“Okay,” he said. “We’ll go celebrate our monthiversary.”

  “Monthiversary?”

  “Well, it’s not a year yet, so it can’t be an anniversary, can it?”

  She slipped her nightgown over her head and hung it on a peg on the bathroom wall. When she turned back to face him, his eyes were warm and he was smiling in appreciation of the view. She chuckled. “Were you just ogling me, Mr. Thorvald?”

  “Why not? You were ogling me when I was on my way in here.”

  “I’m not ashamed.”

  He pulled her into his arms. “Neither am I.”

  They went together into the heat of the shower, the steam rising around them when he closed the shower door. He tipped his head back to wet his hair, then stepped aside so that she could wet down, too. They stood facing each other, the water running down their skin like searching fingers, warm and soothing.

  He took her mouth in a deep kiss, his arms around her. She stepped into his embrace, her breasts pressing against the hard planes of his chest. He dropped one hand to cup the roundness of her buttocks, squeezing gently. She sighed into his mouth, and he moved his kiss to her cheek, then to the corner of her jaw.

  Nika tightened her arms around his neck, and he slid both hands down to grab her, pulling her closer to him. She could feel the heated rod of his desire caught between their bellies, throbbing against her, almost as if it was pleading with her to let it in. She swayed, rubbing her body against it, pulling a low moan from his throat.

  Nika pressed her lips to Erik’s neck, feeling the power of his heartbeat just below the surface. She licked the smooth skin above his vein, savoring the feeling of his pulse against her tongue. He moved one of his hands farther down, his fingertip just brushing against the engorging lips of her sex. She shivered and pulled him closer, wrapping one leg around his, her heel rubbing against the rock-hard muscle of his calf.

  He turned her so that her back was against the shower wall, and he pressed her against it. His hands supported her seat and brought her up into position, and she happily allowed it. In truth, he was so strong and in such control that she could not have prevented it, but the thought of resisting him never crossed her mind. He was all she wanted.

  She stroked his pulse point with her tongue again, and he breathed, “Do it.”

  She felt the green Draugr lights ignite in her eyes, and her long teeth descended hungrily. He rubbed himself against her, the weeping head just skimming along her slit, and she needed more. She pushed her fangs into his vein.

  He shuddered in pure pleasure at the onset of her feeding and arched against her, sliding home. He reached deep inside her, and as he began to move, she moaned against his neck. She sucked the blood to the surface and into her mouth, wet passes of her tongue mimicking the rhythm he was setting farther down. Erik held her up and rocked into her, impaling her along his thick length again and again. She clutched at his shoulders and urged him to go faster.

  He complied, setting a fast pace that neither of them would be able to sustain for very long. She reached her climax first, pulling her mouth away from his neck to cry out, leaving the blood to run in two tiny rivulets down his body. She quaked, tightening around him like a fist, making him groan out her name in a voice thick with passion. She was still clenching in her orgasm when she felt him spill inside of her, his breath catching in his throat.

  The wound in his neck had closed of its own volition, but she licked it anyway, lapping up the traces of blood that remained. It made her shudder and very nearly made her come again. The feeling of his hard heat still sliding back and forth inside of her completed the inspiration and she tumbled over the edge for the second time.

  He held her tightly as they both regained their senses, their bodies shaking, their hearts full of each other and the love they shared. He kissed her, his tongue gentle against hers as he claimed her mouth. Gently, slowly, he lowered her down to her feet.

  She kissed him, her hands running down his sculpted abdomen, memorizing every hill and valley with her fingertips. He ran his hands through her wet hair. When he cupped her head in his palms, she broke the kiss to look up into his eyes.

  “I love you, Erik,” she breathed.

  His answer was in the form of a kiss. Sometimes he expressed himself best when he used no words at all.

  ***

  They finished washing up, dried off, and adjourned to the bedroom for another round of lovemaking before they decided to finally go to Piteå. They got clean and bundled up against the wind and rain and headed hand-in-hand to the boat house to begin the trek.

