His to Take (2 page)

He came hard. She struggled to swallow every drop, wanting only to please him as he pleased her. His fist gradually loosened its grip in her hair. Tension drained out of his body and his arms cradled her head against his stomach.

“I’d lay down my life for you,” he said gently. “All I ask in return is your love, your respect—and your obedience. I know you think my rules are sometimes petty and pointless. But trust me, they are for your health and safety. All except the rule where I will be the only one to grant you release.”

He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “That’s pure selfishness on my part. I love making you come. Love listening to you, watching your face.”

She smiled up at him. “That’s because it’s still so new to me. Every time is like the first time with you.”

He stroked her hair. “I’m sorry but I need to drive home my point. You’re still being punished for not getting up and getting ready to come out with me when I told you to. So there’ll be no gratification for you this time.”

Her pussy clenched. She let out a tiny whimper of dismay. His passion always aroused hers and she longed to have him take her in his arms and please her in all the ways he’d introduced her to. She turned her head away, unwilling to let him see the disappointment in her eyes.

“Selena, I know you don’t yet understand our ways. But trust me. I’ve seen strong Viking warriors succumb to malaise in the dead of winter. It creeps slowly upon you. First you find it hard to drag yourself out of bed in the darkness. It seems so much easier to stay in a cocoon of warmth. Then you can’t bring yourself to face the cold even one more day. You lock yourself indoors, where you’re alone all the time. Sleeping all day and not getting any exercise makes it impossible to rest at night. The wind howls and the chill seems even worse. So you sit by the fire for hours and try to warm your bones with mug after mug of honey mead. Soon it becomes your only friend.”

His arms tightened around her. “That’s why I’m so firm about insisting that you maintain a strict schedule. Months on end of cold gray days and endless nights can send anyone spiraling into depression. My people learned long ago that keeping busy is one sure way to combat it.”

He stood, pulling her to her feet with him.

“Now—get dressed and come with me. Please?”

* * *

The thud of his axe against the frozen tree trunk echoed in the woods. Selena carried a bundle of smaller branches to the wagon, already half full of logs bigger around than her arms could circle. Haldor hefted them as though they were twigs.

He’d been right about one thing. The cold didn’t seem so bad when she kept moving. And although weak, the sunlight filtering down through the pines lifted her spirits.

Coming from Earth, where the climate was always perfect now, she’d had an especially hard time adjusting to life on Gadolinium. Its orbit was farthest from the twin suns Phalyx and Zalyx, plunging this world into the icy depths of winter for roughly half of the twenty months it took for the planet to complete its orbit.

She found herself wishing for the thousandth time that she’d ended up on Neodyma instead of on the third in this trio of planets settled by human explorers over two millennia ago. It had a climate more like that of Earth. Warm sunshine, even tropical flowers blooming in the heart of the capital city.

But it didn’t have Haldor. A blond giant who lived by a code of honor as strong as his broad shoulders. He’d lay down his life for her—already had. He’d spent his whole life surrounded by men just like him. Men… and women.

Her bottom still stung but she understood why he’d been so firm with her. It was the custom on this planet. Wandering off alone outdoors, not dressing properly for the cold, letting a fire die out—any one of these could carry a death sentence. Gadolinean men took their responsibility as head of household seriously. And they knew an occasional bare-bottom session over the knee drove a point home. Spanked by their fathers and older brothers, it was simply expected here that husbands and lovers would continue the practice when a woman left home.

It was a harsh world where laziness, carelessness, and willful disobedience couldn’t be tolerated. Selena never dreamed that falling in love with a Gadolinean warrior would include falling in love with his discipline. But to her surprise, it made her feel cared for. Even cherished. She’d learned it was one of the ways Viking males expressed the love they sometimes found hard to put into words. The women here accepted spankings—and other, naughtier forms of discipline that still made her blush—as part of life.

Later, when they’d unloaded the wagon and Haldor had split and stacked what looked to her like enough wood for a month, they sat by the fire, finishing off plates of venison stew. She’d learned to cook it reluctantly, unable to bear the thought at first of dining on the beautiful animal that had to be slaughtered to create it.

