Claimed by Her Viking Wolf (5 page)

“
Your
home?” she asked. At his grunted acknowledgment she smiled and withdrew. He
instantly missed her warmth and compassion, but the thirst for knowledge was
stronger right now.

“
I
thought it might be. I couldn’t understand much of what it said in there, but I
did recognize
Liufr
.
When you said that
was your kin, I
kinda
put two and two together and…”
Again, her words trailed off when he smiled at her. Closing the distance
between them he grasped her nape and rested his forehead on hers. Her sweet
scent pulled him under, calmed his agitated beast, as he shut his eyes and
pulled the smell of his woman deep into his lungs.

“
Are
you okay?” Her whispered question made him smile, and he released her.

“
Já
,
minn
kona
.
”

“
Good,
is that why you’re here? I mean, will it help you get back to your time?” There
was a slight wobble in her voice when she asked that, as though she was either
afraid of his answer, or didn’t want him to go. It made his wolf growl. Her
eyes widened, and he knew without doubt that she would be looking into the eyes
of his beast.

“
You’re
not just human, are you?” Had it not been for his sensitive hearing he wouldn’t
have caught that breathless and barely audible question. Kim clasped her arms
round her midriff when he shook his head.

“
Thought
not.” She swayed slightly, and collapsed into his arms when he drew her to him.
Asger
sat down heavily on the settee with his
precious bundle in his arms. The book clattered to the floor, and he winced
when the spine bent and pages crinkled out of shape. The need to hold his mate,
however, to reassure her, took precedence right now. In truth the tender
feelings engulfing him took the wind out of his sails.

Lust was a familiar sensation for
Asger
. Women threw themselves at him back home, and he
partook freely of the willing cunt, but that was all it was. Love was reserved
for the brothers he fought with, his sister and her kin. To feel these tender
emotions interwoven with the very real physical need to sink his cock balls
deep into this
kona
, to make her his in the
most primal way was surreal to say the least.

“
What
are you?” she finally asked.
Asger
tipped her chin up
with his index finger better to see her expression.

“
Ulfr
.”

She blinked and nodded.

“
I
thought so. Will you shift for me and show me your wolf?”

She worried her bottom lip as she said that, until
he pulled that flesh away and shook his head.

“
I
cannot,
kona
.
This world … your world,
it won’t let me.”

“
Oh,
well. I guess that makes sense. You’re bad enough as, well, you.” Heat stained
her cheeks when he cocked an eyebrow at that.

“
Explain,
and stop wriggling, or…” He let his words trail off. She went as still as a
statue, when he grasped her hips and thrust his rock hard dick into her covered
ass. It was only her rapid breathing and the wetness he could smell between her
legs that told him how much she wanted him.

“
We
can’t. I mean, I won’t. This is insane. You’ll be going back soon, and I will
not be a notch on your bedpost, so, anyway.” She scrambled off his lap, bent
down to pick up the book and gave it back to him.

“
So
you best figure out how to do that. I’ll go and rustle us up something to eat.”

Before he had a chance to say anything, she’d left
him alone.
Asger
sighed. His mate was a complicated
woman, for sure. Besides, she was right. He needed answers, so with that in
mind he settled down to read. He would have to find out what exactly notches on
bedposts had to do with anything later.

Chapter Five

The shrill ring of her landline roused Kim out of
her absentminded stirring of the stir-fry she was preparing for their dinner.
In truth, it was finished. She just had to find the courage to walk back in her
living room, and tell her Viking warrior that it was ready. Her heart clenched
painfully at that thought.
Asger
wasn’t hers and
never would be.

Their conversation, brief as it had been, had made
one thing perfectly clear. He had to go back to his own time. The way his nose
had been stuck in that book ever since told her how much he yearned to be back
there. She’d seen that wistful look in his eyes often enough since he’d
recovered his strength, yet she’d put off handing him that ledger. Kim wasn’t
exactly sure why she hadn’t thrust it at him the minute she got him home.

No, be honest, you know why.

Last time she’d picked the book up, the night
before that fateful camping trip, in fact, heat had traveled up her arms, blood
had rushed in her ears, and she’d had the most awful sensation of falling,
before her sister had bundled into the room, breaking whatever spell that
blasted book had woven over her. The ledger had slipped from her fingers.

Lisa had picked it up with a smirk, berated Kim on
her odd fascination with all things Viking, and dragged her away to the
kitchen. By the time she had returned to the book and picked it up with
trembling fingers, nothing odd had happened, so she’d stored it away in the
bottom of the box.

Maybe, that had been the trigger though. Maybe she
was responsible for yanking
Asger
out of his time,
and… The phone stopped ringing, only to start up again.
Asger
appearing in the doorway, clutching that book to his wide chest with a
thoughtful expression, shook her out her maudlin thoughts.

