Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 37501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
"I don't…" I shake my head slightly, still not entirely sure. "I don't know," I whisper. "I showed the Bifröst what would be lost if we failed and asked it how to stop that from happening. And then it just…" I exhale a shuddering breath. "It's like it tried to rip you away from me."
"It punished you?" His eyes narrow, the question coming in a predatory growl.
"No." I quickly shake my head. "It wasn't like that. It felt almost…sad?" I huff out a breath. "I don't know how to explain it, really. But I don't think it was trying to punish me. Just…show me what's going to happen?" My bottom lip quivers.
Stephan is quiet for a moment, his gaze running across my face. "Nothing is going to take me from you, Kara. If that's what you think the Portal tried to show you, you're wrong."
He's wrong though. I felt it, and so did he. And I'm terrified that what happened today was the Bifröst's way of showing me that we're the reason it's not responding. I bonded with a human, someone alive. Someone who never should have been let into Valhalla as is. And now…now what? I have to let him go in order to balance the scales? To restore order?
Defiance wells up from the depths of my soul. I know Stephan feels it because his brows furrow, concern flickering across his face. But I can't tell him my fears. I don't want to speak them into existence. I don't want to discuss them at all. I just want to forget—pretend today never happened and that the path before us didn't just become mired in shadows threatening to overwhelm me.
"Kiss me," I plead, twisting my hands up in his shirt. "Please, Stephan. I'm so cold. Kiss me and let me burn."
"Nei," he growls, pressing against my shoulder to force me onto my back. He rises up over me on his knees, his eyes twin pools of gray flame. "We burn together, Valkyrie."
"Ja," I breathe, reaching for him. "Together."
His lips come down on mine in a savage, adoring kiss that sets me ablaze. His hands run over me, seeking out every dip and curve as he quickly strips me, throwing my clothing off the side of the bed. By the time I'm naked, I'm already quivering in his arms, a bundle of competing desire and raw need.
But I rise up beneath him, pushing him backward. He leans back with a grin, heat in his eyes as I set to work on his clothes, stripping him with shaking hands.
His grin fades, his expression turning dark as I rake my nails down his chest and then lower. "Gods, princess," he growls, his head kicked back as my lips follow the same searing trail. "You have no idea what you do to me, do you?"
"I know, Stephan." I flick my gaze up to his, wrapping my hand around his erection. "I feel it."
His eyes lock with mine as I suck him into my mouth, plunging down.
"Fuck!" His hips arch from the bed, his hand sinking into my hair. His growls and curses spur me on as I lick and suck, pleasuring him in a way that has power singing through my veins.
But he doesn't let me please him for long. I may be Valkyrie outside of this bed, someone to be obeyed and feared. But in this bed, Stephan rules. I'm his to command.
He tips me over backward, snarling softly. "My turn, princess."
"Come and get me then, warrior."
He falls on me as if I just gave him the keys to heaven, kissing and touching everywhere he can reach. I cry out beneath him, not even trying to be quiet. Let everyone hear. Let the Norns know that this man is mine and I am his. The Bifröst may demand we sacrifice our bond for the greater good, but I'll spit defiance and scream down the heavens before I let him go willingly.
His name leaves my lips in a shout as he hauls my legs up over his shoulders, his tongue spearing through my folds. He groans, eating me like an unruly, wild beast. I cling to his shoulders, rocking against his face as waves of pleasure roil through me in a tornado of bliss.
They rip me asunder and scatter me to the winds, sending my Light spilling across the room in a blast of fiery sparks. As soon as Stephan feels it, he's on top of me, flattening me to the bed as he surges inside of me.
"No one is taking me from you," he growls against my lips. "I'll shatter kingdoms and destroy time myself, Valkyrie, do you hear me?" His hips slam against mine again and again, each strike a vow as meaningful as the words spilling from his lips in a litany. "You belong to me. My mate. My soul. Mine."