Viking's Conquest

by Sky Purington

  “Thank you all,” she finally said, still trying to gather herself. Chills kept sweeping over her. When Rokar wrapped his fur cloak around her shoulders, she nodded thanks, touched by the simple gesture.

  “Let’s get you by a fire,” Shea said. “Then you can tell us what happened.”

  About the last thing, she wanted to do was share. In any great detail, that is. So she told them the basics. Nothing about her recollections of Helheim and the heartbreaking pain that came with seeing Hel again. Yet she got the feeling as she told her tale, Rokar sensed it. He knew she wasn’t entirely truthful.

  “As to the tree...” Her eyes drifted to the fiery ash. “Though far larger, it’s the same one I saw back home as a teenager.” She shook her head. “But so much more beautiful and drawing...Like I want to fly straight into it and never look back.” She swallowed hard and met Rokar’s eyes, convinced he must feel it too. “You must see what I see...feel the same...”

  “I see a great tree.” He shook his head. “But no fire.”

  She looked from the tree to everyone present. Sage, Shea, Davyn, Håkon, and Magnus. “None of you see it like I do, then?”

  They shook their heads before Shea spoke up. “Although Rokar did think it looked aflame in the sunset the last time we were here.” She gave him a pointed look. “In fact, Tess had told you across time that when the fiery tree presented itself, the water was coming. That all of us would meet our end if you didn’t pursue your conquest on the sea.” She shrugged. “Which could have very well been when you battled Big Red before in the ocean or at the end of Kenzie and Eirik’s adventure.”

  “I’m sorry, but what?” Tess shook her head and met Rokar’s eyes. “I never said that.”

  “Any more than I was flirtatious with you across time,” he returned.

  “Which neither of you seems to be at the moment,” Sage noticed, looking between them. “I heard Skáld was influencing your personalities, but you both seem pretty level right now.”

  Tess nodded. “Yeah, since...” She trailed off before mentioning how she'd experienced Rokar’s loss, which clearly helped level them out. “Let’s just say, we shared a moment that seemed to level us and so far, it’s sticking.”

  “That’s good.” Shea fingered her locks and eyed the two of them. “So things seem to be right on track.”

  Naturally, she referred to the state of her sparkling hair. Her Cupid magic sensed true love connections by mimicking the hair color of those meant for one another. Right now, it was the perfect mix of Tess’s hair and Rokar’s.

  Or at least it was until a third color appeared.

  “Damn,” she muttered moments before Sage cocked her head.

  “Is it just me or is the third hair color identical to Soren’s?”

  Chapter Ten

  FRUSTRATED TO BEGIN with for feeling a stir of excitement at Shea’s two hair colors, Rokar grew even more aggravated when Soren’s color appeared as well. And with that renewed irritation, came unintended words when his eyes slid to Tess. “So you did lie with my cousin.”

  “Having sex with someone doesn’t mean love,” Shea chimed in but snapped her mouth shut when Rokar’s eyes narrowed on her.

  “Like I said before,” Tess shrugged and offered him a crooked not-so-sorry grin, “I have no idea.”

  When Sage’s brows drew together in confusion at Tess’s lighthearted response, Shea explained. “She’s back to her usual personality.” She cocked a brow at Rokar. “Which means you must be too.”

  “Damn.” Sage looked back and forth between them. “So what triggers these personality changes?”

  “Things that pull their dragons further away from each other,” Håkon offered. “On the other hand, things that level them help them get along. The better they get along, the more likely they are to mate.”

  Rokar scowled, still recalling how it felt to know Tess had witnessed his past. The fateful day that took so much from him. It was bad enough that he’d failed his kin so badly but to have another see it firsthand like she had? Unthinkable.

  “Hmm.” Shea considered Tess. “Sounds to me like you need to remember exactly what happened with Soren.” She shrugged. “Cuz he clearly pushes your dragons apart.”

