The Alpha's Concubine (Historical Shifter Romance)
Read The Alpha's Concubine (Historical Shifter Romance) Online
Authors: Claudia King
Tags: #Historical / Fantasy / Romance
THE ALPHA'S CONCUBINE
Claudia King
Published by Claudia King at Smashwords
Copyright
©
2015
Claudia King
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Proceeds from sales directly help this author to continue doing what she loves, and to share it with you the reader!
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Ravven (
http://www.ravven.com
) for her wonderful work in designing the cover art for this title, to Anna for her assistance with nitpicks and proofing, the lovely folks of
KBoards
for providing a wealth of knowledge, advice, and assistance in all-things authorly, along with everyone else who helped to encourage me over the course of this project!
Content Warning:
This title contains detailed depictions of sexually explicit encounters between consenting adults.
—
1—
Netya
Netya had never seen the spear that hung above the hearth in her mother's house as anything more than an ornament. That it had once been a weapon of war, used by a father she could no longer remember to fight enemies she had never seen, was just a story told by the elders around the fire. She thought Layon looked silly carrying it over his shoulder now as he walked beside her. What did they need spears for? Nothing would happen tonight. Not to them.
Still, her mother had refused to let her stand watch over the farmlands after dark without an armed escort. Netya had no interest in watch duty. Scaring off wild animals when she could be tucked up in bed beside the fire was the last thing she wanted to volunteer for. She had only used it as an excuse to get away from the village and spend some time alone with Layon.
That
was an adventure she was excited to pursue.
Ever since she had come of age the previous summer she'd begun to notice the way he looked at her, and the way her eyes were drawn to his golden hair and smiling lips as well. Being out here alone with him gave her a tingle that reminded her of sneaking out at night as a child. But this tingle was quite different. Layon made her apprehensive, excited, and curious all at once. He was a window through which she dared to glimpse all of the things that might await her as a young woman. Tantalising mysteries that had once seemed leagues away suddenly felt possible in his presence.
"Up here," he said, pointing with the spear. "Are you sure you want to see them? They might frighten you."
"Yes," Netya whispered, her eyes glittering as she searched the moonlit trees. "Mother never allowed us to come this way before."
"You never went to look by yourself?"
She shook her head, reaching out to run her fingers over the aged wooden stakes lining the side of the path. The ground sloped uphill, leading them through the trees as the moon rose overhead. Anxious winds whipped at Netya's dark hair, tugging at her braid, struggling to find a way in through the tightly-wrapped furs that clad her body.
"My brothers took me four summers ago," Layon said with a smile. "They were just trying to scare me, but I didn't know that back then. I spent all night trying to be brave while they told stories about how the spirits of the Moon People were still there, waiting in the dark to catch us."
"Did you believe them?"
"I would have believed anything they told me when I was a boy." Layon shrugged. "But I have never seen a spirit hurt anyone, have you?"
"They say you can not always see the work of the spirits."
Layon laughed. "Then the spirits of the Moon People are no more frightening than those of our own, if they even exist at all!" He stopped abruptly and pointed again with his spear, and this time Netya was able to make out the wall bordering the farmlands in the distance. It was a short dry stone barrier, built from chunks of slate stacked together in an uneven jumble to keep out wild animals.
"Your last chance to turn back," Layon teased, his breath tickling her ear as he leaned in close.
She gave him an impatient shove, but the back of her neck prickled as she saw the white shapes on the wall glowing in the moonlight. This was the direction the Moon People came from when they arrived from the west, and the warnings displayed on the wall were the first things they would see. It was a clear message not to come any farther.
"How many of them are there?" Netya whispered, trying to count the sun-bleached ornaments.
"A dozen. They say there used to be more."
Excitement quickened Netya's steps as she hurried ahead of Layon, her apprehension only making her more inquisitive. She could make them out clearly now. A dozen skulls, just like Layon had said, displayed proudly on the wall like trophies. Everyone knew they were here, but seeing them for the first time made the legend real. It filled her with an uncanny sense of wonder.
