by Nora Ash
“I has to be five?” I asked, choosing to grasp on to the random number rather than the implications of what else she’d said.
“Five mates for the shiny omega,” she said with a nod, pointing at my thread entangled with five others. “Any less and—”
“And the world gets covered in icy doom,” I interrupted, rubbing my hands across my face. “It’s not much of a choice.”
“But it is yours,” the Norn said.
13
Annabel
The sky was dark when we left stone dragon’s maw.
I got to walk down the mountain myself, thanks to Verdandi. After she brought me back upstairs to the two waiting—and pretty peeved—gods, she handed all of us clothes. Even Saga, who was the only one who’d managed the trip through time and space somewhat dressed to begin with, pulled on the thick leather gear she provided. Apparently the denizens of this land weren’t familiar with Earth’s high-tech fabric and fashion.
I, however, would have given a lot for a parka and jeans. The outfit Verdandi presented me with was made from soft black leather decorated with feathers cascading down over the shoulders. It clung to my body like a second skin, and made me look like some avian version of Cat Woman.
Crow Woman. Not particularly dangerous but very feathery. And apparently with the ability to see the future.
Christ.
I scrubbed my hands over my face, promptly tripping over a rock on the narrow path and nearly hurtling face-first over the jagged cliff edge. Saga’s hand on my shoulder stopped my fall before I’d even managed more than a startled gasp.
“Do you need me to carry you?” he asked, and I felt his other hand brush down to my hip, undoubtedly to lift me up like I was some unstable toddler in danger of stumbling out into a busy road.
“No. Thanks. I think I can manage,” I gritted, pulling my shoulder out of his grasp so I could continue down the path. I was still pissed with both of them for kidnapping and mating me against my will, but my experience in the grotto had altered the emotions churning in my gut since we passed through the portal to Jotunheim.
I’d been filled to the brim with misery and despair on the way up this mountain and hatred of the men who’d brought me here. I still was, to some extent, but… not quite like before.
The echo of the pain I’d endured as I saw the worm-like monster murder both my mates panged in my chest, and I rubbed at the feather-covered leather. They might have forced their marks on me in a mistaken attempt to save their respective families, but I knew the truth now. They’d give their lives for me.
The connection that tugged and pulled at me where two bonds were anchored deep in my heart was as strong on their ends. They’d tied themselves as much as they had me—had altered their own lives almost like they had mine, even if they didn’t seem to realize it yet. How cruel of the Norn to play into their alpha instincts to claim and possess, when in the end, they were equally as enslaved to Fate as I.
Perhaps at least the idea of Fate and magic was easier to swallow for them than the human who’d just gotten sucked through a portal and told she had to save the world.
I wanted to cling to denial something fierce, grab hold of firm disbelief of anything as nonfactual as visions and magic and gods coming to life—but after what I’d seen in Verdandi’s cave, I no longer had that luxury. She’d called it a vision of the future—if I remained adamant in denying the fate she’d weaved for me—and I knew she was right. Something in the very fabric of my being had known as I lay gasping on the grotto floor below the shining threads representing the souls of myself and the alphas vying for the right to claim me. It wasn’t a trick. It was real.
And I was the only one who could change it.
Despite everything, despite how absurd that a human—and an omega no less—could be the difference between the end of the world and its survival, the knowledge of it filled me with a quiet strength.
Yes, I’d been ripped away from my life and forced to mate with two strangers, but I wasn’t here to be a mindless breeding slave. I had power. And purpose.
I just had to figure out how to unlock it.
“How much further until we get to Mimir?” I asked Magni, who was leading the way down the mountain. As opposed to me, he seemed to have no trouble with the treacherous path—but then, I supposed he was a god. Or maybe part god, part mountain goat.
“Mimir’s well isn’t far,” Magni said as he cast a look at the giant tree trunk rising up high above the clouds. “It sits in a glade by the roots of Yggdrasil. A day’s travel, at most.”
