Rescued by the Berserker: A shifter romance Read online

  My arm had sprouted fur, and my fingers ended in sharp claws—the start of the Change into the beast.

  I pulled her to me and she fought, kicking, until I tossed her over my shoulders.

  Steadying her with one hand, I gripped my axe with the other and ran.

  Hazel

  The wind knocked out of me, I couldn’t shout. Hands braced on the warrior’s back, I raised my head enough to see the Grey Men slithering after us. The warrior plunged into the forest, moving faster than was humanly possible.

  He’d caught the blade in his hand. He’d destroyed the Corpse King’s servants with inhuman strength and speed, and for a moment, I’d caught a glimpse of the beast-like form underneath his human one, the monster waiting to break free.

  Whoever my captor was, he was more than a man.

  As my breath returned to me, I started to struggle. I still held the piece of the witch’s staff—my left hand clutched it so hard I may never pry it free. I knocked the warrior’s legs with it and his hand clapped my bottom.

  “Stop that,” the warrior grunted.

  He plunged into a stream and waded forward. When he reached a deeper pool, he swung me down. I yelped, thrashing in the freezing water.

  He caught me in his brutally strong arms, an arm around my waist and hand over my mouth.

  “Be silent,” he rasped into my ear. “We must wash the living corpse’s scent from our bodies. This way, they cannot track us.”

  My teeth knocked together under his palm sealing my lips, but I relaxed.

  “Good girl,” he murmured. “It’s going to be all right. I’ll not let them take you.”

  My legs were almost numb before he swooped me up in his arms and waded out of the pool. The freezing water didn’t seem to affect him.

  Too cold and shocked to cry out, I clung to him, a source of heat if nothing else. I could struggle and scream, but no one besides the Grey Men would hear me. Whatever this warrior was, I was stuck with him until I could escape.

  Desperate to get warm, I pressed my face to the warm flesh at the base of his throat, just above the collar of his jerkin. My body shook against his massive chest.

  The warrior strode through the woods, carrying me as if I weighed no more than dandelion fluff.

  “What were those things?” he murmured.

  “I don’t know,” my teeth chattered as I answered. “They brought me into the cave so their master could drain me of blood.”

  A growl rumbled under my ear, but it wasn’t directed at me. He pulled me in closer.

  “Did you see the mage that made them?”

  “The Corpse King. Yes, I saw him.” He had looked like a corpse, wrapped in grave clothes, lying on a stone slab with his armor nearby, ready for when he would rise again and lead a conquering army of his Grey Men. “He still sleeps. The servants brought us there as a sacrifice to set him free.”

  “Us? They captured more than one of you?” Abruptly, the warrior changed course, darting faster between the giant trees.

  “Yes.” I didn’t know why I was telling him this, or why I felt so safe in his arms. I didn’t even know his name. “There was another young woman with me, named Fleur. Please, you must help her.”

  The warrior cursed and broke into a run that had the landscape blurring around us.

  I slipped an arm around his shoulders to hang on tighter. He wore a slight frown as he wove through the trees. If I met him in a village market, I would think he was a flesh and blood man, a hardened soldier, mercenary even, but one who followed a code of honor. Maybe I could trust him.

  You can. His voice spoke right into my head. Another sign I was hallucinating. The warrior wasn’t even looking at me, but ahead at the trail.

  Gripping the staff, I did the same and shrieked as a giant wolf bounded into our path.

  “Hush, lass, ‘tis only Rolf.” The warrior carrying me stopped dead in his tracks and spoke to the wolf. “But where are the others?”

  “Knut,” two warriors appeared, bursting from the trees. One brown haired with thick black brows, the other a redhead. “We got separated when a party of draugr attacked. Who is this woman?” They gaped at me.

  “Never mind,” Knut told them. “The thieves we sought—they lost their quarry. The spaewife Fleur is in the cave with the sleeping mage who made those Grey things.”

  “Grey Men,” I corrected softly, and he heard me.

