Berserk

Prologue

Curled up under the newest heavy quilt that had been gifted to me by my mother I jump when a hard knock sounds on the other side of the door... This had been bound to happen... All of my efforts wasted... All day trying to escape him and he's finally found me anyway...

I know I shouldn't have refused him... I should have gone with the page that he had sent to fetch me... I should have accepted his offer to dance earlier this evening... I should have done many things tonight that I did not do.

The scent seeping in from the crack under my door that always leaves my room just a touch too drafty tells me that it isn't a page that's come to try and fetch me again... It's him... He's marched down here himself to demand my presence...

It's the same scent that had commanded every ounce of my attention since my most recent winter... My eighteenth winter...

He had been gone over the winter months, but walking past his door always left me feeling melted and confused... Needy in a way that makes me too nervous to even breathe down that entire hall...

His party had returned last night, successful in their raids, loot overflowing from the longboats when they docked. Now he and his fellow berserkers are back walking amongst the pack, and he's noticed me... He's noticed that I've noticed him...

Hiding from him all day had been difficult, having to scent him out before he scents me... Having to find new places to hide as he let his powerful nose try to guide him to my ever-changing location...chasing me until we had both ended up in the great hall for dinner, his calculating eyes boring holes into my very soul, a look as though he wanted to send me to Valhalla himself for what I've done... For hiding from him instead of throwing myself gratefully at his feet for even being allowed to acknowledge that the two of us are meant to be mates.

Who could blame me with him and his band of uncontrollable beasts walk around like they're ready to turn on the rest of us over the slightest inconvenience... So temperamental....so fragile is their calm that the rest if we have to keep our distance unless they were in a deliriously good mood, or still in their weakened after battle state. They were safer in those two situations... Not by much... But a little.

At the moment though, Eric is anything but battle-worn or happy, another frustrated knock sounding, louder this time as he grows more impatient with my cowering... Of my fear of him.

A hard pound starts before a hissed swear leaks it's way to my ears and the knob is tested. Much to my dismay, it seems my Northman is determined not to walk away empty-handed.

I'm horrified listening to its turn, ready to cry over hearing the door creak open just enough to let a body slide in before shutting just a little too hard, a deep intake of breath as he fills himself with my scent the only other noise breaking out temporary silence.