by Maren Smith
“It makes a lot of sense,” Edda said, again reading my mind. “It doesn’t make sense compared to what you’ve known here on Earth. You, my dear cousin, are an Asgardian. Valkyries have more pigment in their eyes, this is the reason your eyes are bluer than the average human’s. There is so much to tell you, so much you need to know.”
“It would help if she had the bare basics to go off of. I can’t believe they skim over your Norse history in school and act like we are nothing more than a myth! Of course, Odin did want us to step back and keep interaction with humans at a bare minimum. My dad, however, thinks we should drop down and hammer some sense into the species,” Kara interjected.
“That is enough,” Forseti said firmly, drawing my attention back toward him. “There will be time to answer all her questions later. The mission is to keep her alive. We will complete that mission at all costs. Edda, I need you to go and find out what you can about the location of the dark forces. Gather intelligence on where they are and what they know about Morrigan. Kara, I need you to return to Asgard. We need a restock on supplies, and I would like a second team of Operators on standby. I will stay here and guard Morrigan, answer some of her questions, and help her discover who she really is.”
“Do you think it is wise to separate us?” Edda asked. “I can read her mind and let you know when she isn’t being honest…”
“I am the God of Justice,” Forseti answered. “I am pretty good at discovering when someone is being less than truthful.”
The two of them laughed like they were sharing an inside joke.
I watched unamused. They were going to leave me alone with this giant?
I started to protest but thought better of it. Being stuck here with him alone could be a good thing. Instead of escaping from three sets of watchful eyes, I would only need to escape from one. I could get on Forseti’s good side and get his guard down. Maybe, before I got free, I could have just a small nibble of his delicious looking…
“Don’t even think about it,” Edda said.
Heat rose from my neck and spread out across my cheeks.
Damn her and her mind reading.
“Not that, you can think about that all you want. Don’t think about trying to escape.”
“She won’t escape,” Forseti declared confidently. He leaned toward me, putting his elbows on the table and got right into my face. “We are going to have a nice long conversation about what will happen if she disobeys me or tries to escape. The consequences of such actions aren’t pretty.” He leaned back in his seat again.
My heart rate raised.
Consequences? What kind of consequences?
Well, he did threaten to spank you when you were over his shoulder.
He had indeed. My cheeks flushed and my pussy flooded at the memory. My arousal went from zero to ten in two seconds flat.
Would he spank me? Really? What would it feel like to be over his thighs having that monstrous-sized hand landing on my bottom?
If I got any wetter, it would look like I peed myself.
Oh god! Why did that man turn me on like this?
He isn’t a fictional character from your books, Morrigan. He isn’t a Daddy Dom on a mission to find his baby girl. He is an insane giant of a man pretending to be a god from another planet, holding you hostage at a house somewhere. Get a grip!
“Morrigan, let me tell you more about Forseti since he won’t toot his own horn. The other gods consider him the wisest god of all, outside of Odin himself. None of them ever dare to oppose his legal decisions. His eloquence and kindness are spoken about by the masses. However, he is very strict and doles out punishments to all those who deserve it and do not follow his commands. His father was very kind; he gets that trait from him. In battle, he is a warrior of sword and axe, but as a god of peace and justice, he prefers to fight his battles with words instead of violence. It is all amazing considering how Nana...”
“Enough, Kara.” Forseti shot her a dark look that spoke volumes.
Whatever she had been about to say, he didn’t want her to finish. So of course, I was curious now.
Nana did what? Nana was his mother, I remembered that much. What did she do that had caused his reaction? I wish I had my phone to google Norse mythology. Of course, it might not be so helpful considering they keep telling me that we humans have gotten it wrong. I tried to keep from laughing at the absurdity of all of this.
“You aren’t a human,” Edda said gently.
Yeah, so you keep telling me.
“Can you two clean up and head out on your assignments? I’m going to take Morrigan and have a talk with her.”
I hoped that talk had some action in it… If I was going to be alone with a hottie like him, I wouldn’t mind doing a little more than just talking.
“Yes, Sir. You’ve got it,” Kara said.
Edda merely nodded. I tried not to blush farther at the look she gave me. The look that said she knew exactly what I had been thinking about her sexy leader.
Chapter 3
Forseti
I didn’t need to have the ability to read minds to see what was going on in Morrigan’s head. She was a smart woman. Her father, one of my grandfather’s closest friends, was the original God of Justice. He was incredibly intelligent, and I had no doubt that Morrigan had a keen mind. She would try to manipulate her way into getting what she wanted, and what she wanted right now was to go home.
Home was not in the cards for Morrigan, however. I would see to that. The forces working against her had been descending, rapidly, into her city. It had been imperative that we remove her quickly from her familiar surroundings. We had been just in time, as I had found out. The dark forces had been less than ten minutes behind us. Too close for comfort.
