I wasn’t going to lead Viken anyway! What was this crazy man thinking? I didn’t understand that at all, but I was very clear about the dying part. He wanted to kill my mates, take my child, and kill me after I gave birth.
I would have panicked, but this traitor had to get through my mates first and I had faith in them, in their strength and their intellect. Surely they could outsmart these traitors? They had to. They couldn’t leave me. Not now. Not ever. My heart wouldn’t survive losing one of them.
More fighting, tussling, men grunting, cursing. I tensed but Drogan’s steady hand kept me sane as we listened to the sounds of the fighting and the door slamming against the wall. I could see the brightening sky through the now open doorway, and a man’s legs as he ran away.
Then another body fell to the floor a few feet from me. I turned my head away at the vision of his sightless eyes, the blood gurgling from his mouth and the spear protruding from his chest. I bit my lip and concentrated on the comforting touch of Drogan’s firm hand on my hip, and his cold steel ready to kill anyone who came near us.
I tried not to breathe, afraid my shuddering would give us away in the sudden silence that filled the cabin.
“Shoot him down, Lev! Don’t let him escape.” I heard the rich, dark growl of Tor’s voice and relaxed for the first time beneath Drogan’s fierce hold. Relief poured through my body as I realized all three of my mates were unharmed.
“He’s mine,” Lev growled. I heard the whistling of an arrow, then a cry of pain, a thud as the running man’s body struck the hard ground.
“Nice shot. All clear, Drogan. Is Leah safe?’ Tor’s boots walked to the edge of the bed and I reached out with trembling fingers to wrap my hand around his ankle, grateful to be touching him, to know he was alive and safe.
Drogan slid across the floor, pulled on my hip, and forced me to give up my hold on Tor as Drogan tugged me out from beneath the bed. He stood, then picked me up and settled me on my feet.
“Light!” Drogan called out. “Turn on a fucking light.”
Footsteps, then the room brightened beyond the pale dawn and I took the opportunity to study my mates. Lev and Tor were both splattered with blood, but otherwise unharmed. Their eyes, however, were filled with a quiet rage I’d never seen before. That fire would have frightened me, but I knew it was on my behalf. That fierce anger protected me and kept me safe.
Drogan looked down at me as Tor came to stand beside him, his breathing ragged. Both ran their hands over me but it was Tor who demanded I speak. “Are you hurt?”
I wasn’t paying them any attention, but looking for Lev, who stood silhouetted in the doorway. I wanted all of my mates close. I needed to feel their touch, to know they were all alive, and well, and mine. Lev must have sensed my need because he walked to me and ran his hand along my cheek as the other two continued to inspect me for injury. I leaned into his hand for a brief moment and our gazes locked. I let my longing for him, my trust in him shine up in my eyes. There was no hiding anything, not from these men with their fierce loving and dominant hands.
Lev touched my lips softly before turning away. In a matter of moments his long strides carried him out of the hut and onto the grass.
“Leah,” Tor said, his voice insistent. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not hurt.”
“The baby?” Drogan asked, placing a hand on my belly.
I put my palm on top of his and took a moment to listen to my body. “Fine. But what… what happened?”
Lev called from outside and Tor picked me up in his arms.
“I can walk,” I muttered, but rested my cheek on his warm chest, glad to be held. My adrenaline seemed to have melted away and I was becoming weary.
Tor stepped over a body and he turned my head into his chest, covering my gaze with a firm hand. “Don’t look, Leah.” I didn’t fight him, simply relaxed in his arms and listened to the steady beat of his heart under my ear. A feeling of warmth and safety settled deep in my bones. I’d never felt this content, not one single day of my life before coming here, to Viken and these warriors who had claimed me as their own. I didn’t just have one strong mate to protect and care for me. I had the three strongest men on the planet. The reality of their power, their strength poured into me and I settled my hands over my belly, truly happy for the first time. I was carrying their child, a magnificent amazing child. And these men would watch over and protect my baby as fiercely as they cared for me.
While Tor stopped just outside the open doorway, Drogan went over to stand beside Lev. In the brightening dawn I could see the body on the ground, an arrow lodged in his side; it was the doctor.
Why did he want to kill my mates? Why would he betray his own people?
* * *
Drogan
I was a warrior. I’d seen death firsthand, friends and foes alike. I’d killed some men myself. Blood was certainly on my hands and I was jaded and hardened to such danger. Or so I thought. When men stormed into our hut, knives glinting in the double moonlight, fear pumped through my veins. I wasn’t worried for me or my brothers, only Leah. She was innocent and pure, and carrying our child.
I would protect her with my life. So would my brothers. And we had. But it had been others who had died. Squatting down beside the first man, I rolled him over. Blood seeped from the protruding edges of the knife Tor had used to pierce his heart. Tor wouldn’t have let the man live, nor did he believe a man should suffer before death. His thrust had been exact, efficient, and swift. The man hadn’t even seen it coming. Two more were like that, and a third had a broken neck.
That one was all Lev. He was deadly with a bow, but seemed to take a certain fierce pride in his ability to rip a man to pieces with his bare hands.
I followed Lev across the grass and to the man lying panting on the ground. I recognized the sounds of pain, of fear. Anger. He rolled from his side and onto his back to look up at us. An arrow pierced his side, just below the ribcage. He would not live long, not because of the wound, for it was easily treatable in the medical center, but because I would kill him once we had the answers we wanted. The doctor dared harm Leah. He would die.
“Why did you do this? Who are you working for?” I asked.