He now had his ax in hand, his gaze scanning the area, yet he didn’t catch any movement. Another snap, this one from the opposite direction he first heard it from. He spun and looked behind him, swept the perimeter of the forest with his gaze, and knew that although he couldn’t see what was out there, something watched him, waited. It was that tightening in his neck, that rush of adrenaline, and the feeling that eyes were on him.
“At ease, warrior.” The female voice came from behind him, and he turned and saw an elderly woman looking up at him. She was clearly blind, given the milky color of her eyes and the scars that lined them.
He kept his ax ready though, because despite the fact that she was an old woman, there was this power that came from her. Perhaps she was a seer, a person who could see the future of others?
“Who are you?” he asked and scanned the woods behind her and to the sides, making sure she was alone.
“I’m but an old woman.”
He doubted that. Stian had this feeling she was much more. It was a tingling in his body, a tightening of his skin. It was an instinct he went with to stay alive and had served him well.
“You’ve been out here alone for many moons, have you not, Stian?”
The fact that she knew his name was surprising, especially since he knew she wasn’t from the village. He’d grown up around those people until he’d come into adulthood. He knew all the elders, and she was not one of them.
“I know you’re lonely, know you’ve been banished for things that were not maliciously done. I know you have found a great treasure, a woman who may or may not be of your world.” She lifted a graying eyebrow and smiled.
He didn’t question many things, but he questioned his woman and where she’d come from. She was clearly not of his village or area, given her attire, language, and the other items she had in her possession.
He tightened his hold on the handle of his ax, then lifted it and sheathed it at his hip. “You know of my woman and the strangeness of her, of where she came from.” He didn’t phrase it like a question.
“I do, warrior.”
They stood there for a moment, neither speaking after that, but both watching the other. “Is she a gift from the gods?” Stian might not believe in many things, but he did have faith in the gods, in the great Odin, the father of all, and maybe they were smiling down upon him, even after the lives he took.
“Treasure what you have, warrior.” She turned and left him then, and for the entire time she moved through the woods, he watched her. She disappeared through the trees, her small, almost frail body becoming no more.
Stian grabbed the goat and hauled it over his shoulder. Making his way back to the hut, he thought about what the old woman said. He wished he could speak with his female, know where she came from, what she thought, and explain the reasons why he would not let her go.
He got to his hut, tossed the carcass on the ground by the smoke hut, and went into his home to see Agata sitting by the fire, her hands extended as she tried to warm them.
The weather was changing drastically, and he was already prepped, already organized to keep them satisfied, well fed, and protected. He stared at her, desire coursing through his veins, and his cock instantly hardened as she looked at him with this wide-eyed, innocent expression.
He’d refrained from touching her the way he wanted, and although she was still so cold at times toward him, while in bed, she melted against his body.
“Come here, wife,” he said, knowing she knew at least a few small terms in his language. The way her throat worked as she smiled, the fact that she curled her fingers into her palms, and the way she stood slowly, told him that she too felt this intense heat move between them.
When she was close enough, he reached out and wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her forward until she slammed into his chest. “I want to show you what I want, what I need from you.” Looking into her blue eyes, seeing her hesitancy yet her desire as well, had his cock jerking, growing harder. “I want to show you that you’re mine in the most physical of ways. Sex. Desire.” He leaned in an inch so their lips were only inches apart. “I want to fuck you, wife.”
11
Desire moved through Agata’s body like a train, fast, hard, and violently. She’d only been here for a few short days, knew she had to leave eventually, but also that she’d never felt the kind of arousal she did when with Stian.