Mist Revealed (14 page)

She settled her hands on his waist and pulled him closer. A low groan crawled up his throat. He held her with the grip he had on her hair and worked her mouth in quicker strokes. She could barely move, but she slid her hands over him—his ass, his back, anywhere she could touch.

His guttural moan turned into a growl that rumbled his chest. The sound whipped through her. Her muscles slackened, and her hands slipped from his rear. He lifted her, a hand on her bottom, and kissed her as if he were starving. She automatically hooked her legs around him and kissed him back.

He gripped her hair harder, desperation in his touch. The tug on the strands sent a bite of pain across her scalp while the caress over her butt cheeks spread pleasure. The two extremes left her quivering.

Another whimper crawled up her throat. He took control of her passion and directed her in the intimate dance she hadn’t known was possible outside of sex. Never had a man kissed her the way Rune did, as if she were the very air he needed to breathe.

Her back met the mattress, and his weight settled on top of her. She moaned. He fed her his pleasured sound too and ran his hands down her arms. He linked their fingers. She curled them, holding his tight. The connection the small touch brought cracked open her heart. She couldn’t stop it.

He pushed her hands into the cheap cotton sheets, locking her upper body in place and urged her to experience everything he could give her. Anticipation rose. The desire to take him inside her grew. She wiggled against his trapped length. He thrust against her in a mimic of sex while he continued to love her mouth. It was nice but not what she wanted.

Naked, she wanted them naked.

She pushed against him. He broke their kiss. Glowing eyes focused on her.

“Clothes.” The single word came out as a demand meaning so much more.

He grinned. “Yes, our clothes. They will be staying on.”

She frowned. His denial didn’t make sense in her sex-starved brain. “But you want me.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “More than any other. It is why we will not be giving in to our passion. I won’t send you running from me again. I can’t lose you.”

Damn.

The man was determined to win her heart.

“That’s not why I left.”

He eased back and met her eyes. “Then why did you?”

“I needed…”
to get away from you
. She couldn’t tell him that, not after the respect he’d just shown her. She gave her other reason. “Ivan told me about some books he had. They detail the local legends. I wanted to confirm…” Her words trailed off with the hurt look on Rune’s face.

“That the tale I told you was true.” He rolled off her and sat on the edge of the bed, his back to her. “Why didn’t you ask me to come with you?”

She knelt behind him but didn’t touch him. She held her hand above the tattoo on his back. Tingles danced from her fingers up her arm to spread through her body. She dropped her hand before the desire his nearness sparked could take her over.

“Like I said, I don’t know what’s truth and what’s not, especially when…”

“When all you can think about it sex.” He turned and took her hand. It looked so small and delicate cradled in his. He stroked his thumb over her knuckles. “I feel the same, but know this—I…” He swallowed hard. “I like you, Cat. It is more than just your body I lust for. You intrigue me.”

The door banged open on a gust of wind and snow flurries before she could respond, not that she knew what she would say anyway. The cool breeze swept through the room, but didn’t chill her. She pressed against Rune’s back anyway. Fear drove the reaction.

Jaron stood in the doorway, more frightening than he’d appeared the first time she saw him. Rage tightened his features. “The
eldjötnar
escaped.”

The words came out slurred. Her gaze focused on the fangs filling his mouth. She inched closer to Rune.

“Why didn’t you go after him?” Rune asked.

“He got on a small airplane with a human pilot. I couldn’t direct the winds to crash it with an innocent inside.” Jaron slammed the door behind him and crossed the room to them. Rune tucked her against his side. “Who was it?”

“Draven.”

“Shit.”

The two brothers held each other’s gazes. She glanced between them. Concern tightened their expressions.

She caught Rune’s chin and turned his head to face her. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Draven is unmated and does not carry the virus. They feed and claim consorts the same way we do. Had he caught you, I could’ve lost you to him.”

She heard the worry in his voice. She acknowledged it but pushed it aside. It hadn’t happened thanks to Ivan. What bothered her was Rune’s first statement. “So there’s another demon who’s infecting people?”

“Yes, but that is not our biggest concern.”

She glanced at Jaron who’d spoken. “What is?”

“Draven’s words to me before he slipped inside the plane.” He stepped closer. A growl rumbled his chest. “He asked if I’d discovered what had happened to the gods yet because he had.”

“What happened to them?” she asked, though she feared she already knew.

Rune glanced at her. “Their bodies were taken from their resting place.”

She clamped her free hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp. The Norsemen that had been found. It was true.

Rune cradled her hands in his and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “We must get them back before the demons locate them. The
eldjötnar
believe there is an alternate outcome to Ragnarok, one that will halt the earth’s decline and grant ultimate control over the world to a new set of gods.”