  “Rally the pack to attack these draugr, these Grey Men,” Knut ordered.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Get this one to safety.” His arms tightened around me.

  “You defy the Alpha’s orders?” This from a brown-haired, frowning warrior. “You were to lead us to hunt the traitors.”

  Knut’s answer was a low growl.

  The brown-haired warrior raised his hands and backed away. He and the wolf trotted off, but the red-haired one paused. “Who is she?”

  Knut’s answering growl sent tingles up and down my spine.

  “She is mine.”

  Knut

  As Leif, Brokk and Rolf raced back towards the fray, I set a course for the west. The mountain where my pack made its home was many leagues from this evil, stinking place. My woman would not be safe until she was there with me, protected by the entire pack, living in the shelter I built for her and marked as my own.

  She was mine, as I claimed, though she did not know it yet.

  “My warriors will go back. They will save your friend. She is one of our pack and was taken from us several days ago. We have been searching for her and the trail led us to you.”

  An unforeseen treasure. A gift from the goddess I will not ever give up. I, Knut, a warrior to the bitter end, disobeying my leader’s mandate. I would rescue her, and accept my Alpha’s punishment.

  We reached the river again and she struggled. “Put me down. I want to walk.”

  I held her fast. “We will travel faster if I carry you. Besides, you have no shoes.”

  “I do not know you,” she pressed her hands against my chest. “I do not want to go with you.”

  I saw red again, and fought for control. To wait so long for the woman to break the curse, only to succumb to it now--it would not be born. I had to rein in the beast.

  “Stop, little one. You are not thinking clearly. You are in shock,” I growled.

  She struggled further and I threw her over my shoulder, peppering her soft backside with a few decisive smacks.

  The beast inside me surged to the fore. It wanted to mark her, tear her flesh, taste her blood, give a wound that would scar and show all she was in my possession.

  I gritted my teeth, resisting the call to turn into a monster.

  A sharp pain blossomed in my backside. I howled and swung her back down. She backed away, still holding the splintered end of the stick she’d stabbed me with.

  “None of that.” I charged, easily snatching the piece of carved wood away. I tossed it aside. In a flash, I was in front of her, dropping to one knee and tugging her over it. Her hands hit the ground as my palm connected with her sweet bottom. Her butt cheeks wobbled under the thin fabric. I bared her bottom and turned pink with a few well-placed swats. The beast within in me crowed its savage approval, but I was calm and levelheaded.

  She had to obey, so I could keep her safe.

  My woman didn’t cry, but let out little angry grunts as I punished her. I did not like disciplining her so soon, but she needed to know who was in charge and this was the fastest way to teach her.

  Four more heavy swats and I clamped a hand on the back of her neck, holding her still. My other cupped her glowing cheeks.

  “Now, will you listen to me?”

  She kicked in response and I let loose on her bottom, a series of forceful smacks to show her I would not tolerate her resistance. After a minute, her frustrated sounds turned to breathless mews. I smacked the tops of her thighs a few times and added one or two to the apex of her legs.

  A gasp and a sweet tang filled the
air, mingling with her strawberry scent. Arousal.

  But I wasn’t the only one who scented it.

  The woods around us filled with a sibilant sound, coming closer. Grey Men. We’d lingered too long.

  “Be still.” I clasped her in my arms. “Our enemies are near.”

  My woman had a dazed expression. Not frightened or upset, but docile. “We will escape this,” I told her. “But you will follow my commands. Understand?”

  She had enough presence of mind to nod. Her face was flushed, an after effect of her hanging head down over my bent knee, but also a sign of her excitement. She’d responded to the impromptu discipline. She lay a hand against my jaw, steadying herself.

  I stole a quick kiss, just a hard press of my lips against hers. A touch of heaven, in case the next fight was my last. “I won’t let them take you,” I promised and pulled her up. She clung to my hand with both hers.

  The hissing came from three sides now.

  “They are trying to surround us.” I backed up, taking her with me. “When I tell you to run, you run.”

