Sold to the Berserkers: A Menage Shifter Romance (8 page)

“You know who we are and you accept us,” Samuel told me. “We need you here with us for all time, Brenna, though sometimes I wish there was another way. I know what it is like to have a witch speak and change your life.”

I slept a little, and when I woke the two berserkers were watching me.

Samuel set a silver torc at my hand, an ornament of old. Warriors sometimes wore arm rings in fealty to their chief or king. This looked like both the jewelry of a princess and the collar of a slave. Perhaps it was both, something in between. A band to honor a savior and mark a thrall.

I touched it.

“We wish ye to accept it,” Daegan said. His voice was still husky and his eyes glowed, but he was fully man.

“This will mark you as ours among the wolves.”

I stared at the torc. They were asking me to make a decision, not to stay or go, but to accept my place. I was ready to accept, but for one thing.

It took some time making hand gestures, but I made them understand.

“You worry for your family,” Samuel interpreted.

I gestured to my hair and curvy body then stretched my hand out indicating a shorter height.

“Yer sisters,” Daegan guessed.

“You want to know they are cared for?”

I hesitated, not knowing how to tell them that I feared my stepfather might be a threat.

Large fingers tipped my head to face Samuel’s. The big blond stared into my eyes. I felt a tingling down my spine, but held still.

After a long moment, Samuel blew out a sigh. “You do not trust your mother’s husband around them.”

I nodded vigorously while Daegan and Samuel exchanged glances.

“Brenna,” Daegan called. “Do ye want us to take care of the threat?” The usually playful dark-haired warrior looked very serious.

I nodded.

“And if we do, you will stay and live among us? Willingly?”

I nodded and reached for the torc, setting it into my lap and staring into one pair of golden eyes, then another.

I’d made my choice. It was up to them.

“Back in a day,” Daegan said. He kissed me and left.

I tucked my legs to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

Samuel prowled around me, restless. Every so often he lifted his head, scenting the air. I knew he could smell my heat.

We waited.

Shadows crawled in the corners. I must have eaten and slept, for the next thing I knew, the smell of blood filled the chamber.

“Brenna,” Samuel called.

I rose, pulling a pelt around me instead of a dress. I was a berserker’s mate now. I could walk among the wolves naked; my lovers would protect me.

Together the blond leader and I walked down the hall to the ledge outside the cave, where a pack of giant weres waited. Daegan stepped forward in man form, hunched a little and moving with predator silence. The air prickled with the smell of blood. I approached him and he held up a basket dripping red.

I knew before I looked what I would find inside.

“Daegan tells me the kill stank of perversion. When your sister found the body, she laughed.”

I set the basket containing my stepfather’s head on the ground. Sabine, Muriel, and Fleur, my sisters were safe now.

Daegan and Samuel followed me back to the chamber. I pointed to the bathing cave, wrinkling my nose, and the dark haired warrior disappeared to bathe.

When Daegan returned, naked and dripping wet, Daegan found me sitting on the dais with the torc in my lap.

Raising my chin, I handed it to Samuel.

Daegan held up my hair while Samuel bent the torc as if it were made of straw and closed it around my neck. I touched the cool metal and felt a strange hum of power, as if the torc was an object of magic. The silver both covered some of my scar, and drew attention to it. 

Rising on tiptoe, I drew Samuel’s head down and kissed him, then Daegan, before leading them back to the dais.

We claimed one another while the wolves howled outside. 

*

One moon later, I stood on the edge of the great market, watching my mother set up her stall. My twin sisters played in the grass while Sabine worked beside my mother.

“We found a merchant who will pay a good price for their wares,” Samuel had told me. “And every month Sabine finds fresh meat on the doorstep. We will watch over them.”

As I watched, I felt a flare of power behind me in the forest, signaling a wolf changing into man form. My sister Sabine’s head jerked sharply in our direction, and she started to move towards my hiding place. I stepped back, but my mother called Sabine, and my sister went to help her, still frowning in puzzled thought.

I turned my back on my family and headed deeper into the forest, where two huge, hunched forms waited for me in the thick underbrush. One dark, one blond, lurking in the shadows lit with two pairs of golden eyes.

The End

***

Like what you’ve read? Want more? I have the idea for a whole series starring the Highland Berserker clan and their human mates, but I deliberately kept this story short to test and see if anyone wants to read it. If you liked this book, and want to read the rest of Brenna, Daegan and Samuel’s story, plus more books starring parallel characters (such as Brenna’s sisters), please email me at [email protected] and let me know. If I get enough positive responses I will write the next installment, which will be meatier and much longer, a proper length book. :D

Thank you for reading!

*

In the meant time, check out one of my favorite shifter erotic romances by Renee Rose. She graciously allowed me to include Chapter One of
The Alpha’s Hunger
. Enjoy!

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The Alpha’s Hunger

Chapter One

Ben hit the button for the parking garage on the elevator and rubbed his face. As the unit plunged down the shaft, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. His instincts warned him to pay attention.

To what? He looked up to read which floor he was passing and without thinking, hit the next one. The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. He put his foot against one side to hold it open, listening. His skin prickled. Yes, someone or something was here.

He stepped out, keeping his movements silent. Most of the lights were off, computer screens on screensaver. By seven-thirty, all five hundred twenty-three of his employees had left for the night. He rounded a corner and his senses sharpened when he caught sight of a woman’s arm lying on the floor, extending from one of the cubicles. He surged forward, the adrenaline already causing him to partially shift.