She glanced in the direction of her computer and books. “I don’t remember reading about one.”

Jaron knelt in front of her, blocking her view. “Not everything is contained within your books, especially this particular version of the Ragnarok. It’s too dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Because it is believed that whoever kills a god absorbs his or her abilities.” Jaron narrowed his eyes. “That applies to any being, including the humans. Can you imagine what would happen if the wrong person could wield such power? We must find the gods before that happens. Do you understand?”

She nodded. Crazy as it sounded. She did.

Where had her rational mind gone?

She didn’t have an answer to that. She only knew they were in a hell of a lot of trouble. During the 40s, they didn’t have the non-invasive scanning equipment archaeologists used today. It wasn’t her field of science, and she didn’t claim to understand what would be involved in studying an ancient body, but it didn’t take much to envision them doing an autopsy on them.

“Rune?” He glanced at her. “How can your gods die?”

“By removing their hearts or heads.”

Bile rushed up. As part of a corpse’s examination, all organs were removed, examined and weighed.
Please, let me be wrong. For once, I don’t want to be right.

She gripped Rune’s shoulders. “Why didn’t they wake up when their bodies were moved?”
Or cut open.

When he didn’t say anything, she shook him. “Dammit, answer me!”

“Only the blood of a Warden will wake them. Mated males had always guarded Asgard. When they died, we destroyed the bridge leading to their fortress and sealed their resting place in ice.”

“And their frozen tomb melted exactly as the ones here in
Niflheim
did,” Jaron added.

“You mean Greenland.”

Rune touched her shoulder. She faced him. “Yes, that is what our home is now called. Tell me what is troubling you.”

She ignored his question and asked one of her own. She had to be sure. “Where is Asgard?”

“Across the water in the land you call Iceland.”

She closed her eyes. A lump lodged in her throat. Her institute, the one her grandmother had helped establish, had been involved in the Norse gods’ demise.

No, they’re just missing. Don’t think the worst without facts.

Her rationalization didn’t do much to reassure her. She clung to it anyway.

“Well, Cat? It is your turn. Talk to me.”

She opened her eyes and held Rune’s gaze. “I might be able to find your gods.”
Or what’s left of them.

He stared at her for a long moment. His expression hardened. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I’m pretty sure I know who took them.”

Jaron growled. “Well, woman, tell us.”

She was trying to get it out. It disturbed her to think her intelligent grandmother, the one she was named after, might’ve killed the Norse gods.

“The Saunders-Downs Institute.” Cat glared at first Rune, then Jaron, daring one of them to question her integrity. “The research center my family helped establish.”

“Son of a bitch.” Jaron stepped forward, fangs bared. Rage contorted his features. He clenched and unclenched his hands. “Tell me where they are. Now.”

Rune yanked Cat behind him and hissed at Jaron. His brother ignored the warning and reached for her. Rune’s protective instincts flared. He grabbed Jaron by the shoulders and threw him across the room, away from his mortal consort. Rune followed him and slammed him to the floor. Unlike the last time he’d tackled him, Jaron bucked, knocking Rune off. He rolled but grabbed Jaron’s ankle before he could get to Cat.

“Let me go. She’s going to tell us where they are.”

Rune glanced at her. She inched her way toward the door. He cursed. A wave of his free hand, and he froze the lock, ensuring she couldn’t run. That done, he flipped Jaron onto his back and punched him. Rune was tempted to unleash his control of the elements and wield an ice sword, but he couldn’t start a fight in front Cat or inside the hotel. They’d most likely destroy it, killing everyone inside. That was unacceptable.

“She will, but you will not treat my consort as if she’s committed a crime.”

Jaron squeezed his eyes shut. A long breath escaped through his clenched teeth. “You are right. Forgive me.”

The door squeaked. Rune whipped his head in the direction of the sound in time to see Cat wiggling out. How had she unlocked it? The thought came and went. It didn’t matter. He pushed from the floor and went after her.

Faster than he expected, she reached the top of the stairs before he caught up to her. In one quick move, he wrapped an arm around her waist and covered her mouth to stifle the scream he knew she’d let out. The muffled sound heated his palm.

He smiled, despite the tense situation. He was starting to anticipate his female’s actions. The knowledge pleased him even while he hated the fact that she’d run from him again.

“Be calm. It’s only me.” He breathed the words against her ear.

Her cry cut off, but her rough panting didn’t lessen.

He pulled her into the shelter of his body. “Jaron didn’t mean to frighten you. He wouldn’t hurt you.”

She tipped her head back and looked imploringly at him. He removed his hand. “I didn’t know about the bodies.”

“Even if you did, you wouldn’t have believed.” He voiced the fact she didn’t state.

She offered him a small smile. “No, I wouldn’t have.”

