Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

K ari closed the front door behind her and immediately kicked off her heels with a sigh of relief. How had she let herself be dragged out of her house, at nine o’clock at night no less, for yet another house tour with the Jamesons? Oh, that’s right - because she intended to be the highest selling real estate agent in Charleston before she was thirty, that’s why. With another sigh, she headed for the kitchen and the pint of Chunky Monkey waiting in the freezer.

On the way to the kitchen, she detoured to the bathroom to start a bath. The old plumbing needed a lot of time to fill the equally ancient claw foot tub. She had purchased the house because it had beautiful bones and was a great investment - and it would be, if she ever had the time to devote to actually completing the thousand and one renovations it needed. Setting the tub to its highest trickle, she stumbled over the loose tile by the bathroom door - another project - and stubbed her toe. Swearing under her breath, she reached the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to find that it had stopped running at some point that day, no doubt blowing yet another fuse. Her pint of ice cream had dissolved into a gooey mess that coated the few bags of no longer frozen vegetables and prepared meals that made up the meager contents of her freezer.

This was one of the few times when she really longed for a man in her life, someone she could call to go down into the scary basement to replace the fuse. Or at least stand at the top of the stairs while she did it. Her real estate business meant that she spent many of her nights and weekends showing houses instead of dating. Since Bill, her last long term boyfriend,, had been transferred across the country to San Francisco - a move which she suspected came as a relief to both parties - she just hadn’t bothered to start looking again. It didn’t help that most of her friends were now in the married and starting a family phase leaving them little interest in a Girl’s Night Out.

Unable to face the trip to the basement, or cleaning out the refrigerator, she grabbed a bottle of wine and a glass instead and headed for the tub. The water still dripping out of the faucet had turned an unappetizing brown and she suddenly remembered receiving a notification from the city that they were working on the pipes on her street this week. Abandoning all hope of relaxation in favor of anesthetization, she sank on to the overstuffed couch, the only piece of furniture in the formerly grand parlor, and poured a large glass of wine. The first was quickly followed by another and as the level sank in the bottle, so did her mood. Most of the time she didn’t regret focusing on her career - growing up dirt poor had taught her the value of financial independence - but tonight she just felt miserable and lonely.

The next day did not start out any better. She had fallen asleep on the couch so she overslept, her stubbed toe was so swollen she couldn’t wear her favorite pair of pumps, and she broke several traffic laws racing across town to get to the house on Rutledge on time only to arrive just as her clients texted her a message saying that they would need to reschedule. Since she now had two hours to fill, she made an uncharacteristically impulsive decision and decided to head for the Battery. The small park on the tip of the peninsular was one of her favorite places.

Leaning against the sea wall, she enjoyed the breeze off the water alleviating the usual humidity. The breeze had tempted a few sailors and she idly watched as the boats swept across the sparkling water. Still too early in the day for the normal invasion of tourists, the usually busy park was almost deserted. The loneliness returned and, after a brief hesitation, she picked up her cell phone.

“Hello?” Her mother’s voice still retained the full southern drawl that Kari had worked so hard to soften.

“Hey, Momma.”

“Kari?” The surprise in her mother’s voice caused a brief pang of guilt. She hadn’t called home in what, almost three months? Not since the obligatory Mother’s Day call. “Is something wrong?”

“No, not really. I’ve just had a bad couple of days.”

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. Hang on, your step daddy is trying to get off the couch again.”

The phone dropped onto a hard surface and Kari could hear muffled noises. Robert, her stepfather, had been on disability for the past ten years and her mother spent a good part of her time making sure that he didn’t do anything to strain his weak back. Kari liked her stepfather but she wasn’t quite as convinced about the seriousness of his condition. Of course, she'd never been one to fuss over a man. Probably another reason why Bill hadn’t invited her to move with him, she thought cynically.

“OK, I’m back. So what’s the problem, honey?”

“I don’t know, exactly. Last night-”

“Robert! Hold on again, Kari.”

Closing her eyes, Kari wondered why she was even bothering. Her dad had died when she was young and her mother had waited until Kari graduated from high school to remarry. All the energy she had previously devoted to providing a home for her daughter had turned to her new husband after Kari left for college. It wasn’t that she was jealous exactly, and lord knows she had been anxious to shake the dust of small town South Carolina off her feet, but sometimes it was hard to deal with.

“I’m back, honey, but I’m afraid I have to run. Can’t be late to the bank. Call me tonight and tell me all about it. Bye now.”

