Immortal Need (16 page)

“It doesn’t matter. We have time to figure it out. For now, I just wanted to let you know my interpretation of what the crows told me. I could be wrong.”

“That’s a rare event,” Sevani said.

“If nothing else, we found out that Freya can be defeated. We can break her control on us. And we do have a chance,” Alexander said.

Sevani had never felt hope like he did at that moment. He could be completely free of Freya. He just had to get Ayah back and find a way to get his three friends free as well. He would not leave them behind.

“I’m getting Ayah back. There’s no telling what tortures Freya is putting her through to make sure that I am hurt by it. I won’t leave her. All we have left to do now is figure out if Lei can be saved by Valerie. That’s a gift to help four out of the five of us out of the fire at least, and we can go from there. We’ll find a way for you as well, Alexander. Because Freya could come to you and take you back.”

“I understand,” Alexander said. “And I’m okay with that.”

“But I’m not,” Sevani urged.

“Always the leader,” Valerie said.

“We’ll get free,” Lei assured them, and Sevani nodded. There was no other answer. “Does anybody care to guess where Freya took Ayah?” Lei asked, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“There is no doubt,” Alexander answered. “There’s only one place that she would feel safe.”

“Folkvangr,” they said in unison.

“But first,” Sevani said, eyes cold, “I want to have a little private time with the merc. Time to learn who in Ayah’s family wants her dead.”

Chapter Eleven

Ayah’s head hurt. The last thing she remembered was being carried, and Sevani’s warm embrace, after feeling the pain of the bullet that went into her skin. She had never felt something quite like that in her entire life. Hell, she had never even gotten into a fight before. Having three older siblings deterred anyone from trying to fight with her. She was embarrassed that she had made the most intelligent decision in her life by running downstairs in the middle of a firefight. But she hadn’t thought about what it could do to her. The only thing that ran through her mind was that Sevani could’ve been hurt.

She didn’t know exactly when he had become so important to her. He hadn’t been in her life very long, but the second that beam of light had connected their chests, she knew he was hers. She never imagined having feelings for someone that were so strong. Not to say that she loved him. She didn’t think it was as far as that just yet, but falling? She undoubtedly was. She wished that he was here. She missed him—the touch of his hands, the heat in his eyes, the desire in his mouth. She came alive when he was near her. She didn’t even recognize the woman she had become. Her last few days were entirely wrapped up in him, surrounded, moments that she was awake and in his arms or asleep and dreaming of him. Was she crazy that she didn’t really care? Probably, but people weren’t always smart when it came to love. She groaned, her head falling forward loosely. Forward? She was lying down. How was that possible? She forced her eyes to crack open. She was looking at a rough stone wall in a drab gray. Where was she?

Wherever she was, it was barely lit. A single torch was against a wall, the flames flickering but casting moving shadows everywhere. She turned her head slightly to see if she could make out anything around her, and the motion made her head pound. Her mind felt clouded, her limbs heavy and her stomach churning. If it flipped one more time, she was worried she was going to spew what little she had in her stomach. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember when she ate last. And then she thought, what did that even matter?

She struggled to make sense of the things around her. At first all she could register was colors: gray, silver, black, white, and pale skin. After a few minutes of staring, she realized that she was looking at her own arm shackled slightly above her head to the wall by thick silver manacles. The black she had seen were spots dotting her vision. She swung her gaze to the other side, hissing at a wave of dizziness. Her other arm was secured as well. She looked down at herself and saw that she was in what appeared to be a white robe. And she was kneeling on the ground, her knees scraped and bleeding.

That stings.

She’d never understood how some things didn’t hurt until she looked at them. Now her knees were throbbing, her wrists aching. She must have been putting all her weight on them when she was sleeping. She twisted her wrists, testing the manacles, and found them secure. Where was she, and where was Sevani? She was scared, so very scared, and she wanted him to hold her. She knew, with him at her side, that she didn’t have to worry about anything, that he would protect her. But he wasn’t here. There was no way she would be locked up if he were.

Her mouth went dry. Had the person who’d been trying to kill her captured her? If he had, why was she still alive? Did he plan to torture her? The idea had bile rising once more in her throat.

