“Find her,” I heard.
“Why take her alive? Why don’t we just kill them all?”
I held my breath at the coldly logical question as my heart raced in panic. These invaders wanted to murder my mates and take me prisoner? Why? And where were Tor and Lev? Were they safe? Were they outside with a dagger through their necks or an arrow in their chest? I closed my eyes as pain washed through me in a wave so fierce and filled with rage I never would have believed myself possible of such intensity after just a few days with my mates.
But they were mine. Mine. And I could not bear the idea of them being killed.
“I need the child. Find her. Kill the men. Once she gives me what I need, I’ll take care of her, too. No woman will run Viken. There will be no unification.”
I wasn’t going to lead Viken anyway! What was this crazy man thinking? I didn’t understand that at all, but I was very clear about the dying part. He wanted to kill my mates, take my child, and kill me after I gave birth.
I would have panicked, but this traitor had to get through my mates first and I had faith in them, in their strength and their intellect. Surely they could outsmart these traitors? They had to. They couldn’t leave me. Not now. Not ever. My heart wouldn’t survive losing one of them.
More fighting, tussling, men grunting, cursing. I tensed but Drogan’s steady hand kept me sane as we listened to the sounds of the fighting and the door slamming against the wall. I could see the brightening sky through the now open doorway, and a man’s legs as he ran away.
Then another body fell to the floor a few feet from me. I turned my head away at the vision of his sightless eyes, the blood gurgling from his mouth and the spear protruding from his chest. I bit my lip and concentrated on the comforting touch of Drogan’s firm hand on my hip, and his cold steel ready to kill anyone who came near us.
I tried not to breathe, afraid my shuddering would give us away in the sudden silence that filled the cabin.
“Shoot him down, Lev! Don’t let him escape.” I heard the rich, dark growl of Tor’s voice and relaxed for the first time beneath Drogan’s fierce hold. Relief poured through my body as I realized all three of my mates were unharmed.
“He’s mine,” Lev growled. I heard the whistling of an arrow, then a cry of pain, a thud as the running man’s body struck the hard ground.
“Nice shot. All clear, Drogan. Is Leah safe?’ Tor’s boots walked to the edge of the bed and I reached out with trembling fingers to wrap my hand around his ankle, grateful to be touching him, to know he was alive and safe.
Drogan slid across the floor, pulled on my hip, and forced me to give up my hold on Tor as Drogan tugged me out from beneath the bed. He stood, then picked me up and settled me on my feet.
“Light!” Drogan called out. “Turn on a fucking light.”
Footsteps, then the room brightened beyond the pale dawn and I took the opportunity to study my mates. Lev and Tor were both splattered with blood, but otherwise unharmed. Their eyes, however, were filled with a quiet rage I’d never seen before. That fire would have frightened me, but I knew it was on my behalf. That fierce anger protected me and kept me safe.
Drogan looked down at me as Tor came to stand beside him, his breathing ragged. Both ran their hands over me but it was Tor who demanded I speak. “Are you hurt?”
I wasn’t paying them any attention, but looking for Lev, who stood silhouetted in the doorway. I wanted all of my mates close. I needed to feel their touch, to know they were all alive, and well, and mine. Lev must have sensed my need because he walked to me and ran his hand along my cheek as the other two continued to inspect me for injury. I leaned into his hand for a brief moment and our gazes locked. I let my longing for him, my trust in him shine up in my eyes. There was no hiding anything, not from these men with their fierce loving and dominant hands.
Lev touched my lips softly before turning away. In a matter of moments his long strides carried him out of the hut and onto the grass.
“Leah,” Tor said, his voice insistent. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not hurt.”
“The baby?” Drogan asked, placing a hand on my belly.
I put my palm on top of his and took a moment to listen to my body. “Fine. But what… what happened?”
Lev called from outside and Tor picked me up in his arms.
“I can walk,” I muttered, but rested my cheek on his warm chest, glad to be held. My adrenaline seemed to have melted away and I was becoming weary.
