by Marsh, Anne
Var’s hands pressed her thighs apart.
She resisted, for just a moment. “Open up,” Vikar demanded. “Now, Pure.”
She gasped around him, but the hard swat Var planted on her ass had her sinking down further on his finger. Riding him. Taking him.
His stubborn, fierce Pure needed to be mastered. And Vikar was just the Viking to do it.
###
Just like that, Var’s touch sent her over the edge.
“Yes.” The word ripped from her as the unexpected orgasm rippled through her. Vikar pulled his cock free from her mouth, and she reached for him even as she arched in Var’s arms.
So much, so fast.
Would they mount her now? Would they push her down, spread her legs wider? That one wicked finger took her and pleasured her, and she knew these men would be larger. Rougher. Vikar’s cock didn’t fit in her mouth, so how was she supposed to take him all the way into her body?
Nerves. She wasn’t supposed to feel nerves. She was an ice maiden. Cold. Calm. Logical. Oh, gods, there was nothing cold about the way her Vikings made her feel.
But he kissed her and he touched—and Var did as well—and all those fears slipped away in the heat they roused in her. Var licked the soft curve of her breast, curling his tongue around her nipple and sucking the delicate flesh in a long, hot assault on her senses. Hands found her stomach and breasts, her thighs, explored on and in her, and she rode their fingers as they stroked her, pumped her. Not hurting her, but inexorable. Forcing her to ride out the pleasure with them.
“That’s once.” Rough promise filled Vikar’s voice. One orgasm wasn’t enough. She panted for air, their nest of covers too hot, her skin slick with sweat. Two tongues tasted and pleasured, and all she could do was hang on for the dark ride, her sex wet and needing.
Vikar moved down her belly, smoothing over the soft curve. His fingers parted her, holding her open for his kiss. She cried out, fingers clenching on his shoulders. She wanted to touch him, to give him this pleasure too, but holding on was all she could do now. And feel. Odin, how he made her feel. Pleasure whipped through her as he kissed her and kissed her, his fingers dancing knowingly over her soaked folds as his tongue explored.
Behind her, Var shifted, sliding lower. His hands cupped her ass, massaging her.
“More kisses,” Var rumbled from behind her. “That’s all, baby.”
His hands gently parted her cheeks, and she recognized instinctively what he intended. Her muscles clenched in anticipation, nerves. Wicked.
A rough cheek pressed against the curve of her ass, waiting for her to relax or to tense with anticipation, she didn’t know. Vikar’s mouth didn’t give her any respite. Her climax was coming, her body clenching in anticipation.
Var’s tongue dipped slowly into the crease between her buttocks. Soft and sure. Darkly sexy. His tongue dipped lower and found the second, hidden hole. Circled and dipped in. Carnal heat tore through her and she whimpered. Too much, so good.
“You ready for us now, baby?”
“Gods, yes.” The words tore from her throat in a harsh, needy whimper. “Take me now.”
Vikar rolled, bringing her gently down on top of him. His cock stretched her, pushing deep. The loss of her virginity was a tight pinch and then gone. Maybe, if she was lucky, he hadn’t even noticed. He certainly hadn’t stopped moving, and the almost feral sounds coming from his throat were hardly questions. He was as lost in this pleasure as she was.
He lifted her up, his cock pulling out of her, almost to her opening. Her fingers carved red crescents in the sun-bronzed skin of his shoulders as he pushed back in. Thick. Filling her. So, so good. She wasn’t a virgin anymore. She was free. Free to enjoy this, enjoy him.
Enjoy them both.
His hands guided her hips, working her pussy back down onto his cock. That felt good. Not good enough, though. She wanted him touching her clit too. She wanted to move, to take him like he was taking her. His face tensed beneath her as he lifted her, the powerful muscles in his arms flexing. Gods, he could do this all night.
Except she’d come. The pleasure was too intense to last that long. He’d made her come once for him already.
“Twice,” he rasped, and she recognized that erotic promise. Just as she recognized that breathless, impossible feeling building in her pussy, the sensation transforming her into someone boneless and mad and greedy. No. She wouldn’t be beat in this battle they fought.
