Viking Heart (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors Book 3) (12 page)

Pissed, Amber started to stand but Megan grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. “No running away this time.” Her eyes pinned Amber. “I know the truth isn’t easy to hear, but it’s out. I’ve never been thrilled with you loving and leaving Sean over the years. He’s my best friend and I know just how much it hurt him.”

“So what, it’s time to dish out opinions now that it’s too damn late to change things,” Amber bit back.

“Change things?” Megan’s brows shot up. “Would you have? And if so,
when
?”

Amber took a long swig from her skin and kept her eyes on the fire. “I was about to the night he ended it.”

A small silence stretched between them.

“Care to elaborate?” Megan said.

“I was going to tell him I loved him,” she said hoarsely.

Again silence.

“But did you really?” Veronica murmured. “Love him?”

Amber rested her elbows on her knees and closed her eyes. “I’m pretty sure I did.”

“Pretty sure.” Megan’s tone was dry. “Any chance you were feeling that way because he was the only one there after Veronica and I vanished?”

“Probably. But a lot had to do with how comforting he was before he started acting so strange.” She kept staring into the fire. “Then there was just who he
was
. I’d never met another guy who made me so happy. I’d never met another guy who truly
wanted
to see me happy. I swear he tried to pull it out of me sometimes like he was addicted to it.”

“Rough stuff,” Veronica muttered. “A guy addicted to making you happy.”

“Enough,” Megan said softly and took Amber’s hand. “You know how we feel now. I think it’s safe to say you’re beating yourself up enough without us adding to it.”

Lost in thought, Amber wasn’t really hearing them anymore. “I almost told him I loved him, but I just couldn’t do it. Then when I saw him again after he vanished, it was all I could think about. All the things I
didn’t
say when I had the chance.”

“When you saw him again?” Veronica said, sounding confused.

“Yeah, in my house.” She shook her head and frowned. “He was staring out over the water like he’d lost his soul out there somewhere.”

Megan frowned. “But I thought he’d vanished.”

Amber blinked, torn from deep thought. “He did.”

“Then how did you see him again?”

“Oh.” Amber breathed deeply. “In a dream. It happened right before I traveled back in time.”

So she told them about it.

Megan nodded. “So that’s why most of the sketches on Kjar’s bed were a mix of Sean and Kol.”

“Yup,” she murmured, bracing her forehead in her hands. “It was all so frigging strange. Seeing them standing there with an identical tattoo in the exact same spot.” She closed her eyes. “And seriously, what’s with 3:09 AM. First, I woke up at that time in my dream. Then when I woke up from the dream itself, it was the same time. Totally creepy.”

“3:09,” Megan whispered and her hand clenched Amber’s tighter. “Are you sure it was 3:09?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Alarmed, she looked at her older sister. “You don’t forget something like that.”

“No, you don’t,” Megan agreed, an odd look in her damp eyes as they met Amber’s. “That was Sean’s official time of death when he nearly drowned three years ago.”

“Impossible,” Amber whispered.

Though she remained silent, Veronica clasped her other hand in both of hers.

“He was a local, a friend, so they tried to resuscitate him for longer than usual but they stopped after twenty minutes or so,” Megan said, eyes staring into the past. “Ten minutes later, at approximately 3:39 he took a deep breath…and was alive again,” Megan said.

“Jesus,” Veronica murmured.

“I don’t understand.” Amber fought back panic as she looked at Megan for guidance. “Why the hell would that time pop up in my dream…then after?”

Megan shook her head and though she might’ve seemed lost moments before, she straightened and clearly pulled herself together. “I’m not sure. Maybe Sean mentioned it to you at some point and you forgot or maybe it was your gift at work.”

“My gift?”

Megan brushed Amber’s hair back from her face, trying to comfort her. “There’s always been something special about you, Sis.” Her eyes grew more compassionate. “You know, with your ability to sketch things that often end up happening.”

“That’s just a fluke.” She shook her head. “Basic intuition.”

“There’s nothing basic about it,” Veronica said. “What you’re able to do is truly special.”

“You tap into a place we can’t go,” Megan said. “And that’s pretty amazing.”

“Yeah, it is,” Veronica agreed.

Thrown off by the praise, Amber shrugged and assured herself more than them. “Just intuition.”

