Virgin Outcast: Bred to the Beast (5 page)

He growled then.  "So be it," he said.  "And damn that witch to hell."  He bent forward and touched his hands - forepaws - to the grass, then leapt forward
.

Kara gasped in surprise at his speed and took a step back as the massive beast barreled into her.  She braced herself for impact, but he rolled as they fell and hit the ground with his shoulder, pulled her over him, then turned again so she landed on in the grass almost softly, her arms pinned to the earth by his big, strong hands.  Sharp claws pressed against the soft skin
along her inner
wrist, and she wondered if he could feel her pulse.

As she lay in the cold wet grass with the beast atop her, his eyes met hers, and that yellow gaze was like a churning pool of emotion; loneliness and longing at war with a wild animal hunger.

"I cannot resist you," Luther said.  "My father warned me it would be this way.  But he didn't warn me that you would be beautiful."  He averted his gaze then and burrowed his big long head against her neck, nuzzling the soft white flesh above her collarbone.  A long tongue flickered out, tasting her even as rain cascaded across her
skin
. 
Kara shuddered.  The cold rain had drenched her so thoroughly, and now his mouth felt warm on her skin.

One clawed hand released her wrist and hooked the neckline of her
shift
.  She felt a jerk and heard the tearing of
thin
fabric over the rain. 
The white linen
parted, neatly cut down the middle, and Luther moved his mouth lower, his warm tongue exploring her breasts.  Her nipples, already puckered and firm from the chill and the rain, ached for his touch, and a wild tingle shot through her when his tongue flickered over them.  She moaned and arched her back, pushing her bottom and shoulders into the thick carpet of grass, thrusting her breasts up towards him.

Without thinking, she grabbed Luther's massive head and pulled it against her.  She wanted so badly for this to be Mykal, but Mykal had given himself to Rela.  She knew now why the Wise Woman had made her watch
,
to plant a seed of jealousy in Kara's mind so that when this moment came, she would be more willing.  Kara hated Rela for her scheming, but some part of her wanted Luther.  Her life had been turned upside down in a single day, yet here was a man who held true to himself, even though that meant life as an outcast.

Luther sensed her desire as a wolf scents distant prey on the wind, and his hands roamed over her
, a rough caress that left rippling gooseflesh in its wake and made her crave his touch.

He rolled to one side, kissing her neck, her face, her breasts while his hand moved down her flat belly, and his claws left faint red lines that weren't quite scratches on her soft skin.  He ripped the dress further to expose the tuft of dark hair at her crotch, and his long fingers slid between her thighs.

Kara shuddered as his fingertips brushed her inner lips, and she opened her legs to him.  She was wet from more than the rain, and his fingertips found her moisture as he spread her apart.  She cried out into the howling wind as he massaged her sensitive bud, ripe and swollen and ready for his touch.  His hunger was too wild for gentleness, and the touch was almost more than she could bear.  She gripped his shaggy mane and convulsed beneath him, but Luther would not relent.  His finger slid up and down between her folds, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she thrashed.

Luther slid down between her legs, kneeling on the wet grass with his muzzle between her thighs.   Hi
s yellow eyes met hers as his mouth pressed against her sex.  He inhaled deeply, savoring her musky odor, then his tongue probed her slit, rolling gently upward until it touched the quivering nub of flesh.  She gasped and writhed on the wet grass, but he took her hips in a firm grip, pinning her to the earth.  Luther's mouth pressed harder, and warm pleasure exploded through her.  For a long moment, she couldn't feel the rain or the chill.  The only thunder she heard was blood rushing in her ears, her heart hammering in her chest. 

Kara grabbed fistfuls of grass, squeezing and pulling as a climax rolled through her body.  The wind howled and lighting flashed above, leaving purple afterimages across her vision as thunder boomed, a crash that she felt deep inside, resonating with the shockwaves of pleasure emanating from the beast's tongue.

When it ended, she slumped into the grass, panting.  Exhausted though sh
e was, her sex ached for more.  It was the
same urgent need she'd felt with Mykal in the smithy
, a void inside her that needed to be filled.  S
he took Luther's head in her hands and pulled him up.

Luther
needed no urging.  He lunged upward, and in the blink of an
eye,
his
huge body
loomed over her and
shielded her from the rain
.  She put his hands on his bulging arms and looked up into his golden eyes.  Luther's humanity had vanished from that gaze; all she saw was raw animal lust.  She opened herself to that lust and surrendered.

Luther thrust his hips forward and entered her in one long, smooth motion.  As his
rigid cock
pierced
her maidenhead, a sharp pain rolled through her body, quickly replaced by a flood of sweetness as his thick shaft plunged deep inside her.  Kara's back arched, and she trembled beneath him as her
virginal
blood trickled onto the wet grass beneath them to be washed away by the rain.

Luther let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a growl.  His clawed hands tore the earth to either side of Kara's head, and he began to move, pumping with a desperate hunger.  His savage thrusts pushed at her, moving her on the grass.  She thought of the Wise Woman pinned by her betrothed's huge body, and she wrapped her legs around Luther as she'd seen Rela do.  Now she moved with him,
using his own body to take shelter from
his brut
ish
and untamed hunger.

The thought of Rela and Mykal was too fresh a wound, and she pushed it aside, focusing instead on this new sensation.  She'd never before had a man inside her, and Luther was a man like no other.  Thick and long and rigid as an ax handle, he slid in and out smoothly, swinging his hips in long arcs that brought him almost out, then plunged deep, sending waves of sensation through her body, each unrelentingly stronger than the last, building like the momentum of a horse running down a long slope, faster and faster.

