AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Odin was silent.
“Isa wants you.” Hunter had seen it for himself. “I’m not sure why he bothered trying to have you killed if he was just going to hold on all of these years anyway.”
“He claims it was his mother’s doing,” Odin said, but it was clear he didn’t one hundred percent buy that excuse.
Hunter was a little easier to convince. It made sense when he thought about it. Isabel Frost ran the Frost Family with an iron fist, stricter even than Ander Snow had been when it came to her son. She’d used different tactics, sure, instead of fear, she’d opted for devotion.
It’d worked.
“Isa would have done anything his mother asked,” Hunter concluded. “Even kill the man he loved.”
“He never loved me,” Odin looked away, “no one has. It was obsession. It’s still obsession. He wants what he can’t have, nothing more, nothing less. And he can’t. I’ll never go back to him.”
“Not willingly,” Hunter said, making the other guy sneer. “What? I didn’t think I’d come back to you either, but look where we’re sitting.”
“I forced you.”
“Who’s to say he won’t find a way to force you?” It was a possibility. Isa was stronger than Odin. “He would have done anything she asked, but clearly she pushed him too far in the end. He killed his mom and absorbed her powers and now he’s stronger than you are, Snow. More so than most believe even, if it’s true you didn’t murder your father.”
“Does that seem out of character to you?” Odin asked and he thought it over.
“Honestly?” There were two versions of the man before him. “For the past you? No. For this one sitting here with me now? Kind of.”
“I’m one and the same,” he disagreed.
Hunter wasn’t buying that and it must have shown on his face.
“What? Because I used to bring you baked goods before and follow you unquestioningly into forests, but now I—”
“Torture me and keep me prisoner?” Hunter finished for him.
Odin’s mouth thinned in displeasure. “I admit I’ve harmed you a little, but I’ve never straight out tortured you, Huntsman, and I never will. Ever. If I hurt you, it’ll be with my cock—”
“Which is still causing me pain.”
“Tit for tat.”
He frowned. “I shot you once and you survived. I think we’re even now, if nothing else.”
“Are we?” Odin tilted his head, inspecting him.
“We have to be,” Hunter said, “if we have a hope of defeating Isa, we need to be on the same page, Snow.”
“You want my forgiveness for shooting me?” He considered it. “You’re already my mate. I’ve gotten what I want. Why should I let go of any lingering animosity toward you?”
“Forget it.” This was only serving to make Hunter uncomfortable and nervous. Things had been going rather well between them, at least on the surface, and he didn’t want to return to the time before when he’d been on edge whenever Odin had entered the room. “Let’s get back to Isa and how to deal with him.”
An all-out war between the Brumal families was impossible. All that would lead to was blood running rivers in the streets. The whole system would crumble and the government would have to get involved. Meaning more carnage. More death. Innocent people would suffer the most if it came to that, and no matter who was left standing in the end, the loss would be so great it most likely wouldn’t even be worth it.
Hunter knew this, which meant all three Dominus knew it as well.
“He’ll have to challenge you one on one.” That made the most sense. “If we’re to believe what he’s told you, the only reason he hasn’t already was because he hoped you’d eventually forgive him and go back on your own. You aren’t going to, and he sees that now.” Hunter leaned against the couch, his head resting on Odin’s arm which had returned to drape over the leather. “All of this over a lover spat. That’s how it’s always been though, right? Nothing else matters to either of you except for each other. He’s made his move to get you back and you’ve mated with me in order to get revenge.”
The air whooshed out of his lungs as he was suddenly shoved down onto the couch. He blinked up at Odin who was towering over him, his body held aloft over his, and noted the fury crackling behind his eyes.
“What?” he asked. “The truth sound sucky to you? Same.”
“I didn’t mate you for revenge,” Odin said, but when Hunter quirked a brow, he added, “not just for revenge.”
