Her eyes fluttered opened ever so slightly as she moaned, “Please don’t make me wait. I can’t, I just…can’t. Please.”
And that was it.
Drawing down her panties, Tyr knelt between her thighs, pressing them wider with his palms, until she was completely bared to him. Arms stretched over her head, legs spread, completely at his mercy, Tyr slid his hand beneath her ass, lifted her to his mouth and feasted. His tongue found her nub, spun it in a circle, and pressed down.
Almost instantly, Hunter exploded, her fingers digging into the top of his head, her scream bouncing off the walls. Part of Tyr’s brain wondered if the door was locked.
Part of him didn’t give two shits.
When she finally settled, her body turned pliant and soft, he licked her one last time, the salty sweetness coating his tongue, and trailed kisses up her stomach, pausing on her breasts. Her hands cupped his face, pulling him back to her mouth. “I want you inside of me, damn it. Now.”
Every breath he took was ragged, rough. Every second seemed drawn out. For as long as they’d waited, for everything between them, things were about to change. Irretrievably.
Forever.
Bracing an elbow, he positioned himself at her entrance, slid the head of his cock through her wet, velvety heat. And then slowly sank into her, feeling her stretch and stretch to accommodate his girth. And he kept sliding in, inch by inch, his eyes never once leaving her face, the most exotic, beautiful creature he’d ever seen.
She felt exquisite.
Finally.
When Tyr entered her, when Hunter had him inside her, he filled her up. So much so she felt completely and totally taken. Which was exactly what she needed.
Then he slowly pulled out and thrust back in. Friction building, he kept the pace, slow and sweet, every long, steady stroke amping up the wildfire blazing at her core. Her head rocked back, and pleasure shivered down her spine while Tyr’s fingers dug into her ass for better leverage.
“I’ve got to go slow, angel. Not in the best shape for this at the moment.” Helping to brace up his shoulders, she widened her legs as he rode her in long strokes, each one deeper than the one before, one elbow next to her head, his other hand wrapped around her hip. She felt his arm tremble, sweat slide down the curve of his back, the effort costing him. But he didn’t, couldn’t stop. Not even as she shuddered beneath him, his name on her lips.
Languidly he fucked her, in an unhurried, thorough rhythm before driving himself into her and groaning out something, maybe her name, before rolling at the last possible moment so he didn’t crush her, and collapsed.
Little jolts of pleasure continued to shoot through her, sending her body spontaneously jerking, her heart beating a mile a minute, even as Tyr pulled her up against him, spooning her from behind, nestling into the curve of her ass.
And oddly enough, it didn’t feel weird.
He felt perfect.
18
“You need a little light over there?”
Tyr watched Hunter pad across the room in the near-dark, to where he sat hunched over a pile of papers at the small table, trying to see. She embraced him from behind, the contact sending jolts through him as she ran her fingers through his too-long hair.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. You should get some more sleep.” Leaning back, looking at her, Tyr couldn’t believe his luck. The woman of his dreams, wrapped in a sheet from his bed, was in his bedroom, naked. It was like Christmas and his birthday and every holiday known to man, all on the same day.
“You’re the one who should come back to bed,” she whispered, her tongue dipping into his ear.
They’d been in bed. And on the floor. And in the shower, the sink, the desk, and the window seat. Twice. Damn. “If you don’t get some sleep, Tyr, you won’t heal quickly enough.”
Quick enough to fight. Quick enough to make a difference.
Tyr could fill in the blanks just fine.
As if sensing the frustration radiating off of him, Hunter’s voice grew insistent. “Just come to bed, Tyr.” With the barest glance at the piles of paperwork spread across the desk, she slipped into his lap, smoothing a hand across his chest.
“I have to evaluate this new intel Thor brought from the site, Hunter. I wish we had more time. But we don’t. Not enough time, angel. The Orobus is here, and sooner or later, he’ll figure out you’re back. Now I’ve figured a way out of this mess, but it’s full of holes. I need a few more hours to tighten it up.
