“We thought maybe on this eve of celebration we would get to know our new grandson better.” Sven smiled at their son. “Show him around his new home and perhaps even give him his very own lodge here at the Fortress?”
Their offspring perked up at that. More so, though, Raven got the sense he was truly taken by Sven and Emily. As though he sensed how deep their love for him ran.
“Would you like to spend a few more hours with everyone then join us for the night, little one?” Sven smiled at him. “Then join your parents again first thing in the morn?”
Their son looked from Tor to Raven, unsure, before Raven nodded. “Promise we won’t go far.” She shook her head. “Ever again.”
“No,” Tor agreed. “Never.”
They spent the next few hours proving it to him too. From laughing and dancing and walking among their people until, at last, tuckered out, their little one left with Sven and Emily.
While Raven thought for sure Tor would need sleep, that it was inevitable, it turned out she was wrong. Wrong in ways that ended up feeling so very, very right.
Chapter Thirty-One
“YOU NEED SLEEP,” Ravensaid when Tor pulled her onto his lap in front of a bonfire after his parents took their son to bed. “You need—”
“You,” he murmured against the side of her neck. He had been breathing in her incredible scent all night, and he was at his wit’s end. “And you know it.”
He had felt an influx of emotions since returning. Tremendous pride and love for his son. The same for his mate. Then more and more emotions still. He understood they had everything to do with passing over into a realm no creature should ever enter. A realm that drove people mad. Sucked their soul from existence. Since then, he’d been trying to acclimate to this reality, but it felt stunted. Wrong somehow.
“Because you need to be grounded,” Raven said softly, understanding. Her lower lip wobbled. Tears brimmed in her eyes when she looked at him. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you—”
He put a finger to her lips. “Because I knew you,we, needed time with family first. And they needed it with us. Including our son.”
“And they’ve all had it.” She brushed her lips across his. “Everything’s all right now, Tor. Everything’s...”
That’s all she got out before he swept her up in his arms and headed for his lodge.
“I can put you down if you would rather appear independent, I’m just—”
“It’s fine.” She clearly sensed his urgency. “They know I can handle myself, so do what you need to.”
Her voice had turned sensual and eager. She understood what he needed. How desperate he was to be inside her again. To feel grounded by her sweet, luscious body. To have the last threads of that awful place beyond death wiped away by his mate.
They could have just vanished back to his lodge with magic, but that seemed too abrupt. He wanted to feel her in his arms. Feel strong rather than how weak he had become in that dark abyss of nothingness. And he wanted to carry her off like they had just been married. Something she liked, no,loved, by the octave of her thoughts.
