Branded Captive (Wren's Song 1)

He eyed the brownish water and her best food with distaste.

He hated her dress. Fine. He’d dragged mud all over her freshly cleaned floors. Okay. Her food and water were beneath a man who dressed in the skins of people…

Her tray landed on a side table with an irritated thump.

Snatching up a cup and a slice of mushroom topped bread, Wren set it where the boy could reach when he woke. She then took her own portion, perched on an unclaimed corner of her couch and ate.

Caspian’s men found this hilarious.

She found them annoying.

And Caspian, as far as Wren was concerned, was worthy of no further hospitality.

When she swallowed the last bit of food and drained her glass, the Alpha unfurled from the chair. “Show me your nest.”

Chewing her lip, she put her bare feet to the ground, a worried eye running over the sleeping Mikael.

“Kieran and Toby will keep an eye on your boy.” A hand closed around her upper arm, pulling her away as Caspian grumbled, “And they will wipe up the mud on your floor.”

The bald one scoffed, “With what?”

Large fingers plucked the ties at Wren’s shoulders, the dress falling down before she might catch it. “With that. Burn it when you’re done so I never have to see it again.”

Wren tried to sign, “Wait,” while one hand covered her breasts and the other reached out to save her best article of clothing. A tug of war she would never win began between them, Wren fighting for her dress, hearing it rip, and already in tears.

The snarling Alpha had it from her, tossing it aside and yanking her from the room just as it landed in a puddle. She was sobbing by the time he shouldered her down the short hall past the bathing area and into the domicile’s only bedroom.

The door was slammed before he gave her a rough shake. “Stop crying.”

With a sniff and a shaking lip, her hands flung about a diatribe that was wasted for all he cared. Rude gestures escalated into flailing arms and more tears. Had she a voice she would have been yelling down the walls. Had she a voice she wouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place.

A slap hit her cheek.

It was a bucket of cold water over the head.

Wren went still.

“Are you done?”

His callousness made her shiver, pink-tipped breasts breaking out in gooseflesh. Crossing her arms over her nipples, she glared.

“Take off your panties. I want to see what I bought.”

Her hesitation encouraged Caspian’s scowl. It grew meaner by the second until Wren hooked her thumbs in her underwear and shimmied them down her legs.

Peeling his vile coat from broad shoulders, the Alpha began to undress. He took his time about it, running his gaze over her body as he went.

Another Alpha had looked at her that way once, appraising, measuring her worth.

The other Alpha had not been nearly this large or dangerous.

Anger turned to terror.

Caspian’s nostrils flared. He took in a deep breath and snapped his eyes to hers. “Do you wish to nest first?”

That… was unexpected.

Wiping sweaty palms down the fronts of her thighs, Wren looked to her nest. The arrangement was pleasing for rest and safety, but not ideal for an Alpha to invade it. He would undo all her work if she didn’t make room for him, so she did. Pillows were moved, fluffed, sorted and spread. Sheets were tucked, blankets arranged until it looked right. Until she felt comforted.

He seemed to understand the moment she’d calmed, the lightest offering of a purr softening his demand. “Invite me into it, Omega.”

He was fully nude when she turned, and her eyes caught on the power of all that rippling muscle. Not a single part of the beast was soft—dipping ridges and rugged bulges—between his legs a stiffened trunk.

There had never been a gesture or signal, but Caspian lowered down and crept into the place she’d made for him. Roughened palms ran over her hips, the male moving her body until her back hit the bedding and his heft hovered over her.

“Look what I caught.” He grinned, shifting so the coarse hair on his chest caught her nipples. “A little mouse. Hmm? And she’s going to spread her legs for me, isn’t she? Yes.” Brushing his jaw against hers, he let his tongue swipe at her drying tears. “Yes she is. My mouse is going to be a good girl.”

His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her thighs, drawing them wide as Wren fought her aversion and reluctantly obeyed.

The lobe of her ear was sucked into a hot mouth. Gasping at the unexpected feeling, her eyes went wide.

This was real. An Alpha was in her nest.

His erection lay heavy on her stomach, wafting the scent of mouthwatering sweetness to tickle her nose.

“That’s right, pretty mouse. Relax for me.” The scratch of his unshaven beard didn’t sting as she would have imagined when Caspian ran his face over her breasts. It enlivened the skin with prickles, soothed by the warmth of his breath when he began to scent her flesh.