I eyeballed the world tree. “His… well? Do you mean his house?”
“He wouldn’t have much use for a house,” Saga said, an amused note to his voice. “Any who wishes to seek the knowledge of the well will make an offering there, and if Mimir’s so inclined, he will accept. Hopefully he’s not in the mood for an eyeball this time around.”
“An eyeball? He might want an eyeball?” Just what kind of fresh hell was this? I’d gotten the impression this guy was going to help us save the damn world, but there was a chance he’d start demanding body parts in return?
“He did once,” Magni said. “Of the Allfather.”
“The who now?”
“Odin, most supreme of the gods, the one-eyed ruler of Asgard, god of wisdom and magic and war, to name but a few. And, of course, your esteemed grandfather-in-law,” Saga said, the complete lack of respect in his voice in sharp contrast the accolades of the god he was talking about. “Surely you’ve heard of him, little historian?”
“Of course I have,” I snapped. “I just….” Never thought of him as real. Then something he said struck me like a bolt of lightning. “Wait—what do you mean he’s my grandfather-in-law?”
“He’s Thor’s father,” Magni said. “My dad.”
“And technically the father of all the gods, hence the whole Allfather title,” Saga interjected.
I don’t know why it’d taken me this long to process—but it had. Thor was my freaking father-in-law. Thor. Images of Chris Hemsworth in a red cape flickered uninvited for my mind’s eye.
“Odin wanted all the wisdom Mimir possessed. In return, Mimir asked for an eye,” Magni said, as if it were no big deal to ask people for such an offering. “We’re asking for far less, so we should be fine.”
“Oh yes, we’re just asking how to save the world,” I muttered.
“We’re asking how to safely return to Asgard,” Magni corrected, and I rolled my eyes behind his back. He still thought he was going to put a magic baby in me that would sort Ragnarök right out.
“You mean, we’re asking how we can keep Annabel safe while you and I sort out your illegitimate claim,” Saga snarled behind me, the sudden change to his demeanor startling.
Magni whipped around so fast I didn’t manage to stop in time and smacked right into his chest, but he didn’t focus on me—his green eyes were locked on Saga, fury sparking within. “Threaten me one more time with how you’re going to separate me from my fucking mate, and your head’s ending up in that well alongside Mimir’s!”
I didn’t hear Saga’s reply. Blackness swarmed my vision, ripping my consciousness away.
* * *
Thick fog covered the ground, making it near impossible to see more than five feet ahead, though the sky no longer seemed darker than a stormy gray. What looked like gnarly, oversized roots rose out of the fog to the left. Yggdrasil’s roots.
“It’s here,” Magni said from beside me. I jolted as his large figure emerged from the fog. He placed a hand on my lower back, and despite myself I found comfort in his touch. The eerie quietude of the mist-blanketed glade made my nerves stand on end.
“This is not like I remember,” Saga murmured from my other side.
“Annabel!” The sound of my name boomed through the air, coming from all around us. I spun around, trying to locate the source, my heart thudding into overdrive.
“Annabel!” It was a roar, so loud the world shook and da
rk dots danced for my eyes.
* * *
“Annabel!”
I blinked, the sound of my name now coming from much closer. When I opened my eyes, I stared right up into Saga’s worried, gray-blue gaze. Above him the sky was dark, a single star twinkling through the cloud cover. That is, until Magni’s face appeared, blocking out the sky. His red eyebrows were pulled down as he scanned my face.
“W-what happened?” I croaked, fighting to sit up. Saga didn’t let go of my shoulders, but instead of pressing me back down, he supported my weight so I could get up.
I could make out Verdandi’s cave as a black void against the dark sky high above us, and when I looked to my right the vastness of the world tree’s trunk was also visible. The fog-covered glade was nowhere to be found.
“You passed out,” Magni said, voice gruff. “Probably from lack of food.”
“Did you even eat before you snuck out this morning?” Saga asked, tilting my face up to with a finger underneath my chin.
