by Connie Mason
“Wulf, did you hear me?”
“Aye, I heard,” Wulf muttered. “I hope you do not expect me to bow down to you, mistress,” he emphasized sarcastically.
Reyna stared at him. “Wearing the yoke of slavery is not an easy burden for a proud man to bear, is it, Wulf the Ruthless? I suspect slavery is as humiliating for you as it was for me. I do not expect you to bow, but I do expect you to obey my orders.”
“I will restore your stillroom and do it willingly if you grant me a boon.”
Reyna eyed him with suspicion. “You just arrived and already you are begging for favors?”
“How long was it before you began taking liberties, helping yourself to food, asking to keep your silver girdle?”
He had a point. “What do you want?”
“I want your permission to sleep here instead of on a bench in the hall.”
“Why?”
“I built my own hall because I like my privacy. Sleeping in the stillroom would afford me the privacy I seek.”
“You are a thrall.”
His temper flared. “I do not consider myself a thrall.”
“So it was for me. How do I know you will not try to escape?”
He ground his teeth in frustration. “Where would I go? Besides, I gave my word, and the word of a Norseman is his bond.”
Reyna considered Wulf’s request. Though it was outrageous, it made sense in a curious way. First of all, it would keep the female thralls away from him, especially Haley, who seemed quite taken with Wulf. And it would keep Wulf away from them. Anything could happen between Wulf and the women in the middle of the night, when everyone was sleeping. While Wulf’s sexual activity shouldn’t bother her, it did. She knew him to be highly sexed.
“Very well, I will inform my family of my decision and you can sleep here once you complete the improvements I require. Meanwhile, keep your hands off of Haley. She is not here for your pleasure.”
Wulf’s grin sent Reyna’s temper soaring. “What are you grinning about?” she demanded.
“You are jealous.”
“Jealous? Me? You are mad, Wulf. I am merely warning you away from Haley for your own good. If you get her with child, it will complicate her life. Father will sell her to someone willing to take on her and her babe.”
When she tried to walk past him to the door, Wulf plucked the rushlight from her hand and tossed it into the hearth. It landed on dry wood in the grate and flared into flames.
Reyna rounded on him. “Why did you do that?”
He hauled her into his arms, his voice rough. “Listen well, Reyna. Since I am being held for ransom, I consider myself a guest, not a thrall. I will lend a hand on the farmstead because I am not a man to sit around while others toil. But never again refer to me as a thrall.”
His mouth came down on hers…hard, giving her no time to protest. Her feminine scent wafted up to him, and his head filled with it. It drove him wild with wanting. He felt her tense and then slowly soften, her body melting against his. He brought his hands down, shaping them to her, as he renewed his acquaintance with every prefect curve: the slender shoulders, the lush fullness of her breasts, the sweet indentation of her waist and the roundness of her hips.
Wulf wanted her.
Reyna couldn’t help herself. Even as her hands rose to push Wulf away, she pulled him closer. The heat of his body singed her, melting her resistance. She felt him drag his hands over her breasts, belly and hips, and then around to cup her bottom, dragging her closer.
She knew she could end this any time she wanted, but kissing Wulf was far too pleasant to stop now. She wanted more, and opened her mouth to his probing tongue, savoring his taste. It occurred to Reyna that since she was no longer Wulf’s thrall, she could do as she wished without her pride suffering. Taking Wulf as a lover for as long as he remained with her family was a thrilling concept.
Since Reyna was no shy virgin, she had nothing to lose and much to gain by letting Wulf make love to her, and that seemed to be where he was headed. When he pushed his knee between her thighs, Reyna rode him eagerly, letting the pleasurable sensation wash over her. Reason and logic fled as his mouth ravished hers and his hands molded her breasts and rolled her swollen nipples between his fingers.
Panting, Reyna forced herself to break off the kiss. “Wait, we both are in need of a bath. Everyone is abed; we will have the steam hut to ourselves.” She grasped his hand. “Follow me.”
“I did not know you had a steam hut.”
