Her eyelids fluttered open, and she focused on Min as she spat out the bit. “Thank you.” The strength was returning quickly to her voice. The wound in her arm closed rapidly, until the only remnant was the hole in her shirt.
Min wanted to kiss her with relief. Embrace her. Take her as far from this place as possible. He understood why he couldn’t—why she’d never forgive him if he forced that on her—so he settled for handing her an earpiece.
She fitted the device in place while she stood. “Someone talk to me.”
Starkad’s laugh of relief came over the radio. “You’re alive.”
“Duh.” There wasn’t as much sass in the retort as she probably intended.
“Locations.” Brit reeled off a series of coordinates not attached to people’s names.
Min muted his earpiece long enough to murmur, “There aren’t that many of us here.”
“I know.” Kirby said.
Because she and Brit had been a team once. The team.
“Don’t kill anyone.” Kirby was on the radio again. “Restrain them, call in a location, and Loki will come for them.”
“Loki? Where is he?” That was Davyn.
Kirby rolled her eyes and mouthed, why is he here?
In the interest of brevity, Min shrugged.
Kirby looked fully recovered.
A new final destination was conveyed—the cafeteria where Loki had imprisoned all the Nobles.
“I can’t get the two of you to leave me, can I?” Kirby asked.
“Not for a long time.” Min knew Gwydion shared the sentiment.
Loki made a gagging sound. “I’m going to do a little pop and run in random places. See if I can catch anyone off guard.”
As the groups worked their way toward the rendezvous point, one capture after another was called in.
“That’s almost everyone,” Kirby said softly. “Only Cyclops and Melon-head are left.”
A foreign sensation flooded Min, and instinct kicked in. He shoved Kirby behind a tree, covering her body with his, as a bullet bit into the ground next to her.
Gwydion took cover as well.
“Valkyrie, is that you?” Cyclops’s call echoed through the trees. “It’s been too long.”
“Gods, these people are fucking cliché.” Kirby met Min’s gaze. “Right side, six meters up. I’ll take the other one.”
He processed the request on instinct, watching for her signal before stepping out from behind the tree.
Kirby mirrored his movement, and they fired in unison.
The sound of leaves crunching from two different directions reached them, as the bodies hit the ground.
The ground rumbled under Min’s feet, obliterating his feeling of victory.
“What did you do?” Davyn demanded.
Min was tired of being reprimanded by a nearly wild animal. “We had to kill them. We didn’t have a choice.”
“Are you fucking insane? I thought you understood,” Davyn shouted.
So much for discretion. The Nobles might be taken care of, but soldiers still roamed the campus.
“I thought...” Kirby faltered. “Believers, spilling blood. We’re not believers.”
“Believers’ blood, being spilled,” Davyn said.
Shit. Min’s rage and terror were back, potent and cloying.
“Where’s Loki?” Starkad demanded.
Brit came on. “He took the pair I snagged—”
“He’s going to kill them. Cafeteria now.” Min was already running.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kirby didn’t have time for running. Her wings appeared without effort, and her feet left the ground as she flew in the straightest path possible toward her destination.
Gwydion was by her side. There was no time to wait for anyone who couldn’t keep up.
A low roar echoed around them, as if the earth was protesting. They reached their target first, and she was sprinting as she made contact with the pavement. Down the rear stairs of the building, to a concrete hallway that ran under the cafeteria. The ground rolled gently under her feet. They couldn’t be too late.
A steel door stood in their way, as Loki had promised.
She and Gwydion couldn’t break through.
The walls rattled around them.
One by one, the others arrived. A happy reunion would have been nice. It would wait.
“Cracks are growing underneath us,” Gwydion said. “I can feel roots peeking through.”
Could they speed up that process? Kirby looked at Davyn. “Brute force?”
His grin morphed into something terrifying, as he shifted into a bear.
Kirby and the others stepped back, as Gwydion summoned the trees. Gaps spread through the foundation and the walls surrounding the door.
Davyn plowed into the solid barricade once, and then again. With his third full-body slam, the door fell to the floor.
Loki stood in the middle of the room on the other side, a dozen bodies at his feet and blood pooling on the concrete around him.
“Fuck, you’re an idiot.” What else was there to say? The earth shook so hard it was difficult to remain upright. “They’re the key—their blood. We had it wrong.”
Loki’s eyes were wide. Kirby’d never seen him afraid before. “You didn’t tell me. This isn’t Hel.”
It didn’t matter. He’d unleashed destruction on the world.
“He’s here,” Loki said.
He?
Kirby would sift through that later. A twisted and grotesque malevolence clawed over her, until all she saw in her mind was blackness. This being, whatever it was, was going to bring the campus down around people. So many lives would be lost.
Kirby didn’t want hundreds to die. Desperation flooded her veins, and she reached inside, grasping for any solution. Potent energy burst free from a dam in her mind, rushing from every pore.
She had to save people. As the power continued to flow from her, she swore she could see the path of the invisible shell that flooded the campus and encased every person in a shield.
Kirby held onto the thought. It might not be real, but she needed it to be.
