Page 80 of Heart of Fire
He could no more deny himself than deny the truth. Freyja was the other half of hissoul.
The connection that burned between them from the start was finally one he understood. Here was his other half, the one spirit who could match him. All he had to do was claim her as his and bond with her, for the link between them to becomplete.
Freyja’s head lifted, almost as if she heard him, which wasridiculous.
Or was it? He still did not understand herpowers.
“Rurik?” she whispered, turning around to search for him in theshadows.
Their eyeslocked.
And he wasdone.
Fever danced within his blood, a primal need surging through him, driving him to claim her. Arguments whirled through his head, all the reasons he should not do this. But there was such a sense of rightness within him too. His wildness ached for somethingmore.
Rurik stepped out of the shadows. Freyja’s face lit up hungrily, as if she too shared the wildness that lit him on fire, before she swiftly shuttered her expression. Her eyelashes swept down, hiding those magnificent eyes, sunlight staining the tips ofthem.
“You’re well again,” she finally said, and her chest heaved as she let out a relieved breath. She hovered on the balls of her feet as though she wanted to go to him, then stopped herself, brushing a strand of hair behind herear.
Precious Freyja. More beautiful than a storm itself and almost as dangerous. Still a mystery, though he vowed he would unearth the secrets of her power. One day. If she’d lethim.
“Thanks toyou.”
Color darkened her cheeks, and she finally met his gaze. This was when she was at her most beautiful. Both defiant and yet opening herself up to him. No longer holding him at arm’slength.
“You weren’t there when I awoke,” he said, taking a step towardher.
“Your cousin said you were a prince,” Freyja whispered, her hands turning white as she gripped the pitchfork. “Your people will not accept me, and I know you would stand between me and them to protect me. I cannot do that to you. You long for home, Rurik, and I will keep you from it. You long for your people, and I cannot join you there. I left as soon as I knew you were healing and your cousin was no longer a threat toyou.”
“Is that not my choice?” he demanded, taking another step toward her. “I know the risks, and the dangers. And I accept them, for if I cannot have you, then what is the point in living? At every moment in our journey together, I have taken no more than you would allow. You wanted everything that happened between us to be your choice, and it was. So how can you deny me my right to make that choicenow?”
“I love you, Rurik. And so, I must set you free.”He drew the memory from his subconscious and shared it with her, letting her feel all of the hurt he’d felt at such adecision.
“Do you know what it felt like to wake alone, without myFreyja?”
Freyja swallowed, and a single tear slid down her cheek. “I watched you almost die,” she croaked. “Because of me. You weakened yourself forme.”
“And I would do it all again, because you mean everything to me, Freyja.Everything.”
A look came over her face, as if the weight of his words finally sank in, as if Freyja finally accepted the inevitable truth. Their gazes clashed, and suddenly he knew he wasn’t the only one who felt that fire in his blood. Capturing her face in his hands, he pressed a kiss to her lips. Then another. The desire to claim her was nearly overwhelming, especially when she slid her hands up and down his chest, kneading the muscles there, then slowly filteringlower.
But she needed to know what the mating bond meant forher.
He’d promised her a choice in everything he did toher.
With a groan, Rurik withdrew from her, clasping her wrist and drawing her hand away from its devastating work before he could no longer think. He pressed his forehead to hers, breathing hard. “Freyja, Freyja, stop.Wait.”
“I don’t want to wait.” Her breath caressed his lips. “If I stop, I’ll start thinking, and I don’t want to think of all the reason this can’twork.”
Neither do I.Rurik bared his teeth in a snarl. “There’s something you need to knowfirst.”
Those mismatched eyes opened and locked onhis.
“This time will be different. There’s no coming back from this. I mean to claim you and take you as my mate,” he told her bluntly, breathing in her sweet, wild scent. His fingers brushed her cheeks, his body firm against hers as he pressed her against the stall door. “I’ve never felt this way before. You make me weak and mortal, and every instinct tells me you will be my undoing, but I can’t give you up. I can’t. I need to claimyou.”
“Your undoing?” Freyja pushed past him, earning some breathing room. Her eyes spat sparks as she stood in the center of the aisle, facing him down with her hands fisted at her sides. Tendrils of golden hair snaked around her face, tugged free from herbraid.
And something sang within him. The same sensation he’d felt when she entered his lair the first time and faced him down. A pure exhilaration unlike any he’d everknown.
