Her Viking Wolves(53)

But she pushes away his hands.

Then comes her voice, tight with strain inside his head. “I only want one mate. Not two! One! Just you. I can’t be like my father, just picking up a new mate like the first one didn’t even matter.”

A tormented sound comes from the bed behind him, and Olafr glances back to see his brother is now curled over on the bed, like a wolf before shift. Eyes squeezed closed, and white teeth bared as he battles his wolf for control.

Any other shifter would have pulled her from the closet by now. Thrown her upon the bed and rutted her without care or permission. But FJ is restraining his wolf for their female. Many in their village did whisper of the kill that caused their Fenris to name his son Ever the Man. And some did wonder if one with so little discipline of his wolf should lead the North Wolves. But it is clear to him now how good-fortuned any pack would be to have his brother as their fenrir.#p#分页标题#e#

However, this cannot go on. Their female and his brother must mate. For the sake of all.

“Varra, please…” Olafr says, resorting to begging. “You are ours, and we are yours. This is as it should be.”

Yet she shakes her head. Still denying the truth that her body accepted some time ago.

It is more than Olafr can bear. He drops back down to his knees to address her with a rough voice. “Varra, you are hurting yourself and my brother as well.”

“No, no, I can’t.” Her voice is little more than a pained cry inside his head now. “It’s not right. I can’t.”

Now it is Olafr’s turn to be confused. “You speak as if you have a choice.”

“I do have a choice!” she insists, even as another wave of her overripe scent releases into the room.

Then their female takes Olafr by surprise, grabbing him by his large shoulders, and for the first time looking him directly in the eyes.

“I do have a choice. I can get with you again. You’re not wolf-bound and I don’t want two mates. I’ll take you again. Not him. Just you.” Their mate’s voice is fierce with determination and need. It is, in fact, the most strength this she-wolf has shown since their first meeting.

But Olafr quickly removes her hands from his body before his other half can take over again. “You cannot mean that.”

“I do,” she says, frantically grabbing one of his large hands in both of hers. “Please, Olafr, just mate with me again before he can.”

“No, you mistake my meaning.” Olafr swallows back the rising tide of lust her desperate words bring forth. “I know you mean what you say. But the simple truth is, you…we…can not.”

She merely shakes her head, looking stricken and utterly confused.

“Does your land really know so little of the Brothers claim?”

She moans and then grits her teeth, pushing words into his head. “I don’t know anything about any of that. Some humans have been known to take multiple mates, but wolves don’t. Or at least I’ve never heard of this happening before. Tu mentioned it’s popular in shifter romance novels....”

Feeling very much like he should not be the one to explain this to their mate, Olafr tried his best anyway. “The way of the Brothers claim is with every rise of your heat, you mate one brother and then the other. This is why I did unknot from you with such haste. And this be why your heat did return to you again with such haste.”

Olafr nods his head toward FJ. “My brother’s human is not as weak as mine. He struggles mightily with his wolf so as not to take you without your leave. But your heat does render him the same as it renders you. He will remain with this fever until you are joined together.”

At last Olafr can see understanding dawn in their she-wolf’s eyes. Yet she still resists, whispering, “No,” inside his head.

“Yea, Varra, you must make your human understand this now.” Olafr is done with explanations. They have run out of time. He holds their mate’s gaze so she cannot look away. “You have mated me. You are mine.”

And now does he let his voice become firm inside her head as he commands her, male wolf to his she-wolf, “Now must you become his.”





26





Now must you become his.

I look across the room at FJ, naked and bent over, fisting the covers as if some unseen force is trying to rip him from the bed.

Even as I fight my own heat, I’m respecting the hell out of him for this. That he hasn’t come after me the way Olafr did when we mated. But…#p#分页标题#e#

I can’t. I can’t let myself be claimed by two mates. How would that make me any better than my father, who had so little respect for my mother, he got with her sister as soon as the Lupine Council let him?