by Shea Balik
Wanting to put Ryley at ease, Eirik leaned forward, head partially bowed in submission, an act he’d never once done in his life, not even with his own father. He gently butted his head against Ryley’s hand, hoping to reassure Ryley that Eirik would never hurt him.
When Ryley’s fingers softly petted his fur, Eirik was sure he’d died and gone to Valhalla, for nothing on this earth had ever felt as good. Well, maybe kissing Ryley had, but in over a thousand years, Eirik couldn’t name another instance.
With each stroke, Ryley’s touch became firmer, surer, and Eirik wanted to cuddle up and bask under the attention. If only his friends weren’t howling with laughter, he just might have done it.
He might be willing to show vulnerability to Ryley, but not to the others. They all might have been in this together, but Eirik was the one they followed and the last thing they needed was to see him as weak.
After getting one more stroke from Ryley, Eirik shifted back into his human form. “I can’t believe that just happened,” Ryley whispered, so only Eirik could hear him.
Not that the others were trying to listen in since they hadn’t stopped their cackling. “That was priceless,” Arden said, slapping the leather cushion next to him. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“My point exactly,” Ulf said, who had been the only one not laughing like a hyena. “What in Odin’s name made you do that? And a monkey? What is wrong with you, Eirik? You’ve been acting weird since you got back.”
“That’s why I asked you all to meet,” Bjorn said, his harsh tone putting everyone on alert. “There is a part of the curse that we never talked about.”
“What do you mean by another part?” Oluf demanded. “Isn’t the fact that we’re immortal and forced to defend the ancestors of those who cursed us enough?”
Ryley shook his head quickly a few times as if trying to keep up with what was just said. “Wait a minute. Is that why you showed up?” Ryley asked him. “The curse forces you guys to protect druids?”
“You didn’t think we were fighting those creatures for fun, did you?” Arne joked. “I mean, we grew up learning to fight, but those things are just…” Arne shuddered. “Gross. Seriously, did you see the one that basically looks like a green slimy booger? If I had a choice, I wouldn’t get close enough to see it, much less fight it.”
The Unseelie’s minions came in all shapes and sizes, as well as various degrees of, well, let’s just say they were disgusting, requiring lots of hot water, soap, disinfectant spray and scrubbing with a loofah to feel at all normal after an encounter with them. It was because of them that every bathroom in the house had its own, very large, hot water heater set to scalding.
“I don’t get it.” Ryley appeared genuinely confused. “If you were supposed to protect druids for more than a millennium now, why did you only just find my family?”
Before Eirik could answer, Arne did it for him in a voice that clearly indicated Ryley must be stupid. “In case you missed it, there are eight of us.” Arne waved a hand to encompass them. “Do you have any idea how many druids there were, even that long ago?”
Eirik interrupted before he ended up doing something, he’d end up regretting, like punching Arne for treating Ryley like that. “From the beginning it has been a challenge to watch over your ancestors. They didn’t exactly have any reason to trust us, when it was us who had come ashore to raid their villages and interrupt the rituals they were performing.”
“Talk about shitty timing,” Ulf commented. “It was as if Loki had decided to fuck with us just to see what would happen.”
Fritjof let out a harsh laugh. “We’d grown up knowing that Loki could be an asshole, but never would any of us have believed he would drop us in the middle of hell.”
“Are you kidding me?” Brandr scowled. “Fucker was probably laughing his fool head off when he did it. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was giving us the finger as our longboats pulled ashore.”
Ryley’s head had moved from person to person as they talked, but it was obvious he was having trouble keeping up. Taking pity, Eirik explained. “As I explained before, Hrafn’s father, Dagmar had planned the raid. There were five boats with nearly forty men aboard each ship.”
“For a raid, it was very large,” Bjorn added.
Hrafn let out a long sigh. “My father never did anything halfway. I think he planned for me to die on that raid. If the enemy didn’t do it, he would have.” Tears shimmered in his friend’s eyes.
