Page 111 of Ironling
Eyes stinging with tears, Aislinn made her feet move. The moment she rocked forward, he was in motion, and in the next breath, she was enfolded in his arms.
She buried her face against his chest and sighed with relief.
A big hand cradled the back of her head, fingers digging into her hair.
“Ach,vinya,” he rumbled, his purr thickening his voice, “howI’ve missed you.”
“I missed you so much,” she murmured against his throat.
He held her for a long time, gently rocking them back and forth, a soft sway that lulled the sharper edges of her fears. Nothing had changed since entering the solar, and yet everything was different within his arms.
The heat of his chest burned away her doubts and allowed her mind to go quiet.
He feels so good. He feels right.
Surely this was what the mate-bond had to be. She’d never felt so close to a man before, like he was part of her. Like being separated from him was functioning without a limb. Like something was missing, and she only realized what it was to be whole when they came together.
Her stinging tiredness eased into a soft sleepiness as she ran her hands up and down his front. She burrowed beneath his heavy sheepskin coat, her knuckles rasping against the soft inner wool, to run her fingers along his tunic. His skin radiated warmth just beneath, and she wished there was time to be together, skin to skin.
“Sit with me?” he said into her hair.
She nodded, following him when he sat in one of the cushioned chairs to settle in his lap. Hakon pulled her close, tucking her to his chest and wrapping her up in his arms.
Aislinn’s head fell into the crook of his shoulder, and she couldn’t help another sigh of relief.
“You must rest more,vinya.You’re running…what is the human phrase? Running yourself…?”
“Ragged,” she said, smiling despite his concern. She loved his puzzlement with idioms. “I know. But there’s so much to do.”
“I know there is. Too much. You must let others help you. Let me help you.”
“This helps,” she sighed, already falling asleep. She curledher hand around the side of his neck, and the pulse in her palm matched his in his throat.
With a hum of pleasure, she kissed the underside of his chin and closed her eyes, the temptation too great.
Hakon held his sleepy mate, biting back all the things he wished to say. Her exhaustion was palpable, and within just a few minutes of sitting still, she began to doze in his arms.
“I would be beside you, always,” he murmured into her hair.
“I know you would.” Her words slurred with tiredness, and soon her breathing evened out.
Frustration nipped at him, but he put it aside. He’d had plans when he approached Sorcha about arranging this meeting, had so many things he wished to say and ask. How she fared, if she was eating enough, if he could help her in any way, if she longed for him with a fraction of the ferocity he did for her.
The words died in his throat, replaced with a rumbling purr that was just for her. The cadence was meant to soothe and coax, temper and tempt. He could take some satisfaction in her falling so easily into his arms. That she trusted him to sleep, when he knew she often struggled to, was its own gift.
Her sweetness surrounded him, and he contented himself with filling his senses with her. He pulled one side of his coat over her, hoping the wool would retain a little of her scent. His hands ran in gentle strokes up and down her back and flank, amazed all over again that this most beautiful of creatures was his mate.
Fearghas was wrong. Hakon would do more than fight for this woman. He’d do far, far worse.
Hakon was beginning to realize…he needed to change his plan again.
Wooing her to his land and hoping she would give up her position was naïve. Perhaps it might’ve worked, given time and without her cockroach of a brother threatening her.
Now, though, he feared he’d have to take more drastic action.
Fates, the lengths and depths he was willing to go to keep her safe. She would fight for her position and her people, and he would support her, protect her, fight for her. He’d give his life for her, for he was hers; all of him, blood and bone and devotion, it was hers.
She may not have given herself to him in the same way yet, but he would take her safety as his own. He claimed it, here and now, and vowed that it came first for him. Above all else—even her happiness.
