by Lisa Oliver
Orin held out his hand, praying all the while. He almost fell back on the floor when Thor’s beloved hammer appeared in his hand. “What is it said in legends of old, or maybe it’s comic books, who knows? But he who wields the hammer of Thor carries his strength and Thor is the strongest of all gods. That’s why he was given to me. That’s why he loves me. You may see a weedy half-breed, but Thor sees me!”
“All you had to do was say the spell and Thor would be by your side. Instead you’re left holding a hammer you can’t use. Silly boy.”
Orin fumed. He was tired of being treated like a weakling. “I am not a boy. I am Orin, mate of Thor and he will come for me.” Punching the hammer at the ceiling, Orin was astonished when a bolt of lightening came through leaving a burn mark on the stone in front of Odin’s feet at the same time as the huge wooden doors flew open with a roll of thunder.
“You found your oomph, sweetness.” Thor strode through the doors, his hair flying around his face, his teeth bared. His club clothes were gone, replaced with looser pants, a billowing white shirt and a wide belt held together with a big buckle engraved with a picture of Mjolnir. “And you used it on my father no less. I couldn’t be more proud.”
“Thor.” Orin’s knees went weak with relief as Mjolnir flew through the air into Thor’s hand. “I don’t suppose you brought my jacket? Your father hasn’t been the most considerate of hosts.”
“You bound my mate’s magic?” Fury rolled around Thor’s advancing body like a cloud. “You restricted his ability to shift and stay warm? You failed to provide my mate with the most basic of comforts when you kidnapped him? This is how you treat my mate?”
“All he had to do was say the spell and he could have summoned you.” Odin sounded almost bored now Thor was in the room. “It was entirely his decision to stay as long as he did.”
“My decision?” Orin’s voice rose. “My decision? I didn’t ask to be brought here by your goons. It wasn’t my decision to watch your slide show of scenes showing my mate being unfaithful to me. I definitely didn’t have any input in the way you mocked and laughed at me. Treating me like a toy, and for what? Were you having a bad day? Couldn’t get a date this evening?”
“See, he’s perfect for you,” Odin said to Thor as if Orin wasn’t there. “Spunk, character, honor, and decency and the fool thinks he loves you.”
“He does love me, the same as I love him. We share the same heart, breathe the same air. This time you’ve gone too far.”
“Huh. What are you going to do about it?” Odin spread his arms wide. “We both know you can’t fight me.”
“No,” Thor agreed, moving over to Orin’s side and putting his arm around his shoulder. “I can’t. Not now. But eternity is a long time, Father and I will make sure you pay for this.”
“It’s okay.” Orin snuggled into Thor’s warmth. “Apart from grazed knees and a few pictures I wished I’d never seen I’m fine. If you could remove this cuff, maybe we could get out of here?” He held up the arm with the cuff on it.
His face twisted in anger, Thor touched the cuff. “Rebound.” Orin’s eyes widened as he saw the cuff appear on Odin’s wrist. “Wear that as a reminder, Father. None may come between Fated mates. Not even you.”
“It looks rather fetching.” Odin held out his arm, elaborate scrolls moving rapidly to cover the plain silver. “I’ll wear it when I come to dinner.”
“Don’t hold your breath waiting for an invitation.” Orin looked up at Thor. “I could really do with a hot bath. My bones are chilled and I’m starving. Can we go back to the apartment?”
“I have somewhere different in mind. Hold on tight.” With a last glare at his father, Thor clung to Orin and Mjolnir as they disappeared.
Chapter Eighteen
It was three days before Thor could take a full breath again. Three days of tending to his beloved mate, refusing to be out of his sight for a second. Three days consumed with impotent anger, dreaming up schemes for making his father pay for the crimes against his mate – discarding one idea after the other. On the outside, he made sure Orin had plenty to eat, loved on his sexy body every chance he got and barely let his poor mate go to the bathroom by himself. On the inside Thor seethed.
