Chapter 13
BELENUS
Breathlessly, Hekla lamented, “I hate how things are done here. This is so much crueler than pack life...” She uttered a moan, and the tilting of her head freed several tears to trail down her cheeks.
I shifted uncomfortably and looked away, knowing that moan wasn’t only from despair. She slid down the wall a little, then back up, like she was rubbing her scent on it. Her skin flushed deeper—a hearth sat stoked within her.
I couldn’t… get distracted. “Hekla, we have to go back! I’ll seat my sister next to you, ok? She’ll get you through it!”
Hekla bristled and gritted through her teeth, “I can’t! You don’t know what it’s like! They can’t keep their disgusting hands off of me!” She squeezed her eyes shut, bared her canines, and gripped her head with her clawed hands. “I hate this heat! Why can’t I simply have my mate fuck me through it? Agh!”
Lust roiled through my stomach from her words, but my worry for her kept my wits intact. “Shit! Turn around, Hekla! Let’s take care of this problem so we can go!” I growled, spinning her to face the wall. She wept quietly and stuck her butt out like she wanted me to mount her. Oh, I desperately wished I could. I’d gladly ‘fuck’ her through her heat as she’d put it. I’d have to make sure that word meant what I thought it did.
I pressed up against her, reached around, and lifted her skirts until I could access her underwear. I jerked my hand into her panties, found her wet center, and started stroking her folds. My fingers were immediately coated in her slick, which was good; it’d help my fingers glide across her skin. I heavily massaged the larger mounds first, then moved inward to rub the ones closer to her entrance.
She bit her arm to muffle her moans, but the sounds she made pulled noises out of me as well. “Shit!” I swore, getting excessively turned on by her swaying bottom and the sounds of her pleasure. Her wetness only reminded me of when I’d feasted on her core, and a surge of saliva filled my mouth. I’d gladly get lost in between her succulent thighs over and over again. Gods, I wished I had time to savor her, but we needed to be quick.
I circled her opening with a finger and asked in a strained voice, “Have you ever had anyone inside you, Hekla?” I knew already but waited for her answer, hoping I could speed up the process by delving into her dripping heat.
“N-no!” she growled quietly and spread her legs a little. Her body was one step ahead of my question, and I found that incredibly erotic.
“Do you want me inside you, Hekla?” I hissed and dipped my finger slightly against her wet entrance.
“Yes!” she sobbed angrily.
I slid my finger into her and swirled it a little to gently stretch her virgin tissue. She hissed in discomfort, and I rubbed her back comfortingly, hoping the mate touch would make up for the pain. Then I slid my other hand into her panties to massage her mounds while I pushed my finger in farther. She hissed again but wiggled her bottom against my pants, aggravating my own personal situation. The strain on her threshold had not diminished her desire—that was obvious.
“Stop it, Hekla,” I snarled quietly. “You’re making me hard!”
“I wish it was that easy!” she retorted, but her raw, sensual growling only made me harder. My cock strained against its confines, desperate to experience what my finger was enjoying.
“Gods dammit!” I yanked my hand out and gave her rump a good smack.
She jerked her head around to look at me in shock. “Did you just spank me?” she shriek-whispered.
“Yes! Stop misbehaving and let me finish you, she-wolf!” I snapped and shoved my hand back into her panties to continue rubbing her swollen folds. “Shit, you’re as hot as the sun down there!” My breath caught as I feverishly pumped my finger, her sighs and moans stuttering with every forceful jerk. I grimaced and restrained an aroused groan. Feeling her tightness, wetness, heat, and texture, I didn’t have to imagine too hard now what a dip in her sauna would be like, and that almost had me breaking. “Are you ready for a second finger?” I interrogated through my teeth, pressing my other fingertip against her opening as a warning.
“Of course I am, Your Royal Hiney!”
I gasped and pulled my hand out to spank her again. “Don’t call me Hiney!”
“Just do it!”
I slid my second finger in slowly, swirling it like I did with the first. I groaned and leaned my forehead into her. “Gods! I want to squeeze my cock in there! Bed you til I burst!”
Her juices gushed a little onto my fingers, and I moaned in synchrony with her. The sexual frustration between us was unendurable. She sobbed with the same carnal need I suffered and scratched the wall with her claws.
“Stop t-teasing m-m-me!” she cried into her arm.
