The two iron doors broke off their hinges as ten scaly beasts stampeded into the village, and they flattened slaves and Vikings alike while whole flaming huts were crushed under their hooves.

There was something horse-like about them, but they were at least nine feet high at the shoulder, and they were covered in deep-brown scales all over that reminded me of dragons. Jagged red spines protruded from their necks and jutted out of their rear hocks, and they let out ear-splitting roars as they reared up and trampled anything in their path.

The rest of the herd were being reined in just outside the walls with twenty Vikings of Hylmrek mounted on their backs, but no matter where they stopped, every warrior lunged from their steeds with a battle axe held high.

Then war cries filled the air as the raiding Vikings were overrun, and in under a minute, the chaos in the slave village turned into an all-out massacre.

My eyes bulged from my head as I watched battle axes impale chest cavities, sever legs, and split skulls down the middle, and compared to the raiders, Hylmrek looked like a pack of lions taking down a bunch of half-starved hyenas.

Both men and women warriors dragged their victims through the mud to hack them into pieces, and they left them half-dead and twitching in the lanes as they pounced onto the next. Some of them worked with an axe in one hand and a sword in the other as they lashed out at everyone they passed, and a few bodies were already pinned to the ramparts by a giant axe that had been hurled into their backs.

The raiding Vikings barely stood a chance of surviving against their hulking opponents as it was, but to make matters worse, the blades of their broadswords were shattering as they collided with the battle axes.

I clutched my hair as this happened to damn near every one of them, and whoever was forging these blades couldn’t have known shit about tempering properly.

The entire band of invaders was trapped in the burning village with no decent weapons and stampeding beasts running them down, and wherever they fled to, their path was intercepted by a bloody axe.

I knew they deserved what they got, but I honestly didn’t know who to root for at this point, because the carnage that Hylmrek brought with them was so fucking ruthless.

Two men in particular were the most brutal fighters out there, and I guessed one of them had to be the chieftain of Hylmrek. The brawny man wore a striped pelt bigger than anyone else’s cloaking his bulky shoulders, and two broadswords were sheathed on his belt, but he was sticking with an axe and a hatchet for this attack.

His stark red hair flew around him as he impaled his hatchet into raiders’ shoulders like a fishhook, and he tore them off the walls before he hacked both their legs off with a crazed and gravelly laugh. Then he left them bleeding out as he moved onto the next, and in about a minute, he’d delivered this punishment to seven men before he started decapitating them instead.

The man closest to him was even bigger, but he wore the same garb as the rest, and his stark red beard was the only hair he had on him. Even at this distance, I could see dozens of jagged scars marring his face, arms, and shaved head, and he looked like a warlord from hell as he bared his teeth and used his axe to scalp his victims in one swipe. Then he left them in the lane with their stomachs butchered into pulp from his hatchet, and I watched these two slaughter their way along the ramparts until I was too nauseous to keep up.

I would have hoped the slaves at least survived the massacre, but most of the ones I saw were already trampled or cut down by swinging blades, and I took a steadying breath as I tried to decide what my next move was.

I’d run my ass off all morning, and Hylmrek was right here with me.

My legs were spent, my arm was throbbing, and my back could hardly hold me upright, but about thirty of Hylmrek’s hulking warriors had flooded the area, and if they decided to stick around for a while to restore the village, I’d be stuck up in this tree for who knew how long.

I couldn’t be sure whether anyone else in this clan had senses as acute as the woman I’d met, but based on the unbridled pursuit that was going on in the bloody village, I knew even hiding up in a tree wouldn’t save me.

Then I eyed the herd of scaly beasts within fifteen feet of me, and I considered how fast they’d gotten here.

I hadn’t seen anything like them in the woods so far, but they were clearly tamed and had leather reins secured to their snouts, and on a mount like these, I could make it out of the Red Forest within a few days. Snatching one while the entire band of Hylmrek’s warriors were busy butchering might be my only chance to obtain one too, so I scanned the battle in the village again.