“Once,” she growled right back at him. “For you.”
Lifting herself over him, she slid her body off his hard length, freeing herself from his possession until just the tip of him rested inside her creamy slit. Then she pushed down, taking him deep and hard. Riding him. His big body jerked, that part of him buried inside her surging upward as a husky groan tore from his throat. Her berserker liked that.
This lovemaking had the same rhythm as battle. Her body took his like a sword slamming into a sheath. He drove into her, and the tight fit sent more of those exquisite sensations boiling through her. Yes.
He cursed, wrapping his arms around her, taking her to her side. Holding her, positioning her for his pleasure. And hers. Each thick thrust of cock hit sensitized nerve endings, pressed against her clit. More. She could feel him fighting to drive himself in, pull out. Her body was tight, but he conquered her inch by heated inch. Mastered her.
Var moved behind her. That made her nervous all over again, but his big hands just traced a sensuous path down her back and over her ass, deliberately parting her cheeks. The pleasure was so good, the delicious heat of exposure and the answering pull in her pussy.
One finger stroked the small puckered hole, spreading some kind of lotion. The thick finger spearing her wasn’t coy. He pressed, her muscles yielding to his determined assault. Caressed wickedly. There was no time to worry or over-think the unfamiliar sensation. He popped through the tight ring.
Var’s voice was a harsh rumble in her ear. “You okay, baby?”
“She can take you.” Vikar’s thrusts pushed her back into Var’s arms, onto that invading finger. Opened. Taken.
Var’s finger matched Vikar’s rhythm, dark satisfaction pounding through her. This was wicked. This was what she’d wanted, what she’d needed.
Her Vikings weren’t done with her.
As she straddled Vikar’s hips, riding his cock, Var swung between Vikar’s legs. His cock was a heated weight against her back, sliding lower until he tucked the broad head against her small rear opening where he’d made her wet. So she could take him.
“Let me in.” The words were more hoarse plea than demand.
“Yes,” she whispered. She pushed back, he pushed in.
The sensation of two cocks pressing in and out was impossibly good. Dropping her head onto Vikar’s shoulder, she lost herself to the pleasure. There was nothing she could do but feel.
Two pairs of hands on her hips. Calloused. Skin roughened from sword work. The slow, lush glide of first one man and then the other. Holding her up. Holding on to her. Feelings and more feelings. No more ice. She couldn’t possibly get any hotter. Each deep stroke ruthlessly building the pleasure. Fucking her together. She wished she could see them both, see the two cocks moving in and out, driving her higher and higher until there was nowhere left to go.
She shattered, screaming, and they came with her, pumping themselves into her body. She convulsed around them, burying her face and her fingers in their arms, breathing in their scents and the words of praise as they tightened and lost themselves.
A hand rubbed her back as she began to tumble over the edge and into sleep. Another pulled her close against a hard, warm body.
She wasn’t sure who had plundered whom.
Chapter Four
Vikar’s eyes snapped open. He’d slept. That was unusual enough, but he was wrapped around Pure like white on rice. Skin to skin. After he’d had her last night, he’d cleaned her up and tucked her in next to him. Curled up beside him, she breathed in and out,
each soft exhalation feathering against the forearm he had braced underneath her head. He wanted to touch her, learn her, but, fuck him, he had a job to do here. He’d get her to that California port she’d named. That was the deal. Fuck her, deliver her, and move on—which left him stuck between two wrongs, without an out clause.
Her lashes fluttered and she stretched sleepily, not opening her eyes. He knew when awareness hit her hard and she remembered where she was and with whom. She paused, just a moment, then finished stretching, eyes shut, tucking herself up against him. He loved the warm, sleepy weight of her. Sliding her hair to the side, he pressed his nose against her skin and planted a small chain of kisses on her.
“Vikar.” Her voice was heavy with sleep. He liked that his name was the first word out of her mouth in the morning. “What are you doing?”
