Wildlanders' Hope: Wildlands Origins, Book 1

By Jenycka Wolfe

For centuries, the Wildlander warriors have kept the forces of the Dark at bay, protecting the gentle nation of Arcadia. But their numbers are decreasing. Between the deadly struggle with the Dark creatures and a lack of female babies born, it’s becoming uncertain if the Wildlander race will continue on past a few more generations.

An unmarried, pregnant woman in Arcadia has two choices: die, or go to work at the laundries, where she will spend her life hidden away from the rest of society. Niomi Harpechel’s family has made the decision for her. She’s to be taken out into the cold winter night and quietly disposed of. When she’s rescued by the fierce barbarian Wildlanders, she sees the opportunity not only to survive, but to have a safe home and a future for her child. During their journey through the mountains, passion flares and Niomi’s body awakens to the true pleasures of love. But will it be enough? No Wildlanders have ever taken an Arcadian-born as a bride. They are considered too weak, too frail, to survive the rigors of life beyond the wall. Can Niomi prove them wrong? Does she represent a new hope for the future of the Wildlands?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jenycka Wolfe
• Release date: Apr 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311369321

Jenycka Wolfe

Jenycka Wolfe has been a teacher, a nurse, a professional journalist, a five-star chef, and, most recently, a private investigator. It was during a stakeout, gathering evidence of one of Canada's wealthiest men's marital infidelity, that she realized her true calling was erotic romance writing. Unfortunately, in her excitement, she gave away her position and the enraged cheater chased her through the streets of Halifax with a tire iron. Jenycka was forced to leap into the icy ocean to escape, and ended up with severe pneumonia and frostbite. Eventually, she had to have three fingers amputated. Now she lives under an assumed name in an undisclosed location, where she has begun to pen her tales.

Book preview

Wildlanders’ Hope

by Jenycka Wolfe

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 Jenycka Wolfe

From Wildlanders’ Hope….

You truly… make love to women while they are pregnant?

Yes. Dack took her hand and brought it to his erection. He shuddered at the feel of her touching him. When her fingers wrapped tentatively around his stiff flesh, not quite able to encircle the girth. I’m told that women often feel even more need during that time than they normally do.

Niomi grew very still, and he understood what she did not say. Slowly, carefully, he moved the hand that lay on her shoulder downward, tracing the delicate skin of her collarbone, then moving to cup her breast. His cock jumped as he felt the firm mound. He’d touched so few women in his life, and none so lovely. The hard pebble of her nipple jutted into his palm. No shame in your desire, he said quietly. She did not reply.

Dack eased his hand off of the one he’d held over her hand and his cock. To his utter relief, she did not let go of his flesh. Was it just his imagination, or was she stroking a little? He fought to keep his breathing steady.

How does it work? Niomi finally asked. How do we make love? In the book, there were pictures of two men with a woman between them. They appeared to be both… having her together.

A glance at Rustan told Dack exactly what his Clan mate was thinking. Carefully, he urged Niomi to come before him. He spread her legs open a little, and watched as Rustan came to stand behind her, lifting just a little. She bobbed weightlessly in the water, and rested on the warrior, her back against his chest. Rustan’s hands moved slowly up to caress Niomi’s beautiful breasts. Though her breath came in short gasps, she did not protest, and she did not pull away.

We make love like this. Dack skimmed down the curve of her waist, over the firm swell of her belly. With you between us. He slid a hand down to her female flesh, stroking the seam of her sex with a delicate touch. One of us enters you here. He increased the pressure, slipping his finger between the dainty, swollen lips, gratified to feel the slick wetness there that was not from the water.

Though Dack could not see beneath the water at what his Clan mate was doing, the expression on Niomi’s face said it all. Rustan kissed Niomi’s exposed neck and shoulder. And one of us enters you here.

Their bride squirmed, moving in and out of their touches, as though she did not know whether she wanted to stay or go. Dack leaned forward to kiss her cheek. We moves in rhythm, one going in whilst the other comes out. That way you’re always filled with cock. Is tough to do the first time, because your holes are small, but when you stretch enough to take us, it’s supposed to be the finest bliss a woman can feel. Some scream with the pleasure of it.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Excerpt

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

A Note from Jenycka

The World of the Wildlanders

About the Author

Also by Jenycka

Prologue

According to official records, the first Tribute Brides were sent beyond the wall on the Spring Equinox of the 7,298 year of Recorded Time, forty-one years before the events of Wildlanders’ Woman.

For the previous two centuries, the Arcadian government had noticed an alarming trend. The birth of daughters was all too common, while sons became more and more rare. At first, the High Assembly did not worry, as space within the nation’s walls was limited, and too much population growth could mean overcrowding. A controlled birth rate was not a bad thing. However, reports began to surface of fathers drowning infant daughters at birth, rather than facing the expense of raising a child who would likely always remain dependent upon them.