Kara wrapped her arms around that broad back, feeling hard muscle tense and flex beneath the fur.  His musk filled her nostrils, deep and coppery and wild, and she embraced him.  Her sex began to quiver, and she felt another climax rushing up from the depths of her belly.  She raked her fingernails down Luther's back and urged him on.  He pummeled her, his lean hips moving in time with his panting breath on her neck.

Suddenly, he slowed, and his thrusts took on a purposeful rhythm, deep and powerful.  He rose u
p one last time, then came down, burying his cock inside her until his hips pressed against her thighs, deeper than ever before, deeper than she thought possible.  They came together then, Kara writhing on the wet grass as Luther threw back his massive head and howled into the storm, a long, rolling sound full of wild lust and anger.

Kara could no longer feel the cold raindrops pelting her skin, or the wet, ruined dress that clung to her figure.  She could only feel Luther's cock inside her, throbbing, pulsing as he filled her with his hot seed.  Time seemed to slow as pleasure blossomed and burst, rolling out from her loins in waves.  Luther trembled above her, pushing against her so that each thick spurt landed in her fertile soil.  She felt him take root inside her and knew that it wasn't her imagination.  Rela wanted this man - this beast - to have a child by her for re
asons she would never understand, and now that it was done, she felt
at peace
.
  W
hatever happened next, fate and destiny drove her life
.

As her climax ebbed, Luther slumped atop her, spent.  She wrapped her arms around him and felt him...
shift
.  His weight grew less, his shoulders narrower.  When she moved her hand along his back, she felt only smooth skin.  His head raised up, not the face of a beast, but the bearded man who had shared rabbit stew with her.

Without a word, he climbed to his feet and pulled her up.  The storm was easing now
, blown westward to the mountains
, the rain reduced to a gentle shower.  Thunder rolled down from the rocky slopes, a gentle rumble
now
.  They ran through the wet grass to the warm safety of the cottage.

Luther pulled an old quilt from a chest and wrapped
it around Kara's naked body.  Her ruined shift
dried in front of the fire.  She huddled in the rocking chair, shivering, as though the cold she'd ignored outside
had
finally exacted its toll.

While he dressed himself in a pair of buckskin trousers, Luther avoided her gaze, but she saw regret in his soft brown eyes.

"It's alright," she told him.  "Whatever Rela told you, I wanted it too."

Luther sighed and sat down on the floor in front of her.  "You know nothing, girl.  But what's done is done."  He stared into the fire with a mournful expression, and when he glanced at Kara, she felt that he was looking at his own death.

A strong hand shook Kara awake.  "Get up," Luther said.  "Someone's here."

Kara rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and put her feet on the floor.  Vivid dreams haunted her mind for a few moments, then she remembered where she was.  Luther's cottage.  He stood by the door, looking out, his face solemn.

She
slipped her dress over her head, the fabric rough without her shift, then joined him.  Down the hill, t
wo horses moved across the clearing, heading straight for them.  Myk
al rode one and led the other.

"You know him?" Luther asked.

"My betrothed," she said.

Luther backed up into the cottage
, where Mykal couldn't see
.
"Go to him, girl, and leave me
be
.  But first, a word of advice.  Heed me well, will you?"

The intensity in his voice caught her attention, and she nodded.

"Take the child and get as far from here as you can.  Best the babe never knows of Krall, or of me.  Pretend it's his
.  It's worth the lie.
"

Kara swallowed and nodded her head.  Mykal had his secret, and now she had hers.  Just as Rela wanted it.

Luther nodded as though satisfied, then pushed her through the door and closed it behind her.

Mykal grinned at her as she hurried out to meet him, and she smiled in return.  She could see the guilt in his eyes; she hoped she hid her own better.

"Who lives here?" Mykal asked.

Kara shrugged.  "I don't know.  Rela told me to take shelter here.  It was the least she could do after banishing me."  The lie came too easily.  Not wanting him to dwell on it, she mounted the other horse.  "You're out of the stockade.  Did she release you?"

Mykal's grin faded, and he swallowed.  "She came to me in the night," he said.  "She asked if I wanted you, and I said yes.  She made me promise to gather all I could and leave the village today."
  He stroked his dappled gelding's neck, avoiding her gaze.

Kara waited, but he said no more.  He hadn't lied to her, only omitted a truth she already knew.  It was enough.  She resolved to keep her baby from him.

"The Wise Woman has the whole village convinced that lustful youths are to blame for all their woes.  At her guidance, the Elders have decreed that all women must remain virgins until marriage.  It's to be exile for any who fail."

Kara frowned, pondering Rela's schemes, and the strange woodsman who became a beast in the night.  Why did the Wise Woman want so desperately for her to bear his child?

You and yours, for generations to come
,
she had promised Luther.  Perhaps Kara couldn't bear the secret forever.  Her unborn son would need to know the truth, so that he could find Luther and learn the truth.  If Rela tried to snare him in her web, she would see to it that he was prepared.

Mykal interrupted her thoughts. 
"I
told your parents what really happened.  They were steamed, but they gave me some coin to keep us fed for a while.  I
brought my pa's cart, and Hirom gave me his extra anvil and some other supplies.  We can't go back to Krall, but perhaps I can do some smithing work in the lowlands.  It's not much, but it's a start at a new life.  Will you come with me, Kara?"

She leaned across her saddle and kissed him on the cheek.  "Of course.  And tonight, we'll find an inn.  One room, for husband and wife.  And we'll make love until dawn."

Mykal's eyes widened in shock, but happiness spread across his face as his grin returned.  It would have to do; she couldn't wait until spring to bed him.  He needed to believe the baby was his own.
  The truth could wait.  It could wait a long time.