Viking Claimed (Triad Series Book 4) (8 page)

“Gods…” He groaned as he started to come. Morek eased up, sucking lightly on the tip of Aki’s cock until his lips were shiny and smeared with Aki’s seed. He slowly stood and licked his fingers, gathering the wetness and swirling it around his tongue.

With a guttural sound Aki reached for him, but Morek avoided his grasp, one hand working the buckle at his hips, allowing his chequered plaid to fall to the ground. Still holding Aki’s gaze, he brought his hand down to his dripping cock and then further down between his legs.

“Fuck me, First Male.”

Aki took an unsteady step toward him and then another until he was able to push Morek down onto the pile of furs and spread his thighs wide with his knee. Aki ran his fingers down Morek’s thick shaft and gently pumped his own cock, bringing them together in one of his massive fists.

“Gods…” Morek strained against his tight hold. “That’s—”

Aki held his gaze. “You will not come until I give you leave. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, First Male.” Morek nodded as Aki stroked the tip of his cock against the tight bud of Morek’s arse. “Just fuck me. I want to feel you.”

Aki contemplated the size of his cock as he managed to get a fingertip inside Morek. “You are too tight. I won’t hurt you like that. I want to have you all night.”

“There is…oil…” Morek waved a hand at the table beside the bed. Aki found a small clay bottle and smeared his fingers and the crown of his cock in the clear liquid.

“You have taken other men like this?” Aki asked as he managed to slide one finger deep and then another.

“Not quite like this.” Morek gasped. “You are my mate.” Morek’s thoughts blended seamlessly with Aki’s. “Do you feel that?”

“Aye, as if we were two halves of the same coin? As if we were twins? Not that I have ever wanted to fuck Einarr.” Aki worked his fingers free and replaced them with his cock and felt Morek’s intense reaction shudder through his very bones. “That is…good.”

He lifted Morek’s hips, driving himself deeper with every thrust until his entire mind and body was focused on the building pleasure in the other man. And then there was no divide between flesh or thoughts as need blended them into one being…

Fighting alongside a fellow warrior and then fucking him hard simply because he was still alive to do so was a precious thing to Aki. He sensed it in Morek, too, the need to create something new and visceral between their two working bodies both striving for dominance. Two different blades forged from steel into one. Both knowing that with the need to be strong came the need to be held and loved. Because what were they fighting for, but to protect their loved ones?

Eventually, Aki lay on his side, his knee resting on Morek’s belly and his hand tangled in his dark hair. The flames crackled and whispered and for one wonderful moment as he woke, Aki imagined he was back home…

“
What’s wrong
?” Morek asked. “
What makes you sad
?”

Aki unclenched his fingers and let out a soft breath. “I am more happy here with you in this Hakron village than I ever imagined I would be again. It is hard to wake up out of your time and find that your world has gone.”

“What do you mean?” Morek came up on one elbow, his black hair tickling Aki’s chest.

“My brother and I were frozen in ice for four thousand years by a magic spell that was only broken when the planets aligned and finally set us free.”

“That is a long time.”

“Aye.”

“You look well on it.” Morek bent to kiss him. “And I thought Ungar and I had waited forever to meet our mates.”

“It does not worry you?”

“The fact that you are from another planet and are extremely old?” Morek kissed him again. “I do not care. All I know is that you fill my heart and that if you choose to stay with me I will always be content.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“It is for me.”

Aki sighed. “I am adrift from everything I know and everything that I took for granted. Where does your faith in me come from? I fear I have lost all mine.”

Morek’s grey gaze strengthened. “You have survived against impossible odds to end up here with me. How can I
not
believe that the Oracle spoke the truth when you are present in my bed?”

“How can you be so sure of me when I am so unsure of myself?”

Morek took Aki’s hand and pressed it against the smooth green skin of his chest. “Because you are here, Aki, in my heart.” He moved Aki’s fingers to his forehead. “And here in every thought. What more could I want?”

Aki stared up at him for a long moment as a curious sensation of warmth and belonging settled around his own heart. Perhaps Morek was right and the Gods had released him at exactly the right time for him and Einarr to be happy with their own kind. Aki trailed one finger down Morek’s flat stomach to play with the stiff arch of his cock.

