even realized how restless it was until I saw her, and relaxed. She smelled of moss and pine and the soft secret places in the forest that are safe.

  No wonder our great Alpha basked at her feet in wolf form, his tongue lolling out like a puppy. After centuries of fighting, we’d finally found home.

  I started to lie beside her on the dais and Samuel gave a half growl.

  I won’t wake her, I said through the bond. Not just yet. I just want to lie close to her.

  I waited for his nod, then stretched out, tucking myself around her in the pelts.

  Edging closer, I buried my face in her wealth of dark hair.

  She stirred.

  I bowed my body around her, letting her warmth seep into me, reveling in the soft curves of her body.

  Beside the dais, Samuel watched in wolf form, panting happily.

  My hand slipped between the pelts to cup her breast. I played with the soft handful, feeling her nipple harden and body come alive. I longed to hear her soft sigh of arousal, and a few seconds later, I was rewarded with the lovely sound.

  We kept our beloved naked most of the time, furnishing her with a few dresses and wraps but mostly keeping the brazier burning around the room. Samuel and I lived in wary alert to protect our woman from any other. Even our pack, our warrior brothers, weren’t to be trusted. Her scent was a siren call, too compelling and sweet. We kept her safe in this chamber, hidden from the world.

  I closed my eyes and inhaled, giving the wolf what it craved, filling my lungs with the essence of her.

  My body throbbed with need.

  “Brenna,” I breathed onto the back of her neck.

  She sighed and everything in me focused on that slight sound. Her head tilted and her hair spilled off her neck, revealing the spidery scars at her throat, the scar evidence of a brutal wound she sustained as a child. The attack took her voice. It was a wonder it didn’t take her life, but she survived.

  Now she was ours.

  Brenna shifted against me and my body responded, leaping to life, blood rushed to my groin. I grunted a little as I slipped an arm under her and tightened my hold on her, drawing her against my chest.

  She wasn’t a small woman by human standards, but compared to us, she was slight and perfect. Her softness made her all the more inviting.

  Her bottom brushed my cock and I groaned into her hair.

  Daegan, Samuel chided via the bond. You woke her.

  “Couldnae be helped,” I said out loud. “Such a bonny temptation.”

  My hand started exploring the softness of her breast, the smooth dip of her belly ending in the gently flaring hips.

  “Wake up lass,” I crooned in her ear as my fingers played south of her belly. “I’ll make it worth yer while.”

  Her eyes fluttered open.

  Not for the first time, I wished that our beloved could speak. The scars on her throat made her
mute. Though she never had any trouble making her feelings known, I would give anything to hear her say my name.

  My fingers searched for that wet sweet place between her legs, working to draw out a gasp. I smiled when I heard it leave her lips.

  She sighed again and I wondered how awake she was. Then she shook her bottom against my groin. Her cheek curved with a smile and I knew she was awake.

  “Naughty lass,” I said, “getting me all worked up for ye.” I propped myself on an elbow above her. “Don’t ye know you're already enough of a temptation?”

  She lay on her back, blinking up at me with those sultry, sleepy eyes.

  I couldn’t take it any longer; I leaned down and claimed her mouth. My fingers dipped and swirled between her legs, making her hips dance.

  Magic pulsed through the room as Samuel made the Change from wolf to man. He took his place close to us.

  Shifting over Brenna, I kissed my way down the slopes of her neck and breasts, not stopping until I tasted the secret place between her legs.

  She tensed but I held her legs open, lapping at the pink center while she writhed.

  At her head, Samuel captured our beloved’s mouth, his hand at her breast. With fingers, lips and tongues, we worked our beloved’s body until she vibrated between us like a lute’s string, strummed to the point of breaking. Samuel let her mouth go and nibbled at her ear while I nibbled below. From her wild gasps and writhing, her body teetered on the edge of pleasure. We pinned her between us until she crested and shattered.

  As she panted to catch her breath, Samuel and I shared a grin.

  “Beautiful,” he said so Brenna could hear.

  “Aye.” I nuzzled her inner thigh.

  After a minute she blinked, raising her head. Without speaking, Samuel and I switched places. He pulled her to hands and knees and positioned himself behind her. She moved obediently as he propped her hips high and reached down to tease her folds.

  I guided my beloved’s head to my aching cock. She obeyed my silent command, sucking me so deeply my knees almost gave out.

  “Och, lass.” My hand stroked her cheek.

  Samuel gripped her hips and I held Brenna’s face still, preparing for his thrust. She gasped as he surged forward. The force of his movement drove her forward onto my own cock, and for a second I popped into her throat. The pressure took my breath away.

  The bond between the Alpha and I hummed in harmony as we sawed our beloved’s body between us. I cradled her face carefully as she rocked back and forth between us.

  Samuel reached under again and stimulated her to another orgasm. Her gasps leaked around my cock and I came cursing, my hand fisted in her dark hair.

  Pleasure poured down the bond between us, and Samuel’s eyes glazed with lust. His canines flashed as he teetered on the brink between man and mindless beast.

  I pulled out of my beloved’s mouth with a pop, backing away at Samuel’s signal. The giant blond warrior knelt naked behind our woman, his golden hair hanging about his shoulders. He smoothed a hand down Brenna’s back, steadying her, readying her for a good fucking.

  With a growl, he surged forward. His hips beat into her backside and a slapping sound filled the cavern. As Samuel kept up the brutal pace, Brenna’s hands fisted into the pelts, her breath hitching in her broken throat.

  “Cum.” With the order, Samuel’s palm smacked down on the side of her upturned ass. Brenna’s eyes rolled back into her head as she obeyed, thrashing.

