by Kate Pearce
Nadia turned her head slowly toward Tess, who was still projecting that sweet serenity. Tess nodded, and Nadia slipped off the bench. Tess scooted around after her.
“Where are you going?” Ollie asked. It wasn’t a great time to powder her nose. He wouldn’t put it past Kelly to corner her in the bathroom and start some shit, and Ollie had no qualms about going in after her.
“Not far. Not far at all.”
Nadia slipped back into her seat, but kept her body turned toward the bar.
Tess tapped Kelly on her shoulder, and the younger woman turned around. “What?”
“I don’t know who you are, and I’d certainly like to correct that, but before I do, I’d just like to make one thing clear,” Tess said, and her voice was as sweet as a songbird.
“What’s about to happen?” Ollie asked Nadia, because she obviously knew whether she wanted to spill it or not. She was grinning too fucking hard.
“Oh, just another day on the job. I believe your queen is putting a peasant in her place.”
“If Kelly touches my—”
Kelly’s crazed laughter filled the room. She found what Tess had to say highly amusing, apparently.
Nadia grabbed his wrist when he started to stand. “Sit. Don’t forget who Tess is.”
“I haven’t forgotten, and I haven’t forgotten who I am, either. You’ve gotta know I’m wired to keep my woman out of trouble. I can’t just fucking sit here and watch.”
“Oh, you’ll sit. Watch. Learn a little about your woman, why doncha?”
Nadia’s wide grin was patently malevolent.
Holy shit.
“Ollie is my mate,” Tess said. “And, yes, I’m Afótama. If you read last month’s newsletter from our office, you may even recognize my face.” Tess framed it with her hands and grinned. “Wasn’t my official portrait fantastic? I know, I know.” She threw her hands up. “Photoshop is such a miracle piece of technology, right? I’m so much prettier in my pictures, but all the same, let’s make one thing perfectly clear.”
“Uh, Kelly? You might want to back up,” someone in the room warned.
“Shut up,” Jeff called from the counter. “You goaded her on, and this what happens when Vikings can’t hold their fucking tongues. Justice. We don’t need to convene at the Allthing to mete it out. Ain’t that right, queenie?”
“Whatever,” Kelly said. “All of you old guys are punks. That’s why all the girls are dating outside the gene pool now. The Afótama bitches can have you.”
“Thank you so, so much. We’d love to take them all home. We’ve got lots of cold bitches who’d love a sexy man with a big dick to warm them up on the cold desert nights,” Tess said. She smiled sweetly. “Really. Thank you.”
Kelly scoffed.
Tess punched her lights out.
Kelly dropped flat on her back, and some jackass shouted, “Fight!”
“Hell, yeah!” Nadia said, and cackled. She waded into the fray, swinging at a couple of waitresses making their way toward Tess.
The serenity Tess had been dwelling in gave way, and fury took its place. She shook out her fist, and followed Nadia into the fracas. He’d never seen anger like that on Tess’s face. Afótama were, for the most part, very mild in demeanor. This had to be her other side taking the spotlight.
“Fuck,” Ollie muttered when a drunken airman staggered his way. “You don’t want to fight me, dude,” he warned him.
The airman blew a raspberry at swung, aiming badly, and sending himself toppling to the floor.
“Like I said. You don’t want to fight me.” He scanned the room for Tess, and didn’t see her. She’d been swallowed by the flailing mass, and he was going to have to wade in after her.
His girl swung like a prizefighter. Natural fighter or not, she’d obviously had plenty of opportunities to practice that punch. And he’d been thinking she was some delicate blossom? Nah, she was a desert rose.
Even better.
He cracked a couple of heads together as he eased into the fight, and studied their faces as they fell to the floor. He shrugged. A couple of jackasses. He was pretty sure one of them still owed him money for a motorcycle repair.
He moved in farther, saw Tess straddling Monica Pelter and holding the struggling woman’s wrists against the floor, and looked to the door when he heard a familiar voice shout, “Dad?”
“Matt?”
What the hell was he doing at the Longship? He was supposed to have been at work.