  “Matter of opinion.” Tess tossed him a flirtatious look. “Supposedly Rokar doesn’t care what happened between his cousin and me because he’s not into monogamy any more than I am.”

  Though he knew better, he was overly sensitive from her witnessing his past, so he bit back, “But I once was, and you damn well know it, woman.”

  “Hey, I get that you were married and clearly faithful,” Tess retaliated, far too chipper for such a heavy conversation. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the type who wants to lock things down with just one woman now.”

  Sage spoke to Shea while narrowing her eyes at Tess. “I wouldn’t say this is the Tess we know speaking right now either.” She frowned and shook her head at Tess and Rokar. “You’ve got to get Skáld out of your heads.”

  “Not Skáld,” Magnus said softly. “But someone else...perhaps Níðhöggr himself.”

  “What?” Sage and Shea exclaimed at the same time.

  “If there is one thing my demon magic is becoming very good at,” the sorcerer said, “it is knowing where Skáld is leaving his mark, both physically and mentally.” He shook his head. “What is happening between these two is caused by something else entirely.” His eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. “That’s not to say Skáld isn't involved somehow...because he is.”

  “Whatever’s going on, I’m fine with it if it keeps me like this.” Tess winked at Magnus. “Especially with all these hotties around.”

  “Hell, Sis.” Sage shook her head, taking in Rokar’s ever-growing discontent. “I can’t imagine you two ever hooking up like this.”

  “Well, why not?” Tess flipped her hair and batted her lashes at Rokar. “As I’m sure we both agreed on at one point or another, we can enjoy each other plus have fun on the side.”

  “You can have all the fun you want,” Rokar groused, standing. “Just not with me.” He shook his head. “Never with me.”

  She was better off that way.

  “I’m going hunting,” he grunted over his shoulder and strode into the forest, only to find her striding after him.

  “Hey,” she called out. “I know you’re fussy about us right now, but at least let me help you hunt as a way of thanking you for saving my life back there.”

  “Sage and Magnus saved your life,” Rokar corrected. He swung around to face her and pointed at the group on the shore. “Go back to the others. I do not want you along.”

  “Are you sure?” She tilted her head, a frustrating grin on her far-too-lovely face when her eyes fell to his groin. “Because it doesn’t look that way.”

  He cursed his ill-timed erection. “Go back, woman.”

  He spun and strode away only for her to catch up once again.

  “Seriously, let me help,” she said. “I’m a good hunter.”

  “Doubtful.” He shook his head. “Those from the future know little about hunting.”

  “Um, I’m a dragon too, ya know,” she reminded. “It’d be downright undragonlike not to know how to hunt.”

  “We are hunting in human form.”

  “That’s why I offered.” She pulled a blade out of her boot. “I hunt well this way too.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why do you hunt this way when it’s not necessary where you come from?”

  She shrugged. “Some of the guys I’ve hung with are hunters, so I picked up a thing or two.”

  Best to be blunt then. “I would prefer to hunt alone, Tess. Go back to the others.”

  “No.”

  He sighed. “Why?”

  “Because I owe you one.” She licked her lips as her appreciative, hopeful eyes returned to his groin. “And I have a feeling this version of you won’t let me repay the favor the way I’d really like to,”
she shrugged and whipped her blade, her eyes never leaving his, “so I’ll help this way.”

  He couldn’t help but be impressed when she felled a buck he hadn’t sensed nearby. While her DNA helped some, it was clear she’d had extra training and possessed a razor sharp natural instinct.

  “And just to be clear,” she didn’t look the buck’s way, “I never killed for sport. Everything was eaten...”

  He didn’t miss the haunted flicker at odds with the flirtation in her eyes.

  “It’s good we’re eating it,” she whispered, her eyes suddenly misty before she strode back in the direction of the others never once looking at the animal.

  What was that all about? Curious despite himself, he removed her blade, grabbed the animal, and headed back only to find a few people missing.

  “Where are Tess and the Demon Sorcerer?” he asked, not thrilled at the idea of them being alone together.

