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To be pursued by all these giant alien men.
A hand squeezed mine. It was warm and rough and reminded me of the things it had done to my body last night and how it had saved me from the saber-toothed cat. Thor. Patiently, he stood right next to me, his head cocked, waiting for me to say I changed my mind.
You didn’t ask for this, but you are here now, so make the fucking best of it. Follow your heart, my mind instructed. And the fact that this came from my mind that always argued with my heart, I thought was funny, but didn’t laugh. Instead, I nodded at Xano to begin. After all, what did I have to lose?
The ceremony was short and over with quickly. Afterward, we ate with the others, and Thor introduced every single clan member to me, but all their names blurred together after a while.
One thing stood out though. All of them seemed genuinely happy for Thor and me, and every single one of the wild-lookingmen acted like a complete gentleman. Not even close to what I would have expected of a Viking.
Once we ate our fill, Thor picked me up to carry me outside. “Where are we going?”
“To a place where you can wash up if you still want to.”
He walked around the cave and down a narrow path I would explore a few million years from now. As far as I remembered, there was nothing here. No lake, no stream, no waterfall… then again, I imagined over the course of so many years, the landscape had probably drastically changed. Or maybe not drastically, but it at least changed some. The mountain, the cave, the boulders around the area, all looked the same to me. Then again, I had never studied them that closely, that had been Gabriel’s job.
We came to a narrow opening in the wall, which I remembered led into another cave, a much smaller one, holding only one chamber.
I gave Thor a questioning glance.
“You’ll find anything you need in there. I’ll wait and guard the entrance,” he replied to my unspoken question.
Curious, I squeezed my body through the narrow passageway and was taken aback by the sight in front of me. Lit by many more of the small blue cubes, I stared at several in-ground pools of water from which low steam rose.Hot springs, my mind supplied and jubilated.
Illuminated by more blue cubes submerged in the pools, I noticed that each one had a different depth. These had not been here when I explored this cave, and I reminded myself that millions of years had not only changed the area, but the mountain and its caves as well.
To my left, a small spring flowed from an opening in the wall, filling the pools, while to my right, water ran off through another wall, thus cleaning the little pools constantly.
With a glance toward the entrance, which was blocked off thanks to the narrow passageway, I stripped out of my clothing and stepped into one of the not-so-deep pools where the water still reached to my neck when I sat down.
The water was heavenly. Soft, clear, and exactly the right temperature—just the way I preferred my baths. I leaned back and, for a moment, closed my eyes. I wanted to pretend to be in my hotel room or my old apartment in Chicago, but for some reason, that idea filled me with sadness, and it took me a moment to figure out why.
Thor.
He wouldn’t be there.
I gave up on relaxing and found a very hard shard of soap that looked homemade and smelled of musk, but it was better than nothing. I soaped first my body and then my hair, relishing in being clean.
My mind drifted back to Thor, standing guard outside, in the cold.
“Thor?”
My chest swelled withhappiness and pride. I could hardly believe my good fortune in the midst of all this misery. After all these years, I foundher, and she was only a stone’s throw from me, bathing.
Guilt sat deep inside me at the thought of how many people had to suffer for me to find my happiness, even Holly, who had been ripped from everything she had ever known. I'll make it up to her, I vowed,she’ll never want for anything.
Except going back to her own time. As guilty as I felt over what that devious voice inside me whispered, that was out of my control. I hadn’t had anything to do with bringing her here besides wishing to find my szaria, and I doubted that had anything to do with it either. It was highly unlikely that the gods had listened to my prayer, gone into the future, and handpicked Holly for me. Had they done that, they would have delivered her straight to me instead of letting her wander through the wilderness for weeks. The possibilities of her dying during those two weeks were endless, and I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about them.
“Thor?” I heard her sweet voice call my name.
“Is everything alright?” I had to force myself to reply instead of storming into the cave, blaster drawn.
“I’m okay, but I could use some company,” she replied.
She didn’t have to ask twice. I removed my sword from its sheath on my back so I could squeeze through the narrow passageway, and was dumbstruck when I saw her reclining in one of the smaller pools.
“The water is perfect. Why don’t you come in?” She lured me to her like one of the sirens from Jahrle.
She was a vision to behold, the light blue sheen from the illumi-cube in the water made her skin glow. Relaxed, she had her arms draped on the pool’s sides, not the least bit shy about her nakedness. Her tantalizing tits were partially submerged in the water, making me jealous of it as it lapped around her stiff nipples. My cock hardened, and I hastened to take off my shoes before I relieved my body of the rest of my clothing.
