Ever After (11 page)

He’d tasted blood, but he wanted something sweeter. Like that cream between Eira’s thighs.

He hastened his step and concentrated on the chase, keeping his arousal at bay. He heard her ahead of him on the right and followed. But a slight shift in the wind made him pause, and an arrow whizzed by his shoulder.

He heard her faint swear and grinned, wanting to laugh.

“Damn it.” A pause, then, “Ow. Loki’s teeth. Get off me!” She swore some more, and he came upon her and Hall tussling on the ground. More like Hall gently holding her down while she tried to lift his heavy paw off her chest. Hall’s paw covered her torso entirely, he noted with amusement.

“Nice catch.”

Hall nodded and grinned at him. He cocked his head and twitched his nose.

“A bath first, yes. I agree.”

Hall didn’t let go until Avarr knelt to hold the wild woman down.

Her injuries had yet to slow her, and Avarr couldn’t wait to have all that energy under him.

“You son of a sow.
Get off
.”

When his hand pressed against her chest, she bucked and gasped, not in delight, but in pain.

Hall shifted back into his man’s form and frowned. “Let’s take her back to the lake.”

Avarr shook his head. “I’d rather take her to the springs in the snow forest.”

“Oh, good idea. It’s much closer.” Hall slapped him on the back. “You carry her. I’ll follow.” He picked up her weapons while Avarr hefted Eira into his arms.

Not a light woman, but still, to him, she felt like a downy pillow. All soft and comfortable, and something he wanted to bury his face in. He sniffed her shoulder and licked her scratch, taking the taste of her blood into his mouth and savoring it.

“Ew. Cut it out.”

He noticed she didn’t struggle too hard. “Do you deny we won right of you by fair means?”

“I had them where I wanted them,” she muttered and crossed her arms over her breasts.

“Oh? A minotaur on either side of you while they shoved those dirty horns through your chest?” Hall asked pleasantly.

Avarr knew his lover was anything but amused. Seeing Eira surrounded and bloodied had sent them into a berserker’s rage. An odd happenstance for mated battle-cats, considering neither of them had been in danger of dying. Yet he accepted their fear for her as more proof that she belonged to them.

Eira said nothing, and they continued in silence through the land to the snow forest. He walked the familiar steps to the hot springs that he and Hall liked to use after a rough day of training. The springs in the snow forest had healing properties as well, and he knew Hall wanted their Little Snow free from pain before they showed her just where she belonged.

Hard again, Avarr gently jostled Eira in his arms, feeling the heat everywhere they made contact.

“Easy there.” She frowned up at him, and he lost himself in the frost-blue of her eyes.

He ached, needing to possess her. He felt Hall behind him, his lover’s hand on his shoulder, and the bond passed between them into Eira.

“Oh my goddess,” she rasped, still looking into his gaze. “What is
that
?”

“As I’d hoped.” Hall’s smile sounded in his voice. “Let’s get her cleaned up.”

Avarr didn’t want to let her go, but she needed tending.

He let her down, and she frowned at him before staring wide-eyed.

“Y-you’re naked.”

He snorted. “How else are we to shift into our great beasts?”

“Through cloth and leather?” Hall smirked. “No. We’re as the goddess made. And now, let’s get you out of those clothes, hmm?”

They took off her tunic and skirt despite her protesting slaps and smacks. Weakened by her blood loss but still strong of will, she did her best to preserve her modesty. A stupid notion, to Avarr’s way of thinking. A woman who looked like a goddess should be worshipped as one.

Unable to stop himself, he stepped close and licked the wound on her right breast.

She froze, and he groaned and continued to lick until he found her nipple. Then he sucked the bud taut, caressing her with his tongue because he wanted to taste all of her.

“Oh…my…” She let out a breath and placed a tentative hand on his shoulder.

Hall chuckled. “Not a bad idea. That’s one way to clean her up.” He leaned down and took her other nipple in his mouth.

Avarr felt her grip his shoulder as she melted into them. The sexual need built, and he worked hard to remind himself to take care of her first.

He reluctantly let her go at the same time Hall did.

The sexual frustration on her face satisfied him like nothing could.

“Yes.” He grinned. “That’s what we’ve been feeling for the last fifty years.”

“W-what?”

