Claimed by Her Viking Wolf (2 page)

“
Where
the hell am I?”

Her eyes widened at his reply. When he made a move
toward his sword, she jumped up and kicked it away.

His furious growl in answer made her startle, but
when he struggled upright, and swayed, she came back to wrap her arms around
his torso in support.

She lapsed into her own language, as she urged him
back down and into the tent.
Asger
allowed her to do
so grudgingly. In truth the whole damn place seemed to move from under him, and
he cursed this weakness. He’d endured far worse injuries and healed, but he
needed to shift to do so. Try as he might he couldn’t summon his wolf. His
animal was as frustrated as he was at being caged. It made him push this
kona
away. Regardless of what his instincts screamed
at him, he would not, could not allow himself to think of her as his. For all
he knew she might well be the one who had bewitched him, so he hardened his
heart.
Asger
blocked her renewed effort to touch him
by grasping hold of her wrists, and flinging them away.

Not that she took any notice. With a feminine growl
of her own, she advanced again, while she pulled out a long white strip of
clean material out of her curious looking satchel, and launched into a little
speech.

Asger
didn’t understand a
word, but judging by the way she kept pointing at his side, she wanted to tend
to him. With one hand on the hidden dagger in his belt, which he discovered she
hadn’t taken off him, he glanced down to where she was pointing. He frowned at
the blood-stained bandage.

“
Please.
Help … do not fool be.”

Her attempt to get through to him in his language
made him grin, despite the inherent insult she’d just bestowed on him. Pulling
out his dagger he pointed it at her. While she flinched, keeping a wary eye on
his weapon, her green eyes flashed fire at him, and he was pretty sure he had
just been cursed in whatever language she called her own.

He could pick up the odd word, which sounded
familiar. Clearly, whatever language she spoke still held traces of his. Again
he wondered where on earth he was. For a language to evolve and change like
this took time. A hell of a lot of time. He hurt too damn much to have made it
to
Valhöll
,
which left only one conclusion.
Asger
had somehow traveled in time, just like the
ancient one had foretold he would at the last feast.

Asger
had never been one to believe blindly in the runes
and their prophecies, but how else could he explain what had happened? The roar
from above made him look up briefly. Not
that he could see the big shiny
bird like thing that seemed capable of flight, not through the gloomy drizzle
that steadily got worse, but he recognized that unearthly sound.

“
Shhh
, all, well. Just
airplane.”

His flame haired rescuer touched his bicep briefly to get his
attention, which made a jolt of
recognition hit him in the gut. His wolf
sat up and howled, desperate to burst free from his body.
Asger’s
half erect cock hardened with a speed that left him lightheaded, like a
sweinbarn
, who hadn’t yet managed to control that body
part.
 
It only served to cement the bone
deep knowledge that he was here for this
kona
,
which
in theory meant he could trust her. Besides, had she meant
him harm, she
could have easily dispatched him ten times over when he had been out of it.

Nevertheless, he shook his head, regarding her warily, as she pointed
up to the rain
sodden sky, spread her arms out and repeated that strange
word.

“
Airplane.”

“
Airplane?”
He repeated what she’d just
said. When she nodded and smiled at him, his gut tightened in need. That smile
lit up her face, as though the sun had come out from behind a storm cloud, so
he said that word again.

“
Airplane
.” She nodded.
Asger
said it several more times, rolling the syllables
around his tongue.

“
Kimberly.” His gaze followed her arm
movements, as she brought them back to her side and then pointed to her chest.
“That’s my
nafn
.” She smiled again, while she
nodded to him.
“
Minn
nafn
,
Kimberly, well, Kim. Your
nafn
?”

Asger’s
lips kicked up into a grim smile at her terrible
pronunciation, but he dipped his head and gave her what he wanted.

“
Asger
,” he said. “
Asger
,
sonr
Liufr
.”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes this time. When she worried
the plump contours of her bottom lip with her teeth, he gave into instinct and
pulled the flesh away from harm with his fingers.