Nothing more was said as the brothers and Kjar joined them. Traitorous given their conversation, Amber’s eyes met Kol’s. He again wore his boots and tunic, a horn hanging loosely in his hand. As if he sensed her disgruntled thoughts, he said, “Are you well, Amber?”

Not at all. “Yeah, I’m good, thanks.”

His eyes held hers, not convinced in the least. “A storm brews. The tide is coming in and many are going back to the main hall to celebrate.” He held out his hand. “Join me?”

Kjar surprised them all when he did the same and said, “It grows late. Let me see you to bed instead, woman.”

For some bizarre reason, it suddenly felt like she was caught between her past and the present…between Sean and Kol. Between someone dependable who would always be there and someone who feared commitment as much as she did. It was odd and jarring considering the conversation she’d just had with her sisters.

“Way to lay on the pressure, guys,” Megan said with a frown.

Amber shook her head. The chat she'd had with her sisters was upsetting enough and they didn’t need any more drama, especially from her. Before they could say anything else, she stood and spoke to the men. “How about I meet you guys halfway and we join the celebrations for a while longer before I crash.”

Kjar and Kol narrowed their eyes but seemed to sense she was trying to keep the peace. She had just stepped between them and grasped each of their hands when the tide came in and a trail of water rushed underfoot.

“Yikes.” She was about to say more when something washed up between her feet. “What the heck?”

Before the water could suck it back out, Amber scooped it up. A chill raced up her spine as she eyed the small, crayon sized cylinder.

“There it is.” Megan stood and peered at the object.

“What?”

“Your cylinder,” Veronica said softly. “Though smaller than mine and tiny compared to Megan’s, it’s the cylinder that the gods provide in the pact made between the brothers and the seers.”

A wistful smile skirted over Megan’s face. “Whatever is in that gives you the free will to choose if you ever want to come back again once you return to the future.”

“Oh,” Amber whispered. “So I guess this means I’m supposed to be here.”

“Yes,” her sisters said at the same time and looked at Kol. The corner of Megan's lip inched up. “And you’re meant to be with him.”

As it had been since he’d had Amber pinned beneath him in the water, Kol was warring with his emotions as they walked back to the fortress. The moment she picked up that cylinder, he faded into the background. While part of him wanted to throw her over his shoulder and declare to all that she
was
his, another part was looking for an opportunity to bolt.

He had even tried to walk with Kara when she joined them briefly, but she shook her head, winked and sauntered off. Hel, he never expected her to be such a champion to his cause…which was getting Amber into his bed. But Kara, like everything else happening, was sweeping him in a direction that scared the shit out of him. He polished off his horn of ale as he trailed them, both aggravated and grateful that Kjar seemed just fine staying with Amber.

Kol wanted her, had told her as much, but something about that cylinder tightened the noose around his neck. Even so, dragon haze flared when Kjar’s hand stayed at the small of her back and their heads leaned close as they chatted. Despite his enhanced hearing, he was unable to make out their words. But he figured that was the demi-god’s magic at work.

“What will you do now, Kol?” Naðr murmured.

His brothers remained by his side as they walked, silent until now.

Kol gave a safe answer. “Nothing. The decision is Amber’s.”

“You love her already,” Raknar said.

“I love all women.”

“Yes,” Naðr agreed. “But her more than most.”

Her more than any…if he truly believed in love.

Which he didn’t.

“She’s a good woman,” he told his brothers. Anything to appease them so that he could get back to his disgruntled thoughts.

“I don’t think you’ve ever been with a
bad
woman,” Naðr defended. “Just not one that you liked so much.”

“Genuinely
liking
a woman and truly
loving
one is far different,” Raknar agreed, his eyes on Veronica as she walked ahead with Megan. “It changes everything.”

“Liking, loving, same difference,” Kol muttered.

“No,” Naðr said. “But maybe you would have seen it more clearly had you not bedded her so quickly.”

“Bedded her?” Kol shook his head. “I have not yet bedded her.”

Raknar and Naðr exchanged a look.

“We were told you had,” the King said.

“By who?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Raknar nodded in Amber’s direction. “What matters is that you intend to.”

Kol’s eyes flickered between them. “Did Amber say I bedded her?” When neither gave a response, he narrowed his eyes on her. “Why would she say that?”

Naðr shrugged, his appreciative gaze on Megan. “Why do women do half the things they do?”

