Vikings Unleashed: 9 modern Viking erotic romances

by Kate Pearce

  If his hunch was correct, though, she was going to come long before he did. That made both of them pretty pathetic. Nothing practice couldn’t cure, though.

  “Please.” She wriggled again, and this time raised her hips up to meet him.

  He pressed her hips flat with his own and whispered against her ear, “Patience. You need to learn it.”

  “What job did my grandmother offer you? Chief torturer?”

  He snorted and couldn’t help it. “I’ll torture you, all right.” He yanked her legs up to his shoulders and pushed into her in one unstopping thrust that had her moaning.

  He lay there on top of her for a moment, chuckling while her cunt adjusted to his size. “Regret not being patient now?”

  “Fuck me.”

  That cheekiness earned her a strike he planned to follow through on later, queen or not. “I’ll fuck you all right.” He swiveled his hips, and stirred his cock in her, making more room for the workout she was about to get. Her pussy was going to be sore for days. “When I’m done fucking you, I want you to think about who’s in charge here. You hear me?”

  He wrapped some of her gorgeous hair around his fist and tugged it enough to make her open her eyes.

  “Do you hear me, princess?”

  “Yes. Now will you fuck me, please?”

  5

  Tess trusted Harvey implicitly. Always had. Even as a child, she’d known he was the one person she could trust—even more than her social workers. He always had her best interests at heart in his boyish way, and as a grown man, that didn’t seem to have changed.

  Even with his bossy, authoritative lovemaking, she could perceive nothing beyond pleasure because it felt so good to give up control to someone who she trusted—someone who had her back.

  She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted him to keep stoking her and whispering little commands to her. She liked doing as he asked, being where he wanted her, but she wasn’t going to last. The barrage of sensations overwhelmed her. His big cock stretching her, his teeth on her jaw and pulling at her bottom lip. The infrequent tugs to her hair that made her pay attention.

  She went boneless beneath him, hardly able to distinguish her body from the air, and unable to see anything but static.

  Harvey put his hands on her cheeks and nudged her so her face was forward. “Fuck, she’s out of it.” The words seemed to float in her head instead of in the air.

  “Tess?” Now his voice came sure and strong. “Look at me, princess, or I’ll stop.”

  “Mm-hmm.” She clamped down on him hard, and doing so sent an electric surge up her spine and down her legs. Her toes curled and a giggle escaped her throat.

  “Overstimulated.” Again, the words seemed to be between here and there. Not aloud, but not imagined, either.

  His thrusts stopped, and now Tess did open her eyes and frowned at him. “Torture.”

  “Just making sure you’re still there. If I wanted to fuck by myself, I could do that back at my place.”

  “I thought you wanted me to behave.” She rolled her hips up and took him in to the hilt, biting her lip at the pleasure.

  “Behaving and being present aren’t the same thing. Don’t float away on me. For all I know, you’re thinking about some other man while I’m fucking you.”

  “Would that make you angry?”

  Grunting, he pulled out of her and flipped her over as if she weighed nothing. He hauled her up onto her hands and knees and pressed her shoulders down to the bed. “What do you think, princess?” He thrust into her in one long stroke and then out again before she could get the gasp out.

  Oh, he could hurt her at that angle if he tried.

  “If you don’t want me, turn me out of your bed now.” He squeezed her hips and brought her ass back to him instead of the other way around to better control his penetration.

  “I want you.” Understatement. This side of him she’d never known was sexy as hell, and she wanted to know how deep that dominant streak went. He wouldn’t hurt her—that much she knew—but he didn’t know she knew that.

  “You want only me? From here on out?”

  “Yes. Only you.”

  She knew who was getting the better end of the deal in the relationship, and it wasn’t him. Any woman would be lucky to have him, and she knew if she weren’t set up to be some kind of royalty, he probably wouldn’t want to be bothered anymore. He’d moved on years ago, and likely wouldn’t have come back otherwise.

