Claimed by Her Viking Wolf Read online

  Guta sounded so sad that Kim disentangled herself and forced a smile on her face. She put a hand on the other woman’s swollen belly. Her breath caught at the strong kick she felt under her fingers.

  “Are you worried about this lil’ one’s father?” Kim asked. Guta’s short laugh in answer made her frown and look up.

  “No, well, I am, but Ralloph is not my mate.” She smiled at Kim’s sharp intake of breath at that revelation.

  “You only have one válað, and not everyone is blessed by the gods to find him or her.” When Kim frowned in her obvious confusion, Guta patted her arm.

  “I can see my wayward brother has not explained this very well to you.”

  Kim rolled her eyes.

  “That’s the understatement of the freaking century,” she said, and Guta laughed.

  “Well, he is a man, my dear, and the future Alpha of our pack. They tend to act first and explain things later, if you’re lucky. My válað was just the same. I first met Thorston when I was a mere girl. He was ten years older than me, and kept his distance, but I knew. From the moment I saw him, I knew he was to be mine. I know he only thought of me as Asger’s annoying little sister, until I turned sixteen.”

  Guta smiled and her whole face lit up as she recalled happier times.

  “Thorston and Asger had both been injured on a raid.” She patted Kim’s arm when Kim gasped. “It happens. Ours are dangerous times, and our men fight hard to protect us and to gain more land. Anyway, Asger’s was a mere scratch in comparison.” She grinned when Kim shook her head.

  “I’ve seen his scars. They’re not scratches,” Kim said.

  “Maybe not, but he healed fast. For some reason Thorston didn’t. I was appointed to care for him…” She stopped talking and smiled when Kim worried her bottom lip with her teeth.

  “Does it start to sound familiar?”

  Kim wrapped her arms around herself.

  “Maybe,” she said. “But Asger was displaced and couldn’t shift, so we just thought he didn’t heal as fast because of that, and…” Kim stopped speaking when Guta’s pointed look fell on Asger’s mark on her neck.

  “He wouldn’t have been able to mark you, had he not been able to shift. You see, when we meet our válað and one or the other fights it for whatever reason, our inner beasts lose their ability, only to emerge much stronger once the bond has been established. I knew I wanted Thorston from the first minute I saw him. It took him being injured to embrace what his wolf had known all along. That despite circumstances I was meant to be his. Once he did, everything fell into place.”

  Guta grew thoughtful when Kim shook her head.

  “It can’t have been that easy.”

  “Fundamentally it was. We were meant to be together, so that was it. Just like my brother and you are meant to be together.” Guta laughed, and Kim wondered what that was about until the other woman explained.

  “Asger still beat him to a bloody pulp for daring to touch me, of course, but once they got that out of their system, we were married and that was that.” A shadow crossed her face, and Kim reached out to take Guta’s hand in between her own. A gentle squeeze was her reply.

  “What happened to your Thorston?” Kim asked.

  “He’s drinking with the gods in Valhöll. He didn’t come back after a raid across the seas to your England one year.” She smiled when Kim startled, and let go of her hand. “It is what it is. He died a warrior’s death and will always be remembered. I grieved him, of course, but I had my boys to always remember him by, and life goes on.”

  Kim supposed it did, but her heart ached at the loss the other woman had suffered. If anything was to happen to Asger… She didn’t even want to think about that, and she swallowed down the overwhelming need to see him. Had he not just returned himself from a dangerous assignment?

  “Do not look so worried, my sister,” Guta said. “Many warriors live to old age, and Asger is not Thorston. For starters he is the best fighter this village has seen in many generations. Now that he had found his válað, he is even stronger.”

  Kim wasn’t so sure about that, but she kept her thoughts to herself and changed the subject.

  “So Ralloph is what?” Guta sighed.

  “My husband, chosen by my father to cement the peace between his clan and ours.”

  Kim couldn’t help it, she laughed.

  “That’s barbaric, and it didn’t work too well, if they’re attacking you again, now did it?”

