“You’re right. I am surprised. But not just by the stones.” She smiled at him and took his hand in hers. “I love this place. I love you, for all the work you’ve put into it to make it special for us.”
He grinned and for a moment she caught a glimpse of the carefree boy he’d once been. “There’s one more surprise. I’ve saved the best for last.”
He led her to a door she hadn’t noticed in a corner. It led to a narrow hall with another doorway at the end.
“Go ahead,” he urged.
She made her way hesitantly down the dark passage, pushed open the heavy door and gasped.
A rainbow of dancing light poured through a narrow window covered in a stained-glass pattern of glowing crystals. More brilliant crystals studded the walls and ceiling. Emerald green, yellow, amethyst, blue as pure as a tropical sea. Throwing their light on—surely those couldn’t be flowers?
Strange exotic blooms that glowed as well, in a riot of colors, filling the room with their fragrance. She took one step forward, stretching out a hand toward the nearest delicate blossom on the wall. Velvety smooth petals in a soft shade of apricot nestled in a cup of spring green foliage.
“It’s… it’s attached! It’s growing here. Right on the wall.”
Haldor stepped in after her. “They all are.” He stretched out an arm. “Only a few right now. But you’re good with plants. You can grow more. All year round. Even in the dead of winter. I’m told some of them even have healing properties. Maybe they’ll prove useful in your work with Ingrid.”
“But where did all this come from?”
“Remember that trip I took a few weeks back, when you stayed at the palace? I went to Iridia, through the Portal. I’ve been stockpiling furs for months. Ever since I brought you here. I knew I wanted to do something special. I just didn’t know what.”
He waved a hand around the room. “I traded the furs for Iridian crystals and a handful of their special plants. The crystals give off enough heat to keep it warm in here and these plants grow only under their glow. Mind you, too much exposure to the crystals can be dangerous. That’s why I’ve put them here, at the end of a long stone passageway. You can’t stay in this room for days on end. But for a couple of hours at a time, on the dark winter days… I thought being surrounded with such beauty might make life here more bearable for you.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “This is incredible.”
“Just one more thing. Ingrid tells me this is the way they used to profess their love back on Earth.” Reaching into a pouch at his waist, he brought out a tiny parcel wrapped in a soft cloth. Another crystal, brilliant blue, set in a gold ring. “This one is safe to wear. All the time.”
He dropped to one knee in front of her. “Selena Reston, will you be my wife? Will you share this home, bear our children, let me love and protect and cherish you for the rest of your life?”
She looked down at him. This proud Viking warrior, kneeling at her feet. He’d given her so much already. Security. Warmth. Joy. A life filled with passion such as she’d never known. Excitement and adventure she’d only dreamed of in her sterile existence back on Earth. And now—tenderness she’d never imagined he was capable of.
“Haldor, from the first moment I met you, you’ve filled my soul with light.” She stretched her arms out. “And now you’ve filled our home with it as well. I would be honored to be your wife. And bear our children. And let you love and protect and cherish me—as I will love and cherish you, all the days of our lives.”
He stood and swept her in his arms. His kiss started out soft and gentle, but it grew. She felt his hunger building, sending that wild thrill surging through her. He captured her mouth in a fierce possession that demanded her complete surrender.
He stopped long enough to draw her down onto a strategically placed pile of furs on the floor that she hadn’t noticed when they walked into the room.
“We’ll wed on the spring solstice,” he announced in a tone that brooked no disagreement. “But I plan to start on the children right now.”
“Yes, my lord.” She lowered her eyes demurely. “May I have permission to speak first, sir?”
He fell into character, as she hoped he would. “You have my leave. Speak,” he replied, the stern note that made her pussy clench back in his voice.
She got on her knees. “I’ve been very good today; doing everything you’ve told me to do. I would ask… no, I beg that you begin our life together in this new home by giving me the spanking I deserve, my lord.”
Without waiting for an answer, she bent over with her head resting on the soft furs and pulled her skirt up to the waist, revealing her naked bottom.
“Since you’ve begged me, I will do my duty as head of this household.”
His hand roamed over her bare cheeks. He delivered the first spicy smack, then dipped his finger into her pussy to find her already wet. She moaned.
He smacked her again, just hard enough to send a stab of lust through her. Then he sat up and pulled her over his lap. His cock was already hard, straining against the rough fabric of his trousers.
“Oh, it’s a needy wench I have here! Prepare yourself, woman. And don’t you dare move. Or this spanking is going to last a very long time.”
Selena turned her head and met his eyes. Then, with a saucy grin, she wiggled provocatively on his lap.
The End
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Bonus: Chapter One of His to Tame
Star Portals have existed since the beginning of time. Doorways between worlds in this galaxy—and others. On Earth, they can be found at the convergence of ley lines, those invisible electromagnetic paths crisscrossing our globe. Our ancestors discovered them thousands of years ago, using them to travel to the farthest reaches of the universe.
