by Amy Sumida
“Vervain.” Kirill grabbed my braid and pulled my head back so he could stare into my eyes. “Do you hear me?”
“Let's talk about this later.” I leaned down and kissed him as I rolled my hips over his lap and clenched my sex around his.
Kirill groaned into our kiss, his tongue fighting with mine briefly before he pulled away. With another savage sound of frustration, he slammed me onto my back again and started pounding wildly into me. I cried out in ecstasy and pulled him closer; my fingers digging into the powerful muscles of his shoulders as they bunched and flexed. More. I needed more. I could never get enough of my black lion.
“You are not all-powerful, Tima,” Kirill purred in my ear. “Look how easily I conquer you.”
I laughed low in my throat as my pleasure started to rise. “Is this conquering? Or is it a mutual victory? Aren't we on the same side?” I kissed the corded column of his throat, my lips languishing over the vibration of his next words.
“I'm always on your side. But tonight, I need to be master. Alpha. You vill surrender because you love me, and zis is vhat I vant. And ven you need to master me, I vill surrender to you because I love you even more zan victory or submission or even zis”—he paused to groan—“exquisite pleasure ve give each other. I vould do anything for you, Vervain. Do you love me enough to do anything for me?”
“You don't need to ask that,” I panted as he brought us closer and closer to ecstasy. “You know the answer.”
“I don't know answer,” he insisted. “You're trying to deny me vhat I need.”
“I will never deny you what you need,” I snarled in his face.
“Zen you vill submit to me in zis,” he rose up to growl back at me. “Here. Now. And until ve make you safe again. You vill take my protection and zat of other husbands.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Say it!” Kirill thrust deep; shoving my thighs further apart.
“I'll take the protection,” I conceded just before the screams took me.
Kirill roared with his own release; a release of pleasure and fear. As we cried out together, I pulled him down to me and clutched him close while he emptied into me. I knew he had deliberately used words like conquer and master and submit to make me angry. He needed me to accept his wishes even when I desperately didn't want to.
And I always give Kirill what he needs; it's impossible for me not to.
Chapter Thirty-Two
In the morning, Odin didn't come down for breakfast. Azrael finally went up to check on him and found his room empty. There was a note on Odin's bed. Azrael set it on the table in front of me.
“He's a friend; I have to talk to him,” I read. “That's all it says.”
“It doesn't need to say anymore,” Arach noted as he wiped Rian's hands with a wet paper towel.
Rian growled at Arach, and Arach growled louder. Rian pouted and let his father clean his hands. On my right, Brevyn calmly wiped the syrup off his hands by himself. Brevyn didn't like being sticky, but Rian would simply suck on his fingers all day and enjoy the extended sweetness. We'd only just discovered this during their visit; the twins had pancakes their first day there and then demanded them every morning thereafter. Later in the day, we'd find Rian with dirty hands; usually muddy, sticky, disgusting hands.
“He's right; ve know vhere Odin's gone,” Kirill said.
“But if he went last night, he should be back by now,” I argued.
“I am back,” Odin declared as he strode in; calm as you please.
“What the fu...uh... udgsicles, Odin?!” I shouted.
“I left you a note.”
“Okay, let's get our swimsuits!” Kirill said brightly to the older children.
“Yay!” Lesya, Rian, and Brevyn shouted together.
They started to split up, and Arach ended up going with our boys down to their suite while Kirill took Lesya up to her room. Trevor moved Vero to the bed; laying him down gently between pillows before coming back to the table. When the older children were out of earshot, the rest of us turned on Odin.
“Not acceptable!” Trevor started. “None of us should be wandering off alone right now.”
“But I did.” Odin shrugged. “It's done.”
“It's done?” I huffed. “If I had done that, you'd have thrown a fit.”
“Go ahead then.” Odin crossed his arms over his massive chest. “Yell all you want. Ilmarinen is a friend of mine, and I don't abandon friends or run around behind their backs while I try to prove that they're complicit in some devious scheme.”
“One of your friend's pantheon pals tried to kill our wife,” Azrael pointed out.
“Which is why I killed him,” Odin shot back. “And why I needed to speak to Ilmarinen. He didn't know about Tursas and now that I've told him, he's going to monitor all of Tursas' sons and his wife, Loviatar, as well as the Underworld Gods.”
“You told him that we killed Tursas?” I gaped at Odin.
“Un-fucking-believable,” Trevor muttered.
“I did, and he understood.” Odin lifted his chin.
“What the fuck?!” I know I'm a huge supporter of creative curses but at that moment, it was so much more satisfying to say the real word.
“Ilmarinen showed me every room in the Portland club,” Odin went on. “He even explained why some of the patrons don't leave. They stay overnight so they can have morning meetings on where to pass out fliers. Yes; they're obsessive, but no more so than any religious organization can become.”