  Lars’ boat, a 50-foot Princess V48 yacht, almost identical to the boat Erik and Nika owned, was anchored in the open slip of the boathouse, and he had politely waited for them to come out of the house instead of charging up and disturbing them. When they entered the building, he stood up from the stool he’d been sitting on, a paperback novel in his hand. He smiled broadly. When he looked happy this way, Nika thought he was nearly as handsome as Erik.

  Nearly.

  “Well, good morning, lovebirds,” he greeted. “Did we get enough sleep?”

  “How long have you been sitting out here?” Erik asked him. “Nothing better to do with your time?”

  “You might ask Nika what I’m doing here,” Lars said. He turned to her. “Everything’s loaded.”

  Erik looked from his lover to his friend and narrowed his eyes. “I haven’t lived this long without being able to tell when someone’s plotting against me,” he warned.

  “This is the very nicest of plots, I promise,” Nika told him. She kissed him. “Get on the boat, Huntsman.”

  He looked from Nika to Lars, then back again. There were suitcases on the boat that he hadn’t seen her pack. Nika grinned at him, delighted to have caught him off guard. “Fine,” Erik relented. “But I’m prepared to defend myself if you try to take my honor.”

  Lars laughed. “What honor? Get in the damn boat.”

  Erik climbed on board and gave Nika a hand in, then Lars untied the vessel and climbed aboard. He got behind the wheel and piloted expertly out into the bay.

  “There’s some paperwork in the cabin you might want to look at,” he told Erik.

  Erik went into the cabin and found a manila envelope, marked with the emblem of the SOG, the Swedish Special Forces to which he and Lars had once belonged. Nika sat at the table while he opened the envelope and pulled out an official-looking letter signed by Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, General Torsten Jung.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “It’s an apology for letting Holm and his Red Hand buddies fill me full of silver shot.”

  She frowned, unimpressed. “Nice of him.”

  “Keep reading,” Lars coached.

  He complied. “He’s also inviting me and Lars back into the SOG as the new core of the Huntsman unit.” He glanced up at his friend, who had turned around to watch him from the wheel. “What do you think of this?”

  Lars grinned. “I think he can shove that invitation up his ass. We’ll get more done to protect people from rogue Draugr if we work on our own terms.”

  Erik nodded. “I agree.” He put the letter back into the envelope. “At least they’re not going to hunt us anymore...unless that gets reinstated when we tell them no.”

  “That’s not the Swedish way, is it?” she asked.

  “Neither is shooting at their own operatives from helicopters, but they certainly did that,” Erik shrugged. “I’ll consider it.”

  “We should go out on our own. Hire some SOG retirees, maybe some mercenaries with Special Ops backgrounds. We’d have to fill them in, of course,” Lars mused. “Maybe even turn them. Think you could get into that idea?”

  He sat beside Nika and put his arm around her. She leaned into him with a smile. “I’m not interested in starting my own army.”

  Nika asked puckishly, “What about your own raiding party?”

  He groaned. “I’m really not interested in that.” He looked out the window. “We’re not bearing toward the inlet.”

  Lars shook his head. “Nope.”

  “We aren’t going to Piteå?”

  “Nope.”

  He looked at Nika. “What are you up to?”

  “You’ll see,” she said. “We’re heading to Finland. Our passports are packed in the bags.”

  “Finland?” Erik echoed, surprised. “Why?”

  “It's called a vacation, numbskull,” Lars said. “Sif let me know that a certain VERY old man has a birthday this week, and we’re going to celebrate.”

  He laughed. “I don’t know when my birthday is. It’s not like we kept track back in the day, and the calendar has changed so many times since then…”

  “Sif said it was right about this time, and I trust her.” He turned back to the wheel. “Anyway, she’ll be meeting us in Oulu.”

  “Magda can’t have agreed to that,” Erik said.

  “Magda can kiss my ass.”

