Thor smiled. “Very well. The challenge has been made.” He snapped his fingers.
Emma and Alex looked around themselves, their eyes wide.
A circle of standing stones stood to their right and a castle to the left. A mystical power emanated from the circle, surrounding them. The power was strong, tangible. Emma felt it. She cast a glance at Alex and smiled. The expression on his face was priceless. His mouth hung open, his eyes were wide. Yet he wasn’t looking at the landscape as she had been. He was staring at Thor.
“My...” He paused and swallowed. “My sister’s boyfriend is Thor?” He frowned. “I thought you had a wife.”
Thor shook his head. “She left me years ago. Nearly three hundred years ago. I began to fade out. I was shaken when she left me for another. I’m ashamed to admit that I neglected the needs of those who believe in me.”
“Oh,” Alex said, a look of awe on his face. “Do I...Do I need to kneel or bow down to you or something?”
Thor frowned. “Have I ever required that of you in the past?”
“Well, no.”
“Then why would I now? Now that you are the brother of my Goddess.”
Alex’s eyes widened and he turned to Emma. “Goddess? You’re going to be a friggin’ Goddess?”
She swallowed, unsure of how to answer his question. She knew she would be Thor’s consort, but no one had ever told her she was going to have Goddess status. Turning to Thor, she raised her brow.
“Well, inquiring teens want to know.”
“When you took the injuries in my stead, you proved to the Norns that you are worthy to be added to the ranks of our people. They said it was your destiny to become my Goddess in every way.”
“Excuse me,” a beautiful young redhead approached them. “Is one of you called Alexander?” she asked looking between them.
Alex stepped forward. He pulled his collar away from his throat. “I am.” His voice cracked and he coughed. “How did you know I was here?”
She gave him a blinding smile. “I am Calla. I am a first level Kyrie. I fear that I will never be a full-fledged Valkyrie. They say I do not study hard enough and that I m far too attracted to boys.” She smiled again. “Especially the handsome ones like you. I do like dark hair.” Reaching up, she stopped herself, just before she touched his hair. “May I?”
Calla feathered her fingers through his hair at his nod and laughed. “It is as soft as it feels.”
Blushing, she apologized. “I’m sorry. They also say that I do not think before I act.” She looked down at the ground. “Would you like to see Valhalla with me? I think your sister and Thor need to have some time alone.
He nodded and swallowed thickly. “Yes. I’d love to.”
“Good, why don’t we go see the dragons first? They’re so colorful...”
Their voices trailed off as they moved away from Thor and Emma.
Emma turned to Thor. “We do need to talk.”
“I know we do, baby. But I need to feel your body against mine first. I need to hold you in my arms at least for a few minutes. Can we do that?”
Chapter Twenty
Emma reached up, feathering her fingers through his thick hair as his lips covered hers. Closing her eyes, she reveled in the knowledge that he wanted her. That he had chosen her to become his consort. No, his Goddess.
All thoughts flew out of her head when his arms tightened around her, crushing her to him. His hands caressed her shoulders, back and hips, moving seductively over her body as he enfolded her in his embrace.
She felt a strange shifting under her and opened her eyes. The standing stones were gone. They were no longer outside. She assumed they were now in the castle they had been standing in front of. Thick stone walls surrounded them. A monstrous four-poster bed sat in the center of the room, beckoning her. She wanted this. She wanted to reaffirm her love for Thor more than anything.
Yes, her home was wherever he was, in his arms and in his bed.
Thor lifted her in his embrace and cuddled her against his chest as he carried her over to the bed. He laid her down in the center of the soft mattress, and slowly lowered himself over her.
Emma closed her eyes, loving the feel of his warm body against hers. He lowered his head, pressed his lips gently against hers, silently begging for entrance. He tenderly eased his tongue into her mouth. The warm wet velvet brushed against her teeth, caressed every hidden place within the moist heat in an exquisite dance of seduction. She moaned. Her hands reached up to pull him closer, tighter against her.
He moved his mouth from hers, his lips gliding lightly over her skin, skimmed gently over her hammering pulse. Blood rushed through her veins as her body moved instinctively against his, crying out for his possession.
She wrapped her arms around him. The wave of unrelenting desire was so overwhelming, that she clung to him tightly as the world spun around her. Caught between his hard, muscular body and the bed, she reveled in the heavy sensation of his weight pinning her in place. God, how had she managed to keep herself away from him, away from the passion just a touch, a look ignited in her?
His hand skimmed down her body over her stomach and hips. Her clothes melted away as his hand moved slowly, almost reverently over her body. The cool air brushed her exposed skin, a soft and sensuous caress. Thor raised his head. His sapphire gaze glittered down at her exposed flesh.
She arched her back, pushed her aching breasts up, inviting him to kiss the soft mounds. He reached up, cupped her breast in his hand and brushed his thumb over her taut nipple.
“Your skin is so soft, like silk in my hands.” He lowered his head to kiss the hardening nub.
“I love the way your flesh heats against me, the way your body trembles beneath mine, the way you enjoy the stroke of my hands.”
