Claimed for their Pleasure by L.V. Lane

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

Brandon

I DO NOT have a fucking hope with Jessa.

Her father did not like me well before the spanking incident. Now he fucking hates me.

“What is going on with you, Jessa, and Gage?” Fen asks as we make our way through the forest toward the Halket clan. Leaving our horses tied off, we continue on foot.

I don’t know what Fen has planned. I spent yesterday eve brooding and most of this morning too.

“I thought you were going to challenge Gage then and there,” Fen continues. The lad has a hard time with personal boundaries when it comes to discussions and is a worse gossip than any lass. “I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t like your chances in wolf form, and you have less than none as a human.”

“Thanks,” I say dryly. “I needed further insult to add to the bounty I have acquired over the past day.”

He chuckles.

“How come you didn’t shift to heal it?”

Fen rarely lets a matter drop until he has gotten all the details. He is talking about my black eye, which aches like a bastard.

Better I get this over with.

“Her pa told me a man should never discipline a lass while angry,” I say.

Fen whistles. “He has a point,” he agrees.

“He also said a man should never discipline a lass because he is jealous of another man.”

Fen grimaces.

Yeah, that one stung as well. “Then he said if I put my hands on Jessa again, he would nail me to the barn wall by my balls and leave me there until I learned a lick of sense.”

Fen chuckles.

“Then he thumped me. The bastard has been a carpenter his whole life and has big fucking hands.”

Fen’s chuckle turns into a deep guffaw. “How the fuck does that work?” he asks.

“How does what work?” I say, scowling. I want to forget the whole fucking thing. I do not want to talk about it.

“Nailing a man to a wall by his balls?” Fen elaborates. “Surely you would just drop off the wall?”

I cut him a scowl. Every time I think about that threat, I swear my cock shrivels, and my balls try to crawl up my ass. “I don’t fucking know,” I say. “I believe it was said to inspire fear rather than something he would actually do. It is working. I will not touch the lass.”

“But you do want to?” Fen presses because he is too dense to know when to let a matter go.

I do want to. But I also understand when want is without hope. Her pa will not let me near the lass. She is of age now, although her father has yet to announce it officially. If I am honest with myself, I do not feel worthy after spanking her as I did. I resolve to put Jessa out of my mind. Better for all involved if I do for nothing could ever come of it. She deserves a better man who does not succumb to jealousy because another man’s scent is all over her.

I swallow, thinking about her arousal as she stood between the two of us.

Some lasses need more than one mate, just as some men need more than one lass. It is the way of the clans that we do not judge. I think Jessa, for all she is still innocent, will need more than one mate. I have caught the occasional hints of arousal on her, more often of late. But nothing like the heady saturation that every shifter and Alpha in the fucking square must have scented when Jessa was between Gage and me.

Hesensed it. And he wants her too.

My wolf is not inclined toward sharing, and definitely not with the son of the Lyon clan king.

Better for everyone that I back the fuck away.

“No,” I say. “I do not want her.”

“Good,” Fen says decisively and in a way that piques my concerns. “That will make my plans easier.”

“What plans?” I ask.

The bastard only grins.

I am a Beta wolf, so it is in my nature to latch with an Alpha and follow. Yet, I still do not have a fucking clue how I end up rutting a lass in the forest a short distance from the huts and cottages of her home.

This is all because Fen is hellbent on causing mischief with their king’s son, Eric.

Eric is besotted with Gwen. I heard that he gifted her flowers the other day. What a fool! Gwen is as tall as most Beta men and has better combat skills than half of Eric’s clan. The idiot should have claimed her long ago. He doesn’t even have an enraged father getting in his way.

Fen has determined that Eric needs a little push. Also, Fen is Eric’s rival as far back as time and cannot help but bait him about the lass.

He cannot help baiting everyone, truth be told.

The lass’ name is Gwen, and she is a warrior maiden from the Halket clan.