Tor stepped over a body and he turned my head into his chest, covering my gaze with a firm hand. “Don’t look, Leah.” I didn’t fight him, simply relaxed in his arms and listened to the steady beat of his heart under my ear. A feeling of warmth and safety settled deep in my bones. I’d never felt this content, not one single day of my life before coming here, to Viken and these warriors who had claimed me as their own. I didn’t just have one strong mate to protect and care for me. I had the three strongest men on the planet. The reality of their power, their strength poured into me and I settled my hands over my belly, truly happy for the first time. I was carrying their child, a magnificent amazing child. And these men would watch over and protect my baby as fiercely as they cared for me.
While Tor stopped just outside the open doorway, Drogan went over to stand beside Lev. In the brightening dawn I could see the body on the ground, an arrow lodged in his side; it was the doctor.
Why did he want to kill my mates? Why would he betray his own people?
* * *
Drogan
I was a warrior. I’d seen death firsthand, friends and foes alike. I’d killed some men myself. Blood was certainly on my hands and I was jaded and hardened to such danger. Or so I thought. When men stormed into our hut, knives glinting in the double moonlight, fear pumped through my veins. I wasn’t worried for me or my brothers, only Leah. She was innocent and pure, and carrying our child.
I would protect her with my life. So would my brothers. And we had. But it had been others who had died. Squatting down beside the first man, I rolled him over. Blood seeped from the protruding edges of the knife Tor had used to pierce his heart. Tor wouldn’t have let the man live, nor did he believe a man should suffer before death. His thrust had been exact, efficient, and swift. The man hadn’t even seen it coming. Two more were like that, and a third had a broken neck.
That one was all Lev. He was deadly with a bow, but seemed to take a certain fierce pride in his ability to rip a man to pieces with his bare hands.
I followed Lev across the grass and to the man lying panting on the ground. I recognized the sounds of pain, of fear. Anger. He rolled from his side and onto his back to look up at us. An arrow pierced his side, just below the ribcage. He would not live long, not because of the wound, for it was easily treatable in the medical center, but because I would kill him once we had the answers we wanted. The doctor dared harm Leah. He would die.
“Why did you do this? Who are you working for?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes. Sweat coated his face as his hand gripped the arrow where it entered his body, his fingers coated in blood.
He laughed, pain etching the sound. “Only those who want to see a better Viken.”
Lev angled his head toward the hut. “Those men, they’re dead. You’re dead next.”
“My death means nothing.”
“Then who should I kill?” I asked, squatting down beside the doctor. The sky was quickly brightening and the dark crimson of his blood was a striking contrast to the grass on which he was sprawled.
“Me.” We whipped our heads up to the voice coming from the woods.
It was Gyndar, the regent’s second in command. He was not meek, or quiet, or unimposing any longer. As he walked toward us in the flowing white robe worn by kings of old, a very modern blast gun pointed at us, it all made sense. The regent’s plan, the attack on Viken United, the assassination. Gyndar wanted power.
“We got in your way, didn’t we?
” I asked. I tried to remain calm, to keep my hands from clenching into fists when I wanted nothing more than to walk over to the bastard and break his neck. Surely Lev was thinking the same thing. While I wasn’t surprised to see a weapon on the man, it didn’t fit the image I had of him in my mind. Gyndar seemed more the sort to hide behind smoke and mirrors, to make others do his less than savory work for him. Thus, the doctor was dying in the grass while Gyndar walked free.
“I just had to wait for the old man to die.” He offered a nonchalant shrug.
“But plans changed.”
He gave a curt nod. “Yes, plans changed. It would have been simple if you had taken a Viken bride, easy to sway one sector against the others. But a matched bride and your mutual cooperation? That ruined everything.”
I didn’t know where Tor had taken Leah, but I hoped it was far, far away. If Gyndar showed his face, that meant he wasn’t alone. Surely there were more enemies in the woods. Waiting.