“You believe now.”

She turned in his embrace and stood on her tiptoes, clasping her hands behind his neck. “I believe.”

She could’ve declared her eternal love for him. That was how much her words meant to him. He buried his face in the soft, silky strands of her hair. “Cat.”

“I hate to interrupt, but we need to leave.” Jaron laid his hand on Rune’s shoulder. “Time is of the essence.”

Rune turned his head and met Jaron’s eyes. An apology hovered in them. Rune nodded in acceptance. “Cat must travel by human means and planes do not fly whenever we demand them.”

“Of course. I’ll speak with the innkeeper and have him arrange us transportation and a room for me in the meantime.” Jaron slipped past them and headed down the stairs.

She pressed her body closer to him. “He scares me.”

“But I don’t frighten you.” He voiced it as a statement and hoped it was true.

“You touch me, and it’s as if you’re a piece of me that’s been missing. When I’m with you, I trust you with my life. When I’m not, I wonder if I’m crazy.”

He swung her into his arms and strode back to her room. The move bought him some time. He wasn’t sure how to respond to her statement. In light of what he’d learned from her a few moments ago, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was another force at work in his attraction to her, beyond the mating drive. Fate and destiny were as real to him as the sun and moon. So too was the manipulation of the gods in their lives.

In times gone by, the fertility goddesses might have been to blame for the connection he shared with Cat. That wasn’t possible in the world he’d awoken into. They slept alongside the other gods.

What stirred his worry revolved around the alternate outcome of Ragnarok, the one the
eldjötnar
had insisted was real. He had always assumed it a feel-good myth, something to offer hope to people in case the gods died before the final battle. Never would he have thought it real. Yet, here they were facing the very outcome they’d fought to avoid.

He stopped walking. The enormity of their situation hit him. The children of the mist had not watched over the gods as they’d promised.

Because of me.

His decision to enter into death-sleep had landed them in the mess the world had succumbed to. As the second eldest unmated Warden, he shouldn’t have made any of the difficult choices. Jaron, however, had been barraged with guilt.

Rune, Jaron and Lyal had been ordered to breed. They’d been assigned partners and had accepted them as consorts. Love had never factored into it. As the day of their respective matings approached, Jaron had grown more and more resentful. He’d planned to denounce his female and refuse the order. When she was staked with the others, he blamed himself for her death as if his words had caused it. Foolish, of course, but it broke him.

Rune took the place of leader.

And I led the world into disaster.

Cat touched his jaw. The feather light stroke of her fingertips ignited his body and heart. It expanded in his chest. Not literally, but the emotion swamping him swelled it.

“What’s wrong?”

One simple question. It could’ve come from anyone. In Cat’s low husky drawl, it punched him in the gut. He felt her concern, both in her tone and the soft strokes of her fingers. She cared. Despite everything—her disbelief, fears and confusion—she cared about him.

He gazed into her face. Her teal eyes held desire and compassion while her parted lips offered him welcome. He held her gaze and accepted a truth he’d never expected.

He was falling in love. Perhaps, he’d already fallen. No matter which, he welcomed it. His consort had captured him—body, heart and soul.

Her brows pinched. “Rune? Tell me. What’s wrong?”

He offered her a smile. “Nothing is wrong. I was just pondering your words.”

“About our…” She caught her lower lip between her teeth and gnawed on it. “Our connection.”

He entered her room and closed the door behind them with a soft click. “Yes, our connection.”

“I know you said you don’t know what’s going on between us, but—”

“I understand it now.”

Her eyes widened.

He dangled an answer in front of her but didn’t expand on it. His beautiful scientist would want to know his reasoning. Yes, he was learning the inner workings of her mind. He had to admit, he liked how she thought, although he wished she didn’t react so easily to her fears. Even that made sense, however. She lived for facts. Anything that challenged them or didn’t follow what she could comprehend frightened her. She reacted to it in a very primal way. It was part of who she was, not good or bad. He accepted it, would be careful not to trigger it and ground her if it did.

“You do?”

He carried her to the bed and sat with her straddled over his groin. She made no move to get off. He settled his hands on her waist. “Yes, I do.”

She held his gaze for a long moment. He didn’t answer. A sigh escaped from her sweet mouth, and her brow cocked. “Well?”

He looked into her expectant eyes and debated his words but could only come up with the truth.

“I believe the mist has bestowed its favor upon you, and I am the lucky male who saw you first.” He pressed his lips to hers before she could say anything. It made sense. The mist had always provided for them, whatever they needed. It seemed his element deemed Cat necessary. How? Why? He wasn’t sure yet. “And I am not a fool. You are a treasure, a find I never thought to possess and one I will never let go.”

“Rune.”

