“So, you’re kidnapping non-magicals now, huh? Since when did that overtake your guitar obsession? Honestly, you can never keep up with your kids.” I’d been able to hear the smirk in his voice, and I’d bristled.
“It’s not a kidnap; he’s my friend.”
Loki had pulled back, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. He’d gripped my chin, turning me to look at the snoring human. “Usually — as a general point — friends don’t need to be tied up to stop them running away.”
How should I know? I’d never been able to take one for a test drive before.
I wouldn’t have kept him anyway. He’d been far more boring than my brothers, Fenrir and Jormungand. We were each other’s worlds.
Yet, just once, I’d wanted to see if there was something outside our tiny universe of four.
I’d stubbornly jutted out my lip, but Loki had run his thumb over it like he had ever since I’d been little to smooth out the pout. “But you said that those witches were friends who tied you up…”
Loki had paled; he’d become suddenly serious in a way that made my heart thunder. “I was wrong. Witches can never be your friend.” He wiped his elegant finger through the kid’s tears to show me the wet shimmering on the tip. “Why would you want someone to be sad, little stallion?”
I’d pushed away from Loki, as anger flooded me. I’d clenched my fists. “You cry and try to hide it. I’ve heard you at night. Plus, Fenrir once saw, and you said—”
“Simply to imagine that I was smiling on the inside.” Loki had smiled then as well, but it’d been brittle and fake. I’d wished that he’d been crying instead. When he’d reached to stroke my hair, I’d pulled back from him. His smile had fallen. “You know that I have to take the non-magical back, right? If you have to force someone to belong to you, then they were never yours. Everybody deserves to be free.”
“I hate you,” I’d whispered.
I didn’t mean it… Don’t let dad think that I meant it…
I’d fought not to let my own tears fall because I was too old to cry, even if Loki did.
“I’d imagine that you would.” Loki had sounded weary, before he’d pressed his hand to his face. “Screw the Norns, I’m a terrible dad.”
My eyes had widened. What on earth had I done?
I’d launched myself onto Loki so hard that I’d knocked him backward into a laughing heap.
“I love you.” I’d kissed his nose, even as he’d chuckled, playfully wriggling to get away. “I love you, dad.”
“I know, little stallion. Although from now on, you swear to me that you never imprison another. If you wish someone’s love or friendship, then you make certain that they’re free to make that choice.”
I’d swallowed and then given my oath.
Nothing would make me break it.
I shook my head, as my heart ached at the memory. Then out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a flash of long blond hair, ice-blue eyes, and wisps of black.
When I grinned, it was all teeth. Ghost Immortal was watching me with an amused expression, and she didn’t know that I could see her.
My dick was back to twitching, pulsing and heavy in the tightness of my pants. I sped up. My breath created spooks in the cold air, as I closed in on a real one. Just because I’d spent my life being hunted, didn’t mean that Loki hadn’t taught me how to hunt.
Loki lived close to death; he straddled the line between the worlds, and so did I. Since last night outside the stables, I’d seen the glowing outline of Ghost Immortal. She’d been beautiful in a way that’d made me want to pull her into a snowbank (in a far sexier way than Ambrose had thrown me into one), and show her every trick that I’d learned over the decades. Hey, I had godly skills, and just then, I’d hungered to strip off those Victorian clothes and lick over every curve, until I’d worked my way down to between her thighs.
Then I’d have made her scream.
I have a talented tongue, and everybody needs a talent.
I forced myself to smother my grin as I called over my shoulder, “Is this a Discipline Run or a Pamper-Yourself Walk?”
“It’s the tortoise who wins the race.” Fox bent over with his hands on his knees. “The hare ends up in the stew.”
Trust a fox to imagine the hare eaten.
“Not this hare, shell boy.” I pulled further ahead.
Almost there… Don’t let her vanish like she did last night… Almost…
I pushed myself to run faster around the curve of the lake, passing the groundskeeper’s cottage and the wooden pier that tongued the lake. This early, the cottage was silent and dark. The muscles in my thighs burned.
Ghost Immortal was laughing at all of us, just like she had last night. Except, outside the stables she’d watched me with a too knowing smile, as if she’d seen me breaking the collar.
Little…gorgeous…spy.
I snarled and just for a moment, my hair spiked to cinnamon red, before calming back to aquamarine.
I slowed, pretending to clutch my side like I had a stitch.
Only three steps away…
Ghost Immortal was stroking a pink crow on her shoulder. What in the nine worlds was that creature, and why was it singing “Beauty and the Beast”?
I grimaced. I might be a monster, but I was no beast. Just like that feathered asshole was no singer.
Two steps…
Ghost Immortal waltzed around to the tone-deaf serenading of the crow.
One step…
When I caught the witch around the waist and waltzed with her, her mouth fell open in a silent ‘o’.
Valhalla! I could touch as well as see and hear her.
My pupils dilated, and I flushed, at the same time as her breath hitched. Her crow stopped singing with a strangled caw. At least I’d surprised him to silence. When I drew Ghost Immortal to me, her blazing gaze met mine with such shocked fierceness that my throat became tight. She was terrifying and sexy in equal measure.
This was the chaos moment: the spark of mischief when everything changed. She now knew that the veil had been torn between her world and mine, although only for me. I clung to the sense that I alone had this connection, and until I knew more about her, I wouldn’t risk Bask or Fox knowing that I could see her.
I could delude myself as thoroughly as Fox, who knew?
When I leaned closer, until Ghost Immortal’s breath gusted across my cheek, I wondered whether mine was as hot to her, as hers was cold to me. My pulse fluttered in my neck.
Ghost Immortal’s yearning wound around me as thickly as the scent of yew trees.
“Are you stalking us?” I pushed her hair back from her ear; it was like silk. “Because that would be awesome.”
Her laugh was low and musical. It thrilled me.
“May I kiss you?” I murmured.
She pressed her thigh between mine, and I moaned, as she rubbed it against my dick. “Charming god, I must demand that you kiss me or I shall take matters into my own hands.”
I chuckled. It looked like I’d met my match.
“As long as I’m yours, and you’re mine…?” I hated the pang of insecurity, but even in my lust fueled haze, I couldn’t hide it. “I promise, we’re all working on freeing you.”
She stiffened, and her eyes sparked. “Why would you free me?”
“Because no one should be caged.” I swept her around in an even faster waltz.