Given to the Berserkers

Chapter 1-1

1

Nine moons later

I saw the wolf through the branches of the berry bush. Large and reddish with a white splash on his tail, he sat with his tongue lolling out, watching me.

With a smile, I turned back to the waiting branch and picked another handful of berries for my lunch.

A subtle wind lifted my skirts and brought a fresh, open scent--like the earth after spring rain. Leaves crunched under someone’s foot--the sound too slight to notice unless I was waiting to hear it.

A pair of large, rough hands covered my eyes.

“Guess who,” the Scottish brogue tickled my ear.

“Fergus,” I whirled with a grin, and took in the young warrior, his handsome face and broad, muscled shoulders making my mouth water.

He stood bare-chested and unashamed, wearing nothing but a loincloth around his nethers. The pink in his cheeks was the only sign that he was affected by the slight chill.

I cleared my throat, ducking my head to hide my blush. “You should not be here…and I cannot see you like this.”

“I cannae carry clothes wherever I go. My wolf likes to run unencumbered.” His voice dropped to a seductive rumble, “Look at me, Muriel.”

I did as he bid, raising my gaze to meet his clear blue ones. I watched in fascination as the magic within him took hold and turned his eye color to bright gold.

“I’ve missed ye, lass.”

“And I’ve missed you,” I whispered. Much had changed since we’d first met, exchanging names through the bars of the cage. My sisters and I lived with the Berserkers, less as captives and more as prized guests. Tensions between the packs had died down, but there were still treaties and negotiations. Fergus acted often as a go-between, and so even though I was with the Lowland Pack, I saw him often—but always in the presence of the Alphas or a few guards. Never alone, in a secret meeting, like this.

“Ye look well.”

My skin tingled as his gaze swept up and down my form, hungry.

Clearing my throat, I sought for a change in subject. We had little chance to converse beyond a look, a small touch, a carefully worded greeting. The entire pack watched over my sister and me, for we were their hope for the future. But of all the giant, forbidding warriors, only Fergus could make me laugh with his antics, and the sly, silly comments that were innocent enough, but I knew were meant for me.

“I hoped you would find me today.”

“Yes?” He took a step forward, eyes lit.

“Yes,” I backed away, blushing. “I know I am not to speak to any of the warriors because I am unmated, but I wanted to speak to you.”

“Well, then, lass.” He kept moving forward, and I kept backing away. “What did ye want to say?”

No matter how much distance I put between us, he stalked me slowly. At last he cornered me against the berry bush. My heart beat faster, fluttering like a bird taking flight.

He raised his hand and offered me a white flower.

Warmth rushed through me. Smiling, I took hold of it by the stem. “I knew it was you.” Lately, I’d found the little white flowers everywhere. A small token that could’ve been carried by a bird, or fallen from a tree, but when I found it on a stump in the clearing near our new home, or a rock in the stream where Sabine and I washed our clothes, I’d guessed it was a gift from the red wolf. “Thank you. It’s beautiful. But I need to tell you...I wanted to warn you. You should not come so close to me. It’s not safe.”

He tilted his head, as if touched at my worry. “I dinnae care about my safety.”

“I do. Please, Fergus. I don’t want the others to find you here.”

“They willnae catch me. I am small, yes, but I am fast when I’m the wolf.”

I started to protest and he held a finger up, almost brushing my lips. “Do ye want to spend our time arguing?”

“No.”

“Then let us speak of other things.”

There was so much I wanted to ask him, so much I wanted to know. I often imagined him while I lay awake at night on my pallet, pressing the white flowers he left for me to my lips.

“Does it hurt to Change?”

“Not into the wolf. The beast, our Berserker form, is brought on by extreme emotion. That can be painful, if only because of the desire to fight and rip apart the very earth. But we shall speak no more of becoming monsters.” His voice was light, but I knew he worried about the beast taking over his mind. All Berserkers were once men who were cursed with the magic of the Change. They could control the shift from man to wolf, but after decades of fighting, they eventually lost control of their monstrous third form: the beast.

To me, though, Fergus was no monster. The red-headed warrior could’ve been a boy from my village, grown up into a man I could love. I’d always imagined such a suitor courting me. We’d have a country wedding, and a sweet, simple life with each other and our children.

My life had changed but I held onto my small, sunny dream. Whenever I was with Fergus, I felt it could still come true.

I swung off my cloak and wrapped him in it.

“Walk with me?” I invited. We weren’t supposed to be near each other. War could break out if we were found together, but the pull between us couldn’t be denied.

As we ambled along the woodland path in silence, his hand clamped on my wrist over my long sleeve. I let him lead me deeper into the forest. My heart thumped, eager to find a secret place where we could strip our souls bare and be with each other, without any threat of being found hanging over our head.

“You’ve grown a little these past few moons,” he said in his beautiful, lilting voice.

“Gotten fat?” I asked with a coy look.

“No. More’s the pity. I like a wee bit of meat on my woman’s bones.”

I shook my head.

“I jest, Muriel. You’re beautiful.” His fingers brushed my cheek.

Blushing, I arched away from his caress. I’d spent nights longing to feel his fingers on my skin, pressing the white flowers to my lips. But I’d been warned not to let a Berserker touch my skin. Fergus knew this as well. In the spell of the dark, quiet forest, and each other’s presence, it was easy to forget the rules.

“Where are we going?”

His hand dropped to take hold of my wrist again. “Not much farther.”

Finally, we reached a place where little light broke between the thick branches of the towering pines. A stream ran through the heart of a grove of ferns, and here Fergus stopped. Hands spanning my small waist, he lifted me and set me on a broad, flat stone splitting the rush of water, and stepped onto it with me. Before I lost my balance, he tugged me closer, holding me in his arms like we were a couple dancing at a midsummer fair.

“Fergus,” I kept my eyes on the hard ridge of his muscle along the center of his chest. Lean and wiry, he was the smallest of his Berserker pack, but still two heads taller than me and much, much stronger. Stronger than any human in existence. “We shouldn’t be together like this. It is forbidden.”

“Muriel,” the way he breathed my name sounded like a song, a prayer. “Look at me.”

“I cannot,” I kept my gaze averted. “Sabine says I must not look any members of the pack in the eye, or risk giving great offense.”

“Any other warrior in the pack, aye. But not me. Never me. Look at me, wee one,” He gave a command and tipped my chin up with a finger.

He had eyes of a storm far off over the ocean. When the beast was upon him, they turned gold with an otherworldly light.

“I have things to say to ye, but I cannae say them yet. I haven’t the right.”

Now my cheeks were turning pink as heat poured through me in response to his touch. “Can you not say a few of them?”

“I would that I could. Some day, soon, I will. I’ll tell ye all ye want to hear, and more.” His promise sent warmth through my body. We had an ocean of difference between us--he was a Berserker of the Highland pack, and I was a captive and ward of their enemies; he was a werewolf, I was not--but in that moment we shared the same breath, the same heart.

Bowing his head, his forehead brushed mine, and his voice dropped to a deep rumble that spread tingles through me. “If I had my way, I’d show ye my thoughts as well as tell ye. Ye ken?”

I opened my mouth, and his head jerked.

“Do ye hear that, lass?”

“No.”

“Your sister calls for ye.” His tone held regret.

“I have to go.” I whispered.

“I know.”

I pulled free a ribbon from my dress Head bowed, I wrapped the green cloth around his bicep.

When I stepped away, he caught my hand, pulled me back. I leaned into him, my eyes closed, and his lips brushed mine.

I smiled the rest of the walk home.