“
Neinn
,
Kimberly,
minn
kona
.”

Her breathing hitched as the most delightful blush stole across her
pale features, and
Asger
lowered the dagger he still
held in his left fist, and gestured to the bandages in her lap.

“
Lika
.”

Chapter Two

 
For the umpteenth time since she’d managed to
convince
Asger
away from the campsite and down to the
car park, she glanced across to look at his tense profile. Kim supposed he was
holding it together pretty well, all things considered, if you ignored the
drawn sword held across his lap in a white knuckled grip. At least he’d stopped
muttering to himself, as though he was being led to his certain doom.

If she’d had any doubts about his authenticity they had been dispersed,
following that somewhat hysterical conversation back at the campsite. Thank
goodness for her dictionary of Old Norse. She’d studied it extensively for her
latest series set in Viking times. While she couldn’t hold a conversation, she
could at least get by.
Asger
seemed a fast learner,
so all being well, he would pick up English if he studied that. Providing he
could read, of course.

Kim bit her lip when she took a corner too fast in her agitation. The
tires briefly lost traction on the rain slicked road. She got the car under
control quickly enough, but the blood
rushed in her ears anyway. The man
next to her turned to stone when her mobile lit up with an incoming call, and
Lisa’s face appeared on the screen.

Cursing under her breath, Kim pulled to the side of the road to snatch
the phone off
its holder.

“
Finally, I’ve been trying to call you for
ages. The reception here is such pants.”

Kim rolled her eyes, while she glanced across at the stoically quiet
man next to her. His presence filled her little car to such a degree that she
stopped breathing for the tense moment it took, for him to look from her to the
mobile phone in her hand. His jaw tightened. The veins in his thick neck
stood out, but he didn’t show any other outward response to what must look like
some
sort of witchcraft to him.

“
Are you even listening to me, Kim?” Her
sister’s shrill voice in her ear forced Kim’s attention back to the phone call.
She made a non-committal sound in the back of her throat.

“
Well, it’s nice to hear you’re so heartbroken
at my departure.”

That got Kim’s attention.

“
You’re leaving already?”

A huff came down the line, and she could hear Sam’s laughter in the
background.
Asger
grunted something under his
breath next to her. He shifted his big body to seemingly be able to better
glare at her. Jeez, what was wrong with him now? He looked utterly furious at
this moment. The deep grumbles that rose up from his huge chest made long
neglected parts of her sit up and take notice. It really was the sexiest sound
ever, especially, as he didn’t seem aware of making those noises. Had he been
one of her heroes, she’d have thought he was a shifter and… Kim almost dropped
the phone at the nugget of insight that suddenly bombarded her brain. She
forced herself to pay attention to Lisa’s prattling. Something about there not
being anything to
do. The television reception was up the duff or
something, so she was heading back to town. Well, good. Kim hadn’t looked
forward to having to explain
Asger
to her sister. If
his reaction to hearing Sam talk in the background was anything to go by, he
would have probably run that poor boy through with his sword the minute he saw
him.

“
Yes, fine, well it is the country … leave the
key under the mat … yes,
it’s
fine. I’m on my way
back. Yeah … ditto, bye.”

Kim ended the call. She attempted to put the phone back, but her
fingers shook too much, as thoughts battered her brain. After all, if time
travel was possible, then why not shifters? She seemed to have ended up in the
real life Twilight Zone after all.

Asger
swore. Reaching across, he took the phone off her.
Kim held her breath, as he lifted it up, sniffed it, then ran his fingers over
it and promptly dropped it when his thumb hit the button to wake it up. The
screen lit up. Kim wanted the ground to swallow her up whole when her newest
book cover lit up the display.

While she wasn’t ashamed of what she wrote—far from it—having a real
life Viking look at the half naked couple depicted in a sensual embrace, seeing
his lips curl up in seeming amusement, as he ran his long index finger over the
sword her fictional Viking held in his fist—yeah, that was surreal.

