Who? Then he realized as she continued.
“Stop watching us from up there,” she whispered. “Come down and say goodbye. Tell your mom you love her. Please. She needs to hear it from you.”
She was dreaming of the moments before her, Megan and Svala vanished beneath the Yggdrasill. Before she brought his mother to the future to seek treatment. Bjorn breathed deeply and closed his eyes.
Samantha had known he was there.
And he knew full well neither Heidrek or Cybil told her.
“Sleep now, Samantha,” he whispered against her ear, stilling his hand when he realized he had been stroking her hair. “Rest.”
Moments later, she cuddled closer, and her labored breathing evened out. Bjorn clenched his jaw against the unintended intimacy. Here he was holding Samantha when it was the last thing he should be doing…that he wanted to do.
If he could embrace his dragon, he would more readily be able to set her aside. He would shift and fly and push past these human feelings. He would be stronger. Better.
“Safer.”
He pulled back sharply when Samantha’s single word drifted through his mind.
Yet she slept.
Completely at peace, she was sound asleep. Perhaps his imagination was getting the best of him. Maybe he truly had spent too much time alone lately. Maybe too much time alone for years. Convinced she was well enough, he started to pull away only to have her press closer. This time, she didn’t curl against him but flung one leg over his leg, one arm over his shoulder, hiccupped then nuzzled her nose beneath his chin. Bjorn frowned as she released a dainty snore then completely relaxed.
How was he supposed to move away now?
She might be slender but her long limbs were dead weight, and that wasn’t as easy to move as some might think. Or so he convinced himself as he settled back and figured the least he could do was keep her comfortable. After all, he owned her.
Owned her.
Samantha would hate that word. She would despise that he even thought it.
But he did. He thought it. To actually believe it, however…
Bjorn threaded his fingers into her thick curls, reveling at the silky texture. At its vibrant crimson color glistening in the torchlight. Like his cousins, he had wanted her since the moment he met her. Unlike his cousins, he knew better. Even if she didn’t have the ominous tattoo of the Gungnir, a woman like this was to be avoided.
Pure trouble.
He lifted a strand of her hair to his nostrils and inhaled deeply. A tremor rippled through him at the scent. It was indescribable. Like sweet dragon fire. A tempting burn that had him wrapping the strands more securely around his hand and nuzzling his face into her hair.
For the first time since he met Samantha, he had the strongest urge to kiss her. To feel her plush lips beneath his. To see if she tasted half as fiery and defiant as she acted. Would she push him away or welcome him? Would she spread her thighs and let him in?
“Bjorn,” she moaned, sound asleep. Or so it seemed.
Hand still twisted in her hair, he gently tilted her head back until he could look at her face. The moment he did, he knew it was a bad move. When she was awake and problematic, it was easier to ignore her beauty. To remember she was yet another woman he should avoid. But now as he stared at her face while she slept, he realized he had fallen into a trap of his own making.
Samantha’s skin was snowy white and her face so well-proportioned it must make the gods envious. Her jawline was elegant and her nose a delicate blade. Her high cheekbones sat beneath wide-set eyes, and her brows were finely arched. His gaze followed the dusting of pale freckles that swept over her upper cheeks and nose. He might not particularly like her, but he liked them. Those little spots that made her different than other women. Cybil had them but not like this. Not as if the gods had dusted her with them.
Curious, he brought his lips close to hers…hovered…imagined.
Would she taste as good as her hair smelled?
The better question was would he still be a good master if it did? Would he be able to keep things in perspective? Because falling beneath her allure was not an option. He had to stay unaffected. Strong for his kin. He might have left Heidrek undefended, his king and closest friend, but his cousin had to know in his heart he did it for the greater good. And if he didn’t remember to control this woman well, it might all be for naught.
“Mm-hmm, that’s right,” Samantha whispered, her eyelids fluttering as she continued dreaming. “Just,” she licked her lips as though eager to taste something.
When she said nothing more and her eyelids stopped fluttering, he frowned. Just what?
