His to Take (3 page)

“I was doing nothing of the sort,” she protested. “It was a necessary part of your treatment.”

“Really?” His fingers tweaked her hard nipples, sending a shiver down to her belly, flooding her pussy with dampness. “I seem to recall being dragged from the depths of the underworld by a soft hand stroking my cock until it throbbed and begged for release.”

“I… I didn’t know that would happen,” she stammered. “I’ve told you that.”

“So you say. But I still have my doubts. I don’t recall any clinical detachment. In fact, you were breathing hard and your hands trembled. But it didn’t stop you from exploring every inch of my stiff rod—and my aching balls.”

“You took advantage of the situation. You pretended to be asleep!” Her voice held an accusing tone.

His eyes twinkled. “I was confused. Roused from oblivion by your seduction. Surely you can’t blame a man on his deathbed for displaying a purely physical reaction to the kind of medical attention you were providing.”

She bent her head shyly. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

“And I forgave you. Right after I spanked you.”

She peered up at him through her lashes. “You did. I remember being shocked at how hard you smacked for a man who’d been on the brink of death only a little while before.”

He smiled. “Your excellent… medical care restored me to health very quickly. And now I’m fully recovered. Even stronger than I was. As I’m about to demonstrate.”

He turned his attention to her nipples again. Licking, sucking. First one, then the other, until the hard nubs grew so sensitive she wanted to scream.

“Please. I can’t take any more.”

He dropped to his knees, pulling the dress down to puddle at her feet. She was naked underneath.

He looked up at her. “Good. You’ve finally done as I ordered and gotten rid of those pesky underdrawers. I like being able to do this any time I want.”

His tongue snaked its way down her stomach to flick her clit. Selena shuddered. He grabbed the twin globes of her ass with both hands and drew her closer. His mouth roamed, kissing its way along, letting her feel his hot breath as he nuzzled his head between her legs.

“I love the smell of your pussy juices.”

Her face flushed as she felt a fresh gush of wetness between her thighs. He still embarrassed her with his frank words. But her body responded instantly. In fact, his primitive sexual responses added an extra rush of arousal. Building her hunger.

He sank down onto the bed and patted his thigh again. “Come here.”

She took two hesitant steps forward and he guided her over his lap, face down.

“You said you wouldn’t spank me.”

“That’s right. Not unless you beg me to do it.” His hands roamed, running over her ass, tracing the cleft between her cheeks to delve between her legs. She squirmed as one finger circled her bottom hole. He urged her legs apart and ran his hand further, dipping into her wet slit, taking the slick juices back to rub them around the tight, puckered entrance to her rear passage.

Selena bit back a cry. He spread her legs further and worked one finger in. Slowly. Relentlessly. She moaned and ground herself against his naked cock, straining up beneath her. He’d teased her like this before and every time she responded like a shameless slut. Before meeting Haldor, she’d never imagined that a man would do such a wicked thing. Or that she would receive such pleasure from it. After the first time he penetrated her there with a finger, she wanted more. She thought about it constantly. But she’d been far too shy to admit it.

He’d learned her dark secret early on. Now, when he wanted to hear her scream, he’d take her ass. Fucking her first until she was frantic with need. Plunging himself into her pussy, thrusting hard. Then he’d work one finger into her rear passage, going deeper as she ground herself against his hand.

She knew some men used their cocks instead. His was so big, the very idea of it terrified her. He was aware of that and he’d never tried to force her. Still, she couldn’t help fantasizing about how it would feel.

Selena moaned again, rocking her hips back and forth. He’d never started out like this before. Playing with her
there
. Teasing, tormenting. Setting her on fire.

“Would you like me to go on?”

“Y-yes, my lord.” Her voice was a ragged whisper.

“I will…” He paused, pulling his finger out. “But I need something too.” He ran his hand over her bottom. Stroking, kneading. Letting it stray between her legs to graze the throbbing bud she’d been grinding against him. “I need to spank you. I need to feel your sweet cheeks quiver under my palm, bring out the rosy blush that makes my cock hard as an iron rod.”

