Viking's Crusade (Viking Ancestors: Rise of the Dragon, #6)

by Purington, Sky

  “You need to mate fully,” her sister said, bluntly clarifying for her. “Then it’ll all become clear, eh?”

  “Yes,” Soren said before Ava had a chance to respond, obviously eager to make that happen. More so, eager to do what it would take to get there. “As I’m sure you and Rokar well understand.”

  “Hey, as long as it clarifies that I’m coming along when you go to Múspellsheimr, I’m all for it.” Tess winked at Ava. “Who am I kidding? I’m all for it anyway.”

  Where she might have been uncomfortable with this conversation a few days ago, her outlook had changed considerably. Maybe because she had finally embraced her dragon after so long or because of what she had discovered since.

  “Is our window of opportunity closing too quickly though?” she murmured, wondering how close Skáld truly was to breaking through to Midgard.

  “No.” Soren seemed to sense something. “There is still time...”

  “Yes,” Leviathan agreed, sudden understanding in his eyes. “The Great Serpent still holds him back. That is why the atmosphere is fluctuating.” He nodded, certain of it. “The great dragons struggle against one another.”

  “Not only that but it is getting dark out,” Magnus said. “Though Skáld’s Domain dwindles and does not seem threatening here, I would not trust that. The Domain was once very dangerous at night and still might be. I would err on the side of caution and face everything after sunrise.”

  In agreement that it was best to leave first thing in the morning, they remained with the others for a short while before they made their way down into the caves beneath the willow. Laden with magical roots and waterfalls, Tess and Rokar had mated here before finishing their quest.

  She and Soren traveled further though, down a tunnel that led to an area almost more magical than the rest.

  “It’s so beautiful,” she whispered, taking in the splendor of the cave.

  The outer edge of the willow’s root system hung from a semi-open ceiling, twisting and turning around stalagmites, an elegant curtain to the swaying branches far overhead. Soft moss coated nearly everything, even the rocky edges of a small pond where yet another waterfall fell from some unseen crevice overhead.

  When Soren remained quiet, she glanced at him only to find his eyes trained on her. While lust and need certainly churned in his steady gaze, so did a variety of other things. Respect, worry, awe, tenderness. Like her, he was sifting through seemingly endless emotions. Where before she would have shied away from everything she saw in his eyes, things were different now.

  She knew him.

  Had always known him.

  Needed to keep knowing him.

  So she closed the distance, wrapped her arms around him, and rested her cheek against his chest.

  “Mate,” he whispered hoarsely, wrapping his arms around her as well. “I had no idea how much I missed you.”

  “I know,” she whispered back, understanding fully.

  Silence fell, and they simply enjoyed the feel of being in each other’s arms. Of holding one another as they should. As they once did. It was as profound a moment as when his dragon held hers. Touching. Soul-changing.

  Extremely arousing.

  So much so that when his lips finally found hers, she was ravenous for everything he could give her. The control she was willing to give him this time. Growling with approval, he chanted them out of their clothes, spun her and pulled her back against him. She met his growl when she felt his heavy arousal against her back then his lips on the side of her neck.

  Impatient and hungry for more, she pressed her backside against him, but he stilled her, his hands firm on her hips. He wrapped a hand in her hair then began nipping and kissing the tender flesh on the sides and back of her neck. All the while, he fondled a breast with the other hand and tweaked her nipple.

  She bit her lower lip when he worked his mouth along her shoulder blades then down her back until he fell to his knees. Relaxing into it, she closed her eyes when he squeezed her ass then nipped and kissed his way along the globes, touching things no man ever had. By the time he turned her, and laved his tongue over her clit, she was already liquefied. Her body thrummed in response to being touched in a whole new way by a man as talented as him.

  By a dragon that belonged to her.

  Fortunately, he held her up because the way he devoured her made her leg muscles useless. All she could manage to do was dig her nails into his shoulders and sink into pure bliss. Soren was merciless in the way he licked and sampled her. He inhaled and groaned with appreciation as though he could not get enough of her scent and taste.

  Already caught in an ongoing wave of mini-climaxes, she lost control completely when he suckled her clit and pushed her right over the edge. Gone in a wave of release that had her trembling from head to toe, she was barely aware of him carrying her into the warm water.

  When she finally managed a coherent thought and came to, night had fallen. Moonlight trickled down through the sparkling willow roots and cast enchanting prisms across the water.

  “Did I pass out?” she murmured.

  He sat in the water against the edge with her in his arms, staring at her.

  “Close to it from what I could tell.” A small smile curled his mouth. “It was very enjoyable.”

  “Me passing out?”

  “Watching you,” he said softly. “Tasting you.”

  Fated mates or not, the way he said it, the way he looked at her, invoked a myriad of emotions. She had never felt so cherished. So much a part of herself yet part of someone else too. Part of something unified but at the same time independent. Alive in her femininity. Not only strong and alluring but awash in a powerful sensuality that heightened beneath his lustful gaze.

  “Well, I’m sorry I passed out.” She trailed her fingers along his broad chest, truly awed that he was hers. Because he very much was. “That was pretty selfish of me, wasn’t it?”

