I popped my eyes open. “What?”
He licked the air.
“What is wrong with you?” I snapped. “You weren’t always such a jerk. What happened?”
He shrugged, a bit deflated for the first time in a year. “You’re not the only one with shit going down, Callie, but hey, thanks for asking for the first time. Ever.”
Lightning flashed outside, and I jumped. Rain sheeted over the windows.
Kirk kicked the half-wall between us. “Dammit. I left my windows down. Can I get that sandwich today?” He walked to the pickup window behind the counter and peered over. “Are you done licking it ’cause I’ve got to go. I can come back later if you want.”
Allison passed him a wrapped sandwich. “See ya.”
He handed me a wad of crumpled bills and grabbed his soup.
I made change while he bounced impatiently, craning his neck to see his truck through the rain-coated window.
“I hate this weather.” He zipped his hoodie and yanked the hood up. “Bone ya later.”
“I hate him.” Allison arrived at my side. “What’s his problem?”
He climbed into his giant pickup and sat behind the wheel, rubbing his sleeve on the steering wheel and seat.
“I don’t know.” For the first time since our breakup, I wondered about Kirk. How was he doing? Really? Was his obnoxious assery a cover-up for something else? “I hope he’s okay.”
Allison grunted but left the subject alone. Her feelings for Kirk had been made clear the moment we found Hannah facedown in his lap. I’d dumped him and moved on. She hated him double for both of us.
I reached for my buzzing phone as Allison lifted hers from her apron. Simultaneous texts to us could only come from one place.
Mason walked through the front door before I could swipe my screen to life. “You two can go home. I’ll take it from here.”
Allison squeaked and jogged in place. “Oliver invited me to a movie this afternoon.” Her fingers danced over the screen. “Thank you so much, Mason. Now I can take my time getting ready. This is cosmic timing. Need a ride, Callie?”
Mason stood behind her, moving his head left to right.
“Uh. No. I think I’ll invite Mom to meet me here for lunch.”
Allison tied her apron in a ball and tossed it under the counter. “I have nothing to wear.”
I forced a smile. “An experienced shopper could make it to the mall, grab a new outfit, and still be ready in time.”
“Brilliant.” She lifted onto her toes and dropped. “I think I’ve had too much coffee.”
Undoubtedly. “Use the adrenaline rush to find that new outfit.”
She pointed her car keys in my direction. “More reasons I love you.”
The door flung open when she pushed and it clunked against the wall outside. Mason muscled it shut and flipped the Closed sign in the window.
“What’s going on?”
The back door opened and shut. I held my breath as footfalls marched toward me. A moment later, Tom, Oliver, and Liam moved into sight.
Tom’s face was distorted with the long, straight angles of a Viking transformed.
“What’s wrong?” My feet anchored to the tiles.
Mason closed the curtains. “Eli is gone.”
Eli had left us? My frenzied brain whirled through the nonsensical statement. “He wouldn’t leave. He liked this life.”
“He isn’t a deserter.” Tom’s voice thundered in the empty deli. “He was with my brothers searching for signs of giants or Stians.”
I balled my fists against the urge to defend myself. “I didn’t accuse him of deserting.” Then again, if he hadn’t left us intentionally… Horror knocked the wind from my lungs. “He was taken.”
Liam approached me with calculated steps. He stopped short of touching me. “We think so, yes. The Mahonings have no idea where he went. This development begs us to reconsider what happened to the others.”
I reached for him. “Zeus told me I was a fool if I believed the others left me for being a bad leader. He was trying to tell me, and I didn’t get it. The men aren’t leaving us. They’re being picked off one by one.” I focused on Liam’s determined face. “Who could do that?”
“My gut says this is a Stian strategy meant to reduce our numbers. When they’re confident of their victory, they’ll come at us again in battle. Still, we haven’t found evidence of a Stian presence in weeks and it’d be hard for them to get close enough to take our men unnoticed. No one in our clan would go quietly.”
