Saved Between the Sheets: An Anthology of Stories that Get to the Point

by R. M. Walker

  “Something far simpler, and much more complex.”

  Her scowl deepened. She was getting impatient.

  “Everything,” Gwydion said. “He demands everything.”

  It was blunt. Not nearly as eloquent as Min would prefer. But it was honest.

  Kirby scooted back on the bed and pulled her robe tighter around her. “What does everything mean? You’re okay with me loving others. So you must define the word differently than I do.”

  Min ached to reach for her. To kiss the back of her knuckles. To brush her hair from her face and worship her—mind, body, and soul. He’d settle for explaining. “It’s true, I don’t have a problem with you loving Gwydion, or anyone else. But in the part of your heart that you set aside for me, I want it to be all for me. I don’t want there to be a disclaimer or an exception on it. If you love me, I want you to completely love me. To completely give that part of yourself to me. And I offer you the same in return.”

  “That’s a lot to ask.”

  “It is.” Hence the term everything.

  She flexed her fingers and worked her jaw. “I remember loving you. I feel those same emotions. And I know you say I’m still that person, but I still feel a divide between those lives and this one. Right now, I can’t give you that.” Her voice cracked. “Does that mean I lose you?”

  “No, my huntress.” He hated the ache in her voice, but he loved the strength that required her to choose her independence over all else. “I’m not demanding that you offer yourself up to me right this moment, or else. My requirement is that when we do reach that point, when you’re able to say sincerely that you love me, that we both give it our all.”

  Some of the tension drained from her shoulders and she slumped. “Until then?”

  “Until then, and after, and for as long as I have you, I show you what you mean to me.”

  “That’s almost sweet and awe-inspiring.” Teasing sarcasm lined Gwydion’s voice.

  Min shook his head. “I am always awe-inspiring, and have rarely been accused of being sweet.” He moved to Kirby, and grasped her fingers. “Let me worship you, my huntress.”

  * * *

  Kirby didn’t expect Min’s explanation to alleviate her fears, but his words rang true. They tied to the bits of her past she remembered. And the men were right. The images that danced in her mind, the vivid splashes of pleasure, didn’t feel like separate lives. They were more like one long life, with several intermissions.

  She didn’t see anything of herself in the past that she disliked. And everything she saw of Min and Gwydion floated to her carried on love and devotion.

  Min’s touch was light but deliberate as he removed her robe. As in the shower, he grazed his fingers along every inch of her body. But with her fear addressed and placed aside, arousal could rush in at the contact.

  He stroked along the inside of her elbow. Kissed the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder. Nibbled down the inside of her thigh, to lick behind her knee. Everywhere he explored summoned a new spark of want. He drew gasps from her by teasing body parts she never knew were erogenous.

  His attention was different that Gwydion’s. While they both focused on her pleasure, she felt more frantic with Gwydion. It was intense, but light-hearted. Playful. Uncontrollable.

  Was it because she’d found Gwydion first in this life? No. It had always been this way between the two of them. Unhinged in the best way possible.

  Min moved back up her body, drawing his lips along her chest and then her collarbone.

  “You’re not always this gentle,” she said between gasps. She’d expected that to be what would scare her, but the knowledge unfurled in her belly and tugged a cord that ran through every nerve ending.

  “No.” He cupped her breasts and grazed his thumbs over her nipples. “I like to leave my mark. But I enjoy everything we do together, as do you. Pleasure and pain are so intricately intertwined…” He shook his head. “We’ll get there. Today though, I want to taste you like I would honey. Sweet and pure.”

  He dipped his fingers between her legs, and brushed his mouth over hers. He swallowed her groans, stroking her clit, coaxing her toward climax until her head swam and her heart wobbled.

  He circled her core until she came. The orgasm clenched through every inch of her, tingling in each spot he’d touched, drawing her into a tight line, until he eased away.

  Gwydion grasped Min’s wrist and drew a finger into his mouth, sucking her juices from Min’s skin. She watched, captivated and hungry for more.

  “If the two of you are gods, do you need condoms?”

  They shook their heads.

  “We do it for your sense of security,” Gwydion said. “But we don’t get sick. We don’t carry disease. Pregnancy doesn’t happen unless we will. Which would be never, without your permission.”

  Kirby liked the sound of that. “Neat trick.”

  Min lowered her back to lie on the bed. He spread her legs apart with his knee, and knelt between her thighs. When he penetrated her, she gasped silently at the way he stretched her out.

  The way he glided in and out of her was as gentle and methodical as everything else he’d done today. It was a new level of teasing. A promise of what happened when he stopped holding back. A slow burn of anticipation that made her pulse race.

  Gwydion knelt next to her, and lowered his head to her breast. He scraped his teeth lightly along one nipple, before nibbling harder.

  She needed to feel more. To touch more skin. She wrapped her hand around his shaft and stroked in time to Min’s thrusts.

  When Gwydion sought out her clit, the new touch jolted through her entire body. His touch wasn’t calculated. He circled her swollen nub with abandon, and she gripped his cock in response.

  She pumped him harder, setting the pace for how he pleasured her. Their frantic exchange clashed and blended with the slow glide of Min inside her.

