Doctor Abbott Read online

  A few hours later, both the women were at Lúta’s cottage. She opened the door to see the worried look on their faces as they shoved their way in. Erica paced the floor for a few seconds, “I think we need to change the deal made for the human.” She stopped and looked at the horror on Lúta’s face as the woman slowly sat down at the table in tears.

  Erica sat with her, “I will talk to my husband tonight and tell him we need the human, we can renegotiate the price with your bothers and offer the human a wife for his services. Then we will just make sure you are the wife in question.” Her eyes looked hopeful as she reached for her friend’s hand.

  “My brothers would never agree to that. He cannot protect me from challengers.” Her tears were running full stream at this point and Lúta brushed her hair behind her ear. “They are going to kill him. I swore I would not let that happen. I swore!” She stood and grabbed the queen’s arms before embracing her in a hug, sobbing. “You have to help him, please!”

  Genevieve paced the floor. “What if you two got married and went to King William’s village? The doctor can offer his service there and no one is going to start a war over a couple of lovers taking off.”

  Erica sat back down quietly for a few minutes before responding, “I do not know, Genie. Freyr is very serious about having the healer under our rule. That is a powerful asset in this fight.”

  “We did fine before he came. Honestly, he saved your son, do you not owe it to him to see his happiness?” Genie put her hands on her hips waiting for a reply.

  Erica snapped back at her friend, “I did not say I would not try, I only said it would be useless.”

  “How useless would he be dead? At least this way we can still turn to him if we are in dire need. And we win his loyalty in the process.”

  Erica thought on Genevieve’s words for a moment, “She is right, you two need to leave. Take him to the lysthus tonight and marry. We will have Mâvis smuggle you both out in the night.”

  “Mâvis? He wants Ben dead!” The regret hung in heavily in Lúta’s eyes.

  Genevieve corrected her as he paced the room, “No, my husband wants him gone, that is all. He is simply thinking about the safety of our daughter. Honestly, it will not matter to him one way or another how the human goes. I will talk to him tonight. Get Ben to the lysthus when the square is empty. That is all you have to do. We will take care of the rest, is that understood?” Lúta nodded still a little teary-eyed. The women all hugged and parted so Lúta could pack.

  As evening approached, Ben and Lúta’s brothers returned home. She made quick work of her dinner chores and as soon as Ben was done eating, she grabbed his arm and tossed his coat over her shoulder, “Come human, I need you to see the mess you made of things in the barn.” The moment the door closed behind her she turned to see if her brothers had any interest in checking on them. They were more focused on the drinks she had put out; so she rushed Ben off towards the village square.

  Ben was incredibly confused, “Lúta, last I checked the barn was the other way.”

  “Yes, I know, Ben. We are not going to the barn.” She brought him into an enclosed gazebo like structure in the square and took his hands in hers looking into his eyes nervously “I may have messed up and I need to make it right.” Her eyes were starting to water over the guilt of what she had done already and even more so over what she was about to do. There was no way the human had any clue what the lysthus was for.

  Ben’s heart stopped for a moment seeing the fear and sadness that was overwhelming her, “Hey, don’t do that to yourself. This is not your fault.” He pulled her close and hugged her until she stopped shaking. He knew this had something to do with their relationship and his embrace tightened more over the thought that his life was about to get a lot harder if not end.

  Lúta pulled back and looked up at him, “I am in love with you, Ben.” She licked her lips and searched his face for a reaction.

  Her words took him by shock at first but after everything that had happened, he found he had feelings for her too. She had saved his life, she was exotic and unusual and completely fascinated by him. Despite the fact that they were not even the same species, he found her utterly beautiful.

  Her eyes spoke so loudly to him as they hung on waiting for him to come to his senses and reply, “I-I love you too Lúta.” By the time he finished his last word she had him locked in a kiss. A desperate, loving and tender kiss. He found himself confused and dazed by the emotion of it and when he pulled away, he had to catch his breath.

  Meanwhile ~ ~

  Erica and Genie sat at the table waiting for Mâvis to come home. He walked in late in the evening, shaking off the snow as he eyed them both suspiciously. His gaze came to rest hard on his wife as he spoke, “I do not know what you two are up to but I will have no part of it.”

  Erica stood to speak holding her hand up to silence Genevieve, “Your queen asks you a favor.”

  He replied, “With all due respect it will not be my queen that orders my execution. Whatever you are up to I will have no part of it. Now I suggest you return to your husband before I return you to him.”

  She turned to Genevieve, “Then we have a bigger problem than I thought. Come, we will handle this ourselves.”

  Both the women headed for the door and Mâvis folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against it. “Genevieve will be staying and I swear if this has anything to do with that human I will see it ends now.”

  “Then you would betray your king.” Erica lifted her chin in defiance.

  “I betray him by allowing this to continue! You will not play me for a fool!”

  “Freyr intends to keep the human as an asset. We will have no asset if Bjorn kills him…and we will certainly have no asset if you kill him!” Erica paced angrily.

  Genevieve confronted him now, “You want the human gone, Mâvis, he could still be an asset if we let him escape, but win his loyalty in protecting his wife.”