  “Letting me please you is not selfish,” he murmured. “But the opposite.”

  As their eyes lingered on one another, fresh desire uncurled from her groin to the rest of her body. Tingling, wickedly aroused, she straddled him, cupped his cheeks then kissed him.

  What had tingled turned to a raging fire, a burning between her thighs that needed to be assuaged. So she sank onto him, her breath choppy against his lips as he stretched and filled her. Only then, as he squeezed her ass and groaned, did she realize how tightly restrained he actually was. The overwhelming desire he had held in check since watching her find her release then lingering in his arms.

  All that changed in a flash, though.

  His control finally snapped.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  NEAR CRAZED, DESPERATE for her, Soren rested Ava on the soft moss-covered edge of the pond, urged her to lie back, and then took her with a vengeance. Nothing had ever been as hard as holding back after tasting her. After watching her enthralling response to his touch. Her untapped, long-repressed desire flowed out of her in a way that captivated him, driving near-crippling lust to the surface.

  Her eyes fluttered shut when he braced a hand on the ground beside her and took her hard. Rough. He would not be able to draw out the experience this time. It was impossible. He was out of control. His dragon more so, giving him no choice.

  It needed to claim her and fill its mate with its seed.

  His instinctual need to dominate ripped away everything but a roaring release that weakened his legs. Barely able to brace himself off her, he was vaguely aware of her letting go as well. Of her arching and trembling, her body responding to his in a way that stirred his cock yet again.

  While tempted to keep going, he could tell she needed a moment. Maybe a few. So he brought her back into the water and resumed holding her, something his dragon seemed inclined to do at every opportunity. Her cheek rested against his chest, and her body continued trembling as she drifted down from wherever her dragon took her during intimacy.

  “Not my dragon,” she murmured slee
pily. “Your dragon.”

  He smiled and stroked her hair. “Our dragons.”

  “They definitely seem to be making up for lost time.” She leaned her head back enough that their eyes met. “That last trip down memory lane in Múspellsheimr connected them even more...it made things clearer.”

  “Yes.” He sensed her thoughts, aware of what she alluded to. “I am sorry, Ava...that I had to let you go like that.” He shook his head. “When my dragon heard our offspring’s heartbeat, I had no choice. You two needed to come first.” He sighed, fully aware just how much that moment had cost them. “I had no idea the separation I forced between us would shadow this life.”

  But it had.

  That was why he was able to set aside dreams of her so easily.

  Why he could love another.

  “You don’t need to be sorry.” Her eyes stayed with his. “As far as I can tell, the sheer willpower your dragon displayed saved not only my life and our child’s but countless others. Not only that, but it allowed room for another in your heart and brought Thorulf into your life.” She shook her head. “There were no guarantees you’d ever meet me, so I’m glad you weren’t held back by dreams of me. That you were able to move on.”

  He appreciated what felt like forgiveness because he was grateful for Thorulf and even Agatha. But it didn’t change the soul-deep pain of knowing he had already lost so much time with his mate.

  “I’m here, though.” She cupped his cheek. “At least for now.”

  “You led so many to freedom and safety.” He tried to keep the fear of her leaving him from his face. “Surely, that warrants self-forgiveness for those you feel responsible for losing in this life?” He frowned. “If you go back to the twenty-first century and confess, they will tear you apart trying to understand what you are. Then they will begin a manhunt for more like you, Ava. You know that.”

  “Then I will go back into seclusion.”

  “Not without me.”

  “It wouldn’t be seclusion if you were with me.” She shook her head. “And I’d never allow you to leave Thorulf behind.”

  “I would come back to visit him.”

  She sighed and tried to wiggle out of his arms, but he held her in place.

  “Look at me, mate.” He tilted her chin until she had no choice but to. “Unless I am dead, no matter where you go, I will be there. Not just because my dragon will have it no other way, but because my human half won’t either. I love you, Ava. I think a part of me has loved you since I turned from dreams of you.” He searched her eyes. “My dragon, however, has loved you far, far longer, and you know that. I know you do because what sparked between us in that life is eternal.”

  Her eyes turned misty. “I know...I do...but love doesn’t dispel what I did, Soren. It doesn’t make it go away.”

  “Love is why you did what you did, to begin with, Ava,” he replied. “Don’t you see that?” He pulled her closer, not wanting her to go. Now. Later. Ever. “It was your love for mankind that drove you to a profession that allowed you to negotiate peace. It wasn’t hatred that put you in that village but a need to save its people. To lead lives to a place where love could flourish. A place free of the monster that killed them.”

  “I wish I could see it like that,” she whispered, her internal struggle obvious as she settled against his chest again. “But I just can’t...I’m sorry.”

  He bit back a sigh and continued praying something would change her mind because it seemed the love between them wasn’t enough to sway her. Keep her. But then she had yet to admit to their love. To acknowledge it.

  “You feel it though,” he said softly, knowing full well she followed his thoughts.

  “I do,” she said just as softly. “I feel it...but I will turn from it.”

  His chest tightened at her words, at the strength of her conviction. Like he had in their last life, she would set aside their immense connection when the time came.

