Deacon Read online

  As I picked up the piece of meat and placed it to my lips, I wondered if I’d ever smell the scent of Jasmine again.

  CHAPTER TWO

  A Cold Night

  “Come over here, boy, time for bed,” the wolf said, patting the empty space in front of him where he expected me to lay on the fur of a bear.

  I remembered his words to me, how he would teach me how to pleasure a man, and I didn’t want to learn such things. I shook my head and the expression on his face turned to anger. The furrowing of his brow made me shiver in fear of what he’d do to me next.

  “Are you disobeying me, boy?” he asked, his tone deep and full of authority.

  “I… I want to lay here, please, Sir,” I said, patting the blanket I’d been sitting on since he had brought me to his tent.

  “It will get colder through the night, and I won’t have you dying from the chill because you’re too scared to sleep next to me. Get over here, now,” he demanded, then slapped the bear fur.

  “Will… will you… touch me, Sir?” I asked.

  His expression softened a little then and a half smile formed on his lips. “Do you want me to?”

  I shook my head. “No… no, Sir, I don’t.”

  He laughed. “Well, too bad, because I will… eventually. Boys your age are already working in brothels all over the land and on ships out at sea. Boys even prettier than you are, younger too. I will not touch you tonight. Besides, I have already spent my seed in your mother. My cock is well sated. Come here now.”

  I really didn’t want to be near him, not after what he’d done to my parents and what he wanted to do to me still. But I knew if I didn’t move, he’d hurt me. The threat may not have left his mouth, but it was in his eyes as they stared hard at me, daring me to refuse him once more. I stood up and walked over to him and laid down on the spot where he wanted me, and he wrapped another fur around us both.

  “There, isn’t this better?” he asked.

  I couldn’t deny that being warmer wasn’t better, but I just wished I didn’t have to be so close to him. I could feel his body pressed against mine, and I was afraid of the thing between his legs, what he’d grabbed when he told me that I’d soon learn to please him. I was too nervous, too heartbroken and afraid to sleep. At least, not right away. I stared at a tiny slit in the opening of the tent, watching some of the other wolves moving about. There was a fire going outside of the next tent over, and that was what I focused on. The pretty embers floated up as it crackled. I used to love watching the fire burn away in our fireplace. My mother would be knitting, my father watching us both and smiling. Why had it all gone wrong?

  I heard the wolf snoring, his breath hot on the back of my neck. His arm was heavy as it draped over me, keeping me close. I wanted to sleep like I would have slept had my family not been taken away from me. Had I not seen my father’s body ripped apart, his guts spilling from his torso. I wanted to be happy again like I would have been had I not heard my mother’s screams and been so helpless to help her. Would it have been better if they’d killed me too? Was I a slave here? What did they want with me and other children like me? What would become of my old pack? I didn’t know how long I lay there, tears running down my face, before I’d managed to cry myself to sleep. But when the darkness finally came in the cold night, I welcomed it.

  ~*~

  I felt a nudging at my side, something hard pressing into me, and the sound of a voice telling me to get up. I stirred, then the solid object hit me harder, and I cried out as pain shot across my rib cage. My eyes snapped open; all sleep gone as I looked up at the wolf who’d ripped me from my happiness.

  “We have things to do and you need to rise and eat,” he said, then turned to gather items he’d been packing away.

  I rubbed the sore spot along my ribcage, then looked down at the berries, bread, and slices of meat he had set before me on a wooden platter. I had to piss first, so I stood up and made my way toward the opening of the tent.

  “Where are you going?” he asked me, stopping me in my tracks.

  “I have to piss, Sir.”

  “Then I will go with you, don’t want you to wander off,” he said, then ushered me out of the tent.

  Now that the sun had risen, I could get a better view of the camp. There were a bunch of men and a few women walking here and there. Some were taking tents down while others were cooking in kettles over fires. I wondered if I tried to run, just how far would I get? Probably not far at all. My legs were no match for those of grown men, let alone wolves.

