Claimed by Her Viking Wolf (12 page)

“
At
first I thought he meant you. That you weren’t coming back, and the more time
passed by the more that thought took hold. But then
Ralloph
decided to leave us and go and see his clan. I believed him at first when he
said he was going to talk to his brother and try and mediate on my behalf. I
send him with my blessing, but he hasn’t returned and there has been no word.
Instead they have stepped up their attacks on us. So…”
Liufr
led his words trail off, and the unspoken hung heavy between them.

“
I
will seek him out and kill him with my bare hands if he has betrayed us,”
Asger
said, and
Liufr
nodded.

“
I
have no doubt that you will, my son. However tonight, go seek your woman and
make your peace.”

Liufr
smile at him, and
Asger
shot to his feet. Nose in the air to follow her scent,
he set about finding her. Time to settle this once and for all.

Chapter
Eleven

“
Are
you sure you’re going to be okay,
Guta
?” Kim asked
for the umpteenth time, and received the same tired smile in return.

“
I
will be fine, my dear sister. Please do not worry over me. Go back to the feast
and make peace with my brother.”

Kim snorted her derision at that, and
Guta
laughed.

“
We
haven’t exactly had a fight, so how can I make peace?” Kim said, which was
true. The last time she had properly spoken to him, they had been engaged
in—her cheeks heated recalling that night, and she clenched her thighs
together. This whole thing was insane. She couldn’t think about him without
getting turned on.
Guta
said it was part of the
mating bond, when Kim had steadfastly refused to follow the unspoken demand in
her brain to turn around and look at
Asger
back in
the meeting hall. It was one of the reasons why she was so damn angry with him.
He had bitten her, claimed her, as
Guta
had called
it, without explaining the consequences to her. That niggling ache in her
belly, when she defied him, the very real need to seek him out and touch him,
this overwhelming connection to him, and yes, dammit, love.

Kim couldn’t allow herself to fall in love, yet
that was exactly what she had done. It made her want to stay here and never go
back to her own time. She couldn’t do that. She had a life back there, dammit.
People who loved her and wanted her back. A bloody story to finish. Kim angrily
swiped the unexpected tears away.
Guta
clucked her
tongue and pulled Kim down for a hug.

“
It
will be okay, you’ll see. This mating bond is overwhelming, but it is also one
of the best and most treasured things that can happen to you.”

Guta
sounded so sad that
Kim disentangled herself and forced a smile on her face. She put a hand on the
other woman’s swollen belly. Her breath caught at the strong kick she felt
under her fingers.

“
Are
you worried about this
lil
’ one’s father?” Kim asked.
Guta’s
short laugh in answer made her frown and look
up.

“
No,
well, I am, but
Ralloph
is not my mate.”
 
She smiled at Kim’s sharp intake of breath at
that revelation.

“
You
only have one
válað
,
and not everyone
is blessed by the gods to find him or her.” When Kim frowned in her obvious
confusion,
Guta
patted her arm.

“
I
can see my wayward brother has not explained this very well to you.”

Kim rolled her eyes.

“
That’s
the understatement of the freaking century,” she said, and
Guta
laughed.

“
Well,
he is a man, my dear, and the future Alpha of our pack. They tend to act first
and explain things later, if you’re lucky. My
válað
was just the same. I first met
Thorston
when I was a
mere girl. He was ten years older than me, and kept his distance, but I knew.
From the moment I saw him, I knew he was to be mine. I know he only thought of
me as
Asger’s
annoying little sister, until I turned
sixteen.”

Guta
smiled and her whole
face lit up as she recalled happier times.

“
Thorston
and
Asger
had both been
injured on a raid.” She patted Kim’s arm when Kim gasped. “It happens. Ours are
dangerous times, and our men fight hard to protect us and to gain more land.
Anyway,
Asger’s
was a mere scratch in comparison.”
She grinned when Kim shook her head.

