Story Overview
Kenzie is determined to be there for her sisters no matter what it takes. Even if it means giving herself over to her fated mate, Viking Eirik Sigdir. When she ends up traveling through time to tenth century Scandinavia, she’s ready for whatever comes her way. Until a chance encounter with Hel, the Goddess of Helheim, who has long loved Eirik.
Having recognized Kenzie from the moment he saw her picture in the twenty-first century, Eirik realizes the time has finally come. A secret close to the heart is about to be revealed, and the stunning red-head is the only person capable of protecting what matters to him most.
Unfortunately, Hel has already stolen Kenzie away. Now he needs to convince the goddess to give him back his bargaining chip because of a little-known prophecy. One that foretells he must offer up the woman he loves as ransom to get back what has been taken from him.
Viking’s Ransom
Viking Ancestors
Rise of the Dragon
Book Four
Sky Purington
COPYRIGHT © 2019
Vikings’s Ransom
Sky Purington
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Edited by Cathy McElhaney
Cover Art by Tara West
Published in the United States of America
Dedication
For the newest members of the family, Harley, Pink, and Floyd. Welcome!
Also, for my beloved calico of twenty-two years. You will be missed, my friend.
Contents
Story Overview
Pronunciations
Series Overview
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Coming Soon
Just Curious?
Exclusive Invitation
Midgard Locations Glossary
Nine Worlds
Previous Releases-Best Reading Order
Family Trees
About the Author
Pronunciations
Alfheimr (olv-himmr)
Aðísla (ahd-ee-slah)
Årud (a-row-oo-do)
Eirik (Eye-rick)
Håkon (Hawk-ohn)
Helheim (hel-himm)
Hvergelmir (vur-gel-mur)
Jörmungandr (yor-mun-gun-der)
Jotunheim (yo-den-himm)
Kaðlín (ˈkʰaðlin)
Midgard (mid-gard)
Múspellsheimr (moo-spell-shay-mm)
Mt. Galdhøpiggen (gall-ter-peegan)
Naðr Véurr (nahdr vuu-ah)
Niflheim (nee-full-himm)
Níðhöggr (neathe-högr or neathe-herd)
Ragnarök (rag-nar-ock)
Shea (shay)
Svartalfheim (svaret-ah-ul-fu-himm)
Vanaheim (van-a-himm)
Series Overview
Long before the dawn of time on Midgard, or Middle Earth, war raged on the fiery world of Múspellsheimr. Dominant, restless creatures that were half man, half dragon forever struggled for more power. Two factions rose above the rest, crushing their opponents until none rivaled them but one another. Of equal strength and might, they fought for hundreds of years until the great serpent Níðhöggr met his end in the jaws of his double-headed rival. As he lay dying, the mighty dragon used the last of his magic to ensure his lineage would not be extinguished but resurrected by a dark prophecy. In his need for vengeance, Níðhöggr vowed his serpent offspring would someday destroy all trace of his nemesis. Therefore, he might from the afterlife, at last taste the glory of victory through his descendants. And so the story goes...
Introduction
The ongoing war between Níðhöggr's ancestors and Skáld's dragons has already brought three couples together, the last being Davyn and Shea who defeated their enemies. But not before another far too sinister enemy slipped through a gateway between Múspellsheimr and Helheim. Now Kenzie, taken by Goddess Hel in tenth century Scandinavia, has since mysteriously ended up back in the twenty-first century with no memory of how she got there. And so the mystery unravels...
Chapter One
Winter Harbor, Maine
Present Day
“I’M NOT SUPPOSED to be here,” Kenzie murmured, staring up at the massive ash tree in the backyard of her Maine chalet. “From the second I got here, I wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Naturally, the tree offered no response. Rather, it remained perfectly still though she felt the icy wind on her face. Was she dreaming? Because it almost felt like it. The world was too bright. Too full of color.
Too...different.
Until it wasn’t.
Just like that, things weren’t otherworldly and strange but back to normal.
“Kenz!” her sister Tess said from the deck, clearly relieved to see her.
Moments later Kenzie's golden retriever Harley leapt the railing and raced her way. She crouched and laughed as he ran into her arms and licked her cheek.
“I’m here boy,” she murmured. “I’m home.”
But how? Why? Because the last thing she remembered was meeting a stunning woman, who said she would bring her back to her sisters in tenth century Scandinavia but instead brought her here.
“She told me her name,” she murmured to Harley, rubbing the side of his neck as he kept licking her cheeks, “but I can’t seem to remember it now.”
Or could she? It was right on the tip of her tongue.
As soon as she stood, Tess wrapped her up in a big hug. “I was getting worried.”
“Why?” She pulled back and frowned, taking in Tess’s concerned look. “Sage and Shea both returned at one point or another so you had to know I would too.”
