Wolflord: A Dark Shifter Romance Read online

  “I was, but felt as beta I couldn’t seek Alaric’s permission to claim her. Her destiny has always been to be mistress of a great pack...”

  “Dundalk stands greater than any other pack or clan.”

  “That it does. I’ve been given to believe that Alaric would look favorably on my request once he knows I am called to her. He is sending a small warship with some supplies and extra men. He also thought we might like to have it just sitting in our harbor.”

  It was Connor’s turn to nod. “It will certainly send the right message. First that you have a warship at your disposal and second that we are allied not only with Ravenscar, but with Calon Onest. So who is the she-wolf that will soon be mistress here at Dundalk?”

  “Arielle of Calon Onest, the younger sister to Alaric’s mate.”

  “Well done, my alpha. So how may I assist you?”

  “I will send a messenger to Calon Onest inviting Arielle for a visit so I can begin the courting process.”

  “And if she proves to be reluctant?”

  Ruari laughed loudly. “Once I have convinced Alaric I am her fated mate, any reluctance on her part will be irrelevant. Arielle has been raised to be mistress to an alpha. She is pretty, kind, sweet, biddable, and submissive. She is also a virgin so will need to be introduced to lovemaking carefully, but will, I am sure, be an enthusiastic and responsive mate and will bear me many sons and daughters.”

  Another knock came as Seamus stuck his head in the room.

  “Connor tells me I have no need to look for a third ranking member of our clan,” said Ruari with a smile.

  “It would be my honor, Alpha. So let my first official act be to let you know that Alaric’s warship has arrived with supplies and a certain lovely blonde she-wolf with brilliant blue eyes.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Ruari. “I thought I would have felt her presence.”

  Seamus, who had taken his own fated mate two years earlier, shook his head. “Not at this distance... at least not until you have marked and claimed her. But the captain said to tell you she was here, and he would bring her with him once the ship was unloaded. He did, however, send you a message from Alaric.”

  “So his captain would trust us with a message, but not the girl?” growled Connor.

  Ruari grinned at him. “You do know her sister once sent the head of an unwanted suitor back to the Ruling Council in a basket, don’t you? I can’t blame the captain; I would be reluctant to deliver her into anyone’s hands not specifically named in Alaric’s orders. I’m surprised though that he sent Arielle...”

  “Apparently, no one sent her. The captain found her as a stowaway.”

  Connor laughed. “I thought you said sweet, biddable, and submissive...”

  Ruari started to growl in reaction to Connor’s teasing about his mate, which only made Connor laugh that much harder before both Ruari and Seamus joined him. Ruari spoke with his beta and omega a few more minutes discussing things he needed done. Seamus was tasked with having rooms readied for Arielle and the supplies unloaded and stored. Connor would see to the ship’s complement of soldiers and getting them aptly quartered. Ruari planned to read Alaric’s note and then ride to the harbor to take possession of his mate.

  “She had best have one hell of a reason to have endangered herself that way or our courting will get started with her finding herself face down over my knee,” grumbled Ruari.

  The other two ranking members left their new alpha to ready himself to greet his mate. Once they were gone, Ruari opened the message from Alaric.

  Ruari,

  If Lucien has given this message to you,

  it means that Arielle has run away from

  home in a rare display of temper.

  She was disciplined for putting herself

  in danger and disobeying me. If it is, as it

  seems, I would urge you not to go

  lightly on punishing her as it means she

  is showing latent tendencies to follow

  in Rowan’s and Sloan’s footsteps.

  Gareth tells me Arielle is your fated

  mate. If that is the case, I wish you

  a long and happy pairing as well as

  welcome you to the family. If not, then

  accept my apologies for burdening you

  with an unwanted guest at this time.

  In either event, I leave Arielle in your

  capable hands until either I can have her

  returned home or she passes from

  this life to the next.

  Alaric

  Ruari smiled, tucked the note into his shirt, and proceeded to get dressed. Trotting down the stairs, he called to Connor.

