Claimed by Her Viking Wolf
By: Doris O Connor
“Did you hear that?” Lisa’s shrill voice broke the stillness of the early morning mist. Kimberly groaned into her coffee, and upended the dregs of it into the campfire. They sizzled, and her sister wrinkled her nose, whilst inching closer to her new boyfriend.
“The only thing I can hear is you bitching in my ears,” Kim said. For the umpteenth time she wished herself far away.
She’d known taking Lisa along on this camping trip had been a mistake. Her younger, far too flighty, sister didn’t do the great outdoors. No one had been more surprised than Kim when she’d shown up at her cottage, with this Sam in tow. He was cute, if you liked the clean-shaven boy band look, which Kim so didn’t. Apparently Sam fancied himself somewhat of an explorer. In an effort to impress him, Lisa had arranged for this trip with Kim as their guide.
After all no one knew the Northumberland National Park as well as Kim. It was her escape, somewhere where she could immerse herself in nature, and pretend she lived in simpler times. Annoying tourists notwithstanding, the tours nicely supplemented the income she made from writing her historical novels. Right now, Kim sure wished she was back in the past, and not here, witnessing her sister making a fool of herself over this boy.
“No, I heard something growl over there, I’m sure.” Lisa made an exaggerated arm movement. She glared into the shrubbery, whilst inching sideways toward Sam, who got to his feet, and brandishing his survival knife swung it through the air as though he was slaying imaginary demons.
“I’ll go see,” he said.
Kim, too, rose, and with a twist of her hand on his wrist, disarmed the damn fool. The shiny, never used knife embedded itself into the grass by their feet, and she gave it a kick for good measure.
“Don’t be an idiot. You’ll hurt yourself brandishing that about. I’ll go see, but I’m sure there’s nothing there.”
“You can’t talk to Sam like that.” Lisa’s affronted tone grated on her last nerves. Kim spun round to give her a piece of her mind, when she heard it. The low, pained growl of an animal in pain. It made the hair on her neck stand up to attention, while both Sam and Lisa took several steps back in horror.
“See, I told you there was something there. You never should have taken us here. God, we’re about to be attacked by some wild beast—”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Kim interrupted her. “There are no wild beasts in Northumberland. Even if there were, they’d have more sense than to come close to an open fire and especially humans. Or what classes for humans these days.” She glanced at the lily faced Sam and smirked. Kim laughed inwardly at the way he puffed out his chest. If that sorry excuse of a male ever came face to face with any wild animal he would no doubt pee himself.
Her amusement fled when another, much more menacing, growl came from the undergrowth. Whatever that animal was, it was hurt, which made it dangerous.
“Well, in any case I think we should leave.” Sam took another step back.
“Oh. Excellent idea. This was fun, but I’m ready to go home now.” Lisa smiled up at him. When she pulled his head down for a kiss, Kim turned her back on them. Shame she couldn’t turn her hearing off, too. It had been bad enough last night listening to them in the tent next to her. She hadn’t needed the audible reminder that, at least, boy or not, her sister had a sex life. Something that was sadly lacking from Kim’s existence. With another glance into the shrubbery, she agreed.
“Fine, I’ll pack up. You two head off.”
“We can’t just leave you here on your own.” Sam disentangled himself from her sister’s clutches, and Kim had to laugh at Lisa’s pout.
“It’s fine, just go. Lisa is itching to get out of here, I know. Follow the trail down to the car park. You can’t miss it. I’ll follow when I’m done here.” Another low rumble made her add, “Or I might just stay a while. There’s something I want to explore.” Digging into her jeans she pulled out the keys to her cottage and threw them at Sam.
“Let yourself in. Treat the place as your own.”