Arousal continued to drip its agonizing fuel into my abdomen, and I held my breath through a wave of lust. Restraining my ardor was too hard, and as soon as I felt like she was used to two fingers, I started pumping both aggressively into her. She hissed for a second before she relaxed into it and pushed back against my hand. I used my hips to push her forward to the position I needed her in, but that just ended up making her grind against me.
I choked on a cry, surrendered, and spread my legs, lowering my hips so she could massage my erection better with her rear. I closed my eyes and pretended that my penetrating fingers were my cock as I allowed her to stimulate my swollen length.
I gasped into her back, “Shit, Hekla! Does this feel good? Do you like it? Do you like my fingers in you?” The need for her swirled around my head, muddying my thoughts.
“Y-yes! Ah! Ahh! I’m getting there! Ah!”
The primal, vulgar creature within me now had direct control of my mouth. “Pretend it’s my cock, Hekla. Pretend I’m going to impregnate the shit out of you!”
She gasped, “Your cock must feel weird!”
“Don’t make me spank you again!”
“Ahhh!” she cried, and I felt her body knot up with tension. Her legs shook violently, the sign she was just on the edge. “Ahh! More! More! Harder!”
I dug my wet finger around her swollen nub, and my fingers pounded her with wild abandon. The squelching sounds of her desire were a buildup to her climax, and she finally yelled into her arm. I shuddered in delight as her walls clenched around my fingers, pulsing hard. Oh, that would feel so blistering good on my cock.
I exhaled in relief and slowed my rhythm to help her ride out her pleasure. “That’s it, you filthy she-wolf. Let your heat go. Your mate chased that bastard off for a bit,” I uttered between pants, still suffering from my own overly hard erection.
When her core calmed, I removed my hands and gave her a moment to recover. I stumbled to the side and leaned against the wall, wiping my hands on my pants and prayed to the gods that no one would notice the slick. I groaned in dismay, willing my erection to go away because there was nothing in here to catch my release.
“Gods, gods, gods, I can’t go back with a claymore in my pants!” I snarled beneath my breath. I gritted my teeth and held a whimper back, trying not to remember Hekla’s channel and how much I wanted to slide into it. My brain buzzed with arousal, and I couldn’t think at all.
“Get…” Hekla panted. “Get your golden ass over here.” I felt her tug at my pants, and my eyes shot open to find her rushing to free my cock. “I’ll be quick! I think? I don’t know what I’m doing! Ragna told me this was a thing!”
“Wha—” I asked, trying to follow her words.
Hekla hissed in surprise when she yanked my pants down, startled by my heavy cock springing free. “Moon Goddess, how…?” She grabbed my cock, and I bit my lower lip to hold in a cry of pleasure. She looked at it in concern from different angles, then leaned forward to slide it between her lips and into her mouth.
Staggering. The mate touch was staggering. Between her tight lips, the sensation of our destined connection had my vision greying. The tingling sparks of her skin on mine challenged my restraint, a heartless tease of what waited between her legs.
“Ah gods! Ah gods! Great Sun God, Hekla! You don’t have to d—Ahhh! Ah!” I scrunched my face up, trying to say everything in a whisper-yell. “We n-need to hurry or they’ll get s-suspi—Ahhh… Ahhh…”
Her response was too muffled to make out, and she moved her lips up my shaft, massaging with two hands what she couldn’t fit into her mouth. My panting became heated, and I fisted my hands, trying to keep from gripping her head and thrusting into her beautiful mouth. I stared down at her, watching her full lips stretch around my girth as she sucked and slid. Oh, it was a euphoric sight. Such a shame she was wearing clothes.
“Oh, shit… Ahhh… you are so good… so good. How are… Ah! How are you so good?” I grunted between my teeth, unable t o hold back the quiet sounds of my pleasure. She sped up the pace, and I gaped at the ceiling, feeling my sack tighten and cock tingle. I squeezed my eyes shut and ran my hands through my hair, going mad from her ambitious and amorous attention. I hung onto my last thread of control, trying not to buck into her mouth.
“Hekla!” I said under my breath. “I’m going to come. Are you sure?” She moved faster with her mouth, and I grew weak in the knees. “Is th-that a yes?” I hissed, starting to shake. She gripped my cock and massaged consistently while sucking on the head. Once she added her tongue, I was conquered.
