Chapter 14
Fólkvangr, Falls of the Dead – Thule
Sweet fuck.
They couldn’t do this forever; it was to the point P couldn’t even look at his female without his cock aching. And the priestesses had barely been gone a minute when he started feeling her pain through their bond.
He turned and lifted Gefn into his arms. His mouth descended on hers as their bodies slid through the water. Wild gusts of wind swept over them, and he growled in frustration. The pain he’d felt from her was replaced by pure pleasure, easing some of the tension in his muscles. Her hands gripped his shoulders, and he reveled in the feel of her flush against him.
They couldn’t carry on like rabbits while so much was happening between their worlds.
When she mewled against his lips, he gave up thinking. A soft hand slipped between them, wrapping around his cock as he devoured her mouth. He lifted her ass higher, loosening her grip as he positioned her over his cock. Before he could sink into heaven, he was hit with a blast of compulsion, and suddenly he was breaking apart. They were breaking apart, teleporting until his female hit the barrier like a damned wall. He felt her panic as he moved halfway through it before locking them together and taking them back to the pool.
When they reformed, his gut twisted for a split second more until his need to get to Earth suddenly eased. He breathed out, his hold on her too tight, so he forced it to loosen a fraction.
“What was that?” He felt her concern in her breathy words, but he couldn’t answer, he was busy checking his links to his family. They were all scattered around Earth. In various Realms, but otherwise accounted for as he demanded of Drake, Is something wrong there?
Alyssa’s baby blew another hole in the manor, but they’re all okay. I’m on my way to see her now. How did you know something was happening?
He gritted his teeth. I felt it. I’m not sure how, but Gefn and I teleported until we hit the barrier to this Realm. He breathed through the disorientation and lust coming from his female. He set his forehead to hers, holding her close. His hands were shaking. He wasn’t sure if it was from feeling her anxiety at their near separation. He shook his head as he demanded, Is that everything?
There was a pause as P and his female stayed locked in their embrace. She rubbed circles on his back before tucking her head under his jaw. He knew she was shaken as she listened to the conversation.
Drake took a moment. There are hell beast hordes in all the cities of Tetartos, but we have it covered. You teleported without willing it?
Yes. He’d felt a similar compulsion once before. When he’d been in the garden with his female. It had hit him around the same time his father had pulled at his fucking soul from a damned world away. This time Hades wasn’t doing anything. His father had been silent, a fact he was grateful for.
Do you still feel compelled to get here?
He took a breath. No, but what the fuck? And then he added with conviction, I’m not leaving her here. He couldn’t.
There was another pause for the dragon. I know what you’re thinking, but I don’t like it. You’ll be vulnerable if you blood bond with her there. Drake was right. It was tradition to have someone guard your back during a blood bonding for a reason. They’d be lost in each other’s strongest memories, unconscious and vulnerable to anyone who came upon them, which was all information he hadn’t had a chance to explain to her yet.
But there wasn’t another damned choice but to do it at this point. They couldn’t stay here forever, too much was at stake. He breathed out before explaining to Drake what he’d learned about the runes of protection from his mother. It would hopefully ease his cousin’s mind about P’s safety when it came to blood bonding where they were.
The dragon paused. You’re sure that’s what they are?
I am, he growled, knowing the dragon was concerned for him. Drake wouldn’t trust a thing any Thulian said, but P had felt the truth in his female’s words. He added, The priestesses were here a few minutes ago. Gefn told them how Kara came to Earth and about my father’s connection to Agnarr. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see Hroarr very soon. He paused, not liking any of it. The timing. The urgency. He shook his head and continued, And the frenzy is a constant battle now.
How constant?
Only a few minutes before it starts back up again. Neither of us can concentrate long enough to have a full conversation.
Fuck. I still don’t like it, P.
I know. Just keep my father occupied for the next few hours.
Damn it, P, the dragon growled. Tell me the minute it’s done. And fucking be careful.
I will, he assured him before cutting off the conversation.
Gefn lifted her head to look at him. “Why is he worried? What did he mean by vulnerable? And P?”