  Samuel shuddered over her, large hands holding her hips up as he finished deep inside her. Once he pulled out, he took a handful of her hair and drew her to his cock, biding her clean it with her mouth. As I watched her lick submissively, my cock hardened again. The beast within craved dominance over our beloved, demanded her sweet submission. And it did not want to stop there…

  I shut off that line of thought and flopped onto my side beside her, toying with her hanging breasts and admiring the flushed state of her skin.

  “Lovely, lovely lass,” I told her, and murmured the words I wished were true. “Ye were meant for us.”

  *

  Much later I stood guard over our beloved while Samuel was gone. I watched her sleep, noting the fall of raven dark hair, the cheeks pale as moonlight.

  Mine, said the wolf, and I wanted to agree. She was ours in every way we could make her. We’d bought her from her family a few moons ago, and kept her in our lair, away from the pack. She seemed to accept us. We brought her news of her remaining family--her three sisters thrived in the village. Two moons ago her mother died, we brought her the news. Samuel asked if she wanted to see the grave and Brenna shook her head no.

  She’d left her old life, for us. And every time we claimed her, we felt we’d come home. But did she truly belong here?

  She is ours. Samuel felt my uncertainty and spoke through the bond.

  For as long as we keep her. I reminded him.

  Why would we ever let her go?

  I sent him the memory of hunting the buck earlier. It happened again. I almost lost control of the beast.

  Silence. Samuel did not want to acknowledge that what we feared most might happen--the very beast Brenna soothed might rage again.

  The Berserker rage was legendary on the battlefield. Many kings used it to gain power. In times of peace, the beast craved bloodshed. The magic that made us wolves carried a taint, and would drive us to madness. That was the price of our great power.

  Brenna didn’t know any of this. She didn’t know several of the pack had succumbed to the beast and met their fate. When the beast took their mind, Samuel was waiting. More than a few had died, necks snapped and bodies flung off the mountain by the raging Alpha. Not because his control broke; because theirs did. Samuel protected the pack, even from its own members. But there was only so much he could do to keep the taint from spreading. We were warriors seasoned with many battles, but could not win the war for our minds. Before we’d consulted the witch to find Brenna, we were losing.

  I remembered the nights when the beast howled for blood…

  Tell me what happened, Samuel said finally. How did you regain control?

  I caught our beloved’s scent.

  Just as the runes foretold. She soothes the beast.

  I reached out and ran a finger over our beloved’s smooth cheek. Her skin was so soft, so sweetly scented. Tonight she smelled like moonlight on the snow, and secrets kept deep in the earth…things no man had words for, things that only a wolf would understand.

  My hand closed around her neck. Her pulse beat against my palm.

  Both Samuel and I feared the day she’d wake and discover who we truly were. Not just werewolves, but Berserkers, cursed with tainted magic. We told Brenna not to fear the wolf, but never mentioned what she truly should fear: the beast.

  She’d seen us in wolf form, but she hadn’t seen the beast. Not even close.

  Did she know when we took her, hard and fast, without thought, what monster lurked in our minds? Did she sense how much the beast wanted to hurt her?

  My fingers closed over her throat. Once I had almost lost control. It could never happen again.

  We cannot keep hiding the beast from her, Samuel’s thought echoed across the bond. I snatched my hand away guiltily. She will meet it, one way or another.

  Nay, it’s too dangerous. This was why we’d spent centuries alone.

  If she is to be our mate, she needs to meet the pack, learn our ways. We can’t keep her inside forever.

  But, I struggled to put my feelings into words. What if she meets the beast, and can no longer love us?

  Can she truly love us, if she doesn’t know what we are?

  The beast does not love. It will try to destroy her.

  I held my breath until Samuel answered, Pray that it does not succeed.

  *

  Restless, I left Brenna sleeping alone and went to find food. I stood at the mouth of the cave, blinking in the sunlight. Wulfgar crouched in man form beside the fire, roas
ting the meat.

  “What news?” I asked.

  “The Red Pack sends word. The full moon after next they gather for the Thing. They requested our emissary.”

  I frowned. “Odd request.” There weren’t many wolf packs on the island, and the one closest to us, the Red Moon Pack, regarded us as mortal enemies. The last time one of our pack encountered them, he’d been beaten and would’ve been killed, had Samuel not shown up in time.

  It was the second time my Alpha had saved my life.

  Wulfgar grunted. He knew the Red Pack hated us. “Hunters encroaching closer, and they want to do something about it.”

  “Meaning they want us to do something about it,” I corrected. “Verrae well. Send word that I will attend.”

  I smelled his hesitation. “They want Samuel.”

  “They get me,” I snarled. This time, my old pack wouldn’t find me so easily bested.

  Wulfgar bowed his head.

  “Besides,” I said in a lighter tone. “They dinnae call me Daegan Silvertongue for naught.” I was more adept at the finesse of politics than our strong Alpha. Besides, someone had to remain on the mountain, with Brenna. She was a secret we could not afford to reveal.

  Wulfgar’s head dipped a little lower, even though he was a head taller than me and any other pack member, he took a deferential pose in respect of my dominance.

  We waited for the meat to finish cooking. Most wolves ate their catch raw, but cooking meat satisfied the man, and allowed us to feel civilized again. Besides, we had to cook it for Brenna.

  Berserkers lounged about the clearing, some as wolves and others in warrior form. Since Brenna’s arrival, the pack was healthier, the bloodlust muted. The peace that flowed from our beloved to Samuel and I reached the pack through the Alpha bond.

  I prayed the peace would last. The beast had been restless these past few days. One wrong word, or move, and it might break free, and everything we dreaded would come to pass. The beast loved breaking beautiful things.

  To wash away my fear, I turned my thoughts to Brenna. My body stirred merely at the thought of her, her flawless skin and tempting curves, her shining hair spilling over the pelts. I could eat and drink of her day and night and never get enough.