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Chapter Seventeen
Last Updated:
2024-11-12 22:01:39
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Berserker Chapter Eighteen
Ulfhild didn't understand the sudden feelings that swirled around her at the huge warrior's tender touch. He infuriated her, but looking into his ice blue eyes now all she could think about was falling into his arms and seeking the comfort she somehow knew she would find there. It was some kind of spell he was casting over her, she was sure of it. But the man was obviously no witch. He despised them. Didn't he?His simple pronouncement to protect her should have made her bristle. Ulfhild had worked tirelessly to make sure she needed no one's protection but her own. She was a shieldmaiden, a warrior through and through, despite her father's wishes. Instead of irritation, however, all she felt was thankfulness and the need to be pulled tight into the protection of his arms. The scent of the forest and something wholly masculine surrounded her. Her body felt pulled toward his like a magnet and she reached up to cover his hand on her cheek with his own. She had just let her eyelids drop
Last Updated : 2024-11-12Berserker Chapter Nineteen
The driving wind and rain coming off the ocean for days had the training grounds flooded. Magnus had finally relented and called off training until the weather died down. Brand had found himself with nothing to do but think. And suffer. Reliving the extraordinary events of the night. His mate was a witch. By Freya, how had that happened? He could no longer deny the fact that they were fated, though. Since he had touched her, thoughts of her were all-consuming.An entirely new appreciation for how his brother must feel about his own mate came over him. An uncomfortable feeling twisted in his gut at the thought and had him agonizing over his past actions. Could he have been so wrong about everything? He hadn't even completed the bond yet, and he was agonized over not being able to see her, touch her, scent her. If he felt even a fraction of what Brodi felt for Liv, he knew the punishment he had been given was justified. He would have not been so merciful to anyone threatening his shield
Last Updated : 2024-11-12Berserker Chapter Twenty
"See, I told you!" The young guard exclaimed to the older man he had seen cuffing the boy last night. "He's right where he's supposed to be."Brand sprang into a sitting position, thankful they had not shown up a few mere moments earlier. "Someone saw a wolf enter this hut last night and you sleeping through your duties," the older man insisted, his voice harsh and derisive.The younger man huffed in disbelief. "Do you see any wolf? And who reported this? I was awake all night just as I am now. Someone is lying to you, Hirðstjóri (Captain)." The captain of the guard cocked an eyebrow at the boy. "Someone is. Run now and get the man some food.""But he can go to the dining hall himself. Why…" the young warrior started to argue.The older man shot him a ferocious glare. "While we are not training, he will stay in his hut. And you will guard him and do whatever other tasks for him that you are given. Is that understood?""Yes, Sir." The young warrior bobbed his head in acquiescence to t
Last Updated : 2024-11-12Berserker Chapter Twenty-One
Ulfhild stood in the shelter of a lean-to on the edge of the village and almost forgot to breathe as she watched her mother making her way slowly down the muddy lane, hunched over, clutching her gnarly hickory stick tightly in a knobby hand. Ulfhild had wanted to be the one to deliver the missive to Brandur, if only so she could be near him again for a moment, but her magick was not nearly as strong as her mother's. She was not able to glamour herself. For once, she regretted not taking her lessons more seriously.Though she was watching intently, she almost missed her mother flinging the leather envelope with the prophecy under the door of Brandur's hut, she was so stealthy about it. Ulfhild smiled to herself as the young warrior, returning to his post with a loaf in his grimy hand, passed her mother without a glance. Astrid truly should have been a spy. She had a talent for doing things unseen and gathering information that was supposed to be of a secret nature. Thank Freya! Ulfhil
Last Updated : 2024-11-12Berserker Chapter Twenty-Two
While spring storms continued to rage, Brand spent hours locked in his hut, the pretense of his being a guest apparently abandoned. He studied the parchment he had been given until he had committed every syllable to memory. He'd wracked his brain trying to remember if he had ever heard anything similar in shifter lore but couldn't. Brodi had kept up with all that. Brand had never been interested, and now he regretted it. He wished he could get a copy to Bjorn to take to the elders, but he didn't know how. Not being allowed to move about freely while all the warriors were holed up from the storms, he had to find another way to pass on his message. Young Leif had been put on guard duty the last few nights and he obviously took his duties much more seriously than Vidar. He'd stood straight as the King's Guard at Buckingham Palace all night. Not one snore or nodding head that would tell Brand he could try to sneak out in wolf form even without the bar across the door.His wolf was not ma
Last Updated : 2024-11-12Berserker Chapter Twenty-Three
Removing her cloak and laying it beside her, Ulfhild leaned back against the boulder at the edge of the meadow, sighing as she ran her hand across the soft grass under her. She had come to the enchanted woods to escape the stormy skies and the sucking mud that had been reeking havoc on the village. People were starting to murmur about unhappy gods and curses as the skies continued to dump buckets of rain on them. Her father had even called off training for his warriors, and that had never happened. Ulfhild missed the exercise. Without it to distract her, she'd had nothing but time to think on the prophecy and the strange warrior. Her mate. She should learn to say it. There was no doubt any longer that it was true, but it was still difficult to wrap her mind around it. A shifter. From the future. The Spirit was truly a fickle and unpredictable thing.A barely perceptible rustle in the bushes had her freezing in place and reaching a hand into the pocket of her dress where she secreted
Last Updated : 2024-11-12Berserker Chapter Twenty-Four
When Brand returned to himself, he was slumped over Ulfhild's body, his full weight pinning her to the ground. He pushed himself up to his arms in alarm, afraid he had smothered her. Her body lay limp under him. Trickles of blood pooled in the hollow of her neck. Oh, Freya bless him! What had he done?"Ulfhild, Elskede!" he called in a panic, his hands smoothing across her still face. "Please, wake up!"His heart nearly stopped in his chest with relief when her eyelids began to flutter. She leaned into his hand and nuzzled it before she spoke, her voice sounding like she had not had water in days. "Brandur? What…what happened?"Brand heaved out a breath, the exquisite tension that had built up in his fear draining from his body. He rolled to his side, taking her with him and nestling her into his chest unable to be parted from her for even a moment.He swept a tendril of hair off her face and kissed her head before he spoke. Regret tinged his words, though his wolf regretted nothing.