She had seen animal bones before, but these were nothing like the skulls of the wolves the hunters brought back from the forest. These were much larger, their fangs huge, empty eye sockets absorbing the darkness around them. Even in death, stripped of their flesh, Netya thought they watched her with an intelligence greater than that of any animal.
She made her way down the wall, eyes wide as she examined them one by one. Some were old, so ancient they were falling apart, while others were marked with notches from the weapons that had killed them. Her breath caught in her throat as she came to the final skull, so new that it still shone like polished stone.
"Is this the one they talked about?" she said, still whispering. She was almost afraid to speak aloud in the presence of these mighty creatures, even if they had long ago departed from the world she knew. Surely their spirits still lingered nearby, like Layon's brothers had said. Malevolent or not, she had no desire to disturb them.
"Yes," Layon said. "They caught it at the end of the winter. It's a good omen. It means the Moon People will not come again for a long time."
Part of Netya was almost disappointed. As terrifying and dangerous as she knew the Moon People to be, now that she had seen their skulls she was desperately curious to witness what they were like in the flesh. Were they people who possessed the bodies of animals, or animals who took on the shape of people?
She reached out with a quivering hand to touch the skull, feeling the cool, smooth contours of the bone beneath her fingertips as they traced the beast's muzzle. She could practically feel the power that had once inhabited it. The weight of its body, the hot breath snorting from its nostrils, the sharp points of fangs that could pierce flesh more easily than any spear.
"You really aren't frightened, are you?" Layon's voice came softly in her ear. He was standing close to her again, and the strange tingle returned as she curled her fingers through his.
"I am," she said, surprised by her own breathlessness. "In a good way."
"You are strange."
"I do not try to be." She let her finger trail down one of the skull's long fangs before finally withdrawing and turning to face Layon. He was looking at her curiously, with the same enticing glint in his eye that she had only caught snatches of so many times before. It drew her in, just as the wolf's skull had, calling to the part of her that longed to embrace the unknown.
"You do not try to be, but you are," Layon said. "The other girls sometimes call you a witch."
"I'm not a witch."
"No, but none of them ever asked me to take them out at night to see the skulls. And I don't think I would have wanted to bring anyone else even if they did."
Netya's body warmed. She wondered for a moment if she might be unwell, but this feeling was far more pleasant. Even holding Layon's hand felt different than it had before. She didn't think she had ever wanted to feel someone's skin against hers as much as she did in that moment.
Their eyes remained locked for far longer than was polite, and yet still she fought the urge to look away. She wanted to keep on feeling whatever it was she was feeling. Captivated by something every bit as fascinating as the stories of the Moon People.
Layon rested the spear up against the wall, the flint tip knocking against one of the skulls as he leaned in to touch her. The back of his fingers brushed her neck, sending a visible shiver through her body as they stroked their way down until his palm rested over her pounding heart.
"We could stay out here all night," he murmured.
"What would we do?" she said, her eyes finally leaving his as they became transfixed by his fingers. He stroked the braid that hung over her shoulder gently, savouring its silky touch against the pad of his thumb.
"I can show you," he said, and moved forward until his mouth was against hers.
Netya breathed in sharply, and when she did she tasted the exquisite rush of his warm breath filling her lungs. Her lips tingled with a thousand pinpricks of pleasure. The soft, wet heat of Layon's mouth drew her in, and without knowing what she was doing her lips and tongue were moving in rhythm with his, finding new places to settle and new touches to relish. The glow of her body increased a dozen times over, centring in a tight knot just below her navel that longed to be touched.
Before that evening, the unknown had been something other people concerned themselves with. Now, it was hers to explore. The night that stretched before them felt like it held all the time in the world.
When their lips parted, it was with a jolt of fear as the howl of a wolf rent the darkness.
—
2—
The Moon People
Layon stepped back and picked up his spear. His eyes scanned the dark trees, flitting from one patch of shadow to the next. They had no reason to fear wild wolves. The beasts would only attack if they were desperate. Netya could not recall the last time anyone had been hurt by one.
But the skulls on the wall had not come from those wolves. Months, even years could pass between the rare occasions the Moon People ventured into their land, and yet every time they did, blood was spilled. It was the first time the howl of a wolf had frightened Netya. Neither of them needed to say a word to know what they were both thinking.