Claimed for their Pleasure by L.V. Lane

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER SIX

Jessa

AFTER THE SPANKING incident, Brandon left with Fen, and I have not seen him since. I tell myself it is for the best, given nothing can come of it, but it hurts all the same.

Worse, Papa is in a bad mood and works until late in his workshop every evening. The brats all have a nose for trouble and are acting up.

My mother says to trust her and that it will work out. I cannot see how.

Then, yesterday, Jack returned, and everyone is talking about how Fen and Brandon are still gone.

I am hanging out the washing when Suka saunters past. She is part of Nola’s posse, and I do not like her well. Still, she is hard to avoid, given she lives two cottages away.

“Did you hear that Jack brought a slave with him?” she says, leaning against the sheep paddock fence.

I pause my washing hanging. “No,” I say. “I did not hear that. What does he want a slave for?” We have few slaves in the village. The only folks who become slaves are those who have committed particularly heinous crimes. Usually, the king will gift the criminal to another clan, and they will live as a slave there. “Where is she from?”

“From the western lands,” Suka says. “I heard she is from Oxenford.”

I frown. This does not make any sense. Why would Jack bring a slave back from Oxenford? That is not even where his sister lives.

“Why would he do such a thing? Slaves come from other clans, not from the western lands.”

Suka smirks. “A pleasure slave. The king has broken his year-long abstinence from rutting. Nola says he will soon cast the slave aside, likely hand her over to the unmated men or gift her to another clan. It will not be long before he claims Nola as his mate.”

“Maybe he just wants to rut the pleasure slave?” I say a little spitefully. I feel sick to my core thinking that Nola might become Jack’s mate.

Suka chuckles. “For certain, he wants to rut her. But it is only temporary. Why else would he have given Nola responsibility for the slave?”

“Goddess,” I mutter. I do not know this slave, nor what crime she committed to become one. But I instantly feel sorry for her being given over to Nola. She must have committed a truly heinous act to be treated thus. “Did Jack’s spirits seem lifted?”

I go back to hanging washing. Jack has been melancholic since his mate died last year. Some said he would never take another mate.

“Aye, until he learned about Fen and Brandon getting into a fight with Eric of the Halket clan over a lass.”

My head snaps up.

Suka smirks again. “They were both rutting her when Eric found them. Jack is furious and has ridden over to Halket to try and smooth things over.”

“It cannot be both of them,” I say as my world seems to tilt. I was so sure that Brandon might have feelings for me after he spanked me. All the words Brandon said that day have plagued my mind. I know Papa is in a bad mood because my mother seeks to soften him toward Brandon. Now, Brandon is off rutting other lasses, and I feel such a fool.

Suka gives me a smug look. “You can’t be that innocent, Jessa. Fen and Brandon have shared lasses on plenty of occasions.” She makes like she is fanning herself. “They have shared me a time or two. But I dare say a sweet lass like yourself will be married off and never have such fun. Jessa, the good girl, always doing what her mama and papa say. Jessa, who will be wedded to a respectable farmer who knows more about crops than pleasuring a lass.”

“Jessa!” My mother’s call startles me.

“Run along, good girl,” Suka says, and turning, she saunters off.

My heart is racing, and my lips are trembling.

“Jessa!”

Dropping the washing in the basket, I turn and head for home. I have not even kissed a boy, and I am of age to be married.

I don’t want to be a good girl anymore. I want my share of the fun.

My mother is frowning when I near the door. “What’s wrong, love?” Her eyes pass over my head to where Suka is.

“Did you hear about Fen and Brandon?” I blurt out before I can think better of it.

“Aye, I did hear about some mischief between them and a Halket lass,” she says, her face softening. “But that is all it is as yet, a bit of gossip that folks are wont to exaggerate.”

I want to cling to the innocent version of me that believes in love ever after, but I can feel it slipping away.

Suka was telling the truth. About all of it.

I have no interest in Fen, never have had, but I am jealous she has gotten to be with Brandon. Maybe she was the lass he was pleasuring in the barn?

“Your father has not yet spoken to Brandon. No formal agreement has been made, and the lad is free to… get up to mischief.”