Her head thrashed on the satiny comforter. She fisted her hands in his silky hair, demanding—without words—that he continue the sensual assault on her senses.
His mouth found hers, moved to her jaw, temple and eyes. Each kiss was gentle, feather-light. Her body responded to his words, his gentle caresses. Thick, creamy heat pooled in her middle, settled between her legs.
A large calloused hand slid over her stomach, down to the juncture of her thighs. He dipped a thick finger into her slick folds and she moaned. His head lowered to her breast and she held him as the heat spiraled and carried her away on a wave of pure sensual pleasure. Each slide of his fingers in her wet folds, each pull of his mouth on the sensitive tip of her breast, drove her closer to the edge of insanity.
She gasped as his fingers drove deeper, rubbing a spot inside her that made her scream his name in ecstasy.
“Thor!”
He chuckled against her breast, laving his way down her to her belly and lower still to her soft, creamy center. She longed to have him inside her.
“Please,” she begged, as his tongue found the crease of her hip. He tongued the sensitive flesh and she ground her hips up toward him.
“Do you like this?” he asked, delving his tongue deep into her wet folds.
“Yesss,” she mewled. Her hips undulated above the bed, searching for another taste of the paradise of his hot mouth.
Another long, slow lick up the center of her exposed slit and he pulled back chuckling again at her agonized moans.
Pushing her thighs apart, he separated her folds with his fingers and lowered his head to suckle on the little nub.
Emma screamed out her climax as she held his head to her, her fingers buried in his golden hair. Her back arched off the bed, her thighs clenched around his head, keeping him trapped between her legs.
He slowly pulled back, to look at her. He sat up straight, resting on his heels, his cock jutting out in front of him.
She licked her lips. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to take his thick length into her mouth and suck him dry. She wanted him at her mercy, begging her for relief. She sat up and took him in her hands.
He sucked in his breath in great gulps, his
eyes closed. She smiled. Knowing she could do this to a man was heady. Knowing she did this to a God was a powerful emotion indeed. She got to her knees and pushed him down onto the bed.
“My turn,” she breathed in his ear, laving the outer shell. She suckled the lobe into his mouth and he swallowed.
“Are you sure you wan—”
“More sure than anything in my life,” she murmured, her fingers against his lips. “Now, lay back and enjoy.”
She kissed him gently, trailing her tongue over the seam of his lips. When he opened for her, she plunged her tongue into the moist depths of his mouth, exploring every inch. Pulling back, she trailed kisses down his neck, suckling his flesh over his slamming pulse. Her hands skimmed down over his chest and rock-hard abs, the flesh-like satin over steel.
He sucked in his breath as her fingers skimmed over his belly, feeling the rigid muscles and the uneven expanse of his washboard stomach. She stopped when her fingers reached the coarse hair at his groin.
She smiled when his hips jerked involuntarily as she pulled her hand away from his heated flesh. Emma followed the same trail with her mouth and tongue. Laving his nipples, she marveled that she could bring him to such a fevered pitch. When she lowered her head and tongued his naval, his hands came up. Tangling his fingers in her hair, he pushed her head down to his groin and his burgeoning shaft.
Wrapping her hand around the base of his erection, she ran her tongue around the velvety head. She smiled at his sharply indrawn breath. Her tongue stroked over the length of his cock, and she relished the fact that she could take him so close to the edge. His body stiffened when she lowered her mouth over his shaft. She pulled back to lick the clear fluid that oozed from the tip. She lowered her head once again, her mouth engulfing him, taking him far down her throat as he thrust his hips forward, over and over.
After a few minutes, he pulled her up and away from him.
“Not like this, baby. Not this time. I want this to be good for you too. If I spill my seed now, I will not be able to give you your woman’s pleasure.”
With almost no warning, Thor threw her back onto the bed and covered her body with his own. His weight pressing her into the bed was erotic, sensual. He slid his foot up and down her leg, as he looked down into her eyes.
“I love you, Emma,” he said, his gaze searching.
“I love you, too, Thor,” she breathed against his chest.
He shuddered above her when she lapped his nipple. She brought her legs up and wrapped them around his waist. Thor raised himself up on his elbows and positioned himself to enter her, stopping just before he slid into her tight sheath.
“Look at me,” he said, kissing her closed eyes. “Look at me and know it is your god and your lover who takes you now.”
She opened her eyes, met his gaze and he thrust forward up to the hilt. His sac slapped her bottom as his cock slid forward and touched the mouth of her womb.
He lowered his head, to take her nipple into his mouth. Each strong pull sent her closer to the edge of another orgasm. Her muscles clenched around him and he groaned against her breast. Still, he suckled harder. His teeth scraped her nipple, an erotic abrasion. The pleasure-pain drove her over the edge of another mind-numbing climax.
Her muscles clenched and she screamed his name. Her legs, wrapped around his waist, pulled him to her, over and over.
The muscles in his neck bulged, the roped muscles on his back clenched as her nails scraped the sensitive flesh. After a few more thrusts he threw his head back and let out a roar as his orgasm over took him and he emptied his seed into her womb.
