Berserk

Four

It feels as though just as soon as I've closed my eyes against the dim light cast by the glowing embers in my small fireplace and finally settled down to rest in spite of my racing heart and shy thoughts of marriage when a knock sounds on my door.

Opening my eyes I'm met with early morning sun, the fireplace long dead and the clothes hanging in the window doing not much at all to shade me from the blinding light spilling in from outside

I hadn't intended on rising early... It had taken me much too long to coax myself to sleep in all of my anxiousness to want to rise in time for the shared morning meal, but as another knock sounds further urging me to stir I know I will not be allowed to rest.

Sitting up I take a moment to rub the sleep from my eyes before slipping off my raised straw mattress and pulling the very top quilt with me, wrapping it around my shoulders to shield me from the winter chill that still haunts our mornings.

The closer my feet carry me to the door the harder my nose works to try and figure out what I'm smelling...who I'm smelling when recognition hits me. Im not able to pick out the person on the other side of the door over the remnants of Eric's scent because it's Eric on the other side of the door. 

His knock may be calmer than last night but as I slowly pull my door open my suspicion is confirmed though the answer takes me aback. I hadn't expected him to show up last night, never mind this morning... Beard and hair neatly groomed and the earliest of field flowers in hand no less. 

....
Eric
....

Surely... Surely only Gods should be privy to the breathtaking visage that is Inkeri's still sleepy face... If this is the way he looks when he wakes up every morning neither of us will ever be able to leave my rooms again once he's accepted me. So slow his eyes are as he tracks me, his countenance sleepy, dazed and practically begging to be snatched into my arms. He's answered the door hair ruffled and only in his thin nightshirt with his quilt around him for modesty...

It takes much effort to pull myself together and remember to offer the flowers clenched in my fist instead of just crushing them in my nervousness. I had thought to accompany the stunning creature meant to be my wife to the main hall in hopes he wouldn't object to breaking his fast at my table instead of the one he shares with his close kin, but I hadn't given thought to the time or if he would still be resting.

The gentlest of thanks falls from Inkeri's mouth when he tugs the flowers I had spent the morning gathering out of my hands, and he admires them with such a shy smile... I can breathe again now knowing I hadn't gone wrong bringing the same gift he had received from the children he helps care for with such grace...

It's not the exciting dancing and jubilee that he puts on for the young toddlers, but his happiness seems even more genuine now as he sniffs them before tucking some of his wild tresses behind the most delicate of ears.

"Did you come back for your gold? I'll..." Inkeri blushes, pulling the quilt tighter around his slim shoulders while still averting his eyes, "I have to admit I haven't sorted it yet. I'm sorry..."

...
Inkeri
...

Eric seems truly taken aback by suggestion as if he had forgotten coming to call on me last night entirely... As if he weren't the reason for my lack of sleep then just as he is now... Though just like last night's visit this visit is sweet and extremely out of character.

"I didn't come for the gold... I came for you..." His voice is just as nervous as it was last night, almost as though at this moment he's just as shy as I am, "I thought we could walk to the hall together... And maybe you would break your fast with me."

As a flush fills the sharp angles of his rugged cheeks I can't help but think maybe under all of his roughness he is just as shy... At least in the face of me.

"I don't... You don't... Nevermind. Sorry to wake you."

...
Eric
...

Not unlike the hand that caught me last night, the hand that wraps around me now is unbearably soft and renders me deaf dumb and blind with the pleasure that stems from direct skin to skin contact between me and the beautiful pup with only eighteen winters under his belt that is meant to be my mate.

My inner beast threatens to tear my outer shell apart in the excitement we both feel as the sparks flow through us both truly for the first time, not muffled by pelt or cloth... Tingling confirmation of the bond the gods have arranged between our souls that neither of us can deny...

Just as quickly as the touch is initiated it ends, his hand being snapped away from mine with a hiss of an apology, a bashful statement of, "Well that's new... Just give me a moment to change, Eric. I'll be out in just a moment."

I don't turn but listen for the soft click of his door shutting me out before I allow myself to breathe. 

If love is said to be a battleground, the stunning little runt known as Inkeri is bound to send me to Valhalla without even being self-aware of it at all.