Fate Undone (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 5) (18 page)

She shuddered, stilled, then panted, “Oh, please, yes, yes, yes.”

Her thighs trembled as he swiped his tongue again, from her clit to the sweet entrance of her sex. He thrust his tongue inside, reveling in the musky sweetness. She pressed herself hard against him, forcing his tongue deeper into her channel.
 

A moan shuddered out of her before she attempted to pull away. “Bad idea.”

“No,” he growled against her. She cried out at the vibration. “You need this. You’re not getting away until you have it.”
 

He needed it too, but he told himself that this was about her even as he knew he was being a bastard and using her weakened state to get what he wanted.

She whimpered and dropped her shoulders to the bed, leaving her ass in the air, her thighs spread so that he could see and taste all of her. Triumph flashed through him when she gave herself over.

He leaned back to look at her, at the wet, swollen lips of her sex and the luscious curve of her ass. “Fucking beautiful.”

He gripped her hips and shifted her, using his thumbs to spread her wide, then set his mouth upon her again. She shuddered beneath him as his tongue stroked her. His cock was so hard it hurt. More than anything, he wanted to thrust it into the lush wet heat of her pussy and feel her clench around him.

Instead, he ground himself against the mattress and thrust his tongue into her sex to feel her muscles flutter against him. She cried out weakly, desperation in the sound. She wouldn’t go over until she had something inside of her.

He moved his mouth to her clit and pushed two fingers inside her warmth. She was so wet and hot that his cock twitched in jealousy. Her hips jerked at the intrusion and a cry tore from her lips. She ground herself back against his hand, out of her mind with need.
 

It took only a few strokes of his tongue across her clit for her muscles to start clenching around his fingers. Her back arched and her thighs trembled violently as the orgasm tore through her. The high, keening sounds coming from her made his cock throb with need.

His tongue worked her incessantly, drinking up her sweetness as she shuddered against him.

Too soon, her tremors stopped. “Enough,” she said weakly.

No. He wasn’t finished. He couldn’t possibly take his mouth off of her now. So he kept at her with his tongue, curling his fingers down to find the sensitive pad of flesh inside her. She jerked and moaned, her muscles beginning to clench around him again.
 

The second orgasm was stronger than the last. She shuddered so hard that he was afraid her bones would crack. The sounds coming from her throat were desperate and nearly crazed.
 

Before the orgasm faded, he dragged his thumb through the wetness at her pussy and palmed her left ass cheek. He wanted to feel all of her. More than that, he wanted to so overwhelm her senses that she wouldn’t make him stop.

Gently, he circled his wet thumb around the tight skin of her ass.
 

She jerked and whimpered. “I haven’t ever…”

“Let me,” he rasped against her.

She didn’t object again past a faint whimper. He pushed against the muscle that was determined to keep him out, slowly working his thumb into the unbelievable tightness.

She stiffened as he pushed deeper, a guttural moan emitting from her throat. She started to pull away, but he sucked her clit into his mouth. She stilled, submitting to the intrusion, shuddering occasionally. He massaged the tight ring of muscle, determined that she would like this.
 

Slowly, her muscles relaxed and she pushed back against him for more. He pushed his thumb into her heat up to the final knuckle and she moaned, her muscles starting to clench again.

He gripped her ass, leaving his thumb in place so that she could feel him there, and thrust two fingers in and out of her pussy as he sucked on her clit. It was a crowded, busy position, but from the guttural noise that escaped her throat when her pussy clenched around him, it made her lose her mind.

She trembled and jerked so violently that he had to grip her ass hard to keep her in place. His cock throbbed unbearably as she rode the waves of her orgasm. When it finally subsided, her muscles completely gave out, no longer capable of holding her up.

Though he wanted to give her more, to feel her and listen to her as she came, she was clearly done. Small whimpers escaped her throat as he gently slipped his fingers from her. Aftershocks shook her small frame and she looked tragically delicate.
 

The painfully hard erection that he was currently grinding against the side of the bed took a backseat to concern for her. The orgasms no doubt left her drained, but the magic that left her system was probably a larger part of the reason she was so weak.
 

He scooped her up in his arms and she shivered against him. Her head and palms rested against his chest. He used some of his godly powers to fill the large, old fashioned tub that sat in the bathroom. Within seconds, he was sinking into the hot water, Sylvi cradled against his chest.

She moaned softly as it enveloped her, her muscles going even more lax against his. He cradled her head, stroking her hair and hip as even her softer shudders faded away.

Sylvi lay in Logan’s arms in a near dream state, the warm water turning her muscles to jello. Why had she fought this? Obviously this was the best decision she’d ever made.

Fates, she felt good. Her body hummed with pleasure. His big hands stroked her so gently now that she couldn’t believe they’d been the same hands that had pushed her past her comfort zone and made her shudder with such pleasure until her body finally quit.

It had broken something open inside of her, shaved away her rough edges until her truth was finally revealed. It was a bad news truth. She was still at least half in love with him. It was more than just a vague
she still cared for him.

It was terrifying. He’d hurt her so badly the last time she’d fallen for him. The warm relaxation in her bones was being pushed out by chill. The sex fog in her mind was driven out by rational thought. She stiffened.