“I didn’t know jack shit,” Tess muttered, scowling at the tree before her eyes flickered from Harley to Kenzie. “Outside of Shea and Davyn popping in briefly, Harley and Pink have been a mess.” She shook her head. “Totally reclusive, missing you.”
She didn't blame her sister for eying the tree like she had. After all, it had been put there by their ancestor Níðhöggr and was at the root of their current situation. One that tossed them back and forth through time in order to wage his war which meant mating with their destined Sigdir dragon.
“No Floyd then?”
She frowned. “And have the other two been fed? Had water?”
Pink and Floyd were siblings. Brother and sister. Two gray striped tiger cats that had stuck by her side ever since she’d rescued them years ago. Harley had joined her shortly after that, and the four of them became a solid pack. She didn’t go anywhere without them...until recently.
Until she had become entrenched in an ancient vendetta thanks to Níðhöggr.
“Floyd’s been missing since you traveled back in time,” Tess replied. “Harley and Pink ate and drank just fine, but they really missed you, Sis. Just as much as me.”
“And me,” came a voice she hadn’t heard in years. “Wicked missed you, Sis.”
“Ava,” she whispered, blinking back tears as she spied her long-lost beautiful sister standing on the deck. The sun illuminated her hair and made her appear every bit the angel she was.
Or had been anyway.
Ava smiled as she came down, closed the distance and embraced Kenzie, murmuring, “I’m back...I’m here for you.”
Though Tess lived her life on the open road, she checked in every so often. Ava? Not for over a year. But then when Ava went rogue, she really spread her wings and went AWOL outside the United States.
“Damn, Ava...” She pulled back and held her youngest sister at arm’s length. “Where have you been?”
Smart as a tack, Ava had graduated from college at an early age and became the youngest government diplomat in history. Though she shared little of what she had actually done for their country, Kenzie knew it was a lot. Her job, or something going on in her life at the time, had broken her and she called it quits. Since then, to the best of her knowledge, Ava had been overseas in poverty stricken areas, trying to save one community after another. Trying to bring peace to the world one village at a time.
“Let’s get inside out of the cold.” Tess ushered them along. “We’ll catch up over a drink.”
Didn’t they always when it came to Tess? Not that she had a drinking problem, but she was quick to the booze, which told Kenzie her internal demons were as deep as Ava’s likely were.
“Easy there killer,” Tess muttered, likely catching those thoughts as she popped a piece of Nicorette gum in her mouth. “Damn judgmental thoughts, eh?”
“Probably,” Kenzie relented, not sorry in the least as she scooped Pink up off the deck and said hello. “But true.”
“I am who I am.” Tess shrugged a shoulder at Kenzie and rolled her eyes, not concerned what anyone thought about her habits. “Take it or leave it, love.”
And that was Tess. Like Kenzie, she didn’t give a shit what people thought of her or how she chose to live her life. Ava was like that too, she supposed. Nowadays anyway. Once upon a time, she was more like Sage and kept a close eye on all her sisters. It didn’t matter that she was the baby and Sage the oldest. They just synced up and became the sisters the other three turned to the most.
After they headed inside, Tess pulled out some shot glasses and eyed Kenzie. “So are you gonna fill us in on what’s going on in tenth century Scandinavia?” One brow arched in amusement. “Besides the unthinkable happening and our Cupid sister Shea falling in love?”
Shea was probably the wildest of the five sisters, forever determined to remain single, but had recently fallen head-over-heels for a Sigdir dragon. Davyn to be precise.
“They ended up mating,” Kenzie confirmed, “and everything’s okay.” She frowned after the words rolled out of her mouth. “And I have no idea how I know that.”
Tess and Ava frowned in concern before Ava cocked her head and considered her. “Where were you last, Kenzie? Who were you with?”
“I was at the Ancient’s Lair in Scandinavia then I was...” She trailed off, almost recalling more details about the woman she had been with, but the memory got away from her once again. “I was with Shea and Davyn, then I was at the Fortress briefly then...somewhere else...before I ended up here.”
“Good.” Ava nodded, offering her the warm but firm smile she had always been so great at. The one that said you’re safe where you ended up in life and you should focus on that. Nothing else. Nothing that’s going to unduly stress you out. “Why don’t you sit, have a drink and relax, then we’ll go from there.”
Kenzie nodded and allowed Ava to steer her to the kitchen bar stool as Tess poured shots. Both sisters looked remarkably well all things considered. Not that either had experienced even an ounce of what was heading their way.
Tess was as gorgeous and laid back as ever, not wearing her usual black biker outfit but sweats, flip flops and an oversized Harley Davidson hoodie. Though make-up free with her thick black hair clipped up haphazardly, she still looked remarkably beautiful.
