Designs on a Warrior

Chapter Two

After he’d sent Cydney on her way, Wulfric tried to pick up the werewolf’s scent. Even though he’d planned to search the club, there was no way he could go back inside. Not with Cydney still in there. She’d be all over him again, and he didn’t think he’d be able to resist her a second time.

It didn’t take him long to realize the scent trail he’d followed to the club had long since been obliterated. Too many others had crisscrossed it. The only way he would have had a remote chance of picking it up again would have been if it were fresh, which it hadn’t really been.

Giving that particular prey up as a lost cause, Wulfric headed to where he’d parked his Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The silver two-seater sports car was a recent purchase of his, and one of the many things he loved about this modern world. Having been alive since the 500s A.D. he’d seen many changes in the world around him. Some good, and some not. The World Wars had not been a joy to live through. Still a warrior of old at heart, he felt wars were better fought with swords where you could look the enemy in the eyes before you killed them. There was more honor in it, in his opinion.

Driving to the next place in the area of Norwich he hunted, Wulfric had just parked at the curb when his mobile went off. He fished it out of his pocket and smiled when he saw who called. It was Dolf, one of his fellow warriors, and his best friend. He felt as if the others were like brothers to him as well, but he’d always been closer to Dolf. Even when mortal, when they served under Raed—their leader to this day, who had once been King of East Anglia—they’d been close. That didn’t mean they didn’t have their fights, coming to physical blows at times, but they were quick to get over it.

To be honest, Wulfric figured pounding on each other was what kept them best of friends. They didn’t keep their feelings hidden to save the other’s ego.

Wulfric flipped open the phone. “What’s up, you slacker?”

“You’re the slacker, wanker. Where are you?”

“Why? Do you miss me already?”

“I thought we could get a head start on our little once a month competition tonight.”

During the night of the full moon, Dolf and he competed to see who could take out the most werewolves. They both had a competitive streak a mile long, and had been doing this for centuries, ever since they’d learned about and hunted the creatures.

“I’m game, but it won’t count for next week. Let’s call it a warm-up.”

“All right. Where shall we meet?”

“I’m just outside the first park in my hunting area. How about you meet me there? It might provide us with some prey.”

“I’m about five minutes away. See you when I get there.”

Wulfric closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. He didn’t have to wait long before he saw the headlights of Dolf’s car in his rearview mirror. He got out of the Mercedes and stood on the sidewalk to wait for his friend to join him.

Dolf smiled as he slammed his car door shut. He was three inches shorter than Wulfric, but he was just as muscular. Where Wulfric’s light-blond hair was long, Dolf wore his wavy reddish-brown locks short. Once he joined him, Dolf’s gaze—his eyes were so dark brown they almost appeared black—shot toward the park at Wulfric’s back before he focused on him once again.

“Smell or hear anything?” Dolf asked.

“Not yet, but we still have the whole park to search.”

Without another word, they walked through the gate. Wulfric kept his senses alert just as he knew Dolf did. That didn’t last long, though. After a couple of minutes, he found his thoughts straying to Cydney. He’d been alone for so long. Even in his mortal life he’d never found a woman he’d wanted to bind himself to through marriage.

And it hadn’t been from lack of trying, either. The women he’d taken to his bed over the long years, he hadn’t wanted much from them except for a good fuck, then he sent them on their way after it was over. None of them had ever lingered in his thoughts afterward—as Cydney did.

Wulfric let out a grunt of pain as Dolf’s fist connected with his ribs. He blocked the next punch aimed at him. “What the hell did you do that for?”

“To wake you up. I said your name and you didn’t seem to hear me, but I figured you wouldn’t be able to ignore my fist.”

“I guess I was a bit distracted.”

“I’d say more than a bit. One of Fenris’ get could have stepped out in front of you and you wouldn’t have noticed.”

“Bullshit. I was quite capable of picking up a scent trail of one earlier…until I lost it at the nightclub…and Cyd—” Wulfric cut himself off, but he feared he might have already said too much to get away with it.

“Syd, who?” Dolf asked.

Wulfric blew out a breath. There really wasn’t much point in keeping the fact he’d found his mate from Dolf. All the warriors would find out sooner rather than later.

They all lived together in a manor house and not much ended up being kept secret there.

“Cydney. As in my mate.” Realizing Dolf had stopped walking, Wulfric turned to look at him. “What?”

Dolf wore a look of incredulity. “Your mate is a man?”

“Why the hell would you think that? Have I ever given you an indication I’d be into men?”

“Sydney is a man’s name.” Dolf gave him a lopsided smile. “I don’t know, I think I’ve caught you checking me out a few times.”

