Wolflord: A Dark Shifter Romance Read online

  He swung her around and up into his arms before carrying her back to the bed. He laid her down before removing his own clothes and joining her under the sheets. Ruari pulled her to him so that she rested partially on his body with his hard thigh lodged between her legs and pressing against all of the erogenous zones in her nether region. She nestled her head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around her, resting his hand on her red and welted globes.

  Arielle closed her eyes and slept. She was awakened by the scent of roasted meat, freshly baked bread, and cheese. She raised her head from the pillow and regarded Ruari as he finished preparing their meal.

  “That smells good,” she said quietly, not quite sure how to approach him.

  She knew he could feel her discomfiture and came to sit with her. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her softly, but with a depth of feeling.

  “Did I get through to you, cushla macree?”

  She nodded.

  “Then we’ll eat and head for Ravenscar to collect our men, and if we still have some light, we will ride for home.”

  Arielle wiggled her way into his embrace. He rumbled at her contentedly and seated himself more comfortably as he pulled her into his lap. She winced, but held her tongue, as her welts made contact with the solid strength of his thighs.

  After they were finished, Arielle reached for the clothing she had brought with her—a pair of breeches and the bloodied shirt.

  Snatching them away, he growled, “I told you that the sight of you in men’s clothing is offensive. You will not wear breeches or a shirt stained with an enemy’s blood.”

  “Do you intend for me to ride naked to Ravenscar?” she snarled.

  “I would remind you to speak to me respectfully, mate, before I decide you need a lesson over my knee in how to do so.”

  “If I can’t wear what I have on, then what am I to wear?”

  Pulling on his breeches, he thrust his shirt at her.

  “That will have to do,” he said.

  “I can’t ride into Ravenscar dressed only in your shirt.”

  “Why not? You entered our castle that way shortly after I claimed you. As I recall both Gareth’s and Alaric’s mates have both done the same.”

  “I won’t,” she said, stomping her foot on the bare floor.

  His hand snaked out to swat her still painful backside.

  “You will do as I say,” he thundered. “The only question is whether I carry you into the manor house in my arms preserving your modesty until they can find you something more appropriate to wear or flung over my shoulder so that your welts are prominently displayed?”

  She shook her head and refused to meet his angry gaze, casting her eyes down.

  “No, my alpha, I will behave.”

  “That’s better,” he grumbled.

  They walked outside and Arielle was mortified to find that the men at the outpost were waiting to say goodbye. They were all very appropriate in their manner and speaking, but it didn’t take a genius to know they were all well aware that she had been thoroughly spanked and used by her mate. They seemed to accept that as a normal part of their lives.

  Ruari swung up on his horse and then lifted her up in front of him. A threatening growl cut off any protest she might have made. They rode in silence back to Ravenscar. Sloan and Bridget rushed out to meet them. Ruari growled when they approached too close.

  “Who the hell do you think you are to growl at me in the courtyard of my home?” challenged Sloan.

  “He thinks, my beloved, that he is the mate to a very naughty she-wolf and doesn’t need or want any interference on your or Bridget’s part. And while Bridget’s misbehavior is his to deal with... yours is mine. If you don’t apologize immediately, I will use a strap to remind you again of the deference you will show to an alpha wolf.”

  Gareth did not raise his voice, and the arm he wrapped around Sloan’s waist was more loving than threatening, but the steel of command in his tone of voice was unmistakable.

  Both Bridget and Sloan quieted immediately. Ruari dismounted and then lifted her down.

  “Sloan, do you have a gown you can let Arielle borrow for our trip home? Bridget, I’m glad to see you in more appropriate clothing. I trust Connor emphasized the importance of curtailing the level of foolishness you showed in accompanying and enabling my mate in her willful disobedience?”

  Arielle watched Bridget take a deep breath as she lowered her eyes.

  “Yes, my alpha. He made both his and your feelings on the matter clear in no uncertain terms.”