At the rate these raiders were dying, I probably had about ten minutes before Hylmrek won out, and I promptly turned back to the trunk. Then I worked on climbing down as fast as I could with one arm, but I slipped on the last branch and ended up crashing down on my ass in a crop of vines.

I wheezed from the impact while a few of the scaly beasts reared up in fright, but they didn’t run off as I dragged myself to my feet and looked around. The screams and battle cries in the village were still continuing nonstop, and no warriors were outside the defensive walls.

So I slowly approached the nearest beast, and from ground-level they seemed twice as tall. They were barebacked, and I had no idea how to get up on one, but I focused on keeping my nerves steady so the creature wouldn’t get spooked by my own unease. I was within seven feet of my target when the beast began to snarl, and his black eyes tracked my every movement as I slowed my pace even more.

“Easy, buddy,” I muttered, and I carefully raised my right hand toward him. “I just need a ride, alright? I’m not gonna hurt you.”

The beast snarled some more as it tipped its giant snout closer to my hand, but it didn’t rear up, and I took a few deep breaths as the hot air from his nostrils heated my fingertips. His head was a good four feet above mine even when he stooped to get a better whiff of me, but as my palm grazed his scaly snout, the beast stopped snarling and snuffled his nostrils on my jacket sleeve instead.

“Let’s all be real calm about this,” I continued in a steady tone. “I’m gonna climb up on your back, and you’re gonna not trample me. Deal?”

The creature’s black eyes held mine while I inched closer to his side, and as I trailed my palm along his shoulder, I could feel heat radiating through his scales. Still, he didn’t show any signs of hostility as I slowly crossed under his neck so I could mount on the other side with my good arm, and the beast next to him snarled as I slid between the two.

Both of them shifted restlessly now, but I kept on talking to the pair in as even a tone as I could manage, and I got my boot hitched on the creature’s elbow before I tried to decide how I could reach his spine at the same time.

Then a blade unsheathed close by, and the guard who had fled when the attack began lunged into the herd.

“Shit!” I gasped as the beasts flanking me bucked at once, and they let out startled roars while the guard fought to reach me.

He was belting at me in his language while the entire herd became riled up, and I was knocked hard to the ground under their hooves before I could find an escape route. Then I rolled and blocked my head as three beasts took off running, and I barely made it out of range before the scaly giants started biting into each other and kicking like pissed off mules.

The ground shook from the weight of their hooves as they crashed into one another and roared even louder, but the guard who’d caught sight of me made it out of the herd too, and he was already crossing the threshold of the village as he hollered the whole way.

“Fucking bastard,” I growled, and I bolted into the trees.

My legs ached from the effort while I forced them to get moving, and I headed beyond the western walls of the village so I’d be out of sight of the entrance. I only made it fifty yards before I heard a band of Vikings not far behind me, and I knew I’d never outrun them now. I had no time to scale a tree, and the sparse forest provided no means of hiding.

The Vikings would have me surrounded in minutes no matter how hard I ran, and then one blade after another would be jabbing at me from all sides just like last night, except this time, I was already injured and worn out.

“God damnit,” I cursed through gritted teeth, and I stumbled to a stop.

Then a ruthless chuckle closed in at my back, and I turned to find four of Hylmrek’s warriors strolling up with the guard beside them.

“Five against one?” I panted. “Really?”

“Come now, slave,” one of the Vikings goaded with a rotted grin. “Looks like you stole yourself a nice little sword and everything. Let us see how long you can last with it.”

“We’ll even give you the first strike,” another assured me in a patronizing tone. “Just so you can feel like a real man once before you die.”

I ground my jaw as I eyed the sneering men blocking me in, and fury began to burn in my chest while I considered their tactics.

They had a village of raiders to take care of, and they thought I was a fucking slave, but they still wanted to turn this into a twisted game rather than cut to the chase.

