by Koko Brown
“Ach! So many lovely changes in a day!” Magdal purred. Her thick Persian accent made mincemeat of her captor’s language. Eyes closed, she sat in front of Phee who was shampooing her black locks. “I wonder what’s gotten into our lord?”
“Better question is who got under his skin?”
Several of the women giggled.
“I wish it were I! Eirik is so big and strong.” Leika gushed. Her almond-shaped eyes turned dreamy. Like Magdal, she hailed from the Far East. After a little quizzing, Reese determined the woman had been abducted from what was now modern-day Russia.
“I think Reese can answer that?” Elisabeta looked at her as did the others. “She convinced him to remove our thrall collars.”
Soap dangerously close to blinding her, Magdal squinted at her. “What other favors do you think you can wring from him?” she asked.
“I want only one other favor,” Reese said with an aura of mystery. Her soapbox moment had arrived. One just couldn’t spring a revolution on someone. “And I will need everyone’s help.”
“He seems to only favor you,” Leika sniffed.
“There are other Vikings besides Eirik.”
“I can name two,” Elisabeta offered. “Vlad, Jordi and possibly Fenris.”
“We can all count Fenris.” Phee crept over to Elisabeta, hands curled into claws. Her lips curled back over her teeth. “He resembles the giant wolf he was named after and he lusts after everyone.”
Elisabeta raised her chin. “He still counts.”
“Why should we help you? You are not that bright.”
“Leika!” all of them admonished the girl.
“I only say what you all have been saying behind her back. She should be warming our lord’s bed, not sharing the floor with us. She is stupid and I would think twice before doing anything she says.”
Well, she had a point. Even she had called herself all kinds of fool for the past two weeks.
“What if my favor gains us our freedom?”
“Tis not possi—”
Without warning, Magdal grasped the top of Leika’s head and dunked her underwater. “Go on,” she sweetly encouraged ignoring the other girl’s thrashing.
“With enough inducement, I believe I can free us all.” Reese hesitated when Magdal released Leika. Gasping for air, the girl came up sputtering. Arms spinning like a pinwheel, she wobbled backward, lost her footing, and went under again. Unconcerned, Reese continued, “All I need is for you to butter up as many Vikings as you can, put a bug in their ear so Eirik doesn’t feel like the odd man out.”
“So what you are saying is that we should seduce our captors?” Magdal asked.
Reese nodded.
“You already have two on your side,” Phee spoke up. “My Skaldi and Magdal’s Rollo have both expressed their wishes to free us, but it must come from Eirik since we are his property.”
“Then we’re ahead of the game.” Reese held her arm out. “So who’s in?”
One by one, they placed their hands on top of the other—twelve in all. Even the water logged Leika.
Viva la Revolucion!
“So my advice is working?”
Eirik glanced over his shoulder at Bjarni. “At the cost of my mother’s health. She foamed at the mouth like a mad dog when I told her the slaves would no longer be wearing my mark.”
“I can imagine.” Bjarni chuckled. “If only I could have witnessed that.”
“Ja, it was priceless.”
Before sunlight, he and Bjarni had embarked on their monthly hunt. By the time the sun was at its highest in the sky, they’d bagged their prize, a wild boar. They were on their way back to Skildheim now.
“Do you think you will tire of her?” Bjarni asked as they came to a stream.
“I have barely tasted her. How can I say when I will be bored with her?” Eirik shifted the heavy tree limb to which they’d trussed up the boar to his other shoulder. Silently, they navigated through the thigh-deep white water and slippery rocks, then scaled the steep bank on the other side.
At the top of the grassy knoll, Bjarni took the lead. Instead of heading west toward home, he walked toward the sea.
“Where are you going?” Eirik dug in his heels, halting their progress.
“I think we should make a detour, and head to the hot springs for a quick soak before heading back to the village. Are your muscles not sore from the chase?”
With a body honed for battle, the hunt and the miles they’d covered before dawn had little impact on him. “You can soak once we get to Skildheim.”
Bjarni turned around. The heavy tree limb with an added two stones not hampering his mobility, he walked backward. “I think you will like my idea much better. Trust me.”