I bit on my arm to hide a yell of euphoria, then gripped her head with both hands to steady myself as my seed filled her mouth. I hissed through my teeth, swallowing my cries of ecstasy while Hekla swallowed its proof. My hips pumped slightly with each ejaculation like they had a mind of their own, but Hekla didn’t seem to mind. She just received my load through her silenced lips, keeping our dalliance a secret between us. After my last release, I grabbed her arms and crumpled to the ground with her, trying to catch my breath.
“We…” I panted, “really should go back.”
“You dragged us down here…”
“You’re… right.” I groaned and threw an arm over my face.
After a minute she said quietly, “Back to pretending I don’t matter.”
I reached over to hug her and bury my face in her neck. “Back to protecting you, Hekla. My dear she-wolf. My female. Once I’m king, I’m going to change this brutal summer. I’m going to make it safer for you. Safer for everyone.”
“Please don’t fall in love with her,” she whispered tearfully. “Please don’t give up on us. I’m terrified. I’m so scared, Belenus.”
“Never going to happen,” I said, brushing her hair from her eyes. “That is impossible.”
I helped her stand, and we both tried to sort out our clothing and hair. Once we were ready, I held both her hands in mine, squeezing them once before dropping them and opening the door.. .
…to find the queen, the princess, and five guards as my sister lay face down on the ground, bleeding from the head.
HEKLA
I was stunned to find the queen and the nasty princess outside of the closet but beyond horrified to find Belenus’s adopted sister lying in a small pool of her own blood. I choked on a terrified sob and ran to her while my mate roared, “What have you done?”
I fell to Emer’s side and gaped at her head injury. Someone had knocked her unconscious but may have cracked her skull in the process. It wasn’t a big gash, but it was bleeding quite a lot. After I tilted Emer’s face away from the floor so she wouldn’t drown in her own blood, I moved her hand to prop her chin up gently and keened over her.
“Oh, she fell,” Eislyn said innocently, and I jerked my head to gawk at her. “It was a terrible sight! I was just about to call the guards when I heard a ruckus in the closet! What… what were you doing in there with the dog?” A low growl began in my chest. How could she just move on like that?
Belenus’s fists blanched at the knuckles, and he shook in fury as he addressed his mother. “Why aren’t you more upset? This is your daughter!”
The queen didn’t seem moved. “Adopted. Your late father brought her home. I didn’t,” she said coldly.
“And Eislyn,” he continued to shout, “you think I believe your story about her tripping? This was an attack. Don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes! I’ve seen some shit in my days during wartime! Who assaulted her?”
“I’d advise you not to speak in such a vulgar manner around your intended, my son,” the queen said in a crisp tone. “Now answer me this. Did you have intercourse with the mutt?”
“Don’t call her that! And no, I didn’t,” he seethed, pumping his fists. “Where’s the medical team for your adopted daughter?”
“I’ll call them in a minute,” she replied calmly.
“Call them now!” I snarled, growling louder. “She’s seriously hurt!” I turned to look down at Emer and stroked her strawberry-blonde hair. I could hear her heartbeat, but I had no idea if she’d suffered any brain damage. I was terrified for her and had no idea if I should put pressure on the cut. I looked up at Belenus and began to ask, “Belenus, can you heal h—”
“Stand before me, mutt!” the queen snapped, and I snarled back at her, letting her see my canines.
“No! I’m doing your job! I’m looking after your daughter! Kiss my ass!” I hovered protectively over Emer, feeling my wolf instincts lock onto Belenus’s sister like a wounded pack member.
Protect her, protect her, protect pack always! Eventide growled. In our loneliness, she’d been looking for anything we could call pack at this point and hung onto it with the ferocity of a mother wolf. She healed us; we protect her!
I will protect! I affirmed, unleashing my claws.
“Guards,” the queen called and gestured to me.
“Stop!” Belenus yelled. The queen ignored him, and two of her guards flanked me to grab a wrist each, making sure I couldn’t scratch them. I betrayed my instincts by halting halfway through a swipe, knowing it’d make things worse. At least that was what Belenus said would happen.
I was jerked before the queen, whose face was so still and cold that I’d have taken her for a statue. The spring princess hid behind her, never once dropping her traumatized mask. It was truly embarrassing to pretend to be a coward in order to obtain power. She was the opposite of any shifter I’d ever met. We didn’t value weakness. We protected the weak, but we didn’t use it as a weapon. That was utterly pathetic. What a disgrace she’d be if she were a wolf. She’d end up a rogue in a heartbeat, and no pack would have her .
