Viking's Ransom (Viking Ancestors: Rise of the Dragon, #4)

by Purington, Sky

  “Anything.”

  And he meant it. Mostly. Because there was only one thing he would not share.

  “Who is Hel to you?”

  Though he had hoped for more time before revealing this, she deserved the truth.

  Or a close version of it.

  “My closest friend,” he said evenly. “And the woman I love.”

  Chapter Three

  Scandinavia

  932 A.D.

  KENZIE WAS CAREFUL not to blink at Eirik’s admission but remained indifferent, caught as it were, between personalities. The two sides of her he saw clearer than anyone ever had. But that didn’t mean he knew she was aware when she was one or the other. Based on the tidbit of shit he had just shared, she would take that little secret to her grave and use it against him at every opportunity until this fiasco was over.

  Ignoring the strange tightening in her chest and the inability to breathe quite right at his revelation about Hel, she kept her face expression free and nodded. “Thank you for being honest.”

  Then, weapon at the ready, she left him behind and headed down one of several tunnels leading out of the cave. She couldn’t care less that she didn’t know where she was going so long as it led away from him. Had Shea known about this? She must have. So, why didn’t she tell her?

  Even as she thought it, she recalled her sister getting ready to tell her something before she and Davyn vanished. She remembered the trepidation in her eyes. Shea had known and was getting ready to tell her, wasn’t she? It made sense why she was so reluctant. After all, she had to break the news to her that Kenzie was meant for a dragon who was already in love with someone else.

  “Kenzie,” Eirik called out. Not loud, or pleading. Not trying to stop her. Just matter-of-fact. “You will die if you continue in that direction.”

  “That’s okay.” Because it really was. Or at least she had accepted the idea the first time she was thrust back in time into a lair of ancient dragons in a land she didn’t know. “Death’s around the corner pretty much everywhere you go here.”

  He didn’t respond, but she didn’t need him to. Rather, she relied on dragon sight and kept going. She wasn’t pissed off. Not really. Did it suck she was possibly meant for a guy who loved another woman? A goddess? Hell, yeah. But it was what it was.

  Or at least that’s what she kept telling herself.

  The truth was she had never cared all that much about men or relationships, and she wasn’t sure why. When her on again off again boyfriend did stupid things, it didn’t overly faze her. In all honesty, she was just in it to get laid. She had never truly cared about him or any man before him. The only connections that truly mattered were with her family and animals.

  Honestly, she frowned at the thought, this was the first genuine emotion she had ever felt toward a man. Because her dragon was definitely reacting adversely to the news about Hel, wasn’t it? She could feel it churning inside her, baring its teeth, lashing out.

  As expected, Eirik pursued her. And despite his assurances, she knew if she didn’t go with him eventually he’d do something drastic like throw her over his shoulder again. Yet it seemed he was going to give her more of an opportunity to change her mind this time.

  “Does it bother you that Hel is my closest friend?” Eirik asked, his voiced echoing behind her as he followed at a distance. “Or that I love her?”

  “Neither bothers me,” she lied because it seemed like the thing to say. “I’m returning to the Ancients.” Should she tell him? Why not? If he could have another, why couldn’t she? “I’m rejoining Leviathan.”

  “Then you are rejoining the end of your story.” She detected the ever-so-slight agitated deepening of his voice. “Once claimed by the Ancient’s arch-alpha, you will be off limits to all others.”

  “So be it,” she muttered, not concerned mostly because she and Leviathan understood each other. She had made sure of that since he tried to battle Davyn and take Shea as his own when her sister had first arrived at the Ancient’s Lair.

  Eirik didn’t respond right away, but she knew he was still there. She couldn’t hear his movements, but she could sense him...feel him. Darkened corners suited him.

  “Because you were born to it,” she whispered, understanding him more with every step she took. “Born to keep to the corners because you had no choice.”

