It's well after midnight when she finally slips out of her room, moving on silent feet toward the door. I growl a curse as soon as it closes behind her, and then follow in her wake, staying out of sight as she clings to the shadow around the barracks, hurrying toward the far side of our little village.
At this hour, silence stretches from one side of the village to the other. Save for the warriors on patrol, everyone else is asleep. Or at least in their rooms for the night. The soft whisper of wind through the tall grass and the rustle of leaves high up in trees are the only sounds.
The moon hangs high overhead, offering a glimmer of light. But save for the faint glow of her Light, my little Valkyrie didn't even bring a flashlight to light her way.
Where the fuck is she going?
I fall in behind her, sticking to the shadows to avoid being seen as I stalk her through the dark, my hand itching to spank her luscious ass. It's too dangerous for her to be out here on her own like this. And judging by how confidently she moves, this isn't the first time she's snuck out like this.
How many nights did I miss her sneaking out just like this? How many times did I sleep through her wandering off into the forest alone? The fact that I missed even a single one of these late-night escapades is enough to drive me mad. She could have been hurt or worse, and I never would have known.
She reaches the far edge of the village and pauses. I stop a few yards away, watching her. After a quick glance over her shoulder, she mutters something to herself too quietly for me to make it out and then takes a step forward into the tall grass. Almost immediately, she seems to think better of her decision.She quickly steps back into the shadows of the building again, muttering to herself.
What is she doing?
Talking herself out of whatever nonsense she's up to, I hope.
"I know you're following me," she whispers into the dark a moment later, killing that hope. "You might as well come out."
I growl a curse, stepping out of the shadows. She doesn't move an inch, not even when I stomp toward her. As soon as I step up beside her, however, she shivers slightly.
"Where in the hell do you think you're going at this time of night by yourself, princess?" I growl, hooking my fingers under her chin to crane her head back. Her amber eyes lock with mine, defiance stamped across every stubbornly beautiful line of her face.
"Nowhere," she says. "You told me that I'm never alone, Stephan."
I'm a patient man. In all my life, I've never slept with a woman. I never felt the need until I met her. It's not that there weren't opportunities because there were. When you're in the military, there are always opportunities. But something—some instinct, perhaps—told me that the one for me was out there, and I needed to wait. So I did.
But no one has ever dragged me to the limits of my patience quite as quickly as this infuriating little Valkyrie. With that one sentence, I'm a bundle of competing desire. I want to yank her into my arms and kiss the sweetness from her lips. I want to bend her over my knee and spank the defiance from her. And I want to fall on my knees and worship at her perfect feet.
None of which solves the immediate problem of figuring out what the fuck she's doing out here right now.
"Valkyrie," I growl through my teeth, pressing my body up against hers. "If you don't tell me, right now, what you're doing out here, every warrior in Valhalla is going to hear just howmuch you didn't mean it when you told me a Valkyrie couldn't bond a human."
"I…" She licks her lips, her wide eyes darting across my face. Whatever she sees there seems to tell her that I'm deadly serious. "Ing needs me," she whispers. "Something is wrong."
Sometimes, I hate being right.Of courseshe's out here in the middle of the night because the wolf called her.
"How many times?" I ask.
"How many times what?"
I growl a wordless warning.
"A few." Her teeth sink into her bottom lip. "The Fae make him nervous, so he usually comes at night."
That's how I missed him. I'm not sure which pisses me off more—the fact that I did, or the fact that she willingly put herself in danger more than once to go meet the wolf.
I slant my mouth down over hers, claiming her lips in a hard kiss. She gasps, and that little sound of surprise grants me the moment I need. I slip between her parted lips, devouring her like the greedy beast I am.
She doesn't try to stop me.
Instead, she whimpers in the back of her throat, pressing her body close to mine. Whatever connection exists between us blazes to life, searing along every pathway between us like a living, breathing flame. I feel her in my head—her trembling desire and nervous excitement—and I want more. I want everything she has.
I spear my hand into her thick mane of hair, angling her head to deepen the kiss. My tongue flicks along hers, hot and insistent, until she's boneless in my arms, whimpering and clinging to me like she can't imagine letting me go.
Then and only then do I back off, breathing hard.
"You don't leave the safety of the barracks without me, princess," I snarl against her lips, biting her bottom one. "Ég fer þangað sem þú ferð."