Scarlet supposed she was jealous of them and their freedoms. While she was an immortal and destined to live forever, she didn’t have the luxury of freedom. More than once since coming to Earth with her friends, she’d longed for death. If she knew a way to end her own life, she would have.
What would that have done to Tyr? How would he have reacted if he found out he became a widower? Would it have hurt more or less than her outright leaving him? If he died or left her, she didn’t think she would have the strength to survive it again. The first time she’d survived by her friends alone. Even though she constantly pushed them away, they helped her live. She would always be indebted to them. Not only for that, but for moments like this with Tyr. Times spent in love and wonder and feeling those moments so deeply she could barely contain it all.
The only thing raining on her parade was the fact that she didn’t know when it would end. If Hel broke the seals and the world stopped, she would have no choice. She would not be herself, she would be War, the embodiment of war, meant to slay and kill and take peace from the Earth.
Even further if Tyr decided he didn’t want to be here with her any longer that could very well kill her. She read a book once, and in it the main character had said, “It should kill you, that loss of love, like a head-on car crash…but it doesn’t.”
At the time those words had hit her heart because she’d felt the pain of the protagonist, and she’d worked out for hours after reading that, pouring her pain and anguish into punching bags. She fractured her knuckles that day, but it had been worth it to purge the pain.
Tyr delved his hand into her the hair at the base of her neck, and she dropped her head back to rest in his palm. He massaged her scalp gently, and she almost melted. The man knew what drove her wild. She suspected he could do that with any woman, if they survived long enough to enjoy it after Scarlet finished with them.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“I’m thinking, if any woman ever tried to take you from me, they would be looking at the wrong end of my sword.”
He chuckled. “There is not a woman dead or alive that I could possibly adore as much as you.”
“Good.”
He massaged her head a little deeper, and she had to clamp down a whimper threatening to escape. “I have a better plan,” she said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Let’s go back to the hotel...now.”
A light entered his eyes, and he smiled a sexy grin before standing up and pulling her bodily from the chair to set her on the ground in front of him. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Ten
THEY DIDN’T EVEN MAKE it in the hotel room door before they seized each other. Tyr pulled her into his arms wrapping them around her waist to get as much of her against him as he could possibly manage. She held onto his neck, and he all but carried her into their room.
Tyr didn’t know what brought on this change, but he wasn’t going to complain. His wife was throwing herself into his arms as he’d imagined since the moment he found her. He’d waited for this moment for two days...no, three years.
As he feasted on her lips, he lost himself releasing all doubts she wasn’t real and that at any moment she would force him to return to Asgard, alone. Not that he would make it easy on her. She’d lost her leverage completely since he’d discovered her end game.
When she moaned, thoughts fled from his brain. He tasted her, running his tongue along the seam of her lips. She opened immediately, and he delved inside the wet heat of her mouth. The mouth that delivered countless acts worthy of perdition to his body.
She fisted her hands in his hair, and he dropped down to the couch on one knee lowering her beneath him. He wouldn’t be able to stand much longer with her hands meshed in his hair. He pulled back to catch his breath. She would have him coming before he’d even released himself from his trousers. The woman had done it before...twice.
“What’s wrong?” Scarlet asked letting her arms fall to her sides. Her lips were swollen and slightly red from his whiskers.
Tyr swallowed in an attempt to compose himself before sitting between her spread legs and lifting one onto his lap. “I just need a minute to catch my breath. I have not done anything like this for three years, woman. I need to go slow, or it will be over in a few minutes.”
Scarlet nodded leaning back into the arm of the couch. Not even an entire minute of silence had passed before she turned back. “Are you ready yet?”
He laughed and surged forward so his hips pressed into hers and took her mouth with his own. He eased back a fraction, but only out of fear he might hurt her. They had been rougher before. She enjoyed a little pain on occasion, he remembered that much.
She pulled back and started on the buttons of his shirt, undoing them one by one. After she got them undone, she ripped the shirt from his shoulders and helped pull it off. Tyr sat at a disadvantage, as she was still fully clothed. He removed her hands and put them on her own clothing. Scarlet quickly took her boots off throwing them across the room. Then she pulled the sweater over her head revealing a smooth nude colored bra and a tight, toned belly.
He wanted to spend some time just staring at her, but she quickly reached between them to undo the buttons on his pants. She didn’t try to pull them down his hips. He braced his arm on the couch beside her head and used his hand to pull the pants down and off. Released from the confines of the fabric, he groaned. They’d started chafing as soon as he gained an erection.
“You’re not wearing any underwear,” she said in surprise.
“Why should I?”
“Because you’re supposed to.”
“Who says? Who makes up these strange human rules that everyone seems to follow blindly? If I do not want to be confined to undergarments, I shall not. Do you have a problem with my nudity? Because a few moments ago you were enjoying it.”
Scarlet shook her head.
“Good, any more complaints about should or should not, and I’ll put it away.”