  Gwydion came, squirting on her stomach. Coating her skin and hand. He didn’t ease up on the attention he paid to her clit. He pressed his body into hers, getting cum everywhere.

  She swore everywhere the slick stickiness touched, she felt more… everything.

  He coaxed her to orgasm, and she clenched as climax gripped her. She wasn’t used to having something inside her as thick as Min, and her body hovered on the edge of discomfort and pleasure.

  Her peak seemed to tear away his restraint. The slow, smooth strokes were gone, as he pounded against her. His passion was raw and all-encompassing.

  He spilled inside her, and she felt it. Like his energy mingled with hers, and spread through every inch of her. The intense fucking slowed to a stop. He slid out of her, leaving her feeling oddly empty.

  Gwydion caressed her side with a lazy touch.

  Min kissed her still sticky stomach. The lack of shame in the room was another kind of desire. He licked a path up her chest, to press his mouth to hers. Gwydion’s taste lingered on his lips.

  She devoured his kiss.

  If this was every life, no wonder she was terrified of losing it.

  Chapter Ten

  Knives shredded Kirby’s gut.

  Flame licked at her skin.

  Water filled her lungs.

  And fear stole her reason.

  A sword pierced her heart. An explosion tore her to shreds.

  Odin’s curse echoed in her skull.

  She was dreaming again. She had to be. It was the only thought she could grasp outside of agony. Death devoured her again and again. A dozen times or more. All compressed into the same bubble of time.

  She screamed and forced her eyes open. Her skin was still hot. She couldn’t see past the agony.

  Someone touched her arm, and she swung wildly. Needing an enemy to fight. A way to stop the torture.

  “Kirby.” Gwydion’s voice drilled through the chaos in her thoughts. He grabbed her wrists, holding her tight, despite her thrashing. “It’s us. You’re all right.” His tone was cool. A salve on a million wounds. “You’
re alive. You’re here with us. Focus on my voice. On my touch.”

  She was trying, but it was so hard. Death threatened to consume her.

  “You’re all right. You’re here with us.” Gwydion repeated the words until her terror faded.

  She sobbed and jerked away from him.

  He cupped her face and forced her gaze to his. His attention, his icy blue eyes focused on her, helped drive away more of the memories.

  Min wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap. He held her close enough his heart beat against her back.

  She wanted it to be soothing. She couldn’t completely shake the dream.

  “Breathe.” Gwydion kissed her palm. “Talk it out. If you can force it to become words, you can shove them away.”

  “You remembered,” Min said.

  She nodded, and tried to do what Gwydion told her. It was a struggle to process more than I’m fucking dying. “I can’t put it into words. There’s so much…” Pain. Love. Hate. Anger. Despair. It all clogged her lungs.

  She couldn’t think about it, let alone speak the horrors of her past.

  And she had no doubt now that it was all her past. The love. The death. Everything.

  “I can’t. I need air.” She broke away from them. Somehow, with trembling hands, she managed to yank on her clothes.

  She stumbled from the room, ignoring their pleas to come back. Gwydion caught her in the hallway, and grabbed her arm. The pain of his grip almost dragged her back to reality, but it wasn’t enough.

  Kirby shook him off. “Let me go. Now.

  He held his hands up in surrender, and stepped back.

  She rushed for the stairs, not having the mental capacity to wait for an elevator.

  And then she was on the street. There was no one else out here. Darkness covered the ground, and stars winked at her from above.

  She should go back to their room, but she couldn’t puzzle past the pain. Every inch of her throbbed in agony. Why did this hurt so much? Why did she always di so early in life? Right after she found them. Before she became anything. Before she could be who she was meant to be.

  What was the point of Odin’s useless fucking curse if she never lived long enough to learn and grow?

  The longer she walked, the more the memories sorted themselves. As love and death split, it was easier to focus on the good. Sometimes she had months with Gwydion and Min… and Starkad. He’d been her first love. He was part of the reason Odin cursed her. Would she survive this life long enough to find him as well?

  She wanted to. She had to.

  This wouldn’t be like the other times. She’d have more than days or half a year to love. To grow. To reemerge as the Valkyrie she should be. She was going to survive this time. She didn’t care what it took. No one was stealing her life again.

  She wandered aimlessly until the sun crested the horizon. Her feet were sore. She’d forgotten her shoes. She wasn’t in the nice part of town anymore. The buildings here were crumbled and in disrepair.

  She was numb but every inch of her ached. She was exhausted and high strung

  Kirby screamed into the dawn, pouring everything into the sound. Letting it tear from her until her lungs burned and her throat was raw. When she stopped, the silence rang in her ears. It was both soothing and disconcerting.

  A low-pitched whistle greeted her, and then her world exploded. Pain engulfed her again. But this came from outside, and engulfed her in a flash of light and flame. An explosion nearby.

  And it reached others. Death. Destruction. Lives that weren’t meant to be lost. It all screeched together in an ear shattering crescendo.

  It all bled into her, and tears spilled down her face, evaporating in the fire. These people weren’t warriors. They were civilians. Innocent. They didn’t deserve death any more than she had in her past lives.