This morning. Somehow the creepy ritual at the Lokissons’ farm and my ordeal in the cave back in Iceland seemed like eons ago. In some ways, I guess it was a lifetime ago—because the girl who’d run out into the snowstorm this morning didn’t exist anymore. That girl hadn’t known about Ragnarök or Norns or visions.
“No, I didn’t eat,” I murmured, frowning as I tried to remember the details from the glade. I was pretty sure that’d been a vision, but… nothing had happened. I’d just had this unshakable sense of foreboding. A sensation that still lingered. I rubbed my arms, trying to ease the goosebumps covering them. “How long was I out?”
“Ten minutes, maybe.” Magni straightened up and cast a look over the landscape. “We need to get you fed.”
“I’m not leaving her alone with you, so don’t even ask,” Saga warned, not taking his eyes off me.
“As if I would let you hunt for my mate,” Magni huffed. He turned back, giving us both a lingering look. It seemed like he was trying to weigh his options and coming up short. “But she needs food. Humans are….”
“Fragile,” Saga sighed. “Hunt for her, I’ll stay and protect her.”
“If you try to take off with her—” Magni growled, eyes narrowed.
Saga rolled his eyes. “She just face-planted from lack of food. I’m not about to take her anywhere before she’s been fed. Besides, the Norn made it quite clear we need to find Mimir. It’s not like you don’t know where we’d go.”
Magni didn’t answer the blond alpha. He just stared hard at him for another moment, then returned his focus to me. “I won’t be gone long. If you need me, scream. I’ll come.”
“Sure thing,” I muttered, trying not to hold it against him that he was incapable of seeing me as anything more than a swooning damsel in distress. If some form of monster did happen to swing by, I’d be happy to swallow my pride and scream for both him and Saga, but it was still infuriating to be treated like….
Well, like an omega.
When Magni left, Saga helped me to my feet and led me to a trickling spring of water. I drank greedily from it, and briefly considered washing up as well. I was still caked in semen and dried sweat underneath my new outfit, but the temperature wasn’t exactly great for bathing. In the end I decided against it, vowing to get clean when I could do so without losing a nipple to frost bite.
“Fucking Magni, coulda’ at least started a fire,” Saga muttered by my side as he stacked tinder and branches into a small circle by the side of the spring. “Use those damn lightning fingers for something good, for once.”
I remembered the fight in the cave and how Magni had zapped Saga while he was still coming inside of me, and cracked a half-smile. “They seem to be pretty useful for deflating knots, too.”
Saga shot me a dirty look, and I snickered. “Sorry. It’s just… You kind of had it coming.”
“I know you’re upset about how everything went down,” he said, sighing softly as he stared at the pile of branches on the ground. “And that you don’t trust me all that much right now. But I promise you, it was never mine or my brothers’ intent for your claiming to be this traumatic.”
“You just wanted to gangbang me against my will and force me into a three-way marriage I didn’t want,” I said pointedly. “Nothing too unpleasant.”
He looked at me over his shoulder again, but there wasn’t anger in his gaze this time. Only gentle regret. “I know you didn’t want this, Annabel. But I felt the change in you when you came back with Verdandi. Whatever she showed you, you now understand why we had to do what we did. Don’t you?”
The infuriating thing was that I did. “It doesn’t absolve you for being such an asshole,” I said. “And for thinking that the only way I could possibly be helpful was to spread my legs and give you an heir. She tricked you, you know? The Norn. She has this great big plan that involves you, me, your brothers, and Magni and some other dude, and she figured the best way to get you to accept sharing a mate was to make you believe you all needed to impregnate me.”
He stilled, his eyes widening slightly as he stared at me. “What?”
“Yeah. She played you. All of you.” I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck, wincing as both the marks there stung slightly at the too-harsh touch. “She believes we can stop Ragnarök. But only together.”
He regarded me quietly for a long while. “And you believe her,” he finally said.
