by Nora Ash
“Good.” He rose onto his knees and hiked one of my legs over his hip, opening me for his girth. With his free hand, he fisted his cock and pressed it against my opening.
I groaned again. It was meant as a protest, but just then Bjarni looked up from my nether region, catching my gaze. There was so much love there. So much longing. He had feared me lost too, and though he had remained strong for the others, it had nearly broken him. My sweet one.
“Bjarni,” I said softly.
He pushed into me. Slowly. Gently. I still bit down on my lip to hold back a cry of denial as his thick cock stretched me so, so wide. I was open from Modi and Grim, but my tissues were worn and tender, and despite the obvious care Bjarni put into penetrating me, it still hurt.
But when he bottomed out with a moan and fell over me, the ache of taking him faded to the background. His eyes were hazy with desire and filled with wonder as he let them sweep over my face, as if trying to commemorate every detail.
“I love you too,” I whispered.
“I know,” he murmured, offering me a smile that had my toes curling. “And I’m gonna show you how much I love you, mate.”
I clung to his shoulders and wrapped my legs around his waist as my gentlest mate took me slow and deep. I felt the urge to go harder vibrate through him and into my innermost, but he kept himself in check. He may have had a gentle nature, but he was still every inch an alpha, and I heard the song for conquest and domination echo through his blood as he filled me again and again, never losing control.
“It’s okay,” I gasped as my pussy took him to the hilt once more, the last remnants of pain disappearing behind my own rising desire for completion. “You can take me harder. I can handle it.”
Bjarni chuffed something between a laugh and a groan against the side of my neck where he’d buried his face. Slowly he pushed up on his hands so he could peer down at me. The wildness in his eyes made me swallow thickly.
“You want it like that, mate? Rough? Does your pussy need to feel how desperate I am for you?”
“I… you need more. It’s okay,” I stammered. His words and that look in his eyes made my nipples tighten and my core clench on his hard cock. Immediate regret had me flinching as aching muscles panged. Yes, a part of me did want him to show me how much he’d missed me—but it would hurt. There were no two ways about it.
He groaned at the involuntary flex of my pussy and gritted his teeth. “I need you, Annabel. I need your love, your happiness—and I need that sweet little cunt of yours to take me until you scream my name and cream on my cock. If you need it to hurt, I’ll make it hurt. But all I need is you, and until you beg me for more, that’s all I’m taking.”
“Bjarni,” I murmured, blinking away a few stray tears as I clutched him tighter. I loved my other mates—loved them so much it hurt—but Bjarni… he was so easy. There was no doubt in our bond as he made love to me, no pain, and no trauma. Just deep, warm devotion and the ecstasy of reuniting.
He opened his heart and soul to me as he filled my body with aching bliss, and there was nothing but happiness and gratitude over a core of battle-hardened steel.
I relaxed underneath him and wound my fingers in his long hair, surrendering.
Bjarni let out a low moan and bent his head to my exposed throat. He dug his teeth into my flesh and thrust in deep, making me cry out and tighten my legs around his hips in an effort to contain the sensation.
“Gods, Annabel,” he groaned. And then he took what he needed.
Slow as he may have paced it, I could do nothing but cling to his strong body as he rode me toward that jagged, inevitable cliff with each powerful thrust. Growling richly, he bit at my neck until I was panting, then reached between us to circle my swollen clit. It was my undoing.
“Shit! More, Bjarni. Give me more!” I whimpered as the zing of stimulation went straight to my brain, melting any grasp of the consequences in the process. “More, more—God, make me come!”
The next second, Bjarni’s thick cock barreled through my core so hard I saw stars.
“F-Fuck!”
My howl drowned in the lewd and unending slurps of my pussy as my gentle mate rose onto his hands for leverage and fucked me.
His thrusts fell hard and fast between my splayed thighs, his grunts of pleasure a steady rhythm underscoring my wails as I clawed at his back and writhed and came. My climax roared up from my pelvis in an overpowering wave, shattering my grasp on reality as pleasure ripped through my every nerve ending. I cried out his name and arched into him, frozen in that brutal torrent of bliss.
