Viking Heart (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors Book 3)

by Sky Purington

  “For sure.” Veronica squeezed his hand. “But how amazing is she despite it all?”

  He didn’t need to know even a fraction of Amber’s history to know she was more amazing than most. And while he knew he should sit and eat with his family, Kol just couldn’t do it.

  All that mattered now, all that he could see, was Amber.

  Raknar knew, understood, and showed as much when he stood, clasped Kol’s hand and pulled him close. “All is set up for you, brother. Go be with her. We will talk in the morn.”

  Kol embraced him, pulled away, firm hand on his shoulder as he nodded. “Thank you.”

  Kjar stood and pulled Amber up as Kol approached.

  Kol clasped Kjar’s hand then embraced him. “Thank you, cousin.”

  The shipwright patted him on the back then handed him a satchel. “No need to thank me.”

  Kol held out his hand to Amber. “Come. Let’s rest.”

  There was always the chance that she would shy away, that everything she had seen, everything he had done, would be too much.

  Kjar handed her a skin of ale. “Go get some sleep.”

  Amber took the skin and nodded. Then, not hesitating in the least, her hand slid into Kol’s. Relieved, he led her to yet another place he had never brought a woman. His private cave. One that had been his since he was a boy. Large, it had an opening that overlooked the sea. Like the other entrance they’d entered with the ship, sea water rushed into a small alcove that was well hidden by jutting rocks.

  Skin of ale dangling from her fingers, Amber walked to the edge and stared out over the ocean. Kol tossed aside his skin and joined her. Despite the emotions ripping him apart, he had little interest in drinking.

  Where it was chillier here, it was far warmer in the nook where his bed was nestled. A fire crackled in the corner. Several torches were attached to walls all around the cave, hissing and spitting in the draft.

  “Kjar said Naðr and Megan will remain at the fortress.” She frowned at him. “That there was a lot of damage.”

  “Not as much as there could have been,” he said softly. “Few lives were lost. That’s all we care about. Our people. Houses can be rebuilt. None of the livestock or grain storages were harmed so none will go hungry. Naðr will make sure all are cared for and sheltered while the village recovers.”

  “I’m so sorry about the lives lost,” she whispered.

  He sighed and frowned. “Within a day or so, once Naðr deems it safe enough to allow people on the shores again, all will receive the honor of a warrior’s death.”

  “I hope we can attend,” she murmured.

  “That will be up to the King.”

  Amber nodded then remained silent as she eyed the sea. While Kol wanted to pull her into his arms, he was ensnared by something else entirely. The delicate curves of her profile. The way a soft sigh came from her lips and her eyes glittered with a mixture of turmoil and peace as she watched waves roll forward and crash against the rock. Wind billowed just enough to blow her hair back, just enough to tighten her clothing against her body.

  Under any other circumstance and with any other woman, he would have taken advantage of her vulnerable state. He would have no choice. She was stunning, more than desirable. The way her full breasts fought the fabric and her pants hugged her hips and slender legs. He wanted to drop to his knees, pull her close and show her just how easy life could be beneath the heartache.

  But something stopped him.

  All the little bits and pieces that made her who she was kept him from doing what came so naturally. While he adored all the women who came before, something was so vastly different about Amber. He knew how to sexually pleasure her, he knew how to make her scream, but now he was interested in what came after that. How could he keep her happy long after the physical pleasure faded?

  Because it always did.

  Every single time.

  Then again, none before had felt like her…had been like her.

  Kol clenched his fists as the truth hit him.

  This time he didn’t want it to fade.

  He didn’t want it to go away.

  As if she sensed his thoughts, Amber’s eyes went to his face, her words a heart-breaking murmur. “How did we ever think we’d make this work?”

  His chest tightened, just like Veronica warned it might. What exactly did Amber mean? If he didn’t know better, it sounded like she was already giving up on something they’d barely had a chance to start. Was it as he feared? Was it because of the violence?