  Guta shrugged her shoulders. The censure she read in the other woman’s usually so warm amber eyes made her regret her hasty words immediately.

  “I’m sorry that was tactless of me. It’s just…”

  She couldn’t bring herself to continue, and breathed a sigh of relief when Guta smiled.

  “I wasn’t entirely unwilling, sister,” she said. “Ralloph is very handsome and…” She measured several inches between her hands, and that grin turned positively sinful. “Very well hung,” she said, and Kim burst into laughter.

  “Guta!” she said, and the other woman laughed, too.

  “What? We women have needs, and Ralloph is more than capable of taking care of mine. He’s a good man. I’ve got to believe in that, despite appearances, and what my father fears. He has only ever treated me with kindness, and the boys love him as a father. I…”

  Guta stopped speaking and looked behind Kim. She didn’t need to turn around to know who had just entered. Asger’s scent wrapped itself around her, and his wolf’s quiet rumble traveled though her, centering right between her thighs. Kim closed her eyes to regain control of her wayward hormones, but to no avail. Those weren’t listening, especially when Asger stepped up right behind her, and settling his large hands on her hips pulled her back against his huge frame. The long, hard ridge of his erection dug into the small of her back, and his fingers tightened around her hipbones with enough force to leave bruises, while he rested his chin on her head, and spoke to his sister.

  “Your belief in your husband does you credit, sister, but I agree with Father. His actions speak for themselves. I am not at all sure we can trust him.”

  Guta’s wolf showed briefly in her eyes, and the animal snarled at Asger. Kim held her breath as Asger’s wolf responded in kind, and she winced when his claws ran out and dug into her skin. Asger sheathed them immediately with a murmured apology to Kim. When he ran his nose down toward his mark on her neck, inhaled, and then flicked his tongue across his mark, Kim didn’t even try to stop her needy moan. Fighting this pull between them was useless. This close to the man she loved, she couldn’t think of one single reason why she ought to be fighting this. She could barely hold on to her previous anger.

  “I’m not discussing this now, Asger. See you to your woman. Events will tell which one of us is right. Go and leave me be. I am going to try to rest. Something tells me this barn will be born very soon. I know the birth will not be an easy one, so I would rather save my strength for that, and not arguing with my brother. I know you never approved of Ralloph.”

  Asger tensed behind Kim. Acting on instinct she put her hands over his, where they were still clamped on her hips, and Asger blew out a long, drawn out breath next to her ear. It left a tingling awareness of him on her skin, as it brought with it his scent, laced through with the ale he’d drunk at the feast.

  “I never said that.” Asger grumbled his answer, and his sister smiled.

  “You didn’t have to. I know he is no Thorston. I will always love and miss him. He was my válað, the other half of me, just like Kimberly is yours.” Guta blinked back tears as she said that. Kim held her breath again, but Asger just murmured his approval. He dropped an open mouthed kiss on the sensitive spot under her ear, which made Kim even wetter for him. Not that it took much for her to get into that state. One look from him, one whiff of his scent was all that was required. It should be infuriating and embarrassing, but it simply felt right. Here in his arms was where she belonged, come what may, and for better or worse this was
her life now. Guta’s story made her realize that she was foolish to spend her time being angry at him, or the circumstances they found themselves in.

  Life was too short, she knew that. Kim was many things, but she wasn’t a fool, and having been given this chance of happiness, she would grab it with both hands, and pray the fates, gods, or whatever you believed in wouldn’t snatch Asger away from her before his time like Guta’s Thorston.

  She forced herself to listen to Asger’s sister as the other woman continued.

  “Ralloph is my husband, the father of this child I am carrying. I know he will honor the vows he made to me, and this clan.” She put her hand up when Asger seemed set to say something. Kim felt Asger’s reluctant acceptance all the way to her toes. When she opened her heart, she could read him as easily as though his emotions were her own. Worry and love for his sister, concern for his pack, his father, and for Ralloph, too, she realized with a start. It seemed Asger cared more for his brother–in-law than even his sister knew. There was old grief for Thorston, gentle indulgent feelings for his nephews, and above all a healthy dose of lust for Kim. It made her smile, as it so mirrored her own feelings. She sensed nothing but honesty from him, and … she closed her eyes and dug deeper, not even questioning why she could do so—love—for her.