She led him out the door into the cool air. “Aye, ’tis over there,” she said, pointing to a small hut across the yard.
She gave a squeal of surprise when Wulf scooped her into his arms and strode toward it. He set her down at the door and they entered together. The room was warm and steamy, the hot rocks in the middle of the fire pit still glowing. Wulf added more wood to the pit, then turned toward Reyna.
“Shall I undress you?”
Reyna swallowed hard and nodded. She wasn’t a slave, she kept telling herself. She had the power to deny Wulf. Aye, the power but not the will. Come spring he would be gone, ransomed back to his family, and she would have naught but these memories to sustain her. It was unlikely she would ever have a husband. Though Ragnar would have accepted her as she was, it would not have been a happy union.
Reaching out, Wulf removed her cloak and released the fastenings at her shoulders. Her tunic dropped to her waist. She removed her belt, tossed it aside, pushed her tunic down and stepped out of it. Then he released her undertunic. It slid down her body into a puddle at her feet. Wulf stood back and stared at her, his eyes kindling with desire.
Wanting Wulf as naked as she was, Reyna pushed his vest over his shoulders. He shrugged out of it as she undid the strings of his tunic. He pulled it off in one smooth motion, revealing a massive chest rippling with muscles. Reyna nearly lost the ability to speak. Wulf was magnificent, everything a warrior should be and more. She gasped aloud when he removed his boots and shrugged out of his hide breeches. He was fully aroused, his staff rigid, the tip purplish blue and weeping.
Instead of reaching for her, Wulf turned toward the water barrel, removed a bucketful of water and threw it onto the hot rocks. Steam rose up in thick clouds; humid air swirled around them. Wulf grasped Reyna’s hand and led her to a bench. He sat down, pulling her onto his lap.
“What has changed?” Wulf murmured into her ear. “Why are you not denying me? When you lived in my hall, you avoided me like poison.”
“I am no longer your thrall,” Reyna replied. “You cannot order me to your bed. What I do now is not forced upon me. I can do what I wish without surrendering my pride.”
Wulf frowned. “Do not think you are forcing this upon me. I am not your thrall, so making love to you will not offend my pride.” He lowered her to the wide bench and followed her down. “Even if it did, I would still make love to you.”
Lowering his head, he licked the sweat that pooled between her breasts, then laved her nipples with the roughness of his tongue. Their bodies were slick and hot and beaded with sweat. Wulf sipped the moisture from her navel. When the combined warmth from the steaming rocks and their heated bodies became unbearable, Wulf rose, fetched a bucket of water from the barrel and poured it over Reyna. Then he cooled his own body with a second bucket of tepid water.
When he returned to the bench, Reyna sat up and ran her fingers through the wet strands of his blond hair. Then she pulled his mouth down to hers.
His mind thickened and darkened. Need to be inside Reyna shot through him like a bolt of lightning. His loins swelled and his cock filled with lust. Hunger rode him but he fought for control. He wanted so much more than a quick tumble. He wanted to taste her, to bring her to climax with his mouth and hands before thrusting his cock inside her. He wanted to hear her cry out his name while he watched her break apart. What was wrong with him? He had never felt this way before, not even with Astrid.
Wulf groaned against her mouth, their lips clinging as
he shifted until he was lying between her spread thighs. Grasping her ankles, he raised her legs until her feet were flat on the bench on either side of him, her knees wide apart. He broke off the kiss and looked into her eyes. She returned his gaze, her green eyes heavy-lidded and unfocused.
His eyes shifted downward, to the pale fleece between her legs and her pouting nether lips, rosy and inviting. His hands slid from her ankles upward, skimming over the sensitive flesh of her calves and inner thighs to her weeping center. He caressed her, opened her, and pushed two fingers into her. When she arched against the pressure of his fingers, he began moving them in and out.
Her sheath was incredibly tight and wet, gripping his fingers hungrily. He nearly lost it then, and had to force himself to concentrate on Reyna’s pleasure rather than his own.