All of them held a bloody battle axe in hand, and I didn’t know anything about wielding a sword with actual skill, but I wasn’t in bad shape as far as builds went. The Vikings were still chiseled beyond belief, but as I scanned the leather garb strapped over their black tunics, I started to see them in a different light.

I’d cut up a lot of animals in my life, and I knew a thing or two about muscle structure and arteries. Maybe I’d never quartered a human before, but I’d quartered enough big game to know how I’d do it if I had to.

And right now, I could see three exposed spots on every one of these men that would cripple them within seconds of taking a deeper slash. The fourth and fifth spots would bleed them unconscious within thirty seconds, so I just needed to time my strikes carefully between the five of them.

Which sounded like an impossibility after last night, but it was broad daylight this time, and I’d learned the fighting style of these Vikings was pretty much just hacking away at their victims at random.

They were thrill killers who wanted a bloodbath more than anything, but precision killing was sort of my specialty, and my chest burned a few degrees hotter as I solidified my points of attack.

“Go on, slave,” one of them growled as he spat at my boots. “You got yourself all the way out here. Show us how much you are willing to fight for your freedom.”

I nodded as I pulled the broadsword from my belt, but I left the dagger in its sheath for now so I could swap my sword for an axe at the first opportunity.

Two of the Vikings chuckled in amusement while I eyed the leather vambraces around me, but I focused on which hand each man held his axe in before I took note of their stances.

Then I shifted my weight for a second while my chest continued to burn, and as soon as another chuckle came from my right, I slashed my sword hard across the man’s thigh to sever his quadricep just above the knee. His leg gave out as I sliced across his elbow joint to cut his ligaments next, and I used the momentum of this strike to whip around and deliver the same two hits to the man on my left.

Neither of the assholes could stand or lift their axes now, but I had another axe spiraling at me already, and as I ducked, I swapped my sword into my left hand and grabbed an axe off the ground. Then I impaled the guard’s gut with it to shatter his abdominal walls, and I severed both his quads before I needed to dodge the next incoming axe.

I dragged my sword across the joint of the man’s elbow as he pulled back for another hit, and when the axe dropped to the dirt, I took out his left leg for him, too.

Now, I had four men down, and I leapt over an axe that tried to hitch my calf while the fifth Viking lunged to catch me. Then I circled back to incapacitate both of his arms in two swift blows, and I was still circling him when he threw his head back and yowled in pain. I took the opportunity to pull out my dagger, and I dragged it through his carotid as warm blood spewed across my hand.

Then I dodged another strike from a downed Viking, sent my dagger spiraling into his chest, and by the time he wrenched it out, I was in position to kick him back across the ground. Once I pinned his wrist down with my boot, I plunged my hunting knife into his inner arm before he could wrestle out of my hold, and I wrenched down along the brachial artery as his blood spurted like a broken sieve across my jacket.

The Viking was unconscious in thirty seconds, but by then, I was already done delivering the same death blow to the man beside him, and then I shook the blood from my hand on my way to another crippled man.

He had one bum leg dragging behind him while he tried to crawl off on his elbows, and I pinned him down with my boot as I wrenched his head back by his matted hair.

Once his carotid was bleeding out, I finally decided to put the bastard guard out of his misery, but he probably got the most efficient death out of anyone.

I strolled over to the last twitching man as I took stock of his bleeding thighs and the axe buried in his gut, and then I sent him a quick grin before I wrenched the axe free and dropped it through his skull instead.

Part of me could hardly believe I pulled it off as I looked around at the dead Vikings bleeding out at my feet, and while I’d intended to be as precise as possible, I hadn’t expected to be quite so efficient at full-on murder.

I hadn’t even thought twice about it once I’d started, and I’d gotten in the zone so seamlessly that I kind of wished I’d timed the attack so I could tell how quickly I’d pulled it off.

Either I was the luckiest guy in the world, or I’d seriously underestimated my abilities up to this point, but either way, I couldn’t help chuckling as I looked around at the five dead Vikings.