Belenus’s mother parted her lips, but I couldn’t quite catch if she said anything or not. A long, thin wooden staff appeared in her left hand. The top of it looked like a little oak tree, and each branch seemed eager to grow in a blink should it be commanded.
I frowned as she curled a finger against the staff and coaxed a small strip of wood from it. She flicked her finger, and the wood snapped around my neck faster than I could blink. I recoiled in fear, surprise, and a deep sense of violation, like its connection seeped deeper than skin. I struggled, worried that something terrible was about to happen. I felt movement, and several buds seemed to sprout from the wood. I could barely see them at the bottom of my vision.
What in the name of the Sky Gods is this? Eventide yelped.
I don’t know!
I looked around, trying to find Belenus for comfort, but I couldn’t see him. He must be standing behind me. I bit my lip and tried to get my panicking under control.
“Hekla, answer me truthfully,” the queen stated, staring at me with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. Her gaze was a razor, as sharp as any alpha I’d met. I pressed my legs together, willing myself to not lose control of my bladder from fear. “Have you masturbated with my son in the last five days?”
What? Eventide asked.
I don’t understand her question, I replied, confused.
Does she mean us pleasuring each other or us pleasuring ourselves in front of each other? Eventide asked, more perplexed the more we thought about it.
I don’t know! Technically, isn’t masturbation solo? I don’t know how to answer this! I replied and found my panicking over a question like this completely absurd. I almost let out a manic laugh.
“You mean pleasing our own selves or ea—” I began, trying to get more clarification.
“Answer the question!”
“I mean, technically…” I cringed and gave my best guess. “Technically, I’d have to say no?”
A bud beneath my chin blossomed orange, and the queen shook her head. “Lie. Next question. Have you had sexual intercourse with my son?”
“What? That wasn—”
“Answer the question!”
“No, I have not!” I spitted, snarling. The second bud blossomed blue. The queen frowned and continued her interrogation. “Have your sexual organs touched?”
Great goddess, this is getting personal and graphic. Eventide blanched.
All I could do was tell the truth and hope it wouldn’t end my life. “That’d be a yes,” I said, feeling like I was about to vomit. I grew lightheaded and suspected that the wooden lie detector was making me ill. It was like invisible roots had invaded my skin, and I tried to blink away the black dots dominating my vision. I barely registered that Eislyn had put her hand to her forehead and made a big scene about how she was feeling faint. The absurd show further provoked my wolf.
“Oh, queen, this cannot be so! You and I know that Belenus loves me, truthfully. This wicked dog lured him in with her heat! You saw how he followed her out with all those other possessed men!” Eislyn wailed.
“It seems like she’s done you a wrong, Princess Eislyn. She’s forced herself upon your intended. Do you wish to exercise your right to retaliate?” the queen asked, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“No, I didn’t!” I choked out, appalled by the lies. How could they get away with saying whatever they wanted to say? How could lies run so rampant here, breeding like rabbits? Did the people know that this was how their court operated?
Eislyn’s chin trembled with perfect execution, and she nodded, squeezing out a couple tears for the full effect. I tilted my head and tried to find Belenus again. “Belenus… I’m confused… you said that as long as it wasn’t intercourse… I asked you if I’d get in trouble! D-did you lie?”
I still couldn’t see him, but I heard him speak in a tense voice. “I’m feeling more clear-headed now, Eislyn. There’s no need to take it out on the poor thing. Wolf nature is base. Let’s not kick an animal for its nature. Let her go, and let us return to our banquet. This has wasted enough of our time together.”
Please tell me this is an act, Eventide whispered.
It’s an act, it’s an act, it’s an act, it’s an act, I chanted and squeezed my eyes shut at the agony of forcing a thought upon myself that I wasn’t sure I believed. I was so confused. My people spoke plainly, and this was like trying to run through a maze that grew scarier by the heartbeat. I was starting to worry that there was no end to the maze and that I’d be trapped forever.
“So, I think the second and third answers contradict themselves, don’t you, Eislyn?” the queen asked, raising her chin. She ignored what her son had said as though he wasn’t there.
“I do!” Eislyn sniffed weakly.
“Since it’s unclear whether you had sex or no—” the queen began saying to me.