Her mother hung up before Kari could respond. And that was the other issue in their relationship. Her mother had worked as a teller in the Pageland bank for the past twenty years, despite at least three bank mergers that Kari could remember. As far as Kari could tell, she would be happy to remain in that position until it came time to retire. Kari’s dreams and ambitions had never made sense to her and left them with little to talk about.

Tears caused the sunlit water to blur before a wave of dizziness swept over her. Clasping the railing, she fought against an odd pulling sensation. Her stomach churned and the dizziness increased. Was she getting sick on top of everything else? The tugging increased and she clutched the hard metal with desperate fingers. A final hard yank released her grip and she felt the oddest falling sensation just before the world went dark.

Oh, my god, I’m going blind, she thought, just as she dropped into an enormous quantity of ice cold water. Shocked, she only had time to yelp before the water closed over her head. Kicking frantically, she resurfaced, spitting out the water that had filled her open mouth. Fighting the paralyzing effect of the freezing water, she fought to keep her head above water. As her eyes adjusted, she realized that she wasn't blind but had somehow ended up in a lake. At night.

Unable to find any reasonable explanation for what had just happened, she focused on survival. She had to get out of this water before she froze. Her kicking feet were already starting to slow.

She had a brief impression of mountains rising dark and jagged against a vast sky filled with stars. They surrounded the lake with a stark beauty but she was much more interested in a small beach, gleaming softly white in the moonlight. Fortunately, it wasn’t far and she was a good swimmer. Ignoring the increasing numbness of her arms and legs, she swam steadily toward the beach. One flailing leg finally hit the rocky bottom and she forced herself upright. The night air felt almost warm in comparison to the icy waters but the breeze hitting her skin made her realize that she was completely naked.

What happened to my clothes?

Their absence added just one more layer of strangeness to the entire weird occurrence. Muttering to herself like the crazy person she had undoubtedly become, she stepped carefully through the rocks to the beach and out of the water before looking up.

Three men stood facing her; make that three enormous, muscular men. She was five foot three in her bare feet and each of them was easily a foot taller. All of them had long dark hair with braids woven into it, and skin that looked oddly dark even in the moonlight, but there was something odd about their faces. It took her a long, shocked moment to realize that all three of them had... tusks?

They can't be real, she told herself frantically. The two at the back were dressed like some odd cross between Vikings and fur trappers, complete with - good lord, were they wearing swords? Cosplay - it had to be some type of cosplay, even if their clothing and equipment looked worn and familiar.

The man directly in front of her made an odd growling noise and stepped forward, placing himself between her and the other two men. All he was wearing was a pair of snug leather pants, leaving every inch of his remarkably well developed chest on display. She'd never seen a man like that kind of body in real life before. Unable to help herself, her gaze dropped lower, to the sizeable bulge between his legs that seemed to jerk as she watched. Instinctively, she stepped back and then shivered as the water washed across her feet. There was no escape in that direction.

Determined not to show any fear, she straightened her shoulders and looked up into his face. As their eyes met, every hair on her body stood on end as a surge of electricity swept over her. She felt as if she were falling into those strange dark eyes and her body started to sway toward him as another wave of dizziness hit her. Through the ringing of her ears, she heard him speak but couldn’t understand the words. Shaking off the strange feeling, she lifted her chin and noticed that he had moved even closer. Even knowing that she had no chance of stopping him, she held up a hand.

“Stop right there. Where the hell am I?”

There was no mistaking his stunned expression before he opened his mouth and responded. The ringing in her ears had stopped but she still couldn’t understand him. What's more, she was almost positive that it bore no resemblance to any language she'd ever heard before.

Maybe it's like Klingon, she thought hopefully, or given their outfits, one of Tolkien's languages. But surely they must realize she didn't know it?

At least he had stopped moving towards her and other than his size, wasn’t acting in a threatening manner. Cautiously she stepped to the left slightly, trying to increase the distance between them.

The growling noise came again as he mirrored her movements. Belatedly, she realized that he was keeping his body between her and the other two men. Did that mean they were a threat? Or was he being chivalrous given her naked state?

Not chivalrous enough to look away. Even though he wasn’t touching her, he skin tingled as his gaze swept down over her body. Her nipples tightened from more than the cold, but she did her best to ignore them as she lifted her chin and glared at him.

"Why won't you speak English? I can't understand whatever it is you're saying."

Despite her determination not to show any fear, a startled squeak escaped as something came flying through the air. The man caught it on one hand without even glancing in that direction, then stepped closer. He was close enough now that she could feel the heat emanating from his body and the warmth reminded her of just how cold she was. Her body started shaking and he reached out and pulled her to him.