Not sure what to make of the rumor, Kol kept eying Amber. Why
had
she said that? His thoughts, as they had done nearly every moment since it happened, refocused on their kiss. There was no counting how many women he’d kissed, but something about the feel of her lips against his had been far different. Was she talented at it? Yes. But so was he. Then again, several women he’d kissed had been good at it.

But Amber had been different.

More
.

They were past the fortress gates and nearly to the holding when Raknar said, “Be wise and take what you want from this night before she goes to sleep.”

Kol was pleasantly surprised when his brothers no longer gave their opinions but joined their women and vanished. Besides the few words shared, they’d been uncharacteristically silent on the walk back. But then, like him, he assumed their minds were preoccupied with twenty-first century women.

He was standing just inside the doorway of the main holding when Kara came alongside. “I did not think I would like what you asked of me but…” She tilted up a grin. “I think even better of you for asking it.”

Hip leaned against the wall; he wrapped an arm around her lower back and pulled her against his side as he eyed the crowd, better yet Amber dancing in the midst of it. “Thank you.”

She wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her head against his side. “For what?”

Kol rubbed her arm, shocked by his own response. “For handling this better than I would have if I’d been in your position.”

“There is no need to thank me. You have always been good to me.” She licked her lips and winked at him. “The best sex.” Then she sighed and eyed Amber. “But I want to be looked at by someone the way you look at her.”

As was in his nature, he nearly said he had always looked at her that way but Kara shook her head and nodded at Amber. “I don’t need to hear words that are not true. Instead, maybe you should give her truth.”

Kol frowned at Kara, steered clear of her implication, and tried to be comforting. “All men want you, woman.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But I have not been overly available.”

Loki’s balls, had he been that selfish? Odin above, of course he had. And at another’s expense. Which made him wonder how many other women he’d put in such a position.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured and cupped Kara’s face, making sure her eyes met his. “Thank you for being so loyal when I have given you nothing for so long.”

She grasped his forearms, voice strong though her eyes dampened. “Never be sorry, Kol. You gave me so much.”

No, he’d taken her to his bed then pushed her away over the years. When his interest in women started to wane several fortnights ago, she had been the one there waiting patiently and always wanting. And he had taken it for granted.

Kol stroked her cheeks and stared into her eyes, wishing for a moment he felt a fraction of what he did when he looked into Amber’s.

Kara shook her head. “It’s all right.” She closed her eyes, turned her head and kissed his palm. “I always knew you would not be mine so cannot get upset in the end, no?”

He pulled her against him. “There is a better man out there waiting for you.”

She nuzzled her face against his chest and murmured, “Yes, maybe there is. But he is not better…only as strong.”

Kol stroked her hair and chuckled. “He would have to be strong to accept your love.”

“He would,” she agreed as she pulled back and straightened, eyes never leaving his. “I love you, Kol. If you need sex again, I will be there…” A smile ghosted her lips as her eyes searched the crowd. “Unless maybe I can get him to tell you no.”

Kol didn’t ask who she had her eye on. It wasn’t his business unless she wanted it to be. “Woman, I don’t care what he says. If
you
say no to me, I will always listen.”

“Yes, I know.” Her eyes met his. “So will he.”

“If he’s smart.” Kol hugged her then pulled away. “Go find this man that you wonder about, yes?”

Her eyes held his and all their moments together became a final goodbye. “Yes,” she murmured. “I will see if he is half the man you are.”

There was no chance to respond before she darted off. Kol smiled as he watched her vanish into the crowd. If he wasn’t mistaken, and though she was no slave, she felt free. It was a strange thing letting her go. They might have slept with many in between, but Kara had been his woman for a very long time.

Though he felt a sense of nostalgia combined with gratefulness that what they once had ended well, his attention was soon ensnared by Amber. She was dancing in a group of men and women, the sensuality of her sway seeming to draw everyone in around her. Drums pounded. Pipes whistled. The perfect backdrop for the rhythm of her hips. Now that her hair had been dried by baby dragon magic, it was full and wild around her face.

Inevitability drawn, he worked his way through the crowd until she was in his arms. Amber hesitated for a moment as if she wasn’t quite sure that was where she wanted to be. But soon enough her face softened and she relaxed. Pleased, he clenched his teeth and nearly dug his hands into her hair and kissed her. It was what his dragon urged him to do.