“And then we disappeared.” I needed to keep him talking, to give Tor a chance to take Leah to safety.
“Correct, but I have supporters everywhere.” Gyndar glanced down at the injured doctor. “Everywhere.”
So, our plan to hide Leah had been working until the medical examination. Our concern over Leah’s health was what brought the danger to her. Stupid. We should have sent for my personal physician from the sector. I trusted him with my life. If we’d been more careful, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
“Where is your lovely mate? I’m afraid I need her to come with me.”
“No,” Lev said with finality. “We are taking our mate to Viken United where we will jointly rule until our daughter is old enough to lead.”
I glanced at my brother. His eyes flicked to mine as he continued to taunt our enemies. “The baby’s a girl, isn’t it, doctor? One of your men—before he died—let slip that he wouldn’t be ruled by a woman. He wasn’t referring to Leah. He was referring to the one true leader.”
A girl. We were going to have a girl. If she looked anything like Leah, the three of us were in trouble. My fists clenched now. How dare this man put both my mate and my daughter in danger?
Gyndar made a simple gesture with his fingers and the men I knew to be hiding stepped out from the woods. There were at least ten of them, well-armed and prepared to kill us all.
Gyndar nodded to one man who was two steps ahead of the others, their apparent leader. “Kill them all and find the woman. I need her alive.”
“We will see you in hell,” I growled, leaping toward the man who would destroy my family.
Chapter Ten
Tor
I had to drag Leah away from the scene playing out before us. I place my hand over her mouth and dragged her back, farther into the cover of the trees as she fought me with all her might. Apparently, being tossed onto the floor and shielded by Drogan as Lev and I fought the men who’d come to kill her hadn’t been enough to scare her. My heart swelled with pride at our mate’s fierce spirit even as I knew I had to drag her away from the coming battle.
With blades slicing through the air, along with men’s fists, it hadn’t been the time to work out the details of who was attacking us in the hut, or why. It all became clear when the doctor had been discovered as part of the group. The thought that a man entrusted with the health and well-being of so many brides had tried to kill our mate made me sick. But not as angry as the knowledge that Gyndar wanted to steal our child and kill us all.
I grabbed her about the waist, my hand over her mouth and carried her as quietly as possible around the side of our hut and into the woods. I was in warrior mode, but that didn’t stop me from reveling in the feel of her breath against my palm, her heartbeat against my forearm, the soft weight of her. They proved that she was alive and safe. I was used to fighting the enemy—the two men I killed lay dead on the floor of our hut—but now I had a more important job, keeping Leah safe. Lev and Drogan would deal with Gyndar. They could focus on this menace and trust me to keep our mate safe.
As I reached the cool shade of the trees, I didn’t put her down, only lifted her carefully into my arms and whispered in her ear. I did not know how many men Gyndar brought with him, but I doubted he had revealed all of them. I doubted we’d killed even half of his assassins. “Remain silent.”
“But Drogan and Lev!” she whispered, her eyes wide and etched with fear, not for herself, for my brothers.
Heat spread in my chest that had nothing to do with lust and everything to do with the softness, the genuine worry I saw in her eyes. If she loved my brothers, surely there was also room in her heart for me.
“Don’t argue with me. Have faith, love. They are warriors, not pompous politicians who grew up wearing robes.” I smiled down at her, amazed by her strength of spirit. “Be silent. They are trusting me to keep you safe, Leah. Don’t argue.”
She nodded and didn’t fight me again as I shifted her into a more comfortable position in my arms. She didn’t cry out as I carried her away and I was amazed by the calm set of her beautiful face. One minute she was asleep between us, the next she was under attack, learning that the Viken regent had been murdered for personal and political gain… and she was next. She was truly the only person on Viken who could waylay Gyndar’s plans. If my brothers and I were dead, the child she carried was the man’s only completion for power. Sure, Drogan, Lev, and I could unite forces and lead, but the various sectors wouldn’t stand united as we desired—as the regent had wanted—without the future leader that was the physical embodiment of all three sectors. The one true heir.