  “What if the time does not come?” he murmured, stroking her hair again. “What if you no longer felt as though you deserved to be punished? What would you do then? Stay? Or return to the twenty-first century?”

  She went perfectly still as if unsure how to answer before she met his eyes. “The world would be safer with me here where people know dragons exist.”

  The crushing weight of her obligatory non-loving answer made it hard to think. Until that is, she continued.

  “Even if it weren’t safer to keep my dragon here, I would stay.” She rested her hand on his chest. “Not because my sisters are staying but because I would want to be near you, Soren. And I would want you to be where your son is.”

  His sluggish heart started to beat again. She meant it. He could feel it in her thoughts. In her every emotion.

  “Would you not miss the twenty-first century?”

  “Not really,” she said. “As you saw I’ve been cut off from it for a while and learned to live on my own just fine.” The corner of her mouth curled up a small fraction. “I think I could handle medieval living.”

  He ached at how lonely she must have been. Humans, never mind dragons, were social creatures and needed contact with others.

  “I would very much like having you here,” he said softly, never meaning anything more in his life. He wanted it all with her. Marriage. Children. A lifetime of having his mate in his arms.

  Though he didn’t voice his thoughts, he knew she sensed them.

  “I wonder why I don’t remember everything yet,” she said, redirecting the conversation. “Besides the oath I broke to Níðhöggr, I recall everything that happened on Múspellsheimr but not what happened after other than that I looked back, hoping you would follow. That you and Níðhöggr somehow defeated Skáld.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I think deep down I never stopped seeking you out...waiting for you.” Her eyes met his. “Hence my endless dreams.”

  “I am here now, mate.” He brushed his lips across hers. “As long as you will have me, I will be by your side.”

  A variety of emotions flashed in her eyes. Hope, fear, relief, terror. And he understood. It was overwhelming knowing they had come so far, but barriers still stood in the way.

  Skáld.

  Her need to punish herself.

  “We should rest,” she murmured, yet her exploratory fingers trailed along his chest and abdomen.

  “We should.” Yet his arousal only grew, pressing against her backside with impatience.

  “Then again, we might not have much time left,” she said logically. Her eyes grew dewy, her eyelids half-mast. “We could die tomorrow.”

  “We could,” he agreed. “So perhaps there are better ways to spend our time than resting?”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” she barely got out before he closed his lips over hers and kissed her with everything he felt. All the love and desire and hope that they might share a life together.

  This time he didn’t take her like a rabid animal but carried her to a soft patch of grass beneath the open ceiling and made love to her with as much passion as he had when kissing her. The way she touched him, moved with him, made clear they were destined for each other. Their every motion seemed to synchronize, bringing them all-consuming pleasure.

  They became so immersed in the way they made one another feel that one release blended with another and time floated by. They were so gone from pleasure that neither realized what was happening around them. How the roots began sparkling even more, and the willow glowed.

  How all the atmospheric fluctuations narrowed down to the area over them.

  Lost in her, completely oblivious, he pressed deep and let go for what might have been the hundredth time, afloat in the feel of her, merged in an indescribable way. Overcome with a bliss that suddenly had light.

  Red, fiery light that his mind’s eye followed until their surroundings changed yet again.

  This time, however, what happened was truly life-altering in more ways than one.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

&n
bsp; “WHERE ARE WE?” Ava said, totally thrown that she had been making love one second and now stood in a strange world fully clothed. “This doesn’t look like Múspellsheimr but...Earth?”

  “It is Midgard,” he confirmed, keeping her close. He looked around in awe, seeming to understand. “Forty-five thousand years ago.”

  “Holy shit.” She took in the crystalline ocean and tropical vegetation. “Are we south of the border or what?” When he went to answer, she shook her head. “That was a rhetorical question. I know the planet looked a lot different in this day and age.” As she kept eying the expanse of the land with its various lakes and mountains, it began to look familiar. “Oh, my God...”

  When she trailed off, he ended her thought for her. “It’s Níðhöggr’s Realm.” He shook his head. “Only it consists of the trees and vegetation that were here at the time rather than plant life and such strung together from other worlds.”

  “I don’t understand,” she began, trailing off in amazement when the sky filled with bright light and a fire demon as well as dragons appeared out of nowhere. Dozens and dozens of them before the light snapped shut behind them.

  “That’s my dragon leading the way,” she said hoarsely, overwhelmed with emotion as it all came rushing back. She bit back tears the feeling was so strong. “I was so elated...and so heartbroken.”

  She and those she led had just arrived safely on Earth through the other side of the Portal.

  Soren pulled her even closer, his emotions just as turbulent. “I feel it...you...” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Him.”

  Their son.

  “I feel him too,” she whispered. “All around me...in me...”

  Moments later, a bright light flashed before their surroundings returned to the Realm again.

  “We’re still back in time.” His dragon eyes flared with even deeper emotion. “Only its several years later.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because he’s coming...our son’s coming.”

  No sooner did he say it than a mighty crimson dragon landed in the valley amongst many others, all flourishing and at peace. Shortly after, Ava’s former dragon landed beside him then another female dragon.