Their remote and private lodge in Iceland was proving the perfect retreat. Complete with a hot tub fueled by the geothermic activity in the area, Thor refused any form of service, determined he and Orin should be absolutely alone. The first night, Thor grilled his mate for every detail about his captivity and then he fumed…and fumed…and fumed some more.
“So, I was thinking,” Orin said just after lunch on the third day, when they were curled up on the couch together admiring the mountain scenery. “Maybe it’s time for us to meet up with Cathair and see what he’s got to say for himself.”
Thor, who was busy imagining his father chained in an erupting volcano, took a moment to answer. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough stress for a while?”
“I was thinking about your stress levels.” Turning in his arms, Orin looked at him – really looked at him – and Thor knew he’d been busted. “We’ve barely been mated a week. I almost died thanks to Foggerty, we had an elf intruder in our hotel room, and then I was kidnapped by your father. You didn’t get a chance to hit anyone and I figure it’s probably time you did.”
Thor scratched his head. “You want me to fight Cathair? I thought you were a pacifist.”
“I’m not the one who’d be fighting him,” Orin said, his mouth twisting in a cute smile. “I’ve had a few days to think things over. I saw how frustrated you were with what Odin put me through. I figure, you’re a man of action. My tender ass can give testament to that. As I’d like to be able to sit down when I’m eating at least, I think you thumping someone might be helpful for both of us.”
“Shit, I’ve hurt you?” Thor ran his hand over the body part in question, which was a silly idea because now his cock thought it was playtime again. Sighing, he moved his hand up Orin’s back. “I can’t help it if you’re so damn irresistible.”
“And I love that you find me irresistible – it would be a sad mating if you didn’t.” Leaning forward, Orin nuzzled Thor’s cheek with his nose before pulling back. “Come on, Thor, when was the last time you slept properly?”
“It’s been a while.” Thor was rather keen on more nuzzling. “Gods don’t have the same need for sleep others do.”
“And what sorts of things would you usually be doing, if you were stressed and weren’t with me?”
Thor opened his mouth and then shut it again. Orin quirked a brow at him. “I’ve been texting Lasse.”
Shit. “Okay, admittedly, prior to meeting you I may have taken out my frustrations on the odd bar brawl, or gone hiking, mountain climbing, white water rafting or things like that.”
“Things like that.” Orin chuckled. “So, you didn’t follow Lasse into the Underworld after Jason, and decided to take on Cerberus singlehandedly?”
“Lasse hadn’t claimed him yet. I was being a good friend.” Hopefully Lasse hadn’t spilled the beans about him deliberately baiting Jason that day by pretending to be sexually interested in his friend, just so Jason would get jealous.
“And you didn’t dive in and start fighting demons with Lasse and Jason on the docks in Greece?”
“They called me in because they were in trouble. I might have got one or two.” Thor remembered that. It was fun.
“And it wasn’t you who rode on Jason’s back into Hades lair to help save Lasse when Cerberus took him for nefarious purposes?”
Thor sighed. Fun times. “I didn’t get a lot of punches in that day and Lasse has got a big mouth.”
Resting his arms on Thor’s shoulders, Orin’s fingers stroked up and down Thor’s neck. “Admit it, my warrior mate, you want to hit someone.”
“Well….” Thor would admit to anything especially now Orin was massaging the base of his neck.
“You want to thump someone, bring down a storm, avenge the wrongs
suffered by your loving mate?”
Thor felt a tremor run down his spine as Orin’s fingers worked their magic in his hair. “Maybe a little bit.”
“Good. I’m glad we’ve got that settled. Now flip me over and let me get my face in your groin. I’m not having that hard on you’re sporting distract you when you’re fighting.”
Thor was more than happy to do as he was asked. Perfect mate, he thought as he felt his zip come apart. Perfect, perfect, perfect.
/~/~/~/~/
After three days of being smothered, sexually satiated to the point where he thought his dick would fall off, and being fed more delicacies from around the world than he was used to, Orin was thrilled Thor finally had a purpose. Thor still didn’t realize Orin could pick up a lot of his thoughts when they were close together, and some of the things going on in Thor’s head related to Odin, were horrifyingly barbaric. Orin felt slightly sorry for Cathair, who would end up being the recipient of all that anger, but the man mentioned he was a battle lord, so fighting was probably something he was used to. Either way, both men were immortal, so it wasn’t as though they could do each other any permanent harm.