  Frustrated, he pulled her close and cherished the feel of her soft skin beneath his fingers as he touched her cheek then cupped the side of her neck. “Come lie down. Sleep. We’ll worry about this after you get some rest.”

  “You’re right. It’s probably best just to see where the story takes us,” she whispered and turned her mouth into his palm.

  Caught by the way her eyes closed and the press of her lips against his skin, Kol trembled.

  “Am I just a story then?" he murmured.

  Her eyes opened slowly. The vulnerability and truth in their churning brown depths was humbling as she traced a finger from his lower lip over his chin down his neck until it paused on his chest. The way her eyes locked with his, determined to be gentle but giving into something far deeper, made his breath snag in his throat.

  “I don’t know what you are, Kol,” she whispered.

  Their eyes held, desperate.

  He didn’t know what they were either.

  All he knew was when she turned away and said she was tired, everything he felt rushed forward. He shouldn’t have brought her here. He should have given her space after the horrible ordeal she had suffered.

  But something inside snapped.

  Something deep, repressed and far beyond his control.

  “I am yours, woman,” he ground out.

  Amber’s eyes widened when he scooped her up, strode to the bed and came down over her. When breath broke from her lips, his mouth closed over hers. While at first her response was tentative, it soon became desperate, like a caged animal.

  Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew they were releasing tension from all that had happened. Maybe even from everything that was going to happen. Something he sensed neither of them would be able to avoid. Something he suspected neither would want to avoid.

  Now all he wanted to do was flip her, take her, mate with her as a dragon would.

  But another part of him surfaced.

  A part that made no sense.

  A part he didn’t recognize.

  Their tongues tangled, their bodies struggled to get closer, wild, but somehow it was different. He had always put a woman’s pleasure first and foremost, but something about being here now with Amber stripped that away. He had no concept of pleasing her as he ate hungrily from her mouth, licked her throat, ripped away her tunic and locked onto her nipple.

  Then everything exploded between them and he experienced a war unlike any other.

  Their lips, hands, teeth, legs, unleashed much like a gale force wind might fill a sail. They were fast, furious, all at once and though he knew where things were heading he had no idea at all. He and Amber couldn’t touch one another enough, hands ripping off the others clothes, desperate to feel skin. Kol had never felt anything like it. Amber was like an untamed beast in his arms. And he wasn’t much better.

  They were panting, winded, as their nude bodies at last slid against one another’s.

  Kissing. Tongues. Frantic.

  Then they froze, lips within inches of one another’s, breath ragged. She shook her head and licked her lips. “I meant to talk…not this.”

  Kol lowered his head, heart thundering in his chest; sweat beading on his brow until his lips hovered over hers. He nestled between her legs and massaged the firmness of her inner thigh. “We can still talk.”

  “I can’t think straight when you…” she trailed off, gasping against his neck when he clenched and kneaded her backside. Odin above,
most men would die to touch what he did right now. He had meant to let her rest, to keep his hands off of her, so if she truly wanted to talk he would wrestle the strength to let her go.

  Then she wrapped a leg around him and thrust up her pelvis.

  Any hope of self-restraint snapped when her hot, wet heat came against him. Everything about this place brought out the dragon. Everything about her. Being anywhere but deep inside Amber was no longer an option. Growling, red haze skirted his vision as he wrapped his arm beneath her other knee and thrust hard.

  She cried out, arched her back and dug her heel into his ass.

  “Gods, woman,” he said through clenched teeth as heat raced down his spine. She felt so damn good. If he wasn’t careful, he’d find release far, far too soon. So he did what usually bought him more time and rolled them until she straddled him.

  Which might have been a fatal mistake for the longevity of his erection.

  There was nothing as provocative as this woman riding him. Lust blew through him as she braced her small hands on his chest, her voluptuous breasts beckoning to be held, her beautiful eyes glazed with pleasure. Her full lips fell apart as she started to move. Little rolls and undulations of her hips at first. Then, a fraction at a time, she rose and sunk, all the while using her inner muscles to yank him closer and closer to release.

