Bound by the Viking

by Anne Marsh

  She gave me a small, sated smile. “And my front.”

  Yeah. I fucking loved her front. The L word floating through my brain was a bit of a shocker though. It would be really stupid to fall in love with a werewolf I’d only known forty-eight hours.

  She still want to leave though, so some shit had to be said. “Did I fuck up this relationship thing?”

  Bera’s gaze slid away from mine, bounced to the door, and then back to me. Was she really serious about leaving? Because I’d kind of thought we’d had something together, and not just sex either. I wasn’t discussing this from opposite ends of the ice cave, so I advanced on her. Not fast enough to be scary or that she couldn’t get away, but she needed to understand something.

  I didn’t want to let her go.

  When her back hit the wall, I rested my forehead against hers, arms braced on either side of her head. Adrenaline pounded through me. My bear wasn’t ready to go. He growled and paced beneath the surface, pushing at my skin, testing the boundaries had I forced on him.

  “The bear thing,” I said roughly and Bera kind of stilled. She didn’t smell afraid, but I needed to know. “Does that bother you?”

  Jesus. The sweet, hot scent of her teased me, because my Bera was turned on. Big time. Maybe it was just a chemical reaction, because it wasn’t like I’d never gotten a hard-on after battle. Get my blood up, set me loose on the battlefield, and after the killing’s done, I would have all this leftover energy that needed to go somewhere. It was possible Bera felt the same way when she was scared, and why wouldn’t a bear-shifter terrify her? It was the point of going berserk, after all.

  “I like your bear,” she said, and the world came to a standstill.

  She liked. My. Bear.

  Of course, she was a shifter herself. But still…

  “You’d better tell me again.” Call me a pussy, but I needed her to be sure, plus I liked hearing it.

  She smiled, and her grin lit up her entire face. Her hair was every which way again, half out of her ponytail. Little curls went nuts around her ears and her forehead, and I had no idea if she’d meant to do that or if it had just happened. But she looked so goddamned cute as she slid her hands up my bare arms.

  “I like your bear. “ She bit her lip, and I could practically hear her sucking in a deep breath. Her breasts brushed my chest because I had her pinned. Damn it. I eased back.

  Bera wasn’t done talking. “I like you.”

  Now it was my turn to hold my breath. It shouldn’t matter to me what she thought or felt. But it did. I wanted her happy. Better yet, I wanted her all over me, kissing and loving on me.

  Loving.

  I turned the word over in my head while I stared up at the wall behind her. It wasn’t like there was all that much to see there, but that was fine. I had plenty to think about. I loved Bera. I loved everything about my sweet, not-so-shy, sometimes pissy little wolf.

  I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It was probably time to beat a hasty retreat. In fact, there was probably a Hallmark card for this kind of moment, and I should go find it. I could explain to Bera how I felt about her with a stamp and some distance. That wasn’t…

  Bera slapped a hand on my chest with an audible thump. “You don’t talk much,” she announced.

  Which was convenient because Bera, once she got going, could outtalk the Valkyries. She had plenty to say, and listening to her was no hardship.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking,” she demanded. Since she accompanied her command with a wriggle, and her pussy was parked square on top of my dick, I wasn’t entirely sure what she’d planned. My brain stopped functioning on the spot, and I blurted out the truth.

  “I love you.”

  “Wow.” She pushed upright to get a better look at my face.

  “You asked.”

  “And you told me.” Now she sounded dazed.

  Screw this. I had no idea why people recommended making yourself vulnerable and putting your feelings out there. Because there was nothing remotely okay about telling your mate that you loved her and not hearing the same three words snapped right back at you. I picked her up, wrapped her legs around my waist, and turned so that my back was to the wall. I was a Viking. I fought. That meant I should play to my strengths, right?

  “Tell me why you don’t love me.”

  “We haven’t known each other for all that long,” she pointed out, the voice of reason.

  “Time’s gonna fix that.”