  “His what?” Mâvis’s voice turned into a sinister growl as he turned and stomped out the door. He stormed up to the palace and walked right into Freyr’s bedchamber.

  An hour later Mâvis and a few more guard’s accompanied the king to retrieve Ben. Mâvis shoved his way into Bjorn’s cottage looking around for the human. Bjorn and Avery were sitting at the table drinking and both stood up taking arms, “What is the meaning of this?”

  Freyr was now in the kitchen as well, “Where is the human?”

  The brothers looked at each other baffled, “With Lúta, finishing his work. They just left here.”

  The king stormed out with Mâvis and the brothers following, they made their way quickly through the square. Freyr stopped in front of the lysthus after seeing his wife and Genevieve standing outside of it, confirming his fear. He turned to Bjorn before taking another step in that direction, “Tell me, do you serve your king or do you serve yourself?”

  The look on Bjorn’s face read as complete insult, “I have served you loyally since I was a cub. What do you mean in asking such a question? What does this have to do with the human?” As if the question just answered itself, Bjorn’s face washed over in horror at the realization of why they were out there. He tore off towards the gazebo like structure enraged, “I will kill him!”

  Mâvis stepped forward shoving Bjorn back, “Your king asked you a question!”

  Bjorn looked Mâvis square in the eyes feeling completely betrayed and insulted, “You of all people are not at ease with this, You, Mâvis?”

  The door to the gazebo opened and Ben attempted to step out. Genevieve and Erica shoved him back in, as the queen said, “You cannot come out here right now.” They turned shielding the door with their bodies and keeping a close eye on the interaction of the men.

  Avery shoved past a couple of the guard’s, “Is she in there?” He questioned the queen and when her expression said it all he turned to the king, “Surely you will not let him get away with this?” His eyes were ablaze with anger.

  Th
e king answered, “You will both be compensated for the human and your sister. They are mine now and they will serve this kingdom. Should either of you bring harm to the human you will be executed as a traitor.” Freyr then turned to Mâvis, “Bring them both to the palace.”

  Mâvis nodded and shoved past his wife and the queen to open the door to the lysthus. Upon seeing his sister exit the structure Bjorn stomped over and took a full swing at her knocking her out. Ben immediately flew to her side and rolled her onto her back to check if she was breathing.

  Mâvis turned to Bjorn shoving him back hard to make room then he swung his battle-axe knocking Bjorn clean off his feet with the broad side of it. He could feel Avery charging up behind him and turned the axe in the other direction; he took a nearly blind swing at the warrior and sent him to the ground next to his brother, hard.

  Lúta stirred and moaned a few seconds before her eyes flew open with the realization of what happened. Was Mâvis going to kill her brother? She had to stop him was her only thought as she attempted to scramble to her feet. Genevieve and Erica held her back as the queen yelled to her. “Lúta, you need to go. Take your husband to the palace!”

  Mâvis shoved past both the women making sure to stop and scold his wife, “Are you happy? Now everyone has what they want.” With that, he grabbed Ben and shoved him towards the palace. “Go, human!”

  A few minutes later Ben was shoved through the doors of the great-hall and tossed to the floor. The room was nearly empty of all the furnishings that filled it for the party.

  Mâvis closed the door behind them and waited silently, leaning against the wall watching the human stumble to his feet. Ben stood quietly for a bit, trying to gain some sort of handle on what was happening.

  Several minutes passed before he could steady his breathing enough to come across as patient. He stood in front of the window looking over at the giant guard, waiting in the shadows. Finally he asked, “Do you know where she is? What will happen to her?” Getting no answer, he paced the floor a bit, biting at his nails.

  A couple hours later the king burst into the door, he found a pair of chairs and dragged them over to where Ben was standing, near the moonlight. “Well, human, it appears your actions have gotten you into a bit of trouble. You and I need to have a talk.”

  Ben wiped his hand over his face and sat down next to Freyr. “Tell me where she is.”

  The king reached over and grabbed Ben by the knee to be sure he had his full attention, and ignoring his demand. “I take it you love her. Am I right? Why else would you take your life in your hands against some of my best warriors to marry the poor girl?”

  Ben was trying desperately to absorb what was going on as quickly as he could but something was still escaping him. “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t know what you’re saying.”

  The king stood yelling now as he pointed at the great room door. “Did you NOT just come out of my lysthus with Lúta?”

  Ben’s face went white with the realization that the king was referring to the gazebo Lúta and he had spent the evening in. “This lysthus, it is ceremonial to you? Dear God, had I known…”

  The king’s expression changed to curiosity as his voice lowered. He bent his head down to gauge Ben’s response, “Are you saying you had no clue you got married tonight? Are you telling me she fooled you?” The king straightened up quickly and strolled towards the door, “She will be dealt with accordingly…”

  “No!” Ben stood very suddenly to try and stop the king and the moment he moved he saw Mâvis meet his reaction; He lowered himself carefully back onto the chair keeping one eye on the guard as he plead to the king. “Please, sir, she has done nothing wrong. It was me, I made a mistake. Don’t hurt her.” Mâvis did not see that coming and found the display interesting. He settled back against the wall wondering if the puny thing thought he could actually protect her here.

