Page 23 of Bats Out of Hell (Vikings Rock #1)

H aakon was warm. The heat of the water and the flush on his wife’s cheeks had heated his blood and stirred his desires.

He lifted his hand from the water and dragged off his tunic, tossing it aside.

Her attention drifted down his naked torso and he saw the approval in her eyes. It was a far cry from the disdain and fear he’d seen at the beginning of their marriage. Now she looked at him with almost as much passion as when he looked at her.

“Here,” he said, passing her a woolen blanket. “For when you are ready to get out. Do you need more hot water?”

She shook her head and held his eye contact.

“Are you sure?”

“I have finished bathing.” She smiled, just a little, and it was such a mischievous, confidant tilt of her lips that his cock swelled a bit more.

And then she unfolded and stood up in the tub. Water ran down her body, over the slope of her breasts, the dip of her waist, and dripped from her fingers. Her pale skin was perfect and smooth and shone like a dew-coated meadow. Her nipples were tight beads and her bush of hair was wet against her body.

He licked his lips as another rush of heat went to his groin and his cock strained against his pants. He was one lucky Viking. His wife was more beautiful than he deserved, he knew that. She was a goddess, an image carved by the gods, and she had found him, come to him, and now she would be his for all eternity.

“Haakon,” she said, holding out her hand.

He took it and held her steady while she stepped from the tub. The scent of rosemary filtered up his nose and he knew it would become one of his new favorite scents.

“You seem a wee bit… trance-like?” she said, standing before him, proud now, not bashful. The strands of her hair were damp and clinging to her shoulders in thick curls.

“You enchant me so.” He reached out and touched her right nipple.

It responded immediately, as did she with a small intake of breath.

“From the first moment I saw you,” he said, “my body has longed for yours.”

“As it does now.” She hadn’t said it as a question.

He bit on his bottom lip and nodded, wondering if she’d allow him to throw her to the bed and show her just how hard he was for her…how much he needed her.

“So let me see,” she said with a tip of her head.

“‘See’?”

“Aye, your cock. I want to see it…properly.”

“You have seen it.”

“Are you saying I can’t? When you look at me as though I am some delicious morsel you are desperate to taste?”

His stomach clenched and he licked his lips again. That was exactly how he was looking at her. He wanted to taste her all over and have her screaming his name in pleasure. He’d replace those drips of water lacing her skin with a sheen of sex sweat.

“Husband?” She raised her eyebrows at him and placed her hands on her hips.

“ Ja ?” He cleared his throat.

“I want to see your cock.”

She nodded at his groin and his cock twitched with anticipation.

“You want to…”

“Take off your pants,” she said, reaching for the blanket and squeezing out the ends of her hair with it. “Show me.”

He toed off his boots then undid the belt at his waist. His balls were tight and a hunger was growing in him. One that only his wife could satisfy. “You want to see my cock?”

“I want to see all of you. If you are truly mine, that is.”

“I am yours from this day until my last breath and then beyond.”

She stepped up closer and a shadow caressed half of her face. “That pleases me.”

His heart was thumping and he pushed at his pants, letting them fall down his legs before kicking them away. His cock was throbbing with want. When had a woman ever had him so riled up before?

Never.

“Is it painful?” she asked. “Your cock?”

“It aches for you.”

She nodded and stepped around him, surveying his body as one might a horse before a long journey. Checking for health, stamina, and strength.

“How did you get this?”

A fluttering sensation on the scar at the back of his thigh.

“A battle with my brother Ravn?”

“Your brother did this?” Shock hung in her voice.

He huffed. “No, we were fighting together, south of Drangar. A berserker showed up. Crazed and feral. I got too close.”

“A berserker?”

“Aye, mercenary fighters. They feast on amanita before battle to give them courage and energy. They are much feared because they fear nothing.”

“What happened to this…berserker?” Her voice was as soft as the glow of the candles. Her touch on his leg so delicate, it could have been butterfly wings.

He closed his eyes and spoke again. “My brother killed him.”

“Ravn?”

“ Ja , and not a second too soon. One more blow of his sword and I would have lost my guts.”

“That is horrible.” She paused. “And good of Ravn.”

“We fought many battles together. We always had each other’s back.”

“Yet now you have quarreled so.” She ran her hand upward, tracing the serpent that curved in a big ‘s’ around his spine.

Haakon opened his eyes again and stared at the flames. “He believed himself better than me, more worthy of the crown. There was not enough room in Drangar for us both.”