  “Tess came back upset and said she was going for a walk,” Sage said. “Magnus followed her.” Her brows drew together. “What happened, Rokar?”

  “She wished to hunt to repay me for saving her life.” He set the animal down. “Then she felled this buck before growing upset.”

  “I didn’t know Tess could hunt in human form.” Shea frowned at the carcass. “I wonder where she picked that up. Maybe our DNA?”

  “She said her men were hunters.”

  “Her men?”

  “Those she spent time with.”

  “Is that right?” Shea frowned at Sage. “Must have been over the past few years...unless.” She narrowed her eyes. “There was that one guy she spent a lot of time with just before she took off. Remember the one? Never wanted to hang with any of us just kept her all to himself.”

  “I remember,” Sage said dryly. “Now there was a moody dragon if ever I saw one.” She scrunched her nose. “I wasn’t all that crazy about him.”

  “Me neither.” Shea fingered her hair and shook her head. “Definitely not the man meant for her.”

  “So you think this man taught her to hunt?” Rokar’s inner dragon was disturbed by something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. A sense of unrest he couldn't narrow down.

  “He seemed the sort that might’ve taught Tess to hunt,” Sage said. “Real woodsy guy that occasionally ran with a local biker gang.” She shook her head. “While it was safe to say he wasn’t the first bad boy type Tess went for, I’d say he was the worst.”

  “But you barely knew him, no?”

  “Some guys you don’t need to,” Sage flinched, “you just know they’re rotten to the core.”

  Interesting. Why would she like that sort of dragon? That sort of individual? But then look who she was off with right now. Not that the Demon Sorcerer was bad, per se. But he was a demon so he couldn’t be all good. Though tempted to follow Magnus and Tess, he knew it was better to put distance between them, so he set to skinning the game and continued learning about his fated mate.

  “Why is Tess drawn to bad boys as you call them?” he asked.

  “Probably something you should ask her,” Sage replied as Shea said, “Beats me, but that’s typically always been her M.O.”

  Sage gave Shea a look before she reluctantly elaborated. “Honestly, I think it's the excitement of it and subconsciously not wanting to be tied down to any one guy for too long.”

  “And that would not happen with bad boys?”

  “Far less likely,” Sage said. “I always got the sense that despite how much she loves men in general, Tess has no faith in them sticking around.”

  “Right,” Shea agreed. “She goes into it thinking it’s gonna fail.”

  “Which keeps her heart safe,” Sage added.

  “That it does,” Shea echoed, considering Rokar. “Deep down, I don’t think she believes in the premise of destined mates, and I’m not entirely sure why.” She looked from Sage back to him. “Sure, my sisters and I fought the idea for one reason or another, but Tess? I think she was born thinking it was impossible.”

  He tensed at that, feeling a strange sense of disappointment and loss that seemed foreign yet familiar. As if he almost remembered something. A memory from another life.

  “She might be right,” he murmured while Håkon put the meat over the fire.

  “Clearly not, Cousin,” Davyn said. He pulled Shea onto his lap affectionately. “Considering how many of us fated mates have come together.”

  “In this life.” Sage eyed Rokar. “But not in our last one.” She looked at Shea and Davyn. “And as we’ve all discovered, our previous lives definitely affected this one.”

  “Even more than we originally thought.” Leviathan appeared out of the forest alongside Soren. “Considering what Soren learned when he did, in fact, spend the night with Tess.”

  Chapter Eleven

  WHAT IS IT about you, Magnus?” Tess said softly. He sat beside her on a log overlooking the lake. “Why do I feel like you’re long lost family when you’re a demon and I’m a dragon?” She frowned. “It makes no sense.”

  “Our bloodlines are connected somehow,” he replied. “Not physically but in a memory not yet revealed to us.” His dark gaze turned her way. “Within the memory, are the answers to many things.”