  Nika chuckled. “Sif and Lars are a couple now. Magda isn’t happy, but, well… she doesn’t own Sif, now, does she?”

  Erik snorted softly. “Someone needs to tell Magda that.”

  Lars looked sheepish. “Actually… Magda is coming, too. We’re… well, the three of us are…” Erik laughed, and Lars defended, “Hey, she was angry about being left out, so we included her. Nothing wrong with that!”

  “If you say so. I’d rather sleep with a snake than with Magda,” Erik said. “Actually, it probably wouldn’t be too different. She’s just as cold-blooded as a snake, and just as likely to bite.”

  “She’s immortal, not a vampire, and she doesn’t do the biting in this relationship.” He flashed his Draugr fangs, and they all laughed.

  Nika reached into her purse and pulled out a brochure. “We’re going to be staying at the Hotel Iso-Syöte, in one of their rental cabins. It’s got three bedrooms, so Sif and Lars and Magda can mix and match however they want while we have our own place to sleep. It’s got a beautiful view of a national forest, its own sauna, and it’s away from the body of the hotel. Very nice. We’ve got it for a month.”

  “There are other cottages nearby, but if we keep the screaming to a minimum, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Lars teased.

  He flipped through the brochure. “I’ve heard of this place. Very romantic.”

  She leaned her chin on his shoulder. “That’s what I’m counting on.” She smiled. “Happy birthday, my love.”

  He kissed her. “You’re crazy, but I appreciate the gesture.”

  “So how many years do you have under your belt?” Lars asked.

  Erik considered carefully. “One thousand one hundred and ninety-four, give or take.”

  “So, you basically fart dust.”

  He chuckled. “Basically.”

  Nika smirked. “I love older men…”

  Chapter Two

  A courtesy driver picked them up at the customs station at the dock and drove them to the hotel, where they registered and picked up their keys. The same driver then delivered them to their cottage, which was on a hill overlooking a dense evergreen forest. He helped carry their bags inside.

  Magda and Sif were sitting together on the couch when they arrived. Magda’s legs were drawn up onto the cushion beside her, and Sif was lying with her head in her lap. Magda had a glass of dreyri in one hand and was dropping the enchanted blood into Sif’s mouth from her fingertips, one drop at a time. She put the glass aside when the mortal driver entered the room.

  Lars walked to the two women and kissed them both soundly. Erik grinned at Nika and waggled his eyebrows, and she laughed, smacking him in the arm. Since the episode with the G8 summit, she had seen more of his relaxed, casual side, and she’d learned that he was actually blessed with a lively sense of humor. She enjoyed the moments when he let it show.

  “Happy birthday, Huntsman,” Magda said.

  “Thank you.” He sat in an armchair, and he pulled Nika onto his lap. She went happily. “I have to say, it’s strange to see you outside of Stockholm. When was the last time you left?”

  “1823,” she replied. “I went to England.”

  Lars sat beside Magda, lifting Sif’s legs so that he could slide beneath them. “Then it’s high time you got away from that bar. All work and no play…”

  Sif put a hand over his mouth with a twinkle in her eye. “Hush. You talk too much.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by a howl in the forest below. Sif said, “Strange to hear a wolf in daylight.”

  Magda’s eyes softened for a moment as she focused her mind inward. She said softly, “That was no wolf. That was one of the Ulfen.”

  Nika asked, “Ulfen?”

  “Werewolves.”

  “Are they common in Finland?”

  Erik shrugged. “They’re scattered all around the world, like vampires. They began here, like us, but they’ve expanded their territory.”

  Lars frowned. “If I’d known this was werewolf territory, I’d have picked a different hotel.”

  Magda waved her hand dismissively. “No Ulfen will attack a house with four Draugr and a vala. It would be suicide.” She stroked Sif’s hair. “Besides, we have one of the First with us, and four vessels. They’d never stand a chance.”

  “Do you think they know that?” Lars asked.

  Nika asked a more pertinent question, to her way of thinking. “Do you think they care?”