He lowered his head and whispered into her ear, “Come for me.”
“I want you inside me,” Reyna panted.
He ignored her, his fingers pushing harder, faster, in and then out, her juices spilling over his hand. He felt the pulse of her wildly beating heart. His heart beat with hers, harder, faster. And then she was there, her body tensing, her muscles tightening against his fingers. He took her cries into his mouth, his fingers moving inside her until her climax eased.
“Why did you not come inside me?” Reyna gasped once she caught her breath. She glanced down at his thick cock. “You did not…”
“In good time,” Wulf choked out. He had almost lost it. How long could he endure? He was determined to find out. “We have the whole night ahead of us.”
Reyna shook her head. “I must return to the hall before someone notices my absence.”
“Your family has retired for the night.”
Her eyes still fixed on his erection, she said, “My brothers oftentimes roam during the night.”
It was as if he hadn’t heard her. “I need to taste you.”
Leaning in, he softly sucked on her earlobe. Her hands trailed up his chest to wind around his neck. His hands found her breasts, molding them, covering them completely with his palms. Then he lowered his head to suckle her nipples, making her cry out with renewed desire as she grasped his head and arched her back for more. When both her nipples were hard and throbbing, he moved down her body, to her spread thighs. With his mouth just inches from her exposed sex, he breathed against her. He felt her shiver. Emboldened, he pressed his open lips to her, his tongue delving into her feminine folds, finding them slick and tasting like honey.
He spread her with his thumbs, his tongue finding the sensitive button above the opening of her sex and suckling it gently into his mouth.
She cried out, her fingers clutching hard at his hair. “Wulf, you are driving me insane!”
“I want you to come with my tongue inside you. Do not hold anything back,” he mumbled against her swollen flesh.
He kissed and laved, licking and devouring her while his hands clutched and molded her breasts. When his tongue thrust deep inside her wet sheath, she gave a sharp cry, undulating her hips, abandoning herself to his greedy mouth and the emotional impact of her climax.
Wulf was beyond arousal, beyond any other sexual experience in his entire life, and he was no novice when it came to women. He was also hard as stone, thick and aching…and at the end of his endurance.
Spreading Reyna’s legs wide with his hips, he pushed his cock hard and deep inside her. He groaned. Her quivering sheath felt hot, wet and welcoming. Holding nothing back, he began thrusting and withdrawing. He was far too aroused to be gentle, but Reyna did not appear to want gentleness. When she began responding, meeting him thrust for thrust, he became even more aroused, if that were possible.
“Hurry, Reyna, I am almost there,” Wulf groaned into her ear.
He needn’t have worried. Reyna was with him all the way. He felt his climax begin down in his toes and travel up to his groin. Then he erupted; shouting her name, he emptied himself inside her, thrusting again and again until he had no more to give. Reyna was still quivering in the aftermath of her own climax when he collapsed on top of her.
They lay without moving a long time, sweat plastering their bodies together. Though the fire had burned down to embers and the steam had long since dissipated, their wild coming together had produced a fiercer heat.
At last Wulf shifted his weight off of her and rose. He walked to the water barrel, dipped a bucket inside and splashed water over his head and body. Then he refilled the bucket, carried it to Reyna and dumped it on top of her. Reyna yelped and sat up, sputtering.
“You could have warned me.”
“We both needed cooling off.”
Wulf set the bucket down and pulled on his clothing. Then he found Reyna’s discarded garments, including her cloak, shoes and stockings, and tossed them to her. “Don’t bother putting them on, I intend to carry you back to the guest hut and take you again there.”
“I will freeze,” Reyna protested as Wulf scooped her off the bench and into his arms. Her protests went unheeded as he carried her out the door.
Hugging her clothing against her chest, Reyna felt cold air hit her and sucked in a startled breath. But she needn’t have worried, for Wulf sprinted across the yard and had her inside the hut before she could form a protest. He set her on her feet, tossed some wolf pelts on the floor and left her there while he built a fire in the hearth with the last of the wood.