I needed to sit down with Morrigan and lay out the ground rules and quick. I felt how her heart rate had responded to my threat of spanking in the park. In truth, I had used that method on a few valkyrie recruits over the years, and it had always worked wonders. I would, of course, need to temper my strength, for now. I had no idea what her pain tolerance was like.
There was something about Morrigan, something I couldn’t put my finger on. She intrigued me. She had been one of the top warriors in Odin’s plan. Her pedigree was above par. She was a beautiful woman, her body carved perfectly. I found myself aroused by her mere presence, something I had never experienced with any other woman. I had to push the desire to toss her on the table, tear that dress from her body and claim her as mine to the back of my mind. I had never been so aroused that I spun out of control, and I wasn’t about to start now.
I needed to focus on the mission. Loki cared about one thing and one thing only, himself. Once he had a plan in mind, a plan that would benefit him, he wouldn’t stop until he achieved it. He had his eyes set on Midgard. He wanted to rule Earth, be worshipped by the human population, and he wasn’t going to let a group of valkyrie demigods get in his way. Loki wouldn’t stop until Morrigan was dead. My mission was to make sure that never happened.
“Let’s go in the living room.” I led Morrigan into the room that had been my favorite for over a hundred years. I watched Morrigan’s face as we entered it. Her jaw dropped open as she viewed the tall ceilings, large windows, red, silver and gold decor and pitch-black leather couches. “Beautiful, isn’t it? It isn’t Glitnir, but it’ll do.”
“Glitnir?”
“Glitnir is my home; humans would call it a palace. I will take you to see it eventually. Its pillars are made of red gold and its roof is inlaid with silver. I reside over the court of justice in it. All legal disputes in my world go through me.”
“So, you are a judge?”
“God, Morrigan. I’m a god. The God of Justice. I take my responsibility very seriously.”
“That is right. A god. I must not forget that little fact,” her tone dripped with sarcasm. “Don’t they need you right now?”
“I’m sure my caseload is building up, but this was more important. When Odin sends a
team of Operators, everything else pauses.”
“Odin’s Operators,” she muttered.
At least she had been paying attention.
“That is right. We are the best of the best. We’ve honed our powers, have specific skill sets and are Odin’s most trusted warriors.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why don’t you sit?” It wasn’t a question and she knew it. She looked around at her options and decided on a leather recliner. A one-person leather recliner. She didn’t want me sitting next to her. That was fine, I had no intention of sitting at all. I leaned against the wall and watched her settle into it. Even at her size, much larger than the average human female, she was engulfed by the enormity of the chair. It was designed for visiting gods. She looked so childlike sitting there.
I wanted to pull her out of the chair and into my arms. I shook the thought from my head. That wouldn’t do. I was here to protect her, not to coddle her.
“What specific skill set do you have?”
Her question was a good one, and I was glad to answer. We would need to figure out her skill set soon.
“I was born with the abilities of enhanced charisma, enhanced intelligence, wisdom, healing, light generation, order manipulation and serenity inducement.” I was also a master of combat, but that wasn’t an ability I had been born with. It was a skill I had honed with hard work and discipline.
“Oh, I see.”
I saw the doubt cross her features. She thought I was insane. Humans really had a hard time wrapping their limited brains around our culture and, because of that, had ceased to teach it. Morrigan had been raised among humans and hadn’t been exposed to our world.
“It is okay to ask me questions, sweetheart. I know that all of this is confusing to you. I bet you think we are insane. What are you thinking?”
“What am I thinking? What am I thinking? You are right, I do think you are fucking insane!” She jumped up from the seat. “I think you have played too many role-play games and have mixed up reality with fiction. I think you have broken into someone’s mansion, likely a celebrity’s, and convinced yourself that you own it.”
Her tone got higher pitched and her volume got louder as she yelled. I could feel her heart racing from across the room, she was seconds from a full-fledged panic attack.
“You have issues, dude, and now you have felony kidnapping to add to them. I am shocked at the lengths you will go to try and convince me that you are telling the truth. Fuck this shit. I’m going home.” She turned toward the doorway as if she was going to run.
There was nowhere for her to go.
“Morrigan.” I pushed myself from the wall and took a step toward her. Lifting my hands, I shot a dart of blindingly bright light her way. It wouldn’t harm her, but it would cause her to close her eyes to avoid it. In turn, it would slow her down. I was right, the light startled her into stopping, giving me time to close the void between us. I took her by the upper arm and turned her back toward the room. This time, I sat in the chair and pulled her down onto my lap, holding her there, her back to me. I placed my palm flat against her back and used my ability to induce serenity to calm her. I felt her racing heart start to calm and her shallow, frenzied breathing turn to slow, deep breaths. Once the panic left, I dropped my hand. I spoke calmly to her, taking in her body’s responses to my words.