Arne and Oluf both put an arm around him in comfort. As much as Eirik would like to deny what Hrafn said, they all knew it to be true. Thankfully, Dagmar never got the chance to carry out his plan.
“Just as we were nearing the shoreline, two waves knocked around the two boats all of us had been on. It delayed us landing, most likely the only reason we’re still alive,” Eirik continued the story. “By the time we landed, the men in the other two boats had already disembarked and started their attack.”
Arne snorted, his eyes shining with laughter. “Boy, were they in for a shocker when they arrived, halting the ritual only to find giant monsters coming out of nowhere.”
“Most of them had already been slaughtered by the time we landed.” Eirik’s father had prayed to Odin for their safe passage to Valhalla, for he didn’t believe for a moment any of them would survive.
“The druids had tried to continue their ritual as most of our fighters started battling with the unknown beasts, but not Dagmar.” Eirik had been stunned when their leader had demanded they kill those that were chanting instead of the creatures that were attacking them.
With each druid that had died, five more creatures had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “No one ever claimed my father was smart,” Hrafn said. “He went to that land to steal and he wasn’t about to be stopped just because there were monsters trying to kill us.”
For Eirik, he’d truly believed he would die that day. He wasn’t entirely sure how he’d survived, if he were perfectly honest. “By the time we’d managed to kill the last of the monsters, a light appeared in the sky. We had no idea what it was.”
“Now we know it was the druid’s magic resealing the veil between our world and the Fae,” Bjorn said. “If it had ended there, we probably would have stayed in Scotland, lived our lives and died there when our time came. But one druid had survived the battle, barely.”
“He’s the one who cursed you,” Ryley stated, clearly figuring out where all this was going.
“And you,” Bjorn said, startling them all. “It was the third part of the curse.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Eirik hadn’t understood anything the druids had been chanting. Neither had any of them. It wasn’t until the voice of Odin had boomed around them, that they’d understood they might have survived the battle, but they still had to pay a price.
“In the end there will be eight who have the power to do what must be done. If we can protect them and the veil is sealed, a choice may be made.” A niggle of memory surfaced as Bjorn spoke. “End the curse, and you will be brought to Valhalla…”
Suddenly it came to Eirik. “Or remain cursed and stay with the one who you were destined to love for all eternity.”
CHAPTER 13
“Are you okay?”
Ryley stilled at the question. It had been a week since he’d learned about that stupid curse and he was no more ready to deal with it now than before. Destined to love. What was he supposed to do about that?
“Okay?” His voice sounded brittle, maybe even broken. It was just all too much. “No, I’m not okay,” he whispered as he pressed his forehead to the glass of the window.
Before him the snowy scene was picturesque. A wonderland of white, completely unmarred by the ugliness of life. It made him want to go out there and stomp through it as he had at that rest stop. But it wouldn’t help.
He knew that because he’d done just that three days before. That same night, snow had fallen, erasing all the damage he’d done, ret
urning the land to its pristine condition. Mother nature’s way of thumbing her nose at him.
In a way, he’d been glad his fit of rage had been wiped clean. It had seemed wrong somehow when he’d looked at it later through this very window. Like Ryley had destroyed something precious.
“I watched as my family was killed in front of me,” he choked out when he felt Eirik’s arms go around him, so his chest was pressed against Ryley’s back. The warmth of Eirik’s body helped to chase away the chill that had encompassed him. “I burned my sister.” A sob from deep in his throat released as he said that.
“You were trying to save her,” Eirik’s voice rumbled in his ear. “You did save her,” he emphasized.
Eirik might be technically right, but that didn’t change the fact that Meghan was still healing from her burns. “She was still hurt because of me,” he said belligerently, pulling away from Eirik. His body and heart protested the move, but Ryley ignored them.
