And she did. The prospect of saying good-bye to him hurt her too.
When they reached the apartment, Wulf, as was Norse custom, picked her up and carried her over the threshold. It amazed her because he had to do it with one arm since his other hand was still bound to hers.
Chris poured everyone drinks. "This is where Wulf's people would get drunk and party for a week. All hail the Vikings, forerunners to the frat boys!"
"You can party," Wulf said to him, "but I better not catch you drunk."
Chris rolled his eyes, then bent down and said to Cassandra's stomach, "Be wise, little guy, stay in there where Lord King Neurotic can't kill all your fun."
Wulf shook his head at him. "I'm surprised you're here without your newfound friends."
"Yeah, I know. I'm going to go find them shortly. Kyra is working on a new program and I'm going to test it."
Urian snorted at that. "That's one way of putting it."
Chris's face turned beet red. "And I though the "—he indicated Wulf with his thumb—"was bad. What is it with you Peters women that you're attracted to losers?"
"I think I resent that," her father said.
Wulf laughed. "Boy, you better go find Kyra before you dig yourself in any deeper."
"Yeah, I think I agree." Chris excused himself and left.
Kat came up behind Cassandra and took the crown off her head. "I'll make sure and put it back in its case."
"Thanks."
Suddenly, it felt a bit awkward in the room.
"Daddy? You want to come back to our place with us?" Phoebe asked.
"Sure." He kissed Cassandra on the cheek. "Not much of a reception, but I think you two should be alone."
Kat joined them as they left. They were alone now, and Wulf pulled a perfect single-carat diamond ring from his pocket and slid it over her finger. The band was a very delicate Nordic lattice pattern. She'd never seen anything more lovely.
"Thank you, Wulf," she breathed.
Wulf nodded. He stared at her in the pale light, her eyes glowing with warmth. His wife. The one thing he had never thought to have. At least not in the last twelve hundred years.
Normally a couple on their honeymoon would be thinking about their future together. How they were going to spend their lives…He didn't want to think about the future. It was too bleak. Too painful. He should have kept her out of his heart. Every day he tried and every day he found her there even deeper than before.
"Cassandra Tryggvason," he whispered, testing her new name.
"It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
He touched her lips with his fingers. Like her, they were soft and delicate. Inviting. "Are you happy?"
"Yes." And yet her green eyes were tinged by sadness.
How he wished he could erase that from her forever. Cassandra stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. Wulf groaned at the taste of her. At the way her hand felt on the back of his neck while her long, graceful fingers tugged at his hair.
Her rose scent went through him, making him drunk and hot. "You are beautiful, my Cassandra."
Cassandra shivered at his low-voiced words. She loved it whenever he referred to her as his. Taking her hand that was tied to his, he led her toward the bedroom. Cassandra bit her lip as she watched him. He was so tall and devastating. He laid her carefully on the bed, then paused.
"How are we supposed to take off our clothes with this on our wrists?"
"My sleeves unzip."
"Mine don't."
"Then you're going to be wearing that tuxedo for the night. Ew!"
"Ew?" he asked playfully. "Suddenly I'm ew?"
She moaned as he cupped her chin and nipped her lips with his teeth. "Ew to the extreme," she teased breathlessly.
She felt him unzip the back of her dress slowly as if savoring the anticipation of her being naked with him.
"You know, in Viking tradition, we'd have had witnesses for this."
She shivered as his hot hand skimmed her bared skin. "No offense, I am so glad this isn't in your lifetime."
"Me too. I'd have to kill any man who saw just how beautiful you really are. If they saw you, I know they'd be dreaming of you, and that I could never allow."
She closed her eyes, savoring those words, as he pulled her dress from her. He paused only long enough to kiss her bulging stomach. The minute his lips grazed her, she felt the light, fluttering movement inside.
"Oh, my God," she breathed. "I just felt the baby!"
He pulled back. "What?"
Her eyes welling up, she placed her hand over the spot his lips had touched, wanting to feel the baby again. "I felt him," she repeated."Just now."
Pride shone brightly in Wulf's eyes as he dipped his head and kissed her stomach again. He nuzzled her bare skin with his whiskered cheek. Cassandra should have felt embarrassed to have a man so perfectly formed nuzzling her when she was the size of a whale, but she didn't. It was so comforting to have him with her.
He was her champion. Not because he had saved her life, but because of the way he stayed with her now. The way he held her when she cried. The way he comforted her.