Flourishing ancient civilizations didn’t die out. The people of Atlantis, the Vikings, the Mayans—when tragedy struck their homelands, they simply migrated through the Portals to places where fresh water flowed, crops grew abundantly, and the climate was nearly perfect.
Human beings descended from our common ancestors are alive today on a trio of planets thousands of light years away. Islands of stability in the universe where vast quantities of natural resources and rare minerals abound.
Neodyma. Iridia. And the icy world farthest from the warmth of the twin suns Phalyx and Zalyx—Gadolinium.
* * *
Earth 2734 AD
Her hands shook as she stroked the cloth over his naked body. He stirred once, and she stopped, studying his face carefully to see if any trace of awareness had returned. But his eyes remained closed, his breathing slow and labored. Still, his heart beat strong… as strong as the first moment she’d laid eyes on him, nearly two months ago.
* * *
Dabbing carefully at the dried blood, Selena assessed the extent of her patient’s injuries. He’d sustained numerous slash wounds and one vicious stab that penetrated deep into his chest below the ribcage. She ran the scanner over his body, starting at his head. Brain intact. Functions impaired due to reduced blood flow. That came as no surprise. His body was drenched in blood. She’d never seen a creature so badly wounded, yet still breathing. He must have an incredible will to live.
She ran it over his torso. Just as she feared. His liver and spleen had been ripped in half by the stab wound. She sealed the wound temporarily
with her laser wand. He’d need a new liver and spleen, but their functions could be taken over for now with her lab equipment. Growing the new organs, however, would take a few months. Until then, she decided, he’d be best off kept in sleep mode. She continued on, the scanner beeping ominously over and over, alerting her that organ after organ was nearing failure.
She thought back to the handwritten note clasped in his hand when they brought him in. Two guards had burst into her lab, gasping for breath after running full tilt while lugging his huge body on a makeshift stretcher.
“We found this man lying on the floor of the Star Portal when we reported for work this morning. Thought he was dead at first, but then he groaned. I don’t mind telling you, it scared me half to death.”
The younger one looked as white as the uniform he wore.
“We brought him here as fast as we could. He’s in such bad shape we didn’t dare risk waiting for help. We don’t have the equipment down there for medical emergencies. Never needed it before. Transport through the Portal is the safest mode of travel there is.”
Selena rushed over, scanning his vital signs while the other guard babbled nervously.
“Is he gonna make it? He’s from Gadolinium—that’s the really cold planet, isn’t it? I guessed it from that fur cloak he’s wrapped in, even before we found the note. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Looks like something from one of the exhibits at the Museum of Planetary History.”
“Note? What note?”
The older guard handed over a wrinkled scrap of paper smeared with dried blood.
“He had this in his hand when we found him. Had to pry it loose from his fingers.”
Selena snatched the paper from him. She could barely make out the hastily scrawled message.
This is Haldor. Viking warrior from Gadolinium. The planet has been attacked by the Tabun. We’ve managed to repel the invaders but this man was mortally wounded saving the life of King Sigrun. We don’t have the technology here to heal him, so I’m sending him to Earth.
I’ll file a full report soon. Right now there are other wounded to tend to.
Talia Anderson, ambassador to Gadolinium, InterStellar Federation
The ambassador had added a line at the bottom.
I vouch for him. He’s a good man. A hero. Save his life. I know you can do it.
An hour had passed since then. The longest hour of her life. She shooed away the chatty guards and got to work. Stripping off the torn remnants of his clothing, she’d assessed the extent of his wounds, then put in an urgent call to her two best lab techs for help.
James and Mindy arrived at almost the same moment, stopping dead in the doorway of the lab. Mindy let out a startled scream at the sight of the massive blood-soaked body lying on a table in the center of the room.
Selena masked her own fear with the take-charge demeanor befitting her position as director of medical services. Her mentor, Luther, had recently retired, appointing her to his position. High time, since he was nearly one hundred thirty. But she missed him right now. Missed his wealth of knowledge, his acerbic wit. No doubt he’d have some choice comments on the sight of her hands trembling as they roamed over the body of a naked man for the first time in her life.
“An impressively well-endowed naked man, at that,” he’d point out, lessening the tension in the room. Then he’d grin at the blush on her cheeks.
Selena shook her head, trying to drive away the frivolous thoughts flooding her mind, the paralyzing fear making her heart pound in her chest. You can do this, she told herself. I know you’ve never seen anyone hurt so badly, but remember—you’ve had years of training to prepare you for this moment. Your people need you to guide them. They’re frightened too. So step up and do your job.
“This man is from Gadolinium, sent here through the Portal,” she began. “He’s been mortally wounded in some primitive form of battle—a swordfight, from the looks of him. James, we need to replace the blood this man has lost. Use the synthetic fluid for now. Once he’s stabilized, I want you to begin replicating his blood. We’ll need to replace all of it with a fresh supply.”
