I threw my shoulder against his shield, and he flew backwards before landing on his ass and dropping both sword and shield as he fell. With the pommel of his fallen sword, I swept out the knees of the four soldiers to his left, leaving a gaping breach in their wall that the Vikings would’ve torn through.
Elric marched towards the space with such anger that Bastian stepped forward like he meant to fight the captain, but Elric just yanked all the fallen soldiers to their feet with a scowl and a barked command to reassemble.
The cowardly shit I’d plowed down had the audacity to glare at me, so as I passed him, I murmured, “Next time the prince offers you protection, boy…I suggest you take it.”
I smirked when I saw how tightly he locked shields with Bastian after that. Nothing unites like a common enemy.
“Again!” Elric commanded.
I picked a different weak spot in their line, feinting to one side and, at the last second, shifting my weight into the shield of a man who constantly dropped his shoulder. He careened sideways into the men to his right, knocking another gap in their wall.
Elric seethed. I didn’t look at Bastian. With the pent-up energy from my berserker, I needed to properly fight or fuck someone, and if he was giving me one of those smoldering looks, it might just muddle the two.
“Again!”
Seven tries later, their wall still hadn’t held. It wasn’t doing enough to alleviate the increasingly painful energy inside me.
I dared a glance at Bastian, beginning to wonder if other options might work better. Sure enough, my stomach swooped with desire the second we locked eyes. Plenty of people had wanted me over the years, but it had been so wrapped up in fear that I’d been able to see their fantasies. They wanted to live on the edge of a dagger for the night, just to see what it was like.
Bastianwantedthe dagger.
I gritted my teeth, feeling true pain from my berserker now.
Bastian cocked his head in provocation, and the restless energy inside me hummed with excitement. As soon as they locked their shields again, I charged at him, but he was readyfor me. He lowered his shield at the last second, and when I smashed into it, he raised it into the air, launching me over his back without breaking the wall.
I landed with a roll and sprung to my feet, facing him without so much as a practice weapon. He stepped out of the line, and the shields on either side of him closed to fill the gap like they would in battle, and Bastian came towards me, thumping his sword against his shield menacingly.
Good. Nowthisis a challenge.
He swung his sword at me in a sweeping arc that was easy to duck, but when he followed through with his shield, he managed to slam it into my left side. I staggered back, almost landing on my ass in front of half the Saxon army.
“Viking!” The shout from Elric was followed by a tossed sword, which I caught one-handed just in time to block Bastian’s next strike. Our swords clanged together with satisfying force.
If Elric had tossed me the weapon in the hope I’d humiliate Bastian, it was a grave mistake. The moment I met his thrust with a parry and deflected the blow, Bastian the tortured prince seemed to melt away, replaced by Bastian the ruthless pirate.
He charged at me with quick, relentless thrusts, never giving me time to turn the attack back on him. I was on the defensive, giving ground as he struck again and again. The moment I found an opening, he threw his shield at me, a move I hadn’t expected, so I had to abandon my attack to avoid the projectile.
“A dirty move. Thought princes were supposed to be noble…” I snarled at him.
He barely lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Pirate, remember?”
My berserker went from howling for blood to growling for satisfaction.Thiswas the man who’d made me lose my wits with lust on Talon’s ship. When he channeled that infuriating control into violence, it was a sight to behold.
But I didn’t want to behold him. I wanted to sink my teeth into his flesh until he cried out and had to wear the mark of my bite for weeks.
I finally found an in and let him strike my sword so hard, he knocked it from my loose grasp. His eyes followed the movement of the sword, surprised I’d let it go, but they snapped shut when I backhanded him across the cheekbone with my left hand.
A low sound of shock went up from the soldiers, but it turned to ringing in my ears when Bastian’s fist connected with my jaw. He hadn’t even gotten his head upright before he’d swung back at me, pulling his punch, but jarring my reality all the same.
I grinned, spitting the blood from my mouth. He’d split my lip, but my teeth were intact.
My berserker had gone eerily calm, practically purring in the presence of someone who fed her no fear. He was a challenge, and she recognized in him a worthy opponent.
Or maybe that was just me…
An opponent all the same, I thought as I rolled to pick up my sword and made it to my feet in time to block his next thrust.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
