Ravished by a Viking (19 page)

She turned inside his arms and stared up at him. “Will you tell me what you plan?”

“No, because I have to know you’re safe. That you won’t be part of this.”

The gruff texture of his voice had her melting. Did he truly care? “I’m already part of this.” She pressed closer, inhaling his musk.

“But they will not know that.”

She rubbed her cheek on his chest. “How soon?”

“We still have ore to deliver, to Kit and to Roxana. Then we will divide the men. The
Daedalus
will leave first; then we will make our way back, through the armada. When we pass through their ranks, we will lead them on a chase.”

“So we still have some time left?”

Dagr’s mouth stretched with a soft smile. “How do you want to pass the time?”

Threading her arms beneath his and rubbing her palms up his back, she leaned closer. “I would remember the taste of you. The smell. The heat.”

Dagr’s jaw flexed. He cupped her face between his palms and bent to kiss her. “This will not be the last time we are together.”

“How can you promise me that?” Her gaze savored the lips just inches from her own. “You don’t have a clue how powerful they are. How far they can spread their tentacles.”

Dagr trailed his lips along her cheek. “I have never felt this way for a woman, Honora. The gods can’t be so cruel to give us a taste of what life would be like for us, then separate us forever.”

She clung to him, burrowing her face into his chest, sinking into his warmth because she felt suddenly cold, suddenly frightened. Something she wasn’t accustomed to, but she realized she’d never cared for anything or anyone as much as she did this man whom she hadn’t known even a week ago.

“We still have some time,” he whispered. “Be with me.”

Although that was exactly what her heart wished, she struggled to be practical. “We have preparations to make.”

Turk cleared his throat. “Honora ... Captain,” he said, grimacing. “I have the controls. I’ll use the intercom if I need you.”

Dagr led her away, his hand clutching hers.

Honora felt slightly nauseous. Her eyes were scratchy. Gods, she was going to cry. She sniffed.

Dagr’s hand tightened, but he didn’t turn. “No tears,
elskling
. If you cry, I fear I won’t have the strength to do what must be done. This is why warriors don’t love.”

She smiled at that. “That’s ridiculous.”

He grunted, a sound that suspiciously resembled a laugh.

She rounded on him and smacked his arm.

His one-sided smirk said he’d done it on purpose, pissed her off to keep her strong. The fact he knew her so well already warmed her from the inside.

She’d trust him. Trust that he wasn’t just hoping, wasn’t really planning to commit suicide to save his brother and the other captives.

With hurried steps, they made their way to the gym. This time she locked the door as soon as they entered, flipped the switch to frost the windows, and then began to remove her clothes with shaking hands.

He was already stripping, skimming down his trousers before she’d even removed her boots. She stalled because she wanted to imprint this picture of him, so tall and thick and proud, in her mind and heart. Because there was no way he could persevere. No way he would walk away the victor.

And she didn’t care now whether or not she lost her command, was stripped of her rank, or even prosecuted. She might as well be dead. Without him, without the love that filled her to bursting this very moment, she had no reason to live.

He strode for her, his expression stern, but now she saw the pulse pounding at his temple, the tension rippling along his jaw, not from anger, not because he wanted sex—at least, not just that. He needed her.

He might not be capable of feeling as deeply as she did now, and she thought it was probably a good thing, because she understood why a Viking warrior eschewed the emotion. It crippled. It froze. It weakened.

Her legs trembled, and she sank to her knees on the floor.

Dagr plucked her up and sat her on the bench. He pulled the slide at the top of her skin-suit and peeled it down. His hands slipped inside, warming her breasts because she was shivering despite the balmy temperature of the room.

He removed the suit, kneeling to take off her boots and slide the trousers and insulated skin past her toes. When he stood, he picked her up again and headed toward the door at the far end.

She snuggled against his chest, smiling softly. Dagr knew every feature of her ship. She wasn’t surprised he knew about the bath with the jets, large enough to accommodate three Helios, but just big enough for Dagr and her alone.

He set her at the edge of the sunken tub and softly ordered the settings he wanted. While the water rose and the jets began to swirl, he gathered cloths, towels, and scented soaps. When it was full, he descended into the small pool and reached for her.

Honora wound her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and clung, resting her cheek over her strong heart, while the warm water swirled in the strong jets and bubbles burst against her skin and her sex.

Dagr kissed her hair. “You will like our hot springs.”

