Claimed by Her Viking Wolf (3 page)

Ignoring the hand she held out to him, he got out
of the car. Kimberly muttered something that sounded far from complimentary, as
he had to put a hand out to steady himself. Before he could stop her, she’d
wrapped her arm around his waist, wedged her shoulder under his, and helped him
across the slippery stones under their feet, and inside her house.

They entered through a long, narrow corridor, from
which several doors led off, walked past stairs that must lead to another level
and toward the back of the house. Warmth greeted him, as she pushed the door
open with her hip. With a curious click, the room filled with light.

He reared back in surprise at the sudden brightness
surrounding them, but didn’t resist when she urged him downward onto a bench.
At least this looked familiar. They clearly were in some form of cooking area,
but where was the fire? A curious white square with several metal attachments
seemed to be the source of the warmth in the room. Sure enough, Kim stepped up
to it, and held her hand over it as though to warm them up. Snatching a piece
of cloth off the side she proceeded to dry her hair, then hit another white
obtrusion on the wall.

“
There,
I’ve put the heating on. We’ll soon be toasty. Wait here, while I throw some
fresh clothes on. Then we need to sort out that wound.” She stepped up to him
while speaking, and tugged the rain sodden blanket off him. It fell to the
stone floor with a squelch.
Asger
frowned when she
used the piece of material in her hand to dry his face and hair as best she
could. The action brought her close enough to touch, to lean in and inhale
deeply. It instantly calmed his agitated wolf, but seemed to have the opposite
effect on her. Her heartbeat went through the roof, when he reached up and
snared her hand in his.

They stared at each other for what seemed like
ages, and it was only when she started shivering that he let her go. Kim ran
away from him as though the hounds of hell were after her.

Asger
smiled to himself,
as he listened to her movements around the house. She seemed to be opening and
shutting doors, while muttering to herself. When she reappeared several minutes
later, she’d changed into some other form of trousers. These clung to her
curves even more, even though she tried to hide them under an oversized woolen
tunic of some sort that fell to mid-thigh. Thick socks hid her feet from view,
and she’d tied her still damp hair back and off her face. Covered as she was
from head to toe, his body nonetheless reacted to her presence.
Asger
didn’t even bother to hide the way he was tenting his
leggings. She glanced at it briefly, before she sank to her knees and probed at
his injury. A hiss escaped him, and shutting his eyes he shook his head when
she hesitated, giving her silent permission to do what she needed to.

Hesitant fingers feathering across his bearded jaw
made him open his eyes again.
Asger
swallowed hard
when she held up a needle and thread. She looked utterly terrified. While he
couldn’t understand what she was saying to him, he nodded anyway.

“
This
hurt will it.” The muttered, jumbled words in her attempt at using his mother
tongue made him grin, before the first tug of the needle into his flesh cooled
not only his ardor but also his merriment.

Where was a fucking horn of ale when you needed it?

Chapter Three

Kim swallowed the rising bile in her throat and
concentrated on the task at hand. If she thought of this as darning a sock she
would be fine. Of course no sock was made of living flesh, which contracted
under her fingers, and belonged to a six foot something hunk of a male, who did
his best to hold still for her. If it wasn’t for his sharp intake of breath
every time she tugged the needle through his skin, she would have thought he
didn’t feel the pain.

Her stomach churned by the time she’d tied off the
last stitch. When she looked up at him, she found him watching her through
hooded eyes.

“
There,
it’s not pretty, but it should hold,” she said. Her Viking looked down and
nodded. Kim spread a generous amount of antibiotic cream over her crude
stitching, before she bandaged him back up. Her fingers lingered on the tattoo
down his side.
Asger
grasped her hands and smiled,
when she looked up at him.

“
What
does it mean?” she asked.

He cocked his head to the side in that distinctly
canine way he had.

“
Mark
Liufr
.”

His deep voice trembled trough her. When he raised
his hand to show her the ring on his finger, she could see the same design
repeated on there.

Sign of
Liufr
he said.
Earlier on he’d mentioned that he was the son of
Liufr
,
so that must be his village, clan, or she guessed pack. She would have to
consult her books on Norse mythology and old family trees to be sure, but that
name rang a faint bell. It might just be an oft used one, but something about
it made the fine hair on her neck stand up. A shiver went through her.
 
Instantly, his warm hands landed on her
shoulders, so shivers of an entirely different kind rolled over her. The calloused
pads of his fingers stroked along the rapidly beating pulse point in her neck,
and her throat went dry when he leaned down, inhaled, and smiled.

“
Pokk
,
minn
kona
.”

“
You’re
welcome, but you’ll have a scar, and you’re…”

Her words faltered when he put he ran his fingers
up and along her jaw, tracing his thumbs over her lips.

“
Shhh
. Talk too much.”

Her eyes widened at the broken English he uttered,
and she scrambled away from him.

“
You
can speak English?” she asked. When he shrugged his shoulders in answer, she
glared at him.
Asger
made a pincer movement with his
thumb and forefinger.