  “Send one of Alaric’s men on a good horse to Calon Onest. Tell him to thank Alaric for sending my mate to me.”

  Connor grinned. “I will see that he is away before morning.”

  Ruari left the keep and headed to the barn to saddle his horse. Within a very short while, he was headed toward his harbor feeling more at home and happier than he could remember in a long time. His plan was to bring Arielle home riding in front of him on his stallion. She could either do so sitting up and presenting herself as a proper and cherished mate or thrown over his mount’s withers as a conquered one. He had yet to decide whether to follow Alaric’s suggestion and take her to task for running away and establish from the beginning that he would not tolerate any kind of misbehavior.

  He smiled as the thought of having his mate over his knee caused his cock to stir. He noted that it was interesting that as beta he had never found having to punish one of their she-wolves the least bit arousing. He had, as had most wolves past a certain age, often heard that disciplining one’s mate led to feelings of arousal by the one giving the spanking and were felt just as deeply by the one receiving it—some said even more so. The sex that followed was described as intense, incredibly satisfying, and restorative. For the first time in his life he found he was looking forward to the idea of watching Arielle’s pale ivory derriere turning rosy before deepening further to red. The idea of having her by the hips and feeling her heated bottom as he slammed his pelvis into it, stroking her hungry pussy with his shaft, was incredibly erotic.

  Ruari decided it was best to get his thoughts back under control before he found he was unable to control his urges when they met again. He reminded himself she was unschooled in the ways of love and it would fall to him to ensure she got as much out of their encounters as he did.

  He rode into the village, intent on his purpose, but taking the time to acknowledge his people’s greetings as he passed by. Ruari rode down to the dock and as one of the guards stationed there came out to meet him and take his horse, he could hear a woman’s screeching. That might have concerned him except that he found the sensation of buzzing bees in his head and stinging nettles being rubbed over his entire body to be comforting. It was as Gareth had described the experience of being called to Sloan. The caterwauling from the boat reassured him that it was Arielle who was his fated mate... and she was here at Dundalk.

  Chapter Four

  Lucien tried again to gain entrance to the captain’s cabin where Arielle had taken up residence and refused to leave. She had insisted on continuing to wear the breeches she had been wearing when she was found and would not change into anything more appropriate.

  “I won’t be handed off to him like I’m part of the supplies,” she shrieked. “Either let me go or take me home.”

  “That I cannot do. Alaric’s orders were quite specific. If you were on board, I was to deliver you to the alpha of Dundalk...”

  “I don’t want to be delivered to anyone. I swear I’ll run you through if you try to come in here again.”

  Arielle could hear some scuffling outside the door but remained at the back of the cabin with the pommel of the sword resting on the window ledge. She had propped herself up against the back wall so the ledge could take part of the weight of the sword. Lucien had sent one man below to try to fetch he
r up on deck to await the arrival of Dundalk’s new alpha, Ruari. She had scored a deep cut along his ribs and felt proud of herself for having done so.

  She craned her head trying to sharpen her hearing. After Lucien had closed the door and she heard the scuffling, Arielle felt dizzy, disoriented, and sick to her stomach. She shook her head trying to clear it, but all three sensations increased in their intensity. She was trying to clear her head when the door opened and she was confronted by Gareth’s beta, now the alpha of Dundalk. He entered the room, took note of the sword and the wreck she’d made of the cabin, and closed the door behind him.

  “Get out!” she shouted.

  “No,” he said calmly. “Put down the sword and behave yourself.”

  Arielle waved the sword threateningly at him and growled low in her throat. “Get out.”

  Ruari insulted her by chuckling. “You will learn, mate...”

  “I am not your mate...”

  “You are. Put the sword down before you hurt yourself or someone else.”

  Arielle brandished the sword at him and growled. Taking a firmer grip on its handle, she charged. He sidestepped her neatly, as she had once seen Rowan do in a duel, and Arielle realized she’d overcommitted herself. Ruari grabbed the grip behind her hands, disarmed her, and landed a hard swat to her backside; Arielle stumbled forward. She whirled around to face him.