Then he stalked back to Reyna and lowered her onto the furs.
She started to rise. “What are you doing?” she asked. “I should leave.” She peered up at him beneath golden lashes. “I cannot stay here with you, Wulf. You are a thrall and it would not be fitting.”
Wulf’s body tensed and his expression darkened. He looked so fierce, Reyna sidled away from him.
“What must I do to convince you I am a guest and not a thrall?” Wulf growled. “Once my danegeld arrives, I will be free to return to my home.”
“You will have to convince my brothers of that,” Reyna huffed. “You would be dead had I not intervened. I asked them to give you to me as my thrall instead of killing you. They know you took me to Constantinople and sold me. I told them about my time in the harem. They believe you used me as your bed slave after Hagar brought me to your farmstead, and I fear they will not forgive you for that. They will never treat you as a guest. My mother would rather see you dead than ransomed.”
“I did not use you, Reyna. Our enjoyment was mutual. You know in your heart you were never my thrall, no matter how many times I insisted otherwise. You saved my life and that of my brother. Even Olga came to appreciate your skills.”
Reyna bit her lip. Everything Wulf said was true. Except for the first few days after she’d arrived at Hagar’s farmstead, she had been treated like one of the family. Still, her brothers were protective of her and angry at Wulf. If not for the danegeld he would bring to their coffers, he would be dead.
“I will try to convince them to treat you as a guest, but it will not be easy. It may cost your brother more danegeld.”
“Hagar will pay what ever is demanded of him for my safe return.” He pushed her down and rolled on top of her. “I want to love you again, and I know you want me too.”
She pushed at his chest. “Arrogant Norseman. Get up. This cannot happen again. What if my brothers catch us?”
Reyna had to admit that making love with Wulf this time was different from how it had been when she was his thrall. Before, she had felt degraded, embarrassed, powerless. But now that Wulf was the powerless one, she felt redeemed and emboldened.
Making love with Wulf to night had been her choice. She had wanted it. She could have screamed and her brothers would have come running to her rescue, but she didn’t want to be rescued. She wanted Wulf to love her without the yoke of slavery hanging over her, and it had been an unbelievable experience. But she now realized she could not let it happen again. Birthing a Norseman’s babe after he was ransomed back to his family would bring new shame to her.
Wulf reache
d for her. Reyna pushed him away and leapt to her feet. Plucking her undertunic from the floor, she tugged it on, keeping a wary eye on him.
“You cannot sleep here to night without my family’s permission.”
“I care not about your brothers. I am sleeping here to-night,” Wulf persisted.
“Our thralls sleep on benches in the hall.”
“Has naught I’ve said gotten through to you? I am not a thrall. Go find your bed, if that is what you want. I will hash this out with your family on the morrow.”
Well aware of Wulf’s stubbornness, Reyna saw no way to change his mind without using force. And since she had no weapon and would not have used it against him even if she had one, she shrugged on the rest of her clothing, threw her cloak over her shoulders and returned to the hall.
As luck would have it, both her brothers were pacing the hall, waiting for her return.
“Where have you been?” Borg growled.
“And where is the Norseman?” Dag added, pointing to his empty bench.
Reyna raised her chin defiantly. “I gave Wulf permission to sleep in the stillroom.”
“Are you mad?” Borg demanded. “The Norseman is a thrall, not a guest, and should be treated accordingly.”
“Are we not demanding danegeld for his ransom?” Reyna asked.
“You know we are.”
“It occurred to me that since he is a jarl’s brother and we intend to ransom him back to his family, we should treat him as a guest. Therefore, I gave him permission to sleep in the stillroom.”
“I knew letting the Norseman live was a mistake,” Dag complained to his brother. “Now he is demanding guest privileges.”
“Wulf has agreed to do his share of work until his ransom arrives,” Reyna explained. “He has also promised not to attempt an escape.”
“And you believe him?”
“Aye, I do. Where would he go? He cannot sail a ship without sailors. Who here would help him?”
