Viking King (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors, Book 1)

by Sky Purington

  Megan pulled the oars in and held onto the rudder the second she saw veins of blue and gold light starting to form in the sail. Wide-eyed, she watched as the same runic symbols that Kjar had carved into Naðr’s ship started to crawl through the entire sail. Then her tattoo started to burn. The Vegvisir, meant to help her navigate back to Naðr.

  “It’s really happening. Come here, baby,” she whispered and gestured to Guardian. “We’re going for a ride.”

  Her dog crawled over the bench and nestled between Megan’s thighs. Certain that there was no point in holding the rudder anymore, she wrapped her arms around Guardian and started praying as the boat lurched forward. Feet braced, she held on tight as the wind increased and the waves swelled. A low rumble of thunder echoed across the sky and lightning zipped then jumped from cloud to cloud.

  Then whoosh…the wind whipped them forward faster and faster. So fast that she thought for a moment the sail wouldn’t hold.

  But it did.

  Cresting ten foot waves head on, it soon became what most would consider a terrifying rollercoaster ride. Not Megan. Perhaps because she knew this storm wasn’t natural but more than likely because she loved being at sea. Rough, unforgiving, she was completely at its mercy. The only downside was that if she went over so did Guardian.

  Still, she couldn’t help but grin and shake her head. “I told you not to come, sweet girl.”

  Even so, though her dog stayed close, she wasn’t whining. In fact, she didn’t seem all that frightened. But that might be because Megan wasn’t. No, she was too busy being impressed with how well her and Sean’s boat was doing. She bit her lip and wished he could have been here. He would have loved this.

  The runic symbols in the sail glowed brighter as the skies darkened and the seas grew rougher. Chuckling, Megan didn’t look back once as the boat plowed on, cresting waves that might soon grow too tall. Some might think she’d lost it, who knows, maybe she had, but this was living.

  Then something happened.

  Shifted.

  Megan couldn’t explain it save the temperature changed by a few degrees and the wind howled and whipped differently than it had moments before. Sea spray thrashed at her face and she closed her eyes. Leaning forward, she grasped Guardian tightly as the boat climbed a wave larger than all the rest.

  Up, up…up.

  Salt stung her eyes so badly she couldn’t open them.

  However, she could laugh insanely when the boat crested the wave and they started flying down. What else was she supposed to do? She must have lost her mind when she set out like this.

  Then another mild gush of seawater sprayed over her as a loud grinding noise met her ears and the boat dragged alongside something. Laughter died on her lips.

  Then everything went still.

  Too still.

  Even the water beneath the boat.

  Were they dead? Had they drowned and didn’t know it?

  But everything felt so real. The chill. The wetness. Everything. Still holding onto Guardian, she spit water from her mouth and rubbed it out of her eyes. Blinking rapidly, struggling to see, she peered around. Everything was blurry.

  Until it wasn’t.

  But even then she had barely a moment to process anything before someone jumped into the boat.

  And she was pulled into his arms.

  Naðr Véurr.

  “You came back to me,” he murmured. “Thank the gods you came back.”

  Megan didn’t have a chance to respond before his lips closed over hers. Desperate, she wrapped her arms around him, petrified she’d wake up just like she had the numerous times she’d dreamt about him these last few weeks.

  But no.

  She didn’t wake up. And she knew she wouldn’t.

  He was real.

  This was real.

  At last, she broke the kiss, needed to look into his eyes. And they were right there. As gorgeous as ever as he stroked her cheeks, obviously making sure she was real as well.

  “I’ve missed the hel out of you, beautiful,” he said hoarsely, emotion ravaging his handsome face. “Not a moment went by that I didn’t think of you, always praying to the gods for your safe return.” He shook his head. “I even came damn close to breaking the pact with the seers and allowing my dragon to find you so that I might convince you to return.”

  “No need. I couldn’t stay away,” she whispered. “I missed you so much.”