“
I’ve
seen his scars. They’re not scratches,” Kim said.

“
Maybe
not, but he healed fast. For some reason
Thorston
didn’t. I was appointed to care for him…” She stopped talking and smiled when
Kim worried her bottom lip with her teeth.

“
Does
it start to sound familiar?”

Kim wrapped her arms around herself.

“
Maybe,”
she said. “But
Asger
was displaced and couldn’t
shift, so we just thought he didn’t heal as fast because of that, and…” Kim
stopped speaking when
Guta’s
pointed look fell on
Asger’s
mark on her neck.

“
He
wouldn’t have been able to mark you, had he not been able to shift. You see,
when we meet our
válað
and one or the other
fights it for whatever reason, our inner beasts lose their ability, only to
emerge much stronger once the bond has been established. I knew I wanted
Thorston
from the first minute I saw him. It took him being
injured to embrace what his wolf had known all along. That despite
circumstances I was meant to be his. Once he did, everything fell into place.”

Guta
grew thoughtful when
Kim shook her head.

“
It
can’t have been that easy.”

“
Fundamentally
it was. We were meant to be together, so that was it. Just like my brother and
you are meant to be together.”
Guta
laughed, and Kim
wondered what that was about until the other woman explained.

“
Asger
still beat him to a bloody pulp for daring to touch
me, of course, but once they got that out of their system, we were married and
that was that.” A shadow crossed her face, and Kim reached out to take
Guta’s
hand in between her own. A gentle squeeze was her
reply.

“
What
happened to your
Thorston
?” Kim asked.

“
He’s
drinking with the gods in
Valhöll
. He didn’t
come back after a raid across the seas to your England one year.” She smiled
when Kim startled, and let go of her hand. “It is what it is. He died a
warrior’s death and will always be remembered. I grieved him, of course, but I
had my boys to always remember him by, and life goes on.”

Kim supposed it did, but her heart ached at the
loss the other woman had suffered. If anything was to happen to
Asger
… She didn’t even want to think about that, and she
swallowed down the overwhelming need to see him. Had he not just returned
himself from a dangerous assignment?

“
Do
not look so worried, my sister,”
Guta
said. “Many
warriors live to old age, and
Asger
is not
Thorston
. For starters he is the best fighter this village
has seen in many generations. Now that he had found his
válað
,
he is even stronger.”

Kim wasn’t so sure about that, but she kept her
thoughts to herself and changed the subject.

“
So
Ralloph
is what?”
Guta
sighed.

“
My
husband, chosen by my father to cement the peace between his clan and ours.”

Kim couldn’t help it, she laughed.

“
That’s
barbaric, and it didn’t work too well, if they’re attacking you again, now did
it?”

Guta
shrugged her
shoulders. The censure she read in the other woman’s usually so warm amber eyes
made her regret her hasty words immediately.

“
I’m
sorry that was tactless of me. It’s just…”

She couldn’t bring herself to continue, and
breathed a sigh of relief when
Guta
smiled.

“
I
wasn’t entirely unwilling, sister,” she said. “
Ralloph
is very handsome and…” She measured several inches between her hands, and that
grin turned positively sinful. “Very well hung,” she said, and Kim burst into
laughter.

“
Guta
!”
she said, and the other woman laughed, too.

“
What?
We women have needs, and
Ralloph
is more than capable
of taking care of mine. He’s a good man. I’ve got to believe in that, despite
appearances, and what my father fears. He has only ever treated me with
kindness, and the boys love him as a father. I…”

Guta
stopped speaking and
looked behind Kim. She didn’t need to turn around to know who had just entered.
Asger’s
scent wrapped itself around her, and his
wolf’s quiet rumble traveled though her, centering right between her thighs.
Kim closed her eyes to regain control of her wayward hormones, but to no avail.
Those weren’t listening, especially when
Asger
stepped up right behind her, and settling his large hands on her hips pulled
her back against his huge frame. The long, hard ridge of his erection dug into
the small of her back, and his fingers tightened around her hipbones with
enough force to leave bruises, while he rested his chin on her head, and spoke
to his sister.

