by Eva Chase
I wet my lips. The hollow sensation in my gut came back, so deep and empty even the music pounding around us couldn’t touch it. A truth I had managed to bury, so far I hadn’t even known it was there, tickled up into my head.
“It isn’t just them I’ve wanted to kill. I don’t know if Hod told you everything—if he told you that he had to stop me from going after my mom’s boyfriend last night.”
“Because he’d hurt your brother.”
So, Hod had spilled the beans about that too. I nodded. “I would have done it. Even if he’d been lying there helpless and asleep… I think I would have liked doing it. It felt almost good, taking life from those dark elves.”
Loki brushed his fingers over my hair. The tender gesture wrenched at my heart. I wanted to lean into it, and at the same time I wanted to pull away, because he couldn’t mean it. He shouldn’t mean it, not for me.
“Ari, you’re a valkyrie now,” he said. “You’re meant to dispense justice by shifting the tide of war.”
“That doesn’t mean I should have fun with it,” I blurted out, my buzz loosening my tongue. “There’ve been so many times, so many people I might have wanted to get out of my way, when I never could— What if it’s not just to turn the tide that I’ll want to do it?” I swallowed hard. “Maybe someone like me isn’t meant to have that kind of power. Maybe there’s a good reason all those valkyries Odin used to summon were pure of heart and whatever.”
Loki shook his head, his smile somehow grim and amused at the same time. “You know who you’re talking to, don’t you? Hello, I once orchestrated the end of the world. You’re not going to convince me that you’re somehow such a wretched soul you don’t deserve the gifts you’ve received.”
“That—that’s different,” I said, but my protest sounded weak even to me.
Loki leaned close again, his face just a hair’s breadth from mine, bringing that spicy sweet scent with him. For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me. My pulse stuttered way too eagerly.
But he just spoke, the air from his lips moving against my cheek. “It should be comforting, pixie. No matter how bad you are, no matter how bad you get, you can never be the worst there is. I’ve already got that title in the bag.”
His tone was light, flippant even, but a splinter of pain echoed from him into me at the same moment. The trickster god cared so much more than he liked to admit. Somehow that tugged at me even more than the closeness of his lips.
“Come back with me,” he went on. “Come back with me and smash those bastard cave-dwellers right out of your realm. We won’t let them lay one finger on your brother. Take all that darkness in you and rain it down on them.”
I shivered. The words resonated more deeply than I liked to admit. My hands clenched. My tongue slipped away from me again.
“I’m scared,” I said, so quietly I wasn’t sure he’d even hear me. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to. “I’m scared of myself, like this—of what I could do.” To anyone, whether they deserved it or not. Of having to decide whether they did deserve it.
Of everything that came with being a fucking valkyrie, really.
“Good,” Loki said, his voice nothing but warmth now. “That, not any ‘goodness of heart,’ is what makes the difference between you and someone unworthy. And think about it, Ari. If you’re afraid, imagine how afraid the dark elves must be of you and what you can do, to make a threat like they did.”
He sounded almost awed with that last remark. He saw me, he saw every dark place in me, and he was awed.
I was still a little dizzy with the shots I’d inhaled, and the warmth and the awe wrapped around me with an urge I couldn’t quite bring myself to deny. I grasped the front of Loki’s shirt with both hands and tipped my head that last tiny distance to catch his mouth with mine.
The god drew in a startled breath, and then he was kissing me back, hard and hungry. His thumb traced an arcing line across my side. Everywhere our bodies touched, heat tingled through my nerves as if he’d literally set me on fire. But what an intoxicating fire it was.
I let myself sink into him, into the hot heady sensation of his lips meeting mine, where nothing else mattered just for a moment. If he was going to give, then I’d take everything I could get.
He kissed me again, and the electricity of it set me alight like a sparkler. A whimper crept from my throat when his mouth trailed away from mine, charting a scorching path along my jaw.
“Tell me you’ll come back,” he murmured beside my ear. “I’m not going to drag you. I want you to want to. We can make those bastards pay, Ari.”
