Dragons of Asgard 2

by Jacobs, Logan

  “You’re looking for dealers, huh?” Eira nodded. “I’m in.”

  “Oh, great!” Asta jumped up and down and clapped her hands.

  “On one condition.” The warband leader grinned.

  “What’s that?” I asked curiously.

  “You have to buy me a drink,” Eira said, and she downed the remainder of her pint. “I seem to be out of mead.”

  “I think I can manage that,” I chuckled.

  “We’ll leave you two alone, then.” Kas grabbed Asta’s hand. “Come on, Asta.”

  “See you two at home,” the elf girl giggled.

  Inger and Uffe followed the girls, but Blar tried to climb up into Eira’s lap.

  “Blar!” Kas yelled over the men in the bar, and the little blue dragon looked at me with pleading eyes.

  “I think you’d better go, buddy,” I told him with a smile. “I’ll be home soon. Protect the girls for me.”

  Blar huffed, rolled his eyes, licked Eira’s hand goodbye, and started slowly toward the door.

  “Hurry your little butt up,” Kas commanded playfully, and I saw Blar deliberately walk even slower.

  “So,” Eira said as I turned back toward her. “We’re alone again. Whatever shall we do?”

  The redhead’s green eyes smoldered as she stared at me with both playfulness and lust written on her face, and I pulled out my coin sack and set five copper pieces on the bar.

  “Bimith,” I said with a grin, but my eyes didn’t leave Eira’s. “We’re going to need a round over here.”

  Chapter 23

  Once I had my mead in my hand, my body relaxed just slightly, but not completely. Eira was intimidating, in more ways than one.

  Not only was the redhead gorgeous, she was also incredibly cunning on the battlefield, and she’d worked her way up to the title of warband leader. There weren’t many women who strove to achieve that title, but Eira wasn’t like most of the other women I knew. She was a fighter through and through, and I wanted nothing more than to see her toned, naked body beneath my own.

  “Was there a battle today?” I asked after I took the first sip of my mead.

  “No.” Eira shook her head. “I just felt like a drink.”

  “I see,” I chuckled.

  “We all miss you, you know,” the redhead said with a playful smirk. “Even Hagar.”

  “Somehow, I doubt that,” I laughed.

  “He mentioned you during training today,” Eira told me.

  “Was it to say how scrawny and weak he thought I was?” I teased.

  “It was actually to say how he missed having you around.” Eira half laughed as she spoke. “He said none of the other men treat him the way you did. He thinks they’re all scared of him. He sounded like he honestly missed you.”

  “That big oaf,” I snorted. “I guess I miss him too sometimes. Or, rather, I just miss being in the warband.”

  “It’s really not the same without you.” Eira took a drink of her mead. “Now, I’m stuck with a bunch of arseholes who fight with their dicks instead of their brains.”

  “You haven’t lost a battle yet.” I shrugged.

  “No, we haven’t,” she laughed. “No thanks to the men on my team. I love them, but they’re all big dumb sacks of muscle, and not much else.”

  “You’ll get through to them eventually,” I chuckled.

  “Maybe,” she said, and she focused on me with half-narrowed eyes as she looked me up and down. “But I never had to get through to you.”

  “No, I guess you didn’t.” I took another drink of mead and tried not to focus on how beautiful her mouth was.

  “You were always ready to fight, and I never had to worry about you doing something stupid like I do with the rest of your brothers,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever really asked before, but where did you learn to fight like that, anyway?”

  “I taught myself.” My face grew hot at my admission. Most warband men had fathers or uncles or brothers who were already assigned to a group, and it was quite often a family tradition passed on from one generation to the next. The older generation trained the younger one in an attempt to help them move up the hierarchy, but I never had anyone to mentor me like that.

  “That’s even more impressive.” Eira nodded. “Maybe it would serve some of the men well to not listen to their fathers who served before them. It convinced them they don’t have to think during battle, just do what father said.”

  Eira rolled her eyes and took another swig of her mead.

  “What about you?” I asked curiously. “Where did you learn to fight?”