  The king stopped at the door, “Wow, so you must love her then to be willing to take on a punishment for someone who made a fool of you.” He walked back over to a table and poured a couple shots of liquor before handing one to Ben. “The way I see it at this point you have kind of washed yourself into a corner, have you not? If you go back to Bjorn’s home, you are a dead man. We could free you to fend for yourself as you were found. But that would just be cruel now, would it not?” He eyed Ben to see if he was absorbing what was happening as quickly as he should be. “You see, Abbott, your wife conspired with my wife to leave this village and steal you away. Seeing how your special skills are now so vital to preserving our way of life this could easily be viewed as treason which is punishable by death.”

  Ben threw himself against the back of the chair and closed his eyes, trying ever so hard to control his breathing as he listened patiently to the king. He swallowed hard before leaning forward, looking over at Mâvis and then back at Freyr. Mâvis eyed the display in front of him carefully, watching the human clench and unclench his jaw as Freyr continued painting a picture of the potential.

  “Enough!” Ben wasn’t even sure it came from his own mouth at first. He gave the king a full on glare, his tension hard in his voice. “You want me, you have me. At least for now, I’ll do anything and everything you wish so long as she is safe, happy and by my side where I can see she is being treated as she should. But one hair on her is harmed and game over. I’ll quit and you can go back to your savage ways however you were before I arrived.”

  “If you quit I will kill her.”

  “And you if kill her I’m done! We just established that!”

  “Well once you are no longer of use I will kill you too.” Freyr folded his hands together, interweaving his claws between his fingers and waited for a response.

  Ben chugged the shot and stared angrily back at the king, “You won’t need to, I’ll do it myself!” He turned, towards the giant white beast leaning on the wall staring straight into Mâvis’s eyes as he hurled the shot glass. The guard didn’t even flinch as it shattered inches from his head, “Just to save him from the pleasure of it!” The action drew a toothy grin from the guard and Ben turned back to the king, “Now it appears we are at a bit of a stalemate. Do you want my help or do you want me dead, the choice is yours.”

  The king sat wide-eyed and mortified by the display. He turned, half expecting to see Mâvis haul across the room and tear the man in two. There was not a single warrior in the village, himself included that would test Mâvis like that. Seeing nothing happen he turned back to Ben who now spoke in a chipper more upbeat tone, “So are we finished here? May I see my wife now?”

  A few minutes later Ben was shoved into a dark room as the door closed behind him and locked. He felt around franticly looking for any sign of where he was. He found some tapestries and flung them open to see a bed in the room with Lúta asleep on it. He dashed over to her side and knelt down to give her a quick once over. She stirred for a moment and moaned as he whispered. “Hey, are you okay?”

  Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of his voice and she saw his face in the moon light. She sat up and hugged him, as she burst into tears. “You are alright! I am so sorry, Ben. This is all my fault.”

  “Shhh, no…no it isn’t your fault and everything is okay. We’re okay.” He kissed her hungrily in-between tearing open his shirt, and kicking off his pants before he climbed into bed to taste more of her. He pulled down the top of her night shift to find her voluptuous breasts just waiting for him. He devoured one as her chest heaved in response to his touch. He marveled at the way her skin tightened as the heat of his mouth found her nipple, her claws dove into his hair caressing and scratching lightly to urge him on.

  He ignored his throbbing cock as he made his way down to her slit drawing her lips into his mouth and sending her immediately arcing her back for him. He wrapped his hands around her thick thighs and went back and forth between sucking her delicate clit and probing along the nerve that trailed it into her opening.

  He prided himself on the fact that as a doctor he knew just wh
at triggers could drive a woman insane and Lúta was no exception to this rule. She squirmed and writhed in his arms torn between fighting the sensations and indulging in them. It wasn’t long before he could feel her walls tighten around his tongue. He pushed past the quivers and fought to keep control of her clit until she was beyond spent.

  Ben sat up drawing her trembling legs around his waist as he kissed her mouth and finally found his own way into her box. She was still tight from coming so hard and he found it to be a bit of a struggle at first. But she was so wet and warm he knew he wouldn’t last long and fought to control himself. He wanted her to come again, he wanted her to need him the way he needed her. He watched as her breathing changed rhythm to match his thrusts.

  He picked up the pace to confuse her senses and drew her breast into his mouth again, teasing it until she couldn’t take anymore and he answered her release with his own.

  It took everything he had left to pull himself off her because he was mesmerized by what he had. She was beautiful and she was his in a way no human woman had ever given herself to him. She had given up everything to be with him, whether she deceived him or not, it could have cost her life and it is something he would never take for granted.

  Chapter 8

  The next morning, the two of them woke to the sound of the door unlocking. Two guards came in and Ben tried to scramble off the bed and to his feet but there was no time. He was in nothing more than his pants as he was shoved out of the door and down the hallway. He turned to address one of them as he continued in the direction he was being shoved. A young warrior named Pierce. “Honestly is there some reason I can’t at least grab a shirt. If I am to meet with the king shouldn’t I at least be dressed?”