by Jane Kindred
“Are you? Perfectly?”
Leo gave her a sly half smile. “I suppose I should let you be the judge.”
“It’s kind of hard to judge with all those clothes on.”
“Maybe I should do something about that.”
“Maybe you should.” Rhea drew the throw around herself as Leo climbed out of the bed and stood to remove the borrowed shirt he was still wearing. He unbuttoned it slowly, teasingly, revealing his well-toned pecs, the Yggdrasil pendant lying between them, and his ungodly abs. She nodded approval. “So far, so good.”
“So far, eh?” He tossed the shirt at her, and Rhea dropped the throw to slip it on. He nodded appreciatively. “Looks good on you. You should dress like that all the time.”
“I’ll consider it. Quit stalling.”
Leo laughed. “There’s not much else you haven’t seen, if you recall what we almost did this morning.”
“I do recall, yes. And the initial inspection was very satisfactory. But I haven’t seen your ass.”
“I didn’t realize that was a deal-breaker.”
“Oh God, yes. Have you never read a women’s magazine?”
“Not that I recall. I’ll have to defer to your expertise.” He unbuttoned the jeans and stepped out of them, the white cotton of his briefs straining, clearly at capacity. “You’ll want to see the ass first, I take it.”
Rhea nodded. “Naturally.”
Leo turned away, legs planted firmly apart, giving her a glimpse of his well-shaped glutes within the briefs before drawing the garment down.
Rhea put her fist in her mouth to muffle a groan. From the glimpses she’d gotten of his ass in jeans, she’d already known it would be spectacular, but it was completely unfair that any man should have an ass like that, rock hard yet lightly rounded at the top. She wanted to bite it.
Leo looked over his shoulder, the briefs still at his thighs. “Does it meet with your approval?”
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to do a tactile inspection before I can make a final determination.” Her voice was amusingly gruff with desire, when she was trying to be nonchalant.
Leo stepped out of the briefs and turned to climb back onto the bed, his expression amused at the involuntary high-pitched humming noise that escaped her at the sight of that glorious cock.
He lay on his stomach and turned his head toward her, resting his cheek on his folded arms. “All yours.” She could get used to those words.
Rhea climbed over him and sat on his thighs, smoothing her hands over the tight curves of his ass. “Yes, this will do nicely.” She gave one cheek a little slap, and Leo lifted his head with a noise of protest. “That’s what you have to do,” she explained. “To test the firmness. Like with a mattress.”
“I think you’ll find the other side much firmer.” Leo rolled beneath her, and Rhea came up on all fours over him, their bodies tantalizingly close.
“You are,” she murmured, “indeed, perfectly fine.”
“Would I lie to you?” He pulled her down, their bodies skin to skin, and wrapped his arms around her as he brought his mouth to hers.
Rhea moaned softly into him, her eyes closing, every inch of her skin where it touched his tingling with arousal. This morning, she’d thought he was fully Leo. Now that she knew only the munr was in the skin, she shouldn’t be doing this. She’d promised him. But what if the Leo she’d made that promise to was gone forever?
Leo’s hand slid down her back to her ass, caressing it before sliding farther into the cleft, his fingers teasing at the edges of her pussy. She reached back and took hold of his hand, pushing it lower as she opened her legs to encourage him, and Leo drew back from her mouth with a deep laugh.
“Am I going too slowly for you, älskling?”
Rhea grinned. “Just a bit.”
He pressed two fingers between her thighs and entered her, eyes locked on hers. “Better?” When Rhea nodded, biting her lip, Leo went deeper, stroking slowly inside her. “Do you want me to fuck you?”
“God yes.” The second word came out in a long moan.
He pumped his fingers into her a few more times until she was squirming. Just as she was ready to beg for it, he moved his fingers away and brought the head of his cock against her.
Rhea grabbed his hand. “What are you doing?”
Leo blinked. “I thought... Didn’t you say—?”
“Where’s the condom? You have a condom, don’t you?”
His winter sky blues looked blank.
Rhea groaned and rolled onto her side. “This is one of those things you have no memory of, isn’t it?”
Leo gave her an amused smirk. “A lesson once learned in the body remains in the flesh. I’m quite certain I can find my way without any trouble.”
“Oh, I have no doubt of that.” After the expert way he’d used his tongue, she was sure it would be fantastic. “But we can’t do it without a condom. A prophylactic,” she explained. “A rubber.” He kept shrugging. Why the hell didn’t she keep any herself?
Rhea rolled out of bed and started digging through the dresser for something to throw on.
Leo propped himself up on his elbows, watching her, his impressive cock like an absurd flagpole in his lap. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to drive to the convenience store and buy some condoms.” She pulled on a pair of black paisley leggings without bothering with underwear, hopping as she pulled them up, and dragged an old sweatshirt on over her head before shoving her feet into a pair of furry boots. “I’ll only be a few minutes, so...” She glanced at his erection. “Hold that thought.”
“You’re not serious.”
“I mean, you can hold it or not hold it, but we can work on that when I get back.”
Rhea came to the bed to give him a kiss, and he nearly succeeded in distracting her once more into throwing caution to the wind, but she managed to tear herself away.
