11. A Wolf Is Born

THE WITCH

CHAPTER 11

The night of the raid hadn't gone as she'd planned. The chieftain's brother, the one she'd worked so hard to bend to her will without ever revealing it to him, had turned out to be a useless fool. He'd ruined everything. If she ever had the opportunity to flay him open, she would do precisely that. But right now, she had bigger and more immediate problems.

Balru was insatiable. He always had been. Each day he would mount her, sometimes more than once, and fill her with his seed. She knew it was only a matter of time before she was burdened with his child. She still hadn't decided what she would do when that happened. The thought of a beast like Balru growing inside her womb disgusted her. But she was doing what she had to to survive. Their world wasn't a fair one, but she knew she wasn't powerless—she'd never been powerless.

After all, she was a witch.

At least, that's what they had called her. And maybe they were right. But if she had magic, it was invisible to her. What she did have was a lack of fear. Nothing scared her. Save one thing: vulnerability. So she'd woven the fabric of her reality out of half-truths and lies, only giving people glimpses of her true self when it favored her. When she'd left Summerhome to venture out on her own all those years ago, it had been to unshackle herself from the limitations of such a crude people.

Yet here she was, lying on the ground of a half-burned-out hut. She watched coldly as Balru returned with water and more meat. He handed some to her with a smile, and she accepted it and forced a smile in reply. He was an idiot, but he wasn't cruel. In fact, he was quite kind as far as men went. But he was still a man. And the way he saw things wasn't just different from her; it was outright wrong. The meat had cured over the nights since the raid, and the taste was pungent and grassy. She ate it with contempt.

"Do you worry for your brother?" Balru asked between chews. "I've sent the hunters to look for signs of the raiders each day. We will find him, I promise."

She looked at him levelly. He was a handsome man, albeit brutish. Nailah felt reflexive contempt for his attempt at closeness, though. Opening up to him felt like losing control, and for some reason that urge to command outweighed reason and emotion in moments like this. She would do anything to avoid such topics.

She set the meat down and pushed him forcefully to the ground. Balru's eyes lit up as he realized she meant to ride him. He was an animal when it came to sex, and she knew the easiest way to shut him up would be this. She felt the bulging of his colossal manhood against his leathers nearly at once. Nailah braced herself against his heaving chest with one hand, then reached down and pulled the heft of him out from where it was barely contained.

Despite her disdain for Balru, the feeling of his size beneath her sent a wave of anticipation flickering across her skin. She felt her nipples harden as the warmth of him twitched and strained in her hand. She directed him to her slickening lips and slowly lowered herself onto the obscenity of his phallus.

"Oh yes," he groaned.

Balru's eyes rolled back into his head as she guided him into her. She felt herself nearly dripping with instinctive wanting—and she couldn't help but gasp as the thick of him stretched her to the point of absurdity. He tried to grab at her hips, to thrust into her, but that wasn't the point of this. She gripped his throat and shoved his hands away each time he reached for her. Slowly, inch by inch, she pleasured herself with him.

Eventually he gentled, as he always did. The feeling of the considerable man powerless beneath her only reinvigorated her sense of pleasure and control. She came nearly instantly when his enormity was fully inside of her, and the wetness that resulted only added to her zeal and pleasure as she redoubled her frantic rutting. She began to fuck him. She rose until he was nearly free of her, then lowered herself back to the base of him. Faster, harder, until she was panting from the effort. She clawed into his chest, and her nails drew specks of blood as her body erupted into orgasm.

"Nailah… by the gods… I'm getting close…" Balru groaned.

She slapped him across the face so hard his whole body spasmed. But she felt his cock swell inside her at the contact.

"Not until I'm done with you," she commanded.

He reached up desperately to cup her breast. She knocked him away, then spat in his face and squeezed his throat so tight his eyes bulged.

"No," she hissed.

He let out a pathetic little grunt, then fell silent—though his cock remained obediently hard. Nailah rode him like that until she'd had her fill. When Balru finally did come, he seemed almost pained by the effort, and quickly fell off into a stupid, snoring slumber once he'd fully spent himself inside of her. When she was certain he wouldn't wake, she slid off him and rose quietly to her feet.

Nailah gathered a pelt from the ground, wrapped it around her shoulders, and passed out into the night. She drew the fur around her as she slipped between the charred structures of the village. The moon above glowed an ocher red. It looked like a bloodstain hanging in the sky. She regarded it with terrific fury. It was the very color she wished to paint the world with. She didn't want to be a victim of fire—she wanted to be fire.

She had come here to reclaim Entin, to show him the world as she now knew it. Instead, she'd led the slavers of Mountainhome straight to him. She'd overplayed her hand, and she'd been powerless to save him or change any of it the moment those fires had started. For now, she was trapped here.

A wolf, singular and mournful, cried out in the distance. Its call echoed across the landscape, seeking a connection it might never find in the darkness. She realized then that it was much the same as her. She knew you could never be a part of a pack without being able to make yourself vulnerable.

But you could lead one—especially if you were fearless… and brutal.

Nailah let the pelt fall to the ground and stood naked, bathed in the crimson moonlight. She threw back her head and howled.