Bjarni gave me no respite. Growling with the effort, he forced his cock through my desperately clinging pussy, eternally pounding his own need deep into me. It was too much, too hard. Too relentless.
I sobbed through my orgasm and straight into another—and another. My body ached and my pussy trembled with exhaustion, but there was no stopping the alpha on top of me, not now that he had finally unleashed himself. All I could do was take his cock until he had no more left to give.
I don’t know how many times I came underneath my alpha before finally, I felt that unmistakable bump catch against the mouth of my weary pussy. His knot.
Usually the pain of taking it had me writhing to escape, but this time I felt nothing but gratitude as Bjarni pushed the horrible thing through my straining lips and hooked it in place with a shout.
His kernel of power came on the rush of semen bathing my womb. Gray-blue and shimmering, it penetrated my soul while my pussy’s contractions on his member forced me through one final, shuddering climax.
The moment that glowing ember clicked into place, I felt my entire soul light up in a flash of gold. Power rushed through my body and sank into my bones, even as my muscles gave in to exhaustion and I collapsed underneath Bjarni in a puddle of endorphins.
“I love you, Annabel,” my mate whispered against the shell of my ear. His muscles trembled against my skin as his cock released the final drops of his essence deep within me, and he groaned and rubbed his cheek against mine.
I didn’t have enough strength left to tell him I loved him too, but that golden light trickled out of me and into him, swaddling him in every tender feeling I had.
He smiled softly, kissed my lips, and grasped my limp body, rolling us over so I could lie on his chest, the thickness of his knot still locking me to his lower body.
“Rest, little goddess,” my mate said. The rumble of his voice vibrated through his chest and into mine, soothing me as thoroughly as the sensation of his thick arms wrapped around my naked body. “When you wake, we will show Hel that nothing and no one gets between an omega and her destiny.”
Twenty-Six
Annabel
I woke to the soft rumble of male voices, too groggy to make out the words. It took me a little while to realize that the disorientation came from being wrapped in a warm cocoon. It had been so long since I’d felt anything but Grim’s chilly touch that Bjarni’s body heat threw off my senses.
Reluctantly, I cracked my eyelids open. Judging by the gray light, it was barely dawn, and Bjarni was out cold on his back underneath me, snoring faintly. On his left, Magni was curled up with an arm slung over my lower back, and on his right, Modi…
I blinked as I realized Modi was resting with his head in the crook of Bjarni’s arm, even if his leg was wrapped over mine. It seemed everyone had gotten awfully close during yesterday’s events.
Speaking of getting close… I grimaced as my numb lower parts twanged when I tried to shift and it became evident that I was still straddling Bjarni’s half-erect cock.
Irritated, I poked my blond mate in the chest.
He cracked an eye and gave me a sleepy, “Hmm?”
“You’re still in me,” I hissed quietly so as to not disturb my sleeping mates.
“Mm,” he agreed, eyelid sliding closed again.
“Bjarni! Pull out.”
“Don’t wanna,” he murmured. “Missed you.”
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��I missed you too, but if you don’t get out of me in three seconds max, I’m gonna ask Magni to zap your balls,” I threatened.
Bjarni cracked both eyelids this time to give me a reproachful stare. “That’s harsh.”
“Bjarni.”
Sighing, he shifted his hips, and I bit down on my lip to stifle a whimper as he slowly slid out of my hypersensitive channel. He pulled free with an audible pop and a groan from me as my opening panged at the sensation of suddenly being empty.
Bjarni made an unhappy sound at the loss, pulled his arm free from Modi, and hugged me tighter to his body before he closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.
I flexed my pelvic muscles experimentally, grimacing at the deep, responding ache from my worn body. Someone was absolutely going to be carrying me today. Really, it was the least they could do after that stunt Modi and Grim pulled.
“…could have come to us. You know that. Or I thought you did.”
