Viking's Crusade (Viking Ancestors: Rise of the Dragon, #6)

by Purington, Sky

  Ava knew he responded because his lips moved, yet everything went silent before the ground shifted, and the world warped around them. A protector by nature, Tiernan pulled her against him to keep her safe. In turn, despite how heroic his actions, that only made matters worse.

  Moments later, her treat-it-like-a-hostage-situation spun out of control, and all hell broke loose.

  Chapter Two

  UNABLE TO SEE past his own irrational fury, Soren raced at Tiernan with his axe in one hand and a blade in the other. Not just any blade either but the First Blade. A sword that possessed unimaginable power. Something the Scotsman pointed out as he shoved Ava behind him then evaded Soren’s blades without fighting back.

  “I am not your enemy, dragon,” Tiernan roared, dodging left then right. “I willnae fight you nor should you want to fight me. Especially with that blade!” He shook his head. “And I certainly willnae use magic against it so you best snap out of it!”

  If only he could.

  He felt like a possessed madman, ensnared in a berserker rage that made little sense given its source was rooted in mere jealousy. While he could admit it had been building since he learned Tiernan was with Ava, what he felt now was too much. Foreign almost.

  “Stop, Soren!” Brazen as sin, Ava leapt in front of his blade, halting him in his tracks. “We don’t have time for this.” She gestured at their surroundings. “Look!”

  He blinked, only able to see her.

  Though he had glimpsed her briefly through the rift, it wasn’t like seeing her right in front of him. So close, he could reach out and touch her. And hell if it didn’t take everything in him not to. He wanted to yank her into his arms and never let go. He wanted to touch and explore every last inch of her. With thick dark brown hair highlighted with spun gold, startling crystal clear blue eyes and soft skin that seemed aglow, he had never seen a more beautiful creature.

  Fit, she was willowy yet curvy, her muscles slender but there. Her long legs tempted him to bring her to the ground and spread them. He wanted them wrapped around him in the heat of passion. He could almost feel the sweet heat between her thighs. Hear her crazed moans. Because she wouldn't be a quiet lover, would she? Not if he could help it. He would rip away her calm façade and make her scream in pleasure.

  “Move past your emotions and see what’s in front of you, dragon,” she said sharply, cutting into his lusty, out of control thoughts. She was remarkably grounded considering their circumstances. Despite the enhanced emotions she had to be feeling, her gaze remained calm and steady, telling him she had done this before.

  She had talked someone down from the edge.

  “We’re in one of your Norse worlds, but I don’t know which one,” she went on. “So I need you to get yourself under control, realize Tiernan is no threat and pay attention to your surroundings.”

  Not surprisingly considering her level nature and cool mind, his inner dragon finally simmered down, and logic returned.

  As he continued reining in his inner beast, he tried to salvage how he had greeted his mate for the first time. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Ava. Apologies for...” What to say? That he'd lost control of his dragon? But then, that hadn’t entirely felt like his dragon. “That will not happen again.”

  Or so he hoped.

  Though the uncertainty in her eyes told him she didn’t quite believe him, she remained focused on the matter at hand. “Where are we, Soren? Which world?”

  Under control, at last, he honored King Sven’s request of him and nodded civilly enough at Tiernan before he took in their surroundings. The chalet was nothing but rubble, and the foul smelling murky ocean had vastly receded.

  “Is this Helheim?” she asked. “I heard it mimicked Earth, but this wasn’t the description I was given.” Her concerned eyes swept over the land. “Everything’s dead or dying.” She frowned. “And the chalet...” She shook her head, upset. “It looks like it's been bombed.”

  “This is not Helheim but Midgard.” Soren sheathed his axe but kept the First Blade in hand lest they were attacked. “I don’t know why it looks like this.”

  “I do,” Tiernan said softly. His eyes met Ava’s. “This is the future.”

  “We time traveled?” She shook her head again, baffled. “I don’t understand...”