  “My father taught me.” The redhead winked at me, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “But my father was a better fighter than the rest of them, so I had to listen to him.”

  “Who’s your father?” I asked with a smile.

  “Irmain Pyre,” Eira said nonchalantly, but I nearly spat out my mead at the mention of one of the greatest warband leaders in history.

  “Irmain was your father?” I gasped.

  “The one and only.” The redhead smiled sweetly.

  “Does anyone else know?” I asked. “I can’t believe I didn’t know that. Your father was a legend.”

  “Nobody knows.” Eira shook her head. “And I’d like to keep it that way. I worked hard for my title and position, and I don’t want anyone to think I got where I am simply because of who my father was. Nobody in the warbands knows about him.”

  “Thank you for trusting me with your secret,” I said sincerely.

  I hadn’t known Eira to be very forthcoming, but I was excited she’d chosen to share a bit of herself with me. Yesterday, she’d played with Blar, and now today she’d told me about her incredibly famous father.

  It seemed the warband leader was full of surprises.

  “It’ll cost you,” Eira chuckled and tapped her now empty glass.

  “Bimith!” I called with a laugh.

  The second round of mead went down just as quickly as the first, and then another, and another one yet.

  Eira and I told stories of the other men in our warband and their strange techniques on the battlefield, and we both laughed and laughed until my cheeks hurt.

  I realized after the fourth drink I was intoxicated, but whether it was strictly the mead or Eira, or a combination of the two, I couldn’t be sure.

  It wasn’t what I’d expected, but I was honestly having fun with Eira. The warband leader was usually so stoic and down to business, and it was incredible to see her so relaxed and playful. She was easy to laugh, and every time she did, my heart rate picked up even more. She had the sexiest laugh I’d ever heard, and whenever she thought something was particularly funny, she’d toss her head back and slam her hands on the bar in front of us.

  I couldn’t help but stare at her, and at some point I realized she was staring back at me. Her bright-green eyes were locked onto mine, and she looked down and then back up at me through thick eyelashes.

  Even over the men in the bar, I could hear her heavy breathing, and I could see her chest rise and fall quickly with anticipation.

  We were moving closer to one another, inch by inch, and my stomach fluttered with desire and impatience as our lips slowly made their way toward one another.

  When we were just a hair’s width away, my eyes closed, and I felt her warm breath hit my bottom lip. Then I let out a shaky breath and closed the final distance between us.

  My lips barely brushed Eira’s when a loud sound startled both of us, and once again we pulled away from each other, ready to fight whatever had caused such a commotion.

  I quickly glanced around until I found the source of the outburst. It was one of the warband men. He’d fallen face first on the floor, clearly far too drunk to even move, and his buddies stood around him and laughed at his misfortune.

  “This seems to be a pattern with us,” Eira chuckled.

  “It does.” I smiled at the redhead, and I couldn’t help but glance down at her full, plump lips. They’d
barely touched my own, but I recalled the feel of them fondly. They were soft and pillowy, and I wanted to feel them again.

  I wasn’t going to push the issue, though. I’d wait for Eira to come to me. She was my superior, after all, and I didn’t want to do anything to make her feel uncomfortable. She clearly wanted me, so all I had to do was wait until she decided she’d had enough of teasing me.

  And once that day came, I’d make sure she wished it had come a lot sooner.

  The redhead and I laughed about the drunken man, but then we decided we should get going. Eira was going to stay at my house since we’d leave early in the morning, and I couldn’t stop smiling at the thought of her under my roof.

  It was dark out by the time we left the bar, and we started the walk back to my home with large smiles and bellies full of mead.

  The stars were bright overhead, and the moon was a crescent sliver in the sky that illuminated everything around us. The cobblestone streets sparkled under its light, and I couldn’t help but stare at Eira as she stared up at the night sky.

  “Whoa,” the redhead said as she tripped over a rock in the road. She stumbled forward, but I reached out and grabbed her with one arm so I could pull her to me and steady her.