A young woman lay sprawled on her back on the floor, eyes closed. What in the—? As he lunged to kneel at her side, her eyes fluttered open and she shrieked. She scrambled up to stand. “M-Mr. Stone!”

He grasped her arms and lifted her to her feet, taking a deep breath and willing his vision back to normal. Something about the feel of her flesh under his palms made it harder to relax. He released her. Still, the hairs stood up on his arms, his instincts screaming for his attention. Why? What danger lay here?

“What happened?”

“Oh, nothing!” the young woman exclaimed, smoothing her long reddish-brown waves back from her face. “I just… I have a migraine, and it affects my vision, so I didn’t want to drive. I was trying to meditate it away.” She spoke quickly, no doubt flustered to have the company’s owner and CEO in her cubicle. “I’m sorry, I’m sure it looked like I’d fainted or collapsed. I didn’t mean to alarm you.” Her blue eyes appeared shrunken with pain, but even so, her beauty was undeniable. High cheekbones, big eyes, and a wide, sensual mouth. As he looked at her lips, his vision domed again, bringing the peripheral into focus along with her face. He blinked, pushing back the threatened change, hoping his irises hadn’t changed color. She didn’t appear to have noticed anything. Strange… no human woman—hell, no female at all had ever had such an effect on him.

Too gruffly, he demanded, “Do you work here?”

The acrid scent of fear told him he’d made her nervous. Which was nothing new. The employees of Stone Technologies had learned in the three years of his reign to watch their step around him. He had little tolerance for any of them. He knew what they called him: Stone Man. Because he never smiled.

“Yes, Mr. Stone. This is my office. I’m a marketing assistant.” She grabbed a framed photo of herself and a girl who looked identical to her and held it up. “See? This is my desk.”

“You can’t have security clearance. How did you plan to lock up when you left after hours?”

Her eyes widened. “Well, Steve is still working down in R&D. He said I could stay as long as he was here.”

For some reason the thought of her getting cozy with anyone named Steve—whoever he may be—made him want to tear the man’s throat out. He gave himself a shake. What was wrong with him?

“What’s your name?”

“Ashley. Ashley Bell.” She held out her hand.

“Ben Stone.” He took her palm, once more experiencing a strange reaction to touching her skin. Heat tingled in at the contact, shooting up his arm.

“I know,” she said with a smile.

He yanked his hand back, unsettled by his reaction to the slip of a human female. “Get your things. I’ll drive you home,” he said curtly.

Her expressive mouth rounded into a little
O
. “Um, that’s not necessary, Mr. Stone. I can call a friend, or a cab, or—” She broke off at his stern gaze. “All right,” she said meekly. He caught a whiff of another smell, mixed in with the fear: arousal.

He stiffened. For him? The wolf in him surged and he had to steady his breath.

Ashley opened a drawer and grabbed her purse. A paperback book fell to the floor.

He retrieved it before she could snatch it up.

“Oh, that’s—”

He turned it over to look at the cover. A man with a naked torso and washboard abs graced the front, wind blowing his shoulder-length hair. A romance reader. Cute.

“That’s… not mine,” she said lamely, a pretty blush coloring her cheeks.

His mouth twitched in a smile. “Right,” he said, handing it back with a raised eyebrow that caused her to blush again.

She shoved it in her purse and licked her lips. The sight of her tongue sent a pulse of heat to his cock. He took another breath and blew it out slowly, trying to understand what was happening. The girl was human, he was sure of it. Not his destined mate. Weak. Fragile. Not even able to withstand a marking. How could she be calling up his most base desires when no female—human or wolf alike—had ever done so?

He touched her back to let her pass and he thought he felt her shiver, the scent of arousal growing stronger. She stole a glance at him from under her lashes.

Closed in the elevator with her, her scent filled his nostrils. She wore a rich, vanilla fragrance, but it was her own natural scent underneath that made his blood warm. He wanted to touch her again, wanted to soften the line between her brows, the one that betrayed her pain.

Get a grip, Ben.

“So, how long have you worked for me?”

She looked up, her lips forming a pretty bow. “Almost two years.”

“Do you like it?”

She hesitated a beat. “Yes, yes, of course.”

“What don’t you like?”

“I said I like it,” she protested.

“You’re not the best liar.”

She flushed. “I’m really happy here. I’m just,” she licked her lips again, “looking forward to taking on more responsibility.”

He rewarded her with a glimmer of a smile. “Very diplomatic, Ashley. I appreciate that. It’s a skill I lack.”

She smiled and looked down at her feet as if to hide it. Clearly she’d heard all the rumors about him.

“So you’re bored?”

The elevator doors opened, giving him the opportunity to touch her back again to escort her out. Her hips swayed, heels clicking on the concrete.

“No… well, honestly? Yes. But I understand I have to work my way up. And I’m willing to do it.”

“I might have a personal assistant position opening up on the top floor, if you’re interested.” He didn’t know what made him say it. His secretary had been trying to act as a personal assistant to him since the day he’d taken over the company after his brother’s death, and he’d been pushing her away. But something about Ashley Bell intoxicated him. He couldn’t have her, but he wanted to keep her near, even if it meant giving up his coveted privacy and solitude.

Her eyes slid sideways. “Is that a glorified secretarial position?”

He resisted the urge to swat her sashaying backside. “Do you think it’s beneath you? I assure you the pay is at least twice, maybe three times what you’re making now.”

“No, I—” She blushed again.

He wanted to push her against his black Mustang and kiss her full lips.

“I’m sorry, that was rude. Would I be working for you?”