“My priority—the most important thing—is to lock the bastard down. Before he comes gunning for you again. And to do that, I’ve got to work out the kinks in this plan.” He tucked her in tightly against his throat. “I’m not letting him take you away from me.” They fit together as if the gods themselves had tailored them for each other.
She sighed. “I know. It’s just…we wasted so much time, Tyr. Why did we waste so much time?”
“Because we’re both stubborn, bullheaded, obstinate—”
“Okay, I get it.” She chuffed out a low laugh, her hands cupping his face as she rose. “I don’t need a whole bunch of examples of how we failed. I’d give anything for a few, peaceful days together. But you really need to sleep, Tyr. Just a couple of hours, my love.” Her eyes were dreamy and inviting as she dragged him toward the bed.
And to his chagrin, Tyr went with no complaint.
An hour later, while Tyr slept, Hunter studied Thor’s reports. Especially worrying was the drone footage over the stone circle. The Orobus spread itself over the eastern bank of the lakeshore like a plague, covering everything from the old Shedd Aquarium down to the edge of Soldier Field.
Finally she pulled out Tyr’s notes, the hand drawn routes, his lists of pros and cons. His plan. And came to the conclusion that Tyr was on the money. But for this to work, the creature had to be smaller. More controllable. This being was too large, too disembodied. Too…nonphysical. Picking up the neatly scripted, detailed account of what Thor had felt—the rage, the out-of-control anger—the Orobus was also too unpredictable.
She liked predictable. Take any creature. They all wanted something. Food, usually. Figure out what that was, and you knew, for the most part, what that animal would do next. Where it would go next. The key to its behavior.
Fortunately, she knew what the Orobus wanted.
The creature’s sheer size was the problem. In this body, there was no way to force him through the doorway and lock him in his prison. Figuring out how to concentrate him into something small enough to fit through the portal was the key. Pulling one of Tyr’s shirts over her head, Hunter crept out of the room and headed for the one person who might have answers.
Hunter knocked on Mir and Sydney’s door, hesitating the second before her knuckles made contact with the thick oak. It wasn’t like her to second guess herself, but her actions were complicated by feelings she wasn’t used to. And while she might prefer the surgical neatness of her old life, that existence came with plenty of cold, hard edges. She shivered, remembering the warm bed and the warm man waiting in it, and rapped again.
“Give me a fucking minute, will you?” Mir sure was a grump in the morning. Which totally figured, since it was actually the middle of the night, she realized belatedly as he flung the door open. “Well. Surprise, surprise. You lovebirds out of sugar?”
“What? Sugar? No. What?” The whole lovebirds thing threw her off completely, and whatever she was planning to say went out the window in a tangle of confusion. She really had to get a handle on this human interaction stuff. “I actually came…” She cleared her throat. “I came to talk to Sydney. While I know we didn’t get off on the right foot…”
“You mean you insulted her and then threw her under the bus in front of everyone?”
“Yes. Yes, that is what I mean. What I did. And I’m sorry.” Hunter ran through possible apology scenarios. Excuses aside, they didn’t change the fact that she’d been an asshole. So she left it at that and waited while Mir’s cold,
contemptuous gaze ground her down.
“Well, don’t stand there blocking the door, Mir. Let her in.” Sydney smiled at her with all the force of a mega-watt spotlight, waving a hand dismissively in the air. “And don’t worry about what happened in the War Room. We all get off to a rocky start, it’s just the nature of these guys. Gods. Whatever.” She laughed, the sound ringing brightly. “Or maybe it’s just because the world’s ending, and it doesn’t really matter anymore. So, what can we do for you, Hunter?”
Hunter spread the paperwork across the table, gave them both a moment. “This plan of Tyr’s—I need to know how viable you think it is. If we can lure the Orobus into the correct dolmen, how confident are you that your magic will lock that door behind it?”
Sydney hesitated for a moment before answering, “Obviously, you’ve seen Thor’s reports. The newest pictures. I’d say the plan would be viable, if only he was smaller. But since he’s so vast… I just don’t think we can do it.”
