Wregen #2
Focusing on the string that ties us together—which pulses within me, even without my smothered magic—I turn right at a corner and follow a series of passages until I find an open doorway leading to a large room.
She’s in there with the weasel and the rat, seated at one of the many tables littered about.
I stride forward, drawing her gaze to mine, and stare.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” I demand. I should ask the weasel but my bond with my mate is stronger than any hold I have over him. She should have found and freed me.
A wave of some emotion—remorse, maybe?—washes over her face, her chin dropping to her chest as her eyes stay focused on mine. But then she lifts her head and that gaze turns to steel.
There’s the fight I crave.
“Why would I?” she snaps. Glancing at the bangles Balin gave me, she adds in a more measured tone, “Wrath needs to be contained. He can’t emerge here. They’ll kill him next time.”
“Did he tell you that?” I growl as he traipses toward us, choosing the empty seat next to Finaan for his pathetic ass.
“You did, you prick, when you told me what they did to him before. I asked them to free you once they promised they had a way to control your beast.”
Her words send a bucket of warmth down my spine, pounding through my arteries and flowing to my heart. “You demanded my release?” I murmur as my lips curve. “You crave my presence as much as I crave yours.”
“By the gods, you’re arrogant,” she mutters as she stands, shoving her chair back with a screech.
“I don’t want you anywhere near me. But Svend was about to do what he always does when it comes to you.
My choices were to get you out or have him trapped in the cell next to yours.
The elves have a way to keep you in this building—which I can leave anytime I want—so that’s what we did. ”
I lift a shoulder, letting my mate know her excuses mean little to me. I can feel the conflict in her emotions, excitement at my presence warring with disgust with her own needs and wants. She’ll come around.
“Whatever your reasons, you’ve gotten what we both want.” I let my gaze wander over her, not missing the fact that her nipples are stretching through the thin shirt she wears. “You’ll share my room,” I add as I lift my eyes to look into hers, “so you never need to leave my side.”
Her brows shoot so high, they nearly merge with her hairline, wide eyes and a mouth open to a charming little “O” telling me I’ve surprised her. I don’t try to hold back this grin.
“I will not,” she sputters, nearly tripping over the chair behind her as she takes a step away from me. “Why the fuck would I do that?” she demands as her feet still. She scowls adorably and lifts her hands to rest them on her generous hips.
I hold in this smile—I don’t want her to think this is a joke—and shove the table aside, sending the weasel and the rat scrambling.
Closing the distance between us, I wrap one hand around her throat, ignoring the growl from Balin to my side.
My thumb pushes her chin up, forcing her to look at me.
“You’ll not sleep alone in this place. Claim a room for yourself if you must,” I allow, “and I’ll join you there. ”
She opens her mouth, probably to insist she doesn’t want me.
Before she can though, Balin dares place a hand on my arm.
I flick him away, turning my head to glare at him long enough to end his little heroics, before looking again at my skjaldmaer.
“While we sleep under the same roof as that untrustworthy knave,” I continue with a glance at the bastard, “you’ll share my bed. ”
“Fuck off, Wregen,” Finaan snarls as she whips up her arms and breaks my hold on her. “I will never share your bed,” she tells me, poking one finger into my chest as she steps even closer to me. “I’m traveling with you for my dragon. Nothing else.”
“You’ll say that even when you’re finally coming on my cock,” I say, palming my rising erection as I lift a hand and run a thumb across her cheekbone. “It won’t be true then and it’s not true now.”
“Believe whatever the fuck you want,” she mutters as she backs up and spins away from me. She doesn’t turn around, stalking out of the room and down the hall.
“Unholy Helheim, do I crave her fire,” I declare, still caressing the cock that is urging me to follow and fuck her. Not yet, though. She’ll give in when she’s ready, and I’m enjoying the chase more than I thought I could.
“I’m gonna enjoy taking her from you,” Balin whispers into my ear as he leans toward me.
Before I can reach out and break his neck for daring to think it, much less voice it, he swaggers to the door.
Lucky for him, he doesn’t follow her, turning in a different direction as he goes.
I hold onto the thread to Finaan for a moment, making sure she isn’t leaving this building.
Then I right the table, grab a chair, and sit down.
“Bring me food,” I bid Svend, before reaching again for the mating bond. She hasn’t left, but I didn’t think she would. The invitation couldn’t be more clear if she’d spoken the words. She wants me in her bed, and who am I to deny my skjaldmaer something like that?
I don’t see her again that day, but I’m not surprised.
After eating the meal the weasel offers—holding back moans I won’t utter in his presence at the pleasure this simple food brings me—I explore.
It’s a large structure, with three stories and the dungeon they kept me in.
Well, more of a cellar, but it was a dungeon to me, and that’s what it always will be.
Most of the doors on the upper floors are locked, but I find a servant who can’t keep track of the keys he carries.
My snooping reveals many empty bedrooms, some offices full of papers and books I may explore before we leave, and a library.