Page 45 of Mated To The Vikens

I shook my head. “No. You’re wrong, Gunnar. We’re safe now. I’m safe.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? See Dorn? He’s missing half his head. We’re not going out there.”

“It was the VSS,” I said.

“Dorn worked for the VSS.”

I shook my head. It all made complete sense, at least to me. “

Not anymore. His cover was blown. They killed him. He was a liability.”

Gunnar was in warrior mode. His senses heightened, his body ready to fight. He’d been helpless standing there with Dorn holding me hostage. He’d had no weapon, no way to save me. That helplessness was gone now.

“Sophia, what the fuck are you talking about?”

I knew his tone wasn’t truly focused on me. He had to see past the dead body and think, but he was too riled. And I had no doubt it was because of me. I was his weakness here, his Achilles’ heel.

Taking hold of his chin, I forced him to look at me. Only when his dark eyes held mine did I speak. “As soon as we identified him, as soon as they knew I was alive, Dorn became a liability for the VSS.”

Gunnar looked down at me, but some of the stiffness left him. “Now that he’s dead, you can’t hurt the VSS.”

“Right. I’m nobody, Gunnar. Trust me. I know how these people operate. I’m worthless to them. And now that Dorn is dead, I’m not even worth the effort or energy to kill.” I sighed, closing my eyes and imagined a black ops sniper in the movies back home. “Whoever took the shot is long gone. As soon as he killed Dorn, he would vanish like a ghost.”

Gunnar shifted and I opened my eyes to see him inspecting the sidewalk behind us, leaning out to look up at the windows on the buildings, the rooflines.

“See anything?” I asked.

“No. Your logic is sound, Sophia.” He turned back to me and lifted his arms to the wall on either side of my head, caging me. “But I’m not letting you go until Erik and Rolf arrive. I can’t take the chance.”

I didn’t argue or struggle, simply leaned forward and plastered my body to my mate’s much larger, stronger frame, eager for the comfort he offered. Even if the sniper was gone, the adrenaline pumping through my body made me shake. I knew it would take a long time for me to process this, to get the image of Dorn’s death out of my mind. But relief rushed through me, making my knees weak. I was safe now. No one out there trying to kill me.

I could just be a mate, a normal citizen. A big, fat nobody.

I lifted my hand so I could rasp my thumb over his whiskers.

“I guess I’ll have to thank the Corellis.” I gave a small smile, knowing how lucky I’d been to leave Earth. “I’m sure they don’t even think about me anymore. But thanks to them, I was mated to some crazy space alien I adore.”

That got Gunnar’s attention and he pulled far enough away to press his forehead to mine. “You said you loved me, mate.”

Lifting both hands to his face, I held him to make sure he felt my touch. I wanted him to feel my words, too, all the way down to his soul. “I love you, Gunnar. I know it’s crazy, and too fast, and totally illogical, but…”

Gunnar shut me up with a kiss that curled my toes. I wrapped my arms around his head and held on tight as he pulled me close and made me forget all about the last few minutes of hell.

“Gunnar!” Erik shouted.

Gunnar stepped away then, and I took a deep breath. Before me was Erik, Rolf standing over Dorn’s dead body with a host of guards. Royal guards swarmed both sides of the street, running into buildings and shining searchlights down alleyways and into dark corners. Both Erik and Rolf wore their Viken United guard uniforms, complete with weapons and the light body armor I’d come to recognize.

After a minute, Rolf came to stand beside us, the entire time his pistol was up, his gaze searching the buildings around us.

“Sophia is safe now,” Gunnar said. “And the sniper is long gone.”

Both men frowned and didn’t stand down.

“Explain it to them, Sophia,” Gunnar ordered.

All three men glanced at me, but once I started speaking, telling Erik and Rolf what I’d said to Gunnar, they remained vigilant.

“The VSS only cared about eliminating Dorn. Not me. He’d been identified. He was the liability. I was just a stupid mistake,” I insisted.

---