  “Let’s go over here,” the wolf who’d taken me in said. I wished I knew his name, I knew the names of the other wolves who had entered my house. Bernard, Graham and Angus, names I would never forget. I let him lead me to a tree a short distance away from the camp. “Go on and piss, boy. I don’t have all day.”

  “What if I have to do more, Sir?” I asked.

  “Then do so and when you are done, you will bathe in the stream over there. You reek since you pissed your breeches last night,” he said.

  I walked up to the tree and reached into my breeches, removing my penis. I could feel his eyes on me and it made me extremely uncomfortable and I found it difficult to relax enough to let the pee flow. I looked at him over my shoulder. “I can’t… I can’t do it when you watch me, Sir,” I said.

  He scoffed. “If you think I’m going to take my eyes off you so you can scamper into the woods on some ill-conceived escape attempt, you’re sadly mistaken.”

  I shook my head. “I won’t run. I swear, Sir.”

  “You try and I’ll make you pay, do you understand me, boy?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Hurry up.” With that, he turned and walked a few feet away from me.

  With even a little bit of distance between us, I was able to relax long enough to do my business. All of my business. He led me to the stream when I finished and I had to strip out of my dirty clothes and step into the stream. It was cold, and I shivered as I walked deeper into it.

  “Get all that filth off you and when you’re done, put this on,” he said, removing one of his wolf fur pelts.

  I nodded and continued to bathe. Once I was done, I climbed out and covered myself in the fur, then followed him back to our tent. He pointed to the plate of food and I sat down and began eating as he went about packing up all of his belongings.

  “Winston, Alpha wants a report,” another man said after poking his head into the tent.

  “Tell him I’ll be there shortly,” said the wolf whose name I finally knew. Winston.

  Funny, he didn’t look like a Winston. He looked like a Gregor or Boris. He was big, burly, and hairy where I could see on his arms and part of his chest. He had a full beard the covered the lower half of his face and a full head of thick, reddish-brown hair. He wasn’t handsome, not like my father was. And his nose was slender and long like a hawk’s. His blue eyes settled on me and he gestured to my plate of food.

  “Hurry and eat the last of it,” he commanded.

  I only had a few more berries and a slice of meat left. I stuffed the meat into my mouth, then scooped the berries up in my hand. I rose and he ushered me out of the tent, and we walked through the camp toward a bigger tent that was being taken down while another tall man stood outside, watching the progress. He turned to face us, his brown eyes acknowledging Winston first, then me, then back to Winston. I shoved the rest of the berries into my mouth, finishing off the breakfast I’d actually enjoyed eating.

  “This the spoils of war?” the man asked and gestured to me.

  “Indeed, can’t be no more than ten, maybe eleven if my judgement is correct, Sir,” Winston said.

  The other wolf walked up to me, grabbing the fur that was draped over my shoulders, and opened it up wide. Instinctually, I reached down, covering my privates, and he laughed.

  “Move your hands, boy. I will have a full view of what you look like,” the man said.

  A hard slap on the back of my head jarred me and cau
sed me to yelp in pain.

  “Do as your Alpha tells you,” Winston ordered.

  So, that was who this tall man was, the Alpha of this new pack I wanted no part of. I lowered my hands, exposing my privates for him to scrutinize. He looked at me from top to bottom, then closed the fur over my shoulders once again.

  “Well-muscled, nicely toned. Strong bone structure, which means he’ll grow up to be a worthy wolf for this pack. Make sure you mold him to be such,” the Alpha said.

  Winston nodded. “Of course, Sir.”

  The Alpha smirked. “Nice size balls, too, for his age. Let’s hope he’s a breeder.”

  “One can only put it to the test when he’s ready, Sir,” Winston said. I didn’t know what they meant by breeder and why the size of my balls mattered. Still, I listened as the two men talked.

  “What do you have to report?”

  “We managed to take out twenty of Michael’s wolves, ending with his Beta Capo, the boy’s father, Sir.”

  “And the mother?”

  “My group and I had fun with her before I left my boys to dispatch the bitch.”

