Bride to the Beast

Chapter One

Royla hummed as she skipped through the trees. She turned her head and looked over her shoulder, flashing another flirtatious smile at the two handsome guardsmen who followed her with spears.

They were good stock: tall and muscular, their broad chests hard as stone from shooting arrows and throwing spears. They returned her smile, their eyes drifting down her body to the loincloth she was wearing that barely covered her bottom.

Royla’s cheeks warmed at their attention.

It had been a strange morning. Barnisha had been in a strange mood.

The tribe mother, usually so cheerful, had seemed morose and out of sorts.

She rarely paid attention to the youngers.

So, when she’d brought a sweetloaf to Royla and told her she was to go picking berries in the glen, Royla had been quite confused.

But the sweetloaf had tasted so good, and the prospect of fresh rootberries after supper had lightened her spirits. She’d gladly accepted the basket, woven of willow, and skipped out the palisade gates and down the hill.

When she’d noticed the two guardsmen following her, she’d stopped, turned, and walked back up to talk to them. “Are you coming with me?” she’d asked.

“We are,” the slightly larger of the two had said.

This had puzzled Royla even more. First Barnisha’s attention and now this? It seemed very strange. “Why?”

The two had exchanged a curious glance at the question, Royla had noted. “There have been whispers of a wolf-pack wandering in the trees past the glen,” the larger had said. “Tribe mother said we were to keep you safe.”

The answer had only added to her confusion. Tribe mother didn’t have time to worry about sending youngers on berry-picking expeditions. And two guardsmen to keep one young girl out of harm’s way? Surely, they were more needed at the palisade?

“These berries are for the eve of Sowing Song,” the other had explained. “Tribe mother said we must have them. To share with the Drykta.”

“And the Tendek,” the large one added.

This made more sense. Royla had been so excited that her eighteenth winter had passed, she’d forgotten all about the Singing.

Her eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of the festival.

There would be bonfires and dancing. And this year she would be allowed into the rutting hut to watch the seeding ritual!

Her heart fluttered. Her eyes wandered along the strong bodies of the handsome men. She couldn’t help but wonder if she might be picked this year? She was finally old enough. “Do you have a chosen?” she asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

The men’s eyes went wide. One of them blushed and looked the other way.

The large one scowled. “What a question for a girl to ask! Don’t be rude!” he scolded.

Royla’s cheeks flushed red with shame. She was always doing things like that! Asking the wrong questions at the wrong time. “I’m... I’m sorry. I just thought that...”

“No wonder tribe mother picked you,” the shorter one muttered.

The larger guardsmen immediately elbowed him in the ribs. “Silence,” he muttered.

Royla shook her head. Still embarrassed by her misstep, she decided it would be best just to get on with it and head for the glen.

It was a beautiful day the first warm day of spring and the first day she didn’t have to wear her furs outdoors. She meandered down the path, the sunlight shining through the canopy casting dappled light and shadow on the forest floor.

Every so often she would turn and steal a look at the guardsmen behind her. Lately all sorts of strange new thoughts had been filling her mind. She’d taken to looking at the other men in the tribe and wondering what it was exactly that happened in the rutting hut in the spring.

She had some inkling, having one time heard from a friend about two bodies twisted together in the forest, mashing against each other and moaning. She’d hidden in the brush and watched them until they both cried out and the man had collapsed on top of the woman, panting and sweating.

But she hadn’t been able to get enough of a view to know exactly what they’d been doing. It seemed a little filthy, from what she’d seen.

As the hills rose on either side of them, Royla forced herself to stop imagining lewd things and start paying attention to the shrubs. Rootberries liked the shade. She picked at the brush, peeling back leaves and branches, trying to find the hiding spots of the sweet things.

By the time they arrived at the glen, she’d found nothing. She turned and watched the two guardsmen walking up behind her. They came to a stop a few feet away. Royla shook her head. “I can’t seem to find anything,” she said.

The larger one pointed his spear past the glen, toward the forest wall ahead. “Maybe in there?” he said.

Royla turned and looked at the wall of trees. They seemed darker than the ones they were in. Maybe even a little ominous. She spun back around to face the men, catching their eyes just as they snapped off her backside.

A funny warm feeling tickled her insides. A smile sprouted across her lips. “Are you going to come with me? What if the wolves are in there?” Royla asked, a slight tease in her tone.

The guardsmen looked at each other. “Of course,” the larger one said. “That’s what we’re here for.”

Satisfied, Royla turned and began to jog through the dell. She closed her eyes and savored the warm air on her cheeks. A deep breath tickled her mind with the sweet smell of fresh grass in the sun.

She crossed the glen in no time. Pausing to make sure the guardsmen were following her, she stepped into the shadows cast by the trees.

The forest here seemed still. Perhaps because the vegetation was so thick, the usual sounds of animals and birds were muffled, if they were even there.

Royla held her breath. She tilted her head to one side and listened, trying to hear anything.

There was nothing there. The silence was a little eerie.

She turned to see that the guardsmen had stopped in the middle of the glen. They’d put their spears down and sat down on the warm grass.

Probably to enjoy the sunshine, Royla thought.

It still seemed a little strange that they were there at all.

She hadn’t heard anything about wolves in the forest and she paid attention to what everyone said.

And why hadn’t Barnisha mentioned it? Telling her to be more careful than usual?

Why had she sent these two men after her instead?

Royla shook her head, ridding herself of the questions. That was her problem. She asked too many questions. Everyone always told her that.

Taking a few more steps into the forest, she crouched down and began searching the leaves for berries hiding underneath.

* * *

The rage drove Thanred forward. Each time he thought of the smug smile on Dodlin’s face it would flare again. That ugly prick and his scheming. How he had bribed the others was still a mystery.