The forest floor was pooling with blood while the warriors laid strewn around where they’d dropped, and I was sheathing my sword and hunting knife when I heard a knot of thorns rustle behind me.

My heart nearly seized in my chest as I whipped around, but a sixth Viking already had his spear raised from ten yards away, and the murderous cast in his brown eyes made my veins ice over.

At that moment, I knew without question that I had no way out of this, and all the air left my lungs at once as the Viking drew his arm back to fire.

But before he released the spear, the man jerked forward, and I jumped in shock as I saw his eyes suddenly go blank. Then he dropped and landed with a heavy thunk on the forest floor, and I stared at the arrow embedded in the back of his skull.

I drew a ragged breath of relief as I staggered on my feet, but when the blonde woman from Hylmrek emerged from behind a wall of purple ivy, all I could do was blink like a deer caught in the headlights.

I’d never really seen her up close in the daytime yet, but within a millisecond of my first full glimpse, I was lost in her eyes.

They were the lightest shade of green I’d ever seen, like a bright sea green, and they were so distinct that they glowed in the red and purple landscape. The charcoal markings striping her temples made the green stand out even more, and she had two black smudges stacked on each other between her sandy-blonde eyebrows.

She was just as much of a Nordic goddess as I’d guessed too, with splatters of fresh blood dotting her fur sash and arms, and a few of her longer braids were stained red from the battle taking place in the village behind her.

I was practically comatose while I struggled to process all these factors at once, but then the green-eyed beauty tore her arrow out of the dead Viking’s skull, and she stormed over as her expression darkened to a deadly one.

“I told you to leave Hylmrek!” the woman seethed.

“I thought I did?” I muttered.

Her eyes rolled in irritation as she looped her bow across her chest. “Of course, you have not! This is one of our slave villages!”

“One of them?” I clarified, but then the warrior woman grabbed my arm, and she dragged me along with her for a few paces before she ran deeper into the trees.

I tried not to groan as my back threatened to shatter on the spot, but I was so glad to see her flawless ass again that I bottled up the pain and kept up while the woman led me farther out of range of the village.

It turned out every inch of her was enough to make me forget about everything else, anyways.

The woman’s blonde dreadlocks and braids flew behind her while she wove between the trees with her bow in hand, and she hardly made a sound aside from the rustle of arrows in her quiver. She was also half-dressed by Alaskan standards, and something about the sight of a rough-honed dagger against her bare hip made my heart pound heavier than the running did.

But none of this was as distracting as the burning need I had to get another glimpse at her strange green eyes again, so when she snatched my arm to pull me behind a trunk, I let her drag me anywhere she wanted while I kept my gaze glued on her face.

Then she turned her head to the side as she listened to the sounds of the Red Forest, and I waited through the painfully long moment while I settled for staring at her high cheekbones and soft pink lips instead.

Eventually, she sighed and turned to me, and her light-green eyes were just as mesmerizing as they’d been at first glance. More so, actually. She was only a couple feet away this time, and I actually had to remind myself to blink once I realized I was full-on gawking at her.

Then the woman set her jaw firm.

“You are an imbecile,” she told me flat out.

I nodded blankly. “What’s your name?”

“Eir of Hylmrek,” the woman stiffly replied, “and whoever you are, you will be--”

“Aaron,” I interrupted.

“What?” Eir asked as her eyebrows furrowed.

“My name’s Aaron,” I clarified. “Aaron Briggs.”

“Well, Aaron Briggs, you will be dead within the hour if you do not get out of Hylmrek territory immediately,” Eir informed me in her strange lilting accent. “Those warriors you killed are highly valued by our chieftain, and their deaths will not be taken lightly.”

“Right,” I said with a slow nod, but then I smirked a little. “So… wouldn’t the guy who owns you have something to say about this, then? You just killed one of those men to defend a trespasser. There’s still an arrow wound in his skull.”

The woman bristled as her grip tightened on the string of her bow, and she leveled me with a stern finger as she took a step closer.