  She’d take what she could get.

  “I’ll stay out of your way, Tess, when it matters.” He resumed his strokes in and out of her, and on an out, pressed a finger into her ass.

  She cried out at the foreign sensation, but he kept her from pulling up with the hand on her left shoulder.

  “Just relax,” he said. “Sometimes I like to play.”

  Well, she didn’t know if she liked it. Her eyes were opened wide now, and she fixed her gaze on the curtained window. Through a slit in the heavy drapes, she could see the moon shining bright and a couple of stars.

  There’d rarely been any stars to see in New Orleans because of the light pollution. Sometimes she’d wondered if that blank sky was a harbinger of the end of the world.

  He pressed his finger in farther and swirled his hips, stirring his cock in her. The fullness wasn’t altogether unpleasant. In fact, the pressure was kind of nice. It had her curling her toes and gripping the sheets when he resumed his rhythmic strokes.

  “You’re so tight.”

  “A-are you complaining?” She reached for the mattress edge and grabbed it hard as the first pre-orgasmic waves began rippling through her body. Should she tell him? Ask for permission?

  Fuck that.

  She bit her lip and concentrated on not bearing down on him and rushing him along. His pleasure was important, too. Or maybe even more than her own. She wanted him fulfilled and happy—wanted to see him smile when they fell into a hot, sweaty heap. She wanted him to wish they could do it all over again.

  “I’m not complaining, princess. You feel like a dream.”

  “Worth the wait?”

  “Mmm.”

  He slipped another finger into her ass, and she was through. The orgasm hit her hard and fast, and suddenly she could see nothing.

  Feel nothing.

  She shuddered in the cold darkness and vigorously chafed her arms to make heat.

  But, she wasn’t naked after all. She wore a cloak made of animal skin and sat with her back to a ship’s mast. Not just any ship, but a long, narrow Viking ship, bobbing the ocean’s waves. Its red and white sail had an exact match in Nadia’s tattoo.

  “Wow.”

  She turned her gaze down to the dark-haired woman beside her, who grinned broadly and grabbed Tess’s hands.

  Tess didn’t pull away from the stranger because, like everyone else she’d embraced on this night, she seemed familiar. Her surroundings, however, certainly weren’t.

  “Finally, here you are,” the stranger said. Her words weren’t English, but Tess understood them anyway. Perhaps that was part of her magic?

  “Who are you?” Tess asked, and realized she hadn’t moved her lips. Neither had the woman, for that matter. Come to think of it, she could have sworn she’d heard Harvey saying things when they were in bed although his lips hadn’t moved. Maybe this was the same.

  “Is it not obvious?”

  “I’m not sure I can trust myself,” Tess admitted.

  The woman nodded. She moved her hands from Tess’s and pressed them over her swollen belly. “Sometimes, the queen is her own best counsel. Trust your instincts. You know me. In fact, you bear my name, in part. Contessa Tamara. History will tell you that I did not survive this trip. We missed our mark. Ran out of supplies long before touching land.”

  “But the baby lived?”

  She nodded. “My daughter thrived, but I knew she would. She was born lucky, and on Odin’s Day.”

  Right. Odin’s Day. Tess nodded, and committed herself to b
uying a notebook or something to write this shit down. Her memory wasn’t going to hold it all.

  “And you died the next day, I’m guessing.”

  Ótama nodded. “We were aiming for Greenland, and missed it by a long way. I wasn’t buried at sea. They could not bear it, I suppose. They buried me on land when they finally found some. Canada.”

  “I bet you’d like to get back to the sea.” Tess didn’t know where that thought came from, but hadn’t her grandmother said as much? That being so far inland seemed wrong?

  Ótama waved a dismissive hand. “It is sweet of you to suggest it, but it is far too late for that. I am but dust. You, though, are flesh and bone. Hearty and hale and with your mother’s courage. You will serve them well.”

