Viking Heart (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors Book 3) (21 page)

He stayed that way for a long time, vaguely aware of her legs sliding down, of her body softening beneath his. When her breathing slowed, he pulled back slightly and looked at her.

Gods, he was still in her and she was sound asleep. As it had been when he watched her rest in his bed back at the fortress, his breath caught at her stunning beauty. At the absolute peace she found when she rested. It was something he knew he would never tire of watching.

Then he knew what he had been denying all those moments he’d been watching her since she arrived. From when she played the drums and made everyone so happy. When she jumped off that cliff, laughter on her lips and joy in her eyes. When he’d walked the shore of vendors and seen all her sketches hanging, how proud his people were of them. When she treated Kara with kindness and acceptance. For that matter, any woman that had hovered around Kol. And there were so many other moments, all which defined his woman and made it obvious just how special she was.

What he felt toward her was vastly different. More profound. Untouchable.

A feeling he knew would never go away.

Veronica was right.

He was in love with Amber.

Amber woke to the sound of waves and the warmth of Kol’s arms wrapped around her. She stared at him for a long time. Though tempted to run her finger along the straight slashes of his black brows and the soft curve of his sexy lips, she didn’t want to risk waking him. He had to be exhausted after everything that happened. Her eyes drifted to the tattoo wrapped around her wrist. What it might mean. What lay ahead.

“It suits you,” he murmured.

Her eyes shot to his face and her breath caught at the sensual heat gathered in his lazy appraisal. The obvious desire he felt as his gaze traveled over her face as though memorizing its every dimension. Not only that, there was something new in the way he looked at her. A sense of warmth, no, possession, that hadn’t been there before.

Brushing aside the observation, not entirely sure what she thought about it, her eyes went back to the tat. “At least it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

When Kol ran his thumb gently over the inside of her wrist, over the stave, a shiver went down her spine. Their eyes met and lust once more tore through her. He was so damn handsome and her body couldn’t seem to get enough.

Though she sensed it took him a great deal of effort, he pulled away and got up. Her brows lowered in question, but he soon returned with their skins and a satchel. He bunched furs behind them and sat. “You wanted to talk earlier but…” A twinkle met his eyes and those gorgeous dimples erupted as he looked at her. “We got distracted.” He pulled out some bread, cheese, and nuts. “Let us talk now, yes?”

Her eyes flickered past his gorgeous face over all the tight muscles running down his body straight to his impressive erection. “Not so easy with that…” She cleared her throat, unable to drag her eyes from it. “I’ll think more clearly if you put it away.”

Kol chuckled as he pulled a blanket over his lap, his appreciative eyes falling to her breasts. “Then I would request the same of you, woman.”

Amber couldn’t stop a blush as she pulled a fur across her chest. There was just something about the way Kol looked at her that made her feel half devoured in an instant. “Fair enough.”

He handed her a skin. “So what would you like to talk about?”

“So much.” Years’ worth of stuff actually. The realization startled her and she swigged from her skin. She didn’t make a habit of wanting to learn too much about any one guy. That meant her heart might get invested. As it was, she was still trying to work through his earlier words.

“I am yours, woman.”

That sounded an awful lot like a commitment.

And it scared the hell out of her.

Especially with a man like Kol.

But as she nibbled on some bread, she realized a man like Kol wasn’t so bad. Yes, he might be a scamp, but so was she. Yet it wasn’t about that. No, it was about how he saved her when Alrek took her. How ferocious he had been when he thought she'd been hurt. How warm and comforting he had been afterward as he held her on the ship. Could it be she was caught up in the whole knight in shining armor aspect of it? Sure. What woman wouldn’t be? It was exciting and romantic.

Even so, Kol wasn’t like other men.

Not in the least.

He nudged her a little, gaze affectionate. “I think I lost you there. What did you want to talk about?”

She blinked a few times then laughed softly. “Sorry, I was drifting.” Her eyes swept over the cave. “Tell me about this place. Kjar said the men who sailed in with us won’t remember it. That it's a private family spot.” She appeared speculative. “So obviously Kjar wipes their memory somehow. What’s up with the secrecy?”

Kol swigged from his skin then considered her. “What would you say if I told you this was a dragon lair?”

