CHAPTERNINETEEN
Muni sat on the floor with her legs crossed, watching Brin sit in the same position with his eyes closed. He was trying his hardest to focus on the power of her wings, to sprout them as she did her own, but neither of them was certain it would work. Wings were different than the power of compulsion. There was a chance the wings weren’t something passed along at all.
“I can feel a tingle along my spine but that’s it,” Brin murmured before cracking open his eyes. “Perhaps, that’s only wishful thinking though.”
Muni smiled. “You would make a great raven, Brin. Perhaps, I’ll take you into the sky soon so you can feel what I feel when I’m sailing on my wings.”
He pressed his hand to his chest in a sign of respect. “I’d be honored, Lady Raven.”
“You know you can call me Muni, right?” she asked. “We’ve come a long way since the beginning.”
“A woman like you deserves all the respect I can give,” he replied with a shrug. “Though if you wish for me to refer to you in a more casual manner, I will respect your wishes.”
Nodding, Muni moved closer to him so that their knees were touching. Brin looked down at where they touched and, though there was clothing between them, she could feel the heat he exuded caress her skin. “Perhaps, we can try something that should come far easier than wings,” she offered, reaching out her hand for his. He immediately laid his fingers against hers. “Compulsion is easy enough if you know what you’re looking for. You can pull secrets from whoever you’d like, and most creatures won’t even know what’s happening.”
“Have you used that on us?” Brin asked. There was no anger in his voice, only curiosity.
Muni nodded. “Only once at the beginning. I used it to know your names.”
“That’s harmless enough. Though, if you’d like to know my secrets, you only have to ask. There’s nothing I’d be ashamed of you knowing.” Brin squeezed her hand affectionately, and she understood how large of a thing he was offering. He didn’t care to hide from her. He was open, offered everything he was, and the least she could do in return was to help him master the powers he should have.
“When you want to use compulsion, it’s important to make eye contact with the person you’re trying to steal a secret from,” Muni said. “If you’re touching,” she held up their conjoined hands. “Even better.”
“So it’s all about connection,” Brin nodded.
“Precisely. The more connections you have, the easier it is.” She smiled. “Now focus on me, think of something you’d like to know, and pull it from me. You have my permission.”
For a moment, Brin didn’t speak. His eyes met hers, held, and she could see his mind searching for something he’d like to know. She wasn’t sure which direction he’d choose, if he’d go for something harmless or something deep. Brin was strategic, a true Viking, and there was no telling if he’d exploit the weakness or simply play along.
Muni realized she was happy for the one-on-one time with Brin. Though it would have been good for everyone to practice the tool in their arsenal, doing it this way allowed for bonding. Bonding with Brin felt. . .natural, as if she was always meant to.
As she maintained eye contact with Brin, she waited for the feeling to rise in her throat. The moment she felt it, felt her own power being used on her, she didn’t fight it. She could have. She could have prevented any secret from escaping her lips, but Brin deserved the respect of his victory. So she opened her mouth and uttered words she didn’t expect.
“You make something awaken in me that hasn’t reared its head in a long time.”
The words hung in the air between them, heavy with both need and comfort.
Brin paused at her secret, at what he’d drawn from her lips, before his head tilted to the side as he studied her. “Does that frighten you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I fear naught from the three of you.”
Brin’s fingers gently squeezed hers. “And you feel the same for Eirik and Vidar. I’ve seen the way you look between the three of us.” His eyes sparkled with the knowledge. “You wear a clever mask, little spy, but sometimes, you let that mask slip.”
Muni’s instincts were to run and hide from the words but try as she might, she couldn’t be ashamed of the truth. There was nothing wrong with liking the three men, however, she wouldn’t act on them. Probably. She worried her bottom lip.
“It would be cruel to act on such desires.”
“Says who?” Brin asked. “Not I.”