Yes, yes, yes. Fuck it. Who was I to argue with a god? My grip on his shirt tightened.
“I’ll come,” I said. “But first, I want to dance.”
He chuckled and nipped my earlobe, already swaying with the beat of the music. The swivel of his hips by mine sent a fresh wave of fire through me. I gave myself over to it. If I burned, then I fucking burned.
Only the thinnest of dawn light was drifting through my bedroom window. I blinked at it blearily and rubbed my eyes.
My bedroom window—my bedroom in the gods’ house. A now-familiar sheet was pulled up to my shoulders; my head rested on the downy pillow. A faint ache nibbled at my temple, but it wasn’t that bad, really, considering how many shots I’d done in fairly quick succession. Six of them: five before Loki had shown up at the club and one after we’d started dancing again, before we’d gone back to kissing…
My heart flipped over. That was the last thing I remembered: his lips searing against mine. Had I—had we—?
I shifted under the sheet and felt the fabric of my clothes shift with me. The same clothes I’d been wearing last night: one of those racerback tanks and jeans. Nothing seemed out of place.
A strange mix of relief and disappointment came over me. I really preferred to be fully conscious when I got it on with anyone. And my first time with a god? Yeah, I’d like to remember that.
But I’d wanted him, I’d pretty much thrown myself at him, and clearly he hadn’t wanted me quite as much.
Well, what had I expected? He was a god.
I sat up, kicking back the sheet, and the door eased open. Loki slipped inside, shut the door behind him, and ambled over to perch on the edge of the bed. His amber eyes gleamed in the faint light. Somehow that was enough to make me lose my breath.
Damn, I definitely needed to get laid somehow or other sometime soon, or I was going to turn into a total imbecile.
“Sleep well?” he asked.
“It seems that way.” My gaze darted back toward the window. “Did you make sure no one could see me coming back with you?”
“The day a dark elf can see through one of my illusions is the day I curl up and die of shame,” Loki said. “And I spoke to Hod while you were sleeping. He checked on your brother while he was looking for you. The boy hasn’t been harmed. Hod headed back out there to keep watch for the dark elves—well, ‘watching’ in a metaphorical sense, at least.”
I let out my breath. “I’m sure he appreciated that order,” I said sarcastically.
“I didn’t order him, actually, as much as I might have enjoyed doing so. He volunteered.”
A pang of startled gratitude shot through me. The god of darkness had been kind enough after I’d dragged him out there the other night, but I wouldn’t have expected him to go out of his way for me. Hod must have cared even more than he’d let show.
I swallowed my surprise and looked up at Loki. It figured that even first thing in the morning after running all over the country, he still looked brightly magnificent. I had to stop noticing that.
“Well, I’m back here now. I still don’t know what exactly you think I’m going to do now that I’m here that’ll be so helpful.”
Loki smiled. “Oh, I’m sure we’ll find some way to keep you busy.”
His tone was jaunty, but his eyes were searching, as if he were waiting for something from me he hadn’t gotten yet. I groped for the right word
s.
“About last night…”
“It was quite a night,” he offered, his smile stretching a little farther, when I faltered.
Just spit it out, Ari. My hands balled in the sheets. “I don’t actually remember the trip home, but obviously I slept alone.” A question without actually asking the question.
“Yes,” Loki said. “Well. In my experience across the ages, drunks make lousy bed partners.”
My back tensed. A flood of heat that wasn’t at all pleasant coursed through my cheeks. “I’m sorry for making a pass, then. You don’t have to worry about it happening again.”
“Ari.” Loki sighed and motioned to me. “Come here?”
My body balked, but the unexpected earnestness in those amber eyes melted some of my defenses. I scooted a little closer. Loki glanced at the foot of space I’d left between us with a faintly amused expression and then raised his head to meet my gaze.
“I regret that you were drunk,” he said. “I don’t regret anything about you being you. Make all the passes you want. Just make them while sober is all I’m asking. I have self-restraint, but I can’t say I enjoy employing it all that much.”