“I know that,” I say. But in my heart, I thought that Brandon’s words and the firm discipline meant that he cared about me. How can he care about me and be with another lass?

A flush heats my cheeks. Am I not also thinking of another man and Alpha even as I berate Brandon for being with someone else? Maybe Brandon is the kind of man who needs two lasses? I try to imagine how it might be to share him with another lass, and it makes me feel sick.

“I need to go,” I say.

“Where?” my mother asks, worry lining her face.

“A walk. I won’t go any farther than the old lane,” I promise. “I just need time to think.”

“Okay, Jessa,” she says. “It has taken me a week to talk your father around to the idea of Brandon. But I will tell him to do naught yet.”

“Thank you,” I say, and leaning up on my toes, I press a kiss to my mother’s cheek.

As I pass the infamous barn, my resentment grows. How dare Brandon spank me and then go to another lass!

My temper further charges with every step that I take. My route leads out of the village before curving north. I don’t realize where I am going until I arrive.

Before me is the sacred pool, surrounded by smooth, mossy rocks. A waterfall, weak at this time of year, sends a fine mist into the air as it crashes into the water. On the right of the waterfall is a great shimmering oval that spins and warbles, sparkling blue and golden light.

The portal. A place where the Goddess can hear our prayers. I come once a month with an offering, but people often visit whenever they need Her guidance.

There are other portals within the lands of the world, not here in the eastern clans, but far away in the western kingdoms of Hydornia. Those portals lead to other worlds and to other portals within this world.

I have seen the portal often, living as we are so close to this wondrous site. I’ve also heard tales about it from elders who visit our village from time to time. They talk of the travelers who pass through portals and what they find on the other side.

Many leave for adventure.

Sometimes, they return.

More often, they are never seen again.

On the other side, you might find desolation, utopia, and everything in between.

Monsters more fearsome than Orcs.

Wise and ancient Fae.

You never really know, for it does not lead to the same location twice.

Not this portal, for this one is lost. It is said that if you try and step through, you come back out here again. I know children have games doing it, although it is forbidden.

I sigh.

Maybe I do need some of Her guidance today.

A faint splash draws my attention. Goddess! Is there someone in the pool?

When I was a young lass of Greta’s age, I threw a rock into the pool. I got a stern talking to and went to bed without supper that night.

Confusion incapacities me, and rather than approaching, I move off the path and a little way into the trees. I have never seen anyone in the sacred pool and have no idea what to do.

The pool is forbidden.

It must be a child. I wonder if I can coax them from their mischief before they get into trouble.

“Oh,” I murmur, seeing the back of a blonde head just visible around a rock. With long hair the color of sunshine and a petite frame, the lass is sitting on the mossy bank splashing her feet in the pool!

“Mnnnnn!”

An arm snakes around my waist, and a huge hand smothers my scream. Lifted, I am carried a short distance away from the pool. Panic rushes and then collapses as I recognize the scent.

How do I recognize the scent? How is such a thing even possible?

Yet, I know even before he speaks that the man holding me is Gage.

“Do not scream, lass,” Gage says gruffly. “Or I will end up getting skewered.”

I struggle a little, elated to discover there is no give. I revel in the feeling of his strong arm around my waist and his warm hand over my mouth. The ease with which he restrains me should instill fear, yet his great strength over me is a source of heady arousal.

“Stop wriggling, lass. Your aroused scent is enough of a test without you stirring my need to subdue.”

I still, although it is not fear that drives my compliance. Strangely, I like this feeling of submission to the will of this stern Alpha. Like it is the natural order of things. This time, I only suffer a token amount of shame that he can tell I’m aroused.

“I’m going to take my hand away. Do not fucking scream.”

I consider screaming. A good girl would scream. But as his fingers slowly peel away from my mouth, I don’t make a peep. I like this very much, being a bad girl with an Alpha from another clan. The heat from his body behind me sets off a pleasant buzz low in my belly. His big hand lowers to rest at the base of my throat.

A sudden thought strikes me.

“Were you watching the lass at the pool?” I demand, trying to peer back.

“What lass?” His fingers tighten on my waist, pinning me to him more securely. “The only lass I have been watching is you. I was trying to gain your attention as you hung out the washing, but you were singing your heart out and oblivious to the world. I did not know a laundry basket could contain so many items!”