Gently, he tugged her forward, until she was on her knees. He curled his hands around her hips and waited, as if seeking permission. When she didn’t complain, the strong Viking lifted her and sat her on his waist until she straddled his hips. Their bodies pressed together tightly, and Muni did her best not to moan at the feeling of him pressing against her.
“I dragged you from Valhalla,” she whispered. “You should hate me.”
“Munin,” Brin rasped, looking into her eyes. His strong fingers gently stroked along her sides, sending tingles along the skin. “This right here? This feels far closer to Valhalla than I’ve ever been.”
Her heart throbbed in her chest as she froze, her eyes searching his for the truth. There wasn’t even a flicker of a lie there, the words he’d spoken as real as anything she’d ever heard. “But Valhalla—”
“I’m already there,” he growled, and then strong fingers curled in her hair and tugged until her lips were on his.
She didn’t fight, didn’t want to. The moment his lips pressed to hers, everything inside of her lit up brighter than any Valkyrie. When she gasped against his mouth, he took it as permission to deepen the kiss, drawing her in as if he was attempting to take in her very soul. At the moment, she’d have happily given it to him, uncaring of the consequences.
His tongue swept against hers, the kiss feeling as if he were remembering every detail he could. It was commanding, consuming, and somehow, still the sweetest. Brin kissed her like she was something to be worshipped.
“I shouldn’t be using you like this,” she breathed against his lips.
“I’m a willing sacrifice, Lady Raven.” He broke the kiss to look in her eyes. “Use me. Destroy me. It matters not as long as you stay here with me.”
She bit her lip in contemplation, before she threaded her fingers into his long hair and leaned in. “If I’m to claim you, warrior, then you must claim me as well.”
“I will only offer to claim part of you, as there are two others who will claim you the same.”
Muni froze. “They’ve not expressed such desires.”
Brin grinned. “Just because they’re attempting to hold themselves back doesn’t mean they haven’t imagined doing precisely what I’m doing right now.” His hand ran down her spine, stroking, teasing. “Believe me, Muni. There will be a claiming, and perhaps, one day, the three of us can lay you upon an alter and worship you like you deserve.”
Her core clenched at his words and Brin’s grin widened. “You were right about the heightened smell,” he purred before reaching between them to stroke her through her jeans, the lightest touch that teased more than anything else. When she shivered, the low rumble that slipped from his throat nearly made her come from it alone.
“What beauty,” he groaned. Strong fingers wrapped around the back of her neck and tugged her gently forward again, so their lips crashed together in ecstasy.
With sure fingers, Muni reached out and pulled at the shirt covering Brin’s tattoos. He took her movements to heart and jerked it over his head with a swift motion, leaving her to view tantalizing muscle and swirling lines of ink. She leaned down and ran her tongue along a line that traversed his shoulder, making the strong Viking shiver instead. His length pressed tightly against her core through his jeans, desperate to be released.
“I need you,” he panted, his fingers going to the edge of her shirt, but he paused. “Is this okay?”
She caressed his strong jaw. “Pillage me, warrior.”
Brin needed no further words. Rather than pull the shirt over her head, he ripped it to shreds until the tatters hung from her shoulders. He didn’t bother pushing them off. Instead, his eyes fell to her pert nipples before he leaned down and took one into his mouth. Her back arched, giving him better access.
Changing their positions quickly, Brin leaned forward until her back pressed against the plush carpet of the room they’d been practicing in, his fingers going to the fastening of her pants. With an aggressive jerk, he dragged them down her legs and off, leaving her mostly bare before him.
“Glorious,” he choked, before reaching down to free his own erection, revealing just how well-endowed he was. “You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
The words Muni wanted to say got caught in her throat, so she instead reached for him. He came over her with a quick movement, his hardness bumping against her core in a way that begged for entry but waited for permission. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, giving all the permission he needed.
Reaching between them, Brin drew his fingers between her lips, feeling the wetness there waiting for him. With a guttural groan, he grabbed his cock and pressed it against her opening, sliding it along the evidence of her arousal. Muni lifted her hips up with a mew, waiting for his entry, waiting for him to consume her.