Oh. Oh. The heat that had surfaced in my face seeped down through the rest of my body, pooling low in my belly. The words tumbled out. “I’m sober now.”
Loki grinned in that way that turned my whole body into a knot of want. “Yes, you do appear to be.”
I shifted closer to him, my hand brushing his thigh. He touched my cheek and teased his fingers into my hair. My breath caught.
“This could still be a bad idea,” I felt the need to point out.
Loki’s smile widened. “My favorite kind.”
And then our mouths collided.
I hadn’t imagined the heat of his kisses in the club. That hot tingling spread through my nerves again, licking through every part of my body. The trickster god parted my lips with a skillful flick of his tongue that sent a bolt of need through me.
I pressed closer to him as our tongues twined, straddling his lap. Loki eased me into place with an encouraging sound and a hand on my hip. I arched against him. My breath stuttered at the feel of him hard beneath the fly of his slacks, aligned perfectly with my core. I wanted to do so much more than kiss this time.
Loki slid his hands up under my tank top, spreading that fiery tingling in their wake. His lips broke from mine just long enough to yank the top off of me. Then our mouths locked together again, trading air and heat as he made quick work of my bra.
He cupped my breasts, swiveling his palms to draw my nipples tighter with a shiver of the hottest of sparks. I moaned into his mouth. His slender fingers teased over the peaks and under the swell of them as if exploring every curve.
His lips and tongue teased over my jaw and down my neck. I wrenched at his tunic, and he helped me tug it off. We pressed together skin to skin, wave after wave of divine fiery warmth washing through me as he grazed his teeth against my throat. I ran my hands over the lean muscles I’d only caught a hint of before, firm and smooth and rippling at my touch.
With a slight heave, Loki tipped us over on the bed, his hips still between my legs. His weight shifted against me, and a spark of emotion that was more panic than pleasure shot through my chest. My pulse lurched.
Clamping down on that reaction, I gave his shoulder a light shove. When he eased back, I shoved again, harder. He let me flip him over with a flash of a grin before he reclaimed my mouth.
I rocked against him, able to lose myself in sensation now that I was on top and at least that little bit in control. My sex pressed against the bulge of his erection, and he groaned, kissing me even harder.
“Ari,” he murmured, nipping my lower lip. Almost pleading. As if he wanted this even more than I did. He gripped my hips, bucking to meet me, and I moaned too.
I fumbled with his fly and yanked at his slacks. Apparently gods wore boxers. I tugged those down too, and his cock sprang free. Tall and slender like the man, and so hard it was fucking glorious. I licked my lips without thinking. My throat tightened—I didn’t do blow jobs, there was no way that would end well—but I almost wanted to try, seeing him.
I settled for stroking the silky skin of his erection as I unzipped my jeans. Loki pushed himself up on one elbow and drew my mouth back to his. We kissed between pants for breath, getting sloppier by the moment. When I’d kicked my jeans aside, he slid his hand down my body to dip between my legs.
His fingers glided over my damp panties, and bliss flared even hotter through my core. My grip on his cock tightened. Loki gave another groan. His fingers leapt up to hook around the side of my panties. With one swift jerk, the fabric snapped.
Fuck me. I rubbed myself against his cock, my clit quivering. A whimper slipped out of me as he dipped his index finger right inside me. Our kisses were outright frantic now. But I hadn’t lost my head completely.
“Do we need—” I started, and gave a rough laugh at the absurdity of the question. “Can valkyries get pregnant?”
Loki matched my laugh with a breathless chuckle of his own. “Not without a whole ’nother level of magic, pixie. You’re safe from bearing any shifty trickster babies.”
“In that case…”
I eased the head of his cock right down to my slit. He slid his fingers out to clutch my thigh as I lowered myself onto him. With a little arch of his hips, he filled me all the way. The head of his cock hit just the right place inside me to leave me trembling with desire.
We set a rhythm that was almost frenzied, me riding him and him rising to meet me, every pulse like a shot of blissful fire through my veins. His hands were everywhere, tracing flames everywhere they touched: caressing my breasts, stroking my ribs, angling my hips so I could take him even deeper.