  “And everything’s happened so fast.” She sounded a little put out about that.

  “It’s the end of the world,” I suggested hopefully. “We don’t have time to waste. Carpe diem and all that crap.”

  “Is this the Viking way? Rush in, conquer, and sweep up all before you?”

  Even I, despite being a first-class idiot, could hear the laughter in her voice. She might actually see things my way. A new kind of heat exploded in my chest, the kind that had nothing to do with my dick—although my dick was definitely enjoying our current position—and everything to do with the woman in my arms. My woman.

  “It’s my way,” I said gruffly. “Seeing as how I love you and all.”

  She sighed. “Okay.”

  Okay was such a vague word. “You might wanna be a little more specific.” I tapped her ass gently to make my point. “For instance, is that okay, you can fuck my ass or are you agreeing to something else?”

  She leaned in and nipped my lip. “I love you, but my butt is off-limits at this particular moment.”

  Uh-huh. Still, her new position gave me all sorts of access to her pussy, so I unbuttoned her jeans and swept her panties out of the way to stroke her. Screw the world. Forget getting back to the pack. They could survive without us for a few more hours. Bera loved me, and that was a fucking miracle right there. We’d have to go back soon, and there was still Armageddon to avert but…

  “We’re gonna do this together, right?” I asked her.

  She smiled at me and pulled me in close. “I love you,” she said again, and I had my answer.

  THE END

  Wolf’s Desire

  The part in a hot new paranormal werewolf menage series by New York Times bestselling author Anne Marsh!

  A month ago, I risked everything. One hot night in the Louisiana bayou. Two werewolf Alphas in my bed and in my heart. It should have been the start of our happily ever after, but instead things are more complicated than ever.

  I've earned my way to the top of my profession and nothing matters more than standing on my own two feet. I've fought too hard to get where I am--or to forget where I came from. But then I met Luc Breaux, who claimed I was his fated mate. First he gave me his big, beautiful body and then he gave me his heart.

  Yet when we invited Cruz Jones into our bed, our threesome was more than a single night of deliciously kinky pleasure. I have feelings for both of my wolves and choosing between them is the last thing I want to do. But my shifters won't share and both want to take me… body and soul. I can't let my guard down and say yes to one but not the other, especially now that the Breed motorcycle club is gunning for me--and my wolves' protection comes at a high price…

  Wolf’s Desire – An Excerpt

  CRUZ

  My woman is sex on a stick and hell on wheels. Sure, the words are a bunch of clichés, but nothing I can imagine even begins to do her justice. Gianna Lynn is smart, tough, and one of the best lawyers in Baton Rouge—and that’s not my dick talking. This isn’t the first time I’ve watched her work a courtroom, although it is the first time since I seized my chance to fuck her when she and Luc Breaux invited me into their bed that one screwed up, wonderful, fucked-me-for-the-rest-of-my-life night in the Louisiana bayou a month ago. We talked marriage. We were all about the happily ever after—and I meant the forever kind of ending. The next morning, however, she texted me and said she’d rushed into a decision and wanted to slow things down.

  Slow things down apparently being code for I can’t believe I slept
with two werewolves at the same time and I therefore plan to avoid you for the next four weeks. It’s possible she’s been busy, but I don’t buy that. She ran from me, and that makes my wolf want to chase her. Hunt her, hold her, and convince her that I’m her keeper guy. Since my responsibilities as sheriff also have me in court today, this is my best chance to get started on that plan without veering into stalker territory.

  I lean against the wall, arms folded over my chest, and watch her move across the courtroom to the witness stand, her red heels eating up the floor. The white suit and jacket clinging to her figure has me mentally peeling off her clothes and taking down her zipper. The best I can do is not let my thoughts show on my face, because she’s earned her place in the courtroom and I’ll kick my own ass if I screw that up for her. She’s a woman and a lawyer, but too many of the guys crowding the courtroom can’t get past her having a pair of breasts. As if gorgeous tits somehow preclude her having the smarts to lawyer rings around them.