“I care nothing of what that man has to say,” she growled. “He bought me, that is all, and he has yet to claim me. Until the full moon, I do and act as I please.”

My eyebrows shot up at the conviction in her tone, but I was mostly stunned while I tried to process her words and look her in the eyes at the same time.

“Why do you keep staring at me like that?” Eir suddenly snapped.

“No reason,” I quickly replied. “I’m just… surprised a woman like you can be bought. You… are… impressive.”

Now, Eir was the one who looked confused, and she narrowed those beautiful green eyes before she replied.

“You truly know nothing of the Red Forest?” she asked in disbelief, and I shook my head. “Well… I cannot imagine how that could be, but these are the codes of the clans. It has always been this way. If the chieftain’s price is met, any woman can be claimed.”

“And this guy met the price?”

“Three thousand skulls,” Eir confirmed with a nod.

My jaw fully unhinged. “Three… thousand? Three thousand skulls? As in human skulls? He killed three thousand people to buy you?”

My gaze raked down her honed frame while I processed this, but when I got back to her mesmerizing eyes, Eir was smirking with amusement.

“I assure you I am worth the price,” the green-eyed beauty murmured, but then her expression shifted to a less guarded one. “I didn’t expect his brother to achieve it so soon, though. It was meant to be a greater feat. I thought it might take him a few years more, but I underestimated his impatience to claim me.”

I nodded as I registered how displeased she actually was with the arrangement, but in the blink of an eye, Eir straightened her posture and looked like a hardened warrior again.

“Whose brother bought you?” I asked.

“My chieftain’s, of course,” Eir replied. “No one but Stranholf could have met a price like this.”

“Hold on,” I tried as I furrowed my brow. “Your chieftain has red hair, right?”

“He does.”

“Is Stranholf the guy with the red beard and the scars?” I checked. “The huuuge one?”

“Yes, and none of this is relevant at the moment,” Eir sighed. “You must leave, Aaron Briggs, I cannot keep protecting you, and if you carry on--”

“I don’t need protecting,” I cut in. “If that last guy didn’t have a fucking spear, I would’ve handled him just fine. Who brings a spear to an axe fight?”

Eir’s lips twitched like she was trying not to smile, and her eyes glittered while my vision tunneled at the sight.

“You do fight more admirably than I expected after our first meeting,” the woman allowed. “I must admit, I was impressed.”

“Yeah, well, I knew what to expect this time,” I chuckled. “Makes it easier to hold my own.”

Eir sobered again. “You won’t last like this in the Red Forest. Not alone. Eventually, you will either die or be--”

“Enslaved, I know,” I sighed. “Which I have no intention of putting up with. I’m nobody’s workhorse. There has to be a better solution to surviving in this place.”

“There is none,” Eir assured me. “A man who is not born of the clans must still live by the codes of the Red Forest, and unless you intend to kill a chieftain and claim his place, you must--”

“Wait, that’s it?” I asked. “If I kill a chieftain, I get his clan? His warriors wouldn’t rise up to avenge him?”

“Do not speak so lightly of this,” Eir said with a warning look. “Chieftains gain their place for a reason. Our fiercest warriors are our leaders, and they have spent their lives honing their skills. Most are highly respected among their people, and even those who degrade the honor of their title will not fall so easily. The men of the Red Forest are true barbarians, all of them, and one man alone could never take a chieftain down. Especially not some wanderling who knows nothing of where he is going or coming from.”

“But if I did kill one,” I led, “all his clansmen would pledge themselves to me. That’s what you’re saying.”

“Yes, but it does not matter!” Eir gave an irritated sigh. “This is a fool’s errand! Why can you not understand me? It is infuriating how boldly you speak when you do not comprehend the dangers you face!”

“I do understand you,” I assured her while I considered how tense her posture was. “I fully comprehend the dangers. But to be honest, I don’t know why you’re infuriated with me. Why do you care if I’m too bold and get my ass killed?”