She turned off the heat and snatched the phone off
the wall before
Asger
could do it. He had answered
that once with hilarious results, as it had been a cold call. His growled
monosyllables down the line had had Kim in stitches. Come to think of it, he
must have scared that particular double glazing company off for good, because
they hadn’t called again. They’d been hounding her for weeks before hand, all
because she’d stupidly asked for a quote to replace her old windows. In the
end, that salesperson had annoyed her so much, that she’d told him to stuff it,
but having got hold of her details they wouldn’t leave her alone—until
Asger’s
intervention.

He walked over to her A
ga
and sniffed the food. She got used to him doing that
now. It was a subtle move most folks would probably miss, but she recognized
the widening of his nostrils, followed by the tiniest of nods that signaled his
approval. The fact that he liked her cooking really shouldn’t please her quite
so much, should it? She was becoming far too fond of having him around the
place. That was dangerous thinking, because he couldn’t, wouldn’t stay. He was
a freaking Viking. A wolf shifting one at that. He needed to get back to his
own time. The sooner the better, before she did something stupid like throw
herself at him. He would be a hard man to forget as it was. It would be nigh
impossible if she’d actually had sex with him. She didn’t even want to think of
any other implications that might have.

While she didn’t know how that whole becoming a
shifter’s mate worked in real life, the connection she already felt to him
scared her half to death. Best to stay well away from temptation.

“
Hello?”
Kim managed to answer the phone before it rang off again. The deep voice of her
boss rang in her ears.

“
Finally,
girl. Look, I know you said you needed some time off, but we’re several guides
down, and we have a huge party booked tomorrow. I really could do with your
help. I dread to think what would happen to them if they managed to wander off,
so…”

Ignoring
Asger’s
frown
and the threatening rumble of his wolf, Kim turned her back on the impossible
Viking and nodded.

“
That’s
okay, Richard. I’m free, so I’d love to help out.” That rumble got even louder.
Kim held her breath as
Asger
stepped up behind her.
He was so close that the heat of his body seeped into her back. The vibrations
of his wolf’s growl traveled up through the soles of her feet.
Lordy me.
He sounded furious, and he had
no damn right to be. This, right here, was why she couldn’t act on the
attraction between them. Being mated to some overbearing alpha type of guy was
damn hot to write and read about, but in real life it would be a pain in the
ass.

Kim had her life to lead, and no over-possessive
Viking was going to stop her from doing so.

“
Is
it thundering at your end or something?” Richard’s baffled question made her
grin. She elbowed
Asger
in his rock hard abs, swung
round to glare at him, and shook her head, when he took a step to close the
distance again.

Fire flashed in
Asger’s
brown eyes, as they bled from his wolf’s yellow back to the molten chocolate of
the man. He murmured something under his breath that she didn’t quite catch. To
her utter relief, he stepped back however, sat down at the kitchen bench, and
opening the ledger started to read. The deep frown pulling his eyebrows
together, made a ball of apprehension form in her belly, so much so that she
startled when Richard spoke in her ear again.

“
Kim?
Are you okay? You’ve been acting strange this past week.”

Kim took a deep breath in and forced a smile on her
lips for the benefit of her boss.

“
Yes,
I’m fine, sorry. That was just a heavy goods vehicle thundering past. I really
do need to do something about my windows I think. You can hear everything. I’ll
be there tomorrow, bright and early. Can’t have you killing the tourists now,
can we?” Richard laughed, and his deep baritone instantly soothed her nerves.
Richard was more than just her boss. Twenty-five years her senior, he’d taken
her under his wing, after her father had died in a climbing related accident,
while working for him. Kim had hated having to lie to him about the reason of
her absence, but she couldn’t betray
Asger’s
secret.

“
I
haven’t killed the darlings yet. I’ll pick you up at first light. We can catch
up over breakfast. I gather your latest book must be going well, as you’re
being so distant, so you can tell me all about it.”

A giggle escaped Kim at the thought, and
Asger’s
head shot up. The heated intensity in his gaze took
her breath away, as he glared at the phone.

“
I
might just do that,” she said. “See you tomorrow, Rich.”

Ignoring
Asger
and her
racing heart rate for a minute, she plated up their dinner and set a place for
herself and her Viking warrior. He shut the book and put it to one side, when
she put two bottles of beer down, and sat down opposite him.

“
So,
are you any the wiser as to how you get back to your time?” she asked. “And why
you’re here for that matter?”

Asger
didn’t answer her
straight away, just tucked into his food, and Kim followed suit with a small
sigh. Maybe he was just trying to figure out how to say things to her in
English, but Kim had long suspected that his English was far better than he’d
let on. No doubt this was a ploy to keep her on edge, to show his displeasure
at the fact that she had been talking to another man.