“
Little,”
he said. Kim released the breath she hadn’t been aware of holding. Something
about the wicked gleam in his eyes made her think that he could understand more
than he was letting on. It meant she had to fight the renewed blush creeping
into her face.
Really,
what was it with the blushing schoolgirl act? Kim
was no innocent. Yes, it might have been far too long since she got laid, and
this man might be a sex-on-legs Viking freaking hunk, but that didn’t mean she
had to act like a whimpering virgin now, did it?

To regain her equilibrium somewhat, she stepped up
to the sink and turned on the water to wash her hands. A shout from behind her,
followed by the loud clang that signaled the bench clattering to the floor gave
her a moment’s notice before said Viking was next to her. He stared at the
flowing water in seeming disbelief, if the expression on his face was anything
to go by.

Asger
frowned at her when
she laughed and pointed to the tap.

“
Here
is where you turn it on and off. Look.” She proceeded to show him, all too
aware of his brooding presence. When his large hand closed over hers to mimic
her actions she had a hard time drawing air into her lungs. Never before had
she had such an instant, visceral reaction to any man. This close to him, his
primal masculine scent pulled her under his spell.

It also brought home how hot he was. Surely, even
if he was a shifter he was too hot? Disentangling her fingers from his, she
ducked under his arm and stepped away.
Asger
was too
engrossed in turning the water on and off with a small smile to take much
notice of her departure, so she allowed herself a moment to watch the almost
childlike fascination he showed in learning about his surroundings. Her
amusement fled when he stuck his whole head under the stream of water, and then
pulling it out again, shook himself like a wet dog. Water droplets flew
everywhere.
Asger
grinned at her screech when several
hit her straight in the face.

It was the way those droplets clung to his
hair-roughened skin, however, as they slowly slid down his torso and soaked
into the bandage…
Damn the bandage
.

Cursing her own ogling and the stupidity of males
everywhere, she snatched up a towel and threw it at him.

“
Jesus,
men
. Use this to dry off. That sink is for washing your hands, not
yourself. That’s what a shower is for, you displaced big oaf.”

Asger
caught the towel
easily enough and dried off with a small smile. That blasted man was far too
aware of the effect he had on her, it seemed. Then again the fact that she
couldn’t tear her eyes away from his abs probably was a dead giveaway.

“
Shower?”
he asked, and Kim wrenched her gaze back up to his face, and immediately
regretted her outburst. She was no nurse, but she recognized eyes glazed over
with fever when she saw them.

“
Yes,
we use it for washing. I’ll show you later. For now we need to get you into
bed.” At his blank expression, she rolled her eyes, held her hand up to bid him
to stay and walked off to the living room in search of her dictionary. She
should have known he wouldn’t stay put, because the growl behind her when she
switched on the lights in her cozy little front room would have made any sane
person run for the hills.
 
She moved the
TV remote to put down the dictionary she’d pulled out of her bookcase, and the
TV roared to life. Great, she must have hit a button to make it—all hell broke
loose as the news came on.

With a speed and strength belying his injuries,
Asger
pushed her out of the way, swung his sword with a
roar of fury, and her nice brand new, treat for herself, flat screen TV was
just a mangled, cut in half, smoking, ruin of parts at a dumbstruck looking
Viking’s feet. He kicked the pieces of plastic, glass and electrical bits,
sheathed his sword, and scratched his beard, as he looked behind the TV stand.
Kim couldn’t help it. She laughed. Once she started, she couldn’t stop, because
really, it was that or cry. The tears came anyway, as all the events over the
last few hours came crashing down around her ears, and her knees gave out. She
would have crashed to the floor, had
Asger
not caught
her. Grunting, he sat down with her in his arms on the settee. She couldn’t
understand a word he was saying to her, but somehow, the deep, soothing cadence
of his voice got through to her anyway. When she finally stopped sniffing and
pushed against his chest, he let her go.

Her gaze fell to the ruined TV, and she gave
another shaky laugh.

“
How
the fuck am I going to explain that to the insurance company? I was practicing
my sword skills and oops, I managed to slice my TV in half?”

He didn’t answer her, of course, just watched her
with a wary expression on his face that screamed his discomfort, but also his
concern. Clearly he had no idea what to do with this outburst of hers, and Kim
sighed. Why was life never easy?

****

Bile churned in
Asger’s
gut. He was uncomfortably aware that he was the reason for his mate’s tears,
and he had no idea what to do about that. At least she’d stopped crying now,
though he’d preferred the tears to the hysterical laughter, which had shaken
her small frame.

His
kona
had
curves in all the right places, and when he was more himself, he would have fun
exploring them all, but now was not the time for that. Besides, he felt like
shit. His side hurt, and his wolf just wanted to curl up and sleep, to get away
from the realities of this new world. He glanced across at the mangled heap of
what he’d been sure had been an intruder to her house, and scratched his beard
again.