Blazing pleasure spiraled up from my core through my chest. I tipped my head back, pumping harder, chasing my release. His thumb teased across my clit, over and over, and then pressed harder. And I exploded.
The flare of ecstasy rocked my body and seared through my vision. I shuddered over Loki with a cry. He kept his hand on my clit, pounding into me with a shaky sigh, and I came all over again alongside the hot gush of his release. In that instant, my body was nothing but heat and pleasure, and I believed I could burn my way through anything—and anyone.
23
Ari
We sprawled on the bed, Loki on his back and me tucked against him, his thumb stroking idly up and down my back. Just when I was wondering if that was it, if he’d gotten what he’d come for and was done now, he dipped his head to seek out my lips. The kiss wasn’t as desperate as the ones before, but it still sent a lick of fire through me.
Maybe I’d better be clear about my expectations here.
I took a moment to catch my breath and then said, “Just so you know, I’m not looking for any kind of—I don’t know—commitment or anything like that. I don’t really do that anyway.”
Loki guffawed and tickled the top of my head with a gentle sweep of his fingers. “So, what you’re saying is, hold off on any professions of undying love?”
My gaze jerked up. “Were you planning on making one?”
His lips had curled with amusement. “That’s not really my style either, pixie. I have, as you mortals put it, ‘gotten around,’ even more than the myths would indicate. I’m not going to assume I own you just because we enjoyed each other’s company. You go chasing whoever else you take a mind to chase.” His eyebrow lifted. “Perhaps I could even join you with another conquest sometime.”
Two guys at the same time? Two gods? Because that was what my mind shot straight to: Thor’s strong hands, Baldur’s gentle touch, Hod’s intense presence. I’d never tried a threesome before—it was a whole lot easier feeling in control with only one partner to keep track of—but the idea felt suddenly appealing. Maybe because one of those partners would potentially be the smoking hot god lying right next to me.
“Have you done that before?” I asked.
Lo
ki waved his hand breezily. “I’ve done just about everything.” He fell silent for a moment and then started grazing his fingertips over my hair again. “Although to tell you the truth, I haven’t done much of anything in a while. It all got rather mundane. I’d forgotten how stimulating it can feel, being with someone who can keep me on my toes.”
“Stimulating, huh?” I muttered.
“Were you not stimulated?” he teased. His tone turned a little more serious. “I’d never rein you in, Ari. I mean that. But just so you know where I stand, I do also hope we enjoy ourselves like this again.”
“Hmm,” I said noncommittally. The truth was that just the fleeting touch of his hand against my head, the warmth of his body aligned with mine, was enough that I was tempted to jump him again right now. But I wasn’t sure admitting that was such a great idea. Loki was “stimulating” as fuck, but he was also a trickster through and through. There were reasons I’d tried to ignore my attraction.
We were here now though, so it seemed reasonably safe to tuck my head under his chin and drink in the spicy-sweet smell of his skin. A quiver of his living energy ran under it, that faint pulsing my valkyrie senses were finely tuned to.
Just like the other gods, his energy was brighter than any human or elf I’d run into. Bright and intense—but oddly not quite as warm as what I’d felt from all the others. When I focused on it, I could feel a sharp cool tang amid the brightness. More like bronze than gold. I frowned.
“You’ve gone pensive, pixie,” Loki said. “What’s on your mind?”
“Your… life essence or whatever. The other gods feel pretty much the same, but yours is a little different. I guess it’s because they’re all brothers?”
His hand stilled against my hair. Just for a second, but long enough that I knew not to believe his casual tone when he answered.
“No, it’d be because I’m not a god.”
I pulled back to stare at him. “Ha ha, very funny.”
No,” he said smoothly. “It’s true. You obviously aren’t up on your mythology at all. Thor and Baldur and Hod are all Aesir, the rightful inhabitants of Asgard. I’m an interloping frost giant who just managed to make good with the guy in charge. Of course, I’m perfectly happy to accept the title of god when people feel like offering it.”