“You wouldn’t. You want this as much as I do.”
Always challenging. He loved that about her. “I can, and I will.”
She mimed zipping her lips. He raised his eyebrows pointedly drawing her attention to the fact that she was still confined to her own pants.
“Oh, sorry.” She quickly undid the opening and slid them down, kicking them off between his legs. He was naked, and she wore only her undergarments. Even those were too much.
“Take them off. This is why I don’t wear them. They always get in the way.”
Scarlet grinned reaching around to undo her bra and then shimmied out of her panties. The woman had groomed herself short. Nothing but a small patch curls rested between her thighs.
“What did you?” he asked aghast. “Why on Earth would someone groom in such a way?”
“It is called a Brazilian, and you saw it yesterday.”
“You’re not from Brazil.”
“No, but this is the trend.”
“By Odin’s beard, I do not care about human trends. You are not a child, and you will not do that to yourself again.”
“You’re actually commanding me on how to take care of my body.”
He knew to tread carefully. Some challenges she enjoyed and were meant to test and push him. Others weren’t meant to be started, and he feared this was one.
“But...” He hung his head knowing she would win this fight no matter the outcome.
“If you prefer it natural, I’ll leave it, but only because it’s your preference.”
“Thank you,” he said in genuine relief.
She laughed out loud. “Are you aware that men here find it attractive?”
“Considering I’m the only man that shall be availing myself, it is only my opinion that should concern you. Now, can you continue? This topic is only making me angry.”
She chuckled and reached up to pull his face down to hers. He released the ire building in his chest and kissed her back with equal enthusiasm. Scarlet
tasted as he remembered sprinkled with lingering notes of coffee that he didn’t mind in the least.
When they broke apart, he trailed his lips down the column of her neck, scented with soap and his own smell. He claimed her all over again. Each small kiss he planted, in his mind, were marks of his conquest.
“Will you get on with it?” she grumbled pulling him away from her neck by his hair.
“I’ll get on with it once I relearn every curve of your body, every dip of your skin, every scar you bear. After I have educated myself, then I shall relearn your screams as they echo off the walls.”
She released his hair. He took that for permission and dipped his head further to the upper curve of her breast. He bit the top of the right globe, and Scarlet inhaled, drawing breath deep enough to lift him up as her lungs expanded. He reveled in the shudder that rolled through her when he released his teeth.
Tyr scooted down her body further to plant one soft kiss in the center of her taut belly above her navel. Her hands speared his hair again and pulled the sensitive tendrils at the base of his neck.
With every inch he moved closer to her core, he could feel her anticipation, as she grew tight, drawn like a bow in his arms. She shivered in his hands and he knew she waited for the moment his lips would meet her clit, but he intended to draw it out until she shivered in his hand. Instead of stopping at her nether lips, he moved down to her inner thigh leaving a trail of bites and kisses in his wake.
There had been a point in the past where she wouldn’t have been content to lay dormant during his ministrations. She had pushed him away before mounting him and using him to her own pleasure. That had been the first night they met and the very instant he knew he would win this woman’s heart or die trying. That could be a very long time for an immortal.
The current situation was much the same. He lay between her open thighs again, and he once more felt the need to prove something. But to her or himself? She’d walked out on him once before. Was she really that invested in their union or did she merely pity him like so many of the others? Beautiful mouth but those hands...useless.
Tyr swallowed the pain, the lonely nights, and the self-loathing, then finally gave her what she wanted. He parted her pussy with this tongue and with one hard swipe wrung a cry from her lips. He could bring her to the brink of oblivion and slide her right back down to begin again. He imagined doing just that. A punishment dressed as a fantasy. Torturing her for the time wasted as he looked for her, the time spent angry in an empty bed, and time he spent doubting himself. If he were a different man, he might have inflicted such a punishment upon her...if he were a stronger man. Instead he brought his hand up to cup her ass, tilting her so he could bring her to the precipice of orgasm before fucking her over the edge.
“By all the fates in hell, just stop,” she cursed.
“I have only just begun.”
“You’re torturing me, and I think it’s on purpose although I don’t know why.”
Perhaps he was stronger than he’d thought. Tyr sat up and removed every bit of his own flesh touching hers. He wanted her like nothing else in the world, always had, always would, but gods he didn’t realize how angry he was at her.
“I’m still angry because you left me.”
“But I...”
“I know you explained. I know you did it for your friends. I’m aware it was for noble reasons, but noble causes did not keep me warm at night and make me want to scream and shred my pillow when I woke in an empty bed every morning.”
Her brow furrowed, but she remained silent for a moment. “So you no longer want me?”
He turned and clutched one of her hands in his. “I will always want you. Even when we are apart, I yearn for you. That is the problem.”
“Then I don’t understand.”
She pulled her legs under her and sat up. He recognized that look on her face. Sorrow and understanding with just enough pity to make him angry all over again.
He stood pushing her hand away before running his own through his hair. The hair entwined between her fingers only moments ago.