And Ava? As always, she was hard to look away from. Not just because of her stunning natural beauty, but what seemed to shine from inside her. Yet something had changed in her crystal clear blue eyes. They were warier than ever. Watchful.
In fact, there were several subliminal changes about Ava, weren’t there? Where she would have once kept her dark chocolate brown hair with light brown highlights tied back neatly, now wisps poked out here and there. Where she usually maintained an at-ease posture now her narrow shoulders were tense beneath her support-a-cause T-shirt. At one time, Ava would have worn nothing but Whitehouse-par expensive business suits but not anymore...not nearly.
Rather than go into detail verbally, Kenzie caught them up on everything that had happened to her in tenth century Scandinavia by allowing them to look through her mind’s eye. Which, all and all, hadn’t been that much yet. At least when it came to meeting the Sigdir dragons they were supposed to mate with.
“I met plenty of the Ancients,” she conceded. “Who are pretty interesting once you get to know them.”
They were called the Ancients because they were amongst the first dragons to reside on Earth, or Midgard as the Vikings called it, forty-five thousand years ago. As it happened, they had traveled through time to help out their descendants, the Sigdirs, in the last war and remained in tenth century Scandinavia after that.
“Hmm,” Tess pondered. “So I saw Shea and Davyn here after they had been with you then they vanished again. You’re positive Shea’s okay? You’re sure they mated, defeated the twins and saved the day?”
“Yes.” Kenzie nodded, absolutely sure. “I saw her and Davyn that morning then...”
“Then what?” Ava pressed when she trailed off.
“Then Shea was upset about something...someone,” she murmured as snippets of a forgotten conversation began to surface. “The woman who I ended up with I think.”
Tess frowned. “And you have no recollection of who the woman is?”
“No,” she whispered, narrowing her eyes. “Or do I?”
“You will,” came a deep, unexpected voice from the backdoor. “Soon.”
Startled because they hadn’t heard him coming—which was damn near impossible when it came to dragons—they spun to find a tall man standing in the doorway. Hot as hell, he wore supple black leather pants, a black leather jerkin, and heavy boots. Based on his broad shoulders and substantial height, he was definitely a Sigdir and undoubtedly Håkon’s brother. His hair was dark brown, military short and his dark aura...noticeable.
“Eirik,” she murmured, unable to pull her gaze from his dark blue, otherworldly eyes. She had heard not to mention sensed through Sage’s mind’s eye that he was a creepy sonofabitch, but that wasn’t her first impression of him. Rather, she sensed something else entirely. A heartbreaking sense of distance, for lack of a better description. Overwhelming isolation.
Which made sense considering what she had heard about him.
“Yes, I am Eirik,” he confirmed, homing in on her from the door. “I have come to protect you, Kenzie.”
Tess and Ava had shifted into a better position to defend her if necessary. Shea might be the best fighter of all the sisters, but the rest of them weren’t entirely without skill. Not to mention their Ancestral DNA was ignitin
g so fighting should come pretty easily.
“You’re here to protect me,” she said softly, well aware of what that meant and not about to hold back. “You mean try to mate with me.”
“Yes,” he replied, not holding back either. His tone grew a little tight as both Harley and Pink headed his way. “We should not stay here long.”
Though she heard they had behaved this way with Håkon, she was still shocked at her animals' overly friendly behavior with a perfect stranger.
“Seems they remember you,” Tess commented as Harley sat at his feet and stared up at him happily. “And it seems they like you as much as they did before.”
So Eirik had been here when she was gone? Clearly. And it seemed her animals had already become acquainted. Pink disliked most people, so Kenzie was particularly surprised by her behavior as she rubbed against his leg and purred loudly.
“Shea said you were with Floyd in Níðhöggr’s Realm.” She headed his way, hopeful as she tried to see around him onto the deck. “Did he return with you then?”
“I was not with your cat,” he murmured. “And have not seen it there or here.”
She stopped beside him and frowned. “Really? Not even a glimpse of a grey striped tiger cat?”
He shook his head.
“I find that hard to believe considering Pink’s reaction to you and she’s the shy one,” she countered, more aware of his proximity by the moment. Aware of an unexpected heat she had never felt before. Not just that but she sensed him in a way she didn’t usually sense others. So she knew he wasn’t being as truthful as he could be. “You knew Floyd was following you, didn’t you?” She narrowed her eyes. “You knew, but you kept him at a distance.”
“You don’t feel it do you,” he said softly, the dark cobalt blue in his thickly lashed eyes near black as his disarming gaze lingered on hers.
“Feel what?” she said, not about to admit that she felt a sexual heat fluctuating between them. Or should she say, between their dragons. Because their other halves were definitely responding to each other and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Mostly, because she had never felt it before.
Viking's Ransom (Viking Ancestors: Rise of the Dragon, #4) Page 1