She tickled a circle at the base of his neck. “And so you came here. To my lands.”

She was in front of him again, her chin tilted and her eyes ablaze.

“It was my destiny,” he whispered. “ You were my destiny.”

She bit on her bottom lip and as she did so, she took his cock into her hand.

A breath stuttered from his lungs and he looked down. Her small hand on his big cock was one of the most erotic sights he’d ever seen.

“I like your ring now,” she whispered as she rolled over it with her fingertips. “At first, it scared me, but now…now it’s part of you.”

“I am glad that you have come to accept me…and it.”

“Mmm.” She pulled on his cock, slowly, root to tip, and with her free hand, she cupped his balls.

“In the name of all the gods in…oh…fuck…” Haakon locked his knees to stop himself from swaying. “You will ruin me, woman.”

“Maybe that is my plan.”

He cupped her face. “Ruin me. Wreck me. I am at your mercy.”

“Do you mean that?”

“ Ja .” He groaned as she ran her tight fist up and down his cock again.

“I think I need a closer look,” she said, sinking to her knees.

“Oh, fuck…” Haakon said, watching his naked wife fold before him. It was a sight he’d longed to see since the moment he’d decided she would be his, but there’d been times he’d never thought he would.

Yet now…

“It is silver?”

“ Ja .” His belly was tight and his butt cheeks clenched. “It was a coin, melted down…shaped into a…oh…fuck.”

She was gently tugging his ring, pulling at his slit. It sent a new wave of lust through his body.

“That…” he managed. “Feels so good when you do it.”

“I want to make you feel good. I feel I should return the favor.”

“Return away.” He ran his hands into her hair. “And if you want to lick it…”

“Lick it?” She looked up at him. The shadows of her eyelashes casted on her cheeks.

“Do whatever you want with me.”

He closed his eyes and willed himself not to cum right there and then.

And then the wet heat of her tongue spread over his slit, rimming his glans, exploring, tasting…caressing.

Again, he locked his legs. He dropped his head back and moaned. Her slow, delicate touch was as potent as any wild fucking could be.

“You like that?” she whispered.

“More than I could ever tell you.” His fingers tightened in her hair. “Can you… Will you…?”

“What?”

“Take my cock… into your mouth.”

She didn’t answer with words, she answered by doing it. The dampness of her mouth slid around his cock, her taut lips replacing her hand as she let him slide over the soft blanket of her tongue.

The longed-for sensation was almost Haakon’s undoing. He very nearly unraveled, let go of all self-control, and shoved deep, cumming as he did so.

But if he did that, she’d likely never suck his cock again and he wanted a lifetime of it.

So he summoned his willpower, every last shred of it, and held as still as he could.

She bobbed forward, and he was aware of the back of her throat on his ring.

He let out a deep, rumbling groan and tightened his fingers in her hair as she began to pull back up.

Still, she rolled his balls, and when she breathed gently on his saliva-coated cock tip, he had to lock his knees and his spine.

“Oh…don’t stop,” he said, moving his hips toward her again. “That feels so good.”

She took him into her mouth again, gaining in confidence, and he slid happily to the back of her throat. Soon, she had her rhythm, in and out, her tongue fondling him and her fingers exploring.

He closed his eyes and lifted his face to the ceiling. The effort of not cumming was almost too much to bear. But it was the sweetest torture he could imagine.

“My love,” he gasped. “I will release my seed…in your mouth…if you…”

He couldn’t finish the sentence. He was there; his orgasm had him in its clutches. The back of her throat tugged his cock and he came. A big rush of release that tore a cry from his lungs. He gripped her head, stilling as another burst of bliss burst from him.

And another.

“Oh…fuck!” He pulled out, his balls throbbing and his cock hot and pulsing. “My love.”

He dropped to his knees before her, still cradling her face. “I am sorry… I… So sorry. I just couldn’t…”

Her eyes were glassy and her lips puffy. She licked them and stared into his eyes. “Why are you sorry?”

“I was rough… I didn’t want to hurt you. And I—”

“You didn’t hurt me.” She frowned and pressed her palm over his thudding heart. “And I know you would have stopped if I’d needed you to.”

“ Ja , I would have.” He touched his nose to hers. “Are you sure? I would hate myself…”

“Haakon. I wanted to take you in my mouth and I did. And from what I can tell, you enjoyed it.”

He was still breathless. “I did. It was… You are…incredible.”

“So I can do it again?”