With a long thrust, Brin slipped inside, the action far easier with her arousal. She gasped with the feeling of fullness, of the way he filled her up until he was a part of her. Without realizing it, her fingers lengthened into claws, the sharp tips accidently nipping his skin and drawing a bead of blood.
“Oh!” she gasped, both from his movements and the realization that she’d hurt him. “I’m sor—”
Brin grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head until her claws had no way to get him, keeping her there. Though she could break his hold if she wanted to, she let him keep her there, let him bite down on her throat with a dominance that begged for her submission despite her not in any way submissive. Still, she melted beneath him as he began to slam inside her with force, her body curling higher and higher in anticipation of the orgasm.
Her claws curled in, desperate to cling to something, but he carefully kept her pinned so she wouldn’t hurt him, and she was glad for it. This way, she couldn’t disembowel him unintentionally.
“Brin,” she gasped as he changed the angle and slammed against a spot inside of her that made her orgasm rise quickly to the forefront.
“That’s it, Lady Raven,” he grunted, watching her face carefully before he traced his lips against her throat. His beard scratched against her skin in the most delicious way, leaving tingles in their wake. “Fly for me.”
Her back arched up off the floor despite his hold on her. Brin’s hand gripped her waist harshly as he powered inside her, claimed her, pillaged her exactly as she asked. She’d be destroyed and remade after this for certain. Brin would always own a part of her.
“Oh!” she cried as he hit the spot again and she shattered, her legs shaking where they wrapped around his waist, and she came undone.
“Odin, you’re beautiful,” he rasped as he watched her shatter to pieces and begin to build again. Without waiting for her to come down, Brin released her wrists and rolled them backward until she was on top of him. He never once slipped out of her, his length nestled inside her core to the hilt. “Your turn to claim me.”
She held her claws up high, worried to nick him. “But my claws—”
“Shred my chest. I care naught. Dig until you find my heart and consider it my gift to you.” Brin cupped her hips and moved her in a gentle wave. “Fuck me, Lady Raven.”
Muni leaned down and rolled her hips, drawing a groan from his lips, but she didn’t dig her claws into his chest like he’d asked. Instead, she dug them into the carpet on either side of his chest and gripped tight before beginning to ride him like she’d been starved of his touch. Each movement rubbed her clit against him hard, dragging moan after moan from her as she rode his length.
“Yes,” he growled, moving her faster on him. His fingers dug in tight, bruising if she’d been human.
Muni felt the orgasm rising again, felt her core vibrating with rising need. Her spine tingled, the only warning she got before her wings shot from her back and opened wide behind her.
Brin’s jaw clenched and he reached up without a word to stroke fingers along the ink black feathers there, drawing a shiver from her. “This is how I should have died,” he gasped. “With you dragging my very soul from my lips.”
“I want you to live,” she moaned. “Stay with me.”
“Always,” he promised, despite not knowing if it was a promise he could keep. “I’ll always be yours.”
Together, they rose high and reached the cliff, her wings opened behind her like she was an avenging angel, and when Brin leaned up and claimed her lips in a savage kiss, she shattered against his mouth, her cries rising in the quiet room. Her core clenched around him, dragging him right along with her, her spasms milking him until he collapsed beneath her, spent. She fell onto his chest, limp with exhaustion and contentment, her body shaking with aftershocks of her climax. His fingers immediately began to stroke down her spine, along the edges of her wings where they draped around the both of them.
“Valhalla,” he breathed. “This is what Valhalla was supposed to feel like.”
She had to agree. After all, if she had to die, she would much rather die in this Viking’s arms. But for him, she’d live, and she’d find a way to convince them all to live just the same.
With a perfectly normal hand, Muni held on tight to Brin, holding him so close, he probably couldn’t breathe, but not once did he complain.
Instead, he simply held her, sharing his warmth, and Muni was content.