“I should have listened to my parents.” He had to grit his teeth for the what he was about to say. “I especially should have listened to Grandma Maureen. She’d been right about the Fae, about the veil, about… everything.”
“Would that have changed anything?” Eirik asked. But before he could yell out, “Yes,” Eirik stopped him by asking, “Did it help that your parents and grandparents did know? As you said, many of the other druid families were close with your family. They all knew, yet none of them have been able to stop the Unseelie from killing them.”
Ryley winced at Eirik’s harsh words. He was right, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear. “Where does that leave me? What am I supposed to do if my family and the other druid families haven’t been able to keep the veil intact? How am I supposed to survive when the Unseelie come after me?”
A growl rumbled through the large living area. Ryley’s eyes grew wide as he spun to stare at where the sound came from – Eirik. “Did you just…growl?” he asked for lack of a better word.
“No one will get near you,” Eirik bit out. “I won’t allow you to be hurt.”
Ryley was stunned. It was ridiculous for either of them to believe that to be true, yet, Ryley did. Deep inside he knew, so long as Eirik was there, no one, not even one of the Unseelie’s monsters, would touch him.
If only he could shut off the part of his brain that scoffed at that declaration. He’d seen those creatures. Not even Eirik would be able to keep them away. At his parents’ house, there had been a dozen of them. He didn’t care how strong and skilled Eirik was, no one could defeat that many.
“We both know you can’t make that promise.” When Eirik looked ready to argue, Ryley held up a hand to stop him. “You know it’s true. If Bjorn is right about the last part of the curse, the Unseelie will be even more determined to come after us.”
Eirik let out a long, frustrated breath. “If the curse is true, you and the others are meant to come together to perform the final ritual,” Eirik pointed out. “Which means, you will make it to the end.”
Logically, that sounded right. But rarely did logic ever fit in with the reality of life.
“You also shouldn’t forget; you can now defend yourself. You have been gifted with fire,” Eirik reminded him. “But you need to practice wielding it.”
Ryley shuddered at the thought. “I d-don’t…” he shook his head and turned back to the window, hoping the peace of the untouched beauty would help to keep the images of what he did to his sister from returning. “What if I hurt someone else?”
A strong hand landed on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. It was insane but Ryley wanted Eirik’s comfort, going so far as to lean into his body until that hand wrapped around his waist and pulled him close.
“I wish, more than anything, I didn’t have to say this, but they aren’t going to stop coming for you and the others.” Eirik breathed out as if steadying himself. “And they won’t just come for you. They’ll go after Meghan, too.”
Ryley’s chest ached at the thought of another of those things getting their hands on Meghan. Next time, she might not be so lucky as to only suffer a painful cut from one of their claws. Next time, she might not survive.
Ryley dropped his shoulders, knowing he’d lost. “Fine. What do I have to do?”
***
“First, I’m going to teach you some basic self-defense.” Eirik had taken Ryley to one of the training rooms in the basement. “I will try to keep this simple but if you don’t understand something, tell me.”
The condescending tone set Ryley’s teeth on edge. Just because he wasn’t some muscle-bound meathead didn’t mean Ryley couldn’t defend himself. He had nearly told Eirik he’d been taking martial arts since he was five but stopped when Eirik continued his patronizing attitude.
“With enough practice, it won’t matter that you’re not as strong as me and the others, kitten.” Eirik had the audacity to smile at him as if he were in some way being nice. The jerk didn’t even realize he was being an ass.
Determined to put him in his place, Ryley acted as if he were in total agreement. “I will do my best to keep up.”
Idiot even moved his fingers around before saying, “Turn around and I’ll show you some moves.” It was as if he thought the visual cues were necessary for Ryley to understand him.
It took everything within him to not smirk at Eirik and do as he said. He wrapped one arm around Ryley’s chest and one around his waist. For the tiniest of moments, Ryley gave into his body’s reaction to being held by this man and sank deeper into the embrace.
