Odin: Alien Adoption Agency #5

by Tasha Black

  As Odin watched, one of the disgusting wretches reached for Liberty.

  The world suddenly slid into slow motion.

  The man’s hand moved toward Liberty.

  The dragon rose in Odin’s chest, throwing itself against the bars of his restraint.

  And Odin threw open the gates.

  There was no disorientation, no pain. He had denied the dragon for so long, but his body expanded into place as smoothly as ever.

  The dragon felt the satisfying give of the soil beneath his claws, and the ballast of his mighty tail, holding him steady under the weight of his massive head.

  He let out a roar so loud it made the jaguarootte’s warning sound like a small child clearing its throat.

  The villain’s hand dropped from his mate and the dragon rejoiced.

  But when the hand reappeared, there was a gun in it.

  From his vantage point deep inside the dragon, Odin screamed in anguish.

  A series of images played in their shared consciousness.

  Another ambush, another villain whose treachery was escalated by the presence of a dragon, the cry of a boy and then worse, his silence.

  He had not learned his lesson, and now he was doomed to repeat it.

  Odin howled in anguish.

  The dragon was shocked to feel the wave of despair in its chest. It was a wholly alien feeling, not one the dragon had ever experienced before. The man-side wasn’t fighting for control, he wasn’t trying to wrestle his way out. This was pure desolation.

  The emotion tasted of surrender and the dragon hesitated, uncertain how to proceed.

  35

  Liberty

  Liberty watched the dragon, in awe for a moment at its power and beauty.

  While Odin’s skin tone was a gentle ruby, the dragon’s scales burned red as coals. Glittering eyes fixed on the man who was reaching for her.

  Then the dragon let its beautiful head fall back and roared. Though the sound was loud enough to blow her hair back, she found it thrilling.

  This creature was so proud, so joyous. It was as if this side of Odin had harnessed all his elation and was letting it fly from him now. There was no sign of her brooding, angry Odin.

  When the beast suddenly dropped its head and the massive tail drooped, she wondered what was happening.

  Cora gasped and Liberty turned to her.

  Then she understood the dragon’s despair.

  The man who had been about to grab Liberty was holding out a gun. And it was trained on Cora.

  “Nooo,” Liberty moaned.

  “Come closer, little girl,” the disgusting brute growled at Cora. “Let me get a better look at you.”

  Cora’s face was free of all expression.

  The intrepid babysitter took two deliberate steps forward, but stopped just outside of the gunman’s reach.

  Liberty watched as the brute reached out and grabbed for Cora.

  A slow, radiant smile appeared on Cora’s face as the man’s hand locked around her wrist.

  Liberty had just enough time to realize what was happening.

  Cora grinned, then stepped forward, shifting her weight as she counter-grabbed the man’s hand and ducked under his arm in one smooth, practiced motion.

  The man sailed through the air, his body flipping over itself like a griddle cake before coming to a rest, hard, on the ground in front of the delighted babysitter.

  His gun flew from his hand and landed at Liberty’s feet, and she snatched it up and pointed it at him before he had a chance to react.

  All the men in the circle backed up, lifting their hands in surrender. The one who’d foolishly grabbed Cora made his way shakily back to his feet and stumbled back to them.

  “You thought you were pretty tough, didn’t you?” she addressed them, secretly enjoying the fear in their eyes. “You thought you would steal my sheep and threaten my babysitter. Well, look who’s in charge now!”

  There was a snort of agreement behind her, and she felt a draft of warm air against her back.

  She glanced over her shoulder to see that Odin was behind her, still in dragon form, standing proud again, in all his glory.

  His eyes glittered like diamonds. And ribbons of smoke slid from his nostrils.

  So they hadn’t been afraid of her. They had been afraid of him.

  And though her heart could not fear her mate, her mind saw that he couldn’t shoot a fireball at his enemies without it going through her.

  She leveled the gun at the men.

  “Hold your fire,” someone called from the woods.

  Liberty nearly cried with frustration. How many rustlers could there be?

  But the men who emerged from the trees wore marshals’ uniforms and carried regulation rifles.

  She watched in wonder as they rounded up the gang of rustlers and marched them away.

  “Are you all right, madam?” one of them asked her earnestly.

  “Y-yes,” she replied, the tremor in her voice belying her projection of confidence. She’d never had anyone pull a gun on her before, or pointed one at someone else. It wasn’t as dashing as the holo-films made it out to me.

  “And the girl?” he asked, referring to Cora.

  Liberty spun around to check on the babysitter, who was staring in open admiration at the giant dragon.

  “We’ll be just fine,” Liberty told him. “Thank you so much for coming.”

  “Old Alney alerted us that you’d had some trouble with rustlers,” the marshal said. “That’s unusual for us here. But when we got a tip that the Sons of Sirius were in town, it all started to add up.”

  “Did you find my sheep?” she asked, hope building in her heart.

  “I’m afraid not,” he replied. “But hopefully we can get these jokers to talk.”

  He seemed pretty optimistic, but Liberty wasn’t so sure.

  At the moment, she was mostly just glad to be alive.