He flicked his dark gaze over to her, and then started laughing. His
shoulders shook, and the car rocked with his merriment. Straightening her spine
she snatched the phone out of his hand, managed to get it back on its stand
this time, and putting the car back into gear drove off again.

Once he finally stopped laughing at her, she glared at him.

“
It’s not that funny. That’s a telephone. Not
that you have any idea what I am saying to you, but we use it for
communication. You’ll be pleased to hear that my sister and her boyfriend are
leaving, so I don’t have to explain you to them, because I have no idea what I
would say. ‘Hey, look, I found this time traveling hunk in my travels’ will not
work somehow. Damn it, I won’t be able to take you to a hospital either. How
would I ever explain that? That cut needs stitching. Come to think of it, if
you are a damn shifter, then why aren’t you healing? Oh and fuck it, I might as
well talk to myself. Jeez, what am I going to do?”

The strong hand on her thigh stopped her little tirade.
 
Kim took a deep breath in when he squeezed
her thigh.

“
Orindi
,
kona
.”

The murmured “breathe, woman”, made her smile. When she glanced at him,
saw the amusement still dancing in his dark eyes, she, too, laughed, and shook
her head.

“
This whole thing is ridiculous.
 
I have no idea what to do with you.”

Asger
angled his head to the side, as he studied her. A
shiver went up her spine, when he sniffed the air. His eyes briefly bled to a
glowing yellow, before he blinked and the moment passed. Kim turned her
attention back to the road, keeping up a meaningless monologue of idle chatter
to break the silence, and to keep her nerves at bay.

She couldn’t help but feel that she was inviting all kinds of trouble
on her head by taking him home, but she couldn’t very well leave an injured man
behind. She ignored the little voice in her head, telling her to call the
police. Besides, if she called the authorities, who would believe her
story?
 
They would cart them both off to
the funny farm at best. Considering his injuries, and the deadly weapons on
Asger
he would probably be arrested. If he really was some
form of time traveling, shifter Viking, he wouldn’t do very well confined to a
holding cell. That was if they’d even managed to get him into one. He would no
doubt go on the offensive, killing goodness only knew how many people, before
they could subdue him. She sure as hell didn’t need that on her conscience.

Kim might be a complete fool, but she didn’t sense any malice from him
directed at her, quite the opposite. More than once she’d found him adjusting
what looked like a huge cock, after she’d touched him. The low rumbles that
always seemed to erupt from him at her touch did strange things to her insides.
She wasn’t going to think too much about this instant sexual chemistry that
seemed to have sprung up between them. Then again, if he really was a shifter,
and a Viking to boot, then what sort of an author would she be, if she didn’t
grab this opportunity for some hands-on research with both hands, as it were?

Her cheeks heated, while she squirmed on her seat at the decidedly
naughty path her thoughts were meandering down. The hold on her thigh grew
painful as
Asger
inhaled sharply, murmuring something
to himself before he withdrew his hand. The action made the blanket she’d given
him to cover up his strange clothing, or rather lack of clothing, slip. The
coppery scent of blood filled the insides of her car.

“
Damn it, you’re bleeding again. Hang in
there,
Asger
. Five more minutes, and we’ll be at my
place. Lucky for you, I’m quite good with a needle and thread, because that
wound will need stitching, I reckon. Hope you’re okay with pain…”

His head came up, and he followed her gaze down to the rapidly
spreading red stain coming through the bandages. He pressed his hand against
the wound with a grunt of pain.

“
Yeah, you hold onto that. Try to stop the
bleeding.”

He gave a sharp nod as though he understood her, and Kim put her foot
down.

****

Asger
held onto the sides of this strange and noisy ride
his
kona
had taken him to, as though his life
depended on it. Give him a horse and cart any day. This time he found himself
in was full of strange and wondrous inventions. Things that flew in the
sky—what had she called them? Airplanes?—now this car.