Warm breath blew across his ear as Eirik said, “Don’t worry about not doing this effectively. I imagine it will take you quite some time to master this level of skill. I’m just hoping to get you to the point where you might be able to run away from your attacker, kitten.”
Pissed that Eirik continued to demean him by calling him kitten, Ryley refocused on the task at hand instead of how good it felt to be in Eirik’s arms. With two quick moves, he flipped Eirik over his shoulder, landing him on his back, with stunned green eyes blinking up at the ceiling.
Ryley gave into that smirk as he looked down at Eirik. “I told you to stop calling me kitten.”
The look on Eirik’s face was worth having to bite his tongue through the “lesson.” The most priceless part was the red that suffused his cheeks as the embarrassment of having been taken down so easily registered in his small-minded brain.
Unable to hold back the laughter, Ryley had to grab his stomach as it started to ache while he tried to catch his breath. When Eirik glared at him, Ryley cracked up even more.
Then, in one fluid motion, Eirik arched his back and landed on his feet. He stood there with his legs spread apart, arms crossed, and eyes narrowed, looking every inch the Viking God Ryley had been mentally comparing him to. All ability to laugh, think, hell, even breathe, left him in a whoosh as his blood flooded south into his cock.
“Are you done having your fun, kitten?” The last word was dripping in sarcasm and a healthy dose of respect.
Unable to speak, for none of his blood had returned to his brain as of yet, Ryley merely nodded.
“Good,” Eirik said with a grin that promised retribution. “Now the real work can start.”
Great. Somehow, he just knew Eirik was going to do everything in his power to make Ryley regret what he’d just done.
CHAPTER 14
That had been the start of a week from hell. Ever since that moment, Eirik had pushed Ryley, as if trying to force him to cry, “uncle.” Admittedly, about every five minutes Ryley had been beyond tempted to beg for mercy, but he’d refused to give into the temptation and let Eirik win.
There wasn’t a muscle in his body that didn’t scream in pain, even his hair hurt. Lying in bed a week later, Ryley’s brain scrambled for a reason not to get up, but even the effort to think was too much for his abused body.
When Eirik said ‘train’ he wasn’t kidding. Every hour of every day was planned out by his sadistic need to punish
Ryley for besting him. Okay, so, maybe some of it had to do with ensuring Ryley could defend himself in hand to hand combat. Maybe.
Ryley still believed Eirik’s fragile ego had been bruised when Ryley flipped him. Smiling again at his comeuppance, Ryley decided it was still worth it. Even now, when all he wanted to do was sleep, yet he could hear Eirik’s footsteps outside his door, no doubt with his fist ready to bang on the door to tell Ryley he was late, Ryley didn’t regret putting the pompous jerk on his ass.
Before Eirik’s fist made contact with the door, Ryley decided it was time to stand up for himself. “I’m taking the day off,” he yelled.
Every single day Ryley had been expected to run and lift weights, before enduring four hours of martial arts that had left most of his body bruised. That was all before lunch, which he was only given an hour to eat and relax before heading back down for another three hours of weapons training.
The door opened without Eirik even asking for permission. “What’s wrong?” Eirik’s eyes darkened with desire when they landed on him still in bed with nothing covering his chest.
Ryley’s heart sped up. He swore, even from across the room he could feel the heat of the man’s gaze roam over his body. A whimper rose up from his throat, causing Eirik’s gaze to snap to Ryley’s mouth.
That had been the worst part about this week. Being near Eirik, even touching him as they battled, yet not being able to do what he really wanted, to run his tongue along every ridge and dip of his perfectly defined body in order to taste him.
Eirik took a step into the room, his eyes practically glowing as he kicked the door shut behind him. But he didn’t come any further. The unasked question hung heavily between them.
Was this the right thing to do?
Ryley’s cock gave an unmistakable twitch of approval. If he let his body decide, the answer would be a resounding, “YES!” But his body’s needs weren’t the only factor to consider.
