She’s ingenious like that. Hel knows how to tame even the most stubborn beings. Every punishment exceeded the last, until I became the beast she needed me to be.
I’ve been building walls around my emotions for centuries, destroying every feeling that managed to sneak through other than hate and anger and prurience. Now, I’ve shared my skjaldmær’s company for a few days, and my mind is dragging up the lessons that laid the foundations for those walls. But those days are behind me. The pain my mistress gifted me served its purpose, and I needed it all.
I’m Hel’s. Even if I wanted another existence—a place where my mate and I could hide and pretend neither of us had ever been damned to that inferno—my liege would find me. Every part of every world is within her reach, through her dread father and his sons. And Hel will never let me go.
I won’t survive in Helheim if I return as anything other than the unfeeling bastard she constructed.
Dragging my thoughts back where they belong, I smirk at Finaan. I can use the promise of her dragon for leverage. Not that I’ll ever free the beasts. Hel would throw me in the pit for eternity if she caught a whiff of that intent. But that doesn’t matter. Finaan needs to believe I’ll lead her to them. She’s desperate—I can see it in her parted lips and bright eyes—and she’ll take every scrap I offer her. She won’t realize until it’s too late that I’ve escorted her back home.
Then I’ll get the hatred she’s sworn she’ll withhold from me.
She won’t believe me right away. But I can work on that. Svend will help. He has some of her trust, and I can use him.
Which means I can’t kill that weasel of an elf yet. Lucky fucker. His time will come, though.
“What are you talking about, Wregen?” Her voice trembles nearly as much as the hands she’s fisting at her sides, or the pulse fluttering against my fingers still wrapped around her neck. “You know where Panta and the other dragons are?”
“I share all of Hel’s secrets,” I explain. “The dragons are hers, so I know where they are.”
“You’ll take me to her,” my skjaldmær barks, acting like she holds an ounce of control here. “Now.”
I let the corners of my lips twitch up, savoring the frustration that builds in her chest. She probably sees in my expression what I’ll demand from her before I’ll pretend to take her to her dragon. Still, I’ll spell it out. She should know exactly what I want from her.
Smiling—okay, smirking, but my angry mate won’t draw the distinction—I let my fantasy unfurl in my mind. It’s an idea that took form as she slept in front of me in Helheim and has grown into a need here in Vanatia, as I’ve gotten to know the fierce, stubborn, resilient female the fates gave me.
“You will get on your knees at my feet and beg me to come down your throat,” I murmur, squeezing her neck as I draw her so close, I could taste her if I wanted. “You’ll wait in silence until I agree, like the good girl I know you can be. If I give you permission, you’ll wrap those luscious lips around myenormous fucking cock and suck me dry, savoring every single drop of my cum. Then, I’ll consider it. Until that happens, we’ll travel to Helheim. Without those miserable beasts.”
“You wouldn’t do that to me,” she hisses, stepping even closer with flashing eyes. “You’re not that evil.”
“I am the most evil being with the most depraved cravings who will ever share your life, other than Hel,” I whisper as I squeeze her throat again, stopping her breath. “Don’t get confused about that, Finaan. Don’t you dare let the mating bond lead you to think I’m capable of some good or benign emotion. I’m not. That part of me died long ago.”
I hold her until her eyes narrow and those beautiful lips start to quiver. Snaking out my tongue, I lick her top lip before sucking the bottom one into my mouth and biting it just enough to draw a drop of her blood. When I feel Wrath grumble inside me—ecstatic to taste our mate again but concerned for her in a way I never could be—I let her breathe. She sucks in a sharp inhale, and I can feel the truth of my declaration seep into every pore, each ounce of blood, all of the nerves and muscles that ripple through her. She can’t deny my words. Deep inside, where her truths lie, she knows exactly who and what I am.
“You’ll still want me,” I tell her as I drop one hand, take her arm and start leading her back to the water. “You’ll crave and need me. But never make the mistake of confusing my obsession with you for love or even affection. I’m capable of neither. You’ll give me what I need or you’ll get nothing fromme except my cock in your cunt. And only ever on my terms, whether you want it or not.”
“Fuck, you’re a miserable bastard.” I don’t miss the catch in her voice. She knows now what it means to be my mate. She may hate it today, but she’ll accept it soon enough.
“Fuck yes, I am,” I agree. “Make no mistake.” I squeeze the back of her neck one more time, because I want to and she needs it. She’ll be happier once she accepts that she has no control.
Well, maybe not happy. Less unhappy.
“I’m not sucking your cock,” she declares, as if she has a choice. “And you’ll lead me to my dragon. I don’t know what it’ll take to make that happen, but Iwillfigure it out, and we’ll go together.”
“You believe what you want,” I tell her, lengthening my stride as I pull her along, forcing her to jog to keep up with me. She ran a long gods-damned way and that little bastard we brought with us can’t be trusted alone. “I don’t give a fuck what you think,” I add after a few moments, my voice cold. “It won’t change anything that’s going to happen between us.”
She’s silent as I drag her through the caverns to where Svend should be waiting. When we turn the corner, I don’t see him at first, and Wrath rises inside me, eager for the punishment I’ll take if he’s changed his mind and abandoned us. But the little weasel pops his head up from behind a rock, one shaking hand covering his mouth and what I swear to fuck are tears in his eyes. I’ll take his blood for that, the little bitch.
“Why do you hide, Svend?” I murmur, throwing my voice to erupt in his ear.
He blanches, that trembling hand quaking even more as he stands up. But he must remember what I think of such weakness. After a moment, he pushes his shoulders back, straightens his spine, and drops his hand. His eyes still glisten, but I think he’s trapped the tears for now.
“We’re not alone,” he rasps. I suspect he tried to hide the terror in his voice but he’s not that strong of an elf.
“Are you stupid enough to believe we would be?” I demand, dropping my hand from Finaan’s neck as I tug her by the wrist toward Svend. “These caves hold creatures who will live in your nightmares for centuries. You’ve been to Helheim but you’ve yet to travel the road to that dark place. You’ll be grateful for me,” I add as I turn my head to glare at my ferocious mate. And then I drop my voice, Wrath’s need for her sneaking into my words. “And you will show me how grateful you are again, and again, and again.”
She snarls, sending a twitch straight to my cock. I don’t even try to hold back the grin.
The fates chose well when they gave her to me.