  Typically he would rest his hands beneath his head at this point and let the woman find her pleasure. After all, his endurance was infamous.

  Not this time.

  He sat up, grabbed her backside and pulled her flush against him. This forced the nub at the top of her pleasure against him, forced her to take the friction that would ensure her release.

  A shudder rippled through her and they both groaned.

  Bodies sweat-slicked, their hands were everywhere as they moved against one another. Then he closed his lips over hers again, hungry for the taste of her…the passion. It was so different than what he usually felt when having sex. It somehow went deeper. Meant more. The need to press against her, to feel every part of her body all at once.

  He wanted to keep her here like this, surrounding him, clasping him, merged with him indefinitely. It was a profound feeling. One he realized had as much to do with the dragon as the man. This soul-deep need to keep her.

  Only her.

  As his.

  The revelation, the absolute certainty, snapped the thin shred of control he’d been clinging to. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her head against his chest, locked up tight and half growled, half groaned as he let go. His body trembled in a long release. Sure, he had always been a big fan of sex but this…this was so much more. And he knew damn well he was already addicted to it.

  Then he realized that he had found his pleasure before her.

  Kol frowned and pulled back a little. Amber had a small smile on her face and if he wasn’t mistaken a glimmer of triumph.

  Before he could speak, she put a finger to his lips and winked. “I owed you one,” she said huskily. “Well, technically I owe you several.”

  Kol couldn’t help but grin. He liked her positive attitude. Regardless. She wasn’t being left behind. Snaking one hand beneath her hair and around the back of her neck to hold her in place, he used the other to work the flesh between her legs.

  “There are perks to being half dragon,” he murmured as he grew stiff again within a few moments. “Quick recovery time.”

  “That’s just cheating,” she moaned. Her eyes widened and her tongue flickered over her lower lip.

  He rolled the pad of his thumb over the nub at her center and thrust up once, twice, a third time. Her nails dug into his shoulders, her teeth clamped down hard on her lip as the fourth thrust sent her soaring over the edge.

  As he had been the first time he watched her release, Kol was fascinated by the absolute vulnerability on her beautiful face. The way she completely opened up for him. The way her inner muscles fluttered and milked him long after she began to relax. Far longer than most. As if her body didn’t want to stop feeling the pleasure he had given her.

  Still locked inside her, Kol rolled her beneath him and pulled a fur blanket over them. He kept the bulk of his weight off her. Now that he’d slaked his initial lust, he could take his time and languish in the simple pleasure of their bodies moving together.

  Kol brushed his lips over hers and moved slowly. Lips hovering close but not quite touching, breath mingling, heat again gathered between them. He pulled her arms over her head, eyes locked on hers.

  He’d never been so aware of another person. The way her pebbled nipples brushed his chest. The softness of her thighs as she spread her legs wider. The sweet smell that came off her skin the more aroused she became. His nostrils flared. The musky, delicious scent that came from her desire.

  Kol flicked his tongue between her lips when she started making those breathy little moans he’d become so infatuated with. They varied in intensity depending on his movements and what he was touching. Pinching her nipple seemed to turn the sound up. Growling next to her ear turned the sound down, but made it catch in her throat which thrilled the dragon. Skimming his fingers from the side of her breast down the side of her stomach then hip made her shudder, staggering the moans.

  Though he moved slowly at first, passion built quickly when his fingers skimmed over her tattoo and his eyes fell on the rune stave. The Web of Wyrd. Destiny.

  His and hers.

  Somehow interconnected.

  Kol wrapped his hand around her wrist, around the tattoo and thrust deeper, harder, with far more aggression. Her legs wrapped high and tight, as eager to get close as he was, as eager to reach her pinnacle. Their hearts thundered in his ears. Her thoughts whispered into his mind. What is he doing to me? How do I get past this? Do I even want to? Soooo good. Oh, God, yessss.

