Page 100 of Blood of Ancients

My face was crushed in his bare chest. I couldn’t stop myself from huffing his musk, his scent of leather and candlesmoke. It ignited something inside my core, drawing me even closer anddeeperinto his grasp.

And then I heard . . . a sniff.

I lifted my face, wrinkles forming in my forehead as he dipped his chin and looked down at me.

Magnus, the dispassionate, unfeeling “sociopath” had dewy eyes. “I thought I’d never see you again.” His tattooed knuckles came up to rub against my chin, my cheek, and then he took my chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting my head just so, and kissed me softly.

I suffocated in his warmth, his allure, every fiber of my being wishing to be part of him and entwined with him. To feel hisscars as if they were part of my body. My hands gripped tight against his back, squeezing the raised flesh.

“My beautiful monster,” I whispered to him with a tear rolling down my cheeks. “I’ll always come looking for you, because I know you’ll always come for me.”

He flared his nostrils, fighting back tears. His throat bobbed. “You got that fucking right, silvermoon.”

I laughed, a giddy giggle, a sound not used to hearing from my own mouth.

He kissed me again.

Someone had to clear their throat behind us—Kelvar the Whisperer—ruining the gods-damned moment, stepping out of the trees into the sunlight.

Magnus tautened, hands gripping me and gently starting to push me behind him on instinct. “What in Hel is—”

I put a soft hand on Magnus’ flexed bicep. “It’s okay, Mag. He’s with us, strange as that may seem. We were sent by the academy to find you and the missing Huscarls.”

“We?”

At that, Sven, Grim, Arne, and Corym stepped out from the darkness.

Magnus was floored, his eyes widening as he took everyone in. “Gods above. They sent the fucking cavalry, did they?”

“You got that fucking right, bloodrender,” Sven said, echoing Magnus’ whispered words to me. It annoyed me that he could hear us even from that distance.

I couldn’t stop from smiling. I had all five of my mates with me, together, and we weren’t even in our own fuckingworld. It took us coming to an alien realm to finally come together as a whole.

A lot is going to change when we return to Midgard,I told myself.I’m going to love on these men like they might disappear tomorrow—because they fucking might. And I’mgoing to let them dote on me without getting annoyed or flustered, because I know it’s what they want.

I had loved each of these men in their own way,individually. Never, I realized, as a group, a team, a pack.

As a family.

The thought rocked me. My head started swimming when I thought of our bond in that way.These five men are my family. I was lost without a family before coming to Vikingrune Academy. Hated by my half-brother, loathed by my stepfather, and used by my mother as an instrument of her vengeance.

But I had found them. Through trials, difficulties, and some major soul-searching on my part to decide I didn’t want to carry out my mother’s assassination plans and kill them after all . . . I had found them.

The tears came faster now. They weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of relief and contentedness. Because, for just this moment, things seemed perfect and aligned.

I knew once we left Midgard, everything would change. Hot would turn to cold, summer would turn to winter. We still had the mystery of the dead Huscarls to solve, and an academy that wanted to kill and exploit us as much as teach us anything.

Arne had problems with his childhood rebel group, his sister—who might have somehow just become a problem forallof us. Sven had issues with his pack, as well as a rival wolf pack who wanted his blood. Magnus had problems with Tomekeeper Dahlia and had a weird master-sensei thing going on with Hersir Kelvar. Grim had problems with Hersir Jorthyr and anyone I had problems with, and the ticker never stopped ticking on that front.

For now, however, things felt right.

I was in a daze for the next few minutes, my soul swimming freely in the green-blue sky, away from my body. My mates were all smiles, fist-bumps, and even hugs with Magnus.

They all knew the score. They knew the bloodrender was just as important to me as they were. Withoutallof them, I could have none of them. My heart wouldn’t allow it.

To their credit, none of them were jealous. They had come to accept my wants, needs, and deepest desires. Even someone possessive like Sven, or protective like Grim, or emotionally stunted like Magnus. Each man in my family filled a void in my soul and, together, they made me whole.

As Kelvar gave us a minute to reunite, I caught him flash a small smile at Magnus beneath the ridge of his shadowy face. He had a knack for keeping his hood over his head, to make him even sketchier, but I was starting to warm up to the Whisperer.

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