by Lucy Monroe
He could do nothing but kiss her in that moment, his tongue taking possession of her mouth as she gasped against his lips. She kissed him back with intent, her lips sliding against his own, her tongue tangling with his.
He cupped her nape with one hand, the other journeying down her body to map curves he had craved for too long. Her nipple beaded against his hand as he cupped her breast. He brushed his thumb back and forth over it, loving how it grew harder and more erect in her passion.
She pulled her head back, panting. "That feels so good."
"This will feel even better," he promised before dropping his mouth over the tender bud and suckling.
She moved her body against his, sounds of pleasure spilling from her mouth.
He kept up his ministrations even as he rubbed himself against her hip.
"I want you inside me before you climax, mate," she warned in a tone that said she would not be denied.
Pure pleasure at the demand arced through him and he shifted so he was over her. Her thighs spread, making it clear this was exactly what she wanted.
He moved so his leaking erection rubbed against her clitoris, bringing them both pleasure. She cried out and he groaned around her nipple.
He could come this way, would climax if he didn't have a care. She was so perfect for him, like living fire.
"Yes, Haakon! That is so good."
He agreed, but like her, he wanted more. He moved down her body, intent on having more and more and more.
Her protest cut off mid rant when his mouth closed over the most private flesh between her legs. Her scent was like almonds, but so damn sexual, his beast roared with need inside Haakon.
He tasted her, taking in her essence and giving his beast some of what the tiger needed. Haakon tongued her clitoris until she was bucking against him, soft cries of desire sounding around them.
He pressed a finger inside her and she arced up with a shout. "What are you doing to me, Viking?"
Moments later, he slipped two fingers inside, helping soft tissues to adjust for his possession, but also seeking that sweet spot inside her.
She screamed and he knew he had found it.
He brought her to climax, needing this time between them to be nothing but pleasure. No pain for her body.
When she came, moisture gushed from her and he lapped at it, thoroughly enjoying this proof of her body's reaction to him.
Neilina tried to be upset that he had not listened to her about coming inside her, but the pleasure still pouring through her body would not let her.
And she trusted him.
Trusted that the mind-altering pleasure she had just experienced was not all there was.
Her trust was justified only moments later when he began anew, touching her in ways that led to increased arousal, building the pleasure inside her until she was once again on the verge of explosion.
Only then did he surge up and press his big member against the opening of her body.
But he did not push inside. He stopped, his neck corded with tension. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, Viking, I'm ready."
"I will claim you with my bite this time," he warned her.
She met his gaze and realized this was more than the sex she had expected. He had taken her admission that she did not want to spend the next centuries alone to heart.
"I will not love you," she warned him, her own words causing her pain in the region of her heart, but ignoring that pain.
He winced, but that was all. No anger emanated off of him. "I cannot make the same promise, but you will be my mate."
"I am already your mate," she admitted.
His blue gaze flared with heat and something else. Absolute satisfaction.
"Ja. You are."
"I will bite you too," she warned.
His smile was all predatory male. "I would have it no other way."
"Then join our bodies, mate." She tilted her hips provocatively.
He growled and pressed forward, sliding inside so much easier than the last time, but still he went slowly. So very slowly.
And there could be no doubt that to do so cost him. His big Viking's body was rigid with his effort, his gorgeous face set in fierce concentration.
If the first time had been entirely at her pace, this time he was in control of the timing. And every move of his hips showed just how measured that was going to be.
This would be no quick mating, with pleasure the only goal.
He was taking possession of her soul as surely as he was giving her ownership of his. And the latter terrified her.
To be responsible for another on such a deep level after how she had let her own family and pack down was not something she had ever wanted.
"I can't do this," she voiced her fear.
He stopped immediately, the grimace of pain that caused him right there for her to see. "We will stop. Just give me a moment."
But she wrapped her legs around his hips, stopping him from pulling back. "No."
"Damn it, princess, please…"
His vulnerability with her was almost as frightening as the responsibility for his soul. Or perhaps it was all part of the same thing.
"I don't want to stop."
"Then what did you mean?" he asked through gritted teeth as he held his body immobile over her.
"Be responsible for you."
His smile reached inside her and warmed the ice around her heart, melting walls that had taken two centuries to build. "We will be responsible for each other."
"What if I cannot protect you?"
"I will never allow you to lose me as you did your pack, elskan min."
"You cannot make such a vow."
"I can. I do."
"You are so arrogant."
His laughter warmed the very air around her. "This is something I think we have in common."
"What if I fail you?"
"Have you ever failed Dìonach?"
"She's a bear."
"Have you failed her?" he pressed, no give in his voice or hard body poised so rigidly above her.
"Nay."
"Have you ever failed Freya?"
"I almost did. If not for you, we would have died."
"It is because you are my mate that you did not."
"I am not afraid." The acrid scent of the lie revealed the truth to the both of them.
"I am."