“Oh, it’s blisteringly clear!” Belenus snapped, interrupting her. “She answered that question truthfully!”
“Since it’s unclear,” she repeated in an icy tone, “you can choose between three punishments, mutt, instead of being banished from the Summer Court.”
“That is so generous, Your Majesty!” Eislyn simpered.
“So, mutt, will you choose a lashing with this beautiful aconite whip I made… just for you?” She gestured to a guard who held a braided brown whip made from a plant.
Hekla, Eventide warned in a hush, recognizing it, that could kill us. You remember that Ragna was only bound with it, and she was helpless.
I clenched my teeth and stared the queen down, trying hard to pull myself together.
“Or,” the queen continued, gesturing to another guard who held a slender silver collar, “you could choose to wear this beautiful silver collar I had the blacksmith create… just for you. I must say, it’d look beautiful at my son’s wedding to Princess Eislyn.”
The silver would rip at my flesh and silence my wolf…
No… Eventide croaked.
“I have to say, I’m a little late getting caught up on mutt-shifter biology, but I think these are appropriate punishments.” The queen braided her fingers together and tilted her head to look down at me. “Or thirdly, will you choose to reject my son as your fated mate?”
No, no, no! Eventide howled in despair, and her sorrow forced several tears out of my eyes. I scowled in fury, hating the impossible options she set before me. I had to discuss this with my wolf.
What do we do? I asked her, trying not to feel defeated.
Take the collar, take the collar! Eventide wailed, knowing it’d muzzle and weaken her spirit. I don’t want to risk dying, and I don’t want to lose Belenus! We can’t risk him accepting our rejection!
I… agree. I sniffed and furrowed my brows. I was torn in half. I wanted to go on a murderous rampage, but I also wanted to crawl into the darkest corner I could find and weep until everything went numb.
“Collar,” I decided, bitterly raising my chin to offer my neck. Now I’d know how my sub-pack mates felt when they had been collared. Only little Soley had been spared that torture thus far, and I hoped to the gods it’d stay that way.
“Eislyn, this is completely unnecessary. This is like shooting a stray dog at the market. Let’s just kick her out and be done with her,” Belenus insisted.
The words wrenched at my heart.
It’s an act, it’s an act… it’s an… act… I chanted, but my belief wavered. I knew what he’d told me, but the words stabbed. They cut deep and provoked a heavy bleed. I was raised to trust words, and these were so hard to dismiss. My heart felt like it’d received yet another crack.
The queen and Eislyn ignored Belenus, and a guard approached with the silver collar, a device of true wolf-shifter torture.
I screeched at her, bucking to pull back from the guard, “You’re going against the will of the Moon Goddess! I’m the vessel of the Sky Gods! Your reign is an embarrassment and an insult to the gods! Sacrilege!”
“I’m not afraid of those gods. We’re children of Faete,” the queen dismissed, completely unmoved by my warning and insult. What was she talking about?
I hope she regrets those words ,Eventide murmured bleakly.
“You won’t break me,” I warned, swallowing heavily and eyeing the hinges that the guard opened. “You may call me a mutt, but I’m a beautiful, strong mutt.”
“The ugliest fae is more beautiful than you,” the queen replied like an instructor correcting a pupil.
On those words, the guard snapped the collar around my neck.
Oh… The pain... The pain!
It was better described as a hot fireplace poker trying to choke me. I snapped my teeth shut, but a hiss escaped through my lips. The hiss became a tight, sustained, high-pitched groan, but I couldn’t hold it back any longer.
I spasmed and screamed from the deepening burn. I shrieked and thrashed, trying to get out of the guards’ hold. My eyes squeezed shut, but I couldn’t escape the pain. I tried stretching and angling my neck differently to get some air between metal and flesh, but the scalding silver grabbed and seared. The white-hot pain!
After riding another wave of agony, I recalled something my sub-pack mate had told us. Rakel said it’d gotten easier after the outside flesh had burned black. That had created a dead shield of some sort, so I wept while I waited.
The torture barely let me process anything around me. The queen and Eislyn discussed, and I believed I heard Belenus speak, but the environment otherwise swirled in a fog. A swell of exhaustion fell upon me, and grey dots cluttered my vision. Also lightheaded from shrieking, I panted heavily to catch my breath.
Belenus... I can’t do this anymore.