  “Women are only good for breeding and satisfying a man’s needs. I would have liked to have one who’d been proven to produce natural-borns, but after what you did to her and her husband, it was probably for the best that you ended her life,” the Alpha said.

  Hearing them speak about my family in such harsh words, with no emotion or sympathy for what they had done to them, for what they had put us all through, enraged me. I hated them, but I hated Winston more. Hell, I hated this pack, and I realized I’d rather die than be a part of it. I didn’t know what it was inside of me that made my little legs move, but I took off running as fast as I could. My heart was beating like a drum as I jumped over logs and felt the grass and twigs crunching under my every footfall. I could sense that someone was in pursuit of me, most likely Winston.

  “I will kill you, boy!” his roared behind me.

  I ran as fast as I could and just when I made it back to the stream, I was jerked backward by the scruff of my neck and slung to the cold, unforgiving ground. Winston towered over me, a snarl on his face that shook me with fear to my very soul. Tears, more tears flowed down my cheeks. I was so ashamed that I felt this weak. Was crying the only thing I could do?

  “You ungrateful wretch!” Winston growled, then kicked me hard in my stomach. I gagged, nearly vomiting up the breakfast I’d recently eaten.

  I covered my abdomen with my arms to best protect myself from several other kicks he dealt me. The one to my back was particularly painful. So much so, I felt it vibrate through my spine. I begged him to stop, and when his boot struck my face, everything went black.

  ~*~

  It was the sound of something moving around that began to pull me from unconsciousness. I opened my eyes slowly, because the light, even though dim, was still too blinding. I brought my hand up to shield my gaze as my vision went from blurry to clear. My head ached and I felt nauseous, so I swallowed hard to keep the bile down. Immediately, I noticed I was laying on something softer than the fur I’d slept on the night before. It was a cushion-like mattress, a real bed. I sat up and looked around, noticing that I was no longer in a tent, but a home with a roaring fireplace on the other side of the room. I looked down to see I was no longer naked, but wearing a long, white gown, which was very warm.

  “About time you came to,” a voice I recognized said.

  I turned to see my captor sitting at a table by the window, eating what looked to be hen and dates with bread and wine. My stomach growled as the scent of the savory food seduced my nostrils. I was starving, but I was also scared of what was going to happen to me since I’d tried to escape.

  “Come over here and eat, boy,” Winston said, then kicked the chair out from under the table for me to sit.

  I climbed out of the bed and walked over to the chair, taking a seat. I scooted back up to the table to look down at the plate that had been set for me. I reached down, pulling a piece of the roasted hen apart and stuffed it into my mouth.

  “What do you say?” Winston asked.

  “Thank… you, Sir,” I managed to say around the meat in my mouth.

  He snorted, then took a swig of his wine. “Do you know why you are still alive?”

  I swallowed hard, trying not to choke on the meat. “No, Sir.”

  “Because I respected your attempt to flee. That took guts, Deacon. You may have pissed your pants the night we met, but you’re a brave lad. Under my tutelage, you will grow up to be a grand wolf. Maybe even rising to a Beta Capo, like me. We lost a lot of wolves in this war and need to replenish our ranks, our pack. Natural-born wolves like you aren’t as easy to come by. Most wolves are bitten. It’s faster and easier to build a pack that way. However, a born wolf such as yourself, well… you’ll have abilities a bitten wolf won’t ever have and therefore, you will strengthen our pack. That is why you are still alive. But I warn you, I will take no more insubordination from you, boy. You attempt to flee or disobey me again, and I will rip your throat out. I will roast your corpse and feed it to the rest of the pack, do you understand?”

  I hadn’t been able to take another bite of the food the entire time he’d spoken, and after hearing such a threat, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish eating. Again, I swallowed my fear along with my saliva and nodded. “Y—yes, Sir.”

  He nodded once. “Good. Now, finish eating. You will not be much use to the pack if you are malnourished.”

  My hand shook as I reached for more of the hen and I ate in silence. The wine I washed down my meal with was sweeter than what I was used to and I coughed a little to clear my throat. Winston laughed.

