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“You’re much more than a captor to me. You always have been.”
“I’m your Shout.”
He hummed in disagreement. “Even before then. Before I knew what I was and what that could mean when it came to you and our relationship. I had a crush, but it was more than that. You embodied everything I knew I’d never be able to have. Everything I could never achieve. Wealth, status, the comfort of knowing you’d never have to work like a dog for anyone else just to get by.”
“We wanted what the other had it seems.” The sound of his clothes rustling as he moved closer reached Hunter’s ears, and then Odin was standing in front of him, easing his way between his spread thighs, setting his hands on the windowsill at either side of his hips. “Tit for tat, that’s what you said, wasn’t it? I’ll give you want you longed for. Safety, security, power. In return, you give me what I’ve always wanted too.”
Hunter finally opened his eyes, locking gazes with the other man. “Which is?”
“Love.” Odin took his chin between two fingers, keeping his head tipped up toward him. “I want you to love me.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Snow.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“You can’t force something like love.”
“Can’t I?”
“Odin.”
“Are you opposed?”
“I—” This was stupid. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. What happened to you not being sure you’re even capable of loving? Do you expect me to willingly enter a one-sided crush again?”
“I only want to know if it’s possible,” he explained.
“Is it possible for you?” Hunter stubbornly held his ground. “Figure that out first, then get back to me.”
“You’ll have an answer for me then?”
“Yeah.”
“And Isa Frost?”
“What about him?” Hunter snorted. “You want him dead. I want him dead. I’m not worried you’re going to fuck him, Snow. If that was on the table, you would have accepted his offer the first time and we wouldn’t be here having this conversation. Do I feel threatened when I think about how you were with him yet apparently hot for me? That’s definitely a sort of form of cheating, but honestly? No. No, I don’t. Because I’m not Isa Frost. I won’t throw a tantrum or make another person pay for your mistake. If you cheat on me, it's you who will pay the price. Not them. As far as fucking anyone else goes, I stand by my first response. If you do it, I’ll do it. I’m sure it’ll be easy enough to find a stranger in this place who’ll—”
Odin silenced him with a kiss, brutal and messy.
Things would have escalated if Hunter hadn’t pressed a palm to his stomach and eased him off.
“There are still important matters to discuss,” he reminded.
“Such as?” Odin kissed him again, lightly, playfully. “The only important thing I see here is you.”
“This meeting with the Emperor,” Hunter said, “how confident are you it’ll work in our favor?”
He sighed, pulling back and setting his hands on the windowsill once more as if touching Hunter made it impossible for him to concentrate. “Not very. It’s fifty-fifty. Either Altz has fallen for Isa, or he’s terrified of him and going along out of fear. If it’s the latter, I might be able to make him an offer. If it’s the first…”
“And Isa will be with him,” Hunter pointed out.
“Most likely. There’s always the chance the Emperor won’t tell him, but that’s risky, and even if it’s fear governing his actions, I don’t see him being bold enough to take that chance. If Isa found out afterward, he’d punish him. I’ve met Altz before. He’s a meek and cowardly man. Greedy for wealth and his own personal safety, nothing else.”
“What if Isa decides to challenge you at this meeting? In front of the Emperor?”
“He won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
