by Kate Pearce
“What is this?” Einarr shook off his melancholy.
“It’s like glass.” Frey came to stand next to him, her shoulder aligned with his. “You had glass, right?”
“Nothing like this.” He smoothed his hand over the surface. “What would happen if it cracked and let in the stars?”
“We’d all die. The ship has to be sealed tight because there isn’t any air in space.”
“We’d suffocate?”
“Yes, within seconds.”
He swiftly took his hand away. With his magical powers, he didn’t want to inadvertently kill everyone. The fragrant smell of roasting meat caught his attention and he turned back to the table where Heald was putting out two platters. Each contained a large round of bread with something on top of it and another round of bread atop that.
He sat down on the bench and watched as Frey did the same. She picked up the food and bit into both slabs of bread. He copied her actions and had his portion finished in four bites. The meat smelled better than it tasted.
“What animal is this?” he asked.
Frey, who was only halfway through her first wedge of bread, chewed briskly and wiped her mouth. “It’s a genetically constructed creature which contains elements of both pork and beef. We call it pigcow.”
“It tastes unlike anything I have ever had before.”
She shrugged. “It’s pretty terrible. It’s great for space travel because it keeps for years.”
“Like dried meat.”
“Yes.” She looked down at her platter. “Would you like to have the rest of mine? I’m not that hungry.”
He frowned at her. “You are already too slender. Finish your food, woman.”
“Slender?” She glanced down at her ample bosom. “I think I like you.”
After she’d finished, and he’d been given some water and a bright red apple that looked too perfect to eat, they moved on. Einarr kept his attention on the ship and tried to ignore both the huge blackness outside and his fears of what would happen to him next. Nothing about the vessel made sense to him, and the idea that he couldn’t simply jump off the side and live was difficult to comprehend.
He tried to remind himself that the Gods had brought him back to life at this point in time for a reason. He might not yet understand their plans—who could? Eventually all would be revealed, and he would collect his reward in Valhalla. He paused to consider the endless darkness outside.
If Valhalla still existed four thousand years in the future… Did anyone worship his Gods anymore? And if they weren’t worshipped, had they ceased to exist? Terror stirred in his gut, sending cold black fingers of doubt and fear into his mind like a rapidly growing weed.
Frey’s voice came back to him, jarring him from his thoughts.
“Am I making sense so far?” She looked back over her shoulder, her smile dying. “I know this must be very difficult for you. Tell me to stop when I babble.” She pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I do tend to go on a bit.”
“I understand that I am on a vessel in space and that eventually we will land somewhere. That is enough for me.” Einarr forced the words out.
Her shoulders sagged. “And I’ve been rattling on about all kinds of stuff you don’t need to know.”
He reached out and took her hand, felt her immediate reaction to him. “I enjoy hearing you speak.”
“Is there anything you’d like to ask me?” She looked up into his eyes.
“You already know what I want, Frey.” He sucked one of her fingers into his mouth. “You naked, your legs wrapped around my waist, and your fingers clawing my back while I fuck you.”
She swallowed and bit her lip. “I meant anything else about the ship. We still haven’t seen my lab or the bridge.”
He kissed her hand and then licked her palm. “Then lead on.”
The bridge interested him because he could see how it was like navigating a ship at sea. Some of the words the crew used were even familiar to him. There was no chance of him taking control of the ship without him holding a weapon to the captain’s head and making him do all the work. He suspected he knew what Captain Travis would say to that idea.
The blond female who had shot him tapped her fingers on some instrument in front of her and watched figures moving on a square shape.
“Everything okay, Frey?” She smiled at Einarr. “Sorry I had to dart you.”
He inclined his head. “You must obey orders. I understand that.”
“Have we received any communications from FREN or TSA?” Frey asked.
“Nothing yet. I’ll contact you as soon as we do.”
“Thanks, Slavin.” Frey turned back to the door. “Let’s go and visit my lab.”
Einarr had a vague sense of already having passed through the passageways they now traversed on his earlier flight from the ice, but was still unprepared for the sight of the smashed and broken glass and buckled metal doors.
“I did this?” He turned in a slow circle.
“Yeah.” She sighed. “The security guard stationed outside this second door died in the blast.”
“The ice screamed and groaned and I was suddenly catapulted outward. I started to run the moment I realized I was free and still alive.”
She stepped through the debris and picked something up from the desk. “I’ll take this back to my quarters in case FREN needs to contact me.”
“Your quarters?” He smiled down at her.
She rolled her eyes. “Come on, and don’t expect anything fancy. There isn’t enough room to swing an Earth cat.”
6
As she headed for her quarters, Frey was all too aware of the Viking pacing behind her. Luckily, he was tall so he could keep up with her. She should be embarrassed at how fast she was going, but she was beyond caring what anyone thought. She reached her cabin, punched in the codes and pushed open the door.
“This is my—”
They were the only words she got out before his mouth covered hers and he hauled her against his chest, her back to the door. With a gasp, she surrendered to his possessive kiss and enthusiastically writhed against the hard planes of his chest and the glorious bulge of his shaft.