Sevani!
she screamed mentally. She had to get out. She jerked her arms, biting her lips against the pain. Frantic to get free, she ignored the pain and forced her arms against her bonds harder. They cut into her skin, and blood trickled, but she didn’t stop. She would not die like this. She refused to give up. The shadows around her now looked deadly, like specters in the night. They hid danger, death from her vision. She gasped, tears coming to her eyes.
Not like this,
she prayed. A scurrying sound in front of her made her freeze. Her gaze swung forward, her eyes squinting, trying to see in the darkness. One large, fat rat scampered by, and she squeaked, forcing her body closer to the wall at her back. She’d never liked rodents. They freaked her out. Their small, beady eyes, nasty disease-infested claws, whiskers, and dirty teeth gave her the heebie-jeebies. She whimpered.

Please don’t come near me,
she begged, trying to make herself as small as possible. The rat lifted its nose into the air as if sensing her. Beady eyes looked at her and then away, before the rat scampered off. Ayah breathed a sigh of relief.
Stop, think,
she chided herself. There was no way she was going to get out of her shackles. Whoever had brought her here would come in soon enough, and she would have to have her wits about her. She took a calming breath and then exhaled. Repeating the motion, she leaned against the wall. She would have to wait.

It didn’t take long. A door she hadn’t seen screeched open, and a man came in. He was big, monstrously so. He had to bend down to get through the door. His scarred face was hideous. But his eyes, his eyes froze her. They were pure black but for the flicker of red at the center. He wore a black toga-looking dress, and his feet were covered in sandals. In his hand he carried a tray of what looked like bread and a bowl with something in it. He knelt at her side, and Ayah pushed away from him as far as she could. The man didn’t say anything as he put the tray down. She could see now the wooden bowl had soup in it. He grabbed her chin and dug his fingers into the back of her jaw. Her mouth opened for him, and he lifted the bowl in one meaty hand and put it to her lips. The warm liquid, surprisingly good, slid down her throat. She coughed, but he didn’t release her. She was forced to swallow it all. He then calmly put the bowl down when it was empty and then lifted the bread. She tried to jerk her head away, but he only clenched his fingers, stopping her. He put the bread to her lips and waited. When she didn’t bite down, he knocked her head against the wall behind her. Stars winked in her vision as pain exploded. When he put the bread to her mouth again, it was everything she could do to bite down. She chewed obediently and ate the rest of the bread, not wanting him to hurt her again. When she had finished everything, he stood silently, taking the tray with him, and stood in the center of the room.

Ayah’s head fell to one side, hurting too bad, as another figure came through the door. At first all Ayah could see was gold. It shimmered into the darkness like a beacon of light. When her eyes adjusted, she could see it was a necklace on the neck of a beautiful woman, one she had seen before, but she couldn’t place her. Wild blond hair fell around her shoulders. Her blue eyes were as light as the sky and just as alive. Her lips were so red Ayah thought they were covered in lipstick, until the woman stepped closer. Skin as white as milk with tiny golden flecks, and a shape men would die for, this woman didn’t seem real. She peered at Ayah intensely for a few moments, almost embarrassingly so.

“I don’t see what he wants with you. You are not even as beautiful as Nila was,” the woman said, her husky voice filling Ayah with dread for some reason.

Ayah couldn’t shake the fact that she should recognize her, but her head was too fogged to think straight. The hit against the wall had made it worse.

“You may go, Calliphi,” the woman was saying then, and the giant bowed before leaving. The door closed with a resounding
thud
, and Ayah was left alone with the glowing woman.

“Do you know who I am?” the woman asked.

“No,” Ayah said, not wanting to admit that she felt she should.

“Pathetic human,” the woman raged, hair whipping around her as if caught in a tornado. “I am the mate of Odin, All-father, queen of queens. Your kind will bow to me one day.”

Odin. Something in Ayah’s mind clicked, and she suddenly knew who she was looking at—Freya, Sevani’s tormentor for thousands of years.

Something on Ayah’s face must have said something because the goddess smiled. “Ah, I see you do know me. What has my Sevani been telling you?”

