Claimed by Her Viking Wolf (7 page)

“
Oh
fine, have it your way. With a bit of luck Susan will hit you both over the
head with a frying pan, and that will knock some sense into you. And besides, I
am hungry. It’s been a long day.”

“
Good,
that’s settled then. Grab what you need. We’ll meet you by the car.”

Kim looked uncertain, but turned tail.
Asger
took the hint and followed the other man out into the
open.

“
So,
you’re really a wolf, who can’t shift, and she’s your mate?” he asked.
Asger
nodded.

“
I
am, and I can shift, just not in this time frame. Once I get back home to my
village things will be different.”

Richard leaned against his car, and stroked the
stubble on his chin.

“
What
about Kim?” he asked. “You can’t take her with you, and leaving her here will
break her heart. If you do that, I’ll hunt you down and shoot you myself.”

The man’s quiet voice held an edge of steel.
Asger
could taste his protectiveness toward Kim in the air.
It soothed his agitated beast. His wolf did not appreciate being questioned
like this.

“
You
would have to catch me first. I’m not that easy to kill, Richard, boss of
minn
kona
.
”

The other man gave a short, humorless laugh and
punched his shoulder.

“
No,
I dare say you aren’t, but I’d give it a damn good try. Do
not
hurt her,
Viking. I mean it. I know Kim. She already cares far too much for you. Now, I’m
going to choose to believe that you mean it when you say she’s your mate. It
would certainly explain how you ended up here, I guess. It’s not every day some
Viking drops by these parts. I know it happens.
 
There are plenty of local fables surrounding that issue. My wife has
been looking into them for some time now.
It’s
how she
became interested in the Vikings, just never thought they would actually become
real.”

Richard shook his head. He nodded toward the house,
where Kim was now locking the front door.

“
Keep
your hands off of her until we figure this out.”

Asger
grunted his
acknowledgement, and caught the ledger Kim threw at him with a grunt. He’d
found the answer to his return in there earlier today. At least he thought he
had. It would be interesting to see what this Susan had to say about it.

Chapter Seven

Several hours later, Kimberly was just about ready
to scream in frustration. If she’d thought help would be forthcoming from Aunt
Susan, she’d been sorely disappointed. Once Susan had recovered from her shock
at seeing
Asger
, and had accepted that he really was
a displaced Viking, she’d practically been eating out of his hand. Kim should
have been expecting this, she supposed. After all, Susan had a keen interest in
all things supernatural.

For his part
Asger
, too,
had shown a side of him that Kimberly found utterly unable to resist. He was
positively charming, and had regaled them all with tales of his life back home,
that had them all in stitches of laughter on the one hand and in awe on the
other. Susan had lapped up all the information. In truth, Kim, too, had hung
onto his every word.

While the life he described so enthusiastically was
clearly hard and fraught with danger, it also had a wonderful simplicity to it,
which made Kim yearn to experience it first-hand. That need had caught her off
guard, so she’d excused herself with the need for some fresh air. Wrapping her
arms around herself she now sat on the bench at the bottom of the garden and
stared up the cloudless sky. The stars were out in full force, and she smiled
at Susan when the older woman approached and offered her a shawl.

“
Here,
it’s getting cold. Your wolf is chomping at the bit with worry over you.”
Kim had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

“
Not
you, too. He’s not mine, dammit.”

Susan shrugged her shoulders and smiled, while Kim
groaned.

“
He’s
not. He can’t be. How would we ever work? He’s not from this time for starters.
You’ve seen how he talks about his village.
Asger
needs to go back there, and I … well, it’s not as though as I could go back
with him, or would want to.”

There, she almost convinced herself with that
vehement little speech, until Susan grasped her hand. Turning it over, Susan
looked at her palm. She traced the lines with one long finger, and a tingle of
foreboding went up Kim’s spine.

“
Don’t,
you know I don’t believe in that.” Kim winced at the croakiness in her voice,
and Susan let her go.

“
You
don’t have to believe in it for it to be true. After all, time travel ought not
to be possible, yet here you are with
Asger
. We all
have a soulmate, the one person or persons we’re meant to be with. Love
transcends time and reason, it—”

Kim stood up, effectively cutting off the other
woman’s speech.

“
I
don’t love him and he doesn’t love me, so this whole thing is pointless,” Kim
said. She frowned when the other woman’s smile deepened.