“Then do it. Do it now.”

“I can’t.” His tone held a hint of amusement. “I promised I wouldn’t spank you—unless you begged me to.”

She nearly snapped then, snarling at him. Frantic with need. The man was a beast. It wasn’t enough that he awakened these savage desires inside her. He wanted her complete submission, wanted her to beg for her punishment.

All day she’d been on the edge. Desperate for release. He’d bring her to gratification. All she had to do was surrender to him. Completely.

“Please, my lord. Will you…” She swallowed, forcing the words out. “Will you spank my bottom?”

She tensed, waiting for that first blast of pain followed by the searing fire. Instead, she felt his hand come down, just hard enough to create a spicy warmth. He stroked between her legs and then delivered another smack. She shivered as the heat blossomed, flooding her inside.

He built the rhythm as he’d done before, first one cheek, then the other. Not hard enough to cause pain. Only a sweet sting. And this time it was interspersed with fingers delving into her pussy, into her ass. Stoking the fire inside her, drawing hungry little moans out of her. She found herself arching her back to shove her ass higher in the air. Waiting breathlessly to feel his hard palm make contact again. Wanting more.
Needing
more.

He laughed, a low, husky sound that sent shivers through her.

“How do you like your spanking?” His fingers found that spot inside her pussy as he spoke, the one that sent uncontrollable rushes through her.

“I… Oooh! I love it,” she squealed.

“You’ll love this, too.”

One finger still deep inside her ass, he shifted her body so she faced him with her legs straddling his. Then he slid the tip of his cock into her slick heat, watching her face all the while.

She gasped and clenched around his big finger penetrating her from behind. He pumped his hips upward, sinking his cock in deeper.

“Take me,” he commanded.

Selena got to her knees. Lowering herself slowly onto his cock, trembling as he filled her everywhere. She could feel his body quivering with the effort it took to let her control the pace.

She moved up and down on the shaft a little, experimentally. Her eyes opened wide in surprise when she realized that each time she lowered herself, his finger was driven deeper into her rear passage. She arched her back and started rocking back and forth on his lap, driving first his cock and then his finger in and out.

* * *

Haldor closed his eyes and leaned back, letting her play. He loved introducing her to new positions, new sensations. She’d started out shy, her Earthly training telling her what they did was wrong. Forbidden. Then, as he had awakened her body, she’d blossomed. Letting herself go. Putting aside all the cold, unfeeling beliefs she’d been raised with and allowing herself to feed the hunger. To revel in the ecstasy.

Every time he took her in his arms, he marveled again at how the three Nornar, those mystical witches who determined the fate of every Viking, had brought them together. His destiny had been sealed at the moment of his birth. He’d had to stare Hulda, goddess of death, in the face to become fully alive, to find the one mate chosen for him by the gods.

She arched her back and tossed her head from side to side, moving faster, uttering little cries. Her arousal drove his, putting aside all thought. Tempting him to let his own savage needs go free. With a roar, he surged to his feet with her still impaled in both hot, tight places.

He lowered her onto the bed. Finally free to move, he rammed his cock into her. Sweeping her along as he drove them both to the peak. Pounding hard. Her tiny whimpers became breathless cries. She wrapped her legs around him, grinding her hips up to meet his thrusts, then shoving back against his finger fucking her ass.

He felt it, the instant she exploded. He buried himself inside her to the hilt as the breathless cries became one unending scream. Only then did he give up his iron control. When she squeezed convulsively around him, he shattered. His cock began pulsing and he let the dark intensity swallow him up, carrying them both away.

Chapter Three

“She says I have no soft side!”

His fist slammed against the table, rattling the dishes.

Kylar grabbed for his mug of ale just in time to keep it from toppling to the floor. “I can’t imagine why she’d say a thing like that,” he responded drily.

Haldor shot him a suspicious look. Kylar avoided meeting his eyes. He seemed intent on polishing off the last morsel of roast boar on his plate before it too risked ending up on the floor.