  The bailiff is all business, holding out a Bible for her to lay her hand on. I can’t help but notice that her ring finger is bare. The last time I held that hand she wore Luc’s ring, her easy acceptance of that band telling me all I needed to know about her feelings for Luc. My rival slid the pretty diamond onto her finger right after the three of us had sex together for the first and last time. I was already playing second string, second best, and I’d watched the moment, my heart splitting open. I hadn’t asked to have a heart or for it to feel so much, but even then giving up hadn’t been an option.

  So I’d said my piece. Told her I loved her too and wanted a future with her. With Luc, if that was what it took. Hell, even Luc agreed to give our threesome a shot, but I’m not convinced either of us really meant it, despite Gianna’s seeming acceptance of our strange new situation. Her text the next morning was a kick in the balls and the heart, and I’ve been waiting for my chance ever since. I want to take charge, to own her. Possess her.

  Bad wolf.

  “State your name for the record,” the bailiff says.

  “Gianna Lynn.” Gianna speaks calmly, a smile playing over her face. A bring it on look, as if she’s looking forward to each and every minute of the hearing. She may not pick a fight, but she never backs down from one, either. That’s something we have in common, and that sets us apart from Luc, who’s never met a fight he didn’t join—and then win. Luc loves winning.

  But he hasn’t won our fight for Gianna. Neither of us has. I don’t hear wedding bells ringing anytime soon. My brothers have teased me about my new penchant for ménage a trois, but they think I’m having kinky-ass sex and not a relationship. If they knew the truth, they’d have harsher words for me because the Louisiana wolf packs maintain an uneasy truce at the best of times, and two Alphas loving the same woman is a recipe for disaster. I don’t want to merge our packs and I don’t want Luc. The truth is that I only want one person and she’s Gianna. Accepting Luc was the only way to have her that night in the bayou, so accept I did. If I could cut Luc out of our happily ever after, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

  I’m also traditional enough that I’d like to change that last name of hers along with putting my own ring on her finger to make it obvious to the entire human world that she belongs with me. Gianna Jones sounds perfect. Pigs will fly though before Gianna takes my name, and not because she isn’t thinking about keeping me. She’s fought too long and too hard for her place at the prosecuting attorney’s table to give her coworkers an opportunity to little lady her. She’s more likely to tell me I need to take her name and become Cruz Lynn.

  Honestly, if I weren’t pack Alpha and charged with protecting the Jones wolves, I’d do it too. I belong to her and we both know it, so wearing her name for the whole world is fine by me. Hell, I’d do it happily. I grin, and she stiffens on the witness stand as if she senses my presence here. I’ve picked my spot carefully, and I know she can’t see me. When I hunt out in the bayou, I force my prey into an ambush, and the theory’s the same here, even though I have no intention of hurting her.

  I’m just going to catch her, once and for all.

  And I’m woolgathering, lost in my thoughts while the courtroom proceedings barrel happily on ahead without me.

  “I’m a prosecutor for the district attorney’s office for East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana,” she says into the microphone in answer to a question I didn’t hear.

  The preliminary hearing is the prosecution’s opportunity to prove to the judge that substantial reason exists to go to trial. It shouldn’t be difficult. Gianna was kidnapped by a Baton Rouge motorcycle gang and taken to their clubhouse. Luc and I busted her free, at which point my day job as sheriff came in handy. I’d arrested the wolf who had his hands all over my woman, and now said wolf is about to get his comeuppance in a human court of law. I can hardly wait.

  As the attorney walks her through basic stats, including her date of birth, I discover one thing after another that I don’t know about Gianna. I have a collection of those things, filing each new piece of information away. As sheriff, I could look her up in a half dozen different state databases, but that would be unethical and I’ve chosen to play by the rules up until now.