“
That
was
a
telly
,” Kim said. She offered him a grim
smile, when he looked back at her. Tears still clung to her eyelashes.
Asger
wanted to kiss those reminders of her misery away,
but he sensed she wouldn’t welcome those advances right now. She seemed worried,
not about the destruction to her property, but him.

Sure enough she raised a hand, felt his forehead,
and frowned.

“
You’re
definitely running a fever.” At his blank expression, she sighed, hopped off
his lap, and opened an old and clearly often used book.

“
Here,
look.”

Squinting at the pages that seemed to want to not
let him focus on them, he eventually read the word she was pointing at and its
Norse translation.

Fever, and then Medicine.

Okay then, so she was going to give him something?
Sure enough, she thrust the book at him, and held her hands out in the
universal gesture of
stay put.

Considering the room was spinning, he had no qualms
with that order. He tried to look through the most informative book in his
hand, but the letters were swimming in and out of focus, so he gave up with a
grunt. He would study this when he was well. It would be good to understand her
better, because they sure had a lot to talk about.

Asger
frowned at the two
white circle shaped objects she held out to him in the flat of her palm, when
she returned. That was strange looking medicine for sure, but he took them off
her anyway, swallowed, and promptly grimaced.

Kim handed him some water, presumably to wash away
the foul aftertaste these odd herbs had left behind in his mouth, and he
drained the whole lot.

“
Right,
let’s get you upstairs into bed. You’re burning up, and need to rest. I’ll make
you some chicken soup or something.”

Asger
grunted his
acknowledgment, but, in truth, he didn’t have a clue what she just said to him.
He dutifully followed her out of the room, however, and up the stairs. It took
all of his remaining strength to do so, as whatever she had given him kicked in
with a vengeance. He was dimly aware of a small room with a soft bed, before
the blessed oblivion of sleep pulled him under.

How long he was out for this time, he couldn’t
determine, but when he eventually opened his eyes, hazy sunshine streamed
through the curtains lining her windows.
Asger
turned
over and winced as his sore side protested that move, but his mind at least was
clear. He frowned when he saw that he was naked under the sheets. Cocking his
head he listened for movement. Nothing. It seemed his
kona
had left him to his own devices.

He’d sensed her presence for most of his fever
induced hallucinations. She’d been there, washing him down with cool water,
urging him to drink, and eat small sips of a brew that still stood on the bed
stand. Judging by the smell it was chicken, which made his stomach rumble, and
he grinned. His wolf woke up with a start, pawing and pacing to get free, yet
he still couldn’t shift. His beast was there, prowling just under his skin.
Asger
shook his head and howled his frustration. The
mournful sound carried, and if there were any other of his kind around they
would hear him. Alas, there was no return call, and he sighed. He truly was
alone in this place then, but right now he had more pressing concerns. He
needed to piss.

Glancing out of the window showed there to be
plenty of opportunity outside, but something niggled at him. His
kona
had mentioned something about somewhere to
wash. It stood to reason if she had a room in the house designed for that, she
would also have somewhere to take care of that side.

With a frown at the bandage still wrapped around
his middle, he trotted out of the room, and out onto the landing. Two more
doors led off it. The first one turned out to be another bed chamber, and his
mood instantly lifted when he scented his mate. Her bed was piled high with
cushions, and more of those smooth sheets she’d used to cover him up with.
Feminine utensils were held on a table with a big set of some sort of
reflective material, and he scowled at the view of himself.

Tracing his steps back he pushed open the last
door, and grinned. That looked more like it. There was another oblong
contraption with a shiny long object protruding over it. It looked similar to
what she had in her cooking area. Sure enough, when he turned the shiny buttons
water gushed out. That sure beat dragging the water out of the well, like they
did at his homestead.

A pang of homesickness assaulted him from nowhere.
He let it out through another howl that he knew would remain unanswered. The
faint smell of urine, only detectable thanks to his shifter senses led him to
what looked like a bowl with a seat.
Asger
scratched
his beard in wonder. When he pressed the shiny lever water rushed through it,
and he shook his head. Guess that’s where folks in this land relieved
themselves, so he did just that.

Having washed his hands under the mysterious inside
well, the other, just as odd, see-through enclosure called him. It had the same
shiny things as the sink. Sure enough, when he turned them on water cascaded
down. It took some fiddling, but eventually he got the temperature just right.
Asger
stepped under this inside waterfall with a sigh of
contentment. The soggy bandage irritated. After a moment’s hesitation he yanked
it off, pleased to see that his injury, while still an angry red, was finally
starting to heal. His
kona
might be cross with
him, but he didn’t need that restriction around him anymore. The sound of what
could only be a car approaching, made him stop and listen. A door opened and
shut, and her scent wafted up the stairs. It made his wolf whine and his mouth
water. Clutching one of the oblong pieces of material, he used it to dry
himself, before he ambled to the top of the stairs. His
kona
’s
reaction to seeing
him naked did not disappoint. She dropped the crinkly satchels she had been
holding onto and stared, before she caught herself, and ran toward the back of
the house.