Last Updated : 2024-11-12Berserker Chapter Twenty-Five
Brand loped along the beach toward the sea caves feeling like he was swimming instead of running. The rain had returned with a vengeance while he had been sheltered in the magickal grove with his mate. He blinked the steady stream of droplets from his eyes and chuffed water out of his nose as he ran. He shifted at the mouth of the cave and a shiver went down his spine. Without his fur, he was freezing cold. His teeth chattered as he tried to slick water off his body with his hands."Cousin!" Thorstein's voice boomed from the dim light of the cave. "Come in from the cold and wet before you catch your death."Shifters, in his experience, rarely got sick, but maybe it was different for these poor Skölls here. After all, they had lost much of their ability to shift. Who knows what else might have changed. Either way, Brand would gladly take some blankets to dry off and get warm. A few minutes later, Brand was dry, dressed in a borrowed tunic and pants, and was sitting before a fire with
Last Updated : 2024-11-12
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Berserker Epilogue
The clearing glowed with the twinkling fairy lights that adorned every tree, and the torches that had been lit along the path to illuminate the participants' way. Brand stood in front of the Yggdrasil feeling like his throat was being constricted by a stiff collar rather than a soft tunic. He wore a bearskin over one shoulder to symbolize strength and protection. He was also glad of its warmth as the first snows had started to fall just in the last week. He huffed as Brodi clapped him on the shoulder. "Nervous yet?" he asked with a smile, adjusting the leather hauberk that held his broadsword across his back and the belt at his waist where the sheath for his ceremonial dagger rested. "No, just cold," Brand lied through gritted teeth. His brother just laughed at him. "Don't worry, Brother. It will all be over soon, then we can get to the feasting," Brodi told him jovially.Brand frowned at him. "Easy for you to say," he muttered."Really, Brother. I know you missed our ceremony, but
Berserker Chapter Forty-Seven
Brand's brother turned to him, seeking guidance, just as Brand became aware of the stickiness on his hand. He at first ignored it. He had been in too many bloody brawls in his lifetime for blood to bother him overmuch. But when his mate gasped and tensed in his arms, a wave of dread washed over him. He realized that the stickiness was not merely the expected aftermath of the fight but something far more sinister. His elskede, his alt, Ulfhild, was wounded."Min elskede! Where are you hurt?" he demanded, his hands roaming frantically over her body.Ulfhild slapped at him ineffectually. "It is nothing, min ulv, only a scratch. Go with your brother. There is no time to spare."Brand ignored her and instead shouted to Astrid who had been standing on the edge of the crowd, clearly overwhelmed by her ordeal and its brutal end. Broken out of her reverie, Astrid came forward quickly and fell into healer mode. "Lie her down. Let me look," she instructed, ignoring her daughter's continued prote
Berserker Chapter Forty-Six
In the meadow, the winds seemed to take on a malevolent life of their own, their force intensifying with each passing moment. They twisted and spiraled, whipping through the grass and causing mini-tornadoes to erupt from the churned ground. The very earth under his feet seemed to groan in protest, and the acrid scent of freshly turned dirt mingled with the sharp tang of ozone, assaulting Brodi's senses as he ducked his head against the maelstrom and continued to silently advance.Above, the heavens were entirely shrouded by roiling, malignant clouds that seemed to devour any trace of starlight or moonshine. Leif and Astrid appeared to him only in the stark, searing flashes of the lightning overhead. The thunder that followed was a deafening roar, so powerful that it resonated deep within his chest, but still he stalked toward his prey. Squinting against the flying debris, he finally saw his brothers and the warriors in position against the backdrop of the ancient tree, whose gnarled b
Berserker Chapter Forty-Five
Gunnar stopped on the edge of the clearing where the giant Yggdrasil grew. He shifted, holding up a hand to forestall the warriors behind him. "He and Astrid are in the clearing," he whispered to the men.Birger squinted, trying to see them through the screen of skinny pines that blocked their view of the meadow. "Where? I can't see a thing through all these-" he stopped and hit his forehead with his palm. "Right. Wolf. You smell them."With a crooked smile on his face, Gunnar nodded to the man. "Yes. Their scent is very strong. The boy is fearful." He sniffed the air again. "And the woman is angry. More angry than fearful."Erik tipped his chin up in agreement. "That would be Astrid. She may not be a warrior like her daughter, but she is stronger than most men I know. She would never have gone with him if it had been only her own life that was threatened."Vidar's face showed his worry. Again, he was in the middle of a disaster. At least this time, it was a disaster not of his own ma
