Page 18 of Blood of Ancients

I fel like something of a control freak because of that illogical notion.

My men filled a hole inside me. Notthathole, but the void in my soul constantly barking at me that I wasn’t good enough or worthy of their love. That I was just a simple half-bred bog-blood girl who could never be fully loved.

If I brought up my reservations and doubts to any of them, they would call me ridiculous. I had them wrapped around my pinky. Even the man I hadn’t been able to touch since the end of the term—the one I pined for worst of all, because of his dire situation.

Corym E’tar. My golden-haired elven lover. The first elf a human had loved in Midgard in generations.

We were a novelty. People knew about us and the lengths I’d gone to to save him. Which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Many thought I was a traitor to our people for going out of my way to make sure he lived after the Huscarls arrested us in the tunnels toward the end of my first term.

I didn’t give a shit what my peers thought, these days. Only the five men I kept in my bed, and the two girls who showed me unconditional love—Dagny and Randi—deserved my attention.

My lack of confidence in other departments had waned, after I’d proven myself to the student body. They’d seen me take on Grim Kollbjorn in a duel and come out victorious. They knew what Magnus had done in my name to Astrid and Corta—and many of them probably thought I’d called the hit on those two girls.

I didn’t do anything to dissuade that false thinking. It helped build my legend. No one except my men knew I was a former would-be assassin.

I didn’t want to be feared, necessarily.Respectedwas good enough for me. Some things didn’t need to be broadcast.

Some might say I’d gotten too big for my britches.

Speaking of britches. After I finished with Sven—or he finished destroying me, rather—and he went off to debrief Hersir Axel Osfen about his scouting mission, I spent the next part of the evening trying to locate my other guys.

I needed to visit Corym soon. I was dying to talk to him to make sure he was all right. Last we’d talked, he had told me to quit worrying about him. Typical man.

Before doing that, I traveled to the eastern part of the underground river, closest to my dwelling, and washed the blood off that Damon had dumped on me. While I was there, naked and hidden behind overturned stones and moss, secluded from outside eyes, a loud throat-clearing made my skin prickle with excitement.

I knew that throat and that sound better than anyone.

I unabashedly turned, silver hair wet and draped over my breasts, and smiled up at the bank where Grim Kollbjorn stood like a stone gargoyle, huge and imposing.

He had his arms crossed, big and meaty over his barrel chest, with a lusty smile on his face behind his short-cropped beard. My largest mate looked as delicious as ever.

Typically, the two rival shifters in my pack—Sven and Grim—would take me together. But I’d just finished with Sven, and Grim had a look in his eyes that told me he wasn’t about to wait for anyone else.

“There you are, little sneak,” he rumbled from his belly. “Been looking for you.”

I angled my head, giving him a faux-innocent smile. “Oh? What can I do for you, my big bad bear? Did you come to blow my house down?”

His brow furrowed. “What?”

I blushed at his confusion. The big lumbering dope. “Never mind. What’s up?”

“I was going to ask if you wanted to take a night stroll.” He stepped out of his boots to wade into the shallow edge of the water. “But I think that’s out.”

My smile sharpened—wicked, devious, playful. I pushed toward him, the dark water waist-deep. He rolled his pants up to his knees and waded toward me.

Grim and I loved to take our nightly strolls. Even down here, they reminded us of our forest walks aboveground. It wasn’t quite the same meandering through these confining tunnels as it was outside, in the fresh trees, free from everyone.

“Why don’t you want to stroll?” I asked coyly.

He came to me and tipped my head back with a single finger on my chin, forcing me to crane my neck to stare up at him. “Because a much better idea just dawned on me.”

Dipping his chin to kiss me, his beard tickled my face as I chuckled.

“Is it a two-person-only idea, or is there room for a third?”

Our heads whipped over to the other side of the river, where Magnus Feldraug stood, the blackness of his trench coat nearly making him invisible against the cave wall. I could only see his pale face against the dark backdrop.

“Were you planning on standing there and watching?” I asked.

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