  It was that, verbalizing what she knew to be true of him, not to mention having half a heart, that made her stop and turn. She didn’t say anything at first, just peered into the darkness until she spied him with her superior sight. Until she saw him standing a ways off with his eyes locked on hers. He didn’t appear tense or caught off guard just used to it. Used to being peered at across the way wondering if someone could see him. Truly see him.

  “If I’m not safe at the Ancient’s Lair,” she said firmly, not asking questions about Hel because she refused to let it bother her. “Then bring Leviathan to me. He’s my friend, and I’ll feel safer if he’s here.”

  “Leviathan is friend to no one.” The seething undercut of his blunt statement proved he refused to budge on that assessment. “He only wishes to take you.” His tone became a little too condescending. “Surely you see that.”

  “What I see is the difference between how two Scandinavian dragons treated me,” she said just as bluntly, very much her and not her Gemini half. “One told me exactly who he was from the moment we met and precisely what his intentions were.”

  “Which are?”

  “Sex.” She shrugged. “Then maybe mating.” Her eyes remained direct. “But always, above all, friendship and respect.”

  “Did he say such then?” he said softly, shifting closer, the incredulousness in his voice obvious. “Friendship and respect? Truly?” He shook his head. “Because Leviathan does not promise things like that to anyone. So what makes you so different?”

  “If you don’t already know, then that’s your loss.”

  She cringed a little because that sounded a bit too much like an invitation. One it seemed he was going to take. Or so she thought as he closed the distance between them. She stood her ground when he stopped in front of her and eyed her as though he was trying to figure out just how close she and Leviathan had become.

  “Did you lie with him?” he murmured, less than a foot away from her, his pulsing aura still detectable in the darkness.

  “Did you lie with Hel?” she asked even though she already knew the answer.

  “Yes.”

  “Did you lie with Leviathan?” he repeated.

  Though tempted to say, “yes,” to see if his reaction looked anything like what she had just felt at his admission, she shook her head. “Not yet.” She shrugged and remained as blunt as him. “But I’m strongly considering it.”

  Because hell was she overdue and Leviathan was hot.

  “You should not lie with him,” Eirik stated, surprised, it seemed by the flare of fire in his eyes though he remained by all accounts more matter-of-fact than ever. “I don’t think my dragon will like it.”

  “Can’t say that’s a huge priority for me,” she said, well aware her dragon might disagree.

  Though her other half had come at him hard initially, she got the impression that it was on purpose. That it was drawn to him and pushing his buttons to see how he would react.

  It was trying to draw him out.

  Trying to pull him beyond the stoic man standing before her.

  “Why are you doing this, Kenzie?” His expression remained blank. “Why would you lie with another dragon when you know it’s necessary to mate with mine to defeat our enemy? To help your sisters and my people?”

  “Because, like you, I was forced into this.” And why should he care if he was in love with someone else? “I never ruled out mating with you, Eirik. I’ll do whatever it takes to help my sisters.” She shook her head. “But considering what you just shared about Hel, I don’t see what the big deal is if I find pleasure on the side, do you? Don’t I have the right to hang out wi
th someone I get along with?” She cocked her head. “Or is that just something you get to enjoy?”

  Unfortunately, her tone didn’t stay as level as she would have liked. But it couldn’t be helped. Why should she be chaste if he wasn’t? Why should she commit to one person if he wasn’t going to?

  “So we mate and save the day,” she continued, unable to read his expression. “Then we can be with who we really want to be with on the side. Like an open marriage of convenience.”

  “My dragon will not like that,” he repeated, sounding far surer this time. “I don’t think your dragon will either.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

  She became more aware of his proximity by the moment. The heat fluctuating between them. The unexpected ache blossoming between her thighs. Both grew more still as he inhaled the scent of her arousal almost as if he were trying not to. Yet he was, and she knew how aroused it made him in turn. How off balance he felt by his reaction.

  “Don’t worry,” she managed, putting a little distance between them. “It’s natural. You’re a male dragon.” She shook her head. “I won’t tell Hel.”

  “No, you won’t,” he agreed. “Because you will not be seeing her.”