I don’t remember singing, but I often sing while doing chores. It helps to pass the time.

“Then that other lass came over, and you went back inside. I was returning to my horse to quit my foolishness when you stomped off muttering and waving your arms like you were fit to strangle someone.”

I giggle. I don’t remember waving my arms about, but I might have done. I was cross because I was thinking about Brandon rutting a lass.

“I was cross,” I say. My gaze lowers to where his hand holds me securely to him. A big, broad hand that spans my tummy. His other hand rests against my throat. He has no reason to hold me now, but I like that he does.

I wonder how Gage would look while rutting a lass. He is so big and powerful. I imagine the lass would be like a little doll compared to his great bulk. I think he would be rough with her, would hold her down and force her to take his cock and knot.

“Goddess,” I whisper as the fluttery sensation kicks off between my legs. I do not even need to check to know that the strange slick is gathering there.

He makes a low rumbling noise deep in his chest, half growl, half purr. His fingers, spread wide over my tummy, clench a little like he cannot help himself. I want him to pleasure me the way I saw Brandon pleasuring that lass. To lay me upon the floor, to kiss me deeply, to tangle his tongue with mine and swallow my moans of pleasure as he slides his hand under the hem of my hide skirt.

I am set aside so swiftly, I stumble a few steps.

When I turn, I find a wild version of Gage I barely recognize with chest heaving, nostrils flared, and dark eyes, hungry.

“You are a fucking test,” he growls. “Don’t look at me like that unless you want to find yourself on the forest floor with your skirt lifted and my face buried between.”

Goddess! I don’t even know why a man would want to put this face between a lass’ legs, but I very much want to find out.

He heaves a great breath in and swipes a hand down his face. “I just wanted to see you,” he says. “To make sure you were okay after the mutt carried you off.”

My lips tug up in a smile. “Brandon is not a mutt.” A warm determination settles inside me that Gage, despite his despicable clan, is a noble Alpha.

“He is a fucking mutt who is off rutting some Halket lass and all but starting a war.”

My smile fades.

“Fuck,” he mutters, eyes widening as I march over and poke him in the chest.

It is closer to his stomach, but it is as far as I can easily reach. “At least he is not invading territory and claiming it as his own.”

“That is the least of our transgressions, lass,” he says, voice softening like he is sad.

I do not want to fight with Gage any more than I want to fight with Brandon. But Gage knows secrets about me, and I worry about what would happen should he tell.

“It is our secret,” he says like he can read my mind. “I have no desire to quarrel with you, Jessa. I should not have spoken of Brandon so. We have clashed in the past, Brandon and me. Does he have a claim to you?”

He grimaces when he says clashed. I know Brandon gets up to mischief with Fen and so this does not surprise me. I wish Brandon had a claim on me. I wish for many things that are unlikely to come to pass.

His fingers under my chin, gently tipping it so I meet his eyes, sets off a little spark under my skin.

“Does he have a claim on you, Jessa?”

“No,” I say. “Not yet.”

A weight settles in my stomach as I watch the shutter come down over Gage’s face. His hand drops away, and I miss his touch.

“I will still fucking end him if he does not treat you well, and even if it starts a war.”

I think he is going to kiss me then. I sway a little like I am being drawn toward him by an invisible force.

But he turns and disappears into the forest, leaving me alone and twice as confused.

He came all the way over here. I do not think he had a reason today. Given the tensions between all the clans at present, I think he could be in great danger should he have been found.

I think he could have been in worse danger should they have discovered he came to see me.

He came to see me.

I’m glad he came to see me, although it stung that he rubbed salt in the wound of Brandon and the Halket lass. But it only stung a little the second time, and as my mother said, there was no agreement made. Likely Brandon has put me out of his mind for good after Papa had words with him.

Only I think if a man cares for a woman, he should fight for that. Maybe he doesn’t want me enough?

I get the impression that Gage would fight for me, even if it brought our clans to war.

“I thought you were a good girl, Jessa,”Brandon said as he spanked my bottom. “Good girls do not drive men to lose their fucking minds!”

My lips tug up. I think that Brandon would fight for me, too.