“I need to know you did not leave because I’m not a whole man.”
She snorted. “Who says you’re not a whole man? I’ll cleave him with my sword.”
“But really. Is the only reason you left me because of your friends?”
“Yes, nothing else in the world would have induced me to leave you. Nothing.”
“I need to know you don’t pity me for the parts of me I can’t give you.”
Scarlet crossed her arms under her chest and tilted her chin forward. He knew that look well, and it never proved to be a good thing for him. Regardless, he needed the answer.
“I married you.”
“‘Until death do us part,’ but in case you have not noticed, we spent three years apart and both of us still happen to draw breath.”
“I don’t know how many different ways I have to tell you how I feel about you or why I left. What do you want me to say? Tell me.” She climbed to her knees in front of him. Her naked body drew his mind from anger toward pleasure.
“I don’t know. I need to know you love me. I need to know if I give up my life in Asgard it will not be to chase a dream that was never mine to begin with. I need to know that you will not leave me again.”
“You know who I am. What I do. If those seals are broken, I won’t be me anymore. I won’t be myself. I will be War, not Scarlet. Not a trace of what you love about me will exist. I’ll be merciless, cold, and there will be nothing to stop it.”
Tyr swallowed. He knew what she was, but he’d never contemplated actually having to face that part of her. Those seals needed to be protected at all costs. Not because he cared about the humans and their world, but because he cared about Scarlet and couldn’t lose her. It might be the one thing to finally break him.
“I vow to you,” he said, running a thumb down the side of her upturned cheek. “As long as I draw breath, those seals will not be opened.”
“Thank you, but I don’t think you have that kind of power. Besides, doesn’t this whole thing work with belief? The Greeks, the Norse, me...we are only here by human divination. If suddenly the world shifted to believing in only unicorns, then wouldn’t that become the rise of the unicorn gods?”
“I know what you mean, but it’s not all black and white,” he said, shifting so he could meet her eyes as they talked. It had been so long since he found himself engaged in pillow talk and cuddling, even though the topic of conversation needed some work.
“We are all real. We all exist, but the level of our power and influence increases with human interaction. However, if suddenly, no one on Earth believed I was real, then I would not just disappear. I would have less power, yes, but it is all a balance to keep the gods in check ensuring they do not decimate humanity and use Earth as their own personal spa. I know some who would do that if they could get away with it.”
Scarlet considered it for a moment biting her bottom lip as she stared off into space. He could have contentedly stayed as they were, until she started up another round of conversation. “What about Death?” she asked. “Cloris never seems to have problems, and people don’t usually worship death.”
“There is where your friend has the advantage. People don’t worship death, but they fear it, think about it, fantasize over it, and dread it. Some even long for it, but every single human on Earth thinks about it so often Cloris will have a never ending supply of power. At least until humans stop dying.”
As the silence stretched between them, Tyr simply gathered Scarlet into his arms. She trailed her fingers through the light smattering of chest hair he possessed, and the last thing he remembered was her soft snore against his shoulder.
Chapter Eleven
SCARLET WOKE TO THE shrill ringing of her cell phone. It vibrated and clattered across her nightstand. With bleary eyes she peered through the fog of sleep at the too bright screen. “Bianca, is someone dying?”
“No.”
“Then why are you calling at five a.m.?”
“I had a dream...about Tyr.”
Scarlet sat up with a start, her heart immediately clogging her throat. Tyr’s heavy arm slid from her upper body to her hips. The man could sleep through the apocalypse. He didn’t even move. “What was it?”
“I dreamt he had his hand in a wolf’s mouth.”
“That already happened. He gave up that hand to trap Fenrir.”
“No, the other hand.”
Scarlet didn’t know what to make of that. “He’s prophesied to fight Garmr, and they’re meant to kill each other.”
“I don’t know if it was Garmr or not. I couldn’t tell. He stood with his hand in the mouth of the wolf, looked up at me with tears in his eyes, and then I woke up.”
“Thank for calling me. If you get anything else, please call again.”
Bianca hung up, and Scarlet lay back down cupping the phone to her breasts. Losing him wasn’t an option. They’d only just begun to know each other again. Scarlet glanced over to his sleeping face. He lay carefree and oblivious to the horrors in the world even though he faced more of them than others. Faint lines framed his closed eyes and a faded scar sat high on his cheekbone. Before she could reach out and run her hand along the mark her phone rang again. Bianca again. “What, what did you see?”
“Nothing, I forgot to tell you to come to dinner tonight. Cloris told me last night.”
Scarlet’s heart, currently lodged in her throat, resumed its normal beat, and she fought the urge to crush the phone in her hand. “Goodnight, Bianca,” she said through gritted teeth.
Bianca’s response cut through the phone. “Morning.”
The phone went dead again, and she stared at the ceiling. The world seemed silent, no horns blaring or lights flashing across the ceiling. Nothing but utter silence. She contemplated how she’d reached this point.
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