  Erik chuckled and put his arms around her. “We’ll find out.”

  “Are we in danger?” she asked, worried.

  He shook his head. “No. Magda is right. They wouldn’t dream of attacking us here, not all of us together.”

  Sif said, “But you shouldn’t go wandering in the woods alone.”

  “I wasn’t planning to.”

  “Smart girl.”

  Erik smiled at her. “Would you like to take a tour of our new digs? See where everything is?”

  She nodded. “Sure.”

  Magda spoke up. “We picked the second bedroom, so stay out of it.”

  Nika left Erik’s lap and held out her hand to him. He stood up and took her hand, then told Magda, “Don’t worry. I won’t invade your inner sanctum.”

  They left the room together to explore.

  In the kitchen, they found a large keg of old-vintage dreyri, and Erik patted it appreciatively. “Magda,” he said with grudging admiration. “Nothing but the best.”

  Nika went to the window and looked out. There were other cottages on the hill, but none were really in her line of sight. It made the building feel private and secluded, as if it was just the five of them and no part of the world existed beyond the walls.

  Erik wrapped his arms around her from behind and pressed against her back, his cheek against the side of her head. “Thank you for tricking me.”

  She chuckled. “You’re welcome. I thought it would be a nice thing to have some time with friends, and to celebrate you for a while.”

  He kissed her ear. “You’re very considerate.”

  “I try.”

  She loved the feeling of standing with him this way, his body against hers, the two of them fitting together as if they’d been born to do nothing else. She put her hands on his, holding them against her stomach. She was happy.

  They stood that way for a long while, wrapped up in each other. Finally, Erik pulled away, leaving her with a kiss on the cheek.

  “I’ll get the bags and put them in a room.”

  “Not the second one,” she reminded.

  “Oh, no. Never.”

  ***

  He went back into the main room and collected their bags. They were heavier than he would have expected, and he found himself wondering what Nika had packed. She came out of the kitchen and followed him up the stairs. On the couch, the threesome were absorbed in each other and paid no attention to their passage. He wondered if they would even make it to a bed.

  Erik took them to the farthest bedroom from the stairs, one with a window that looked out over the forested valley below. The view was breathtaking, and Nika stood in front of it, shaking her head in wonder.

  “I had no idea that Finland was so beautiful.”

  “All of Scandinavia is like heaven,” he said proudly. “We’re very lucky to live here.”

  Another howl rose from the wood, and Erik frowned. “That was closer.”

  “Why do they howl?”

  “They usually do it to gather their pack, or to let their packs know where they are. I’m only hearing one wolf, though, so it seems there’s no pack nearby. If there were, they’d be answering.”

  She sat on the bed. “I guess I should feel reassured that he’s alone.”

  “I do.” He smiled at her and sat beside her on the bed. “Don’t worry about them. Really. I’ll keep you safe.”

  She leaned over and kissed him. “I know.”

  Another howl went up from the lonely Ulfen in the forest, and this time another howl sounded in the distance, followed by a third. Nika frowned. “Now there’s three of them.”

  “And five of us.” He ran a hand through her hair. “Relax.”

  “I packed your guns and your silver ammo.”

  “I’m glad.” He smiled. “That would certainly explain why the bags are so heavy.”

  She rose and went to her own suitcase. She put it onto the mattress, something that was easier with her new Draugr strength, and unzipped it. With a smile, she pulled out the Book of Odin and dropped it on the bed.

  “Brought some light reading, I see,” Erik teased.

  She opened the book, and the runes on the cover danced in response to her touch. She turned a few pages and looked up. “I’m wondering if Odin has anything to say about Ulfen.”

  “I’d be curious to know…”

  Erik stretched out on the bed and relaxed while Nika flipped through the ancient pages. She found many things that distracted her, rune magic that she had not yet learned and secrets that were still hidden from her view. Some pages sorted themselves immediately into a form she could read, and some maintained a densely-packed runic jumble that might as well have been computerized encryption for all the sense she could make of it.