It felt like an eternity, before the ground stopped shaking.
“He’s gone.”
The words were in her head. Was that Loki? She was so tired.
Consciousness seeped away, no matter how hard she struggled to hold onto it.
“YES, YOU’RE GOING TO live.”
Gwydion’s voice made Kirby smile as she woke up. She was weary, but as she tentatively tested various limbs and joints, nothing hurt. She risked opening her eyes. The lighting was dim, and the bed soft. Familiar scents enveloped her. She was home. Actual home, in her bedroom. Where she and Starkad lived. They hadn’t been back since... everything.
Six months felt like so long ago. A wave of emotion choked her throat and welled up in her eyes.
“Hey.” Gwydion brushed a thumb over her cheek, smearing a tear. “Does something hurt?”
“No. Yes. Nothing physical.” With a few deep breaths, she let the wash flow through and from her. “What happened? To the campus? To Loki? With Malsumis? Me?”
“My official diagnosis is you’re suffering from dick deficiency. Not nearly enough of it in the last few weeks.”
Kirby laughed. Yup, things were at least a little right in the world. “If I was in someone else’s body and I hooked up with a cocky grunt named Erek, is that cheating?” she teased.
“For him or you? Serious answer—you did that shield thing of yours, like in Kuwait, but it covered the whole campus. You’ve been asleep for more than twenty-four hours.”
Memories rushed back. Her desire to keep people from dying. The power she’d pushed from herself. The shield did take a lot out of her. “What about everyone else?”
“Several of the buildings collapsed. You probably saved everyone inside them.”
“Probably?”
“There were no bodies. None. Starkad and Davyn swept every place they could ge
t into. They didn’t see or smell anyone but us on the entire campus. We believe Gluskab took the TOM residents when he left.”
“The brother?” Malsumis’ twin.
Gwydion sighed, and for an instant, his true age showed in the lines on his face and the loss in his gaze. His smile forced the look away but didn’t reach his eyes. “According to Loki—so take this with a grain of salt—Gluskab was grief stricken and driven to madness when his sister was imprisoned. So he made a deal with Hel, to sleep until brother and sister were strong enough to be released. He insists he would have told you, if you’d bothered to let him know what you were really up to.”
Right. “And now that he’s out, he’s going for his sister?” There were two more pissed off gods about to be running free. Yay. “What do we do?”
“Same thing we do every night—” Gwydion’s weak laugh died. “You’re both too young and too old to get the reference.
Kirby didn’t feel any amusement, but if she couldn’t learn to smile in the face of destruction, the rest of her life was going to be miserable. “I know who Pinky and the Brain are.” She and her immortals would figure out a solution, like they had this time. Maybe a little better than they had this time. “Where is everyone?”
Gwydion looked around her room. “I’m a little irritated Starkad kept you in this box for so long.”
“It’s a regular-sized bedroom.” And a whole lot larger than what she’d had on campus. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I told him there wasn’t room in here. There’s not. He’ll want to know you’re awake.”
Kirby hesitated on her next question, but she had to know. “Min?” He wasn’t here? “Brit?” Probably gone on her way. Maybe she took a little more of Starkad’s money first. Or Min’s.
“Checked into a nearby hotel. Brit left their room numbers. Min left an invitation to dinner.”
Kirby smiled. Things to be grateful for. “I should tell Starkad I’m awake. If my doctor is going to let me out of bed.”
Gwydion tipped her chin up with his finger and brushed his lips over hers. Heat and reassurance danced over her skin. “Reluctantly,” he murmured against her lips. “But I have a hard time denying you anything you want. Now. Always. Forever.”
“You’re sappy and a dork. And I love you for it.” Kirby kissed him back, but she felt the depth of his words. “I’m glad I’m back.”
He rested his forehead against hers. Heat and comfort flowed between them, and she felt tension fade. “Me too. I’d really like to demand that you promise me...” He sighed.
“Not to do something like that ever again?” She wished she could.
“I know, it’s who you are. So I’m going to focus on being grateful you’re here now.” Gwydion kissed her again, with an intensity that sank into her soul. “You should tell Starkad you’re awake.”
She nodded, tangled her fingers with Gwydion’s, and hopped out of bed.
It was disorienting, walking through this house again. The opposite side of the coin from going back into TOM as Brit. Kirby’s life had started here, as far as she was concerned. Knowing what she did now, she wouldn’t take back any of it—not even the painfully celibate years of sexual tension with Starkad.
Who met her as soon as she turned the corner into the living room, pressing her to the wall with a growl and crushing his mouth to hers.
This was different than any other kiss they’d shared, and she couldn’t put words to the why. She gripped the short hairs at the base of his neck and pressed her body into his, memorizing every sensation. Every emotion. Every sound and scent and taste.
Starkad pulled away and cupped her cheek while he studied her with a heated gaze. “I wanted to do that the first time I brought you here.”
“I know.” Six months ago, Kirby was still furious about the secrets he’d kept. She now understood so much more about everyone here than she ever would have asked to know.
“You only have the slightest idea.” He slid his hand to the back of her head, to grip her hair and tug. “Because I’m going to fuck you in every place I’ve fantasized about doing so.”
