He’d let all of this go for too long.
He’d been trying to do the right thing, but that felt misguided now, too.
Anale’s words echoed in his mind, as well.
You are well and truly fucked, my brother… the infiltrator said smugly when they landed back at the carrier after he’d first brought Gina back. Just wait until her daughter finds out. She’s going to rip you a new one, brother, then stomp on your cock…if she doesn’t just sic Vikram and the Sword on you for fun…
The Sword and Vikram had been surprisingly understanding about it, though.
Dante had not.
Even now, after the teenaged human had directed the other seers to conduct multiple scans on her mother’s light to ensure no wrongdoing had occurred, Dante still seemed to view Loki as a kind of sex-drunk pervert who intended to not only break her mother’s heart, but to possibly wound her physically in the process. Dante didn’t know much about seer sexuality or physiology, but apparently someone had told her enough that she had concerns.
Serious, serious concerns.
The situation would have been far different of course, if it hadn’t been mutual between Gina and himself. Loki knew the limits of his own ability for self-deception. He could say with some confidence that he would have left Gina entirely alone if she had not wanted him. He would have found some way to make that permanent, too, possibly with the help of other seers to banish her from his light…or at least to keep her safe from any temptations he might have to pull on her, or try to turn her head towards him.
Truthfully, he probably would have requested a reassignment.
China perhaps.
Yet almost from the very start, Gina had been as transfixed with his light as he had been with hers. Moreover, Gina didn’t mind that he was seer, even after he got drunk enough with desire to confess his age to her. He knew such a number probably felt more abstract to her than anything given how he wore his age compared to a human, but still, it demonstrated that she wasn’t as turned off by their differences as he had feared.
She wanted to have intercourse with him.
She’d asked him for it, outright.
She’d asked him many, many times now.
She said she trusted him. She said she thought he was a good man…a good seer, anyway, she’d laughed, which had made his pain worse, almost unbearably worse, even apart from her actual words. Her unearned and complete trust in him only made his own feelings more intense.
Even so, he had restrained himself.
He restrained himself despite Gina’s wishes. He restrained himself in the hopes that Dante might grow accustomed to the idea before he lost himself in the physical side of his pull towards her mother.
So far, however, Dante had not softened towards him in the slightest.
And yes, it still bothered him.
When Loki told Gina why he wanted to wait, she had only thrown her hands up in exasperation, although Loki could tell his concern touched her, too.
Gina thought Dante was simply “being a teenager.” She argued that her daughter would not get used to their new relationship until they acted like the adults and didn’t succumb to her “bullshit psychological blackmail,” as Gina put it. Gina further said, with somewhat more warmth in her voice, that Dante had been protective of her since her father left.
Gina also explained (with somewhat more embarrassment), that given some of the things Dante witnessed while growing up with a young, single mother in a not-great part of Queens, her daughter likely genuinely feared that Gina didn’t have the best taste when it came to picking men…with good reason, Gina implied.
Loki didn’t probe that unspoken commentary too deeply, given the intense feelings it evoked in him.
Nor did he want to think about it now.
He continued to walk towards his lover’s daughter as he thought all of these things, his body tensing the closer he got to her.
She had been waiting for him.
He was sure of it now. He could feel it on her light.
She had been standing here, turning over aggressive words to yell at him once he emerged from that security station. What he couldn’t decide was why. She had to know he was due to leave Bangkok soon. Dante did tech support for all major missions now, including those tracking Shadow’s Network, so of course she would know. She would further know that he would be on assignment for months and out of reach of Gina during that time.
What could she possibly have to say to him, given that?
He didn’t have to wonder for long.
“I suppose you’re going to see my mom now?” Dante hissed once he was close enough. “You get your papers to roll, so it’s off to guilt her into getting you off before you go?”
Loki blinked at her, startled.
Then he flushed.
“Did you ask the Bridge for this?” Dante snapped. “Looking for a way out, now that shit got serious…‘Loks’?”
Loki glanced down, saw her small, white hands clenched into fists.
“…I guess you’re probably done with her anyway, right?” Dante stepped closer to him and he backed off. “Is that it? Huh, ice-blood? You bored? Is that what this ‘mission’ is really all about? You want some new human tail to hunt?”
Loki felt his face warm even more.
Truthfully, her initial accusations weren’t all that far off from what he’d been thinking. Well, assuming he understood them correctly. The last few things she’d said just confused him, and made him wonder if Dante was accusing him of fixating on her mother or of simply being some kind of predator of human women more generally.
“Well?” she hissed. “Which is it? You on a suicide run, hoss? Or you just making a fast run out of a domestic bliss kind of thing?”
Loki’s frown deepened.
As he looked at the teenaged human, her mother’s words came back to him. Once they had, he saw the fear in Dante’s eyes, maybe for the first time.
Her looks confused him, too, he was forced to admit. If Dante had been a seer, she would have been approximately thirty or thirty-five years old.
