Gideon's Promise (Sons of Judgment Book 2) (56 page)

“Next time,” he murmured. “You’re doing that with your boots on.”

Blissfully sleepy, Valkyrie laughed. “You and those boots.”

He moved over her, positioning himself. “You in those boots give me a hard on like you would not believe.”

A slow grin pulled her mouth as she slid her arms around his shoulders. “Why do you think I wear them?” She drew him down to her mouth. “And the leather.”

He slammed inside her without a warning, with a violence that tore a scream from her as volts of agonizing pleasure rocketed throughout her entire body and soul. The assault gripped him in her equally brutal orgasm that she had not been prepared for. Her nails ripped down his spine with a viciousness that elicited a roar from him.

“You fucking tease!” he snarled over the bells screaming in her ears as he pounded into her without mercy. “Fuck, I love you!”

M
oaning and gasping into the mattress, she squeezed her eyes closed tight and waited for the world to rebuild itself. Her body continued to convulse with tiny shudders that refused to subside, not even long after Gideon had pulled out of her. His chest heaved against her back as he struggled to catch his own breath.

It was anyone’s guess how they wound up with her back on her stomach. The whole thing was a blur of hot, sweaty bodies and rough, mindless sex. Valkyrie had never been so happy.

“Okay?” he rasped in between kisses along the curve of her shoulder.

Valkyrie shook her head, face still buried in the sheets. “I can’t feel my feet.”

His chuckle tickled her ear. “They’re still there.”

He gently turned her over and captured her mouth. The kiss burned all the way down like she’d swallowed fire. Her arms hooked around his shoulders and kept him latched to her as she returned the passion. His husky groan deepened her drive. His hand pulled down her arching body and slid beneath her. He lifted her hips to him. Her knees parted to welcome him.

“I don’t think we’ll be leaving this bed today.”

Valkyrie’s response was to thread her fingers through his hair and pull his mouth back to hers.

H
e was wrong. They left the bed three times. Twice to shower and once to hunt up food from the kitchen. Maybe it was because of the size of the manor, but they came across no one as they made their way downstairs. Gideon released her hand only when they reached the fridge and he threw it open.

“There’s soup, something that looks like pie and a box of...” He pulled out a plastic container and pried back the lid. Inside was a series of flaky, green chunks that made Valkyrie cringe even before Gideon brought it to his nose. “Huh.”

“What?”

He sealed the container back up and returned it to the shelf. “That smelled exactly like it looked.”

Valkyrie broke out in a fit of giggles, and it wasn’t for the first time. He’d been keeping her lightheaded and giddy since waking up. If he wasn’t making her laugh, he was keeping her on the edge of intense passion and then shoving her over. It was the most she had ever laughed in more centuries than she cared to count.

He was topless since she had stolen his t-shirt. His pants were undone and his feet were bare. Valkyrie had one article of clothing more than him, and that was her shorts. But it was nice to see him so underdressed, especially when he moved. She liked watching him do things that required movement. Lots of movement. She liked how his muscles roped across his chest and how his biceps bulged when he lifted his arms. She definitely had a deep love for the mark that had been etched into the shoulder of his right arm. The delicately woven design mirrored the one burned into her forearm. She had spent a great deal of time earlier tracing the mark with her finger, lips, and tongue. It was incredible how quickly she had lost all inhibition. It was as though she’d been waiting her entire life for that exact moment when she would finally be one with Gideon Maxwell.

“Hey, you still with me?”

Valkyrie blinked and focused once more on the gray eyes watching her from beneath a single arched brow. “Sorry?”

One arm braced against the fridge door, Gideon straightened. His eyes narrowed as he studied her.

“You’re looking awfully smug over there.” He bit his bottom lip and her heart gave a wild kick in her chest. “And damn delicious.”

The fridge door cracked shut and she found herself pressed into the cool metal.

“Again?” Her arms went around his shoulders and she arched up on her toes to meet his lips. “I thought you were ravenous.”

He lifted her up and set her down on the preparation table. Her knees were parted and filled by his hips.

“Who says I’m not?” he murmured in between teasing little nips. “I’ve been starving for you for three hundred years. I’m making up for lost times.”

Her laugh was swallowed by his languid mouth working over hers. His fingers skimmed the length of her bare thigh to grip her hips. She was drawn to the edge of the counter, closer to him. And Valkyrie couldn’t have asked for more.

It had never made sense to her before. The whole Maxwell family had been one giant puzzle box and only they had the diagram. Their absolute devotion and need for each other had always irritated her, partly because she had always wanted to be part of it, but also because it was irrational. No one could love that much. It was impossible. Yet, oddly enough, she finally understood why Riley couldn’t stop touching Octavian. Why Kyaerin’s gaze automatically sought Liam the second she walked into a room. Why Reggie had spent almost every night for a year outside in the cold, watching over a human. It made sense why Gideon had spent the better part of three hundred years pushing her away. He had loved her, even then. Had loved her enough to live with the hole that Valkyrie felt inside her own chest whenever he wasn’t close enough to touch. It wasn’t even a conscious gesture. It was like breathing, something necessary and automatic. But what got her most was how different everything felt. How different she felt since the imprint. Maybe it was the fact that she no longer had to decide between what she had been raised to believe and what she wanted, or maybe it was because she finally found what she’d been missing her entire life, but for the first time ever, she felt free. She felt happy.