What had she just done? It was supposed to have been just sex, but this was more than that.

“Are you all right?” His voice was rough against her hair.

Her torpor was nearly entirely shaken off by now, replaced by fear.
 

“I can’t do this, Logan. I can’t be all normal or lovey-dovey with you. What we had is over. Ruined.”
 

“It doesn’t have to be that way. You want me, Sylvi. I can feel it. I can see it. I’ll make you happy. I swear it.”

She pushed out of his arms and scrambled out of the tub. Her hands trembled as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. Logan surged to his feet. Water sluiced down his broad chest and over his cut abs.

She backed away from him as she said, “We might have been two outcasts who found each other so long ago, and it might have been good, but it didn’t work. It wasn’t meant to work. I was stupid and young and you were selfish and a jerk. I don’t want to relive that.”

“But—”

“No.” She slashed her hand in the air. “You know it’s true. We’ll finish this job because we have to, but that’s it. I can’t take any more pain from you. You hurt me too badly and I can’t believe you won’t do it again. After everything I sacrificed for you, you tossed me out and broke my heart!”
 

“I won’t hurt you again,” he said. “I swear it.” He stepped out of the tub, heading for her.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s just not worth the risk.” She fled the bathroom.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Asgard, Home of the Norse Gods

Late-Autumn, 1213 AD

The wind chased Loki as he pushed his sweaty black mount harder and faster across the rolling hills of Asgard. No matter how fast he pushed the powerful beast, he couldn’t outrun the anger that shrouded him.

Loki could feel the heat of flames at his back, released by the rage that thundered through his veins. Normally he had control of fire. Now, he had control of nothing.

The outskirts of Aesir loomed on the horizon. Home of the bastard gods who tormented him. Home of Sigyn, the woman who called to him.
 

He should turn his mount, Hyrr, around and attempt to collect himself. But he’d agreed to meet Sigyn on the hill near the great hall.
 

When he crested the summit of the last hill standing between him and Sigyn, he caught sight of her golden hair and something in his chest relaxed. The anger still surrounded him like a cloying black fog, but the flames at his back died and the worst of the rage lifted from his mind.

She waved when she saw him, her slender arm rising against the blue sky.

Turn around. Spare her your foul mood.

But he directed Hyrr up the last rise until he was but feet from her. He swung off the back of the black stallion and landed in front of her. Her green eyes sparkled up at him and he marveled again at how beautiful she was.

She rose to greet him, a smile stretched across her face. Words failed him as need roared through his body. He yanked her into his arms, swooped his head down to hers. He groaned as her lips parted beneath his. She always tasted so damned sweet. So perfect. He’d never known anyone who’d made him feel like this.

She pulled out of his arms and laid her hands upon his face. The concern in the gesture and her gaze made his chest warm as his mind rebelled at the questions that were about to spill from her lips.

“Loki, what’s wrong?” Her brows drew together.

“Nothing.”

“Of course there is something wrong. What is it?”

The familiar rage rushed to the forefront of his mind, along with the nearly tangible compulsion to exact his revenge.

She grasped his shoulders and shook him. “I can see it in your eyes. In the way you hold me. Something is wrong! Tell me, Loki.”

“They’ve killed Fenrir.”

Sadness crumpling her features. “I’m sorry.”

“I hid him in the farthest meadow from Asgard, protected by a ring of unstoppable flame. But they found him still. Baldr lead them there.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, his chest tight at the thought of his great wolf who now resided in Hell, put there by the other gods. Fenrir was more than a wolf. He was like his child. And he’d failed him. “I fought them, but there were too many.”

“No!” Horror flashed in her eyes. “They must be so angry!”

Her fear of them scraped across his nerves. “They bound my aetherwalking as punishment.”

She gasped, then her eyes narrowed on his neck. He felt the cool wind there. His cloak’s collar must have blown to the side. When she reached up to gently touch his neck, he stifled a wince at the pain.

“What is this?” Her voice shook.

A breath heaved out of him as his shoulders dropped. “They also hung me by the neck from Yggdrasil.”
 

The memory still shook him. The enormous tree—at least a thousand feet tall—was central to Norse cosmology. It was called the world tree and connected the nine worlds of the Norse pantheon, including Asgard and Midgard, as the mortal realm was called.

His hanging had been the first time he’d ever seen the mind-bogglingly enormous tree. It existed in a realm all its own, its power immense. His awe had been replaced by horror when the other gods had strung him up, intending to leave him there in agony for centuries.

“How did you get free?” she asked.

“Yggdrasil freed me. Its great branch lowered me to the ground.” It had been a journey of nearly a thousand feet. “The world tree spoke in my mind, telling me that I had work yet to do.”

“What did it mean?”

“I’m not sure.” But he took it as confirmation that his plan for retribution was just.

Her eyes narrowed. “Tell me what you’re thinking. You worry me!”

He worried himself. He worried for what he must do and the consequences it would have. He wanted to resist his compulsion. For her. But he could not. He would not. “I will seek vengeance. I must put the gods in their place. They cannot take what is mine and expect to be free of the consequences.”