He stared at the vulnerable skin of her neck. He should have been asking himself that same question. That was pack behavior. Possessive and affectionate. Surrounding himself with her, covering himself with her scent until the two of them blended. Whatever she was and wherever she’d really come from, his Pure wasn’t a Viking.
She was his temporary lover and his means to an end.
And yet, unexpectedly, he had the urge to tell her precisely what she was asking. Tell her how the heat licked through him until all he wanted to do was hold her, kiss. Lick every inch of her until she was hollering for him and he was putting himself deep inside her.
Urge.
She’d urged him to make a bargain with her. She’d sworn she was no virgin, had coaxed and teased him into taking her with him. Why? What had she really wanted from him—and had she got it yet?
His eyes narrowed. Pure was keeping secrets.
###
She was no longer immortal.
Pure pried her eyes open, swimming up through a fog of exhaustion. She drew in a deep breath and wondered how long she could pretend nothing had changed. It was still dark, and the sleeping bag was a welcome thickness beneath her. What she wanted to do was sink into all that plush and let sleep reclaim her, but there was someone lying next to her. She didn't think Vikar was asleep, either. One big hand petted her shoulder, dipping into the hollow.
Truthfully, she felt almost the same. Losing her immortality had left her sore, yes, and there was a warm ache between her thighs. The muscles of her ass protested too, like she’d clenched one time too many. She’d come out of battle less weary, however, and this time she’d won. The Valkyries were all maidens, and now that she’d rid herself of that condition, Odin no longer had a hold on her services.
She was free.
Except, of course, for the large Viking wrapped around her. The one carting her sorry ass to the coast and her imaginary longship. The one Odin had sent her to test—and to kill when he failed. If he failed. She had a feeling he would see that as nothing less than a betrayal. Strangely, that bothered her.
Big hands found the nape of her neck and moved upward, massaging away the tension, the knots. Freya’s heart, he was good. She wanted to melt into his touch and run away at the same time.
She felt overwhelmed. It was all too much, too fast. Behind her, Vikar was a rock in an upside-down world. Clinging to him wasn't smart, but he was what she had and she’d make the most of it. Part of her still wanted to pull the covers over her head and hide, shut out the suddenly unfamiliar outside world and lose herself in the dark, but the rest of her wanted to make a stand. To fight for that adventure she’d wanted and a second chance. Vikar was one hell of a defense against the outside world. He’d destroyed his competition in the arena. Maybe Vikar would come around. Maybe he’d pick her over Odin.
“It's morning, baby,” he rumbled against her ear.
Foggy and cool, this morning was inescapable, even with the borrowed jacket’s heavy folds tucked around her. Her lower body twinged, reminding her that riding the bike would present its own challenges today.
“Where do we go from here?” She turned onto her side, wanting to see his face. The soft brush of the sleeping bag against her bare skin was strangely seductive. When she moved, the wash-worn fabric teased her, reminding her of just how bare she was—and that he was the same way. His heat wrapped around her, and as her eyes adjusted to the early morning pre-light, the dark shadow of his face filled out, the details becoming clearer.
Her life had changed so much since she’d cased the arena and staged her own rescue. She felt like she’d lived a lifetime since then, and maybe she had.
Her skin was exquisitely sensitive from his touch, and the delicious soreness between her legs reminded her of his possession. Their combined scents filled the air, soaked into her skin and his. God, the things she’d let him do. He’d seen parts of her she’d never seen. Somehow, though, that seemed okay. She didn’t want a redo on those memories, just wanted to hug them close for a while.
He rolled over on top of her, pinning her between his hard body and the ground. He was waiting for something, too. “You lied to me.”
She couldn’t tell if he was angry—or not.
“About?” she asked cautiously.
“Are there so many lies between us that you must specify which one?”
Definitely angry. She recognized that snarly growl now.
“Get off.” She pushed at his shoulders. Which was useless, because the damned barbarian outweighed her by more than a hundred pounds. Instead of moving, he gave her more of his weight.
“You were a virgin.”
“Yes.” So he had noticed.
“You told me you were not.” The accusation and frustration in his voice alerted her all too well to his mood. Her Viking was not in a rosy frame of mind this morning.