“Our clan.” Vibrations zinged across my skin, igniting a domino of tiny fires in my heart. We were one clan. Pride and hope filled my lungs.
Tom positioned himself before me and knelt. “Boss, I ask that we gather the men at Hale Manor and question them. If someone from our clan has posed as a friend to us, while playing handmaiden to the enemy, we need to know.”
I gripped his arm and lifted him to his feet. “I think that sounds smart. How can we be sure who’s lying, though? He must be good, or we’d have suspected something by now.”
Tom smiled. “Come with us. You’ll sense the lie in their emotions. We’ll do the questioning. You watch and listen.”
Nerves racked my brain. “Right now?”
Mason unplugged the twinkle lights and flipped the light switches. “Give us until this evening to gather the men. Most are out until dinner.”
I dug my nails into the palm of both hands. What if I was wrong? “If we’re right and there’s a traitor, what happens to him?”
Liam’s gentle voice delivered the blow. “That will be up to you.”
Chapter 10
I spent the afternoon with an apologetic, slightly hungover Mom. Physically, we shared an afghan and a romantic comedy. Mentally, I was already across the cornfield. After we cleaned up dinner, I headed for Hale Manor.
The rumble of voices and laughter met me outside the home. I slipped into the foyer and ducked my head. Spicy scents of a cuisine I couldn’t name wafted through the manor, heady with curry and ginger. A strange tug in my center pulled me toward the basement stairs, as if I’d swallowed a powerful magnet and its partner wanted a reunion. I stumbled over my feet on the staircase.
In another breath, I stood before my sword, appreciating for the first time the fantastical detail covering the blade. Swirls of fire and curlicues of smoke decorated the silver from tip to hilt.
Liam arrived with a glass of water and a sandwich. “Have you eaten?”
“Yeah. With Mom.”
He set the meal aside and slid one hand around my waist. “Don’t worry. We’ll get our men back.”
“Not if they’re dead.”
“Hey.” Liam spun me against his chest. “We’ll take care of everything. You only need to listen and if anything stands out to you, let us know. We don’t know there’s a spy here. That’s a hypothesis.”
I locked my arms around his waist, desperate for a buoy in the storm. “It’s not just that. What about the giants? Zeus said to attack soon and we’re not ready. Now there’s possibly a traitor among us. The Stians are circling. Our men are disappearing. We’re under attack from other Vikings, and I’m expected to unite us.”
Liam lowered his cheek to mine, grazing me with his light stubble. “We will be victorious in all these things.” His lips stroked my ear, heating the sensitive skin and breathing sweetly into my hair. He repeated the process until I could think of nothing else.
This was the Liam I fell in love with, attentive, confident, reassuring. Much as I wanted to dissolve into the moment, I couldn’t stop the remnants of Caution Sign Me from pulling back.
Was he here to stay or poised to run again?
Were we partners or weren’t we? Was this love one-sided? A sneaky idea crept into play. Even Liam couldn’t hide his true emotions during a kiss. I rocked onto my toes and hung my wrists behind his head, dragging my body against his. “Liam. Kiss me.”
&n
bsp; I angled my face to his and repeated the request against his mouth.
He held my gaze until I trembled with the urge to scream or undress him. His touch could take me places where none of the day’s drama mattered. Where nothing mattered. When his lips crashed into mine, I was alive. Every fiber of my body flamed to life with his kiss. Memories of stolen moments like these burned through me. Our lips parted and collided in a perfect exchange of desire. I dug tunnels through his hair with my fingers as his guard fell. Liam’s emotions flooded through me, lifting my heart and heightening my senses. I caught his lower lip and earned a deep, throaty growl in response. His tongue slid over mine, warm and wet, foreshadowing things to come.
Assurance flattened my fears. We were fine. Perfect, maybe. Whatever he’d been holding back, it wasn’t regret, not second thoughts. He had only a fierce desire to protect me. I needed to convince him of finding better ways to accomplish that. Later.