“How about here?”

Morek’s grin widened as he rolled on top of Aki. “Most definitely there, First Male. Shall I prove it to you?”

“Well?” Einarr moved close to Aki as the final preparations were made for their departure to Quoxor. “I have not seen you for three days.”

“I have been busy.”

“Busy fucking.”

Aki raised an eyebrow. “You cannot talk.”

“I have… enjoyed my time with Ungar.” Einarr’s smile was thoughtful. “He is a fine warrior. Our minds flow in harmony like the two fjords that joined together in our old village to become one. I think Frey will like him.”

“I pray she does.” Aki hefted his pack onto his back. “Let us hope the Oracle makes the correct prophecies and that none of us will be disappointed.”

Aki watched as Morek spoke one final word to the commander of the Pavlovan military team left behind to guard the village and help them rebuild.

“Disappointed like poor Elli Slavin was you mean?” Einarr shook his head. “Frey said it was horrible for her.”

Aki stopped walking. “What happened to Elli?”

“Do you not know?” Einarr took a step backward. “If Elli has not mentioned it, I probably should not—”

Aki grabbed his twin by his shirt and almost hauled him off his feet. “Tell me,
halfviti
.”

Einarr sighed. “Elli was taken to the Temple on her eighteenth birthday and matched with a male called Carlin Gran at a public ceremony. He was based off-planet so Elli hardly saw him for six years. When he finally returned to Pavlovan, he asked Elli to meet him at the Temple. She thought he intended to ask the Oracle about their third. But he didn’t. He publicly asked to be released from his bond because he had fallen in love with two others.”

“Esca told me some of this earlier.” Aki’ dropped his brother and his hand clenched into a fist. “Carlin Gran is a dishonorable cur. No wonder Elli is worried about whether even the Oracle can deem us a good match.”

“She probably fears being publicly humiliated again.”

“I would never do that to her.”

Einarr winked at him and shouldered his own pack. “Then you’d better make damned sure the Oracle doesn’t announce you are bonded to another male before she mentions Elli.”

“Why would the Oracle do that?”

“Because as we both know all too well, Aki, the Gods like to destroy our certainties. Have you even told Elli about Morek?”

“She told me not to contact her,” Aki snapped. “She said she wanted to concentrate on bringing Frey safely back to you.”

“And you obeyed her?” Einarr shook his head as though Aki was a complete fool. “Talk to her, Aki. She and Frey are safe now.”

Aki gave his brother a scathing look and marched off to walk alongside Morek.

“My twin is a fool,” Aki muttered.

“Mine too, but I still love him.” Morek glanced at Aki. He’d braided fresh flowers into his hair and the perfume lingered as he turned his head. “What has Einarr done?”

“He’s suggesting that he knows more about how to handle a woman than I do.”

“He is already mated, aye?”

“Yes.”

“Then he probably does know more.” Morek pushed through the foliage and led the way out onto a more substantial roadway. “I have little knowledge of how a woman thinks myself and I am quite willing to admit it.”

“He says I should have told Elli about you.”

“You haven’t?” Morek walked on in silence for a few paces. “Are you ashamed of fucking a Hakron? Some Pavlovans think the Neveks and the Hakrons are inferior primitive beings.”

“Nay!” Aki grabbed hold of Morek’s bicep to make him stop walking. “I am not Pavlovan. I thought I should wait until the Oracle confirms that we are all meant to be together before I went ahead and told her exactly whose bed I have been sharing.”

“Why would she mind?” Morek raised his eyebrows. “Pavlovans are free to share unless the mating Triad decides against it.”

Aki hesitated and then found himself looking into Morek’s eyes. “
She was…discarded by a previous male in a very public way. I want to tell her in person.”

“If that is the way it must be, I understand.”
Morek nodded. “
If she is there when we arrive, I will keep away from you both until you give me leave to approach
.”

“
That is very…good of you
.”

“
If we are to be a bonded Triad, she is my female as well. It would not pay to hurt her before I even meet her
.” Morek slapped him hard on the back. “Now walk faster, my friend, or we will never reach the Temple.”

