Page 30 of Highlander’s Viking Snakes

She pulled him up and kissed him deeply, tasting her sweetness upon his lips. She rolled him onto his back and kissed his neck as her hand slid down his long body. She looked so small compared to him, her mighty Viking warrior. Desire pulsed inside as she let her hands descend down his chest hair, finding his arousal again. He was hard and thick, and as she wrapped her fingers around his shaft, he groaned with delight. She started to stroke up and down, then moved her entire hand around him, sliding over the smooth tip. She took note of everything that made him gasp and loved the sight of pleasure rippling over his face. She wanted to make him feel good, as good as she had felt, and she wondered if this Viking custom would make him happy as well.

She leaned down and felt the heat radiate against her lips as she kissed him and then widened her jaw, sliding down his erection. His entire body rumbled as her hair brushed against his thighs and stomach. She let her tongue slide around him, watching him as his body tensed, feeling all the arousal coil into this one magnificent part of him. She slid her head up and down, loving the feeling of having him in her mouth like this, loving the way he moaned and looked in awe. All she wanted was to make him feel good. All she wanted was to love him.

A strong hand came down and cupped her head, guiding her away from him. She didn’t understand at first. She worried she had done something wrong, but then she caught Egon’s gaze and knew that something else wonderful was going to happen. He pulled her on top of him, his hands all over her body. She arched herself back as she looked down at him and knew instinctively what came next, what joy was able to be shared between husbands and wives. She straddled him and gently lowered herself onto him, feeling pain blur with pleasure as they were joined as one. Her eyes widened, and she winced, but as she settled on him, she became used to feeling him inside her. She placed her arms on his broad chest to steady her position, and her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascading auburn waterfall.

Egon grinned as he placed his hands upon her hips, as though to hold her in place. He started rocking his body, slowly at first, and a whole new wave of sensations flooded her. His grip tightened as he gradually got faster and harder, and with every barrier of pain, there was a whole world of pleasure. She clutched at his chest and could feel his beating heart between her palms, and she knew that her own must have been as loud as a war drum. The air was thick with heat and her vision was blurred. Incoherent moans burst forth from her mouth, and she could feel her soul soaring away from her body. Every muscle in Egon’s body was honed to perfection, and they were all focused on giving her this ultimate pleasure. Her insides were a swirling morass of pleasure, and she was so delirious that if Egon hadn’t been holding her, she would have melted all over him.

There was one huge thrust that reached all the way through her body, sending her flying forward. She crashed against him and was cocooned in his arms. They held her tightly in this warm embrace, and she let herself succumb to the strength of his muscles and the desire within his body. His hips moved in the motion of a hammer, sending her mind higher and higher into the realms of delight, into what she thought must have been the realms of the gods themselves. Through the dreamy haze of it all, she was vaguely aware of kisses being plucked from her lips and warm breath washing over her face, but in the end, there was only him.

There would only ever be him.

Drowning in pleasure, she felt empty and full at the same time. Egon’s body rumbled and rolled, and she could feel his breaths getting sharper. She could feel his body getting tenser. His fingers dug into her, holding her in place as the world spun. The dizzying feeling was intoxicating, and she buried her face against his neck as he crashed into her again and again and again until suddenly he stopped. There was a burst of warmth that flowed through her, a part of him that seeped inside her body and joined them together in every way possible.

A smile rested upon her face as she let the pleasure dissipate from her glowing body. Sweat sizzled on their skin, and she kissed him gently, knowing they had shared something profound, something that would always be theirs and theirs alone.

“I never thought I’d fall in love with a Viking,” Caoimhe said in a low whisper as they cuddled together.

“I never thought I’d fall in love with a Highlander.”

“I used tae think ye were all brutes, but then a man told me a story about how sometimes ye need warriors in the world, that just because a Viking rages does nae mean he’s evil.”

Egon nodded thoughtfully. “I think rage directed in a positive direction can be useful. Unfortunately, there are always going to be men like Arne Hagen and Sven out there. If there aren’t people like me to fight them back, then they’ll be able to do whatever they like.”

“I’m glad ye are in the world tae protect us.” Caoimhe planted a kiss on his body. She reached over and played with the hammer that rested against his chest.

“Can I ask you a question, Caoimhe?”

“Of course,” she said.