“It mattered not.” The lie slipped out of her mouth all too easily. “I offered to sleep with you. I did. Are you disappointed?”
If he was, she’d kill him now. Save Odin the bother.
His mouth discovered her ear, and the hot, wet stroke of his tongue had last night’s heat returning with a vengeance. Maybe that had been his intention. “No,” he bit out. “But had I known, I would have been more…” he paused, clearly looking for words, then shrugged, “…careful, baby.”
“But you would still have taken me.”
“Yes.” He nipped her ear and rolled off her. Shoving gracefully to his feet, he held out a hand. “I’m a pirate at heart. I take what’s there to be taken. I’ve never been bashful. The coast’s a day’s ride from here. I made you a promise, and you’ve held up your end of the bargain. I’ll keep mine.”
“Bargain?” Was that her voice, that sleepy, sexy rasp of sound?
His fingers waggled impatiently, and she caved, slapping her hand in his.
“Sex.” His hand curled around hers. “What we did tonight, right here. You promised to please me in exchange for a guide. You swore you’d be willing.”
Sex. His blunt words tore open her little cocoon of warm and happy. This had been more than just sex to her. She hadn’t been thinking in terms of happily ever afters, but she’d been thinking more than a one-night stand, too. Or gods-damned bargains. His next words shocked her to her core. Feeling was a bitch.
“But I wish it did,” he said roughly. “I wish what you let me do here did change things. I’d keep you with me if it was an option. Hopefully, whatever waits for you at the coast works out for you.”
Odin waited for her—and for Vikar—at the end of their journey.
“But there will be no more secrets between us, Pure. Do not keep from me what I need to know.”
“Or?” She closed her eyes. Why not? The hour was still dark, but with eyes closed it was easier to pretend that he and she were just ordinary, everyday lovers. That what had happened between them, on these furs, was simply the first step in a relationship and that there would be more. More moments, more nights. More feelings. He’d spell out the consequences. She’d know exactly what she’d lose, what price she’d pay when she handed him over.
“I’ll paddle your ass,” h
e promised. She was sure she shouldn’t feel that lick of excitement melting her pussy. His words should have outraged her—but they didn’t.
“I hired you,” she pointed out, eager to reestablish some control over the situation.
“Yes, but I’ve no liking for deception, Pure. Secrets are dangerous.” The rough edge was a clear warning. He was done discussing her misdeeds. His voice was gruff, like he wanted to sound all give-a-fuck but couldn’t quite mask his reaction. That was fine with her. She liked having some clue what this too-big, too-silent male felt. He was a mystery.
He turned away, striding back towards the camp and his men. “Come. We ride now.”
Chapter Five
Vikar got her to the California coast by sunset.
Her Viking had hauled her up behind him as soon as they’d broken camp that morning. No words, just a quick buss on her lips and then nothing. He’d been silent as the grave until the last hour. His crew had ridden alongside them, hard-eyed and watchful. Other than the occasional murmur of conversation and the clink of weapons, Vikar’s men rode on high alert.
There was no missing Cayucos when the beach town unfolded before them. The highway dropped down out of the surrounding cliffs, the road winding lazily towards the vast spread of the Pacific Ocean. Waves beat against the old wooden pier, white spume painting the lower half of the beach. A few humans swam energetically, bouncing over the surf in wetsuits and riding the water in to shore. Otherwise, the place was all but deserted, the cool, salty air having temporarily driven away the summer traffic.
The perfect spot for Odin’s ambush.
“Here we are,” he announced. She knew that. Anyone with eyes—or a nose—wouldn’t miss the ocean. Maybe, however, he was filling the silence between them. He’d spent the last hour of their ride pointing out various plants and sights—and talking about their fellow travelers. She now knew far too many crude—and amusing—tidbits about the Vikings riding with them. Truly, some things were better left unknown.
Get him to the pier. Those had been Odin’s words. That meant she needed to steer her berserker through Cayucos’s picturesque streets and down to the water. Without killing anyone along the way.
