Weaving Fate - Nora Ash Page 0,24

I gushed before either of my alpha companions could ruin Heimdall’s goodwill with more posturing. “A million times thank you, Great Guardian. You have done for us what no one else could.”

Heimdall bowed his head in acknowledgement of my flattery and opened the port to its full width. As he turned, he slipped his hand to my hip.

“Come, little human. The splendor of Bifrost awaits.”

Bifrost was indeed splendid. Heimdall’s boasting about how he could see "one hundred leagues," however far that was, and hear the grass grow, and how the big horn—named Gjallarhorn, because of course his trumpet had a name—atop the tower would sound through all the realms when the Jotunns approached… was less splendid.

But I kind of had it coming, given how I’d buttered him up, so I smiled and fawned as he let us through to the great rainbow bridge, where I promptly lost the ability to care about the god by my side.

It was wide—at least sixty feet—and cut through the night with its bright ribbons of color. But where from the ground it had looked like it curved against the night sky, from its glowing foot it arched into the celestial sphere itself. Stars twinkled in the distance, and where the bridge dipped from view, a swirling galaxy embraced it.

“Is that… the Milky Way?” I breathed.

“That is what you humans have named it, yes,” Heimdall said, pulling me closer to his strong body. “This bridge is not without its dangers for one such as you, little omega. Perchance you might stay behind while your companions carry out their task? I shall offer to be your caretaker myself while they are away, if you so desire.”

Alphas. I cringed, wetting my lips while I searched for a gentle letdown.

“Sorry, the girl’s coming with us,” Bjarni said, snaking his huge hand around my waist and effectively yanking me from Heimdall’s grip and into his own. “Her mates have placed her in our care. Come along, Annabel. No time to waste on idle chitchat.”

“Mates?” Heimdall’s obvious surprise made me surreptitiously push my braid out of the way, revealing both claiming marks on my neck as I offered him a final parting smile.

“Plural?!”

“Goodbye, Heimdall. And thank you again for your help.” I gave him a wave before Bjarni pulled me onto the bridge and away from the guardian, his arms wrapped possessively around me.

I spent the first two hours of our trek on Bifrost staring openmouthed at the universe above, below, and around us. Stars shimmered in the inky blackness, planets swirling around them, colored in reds, blues, and grays.

And through it all, Bifrost lit our way with its Technicolor beauty, allowing me to see the vastness gaping below our feet through its semi-transparency.

It was the sort of experience no human could ever hope to have, and yet here I was, flanked by two gods as they walked me through the wonders of the universe.

But even the beauty of Bifrost gets kind of monotonous after several hours of hiking.

“How much longer? My legs are killing me, and I’m hungry.”

I was fully aware how much I sounded like a petulant toddler. I also didn’t care. We’d been walking since forever, and though it was impossible to tell time in whichever dimension we were currently in, I knew it was edging into humans-should-be-sleeping o'clock.

The ache in my chest intensified for every step, not yet as soul-breaking as when Magni had swept me through the portal, but that could easily change once we set foot in the human realm.

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” Bjarni said, immediately coming to a halt as he eased his pack off one shoulder so he could reach into it. “I should have fed you after we fucked. Sometimes I forget you’re just a human and need a bit more care.”

The sparkle in his eye as he handed me what looked like a cloth-wrapped sandwich told me that he thought he was complimenting me.

I was too exhausted to complain about being called "just a human," so I took the offered food with a mumbled “thank you.” Compared to my two companions, my human shortcomings were becoming pretty clear. Neither alpha looked like they were the least bit tired from our long day—or in Bjarni’s case, the sex that’d definitely drained my muscles of energy, even as it had refilled my magic reserves.

“We’re not stopping until we reach Midgard,” Modi said, and when I looked up at him, sandwich already halfway inside my mouth, he had a distinct no-nonsense frown on his