  “Yes, you do,” the Scotsman said when she trailed off.

  “This is post battle,” Soren whispered, astounded. He took in their bleak surroundings. Only one thing made sense. “Skáld won...he made it to Midgard.”

  “I don’t understand.” Ava frowned at Tiernan. “Why did you bring us here?”

  “I didnae.” He looked to where the tree had once stood. Only broken roots remained. “Something else did.”

  She headed for the roots. “These then? What’s left of the tree?”

  When she crouched to touch one, Soren moved fast, caught her elbow, and stopped her. A breath later, their surroundings shifted once again. The tree had returned only now it was half the size it was before. Everything else was back to normal. According to Emily, the ash had seemingly grown overnight when it first appeared so they must have returned to the day the prophecy first sparked in Winter Harbor.

  “Och, I should have seen it right away,” Tiernan exclaimed. “We’re in a time flux of your dragons’ making. It sparked the moment you came in contact with each other.” He threw out his hands and started chanting, his eyes aglow with magic. “I’ll try to stay with you but ‘tis not—”

  That’s all Tiernan got out before everything swirled around them.

  Determined to keep her safe, Soren pulled Ava against him but realized right away that wasn't the best move. Not when his dragon roared to the surface again, and everything hazed red. Its animalistic response to her wiped away all reason.

  He wanted to mount her here and now, despite the danger.

  He envisioned her writhing beneath him, taking him the way she was always meant to.

  “Soren,” she ground out, her voice shaky, fearful. “Stop!”

  Yanked to awareness by the alarm in her voice, he blinked several times only to realize he had dug his hand into her hair roughly and held her too firmly against him. Loosening his grip, he eyed their calm surroundings for danger then stepped away.

  “Again, I'm sorry.” He frowned, and the red faded from his vision. “I have never...” He shook his head, still trying to shake off his strange behavior. The way his dragon overtook him so quickly. Though he had said it before, he felt obligated to say it again. “That will not happen again.”

  “I think we both know that might not be true,” Ava managed.

  Though a flicker of fear remained in her eyes, he thought he saw something else as well, but it vanished before he had a chance to analyze it. Perhaps swiftly rejected desire? She tied her hair back, eyed their surroundings, and pointed out the obvious. “Tiernan didn’t make it.”

  “No.”

  He wished he could take the wary look off her face when she glanced at him again.

  “Do you know where we are?” she asked. They stood on a small rocky shore between a cliff wall and the ocean. “Or what it might mean that we just saw a bleak future when we’re the ones who are supposed to prevent it?”

  “We are just outside Níðhöggr’s Realm.” He sheathed his blade and shook his head. “I don't know why we witnessed such a future, but I hope it was a warning of some sort rather than an actual glimpse of what's coming.”

  “Let’s hope.” She peered up the cliff then, though he sensed she would rather not, met his eyes again, clearly trying to push past her distrust of him. “So where are we supposed to go now?”

  He had been looking forward to meeting his destined mate and hated that they’d started off with her so wary of him. What had his dragon been thinking back there? Why couldn’t he control it? Their dragons were bound to have a strong reaction to each other but still. Behaving that way certainly wasn’t going to endear her human half. As to her dragon, it had been wholly presen
t when their eyes first locked but vanished quickly.

  Whether or not he liked their initial meeting, there was no way to go but forward, so he eyed the wall, grateful when he spied a small opening. “There.” He inspected it only to discover a narrow tunnel. “Unless we swim through the nearby cave entrance leading to the six ships built by my father and Uncle Bjorn, this is our best option.”

  “I’ve heard of those ships.” She peered into the tunnel as well. “Even my dragon eyes can’t make out much in there.”

  When she shivered, he realized just how little she connected with her inner beast, because chilly conditions normally didn’t bother dragons.

  “Your eyes will adjust.” He didn’t miss her flinch when he put his fur cloak around her shoulders. “I will lead the way.”