He’d never seen her so off balance before, and the small vulnerability made her so adorable. He wanted to eat her right up. “We’ve been wanting you for a very long time, Little Snow.”

Hall nodded. “Freya made us wait. No longer. Now it’s time.”

“The question is…are you ready?” Avarr asked.

Chapter Four

Ready? Was he out of his fucking mind? Eira’s entire body was like one giant nerve, sensitive and ready to burst. It didn’t help that both men looked at her like prey. Her breasts tingled, so tight and full she’d nearly orgasmed from their hot mouths.

One of them she’d have a hard time handling sexually. But both? She stared back at them, in lust with their healthy bodies, those long, thick cocks stiffly saluting her. The battle-cats stood close, not embarrassed or ashamed of their need. She wondered that she’d never seen this side of them before. It worried her because more than lust started to fog her brain. She held an affection for the stubborn pair, one she’d always had but never allowed herself to acknowledge.

To her utter shock, Avarr winked at her before turning to Hall and
kissing
him. He did one better and took Hall’s fat cock in hand and gripped him tight.

She wanted to fan herself. This experience was one out of her darkest fantasies. How many times had she imagined the pair fucking each other? Then turning to her to share?

When they stopped and turned back to her, waiting, she had to close her mouth. “Well? Why are you stopping?”

Hall grinned. “Into the water with you, Little Snow. Then maybe you can kiss our hurts and make them all better.”

“After we fuck you senseless, that is,” Avarr rumbled.

She wasn’t sure what to do with their new dominance. They’d never before done or said anything she might find aggressive. Except now Avarr admitted to intending to fuck her. And he and Hall had given their libido free rein to touch each other…in front of her.

So caught in desire, praying she hadn’t suffered a head wound and imagined all this, she had a hard time doing more than staring.

Avarr took one of her arms and Hall the other, and they helped her step down into the steaming pool of water.

She moaned as the water instantly washed the taint of Roman poison from her wounds. Avarr entered behind her and sat on what must have been a rock ledge under the water. He settled her over his lap, facing away from him. She felt his hot breath on her neck before he nipped her with teeth no longer sharp.

Hall stood in front of her, covered up to his waist in the hot spring. He ducked under the water and came up, slicking his hair back as he rose. The pose put his huge arms on prominent display, and she wanted badly to feel that strength under her fingertips. To pet him and stroke him until he moaned her name like a prayer.

Caught by the need in his gaze, she watched him draw closer, the battle-cat there behind his gaze. She found that beastly part of him beyond sexy.

“How do you feel, Little Snow?” he asked in a deep voice, his eyes pitch-black.

“She feels warm and soft to me,” Avarr added. “So good.” He shifted them so that her ass pressed back against his thick shaft. Then he rocked her, and she had to work to contain a moan.

“The water is healing you.” Hall nodded to her chest. “But I can help. There’s a reason we lick our own wounds.”

When he said
lick
, her entire body quivered with anticipation. Though she felt the water healing her, she wanted the powerful men caging her to show her what more they could do. Dear Freya, but Eira had never imagined sex with them might be this incredible, and they hadn’t done more than kiss her body.

Hall moved closer and cupped her breasts while keeping his gaze on hers. So deep, that stare. “So you find us worthy now?”

She gasped when he pinched her nipples because the heat streaking through her body went straight to her pussy. “Y-yes. I’m sorry, but I’m incapable of being with anyone who can’t best me.”

“Of course not. You’re Freya’s daughter.”

“And Odin’s, that big bastard,” Avarr added with a sigh. “Yes, sweet. Move a bit more forward.” He didn’t give her the chance but gripped her hips to scoot her forward then eased her back…over his cock, which was poised at the entrance to her sex.

“Avarr…” Hall warned, but he had a smirk on his lips.

“Gods, Hall. I can’t wait. I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“I’m right—” she’d started to say, tired of being ignored, until Avarr pulled her down over him. “
Here.
” He filled her completely.

She leaned back against him and closed her eyes, all too conscious of his cock inside her, of Hall’s hands over her breasts.

“That’s a sight.” Hall chuckled. “You can’t come yet, Avarr. Not until we’re both inside her.”

“Then hurry up.” He rocked, pumping that fat shaft and making her crazed.