  “Are you so sure about that? I don’t know these—your—people. What if they don’t respect me? With my past being what it is…”

  They sat in silence for a moment, staring at the ocean and the bleak, landless horizon in the distance.

  Ótama must have been terrified when they’d set out. Had she even known she was with child when she’d left her home? She might not have made the trip, but how different would things have been if she hadn’t? Would they still be there?

  Ótama inclined her head toward the men at the oars. They carried on as if Tess wasn’t there. Fuck, she wasn’t. This was just a dream.

  Ótama laughed, a deep, full-body laugh that had her grabbing beneath her belly. “Do not try to make sense of the ways of ghosts, child.”

  “You can hear what’s in my head?”

  “Yes. I will always hear you when you are in this place as this is my playground. I’m gone, but my spirit remains here. It was a favor of the gods that I begged for before I passed.”

  Tess scoffed. The gods? She’d had problems getting even one god to give a damn about her up until now, and she didn’t anticipate that changing.

  Ótama laughed again and moved her hand from her belly to Tess’s knee. “I can hear every thought of yours. You are going to have to work harder to tie those down.”

  “You make it sound like that’s some simple thing. I don’t know how I’m doing this or how to stop doing it.”

  “You will know, in time. It will come just like all the other gifts. In the meantime, try to keep your thoughts benign.”

  “While I’m at it, I’ll have myself reborn as Sofía Vergara.”

  Ótama’s forehead furrowed and lips pursed.

  Tess waved a hand, dismissing the reference. “Don’t worry about it. Modern stuff. What are these other gifts you referenced?”

  “They vary with each queen depending on the needs of the group, but one thing is always the same. All queens are conduits.”

  “My grandmother told me that, but I don’t understand what it means. She couldn’t explain it.”

  “It is a difficult concept to master because the very nature of it is fluid. That said, each of our people is connected through the queen. You will be like a psychic transformer, to use one of your modern technologies as a reference. A passive sort of switchboard.”

  Tess’s shoulders fell. “That sounds exhausting. No wonder my grandmother looks so unrested. ”

  Ótama nodded. “It can be exhausting, but your grandmother has been doing her role and that of her daughter. She should have stepped down a decade ago, but there was no one groomed to step in. Being conduit becomes a built-in part of you that you will learn to ignore unless there is true stress somewhere in the web. It will be like…” She canted her head to the side and tapped her chin with her index finger. “Have you had a cold that kept you from breathing through your nose?”

  “Too many times.” It was a hazard of her lifestyle. She hung out with gross people.

  “At first, breathing through your mouth is onerous, but you get used to it after a day. You adapt.”

  “I think I get it.”

  “Of course you do.” Ótama pointed to her forehead. “You have my brains. Therefore, on some days, you will feel like you have none at all.”

  Tess couldn’t help but to laugh, because she knew that feeling all too well. “And I’m supposed to help them? When there’s stress in the, was it web, you said?”

  Ótama nodded. “Web. That is what your grandmother calls it. I think it is a suitable description. Yes, your job is to see to their needs. You are the executive. People will do as you command, so use your power wisely. Your grandmother, as matriarch, is the legislator. She’s the keeper of rules and records, like every good mother.”

  “Ohhh-kay, so that’s two of the three branches of government covered. You’re missing one.”

  Ótama closed her eyes and shook her head. “I am sure you meant that in jest, but there is a person in that justice role, or will be. Your consort. Our males like that job.” She looked off wistfully. “Your grandfather has been dead for ten years, so your uncle and brother have stepped in in a pinch.”

  Consort. Is that what she was dragging Harvey into? Did he know it? Want it? She was going to make damned sure she asked. She didn’t know a single man who would want to be tied down that way and to have so many added responsibilities.

  “Can you tell me anything about my kidnapping? And all the others? Who took us and why?”