“He’s mine,” Ayah croaked, her throat raw. She coughed to clear it. “He’s mine,” she said again, more forcefully. She didn’t give a damn what this goddess looked like or held over Sevani’s head. He was Ayah’s. She had given herself to him wholeheartedly, and he had found endless pleasure in her arms. It was
her
who had given him peace,
her
he wanted to protect, and
her
he held in his arms. She wouldn’t let this crazy asshole take that from her. She’d taken enough from them all. Valerie, Lei, Alexander, and Sevani were all fighting to keep Ayah safe. They, who’d had so much stripped from them, were trying everything in their power to stand behind her. Ayah knew what family was. She had a close-knit one, and the Watchers were a family. They’d come to Sevani as soon as he’d called, no matter the danger to themselves. They’d created an existence with each other, a code of conduct that they lived by. Ayah thanked them for that. She didn’t know everything about them, but she did know they would do anything for each other. That type of bond couldn’t be broken. If Freya hadn’t done it in thousands of years, it wouldn’t happen now.

“Are you sure?” the goddess asked, laughing. “I may be a cruel master. It is my right. I punish any who would dare hurt me. Am I wrong for that?”

She drew closer to Ayah and then knelt, surprising Ayah. Ayah didn’t think she would be a woman to dirty herself, but Freya sat on the floor, drawing her knees to her chest as if they were best friends.

“I wonder what you know, or has he only told you the tortures I’ve put him through?” Freya mused, cocking her head to one side. “You do know he killed you in a past life?”

“Yes. I saw him kill Nila,” Ayah began.

When she’d made love to Sevani, she’d seen what had happened in both of their lives. She hadn’t seen everything, but enough to know that the love he and Nila shared had been true and that his feelings for the other Watchers were powerful. Ayah comforted herself with the idea that he had seen something in her past the initial feelings for his former wife. She would like to think that something else had attached to her. If she didn’t think that, she would crumble, she knew.

“Besides, he came there to protect me from someone trying to kill me,” Ayah said then.

“Oh that. Yes, Sevani must protect my warriors from a brother, uncle, husband, or father who wants them dead.”

Ayah started at that. Sevani hadn’t told her that either. He had asked who wanted her dead, and then, Valerie had asked her questions about her family. But that was standard procedure, wasn’t it? Ayah didn’t know much about those types of things. But she knew that in most murders, those closest to the victim were always questioned first. Anyone with a television or newspaper knew that. They hadn’t been asking her anything out of the ordinary.

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Freya asked. “Each of my warriors is cursed to protect that which they took from me. Sevani killed his own wife, and so he is made to protect women from those closest to them, who should want them protected. Lei kills warriors who steal priceless treasures and holy artifacts, because he did that in his past life. Alexander is supposed to ensure my chosen have the glorious deaths they need to enter Folkvangr or Valhalla. Valerie, well, Valerie is another matter entirely. She doesn’t really matter to you. But it seems that my Sevani didn’t tell you very much. How could you bond with a man like that?”

“You’re lying,” Ayah argued, but even to her own ears, her voice sounded questioning.

Was Freya lying? She and Sevani hadn’t done much talking since the day they met. She’d jumped headlong into bed with him because of their connection. She really hadn’t taken the time to get to know him. What if Freya was telling the truth? What did that say about Ayah then? Freya rolled her eyes.

“He chose me. I know he did. He wouldn’t lie to me,” Ayah said, refusing to believe Freya’s words.

“When you bonded with him?” Freya said, and then laughed when Ayah closed her mouth, unwilling to say anything more. “Oh, my pet, I know. I felt the minute his soul was ripped from me and given back to him. I knew that your past was open to you, and so was his, to a point. But you don’t know everything.”

“And I suppose you are overwhelmed with the need to explain it to me now?” Ayah asked, not believing a thing Freya told her.

“No. I am going to show you.” Freya grabbed her face so quickly that Ayah didn’t have time to react. Freya’s fingers dug into her temples, and the room faded. In her mind she saw the inside of a great mansion, covered in priceless artwork, decorative furniture, and dead bodies. In the center of it all was a bloody Sevani, on his knees, before Freya.