“Morrigan, I have already warned you about that language. The next time you use that disgusting word, I will have to clean out your mouth with soap. You are an intelligent being. You don’t need to curse. There are two things that will get your mouth washed out quick—using bad language and lying to me.” I waited a space and felt her heartbeat speed up. Her pheromones grew stronger, and I knew she was aroused by my words. “I always encourage rational discussion. I never allow outbursts of yelling or disrespect in my courtroom.”
“We aren’t in your courtroom, Forseti! Let me remind you,” she shouted, ignoring my warning about yelling and disrespect, turning so that she faced me and poking her index finger into my chest, “you are not the boss of me.”
Her temper only served to intrigue me more.
She was a sassy one and courageous. Most wouldn’t dare to interrupt me like she had, let alone argue with me and none dared to physically touch me like she was doing. I didn’t have tolerance for such behaviors and especially not now, not when her very life was at risk.
My hand went up to her chin, grasping it tightly. Aware of my strength, I made sure not to squeeze hard. I could easily crush her jaw with two fingers if I wanted to. Staring her straight in the eyes, I restrained myself from using any of my powers. I wanted her to feel the emotions I was about to cause with my words. Having the ability to calm a situation was one of my favorite skills, but right now, I didn’t need her calm. I needed her to understand the seriousness of the situation.
“As of this moment, Morrigan, I am in charge of you. Odin assigned me the task and he is in charge of all of us. Your life, your job, your very existence, is threatened by forces darker than you have ever encountered. They have a job to do and that job is to eliminate you. My job is to prevent that from happening. In order for me to succeed, you will need to obey me. Whether you like it or not. It’s for your own safety.” I paused and sighed, letting compassion for her situation take over for a moment. “I know this is scary. I know it sounds crazy. I know I’m a stranger to you. I promise we will have time to talk later and get to know each other better, but it will be done in a respectful way. Without name calling, without cursing and without shouting. If you can’t follow my rules, you will find yourself facing the consequences. If you continue to rail at me in this manner, you will be feeling my wrath on your behind. Do you understand what I am saying to you?”
Morrigan
I understood exactly what he was saying to me. He was going to spank me if I didn’t follow his rules.
I was beginning to wonder if I was being set up. Besides being seven feet tall, wearing leather outside of the bedroom, and insisting he was a god from another world, he was exactly the type of man I dreamt about finding someday. And while it wasn’t public knowledge, it wasn’t exactly a secret either. Some of my closest friends knew about my Daddy Dom book addiction and fantasies.
Did they hired actors to do this? A light bulb went off, and the idea gained merit in my brain, finally making sense as the pieces clicked together. That had to be what was going on here. I had just had a conversation with Monica over this very scenario, confessing my desire to be swept away by a dominant man. Swept away, kidnapped… I could see how she might confuse the two. No way was this gorgeous man going to kidnap me and then threaten to spank me if she hadn’t arranged it.
I felt a lot safer with that realization. That had to be it. Nothing else made sense.
“Morrigan?” I couldn’t move my face from his hand. I could, however, shift my gaze down. The question was did I play along with this or did I demand he stop? I mean, they had certainly pulled out all the stops. The company she hired provided a mind reader and the special effects, holy cow! Those light beams were impressive. He must have some sort of prop on him somewhere. The trick with the phone, it had to be a slight of hand trick. Magicians and actors! Monica had really worked hard to arrange all of this; I would hate to undo her work. She must have even remembered my joke about how it would take a superhero to tame the naughty girl inside of me.
Forseti cleared his throat, and I realized he was waiting for an answer, but I had forgotten the question.
“Yes?”
“I am a very patient god, Morrigan. However, right now, we don’t have time for games. I need you to pay attention. Do you understand that you need to follow my rules or find yourself face down over my lap?”
“Yes, I understand what you are saying.”
“As long as we are on the same page.” He nodded firmly and released my chin.
I was still lost in my thoughts.
Was I really going to allow this game to play out? The logical side of me wo
rried about work and my obligations. Another side wanted to give in and explore this scenario.
I was pretty sure we were still in Chicago and my coffee had somehow been drugged. I should be infuriated that they’d go as far as to drug me. Shaking off that frustration, I realized what was done, was done. I might as well explore my fantasies. Who knew how long it would be before a chance like this would appear again, if ever. What could it hurt to indulge for the weekend?
“What are you thinking about?” Forseti’s gaze was dark and curious.
“Just how far Monica must have gone to have set all of this up. You guys are really good at your crafts. I can’t believe she found a mind reader! Where did she find you all, anyway? Are you in a troupe? Some sort of circus, maybe? Just so you know, I am all in.”
“What are you talking about?”
He looked incredibly confused.
“Monica, my coworker and best friend. She really went out of her way with this one. I mean, my birthday is coming up in a couple days, but this is, well, Monica is very extra, she is the one who hired you for this.”
“Now you are being ridiculous. The time for games has passed, Morrigan. I need you to listen to me now.”
I heard his denial, but didn’t pay it any heed. Of course he would deny it. That had to be part of the elaborate scheme.