Eirik’s eyes narrowed. “What have you cooked up?”
“Have I ever steered you wrong?”
“Plenty of times. Like when you suggested we try salting cabbages and we lost our entire crop. Or that lovely idea of yours to trade with the Picts.” Eirik held up his tunic, revealing a long, silvery-white scar running from his arm pit to waist. “I still bear the mark from following that proposal.”
“You are right,” Bjarni acquiesced a little too quickly for Eirik’s liking, causing more suspicion. “I can wait until Skildheim to appease my sore muscles.”
Curiosity piqued, Eirik barked, “Lead the way.”
“I will make you into a mighty warrior, who’s not only strong of body but strong of mind.”
Eirik rolled his eyes. Bjarni was beginning to sound like those religious truthseekers they’d come across while trading in the Far East.
As they crossed the Blár Valley, they talked about everything and nothing. Eirik cherished these moments. Devoid of responsibility, they reminded him of the life he’d had before he’d become a mercenary for hire.
Funny how he could miss those carefree days when all he’d done back then was lust after power. Now his days were filled with settling petty disputes, fortifying Skildheim’s defenses, and making sure his people didn’t go to bed hungry. Thankfully, meting out judgments of life of death were few and far between. When he’d ordered Balder’s banishment from their village for raping Skol’s daughter, a good night’s sleep eluded him for months. Meted out at the height of winter, his punishment had been a death sentence. Very few, even a Viking, could survive their winters without shelter.
Eirik smiled as a breeze swept past them, ruffled his hair and carried a green wave along the valley floor. Two butterflies danced nearby, taking turns chasing the other. They reminded him of the merry chase Reese had him on.
The god of mischief Loki couldn’t have cooked up a better jest! He’d sailed half way around the world and every point in between. Survived two shipwrecks. Cut down hundreds, if not thousands of warriors. And one slave had brought him to his knees.
By the gods, his mind was addled.
Never in his life had he been so captivated by a woman. Whenever she was near, his heart pounded in his ears, and his blood thickened, making his cock so hard he could barely walk. Even when she wasn’t around, she invaded his thoughts, made him ache to seek her out and possess her. And yet, he did not. He wanted her willing...nay...he needed her to be willing. To want him as much as he wanted her.
Oona had taught him that lesson. He’d lusted after her, put her on a pedestal above all others. In turn, she’d made a fool of him by marrying another. He’d vowed he would not make the same mistake. And he’d made good on his promise by only engaging in bed sport with women who desired him or sought him out.
And then she came along. Reese made him feel like a rudderless boat, floundering and pitching without any direction. Ever since she’d arrived in Skildheim he’d been riding a wave of emotion that disrupted his tranquility and had him questioning why he’d allowed one woman, this one in particular, to alter his existence so radically.
Eirik cursed under his breath. Why was he allowing this woman to weaken him? He was a blasted Viking! He should be done with her.
Give her to Bjarni. He obviously had not fallen under her spell.
“I have considered your offer—”
A playful shriek cut into Eirik’s capitulation. The sight before him stifled the rest, trapping the words at the back of his throat. While he’d warred over his Achilles heel, he’d followed Bjarni on virtual autopilot. He’d failed to notice when they’d entered a thick grove of trees bordering the valley. Nor the two miles which delivered them from one end of the forest to the other to a rock-strewn clearing containing the hot springs.
The sound had come from one of the dozen or so women frolicking in the shallow pool. Exotic jewels, the spoils of war, each represented distant lands. And the most exquisite of them all—his Reese. His gaze devoured her, paying particular attention to her luscious brown nipples. What he would not give to suckle them, to fondle them while he fucked her from behind.
“Of what offer do you speak?” Bjarni drawled, only partially regaining his attention. Eirik couldn’t take his eyes off the dark nymph who’d bewitched him. As if an invisible tether bound him to her, he couldn’t resist her pull. Setting down his end of the pole, he moved in for a different kind of hunt.
Bjarni stayed him with a hand on his arm. Eirik eyed the obstacle keeping him from Reese, and wanted to break every single finger. Instead he barked, “What?”