  If she escaped now, I could keep the Grey Men from her and track her later. Perhaps she wouldn’t see the beast come over me, shaping my form into a magical creature twice as tall as her, with fur and claws—a vicious blend of human and wolf. “Now.” I pushed her. My voice was a guttural bark as my throat reshaped. Magic tingled at the base of my spine, my bones ready to crack and shift with the Change. “Go,” I grunted.

  When the Grey Men came through the trees at me, she ran to pick up the splintered staff, and whirled with me to face the enemy as if the stick was a sword.

  When I gestured to her to flee, she gripped her meager weapon tighter and shook her head.

  Fur was already rippling down my arms when I scooped up my woman and dropped her at the base of an oak.

  “Stay,” I told her. I wished I could protect her from the sight of the monster I would become, but the spanking hadn’t touched her stubbornness. If I wasn’t so annoyed, I’d almost be proud.

  Whirling with a roar, I attacked the creatures before the first wave could reach her. I’d left my shield but still had my axe, sent it crashing into the frontrunner of the ranks of corpse-like creatures, and completed the Change. Rage turned my vision red. Shouting my battle cry, I charged, unafraid. I was suffering under a greater curse than these draugr and capable of far more evil.

  I would save my woman even it if earned me her fear.

  Hazel

  The monster fought the Grey Men while I cringed against a tree. The transformed warrior had black fur, a giant’s height, inhuman speed, and a heavy muzzle. A tawny fringe along its spine was the only thing it shared with the blond man. That and its fighting abilities.

  When the dust settled pieces of Grey Men littered the area. I screamed as a severed arm wriggled towards me and the hand tried to grab my ankle. I tried kicking it away, but it hung on tight until I touched the staff to it. The wood tingled in my hand and the disembodied arm flew off as if lightning had struck it, flopping into the path of the monster. Lethal jaws snapped at it, swallowing it down.

  And vomited it back up.

  Nasty. It spat, several times. Not good to eat. The voice in my head had a rough quality, closer to a bark than human words.

  The monster stood on its hind legs, straightening until it was at least twice as tall as me. It’s form was vaguely man like, with a chest and arms of banded muscle, all covered with black fur.

  My breath shuddered through me. I’d seen many horrible things this day, in the lair of the sorcerer, but this beast was the stuff of nightmares.

  It bellowed its triumph, and swiveled its head towards me.

  Come. Somehow it spoke right into my mind.

  “No,” I whispered. As it stalked my way, I scuttled backwards, trying to get my feet under me to run. With the Grey Men dispatched, I had my chance to escape this monster.

  It stopped and cocked its head. Grunted as if trying to speak.

  I turned and crawled away, only to have a clawed hand grab the scruff of my neck. With a cry, I turned and stabbed it with the staff. The monster bellowed and dropped me in surprise.

  Finding my feet, I pushed through the thicket and when it came after me, I let the branches I held snap back into its face.

  Knut

  Frightened, annoying little rabbit. So delectable, the plump, tanned legs flashing under her short garment, the curvy chest heaving as she ran from me. I stalked her easily, ready at any moment to speed up and complete the chase. The beast was ready to rut, but I was still in control. Her scent called me out of the rage and into my right mind. Not even mated yet, and the curse was already lifting.

  But she was afraid of me. I had just slain her enemies—the corpse blood vile on my tongue—but she’d almost rather face the Grey Men than me.

  How is your rescue going? Leif asked, and shared with me an image of his own battle with the draugr. He and the rest of the pack had found the traitors and Fleur, the woman they’d stolen, at the mouth of the mage’s cave, hard-pressed by the stinking Grey Men.

  She stabbed me with her stick. Twice. I sent the picture of her standing with the staff, her face a mask of fear, and her body still ready to fight.

  And you let her? Leif laughed. I was not close to any of my fellow warriors, preferring to stand apart, but Leif ignored my distance.