Saga’s low voice pulled me from my self-pity, and I craned my neck to follow the sound. He was sitting with Grim a few yards away, far enough that their voices wouldn’t disturb us, but still close enough that I could make out their words.
“She is your mother,” Grim said softly.
My heart skipped a beat as I realized what they were talking about, what had been laid bare when Grim opened his soul to me yesterday—to me, and to them.
“You think I’d choose her over you? After what she did? Grim…” Saga was clearly struggling to stay quiet through the awakening of his temper. “All those times we made you visit her as adults, all those times we teased you about not wanting to go… Gods, brother. I will never forgive myself. And I will never forgive her.”
“I… wasn’t sure you would have believed I didn’t want it. You saw me… with her. That first time.” Grim’s voice was quiet, but steady. I reached for him through our bond and found the connection open. He responded with a tendril of darkness—a caress against my innermost, promising me that he was okay.
“That means nothing. I would have known that even then. I told you, my first rut, I nearly fucked a mountain troll. Bjarni rutted a dwarf. He wasn’t even certain she was female before he had her legs spread.” Saga reached out and grabbed Grim by the shoulder. “Once this is over, I will make sure she pays for what she did.”
“Annabel has already promised to murder her,” Grim said, soft amusement in his voice.
Saga snorted. “I bet she has. She’s got a nasty temper, that one. And a bit of a protective streak.”
“I don’t need either of you to kill for me,” Grim said, his amusement fading. “It was a long time ago, and I have done… much that might make me deserving of worse, since.”
Saga was quiet for a long time before he said, “That part… was difficult to see clearly. It was… muddled. I don’t understand who could persuade you to betray us. I saw… something in your memories. Some… entity.”
“I am still under a silencing spell. I cannot tell you who, only that he showed me the worst of my fears made flesh. I still thought I could fight against Annabel—this pull she has on me—that I could choose my own fate, even if it meant the end of everything. It was better than you and Bjarni dying.” He scrubbed his face with both hands. “I never thought we could have… this. Even if we can’t stop Ragnarök, even if it is all for nothing… I wish I had been brave enough to give myself to her sooner.”
Saga squeezed his shoulder. “It’s a lot to ask—sharing her. I fought against it too, before I understood the truth of our connection. Of course, I didn’t fuck off to Hel in the process…”
Grim snorted and lowered his hands with a sigh. “I have done unforgivable things.”
Saga watched him for a moment, then shook his head. “You may have fought against the Norns’ web, but I think perhaps this was the only way you could surrender to Annabel. You had to feel for yourself what this bond means. No amount of telling you could have explained what it’s like.
“So no, brother—what you have done is not unforgivable. Not for us. Not after showing us…” Saga hesitated, his brows drawing into a frown. “Not after baring yourself to us like you did. You took her from us—to Hel, of all places—and I should want to strangle you for it… but I don’t. I understand why you did what you did.”
Grim exhaled a deep breath and glanced back at me. “How can one little human do this? Unite enemies and offer redemption where there should be none?”
Saga chuffed a quiet laugh and followed his gaze back to mine. He gave me a soft smile. “I’d suggest it’s that magic pussy of hers, but I don’t want to piss her off. I’ve been apart from it for too long to risk her withholding it.”
I gave him a glare that only made his mouth hike into a broader grin. Even Grim chuckled. He breathed deeply again and clasped his hand to Saga’s shoulder in quiet thanks. Then he looked back to me.
“We should wake the others. If Hel leaves with her army before we reach her, we will be stuck here.”
Magni carried me bridal-style as we made our way from Freya’s glade and deep into the woodlands. He spent most of the time looking between my abdomen and face, a look of wonder and happiness on his handsome features that pulled at my heart. The joy of our reunion was palpable in all my bonds, and it relaxed every tightly wound nerve in my body.
I was finally home. Even here, in the middle of Hel. I was home, and no task was too great when I was surrounded by my mates. Not even persuading Hel to let us leave the realm of the dead.