His hands worked on her uniform, shoving it down off her shoulders to uncover her breasts. She tried to undo his leather jerkin but couldn’t work out how, so just continued to kiss him until he had her naked, her arms wrapped around his neck and her knees gripping his hips. With a deep growl, he unfastened his trews and then Gods… His stiff, wet cock probed for entrance and she took him in, each thrust a welcome invasion, each thick inch of him parting her willing flesh.
She started to come before he’d even fitted himself totally inside her. With a grunt, he shifted one hand under her ass, hoisted her even higher and drove himself home and then again until she was whimpering and crying with the pleasure of being filled and fucked by a big strong man who could read her mind. Even as their bodies joined, so did their thoughts, enhancing the experience, blending them together into something else entirely.
She screamed into his mouth when she came again, and he froze and surrendered to her, his come pumping out in long, thick waves until he started to shake with the force of it. When she felt him stagger, she pushed on his chest and guided him to fall back onto her small bed, his cock still inside her.
Her cheek rested on his leather armor and she smiled as he cursed slowly in his own language, the words so guttural that the translator had no thoughts to offer as to their meaning.
She sat up, making him groan, and patted his chest.
“Take everything off. I want to see you.”
He gave her a very slow and satisfied smile, his hands coming to rest on her hips.
“Help me, then.”
He showed her how to unlace the leather garments and where they opened. Without the modern conveniences of tape and self-sealing fabrics, it took a long time to finally unwrap her male. But it was worth it.
Frey wondered if she was drooling as she rev
ealed his broad chest, tight abs and muscular arms. And his cock… She couldn’t wait to get her hands and mouth on him again.
“Be my guest,” he murmured as she stroked one hand down over his stomach to the curve of his hip. His skin was pale and marked with several scars. She intended to kiss every single one.
“Not yet.” He grabbed her hand and placed it on his cock. “I want you again, skin to skin.”
She practically purred as he thrust his other hand into her hair and held her still until she leaned forward to kiss him. The tip of his cock brushed over her clit and she kept it there, using him to rub her most sensitive spot until he was as wet as she was and arching off the bed.
Shaking off his hands, she sat back and slowly lowered herself down over his thick shaft, relaying every sensation to him until she was fully seated on his impressive length. He took a deep breath, making his stomach flex.
“Ride me, Frey. Make me yours.”
She could barely hold his burning gaze as she eased up and then back down on him and then kept doing it as he shuddered beneath her. Faster now, and then his hand was on her hip helping her, grinding her down onto his cock until she could think of nothing but him, his body, his mind and how he made her feel.
His fingers slid down over her hip until his thumb touched her clit and then she came so hard she had to close her eyes against the pleasure. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t hide from him. He knew what he was doing to her, had known it from the first moment she touched him.
She’d had sex with telepaths before, but it had never felt like this. This was truly life changing… His grip on her hip became more demanding as he set his feet flat on the bed and pumped up into her, meeting her half-way like a bucking horse. He eased more upright, holding her steady and took her to another level of ecstasy she’d never realized existed, his mouth on her breasts as he strained upward to meet her.
“Frey...” He breathed her name like a prayer.
His climax made him hold her so tightly, she almost couldn’t breathe. As she joined him with her mind and body, all the lights in her cabin shimmered and burnt out, sending glass flying everywhere. She couldn’t work out if the whole cabin structure was flexing or if it was just her bed.
“Tecky?” The banging on the door made her want to groan in a different way. “Are you okay in there? The door locks jammed.”
“We’re fine,” she yelled. “Don’t come in, there’s glass all over the floor. I’m going to clean it up.”
“We need a visual on you, Tecky, right now. You and the Viking, copy?”
She knew Brown would break down the door if she didn’t comply. With a curse, she grabbed her com device, wrapped her arm around Einarr’s neck and pointed the viewfinder back at their flushed faces.
“See? We’re fine. Now go away. If I need anything, I’ll communicate with Slavin, okay?”
There was a snort of laughter, another bang on the door and then the noise went away. Frey lay back down, her head under the Viking’s chin.
“We blew out the lights.”
He kissed the top of her head. “We don’t need light.”
“True, but we could end up getting cut to ribbons if we have to get out of bed.”
“Why would you wish to do that?”
“To pee, or to take a shower maybe?”
“Ah.” He held her close, his thumb stroking from neck to shoulder. “What is a shower? Like rain?”
“Kind of like an indoor waterfall.”
His fingers stopped moving. “That’s how we were trapped in the ice. Aki and I tried to cross through a cave behind an underground waterfall. We didn’t make it to the other side.” He sighed. “My grandfather told me it was an escape route. I didn’t think he meant a magical one that would transport us into the future.”
“Your family all had special powers?”
“Not all. Maybe one or two in each generation and always when there were twins.”
“You and Aki are twins?”
“Aye.” He settled her more comfortably against his shoulder so that she could look up at his face. “My family have been sorcerers and seers and wise men to the great families of the northern lands for centuries. Some of us also have the gift of reading each other’s thoughts.”