“Ten minutes,” she promised and hurried out the door before her body could persuade her to forget the condoms. He was over a thousand years old. He was going to wear a condom whether he remembered what it was or not.
Stepping back out into the cold was brutal after having his body warm her. Rhea dashed to the car and ran the windshield wipers with some wiper fluid, with the heat on full blast until the window defogged enough to drive.
The trip to the store was uneventful. She managed to get the condoms, ignoring the clerk’s look at the evidence of her hasty dress. It was obvious why she was out looking like this and making this purchase. Let him snicker.
But as she got back into the car, she saw a dark shape in the rearview mirror. The black wolf-dog sat directly behind her in the path of her vehicle.
Chapter 19
Starting the engine and turning on the lights did nothing to persuade the wolfish dog to move. If she started backing out, maybe it would get the hint. Rhea put the car in Reverse and let it roll back an inch or two, but the dog just sat there panting idly.
“Goddammit, dog. Move.” She growled in frustration while staring at it in the rearview mirror. “You don’t get it, dog. I really need to have sex.”
The literally mind-numbing orgasm that had resulted in her fainting from the sudden dearth of blood to her brain had marked the beginning of the end of an epic dry spell she’d been denying to herself. Ever since the visions started, in fact. She hadn’t even had sexy time with herself in weeks. Listening to Phoebe go on and on about Rafe’s quetzal stamina for months now—then finding out uptight, reserved Ione had picked up a crazy-hot stranger in a bar and screwed him so hard he’d turned into a dragon—had driven her right to the edge of the cliff she hadn’t even known she was perched on.
Rhea laid on the horn, startling a kid walking out of the store with beer he’d obviously bought with a fake ID,
but the dog didn’t budge.
Fists clenched against the steering wheel, she closed her eyes. “I hate you, wolf-dog.” Of course, wolf-dog, if Faye could be trusted—and who wouldn’t trust a Valkyrie-turned-sexy dominatrix-turned-talking fox?—was Leo’s fylgja. Maybe, like Vixen, he was capable of human speech. “All right, dammit. You win.”
She shut off the engine and opened the door, cautiously stepping out with one furry boot to peer around the car. It could be a wild animal for all she knew. It might not be a fylgja at all. No sense taking chances.
The dog stood beside her bumper, watching her expectantly.
“Okay. You’ve got my attention. What do you want?” This had to look awesome on the store’s security camera.
As soon as she stepped out of the car completely, the dog took off running across the parking lot and out onto the road.
“Goddammit!” Rhea jumped back into the car and restarted the engine.
The dog was no longer blocking her way. She could forget about this and go home, climb into that warm bed with Leo, and get her brains screwed out. But Faye’s exhortation to help Leo find his way back to himself nagged at her conscience. She was Leo’s only hope. Faye had said Rhea would have to seek the fylgja’s aid, and the fylgja was currently trotting down the highway.
With a sigh, she pulled out of the lot and turned in the direction the dog had gone. There had still been a little twilight left when she’d gotten in the car, but it was already pitch-black out here away from the city limits, especially on a moonless night. But her headlights illuminated the dog’s shadowy form a hundred yards away—in the opposite direction from where Leo and her warm bed were waiting. Rhea followed, slowing when she caught up with the animal. The dog kept to the side of the road but continued trotting along at a good clip.
The box of condoms sat forlornly on the seat beside her. Magnum. Because goddammit.
She followed the stupid dog for at least a mile before it turned off onto a path that barely qualified as a road. If she’d thought it was dark before, this was like driving into a cave. Rhea switched on the high beams, illuminating the rocky twists and turns in the road, and after several minutes, the dog abruptly disappeared.
Rhea slowed the car. Fantastic. She could be in bed with Leo finding out if those magnums even fit, and instead she was out driving around in the middle of nowhere. In lazy-bitch pajamas. And it was starting to snow again.
She was about to stop and turn around when the circle of her headlights fell on a wooden paddock a few yards ahead. She’d reached the end of the road.
Rhea sighed and pulled over. She drew up her hood and stuffed her hands into her pockets as she got out. Why hadn’t she grabbed a coat? Oh, right—because she was just going to get some damn condoms so she could get laid.
As she approached the paddock, something moved in the darkness beyond the fence. Fear seized her, and she clutched the pepper spray canister on her keys—a stocking stuffer from Theia. Something snorted and pawed at the ground. She was going to be eaten by wolves. Wait, did wolves snort?
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the large head of the beast turned toward her, eyes glowing white, and Rhea realized with relief that it was a horse. What was a horse doing in a paddock at night? But it wasn’t alone. Shapes began to define from the darkness. There were half a dozen horses here. Maybe more. What kind of asshole would leave horses out in the snow?
She stepped up on the bottom rung of the fence, arms hooked over the top, and reached out to pet one of the muzzles, but her hand stopped halfway. Their eyes weren’t just glowing from the reflected light. In fact, there was no reflected light; her car’s headlights were pointing the other way. These were the specters of the Hunt, their hides stretched tight over their skeletons as if there were no muscle beneath. Certainly no fat. They were like the horses of the Apocalypse, except they were all Famine.