Again, he talked about a future they most likely would never share. She closed her eyes and swallowed the lump lodged at the back of her throat. “Tell me about them.”

Holding her close, Dagr sat on a submerged bench.

Honora spread her knees on either side of his hips and eased down, riding the long ridge of his cock between her folds. She rubbed slowly back and forth, teasing him by stroking him but never taking him inside. “Tell me about your hot springs. I didn’t know there was any warmth to be found on your world.”

His face was split by a boyish grin. “We pride ourselves for our stealth and secrecy. Your people abandoned us to work in deep mines. But they never explored the world beyond the deposits of ore beneath the permafrost.”

She rubbed her cheek against his, enjoying the rough scrape of whiskers that had sprouted on his face. She liked that he didn’t wear a full beard like so many of his men, and enjoyed this hint of masculine bristle. “Tell me.”

His hands settled on her hips, thumbs caressing her abdomen. “Soon after the Norsemen arrived on New Iceland, the animals they brought escaped from their cages. The people thought they were all dead. Frozen. Then one day, a man saw a crow flying. He followed it into a cave, and discovered another world beneath the cold surface of the planet—a place scoured out by water heated by pure light and streaming through the rock in wide rivers. The melted water formed large caves, which are lit by the ore. Rock and dirt deposited by the rivers on their banks grew lush forests. Our animals had found the caves.”

She stopped her shallow movements to listen. “Why don’t you live there?”

“Some do, growing crops, hunting for meat for our tables. But most of us work to support our only industry. Mining.”

“It must seem like a wonderland. This underground forest.”

“It is. And the springs I mentioned, some are as hot as this bath. With restorative powers.”

She tilted her head. “You’re telling me this. Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell my own people and they’ll have even more reason to conquer your world?”

Dagr bracketed her face with his wet hands and kissed her mouth. “I trust you, Honora, to not betray my people. It’s my desire that you return with me. Our world can be harsh, but I will see you kept in comfort. I will spend some of my wealth to provide you the things you need to be happy.”

“I don’t need things, Dagr. I need a purpose. I need to be part of something bigger.” She dipped her head to rub the tip of her nose against his. “But I also need you.”

“I am yours.”

The moment was very nearly perfect. Or so she’d thought until he began to caress her. His fingers spread and raked slowly down her back, then slid under her ass and massaged her buttocks.

She gave a little breathless murmur and rolled her hips in another teasing glide that swept her cleft forward and back along his shaft.

His fingers tightened. Dagr lifted her and his cock tracked down her buttocks, then traced a path toward her labia. At her entrance, Dagr held her still, his gaze locked with hers.

“Yes, please,” she whispered.

He brought her slowly down his cock, all the way until her pussy met his groin. Then he ground her forward and back, her clit rubbing against his pubis.

Her pussy clenched him hard, a cramping need curled around her womb. “I’m going to come,” she moaned.

“Yes, please,” he mimicked.

Only he sounded anything but submissive and pleading. She smiled, then let her head fall back and allowed him do all the work ... lifting, lowering, grinding ... until her body caught fire, and she fisted her hands in his hair and rubbed her breasts on his chest, her pussy against the hard bone of his groin. She blew into a million little pieces, riding a tide of wet, hot bliss. She shuddered against him, panting hard.

Dagr pulled her hair, which reminded her that her fingers were still tangled in his.

She unwound her fingers and gave him a small, apologetic smile. “You have a gift. I forget myself every time.”

Dagr’s long-fingered hands rubbed over her shoulders; his fingers trailed down, over her breasts. Then he turned his palms to cup her. “You inspire me.” His thumbs scraped her nipples.

She groaned at the tingling he started there again.

His touch left her chest, and he reached for one of the folded cloths. He worked soap into the cloth, then began to bathe her while she remained on his cock. “Raise your arms.”

She did so, then giggled when he washed her armpits.

Dagr slid the cloth there again, and she wrinkled her nose, trying to hold back a laugh. With her arms raised like a child and him tickling her, she shouldn’t have been quite so aroused, but everywhere he looked, her skin flushed. When he circled over her breasts, her tips extended, growing rock hard.

He cupped water in his hands and rinsed her skin, then lifted her and latched on to a nipple, sucking it into his mouth, then widening his lips and pulling the whole breast inside.

She felt the ungentle tug all the way to her toes and undulated, crying out when the sensation became too much.

