by Mariah Stone
It was colder here, too, and she cuddled into Dota’s cloak, thankful for it.
But everything she saw around her—the fjord, the mountains, the forest—all that paled in comparison to Hakon. She had trusted him to lead her without knowing where they were going. She hated that his own people were blinded by superstitions and prejudice. How could they not see how good he was, how kind? There was not an ounce of curse in him. If anything, he was a blessing.
But he had promised to tell her what happened to his mother.
“You were right,” Mia said. “I love it.”
Hakon turned and looked directly at her. She had never seen his face so soft, so peaceful. The wolfish look was gone. He was now a giant, gorgeous man who was free. Mia stilled, as if afraid to scare off a wild animal.
He was smiling.
The world shifted, and the balance was as fragile as a soap bubble, and she didn’t want to burst it. It was not a wide smile, nothing like an all-American boy. It was a half-smile, but it made his face look magical.
Human.
Magnificent.
“When my mother was gone, this is where I came to hide. I could still see them from here. But this is also where I was free from them.”
Mia’s eyes blurred. “A place to hide. A luxury I never had.” Not back home in San Diego and not in Boston with Dan.
Hakon gestured around him. “You can have it now.”
Mia smiled, and a tear crawled down her cheek.
She could have it now.
With Hakon.
“Thank you,” she said.
Hakon removed the sheepskins from his back.
“I spent much time here, thinking, away from them. From their glances full of fear and blame.” He laid the sheepskins on the ground. “I shall start a fire. It is going to get cold soon.”
When the fire was crackling, chasing away the descending night, Mia and Hakon sat on the sheepskins and watched the dancing flames. Mia itched to ask him about his mother, but she stopped herself. She knew all too well about secrets.
“That night, she woke me up,” he said, looking at the flames. “I still remember the cold of the winter mead hall and how I did not want to go anywhere. She gave me an ax. A grown-up’s ax. I had never held a true battle ax before.” He chuckled. “It was too heavy for me, but I did not let her see that.”
Hakon split a twig and threw it into the fire.
“My father stood between us and the doors. He looked at me as if my head had turned into that of a snake. It was the first time that he held my gaze for longer than the time it took to finish a horn of mead. I wished then that he would go back to avoiding me.”
Hakon’s jaw muscles jumped.
“He told me later, on his death bed, that when I was born, he saw that the gods had marked me. The usual thing would be to get rid of me, as if I was a sick child. But my mother did not allow it, and he loved her too much to insist. They were both hoping to have more children, ones who would not be cursed. I remember much talk about it. Whispers. But nothing happened. Maybe he blamed me and my curse for it.”
Hakon took another twig in his hands, snapped it, tossed it, and wrapped his arms around his knees. Mia felt the urge to reach out and comfort him. She knew all too well about strict, emotionally distant fathers. Where Hakon’s mother had protected him, Mia’s mother had just complied. What would her life be like if her mother had stood up to Mia’s dad?
“And I only found out later, but that night, my father got an idea to send me on a trial. Alone in the woods, with just one ax. If I survived, I was not cursed. If I did not come back, the curse would have died with me. Either way, he wanted to get rid of the curse…” He choked on the last word. “Of me.”
Mia wanted to cover his hand with hers but stopped. He did not want her pity. He wanted her to listen.
“But I did not know it that night,” he continued, his voice emotionless. “It was so sudden. She woke me up and told me we needed to leave, just the two of us. All that was so strange, but I followed her. The look on my father’s face when he stood at the gates. The sorrow, the fear, the goodbye…”
Hakon grimaced. “He did not stop us.”
He glanced at Mia then, and there was raw pain in his eyes.
“So we went. The two of us and the horse. When we were in the middle of the woods, she said, ‘We are going to my family, Hakon, and you will have to stay with them for a while. Until I can come get you. It is not safe at home for you anymore.’”
Mia’s skin chilled.
“But we got lost,” Hakon continued. “And in the middle of the woods, the wolves came.”
Mia shook her head. “The wolves?”
“A pack. A dozen of them. The horse panicked. My mother told me to climb a tree and that she would follow. We would wait until we got help. So I started climbing. It was only when I was near the top that I realized she did not follow me.”
Mia clutched her apron dress to her belly. “No…did they attack her?”
He bowed his head, and Mia closed her eyes, afraid of what he’d say next. “She knew if she stayed, we would both be dead. She gave me a chance to survive. She led the pack away from me.”
A tear crawled down Mia’s face. She could see Dota and Hakon, a boy, but already a little man. Dota had done everything to save her son. Mia understood her very well. Cursed or not cursed, he was her child, and she was ready to cross a forest full of wolves to save him. To give her life for him…
Mia felt the same way about her baby.
“What happened then?” she said.
He looked up and reached to cup her jaw and gently swipe the tear away. Then he turned to the fire.
“I came down looking for her and saw the tracks in the snow. I realized what she had done and wanted to follow her. The pack was gone. But one wolf had stayed.”
Mia’s throat tightened.
