He bristled at her command. "Considering the fact that I just bound a member of your family to one of the people I have sworn to annihilate, I think I'm being remarkably good."
Phoebe cast him a glare that loudly proclaimed he'd be sleeping alone for at least a week.
If not longer.
Urian curled his lip at Wulf. It was clear who he blamed for his wife's upset. "Fine. I'm glad I didn't say what I really thought," he muttered under his breath.
Louder, Urian returned to the ceremony. "It is your similarities that brought you together and your differences that add variety and spark to your life. May the gods bless and protect your union and may you be..." He paused again. "Well, you already are blessed with fertility so we'll skip that."
Phoebe growled low in her throat while Cassandra gave him a glare of her own.
Urian cast another murderous look at Wulf. "May the two of you enjoy every minute left to you."
Then, Urian took the ribbons that combined their hands and tied them into a double knot. The ribbons would last for the night and in the morning they would be cut and buried for luck.
Chris and Kat led the way back to the apartment.
Her father came up to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "I'm sorry I couldn't finish."
"It's okay, Daddy. I understand."
And she did. The prospect of saying good-bye to him hurt her too.
When they reached the apartment, Wulf, as was Norse custom, picked her up and carried her over the threshold. It amazed her because he had to do it with one arm since his other hand was still bound to hers.
Chris poured everyone drinks. "This is where Wulf's people would get drunk and party for a week. All hail the Vikings, forerunners to the frat boys!"
"You can party," Wulf said to him, "but I better not catch you drunk."
Chris rolled his eyes, then bent down and said to Cassandra's stomach, "Be wise, little guy, stay in there where Lord King Neurotic can't kill all your fun."
Wulf shook his head at him. "I'm surprised you're here without your newfound friends."
"Yeah, I know. I'm going to go find them shortly. Kyra is working on a new program and I'm going to test it."
Urian snorted at that. "That's one way of putting it."
Chris's face turned beet red. "And I thought he"-he indicated Wulf with his thumb-"was bad. What is it with you Peters women that you're attracted to losers?"
"I think I resent that," her father said.
Wulf laughed. "Boy, you better go find Kyra before you dig yourself in any deeper."
"Yeah, I think I agree." Chris excused himself and left.
Kat came up behind Cassandra and took the crown off her head. "I'll make sure and put it back in its case."
"Thanks."
Suddenly, it felt a bit awkward in the room.
"Daddy? You want to come back to our place with us?" Phoebe asked.
"Sure." He kissed Cassandra on the cheek. "Not much of a reception, but I think you two should be alone."
Kat joined them as they left.
They were alone now, and Wulf pulled a perfect single-carat diamond ring from his pocket and slid it over her finger. The band was a very delicate Nordic lattice pattern. She'd never seen anything more lovely.
"Thank you, Wulf," she breathed.
Wulf nodded. He stared at her in the pale light, her eyes glowing with warmth.
His wife.
The one thing he had never thought to have. At least not in the last twelve hundred years.
Normally a couple on their honeymoon would be thinking about their future together. How they were going to spend their lives...
He didn't want to think about the future. It was too bleak. Too painful. He should have kept her out of his heart. Every day he tried and every day he found her there even deeper than before.
"Cassandra Tryggvason," he whispered, testing her new name.
"It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
He touched her lips with his fingers. Like her, they were soft and delicate. Inviting. "Are you happy?"
"Yes." And yet her green eyes were tinged by sadness.
How he wished he could erase that from her forever.
Cassandra stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. Wulf groaned at the taste of her. At the way her hand felt on the back of his neck while her long, graceful fingers tugged at his hair.
Her rose scent went through him, making him drunk and hot. "You are beautiful, my Cassandra."
Cassandra shivered at his low-voiced words. She loved it whenever he referred to her as his.
Taking her hand that was tied to his, he led her toward the bedroom.
Cassandra bit her lip as she watched him. He was so tall and devastating. He laid her carefully on the bed, then paused.
"How are we supposed to take off our clothes with this on our wrists?"
"My sleeves unzip."
"Mine don't."