When he came off it, he did so slowly, suctioning all the way until all that he held between his lips was the tiny, hardened point.

“You’re killing me,” she said, tugging a long, wet strand of his hair.

He released her breast, his mouth making a popping sound. Then he lifted her the rest of the way off his cock and stood her in front of him.

Rising, he pulled her hand and they both left the water. He tossed a towel at her, and she grinned when it slapped her chest. Feminine power rippled through her, building her excitement. He was in a hurry now, impatient and aching, if the size and redness of his erection were any indication.

She dried haphazardly, turned on her heel, and strode into the other room. She crawled onto the mattress, wagging her ass, because she could hear his footsteps pad on the tiles behind her.

Hands clamped on her buttocks. Fingers crushed her, holding her hips in place.

His mouth licked and kissed her bottom. Then teeth bit.

She screeched, but the sound was cut off by the quickness of his next move, which flipped her to her back. She opened her legs without hesitation, and he aimed his cock at her entrance, nudged it once, then sank himself to the hilt in her silky, creamy depths.

Sixteen

Dagr came down over Honora, needing to touch her everywhere as he began to pump inside her. Her thighs scissored restlessly around his hips; her head thrashed on the soft pillows. The amber of her eyes melted beneath a golden, glossy sheen.

He framed her face and kissed her. “You cannot cry.”

“Really? You think you can mandate what I feel now?” Her words were tart, but the hoarseness of her voice said how much she fought for control.

He pulled out of her and rolled to his back.

“I take it you want ‘service’?”

Positioning his hands behind his head, he growled. “Use that word again, and I will spank you.”

A muffled giggle sounded, but she rose beside him, settling on her knees as her gaze slowly roamed his body. He knew what she was doing, and he wished she wouldn’t. He’d already committed her body, her sweet face, to memory.

She traced the outline of the wolf’s tail that curled around his hip. “Will you turn over? I’d like to take a closer look.”

Her eyes had at last dried and sparkled with mischief. He gave her a one-sided smirk and rolled to his belly, resting his forehead on the backs of his hands.

She shoved off the mattress, and her footsteps padded toward the line of cabinets across the room.

He didn’t look around, content to let her surprise him. When warm oil drizzled over his back, he smiled.

Her small hands rubbed and squeezed his muscles with surprising strength, an elbow digging into some particularly tense muscles lining his spine. “You are skilled,” he murmured.

“I’m inspired,” she quipped. “I haven’t felt this much muscle on a man, up close and personal, before.”

“It’s a wonder you Heliopolites ever breed.”

“We breed just fine, but I’m thinking there’d be a spike in pregnancy rates if you guys ever landed on our planet.”

Dagr grunted, pulled back to his brother’s fate. Anger mixed with disappointment made his voice harsh. “That’s what I suspect this is all about. That your people want to breed with ours. Did you know?”

Her hands slowed their movements for a moment, then pressed harder. “I didn’t give it any thought.”

“You think that ignorance excuses you?”

“No, it damns me. I know that.”

Dagr swallowed to ease the tightness of his throat. “You will make this right,” he said gruffly.

She sighed. “I will help you, yes. But there’s no making this right. Not if we can’t find your brother and the others the hunters captured.”

He raised his head, but didn’t look back. “Did you see them?”

“Yes.”

“How were they kept?” He braced himself for the answer.

“In cages,” she whispered. “Like animals. I was appalled and demanded they leave my ship immediately. I threatened to send them all to the surface if they weren’t gone soon.”

His shoulders bunching anew, he bit out, “If you’d done that, I never would have needed to leave my land or my people.”
And I never would have met you.
Confused, because now he couldn’t imagine having to choose between two different fates, he let go of the anger and let her hands soothe the tension in his body.

We never would have met,” Honora said, straddling his buttocks. She didn’t want to talk about her mistakes. Didn’t want to dwell on what was coming. Instead she concentrated on the wicked bounty beneath her.

She bent over him, pressing kisses against his oiled and scented skin, rubbing her softened lips across him. Then she stuck out her tongue and followed the deep indentation of his spine, licking in a lazy zigzag down his back.

When she’d curled herself as far inward as she could, she straightened again and traced the leaping wolf. The picture was so detailed, every tuft of fur was outlined. “It’s beautiful, this beast on your back. It’s a wolf, isn’t it?”

“You don’t have them on Helios?” he asked, his voice sounding rusty.