“There’s just one thing that I don’t understand. I know why you were frightened of Vikings, but there was something about me in particular that scared you, wasn’t there? When we were with Sven outside that village as it was being attacked, you said that you saw me the night your village was attacked, and you meant it, didn’t you? You really believed that you saw me. But how? I wasn’t there.”

“I know that now,” Caoimhe replied, a little ashamed. “It’s just that in the heat of things, ye looked sae fearsome and ye reminded me of the warriors. Besides, there’s this as well,” she said, idly fingering the hammer.

“This?” he asked, arching an eyebrow. “You mean Mjolnir?”

Caoimhe tried to pronounce the word, but it sounded amusing in her accent. “Aye, I saw someone wearing it when they attacked the village.”

To her surprise, Egon laughed. “Caoimhe, Mjolnir is Thor’s hammer. There are many Vikings who wear it to pledge their glory to the god of thunder and to hope to be worthy of him. This is just a trinket I made as a child. If you were over in Norway, you’d see hundreds of these,” he said.

“Oh,” Caoimhe said, laughing with embarrassment. “Well, I suppose there’s a lot for me tae learn.”

“Indeed, but at least we can learn together,” he said, caressing her hips and giving her a sweet kiss. “I’ve learned a lot about myself in the time that I’ve known you as well. I never thought I could care for anyone as much as I could care for the love of battle. My family tried to tell me that there were more important things in life than glory or other ways to earn it than in battle, but until I met you, I didn’t understand. Then I learned that you had been the victim of a trap. When I saw you sitting there in the chamber, I just…” He became overwhelmed with emotion and trembled.

Caoimhe pressed her hands against his cheeks and kissed him firmly.

“Ye dinnae hae tae worry about me. We saved each other, Egon, and now we can hae a good life.”

Egon smiled. “A good life indeed—the best life,” he said. They kissed again and then became entwined in each other’s arms, so much so that it was impossible to tell where one of them ended and the other began. Caoimhe didn’t understand how she had been able to survive this long without him or how she hadn’t been able to feel complete without him in her life. Egon had been a difficult man to like, but loving him was the easiest, most natural thing in the world, and Caoimhe knew that the best parts of their story were yet to be told.

Morning rose, and with it came Egon’s spirits. After being so close to death, he knew that there was much he needed to accomplish in life before he was ready to step into the halls of Valhalla. Beside him was his beautiful bride. He swelled with pride at having won her heart, and he thanked the gods for blessing his life with her presence. If anyone had asked him when they had first met if he believed he would end up marrying Caoimhe, he would have shaken his head and walked away laughing, but love was a strange thing. It was like a river, wending its way through life without ever knowing where it was going to lead.

Caoimhe slept soundly. It had been a big day and an even bigger night. Egon was satisfied in a way that he had never been before. When he looked at her, he was overwhelmed with love, so much so that he thought he might burst. He stroked her cheek. She threatened to stir but remained asleep. She had been through a lot recently, and now she deserved her rest. She had barely slept while she had been by his side, and he was touched that she had shown such devotion to him.

Egon climbed out of bed and got dressed as he wanted to speak to Erik. He had already slept in later than he usually did, and he thought Erik would like to know how much Egon had changed and how right Erik had been. He owed his brother an apology for the way Egon had often treated him with scorn over the years. He strode out of the house and was greeted with a great many smiles and waves as everyone was eager to congratulate him on being a husband. Egon returned their good cheer, but Erik was nowhere to be found.

Instead, he found his mother chatting with his half siblings. They all had lives of their own elsewhere, so Ailis didn’t always have the chance to see them. Egon was glad to see them as well, but when he asked after Erik, Ailis asked her other children to leave and took Egon aside.

“While ye were wounded, yer da and Erik talked about the situation with other Vikings. We cannae be sure that Arne Hagen was working alone. He haed a lot of Vikings working with him, willing tae pledge themselves tae his cause. When yer da came here, he promised tae keep us safe, and as much as he hates tae admit it, he cannae keep this promise when sae many Vikings still want tae raid. He doesnae expect tae change the ways of yer people, but he wanted tae at least talk with them tae see if some kind of agreement can be struck tae prevent this area from being attacked. Erik haes taken a ship and sailed tae Norway tae discuss the matter.”

Egon wasn’t sure how to take the news. It had always been he who wanted to sail the seas and visit their ancestral home, but now he remained in the Highlands while Erik sailed elsewhere. He supposed that what he had to say to his brother would have to wait.

Ailis squeezed his arm and told him to return to his bride, so Egon did exactly that.