[To be titled viking story]

TWENTY-TWO

Then I realized where I was again, wrapped around Leif as he climbed down the tree. I wrapped my arms around his neck in terror. All I had from keeping me from crashing to the ground was Leif. He was my cushion.

When he set his feet on the ground, I still hadn't let go. I was frozen in terror.

He chuckled. "I've never met someone so afraid of heights."

I glared down at him as I came to my senses. Then I noticed the large, soft part of my chest was cradling his neck.

I quickly let go of him and scrambled to get away from his grasp on me. It was very inappropriate. If anyone had spotted us, we would have been in trouble.

The earl's son wasn't allowed to go gallivanting into the woods with a previously enslaved girl. He needed a pure beauty to give him many strong sons.

My rump hit the ground with bruising force.

That's when the other two of the hunting party arrived. Svarti and Yori. I could just keep my eyes from rolling at the circumstances.

I knew my hair would be a mess. My lips felt swollen from the kiss I shade with Leif. I looked down at my clothes when the look of intense anger came across Svarti's face. My skirts were pushed up near my thighs. My undergarments did well to hide what was underneath, but it set Svarti off.

I scrambled to my feet at Svarti started to walk towards Leif, who was looking at Yori with an expression that I didn't recognize. Yori though, also didn't look amused with what they had stumbled upon.

I narrowly managed to insert myself between Leif and Svarti.

"What were you doing to her?" Svarti demanded as he took steps closer.

Leif held onto my elbow when I tried to move in front of him. He moved me behind him as Svarti approached.

"You're the one who thinks you're protecting her when you were willing to rape her?" Svarti asked in a furious disbelief.

I yanked my elbow from Leif's hold and managed to squeeze in between them.

"Svarti, it wasn't what it looked like." I had to try to reason with them. "Leif, it looked bad."

Leif nodded, but still took a step closer. "That still doesn't give him the right to accuse me of attempting to rape you."

I looked over to see Yori smiling at the situation. The two men between me were sandwiching me. The only reason there wasn't a fist thrown was because I was in the middle.

"Come help me!" I told my cousin.

His smile just grew. "It's not very often I get to watch two men fight over a woman."

I rolled my eyes. I was done being sandwiched. I needed to get these two off of me. So, with a fist flying back and a knee flying forward, I had both of the men on the ground holding their respective groins.

"Now," I took a nice deep breath, "you two take a moment and think about what you've done wrong here."

I walked away from the two men and went to my cousin, who was laughing at the men.

"I'm sure that's not how either man wanted you to handle their cocks." He managed to get out while wiping a humorous tear from his eye.

I had no doubt that it was true, but I just smiled at my cousin.