The longing twined into his name settled over him. He held her face between his hands and stared into her eyes. “I want you to mate me.”

Uncertainty scrunched her features. “I don’t—”

“Don’t say anything yet. The last step in our mating is more complicated than I hinted at and not one we can take tonight.” He brushed his lips over hers, took her breath into him and gave her his. Her soft sigh washed over him and settled in his heart. “I simply wanted you to know how I felt, how much you’ve changed the course of my existence, how much you matter to me. Does that make sense?”

Because he wasn’t sure it did. He’d never been in love and expressing it or any softer emotion wasn’t a skill he possessed.

She nodded quickly.

He grinned. “Good, then let me show you what being mine entails.”

She eased back. Calculating eyes studied him. “That sounds ominous.”

He chuckled. “Far from it.”

Hands around her waist, he lifted her and set her on the edge of the bed. Without looking at her, he walked into the bathroom where her open bag sat. He rifled through the contents and found the items he sought. The lotion and brush he set on the counter along with nail clippers and a file. He needed one more thing. A search through the drawers in the vanity uncovered it.

He draped a towel over his shoulder and made his way back to his consort. She glanced from his one hand to the other. Her eyebrow rose. “If you want me to cut your hair, you’re out of luck. I’m not a hairdresser.”

A grin tugged at his lips. He liked that she could make him smile. He rarely had the last time he’d walked the earth.

“No, my hair no longer grows. The body you see before you is the one I had at maturity.” His hair, like all the other Wardens, did not reach past his jaw. For a warrior, any longer length required braiding. Otherwise, the loose strands offered their enemy a means to restrain them.

“Well, that’s cool.” She gave a nervous laugh. “Inexplicable but very neat.”

Her effort to accept the unbelievable made the warm feeling in his chest spread. He swallowed hard and crossed the room.

He placed the towel on the floor and dropped the chair over it. Cat’s gaze bored into him the entire time. He ignored her for the moment. His female would distract him if he looked at her. Already the lust she stirred threatened to consume him. His dick pressed against the confines of his pants, and his fangs ached to descend. He reined in his primal drives. There were more important things to attend to at the moment.

“Yes, it is amazing, and once we finish our bond, your body will also be frozen as it is at the time of mating.”

She sucked in a breath.

Unable to resist the sign of her shock, he glanced over his shoulder to judge the reason behind it. Widened eyes met his. He couldn’t garner anything from them. “You will be my eternal consort, Cat. We will live and die together, then be reunited in heaven. Forever. We will have forever.”

Her breaths quickened, but she didn’t respond.

He pushed his doubt aside. He would win her over. No other outcome was acceptable. He motioned to the chair. “Come. Sit. Let me care for you.”

She held his gaze another long moment. Tension tightened his muscles. He waited, breath caught, for her to choose him. That was what it came down to. He hadn’t stated his purpose precisely, but he didn’t doubt his intelligent female’s astuteness to grasp the true reason for his pampering.

He was preparing her body for their mating.

Finally, she ran her trembling hand over her tangled, uneven hair. “You’re going to cut my hair?”

He gave a slow nod. “Unless you’d rather keep”—he paused a moment to search his mind for the right word—“that hairstyle.”

She laughed. The tinkling sound lightened the anxiety gripping him.

“Hairstyle?” She grabbed a hunk of hair. “This is called hacking it off with scissors when it gets too long. I haven’t been to a hairdresser in years.”

He patted the seat. “Then let me attend to you.”

She dropped her gaze to her lap. “So my hair is even when you mate me?”

His pent-up air escaped in a rush. She hadn’t denied his plans. Not an acceptance, but he’d take it.

“Yes.”

She stood on shaky legs and made her way to him. Each step quickened her breaths. She panted by the time she stood in front of him. Her fear hung thick between them yet she’d come to him. He drew her against him and kissed her deeply and reverently, showing her what her trust meant to him. That was what it came down to—trust. He would treasure it and her.

He eased back before their passion could take over but couldn’t pull away completely. “We will take this slowly. There is no reason to rush.”

She nodded, no hesitation.

Again, not an acceptance, but it might as well have been. His female’s emotions showed in her eyes—hope, longing and desire. It was all there, on display for him. The last of his unease faded. Love would come too, and so would her agreement to his claim.

Hands on her shoulders, he urged her to sit. He dropped to his knees before her and lifted her leg. He was tempted to remove her jeans but resisted. Her legs were silky smooth. She didn’t need her hair removed. Besides, once he had her naked, they’d end up tangled in passion. He didn’t want to rush into it. His plans included more than pulling an orgasm from her. He would memorize every inch of her while showing her what life as his eternal consort would entail. He refused to settle for loveless bond. Cat would yearn for his touch.