With a low growl deep in his chest, Wulfric launched himself at Dolf, his fist clipping the warrior’s chin. “My Cydney is definitely a woman, and the only reason why I’d ever check out your unsightly body is if I needed a reason to throw up.”

He pulled back his fist to hit Dolf once again, but went still as the wind blew in their direction.

Dolf had frozen in place as well. “Two of them,” he said quietly.

Wulfric nodded. “I’m picking up the two scents as well.” He lowered his arm.

“How do you want to do this? Use our swords right away, making it a quick death, or have some fun with them first?”

Part of the abilities Tiw had gifted them with was the ability to will their swords away when they didn’t need them, and the opposite as well. The silver mixed in with the steel was deadly to all of Fenris’ get. A strike through the heart was enough to permanently put them down.

“I vote for a little fun,” Dolf replied.

“Then let’s go kick some werewolf arse.”

They both willed their clothes away at the same time and shifted into their half wolf and half human forms. A woman’s high, shrill scream reached Wulfric’s ears as he and Dolf took off at a run, following the scent of the two werewolves. He put on a greater burst of speed, hoping they could reach the woman before she was bitten. Since there wasn’t a cure, death was the only option.

Reaching their prey, it didn’t take Wulfric too long to assess the situation. The two werewolves had a young woman between them as each one took their turn groping her. A quick glance showed she hadn’t been bitten—yet. There didn’t appear to be any bloodstains on the light pink t-shirt she wore. The two seemed more interested in feeling her up than taking a chunk out of her. That they had cornered a woman in the first place was a bit out of their normal mode of operation. They usually chose males to turn.

Dolf and he stopped a few meters from the small group. The werewolves were so intent on what they were doing they hadn’t noticed them yet. Wulfric decided to remedy that.

He cleared his throat loudly. “Oi, dumbasses, wouldn’t you rather pick on someone your own size?”

Speech was another thing that set their type of werewolf apart from their prey.

When in their werewolf form, Fenris’ get lost that ability, along with the majority of their reasoning. They became more animal than man.

The two creatures turned in their direction and growled, but one kept his hold on the woman.

Dolf shook his large, lupine head. “Now be good dogs and let the female go.”

When they did nothing but growl once more, he looked at Wulfric. “I guess they need a little persuasion.”

“It would seem so,” he replied.

With snarls of their own, Dolf and he launched themselves at the werewolves.

Wulfric chose the one who held the woman. The creature, even though slightly hampered, didn’t back down from the fight. The werewolf tried to claw him with his free hand while he lunged to try to sink his teeth into Wulfric’s flesh. The woman ended up in the middle of them. Her screams of terror rang in Wulfric’s ears. He had to finish this fast before she got hurt—or worse.

He managed to grab hold of the creature around the throat and sank his claws into the tender flesh as he squeezed. With his other hand, Wulfric tore the woman out of the werewolf’s grasp. Keeping a firm but gentle hold on her upper arm, he forced her to stay at his side. With a hard shove, he pushed the creature back, then willed his sword into his hand. He plunged it into the werewolf’s furred chest, straight through the heart. The creature fell, dead before he hit the ground.

A quick glance at Dolf showed he had everything under control with the second werewolf. A loud howl was cut off as his friend plunged his sword into the heart of his opponent.

The woman struggled in his grasp, whimpering with fear. Wulfric gave her a little shake. “Calm down. The danger is past. You’re safe.” Still, she continued to fight him.

Dolf walked over, shifting to his human form in midstride. “It would probably be a good idea if you shifted as well. Your ugly, furry mug is what’s scaring her.”

Wulfric flipped him off with a clawed finger before he took on his human form.

The woman’s movements stilled as she watched wide-eyed. “Is that better?” he asked, once the change was complete.

Her answer was to knee him in the balls. He let go of her and cupped himself as he sank to his knees, panting through the pain. As she took off running, he yelled, “We’re the good guys.” Dolf, the asshole, howled with laughter.

Once the pain subsided enough for him to stand, Wulfric scowled. “I saved her life and that’s the thanks I get.”

“I’m just glad it was you and not me,” Dolf said with a laugh.

Wulfric ignored him and looked at the two dead werewolves. They couldn’t leave them there for mortals to find. He looked up at the night sky, and said, “Tiw, I call upon you. I have need of your fire.”

Blue god-fire engulfed the bodies. Wulfric and Dolf took a step back as the flames burned hotter and brighter. Once they died down, the corpses were no more. An unnatural wind blew the ashes away. Not even a scorch mark marred the grass to give proof of their passing.

“I guess we’re even with one apiece,” Dolf said. “Let’s hit the next spot and see if we can get lucky again.”