“I’m… not infuriated,” Eir muttered as her expression cleared, and she straightened up like she hadn’t realized how much she was leaning toward me. “I do not care if you die. I only noticed the warriors chasing you and thought I would see what came of it. You lived. Now, I know.”

“I lived because you saved my life,” I reminded her. “You didn’t hesitate to kill your own clansman for me back there. That’s not a careless gesture.”

Eir offered an unconvincing shrug as she adjusted her bow. “Yesterday, you spared my life when my clansmen betrayed me. We are even now.”

I grinned when the beautiful woman strictly avoided my gaze, and as I studied the flawless planes of her face, the words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could think twice.

“Would you join with a clan of mine?” I asked her outright. “If I lived long enough to take one, that is.”

Eir blinked a few times in surprise, and she looked wholly caught off guard as she took a small step back and bumped into an ashen trunk. Then she glanced through the trees in the direction of the slave village, and when she considered me again, her bright green eyes were wide.

“I-I was born of Hylmrek,” Eir stammered. “And I am owned by Stranholf.”

“You don’t want to be,” I pointed out. “You said he hasn’t claimed you yet, right? Sooo, leave?”

“Aaron Briggs, nothing is so simple as you seem to think it is,” Eir sighed.

“Explain it to me, then,” I suggested.

The woman fidgeted with one of her bloody braids while she eyed me for a moment.

“Stranholf is already prepared to claim me at the full moon,” the woman finally replied. “If I betrayed him now, he would hunt me. I’d be dead in a matter of days.”

“Why not leave the forest?” I asked, but I immediately regretted the question.

“You think I would be run from my own homeland like a gulli?” the woman challenged. “The Red Forest is my home, and without it, I have nothing. The strength our clans possess surpasses all others, and it is what determines our survival. I would never live a life against the clans, and you degrade yourself by shunning all we stand for.”

“I’m not shunning anything,” I calmly assured her. “I’m trying to understand your situation better. You clearly value the ways of your people, and I can respect that. But it sounds like there’s only this one… minor code standing in your way.”

“No code is a minor one, and I honor this one,” Eir said as she pursed her lips. “Perhaps I do not consider myself lucky in my fate, but I am not a coward, and no one would claim a woman after she has betrayed the man who bought her. I would be shunned for the rest of my life, and I could not bear the shame. I believe anyone of worth is capable of honoring the codes of the Red Forest.”

“Hey, if you want me to honor your codes, I’ll do whatever you want,” I clarified. “Within reason. The way I see it, you could use a way out of your predicament, and I could, too. Before your clan showed up here, I was heading to the mountains like you told me to. However, if you don’t want to spend your life with a scalping fuck like Stranholf, then I’m willing to adjust my plans. With a clan of my own, I could survive here without being enslaved, and you would have somewhere to go where you wouldn’t be shunned. You’d be protected.”

“And just like that, your mind is made up?” Eir scoffed, but when I nodded, she slumped back against the tree as she shook her head. “Aaron Briggs, your boldness is confusing. I don’t know how you survive this way.”

“I have my own methods,” I said with a grin. “So, how about it? Do you want me to kill a chieftain?”

Eir stared at me like I was nuts at first, but in a matter of seconds, I’d watched her bright green eyes flicker through a dozen different thoughts. More than a couple of them seemed pretty inclined toward the idea, but then she paled by several degrees, and I furrowed my brow when I realized how scared she looked.

“What you speak of is no easy thing,” Eir told me in earnest. “I won’t pretend I wish to deny your offer. I know so little of you, and yet you have shown me more loyalty than men I have fought beside all my life. I feel as if I should trust you, but I could not allow you to do any of this for me. You would risk your own life to attain a place for yourself, and in the end, any clan I ran to would be ravaged for it. I would never wish a rage like Stranholf’s on anyone. You cannot begin to imagine the kind of fury he is capable of.”

“I’m sure I could imagine,” I replied, “but I would never wish anything that guy has to offer on you.”