Fast, for sure. A cart pulled by several horses at full gallop wouldn’t
be able to go as fast as this shiny little box on wheels. Mind you, it wouldn’t
do much good on the dirt tracks he was used to. It didn’t do that well on this
smooth path they were following either. More than once the wheels seemed to
want to go the opposite way to the way Kim was trying to go. His wolf whined
and licked his side in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, and
Asger
pressed harder against his wound. The scent of his
own blood mingled with the tart odor of her worry, and the faint sweet musk of
her arousal. The one thing he didn’t sense from her was fear. Not like the
other lily faced cowards they had encountered on their way back to what Kim had
called a car park.

Even weakened by his injuries as he was, he could have taken them all
out, had it not been for his little rescuer clinging onto him like a vine.
While he hadn’t been able to understand her urgent whisperings, he got the
implication loud and clear.

Don’t draw any more attention to yourself. A wise plan as it were, at
least until he figured out these strange lands. He gathered
Odin
had
chosen to deposit him in England. At least that’s what he thought the sign at
the bottom of this car park had said, so he had relaxed slightly. Somewhat
familiar territory. His pack had been gifted with several English women over
the course of time. He just never thought it would happen to him. The last one
had been almost sixty years ago.

Pain shot through him as Kim turned off the shiny path, making this car
lurch over gravel. Fresh blood coated his fingers, and he gritted his teeth.
They stopped in front of a stone house, and he blinked in the glare of several
torches, as Kim wrenched open the door and ran up to the entrance. The door
swung open, and more light spilled out into the rapidly spreading gloom. The
rain was coming down in a thick sheet now. Judging by the fast fading light
outside evening was drawing in. How long had he lain unconscious?

And what must
Guta
think? His sister was
prone to worrying over him as it was. It wouldn’t do her any good this close to
delivering her
barn
. Did she think him dead? Did time move the same way
back home as it did in the future? He should have asked the ancient one these
questions, instead of dismissing his prophecies. His gut churned, and he
swallowed the rising lump of bile. Perhaps more importantly, how did he get
back?

He should have paid more attention to the tales of the old ones. So
many questions, so few answers.

Kim wrenched open the door on his side of the car. Had it not been for
the belt she had insisted on drawing over his chest, he would have tumbled out
of the door he had been resting against. His wolf growled his annoyance at his
helplessness, while Kim rolled her eyes and leaning across him did something to
take that belt off him. The action pressed her breasts into his chest. Kim lost
her footing when he reached out and touched her. She fell heavily across his
lap, and his cock hardened instantly. His
kona
tensed and then scrambled off him with such haste that he had to hide his grin.
Soaked through as she now was her clothes clung to her. There was something to
be said for this century and its choice of women’s clothing, as the tight
trousers she wore clung to her curvaceous ass. With the rain having rendered
her top transparent he could clearly see what looked like some form of
undergarment. It kept her
brjóst
in place and just served to draw his attention to the tight little nipples,
seemingly begging for his attention. It made his beast salivate for a taste. If
he wasn’t too aware of his continuing blood loss, he would have damn well acted
on that desire.

With a feminine groan that simply served to make
more of his blood shoot south, she straightened, crossed one arm over her
heaving
brjóst
,
and flung her sodden
mass of flame colored hair off her face with the other.

“
It’s
wet out here, if you haven’t noticed,
rekkr
,
and you’re not well enough for any of that.” The only word he caught out of
that was warrior. It made his grin deepen, as he wrenched his gaze upward to
her face. She looked delightfully rattled, and he was fast getting addicted to
seeing that blush spread across her cheekbones. It was a delightful contrast to
the tough and more than capable façade she showed the world. There was no doubt
in his mind that she was very capable indeed, from what he had witnessed so
far. She would make him a good, strong mate. His wolf yipped his agreement at
those thought processes, while
Asger
shook his head
in wry amusement. He sure as fuck hadn’t envisaged going through time to find
his mate, yet the more time he spent in her company, drank in her scent, the
more convinced he became that that’s indeed who she was to him. Besides, it was
the only explanation that made sense.