Dreams of a Dark Warrior

sweater, baring his ruined chest.
    Those creatures had peeled away strips of his flesh not at random, but in deliberate circles and lines. The resulting wounds had been too narrow for grafts. Instead, the surgeon had stitched the skin directly together. In time, the scar tissue had grown raised.
    Yet even this sickening sight couldn’t quell his hard-on. He knew of only one thing that could.
    He hastened to his bed, to his case, readying a syringe.
    When he’d started injecting this medicine a decade ago, he’d made an effort to be dignified, treating it like an insulin shot. He would ease the needle in, pressing the plunger leisurely.
    To somehow differentiate it from what he’d done in Belfast’s back alleys.
    Now he shot up like a junkie desperate for a fix.
    His lids grew heavy with pleasure. His mind was just wasted enough for him to ignore the continued ache in his ballocks, and soon he slept, quickly slipping into dreams. …

SEVENTEEN

    A idan hastens through battles just to get back to his woman.”
    His men’s words rang out behind him, but Aidan paid them no mind. They would hurry back too if they had what he enjoyed.
    A golden goddess born from the heat of lightning.
    A few of his men teased him that he’d put Reginleit up on a pedestal. As if she belonged anywhere else?
    Back at the camp, he dunked himself in the bathhouse springs, scrubbing the vampire blood and gore from his skin. Then he carelessly knotted a filched blanket around his waist as he stormed toward their longhouse.
    He found Reginleit sitting by the fire pit inside, lost in thought and staring into the flames.
Contemplating her new life with me?
    But as soon as she spotted him, she stood, her face glowing brighter. “Aidan, you’re back!”
    As he crossed to her, he was struck anew at how beautiful she’d grown, her body a heaven of curves and softness he longed to lose himself inside. ’Twas as if she’d been created for him—a warrioress with a fierce heart, a sharp mind, and a fiery passion to match his own.
    But he had to grin at her silken hair. The crazed braids she’d worn as a girl remained, yet now they were oddly provocative, looking as if he’d just tumbled her.
    She leaned up to press her mouth to his, parting her lush lips for him.
    With just one taste of her, he groaned, “Your lips, female … sweetness itself.”
    Like a drug …
    Before he got lost in the mind-numbing pleasure of her kiss, he forced himself to break away. “I’ve a gift for you, brightling.” He swooped her up in his arms, carrying her to their bed.
    In a breathy voice, she said, “And ’tis one I’ve been awaiting all day.”
    Gods, her mere voice set his blood afire. And when she boldly cupped him …
    He had to force her hand from him, flattered by her disappointed pout. “Nay, ’tis a true gift.” He stood to retrieve his offering from a leather pack.
    “I like surprises!”
    “You like
presents
. And the mere owning of things.” He handed her a bundle swathed in cloth. “I am well aware that I’ve got an acquisitive Valkyrie for my mate.”
    Yes, Valkyrie were acquisitive, and he wanted to spoil her, but he had an ulterior motive. He feared for her. Until she turned fully immortal, she was nearly as vulnerable as a human. Vampires were overrunning the earth and would seek to hurt her in retaliation for his decades-long war with them.
    She unwrapped the cloth, revealing a pair of shortswords sheathed in leather. He perceived her excitement as she withdrew one of them, holding it up to the firelight. “’Tis so beautiful, Aidan!”
    He’d commissioned the pair to be forged from the strongest metals known in the Lore. The blades were perfectly balanced, engraved with glyphs of lightning, and polished to a sheen that reflected her glow.
    She stood, swirling both the swords with her Valkyrie’s grace, her wrists fluid, the movements so natural that she looked like she’d been born with them in hand. His heart swelled to see her like this. She would become a legendary swordswoman.
    “Aidan, I’ve never been given anything so fine.” Her irises shimmered with emotion. Just as they did whenever he brought her release.
    After only two weeks with her, the sight of her silver eyes like this had his shaft rising for her.
    “I will become skilled with these.” She gazed up at him as if he were a hero of the ages.
    Looks like that could go to a man’s head. Already he stood taller when his woman was near. “I will see to