Page 10 of Savage King

Never in his life had he wanted something so desperately, so quickly. He had to have her.

“Skathi,” she replied finally, her plump, deep red stained lips turning down on the sides.

Skathi…. He repeated her name in his head, immediately wanting to hearhisname onherlips.

Beside him, Trouble grunted, leaning in to remark, “No shit? Like the giantess from the old tales.”

Odin opened his mouth to reply, but his words were cut off.

“No. Like the goddess,” Skathi answered from over her shoulder, her lips now curling upward in a wicked grin that made his cock twitch in his suddenly too fucking tight jeans. With that, and before he could tell her to stay once more, demand her number, or even speak a single fucking word, she turned back around and followed the tiny blonde through the door, her high ponytail swishing, and her fine, curvy, luscious ass swinging was she disappeared.

“The fuck?” Trouble exclaimed, and it took Odin a second to figure out why.

Stunned, he replayed their moment over and over and over again, his breath lodged in his throat.

Skathi had replied to Trouble’s comment in flawless Norwegian.

That was it.Shewasit.

He. Was. Fucking. Done.

Skathi, the goddess, would be his.

Property of Odin.

His Valkyrie.

Who was that giant of a man?That god in the flesh come to hollow her out and then fill her with a longing so deep and devastating it shook her to her core. Her heart racing, her chest heaving, she knew her body’s reactions had nothing to do with the energy it took putting Slick down and everything to do with the man who’d pinned her with a look so searing she’d almost—almost—dropped her cool.

What a mistake that would have been. Vulnerability was failure. Despite all the successes and victories she’d earned in her life, her one and only failure had been harsh and destructive enough to wipe out all the joy she’d accumulated in the twenty-five years before that.

Aaron was a ruiner. A destroyer. And she’d failed to protect herself against him.

“Oh God, Skittles…” Annika whimpered, her whole body shaking as she hurried beside Skathi to the black SUV parked a block away from the clubhouse. The large parking lot right in front of the building had been jam-packed with bikes, but street parking was nearly as full. Apparently, the Savage Raider parties were popular.

“I’m so sorry….” In her seat, Annika cried, her hands trembling as she wiped away her tears. “I never should have dragged you here! You could have been hurt!Icould have been hurt!”

Not bothering to agree with Annika, Skathi concentrated on driving…even though her thoughts were on the man who’d stolen the breath from her chest. Something that had never happened to her before. Something no other man had ever done. Not even Aaron.

What happened? She’d entered that party ready for anything, ready to take on any threat. Her body honed and prepared for attack or defense…but it hadn’t been ready forhim.

Odin.

A name she’d known her whole life. A name revered in many homes of those who still told tales of the old ones. The ancient ways. Her own name was the name of a giantess who’d been pulled into the drama of the gods, and in many tales, she, the giantess herself, became a goddess.

Hence my arrogance there at the end.

Yup, she’d gone and goaded a man she should have completely ignored, but how could she have ignored him?

Several inches taller than her—which was a feat by itself—he was massive and made from living marble. The man was a god among men. Arms thick with taut muscles and covered in tattoos. Legs like tree trunks had bunched and flexed beneath his well-worn jeans. His chest was wide, thick, his shoulders broad, his waist and hips trim. She’d bet her salary that his hind end was as tight and firm as the rest of him.

And his face…. Great Freyja….

Shoulder-length hair a blonde so pale it looked white was pulled back from his face and tied into a braid, the hair along the back of his head left loose to trail over his box like shoulders. A close shave on each side of his head only added to the bad boy biker look. A well-maintained beard the same color as his hair was fashioned into four interwoven braids and long enough to brush against his collar bone. The urge to run her fingers over it, to unbraid it, to pull on it until his mouth crashed down to meet hers had been so strong she’d had to bite the inside of her mouth to keep her wits about her. The beard and trim mustache over his absurdly soft-looking mouth showcased a jaw line and cheek bones so chiseled and sharp he could use them as weapons.

His eyes, though…they’d been the most striking, intimidating, breath-stealing thing about him. Eyes the color of winter fjords, blue that was nearly clear. Ghostly. Unearthly. Stunning. They’d pinned her in place and turned to blue flames as they’d gazed upon her standing there over the body of his MC brother. At first, she was worried that he’d order his men to grab her, make an example of her, but he’d only stared at her, taking in every inch of her with those eyes.

It had taken her much too long to even find words that she must have seemed like a giantess mute. Ugh. Of all the times to turn into a lack witted idiot, she would have preferred to not do it in front of a man who looked like him…who could make her feel like she could fall into him, and he could hold her close, hold her up, keep her standing when all she wanted to do was fall.

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