  “No, I cannot.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  Ótama straightened her spine and looked over the shipside for a moment, saying nothing. Tess didn’t think she was going to answer at all, but then she said, “Cannot. I would if I could, even if I thought you needed to learn the lesson on your own. What I see of your world now is through a very narrow lens. I suppose the gods believe I would meddle, and they would be right.” She laughed. “I had a reputation for being meddlesome when I was alive. What mother is not?”

  That, Tess couldn’t answer. She certainly didn’t have any hands-on experience with parenting, and she had no independent memory of having parents herself.

  “I do not know what challenges you’ll encounter in the coming days, but you have already mastered your first one. That is why we are speaking now.”

  “What was the first challenge?”

  “Trusting your intuition. First with your family, and then with your mate. The queen’s mind is quiet until she takes her mate.”

  “Harvey? Or anyone I trusted? Because that seems kind of bogus to me. He could turn around and betray me tomorrow.”

  Ótama turned her hands over. “But he will not. He will be disinclined to do so because his wellbeing is now wrapped up in yours.”

  “Because I’m going to be the conduit.”

  “Yes.”

  “Does he know that?”

  “About the link? Yes, that is common knowledge. About your mind opening after consorting with him? No. That is knowledge only for the queen, but you may share it with him now. He deserves your trust.”

  So that’s what Tess’s grandmother had meant when she told Nadia there were things she didn’t know about being queen.

  “Will you check in on me?” Tess asked. She grabbed the woman’s hand and held it tight. She was a specter, but to Tess, she was just as real as flesh and bone. Not just a branch on her family tree, but the thick root that dug the deepest. It seemed very important that she be there and that Tess could count her amongst her supporters.

  When Ótama’s shoulders drooped, so did Tess’s heart.

  “It is not an easy thing,” she said.

  “I…I guess I understand.”

  “You do not. I would call to you all the time if I could. Now it is up to you to come to me.”

  “If I can figure out how.”

  Ótama pressed a hand to either side of Tess’s face and put their foreheads together. She sighed, and let the little bit of knowledge she could pass on—their history up until Ótama—convey in a gentle psychic relay.

  Tess saw Ótama’s struggles with the Vikings in Iceland. The fighting. The devastation and theft of her land. Tess learned of Ótama’s wishes for her daughter Sævör—that she’d thrive tho
ugh her mother had starved.

  That there’d be peace for her. That her gifts would be celebrated, and not looked upon with skepticism and malice.

  Things any mother would want for her child.

  “I’ll try,” was all Tess could say.

  She was wholly unqualified for the job. She had the pedigree, but not the composure. But, because she was Ótama’s, she’d try. It was the queen’s duty to try.

  “Do not be afraid to lean on those you trust and give trials to those you are uncertain of,” Ótama said, and she began fading around the edges.

  Tess reached for her, wanting to hold on tight as if that’d keep her close, but she couldn’t.

  “All is well, child. Never forget my love for you. Always act from love.” She was but a voice now, and all Tess could see was gray. “Love will make you wise.” The ship was gone. The horizon vanished. Tess was left naked, again, shivering.

  “Tess?” came a deep, familiar voice Tess knew belonged in her reality and not in her many-times great-grandmother’s makeshift realm.

  “Come on, sweetheart. Come back to me. Fuck, she couldn’t handle the sensory overload. Vanilla from now on.”

  “Hmm?” Pushing her eyelids up was an unexpected chore, but somehow Tess managed it and her vision focused on Harvey leaning over her, his face fixed with consternation.

  He brushed her hair back from her face and pressed a cool cloth to her forehead. “I’m sorry, Tess. You passed out. If I had known—”

  She shook her head, and peeled off the clammy rag. She was cold enough as it was. “I’m okay. It wasn’t your fault. I kinda…left my body for a moment.”

  His brow furrowed. “Left your body? What do you mean?”

  “I mean I…” Her jaw flapped silently for a few beats before she closed it. She didn’t have the words to explain it. “Um.” She sat up and pulled the covers up over her breasts, fidgeting with the satin trim of the adobe red sheets.