  I don’t want to hurt her. Of course, now that she was running, she might hurt herself. Emotion prickled in my chest, something I hadn’t felt in sometime. Fear.

  This little female woke all sorts of new things inside me.

  I hear that is the way when you find your true mate. Leif’s thought was tinged with jealousy and wonder. Shocked I’d shared so much through the bond, I stayed silent. I was a leader among the pack, but usually kept apart from the rest of the men.

  She must be special, if you are breaking orders to go after her. Take care, Knut. Whatever these creatures are, something controls them, and has power enough to cast spells.

  Above my head, the sky was boiling with clouds. A storm was coming, howling up from the east. No doubt its origin was the mage’s cave.

  I will rescue this woman and see what she knows. I will bring her back to the mountain for the Alphas to question. They might forgive me for abandoning my post if I brought them a better quarry. To the fight and the finish!

  To the fight and the finish! The warrior responded with a roar.

  With my own shout, I charged and broke through the branches the little one had pushed through in an attempt to stop me in my tracks. She would learn that it wasn’t so easy to best a Berserker.

  Hazel

  The wind whipped faster, the trees tossed their heads. My hair stood on end. Something was happening and even the weather responded.

  I broke through the trees and stopped at the mad scene before me. My wild escape had lead me back to the cave of the Corpse King.

  My friend Fleur was in the midst of the battle, armed with the second half of the staff I held. A warrior, a wolf, and an eagle fought beside her, pressing their way to escape into the wood.

  Everywhere giant warriors fought the Grey Men like mad things. Half men, half monsters, the crashed into the enemy, catching the blades in their bare hands and driving the Corpse King’s servants back with violent glee.

  A fine sight to see, isn’t it not?

  I whirled. There was no one behind me, yet a voice, a deep and tender male voice, had spoken in my head. But that was impossible. I still held the staff. Perhaps it was playing tricks on me.

  More Grey Men were rushing into the fray, coming from every direction. I would not be safe for long.

  I backed away, right into a broad, bare chest. The blond warrior who’d fought for me in monstrous form loomed over me with a determined expression. He had scratches on his face from where I’d let the branches slash him.

  “Got you now,” he grunted and tossed me over his shoulder to carry me off—again.

  Knut


  With the wriggling woman over my shoulder, I strode off. She was struggling and fighting. I enjoyed the soft, pleasant feel of her body against mine.

  I put a warning hand on her bottom. “Stab me again with that damn twig, and I’ll roast your bum right here. See if I don’t.” The threat made her still.

  Behind us rose the clang of weapons and roars of the Berserkers facing their enemies. The draugr were everywhere, an endless stinking sea.

  Leif, Rolf, I called as reinforcements swarmed near us. More vermin. Help me clear a path.

  Holding the woman with one hand, I cut through the ranks with my axe. A storm had blown up overhead and a thick mist was pouring from the cave’s mouth.

  The mage had woken and was fighting back.

  Swiping at enemies as they popped out of the unearthly fog, I kept a mindlink with the woman I carried. A bond had opened between us, as sure and true as the bond I shared with the rest of the pack. The woman’s thoughts were jumbled and frightened and, as the fog increased, a heavy sadness settled over her, a sickness of the mind.

  Dismayed, I darted into the woods and shrugged her down into my arms. Her face was deathly pale.

  Cold. No escape. Despair.

  “Wake up, lass,” I cupped her cheeks. “It’s a curse, only a curse. The mage is working his evil magic through this fog.”

  But she didn’t respond. Whether from fear or exhaustion, she’d fainted.

  A rumbling started at the base of the hill. The earthquake threw Grey Men to the ground, which was covered in thick layer of fog.

  The cave is collapsing-retreat! The Alphas order rang through the pack bonds, a powerful compulsion that my Berserker brothers immediately obeyed. I resisted. As the ground began to shake with more violence, thick dust spewed from the cave. I threw myself down, covering the woman with my body until the worst was over. Cradling her in my arms, I ran the rest of the way to safety.