He was so caught up in watching Matt that Ollie almost missed dodging the chair being swung at his head.
As he launched himself to Tess and peeled his scrappy little queen off Monica, a shotgun blast thundered through the bar. As the ceiling plaster settled, Jeff shouted, “All right, break it up, motherfuckers. Consider that this quarter’s spontaneous Longship bar brawl and call it over. This is why I can’t have nice things.” He jumped down from the bar and put his gun under the counter. “Show some goddamn respect for the queen, you pieces of shit. And Amber, if you so much as look nasty at my future wifey again, I’ll not only fire your ass, but dock your last check. You dig me?”
From somewhere nearby, Nadia scoffed.
Amber muttered, “Yeah, yeah.”
As Matt picked his way through the overturned room, Ollie gave Tess the once-over. He used his thumb to wipe a smear of blood—hers?—off her chin. Fuck. His job was keeping her out of scenarios like this, and he’d failed. “I wish I could say it’s not always like this here, but I’d be lying. I’m sorry. You deserve better.”
She let out a ragged breath. “It’s my fault. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a fight. I had to be good because I was on probation for so long, but…something snapped. I’m sorry.”
“Probation?”
“Still want me?” she asked quietly in what had to be an artificially neutral tone. She wasn’t doing a good enough job at keeping him out now. He felt it—her terror.
“Hey.” He put his lips to her ear and whispered, “Look at my crotch and figure it out. Do you know how hot you are? Tiny little berserker.”
She slumped with relief and laughed. “Shit, Ollie.” She slipped her hands into his back pockets and gave his ass a possessive grope. Tipping her chin up and locking her gaze on his, she added, “She was disrespectful. I may be submissive in the bedroom, but I’m not going to let anyone insult you. If I weren’t queen, I would have given her a second chance. I would have slapped her down back at the table.”
“Well, damn, baby.” Had Kristy ever stood up for him, even once? If she had, she sure as shit couldn’t remember it.
Matt stood across the aisle, or what passed for an aisle in the current mess, seething. “Way to pick ’em, Dad.”
“Don’t start,” Ollie said. “Don’t even fucking start. Get over there by the door and dazzle these airmen so they’ll forget the shit they heard in here.”
“Dad…”
“Now, Matt.”
The surly teenager rolled his eyes and walked away, muttering disparaging remarks Ollie was going to pretend he didn’t hear.
“Dazzle them?” Tess cocked up an eyebrow.
Ollie wiped his hands clean on his jeans and swatted plaster off her clothes, paying special attention to the few minor specks of dust at the top of her cleavage. The things she’d done with those tits in his dreams… Maybe he’d get her to reenact some of it one day.
She swatted his hand and dropped her jaw. “Ollie! Dirty bird. God, I see what you’re thinking. Get your brain out of the gutter.”
“Nope.” He pulled her toward the bar. “It’s all your fault.”
“It seems everything is always my fault. Now, what were you were saying about dazzling?”
“It’s a raider thing. We can make people forget what they’ve seen.”
“So you can steal from them and make them forget it?”
“Better than killing them, baby.”
“I’m not sure if that makes it better, but I’m glad you
’re not bloodthirsty murderers. That would make integrating the groups somewhat difficult.”
“You might want to keep your voice down about that.”
She shrugged. “No. No secrets. It wasn’t my goal before, but it’s obvious it needs to be done. Standing here in Fallon, I feel the brokenness in this group so much more strongly. Are you going to get in the way of me fixing it?”
Get in her way? He’d die before he held her back.
“No, baby. Fix it.”
17
“Unbelievable.” Harvey paced in front of the worktable in Ollie’s garage and yanked at his hair. “I left you alone for a few days, Tess. You couldn’t hide out for a few days?”
Tess slumped on her stool. “It was longer than a few days. It was more like ten. What did you expect me to do? Do you know how tough that is for me? I’ve spent most of my life as a loner, and now I need people around me. Both of you were gone, and I was desperate for some control. I went after the one of you who was stationary at the moment, which was Ollie.”