He reminded himself that the relationship with Gina was consensual. Even Dante must know that by now. If he had been lying to himself on that particular point, through delusion or whatever else, someone would have pulled him aside. He would have gotten a stern talking to by someone, if not more than that. Vikram, most certainly.
Likely the Sword.
But all Loki had felt off of Vikram was amusement…and a small tinge of jealousy, once he tasted the edges of Gina’s light.
But thinking about that only got Loki’s blood up more.
“We will talk,” Loki said, focusing sternly on Dante’s face. He made the decision even as he said it. “We will talk now…and settle this thing, cousin.”
He walked towards her, reaching for her arm, but she jerked it away, raising her voice.
“Keep your fucking hands off me, asshole!”
Loki felt seers looking their way and stepped back.
Within seconds, he felt flickers of their light around the two of them as they made sure he hadn’t done anything inappropriate. Satisfied that he had not, they withdrew, but he felt a number of them lingering still in the nearby space.
Have caution, brother, Vikram advised him. She is only a child.
I know, Loki shot back, speaking more from emotion than logic. I think I have had a bit too much caution under the circumstances already, brother…
Vikram surprised him, smiling from behind the Barrier. We have all been thinking that, brother. For weeks, if you want the truth. Do not let her bully you. She is used to being able to push others around. Even seers…
Thinking about that, Loki sighed.
He also agreed with Vikram’s words.
You are right, he sent. I have been a fool.
He felt a sharper pulse of amusement from Raddi.
We commend your restraint… Raddi grinned at him in the Barrier space. But yes. You have been a fucking idiot, b
rother. Any one of us would have slept with your foxy girlfriend by now…hell, we would probably be sleeping with her at this very moment. And yes, we heard her ask you for it…you lucky bastard…
Loki felt his face warm again, but did not answer.
Shifting his attention back towards the human girl, he was about to try and speak to her again, when he noticed she had her arm and hand held at a strange angle.
He couldn’t quite wrap his head around what it meant…
…when she punched him in the face.
“Di’lanlente a’ guete…” he cursed, taking a step back. He switched to English. “What in all the lowest hells––”
“Fucker!” she spat. “It wasn’t enough to drag her into your bed? You had to wine and dine and ditch her, too? Lowlife piece of shit…”
Still staring at her in shock, Loki raised a hand to his cheek, where the skin and bone throbbed in pain. He fought to think, to understand the fury in her eyes.
Her words made no sense to him whatsoever.
“Cousin!” he said, breathing hard. His voice grew openly wounded. “Do you really think that is an appropriate response to our disagreement?”
But she was already shaking her head, her eyes murderous.
“Don’t fucking read me without my permission!” she snapped, glaring at him. “You all think I’m stupid…that I don’t notice when you’re pulling your iceblood crap…”
She motioned at his head angrily with one hand, her teeth gritted.
“…If I wanted you poking around inside my head, or giving me some iceblood-induced lobotomy, I’d tell you…”
Feeling his confusion clear slightly, Loki held up both of his hands in a peace gesture.
“I did not do this, cousin!” he protested.
Dante took a step forward and he took one back, nearly stumbling.
As he did, he could feel and hear the amusement in the Barrier space around him. He didn’t dare join them there, however, fearful that Dante would punch him again.
“I assure you, young cousin,” he repeated, still holding up his hands. “I was not doing any of those things. I was in the Barrier, but only to communicate with them…”
Loki motioned to where Vikram, Raddi, Yumi and Anale clustered in a small but very conspicuous group by the elevators, grinning at them as they watched the show.
“…I was reassuring my brothers and sisters of my intentions,” Loki added. “They spoke to me in my mind, and I responded. It would look the same to your eyes…”
At her skeptical look, Loki burst out with an angrier stream of words.
“…Do you really think I would read you for no reason, cousin, when you’d just told me you intended to talk to me about something?” he said. “Why for the love of the gods would I not simply wait to see what you said, first?”
Dante stared up at him, her eyes momentarily confused.
Then he saw her thinking about his words. Her gaze slid past him to where most of the seers had resumed their conversations. Loki followed her eyes, just in time to see Vikram and Raddi disappear through an elevator doorway.
“Would they just leave you, cousin, if I was a danger to you?” Loki retorted.
Slowly, she lowered her fists back to her sides. Her eyes flickered to his cheek, which likely now held a mark from her hand.
Loki watched as Dante’s own complexion darkened.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. She clenched her hands at her sides. “You can’t exactly blame me, you know. It’s not like I’m not outnumbered here…”
Loki waved away her words, although since his jaw still ached from the hit, his dismissal was more out of politeness than true feeling. Even so, his infiltrator’s mind didn’t shut off entirely. He found himself thinking she had some fighting ability, if that punch was any indication. He hoped Vik and the others had been giving her training.
As he thought it, he looked down to her knuckles and saw that they had swollen.
“Are you all right?” he said, unthinking.
She let out a snort. “Don’t act like you shook that one off so easy, Holmes.”