“But if he took a smaller form?” Hunter pushed. “Could you make this work? There’s a lot of moving parts, but if you had enough time to set all of this up, and everything went right, and the Orobus was in the circle, could you make this happen?”
Mir shuffled through the papers, took another look. “Yes. Problem is, any time now he’s going to open up those doors and pull his armies through. And we can’t get close enough to stop him. I don’t understand why he hasn’t done it already.”
“Because that’s not his main priority at the moment.” Hunter blew out the breath she’d been holding. “He’s looking for something he lost. He’s looking for me and Tyr.”
As they stared, Hunter merely shrugged. “Celine brought us home through a back door. My guess is, he’s still searching for us on Svartlheim. It’s keeping him busy, at the moment. But sooner than later he’s going to figure out we’re back on earth. And when he does, he’ll come for me.” And after reading through Tyr’s plan, Hunter realized he’d arrived at the same conclusion.
“You could be right,” Mir mused. “But if he’s looking for you, then he’s keyed in on his energy signature. It’s probably only a matter of time before he senses you.”
“Except he’s spread out and uncontrolled, and he’s not focused,” Hunter pointed out. “Which is working to our advantage at the moment. It would give us time to get things in place. Before I did my thing.”
“Exactly what are you saying?” Intent, Sydney searched Hunter’s face, then Mir’s. “What are you two talking about?”
“I’m saying the Orobus’s size is not a problem. It’s an opportunity.” Hunter leaned in, tapping the papers. “One I intend to exploit to the fullest.” Hunter met Mir’s eyes, seeing understanding dawn in them as Sydney’s mouth formed a perfect little “O.”
“That gives me a few hours, right?”
He nodded, his face grave. “Tyr… Once Tyr discovers what you’ve done, he’s going to lose his shit.”
She knew that. Knew it and didn’t see another way.
“Care to let me in on what you intend to do?”
“If I knew, I would. But I haven’t even seen this thing yet, not in his current form. I need to get a feel for what we’re dealing with. Scout the area, figure out the best means of approaching the problem. Once I have a clear idea, I’ll call it in.” She offered him the barest smile. “I do have a few tricks up my sleeve, you know.”
“Not against him, you don’t.”
Hunter tried to ignore the warning. “Once he’s out of the area, Sydney, how long will it take to get everyone set up?” She was almost spent, but if she only had to lead the creature on a chase for a few hours…
Sydney shook her head, set the papers to the side, then turned to her laptop. “Considering everything Tyr wants in place?” She clicked the keyboard, pulled up a report. “I’d say less than an hour. If we work fast.”
“Don’t forget about the patrols. Thor mentioned plenty of Dark Elves and Grim stationed around the area as protection. We’ll have to deal with them before we can set up.”
Syd furiously tapped the keyboard. “Already have, and if we put Fen and Thor on the patrols, we should still be able to get it done in less than an hour.”
Something in Hunter relaxed. “All right.” They might pull this off. “Let me scope out the situation. I’ll evaluate, then head back in, and we can regroup here in an hour. You can double-check my route, which will give you enough time get everything staged. Once he’s clear of the area, you put everything in place, then I come in from behind and wipe the circle out.”
“I’m sending up a drone. I want this on video,” Mir told her. “For posterity, of course.” He added with a smirk.
“What kind of power are we talking about here?” Sydney asked, curious.
“Oh, you know, the kind that levels entire cities,” Mir muttered, “or mountains.”
“Yes,” Hunter agreed. “That kind. Also, the kind that could raze the circle to the ground. After you lock the Orobus up. Eradicating the stones should remove any possibility of him returning to this world. Providing you concur, of course.” She raised her eyebrows at Sydney, whose eyes grew bigger.
“Oh, I agree,” Sydney murmured after some thought. “If we manage to do our part, how thorough a job are we talking?”
“Dust particles,” Mir muttered.
Hunter didn’t bother to reply.
