This is all to say I was not ready.
I was so, so not ready to watch Amanda not only go into heat but also get claimedby not one but two male wolves.
For several moments, I could only stand there, paralyzed with shock as my brain struggled to catch up to the horror unfolding before my eyes.
Then I remembered myself. Remembered who Amanda was.
Not a terrible Wölfennite like me, but an innocent. An innocent being roughly claimed by not one, but two of the wolves who had kidnapped us.
“Let her go! Leave her alone! Get away from her, you terrible beasts!”
I lunged forward, intending to do whatever it took to get the two horrible males off Amanda — only to be yanked back before I could reach them.
Two hands clamped around the top of my arms like vices. “Do not interfere, Mairinua. This is our way.”
Apparently, not every wolf had left. The Irish Pirate King pulled me into his chest and whispered, "Welcome to the world of the Irish Wolves."
Naomi
I triedto wrench free of the Pirate King's iron grip, but he held me fast.
“If you try to get between two wolves in heat thrall and their mate, I promise you, they’ll forget your title,” he warned me. "Lorcan and Ronan'll try to tear you apart, and I'll have no choice but to slaughter them both for daring to touch you."
My heart trilled strangely at his words.
I'd spent all of my adult life knowing that if the St. Ailbe pack leader showed up to take me before the rise of a full moon, no one would protect me. Not my sister, Tara, who'd run off after her attempted wolf mating. Not my mother, who'd grown up in this community. Not my foreign-born father who considered passively standing by while his daughters got snatched from their home the price of his conversion to Wölfennite. Not even Sadie. It probably wouldn't even occur to her to use her superior strength and size to fight my wolf mating.
No one had ever vowed to protectme.
For a moment, I stopped struggling against his hold, I was so surprised by his violent offer.
But then I remembered who I was failing to protect.
Amanda. Poor Amanda being claimed by two wolves right in front of us. “You can’t let them do this! She’sinnocent.”
“She’s inheat," the Pirate King's tone took on a rigid, insistent note. "Furthermore, she gave them her binding pledge, which means she istheirs.Theirs to claim.”
“But…”
I trailed off when I noticed something pressed into the small of my back. A hard length, long and thick.
What was that? Some kind of weapon? Maybe the hilt of some dagger I hadn't registered when I got my first scary look at him?
"I'm sorry," he said, as if in response to all my questions. "I have no wish to make you uncomfortable. But the scent hanging over us and the sight of the Wild Wolves taking their new mate. I cannot help my arousal.”
Arousal.Even I understood what that word meant. I stilled. Swallowed. Would this pirate try to do the same thing to me that those two animals were doing to poor Amanda on the floor?
My lower stomach twisted with that strange tingling sensation again at the thought. Disgust. Yes, it most definitely had to be disgust at the thought of the Pirate King entering either of my holes.
“You’ve no need to worry about me, Mairinua," he assured me, his voice husky in my ear. "The Heat Laws state that I must have your pledge before I take you. Also, my wolf is too afraid to move on you.”
"Afraid." As crazy as this situation was, I let out a scoffing laugh. "I find that hard to believe."
"Notice your Wild king is not here. He had to depart, same as the others for fear of not being able to control himself with a female's heat in his nose. I,alone, was able to stay behind with you because my wolf is crouched low. So, believe me when I tell you that you make him nervous."
The Pirate's breath whispered over the skin of my neck as he spoke, and I shivered, my stomach tingling with even more disgust.
"My human, however, can’t help but have a response to watching this with you. Look at them,mobanríon.”