She couldn’t budge him, his strength keeping hers firmly in check. Goddess knew, that set her off in a big way.

“I need to come,” she moaned. “You feel so good in me.”

“Wait until we’re both in you,” Hall murmured and drew her head up, lifting her chin.

She opened her eyes and saw him descend, and then he was kissing her, and she couldn’t help herself from riding Avarr, seeking release.

“Yes, fuck, yes.” Avarr kissed her shoulder, her back, her hair as Hall continued to ravage her mouth.

He pinched her nipples and sucked her tongue, fucking with his mouth the way Avarr did with his cock.

So full, she teetered on the verge of climax. If only Hall would lower one hand to her clit. One touch and she’d go off.

Instead, he pulled back. “Avarr, switch.”

“Hel’s breath. Fine.” Avarr eased her off him and swore while doing it, then allowed Hall to sit under her.

“Wait,” she said, panting. “Why are we stopping?”

Avarr grinned at her, but his mean smile did nothing to ease her nerves. “Stopping? Little Snow, we’re just getting started.”

Hall pulled her over him, and again, she was filled. He fit her perfectly. Then he shifted and urged a cry from her because he hit the spot inside her that Avarr had been priming.

“You’re so hot,” Hall whispered. “So tight around me.” He gripped her hips to guide her up and down over him then stopped. “Oh, Avarr. I don’t know how you lasted so long without coming.”

“I know.”Avarr frowned. “But same rules apply. No coming. Not yet. Not until Eira is seen to.”

“You’re seeing to me now, aren’t you?”  She pulled Avarr’s hand to her breast and groaned her pleasure when he squeezed. “Come on, Avarr. Kiss me.”

He shook his head. “Have you not learned you’re no longer in charge? We beasts of burden have made our claim.”

“Oh, man. You’re going to make me pay for that, aren’t you?” She secretly delighted in their notion of payback. Vengeance, justice, sexual games. She approved of all three. The feline sensibilities in her future lovers delighted her.
These
were the men she’d prayed lived behind those stoic demeanors, the passive guards.

The valkyrie in her needed power, a man—or men—who could best her. Mentally and physically, Eira had to have an equal or superior partner. She’d been bred to fight, but more, to win. Hall and Avarr could provide the challenge she desperately needed. And the satisfaction she’d sorely been lacking.

Avarr took her breath away with a kiss. Like Hall’s, but rougher. The big brute wanted her to feel him, so she nipped his tongue when he thrust it inside her. He moaned and squeezed her breasts. He pinched her nipples with more force than Hall had used, and the bite of pain had her gripping Hall’s cock with her muscles like a vise.

“By Odin’s lighting, do that again, whatever you just did. Avarr, her pussy fucking gripped me.” Hall panted and dragged his arms around her waist, wrapping her tightly.

“No coming yet. Unless it’s in her ass or mouth.”

“Why?” she whispered, lost in lust.

“The pussy’s mine the first time.”

“We did agree,” Hall rasped. “Fine. But then we need to finish this out of the water. I want to see her when she comes.”

“Yes.”

They talked about her as if she wasn’t present, but she couldn’t bring herself to care because tricky Avarr had lowered a hand to draw circles on her belly before those skilled fingers moved lower.

He’d just neared her clit when Hall bounced her hard over him.

“Fuck. Enough.” Hall pulled her off and stood before her. He lifted her out of the water, and he and Avarr studied her body.

“All healed. That water works wonders.” Avarr nodded.

“Yeah, all better,” she croaked, wishing she could stop trembling. Gods, she needed to come. Perilously close to jumping one of them and grinding against him for relief, she turned her frustration into anger. “If one of you doesn’t finish this, and quick, I’ll find someone else who—
oomph
.”

Hall lifted her over his shoulder and leaped from the pool, followed by Avarr. Before she could register what had happened, she found herself holding on for dear life to the furry back of a battle-cat as they raced to Folkvang on fleet feet.

They passed her friends and fellow warriors, all of whom stared at them in shock. Lowe managed a wave and a whistle, but then the cats whisked Eira past the others and into the wing where they shared quarters.

In the blink of an eye, Hall turned from battle-cat to man, and she fought to hold onto his waist as she slid to the floor.