"Then you're going to be wearing that tuxedo for the night. Ew!"
"Ew?" he asked playfully. "Suddenly I'm ew?"
She moaned as he cupped her chin and nipped her lips with his teeth. "Ew to the extreme," she teased breathlessly.
She felt him unzip the back of her dress slowly as if savoring the anticipation of her being naked with him.
"You know, in Viking tradition, we'd have had witnesses for this."
She shivered as his hot hand skimmed her bared skin. "No offense, I am so glad this isn't in your lifetime."
"Me too. I'd have to kill any man who saw just how beautiful you really are. If they saw you, I know they'd be dreaming of you, and that I could never allow."
She closed her eyes, savoring those words, as he pulled her dress from her.
He paused only long enough to kiss her bulging stomach. The minute his lips grazed her, she felt the light, fluttering movement inside.
"Oh, my God," she breathed. "I just felt the baby!"
He pulled back. "What?"
Her eyes welling up, she placed her hand over the spot his lips had touched, wanting to feel the baby again. "I felt him," she repeated. "Just now."
Pride shone brightly in Wulf's eyes as he dipped his head and kissed her stomach again. He nuzzled her bare skin with his whiskered cheek.
Cassandra should have felt embarrassed to have a man so perfectly formed nuzzling her when she was the size of a whale, but she didn't. It was so comforting to have him with her.
He was her champion. Not because he had saved her life, but because of the way he stayed with her now. The way he held her when she cried. The way he comforted her.
He was her strength. Her courage.
And she was so damned grateful to have him with her. She didn't want to face the end alone.
Wulf wouldn't let her. He would be there with her, even though it was going to kill him to see her die. He would hold her hand, and when she was gone, she would be remembered throughout time.
"I don't even know the name of my grandmother."
Wulf frowned. "What?"
"I don't know my grandmother's name. My mother died before I could ask. Phoebe said she'd never thought to ask either. I don't know what either she or my grandfather looked like. I only know my father's parents from pictures. I was just thinking that I will be only a picture to the baby. He will look at me as I used to look at them. Abstract people. Never really real."
His eyes sparked with intensity. "You will be real to him, Cassandra. I promise you."
How she hoped that was true.
He enveloped her in his arms and held her close. Cassandra held on, needing his warmth. She pushed the regret and pain out of her mind.
There was nothing she could do. Inevitable meant inevitable. At least she had this moment in time.
She burst out laughing and crying at the same time.
Wulf pulled back and stared at her in confusion.
"I'm sorry," she said, trying to control her emotions. "I was just thinking of that stupid song, 'Seasons in the Sun.' You know, 'we had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.' Good grief, I should be a mental patient."
He wiped her tears away and kissed her cheeks. His warm lips burned her skin. "You have more strength than any warrior I have known. Don't ever apologize to me again for those few times when you show your fear to me, Cassandra."
The love she felt for him ran through her, choking her up even more than her regrets. "I love you, Wulf," she breathed. "More than I think I have ever loved anything else."
Wulf couldn't breathe as he heard those heartfelt words. They tore through him like shattering glass.
"I love you too," he said, his throat tightening at the truth of it. He didn't want to let her go. Ever.
But there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Cassandra gasped as he kissed her passionately. He finished undressing her in a fever pitch. She unbuttoned his shirt and when they couldn't find a way to remove it or his jacket, Wulf tore them off.
She laughed at the sight of him. But the laughter stopped the instant he laid his hot, heavy body against hers and returned to her lips.
He rolled over onto his back and pulled her on top of him. He always took great care with her so as not to press against her stomach or hurt either her or the baby.
His eyes searing, he placed her on top of him.
They both groaned the minute he entered her. They made love furiously, each aware of the fact that for them the end was racing toward them.
Aware that as every day passed, they were nearing an outcome that neither of them could control or avoid.
It was frightening.
Cassandra cried out as she came in a wave of molten passion. Wulf pulled her against him as he joined her.
Their joined hands rested on the bed above their heads. Wulf laced his fingers in hers and made her a ragged promise.
"I will not let you go without a fight."