  It made her heart beat faster, and Asger pulled her closer still, as though he, too, picked up on her turbulent emotions. Then again, he no doubt could. If she—a mere human—could read him so clearly thanks to their bond, then how much easier must he be able to pick up on hers, considering his much sharper senses.

  “So, there is nothing more to be said, brother. Save your breath and use your words to explain things better to your válað. It seems to me you have done a piss poor job of doing that so far.” Kim suppressed a grin, when Guta winked at her, and made shooing motions with her hands, before she lay down on her bed and shut her eyes.

  Asger swore softly behind her and let go of Kim. Taking the opportunity, Kim scooted away, all too aware of Asger’s heated glance on her ass as he followed her. She had no idea where to go to, only that she wanted some privacy, away from the dwelling, the village and the many prying eyes which glanced their way. When she reached the edge of the settlement, where it opened into dense forest she stopped, just in time to see Asger drive his fist into a tree with a menacing growl that took her breath away.

  ****

  The welcome pain shot up through his knuckles, and eased some of the ache in his heart. He winced as he flexed his knuckles and heard them crack. Maybe he’d hit that damn tree a bit too hard, but by all of Odin he didn’t like feeling this helpless.

  His kona’s scent wrapped itself around him, as she stepped up, and ran her fingertips over his hand. The injury was already healing, helped along tenfold by the quiet understanding in her green eyes, as she dropped kisses on his knuckles, and looked up at him.

  The soft feel of her lips on his flesh sent a shockwave of need straight to his balls. It took every ounce of self-control he had to not pounce on her, to take her hard and fast against the nearest tree. His wolf damn well salivated at the wetness he smelled between her legs. It had been two long days since he’d last had her, and he needed to reconnect. To feel her body quiver as it was impaled on his cock, to know that she was his, to breathe in her scent, to taste her submission, to know that he’d done the right thing by bringing her here. At least she didn’t seem angry anymore.

  “Feeling better now?” Kim glanced at the tree. The bark had split, and the tree’s sap was leaking out in a steady, thick, gloopy mess. “Though I have to wonder what that poor tree has done to deserve such treatment. You heal quickly. I don’t think the same can be said for the tree.” She let go off his hand and put her hand on her hips. Head cocked to one side, she studied him in the rapidly falling darkness. Her brows drew together in a frown that made him want to kiss that crease away.

  Instead he ran a hand through his hair and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Talk to me, Asger, please. Are you that worried about her? Or is it Ralloph? Do you think he’s going to betray her and the village?”

  “I…” Asger hesitated, and her frown deepened. Her earlier anger bubbled back to the surface. Asger got the distinct impression that he ought to be grateful she didn’t carry a dagger of some sort like most women in the village, or she might have been tempted to throw it at him.

  “Damn it, this thing between us is never going to work, unless you talk to me. I refuse to reduce our relationship just to sex, as awesome as that was.” She stepped up and whacked his arm when he couldn’t help but smirk at that. “Oh, stop it, you, you know damn well I want you again, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give in to this válað thing between us. I don’t know how things work in your time, but back home husband and wife, which I understand we might as well be, thanks to this.” She paused, hurt and anger flashing up in her expressive eyes, as she pointed on his mark on her neck. His earlier twinge of guilt returned tenfold.

  She put her hand out to stop him when he took one step toward her.

  “No, you let me get this off my chest. You had no right to do that without telling me what exactly this means back here.” She gestured toward the village. “And while we’re on that subject, you had no bloody right to take liberties with my health. Did you even think about the possibility of getting me pregnant? Do you think that’s your god-given right, because let me tell you this. Where I come from men and women discuss this sort of thing. You don’t just go about biting people in the middle of sex, when they’re too far gone to care about the consequences, and fail to inform them that this means you’re their flipping destined mate forever, damn you…”

  She ran out of steam and simply stood there, arms now wrapped around herself in a defensive move that tore at his heartstrings.

