Filed to story: Luna Riannon and Alpha Brayden Novel
“I thought I wouldn’t see you for another century or two,” the wolf chuckled. “What do you want?”
“I just spoke to Vidar,” Joran cut straight to the chase, frowning. “And I think one of your inner circle has betrayed you.”
***
Astrea took a gulp of the evening air, trying to calm herself down after the nightmare of a conversation with her ex-teacher when warm fingers touched the bare skin on her shoulders.
Vidar knew what kind of effect his touch would have on he as goosebumps rippled over both their bodies, awakening their mate bond whether she wanted it. Any physical contact between them always promised so much pleasure
“Don’t do that,” she shivered, hoping he would take his hands away, but his fingers only pressed harder into her flesh.
“I wish I could,” he breathed out.
“A sorry excuse!” Astrea shook her head with a sigh.
“I have been waiting for you for so long. The wait almost killed me, and I don’t know if I can do it anymore. Don’t you see l am the only one who can make you happy? The only one who truly cares about you?”
“And how many times in the past did I hear that speech?” She turned to face him, staring him straight in the eye.
The corners of his lips twisted into a smirk.
“I see your memories are back!” Vidar leaned lower and captured her lips before she could do anything about it, startling her and pressing her against the balcony. His fingers dug into her hair, making it impossible to distance herself even though she tried to wriggle away from him.
Tingles erupted, making his breathing ragged. Even a god had his limits. That woman was driving him crazy from the first moment he saw her. Moreover, she belonged to him.
She was given to him and tied with a forever kind of bond.
He was only taking what was rightfully his, which was why her slap stung like no other.
Astrea glared at him as he rubbed his cheek, tasting the bitter rejection once again.
“How long are you going to fight this?” he sneered, changing his tone to a much colder one. “You know it’s true as much as I do.”
“What is true?” She shook her head.
“That you can fight me as long as you want, but it will change nothing. You are mine, and it’s not a coincidence that even after all this time, I am the only one who can save you now. The universe is trying to restore everything to where it belongs.”
“Save me?” She huffed, pushing him against the wall before he could realise it and pressing a cold blade to his neck, shocking him. She clearly had never been an assassin before in her previous lives. “Who says I need saving at all? What does saving me even mean to you?” Astrea wrinkled her forehead. “You are the one I need saving from! So I guess I have to save myself.”
“Easy there,” Vidar raised his eyes to demonstrate he was giving up. “It’s not like anyone but me has divinity to spare to save your soul from perishing.”
She did her best not to let her lips flinch, holding his gaze.
“Oh, your hero did not tell you, did he?” A smug smile stretched over the god of Vengeance’s face. “Last lifetime, deary. You have no more lives to spare on your little tantrum.”
“Little tantrum?” A laugh escaped her as she released him.
A simple knife wouldn’t kill him, anyway. Who,was she kidding? “Is that how you are calling millennia of my defiance?”
“What’s a few thousand years for gods?” Vidar’s eyes glowed red, and she clenched her fingers around the hilt of her dagger, thanking herself for taking it from the sand on the Firstborn island when she had a chance and regretting leaving Midnight’s horn with Fenrir instead. That could have been scarier for this prick.
“We have an eternity to spend together,” Vidar continued, regardless of their position. “Let’s stop playing these games, Astraea. Come with me, and I’ll make you the Queen and Goddess you were always supposed to be.”
“No, thank you.” She shook her head.
“Even if it’s my last
life Especially if it’s my last life I want to spend it with Fenrir. Our mate bond is just a mista-“
“It can be a much shorter lifetime than you think!” Vidar gritted his teeth. “Why do you think I am here?”
“To cut my life short because I dared to say no? Again,” she suggested, playing with her blade.
“I found the problem, Astraea. I know why gods are still dying.”
The announcement made her pause in her tracks. It all happened so long ago, but the pain in her chest was so real. She had lost so much. All her divine sisters died, her aunts and uncles, cousins… The gods were dying like flies.
As if their divinity meant nothing and no one could stop that process
“Finally, I got to the real you.” Vidar tilted his head to look at her. “The one who has the responsibility to save her kind on her shoulders.”
“What’s causing the divine realm to crumble?” she asked bluntly, wishing to stop the game they were playing.
He smirked, walking back to the balcony rail and waving his arm around the city landscape lit by the setting sun.
“This,” he said.
“The southern capital?” She really hoped that was it, but his chuckle proved her worst suspicions.
“No, Astraea, no, it’s not the capital. It’s all of it. The whole mortal realm!” he announced, as if mocking her. “All this time, we were thinking about why we were growing weaker and why it became possible to kill us. Well, now we know!
It’s the vermin under our feet sucking the life out of our realm! The one we took pity on and cared for almost caused our demise.”
Astrea swallowed uncomfortably.
“What are you going to do?”
“I ‘ll tell you what I am not going to do.” Vidar straightened his back. “I will not let the mortals feed from our divine power anymore. This has to end.”
“What do you mean?” Every muscle in Astrea’s body went rigid as her heart-palpitated with a sense of impending dread. “There is a balance to be kept-“
“You are the one to talk about balance!” A laugh rumbled through his chest. Not a warm and joyous one. When Vidar laughed, she felt colder and lonelier than ever before. “Your two boyfriends went on a spree, blessing armies and rewarding them with gifts just because they could! How do you think that affected the so called balance?”
“It can be evened out over time.” She hugged her shoulders, not liking where this conversation was going.
“I am afraid I don’t want to wait and see,” the ruler of New Asgard exhaled heavily. “I am not risking the divine realm for this.”
“What are you planning to do?” she whispered, knowing the answer.
“If this world is a problem for us, then I will have to erase it,” he responded calmly, as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“You are going to destroy this world?” Astrea was barely able to form the words. “This is madness!”
He turned on his heels to face her again. “This brings me back to our original topic of discussion, Astraea. Join me and avoid all this. Live in luxury, feel the power that was always supposed to be yours. You need divinity to become a goddess again, and I have plenty after the fall of my brothers and sisters. You will need nothing. And as a special courtesy to you, I will postpone destroying this realm for another century. So that the people you care about can live their lives as planned. One century, though, no more and no less.”
“Have these threats worked before?” She folded her arms over her chest, coming to her senses after the initial shock of the revelations.
“It’s the first time I am offering,” Vidar admitted. “And the clock is ticking, Astraea. Each extra hour you think takes a year away from my offer.”
The God of Vengeance assessed her once again, his eyes roaming her frame as if he had already won.
“I will wait for your decision,” he passed her and paused near the door. “But not too long. I am still getting everything I.want. The question is, what are you getting out of it?”
He left her standing there, angry and lost. And scared.
No matter how she looked at it, this conversation did not go well. If Vidar wanted to destroy this realm, could he really do it?
“There you are,” Fenrir’s voice brought her back, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw him standing in the doorway, watching her with that gaze of his that made her* forget about everything.
He didn’t say anything else, clenching and unclenching his fists a few times, and she realised he didn’t know what to say. It was the first time they were finally alone and the first time she remembered who he was to her.
Now, she looked at him differently, noticing the changes the years that passed had made on him. Now she knew how he got the scars on his face and body. She noticed a few new wrinkles here and there, but most of all, she couldn’t ignore the longing in his eyes.
“Here I am.” She tried to curl her lips, but her smile faltered.
Too long. It’s been too long since they were able to be together, touch each other… It didn’t feel like centuries, it felt like forever.