To stem this cruel practice, the Assembly instructed each regional government, along with the church, to build facilities, complete with dormitories, where the population could send their washing to be done at a cheap price. These came to be known simply as the laundries. Unwed women past a certain age were to be sent there to work, kept away from the eyes of the population, but not killed. That way, they could serve their communities and not pose a burden. It seemed a viable solution, and the tradition continued for over a hundred years.

What the Arcadians did not know, however, was that their protectors and neighbors, the feared barbarian Wildlanders, were having the opposite problem, but to even a more extreme degree. Circles were at the point of dying out because women could not be found, and the population sank into steep decline.

As the official story goes, the Wildlander Grand Circle of Elders approached the Arcadian government to negotiate for the right to take unwed women from the peaceful nation was mates to their male warriors. Eventually, a deal was struck, where unwed women at the age of twenty-four were to be sent out to the Wildlander Circles to become part of the Clans and bear their children.

What is not commonly known, however, was that it was not the Elders’ Circle who originally birthed the idea. As with most sensible steps, the movement toward Arcadian women mating with Wildlander men had its beginnings at the grassroots level, among the people. There have long been tales of Arcadian women who disappeared into the night, never to reach the laundry facility where they were to live out their days. Some simply… vanished. And Wildlander Circles near to the Arcadian wall began experiencing a turnaround, a swell in the birth rate, long before the official deal was struck.

This is the story of Niomi, who might very well have been the first Arcadian Clan Bride in the Wildlands.

Chapter One

A Cold Awakening

It was deep in the night when Niomi Harpechel found herself being violently shaken awake by the hard hand of her mother.

Get up, girl, Mora Harpechel hissed as she yanked away the single blanket she’d allowed her fallen daughter to keep as defense against the coldness of the attic that had served as her prison these past weeks.

Out of habit, Niomi forced herself to stay silent as she rolled away from her mother and reached for her shoes. Most nights, Mora had allowed her to walk about the farmyard in the moonlight, a concession to the idea that the bastard child she carried might very well be a valued boy, and therefore needed to be born alive and healthy. Mora herself had birthed twin sons, an accomplishment that had raised her status among their little farming community. As she was a stout woman not far past forty, it would not be impossible to convince people that she’d birthed another child, and that was what she’d intended to do if her wayward eldest daughter whelped a boy. Being the mother of three sons would raise her to nearly revered standing.

However, the two old midwives who had visited the farm and examined Niomi had confirmed what Mora’s repeated pin tests had shown. It was a female child. The evidence was all there. Niomi had been violently ill her first few months of pregnancy. Her skin remained soft, rather than drying out. Her formerly-gleaming golden hair had grown dull and lank.

But her feet are cold, Niomi remembered her mother arguing. Cold feet means a boy.

The wrinkled midwife had shrugged. You’re keeping her in an attic as winter begins. I’m surprised she’s not froze to death already.

As Niomi wrapped a cloak round her shoulders, she dared one look at the hardened features of her mother. Thank you for allowing me to walk, she whispered.

Mora Harpechel did not meet her daughter’s eyes. Come on, now.

Niomi hurried down the narrow stairs to the main floor of the farmhouse, passing by the door of the bedroom she’d shared with her younger sister Glory. The girl knew, of course, why Niomi had been locked away, but she’d not dare say a word. Scandal would ruin their family, and therefore Glory’s chance for a decent marriage and a future outside of the laundry house.

That was where she was eventually headed, Niomi was certain. All unwed Arcadian women past the age of twenty-four were sent there, to toil in drudgery, safely away from the eyes of a society that scorned them for not finding a husband. Though Niomi was just twenty, her pregnant, unwed state was even more of a crime than that of being a spinster.

It was not until she passed through the front door of the farmhouse that she realized something was amiss. Mora always sent her out the back.

In the shadows and moonlight, Niomi saw the shape of a cart, and a familiar-looking horse. Her heart swelled. Sure enough, the tall, slim figure of a male standing beside the beast was one that was dear to her.

Willem! she gasped, hopeful joy slamming through her. She would have lunged forward to embrace her beloved brother, but for her mother’s hard grip on her arm. Her other brother, Garven, still lived in the farmhouse, but he’d rarely spoken to her since the discovery of her pregnancy. Niomi suspected that Garven was the one who had tucked extra bread and cheese inside the attic door at night, but she’d not been able to confirm that.

You know what to do, Mora said quietly.

What was that she saw on her brother’s shadowed face? Pain? Niomi was uncertain, but she knew better than to speak. She moved to climb onto the seat of the cart, but then she realized that Willem would not be taking her alone. Garven stood slumped on the other side of the cart.

Would they take her to Nelius? she wondered. No, of course not. Her scholarly tutor and erstwhile seducer had denied any responsibility for her condition, swearing upon the Hallowed Stars that he’d not touched her carnally. Whether or not he lied was irrelevant, as Niomi was ruined either way. Nelius already had a wife.

Willem Harpechel’s eyes gleamed wet as he moved to help his sister into the cart bed. There’s straw to sit upon, he whispered, and Niomi crawled toward it gratefully. It was less than