  “I asked you,” he finally ground out through clenched teeth, when he was reasonably sure he had his baying wolf under control. “I asked you if you were sure. I seem to recall you begged me to take you.”

  Kim growled under her breath and rolled her eyes. The deep throated sound made his wolf answer, and she blinked when he advanced on her. He knew his wolf was showing in his eyes, was no doubt prowling under his skin. The fact that she grew even wetter for him, even as she made a hasty retreat, made him even harder. Her foot caught on a tree root, and arms flailing she would have fallen, had he not leapt across the distance hauling her up against him. All the fight went out of her, as he caught her mouth in a kiss. She opened to him on a sigh. He claimed her mouth with his lips tongue and teeth, coaxing her to respond, and when she finally did, he roared his satisfaction. He marched them backward until her back hit the tree he’d punched. A soft umph left her chest at the contact, yet she didn’t break the kiss. Instead she kissed him back, her tongue swirling with his in a fight for dominance that made him grin into the kiss. Running his hand down her leg he pulled her dress up, until the sweet musk of her wet cunt perfumed the air. Kim gasped when his fingers slid through her slit.

  Asger tore his mouth of hers to study her expression, as he pushed first one and then two fingers into her clenching hole. Mouth open, pupils dilated, and with her pale skin flushed in arousal his kona looked beautiful in the moonlight now surrounding them. Her fingernails dug into his tunic, as he added another finger, stretching her, and started to pump in and out of her body.

  “Open for me, válað.” He growled the words in between kisses along her neck, and caught her whimper of surrender in his mouth as he kissed his way back up to her lips.

  “Surely, not here?” Her panted question made him smile against her plump flesh. Asger bit down slightly, making her groan anew while he kept up pumping his fingers into her. She grew wetter for him, and he whispered his answer.

  “Yes, here, right now. I want you. Undo my trousers.”

  With a groan Kim complied, and he hissed through his teeth when her fumbling digits freed his cock. Wrapping her hand around his shaft she tugged hard.

&n
bsp; “Fuck, kona, I want in you, now.” Removing his fingers from inside her weeping channel, he gripped her ass cheeks, lifted her, and impaled himself in her soft, wet heat in one easy move. Unlike the last time they did that, her body opened to him like a flower in the sunshine, and they both groaned as he began to thrust. Shallow strokes at first, to help her get used to the feel of him inside of her. When he felt the first flutters of her internal muscles, he drove in deeper, harder. Kim clung to his shoulders. She tightened her hold on him with her thighs, meeting him thrust for thrust. Her orgasm rippled through her, and he caught her scream in his mouth. The rhythmic clenching of her vaginal muscles sent him, too, over that sweet cliff. Tearing his mouth away from hers, he filled his woman with his seed, while he howled his release into the night air, as his vision dimmed and his knees gave way.

  He sank his teeth into her shoulder, and Kim tensed and spasmed around him again, as they sank to the ground. Asger rolled onto his back, with her still quivering around his cock. Her muscles milked the last few drops out of his shaft, as he knotted in place, locking them together. Kim collapsed on his chest with a sigh. Asger closed his eyes, let his head drop to the forest floor, and enjoyed the feel of his woman draped over him, as he waited for their breathing to slow down, and the inevitable blow out that would follow his actions.

  Chapter Twelve

  Stuffed full of Asgar’s still hard cock, Kim rode the aftershocks of her orgasm. With her impossible wolf knotted tightly inside of her, his thick cock nudged her sensitive cervix. Even the slightest move by her made his shaft twitch, sending renewed tremors of delight through her system.

  The barely still functioning side of her brain did marvel how they once again had ended up having sex without really having resolved anything at all. At least this time, she hadn’t passed out to awake in a different time. There was a small amount of comfort in that. It would be rather disconcerting if they time traveled every time they had sex, especially as she got the distinct impression that they would be doing a lot of that.