Irritated that she hadn’t finished her sentence, he almost shook her awake. Instead, he ended up focused on the dew of moisture left on her lips. How eager he was to remove it. Taste it. Consume it.
So he did.
With a gentle flick of his tongue.
Nothing more.
He closed his eyes as the taste of her rolled over his tongue and slid down his throat. He might not be able to shift, but he was a dragon. And his kind felt and experienced things more intensely. What blazed through his blood now made him instantly desperate.
To be inside of her.
Part of her.
Bjorn had never felt more alive. Never freer.
Never more aroused.
He wanted more.
Much more.
“Wake up, Samantha,” he said sharply as he rolled her onto her back. “I wish to mate with you.”
“No you don’t,” she murmured, her eyes still closed.
“Yes, I do.” Hel, yes he did. More than ever before.
“You say that,” she whispered, spreading her legs. “But you don’t mean it.”
What? Why would she say that?
“I mean it,” he grunted, tugging at his pant strings.
“Yeah, I know.” Her voice seemed off as she made herself more available to him. “Just do what you need to.”
Bjorn slowed, more and more confused.
“I’m sorry. C’mon baby. I didn’t mean to say that out loud,” she murmured, her eyes still closed. “Just pretend I’m her like you always do.”
Bjorn froze.
He might be aching to feel her, have her, but this, whatever it was…no. It wasn’t right. Nor, for that matter, was taking her when she was under a spell. Angry, he pulled away. This time, she didn’t try to pull him back but nodded, her expression changed. First sad then resolved before she curled into a little ball again. Confused and disgusted with himself, he made sure the pillow was under her head, tucked the fur around her and headed for the ocean.
He found solace in its deep, dark, frigid depths. The escape it gave him.
Bjorn might not be able to embrace his dragon, but at least this was something. A place that took him away from whatever spell Samantha seemed to cast him under. It made no sense. She was supposed to be under his spell. And maybe she was. Should be. But he remained wary. Because if nothing else remained true, Samantha wasn’t just human but a dragon-shifter.
And part of a lineage that should have been long extinct.
He wondered about her family. Their secrets. Ones even they had yet to discover. He couldn’t imagine being her age and never having shifted. Never having been able to embrace the beast within. Sitting on a rock a ways out, he enjoyed the solitude of the sea. He preferred nighttime. The peace it offered. He knew he shouldn’t be out this far considering they didn’t know if the enemy was defeated, but he needed this.
To clear his head.
To figure out Samantha.
What part did she play in all this? Why was she marked with the Gungnir, to begin with? Did it all tie in with their enemy’s dragon lineage reappearing? If so, how? He needed to understand so he could formulate a plan. Then a backup plan. Then something if his first two plans didn’t work. First and foremost, her part in all this. Which meant understanding who she was and what she was capable of.
He had a fairly good idea of the first. She was a repressed dragon from the twenty-first century who, when her relationship didn’t work out with her former mate, decided to sway others to fail at love as well. It was clear her man had been unfaithful, but that should not have driven her to split others apart.
As to the second thing he needed to figure out? What was her inner dragon capable of? She had some sort of control over Kjar’s Yggdrasill. The ash tree that connected them through time. Not only that but she seemed to have some sort of telepathic connection with…something. How else could she have known she would be able to bring his mother back to the twenty-first century?
Bjorn halted mid-thought when he sensed something. A slight shift in the air. Almost indiscernible. Not even fellow dragons would notice. But he did. Always in tune with nature on a different level, he felt it before it felt him.
His eyes narrowed on his lair.
It was heading that way.
Samantha.
He ignored the fear that shot through him, remained calm and slid into the ocean. Though unable to embrace his dragon, he was an excellent swimmer and closed the distance quickly. He grabbed a blade that he’d tucked into a rock crevice, slipped beneath the water and watched, unsure what he was looking at.
A blur. Almost like a ghost.
Then he realized.
But not before Samantha bolted upright and screamed at the top of her lungs.