“
All
great love affairs start with a healthy dose of lust, you know. If you’re lucky
that side doesn’t wane, just grows stronger through the years. I’ve seen the
way you react to him on a subconscious level. That man eats you alive with his
eyes whenever he looks at you. You might not love him yet, but you’re halfway
there already. If you just gave in instead of fighting this attraction…” She
let her words trail off, and Kim was all too aware that she was doing goldfish
impressions.

“
Are
you seriously telling me to just go and have what would in effect be a one
night stand?” When Susan shrugged her shoulders, Kim sat back down again with
an inelegant thud.

“
I
don’t believe you,” she murmured.

“
Kimberly,
my lovely, sometimes we have to take risks. Besides, having sex with your
Viking is the only way to get him back to his time.”

Kim couldn’t have heard that right.

“
What?”

Susan nodded and grasped her hand again.

“
You
heard me. It’s there, plain to see in the texts he’s been studying. What’s more
the local folklore confirms it.”

“
But
that’s just stories. They’re not real.” Kim somehow managed to get the words
past the lump in her throat. “What do you mean it’s in the text? He knows this
and yet…” She couldn’t quite bring herself to finish that sentence, as the
truth dawned on her.

“
Yes,
he knows. He’d suspected it for some time. I had to agree with him that the
texts confirm it.”

“
So
why didn’t he? I mean … oh shit.” Heat rose in Kim’s cheeks, and Susan laughed.

“
Yes,
finally you’re asking the right questions, my lovely. I’m sure he could have coerced
you on more than occasion. Forced himself on you, for that matter, but that’s
not who
Asger
is. The fact that he hasn’t done any of
those things should tell you something. That man, wolf, Viking, whatever you
want to call him, cares about you a great deal. All you have to do is accept
that, and trust that this will all work out somehow.”

Kim knew in her heart that Susan was right, but she
shook her head in denial.

“
So
we have sex, and he goes back and then what?” she asked. Susan pulled her in
for a hug.

“Well, you’ll probably go back in time with him,
but if you love him that won’t matter, will it?” Susan got up and patted her
arm
.

“
You
have a lot to think about, and it’s getting late. We’ve all been drinking, so
I’m going to make up the bed in the spare room for you and your Viking.” She
laughed when Kim reared back in surprise and shook her head.

“
After
what you just told me, you can’t expect me to share a bed with him?” The mere
thought sent a rush of heated arousal into her knickers and a wave of longing
so intense she could scarce breathe.

“
That’s
exactly what I expect you to do. Besides
Asger
has
given his word to Richard that he will not touch you while under our roof, so
you will be quite safe. What you two get up to when you make it back to your
place is,
 
of course entirely up to you,
but I’ll promise I keep your place tidy and looked after, should you follow him
back in time.”

Susan smiled and shut Kim’s open mouth with her
index finger.

“
If
that happens I won’t be coming back, so there hardly seems any point in that. I
can’t just disappear. I have a life here, dammit.”

“
Ah,
who’s to say you can’t come back. The stories are manifold and diverse, and you
don’t have to look too far from home to see that they’re true, my dear.” At
Kim’s confused expression, Susan gave Kim her most enigmatic smile yet.

“
You
probably will not remember your great Aunt Violet, will you?” she asked. Kim
frowned and nodded.

“
Actually
I do. She was Mum’s aunt. There used to be an old photo of her on the piano
when I was growing up. I asked about her once. Mum just said, ‘she was a woman
of loose morals’.” She mimed quotation marks, as she said that, and Susan
laughed.

“
Yes,
that was the official version. The unofficial version was somewhat different.
You see your great aunt used to disappear for months at a time and then
reappear as though nothing had been amiss. What’s more she didn’t age like
other folks did. When that became far too noticeable, she disappeared for the
last time. I found the story utterly fascinating, so I did some research on it
for my citation. Did you know the first time she disappeared was out of her
bedroom in the middle of the night? The windows and doors were locked, so there
is no way she should have been able to get out of there. She was only sixteen
at the time. The only thing that was left behind was an old ledger that no one
could read.”

Kim gasped at that, and Susan nodded.

“
Not
your ledger I hasten to add, but something very similar, which leads me to
believe that good old Great Aunt Violet was a time travel
er
. So, you see, if she managed to come and go, I can see
no reason to believe, why you couldn’t do that, too, especially if we look
after those texts. They seem to be some sort of porthole, catalyst, whatever
you want to call it, and didn’t you say you were drawn to them when you found
them in that shop?”

“
Yes,
I was, but…” Kim hugged herself and shook her head in wonder. “It can’t be that
simple, though, can it?” she asked. Susan sighed.

