Page 53 of Mated To The Vikens

He honored me, and I knew my mate. Knew what he’d gone through to let go of the pain of his past. Giving me the necklace was proof that he'd let go of the past, but yet have his mother live on. Seeing me wear what belonged to her kept her alive for him, even though she was long, long gone. He'd lost a family when his parents died, but he'd gained a new one. One with a future so bright it made my eyes tear.

We were all three ready to move on now, to focus on what would come next.

Rolf and Erik had run off on some secret business, but Gunnar stood beside me and I smiled up at him. He looked spectacular in his usual black, but the contentment I saw in his eyes when he looked down at me was my true joy.

“You are so beautiful all I can think about is fucking you.”

I burst out laughing. Oh, yes. That was my Gunnar. Blunt. Crude. So damn hot and demanding. I’d let him do whatever he wanted to me, to my body, and he knew it. “Behave, Gunnar. It took the stylist over an hour to do my hair,” I teased him, but slid my hand into his, craving his touch.

That small contact must have been enough, for he grunted and led me onto the dance floor. I didn’t know the steps, but he pulled me close and simply carried me around like a small girl as he followed the steps of the Viken dance. I felt his love, felt it differently than when I first arrived. Before, it had been a powerful protectiveness, yet it felt distant. Now, I knew he gave me everything. All of him.

“I didn’t know you knew how to dance.”

“I’m a simple man with simple needs.”

I tried to make sense of that one. “And dancing is a need?”

Gunnar grinned and lowered his lips so they caressed my ear as he replied, “No, love. Holding a beautiful woman is the need. Dancing is what I will suffer to hold you.”

Ah, so, not so different from Earth men after all.

I smiled and relaxed into his embrace as the music swelled around us. I paid no attention to where he led me, content to be in his arms until the music stopped.

As the crowd parted, Gunnar set me on my feet before him and settled his hands on my shoulders. The stance was a blatant claiming, and I welcomed it. I was proud to be his. And I wanted every woman in the room to know he was mine. So very mine.

And speaking of mine, where were my other mates? “Where are Erik and Rolf? They’ve been gone a long time.”

“Ten minutes is not a long time.”

I sighed. “It feels like longer.” I leaned against my mate, pressing my back to his chest and he held me, as I’d known he would, while the caterers, or cooks, or whatever the hell they called them on this planet rolled out a huge, pink-and-white birthday cake. The cake was as fancy and elaborate as any wedding cake I’d ever seen back home, with multiple layers, tiered dividers separating the entire confection into about twenty different sections.

At the front was a small, round cake with bright pink flowers and one candle, for the birthday girl.

“Setting fire to a candle and blowing it out is an odd birthing day tradition.”

I smiled then, knowing Leah was the reason behind the solitary candle. “You don’t just blow out the candle. You blow it out and make a wish.”

“And what do you wish for, my mate?”

I had to think about that one for a minute. “I don’t know. I have everything I ever wanted.”

Gunnar’s hold tightened in response as Leah and her three mates stepped out from behind a doorway that must lead to the royal quarters.

The little princess was dressed in a fluffy pink dress. She had ribbons in her red hair and her cheeks were rosy to match her outfit. Her big blue eyes were glassy, as if she’d just woken from a long nap. She sat in her mother’s arms content and smiled at every new face as the Queen walked past.

Little Princess Allayna was absolutely adorable. It was no wonder the people of Viken had united behind her claim to the throne.

Her pudgy little baby hand reached up to one of her fathers, I couldn’t tell them apart yet, and he smiled at her but did not lift her from her mother’s arms.

Leah looked small surrounded by her men. But she practically glowed with happiness and I knew every single one of her mates would die for her, kill for her, was completely and irrevocably committed to her.

Just like mine were to me.

Somehow, I’d gone from a shit life on Earth to the most amazing, fulfilling life I could have dreamed.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach as I watched Leah wait for one of the Kings to light that little birthday candle. The Vikens around us broke out in their version of a birthday song and when it was over, Leah looked at me and nodded as she began singing the familiar Happy Birthday tune. Delighted to be part of merging old traditions with new, I sang along with her and cheered when Leah bent low and helped her little princess blow out the solitary candle.

Cheers broke out and little Allayna clapped her hands and reached for her daddy. She didn’t care about birthday cake or presents. I doubted she'd even understand how to use the pencils and paper I got for her to start her off as a budding artist. She just wanted to be loved. Cuddled. Protected.

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