“
Your
belief in your husband does you credit, sister, but I agree with Father. His
actions speak for themselves. I am not at all sure we can trust him.”

Guta’s
wolf showed
briefly in her eyes, and the animal snarled at
Asger
.
Kim held her breath as
Asger’s
wolf responded in
kind, and she winced when his claws ran out and dug into her skin.
Asger
sheathed them immediately with a murmured apology to
Kim. When he ran his nose down toward his mark on her neck, inhaled, and then
flicked his tongue across his mark, Kim didn’t even try to stop her needy moan.
Fighting this pull between them was useless. This close to the man she loved,
she couldn’t think of one single reason why she ought to be fighting this. She
could barely hold on to her previous ang
er.

“
I’m
not discussing this now,
Asger
. See you to your
woman. Events will tell which one of us is right. Go and leave me be. I am
going to try to rest. Something tells me this
barn
will be born very soon. I know the birth will not be an easy
one, so I would rather save my strength for that, and not arguing with my
brother. I know you never approved of
Ralloph
.”

Asger
tensed behind Kim.
Acting on instinct she put her hands over his, where they were still clamped on
her hips, and
Asger
blew out a long, drawn out breath
next to her ear. It left a tingling awareness of him on her skin, as it brought
with it his scent, laced through with the ale he’d drunk at the feast.

“
I
never said that.”
Asger
grumbled his answer, and his
sister smiled.

“
You
didn’t have to. I know he is no
Thorston
. I will
always love and miss him. He was my
válað
,
the other half of me, just like Kimberly is yours.”
Guta
blinked back tears as she said that. Kim held her breath again, but
Asger
just murmured his approval. He dropped an open
mouthed kiss on the sensitive spot under her ear, which made Kim even wetter
for him. Not that it took much for her to get into that state. One look from
him, one whiff of his scent was all that was required. It should be infuriating
and embarrassing, but it simply felt right. Here in his arms was where she
belonged, come what may, and for better or worse this was her life now.
Guta’s
story made her realize that she was foolish to spend
her time being angry at him, or the circumstances they found themselves in.

Life was too short, she knew that. Kim was many
things, but she wasn’t a fool, and having been given this chance of happiness,
she would grab it with both hands, and pray the fates, gods, or whatever you
believed in wouldn’t snatch
Asger
away from her
before his time like
Guta’s
Thorston
.

She forced herself to listen to
Asger’s
sister as the other woman continued.

“
Ralloph
is my husband, the father of this child I am
carrying. I know he will honor the vows he made to me, and this clan.” She put
her hand up when
Asger
seemed set to say something.
Kim felt
Asger’s
reluctant acceptance all the way to
her toes. When she opened her heart, she could read him as easily as though his
emotions were her own. Worry and love for his sister, concern for his pack, his
father, and for
Ralloph
, too, she realized with a
start. It seemed
Asger
cared more for his
brother–in-law than even his sister knew. There was old grief for
Thorston
, gentle indulgent feelings for his nephews, and
above all a healthy dose of lust for Kim. It made her smile, as it so mirrored
her own feelings. She sensed nothing but honesty from him, and … she closed her
eyes and dug deeper, not even questioning why she could do so—love—for her.

It made her heart beat faster, and
Asger
pulled her closer still, as though he, too, picked up
on her turbulent emotions. Then again, he no doubt could. If she—a mere
human—could read him so clearly thanks to their bond, then how much easier must
he be able to pick up on hers, considering his much sharper senses.

“
So,
there is nothing more to be said, brother. Save your breath and use your words
to explain things better to your
válað
.
 
It seems to me you have done a piss poor job
of doing that so far.” Kim suppressed a grin, when
Guta
winked at her, and made shooing motions with her hands, before she lay down on
her bed and shut her eyes.