“How are you, my brother?” Ungar crouched down beside Morek at the fireside and warmed his hands in the flames. They’d stopped for the night and made camp. Tomorrow they would reach the Temple.

“I am well enough,” Morek said, continuing to stare into the fire.

“You are enjoying fucking the Viking?”

“Aye, who would not? He is a fine male.”

Ungar sat down on Morek’s log, shoving him further down. “Then why are you sitting out here by yourself in the middle of the night?”

“I’m on guard.”

“It’s my turn.” Ungar poked his twin in the ribs. “I would much rather be with Einarr right now.”

“Then go to him. I will take your watch as well as mine.”

There was silence as they both studied the fire.

“
What troubles you, my twin
?” Ungar asked again gently.

Morek sighed. “Aki has a female in his sights.”

“So? You would prefer an all-male Triad?”

“I’ve never had a female. Not because I haven’t wanted one, but because the occasion has never arisen. What if Aki’s female doesn’t wish to be mated to a Hakron male like me with no experience?”

Ungar wrapped his arm around Morek’s shoulders. “Fucking a female is easy.
Fucking
is easy.” He tapped Morek’s forehead. “If the connection between your thoughts is right, everything else will fall into place.”

“And you know this, how?”

“From asking Ulluiao about his mating with Ian Mac and Neeve. Talk to him yourself when you reach the Temple. I’m sure he will set your mind at rest.”

“Aki hasn’t told her about me,” Morek confessed.

Ungar frowned. “Why not? Einarr has spoken to his mate, Frey. She is agreeable to our meeting and that we might also be fated mates.”

“It is more complicated for Aki and his female. I understand his reasoning. I have agreed to wait until I can meet her before any decisions are made.”

“You are a good man.”

“I feel like a fool.” Morek glanced behind at the open door of the tent where Aki lay sleeping. “If I go back in there I’ll want to fuck.”

“And Aki doesn’t want you to do that either?”

“Nay, he would be more than happy to accommodate me, but I’m not sure if I could take it.” He glanced at his brother. “What if things go wrong? The more I share with him, the harder it will be to let him go.”

“The Oracle promised us the Vikings would come.”

“Aye, she did.”

“Then her prophecy that they would be our mates must also stand. We cannot doubt her or ourselves at this point. Where is your faith, brother?”

“Shaken.” Morek sighed. “After what just happened to our village can it be right that my First Male turns up amidst such sorrow? Why should I be happy when so many of my family are dead?”

“Because they would
want
you to be happy. They would want to hear that the Oracle’s prophecy came true and that you and I were fully mated,” Ungar said fiercely. “Do not give up hope, Morek. I am convinced that everything will work out as the Oracle wished.”

“I hope so.” Morek managed a smile.

“Now go back to bed,” Ungar commanded him. “If you truly fear your Viking will be torn away from you then enjoy him while you can.”

Morek rose to his feet and contemplated his brother’s words. “Thank you, my twin.” He bent to kiss the top of his brother’s head. “You were always the practical one.”

“And you are the best fighter and the thinker.” Ungar winked at him. “Just don’t think too much, will you, and spoil what you have?”

Chapter Five

Aki wasn’t talking to her… To be fair, she’d told him to back off so she’d only gotten what she’d asked for. And at least it proved that he’d been working on his shields and hadn’t been broadcasting his thoughts to everyone… Or maybe he still was and he had just managed to learn to block
her
out.

That would be just her luck.

“Elli, are you even listening to me?”

She turned to see Frey staring at her from the couch opposite her seat. Frey’s ankle was much better, but she was still using a cane to walk. The medical facilities available in the Quoxor preserve were fairly basic. She’d refused to go back to the city with Ash because she didn’t want to be apart from Einarr.

“Sorry, what?”

They were in the guest quarters of the very grand Temple at Quoxor awaiting the arrival of Einarr and Aki. The last time she’d been at the Temple her First Male had chosen to publicly announce his desire to uncouple with her. It was no wonder that she was still somewhat on edge.

What if Aki had realized he’d been fooling himself and didn’t have a bond with her? What if—

“Elli, you are really starting to worry me,” Frey said. “When Aki arrives and meets the Oracle everything’s going to be sorted out.”

“He’s not talking to me.”