And apparently, Cathair was as keen to talk to him as Lasse had said. A couple of phone calls and a meeting was arranged. Not at the Cloverleah pack, like Cathair suggested. Orin had no desire to have anything about his family discussed in front of strangers, and not on the elven realm which was Thor’s suggestion, although he was being sarcastic at the time. Orin wasn’t welcome there thanks to his shifter blood, and neither was Thor.
It was Lasse who suggested Poseidon’s palace under the sea. Remote. Private. No one had the home advantage and Orin could disappear to the library if things got too rough. Although, Lasse and Jason would be with him. Jason even brought popcorn. “It’ll be an epic fight,” he said when they all met up at Thor’s Manhattan apartment. “I might not be allowed to use my fists, but I’ve seen Thor in action and he’s worth watching. He’s a right brawler when he wants to be.”
“Nereus and his mates are coming along too – Cathair and his mate haven’t been to Dad’s before, so they are all zapping together. It will give you a chance to meet another one of my brothers.” Lasse smiled at Orin. “I promise Nereus isn’t going to hound you like Artie will if he catches wind we are down there. But just remember, gods or not, you still have the right to say no to anything my brothers might ask.”
“Does Cathair know Thor wants to fight him?” There goes the element of surprise.
“Wolves call it a challenge,” Lasse explained. “I had to tell Cathair, because if I didn’t, and Thor just attacked him, Marius would have got involved and things could get deadly as they have a powerful pack behind them. Not to mention Marius is the youngest of the three Reef brothers who are legendary in the shifter world for their fighting skills. Marius isn’t happy about it, but he understands Thor’s need to fight for his wronged mate. He was there, he saw how upset you were that day. By considering it a challenge and handling it as such, Marius and the others won’t interfere.”
Unsure what he could even say about that because Orin didn’t have a clue what went on in a wolf pack, he took Thor’s hand, and Lasse’s and in less than a second they were standing in a great hall carved out of stone. Unlike the last time Orin had been to Poseidon’s palace, this room was stripped bare of treasures although there were shelves and hooks in the wall showing where there’d been. In the middle of the room was a large circle outlined with white rocks and beyond that, seating for at least ten people. Orin recognized Cathair and his wolf shifting mate, but the other five people were strangers to him.
“Thor, my old friend. When I heard you wanted to use my place to let off some steam me and Claude had to be here. And I see you’ve brought company. Introduce me to the beauty clutching your hand like a life preserver.” A slender man, with the most beautiful silver hair Orin had ever seen stepped forward, a wide grin on his flawless face.
“Get your eyes off my mate, Sei. You’ve got one of your own.”
Sei? Sei? As in Poseidon? He looks nothing like I imagined. Letting himself be led forward, Orin bowed his head. “Lord Poseidon, it’s a pleasure to be here.”
“Oh, Claude, babe, would you look at him?” Poseidon sashayed around Orin like a buyer. “That cute haircut, those beautiful cheek bones and would you look at that ass. Tell me he isn’t perfect. Go on, tell me you wouldn’t have taken a chunk out of him if you hadn’t bitten me first.”
“I agree Orin’s very beautiful, but he’s mated to Thor and I don’t want to see you starting any godly feuds. Put your tongue back in your mouth and come and sit on me.” Orin guessed Claude was Poseidon’s mate and clearly used to his flirty ways. Claude’s build and manner screamed Alpha but the smile on his handsome face was indulgent and friendly.
“I’m Nereus, Lasse’s brother.” Orin could see the family resemblance. Nereus was as tall as Lasse, clean shaven and one might say his features were more refined than Lasse’s, but Orin didn’t get the sexy one reference. Nereus was nowhere near as sexy as Thor in his eyes. Nodding shyly, Orin shook hands with Teilo and Raff, Nereus’s mates who were both wolf shifters.