Thor lowered himself over her, panting. The soft sheen of perspiration covered his body as he kissed her gently. He rolled to the side, taking her with him and tucked her beneath his arm, warm and safe.
She rubbed her foot up and down his leg, loving the feel of the closeness, the way he held her as if he would never let her go. She drifted to sleep, floating on the languorous sea of contentment, lying in her lover’s arms.
* * * *
Thor cast a glance back to Emma before he left. She looked so beautiful resting in his bed, wrapped in his blankets. She belonged there. With luck he would soon have children to balance out the powers of the worlds. He needn’t worry about the death and destruction that had once awaited them.
Turning he opened the door to leave, thinking to only be gone for a moment before he returned to his lover’s arms.
A flash of light, bright as the sun blinded him for a minute and when he was able to see again, Emma was gone.
“No!” He roared, his voice so loud and fierce, thunder was heard in all the nine worlds.
Chapter Twenty-one
Thor nearly fell to his knees in a moment of despair. How did this happen? The magic of another of his kind was not supposed to function in his home, just as his magic would not function in another’s home. It was a safeguard among their people. Even though they attempted to remain equitable with each other, it did not always work out the way one would expect.
Instead of wallowing in his own grief, he strode through the door in search of his father. There had to be a reason someone had been able to use magical powers in his personal space. He looked for Odin in all the usual places, when he couldn’t find him, he resorted to telepathy.
Alfader, someone has breeched the machtlos code. They have entered my home and took my woman.
That does not surprise me. Loki has been restless lately and I would not put it past him to be up to mischief. I have already sent my ravens Hugin and Munin in search of her. My wolves shall go with me and search as well. They may be old, but their noses are just as strong as ever. He chuckled mirthlessly. You know how hungry and greedy they are. I didn’t name them Geri and Freki by accident.
Thor felt as though he should feel a certain sense of comfort, knowing that his father was helping him. It bothered him that someone could actually do something of this magnitude without his father knowing about it. Yet, he knew his father didn’t have any desire to bring about Ragnarok. It would mean the end of his own life, as well as the end of the nine worlds.
Hugin and Munin have communicated with me, son. Hugin has found her thoughts and cries echoing throughout the Crystal Caves of Valhalla. Munin remembers seeing Loki near there on their last hunt with the wolves.
At least he had a direction. Even if she weren’t there, the trip would give him something to do. He flashed himself to the nearest location to the caves possible and began to walk.
It wasn’t wise to use any power so close to the caves and he hoped he would not be forced to. The caves would magnify his power and wreak havoc on Valhalla. The repercussion would be so strong, that the damage may even carry over to Asgard. He could only hope Loki knew that, as well.
* * * *
Emma woke on a raised bed of glass. She sat up and looked around herself. No, it wasn’t glass. It appeared to be crystal of some kind. The clear cool stone she found herself lying on was uncomfortable to say the least.
“What happened?” she murmured, glancing around. Noticing a light at the end of a very long, ice-blue tunnel, she stood and began to walk toward it. She didn’t notice the shackles that bound her legs to the wall until she fell, flat on her face. The hard crystal cut into her hands and knees as she scrambled to her feet.
Staring down at the glowing bonds on her ankles, she tried to remain calm, even as the fear rushed through her mind, recommending she panic. She shook her head. No. Panicking was not the answer. She reached down and attempted to release the manacles trapping her inside this crystal prison.
What are these damned things made of? She examined her ankles closely. No ties, no hooks or locks, how are they fastened?
She tried to ignore the panic that began to set in. She didn’t want to play the part of a shrinking violet. She merely wanted her man to know he could count on her to be calm in a crisis and he didn’t even have the common decency to rescue her before she totally lost it.
Cold fr
om the hard stone seeped into her bones. Strange noises made her jump. The distant shriek of birds in the distance was both reassuring and frightening. Gooseflesh pebbled on her skin as the illusion of courageousness she’d woven around her started to crumble.
Tears ran down her cheeks as she realized that whoever was responsible for everything that had happened on Earth, must be the person who brought her here. Thor had mentioned something about Loki. Perhaps he brought her to this place, this prison.
Covering her face with her hands, she attempted to muffle her sobs. Still, every few minutes, she jerked on the strange cord, with the hope that it would finally snap and release her. Hope diminished with each futile tug.
After what seemed like days, she returned to rest on the raised crystal platform that she’d woken upon, curled up into a little ball and cried. She was hungry, thirsty and she needed to go to the bathroom. Whoever imprisoned her in this place apparently didn’t care about her needs. The obvious reason she’d been brought to this place blindsided her. Someone brought her here to die.
* * * *
Thor was in a rage by the time he reached the caves. It could take days to find her here. The caves stretched on for miles, with numerous catacombs. The passages split off in several different directions, each of them thousands of feet in length.
He looked around him. The sparkling cliffs were beautiful, as usual. Made of pure crystal, with semi-precious and precious stones, they sparkled in the bright light of the sun. Prisms of color danced over the landscape, a lovely display of color. He’d wanted to bring Emma here one day to show her the beauty of the cliffs, but he had never wanted her to see them under these circumstances.
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