No!

Determined to fight, if she could just get her shaking limbs to obey, she swung a wild arm in his direction. He gently grasped her wrist and raised it in order to lower something over her arm. Too startled to react, she stood there as he pulled a roughly woven linen shirt down around her. It was enormous and smelled wonderful, with a musky scent that was oddly comforting, and the coarse linen was surprisingly warm against her cold skin.

Once on, the shirt reached to her knees and the arms hung down almost as far. Chuckling, he reached down and started rolling up the arms. She stood there helplessly as he dressed her like a child. Despite the warmth of the shirt, her trembling increased as reaction started to take its toll. He gave her a concerned look and pulled her into his arms. God, he smelled even better than his shirt and the heat coming off his body felt incredible. This time she didn’t even try to fight. For a long moment she allowed herself to nestle against all of that hot skin, silky smooth over hard muscles.

As soon as her trembling stopped, she forced herself to pull away. He let her go, although she felt the reluctance in his hands. She had no illusions that she could have escaped his arms unless he let her. She refused to give in to the terror threatening to overwhelm her; she needed to focus on making a plan and getting out of here. Fighting to find something familiar, she realized that her mind had at least subconsciously identified the combination of mountain lake and fur dressed men with Switzerland.

The language barrier made her second guess that assumption. Forcing herself to think logically, or at least as logically as this totally unreal situation allowed, she decided that somehow she had been transported to another part of the globe by something - telekinesis, transporter beam, something. The how didn’t matter right now. What mattered was getting home. In order to do that, she needed to be able to communicate. If they refused to speak English, maybe she could get them to teach her whatever they were speaking.

“OK, let’s start at the beginning. I’m Kari.”

He was watching her closely, although he seemed more focused on her mouth than on her words.

“Kari,” she repeated, pointing at herself.

His teeth flashed white in the moonlight in a surprisingly attractive grin, but his tusks flashed as well and a shiver ran down her spine. How could they look so real?

“Kar-ii,” he said softly and smiled again. He pointed at himself. “Wulf.”

That was clear enough. She peered around him to find that the other two men were still standing there. Their faces were unreadable but something about their body language suggested that they were as dazed as she was. Wulf seemed to be the only one taking this in stride. She gestured at the two men inquisitively. This time she was sure he growled as he stepped between them.

“Really. They can’t even tell me their names?” When she stepped to the side again, he immediately followed her. She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “Now you’re just being childish.”

She pointed at herself again. “Kari.” She pointed at him, “Wulf.”

Then she pointed behind him and raised her eyebrows in what she hoped was a universal gesture. He scowled in what she interpreted as the equally universal male frustration with stubborn women. Moving so quickly she gasped, he tucked her against his side and slightly behind him as he turned to face the other men.

The slightly smaller of the two stepped forward, a broad grin on his face and she immediately spotted his resemblance to Wulf, although his features were leaner and more regular.

“He’s your brother? And you’re acting like I’m your prized toy?”

She elbowed him, with about as much effect as elbowing a brick wall, and he simply pulled her closer against his body with another muttered noise.

“Lothar,” said the man and swept her what could only be called a bow.

She had to give them credit for staying in character, no matter how annoying. The man followed the bow with a charming grin and a completely unintelligible but obviously well meant speech. Wulf barked out a sharp reply. Completely unfazed, Lothar swept another bow and stepped back. As he did, he pushed the second man forward, although she immediately decided that his reluctant step toward her was by choice rather than the other man’s shove. The man was huge, even bigger than Wulf, with a scar that swept from down one side of his face from his hairline to his chin. The scar bisected his left eye and it was noticeably darker than the right eye.

“Egon,” he said in a low deep rumble, his grim expression unrelenting. She noticed that he turned slightly to keep his scarred side away from her. She didn’t see any likeness to the other two but there was still something about the three of them that suggested family

“Hi,” she said cheerily and gave him a big grin. A fleeting expression of surprise disturbed the carved stone of his features before he stepped back again.

Wulf started talking to his brothers and his voice, while not as deep as Egon’s, rumbled pleasantly though her body where it was pressed up against him. Reminded of her position, she started to pull away but this time he simply ignored her. As she suspected, she couldn’t pry herself out from under his arm unless he chose to let her go. Before she could start protesting, Lothar threw another garment in their direction. Wulf plucked it out of the air and knelt at her feet in one smooth motion. He'd placed himself between her and his brothers again, even though she felt no sense of danger from either man, despite their overwhelming size and barbaric appearance.