  Gareth chuckled. “Now that we have that settled... Sloan, why don’t you and Bridget take Arielle upstairs and help her into something more suitable. Will you be staying the night?”

  Ruari shook his head. “As my men only suffered minor injuries, I would prefer to make the best of the daylight and begin the trek for home. I am even more newly mated than you and would like to be able to get home and take my mate into seclusion.”

  “An excellent idea,” agreed Gareth.

  Sloan and Bridget led her into the manor house and up the stairs to a guest room.

  “Shit, Ari, when did that bastard take you to mate?” hissed Sloan the moment they were alone with Bridget.

  “The day you arrived. In fact, I’d just taken my vows...”

  “Had them forced from you,” interrupted Bridget.

  “He forced you?” asked Sloan. “Did he hurt you? I’ll have his guts for garters if he did.”

  “No,” said Arielle quickly. “He called me to mate. We are fated. I refused him and challenged him to let me run. It didn’t work out the way I thought it would.”

  “How did you think it would turn out?” asked Bridget.

  “I thought he’d head back to town or at least the coast. I wasn’t thinking he’d actually track me. So even though I went west, he caught me... not once, but twice. The second time, he marked and claimed me.”

  “You mean after he got you back to your keep...”

  “Oh, no,” said Bridget. “He took her maidenhead and marked her on the ground. Granted, he didn’t do it as a wolf, but still...”

  “Bridget, don’t make it out to be worse than it was. I challenged him; he won. He took what was his, but that night he more than made up for it. After all, I could have asked you to help me escape instead of helping me to ride to his side.”

  Sloan grinned at her. “I always said you and Rowan were more alike than most people thought. And right then, you sounded just like her. That knot thing can go a long way to helping you decide perhaps being mated to them isn’t so bad.”

  Bridget and Arielle looked at each other before looking back at Sloan and then starting to laugh.

  “Although I could do without the whole getting my ass beat,” quipped Sloan.

  “At least you and Arielle had someone to make up for the pain by pleasuring you afterwards.”

  “True,” mused Sloan. “But what is it they find so compelling about using your bottom hole for pleasure? Any time Gareth wants to reinforce his dominance, I get my ass fucked.”

  “The worst part is that I found pleasure in it as well. I climaxed for him and took great satisfaction when he emptied himself in me,” said Arielle quietly.

  She feared she had said too much until both women laughed and agreed with her. The two women helped Arielle into a lovely gown that she was sure Ruari wouldn’t object to.

  Bridget shook her head. “If they’re bastards, we’re sick bitches for loving them the way we do. Why did you head west? There’s nothing out there, except maybe mutants and monsters.”

  “And shapeshifters,” said Sloan. “I’ve always heard that the last stronghold of the shapeshifters was there.”

  Arielle realized both women were watching her.

  “I was pretty upset by the spanking. It was the first time and I didn’t like it. So I decided I didn’t care how I’d been raised... that everyone said my destiny was as mistress of a pack. One of Rowan’s and my ancestors was a she-wo
lf who founded an all-female pack in the Americas. I thought maybe I’d do the same.”

  “Ambitious, but foolhardy. You don’t know anything about Eire and what’s out there. I love you like you were my own sister,” said Sloan, “but you have few life skills that would allow you to live outside a loving pack.”

  “I killed Edwyn and won the battle, didn’t I?” challenged Arielle.

  She felt his presence, before Ruari knocked once and entered.

  “You might have waited for permission to come in. After all, Arielle might not have been clothed,” said Sloan.

  Ruari laughed. “She is my mate, Sloan. I have seen her in far less. In fact I have enjoyed seeing her in nothing at all. Arielle? Bridget? It’s time to go.”

  Arielle took his proffered arm as he turned to leave. Bridget hung back for a moment until Ruari made a low growl. She seemed to reconsider defying him and followed in their wake. Arielle wasn’t sure whether to be angry or amused that he had re-saddled the charger on which she’d ridden to his side. Instead of riding astride as she had when she left Dundalk, Ruari meant to see her ride sidesaddle.

