Knut
997 Words
Knut
As Leif, Brokk and Rolf raced back towards the fray, I set a course for the west. The mountain where my pack made its home was many leagues from this evil, stinking place. My woman would not be safe until she was there with me, protected by the entire pack, living in the shelter I built for her and marked as my own.
She was mine, as I claimed, though she did not know it yet.
“My warriors will go back. They will save your friend. She is one of our pack and was taken from us several days ago. We have been searching for her and the trail led us to you.”
An unforeseen treasure. A gift from the goddess I will not ever give up. I, Knut, a warrior to the bitter end, disobeying my leader’s mandate. I would rescue her, and accept my Alpha’s punishment.
We reached the river again and she struggled. “Put me down. I want to walk.”
I held her fast. “We will travel faster if I carry you. Besides, you have no shoes.”
“I do not know you,” she pressed her hands against my chest. “I do not want to go with you.”
I saw red again, and fought for control. To wait so long for the woman to break the curse, only to succumb to it now--it would not be born. I had to rein in the beast.
“Stop, little one. You are not thinking clearly. You are in shock,” I growled.
She struggled further and I threw her over my shoulder, peppering her soft backside with a few decisive smacks.
The beast inside me surged to the fore. It wanted to mark her, tear her flesh, taste her blood, give a wound that would scar and show all she was in my possession.
I gritted my teeth, resisting the call to turn into a monster.
A sharp pain blossomed in my backside. I howled and swung her back down. She backed away, still holding the splintered end of the stick she’d stabbed me with.
“None of that.” I charged, easily snatching the piece of carved wood away. I tossed it aside. In a flash, I was in front of her, dropping to one knee and tugging her over it. Her hands hit the ground as my palm connected with her sweet bottom. Her butt cheeks wobbled under the thin fabric. I bared her bottom and turned pink with a few well-placed swats. The beast within in me crowed its savage approval, but I was calm and levelheaded.
She had to obey, so I could keep her safe.
My woman didn’t cry, but let out little angry grunts as I punished her. I did not like disciplining her so soon, but she needed to know who was in charge and this was the fastest way to teach her.
Four more heavy swats and I clamped a hand on the back of her neck, holding her still. My other cupped her glowing cheeks.
“Now, will you listen to me?”
She kicked in response and I let loose on her bottom, a series of forceful smacks to show her I would not tolerate her resistance. After a minute, her frustrated sounds turned to breathless mews. I smacked the tops of her thighs a few times and added one or two to the apex of her legs.
A gasp and a sweet tang filled the air, mingling with her strawberry scent. Arousal.
But I wasn’t the only one who scented it.
The woods around us filled with a sibilant sound, coming closer. Grey Men. We’d lingered too long.
“Be still.” I clasped her in my arms. “Our enemies are near.”
My woman had a dazed expression. Not frightened or upset, but docile. “We will escape this,” I told her. “But you will follow my commands. Understand?”
She had enough presence of mind to nod. Her face was flushed, an after effect of her hanging head down over my bent knee, but also a sign of her excitement. She’d responded to the impromptu discipline. She lay a hand against my jaw, steadying herself.
I stole a quick kiss, just a hard press of my lips against hers. A touch of heaven, in case the next fight was my last. “I won’t let them take you,” I promised and pulled her up. She clung to my hand with both hers.
The hissing came from three sides now.
“They are trying to surround us.” I backed up, taking her with me. “When I tell you to run, you run.”
If she escaped now, I could keep the Grey Men from her and track her later. Perhaps she wouldn’t see the beast come over me, shaping my form into a magical creature twice as tall as her, with fur and claws—a vicious blend of human and wolf. “Now.” I pushed her. My voice was a guttural bark as my throat reshaped. Magic tingled at the base of my spine, my bones ready to crack and shift with the Change. “Go,” I grunted.
When the Grey Men came through the trees at me, she ran to pick up the splintered staff, and whirled with me to face the enemy as if the stick was a sword.
When I gestured to her to flee, she gripped her meager weapon tighter and shook her head.
Fur was already rippling down my arms when I scooped up my woman and dropped her at the base of an oak.
“Stay,” I told her. I wished I could protect her from the sight of the monster I would become, but the spanking hadn’t touched her stubbornness. If I wasn’t so annoyed, I’d almost be proud.
Whirling with a roar, I attacked the creatures before the first wave could reach her. I’d left my shield but still had my axe, sent it crashing into the frontrunner of the ranks of corpse-like creatures, and completed the Change. Rage turned my vision red. Shouting my battle cry, I charged, unafraid. I was suffering under a greater curse than these draugr and capable of far more evil.
I would save my woman even it if earned me her fear.
- Writer