“Wow,” Sydney said, her thoughts obviously far away. When she finally glanced up at Hunter, the girl had a glint in her eye that Hunter could only call morbid curiosity, before it faded away. “I wish we had more time to talk, I have so many questions…” Sydney shook her head, red hair spilling all around. “But yeah. Theoretically, this is the best solution for permanently locking the monster away. A group effort, combining all of our powers.” She dropped her voice, leaned in, and whispered, “We’ll need to get Ava on board.”
Mir shook his head so hard, Hunter thought it might fall off. “Syd, we’ve been over this a million times. Not a good idea.”
“We need to get her on board. I have this idea… She’s critical to luring the Orobus into the dolmen.” Sydney snapped her gaze over to Hunter again. “Actually, I’m surprised you didn’t suggest it in the first place.”
“I don’t even know who Ava is,” Hunter told the redhead, noting Mir’s tight, pissed off expression.
“Ah, well, that explains it.” Sydney’s voice turned speculative. “Because if you knew about Ava, then you would have already…” Her voice trailed off, as she finally saw Mir’s face.
“Care to tell me who Ava is?” Hunter asked, her own curiosity sparking.
“Morgane’s sister, she lives upstairs. And I’m just surprised, I guess.” Syd shrugged. “You know, since she’s exactly like you.”
Stunned, Hunter’s gaze snapped to Mir’s face. Set in stone. As if he was wishing he could take back every word coming out of Sydney’s mouth. “Oh, really?” Hunter asked, not liking the direction this conversation was headed. “How is she like me? Semi-immortal? A fighter?”
“A royal pain in the ass?” Mir added softly.
“Oh no,” Sydney said, leaning in. “She has the same power in her that you do. Whether it’s from the Orobus, nobody knows. You know, since she never comes downstairs. But whatever it is, it kind of makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, you know?” Sydney sucked in a breath. “Like I said, I’m just surprised you didn’t know about her. I’d have thought you’d sensed her.”
“And how, exactly would I do that?” Hunter’s tone turned coolly dangerous.
“Like I do when I meet one of my kind.” This time, when Sydney held her eyes, Hunter noted the pure, molten power burning in those green orbs. “I’m a witch. I sense magic flowing in another witch or warlock. It calls to me. Because their magic speaks directly to mine.”
“You’re a witch?” Hunter repeated, feeling like a fool for doing so. It had been a lifetime, a mortal lifetime at least, since she’d run across a real witch,
but now that Sydney was this close, Hunter recognized the raw, unbridled magic in the air.
“Yup.” Sydney’s smile faltered. “Even though I tried my damndest not to be.”
Sydney went on, “But enough about that. So we know where the Orobus needs to be imprisoned, and now we know we can destroy the circle, once he’s inside. But I really don’t like this idea of yours.”
“Let me worry about that. Once he’s trapped, I’ll release my power and vaporize the site. Everyone will have to be clear, of course.” Hunter paused, estimating the range of destruction. She’d never loosed the power, not of her own accord. Hard to say what would happen. But it was a fair assumption to assume there’d be nothing left. “Destroying the stones will destroy the portals, correct?”
“I’m positive. The spatial interference that occurs within each dolmen doesn’t occur outside of them, nor does it occur independently of them. Safe to assume, and my tests confirm this, once the dolmens cease to exist, so will the doorways. I’ll use magic to lock the gate behind him, then you will essentially remove the door itself. And there will be no way for the God of Chaos to reconstruct another portal.”
“Where did this one come from in the first place?”
“They…” Sydney shook her head apologetically. “It was me, actually, who dug up the circle, out of a peat bog in what was once Neolithic Ireland. My crazy old professor had been having these visions, and it turned out he was being controlled by the God of Chaos.”
Something inside Hunter chilled at the words. “How did he use your professor?”
“The Orobus planted compulsions in him, told him the location of the circle. Used his expertise and his contacts to transport the stones back here, get them set up at the Field Museum. But the professor became delusional and unpredictable. It was like he broke down under the pressure or something.”
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