“What happened, Iversen?” she whispers, turning to face me. “What were you doing underground?”
I tell her the story. After I had talked to her father, I left the compound and on my way home I was ambushed by three soldiers. They wanted to punish me for murdering their buddy in cold blood. They thought they’d killed me and buried me thinking I was dead.
They were wrong.
And now I’m coming for their heads.
But first I need to claim Valkyrie once more and she whimpers when I spread her soft thighs. Her hair is in a mess all over her face and she has little pink marks all over her skin that my furious kissing left behind. “Let me feel you again, baby,” I rasp and she nods, her little body heating up when her temperature rises and she wraps herself around me. We’re perfect and she’s no longer a wallflower. She’s ivy and I’m the fucking pillar she’ll be clinging to for the rest of her life.
“I love you,” I whisper, nuzzling her and I mean those words with a zealousness I’ve never had before. Looking at me through her black lashes, she whispers,
“I love you too. You make me proud to be yours.”
There.
That’s what she gives me.
Purpose.
One that’s not dark.
But perfectly noble.
EPILOGUE
Valkyrie
Swimming to the surface, I drag a mouthful of air and prickles assault my skin at the tepid temperature. Iversen doesn’t like it when I swim in the pool without him but I’ve told him it’s good for the baby to do it whenever I can. A smile crosses my lips when I feel it kicking in my belly. It’s still so small, I’m barely showing and nobody but my husband knows I’m pregnant. We’ve decided we’ll spill the good news at dinner tonight.
Getting out of the pool, I wrap a big fluffy towel around me and squeeze droplets out of my hair before walking into the house. Iversen is away for work but he’ll be home anytime and it’s for the best. He gets so worked up whenever I do anything other than adhere to him. If he could pick and choose, he’d probably just carry me around wherever he goes.
Which would be problematic considering he’s not even a soldier anymore. He’s the underboss now and my heart swelled from pride when he was made. My dad’s stepped down and these days, Iversen is the boss’s right hand man.
Humming to myself, I walk up the spiral staircase and into our bedroom. Opening the door, I shriek when something soft and squishy slams me in the face and I gasp. Looking up at the ceiling, my eyes land on Iversen. He’s hanging from a piece of string around his neck and his stuffing’s poking out of his belly.
Putting my hand to my mouth, I breathe, “Who in the world would commit such a horrendous crime?”
“Your very jealous husband,” a voice rasps and I twitch, noticing that Iversen is sitting at the edge of our bed. He’s shirtless and these days he has so many runes, he looks just like the other males in this house. I shiver from how delicious he is but I keep on playing.
“How could you? What did he do to you for you to treat him like this?”
Getting up, my husband stalks over to me with a fixated look in his eyes. “You were giving too much affection to the wrong Iversen. Last night you rolled away from me in the middle of the night and huggedhim.”
Pretending to be horrified, I shake my head and Iversen rasps,
“He had it coming. He should’ve known better than to try taking my place.” Stroking my hair from my face he adds, “Now who’s your number one, baby?”
“You,” I purr and he smirks. “It’s always you. I’m crazy about you.”
Iversen’s eyes darken with satisfaction and heat rolls of his powerful body. “Drop the towel.”
Biting my lip, I murmur, “Aren’t you mad I was in the pool?”
Hissing, he shakes his head, “Not when you’re wet and needy.” Snatching the towel from me, his eyes flare when I tremble and he grabs me, lifting me up and pushes me against the door. His eyes roll back and against my lips, he whispers, “I was right. You need your male, baby...”
“You know I do,” I moan, “I need my male.” And he slants his hot lips over mine and they’re the only lips I’ve ever kissed and ever will kiss. We may be members of the mob but our love...our violent love is what matters the most.
The End