The only thing I get out of this mischief is a clear determination that I don’t want any lass but Jessa. The fire flashing in her pretty eyes as she boldly stood between Gage and me, and called us a pair of whelps. The feel of her small, soft hand as she pressed it against my chest. And her aroused scent as she found herself between two warring males… Finally, Jessa over my lap, her plump ass jiggling under her hide dress as I spanked her.

Gods, her fucking scent was like wildfire through my veins.

I am roused from my daydreams and thrust back into reality. A few paces away, Gwen curses her outrage at Fen who has managed to get cum in the poor lass’s hair.

“We were rutting,” Fen points out. “What did you expect to happen?”

At a sudden roar, we all look left.

Eric.

He has not come alone.

I snatch Gwen out of the way just in time as Eric slams Fen into a tree.

“Fuck!” Fen growls as they wrestle.

I wince as Eric gets a few good blows in. He is a crazy bastard at the best of times and fully enraged presently.

“Separate them! For fuck’s sake,” I yell. I grab hold of Gwen, who looks like she wants to beat on Fen as well. “Before he kills Fen!”

Eric’s crew try and wade in, but it is near impossible with the wild, swinging fists.

“Oh! Look at my hair!” Gwen wails as she aims a kick at Fen’s shin.

Everyone is fucking shouting. Gods, this is a calamity of the highest order!

“Do not blame Brandon!” Fen shouts before Eric lands a brain-rattling fist to his chin. “Do not blame Gwen either!” Fen adds. “The lass is lusty and cannot help herself—uff!”

I wince as a purple-faced Eric slugs Fen in the gut.

I don’t see what the fuck happens next. It is like one giant melee. Gwen is still bewailing the state of her hair. The blow I’m sure she intended for Fen lands on Eric, and both men end up on the floor grappling like a pair of drunk bears.

“Oh! Stop them!” Gwen yells.

“I am fucking trying!” one of Eric’s crew yells back.

More wild wrestling ensues. Legs thrash, and fists fly as though in slow motion. They are both grunting and wheezing for breath. I think they might be tiring out. Thank fuck because it is exhausting to watch.

Then Fen grunts in a pained wheeze, and Eric shoves him off.

Everyone stills as they both lie there panting. Fen is holding his nuts, and Eric is holding his bloody nose. Finally, Eric’s crew wade in and drag Eric up. As Fen staggers to his feet, I plant a hand on his chest and search for signs of reason in his flushed face.

Heaving deep breaths, he waves me off him.

“Best get yourself a second when you mate the lass,” Fen says. “One cock is definitely not going to be enough.”

The crowd surges to try and cut the two men off. But alas, Eric is powerfully enraged, and the blow sends Fen sprawling.

“This was not a fair fight,” Fen says, scowling. “It is well known that only a coward challenges a man who has just rutted a wench.”

This time, Eric’s crew cut off his charge. There is yet more roaring and cursed threats from Eric as Fen staggers to his feet.

I shake my head at him, although I cannot help my small grin. Life is never dull with Fen.

Eric stabs a finger in our direction and barks, “Fuck off my lands.”

Pivoting, he snatches up the bedraggled Gwen, who has washed most of the seed off courtesy of an offered waterskin. She squeals as he tosses her over his shoulder before stalking off toward their home.

Given she is a hefty lass, and much of her weight is muscle, I admit to being impressed.

As they disappear through the trees, I finally let my laughter out. “I have never seen Eric that purple of face. I think you hit a sore spot telling him she would need a second mate.”

Fen chuckles. “Eric has a powerful right hook. I should not bait him with the lass.”

“I don’t think you will have the chance to bait him again,” I say, grinning. It is good to think about other people’s problems instead of worrying about mine. “Something tells me Eric’s father’s plans to bond him to a foreign lass are about to come undone.”

But as Fen gathers his discarded things, I know my own troubles are far from over.

I thought this might purge me of thoughts pertaining to Jessa. But all it has done is stir them up.

I don’t want another lass, I realize. I want Jessa. She might have responded to Gage, but she responded to me first. I know a lot about pleasuring a lass. By the time I have wooed and pleasured her, she won’t even remember Gage’s name.

As we return to the horses, I begin to plan.