“We have a family like that on my planet, but all the seers are female. I believe the line has been unbroken for centuries.”
“Your planet?”
“I’m from Pavlovan. It’s closer to here than your planet Earth is.”
He shook his head. “I still find the idea that my world is only one of many quite unbelievable. But here I am.” He hesitated, his voice a deep rumble that vibrated his chest. “My world does still exist?”
“Sure it does. I was based there last year. That’s why I got the opportunity to accompany you back to Alpha Three, seeing as I was going home anyway.” It was her turn to sigh. “I think you’ll find it changed beyond recognition.”
“I thought as much.”
Frey patted his chest. “There will be people on Alpha Three to help you through this. You and your brother are not the first people to be reborn into a different century. There was a fad on Earth for cryogenic freezing at the end of the twentieth century. Some of those people and body parts have been successfully revived.”
“But no one as old as me and Aki.”
“I don’t think so.” Frey came up on one elbow and studied her Viking’s austere face. “They’ll help you. They really are very good at what they do.”
He regarded her for a long moment and then cupped her cheek. “You are kind.”
“I’m…” She tried to smile. “I’m a complete free-fall mess at the moment. I have no idea what I’m doing, I certainly shouldn’t be sleeping with you, and I’m definitely going to lose my job. But I don’t care. I couldn’t keep away from you if I tried.” She was obviously a lot more like her carefree, commitment-phobe father than she’d realized.
“Of course you couldn’t stop yourself. We are fated to be together.”
“Fated and mated,” Frey whispered. Two different cultures and races separated by thousands of miles and years. Was it possible that they both wanted the same thing?
“Are you okay with this?” She waved vaguely at her naked body, which was still entwined with his. “I can stop—”
“I can’t.” He rolled her onto her back and pushed her thighs wide with his knees. “Take me again.”
When Einarr finally fell asleep, Frey untangled herself and switched on the emergency light on her com to survey the damage. Glass sparkled on the floor—the automatic cleaning system hadn’t done its job and sucked away the debris. Crawling to the foot of her bunk, she placed her hand on the power control panel and used her telepathic abilities to sense the problems and repair the damaged fibers.
It didn’t take more than a minute for the vacuum system to quietly come back online and clear the floor. She spent another moment reconnecting the lights and reinforcing both the door locks and the security precautions she’d put in place to secure the cabin from the rest of the ship. She’d probably get in trouble for that, too, but at this point, she was so far out of line that it hardly seemed to make much difference.
In the bathroom, she studied her face in the small mirror. Apart from some red patches of stubble burn on her throat, she looked exactly the same. Weird when her whole world had changed… She took a deep breath. It seemed she couldn’t escape her genetics after all. Despite trying to live her life in a controlled and, quite frankly, boring manner, she’d lost all sense of responsibility the moment she’d met Einarr.
Whatever happened in the future, she would never forget her Viking and the gift he’d given her—the knowledge of what a true mated pair felt and thought together. And, unlike her father, who had never intended to stay with her mother and just lied, she’d make sure that when Einarr left her she’d wave him goodbye with a smile and never let him know what he might have meant to her.
She bit her lip as her smile f
aded. When they reached Alpha Three, they’d be separated. She’d have to face her employers, and he…would be facing months, if not years, of reintegration training. If his brother survived, at least he’d have someone to share the experience with. What would she have? A hurried dismissal and a transport back to Pavlovan if she was lucky. A public trial and prosecution if FREN were in a picky kind of mood.
But they’d given her the new codes… She’d just done what they’d told her to do. Which meant nothing. She’d touched the blood and added hers. She might be young, but she wasn’t naïve. FREN wasn’t known for its nurturing environment, and any blame, especially if Einarr failed to survive, would fall squarely on her. They couldn’t have known she’d find her mate, though. Would it make a difference if she told them? Would they let her stay with him? Somehow she doubted it.
She’d asked her grandmother once what it felt like when one of your mates died. She hadn’t expected to make her cry. It seemed that even thirty years after the event, a mate was still mourned. And she would be losing hers before she could even publicly claim or acknowledge him. But she couldn’t be selfish about this. Einarr deserved better.
He knew nothing about Pavlovan mating culture, and she refused to make a claim on him that he wouldn’t understand or might accept because he didn’t know any better. At her core, she wanted to own him, to make him hers, but knew that it would be selfish and wrong. She couldn’t expect him to make promises he had no intention of keeping. He’d end up hating and resenting her. She’d rather stop before she got involved and hope he was left in blissful ignorance of what might have been. That was the practical, sane thing to do. The thing the normal her wouldn’t think twice about.
With a sigh, she cleaned up and went back into the cabin. Her Viking lay sprawled on his back, one arm behind his head and one leg bent at the knee. She paused to study his magnificence. What was that quote her mother loved? “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” or something? She couldn’t decide whether that was true or not. If she had her way, she’d fight with her bare hands to keep this male.