  “Way to sound cryptic,” she muttered, still in the funk she had been in since she killed that poor animal. Sure, she ate meat but had never been fond of hunting in human form. So why did she do it? To impress Rokar? She cringed. Since when did she randomly kill to impress a man?

  “Oh, shit,” she whispered, remembering all too well a time where she might have. When she thought it would earn her a smile of approval.

  “What is it?” Magnus asked.

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  She wasn’t surprised when Magnus followed her around the bend to check on her, but what did surprise her, was that she enjoyed having him here. Which made zero sense. Mainly because she wasn’t lusting after him, though he was clearly a bad boy. She simply wanted his friendship, nothing more. There was something so right about being around him. Almost as if they shared a mutual greatness that was as old as time and heck, if that didn’t puzzle her.

  “You feel it too, don’t you?” she murmured. “Like we’ve known each other forever?”

  He nodded. “I would not have followed you otherwise.”

  “Well, I’m glad you did.” She sighed. “Not that I know what my issue is.”

  Not really.

  “I think you do.” He gave her a knowing look. “And I think you need to share what that is with your mate.”

  “I don’t have a mate yet.”

  “But you will,” he reminded. “If you open up to Rokar about what it is you suffer from.”

  She sighed again and looked to the water, knowing full well that hunting had triggered these feelings this time. More than that, the man who’d taught her how to hunt.

  Memories as dark as Rokar’s.

  “Opening up to people is easier said than done,” she said. “Especially when some things are better left in the past.”

  “Not if they’re still an open wound.” Magnus’s gaze was suddenly as haunted as hers. “Some things must be confronted and dealt with if there is any hope for a future with the one you love.”

  “Love?” She glanced at him. “Something tells me we’re not talking about Rokar anymore.”

  “We are,” he countered. “Because you will love him, Tess. It is only a matter of time.”

  “Just like you love a certain seer?” She perked her brows. “How’s that going anyway? Last I heard you two hooked up to merge your magic for Kenzie and Eirik then went your separate ways.”

  “We are doing what we must for the time being,” he murmured. “You and Rokar are what matters most in all this right now.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Considering how helpful you and Vigdis have been to our cause not only apart but together, I’d say you two righting old wrongs matters quite a bit too.”

  Magnus was about t
o respond when he looked back in the direction they had come. “More have arrived. An Ancient and a Sigdir dragon.”

  “Soren,” she whispered, sensing him almost the second the sorcerer did.

  “I must go, and you must navigate this on your own. Because eventually, I will begin draining your dragon magic.” Magnus’s eyes met hers. “But you will see me again. I won't let you face what lies ahead alone.”

  Then just like that, he was gone in a puff of smoke.

  “Thanks, fairy-god-demon,” she muttered, wishing he could stay because for some reason she felt a little less crazy with him around. And while she had heard about fire demons draining dragon magic, she didn’t feel weakened in the least.

  Though more than tempted to stay right here rather than go confront what might very well be a night of forgotten sex, she trudged back. When she arrived, it was to an uncomfortable silence. Rokar and Soren eyed one another with disgruntled looks. Built just like his Sigdir brethren, Soren had black hair and searing dark eyes that could swallow a girl whole if she let them.

  “Wow, is it the end of the world or what?” she grumbled, plunking down on a rock that kept her from sitting next to either of them. “No pun intended.”

  When Shea went to respond, Tess shook her head and kept on. “No, I need to say this before my personality switches again, and I end up doing something that probably works against what I’m about to say.” She met Soren’s eyes. “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember a damn thing about what we did together.”

  Shea tried to intercept her again, but she shook her head and continued. “I’m sure you’re great in bed, so don’t take it personally, but it can’t happen again. Ava doesn’t deserve that.” She flinched. “She didn’t deserve it the first time.” Then she narrowed her eyes, not deflecting on purpose but because hell, he was technically in the wrong too. “But I’m not the only one who screwed her over in this, now am I? No, I’d say you’re just as much to blame as—”