Chapter Six
BJORN WANTED TO kiss her. More than any man ever had. Sam felt it straight down to the deepest part of her soul. Though she knew it was a dream, she also knew it was the truth. Some dreams were like this. Some were not. So she knew the difference. She knew what was real and what wasn’t.
Most of the time.
She felt the fan of his breath across her cheek. The heat of his lips so close. Eager.
Then he was gone.
Angry.
Though not as close as before, she sensed he would never go far. She may no longer feel his heat, but he wouldn’t abandon her. He would keep her safe. Even in her dreams full of truths and lies and heartache, he would keep her safe.
“Samantha,” whispered through her mind. Through her dreams.
“Mom?” Heart in her throat, she tried to chase the dream, the voice, but it faded away. Vanished.
“Samantha,” came another whisper.
One that made her shake her head and cringe.
“Wake up, Samantha.”
“No, not you again,” she moaned. “Go away.”
“Awaken, woman!”
Ensnared by the seer’s screeching demand and the devilish face thrust at her, Samantha bolted upright and screamed. Catapulted from her dream state, she blinked several times and took in her surroundings. Torches flared, and waves crashed. She was still in Bjorn’s cave.
But that’s not what caught her attention.
No, that would be the sultry woman walking out of the water.
Vigdis.
“Why were you in my dreams?” Sam ground out. “How are you here?”
“A question I would like an answer to as well,” Bjorn growled, appearing out of the ocean behind her.
Sam might be upset with Vigdis, but one blink later, she couldn’t remember why. Not when Bjorn stepped into the torchlight, dagger at the ready as he eyed the seer.
“Oh, Dear God,” she whispered, her eyes trailing down his body.
His very naked body.
She knew he was in good shape from the waist up but holy hell. Sam wasn’t sure what to focus on first. His long, muscled legs, taut ass or the gloriousness hanging between his…
“What are you doing here, seer?” he bit out, jolting Sam from her reverie.
Vigdis eyed him up and down with a smirk. “So you left the clothes off for her, did you, Dragon?” Her slippery yet gleeful eyes slid to Samantha. “And, ohhh, does she like it.” Her eyes grew wider. “Keep looking at him like that, Sam, and see how it grows.”
“I’m not looking at anything,” Sam denied and tore her eyes away. She crawled out of bed, thankful she was wearing a long shirt. “Now answer my question. How are you here?” Sam stood and clenched the headboard when she felt unsteady. “I thought Heidrek controlled you with the stones and bones.”
“As did I,” Bjorn said, his voice low and dangerous as he kept the dagger in hand and edged closer to her.
According to Cybil, whoever held the stones and bones controlled Vigdis. Nobody knew why. Some speculated they were the ashes of a lover she still pined for. Others said she killed that lover and his ashes haunted and controlled her to this day.
Either way, Vigdis was one seriously screwed up chick.
She might be beautiful with her white-blond streaked black hair and large, liquid eyes but she put a whole new spin on spooky. Utterly creepy. As far as Sam could tell, she was either into women, which was fine, or she was a flat out cannibal. Because if Vigdis was consistent about one thing, it was her over-admiration of the female gender combined with an eerie way of looking like she wanted to roast you over a fire.
Vigdis kept looking Samantha up and down with appreciation as she responded to Bjorn. “I retrieved my stones. Your king is no longer in need of them.”
Interesting how she made no mention of bones, just stones.
“What do you mean my king is no longer in need of them?” When Bjorn closed the distance and brought a blade to Vigdis’ neck, the seer only seemed mildly nonplussed.
“Like a thief in the nigh, I stole them beneath bright moonligh,” Vidgis crooned, her eyelids fluttering as she gripped Bjorn’s thigh and chuckled. “So strong but not strong enough, Dragon. Never strong enough, are you?”
When Bjorn grabbed the seer’s neck, drove her front against the rock wall and held a blade to her neck again, Sam knew she had to move.
“Stop, Bjorn,” she cried and headed in their direction.
