“Bath,” he said.
There were many more words in that strange language he spoke, but the word “bath” seemed to stand out. He spoke rapidly to the little creature in the pointy hat. Kaja’s stomach growled. The little ones were fast. She hadn’t been able to catch one yet. Perhaps now that she was out of their cage, she could make a meal of the fat one. She would only feast on the male, though. He was the one who spoke to the thin man with the sharp claws. The male had been the one who had locked her in the cage. The female had brought her fresh meat and sang while she worked in the tent. Kaja had found the sounds soothing. The small female had talked to her. Kaja hadn’t understood her words, but there seemed to be kindness behind them. Kaja knew she shouldn’t have, but she had grown fond of the female and wouldn’t eat her.
Of course, she wouldn’t do anything just yet. The First kept his eyes on her. Anytime she attempted to stand, he moved over, placed his hand on her neck, and forced her back down. He said something called “wait.” Kaja thought that meant to sit. He was First here, so she did.
When they had walked in, she had believed the large man with dark hair and the sword was the leader. Now, she utterly discounted the fact. He didn’t even have fangs or claws so far as she could tell. He had the sword because he could not fight with his hands. The one with the reddish-gold hair, he was the leader. He had been the one to force her to submit. He hadn’t used magic to do it, either. If he had, she would still fight him as she had fought her captor and the little ones. She would respect this First’s dominance because it was natural.
It wasn’t anything like the Nightmare Man.
Kaja let herself think about it for once.
It hadn’t taken long to get to the mountains Stellan had spoken of. She had stayed in her wolf form, preferring it greatly in the cold forests. So far from the small valley she had grown up in, Kaja had seen many wonders. There had been frost giants in the mountains, their massive forms almost too much for her eyes to take in. She had hidden her body deep in the snow, and they had passed her by. She took it as a sign from Freya that her quest would be fruitful.
She had hunted freely. Without the restrictions of rank, she had eaten far better than she had with the pack. Rabbits at first, and then small deer had been her prey. When her strength was up, she’d taken down a buck on her own. Oh, she had feasted. Her belly had been full for the first time in her life. The week she had spent traveling to the mountains had been strangely fulfilling. On her own, she felt strong and capable. Her foster mother had been wrong. She had not died. She had not faded. She had been lonely. But then even among the pack, she had been lonely.
She had searched for the magical doorway Stellan had spoken of, but the Nightmare Man found her first. He had been tall, not as tall as the frost giants, but much taller than Kaja. His stick thin body belied his strength. Kaja had underestimated him, as she had underestimated this First. She should have run, but she’d attacked the thin man instead. Still, if it had only been a battle of strength, Kaja knew she would have won. The Nightmare Man had a weapon. There had been a terrible sting when he had shoved it into her arm. She had felt her strength fade, and she changed without willing it. One moment she had been a strong wolf, the next she had been small and frail and freezing in the snow. Kaja could still remember the way the air and snow had bitten into her skin. It had been so cold it burned. She had tried to change. She had needed her fur.
“It’s no use, little one,” the thing above her had said. He spoke her language perfectly when he wanted to. “You can’t change. Don’t fight it. I’ll get a good price for you. One of these days my clan will have to thank that jackass Torin. We’ve made more money off the slave trade in the last ten years than we could have imagined. Behave now, little dog, and soon you’ll have a new master to take care of you.”
The Nightmare Man had picked her up and carried her. Her weight hadn’t slowed him at all. He’d found a cave, but the entrance shimmered and when he’d walked through it, Kaja had found herself in another world. The new world was warm, without a hint of snow. It had taken a day to get to the village and her cage.
Kaja shook her head and pulled herself back into the present. She had worried at first that she was in Hel, the place where wolves went to die, but this male made her doubt it. He must be the master the Nightmare Man had spoken of. She watched him, trying not to let her appreciation show. She had seen several males over the days she’d spent in the cage. None of them had shown her his glorious fangs and claws. All the men had seemed appalled with her. They looked at her with disdain as the pack had. This First wasn’t afraid of her. He’d fought her. He had fought for her.
“Come,” he said, his voice taking on that deep cadence that pulled at her.
Kaja’s eyes went wide. That had made a little sense to her. “You want me to come?”
“That’s just cool,” the second man with midnight hair said. There seemed to be two of him.
After she had calmed and accepted the First’s dominance, the second man with black hair had been allowed inside the tent along with a pretty red-haired woman. The two men wouldn’t let their woman get as close to Kaja as she obviously wanted. The woman had complained, but backed down when the one with the sword growled.
“I am not cold at all,” Kaja said. Their words suddenly made sense. They seemed to be learning her language. Or perhaps there was some magic at play, after all.
The second dark-haired man smiled broadly. He seemed to do all the smiling for the two. “I wasn’t talking about the temperature, dear. I’ve spent too much time with my wife. It’s a human saying. It means I think the technology is very advanced. I’d like to take one apart and figure out how it runs.”
“Small words at first, Ci,” the First said. He frowned. Kaja liked the little line it put in between his eyebrows. “And she won’t understand slang at all.”
“What is slang?” Kaja asked.
The First turned to her. His eyes seemed kind as he walked over and knelt down. He took her hand in his. His skin was cool to the touch, but she liked the feel of it against her own. “It means this is going to be hard, sweetheart. Just trust me. There are going to be words you just don’t get.”
She didn’t “get” half of what he had just said. She did understand the request. He’d asked her to trust him. She breathed in. He was so close to her. She opened her senses and let him fill her. Oh, she liked his smell. She leaned over and let her nose run against his neck. He smelled of many interesting things. Beneath all of it was a scent that was uniquely his own. Kaja sighed as she caught the scent of his arousal. He was interested in her. She felt her own body respond, softening and preparing. The First wanted her.
“Hey!” the black-haired man, the irritable one, called out.
“Back off, Beck,” the First said. He held still and let her smell him. He honored her by allowing her this close. And in front of his kin. No one allowed her so close in her own pack. “She isn’t doing anything to hurt me.”
She reveled in him for a moment. It was the closest she had been allowed to another being. Even when Sven had taken her, he had simply shoved her on her knees and thrust in from behind while some of his kin held her down. He hadn’t allowed her the intimacy of rubbing skin to skin and covering herself in his scent. She liked this First’s warmth and the faint sound of his heartbeat. She breathed him in, memorizing his smell. Like a memory, a smell was something to think upon long after the action was done.
After a long moment, she leaned back. The First stared down at her, a curious look on his handsome face. He was so beautiful with vibrant green eyes and sensual lips. His face was not covered in hair. His skin was perfect, and she longed to trace the utterly masculine line of his jaw.