Wulfric nodded. “All right. But the next prey who has a woman who needs to be saved, you get to do the saving. My poor balls don’t need any more abuse. Plus, I’d like to have all my equipment working when I next see my soon-to-be mate.”

Toward the close of the night, Dolf ended up going his separate way to finish hunting in his area of the city. Wulfric coming up the winner in their little warm-up, he figured he’d put down enough prey for one night and headed to the house. He also wanted to make sure he didn’t sleep in too late in the morning. He’d promised Cydney he’d call to see her the following afternoon, and he had no intention of not following through.

Inside the manor, he found it dark and quiet. No one seemed about. Even if there had been, he wouldn’t have found it too surprising. Raed and his mate, Lexi, had had a baby the month before. A girl they named Petra. So far the baby had everyone in the household wrapped around her little finger. In seven months, Petra would have some competition, though. That was when Garrick and Nika’s baby was due.

Wulfric crossed the open-concept foyer and headed up the stairs. He was halfway up the curved staircase when his sensitive ears picked up the quiet cries of the baby. He hurried up the rest of the stairs and gently tapped on Raed and Lexi’s bedroom door. Since he was still awake, he figured he’d give Lexi a break and feed the baby.

Lexi called for him to come in. Once he did, he crossed the room to where she stood over a crib. “I’ll take her,” he said. “I bet this isn’t the first time Petra has had you up tonight.”

“No, it isn’t,” Lexi said. “She’s up every two hours like clockwork, needing to be fed. You don’t have to feed her, Wulfric. I’m sure you want to go to bed.”

“Don’t worry about me. You look dead on your feet. I’ll change her and then take her into my room to give her the bottle. You still have some in the fridge, right?” Lexi had gotten into the habit of storing some extra breast milk, since Raed tried to spell Lexi off as often as he could during the night feedings.

Lexi nodded. “Yes, there’re two downstairs.”

“Then why don’t you go warm one up while I change Petra’s nappy.”

“Thanks, Wulfric.”

Once Lexi left the room, he picked up the baby, making sure he supported her head. Right after she’d been born, he’d been afraid he’d break her. Now he was becoming an old hand at this baby stuff. Even though he hadn’t liked the idea of changing dirty nappies, he didn’t mind the wet ones. If it was more than that, he let Mum and Dad do those.

He carried Petra over to the change table and found to his luck she was only wet.

It didn’t take him long to have her all cleaned up. By the time Lexi returned with the warmed up bottle, he had Petra cradled against his chest.

With the promise he’d return the baby to her crib once she had finished feeding and had gone to sleep, Wulfric went to his room. He bent his head and breathed in her baby scent as he closed the door behind them. He loved that smell, and hoped one day he’d have one of his own to cuddle and love. Now that he’d found Cydney, there was a greater chance of that happening.

After slipping off his shoes, he climbed onto the bed and placed the nipple of the bottle against Petra’s lips. She latched onto it right away and went to town on it. Wulfric smiled.

Petra had just finished her bottle and he had her up on his shoulder while he burped her when a soft knock sounded on his door. At his “Come in,” it opened and Raed stepped inside.

“Trying to steal my daughter again, Wulfric?”

“What can I say? I love the little bub.” At that moment, Petra let loose with a loud burp. He chuckled. “Nice one.”

Raed came and sat on the edge of the bed next to him and took his daughter. As he cradled her against his chest, he said, “I hear you found your mate tonight.”

Wulfric snorted. “It didn’t take Dolf very long to spread the news, I see.”

“I was surprised he took it so well. You two always seem to be practically joined at the hip. I would have figured Dolf would have had a hard time with a mate coming into play.”

“His time will come,” Wulfric said. “Then it will be four of us always together.”

Raed groaned. “Let’s hope your mates don’t turn out to be as avid football fans as you and Dolf are. The two of you are bad enough.”

Wulfric shook his head. “Nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of football on the telly. I have a feeling Cydney won’t be into it, anyway. She’s Canadian. And according to Kamyrn, ‘soccer’ as they call it, isn’t as popular over there as it is here.”

Kamryn was Algar’s mate and a Canadian as well. So far out of the three mates, she was the only one who hadn’t become pregnant right away, which suited her just fine.

The baby let out a long, breathy sigh. Raed kissed the top of his daughter’s head.

“I’d better put Petra to bed.” He stood. Before he left, he said, “Just remember, if you need any advice on explaining everything to your mate, Algar, Garrick and I have already been through it and can help.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

After Raed left, Wulfric got up and stripped out of his clothes. He had a feeling he’d take Raed up on his offer. The idea of having to explain what he was to Cydney seemed like a daunting task, and there was no getting away from it.