She might not like the seer, but she knew Vigdis didn’t deserve death. Not right now. And certainly not at the hands of Bjorn. Because if nothing else was true, he was eager for another kill and whatever she felt in her dreams told her he didn’t need more blood on his hands. There was no way to know what that meant. Only that it was true.
“Tell me why you’re here, or I’ll send you straight to Loki’s Hel,” Bjorn growled against Vigdis’ ear. “I am tempted to do so even without your half-truths.”
“That’s enough, Bjorn.” Sam came alongside and tried to meet his eyes. “Kill her later if you need to. Right now we need answers, and this isn’t the way to do it.”
A daring gleam lit Vigdis’ eyes as they landed on Sam. The seer’s dainty Adam’s apple bobbed against Bjorn’s blade as she spoke. “Kill me later then?” Her smile widened, and she rolled her tongue to emphasize syllables as she said, “I knew I liked you, Samantha. No bark just bite and,” she chomped her teeth, snarled and thrust her backside against Bjorn, “wickedness.”
Not fazed in the least by Vigdis’ antics, he spun her, came eye to eye with the seer and repositioned the blade against her throat. “What has happened to my king?” He dug the blade until a trickle of blood rolled down her neck. “Tell me, or I will slice your throat open and pull out your—”
“I said enough, Bjorn,” Sam ground out. “This isn’t the way to get answers out of her.”
She thought about what Cybil had told her in regards to Vigdis. Not trusting the seer, her sister had been very thorough. Anything that might help. At the top of the list? She could run jealous. And lustful. So though it was nothing she was proud of, Sam tested those theories, praying she could hold it together. If she could rile the seer up sexually or even make her jealous, maybe Bjorn would back off. Hopefully, she could accomplish both because God knew, he didn’t like to be near sexually charged emotional women. The question was, would Vigdis get jealous of Bjorn or Samantha, or maybe even both?
“You’re not listening to me, Bjorn,” Sam murmured and came behind him, her lips close to his ear. Ignore his hot ass, she pr
eached to herself. Ignore how amazing he looks. “I need you to step back so we can get the answers we need.”
“Step away, Samantha,” Bjorn growled, his blade unmoving.
“No,” she whispered and sacrificed for the greater good as she trailed a finger over his amazingly tight butt, then lightly dragged the back of her forefinger up his spine. “I’d really rather you do.”
As far as she could tell, just about every muscle in his body tensed as she continued her slow assault. She needed Vigdis to lose her cool one way or another and for Bjorn to back down. Now. So she hoped this worked.
Vigdis made a sultry pop with her mouth before her rounded eyes slid to Sam and a smile curled her lips. “Ooh, just look at what you’re doing to him, Dragon.” A twinkle danced in her eyes before they fell to his crotch. “Just look.”
Sam registered two things.
Bjorn’s downright daunting erection.
And that he was still standing face to face with Vigdis.
Here she was trying to make the seer jealous or aroused but underestimated one thing. That she might get jealous of the seer. More so, by how close the woman was to touching Bjorn.
She gripped the seer’s throat and drove her sideways away from Bjorn’s blade. In fact, she didn’t know she’d lifted his blade until Vigdis’ knees hit the edge of the bed and Sam had the dagger against her throat.
What the hell?
She barely recognized herself.
“Yes, yes, yesss,” Vigdis purred. “It is about time you showed some fight, woman.”
Fight? Sam wasn’t sure what to make of that. Heck, she didn’t even know what had come over her. Better yet, where did those skills come from? Nonetheless, she needed to work toward diffusing this situation.
“Don’t fuel her fire anymore, Bjorn.” Sam kept her eyes locked with the seer’s. “Put some clothes on.”
She conveniently left out that it was her own fire being fueled.
“Yesss—” Vigdis started, but Sam cut her off.
“Shut it, creepy chick. I’ve had enough of your games.” Sam threw aside the blade, stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Tell us why you’re here or get lost. Because you’re done inciting us,” she said before she tossed over her shoulder, “right, Bjorn?”
Vengeance of a Viking (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors' Kin Book 2) Page 8
