Page 17 of Valkyrie Restored

She patted our hands, stopping our actions before motioning for us to take a seat. Instead of dropping back to the floor, I sat on the edge of the coffee table, watching as Elin wrung her hands. I placed over hers, stopping her movements like she’d just done for us. The moment she realized the symmetry of our actions, she snorted.

“Take your time, lass. We’re not going anywhere.”

She nodded and stilled. “I should have told you this earlier.” Her gaze roamed between Hurrit and I as she chewed on her bottom lip. “Five years ago, I woke up in a hospital in Greece with no knowledge of my previous life. All we knew was my name and some banking numbers. But when the police searched, they couldn’t find anything more. It was like my identity was a fake one. A perfectly fake one, but nothing went back further than the day I was admitted, unconscious, to the hospital.”

My gaze darted to Hurrit. This sounded magical, something that the gods or the Fates would be involved in. And with all the crazy magical events that Hurrit had scented around her, this just confirmed that she’d been chosen as one of their playthings. Something that I didn’t like.

My skin itched the more I thought about it. The urge to shift, to take to the water and dive deep to the living area we’d created near the bottom of the lake so that I could hide out and figure things out, rode me as if I was a spooked wild horse. I needed to flee, to run until I could figure out my shit.

Without thought, I jumped to my feet. Only Hurrit’s iron grip on my arm kept me from bolting.

“Does-does this change things between us? I know I should have told you earlier, but I’m just so tired of it all. Of all the medical appointments, of wondering who I am, who I left behind. And since I don’t know how I ended up in the hospital without any memories, at night, when my defences are lowered, my mind makes up its own scenarios, leaving me with nightmares. But once I came here, moved into this magical town that seemed to call to me, things felt better. The nightmares still come, but not as frequent and they no longer focus on how I ended up this way.”

When I didn’t say anything, Hurrit nudged me out of the way, sitting on the edge of the couch so he could pull Elin into his arms. “It doesn’t change anything. We all have secrets and lives from before we knew each other. Everyone is like that. As we spend more time getting to know each other in a deeper way, those pasts will be discussed.” He dropped a kiss on her head.

It took everything in me to keep my mouth from falling open. Hurrit, then man of few words, who kept things close to his chest, just spoke what was for him a speech, to Elin in a mature and thoughtful way. Because he spoke truth. We had so many secrets that we hadn’t shared, things we needed to share, things that would possibly make her run from us. Things that we didn’t know how to tell her.

When her gaze searched mine, all those fears and urges fled. She needed me right now to reassure her that her secrets wouldn’t scare me away. Showing that to her would hopefully bolster her own courage when we revealed ours.

At least that was my hope.

12

Elin

I wokeup squished between two large, hot bodies on a soft mattress instead of the couch. And while both were certainly sexy, it was temperature heat I felt. Sweat coated my skin under Hurrit’s t-shirt which I still wore. But while I needed some cool air, it was the pressure from my bladder that woke me.

A sliver of silvery light entered the room through a crack in the curtains, allowing me to see the outlines of bedroom furniture at the far end of my feet—the only place I could see due to the mountains on either side of my body. If I had to guess, I assumed I was in their bedroom or maybe a guest one, but neither of those rooms told me where I’d find a bathroom.

“Hurrit,” I whispered as I brushed my fingers over the skin of his forearm. The same one that rested just below my breasts, but over his shirt.

“Huh?”

“I-I need to use the bathroom.”

He grunted and rolled closer, flinging one of his legs over my non-injured one, trapping me further. My bladder pulsed. Fuck. If I’d been standing, I would have been doing the pee dance.

I push against him again. “Hurrit?”

When all I receive is a mumbled groan in response, I rolled my eyes. With my leg propped up on a pillow, I couldn’t even get the leverage to slide myself out from under their arms and legs. Deciding I could no longer play nice, I poked them in the chest… repeatedly… until finally Arran roused enough to understand my plight.

“Shit, Elin. I’m sorry. Let me help you out.” With practiced ease, he lifted Hurrit’s arm off me and managed to get Hurrit to roll and face the other side of the bed. “That should help.” He held out his hand to me, allowing me to use him as the anchor while I pulled my body towards him.

Once I was close enough to the edge of what felt like a massive bed—bigger than any king sized one I’d ever seen—he lifted me into his arms. “Let me carry you,” he said forestalling my arguments. “It will get you there faster.”

As much as I valued my independence and wanted to push him and Hurrit away, I had to admit how much I loved being in their arms.

He carried me to the ensuite, but when he slid me down his body to stand on the floor, my injured leg buckled. He gripped my waist, holding me upright. “Lass, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I think you’ll need me to help.”

I waved him away with my hand as I held onto the sink cabinet with one hand while trying to shimmy my underwear down with the other. I never thought I had balance issues until that moment. Maybe it was the fact that I was still half asleep. Or maybe it was the fact that I couldn’t remember when I last ate something. But either way, every time I released my hold on the sink cabinet with one hand and reached for the waist band of my underwear, I tipped over.

Hands swatted mine away. “Lass, let me do it.”

“It’s too embarrassing.”

“It’s really not. If you want, I’ll let you pull mine down the next time I need to go pee.” He winked, bringing a flush to my cheeks as pictures of his cock from my various dreams passed before my eyes. I licked my lips while wondering which one had been the most accurate since I’d guessed Hurrit to be a little shorter and less girthy than he turned out to be… a pleasant surprise.

Arran’s large hands slid under the shirt I wore, brushing against the outside of my thighs until he grasped the waistband of my panties. As he pulled them down my legs, he leaned in, surrounding me with his presence. “Your skin is so smooth, so warm against my hands. I can’t wait for my tongue to travel the same path before sliding between you legs to taste.” My knee shook and my fingers tightened on the cabinet, trying to keep me from collapsing. He leaned a little closer. I felt his warm breath blow across my neck. “A bigger taste than the one I had from Hurrit’s lips.”

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