“Whenever you want. Just say the word. No matter what we are doing, mid-fucking-battle, just say and… ja , you can do it. I will never complain.”

She laughed softly. “That’s good to hear.”

“I’m under your spell.” He swept his lips over hers. “Who would have thought I, King Haakon Rhalson, could be brought to his knees by a woman?”

“Ah, but I am not any woman. I am Queen Kenna of Tillicoulty.”

“And a fine queen you are too.”

She bit on her bottom lip.

“What worries you?” he asked.

“For a beautiful moment, I forgot about the threat of King Athol. But now…now I worry about him seeking us out. What he will do.”

Haakon hated to see worry in her eyes. “Do not fear, and do not concern yourself. That is my job for I am king. I will worry for us both…for the village.”

“I cannot help it.”

He touched his lips to hers. “Maybe he won’t come.”

“He will. I know he will.” Her jaw tensed. “It is his way.”

“My love.” He touched her cheek. “Know this truth: when he comes, we will be ready, and we will be victorious. We have the gods on our side.”

“And he believes he has the one true God, which makes him think he’ll win. That emboldens him further.”

Haakon raised his eyebrows at her. “Which gods do you believe will be on our side?”

She sighed and slid her fingers over his ear and down his neck, her touch leaving a trail of heated sensation. “I believe that the more gods we have on our side, the better. Thor, Freya, Odin, and the Heavenly Father—let us have them all, for we will need them on the awful day King Athol shows his face.”

“Haakon! Haakon! Where are you?”

“That is Orm again,” Haakon said, snapping back and reaching for the blanket. “Cover yourself.” The last thing he wanted was for his brother, or any other man, to see his wife naked. Her flesh was for his eyes only.

“King Haakon! We must speak with you at once,” Orm shouted, his voice getting louder now. “It is urgent.”

Kenna dashed into the shadows with the blanket wrapped around herself. “He’s here,” she said with wide eyes and her skin paling. “I know it.”

“Who is here?”

“King Athol!”

“He’s taking his last breaths if he is,” Haakon muttered and grabbed his clothes.

“Where are you?” Gunner’s voice.

“What do you both want?” Haakon stepped into his pants and dragged them up, securing them at the waist. He turned to Kenna. “Wait here.”

Quickly, he slipped from the bedchamber, ensuring the curtain was properly closed.

Orm and Gunner were storming toward him.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It is our sister, Astrid,” Orm said, coming to a halt.

“And the queen’s brother, Hamish,” Gunner added.

“Is she well?” Haakon asked. She was a skilled fighter and could survive, but that hadn’t stopped him worrying.

“Yes, she looks well.” Gunner gestured wildly with his hands. “Or at least I think so.”

A knot of tension eased in Haakon’s shoulder. “And Hamish?”

“Yes. Yes.”

“So why disturb me when I am with the queen?” Haakon set his hands on his hips.

“This is not about them, Astrid and Hamish. This is about what they’ve seen. What knowledge they come with.”

Haakon’s belly squeezed with a new sense of unease. Had his wife sensed this moment was knocking at their door? Was that why King Athol had been on their minds…? He was here?

“You must come quickly and hear what they have to say.” Gunner gestured to the door. “We have no time to waste. Hurry.”

“Yes. Yes.” Haakon nodded.

Gunner took off at a run, gripping the doorframe as he rounded it.

“Brother!” Orm flapped his arms like a frightened bird. “Come now.”

“I will, I will. One moment.” He flicked his hand, dismissing Orm. “I’ll follow you.”

Orm let out a yelp and raced away with his cloak flapping.

“Haakon,” Kenna said quietly from behind him. “What is it?”

He turned. “I think King Athol is here. Astrid and Hamish are back and—”

“They are well?”

“Yes, yes, but I think they have seen him.”

She swallowed, the sound loud in the quiet room. “They have seen King Athol?”

“Yes.”

“Then we must prepare to fight and plan to win.” Her fists tightened on the blanket she held around herself.

He strode up to her and cupped her face. “We will, my love. We will.”

“Do you promise?”

“That is my solemn promise to you.” He hoped to hell he could keep that promise. Keep his wife safe and defend the people of Tillicoulty he’d come to care for.

“Then I will hold you to it.” She traced his lips with the tip of her finger. “King Haakon.”

He stared into her eyes and fell even more in love with his wife.

He was a man of his word and a man of the sword. He’d die for love and he’d die for his gods.

But now…now he had too much to live for. He didn’t see dying as an option.

Not yet.