My daughter. Our daughter.
With Leah better settled in my hold I was able to sure-foot it over fallen logs, rocks, and stumps and veer toward the water’s edge. Lev wouldn’t be the only one who doled out spankings in this family. When it came to her safety, she obeyed. No doubt she would listen better after her ass was turned a bright shade of pink.
Her fear was not unfounded and I worried for my brothers. They were outnumbered. I’d seen Drogan about to tackle Gyndar to the ground when I carried Leah away. To her innocent eyes, it looked as if two of her mates were surely going to die. While I didn’t know my brothers much better than she did, I knew how they were raised, how they could fight and what they were fighting for. They would survive and Gyndar would be annihilated.
In the meantime, I would get her to Viken United, to neutral ground, to the home that stood empty and waiting for us.
* * *
Leah
It seemed that Tor was just as skilled at paddling as his brother. I was carefully placed in a small boat, one similar to the one I arrived in, and Tor took us back to Viken United. Once we were out on the open water and he was sure we weren’t followed, he told me of our destination. I fretted the entire time over Drogan and Lev, the doctor, and seeing Gyndar—the man I recognized from when I transported—in a completely different light. He wasn’t the second-in-command any longer. He wasn’t a wallflower. He was intent on stealing my child and killing me, eliminating all of us.
Yet my mates were taking him on. As worried as I was for them, I was also proud of my warriors. They were the true rulers of Viken, and when faced with a deadly threat, they had united and fought as one. For me. For our child.
While Tor assured me of his brothers’ wellbeing, I fretted quietly for hours until the stress of the day wore me down and I fell asleep. I didn’t remember anything after that—arriving back in Viken United, being carried to Tor’s parents’ palace, or being put into a giant bed. I awoke to an empty bed, but when I sat up I saw Tor writing at a large desk. He put his work aside and came over to me. While I was very much naked, he was freshly clothed.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, his hands raking over my body. While his touch was far from sexual, I couldn’t help but react. My nipples pebbled and my skin flushed warmly.
“Better now. I… I worry for Lev and Drogan.”
He tucked my long hair behind my ear, eyed me intently. “Th
ey are here, unharmed.”
I looked over his shoulder, but they were not in the room.
Tor smiled. “They are eating their morning meal and bathing. They promised they would come to you as soon as—”
The door opened, halting Tor mid-sentence. In strode my other men, clean, smiling and whole.
I scrambled off the bed, uncaring of my nakedness, and ran over to them. Lev scooped me up in his arms and held me close. I breathed in his familiar scent as Drogan came to stand behind me. I felt his hard body down the length of my back.
“Miss us, mate?”
“You know I did.” Relief washed over me as I knew they were well and safe. “Gyndar?”
“You do not need to worry about him any longer.” Drogan’s voice was a deep growl by my ear. I spun around and he pulled me into a hug. “We will announce to the planet later today that you are our mate and that you carry the rightful heir to the Viken throne.”
I felt skeptical. “That’s all? You just have to tell the people and they will follow along? Aren’t there more doubters like Gyndar out in the sectors?”
Drogan loosened his hold and I stood between him and Lev. Tor came up beside me and I was surrounded. Sheltered. Protected.
“Probably,” Lev said. “This is our parents’ home. The home that has been ours all this time, waiting for our return. Regent Bard had the right of it. The three of us should have come together sooner to unify the planet.”
“Our parents died trying to unite the sectors and it is our turn now to return the planet to the old ways. We will stop training our men to fight each other and send them out to battle the Hive for the Interstellar Coalition, to protect us all.” Drogan said. “Our actions this day will speak far louder than any words. Gyndar’s betrayal will be broadcast to the entire planet along with our message. None will dare oppose us, for we each have staunch allies in the sectors, people we trust. The planet will thrive again, and all because of you, mate.”
Claimed by Her Mates Page 13