“He was giant. Compared to a boy of twelve winters old, of course. I was under that pine, and he charged at me, full speed, flying through the snow. And something told me to roll to my side. It sounded like the wind. Maybe it was my mother. Maybe it was one of the gods who wanted to continue to torture me in this life. But I rolled. And the wolf landed in a small snowdrift under the tree. In the snowdrift was an old, dry stick as sharp as a spear. It pierced his neck. Then I finished him with the ax.”
Mia’s heart thumped as she saw the image in her head. Hakon, a twelve-year-old Viking with a bloody ax, a giant wolf at his feet, its blood darkening the snow around him.
“I followed the tracks then. They went far. Or maybe it just felt that way. I could not run fast enough. I thought my blood would turn to ice from fear for her.”
He paused. His face went ashen, his eyes empty. Mia’s hands covered her mouth.
“And then I found them. The horse and her. What was left of them. A part of me died then, when I saw her like that.”
A chill ran over Mia’s skin and her eyes burned from tears that now fell like raindrops. Her throat ached. “What did you do?”
“I carried her home. She deserved a ship burial. I could not leave her like that.”
He threw another twig in the flames. In a few moments, it exploded, sending sparks into the darkening air.
“I arrived at the village around noon the next day. You should have seen their faces when I entered the mead hall with her frozen body in my arms. I had stopped feeling them long before from strain, from cold, but I would have rather died than let her go. Your father shot to his feet and touched Mjölnir, like everyone did.”
Mia frowned. “King Nyr was there?”
“He was there. He was visiting. You know many of those who saw me at that moment. They would never forget that day. I swear to Odin, their first thought was that it was me who killed her.”
Mia’s heart bled. She understood now why the people were so afraid of Hakon. How could they be so superstitious?
“But they do not seriously believe a young boy would tear his mother apart like a wolf
?” Mia said.
“When the shock passed, they did not think that anymore. But they became convinced it was my curse that caused her to die while I lived. They still believe that. They are afraid that is what I will do to them.”
He glanced at her, anguish in his eyes.
“After the burial, I went to the woods and found that wolf. To never forget that I bring death to people who love me, I made this cloak out of his hide.” He hooked the edge of the gray cloak he wore.
His eyes became amber in the orange light of the fire against the darkness. “That was the day I lost the person who I loved most in the whole of Midgard. Until I met you.”
Mia could hear her own heart thumping, as if she was listening through a stethoscope.
“I never thought there was any future for me other than sorrow and destruction. But then you came. And you showed me that there’s still hope for me. Maybe it’s my mother who looked out for me from Fólkvangr, Freyja’s field of the dead. I never wanted to fall in love with my wife.”
Guilt pressed inside Mia’s chest. She was lying to him, and he was in love with her. And he did not know about the baby, about the fact that she was from another time, or that after the epidemic was over and her patients no longer needed her she would be gone from his life forever.
The thought opened a sucking black hole in her chest. She had become so used to seeing him every waking second. She looked forward to working by his side in the hospital every morning, sleeping next to him at night. It was as if his very presence added to her joy, made her life worth living.
Imagining a life where he did not exist was like stabbing herself in the gut. Tears welled in her eyes, and pain hit her in the heart like a bullet.
Hakon must have seen the change in her face, because his eyes became worried. “I am not hurrying you to lie with me. You come to me when you are ready.”
And now she was looking into the face of this man: his superhero birthmark, his short beard, his eyes the color of green amber, his blond hair framing his gorgeous face in soft curls.
The dearest face in all worlds… Love began thawing the ice in her heart and healing the parts of it that were torn. Just over two weeks had passed since Mia had met him. And she was feeling this?
Was she absolutely insane? She was a pregnant time traveler pretending to be someone else…
And yet, contrary to all logic and all rational thought, Mia was happier here with Hakon than she had ever been in her life.
What if she could stay here? What if she could really be his wife? She would need to tell him the truth, of course. But if he accepted her, how would she feel if she stayed? Waking up next to him every morning, feeling his hot, hard body covering hers.
And then the answer came—she would be truly happy.
Because she was falling in love with Hakon.
She refused to let herself think about all of the reasons she shouldn’t stay. They could wait till tomorrow. For tonight, she would tell him the truth—the whole truth—and pray that he accepted her and understood.
But first…
She shifted towards him, her pulse racing, until she was kneeling next to him.
And very slowly, not nearly fast enough, her lips found his.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Hakon’s lips were tender but firm. His beard tickled Mia’s skin, adding to her excitement. His hands wrapped around her and he drew her to him, his body as hot as a stove.
Her blood pulsated with need. She arched into him, pressing herself against him. His body was rock-hard, his muscles unforgiving.
He parted her lips with his tongue, and she welcomed him, licking and sucking. He nipped at her lower lip gently, then cupped the back of her head and held it in place as his tongue dipped deeper into her mouth.
Mia’s nipples hardened, her body began glowing with lust. He was tender but firm, slow but assertive.
His other hand slid down her spine to her ass, leaving a trail of liquid fire. He turned more fully towards her and pulled her hips until she straddled him.