  “Even if I did, I wouldn’t.”

  “If you did, you could,” he countered. “She knows we are to mate.”

  “But does she know I can be near you without growing ill?” she murmured, curious and just fine chatting in the darkness. Like him, she preferred it. “Because I’m the first outside of her, aren’t I?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “But Hel is a god and very wise, so I’m sure she knew it would come to pass. Or else we could not mate.”

  Again, she felt a surge of sadness for him. It had to have sucked not being able to be near women. Sure, he was clearly not without female companionship, such as it was, but still. His seemed like such a solitary life. A truly lonely one.

  “Well, whatever happens,” she said, meaning it as she offered a small smile because they needed to lighten the mood, “I’m glad you don’t make me sick.”

  He might not have smiled in return, but she saw a light enter his eyes. “Me too.” His tone changed just enough to let her know he was trying to play nice. “Will you come with me now, Kenzie? We’re not where it’s safe yet.”

  “Right,” she murmured, frowning. “So let’s refresh. Why is it again that Hel was trying to hide me from not just the enemy, but I suspect you?” She shrugged. “Otherwise why not leave me in your capable hands, to begin with?” She narrowed her eyes. “Am I caught in the middle of some sort of lover’s spat?”

  He eyed her for too long before he nodded. “Yes.”

  She narrowed her eyes even further as something flickered though her mind so fast, she barely caught it. Not just a feeling of growing concern but anxiousness. And it didn’t necessarily have to do with Leviathan or Hel.

  “That was you,” she whispered, sure of it. “For a second there, I was catching your emotions...your thoughts...” She tried to pinpoint precisely what she had felt. “You’re keeping a lot of secrets, aren’t you, dragon?”

  “Of course he is,” came a familiar voice down the tunnel. “Aren’t you Hel’s Dragon?”

  She took a step back when Eirik’s aura didn’t just pulse but actually sparked with dragon fire before he spun and vanished down the tunnel moments before the unexpected happened.

  Chapter Four

  EIRIK HAD SPENT his entire life perfecting his unaffected, detached persona only for it to snap at the sound of Leviathan’s voice. His vision hazed red as he strode back down the tunnel then shifted the moment he hit the cave. As expected, Leviathan had shifted too and was braced to attack.

  The two crashed into each other, fighting with teeth and talons rather than fire.

  This was the first time he had ever done anything like this but could not stop his dragon. It was furious and out of control. Enraged that another male dragon thought to go anywhere near Kenzie let alone lay with her.

  More so that it was an Ancient.

  Not just an ally but long ago, a friend.

  “Stay away from her,” he growled into Leviathan’s mind, unable to stop the threatening words, still stunned that he was responding so strongly. That he had lost his grip on his tightly-restrained control so easily.

  “No,” Leviathan growled back as they slashed at each other. “She is...a friend.”

  That was not what he expected to hear.

  “The last I knew you did not keep women as friends,” he groused.

  “The last you knew of anything was long ago.”

  “What the hell,” Kenzie exclaimed, racing in. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

  The next thing they knew they had a fearless little copper colored dragon with blazing emerald eyes rushing them. One who didn’t hesitate to wedge herself between two males twice her size. Though eager to draw blood, they separated before she got hurt.

  “Again, what the hell?” her dragon repeated, her daring eyes swinging back and forth between them before they narrowed on Eirik. “You won’t be mating with me anytime soon if you keep this up!”

  Though he meant to respond, he couldn’t. He was too stunned by the impact of her dragon eyes meeting his. Of her dragon’s words rolling through his mind. He had never felt anything like it. Nothing so potent or compelling. The feeling was so overwhelming that he instinctually wrapped his wing around her and pulled her close. So close their torsos touched.

  Leviathan growled but stilled as Kenzie murmured, “It’s okay,” into their minds, speaking more to the ancient alpha than to him. “He’s not going to hurt me.”

  She spoke as though Eirik wasn’t all there and with good reason. He wasn’t. Not entirely. Rather, his dragon reveled in something it had never experienced before.