“None living. Only in stories and paintings. They died long ago from overhunting.”

“They roam our underground forests. Not many. We keep track of the packs. Trap them from time to time to see how healthy they are.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“Not to humans, unless backed into a corner. They shy away from man. Do you really want to talk about the wildlife on my planet?”

She lay over him, pressing her breasts against his back, snuggling her cheek against his shoulder. “Not really, but you must admit you haven’t given me much of a chance to learn this particular view of your body.”

“I would turn over.”

“I’m not done exploring.”

He grunted, the sound lifting his back. “Why am I starting to tremble?”

“Are you afraid, Viking?”

“For my manhood.”

Chuckling, she scooted down his body until she knelt over the backs of his calves. She poured more warm oil over his buttocks. The muscles here were beyond firm, and he clenched tighter when her fingernails raked over them.

She braced her hands on the mattress and slid one knee between his thighs to ease them open.

His reluctance was palpable, and a low growl rattled through his chest.

Honora laughed again, softly, her own body tensing with arousal. How far would he let her go before putting a halt to her exploration? Or would she be the first to fold?

Putting her weight behind her, she massaged his ass, rubbing his skin, working her fingers into the muscle until his thighs quivered.

“Woman,” he groaned.

She bent closer and traced two fingers down the crevice, then followed them with her tongue, delving in between, coming to his small furled hole and hesitating, because she knew how good it felt, but she’d never dared this before. She circled it with a fingertip.

His breath hissed between his teeth. “Careful ...”

“Was Kit the first to take you here?” she teased.

“Would you rather have been my first? Do you even dare?”

“What do I risk?”

“A woman’s punishment.”

She knew exactly what he meant, and the thought only made her cream. She nuzzled his firm backside with her nose, slid her lips over him, and sucked at his skin, leaving a love mark here and there, but finally stopped teasing, coming again to the divide and sinking her tongue into it, touching his anus, sliding her tongue over it, then darting back.

Dagr’s back muscles bulged with tension; his hands clutched great fistfuls of bedding. Every part of his body was hard, quivering, and she licked him again, moistening the skin, and then tucked an oil-slicked finger inside him.

She knew her physiology. Knew where the little gland rested. Stuffing another finger inside despite his muttered curses, she rolled the tips of her fingers over his prostate, swirling on it until his buttocks lifted off the bed and he dug his cock into the mattress.

“Witch! Stop!”

She laughed and bit his buttocks and pulled out, scrambling away but not quickly enough.

He shot up and grabbed her head and pulled it toward his cock, his fingers sliding to either side of her ears as he directed her over him to suck him while he slammed his hips forward and back.

He didn’t last longer than a single deep-throated lunge. Spurts of salty cum coated her tongue. She swallowed it down, groaning around him, her bottom in the air and her pussy clasping.

When his fingers unclenched from her hair, he pushed her away. She backed up on all fours, eyeing him with trepidation, because his eyes were dark, narrow slits, his cheeks starkly defined by the tension riding his features. He looked every inch the primitive warrior.

“You know what comes now.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “A woman’s punishment? Do you think I’ll just bend over and present my ass like a good little thrall?”

His mouth stretched into a thin smile.

Her heart rate kicked up, and she darted off the bed, running for the door.

He caught her before she pulled the latch down, and then she was swinging high, her body folding over his shoulder. He turned and walked over to the bench, which she knew wasn’t just for holding clothes.

“Surely the fantastic blow job mitigates the punishment,” she gasped when he bound her hands to the bench.

His response was to push her thighs apart and latch her ankles to the padded step.

Honora couldn’t help it; her pussy spilled fluid, wetting her labia and seeping onto the bench beneath her.

He walked away, and she strained to watch him over her shoulder. He found the flogger amid the implements in the cabinet and stroked his fingers over the flanged ends before looking her way.

The jut of his jaw and the heat of his dark gaze kept her breaths shallow and rasping.

“Gods, I ache already, Dagr. I didn’t intend to trample on your dignity... much.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m guessing by how excited you got that you aren’t accustomed to having that done to you. And yet, you let Kit do it and didn’t threaten her with punishment. Don’t you think I deserve that pleasure too? I mean, really, before us, no one’s ever played with your ass before?”

He gave a sharp shake of his head. “Never.”

“Helio men often take male lovers. Don’t Vikings?”