I dropped my arms and grasped the hem of his shirt. He caught my wrists in one of his enormous hands. “If we start this now, we’ll be interrupted by the men. Dinner’s almost over.”
A shudder rocked through me.
Liam kissed my forehead. He released my hands and placed his palms on my cheeks. “The manor is crowded now, but we have forever.”
I rested my head against him and settled my breathing.
“Have I told you how well you’re doing?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t. I’ll know if you lie.”
The warmth of pure love seeped from his pores, thick and comforting, like nothing else. “The transition alone is enough to drive some men mad. What you’re experiencing now, the empathy, the physical changes, the burden of leading a divided people. It’s more than anyone can handle and you’re managing it all. When you realize who you are and embrace it, there will be nothing you can’t do.” Pride peppered his words and hope lifted my heart.
“My brothers and I talk about you. We’ve never seen anything like this. Like you. The struggles you have with moral things or battle training, even your insecurity, those are what keep you human. You still care and remind us how important that is. Where you see failure, we see hope.”
I hung my head. “Everything keeps getting worse. I can’t even find the time to study. Not for school. Not mythology. I feel like I’m running from one crisis to the next without resolving anything, and the future of the entire world is on me.”
Liam angled away from me, clutching my hand. “Have you read about your sword?”
I raised my face to his. “My sword is in the books?”
He quirked a brow. “Did you think it was made the night you received it?”
Kind of. “No.”
“Your weapon comes from a Norse legend. Would you like to hear it?”
I knocked myself against his side. “What do you think? Of course I do.”
His cocky smile sent a kaleidoscope of butterflies through my core. “This sword once belonged to Freyr, god of peace, fertility, rain, and sun. It’s a very powerful weapon.”
“It belonged to a god.”
“Mm-hmm. Rumor has it Freyr traded it for the love of a beautiful giantess, but here it is. This is a flaming sword.”
I blinked. The intricately carved flames took on new meaning. They weren’t decorative. They were marks of identification. Cool. “Why would Zeus give me a Norse god’s old sword?”
He smiled. “Could be any reason, but I think it might be because he knows you so well. Freyr’s sword will fight on its own.”
Alarm shot through me. “What?”
“Don’t be afraid. Lift your hand to it.”
I flinched. “I can’t.”
“It’s not scary, Callie. It’s an honor to possess such a powerful piece. Your sword is part of you now. You can’t deny it any more than you can deny your streaked hair, hazel eyes, or the blessed mark.” He tangled his fingers in the hair resting on my shoulder and shoved it aside, kissing the tender skin at the base of my neck. “When Odin’s ravens attacked you, I wanted to murder them myself until I saw this.” He kissed me again. “When I saw the mark of Calypso where the ravens had pulled out your hair, I knew anything was possible.”
“I love you.” The words were in the air before I’d considered them.
Liam cradled the back of my head and kissed me with purpose. He stroked my hair and laced our fingers together. “And I love you. Always. There’s nothing I won’t do to protect you, honor you, or deserve your love.”
He kissed me again, more chastely this time. The effort of his restraint was evident in the air. Liam released me with reluctance, crossed the floor to the glass of water, and chugged it.
My mind wandered to our secret midnight swims and changed the subject before I begged to take our chances on interruption. “Tell me more about my sword.”
“Raise your hand to it.”
I obeyed, and the sword flew to my hand. “I’ll never get used to that.”
“How does it feel?”
I turned my wrist, enjoying the weight of it in my palm. “It feels wonderful. Terrifying. Powerful.” Deadly.
“As it should.”
I lowered the sword and Liam moved closer. “I want to save lives, not take them.”
“The sword will protect you, honor you, and obey you. This weapon is not something you should fear, and it will never hurt anyone who doesn’t first threaten to hurt you.” Sadness overcame his voice.
“Liam?” Oliver called down the basement steps. “Callie? Are you decent?”
Humiliation scorched my neck and cheeks.
