Chapter 24
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Not sure what to expect after a marathon of sexual bliss he’d never felt before, not in nearly a thousand years of living, Rolf waited for Sylvara to wake and return to battling with him.
She’d allowed herself to be vulnerable. Had let him cuddle her, protect her, provide ease. The warrior he knew would want to establish new boundaries, so that he should know his place.
He wondered how she’d react first. With more kisses or a fist to his face?
Either way, he was hooked.
He’d drowned her in his seed but didn’t worry about procreating. Not yet. Valkyries could control when they conceived. Something to do with their power lent by Freyja, a goddess of fertility, and Odin, a god of wisdom.
Oddly, the thought of impregnating her didn’t fill him with loathing or dismay. Instead, excitement at the prospect took root.
He could easily imagine her swollen with his child and still wielding her ax as she took off someone’s head.
He sighed, full of affection for the prickly warrior. For a lesser being, she was damn impressive. Apollo hadn’t been wrong. Syl was gorgeous and skilled in battle. He loved when lightning filled her eyes, when she’d scream her rage and cause the enemy to bleed.
He grew hard, a condition he’d been suffering from since meeting her. He couldn’t remember the last time thoughts of a female aroused him to such a degree. Even a handful of nymphs crawling all over him, back in his more experimental days centuries ago, hadn’t engendered this degree of arousal.
Rolf had a job to do. But this extended time with Sylvara was important too.
He remembered his patriarch and master once commanding him to take a mate to strengthen the tribe.
He’d only agreed at the time to save himself a true-death.
But now, he thought Sylvara might be close to perfect for the job.
Even better, she wouldn’t want it. He grinned.
Her sure-fired refusal would only make him want her more.
Sure, he liked a challenge. But Sylvara was more akin to that once-in-a-lifetime miracle of luck and timing.
What were the odds he’d have met her and not killed her if they hadn’t been paired together to defeat some amazing ball of chaos coming to end the world?
He sighed, really loving the fates—ha, pun intended—that had sent her his way.
Hmm. Just how close was Sylvara to the Norns, anyway?
The woman stirred, her long lashes fluttering and giving way to the icy white-gray of her eyes. Gorgeous, that color. She put him in mind of something wild and untamable.
“Rolf?” She blinked at him. “Are you planning to eat me?”
He paused, unable to let that go, especially when she flushed. “Well now.”
She swore at him under her breath then rolled away from him and left the bed. Naked.
“I am hungry, now that you mention it.”
She held up a hand. “Not until I’ve cleaned up.”
“But—”
“No.” She found a door and tentatively opened it. “Ah, the bathroom. Good.” Then she slammed it behind her.
Rolf tucked his hands behind his head and stared down at his erection.
“We’ll let her take care of her mortal necessities.
Then we’ll go for round… Not two. Seven?
Eight? I can’t remember.” The day before had been a blur of hedonistic pleasure he fully intended to replicate.
And the only person he could see under him was a stubborn valkyrie with lightning in her eyes.
After what Rolf considered a decent amount of time, he entered the bath suite and saw his angry goddess standing under a steaming shower set in a wall of rock. The water hit her from the side of the wall and overhead, running over her and down the sloped floor leading to a drain.
He joined her in the shower and stood behind her, waiting for her to turn and face him with open eyes.
She did, and he just stared, enamored, no question.
Her body was perfection, all muscle and strength, yet with no sacrifice to femininity. Her full breasts and soft flesh covering all that power enthralled him. The smoky look in her eyes told him he might be getting breakfast sooner than he’d hoped.
He licked his lips and smiled.
She smiled back. “Rolf?”
“Sylvara?” He stepped closer, his hands on her hips. Would she want to take charge? For him to bend her over? Oh hell. Did she want to go down on him with the water running over them both, like soft fingers enhancing his pleasure?
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything, female. I am a trove of information. You have only need ask.”
She paused. “Do vampires go to the bathroom?”
The sensual scene in his head came crashing to a halt. “What?”
“The toilet. Do you use it? I mean, what do you do with the waste your body creates? Or don’t you have waste?”
He blinked, totally flabbergasted for the first time in his life. “I, ah, we… What?”
She shot him a sly grin and turned around once more, getting nice and clean while he tried to figure out whether to be offended, amused, or enchanted that she’d once again gotten one over on him.
Then his dick flexed at the sight of her ass, and he let himself fall a little harder for her. “Marry me, Syl. You seriously have to now. Toilet humor. Gods, I’m yours.”
The woman slammed him against the wall then urged him to his knees.
He went willingly, spread her thighs, then suckled on the sweet taste of his mate in need. He loved the feel of her, and her scent went right to his head. An elemental blaze of passion and power.
Her lightning flooded the shower, sparkling through the conducting water. Rolf should have lit up like a Christmas tree, but her energy touched him everywhere, like soft caresses of approval.
He groaned as she came over his lips. And then he was helpless to stop himself from rising and taking her in his arms, slamming her against the shower wall as he fucked her with hurried, demanding strokes.
It didn’t take him long to find his own glorious end while her lightning cascaded about the room and through his soul.
“Mine,” he kept muttering, the old language coming to bear as he pledged his soul and his spirit to the one person in all of creation he’d never, ever let go.
Now he just had to convince her she needed to stay kept.
Talk about a real challenge. The Darkness that Comes had nothing on convincing the stubborn valkyrie she’d just become Rolf’s top possession. His little silver treasure.
“Okay,” she rasped. “One more time.”
He groaned with laughter and sought to satisfy his demanding lover once more. And one more time just because.