Desire flooded her body, carried on the wash of desires that lived in the shadows of this house. “Not all today.”
“Maybe all today.”
“It’s too cold for nude sunbathing.”
Starkad nipped her bottom lip. “We’ll improvise.”
Gwydion wrapped an arm around her waist. “Sounds like my kind of party.”
Things weren’t completely better, but this part of her life here, the bit that involved the three of them, was as close to perfect as they’d ever been.
Maybe it was selfish of her, to want to add two more people to the mix, but as much as she loved Starkad and Gwydion, there was still a pit inside that missed Min and Brit.
And Kirby wanted to heal those invisible wounds.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Kirby wasn’t surprised that Min’s version of getting a hotel room nearby was booking the top floor of the closest Four-Star hotel. An unfamiliar flavor of trepidation flowed through her as she knocked on his door.
He answered, looking very much the imposingly friendly god she’d fallen in love with so many times. He wore a look of surprise. “Kirby.”
Huntress is fine. She swallowed the correction. They weren’t there yet. She wanted to be, but their relationship had to evolve on its own. “I would have called, but...”
“You wanted to catch me off guard.” Min’s reply spoke to a new concern she had.
She’d seen him—not Erek, but Min—slide into the role of soldier with ease, on campus. It was what they needed at the time, but it had never been what she wanted. “I came to accept your dinner invitation. To tell you in person. And to talk someplace private.”
“Come in.” He opened the door wider. “Have a seat.”
She hovered near the entrance instead. Things had to be said before she could get comfortable. “Are you staying in town for a while, or are you heading back home?” Not what she wanted to ask.
“Home’s been a rather transient concept for me for nearly three decades.”
Since she was killed in L.A.
“Besides, I promised to make you fall in love with me again, and it’s difficult to do that from across the country,” Min said.
Her smile wavered at the reminder. There was no easy way to segue to this topic, and if she tried, she’d dance around the subject all night. “When I sent you away, I wanted you to understand me, not become me.
“And I wanted the same.”
“I do understand you now.” Thanks in part to living in Brit’s thoughts. So many repressed emotions, and all of them potent in a way Kirby didn’t dare feel. It was harder to hide them if she acknowledged them, but there was no reason to hide from her heart anymore. As welcome as the thought was, it also terrified her. “I understand the desire. The driving passion. The reason you searched for me, life after life. I get it.”
Min’s stance was casual, as he lounged against a nearby wall. It had taken her years to do something like that naturally, rather than falling into an at-ease posture.
“Being Erek didn’t turn me into him, any more than being Brit turned you into her,” Min said. “His knowledge sits in my head. His emotions and motivations as well. Similar to having read a well-written book. I’m not him, but I do understand your recent past much better, thanks to him.”
“Okay. Good.” Kirby had expected a more tension-filled conversation. “Then... um... I’d love to have dinner with you, and I’ll see you then?” She’d never really done dating before. She and Brit had gone out to dinner a few times, but it was always part of a mission, because that was easier than sneaking into town and risking getting caught.
“You most certainly will. Before you go, will you do me a favor?”
Anything. It was easy to let the impulse in, and impossible to ignore it. “Depends on the favor.”
Min tipped up her chin with a barely-there touch. “
I’ve had lifetimes with you—not long ones, but many of them—and we have eternity ahead of us. I intend to claim your heart.”
“I’m going to let you try.” Kirby didn’t understand the request. Hadn’t they agreed that was where their relationship went next?
“But go visit Brit while you’re here. Spend the afternoon with her. Being her won’t have erased the hurt between you, but if it gave you the desire to try, now’s the time to start.”
Kirby had intended to talk to Brit. Maybe not today, but Min’s request was a good nudge. “You’re not going to lecture me on her intentions?”
He shook his head. “Those details are between you and her. I’d tell you she means it when she says she loved you, but you know that.”
“I do.” Loved, past tense. But the potential was there for something new to exist. Kirby was conflicted about wanting another chance, which didn’t stop the feeling from being. “Thank you.”
Min grasped her fingers and kissed the back of her knuckles. “I’ll see you soon.”
The warm glow Min left in Kirby’s heart didn’t diminish her apprehension. She wanted to have this conversation with Brit, but at the same time, she could stand to put it off a few more days. Not that her thoughts would be any more collected then than they were now.
She took the stairs down two flights, using the rhythm of her footsteps as a point for focus. What was she going to say?
I don’t know.
What did she hope Brit would say?
As long as it’s the truth, it doesn’t matter.
Not completely true. Kirby hoped for some level of reconciliation, but she’d rather have honesty, than compliance.
Knocking on Brit’s door was harder than Kirby expected. When Brit answered within seconds, she eliminated any remaining time for second-guessing.
“Hey.” Brit looked surprised. She was wearing lightweight pajama bottoms and a camisole with nothing underneath.
Once upon a time, Kirby would have drooled all over herself at the casually sexy look. Who was she kidding? It was still fucking hot. There was just a lot more baggage to sift through, to enjoy the view.
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