Loki made a negative gesture. “I am not,” he said. “It hurt. It will continue to hurt for several days. I am wondering, though…did you break your hand?”
She looked down at her hand, wincing. She held it strangely now, Loki saw.
“Maybe,” she admitted.
“Should we go to the fifth floor infirmary?” he said.
Realizing it wasn’t really a question he should be asking her, given her age, he made up his mind, motioning with his head towards the stairs.
“Come,” he said. “We will go now.”
“Go to hell,” she said, backing off.
Glaring at her, he shook his head. He felt his jaw clench that time, even as something rose in his light. He found himself turning over what Vikram said about her bullying him and what Gina herself had said, implying the same. He couldn’t avoid the obvious truth of their words, now that it stared him in the face. He also couldn’t help realizing just how much he’d let Dante manipulate his guilt over the past weeks.
Gina was right. He had been played.
He realized something else. Dante had also taken advantage of his insecurity about Gina’s feelings for him. He had feared Gina would cease to like him if her daughter did not.
“Come,” he said, motioning more sternly with his head. “Or I will call your mother and she can escort you. Of course, that will necessitate a number of explanations.”
He saw a flicker of surprise in her eyes, visible before she could suppress it.
She went back to glaring at him seconds later, but Loki could see that his words had reached her. Clearly, Dante wasn’t happy about the idea of her mother learning what she’d just done.
He waited for her to weigh possible responses to his demand. He watched in something like fascination as she pursed her lips in that pause, staring at the floor, her left hand growing redder as the seconds ticked by and probably hurting her more, too.
Finally, her shoulders abruptly unclenched in a teenager’s dramatic sigh.
“Fine,” she snapped. “Let’s go.”
Without another word, she stomped past him towards the stairs.
Loki felt himself relax. Even so, he let her get a pace or two ahead of him before he followed cautiously behind.
After all, she still had one good hand.
Gina opened the door, a smile on her face and in her eyes, hopefully because he’d announced himself. Once she saw his face, however, she gripped the edge of the wooden door until her knuckles whitened.
Loki simply stood there as she looked him up and down, her eyes wide.
“What the hell happened to you?” she said. “Were you in the ring again?”
Loki sighed. “Not exactly.”
“Someone punched you though. Clearly. Who? That Sword guy?”
Clicking softly, Loki shook his head.
“Then who?” she said.
He rolled his eyes a little, but smiled. “Can I come in?”
“Not until you tell me who hit you!”
Loki glanced down the carpeted corridor, feeling his face warm. “Do you promise not to be angry?” he said.
“No,” she said at once.
Sighing, Loki folded his hands at the base of his back then straightened, meeting her gaze. “Would you believe that a sixteen-year-old human girl hit me?” he said. “That she caught me completely without defenses?” He smiled, trying to lighten the storm he could see brewing behind her dark hazel eyes. “It was quite humbling.”
Gina’s face flushed bright red, but not in embarrassment.
Loki watched as that concern he’d seen in her just now, what had been a near-fear in her eyes, turn to unbridled anger.
“That little shit…” she exploded.
Loki held up a hand, trying to head her off. “It is all right.”
“It’s not all right!” Gina snapped. “I’m going to kill that kid.”
�
�I’m quite okay. She hurt herself more than she hurt me.”
“So what?” Gina said, glaring up at him. “Would you let your child just go around punching people because they didn’t like what you’d done?”
“We haven’t done very much yet,” Loki reminded her, again trying to lighten the mood.
Gina’s frown only deepened into a scowl.
“Whose fault is that?” she snapped.
There was a silence.
She continued to grip the edge of the door, but she wasn’t looking at him now. Instead, she stared off to the side, her face contorted in an expression caught somewhere between anger, frustration and what might have been embarrassment. She bit her lip while he watched, and Loki felt a surge of pain hit his chest, catching him off-guard. It brought back the more heated flavor to his light, reminding him of how he’d felt when he’d left the area of the security station after talking to the Bridge.
“Can I come in?” He cleared his throat, flushing when he realized he could hear the pain in his voice. “…Please, Gina?”
She looked up at him, starting, as if she’d just realized she’d left him standing in the corridor. Stepping back and to the side, she took the door with her, leaving him plenty of room to pass through the opening. He continued to watch her face as he walking inside, his feet sinking into deep blue carpet that filled the sitting room of the two bedroom apartment.
He continued to watch her face once he’d turned around, cautious when he felt flickers of anger on her light, along with guilt and frustration about what to do with Dante.
He knew she’d been frustrated with how little time her daughter had given her since she’d gotten here. He’d felt the same frustration on Dante earlier, after he’d taken her up to the infirmary to have the medical techs bind her hand.
Remembering that, he clicked again, that time, in regret.
“She broke her hand,” he told Gina.
Gina turned, staring at him. “Dani?”
He nodded, once, indicating his own face. “Apparently her hand is less hard than my face…and the bones in it less strong than her arm.”
Dragon: Allie's War Book Nine Page 4