“P is the short version of my name. Pothos is a little dated in our world.” He smiled a little before moving on. “I told you that the first step is the vows and markings. He’s worried about the second step, which is blood bonding. That’s likely the part that’ll get you out of this Realm, but it’s also a time when we’ll be unconscious together.”
“Why? What do you mean by blood bonding?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“It means we share blood.” Her nose wrinkled as he moved on to the more important part, the part he doubted she’d like any more than he did. “When that happens, we’ll be thrown into each other’s strongest memories. And we’ll be completely unconscious for however long that takes. For my brothers it was hours.”
She stopped breathing and he felt the wind chill around them. The pool cooled by degrees as he watched her. Sadly the cold didn’t ease his cock as much as he would have thought or hoped.
“Why is this necessary? It is barbaric.” He felt her hint of panic and anger mixing together. “My memories are mine.” Her tone had iced as much as the air around them.
“I am not looking forward to you seeing mine either. There’s a possibility that it won’t work the same for us. We might not share memories. We’re of two different worlds.” It was true, but he had a gut feeling it was needed. He’d always trusted his instincts, and he wouldn’t start doubting them now.
“There is no way to connect our souls without sharing blood first?” she demanded with her chin raised.
*****
Everything inside Gefn had gone icy at the thought of Pothos seeing her memories, her nightmares, her greatest failings. She would share that with no one.
“I don’t have the power to connect our souls.” His regret and frustration was as unmistakable as the truth in his words.
Her beasts’ incessant purring and pleasure at the idea infuriated her. Cease, she commanded. It was obvious what they wanted of her. It was all too much, too fast. She swept out of Pothos’ arms and knew somehow that it was only because he’d let her. She needed some space, but the second she was away from his warmth, the cold permeated her bones, and she felt as if she’d shatter into pieces of ice.
The air and water began warming around her.
His power calming hers.
She moaned at the way that warmth caressed her skin. The bond to Pothos was already closer and more encompassing than that of her animals or the one she’d had with her priestesses.
“You ask too much.” She lifted a hand to the skies before biting out to the world at large, “This asks too much.”
“I know.” She watched him rub a hand over his short hair in frustration. “I’m not exactly sure what horrors you’ll see from my life. I’m hoping like hell we won’t see memories, but the odds are that we will.” There was sincerity in his growled words. The bond with him was making it impossible to hide emotion from one another, and that was a comfort as much as an invasion. She used to crave the kind of intimacy she’d seen in the mortal families of her world. This was a thousand times more intense. And part of her loved it while the other distrusted it. Having this connection meant she had even more to lose when the end came.
He was there in front of her as the last thought was finished. “Don’t,” he said with a flash of intensity in his eyes. “No thoughts of losing what we’ll have. I won’t let that happen. And no dwelling on what we see in the memories. This cleans the slate of our pasts and begins our new life.”
She sucked in a breath at his words. As if this would magically erase the nightmares. She huffed out the air. She could dream. Maybe they both could, because she could feel how much he’d rather not share his memories. She focused on the feel of his hands on her skin, knowing in her stomach that they were both stuck.
“Or we can continue as we have been until the choice is taken from us. You get to choose if we do this now, thea mou, or we wait.”
“The blood sharing is what connects our souls? It will stop all of the need?”
His eyes flickered with heat before he growled, “Nothing could stop my desire for you, but the lust won’t rule us after we complete the bond.” He paused. “But the blood bond only paves the way to the soul bond.”
She narrowed her eyes, not liking the sound of this. “What completes this?” she gritted out between clenched teeth. “And why are there so many steps?”
He shook his head with a tight smile. “There is one more step after that.” He paused, and she held her breath, half dreading what he would say. “After we share memories, I’ll make love to you in every way possible.” She shivered in anticipation at his words, and her breath stuttered out at the ones that came next. “I’ll claim every inch of your beautiful body until your soul accepts me as your male.”
The desire wrought by his words drew her closer to him.
“What do you choose, Gefn?”
She swallowed, breathing him in as the wind slid over their skin. She ignored her beasts’ encouragement, pushing them from her mind as she looked into his heated eyes.
“We will finish this now.”