She turned to the young woman still cowering near the doorway.
“Mindy, prepare a pod for him. I’m going to keep him in sleep mode as long as possible. He’ll need an increased flow of oxygen, along with a gravitational adaptor. His body is much larger than that of our typical male patient and I want the strain on his damaged organs lessened. Set it at sixty percent for now and we’ll reevaluate in six hours.”
“Yes, Doctor Reston.”
Well-trained, her assistants did as they were told, but she noticed they kept a wide berth from the table, as though the unconscious barbarian might rise up and attack at any moment.
As she busied herself with familiar tasks, Selena’s pulse returned to normal. It was her duty to remain calm, she told herself. It wouldn’t do for the director of the East Metropolis Medical Center to collapse into a wailing heap on the floor, hands dripping red like some modern-day Lady MacBeth.
Who’d have thought the old man had so much blood in him? The line from a Shakespeare play she’d read as an undergraduate popped unbidden into her mind, one of those useless bits of information she stored. They made her a formidable Trivialities opponent, but right now the words weren’t much comfort as she dabbed at endless pools of blood welling from the man.
Later, hours later, after her assistants had been dismissed for a much-needed break, she allowed herself a few moments to unwind. She’d had James drag a chair in next to the glass pod in one of the private recovery rooms off the main lab. Sinking down wearily, Selena stared at her patient. For the first time, she studied the man in front of her as a whole, instead of taking stock of injured body parts.
Haldor the Viking. From Gadolinium. She knew very little about his home, other than the fact that it was bitterly cold most of the year. Nearly twenty years ago, explorers had ventured into the first of three newly rediscovered Star Portals. Over the last two decades, they’d traveled through the other two Portals as well. Each led to one of the trio of planets settled by ancient tribes from Earth over two millennia ago. Planets where the inhabitants knew nothing of modern technology.
They lived as their ancestors had: in pristine worlds untouched by the havoc that warfare waged with superweapons, combined with reckless pollution and overpopulation, had ravaged on Earth. Rich in rare minerals, the planets were immediately placed under the protection of the InterStellar Federation. Access to them was closely guarded to avoid the plundering that Earth’s natural resources had suffered.
She fingered the torn scrap of paper. A rarity, seen only in museum collections. So fragile. Yet it survived transport through the Portal, a journey that destroyed the functioning of all modern devices. She was no physicist, but she’d been taught it had to do with the electromagnetic anomaly that created the Portal. Ancient writing instruments making markings on pressed, dried wood pulp proved to be the only reliable method of communication between her world and that of her patient.
Mindy had overcome her fear of the huge man long enough to gently rub away dried blood from a wound in his scalp and rinse the long locks clean. His damp hair lay around his head on the pillow, shoulder-length wavy strands of warm deep brown shot with a few streaks of gray at the temples. Odd. She’d always thought the ancient Vikings were blue-eyed and blond.
She studied him clinically. He was slightly above average height by Earthly standards, probably about six foot seven inches tall. Impressive body mass, though. Well-defined musculature. All that unregulated testosterone, no doubt. She shook her head. The same potentially dangerous hormone that led primitive males like this one to solve even minor conflicts with combat.
With that chest, those arms, he obviously spent his days in hard physical labor. Civilized males didn’t have muscle like that. It was one of those archaic physical traits men no longer needed, now that they spent their days doing nothing more taxing than manipulating holographic s
creens.
Younger than she thought at first, though, despite the streaks of gray in his hair. Selena found it hard to estimate the age of humans from other planets who hadn’t had the advantage of rejuvenating therapies, but she guessed he was around forty. Just a kid by Earthly standards, where most of the population now lived to one hundred seventy or more.
Strong jawline, covered with several days’ growth of dark beard. Another result of all that testosterone. Chiseled cheekbones in a face bronzed by long periods outdoors with direct exposure to the twin suns of his galaxy. He had a few minor wrinkles at the corners of his eyes but the rest of his face was unlined and peaceful now. The deep furrows on his brow that made him look old and worn when he arrived had disappeared as pain medication flooded his system.
But his body—that certainly didn’t look old and worn. Although he needed no clothing in the temperature-controlled pod, she’d insisted that Mindy cover him with a sheet, at least from the waist down. Despite her medical training, she’d been shocked and secretly fascinated by the sight of a completely naked male body. She was certain Mindy would be affected as well and Selena couldn’t have her assistant distracted every time she came in to check on him.
They’d all had classes featuring holographic male and females, both with and without skin covering the muscles and organs as part of their medical training. But with current surgical techniques, she’d never found a need to have a patient disrobe. Illness was nearly unheard of. Routine organ replacements required only a tiny patch of skin to be uncovered. Baring one’s body in front of another person for any reason was looked upon as a barbaric practice.
His to Take Page 6