  “Not that bloody swill you’re familiar with, I bet,” he stated.

  I shook my head. “It’s sweeter, Sir.”

  “That’s because it’s been given time to ripen just right and made from the sweetest grapes. Your former pack lived a humble existence, something we don’t plan on doing. How do you like your new home?” Winston asked as he made a sweeping motion with his hand, indicating that I should glance around the room.

  I looked around the bedroom, which was larger than my entire home had been. The bed was larger and positioned in the middle of the room, and there were several closets for a wardrobe along one wall. I turned back to Winston. “It is large, Sir,” I said.

  Winston laughed and shook his head. “It’s grand and the home of a Beta Capo of your old pack. At least some of them knew how to live in splendor. That’s one of the spoils of war between packs. The victor takes all. What was once theirs is now ours. The full territory, which we will not share with any other pack, dragon, or vampire. There is a dragon city near here in Chelmsford that we will need to keep our eyes on, and the vampire territory controlled by Queen Elsa is also a concerned. Do you know why?”

  I nodded. I had heard my parents speaking about the dragons, how they were greedy and always looking for new land. And long ago, vampire Queen Elsa once controlled all of England, but lost most of the land to dragons and wolf packs like mine centuries ago. “I think so, Sir.”

  “Oh,” he cocked both eyebrows. “Tell me what you think you know.”

  “My parents said the dragons and vampires were greedy and always wanted more land.”

  Winston nodded. “They are, it’s in their nature as much as it’s in ours. Vampires especially. But even more important than guarding our land from them is guarding our pack. Long ago, boy, wolves were not as strong as we are now. Wolves were once enslaved to vampires and dragons to be used for their entertainment and sexual desires. It took us a long time and lots of planning to rise above them and take back control. That is why we have formed packs. Together, we are powerful; separate, we are weak. That is why I told you that you will never survive on your own.”

  He reached over, stroking my cheek, and I slunk back against the chair to get away from his touch. By the snarl that appeared on his face, he didn’t like that too much. He reached
up, snatching a handful of my hair, and pulled me forward. I cried out, but he slapped my face. My cheek stung from the blow.

  “Shut your mouth!” he snapped. “You belong to me, boy, and I’ll do with you whatever I like and you’ll take it.” He grabbed my hand and forced it between his legs and I stifled a cry when I felt the hardness there. I knew what it meant, as my father had once explained to me why a man’s privates became hard after I’d experienced it my first time. “Touch it, boy.”

  “Please,” I begged.

  “Touch it!’ Winston snarled.

  Gently, I touched what lay stiff between his legs and he moaned in response.

  “You will get used to touching it, sucking it, and being fucked by it, by me. Think of it as payment for me taking care of you,” Winston said, then he released me and I pulled back as fast as I could. “Clean this table and join me outside once you’re finished. Night is some of the best time to hunt.” With that last order, he left me alone and I released the tears that I’d been holding back. I didn’t want this life he was trying to give me. I didn’t want him to touch me like a man touches a woman. Like I had once seen my mother touch my father. I didn’t want to be his, or to be a part of this pack… but I also didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to be captured by a dragon and made their slave either.

  My God, what could I do?

  CHAPTER THREE

  Young Wolf Learning Old Tricks

  “Ow!’ I cried out as I was slammed to the grass. I’d lost count to how many times it had happened in the past two hours.

  “Get up,” Winston snarled and motioned for me to rise.

  My lip was bleeding along with a cut above my eyebrow. Everything ached and all I wanted to do was lay down and rest, but he wouldn’t let me. Every day for the past week, he trained me in the art of fighting. Hand-to-hand combat, grappling, and wrestling as wolves do. My ribs were bruised and one I was sure was fractured because it hurt so much, but Winston didn’t care. I struggled to get to my knees, but no matter how much he yelled at me to rise, I couldn’t get to my feet. When I collapsed back to the grass, coughing up blood, he finally stopped demanding I rise.