“You mean cult,” I corrected. “This isn't just an average religion, Odin. The Finns have made their nightclubs into churches for their weird cult. I saw an offering box in the last club we went to in Norway.”
“What's so wrong about that, Vervain?” Odin asked. “This is a religion. They are Gods. Gods get offerings. They're not forcing these people to give them money.”
“Aren't they?” I argued. “Vainamoinen uses his voice to compel them into worship. It goes to reason that he compels them into giving up their money too. It would be more honest to simply charge them at the door.”
“Here ve come!” Kirill called as he carried Lesya downstairs.
We all shut up and smiled brightly at my beautiful little girl as her daddy bounced her through the room on his shoulders. Lesya was in her purple swimsuit with a ruffle around the waist, and her long, raven hair was braided back like Kirill's. She giggled and waved at us like a pageant queen on a parade float as they went by.
“Have fun, honey,” I called after her.
“I will, Mommy!”
As soon as the door closed, we got right back to it.
“It may seem underhanded to you, but it's not nearly as nefarious as manipulating people into war,” Odin pointed out. “No one is being harmed and, frankly, we have bigger issues to deal with. There was more than one reason to confront Ilmarinen. Proving his innocence allows us to focus our efforts on finding the true villain; the elusive War Goddess who is out to destroy us. Isn't it better to know that these clubs aren't involved?”
Trevor grimaced and looked at me. I shook my head. I was angry, but I saw Odin's point.
“How do you know for certain that the Finns aren't involved with the War Goddess?” Azrael asked Odin.
“Because Ilmarinen told me they aren't,” Odin said simply. “I believe him. But, as I said, I also searched the entire club from top to bottom; that's what took me so long. I was hoping to be back before all of you woke up, but Ilmarinen insisted on showing me everything. There's a hidden door to an elevator that leads underground. I searched all three subterranean levels and found nothing to implicate them in any crime against Gods or humans. Then Ilmarinen showed me a list of clubs they have in other countries and how most of them are run by humans now. We just happened upon one that Tursas had taken over. Ilmarinen didn't even know that Tursas was there. He's trying to keep his pantheon together and has a room for each god in the Portland club. They are, of course, free to wander and encouraged to visit ot
her clubs to keep an eye on the worship, but the Portland Sampo is meant to be their home base.”
“I don't know, Odin,” Re murmured. “I get that he's your friend, but you said that you haven't seen him in years. How can you trust him?”
“I know him; he's a good man.”
I sighed deeply. I may not trust the Finns, but I trusted Odin. “Well, I suppose if you found nothing to link them to the War Goddess, then we should be following another line of investigation.”
“Good.” Odin grinned. “Because Ilmarinen also gave me a lead.”
“What lead?” Toby asked suspiciously.
“Ilmarinen said that several of his followers have reported strange incidents; random acts of violence and even suicide,” Odin went grim. “He was concerned because Vainamoinen's music had been playing at several of the crime scenes.”
“Like with that cook,” I whispered in revelation. “The one in Bergen.”
“Exactly.” Odin nodded. “Ilmarinen has been investigating these occurrences. He even went as far as determining which songs had been playing when the violent acts were committed. He knows every message Vainamoinen puts into his music and none of the songs were new or altered. He's positive they weren't what affected the humans.”
“Then what did?” I asked. “It looks awfully bad for them.”
“Yes; it does,” Odin agreed. “Enough to call attention to them, if gods disappearing after going to Sampo didn't distract the Godhunter enough.”
“He's saying that he's being setup?” Trevor asked in surprise. “Someone's doing this to deliberately make us suspect them?”
“I know.” Odin held up a hand. “It's a convenient excuse. But then Ilmarinen said something that got me thinking. He mentioned that another compulsion magic must have been used on the humans; magic that worked on a deeper level than Vainamoinen's. Deep enough to force a human to act against their base natures and do things they would never do.”
“Like worship a bunch of Finnish Gods or have sex in the backroom of a club?” I grimaced at him.
“Humans want to believe in something greater than themselves, Vervain,” Odin said gently. “I really don't think that Vainamoinen's magic has taken away their free will. Guided them toward worshiping in certain ways? Yes. But forced them to do things that they wouldn't want to do? No. You wanted to have sex with Trevor and Arach, the music simply compelled you to do so in a time and place you normally wouldn't.”
“And you're saying what? That this other god who is framing the Finns is forcing people to hurt themselves and others?” I asked.
“Yes. And that is truly against their will.” Odin leveled an earnest stare at me. “But it was the word 'compulsion' that got me thinking.”
“Ananke,” Re whispered.
“Exactly!” Odin pointed at the Sun God. “Why would the Finns take Ananke's magic when they already have Vainamoinen? Why go through the hassle of invading Olympus and covering their tracks with bleach and gasoline when they didn't really need another compulsion magic? Vainamoinen has proven himself beyond capable of making humans do whatever he wants, and he's generous with his pantheon; he makes a song for every god.”