  Before she had a chance to respond and possibly reject his touch, he took her hand and pulled her after him. It was too risky not to keep her close considering the random Årud warriors that tended to appear out of nowhere. Influenced by Skáld, they were ruthless warriors whose sole mission was to kill.

  Yet again, when he touched her, he had to work to keep his dragon repressed. Would their whole journey be a constant struggle? Worse yet, would this alternate version of his dragon eventually win out? He didn’t want to frighten her any more than he already had.

  “It’s all right,” floated through his mind. “We’ll figure it out.”

  He stopped and tensed at the sound of her voice in his mind. It was intensely arousing. Almost too much to handle in the narrow tunnel. Her sweet scent was all around him. Her lush body inches away. “It would be best if you didn’t speak to me telepathically until we’re someplace...less confined.”

  Would that tame his inner beast, though? Doubtful.

  “I didn’t realize I had spoken within your mind,” she replied softly. “I’ll try not to again.”

  He nodded and continued along the narrow path, admiring how she continued rallying her emotions and kept a level mind. Something he was all too aware of as her thoughts brushed his. She was rational, clear-minded, and determined. All of which served her well, helping her to set aside fear when it threatened to overwhelm her.

  “We both know remaining out of my mind will soon become impossible,” he continued, trying to remain logical while at the same time letting her know he wished to give her space. Time to adjust to him. “The confined area pulls your dragon, and in turn, your thoughts close. It should lessen some once we are out of here.”

  In truth, that probably wouldn’t be the case at all, and she called him on it.

  “So you hope.”

  “So I hope,” he agreed. At least the part of him that wanted to gain her trust. His human half. His dragon half continued to simmer beneath the surface, eager to pull her close and never let go. “Either way, telepathy will become second nature between our dragons so we will need to adjust. More to the point, I will need to temper my inner beast.”

  Though she remained quiet after that, he sensed she had little faith in either of them controlling their dragons as things progressed. Their inner beasts would do whatever it took to find their way back to each other.

  He came to a stop and whispered that she remain silent when he detected people ahead. Moments later, he realized who it was and sped up. Could it be? Had his father and Uncle Bjorn returned? They must have.

  What he discovered when they reached the cave, however, was not what he anticipated.

  Chapter Three

  AVA REMAINED SILENT and watchful as Soren tried to speak to his father and uncle though neither responded. The concern in his eyes was obvious, the flicker of anguish at seeing his dad again palpable.

  “This is another glimpse through time,” he finally relented, troubled. “They can’t see or hear us. So Tiernan was not entirely right. If we were actually time-traveling, we would be able to interact with them.”

  “Technically, he said we were in a time flux of our dragons' making,” she reminded. Though tempted to rest her hand on his arm in comfort, she refrained. “I’d say it’s specifically of your dragon’s making this time seeing how I’ve never been here.” She focused on the silver lining. “Hopefully that means the future we just witnessed isn’t necessarily as it appeared.” She eyed the men working on the ships. “Because I heard your dad and uncle remained stuck as dragons after Skáld put their minds in each other’s bodies.”

  “That was what we were told.” He shook his head. “They never said otherwise when my kin ran across them in Múspellsheimr, but that means very little. Níðhöggr influenced their minds as much as Skáld did, which means the Great Serpent could have controlled just how much they remembered.”

  “True.” She watched the men put the dragonhead into position on the sixth ship. “I think the most important thing right now is to figure out why we’re here. Why our dragons are showing us this now.” She gestured at what the men were doing, knowing the answer before she asked the question. “That’s your dragon, right?”

  He nodded and glanced at her. “How did you know?”

  “Just a feeling.”

  A very strong feeling. A sense of certainty, actually. Not surprising though considering how quickly their dragons were connecting. How convinced she already was that he was, without a doubt, her mate. It was an uncanny second sense that seemed to expand by the moment.

  One that had sparked to life the second their eyes met.