  “This is a fine sword, Arielle. Where did you get it?” he said, examining it.

  “It was my father’s. Now it is mine.”

  “In other words, you stole it. Another piece of naughty behavior for which you need to be spanked. Even if it had been yours, as you are now my mate, it would be mine.”

  “You can’t have it,” she threatened.

  “I already do. Try and take it from me or put your hands on it again, and I’ll use the flat across your backside to teach you not to play with swords.”

  “I’m not playing,” she said as she rushed him.

  She tried this time not to overcommit, but the ship lurched. Ruari let the sword clatter to the floor as he stumbled backwards and pulled her into his arms. He gathered her into his embrace and lowered his head to kiss her. Arielle could hear and feel the deep rumbling coming from within him and found it to be sensual, exciting, and reassuring all at the same time. She remembered her sister saying that often when Alaric called to her, she felt weak in the knees. Arielle’s legs weren’t wobbly; she felt as though they would simply buckle and refuse to hold her upright. Trying to find her equilibrium, as his mouth threatened to capture hers, she bit his lip and head-butted him... something Sloan had taught her to do.

  * * *

  Ruari jumped back and grinned. Suddenly he understood the allure of a mate who wasn’t necessarily going to always behave herself. He reached up and touched his lip. The little vixen had bitten him hard enough to draw blood.

  “I see you have far more of your sister in you than anyone realized.”

  “You may see that as an insult, but I do not. If you don’t give me my sword and release me this instant, I will bite you again.”

  Ruari was enjoying this new defiant side of his mate. Her eyes blazed a brilliant blue, her skin was flushed, her breathing erratic and the scent of her arousal hung between them. He inhaled deeply and smiled.

  “You may have drawn first blood, but when I sink my teeth into you, beloved, it will be to mark and claim you as mine.”

  Arielle growled and backed away. Her eyes locked with his as she leaned down to retrieve the sword. Realizing what she planned to do, and not putting deadly intentions on her part outside the realm of possibilities, Ruari intervened and snatched it up off the floor. He tossed it in the air and caught it by the grip as his other hand snaked out to take hold of her arm.

  Ruari jerked her toward him. As he flung her past his side, he brought the flat of the sword across her backside. Arielle yowled and her arousal spiked.

  “Ouch!”

  “Didn’t I warn you about playing with swords? Do it again and I’ll do more than just lightly tap you with it.” He took note of the clothing she wore. “Do you have proper clothing with you?”

  She raised her chin defiantly. “I see nothing wrong with what I have on.”

  “I do. And mine is the only opinion that counts. Answer me. Do you have appropriate clothing with you? My mate will not enter our keep dressed as some kind of runaway waif.”

  Arielle stomped her foot. “I am not your mate and you are not going to tell me what to do.”

  “As you well know, I am. I can see your reaction to my call as well as smell the sweet perfume of your arousal. I do believe Gareth was right when he said she-wolves are often more prone to obedience once their mate’s hand has left their backside stinging. And as I recall the story, your sister was relieved of her virginity after having her blistered bottom put on display. Unless you’d like to have yours taken in the same manner, I suggest you settle down and behave yourself.”

  Ruari spied her small bundle of clothing and picked through it. Finding the one gown she had packed, he tossed it to her as he turned to the door.

  “Get dressed, Arielle. We should head back to the keep so you can prepare whatever ceremony you want for our pair bonding. I think the happiness of our pairing will be welcome after my brother’s passing. I’m sure we have dressmakers who can make you something new, if you like. Don’t take too long in your planning, I won’t wait long to claim you. The wolf in me has little patience when aroused.” He made a show of sniffing the air. “And your scent has most definitely left me in that state.”

  He heard something crash behind him as he closed the door.

  * * *

  Who the hell did he think he was, speaking to her like that?