The other man remained steady and unwavering in the face of Eirik’s belligerence. “Are you backing out of our bargain?” he asked coolly.
Eirik looked back at the hot spring. Having been discovered, the women attempted to protect their modesty by shyly turning away, except for Reese. Boldly returning his gaze, she faced him head on but used the water to maintain a semblance of modesty, only giving him a glimpse of the crest of her breasts and rounded shoulders. As if sensing her effect on him, she lifted her hand and bit the pad of her thumb, while a beguiling smile curled her lips.
“Nay,” Eirik said hoarsely, his mind muddled with lust. “Nothing will stop me from possessing
her. All of her.”
“The terms still stand?”
Erik yanked his arm free. “Don’t remind me of how I’ve completely lost my head.”
“Oh you’ve lost your head alright!” Bjarni chuckled as he gave him a hard slap on the back. “It’s been replaced with the one ‘tween your legs!”
That same leg ruled Eirik’s next move. Eyes on his quarry, he slowly removed his tunic.
Even if she shook all over, Reese maintained her cool. Pretty commendable considering Eirik’s gaze could melt the Teflon panties.
“Our lord seeks your favor,” Magdal whispered before abandoning her for the other side of the pool. The other women, except for Leika, followed. A quick stab of jealousy made Reese round on her.
“Kick rocks, Leika.”
The bitch had the audacity to smile. “Maybe he will find favor in both of us.” Reese stepped forward to give the other woman her second dunk of the day, but was met with a wall of water.
“Son of a...” Reese wiped at her eyes while Leika used the opening to bob over to Eirik.
“Come to wash off the day’s hunt, jarl Eirik?” she asked her voice dripping with honey.
Eirik nodded. “I am hot and sweaty.”
“Then get in. The water feels delicious.” Gamely, Leika slid onto her back. Well-endowed, her breasts jutted upward like torpedoes as she floated. As Eirik’s eyes traveled over the slut, Reese’s gut twisted with jealousy.
“Last one in is a rotten Dane!”
Completely enthralled with Eirik, she’d failed to notice his companion, the dark-haired Viking Bjarni. Butt naked, he barreled toward them, paused to swat Eirik on the ass and then cannonballed into the shallow pool, capsizing Leika with water.
With her rival at the bottom of the pool, Reese waded over and placed her arms on the pool’s edge. “I guess you’re the rotten Dane.” she teased.
“Mayhap you can help me soap away the stink.” He grinned and Reese felt she’d run to the keep and back. Heart pounding, and somewhat out of breath she nodded.
Still, the number his smile did on her system had nothing on watching him undress. Already shirtless, his fingers undid the laces of his fawn-colored trousers and in quick order he shed them.
What do they put in these people’s water? There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him! Pulse racing, she took in his hard body, chiseled muscles. Scars crisscrossed his upper torso, including a nasty one slashing down his left thigh. A spray of golden hair covered his chest, traveled in a line over eight pack abs and then thickened again across his loins.
Eirik was a half a head shorter than his friend, but he made up for it in the size of his cock. Still flaccid, his dick swung thick and long between his legs as he lowered himself into the hot spring. Reese watched him go under, and held her breath until he broke the water’s surface.
Eyes closed, and wearing an expression akin to an orgasm, he slowly pushed his pale locks from his eyes. Rivulets of water rolled down his muscular frame, glistening like diamonds in the mid-afternoon sun.
“Can I also be of assistance, my lord?” Soap in hand, and with a sensuality Reese would never possess, Leika sidled up beside him. Upon gaining an affirmative nod, her full lips split into a smile that made Reese want to punch her into tomorrow. Boiling with fury, she squeezed her hands so tightly her own bar of soap went flying out of her hand and popped Phee right between the eyes.
“Oww!” Phee exclaimed. In a reflexive action, she reached up with soapy hands, making matters worse.
Reese vacillated between snatching Leika bald or helping her friend. Since the former wasn’t an
option, she went to her friend’s rescue. Quicker to the draw, Magdal took charge of Phee’s recovery and together they rinsed the lye out of her eyes.