  Then blossomed when he pulled her against him as they traveled here.

  She still reeled from her dragon’s powerful response. The inner battle that had raged between her human and dragon halves at his roughness and dominance. No man had ever treated her like that. She would not allow it. That didn’t stop her reaction, though. While her human half feared, her dragon reveled, craving it with a ferociousness that left her breathless and shaking.

  Yet, interestingly, Soren only detected her human half’s response, and that was fine. She wasn’t ready to admit to anything else yet. To confirm that there was a hidden part of her that seemingly enjoyed that sort of behavior. But then she could tell by his own baffled response both in Maine and when they arrived here that he was equally thrown. He didn’t usually act that way.

  Strangers or not, they would have to talk about this soon because nothing would be accomplished without communication. She wasn’t quite there yet, though. Sure, he might be her fated mate, but a smidge more time to adjust wouldn’t hurt anything. Or so she hoped. Because deep down, or more specifically, her inner dragon, felt the very opposite. They should talk right away and close the distance between them as fast as possible.

  Which, in turn, reminded her all too well that a clock was counting down.

  Bjorn—or was it Heidrek?—chanted and Soren’s wooden dragonhead fused to the ship. They drew closer and listened to them talk during a time that essentially took place before Ava and her sisters ever traveled back to Scandinavia.

  “I only hope they make it this far,” Bjorn said though it was clearly Heidrek speaking. “That my son and his mate have a chance...”

  “They will,” Bjorn assured. “Our children are strong, and their mates will be too.” He clasped Heidrek’s shoulder and met his eyes. “Soren is a leader by nature, so he will see this through. He will lead his people.” He shook his head. “He will not let us down.”

  She glanced at Soren. “Yet Sven’s leading your people, right?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “But I don’t think that’s what uncle is referring to.”

  “It is a lot for any one dragon to take on,” Heidrek said to Bjorn.

  “Soren is one of many dragons,” Bjorn reminded. “He is the sum of all his kin. Most especially, he is the other half of his mate. One who will keep him on course no matter what it takes.”

  “Why does that sound like it’s going to take a whole lot?” she whispered. “Not only that but why does it sound like they already know what’s going to happen?”

  “Because they did at one point,” he murm
ured. “These sails are specific to our individual journeys. Each sail's dragon color symbolizes our dragon’s minds and souls merging in their previous life on Múspellsheimr.”

  “Why did Níðhöggr wipe the specifics from their minds?” she asked. “Why not let them remember everything so they could warn you guys when you traveled to Múspellsheimr?”

  “Likely to protect Níðhöggr’s master plan from Skáld,” Soren said. “He needed magic specific to my father and Bjorn’s to keep us safe, but his overall plan had to remain anonymous.”

  “You are right,” Heidrek replied to Bjorn, pulling their attention back to the men. “Soren will do well. He will see history through in a crusade unlike any other and free us all from this prophecy. He will stay true to himself.” He shook his head. “Nothing will stop him.”

  “That’s the same thing he told Rokar and Tess when they were in our dragon’s home world,” Soren murmured. “Yet I still don’t know what he’s referring to. I have always remained true to myself in all things.”

  “Maybe he’s not referring to this life but the last one,” she said. “Maybe this is one of those random things Níðhöggr wanted them to remember so that it really got through to you.” She arched a brow. “More so your dragon.” She watched the men again. They loaded the sail onto the ship and attached it. “Perhaps that’s why we’re witnessing this. So your dragon understands just how important those words are.”

  He crossed his arms over his broad chest and eyed his father and uncle with a furrowed brow. “So first we witness a future in which we failed and now this. A reiteration of sorts that I need to stay true to myself and not let anything stand in my way.”

  “Which means our dragons are being pretty damn direct,” she said bluntly. “You’ll be tempted to not be true to yourself because of something that stands in your way. If you fall victim to whatever that is, Earth’s screwed.”