  “Good to have you back, Sea Siren,” came a voice from above.

  Megan stared at Naðr for a good long moment before her eyes rose to Kol leaning over the edge of their longship.

  “Yes, it is,” Kjar said with a crooked grin, eyes scanning her boat with appreciation. “Very nice vessel.”

  “It took you long enough,” Raknar said with a smile as he shimmied down the ladder and wiggled a finger at Guardian. “Come on girl, my son’s been looking forward to seeing you again.”

  “He’s alive.” Megan melted against Naðr. “Thank any god listening.”

  “Because of you and your dog,” Raknar said, eyes grateful as he scooped Guardian and brought her up.

  “A mighty Viking tigress queen rushing down the docks and shooting arrows to down the enemy some said,” Kol enlightened.

  “With the wind turning her hair to living spirals and her arrows to pure fire others said,” Kjar added.

  “How long have I been gone?” she whispered.

  “Two fortnights.” Naðr said. “Far too long.”

  Megan didn’t have a chance to respond before Naðr ushered her toward the ladder. “Up. Then we’ll talk.”

  More than content to be ordered around by him, for now, she complied. She’d only reached the top when Raknar of all people pulled her over the side and brought her down into a tight embrace.

  “Thank you so much for saving my boy,” he murmured. “I am forever indebted to you.”

  He’d no sooner pulled back when Kol swept her into a hug.

  She laughed. “What’s this for?”

  He squeezed her tight then pulled back, dimples erupting as he grinned and winked. “They both got to hug you. Only seemed right.”

  Megan kept chuckling. “Of course it did.”

  “I’m going to have a few of my men bring your boat into port if that suits you.”

  When her eyes met Naðr’s, everything else fell away except him. Tall, gorgeous, black fur cloak blowing back from his shoulders, she nodded, speechless. Though she knew she was here it all still seemed so surreal.

  Him especially.

  “You’re soaked,” he muttered and removed her jacket before wrapping his cloak over her shoulders. But not before she felt a tiny zip of warmth run over her and the rest of her clothes dried in an instant. Dragon magic then? Had to be.

  Caught, ensnared, lost, she stared at Naðr’s face and whispered, “I’m really here. I’m back.” She blinked. “But how are you…alive? I watched you sink.” Her eyes swung over their ship. “I watched this go down.”

  “Kjar.” He smiled at his cousin. “Is more than you think he is and formed a bond with Adlin MacLomain when he helped us fight Rennir’s brother years ago.”

  Lots of questions came to mind, but she was curious about Kjar first and foremost. “What are you then?”

  When Naðr nodded at him, Kjar explained, “My mortal grandmother coupled with Heimdall.”

  Before he could continue, she sputtered an interruption, “You mean the god Heimdall? The watchman of the Norse gods? The very one who guarded Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge that connects the Nine Realms to Middle Earth?”

  Kjar stroked one of his long goatee braids and shrugged a shoulder as if it was no big thing. “I suppose that’d be him.”

  Megan swallowed, eying Kjar. “So you’re a…demi-god?”

  “Guess so,” Kjar said.

  “One generation removed but yes,” Naðr provided. “And the reason you’re here now.”

  “Right,” Kjar said as though an afterthought but she didn’t mi
ss the unmistakable twinkle in his eyes as he looked at her. “You really do know how to build a boat.”

  Raknar shook his head, clearly understanding that she needed more answers. “It seems when Adlin MacLomain was here he and Kjar became good friends. Adlin has a certain fondness for love so when the deal was struck with the seers and the gods became involved, he took it upon himself to steer things in a more beneficial direction.”

  “He loved my daughter, Meyla,” Naðr reminded.

  “More so, he loved her father and what he was willing to do to help the MacLomain clan.” Kol grinned. “Enough so it seems to enlist the help of Kjar to make sure we three brothers didn’t just fulfill an agreement made to the seers but that we might find true love because of it.”

  Megan’s eyes found Kjar’s. “What did you do?”