Back home, she’d eaten only synthetically produced protein and vegetables cloned from the few varieties that managed to survive the destruction of the environment long enough for the domes to be erected. Now, she honored the Gadolinean rituals, giving thanks to the creature who gave its life to sustain theirs as she prepared the meal. She’d taken her time. Chopping a pile of golden yellow carabagas, dicing onions, crumbling in a handful of dried herbs. Appreciating the textures, the bursts of color, the aromas. She’d learned that eating food cooked from its natural state was much more satisfying than tearing open a sealed packet containing a tasteless brownish lump.

“That was delicious. You’ve become quite a cook.” Haldor set his plate aside and patted his knee. “Come here.”

When she hesitated, he gave her that sexy smile she couldn’t resist.

“I only want you to sit on my lap. I promise there’ll be no spanking involved—unless you beg me to do it.”

“Beg you to spank me? That’s never going to happen!”

His eyes narrowed. “Is that a challenge?”

“Not a challenge. Simply a fact.”

“You think you’ve experienced all the kinds of spankings I can deliver? There’s none that you’d beg for?”

She began ticking them off on her fingers. “Well, let’s see. You’ve spanked me with my clothes on, with my clothes off, over a wooden chair, over your knee, over the side of the bed. Oops, I ran out of fingers.” She raised her other hand. “With your open palm, with that dreaded hairbrush—and once, with a wooden spoon, the first time I refused to cook venison. I know some men spank with a leather belt, but so far you’ve never done that.”

He grinned. “You’ve never been that naughty—yet. So you’re convinced you know every kind of spanking there is?”

She shrugged. “If there’s another, I’d rather not know about it.”

“Then you won’t.” He paused and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Unless you beg me. So come here.”

She went over and snuggled into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. Though average in height for an Earth woman, six foot one, being in Haldor’s arms made her feel like a little girl. He towered over her and his body was all muscle, from the broad shoulders and powerful chest to thighs as big around and hard as the tree trunks he’d been chopping.

She smiled up at him. Smoothing back his shoulder-length dark hair, she planted a kiss on his forehead. “Haldor. I asked Astrid about it. She said your name means ‘rock of Thor.’ That’s what you remind me of. A huge boulder. Strong enough to withstand the storms life brings without crumbling. But stubborn and hard-headed, too. Unyielding.”

His smile dimmed. “Is that what you think? That I have no soft side?”

“Well, if you ever did have, you rolled over on it and crushed it, rock of Thor.”

She regretted the words as soon as she saw the flash of pain in his eyes. This man hid his feelings so deeply, she sometimes forgot he had any. She gave a little laugh. “It was only a joke, my love.”

He stared into the fire for a long time without speaking.

“You may be right,” he sighed. “All my life I’ve put on a brave face for the world. Ever since I was a lad, when the Tabun invaded Gadolinium and slaughtered my parents. King Sigrun and Queen Astra took me in. Sigrun was my hero. He tracked the Tabun down, drove them from Gadolinium with such fury they stayed away for over thirty years. I vowed to make him proud. To be just like him. He never showed fear, never the slightest weakness. Even when he was about to die at Balam’s hand.”

He shook his head. “
There
is a man. You know what Sigrun said, when he thought it was the end? ‘Better to die with honor than to live with shame.’”

She drew back and gave him a searching look. “And that’s why you threw yourself in front of the spear meant for him.”

Chapter Two

He nodded. “I had to do it. To show him he’d raised a man with drengr, a true Viking warrior. To make him proud of me.”

“I know he’s proud of you. I’ve seen it in his eyes, when you walk into a room or speak out at the council. You mean as much to him as Kylar. He loves you like a son.” She kissed him. “And I love you too.”

He returned the kiss. Soft. Gentle. His lips barely touching hers. She took his hand and guided it to her breast. Wanting to drive away the sadness in his eyes. Wanting to bring him a few moments of sheer bliss.

