Chapter 3 #2
Her parents looked at each other again. “We said we would discuss it with you first, but…”
“But you mean to force my hand anyway.”
“Fern, surely you see—”
“I do,” she cut in softly. “It just… will take some time. For me to accept the idea. But you may tell him I agreed.”
She took her tea and stood, retreating to her room, the one place she’d ever felt safe.
* * *
Fern’s mind felt detached from the rest of her the next evening, still working over the marriage to Oswyn she had no good reason to object to.
Because her mother was right—a husband who accepted her condition and was willing to protect her from the curse was the best solution to all of their problems.
“Fern!” her mother yelled, sounding like she had called her name many times even though it was the first she’d heard it.
“Aye?”
Her mother’s cheeks were flushed as she bent over the stew, stirring it with a frown on her face. “We need more onions, go fetch them.”
With a nod, she excused herself from the table where she’d just delivered a few pints to head to the storage shed outside.
It was almost summer, but the night air was cool and refreshing compared to inside the tavern. She stepped out, taking a moment to close her eyes and let the sweat on the back of her neck evaporate.
Laughter quieted into something muffled and indistinct as she closed the door, the sound of crickets and katydids soon drowning them out.
Fern inhaled deeply, shaking her head to clear it of the fog that had settled since last night, and then paused when the scent of wolfkin wafted towards her.
They smelled different from humans. Humans were varied in their natural scents, with some smelling like soap or fresh baked bread, while others were ripe and in need of a long bath.
Wolfkin smelled like… she found it difficult to describe. They were muskier, like animals, but did not smell bad. The few wolfkin women she’d met also smelled sweet, but it was mostly men who came through town.
And the men just smelled like… like something she wanted to taste.
She whipped her head around, freezing in her spot as three of the wolfkin from yesterday approached her, the fourth one gone.
“Hello, little Fern,” one of them greeted. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be out alone at night?”
She swallowed, her eyes darting between them, fighting the urge to step closer. “Are you calling yourselves dangerous?”
He grinned, his teeth white even in the scant moonlight, and she shivered. “On the contrary. We’re here to protect you from the dangers. Come, we’ll keep you safe.”
Her body naturally swayed towards them, their scents deepening, an unfamiliar sensation heating in her belly.
Fern had good reason to suspect they did not know of her mark, because otherwise they would have taken her back to their alpha already for binding.
This was a different sort of predation.
“My parents keep me safe enough, thank you.”
One of the others stepped closer, tilting his head. “Do they, though? I don’t see them anywhere.”
She lifted a foot to take a step herself, using all of her strength and willpower to bring it back and not forward. “They’re inside. I can go get them.”
Another step back.
Another.
And then she hit a wall of muscle, her body seizing.
That was where the fourth had gone.
Hands held fast to her arms as he dipped his nose between her neck and shoulder, inhaling deeply. She couldn’t keep her head from falling back, her eyelids fluttering closed.
It would be so easy to go with them, she thought. So easy to give in…
“You smell delicious, little human. Almost like wolfkin,” he said, the timbre of his voice resonating through her whole body. “My alpha could mark and bind you for me. Make you mine.”
The thought made her stomach twist, her body reacting in ways her mind recoiled from, and her eyes shot open.
“N-no, please, leave me be.”
“We can smell you,” another one said, much closer than she remembered him being. He crowded her from the front, his hand grasping her chin and forcing her to look up at him. His pupils were fully blown. “You are aroused. Don’t deny it.”
“I—”
“So lovely,” he whispered. “Come with us.”
Fern opened her mouth, but then a different scent wafted on the air, and they all froze.
This was wolfkin, but… so strong. Not in its intensity, but at its core. It simply smelled like strength. Like power.
Her knees buckled, and the man behind her caught her with his left arm, the right crossing his chest with his fist landing above his heart. The others followed suit, and they bowed their heads in unison. “Alpha Darion, we are at your command.”
The alpha approached slowly, her whole body attuned to him without thought. He was several inches taller than the ones surrounding her, wider in the chest and thicker in the arms and legs. His hair was chestnut brown, long and braided in the back, while a thick, short beard covered his wide jaw.
His eyes, a dark blue that appeared almost black in the night, looked down a nose that had probably been broken once or twice, the effect both appealing and intimidating.
“Show me your finger,” he said, his voice a command she couldn’t keep herself from obeying.
Her hand rose, shaking, knowing exactly which finger he was referring to.
Because, deep down, she knew without a doubt that this was the wolfkin who had bitten her so many years ago.
Not a pup anymore.
And neither was she a little girl.
His hands were warm, the skin rough, but the touch surprisingly gentle as he lifted the finger in question, running his thumb over the small scar.
He chuffed softly, raising it to his lips.
“I bind you to Clan Sabletail.”
And then he bit down again, and her mouth opened in a silent scream, her back bowing. Liquid fire flowed through her veins, alighting her senses and whiting out her vision as she felt him inside her, a living brand she could never escape.
A yoke on her very soul.
It took several minutes for her to return to herself, blinking with unseeing eyes until the world came back into focus. She was cradled in his arms like a child as he walked.
“W-where are you taking me?” she whispered, her throat raw as though she’d been yelling. Perhaps she had been.
He didn’t reply at first, the betas behind him marching with closed mouths and serious expressions on their faces.
“Home.”