Viking Heart (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors Book 3) by Sky Purington Read Free Book Online

dried off. “As to me seeing her finished, we’ve yet to begin anything. So you need not worry.”
    Raknar locked his hands behind his back, remained silent and continued eying Kol. A method his brother had developed years ago when he realized Naðr would always have the first word. Trained to watch and wait, his middle brother contemplated patiently before he volunteered his opinion. “Why is the concept of being with one woman so difficult for you? Do you still let the actions of our mother reflect on what…who you want from this life?”
    The last thing he wanted to speak of was the betrayal of their parents so he ignored the question and yanked on pants, boots, and a tunic. “Let us join the festivities, Brother.”
    Raknar caught his arm in passing, eyes unexpectedly compassionate. “Naðr and I fell in love with our women because it was true. It was real. If you do not feel the same with Amber, set her aside without causing her harm of the heart. The seers will find another of their bloodline to fulfill this pact. It need not be her.” His eyes went to the stripped down bed, the evidence of Kol’s need to eliminate the room of scents that no longer agreed with him. “Unless you want it to be her.”
    Kol held his eyes. “Though you speak of another of their bloodline, we both know none are as desired by the seers as the bloodline of sisters. To match the potency of the bloodline of three brothers.”
    “Regardless.” Raknar sighed. “Neither Naðr or I want you to feel forced into anything.” He clasped Kol’s shoulder and squeezed. “That is the truth, Brother.”
    There was no mistaking the heartfelt meaning in Raknar’s eyes. His brothers cared about him. Yet it was easy enough for them to be supportive when they had already found such prizes, such deep relationships. Did he think he could find that with Amber? He had no idea. His method, his very way of living, had everything to do with lusting after a woman. Never loving her. Love was set aside for his brothers, his closest kin, and now Megan and Veronica. That was the kind of love he knew.
    The only other kind he had seen ripped lives apart.
    Kol nodded his thanks for Raknar’s support then swung his cloak over his shoulders as he strode out. For too long he’d been in his brothers’ shadows, doing as they asked. Now? He wasn’t so sure. Odin knew how much he had rolled over and over in his mind his obligation to this pact with the seers. How much he did not want to let his brothers or his people down. It was at the heart of why he hadn’t once embraced his dragon.
    Everything he was .
    Because the man beneath was but a shell.
    A shadow.
    But damn if anyone would see that as he sauntered into the hall with a woman on either arm. It was easier when Veronica first arrived. He could pretend to want her and shove a girl or two aside. All right, not the total truth. Kol had wanted both her and Megan at one point or another. Yet not as much as he could have. They were amazing women but not quite…whatever he was looking for. Which, typically speaking, was any woman with a pretty enough face. Sometimes that didn’t matter either. If she had a nice personality and a sweet soul, she was well worth bedding.
    Women appealed to him on every level. Tall, short, thin, curvy, all had a little something special to offer and he was very good at finding out what that was.
    Still, as he plunked down at the head table next to Naðr, he knew the women he pulled onto his lap were nothing less than armor. And that bothered him. For them more than anything. They deserved better. Then again, he wasn’t a cruel man or an indecent lap to sit upon. So he clasped their hips and instead of kissing them as he would normally do, he sat back and avidly watched the crowd.
    Eying him, Naðr handed Kol a horn of ale and crossed his arms over his chest. “Megan wishes you to be free of women this eve, Brother.”
    “Does she,” he murmured, downing half the horn before he