  Touching a female dragon who wasn't kin.

  If that wasn't enough, he was actually having physical contact with a dragon. Something he had been unable to do for a very long time. It seemed Kenzie had figured that out too. She knew his dragon was as desperate as his human half for this. For someone who wasn’t repelled by him. Yes, Hel had been there for him, but it was nothing like this. Nothing like the feeling of Kenzie’s dragon against his.

  Shockingly enough, though Leviathan continued glaring at him, he stayed back.

  Less on guard by the moment, Eirik's dragon began to relax and did what he realized his human half would have liked to do. He wrapped her up in his wings and simply held her. Kenzie remained perfectly still as though not quite sure how she should respond. Her dragon wasn’t fearful just...aloof, grappling with whatever it felt.

  Suffice it to say, for a perfect moment in time, he felt at peace. Unguarded. In a place, he never imagined he could be.

  That is, until, he felt Hel brush his mind.

  She was seeking him out...seeking Kenzie out.

  “We have to go.” He held Kenzie for another cherished moment before he stepped back, shifted, and resumed his usual unaffected expression. “We need to get to safety.”

  “You need to return to my people’s lair,” Leviathan stated as he and Kenzie shifted back as well. The Ancient’s eyes went to her. “We will protect you.”

  Eirik shook his head. “Not from Hel.”

  Leviathan frowned, his dark eyes turbulent and untrusting as they locked on Eirik. “Why are you trying to keep Kenzie away from your mistress? What are Hel’s intentions?”

  “Good question,” Kenzie grumbled, eying Eirik with distrust mixed with something else. Something born of whatever had just happened between them.

  Though tempted to say Hel wasn’t his mistress, it worked against him. Mainly, because he needed Kenzie to think there was a wall between them. That he loved another woman. He needed to keep them from growing too close. Which meant, based on what had just happened, he better not shift around her again. Anything to avoid what he had just felt.

  “If you don’t tell me what’s going on, Eirik,” she said.
“I’m going with Leviathan.” Her eyes went from the Ancient back to him. “And if it’s okay with him, I’d just as soon he tags along if I end up agreeing to go with you.”

  “No,” Eirik grunted as Leviathan said, “Yes.”

  Eirik narrowed his eyes at his former friend and shook his head. The last thing he needed right now was Leviathan trying to lie with Kenzie at every turn. Because that was, without doubt, his intention. “What purpose would this serve you, Ancient? She is to be my mate.”

  “As I stated before, she is my friend,” Leviathan growled. “And she is not mated to you yet Hel’s Dragon.”

  “But she needs to be,” Eirik reminded, “if we hope to save our people and Midgard.”

  “How romantic,” Kenzie said dryly, rolling her eyes. “Just tell me what I need to know, Eirik. Tell me what’s going on with Hel.”

  “She is trying to keep you out of the hands of the enemy at my expense,” he replied, telling a half-truth then a flat out lie, hoping she didn’t detect it. “She is not ready to let me go.”

  Her eyes stayed with his for a long moment before she nodded. “That makes sense...I suppose.”

  It did for now.

  “Please, Kenzie,” he urged. “We must go before Hel detects us.”

  “And what about the bad guy?” she said. “Will this safe spot of yours protect us from him?”

  “Yes,” he said. “So long as he’s in Helheim.”

  “And how long are we expecting that to be?”

  “I think it depends on you,” he replied, “and me.”

  When she narrowed her eyes in question, he elaborated to his advantage. Or was it? “I believe the closer we grow, the more likely he’ll be able to track us here...to slip through worlds.”

  This quickly hatched premise put another much needed wall between them.

  “What makes you think that?” she said.

  “What I’ve seen of my kin coming together with your sisters,” he said. “If we go off of what happened to them it stands to reason the enemy was related to me in another life on Múspellsheimr and after you. Therefore, as our connection grows here on Midgard, I suspect it will draw him via my tattoo. Skáld’s mark.”