Page 43 of Mated To The Vikens

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Yes,” a voice said from behind me. “She has been a very busy little thing.”

Grabbing Sophia, I spun to face our enemy and pushed her behind me.

“Dorn.” I greeted him through clenched teeth, wondering exactly how much he’d overheard.

He stood there, the lighting casting shadow over his face, his female beside him. Her face was still covered by her hood, her posture that of a true submissive. Dorn leaned down and murmured to his female. She nodded beneath her hood and turned and walked back in the direction of the club.

Dorn lifted his head and returned his attention to me. “You have taken a mate, Gunnar. Congratulations.”

I shrugged with a casualness that hid my anger. I didn’t want the bastard anywhere near Sophia.

“It seems the Kings are pleased with their Earth bride as well,” Dorn said.

“How did you know she was from Earth?” I countered. Females on Viken were quite similar in appearance to those from Earth. Unlike planet Xerima, where the females were tall and strong and fiercely muscled, their women as likely to kill a man as ride his cock, Sophia’s softness blended in readily enough. We had not announced that we had a mate, nor that she had come from Earth. Only those in the transport centers and the guards that surrounded the royal family knew of the match.

And Dorn. Because he’d been the one to have the transports crossed. Because he was the one who’d wanted her dead. And discovered her anything but.

“My position allows me access to quite a bit of data.”

I couldn’t allow Sophia to remain. Dorn’s cover was blown. The only way for him to survive now was to kill me and Sophia both. If I could distract him, stand between him and my mate, she should be able to make it. “Go back to the club, Sophia. Summon Erik and wait for me there.”

When I gave her a little shove between her shoulder blades to get her moving, Dorn waited calmly, acting as if he would allow her to waltz right past him.

When she was just out of reach, he pulled an ion pistol from inside his coat and pointed it at me. “Sophia, is it?”

Sophia froze in place, her eyes wide with terror as she looked from the blaster to me and back again. “Yes.”

“Come here. Now. Or Gunnar is a dead man.”

I saw the battle take place behind her eyes. “No, Sophia. Just run. Go.”

She bit her lip, that nervous habit I found so endearing, and stepped to place her chest directly in front of the ion pistol. “Leave Gunnar out of this, Dorn. It’s between you and me.”

Dorn grabbed her by the arm, spun her around and pressed the blaster to the side of her head. “Women are always so stupid, Sophia. This was never about you. This is about saving Viken.”

As Dorn pressed the tip of the ion pistol to Sophia’s forehead, I saw her flinch in pain, but she made no sound. Her gaze caught mine and the resignation I saw there scared me more than the pistol. She was going to do something stupid to try to save me. I could see it in her eyes, in the stiff set of her shoulders and the stubborn line of her beautiful chin.

She’d been used by men just like Dorn on Earth, and I saw the resolve in her, the rage.

And it terrified me.

I held out my hands, more to plead with my mate than with the man holding her. “Don’t do anything stupid. We can talk about this.”

Dorn laughed, the sound hollow and without mirth. “Talk, Gunnar? The VSS is through talking. The Kings need to die. They’ve disrupted centuries of honor and tradition.”

“It’s not about honor for you, Dorn. It’s about power. I’ve known your family my entire life. The old line of kings.”

Dorn interrupted, “The rightful rulers of Viken. The child Queen has no right to usurp our claim. She’s an alien child born of an alien mother.” Leaning down, he buried his nose in Sophia’s hair, breathing in her sweet scent. “Like this alien bitch here.”

Dorn shook her and pulled on her hair until she winced, crying out in pain. Rage rose like a monster within me at the strain etched on her face, at the sick enjoyment I saw on his.

Sophia was the only thing that mattered to me. In that moment I realized just how completely she had won my heart.

Without her, life was meaningless.

Sophia must live. Dorn? He would die, right here, right now, even if he took me with him.

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