The longer the silence stretched between them the
more her temper spiked, until she
bashed
her fork on
the table and pushed the plate away from her.

Asger’s
wolf grumbled
under his breath, but the man showed no outward reaction. He just finished his
food. It was only when his plate was clean that he pushed it away, and looked
across at her.

“
Is
there a problem,
minn
kona
?
” he asked. Kim wanted to strangle
the infuriating male.

“
I
don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” She countered his question with one of her
own. A glimmer of amusement showed in
Asger’s
dark
gaze before he once again became the stoic warrior, crossing his arms over his
chest.

“
If
you were in my time, talking to me like that would earn you a hiding with my
belt,” he finally said.

****

The way his woman’s mouth fell open in seeming
shock, soothed some of his wolf’s agitation and downright annoyance at his mate
having joked about with another man. The possessive animal inside him didn’t
like her talking to another male one bit, but he knew her well enough by now to
know that voicing that opinion would not be welcome at this moment.

He cursed under his breath and wished he was back
in his own time, where he wouldn’t feel the need to second-guess his every
action. He ignored the little devil sitting on his shoulder, telling him that
his time or not this woman was far too strong willed to ever submit to his will
without question. That was of course one of the very qualities he looked for in
a mate. The paradox of it all was not lost on him, and he grinned at her
predictable reply.

“
Maybe
you best bugger off to your time then and find a woman that would put up with
that treatment, because it sure as fuck won’t be me.”

The words were brave, but her increased scent and
her rapid breathing gave her away. She might act all outraged, but she was also
wet for him. While his wolf was all for leaping across the table and making her
his,
Asger
held back. He needed her willing surrender
for them to get back to his time. He’d found out that much in the ancient
texts, even if the exact how-
tos
still eluded him.
Besides, the women they had taken in before had found their way to his time,
and not the other way round. The thought that he might never make it back to
his village sat heavily in his gut, and made him tread with caution.

Kimberly glowered at him when he didn’t respond to
her outburst. He took a deep draft of what seemed to pass for ale in this
century.

“
While
we’re getting some things straight, that was my boss on the phone. I’m going
into work tomorrow. There’s a big party booked, and they need tour guides. I’ll
be gone for most of the day, so that’ll give you plenty of time to figure out
how to get back to your time, so we can all return to normal around these
parts.”

“
Are
you so eager to see me gone,
kona
?
” he asked.
 

Kim tensed. Instead of answering him, she scooped
up their plates, and dumped them into the sink. The sounds of running water
confirmed her intention to dismiss him. It made
Asger’s
wolf snarl. It was just as well he couldn’t shift in this time, because his
volatile animal wanted to kill. Preferably whatever male was taking his mate
away from him.
Asger
reined his beast back in with
some difficulty. Kimberly tensed when he came up behind her, dumped the cutlery
and glasses he’d carried across into the soapy water she’d run in the sink, and
then pulled her sharply back against him by grasping her hips.

Kimberly gasped when he lifted her off her feet,
and ground his cock into her ass cheeks. Her knuckles turned white, grasping
the sink for support. A shuddery exhale left her, when he nuzzled into her neck,
pulled her intoxicating scent deep into his lungs.
Asger
gave into the instinct driving him and bit down lightly on the fragrant skin.
Kim groaned and stiffened, but the action calmed his beast.

“
Please,
don’t,” she whispered.
Asger
reluctantly released
her, after licking the spot where he left a barely visible half-moon indent of
his teeth. It would have to do, until he could claim her properly. To not do so
was out of the question. A small part of him would die if he didn’t have this
woman. She was destined to be with him. That much was clear from the texts he
perused and the prophecies he’d received before he’d made this unexpected
journey through time and space to find himself not only on a different
continent, but also in the future. He slowly put her back on her feet. Crossing
his arms over his chest, he rested against the counter top as she made short
work of washing their dishes. She glanced at him briefly, and he smiled as she
washed the same plate over and over with a frown pulling her eyebrows together.

“
Who
is this Richard to you?” he finally asked.

Kim groaned under her breath and putting the plate
on the drainer, let the water out of the sink, before she flicked him another
glance.

“
He’s
my boss, that’s all, not that it’s any of your business.”

Mimicking him, she crossed her arms over her chest,
too.
Asger
couldn’t tear his gaze away from the way
the action pushed her breasts up and out. Through the thin cover of her light
jumper he could clearly make out the shape and size of them. Her already hard
nipples firmed further under his quiet perusal. It made him grow even harder,
and his mouth watered with the need to taste the ever increasing wetness he
scented between her legs.

“
Eyes
up here, warrior.”

Asger
wrenched his gaze
back up to her face at those breathy words. Kim swallowed nervously, when he
swung away from the counter. Putting his hands either side of her hips, he
leaned in until their mouths were a mere whisper away from each other.