Free Mated to the Berserkers: A Menage Shifter Romance by Lee Savino

alone as long as Samuel. And he was a faithful warrior. He deserved some details, though not enough to torture him.
    “She didn’t like it.”
    “No?”
    “She threw it in the pool.”
    Wulfgar’s guffaw echoed off the mountain.
    “Fergus and I had a bet as to what would happen.” The warrior shook his shaved head. “That little red wolf was right.”
    It was inevitable that the pack discussed our beloved, but I didn’t like it. After dipping my head in the freezing waterfall, I left the pool. “How is the prisoner?”
    “Still trapped in the pit. I have a guard on him.”
    “I wanted to check on him, make sure he doesn’t die before we get answers.”
    Wulfgar nodded in understanding. The pack usually saved their brutality for the battlefield, but it had been a long time since they’d had a war to entertain them.
    I picked up the pace, jogging towards the clearing where we’d dug the pit. Wulfgar followed.
    “The guards have instructions not to engage with the prisoner.”
    “Who is he?”
    “No idea. But he’s a fine black wolf. Led us a merry chase before we cornered him and drove him here.”
    We broke into the clearing where warriors ranged around the pit. A fire burned a few feet away, the scent of roasting meat its own form of torture for a trapped and starving man.
    And all but one guard stepped aside. Siebold had his back to us as he urinated into the gaping black hole in the earth.
    “Siebold,” Wulfgar barked. “You’re off duty.”
    The blond shot him a look of fury and spat into the pit before he slunk away.
    I took Siebold’s place, peering into the deep black hole. We’d spent three days digging, and shoring up the steep sides to create a prison that would hold a Berserker. If man or beast tried to climb out, the pit might collapse and bury him in an early grave.
    “Light.” I held up my hand in order, and Wulfgar handed me a torch lit from the nearby fire. “Who threw spears down there?”
    When no one spoke I knew the answer.
    “Siebold must have when I left. Rabbit-brained bully,” Wulfgar sniffed the insult with absolute disdain. “I’ll order him and the others to stay back from the pit, no matter what.”
    “Ye think he can throw the spears this far?” I handed the torch back. The prisoner had stepped out of the shadows into the circle of sunlight.
    “Better not to take a chance. I don’t know what the warrior is capable of. He’s in wolf form.”
    As I watched the black wolf shifted into a man. “Not anymore.”
    The warrior had black hair, and powerful shoulders inked blue. I’d seen a few warriors bear such marks. He tossed his head as he shook off the magic of the change. “Is this the sort of welcome I receive from the Berserker pack?”
    “We dinnae take kindly to strangers on our mountain,” I called down.
    The warrior smirked. He stood proud and cocky for a prisoner in a pit. “Your mountain? I thought all Berserkers were changed by a witch in the North Lands. You sound like a native of Alba.”
    “I was born here, aye.” I didn’t mind giving details to a dead man. “Who are you?”
    “They call me Maddox. I hail from a clan not far from here.”
    “The Red pack?”
    “No.” He grinned. “We are Berserkers, also.”
    Chills ran up my spine. Besides our pack, there were no other Berserker wolves. I took a moment to convey Maddox’s claim to Samuel. Maddox watched with a half smile, as if he knew why I paused.
    He claims he’s a Berserker.
    Impossible. Unless--
    “Who is yer Alpha?” I asked the prisoner.
    “Ragnvald.”
    A Norse name. No wonder this Maddox knew our history. Rangvald was most likely a Viking Berserker, like Samuel, Siebold and Wulfgar, and most of the pack—besides Fergus and I.
    “Ask Sigmund if he’ll speak with me now.”
    “There is no Sigmund here,” I tested the wolf.
    Maddox let out a barking laugh. “Sigmund was Samuel’s name before he took vows to follow the white Christ. The name stuck, even if his faith