She stared up at him. "You are afraid of nothing."
"I am terrified I will not be enough for you. You are so damn independent, powerful enough to protect these packs without my help. But I will never allow it," he warned, like he thought she'd get ideas.
"I need you," she admitted.
"And when you don't? Will you reject me again, send me away from you?"
"Nay. I could never do that."
"Then you cannot fail me."
Moisture burned her eyes, but she blinked it away. "I want to believe you."
"Then believe." And he started moving again, pressing deep into her body on the next thrust. "Believe, my princess."
As she opened her body to her mate, Neilina chose to believe in her own strength and for the first time in too long, opened her heart to hope.
Their joining was even more incredible than before. There was no pain. Only pleasure. No sense of doom hanging over Neilina despite her visions.
Nothing but a profound sense their two souls merging as one would change everything.
Everything for her.
And everything for those she was meant to protect.
Together, she and Haakon could and would protect those in their care.
Her thoughts splintered as the pleasure in her body wound tighter and tighter, his soul caressing her own even as their bodies joined.
Haakon stopped moving and she cried out in protest, but he waited until she met his gaze.
"Are you ready for my bite?"
"Aye." No hesitation could live in this profound moment so filled with power.
He started moving again and
she thrust up, building the passion between them, drawing his body's unfettered reaction with her own.
He made a primal sound that had to come straight from his beast's soul and dropped his head, his mouth pressing against the join of her shoulder in an open-mouthed kiss.
Her entire body suffused with pleasure, even as something moved inside her that she had never felt before. It was her wolf, but her beast as Neilina had never experienced it. Ferocious and satisfied, powerful and filled with knowledge that was beyond Neilina's many years.
And then he bit her, his teeth too sharp for a human, but he had not shifted. She felt her skin break under sharp canines with no pain, only a dark, primitive pleasure her beast approved of completely.
And as Neilina came apart with pleasure, she reached up and bit into the flesh where Haakon's shoulder met his neck, his blood filling her mouth as sweet as any nectar.
Green and red lights glowed around them, mixing together until white light filled the cavern. They had not spoken Chrechte vows and yet, as she screamed with her climax, her soul joined with his in infinite connection.
The stone walls around them melted away and suddenly they were surrounded by Chrechte whose backs were to Neilina and Haakon, joined in the deepest of intimacies.
These Chrechte were strangely familiar and suddenly she realized they were her pack. Her parents. Her grandparents. The celi di and alpha. All of them were there, chanting the ancient words of the Chrechte mating.
Her pleasure mixed with joy so intense tears burned a path down her temples as they had not done in two centuries. "Haakon," she said in an awed whisper.
He lifted his head from where he'd bitten her and turned it one way and the other to take in those surrounding them. "They have come to bless our mating."
He stiffened and she turned her head to see what, or who, he was looking at.
Even though his back was to them, there could be no mistaking the asmundr standing beside the wolves he had killed.
Haakon's father.
Neilina reached up and gripped Haakon's face gently, turning his head so their eyes met again. "They have all come to bless our mating. It is a gift."
His own beautiful blue eyes were awash with moisture, but he nodded.
Then Haakon spoke, promising her all that her soul could ever long for in the tongue of the ancients.
She said her vows with a joyful knowledge that this moment had been ordained by destiny. God had given her a second chance to be as he'd created her to be. Conriocht. Divine protector. Kelle.
Haakon found completion with a roar that would have shattered stone.
When he finished, they drew apart with gentle touches and he made sure she was covered by her cloak from neck to ankle, but only took the time to put on his own breeches before he touched the shoulder of the celi di.
It was if the entire assembly received the sign, because they all turned to face them, their faces suffused with joy.
"We thank you for coming to bless our mating," Haakon said to the celi di.
The spiritual leader smiled in her gentle way. "We could not have come if the power between you two was not so great."
"There has not been a mating such as yours since many centuries before my own birth," Bjorn, the Slayer, pronounced.
"You are both blessed by the sight, though it is more powerful in Neilina," her celi di added.
Her mother's eyes were filled with such approval. "You are kelle."
"I failed you all," she admitted the truth that had haunted her for two centuries.
"Nei." Bjorn denied fervently. "You fought with courage and a willingness to die for your people. It was I who failed those I was born to protect, turning my strength against the very beings I was meant to keep safe."
She could not deny those words, but still… "If I had been stronger—"
"You failed no one," the celi di said with certainty.
Her alpha stepped forward and laid a hand on her shoulder, which caused Haakon to growl. "It was our time, kelle. One life is meant to be lived until old age and another ends in the cradle. The pain is for those left behind, but you did not fail. I was proud of you every day you were under my care as pack and I am even more proud now."
"How can you say that? I've hidden from my responsibilities for so long."
"You have taken up the mantle of kelle once again. You and your mate have already made the difference."
"What do you mean?"