Eir blushed pink under my gaze, and I could hardly believe what I was seeing. She was splattered with the blood of her enemies, built like a Viking goddess, and we hardly knew each other, but here she was, blushing like a virgin for me.

I couldn’t believe how much I meant what I was saying, either, but Eir was like no woman I’d ever imagined, let alone seen. She’d even saved my life, and now she was within arm’s reach. Not a scrap of me wanted to escape the Red Forest if I had any chance of keeping Eir this close to me, and I could tell she didn’t exactly mind my offer.

I took a step closer to her, but then a pained groan echoed close by, and she laced an arrow before I could blink.

Six injured men from the raiding clan were stumbling through the woods as fast as they could, and they were only twenty yards away when Eir whipped around and took aim.

I lunged and caught her wrists before she could loose her first arrow, and she sent me a sharp glare as she tried to yank her arms free.

“What are you doing?” Eir hissed. “They are trespass--”

“Shh,” I ordered as I kept my gaze on the band of warriors. “Don’t make a sound.”

Eir immediately went still, and we stayed where we were out of the warriors’ line of sight while I kept her wrists in my grip just in case.

Seven more men came stumbling by within a minute, and I took note of all their injuries as they fled Hylmrek’s territory. They left a trail of blood behind them while the gaping axe wounds on their arms and legs oozed out, and a few of the men sent anxious looks over their shoulders as they struggled to pull their more injured comrades along.

Only a few more managed to escape the onslaught in the village, and considering the sixty or so who’d first arrived, I had a feeling this battle left their clan in a bad spot.

“Is that the direction of their territory?” I asked barely above a whisper, but when I turned, Eir looked like she’d been staring at me this whole time.

Her bright eyes were tracing my face while her lips parted absentmindedly, but once she realized what I’d asked, her gaze snapped to mine.

“Yes,” Eir answered. “They are fleeing back to their campsite. They hail from Dalir.”

I nodded as I released her wrists. Then I slid my hand behind her neck instead, and I half-expected her to jab her arrow in my ribs before my lips met hers, but she didn’t.

Eir let me delve my tongue into her mouth while my other hand locked her flush against me by the belt on her hips, and the fervent way she kissed me back made my entire spine tingle from how badly I wanted more.

She tasted so sweet for a woman with aim as lethal as hers, and the warrior woman didn’t even push me away when I pinned her to the ashen tree at her back. Then a small, hungry whimper slipped from Eir’s mouth as she clutched the front of my jacket.

Still, remembering the hulking scalper who paid three thousand skulls for her kept my manners mostly in check.

Eir was out of breath when our lips finally parted a minute later, and I let my forehead rest against hers as I kept her rooted in place.

My mind was doing tailspins at the moment. I’d never been so crazy about a woman after just one kiss before, not even after a hell of a lot more than a kiss, and my resolve solidified the second I realized this.

“When is the full moon?” I asked.

“Eight days,” Eir whispered as she blinked at me in a daze.

“I can work with that,” I muttered.

“You are insane, Aaron Briggs,” she said in an even softer whisper, and her eyes focused on my lips.

“I’m willing to be insane for the right cause. If I pull this off, we’ll both be safe. What do you say?”

“I…” she hesitated, but she didn’t move away from me.

Then I kissed the green-eyed beauty just one more time in case I did end up dying over this. I memorized the way Eir tasted and how plump her lips were while I let my hands roam around her bare hips, and I only released her once I was sure I’d never forget how fucking good I had it for a few minutes.

“Do whatever it takes to get away by the full moon.” I held her gaze as she searched mine. “I’ll be waiting for you in Dalir.”

Eir gaped when I let go of her and turned away, but I was glad she didn’t try to stop me as I headed in the direction Dalir’s clansmen had gone.

Maybe this meant she didn’t think I was too bold to survive after all, and I smirked a bit as I followed the trail of blood.

Time to steal a Viking clan.