“
Nothing
about love is ever simple, my dear. Anyway, like I said, you have a lot to
think about. Here comes your man now. I’m surprised he’s stayed away as long as
he has.”

Sure enough, when Kim looked up it was to see the
formidable presence of
Asger
strolling down the path
toward them. With his face hidden in the shadows created by his long hair, she
couldn’t read his expression, but judging by the white knuckled fists by his
side and the tight set of his shoulders, he was worried.

Susan met him halfway, and stopped to talk to him.
Kim couldn’t catch the murmured words, but whatever Susan had said relaxed
Asger
. Kim’s stomach fluttered in delicious anticipation
when he looked across to her.
Asger
smiled, while
tying his long hair back behind his nape. The action lit up his harsh features.
Everything in Kim tightened as she watched his long limbed walk toward her. The
man looked simply good enough to eat. She hastily dropped her gaze and scooted
to the side to enable him to sit next to her. Even though she had given him
space his presence filled the small bench. It made her skin tingle where his
thigh brushed hers. Even through the combined layers of their clothing, his
heat and scent branded her, called her to taste, to just give into the
overwhelming chemistry between them.

****

Asger
filled his lungs
with the scent of his mate. The action calmed his agitated wolf. If he’d had
any doubt at all that this
kona
was his mate
the almost physical ache in his guts when he was forced to be apart from her
for any length of time confirmed it. The slight touch of their thighs helped,
but it wasn’t enough, not by a long shot. He needed to claim her, to make her
his, but he couldn’t do that here and now. Not after he’d given his word.

The soft touch of her fingers on his made him
uncurl the fists he hadn’t been aware of clenching.
Asger
looked at her.

“
Why
didn’t you tell me?” she asked, making him sigh. “Tell me, please.”

She tightened her hold on his fingers, and he
squeezed back.

“
I’d
have thought you want to go back as quickly as you could, and to hell with what
you’d have to do to get there.” Heat rose in her cheeks when she said that. Kim
didn’t seem to be able to look at him. A rush of affection and protectiveness
swamped him. Letting go of her hand he framed her face in his palms and tilted
her head until she had no choice but to look at him.

“
Contrary
to popular belief, where I’m from it is not customary to force oneself on
unwilling women.” He smiled at her sharp intake of breath, as he sensed the
inner struggle in her. She bit her lips, and her heart rate kicked up as she
mumbled the next words.

“
I
don’t think I would have been unwilling.” The softly spoken words were music to
his ears and soothed the leftover ache in his guts.

“
Maybe
not, but there is more at stake here than sinking my cock into a willing cunt.”

Kimberly frowned and pulled away from him. While
every fiber in his body screamed at him to keep hold of her, he let her go.

“
There
is no need to be so crude.” Kim hugged her arms around herself in a move he
recognized well by now.

“
I
didn’t mean any offence,
minn
kona
.
My point is I want more from you than mere sex.”

When her expressive eyes sought his, he smiled and
nodded.

“
You’re
my mate, but I’m also aware that you have a life here. A family who loves you.
I couldn’t take you away from all of that. Not without your full consent. I
sensed you weren’t really that close to your sister, but…” He paused and smiled
at her when she glanced at him. The fact that she didn’t contradict him spoke
volumes. Hope flared in his chest and made breathing difficult.

“
Lisa
and I are complicated. We want different things from life. Always have done. I
do love her. She’s my sister, but I don’t like her very much. I guess, I
wouldn’t miss her overly much if I didn’t see her again. I very rarely see her
now, to be honest. That makes me sound careless, right? Especially having heard
how you talked about your sister. You must be desperate to get back to her.”

Kim glanced his way. When he patted the seat next
to him, she sat back down again.

“
Yes,
of course I miss her, and I worry.” He paused to swallow down that very real
lump of fear that always lodged itself in the back of his throat when he
thought of
Guta
. “She was very heavy with child when
I was pulled into your time, and the birth of our young is always a dangerous
time for a female.” He smiled grimly at her sharp intake of breath, glancing
her way.

She was still too stiff and worried for his liking,
as though she would run for the hills if he touched her. So he crossed his arms
over his chest and forced himself to wait for her to process what he’d just
said. His wolf whined at the worry he sensed in his mate. Worry not directed at
him, but at a woman she’d never met. A testament to her kind and caring nature.
As his mate she would need to embrace all aspects of his life, his clan,
village, and family. That tendril of hope that had started to blossom ever
since Susan’s open acceptance of his circumstances, coupled with the other
woman’s conviction that Kimberly was more than up to the task ahead of her,
took firm root and spread through his veins like wildfire.