The closest of the horses had lifted its muzzle as if hoping for a treat, and her hand passed right through it. Rhea snatched her arm back with a shudder. It hadn’t felt like passing through air but like putting her hand through gummy spider webs.
The message chime on her phone sounded from her pocket, and Rhea nearly jumped out of her skin and joined the specters. A message from Leo was on the screen.
Having spent many a night staring at the red glowing digits of a hotel alarm clock, I have a very keen sense of time. Also, I am staring at the red glowing digits of the clock by your (now rather cold) bed. It has been more than ten minutes. Where are you? I “Googled” condoms, and I must say I’m rather offended.
Rhea typed back a quick note.
They didn’t have any. Taking a quick run into town to find some. Nothing to be offended about. Google “safer sex.”
Before she dropped the phone back into her pocket, she noticed it was just after eight. That was about when she’d seen the Hunt the first time. These horses were awaiting their riders.
Her phone chimed once more, unnerving her as much as the first time.
Do you have chlamydia?
“Oh my God.” She muted the phone.
Pockets of air shimmered around her in rainbow colors like the membrane of a soap bubble, and when the “bubble” popped, noise burst out of it—raucous, excited voices, as though a window had opened onto a party—seconds before the images of the hunters coalesced from the smoky shadows.
The riders took to their mounts as soon as they materialized. The others didn’t notice her, but the Chieftain—Leo’s hugr—doffed his cowboy hat in her direction as he mounted his horse.
He looked more substantial, less spectral than he had before, more closely resembling the vision she’d first had of the Hunt. His eyes were clear, blue as the Sedona winter sky at high noon. How she could see that, she wasn’t sure. They did seem to be glowing a bit.
The other riders were heading out, the horses leaping straight over the fence, but the Chieftain lingered.
Rhea took a step toward him. “Leo?”
“That name did once belong to me, but no more.” He held the hat to his chest and bowed over the horse’s mane. “You may call me Gunnar.”
Rhea’s lips parted in disbelief. “Gunnar?”
“I must extend my gratitude to you.”
“To me?”
“You have freed me to pursue my sacred calling, fair Rhea of Carlisle. I am no longer bound to the base appetites of the flesh to which the spineless Leo Ström returned me each morning through his foolish and slavish devotion.”
“Leo is not spineless. He’s a decent, responsible person trying to do the right thing.”
“What has he done to earn your admiration? What valiant deeds has this giant of bravery done that you defend him so?”
Rhea folded her arms, half in umbrage and half to keep warm. “He punched a Nazi douchebag in the face the other day.”
“Oh, yes. That takes courage. Saving humanity from a sad little braggart by assaulting him with a surprise right hook.”
He set his hat on his head and urged the horse forward, leaping from the paddock and over Rhea’s head while she ducked.
After she’d spun about, “Gunnar” turned back. “Careful rolling about in the mud with that mindless animal you’ve trapped in the skin. He knows nothing but his urges.” The horse took off after the rest of the hunters at a gallop as the Chieftain let out an exuberant battle cry that echoed off the snow-covered rocks.
Rhea’s eyes narrowed as disbelief gave way to aggravation. Leo’s hugr was a pompous ass.
Teeth chattering, she hurried back to the car and huddled behind the wheel, holding her hands up to the heating vents. Good thing she’d left the engine running.
The condom box judged her silently from the passenger seat. Rhea pulled out her phone to find Leo had left another message. Jesus. It was accompanied by the most impressive di
ck pic she’d ever seen, his hand wrapped around the base.
You told me to hold the thought. The fact that I have no thought-self notwithstanding, I have been holding this for nearly an hour. I am fairly certain it’s going to fall off if I hold it any longer. Difficult to Google left-handed, but several articles of dubious authorship seem to support this claim.
Rhea dashed off a quick response. So sorry. Found some. Heading back now. She put the car in Drive but paused and picked up the phone again to add VERY photogenic before tearing up the unmarked dirt road to get back to the highway as fast as she could.
* * *
She’d driven farther than she’d thought. The lights were out when she entered the apartment. Please let him be setting the mood.
But Leo was sprawled on the bed with his phone still in his hand, naked and sound asleep. Rhea slid the phone from his fingers and set it aside. He didn’t stir. With a sigh of regret, she picked up the throw where she’d tossed it on the floor in her haste to get condoms and laid it over him. It barely covered the magnificent physique. The physique she could be riding right now like a Brahma bull if she hadn’t followed Leo’s fylgja.
And speaking of fylgjas—or not—she hadn’t seen the Valkyrie with the Hunt tonight. What did that mean? And what dictated when she appeared as Vixen? Rhea hated to think of the fox woman appearing in her bedroom if she and Leo ever did manage to close the deal.
While she contemplated the idea, someone pounded on her front door. Would Vixen knock?
But when Rhea opened it, Phoebe stood on her doorstep looking slightly manic, like she’d had too much caffeine after waking up in the middle of the night.
“Rhea Iris Carlisle!” Her sister swept in and closed the door. “Why didn’t you tell me you were nearly killed in a fire?” Phoebe hugged her and shook her simultaneously. “And why did I have to hear it from Ione?”
