Reluctant Berserker: Isaacson Trilogy Book One

Chapter 29

Snow started fluttering from the sky but disappeared before it reached the ground. Blood rushed through Gunnar's veins with such force he became light-headed. His skin was numb from the cold even as his body thrummed painfully with energy.

Absently, he wished he'd remembered to grab their coats, but the thought quickly vanished. Nora stood three feet away from him, focusing on his face. She squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before she glanced down at the berry in her hand.

There was a strange sense of déjà vu, watching her, half expecting to hear Ulric charge toward them, interrupting them once more, but there would be no interruptions tonight. Nora closed her eyes and raised the single white berry to her lips.

Electricity sang through his limbs, chanting the hope she would claim him. His senses were sharp, and his mind was clear of all previous worries. Time slowed and then paused as the berry passed across her lips and disappeared into her mouth. He could hear the delicate skin of the berry snap as her teeth crushed it, releasing the juice he knew would be bitter to the taste.

The total darkness of the night did not impede Gunnar, who stood spellbound, watching the change of Nora unleashing her Berserker. Muscles contracted and flexed under her clothing. Her lithe body arched back as though stretching to accommodate the abundant strength coursing through her veins.

A look of rapture overtook her features before her eyes shot open and met his expectant gaze. Their mismatched colors swirled, altering to an identical, fathomless black that overtook the whites of her eyes and shined with an eerie light. When the change was complete, power radiated from her in pulsating waves.

His throat tightened, and air refused to fill his lungs. Nora was magnificent; he'd never beheld such terrifying beauty. He heard a low, ticking growl seconds before she pinned him to the rocky ground and held him in place with a single hand at his throat.

The force she wielded caused the earth to shake and tremble beneath him, knocking the air—what little there had been—from his lungs. She half knelt, half sprawled alongside him, braced on her left knee.

Dirt puffed up around them in soft clouds, tainting each gasp of breath with the smell and taste of moss and frozen earth. Rocks jabbed into his back and hips, reminding him that this moment was no dream.

Her fingers at his throat shifted in a caress as she leaned in close, deeply breathing his scent. The sound she emitted changed from a ticking growl to the rumbling purr he had grown familiar with and which reverberated in his chest.

Calm stole over him when he realized that if her Berserker had meant to reject him, they wouldn't be staring at one another purring like contented kittens. He grinned at the irrational thought. Maybe not kittens—unless they happened to be a new breed with immeasurable power and bloodlust coursing in their veins.

Warmth spread throughout his chest until the cold no longer bothered him. Slowly, he reached up and loosened Nora's grip from around his throat, threading their fingers together.

She growled, her lips curling back in a feral smile, and then, without warning, her lips were suddenly upon his as she claimed him with a deep, driven kiss.

He couldn't have withheld his response if he wanted to. Their previous kisses, ones that had seared his soul, branding him as hers, paled in comparison. It was as though he had been merely existing, half-starved, and not even realizing it until that moment, and now a bounteous feast lay before him with each touch of her lips and every caress of her hands.

Relief and happiness overflowed, causing his hands to shake as he cradled her face. He was hers, and she was his. There was no questioning it now because he had never felt such powerful, all-consuming joy. This was a moment he never wanted to end, and relished her arms wrapping around his neck, clutching him to her with possessive greed, which he returned in equal measure.