“Exactly,” Haldor declared. “I’ve as much of a soft side as any warrior who sits around this table. Maybe she’d prefer that I dress in a skirt and knit booties for that young one you have on the way.”

“Now there’s a sight I’d give up my place in Valhalla to see.” Kylar washed down his meal with the last mouthful of ale.

“Women are too much bother. Life was easier when I lived here in the palace and kept my rod in its sheath—except for the occasional dalliance with a willing wench during one of the festivals.”

“You speak the truth there, brother. They are a huge bother. Always hovering around you, wanting to feed you, wanting to rub your shoulders when you come home tired from a long day’s work. Wanting to snuggle their sweet little asses against you at night, so you have to wrap your arms around them just to keep from falling out of your own bed. Then you can’t get a decent night’s sleep, what with being compelled to satisfy their ceaseless lustful desires.”

“There is that.” Haldor raised his mug. “Here’s to those lustful desires. May they never cease!”

He drained his mug and leaned forward. “You’re married to an Earther. Does she complain that you’re cold and closed off? Does she constantly want to talk about feelings?”

“You’ve got to keep in mind what their lives were like before they came here,” Kylar replied. “You’ve been there, spent time among them. Talia tells me Earth is a sterile place, devoid of joy and pain alike. If you’d spent days, years, without passion, without love and laughter, and then suddenly someone showed you how it felt—you’d hunger for it too. All the time. Look how we act in the summer solstice, after months of darkness and cold. Romping around half-naked in the warmth of the suns… and then often fully naked later that night around the bonfire.

“I remember when Talia first came here,” he went on. “Everything was new to her. The color of a sunflower, the smell of real food, the taste of honey mead…” He stopped and stared off into the distance, lost in memory for a moment. “I tell you, brother, she went wild the first time she tasted honey mead.” He glanced around and lowered his voice. “Truth be told, she still does. If the gods bless me with a son, when he’s grown to a man I’ll have to pull him aside and tell him to take care around a maiden with a flask full of mead, lest he wake up one morning and find himself with a son of his own. The point is, you’ve awakened the tender, loving woman inside her along with the brazen wench. You didn’t mind taking the one—now it’s time to be a man and deal with the other.”

“Why can’t she just know that I love her?”

“Do you remember when we were both just lads, when you first came here to live in the palace? I woke up many a night to find my mother, Queen Astra, sitting by the side of your bed, rocking you in her arms and crooning to you. Would you have preferred on those dark lonely nights that she just expected you to
know
that you were still loved?”

“Your mother was a blessing from the gods in my life.” Haldor struggled to keep his voice steady. “She took in a broken, frightened child and cared for me as if I were her own.”

“Then when you’re at your wits’ end to know how to deal with Selena, ask yourself… what would Astra do?”

Haldor pushed back his chair and came around the table to clap Kylar on the shoulder. “You’ve given me good counsel. It wasn’t only your mother who was a blessing in the life of that frightened little boy. Bare is his back who has no brother.”

“There now,” Kylar replied in falsetto, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. “Was it so hard, showing me you love me?”

“Now it’s your turn to show me love,” Haldor growled. “You can start by kissing my ass.”

* * *

On the way home, he stopped by the plot of land he’d been given years ago by Sigrun. The king knew him well; it suited him perfectly. Just far enough out of town to be a haven of peace. A stand of pines on the north side, and a rise overlooking an open meadow with a creek meandering through it. The evergreens blocked the worst of the winter winds from the building site and the meadow would be bursting with wildflowers all summer. On the far side of the meadow, a thicket of thorny bushes bordering the forest promised a bountiful crop of blackberries to provide the perfect finish to picnics in the sun.

He’d started building the house years ago, a few courses of stone at a time. But these last few months, since coming back to Gadolinium with Selena, he’d picked up the pace. Stealing a few hours whenever he could. Imagining bringing her here. To his house.
Their
house. Seeing the look of delight on her face.

But the house wouldn’t be finished for months and months. There were still endless gray days to face before the summer sun kissed the meadow. Selena needed something now. Some tangible sign of his love.