“It’s alright, Dörr. He amuses me. I’ve never heard anyone talk so easily about so many different things.”
Her fingers left the back of my hand, but only to stroke down my cheek to my chin, so she could gently turn my face back to hers.
“When I was trapped in the darkness, I longed for someone to talk to. Anyone. I love hearing your voices, especially when you’re teasing each other. Laughter makes my heart spill over with joy.”
I wanted to ask who dared to trap her, but the alpha gave me a hard mental shove in the bond. So I simply nodded without words, which was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Not the hardest—when her fangs sank into my wrist, and I had to wrestle the bear for dominance. She couldn’t feed on the bear. Well, she could. She could do anything. She was the fucking queen. But the alpha was right. She wouldn’t want a bunch of fur in her mouth.
Not when she could have my flesh and skin gripped in her jaws.
I shouldn’t have made any jokes whatsoever about the ice man coming so hard. At least he’d managed to wait to get inside her first. At this rate…
:Mayhap you’re unaware, but you’re broadcasting your thoughts down the bonds,:the grumpier Blood at the door said.:All of them.:
My gaze leaped to her face. Her eyes were closed, her throat working as she swallowed my blood.
So erotic. Watching her feed. Her long, graceful neck. Her short hair fluttered about her face. An unusual haircut, not that I had any barbering experience. But it didn’t look evenly textured. Almost like someone had taken a sword?—
:Goddess below, would you please shut up?:Svar said.
Huh. I’d pegged him as the nice one.:How? I can’t change the way my brain works.:
Helayna released my wrist. “I’ve got an idea. As long as you don’t mind delaying your own gratification a bit longer, Dörr?”
The alpha backed up enough to pull out of her, making her eyelids flutter. His face was inscrutable. Like a black granite statue. So I wasn’t sure if he was pissed or not. Probably yes. I mean, who wouldn’t be? He’d been fucking our queen moments ago and now she?—
Gulp. Evidently, she was going to fuck me.
HELAYNA
I still felt…desperate. Like my nerves and muscles were frayed. There were too many sharp edges inside me, like miniature splintered icicles stabbed through my stomach. Goddess, I’d never been so ravenous. Like I could eat as much as Gunnarr had tonight.
But it wasn’t food I wanted.
Though guilt threaded through the hunger, making me shoot a quick glance over at Lokken. His chest moved, and I could still feel his bond weighing heavy inside my head. He was unconscious but I didn’t sense any danger or weakness in him.
Relieved, I slid my thigh over Gunnarr and took him inside me. For a moment, my mind froze with shock. I didn’t think I would normally be so quick to take a man, let alone a man I’d just met a few hours ago. But it felt right, as it’d felt instantaneously right with Lokken as well. I hadn’t been able to make love with him immediately because we were leaving Minnesota, but I would have gladly taken him by the hand and led him upstairs to my bed if we’d had time.
As I hoped, Gunnarr’s constant stream of consciousness paused, at least for the moment.
“Is this alright?” My voice was husky with rising desire.
Eyes wide open, he nodded vigorously but didn’t say a word. Even his bond hung still, poised and alert as his emotions swelled through our connection.
Gratitude I’d Called him. Joy, because he now had a place to belong. A place to call home.
Not the house.
Me. I was already his home. A place he never wanted to leave. Where he could be fully himself without fear, despite his exuberance. In his mind, he felt so inferior he believed he would never be able to serve a queen. He was too obstinate, unable to curb his tongue, and completely ill-suited for court life.
Luckily for him, I had no interest in formal court either.
I leaned down over him so I could nuzzle his hairy chest, breathing in his scent. Flannel and pine, woodsmoke, salty sea, and pristine white fur. Stirring my hunger to a fevered pitch. He was too tall for me to comfortably bite his throat and still ride him—but I wanted a big, easy vein.
Immediately, he lifted his head and curled up around me, cradling me in his arms. Giving me easy access to his neck.
My fangs pierced him and we both shuddered. His blood geysered into me, as eager and enthusiastic as his personality, sweeping me out to sea. Above, a dark midnight sky glittered with millions of diamonds. Green and pink ribbons wound through the air, always flowing, always moving in perfect, hushed stillness disturbed only by the gentle lapping of the waves on the island of ice. Drifting ever north. Wrapped in his polar bear’s embrace.
His body rocked beneath me, climax rolling through him. Me. Eddying back to him. A spiraling tidal pool, sucking him under.