“We already theorized that the War Goddess wanted Ananke's magic so that she could convince more gods to join her,” I reminded him. “We never suspected the Finns of taking Ananke.”
“Yes, but if the War Goddess is working with the Finns, she would already have someone who could convince other gods to join her,” Odin argued. “All she'd have to do would be invite them to a meeting and then play Vainamoinen's music in the background. But she wanted Ananke's magic bad enough to go to Olympus to get it.”
“And she hid her tracks well,” Trevor muttered.
“So, what if she didn't just want the magic to gather more gods to her side?” Odin asked.
“What if she wanted to use it to make humans kill each other? To frame the Finns and convince us to focus on them while she amasses a god army,” I murmured.
“Fuck me,” Trevor hissed.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“We need to find this goddess!” Thor snarled as he pounded his fist on my dining table.
We'd called in the Squad, and they all sat around the end of table closest to the kitchen, as usual, so we could be near the hot beverages and snacks. Yes; it's a bit of a walk from one end of the room to the other. Thor stood at the head of the table; a place I'd always reserved for him since he was the one who'd started the God Squad, and I didn't want him thinking that anyone was trying to take it from him. It was bad enough that we had started meeting at Pride Palace instead of Bilskinir Hall, Thor's home in Asgard. So, Thor got the position of honor.
“It's rather hard to find a goddess who doesn't want to be found,” Blue drawled.
“And yet she has managed to find all of the gods who have hidden from her,” Thor countered. “Father, you said the War Goddess is attempting to frame the Finns for the deaths of their patrons. Can we safely assume that these deaths are occurring in the Portland area?”
“And the surrounding cities.” Odin nodded. “Ilmarinen gave me some examples, but they've all been cleared away by the Police.”
“I can monitor police scanners for unusual deaths,” Torrent offered.
“Yes; do that.” Thor started to pace.
I understood his anxiety; Brevyn had specifically seen Asgard destroyed by the looming Godalypse. Asgard wasn't just Thor's home, it was also his responsibility. Thor is the Guardian of Asgard.
“On a positive note; the Apsara who was seen at Sampo is alive and well,” Brahma said. “I've verified it.”
“Of course she is,” Odin huffed. “The Finns are not killing gods.”
“I'm just reporting what I said I'd investigate,” Brahma snapped.
“It's irrelevant now,” Odin snarled back.
“No; it's not,” I gave Odin a warning look. “Someone could be hunting gods at Sampo, especially if the point is to make the Finns look guilty.”
Odin grimaced but nodded.
“Whoever is taking gods, it seems as if they're sticking to particular pantheons,” Toby reminded us. “Perhaps they're methodically making their way through all of the pantheons.”
We went silent to process that gem.
“Ilmarinen also offered to let us know if any of his followers report incidents,” Odin finally broke the thick silence. “He has them all on high alert; on guard for suspicious strangers and friends behaving oddly. As much as he wants to catch the culprit, he wants to protect his followers more so he's offered sanctuary to as many as he can.”
“Admirable,” Teharon noted.
“There must be another way to find this goddess,” Karni Mata, Teharon's girlfriend, declared. “It's so morbid to sit around waiting for humans to die. Morbid and sad; it feels as if we're failing them.”
“We've got a few more war goddess to investigate,” Finn reminded us. “We should check them out.”
“I'll do that too,” Torrent offered. “Artie and I can track them down and check them out without engaging. I think it will be clearly evident whether they're the one we're after or not, and if we encounter wards, I can handle them.”
“Thank you, Torrent; that would free the rest of us up to focus on the—”
Odin's butt beeped. Everyone turned toward him. He blinked in confusion for a moment before he realized what it was. Odin doesn't get a lot of texts. He pulled out his phone and read silently before he lifted his eyes to stare at me in shock.
“Someone's just killed a bus full of people,” he whispered.
We all stood.
“Everyone get invisible,” Thor ordered as he strode down the side of the table. “The scene will be crawling with emergency responders.”
I froze and looked at Arach. “Honey, maybe you should go with Torrent. You could help him track the goddesses, even if his quarry heads into the Aether.”
“I go with you, A Thaisce,” Arach growled in an adamant tone.
“But you can't this time. We need to be invisible.”
“I will glamour myself to look like one of the”—he frowned as he recalled the term—“emergency responders.”
“That could be helpful,” Thor paused to say over his shoulder. “You'll need to stay beside Arach to prompt him on what to say, Vervain.”
“He has an air of authority that should be able to pull it off,” I agreed. “All right, Babe. Let's see how good your acting skills are,” I said to Arach as I pulled out my phone and googled a picture of an FBI badge.