Startled by his sudden movement, she placed a hand on his broad shoulder to keep her balance and was instantly distracted by the feel of his skin. His muscles tensed beneath her hand and she thought she heard him catch his breath before he gestured to her foot. Blushing, she realized that he was holding open a pair of trousers and waiting for her to step into them. Balancing herself with her hand, she placed each foot into a leg opening. Just as she started to reach for the waistband, he began to pull them up her legs. Somewhere in her mind she realized she should be protesting but the warm rough fingers dragging the material slowly up her cold bare legs felt amazing. The tremor in her stomach returned and she felt the peaks of her breasts tightening against the coarse material of her shirt.

What the hell was wrong with me? Her world had been completely upended and she was having a ridiculously inappropriate reaction to a complete stranger.

Fighting the reaction, she met his eyes and couldn’t decide whether it made it better or worse that she could read the same desire in his face. Helplessly, her eyes drifted lower. Her breath caught as she spied the evidence of his reaction, his cock straining against the thick leather - his extremely large cock. As he slid his hands underneath her shirt to pull the pants over the curve of her hips, he grew impossibly larger. Biting her lip, she forced her eyes closed to avoid staring at him. Closing her eyes only made the feeling more intense as he worked the fabric higher. Under other circumstances she would have been embarrassed at the tight fit but the feel of his fingers cupping her ass on the way up completely distracted her.

Pants finally in place, his fingers lingered for a moment at her waist before pulling reluctantly away. Deciding it was safe to open her eyes, she made the mistake of looking down. He'd bent down to roll up the way too long legs. The position placed his head in front of her pussy. As she watched in startled amazement, he inhaled deeply and growled again. His hot breath washed through the cloth and over her damp lips and she could feel the vibration in her core. She almost came on the spot.

After a tense moment, he resumed rolling up her pants legs. He spoke over his shoulder and another article came flying through the air. Again, he caught it without even looking. How did he do that? She had difficulty catching a ball thrown directly at her face, as proven by her experiences in high school gym class. The flying object turned out to be socks and he gently smoothed one over each foot and up her legs, his warm fingers caressing her skin. Once the socks were on, he stood so suddenly that she went up on tiptoes as her hand on his shoulder pulled her up with him. The position left her close against him, close enough to feel the warmth of his body along her front, and the iron ridge pressing against her belly. Her mouth parted in shock and his eyes immediately dropped to her lips.

Helplessly, she watched as his head started to descend, her stomach churning with excitement. For a suspended moment in time, as his head dipped down, she wanted him to kiss her more than she had ever wanted anything else in her life. His lips were a brush away when his body jolted. His eyes flashed black and he whipped around with a snarl. The tension broken, Kari stepped back and saw Lothar attempting to hide a smile, his hands raised in apology. Apparently the bundle on the ground on Wulf’s feet had been the latest aerial missile, but this time he'd been too distracted to make the catch. Flattered by his focus on her and unnerved by the almost kiss, she retreated another pace.

He shook his head, as if he too were shaking off the impact of their closeness, and picked up the latest garment. It turned out to be a fur vest, open down the middle. He started to place it over her shoulders but she smiled brightly and took it from his hands instead, keeping a cautious, and probably futile, distance. She wasn’t a doll to be dressed and he needed to learn that now. The vest was heavy and came to her knees but it was amazingly warm. When he attempted to close the distance she had created, she skittered away. Ignoring his frustration, she started gesturing to her new clothes and raising her eyebrows, trying to communicate that she wanted to learn their names in his language. Wulf merely stared at her but she heard Lothar laugh and call something to him.

Shaking his head, Wulf nonetheless taught her the words for socks, shirt, pants, and vest before turning back to his brothers and engaging in what sounded suspiciously like an argument.. Standing there, idly stroking the warm fur of her vest, she tried to memorize the words she had just learned. Something kept nudging at her consciousness and she stopped repeating the words to herself long enough to try and decide what was bothering her. Her attention focused on the fur beneath her fingers. The silky pelt had a mottled pattern in soft shades of … purple?

Kari knew with a sudden devastating certainty that no animal on earth had ever produced a coat like that. The coarse weave of the shirt and pants and the chunky nature of the obviously homemade socks took on a whole new significance. Wulf and his brothers weren’t medieval reenactors; these were the clothes they wore every day. She raised her eyes to the quiet lake and the towering mountains and couldn't find anything remotely resembling the world she knew. Her body started to shake as the realization finally swept over her - she wasn’t on Earth any more. The stars above her started to spin in an oddly hypnotic fashion. She heard Wulf call her name and then everything went black.