Page 157 of The Warrior
The playful energy between us was back and it made me laugh.
Laura smiled and cupped my face. “I love it when you smile and laugh, Magni. You never used to do that, and it makes you even more handsome and sexy.”
“How could I not laugh and smile after the sex we just had. You’re turning into a fucking sex goddess, Laura.”
She kissed me, letting her tongue slide over the rim of my teeth, and climbed up to straddle me.
With my hands planted firmly on her ass, I squeezed her cheeks.
Laura leaned down and locked eyes with me. “Are you sure you can handle the new Laura?”
I responded with a confident smile. “If anyone can handle you, honey, it’s me. Don’t forget that I’m still the strongest warrior in the world.”
Laura raised her eyebrows in a mischievous smile. “Are you, though? I would say thatI’mthe strongest warrior. After all, I’m the one on top here.”
“I can’t argue with that.” I laughed, and when her hands reached for my hands and we intertwined our fingers, it might as well have been our hearts reaching for each other. “Every warrior has a weakness,” I said with emotion in my throat. “You’re mine, Laura.”
Her blue eyes melted in a beaming smile. “That’s only fair, since you’ve always been my weakness as well.”
EPILOGUE
Toddlers
Laura
“Throw me another beer, will you?” Magni called out to Khan, who stood closest to the large tub where the ice cubes meant to keep the drinks cool had melted long ago.
We were all gathered to celebrate our twins’ fourth birthday, a tradition that we had adopted from the Motlanders.
“Mila, go tell Mason he has to share the sword with Aubri.”
Mila, who was close to fifteen, flashed her dimples in a grin. “I told him to share it three times already, but he keeps saying that swords are for boys.”
I was tempted to go talk to my son myself, but being nine months pregnant, getting up from my chair felt like an exhausting project in this heat.
“We’ve got too many kids,” I muttered to Christina, who sat next to me with her baby in her arms.
She laughed. “I know, I was just telling Boulder that three is enough for us. I feel like I’ve been pregnant non-stop for the last five years.”
“I think the men think it’s a competition to see who can have the most children,” Athena laughed. “Finn is obsessed with having a daughter.”
“But he adores the boys,” I said and looked over to the soccer field where Finn, Archer, and Boulder were playing with the children. The students had changed since I’d first visited the school. What had started as an experiment had become a permanent school. Mila, Tommy, Victoria, and William were the only students left from the first batch of kids. At the end of the summer they would be moving on to their new schools, and it would be an adjustment not to have Mila around as much.
“Yes, he adores the boys.” Athena smiled and chuckled when Finn picked up his two-year-old and four-year-old sons and ran with them under his arms to get to the ball quicker. “How could he not, they are copies of him and laugh at his jokes.”
“You laugh at his jokes too,” I pointed out.
“I have to. I’m trying to bring wisdom into my boy’s heads and he sabotages me by making funny faces behind me. Either I get mad or I laugh with them.”
“I wish Freya would laugh a little more,” Pearl said and nodded her head in her daughter’s direction. Rather than playing herself, the girl stood next to the soccer field and gave instructions to the others. “I mean her speech is advanced for her age, but she’s too serious and all she wants to do is play chess or the piano. That’s not normal for a four-year-old.”
Christina, Athena, Kya, and I laughed. “What did you expect with you and Khan as parents?”
Pearl stroked her belly and smiled. “I’m hoping this one will be a more fun-loving member of our family, and get Freya to play a little.”
We all took a second to look at Freya, who watched the others play with a serious expression. The contrast between her parents’ dark and light colors had resulted in a beautiful child with olive skin, soft brown curls, and piercing green eyes.
Pearl looked at Christina. “I would have loved Freya to be a bit more like Raven. That girl doesn’t take no for an answer, and she’s so driven.”