“I do. She showed me… the alternative.” I shuddered at the memory of the monster in the snow.
“And what makes you think she isn’t tricking you?” he asked. “That she isn’t telling you what you want to hear to get you to accept her plans for you? Norns are tricky creatures… And it is unlikely she could have fooled Loki when she first interpreted that prophecy for him and pointed out which family this omega would spring from so he could make his deal with your ancestors. My father is the god of mischief and deceit, after all.”
I frowned. “That’s not… possible.” Everything she’d said—the vision—it’d felt so very real. But he had a point. If Verdandi had tricked them, what was to say she couldn’t have tricked me, too? But to what purpose?
Saga sighed and got up from the unlit fire. He crouched back down by my side, wrapping an oversized hand around my arm. “Annabel, I’m not saying that whatever she told you was a lie. Most likely, it was a half-truth. And I promise you that if there is a way for us to stop Ragnarök, then I will walk that path with you. Even if it involves not murdering Magni and his asshole brother for trying to steal you away from me.”
“But?” I asked, because the tension in his tone told me he wasn’t done.
“But Magni isn’t going to see it that way. He’s dead set on bringing you to Asgard to take your role as his mate. Nothing either of us say is going to sway his mind.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “I mean, it wasn’t like you seemed all that keen on changing your mind. Maybe he’ll surprise you. If he knows there’s a way to stop the end of the world, surely he’ll go for it. He might be a dick, but he’s a god, after all.”
Saga released my arm and trailed a finger up along it, caressing the nape of my neck where his bite still lingered. His touch warmed my skin. “The problem is he won’t believe you. He won’t entertain the possibility that Verdandi might have told you the truth while she manipulated him.”
“But you want me to believe you will?” The humming in my chest at his nearness was distracting. I tried to keep in mind that this was the guy who’d lured me across the ocean to force me to accept his claim, but the damn bond was murmuring about how he only wanted to keep me safe. Hadn’t he proved that by refusing to let go when Magni tried to separate us and pulled me through the portal?
“I do. Because I will, Annabel.” His voice was quiet and intimate, a hypnotic murmur that contradicted the swaggering alpha I’d met in Reykjavik’s airport so sharply he may as well have been a different person. Gently, he pulled me into his arms and nudged my head up with a finger, locking m
y gaze in his. Perhaps it was the lack of food, but I felt woozy all of a sudden. But also… warm. Safe. I stared at him, my mouth half agape, trying to collect my thoughts and finding it impossible to with the blond alpha so close. My mate.
“All I want is for you to learn to love me,” he whispered, letting his finger slide up to caress my cheek. “I know it will take time for you to trust me after all that’s happened, but I promise you I will never lie to you. Ask him—ask Magni if he will abandon his quest to bring you to Asgard even if Mimir confirms Verdandi’s claims. He may be the son of Thor—but he is no hero. He will let your parents and every single other human die, if it means he gets to protect his own family.”
14
Saga
The one good thing about the bond thrumming in my chest night and day, forcing me to open my soul to the stubborn human I’d claimed, was that it made it so much easier to manipulate her.
I didn’t shoot lightning from my fingers like Thor’s redheaded bastard—my magic was subtler.
Loki had many children, many I’d never even met and all of whom had inherited something from the god of trickery that sired us. For Grim, it was his guile and lethal darkness. For Bjarni, his ability to make a friend out of any enemy. And I… I’d received the gift of deceit.
I hadn’t thought of using it on Annabel, not at first. She was just a human after all, and there’d been no need.
But that was before fucking Magni had ruined everything, and now—now our plan’s survival relied on my ability to convince my omega that her other mate would never allow her the freedom she’d grown so used to while she was raised as a beta.
To my delight I’d found the bond that tied us together left her more vulnerable to my influence than any other I’d ever used it on. I’d told her half-truths while I petted and comforted her, and she’d not so much as registered my magic wrapping around her will and easing her defenses.