“You make it sound like we’re interchangeable,” Ollie said.
“Of course you’re not,” Tess said. “Not even a little.”
Harvey shook his head. “If that were the case, she wouldn’t want both of us. Did you tell him, Tess?”
“Tell me what?” Ollie asked.
Tess gave her head a hard shake and slipped off the stool. “Not now,” she projected.
“Did you tell your kids why you went to Norseton, Ollie?” Harvey asked, “Or did you tell them where you were going at all? Matt’s reaction to Tess doesn’t seem like something that would come from a person familiar with the situation.”
“I told him what he needed to know at the time, and at the time, I didn’t want to fill his head with ideas about something I didn’t know would be a sure bet.”
“But, you came to me willing to fight,” Tess said, sounding understandably piqued.
The asshole was going to rake her over the emotional coals without knowing why, and all Harvey could do was tread carefully. She didn’t want to broach the subject of their permanent arrangement just yet, and he didn’t know why. To him, it made sense they get the discussion out of the way so they can move on. Tess obviously had other plans.
“That hasn’t changed.” Ollie turned to Harvey and crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’t pushed the issue as of yet because of all the pulls Tess has on her time right now. I don’t want to make her life, or her role, more difficult when she’s still at the bottom of the learning curve and has so many people demanding her attention. If you insist on pushing me, I will insist we lay out the terms of the challenge and resolve this ridiculous triangle once and for all.”
“Ridiculous? Maybe you want to choose your words a little more carefully, man. You’re talking about upheaval and rearranging our life for something uncertain? I did that. The day I found out that Tess was one of ours, I put everything on the back burner to help her family locate her. I didn’t even have a notion that she’d accept me as her consort, and I wasn’t about to suggest that it should be me. I changed everything in my life, though, because I wanted her to have a familiar face to look to in a sea of strangers and someone she trusted to talk to. That was before sex came into play, and you’re complaining about maybes?”
“Do you want a certificate? A trophy? Obviously you’re fishing for some kind of kudos. Well, good for you.” Ollie clapped sarcastically. “You’re alone in the world. No attachments, really, besides your fucking job. When I made my challenge, I made it knowing I could lose, and the fight could go badly. I have two sons to take care of, and if I died, I didn’t want them to know it was over a woman.”
Tess slouched. She drew into herself like a wounded little girl who’d lost all hope. Harvey hadn’t seen that little girl in a long, long time. He thought she’d gone away for good.
Fuck.
Ollie sighed. “Tess, you know I didn’t mean it like it sounds. I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”
“Really?” Harvey laughed. “For someone who’s supposed to be so tuned in to how she’s feeling, you certainly fucked that one up.”
“Stay out of it.”
Harvey shook his head. “I won’t. Even if the gods didn’t lead me to Tess five or six years ago and plant her into my dreams every night, I know with every fiber of my being that she’s meant to be mine. So, yeah, I’m going to stand up for her and run to her defense even when she doesn’t want me to—even when the rules say we defer to the queen in all things. I push her to her limits and past them because I know she’s capable of being great. It’s going to be me helping her earn her name, and I may not stand beside her with a gun or a blade, but if you get in my way, I will be dangerous.”
Ollie pressed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and closed his eyes.
Tess leveled Harvey in her stare. “I felt that. What did you just do?”
“Stay out of this one, Tess. You have to trust me to do what needs to be done.”
“Harvey, I’m going to ask you again. What did you just do?”
He turned back to Ollie without answering. Tess had her tricks, and Harvey had his. “Go on, Ollie. Go ahead and push for your challenge. Maybe we can be done and have the place cleaned up by the time your kids get back from your aunt’s.”
“That’s not the way it works,” Ollie said. Now he rubbed his temples. His eyes were going redder by the moment. The discomfort would only grow worse—that, Harvey knew for sure. What he didn’t know was how to reverse what he’d started, if it was even possible.
He’d only done this on purpose once—two years ago when the last guy tried to fuck Tess over.