  “You know,” Arielle whispered to Ruari, “they say originally women were forced to ride sidesaddle in order to preserve their maidenheads before they mated. I’m pretty sure you took care of that.”

  “That I did,” he rumbled as he kissed her before lifting her into the saddle.

  Gareth stood behind him and the two men embraced.

  “My thanks to you and your lady for your assistance. Let’s hope the Ruling Council and all the other packs are now aware that Calon Onest, Ravenscar, and Dundalk stand as one.”

  “If we need to teach them another lesson, we will do so, but next time I think I will lock my mate in one of our towers.”

  Arielle removed her foot from the stirrup to shove his shoulder away while both alphas chuckled.

  The next two and half days were spent making their way to where the warship Alaric had gifted Ruari was anchored. Ruari instructed his men, over Bridget’s protests, to seize the ship she and Arielle had used and to ensure that it was tied up at the main dock and guarded in such a way that neither Arielle nor Bridget could ever use it again without his permission. Once they had made landfall at Dundalk, Ruari left Connor in town to ensure that the guards at the harbor instituted more vigilant patrols to safeguard their people.

  The force that had gone to Ravenscar was greeted with a hero’s welcome as they entered the bailey of the castle. Bridget’s daughter ran to meet her mother and pestered her for tales of her adventure.

  “See that you include the fact that both of you were punished for your misbehavior,” admonished Ruari as he helped Arielle off her horse while the captain of the guard did the same for Bridget.

  Seamus came out of the keep wagging his finger and clucking under his tongue at both of the women. “You’d both better behave yourselves and make sure the rest of the she-wolves at Dundalk know the price you paid for your recklessness.”

  “Reckless she may have been, but t’was your lady who killed Edwyn and saved my life.”

  Arielle blushed as he led her into the castle.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After having celebrated their victory with their people, Ruari announced that he was taking his mate into seclusion. He hoisted her over his shoulder and amid the good-natured teasing of those in attendance, he took her up to their bedchamber.

  Over the course of the next few days, Ruari taught her what it truly meant to be mate to an alpha male wolf. She was a willing and enthusiastic pupil. Much to her delight, Ruari vacillated between bouts of rough, almost violent lovemaking where he hammered her pussy relentlessly, forcing her to come repeatedly before holding her close while he released copious amounts of cum, and other times, where he would take her gently and languidly in no hurry to do anything other than see how much pleasure he could wring from her.

  And then there was the magic of the knot and resulting tie. Arielle felt sorry for those she-wolves who would never know that most intimate of embraces. She craved the brief pain of his knot when he would breach her with it, knowing that what followed would leave her exhausted and sore.

  She had become so attuned and responsive to him that her body would begin to produce the nectar that he loved to eat or needed to make his mounting her a sensual act of possession at the slightest provocation. It didn’t seem to matter whether he meant to use her sheath or her bottom hole for their mutual pleasure. She still blushed and made a token resistance when he opted to use her dark passage, but he had made her confess that she enjoyed the act almost as much as he.

  One night as she lay in the aftermath of one such session, she asked, “Why do male wolves enjoy that?”

  “And how do you know I’m not perverse in some way?” he teased as he stroked her body.

  “Male wolves aren’t the only ones who tell tales,” she said as she stretched under his lazy fondling.

  “Do tell,” he rumbled at her. “I think because in addition to feeling unique and different, it is a very submissive act and we wolves revel in our mate’s submission. But then tell me, my beautiful mate, why do you experience such ecstasy in the act?”

  “You don’t know that I do...”

  “The howls you made last night were not those of pain.”

  She let a wave of shyness sweep over her, but nodded. For the most part she had lost her inhibitions with him, but still when he took her using her forbidden hole, the very act left her feeling vulnerable, and yes, submissive.

