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“Then why’d you do it?” Maybe this was what Hunter needed to help clarify his own emotions. Maybe hearing Snow tell him plain and simple that this was just a business transaction between the two of them would help him sort through and discard any lingering feelings he didn’t like or want to keep within himself.
“What are you after, Little Whisper?” Odin asked. “Do you want me to tell you I love you? I can’t live without you?”
“This romance bullshit again?” He snorted. “I’m not some delicate flower, Snow. I know what I got myself into when I agreed to the mating. This isn’t love, it’s domination—”
“Infatuation,” Odin cut him off, “obsession. Possession. I don’t know why I want you so badly, is that what you want to hear? That I’m just as confused as you are about whatever this is between us? I shouldn’t want you, shouldn’t forgive you. You’re part of the reason I lost everything. Part of the reason my father lies brain dead in a hospital room this very moment.”
If Hunter hadn’t shot him that day, he would have been there to help his father fend off the Frost’s and their attack. There was no denying that. Ander Snow had already been injured on the stairs, but the Frost’s hadn’t been finished with him.
“Ten years,” he continued. “That’s how long I’ve spent imagining all the things I’d do to you once you were in my grasp.” Odin lifted a hand and settled it around Hunter’s throat. “An entire decade spent imagining squeezing and watching the life drain from your eyes.”
“So do it,” Hunter challenged, because clearly he was a moron.
“No,” Odin dropped his hand to the cushion at the side of Hunter’s head, “and I never will. I don’t know if love is even something I’m capable of, but I didn’t mate with you because of anyone else, let alone Isa. I mated you because I wanted you, I wanted all of you, forever. I like the way you fight me, and how you knew me before. How you look at me sometimes when you think I’m not watching, like I’m still him.”
“You just said you were,” Hunter reminded.
“Would you prefer that?” Odin searched his expression. “Should I pretend not to like making you scream or taking control of your body? Should I pass you longing glances instead and bring you sweets and—”
“I like it too,” Hunter blurted, cheeks going red. He closed his eyes, unable to look at the other man while he confessed to his twisted nature. One he’d only recently discovered thanks to the imposing Dominus above him. “I like when you hold me down and you force me to take it. And I like how badly you want me. Even if it isn’t real. Even if it’s just because my blood—”
“It’s real,” Odin insisted. “I felt this way even before I found out you’re a Whisper. I was just in denial. You should understand that. We’re both very good at it, after all.”
Yes, yes they were.
Hunter exhaled slowly, mostly stalling so he could sort through his thoughts and figure out how much more he could admit. To the both of them.
“Tit for tat,” he ended up saying, causing Odin to frown. “We’re already mated. We’ve already agreed to stick together. Fine. I like rough sex, and you like it too. I’ll never roll over and become your docile little plaything. If I don’t want to do something or I don’t agree with something, I’m going to tell you and fight you if I have to.”
“Please,” the corner of Odin’s mouth curved up wickedly, “do.”
“But I’ll forgive you for kidnapping me,” he continued as if he hadn’t spoken, needing to say it before he chickened out, “for locking me up, if you’ll forgive me for what happened in the forest. Really forgive me. Let’s start fresh, Odin. Not as the old foot soldier to your prince, or the captive enemy to your Dominus. I’ll be the Whisper to your Shout. And you’ll be the Shout to my Whisper. Maybe we’re both too damaged for love to ever come into play here, but forgiveness? Surely we can manage that.” He swallowed. “Can’t we?”
Hunter wondered if maybe they were both just a little screwed up. There was a good chance they were clinging to one another like this merely because it reminded them of a time in their lives when things had been, not great, but better. He’d had his sister and Odin had still been the Snow Prince, lording over the rest of the Brumal, including his step-brother.
If he could go back, knowing that Meg wouldn’t make it anyway, would he do things differently? Would he tell Odin about Isa’s threats and take his chances on whether or not the other man would believe him?
Would Odin have believed him?
“Stop,” Snow said then, the word barely a whisper caught between them for a heavy moment. “No more ‘what ifs’. The past is the past. It’s over and done with. Isa put us both in an impossible situation back then. I should have seen his treachery coming but I was too close to it. Too arrogant. You weren’t sure if you could trust me. I liked you, but I never said as much out loud, and I was still with Isa. I’ll never forget what happened that day, but as far as forgiveness goes, where you’re concerned? All right. I forgive you, Hunter. I’d rather place the blame where it’s deserved anyway.”
On Isa.
They needed someone to blame, someone to hate, and Isa was the perfect candidate. Isa was the true reason for everything, even if he’d merely been dancing to his mother’s tune. At the end of the day, the Frost Family was behind the destruction of both the Thorn’s and the Snow’s.
Hunter slipped his fingers through the short hairs at the base of Odin’s skull and tugged him closer. “Let’s make him pay.” Using his thumb nail, he sliced a thin line at the hollow of his throat and presented it to the other man. “Together.”
He’d been operating on the assumption, like the rest of the planet, that Odin had absorbed his father’s power through his ashes. But if Ander Snow was alive, that meant he hadn’t transferred any power to his son. That put them at a severe disadvantage against Isa, who had his mother’s ashes inked all over his body.
“Shouts can build up power by consuming the blood of their mated Whisper daily,” Hunter said, unsure how much Odin was aware about the blood exchange, since no one had thought a Whisper would be found. “Supposedly, it’ll allow you to hold onto the boost for a much longer period of time.” Some rumors even said permanently, but he wasn’t sure how much validity was in that statement.
Odin glanced down at the welling blood. “You did your homework while you were away.”
He nodded.
As soon as he’d realized what he was, Hunter had gotten his hands on every piece of information regarding the Whispers that he could. Constantly traveling had brought him to various resources, allowing him to discover new information. Even though it hadn’t been that long since Whispers were common—not even a hundred years at least—there was surprisingly little information, and even less that came from a verified source.
“Were you trying to understand yourself better,” Odin wondered, “or were you preparing for something like this?”