  Kjar, not for the first time, struck her as far older than he looked when his steady eyes met hers. “I made sure you loved my king.”

  “Then?” she prompted.

  The Viking eyed her for a long moment before he said, “Then I made sure to carve the symbols into this boat so that it might call you back to him.”

  “But,” she started before Kjar cut her off.

  “When the symbols were carved into this ship they were imprinted onto the sail in the cylinder. I am a shipwright and grandson to Heimdall. I’ve the ability to harness the power between realms and between time. I’ve the power to merge both.”

  Megan shook her head. “But what about this boat shipwrecked on the bottom of the Atlantic? What about the box of stones I found?”

  “The box of stones was waiting on the ship when we pulled away from the dock to go fight Rennir,” Naðr said. “No doubt left by the seers.” He cupped her cheek, pained. “You don’t know what I felt when I opened it. Even your stone was in there. In two places at once. So I engraved the inner lid with my name in case we went down.”

  “And you did,” she whispered.

  “No.” He shook his head. “But the seas did grow rough and the box was lost overboard.”

  “But I watched the sail raise then tear when I was trying to save Heidrek. I watched this ship go down.”

  “The ship you watched sink was also the one you found on the ocean floor in your time. But it was always a mirror image of this vessel or a ghost ship. When you went under as you tried to save Raknar’s son, the King’s ghost ship followed,” Kjar explained. “But you were crossing the Rainbow Bridge between times. As if sailing through two separate realities, one ship sunk and one stayed afloat. But the love that tied you together through time allowed the ghost ship to carry you back here to begin with. A time loop…until now.”

  The massive Viking smiled as he eyed the glorious ship. “Now she is truly both of yours. A ship that sailed rough seas from both above and below but found calm waters. A ship caught in time that followed its true path.”

  Seriously? “If the ghost ship followed me to the twenty-first century, why wasn’t it on the ocean floor when I returned?”

  Kjar looked as though she should have this all figured out. “Because it landed where you would find it when you went diving to begin with. It was always a means to bring lost love together across the centuries.”

  “So I traveled a bit further into the future than it did.” Baffled, she cocked her head. “But it would have never traveled into the future to begin with if all of this hadn’t happened. That seems impossible.”

  “The Rainbow Bridge and its time loops always do,” Kjar agreed with a little smirk. “Gods and demi-gods alike do like to play their games.”

  So it seemed.

  “And the cylinder…how was that beneath the ocean?” Megan said, voice thick with emotion.

  A sly grin crawled onto Kjar’s face. “Maybe the gods or maybe Adlin MacLomain.” His eyes seemed well over a thousand years old when they met hers. “After all, did he not make sure you got a certain manuscript?”

  Megan’s mouth fell open a fraction when the Viking turned away and became busy manning the ship. She’d not told a soul that the manuscript about The MacLomain Series: Next Generation had been sitting untouched on the counter of Cadence’s bookstore. And she’d felt horrible for taking it…especially when she went to go visit Leslie afterward.

  But then something had always held her tongue.

  “Meddlesome, devious wizard,” Naðr muttered. But there was a grin on his face and a definite fondness in his voice when he pulled her close.

  “He certainly sounds it,” she said, so entirely happy. “But I’ll admit I wouldn’t mind meeting him one day.”

  “Nothing says you won’t,” Naðr murmured as he ran kisses up her jaw until he hovered over her ear. “Until then, would you like to sail on our ship?”

  “I would,” she said. “But first…what happened to Rennir. Did you win?”

  “King Rennir is dead and we have won for now,” he assured. “But Yrsa is not yet defeated. Because she is a seer she will supersede his son and rule as queen and we will all fight her together.” Naðr tilted up her chin and gazed into her eyes. “Until then, let us have this moment.”

  That sounded damn good.