  “Thank you again for your help,” she said.

  “Our pleasure,” he replied. “But it looks to me like you had the situation well in hand yourself.”

  “Oh,” she said. “This isn’t mine. It belonged to one of them.”

  She handed over the gun, glad to be rid of it.

  “Also,” she admitted, “the real hero here is Cora.”

  “The girl?” he asked, doubtfully.

  “She pulled some kind of incredible martial arts move to disarm him,” Liberty said.

  “She’s your sister?” he asked.

  “Cora, come talk to the marshal,” Liberty said.

  Cora trotted over obligingly, but she stole a last glance over at Odin.

  “Cora is our babysitter,” Liberty told the marshal. “But she’s also a volunteer with the Lachesis emergency service squad, and she’s trained in several forms of self-defense. She took out an armed assailant in about two seconds just now - saved all our lives.”

  Cora puffed up with joy as if she had just been awarded an Intergalactic Games medal.

  “A young woman like you could wind up serving as a marshal one day,” the man told her. “We have a paid internship for one gifted student each year. Here’s my card. Have your parents call my office if you might be interested.”

  “Thanks,” Cora said, staring rapturously at the card as the marshal walked away.

  Odin stepped forward to join them, in his man form once again, and wrapped an arm around Liberty.

  “I just have to tell you—” Cora began.

  “We know, yes, you have axe training at dawn,” Odin said. “I’ll get you home right away.”

  “That’s great,” Cora said. “But what I wanted to tell you is - I really like babysitting for you guys. Call me anytime.”

  36

  Odin

  After their statements were taken, Cora was dropped off at home, and the marshals had left the farm, Odin walked slowly back toward the farmhouse by Liberty’s side.

  Though it was barely dawn, Colton was wide awake, making happy gurgling sound
s.

  “I can’t wait for you to get a little older,” Liberty told the baby. “I want to know what you’re saying.”

  “I think he’s as adventure-happy as Cora,” Odin said. “We’re in real trouble if he decides to take after the babysitter.”

  “On the contrary, he’ll protect us in our old age,” Liberty said with a smile.

  “Liberty,” Odin began, not really sure what he was going to say. “Liberty, I feel like I owe you an explanation.”

  She nodded, but didn’t speak, allowing him the space to find the words.

  He opened the front door and they headed automatically to the kitchen. He grabbed a cell of milk for Colton and went about warming it.

  “I served on active duty for most of my career,” he said, realizing it was easier to talk when he had something to do with his hands. “I was pretty good at it. Good enough that they assigned me a new recruit to mentor.”

  Liberty nodded and sat down at one of the stools, cradling Colton in her arms.

  “He was barely of service age, a boy, really,” Odin said fondly. “But he was smart and brave and kind. He had so much promise.”

  Liberty nodded again.

  “His name was Adyxx,” Odin said.

  He let the name hang in the air. He hadn’t said it out loud in so long. He had expected it to tear out his heart along with it.

  But it felt good to say Adyxx’s name.

  “Because of his gifts, his first mission came too soon,” Odin continued. “I petitioned my commanding officer for more time. But he refused.”

  Liberty bit her lip and nodded.

  “When the day came, we waited in ambush for the enemy,” Odin said softly. “But they must have gotten wind of our mission. They came from the opposite direction and took us by surprise. My seasoned men scrambled into action, but Adyxx just froze.”

  Liberty met his eyes. Hers were sad and serious, but there was no judgement.

  “I called them to retreat and still he stood. The enemy was overwhelming our position. I couldn’t get to him fast enough,” Odin continued. “The only thing to do was shift.”

  Liberty’s eyes widened.

  “I set my dragon free, even roared out a fireball into the sky to warn them off,” he said. “Instead, they doubled down. Their commander screamed for them to engage the dusters.”

  Liberty sucked in a breath.

  “The rest of my guys had cleared the area, but Adyxx was still frozen in place. He wouldn’t even shift,” he said. “They vaporized him in an instant, with a weapon designed for shooting down aircraft.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Liberty murmured.

  “I destroyed them all,” Odin said with grim satisfaction. “Every last one, even when they tried to retreat. But that wouldn’t bring him back. Nothing ever will.”

  She nodded like she understood.

  And he realized that in a way, she did. The cosmic lax mutation had taken her husband before her eyes, more slowly, but no less inevitably. And there was nothing she could do about it.

  “I was responsible for that boy,” he said. “And when he needed me most, I made things worse.”

  “That’s a very odd way of looking at it,” Liberty said.

  “The same thing almost happened tonight,” Odin said. “You were in trouble, I shifted, and the rustler pulled out a gun. All because I escalated the situation.”

  “Do you really think he wouldn’t have done that anyway?” Liberty asked.

  “We have no way of knowing,” Odin admitted.

  “And Adyxx sounds like he was a really great kid, but not ready for action,” Liberty said. “You told your commanding officer, you kept an eye on the boy, and when he got into trouble, you took swift action to protect him.”

  Odin nodded.

  “You weren’t in control of what the enemy did,” she went on. “And you’re not in control of anyone else now. Something could happen to me, or to Colton, or to both of us. Terrible things that are out of our control happen every day, sometimes to the people we love.”