Then he broke the kiss.
Mia was out of breath, delirious, trying to understand what was going on. His eyes darkened. He watched her with such longing that her breath caught in her throat.
“I want you, Arinborg,” he growled. “I have since the moment I saw you. I swore I wouldn’t touch you until you wanted me to.” His voice, like a distant rumble, caressed her. “Do you want me to?”
Mia bit her lip, her body full of need. She’d sworn she wouldn’t be vulnerable to another man. And she hadn’t told him the truth about herself. In fact, it would be wisest to completely avoid any attraction.
Too late for that.
Her heart thumped, Yes! Yes! There was nothing that her body wanted more than to dissolve into him. And consequences be damned.
“Yes,” she said, echoing her heart.
He growled, an animal sound. “Ah thank Freyja. I would need to go to the fjord to cool down should you have said no.”
Mia chuckled, and before she could say something, his lips covered hers, his arms pinning her against him like a vise. Her hands slid up his hard chest and wrapped around his neck.
She longed for him—his warmth, his strength, his masculinity. She wrapped her legs around his waist, dragging herself close to him. His erection pressed against her crotch, and she moaned.
“I want you to moan like that when I’m inside you,” he whispered against her mouth.
It was the sexiest thing she’d ever heard. Her skin covered with sweat, heat traveled through her bones.
One of his hands went to her breast and cupped it through her clothes. She gasped and arched into his touch. He circled her nipple with his thumb, and it hardened even more, sending jolts of pleasure through her.
“Gods, give me the strength not to tear off your clothes and throw myself at you,” Hakon groaned, cupping both breasts. She ran her fingers through his hair, desire flowing through her veins like liquid stardust.
He slid one big hand under her dress, then, and up her thigh. The hot, dry skin of his palm caressed and scratched her slightly. His hand traveled up her belly, and she froze for a moment, wondering if he’d notice the hardness of it, but he didn’t.
Mia could tell he was controlling himself, doing his best to move slow, and his excitement thrilled her.
His hand slid higher still, until he reached her breast. Then the second hand followed, and he cupped them both, tugging and scraping her nipples until she could barely draw her breath.
“I want you naked,” he said.
“I want you naked, too.”
One corner of his lip curled up. “As you wish, Princess.” He withdrew his hands and began undressing. Mia forgot everything watching him.
He removed the cloak, and with one swift motion drew his tunic up. Mia’s breath caught as his naked body emerged, arms as thick as electric poles, pecs she could hike up, a six-pack that would make a bodybuilding champion weep. She just stared at him.
“Do you really exist?” she heard herself say.
She closed her mouth as his dark eyes watched her with predatory lust.
Then she threw herself on him, kissing him, and he fell onto his back. The skin of his chest felt smooth against the palm of her hand, the smattering of hair on his chest, crisp. She inhaled his musk, the scent of a man.
He rolled her over and pinned her to the ground. She wanted to feel him. She needed her skin to be sliding against his.
He undid the brooches, slid the apron dress down to her hips, then released the fastenings of the shift at the back of her neck. He made a low sound as he slid the shift down her shoulders—rough, impatient—but it only added to her excitement.
When she lay naked under him, he rose on one arm and looked her up and down without saying anything. Mia was sure no one had ever looked at her like that.
“You are a treasure sent to me by the gods. I have never seen a woman as beautiful as you. Are you truly mine?”
Tear
s burned in her eyes at his words.
“I am yours,” she whispered.
He kissed her tears away, smiling, licking them off her face. Then dragged his lips down her neck towards her breasts, and she whimpered in anticipation.
He sucked one nipple, circled it with his tongue, and Mia gasped. He tugged at it gently with his teeth, scraping them across her taut flesh. Then he moved to the other breast and began going back and forth between them, nibbling and sucking.
“So pink. So delicious,” he whispered, and her nipples began to ache.
He slid his hand down the curve of her waist.
“So thin. So beautiful.”
And then down between her legs. He slid a thumb into her wetness, stroked it in circles and up and down. Mia rocked her hips, moaning as intense pleasure jolted through her in all directions.
“I have never desired a woman as I desire you,” he whispered.
Mia spread her legs and hugged him. He rose to his knees, his torso gleaming slightly in the light of the fire. He began undoing his pants, his eyes on her, avid. Finally, his erection sprang free, and she licked her lips at the sight. He fisted his cock at the base, and the gesture was hot and carnal.
“Gods, I cannot wait any longer. I must have you,” he said.
Mia ran her fingers down his hard pecs, his ripped stomach and stopped right before the curls surrounding his sex. “Have me,” she whispered.
He positioned his erection against the swollen lips of her sex and caressed her with it as hot bliss traveled through her blood.
“I want to show you the stars,” he said.
“Oh, I see them.”
He found the center of her and continued his delicious torture until Mia couldn’t take it anymore. She grabbed him by his waist, big and warm and hard, and urged him towards her.
“Take me,” she said, looking into his eyes. “Now.”