  Arielle threw the ceramic pitcher at the door. Granted, it did no damage to either the door or the arrogant bastard who’d walked through it, but the loud crash made her feel somewhat better. She opened the window along the back wall of the stateroom. Like the other portals, it didn’t appear to be big enough to allow her to escape through it. Eyeing the dress on the bunk, she realized the window would accommodate tossing her dress through it; so, she did so.

  Within a few moments, and without knocking first, Ruari strode back in the room.

  “I saw the dress,” he said in a neutral tone. “It won’t do you much good out in the harbor. I thought about having it fished out of the water and making you wear it anyway but decided that was not the lesson you needed to learn.”

  “I don’t need to learn anything from you.”

  “We have a difference of opinion. I suspect we will have more of those than I originally thought. Part of the lesson you need to learn today is that my opinion is the only one that matters. When you forget that, or choose to blatantly disobey me, as you did with the dress, you will be punished. As you are still a virgin, that won’t be as satisfying for either of us as it will be once you have taken your vows and I have taken your maidenhead.”

  Not knowing what else to do, Arielle looked around for something to use as a weapon. Seeing nothing, she picked up the ceramic bowl that had matched the now shattered pitcher and launched it at his head. He caught it easily.

  “You will find, cushla macree, that having been a beta before I became alpha, I have far less tolerance for misbehaving she-wolves than your sister’s mate or even Gareth.”

  “And I dislike arrogant wolves even more than Rowan or Sloan,” she said, looking him in the eye. “It seems we are ill-suited. If you will return my sword to me, I will take my leave of you.”

  Ruari growled low and seductively; a wave of pure desire washed over her and Arielle’s entire body shuddered in response. He closed on her and was within inches of her before wrapping one of his muscular arms around her waist and pulling her close.

  “Nay, lass, we are more than well suited, and you know it. You are my fated mate and will do better if you learn to obey me from the start. When I rode to the harbor this morning, I had hoped to carry you back sit
ting in front of me on my horse as my treasured mate. It would seem, instead, you will arrive face down across his withers as my captive one.”

  Realizing that having grown up around warriors had done little to prepare her for being mated to one, or even dealing with one not under her sister’s command, Arielle tried to take a step back. The memory of Alaric riding into Calon Onest with her sister draped across the saddle in front of him with her freshly spanked bottom on display flashed in her memory.

  “No,” she whispered, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

  “Yes. The only question that remains is will our people get to see the evidence of their alpha’s displeasure or not.”

  Ruari released her body but took her by the hand as he walked toward the bunk. As she had with Tristan, she tried resisting, but Ruari was too strong.

  “Ruari, no. I am not going to let you spank me.”

  “There’s little you can do to stop me. I suppose that’s the first lesson you need to learn. My word is law and when I make a decision, I expect you to comply. If you disagree with me, you may tell me in private, but you will submit to my will. That starts now. I’ve decided you’re in need of a spanking, and I mean to see that you get it.”

  Sitting down, he stripped her breeches down and pulled her over his knee. He gently rubbed her backside. While Tristan had done the same after he had finished spanking her, she was experiencing far different feelings from Ruari’s sensual touch. She had often seen Alaric fondle Rowan’s backside in a similar manner over her clothes and had wondered how it might feel. She liked the way Ruari’s hand caressed her bottom. It surprised her when her nipples started to stiffen, and she could feel desire swirling in her most feminine spot.

  She rubbed her thighs together, which caused him to rumble at her from deep within his chest. The sound resonated within her and ratcheted up the tingly feeling, which seemed to be skittering along her skin while at the same time permeating the marrow of her bones. He called to her in the ancient way of their kind and this time she answered with a sound that was half purr and half growl.

  The sound seemed to please him, and he allowed his finger to glide down between her twin globes, pausing only briefly to touch her dark rosebud before languidly stroking her labia. Her feminine dew pooled itself in her core to ease his penetration of her sheath. Arielle was unprepared for the enormity of what she felt. No man had ever touched her there and the feeling of Ruari’s gentle stroking was far more pleasurable than when she touched herself. Her blood seemed to be pounding through her veins in the same rhythm that she could feel his staff throbbing beneath her.