  Unfortunately, my competition doesn’t share a similar set of ethics. Luc, the Breaux Alpha, is not what anyone would call a nice guy. In addition to being a good-looking bastard, he’s a fierce, dirty fighter who protects his brothers and their women at any cost. He’s single-handedly held his pack of werewolves together for a good hundred years or more, and under other circumstances I’d raise a cold one to celebrate his finally finding a mate he can love.

  Problem is, he not only found my woman, but he found her first. His pack believes that a blue moon rises in the sky to lead them to their fated mates, and Luc claims that’s what happened between him and Gianna. So now he’s got some kind of mystical claim on her that sounds far more romantic and compelling than my I fell in love with you from afar and let’s get to know each other story. I know Gianna’s right for me, but Luc has Fate on his side if you believe him.

  Done with the basics, the lawyer deposing Gianna gets down to business. “For the record, where do you work?”

  Gianna picks off the softball question like a pro. “I work in the district attorney’s office and here in this court building.”

  “And on the morning in question, did you go to work?”

  “I stopped by to meet a witness.” Easy as fishing, she teases the line out, giving it some play to see if she gets a bite.

  “How did you get to work?”

  “My car had been in the shop, so Luc Breaux gave me a ride to my office. He dropped me off at the back of the building.”

  “Why not the front?”

  She shoots the examining attorney a charmingly rueful smile. “Between the No Parking signs, the FedEx guys dropping off deliveries, and all the other people popping in and out of the building, that front entrance was Grand Central Station. Pulling into the parking lot behind the building was quicker.”

  Luc and I must have gone over her entrance strategy a hundred times. She’d slip into the back of the building, swing by her office and discover her “witness” had cancelled, and then parade on out front with a big target painted on her. We knew the Breed would be watching and had bet that the other wolves would seize their opportunity. Luc’s pack members, Dre and Landry, had been tailing Gianna, and I’d watched too. No way I would let her face the danger alone, not when I could be close at hand, ready to defend her. Neither I nor Luc was happy about the plan, because using Gianna as bait wasn’t right. Unfortunately, it was the only workable option we’d had at the time.

  “How long were you inside the building?”

  “Approximately ten minutes.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “I left. I went out front to meet a friend who was dropping off my car from the shop.”

  “I’m going to ask you to tell the judge about what happened that evening, after you stepped outside
. Do you remember that evening?”

  “Yes.” She gives her testimony, all cool and collected, and not being a nice guy, I keep my eyes on her face but remember the details of our last—and only—night together.

  She’d asked, “Are you in?” and hell yeah, I was. I’d picked her up in my arms and carried her straight to bed. Never mind that Luc Breaux already had a place in that bed and I’d never had a desire to get naked around the other Alpha. For a chance to love on Gianna, I’d do whatever it took. And he’d agreed. “No pack business in the bedroom,” he’d said, and then we’d both started touching Gianna.

  The lawyer nods, clearly ticking off his mental checklist. “Did you meet your friend and pick up your car that night, or did something else significant occur?”

  “I moved toward the edge of the sidewalk, looking for my car. My friend had dropped it off, and it was parked on the street. I walked up to it, but before I could open the door and get in, two bikers drove up.”

  “How close were they?”

  “There was less than a foot of space between their bikes and me. I could feel the heat of their exhaust pipes on my legs.”

  “Did you attempt to move away?”

  “Yes.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “The defendant struck me on the side of my head.”

  “And what’s the next thing that you remember?”

  Gianna hasn’t talked to me much about what happened that night. I don’t know if she just isn’t much of a talker or if it’s me specifically she doesn’t want to share with. She was hurt when that asshole struck her, even if she’d agreed it was part of the plan, and I hadn’t been okay with that. I didn’t ever want her hurt. She still had the bruises, faded yellow and purple, when Luc and I went after her and asked her to be ours. We’d been so busy asking her about her feelings for us that we hadn’t asked her if was still scared of the Breed or worried that this thing with them wasn’t over yet.