Sometime during the middle of the day, Saga insisted on swapping Mimir’s head for me, and Magni shifted me into his arms as he picked up the unusually quiet prophet. Mimir had been treated to a first-class seat to our debauched reunion—something I only discovered when Magni pulled me from Bjarni’s embrace and into his own that morning, and I saw Mimir’s head sitting not too far away, facing where we had spent the night.
But unlike when he’d watched Grim and me, he didn’t comment on what he’d undoubtedly witnessed, and he spent the day humming to himself as we made our way toward the swirling vortex of souls darkening the gray sky.
We saw none of Hel’s creatures on our journey, and I was starting to suspect that it was thanks to the presence of the five battle-hardened alpha gods making up my escort. Grim had been a formidable enough opponent for even a mountain troll—as peaceful as I felt while in their midst, I doubted even the most nightmarish of Hel’s denizens would be keen to tangle with four more.
My peaceful state lasted until evening.
Saga sat me down on a fallen tree trunk to go with Magni and Grim to find firewood. Even though it would provide us no warmth, a fire would still ward off some of the nocturnal horrors—and as Bjarni said, it just felt wrong to make camp without one.
I hadn’t sat on my tree trunk for more than twenty seconds before Modi scooped me up, stole my seat, and placed me in his lap.
“Hello, you,” I said, and then hummed when he gave me a soft, lingering kiss. “How are you holding up?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he took me in. “You are asking how I am doing, when you are the one who has been complaining of being sore all day?”
I swatted his chest. “I can worry about my mates, even after they savage me like a pack of horny wolves. But… I know things were still… raw with us before I left. New. That you struggled a bit. How…?”
He scoffed and tugged lightly on my braid. “I am fine, Anna. You being gone…” He swallowed, and for a moment, raw pain flickered in his eyes before he composed himself. “Being ripped open from the inside out has a way of putting things into perspective. Especially sharing it with the others. Like Grim learned yesterday, I too discovered that there is a special bond between all of us. It helped me through these past weeks of searching for you, and it opened my eyes to the truth of our union. You and I would not be whole without them, as they would not be complete without me.”
Silently I bumped my head against his. He stroked down my back in response
and breathed deeply against my hair, scenting me, even if there was no smell to be found.
“But I have missed you… so terribly,” he murmured, voice gruff. “I need some time with you. Just you.”
I grimaced and pulled back to look at him, one eyebrow raised. His lap was turning distinctly pokey, giving a pretty clear indication what he meant by needing “some time” with me. “Look, I missed you too—all of you. But I’m human, remember? I’m quite sure my lady parts are going to fall off if you guys don’t slow down a bit.”
“Actually…” Mimir’s voice sounded from where Magni had sat him down before heading out to look for firewood. “After your mates offered you their powers, you are not… quite human. More of a demigod, if we are to get technical.”
I blinked and stared at him. “I’m sorry… are you saying I’m a god?”
“Demigod,” he emphasized. “They imbued you with their combined essences, and they changed your DNA in the process. It was… quite spectacular to watch. Even in my long life, I have never seen the creation of a demigod before. I did not realize Freya would have known of such magic, if she even knew that was the outcome of her instructions to you.”
So that was why he had been uncharacteristically quiet about our reunion—he’d been… awed? I shook my head and tried to come to grips with what he’d said.
A demigod. I was a demigod?
“What… What does a demigod do? I mean… How am I different?” I asked.
“Well, for starters, plum, you should easily be able to handle your mates’ amorous attentions,” Mimir said evenly. “Your body will be tougher—not quite as strong as a god’s, but able to withstand much more than a human’s. And your lifespan will be longer—if we get out of Hel, of course. Even without Idunn’s apples, you would probably live three, five hundred years. Give or take.”
I opened my mouth, to say what I wasn’t entirely sure, but Bjarni broke in with a happy, “Excellent!” He straddled the tree trunk Modi and I were sitting on and reached out to cup my cheek. “If we start now, we might be halfway done before the others get back.”