  Eira was pressed against my chest, and I could feel the heat of her warrior body. My breath grew shallow as I looked down into her big green eyes.

  The warband leader smiled drunkenly, and then she leaned up and placed her plump red lips softly against mine. Her arms wrapped around my waist, but her kiss was the opposite of what I’d expected.

  Eira was so fierce I had expected her kiss to be the same, but instead it was soft, tender, and oh, so sweet. Her lips pressed gently against mine, and she let out a small sigh that made my stomach tie itself into knots.

  After a few seconds, she pulled away and licked her bottom lip before she looked up at me.

  “Thanks for catching me,” she said.

  “Anytime,” I muttered, though I wasn’t sure I had actually spoken at all. The only thing I could focus on was the beautiful woman in front of me, and how badly I wanted to kiss her again.

  The redhead looked down and smiled, and then she grabbed my hand and tugged me down the road.

  “Come on,” she chuckled. “We’re almost to your house.”

  The rest of the way home, all I could think about was our kiss, but I tried to put it out of my mind. Eira was an intelligent and fierce leader, and I wanted to treat her with the respect she deserved.

  I’d expected Kas and Asta to be asleep by the time we got home, but when we stepped into the yard, I could see the fire was still going, and the girls were sitting around it. Inger was in Asta’s lap, and Blar was in Kas’, while Uffe had chosen to lay between their feet.

  “We thought we heard you,” Kas said as Eira and I walked up.

  “I’m surprised you two are still up,” I said.

  “It’s not that late,” Asta chuckled. “We left you at the bar only three hours ago.”

  “Oh.” My eyes widened when I realized just how intoxicated I was. The mead Bimith served was nothing short of spectacular, and I knew he brewed it himself since we’d spoken about it one of the other times I’d gone in.

  I hadn’t realized how powerful it was, though, not until just then. Eira and I had four rounds altogether, and I felt wonderfully warm and happy.

  “We thought you two might be hungry when you got here.” Kas lifted the lid off a pot on the fire, and a wonderful aroma wafted up and hit my nostrils.

  “That smells amazing,” I told her with a smile. “You cooked?”

  “We did.” Asta nodded eagerly. “We even followed a recipe and everything.”

  “Mmm, I’m starving.” Eira grinned. “Thank you both.”

  “You’re welcome.” Asta smiled so big her eyes closed shut. She clearly liked Eira, but the warband leader hadn’t exactly been the quickest to warm up to her. It seemed Eira was coming around, though, and just that small gesture clearly meant a lot to Asta.

  “It smells delicious,” the redhead said as she sat down next to Uffe and stroked his back.

  The little red lizard lifted his head slightly, smiled, and laid back down.

  “I made tea, too,” Asta added. “I thought you all might want something light after drinking.”

  “Tea sounds wonderful.” Eira smiled and took the cup Asta extended toward her.

  The elf girl looked up at me, then glanced over to Eira, then back at me with a wide smile on her face.

  I nodded, smiled back, and patted Asta on the shoulder. The elf girl was clearly trying to secretly communicate with me that she thought her plan to get Eira to like her was working. I wasn’t sure if it was so much that, or if it was all of Bimith’s mead we’d guzzled down, but I wasn’t about to tell her that.

  Either way, the girls deserved a nice thank you. I typically did all the cooking, since neither of them were well versed in that area, but whatever they’d made smelled delicious, and I was excited to try it.

  I took the mug of tea Asta handed me, and then I sat down next to Eira. The first sip of tea hit my taste buds just right, and the minty floral notes of it were exactly what I needed right then. The taste of mead quickly washed out of my mouth, and I smiled as it was replaced with the refreshing flavor of Asta’s tea.

  The elf girl might not be the greatest cook, but she could brew some damn good tea.

  “Mmm,” Eira moaned and closed her eyes after she took a sip. “This is delicious.”

  “Thank you.” Asta’s face absolutely lit up at the compliment.

  Blar hopped down from Kas’ lap and made his way over to my feet where he promptly plopped down with an audible sigh.