  Arielle thought she had felt nothing more exquisite than when he would lay her on her back and knot her face to face. She wondered at his willingness to continue to want her in that way as she often clawed at his back as he rocked her. Most often when he rolled to his back as she was tied to him, she fell asleep.

  But the last two nights, Ruari had knotted and tied her from behind. The intensity of the sensations of his knot breaching her core from that position made her come completely undone. Arielle had climaxed immediately and seemed to lose any and all ability to control her response to him. Each time he possessed her in that fashion, he had laid them on their sides, spooning them together in an even more intimate way as they slept.

  * * *

  On the last morning of their seclusion, Ruari had reached for her as she slept. She was awakened as he dragged her to her knees in front of him and mounted her without any foreplay. She became aware of the world around her as he grunted and groaned, pummeling her pussy and bringing her to orgasm twice before giving a final, brutal thrust and bathing her sheath with his creamy essence.

  “Our breakfast is here,” he rumbled as he uncoupled from her and fondled her backside with affection.

  He rose from the bed and crossed to the door to retrieve their food. He brought the tray to his desk and sat down.

  “Come and sit with me, sweetheart.”

  She reached for one of the gossamer gowns that had awaited her when they returned but stopped when Ruari growled at her.

  “What did I tell you about hiding yourself from my gaze when we are alone?”

  Arielle giggled and held the gown in front of her face so he could see it hid nothing. “I don’t think putting this on would interfere with your perusal.”

  “Maybe not, but I wouldn’t be able to feel the pebbled texture of your nipples or slip my hand between your legs to feel the state of your readiness for my use. You will be naked when we are alone. Now, come and sit in my lap and I will slake your other appetite.”

  She dropped the gown in a puddle on the floor and walked toward him. Her skin was flushed under his steely gaze. She marveled at the way he could arouse her with just a look. The very thought of the amount of pleasure that he could make her feel even at a distance frightened and compelled her in equal measure.

  As she got close, Ruari reached out and pulled her onto his lap. She felt his cock quickly coming to life beneath her. Impossible as it seemed to her, desire blossomed throughout her entire bein
g and she purred as she felt the hard ring of his knot steadily forming.

  * * *

  Ruari reached between her legs and stroked her as he bent his head, latched onto her pebbled nipple, and sucked.

  “My sweet mate,” he groaned.

  “Ruari, knot me...” she whispered with a growl.

  Realizing he had no resistance to her siren’s song, he plundered her mouth as he removed her from his lap and took her back to their bed. Reason told him that he should refrain from knotting and tying her this morning. There were things he needed to attend to, but as she responded to his kiss with a passion of her own, reason flew out the window. All that existed was Arielle and his need to be truly one with her,

  Ruari positioned her on her back, in their bed. His cock twitched and trembled as the large knot started to form. He nibbled, licked, and sucked his way down her body. Arielle writhed and moaned as he seduced her into a place he had yet to take her. He could feel her spirit take flight as he maneuvered his way down between her thighs, enjoying her skin quivering from his attention as he settled himself between her legs, throwing them over his shoulders so they rested on his back.

  Arielle climaxed as he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked hard. The sight of her body arching up to ensure closer contact between her mons and his mouth inflamed his lust and he felt the knot finish forming and beginning to throb in anticipation.

  “Oh, God, Ruari,” she cried, lost in her own pleasure.

  He continued to suckle and nip her pleasure bud until he felt her body getting close to the edge of a second orgasm. As she neared the crest, he removed his mouth, nuzzled the engorged nub with his nose, and plunged his tongue into her dripping slit. Again her body arched upward in an effort to establish an even closer and more intimate contact. Ruari’s cock pulsated with necessity and he knew her sheath ached in a way it never had. Knotting this woman, his mate, was all he’d ever wanted. If the fates would only allow him to possess her this way once more, he would gladly surrender his life. Nothing was more important than breaching her again with the bulbous protrusion that formed at the base of his staff.