  He turned away, busying himself testing the temp of the milk cell as her words landed.

  “But you are in control of you,” Liberty went on. “You are in control of who you love and how you treat them. You’re in control of how you treat yourself.”

  He put the milk cell down and turned back to her.

  “And I think you’ve been treating yourself very poorly,” Liberty said with conviction. “I think you’ve been trying to tell yourself that you don’t deserve love or happiness, that you’re going to make it up to Adyxx by being miserable. Is that the idea?”

  Odin didn’t answer. It sounded colossally stupid when she said it out loud like that.

  “Well, he’s not here, and we are,” Liberty said, holding Colton tightly to her chest. “We’re here, and we need you. And we think you deserve it all, every last drop of happiness you can drain from your life. Do you understand?”

  Suddenly she was haloed in soft light.

  Her face went blank, then she scrambled off her stool and ran for the front door.

  “Liberty?” he said, trailing after her.

  But she was already outside, and by the time he reached her, she was on the grassy lawn.

  A shaft of sunlight had pierced the clouds and shone on her like a spotlight, shimmering in her hair, lighting up her radiant skin as if the light were coming from within her instead of from above.

  Tears streamed down her face and she clung to Colton like he was the only thing anchoring her to the ground.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes squeezed shut. “Thank you.”

  Odin stayed back, watching her. The tears had scared him, but he could see now that they were tears of happiness, tears of relief.

  For a long time, his beautiful mate stood in the sunlight.

  Then she turned to him and the clouds slid back into place as if in answer.

  “He was right,” she said softly. “It’s like he knew somehow.”

  “What do you mean?” Odin asked.

  She touched her hand to her pocket, like he’d seen her do from time to time, but this time she pulled out a tiny hologram tab.

  Wordlessly, she set it on her open palm and activated it.

  The image of a man appeared in miniature and Odin realized that this must be Wyn. This was the man Liberty had loved with all her being, the man who had nearly kept her from opening her heart again.

  Emotions warred in Odin’s chest - jealousy and sadness, waging war on a deep surge of gratitude that she would share her broken heart with him.

  He listened as the man told Liberty in a kind voice about all the dreams he had for her, including travel and motherhood.

  But it was hard for Odin to focus on the hologram when Liberty was in front of him, her eyes shining with happy tears.

  “Listen,” she whispered to Odin. “Listen to this part.”

  Don’t hold a torch for me forever, Liberty, the man said. You have too much love. Find someone to share it with. Someone who can burn down the walls you’ve built around your heart.

  “That’s you,” she said. “It’s always been you.”

  Odin knew it was a coincidence, it had to be. Wyn would have had no way to know who he was, or what he would come to mean to Liberty.

  But somehow it made him feel better anyway, better for himself and for her about what he knew he had to do now.

  “Liberty,” he breathed. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been a fool.”

  She gazed up at him, listening.

  “I can’t bring back the people we cared about,” he went on. “But we’re lucky enough to be together, right here, right now.”

  “So lucky,” she murmured.

  “Will you accept me as your mate?” he asked her, feeling wild and reckless and deliriously happy. “It doesn’t have to happen today - not until you’re ready - whenever that day comes.”

  “Yes,” she told him simply.

  “Yes?” he asked, unable to believe
it.

  “Yes,” she squealed and wrapped one arm around his neck, the other still cradling Colton. “Yes, of course. I was starting to worry that you wouldn’t ask me again.”

  37

  Odin

  Later that afternoon, Odin watched Cora and her father walk down the path, with Colton in his hover-stroll.

  It was incredibly strange to let the whelp out of his sight, even knowing he was in the company of the most highly skilled babysitter in the galaxy.

  “He’ll be okay,” Liberty murmured from the bed.

  “Yes, but will you be?” he teased, turning to her with an expression of ferocious hunger.

  She looked a little alarmed, but mostly amused. “So this really goes on for…?”

  “Days,” he told her again. “This goes on for days. The hired hands will take care of the sheep. Cora will take care of Colton. Was there anything else on your calendar?”

  She shook her head.

  “Are you having doubts?” he asked gently, sitting on the edge of the bed. “We don’t have to do this now. We can just enjoy some downtime together. Maybe we’ll cook a nice meal and take inventory of the barn—”

  But she crawled up and sealed his lips with a kiss that took his breath away.

  “I’m tired of other people giving me lists,” she whispered. “I’ve got a list of my own.”

  “I want to hear the list,” he demanded.

  “First you’re going to remove your shirt,” she told him.

  He scrambled off the bed and tore his shirt off, loving the way her eyes went helpless with lust at the sight of his flesh.

  He was a dragon warrior - born and bred to be strong and broad. He hadn’t done anything to earn this form, but he was glad if it gave her pleasure.

  “Now the rest of your clothes,” she said, her eyes sparkling as she enjoyed her power.

  He slid his thumb down the tab of his breeches slowly, then released it with a flick.

  Her pupils dilated slightly, and the dragon chuckled.

  He made quick work of the rest of his clothes.