Liam laughed. “Of course we’re decent. It’s a training room. What do you think we’re doing down here?” He winked at me and went to meet his brother at the door.
“Oh.” Oliver stopped short and stared wide-eyed at me, as if I’d grown a second head. A small crowd of strangers stood behind him. “Uh. These are Zayas. They’ve traveled from Mongolia on news of the prophecy.” He stepped aside and seven men with black hair and round faces moved into the room.
The Zaya clan formed a line, shoulder to shoulder, and knelt before me. The center man spoke for the group. “Goddess, we are Zayas of Mongolia. We pledge our alliance to you and all your endeavors. We will serve and defend you faithfully, abiding in your will, whatever comes.”
In one sharp burst, the clan barked a untied grunt of agreement.
Fealty. Another part of my new life I’d never get used to. “Thank you.”
The men stood. They examined me like a child watched lions at the zoo, with wild curiosity and suppressed fear. Their collective gaze turned to the sword in my hand.
“I’m Callie, um, Calypso Ingram. You can call me Callie if you want, or something else if that makes you uncomfortable.”
They wrinkled their foreheads and looked to Liam.
“Tom calls her boss.”
The Zaya in red jeans and a white silk shirt asked, “What do you call her?”
Liam’s eyes flashed green. “I call her mine.”
The words consumed me. I was his, and he was mine. Exactly the way we were meant to be. Destiny. Something Zeus couldn’t control. I reached for Liam’s hand and squeezed.
The Zayas retreated upstairs at Oliver’s request.
He turned to Liam. “Mason’s almost ready for the questioning.”
I led the brothers to the first floor.
Upstairs, seventy-two men filled the open area connecting the foyer to the living room and the dining room. The air was hot with frustration, something I understood intimately. Mason climbed the winding staircase and addressed them from the higher vantage.
“As you may be aware, we’ve lost three men since we came together last month.”
A grumble rolled over the crowd.
I leaned against Liam. “I don’t know why they’re grumbling. I don’t think I can do this.” How would I know beyond a reasonable doubt if one of them was lying?
Liam n
udged me. “Walk among them as Mason talks. Maybe that will help.”
I moved closer to the crowd, trying to get out of my head and focus on the layers of emotions in the room.
Mason pointed to me. “Callie has been gifted with many talents. One day her abilities will lead us to victory against our enemies. Today, we’re forced to use them here. We have reason to believe the enemy lives among us.”
The crowd moved, shifting and twisting as Vikings turned to look at their brothers on every side.
Mason quieted them. “We don’t believe in coincidence, and the fact one man has disappeared every few days seems more of a pattern than happenstance. Eli Hawk vanished today. Eli was Callie’s friend and protector. He was part of a reconnaissance team at the time. He didn’t leave on his own volition.”
I sought Tom’s face in the crowd. He nodded in confirmation. Eli had followed me too? I’d never thanked the Mahonings. I didn’t even know about Eli. Memories of their rain gear as they weathered a storm outside my window rushed to mind.
I choked on grief flooding from Tom and nearly missed something else.
A combination of menace and panic coiled over me. I followed it like emotional bread crumbs through the crowd, which easily parted as I moved.
Mason continued his hopeful threat. “We know the guilty man is here, and Callie is coming for him. If he has any honor left, he’ll step forward and confess before he’s ousted as both a coward and traitor.”
I homed in on the man internally losing his calm. His emotions ran the gamut from relief to hatred. The frantic pace blurred my vision. His attention darted through the room, first to doorways and windows, then to me.
Mason kept going. “You all know what must happen to a traitor, a murderer, a man who conspires against the one he’s pledged his fealty.”
The crowd roared, “Behead!”
Oh, shit. Wait. If I was wrong, an innocent man would die. What if his emotions were rampant for some other reason? What if he’d done nothing and we killed him for being nervous? Was that a death sentence now? Nerves? I’d be the next under the sword.
“Callie?” Mason called from the stairs.
A hush fell over the crowd.
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