“What?” he murmured, tracing a finger along the slant of her jaw.

Valkyrie shrugged and shook her head. “Nothing.”

Gideon searched her eyes, her face, and lingered on her smiling mouth. “Whatever it is, I love how it looks on you.”

Feeling impossibly blissful, she pulled him to her, lowered her head and was about to kiss him when the kitchen door creaked open and Liam pushed through. Octavian was a step behind him. The pair on the table jolted in surprise at the intrusion. Valkyrie quickly hopped off the counter and prayed the lighting was too dim for anyone to notice the warmth that crept into her cheeks.

Liam looked her over. “How are you?”

“Better,” she murmured. “Thank you.”

He gave her a kind smile before turning his attention to Gideon. “Is your mother upstairs?”

“Uh...” Gideon’s face bunched in a grimace. “I would not know...”

The backdoor took that moment to swing open and Magnus strode in. The buckles on his boots jingled sharply with his hard strides. A deep frown darkened his features. It was impossible to tell if he was upset, or not. Magnus only had one facial expression.

“You’re back,” he said to his father.

Gideon blinked. “Back? Where did ... oh! Shit!” He clapped a hand over his forehead. “I completely forgot you wanted to see Baron this morning. I’m so sorry.”

Liam shook his head. “You had more important matters that required your attention.”

The heat in Valkyrie’s face intensified.

“I could have gone,” Magnus interjected.

Liam nodded slowly. “Yes, but there was a reason I chose only Octavian and Gideon. They have nothing Baron could have used against them.”

Magnus’s eyes narrowed. “You think I’m weak.”

The other man’s mouth bowed into a chuckle. “No one would ever be foolish enough to consider you weak, Magnus. But I would rather not freely hand him ammunition.”

Strategically speaking, his explanation made sense to Valkyrie. Baron had a way of knowing what was deep inside a person’s soul, what they wanted more than anything and he gave it to them ... for a steep and sometimes impossible price.

“There is nothing I want,” Magnus countered tightly. “I have no secret longings.”

“And that could possibly be your greatest weakness,” Liam said calmly. “A person needs weaknesses, Magnus. We need flaws as well as strengths to make us strong and the sooner you learn your weaknesses, the better you will be prepared.”

“I already know my weaknesses,” Magnus said. “I have mastered them.”

Liam closed the distance between himself and his son and rested his hands lightly on the other man’s shoulders.

“The thing we deny we need most is the one thing we need above all else.”

With that, Liam stepped around Magnus and walked through the door to the back of the house, leaving behind a bemused silence. Even Valkyrie couldn’t decipher his cryptic wisdom.

“So what happened?” Gideon finally asked, studying Octavian. “What did Baron say?”

Octavian snorted. “Bastard wasn’t there. His secretary told us to come back later, or leave a message.” He glanced at Magnus. “So you missed nothing.”

Glowering at his older brother, Magnus spun on his heel and marched after their father. Octavian shook his head and followed. Gideon ruffled a hand through his hair before turning to the fridge.

“I feel like pasta.”

M
agnus’s mood had not improved by later that evening as the family sat around the dinner table. He kept out of most of the conversation, even the one Valkyrie tried to talk him into. Eventually, she gave up and went back to eating her shepherd’s pie and listen with one ear as Liam told his wife how uneventful his morning had been.

“Will you be going back tomorrow?” she asked, her face carefully neutral, but her apprehension rang in her voice.

Liam sighed. “I know you don’t like it, darling, but it needs to be done.”

Kyaerin smiled tightly. “I know, love.” She turned her attention to the rest of the table. “I think that’s plenty of business talk for the table. How was everyone else’s day?”

It was almost entertaining to see all the blank faces. No one had left the manor since Liam had declared Marshall Law. Aside from doing nothing, there wasn’t a whole lot of anything to do. And Valkyrie refused to share her day with the group.

As though reading her thoughts, the hand Gideon had settled over her thigh throughout the dinner flexed while he continued to listen attentively to Imogen tell them about finally cleaning most of the library. Riley’s news was a little more interesting. She had successfully helped Kyaerin concoct Greek fire.

“She is a natural,” Kyaerin boasted. “I only showed her once and she got it right away.”

Riley flushed a pretty pink that Valkyrie suspected had more to do with the goblet of blood before the girl rather than actual blood flow.

“I always loved chemistry,” she said shyly.

Kyaerin nodded like that made perfect sense. “You know who else is a natural? Valkyrie.”