  Naðr didn’t have to say a word. The sail was already being raised as he took her hand and led her until he leaned against the center of the stern and brought her back against his front. “One of these days I’ll let you climb the dragon head on the prow so you can ride her. But for now.” He wrapped a strong arm around her waist and braced his legs on either side of hers. “This is the best place to be on the ship when she sets sail.”

  Not entirely sure she believed him, it didn’t much matter when he brushed aside her hair and trailed kisses up the side of her neck until he whispered in her ear, “This is for a woman who was laughing when she arrived, who came back to me, one who’d clearly just sailed stormy seas. Are you ready?”

  Megan was about to respond when the sail was released and the ship lurched forward. She yelped in surprise as it took off. Winds whipped them forward, the mighty sail billowing and proud as the dragon prow led the way.

  Exhilarated, winded, she leaned her head back against his chest and laughed. This ship, their ship, was so much more unimaginably incredible than she ever envisioned it might be, even when she’d found it beneath the waters of the Atlantic.

  Sun sliced down and the dragon prow glittered as she cut through the water. Majestic mountains loomed, waves danced, but nothing could slow the speed, the sheer power of their ship.

  The sheer power of them.

  Even the wind couldn’t drown out his low growl as he turned her lips to his. “I love you, beautiful.”

  “And I you my Viking king,” she murmured then kissed him.

  Some might say they’d crossed a great distance to be together, but she knew better.

  All they did was sail straight into their future.

  The End

  Curious what happens next with the Sigdir brothers? Find out in Raknar’s story, Viking Claim. Also available for pre-order, Kol’s story, Viking Heart.

  Interested in what initially brought Valan to ninth century Scandinavia? What was in the manuscript that Megan finally got her hands on? Then head over to medieval Scotland in The MacLomain Series: Next Generation.

  The MacLomain Series

  Viking Ancestors

  Viking King (Naðr Véurr’s story)

  Viking Claim (Raknar’s story)

  Viking Heart (Kol’s story)

  Previous Releases

  ~The MacLomain Series- Early Years~

  Highland Defiance- Book One

  Highland Persuasion- Book Two

  Highland Mystic- Book Three

  The MacLomain Series- Early Years Boxed Set is also available.

  ~The MacLomain Series~

  The King’s Druidess- Prelude

  Fate’s Monolith- Book One

  Destiny’s Denial- Book Two

  Sylvan Mist- Book Three

  The MacLomain Series Boxed Set is also available.
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br />   ~The MacLomain Series- Next Generation~

  Mark of the Highlander- Book One

  Vow of the Highlander- Book Two

  Wrath of the Highlander- Book Three

  Faith of the Highlander- Book Four

  Plight of the Highlander- Book Five

  ~The MacLomain Series- Viking Ancestors~

  Viking King- Book One

  Viking Claim- Book Two

  Viking Heart- Book Three

  ~The MacLomain Series- Later Years~

  Coming September of 2015

  Quest of a Scottish Warrior- Book One

  Honor of a Scottish Warrior- Book Two

  Oath of a Scottish Warrior- Book Three

  Passion of a Scottish Warrior- Book Four

  ~Calum’s Curse Series~

  The Victorian Lure- Book One

  The Georgian Embrace- Book Two

  The Tudor Revival- Book Three

  Calum’s Curse Series Boxed Set is also available.

  ~Forsaken Brethren Series~

  Darkest Memory- Book One

  Heart of Vesuvius- Book Two

  ~Song of the Muses Series~

  Highland Muse

  About the Author

  Sky Purington is the best-selling author of fifteen novels and several novellas. A New Englander born and bred, Sky was raised hearing stories of folklore, myth and legend. When combined with a love for nature, romance and time-travel, elements from the stories of her youth found release in her books.

  Purington loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at Sky@SkyPurington.com. Interested in keeping up with Sky's latest news and releases? Visit Sky's website, http://www.skypurington.com to download her free App on iTunes and Android or sign up for her quarterly newsletter. Love social networking? Find Sky on Facebook and Twitter.