  Staggered gasps broke from her lips moments before a harsh shudder ripped through her and she cried out his name. The desperate way she said it spiked his release. He pressed his forehead against the fur and locked up against her, her name on his tongue as he released a lengthy, soul-deep groan.

  He stayed that way for a long time, vaguely aware of her legs sliding down, of her body softening beneath his. When her breathing slowed, he pulled back slightly and looked at her.

  Gods, he was still in her and she was sound asleep. As it had been when he watched her rest in his bed back at the fortress, his breath caught at her stunning beauty. At the absolute peace she found when she rested. It was something he knew he would never tire of watching.

  Then he knew what he had been denying all those moments he’d been watching her since she arrived. From when she played the drums and made everyone so happy. When she jumped off that cliff, laughter on her lips and joy in her eyes. When he’d walked the shore of vendors and seen all her sketches hanging, how proud his people were of them. When she treated Kara with kindness and acceptance. For that matter, any woman that had hovered around Kol. And there were so many other moments, all which defined his woman and made it obvious just how special she was.

  What he felt toward her was vastly different. More profound. Untouchable.

  A feeling he knew would never go away.

  Veronica was right.

  He was in love with Amber.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Amber woke to the sound of waves and the warmth of Kol’s arms wrapped around her. She stared at him for a long time. Though tempted to run her finger along the straight slashes of his black brows and the soft curve of his sexy lips, she didn’t want to risk waking him. He had to be exhausted after everything that happened. Her eyes drifted to the tattoo wrapped around her wrist. What it might mean. What lay ahead.

  “It suits you,” he murmured.

  Her eyes shot to his face and her breath caught at the sensual heat gathered in his lazy appraisal. The obvious desire he felt as his gaze traveled over her face as though memorizing its every dimension. Not only that, there was something new in the way he looked at her. A sense of
warmth, no, possession, that hadn’t been there before.

  Brushing aside the observation, not entirely sure what she thought about it, her eyes went back to the tat. “At least it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  When Kol ran his thumb gently over the inside of her wrist, over the stave, a shiver went down her spine. Their eyes met and lust once more tore through her. He was so damn handsome and her body couldn’t seem to get enough.

  Though she sensed it took him a great deal of effort, he pulled away and got up. Her brows lowered in question, but he soon returned with their skins and a satchel. He bunched furs behind them and sat. “You wanted to talk earlier but…” A twinkle met his eyes and those gorgeous dimples erupted as he looked at her. “We got distracted.” He pulled out some bread, cheese, and nuts. “Let us talk now, yes?”

  Her eyes flickered past his gorgeous face over all the tight muscles running down his body straight to his impressive erection. “Not so easy with that…” She cleared her throat, unable to drag her eyes from it. “I’ll think more clearly if you put it away.”

  Kol chuckled as he pulled a blanket over his lap, his appreciative eyes falling to her breasts. “Then I would request the same of you, woman.”

  Amber couldn’t stop a blush as she pulled a fur across her chest. There was just something about the way Kol looked at her that made her feel half devoured in an instant. “Fair enough.”

  He handed her a skin. “So what would you like to talk about?”

  “So much.” Years’ worth of stuff actually. The realization startled her and she swigged from her skin. She didn’t make a habit of wanting to learn too much about any one guy. That meant her heart might get invested. As it was, she was still trying to work through his earlier words.

  “I am yours, woman.”

  That sounded an awful lot like a commitment.

  And it scared the hell out of her.

  Especially with a man like Kol.

  But as she nibbled on some bread, she realized a man like Kol wasn’t so bad. Yes, he might be a scamp, but so was she. Yet it wasn’t about that. No, it was about how he saved her when Alrek took her. How ferocious he had been when he thought she'd been hurt. How warm and comforting he had been afterward as he held her on the ship. Could it be she was caught up in the whole knight in shining armor aspect of it? Sure. What woman wouldn’t be? It was exciting and romantic.