“Some do,” he said, fisted hands resting on his hips, “but I have never felt even a stirring of desire for another man. I have never allowed anything to penetrate me.”

“Until Kit.” Her neck was getting a kink in it, staring over her shoulder like she was. “Then why didn’t you stop her?”

“The drug robbed me of inhibition.”

“Then why are you punishing me? If you didn’t want it, why not stop me?”

“I gave you fair warning. I assumed you wanted punishment. That teasing me beyond control gave you pleasure.”

“You let me do it, even though you found it disturbing, because you wanted me to enjoy myself?” Pleasure teased more sweet cream down her thigh. “How sweet.”

“Not sweet,
elskling
... Strategic.”

She gave a strangled laugh. “Because now you have me where you wanted me all along, and I have to be compliant because you set the terms?”

“Exactly,” he said, nodding. “Now, do you submit to your punishment?”

Honora hung her head and closed her eyes. Truth be told, she was exactly where she wanted to be, burning for the stinging strokes because she’d carry the marks a little longer on her skin. “I deserve punishment, Viking. Do I get any last wishes?”

“Do you think you will die from pleasure?”

“Maybe.”

“Ask,
elskling
,” he said softly.

“I want your hand to deliver the punishment. I want your fingers emblazoned on my skin. Make it last past today. I want the fire to burn me far past the day we part.”

His hands dug into her hair, and he raised her head. His gaze sharpened at the moisture welling in her eyes. His jaw flexed. From emotion? She hoped so, but knew it was likely just arousal stirring inside him again.

Warriors didn’t love. Didn’t regret partings.

She licked her lips, then bit into the bottom one, a slow, deliberate provocation. He cupped her chin, rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip, soothing it, then stuck it into her mouth and pulled down her jaw.

When he stepped closer, aiming his slackened cock at her mouth, she had to cant her head to scoop all of him inside. She tasted herself and his cum, chased with a hint of salt. Her mouth watered, and she sucked and pulled on him, waiting as he slowly filled again, licking every bulge and vein as he tightened and his girth consumed the space inside her mouth and throat.

Fully aroused, he withdrew, stroking himself slowly in front of her, while her own body tightened and more fluid slicked her thighs.

Her gaze made a languorous climb up his taut abdomen and massive chest. She sighed like a wanton, feeling her lips go slack, her breaths pant. “Please, Dagr.”

“Do you want your punishment, or do you want a fucking?”

“You will give me both.”

A single brow arched.

She might be tied like a roasted goose, but she knew who really held the power here. He’d give her everything she wanted—here, inside this room. Dagr might not know how to voice his emotions, might not feel as deeply as she did, but he wanted to leave her happy, sated. She gave him a one-sided smile. “You will give me both, please.”

He bent and mashed his lips against hers, then circled her. Hands trailed down her back, stroking her skin, the rough calluses scraping like fine sandpaper, lifting gooseflesh everywhere they traveled.

When he cupped her bottom, she lifted into his palms, her head dropping low as she closed her eyes and savored his gentle roughness. Strokes, squeezes, so soothing and arousing. She imagined how his large hands looked against the soft flesh of her bottom and wondered again how she compared with his pale-skinned concubines.

His mouth sucked at her skin, gliding to kiss her ass, suctioning to raise his own little marks. She loved that he wanted to mark her like she had done to him. With his breath gusting against her skin, his fingers grazing her sex, but never settling or penetrating, she began to move restlessly.

He’d promised punishment and he was working up to it, but she was dying here.

“The women of my clan are bold and speak their minds, but at the bottom of it, they submit to their protector, consider his needs above theirs.” His words teased her neck. “You are more delicately made than they are, and generally measure your words more carefully than they do, but you are stronger, more independent, at your core. I find myself relieved that this is so, because you can love a man, and not be consumed by him.”

“You think you know me so well?”

“I know you love me.”

Her eyes filled immediately, and she was grateful he couldn’t see her face. “You think that makes me weak?”

“In the moment, when you are needful of my touch, you are weak. However, I know when we part, you will do what you must to survive. That keeps my will strong, my heart free.”

“So that you can walk away?” she said, anguish trembling through her. “You think that’s something I want to hear? Now?”

“You misunderstand. I have never felt for another woman what I feel for you. I think that if we had more time, I would open my heart to you, Honora. I trust that you would carry on after I am gone. That is what makes me strong, knowing that you will survive, that you live. It is as close as I have ever been to love,
elskling
.”