  “Did you miss me?” I chuckled and reached down to pet his scaly back.

  Blar rolled over so I could rub his belly, and Eira leaned down to join in as well.

  While Blar soaked up the belly rubs, Asta and Kas dished us up bowls of the stew they’d made. It smelled earthy and robust, and when I took a bite, my senses were delightfully overwhelmed with the taste of tomato and cabbage.

  The girls had put Asta’s affinity for picking herbs to good use, too, because the stew had a nice flavor of sage and lemongrass.

  “Excellent work,” I told the two of them.

  “And before you ask,” Kas said as she lifted her chin slightly. “No spells were used.”

  “None?” I arched an eyebrow.

  “Not one,” Kas assured me.

  “We did get the recipe from the spell book, though,” Asta announced with a delighted smile.

  “Asta!” Kas hissed.

  “What?” the white-haired elf girl asked, and she blinked innocently.

  “We talked about this.” Kas rolled her eyes, closed them, and put her face into her palm before she looked back up to glare at Asta.

  “I’m sorry,” the elf girl giggled and covered her mouth with a dainty hand. “I forgot it was a secret.”

  “There’s no shame in following a recipe,” I told them both. “Recipes are a great way to learn what goes well together. You still put in all the work.”

  “Whatever you did, keep doing it,” Eira said through a mouthful of stew, and she used her spoon to point down at her bowl. “Because this is tasty. It may even be better than the meal Rath made for us last night.”

  The redhead shot me a quick wink, and I smiled slightly in return.

  “I don’t know if I would say that,” Kas said.

  “It’s amazing,” I assured her.

  “Well… thank you.” Kas was hesitant at first, but then she smiled and took the compliment.

  The stew wasn’t as good as the meal I’d made the night before, but it was delicious all the same, and it was a great effort from two women who usually didn’t cook at all.

  “Eira, we assumed you were staying the night,” Asta said after we’d finished eating. “We made up the bed for you inside.”

  “Yes, I was planning on staying.” Eira nodded. “But that
’s not necessary, it’s a beautiful night. I wouldn’t mind sleeping outside under the stars.”

  “Oh, well, that’s great, then,” Asta said with a smile. “We’ll bring some more blankets out here so we can all sleep together.”

  “That sounds like a plan,” the redhead said, and she looked over at me and briefly bit her bottom lip.

  My heart rate jumped at her gesture, and my stomach fluttered with excitement.

  Kas and Asta headed inside to gather more blankets, and I stared at Eira as she looked up at the sky. The redhead was illuminated by the firelight, and the glow of the flames lit up her auburn hair beautifully. Her delicate features were on display, and her lips parted slightly before she yawned and stretched so I could see her thin abdomen and full breasts. Her tunic didn’t leave much to the imagination since it was skin tight, and I could clearly see her full chest as it lifted to the sky. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and place my hands on her body, anywhere she’d let me. I needed to feel her smooth skin and yank her tunic over her head so I could see the perfection that was beneath it.

  “Rath,” Kas’ voice said, and I turned to see she and Asta were back with the blankets.

  “Yes?” I asked, and I cleared my throat and tried to pretend I hadn’t just been ogling Eira.

  “We’re going to lay down,” the sorceress said. “We’ll leave a place for you and Eira. Unless you’d prefer to sleep on your own?”

  The question was directed at the redhead, but she simply shrugged and locked eyes with me.

  “I’ll sleep with you.” She smiled, and her green eyes looked me up and down. She was teasing me again.

  “Great,” Asta said. “Join us whenever you’re ready.”

  “I think I’ll do that now,” the redhead said. “I’m feeling quite tired after all that mead.”

  I helped the girls lay out the blankets, and then we all laid down and stared up at the night sky. I kept the fire going so our feet were nice and warm, and I was surrounded by the girls, so I could feel their body heat at my sides as well.

  Asta was on my left, and Kas laid next to her. Inger was between the two of them, and Blar snuggled up by my side between Asta and I while Uffe laid at my feet.