Weaving Fate - Nora Ash Page 0,15

what Freya had to say.”

I bared my teeth at him in irritation, but since my lower face was blocked by his ginormous hand anyway, my annoyance went fully ignored.

In Bjarni’s defense, his nose-pinching did stop it from bleeding within a few minutes.

“There,” he said, releasing my nostrils to give my thigh a light pat. “Now, you say you spoke with Freya?”

Modi, who’d been impatiently pacing between us and the altar while my nose got it together, stopped abruptly by my side, arms folded across his massive chest. “Be quick about it, omega.”

I glared at him. “Well, as I was about to say—she says there’s no time to look for her. That humans can’t go where she is anyway. And basically that our only focus should be to stop Ragnarök. And that it has to be us. No one else.”

So if a certain Mister Lightning Fingers could stop trying to send me back…

Modi gave me an incredulous look. “Really? That’s it? Nothing helpful whatsoever?”

“No, the connection wasn’t holding any longer,” I said, trying not to feel like a complete failure despite the irritated god. “I... my energy is kinda… burned out, she said. After healing Magni.”

“Burned out?” Modi threw both arms to the sides. “Burned out? Then what the fuck did she suggest we do? Build a campfire and watch you sleep for a few days? Bjarni, even you must be able to see that this isn’t going to work. If we’re not back in Asgard with Loki in tow before the moon is full, both of us will lose our brothers!”

“Njal’s prick,” Bjarni muttered, rubbing his beard with fingers still speckled with my blood. “He has a point, sweetie. Finding my father isn’t about stopping Ragnarök. If we take you back, we’ll still be able to fulfill Mimir’s prophecy once Saga, Grim, and that redheaded idiot are safe. Maybe it’s better if we do. Let you rest?”

He was being sweet; I dimly recognized that. Trying to gentle me into going back, and largely out of concern for my wellbeing, it seemed. But a flood of panic instantly washed away all rational thought as the same sensation of urgency set in as it had when we’d discussed finding Loki back in Valhalla.

It had to be me. I didn’t know why, or even how I knew that—I just knew that something horrible would happen if I didn’t. Something that made the sore bonds in my chest quiver and ache with desperate foreboding.

“I don’t have to go back,” I blurted, clutching Bjarni’s arm. “Please, don’t, I—I don’t need to rest to regain my energy.”

“What do you mean?” he asked at the same time as Modi said, “How, then?”

“I…” I drew in a deep breath, steeling myself to say what I needed to. This had to be done. It was the only way.

“One of you needs to have sex with me.”

Seven

Bjarni

“I beg your pardon?”

The sheer shock in Modi’s voice made a rumble of laughter work its way up my chest. Annabel’s suggestion was a surprise to me too, but definitely a delightful one. Modi sounded wholly less thrilled.

“Freya said… Well, she said I had to let my mates tend to me to restore my energy, but they’re not here. And I can’t go back before we find Loki. Not even… Not even for this. So one of you will have to do it.”

There was steely determination in Annabel’s voice, as well as a slight wobble. She wasn’t keen, that much was obvious.

I reached out to stroke a hand over her cheek and saw the vulnerability in her eyes. No mated omega liked submitting to another alpha, but Annabel wasn’t going to turn around and let Trud take her place. Not even for this, as she'd said.

Whatever had her so determined to search for Loki, at this moment, I understood that it was everything to her. She was right—she had to come.

“You are my brother’s mate!” Modi snapped. “Under no circumstances am I bedding you!”

“Not a problem,” I hummed, offering Annabel a smile when she paled under Modi’s outrage. “Sniffling little godlings don’t know how to please an omega anyway, hmm? I’ll bed you anytime you ask me, sweetie. As much and as often as you like.”

“It’s not about what I want, Bjarni,” she bit, lowering her dark lashes to avoid looking at me—but she kept clutching my arm, as if she needed something solid to anchor herself with. “I… I need to find Loki. I need to save Saga and Magni.”

“I know,” I said