“A dragon lair,” she murmured, trying to wrap her mind around the words. But she always did love a good fairytale. “I’d tell you it made me think of my childhood. The books my cousin Dayna used to read to me.”

A small smile came to his face. “Stories about dragons?”

Amber grinned. “Yeah, lots of those. I guess she enjoyed them.”

“You seem to have taken well to the concept of me and my brothers being half dragon. Is that why? Were you the only one Dayna read the stories to?”

“Yeah, actually.” Amber shrugged and polished off her bread. “I was still young enough to enjoy kid’s stories after Mom left and I think Dayna saw it as a way to help me through my grief.”

“She sounds like a good cousin,” he murmured.

Amber wondered at the strange octave in his voice. “She really was.
Is
. She and Megan have had issues since Sean almost died, but that was just Meg being scared of losing him.”

She didn’t miss the tension in his body when she mentioned Sean. And she didn’t blame him. Mention of his name usually meant she was going into ‘shut down’ mode. Yet she wasn’t.
Wouldn’t
.

Amber frowned, surprised when a wash of guilt didn’t roll over her. More than that, she didn’t feel guilty for
not
feeling guilty. Everything she’d been through since traveling back in time had started to feel like a healing process. A crazy, emotional rollercoaster ride with a heavy dose of stark terror…but a healing process nonetheless.

Determined not to get too intense right now, she glanced around. “So, a dragon lair, eh? What does that mean exactly?”

Kol shrugged and swallowed some nuts. “It was a place Naðr found for us when we were young. Well protected, it has several large caves. Enough room for us to shift to dragons and have a place to rest. A place to go when we wanted to shift.”

Her eyes stayed with his. It was impossible to picture him being anything other than a man, but she refused to let it bother her. Rather, she found it fascinating. “Couldn’t you shift at the fortress? I heard Raknar did a few months ago and that the people loved it.”

“We can now.” He frowned. “At least we could before the pact with the seers.” His eyes grew distant. “Our father was opposed to us shifting. Even when we were children. So Naðr found a place for us to embrace what we were.”

“Was your father a dragon shifter too?”

“Yes,” Kol murmured. “And though we were still boys he was threatened by his offspring. He wasn’t fond of anyone who could someday rival him. Especially Naðr, always the largest and most defiant of the three of us. Father saw him as a threat above all threats. Thankfully, he never had the chance to act on it before he was killed.” His gaze remained lost. “Father was once much different. He fished with us. Loved us.”

“What about your mother?”

“She fell in love with another man and ran off. That was why my father turned so bitter and ambitious. Naðr says she tried to come back for us, but Father would have none of it.”

Sad, she rolled a nut over and over in her hand, voice soft. “That’s too bad. It sort of sounds like we were in similar boats. Kinda sorta. Our Dad wasn’t mean to us after though. Just different. More distant I guess. Megan made a point of trying to bond with him. I think she was just trying to understand where his head was at. Veronica thought he was a waste of time and always tried to reach out to Mom.”

“What about you?” he said softly.

Her eyes met his and held, but her thoughts were a million miles away…better yet, over a thousand years in the future. “I was too young to grasp most of it…except…” She trailed off before clearing her throat. “Mostly just sad my family fell apart. Confused. A little lost I suppose.”

He squeezed her hand, about the only thing that grounded her right now.

She worked at a smile. “One good thing came out of it all though.”

He perked a brow in question.

“I started sketching like crazy. It was around then that I started getting interested in music too. It was like a veil had been lifted. I might not have had a solid parental unit anymore, but I found something else to fill the void. And, of course, I had my sisters.” She inhaled deeply. “Always my sisters. They were my rocks. Especially Meg. Even Veronica in her own way. They never abandoned me.”

“Nor did my brothers me,” he said. His warm, comforting fingers entwined with hers. “Except…” She got the impression he was filling in the blanks of what she had almost said moments ago. “Watching what happened between my parents, my mother’s betrayal, my father’s anger…changed me. They were so in love before that. Or at least I thought they were. And then an instant later, I realized it was all a lie. True love. Commitment. Two people being meant for each other. That sort of thing just didn’t exist. Could not exist. Because if it didn’t work for my parents who had loved each other so much, who
could
it work for?”