Instead, he kept his hands away from her face, words a soft murmur. “Finding the cylinder was a little overwhelming. How are you, Amber?”

She might have been laughing and dancing moments before but when his question came close to her ear, her whispered words struggled. “Scared. Really scared.”

He didn’t want her to be frightened. Especially not of him or what the cylinder meant. Needing to soothe, he wrapped his hand around the side of her neck and rested his forehead against hers. “There is nothing to be afraid of. You’re not trapped, Little Dove.”

“I’ve been trapped since the moment Megan traveled back in time.” Her fingers curled into his tunic. “We both have.”

“Maybe.” He inhaled the scent of her hair. “But perhaps we don’t need to look at it like a trap.”

Amber pulled back and met his eyes. He saw guilt and desire. “What do you mean?”

Kol wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of this solution sooner. “We aren’t good at being with just one person so maybe if you travel home and decide to return, we will be together long enough to fulfill the pact with the seers. Then we’ll be free to be with whomever we like.”

He saw no point in telling her that he and Kara had ended their partnership.

Nor that he hadn’t desired another woman in far too long.             

“That’s allowed?” Amber frowned. “I was under the impression it had to be true love.”

“I think we assumed that because my brothers and your sisters found as much.” He shrugged. “I don’t see why that has to happen for us.”

Amber seemed to consider it. “My sisters are here so I do intend to return no matter what.” She shrugged. “After all, everyone I care about is here.”

Kol had no idea how tense he’d been until a nugget of relief loosened the knots in his shoulders. Alarmingly enough, he wasn’t relieved because she seemed to agree to an open relationship but because she intended to return.

“So why should I have to return to the future at all if I’ve already decided to stay?” she said.

Good question. “Maybe you don’t.”

“Then why would I get a cylinder?” She frowned. “Seems sort of a waste of time on the gods behalf, doesn’t it?”

“Nothing they do is a waste of time,” he murmured. And though he wasn’t happy about her having to return to the future, he didn’t say as much. “Are there any unresolved issues at home? Maybe something that needs a sense of closure?”

“No,” she whispered. “I’d say my life there is pretty much wrapped up.”

Kol had no intention of dissuading her. It might have only been a day, but he truly enjoyed spending time with her. She created a light where too often lately he felt darkness. Emptiness. And for the first time in far too long, he hadn’t suffered a headache.

So no, the idea of her not being here didn’t sit well at all.

Then, of course, there was desire.

Kol couldn’t remember the last time he had truly wanted to enjoy the pleasure of a woman’s body. Not like this. Not so much that it was hard to focus on anything but her. Holding a conversation was becoming nearly impossible as his eyes roamed over her face. Her pupils flared and though it seemed she meant to speak she didn’t.

Then the scent of her arousal hit him.

He couldn’t stop his dragon essence if he wanted to as it wrapped around her as surely as his arms did her lower back. Amber’s lips fell apart as he nuzzled his head close and flicked his tongue up her neck.

“I will stop…” He kissed and twirled his tongue over her satin skin. “If that is what you want.”

“I do,” she whispered but her head fell back and her eyes slid shut in invitation.

Her arousal only increased. He growled as he nipped at her collarbone. When she jerked, he seized her hips then slowly ran his hand down until he pulled up her thigh and flicked his tongue over her cleavage. 

“
Oh
hell
,” she whimpered.

Her hands dug into his hair and yanked him closer. He couldn't touch her enough. He wanted to possess every inch of her.

“This shouldn’t be happening,” she mumbled.

“I don’t care.” 

Kol had no clue when he lifted her or how they ended up in a chair with her straddling him. Everything but the feel of her in his arms had faded away until Kjar plunked down next to them. “So will you be having sex right here for all to see?”

“I hope so,” Kol murmured.

Though he hadn’t kissed her lips or removed her clothing, Amber writhed so wildly against him that he was moments away from taking her right here and now. His lips were everywhere, starved for the taste of her skin.

But Kjar wasn’t letting go. “You’re about to make fools of yourselves.”

Kol groaned when Amber stilled.

“Have you ever seen the king bed Megan in front of everyone,” Kjar mentioned, chomping a nut. “Better yet, Raknar and Veronica?”

“Ugh.” Amber blushed as she realized where they were heading and just how close they had come. Her words were chopped up by little pants as she caught her breath. “I guess I’m not making a very good impression.”