"The Fearghall will not succeed in their murderous intent. You will not only stop them poisoning the Balmoral, but sharing your wisdom has already insured they will finally ferret out the remaining of the Fearghall among them."
"You are certain."
"I am certain." He indicated his grandmother, the Seer that had been in their pack for longer than Bjorn had been asmundr. "She has spoken."
The old woman came forward, her steps slow, but her eyes glowing with timeless knowledge. She reached out and took Neilina's hand, then reached for Haakon's clasping them together. "By this mating shall all Chrechte be saved. You have spoken your allegiance to the Dragon Ri and by so doing, brought the ways of the ancients back to your people. This will save the lives of not hundreds, not thousands, but tens of thousands of Chrechte into the future."
She tapped their hands. "You will have children and those children will serve their people as you do. Bring your oldest daughter to the stone and she will have her first shift at the next new moon."
Could she be saying what Neilina thought. "Freya?"
The old woman nodded. "Your eldest." But her look was for both Neilina and Haakon, making it clear to all that Freya was both their daughter.
"I told you she was mine," he said with some smugness.
Neilina could do nothing but smile. Her daughter would shift and once she shared her nature with the wolf would then be even safer. There was nothing Neilina could find to fault in that.
"We must go now, but just as the ancient kelle visits Princess Ciara, mate to the Dragon Ri, we will come to you, child as we are needed. Our wisdom will always be yours to seek out in the place of other," the celi di promised.
Neilina surged toward her parents, her little brother, her older sister and hugged them all, even as she knew she had to let them go. But from this time, she knew they would always be with her.
Had always been with her.
Amber light flashed and then her pack was gone along with Haakon's father and mother.
"You didn't even get to speak to your parents," Neilina said with apology in her voice.
He smiled down at his mate, while the cavern she had been using as her sleeping chamber came back in focus around them. There was a lightness to her soul he could feel through their connection and he could not grieve the lost opportunity.
And so he told her.
"But…"
He placed his finger against her lips. "There is naught to concern yourself with, my princess. We will see them again. To see this joy inside you is worth anything."
"We are mated," she said with bemusement. "I mean really mated, blessed by the celi di and ordained by the alpha. I never thought to have such a thing."
"And we're going to have more children, your Seer said so."
His words affirming Freya as their firstborn touched her deeply.
The smile that came over Neilina's features was like the sunrise. "And we will keep those children safe."
"We will."
"I will still doubt some days."
"And I will remind you that you are never alone."
Her smile turned to something else entirely, something that made his beast growl with want. "I think we need to do our utmost to create life between us, don't you?"
"Are you suggesting we make love again?" he asked, not even wincing when he used the word she refused to apply to him.
She didn't seem to notice, only nodding and indicating the furs. "Lie down, I have a desire to control things this time."
"As my kelle wants."
&nbs
p; They both fell into a doze after orgasms even more shattering than those that had called her former pack to the place of other to bless them.
Haakon jerked awake when Neilina sat straight up and screamed, clawing at her throat.
"Neilina!" he shouted and then shook her.
Her eyes opened, their emerald depths so dark they were almost black. "We have to find the poison. They mean to poison the underground river that feeds the wells throughout the island."
Any poison strong enough to kill Chrechte would destroy all the wildlife as well. Balmoral Island would become a wasteland.
"Did you see where it is?" he asked.
"Dìonach knows."
"Your bear?" he asked, thinking he had to have misunderstood.
But Neilina nodded. "She likes to explore. Especially caves."
"She is a bear. How can she know?" As a good companion was, Dìonach still had the intellect and instincts of an animal.
"I did not say she understands what she knows," Neilina said with more patience than she usually gave him. And he smiled. "However, my vision was certain. She has seen something that does not make sense to her bear's instincts."
Dìonach was still guarding the opening, when Haakon and Neilina emerged, once again fully dressed, their weapons in each scabbard as necessary.
Dìonach surged to her feet and head butted first Neilina and then Haakon.
Neilina smiled. "Yes, old friend. I have taken a mate."
The bear's growl was so clearly approval, it warmed Haakon. The animal understood that he and Neilina belonged together. Even if his mate was still fighting the inevitable emotional connection of their mating. Their souls were joined.
Of course, she would love him. When she finally let down that final barrier stopping her from doing so.
Neilina rubbed her head against Dìonach, then pulled back. "You saw something in the caves. Something you did not understand. Can you show me?"
Dìonach jerked her head up and down and Haakon could not doubt that she was nodding.
Neilina stared into Dìonach's eyes, her brows drawn together in concentration.
"It's a pile of blacksmith slag in an underground cavern." Neilina shook her head. "But why would that be so strange, for the blacksmith to have a place to dump his slag?"
"Deep underground? In a cavern that other Chrechte and human do not go?" The blacksmith in his old home buried his slag after all precious metals had been melted off. He didn't cart it a distance away and pile it up in a cave.