“We’re modern Vikings, so it makes sense that we have new rules for hólmganga, right? Come on. They made up shit as they went along just like us. Let’s be spontaneous and get it out of the way, because like you said, being in this silly little triangle is becoming tedious.”
He increased his psychic press on Ollie, and stole a glance at Tess.
She didn’t even seem to be there. Her gaze was in their general direction, but she appeared to be looking without seeing. He found her energy in the middle of the Afótama web right where it should be, but felt nothing from her. She was either shutting him out, or she’d gone into a trance and really wasn’t there.
Well, good. If she couldn’t hear it, she wouldn’t kick his ass about it later.
“She wants to keep both of us, you know? Like, really, really keep us. She doesn’t want us to go through with a challenge.”
Ollie’s lips pressed into a flat line, and he shook his head. “I must insist on a challenge, and you should be insisting on one, as well.”
Harvey walked slowly to Tess and passed a hand in front of her eyes. She didn’t respond, not even to blink. He skimmed his thumb down her jaw and nudged her hair behind her ear. “A couple of weeks ago, I would have, but here’s the thing about being Afótama. We’re at the queen’s beck and call and we do what she wants because it’s best for all of us. Tess doesn’t ask for much.”
“No, she doesn’t. What’s your point?”
“Gods, you really have the idiot ape thing down pat. Use that evolved brain you were born with and put the pieces together.”
“I’m trying to. You’d give her whatever she wanted. I get that.”
“She wouldn’t ask me for more than I could give her, and so far, she hasn’t asked for what she wants. She hopes. I can tell she hopes.”
“What you’re suggesting is fucking insane. I’d lose the little respect I have left in this group, and what would my sons think of me?”
“Who cares about your status out here? For a group of people so scornful of rules, you seem to have a lot of hang-ups. And as far as your sons go?” Harvey shrugged again, and got in Ollie’s face. “Your job is to parent them to the best of your ability, not to impress them. If they don’t like Afótama? Fine. Their loss. If they don’t like Tess? Goddamned shame, but that’s their prero
gative. As long as they show her respect, we’ll all cope just fine. I don’t give a shit about what they think about the arrangement or me. Their distaste is theirs to own and doesn’t hurt my feelings in the slightest bit. So what’s the problem, really? Are you afraid you might accidentally see my dick and like it?”
Ollie’s punch connected to Harvey’s chin with a loud crack. The pain registered on delay, and fuck, he just knew that shit was going to leave a bruise. When brought his head back upright, he caught Ollie rearing back for the second half of the one-two combo.
He ducked in time to miss it and lunged for Ollie’s midsection. He put all his weight into the push, and sent the bigger man falling backward to the floor.
Before Ollie could recover and throw him off, Harvey increased that mental squeeze on him, and this time it was him who threw the punch. Ollie’s nose crunched under his fist, and instead of being joyful at his aim, he regretted having made the blow. Tess liked that guy’s face, and Harvey had just broken it.
She was going to be mad. He hated making her mad.
Ollie growled, and grabbed Harvey’s ponytail. He yanked it forcefully, and clamped his free hand around Harvey’s neck when it was exposed.
He squeezed it hard, but Harvey wasn’t going to squirm for him. He wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. This was about conceding. If Tess could do it, so could Ollie.
“I don’t give a fuck about your dick,” Ollie said.
Harvey couldn’t talk with the other man’s hand around his throat, he said telepathically, “It’s not your job to give a fuck. It’s Tess’s. I’m confident enough in my manhood that I’m not put off by her needing two men. You are.”
Ollie squeezed tighter, and Harvey directed wave after wave of psychic garbage at him. Ollie loosened his grip to cover his head—as if that would stop what ailed him—and Harvey used that opportunity to slam his elbow into Ollie’s chest.
That got the other man off him, but being the warrior that he was, Ollie recovered fast. He lunged at Harvey as Harvey did the same at him, and things became a blur. Punches landed, sure, and there was some pain, but Harvey’s body seemed to be moving of its own volition—his self-defense programming kicking in on high gear. Ollie seemed to be operating in much the same fashion.