“Have a cup cake.” Raff held out a tin of homemade goods. He was not much taller than Orin and had a wide open smile. “I always bring some when the family get together.”
Nodding again, his thanks this time, Orin took one and nibbled at the edges. It was fresh and tasty, but Orin was a bundle of nerves. “Where did Cathair and his mate go,” he said, looking around.
“They just popped into another room for a minute.” Poseidon winked. “Marius was getting all growly about him having to fight a god, so Cathair took him off for a quick fuck to relieve the tension. We can listen in if you like?”
“No, no.” Orin put his hands up. “I’m good, thank you.”
Poseidon patted the seat beside him. “I wanted a quick chat with you, anyway. Lasse tells me Odin calls you the Keeper. You have a spell that can summon any ancient god?”
Here we go again. Ignoring the offer of a chair, Orin leaned into the hand Thor had on his lower back. “That’s right. I do know the spell and Odin seems confident that the book found its way to me after the Dark Elves gave it to my old professor. But I’ve never tried to use it, even when Odin kidnapped me, and I don’t plan to.”
“I think you should,” Poseidon said kindly. “In fact, I’m offering myself up as a subject.”
“Sei,” Claude growled.
“Now, now, babe, there’s no danger involved,” Poseidon stroked Claude’s jaw. “Young Orin has been blessed by the Fates with an incredible power and I’m not talking about the way he swings his ass. He needs allies among the god line. Thor was lucky he was able to follow his hammer and find Orin that way when that trickster Odin took him. Thor had a right to be in Asgard, but if a god from another realm takes him, Orin might not be so lucky. Tell me young man, what scares you most about using the spell?”
“It’s not fear. I don’t have the right to summon a god.” Orin looked up at Thor who was smiling at him proudly. “Tell him, Thor, I’m just a half-elf, half shifter who happened to be related to the wrong elf.”
“It’s more than that,” Poseidon winked. “I swear, you’re among friends. What really worries you about using the spell?”
“Sei, don’t make me take you out,” Thor warned. “I’m getting sick and tired of people upsetting my mate. If he says he doesn’t want to use the damn spell, then that’s his choice. Don’t you think I’ve talked to him about this?”
“Yes, and we all know you have the conversation skills of a warthog,” Poseidon teased. “If you can’t fight it or fuck it, you’re not interested. Orin, I’m not trying to upset you, I want to help.”
Orin believed him. He didn’t have a clue why – he’d only just met the god, but maybe it was something in the walls, because he found his secret spilling out. “I’m scared I’ll like it. I’ve been a nobody all my life,” he whispered. “I’m s
orry I didn’t tell you, Thor, but you know I spent my childhood alone with only my mom. My first memories were of reading the myths and legends surrounding the gods. I imagined them the friends and family I didn’t have. But I’ve read about what a summons does to a demon – they are trapped, bound against their will to perform for the summoner. How would that work with a god?”
“There’s nothing wrong with imagining some of us as your family,” Thor said softly. “As a child, I guess it was comforting and look what happened. The Fates heard you and here we are, together.”
“I used to dream I was you when I was little. I was running around in storms since I could stand upright pretending I controlled the thunder and lightening.”
“It wasn’t just Thor,” Orin turned to Poseidon who was watching him with a knowing smile. “I would watch the sun rise in the sky and dream I had the powers of Ra and Helios; when my mom took me to the beach for the first time, I imagined I could manipulate the waves the way you do. Thor has already blessed me with a chance to play with a storm, and that was beyond incredible. But what if that’s not enough? What if I get addicted to that type of power? I’m not an angel; I’m just as capable of succumbing to temptations like any other mortal being.”
“I think it says a lot about your character that you’re willing to admit your short comings,” Poseidon said, “but I think you need to stop categorizing gods as a source of power and instead think back to the way you did as a child, when you considered us all friends. Okay, not Odin. That guy’s always been weird, but think about what would happen if you and Thor got into trouble? It does happen. You have read the legends after all.”
“I’m standing right here.” Orin noticed Thor’s glare didn’t have its usual intensity.