His kiss deepened. His hand cupped the weight of her breast, thumb rubbing the nipple through the heavy fabric of her dress. She felt it harden and pucker under his touch and shifted slightly to stroke the bulge between his legs.

It grew under her hand, straining against the thick cloth of his trousers. She slid to her knees again, as she had that morning. This time willingly. Eagerly. Untying the fastenings, she freed his cock. It sprang up, already hot and hard. She bent to flick her tongue over the head. With a low growl, he stood up and yanked his shirt off. He tossed it across the room, then shoved down his trousers and stepped out of them.

She stayed where she was, all the while looking up at him. Using one hand to fondle his balls while her tongue explored the length of his shaft.

His body still took her breath away. He was built like one of the gods of Valhalla she’d seen in the murals on the palace walls. Shadows played over his square jaw, over the planes of his face. His body gleamed in the firelight, raw power sheathed by smooth skin that still held a hint of bronzing from the summer. Broad shoulders narrowing to slim hips. She ran her other hand along the double row of sculpted muscle from his stomach to his abdomen. Past the ragged line of the scar that he hadn’t let her remove. Trailing its way down to circle his thick cock standing out, stiff and proud.

He stood unmoving, allowing her to arouse him this once. She felt a heady stab of purely feminine power when his muscles tightened, quivering with the effort it took to stay still as his cock grew even harder in her palm.

When she opened her mouth to take him in, he stopped her. Taking her by the hand, he raised her to her feet. “I’m a fair man. You said it this morning. Now it’s my turn.”

He reached behind her neck and unfastened the laces holding her dress together. Slowly. Then he swept her hair aside and bent his head to plant kisses on that spot just below her earlobe.

Selena shivered. He drew the dress down over her shoulders, following its path with his mouth. When he uncovered her breasts, he ran his hot tongue around and around each nipple before drawing it into his mouth to suck. She brought her hands up, sinking her fingers into his hair, but he drew back, shaking his head wordlessly. Pulling her dress down further, he trapped her arms at her sides. Then he bent his head again, licking and sucking, grazing her nipples with his teeth, then biting just hard enough to send a jolt of electricity straight to her clit.

She thrilled at his mastery. It was still so new, so incredibly erotic. Before Haldor, she’d never been kissed or fondled. Never even been touched by a man.

Earthers had all but done away with sex, claiming those uncontrollable animalistic urges had been the cause of disease and warfare—not to mention the exploding population that nearly destroyed the planet. For the past five hundred years, once they reached puberty, humans received regulated doses of synthetic hormones to suppress the production of natural estrogen and testosterone. Without their effects, life on Earth was calm and well-regulated.

Procreation occurred in sterile lab conditions, where eggs and sperm were joined to produce perfect fetuses, free of any genetic defects. After being raised in federation-run nurseries for two years, where they received proper amounts of exercise and nutrition to maintain healthy growth, children were presented to their parents, already tiny functioning citizens.

Back home, Selena had a holographic partner who came complete with a mechanical probe. She’d maintained her required schedule of gratification sessions, once every three weeks, to take care of her occasional physical needs. Until Haldor.

He’d arrived in her clinic unconscious, drenched in blood. Sent to Earth alone through the Star Portal in a desperate attempt to save his life. She immediately put him in a state of suspended animation to assess the extent of his damages.

She’d never had a patient with injuries as severe. Only once had she seen anything remotely like it, in a rare industrial accident. But that man had been brought to the clinic within minutes. Haldor had suffered massive blood loss over a period of hours. He had numerous stab wounds and major damage to his internal organs. His recovery had taken months: growing new organs to replace the damaged ones, procedures to erase the scars all over his body and replace badly broken bones from old injuries with new strong ones.

For the first few weeks, she hadn’t left the clinic. She’d slept on a bed near his, afraid he’d die in spite of all her efforts. She’d never lost a patient and she vowed he wouldn’t be the first. Not on her watch.

She blushed at the memory of what she’d been doing the moment when he unexpectedly opened his eyes.

His piercing blue eyes met hers now, reading her mind as he often did. “You remember it too. You were quite the brazen slut, taking advantage of a poor unconscious man,” he teased.