Once done and unable to overcome her natural tendency to not want more, Reese decided to finish her bath. With Leika’s laughter ringing in her ears like fingernails on a chalkboard, she searched for her soap. She found it floating near the dark Viking. She moved to retrieve it, but drew up short when he beat her to it. About to cut her losses, he surprised her when he opened his palm and beckoned her to take it. A large man, the bar of soap looked minute in his palm. Heck, a grizzly bear would look tiny next to him.
Reese couldn’t seem to look away, so she drank her fill. Her gaze traveled up his massive arm, over the etched golden band wrapped around his bicep, and higher still taking in his broad shoulders, and thick neck.
She’d acknowledged his good looks that first day in the barn, and yet she never really appreciated his strong jaw, his firm lips or even his hazel eyes which were framed by black lashes so thick they looked fake.
“I do not bite,” he coaxed.
Softly worded, his assurance didn’t provide much comfort when his gaze said otherwise. Heated and intense, his hazel eyes both frightened her and sparked something inside her. The feeling didn’t come anywhere near the all-encompassing inferno Eirik ignited whenever he looked at her, but she wasn’t exactly immune to the Viking’s physical charms.
Tentatively, Reese reached out. Her fingertips grazed his open palm, and like a Venus fly trap, his hand closed around hers. Ever so slowly, he drew her close.
Was that a growl?
Out of curiosity, Reese glanced over her shoulder.
Bad idea. What she’d so steadfastly tried to avoid slammed into her like a freight train. Hands dripping with soap, Leika’s method of bathing Eirik bordered on porn.
Slow and methodical, her hands moved over him. Across his shoulders and chest, moving downward in a smooth circular motion to his abs. With each stroke, his muscles rippled and bunched, even his nipples had puckered. When a line of soap drizzled down his spine, she practically salivated, yearning to follow the path with kisses. Nipples hard and clit throbbing, Reese sank lower, using the water to hide her condition.
“I thought you were made of stronger stuff.” Reese jerked around in surprise. Bjarni’s mouth hovered near her ear, his warm brea
th ruffling the fine hairs at her temple. Reese bit down on her bottom lip. Eirik made her hot, and yet this dark Viking made her legs tremble and her nerve endings tingle. “You send my friend on a merry chase and yet you let her stand in the way of what you want.”
Reese stiffened. “How do you know what I want?”
Bjarni smiled, and deep smile lines creased his cheeks. “When you think no one is looking, you follow him with your eyes.”
“Why are you watching me?”
His eyes dipped to her lips and they parted of their own accord. “I have never hid the fact I wanted you,” he rasped, “and I still do. Just as badly as he does.”
Reese gasped as he grasped her shoulders. He cocked his head as if to kiss her, and she closed her eyes. The combination of warm water, the live porn show and her mounting and miserably unrequited desire for Eirik must have turned her stir crazy because she wanted this Viking’s lips on hers.
Was that another growl?
This time Reese didn’t have a chance to appease her curiosity. She barely had the opportunity to open her eyes as she was set aside. Confused and off balance, she slipped to the bottom of the pool. She fought to come up for air, and a foot struck her in the back pushing her back down. Another struck her side. The water thrashed violently around her. In an act of self-preservation, Reese rolled until her back slammed against the side of the pool. Her side smarting and lungs burning, Reese clawed her way to the surface where absolute chaos greeted her.
Magdal, Phee, Elisabeta, and Leika deserted the pool along with the rest of the thralls. Like chickens with their heads cut off, they ran around snatching up their discarded clothing, bumping into one another, while casting a curious eye at the pool they’d just abandoned. Getting out and asking questions later, Reese scrambled over the side. Given clean garments before they’d left the hall, she accepted one of the burlap gowns from Elisabeta.
“You do not touch what belongs to me.” Lips drawn back from his teeth, and Bjarni in a choke hold, Eirik exuded a menace she hadn’t seen since he’d wiped the table with a human dish rag. If it weren’t for his ear-to-ear grin, the dark Viking might have earned her sympathy.