Amber swallowed and looked away. His words struck too close to home…literally. “I guess I can see how you’d feel that way.” She took a long swig from her skin, shrugged and told a half truth. “I was too young to be overly affected. I just wanted my parents back together.”

Determined to get away from where their conversation might be heading, she stood and yanked on her pants and tunic. Stretching, determined to look like she wasn’t running away, eager to keep things light, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and eyed him. “So you hung out in this cave as a dragon?”

Kol pressed his lips together and she knew he debated whether to draw her back into their conversation. His internal debate didn’t last long before the corner of his lip hitched up. “I did.” He stood and pulled on pants. Though not as erect as he’d been before, his girth wasn’t any less impressive as it pressed against his leather pants. Amber dragged her eyes from his groin as he grabbed her hand. “Come, let me show you.”

He led her to a ledge overlooking the incoming waves. Though she could only see a slice of the crimson sunset beyond, the wide pool of crashing water below was beautiful.

“Are you comfortable with me using a little dragon magic on you?”

The way he said it, almost half flirt, half dare, made her grin. “Sure, have at it.”

He pulled her against his side, his strong arm wrapped around her lower back and pointed. “See that slate of rock that dips into the water?”

Amber tried to ignore the feel of his body against hers and nodded. “Yeah.”

His words came close to her ear. “Close your eyes and then open them.”

So she did. Warm tingles started to spread through her veins and she knew it wasn’t sexual. No, this was his magic and it felt like warm maple syrup pouring through her. If she wasn’t mistaken, a sugary sweet smell filled the air. She sighed, lost in the sensation.

“Don’t forget to open your eyes,” he whispered. “When you do, you will see me as a child.”

Amber swallowed and slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze instantly went to the area he had pointed out. Three boys stood there. Varying in height, the tallest had jet black hair, the middle, blond, the smallest, black hair with brown streaks.

“Whoa,” she whispered and clenched his hand. “That’s you and your brothers.”

“Shh.” He offered a low chuckle. “Watch.”

“Father should teach him this,” the blond boy said. Raknar.

“But he never will,” the black-haired boy said. Naðr. There was nothing quite like seeing the massive Viking king as a scraggly boy with long, awkward limbs that were years away from filling out.

“I do not need to learn this now,” little Kol said. “Later.”

When he made to walk away, Naðr grabbed him by the scruff of his tunic and turned him around, nudging him forward. “Yes you do little brother. Now.”

Kol pouted, crossed his arms over his chest and eyed the sky. “No.”

Raknar shook his head, less than impressed. “We can start you here or push you from the cliff above. Your choice.”

“We will start him from here,” Naðr said, stern eyes going from Raknar to Kol. “You will do this. You
have
to.”

Fear flickered in Kol’s eyes as he looked from brother to brother. But still he thrust his shoulders back, trying hard to mask how frightened he was as he eyed the sea then the sky.

Raknar’s eyes widened at him. “Look at how you fear!”

Naðr took Kol’s elbow and nodded at the sky. “If you conquer that, you can conquer anything.”

Kol started to shake. “I want Mother.”

“Mother is gone,” Raknar spat and paced as he eyed his brothers then looked directly at Naðr. “Tell him she is gone. Tell him he must find his own strength.”

“Yes.” Naðr looked at Kol. “Find your own strength. A man must have that.” Then he shook his head. “But your strength is also ours.” He looked at Raknar then back at Kol. “We are brothers. We find strength not only in ourselves but in each other. It must
always
be that way.”

Raknar huffed and strode up the incline but not that far before he turned and looked back at Kol. “Embrace who you are. Honor your dragon blood.”

Amber’s breath hitched as wind howled into the cave and seemed to twist around Raknar. Then something else. Color. Blur. Suddenly there was no longer a boy standing there but…a small dragon?

Chills went through her.

What else could it be?

Maybe five feet tall, it was covered in golden scales with wings and barbed ridges on its head and talons. It was every inch what she envisioned a dragon to be save its small size. Even so, it seemed quite sure of itself as it leaped into the air, flapped its wings then flew out over the water.