  As the fire and grief and death consumed her, she fell to her knees, and sobbed.

  Chapter Eleven

  Shouting punched through Kirby’s unconsciousness. So much worry. What was wrong? She tried to open her eyes, but it burned. She couldn’t see.

  A pair of arms wrapped under her knees and behind her shoulders. Lifted her. Min.

  “We have you. You’re safe.” Did he sound worried?

  Why? What happened? She couldn’t make her mouth form the words. The comfort of being held stole her thoughts, and she let everything fall away.

  When she woke up again, soft blankets cradled her. She was in bed. Pain lingered on her skin, but it wasn’t the intense, all-consuming agony she’d felt before.

  She forced her eyelids open to see Gwydion sitting in a chair next to the bed ,watching her.

  “Hey.” He brushed his fingers across her face. “How do you feel?”

  “Am I gonna live, doc?” What she meant as a joke came out as a dry croak.

  He kissed her forehead and laughed. “Yes. Most definitely yes.”

  Min moved into view as well. He set a glass of orange juice on the table next to her, helped her sit, then held the glass for her.

  She downed half the glass, marveling in how good it felt sliding over her parched throat. Best juice ever. “What happened?” She asked when she felt like she could speak.

  “At the risk of triggering something, what do you remember?” Gwydion asked.

  The images and sensations that rushed back hurt, but it was a phantom throb. Nothing more. “Pain. So much fear and despair. Mine. Everyone else’s. Every life I’ve lived before. All of it.”

  Min furrowed his brow. “I believe you ascended. I don’t know a better word for it. Hold out our hand.”

  She did as requested without hesitation.

  A dagger appeared in his hand. Neat trick. The blade was polished to a high shine, and the handle looked like intricately carved ivory, with a Pegasus. He jabbed her palm.

  “Ow.” She pulled away instinctively, before realizing that hadn’t hurt. She wiped her thumb across the well of blood. The wound underneath vanished as she watched.

  “You can still be hurt,” Min said. “But it takes a great deal to make the wound permanent. You’re becoming immortal.”

  She liked the sound of that. It meant not dying again, didn’t it? Something else was in her head now too. Not just her past lives, but a pull. A need to be back where the battle was. To watch over the fallen, and bless the worthy.

  And save the innocent? That wasn’t why she’d been created, but she needed… “What else happened?”

  “A stray Scud missile landed near you.” Gwydion let out a noisy breath. "It stuck a heavily populated building. It should have killed everyone, including you.”

  Her gut soured. She didn’t deserve to live, while they died, because she’d been cursed. That wasn’t fair.

  “It didn’t kill anyone.” Min settled on the bed next to her. “You prevented it from causing death. The building was destroyed. The people inside all survived. Because of you.”

  Because she had the gift to decide who lived in battle, and none of those people deserved that dark fate. They didn’t choose this. Relief and righteousness filled her.

  She glanced at the windows. The gray light that had been there when she woke up was now almost black. “What time is it?”

  “It’s Sunday night. About nine.” Gwydion nodded at the clock.

  She was disappointed. But it didn’t make much impact on her heart, with everything else going on there. “We have to get back to base soon.” They should already be there. “How long until they declare us AWOL?”

  “Your CO knows we were near the blast.” Gwydion didn’t look as worried as she felt. In fact, he had fewer lines of stress on his face than he had since she met him. He looked more like the carefree man she remembered from the past. “It bought us some time. But we don’t have to go back. You can do whatever you want. We can walk away from all of this right now and never look back.”

  She wanted to give him that. He was tired of fighting. He’d been front and center for every war t
hat drew her back. It had devoured his heart over the years.

  Her memories told her all of this, but even if they hadn’t, it was written on his face.

  “I can’t. I belong here. Serving those who do battle.” She wanted to give him what he asked for, but she couldn’t.

  His sad smile said he’d expected her answer. “Your doctor can declare you incapable of returning to the front lines.”

  “My doctor will respect my wishes.”

  Gwydion nodded. “Always.”

  “So how does this work? What do we do next?” She had to return to duty, but she couldn’t give them up. She wasn’t. An interrupted weekend of catching up wouldn’t sate her.

  Min lifted her with no effort, to move her into his lap. “The two of you will be discreet, and I’ll go find Starkad.”

  She leaned into his chest, and reached for Gwydion’s hand. “You despise Starkad.”

  “I tolerate him for you. And next time you have leave, I’ll consume all of you and your time.”

  She loved the sound of that. “It’s a date.” And because she refused to die again, this life they’d all spend enough time together to learn what she saw in each of them. To not only recognize that she loved them all, but they’d understand why.

  Odin’s curse wouldn’t steal her life again.

  * * *

  If you’d like more Kirby, Gwydion, and Min… and to meet Starkad, Legacy is coming in summer 2019. Click here to learn more and grab your copy today.

  To keep up to date on new releases and other news from Allyson Lindt, click here to subscribe to my newsletter.

  Mutiny’s Rebellion

  Lina Jubilee

  1

  Mutiny’s Rebellion

  “So basically I’m your lover tied to the railroad tracks.”