“Gutless fucking rat,” Thanred cursed. He lashed out at a fallen tree, leaving five long claw marks along the rotting bark. A sliver drove itself between his claw and the finger, making him grunt as the pain stabbed up his arm.

He closed his eyes and readied for the eruption of his fury. Calming himself had never been one of his talents.

But somewhere from inside the roiling red anger, a pang of sorrow rose up through him. Sorrow at how he’d been treated. Sorrow at how all the others had turned against him, had stood behind Dodlin, their heads bowed in supplication.

He had half a mind to turn back and tear them all to shreds. In his current state, Dodlin’s cronies would be no match for him.

The pain stabbed through him again. But instead of lashing out, Thanred took a breath. A deep breath, sucking air all the way to the bottom of his lungs. It cleared his mind, like wind sweeping fog off the sea. A stillness settled inside of him.

What good would it do to go back? No one wanted him there anymore. What good would it do to see them all again and be reminded of their rejection?

The caves of Nefresh that had been home for his whole life were no longer that. Now they were just a place. A place he would never return.

The finality of it eased some of his anger. As deeply as it cut, he knew there was nothing he could do. He could either walk up to the Old Horn at the top of the Mother Mountain and throw himself off, or he could go on living. There were other places in the world than the caves, after all.

The trouble with that, the trouble with all of this, was the gnawing ache between his legs. His cock stood half-erect. It had been that way since the day he’d left. Pumping it brought no relief, no matter how much seed he spilled.

His Dranark blood coursed hot in his veins. He took another deep breath, trying to quell his needs. If he didn’t find a way to sheathe it soon...

Other exiles had gone mad, or so the stories went. Driven to the brink by their need to mate, they’d been found at the foot of Mother Mountain, their bodies mangled and twisted from the fall. Unable to live with the powerful need unmet, they’d chosen to end it all.

Another deep breath. He steeled himself against the feeling. That would not be him.

His nostrils flared. The scent of... something singeing his senses. Something hot and sweet and wet. He could almost taste it.

Steady, Thanred. Focus.

He turned his head ever so slightly to one side to try to follow the smell. It was not the heady musk of a Dranark female’s cunt in heat. This was... softer. Spicier.

He sniffed again. The smell was stronger, he was sure of it.

Thanred crouched low in the bush, his cock rising between his knees. His mind began to race. His eyes went wide at the realization of the time of year.

Sweet spirit, it is the offering!

His lust surged, even as he shook his head, unable to believe the coincidence. Surely Dodlin had thought of this, had remembered that it was spring, knew that the humans living in their puny palisade would be sending a sweet flower into the forest to be plucked?

He shook his head again. The only thing to be sure of with Dodlin was his stupidity.

He must have made a mistake! He must have forgotten, his mind clouded by the excitement of turning the whole tribe against Thanred!

Either that or there was another Dranark wandering these woods this very moment, searching for the nubile gift.

If there was, Thanred would not be bested again. He began to move: slow and low, staying quiet, crawling through the undergrowth and following his nose as the scent strengthened.

The forest thickened around him. It seemed to close in, branches reaching out and trying to grab him.

It was almost painful, trying to deny his excitement, fighting the breeding heat and staying as quiet as he could.

The smell sharpened. It was clear now, the direction it was coming from. Light pricked through the trees. A clearing. He peered over a low brush, out into the light. His heart skipped a beat.

Two humans stood side by side in the clearing with spears. Their eyes were narrowed, surveying the thick wood as if searching for something in there. Searching for him?

They had to know. They had to know he would break them like twigs if it came to that. But no. They were watching for... something different.

The scent was even closer now. The smell so intoxicating that it nearly blinded him with desire. He crouched down again and closed his eyes. It was his nose that would lead him to it. That was what he had to follow.

A sharp crack shot through the forest. The sound of a twig breaking.

Thanred’s eyes snapped open, then narrowed.

It was close.

She was close. So close he could almost taste her. And it was a her. Of that he was absolutely certain.

Motion caught his eye. Ever so slowly he turned his head, his chest swelling.

The sight of the soft alabaster rump twisting in the brush was like an oasis in the desert. She had fine, flaxen hair that cascaded down to the small of her back. Her loincloth barely covered the two round orbs. They called to him, a siren song of flesh.

Thanred stilled himself. He was strong but these humans, they could be fast. Especially their women. The smell of her cunt filled the air.

His cock stiffened to a rigid pole between his legs. It bounced with each fresh inhalation.

He held his breath as she turned sideways, still peeling up leaves and peering under them.

She had an ample chest. A loose-fitting fur barely covered her bulging breasts. Thanred could make out the soft swells peeking out from beneath.

His cock throbbed in painful agony between his legs.

She wasn’t older than twenty winters. Of that, he was certain. Her buxom curves, the way her waist tucked in before flaring into ample hips made it clear she’d never been bred.

It seemed nearly impossible that what he needed most had suddenly appeared. Visions of sinking his cock into her tightness raced through his mind.

But the two men. He would have to be careful. He would have to be quiet. He would have to cover her mouth as he took her. What would be more infuriating than being interrupted mid-rut to have to kill two men?

She moved again. Crawling along the forest floor, she continued prying up leaves, occasionally plucking a berry or two, completely lost in what she was doing.

Thanred could stand it no longer. He moved one foot out, searching along the forest floor with his toe to make sure he wouldn’t step on something that would make a sound. When he was sure of his footing, he shifted his weight, swaying so that he was behind her again, in sight of her delicious rump.

Snap!

Thanred sucked in a breath.

The female’s ears pricked up.

Fuck!

Had he foiled his chance for release? Would she bolt? He couldn’t let that happen. Muscles tensing, he prepared to lunge.