Berserker Chapter Forty-Four
Liv rested her forehead against Brodi's chest, fear almost taking her breath. His arms tightened around her as she shook with silent tears. Brodi had brought her back to the house, forbidding her to continue with the hunt. Overwhelmed by concern for her baby, she'd teetered on the edge of hysteria, her emotions running wild. She had to calm down, especially considering the news she had discovered just this morning."Min elskling, you must try to remain calm. We will find him," Brodi had assured her, holding her close to his broad chest and rocking her in his arms like a child. Her sobs finally quieted, taking strength from within his strong embrace and the firm certainty of his voice. He flattened a large palm on her belly. "This child will have a big brother that is healthy and hale. I swear to you."Looking up into the blue eyes she loved so much, she could see his absolute conviction that what he was telling her was true. They knew every inch of their pack lands. Surely, they would
Berserker Chapter Forty-Three
"Quit mumbling, witch!" Leif ordered as he continued to pull her along with the leather cord that bound her wrists. "I won't have you spelling me! Keep it up and I will stick a gag in your mouth. Do you understand.""Yes," Astrid said shortly. A bit of her usual calm composure returning to her after completing her frantic prayers. "I understand perfectly." She paused for effect. "But, young Leif, I do not think you understand your situation very well."Leif twisted his neck around to fix her with a venomous glare, his eyes blazing with an insanity that sent a shiver down her spine, but she maintained her dispassionate look. "What are you talking about, Witch? I'm the only one who understands exactly my situation. I've been stuck in this place for over a week, alone. How to get myself back to my proper time is all I've been thinking of.""What you have not thought through," Astrid continued calmly, "is what will happen to you once the Alpha finds you. Cubs are rare here, I understand."
Berserker Chapter Forty-Two
Leif panted as he leaned against a tree to catch his breath. The child was heavier than he'd expected, and the air here was thin. Placing the baby at his feet, he looked around, trying to get his bearings. He estimated he'd run several miles from the women and the clearing already. Suddenly, howling rent the silence of the forest. The baby inexplicably smiled and clapped his chubby hands, but the fine hair on the back of Leif's neck and arms stood straight up in atavistic fear. Were the creatures close? Dusk was approaching but he didn't dare light a fire. Where could he hide with the krakki?The wolf song died out and the baby began to fuss. Leif glared down at him. This was going to be more complicated than he thought. If the baby started wailing, the sound would bring people and wild things alike. Was he even old enough for solid food? He should have grabbed that big bag with the silly looking animals all over it that was sitting next to him. He bet that housed some baby things. B
Berserker Chapter Forty-One
Ulfhild felt more like herself than she had since coming to this new place. Asta had beat her soundly at axe throwing, Ulfhild not having much practice at that particular skill, but she was sure she could compete in archery. Though she missed a lot of what they were saying, it was good to laugh with the women and experience the comradery. She'd always been set apart by the women in her village who would never have thought of throwing axes. Maybe this time wouldn't be so bad.Suddenly, she heard terror in Liv's voice. "Brand? Brand?" she called in a panic, searching frantically around the boulder.Ulfhild realized the baby was no longer on the blanket playing with his toys. Fear clutched at her heart. She thought he could not crawl or walk? With all the wolves around, there were no other large animals around for miles. She'd heard the men discussing the lack."He can't have gone far," Asta said soothingly, trying to calm her sister-in-law's panic. She started to search around the nearb
Berserker Chapter Forty
Liv had not been kidding when she had said they'd have to tromp through some woods. The training field was much farther from the area where they had their homes than she had expected. The distance and rough terrain didn't seem to bother the women. Baby Brand was strapped onto Liv's chest with some complicated looking knots of fabric that created a comfortable carrying sack for the large infant. It was obvious by her easy stride that carrying the boy this way was commonplace to her. On the way, Liv pointed out landmarks and told her things about the area. Asta tried to keep up with all the words, but Ulfhild felt she missed quite a few. It didn't matter. Simply being in nature and stretching her unused muscles was a relief to her. And they were going to train. Her heart leapt at the thought. This was exactly what she needed to dispel her melancholy and feel more like herself.Finally, they rounded a large boulder and came into a meadow that reminded Ulfhild of the meadow in her woods
